The Names of Leo Valdez

by Lynxiah

Summary:

Three weeks ago, if you had asked Leo if monsters were real, he would have said only the ones that reside in your head. Like the zombie lady clothed in black who spoke to him outside his mother’s warehouse, or the haunting voices of Tia Rosa and Tia Callida.

Or even people like Teresa, or James, past foster parents who lived in Leo’s nightmares as more monster than human. But now Leo knew that the list continued beyond those that inhabited his mind.

Because ever since he had run away from what he swore was his last foster home, monsters had become real.

~~~~~~------~~~~~~

AKA: What if Leo Valdez came to Camp Half-Blood two months before Piper and Jason, at twelve years old, and had time to make connections and hone his battle skills before being shoved into a life-threatening quest?

Notes:

Guys, any one else just really want to read more Leo? I know I do, which is why I'm writing this!

The story will have three arcs, 1) Pre-The Lost Hero, 2) The Lost Hero, and 3) Post-The Lost Hero. The main story plots will stay the same, but Leo will be younger, less emotionally constipated, and actually have friends!

Comments are highly appreciated and encourage me to keep writing, and I absolutely plan to finish (seriously guys), so stick around, and enjoy!

Chapter 1: "Supreme Fire Commander Valdez"

Summary:

Leo Valdez really wants a taco, and a hydra really wants a Leo.

Leo Valdez REALLY wanted a taco. 

Specifically, the ones his mother would make after a long day of toiling away in her workshop; little Leo helping by handing her tools as he fiddled with his own scraps of metal. But right now, he would settle for just about any taco that would soothe the ache of a stomach that had lived off of scraps for the past several days.

Leo was used to being hungry—his four years worth of foster homes had made sure of that—but hunger was a very different thing when he spent most of his waking moments battling for his life against storybook monsters. 

Three weeks ago, if you had asked Leo if monsters were real, he would have said only the ones that reside in your head . Like the zombie lady clothed in black who spoke to him outside his mother’s warehouse, or the haunting voices of Tia Rosa and Tia Callida. Or even people like Teresa, or James, past foster parents who lived in Leo’s nightmares as more monster than human.

But now Leo knew that the list continued beyond those that inhabited his mind. 

Because ever since he had run away from what he swore was his last foster home, monsters had become real.  

And the part of him he had promised to never reach for again, the part that had caused the death of his mother and his Tia Rosa to disown him, was now the only thing stopping him from becoming a hydra’s breakfast.

Twenty-one days ago, after packing his few personal items—a picture of his mother and seven year old Leo, several spare parts, and four changes of clothing—into a faded brown backpack, he had slipped out the door of Teresa’s house after seven long months, dodged a few grabby policemen, and fled into the night.

He had found a spot in the ruins of a country house to sleep, and the next morning, was woken to the sound of skittering. Leo had shot up from his sleeping bag, scrambled to his feet, and came face to face with a red mechanical bug on the wall in front of him.

It was about the size of Leo’s closed fist, and it had sharp, metallic legs like a spider, but iridescent wings like a beetle. It tilted its head at the most adorable angle, regarding Leo with little black eyes filled with intelligence.

At this point, Leo had been so mentally and physically exhausted of being alone, that when a possible companion appeared, he didn’t give a second thought to how it existed in the first place.

He simply watched it with weary eyes, and when the creature crawled around the corner and disappeared from sight, Leo did the only sane thing.

He packed his meager belongings, and set off after the animatron.

It led him Northeast, straight out of Texas, and into Arkansas, and that’s when winter hit. Leo was boarded up in an abandoned building when the snow began falling, the harsh, biting winds pounding against the thin walls.

He was freezing, the small scraps of food he could find while traveling were not enough to provide any significant padding to his bones, and his teeth rattled with the force of his shivering.

The metal spider which Leo had dubbed “Firebug” was watching Leo from its place on the wall, as if waiting for Leo to do something. Apparently it decided Leo was too slow, because the little robot then used one of its sharp metal legs to scrape an image into the decaying material of the wall.

The picture was of a flame .

Leo did not know how the little metal bug knew about his curse, but Firebug had never led Leo wrong before. It was either listen to the creature or freeze to death, and yet he still found himself hesitating. After the accident that led to Leo being placed in the foster system, he had vowed to never use his fire, to never lose control , again.

I’m sorry, mom.

For the first time in four years, Leo called forth fire from deep within, willing it to provide heat. After a third of his life spent with a chill that never left his bones, Leo felt truly warm.

After that night, Leo had his first encounter with a monster.

He had been traveling through a wheat field in Tennessee, having lost sight of Firebug, when his feet were pulled out from under him. Leo had fallen onto his back, hitting his head hard on the ground, and when he blinked the stars away, he had seen a baby sitting on his chest.

A really ugly baby.

Its skin was green tinted, it had blonde wisps atop its head, and wings like dried wheat. And then it had released a war cry that could have only been described as a toddler’s screech when having a fit, and suddenly the entire field was alive.

Grain had flown in a tornado around Leo, catching on his skin and scratching his face, and dozens of little baby creatures with pointed fangs and sharp claws had swarmed towards him.

Leo had no weapon, nothing that could defend him. Nothing except for the fire within, and he knew the damage it could cause in a field of dry wheat. But the snarling creatures surrounded him, and there was no other way to make it out alive.

Leo released the blaze in a torrent of flames, the fire burning so hot and so high that he could see nothing else. Screeches and wails filled the air, for how long he still didn’t know, and then finally, everything was quiet.

The flames died, and Leo had fallen to his knees, landing in a dusting of ash that spread from nearly one side of the field to the other, with only a few feet of untouched wheat remaining.

After that encounter, many more monsters had attacked, and Leo used his fire or his mechanical prowess to defeat every single one, until finally, Firebug led Leo to the foot of a green grassy hill. 

They were on Long Island in New York—Leo having walked, driven, and traveled on trains all the way across the country, using money that he had found in envelopes lying unattended in various locations, the stamp of a hammer in the wax of every single one.

Firebug had stopped at the base of the hill, a pine tree standing proudly at the crest, and lifted his little metal leg in what seemed like a salute.

Leo did the obvious thing and returned the gesture, two fingers raised to his forehead, and then the red animatron dissolved in sparks of red and bronze, as if it had never been there in the first place.

And that is where Leo now stood, somewhat dumbfounded by the disappearing act of his only friend for twenty-one days, vaguely acknowledging his growing desire for a heaping pile of tacos, and pondering what he was supposed to do next.

He realized that the most logical thing to do was to climb to the top of the hill and see what lay on the other side, but he had not taken one step in the correct direction when disaster struck.

Pounding footfalls echoed from the forest on his left, and Leo barely had time to register the imminent danger before he was swathed in white hot flames, burning all of the surrounding vegetation, and leaving a crater of black in its wake.

The dragon-like creature that abandoned the cover of the woods was the size of an elephant, with green sharp scales and nine towering heads, each with mouths stuffed full of razor teeth. Beady eyes tracked his every move, and heat radiated from the monster, its tail whipping back and forth with enough strength to knock down a tree.

Over his weeks of travelling, Leo had faced many monsters—such as the wind itself, massive black dogs with glowing red eyes, and cannibal bullies who wanted to taste “smoked fiery half-god jerky,” a statement which Leo had very quickly decided to never unpack—but this monster was by far the scariest.

Crouched at the feet of the absolutely terrifying dragon, Leo wished that he had some heroic thought, like if I go down, I’ll go down fighting!  

But in reality, Leo’s first thought was:

Nope.  

Slaying a literal dragon that should only exist in movies? Nuh uh! I’ll take a taco over this battle any day!

Unfortunately, the dragon was hungry too, and a Super-sized Mcshizzle was on his menu.

A massive talon invaded his vision, and Leo didn’t roll away fast enough, causing a claw to catch in the skin of his shoulder and tear through the sleeve, igniting a spark of pain.

Warm liquid dripped down his arm, but Leo had no time to examine the wound, dodging a snap of the dragon's teeth, and leaping away from the lashing tail.

After all his time fighting monsters, it should have been a given that Leo would have found some weapon—a sword, or a dagger, or even a really sharp stick—to pave his way in these increasingly common battles to the death.

Unfortunately, all he had was a scrawny 4’5 body that happened to produce flames, but this dragon seemed to be a whole lot better at it.

Scorching hot fire once again engulfed his entire self and the surrounding clearing, and in the blinding flames, Leo did not see the massive tail that smashed into him, knocking him across the clearing and into a tree.

He slid down the trunk and collapsed at the base, his back against the bark, and his chest wheezing as he fought to catch his breath. 

Upon his first inhale, a sharp pain sparked in his side, and Leo groaned, recognizing the agony of a cracked rib from his time in the lovely Teresa’s basement.

The scaled monster was slowly approaching, and Leo realized that he needed to make a move now before the adrenaline died and he really started feeling the ache.

“Just.. just a second big guy, Supreme Fire Commander Valdez needs one ... moment.”

Ironically, the dragon took that as its cue to charge, and in a last ditch attempt, Leo summoned every ounce of fire he had, every last bit of strength, and unleashed it all in a torrent of white-hot flames. 

The grass, trees, and dragon were coated in the molten blaze, incinerating everything it touched, until with a few last sparks, the fire died.

Leo collapsed onto his side, the tree that he had been leaning against now a pile of ashes along with everything else in the clearing, leaving only a green-scaled dragon head lying a few feet away.

As Leo’s vision blurred and narrowed, the last thing he saw was a group of figures making their way over the crest of the hill, running toward the smoky desert in the middle of the woods, and then everything faded to black.

                                                               

Notes:

What did you think?

Next chapter is already posted because I CAN, so thanks if you read that!

And comments on my writing style, humor suggestions, or anything else are always welcome!!!

Chapter 2: "Diablo"

Summary:

Will Solace and Leo Valdez have a conversation, and Leo is so ready for an explanation.

Notes:

I said I'd wait until tomorrow to post this, but I'm too excited to get it out!

If you've noticed, the chapter titles are all things that Leo has called himself, or that others have called Leo. And I'm already running out of ideas LOL.

So please leave suggestions of ridiculous or awesome Leo Valdez names/titles, and you may just see your suggestion in an upcoming chapter title!

The first time Leo regained consciousness, it was to the murmur of voices. His eyes remained closed, the effort to open them too much in his foggy mindset.

“What are we going to do with him?” The voice of an older boy.

“What do you mean? He’s a half-blood like us, we’ll treat him the same as any other.” The soft, yet defensive voice of a slightly younger boy.

“But you saw those flames, he fits the prophecy. He could be dangerous if he can’t control them.” The calculating voice of a teenage girl.

“You are both correct. He deserves the same treatment as every other demigod, but we will have to be careful about his powers. Percy, Annabeth, let us leave Will to care for him. We will discuss this later.” The low baritone of an older man.

Leo wanted to ask something like, “what’s a half-blood? Why are you talking over me like I’m not here? Oh, and why are you casually discussing literal fire powers as if you’re talking about what you had for lunch?”

But his voice would not work, and sleep pulled him under once more.

 

---

 

The next time Leo awoke, he was able to open his eyes, although his vision was still foggy, and every limb felt like an overcooked noodle with nerve damage.

He was lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed, a wall on his right, and a pale blue curtain on his left.

There were a few machines surrounding the bed—Leo was not even going to pretend to have a clue what they did, although he was already imagining taking them apart to find out—and an IV attached to his left forearm.

His right shoulder was stiff, and when Leo turned to look at it, he saw white bandages poking out from underneath his sleeve. He found wraps around his torso too, which Leo assumed were to support his damaged ribs. There were smaller bandages covering other little cuts, but none of the injuries concerned Leo. What did, was the question of who had tended to them?

There were no other people in the room, but as Leo struggled to sit up, a teenage boy with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes stepped around the curtain, entering his field of vision. He held himself with an air of soft confidence, like the type of person who knew he was good at what he did, and yet was humble about it.

“Hey, no, lay back down, you’re not quite ready to be up and about yet,” he said as he gently put his hand on Leo’s uninjured shoulder and lowered him back onto the mattress.

The boy seemed like knew what he was talking about, so Leo obeyed without complaint, but with a Valdez-style interrogation hovering on the tip of his tongue. 

Leo was clearly in some type of hospital, which meant that he had been found after his fight with the dragon. If this was a regular hospital, then he needed to escape before they called Child Protective Services and he was put back in the foster system. However, a normal hospital wouldn’t have a kid as a doctor, as the older boy seemed to be, so Leo decided to wait for an explanation before making any decisions.

“My name is Will Solace, and I’m sure you have a few questions for me which I will be happy to answer,” he said with the steady yet caring tone of a medical professional.

Yeah, buddy, Leo thought wryly. I DO have a few questions for you. Starting with the most important one…

“Why is a teenage guy who looks like a 1980’s stereotypical surfer dude my doctor?”

The surfer dude in question—Will Solace, he had said—looked mildly taken aback, as if that was not quite the inquiry he thought he would be answering.

“Um. Uh, I’ll get to that later. Can I first ask what your name is?” Will asked, recovering quickly.

“Leo Valdez. Where am I?” Leo responded, moving on from his perfectly reasonable question to one that was probably more expected.

“Well, Leo, you are at Camp Half-Blood.”

“I thought I was at the hospital. If not, then this is a really weird summer camp.”

Will chuckled softly. “More specifically, you are in the camp’s infirmary. We found you on the other side of Half-Blood Hill. Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out?”

Leo’s mind was racing. Firebug had led him to the foot of that hill, taking him all the way from Texas, and then vanished as soon as the pair reached it. That had to mean that this camp was where he was supposed to be. And yes, Leo definitely remembered the last thing he was doing before falling unconscious.

“I was having a battle to the death with a fire-breathing dragon,” Leo responded bluntly, mostly to see the look of shock on Will’s face.

Unfortunately, Will did not look nearly surprised enough, instead nodding his head like that was a perfectly ordinary event.

“The creature you fought was actually known as the hydra, a monster from Greek Mythology.”

Greek Mythology? Like gods, and the underworld, and too many affairs to count? Leo had no response to that, and yet Will was waiting for him to say something, closely monitoring Leo’s reaction.

“The hydra?” Leo chose to say, hoping it would be enough to get Will talking again.

“Yes. This may come as a shock to you, and I’m here to talk through anything, but the Greek gods are real, and so is the rest of Greek Mythology.” Will still wore the same patient yet cautious expression, as if expecting Leo to react badly.

In all truth, Leo was mostly relieved to hear that he wasn’t alone in the strangeness of his life. In a world of monsters and apparently gods, maybe his fire powers were normal. Maybe his Aunt Rosa was wrong, and he wasn’t a diablo . After all the danger and hatred Leo had experienced from those that were meant to care for him, monsters that were actually supposed to be monsters were a welcome baseline.

And even if this Will was delusional—or a figment of Leo’s imagination, conjured by actual hospital drugs—at least he and Leo could be delusional together.

Will seemed somewhat surprised by Leo’s lack of reaction, but continued on with his explanation nonetheless.

“You and I are both half-bloods, children who are half-god and half-mortal. I am a son of Apollo, the God of healing and the sun, which is why I am skilled enough to be your doctor at my age.”

Usually, Leo could not stop talking. He would ramble on and on about any and every little thing, hoping that if he was funny enough, people would like him. That they would choose to help rather than hurt, to love rather than hate. But in the face of Will’s exposition, Leo kept his mouth shut, afraid that speaking would cut-off the answers he had been so desperately craving.

“Camp Half-Blood is a place for kids like us, where we can be safe from monsters, and learn to use the skills that come from the godly side of our family.”

Immediately Leo thought of his fire, and he wondered if there were others here like him, who had been through the same experiences, and who would understand him.

Will seemed to be on the same train of thought, because he continued with:

“You’ve probably noticed some strange things about you, skills that no one else has. I only know of one of yours: the fire.”

When Will said this, Leo caught a flash of wariness in his expression, but it vanished as quickly as it arrived, replaced with something gentler.

Maybe it was because he was the first kind face Leo had seen upon waking up, or maybe it was the way that Will was talking so casually about things that should have been crazy, but Leo felt safe telling Will the secret that he kept his entire life. 

“I’ve known that I could do it since I was five, but I’ve only been using it recently. Against the monsters,” Leo said slowly.

He remembered the first time Tia Callida had placed him in a fireplace. He was two years old, and far too young to understand the implications. Now he wondered if good old Tia knew more than he had thought, if she was a part of the Greek myths Will had said were real.

“That’s actually how we found you. There was a massive burst of flames that we could see from the center of camp, but by the time we made it over, there was just you and a clearing of ashes,” Will said, his expression carefully blank.

“I didn’t hurt anybody, did I?” Leo asked, suddenly worried. He never meant to hurt anyone, but it had happened before. His mother, his foster parents, unlucky hobos on the street who had startled Leo in his sleep. It was rarely more than slight blistering, or a first degree burn, but Leo felt completely awful every single time.

“No, you didn’t, but I have to ask: have you hurt someone with your fire before?” Will questioned, his voice steady.

Leo hesitated, mouth dry. What would happen if he was honest? Would he be kicked out of this place that made everything seem a little more normal? Would Will turn on him? He didn’t appear like the type of person who would, but Leo had only known him for a few minutes, and he knew from personal experience that first interactions could be deceiving.

Will noticed his fear, and the careful expression faded into something kinder. “Whatever you say, it's okay. Camp is here to help you control your powers, so you don’t make mistakes again,” he said gently, and Leo instantly felt more comfortable.

“Rarely on purpose. I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just didn’t know how to control it. I’m a lot better now,” Leo said quickly, praying that Will would trust him.

“I believe you. We’ll figure out how to help you, but first, you need more rest. The hydra caused a laceration on your shoulder and two cracked ribs, not to mention the countless bruises and scrapes you already had. You're also extremely underweight, and you’ll need time before you're back to full strength.” 

Will said all this with an intensity that can only come from someone who truly cares, and Leo fought back tears. The last time he had someone like that had been his mother, four years ago.

“Alright. Thank you,” Leo said, voice cracking slightly.

“You're welcome,” Will said with a soft smile. “Get some rest, and I’ll check you over when you wake up again.”

Will left, and Leo thought it would be harder to fall back asleep, what with the world-changing information he had just received. But he’d barely closed his eyes for a second when sleep claimed him once again.

Notes:

What did you think? And what other characters do you want involved in the story? I already have some fun interactions with Travis and Connor, a heart-to-heart (well, as much as you can get!) with Clarisse, and shenanigans with Harley planned!

Next week will have a POV shift, and you can also give recommendations on future character POV's! It will still all be Leo centered, so keep that in mind, but I am always open to suggestions!

Also, feedback on what you thought were the funniest parts is EXTREMELY welcome. Leo has a very unique sense of humor, and I want to keep improving the way I write it!

Thanks for reading, and keep a lookout for the next chapter!

Chapter 3: "Little Boy"

Summary:

A meeting is interrupted by an exploding boy, and then another meeting is called to discuss the aforementioned exploding boy.

Notes:

This one was fun to write! I got a little carried away by the characters, so the chapter is a little longer than the others!

Speaking of which, anyone else find it hilarious that we're always begging for an early upload from our favorite authors, not realizing that a chapter of 3000 words equates to 10 double-spaced pages on a google doc, an essay length that would make us cry if we were assigned that in school?

And I am absolutely including myself in this, I just have a little more empathy now LOL

Will Solace was worried. 

Now, that wasn’t unusual for him, being the head doctor and honorary therapist of every camper, but this time was a little different. At the moment, there was only one patient on his mind, and that person was the focus of half the camp.

After breakfast yesterday morning, Will had stayed at the dining pavilion for a meeting with Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Chiron to discuss the Prophecy of Seven, as everyone had started calling it.

It had only been a month after the Second Titan War ended, but already wind spirits were swarming, monsters were growing agitated, and many campers had decided to remain year-round rather than face the dangers of the world outside of Camp Half-Blood’s protective barrier.

Percy and Annabeth had returned from their one-month anniversary four days ago, and Nico had finally visited camp after ages of underworld duties, so Chiron had called a gathering of head-counselors who wanted to talk about the prophecy. 

In the end, only four cabin-heads had shown up because the Stolls were goofing off, Katie was trying to corral them, Nyssa and Jake had been working on the dragon problem, and most of the other cabins were empty at the moment.

Annabeth had begun by reciting the prophecy, the daughter of Athena having memorized it the moment Rachel uttered the words.

“ Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

To storm or fire, the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath,

And foes bear arms to the doors of death.”

The five had considered the words, chewed over alternate interpretations, and attempted to guess which campers could be a part of the seven, but their meeting had been cut short rather abruptly.

A massive explosion rang through the camp, originating from the direction of Thalia’s Pine Tree, and the demigods had leapt to their feet—Chiron having already been standing in his full horse form—and spun in the direction of the noise.

Will’s jaw had dropped, eyes widening, as he saw the eruption of flames blazing above the trees on the opposite side of Half-Blood Hill. He only had basic first aid supplies in his medic’s satchel, and if anyone was hurt in that fire, he would need more than that. He wanted to run back to the infirmary to collect stronger topical antibiotics, but the others were already running towards the flames, and Will had no choice but to follow.

By the time they had reached the crest of Half-Blood Hill the fire had died, but the heat remained. Will heard a soft growl from Peleus the dragon, still curled protectively around Thalia’s tree, the Golden Fleece hanging undamaged from the lowest bough. Most of the hill was safe, but the destruction at the base was devastating. Percy had pulled moisture from the surrounding dirt to cool the ground, and then the group simply stood there for a moment, observing the damage in shock.

All vegetation in a one hundred and fifty foot radius was burned away, not a blade of grass remaining. There were no ghostly tree stumps like there would have been in a natural forest fire, just a gray coating of ash covering the entire expanse.

And that’s when Will had heard a sharp inhale on his left, originating from Percy, exhaled with a slur of words.

“There’s a person there,” Percy said, dumbfounded, and then stronger, “There’s a person!” And then he took off down the hill, the others following as soon as they recovered from their own stupefaction. 

Half-bloods had been trickling into camp faster than ever before due to the god’s promise to claim their children, and the cabins were finally filling out again. The war had left around forty demigods at camp, but in the past month, Grover—a leader of the Cloven Council—had sent various satyr guardians to collect half-bloods from across the country.

Most arrived with their protector, shaken from a fight with a monster or two, but were largely unharmed. In the light of all this, Percy and Annabeth had decided to stay at camp that year, welcoming new demigods, and making their introductions into the world of Greek mythology a little smoother. 

Will had watched as newer demigods looked up to Percy, viewing him as a leader of the camp due to his honest and caring nature when it came to the younger campers. Will had stayed partly because it was less chaotic than joining his mom on tour—which was really saying something, considering the usual chaos of camp—and partly because he was the most skilled at medicine. Which would probably come in very useful right about now.

Will immediately ran through everything he knew about burn victims—mentally taking stock of his ambrosia and nectar, considering what painkillers were best with different levels of pain—but his brain simply stopped when he reached the scene in front of him.

A little boy was curled up in the center of the ashes, his caramel skin coated in cinders, cuts, and bruises, his brown curly hair caked with fine embers. His clothes were ripped, his body smoking, and yet there wasn’t a burn on him.

Three feet away sat the singed head of a hydra, the stump of the neck cauterized by the sweltering flames that had risen to the clouds and then died again in less than a minute.

Percy and Will immediately dropped to their knees beside the boy, Will checking him over for injuries, and Percy worriedly examining his face, his hands hovering like he wanted to help, but was clueless about what to do.

Chiron and Annabeth stood a few feet back, conversing rapidly under their breaths, and Nico approached the kneeling pair, his stygian iron sword resting limply in his left hand.

“His life force is still strong,” the son of Hades said, his expression unreadable as he examined the scene in front of him.

“H-he isn’t burned, his clothes aren't even smoking anymore. How is he not burned?” Percy questioned, running a hand through his hair, and only succeeding in messing it up further.

“Maybe because he’s the one who started the fire in the first place,” Annabeth said grimly, glancing at the hydra’s head, her fingers running along the hilt of her sheathed dagger.

“That doesn’t make any sense, he would still be burned,” Will said, not looking up from where he was bandaging a cut on the boy’s shoulder, staunching the bleeding until the group could get him to the infirmary.

“Not necessarily,” Chiron interjected, his voice distant, as if deep in thought. “There have been demigods with pyrokinesis in the past, although we have not had one in centuries.”

“ To storm or fire, the world must fall ,” Annabeth whispered. Despite the lingering heat, Will felt a chill run from his head to his toes, and his hands froze in their work. The others looked much the same, until Percy snapped them out of it.

“None of that matters right now, we have to get him to the infirmary,” Percy said firmly, his eyes betraying his concern, whether that was for the boy, or for the prophecy, Will wasn’t sure.

“Right,” Will stepped in, forcing the impending prophecy to the back of his mind, and focused on what he could worry about right now. “I’ve done what I can do here. Percy, you carry him so that I can keep an eye on the bleeding. He shouldn’t be too heavy.”

Percy slid one hand under the boy’s knees and one under his arms, lifting him up easily. The boy didn’t even stir, and Percy frowned, his expression worried. “He shouldn’t be this light either,” he murmured, and Will couldn’t help but agree, noting the way that the boy’s clothes pooled around his thin frame.

Nico paused beside the hydra’s head, and Will chewed his bottom lip, wondering how a person so small could have possibly defeated one of the scariest creatures in Greek mythology. 

The son of Hades scooped up the hydra’s head, his expression twisted in thought, and the group made their way back up the hill.

---

 

It had been nearly two days since everything had happened, and Will was making his way from the infirmary to the Big House. Night was setting, the September air cold but not freezing, and he had just come from his conversation with Leo. 

The boy had not been what Will was expecting.

Normally, new demigods would be panicked or overwhelmed, but Leo had listened carefully, made a few jokes with a crooked grin on his face, and accepted everything that Will told him with minimal questions. Will had seen that Leo was still exhausted despite his cheery demeanor, and had left him to rest before getting all the information that was routine to ask for—like his age, emergency contacts, or past prescriptions.

Will had left Kayla to watch him, with instructions to come get Will should Leo wake, and then left to join a discussion that was bound to melt down into a massive argument—as they usually did. This time, every camp counselor would be present, not wanting to miss the discussion, which simply meant more willful opinions. Will pushed open the doors and was immediately approached by Percy, the son of Poseidon’s hair unkempt, and his orange camp T-shirt rumpled.

“How is he?” Percy asked, his tone imploring. The older teenager had been concerned with the boy from the start, and Will remembered that Percy had been a similar age when he first came to camp. Maybe Percy saw a little bit of himself in Leo.

“He woke up for a bit, and I was able to get a little more information before he went back to sleep,” Will answered gently.

“Everyone sit down, and Will can tell us all what he’s learned,” Chiron commanded, as everyone settled in.

Will sat with Percy on his right, and Nico on his left. Will had only just been getting to know Nico, but the son of Hades seemed like he could use more friends, and Will wanted to try and be one of them. Annabeth sat next to Percy, and Butch—the Head Camper of the new Iris cabin—was in the chair next to her. Travis and Connor Stoll were teasing Kate Gardner as Clovis drooled on her shoulder, his soft snores filling the spaces between words. Lou Ellen Blackstone and the Victor siblings, Holly and Laurel, were arguing about whether or not using magic in a card game was cheating.

Jake Mason and Nyssa Barrera were sitting beside Chiron, the centaur having wanted both of the Hephaestus Cabin’s oldest campers to partake in the conversation. The only one missing was Clarisse, as she and Chris were attending their senior year of school.

“I still don’t understand why we're having this meeting in the first place,” Percy stated agitatedly. “It feels wrong that we’re discussing him behind his back. He’s just a normal camper.”

“No, he’s not,” Nyssa argued back, her eyes stony. “Pyrokinesis is a curse. A half-blood with that power only appears when something terrible is going to happen.”

“I don’t believe that,” Percy declared, spinning his ball point pen between his fingers. Will really hoped he wouldn’t accidentally activate Riptide and chop his own fingers off. “A power shouldn’t decide his future, or his actions.”

Will couldn’t help but agree with Percy. Leo didn't seem like a curse. Will remembered his watery expression when Will directed him to rest, the way his humorous facade had grown the tiniest crack. Leo had looked like a little boy who was scared of the world he found himself in, just like any other half-blood.

“I talked to him. His name is Leo Valdez, and I don’t think he’s dangerous at all,” Will added, hoping to soothe the rising tempers. Percy nodded as if that was enough to end the discussion, but the others continued nonetheless.

