Lost hero XV -Leo & Breisa
A sense of impeding doom
Warnings: Cursing, monsters, near death experiences, fire, canon typical violence (not graphic), teenagers being teenagers, first heroic experiences
Word count: 4k words
Summary: CyclopsâŚWhy did it have to be cyclops?
<<Prev
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Leo stopped at the door and tried to control breathing.Â
The voice of the earth woman rang in his ears, reminding him of that night. The last thing he wanted was to plunge into another dark warehouse.Â
Like he was eight years old all over againâalone, small, and helpless as people he cared about were trapped inside and in trouble.Â
âOye, nada de eso.â Breisa said. âDonât let her get to you. Alright? We got this.â She was shaking, but she held her own ground.
 That didnât make him any less scared. But it gave him enough courageâ he breathed and creaked the door open.Â
Together they peered inside.Â
Nothing looked different.
Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few light bulbs buzzed, but most of the factory floor was still covered in shadows.
But he was able to make out the catwalk above with shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of his friends.Â
Leo almost called out, but something stopped himâa sense he couldnât identify. Then he realized it was a smell.Â
Something smelled wrongâlike burning motor oil and sour breath. Something not human was inside the factory.
Leo was certain. His body shifted into high gear, all his nerves tingling.
 Somewhere on the factory floor, Piperâs voice cried out: âLeo, Breisa! help!âÂ
Breisa held a finger to her lips. Her voice rang in his mind, âShe couldnât have gone off the catwalk. Not with a broken ankle.â
They slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container.Â
Slowly, with weapons in hand, they inching toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis.
Finally, they reached the assembly line, crouched behind the nearest piece of machineryâa crane with a robotic arm.
 Piperâs voice called out again: âLeo? Breisa?â Less certain this time, but very close.Â
They peeked around the crane.Â
Hanging directly above the other side of the assembly line was a massive truck engineâjust dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned.Â
Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts.Â
Beside the forklifts dangling from chains, on another crane, were two smaller shapesâmaybe more engines. One of them was wriggling around as if it were alive.Â
Breisa held a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.
Then one of the forklift shapes rose, and Leo realized it was a humanoid of massive size.
 âTold you it was nothing,â the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human.Â
The other forklift-sized lump shifted. It called out in Piperâs voice: âLeo, help me! Helpââ Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. âBah, thereâs nobody out there. No demigods could be that quiet, eh?â
The first monster chuckled. âProbably ran away, if they know whatâs good for them. Or the girl was lying about the demigods. Letâs get cooking.âÂ
Snap.Â
A bright orange light sizzled to lifeâan emergency flareâand Leo was temporarily blinded. He ducked behind the crane until the spots cleared from his eyes.Â
âSanta madre de los dioses.â Breisaâs thoughts flood rushed him. She was still looking over the crane.
Then he took another peep and saw a nightmare scene.
The two smaller things dangling from the crane arm werenât engines. They were Jason and Piper. Both hung upside down, tied by their ankles and cocooned with chains up to their necks.Â
Piper was wriggling around, trying to free herself. Her mouth was gagged, but at least she was alive. Â
Jason didnât look so good. He hung limply, his eyes rolled up. A red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow.Â
On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. Which, from the smell of it, had been doused in kerosene.
A big metal pole was suspended over the flamesâa spit, Leo realized.
âThey're gonna cook them alive!â Breisaâs eyes stayed on the creatures as she gripped her weapon.Â
He looked at the creatures and almost choked.Â
They were most terrifying.
Monocle Motors: that single red eye logo.Â
Why hadnât Leo realized?Â
Three massive humanoids gathered around the fire. Two were standing, stoking the flames. The largest one crouched with his backside facing Breisa and Leo. They were each ten feet tall, with hairy muscular bodies and skin that glowed red in the firelight. One of the monsters wore a chainmail loincloth that looked really uncomfortable.Â
The other wore a ragged fuzzy toga made of fiberglass insulation, which also would not have made Leoâs top ten wardrobe ideas.
The two monsters couldâve been twins. Each had a brutish face with a single eye in the center of his forehead.Â
The cooks were Cyclopes.Â
Leo felt his legs shaking. Heâd seen some weird things so farâstorm spirits, magic girls, winged gods, and a metal dragon that liked Tabasco sauce.Â
But this was different.
These were actual, flesh-and-blood, ten-foot-tall living monsters who wanted to eat his friends for dinner.
He was so terrified he could hardly think.
