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I get mean when I'm nervous, like a bad dog
(Leo felt his blood boiling, his hands tingling and triggering with fire. Rosa stood just in front of him, pointing her stupid ugly finger at him as she blamed him for his mother’s death, for her sister’s death, his head bent low.
He turned to face Rosa, her imposing figure glaring down at his scrawny body. He remembered being afraid of her, feeling like he was about to enter a trial and he was definitely going to lose, get his life taken away from him like his mother was.
He screamed and cursed as she called him the devil itself– diablo, she had said. They weren't argumenting, that wasn't an argument, they were just throwing words around, victim blaming victim because someone had died that night and it wasn’t Leo nor Rosa, it was someone who had been there for both of them for their whole lives, and both were angry and lost and grieving.)
I get mean when I'm nervous, like a bad dog
(He let his gaze fall upon the ground, his foot dirty and his shoes were not fireproof. His tears spilled in the ground, close to his shoes, staining the wood that laid below his feet. His lips trembled and he bit it hard enough to taste blood.
His new foster parent yelled at him, cried and hit him then cried again, like the child Leo wasn’t and they weren’t.
Leo's tears burned in his cheeks, stinged in his eyes, and choked his mouth, he couldn’t breathe and he was sure it wasn't his tears closing his airway.
He wasn’t sure what happened, but soon he found himself with a broken bottle that was just minutes ago thrown at him, hitting them over and over again, screaming in anger and fury as the blood spilled in his face and his clothes, dirtied his hands and grabbed his last bit of innocence then stomped on it.)
I want to jump into blue water
(His feet scrambled in the ground, his breath ragged and his heart beating, muffling every sound around him. He could distantly hear the cops yelling for him, the branches breaking under his foot. He was dirty with blood, his hands were forever stained and his fire flickered across his arms and his legs and left a burning trail in the leaves and trees.
He jumped in the river, bathed himself with the clean, pure water that healed and soothed his skin. He blocked out the scorching fire all around him, innocent civilians screaming for Help! HELP!– except they weren’t innocent, nobody was and Leo certainly wasn't.)
And I miss riding horses, I miss running fast
(He ran and ran and ran, the police getting behind him, staying away and trying to reach out for him. His feet went one after the other but Leo didn't get to pay any mind to it, he just had to run and to survive so that in one tomorrow he could live.)
I miss riding horses, I miss running fast, I was meant for running fast
(He is locked with the religion he never thought existed. He is locked and to be free he has to serve the gods he never thought existed. He's a bird in a cage and he wants his freedom, with all the challenges meant for him. His feet tickled and he looked around for an escape, but there wasn't any, he was trapped.)
I pretended you were mine, it made me come, babe
(He watched as Jason laughed with Piper. His heart ached and he longed for him in his arms, he longed to have him in his bed. His eyes were blue like the sky and his hair was like the sunlight.
Leo could watch his grace from afar, yet he knew he wouldn't ever be able to reach him with his blood stained hands.
He dreamed for the day his friend would look at Leo and see more than what he was, be more than they were.)
I am cruel, I am gentle, I can make you laugh
(“Love me, you fool!”
“You fool!”
“Hey!”
He flexed his never existing muscles, showing off his temporary tattoos, grinning proudly as both Hazel and Echo both laughed at him for his stupid plan that, somehow, worked out.
He tried to remember her face, he tried his best to remember her smile, but her face was already fading from his memories and he couldn’t quite make her out.)
I am cruel, I am gentle, I can make you laugh
(He felt guilt eating him whole the second he said that joke, barely leaving crumbles as Frank immediately closed off the second the moment was gone. Leo’s eyes locked on the ground for a second, then he remembered and proceeded to once again turn his head to those taller than him.
He smiled as he handed the pouch to Frank, so that the little branch holding Frank's lifeline would be protected against the curse that was fire. Frank smiled at him, uncertain, and Leo was sure he could die for him and everyone else.)
I have loved many boys, I've loved many girls
(He lived to love Jason and he died for that love, so that between the two of them, the most successful would continue to find his way and the seventh wheel would find his righteous place, that was never besides his brethren.
He looked back and remembered when his stupid heart felt for Jason’s sister, for the cold goddess who despised him, for Frank's girlfriend and the girl on the island. He knew, now, he couldn’t trust love when it came to him.)
I don't think about the past, it's always there anyway
(His mother was screaming and fading in the flickering flames caused by her own child. His curse expanded to everyone around him, his mother and his friends, Frank was right to fear him with his fire.)
Don't think about the past, always there anyway
(Maybe he could live without it, without that memory, but everyday it came back to haunt him. Gaea took everything from him, Hera made his early childhood a nightmare and he's grown wishing he could meet his father so that he could have answers for everything his mother taught him.
Now, at the end of his teenage years, he was dealing with the haunting primordial being who took his mother away from him, fated to put an end to her or Jason would do it and die.
His crazy babysitter was there, but Jason was the one under her care, Leo, once again, thrown aside for a greater being, yet Leo refused to hate Jason, incapable of holding his hatred against someone so perfect.
His father was there, and Leo could hold as many grudges as he wanted against him, could hate him and let it be explicitly known, yet he still earned for him when everything was lost to the flames they shared.)
And I will never die, I will never die
(The potion rested in his hands, an antidote for the incurable disease that was death, and he was going to use it to go away and come back.)
I will never die, I will never die, I will never die
(He felt his hair whipping around, the air hitting his face violently, challenging the final boss– except there wasn't any other chance and he was going in for his death and birth.)
I will never die, I will never die, I will never die
(He exploded, he came back, but Gaea hadn’t fallen with him.)
I've preemptively blocked all the exits
(His plan had gone wrong, his people were going to die and he wouldn't be able to do anything because he was finding his way in the afterlife.)
I've preemptively blocked all the exits
(He opened his eyes to emptiness. There was nothing, no dark realm or god of Death awaiting for him, no Tartarus for monsters who killed their own mothers, no endless light that blinded him. Nothing, purely nothing below his feet, behind his back, above his head.)
So I will burn this movie theater, hey
(Maybe in the next timeline, because he now had been given a second chance and so many lives could be saved.)