In the Darkest Hour - (Leo/Hazel) Ch.1

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[DISCLAIMER]:
(SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers from Mark of Athena)
Part One of a Re-write of the Shrimp-Zilla scene. This has some seriously heavy Lezel Shipping in it, so if you are a Frazel fan, I have to warn you! ^_^

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Leo blinked. The house was gone. The past was gone. All he saw was Hazel, and the moonlit sky.

He was standing with Hazel on the Argo II again, back in the present. He looked at their entwined hands, and then looked at her.

He actually looked at her, for the first time. He had only ever heard about Hazel’s past life, he’d never truly seen it. It made him look at her in a completely different way. Her golden eyes shone with tears.

Everything made sense now. The flashback had put all his speculations to rest.

Leo’s great-grandfather was Sammy. He knew the impact Leo would have. He knew he would meet Hazel. It was like he knew Leo could do all the things he had wanted to do, before he died.

Leo’s great-grandfather knew all of this, somehow.

Hazel finally met his eyes.

“Hello, Hazel Levesque.” Leo said, his voice sounding too low and too scratchy to be his own. She looked up at him with huge, sad, golden eyes. Leo was so mesmerized, their gaze was unbreakable.

Leo almost forgot how to think. He had never known all the horrible tragedies Hazel has been through before now. He heard about them, but he didn’t know the heart-wrenching truth. He didn’t think he’d ever been so sympathetic for another Demigod before.

He now felt... connected to her somehow. It was strange; the things a demigod can feel; like supernatural connections to another person.

Leo wasn’t sure if he liked Hazel. He liked her, but he hadn’t decided if he liked her. She was beautiful and cute and adorable. Leo liked everything about her. But every time he thought of the two of them being together, he thought about Frank. Leo didn’t know Frank all that well, but they were part of the same team. They were conjoined, almost as brothers, while they were on this quest. But, none the less, it filled Leo’s stomach with envy that a dork like Frank got an amazing girl like Hazel, while Leo had nothing.

But this wasn’t just about petty jealousies, Leo thought. Hazel and I are intertwined somehow. The crazy flashbacks they had just seen made it clear.

Hazel tried to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Leo brought his hand up to her cheek, leaning closer. He wiped some tears off her face with his thumb, without even thinking about it. Hazel leaned into his hand, seeking comfort and security. Leo leaned forward, without knowing what he was doing, until their foreheads were touching. He heard Hazel’s breath catch right before—

BOOM!

Something huge hit the ship. Hazel and Leo toppled over, after their heads smacked painfully into one another. They went sprawling across the deck.

The sea rumbled with—well, Leo didn’t know. He couldn’t see it. He knew it was big. He sat up, rubbing his head, still trying to come back to reality.

“Valdez!” Coach Hedge yelled, getting Leo’s attention. “Get OVER here!”

Leo glanced over at Hazel, who was sitting up shakily. She gave him a brief nod to tell him she was okay. Leo stood up and stumbled to the front of the boat. He clutched the railing and made his way to the control board.

“I think we’re in some serious trouble!” Coach yelled over the ocean’s racket. Leo shook his head, trying to clear it so he could think straight. He scanned the controls.

“The Sonar!” He gasped. “I forgot to turn it on!”

He ran to the wheel and looked over, trying to locate whatever had hit them. Then it surfaced.

A gigantic shrimp-looking beast breached the water. He couldn’t tell if it was more like a catfish or some sort of shellfish. It had millions of legs and things that looked like tentacles coming out of its nostrils. Its tail alone had to be the size of a school bus! The whole sight of it disgusted Leo.

The rest of the demigods staggered to the deck. “What is that?” Piper screeched.

“What the—? SHRIMPZILLA!” Percy shouted, pointing at the beast.

“How did a giant shrimp just sneak up on us?” Jason shouted.

“I’m stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!” Leo shouted to himself, angrily. “I forgot to switch to Sonar!” He gripped the wheel tightly, trying to steer the ship as safely as possible amid the giant sea creature circling them. The other demigods were yelling, trying to find a way to fight it. But they didn’t get very far.

To make matters even worse, the giant tendrils coming from the monstrosity’s nose crashed onto the ship, smacking into everything. They thrashed about, bringing panic and alarm with them.