If only they had Festus. They could use a fire-breathing sixty-foot-long tank about now.Â
But all he had was a tool belt and a backpack. His three-pound club hammer looked awfully small compared to those Cyclopes. No better than Breisaâs axâ a mere kitchen knife.
This is what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted Leo to walk away and leave his friends to die.Â
That decided it. No way was Leo going to let that earth lady make him feel powerlessânever again. Leo slipped off his backpack and quietly started to unzip it.Â
The Cyclops in the loincloth walked over to Piper, who squirmed and tried to head-butt him in the eye.
She was fierce, even in the worst possible situationâ Breisa respected that.
 âCan I take her gag off now? I like it when they scream.âÂ
The question was directed at the third Cyclops, apparently the leader. The crouching figure grunted, and Loincloth ripped the gag off Piperâs mouth.Â
She didnât scream. She took a shaky breath like she was trying to keep herself calm.Â
Meanwhile, Leo found what he wanted in the pack: a stack of tiny remote control units that he founded in bunker 9.
â'ÂĄÂżQuĂŠ estĂĄs haciendo?!â Breisa telepathically asked.
âImprovisingâ He remarkedâfeeling around the robotic crane and propped open a maintenance panel.Â
He slipped a screwdriver from his tool belt and went to work, but he had to go slowly.
The leader Cyclops was only twenty feet in front of him. The monsters obviously had excellent senses.
Pulling off his plan without making noise seemed impossible, but he didnât have much choice.Â
âKeep an eye out or something.âÂ
âThis is crazy.â She grumbled but kept her ax ready.
The Cyclops in the toga poked at the fire, that billowed noxious black smoke into the ceiling.
His buddy Loincloth glowered at Piper, waiting for her to do something entertaining. âScream, girl! I like funny screaming!â
When Piper finally spoke; her tone was calm and reasonable, like she was scolding a naughty puppy. âOh, Mr. Cyclops, you donât want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go.âÂ
Loincloth scratched his ugly head. He turned to his friend in the fiberglass toga.Â
âSheâs kind of pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go.âÂ
Torque, the dude in the toga, growled. âI saw her first, Sump. Iâll let her go!âÂ
Sump and Torque started to argue. But then the third Cyclops rose and shouted, âFools!âÂ
Leo almost dropped his screwdriver. Breisa's ax slipped.Â
The third Cyclops was a female.
 She was several feet taller than Torque or Sump, and even beefier. She wore a chain mail-like sack dress that Leoâs crazy mean TĂa Rosa used haveâa muumuu.
Her greasy black hair was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers. Her nose and mouth were thickâ and mashed together, like she spent her free time ramming her face into walls; but her single red eye glittered with evil intelligence.
The woman Cyclops stalked over to Sump and pushed him aside, knocking him over the conveyor belt. Torque backed up quickly.Â
âThe girl is Venus spawn,â the lady Cyclops snarled. âSheâs using charmspeak on you.âÂ
Piper started to say, âPlease, maâamââÂ
The lady Cyclops grabbed Piper around the waist. âDonât try your pretty talk on me, girl! Iâm Ma Gasket! Iâve eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!âÂ
âProbably more than heroes.â Breisa thought.
Leo grumbled âShut up. Genius at work here.â
With furious concentration, he was able to twist wires and turn switches: hardly thinking about what he was doing. He finished attaching the remote. Then he crept over to the next robotic arm, Breisa following beside him, as the Cyclopes were talking.Â
ââeat her last, Ma?â Sump was saying.Â
âIdiot!â Ma Gasket yelled, and Leo realized Sump and Torque must be her sons. If so, ugly definitely ran in the family. âI shouldâve thrown you out on the streets when you were babies, like proper Cyclops children. You might have learned some useful skills. Curse my soft heart that I kept you!âÂ
âSoft heart?â Torque muttered.Â
âWhat was that, you ingrate?âÂ
âNothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenailsââÂ
Ugh Breisa gagged mentally
âAnd you should be grateful!â Ma Gasket bellowed. âNow, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot, my case of salsa is in the other warehouse. Donât tell me you expect me to eat these demigods without salsa!âÂ
âYes, Ma,â Sump said. âI mean no, Ma. I meanââ
âGo get it!â Ma Gasket picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sumpâs head. Sump crumpled to his knees.Â
Both Leo and Breisa winced at the sound, but Sump apparently got hit by trucks a lot. He managed to push the chassis off his head. Then he staggered to his feet and ran off to fetch the salsa.Â
âNowâs the timeâ, Leo thought. âWhile theyâre separated.â
âOn it.â Breisa sheathed her ax on her belt loops.
