───── 𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐢.
They were rude and they shit everywhere and no matter how much Butch insisted they were "calm and gentle, beautiful creatures", Vincent didn't buy it. He swore he once saw a pegasus laugh at him when he tripped and fell.
However, he had to admit that the pegasi listened to him. He was no son of Poseidon, he couldn't talk to horses ( Vincent really wanted to ask Annabeth if that rumor was true ). He was a great charioteer though. Even without Butch, he could have handled the pegasi as long as they didn't fucking laugh at him.
After Vincent brought over the chariot and Butch got the pegasi, Annabeth wasted no time in telling them to take off. In the time it had taken Vincent to convince Will and the Ares cabin, Annabeth had asked permission to leave camp. Chiron of course, hadn't been insane enough to deny it to Annabeth. He was pretty sure she would have left with or without permission anyway.
Somehow the news of their mission had spread, which is why a few Ares campers slapped him on the back, congratulating him on "taking initiative" to find Percy. Even though Vincent was literally doing nothing except driving the chariot.
In no time, they had left Long Island behind.
It didn't take long because of the magic speed burst. Vincent had tried to ask how just the navigation device was able to help pegasi travel such long distances in such short amounts of time, but the Athena and Hephaestus kids started to rant and he got so bored he didn't pay attention. It was like something out of Star Wars. They went into hyperspace or something equally nonsensical.
By the time Vincent managed to open his eyes, he was flying over Arizona. Most of what they saw from that high up was just a whole bunch of desert. The heat of the sun beat down on him and he sent Apollo a silent prayer for having hot kids.
The Grand Canyon wasn't hard to spot.
Vincent's dad had always been an adrenaline junkie. He used to be fearless, always encouraging him to stand up to his fears. Because how could you fear fear itself when fear was in your DNA? Sometimes, Vincent really missed the man. He would have seen the Grand Canyon and wanted to bungee jump or something similarly stupid.
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. Even the skywalk level was so high that birds circled below their feet. A river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds moved overhead, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Vincent could see, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.
Maybe one of the Greek gods had done it on a dare, Vincent wouldn't put it past them. It sounded exactly like something they would do.
The closer and closer they got to the skywalk, the more Vincent could see the destruction.
It didn't do anything to calm Annabeth's nerves.
If the chariot had been any bigger, she would have started pacing. Butch worked on keeping the horses calm as Vincent navigated the chariot. He made the pegasi slow as they began their descent. The horses nickered and snorted a few times, but didn't protest.
On the horseshoe shaped glass skywalk, he could see three people. They were too far away to tell, but Vincent thought one of them was a girl and one was a blond guy. The last one was hard to see from their angle since they were laying down.
The skywalk itself was in a pretty bad shaped, cracked beyond repair. Vincent was tempted to suggest they land somewhere else, but he was sure Annabeth would probably strangle him. The closer they got, they more details he could see.
The three kids were on their feet. Definitely demigods. If there was one thing Vincent knew, wherever trouble was, demigods followed. Or maybe it was the other way around. Inside the museum connected to the skywalk, a dozen teenagers were pounding on the glass doors which seemed to be locked. The security was trying to open the doors, but to no avail. Good.
Vincent always wondered what the mortals thought of the mist. For example, now, instead of a chariot with flying horses, they might see a small helicopter or a plane. He truly couldn't believe the powers of the mist sometimes.
The chariot landed on the farthest edge of the skywalk, away from the three teenagers. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. For once, Vincent had to agree with the pegasi's instincts.
The blond Vincent had seen from far away, stood in front of what could be his friends. He extended a hand, like he was trying to protect the other two from the newly arrived demigods.
Vincent didn't blame him.
Annabeth wasn't in her most friendly mood. In fact, he assumed she was about one second away from charging with her dagger.
It was bad enough that Percy wasn't there. But these demigods seemed completely out of their depth. They looked like little spooked deer.
The blond was the tallest. He had broad shoulders, a strong build and a stern, stormy gaze that could rival Annabeth's. He wore a purple t-shirt with yellow designs and letters, a windbreaker and otherwise normal jeans.
Vincent half expected him to act like a highschool bully like the ones from early 2000s movies. He certainly had the looks for it.
Next to him, the girl was much shorter, around Annabeth's height since Vincent assumed the guy to be around Percy's height. She had a darker complexion and her brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket.
The third, last and shortest member of their group made Vincent do a double take. He was about an inch shorter than the girl, leaning on her like he was injured or maybe just disoriented. He looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears. A serious and confused expression looked foreign on his features. He didn't look like the kind of guy you could trust with an open flame.
Just looking at him, Taylor Swift's "I knew you were Trouble (Taylor's version)" started playing in Vincent's ADHD brain.
