thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great
Finding Central Park had not been too difficult. The road he was on lead directly to it, and it was pretty difficult to miss. He followed the path in, passing people reading on benches. It was so green - a stark difference to all the buildings he had been wandering through before. He could still see skyscrapers through the trees, stretching far into the sky as if they were built to challenge the gods themselves.
The people he walked through tried to pay him no mind, ignoring him while they skirted to the edge of the path. There was a calculated calmness to it, like if they didn’t acknowledge he was there nothing could happen. He supposed that was true in a way, he couldn’t do much other than talk. There was a little stall set up on the side of the path, where an artist sat next to neatly organised portraits. They looked at Leo, who stopped to stare at a charcoal portrait of a woman. He didn’t know who she was, had no idea if they were someone that the artist had met in this very same spot, or if maybe she was just someone famous and there was nothing personal about it. It reminded him of a cork board -one littered with blueprints and equations and in the middle of it all a portrait. The image stuck so clearly in his mind, but for some reason the only thing he couldn’t visualise was the person in the portrait.
The artist picked up a sketchbook lying next to him, fervently sketching and every couple seconds looking back up at Leo. He felt guilty as he started to move on, hoped that whatever they’d managed to sketch was good enough. He couldn’t stick around though, not when his presence would drive away people who might actually be able to appreciate their art.
The path straight ahead led to a zoo. He was fairly sure he’d had to pay for entry for that. There was this hazy memory in his mind - one where he was far smaller and still alive. He’d been brought to a zoo where all the cages had seemed far too small. He was there with a large group of people. He couldn’t remember much more, but one thing stuck very vividly in his mind. Before they’d been allowed to explore the zoo, everyone had been given a bright blue disposable wristband.
Unfortunately, he had no money. He didn’t really if they could really do anything about him floating in without paying, but the idea of making some employee worry for no reason was enough to make him veer left on the path. As it led further into the park, the trees and bushes grew thicker. He crossed a bridge that stood over a large pond. To his right the nearby foliage had enclosed around it. To his left, the water rested below a backdrop of towering buildings. As he continued, different paths twisted and intersected with each other. Leo picked ones to follow almost at random. He was led by this vague gut feeling, this tugging in his chest that almost felt like dread.
The longer he spent there, the less people seemed to even notice him. Granted, there were far less people than at the entrance, and most of them had probably avoided going the same way as him. Eventually he made it to a lake. The Lake, his mind helpfully corrected him. From where he was standing, he could only see one building from behind the trees. All the skyscrapers were behind him apparently, which wasn’t surprising considering the winding path he used to get there.
The water was a striking emerald colour, reflecting all of the trees and bushes around it. Leo floated off of the path and onto a rock. He stood at the edge where it met the lake, staring at his reflection in the water. Whatever feeling he’d felt at the river the night before did not make itself known again, but instead the feeling of dread in his stomach intensified.
He ignored it, that seemed like the best course of action. It came naturally to him, almost like breathing. He was alone right now, there was no person on this stretch of the lake, no person walking down the path. Whatever his anxiety was over was not there, and therefore was useless. Instead, he focused on his reflection in the water, forced his form to create ‘arms’ again. The fire contorted in strange ways until it adjusted to its new shape. He tried forcing it to create five more tiny cylinders on one arm where the fire ended. It rippled into itself creating four, then two, then eight. The other arm started to lose its form and Leo panicked trying to keep it together. The fingers he’d been trying to make exploded into sparks, causing all the flames to ripple back into one big ball.
Ok, Leo took a deep breath, no fingers.
Creating the arms was easier the next time, but this time Leo made his ‘legs’. Unlike the arms, he didn’t bother trying to fully differentiate the two columns of fire. He started to move, but this time instead of floating he tried mimicking the way people walked. How he was meant to move came easily to him, it was the concentrating that was difficult. His legs joined together more times than he’d like to acknowledge before he finally got the hang of it.
His reflection definitely looked more human now. He was only missing a head really. His torso was a writhing mass of fire that wouldn’t conform to a single shape, but it connected to his arms and legs and that was good enough for him. Until he got used to his new limbs the rest of the body could wait. It wasn’t terribly important, he doubted people would want to be around him regardless of what shape he was in. Still, he was happy with it. He looked more human now, he felt more like a person. He probably didn’t deserve it, but staring at his reflection he couldn’t really bring himself to self-loathing, not yet.
The feeling he had been ignoring came back full force. He supposed that’s what happened after he finished distracting himself. Before he could think of something else to do the water exploded from under him and a guy launched himself out of the water. His fire burst outwards, but Leo snapped it back into shape. He was not about to let all his practice get thrown out for nothing. Frustration bubbled up in his chest rapidly connecting and disconnecting as his limbs rebuilt themselves. He turned, unsure of what he wanted to say but ready to give the guy at least a few harsh words about looking where he was going-
Whatever anger he’d been feeling immediately gave way to fear. Now standing between Leo and the park was a teenager He looked just as surprised as Leo as he turned around. He was probably eighteen at oldest, with unruly dirty blond hair and eyes was the same shade of green as the lake. He was wearing grey sweatpants and a loose blue shirt and was somehow completely dry. None of that was what scared Leo. That he blamed on the bronze sword the guy had apparently pulled out of nowhere.
