Author's Note: Hello! This story will be a bunch of one-shots! Some will have part-one, part-two, etc., etc... But, I hope you enjoy and no flames please; and I love reviews, they make me feel excited, or guilty and make me type faster. Anyway, this first one's gonna be pretty sad, and kinda violent; it's got minor character death, and mentions of blood( This is supposed to raise awareness for children who are abused, or bullied), you can skip this one if you don't like that sort of stuff, it won't be too gory, but I assure you the next one will be way happier! Love you all!(PS: there will be one OC, but she'll only be showing up in this story. I'm not really that into OC's)

Disclaimer:

I don't own the PJatO or HoO series. :(

Haunted Memories, Part 1

The wind howled around the small house, rattling the thin windows; leaves scattering across the street, fixing themselves into dead twigs and spiked branches.

An old newspaper rolled along the sidewalks and on the yards of W. Caston St.; the air both muggy and dusty from the thick, dark thunder clouds that covered the night sky and the wind that collected soil and dirt and placed them in the sticky atmosphere. The torn newspaper flashed the date of three months previous with a headline in bold letters: 'MISSING BOY FROM TEXAS, FOUND', set with a picture of a 9-year-old boy's school picture.

The newspaper continued it's journey down the street and into the air; whipping around aimlessly 'till it hit the window of the very child from the picture, and startling him from a very sorrowful tangent.

This boy's name was Leo Valdez and the events taking place that night, unknown to him, would years later be nothing short of one of worst nightmares he'd ever had- that wasn't from the imagination, mind you, but from his dark memories of the past. What he also didn't know was that these memories would be viewed by his friends because of a certain, annoying goddess named Hera who decided she must ruin his life even further, or as she put it,"Find some understanding".

Leo scowled at the newspaper, the wind plastering it to his window until it was ripped away by the wind. He had just finished his bath- but decided not to drain the water. His hair was still damp, so he decided he'd go to sleep later.

He turned his head to his sleeping, little sister- well, adopted sister; but they were too close for them not to refer to each other as siblings. The two had been through enough to trust each other with the title of brother, or sister. Leo thought back to the day they'd met...

*Flashback*

They'd met at a Social Services Center in the play area for kids; Leo had been staying at the center for two days on account of back-ups in the social workers files and paperwork. He remembered it had rained before he'd arrived, so the ground was covered in patches of puddles and mud.

There were also three really mean girls who had to stay there, too, they were all sisters; Leo had assumed that their parents might of died at some point. But, even though he wasn't sure what the girls' situations were, it didn't make the girls tease him any less about being short and small.

Anyway, he'd met the girl on his second day there; she'd shown up like any other little girl (excluding the three crude sisters) in the playground.

She had mousy, dirty-blonde hair, hazel-green eyes, and a shy expression. Leo estimated that she was a little bit around the age of 6-7; she was a little skinny, but still had a little baby fat on her face that made her cheeks round and have a sort of childish innocence to her. Much to the 9-year-old's delight, she was a good 3 inches shorter than him.

Overall, she looked like the nicest kid on the playground. As he was approaching her to play, she looked around for a few moments before she dismissed the world and entered into her own fantasy land, causing Leo to stop and watch as she began to dance. She started twirling in practiced ballet turns, and bending her arms into circles, and making pirouettes and pointing her toes.

'A ballet dancer', Leo realized; she was very skilled for a child of that age. And anybody who was brave enough to dance in the middle of a kid's play area was okay by him. He decided to not to move, not wanting to interrupt the little girl's passionate dancing. He continued observing the skilled movements for a few minutes and how they seemed so fluid and professional for a little girl.

But, then he saw something that made his stomach drop.

Three bullies walking in the direction of a certain dancing blonde. He knew he wasn't going to be able to help her; he couldn't make cruel words stop coming out of the sisters' mouths. The only thing he'd be able to do is console the child who was oblivious to the three girls walking her way.

But, of course he couldn't do that; this girl had just got here, how would he have felt if someone simply watched while he had been harassed and then have the nerve to come and acted like they cared! The awful and embarrassed feeling he had received when the girls teased him was absolutely not a fun experience, he couldn't let someone else go through that.

He was running and half-way across the playground by the time the sneering bullies reached the newly arrived innocent.

Leo ran faster, cringing as the younger stopped dancing no doubt because of some nasty comment they said. Based on the snickering of the sisters, he assumed it must have been pretty terrible.

He reached the four just in time for the oldest girl to push the tiny ballerina in the mud.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!", Leo yelled, protectively putting himself between the now crying girl on the ground and the intimidating siblings.

"Oh, look," the one who had pushed the new girl jeered, "The Little Orphan Boy's got somethin' to say." Her sisters cackled like child witches. Leo's ears turned red in embarrassment, he averted his eyes, not feeling as brave anymore.

"I...I said leave her alone." He said ever so slightly softer, trying to sound at least menacing. One of the bullies let out a high-pitched laugh before she pushed him to the mud, as well.

