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[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Lost hero XV -Leo & Breisa

A sense of impeding doom

Warnings: Cursing, monsters, near death experiences, fire, canon typical violence (not graphic), teenagers being teenagers, first heroic experiences

Word count: 4k words

Summary: Cyclops…Why did it have to be cyclops?

—

Leo stopped at the door and tried to control breathing. 

The voice of the earth woman rang in his ears, reminding him of that night. The last thing he wanted was to plunge into another dark warehouse. 

Like he was eight years old all over again—alone, small, and helpless as people he cared about were trapped inside and in trouble. 

“Oye, nada de eso.” Breisa said. “Don’t let her get to you. Alright? We got this.” She was shaking, but she held her own ground.

 That didn’t make him any less scared. But it gave him enough courage– he breathed and creaked the door open. 

Together they peered inside. 

Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few light bulbs buzzed, but most of the factory floor was still covered in shadows. But he was able to make out the catwalk above with shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of his friends. 

Leo almost called out, but something stopped him—a sense he couldn’t identify. Then he realized it was a smell. 

Something smelled wrong—like burning motor oil and sour breath. Something not human was inside the factory.

Leo was certain. His body shifted into high gear, all his nerves tingling.

 Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper’s voice cried out: “Leo, Breisa! help!” 

Breisa held a finger to her lips. Her voice rang in his mind, ‘She couldn’t have gone off the catwalk. Not with a broken ankle.’

They slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. 

Slowly, with weapons in hand, they inching toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis.

Finally, they reached the assembly line, crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm.

 Piper’s voice called out again: “Leo? Breisa?” Less certain this time, but very close. 

They peeked around the crane. 

Hanging directly above the other side of the assembly line was a massive truck engine—just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned. 

Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. 

Beside the forklifts dangling from chains, on another crane, were two smaller shapes—maybe more engines. One of them was wriggling around as if it were alive. 

Breisa held a hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

Then one of the forklift shapes rose, and Leo realized it was a humanoid of massive size.

 “Told you it was nothing,” the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human. 

The other forklift-sized lump shifted. It called out in Piper’s voice: “Leo, help me! Help—” Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. “Bah, there’s nobody out there. No demigods could be that quiet, eh?”

The first monster chuckled. “Probably ran away, if they know what’s good for them. Or the girl was lying about the demigods. Let’s get cooking.” 

Snap. 

A bright orange light sizzled to life—an emergency flare—and Leo was temporarily blinded. He ducked behind the crane until the spots cleared from his eyes. 

‘Santa madre de los dioses.’ Breisa’s thoughts flood rushed him. She was still looking over the crane.

Then he took another peep and saw a nightmare scene.

The two smaller things dangling from the crane arm weren’t engines. They were Jason and Piper. Both hung upside down, tied by their ankles and cocooned with chains up to their necks. 

Piper was wriggling around, trying to free herself. Her mouth was gagged, but at least she was alive.  

Jason didn’t look so good. He hung limply, his eyes rolled up. A red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow. 

On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. Which, from the smell of it, had been doused in kerosene.

A big metal pole was suspended over the flames—a spit, Leo realized.

‘They're gonna cook them alive!’ Breisa’s eyes stayed on the creatures as she gripped her weapon. 

He looked at the creatures and almost choked. 

They were most terrifying.

Monocle Motors: that single red eye logo. 

Why hadn’t Leo realized? 

Three massive humanoids gathered around the fire. Two were standing, stoking the flames. The largest one crouched with his backside facing Breisa and Leo. They were each ten feet tall, with hairy muscular bodies and skin that glowed red in the firelight. One of the monsters wore a chainmail loincloth that looked really uncomfortable. 

The other wore a ragged fuzzy toga made of fiberglass insulation, which also would not have made Leo’s top ten wardrobe ideas.

The two monsters could’ve been twins. Each had a brutish face with a single eye in the center of his forehead. 

The cooks were Cyclopes. 

Leo felt his legs shaking. He’d seen some weird things so far—storm spirits, magic girls, winged gods, and a metal dragon that liked Tabasco sauce. 

But this was different.

These were actual, flesh-and-blood, ten-foot-tall living monsters who wanted to eat his friends for dinner.

He was so terrified he could hardly think.

If only they had Festus. They could use a fire-breathing sixty-foot-long tank about now. 

But all he had was a tool belt and a backpack. His three-pound club hammer looked awfully small compared to those Cyclopes. No better than Breisa’s ax— a mere kitchen knife.

This is what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted Leo to walk away and leave his friends to die. 

That decided it. No way was Leo going to let that earth lady make him feel powerless—never again. Leo slipped off his backpack and quietly started to unzip it. 

The Cyclops in the loincloth walked over to Piper, who squirmed and tried to head-butt him in the eye.

She was fierce, even in the worst possible situation— Breisa respected that.

 “Can I take her gag off now? I like it when they scream.” 

The question was directed at the third Cyclops, apparently the leader. The crouching figure grunted, and Loincloth ripped the gag off Piper’s mouth. 

She didn’t scream. She took a shaky breath like she was trying to keep herself calm. 

Meanwhile, Leo found what he wanted in the pack: a stack of tiny remote control units that he founded in bunker 9.