“NOSE-HAIR ATTACK!” Coach Hedge shouted, raising his bat with a battle cry.

One of the nasty looking tentacles grabbed Piper around the ankles and pulled her painfully around the ship. She wailed and grasped at the railing while Jason tried hopelessly to fight them off. Another one smacked into Frank squarely in the chest and he went flying with a big “Oof!”

Hazel wailed, “Frank!”

Leo scanned all the controls frantically, his hands moving at the speed of light, desperately trying to find a way to help his friends. “C’mon Commander Valdez! We need some help!” Percy called while slashing his sword at nearby pink tendrils.

“Leo! Is the anything you and Festus can do?” Jason pleaded over the noise of the fight. “Don’t you have, like, a monster laser or a giant sea creature repellent spray?”

This only made Leo more scared. He glanced up at the intercom. “Festus— is there—?” His voice broke under panic. Festus quickly replied. He was trying everything he could, but nothing was working. Leo’s stomach flip-flopped. He glanced back at his friends, who were fighting for their lives.

He thought about what Nemesis said, about Leo being the odd one out. Just thinking about it:

“You will always be the seventh wheel…”

Just the very phrase, it made a dark cloud of gloom form over his head. After that whole incident, Leo wanted to feel like part of the group more than ever before. Prior to the incident he hadn’t really noticed, nor was he bothered by his ‘seventh wheel’ status.

Now it bothered him. His heart longed to be a part of them really and truly, when everyone trusted him. When they all looked up to Supreme Commander Leo and respected him. Right now they probably thought of him as The guy who steers the ship and makes jokes, Leo thought dejectedly.

Even if they made it out of this, Leo doubted any of them would trust him. The more he thought about it— looking at the chaos— the more his blood ran cold.

He glanced over at Hazel, her eyes met his. They were filled with fright and helplessness. He noticed she looked more panicked than ever. He also noticed the box next to her. An idea hatched in his brain like a light bulb going off.

“Hazel!” He screamed, running towards her. “That crate! Open it!” He pointed. He dashed through the grotesque tentacles. He weaved in and out, jumped under and over, narrowly making his way towards Hazel.

She glanced at the ‘WARNING! DO NOT OPEN’ sign and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“It’s okay!” Leo called reassuringly.

He finally got to her and grabbed the bottles she was fumbling with. “What is this?” She yelped, looking at the green liquid inside the vials.

“Greek fire!” Leo said, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Hazel’s face went pale. “This could blow up the whole ship!”

“Or it could blow up a giant shrimp-whale,” Leo said with a grin, pressing one of the vials into her hand. “So we just have to—”

“—Oof!”

Leo was cut off when the air was knocked out of him. A giant tentacle wrapped around the two of them and they rose into the air. They kept rising, until they were at sickening heights, looking powerlessly at the battle below. “Leo—…I—” Hazel gasped, getting the air squeezed out of her. Leo looked to see her arms pinned while his were still free. Leo wriggled in the grasp, maneuvering so he could see the monsters gigantic mouth.

“Hazel,” He glanced over, looking at her seriously. “Do you trust me?”

She searched his eyes for a long moment before blurting out: “No!”

The same playful grin returned to Leo as he said “Me neither.” He looked at the ship and then at the monster. The wind at such a high altitude ruffled his black curls.

“When the monster lets go, promise me you’ll throw your bottle as far away as possible!” Leo said to Hazel.

“What—Why? Why is it going to drop us?” She yelled to him. Her eyes betrayed the pure fear behind them. Some of Piper’s charmspeak would be really useful right about now, Leo noted in his head. I need her to have confidence in me.

“Please!” He said. “You just have to trust me!”

Hazel didn’t move a muscle. But she looked up at him with more hope in her eyes than Leo had in his heart. Leo had a lot of pressure on him right about now. He could feel his optimism waning.

But he held strong. He looked at Hazel one last time before carrying out his plan.

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Pressing his palm into the pink scaly skin, he willed fire to come. He closed his eyes in focus, until finally; fire erupted from his hand, scorching the creature’s flesh. The Shrimp monstrosity wailed in pain. Leo threw his vial of Greek fire as hard as he could, watching it sail into the monster’s mouth.

Then the whole world turned into a blur.