Title: The Past of Leo Valdez
Category: Books ยป Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Author: sophiadaughteroflight
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/General
Published: 11-24-15, Updated: 11-24-15
Chapters: 1, Words: 1,159
Chapter 1: Chapter 1
POV Annabeth
All I remember is Hecate sprinkling blue powder over Leo saying that we will see his memories.
Hear his thoughts.
See his past.
This horrified me. But I was eager all the same.
Curiosity. A flaw in my personality, my personal code. Leo never said much about his past. Exept in the form of a joke. So naturally I thought he had a perfect childhood.
For once, I was wrong.
I thought I had it bad. Ignored. Abandoned.
Poor Leo. He suffered more then I ever have before.
Abused. Ignored. Abandoned. Drunk. Scared. Scarred.
My life was a cake walk compared to his.
I thought that I knew him. I thought that I was a close friend.
Once again. I was wrong.
Who would want fate like this for such a sweet guy. What kind of evil person would way to inflict emotional and verball pain upon him.
Now I know who he is.
Leo Valdez, broken beyond repair.
POV Piper
How dare this random goddess flash is in a room and invade Leo's private mind.
Wait a minute, a room.
Yes, a room with plain white walls, a single flat screen tv, and a simple white couch.
"None of you know Leo Valdez as much as any of you think. You believe you know him inside and out. A comic relief, a shoulder to cry on, the worker. But what does he hide behind the jokes? His mask?" the disembodied voice speaks over the invisible intercom. I was taken aback.
Of course I know Leo Valdez, he is my best friend! We tell each other everything. Or is it just me talking to him?
No its not. I know everything.
Right?
Everyone began to sit down on the surprisingly comfortable couch. The screen lit up.
The memories began to start.
POV Percy
I know Leo Valdez. I am Leo valdez! Okay well, not litterally but we are basically two in one. I really hope that didn't come out wrong.
Anyway...
Leo immediately appeared in the front of the room, unconscious in front of the silver screen.
"Don not touch him" the voice boomed.
Nobody protested in fear of hurting Leo.
We all sat down on the sofa.
The memories began.
A llittle seven year old boy sat sulking in a plastic chair in a small dark room. His whole body was quivering. He kept messing with his thumbs. His body was hunched forward, so we could not see the boy's face. The kid look like he had been in the streets.
He probably has.
Messy, unruly, brown curls adorn his head. Old, baggy tattered clothes cover his body. A scarr had made its permanent home in his left arm.
"Rosa please, he is just a little boy, the son of your sister, he is your neph-"
"No, do not call that thing, that diablo, my nephew, he does not deserve to be part of my family. He killed my sister" two female voices were arguing, not aware that the little boy could hear them talkinging.
His little body was shaking and shivering because of the coldness in their tone of voice.
Over and over again the boy kept crying, tears streaming down his face as he kept repeating the same sentence; "Quiero a mi mama" (i want my mom)
Two woman step into the dark room. The little boy looks up, to reveal the face of a young Leo Valdez.
A gasp escaped my mouth. The broken look in little Leo's eyes crushed my heart. No.
That cannot be Leo Valdez.
POV Hazel
I was so close to hyperventilating. I had never seen anyone look so crushed in my life. Except for Nico.
Oh gods. If Leo can look that depressed at the age of seven, then maybe we didn't know as much as we thought.
What happened to him?
One of the women give him a look of pure pity. She is around 25 years old with long blonde hair held up in a bun. She smiled sadly. The other woman about 40 years old, gives Leo a look of pure hatred.
"Apenado Tia Rosa, Apenado" little Leo managed to say between breathless sobs. (Sorry aunt Rosa, sorry)
"Do not call me Tia diablo, you bastard, you demon" the older,woman says as she draws her hand back, and slaps Leo. Hard. Little Leo let's put a shriek of pure pain.
Four crimson streaks are embedded in his left cheek.
He curls up in a ball to protect himself from his Tia Rosa as she repeatedly kicks him.
The other woman gasps and yells for security.
As Rosa is being evacuated from the dark little room, she yells one thing that will haunt him forever.
"Watch your back diablo, you have killed my sister, and someday I will,get my revenge. You little mistake."
POV Jason
I thought I had it bad. My mother had to give me up to Juno because Jupiter was my father, I had to grow up with wolves. Sure my mother had died, but I was never accussed of killing her, I didn't see her die.
