Hello, everyone! Long time, no see, I know, but good news: This is the last chapter of Breathe Me! There will be a third installment in this series called Recovery; I'm hoping to have it up by the end of July, maybe the end of August (personally, I am very excited to write it, but I have to update/post/finish some other things before I can start Recovery).

The point of view has changed from first person to third person limited for this chaoter. This chapter is about Leo's past and present and how it contributed to his eating disorder, how it affected him, and how it shaped who he is today. It's a 'life flashing before your eyes' kind of thing, so I thought this chapter would be better told in third person.

Also, I apologize if anything in this chapter contradicts Courage or earlier chapters. I started Courage a long time ago and don't remember everything. And if I haven't mentioned it before, no Calypso because I don't want the story to focus too much on romance.

I have not read Blood Of Olympus in a long time, so the battle scene is not completely accurate.

A longed winded authors note, but on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus or its characters in any way, shape, or form. I only own my OCs (but they're only mentioned in this chaoter) and a few events that are mentioned in this chapter. In other words, I do not own anything you recognize.

Be my friend, hold me

Wrap me up, unfold me

I am small, I'm needy

Warm me up and breathe me

-"Breathe Me" by Sia

Leo has a plan. Maybe it isn't a good one, but I guess it depends on who you're asking.

Leo feels the hot celestial bronze beneath him as he rides on the newly rebuilt Festus, riding the metal dragon like a horse into battle. His hands grip the reigns until his knuckles turn white, and he'd be lying if he said he isn't afraid of the outcome of this particular plan. His heart, having grown much stronger since he started recovering a few weeks ago (but it's still not perfectly healthy, and Leo knows that if this battle wasn't unavoidable, his friends would be forcing him to stay in the Infirmary), hammered against his rib cage, and his hands began to steadily heat up.

Leo had put this plan together a few weeks ago, and during that time, he'd discovered something new about his powers. If he forced himself to hold back, his hands would becoming burning hot but wouldn't light on fire, and if he did this for a few minutes, he could build up enough energy to cause an explosion that would level most of New Jersey. After discovering that, he had needed to practice because after the eidolon incident at Camp Jupiter, causing that much destruction was the last thing he wanted. He needs just enough energy to complete his plan without destroying what was left of Camp Half Blood.

Leo is only in the air for a few minutes as he flies away from the wreckage of his beloved warship and towards the sounds of battle that fill the camp he'd almost (almost) began to call home in the time he'd been there, but it is long enough to do a lot of thinking.

Leo had developed an eating disorder at a young age. Nine years old, and he was worrying about how he could hide his food under the table or how he could get out of being tube fed or pumped full of nutrients at the hospital. Ten years old, and he was making himself throw up for the first time and vowing to never do it again… until he purged again and again and again and again… it became a habit he couldn't break. Eleven years old, and he was shivering and trembling on the floor of his current foster home, sweat pouring out of him and his heart fluttering weakly. He was sure he was going to die, and he had just enough time to begin pondering whether he wanted to die or not when the door opened, and his foster brother found him. Twelve years old, and there's a tube up his nose, irritating his nostrils, while Leo resists the urge to pull it out; one time with the restraints was enough after he pulled the tube out for the tenth time. Thirteen years old, and he's being admitted to an eating disorder facility, reluctant to step foot inside but not having a choice. Fourteen years old, and he's being released from the facility, but it isn't long before he falls back into old habits. Fifteen years old, and he's wasting away in Bunker Nine, building a warship that will be used in a war he doesn't want to be in, while he goes days without eating and nobody even notices. Fifteen years old, and his friends find out and help him start his recovery. Now, he's sixteen years old, and he's going to die. Not from his eating disorder, but he'll die like a hero, defeating Dirt Woman and avenging his mother.

He'll die like a hero, but he sure doesn't feel like one.

He thinks back on his past. If he remembers hard enough, he can almost feel the smoke stinging his eyes as the warehouse goes up in flames, the sleepy chuckle of the earth woman, mingling with the crackling of the flames, penetrating his ears as Leo falls to the ground, slipping into unconsciousness. He remembers his first foster mother, Teresa, who beat him and locked him in an attic for what seemed like an endless amount of time. He remembers Maria, the kind woman who cared for him and didn't seem bothered by all of his medical needs that came after the abuse Teresa put him through. He remembers her husband killing her and trying to drown him in the pool in their backyard. He remembers Sir, the man who treated him and his several foster siblings like slaves. He remembers Alexis and Brandon, his foster siblings, the ones Sir killed. He remembers him, the man who molested him more times than he can count. He remembers all the bad times. The gangs he angered, the strangers that cursed at him when he stole food from their stores, the men and woman that glared at the homeless child, like he was a parasite. He remembers the beatings, the insults, the curses, the hunger, the exhaustion, the loneliness, the feeling of being unwanted. He remembers all of it.

