I'm sorry guys, I was going to update this yesterday but... life. I didn't have enough time to type up the chapter. I already had it written, because I'm old-fashioned and write it out by hand, but I just didn't have the time to type it. I'll update earlier for the next chapter though!
And your theories about why the demigods are acting weirdly will have to be confirmed/denied later on... too much in this update...
Dorian Havilliard: Thanks! The cake was actually blue! Sadly, Percy's memories are over...
Ruby: Aaargh, I was going to confirm everyone's theories in this chapter, but I have to push it off because way too much stuff happened already in this one. Good guess!
Rosycat, greekgeekgirlbro, MusicalGurl, Catarina Persephone, awesomeninja09, The Awkward Narwhal, 8DemigodRunner8, RoseThornOlympian, Tonsoffandoms, and many Guests: Thanks for the reviews and all those compliments! I'd like to give a personalized reply to every one of you, but I want to post this chapter before Saturday's completely over XD Thanks again!
SuzuBells: Good guess, but I'm not going to confirm/deny this... yet ;)
The Hero named Villan: I'm evil, so... pretty much...
CrazyBlueOwl: Piper's going to be after Leo, but before Nico/Grudge. And it's actually canon that Leo had abusive foster parents, because in the books (forgot which) he mentions "abusive" Teresa. LEO IS VERY BAE!
Luna: Thanks! Nico will be last, but there's only a few more to go before him. And Teresa will definitely be in this!/ Thanks! I love having a December birthday. I'll go check out that story right after I hit "update"./ I explained at the beginning of this.
Scarl3tWitch: That means a lot to me that you noticed all those maybe-kinda-subtle references! I love dropping them in. And fics where there's just a huge exposition dump... those annoy me, so I try not to do that.
TooLazyToLogin/churning-seas: You have no idea how many times I read that. Thank you so much for that review! It made my day. I love character development and personalizing them (you might have noticed), so it's really encouraging for me that you said that. Very good theory. I was going to reveal it in this chapter, but... nah ;)
ThatPerson: A Frank/Leo shipper? They exist?! Haha, yes, I agree. I love Frank/Leo bonding, and I would've liked to see Rick make them interact more in a deeper way on the Argo II. I hope this chapter is up to par with your Valdang standards! (Valdang... I'm laughing so hard it's silent... oh gods what have I done...)
Leo
Leo didn't know what to do with his hands. Oddly, he'd lost the urge to build random things. Should he stick them in his pockets? Keep them at his sides? Finger his suspenders? He'd never been not building stuff before, so what was wrong with him now? He bet nobody else suddenly stopped their passion. Wait, passion? Since when did Leo use words like that? So many questions… From the corner of his eye, he saw his flaw disappearing into the shadow of one of the cabins. Inferiority was building something else with that handful of pipe cleaners Leo had given him, and his fingers shook with activity and energy. Meanwhile, Leo was still. Something weird was going on.
Rolling his eyes at himself, Leo strolled over to the lunch table and grabbed two sandwiches, one in each hand. Next to him were Percy and Annabeth perched on the side, munching on their lunch and talking seriously. Hazel, Grudge, and Pride appeared to be deep in conversation. As Leo watched, Pride left and joined Duty and Fear in front of the silver Artemis cabin. Loyalty and Guilt were arguing passive-aggressively (that looked interesting…), while the Franks were nowhere in sight. Neither were Jason or Piper. I should probably check on Pipes... he pivoted slowly, searching. He wouldn't say it to her, but he thought Piper was overreacting slightly. After all, it had been Duty who said that Reyna was better, not Jason himself. But then again, Leo wasn't Jason's girlfriend. (He shuddered just thinking about it.) Maybe it was different?
Then he saw her—them. Piper and Jason were pressed up against each other, kissing deeply in the shadows behind Zeus' cabin. Leo's stomach lurched just watching them. He never wanted to see that example of PDA ever again. And how—? Not that he was unhappy his best friends had made up, but… five minutes ago, Piper had been glaring daggers at Jason! He made a loud noise purposefully walking towards them, not wanting to startle the couple.