‘'¡¿Qué estás haciendo?!’ Breisa telepathically asked.

‘Improvising’ He remarked–feeling around the robotic crane and propped open a maintenance panel. 

He slipped a screwdriver from his tool belt and went to work, but he had to go slowly.

The leader Cyclops was only twenty feet in front of him. The monsters obviously had excellent senses.

Pulling off his plan without making noise seemed impossible, but he didn’t have much choice. 

‘Keep an eye out or something.’ 

‘This is crazy.’ She grumbled but kept her ax ready.

The Cyclops in the toga poked at the fire, that billowed noxious black smoke into the ceiling.

His buddy Loincloth glowered at Piper, waiting for her to do something entertaining. “Scream, girl! I like funny screaming!”

When Piper finally spoke; her tone was calm and reasonable, like she was scolding a naughty puppy. “Oh, Mr. Cyclops, you don’t want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go.” 

Loincloth scratched his ugly head. He turned to his friend in the fiberglass toga. 

“She’s kind of pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go.” 

Torque, the dude in the toga, growled. “I saw her first, Sump. I’ll let her go!” 

Sump and Torque started to argue. But then the third Cyclops rose and shouted, “Fools!” 

Leo almost dropped his screwdriver. Breisa's ax slipped. 

The third Cyclops was a female.

 She was several feet taller than Torque or Sump, and even beefier. She wore a chain mail-like sack dress that Leo’s crazy mean Tía Rosa used have—a muumuu.

Her greasy black hair was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers. Her nose and mouth were thick— and mashed together, like she spent her free time ramming her face into walls; but her single red eye glittered with evil intelligence.

The woman Cyclops stalked over to Sump and pushed him aside, knocking him over the conveyor belt. Torque backed up quickly. 

“The girl is Venus spawn,” the lady Cyclops snarled. “She’s using charmspeak on you.” 

Piper started to say, “Please, ma’am—” 

The lady Cyclops grabbed Piper around the waist. “Don’t try your pretty talk on me, girl! I’m Ma Gasket! I’ve eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!” 

‘Probably more than heroes.’ Breisa thought.

Leo grumbled ‘Shut up. Genius at work here.”

With furious concentration, he was able to twist wires and turn switches: hardly thinking about what he was doing. He finished attaching the remote. Then he crept over to the next robotic arm, Breisa following beside him, as the Cyclopes were talking. 

“—eat her last, Ma?” Sump was saying. 

“Idiot!” Ma Gasket yelled, and Leo realized Sump and Torque must be her sons. If so, ugly definitely ran in the family. “I should’ve thrown you out on the streets when you were babies, like proper Cyclops children. You might have learned some useful skills. Curse my soft heart that I kept you!” 

“Soft heart?” Torque muttered. 

“What was that, you ingrate?” 

“Nothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenails—” 

Ugh Breisa gagged mentally

“And you should be grateful!” Ma Gasket bellowed. “Now, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot, my case of salsa is in the other warehouse. Don’t tell me you expect me to eat these demigods without salsa!” 

“Yes, Ma,” Sump said. “I mean no, Ma. I mean—”

“Go get it!” Ma Gasket picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sump’s head. Sump crumpled to his knees. 

Both Leo and Breisa winced at the sound, but Sump apparently got hit by trucks a lot. He managed to push the chassis off his head. Then he staggered to his feet and ran off to fetch the salsa. 

‘Now’s the time’, Leo thought. ‘While they’re separated.’

‘On it.’ Breisa sheathed her ax on her belt loops.

‘What are you—?’ He huffed as finished wiring the second machine.

‘Improvising.’ She looked at any opening between robotic cranes or Cyclopes— and she spotted it! ‘I got Piper and Jason.’

Breisa crept behind the robotic arms onto the stacks of crates. She climbed and jumped quietly onto each stack, from a distance it looked like stairs.

Leo realized she was aiming for the catwalk.

He then dashed between robotic arms, the Cyclopes didn’t see him, but Piper did. Her expression turned from terror to disbelief, and she gasped.

Ma Gasket turned to her. “What’s the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?”

Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away and said, “I think it’s my ribs, ma’am. If I’m busted up inside, I’ll taste terrible.”

Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter. “Good one. The last hero we ate— remember him, Torque? Son of Mercury, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, Ma,” Torque said. “Tasty. Little bit stringy.”

“He tried a trick like that. Said he was on medication. But he tasted fine!”

“Tasted like mutton,” Torque recalled. “Purple shirt. Talked in Latin. Yes, a bit stringy, but good.”

Leo’s fingers froze on the panel. Breisa halted on the bars, hanging low from the catwalk. 

Apparently, Piper was having the same thought, because she asked, “Purple shirt? Latin?”

“Good eating,” Ma Gasket said fondly. “Point is, girl, we’re not as dumb as people think! We’re not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not us northern Cyclopes.”

Leo forced his focus back on the panel, but his mind was racing. A kid who spoke Latin had been caught here—in a purple shirt like Jason’s? That could everything or nothing at all, but he had to leave the interrogation to Piper. 

If he was going to have any chance of defeating these monsters, he had to move fast before Sump came back.

He looked up seeing Breisa doing a pull-up onto the walk, laying flat for balance.

