━━ chapter eighteen
everything can be reused
( savreen )

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━Savreen couldn't believe she had done that. She had caused a building to explode. She did that. She did that. And ... and she didn't regret it. In fact, Sav felt a touch of excitement and a dangerous thrill of the chaos she just ensued. Mede had made her the angriest she's ever been in her life over what she thought she could do to her and her friends. What she did do to Leo's mother and Piper's father (she still doesn't know what that meant, but she was still angry that Medea had done what she did), how she was ready to have the boys fight against each other. It was so against her character, and yet, was it? If Sav was to be honest, she didn't know.

     She just knew her stomach had boiled like those potions on the carpet; she had thought about them all dying there, everything Leo went through after his mother's death, the constant sadness in Piper's eyes since the start of the quest that she now had a reason behind, and the way the sorceress had looked at Sav like she was just a little girl with no backbone made her snap. 

     So far, she has had god after god, opponent after opponent━even her own mother━tell her she wasn't ready. That she was naive, and she was not cut out for this quest. And yet she was apart of some drastic Great Prophecy. She was just sweet, little, naive Savreen Arora who wasn't cut out to be a demigod, a hero, and she was sick of it.

     She didn't want to give them the satisfaction; to see her fallen into the anger and done something that was against her morals; but Savreen felt no regret whatsoever. It made her rethink what harmony meant; what peace meant to her. She always considered it keeping to herself, smiling through her constant pain and being kind to everyone she met and saw, because that way, her tragedy wouldn't win. She wasn't a fighter, she wasn't someone who begged for war and relished in it━and she knows she'll never be that person. But perhaps harmony was more than what people thought it was. But what? Was it fighting for peace? Or was it advocating for it? Was there a middle-ground? Something in between? 

     Some part of Savreen was scared that this quest will force her to be something she didn't want. And yet, there was that other part that begged her to let it happen. She had thrown her weapon, suddenly as if she knew every technique there was, and enjoyed the way it felt; to hold that power for a moment, that satisfacton to look into Medea's eyes and tell her: I am more than what you think I am.

      It was tense and quiet on the back of Festus. None of them had uttered a word to each other since they flew from the explosion. Jason and Leo tried to hide it, but it was obvious the words forced out by Medea pulled some unwanted strings, the question of Piper's father hung heavy in the air, and what Medea had meant about their deaths, as well as Savreen's necklace. Secrets were out, and while they all wanted to know, they were desperate not to tell their own. It was a harsh tear in their group; their friendships, and Savreen hated it.

     Her gaze settled on Leo. She knew he was rigid in his shoulders; his head mulling over hundreds of horrible things━he was probably thinking about his mother, but he'd never tell. Sav wished she could take his pain like she could feel emotions, because she definitely felt the weight keeping him down right now.

      It was the one thing it seemed like she couldn't help with. She could calm his nerves, make him lie still and think for a moment; calm his mind. She could make him laugh, and she could be there for him, and hold his hand and talk to him in a way no one else could. She could be his best friend, and yet she couldn't help his pain. His tragedy. The dark corners of his mind that held him with no gratitude━the real monsters to his being.

     And it hurt her because it was the one thing she wished she could help. She wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to be happy more than she wanted it for herself. 

      Her fingers etched towards his back, wanting to slip her arms around his waist, but she stopped herself. It didn't seem right━not at the moment. So, she settled with her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Leo?" she spoke up into the silence. "Are you all right?"

     She spared her a glance. "Yeah ... not bad for a brainwashed zombie. Thanks for saving us back there, Sav. And you, too, Pipes," he added to the daughter of Aphrodite. "If you hadn't talked me out of that spell━"

     "Don't worry about it," said Piper.

     "Yeah," agreed Savreen, squeezing his shoulder again. Her fingers fit perfectly around it. "It's in the past. We're out, now, and everyone is safe." She knew he'd still worry about it, but she left it there. 

     "We'r egoing to have to put down soon," he warned them. "Couple more hours, maybe, to make sure Medea's not following us. I don't think Festus can fly much longer than that."

     "Yeah," nodded Piper. "Coach Hedge probably wants to get out of his canary cage, too. Question is━where are we going?"

     "The Bay Area," said Leo. "Didn't Medea say something about Oakland."

     Savreen glanced back at Piper and she saw her gazing down with a glower on her face. She had been respectful to her friend and not ask anything about it, but she was curious━what did Medea mean about Piper's dad? How could he be captured by Enceladus? What did she mean about the Bay Area? But Piper looked like she didn't want to talk about it, and so she kept it to herself.

