It was a normal day on the Argo II. There hadn't been any monster attacks, so the crew members were relaxing. Hazel and Frank were laughing together about a silly story. Percy and Annabeth were sitting together eating lunch in the stables. Jason and Piper were taking a walk around the ship. Leo was tinkering in the engine room, alone, ignored by his friends, trying to add a chicken nugget smokescreen to the ship in order to mask the demigods' scent. Pretty soon, everyone was bored. They weren't used to days with no attacks! They gathered in the dining hall for lunch, where Leo was cooking his super-special tofu tacos. As they sat together, they joked and smiled about nothing consequential.
Hera, queen of the heavens, looked down on the scene with a frown. She had carefully assembled this group of heroes, and it hurt her to see that they truly knew nothing about each other. She watched Leo watch Jason and Piper flirt, a smile on his face. But the moment Leo turned, the smile drooped - just for a moment, but long enough for Hera to notice. Nobody else did, though. The other demigods were to busy in their relationships to pay any attention to the small Latino. Hera watched Leo push the smile back onto his face and go back to joking around. Hera did, secretly, have a tiny soft spot for the boy. She had been preparing him for this since he was a baby, for Hades' sake, and it did bother her a tiny bit that none of the crew thought about him.
Leo was tired. He was tired of being the seventh wheel, he was tired of being ignored, he was tired of forcing a smile on his face to cheer everyone else up. To add to that, he was simply exhausted, having stayed up all night the previous two days to work on the ship. He excused himself to work on more repairs. None of his friends seemed to notice or care. As the door closed behind him, he paused. Did he just hear his name?
"Leo is so annoying!" That was Frank. "Yeah, he never takes anything seriously." Really? Percy? Frank, Leo could understand. But Percy? "Yeah, plus he's lazy. He barely finished the Argo II in time, how long can it take? And I bet he's not going to do repairs, I bet he's just taking a nap." Leo choked back a sob. Annabeth … is that what she really thought? "Plus, what's he even been through? Our lives sucked, what's he got to complain about? Why can't he take a burden for once?" Hazel? Well, she wouldn't know. None of them knew. Still, not taking a burden? How many times did he force a smile onto his face in order to help others? Would no one stand up for him? Maybe Jason … "And he doesn't have control! Why can't he control his powers like the rest of us? He could burn us all up! If you believe the prophecy, me or him will destroy the world, and I bet I know who it'll be." Leo's breath hitched. Jason couldn't think that, Jason was his best friend, his only friend! Jason didn't know how hard he tried, how much the fire within him wanted to leap out and burn everything. Jason didn't know how much self control it took. "Hey, cut him some slack guys, he's trying hard …" he heard Piper say, but he was already running to the engine room.
Hera looked down at the small Latino boy working in the engine room. She heard him muttering to himself as he hammered a new sheet of metal in place. "Stupid." Clang "Worthless." Clang "Lazy." Clang "No control" Clang "Doesn't take anything seriously." Clang "Annoying." Clang. "Has it easy." Leo fell back sighing. "Maybe they're right … They don't need me … They don't understand …" Hera was worried now. Her group had to work together to succeed. She decided to do something that very night.
After the quiet day, the demigods decided to leave Festus on watch and all bed down for a full night of sleep. Leo kept tinkering into the night, before finally dozing off at 4 in the morning. Suddenly, he woke up in a sterile room with all his other crewmates. Everyone was blinking and getting their bearings. "Where are we?" "What are we doing here?" "How did we get here?" "Is this a dream? Why are we all in it?" Leo's voice rose above the rest. "Is it just me, or does this seem like something Hera would do?" Everyone quieted down. With a flash, Hera appeared in the center of the room. "Told you so," smirked Leo. "What are you doing here, Tia?" Percy clamped his hand over Annabeth's mouth before she could talk, and everyone seemed to restrain themselves from screaming.
"It has come to my attention," started Hera, "That you don't know very much about each other." Everyone burst out in violent denial except Leo, who nodded. "You especially seem to know nothing about the person who actually built this ship." Leo stopped nodding and started looking very scared as everyone turned towards him. "That's not true!" shouted Piper. "He's our friend, what do we need to know?" Leo looked sick. "Please, Tia, no. It's alright, don't make me do this, they don't need to …" Hera cut him off. "I'm decided. I'll leave you a piece of paper with a list of questions I want you to find the answers to. And you, Leo," she fixed him with a hard stare, "will answer all their questions truthfully. Otherwise, I'll show them the memory so they'll know. And if your answer is unsatisfactory, I'll show them anyways." Leo looked terrified, but sat down. Hera handed Piper a list of questions. "Let's get this over with so we can get back to work", he sighed.