She crawled on belly—trying not to be seen— to the cocoon chains.

 Leo noticed a few inches away from the catwalk an engine was hanging right above the Cyclopes’ campsite. He wished he could use that—it would make a great weapon. 

But the crane holding it was on the opposite side of the conveyor belt. 

There was no way Leo could get over there without being seen, and besides, he was running short on time. He hoped Breisa could reach Jason and Piper before him.

From above he heard a creeek then the metal piece fell right beside him with a clang! 

Leo was out of the way, luckily— the metal rod would have impaled him from the back. 

What the fuck is she doing?! 

He glanced again— the catwalk swaying sideways. Breisa gripping onto the railing for dear life, holding herself with shaky strength.

The Cyclopes started to look up to the sound of rattling chains. 

“This place is falling apart! Luckily you northern cyclopes are keeping it in good working condition!” Piper kept talking, laying on the praise. “Oh, I’ve heard about the northern Cyclopes!” Which Leo figured was bull, but she sounded convincing. “I never knew you were so big and clever!”

That was enough for Breisa to lean herself from the walk onto rusted crane. She skidded across like she was on monkey bars. Hanging right where the metal cocoons were linked.

“Flattery won’t work either,” Ma Gasket said, though she sounded pleased. “It’s true, you’ll be breakfast for the best Cyclopes around.”

“But aren’t Cyclopes good?” Piper asked. “I thought you made weapons for the gods.”

“Bah! I’m very good. Good at eating people. Good at smashing. And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods. Our cousins, the elder Cyclopes, they do this….”

Leo tuned out mothermae-eye, as he could faintly hear Breisa spewing out a prayer.  

‘Please Hecate don't let them see me. For the love of god. Or whatever weirdos in the sky. Or the universe, if anyone is listening to me— let me stay hidden to them.’

As the trickiest part of the plan was nearly done, Leo summoned some wires, a radio adapter, and a smaller screwdriver from his and started to build a universal remote. 

For the first time, he said a silent thank-you to his dad—Hephaestus—for the magic tool belt. 

Get me out of here, he prayed, and maybe you’re not such a jerk.

“—Titans lost. No good! No more need for Cyclops weapons.”

“Oh, no,” Piper sympathized. “I’m sure you made some amazing weapons.”

Torque grinned. “Squeaky war hammer!” He picked up a large pole with an accordion-looking metal box on the end.

He slammed it against the floor and the cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the world’s largest rubber ducky getting stomped.

“Terrifying,” Piper said.

Torque looked pleased. “Not as good as the exploding ax, but this one can be used more than once.”

“Can I see it?” Piper asked. “If you could just free my hands—”

Torque stepped forward eagerly, but Ma Gasket said, “Stupid! She’s tricking you again. Enough talk! Slay the boy first before he dies on his own. I like my meat fresh.”

No! Leo’s fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote. Just a few more minutes!

“Hey, wait,” Piper said, trying to get the Cyclopes’ attention. “Hey, can I just ask—”

The wires sparked in Leo’s hand. 

Breisa was half-way down the chains, on Jason's side since he was farther away. She halted mid-climb.

The Cyclopes froze and turned in his direction. Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at him.

Leo rolled as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. If he’d been a half-second slower, he would’ve been smashed.

Breisa breathed a sigh of relief as he got to his feet, she thought he had gotten crushed. Hell he would’ve exploded into chunks, on a count of how small he was.

 Ma Gasket spotted him. She yelled, “Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get him!”

Torque barreled toward him. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote.

Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet.

Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face. Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up.

“AHHHHH!” Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark and too high up to see exactly what happened, but judging from the harsh metal clang, Leo guessed the Cyclops had hit one of the support girders.

Torque never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor. Torque had disintegrated.

Ma Gasket stared at Leo in shock. “My son ... You ... You ...”

As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. “Ma, I got the extra-spicy—”

He never finished his sentence.

Breisa came down screeching out swears, using Jason as a tire swing. Not exactly strategic with her attack but managed a couple of sharp slashes with her Ax—throwing a kick into Sump. 

The salsa case crashed into his chest and Sump flew backward, right into the base of Leo’s third machine. Sump may have been immune to getting hit with truck chassis, but he wasn’t immune to robotic arms that could deliver ten thousand pounds of force. 

Leo spun the remote’s toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump again.

The third crane arm slammed him against the floor so hard, he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.

Two Cyclopes down. 

Leo was beginning to feel like Commander Tool Belt—- when Ma Gasket glanced around, not even noticing Breisa, and locked her eye on him. 

She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar. “You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!”

Leo punched a button, and the two remaining arms swung into action.

Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but that only seemed to make her mad. She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat.

 It missed Piper and Jason by a hair— luckily Breisa used all the force she could swing the three of them out of the way.

 Then Ma Gasket let it go—spinning it toward Leo. He yelped and rolled to one side as it demolished the machine next to him.

Leo started to realize that an angry Cyclops mother was not something you wanted to fight with a universal remote and a screwdriver. 

The future for Commander Tool Belt was not looking so hot.

She stood about twenty feet from him now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked ridiculous in her chainmail muumuu and her greasy pigtails—but given the murderous glare in her huge red eye and the fact that she was twelve feet tall, Leo wasn’t laughing

“Any more tricks, demigod?” Ma Gasket demand with sneering.