     But Jason was a lot braver. He asked her straight away. "Piper's dad. Something's happened to your dad, right? He got tured into some kind of trap."

     Piper let out a shaky breath. "Look, Medea said you three would die in the Bay Area. And besides ... even if we went there, the Bay Area is hug! First we need to find Aeolus and drop off the storm spirits. Boreas said Aeolus was the only one who could tell us exactly where to go."

    Leo grunted, "So how do we find Aeolus?"

    Jason leaned forward, "You mean you don't see it?" he pointed ahead, but Savreen didn't see anything except clouds and the lights of a few towns down below.

     "What?"

     "The ... whatever it is. It's in the air."

     Sav arched a brow. She saw that Piper looked just as confused as she was.

     "Right ..." said Leo slowly. "Could you be more specific on whatever-it-is part?"

     "Like a vapour trail," said Jason. "Except it's glowing. Really faint, but it's definitely there. We've been following it since Chicago, so I figured you saw it."

     Leo shook his head. "Maybe Festus can sense it. You think Aeolus made it?"

    "Well, it's a magic trail in the wind. Aeolus is the wind god. I think he knows we've got prisoners for him. He's telling us where to fly."

    "Or it's another trap," murmured Piper. 

    Her tone worried Sav━very much. Her father was in danger, and there was something she didn't want to tell them. Not that Sav was angry━how could she? When she hid something herself? And especially when Piper looked so broken with despair, like she'd had already sealed their fate and it was her fault.

     She really didn't want to make her feet worse, but Sav wanted to help Piper. She wanted to be there for her. "Pipes," she began. "Look, if your dad's in trouble and we can help━"

     "You can't," she said, her voice getting shakier. "Look, I━I'm tired. If you don't mind..."

     She leaned back against Jason and closed her eyes. Sav watched her, brows furrowed in cocnern. She met Jason's eyes and they shared a sad glance; but also one of questioning. He wondered what Medea had meant about her necklace and Sav pursed her lips. If she had to tell them, she wanted to tell them with Piper awake, and so she decided a hesitant, later ...

      And the conversation ended there. They flew in silence for a few minutes before Jason decided to say, "You guys should head to sleep." Leo began to protest, but Jason shook his head. "It's cool. Hand me the reins."

    "Nah, I'm okay━"

    "Leo," Jason cut him off, "you're not a machine. Besides, I'm the only one who can see the vapour trail. I'll make sure we stay on course."

     Even though he tried to argue, Leo's head was already nodding. "All right," he murmured in the end. "Maybe just ..." he didn't even finish his sentence. He just slumped forward against Festus's warm neck.

     Savreen pursed her lips. She fixed his shoulders so he wouldn't fall off. Her fingers hovered over his curly hair; she wanted to feel them, but she stopped herself. Let him sleep, she scolded herself. 

     Flushing, embarassed, she pulled her hands back and gave Jason a sheepish glance. He replied with an awkward smile. Savreen couldn't help it━she chuckled. He was surprised by it, but after everything, seeing that smile, it reminded her of the Jason she had been tricked into seeing. 

     "Sorry," she quickly said, shaking her head. "It's just━you just━I mean ... it's strange. All my memories of you were fake, and yet, it's still like I did know you━in all the little things."

     Jason tilted his head, and Savreen saw guilt flash across his blue eyes. She then added, "It's not your faut," Sav told him, stern. "Don't you dare think it's your fault. You were pulled from a life you can't even remember and thrown into one you don't even know, expected to be this person you don't think you are and lead a quest while you're at it. And you're taking it on with confidence and stride. If anything, you should be angry━or━or proud of yourself. It's admirable."

      Her friend watched her. Slowly, he started to smile. Not that awkward smile, but a genuine one. It made the constant sad gleam in Jason's eyes brighten; become youthful, to the age he really was. Just fifteen. "Thanks, Sav," he said. She smiled, too. "You're admirable, too━I mean, to help explode a department store?"

     Savreen chuckled, shrugging. "I don't know," she said truthfully, "seems so not me, and yet ... I kind of enjoyed it. Does that ... does that make me bad?"

      "What?" Jason made a face. "No, 'course not. I think you did harmony's work."

     "Really?"

      "Yeah. Sometimes, we fight for peace. We fight for harmony. Usually, it never happens by just standing around and waiting. We try to stop the war before it happens, but when we're in war, we fight for the peace and harmony that's on the other end."

     Sav hadn't really thought about it like that. She flushed, "I'm not really all guns and blazing..."