âWhat are youâ?â He huffed as finished wiring the second machine.
âImprovising.â She looked at any opening between robotic cranes or Cyclopesâ and she spotted it! âI got Piper and Jason.â
Breisa crept behind the robotic arms onto the stacks of crates. She climbed and jumped quietly onto each stack, from a distance it looked like stairs.
Leo realized she was aiming for the catwalk.
He then dashed between robotic arms, the Cyclopes didnât see him, but Piper did. Her expression turned from terror to disbelief, and she gasped.
Ma Gasket turned to her. âWhatâs the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?â
Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away and said, âI think itâs my ribs, maâam. If Iâm busted up inside, Iâll taste terrible.â
Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter. âGood one. The last hero we ateâ remember him, Torque? Son of Mercury, wasnât he?â
âYes, Ma,â Torque said. âTasty. Little bit stringy.â
âHe tried a trick like that. Said he was on medication. But he tasted fine!â
âTasted like mutton,â Torque recalled. âPurple shirt. Talked in Latin. Yes, a bit stringy, but good.â
Leoâs fingers froze on the panel. Breisa halted on the bars, hanging low from the catwalk.Â
Apparently, Piper was having the same thought, because she asked, âPurple shirt? Latin?â
âGood eating,â Ma Gasket said fondly. âPoint is, girl, weâre not as dumb as people think! Weâre not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not us northern Cyclopes.â
Leo forced his focus back on the panel, but his mind was racing. A kid who spoke Latin had been caught hereâin a purple shirt like Jasonâs? That could everything or nothing at all, but he had to leave the interrogation to Piper.Â
If he was going to have any chance of defeating these monsters, he had to move fast before Sump came back.
He looked up seeing Breisa doing a pull-up onto the walk, laying flat for balance.
She crawled on bellyâtrying not to be seenâ to the cocoon chains.
 Leo noticed a few inches away from the catwalk an engine was hanging right above the Cyclopesâ campsite. He wished he could use thatâit would make a great weapon.Â
But the crane holding it was on the opposite side of the conveyor belt.Â
There was no way Leo could get over there without being seen, and besides, he was running short on time. He hoped Breisa could reach Jason and Piper before him.
From above he heard a creeek then the metal piece fell right beside him with a clang!Â
Leo was out of the way, luckilyâ the metal rod would have impaled him from the back.Â
What the fuck is she doing?!Â
He glanced againâ the catwalk swaying sideways. Breisa gripping onto the railing for dear life, holding herself with shaky strength.
The Cyclopes started to look up to the sound of rattling chains.Â
âThis place is falling apart! Luckily you northern cyclopes are keeping it in good working condition!â Piper kept talking, laying on the praise. âOh, Iâve heard about the northern Cyclopes!â Which Leo figured was bull, but she sounded convincing. âI never knew you were so big and clever!â
That was enough for Breisa to lean herself from the walk onto rusted crane. She skidded across like she was on monkey bars. Hanging right where the metal cocoons were linked.
âFlattery wonât work either,â Ma Gasket said, though she sounded pleased. âItâs true, youâll be breakfast for the best Cyclopes around.â
âBut arenât Cyclopes good?â Piper asked. âI thought you made weapons for the gods.â
âBah! Iâm very good. Good at eating people. Good at smashing. And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods. Our cousins, the elder Cyclopes, they do thisâŚ.â
Leo tuned out mothermae-eye, as he could faintly hear Breisa spewing out a prayer. Â
âPlease Hecate don't let them see me. For the love of god. Or whatever weirdos in the sky. Or the universe, if anyone is listening to meâ let me stay hidden to them.â
As the trickiest part of the plan was nearly done, Leo summoned some wires, a radio adapter, and a smaller screwdriver from his and started to build a universal remote.Â
For the first time, he said a silent thank-you to his dadâHephaestusâfor the magic tool belt.Â
Get me out of here, he prayed, and maybe youâre not such a jerk.
ââTitans lost. No good! No more need for Cyclops weapons.â
âOh, no,â Piper sympathized. âIâm sure you made some amazing weapons.â
Torque grinned. âSqueaky war hammer!â He picked up a large pole with an accordion-looking metal box on the end.
He slammed it against the floor and the cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the worldâs largest rubber ducky getting stomped.
âTerrifying,â Piper said.
