#I’ll take a meeting of frank and his formerly dead best friends over an argument about strawberry trees any day | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stillcarmine · 2 years

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We didn't get to see Camp Jupiter's alarms blare when a gleaming mass is spotted in the sky, streaking right toward them. We didn't see the crowds gathering in the streets of the city, the soldiers in the barracks moving to gather their weapons, weary because haven't they dealt with enough?

We didn't see the Praetors of New Rome and their most trusted legionaires step out of the shadows of the Senate House as the flying shape resolved into the form of a dragon. We didn't see the familliarity of that dragon register on the faces of the soldiers who had fought at Camp Half Blood last August.

We didn't see the Praetors stop in shock as the word spread through the crowd, questions and doubts and disbelief.

We didn't see Reyna's lips part in astonishment, a rare sight as she’s not easily surprised, and in the same breath ordering her people to stand down. We didn't see Hazel let out a joyous cry, hands flying to cover her mouth as she mentally calls for her steed so she can meet her friend as soon as he lands.

And we didn't see Frank stand rooted to the spot, eyes fixed on the figure that's little more than a speck sitting astride the dragon's back, his heart thundering in his ribs, his throat, the entirety of his body.

We didn’t see him, never once looking away from the sky as he steps foward, pushing through the crowd, moving with more and more urgency as the truth hits him, until he's running, sprinting, lifting off the ground, barely conscious of shifting his form because all he can think is that he can't lose one more moment on this earth that rider died to defeat, not when that rider is alive and here and in reach.

We didn't see the rider register the shape moving to intercept him, the resignation for a fight before the recognition of that giant eagle that he knows so well, the blinding grin as the eagle swoops in so close they should all go tumbling out the sky.

We didn't see the eagle morph back into a teenage boy who has missed Leo Valdez so fiercely that he thought the feeling alone could break open the surface of the sleeping world, who doesn't have to miss him anymore, because Leo is pulling his still shifting form onto the seat behind him.

We didn't see Frank Zhang in the open sky for the first time in his original form, or how he barely registers the sensation because he's too focused on wrapping himself around the boy he'd feared he had truly lost, head buried against his shoulder, arms tight around his torso, Leo's own holding just as tight to him, to one of the main reasons he was able to go through with his sacrifice in the first place.

We didn't get to see that.

#valzhang #i just finished rereading the dark prophecy can you tell?#can’t believe we missed Leo’s reunion with frank and hazel #like I’m glad to see Grover but like?#I’ll take a meeting of frank and his formerly dead best friends over an argument about strawberry trees any day #leo valdez #frank zhang #hazel levesque #reyna avila ramírez arellano #camp jupiter #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #the dark prophecy #the burning maze #blood of olympus #hoo #toa #boo #festus #festus hoo #fraleo #pjo

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