"Uh, guys?" he coughed, shuffling his feet. "PDA, you know? You're kinda in public… and behind the king of the gods' cabin…"
Piper turned and flushed bright red. Leo forced a smile onto his face—wait. No. It was completely genuine; it wasn't forced at all. Jason nervously patted down his hair, shifting. Next to Leo, Duty (Where did he come from? Man, that guy had a really bad habit of sticking his nose in places he didn't belong…) sniffed and said something about how Jason was making the wrong decision. Leo shoved him, and grinned when he stumbled.
"So I'm assuming this means you've forgiven me?" Jason asked sheepishly, addressing Piper.
"I guess I was over-dramatizing it a bit…"
"A bit?" Piper shot Leo a glare, and he backed off a few steps, his hands (still holding the sandwiches) raised up high in surrender. Duty rolled his eyes and walked away, which was perfectly fine with Leo. And judging by the relieved exhales of Jason and Piper, they weren't exactly about to mourn the absence of the annoying flaw, either. Seriously, though—Leo worked hard to be annoying. How come Duty of all people (flaws, whatever) was allowed to just be naturally annoying?
But out of the blue, a figure creeped up to Leo and tugged on his sleeve. Leo yelped and dropped his food. "Bronze bulls!"
"Sorry," Inferiority whispered, eying the dropped food but making no move to pick it up. (If nothing else, at least all the versions of Leo had a food-cleanliness standard.)
"What do you want?" Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say… but it was like Leo didn't have a brain-to-mouth filter in that moment. Kinda weird, but… meh. Leo shrugged.
"Uh… just. Thanks. For the, you know, the thing…" Inferiority made a waving motion, shifting and not meeting anyone's gaze. The pipe cleaners glistened in his grip, now made into a fully-functional helicopter, complete with a centimeter-long scrap of bronze as the blade.
Leo nodded dryly. "Yep, I'm awesome and all that, blah blah. No need to thank me for the Super-Sizzling-Hot-Super-Sized Valdez Pipe Cleaners!"
Inferiority looked very confused. But then again, Leo had no idea what had been coming out of his mouth like farts on Thanksgiving. (That simile… metaphor? Whatever. Leo never paid attention in class.) Why did he even respond like that? Not that Leo wasn't hot or whatever, but he was pretty sure that that wasn't how he was supposed to react.
"Uh, okay..." Piper watched Inferiority, who was now looking down at his feet and shuffling.
"Leo— why is your flaw Inferiority?" Jason spoke up, edging around Leo so that he was now trapped between Piper and Jason. Leo didn't fail to notice that. Oh, shit… quick, think of something!
There was an awkward silence. Piper narrowed her eyes, and Duty reappeared again, followed by a reluctant Fear. Jason stood with his six-foot frame, towering over Leo, who gulped nervously.
"Leo…" Piper said in a dangerously low tone, repeating the question.
"Just answer it already," Fear licked her lips. She didn't look threatening; she merely seemed concerned and somewhat curious. Duty, however— Leo could see that he wasn't going to leave without an answer. A good answer. One Leo didn't have.
The others stared at Leo with varying expressions, and he ran his fingers through his hair nervously.
"I— um… I— uh…" Leo stammered, then mentally kicked himself. That had probably just roused even more suspicions! What should he do? Laugh it off? Retreat? Ask about their flaws? Speaking of the flaws, Leo was feeling awfully crowded. All five others were gathered around him… oh gods. Leo wasn't claustrophobic, but they were really close. Piper and Jason's steely gazes and stiff postures… he knew they cared about him. But they reminded him of Percy's anger at Leo after he blew up New Rome. Annabeth's distrust of him. Frank's jealousy (not that he had anything to be jealous of). Hazel's pity, which was almost worse than anger.
Oh gods. Oh gods they're looking at me and what should I do and oh my gods this is what Inferiority feels like and— oh, gods.
