Chapter Text
Leo hates the gods. That is something he has known since early on in his life. He hated God, and he hates the gods. His father, especially his father, and Hera.
Hera has been messing with his life since he was a small child, he has all the rights to hate her, and Hephaestus was never there when his mother died, and he admitted having forgotten about Leo.
Leo hates them both, and his hatred grew and surrounded all the other gods. For all their neglect to their own children, to all their absence. For all the lives gone because of them and all the suffering the other demigods and Leo himself had to endure.
But even like that, he is not stupid enough to try and go against them. He knows he would be dead meat the minute he said something to them.
Speak out of time, you would get smitten in a second.
So Leo never said anything in front of them, nothing disrespectful said in their presence.
But he used to speak his truth to his friends. To Clarisse, he never once spoke about Ares, but he made sure to let her hear everything the gods are at blame, with all the bad words he knew. And she responded with full enthusiasm.
To Luke, he tried not to curse, but besides that, he could talk bad about any god. Before he got claimed, after he got claimed, he always told him about his anger, about their neglect, and the feeling he got of being completely forgotten.
Now? Now he kept silent. The gods were angry, Zeus was furious and he would absolutely kill whoever was that who stole his master bolt.
Leo was terrified, that was the very obvious truth. He knew it was Luke, yet he kept silent. He was never alone, and he never once helped the Stolls in any prank, no matter how much they pleaded, Leo refused. He talked with Clarisse much more than before, he spent many hours with his siblings, so much they were getting angry at him because he was pretty much restless, much more than before.
He spent much less time with Luke, because he knew any interaction with the son of Hermes would be dangerous, especially as he knew.
If they asked him about Luke, he would be screwed. He would be dead. He didn't know how to lie to save his life.
So when Luke borrowed him from his siblings for a talk, Leo was very much horrified. He knew his hands were moving too fast than normal, his flames were threatening to free themselves and he was suffocating on the truth he knew well.
Luke was speaking, Leo knew. They were sitting face to face, and Luke was moving his lips and gesturing with his hands. His face was blank and angry, angry at the gods, as Leo always expressed himself to be.
Leo was so utterly screwed.
“I know it was you.” He choked the words out before he could stop himself. His heart was pounding in his chest and his eyes were stinging, his throat was tight.
Luke stopped himself, his eyes widening and his hands hanging there before he laid it down. Luke's face was suddenly unreadable, his hands tense in his lap and Leo was painfully aware of the sword just besides them.
He opened his mouth and Leo was waiting for something, anything. He didn't know what, but he knew it wasn't going to be good.
“Ah, that explains it.” That’s what Luke said, his tone as unreadable as his expression.
Leo kept quiet and he wished his expression wasn't so obvious as he felt it was.
“You weren't hearing me, were you?” Luke asked, his eyes baring holes in Leo’s, his expression still blank and Leo wished he would smile like he always did, but that was a lie too, wasn't it?
Leo shook his head slowly.
“The gods are powerful, Leo.” Luke told him with a careful tone, like Leo hadn't known that already, like it wasn’t a common knowledge at camp, at any place of the world, really, that the gods were powerful, a blink and they could kill any mortal here. “But we could be more. They've used us, killed us. We're just paws in their stupid game. Do you know just how many of us died because the gods don't care?”
Leo felt like crying, he knew where Luke was going, and he was right, in a way. The gods didn't care, not now, not centuries, thousands of years before, they only moved a finger to help if they were favored by it.
“But we can make them care. We can be strong enough to bring them down, to make them see what they made of us.” He spoke with a smile and a faraway look in his eyes, as if seeing his goals right in front of him, just in his reach.
“Okay.” Leo suddenly said, interrupting Luke before he could say anymore, and he hated how his voice sounded weak and hoarse.
Luke’s lips twitched upwards, amused. “Okay?” He said in such a similar tone to when he first told Leo about the gods.
Leo wished they were back when he first arrived, Leo fucking wished he could turn back in time.
“Okay.” He repeated, following his game. “That‐ That’s fair.” He felt his eyes stinging, his vision blurred and he couldn’t make out Luke's scar on his face, his expression and every detail he usually held close to his heart, but he could tell Luke's eyes were staring directly at him.
Luke smiled then, the kind smile he expressed so many times. He smiled like there was nothing bad about it, like it was safe and there were no threat for Leo to fear.
“Leo, would you like…” Luke paused, like he was really thoughtful when, really, Leo knew he was sure of what he was going to say. “Join me?
Leo was terrified, his hands shook terribly in his lap. Leo remained where he was, staring in Luke's eyes, in fear that in the moment he looked away, Luke would grab his sword and slit it through Leo’s throat and Leo would die in agonizing pain because he did so much as look away.
