Here is the main sequel to my story Learning about Leo (it's probably best to read that story first if you haven't already). It is set after Mark of Athena, however Annabeth and Percy are still on board. And to all of those who reviewed the final chapter of Learning about Leo , I will be posting replies on my profile, so thank you for all of the support and I hope that you enjoy this as well.
Disclaimer : I am but a simple peasant, playing in the realm of our God Rick Riordan.
Jason's P.O.V
Jason was relieved. Somehow, they had managed to the Athena Parthenos safely on board the Argo II, rescued Nico Di Angelo and now they were all slumped on the deck of their giant warship (or Leo's giant warship to put t nore accurately), panting heavily from their exertion.
They were all still a little bit in shock; after all, they had almost lost Annabeth to Tartarus. It was extremely lucky that Percy had noticed the thread attached to her ankle and cut it off before she had been dragged down into the pit with Arachne.
As he lay, trying to recover from everything that had just occurred, he noticed that Leo was still frantically darting about, checking on the ship obsessively.
He sat up, and when the younger boy next came close enough to grab, Jason pounced, wrapping the smaller teen in his arms and forcing him to sit on the deck.
"Leo, just relax for a minute." He instructed, but Leo shook his head and wormed his way out of Jason's grip.
"I'm going to go and check that the Parthenos is secure. It would be a real shame to go through all of that, just to lose the statue in this lovely countryside." Leo strode away, and Jason sighed sadly, running his hand through his shock of blonde hair. He flopped back to the deck, this time lying on his front.
After the whole memory watching experience, they had all felt closer to Leo than ever. But after everything that had happened recently, Leo had seemingly regressed into his workaholic shell.
"Why is it that he still won't listen to us?" Jason jumped at the soft sound of his girlfriend's voice. He flipped onto his back and she lay down next to him.
"Maybe we still don't understand him, even after we watched all of those memories."
The others all joined them, even Nico and Coach Hedge moved closer to the group. Only Leo who had gone below remained absent.
Nico looked incredibly confused, and Hedge was still convinced that they had all been playing a big joke on him.
"I agree that Hera did not fulfil her role correctly, and did not help you to truly understand your friend. You cannot understand someone after just watching their life, can you? My mother has admittedly helped you a little, but only by knowing someone in their youth, when their guards have not fully formed can you understand them truly. Or when their guards are different to what they are now."
Everyone leapt into action, already frazzled nerves forcing them into action.
A teen stood before them, her face seeming infinitely youthful despite the light make up that adorned it. Brown hair flowed down her back and it glowed with reddish tints in the sunlight. Her eyes shone with a childish sparkle, contrasting the serious look that otherwise rested upon her features.
Her eyes drifted to Jason, and she smiled.
"Hello, little brother." Jason realised who she was, the youthfulness combined with her calling him her brother was enough to spark Jason's memory of her myth.
"Lady Juventus." Jason bowed, and the other demigods followed his example. However the goddess frowned, and her form flickered.
"Do not speak that name to me. I am Hebe, goddess of youth."
"Lady Hebe, why are you here?" Obviously Percy was the only one suicidal enough to start questioning a Goddess. At least he had remembered some of his manners used the word "lady".
"I am here because my powers can help you understand your friend better." She waved one slender hand, and the demigods flinched, waiting for something to happen.
When nothing changed, they turned to the goddess.
"Good luck, demigods. Your task is difficult, but I am positive that you will learn more about your friend in this way." The goddess waved cheerfully, childishly, before vanishing back to Olympus.
"What do you think that she meant by that?" Hazel appeared incredibly nervous.
Those nerves seemed justified when a scream came from the lower decks.
Wordlessly, they raced downstairs, praying that Leo was okay.
What they saw was completely unprecedented, and Jason found himself just gaping in alarm.
Not one, but four Leos stood before him, each of a different age. Jason tried to deduce each age from the memories that they had watched previously.
Two were obviously child versions of their friend, whilst the other two were clearly teens. The children appeared to be six and eight, whilst the teens seemed to be fourteen and fifteen. Fourteen was dressed in gang clothes whilst Fifteen was wearing his favourite military jacket from the Wilderness school.
