My story | PJO x male reader

Chapter 7: Harmonious Dissonance

I spiraled through the dark. My hands clambered around, hoping—praying for something to hold onto, thankfully it found hard scale.

"What happened?" I screamed, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

But nothing. Both of them were gone. Far below, two figures tumbled through the dark sky, faintly screaming.

Fantastic.

I tried to make the dragon dive, but he was screwed up too. Spinning into an uncontrolled freefall. His wings were limp, orange fire flickering in his mouth like a faulty lightbulb.

I could feel my heart beating faster and faster. "Alright, let's go dragon! Let's go!" But it didn't work.

My grip loosened. The wind stung my eyes, but I managed to crawl up to the dragon's head.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I started screaming as hard as I could. To the point that my vocal cords felt like tearing. To the point that a knot started forming in my chest. And that my hands tingled with pain. "WAKE! UP!"

And just like that he jolted back to life.

I...his speech slurred. What—

"Dive!" I commanded.

Don't tell me what to do, Child! But, still, he curled his wings in and rocketed to the ground.

The wind immediately snatched my breath away. My eyes watered, tear streaks ran sideways across my face, and the scales felt like they were cutting into my hands from how hard I was holding them.

We broke through cloud after cloud, the red raindrops freezing onto the beast's horns.

The dragon's wings beat in a steady rhythm, propelling us downward. I leaned forward and managed to spot them. We were getting closer, but so was the ground. We had to do something, and Orion was the closest.

"Go for him!"

Orion tumbled through the sky. Our dragon managed to pullup right beside him. I reached out, straining against the force of the dive. My fingers brushed against his clothes, but it wasn't enough. So, on his next roll through the sky, I caught his bow and yanked him on.

He was knocked out cold, but I couldn't worry about that now.

"Go for the other one!"

So, he dived once more. Only this time, I made the mistake of taking my eyes off Lelantos and seeing the ground.

It was perilously close. And now, I could see tall grasses and red flowers looming like a deadly embrace.

My hands went numb, and my fingers cold. My brain felt like it was shutting down from overload.

The only thing that brought me back was Lelantos' scream.

"If I have to reform for another century because of some fu—"

"Grab my hand!" I yelled

He spun randomly. His hands flailed out in all directions, but he didn't seem to find it or even see it. I needed to get closer.

The ground kept rising. Three seconds at best. So I got desperate and tried the dumbest idea ever: I jumped off.

My leap almost missed him. I barely managed to grab a chink in his chest plate and hold on for dear life.

"What are you doing?" he yelled. "You're gonna get yourself killed."

"Not yet!" I glimpsed my shoes and screamed, "Maia!"

The wings on my shoes sprouted to life. But the slow to the fall meant that Lelantos' full weight scorched up both my arms.

He felt like he weighed a truckload. I leaned back as far as I could. The wings kicked and kicked, but it didn't seem to be enough.