Luke's expression hardened, his shoulders tensed up and Leo recognized that as his fight stance, or some lazy imitation of that, and he reached for his sword slowly.
“I want to stay at camp.” he blurted out before he could think of how dangerous that could be. “I'll join you, but I want to stay at camp.”
Luke relaxed, and the fire user was so relieved and so scared he could ugly cry in that moment. The older boy smiled and ruffled Leo’s hair, like he had so many times before, when he was still his favorite person after his big brother, when Leo could admit his heart felt for the older boy in adoration and respect and perhaps something more that Leo wouldn't ever act up on because the man in front of him had always been so much older and mature than Leo could ever be.
“That can be arranged.” Luke said, and he spoke much like the old Luke Leo knew would speak. “We already have a spy at camp. I am certain you know her already. Silena, the daughter of Aphrodite.”
Leo wanted to throw up. Silena was such a gentle girl, a child of Aphrodite and Leo respected her more than anything, and Silena was so kind to him, she earned such a place in Leo’s heart, and he was sure most at camp could say the same. His older brother adored her, loved her, Leo was always surprised when he saw Charles eyes and they were drawn to Silena, like a moth to a flame.
“You should stay at camp. Get information, I know you can do it.” Luke grabbed his sword and left the room. He left Leo there, alone, like what he said wasn't important, no big deal, just a small favor and everything would be fine.
Leo was a coward, a big, fat coward.
How many children like him would die in this, how many of his friends would be caught in the crossfire?
He grabbed his greasy curly hair in his hands, lowering his head.
He could play this game.
They were in the middle of a Capture the Flag and Leo was having lots of fun, laughing with the Stolls, until the new kid at camp was claimed.
Percy Jackson, a son of Poseidon.
Leo wasn’t a big fan of the boy, being honest. Clarisse was his friend, the one friend Leo trusted to show the Leo besides the repair boy or the jokester, and Jackson arrived breaking her spear.
Okay, she too was at blame here. But still, her spear was a gift from her father, and it was really, really special to her. A gift from your godly parent is important. Most demigods are not lucky like she was.
But that is not what is important now.
Luke had been keeping an eye on the boy, and both Leo and Silena agreed to keep an eye on Luke and Percy.
The big three swore to never have children, their children were too dangerous. They made an oath in the river Styx.
Yet, Percy was right there, in the middle of the water, with the symbol of Poseidon, a trident, glowing blue above his head.
Annabeth Chase had pushed him there, because of course she would notice before everyone else. And yes, Leo was mad at her– okay, not mad. He was jealous of Annabeth. From the very start she received all the grace of Luke Castellan, she was put away from harm, and all the demigods in Luke's side were told not to hurt her, while Leo was being observed just so he could enter the army.
Luke was watching the whole thing, naturally, and Leo just knew he was scheming something. Luke turned to him.
One look. Leo knew what he had to do.
One look at Silena. She got it.
Percy Jackson received a prophecy. It's been so long, the last demigod to go on a quest had been Luke, and he changed since then. Leo hadn't been outside camp for so long, and Annabeth hadn't, too.
Leo needed to go on this quest. He had yet to get closer to the boy and to Annabeth both, but if he got to go on this quest, he would get to know Percy and collect information, he would get to protect Annabeth and then receive Luke's approval, and he would get to see the outside world.
It 's been too long.
Grover was chosen almost immediately, but both him and Annabeth volunteered for the quest, and Leo was sure Percy would choose Annabeth, she was way better than a son of Hephaestus with no discernible abilities besides the norm.
Leo would never use the curse that is his fire, not if Luke could discover and use it against him. Leo was already in a complicated situation. He had to go on this quest.
“Grover is not a demigod.” Leo insisted. “A quest has three demigods, but Grover is a satyr. He could still be allowed to go, but another demigod should go too.”
And surprisingly, his argument was accepted. Chiron agreed, and Percy hadn't cared at all, he just went with it. The one who seemed annoyed was Annabeth, but she had no say in it.
When they were leaving, Luke gifted Percy red sneakers. Winged shoes, a gift by Hermes. It would seem important, but Leo knows how much Luke wants nothing to do with his father.
Luke gave both Annabeth and Leo no mind, and Grover just didn't seem to exist for him, but when he turned, he smiled at Leo, who in return turned away, his cheeks heating.
But both Percy and Annabeth were also blushing as Luke turned away. Leo internally scowled, glaring at Annabeth as she was distracted. But soon the winged shoes gained all their attention.
Leo was sure there was something wrong; Luke was planning something since Percy arrived at camp and he seemed even more focused when Percy was claimed, it was obvious for Leo how the shoes were part of a plan.