Torque looked pleased. âNot as good as the exploding ax, but this one can be used more than once.â
âCan I see it?â Piper asked. âIf you could just free my handsââ
Torque stepped forward eagerly, but Ma Gasket said, âStupid! Sheâs tricking you again. Enough talk! Slay the boy first before he dies on his own. I like my meat fresh.â
No! Leoâs fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote. Just a few more minutes!
âHey, wait,â Piper said, trying to get the Cyclopesâ attention. âHey, can I just askââ
The wires sparked in Leoâs hand.Â
Breisa was half-way down the chains, on Jason's side since he was farther away. She halted mid-climb.
The Cyclopes froze and turned in his direction. Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at him.
Leo rolled as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. If heâd been a half-second slower, he wouldâve been smashed.
Breisa breathed a sigh of relief as he got to his feet, she thought he had gotten crushed. Hell he wouldâve exploded into chunks, on a count of how small he was.
 Ma Gasket spotted him. She yelled, âTorque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get him!â
Torque barreled toward him. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote.
Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet.
Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face. Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up.
âAHHHHH!â Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark and too high up to see exactly what happened, but judging from the harsh metal clang, Leo guessed the Cyclops had hit one of the support girders.
Torque never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor. Torque had disintegrated.
Ma Gasket stared at Leo in shock. âMy son ... You ... You ...â
As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. âMa, I got the extra-spicyââ
He never finished his sentence.
Breisa came down screeching out swears, using Jason as a tire swing. Not exactly strategic with her attack but managed a couple of sharp slashes with her Axâthrowing a kick into Sump.Â
The salsa case crashed into his chest and Sump flew backward, right into the base of Leoâs third machine. Sump may have been immune to getting hit with truck chassis, but he wasnât immune to robotic arms that could deliver ten thousand pounds of force.Â
Leo spun the remoteâs toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump again.
The third crane arm slammed him against the floor so hard, he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.
Two Cyclopes down.Â
Leo was beginning to feel like Commander Tool Beltâ- when Ma Gasket glanced around, not even noticing Breisa, and locked her eye on him.Â
She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar. âYou busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!â
Leo punched a button, and the two remaining arms swung into action.
Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but that only seemed to make her mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat.
 It missed Piper and Jason by a hairâ luckily Breisa used all the force she could swing the three of them out of the way.
 Then Ma Gasket let it goâspinning it toward Leo. He yelped and rolled to one side as it demolished the machine next to him.
Leo started to realize that an angry Cyclops mother was not something you wanted to fight with a universal remote and a screwdriver.Â
The future for Commander Tool Belt was not looking so hot.
She stood about twenty feet from him now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked ridiculous in her chainmail muumuu and her greasy pigtailsâbut given the murderous glare in her huge red eye and the fact that she was twelve feet tall, Leo wasnât laughing
âAny more tricks, demigod?â Ma Gasket demand with sneering.
Leo glanced up.Â
The engine block suspended on the chainâif only heâd had time to rig it. If only he could get Ma Gasket to take one step forward.Â
The chain itself ...that one link...Leo shouldnât have been able to see it, especially from so far down, but his senses told him barely hanging on.
âHeck, yeah, I got tricks!â Leo raised his remote control. âTake one more step, and Iâll destroy you with fire!â
Ma Gasket laughed. âWould you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!â
She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at Leo. They landed all around his feet.
âYou missed,â he said incredulously.Â
Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck.Â
Leo just had time to read the stenciled word on the sideâkeroseneâbefore Ma Gasket threw it.Â
The barrel split on the floor in front of him, spilling lighter fluid everywhere.
Coals sparked. Leo closed his eyes.Â
Piper and Breisa screamed.
 âNo!âÂ
âLook out!â
A firestorm erupted around him. When Leo opened his eyes he was bathed in flames swirling twenty feet into the air.
Ma Gasket shrieked with delight, but Leo didnât offer the fire any good fuel. The kerosene burned off, dying down to small fiery patches on the floor.
Piper gasped. Breisaâs jaw dropped. âLeo?â
Ma Gasket looked astonished. âYou live?â Then she took that extra step forward, which put her right where Leo wanted. âWhat are you?â
âThe son of Hephaestus,â Leo said. âAnd I warned you, Iâd destroy you with fire.â
He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. Heâd never tried to do anything so focused and intenseâbut he shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclopsâs headâ aiming for the link that looked weaker than rest.