Then the scene changed.
Leo looks about nine in this video. He was creating a little helicopter out of paperclips in a little classroom. He was fully engrossed in his project, not listening to a word the teacher had said.
"Leonardo Valdez, what is the square root of 888990?" The teacher said smugly, not caring of the question had nothing to do with their science lesson.
"942.862662322" Leo said simply not even giving the question a thought. His eyes never even left the helicopter.
The entire room gasped at the answer.
"That isn't corrert, is it?" called out a small voice from somewhere in the back of the classroom. The teacher sighed and took off her glasses and leaned on the desk.
"Hannah, I am afraid that his answer is indeed, correct" she almost sounded, disappointed.
Leo smiled a bit.
Then he raised his had, and his sleeve went down without him even noticing.
A chorus of stifled laughs filled the room as everyone looked at his left arm. Bruised covered his delicate caramel arm. The teacher look concerned while everyone else laughed. Leo looked confused.
"What?" he said stupidly.
"Leo what happend to your arm?" Leo looked at his arm and blushes.
"I'm very clumsy" he sounded convising, but the teacher didn't seem to believe him. The bell kids filed out of the room but before Leo could leave, the teacher held his arm.
"Leo, if someone is hurting you at home, you need to tell someone." concern was laced in her voice.
Leo snatched his arm back and rubbed it. "It not as easy as you would think" he mumbled before he ran out the door..
How could someone hurt something so young. Why didn't he tell us?
POV Annabeth
I knew how it felt to feel unloved and abandoned, but I've never been abused. Hecate was right, we had no idea. All I wanted to do at the moment was give Leo a hug, and I'm am not that type of person. I sharply turn to my left and see a teary eyed Piper and a whimpering Hazel.
"Don't not cry yet little demigods, it's not over" announced the booming voice from over the speakers. I placed my head in my hands and sighed. Should we really be watching this? I know that I would have for someone to watch my private memories. My private past.
The screen lot up once again.
Eleven year old Leo was scaling a building, a large one in fact. If he would have fallen, he would've died. 'Oh God, I can't believe that they found me' Young Leo thought hastily. Shouts could be heard from the bottom of the building. Leo's eyes widened as a bullet flew right bye his head.
I could hear everyone stop breathing.
I could hear their strangled gasps as we watched our close friend almost die.
"Get your scrawny ass down here, now!" bellowed a deep, gruff voice. Leo's breathing grew riggid as another rusty bullet wissed past his head. Leo continued climbing at rapid speed. His small feet were finding tiny, insignificant ledges in the building side as though they had minds of their own. His bony arms where slower than his feet, and their movements were becoming sluggish and lazy. They wouldn't be able to hold him much longer. The shouts were getting louder as the men began climbing as well, in a desperate attempt to catch the young boy.
What the hell did Leo do to these people?
"You can run Valdez, but you can't hide." an unattractive, raspy voice called from below.
When Leo final made it onto the flat roof of the building. Trash littered the flat surface. Leo's wide chocolate brown eyes scanned the entire surface until they landed on a large rusted pipe. The eleven year old boy licked his lips deviously. He grabbed a thin piece of cloth that had resided beside the pide and ripped it in half. He wrapped his sore hands in the thin cloth and attempted to pick up the pipe. Upon failing this, he began to roll it toward the wall he had just climb from. Small grunts and groans emitted from his mouth, and pained coughs escaped his thin, cracked lips. When he had finally reached the edge of the wall, with a curt yell, he threw it straight down.
You could hear the sickening crunch of bone on metal, and the horrid noise of a body landing on the ground. Despite these disgusting sounds, Leo Valdez smile and ran the the other side. He stood on the ledge, rocking back and forth on his heels.
"he's not stupid enough to jump" I declared.
He jumped and landed into a dumpster, the garbage bags had cushioned his fall. He sat there in the disgusting garbage for a second, obviously disoriented. After about a minute or two he climbed out and took in his surroundings. It seems as though he's landed in another alley, the faint sounds of yelling and profanities seemed as though they were miles away. Leo walked toward a sewer lid and, with a grunt, he pushed it off and climbed in. His boots make a squishing sound against the sewer sludge.
Then the screen went dark.
"He wasn't joking when he said he slept in the sewer" Piper whispered in a horrified voice.