Is it just me or have these past few days just sucked? I think it's probably just me. I'm unfortunately sick and I've had almost no energy to do anything besides sleep and eat lasagna. Add that to work and school and you get a very tired and cranky fanfic writer. Sorry for all the spelling mistakes in the last chapter I've been using my phone to write. Computer issues *insert eye roll*. My phone likes to autocorrect a little too much.*TW for everything mentioned in previous chapters.*

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As a new memory materialized around them, Leo's heart ached. He had almost forgotten Allison. How could he? They had been so close when he'd lived in the flat over the night club with the band. It was surreal to see her again. Was she even still alive? Maybe. It was hard to guess, given how dangerous that neighborhood was.

"Leo, where are we?" Piper's voice cut into his thoughts. He looked around. Allison vanished from his mind.

They stood in a dark hallway. A little boy stood at the end beside a metal door, tapping on it. Leo's heart sank to the floor. No. Please, no.

"DIKE, THIS ONE IS OFF LIMITS!" His shouts startled the other demigods. He began wildly swinging at the walls, trying to tear the memory apart with his bare hands. Jason reached out a hand tentatively.

"Leo-" Leo swatted the hand away.

"NO. YOU CAN'T SHOW THEM THIS ONE, PLEASE-" The walls of the machine shop turned to smoke and back to solid matter as he swung at them, leaving no trace.

Nothing he did could stop the memory. Gaea. The smoke. They all stood, watching the real Leo and the younger one from the memory cry out. Little Leo cried out for his mother. Real Leo screamed his throat raw at Dike, doing his best to get her attention. Whether she noticed him cursing at her or not, the memory continued, until the smoke of the fire consumed the image and they all sat in mess hall.

"Leo-" Piper started, but he looked up at her and she stopped. His eyes were red with tears. All the fight had drained out of him and he slumped down in his chair, head in his hands. He had finally broken in front of them. They had seen him start the fire. They had seen everything.

"You don't seriously think that was your fault?" Piper asked him. Percy nodded in agreement.

"Leo, Gaea made you do that."

"You were a kid." Jason agreed. Leo shook his head, face still buried in his hands."I started that fire. Not Gaea. Me. It was my fault." His voice was almost gone from all the screaming.

"None of us believe that." Hazel approached him slowly, then quietly placed a hand on his back. He started slightly at the contact but he relaxed. Frank didn't object. Hazel reached out to Leo the same way she'd reach out to a scared animal. She was trying to help.

"Dude, look at me." Percy said. Leo raised his face slightly.

"What Gaea did to you and your mother was not your fault. You were trying to defend yourself and her." Percy thought about his own mother, Sally, and the night she had told him to run to camp and leave her outside with the minotaur. Leo had done what she did; stood outside and faced the danger. Only, Leo was just a six year old kid, practically a baby. He didn't know how to control the fire. He only knew how to start it.

"Trust us, Leo." Piper said. He looked up at all of them, their faces plainly showing how much they regretted their treatment of him. He rubbed his eyes and stood.

"I think I'm going to go to bed." He quietly left the mess hall. After his footsteps had faded, they all stared at each other.

It had been so easy to ignore Leo and his dumb jokes. He allowed them to brush him off for fear that he didn't deserve any better. He was still riddled with guilt from that night all those years ago.

One by one, they all got up and left. There were some things that words could do nothing for.

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I know this one is short but I'll have another one up soon.

-R