Hi! I'm back with chapter 13. Three chapters in two days!
If a word or a sentence has a number by it, it corresponds to a note in the end author's note.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO or Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games (a few lines appear
Chapter Thirteen: Leo Meet Cabin Eleven (A Recipe For Disaster)
A male call sounded from inside. It was familiar to Leo, but much younger, the voice of someone who had barely reached puberty versus the voice of someone on the tail end of it.
"Come in!"
Connor Stoll.
Annabeth opened the door, and inside were many more kids than in Leo's time.
Right, this was before Percy made the gods promise to claim their kids by thirteen. Leo hadn't realized how much that promise had changed the camp until he was seeing it both ways, like a before and after photo.
Kids sat on the floor, and rolled up sleeping bags lined the walls, some with name tags on them to indicate whose it was. Some sleeping bags had belongings next to them, but not very many, and Leo knew why (he'll give you a hint: Hermes is the god of thieves, and a good portion of these campers are his children). Some sat on the bunk beds, and most of them looked alike with pointed ears and eyes bright with mischief. The organization was obvious: children of Hermes got the beds, and unclaimed campers got the floor.
Looks like Leo was sleeping on the floor. At least he was used to that, what with being a run away and unable to stay in one place for more than three days after the apocalypse.
Dark thought. But weren't all of Leo's thoughts a little dark at this point?
The kids looked at Annabeth, then Leo.
"Regular or undetermined?" one asked.
"Undetermined," Annabeth answered.
A collection groan spread through the cabin.
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Wow, guys, I'm feeling the love."
Someone laughed, and Leo turned to see Travis Stoll hop of off the top bunk of a bed and fall to the floor, followed by his brother swinging his legs off the bottom bunk and standing up as well.
"Who knows? Maybe you are our brother!" Travis exclaimed, throwing an arm around Leo's shoulders.
"What's your name, newbie?" Connor questioned.
"Leo, Leo Valdez, and do you guys have names? Or are you supposed to be the Weasley twins?" Leo quipped, and both of them chuckled.
"A Harry Potter fan with a sense of humor. I like him already!" Travis stated.
"Can we keep him?" Connor pretended to beg Travis, making the both of them laugh even harder.
Annabeth slowly backed towards the door, looking like she believed she had just made a very grave mistake in allowing Leo and the Stoll brothers to meet, and perhaps she had.
"Well, I have head councilor duties. I'll be sure to tell Luke he has a new cabin member. Have fun!" Annabeth blurted before disappearing through the door before the inevitable pranks, courtesy of the troublesome trio, started.
The Stoll brothers and Leo glanced at each other. Trouble making smiles made their way onto each of their faces.
"Hey, guys, I'm bac– WHAT?!"
The door to Cabin Eleven opened later that afternoon, and the calm voice of Luke Castellon could be heard before his voice rose to a surprised yell following the clanking of metal, the snap of a wire, and the creaking of an object.
The entire cabin burst into laughter, and Leo and the Stolls leaped out from behind the door to burst into hysterics at the sight of Luke- soaked to the bone and shivering with a swinging bucket suspended by a thin wire above him.
Travis raised a hand to Leo. "Classic!" he shouted, high fiving the fire user.
"I suspect you three were responsible for this," Luke began, hands on his hips like he was about to give a lecture, but he couldn't stop a smile from fighting its way onto his face. "Okay, I have to admit that it was a good one. Not very original, but classics are always the best. I believe you are the new camper?" Luke added, holding out a hand. "Leo, right? We met over an Iris message about a week or two ago."
Leo shook his hand. "Yep, that was me."
"Well, Annabeth told me I had a new unclaimed demigod, not a new brother," Luke joked with a friendly grin. It would've fooled Leo (just as it had fooled everyone else) if he didn't already know what was hiding behind that easy going and all around nice façade.
"That's what I said!" Travis agreed.
"Sorry, boys, I already know who my dad is. I just haven't been 'officially' claimed yet," Leo responded.
"Really? Who's your parent?" Connor wondered, genuinely curious.
"Hephaestus," Leo answered.
Travis and Connor nodded in mock thought.
"I can see it," they said in tandem.
"Well, until you are officially claimed," Luke replied, "You are welcome here in the Hermes cabin. Okay with sleeping on the floor?"
"At this point, I'm not sure if I would know how to sleep in a bed," Leo said. "Got a sleeping bag?"
Travis snatched one up from the floor and tossed it to Leo, who caught it effortlessly.
"Thanks," Leo told him.
"If you don't mind me asking, how long have you gone without a bed?" Connor inquired.
