safe || leo valdez x oc

sixty-one: archimedes was kinda cool, shame he invented math

LEO

~•♡•~

leo froze at aruna's words, the color draining from his face. hazel and frank paused too, both looking to aruna and leo.

aruna stood up, her eyes still set on the papers she clutched. leo barely moved as she walked past him, her body lightly brushing his chest. his eyes lazily followed her as she moved to the center of the room.

"did- did i hear that right?" frank asked as he pointed at aruna.

"her name was lena..." aruna mumbled as she went to the next paper. leo stepped forward, and she handed the previous one to him to look at.

leo felt frozen. he didn't like the resemblance. archimedes looked scrawny, with unruly hair and a grin that seemed tiring. the girl had skin the color of moonlight, her hair uniquely straight and black. even though her eyes were painted with the wrong color, leo knew that they were as silver as the bands on aruna's wrists- as silver as aruna's eyes. her smile was more gentle, more reserved. the boy seemed carefree and happy, while she seemed so much more calm.

"lena?" frank asked as he peeked over leo's head to look at the picture (gods, that was demeaning). "i never heard anything about archimedes having a girlfriend or something."

"nobody knows." leo said as he handed frank and hazel the picture to look at. "nobody knows anything except some of his achievements, and who his father was. other than that, nobody knows if he got married, or had children. nobody knows who his mother was or if he had siblings. his entire personal life is a mystery."

"i guess that's why nobody's ever heard of her." aruna said as her eyes scanned another paper like she was reading it. "but- but they seemed to be dating. maybe married, but they look so young..."

"can you find anything personal out?" hazel asked. "from this stuff?"

aruna shook her head. "no, but she was here later in his life if this stuff is here. one of the writings was clearly by older teenagers, maybe adults, not kids. and her paintings get more complex as i go on, like she'd matured artistically with age. but... there are only paintings of him. that's the only one of her."

"what kind of paintings?" leo gulped.

"of him working, mostly." aruna explained. "most of the time, he isn't looking at her. he's focused on something on a desk, or sometimes a machine in most of them. all she does is date them without a year, or make remarks about how... how she can't get his features right." she froze suddenly.

"what?" hazel asked, her voice full of worry.

aruna looked up, her face bleak.

"she died before him." she said.

"how did archimedes die?" hazel asked curiously.

leo sighed.

"a roman soldier stabbed him with his sword." he answered blankly, his tone lacking any sort of emotion. in a way, that was what made it seem so powerful.

"this is his writing." aruna explained. "she... she was killed by a demigod. but- dammit, the paper's all ripped. i can't read who it was. but she died a little less than sixty years before he did. leo, when did archimedes die?"