Warriors || Leo Valdez [2]

23

Alex was woken up by Jason who was fighting a smile. 

"We've set back on water- your turn" He looked exhausted but gave Alex a small smile. "And you're lucky I didn't send Percy to get you"

"I hate you, and Leo didn't even sleep did he?" 

"Nope, he doesn't want anymore shrimpzilla attacks" 

Alex stood on deck, with Percy, Annabeth and Leo who was still manning the helm. He must have been shattered, but he refused to go to sleep.

Alex made her way to Leo. "Morning" she mumbled. 

Leo hummed in response. 

Alex didn't like this guilty version of him, he was much more serious, and blaming things on himself. They'd all tried to convince Leo that the skolopendra attack hadn't been entirely his fault, but he wouldn't listen

It was about four in the morning. The weather was miserable. The fog was so thick, Alex couldn't see Festus at the end of the prow, and warm drizzle hung in the air like a bead curtain. As they sailed into twenty-foot swells, the sea heaving underneath them, Alex could hear poor Hazel down in her cabin... also heaving.

Despite all that, Alex was grateful to be back on the water. She preferred it to flying through storm clouds and being attacked by man-eating birds and enchilada-trampling pegasi.

"You think we'll be okay by the end of the quest?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I'm not letting any one on this ship die" 

"That's not what I meant" Alex sighed, she cupped his face with her hands and forced him to look at her. His brown eyes found hers which were almost grayish now- just like the water around them. "I'm talking about you and me."

Leo sighed and Alex immediately knew he was going to change the topic. "Do you like being a demigod?"

Alex thought about it before answering, "No, not always... I mean yeah I have powers but- Sometimes it doesn't feel worth it. All this fighting and constant risk"

"But if that's all it takes to keep you around me- I'd do it every single day" Leo whispered. 

Butterflies errupted in Alex's stomach. She couldn't believe still that she had Leo, he was hers and she was his."Why do you say stuff like that?" 

"Stuff like what?"

"Stuff that makes me want to kiss you" Alex said. Leo smirked and glanced at her. She wasn't wearing anything special, a camp half blood t-shirt and shorts, her hair was a tangled mess over her shoulders but she looked breathtaking. 

He motioned for her to stand in front of him, and she obliged. She passed her hair tie to him and he worked his way through her hair, pulling it into a a pony tail. 

He spun her around and pulled her into a hug. "We're gonna be okay"

Leo was warm and familiar. He felt solid and safe. Alex wanted to cling to his t-shirt, bury her face in the crook of his neck and forget about the world. She knew it was selfish of her, but she wished she wasn't a demigod. 

They broke apart when Percy cleared his throat and Annabeth hit him gently. Alex chuckled when Percy whined and stared into the fog. She couldn't see anything around them, but somehow she knew the exact latitude and longitude, she knew the depth of the ocean and which way the currents were flowing. She knew the ship's speed, and could sense no rocks, sandbars, or other natural dangers in their path. Still, being blind was unsettling.

They hadn't been attacked since they had touched the water, but the sea seemed different. Different than any other water body she had encountered, it felt more ancient and powerful. Alex could sense its layers swirling below her. Every Greek or Roman hero had sailed these waters-from Hercules to Aeneas. Monsters still dwelt in the depths, so deeply wrapped in the Mist that they slept most of the time; but Alex could feel them stirring, responding to the Celestial bronze hull of a Greek trireme and the presence of demigod blood.