orenda [leo valdez]

xxxv. The Angel Lady Voice in Tartarus

❝what matters the most

is how well you walk through the fire❞

⤷ charles bukowski

△△△

Kira had never felt this kind of fear and hopelessness in her entire demigod life.

For some reason, Percy and Annabeth had fallen faster then her. To the point where she couldn't see them anymore.

She was alone.

She didn't have Leo, Hestia, or even Coach Hedge to protect her of what was to come.

She was utterly, and completely alone.

The air grew hotter and damper as she fell, but it seemed never ending.

The longer she fell, the harder she cried.

Kira wasn't one to show emotions a lot. In fact, she covered them up quite a bit. She seemed to put everyone in front of herself, which put a damper on her mental health.

With falling to Tartarus, she felt she was alone enough to release her pent up emotions.

The only person she wanted to talk about her feelings to was Leo.

Leo.

She thought of Leo a lot as she fell.

She thought about their pointless conversations, how good he looked when he smiled. She thought of how much she loved his laugh. She knew he was the best thing to ever happen to her.

She wished she had the wrap of his embrace as she fell, the feeling that nothing could harm her in his arms.

She loved him so much.

Percy had Annabeth, she saw them as they fell, wrapped up in their embrace.

She didn't even know if they knew she was here.

She fell for what felt like days.

She thought of Athena, and what she had done to her mother.

She thought of Ares, who didn't even like her. Too much emotion, she could imagine him saying about her.

She thought of Camp Half Blood, with Connor and Will and Harley and all the other campers. Would she ever see them again?

She thought of Leo, yet again. What she wouldn't give to give him one last hug.

Not to have him with her, though. She wouldn't want him to go through this. She just had to hold on long enough, she knew she could find her way back to him.

The chute she'd been falling through opened into a vast cavern.

Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. The ground dropped off in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.