Leo glanced up. 

The engine block suspended on the chain—if only he’d had time to rig it. If only he could get Ma Gasket to take one step forward. 

The chain itself ...that one link...Leo shouldn’t have been able to see it, especially from so far down, but his senses told him barely hanging on.

“Heck, yeah, I got tricks!” Leo raised his remote control. “Take one more step, and I’ll destroy you with fire!”

Ma Gasket laughed. “Would you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!”

She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at Leo. They landed all around his feet.

“You missed,” he said incredulously. 

Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck. 

Leo just had time to read the stenciled word on the side—kerosene—before Ma Gasket threw it. 

The barrel split on the floor in front of him, spilling lighter fluid everywhere.

Coals sparked. Leo closed his eyes. 

Piper and Breisa screamed.

 “No!” 

“Look out!”

A firestorm erupted around him. When Leo opened his eyes he was bathed in flames swirling twenty feet into the air.

Ma Gasket shrieked with delight, but Leo didn’t offer the fire any good fuel. The kerosene burned off, dying down to small fiery patches on the floor.

Piper gasped. Breisa’s jaw dropped. “Leo?”

Ma Gasket looked astonished. “You live?” Then she took that extra step forward, which put her right where Leo wanted. “What are you?”

“The son of Hephaestus,” Leo said. “And I warned you, I’d destroy you with fire.”

He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. He’d never tried to do anything so focused and intense—but he shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops’s head— aiming for the link that looked weaker than rest.

The flames died. Nothing happened. Ma Gasket laughed. “An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It’s been many centuries since I saw a fire user. You’ll make a spicy appetizer!”

The chain snapped—that single link heated beyond its tolerance point— and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.

“I don’t think so,” Leo said.

Ma Gasket didn’t even have time to look up.

Smash! No more Cyclops; just a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block.

“Not immune to engines, huh?” Leo said. “Boo-yah!”

Then he fell to his knees, his head buzzing. 

—

After a few minutes he felt someone grab his shoulders, pull him up, and shake him furiously. 

“Gonna hurl.” He blurbed, his stomach feeling queasy.

“Don’t do something stupid like that again!” Breisa shouted. “You scared me!” She had stopped shaking him. Checking him for burns or mark— just something serious.

Only his clothes had small singed marks. Some irritated callous on his hands. He need to change the bandage from the canyon incident.

“You worried about lil ole me?” Leo grinned with a sideways smile. 

“You’re an idiot.” She huffed, and let him go.

“Leo! Are you alright? Can you move?” Piper called from behind her. She was freed from her chains. Breisa’s doing definitely.

He stumbled to his feet. He’d never tried to summon such an intense fire before, and it had left him completely drained.

Then together they lowered Jason, who was still unconscious. Piper managed to trickle a little nectar into his mouth, and he groaned. The welt on his head started to shrink. His color came back a little.

“Yeah, he’s got a nice thick skull,” Leo said. “I think he’s gonna be fine.”

“He can’t lose anymore of his memory.” Breisa pulled back his eyelid, trying to see his pupils. They reacted well to the morning light. “He should be alright.”

“Thank god,” Piper sighed. Then she looked at Leo with something like fear. “How did you—the fire—have you always ... ?”

Leo looked down. Breisa suclkedp in a breath, waiting for an excuse or a denial or some kind of lie.  

 “Always,” he said instead. “I’m a freaking menace. Sorry, I should’ve told you guys sooner but—”

“Sorry?” Piper punched his arm. When he looked up, she was grinning. “That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?” 

Leo blinked. Then looked at Breisa in disbelief. 

“She’s right, you know. You saved us.” She shrugged with a smile, “It was kind of awesome.” 

“You saved us too.” Piper bumped her elbow. “Like mission impossible. Freaking amazing.”

Breisa blushed, above them a light bulb exploded. “Ah! Oh my bad! I didn’t know I could do that.”

Leo started to smile; but his sense of relief was ruined when he noticed something next to Piper’s foot.

—

Yellow dust—the powdered remains of one of the Cyclopes, maybe Torque—was shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together.

“They’re forming again,” Leo said. “Look.”

Piper stepped away from the dust. “That’s not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they’re killed. They go back to Tartarus and can’t return for a long time.”

“Well, nobody told the dust that.” Breisa watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.

“Oh, god.” Piper turned pale. “Boreas said something about this—the earth yielding up horrors. ‘When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.’ How long do you think we have?”

Leo thought about the face that had formed in the ground outside—the sleeping woman who was definitely a horror from the earth.

“I don’t know,” he said. “But we need to get out of here.”

__

(A/N: I said I would finish this April, but school burning me out. Almost a graduate! One more month! In the mean time I will try to post as much chapters as possible. Story is finally picking up as I wanted it :)) Hope you all like this one!)

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

theyre all teenagers of the late 2000s though because think. percy listened to green day. thalia was punk. piper probably layered long tank tops. nico played roleplay card games. they WERE 2000S KIDS AND TEENS

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Random HC/Thoughts #??

Don’t have to explain it but Breisa and Leo

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

The design choice!! 🔥🧡

autism

boom

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Latinas love Leo Valdez!!!!

