Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy day to do whatever I want! Happy birthday to me!!

Blinding white light.

That's what dying looked like.

It was a little cliche. And it was a lot more painful than Leo had anticipated. All those guys, heroes in the movies...They made it look so easy.

A sacrifice for the greater good. A quick heroic death, he'd be remembered. Maybe they'd even make him a statue. It was wonderful. The end. The harsh white was like an old friend.

"Valdez if you die right here, and I'll fail you for the rest of the year!"

Leo groaned loudly, "Coach.... you're cramping...my style." He coughed heavily, the words rattling in his throat. His eye lids were heavy and the white light was fading just to the darkness.

"Find a better style, kid!" Coach Hedge commanded him.

Leo let out a gutted wheeze that was suppose to be a laugh. He could hear the old teacher rummaging around frantically, his keys bouncing on his chest with metallic ringing.

"Reyna, grab those bandages--no the thicker ones!"

Little Miss Princess was doing her best to aid him, but her foreknowledge of medicine didn't help when the Coach Hedge didn't specify. Nico hadn't said a word yet, but Leo was almost positive he was sulking in the chair next to him.

"Alright Cupcake, this is gonna hurt." Coach Hedge said.

"Sir... I'm sixteen... years old," Leo gave him a pained smile, "Don't...call me a...cupcake."

"All call you what I want! What an idiot, taking a knife wound like that!"

Leo chuckled weakly, beads of sweat trailing down his face. He forced his eyes open just a little bit-- just enough to make out the blurry figures of his medics standing over him. His smile turned into a grimace as he tried to move. The thought itself hurt his brain.

"Don't move, idiot." Nico said. Or at least Leo thought he said. For all he knew he was imagining him speaking, like he was imagining he was still alive. He groaned.

"Nico stuff that rag in his mouth." Coach Hedge said stiffly, "It'll keep him from breaking his teeth."

"Wonderful," Leo commented, "Just what...I wanted to-" he choked on the rest of his thought, as Nico completed his assigned task.

"Sorry, Valdez, no more wisecracks." The gym teacher said, and then the pain exploded in his chest.

***

"LEO!" Jason yelled.

Just minuets earlier, the scrawny boy, had been choking on the metallic taste in his mouth. The pain was thick as his blood, which Jason was covered in. Piper was sobbing, though Leo couldn't see why.

They'd only just met, like a day ago. They didn't even have anything in common. Piper was almost as much of a princess as Reyna was, Leo had nothing.

And yet laying on the cold floor, feeling the chills seep into his body, Leo felt like they'd been friends forever. Jason and Piper...Leo was so used to feeling invisible, going unnoticed, being forgotten, that Leo, himself, forgot what it was like to have a family. He hoped Jason took good care of Piper. He hoped that they lived through this, and got out okay. He wished that they would grow old together.

He could feel his own tears starting to fall, as much as he didn't want them to.

Everything was starting to go fuzzy and faded. At least he'd get to see his mother again.

Someone screamed.

"Guys...it's hard to...die...heroically... when you...scream like...that." Leo groaned, his head lolling to the side. He forced the words from his mouth, but his tongue was thick and heavy like lead.

The room was silent like everyone else had died and Leo was the last one standing. Leo could just make out the dark figure looming up from behind the teachers desk. It looked like a monster, bent awkward shoulders, a beefy torso, hands that could crush human skulls. It's form covered the forgotten EXPO word on the whiteboard.

"Godamnit..." a rough voice growled from the darkness, "In all my years of teaching--!"

"Coach!" Jason and Thalia exclaimed at the said time. Leo let out a gutted cough, that was meant to be a laugh.

The form stepped into the light a little more, revealing the cupcake loving Coach Hedge. His forehead was open with dry blood caked on his left temple.

"The Hell is going on?!" He barked in his gruff commanding voice.

Annabeth burst into tears, though Leo wasn't sure if they were relieved tears or due to just plain misery. Thalia pulled her closer with a protective arm. Piper rushed to help the man stand. Percy tettered like he was going to faint.

"McLean? Graces? Damn, is that Chase over there?" The coach demanded but then his eyes fell on Leo. Leo gave him a smile, or at least as much of one that he could give.

"Sup... Coach?" Leo dry swallowed. He was trying hard now not to close his eyes. He could feel the blood under his fingertips, pooling in the shiny white tiled.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" The tiny coach burst away from Piper, to get to Leo. Leo's vision was getting dark again, the voices murky.

"I got....knifed..." Leo explained, "it...was...fun..."

Piper swore at him in what he thought was French. Nico punched a desk, looking like he was going to do a lot more but Reyna put a hand on his shoulder. Her face was a flat mask.

Coach Hedge peered down at Leo's face with his beady eyes. Leo tried to focus but the pain was blurring his vision, his mouth tasted so much like blood he wanted to vomit.

Had it really been just yesterday that the coach and him had been having their friendly competition on the track field? Was it really just yesterday that Leo's biggest pain was focusing on running, and to keep running?

It felt like a lifetime ago.

"Coach, you can do something right?" Annabeth whispered.

Coach Hedge stared down at Leo, his worried expression looked out of place on his usual stoic scowl. At the sound of Annabeth's voice sounding in him clicked. Leo watched his eyes glow with grim determination, he could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"Grace, grab my keys." He commanded. Jason and Thalia shared a sibling look, before he snapped at them again. "One of you now! Di Angelo go to the filing cabinet, open the bottom drawer, behind the box of stuff confiscated from the Stolls!"

Leo felt pain explode in his chest, his body going numb. He was mildly aware that the gym teacher had picked him up. A surprising effort that Leo so wanted to make a joke out of.

Jokes made everything better.

Jason tossed the gym teacher his keys. Leo could just make out a smaller one labeled Trainer's.