“Nyssa, you said that pyrokinesis precedes terrible events?” Annabeth inquired, her tone serious and calculating, her words always precise and to the point.

“Yes,” Nyssa agreed. “The last person who had it was Thomas Faynor in 1666. He lost control and started the Great Fire of London.”

“But that doesn’t mean anything!” Percy said, his voice rising slightly. “That was one person. We can’t judge Leo because of something a different person did!” Will immediately thought of the children of the Big Three, outlawed because of powers that had been destructive in the past.

“Yeah! I shouldn’t be punished with dish duty just because Connor hot-wired the van and I happened to be in it too!” Travis butted in, only to be harshly elbowed by Katie, causing Clovis to let out a long groan and rest his head on the table instead of her shoulder.

Determinedly ignoring Travis, Annabeth said, “you’re right Percy, but we can’t completely disregard the facts. Leo showed up barely a month after the Prophecy of Seven was delivered, and his fire powers match the line of the prophecy.”

“Okay, but what are we supposed to do?” Percy sighed. “The last Great Prophecy took years to begin, what if this one takes just as long?”

“At this point, all we can do is wait,” Chiron replied patiently. “Leo has not been claimed yet—” 

“Why though? The gods promised to claim their kids!” Percy interrupted angrily.

“Technically, they promised to claim their kids by the time they turn thirteen. Leo barely looks over eleven,” Will responded hesitantly, not wanting to involve himself in the argument.

“That is true. But we still must teach him to control his fire powers to prevent disasters from occurring in the first place,” Chiron said. “And there is only one demigod here who can control the elements to the extent that Leo can, and counteract possible accidents.”

Everyone shifted their eyes to Percy, even the Stolls pausing their argument long enough to stare pointedly. 

“Me?” Percy asked in surprise, as if not quite understanding that a child of Poseidon would be perfect for training a fire-wielding half-blood.

“Of course you, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, playfully punching him in the shoulder.

“Will, how long will it be before Leo Valdez is ready to begin training?” Chiron questioned.

“His wounds aren’t bad, but he is severely malnourished. Maybe a week, and then you can start off with easy things that involve small amounts of his power only, nothing physically demanding.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. Percy will train Leo when he is recovered, and Leo will stay in the Hermes cabin until he is claimed,” Chiron said, signaling the end of the meeting.

“A fire-breathing cabinmate, let’s go!” Connor exclaimed, grinning crookedly, and wrapping an arm around his brother’s shoulder.

“Think of all the potential pranks,” Travis said dreamily.

“No!” Katie cut in firmly. “Absolutely not! Do not get the poor boy wrapped up in your schemes!”

The trio walked out the door, still bickering between themselves, as everyone else filed out slowly in groups of two or three. Will could already feel stormy blue-green eyes staring a hole in his head, and he turned to face Percy, the son of the Sea God’s expression a mix of mild anxiety and anticipation.

“When can I meet him?”

Notes:

What did you think?

Next chapter is back to Leo's POV, and he will finally interact (awake!) with Percy!

As always, kudus and comments are EXTREMELY appreciated, as are any suggestions on how I can improve!!!

Chapter 4: "The Human Flamethrower"

Summary:

The Adventures of Aquaboy and The Human Flamethrower! And their sidekick, The Human Lamp!

Notes:

Agh! Why is writing dialogue and still maintaining characterization so difficult?!

I think it turned out good, and I definitely laughed a few times while writing, so I'd still say it was a success!

As always, comment below humor advice, silly or epic Leo Valdez names/titles, and/or anything you feel like saying!

The next time Leo awoke, Will was setting a plate with a piece of buttered toast and a small cup of gold liquid on the table beside his bed. Leo had only just begun learning about the world of the Greeks, but he was pretty sure that drinking liquid metal was bad for a growing boy in every reality. Will smiled upon seeing him awake, and answered his unasked question.

“The liquid in the cup is called Nectar, the drink of the gods. It will accelerate your healing so that you can leave here faster, but too much is harmful,” Will said. “And I’m starting you off with easy foods until your stomach is used to breaking down nutrients again.”

Leo wasn’t sure why a piece of toast could possibly be better than a heaping pile of eggs and bacon, but his mouth was too parched to argue. He was positive that if he said a word his voice would sound like a rusted hinge, so he chose to grab the glass of gold liquid rather than comment.

Upon the first sip, he was shocked by the taste of his mother’s tacos that he had been craving since his fight with the hydra, and his eyes widened as he chugged the drink.

“Nectar tastes like your favorite food or drink,” Will said, chuckling softly. “Do you mind if I ask a few questions while you eat?” He asked, picking up a clipboard and pen from a small table nearby, causing Leo to freeze with the piece of toast halfway to his mouth. 

Questions were very rarely a positive thing when you were a homeless kid, and wanted to stay that way. Normally, doctors who would check him over after being caught on the streets would ask him about his parents or his home, and it always ended up with him back in the system before he could blink.

But so far, this place has been everything except normal.

“What kind of questions, and do you have magical powers that will tell you if I lie?” Leo responded, taking a bite of his toast as Will laughed.

“Some kids of Apollo can do a little of that, but not me!” Will assured him. “And you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, I just need to know a couple general things.”

Leo stayed quiet for a moment, chewing his bite of toast and trying to gauge how honest Will was being, but in the end, simply shrugged and responded after swallowing.

“Alright, fire away!” Leo said with only one finger gun, as the other hand was occupied by bread. Or was toast no longer bread once it became toasted? Was toast bread but bread not toast, or the other way around? Leo then realized that Will was speaking again, and cursed his ADHD brain, forcing himself to focus.

“-kay, when is your birthdate, age, and do you have any emergency contacts who should know where you are?” 

Will asked the question with a professional attitude, and Leo was grateful, because it made everything a little bit easier to talk about.

“July 7th, I’m twelve, and I have no idea what CPS has my emergency contact as. Although I’d love to see their faces if I told them they could list it as ‘Greek god,’” Leo joked, trying to wipe away the sad expression that briefly flitted across Will’s face as he jotted down notes.

“And are you on any prescription medicines?” Will said, thankfully moving on and not questioning Leo’s time with CPS. “We have the normal painkillers and pills like ibuprofen and zyrtec, but if you’ve been prescribed something else, we’ll have to get it from outside of camp.”

“N-no, but wait,” Leo interjected, his heart speeding up, “like, long-term? As in, I could stay?” 

He hadn’t seen anything of the camp except for the same three walls and curtain, but just the thought that this place where everything made a little more sense could become his home was exhilarating.

At this, Will’s soft smile made a reappearance. “Yes, Camp Half-Blood is a home for however long you need it. Most campers just come for training during the summer, but some of us stay year-round.”

For the first time in months, Leo felt a spark of hope, lighting up his body like a fireplace on a cold winter night. A longing for a place that only existed in gentle dreams of his mother; a home.

“So, I can stay? I won’t have to leave?” Leo reiterated, knowing he sounded dumb for asking the same question twice, but he needed to be certain before he allowed the spark of hope to fan into a flame.

“You can stay,” Will confirmed, seeming to understand Leo’s need for validation. “If you’re comfortable, I’d like to introduce you to a camp veteran who can tell you what it’s really like here.”

That made Leo the tiniest bit nervous, and his fingers began drumming out a pattern on his thigh the way they always did when he had to face a new person.

Three fast taps, three long, and then three fast. SOS.

It was a running joke he had shared with past foster siblings; signaling for help when they were forced to endure social interaction. Leo could remember them asking where he had learned morse code, but he always said that he had just picked it up. 

They didn’t need to know that it was his mother who taught him at age six, as their way of communicating from different rooms. And they definitely didn’t need to know that he still tapped out messages to her, as if she could hear them from the afterlife.

Refocusing on the present, Leo shoved his thoughts to the back of his mind and nodded cheerfully. “Sure, bring ‘em in!”

“His name is Percy Jackson, and I’ll be right back with him!” Will said—making no comment on Leo’s delayed response, which Leo was eternally grateful for—as he stood up from his chair and stepped behind the curtain. Leo swallowed nervously.

In all honesty, he was not the best with people. 

Sure, other people tended to like being around him, but it wasn’t the real Leo they liked, just the happy-go-lucky mask he wore. When it was necessary to keep a wannabe-gang from beating him up, or convince a bully to leave him alone for the laughs, he could make due, but Leo really preferred the easy company of a machine over a human being any day.

Or maybe you just don’t know what it’s like to have real friends, a traitorous part of his brain whispered, but Leo pushed the voice aside just in time for Will to come back, another teenager trailing behind him.

Will had retrieved the other boy—Percy Jackson, Leo reminded his brain—fairly quickly, and Leo wondered if Will had planned the interaction and told him to wait nearby beforehand. If that was the case, Leo didn’t know whether to be annoyed or grateful, and settled on having no reaction at all.

Percy approached the bed and Leo thought that he looked like an older teenager, maybe around sixteen, with messy black hair and sea-green eyes. He was also fairly tall, with a lean yet muscular build, like the kind of guy Leo would get to know for street-cred. But the whole look was thrown off by the warm smile he wore on his face, like sun-warmed sand on the beach.

“Hi Leo, I’m Percy, although I guess Will already told you that,” Percy said somewhat awkwardly, spinning around slowly in place and looking around the room. “Dude, this is giving me some serious deja vu from when I first came to camp.”

“Really? Just how often do new… Half-bloods, end up in the infirmary?” Leo asked warily, trying out the new word. “Because no offense to you, Will, but I don’t like to make a habit of keeping doctors on the job.”

Percy snorted, and Will shook his head with a laugh. “Trust me, I’d happily be out of the job if it meant no one was hurt!”

Will had moved to sit in the chair he had been occupying previously, and Percy remained standing, pulling a ball point pen out of his pocket to fidget with.

“Usually they have a couple scrapes from fighting monsters, but only the really lucky demigods like you and I end up unconscious in the infirmary for days,” Percy said sarcastically, but with a large grin pasted on his face.

“You too, huh?” Leo asked wryly. “What happened when you came to camp?”

Percy’s grin shifted to more of a melancholy smile, and he said, “I was the same age as you, and while I had been experiencing weird things my whole life, everything came to a tipping point after I might have, accidentally, shoved the resident bully into a water fountain on a school trip, and then, may have, vaporized my math teacher after she tried to kill me.”

Leo stared at him with his jaw hanging open, manually shut it using his hand, and then elegantly said, “ what? Can you rewind just a tiny bit? Why did your math teacher try to kill you? I mean, I know they can be grumpy if they skip their morning coffee, but that’s a whole other level!”

“Well, turns out Mrs. Dodds was actually a fury from the underworld, sent by Hades to retrieve his Helm of Darkness, which they thought I had, but I didn’t,” Percy replied casually, uncapping his pen, and nearly giving Leo a heart attack when it transformed into a three-foot sword. “I managed to kill her instead with this ball point pen Chiron gave me which was actually my sword named Riptide.”

Leo just nodded as if any of that made sense whatsoever. He then glanced at Will to check if the son of Apollo had any reaction, only to see him half-listening while flipping through a file, as if he had heard all this before.

“Yeah, um, so, what happened after that?” Leo asked, deciding to just go with it.

“Yancy Academy kicked me out, which was my sixth school, and I went back home to my mom and Smelly Gabe, my step-dad at the time,” Percy responded, a dark look flashing over his face like the shadow of a shark under the ocean’s surface. He had taken to capping and uncapping his pen-sword-thing, and was currently gripping it like he wanted to run someone through.

Leo had his fair share of terrible stand-in dads in the past—who should really stop trying to be family people and just accept that they’re dying as bachelors—so he changed the subject quickly, attempting to spare Percy the discomfort of dwelling on the past.

“No way! I’m at six schools too!” Leo joked. “They just can’t handle our pure awesomeness.”

Percy’s face brightened again, the goofy grin returning. “Man, you keep going at that rate, and you’ll beat my standing record!”

Leo may not be great at heart-to-hearts, or talking about feelings, or most things that involve other people, but if there was one thing Leo could always be counted on for, it was lightening the mood.

“So was Mrs. Dodds the only monster you faced before camp?” Leo asked, genuinely curious about how Leo’s own journey to camp compared to others.

“Nope! Kind of like you, I had one big monster to fight at the bottom of Half-blood Hill,” Percy replied. “Me, my mom, and Grover—my satyr protector and best friend—were all there together. It’s kind of a long story, but I had to defeat the minotaur by myself because Grover passed out and my mom was taken by Hades.”

Leo immediately thought of his own mom, and had to fight to keep the cheerful expression on his face. Percy came to camp with a family member and a best friend, and even if they had their own bumps in the road, at least he had someone. Leo had been alone since he was eight, struggling to survive in a world where both the monsters and the people wanted to hurt him. He hoped that Percy wouldn’t have to face the same reality.

“But she was okay, we got her back!” Percy said quickly, and he must have seen something in Leo’s face, however much Leo tried to keep his expression even. “But before that, I was stuck in the infirmary for days, bored out of my mind.”

At this point, Will had put down his folder and was listening closely. Leo got the feeling that the healer had sensed his chance to ask his own questions, and wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip by.

“So, Leo, how did you find your way to camp?” Will asked, his tone level, but his eyes betraying his quiet curiosity.

Leo did not like the change in topic, but he figured that if he refused to say anything, Will would just worry more and try harder. So Leo decided to only share the surface of his story, skimming over the depressing bits, in the hopes that it would satisfy both Will and Percy.

“Um, I had just… left, my last foster home, and was sleeping in an abandoned house in Texas when this little mechanical red spider appeared on the wall in front of me,” Leo said carefully, watching for any signs of suspicion or disbelief from the listening pair. 

Percy’s jaw tightened slightly at the mention of foster homes, and Will wore his mask of blank expression again, but neither of them said anything, so Leo quickly carried on.

“At that point I was kind of too tired to question how it was there, but then it crawled away, so I decided to follow it.” 

Leo remembered packing up his meager belongings, and suddenly realized that he didn’t know where they were. His backpack held the only photo he had of his mother, and he would be devastated if he lost it. Glancing around, he saw the bag leaning against the wall on his right, slightly scratched up, but for the most part, undamaged. 

Leo slowly let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and continued on with the story before the others could question his pause. “I named him Firebug—because you can’t willingly trust your entire life to something and not name it—and he led me out of Texas and into Arkansas. At that point, I still hadn’t used my fire powers for years, but while we were there, a snowstorm hit. I had to use my fire to stay warm.”

Percy sucked in a breath, and Will sighed heavily, the two sharing a look. Leo glanced back and forth between the two, frowning slightly. “What? What is it?”

“Using your powers is like a beacon to monsters,” Percy explained. “When I pulled Nancy Bobofit into the water fountain, I used mine, and that’s when Alecto the Fury decided to attack me.”

“And you’re still weeks away from reaching camp if you’re walking, and that means plenty of time for monsters to attack you,” Will added worriedly, tapping his pen against the palm of his hand.

“ That’s why they started attacking?! Barely a day passed before these ugly babies in a field of wheat tried to shred me,” Leo exclaimed, remembering the horror—caused equally by the sharp teeth and the ugliness—when he woke up to one on his chest.

“Those would be karpoi, better known as grain spirits,” Will explained, his eyes still filled with concern.

“Great, now I know what to scream in terror the next time those things try to kill me,” Leo replied wryly, before gulping down the last of the Nectar.

“How did you defeat them?” Percy asked, his expression troubled. “Did you have a sword, or a dagger?”

“Ha! I wish!” Leo said. A sword would have really come in handy while fighting for his life. “All I had was my fire, but it was enough.”

Leo left that story there. He didn’t want to see their faces when they heard the destruction he had caused, although depending on how bad the damage was from his fight with the hydra, they might already know.

“There were a ton more monsters before I reached camp, like these seven foot cannibals who wanted to eat me, and an absolutely terrifying massive black dog with glowing red eyes,” Leo said with a shiver, remembering the night he had woken to growling, piercing blood-colored eyes sparking brightly in the darkness.

“Canadians?!” Percy cried out in horror. “Canadians and Hellhounds can’t even be hurt by fire! How did you survive them?!”

Will had an equally alarmed look on his face, and he listened raptly for Leo’s answer, his folder lying forgotten beside him. But Leo was stuck on Percy’s shout of ‘Canadians.” Is that seriously what those monsters were called? Because if so, that was ridiculous. Leo looked up from his thoughts to see the two still staring at him on the edge of their seats, and he quickly hurried on with his explanation.

“It really wasn’t that bad!” Leo assured them. “The cannibals were when I was in a city, so I just hopped on a bus before they could catch up to me. The Hellhound—you said it was called—was a little harder to defeat, but it just required a bit of Sovereign Mechanic Valdez to shine through! I set an abandoned truck on a timer to start using a few wires, a watch, and a brick, and then led the Hellhound in front of the car at the perfect time, and Splat! Bye bye monster!” Leo exclaimed, clapping his hands together to really drive the point in.

Percy and Will were sharing another of their increasingly annoying looks, and Will mouthed a word that looked like ‘Hairy Fences,’ if Leo was lip reading correctly. Percy nodded gravely, and Leo waited impatiently for them to speak, his fingers tapping out a subconscious rhythm on the fabric of his blanket.

“Dude, that’s seriously impressive,” Percy said abruptly, deigning to act as if their silent conversation had never happened. “It took me months to get a hold of my powers, and you’re over there defeating some of the scariest monsters.”

Leo was momentarily stumped by the shift of topic, but once he caught up with the conversation, he grabbed hold of the subject change like a lifeline. Anything was better than talking about his fire or his past.

“You keep mentioning your powers, but you haven’t told me what they are,” Leo said, trying to sound genuinely curious—which wasn’t hard, because he was. “Will said that you’re a son of Poseidon? That’s the Greek god of the sea, right?”

Will seemed to catch the deflection, and a small frown overtook his face, but Percy thankfully barreled on with an explanation before the son of Apollo could call Leo out.

“Yep, that’s right! I can control water and sometimes the weather, and water also heals me,” Percy answered, spinning his pen between his fingers. “Which would have been really useful to know when I was stuck in the infirmary for three days,” he added grumpily.

“Aww man,” Leo sighed. “I wish fire healed me! I can’t wait to take a tour of this place, and being stuck in bed is going to get seriously annoying.”

He caught Will’s fond eye roll, and Leo stuck out his tongue at him.

“Yeah, magical healing has been really helpful these past few years,” Percy said, his eyes growing saddened for a moment, before he swiftly changed the topic. “And speaking of fire and camp, Chiron asked me to help you train with your fire powers!” He said enthusiastically.

Unfortunately, Leo didn’t exactly share his excitement. Having the guy with the power to put out fires—and instantly heal accidental injuries—as his trainer was a sure sign that at least one person at camp didn’t trust him. But Leo made sure to smile crookedly instead of letting his face fall, and replied without missing a beat.

“Dude, that’s awesome! But wouldn’t it make more sense to have another fire-user train me?” Leo asked, wondering if other demigods with fire powers were given the same distrust.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Percy replied awkwardly. “There isn’t another fire-user.” 

But,” Will interjected quickly, seeing the look overtaking Leo’s face, “there also isn’t another demigod who can control water. So that’s why you and Percy, the elemental half-bloods, are perfect for training with each other.”

Hearing that, Leo perked up. Sure, maybe there wasn’t another person exactly like him, but he and Percy were in a similar boat, and at the moment, that was enough for Leo.

“Alright! Aqua-boy and The Human Flamethrower, partners in crime!” Leo declared cheerfully. “When do we start?”

“Now hold on a minute,” Percy interjected. “Why am I Aqua- boy ?! I’m literally like, four years older than you.”

“Because Aqua- man is copyrighted, duh, keep up!”

“I hate to interrupt this riveting banter, but I do need to check Leo’s injuries to find out when he’s ready to train,” Will interjected amusedly, standing up from his seat and approaching Leo’s bedside.

Leo expected an annoying amount of prodding or poking at bandages, but all Will did was take his hand and close his eyes to focus.

“Um… what’re ya doin’?” Leo questioned awkwardly.

Will looked up with a little laugh. “I can sense injuries by touching someone, it’s another Apollo power,” he said, letting go of Leo’s hand and standing.

“Well how’s it lookin’ Doc, am I gonna make it?” Leo asked, adding an appropriate dose of trepidation to his tone and covering his heart with his hands as if it would stop at any second.

Percy smirked at his antics, and Will couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

“With the nectar, your healing has made a lot more progress than I thought it would,” Will began, his tone switching to professional once more, although a slight smile remained. “Most of the smaller cuts and bruises are gone, but the laceration on your shoulder is still tender, and your ribs are still fragile. You also need to put on a lot more weight before you can be considered completely healthy again.”

“Okay, but how long until I can at least leave this bed?” Leo implored, hoping that it would be soon soon, and not in a few days soon.

“If you promise to come back here and get a check-up daily, and not overexert yourself, then you can leave tomorrow morning,” Will replied, and then seeing Percy immediately light up, barreled on. “But! No training of any kind for at least three days,” he said, ignoring the loud groans from both Leo and Percy. “After that, you can start with easy exercises involving your powers.”

Leo somewhat understood why Will was being so careful, but seriously? Leo had spent the last few weeks with worse injuries, and he never took time for even a day of bed rest. This was just overkill, especially since there was magical golden healing liquid in the picture as well.

Percy seemed to agree as he gave Leo a sympathetic look, yet even he was too afraid to say anything against Will’s firm orders.

“Finneee…” Percy sighed. “But I’ll come get you for a tour bright and early tomorrow!” He said cheerfully, and Leo just hoped it wouldn’t be too early.

“Alright, it’s time for lunch at the dining pavilion, and I promised Kayla and Austin I’d be there on time,” Will said, straightening from his spot beside the bed and picking up the empty dishes from Leo’s breakfast.

“I’ll be back with a plate of leftovers and entertainment,” Will continued on as Percy capped his sword. Despite watching the transformation for the past however long they had been talking, Leo was still fascinated as he watched it shrink back down into a pen.

Will and Percy said their goodbyes, leaving Leo with nothing to do but stew in his thoughts. Despite Leo’s earlier nerves when it came to meeting him, Percy Jackson was actually a pretty cool dude. He had been mildly intimidating, standing there with his glowing bronze sword, but Leo could surprisingly see a lot of himself in Percy. Their banter was witty, their humor similar, and Leo was quite looking forward to training with him.

The past four weeks had been some of the loneliest in his entire life, and before that, he could hardly say he’d ever had a true friend. Part of it was because the foster system had moved Leo around so often that he didn’t have time to make lasting connections, and part of it was because he had thought that no one else could relate to him.

But now he was in a camp full of others who had gone through similar experiences, had dealt with the same struggles, and just maybe, Leo could finally find a family.

Notes:

Phew! That one was long. Hopefully you enjoyed though!!!

Next chapter will be Leo's tour through camp, and we'll get to see a ton of character interactions!

Kudus and comments encourage me to keep writing, and I always reply to everything, so thanks a ton if you do either!!!

Chapter 5: "The New Kid" - Part I

Summary:

Will's the mother, Percy's the fun uncle, and Leo's the son who just wants a nap.

Notes:

I underestimated just how long it would take for Leo to explore the entire camp and meet every single major character there, so The Tour is being split into two (hopefully not three) chapters. Sorry!

I'm honestly surprised how much I love Lou Ellen's character, and I have some fun interactions with her involved planned for future chapters! If there are any characters or friendships/relationships that you really want to see, leave a suggestion in the comments!

As always, kudus are seriously appreciated, and I reply to every comment! :)

“Don’t wake him up yet, he needs as much rest as possible.”

“Dude, it’s literally past breakfast. If we don’t start now, we won’t get to the Amphitheater before lunch.”

“You might not anyways. You’ll have to go slow and take breaks, he’s still weak.”

“ He can hear you,” Leo complained grumpily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. “And he is tired of sitting in bed and would love to get going.”

Percy shot Will a triumphant grin, and Will held the back of his neck sheepishly. Leo wasted no time in throwing the blankets off his legs, and sitting up on the edge of the bed. A wave of lightheadedness swept through him, and he closed his eyes for a moment, letting it pass.

“Are you alright?” Will asked in concern. “A little dizziness is normal after not getting up in a few days, but if it’s too bad, another day of rest won’t do any harm.”

“Nope, I’m feeling great! No need for anymore bedrest! Now, do you have any clothes I can change into?” Leo asked, glancing down at the pale gray-blue sweats and T-shirt he was wearing. “Because hospital clothes make for really bad first impressions. And trust me, I would know.”

Will frowned for a moment, but then gestured to the pile of clean clothes beside Leo’s bed. Percy exhaled with a laugh, and restlessly tapped his foot while he waited for Leo to get dressed in the bathroom that Will pointed out.

Leo ran his hands over the soft fabric of the orange shirt, admiring the design. It had a black pegasus in the center, and the words “Camp Half-Blood” encircling it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had touched something new that wasn’t a hand-me-down from past foster kids or children of foster parents. 

The T-shirt was coupled with a pair of jeans, and those were clearly used, but they were clean, and that was miles better than anything Leo had worn in the past several weeks.

He brushed his teeth, washed his face, and left the bathroom feeling more refreshed than he had in months. He pulled on the army boots he had brought with him to camp, and listened to Will talk as he tied the laces.

“-new Hecate camper arrived last night, so I’ll be in the infirmary watching over her if you need anything,” Will said, marking some things on a clipboard.

“Is she okay?” Leo asked, kneeling beside his backpack and pulling out his army jacket. Someone had washed all the clothes inside, folded them neatly, and repacked them. Leo was mildly annoyed that they had gone through his stuff, but decided he couldn’t complain when he pulled the clean-smelling article of clothing on.

“She’ll be fine, she just had a bad encounter with Stymphalian birds on her way to camp,” Will answered, his eyes filled with a gentle worry for the girl. “She’ll be alright once she sleeps it off.”

“Okay, then, we’ll get out of your hair!” Percy said, straightening from his slouched position and glancing toward the exit. “Leo, ready to go?”

“Yep!” Leo replied, swinging his backpack over his shoulders. Logically, he knew that he could leave it and come back for his stuff after the tour, but he really didn’t want to be without the pack. Everything that Leo owned was inside.

“Don’t push yourself too hard!” Will was shouting as they headed towards the door. “Come back if anything feels wrong, and take plenty of breaks!”

“Sure thing, Doctor Sunshine!” Leo replied with a wink over his shoulder, and Will rolled his eyes in faux annoyance while Percy snorted a laugh.

The son of Poseidon pushed open the front door, and Leo was immediately assaulted by the bright sun rays, blinding him after the dim infirmary lighting.

“Agh! My eyes!” Leo exclaimed, blinking rapidly as his eyes watered. “Why is the sun out?! It’s the middle of September!”

Percy laughed, and Leo shot him a glare through squinty eyes. Percy raised his hands innocently and said, “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you!”

“I’m not laughing,” Leo deadpanned, and then burst out into giggles.

Percy raised an eyebrow as if to say, ‘ya sure about that?’ but his own laughing hadn’t ceased. Once they both finally quieted down and Leo could open his eyes without feeling like his cornea’s were on fire—which, why should the sun be able to hurt his eyes?! He was fireproof—Percy explained the weird climate of Camp Half-Blood.

“Basically, there’s this stuff called Mist that covers everything and keeps the mortals from knowing about us. It shields the camp and lets us control the weather within the borders,” Percy said, and Leo just stared at him with a look that said ‘huh?’  

“Yeah, I don’t really know how it works either, you’ll have to ask Annabeth, or Chiron, or really anyone who isn’t me,” Percy finished apologetically. Leo shrugged, and honestly felt a little better that he wasn’t the only one completely lost. 

Percy led him along a paved path that started at the front door, and Leo spun around, walking backwards as he studied the building they had just left. It was a large sky blue farmhouse with peeling paint, a wraparound porch, and enough height to have at least four stories.

“I know I tend to get distracted easily, but I’m pretty sure the infirmary was not that big on the inside,” Leo remarked in mild confusion.

“Oh, yeah, that’s the Big House where Mr. D the camp director, and Chiron the activities manager live. The infirmary is attached to the side,” Percy explained, and then his expression turned thoughtful. “Usually they would have introduced themselves to a new camper by now, but I guess they’re waiting for you to get settled.”

According to what Will and Percy had said, Chiron and Mr. D seemed to be the only adults at camp, and Leo was perfectly fine with never meeting them if that was an option.

They continued down the path until they reached a long wooden cabin, its windows stained with various designs, and the wooden front doors engraved with images varying in detail. 

Percy stopped outside the front doors, and Leo could hear female voices arguing loudly inside. Percy winced, patting his front pocket as if making sure that his pen was still inside, which did not bode well for Leo’s physical health during this interaction.

