safe || leo valdez x oc

ninety: aruna tries to have a dance battle with a demon

ARUNA

~•♡•~

Aruna hated herself for being such a fuck up. Why couldn't she just listen to Nico, and not pay attention to voices? Why couldn't she just use her head for once? Why couldn't she follow simple orders?

The Cyclops didn't bother grabbing her and trying to fight her. He simply sat there, still smiling down at Aruna as she sat on her bottom, wallowing in her own self-pity.

"Why?" she said softly.

"Mother Gaea does not like you!" This time, the Cyclops used his real voice. To Aruna's surprise, it reminded her of a boy just before puberty; kind of nasally, like he had something in his throat. "She says you have... how should I put it so your mortal brain understands?"

Aruna glared at the Cyclops as he gleamed.

"You have fucked up the plans!"

"How so?" Aruna asked. At the Cyclops's side, resting on the ground, a large axe was shining.

"Well, you were supposed to make the other boy join you," the Cyclops said as he crouched to sit on a pile of crates (were they filled with food? the bones of the dead? explosives?). "What is his name? I do not remember. But, Mother Gaea was supposed to break your mind, and make you join her! And, you were supposed to bring the wee boy with curly hair with you. Instead, you brought the boy to the gods' side. This was not supposed to happen."

Aruna laughed a little and looked away. "I thought about it, to be honest."

"Interesting. Why did you change your mind?" the Cyclops asked as he leaned in. For some reason, Aruna was detecting a genuine curiosity from him.

She decided to humor him. "Well, if there are no mortals left on earth- Gaea wants to kill them all, y'know- I don't think I want to linger. I'd rather be peaceful living in a world full of mortals, even though I dislike most of them."

The Cyclops hummed as he began tapping his foot. "I don't understand that."

"Well, if all the Cyclopes were taken out of the world, wouldn't you be sad?" Aruna pointed out.

The Cyclops shrugged. "My brethren do not care for me. They say I am too small."

He was over ten feet tall, but Aruna chose not to mention that. "What's your name?"

"Pike."

How depressing. "Well. I guess you know who I am."

Pike nodded. "Yup. Mother Gaea does not like you!"

"I am aware," Aruna gritted. "So, Pike, why am I here? Why aren't you killing me?"

"Mother Gaea says I do not have to kill you immediately," Pike explained. "She says I should keep you alive, show you the bodies of everyone else, and then allow your gift to kill you. Until then; do you have any hobbies?"

"I like to read." Aruna figured if death was imminent, she may as well engage in something else to distract herself. After all, this was, in fact, her own fault.