"Is this a gun?!" Nico exclaimed from the filing cabinet.

"Yes." Coach Hedge voice sounded heavy, like he was floating in a vat of gelatin, "Any of you know how to shoot?"

The room was silent.

"I do."

The voice caused the Coach to swivel around. Leo inhaled sharply and agony crushed down on his fragil form. Flashed of color burst on the back of his eyelids, like fireworks celebrating his almost death.

"Reyna?" Coach Hedge groaned, "Not you too!"

"I also have an extensive knowledge of medical supplies. It's required as a..." She looked hesitant, nervous even, "...princess."

"This is brilliant." Thalia said, "Fucking brilliant. We've got a princess who neglected to share that she can shoot, the Monsters most wanted who's a pushover, and Zombie girl who has a target on her back and no one to protect her."

"Hey!" Percy said.

Reyna pursed her lips taking the gun from Nico like she was planning on shooting Thalia with it, "Did you have a gun for me to shoot? No? Than I don't think it was a problem!"

"Zombie girl?" Coach Hedge said.

"Don't call my sister that!" Nico seethed, "It was your idea to abandon them, Thalia!"

"You didn't have to follow!"

"Break it up, you two!" Piper said, "We're wasting time! Leo's losing blood. Besides Hazel has Frank with her right? She'll be fine!"

"Damn right!" Coach echoed her, "Reyna, Di Angelo, come with me. The rest of you stay here! Stay quiet! We will be right back!"

"No...you won't," coughed Leo. "You can't..."

"He's right." Annabeth spoke up as well. Her voice was faint, though Leo want sure if that was because he was struggling to stay awake or because she was speaking at her lowest volume. "Reyna needs to get out. She's a princess. Of a country. If she gets killed, and her sister gets assassinated....who's next in line?"

"Octavian." Reyna talked through gritted teeth. Her fingers danced on the safety, a look of hate in her eyes for the backstabbing body guard.

"He's in the Monsters pocket." Percy said, "Reyna needs to get out alive. She's....She's the most important of us."

Coach Hedge shook his head, "No. I'd we get out all of us get out together. Am I clear, cupcakes?" No one answered. His scowl returned, "I said "Am I CLEAR?!""

Jason looked up at him and lied, "Yes sir."

Leo locked eyes with Piper, "I'll...see you... later."

Coach Hedge looked like he was going to argue with Jason, but Leo's vision tunneled. His head loll back in the teacher's arms as if reminding them he was currently barely holding on. The world felt cold. The sounds swirled into one big empty yell.

***

"Fucking Shit." Leo's beautiful moan. His jaw ached from clutching his teeth on the rag. Cold sweat glistened on his brow. "Can you...just kill me?"

The pain throbbed everywhere. Every inhale felt like he was breathing lava. How was it possible that one knife did this? Reyna and Nico stood over him, frowning. Nico tossed the moist rag to the side.

"Careful what you wish for, Valdez." Coach Hedge said, sounding tired and strained. Leo didn't blame him. He felt like in the past two days they'd all grown twenty years.

The coach now stood by the medical counter, fiddling with his phone. Leo didn't remember much of what had just happen--he'd probably lost consciousness somewhere along the line-- but he was shirtless and he was almost certain Reyna was checking him out.

That or she was examining his stitches. Nah, she was definitely checking him out.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her, which seemed to be the only motion he could accomplish without setting himself on fire with pain.

"You're an idiot." She responded.

"That's...what they all...say." He attempted another grin.

Nico snorted, but his eyes were watching the door, apprehensively. He was tense, his hands wringing the cuffs of his aviator jacket as if itching for a fight.

"She'll be fine..." Leo coughed to him, "Frank's...with her."

Nico didn't looked reassured. Leo knew he cared a lot for the quiet golden eyed girl. Even if he was battling his own demons he was still trying to look out for her. Leo wondered if he knew about the cuts on her arms. It wasn't really his place to say anything. He'd just noticed himself, when she sleeve had moved earlier. It had only been for a second, but Leo knew what he saw.

Leo didn't worry though. After this nightmare, Hazel had Nico and Frank to help her. And who knows? Maybe after all this the ten of them might go out for smoothies or something.

The thought almost made Leo smile. He could see it happening. Jason and Piper sipping from the same strawberry smoothie; Annabeth stealing Percy's drink; Frank eagerly trying to pay for Hazel. Leo even thought Reyna and Thalia would get along great while Nico tried to be as anti-social as possible.

"Damn it!" Coach Hedge barked, slamming his phone on the counter as if that would make it work instead of break it. "How the Hell am I suppose to help you kids, if I can't even get a stupid phone to work?"

"Slamming it on the counter is not going to help." Reyna told him, with a sigh. She fiddled with the end of her braid--the only sign that she was even slightly nervous, through her cold-as-steel mask.

"Do you have a better idea, Your Highness?"

Reyna but her tongue, and didn't meet his eyes. The gym teacher looked at the boy in black, but Nico shrugged, "I failed my how-to-build-a phone class."

Leo stared at the ceiling. His chest hurt, but it had nothing to do with his knife wound. It was an older phone, Leo had recognized the style. He knew it-- it had a slide keyboard, and only like three functions of calling, texting, and taking pictures.

"Did you rebuild my phone yourself, Mijo?"

When Leo opened his mouth, the words got stuck in his throat.

"Your father would be so proud of you!"

"What was that, Valdez?" Coach Hedge barked as if he was going to assign the practically dying teenager a couple laps around the track field.

Leo held his hand out, ignoring the sway of his vision and the pain that burst with his inhale, "Give." He said simply afraid that if he said anymore the memories would ambush him and drag him back to the fire.

The fire he started seven years ago that still plagued him.