“Um, you just let me go in first, and follow once I make sure everything is safe,” Percy said, and Leo caught a quiet mutter under his breath, “and hopefully not get caught by a stray hex.”

Percy pushed open the doors, and suddenly the intelligible voices became clear words.

“You can’t use magic to paint them, that’s cheating!

“You never made that a rule when we planned the competition.”

“Well, I thought it would be a given!”

“Shut up both of you, it’s obvious that I’m the winner anyway!”

“Oh, hi Percy.”

“Hey,” Percy’s voice drifted out the front door, calm and unconcerned. “Mind if you pause your argument while I show a new kid around the Arts and Crafts building?”

“Yep! We’d already decided that I won anyway,” Leo heard one of the girls reply, followed by an “umph!” and a “be quiet, Laurel!”

“Leo, you can come in!” Percy yelled, and Leo ducked in through the cracked doors, pulling them closed behind them.

Inside, there was color everywhere. Easels with large half-finished paintings, looms for weaving, metal sculptures, and drying pottery littered the tables and floor. Three girls were standing by the pottery station, Percy a little ways away from them. 

The oldest-looking of the trio—Leo guessed her age to be about sixteen or seventeen—had long blond hair, pale green eyes, and wore regular Camp Half-blood attire. The one standing beside her looked a couple years less than that and had brown hair and the same pale green eyes, so Leo assumed that the two were sisters. Both had bits of gold woven into their hair—a little too much, Leo thought, as if they had been trying to one-up each other with how much was tangled in the strands—and yet no jewelry.

The third and youngest girl, maybe around fourteen, looked drastically different from the sisters. She had black hair and dark green eyes, black cargo pants, and a black Camp Half-blood T-shirt with white lettering, as if she had magically swapped the colors. She wore necklaces and bracelets with colorful stones or charms, and one of her necklaces had a vial with a bright green glowing liquid inside. She also had neon paint splattered across her clothing, which Leo assumed originated from the brightly designed pot at her side.

The two sisters fought to introduce themselves first, but Leo eventually learned that the blond-haired girl was called Laurel Victor, the brown-haired girl Holly victor, and they were co-cabin heads from the Nike cabin.

“That’s the Greek goddess of Victory,” Percy explained, and Leo held back a snort. Well that explained a lot. “I’m pretty sure the only reason Chiron let them co-lead is so that they would be too busy fighting with each other to turn the camp into a dictatorship,” Percy added under his breath, and Leo couldn’t hold back his laugh at that.

Leo turned to the girl still yet to introduce herself, and found her already watching him. She had an intelligent look in her eye, and Leo was reminded of a wily street kid who would distract a store owner while she stole from right under his nose.

“I’m Lou Ellen Blackstone, but you can call me Lou Ellen,” she said, holding out a delicate hand for Leo to shake. “I’m a daughter of Hecate, the goddess of magic.”

Magic? Leo had kind of thought that Percy was kidding when he said he might have to dodge a stray hex, but it seemed that he was serious after all. The softly glowing vial of green liquid caught Leo’s attention again, and he wondered if it was some kind of potion, and if so, what it did. So Leo being Leo, blurted out the question without thinking about it.

“What’s in the vial?”

Thankfully, Lou Ellen just smiled mischievously and said, “want to drink it and find out?”

“Ah ha, no, I’m good!” Leo said quickly while Percy smirked a few steps away.

Leo and Percy left the Arts and Crafts building to the Victor siblings arguing about who was brave enough to drink the potion, and Lou Ellen watching with her arms crossed as they bickered.

Percy then led him to a large lake with canoes tied to the long wooden dock. There was no one there, and Percy explained that most campers would be busy with chores at that time of day. 

Normally when Leo heard the word ‘chore,’ he would groan and mope, because why do boring things like chores when he could be building incredible machines? But at Camp Half-Blood, Leo had a feeling that the chores would be anything but boring.

To the right of the lake, a huge structure rose up from the ground, its wooden bleachers large and imposing. It reminded Leo of one of those medieval battle arenas in movies where the Romans would force captives to fight to the death. Percy assured him that campers rarely died in the Amphitheater, as it was used primarily for chariot races. This did nothing to reassure Leo.

 Percy guided him inside, and Leo saw a pair of kids working on a golden chariot. They both looked around fifteen or less, and Leo’s eyes were immediately drawn to the first camper’s hair. It was ginger and cut right above her shoulders, but the shock factor came from the bright blue and green streaks dyed at the tips, the tones warring with each other like the orange and blue of a setting sun and rising moon. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging around her shoulder, and bright blue eyes that reminded Leo of Will.

The second half-blood was an African-American boy with cornrow braids in the shape of a double helix. He wore black slats and a black wool pea-coat like a jazz performer from the 1930’s, and he had a saxophone strapped to his back like he was prepared to spring pop-up jazz performances the second the occasion called for it. 

Leo must have been standing unmoving for a second too long, because Percy put a hand on his shoulder and ushered him towards the pair. Resting for a minute had caused Leo to realize how sore his legs already were just from the short amount of walking they’d done so far, but he chose to ignore the ache for a little longer.

“So,” the ginger-haired girl said slowly. “You’re the one who's got the whole camp buzzing? Kind of young to be the focus of a pro-”

“Shush!” The jazz performer whispered harshly. “I’m sorry, she’s not good with new people,” he added apologetically, shooting her a glare. “I’m Austin Lake, and this is Kayla Knowles. We’re both children of Apollo.”

“I’m Leo Valdez, and don’t worry, I’m notoriously horrible with first impressions,” Leo said, trying to win over the Kayla girl with a joke. Leo had only met a few demigods, and he would really prefer if his time at camp was not spent hiding from people who hated him.

Austin smiled at him and gave a little laugh, and Kayla’s eyes softened just slightly, as if she was amused but refused to let it show just yet. Leo counted that as enough of a win, and his eyes focused on the chariot they were cleaning. Kayla must have noticed him staring, because she gave an explanation, her eyes glowing with pride and her animosity forgotten.

“It’s a flying chariot!” She proclaimed eagerly, her hand running along the smooth metal edge. “The Apollo cabin stole it from some monsters earlier this year.”

“No. Freaking. Way.” Leo said, his voice practically quivering with excitement. “How is that even possible? Did they use some kind of magnesium alloy? No, that would account for the lightness, but not the strength. Maybe titanium? Or maybe…”

His voice trailed off as he caught the confused looks on their faces, Percy appearing completely lost.

“I don’t know,” Kayla said with a shrug. “I told you we stole it.” 

Leo shook his head in disbelief. They had an entire flying chariot and no one had thought to figure out how it was made? What if it broke and they had to repair it, or they wanted to make a fleet of them? Leo resolved to think more about it later, however much he wanted to chip off a piece of the metal and drop it in a highly acidic fluorine solution.

After saying goodbye to Kayla and Austin, Leo and Percy climbed over the hill at the back of the Amphitheater and stepped out of the copse of trees into a large clearing. The center of the field was occupied by a fifty foot tall climbing wall, and Leo stopped in his tracks, staring open-mouthed at the structure while Percy chuckled at his expression.

The wall had two sides and a space in between, and the two sides smashed together periodically, causing rubble to fall and the two demigods climbing the wall to grasp on tight and hug their bodies to the rock. Attached to the wall were stones and branches that jutted out as obstacles for the climbers to dodge. Oh, and if that wasn’t dangerous enough, there was also lava.

It spewed from the top every time the two sides of the wall smashed into each other, and a basin at the bottom contained the falling lava for it to be reused. The pair of climbers were fast, flying up the cliff face with a graceful strength, but whenever lava fell, they ducked and hissed, dodging the drops.

A grin spread across Leo’s face and he imagined smoking them all as he scaled the wall unburnt, the lava like a lukewarm bath. Well, when he was finally strong enough to do the actual climbing part. Currently, black spots were swimming in his eyes, and his muscles were aching like he had already scaled the wall and come back down.

“-alled Sherman and Mark, and they’re from the Ares cabin,” Percy was saying, and Leo realized that he had zoned out. “Ares is the god of war, and most campers from that cabin are crazy competitive.”

Leo just nodded, and then the two made their way to the beach, Percy pointing out various landmarks and telling stories of what had happened at each one. At this point, Leo’s ribs were aching, his head was pounding, and Percy seemed to have caught on.

“Dude, are you alright? You’re being kind of quiet, which is seriously not normal,” Percy asked, stopping at the line where grass turned to sand, and studying Leo in concern.

Normally, Leo would just brush it off and say he was fine. But then he remembered Will’s stern speech about taking as many breaks as needed, and Leo really didn’t want to hear the lecture he would get if he was unlucky enough to collapse during the tour. So he answered Percy with a sigh, admitting defeat.

“I’m just a little sore from walking, Aquaboy. But it’s nothing The Human Flamethrower can’t handle!” Leo hurried on, seeing Percy’s expression growing more worried. “But maybe it would be best if we took a little break on the beach so that Will doesn’t kill me himself,” Leo added heavily.

“Sure thing, man,” Percy said with a kind smile. “The Aphrodite campers left a couple beach chairs down there, and I’ve been wanting to catch up on some gossip from the dolphins.”

For the fiftieth time that day, Leo decided to just accept the strangeness of everything that was said and move on. The two continued on towards a few lounge chairs, with Leo walking a little slower than normal, and Percy anxiously hovering nearby, as if afraid that Leo would pass out at any moment.

Leo just rolled his eyes playfully and assured him that he would be absolutely fine, and then Percy walked into the ocean like it was something he did everyday, continuing on until the water closed over his head. 

Leo settled into one of the chairs, tucking his backpack under his head, and watched for a moment to see if Percy would come back up. Minutes passed without a stir in the water, and Leo accepted that Percy was doing his whole Aquaman thing.

The early-afternoon sun was beating down on Leo, cutting through the previously chilly morning air, and the wind rustled the leaves of the forest behind him. There were no demigods on this side of the camp, and the soft sound of the waves crashing over the sand was enough to soothe the headache that had been building.

Percy had said he might be awhile, and Leo was supposed to be resting anyways, so he allowed himself to close his eyes for just a moment. 

Leo was asleep a second later.

Notes:

Wadja think?

Next chapter is '"The New Kid" - Part II,' and should be up within a couple days!

I hope you enjoyed, and I'd love to hear about your favorite parts in the comments!!!

Chapter 6: "The New Kid" - Part II

Summary:

Leo's afternoon begins with freezing water, and ends with warm fluffy feelings!

Notes:

Sorry it took a few days, summer school do be like that! Remind me why I decided to be smart? LOL

I love using morse code for Leo, since his character is what led to me learning to speak it in the first place! I totally recommend learning it :D

Enjoy the chapter!

Cold salty water splashed onto Leo’s face, and his eyes snapped open, flames filling his vision as his skin caught fire in the shock. The rivulets of water running down his face turned to vapor in a second, but panic filled him and the fire would not die down. Voices from his rapidly fading nightmare swirled in his head, and he tried hopelessly to remember where he was.

He could hear shouting in the background, but what really brought Leo back to reality was the jolt of his body hitting the sand as his plastic lounge chair melted beneath him. He could see Percy’s blurry face through the flames, but the roaring blaze drowned out his voice. 

Leo tried to draw back the fire, but nothing was working. He could see his hand, and it was glowing with red heat, the veins molten lava beneath his skin. Usually, when he was this scared in the face of a monster on his travels, Leo would simply let the flames grow until he passed out in exhaustion, the monster a pile of ashes swept away in the breeze.

But right now, that wasn’t an option, and if he couldn’t control his fire, there would be serious consequences. Leo squeezed his eyes shut, bringing his knees up against his chest, and made a conscious effort to slow the racing of his heart. 

                                                 

The inferno lessened, and he could finally make out the concerned and near-panicked expression of Percy through the blaze.

“-eo, Leo!” Percy’s worried voice carried through the dying flames. “Are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out with the water!”

Normally, just the sound of someone walking towards Leo was enough to jolt him into wakefulness. He was never a deep sleeper, always prepared to get moving the moment he opened his eyes.

One second on the streets could be the only thing keeping the police from catching him, or a monster from impaling him through the abdomen. A couple weeks ago, he couldn’t decide which of those options was more appealing. 

But now he was at Camp Half-Blood, a place that everyone around Leo promised was safe, and he had no reason to overreact from a little water waking him up.

Leo pasted a big grin on his face right before the fire faded, and responded while patting his head to snuff out the final embers in his hair.

“Yeah, man, I’m fine!” Leo promised, laughter in his voice. “I should be asking if you’re okay, panicking over a little fire! You’re literally the water guy.”

Despite having taken a swim in the ocean, Percy was completely dry, although his jet black hair was a mess, covering his forehead and getting in his eyes. He was standing a good fifteen feet away from Leo, but he stepped closer once the flames died. 

Leo was stupefied by the amount of concern in Percy’s expression as he approached, carefully avoiding the shards of glass embedded in the blackened sand. Percy’s eyes caught on the molten red remains of the plastic chair, and his eyebrows pinched with a troubled look before turning to search Leo’s face, his expression softening.

“I should have known better than to splash you,” Percy said, completely ignoring Leo’s attempt at lightening the mood. “I don’t know what I was thinking-no, I wasn’t thinking, and I’m sorry.”

Leo was momentarily stunned into silence, and he covered it up by quickly standing and brushing the sand off his jeans to hide the shaking of his hands. He picked up his thankfully unburnt backpack and slung it over his shoulder, turning back to face Percy.

“Seriously, I’m okay!” Leo assured him. “You just startled me, everything’s fine!”

Percy eyed him dubiously, and Leo fidgeted under his gaze, tapping out a phrase in morse code on his thigh [. ...- . .-. -.-- - .... .. -. --. ...  / --- -.- .- -.--]. Finally, Percy accepted Leo’s words, and he summoned a wave of water to douse the sizzling spot of sand while Leo watched in awe.

“Dude, that’s awesome!” Leo exclaimed, watching as the saltwater trickled down the beach towards the waves. “What else can you do?!”

“No way,” Percy said firmly, yet unhappily. “If I show off, then you’ll want me to teach you, and then Will is going to kill me. If he doesn’t already, since I caused you to use your fire.”

Leo released a long-suffering groan, and almost considered begging, but Percy didn’t look like he would be moved.

“Ugh, fine.” Leo relented. “Then what’s next?”

“Next,” Percy said, a grin finally spreading across his face. “Is lunch!”

 

---

 

The walk to the dining pavilion was thankfully a short trip, and Leo’s nap had refreshed him enough to make it with minor pain—like the soreness that set in a day after a hard workout.

As the path rounded a curve, Leo finally saw the Mess Hall for the first time, and—like everything else at camp—it looked like it had been stolen straight from ancient Greece.

Large marble columns rose from the ground, connecting in a circular frame at the top, and torches blazed from sconces embedded in the Greek framing. There were no walls or roof filling the gaps, so the dining pavilion was open to the stars and scenery of the ocean.

Peals of laughter and loud chatter drifted from the demigods seated at their respective tables, each one with various tablecloths, designs, and numbers of campers. Leo knew enough to deduce that the tables were separated by godly parent, but he was clueless when it came to which tables represented which gods.

The only thing Leo was sure of was that he was about to enter a somewhat enclosed space with more people than he had interacted with in the last year combined. And he wasn’t sure if he would be able to eat with Percy and Will, or be forced to sit at a table with people Leo had never spoken to in his life. 

This whole thing reminded him way too much of the first ‘family’ meal in a new group home, all the kids staring at Leo like he had just taken a dip in an algae-ridden pond and still had gunk tangled in his hair.

Leo’s feet stopped while they were still out of sight from the Mess Hall, and Percy paused with a questioning look on his face. 

Normally, Leo would ignore his anxiety and continue on with a broad smile and a joke—but Percy hadn’t given Leo any reason not to trust him. So with an almost physical effort, Leo let the tiniest bit of vulnerability leak through his fire walls.

“Can you tell me a little bit about what will happen before we go in?” Leo asked, his voice hesitant and quiet like the twelve-year-old kid he actually was, however much Leo tried to make people forget that through his loud humor.

Percy’s expression immediately softened, and he nodded in understanding.

“Of course, bro,” Percy said with a kind and genuine smile. “All of the half-bloods have to sit at their cabin table, and each one is like a family. Technically, they are family since campers from the same cabin are half-siblings. Satyrs, Nymphs, and Mr. D, the camp director also known as Dionysus, sit at table twelve, while Chiron sits with the campers.”

“Wait wait wait, Dionysus ?! Like, the god?!” Leo whisper-yelled, his eyebrows shooting up. There had been a literal god at camp the whole time he had been here?!

“Yeah, the god of wine. He was banished here because he chased after a forbidden nymph, and now he’s just insufferable because he’s banned from drinking wine,” Percy replied, zero admiration or awe in his tone, only vague annoyance.

Leo guessed that Percy’s clear reverence of Mr. D meant that Greek gods fit the whole ‘never meet your heroes’ idea, but replace ‘heroes,’ with ‘all powerful immortal beings.’

“How can he be the god of wine if he can’t drink wine?” Leo asked incredulously, amusement creeping into his voice. “I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous.”

“Don’t let him hear you say that!” Percy warned, but he sounded just as amused. “You’ll get turned into a dolphin before you can blink.”

“That doesn’t sound half-bad, I can finally learn the gossip you dove into the ocean for!” Leo replied with a smirk, but it fell into a frown when something occurred to him. “Hold on, you said demigods sit with their cabin, but I don’t know who my godly parent is.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of a thing that relies on the gods to pay attention to their kids for once,” Percy scoffed, and Leo had never seen him look so bitter. “Your parent has to claim you, usually through a magical symbol floating above your head once you ‘prove your worthy,’ or whatever,” Percy said with an eye roll and air-quotation marks.

Leo was brimming with questions, the toe of his shoe drawing patterns in the dirt to release his energy, but Percy continued on before he could ask any of them.

“The gods promised to claim their kids by the time they turn thirteen, but since you’re still twelve, they don’t have to, so they haven’t yet,” Percy stated, frustration leaking into his voice. “Which means you’ll be with the Hermes cabin until you’re claimed, since he’s the god of travelers.”

“Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?” Leo asked warily, all too used to being shoved in with a group of kids who saw him as an outsider. It never ended well.

“Oh, the Hermes kids are all nice enough,” Percy said, the tight line of his lips smoothing into a smirk. “Just don’t take your eyes off them or they’ll rob you blind. They’re dad’s also the god of thieves.”

“Great, I never wanted my only two pairs of underwear anyway,” Leo said with a sigh, but internally he was dreaming up all sorts of traps to line his backpack with as soon as he had some free time.

“Pfft, we’ll get you some more clothes from the camp store in a bit,” Percy replied with a chuckle. “But first, I’m hungry. You’ll sit with the Hermes cabin; c’mon, I’ll introduce you!” 

Percy said the words encouragingly, but Leo’s stomach was roiling far too much from the nerves for him to feel hungry. Nevertheless, Leo fixed a confident expression on his face, and marched after Percy towards the Mess Hall.

Campers turned to stare as the pair made their way past the Greek columns, but Leo did his best to ignore the whispers, choosing to study the uniquely designed tables instead. They were all the same size and wooden, but that’s where the similarities ended. 

One of them had a white table cloth with an owl emblem in the center; notes, math equations, and more were scribbled out in ink across the entire surface. Another had random scraps of metal soldered to the surface, as if covering up areas where chunks of the wood were missing or damaged. 

Percy led Leo towards the plainest table, although it was thoroughly scratched up and covered in various images that looked like kid’s crayon drawings carved into the lumber. 

Three teens sat at the table, and they all had similar elvish features with upturned noses and mischievous smiles, like they were constantly planning the best way to ruin your day in the most entertaining way possible. 

The two oldest looked like twins around sixteen, with curly brown hair that hung in their blue eyes, and pale skin. The third and youngest, maybe fourteen, had the same curly brown hair, but his eyes were the color of chocolate and his skin tone was a few shades darker than the other two.

The two look-alikes sprung up from their seats with a gleam in their eyes as Percy and Leo approached, but Percy was the first to speak.

“Connor, Travis, this is Leo, and he’ll be staying with you guys until he’s claimed,” Percy began. “Leo, these two are Connor and Travis Stoll, the co-counselors of the Hermes cabin.”

If Percy hadn’t already told him so, Leo would have immediately pegged the two as troublemakers, but not the type that Leo would need to be truly wary of. Instead, they reminded Leo of himself, the kind of person who just wanted to make a little fun of their lives to avoid the seriousness that could so easily become suffocating.

“Eyyy, it’s our new fire-breathing cabinmate!” Exclaimed the one that Leo assumed was Travis, flinging his arms open wide in welcome.

Leo opened his mouth, about to correct him and say that he couldn’t actually breathe fire, and then realized that he’d never actually tried, had he? But then the implications of Travis’ statement finally caught up to Leo, and oh great, that meant that everyone knew about his freaky curse.

“Not that I’m upset about the excitement, I totally am just that awesome,” Leo started with a wink while the brothers smirked at each other. “But just how many people know about my super epic fire breathing abilities?” Leo asked, some trepidation leaking into his tone.

“Take one glance behind you and I think you’ll have your answer,” Connor said with a grin. Uh oh.

Leo obliged, and thankfully, most of the half-bloods were done staring and instead whispering between themselves, but a group of three at a table with pink and purple embedded jewels were blatantly glaring. 

A few words of their loud conversation drifted across the dining pavilion, and Leo caught the words, “lounge chair,” and “completely melted,” and he promptly released a loud groan. 

How did they even find it so fast? If they hadn’t thought he was destructive before, there definitely wasn’t any doubt in their minds now.

“Ugh, so everyone?” Leo asked, not even bothering to hide his displeasure.

“Camp-wide popularity in less than a day!” Travis announced in a reporter’s voice. “Even the infamous Percy Jackson over here was viewed as less than a dirty sock until he was claimed!”

“Gee, thanks Travis,” Percy responded dryly. “Good to know you guys thought so highly of me.”

Turning to Leo, Percy said, “I’ll be back over here after lunch to continue the tour. Try not to be completely corrupted while I’m gone,” Percy finished, shooting the Stolls a look that had them snickering. And then he left, leaving Leo to sit down at the table with the trio.

The final kid introduced himself as Cecil Markowitz, but he didn’t partake in much of the conversation, instead glancing every few seconds at what Leo assumed was the Hecate table. The wood was slightly darker than the others, and gems were embedded in the wood with strings of charms hanging on the edges.

Two girls sat there, one of them being Lou Ellen who seemed to be occupying most of Cecil’s attention, and the other was a girl who looked only about a year older than Leo. He remembered Will mentioning a newly arrived child of Hecate, and Leo could only assume that was her.

Sandwiches with whole wheat bread, fresh cheese, and lean meat were served for lunch, and the Hermes campers showed him how to sacrifice a portion of his meal by scraping the best bits into the large brazier in the middle of the Mess Hall. 

They explained that the gods liked the smell—which, gross. Leo knew for a fact that the scent of burning food was not appetizing—and could usually be bothered to listen to prayers after a burnt offering. But Leo had no prayers to offer a godly parent who couldn’t be bothered to claim Leo as his own.

They finally sat back down, and Connor showed him how he could request any liquid from the goblets. Leo grinned crookedly, and the Stolls quickly rebuffed him with an; “alcohol doesn’t work, we tried.” Leo sighed heavily, and then requested Dr. Pepper like the good little Texan he was.

“So,” Travis started, a sandwich in his hand waving around as he spoke. “What’s your opinion on pranks-”

“-because I can think of quite a few ways we can put that fire to use,” Connor finished for him with a cunning and mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Their conversation rapidly dissolved into excited whispers and planning as the trio began brainstorming different pranks, Cecil butting in with a couple ideas every now and then. Travis seemed to have a vendetta against the Demeter cabin, particularly Katie Gardner, who they explained was the Cabin Head. But everytime Travis mentioned her name, Connor grew an expression of fond exasperation, and jabbed at him with pointed comments and looks.

Lunch ended with the Hermes campers promising to see him at the cabin, and further plan a prank involving the lava wall, betting, and a pair of Ares campers that the Stolls felt the need to get back at.

For the first time that day, Leo’s fire didn’t feel like a curse. He had gotten along well with the Hermes campers, and he felt that he might actually have a place with them, at least until his real godly parent could be bothered to claim him.

Honestly, he was kind of hoping that Hermes was his dad, as Leo shared an affinity for mischief and troublemaking with the others. But then his fire powers killed that idea. Hermes was the god of giving travelers somewhere to stay, not the god of burning down homes and providing a need for travel in the first place.

“Ready to continue the tour?” Percy’s voice came from his left. “We’ll head to the Arena next.”

Leo looked up from his pondering to see that he was one of the last people in the Dining Pavilion, the final couple campers slipping out between the columns.

“You got it, aquaboy!” Leo declared, springing up from his seat. “Arena, you said? Does this involve sharp objects, perchance?”

“No! No,” Percy said quickly, holding out his hands in a ‘stop,’ gesture, and then backtracking. “No sharp objects for you, we’re just going to watch some other campers train.”

“Aw c’mon man,” Leo groaned. “I can’t be defenseless forever!”

“Says the dude who can literally generate fire from his hands,” Percy said with a raised eyebrow. “But, you’re right. Can’t live life as a demigod without a weapon, so we’ll train you with something. Eventually.” Percy acquiesced, his hands lowering in defeat.

Leo grinned wildly, and Percy shut his eyes, mouthing “gods help me,” like he was already regretting his decision. Leo playfully shoved him, and got a faceful of water from a previously unused goblet for his efforts. 

Leo froze, his mind flashing to the fiasco from less than two hours ago, and Percy’s eyes filled with instant regret, his mouth opening like he was about to apologize. But then Leo broke down in laughter, and Percy joined him after a moment, the two of them flicking water at each other from the magic goblets, although Percy definitely had an unfair advantage.

Leo couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so hard. Was it before Teresa’s, eight months ago? Or was it all the way back at his mom’s warehouse, giggling over one of his projects? Whatever the case, it made him feel whole.

Monsters might continue to chase after Leo for the rest of his life, and he may never escape all of them unscathed. 

But with friends like Percy, he was learning to defeat them one by one .

Notes:

Hope you liked it :)

Next chapter is the final part of "The New Kid," and it will be out in the next couple days! It'll have Annabeth, the Hephaestus cabin, and a funny interaction at the pegasus stables! If you have any friendships/relationships you'd love to see, let me know in the comments, and I might just make that happen! ;)

As always, kudus and comments are highly appreciated!! I reply to every comment :D

Chapter 7: "The New Kid" - Part III

Summary:

Leo learns that blondes are terrifying, and Percy's hiding something.

Notes:

The final part of "The New Kid!"

*EPIC INFO*
I have added FANART to chapter one!!! It's drawn by me, and it’s actually good, I promise lol! Tell me in the comments if you like it, and I might do more!

As always, kudos and comments are SO SO appreciated, and they encourage me to keep writing! So if you like the fic, let me know!

Leo and Percy skirted around the back of the cabins through the woods, and Leo could only see flashes of gold and glimpses of the structures through the trees, but already he was itching to examine them all.

Leo was about to ask whether they could look at the cabins next instead of the Arena when he heard the sounds of fighting from up ahead, and Leo was not about to skip out on the chance to see literal demigods in action. Leo and Percy finally broke through the tree line, and Leo made a beeline for the massive structure in front of them.

The arena was large and round, the majority made of wood, but it was framed by towering Greek columns cut from stone. The center was filled with sand, and walls around eight feet tall surrounded the interior with wooden bleachers above. 

Percy led Leo up a set of stairs at the back, and onto a bench at the front where they could watch the fight below them.

Two demigods were battling each other, both around the same age as Percy. One was a guy with short blond hair, and the other was a girl with longer blonde hair. Leo guessed that they were siblings, but he couldn’t see much of their appearances from where he was.

They were both using knives around the size of a forearm, and Leo was in awe.

The two half-bloods danced around each other, dodging swipes of the daggers with precision. The knives were flashing so fast, switching hands with ease, and Leo could barely keep track of where they were at any given time.

At one point, the guy had the girl in a standstill, his knife against her throat, and his other hand restraining her wrist with the dagger. Leo thought it was over for the girl, and then in the blink of an eye, the girl dropped her dagger into her opposite hand, swiped at the boy causing him to lose balance, and then swept the guy’s legs out from beneath him. 

He hit the ground hard, his knife flying out of his hands and landing in the sand a few feet away, and then the girl was on him. In what Leo swore was less than three seconds, she had him effectively pinned with her dagger hovering above his chest.

