𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xiv ━━ you holy ghost (you told me i was the love of your life)

05. chapter fourteen

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

I WENT TO SEE THE ROMANS OFF THE NEXT MORNING.

It was sad to know that they were leaving. Things were ending. The war was over. Everybody was moving on, but I couldn't. The war wasn't over to me.

When I hugged Hazel goodbye, I didn't want to let go. Since the end of December last year, I had seen Hazel multiple times a month. The past two months, we spent every day together on the Argo II. I feared if I let her go, I'd never see her again.

Hazel ultimately pulled away. She held on to my arms firmly. "You're going to visit us. We'll visit you too. You'll tell me if anything is wrong. I'm always here to talk to if—"

"I love you," I blurted.

Hazel's eyes softened. She abruptly pulled me back into a hug, squeezing my ribs. I didn't say anything because I was just so grateful she was still here.

"I love you so much," Hazel breathed. "I'm going to miss you. You're the best sort-of-sister I could ever ask for."

"I don't think she can breathe, Hazel," Frank cut in. "Her face is turning red."

Hazel let go of me. "Sorry."

I smiled. The intent was for it to look happy, but I'm pretty sure it was more wistful.

Hazel grabbed my wrist and pulled me a few feet away from the rest of the Romans and Greeks.

Her gaze was intense and she lowered her voice."You weren't being serious about giving Hades a piece of your mind, right?" she asked, but it sounded more like a beg.

Everybody had speculated what happened to Leo. For the past two days, Leo's death had hovered over the camp like a cloud. It didn't hover over me, instead it suffocated me like I was being buried alive.

"Leo's death was different," I stated. The words felt alien in my mouth. "I'm gonna find out why."

Hazel gave me a look like she knew something terrible that I didn't. She looked like she felt bad for me. "Oh, Millie... be careful. Please."

"I know what I'm doing," I lied. "You don't have to worry about me."

"Just... don't think you have to do anything alone, okay? You have me, Nico, Frank, all the others. We'd drop everything to help you. I don't know what you're planning, but you can't do it alone."

I thought about all those times Leo had deflected the same sort of conversation and how angry it made me. I understood what he was thinking now.

"It'll be okay, Hazel." My voice sounded strange and weak. I think I was trying to convince myself more so than I was Hazel.

She pulled me in for a hug. I buried my face in her shoulder. It felt like a refreshing and comfortable bath after years of being on my feet.

When she pulled away, she held my hands. Her golden eyes locked in on mine. "He really did love you, you know."

The flood gates opened and I burst into tears again. I hid my face in my hands, but Hazel pulled me in and hugged me again and didn't say anything. I preferred it that way.