So, I've been wanting to do this for a while. Like, 'before the Keys' a while. Originally, this was supposed to be little Tulio going over, but then I decided to make it Zac—the more adventurous son.

I love Artemisapollo's stories, especially the ones about Leo. Her OC Louisa Smith-Jackson, Percy's twin sister, is the one that married Leo in her version. They had two daughters and one son: Elsie, Alokia, and Charlie. Fun fact: Tulio's middle name, Charles, is a tribute to Charlie Valdez.

I asked her long ago if I could do a cross-over, and she did approve, but I never got around to writing it. Until now! :D

Let's pretend this happened between the Aphrodite Discovery and the Keys. I didn't want Leo to be paralyzed here.

I own nothing you recognize as canon. I also do not own any of ArtemisApollo97's OCs.


*~When Worlds Collide~*

One: Reflections

Zachariah Valdez poked his father in the leg with some pliers. Leo looked down as he hammered a sword straighter.

"No, mijo," he said. "Papi doesn't need them."

The three-year-old pouted and continued poking Leo. Tulio, his brother and Leo's elder son, lifted his head from his own project—a shield for a New Athenian.

"Zac," he said. "Don't bother Papi."

Zac gave his best grumpy face and skulked away without uttering a word. He plopped down under one of the tables and didn't move afterwards.

Leo looked over at Tulio. "What's up with him?"

The demititan shrugged. "Dunno. He was fine earlier."

Leo sighed and abandoned his project. He walked over to where his youngest child was sitting and pulled gently on one of his caramel curls. When Zac looked at him with sad eyes, Leo's heart broke a little.

Zac held the pliers up. Upon closer inspection, Leo saw that a screw had fallen out and the tool was now broken.

Leo smacked his forehead. "Oh." He reached into his tool belt, brought out a screwdriver and a tiny screw, and fixed Zac's pliers. "You could have just said so, Zac."

Zac beamed and hugged him. "Thank you, Papi!"

Leo patted him on that back. "Use your words next time, kid," he said. "Then maybe I'll help you faster." He looked at the things surrounding his son. "What are you even doing?"

Zac grinned. "Present for Espie!"

"You're making a present for your sister?" Leo asked happily. "What's the occasion?"

"Make Espie happy!"

Leo glanced back at Tulio, who shrugged and smiled. He turned back to Zac and ruffled his son's curls. "Keep up the good work, then, mijo."

"Almost done," Zac announced, holding up a bronze dolphin.

Leo grinned and kissed him on the forehead. "Lookin' great, Zac. When you're done, you can go show Espie, okay?"

"Okay!"


Esperanza Grace Valdez rifled through the attic of the Big House. The Oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, had been sculpting with her, and sudden inspiration had hit, so she wanted something from up here. She said it would be a bag of ribbons in a box labeled 1994.

What she had failed to mention was that that particular box was enormous and filled with too many items. Every item she took out she ended up flinging across the room—unless it was glass, then she'd set it down gently.

Footsteps rumbled up the stairs. Espie turned to see her little brother rushing up into the attic, a big grin on his face.

"Hey, squirt," she said. "Thought you were in the shop today with Tulio."

Zac wiggled around, trying to hide something behind his back. "I made somethin' for you, Sissie."

Espie placed whatever she had grabbed from the box on the ground. She hadn't even looked at it yet, but she knew it wasn't a bag of ribbons. "What'cha got?"

Zac held out a bronze dolphin with emerald eyes and rainbow fins. "I made it special!"

Espie smiled and hugged him. "Aw, I love it! Thanks, lil' bro!"

Zac squeezed her back.

"Why'd you make it for me?" she asked. "It's not my birthday."

He grinned. "Just cause you are the best sister!"

"Aw!" She hugged him again. "That's so sweet. I'm totally gonna brag about that to Aria later."

"Do it!"

Espie pushed him away and turned back to the box. "Wanna help big sissie find a bag of ribbons? It's somewhere in this box, but I can't find it."

Zac padded closer and peered inside. "Lots of junk," he noted.

"Yeah." Espie smiled. "But, Papi always says one person's junk can be a useful item to another."

