The Wants of a Young Demigod Heart (Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez x OC)

A Girl on Fire

Leo POV

Warning: Self-harm scenes. Do not read if you are sensitive to things like this.

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"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING EVANS?" Will yells, jolting me out of my sleep.  Now, why I can't wake up in a normal way for once is beyond me. Cabin Nine is the closest to the infirmary, so this morning, I wake up to the sounds of Will's angry voice. "GET OUT MERRILY!" 

Merrily? Why would Will be yelling at her? I leap out of my bed and pull on a new shirt, then race out of the door. Upon arriving at the infirmary, I see Merrily and Nico in the same bed (fully clothed, thank the gods) and a very angry Will standing over the two with a vicious looking syringe in his hand. 

"Listen, Will," Nico is saying. "She just fell asleep. It's no biggie."

"No biggie?" Will shrieks. "You need your rest! You shouldn't be playing Cuddle Bears with Merrily here." Nico turns a light shade of pink and Merrily buries her head in Nico's chest. Suddenly, I feel a surge of jealousy, though I don't know why. I decide to break up the argument. 

"Yo, Will!" I say, plastering a fake grin on my face. "Listen, Super Sized McShizzle over here needs his beauty sleep, as does the rest of the camp, so could you keep it down Doc?"

Will has the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry man," he says. I flash him a grin and then leave, the smile sliding off my face. Last night's dreams had been horrible. Mi mami's death had replayed over and over again along with Tia Rosa's words. Diablo. I give an involuntary shudder and make my way down to Bunker Nine. 

Now, back to that feeling of jealousy. Why had I felt that way? It was far too soon after Calypso had died at the hands of Zeus, angry because she had escaped. My heart hurts at the thought, even though it has been almost a year. Yet. 

Merrily isn't like Calypso at all. Calypso had been practical and very even-tempered and always had an aura of melancholy about her. Merrily, on the other hand, is always buoyant and happy with life. To be honest, she reminds me of myself when I'm sad. Don't ask. 

Then I realize something. Merrily hadn't been wearing armor at Capture the Flag. Probably because she couldn't find anything that fit and allowed her to move her arms freely. I could understand that. At maybe 5, 2, there was hardly any armor that might fit her. 

I peer over the various blueprints on my walls. At present, I don't have any projects that necessarily need to be worked on. Yes, I have a few personal future projects that I should be working on; for instance, Piper's Christmas gift (not that she'd even care). I might as well make Merrily a tiny gift. Plus, I feel kind of guilty that none of us heard when she cried for help. 

So, I begin roughly outlining the armor, using the basic image I have of Merrily in my head. The armor would be somewhat slender, to accentuate her height and body type, yet strong enough to hopefully withstand a sword. 

After I make the blueprint, I pin it up on my wall and go and rummage through the various materials I have at hand. Screws, giant springs, molds of Festus's head, a random brick, a part of a quartz column... And finally, some metal. I throw aside the Stygian iron. That would be used for Nico's Christmas gift later. Imperial gold? No, that wouldn't work. Finally, I find a twisted and melted glob of iron and Celestial Bronze. 

Inspired, I begin to build.

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I wipe the sweat and soot off of my face and lean back to admire my work. The part of the armor I can see is mostly silver, due to it being iron. However, the core of the armor is pure Celestial Bronze, which shows on the surface in small tendrils and coils.