The flames died. Nothing happened. Ma Gasket laughed. âAn impressive try, son of Hephaestus. Itâs been many centuries since I saw a fire user. Youâll make a spicy appetizer!â
The chain snappedâthat single link heated beyond its tolerance pointâ and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.
âI donât think so,â Leo said.
Ma Gasket didnât even have time to look up.
Smash! No more Cyclops; just a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block.
âNot immune to engines, huh?â Leo said. âBoo-yah!â
Then he fell to his knees, his head buzzing.Â
â
After a few minutes he felt someone grab his shoulders, pull him up, and shake him furiously.Â
âGonna hurl.â He blurbed, his stomach feeling queasy.
âDonât do something stupid like that again!â Breisa shouted. âYou scared me!â She had stopped shaking him. Checking him for burns or markâ just something serious.
Only his clothes had small singed marks. Some irritated callous on his hands. He need to change the bandage from the canyon incident.
âYou worried about lil ole me?â Leo grinned with a sideways smile.Â
âYouâre an idiot.â She huffed, and let him go.
âLeo! Are you alright? Can you move?â Piper called from behind her. She was freed from her chains. Breisaâs doing definitely.
He stumbled to his feet. Heâd never tried to summon such an intense fire before, and it had left him completely drained.
Then together they lowered Jason, who was still unconscious. Piper managed to trickle a little nectar into his mouth, and he groaned. The welt on his head started to shrink. His color came back a little.
âYeah, heâs got a nice thick skull,â Leo said. âI think heâs gonna be fine.â
âHe canât lose anymore of his memory.â Breisa pulled back his eyelid, trying to see his pupils. They reacted well to the morning light. âHe should be alright.â
âThank god,â Piper sighed. Then she looked at Leo with something like fear. âHow did youâthe fireâhave you always ... ?â
Leo looked down. Breisa suclkedp in a breath, waiting for an excuse or a denial or some kind of lie. Â
 âAlways,â he said instead. âIâm a freaking menace. Sorry, I shouldâve told you guys sooner butââ
âSorry?â Piper punched his arm. When he looked up, she was grinning. âThat was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?âÂ
Leo blinked. Then looked at Breisa in disbelief.Â
âSheâs right, you know. You saved us.â She shrugged with a smile, âIt was kind of awesome.âÂ
âYou saved us too.â Piper bumped her elbow. âLike mission impossible. Freaking amazing.â
Breisa blushed, above them a light bulb exploded. âAh! Oh my bad! I didnât know I could do that.â
Leo started to smile; but his sense of relief was ruined when he noticed something next to Piperâs foot.
Yellow dustâthe powdered remains of one of the Cyclopes, maybe Torqueâwas shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together.
âTheyâre forming again,â Leo said. âLook.â
Piper stepped away from the dust. âThatâs not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when theyâre killed. They go back to Tartarus and canât return for a long time.â
âWell, nobody told the dust that.â Breisa watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.
âOh, god.â Piper turned pale. âBoreas said something about thisâthe earth yielding up horrors. âWhen monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.â How long do you think we have?â
Leo thought about the face that had formed in the ground outsideâthe sleeping woman who was definitely a horror from the earth.
âI donât know,â he said. âBut we need to get out of here.â
__
(A/N: I said I would finish this April, but school burning me out. Almost a graduate! One more month! In the mean time I will try to post as much chapters as possible. Story is finally picking up as I wanted it :)) Hope you all like this one!)
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This is giving those telenovela vibes đđâ I love it đ¤đ
âla gata bajo la lluviaâ blurb
âleo valdez x mortal!reader
summary: you met leo by chance, you didn't think he would get into your bones that way but you knew it couldn't last.
warnings: sexual insinuations, language, angst.
a/n: ok, i hope you can forgive me bc i was kind of laughing while wrote this for my mexican ass just showing off. this took me just the morning after i listened this song.
âmi suerte ya estaba echada, ya lo sĂŠ...â
(my fate was already sealed, I know it... )
Demigods used to have something in common with their divine parents; children often forget that there's a current reality out there and tend to abandon it because their lives depend on something else all too often. One of those many things can be people.
Leo never meant to hurt you, but the mark on your heart had already been made.
âlo nuestro solo fuĂŠ casualidad... â
(ours was just a coincidence...)
You remember when he came in totally soaked from the rain outside, the bell tinkled, and he ran towards you. You thought the worst, that he was crazy, drunk, or that you were sitting in his favorite spot in that diner. But he stopped, his mouth slightly open, giving you the impression that he wanted something.
"He's handsome, I wish he wanted me," you thought instead.