Zac looked down to the things Espie had placed on the ground. He picked up a mirror and looked at it with a curious gaze. "Wha's this say?"

Espie took the mirror. This must have been the item she'd put down as Zac came in, because she definitely didn't remember it. It was a green and gold mirror with black writing around the glass. It was in Ancient Greek, and Zac hadn't quite figured out that language yet (he was already bilingual, so a third language was hard at the moment), so she read the writing out loud:

"Two Reflections, but one is home,

To reach yours, simply roam,

Find home's reflection, if leaving is what you yearn,

Find this reflection, and you shall return."

Zac tilted his head. "Wha's that mean?"

Espie shrugged. "Don't know. It must have meant something back in 1994. Somebody must have swiped it from a quest or something."

Zac took the mirror and made a silly face. Espie came up behind him and scrunched her nose up and stuck out her tongue.

Suddenly, the mirror began to glow. Espie blinked. The light blinded her.

Seconds later, she found herself sitting next to Zac…outside!

"Wha—?" she stammered.

Zac looked around with wide eyes. "Where are we?"

Espie noticed they were in some sort of alleyway. She relayed that information to her little brother. He looked at her with wide eyes. "Why are we here?"

"I don't know," she answered.

She took his hand and led him out of the alley.


Elsewhere…

"Dad, can I borrow your pliers?"

Leo looked at his son with raised eyebrows. "Why?"

Charlie had an untrustworthy look on his face. One that told Leo, Don't trust me because I'm an evil little imp.

"Why do I think you're gonna use them for evil purposes?" Leo questioned.

Charlie just grinned. "'Cause I am. I'm making a Jack-in-the-box that pops up with a jelly squirtgun. It's for Joe."

"And you're sure Joe will appreciate having jelly squirted at him?"

"Ye of little faith." Charlie wagged his finger. "It's for Joe, but he requested the item. Okay, he requested a jack-in-the-box as a present for his cousin, and I took it upon myself to include the squirt gun to make it more interesting."

Leo sighed and tossed some pliers to the mini-Leo. "Whatever."

Charlie grinned. "Thanks, Dad." He was about to dash away when he thought of one more thing. "Hey, can I also use the jelly in the fridge?"

"Ask your mom."

"She's at camp right now with Uncle Percy, remember?"

Leo shrugged. "Then I guess you're not using the jelly from the fridge."

Charlie stomped his foot. "Why? It's just waiting to be used!"

"I think I'll use it to make PB&J when your mom gets home," Leo said cheekily.

"Dad," the teen whined.

"Go buy your own jelly," Leo prompted. "You're a big boy."

Charlie held out his hand. "Can I borrow a ten?"

"You've got an emergency credit card. Get your butt to the store or no jelly at all."

And that was final. Charlie huffed and stomped out of the room, shouting behind him, "Then I'm stealing these pliers! I'm never giving them back!"

Leo rolled his eyes and grabbed some new pliers out of his tool belt. "While you're out, would you mind grabbing things from the shopping list?" he called. "We definitely need some more milk!"

Charlie left the house and started the ridiculous trek to the grocery store. He wasn't old enough to drive yet—not that his mother or father would allow him to touch the car without supervision. Festus wouldn't be up for some random ride either, which stunk.

"Man," Charlie whined. "I don't wanna walk a couple of blocks! This sucks…"

He was in the middle of planning his revenge on his father when he accidentally ran into someone. They both crashed to the ground on their butts.

"Ow," he squeaked. "I thought my head was hard!"

He looked at the person he crashed into and narrowed his eyes.

Sitting across from him was a Latina with curly black hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail. She had impish features, like a turned-up nose, round face (not plump, but rounded), and pointed ears. She looked just like Charlie!

"Wow," he breathed. "Am I looking into a fun house mirror or something?"

The girl looked up. Her brown eyes—weird, how they looked like his father's eyes—narrowed in confusion. "Whoa," she said. "I could say the same thing."

A little boy with pale skin, curly cinnamon-colored hair, and almond eyes, looked out from behind the girl. "Tui?" he muttered.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "What's a Too-yi?" he asked.

The girl stood up and helped Charlie to his feet. Normally, girls jerked back at Charlie's hands. It was because of his internal temperature; his fire made his temperature soar on a normal basis, and girls' hands were generally cold, so he nearly burned them on contact.

