Fire burned and the sound of hammers against metal filled the air as Leo created yet another broken sword. Everything he makes is broken lately. Everything. Nothing is good. And it's all her fault. It took him forever to find her again to free her from that stupid island.
Sure she said she loved him, but he should've known it was too good to be true. Not two days after she'd been freed, had she left him. He could still hear her voice.
"It'll never work, Leo," she'd said. "I'm immortal, you're not." He mimicked her face tauntingly. Stupid goddesses. Another hammer fell against the broken sword, finally splintering it into pieces, before his eyes.
He growled and tossed the hilt into a pile of scrap metal behind him, as Jason and Piper walked in. They were wearing costumes for a Halloween Party at a school a load of demigods went to. Superman and Wonder Woman, they worked well together.
"Are you sure you're not coming?" asked Piper, looking worriedly to her best friend.
Leo ignored her and grabbed another bit of metal, melting it slightly in his hands.
"Leo, you've been in here for days," Jason told him. "You need to get out." Leo still didn't answer. "At least for a few hours?" he asked. "Come on, a costume isn't required."
"Fine," grumbled Leo quietly. Not like he had anything better to do. He followed them out of the camp and onto the bus that would take them to the school. He didn't even bother to wipe the grease off his face or clean up in any way. It was Halloween, people would just think it's a costume.
"I like your mechanic costume," said a small voice, confirming his suspicions. It was a girl, close to his own age, sitting rather lady-like in the front seat of the bus. She wore a steampunk dress with little clicking clockwork gears up and down her limbs.
"Uh, thanks," he muttered awkwardly, following Jason and Piper to the back of the bus. Strange, he'd never seen her at camp. "Who was that?" he asked Jason.
Jason grinned sympathically. "That's Marie, the principal's daughter," he told her. "She's crippled so she doesn't come to school much, except the dances."
Piper watched the girl greet the rest of the campers as they piled on the bus. "She's actually quite the engineer," she told him. "Many students, say she'd always been trying to figure out a way to walk, and when she was tinkering with clockwork devices she found it."
Leo snuck a second look at the bronze and iron gears up and down her legs. It certainly seemed to work. She'd certainly be able to walk using that device, but it was a bit bulky and obvious. Plus, it took a lot of straps and buckles to keep them strapped to her legs. They couldn't be something she used often.
The bus rumbled to start and they took off towards the school. He couldn't help but smile. "Hey," he whispered at Jason and Piper. "Remember the last time we sat at the back of a bus together?"
Piper groaned. "Ugh, don't remind us, Leo."
Jason laughed, though. "Let's hope there is monster attacks this time."

---

It was much too crowded at this dance than Leo had anticipated. And music was rather loud and annoying. He sighed and turned towards the door to leave until he saw Marie walking rather haltingly out the door and looking rather annoyed.
Should he ignore her and keep on his way home? Probably. It's not exactly a good thing for demigods to get too mixed up with mortals. But it almost looked as if there was something wrong with her legs.
He followed her.
She was sitting outside the gym, on a bench, trying to unbuckle the straps. She grimaced slightly, and bit her lip. "Come on, you stupid buckle," she whispered at it, trying not to draw attention. "Get off!" She clawed at the straps at her ankles, unable to move them closer to her, due to her paralysis.
"Would you like some help?" asked Leo, walking towards her.
She smiled up at him. "I would love some help," she grinned. "As my wheel chair is still at home and my clockwork legs broken."
Clockwork? He'd heard about it. One of his brothers preferred to work with cogs and gears like this. He wondered if he could fix it. Probably.
He knelt at her feet, unbuckling the lowest straps and working the device off her shoes.
She smiled at him as he sat down next to her on the bench. "I'm Marie, by the way," she said holding her hand out, politely.
"Um, Leo," he said. "Do you mind if I take a look?" he asked. "I might be able to fix it."
Her smile never faded. "I take it the mechanic look is not a costume then?"
"Not really," he admitted, looking away from her finally and towards the device, instantly finding the problem and drawing a small screwdriver from his belt.
"If never really seen you around here before," she noticed. "Are you a student?"
Leo shook his head. "I'm here with friends, not really the kind of person who does the whole school thing."
She giggled slightly. "'The whole school thing'?" she asked. "You certainly have a way with words."
He smiled for what felt like the first time in months. "Words aren't my thing," he told Marie. "Machines though, that I'm good with."
Marie laughed again. "Well, that is something we have in common," she promised. "Though I am rather good with words too."
"I noticed," chuckled Leo as he shoved his screwdriver back in his tool belt. "That should do it," he told her. "Would you like to try them on?"
"Of course," she said. "Otherwise, I'll have to admit to my father that we should have brought my wheel chair along, and I'll be forced to do the dishes for a week."
Leo started to fit the devices over her shoes, buckling the straps as he went, her helping with the higher ones. "You still have to do the chores?" he asked.
"I'm crippled, not incompetent," she told him. "Just because I have a slight impairment, does not make me any worse or better than anyone else." She took the hand he offered as he pulled her on to her feet.
She was testing her legs with a bald mustached man not all that different from the man on the monopoly board game came walking out of the gym. "There you are, Marie," he said relieved. "Your mother is looking for you, it's way past time for you to go."
Marie grinned at her father. "Sorry, I had a problem with my legs," she admitted freely. "But it's all fixed now, so I still won the bet."
The man chuckled, noticing Leo there. "I take it you helped her, young man?" he asked. Leo nodded. "She'll go anything to get out of her chores."
Marie stuck her tongue out at the man like a five year old, as she twirled in circles, her dark chocolate hair spinning in waves all around her, as she spun towards the door, outside which stood a similar looking woman.
She stopped just before the door and turned to smile at Leo. "Thanks for fixing my legs, Leo," she said. "I hope to see you again soon." And with that she left.
Her father turned to Leo. "Marie certainly does like to twirl when she wears those legs," he noted. "If it weren't for her paralysis I'm certain she'd be a ballerina like her mother was."
"Why is she paralyzed?" asked Leo.
"We don't know for sure, actually," her father admitted. "She was born that way. She began working on those clockwork legs of hers a while ago. Though she only recently managed to get them to work."
Clockwork legs? Leo suddenly wondered what he would do if he was paralyzed like she was. Probably find a way to walk. But that wasn't that part of Leo what was broken. His heart was broken. Leo needed a clockwork heart.

Notes