Okay, I'm about to dive into the biggest 'what if' ever here, so be prepared. Ready? Okay: What if, on the night Leo's mom died, Leo saved her by joining Gaea's side. I know, it's crazy, but give it a try, please? The first part is from The Lost Hero, but it pretty much takes a turn for the worse.


Mom's workplace was at the very back of the shop. If he did wander the shop, they would keep in touch with Morse Code taps. Whenever they were ready to leave, they had to walk through the entire shop, through the break room and out to the parking lot, locking the doors behind them.

That night after finishing up, they'd just gotten to the break room when his mom realized she didn't have her keys.

"That's funny," She frowned. "I had them. Wait here, mijo. I'll only be a minute." She gave him one more smile- the last one he'd ever get- and she went back into the warehouse.

She'd only been gone a few heart beats when the interior door slammed shut. The exterior door locked itself.

"Mom?" Leo's heart pounded.

Something heavy crashed inside the warehouse. He ran to the door, but no matter how hard he pulled or kicked, it wouldn't open. "Mom?" Frantically, he tapped a message of Morse Code on the wall: you okay?

"She can't hear you," a voice said.

Leo turned and found himself facing a strange woman. At first he thought it was Tia Callida. She was wrapped in black robes, with a veil covering her face.

"Tia?" he said.

The woman chuckled, a slow gentle sound, as though she were half asleep.

"I am not your guardian. Merely a family resemblance."

"What- what do you want? Where's my mom?"

"Ah... loyal to your mother. How nice. But you see, I have children too... and I understand you will fight them someday. When they try to wake me, you will prevent them. I can not allow that."

"I don't know you. I don't want to fight anybody."

She muttered like a sleepwalker in a trance. "A wise choice."

With a chill, Leo realized the woman was, in fact, asleep. Behind the veil, her eyes were closed.

But even stranger: her clothes were not made of cloth. They were made of earth- dry black dirt, churning and shifting around her. Her pale, sleeping face was barely visible behind a curtain of dust, and he had the horrible sense she had risen from the grave.

If the woman was asleep, Leo wanted her to stay that way. He knew that fully awake, she would be even more terrible.

"I cannot destroy you yet," the woman murmured. "The fates will not allow it. But they do not protect your mother, and they cannot stop me from breaking your spirit. Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me."

"Leave my mother alone!" Fear rose in his throat as the woman shuffled forward.

She moved more like an avalanche than a person, a dark wall of earth shifting towards him.

"How will you stop me?" she whispered.

She walked straight through the table, the particles of her body reassembling on the other side.

"I'll join you."


Very short on my side, but it sets up the story. Anyways, if you'd like this story to happen, please tell me.

I don't own PJO of HOO.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?