Leo snapped out of his trance-like state in time to see Duty waving his hand in front of Leo's face, rolling his eyes and loudly grumbling, "Are you there? Stupid Greek— ow! Wake up!" Leo grinned as he saw Jason kick the flaw.
Fear looked relieved. "Leo, just answer the question!"
"I can't!" Leo snapped, in both his tone and in his brain. Years of pent-up stress and frustration and anger and fear and, well, everything exploded out of him. "You never even suspected before now! Why do you get the privilege of asking why— or even just knowing— now?!" he panted for breath, his foot sliding on one of the dropped sandwiches. "Why do you think? I can give you a long list of reasons why!" Smoke curled up towards the heavens, and Leo felt his hair catching on fire. He patted it out roughly, not noticing that there was a small ring of fire around his feet now. Belatedly, he realized that the last part had been in Spanish. Oh, well. They don't deserve to figure it out! Inferiority subtly moved his feet to absorb and extinguish the flickering flames, and mouthed the translation to the others.
Leo tried not to take in Fear's shuddering breaths, Duty's shock, Piper's eyes welling up, Jason's mouth hanging open, or even the agreement on Inferiority's expression. But he still saw it, and though he tried to hold on to the anger, it was already beginning to evaporate. Anger was safe. Anger was a shield. A fallout shelter. (Yes, Leo did actually know what that meant.) And the shelter was crumbling- not slowly, but burning down in flames.
What had even come across Leo? Ever since he'd lost control during Percy's memories… he'd felt different. Maybe even before that. Maybe it was just because he knew his memories would be watched? He didn't sound convincing, even to himself.
It left Leo then. All the anger. All he felt was tiredness and exhaustion beyond belief. Apparently it took a lot of energy out of people when they had mini-tantrums/hissy fits.
"Sorry," Fear whispered, and held her arms out. Not at Leo, but Inferiority. Because it had been Inferiority who spoke. Not really Leo. Part of him. Inferiority melted into her embrace as the others watched on.
Jason cleared his throat, but didn't speak. There was silence. Sometimes, silence was stifling. But this time, the silence was… just that. Silence. Just a word to describe the quiet. It was comforting to Leo that it was just a word. People and life were complicated. Machines were simple. Words were tools. That was Leo's outlook on life. A bit of advice from a flame-boy… The silence meant that they'd listened to him. Maybe that was more than a word. Maybe. (It was still a word, though.)
Piper, Jason, their flaws, and Inferiority stayed silent. (Surprisingly, even Duty kept his mouth shut.) However, the somberness was seriously getting to Leo, so he stretched, grinned, and swept his arms out at his fallen lunch. This was his chance to escape without awkward questions. Maybe his mood swing would seem really sudden, but… oh, well. He was Leo Valdez— they would deal with it. And he'd be away from the questions.
"Your clumsy admiral has done it again! Encore later, folks— and that's the show!" he jogged away, dodging his way past the other demigods before they could react. He crashed into Duty, but ran off immediately, tossing an insincere "Sorry!" over his shoulder. Once they were out of sight, he broke into a dead sprint. He didn't know to where (not to the sandwich table)— he just needed to get away before they broke out of their stupor and began asking the questions he would prefer to not answer. He would go to the woods— yes, the woods. Any monsters would be frozen, so it was safe. And he didn't think anyone was there.
He had just passed a satyr and a naiad frozen in a very compromising position when Leo ran straight into a huge panda. And just when he'd found his stride, too!
Well, not really. It was Frank— Insecurity? Yeah, him. Frank's flaw was shorter and… (How to put it?) … Not as muscular as Frank.
"Oh! Sorry!" Insecurity steadied the Latino before getting a glimpse at who he was, but his face immediately turned into a frown. "You—"
"Yeah, me! I know I'm amazing and all, but I gotta go like right now!" Leo sprinted away— dealing with chubby praetors wasn't on his to-do list. Not that he had one… for that matter, dealing with any praetor, chubby or not, didn't make the nonexistent list.