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

This is giving those telenovela vibes 😭😭— I love it 😤💕

“la gata bajo la lluvia” blurb

—leo valdez x mortal!reader

summary: you met leo by chance, you didn't think he would get into your bones that way but you knew it couldn't last.

warnings: sexual insinuations, language, angst.

a/n: ok, i hope you can forgive me bc i was kind of laughing while wrote this for my mexican ass just showing off. this took me just the morning after i listened this song.

“mi suerte ya estaba echada, ya lo sé...”

(my fate was already sealed, I know it... )

Demigods used to have something in common with their divine parents; children often forget that there's a current reality out there and tend to abandon it because their lives depend on something else all too often. One of those many things can be people.

Leo never meant to hurt you, but the mark on your heart had already been made.

“lo nuestro solo fué casualidad... ”

(ours was just a coincidence...)

You remember when he came in totally soaked from the rain outside, the bell tinkled, and he ran towards you. You thought the worst, that he was crazy, drunk, or that you were sitting in his favorite spot in that diner. But he stopped, his mouth slightly open, giving you the impression that he wanted something.

"He's handsome, I wish he wanted me," you thought instead.

— The sauce, pass it to me — he said, pointing to the Tabasco sauce bottle. "Wow, a Tabasco sauce thief," you thought. You looked at him more closely, noticing his greasy shirt, a multitool belt that seemed to be empty. "He must have had a rough day," you assumed, and rolled the bottle towards him. You wouldn't give trouble to a guy with that appearance, no matter how handsome he seemed to you.

He caught it right at the edge of your table.

— I owe you one — he said, and ran off. "Things that happen," you said to yourself, thinking you wouldn't see him again.

“La misma hora, el mismo boulevard”

(Same time, same boulevard...)

You loved the fries there; they were great, nothing better than enjoying them after work. The weather was still terrible. And the bell announced a new customer. As you were eating a piece of steak, you denied in your thoughts, "who goes out to eat with this rain?"

— hey — you raised your gaze and struggled not to choke on your food. The guy from last time! Soaked by the rain like last time, but his shirt was clean and his curls tangled by the moisture. "He's handsome," you thought again.

You lost track of how much time you spent talking and flirting with each other. Leo was funny, intelligent, and stupidly handsome. "God, I have to stop thinking about this or I don't know what I'll do."

What you ended up doing was finishing with him in a bathroom stall at the diner; it was already night, and the place was very sparsely populated. The moans echoed, and the small taps against metal reverberated as you twisted against each other's touch. Leo had his fingers roaming under your shirt while kissing your neck effusively, leaving a trail of wet kisses and nibbles that would have to be covered with makeup. He pressed you against the stall, and your hands desperately sought something better to do than clenching every time he kissed a perfect spot, which was difficult because he had been at it for half an hour. Your fingertips played with the buckle of his belt, and you felt the smile he formed against your lips.

— So that's where we were heading— he murmured in your ear with a raspy voice; a kiss on the collarbone made you tighten your grip on the metal piece.

That time it was in that place; the other times were in your apartment. The hours passed with you entwined with each other, giving each other the warmth that the weather outside couldn't provide while Leo whispered sweet things to you. You prayed it would never end, but you knew it wasn't possible; "how it begins, it ends," you thought.

You walked on the wet street. You covered your damp hair from the air to avoid catching a cold with the hood of your hoodie. Your hands brushed during the walk, and you tried to hook your pinky with his, you succeeded but Leo didn't make any gesture that pleased you, no other than the usual one. That uncomfortable smile with tired eyes.

That night would end, you knew it.

He wouldn't explain why, you knew it.

You wouldn't see him again, and you knew it.

Shit, you knew it.

“Tú te vas y yo me quedo aquí...”

(you leave and i stay here)

You let go of his finger; he didn't try to stop it.

Stopped walking, and he leaned in to give you a kiss.

— see you — he murmured before pressing his lips on yours as he had done hundreds of times before.

You nodded and gave him another small kiss. You heard that phrase for a whole month, but tonight seemed different.

He walked away, leaving you there, and you never dared to ask why he always headed towards the same rooftop of an abandoned house with the Tabasco sauce bottle in his hand. He held onto that sauce tighter than he ever held you to keep you from leaving or to stay a little longer. Before he entered that house, you turned around and walked straight home.

The drops falling from your wet hair mingled with the drizzle that started, and then those drops of water mixed with your tears.

“lloverá y ya no seré tuya, seré la gata bajo la lluvia...”

(It will rain, and I won't be yours anymore, I'll be the cat in the rain...)

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Love this head canon!

I feel like hc wise with that once scene in TLH where he makes tofu tacos he’s actively keeping the memory of cooking with his mom alive, so he doesn’t forget her

I sometimes wonder if Leo knew much about Mexican culture because his mother died when he was so young y'know so would he be able to learn/retain much besides the few dishes and of course spanish? He didn't really have the resources to learn either being in and out of different foster homes and his only other living family being turned against him by his aunt. The only person he had that would introduce him to the culture would be his mother and he thought it was his fault she had died so I feel like that also could have formed a barrier for him. Anyways I just love Leo so much. I think he's wonderful Mexican-american rep!