Six and Eight were currently balling their eyes out. Fourteen was staring at his doppelganger, Fifteen, and the children in horror. Fifteen looked completely overwhelmed, and then he turned to the demigods in the doorway.
"Jason! Piper!" His eyes lit up when he saw his friends, but the nervous air didn't dissipate as the other Leos were watching him with suspicion, the youngest two still sobbing.
"What's going on?" Fifteen questioned, eyes darting between the two people that he recognised.
"Yeah, where the hell am I." Fourteen bit out, eyes hostile and wary.
"That's a long explanation." Annabeth's tone was placating, but that made Fourteen appear angrier. Jason prayed that the impending explosion that he was expecting didn't happen.
"Make it shorter then." Fourteen demanded, and Jason stepped forwards, feeling that it was his duty to explain what was happening to the younger versions of his friend. If only he understood the situation completely himself.
"Long story short, we are all children of either a Greek or a Roman God." The Leos stared at him for a few moments, before the elder Leos burst out laughing and the younger two started crying again. Jason stared at them desperately.
"Pull the other one Jay, in fact, don't bother. Gods don't exist."
"If they don't exist, then how do you explain your fire?" Fifteen's mouth dropped open as Fourteen glared at Piper resentfully, and Eight's cries got even louder.
"Erm, how can that be possible." Fifteen was taking this a little better then the rest, and Jason hoped that maybe he could convince the others.
"The Gods followed western civilisation into America and they are now thriving in New York. In fact, the goddess of youth, Hebe, is the reason that you all are here." The Leos stared at each other doubtfully.
"That would explain why there is more then one me..." Fifteen trailed off, and Fourteen whirled on him angrily.
"Oh, of course. That makes so much sense." Fifteen shrugged at younger counterpart's anger, as if to say "it kinda does."
Frank sighed, stepping forwards. He mouthed "demonstration" to the currently... intact demigods. Jason nodded, hopefully a display of demigod power could convince the Leos.
Fourteen shifted into a slightly more defensive position when Frank moved closer, and Jason couldn't blame him. Frank must be pretty intimidating to people who don't know him.
The resident shape shifter smiled at the Leos disarmingly, before promptly turning into an armadillo.
The child Leos gazed at him in wonder as he transformed back into regular Frank, and Jason watched the argument play out in Fourteen's eyes. Fifteen looked as if Christmas had came early.
"Qué fue eso? (What was that?)" Six gasped, excitement overtaking his previous tears. All though Eight still looked sullen and sad, he too seemed more interested in the demigods.
Unfortunately, no one except Leo spoke Spanish.
Jason turned to Fifteen - the most cooperative Leo so far - pleadingly.
Fifteen bent down so that he was eye to eye with the child versions of himself.
"Sabes sobre magia, cuentos de hadas y mitología? (You know about magic, fairy tales and mythology?)" The kids nodded obediently at whatever Fifteen was saying, and Fourteen huffed.
"Una diosa ha lanzado un hechizo así que puedo conocer yo mismo. (A goddess has cast a spell so that I can meet myself.)" The children appeared to find this notion (or whatever Fifteen had said), very entertaining, though sadness still lingered on Eight's face.
"Idiotas! (idiots!)" Fourteen hissed, not appeased by any of the current explanations. His dark brown eyes locked on to Jason's as he tried to shove past the demigod group and into the hallway, but Percy prevented him from pushing out of the room.
"Wait, we'll explain more. But lets go to the dining room first, at least we'll all fit in there."
This was possibly one of the most awkward moments that Jason had experienced since he had discovered that he was a demigod. And he had seen Dakota on numerous Kool-Aid highs so that was saying something.
All of the demigods, Coach Hedge and all four Leos were currently seated around the dining room table.
Fifteen was in between the children and was keeping them restrained by holding their hands. Fourteen sat, body twisted slightly, ever the picture of a rebellious teen.
"So we are the son of Hephaestus, the Greek God of forges and fire. We are currently on a quest in which we encounter massive hordes of monsters, and our ultimate goal is to destroy the embodiment of the earth itself, Gaia." Fifteen raised an eyebrow.
