Leo wished he had even a single second to just sit there with Y/N. She, now more than ever, meant a lot to him. Y/N made him feel useful and wanted, not totally incompetent and nothing but problematic. For once in his life, he genuinely felt a sort of contentment in his heart. He was actually smiling because he was happy, not as some defence against all of the eyes staring at him. He felt like he had a reason to stay at camp half-blood and a life to live.

But, of course, the world would never let Leo have his moment of peace and quiet to tell Y/N about how much he appreciated her. The moment the sight of long island sound came into vision, Percy was ordering everyone around and frantically trying to recall Annabeth's plans for holding off these monsters. Being rifled through the air at at least twice the ships normal speed, everyone had difficulty keeping their footing on the top deck.

Y/N was one of the first people given orders and she was off to one of the ships railings, a wide stance being the only thing keeping her upright. At her side was Frank, shooting a vast array of as many arrows possible down on the fleet of monsters. They were now just breeching the shore of the beach, and though everyone was doing a good job holding them off, it would never be enough. Not even Percy was strong enough to will the water into pushing them back beneath the surface.

"Percy, this isn't working!" Piper screamed out over the howling of wind all around. She was holding Jason steady as he formed a storm and shot lightning down on the monsters relentlessly.

"Just keep forcing them back! They'll either give in or it'll buy Annabeth enough time to figure out a better plan!" He stressed, but there was obvious doubt and worry in his voice.

"Piper's right," Leo's voice suddenly filled Y/N's ears, his arm on hers as he helped to keep her steady. "I have a plan."

"Are you sure we should do it?" Y/N questioned warily.

"No time to think about that," Leo blabbered. "C'mon."

Y/N sent a sorry look to Frank, but the guy didn't seem to care all that much. Next thing she knew, she was up on Festus and Leo sent the mechanical dragon diving over the edge of the Argo. Of course, people were yelling after him in distress and frustration, but per usual, Leo blocked them out. His problem was no longer sticking with his quest mates and fighting from up on the Argo. His problem now was protecting camp, his home. Not just to save the unaware campers probably still fast asleep in their cabins, but to save bunker nine, the training grounds and the dining pavilion. To save everything that amounted to his one and only home. The home he wanted to still be there for he and Y/N.

Not just that, but Leo still felt deep down that all of this was his fault. So, he saw it only fit that he expend every last piece of himself in order to prevent this invasion.

"I've got tons of ammo in this bag," Leo tossed a thick canvas bag back at Y/N as if it were nothing, but when it landed in her arms it sure seemed awful heavy. "If we drop them straight down, it should be just enough to take them all out." As he explained, Leo lifted himself up and switched his position on Festus so he now faced Y/N. Between them was the bag.

Leo started off his final stand for camp by lighting up one of the bombs with a small spark which came from his fingers. Then, he counted to five and dropped it straight down. Just as he had hoped, the single bomb turned at least ten monsters to dust. Greek fire had a way of doing more damage than expected.

One by one, Y/N and Leo dropped bombs all along the shoreline. The amount of monsters they were able to get rid of in comparison to the others up on the Argo was something that couldn't even be compared.

Maybe a little too proud and lost in the moment, Leo's focus drifted. With his mind so plastered on decreasing the number of monsters below, he may or may not have forgotten just how powerful these monsters could still be, even from nearly a hundred feet below.

A boulder, one nearly equal in size to Festus came screaming through the air right at Y/N and Leo. The boys mind flashed with awful memories of the first time Festus had crashed on that freezing cold night and he could've sworn his world was falling to pieces. Now, he had something so much more important to worry about. Y/N.

No sound, feeling or sight came back to Y/N until after they'd obviously made landing. When they did though, she almost wished she'd stayed unconscious. The first thing she heard was a muffled version of someone screaming, crying her name with a hoarse heartbroken sound. She then felt a heavy weight on the lower half of her body, shooting pains all across her skin and deep below it. Then, she saw. She saw fire. Though it was blurry, there was no way fire would go mistaken.

When things finally seemed to clear, Y/N tried to shift her body but it was impossible. Festus' frame was concrete with hers, holding her down where she was. Leo was right there in front of her, holding her face in his hands still trying to get her full attention. The flames were getting bigger and closer.

Leo was in pure panic. All of the god awful things he felt that day he lost his mom to the fire came shooting back into his chest like multiple gunshots. If he lost the one and only other person who even came close to what she meant in nearly the exact same way, he would never forgive himself. Losing Y/N here and now would throw him over the edge he had once been teetering on for so, so long.

"Y/N! You've gotta move!" He cried, tugging on her arm. He felt and probably looked just like his five year old self again.