I headcanon that he is actively learning more about Mexican culture and trying to connect with his roots after he came to terms with Esperanza's death not being his fault.

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

ITS MARCH YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Lost Hero XIV - Breisa

Heavy powers

Warnings: Cursing, teenagers being teenagers, angst, Gaea being a bitch

Word count: 1890

Summary: My burdens aren’t easy to carry, that doesn’t mean yours should be too

Likes❤️, Comments💬, Reblogs 🔁are very much appreciated!!

<<<Prev

__

Snow and sneakers don’t mix. Breisa thought as she tread through the ice cold ground. 

She had been searching for Leo for a good minute. Then snow wasn’t making her move faster. She finally spotted him (with a bright flashlight?) , passed a chain link face with dozens of porta potties.

He stood over Festus—  who had landed on the blue plastic boxes and flattened them all. There were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage. 

Breisa made her way through and tried not to breathe through her nose. Heavy snow was coming down, though it didn’t seem to bother him.

“Leo!” She called.

He turned confused, and his eyes widened in panic. 

Breisa was going to ask what was wrong. Then she noticed it… a little ball of fire sat in his palm. 

“I— you—” Leo stumbled over his words. He quickly extinguished the flames. “You didn’t see anything. Ok? And you can not tell anyone about this.”

“Leo—” Breisa started.

“No! This isn’t some joke or something you can hold against me! You have to promise you won’t say anything.” Leo was frantic. “Alright?” His voice wavered and he was trembling a bit. 

Anxiety.

“I won’t say a word.”

Leo studied her for a good minute. She could not read his thoughts completely, but his internal battle was flickering towards anxiousness and relief. He was debating whether or not to trust her word.

“I promise.” Breisa put a hand over her heart.

He seemed at least satisfied with that. “What are you doing here anyways? You should be inside with them.”

“Because I got tired of third wheeling for Jason and Piper.” She rolled her eyes. “I came here looking for you, dummy.”

“Why?” Leo furrowed his eyebrows.

“We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a creepy abandoned car plant.” Breisa gestured to the dragon, “Festus needs our help. And we need him if we want to go anywhere. I couldn’t leave you alone to deal with this on your own. Even if we have our issues.”

Leo looked at her like she was crazy. He probably thought she was.

What kind of girl would risk their life in the middle of a blizzard, an exaggeration really , to look for him.

And then he shook his head. 

“If you die from frostbite, that's your own fault.” He leaned over Festus' head and turned to her. “You gonna help or what?”

Breisa grinned. 

__

Leo had given a simple task. Hold the flashlight steady.

“Aim it a little over here.” He said pointing at the square door control panel along the dragon's head. 

She pointed the flashlight toward it.

“No higher.” 

She moved it up.

“Too high.”

She lowered it.

“To the right.”

“Leo!” Breisa grumbled.

He snickered under his breath. “There is fine.”

Leo opened the control panel and he exhaled in disbelief. “Oh, Festus, what the heck?” 

The tangled up wires inside were frozen over. There was a little cd looking disk charred and blackened— Breisa could make out some Greek letters but they were mostly blurred.

She guessed it wasn’t a good thing, since Leo was muttering things to himself.

“Nothing is unfixable.” He declared finally. “Gimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrile gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent.”

 The tool belt obliged. And Leo began to work.

He started off cleaning off the control disk; he had to stop from time to time to summon fire and melt away snow. But mostly he went into autopilot mode, his hands working by themselves.

Leo was really in his element. But as he worked, his mind wandered—that wouldn’t have been such a problem, if Breisa stupid power would just shut off.

Breisa couldn’t exactly tell what he was thinking…

Well sort of. It was hard to explain. 

 But back at the hotel—after the whole argument—the spellbook had filled a new page. Glowing and all misty. Obviously she had to read it. 

It sort of explained why she could feel strong emotions.

 She could connect to people through their emotions— an empathy link. People who had empathy links were most likely to have strong psyche. 

The stronger the psyche, the stronger the empathic (even telepathic) powers a magic user has.

It wasn’t much but it sort of made her understand herself. 

That’s why she could sense Leo’s current anxiousness and self-pity. 

“Enough, Valdez,” He scolded himself suddenly. “Nobody’s going to play any violins for you just because you’re not important. Fix the stupid dragon.”

“Um Leo?” 

He froze, remembering that he wasn’t alone. He coughed awkwardly, “...I didn’t mean to say that outloud.”

“Are you good?” She asked, fidgeting with her necklace. 

“Hmn? Oh yeah totally.” Leo dismissed and went back to working on the dragon. On the inside, his anxiousness spiked. 

“You’re lying again.” 

Leo stopped working.

Breisa hesitated, but remembered the embers on his palm. “Is that what you were trying to hide…the fire?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He grumbled. 

She sighed, kicking at the melted puddles of snow. “Well you’re going to have to eventually.”

“Why does it matter if I do talk about it or not?!” Leo snapped.

“Because we have to settle this!” Breisa shouted. 

Leo turned to her, all his emotions attacked her all at once. They were negative. But mainly resentment.