"That pretty much sums it up." Annabeth looked distracted, and Jason was pretty certain that she was mentally running through options of how to fix this.
"And we're meant to believe all of this crap? That somehow, some goddess has managed to recreate past versions of myself just so that you can get to know me?" Fourteen seemed determined to remain angry and churlish.
"What's your explanation then?" Hazel sounded a little annoyed.
"Someone drugged me. It wouldn't surprise me if someone from the gang or from a different gang decided to take me out somehow. Hell, I could be in a coma right now if someone decided to attack me." Jason was sad as he remembered all of the scenes in which Leo had been forced into fighting either to defend himself or to defend someone else. Especially due to his involvement in gangs.
"Seriously, why would you think of this if you were in a coma? Isn't it more common to carry on as if you were fine?" Annabeth's logic earned a dark glare from Fourteen.
"Well, coma or not, we're here and we are apparently going to be staying here for a while, so what are we going to do?" Everyone glanced at each other worriedly then.
"Well, our version of Leo steers this boat and keeps it in top condition. After all, he did create it." All of the Leos (even the otherwise petulant Fourteen) grinned widely at that.
"I created this ship?" Fifteen stared around the dining room.
"Well we did design it." Eight spoke up for the first time. His eyes were red-rimmed, and Jason had the sinking feeling that this was Leo after his mom's death. And then he realised something else. Six didn't know about what happened to his mother. He would have to pull the older Leos aside and warn them about that.
Percy then pointed something else out.
"Didn't we need Leos tool belt for most basic repairs?"
"I don't have a tool belt." All of the Leos looked confused, and Percy shifted.
"I think we need to decide on what to call each of you, after all, we can't call you all Leo."
"But I am Leo." Six sounded hurt and a confused, and Percy hastily backtracked.
"Of course you are Leo, but the other three are also Leo." This only seemed to add to the confusion.
"I've just been calling them by their age in my head." Jason admitted. Most of the others confessed to doing the same thing.
"Well it's settled then. You can just call us by our age." Fifteen seemed oddly at ease with this, but Fourteen started complaining.
"I'm a person, not just a number!" He glowered at everyone.
"We know, but this is the easiest way to not mix you all up." Piper's tone was firm, but not unsympathetic. Fourteen remained glaring angrily for a few moments, before he huffed dramatically.
"But my mommy doesn't know where I am. She'll be worried." Six's voice was hesitant, and childish. Eight's face crumpled. A sad look crossed over Fifteen's face, and Fourteen scowled at the child.
"Well it doesn't matter because mom is de…"
"Definitely aware of the situation." Fifteen cut Fourteen off, with a heated glare. Eight wiped away his own tears, and smiled softly at six.
"Es magia. ¿Recuerdas? (It's magic. Remember?)"Jason was relieved that Eight and Fifteen were helping to protect Six from the truth. But he also had to fight down the urge to punch Fourteen who had almost spilled it. Jason had no clue as to why Fourteen would be willing to tell Six something so terrible, but he just had to hope that once Fourteen was over the initial shock of being displaced from time (or whatever was going on), he's stop being such a pain in the butt.
"So about this magic tool belt." Fourteen's eyes were demanding, and Jason shuddered at the thought of this resentful teenager possessing a powerful tool belt.
Suddenly, something dropped into his lap, and Jason looked down curiously. Leo's tool belt resided in his lap, a note perched on top of it.
Everyone was steering at him, and all four Leos had greedy looks on their faces.
He unfolded the note, and read it out clearly.
"P.S, I thought that you might need this. Signed Hebe." The Leos instantly started clamouring about why they should get the tool belt.
Jason knew instantly that Fifteen was the safest bet to gift this to. Fourteen was highly likely to build something that would get him off of the ship, and then they would have to track him down. Eight was depressed, and Jason had the feeling that he might try and escape as well. And Six was just too unpredictable, though Jason did find his reasoning to be adorable.
Sadly though, Jason couldn't give it to Six because he was cutest. He passed it over to Fifteen, carefully avoiding Fourteen's twitching fingers.
Fifteen smirked and knotted it around his waist.
"So what do we do now?"
So I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully more will be up soon.
