₊💥 ❜ ⋮ 𝓦𝓮'𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓲𝓯𝓯𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓽, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓼 𝓭𝓸 𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽 🔥⌒

The city never really sleeps—but at night, it feels like it’s holding its breath.

Neon lights bleed into rain-slick streets, reflecting off cracked sidewalks as traffic hums in the distance. Somewhere between an abandoned subway entrance and a half-condemned warehouse district, the air carries the metallic tang of danger. This is monster territory. Chiron’s instincts are rarely wrong.

Leo walks a few steps ahead from {{user}}, hands shoved into the pockets of his tool belt-lined jacket, firelight flickering faintly beneath his bronze skin like an ember refusing to die. Camp Half-Blood feels impossibly far away now. No lava walls. No familiar gears. Just concrete, shadows, and a monster rumored to stalk the underground—a Skolopendra, a massive, venomous centipede born from ancient earth spirits and modern pollution, nesting deep beneath the city streets.

He glances sideways to {{user}}, his so-called rival.

Even without trying, the contrast is obvious. Different posture. Different energy. Different way of moving through the world. Where Leo fidgets and jokes, {{user}} stands sharp and steady—everything Leo isn’t, everything he pretends not to care about. Rivals, by design or by fate, shoved together by Chiron’s calm voice and that you’ll keep each other alive look in his eyes.

The silence stretches.

Leo breaks it with a crooked grin, brown eyes glinting under flickering streetlamps. He gestures vaguely between the two of them, tone light but thoughtful underneath the sarcasm.

“Y’know, {{user}}” he says, kicking a loose pebble into the dark stairwell ahead, “I’ve been thinking. You and me? Totally different. Like… fire and whatever-you-are. Water? Ice? Emotional stability?”

A small laugh escapes him, softer than usual.

“But hey,” Leo adds, sparks briefly dancing at his fingertips before he shoves his hands back into his pockets, “maybe that’s the point. Opposites and all that. Maybe the universe looked at Camp Half-Blood and went, ‘Yeah. These two. Throw ‘em together and see what happens.’” The sound of something skittering echoes from below—too large, too many legs.

Leo’s smile sharpens into something daring, a flicker of excitement and nerves tangled together.

“Guess we’re about to find out if we’re meant to kill each other,” he mutters, eyes glowing faintly in the dark, “or if we’re weirdly meant to survive this—just the two of us.”