     "No, you're not," agreed Jason. "But," he smiled again, "I sort of see you as like the negotiator. The one who discusses things to make sure no one else gets hurt. It's really brave in its own way."

      Savreen didn't believe how he did it, but somehow, Jason made her feel better about herself. She sat up striaghter, taking his words to consideration, and felt a surge of pride within herself. Jason was just one of those people that you wanted to hear a compliment from━in which their compliment meant a lot for no other reason at all than they're admirable and brave themselves. "Thanks, Jason," she said, smiling to herself. "And honestly?" she met his gaze again. "I like the real you as a friend better than the one Hera fabricated."

     Jason looked as though those words meant a lot to him. "I really like you as a friend, too."

     Sav nodded, satisfied with the conversation before she stared out forward towards the sky in front of them. As Leo and Piper slept, Savreen and Jason chatted; they joked softly, they chuckled━and for the first time, Savreen didn't see Jason as the friend she had known at the Wilderness School, but as he was now. And she did mean it. She did like this Jason much more. 

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

      ━━Their conversation stopped suddenly when Festus dropped out of the sky. Savreen screamed, feeling a wash of deja vu to the moment they fell the first time. Spiaralling and kicking, she flailed her arms trying to reach the others. Please don't break my arm again, please don't break my arm, please don't━

     "Not again!" she heard Leo yell. "You can't fall again!"

     He was still on Festus's back. Savreen could barely see him, but she caught glimpse of his curly hair and nimble fingers barely grasping onto the metal crooks of the dragon's armour. He toggled switches, tugged wires; the wings flapped once, but that was it. 

     Light's of a city dotted below, getting alarmingly close. Savreen wished she could fly; she wished she could extend her wings like a dragon and fly up towards Leo to help. He could die on the back of that dragon━that's if the rest of them didn't die from the fall, too. They only had seconds before they crashed. The others were still on with him━she was the only one who had fallen right off. 

     "JASON!" Leo screamed. "TAKE SAV AND PIPER AND FLY OUT OF HERE!"

     She wanted to scream, "NO!" back at him, but she was getting further and further away. She'd hit the ground soon; just under a few moments. Her arm screamed with pain, her jacket and hair flung in her face, and the bright lights of the city blinded her.

      Should I let myself die? She wondered to herself off-handedly. Would my curse be broken then? Would no one I care about drown in my tragedy?

     But then an arm wrapped around her waist and tugged her up. She was pulled flushed to Jason's chest and Piper kept her secured with the her free arm. Savreen clung on, looking over her shoulder to see Festus━and with Leo still on his back━fall at full speed to a nearby plain of snow━

     They hit fences, something was triggered━

     And Festus exploded.

     Sav screamed. 

     Jason flew them to the site of the crash as soon as it mellowed. Savreen stumbled onto the snow, almost hitting headfirst. Her arm was healing from the Ambrosia, but it still hurt━but she didn't care about that. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled through the heavy white, trying to reach the wreckage. There were parts of Festus everywhere━bent, shredded and burnt metal. And Leo had been in the centre of it all.

      The necklace in her pocket burned like the sun; it was taunting her, telling her━you let this happen. I did this. You can't escape tragedy, Savreen.

     She wanted to throw it. She wanted to smash it. She wanted to rip it to shreds and feed it to those sun dragons back at Medea's department store. Leo could be dead━Leo might be dead━

      Not yet, my dear Savreen, a voice whispered in her mind from the earth, and she ignored it. The last person she wanted to listen to was that Dirt Woman. Or her necklace. Or Hera. Or her mother━or anyone! They will not hold control over her right now. They do not deserve anything.

     "Leo!" cried Sav, crawling through the snow with the others behind her. "Leo!"

     She reached the pile; coughing through the smoke and her feet crunching over snow turning into sleet. And then she saw him; just lying there. His face was covered in ash, his army jacket burnt and a little shredded. He was a little bit away from the wreckage, and for a moment, as he lied completely still, Savreen thought the worst.

     "Leo!" she sobbed and ran to him. 

     Piper and Jason were at her side in an instant as she dropped to her knees at her best friend's side. She took his hand, her own shaking in his limp one━but it was warm. It was warm. She held it with both, close to her chest as she searched for anything else to tell her he was alive━

    She saw a sudden shudder of his chest and cried in her relief. She knew he'd be upset over Festus, but right now, all she cared about was him. And that he was alive. And she hadn't lost him. She won against the necklace for now. 

