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Leo Valdez was in the engine room. He rarely came out anymore. The others just assumed he was working on The Argo II and needed space.Leo knew it was stupid to think they had forgotten about him and even more stupid to be disappointed. They had their own stuff going on. It took a lot of people to run a ship.
He needed to stop feeling emotional about such small things.He was being a baby. Besides, there was work to be done. They had had a run in with some Furies and one of Gaia’s (sea monsters?) a few days ago - it was big and it was tentacle-y, Leo couldn't be bothered to learn the specifics - and they had made some holes in the hull and had torn a sail.
Since then, Leo had been surviving on coffee so that he could stay up all night to work on the ship. He couldn't remember the last time he slept, not that it mattered. The main priority was ensuring that they did not sink to their watery deaths.
A few hours later, Leo pulled a watch from his tool belt. It was morning already. He groggily wiped his face and made his way upstairs. He knew Jason was normally the first person up, ashe usually woke at about 6, curse him. Leo began making breakfast tacos, still cursing Jason's black early morning soul. The others would be up soon, so he made breakfast for all of them. He wasn’t planning to eat and just prepared more coffee so he could to keep working on Festus. It probably wasn't healthy to not eat anything (he couldn't actually remember the last time he’d eaten, but nobody needed to know that). But there was no time to waste on food. He was inconsequential. The quest was the mission and there was no time to waste time on food. Originally, the seven of them had agreed to take turns making breakfast. However, it had ultimately fallen on his shoulders to do most of the unimportant jobs, as everyone else had their own stuff to do.
Leo stumbled onto the deck. He had spent the entire day working on the ship, everything from cleaning to maintenance. Now it was time to try and convince everyone else to go to sleep, ironic as it was. The crew needed to be in their best shape. They had a bad habit of staying awake till one or two in the morning.
Unfortunately, t seemed it was going to be the third day of only a few minutes of sleep. Jason was still up scouting, as was Percy. Annabeth was probably still up on Deduleses computer and the others were doing various activities (apart from sleeping). It was as though they didn’t want him to have even one hour (or two, if he was lucky) of sleep.He decided to start with Annabeth. The trick with her was reasoning. If you could convince her that there was no reason in staying up and that she wouldn't solve anything by staying up late, she would eventually go to sleep. It took a good two hours to get her to go to bed. She was Tarturus-bent on finding something that could help them. Sometimes Leo really hated his friends.
He had begun to feel lightheaded, though he didn’t think much of it. He mto get the others to sleep. It took a few hours, but he finally managed it after promising Jason that he would keep watch. It wasn't like he was going to sleep anyway. Even if he wasn’t working on the ship, the nightmares would keep him awake.
The nightmares would sift through his mind, snagging on painful memories.The screams...
Leo shook his head, trying to rid himself of the pain. He would do anything to help his friends, even if he broke under the weight. He wouldn't lose anyone else, like he lost... He shook his head again. What was wrong with him tonight? He didn’t need to think about that.
Leo spent the night up on the deck, tinkering with screws and wire and fighting off sleep. He would have to work extra hard tomorrow if he was going to catch up on lost time.
Leo had been doing the same thing each day: fixed the ship, made breakfast, (while everyone ignored him), worked on the ship again, drank coffee to get through the day and night, wash, rinse, repeat. He was barely functioning. However, he still managed to get through the day (and night).
This all changed the following week. He hadn’t had his hour of sleep and they were running out of coffee, so he was exceptionally tired when he got up to go make breakfast. He made his way to the kitchen, stumbling a bit. He made breakfast and waited for the others to get up. He swayed a bit and leant against the wall to steady himself.
Leo heard footsteps coming down the hallway and quickly stood up, dizzy for a second. Piper walked through the doorway. Leo lazily smiled at her.
‘Hey Beauty Queen’. He greeted her, ‘Breakfast’s ready’.
‘Thanks Leo, you honestly have no idea how tired I am.’ She shook her head, taking one of the last cups of coffee.
‘Mmmmm’ Leo mumbled, leaning against the wall again, as the blood was rushing in his ears. Suddenly, Leo crumpled andslid down the wall.The last thing he remembered was the floor coming up to meet him, and someone shouting his name before it all went black.
Leo woke up to the rocking of the ship and the sound of frantic whispers. ‘Leo!’ Someone shouted. He sat up to see Piper beside his bed. ‘Hey’, he mumbled sleepily, ‘What's up?’
‘What's up?!’ yelled Hazel.
Leo realised that the rest of the Argo crew were seated around his bedside)
Hazel continued, ‘What's up is that Piper told us you collapsed!’
‘Ahhhh,’Leo rubbed his head uncomfortably.’‘Yeah.’
‘Leo,’ Piper began,visibly trying to control herself, ‘When was the last time you ate?’ ‘Um..’ Said Leo, trying to remember, 'Maybe around a week ago? I don't really
remember.’
Percy gasped.
‘I'm fine though!’ Leo tried to reassure them. ‘I've been drinking coffee!’ They all gaped.
‘What about sleep?’ Jason asked faintly.
‘I've... slept?’ Leo tried.
‘How much?’
‘Ummm...The most I've gotten was 2 hours in a row.’
Jason winced.
‘What?!’ Piper exploded.
‘Leo,’ Annabeth said slowly, ‘Why aren't you sleeping?’
‘Well, there's not a lot of time.’ Leo explained. He was not about to tell them the real
reason is that every time he closed his eyes, he saw blood and decay and heard violent screams and the thudding of desperate footfalls against scorched earth and felt the the stings of a cane.
‘What do you mean, not a lot of time?!’ Piper asked. ‘What do you do every day?’ Leo sighed. He realised that there was no getting out of this.
‘I work on Festus at night, sometimes I take a watch and then I get up at 6:00
o'clock to make breakfast and then work through the day doing chores and maintenance.’ He mumbled.
Silence.
‘Okay.’ Annabeth spoke quietly.
‘Piper, Percy, you can handle the meals, and Frank you can help with the
dishes.Hazel and Jason, you can handle the chores and maintenance from now on.’ ‘I’ll help with the ship.’ Leo offered.
‘Leo.’
’Yes?’ He squeaked.
Annabeth was scary.
She glared at him.’ You are not to get out of that bed, or so help me,I will drag you back kicking and screaming.Rest.’
She stormed out and as the others started to follow her, Piper and Jason shooting him worried looks. he finally relaxed on his covers,
He closed his eyes and smiled to himself.Maybe everything was going to be okay.