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

The Goblet

Leo POV

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Somehow, carrying Merrily doesn't seem all that awkward to me. It seriously should, considering she has a boyfriend. Who also happens to hate my guts. How are we all not dead by now?

Merrily is still awake, and squirming. A lot.

"Knock it off," I scowl playfully. "Or I'll drop you."

Merrily pouts adorably. "You wouldn't dare! I'm a fragile flower, if you must know!"

"Yes," I reply. "A fidgety, fragile flower who is going to get dropped by accident if she doesn't quit fidgeting."

"I'm ADHD," Merrily protests.

"So am I," I point out. "Yet, you don't see Festus dropping me because I'm fidgeting too much." Merrily rolls her eyes and shivers a bit, eventually pushing her face into my shirt. My hand is over the bullet wound, slowing the flow, but it's still taking it's toll on her. Merrily's face, which was already pale, like the moon on a clear night, looked more like Cristo shortening. "Merrily, c'mon, you gotta stay awake," I urge her.

"But I'm so tired," she murmurs, slurring her words a little. By this point, I'm a tad bit panicky. Okay, a lot panicky. I quicken my steps, and soon we're at the clearing where Festus was. I quickly lie her down on the grass. Her beautiful gray-blue eyes are fluttering, with her long, eyelashes with the fringe of black on the base of the lid, appearing prominently on her face.

"Okay, I'll need you to stay awake while I do this, okay?" She nods sleepily, giving me a light smile. From my toolbelt, I pull some antiseptic, bandages, gauze, several washrags, and a sewing needle and thread. Then, I grab a square of ambrosia. Hopefully, this works out the way I need it to. "I'm going to take off your shirt now," I tell her.

Merrily's eyes suddenly sharpen. "No!"

"This is the only way I can fix your shoulder," I explain.

"Nuh uh!" comes the stubborn answer. I rummage in my tool belt and find a thin, plastic tube and tape the sewing needle to the end.

"If you don't, I'll knock you out," i threaten, hoping the blood loss is still affecting her vision.

Merrily eyes the needle warily. "Fine. I can keep my tank top on, though, right?"

"Please do," I tell her. Gently, I pull off her shirt. Luckily, the bullet went through cleanly. It's disgusting, but still. I stuff a square of ambrosia into her mouth and watch the wound carefully. I sigh in relief as the wound begins closing from the back, until it's only a semi-deep half-circle. I soak one of the washrags in antiseptic, and without warning, begin to wipe the wound. Merrily groans, and I literally feel my heart wrench. Quickly finishing, I swiftly begin to sew the other washrags together and rip a good sized piece of gauze off of the small roll.

Then, once the washrags form a nice, firm makeshift sling, I wrap the gauze up tightly with the bandages and set her arm neatly in the sling. Once that's done, I let Merrily sip a bit more of nectar and she soon slips off to sleep.

While she's sleeping, I double check her back to make absolute sure it's completely closed up, but my breath catches in my throat. There's a neat 'F' scarred right next to her left shoulder blade and you can barely see an 'R' peeking out. Next to her right shoulder blade is a more wobbly 'K' with an 'A' poking out from behind her tank top. Gently, I pull down the back revealing what the entire word is. "FREAK".

Then, I set to work designing a safer way for Festus to carry Taylor so Ryan could actually sleep from time to time. It was a tiny little crook that'd be nestled into Festus's side with a secure door, that could only be opened by someone pulling on a string. So I called over Festus and got to work.