safe || leo valdez x oc

thirty-seven: hazel fears aruna and her lust for revenge

HAZEL

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hazel was starting to feel vastly uncomfortable. even though she was riding arion, who she could now regard as a friend, it wasn't very pleasant with aruna right behind her, and leo just behind aruna.

hazel harbored no dislike towards either demigod. but leo... he looked so much like sammy, it was hurting hazel. and to make matters worse, aruna was an absolutely terrifying demigod in hazel's eyes. the girl managed to make eating noodles while wrapped up in a tiger blanket with a strange pillow with young boys on it look menacing. her eyes were pale as a silver arrow, cutting through you with a glance, but they glinted a dark sort of pain hazel could only hope aruna would never inflict upon her. if her intuition was right, aruna was a force to be reckoned with.

to hazel, aruna rodrigo had a very similar feel as jason grace, nico di angelo, and percy jackson. all four of them eminated some sort of power, which hazel found somewhat odd. from what she knew, luna wasn't exactly a very prominent goddess. in fact, the myths showed luna as a rather peaceful goddess, more for loving than fighting.

aruna was nothing like her mother in that regard. everything about this girl screamed danger. she didn't radiate the aura of a leader the way jason and percy did. jason and percy carried a sort of leadership aura to them. they carried themselves with confidence, almost compelling you to acknowledge them as leaders.

aruna was similar to nico. she seemed to be an outlier, with a dark presence that radiated pain, death, and power. neither seemed too eager on stepping into the role of a leader. neither seemed very social, or interested in much of anything other than their own devices- or, food, in aruna's case. but as soon as those kids stepped into the spotlight, everyone wanted to back away. hazel hadn't even seen aruna in battle, but she almost didn't want to.

aruna, however, had something none of the boys had. jason and percy were positive leaders, like a good general or genial president. nico could command, and people would listen, but he was not a leader.

but aruna... hazel felt like aruna would be a very talented dictator.

she had something about her that made others fearful. hazel was almost jumping out of her skin when aruna had joined her in retrieving a shirt of nico's. frank seemed jittery, especially when aruna was sizing him up at the table. percy made a point of not understanding what aruna might be capable of. but aruna had that same quiet, brooding expression as hazel's own brother; she had experienced a lifetime of pain, and she wasn't afraid to inflict some very serious damage.

which is part of why hazel wondered how she could be attracted to someone like leo. aruna was so mysterious and seemed to give everyone the evil-eye (did she mean it? did she not?), while leo was friendly and jittery all the time. to make matters worse, hazel had a feeling leo was all over aruna.

hazel felt so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn't enjoy riding arion as much as she usually did. the mist that kicked up from his lightning tread on the water seemed insignificant to the daughter of pluto. she felt immensenly focused on aruna's arm around her waist, which was necessary as it was the only way for aruna to stay on the horse. she feared aruna would suddenly say, death to the girl and throw her halfway across the lake.

before they had left the ship, percy had pulled leo aside and explained hazel's story. hazel opted to tell aruna face-to-face.