Leo looked at the ceiling, making a show of thinking and counting up the time in his head. If he counted his time after the war with Gaea and after he got back…
"About four to five months. I slept in a hotel for a few nights, but if you don't count that, four to five months," Leo decided.
"Runaway?" Luke asked.
Leo nodded.
"Most of are," Luke continued, "and until your dad claims you, consider Cabin 11 your home."
Man, this guy was really hard for you to hate. No wonder nobody guessed he would become a traitor. Leo barely knew the guy, and even he felt a little sad that Luke would end up betraying them.
"Thanks, man," Leo responded. "Now, if you don't mind, I just got back from the Underworld, so I think I deserve some sleep."
Leo laid his sleeping bag on the ground and had rolled over before he could see the silent exchange between his new cabin mates.
Underworld? Connor mouthed in confusion.
I'll explain later, Luke returned.
Laughter. That was the first thing Leo heard.
They were the only surviving demigods, at least that they knew of. There were a few surviving mortal groups, too, but more of them were being picked off everyday by monsters from a world they knew nothing about. They were an odd bunch, people who had barely spoken until they only had each other, but over the past few months, they had learned to rely on one another, even become some kind of family.
They were:
Miranda Gardiner, a daughter of Demeter.
Chris Rodriguez, son of Hermes.
Olivia Sapphire, daughter of Hebe.
Jackson Jacobs, son of Ares.
Pollux Winery, son of Dionysus.
Quinn Skylar, daughter of Apollo.
Lou Ellen Blackstone, daughter of Hecate.
Will Solace, son of Apollo.
Dakota Owens, son of Bacchus.
Clovis Memoria, son of Hypnos.
Isabella Dove, daughter of Venus
Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades.
And Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus.
The last thirteen demigods.
It was one of their rare good moments during the apocalypse, a calm night around a softly glowing camp fire with an illusion surrounding them (courtesy of Lou Ellen) to keep them hidden.
"That did not happen!" Pollux laughed.
"It absolutely happened!" Chris responded. "Is it that hard to believe that I managed to prank Connor and Travis one time?"
"Yes," the other twelve demigods chorused.
Chris humphed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fine, then."
Miranda threw her arms around Chris, shaking him slightly. "Buck up, you big baby!"
Chris playfully pushed Miranda away, unable to hide his smile. "Okay," he relented.
"Drama queen," Dakota commented with a laugh.
"Okay, my turn!" Jackson announced, and from what Leo remembered, Jackson had launched into a story about the great centaur incident of his second year at Camp, but in the dream, that didn't happen.
Instead, a spooky but gentle tune began to whisper through the trees, the humming sound of a voice so familiar and yet so foreign to Leo as he bolted to his feet, searching the trees for the source of the voice.
"Guys, do you hear that?" Leo questioned, spinning around to face his friends, only to find them unmoving, frozen in time like someone had paused the scene. Chris was caught mid laugh.
"Are you, are you coming to the tree?"
Leo recognized the song as the one from the Hunger Games. The Hanging Tree. He sang it at Nico's funeral. The song was tragic, but in months where there was nothing but tragedy, it had kind of become the survivors' theme song. That and Survivor, the version from Tomb Raider. Obviously.
"They strung up a man they say who murdered three."
Jackson faded away, and Leo backed away slowly, tripping over his backpack, which lay on the ground. He fell to the ground, and suddenly, he couldn't move as he lay there, forced to watch more of his friends disappear.
"Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be… if we met at midnight in the hanging tree," the voice continued.
Isabella vanished next.
"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free?"
Olivia and Lou Ellen disappeared.
"Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be if we met at midnight in the hanging tree."
In the blink of an eye, Clovis was gone.
"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where dead man called out for his love to flee?"
Where a blonde boy by the name of Will Solace once sat was nothing but air.
"Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be if we met at midnight in the hanging tree?"
Nico-
Leo bolted awake, breathing heavily and tangled in his sleeping bag.
Compared to his other dreams, this one wasn't terrifying, but it was definitely the most heart breaking one he had had.
Jackson Jacobs. He was an assassin in a way. He killed demigods on Gaea's side, beginning with the one who killed Isabella. He died on his third mission, walked into a trap and never came back out; Leo talked to him one last time in the Ghost Battle of Day 98 (1), and he said he was just glad he got to bring down the target, the one who killed his girlfriend right after Gaea took over, before he died.
Isabella Dove. She was driven insane by a traitorous daughter of Hecate named Seraphina. Seraphina created an illusion of Isabella's best friend blaming Isabella for her death, and when Isabella was too weak from grief to fight back, Seraphina landed the killing blow.