Leo said nothing about it, but they caught on.
A child of Poseidon in Zeus’s domain is not… Good, per say. Especially considering Zeus is already keeping an eye on the kid.
Zeus is just an asshole, but it is good that he won't be catching on the true thief so soon. Leo wouldn’t wish death on Luke despite everything.
Leo watched in awe as the pen Percy was given turned into a celestial bronze sword. Riptide. Leo remembered faintly about hearing its origins at camp, but Leo had been distracted.
Just like now he got distracted with his necklace as they talked about the Golden Age.
He had five beads and an extra charm Charles helped him build, for the memory of his mother. It could be easily taken off the necklace and turn into a dagger made of celestial bronze with carvings that remembered Leo of flames.
Due time, Leo learnt to live with her absence, just like he learned to keep his fire hidden and his secrets unknown.
As they walked down the hill, Leo looked back. He could barely remember the outside world, all the memories that came to mind had his mother present. They revolved around her like she was the center of the solar system.
The moment she was gone, Leo’s memories were messy, he couldn't associate anything that came between her and camp half-blood, just as he couldn't think of home without thinking about his siblings, his cabin, Thalia’s pine tree.
Argus drove them all the way to the western Long Island. Leo looked through the window in awe, saving to memory everything he could see.
“So far so good,” he heard Percy saying, and that was not good. “Ten miles and not a single monster.”
He turned his head with a frown just as Annabeth did the same. “It's bad luck to say that, Seaweed brain.”
Percy scowled, but Leo understood the guy. Annabeth was right, though.
“Remind me again– why do you hate me so much?”
Annabeth just seems to hate anyone who doesn't know what she knows, Leo thought. He looked through the window again, but he kept listening to the two talking.
“I don't hate you.”
“Could've fooled me.”
“Look, we're not supposed to get along, okay? Or parents are rivals.”
Leo turned back to the conversation just as Percy was opening his mouth.
“My father hates Ares's guts, but I'm still friends with Clarisse.” He chimed in.
“You're friends with Clarisse?” Annabeth asked, her eyebrows shot up in surprise. There. Leo hated when she acted like that, like she knew everything.
“Of course I am!” He leaned forward, then he inhaled sharply through his nose. Luke would hate it if he saw Leo acting like this towards Annabeth. “Doesn't matter.” He turned back to the window.
When they arrived in Manhattan, Argus dropped them. Me and Grover thanked the guy, then followed the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena as they walked away.
There was a flyer glued on the brick wall, ‘Have you seen this boy?’ written in it, but before Leo could take a good look at the picture, Percy ripped it off.
Neither Grover or Annabeth seemed to notice, so Leo pretended not to.
While they walked, Grover and Percy were talking, but Leo and Annabeth were more focused on looking around in awe and deciding their next stop. At least they agreed on something, Leo could use that.
“It's been a while.” Leo spoke up, quietly.
“Yeah, it is.” Annabeth answered, her eyes in the stores they passed through. After a long moment of silence, she spoke up again; “Why do you hate me so much?”
Leo stayed quiet for a while, but then he sighed and kicked a rock in the ground.
“I'm not sure. I guess i'm…” Jealous, because Annabeth has everything Leo can't have. She has a sharp mind for many things, it's no wonder Clarisse started calling her Wise Girl, she has Luke by her side with no Kronos or the gods to get between them, she has the good reputation for getting out of trouble and a gift from her mother. “Doesn't matter,” he said, instead of everything else.
Annabeth took a look at him, her face set in a thoughtful expression that Leo hated so badly. She looked back at the stores and said nothing more.
At some point while they waited for the bus, they got bored, restless, so Leo asked Grover for an apple and offered they could play Hacky Sack.
At camp, in their free time, a group of campers would reunite in one place and start playing with anything they could find. Annabeth was in that group most of those times, but Leo had been much more interested in the forges.
Didn't mean he wouldn't play along, of course. Leo often got dragged in the game, and he got better due time.
Annabeth was crazy good at that, and Percy wasn't so bad, nor was Leo. They had their fun, but the game ended when the apple ended up close to Grovers's mouth and, in a blink, the apple was gone.
They burst out laughing. Leo felt lighter than he felt in a while.
The bus arrived quickly after that, but when they entered the bus, Grover kept smelling the air with a concerned expression.
“What is it?” Percy asked.
“I don't know.” Grover answered, his tone clearly nervous. “Maybe it's nothing.”
He says that, but it obviously wasn't. Leo raised his hands closer to his charm, looking around the bus with his guards up.
All four of them looked tense as they sat in the back of the bus. Leo would take many things from his toolbelt, a gift from his older sister for his birthday, and put them together, mindless of what he was doing.
