Chapter Text
Sometimes it’s amazing what the brain will accept as normal once it has adapted to the environment. For example, Leo Valdez never expected for his normal to be living on the streets and running away from monsters and mean adults at the age of seven, yet here we are.
Everyone said Mama’s death was his fault, and Leo can’t even say any different, because it was true. He got scared and lost control of the fire Mama told him not to use and now Mama was dead. With all the guilt he could carry in his little body, with a tad more squeezed in, Leo promised himself to never use his cursed fire again.
Even Tia Rosa called him “Diablo” and told the police she “didn’t want nothin to do with that little murderer”, so he was given away to people who were mean to him.
After running away when the weird adults got too mean, the only thing he could do was keep surviving. There were several times when he didn’t know why he kept going, but something told him he would find a reason to keep going soon.
For two months, Leo ran and hid from monsters, or hit them with the hammer he found. The hammer didn’t do much, but usually it was enough to help him get away and hide until they were gone.
The day he found a part of his purpose for surviving, was one of those he was hiding behind a dumpster and trying to sleep. Footsteps woke him from his fitful sleep and Leo got ready with his hammer. Being around Mama’s shop all the time had made Leo very aware of the sounds around him, so when the footsteps came close enough, he swung the only weapon he had as hard as he could.
The solid thunk of his trusty Stanley hitting something hard, yet squishy, was extremely satisfying. That is, until there was a high pitched shriek and a pained yell that sounded all too human. When he looked over at what he had hit he saw an older boy holding his head, while a girl a little younger than the boy was alternating between checking him over and glaring at Leo.
As soon as the girl had given the boy a square of something weird and the cut healed up (rather unfortunate in Leo’s opinion) she rounded on him and started yelling, “what the fuck was that for you little punk?” which caused him to rear back like an angry kitten.
For just one moment the words Mama said all the time when he got mad like this came to mind, “Mijo, use your words to lift people up. There shouldn’t be knives coming from your mouth. Deep breaths. And remember, Mama always loves you.” before all his anger and guilt and sadness from the last several months comes to the surface and pushes it away. “What do you mean, what was that for? He came up on me while I was minding my own business, sleeping and trying not to die, like a creepy weirdo. Was I supposed to just die? He could be a monster, and I can’t die before I meet the boy of my dreams! He would be devastated not to get to meet me! Are you gonna deprive my future soulmate of me? He could take my pretty boy away from me! Is that what you want? You’re just a mean spiky girl with magic food squares! What do you know about soulmates?”
The girl’s face turned from anger to confusion to annoyance within about 10 seconds and he finally realized he was yelling in Spanish. With the realization he had been yelling in Spanish came the realization of just what he was saying and his cheeks lit up like a stop light.
When the girl doubled over laughing at his bright red face, Leo crossed his arms across his chest and turned away with a pout. After about a billion years when the spiky girl finally stopped laughing, she reached over and ruffled his hair, eliciting a growl and an attempt to bite her.
In a slightly softer tone of voice he heard, “sorry kid, I can't understand a word of what you just said.” a slight smirk on her face, “From the color of your face I assume I missed something amazing. Wanna repeat it in English?” and with that he could tell she was holding back another laugh.
After doing the mature thing of sticking out his tongue, Leo sighed and decided to answer in English. Without all the extras. “I thought he was a monster again. Or a bad person trying to make me go back. I’m sorry for yelling at you, and that you had to use some of your magic food on him.” The last part is said with a glare towards the blonde boy.
Shaking her head the spiky girl finally held out her hand for an introduction, “hi, I’m thalia. The guy you brained is Luke. What's your name?” Leo’s eyes had been huge and nervous throughout the whole introduction, and he quessed he looked scared enough that she got worried, because the next thing he knew he was being asked if he was alright.
He squeaked out an affirmative answer before tentatively asking, “don’t you know not to give your name like that? They're gonna steal it!” The teenagers shared a look over his head, and then looked back down at him with confusion.