â The sauce, pass it to me â he said, pointing to the Tabasco sauce bottle. "Wow, a Tabasco sauce thief," you thought. You looked at him more closely, noticing his greasy shirt, a multitool belt that seemed to be empty. "He must have had a rough day," you assumed, and rolled the bottle towards him. You wouldn't give trouble to a guy with that appearance, no matter how handsome he seemed to you.
He caught it right at the edge of your table.
â I owe you one â he said, and ran off. "Things that happen," you said to yourself, thinking you wouldn't see him again.
âLa misma hora, el mismo boulevardâ
(Same time, same boulevard...)
You loved the fries there; they were great, nothing better than enjoying them after work. The weather was still terrible. And the bell announced a new customer. As you were eating a piece of steak, you denied in your thoughts, "who goes out to eat with this rain?"
â hey â you raised your gaze and struggled not to choke on your food. The guy from last time! Soaked by the rain like last time, but his shirt was clean and his curls tangled by the moisture. "He's handsome," you thought again.
You lost track of how much time you spent talking and flirting with each other. Leo was funny, intelligent, and stupidly handsome. "God, I have to stop thinking about this or I don't know what I'll do."
What you ended up doing was finishing with him in a bathroom stall at the diner; it was already night, and the place was very sparsely populated. The moans echoed, and the small taps against metal reverberated as you twisted against each other's touch. Leo had his fingers roaming under your shirt while kissing your neck effusively, leaving a trail of wet kisses and nibbles that would have to be covered with makeup. He pressed you against the stall, and your hands desperately sought something better to do than clenching every time he kissed a perfect spot, which was difficult because he had been at it for half an hour. Your fingertips played with the buckle of his belt, and you felt the smile he formed against your lips.
â So that's where we were headingâ he murmured in your ear with a raspy voice; a kiss on the collarbone made you tighten your grip on the metal piece.
That time it was in that place; the other times were in your apartment. The hours passed with you entwined with each other, giving each other the warmth that the weather outside couldn't provide while Leo whispered sweet things to you. You prayed it would never end, but you knew it wasn't possible; "how it begins, it ends," you thought.
You walked on the wet street. You covered your damp hair from the air to avoid catching a cold with the hood of your hoodie. Your hands brushed during the walk, and you tried to hook your pinky with his, you succeeded but Leo didn't make any gesture that pleased you, no other than the usual one. That uncomfortable smile with tired eyes.
That night would end, you knew it.
He wouldn't explain why, you knew it.
You wouldn't see him again, and you knew it.
Shit, you knew it.
âTĂş te vas y yo me quedo aquĂ...â
(you leave and i stay here)
You let go of his finger; he didn't try to stop it.
Stopped walking, and he leaned in to give you a kiss.
â see you â he murmured before pressing his lips on yours as he had done hundreds of times before.
You nodded and gave him another small kiss. You heard that phrase for a whole month, but tonight seemed different.
He walked away, leaving you there, and you never dared to ask why he always headed towards the same rooftop of an abandoned house with the Tabasco sauce bottle in his hand. He held onto that sauce tighter than he ever held you to keep you from leaving or to stay a little longer. Before he entered that house, you turned around and walked straight home.
The drops falling from your wet hair mingled with the drizzle that started, and then those drops of water mixed with your tears.
âlloverĂĄ y ya no serĂŠ tuya, serĂŠ la gata bajo la lluvia...â
(It will rain, and I won't be yours anymore, I'll be the cat in the rain...)
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Lost Hero XIV - Breisa
Heavy powers
Warnings: Cursing, teenagers being teenagers, angst, Gaea being a bitch
Word count: 1890
Summary: My burdens arenât easy to carry, that doesnât mean yours should be too
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Snow and sneakers donât mix. Breisa thought as she tread through the ice cold ground.Â
She had been searching for Leo for a good minute. Then snow wasnât making her move faster. She finally spotted him (with a bright flashlight?) , passed a chain link face with dozens of porta potties.
He stood over Festusâ who had landed on the blue plastic boxes and flattened them all. There were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage.Â
Breisa made her way through and tried not to breathe through her nose. Heavy snow was coming down, though it didnât seem to bother him.
âLeo!â She called.
He turned confused, and his eyes widened in panic.Â
Breisa was going to ask what was wrong. Then she noticed it⌠a little ball of fire sat in his palm.Â
âIâ youââ Leo stumbled over his words. He quickly extinguished the flames. âYou didnât see anything. Ok? And you can not tell anyone about this.â
âLeoââ Breisa started.