      Leo was a rock in Savreen's life. Even if for most of it he wasn't in it, but he had left a lasting mark on her since the foster home, and when they found each other again, Savreen knew she never wanted to let him go. In the short moment she thought she had, Savreen felt breathless━she had been terrified. She lost her father. She lost her grandparents. She lost herself. But she could not lose Leo.

      "A━Ambrosia, or━or something," she croaked. She didn't know whether they still had any from when Piper stuffed them with it back at the Cyclopes den. "A━anything."

      Jason placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's━it's okay, Sav ... he's waking up."

     And he was. Leo stirred. Sav's breath hitched. She shuffled on her knees, holding his hand tighter. Leo? She tapped his name against his scorched hand. Leo, please wake up.

      His eyes fluttered, showing dark, warm eyes that blazed with the warmth of a hearth. They were dazed for a moment, trying to focus. But they settled on Savreen and she breathed a tearful smile. "Leo?" she whispered. 

      For a moment, he focused on her; just her. His lips moved, but instead of saying anything, he itched his fingers in her grip and replied a short, Hi. 

     But then he remembered what happened, and he froze. His eyes widened and he tried to move, "Where━?"

     "Lie still," Piper had tears in her eyes. "You rolled pretty hard when━when Festus━"

     He ignored her, "Where is he?" he sat up. He doubled over and Jason kept him steady. Leo locked gazes with Savreen, desperate. "Where?"

     She didn't know what to say. She could tell him, he's everywhere, broken and gone. But Festus meant a lot to Leo. He cared about that machine like he was his best friend━family. He wasn't just some mechanic's car built from scratch. For Leo, he was his accomplishment, his confidence━the only thing he believed he was good at; that he had managed to do. Losing Festus will be as if Leo had lost a part of him, and Sav knew what it was like. He did, too. And he knew, just like she did, that it was hard to say━to tell someone you care about that they lost a genuine part of their being. 

      Just at the look on her face, he knew. 

     He tried to push himself onto his feet. Sav helped him, albeit reluctantly. Jason moved to stop him, "Seriously, Leo," he said. "You could be hurt. You shouldn't━"

     But then Leo saw the wreckage. And he saw his dragon.

     Fesus had disintegrated. Limbs scattered and his tail hung on the fence. He was in pieces; shattered and blown apart from the centre. The only real part of him that stayed was his head and neck; frozen cold, without light in his ruby red eyes or a breath of steam from his metal jaw. Leo almost collapsed. 

     "No━" he choked. He pulled out of Savreen's grip and ran to Festsus's head. He crumpled then and there, hands shaking as he reached for his snout. The dragon's eyes flickered weakly to see him━as if he had been waiting to say goodbye. 

     The three of them stood back, giving them space. But Savreen was crying. 

     Leo tried to hold back his tears, but they came down in streams. He stroked his dragon's nose, trembling. "You can't go," he pleaded in the sleet and snow. "You're ... you're the best thing I ever fixed."

     Festus made a whirring sound━like a gutteral purr. Leo let his head fall, clutching onto his dragon tightly. "It's not fair," he whimpered. 

      There was silence. Sav held back her want to sob. Piper clutched onto her and Jason's hands. Savreen heard Festus click ... and following that click was a long creak, and then two short clicks. Creak. Creak ... a pattern. A pattern familiar to Leo and to Savreen. Morse Code. Festus was saying goodbye, giving his last request in morse code. Metal neck, metal head and metal hide with oil and cogs running his brain and memory, kerosene in his lungs ... but right now, he was as human as the rest of them. 

     Leo listened to the message, translating the clicks into letters. Then, he nodded. "Yeah," he managed. "Yeah. I understand. I will. I promise."

      And the dragon's eyes went dark for the final time. 

      Festus was gone.

     Leo broke down. Sav had enough of standing back. She carefully walked up to him and knelt at his side. Tearful herself, she grasped his shoulder and he leaned into her slightly as he hugged his dragon, weeping. 

     They did face tragedy; just not the tragedy Savreen thought. But it broke them all differently just the same.

     When Leo finally sat back a little, eyes red, cheeks stained, did Jason say, "I'm so sorry, man. What ... what did you promise Festus?"

     He sniffled. With a deep breath, Leo reached forward and opened up the dragon's head panel. "Something my dad told me," he muttered. "Everything can be reused."

     He cradled Festus's head and neck, and like that, the dragon drifted upwards in the wind and disappeared; dissipating into nothing. 

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    a/n: festus's death broke me more than it should've when i first read the lost hero.

    we need a chain for festus: rest in peace :(