'What's she to you anyway? I mean- she just got here. Like, she's not even that good at dancing; me, Trish, Amyla were in dance, too, and , like, we were way better than her!" The other two nodded in agreement, smiling like crazed clowns. One kicked some mud at Leo before sashaying away like she was some sort of fashionista goddess with her sisters trailing behind her. Leo sniffed and tried to ignore the tears he felt welling up in his eyes.

"Thanks." Leo's head snapped sideways to the ballet dancer; she was covered in dripping dirt-water, but she still smiled gratefully.

"No problem.", Leo stood up and held out his hand to her. "Don't listen to them; you're really good at dancing, they're just jealous they can't dance as good as you. Plus, they're jerks, so you don't have to worry about it; I mean, they pick on me 'cuz I'm small, and they've been calling me 'Little Orphan Boy' ever since I got here."

She took Leo's hand, looking pleased that he'd said she danced well, but a little sad from the rest of the little speech.

"My names Emily; but my friends call me Emmy. What's your name?" she said as they both attempted to wipe the mud off their clothes, failing miserably.

"My name's Leo- Leo Valdez. It's nice to meet you." They both smiled at each other and they knew that this was obviously the start of a great friendship.

*End of Flashback*

He remembered that they'd been inseperable after that; they still were, of course. But, luckily, the social workers noticed this bond and deemed it "best" for them to stay together. So, if anybody wanted to adopt one of the two then they'd have to take them both.

Fortunately, a gruff man and his wife walked in the next day and asked if it was possible that they could have one girl and one boy around the same age; the couple had good backgrounds, so the social workers recommended them in particular as foster children.

And at first, the parents seemed amazing; their foster mom was kind and helped them with everything, and the foster dad said encouraging things to them everyday, even if he did spy as bottle of liquor hiding somewhere by him. Everything was going so well for Leo; him and Emmy both agreed that this was a happy, good family, and that they would almost definitely stay here- try to forget their painful pasts. They could re-start everything as a sister and a brother; with a mom and a dad. And a home.

The two of them, after all they'd experienced.. How could they have possibly believed that things would be this simple; this amazing? This peaceful?

They should've known it was all a lie.

Suddenly, after the social workers found them to be in a happy and safe environment and started visiting less, things that had once seemed so casual and nice from the parents seemed forced or twisted; and at first Leo only noticed it a little; a disapproving frown once or twice from the dad, or a worried smile from the mom, like she was dreading something inevitable.

And by the time the social workers visited once every two to three months, things took a turn for the very worst.

Now, here they were, stuck in a horrible place, with one very horrible person. To Leo, it reminded him of Hansel and Gretel, seeing an inviting house of sweets after being thrown out of their homes, and then realizing that the kind, old lady who lived there simply wanted to eat them up after a good fattening.

But in him and Emmy's case, it was finding a home and a family after being kicked out of their own families, and then realizing that the kind foster father simply wanted a wife and two children that worked for him and a good reputation after a successful deception.

Leo blinked, bringing himself back to the present. His little sister still slept soundly, although he could hear his foster father yelling at his foster mom down the hall. It scared him more than he'd like to believe; their mom wasn't bad or anything, she just had trouble standing up for herself, and her husband's constant degrading didn't help. But, the dad was the real problem; when the social workers were gone, he yelled at his wife and sometimes even hit her!

Emmy was absolutely terrified of him, and, although he would never admit it, Leo was afraid of him, too, if not a little rebellious towards him. It had got him slapped once or twice; but Leo didn't let that stop him from showing him that he couldn't be controlled by an abusive drunk.

He got an earful of their screaming increasing in volume, Leo curled further in on himself and tried covering his ears to block out the loudness. He laid down on the bed he shared with Emmy and snuggled close, looking for comfort in her presence; curled into a ball, with his small hands covering his pointed ears, he attempted to fall asleep.

Then, his head took in a high-pitched screech and a loud thump- Leo knew what that meant, and he prayed to every god he knew of that existed in every religion that his foster father would stop beating his wife. Emmy stirred from the loud noises and sat up groggily and scooted closer to Leo.

She shuffled around, and fidgeted with the blankets, before she looked up hesitantly.

Emmy started warily," Are they-'

"Yeah." They didn't need to explain to each other further what horrors they spoke of; it was too difficult to talk about. They sat in bated silence, with muffled background screams and bumps coming from down the hallway. They sat that way for a few minutes before the fearful tension made them speak.

"Let's try to go back to sleep." Emmy suggested, knowing in the morning that they would go to school and would try to drown out the haunting thoughts of back home, and maybe successfully do it.

"Yeah." Leo agreed; what else could they do besides rest at this point? They cuddled close and shut their eyes tight, and gripped each others' hands. As time passed they managed to block out the noises with their thin blankets and slowly drifted to a distressed slumber.

* BANG *

The shot rang in their ears and reverberated throughout their ribcages; they both jack-knifed under their covers.

They were smart enough to know what a gunshot sounded like.

And they knew they were probably next.

'Nonononono!' This was it. Leo was going to run away, again. No ifs, buts, whys, or hows; right now, they needed to leave right now.

Emmy started crying, he stumbled out of the bed and grabbed her wrist; he dragged her to the closet and closed the bedroom door on the way. He dumped out the contents of their school bags, quickly, and began shoving their clothes and hidden, saved money in the bag. He was well practiced in the drill of escaping.