âNo! This isnât some joke or something you can hold against me! You have to promise you wonât say anything.â Leo was frantic. âAlright?â His voice wavered and he was trembling a bit.Â
Anxiety.
âI wonât say a word.â
Leo studied her for a good minute. She could not read his thoughts completely, but his internal battle was flickering towards anxiousness and relief. He was debating whether or not to trust her word.
âI promise.â Breisa put a hand over her heart.
He seemed at least satisfied with that. âWhat are you doing here anyways? You should be inside with them.â
âBecause I got tired of third wheeling for Jason and Piper.â She rolled her eyes. âI came here looking for you, dummy.â
âWhy?â Leo furrowed his eyebrows.
âWe're stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a creepy abandoned car plant.â Breisa gestured to the dragon, âFestus needs our help. And we need him if we want to go anywhere. I couldnât leave you alone to deal with this on your own. Even if we have our issues.â
Leo looked at her like she was crazy. He probably thought she was.
What kind of girl would risk their life in the middle of a blizzard, an exaggeration really , to look for him.
And then he shook his head.Â
âIf you die from frostbite, that's your own fault.â He leaned over Festus' head and turned to her. âYou gonna help or what?â
Breisa grinned.Â
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Leo had given a simple task. Hold the flashlight steady.
âAim it a little over here.â He said pointing at the square door control panel along the dragon's head.Â
She pointed the flashlight toward it.
âNo higher.âÂ
She moved it up.
âToo high.â
She lowered it.
âTo the right.â
âLeo!â Breisa grumbled.
He snickered under his breath. âThere is fine.â
Leo opened the control panel and he exhaled in disbelief. âOh, Festus, what the heck?âÂ
The tangled up wires inside were frozen over. There was a little cd looking disk charred and blackenedâ Breisa could make out some Greek letters but they were mostly blurred.
She guessed it wasnât a good thing, since Leo was muttering things to himself.
âNothing is unfixable.â He declared finally. âGimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrile gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent.â
 The tool belt obliged. And Leo began to work.
He started off cleaning off the control disk; he had to stop from time to time to summon fire and melt away snow. But mostly he went into autopilot mode, his hands working by themselves.
Leo was really in his element. But as he worked, his mind wanderedâthat wouldnât have been such a problem, if Breisa stupid power would just shut off.
Breisa couldnât exactly tell what he was thinkingâŚ
Well sort of. It was hard to explain.Â
 But back at the hotelâafter the whole argumentâthe spellbook had filled a new page. Glowing and all misty. Obviously she had to read it.Â
It sort of explained why she could feel strong emotions.
 She could connect to people through their emotionsâ an empathy link. People who had empathy links were most likely to have strong psyche.Â
The stronger the psyche, the stronger the empathic (even telepathic) powers a magic user has.
It wasnât much but it sort of made her understand herself.Â
Thatâs why she could sense Leoâs current anxiousness and self-pity.Â
âEnough, Valdez,â He scolded himself suddenly. âNobodyâs going to play any violins for you just because youâre not important. Fix the stupid dragon.â
âUm Leo?âÂ
He froze, remembering that he wasnât alone. He coughed awkwardly, â...I didnât mean to say that outloud.â
âAre you good?â She asked, fidgeting with her necklace.Â
âHmn? Oh yeah totally.â Leo dismissed and went back to working on the dragon. On the inside, his anxiousness spiked.Â
âYouâre lying again.âÂ
Leo stopped working.
Breisa hesitated, but remembered the embers on his palm. âIs that what you were trying to hideâŚthe fire?â
âI donât want to talk about it.â He grumbled.Â
She sighed, kicking at the melted puddles of snow. âWell youâre going to have to eventually.â
âWhy does it matter if I do talk about it or not?!â Leo snapped.
âBecause we have to settle this!â Breisa shouted.Â
Leo turned to her, all his emotions attacked her all at once. They were negative. But mainly resentment.
âLook, I know I said some hurtful things before. Or recently.â She sighed, âI know we arenât friends. But Iâm sorry. Even if you donât forgive me, Iâm sorry. And I can't let you hold this weight on your shoulders. No one should have to suffer like this.âÂ
Breisa could feel his emotions that spurred randomly slowed down to grief and anger.Â
âYou talk about it likeâŚâ Leo hesitated, âLike you knew about my powers. Before you caught me using them.â
Breisa breathed shakily. âI had an intuition about it. You were lying⌠You're emotions they tell so much.â
âMy emotions?â He was confused.Â
âJu-just let me show you.â She tread over to him, and got close. âUm, don't freak out.â
âWhy would I-â Leo cut himself off as Breisa grabbed his hand. He was getting flustered.Â
âYouâre embarrassed that Iâm holding your hand.âÂ
âW-well anyone would be I meanâŚhand holdingâŚâ He trailed off, his face burning.