Vincent tumbled off the chariot, too busy trying to place where he'd met the boy before. Could it be...? No way. There's no way. That was too big of a coincidence. Right? There was just no way—
Annabeth leapt from the chariot before Vincent could stop her. Before he knew it, she was halfway across the skywalk. Vincent, a little embarrassed at falling off the damn chariot, got to his feet. He gave Butch a small sorry, gotta go make sure she doesn't commit murder look as he ran after her.
Annabeth had pulled her knife as she stalked over to the teenagers. Thankfully, Vincent managed to catch up to her. Even if he had calmed her down using his powers to make her panic dull, it wouldn't last forever.
"Where is he?" Annabeth demanded, glaring at the three.
"How about we all take a few deep breaths—"
Annabeth ignored Vincent as he tried to calm her. He was doing his best to not stare too much at the short guy. Because if it was who he thought it was... Vincent wasn't sure what to think anymore.
"Where's who?" The blond asked.
Annabeth frowned which Vincent thought was pretty stupid. How would these guys know whom she was talking about? She turned to the girl and the shorter guy, "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"
"He got taken by some... tornado things." The curly haired guy said and Vincent really hoped he wasn't staring.
Fuck fuck fuck...
Their eyes flicked to each other and Vincent swore the guy recognized him. His lips parted and his eyebrows drew together like he was about to say something.
"Venti," The blond said. "Storm spirits."
Annabeth arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"
"Vincent?" Leo blurted.
"Leo?"
Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, HOLY SHIT
Leo Valdez
Gods. That was a name Vincent hadn't heard in a long time.
Vincent had a list of all the times he was sure he looked like an idiot— the time he got rejected by an Aphrodite girl, the time he got pranked by Connor and Travis Stoll and ended up glued to Cabin eleven's ceiling (don't ask), the time he tripped and fell in front of some pegasi and they fucking laughed, just that morning when he attempted to flirt (very badly) with Will Solace, and now this.
Dumbfounded, flabbergasted, gobsmacked, flummoxed didn't even cover what he was feeling.
holy shit. fuck. holy shit. fuck.
His train of thought had long since gone off the tracks.
He was barely aware of Annabeth giving him a look. "Vince, you know this guy?"
Know him? Vincent wanted to collapse there and cry.
Three years.
He hadn't seen Leo Valdez in three fucking years.
The last time he had seen Leo was when they were both thirteen, when they parted ways over some stupid argument. Vincent remembered being shaken to his core, regretting the fight almost immediately. But it was too late. Leo was gone.
And now he was here. In front of him. Holy shit.
As tempted he was to reach out and poke the other boy, Vincent refrained. Leo was really here. And he saw the anemoi thuellai? That meant he was a demigod. Holy shit.
"You... you're a demigod?" He managed.
"That's what the tornado guy called us." The girl said, inserting herself between Vincent and Leo, looking like she didn't trust Vincent. "Leo, who is this guy?"
"He's uh..."
Leo seemed to be having a crisis of his own. Vincent didn't blame him. Three fucking years. Holy shit. Should they hug? Should he shake his hand? Should he smile? Vincent wasn't sure why his palms were suddenly so sweaty. He wasn't very trained in matters of meeting your best friend after three years and finding out both of you are children of Greek gods.
"You're..."
"Take you time, Leonidas." Vincent swallowed.
"I regret telling you that."
It wasn't easy to slip back into banter. Gods knew they'd been through a lot.
Now that he was actively thinking about it, Vincent couldn't just stop thinking about it. The Leo in front of him was so much different than the one he remembered.
Vincent had been shipped to a foster home after his dad died. He never really liked those places, but once, he met Leo and for some reason, the two of them managed to hit it off. From the ages of eight to thirteen, they had been inseparable. Even the courts couldn't make them go where they didn't want to.
Whenever they landed somewhere they didn't like, they just ran away. Simple as that.
For a really long time, Vincent had been doing just that— run. He ran from the monsters that killed his dad, he ran from foster homes, one after the other and eventually he also ran from Leo. He ran until he met a satyr who brought him to camp and for the past three years, he had stopped running.
Vincent wanted to vault over the side of the skywalk.
"If you jump off, Jason can catch you." Leo spoke, like he had read Vincent's mind.
Only three years ago, Vincent knew him like the back of his hand. He had been Vincent's everything .
And now he was here. Again. In front of him. And Vincent was doing little else other than just staring.
He was taller than he had been at thirteen ( duh ), his hair was a bit longer, wilder. He was still as scrawny as he had always been, and before Vincent knew it, he was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.