Just his luck— Leo ran straight into another person. This one wasn't as chubby. He was the real Frank, who scowled at Leo before softening slightly. What was with him running into grumpy Romans lately? First Duty… Leo lost his train of thought as he glanced around at his surroundings more closely. There was no one else around. Frank's memories had already shown he wasn't on great terms with Leo. In fact, he was jealous.
The trees looked menacing, despite the morning sunlight. The frozen blades of grass were long rows of chainsaws held at the ready. The blue skies were simply waiting for a storm.
If Frank wanted to do something to Leo, now was the time.
"Leo! I wanted to talk to you!" Leo gulped. That didn't sound good. Sure, there was a prank set up for the Romans' upcoming visit for the camps' get-together, but Frank couldn't possibly have known about it. So maybe Frank didn't want to murder Leo. Severely injure? Wow, thanks! Severe injury! Yippee! And there were two Franks now.
"No— nothing bad!" Insecurity reassured him. Leo wasn't really reassured. The woods… why had he come here?
"What, then?" a small pause.
"Well, I wanted to… uh, apologize. You know, for, um… Hazel and… stuff."
Now, Leo had a choice here. He could make a remark about Frank's wonderful linguistic skills. He could nod and run away. He could shrug, or he could have a long, heart-felt conversation with this not-very-cuddly panda who had looked like he was constipated when forcing out an apology.
Yeah, no.
"Man, it's okay," Leo flicked his hand like it didn't matter to him and shrugged. Did it matter to him? That was a good question.
"I don't think you get it, Leo! I apologized!"
"I'm sorry I made fun of you and all that, too! Do I 'get it' now? Dude, I'm trying to say that you don't need to apologize!"
Frank appeared frustrated (again) and shook his head. Just as he opened his mouth once more, Hera's voice boomed out across the frozen camp, startling Leo, Frank, and Insecurity. For once, she had good timing.
"Very nice bonding, Zhang, Leo, but I'll have to cut it short. Jackson, Chase, stop chit-chatting. Grace, McLean, flaws, be quiet! Underworld children, this applies to you as well! Grudge! You did not just— what are you doing, Duty? Ugh. Just get yourselves back to the middle of camp!" Leo snickered as he jogged all-too-thankfully away from the Franks. (Grudge had probably given Hera the finger or something, knowing him.) But why had she called him by his first name instead of his last name, like everyone else? He had a bad feeling in his gut. And bonding— had Leo really been bonding with Frank/Insecurity? They'd apologized to each other. Sort of. Back in Rome, they'd shared stories. Thinking back on that, that was somewhat strange. Of all people— why Frank?
Percy and Annabeth were distant (metaphorically and physically). Hazel was awesome, don't get Leo wrong, but… she already knew way too much for Leo's liking. Piper was Leo's best friend. Maybe that was why he didn't tell her. And Jason was also a great friend, but sometimes he just didn't get stuff. That left Frank.
Frank was just Frank. They tormented each other and even had a brief love-triangle thing with Hazel. He was just Frank. That was good enough.
Leo jolted out of his daze when he reached the center of camp, followed closely by the Franks. Everyone else was already gathered around a note. Leo felt the world drop below him as he saw everyone turn towards him. Inferiority was more hunched over that usual. Oh, no… no… no… not me…
"Looks like you'll get an answer to your question, Pipes," he smiled wryly.
Inferiority nodded sharply, standing apart from all the others with resignation.
"What?" Frank asked, confused.
"Don't you get it? It's my turn for the memories now."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be on Monday or Tuesday, because I love Leo so much that the ideas just flowed right out of my not-seaweed brain and into my writing. I really enjoyed writing all of these weirdly-acting Leo's thoughts, and I also tried to balance the chapter between seriousness and humor.
(Does this apologizing/you-don't-need-to-apologize scene between Frank and Leo remind you of anything..?)
The chapter after this will have all Leo's memories, and then start on Piper's.