“Look, I know I said some hurtful things before. Or recently.” She sighed, “I know we aren’t friends. But I’m sorry. Even if you don’t forgive me, I’m sorry. And I can't let you hold this weight on your shoulders. No one should have to suffer like this.” 

Breisa  could feel his emotions that spurred randomly slowed down to grief and anger. 

“You talk about it like…” Leo hesitated, “Like you knew about my powers. Before you caught me using them.”

Breisa breathed shakily. “I had an intuition about it. You were lying… You're emotions they tell so much.”

“My emotions?” He was confused. 

“Ju-just let me show you.” She tread over to him, and got close. “Um, don't freak out.”

“Why would I-” Leo cut himself off as Breisa grabbed his hand. He was getting flustered. 

“You’re embarrassed that I’m holding your hand.” 

“W-well anyone would be I mean…hand holding…” He trailed off, his face burning.

“Think of something else. Think of Festus. How you saw him fall.”

Suddenly Leo was guilty.

“You think it’s all your fault that Festus broke down, despite what Jason said …that you couldn’t fix him long enough to withstand the cold. That you could have done better.”

“How did you?” Leo was stunned.

“I told you. Your emotions are strong.” Breisa half-frown. “I don’t know why, but I can feel someone else’s emotions. It’s some weird empathy power. And when I’m close or touching them I can—

‘Do this.’

He jumped back a bit.

“Did you just—in my— in here?” He tapped his head as his eyes widened. 

Breisa chewed her lips nervously and nodded.‘That’s how I knew about the fire….I…I read your mind by accident.’

“You did what?!” Leo took his hand from hers. “Why did you do that?!”

“It wasn’t on purpose, pendejo!” She huffed ashamed. “I had a vision of your powers, on our way to Boreas. And when we were in the hotel—when you were angry, it was just too much...The vision, I saw you and the machine shop.”

Leo stood quiet for a moment.

“So whenever my emotions get too much. You can see what I am thinking about?” He asked after a minute, even though he already knew the answer.

“Pretty much.” Breisa fiddled with her ring. “It’s not like I wanted to. But maybe I had to.” She shrugged. “Powers are difficult to have. And with my little experience or what’s happened in my life with mine. I want to understand. And be better than how I was.”

Leo went quiet again. “But why? I mean I wasn't any better. I’m still not. So why would you want a truce or somethin’?”

“Something like that.” Breisa put simply. “And because of this odd little group we have. We need to stay together. You’re just as important as everyone else.”

You’re right, Breisa, A voice said. 

Leo fumbled his brush and dropped it into the dragon’s head. Breisa felt her stomach twist.

This felt like the voice from the dream but this one had no accent and sounded more sinister. 

They both turned to see who had spoken. Then they looked at the ground.

Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid.

A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth —the giant face of a sleeping woman. She didn’t exactly speak. Her lips didn’t move.

But Breisa could hear her voice in her head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground into her skull. 

You all need him desperately, She said. In some ways, he is the most important of the seven—like the control disk in the dragon’s brain. Without him, the power of the others means nothing. You will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.

“You.” Leo was shaking so badly, it was hard to tell if it was from the earth or his own fear. “You killed my mom.” 

The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream.

Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. You both shall not oppose me. I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.

Breisa thought, ‘Like hell we would do that.’

Dirt-fcae hummed, not exactly pleased.

You know little witch. You need these burdens to be eased. So fragile minded. So easy to lose control. You invade others' minds and space, what makes you think you can be a part of this? All that chaos in you, and your clueless to it all— will be your downfall.

The necklace felt cold. It flickered with a purple glow. She felt the knots in her stomach squirm, and her hands began to shake as the ground rumbled with cracks around her sneakers.

“Y-You don’t know me! You won’t get in my head!”

Her sleepy smile grew wider.

Ah that’s right. I will make sure she finishes the job..if you survive that long. But you wouldn’t want that, would you? So both of you, walk away now let my son Porphyrion rise and become king.

Leo grabbed the nearest thing he could find—a Porta-Potty seat— and threw it at the face. “Leave us alone!”

The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved. 

Leo stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didn’t.

He looked at Breisa to make sure Dirt-face was really gone and she nodded. 

Then from the direction of the factory, a crash—like two dump trucks slamming together. Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. 

Instantly they knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble. 

Walk away now, the voice had urged. 

“Not likely,” Leo growled. “Gimme the biggest hammer you got.” 

He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a three-pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato. 

Breisa summoned her ax from the ring. In perfect size and condition. The bronze shone in the setting moonlight. 

Together they ran from the wreckage and toward the warehouse.

__

(A/N: Another chapter! Procrastistion be damn! I'm gonna try to be posting as often as I can no more cliffhangers. Also Happy Bleated Valentine's day <33!)

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

More Child of Hecate CONTENT— LOOK LOOK👀👀^^^

Leo Valdez x Child of Hecate ☾

Pairing(s): Leo Valdez x Gn!Reader

Leo was most definitely intimidated by you at first sight 😭

I mean all attractive people are, not to mention how mysterious and cool you seemed

Leo knows a baddie when he sees one

Well anyway, the only way the two of you could have possibly crossed paths was by someone else or you orchestrating the whole thing

Ofc again, it’s my girl Annabeth

She’s been at camp the longest and has a reputation so ofc she’s the one who always introduces reader and love interest

Well, it was only after annabeth needed help from the Hecate cabin and Leo was involved because he was the problem

An invention of his went rogue (luckily not because he built it wrong) but yk

Well once you do annabeth thanks you in her own way and when Leo has the chance to speak he just..can’t?!!