For a moment the only sounds in the Arena were heavy breathing, and Leo was sitting at the perfect place to have a clear view of the girl’s face. Her eyes were a gray so bright in the sun he could almost call them silver, and her expression was concentrated, calculating, as if she was thinking through every possible way the guy could get the upper hand again. 

At that moment, Leo decided that every dumb blonde stereotype was wrong. Blondes were very, very, scary.

And then Percy stood up from his seat, a wide smile on his face, and he cheered loudly.

“WOO! Go Annabeth!!!” He shouted passionately, and Leo was finally broken out of his shocked stupor.

The girl—Annabeth, Leo would never forget her name after the display he just saw—finally relaxed her coiled muscles, and she gripped the other guy's wrist, pulling him to his feet.

“Almost beat me that time, Malcolm!” Annabeth said with a smirk as the guy brushed the sand off of his clothes.

“Don’t have to be so smug about it,” Malcolm muttered, rolling his eyes, although Leo was sure he hadn’t imagined the fondness there. “I’m going to oversee the framing of the new Tyche cabin, see you at dinner?”

The two finished their goodbyes, and Malcolm left the arena through a backdoor. Percy dragged Leo down the bleachers and into the Arena, where Annabeth was waiting.

“Nice skills, Wise Girl,” Percy complimented, the grin still shining on his face. “Were you showing off for the new kid?”

“Of course not, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, sheathing her dagger in one fluid motion. “Leo Valdez, right?” She asked confidently while turning to face Leo, who was positive she knew everything about him anyone else at camp knew, and was only asking his name out of politeness.

“Yep!” Leo squeaked, and then cleared his throat, trying again. “Yes, that’s me.” He was mildly embarrassed, but didn’t feel that bad about it. Annabeth was seriously intimidating.

“Do you actually have pyrokinesis, or is it just rumors?” Annabeth inquired bluntly, causing Leo to take a step back, and Percy to sigh. “Can you prove it?”

“Will told him not to use his powers for a few more days,” Percy responded with only the mildest exasperation, although it was buried beneath the fondness in his tone.

“Then what was that scorch mark on the beach? He was fine with using them then,” Annabeth said, the calculating look in her silver eyes returning. “Surely a tiny flame won’t hurt?”

Of course she knew about what Leo had labeled ‘The Lounge Chair Incident.’ Leo wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever if Annabeth had been watching him during the tour, but it definitely unnerved him a little. And yet Percy wasn’t bothered at all, answering her questions calmly as if he was used to her to-the-point way of speaking.

Percy opened his mouth to respond, but Leo stepped in instead, finally recovered enough to join the conversation.

“That, was an accident,” Leo started, his voice thankfully going strong. “But she’s right, a little flame won’t hurt,” he ended, hoping that he could satisfy Annabeth’s curiosity and then she would stop looking at him like a walking hypothesis.

“No!” Percy exclaimed, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe their foolishness. “Will said not to-”

“Wrong, he said not to train .” Leo clarified. “This isn’t training, it’s a teeny tiny demonstration.”

Annabeth smirked at Percy, and Percy threw up his hands in defeat. 

“Fine, but if Will asks, I said no,” Percy gave in with a heavy sigh.

“He’ll have no reason to ask, because no one will tell him,” Annabeth said triumphantly. 

“Leo?” She questioned, crossing her arms and waiting.

Leo took a deep breath and let it out slowly, holding out his palm, face up. He had been experimenting with his fire during his travels, but really only used it in life-or-death situations. 

Every time he felt the flames stir, he saw that night at his mom’s workshop, and it still hurt just as deeply as the first time. But he was getting better at ignoring it, and he focused on that now.

Embers flickered awake in the hollow of his hand, and Leo allowed them to swell from the size of a candle to a soda can fire. The flames danced in his palm, swirls of red and orange and yellow, and Leo concentrated on not letting them grow any hotter or higher.

He waited a moment longer, the force of Annabeth’s gaze practically warming his hand more than the fire, and then Leo closed his hand into a fist, extinguishing the flame.

“So, there,” Leo said awkwardly, trying to break the silence that hadn’t died with the fire.

Annabeth nodded, her eyes clearing as if all her questions had just been answered. She gave Percy a quick peck on the cheek, a “see you at the Mess Hall,” and then she was gone.

“What was that?” Leo asked, still reeling from the whiplash.

“That,” Percy responded slowly. “Was Annabeth.”

And then the two trudged off through the sand towards the opposite direction they had entered the Arena from. Other than telling Leo that they were heading to the forge next, neither of them said anything, both deep in their thoughts.

Leo wasn’t surprised by general curiosity about his fire, as he realized that he was probably the first pyrokinetic half-blood that the campers had ever met. But Annabeth’s interest had been different. 

Rather than being focused on the fire itself, she had looked at Leo’s powers like a box to be checked off, like a requirement for a job application that Annabeth had decided he would be perfect for.

But before Leo could think more about it, Percy signaled their arrival, and Leo finally looked up from his shoes.

The camp Forge was almost as big as his mom’s workshop had been, and it was built from white marble and stone, a good third of it open to the outdoors with only columns and a roof. The sounds of machinery, roaring fire, and the ring of hammers spilled out of the open doors. It sounded like home.

“Cool, right?” Percy asked with a grin. “I wish I knew how to make stuff like the Hephaestus kids or my brother Tyson.”

“Brother?” Leo questioned, fairly certain that Percy had never told him of any siblings.

“Long story, but he’s in the ocean with dad right now,” Percy replied, only succeeding in confusing Leo even more.

Percy then approached the heavy metal door of the forge, shouting through the entrance rather than going inside.

“Jake, you here?” Percy called. “I’m here to show Leo around!”

“Yeah, come on in!” A voice yelled back, muffled by the clanging of metal against metal.

As the pair entered the forge, Leo could see sweat immediately building on Percy’s brow, and Leo was grateful for his own tolerance to heat.

The moment Leo stepped into the main room, he halted, spinning around in amazement. The place was a mechanic’s dream. Worktables were situated around three of the walls, each one with different projects and personal touches like photos on the wall or specific color schemes. 

The far side was occupied by a massive furnace, and various demigods were working on projects throughout the space.

Leo noticed that there were a lot more children of Hephaestus at camp than kids of the other gods, and he wondered why that was. He was about to ask, but Percy continued in, heading towards a heavily muscled teen pounding away on something beside the fire, although the teen paused when Percy and Leo grew close.

“Leo, this is Jake Mason, the head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin,” Percy introduced, looking strangely apprehensive as he glanced between the two. “Jake, this is Leo.”

“Hello, Leo,” Jake said, his eyes darting almost nervously towards a worktable near the back. “Feel free to take a look around. Most of us are pretty busy though.”

Leo thought he would say more, but Jake ended the sentence there, turning back to his work without another word. Leo glanced at Percy, and the son of Poseidon was frowning slightly, but he made no comment.

Leo shrugged and chose to do what Jake suggested, wandering around the different areas of the workshop. Weapons ranging from hammers, to swords, to grappling hooks hung from the walls; even stranger devices were just lying about, and Leo’s fingers were twitching with the extreme urge to examine each and every one.

His wandering took him to a table opposite the furnace where what looked like throwing knives were split in half longwise, with complicated wiring lining the insides.

“They’re going to EXPLODE when they hit their target!!” Said the young voice of a boy to Leo’s right.

Leo almost jumped in surprise, but managed to restrain himself, turning to face the boy. He seemed around eight or nine, with messy brown hair and a complexion similar to Leo’s, yet the kid looked extremely strong, and his hands were large and callused. Leo had no doubts that the child would beat him in hand-to-hand combat if it came down to it.

“Dude, you're making exploding throwing knives?! That’s sick!” Leo exclaimed, and took a closer look at the objects on the table. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Harley,” the boy answered with a huge grin on his oil-smudged face. “Are you the one who can make fire? Nyssa sai-”

“Harley, enough,” said a feminine voice from behind the pair.

Leo spun around to see where the words came from, and almost regretted it when he did. The half-blood who stood in front of him was a young woman that looked a bit older than Percy, and she had dark brown hair and flinty brown eyes. She wore work pants and a black tank top that broadcasted just how easy it would be for her to beat Leo up, and her arms were crossed in irritation.

Sensing potential conflict, Leo scanned the room for Percy and found him beside Jake, both turning to face Leo as if the two had just broken up whatever conversation they had been having when Nyssa spoke.

Nyssa hadn’t said another word, but she firmly yet gently grabbed Harley by the shoulders and pulled him beside her. The silence was growing oppressive, so Leo did what Leo does best. 

He rambled, pointlessly, and with no end in sight.

“You’ve really done well with the place! I love the countless weapons decorating the walls, I really wish I had one of those axes last week! There was this huge black dog, Percy told me it was called a Hellhound, and it tried to eat my face. Well, probably all of me, not just my face, but it was onl-”

“I think we’ll continue the rest of the tour now,” Percy cut in, intercepting the two literally and figuratively. “If that’s okay with you?”

Nyssa gave a sharp nod, her irritation fading into an unreadable expression, while Jake remained where he was—although his eyes were slightly regretful. Percy led Leo out of the forge, and Leo forgot to pay attention to where they were going.

Why had Nyssa reacted that way? And even if the others weren’t as openly hostile, they still hadn’t said anything in Leo’s defense. Was it really just because of his fire? But Nyssa and Jake and Harley were the Hephaestus kids, they were around fire all the time, surely they weren’t afraid?

“Did- did I do something wrong?” Leo asked softly.

At this, Percy stopped, and Leo finally took in his surroundings. They were standing in a copse of pine trees, the needles coating the ground, and rays of sunshine broke through the canopy, lighting up the shadows.

“No.” Percy said firmly. He sounded borderline frustrated. “They just don’t trust easily, and they have a lot of things they’ve already decided are true, so it might take a bit to convince them otherwise.”

As Leo chewed on Percy’s words, he realized that something wasn’t adding up. Most people that Leo had met that day spoke of his powers like they were more than just a rare demigod power, like they were somehow part of something more:

‘Lot of things they’ve already decided are true.’ 

‘Can you prove it?’ 

‘Kind of young to be the focus of a pro-’ 

It didn’t make sense.

“Is there anything else I should know about?” Leo asked hesitantly. “It’s just, you all sound like you’re talking about more than fire.”

Percy froze, his fingers fidgeting with his pen in his pocket, and his mouth opened and closed several times, like he couldn’t figure out what he wanted to say. He shifted back and forth on his feet, as if he was fighting with himself, and then released a long exhale through his nose.

“Not yet.” Percy finally said, but it sounded like the words were being forced out of him. “I’ll explain everything later, but let’s just focus on the tour today, okay?”

Percy’s response was neither yes nor no, and yet it answered Leo’s question perfectly. There absolutely was something more going on, and Leo was allowed to know approximately none of it. Typical.

“Alright,” Leo replied anyway, understanding that no more answers would be coming his way. “I already forgot where we’re heading to now. What was it again?”

“The Pegasus Stables!” Percy said, embracing the subject change eagerly. “We’re almost there, you’ll be able to see them in a second.”

Then Percy marched ahead, and Leo had to scramble to keep up. They finally broke through the pine tree into a more open area, and Leo was astonished by the sight before him.

Logically, he knew that “Pegasus Stables” meant that there would be pegasus' at the stables, and yet nothing could really prepare him for the beautifully powerful winged horses.

They were in all the usual colors that Leo knew horses could be, but with the shimmering wings, their coats just looked so much more vibrant. There were pegasus' grazing in the pasture, soaring overhead, and frolicking in the lush grass. 

Percy had a hand on Leo’s upper arm, practically dragging him towards the stables, which Leo assumed was to keep him from stopping and staring at everything in awe. It was an absolutely necessary action.

They finally crossed the wooden threshold, entering the stables, and Leo spotted two drastically different half-bloods standing outside a stall at the far end.

The first was a bulky guy with a shaved head who reminded Leo of a dressed-down biker dude, and when he shifted slightly, Leo spotted a colorful rainbow tattoo on his bicep. He nearly laughed out loud, but the guy’s stony face caused him to clench his jaw and hold it in.

The second was a demigod who looked like the head of any teenage girl clique in highschool. She had shining black hair in ringlets, pink eyeliner, and more jewelry than anyone Leo had seen at camp so far, except maybe Lou Ellen. But Leo had a feeling that most of Lou Ellen’s bracelets and necklaces were actually just weapons in disguise.

The two looked up as Leo and Percy approached, and neither of them seemed particularly happy to see the pair, but they didn’t look exactly hostile either. Leo assumed that was entirely because Percy was there too.

“Hey Butch, Drew,” Percy greeted with a warm smile. “This is Leo.”

“I know,” Drew replied, eyeing up Leo like he was a makeup item on clearance. Equal possibilities of being either treasure, or trash.

“Welcome to camp,” Butch said tonelessly, but not unkindly.

“Drew is the cabin head of the Aphrodite campers, and Butch is head of the Iris cabin,” Percy said, gesturing to each person as he spoke. “They’re both the best with the pegasus.”

“Iris?” Leo questioned, not remembering what she was the goddess of. Leo assumed she must be a war god like Ares, based off of Butch’s appearance.

“Goddess of the rainbow,” Butch replied proudly, and if Leo had been drinking something, he would have done a spit take.

“ Rainbows ?! And you take care of the horses?” Leo exclaimed impulsively.

“You have a problem with that?” Butch asked in irritation.

“No! No, just, rainbows, and ponies…” Leo said, trailing off, and then Percy quickly distracted the two with idle talk before Leo could say something else stupid.

 While the three chatted, Leo wandered around, imagining ways to improve the basic stables with stalls that opened with the push of a button, or automatic feeding dispensers.

Eventually the conversation died, and Leo and Percy made their way to the cabins, which Leo was dying to see. They made it to the top of a low hill, and Leo was greeted with the sight of various different buildings in the shape of a Greek omega.

Not one of them looked the same, or even remotely similar. One was solid gold, another silvery, the next painted a gaudy red with spikes lining the roof, and at the very back, were two marble cabins, like they were stolen straight from Ancient Greece.

Percy led Leo to an older-looking log cabin and, hanging over the door, was the image of two snakes twirled around a staff with wings at the top. Percy pushed open the door, revealing Cecil inside.

“Hi, Cecil,” Percy said, holding open the door for Leo to enter. “I’m just dropping Leo off to get settled.”

“Alright,” Cecil replied, waving Leo over with a smile. “You can have the bed under mine, if that’s fine with you?”

“Yeah, sounds great!” Leo answered with a matching smile.

In Leo’s opinion, bottom bunks were always better, because it was easier to leave in the middle of the night without being noticed. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to do that here, but it was always good to be prepared.

Percy left him with a “see you at dinner” and a promise to discuss training times later, and then Cecil ran to get toiletries and extra clothes from the camp store for Leo.

After four long days of never being without Percy or Will at his side, Leo was good and truly alone. And the first thing he did was sit on the edge of his bed, unzip his backpack, and pull out the photograph of his mom.

Leo collapsed onto his back, holding the picture above his face, and tapped his finger against the frame while he sorted through his thoughts.

What would his mom think of him now? Had she known that Leo’s father was a god, and if so, had she ever planned to tell Leo? Maybe she already did when he was little, and Leo had just decided it was a dream, like many of the other strange things that he could vaguely picture from his childhood. 

But he didn’t want her to be a part of all that. To Leo, his life was separated into three distinct sections; the time his mother was alive, the foster system, and Camp Half-Blood. His childhood, the happiest time of his life, was the first section, and Leo wanted nothing to contaminate that.

Camp Half-Blood was quickly becoming a home, a place that Leo could belong, but it would never be as perfect as the short time he had with his mom. Nevertheless, Leo was going to try to make something of his new life, to begin truly living, rather than simply surviving.

And if not for his friends, or for himself, Leo would do it for his mother.

Notes:

What did you think?

Next chapter will have our first mention of the to-be-named Festus, so look forward to that!! (It will be a week before that comes out bc I’ll be at camp).

Any suggestions for moments in the fic that would make good fanart? Let me know, and it may just happen!

Chapter 8: "Potential Idiot"

Summary:

A certain happy dragon wreaks havoc, and a certain santa's elf makes plans to wreak havoc.

Notes:

Finally, Chapter Eight is done!!! Sorry it took so long; I started a job, and then got sick, and then had two other jobs lol.
But whatever the case, it is here now, and I quite like this one!!!

*EPIC INFO*
More art!!! It's been added to Chapter Six, take a look and let me know what you think!!

As always, I seriously appreciate kudus and comments, they inspire me to keep writing!

Special thanks to the following for sticking around:
Book_Wyrm_94647
skogensro
Everworld222
You all are so encouraging, and I really appreciate every kind word and theory I read from your comments!

Note: I changed the chapter title because I thought of something funnier, and I regret nothing.

“To dinner, now! C’mon, go go go!” Travis whisper-yelled, poking his head through the door of Cabin Eleven. From his seat on the bed, Leo could just make out Connor’s wide smirk behind Travis through the crack between the wood. 

“What’d you do this time?” Cecil asked with a sigh, standing up from his place beside Leo. The two bunkmates had been discussing engineering—well, Leo had been asking questions about the machinery at camp, and Cecil had been doing his best to answer—as Leo had learned that Cecil picked up a bit from Jake while they were taking apart various machines for pranks.

While Leo would have loved to hear all about the amazing metals, tools, and mechanics directly from the children of Hephaestus, they weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment. Hence Leo’s peppering of questions that had quickly become overwhelming for poor Cecil, like a stereotypical American crying over the heat of authentic Mexican cuisine.

“I may or may not have relocated all of Katie’s potted plants to the Ares cabin, and this is the first place she’ll look for me,” Travis said quickly, his eyes scanning the paths behind him, like an escaped convict on the run. “So we’ve gotta skedaddle!”

To all his foster homes and the local police departments, Leo had been marked as a troublemaker, immediately tagged by his constant grin and mirth-filled eyes. But now Leo laughed at the thought of them having to deal with Travis and Connor Stoll. 

In the past two days of staying in the Hermes Cabin, Leo had grown used to the chaos, always prepared to drop everything and dodge the repercussions of the Stoll’s actions. As the new kid, nobody expected him to be a part of their pranks, and Leo planned to remain the anonymous mastermind for as long as possible.

So Leo stuffed the undefined ball of metal and wires that he had been working on into his pocket, stood up from his place on the bed, and followed Cecil out the door.

The Stoll’s led Cecil and Leo on a roundabout way to the Dining Pavilion, and Leo was proud of the fact that he recognized the path they were taking. Will had banned him from any of the strenuous activities that Camp Half-Blood had to offer, so Leo had spent most of his time wandering the grounds and making sure that he knew the best ways to get around unseen.

The other portion of his time was occupied by Percy dragging Leo to the infirmary for morning checkups with Will, the son of Poseidon unable to hide his anticipation of their upcoming training. Leo couldn’t quite understand why Percy was so excited to start—Leo had figured that the camp hero would have been annoyed by Chiron volunteering him to train an inexperienced kid four years younger than him—but whatever the reason, Leo was just as anxious to begin. 

Leo had used his fire during his journey to camp, but usually only in life-or-death scenarios, not to test his limits or his accuracy. Leo hoped that if he could prove that he had control of his powers, then the other campers would have reason to trust him. 

He was honestly surprised that they had wanted him trained in the first place, rather than just banning the use of his powers. Thankfully, at today’s morning checkup, Will had said that Leo should be ready to begin training tomorrow morning after one more visit to the infirmary. 

The Hermes campers were one of the first to the Mess Hall, and Leo made his way to Table Eleven, sitting down beside Cecil as the Stolls claimed the other bench. Travis had told Leo horror stories of when the Hermes Cabin was packed so full of unclaimed campers that half-bloods were sliding off the ends of the benches, and Leo was insurmountably grateful that he had arrived mid-semester. He’d had enough of that at group homes.

The sun had nearly disappeared below the horizon, and the quiet glow of setting sun rays cast long shadows across the pavilion floor. The warm fire of the sconces on the dining pavilion’s columns sparked brightly in the falling darkness, contrasting the cold bright flecks of stars shining in the black-blue sky above. The chill of winter had set, but the magic border of Camp Half-Blood prevented the atmosphere from freezing.

Leo could never decide if he preferred hot or cold weather. Warmth reminded him of his mom’s embrace, leaving behind a melancholy void, but a chilly atmosphere made him ache with the absence of her arms around him. It was a lose-lose situatio–

Okay, nope. BAD ADHD, leave my lovely dinner alone.

“Travis, isn’t this the third time you’ve pranked Katie in two days?” Leo asked abruptly, sparking a conversation to distract himself from unpleasant—pleasant?—thoughts.

“Yeah, but the opportunities just kept popping up, and I couldn’t let them pass by, now could I?” Travis replied with his hands raised beside his shoulders in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture.

“Sure you couldn’t,” Connor said with a smirk, elbowing his brother in the ribs.

It wasn’t long before Demigods began filing into the Mess Hall, and Leo ducked his head when he saw Chiron and Mr. D enter, the two of them keeping up a quiet conversation as they sat at Table Seven.

Chiron had given Leo a quick welcome to camp during his first dinner at the Mess Hall, but Mr. D had yet to say a word to him. Leo wasn’t sure if he was avoiding Leo specifically, or just hated all half-bloods in general. Leo figured there was a high chance that both were accurate.

He watched Percy and Annabeth make their way to their separate tables, then Holly and Laurel as they bickered over something that Leo had learned to never ask about—unless he wanted to become an honorary referee and future punching bag—and made note of the fact that no Hephaestus kids had shown up yet.

That wasn’t the strangest thing, as other campers would often need to drag them away from a project, but Leo had been paying special attention to Cabin Nine.

Leo had won over most of the other campers with his smiles and excellent jokes–at least, he thought so, and people usually laughed–but the Hephaestus Campers had remained as distant as ever.

And despite promising to do so at some point, Percy had never really told him why, so it was up to Leo to get on their good side—just as soon as he figured out how .

He thought of making them gifts, but anything they really wanted they could make themselves. He thought of inviting them to a game or movie night that Leo set up, but he was sure they wouldn't even show. He even thought of deep cleaning the forge, but he couldn’t enter without hostile looks or pointed comments.

So in the end, Leo resolved to watch and listen for anything that would give him a hint on how to win them over. As of now, he had absolutely nothing.

The campers lined up to sacrifice a portion of their food to the gods, and when Leo’s turn arrived, he scraped a large portion of Camp Half-Blood’s signature brisket into the flames, offering a prayer. He’d done so every dinner, but no response. Maybe third time’s the charm?

Dad, whoever you are, can you help? You did it before with Firebug when I really needed you, and I need you again. Please, claim me, or show the others that I’m not a curse.

Leo then shuffled back to his place at the table, picking at the grapes on his plate as he vaguely listened to the boisterous conversation between the Stolls and Cecil, slipping in a joke here and there.

And that’s when the piercing cry of distant screams shattered the amiable peace.

Half the campers jumped to their feet, Percy uncapping Riptide and Annabeth brandishing her bronze dagger, and Leo snapped his head in the direction of the shouting.

Red and orange billows of flame blazed a river in the winter sky, and a winged shape rose from behind the Pegasus Stable—its warm shiny body contrasting the cold blues of the sky—before diving into the farthest corners of the camp’s forest.

Percy, Annabeth, Chiron, the Apollo campers, and Leo began sprinting in the direction of the fading fire, but were stopped just a few feet from the Mess Hall when Nyssa ran out of the cover of the trees, her chest heaving and her clothes smudged with soot, but otherwise appearing unharmed. More half-bloods gathered, surrounding the Hephaestus camper, and Cecil came to stand beside Leo, the Stolls close behind.

“Will– Apollo campers, help,” Nyssa begged breathlessly, and Leo could see the barely-contained anguish in her eyes. Will, Kayla, and Austin were watching her urgently for directions, ready to set off the moment they were given. “The bronze dragon went berserk– it got Jake.”

Leo felt Cecil stiffen from where their shoulders touched, and the Stolls a little ways behind were quiet for once, their attention locked on Nyssa and Chiron.

“How badly is Jake injured? Is the automaton currently a danger?” Chiron asked calmly, but the concern in his eyes was evident.

“The dragon’s escaped to the woods, it won’t be a problem for now,” Nyssa answered quickly, her eyes darting the way she had come and her foot tapping as if she wanted to take off running immediately. “And Jake’s in bad shape, we’ve got to go now. Like, now now.”

“Alright, Apollo campers, go with Nyssa,” Chiron said, and Will wasted not a second as he sprinted in the direction Nyssa had entered the mess hall from, his siblings and Nyssa close behind. “Everyone else, stay in the Dining Pavilion until everything is sorted out.”

Leo heard the beginning of protestation from Percy, but Annabeth grabbed his elbow and dragged him back to the Poseidon table. Chattering erupted between the campers, but Leo wandered back to Table Eleven in silence, his mind racing.

Did Nyssa say that a bronze dragon is what injured Jake? How had Leo been at the camp for an entire week and had never heard of a literal fire-breathing metal dragon? Who had built it? Was it magic, or entirely mechanical? And Nyssa had said ‘ finally went berserk,’ as if she had been expecting it for a while.

“Okay, someone please explain to me what-in-the-fire-breathing-bronze-dragon is happening right now?!” Leo exclaimed to no one in particular, but thankfully the Stolls had settled back down across from him and were happy to answer. Cecil remained quiet, gazing at his plate in a tense sort of silence.

“No, that about sums up the situation,” Connor grinned, but it was overshadowed by the worry concealed in his pinched eyebrows. Leo knew from his short time at camp that the Hermes campers and Jake had some sort of friendship, but Leo was too caught up on the dragon automaton to sort through feelings .

Leo glared at him, and Connor sighed and continued. “Fine, fine. The bronze dragon was repaired by the Hephaestus Cabin, but it’s been losing it for a while now, and Cabin Nine hasn’t been able to fix it again due to the fire breath anytime someone gets close. And now it’s finally cracked.”

‘ Cabin Nine hasn’t been able to fix it again due to the fire breath.’  

Hadn’t Leo just asked his father for a way to show Cabin Nine that he wasn’t a curse? This was an opportunity served up to him on a silver platter . Leo and his fire-resistance had the best shot at getting close to the bronze dragon, and he was positive that with his engineering prowess, Leo could fix the dragon.

“Nuh uh,” Connor reprimanded sharply, his usual mischievous demeanor deafened by his worry for Jake, and now Leo. “I can see the ‘I’m about to do something stupid’ gleam in your eyes, absolutely not.”

“Dude, bad idea,” Cecil added quietly, finally piping up to join the conversation after several minutes of eating his dinner in silence. “Fire might not hurt you, but sharp teeth and talons that can crush you absolutely will.”

“But it makes sense!” Leo exclaimed, frustrated at being found out before he’d even made a plan. “And you’re doubting the epic skills of Supreme Mechanic Valdez.”

“Sorry bro,” Travis said, setting down the fork he had been poking his brisket with. “Even I can see that it’s a bad idea!”

“But we realize that it won’t be easy to convince you of that,” Connor interjected, the ghost of a smirk on his lips. “So we’ll have to bring in the big guns.”

“PERCY!” Travis bellowed at the top of his lungs, standing to his feet and throwing his head back for dramatic effect—ignoring the fact that Percy was sitting barely fifteen feet away. “COME TELL LEO NOT TO BE AN IDIOT!”

Other campers scowled at the Hermes Table before turning back to their private conversations, and Leo groaned and hid his face in his hands. A pair of footsteps drew near, and the slight shifting of the bench indicated someone sitting down beside him.

“Leo, don’t be an idiot,” said Percy, his intense green-blue eyes catching on to the situation without any unnecessary explanation.

“But it makes sense,” Leo repeated, his voice muffled beneath his hands. “I’m the only one who can get near without being burned to a crisp. And it was literally you who told me I needed to ‘become worthy’ of being claimed or whatever. This is the perfect chance.”

Leo removed his palms from his eyes to glimpse Percy’s expression, and was surprised to see that Annabeth had come too, sitting directly across from Percy. She was frowning slightly in thought, and cut Percy off as he opened his mouth to speak.

“He’s not wrong. Leo would be the best one for the job-” Annabeth stated, and then hurried on when Percy shifted to stare at her incredulously. “-If not for his lack of training. It’s not smart to do anything right now before he’s even had one session with Percy.”

“One session wouldn’t be nearly enough,” Percy interjected. “And it took Beckendorf’s skill to fix the bronze dragon the first time.”

“Who’s Beckendorf?” Leo questioned, not sure if he had heard the name before.

That caused everyone, even the Stolls, to fall silent for a moment, their hands stilling on their cutlery and their expressions a mix of sorrow and reminiscence.