âThink of something else. Think of Festus. How you saw him fall.â
Suddenly Leo was guilty.
âYou think itâs all your fault that Festus broke down, despite what Jason said âŚthat you couldnât fix him long enough to withstand the cold. That you could have done better.â
âHow did you?â Leo was stunned.
âI told you. Your emotions are strong.â Breisa half-frown. âI donât know why, but I can feel someone elseâs emotions. Itâs some weird empathy power. And when Iâm close or touching them I canâ
âDo this.â
He jumped back a bit.
âDid you justâin myâ in here?â He tapped his head as his eyes widened.Â
Breisa chewed her lips nervously and nodded.âThatâs how I knew about the fireâŚ.IâŚI read your mind by accident.â
âYou did what?!â Leo took his hand from hers. âWhy did you do that?!â
âIt wasnât on purpose, pendejo!â She huffed ashamed. âI had a vision of your powers, on our way to Boreas. And when we were in the hotelâwhen you were angry, it was just too much...The vision, I saw you and the machine shop.â
Leo stood quiet for a moment.
âSo whenever my emotions get too much. You can see what I am thinking about?â He asked after a minute, even though he already knew the answer.
âPretty much.â Breisa fiddled with her ring. âItâs not like I wanted to. But maybe I had to.â She shrugged. âPowers are difficult to have. And with my little experience or whatâs happened in my life with mine. I want to understand. And be better than how I was.â
Leo went quiet again. âBut why? I mean I wasn't any better. Iâm still not. So why would you want a truce or somethinâ?â
âSomething like that.â Breisa put simply. âAnd because of this odd little group we have. We need to stay together. Youâre just as important as everyone else.â
Youâre right, Breisa, A voice said.Â
Leo fumbled his brush and dropped it into the dragonâs head. Breisa felt her stomach twist.
This felt like the voice from the dream but this one had no accent and sounded more sinister.Â
They both turned to see who had spoken. Then they looked at the ground.
Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid.
A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth âthe giant face of a sleeping woman. She didnât exactly speak. Her lips didnât move.
But Breisa could hear her voice in her head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground into her skull.Â
You all need him desperately, She said. In some ways, he is the most important of the sevenâlike the control disk in the dragonâs brain. Without him, the power of the others means nothing. You will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.
âYou.â Leo was shaking so badly, it was hard to tell if it was from the earth or his own fear. âYou killed my mom.âÂ
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream.
Ah, but Leo. I am your mother tooâthe First Mother. You both shall not oppose me. I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.
Breisa thought, âLike hell we would do that.â
Dirt-fcae hummed, not exactly pleased.
You know little witch. You need these burdens to be eased. So fragile minded. So easy to lose control. You invade others' minds and space, what makes you think you can be a part of this? All that chaos in you, and your clueless to it allâ will be your downfall.
The necklace felt cold. It flickered with a purple glow. She felt the knots in her stomach squirm, and her hands began to shake as the ground rumbled with cracks around her sneakers.
âY-You donât know me! You wonât get in my head!â
Her sleepy smile grew wider.
Ah thatâs right. I will make sure she finishes the job..if you survive that long. But you wouldnât want that, would you? So both of you, walk away now let my son Porphyrion rise and become king.
Leo grabbed the nearest thing he could findâa Porta-Potty seatâ and threw it at the face. âLeave us alone!â
The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved.Â
Leo stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didnât.
He looked at Breisa to make sure Dirt-face was really gone and she nodded.Â
Then from the direction of the factory, a crashâlike two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard.Â
Instantly they knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble.Â
Walk away now, the voice had urged.Â
âNot likely,â Leo growled. âGimme the biggest hammer you got.âÂ
He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a three-pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato.Â
Breisa summoned her ax from the ring. In perfect size and condition. The bronze shone in the setting moonlight.Â
Together they ran from the wreckage and toward the warehouse.
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(A/N: Another chapter! Procrastistion be damn! I'm gonna try to be posting as often as I can no more cliffhangers. Also Happy Bleated Valentine's day <33!)
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