But he also remembers the good times. Believe it or not, there were happy times. Leo always overlooks them because the bad times seem to overwhelm the good times, but that doesn't mean the good times didn't exist.

He remembers the Gerans, the foster family that cared for him like he was their family. He ran away because of a monster attack that scared him off. He remembers the street family, a band of runaways, that took him in when he was homeless and alone. The 'father', aka the leader, was arrested for shoplifting, and the 'mother' and the kids were hauled off to foster care. Leo and a younger child, Molly, escaped, but they were found a few weeks after and separated in the foster system. He remembers the fantastic family he had when he was eleven, the ones that loved him and comforted him after the traumatizing experience of his fifth foster home, the one where Leo was abused physically, mentally, and sexually. He remembers his amazing foster parents and his even more amazing foster sisters. Leo never would've ran away if him and his friend Holly hadn't been bullied mercilessly; Holly had been bullied to suicide, and Leo hadn't stuck around for long after she died. Leo remembers the friends he made on the streets, his fellow runaways, the homeless adults that took him under their wing. Leo remembers the kind, if a bit awkward around the kid who had been through things they couldn't even imagine, family that had cared enough to take him to the eating disorder clinic. Leo had hated them for that at the time and thought they were no better than the neglectful, abusive families he'd lived with, but now, Leo realizes they weren't trying to get rid of him. They were trying to help, and Leo couldn't be more thankful for that. Leo remembers his first real girlfriend; he remembers the nice foster family he was living with, his spunky but hilarious foster sister Thalia (not Thalia Grace. The name is just a coincidence, and Leo found it quite funny when he met Jason's sister because of how similar the two girls had been. The difference was his foster sister wasn't as… cold as Jason's sister was), and the friends she introduced him to. Carlos and Ali. Leo fell in love with Ali, and he would've stayed at that foster home if his past hadn't caught up with him in the form of a bad altercation (that was putting it delicately) with a gang Leo used to be apart of.

Leo remembers meeting Jason and Piper, even if those were just Mist memories. Leo remembers being taken to camp, meeting his siblings, going on their quest, and everything that had happened, everything he had learned, in less than a year. All the friends he had made, the progress he'd made, the emotional rollercoaster he'd been on for years but had only gotten wilder and crazier since he found out he was a demigod.

He remembers the good times, the bad times, and everything in between as he flies towards his death.

Festus swoops down and grabs Gaea in his claws while the primordial screams in frustration, fighting against the dragon as she's pulled further and further away from her domain.

"Come on, guys!" Leo calls to Piper and Jason, who are staring at him, dumbfounded. "The fight's up here."

Jason and Piper follow him to the sky, and the real battle begins. Piper is coaxing Gaea to sleep, and Leo's eyelids start to feel heavy, but he forces himself to stay awake as he blasts the enemy with balls of fire that are rolling off of his body in waves. Leo can only imagine what he looks like, surrounded by flames; fire is all he sees. That, and Dirt Woman.

The fight is nearly over, but for Leo to finish what Dirt Woman started six years ago, the night Leo's mother died, he needs Jason and Piper to be far away.

"I love you guys," he murmurs, and he knows they hear him as he erupts into flames, burning more intensely than ever before, and Jason and Piper begin to fall as Jason loses concentration. Leo watches as two of the Romans' hawks catch them in their claws before the world bursts into a ball of fire. He hears a very girly scream, and he's pretty sure it isn't his own, but he's not entirely sure because pain is clouding his senses.

This is it. Leo is dying.

… Or at least he was.

Leo can feel his soul leaving his body until it is yanked back harshly, and he feels himself teetering on the line between life and death until he tumbles into life.

And boy… does life hurt!

Leo groans as he opens his eyes, and he finds Nico staring at him, a familiar vial clenched tightly in his fist.

"The Physician's Cure?" Leo murmurs, his head pounding and a terrible taste in his mouth, like he's been gargling sewage.

Nico nods. "You didn't think we would let you die on us, did you?"

Leo smiles before he's pulled into a hug by Nico, and the seven shortly join the group hug.

Leo doesn't stop grinning for a long time because for the first time in years, Leo knows it for sure. No more confusion. No more wondering. For the first time in years, Leo knows that he is truly happy to be alive.

Since there is no Calypso, Leo still came up with the plan to defeat Gaea, but he didn't hide/take the Physician's Cure from Piper, tricking her with that Mist version of the vial, so Piper still had the cure and gave it to him after he 'died'.

I love feedback (but keep it kind or constructive criticism because any flames will be ignored and reported if necessary), so please tell me what you thought in the form of a review or a PM!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great day! Goodbye, everyone!