RELÁMPAGO, leo valdez

IV. she was his, as he was hers.

0004. | SHE WAS HIS,
AS HE WAS HERS.

Nadia's dad used to make her hot chocolate after a nightmare. Grandmére would tell them that the chocolate wasn't good for her after dark, said that "elle ne sera qu'hyper, n'est-ce pas, petit Tempest? She'll only be hyper, won't you, little Tempest?" She liked it best when her dad would nod solemnly along in agreement until Grandmére disappeared back to the garden to treat her midnight flowers and he would smuggle the hot drink to her anyway.

Tonight she had no such comfort.

Instead she shot awake after the cursed eyes of Chaos searing her soul like a branding iron in a literal way that made her chest shrivel in pain. She gasped in a sharp breath and hunched over in Leo's bed, head between her knees as she clutched her chest as if she were holding in her heart.

Leo snorted himself awake, jostled by her sudden movements. "Huh—mhm—prinesssa—hngh—" he grumbled in his throaty voice that came with sleep and his arms wound their way around her shaking body. "What happened?" His voice cracked tiredly and if it weren't for the vomit inducing pain she was feeling she probably would've felt bad for waking him. "Are you okay—?"

She didn't answer. Instead she lurched forward, gripping her chest still and hiding away behind her hair so he wouldn't see how awful she likely looked recovering from a nightmare.

Leo nervously peaked behind the curtain she had made with her hair to check she was okay. She wasn't. He winced at the sight of her dry heaving and Nadia's blotchy face flushed in embarrassment. She didn't want him to see her like this, messy hair, skin pale, hunched over herself. She was sure he was repulsed. He wasn't.

"Oh, preciosa," he sat up beside her, all close and personal with her pain, and pulled her hair out of her face, rubbing her back as she concentrated on not crying. "Was it Frank's cooking?" He asked sympathetically. Frank had made them dinner in an effort to cheer everyone's glum moods but his chicken alfredo left much to be desired. Hazel and Nadia forced everyone to eat it all despite Jason's efforts to deposit it in a plant pot, even Nico who's diet had since consisted of a single grape a meal.

"No." She croaked. Her voice didn't sound nearly as nice as his in the middle of the night. But Leo also hadn't been plagued with nightmares from the very being that created the universe so potato-potato. "Nightmares." She answered.

Leo steadied her as she slumped onto him tiredly. "Wanna talk about it?" He prompted, taking a hair tie from beside her bedside table. Nadia kept a selection of hair products everywhere in her cabin as she hated not having her hair presentable. He twisted her hair up messily into a bun-ponytail-effort that made her scalp hurt but she appreciated his effort. She rested her head against his shoulder.