Authors Note: Hey everyone, the summary of the story as you all know is that 'After the Titan war, what if Leo ended with Paul who would have applied for fosters. What if Leo and Percy had been together for sometime like brothers before Percy was kidnapped by Hera. What if Leo then ran away and ended up in Wilderness School. How would their experience be when they stayed together? How would this change the story of Heroes of Olympus series?' Yeah, so that's it I think. Hope you like the chapter. I started the story in a somewhat different way. Tell me what you felt after reading the chapter.
Prologue - part 1
~Sounion Cape, Athens, Greece~
[Leo's POV]
"PERCY!"
Leo's day was going just 'great' until he heard her scream at the top of her voice. Forgetting about Mimas, the Giant he was fighting against with help of his dad. Mimas was the Bane of his dad, Hephaestus and he was amongst the giants who had risen to support Gaea in her battle. No sooner did he turn than he saw Annebeth running towards the Temple of Poseidon. He wanted to run behind her but suddenly he was attacked by Mimas. Leo turned back to fight him. Leo wanted to finish this fight soon and run to the temple of Poseidon. After he heard Annebeth scream and run for Percy, he knew something was truly wrong and he wanted to go and stand by his brother's side. Mimas laughed out and said, "Ah! That good for nothing child of Poseidon is paying, I see?! After him, one by one, each and every demigod and god will pay. You have already lost. So just, shut up, and bow down to me." Leo's blood was boiling. He had to go and help his brother at any cost and to do so he had to this stupid Giant. So he screamed out his war cry and ran towards where Mimas stood.
Then Leo turned towards Mimas who was ready to attack with his sword. He took out one of his last Archimedes' spheres and activated it. As soon as he did that, it turned into a metal dog that was breathing out fire. He ordered it to attack Mimas along with him. Then, Hephaestus came by his side, looking tired but ready to finish the battle off and said, "Son, let's finish this off." Leo nodded and all three charged at Mimas. As they ran, Leo used a technique that his brother had taught him. He concentrated on the lava of the Milos under him and summoned the lava towards him, just like how Percy had taught him during the training sessions. He was able to summon the lava as lava was also a form of fire, in a way. As the lava came closer to him, the earth rumbled and Mimas also was losing his balance. The metal dog, Hephaestus and Leo attacked Mimas at the same time with fire and molten rocks. Mimas screamed in pain and before leaving for Tartarus, he cursed saying, "I'll take my revenge you insolent Leo Valdez. Soon."
Leo wanted to run to the Temple of Poseidon but he was stopped by the shrill cry of Piper who was fighting Echnidna along with her mother, Aphrodite. As you all might wonder, Aphrodite was in her war mode with armor on and a sword in her hand. It was the first time that anyone had seen her in this form for the first time. Leo was confused on what to do but suddenly he felt someone touch his shoulder. When he turned around he saw his dad. Hephaestus said, "Son, you must go to the Temple of Poseidon, I will help Aphrodite and Piper. You are in need over there, we'll manage it here." As soon as he said that, Leo felt relieved, a bit, and so he ran to the Temple of Poseidon so as to help Percy and Annebeth.
As he climbed the stairs of the Temple of Poseidon, he spotted Annebeth sitting on the floor holding someone on her lap. He dreaded thinking who it might be. No it cannot be, he thought. But when he reached the top and ran next to Annebeth, his heart Shattered. The person closest to his heart, his closest family member to him after his mother passed away, his brother, the savior of Olympus, the kindest person he knew, Percy, lay on Annebeth's lap, bleeding to death with his wounds. He clenched his teeth, tears rolled down his cheeks as he fell on the floor next to Annebeth.
"Leo" Percy called out almost whispering in pain. Leo took Percy's hand as Annebeth cried on Percy. "Leo I'm so proud of you. Take care of everyone for me. See to that everything is right now onwards since Gaea is finally gone. Move on. Don't blame yourself. I had to do this. Please…" He was about to continue but suddenly a loud high pitched laughed echoed round the whole area. Then suddenly Gaea spoke, oh, puny little demigods and gods, did you really think you could defeat me that easily? What poor thinking! And the great Perseus Jackson, the hero of Olympus, what a stupid thing did you think? You sent me back to my slumber? No! Instead you just brought me advantage by sacrificing yourself. Now I'll only need the blood of a girl to bring myself to compete human form and you got her also to where I am, making my work easy. How wonderful! My lovely children, I would like you all to return as I want them all to enjoy their final moments of their life. Then she started laughing. As soon as Leo heard this, he jumped to his feet; his blood boiled craving to avenge his brother's death. He recognized that there was silence everywhere and was confirmed that the monsters had retreated. He knew that everyone else would come to the Temple of Poseidon soon to check if what they heard was true.
But Leo was focusing on something else, something that was rising from the floor. A form that looked like a human but was made of mud and grass. Instantly, Leo knew that I was Gaea. He turned towards Percy and Annebeth and saw Percy trying to console to Annebeth who was profusely crying. He too was broke, but he knew that if he broke down now, Percy's sacrifice would go in vain and Gaea would also kill Annebeth and destroy everyone. He couldn't let that happen. He had to save everyone at least for his brother. So Leo took out a sword, made of imperial gold on one side and stygian iron on the other side, from his tool belt. He positioned himself to attack Gaea.
When Gaea rose, she had a face with only two holes in the place of eyes and a slit for a mouth. That's it. No nose. That was disgusting. Gaea stared at Leo and said through the slit, Ah, the puny son of Hephaestus. Why do you want to waste my time by fighting? Why do you want to save that girl and everyone else? What have they done for you, other than make you feel lonely? What have the Gods done other than make you suffer? You have always remained as the seventh wheel. The one whom everyone used only when needed and ignored you later on? The one whom everyone blamed for the things he never did intentionally? Just give me some space and let my kill the girl. When I rise, I'll let you live with my granddaughter whom you love and whom the Gods even after swearing on the river Styx, didn't free her. Just move aside.
As Gaea spoke all this, Le just stared at her with anger. He wouldn't let Gaea kill his friends so as to just survive after the war. He would fight her even if it meant that he was losing a chance to have a life with Calypso. He would sacrifice himself just like Percy to save everyone else. Then he suddenly remembered the lines of the prophecy,
"To storm of fire the world must fall,
An oath to keep his final breath"
Then did he realize that he was him all along to defeat Gaea. He had always had an intuition that it was Percy who would kill Gaea as storm and he would be the one who was referred to for the oath as he had sworn on the river Styx to rescue Calypso, though the other five were also there. But now he realized that both the lines were meant for him only as he was the fire as he could yield fire, obviously. And the oath also referred to him, but it wasn't the oath he gave to Calypso, it was the oath he had silently taken after they all had left for The House of Hades to save Percy and Annebeth. He had taken an oath that he would protect everyone, all of his friends, just like his brother, his role model.
So he replied to Gaea, "Yeah! Your right (sarcasm intended)! No ways was I going to sacrifice my friends and family to you! I'm going to sacrifice my family to you! You'll reach them only over my body."