I mean not only do you seem cool but gah damn u look like a goth baddie

Home boy is stunned and can only manage a stupid as joke/ pick up line which even he asks himself, why???

Well while hes internally committing he heard the least expected thing

Which was you of all people laughing

You’re usually quiet and kept to yourself so seeing you like this was like when the clouds move and lets the sun shine in-

Cringe ahh mf , really this generations Shakespeare

Well he’s so shocked then the two of you just stand there like 🕴️🕴️

And if he manages to have his inventions go rogue every other day and needs your help specifically, well let’s just say it’s a coincidence

The two of you inevitably get close and the more he hangs out with you the more he falls in love

On surface level you’re dark, mysterious and most of all, intimidating

But now? You’re so easy going, it’s like the two of you have known each other since fetus days

Eventually you two get together because of an adventure that ended with you two getting closer and more open.

Once Leo is your boyfriend- he’s insufferable

I mean he’s his usual goody, flirty(?) self and he’s so cringe but you love it all the same

Best believe Leo is head over heals for you and when it comes to your magic and stuff he’s particularly keen

especially when you randomly give him a crystal necklace for whatever reason and suddenly you hear Leo going around camp casually mentioning that his witchy s/o got him something

Which, yk endearing but still a lil embarrassing

Leo is always there to help you when you’re making potions, spells, it doesn’t matter

I mean at times he’s a bit spooked at what you can do but he’s still by your side regardless

Now, when it comes to your family on your Greek side- he’s scared

I’m mean, you’re probably scared too depending on if you’re a guy considering how basically every daughter/ female family of Hecate hates men

(You’re probs exempt cuz ur mom Hecate but still)

Bro is spooked, he does NOT want to be a guinea pig

And speaking of your mom, Leos timbers are shivered at the thought of meeting her and her not liking him

I mean it’s not all that important but depending if you’re especially fond of your mom then he’s shivering and timbering

Anyway, Leo is so lucky to have you by his side especially since sometimes he can forget how strong you are

(Also ik hecate is a minor goddess in the books and her children are shown to be weak but i refuse to acknowledge that as child of Hecate)

If you ever try and read his palm or do his birth chart he’ll probably just nod along and not know what you’re talking about 💀

Gotta love Leo

And if any animals that are sacred to Hecate approach you two he’s scared shitless (looking at you snakes)

Not to mention how crows can literally speak, no thank you

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

definitely is him

(Also if y’all know my oc and read my series — Breisa, she definitely be laughing her ass off at him. )

why i feel this would def be leo valdez? 😭

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

This^^

Hm. Leo Valdez and Nico bonding over religious trauma.

Everyone points out that Nico would be Catholic since Italian, y’know, yeah, makes sense. But Leo Valdez is Texan, Mexican, and his Tía Rosa literally called him a demon when he came to live with her after his mother died (if I remember correctly). His first response at Camp Halfblood was to ask if God with a capital G was real. (Which, fair, a lot do that, but still).

Brother could make fire with his hands, experienced the worst tragedy of his life because of it, and just lived seven years not knowing what the fuck was up with that??? Being called a demon at eight years old, after all that he went through, by a religious Mexican lady would definitely have a lasting effect. (Speaking as a Catholic Mexican).

Like, you’re not gonna tell me that some part of him didn’t secretly believe that. That it wouldn’t keep him up at night, wondering what the fuck he was. That he didn’t look back at his fucked up childhood, at the lava and brimstone in his veins, and not think “What if she’s right? What if I’m going to hell? What if I am a monster? A demon?”

Killing is a sin. Murder is a sin. And whatever the fuck he was, whatever kind of horrid creature he is, it wasn’t getting into Heaven. Don’t tell me he wouldn’t cry at the sight of a nun. Get nervous when his fosters would take him to church. Whisper silent prayers to be fixed, to have whatever was broken inside of him, whatever he was being punished for, to stop. To maybe stop existing at all.

I’m willing to bet that when an eight year old knows for a fact he isn’t human, fire flowing through his blood, and gets called a demon because of it during the worst time in his life, when not being human caused the death of someone he loves, it might stick with him. He might believe the words thrown at him.

So, yeah, I think Nico and Leo would get along.

Also- literally not in the headspace to articulate this correctly but I hope u see my vision.

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

And he wouldn’t even think abt it, he trip or it be a minor inconvenience and he’d swear

(Is this self projection maybe— quién sabe?🤷🏽‍♀️)

Other polls:

Percy ��

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

He’d say all of these in Spanish too 😭💀

Like hijo de puta, Pero wey, etc, etc

Other polls:

Percy •

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

This^^^

i know a lot of people are beyond relieved that lmm's performance as hermes wasnt awful and he did not sing a note once, but lets not forget his advocacy for the PROMESA bill and the impact he had on puerto ricans just yet ..

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Poll/thoughts

I’ve been coming up with my own ideas on how each of Lost trios powers work, so I’m wondering