Something in the back of his mind said yes. This is how it's supposed to be. This is correct. Like he'd been off balance for three years of his life and suddenly he'd righted himself. As if a piece of the puzzle of his life had been missing and h'ed found it again and it fight perfectly.
Leo grinned and Vincent felt like he was thirteen again. He pushed the girl aside and pulled him into a hug.
It shouldn't have been as awkward as it was. Or maybe it wasn't awkward at all and Vincent was overthinking it. Maybe it was... right .
Even after three years, Leo still fit right in his arms. Vincent was taller than him now, a fact that he was fully intending on making fun of his friend for. But everything else was the same. Hugging Leo still felt like returning home after a long time, Leo still sounded like he used to, Leo still looked like he used to.
They weren't two scrawny kids sticking up for each other anymore, running away from a foster home because of bullies, sleeping in alleys and under bridges when they had nowhere else to go.
They just weren't those kids anymore and Vincent hated that.
But they parted and Leo was laughing. oh. Leo was laughing and so was Vincent and he didn't even care that Annabeth was looking at him like he had grown two heads.
"Where the fuck have you been?" He punched Leo's shoulder. "You asshole."
"I'm the asshole?" Leo frowned mockingly, "Dude, you ran away from me !"
"Nuh uh."
"The hell you mean, nuh uh?"
"Fuck you, man." He said, but there was no bite to his words. He turned to the others and cleared his throat. "Um, Annabeth, this is Leo. Leo Valdez."
"The guy you made Grover search for?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the boy like she didn't fully trust Leo.
Getting swept up at finding Leo, Vincent had almost forgotten the real reason they had shown up here. Percy. Or rather Hera's vision.
"Er— It doesn't matter." Vincent shook his head, he gave her an I'll tell you later look and hope she dropped it. "Who are these guys?" He fixed the blond and the girl with a look and turned to Leo with an eyebrow raised. He knew Leo never learned how to raise just one eyebrow and had always been jealous of Vincent's ability to do so.
It brought up so many old memories that stung but also healed his heart.
"These are my peeps— Piper and Jason."
"Okay, your " peeps "." Annabeth crossed her arms, her gaze softening as it landed on Vincent. She knew how much old friendships meant, "Tell us everything that happened. From the top."
"Make it drop." Vincent mumbled under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing, go on."
Jason did his best to explain, though Vincent wondered how he met Annabeth's intense gray eyes. Vincent had known her for years and it was still difficult for him. About halfway through the story, Butch came over. He stood there glaring at them, apparently not getting the message that these guys were friends.
With every word Jason said, Annabeth's expression turned sourer. By the time he finished, she didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She told me he would be here. She told me if I came here, I'd find the answer."
Vincent wasn't sure how to comfort her and he didn't want a knife buried in his ribs so he kept his distance. His gaze flickered down and he nudged the blonde.
"Annabeth, check that out." He gestured with his chin at Jason's foot. "The guy with one shoe."
"He's got to be the answer." Butch agreed.
Though that seemed to make Jason look even more confused. According to him, he had amnesia. Seemed fake, but okay. Vincent didn't really care about him.
While the blond was telling the story, Vincent couldn't even look away from Leo. A thousand thoughts swirled in his head and he had no explanation for any of it.
"No, Vince," Annabeth insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong. "What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"
Generally, screaming at the gods results in a lot of death, specifically for the one who screams. Vincent took a step away from Annabeth. If Zeus struck her with lightning or something, Vincent did not want to be toasted.
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.
"Annabeth," Butch said, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."
She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."
She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot, Butch following after her.
It was just the four of them.
Vincent wanted to push the other two into the Grand Canyon and take Leo with him.
He swallowed whatever feelings he had at the moment and turned to them. Holy shit. Leo was there. He half expected Leo to have vanished. It would make more sense if he was a figment of Vincent's imagination.
After years, they were brought together. That had to be some sort of sign. Fate. The Fates, call it what you want.
Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"
"Seriously," Leo agreed, though he looked awestruck too, like he couldn't believe Vincent was here either.
"We gotta get you guys out of here," Vincent said, "I'll explain on the way there."
"Look, I trust you because Leo says you're his friend, but I'm not going anywhere with her." Jason gestured toward the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."
"Annabeth's okay," Vincent hesitated. He couldn't even begin to explain everything that had been happening over the past couple of days. Especially not now that all he cared about was the shorter boy in front of him. "Cut her some slack, she had a vision telling her to come here. She made me flirt with a bunch of people and everything. The guy with the one shoe was supposed to be the answer to her problem."
"What problem?" Piper asked.
"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Vincent explained. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."
"Who?" Jason asked.
"Her boyfriend," Vincent said. "A guy named Percy Jackson."