Bring It On, Valdez (Leo Valdez x Reader)

Chapter 44.

(A/N: all of you guys' little 'ily' comments make me really happy aww :D
and seriously
if any one of you ever want to message me
do it
you guys are rad)

Glitchy's Point of View (3rd):

"But it will be the last place you'll ever see in this world. Please, do prepare to die."

And that was the last thing they heard before all of the light drained out of the room.

Not a sound was heard. The demigods held their breath, using their other senses to detect movement.

Annabeth was the first to notice the smell of sulfur. It brought back bad memories of Tartarus, sending an unpleasant shiver down her spine.

Small, circular flecks of orange, fire-like light were scattered around the demigods, encasing them on all sides.

Eyes. They were eyes.

"Passage beyond this point is unacceptable," a loud, almost wheeze of a voice boomed from everywhere in the room. The eyes shifted around them.

The demigods shifted nervously, back to back in a circle.

When their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they could make out 10 figures surrounding them in a circle. The creatures' faces were gray and sagged like wrinkled and discolored laundry, mouths parted in a miserable expression. Their eyes flickered like candlelight, a sinister glow that pierced into them like the sharpest of knives.

Black and tattered bat wings sprouted from their backs, keeping them a few feet off the ground as they circled the demigods.

"We are the aurai," the unified, monotonous voice boomed from overhead. "And we will make you suffer."

Annabeth growled. "I thought they weren't supposed to leave Tartarus."

"Well," the same sickeningly sweet female voice, who most likely is Eris, snickered around them. "When your mother is the goddess of creation, you get to bend the rules a bit. This'll show mother that I am her darkest child. Pure, unruly, and pointless chaos."

And with a collective wail from the aurai, all hell broke loose.
~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~

"You're a what, now?"

The elvish-looking boy, who you've finally decided to refer to as Leo, gave you a sheepish smile and twiddled his thumbs.

"A demigod, yeah," he scratched the back of his head.

You deadpanned. "A demigod," you repeated, your voice low and skeptical. You crossed your arms over your chest, rolling your eyes. "Yeah, and I'm a mermaid. Tell me the truth."

Leo sighed with a slight smile. You were always a bit stubborn. He didn't know what he was expecting, but he was happy to have you next to him--
Even if you didn't remember him.

"I don't know why I would lie about that," he chuckled. "It's so far-fetched sounding. But it's true."

You were taken aback. He had a point, there. If he were lying, why would he use that as a cover? It's barely believable.

Wait, so he's a demigod?

You furrowed your eyebrows in irritation. The back of your head pounded slightly, reacting to the new information. It was like a piece of your lost memory was trying to bust it's way out, to no avail.

For the time being, you decided to humor the lunatic.

"Who's your godly parent-thing, then?"

Leo looked a little confused. You had just taken in a bit of heavy information, and you're cool with it?

You always were open for the impossible, he remembered.

"Hephaestus," Leo said. "God of blacksmiths. I'm just a mechanic," he said sheepishly, offering a small smile.

You snorted in disbelief. "Just a mechanic? Dude, you're the kid of a god. That's more than most can say. And I bet you can do a lot more than just fix things."

Leo's smiled grew. You still believed in him. It got his hopes up higher.

Come on, guys, he thought.
You can do this.

A screeching sound, faint and high-pitched, sounded from the direction Percy and the others went.

You're head snapped up, ears straining to hear the quiet noise. "What was that?" You look to Leo. A little color had drained from his face.

"I don't know," he shifted nervously.

"But it's probably trying to kill our friends."