As the last passengers boarded, Leo got a terrible feeling of danger. He looked at the three women who had sat in the front of the bus, just by the side of the driver. By his side, Annabeth was clearly trying to control the situation, but Leo had his hands on the bus, feeling its mechanics.
“I need to use the restroom.” One of them said, in a flat voice.
“So do I," the second said.
“So do I," the third repeated.
They started walking down the aisle. Leo saw Annabeth giving Percy her cap. Percy turned invisible and the fury looked at her side, smelling the air like there was something there. Percy was, Leo realized.
He glared at the furies from his seat as they communicated with them. The passengers screamed in terror and, suddenly, the bus took a sharp turn to the left, causing Leo to bump into Annabeth.
The furies smashed against the windows.
Leo yanked his charm from his necklace and, in seconds, he held a dagger in his hand, standing up from his seat as Annabeth and Grover did the same.
Leo stood behind Annabeth in his stance as Annabeth yelled at them in Ancient Greek. Tin cans were being thrown at the furies and Leo turned his head sharply to Grover.
The emergency brake was turned on, and the mortals stumbled to get out of the bus. Then, Percy did such a foolish thing to do; he took off the invisible cap and got the furies' attention.
They turned to him all at once, baring their yellow fangs at him. Annabeth and Grover moved behind the furies, waiting for the right moment, but I just threw my dagger at one of the sisters that was ready to lunge at Percy. She wailed and disappeared in gold dust; I was never more grateful for the training I was given.
But the other two were quick to lunge at him, and Percy was able to kill one with his sword.
Annabeth managed to get the one still alive and Grover ripped her whip out of her hands
“Ow!” Grover yelled, “Hot! Hot!” I lunged for him and grabbed the whip. Annabeth struggled to hold the fury and Leo gave Grover the whip back after extinguishing the flames, then he ran to the front of the bus.
Looking back, the others threw the fury behind the bus and they ran out of the bus. Grover yelled that they had forgotten their bags, but Leo kept everything he needed in his toolbelt.
The bus exploded and all the passengers ran for cover.
“Run!” Annabeth shouted, though it was unlikely they would do anything else, “She’s calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!”
They ran inside the woods as the rain poured in our heads.
Leo scowled, his hair dripping on his forehead, his hands clutching his charm that had just appeared back in his necklace.
Annabeth continued to make us walk faster and faster, both Grover and Percy seemed out of it and none of them seemed to remember they had forgotten all their money.
“All our money was back there.” Except Percy. “Our food and clothes. Everything.”
Leo still had his toolbelt, but they didn't seem to remember. They barely looked at him.
“We'll, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight–”
“What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?”
“You didn't need to protect me, Percy, I would've been fine.”
Leo hated how she spoke just of herself, like both Grover or himself weren’t there with her. Like he hadn't killed one of the furies himself.
“Sliced like sandwich bread,” Grover put in, “But fine.”
“Shut up, goat boy.” said Annabeth. Grover mumbled about tin cans.
“No, seriously, what were you thinking?” Leo asked Percy, who seemed surprised, then he opened his mouth. “We had years of training, you barely spent a week at camp!”
Annabeth looked at Leo in surprise, but she seemed to agree. Percy turned away with an angry expression.
They walked in tense silence for a while, but soon Annabeth started talking with Percy. Leo didn't try to listen.
The woods scared Leo in a way he couldn't explain. Something was off in here, and his mind reminded him of the sleeping woman cowered in dirt that was there when he killed his mother.
Leo hadn't told anyone about her, nor about his fire. A few people knew his mother had died in a fire, but they didn't know it was his fire or about everything else.
“...This may be my only chance to see the real world.”
Leo understood the feeling. He spent five years of his life with no knowledge of the real world besides what some campers that came back in the summer told him.
“...That’s where you learn whether you're any good or not.”
Leo smiled. He had killed one of the furies and all of them left the bus in a full piece– even if the bus itself wasn't. Annabeth managed to hold the fury for a long time until they threw her in the back of the bus.
Yet, he was still a bit jealous of Percy. He wasn't a long time at camp, but he had already killed a fury. Leo had been training since he could remember.
“Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me.”
“No kidding.” Leo grinned. By the corner of his eyes, he could see Annabeth smiling.
“You know, maybe I should tell you… Something funny back on the bus…” Annabeth was saying, and Leo was getting interested, but then she was interrupted by Grover using his pipes. It sounded weird.
“Hey, my reed pipes still work!” Not sure about that, buddy. “If I could just remember a ‘find path’ song, we could get out of there woods!”
He puffed out a few notes, then Percy slammed into a tree.
Leo and Annabeth laughed at Percy, then they decided it would be best if Grover waited until he really remembered that song he talked about.