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The fever came on fast. One hour, Leo was in the workshop tinkering with pieces of metal that somehow refused to fit, the next, he was face down on the workbench burning up like he had swallowed his own blowtorch. Jason had carried him to their (well Jason’s cabin but since he was the only ‘Zeus’ kid he shared it mostly with Leo) cabin before he could protest, though Leo had still tried. Typical of him, always joking, always brushing off pain like it was nothing.
But now there wasn’t even a joke in sight. There was only the sweat making his bouncy curls now damply sticking to his forehead, lips parted in a hoarse whisper and chest rising too fast.
Jason placed himself at the edge of the bed, a bowl of cold water on the nightstand and rag in hand. He made sure to dab Leo’s wrist and forehead every few minutes to at least try and cool him off enough so that maybe he could pull the fever out by touch alone. His heart felt like a stone lodged in his chest at the sight before him.
Leo stirred, muttering something in Spanish. He leaned closer, brushing his fingers over Leo’s knuckles.
“I’m here” he said ever so softly, so soft the wind would almost escape with the whisper. “I’ve got you.”
But Leo didn’t seem to hear the words, his eyes moved beneath his lids like he was trapped deep inside a storm.
The air smelled like smoke, not the kind he was used to, the sharp bite of machinery or the oily kind from bronze. No. This was a thicker, darker smell like a home burning down around him.
“Mijo!” The voice of his mother, frantic, breaking.
Leo spun in circles, the flames being higher than he had remembered, licking at his shoes trying to swallow him whole. He was a kid again, useless hands reaching for the shadow of a woman who was no longer with him, who had perished years ago. His chest seized.
“No, no, mama… don’t… please!”
She was there one second calling out to him, voice taunting him. And gone the next, just ash, just light. Swallowed by the fire, his fire.
His knees buckled. The nightmare pulled at him, merciless like a hand closing around his throat. Squeezing harder and harder. He gasped trying to scratch away the invincible hands but only smoke seemed to fill his longs.
The fire didn’t fade away, it only kept growing and growing. Roaring and splitting the world open. And through the blaze a figure he knew all too well appeared. Jason. His golden hair was haloed by the fire, sword in hand, lighting sparkling desperately across his arms as if he was ready to fight the blazing inferno.
Relief surged through Leo’s chest, Jason was here, he would save him from this endless nightmare. This endless blaze.
But then the flames started to curl up around Jason’s boots, his legs, inching higher and higher. He swung his sword, but the fire just licked past the blade, engulfing it, wrapping higher and higher, catching his clothes as they climbed his chest. Jason dropped the weapon with a metallic clang, staggering backwards.
“Jason!” Leo cried, screamed, sprinting forward. “Hang on! I can… I can fix this. I’ll stop it, I can…”
But the flames reached Jason’s throat. He coughed, smoke pouring out from his mouth. His eyes locked locked on Leo, the ones steady sky blue eyes that had always brought him comfort and anchored him were now sharp and accusing.
“This is you” Jason rasped, his voice shredded by heat. “Your fire did this. All you do is burn and destroy…”
Leo froze, gut twisting with something he couldn’t place. “What no! I would…I would never…. I-”
“You kill everything you touch!” Jason screamed as fire started licking at his head. “And you killed me Leo. You think it’s a blessing that fire, but it’s a curse. First your mother, now me…whos next ?”
“NO!” Leo shrieked, diving into the fire without even a thought. His hands closed around Jason’s arms, but the fire licked harmlessly his grasp. Leaving Jason blistering and burning in his grasp as if his touch was making it worse. The smell, gods the smell. The smell of charred skin and smoke started to choke his throat again. Jason writhed, his body breaking down into ash right there in his hands.
“Don’t leave me…” he begged, sobbing so hard he could hardly even breathe. “Please Jason… please. I can't- I can’t lose you too…”
But Jason’s eyes dimmed, mouth opened and his last words were a whisper that would forever haunt him, words that branded themselves deep into his soul.
“It’s always your fault, your fire only kills…”
And then he was gone. Ash slipped between Leo’s fingers, nothing left but fire and silence.
“Leo!”
The voice dragged him away, out of the flames, into a different kind of burning. The burning of sweat, fever and reality. He bolted upright with a ragged broken scream, clutching at the air like Jason’s ash was still slipping through his fingers.
Strong hands grabbed his shoulders, grounding him. “Hey, hey It’s me. You’re safe, just a nightmare.”
Leo blinked widely chest heaving. “You burned.” he croaked, his throat raw from the screaming and sobbing. “I killed you. I saw it… I felt it… I did it.”
Jason’s chest ached at the terror in Leo’s voice. He pulled him in, wrapping him tight and rubbing comforting circles into his back. Ignoring how hot Leo’s skin was under his damp shirt. Comfort was a priority right now. “No. No, Firefly. Look at me. I’m here. Whole and alive. You could never kill me. You wouldn’t do that.”
“You don’t know that!” Leo’s fist twisted in his shirt, his whole body trembling. “I just destroy everything. My mom… everyone. Now you-” he broke off with a shuddering sob. “The dream… Jason, you looked at me like I was a monster. Maybe I am…”
Jason cupped his face, firm but gentle, forcing the other to meet his gaze. “Then listen to me, because this is real, not a dream. You are not a monster. You are the bravest, smartest, most ridiculous person I’ve ever loved. Your fire doesn’t destroy me or anyone else, Leo. It saved me. It saved us all.”
Leo shook his head, tears kept streaming down his fever flush cheeks. “But what if- what if if one day…”
Jason silenced him by pressing his forehead to Leo’s, voice steady as steel. “Then I’ll remind you every day until you believe it. You’re not cursed. You’re not poison. If the world would burn down around us tomorrow. I’d still take your hand and walk through the flames.”
Leo’s breathing hitches, then broke down sobbing again which melted into Jaosn’s chest, breaking something inside him. So he held him tighter, rocking him gently and tracing comforting patterns on his back. Whispering the same words over and over. “I’ve got you, I’m not leaving. Not now. Not ever. Because I love you, and I’ll never stop.”
And though the fever still raged and the dream still clawed at the edges of his mind, the sound of Jason and his mother’s voice haunting at the back. He clung to Jaosn’s voice like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to this world.
For once, maybe it was.