Leo had been around enough orphans to decipher the pained look in the eyes of a person who had lost someone, and suddenly, the reality of the life he was now living became so much more real. Demigods had died. 

Sure, Leo knew that it was likely, what with the constant monster attacks. But he had never seen or experienced a monster actually take the life of a person, so the danger had never been as potent as it should have been. It had felt more like a dream, with terrors around every corner, and yet the vague acknowledgment that you would wake up; that you would make it through alive to continue the story.

But Beckendorf’s story had ended. And in that moment, Leo felt an insurmountable grief for a person he had never—and would never—meet.

“Beckendorf was the Hephaestus Cabin’s Counselor before Jake,” Annabeth said finally, when it became obvious that no one else would jump in to explain. “He died early on in the Second Titan War. He was a hero.”

At that everyone nodded or mumbled their agreement, but Leo was stuck on Annabeth’s blaise mention of a literal war. Leo hadn’t heard news of a war in the past few years, and yet it had to have been recent since the grief of Beckendorf’s passing was clearly still fresh.

A question for another time it seemed, as Percy finally lifted his eyes from the hole he had been staring into the table’s wood.

“Beckendorf, Silena, Annabeth, and me, were the ones who found the bronze dragon the first time,” Percy said, his voice soft with grief. “Beckendorf repaired it, and the dragon became kind of a pet project for the Hephaestus cabin.”

“But after Beckendorf’s death, whatever passed as the automaton’s brain began degrading, and none of the other Hephaestus kids have been able to do what Beckendorf did,” Annabeth added, sipping from her cup of—was that seriously just water?! 

The goblets can summon pretty much any drink, and Annabeth was just drinking water? Did she still think that limiting questionable-chemical intake was important even though they’d all likely be dead before their unhealthy lifestyles had time to catch up with them?

Wait, no, Leo. Focus. Important potentially life-changing information being shared over here.

“They’ve been trying for ages—which is where they were tonight—but I guess the bronze dragon finally snapped for good, and poor Jake paid the price,” Annabeth finished.

The table fell quiet once more as everyone’s thoughts turned to Jake Mason—his fate, or even the severity of his injuries, still unknown. Leo’s one interaction with the Hephaestus camper had been short, but where Nyssa had behaved in a cold and defensive manner, Jake had been hesitantly polite, and Leo thought that they could have gotten along well.

But for the most part, Leo’s thoughts were occupied by the bronze dragon. He assumed that meant celestial bronze, which could harm both demigods and monsters. Leo could only imagine how fearsome the automaton would be in battle, if only it was repaired.

Annabeth had said that ‘whatever passed as the automaton’s brain began degrading,’ and Leo had already narrowed down the options for what mechanical piece that could be. The dragon was a complicated combination of machinery, but the most valuable part would be where the Artificial Intelligence system was stored. 

Which meant that whatever the piece was, it had to be small, and easily removable, so that if the dragon’s exterior was damaged, the simpler parts of the automaton could be rebuilt and the AI system easily inserted.

That reduced the options to two likely forms of storage; a chip, or a disk.

And if Annabeth was right, and the degradation of that chip/disk is what caused the bronze dragon to go haywire, then the root of the entire problem could be as simple as mildly rusted metal.

If that was the case, then all Leo had to do was find the dragon, locate the piece that housed the AI system, and clean it; just without being flattened by heavy talons, snapped in half by sharp teeth, or smashed by a tail that weighed more than a full grown oak tree. Easy.

As Leo looked up from his long-forgotten meal, he saw that the other demigods at Table Eleven were engaged in separate conversations, the topics of which Leo had forgotten to pay attention to long ago. Every demigod, except for Annabeth.

His finger—which had been tapping unconsciously ever since Leo had begun his train of thought—stilled as his gaze was caught by Annabeth’s. Her sharp gray eyes were narrowed, trained on him, and Leo knew that the daughter of Athena could tell exactly where his mind had gone.

Just as she opened her mouth to inevitably make him spill every factor of his ill-thought-out plan, Nyssa entered the Dining Pavilion, and all conversation ceased as the campers waited to hear news on Jake.

“He has severe burns and several broken bones, but Will says he’ll make a full recovery,” Nyssa declared, her eyes shining with relief as the other campers cheered or relaxed their own tensed muscles.

“Then all of you are released for after-dinner activities,” Chiron said from his place at the edge of the Mess Hall, and Leo wasted no time standing from his seat, dodging Annabeth’s attempt at confrontation, and making his way out of the Dining Pavilion in the direction of Cabin Eleven.

He could hear crunching grass behind him in two directions, and assumed that the Stolls were following. Cecil must have stayed back at the Mess Hall, maybe for more information on Jake? Had he been more concerned for the son of Hephaestus than Leo had believed?

Now that Leo thought about it, he could recall Jake being mentioned multiple times while Cecil and Leo were having their conversation before dinner, but Leo had been too focused on the mechanical side of things to question it.

And then Cecil had been silent for most of dinner, ever since Jake had been announced injured by Nyssa. Leo’s bunkmate had probably been worried over who Leo now realized was Cecil’s friend. And Leo had completely neglected to ask if his bunkmate was okay.

Instead, he had run off the second he could, planning to tame a bronze dragon rather than invest in one of the first true friendships he had gained in years.

Well, I’m a bit of an idiot.

The trio entered the Hermes Cabin—Leo had been too deep in thought to notice if the Stolls had been talking or not. Hopefully he hadn’t ignored them and ruined another friendship—and Leo stood at the entrance, staring numbly at the bunk he shared with Cecil.

“Hey guys, Cecil and Jake are pretty close, aren’t they?” Leo asked the silence, desperately hoping that the Stolls hadn’t wandered off. There was a beat of quiet, and then:

“I’m gonna be completely honest, I thought we’d be fighting to keep you from running to your death, not gossiping over whose friends with who,” Travis said, sharing a surprised look with his brother.

“It’s only, what, 8-ish? We’ve got time for both,” Leo quipped, albeit half-heartedly. He hadn’t even bothered to stare pointedly at his non-existent watch. 

“Well, yeah, the two of them are friends—have been ever since Cecil showed up at camp and Jake gave him the tour,” Connor replied, seeming mildly confused by the shift in conversation.

“Before you, we would get Cecil to go bother Jake for help with pranks that involve tech,” Travis added, his eyes to the roof as if reminiscing on glorious past stunts.

None of them had moved from the entryway to settle in bed, or change for nightly activities. The Stolls appeared to be waiting for Leo to make the first move, but Leo was in a state of indecision. 

Should he go check on Cecil? Or make plans for finding and fixing the bronze dragon? Maybe he should just leave now, and see where his feet take him?

“I don’t know what you’re thinking right now—your face is doing a whole blank staring thing—but I do have a suggestion before that look clears and you decide to do something,” Connor said, shattering the moment of uncertainty.

“Okay, what d’you got?” Leo asked with a sigh.

“Before you do anything, go to training with Percy tomorrow,” Connor answered, the usual mischievous gleam in his eyes fading into a borderline responsible Cabin-Head look.

It was so easy for Leo to forget that—despite how utterly unserious and mildly insane the Stolls were most of the time—they were also responsible for keeping all of the younger campers in their care safe. At dinner, the Stolls had shared the same grieved look as Percy and Annabeth had when Beckendorf was mentioned, the guy who had died in a war. 

“Fine, but I can’t promise anything more than that,” Leo finally said, plopping down on his bed and kicking off his shoes. “The Flaming Valdez needs his opportunity to shine.”

“We would expect nothing less of our honorary member,” Travis smirked. “But when the time comes-”

“You better take us with you,” Connor finished, his own face splitting in a wide grin, and Leo felt his heart warm from the force of their smiles.

When the time came, Leo had no clue what he would do. But he did know that he would figure it out tomorrow, after training with Percy and checking on Cecil and Jake. Maybe Leo could offer the Hephaestus Cabin help in some way—whether that be with the bronze dragon, or even chores—or at least not give them another thing to worry about until Leo knew that Jake would really be okay.

But one thing he did know, was that he finally had friends who were willing to fight with him, and Leo would not let them down.

Notes:

There it is; what did you think?

I hope someone caught the continual warm and cold references throughout! If not, I specified them in my new tumblr account for this fic!

https://www.tumblr.com/lynxiah

It will give sneak peaks to future chapters, art, and more! Plus, you can ask questions about the fic or get into long debates about the stupidest things lol.

And lastly, I have decided to implement a weekly updating schedule! There will be a chapter update every Saturday, but that does not mean that I will only update on Saturday. It all depends on how much free time I have that week, but you might get a mid-week update too!

Alright, that's all, have a good week!

Chapter 9: "Pyrokenetic- no, Arsonistic Demigod"

Summary:

An arsonist tries to put out metaphorical fires, and a firefighter encourages the start of literal fires.

Notes:

Hello all! Chapters finally out, sorry it took me a bit! But here's 4K words to soothe your hungry minds.

Thanks to all for helping me hit 1,000 hits!!! This is my first fic, so I'm really grateful to everyone who's helped me reach this goal!

As always, I really appreciate kudus and comments, and I reply to every comment!

“Every time I come back here, it’s like I can hear a hauntingly sunny voice whispering in my ear with the kind, caring words of: ‘EAT MORE. YOU STILL LOOK LIKE A TWIG.’”

“Valdez! No yelling around unconscious patients. And you do still look like a twig, have you been eating enough?”

“See?!” Leo gestured vehemently in Will’s direction, Cecil watching the interaction with a mildly bewildered expression. “At some point you have to accept that it’s just unlucky genetics! I bet my grandfather was built like a twig too, and his grandfather, and his grandfather!”

“Well, then your grandfather should have eaten more,” Will reprimanded sternly, but Leo could just make out the amused light in the medic’s eyes.

“Oh my lucky rubber bands, Cecil, can you believe this guy?!” Leo exclaimed from his place near the door of the infirmary. The three demigods were in a waiting area that was really just a section of the room separated from the actual hospital beds by a curtain.

It was the morning after the bronze dragon’s attack, and Leo had finally mustered up the courage to find Cecil and ask if he was okay. Well, he could admit to himself that he was kind of stalling. But he WOULD do it. Eventually.

“No way, do not involve me in this!” Cecil cried, waving his hands in the universal gesture for ‘stop!’ “Whatever the doctor says, goes!”

“Speaking of being a doctor, I have to go check in on Jake,” Will said, opening a cupboard attached to the wall and gathering a clipboard and nectar into his arms. “You two have fun!”

Of course Will would say something like that. 

In his week at camp, Leo had come to accept three things as undeniable facts of the universe; one, Greek Mythology was real. Two, Leo’s fire powers were balancing on a pendulum with ‘curse’ on one side and ‘blessing’ on the other. And third, Will had more parental energy than all of the gods combined.

But the ‘parent’ had just left, leaving two demigods alone in a waiting room like lost children, both awkwardly expecting the other to speak. And, oh great, now Leo had to actually get to the reason he had rushed over to the infirmary first thing after breakfast; he had to talk to a friend about feelings .

Leo could fix any machine that was broken, especially in a life-or-death fight against a monster. Give him five minutes, a watch, and a couple wires! Leo’d have the trap up and running before the sharp teeth even grazed him! But figuring out how to fix a relationship that he had possibly unknowingly busted? Well, that was a little harder.

“So… how’s Jake?” Leo began awkwardly. A shadow instantly fell over Cecil’s eyes, and yup, this was going splendidly.

“Better now, but it was… bad . There was barely a patch of skin that wasn’t burnt, and half his bones were shattered. Will said it took all of the Apollo camper’s singing a healing song to their dad to keep him alive,” Cecil said quietly, his voice trembling ever so slightly, and his hands tensing and un-tensing, like he was trying to keep them from shaking. “Will said he’ll make a full recovery, but it’s gonna be awhile. And he’ll be in a medically-induced coma until he heals enough for the pain to be bearable.”

“Man, I- I’m sorry,” Leo exhaled, feeling generally awful. How had he been so oblivious to Jake and Cecil’s pain? All his thoughts were consumed by the bronze dragon, and the feelings of the people he could actually call friends had gone ignored. “And I’m really sorry that I didn’t stick around after dinner to see if you were okay.”

Shockingly, instead of growing withdrawn or angry, Cecil’s face gained a gooey look, like the sweet center of freshly-baked brownies.

“It’s okay, really. LE stayed back with me,” Cecil said, his eyes soft, and his whole body relaxing against the wall he was leaning upon.

“Ellie? I don’t know any campers called that,” Leo frowned in thought.

“O-oh, sorry, I meant Lou Ellen,” Cecil stammered quickly, his face growing red and his body straightening again, as if surprised by his own slip.

Lou Ellen? The Hecate camper with the black clothes and green eyes to match her creepy green glowing potions? Leo could admit that she had seemed pretty cool in all of his interactions with her, and yet he was somewhat stupefied to think that Cecil and her got along so well.

Maybe Leo hadn’t messed up that badly, if his absence had left room for Cecil and ‘LE’ to have their own little comfort session. He quickly smothered the smirk fighting its way to the surface, and went for a more easy-going smile instead.

“Well, I’m glad it all worked out,” Leo responded, and then was promptly smacked in the back by the infirmary door opening, causing him to fall flat on his face.

“Leo! Ready for your first training session?!” Percy asked in excitement, striding through the door in his signature orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. “Leo? Where are- oh.”

“Duuude,” Leo groaned from his sprawled position on the floor. “Next time, can you please check that there’s no one BEHIND the door before you rush in?!”

“Sorry,” Percy replied sheepishly, offering Leo a hand and pulling him back to his feet with far too little effort. “Hi Cecil.”

“Hello Percy, now if you don’t mind me, I’m going to Ancient Greek before I get added to the pile of demigod on the floor,” Cecil said good-naturedly, pushing off from his place on the wall and heading out the way Percy had come.

“Bye Cecil! See you at lunch!” Leo shouted after him, getting an acknowledging wave in return. The interaction had gone a lot better than he had been expecting, and he felt satisfied with the result—like a squeaky hinge that just took some grease to open smoothly again.

“Okay, to Will, and then to training!” Percy exclaimed, grabbing Leo’s arm and dragging him to the opening of the curtain, before gently knocking on the wall beside the fabric with more restraint than Leo expected.

A head of shaggy blonde hair poked through the curtain, and then the rest of Will’s body followed when he saw who it was.

“Has the twig come for my wise medical advice?” Will asked with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes.

“Pfft, all three of us know that I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t make me!” Leo complained, backing away from the curtain to give Will space to fill. “I have better things to do.”

Like hunting for a certain bronze dragon.

Leo’s concern for Cecil and Jake had been the only thing keeping him from running off last night in search of the automaton, and now that he knew they would both be okay, there was nothing else stopping him.

“Like training!” Percy said, smiling widely in his anticipation. “So Will, give him the all clear so we can get going!”

Will rolled his eyes fondly, but dutifully took Leo’s arm in his hands, closed his eyes, and did his whole ‘I can see your organs!’ schtick. 

It was only a few seconds before his eyelids fluttered open again and he released Leo’s limb, the analytical doctor’s look falling over his face as he reported his findings.

“Ribs are fully healed, and all lacerations are fully closed over, but-”

“ALRIGHT!” Leo shouted, slapping a hand over Will’s mouth, and causing Percy to jump like a startled alley cat from where he had been absentmindedly listening. “I’ll eat a BIG lunch after training, can we go now?!”

“Fine,” Will said in exasperation, prying Leo’s hand off his face. “BUT, I want you to come back in a week so I can see if using your powers regularly has a significant impact on your baseline vitals.”

After the first word of acquiescence, Leo only heard about fifty percent of the rest, and from Percy’s swift strides to the front door, Leo guessed that the son of Poseidon could relate.

“Bye Will, see you at lunch!” Percy shouted from his position outside, ten feet away from the front door. Leo had a feeling that if Percy was any less of a chill dude, he would be dragging Leo along behind him.

“Yep, see you in a bit, Doctor Sunbeam!” Leo waved exaggeratedly, hurrying out the door before more instructions could be tacked on.

“Are you ever going to just pick a nickname and stick with it?” Will asked in a fond sort of annoyance. Or at least, Leo chose to read the expression that way.

“I’ve got to try them all out first, see what sticks!” Leo shouted over his shoulder, now half a step behind Percy.

The son of Apollo sighed heavily, looking like he was fighting very hard to keep a grin off his face as he shut the infirmary door. However much Leo teased Will, Leo really did see the medic as one of his closest friends at camp. The Hermes campers were amazing, but Leo knew deep down that they weren’t really his siblings, and it made growing closer to them just a touch bittersweet.

But Leo was one bronze dragon away from changing everything.

“Leo, have you been to the woods yet?” Percy asked, leading them left of the Big House, towards the ocean. “We need to go through there to get to the training area I set up.”

“That entirely depends on if we’re out of Will’s hearing distance yet,” Leo replied, nervously glancing over his shoulder and half expecting the medic to pop up out of thin air, like a golden retriever at the sound of a whistle. “Do Apollo kids have magically enhanced listening?”

“Um, I’m pretty sure they don’t?’ Percy said hesitantly, sounding not sure at all. “You’re probably good.”

“Then yes.”

“Okay, well, we’re heading to the beach that borders the forest, because no one usually goes there.” Percy hopped over a fallen tree like it was nothing, and Leo did his best to scramble over in a dignified manner. Was being athletically inclined a demigod requirement? Because if so, Leo was on trajectory to crash out of the program.

“So what’s the plan for today, aquaboy?” Leo asked once he made it over the log, not breathing heavily whatsoever. “I torch things Valdez style, and you stand there ready to be a human fire hose?”

“I was thinking something a little more structured than that,” Percy snorted, striding through the shade of the canopy, and not looking even the tiniest put-off by the distant rustling of undergrowth, or the flash of white that Leo definitely saw in the shadows.

“Now you’re sounding like Annabeth,” Leo huffed, his eyes darting in the direction of every creepy forest sound. “What, you guys plan the training together or something?”

Leo had meant it as a joke, but Percy’s sheepish silence answered his non-question perfectly.

“No way, you actually did!”

“She was very enthusiastic about her ideas, and they were good!” Percy defended, ducking to avoid a low-hanging branch that Leo walked right under. “She said we should start by seeing where your limits are at, and I had no better plans!”

“I bet you had no plans,” Leo deadpanned, and then had to speed up as Percy caught sight of the ocean through the tree line.

“Well, it’s not like I’ve ever had to create a lesson plan for a pyrokinetic demigod before,” Percy snarked good-naturedly, nearing the end of the woods.

“Hey! Don’t forget arson-inclined, unequivocally handsome, bad-boy extrordi-”

“And, we're here!” Percy interjected, stopping Leo with an outstretched arm and causing him to stumble.

Leo looked up where he had been counting on his fingers, only to be surprised by the amount of structures laid out in preparation on the sand before him. 

To the left were scattered targets at varying distances, large and metal, with alternating rings of red and white. In the opposite direction was a long metal measuring stick, stretching about two hundred feet into the distance and lying on the morning sun-warmed sand. There was also a line of unlit torches following the measuring stick, one at each ten-foot mark.

“Duuude, how did you get all this stuff out here?!” Leo questioned, jogging down the sand dunes and stopping beside the closest target, his hands running along the metal. “These have got to weigh a ton!”

“The pegasi helped cart them over here, I just had to bribe them with infinite sugar cubes,” Percy replied, his eyes suddenly widening in realization. “Oooh no, Butch better never find out about that, he’s been trying to keep them on a healthier diet!”

Percy then broke off into muttering about “Iris’ Rainbow Organic Foods and Lifestyles,” and “macrobiotic beef jerky.”

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I’m ready to put all this stuff to good use!” Leo declared, trying to sound as if he was fully prepared to begin lighting things on fire. He still had little sparks of fear swirling in his stomach, but he did his best to smother them and focus on the present. 

All the pain his fire had caused was in the past. What was done was done, and Leo could only focus on never messing up that badly ever again. And there was no way he could do any real harm to Percy, as the son of Poseidon could easily put out Leo’s fires or heal himself in the ocean’s waters if things got really out of hand.

“Alright, I think we start by getting an idea of your fire’s limits,” Percy began, leading Leo closer to the water, which did not go unnoticed. “What do you know you can do right now?”

“I know that I can light any part of my body on fire, or I can just raise the temperature of any part of me, fire doesn’t have to be involved,” Leo answered, remembering the freezing nights spent with only Firebug for company. He had needed to raise his own body heat to avoid shivering to death.

“Can you raise the temperature of objects not attached to or touching you?” Percy asked, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, and his hand stretched slightly towards the sea, as if he was picturing the limits of his own powers.

“I honestly haven’t tried,” Leo responded, crossing his arms in consideration, and tapping out a rapid pattern on his bicep as he thought. “On the way to camp, I only ever used the fire-aspect powers in a kind of fiery explosion when it became life-or-death.”

“I know we joke about you being a human flamethrower, but have you ever actually used your flames as a projectile?” Percy questioned, now standing ankle-deep in the saltwater, and Leo was starting to feel like he was taking an entry exam as he had done for every new school. He just hoped he wouldn’t fail this time around.

“Once,” Leo said, shivering as he remembered the attack that had required him to get creative. “There were these metal pigeons flocking over me, and I scared them away with fireballs.”

Leo had been on the edge of New York, hiking through an open meadow with no cover in sight. The birds with their glinting metal beaks and wickedly sharp feather-projectiles had descended upon him, and he had barely made it out with his life. Leo had been covered in cuts, all relatively shallow, and yet bleeding sluggishly. 

All Leo could think of while bandaging the lacerations, was his mom. 

As a child, he had hung around her forging materials, and she let him work on projects by her side. One time, he had sliced his palm open on a sheet of steel, and gone crying to her side. His mom had patched him up, her warm brown eyes enough to soothe the pain, no bandages needed. 

“Don’t cry, mijo. You can’t become stronger without breaking a little first.”

Leo’s train of thought was fractured by Percy’s voice, and Leo snapped out of the past and back into the moment.

“Can you throw a ball of fire out into the ocean? I want to see how much control you have before we test it on land,” Percy explained, backing up just enough to be clear of the water, and Leo stepped forward to join him, all the while thinking:

Yeah, I can do that. I’ve never used my fire voluntarily in a non-life-or-death experience, but yep, this’ll be easy.

“Okay, so just, lob some fire into the distance?” Leo asked nervously, eyeing his own hands like they would eat him. Or the beach. Or everyone he loved. Percy was watching him closely, his eyes darting from Leo’s open palms to his face.

“It’ll be fine,” Percy assured him. “There’s no one around, and I can put out anything we don’t want to be one fire.”

Leo nodded, swallowing uneasily, but he lifted his hands and focused on concentrating all the heat from his body into his outstretched palms. Sure enough, a little blossom of fire sparked to life, and Leo imagined the candle-sized flame growing, condensing into a sphere of blazing heat.

The fire grew with his will, and Leo carefully lifted the fireball in front of him, throwing it into the distance, and watching as it soared over the water. The flames reflected in the blues of the seas, shifting to oranges, and then yellows as the fire faded, maybe a hundred feet out into the sea.

Leo turned to Percy, and was surprised by the borderline wild grin on his face, like the restlessly restrained waves of the ocean before the storm.

“I knew training would be fun,” said Percy.

 

---

 

Leo sat heavily at the Hermes table for lunch, his body sore in places that he didn’t even know it could be sore. He had no clue how using fire powers could make his bending his elbow ache.

Training was fun, but training was also exhausting .

Percy had wanted to know every limit, every boundary, that Leo hadn't even known he had. The son of Poseidon had tested his fire’s accuracy, its distance, its strength, and by the end of it, Leo learned about quite a few things he had never realized he could do.

For one, Leo could control any fire, not just flames that he generated. For some unknown reason, this had been unexpected to him. His whole life, there had been two forms of fire: the destructive fire Leo himself produced, or the warm, useful flames that blazed away in his mom’s furnace. The idea that they could all be the same force, a force that he could control, was foreign to him. It felt wrong, like he was contaminating his memories of her, burning them up li-

Haha, no. Bad train of thought, back to contemplating training.

And not only could Leo control fire that he hadn’t generated, but he could manipulate flames at a distance. He’d discovered this when Percy had him try and hit a few training targets, and Leo had focused on guiding the fireballs to the bullseye. 

Percy had been ecstatic, and was positive that there was nothing Leo couldn’t do with his fire if he had enough practice. Leo was positive that he would die of an achy elbow before he ever got to that point, but who was he to doubt Percy?

“Looks like training went well!” Said Travis, knocking into Leo as he sat down beside him, the Stoll’s trademark grin plastered across his face.

“Ungh, never say that word again,” Leo groaned, his head resting on his crossed arms.

“What? Percy seems happy with the session!” Travis smirked, gesturing to the side of the Dining Pavilion where Percy was talking animatedly with Annabeth, his arms waving around as Annabeth jotted down words on a notepad.

“Look at them, scheming up new ways to make me sore in the morning. What’ll ache next, my knee?!” Leo complained, watching as more campers filed into the Mess Hall for lunch.

“C’mon, I would steal Katie’s favorite sunhat for powers like yours or Percy’s!”

“You would steal her sunhat for a cheap set of lock picks,” Connor teased, sitting down across from Travis.

“Or one of Clarisse’s dirty socks,” said Cecil, claiming the spot beside Connor.

“Seriously dude, when are you go-”

“Attention all campers!” Chiron called from the front of the pavilion, interrupting Leo’s attempt at wingmanning. “The Hephaestus campers have an update on the bronze dragon situation!”

That wrenched Leo’s focus from his sore body. He had tried to avoid thinking about the dragon during training, but the thought was always there, flickering on the edges of his mind. But now, nothing was stopping Leo from giving over his entire brain to the bronze automaton.

But first, he had to hear what Cabin Nine’s plans were—so that Leo could either avoid them, or steal them.

Nyssa stepped up beside Chiron, followed by her siblings. Harley was there of course, followed by two more half-bloods that Leo had never learned the names of. And every single one of them looked terrible . 

Their expressions were a mixture of sorrow, frustration, and exhaustion. Their faces were smudged with soot and oil, and they all had at least one scrape or cut on their withdrawn faces.

“We have a plan,” Nyssa began, sharing a painful look with her siblings. “It’s a lethal attack. We have put all our effort into fixing the bronze dragon, and Jake paid the price. We won’t make the same mistake again.”

Leo’s blood ran cold, the chilly fear working against his usually elevated body temperature. They were going to kill the automaton?! The most incredible creation Leo had seen at camp—albeit at a distance, but he could imagine how awesome it would be when he finally saw it up close—and the pet of their past Cabin Head, Beckendorf?! 

But all of Leo’s indignation died as Nyssa began laying out the plan. Her eyes were filled with sadness as she described the large metal traps laced with motor oil and tabasco sauce, and Leo could’ve sworn he saw unshed tears shimmering in her eyes as she outlined the plan to destroy the dragon using wire cutters and blow torches.

The Hephaestus campers didn’t want to kill the bronze dragon anymore than Leo did, but they were out of options. In their mind, there was no other choice.

And that’s where I come in.

Leo was the hidden option, the choice that no one—including himself—would ever pick. But if he wanted to prove to his fellow campers, to his father, that he was worth the trouble his fire caused, then he needed to do this.

The only things standing in between Leo and his goal were the daytime, and Annabeth’s piercing gray stare. He could feel her silver eyes burrowing beneath his flesh, picking apart his every thought, from where she was sitting beside her brother.

Leo had known that she could tell what he was planning, but what he didn’t know was if she would do anything about it. Annabeth seemed like the type to watch things unfold, unless she thought there was a very good reason to involve herself.

Leo only hoped that when she looked for that reason, she found nothing. Leo was the only fireproof demigod at camp, and if anyone else went looking for the dragon, it would mean certain death.

He remembered with a pang the earnest expressions on the Stoll’s faces, when they promised to help him.

I’m sorry, Leo thought, but this is my way to prove myself. I know it.

The Hephaestus campers had finished their report, Chiron dismissing everyone to eat their lunch in peace, but as the other demigods stood up to fill their plates, Leo slipped out of the Dining Pavilion.

Food could wait, because right now, he had to make a plan.

Leo had a bronze dragon to catch.

Notes:

What did you think? I personally think that this is one of my favorites!

Hopefully you all liked it to, and I'd love to talk about any theories or thoughts with you in the comments!!

Also, I've got a tumblr for the fic, so feel free to check that out if you want chapter or art sneak peaks!!!

See you next week, where Leo and our favorite dragon finally meet :)

Chapter 10: "Dragon Tamer"

Summary:

Leo just wants to hug an adorable thirty-foot long, fire-breathing, satyr-eating bronze dragon; can't anyone see that?