"I—I can't," Y/N croaked, trying desperately to move herself out from under the heavy weight. Just like before, it was impossible. To make everything worse, in her peripheral vision, Y/N could see the last remnants of the monster army plowing out of the water. There weren't many, but there were enough to infiltrate came if no one stopped them.

Things seemed to slow for Leo. For someone who's mind was constantly ripping around in his skull at a million miles an hour and never settled for a break, the feeling was foreign. Sooner or later, unless he got Y/N out, she'd burn. Burn just like so many other things that had once been dear to Leo.

Forgetting the monsters and the others up on the Argo, Leo began to force all of his life into pushing Festus up and off of Y/N. Now of all times would be ideal for some brilliant solution to this problem to land in his mind. But, nothing was coming. His head was simply hazy with nothing but pain and fear coursing through it.

The monsters were getting closer. The fire was getting bigger. Festus seemed to only be growing heavier each time Leo tried to lift him. Just as the dark haired boy was about to abandon the girl and send flames exploding out from himself towards the shoreline, just like he'd done that day to the chimera, the last person he'd expect to see was there.

Percy came in at the last minute, riding a wave the height of a three storey building. It tore away each monster at their feet from the beach and immediately turned them to dust. The son of Poseidon's eyes were flickering with some nearly otherworldly power, because not even Leo had seen him summon such a powerful surge of water. It left nothing, absolutely nothing in its wake.

The monsters may have been taken care of, but Y/N wasn't. The flames bellowing out from Festus' metal plating was still getting hotter and closer to her skin. Yet again, Leo found himself frozen and defenceless, at a complete loss of what to do. He never felt like this. He always had a plan. But, not today.

As Y/N began to scream from the flames licking at her skin, Leo lunged forwards and was going to pull her out no matter what it took. He swore to himself. Today, though, he wasn't going to have to do this alone. A sheet of water dropped down from overhead and Leo could've sworn the entire ocean had been dropped on his head. The flames sizzled out and Y/N's cries faded to short, sharp whimpers as Leo finally managed to wedge his leg down into the sand beneath Festus, just enough to give Y/N the room she needed to clamber out.

Y/N lay there in the sand, holding her arms close to her chest. Her body was coiled in tight, obvious agony racking though her skin. Leo watched as Percy carefully approached and took the girls arm in his hands, water then running from the ocean, up his own body and onto hers.

Still smouldering with the heat engulfing his body, Leo threw himself down in the sand beside Percy, watching as he slowly healed Y/N's burns.

"Why'd you do that?" Leo croaked, still too sheepish to look Percy in the eyes.

Percy sighed lightly. "You're my friend. We've been through a lot together." He put a hand on Leo's shoulder, unknowingly beginning to heal a large gash. "And I know I'm hard on you. But it was never to hurt you, it was to make you better."

Leo swallowed hard. "You don't hate me?"

Percy stifled a laugh. "No, I don't. You can be excruciatingly annoying and drag us all into awful situations, but you've always been brave and smart enough to fix what you started. I do not hate you, Leo."

All of what Leo had believed for his few former years about Percy slowly faded away and replaced with a new image. Tears welled in his eyes but he didn't let them fall. All of those hours spent in countless miserable thought cycles about the mistakes he'd made and what Percy thought of him had all been in vain.

Smiling and slowly dropping Y/N's arms, Percy departed off and went to meet Annabeth along with the others who were now just jumping off of the Argo.

Leo situated himself behind Y/N and held her head in his lap, carefully scanning over her new burn scars. If it weren't for Percy, they'd be much, much worse. He watched cautiously as Y/N teetered on the edge of sleep and consciousness.

"I'm so sorry about the burns...everyone will know it was me." Leo rubbed his face. "Good luck explaining those to someone who wants to date you." He tried to laugh lightly.

"I wouldn't mind," She croaked out, a small smile breaking on her face, making Leo's heart melt. "Besides, if it's you, no explanation needed."

Y/N's eyes flickered shut and her head fell to the side ever so slightly.

"Wait! What?!" Leo blabbered. "Y/N don't you dare fall asleep right now!"

No response came from the girl.

Leo grumbled. "I really hate you for falling asleep at such a critical moment for my heart like that, okay? But I forgive you as long as you were being serious." He ran a hand over her hair.

A small smile flickered on the girls face, but her eyes remained closed. Slowly she raised her arm up. "Pinky promise."

Pursing his lips and holding back a laugh, Leo intertwined his pinky finger with her own and shook it back and fourth gently.

"Gah, you're gonna be the death of me."

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A/N: hey hey!! thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!! I wish this fic was a little longer, but I had to work with all the ideas I had (which weren't many lol)

also, not many people read Leo x reader fics anymore so I didn't want to make a hugeeee commitment

bye!!! :D