Leo didn’t know much, but he did know usually he was intangible. He also knew whatever that sword was made out of would be an exception to that rule. It could kill him and that was something he understood with every fibre of his being. There was also something about the boy wielding it - each and every one of his senses was screaming at Leo that this guy was dangerous, and he would kill him. He felt this pressure crushing him, washing over him. He wasn’t even aware he could still smell, but if he had nostrils salt would be burning them.
“What are you meant to be?” The guy spoke flippantly, this was nothing at all. He still regarded Leo with some caution but they both knew he wasn’t much of a threat.
Leo couldn’t speak in return; his throat was being crushed. Fear kept him rooted in place, but he could feel his form pulling apart in every different direction. A thousand different thoughts were running through his mind - shards of memories that slipped out of his grasp mixed with a voice just telling him to give up because there was no winning here. He pulled himself back, made his limbs to try and calm his mind. He couldn’t concentrate when he was in a million different places.
“Not much of a talker? That’s new.” The guy mused took a step forward, swinging his arm up to point the sword to Leo.
Leo flinched back violently, contorting his body as low as it could get. One of his crudely reforming arms sank into the water, sizzling. He pulled it out almost immediately, and it was noticeably smaller than before. He couldn’t bring himself to care about that - staring up at sword and waiting for it to swing down.
The guy hesitated a little, like that was not a reaction he’d expected at all. But what Leo was feeling was remarkably familiar - coursing through him with every instinct in him screaming at him to run and not look back. More concerning than that was Leo recognised the person, a memory solidifying in his mind. He remembered guilt and a question he had not answered well enough.
‘Sorry?’ Percy growled.
“Percy?” Leo murmured, some tension releasing itself from his mind. He remembered falling to the ground, standing alone on the deck of a ship. He was on the shore of a riverbank; Percy was next to him skipping rocks. He wanted to explode a truck nearby. Then there were horses running straight for him. He had gold eyes, then there were shadows in his throat. He lost his voice, his body, his mind.
“What-.” the boy - Percy - looked like he’d been struck in the face. His grip on his sword loosened a little. “Wait - Leo? Did the cure work? Where have you been?”
Leo snapped back to reality. If Percy knew Leo - the real Leo - then he’d hate his murderer. The questions he asked made no sense to him; they probably would have to the corpse he’d woke up on. With a sudden burst of energy, he flung himself over the river, floating as fast as he could to the other side. Percy stood at the edge of the water in shock for a second, before he dived into the water to give chase.
It doesn’t take long for him to make it to the other side, where he dives right through the underbrush. Behind him he hears a huge splash and leaves crunching as Percy followed.
Leo wasn’t sure if he had been breathing before, but right now he could definitely feel it. Heart beating erratically and his lungs burning. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable at all, really. It felt like he was made for it - to the point where his ‘legs’ ad reformed and seemed to be carrying him faster than what he would have been doing just floating. He dodged around trees despite knowing he could go through them.
Behind him he could still hear Percy. The wind was too loud to hear what he was shouting, and Leo did not want to slow down to make it out. He leapt over a log, and for a minute he was soaring and it felt as if he was actually a part of the world. He landed running, loose leaves exploding out from the bush that he’d phased through. The trees had started to thin out again, and Leo could see the fence leading to the city not far away.
He could almost feel the ground beneath his feet and air whipping past him. He barely noticed as he ran right past a person walking their dog. There was a short scream followed by loud rapid-fire barking. Leo risked a look behind him, beginning to apologise to them before he saw Percy again. There was a fair bit of distance between them now, but Leo could see him clear as day.
He didn’t have his sword anymore, but that didn’t matter at all. He was staring at Leo like how a hunter did a deer - eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The air around him seemed to warp and there was a giant wolf behind him with the exact same bone chilling stare. It wasn’t an illusion behind him, or like the world had come together to make him see that in the trees and clouds. No, it was something much more ancient than that. It was another layer of reality that Leo was peering into, and something he’d never be able to explain.
He turned forward and kept running. He could see a wall ahead, too high for a normal person to easily get over. He just needed to go through it, then he was free. He could disappear into the city and Percy would not be able to find him again.
He plunged into the wall, but halfway through it he got stuck.
The columns that made up his legs were refusing to budge from their place against the wall and Leo could feel panic clawing up inside him. He tugged harder to no avail. He could hear Percy getting closer, not by his footsteps but by the crashing waves that seemed to echo from them. He backed out of the wall, trying to kick his legs through and failing miserably.
“Leo! Wait!”
He was too close now - Leo risked a look behind him and couldn’t stop himself from freezing for a split second. He was still fifty meters away - Leo had apparently been running much faster than he thought. It still wasn’t nearly as far away as Leo wanted him to be. He tried pushing his legs through the wall again, but he was well and truly trapped. It was a suffocating feeling, one that was way too familiar and made him deeply uncomfortable. He needed to get away, but how? It’s not like he could fly or anything.
He paused, feeling a little bit stupid before he shot up into the air and over the wall.