Notes:

Hello everyone!! This is my longest chapter yet, it just wouldn't end, and I didn't want it to lol!!!

Also, there's *ART!!* In THIS chapter!! So YAYYY!!!

And we reached 100 KUDUS!!!! Thanks to everyone who Kudo'd, I really appreciate y'all!!! I am so grateful for every kudo, bookmark, and comment, and I'll always reply to comments!!!

In all honesty, Leo had not registered a word of the Stoll’s newest plan.

He was slumped at the table with them for dinner after frantically cabin-cleaning to ‘prepare’ for cabin inspections tomorrow morning; but as Travis had shoved his socks under the mattress and Cecil stared hopelessly at the clothes littering his bed, Leo’s mind had been occupied with flashes of bronze and sparking flames.

During lunch yesterday, Leo had slipped into the forges while everyone else was eating, hoping for clues on the bronze dragon’s whereabouts. And boy, had he gotten lucky. The Hephaestus campers had erected a massive map over an entire wall of the forge, complete with dragon sightings, trap sites, and all the monstrous parts of the forest to avoid.

Leo had scrambled to copy the entire thing, his scribbling strokes slightly unsteady, but clear enough for morning-Leo to decipher the meaning. And then he had rushed to the Hermes cabin, slipped the copy of the map into his battle-worn backpack, and did it all with enough time to walk with the Hermes campers to their after-lunch activity.

It had been archery, and Leo was extremely distracted the entire time. He wasn’t even going to pretend that the activity had gone well. It wasn’t that he was a bad aim, it just took a ton of force to draw back the arrow, and Leo was built for speed, not strength.

So Leo had come close to shooting every single person at archery at least once, and needless to say, he and the other campers were very happy when the class finally ended. Chiron had pulled him aside, his eyes graver and his expression more earnest than Leo thought strictly necessary. Chiron had given him the whole, “different demigods have different skills,” talk, and Leo had fled the scene the moment the centaur’s speech ended.

Leo had been kept busy the entire rest of the day, and had very little time for planning. He had wanted to go searching for the dragon that night, but the campfire went long and there were no opportunities for him to slip away before the harpies came out.

So now Leo was anxiously waiting for the end of dinner, desperately hoping that no one would catch onto his twitchy demeanor, and praying to the gods that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself trying to catch a thirty-foot long metal dragon.

He’d already scarfed down his dinner and was now watching impatiently for the moment he could escape into the night. 

“Leo, are you even listening?” Connor asked in exasperation, jabbing Leo repeatedly in the shoulder with the tail-end of his fork. “We need your mechanical skills to make this prank work!”

“Uh, yeah,” Leo replied half-heartedly, distracted as he caught the drifting words of “trap set off” and “dragon” from the Hephaestus table.

“I’ll be right back, I’m just gonna burn my leftovers,” Leo said, standing up from his seat and not giving a vaguely-annoyed looking Connor the time to respond.

Leo tried to step as slowly as possible without obviously eavesdropping as he passed by Table Nine, and he kept his eyes locked on the brazier, however much his gaze wanted to focus on the talking campers.

“-ere shreds of torn bronze and oil in the trap,” one of the Hephaestus kids Leo didn’t know was saying, and Leo almost dropped his plate. “The trap wasn’t meant to damage it, but the dragon fought its way out and mangled itself in the process,” the camper said, his voice regretful and choked with sadness.

That’s it, I can’t wait any longer, Leo thought, his heart rate increasing at the camper’s remorse-filled words. I’m going tonight, before he can get any more injured.

If even the demigods who had set the traps were distressed, then there was no way Leo fixing the dragon could have a negative fallout—especially if the camp found out after the fact. Maybe it would even be what he needed to finally win over the Hephaestus campers.

“Can you tell where the scraps of bronze originated from?” Nyssa asked, her voice deliberately hard. “We need to know if it will make catching the automaton easier.”

Leo finally made it to the bonfire in the center of the Mess Hall, and he took his time scraping the leftovers into the flame, trying to nonchalantly glance in the Hephaestus Table’s direction now that he was out of their direct eyesight. He saw the kid who had spoken swallow thickly, his eyes trying to shed their regretful look and gain a determined one, the way Nyssa’s did, but he wasn’t nearly as good. Leo could still see the pain.

“Y-yeah, we think it was his front-right leg. Harley recognized the welding from when he repaired it early this year.”

Leo subtly—well, hopefully subtly—shifted his focus to Harley, and instantly felt like a bullet had just pierced his heart. The eight-year-old’s eyes were downcast, his hands unmoving in his lap, and his expression holding more sorrow than any child’s ever should.

In that moment, Leo knew that if there was no other reason to save the bronze dragon, then he would do it just to cleanse the sadness from Harley’s eyes.

But right now, Leo’s lingering was shifting to loitering , and he had to get back to his own table before anyone became suspicious of him eavesdropping. 

Well, anyone other than Annabeth. 

The daughter of Athena was anything but subtle, and he had felt her piercing gray gaze the moment he stood up from the Hermes Table. Annabeth hadn’t confronted him yet, and Leo only hoped that he could enact his plan before she ever got the chance. But she had still found another way to involve herself from afar.

During training that morning, Percy had made Leo focus on evasive maneuvers and using his fire as defense rather than offense, and Leo was one-hundred percent sure that it was Annabeth’s doing. Leo had absolutely no idea how to feel about it, other than anxious.

The daughter of Athena could see right through him, and Leo hated not knowing what she would do with her findings. But all Leo had to do was make it through the campfire sing-along, and then he would be home-free.

 

---

 

Why had Travis decided that every song known to man had to be sung at this particular campfire?! The sing-along went on, and on, and on , and Leo had stood impatiently beside the benches, waiting for the moment it ended. It's not that he disliked the nightly activity—listening to the Stolls and Percy karaoke at the top of their lungs was pretty entertaining—but this time, Leo actually had something to do after.

A map, a hike through the woods, and a fire-breathing automaton were waiting for him. It all seemed like real hero stuff, like something Percy or Annabeth had done, and Leo found himself wondering why he thought he could do it.

Leo was just a twelve-year-old orphan from Texas, who—just over a week ago—had no family, no friends, and no will to live. And now he was at a camp of experienced demigods who had gone through war , and Leo thought that he could actually do something to deserve a place beside them.

Honestly, it was all a little silly. And yet, Leo knew—the same way he knew that Firebug would lead him to where he belonged—that this was a challenge for him to overcome alone. He just had to make it through Percy’s ironic rendition of “Into the Unknown,” Frozen Two, first.

And then finally, mercifully, the campfire’s flames faded from a boisterous blue to a quiet orange, and the campers began to head back to their cabins.

As the Hermes group walked along the shadowed path, Connor and Travis teased Cecil about his barely-concealed awe at Lou Ellen’s voice during the sing-along, and Leo made a comment here or there before the conversation could lull. He just had to get them back to the cabin and asleep in their bunks before curfew stuck, and then Leo could slip out. The stupid harpies had kept him from searching for the bronze dragon last night, but now he knew what time they came out so he could avoid them.

As soon as they reached the cabin, Leo pushed open the door, kicked off his shoes, and crawled beneath the covers, muttering something about being “tired from training,” and hoping that the others would follow his lead. Thankfully, he heard the sounds of shuffling cloth and shoes thrown onto the wooden floors. Leo faced the wall and waited as the time ticked by, struggling to restrain fidgeting that would give away his wakefulness.

There were only about thirty minutes for him to reach the woods before curfew struck, according to the old hand-clock on the wall. Now that he thought about it, Leo really needed to make an actual watch, fit with traps, and—ooh, maybe mini vials of poison or other scary Greek liquids! He’d have to ask the Hecate campers for help, or maybe a creepy underworld half-blood, since he could recall the existence of underworld rivers. Were there any creepy underworld half-bloods at camp? Leo hadn’t met any, but he thought he’d heard the name of one mentioned. Nick? Napoleon? Nicholas? 

Oh, everyone’s asleep. For once in my life, you were actually useful, ADHD brain.

Leo mentally thanked past-Leo for making the wise choice of accepting bottom-bunk, and he carefully lifted the covers off of himself, sat up slowly on the bed, and prayed to the absent-in-his-life-gods that the mattress coils wouldn’t squeak.

Thankfully, no squeaking occurred, and he was able to stand up, first stooping to grab his army boots. He knew from experience that carrying them was the best strategy to avoid excess noise, and he also grabbed his backpack and hefted it over his shoulder.

The map copy inside crinkled noisily and Leo froze, watching as Connor shifted in his bed, and Leo was instantly reminded of all the other times he had run away. Usually, it was for much less fun reasons than dragon hunting, and Leo had to stifle his own laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Luckily, Connor just settled back into his blankets, and Leo continued his arduous journey of tip-toeing across the cabin’s plain wood floors. He reached the door and delicately twisted the knob, treating it like the red and blue wires of a bomb.

He slipped out the crack, shutting the door gently behind him, and then quickly snuck around the back of the cabin and into the forest beyond. As soon as he was out of the open, Leo straightened, shutting his eyelids and breathing in the cool night air. 

Finally, Leo thought. Now the fun really starts.

Leo opened his eyes again to take in his surroundings. The moon was shaped like a mini-pizza with a bite-mark, but its bright rays did little to cut through the forest’s shadows. Ever since Travis had casually mentioned that the camp stocked the woods with monsters—AFTER Leo already explored them—Leo had been wary of the forest, and yet here he was, willingly venturing into the depths. 

He headed northwest, to the farthest corner of the forest. His only reasoning? It seemed the scariest. He pushed through the undergrowth, flinching at every little noise—which he would not admit to under the pain of torture—and eventually found a small clearing that was far enough away from camp to pull out his map.

This whole experience reminded Leo far too much of running away from past foster homes, but he did his very best to shove the thoughts to the back of his head. Emotions and feelings weren’t useful in this moment; he had to think like a machine to find a machine.

The bronze dragon may have been made of metal and gears and wires, but it wasn’t what a machine was built from that made it so different. Physically, people functioned in a similar way. They had inner parts that made their bodies work, the same as machines—just replace motors with muscles, gears for a gastrointestinal system, and hinges for a heart. 

What really made the difference was the emotions. Machines had one job, and as long as they completed that job, their purpose was served. They were useful, needed, valued. Anything broken could be repaired with a quick cleaning or a welding job. 

Humans weren’t so easy.

A physical break could take months to heal, and a mental break might never heal. Leo remembered the days by his mom’s side, as she raised him with every moral and honest nature that she possessed. Leo’s mom had built him, using her own organic material and brilliant brain, and every good part of him came from her.

And then there had been Tia Callida, and Tia Rosa, and the fire, and foster care, and the streets, and an endless list of cruelties that never would have bothered Leo if he were a machine—that may have broken Leo, but at least all he’d need was a screwdriver to put everything back the way it should be.

Ha, that was kind of funny, wasn’t it? Leo had a metaphorical screw loose, and yet all he wanted was for it to be literal—for the solution to be as simple as tightening the bolt. But right now, Leo didn’t have time to figure out what the metaphorical embodiment of a Phillip’s Head was. Thoughts of what had happened before the fire, what had happened after , would only lessen his effectiveness—the way it always did when he dwelled on thoughts for too long; stuck in one place for too long.

Leo needed to keep moving, but first, he had to make a plan.

He found a flat stone in the clearing and laid the map across it, smoothing out the surface. It was too dark to see clearly, but that wasn’t a problem for The Human Flamethrower; all he had to do was imagine his hair on fire, and the strands went up in flames, casting flickering orange light across the parchment paper.

Several traps were interspersed throughout the forest, but Leo’s eyes were caught by the rough red lines that X’d out one of them. It was even deeper into the woods than he was now, at the furthest corner of the forest.

That must’ve been where the trap was triggered, Leo realized. It’s as good a place to start as any.

Leo folded the map, shoved it into his backpack, and lit a small fire in the palm of his hand to light his way through the dark woods. As he picked his way through the underbrush, Leo watched for every movement or flash of color, every twig snapping or bush rustling, but at the moment, all was silent.

Leo considered calling out “here draggy-dragon!” But if he did that, the wild automaton would probably just eat him. Instead, he let his mind race through the endless outcomes of his trek through the forest.

If the bronze dragon was gravely injured and curled up in a hollow somewhere, then fixing the control disk would be easy, but Leo would have to spend a ton of time repairing the automaton before he could show him to camp. His mom taught him better than to leave a project half-finished.

“You never truly know the outcome until you put in the elbow-grease to find it,” she had said cheekily, ruffling his hair as he giggled beside her, his standing height only reaching her sitting-waist. It was strange to think that he’d probably reach her sitting-chin now—but Leo didn’t have time to dwell on what-ifs.

He couldn’t bring the dragon to camp unless there was no fault in its structure; inside and out. That would give him the best chance of being seen as a liberator rather than a lunatic.

If the bronze dragon was only slightly injured in the front-right leg like the Hephaestus Campers thought, then fixing the control disk might be slightly more complicated, but at least the automaton would take less work overall.

There was just no way of telling until the dragon was right in front of him.

Leo stepped out of the cover of trees and into a semi-clearing—he said semi, because half of it was cut off by a craggly cliff-face. The stone was staggered with plenty of foot-holds, rising about seventy-five feet in the air, and randomly-placed sparse-saplings clung to the sloping surface.

Leo was just thinking about how much climbing the cliff would absolutely suck, when he heard the squeaking of metal-grinding-on-metal behind him.

He immediately froze, and then slowly turned around, hoping that massive teeth would not bite off his head the moment he did. Thankfully, the only thing that occurred was a torrent of red-hot flames pouring over his skin.

The flames died, and Leo was left with nothing more in between himself and the object of his thoughts for the past three days.

The dragon was impressive, his scales formed by overlapping plates of bronze, and his eyes glowing a fiery orange that lit up the clearing like flashlights. The automaton’s claws were long and wickedly sharp, except for the injured talon, which was twisted and mangled like it had gone through a meat-grinder. 

The bronze dragon’s head was tilted at a curious angle like he didn’t quite understand why Leo wasn’t a crispy Valdezi-nugget, and his teeth rotated with a whirring sound before settling. The automaton had spikes going down his back that were probably supposed to be intimidating, but Leo just thought they looked adorable. And the dragon was huge, about thirty feet long from the tip of his nose to the end of his lashing tail. Leo had already known that, but visually seeing the numbers in front of him was very different from clocking them in his head.

Most sane people would have taken one look at the menacing automaton, made note of his sharp teeth, long claws, towering height, and then run in the opposite direction. But Leo approached slowly, stretching out his hand as if to touch the dragon, and thought he looked…

“Beautiful,” Leo breathed, completely ignoring his smoking clothes as he took in the majestic machine in front of him. The bronze dragon straightened his head like a confused puppy at the sound, and Leo immediately wanted to run up and hug the automaton.

Unfortunately, however adorable the dragon may or may not have been, it still had a damaged control disk and a mind that wasn’t entirely functional.

Leo barely had time to snatch back his hand as the automaton snapped at it, and Leo finally realized just how difficult this repair job was going to be. The dragon bared its teeth aggressively, holding his injured talon in the air, and released a low mechanical growl.

Leo had made a point to memorize the locations of all the traps Cabin Nine had set in case he needed to use them, and it appeared that his time had not been wasted. 

He dodged to the side as the dragon sprung, and barely avoided the swiping left-talon as the dragon barreled into a tree behind where Leo had been. The dragon recovered quickly, and Leo sped off into the woods, taunting the automaton over his shoulder.

“Ooh, that’s gotta hurt! If we just talk about this, I can fix what’s messing up your depth-perception!” Leo shouted as he ducked beneath a low-hanging branch, haring off in his mental-map’s directions to the nearest trap.

The dragon changed direction, charging after Leo, and slipping between the trees with far more grace than Leo was comfortable with. Mr. Bronze-face had just kissed a tree, and had already fully reclaimed his coordinance? If this was the dragon with an injured talon and rusty-brain, then just how awesome would it be completely fixed? Leo fully intended to find out.

“Just a little farther, big guy- wait, do you have audio processors? Can you understand me?” Leo wondered, nearly stopping in his tracks at the thought, and then a nearby roar reminded him of the fifteen-ton dragon barreling after him. “Alright, alright, I GET it; not the time!”

According to Leo’s mental calculations—which only had about a thirty-seven percent chance of being accurate—the chase was now nearing the dragon trap. Leo had done his best to memorize the blueprints he found in the Hephaestus forge, but he had been kind of short on time.

The traps were basic in idea; a thin yet near-indestructible bronze net, a weighted pressure plate, and a large vat of motor oil and tabasco sauce in the center. But Leo had taken an entire minute of his map-thieving time to fully study the schematics, and he knew that it was a little more complicated than that.

The net itself was made not only of bronze, but had been fused with a mixture of various refractory-metals, making it nearly impossible to melt. The edges of the net had been magically synthesized by reinforced magnets—Leo really needed to ask the Hecate campers for mystical-incantation tips—so that once the trap was sprung, the net would close with no chance of escape. The pressure plate could only be triggered by a weight over fifteen-thousand, three-hundred and thirty-two pounds, so Leo needed the dragon to actually step on the metal disk. A well-aimed stick would, sadly, not do the trick.

A flash of gold grabbed Leo’s attention, and here we go .

“Yo! Metal-face! Bet you can’t burn me!” Leo taunted, running right over the pressure plate and to the other side of the trap. “Yeah, that’s right, I said it! Your fire’s puny!”

The dragon had hesitated at the edge of the clearing, but upon hearing the insult, released a loud roar and charged Leo. Amazingly, everything went completely to plan: the dragon’s front claws hit the plate dead-center, the glowing flames building in the automaton’s throat were cut off, and the net closed over the top of the dragon’s head—completely covering every inch of bronze.

Everything went completely to plan, except for the fact that Leo had not actually cleared the net’s border. The trap sprung close, and he was smashed into a Leo-pancake against the bronze dragon’s hide.

“Agh, no! Dude, your tail’s in my face, shove over! Owowow, stop moving !” Leo’s arm was pressed into the mangled fore-leg of the automaton, and every time the dragon shifted, the jagged edges cut into his skin. “I can get us out if we work together! Or, really, if you just stay there, chill and let me work!”

Incredibly, the dragon listened—apparently being stuck in an inescapable giant metal trap was a pretty good way to relax. The dragon quit struggling, and Leo carefully extracted his arm from the sharp edges, trying to figure out his next steps. His arm was slathered in blood, but thankfully, all the cuts were fairly shallow; they would be safe to ignore until Leo was out of the woods—literally and metaphorically.

The dragon was watching Leo with an interested light in his shining ruby eyes, like he was curious to see what Leo would do. He tilted his head, and Leo caught sight of a shadowed outline on the dragon’s neck, like a hatch—or a control panel .

“Okay, I know how to fix you, but you’re gonna have to work with me here,” Leo said, desperately hoping the dragon couldn’t understand tone of voice. It would not be a good look if the automaton could hear how doubtful Leo sounded. “Just, stay still, and let me get to your neck.”

A lot of awkward maneuvering and cramped spaces later, and Leo was staring at the open control panel of the bronze dragon. To an inexperienced eye, the inside just looked like a mess of wires and bronze, but Leo could tell exactly where each wire led and what it controlled. And he also knew that fixing the dragon was going to take a ton more work than he had hoped.

The control disk tucked neatly into the open compartment was not only rusted, but corroding. That made things slightly more complicated. If it had just been rusted, then all Leo needed to do was a quick cleaning and all would be well. Instead, with the amount of degradation, the control disk would not last much longer at all. Leo gave it maybe another few months, and then it would break down completely.

Which meant that Leo needed to start work on an entirely new artificial-intelligence component, and that would take ages to make. But for now, a quick polishing would have to do.

Leo pulled a washrag and vinegar he’d stolen from the camp’s kitchen out of his backpack, and got to work. It didn’t take long, and after a couple minutes, Leo was holding a squeaky-clean control disk in greasy, oil-smudged hands.

“Dirty hands, clean equipment,” said the echo of his mother’s voice. 

Yeah, I really need a nap, Leo thought, shaking his head to clear it, and trying to think of a way out of the net. He placed the control disk back in its place and closed the panel, watching as the bronze dragon’s eyes lit up and his system rebooted.

“Any ideas on how to get us out of here, now that you’re thinking a little clearer?”

The dragon clicked and creaked slowly in response, the sound emanating like a growl from the dragon’s throat. Something about the sound was recognizable, though, like a pattern…

“Hold on, can you repeat what you just did?” Leo asked sharply, straining his ears and counting the measures in between each sound.

[ -... ..- - - --- -. / --- -. / -. . -.-. -.- ]

Sure enough, when Leo ran his hands over the ridged length of the bronze dragon’s neck, his hands caught on a protrusion that gave way slightly under pressure. A button.

So, one, the automaton could speak in morse code, and, two, the automaton had a very suspicious button lying innocently on its neck.

“And you’re sure this isn’t a self-destruct button?” Leo questioned warily, eyeing the button like it was a loaded gun.

The dragon just watched him as if saying; “only one way to find out,” and Leo exhaled, making a snap decision before he could change his mind.

His finger pressed down on the button, and the bronze dragon’s entire body trembled beneath him, like the aftershocks of an earthquake. And then the automaton’s bronze plates began folding in on themselves, collapsing at a quick pace, and Leo slid down the side of the metal as the dragon shrank beneath him.

When it was all over, Leo was sitting awkwardly crouched under the weight of a massive metal net, completely alone except for a shiny bronze suitcase sitting a few feet away.

“So… that just happened,” Leo stated into the open air, and the suitcase made no response. The outcome did make it easier for Leo to plan a way out of the net, as he would only have to make a small hole. The bronze net itself would be completely impossible to melt, but that didn’t mean that Leo’s fire powers were useless. He happened to know a thing or two about magnets.

While Leo’s mom had been perfecting her drill bit, little Leo had been playing with magnets. That seemed like something any kid would do, but it wasn’t the fun snapping sound of them clicking together that had caught his attention—although that was certainly a part of the allure. Instead, he focused on the physical and chemical components of the lodestone, imagining all the incredible things he could do with them once his mom finally made her mechanical breakthrough.

Then the workshop accident happened, and Leo had no more time to play with magnets. But he still remembered his experiments.

Which is why Leo knew that, while the magnets might not be able to melt, a specific heat known as Curie’s temperature could render their electromagnetic properties useless. During his few moments staring at the Hephaestus Cabin’s schematics, he had taken note of the neodymium magnets used for the trap. 

If Leo could make his fire reach eight-hundred degrees Fahrenheit, then he and the bronze dragon would be free.

Easier said than done .

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed! This is honestly one of my favorite chapters, and I hope you all liked it just as much!

See you next week for the continuation, where Leo finds (well, Festus shows) Bunker Nine!!!

Chapter 11: "The Mechanic"

Summary:

Festus is absolutely adorable and loving and perfect.

Notes:

Hello all! Posted with one hour to spare, I'm AWESOME! Anyway...

This one was so EMOTIONAL. It took me so long because I got TOO sad to keep writing SO MANY times!!!

(Also, the italicized portion is straight from The Lost Hero, so all credit for that goes to Rick Riordan!)

But as always, kudos and comments are EXTREMELY appreciated, and I reply to every comment!!!

See you next Saturday!

Leo army-crawled his way underneath the heavy metal net until he reached the bronze suitcase, and searched for the weakest section of magnets. Unfortunately, he forgot to take into account that Hephaestus campers had created the net, which meant that there were no weak sections.

So instead Leo picked a random stretch between himself and the suitcase, and called heat into his palms. A tingling feeling spread across his skin; it was the only way that Leo could tell he was on fire at all. Because of his control over his own body’s temperature and his fire resistance, it was often very hard to tell just how hot something was after a certain degree.

Cold was easy, because it combated his internal warmth like a virus to a fire wall. But heat was far more difficult; it just added to what was already inside of Leo, and he often couldn’t tell just how hot his surroundings were.

Which is why Leo had absolutely no idea when his fire would reach eight-hundred degrees, and resolved to keep his hands pressed against the metal chain until something gave way.

After a few minutes, he felt the tautness of the net lessening, and then a few minutes after that, the glowing red woven magnets finally released, the net pooling around his body that poked through the gap created. Leo then turned to drag the suitcase through the hole in the trap, but when he began pulling the handle, the suitcase was like a lump of condensed osmium—meaning that it did not budge one- inch. Leo tried pushing, rolling, scrabbling, straining, and cursing the gods, but nothing worked.

Leo stood up straight, panting, and glared at the suitcase like it was the grabby hands of an annoying foster brother who just took the last enchilada. “Hey, dragon, are you still conscious? Can you hear me? Because I need HELP. What have you been eating ?”

Silence, and then a low beeping noise permeated the quiet, originating from an area on the suitcase. Leo leaned over the bronze to get a better look, and saw a little red light flashing beside the handle.

“Okay, I know the last one turned out to be fine, but this one REALLY looks like a self-destruct button.” Of course, the suitcase just sat there innocently, giving no response. “Alright, fine then. Here goes nothing!”

Leo lifted his quivering finger to the button, preparing to jump away if the dragon sprung back to full-size, or exploded. With every muscle tensed, he pressed down, and then nearly had a heart-attack when a sudden Pding! rang through the silence, causing Leo to fall backwards in shock. He then released a long breath when all that happened was little wheels popping out of the bottom of the suitcase.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.”

Leo untangled his legs from the net and grabbed the handle, testing the weight. Remarkably, the suitcase just rolled right along, although it still took an annoying amount of straining. He hauled it to the opening in the net, and then shifted the metal-work hole over the suitcase, so that it was poking through the gap.

“You should be good to turn back now,” Leo breathed heavily, stepping back a few paces so he was out of range. “Or do I need to press another potentially life-threatening button?”

His response came in the expanding of bronze as the suitcase’s metal plates unfolded, growing and shifting until a full-grown dragon was standing in front of Leo once more. The dragon’s ruby red eyes had faded to a warmer orange color, and a low rumble resembling a cat’s purr spilled from his closed mouth. It seemed like Leo’s quick cleaning-job had righted the automaton’s brain, and Leo wasted no time approaching the dragon, a wide grin of accomplishment splitting his face.

Leo placed his hand on the bronze dragon’s snout, and the dragon relaxed into his hold, the warm metal soothing in a way only machines could be.

“I can’t believe that getting you out of that trap was SO much harder than getting you in ,” Leo murmured in exasperation. “You’re like a puppy. An aggravatingly adorable puppy.”

The dragon whirred in agreement, and then Leo frowned at his internal label of the automaton. “Dragon?” Surely attempted murder was grounds to put them on a first name basis?

“Ya know, I never introduced myself,” Leo remarked as he stroked the automaton’s nose. “Leo Valdez, at your service! You’re clearly in need of some repairs, but, sadly, I don’t have a card to give you,” he said, wincing internally at the dragon’s front-right talon, still clutched to his chest. The dragon whirred softly in greeting, and Leo couldn’t keep the smile off his face. 

The automaton was amazing.

“Now you know me, but do you have a name? Did Beckendorf give you one, maybe?” Leo asked, wondering how close the two of them had actually been. But at the mention of the past Head-Camper’s name, the dragon released a low wine, his tail drooping and the spotlights flowing from his eyes dimming.

Leo felt the ache in his heart returning at the reaction. How good of a person did Beckendorf have to be, if even a mechanical dragon felt grief at his passing? And then the sorrow swelled, because Leo realized that he would never get to know the answer.

“You must have really loved him, huh?” Leo whispered softly, his hand pausing its movement and simply resting comfortingly on the dragon’s snout. “I know I’ll never be Beckendorf, but do you think that you and I can be friends?”

The automaton lifted his head, his eyes brightening once more, and he released a soft squeak that was far too cute to have come from such a large creature. Leo felt a surge of joy overtaking the ache in his heart at the positive response, and he wondered if the automaton’s last owner would have approved of their friendship.

Leo might have never met Beckendorf, but the bronze dragon felt like a gift from the son of Hephaestus, left behind just for Leo. Like a remnant of the life Leo never got to see Beckendorf live, a remnant of his happiness.

“How do you feel about the name Festus?”

 

---

 

“Dude, we walked by this cliff literally less than an hour ago,” Leo complained, standing at the base of the rock with Festus by his side. “This would have all been a lot easier if you just showed me then. ”

After Festus had reacted enthusiastically to his new name, the dragon clicked and creaked out a Morse Code sequence, asking Leo to “follow” him. He had then crouched down low, inviting Leo to climb onto his back. But Leo had been distracted by the smooth, unblemished metal of the dragon’s shoulders. Festus had no wings.