In a voice that tried to come out strong, but was shaky at best, Leo explained, “Mama always said,” and here he choked back a sob, “M-mama always said ‘Mijo, be careful how you share your name. Names are powerful things, and there are many entities that can control you if you give them your name. Ya gotta tell them what they are allowed to call you instead.”
Several minutes passed before the two teens pulled themselves out of the shaken stupor his words put them in. Neither of them can tell if he’s kidding or being serious, so they decide to act as if he's serious. “Alright, then. You can call me Luke. She is called Thalia.” When the older blonde boy spoke, Leo turned his absolutely fierce seven-year-old glare on him.
Through her poorly disguised laughter Thalia was able to ask, “Well then tiny tot. What can we call you?” which did not make Leo feel gooey inside, no matter what people might say.
After deliberating for several minutes while keeping his glare trained on the blonde Leo finally responds to Thalia, “you can call me Leo. He doesn't get to call me anything.” From off to the side Leo could hear the weird older boy mumbling, “what the fuck did I even do to make this kid hate me so much?” which Leo thought was pretty obvious and therefore declined to comment.
As soon as Leo knew he wasn’t about to die, he located his Cool Stuff BagTM and brought some gizmos out to fiddle with. Thalia kept her arm around his shoulders as they walked, which allowed him to keep working on…a remote control? Sure why not. He carefully put the remote in the bag and started working on something else to occupy his hands.
When several hours (a few minutes) had passed like this, Leo finally decided to speak up, “where are we going anyways? I can't believe I’m following randos who knows where.” If he relaxed when Thalia played with his hair and called him Tiny Tot then that was nobody’s business but his own.
Eventually, once Leo was mostly relaxed, Thalia actually responded to his question, “we’re on our way to a special place for people like us. People who are children of gods. I think the place is called Camp Half-blood.” That makes Leo scrunch his face into a scowl. “Yeah, I know. The name is awful. Maybe when we get there we can petition to get it changed. We got a message from the activities director that there should be a satyr coming to meet us.”
While all the words sounded like English, they also kind of sounded like gibberish to Leo, but he didn’t want them to think he was stupid or anything like that. The comforting arm around his shoulders gave a slight squeeze, which Leo guessed meant that Thalia had seen the questions on his face.
That's when he heard her answer, “all three of us, we’re what's called demigods. That means that while we have one mortal parent, we also each have a god as a parent. Specifically the Greek ones. My father is Zeus. Luke’s father is Hermes. Neither of us like talking about our fathers but I think you should at least know. I have some guesses as to who your parent is, but I won't assume unless they claim you.
Now, satyrs are beings that are half human, half goat. There are a lot of different creatures and I’ll show you my book of basics later. I bet you’ve encountered a lot of different monsters. I have a picture book of those as well we can look at. You can ask any question you want and I’ll answer as best as I can. I’m still learning stuff too. I…never mind. I’m happy to share my books with you. I know it can be overwhelming and scary learning about it the first time. It’s ok to take your time.”
Several deep and deliberate breaths later Leo realized that it was the only answer that made sense for so many questions. Being a god lite would make his whole life make sense. Well…except Tia Callida. That lady would never make sense.
He was really excited to get to look at the books with Thalia later. Would he recognize who his dad was through pictures? Would the pictures speak to him like magic? No, that would actually give him nightmares. Wait, does that mean he has siblings if there’s a whole camp full of godlettes?
Gadgets slowed to a stop as a horrible thought occurred to the hyperactive child: what if none of them like me either? Will they throw me away like Tia Rosa and all the others? Would they tell the rest of the camp and chase me outa there? Would they all call me a murderer too? They’d be right. That's what I am. Maybe I should save them the trouble of chasin me out by just…not goin. Leo couldn’t breathe.
What was he supposed to do? What do I do? I don’t want to be on my own again. Please, Tia. I'll be good. I promise I won’t use it. Please don’t leave me alone Tia. I didn't mean to kill Mama. please! TIA PLEASE! The last thing Leo remembered before everything went black was Tia Rosa walking away as he screamed for her.