The hatius has been lifted! Since it's been a whole year, I have been introduced to some new fandoms, so you'll get to see some more variety.

There was no physician cure, so Leo still defeated Gaea, but he was revived a different way. His oath was also different.

FANDOM: PERCY JACKSON/HEROES OF OLYMPUS

Summary: Leo has always run away; it was a coping mechanism. But most of the time, his heart wasn't in leaving. It takes an angry and confused eight year old and a bunch of ticked off half siblings to make him realize that it's okay to stay. AU, Leo never met Calypso

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." -Confucius

His bag was packed with a few extra changes of clothes, a refillable water bottle, some extra food, some nectar and ambrosia, and some money-both mortal and demigod money. His toolbelt was tied around his hips, and there was a dagger in one of the pockets and some first aid supplies in another.

The war was won. Gaea was gone. His purpose was fulfilled. His time was done here.

Everyone had forgotten about him. The seven were all spending time with their respective girlfriends or boyfriends, and even Piper and Jason hadn't been spending time with the Repair Boy, too wrapped up in each other.

Leo had defeated Gaea. He'd technically died, and Will and some other Apollo kids had just barely been able to shock his heart back to beating again. His oath to avenge his mom and defeat the woman/goddess that had killed her was fulfilled.

Still, everyone had seemingly forgotten about that. He could understand; they'd survived a dangerous war and wanted to spend time with each other in case the peace was broken once more.

Leo couldn't help but think of Percy, who'd defeated Kronos and would now go down in demigod history. He thought about everyone, even Clarrise, searching for the son of Poseidon during Hera's 'exchange program'.

Would anyone search for him? Would they even notice?

The note was written, and he placed it on his made bed; his backpack was slung over his shoulder, and he prepared to say goodbye to Camp Half Blood.

"Leo, why do you have a backpack?"

Leo froze.

Oh, shitaki mushrooms, he thought before slowly turning to face Harley, his littlest brother.

Eight year old Harley stood in the doorway, holding his baby blanket, one of the only possessions he'd had when he arrived at Camp Half Blood. Only his half siblings knew about the blanket, and they all knew Harley would kick some butt if any of them blabbed.

"Are you leaving?" Harley asked, perplexed.

"Harley..." Leo trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"NO! You can't leave," Harley snapped, suddenly very angry. "NO!"

"Harley, shh."

Too late.

The door to his private room opened, and the entire cabin crowded into the room, wondering what all the commotion was about.

"What's wrong, Harley?" Jake asked, tiredly. It was, after all, three in the morning.

"Leo's leaving!" Harley bawled.

"What?" Nyssa demanded, turning to look at Leo, who was standing there with a bag over his shoulder.

"Leo, why do you have a bag?" Shane questioned. "You're not running away, are you?"

Leo shrugged, not meeting any of their eyes.

Nyssa marched over to him, and she yanked the bag off of Leo's shoulders with unnecessary force before tossing it on the bed.

"Sit," she ordered, shoving him onto the bed. "Why are you running away?"

Leo picked up the note and handed it to her, knowing he wasn't going to like her reaction.

"Nobody wants you here?" She growled. "When did I become nobody?"

Leo's head snapped up to look at her. "What?"

"When did Harley become nobody? When did any of us become nobody?" She demanded. "Do not sit there and say that nobody wants you because I want you. We want you."

"Leo..." Jake said. "We don't want you. We need you," he corrected.

"You do not know how many times we all wondered how you were doing," Christopher added. "When we were building the Argo II and you didn't leave the Bunker for days at a time, we worried."

"When you left, we worried," Chris (different person) continued.

"When we all you thought you died, we worried," Haylee finished.

"We cried for you, Leo. We fought for you, and we were-are- here for you," Nyssa finished. "So how can you say that nobody wants you when all of us do?"

Leo frowned. "You'd be better off without me."

"Would we?" Nyssa demanded. "Leo, you saw us before you became one of us, how messed up we were. Did it ever occur to you that that might happen again if you left?"

It hadn't.

"We need you, Leo," Jake said. "One more question: do you even want to leave?"

He didn't... but he had to. If he stayed in one place too long, he'd get attached, and that would make it hard to run away when he had to.

Leo shook his head. "I don't, but I have to."

Nyssa frowned. "Why?"

"Because ever since I was eight, I've always run. Sometimes I had a reason, like abuse or neglect or bullying. Other times, though... I ran because I'd rather leave sooner rather than later. I've only gotten attached a few times, but then something happened that meant I needed to leave, and it was so hard to. I wanted to avoid that," Leo explained.

"Come on," Jake stated.

Leo frowned. "Where?"

"You need to talk to some people."

Leo sighed and followed Jake and Nyssa out of the cabin. They crossed the grass until they reached the Hermes cabin, and Leo watched as Nyssa knocked.

"It is three in the morning. Who knocks at three in the morning?" A Hermes kid muttered as he opened the door.

"We need Travis and Connor," Nyssa stated.

"Travis, Connor, it's for you," the boy muttered before collapsing into his bunk.

"What are you guys doing here so early?" Travis asked as him and his brother stepped outside.

"Leo wants to run away," Jake explained.

Neither boy appeared to be surprised.

"I see," Connor stated. "Did you know we tried to run away from camp?"

Leo blinked. "You did?"

"Oh, yeah, three times. Do you want to know what Chiron told us the third time?" Travis asked.

"What?" Leo questioned.

"He said I can't make you stay, but next time you want to run away, I want you to think about this: wherever you go, go with all your heart. He knew that we didn't really want to run away; we didn't know how to cope with being in a new place with a new life, and we tried to run away from it," Connor explained.

"We chose to stay because our heart wasn't in running away. We knew that," Travis said. "We can't make you stay, Leo. No one can," he said with a pointed glance at Nyssa. "But just remember what we said. Wherever you go, go with at your heart. If your heart is in running away, we won't stop you."

Travis and Connor stared at Leo for another moment before ducking inside their cabin.

The siblings returned to their own cabin, and Leo's siblings left his room. Leo waited until each and every one of them was snoring in their beds, even Harley.

He glanced at his packed bag, lying on his bed.

"One more question: do you even want to leave?"

"If your heart is in running away, we won't stop you."

"Wherever you go, go with at your heart."

When morning came, the Hephaestus children opened the door to Leo's private room, fearing they would find their brother's bed empty.

Instead, they found Leo Valdez sleeping soundly in his bed with his bag unpacked, and they knew that Leo had chosen to stay. Hopefully for good.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for reading! Bye!