  A thought that Leo probably should have had earlier, but he didn’t really have time to process anything while running for his life. The automaton was a wingless-dragon, and yet, Leo could distinctly remember them glinting in warm shades as the dragon dove into the woods three days ago.

“Am I going crazy—well, crazier—or did you have wings before?” Leo pondered in pure confusion, poking the dragon’s shoulders like wings would suddenly become visible.

 Festus had simply whirred in response, clearly realizing that Leo wasn’t going to board the Dragon-Express, and started off in the direction the chase had begun. Leo hurried after him, determined to solve: ‘The Case of the Missing Flappers.’ 

“Well, then where did you leave them? Did you accidentally drop them in the food disposal?” Leo pestered him, and Festus had just continued winding his way through woods—leaving Leo with no choice but to follow—until they ended up back at the start.

The dragon sat back on his haunches, his tail swaying side-to-side beside him like an excited cat, and Leo had to carefully step over the metal limb to avoid falling flat on his face. He thought about taping a paper that said “Caution: Tripping Hazard” to Festus’ tail, but was distracted by the clicking pattern the aforementioned tripping-hazard was emanating.

Two clicks, a creak, another click. Pause. Two clicks. Pause. A click, a creak, a click. Pause. And then one more click. Fire.

“Fire… what?” Leo asked nervously, his body immediately flooding with anxiety—the way it always did when fire was brought up. “All I see is rock.”

Festus stared pointedly ahead at the limestone, and Leo followed the dragon’s flashlight-gaze to a spot on the cliff. It was smoother than the rest, as if it had been repeatedly worn down by water—or fire.

“Sooo, you want me to just… what? Scorch the cliff?” Leo gestured half-heartedly in the direction of rock, beginning to feel like this was a very one-sided conversation, when all Festus responded with was an encouraging creak.

“ Oh -kay then,” He said, stepping up beside the cliff and reaching his hand up, straining to touch the section of rock that Festus was illuminating with his spot-light eyes. The patch was maybe six-feet above the ground—easy for an average-height person to reach, which meant that Leo had to stand on his tippy-toes to press his hand against it.

The fire came easily, already hovering at the surface since Leo had just called it forth to escape the net. His hand heated, the rock glowed a warm red, and then the entire cliff began to shake. 

Leo stumbled back, feeling very unsettled by the amount of unstable surfaces lately, and watched as a circular vault-like door appeared in the stone, hinging open slowly along with the hissing of steam and the grinding of mechanical gears.

Festus instantly sprung to his feet and climbed through the door, his tail swinging back and forth like the excited wagging of a dog who had finally reached home after a long walk. Well, a dog who already had the key, and knew how to use it. The dragon had fire too, and yet he had been content to watch Leo struggle and try to open the secret door.

But any annoyance was quickly drowned out by the excitement of what lay beyond, and Leo wasted no time in following Festus. Darkness greeted Leo as he stepped through the door, and the only light came from the moon behind him, and Festus' eyes shining in front of him.

“Are there light switches anywhere?” Leo asked the two glowing spotlights in the distance. “Or is this more of a dinosaur-ages type place?”

Festus did not respond. Leo was starting to realize that the dragon preserved his Morse Code skills for important information, and apparently Leo not tripping, falling and dying in the pitch black wasn’t good enough.

So Leo felt around the walls beside the door until his hand caught on a large handle-like lever, and he pulled it down with an embarrassing amount of effort.

The loud mechanics of lights powering on filled the cavernous space as, one by one, bright overhead floodlights illuminated the facility, and Leo was face to face with just how incredible the space was.

It was extremely large, about the size of an aircraft hanger, and there were countless work benches, furnaces, scraps of metal, and doors leading off to who-knows-where. Leo wanted to examine each and every inch of the place, but his eyes were drawn to the large over-head banner hanging on the back wall. It read, “Bunker 9.” So, built by Cabin Nine, or were there eight other bunkers?

But before he could follow that train of thought, the sound of tapping distracted him. From a bit further in the bunker, Festus released a soft creak, eyes fixed intently at the ground beneath Leo in what the mechanic could only describe as worry.

“Why are you looking- oh.” A little puddle of red was growing on the limestone under his hand, as small rivulets of blood dripped from his fingertips. In the excitement, Leo had entirely forgotten about his scratched-up arm.

The amount of blood didn’t warrant much concern, but Leo knew that a nasty infection could set in if he didn’t get it bandaged sooner rather than later. Festus whirred in concern, circling behind Leo and using his nose to nudge Leo’s back towards a work-table on the left wall.

The surface was metal, and littered with countless crumpled bits of paper, half-finished projects, and an average-looking worn leather toolbelt. But what stopped Leo in his tracks, was a large blueprint on the wall above the table. Leo’s entire body stilled, his hands freezing at his sides the way they only did when his brain was too full of thoughts to waste energy on movement.

Sketched in great detail on the blueprint was a massive warship, decked out with oars that looked like they could glide through the air, and a dragon masthead. A forcefully-suppressed memory was wrenched to the surface of his brain, and Leo was frozen, staring at the schematics, helpless to do anything but succumb.

The last time she babysat him, Leo was five. She brought him a pack of crayons and a pad of paper. They sat together at the picnic table in the back of the apartment complex, under an old pecan tree. While Tia Callida sang her strange songs, Leo drew a picture of the boat he’d seen in the flames, with colorful sails and rows of oars, a curved stern, and an awesome masthead. When he was almost done, about to sign his name the way he’d learned in kindergarten, a wind snatched the picture away. It flew into the sky and disappeared.

Leo wanted to cry. He’d spent so much time on that picture—but Tia Callida just clucked with disappointment.

“It isn’t time yet, little hero. Someday, you'll have your quest. You'll find your destiny, and your hard journey will finally make sense. But first you must face many sorrows. I regret that, but heroes cannot be shaped any other way.”

Warm metal pressing into the back of Leo’s neck pulled him back to the present, and Leo visibly shook himself, as if that would remove the memories seeping into every surface of his mind, black and inky like crude oil.

Leo immediately averted his eyes from the blueprints, blinking back tears. Dwelling on any memory of his past brought back all the memories of his past—and that was never a good thing. Everything that lay behind Leo was not worth thinking about; he only had the present.

Festus’ nose was still pressed comfortingly into Leo’s skin, and the mechanic allowed himself a moment to close his eyes, force the memories back down, and wipe his expression of anything negative.

“It’s okay, Festus, I promise I’m all good,” Leo assured the dragon, opening his eyes, and spinning around to face him. “Now, why did you drag me over here? Hopefully it wasn’t just for the Boat of Destiny,” Leo added jokingly.

Festus hesitantly shifted his focus from Leo to the table, and gently nudged the toolbelt with his nose. “What, is there a first-aid kit in there?” Leo asked disbelievingly. The thing looked about as old as the bunker itself.

But Festus had proved time and time again that listening to the dragon was worth it, so Leo approached the toolbelt, half-afraid that it would crumble the moment he picked it up. Surprisingly, not only did it remain perfectly intact, but it actually wasn’t as worn-down as Leo originally thought. That look mostly came from the layer of dust coating its surface, which Leo blew away, and then proceeded to break down in a coughing fit.

Festus released a spattering of steam that sounded suspiciously like laughs, and Leo frowned disapprovingly at the automaton. Leo then sighed, and buckled the toolbelt around his waist. He opened the largest pouch, hoping for some sort of wound-care supplies, and was shocked when a very large first aid kit practically appeared in his hand.

Like, so large, that it shouldn’t have been able to fit in the bag. Leo tried to shove the kit back into the pouch, but it was too long for the toolbelt to accommodate, and the top of the first-aid kit stuck out. He glanced incredulously at Festus, and the bronze dragon just clicked in amusement.

“Nuh uh, that can’t be possible,” Leo muttered, reaching back into the toolbelt for something else to test his hypothesis, like a really big hammer.

Sure enough, when he pulled his hand back out, a massive steel hammer came with it. Leo spent the next minute or so picturing different items, and marveling when the toolbelt produced the object. “ How? ”

[-- / .- / --. / .. / -.-.] Magic.

“Gee, thanks. Very helpful,” Leo groaned at the dragon, desperately wanting to understand the mechanics, and refusing to believe that magic didn’t have any. Festus creaked to get his attention, and Leo looked up from the toolbelt, only to see the automaton’s gaze once again fixed on the torn skin of Leo’s arm.

Leo’s heart burned with that same feeling he got whenever Will or Percy fussed over his health—a feeling that was just as warm as it was painful, and he swiftly arranged an unwavering grin on his face, infusing a careless tone into his voice.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it fixed up in no-time!” Leo said cheerfully, and a flash of gold from Festus’ torn up front-leg caught his gaze. “And the same goes for you,” he added in a slightly softer voice.

The first aid kit was tightly closed, so all the bandages were undamaged and sterile. Leo wasted no time in cleaning his wounds and firmly wrapping his arm, because there was an entire BUNKER to explore! And a grand mystery to solve; where were Festus’ wings?

“Okay, now that that’s done, can you PLEASE show me what’s up with your flappers?” Leo begged, poking Festus’ shoulders like the answer could be found through the unblemished bronze.

The automaton released a huff of steam, and led Leo to a strange overhead contraption near the back of the bunker. It was steel-colored and situated about ten feet in the air, with two beams that ended in prongs and connected near the top of the device. Each prong had a sort of metal disk on the inner side, so that they looked like clamps.

“Normally I’m good at this kind of stuff… but I have no clue what I’m looking at right now,” Leo frowned, his head tilted at an angle as he puzzled over the contraption. Was it… a claw machine? But where were the plushies?

Festus circled the device and approached from the back, until he was situated with the clamps hovering over the point where his wings would have joined his back. And then there was a series of creaks and metal grinding against metal in a way that did not sound good, and little hatches on the dragon’s back opened.

Leo watched in stunned awe as wings unfurled from the dragon’s internal structure—but they did so in stops and starts, and all with terrible-uh-oh-it’s-broken noises. Finally, after at least a minute of annoying creaking, the wings were fully out, although a bit lopsided and out-of-shape. And yet, Leo still thought they were magnificent. Wonky and a little twisted, yes, but they had the potential to be incredible .

Festus whirred and tilted his head towards a lever on the wall, similar in design to the one that powered on the lights. Leo pulled it down, and the clamps snapped shut on the base of each wing. A hiss of steam filled the space as the wings detached from Festus, allowing him to slip free, and Leo felt a satisfied smile fall over his face as everything sorted itself out in his mind.

He wasted no time in striding over to the dragon-less wings, running his hands along the metal, and breaking down their structure—both mentally and physically. He had been wondering how the thirty-foot dragon was powered, but the thought that all the energy came from his wings had never crossed his mind until now. And yet, it made perfect sense.

In the base of each wing was a power matrix that functioned like a battery, and like any battery, it had to be recharged. Because the wings were detachable, Festus could leave them to charge while still maintaining bodily function. And if the battery was low, Festus could collapse the wings to preserve energy until he could get back to Bunker Nine.

But no charging could be achieved without opposable thumbs and the ability to pull a lever. Festus had his own fire and could enter the bunker on his own, but without a helping hand—ha, hand —the charging function couldn’t begin.

“Ah man, no wonder your wings are so messed up,” Leo sympathized, examining the inner components that made up the mechanical-embodiment of the dragon’s muscular system. “With how little energy you have left, the signals sent through the transmitter and receiver coils are way too slow. The metal factors aren’t moving fast enough, so your metal has been grinding against itself and wearing down,” Leo explained to the bronze dragon, and then he released a frustrated groan when he thought through the implications of his own verbal processing.

Leo would have to individually examine every fuse box, coil, wire, and bronze component, and sort through what needed to be replaced and what could stay. And then he had to actually repair all the damaged internal parts before the wings would be ready for long-term use, and that would take ages. 

Festus was listening with his head tilted and a warm glow in his eyes, as if saying, “you’ve got it, I trust you,” and all Leo wanted to do was grab the dragon in a massive hug. 

So he did.

The past eight months—well, really, ever since the accident at his mom’s workshop four years ago—everything had been too much, and yet too little. Leo never let himself stop, because if he did, then the memories might catch up to him. But as he threw his arms around the massive bronze dragon, and Festus curled his neck protectively over Leo’s back, he allowed himself a moment to squeeze his eyes shut, and breathe.

Leo figured that most people wouldn’t see the appeal in hugging a massive metal fire-breathing dragon. They’d probably think, “wouldn’t that metal dig into your ribs?” or “that can’t be comfortable—too hot.” 

But Leo thought it was perfect.

He loved the heat. Festus was the perfect temperature, because Leo could still feel it; not too hot, and not too cold. He loved his friends, but their skin felt like ice against his elevated body temperature, their hugs void of the life-warmth that Leo craved. Festus filled a need Leo hadn’t even realized existed.

He loved the metal. It was solid, and it was present, and it was unmovable. If it was dented, then Leo just needed a hammer to make it smooth again. If it was torn, Leo had the heat necessary to weld it back together. People had flesh, and flesh was so much more delicate, fragile . Leo didn’t know how to fix that.

He loved the sounds. The internal creaks and groans from where his ear was pressed against Festus’ chest. The low rumbles that sounded like a cat’s purr emanating from deep within. Leo would never understand why so many people found comfort in another person’s heartbeat. All he could think about was how easily that heart could stop.

“I’m gonna fix you,” Leo whispered against the dragon’s neck. “I won’t let you break this badly again, I promise.” Festus released a soft pattern in response; three clicks, pause. Click, creak, pause. Two creaks, pause. One click, pause. Same.

Leo and Festus were both a little broken, both without any family—their loved one lost to the chaotic and destructive entity that was fire. And yet they both produced those same flames from deep within; they were bonded by the same ghosts that they never wanted to let go of. But even moreso, they would never let go of each other.

“For Beckendorf,” Leo added quietly.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed!

I absolutely love all thoughts, theories, and suggestions you have for me! I always reply as thoroughly as I can!

I have a tumblr for chapter excerpts, art sneak peaks, and ridiculous Leo/PJO memes!!!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lynxiah

See you next week, and here's a little teaser for an upcoming art piece: it's of Leo AND Nico 👀

Chapter 12: "The Spark?"

Summary:

Aquaboy forces the Camp’s-Resident-Arsonist and Batman's-Emo-Wannabe to get along.

Notes:

Hey, all!!! Sorry this one took an extra week, I wanted to capture Nico's personality in this specific moment of time, and since he changes so much throughout the books, it took some thought!

But I'll be back to regular weekly updates every Saturday, and I think it's only going to get better :)

Thanks for all the kudus and comments and bookmarks so far, I am SO SO grateful for all the support!!!! And of course, I reply to every comment :D

When Leo entered the woods, he’d barely thought he would make it out alive, let alone with a (mostly) functioning dragon, AND an entire abandoned workroom-hanger all to himself. Bunker Nine was an unexpected discovery, but Leo was honestly relieved to have a work-shop area of his own, where he was free to create with nearly-unlimited supplies and tools at his disposal.

Ever since he had visited the camp forge filled with everything Leo had ever wanted to get his hands on, he desperately wished that the Hephaestus campers would let him use the space, or even just watch them work. But it had yet to happen, and with Jake’s injuries, there was too much on their mind to focus on one lonely mechanic. Until that changed, Leo was happy to have the bunker—mostly because Leo would have a TON of trouble sneaking a thirty foot dragon into Cabin Nine’s forge.

Festus was taking a lot more work than Leo had hoped, which meant many nights spent toiling away in the hanger, and many days of carefully avoiding the dragon topic around Will and Percy. The two honorary Leo-Wranglers had yet to discover his midnight trips, and due to the morning check-ups being switched to weekly, Will didn’t have a daily designated time to question Leo. Luckily, it could have only been a couple days, and the next infirmary meeting was-

OH. No. I have a check-up with Will in the morning, Leo groaned internally, because HOW had the time been snatched up and carted away so fast?! Plus, there’s the unexplained injury on my arm, and no WAY Will is gonna just let that go. Yep, this’ll be great.

Leo supposed that things were due to become complicated again, because what Leo now realized had been the past five days, were, for the most part, uneventful. 

Leo woke up, ate breakfast, trained with Percy, ate lunch, and then metaphorically cried over whatever new torture Chiron had planned as a cabin activity. For his afternoon chore, he had been delegated the fun job of scrubbing dishes with lava soap—”You’re fire-proof, it’s the perfect chore for you!” “But Chiron, my elbows are still sore from training. ”—despite how much he’d rather help the Hephaestus kids with repairing training equipment.

But when Leo had voiced that request to Chiron, the centaur had responded with a regretful, “I’m afraid the fates would not approve,” which Leo thought was far too grave of a response to the subject of chores .

After destroying his soft tinkerer’s hands with callouses, Leo would have an hour of free-time to create and conceptualize Festus’ repairs—that is, if he could avoid being roped into a prank with the Hermes cabin. That wasn’t to say Leo disliked the hilarious schemes the Stolls concocted, but the atmosphere of camp had shifted, and it didn’t feel light-hearted enough for pranks anymore. Percy, Annabeth, Will, and Chiron, all seemed to be mentally preparing for the worst.

Percy had switched most of Leo’s training to offense—and Leo knew for a fact that he didn’t make that decision without Annabeth’s input—Will had been needling Leo about his health even more, and Chiron never lost that sorrowful glaze in his eyes at their every interaction.

It was like they could all sense that something was brewing, and that something was drawing closer with every day that passed. Leo had never forgotten his confrontation with Percy during the final stretch of his tour, when the son of Poseidon had confirmed the existence of knowledge that Leo wasn’t allowed to know.

Percy had said, “I’ll explain everything later,” but was it later yet? How much longer would Leo have to wait until all the components clicked into place? Until the final part was inserted, and the machine ran smoothly? And the most frustrating thing of all for a person who wanted to dive head-first into fixing everything, was that all Leo could do, was wait.

Leo was sure he would have gone crazy, if not for the fact that the nights were a whole different story. The past several evenings, Leo had snuck out after every campfire, trekked his way through the woods, and joined Festus in Bunker Nine.

Leo really thought that it would only take a few days to get Festus back in tip-top shape, but here he was, four days later, completely exhausted from sleep deprivation, and with an insurmountable amount of work ahead of him.

After many sleepless nights and trips to the kitchen for coffee, Leo had successfully managed to repair the internal workings of Festus’ talon, and smooth over the jagged edges of the leg. He remembered the conversation he had overheard at the Hephaestus table, and hoped that Harley would approve of Leo’s welding job. 

He had started work on the wings, but they were far more complicated than Festus’ foreleg. Early that morning, Leo had finally finished checking over each part in the right wing for damage, but he still had a whole other wing he hadn’t even touched yet. But now it was dinner, and to distract himself from thoughts of a certain bronze-buddy, Leo was people watching.

The Stolls were late, something about “replacing all the missing mines around the Ares cabin,” which meant that Cecil and his limited knowledge of firepower were missing from the Dining Pavilion too. Leo felt kind of bad about that, since he could have replaced those mines in under five minutes—he had to take the time to dig over twenty holes into account, or else he could have done it in one—but while the Stolls had been pranking, he had been planning.

So now Leo was sitting alone at the Hermes table, and straining his ears for any word of Festus from Table Nine. So far, it seemed like the Hephaestus campers just assumed that the dragon was hiding and licking his metaphorical wounds, and Leo felt a surge of satisfaction. Festus’ talon was in tip-top shape, and the only reason he hadn’t made his reappearance, was because the bronze dragon was about to show up with fully repaired and magnificent wings!

And that’s when Leo felt the oh-no-someone’s-looking-at-me tingle on the back of his neck, and sure enough, when Leo swiveled his head, his eyes met the near-black ones of a boy a couple tables away from him.

The boy immediately scowled and looked away, so Leo decided to take his turn staring. If the kid already had a problem with Leo, then Leo was happy to be as obnoxious as possible. He was about one or two years older than Leo, with black hair, pale skin, and black clothes. He was facing half-away from Leo now, picking at his plate and fidgeting with something on his finger, so Leo couldn’t see anything else about his appearance.

The boy seemed lonely, but he had also been staring quite rudely at the back of Leo’s head, so conversation didn’t feel particularly enticing. But as Leo was contemplating being a decent human being or ignoring the whole situation entirely, Percy and Annabeth approached the dark-wood table, and sat across from the kid. 

Leo audibly breathed out a sigh of relief—because no-awkward-social-interaction was always preferable over awkward-social-interaction—and turned back to the open notebook beside him. It was filled with various notes, math equations, and diagrams that Travis would have turned into a spit-wad the second he laid eyes on them. Which, fair, Leo probably would have done the same if this wasn’t for Festus. Staring at words for any extended period of time was difficult, but he was slowly switching to Ancient Greek, the language all demigod-brains were hardwired to.

Like the majority of other half-bloods, Leo had severe ADHD and dyslexia. For him, that meant the moment an idea came to him, he had to write it down before an internal debate about whether elemental-compounds could change the color of his fire would make him forget the idea forever.

As Leo’s tired eyes stared down a note outlining a problem that needed troubleshooting, a new design for a celestial-bronze energy adapter popped into his head, so Leo set his pen to paper, jotting down the details before something distracted him and they were eternally lost. 

Leo was so focused, that he didn’t notice a certain son of Poseidon approaching him until a hand settled on his shoulder, causing him to jump and scratch a long line across his notebook page. Leo gestured hopelessly at the idea gone forever, and Percy smiled apologetically.

“C’mon man, a little warning would be nice! Didn’t your mom ever tell you to rely on words, not actions?” Leo bemoaned, glaring at the line in his very well written—certainly-not chicken scratch—calculations, as if it would disappear with the force of his will. Why did he have to use a pen?!

“Isn’t that saying usually the other way around?” Percy asked with a frown, but he moved on before Leo could start a very long debate about the logistics of the expression. “Since the rest of the Hermes cabin is still busy, do you want to join us? I want to introduce you to a friend.”

The only friend Percy could be talking about, was the black-clothed boy who had an impolite habit of staring, so Leo wasn’t entirely enthusiastic about this idea. He’d experienced plenty of that at new foster homes, but it didn’t make the situation any less uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he stood up from his spot with a wide smile and grabbed his plate.

“Sure thing, Aquaboy! Lead the way!” And the two of them turned back to what Leo’s weary brain had dubbed; ‘Scary Table.’ The kid’s intense eyes were already on Leo, and Annabeth’s curious eyes were fixed on the kid, and Leo kind of wanted to crawl back into bed. But he set his goblet and food beside Annabeth—the lesser of two evils—and across from Percy and the boy.

“Leo, this is Nico di’ Angelo, and Nico, this is Leo Valdez,” Percy said, a mix of hopefulness and nervousness on his face, as if he was hoping the two would make friends, and yet highly doubted it.

“‘Sup, Nico. This is Supreme Fire Commander Valdez at your service, always ready to save the day by lighting a birthday candle or simmering your under-cooked steak!” Leo joked, mostly to test if Nico was actually as grumpy as he looked. Apparently, he was.

“Nico, son of Hades.” Nico said flatly, looking highly unentertained by Leo's theatrics. Percy winced slightly, and Leo felt a little bad for the guy. Clearly, Aquaboy wanted the Camp’s-Resident-Arsonist and Batman's-Emo-Wannabe to get along. 

Normally, if someone didn’t like Leo, he would just do his best to win them over with jokes and a cheerful nature, until, eventually, they gave in and tolerated him. Or at the very least, decided that beating him up took more effort than leaving him be. But Leo was pretty sure none of his usual fallbacks would work on the flinty son of Hades.

Well, Leo could at least try a little harder to be friendly, if only to please Percy.

“So… how long have you been at camp?” Leo asked awkwardly, his finger tapping a rhythm on the edge of his plate. Percy subtly gave Leo two thumbs up, over-exaggeratedly mouthing, “you’re doing great,” and Leo barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

“Haven’t really been at camp,” Nico replied coolly, and curiously, that caused another near-flinch from Percy, and Annabeth's expression of calculated-interest to crack for barely a moment, and Leo could have sworn some actual emotion leaked through. “But it’s been about three years since I first arrived.”

If possible, Nico’s expression grew even more shadowed, and his eyes fell slightly unfocused, as if he was lost in a moment from the past. And then the next second his face was passive, and his eyes were clear, like he was firmly grounded in the present once more. 

It was categorically true that Leo was terrible at reading people. Sure, he could visually see a change of expression, could hear a shift in tone. But he had no idea what to do with that information. He could tell that Nico was going through something, but it was like staring at a drowning porcupine. A living creature that Leo wanted to save, but if Leo tried to fish it out of the water, all he’d get is a handful of quills.

So Leo just waited for the son of Hades to continue, or ask Leo a question, but Nico remained silent. Percy and Annabeth had both recovered from Nico’s words, and were watching the interaction the way one would a puppy and a kitten meeting for the first time. Would the exchange end in a cuddle-pile, or a messy trip to the clinic? Only one way to find out! 

Okay, Leo was definitely delirious. Whatever, the analogy made sense in his head. 

Currently, Leo and Nico were in the stand-off phase.

What, I have to do all the work in this conversation? At least I have experience, Leo thought with an internal sigh as Nico just sat there, fidgeting with what Leo now saw was a skull ring. At this point, I’d take a generic, “nice weather we’re having.”

Although, to be fair, it was not nice weather, since the camp’s magic border had allowed a little bit of the cold October air to seep in. Leo had triple-layered using a borrowed coat from Cecil that was way too big for him, and yet he still had to suppress shivers and focus on keeping his body temperature elevated. But Nico sat unfeelingly in the cold, seemingly unbothered. 

“So… son of Hades? Can you, like, stare people to death?” Leo asked, only half-joking, too tense to even pick at his plate of food. He had the strange desire to fulfill Percy’s wishes and become friends with Nico, but the reserved half-blood was not making it easy.

“Haven’t really tried.” Nico said, his expression finally forming into something that Leo was familiar with: annoyance. The kid looked like he wanted to experiment, and Leo was his first choice of guinea pig.

“But you can do some other really cool things,” Percy added carefully, studying Nico like he was gauging the son of Hade’s response, before continuing on. “Like shadow-travel, and you really came in clutch a couple months ago.”

That caused a shift in atmosphere. Annabeth’s eyes grew even more emotionless, Percy almost looked like he regretted his words, and Nico… Leo had no idea what Nico was thinking. Just like he had no idea why the three reacted the way they did. Shadow-travel sounded cool, and Percy seemed comfortable with off-handedly mentioning the powers, so it couldn’t be that. Which only left whatever had happened ‘a couple months ago.’

Leo only knew of one other event that occurred around that time frame, and it was Beckendorf’s death . Just thinking about Festus’ past mechanic made emotions swirl beneath Leo’s grin, but he forced his thought-process to move forward. 

All he knew was that the explosion which led Festus to be alone had taken place during a war . Was Percy actually suggesting that not only did the skinny thirteen-year-old across from Leo fight in the war, but he had played a crucial role?

If so, then that shifted Leo’s perspective of Nico drastically. The half-blood had seemed cold, rude, and grumpy, and while Leo wasn’t naive enough to assume there wasn’t more under the surface, he still couldn’t help but think it was a little much. And yes, he recognized the unfairness of the thought, but Leo couldn’t deny that a little backstory did improve his opinion on the son of Hades.

“Shadow-travel?” Leo asked, choosing the lighter topic to expand on. “Are you sure you’re not Batman's secret kid?”

Percy spit out the sip of water he just drunk, choking on his laughter, and Annabeth slapped his back, her mouth curving into a tiny smirk as well. And Nico just stared uncomprehendingly, but Leo caught the tiredness under the blank expression. It was a look that resulted from the weight of too much regret; until it all evened out into exhaustion. It was a look that Leo recognized from his own oil-smudged face reflected in the puddles of a sewer.

He didn’t know Nico, didn’t know the last time his empty expression had broken into a joyful smile. But Leo did know that when it finally happened, he wanted to be the cause. If for no other reason, then because in his hardest moments when everything felt cold and dark, Leo had wished for that spark to brighten his ceaseless night.

He could once again feel the intense gaze of Nico, and Leo glanced up from his hardly-touched plate of annoyingly healthy food items. The son of Hades was watching Leo, his eyes just as unreadable as before while they flicked from Leo’s plate to his face, and then to his finger that had never ceased its tapping.

“Don’t know what Batman is,” Nico said slowly, and Leo wasn’t sure what had changed, and yet it was indisputable that something had. “But I feel like I should be offended.”

“No way, Batman is awesome,” Percy interjected, his eyes twinkling at Nico’s first sentence that was borderline-friendly—or at least not obviously disinterested. “Better than Aquaman, at least,” he joked.

