𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

the party dragon

LEO VALDEZ
FOR LEO, IT was a matter of impulse.

Leo had almost finished attaching Festus's right wing when he heard a shout. He turned toward the open door of Bunker 9, which he had opened for some cool night air. Work was hard.

The scream sounded suspiciously familiar. Almost like... how Erith's found sounded. Soft but cold, like she could freeze you with a word.

Not that Erith was the screaming type, he thought as he slid down from his place on the dragon. He hit the dirty floor with a thump, bending his knees so his legs didn't break. His boots made dust shoot up from the ground.

And then he was out, running through the woods, hoping against hope he wasn't too late.

Now, you might be thinking, how did Leo feel about Erith? Oh, she was totally his type. Cold? Yep! Distant? Precisely. Looked like she was annoyed with everything he did? Oh, yeah, he was into her.

But the thing with Leo is he tried to never get too attached to anyone. He was used to running, and this, he told himself, wouldn't be any different.

He got himself lost too easily, and he would've spent the rest of his night―or, early morning at this point―stumbling through the woods if not for the burst of light to his right, piercing white and yellow.

He turned and ran, feet pounding through the dirt. And then, from a distance, he saw her, barely. She was fighting a monster.

And then, the strangest things happened. She pointed her palms out and let out a determined shout. The white-yellow light fired from her palms, but she missed the monster, scorching a tree. She stumbled backwards.

Leo didn't think, he acted. "Erith, hit the ground!" he shouted.

Erith looked at him and then did, falling hard. He wasn't even sure it was intention on her part, but he had no time to question it. He summoned a fireball, focused on the monster, and aimed, throwing with all his might.

The monster disintegrated into ash with a soft hiss, like fire being put out by water.

Leo stood there, panting, only then realizing his hand was still on fire. Erith, still on the ground, raised her head, staring at him. It was too dark to see her expression.

He walked towards her, shaking from fear. He wasn't quite sure why, though―was it because he had just killed something, or because she had been in danger, or because she knew his secret now? Probably a mix of all three, he figured.

She was shakily getting to her feet when he reached her, brushing her jeans off. He could see her face now: an odd mix of curiosity and fear, which was... different. He hadn't seen such clear emotions on her face since he had met her, which, granted, hadn't been that long ago, but still. It was almost unnerving.

Finally, he spoke. "Are you alright?"

Erith grabbed his hand gently, and he tried to ignore how her hand felt against his―cool. Her fingers traced the lines of his palm. His heart was racing.

Finally, she said, "You can summon fire." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"I don't―I don't know what you mean." He stuttered, nervous.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Then what happened to that monster?"

"Uh―that was a flamethrower."

"A flamethrower." An ironic smile found its way to her face. "Please, Leo, show me this flamethrower."

"I, uh, dropped it. It's over here." He sprinted a few paces ahead of her into the dark, then reached into the toolbelt he had found. Flamethrower, flamethrower, please, he begged it.