He whispered hurriedly for Emmy to put on her socks and shoes as quick as she could, and grab her biggest jacket; he promptly did the same.

As he was shouldering his back-pack he heard his foster father's drunk mumbling as he lumbered down the hall. Leo's eyes went wide as he rushed his sister to the window. The yelling of the sot father could probably be heard all throughout the neighborhood. He opened the window swiftly; the hot, sticky air rushing in.

Leo was helping Emmy out the window before a meaty hand roughly grabbed his shirt-collar and yanked him back. He could hear Emmy scream as a sharp blow was given to his left cheek, Leo's head snapping back as he fell to the ground hard.

"Whaddyou brats think yer doin'!", his foster father slurred loudly; a gun in his hand, forgotten from drunkenness. Leo's ears rung from the pain and noise, he gave his foster sister a look that said 'Run while he's distracted'. She reluctantly took the cue and quietly began climbing out the window, praying for her brother's safety.

" I asked you what you were doing!" the man above him bellowed clearer. Leo looked up, his face twisted in fear; knowing there was no way out of this one. At least Emmy got out, he thought sorrowfully.

A hand shot forward and grabbed his collar harshly and then threw him to the ground, again. Leo closed his eyes tight and coiled in on himself. He felt kicks stabbing into his sides and bruising his ribcage. The drunk grabbed him by a his curly hair and began tugging him down the hallway towards the bathroom.

" It's time I finished you off you, too, you useless brat!" Tears streamed down Leo from the pain and despair as he clawed at the wicked man's grip on his hair. His feet were shakily skidding on the bathroom's tile floor.

Leo looked at the tub still filled with water from his previous bath and suddenly understood how this devilish excuse for a man would 'finish him off'.

"NO!" The terror reached an unknown level. 'I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!'

"NO, NO, NO!, the boy screeched. He kept screaming that one word at the top of his longs like a chant that was his only salvation; his terrified sobs echoing loudly across the bathroom's high walls. Another punch landed in his stomach, the mantra cut short to a wheeze.

"Shut up, you little punk!" He shoved the small Latino's head into the tub water; watching in a sick, drunken pleasure as he thrashed in his steel grasp, water splashing all over the floor.

Leo's lungs were burning; he hadn't even had time to take a last breath, so his oxygen was even more limited. The water kept going in through his nose and occasionally slipping into his mouth; he could barely hear the garbled voice of his foster father, but now it was starting to fade, as well as his vision of bubbles and white porcelain; black teasing at the edges of his view.

This was it; he knew he was going to die- there was no escape this time. Tears began to mix with water that filled the white bathtub, and lashing, desperate limbs shuddered to weak tugging motions.

The scene from anyone's view in the room would've transpired in their head's as a severe and sick death of one more innocent child in the world. But to one, it looked like the worst thing that could happen to this world yet; the death of the only brother she'd ever had.

And she refused to let that happen.

It was recorded in the Fates' journal that dreadful night, that a little girl, age 6, by the name of Emily Carthright, was the first of her age to say she had hit her drunk, abusive, foster father in the head with a 2-pound, pot-pan to save her adopted brother's life as he drowned in a tubwater.

The man fell to the tile, dazed and head throbbing, with a loud 'flop'; Emmy rushed to her brother and wrenched him out of the water. He coughed and sputtered feebly, his lips had a blue tinge and he looked disorientated. She swiped his wet hair from his eyes and turned him on his side so he could dispel the water from his lungs properly; her heart clenching as she watched her brother shiver and choke on sobs, tears spilling down his face and mixing with the water on his face.

Emmy nervously watched as the intoxicated man in front of her stirred and groaned. Although she was six, she was smart enough to know that she needed to get Leo out of here before her foster father came to his drunk senses and beat the living daylights out of them.

Earlier, just before she went back for Leo, she had called the police on a payphone outside and quickly told them the address of the house, having no time for details after she soon heard her brother's frantic screaming.

The adopted girl helped him to his feet and thanked God that he weighed so little, barely able to keep him up anyways. She put her appendage around his waist and put his limp arm around her shoulders so she was carrying him in an efficient, yet tiring way.

He was quaking really bad and his crying only increased; in shock from his violent, and traumatic, near-death experience. Seeing her brother like this was scary; he'd always been the stronger one- probably because he'd been through more, he had constantly rebelled against their adopted father, and was always standing up to bullies for herself and others, not caring if he got beat up or degraded.

She half carried, half dragged the small, older boy out the door; she knew he'd want to lay low for a while- escape from another world of policemen and social services. And there was also the great possibility that they'd be separated.

No, no. They'd been through too much to let that happen. If they had to live on the streets, then so be it. Emmy was going to do whatever it took to stay with her brother.

Author's Note: This will be continued! Tell me if I made any grammatical mistakes and PM me if you have any suggestions for stories. It doesn't have to be Leo-centric, it can be anybody, or multiple peoples; please keep in mind that I may not do some of these suggestions, but I will try! Next one will be happier! Love you all!

-AdllL124