That was Leo’s cue to cut in with a rebuttal, but the entire interaction was becoming a little too much. Looking at Nico was like looking at a past version of himself, one that Leo had wanted to move on from forever, and he kind of hated it. Somehow, the exhaustion from forfeiting sleep in favor of working on Festus had lowered his guard, and it was becoming impossible to pretend.

The eyes on him were too much, the emotions were too much, and everything was too… too overwhelming. Leo wanted the comforting warmth of metal beneath his palm, the soothing clicks he could feel in his chest, the presence that was alive and real, but had no expectations; he wanted Festus.

Leo was up from his seat before he’d even registered his own movement, startling Percy across from him, and causing Annabeth’s critical eye to snap onto his features. Leo probably should have thought through his exit a little more.

“I- just remembered that the Stolls wanted me to help troubleshoot a problem with the Ares Cabin mines,” Leo said, just a little too quickly to be natural. But the lie was believable enough, at least for Percy. Annabeth was another story; Leo didn’t think he could ever tell a lie that she wouldn’t see right through.

“Okay man, I’ll meet you in the infirmary tomorrow before training,” Percy responded obliviously, which Leo was eternally grateful for. The son of Poseidon was made up of limitless loyalty and kindness, but he could also be a tiny bit clueless when it came to emotions. 

This only improved Leo’s view of him.

Nico had remained silent throughout the interaction, and when Leo shifted his eyes, he saw that the son of Hades had fixed his unreadable gaze on Leo’s hands. His shaking hands.

Leo grabbed his notebook from the table to cover the slight trembles, refusing to look in Nico’s direction anymore, and gave Percy a smiling nod before spinning in the other direction and trying his hardest to walk naturally out of the Mess Hall.

Leo’s feet took him in the direction of the woods, his mind completely occupied with a never-ending spiral of thoughts. The past five days had been a lot, that much was true. He’d had only a couple hours of sleep every night to get him through fatiguing training, and the tiredness had lowered his mental fortitude. He hadn’t slipped up that badly since ‘The Lounge Chair Incident.’

Leo passed the cabins, marking the point where he needed to shift his path slightly left, and into the woods. He’d walked this path so often, that the terrible scuttles and flashes in the undergrowth barely scared him anymore. Barely. They were still kind of horrible.

But at that moment, he could ignore them in favor of carefully bundling up every stray emotion, and forcefully shoving them into a metaphorical compartment like they were scraps of fragmented metal. He could make something of them later, after settling into the comforting pattern that was repairing Festus.

“This doesn’t look like the Ares Cabin,” said a voice behind Leo, and if he hadn’t just calmed himself down, he was sure that he and the surrounding ten feet of vegetation would have gone up in flames. Instead, he flinched violently, and spun around to meet eyes with a very satisfied-looking Annabeth.

“Um, ah, no, but… I- needed to collect, wood…?” Leo tried, most of his brain focused on trying to breathe regularly and slowing down his pounding heart. He was still clutching his notebook to his chest, and Leo gripped it even harder, trying to ground himself.

“Did you do it?” The daughter of Athena asked, completely ignoring his poor attempt at an excuse. She was leaning against a tree, looking completely unbothered, but the pure curiosity in Annabeth’s gray eyes gave her away. She may have been the one to corner him in the woods, but Leo was the one with the knowledge, and that was all she was after.

“Do… what?” Leo questioned, trying out a mischievous smirk. The interaction was exactly what he needed to shift his thoughts from drowning in emotions of the past, to something more present. He wasn’t stupid—Annabeth clearly knew what Leo had managed to hide from Percy, Will, and the Stolls, but that didn’t mean he would make the confrontation easy for her. Leo could have a little fun, first.

“Six days ago, the bronze dragon was all you could talk about,” Annabeth stated, her silver eyes bearing into Leo’s brown ones, as she apparently decided to humor Leo. “You haven’t mentioned it once in five days. The automaton hasn’t been seen in that same amount of time. At breakfast five days ago, you carried your plate with your left hand instead of your right. So, clearly, you had an interaction with the dragon. Did you fix it?”

For a moment, Leo just studied her the way she was studying him, trying to gauge what she wanted from him. Annabeth had known Leo would go after the dragon; he was sure of it. She had influenced Percy’s training schedule, she had watched him with a knowing glint in her eyes when his tiredness was at its worst, and he knew that she had seen the equations in his notes, and could actually understand them.

So, what did Annabeth want? She hadn’t given Leo away, hadn’t told Percy what she knew Leo was planning, even though the son of Poseidon had expressed concern over the subject. She had just watched, as the events unfolded.

“Kind of. He’s a work in progress,” Leo answered, careful not to give away too much information, but he wanted to draw a response from Annabeth, some reaction that would help him gain the upper hand in their psychological battle.

But the reaction was not what Leo had expected. Annabeth’s rigid stance fractured, her whole body sagged against the tree, and instead of satisfaction filling her features, he only saw the slightest hint of regret.

“Then I’m sorry,” Annabeth breathed, and boy, could she at least try to be a little more cryptic? “I was hoping I was wrong, that Chiron was wrong, but if you succeeded, then that means the fates hold you in their favor.”

“Personally, I don’t see the problem with being in someone’s favor,” Leo responded wryly, trying to lighten his own mood, but everything was just a little too dark.

“The fates have the world’s best interests at heart; everyone else is just a pawn,” Annabeth replied matter-of-factly, but now that she had let her cold posture crack, Leo could see the nearly-concealed sorrow filling her expression.

“I barely even know what ‘the fates’ are,” Leo sighed, the tiredness flooding back once more. Today had just been too much of everything that he had been doing his best to avoid.

“I can’t tell you more than that, and I can’t interfere with the path they’ve set you on,” Annabeth said, glancing at the sky like it held all the answers she desperately wanted to know, and yet was doing everything in its power to keep them from her.  

 Then her eyes lowered to meet Leo’s, and in that moment, her gray depths were softer than anything Leo had seen from Annabeth so far. “But if you need something, I’ll be here.”

Leo’s mouth was dry. He didn’t know how to respond. Annabeth had been calculating, unreadable, and just about terrifying at times, and yet here she was, offering help, should Leo need it. She seemed to sense his stupefaction, because she gave him a small smile.

“You should know I’m not just a cold-hearted know-it-all. Percy is a good judge of character,” Annabeth added as an afterthought, gazing at Leo like the statement was meant for more than just her.

“Okay,” Leo finally said, his feet not having moved an inch during the entire interaction, but the grip on his notebook relaxed ever-so-slightly.

“And don’t hide that from Will tomorrow,” Annabeth said, gesturing at his arm, and pushing off from the tree. “It’s not wise. You can come up with an excuse, I know you’re smarter than you look.”

“I feel like I should be offended,” Leo replied light-heartedly, masking his befuddlement with a wry grin. “Are you saying I look dumb?”

“I’m saying you look twelve,” Annabeth stated, an emotion flicking over her eyes, something akin to melancholy, or strangely enough, nostalgia. “And if you need advice, I’m not a bad person to come to.”

And then she was gone, just as abruptly as the first day Leo had met her.

Notes:

Confrontation! Awkward social interaction! Everything Leo hates!!! YAY!

But I hope you all enjoyed, even if Leo didn't LOL.

Next chapter should be the one with the Nico and Leo art, unless I get horribly carried away! It's finished and posted in my tumblr now, if you want to see it early <3

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lynxiah

Chapter 13: "Mr. Lost a Fight to a Bush"

Summary:

Leo is brilliant at telling terrible lies, Percy is brilliant at accepting terrible lies with no further questions, and the Stolls are the masters of both.

Notes:

I love this one. It was so fun. Proof is in the fact that this chapter forced me to add the tag, "Adorable Leo Valdez."

Also, I released my first one-shot! It's of Leo, Nico, and Will, is unrelated to this story, but is full of hurt/comfort and all the feels! It's set after HoO, and I wrote it as a character study of the sad parts of Leo. I may or may not have cried while writing. 👀 And thanks to everyone who already checked it out and commented or left kudus!!!

I'm switching updates to every other Saturday, since I can actually guarantee that! This chapter kind of ran away from me (in the best way), so next chapter should be the one with the Nico and Leo fanart!

Everything was NOT fine. In fact, everything was very bad .

Leo had made it back to Bunker Nine late last night after the unexpected and frankly confusing confrontation with Annabeth, and the first couple hours were spent staring at nothing and contemplating his entire existence. And ranting at Festus. There was a lot of that.

Why was Nico the way he was?! Why did his beady-black vulture’s eyes see right into Leo’s soul, and then keep seeing, and then doing nothing ? It was FRUSTRATING. 

And ANNABETH. Leo was particularly annoyed with that whole interaction; “I’m Annabeth, I know everything! Also, the fates love you, which means you’re a pawn and actually just going to have a really tough time!” 

Gee, THANKS. That’s EXACTLY what I wanted to hear right before bedtime.

So, no, Leo was not having a good time.

The sun was just cresting the edge of Half-blood Hill, and he was mentally preparing a reasonable explanation for the scratches on his arm. Leo had spent a lot of time in his mind that night, and very little actually working on Festus, so he didn’t finish quite as much as he’d hoped. That was another reason for his bad mood.

It was almost seven, and Leo really needed to get to the infirmary for his check-up with Will, but watching the sunrise with Festus by his side was probably the best thing to come out of his nights at the bunker.

The massive bronze dragon was lying in the grassy cliff-top of the hanger’s entrance, curled up in a scene that was so adorable, Leo could only compare it to a puppy’s sleepy yawn. The automaton’s front legs were crossed, his chin resting on his talons, and his tail was curled around both the right of his body, and the half-blood next to him.

Leo himself was sitting cross legged beside Festus’ shoulder, leaning against it and watching as the bright morning sunrays dappled the shadowed forest’s floor with spots of yellow.

It was amazing.

Leo wanted to stay in this moment forever, to forget about all the impending doom everyone but him knew about, and to just be , with Festus by his side. But, he had less than twelve minutes to make it back to camp, which was cutting it a little too close.

“Sorry, buddy, but I’ve got to go,” Leo said regretfully, trying his very best to ignore the puppy dog eyes being projected at him. Leo may have been the one leaving, but Festus was the one who had to be cooped up in the bunker all day, waiting for Leo to return.

“I know, I wish I could stay too, but then the others will worry, and then they might find you before we’re ready,” Leo explained, as he did every morning. It was never enough to convince either of them.

Festus released a low rumble as Leo stood up, stretching his arms above his head, and the dragon carefully untangled his limbs, still favoring the one-damaged talon, like his processors hadn’t quite caught up to the fact that it was repaired now. Leo frowned, theorizing that the backup energy receptacles were running low. 

He really needed to get those wings fixed.

 

---

 

“-and that’s what happened,” Leo finished, glancing up at a very disbelieving Percy as Will’s steady, tanned fingers cleaned and bandaged the cuts on his arm with fresh gauze.

“Let me get this straight,” Will said incredulously, taping down the end of the wrap. “You ventured into the woods, alone, at night, past curfew , to pick blackberries, and then the bush fought back ?”

“Yep,” Leo said, popping the ‘P,’ and kicking his legs back and forth on the edge of the infirmary cot. 

He’d arrived two minutes late, and two minutes after that, he was being interrogated by his two guardians-in-everything-but-name. He’d done as Annabeth suggested, and came up with an excuse to explain the injury, but he wasn’t doing it quite as well as she had probably hoped.

“I believe him,” Percy declared, to Will’s disbelieving scoff. “I mean, have you seen the guy? He’s like a four foot six stick-figure. If anyone could lose a fight to a bush, it’d be Leo.”

“Wow,” Leo said, prodding at his now fully wrapped arm, and tensing to hop off the cot. “Really feelin’ the love over here.”

“Before you get distracted and run off,” Will interrupted, packing away the bandages and pulling out a temperature-gauge. “I want to record your vitals now that you’ve been using your demigod-ability regularly.”

“Will,” Percy whined, throwing back his head like a toddler. “We were supposed to be out already! I wanted to see how his fire fairs in colder weather, but at this point, we’ll have to go after breakfast anyway!”

“Yeah, Will!” Leo added, flopping onto his back dramatically and splaying out his arms. “What Aquaman said!”

“You are both ridiculous,” Will replied fondly, although he pointedly ignored their pleading. “It’ll only take a second, sit up, Leo.”

Leo groaned, but obeyed, shifting to a more accessible position, and waiting with minimum fidgeting while the son of Apollo did his doctor-y stuff. 

“Hmm, that’s interesting,” Will muttered, staring at the handheld thermometer like it was a math equation. Percy perked up, paying a little more attention, and Leo just sighed. “Your temperature is one-hundred-and-three-point-seven degrees fahrenheit, which is one-point-six degrees more than it was last week. Do you feel sick at all?”

“No, just regular chills from the cold,” Leo replied unconcerned, and Will hummed in thought.

“You’ve been bundling up a lot lately,” Will commented, staring pointedly at Leo’s thick coat. “Are you sure you’re not any more cold than normal?”

Leo actually considered it for a moment, frowning slightly. He’d always felt chilly weather acutely, but he had also been living on the streets, so there wasn’t much room to think about whether or not it was a regular amount of cold. Then again, since using his powers regularly, there had been a bit of a difference.

“I might be, but it’s kinda hard for me to get a read on temperature,” Leo answered thoughtfully.

“I’ll have to confer with Annabeth,” Will said, tapping a pen against his palm. “But if I had to guess, I’d say that using your powers frequently is causing your resting temperature to increase, which is making the cold feel more potent.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Percy asked with a worried glance at Leo, who rolled his eyes playfully.

“I don’t think so, but I’ll need Leo to continue coming in weekly, so that I can keep an eye on everything,” Will responded, his attention shifted to wiping down any used medical equipment.

“M’kay, so, can we go now?” Leo asked, already hopping off the cot and onto his feet.

“Yes, but don’t do anything strenuous with that arm,” Will warned, causing Leo to sigh theatrically.
“Let’s go!” Percy exclaimed, striding towards the infirmary entrance, and Leo scrambled after him. “We’ll have to do a short test while it’s still cold, and then we can do a longer training session after breakfast.”

“Goody,” Leo groaned.

 

---

 

“Dude, that’s a terrible idea,” Leo stated, staring at Percy like he was a deep-sea angler fish flopping about in a convenience store.

Right after leaving the infirmary, Percy had Leo generate fire with only one layer of clothing to block the chill, aiming to test his capabilities in the cold. Leo had been mildly annoyed at having to remove Cecil’s incredibly comfortable coat, but he had to admit that he was interested too.

The result was curious. Leo found that it was extremely difficult to create a medium-level flame, and could only sustain a weak flicker, or a roaring blaze. It was like there was a barrier between the two, replacing the middle-ground, and once Leo finally broke through, it was incredibly hard to bring the heat back down.

Percy had declared the test a success—meaning that they had enough information to give to Annabeth so that she could figure out what the outcome meant—and the two went to breakfast. That had passed uneventfully, and now they were back in their regular training grounds for a normal session.

And Percy had just proposed something incredibly stupid.

“Trust me, it’ll be fine!” Percy assured him, as if he hadn’t just suggested that Leo throw a fireball at him. “Sparring is a part of training; we were always going to do this at some point.”

Leo was standing awkwardly on a flat stretch of the beach, glaring as Percy dropped into a defensive stance, signaling with a ‘come-at-me’ gesture using his hand. There was absolutely no way Leo was actually doing this. 

Although truthfully, the spar wasn’t really a surprise. Chiron had chosen Percy, the fast-healing son of Poseidon, to train Leo for a reason, but that didn’t mean Leo was any more prepared.

“This doesn’t feel fine,” Leo pressed uneasily, because Percy was really not getting it. “You don’t understand. I can’t promise that I won’t burn you.”

Leo’s gaze fell to a spot of sand between his feet, and his arms wrapped around each other, making him feel even smaller than he was. Why did Percy have to push so hard? Why did Leo have to use his powers in the first place; why couldn’t he just let them smolder beneath the surface, suffocating until all that was left was ash?

Even his own mom had warned him:

" Fire is a tool, like anything else, but it’s more dangerous than most. You don't know your limits .”

And she was right, Leo didn’t know his limits, and he seriously did not want to find out what they were while trying to burn Percy Jackson to a crisp.

A warm palm settled on his uninjured bicep, pulling his gaze to Percy’s, and Leo was surprised by the understanding in their sea-green depths.

“Leo, I get it, I really do,” Percy said earnestly, meeting the fire-user’s eyes steadily. “My ‘gifts’ got me kicked out of every school I’ve ever attended, and for the longest time, I just wanted to forget I was ever a demigod in the first place.”

“Oookay, you’re really not making me feel better about this whole thing,” Leo cut in sarcastically, the intensity of Percy’s stare causing him to fidget uncomfortably. 

“I was getting there, give me a second,” Percy replied exasperatedly. “The point is; I eventually learned to use my water powers, and they’ve saved my life more times than I can count. Learning how to use them was worth it.”

Leo stared at him for a moment, trying to discern the genuineness of the son of Poseidon’s statement, and what he found was annoying . If there was one word that summed up Percy, it was ‘honest.’ So, the son of Poseidon was probably right.

“But, this just doesn’t seem fair,” Leo said doubtfully. “Fire can hurt, water can’t.”

“Bro, you are seriously underestimating my battle skills,” Percy scoffed, spinning his pen between his fingers faster than Leo’s eyes could track—which was really saying something, considering his ADHD. “I’ve been fighting battles for and against the gods since I was twelve. I could beat you in less than ten seconds with no powers. Your fire won’t touch me.”

“Pfft, we’ll see about that,” Leo rebutted, although Percy’s boasting honestly satiated some of his fears. He really, truly , could not handle seeing another blistered section of flesh caused by his own hands.

“Now we’re talking! Let’s get started!” Percy exclaimed, backing up once more from Leo, and standing in a movement-friendly position. 

But then he straightened slightly, tilting his head, like a thought just came to him. “And, hope you don’t mind, but Chiron asked if Nico could watch the training, since he thinks it would be a good idea if he joined a few sessions later.”

NO. BAD. Leo glared at Percy incredulously, I very much so DO mind ! 

Creepy-death-guy had been bothering Leo NON-stop—whether Nico actually knew that or not was another story, but Leo did NOT care—and he really didn’t want the guy to watch Leo fall flat on his face in this stupid spar. 

But it seemed like it was already too late. Sure enough, when he glanced back at the tree-line, there was Nico, leaning against a trunk in the most shadowy part of the forest. Of course .

Leo could never get a read on the dude’s face, but at the moment, he thought it read as something similar to boredom, but with an underlying tone of interest. Mild, mild , interest. He hoped Nico wasn’t trying to decipher Leo’s expression, because he couldn’t even figure out his own attitude towards the son of Hades.

Before yesterday’s horrific dinner, Leo had wanted to avoid Nico as much as possible, then during dinner, he wanted to become friends with the dude, and after dinner, he was back to wishing the two of them would never cross paths again.

Ugh, as if this wasn’t already going to be awful.

“Fine, yup, him being here doesn’t bother me one bit,” Leo lied, mentally preparing himself for the ultimate butt-kicking. He still thought fire versus water was unfair, but he had been kind of bluffing about possessing any form of confidence.

“Alright, we’ll make a better strategy for later practice-fights, but first I want to see how your instincts are without any guidance,” Percy explained, shoving his ballpoint pen back in a pocket. “Whoever knocks the other off their feet first, wins. Powers are allowed.”

Leo nodded, trying his best to copy Percy’s stance, and resolutely refusing to glance back in Nico’s direction. He didn’t need to see anything to know that the son of Hades was judging his pathetic attempt.

Percy smiled encouragingly, apparently waiting for Leo to make the first move.

Fine .

Leo pulled on the embers of flame within, simultaneously pushing down his growing anxiety, and held the newly-created ball of fire in his hands. He knew he should be moving fast, catching Percy off-guard, but he just couldn’t .

It already took all of Leo’s will power to even think about putting his fire anywhere near the son of Poseidon, so actually making an effort to hurt Percy was completely off the table.

Regardless, Leo half-heartedly lobbed the fireball in Percy’s direction, not even trying to hit him anywhere important. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

Before the blaze had even traveled one foot, a sphere of ocean water collided with the flames, exploding with a sizzle, and releasing steam from the reaction. Leo wasn’t even able to see Percy slipping through the vapor, and in the next second, Leo’s legs were swept out from beneath him, causing him to fall flat on his back.

Well, that went exactly as well as I expected , Leo groaned inwardly, staring at the perfectly cheery afternoon-sun above him.

“I hate everything,” Leo declared, his arms and legs splayed out like he was making a snow-angel in the sand. Now the fine particles were in his clothes. Great .

“C’mon, it wasn’t that awful!” Percy smirked, plopping down on the beach beside Leo. “You actually threw the fire!” Apparently sand didn’t bother the son of Poseidon. Lucky him.

That morning just kept getting better and better.

The thought reminded Leo of Nico’s unfortunate presence, and he wondered if the son of Hades had finally cracked a grin at Leo’s suffering. Glancing back at the tree-line, Leo’s eyes were met with… nothing. Nico had vanished, probably upon seeing Leo’s humiliating defeat.

Leo wasn’t even sure if he had the energy to care.

“Everyone has to start somewhere,” Percy continued on. “The first time I practiced with a sword, back when I was your age-”

“Pfft, old man.”

“-I failed miserably against Lu- against my training instructor ,” Percy said, his hands scooping up sand and then letting the granules fall through his fingers, like an unconscious grounding technique. “But half-bloods are built to fight, so I just had to find the strategies that worked for me.”

At the last couple words, Percy let his head fall to the side, his cheek resting against the sand, and his sea-colored eyes now meeting Leo’s burnt-umber ones. He smiled good-humoredly, laughing a bit at Leo’s gloomy frown. “We’ll find the ones that work for you.”

Leo huffed, pushing himself into a sitting position, and Percy followed suit. “Is that gonna take ages?” Leo questioned, “‘cause I’m supposed to be at Greek Mythology class in thirty minutes.”

“Fine, we can be done for today,” Percy acquiesced, shaking his head a little in amusement. “But we’re doing this again tomorrow! And maybe Nico will join us next time-” As he spoke the words, the son of Poseidon gazed back at the treeline, squinting his eyes like it was their fault he couldn’t find the son of Hades. “Where’d he go?” 

“Guess he ditched after my glorious defeat,” Leo snarked, still not over Nico’s grumpy attitude for NO reason whatsoever.

Well, ya’know, except for the WAR he was a part of, said Leo’s subconscious. 

Shut UP, Leo’s conscience snapped back, stop bothering me with LOGIC and let me be annoyed.

“Hey, I’m sure he had a good reason to leave,” Percy assured him, and Leo was not assured. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in the salty air, and listening to the crashing of waves while he focused on ignoring all of his problems.

“Don’t care,” Leo asserted, flicking open his eyelids and standing to his feet. He was about to make some witty remark, but was interrupted by the boisterous sound of joking filtering through the forest. Leo glanced at Percy, who shrugged, and then they both turned to face the treeline. 

Travis and Connor Stoll stepped out of the woods—well, Travis stepped out, Connor nearly face-planted after being shoved—and they joined Leo and Percy on the beach.

“Malcolm’s teaching Ancient Greek today, and we are NOT sitting through that if you don’t have to suffer too,” Travis declared, while Connor’s curious gaze took in the training equipment littered about.

“Why’ve you kept this place a secret?” Connor inquired, poking one of the torch-beams like he was testing the stability. “The rest of camp would have a field day with this stuff!”

“That’s exactly why I haven’t shown anyone,” Percy grumbled, his eyebrows pinched in mock-irritation. “The training grounds are specialized, so no one else would- hey, how did you two even find it?!”

“It was easy! Obviously it’d be out of the way and at the beach near water, so once we figured that much out, we just followed the sound of complaining!” Travis proclaimed, shoving Leo a bit too hard on the shoulder in jest, which, ow . Leo winced, hissing out a breath, and Connor’s attention flicked to him.

“Percy, I know you’re uber-powerful and like showing off, but you couldn’t have held back just a little bit?” Connor chastised, poking Leo’s bicep and frowning at the bandage he probably felt underneath.

“That wasn’t me!” Percy said, sounding appalled at the thought, and then his expression shifted to a mischievous grin. “Leo lost a fight with a blackberry bush.”

“Bro! You can’t just go outing me like that!” Leo protested, shrugging off Connor’s finger and flashing Travis a reassuring smirk to show he wasn’t upset. “And it was a tough battle, the bush barely won, barely .”

Travis laughed at him which was the expected reaction, but Connor’s face was still contemplative; a fact that Leo did not like one bit. The Stolls were both pranksters, tending to take every situation lightly and with plenty of jokes on the side, but Hermes was a god known for his cunningness. And, as Leo realized more and more every day, if any Herme’s kid possessed that inherited-attribute, it was Connor.

“Alright, enough about that, let’s head to Greek!” Leo said quickly, already making his way back towards the forest. “Malcolm will probably make it even more boring on purpose if we’re late again.”

“That’s not possible.” Travis stated, sharing a despairing look with Percy, who nodded aggressively. “He’s even worse than Annabeth when it comes to nerdy-stuff.”

“Hey!” Percy shouted, shifting to walk next to Leo instead of Travis, as if visually signifying the division of opinion. “At least Annabeth’s facts are useful. Malcolm just knows random facts about everything , and then makes it everyone else’s problem-”

“At least their mutual love of random knowledge makes them really easy to mess with,” Connor interjected, a trouble-maker’s smirk now plastered on his face. “Steal just one book, and it’s enough to throw off their entire routine.”

“How could you even think about pranking Annabeth?!” Leo asked in dismay, slowing to walk slightly behind Percy as they ventured deeper into the woods, in case any creepy forest monsters decided to make an appearance. “She’s terrifying .”

“Ha! If anyone knows that, it’s Connor!” Travis joked, bumping into his brother and causing him to stumble lightly into a tree. “This idiot put a tarantula in her bunk.”

“She was so furious,” Percy whispered in awe, holding a branch out of the way so Leo could slip underneath. “I thought she was actually gonna kill you.”

“I have never been so scared in my life,” Connor said seriously, and Leo fullheartedly believed him. “I will never make a mistake like that again,” and Travis scoffed.

“Yes you will,” he stated.

“Yeah, I will,” Connor grinned stupidly, and this is why it was so easy to forget just how crafty the guy was. He was almost better at playing ‘Dumb Class-Clown’ than Leo was.

“You’re both idiots,” Percy grinned fondly. “Even Leo has more sense than you.”

“Says the guy who thinks minnows make good conversation partners,” Leo deadpanned, his head tilted at a disbelieving angle.

“They’ve been everywhere, seen everything!” Percy defended, watching with his arms crossed as Leo struggled to cross a creek that the other three had casually hopped over.

“They barely live for a year,” Leo huffed, glaring at the freezing fresh-water like it would evaporate with the heat of his stare. Connor and Travis were observing his predicament with matching humorous glints in their sky-blue irises, and Leo glared at them, only kind-of joking. The son of Poseidon started tapping his foot.

“Fine! Help me,” Leo gave in, standing at the edge of the fast-flowing stream, and Percy smirked, waving his hand. The water parted, flowing up and around them in spirals that glinted in the sun, and Leo rolled his eyes.

“Connor’s right, you are a show-off,” he muttered, hurrying across the dry creek-bed to give Percy’s satisfaction the least-amount of time as possible to persist.

“If you stop holding back in training, Mr. 'Lost a Fight to a Bush,' then you could do just as much,” the son of Poseidon said pointedly, letting the water fall back as soon as Leo’s army boots touched the shore. Leo scowled, holding out a leg to trip him, but Percy just stepped over it with an amused huff.

After passing that obstacle, only a small stretch of trees lay between the forest and the Big House, which held the Greek classes half-blood’s were forced to take. So far, Leo had been to the beginner Greek Mythology class—which he actually managed to pay attention to, since the information would probably be useful in future fights to the death—and Ancient Greek, which is where they were headed now.

The classes were usually taught by Chiron or the Athena campers, and while they were somewhat interesting now, Leo had a feeling that a few more sessions listening to Malcom’s historical deep-dives into every single Greek letter would change that.

“I’m off to talk to Annabeth,” Percy said, nodding in the direction of the cabins. “See you at lunch?”

“You bet, Aquaboy,” Leo answered, giving him a mock-salute as the son of Poseidon jogged off.

“And now,” Travis said in his best announcer voice, drawing out the words as Connor tapped his fingers on a tree for a drumroll. “To our daily torture session!”

 

Notes:

Was that fun? I think that was fun. My four favorite jokesters, all just talking. That was completely unplanned, and I had the chapter outlined to actually reach plot, but the characters stole the show lol.

As always, kudus and comments are GREATLY appreciated, and I love reading everything y'all write!