Olivia Sapphire and Lou Ellen Blackstone were captured together, and they were tortured and interrogated about the location and identities of the remaining demigods. Olivia and Lou Ellen made a plan. Neither could use their powers after hours of torture, but there was one thing they could do. They tricked a giant into throwing a club at the main support beam of the monster base, breaking it and causing the ceiling to fall. It crushed the monsters and the two demigods, both of them choosing to die and bring down as many monsters as they could whether than give up their friends.
During a battle, Clovis used his powers to make the monsters and traitorous demigods fall asleep, but when he was too weak from overextending his powers to fight back, he was killed by his own half brother, the only enemy immune to the sleep spell Clovis had placed on them.
Will Solace died to protect Nico. They were hiding in an abandoned cabin completely surrounded by monsters. He used a sedative from his med kit to knock Nico out before giving the unconscious demigod to Leo. He told Leo to take Nico and run. Leo didn't want to, but he knew there was no changing Will's mind. He made a decision, and he had to live with it. He only hoped that Nico didn't hate him for it, the way Leo hated himself.
Just like that, another friend gone.
Thirteen became seven, and that wasn't even where the tragedy ended.
Pollux, Dakota… Nico.
"You okay?"
Leo jumped and spun around to face…
Leo's heart skipped a beat.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks… uh, Chris, right?"
Leo knew his name. He knew it all too well. It was one of the names inscribed on his heart and in his memories, right along with the seven and the rest of the thirteen (2).
Chris Rodriquez nodded. "Nightmare?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah, just a little one. What are you still doing up?"
Looking around, Leo saw that the entire cabin was fast asleep. Chris and himself were the only ones awake.
Chris shrugged. "Same reason as you."
Leo nodded. Chris didn't tell, and neither did Leo. And neither asked.
"So… I hear you're quite the prankster?" Chris smirked, changing the subject.
Leo smiled. "And?"
"Want to help me with a little project?" Chris wondered, glancing at the snoozing Stoll brothers than back at Leo.
Leo's grin only grew. "Count me in."
"Why?!"
"Why is this happening?"
"Oh, my eyes. My poor eyes!"
"What is going on?"
Leo and Chris laughed and high fived each other as they watched the Stolls get out of bed, wearing boots that came up to their thighs, mini skirts, a tank top that said I'm with weird. Oh, wait, that's me, and clown make up painting their faces. Yes, the Stolls had somehow slept through Chris and Leo putting all of that on them.
Leo didn't hesitate to snap a picture of the embarrassed Stolls and the very confused, horrified, and laughing members of Cabin 11.
"This was great!" Chris yelled over the roaring laughter of Cabin 11.
"It was your idea," Leo replied, smiling at Chris, and even though seeing Chris still filled him with a kind of sadness, it also filled him with the kind of happiness and relief you feel when you're seeing someone you haven't seen a long time. Leo and Chris may not have the same bond they had before, but at least Leo had him back, and maybe… maybe they could build a bond just as strong as the one they had in the future.
Travis's shout brought Leo back to the here and now.
"Leo, you traitor!" he cried in a mock betrayed voice.
And Leo finally believed Chris when he said he pranked the Stolls.
Yes, I did use a musical scene. I love music. Don't judge me.
Okay. A lot of notes here:
1. Ghost Battle Of Day 98 – it mentions in chapter 6 that Nico summoned a bunch of ghosts and Leo met Luke. This was the battle that occurred in, hence the name Ghost Battle (Day 98 basically means a little over three months after the apocalypse).
2. The thirteen refers to the thirteen surviving demigods.
Dakota had a very brief appearance in this chapter (he was more mentioned than anything else), but he will appear a little more often in the next book. I will be rereading the Percy Jackson series, so if I can find a place to give him a physical appearance in the Sea of Monsters, I will. If not, he will appear in Leo's nightmares.
Nico and Leo… they were very close friends in this story if you can't tell. You can take that how you will. I personally see it and wrote it as a very strong friendship, but if you want to see it as romantic (one sided because… Solangelo), you can. If you don't ship Leico, you can view it as a brotherly relationship. Whatever works for you.
As for Leo's relationship with the Lightning Thief Nico, it will be brotherly only because Solangelo will take the main focus in the story when it comes to Nico's love life. As for Leo, I don't know who I'm going to pair him with, if I pair him with anybody (Calypso will still appear, but whether she will become Leo's girlfriend is currently undecided).
Any of the thirteen you didn't recognize are OCs, and I made up last names for canon characters who weren't given one in the books.
I love the friendship with Leo and the Stolls, so don't be surprised if you see more of that in this story. Percy will appear in the next chapter. I tried not to antoganize Luke too much. I wanted Leo to have a realistic reaction to Luke, what with knowing Luke will be a traitor but he will also be a hero.