But her hands almost burned him! They were just as hot, if not hotter, than his hands!

The girl looked at the little kid. "That's not Tulio, Zac. This kid has green eyes."

The kid—Zac—blinked at Charlie. "Kinda like Lacy."

The girl nodded. She looked back at Charlie. "Sorry for running into you. I was busy trying to keep my little brother from running into the street. He's pretty hyperactive."

"No problem," Charlie said with a shrug. "I wasn't even paying attention."

She stuck her hand out for him to shake. "My name's Esperanza. Esperanza Valdez. You can call me Espie."

Charlie froze. "V-Valdez?" he stuttered. "Small world…" He took her hand. "The name's Charlie Valdez."

She blinked in surprise. "Wow! This is a small world! You must be related to me in some sort of way. Let me guess, your grandmother's name is Rosa?"

Charlie grimaced. "No," he spat. "My dad told me about his aunt Rosa once. I'm glad she's not my nana. My grandma's name is actually Esperanza. Weird, huh?"

Espie backed up a pace. "Wait, your dad has an aunt named Rosa and your grandma's name is…"

Charlie could almost see the wheels in her head turning. She gave him a weird look. "My grandma's name is Esperanza, and my dad has an Aunt Rosa. Now that's weird. The only thing that would make this weirder is if we had the same dad, but that isn't possible…"

Charlie shrugged. "I hear ya. Coincidences happen all the time, right?"

"Sure. So…if I told you my father's name was Leo Valdez…that probably wouldn't mean anything to you, right?"

Charlie's world screeched to a halt. "Uh," he said brilliantly. "Actually…"

Espie's eyes widened. "Are you serious!?"

"Normally, no, but in this case I can't joke about my parentage." Charlie rubbed the back of his neck.

Espie squinted at him. "Then, who's your grandfather, if we're talking about the same guy?"

Charlie chuckled. "You wouldn't believe me."

Zac, who Charlie had forgotten was even there, piped up, "Gandad's name is…um…Festus!"

"Hephaestus," Espie corrected. "Festus is the dragon."

"Okay," Charlie interrupted with his hands up. "This is getting too weird! We both have the same dad? I only have two sisters, and you sure as Hades ain't one of them. Plus, I'm the youngest, so there's no way he could be my brother!" He pointed at Zac.

Espie shrugged. "I don't know what's going on, either, dude. I've got two brothers, one of which is my twin."

"What about mother?" Charlie asked. "Do we have the same mom? My mom's name is Louisa."

Espie's eyes widened. "Well, there's the difference. Mine's Calypso."

"As in the Titan?"

She nodded.

Charlie smacked his forehead. His dad had…on his mom…with a Titan no less! "Oh gods," he whispered. "Mom's gonna kill Dad!"


Meanwhile…

"Papi, where are Espie and Zac?"

Leo shrugged as he cleaned his hands off. He was done for a while and was about to make lunch. "I know Zac went to find Espie, but that was a while ago."

Tulio looked worried. "I just…I feel strange. Like when Espie goes on a quest and she's far away, I feel like we're detached. When she's in camp or at home, I can kinda feel her presence."

Leo cocked an eyebrow. "And you don't feel that now?"

"No!"

Leo patted his first-born son on the shoulder. "We'll find her. She and Zac couldn't have gone too far. If anything, I'm sure Zac found something interesting and led Espie through the woods."

"Should we tell Mom?"

"No!" Leo blurted. "I mean…she doesn't need to hear about this. It's probably nothing."

"You're worried Mom will murder you if you lost Zac, aren't you?"

Leo speed-walked through the shop and exited. Before he hit the street, Tulio heard him call, "Maybe…"


A/N: Yes, there are two different worlds, so that means two different Leos (at least the kids call him different things, which makes it a little easier). I recommend at least reading one of Artemis' stories. 'Charlie Valdez' or 'The Hot and the Cold are Both So Intense' are really good ones to read.

I'll involve Lou next chapter. It might take a while to post since I am having Artemis sorta-beta the parts with her characters.

Stay cool, y'all, and see you next time!