Aloha people! So here is my 2nd Heroes of Olympus Story! If you haven't noticed, I really love Leo. He is like a-fictional- brother to me! Sort of. I have never met him...But he is a great character! He is the Beast Boy of the 7! (If you are not from my Teen Titans crowd you will not understand that.) So I present to you...Flames Burn!

It's T unlike my other stories, because it is slight, SLIGHTLY, more graphic talking about grief and death.

Disclaimer: I do not own Leo, or any Heroes of Olympus characters. I wish I did. Then I could keep them safe from the dangerous and tragic things Rick puts them through.

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He's been running his whole life. Every day. Running. Leave behind the pain. Run. That was his philosophy. Bad memories couldn't hurt you if they couldn't keep up with you.

It was easiest just to pretend he had no bad memories at all. It hurt less that way. Every time he remembers that workshop, he can almost feel the heat, hear her drowning, evil voice, telling him that she will break him. It almost physically pains him to relive that. It tears a little at his heart every time. He thinks that if he keeps remembering, his heart will eventually be in shreds.

He covers it up. He covers it up well. When he's with other people, he's not the sad little boy from Houston, with a broken heart. He's a jester, someone who always laughing. Slightly overconfident, always looking to lighten the tension. That was him in a way. He did want to make people happy, he did want to see them laugh and smile. It was him. He just hid the other part of him. The broken part, the part that was bitter, and lonely.

Very lonely. He watched as others around him found love. Percy and Annabeth. Hazel and Frank. Jason and Piper. Unintentionally leaving him watching from the sidelines, the seventh wheel.

Being the seventh wheel was waaay worse then being a third wheel.

But the part that ate away at him the most, was the flaming part. The part that burned. That scared him. Every time he summoned fire, he was scared. Scared that he might hurt others, scared that he will loose control. It had happened before, and it had cost him his mother.

Leo was envious of the others. Percy had water powers. Water could be deadly, but it didn't eat away at you slowly. Annabeth had an amazing brain, which couldn't be seen as a curse in any way. Jason could control the wind. Wind could knock you over, but it could never do what fire did. It wasn't as destructive. Frank could change shape. That was a gift. He could escape his own body for a while. Nico and Hazel were the only ones who could really understand what he went through. They both had their own curses, and understood the burden.

Sometimes he struggles with it, and what it stands for. Fire destroyed, it consumed, it ate away at anything it could reach. That's why he loved building. He was creating, not destroying. He was fixing, not creating the damage. He had lost so much, but when he was building he could give.

Sometimes he ponders about his past. He had been used as a tool for the gods since he could talk. He had lost his home, and the only person who loved him. He had been tossed from foster home to foster home, like a hot potato. I don't want him. You have him. No! You take him! His relatives hated him, believing him to be responsible for his mother's death. He was always running. Finally he was thrown into a Wilderness Camp. Where he was a third wheel in between his two best friends. His most painful secret had come spilling out, in a place where it usually meant death and destruction. When things were finally starting to look up for him, having found a family, and friends, Dirt Face had to come and ruin it. Why did this all happen to him?

Sometimes he felt sorry for himself, but he always brushed it away. No time for self-pity. Besides, his mother had always said, "Never feel sorry for yourself mijo. Always feel agradecido. Grateful for what you have. Not sorry for what you don't."

He looks at the fire dancing in his palm. With the yellowish light washing over him, it looks warm. But fire can be deadly cold sometimes. It is cruel, and it will raze if you are unlucky.

But most of all, fire will burn. And Leo Valdez was full of fire.

It is very short. Waaay to short for my liking. But I didn't know how to stretch it out any more. I don't know how I feel about this oneshot. Kind of meh. Not my best writing.

Peace and Pixies

~Pixiedustmagic