The Problem With Leo Valdez
Disclaimer: All characters[aside from a few OC's] belong to RR.
Leo Valdez is-unfortunately- not my creation as with the other demigod characters.
They're pretty cool, though.
Good job, Rick.

A/N: I HAVE BEEN AWAY FOR A VERY LONG TIME BUT I AM BACK NOW MY FRIENDS
if this chapter is short shhhh don't be mad I'm sorry

THANK YOU FOR THE VERY KIND REVIEWS AND ALL THE FAVOURITES

(BTW I'm hoping to have this story come to an end soon. It ain't gonna be happy, but we'll find out what happened to Frank at least!)


Chapter: XIV
Leo

Comfort

"What was that?" Piper demanded.

"... What?" Leo asked. He knew what she meant, and he would have explained if it weren't for the throbbing ache that had started back up in his head...

Had Gaea really meant what she said? She'd leave him alone for good now? The boy wasn't sure that he trusted the freaky goddess and her 'show no mercy' threat had certainly shaken him, but if the whole being possessed nonsense was over now, surely there was nothing to worry about. Right?

"That! I don't know!" Piper cried, waving her arms in the air. "You were... uh-"

"Mumbling?" Jason said. The word sounded like a question, like he wasn't sure of it himself. "Rambling? You looked like you were freaking out, man."

'Freaking out' was a light way to put it, Leo thought. He had just seen his friends die because of him, angered an evil goddess, and probably triggered the total and absolute destruction of the world. Illusion or not, what had happened was terrifying.

"Gaea." He managed out, squeezing his eyes shut when another bolt of pain flared up in his head. "She, uh, she talked to me about some... things."

Even with his eyes closed, Leo could tell that Jason was giving him a questionable look. "Things?"

"Ya know... important business-y stuff."

Piper sighed. "Can you be more specific, please?"

Leo opened his eyes and glanced at her. "I called her stupid. May have made her pretty upset. We're all gonna die if we don't win this thing." He summerized, then forced a grin. "But, on the bright side, I think the Eidolon business has been taken care of." Maybe, he added silently in his head. He wasn't sure about that one, but hopefully Gaea would stop turning him into a puppet now that he had put his foot down.


Leo told Piper and Jason everything. From what Gaea had said, to watching all his friends die, and to what the earth goddess had told him near the end of the vision. Percy, Annabeth, and Hazel had come back midway through Leo's explanation, Annabeth saying that when she had woken up she wanted to search for Hazel, so Leo had to restart and tell it all over again.

"That's it?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. "There wasn't, like, any huge details that you're leaving out or anything?"

"Nothing about..." Hazel faltered, then she cleared her throat and continued. "Nothing about Frank?"

Leo shook his head. "Just that she wants us all dead."

Annabeth scowled. "Gods, I hate her more than Hera." She muttered, then turned to Hazel and put a hand reassuringly on her arm. "We'll find out what happened to Frank soon, I promise."

Hazel stiffened. "We already know what happened." She said, her voice cold. "I just want to know where he is."

Though she didn't mention him directly, Leo felt a wave of guilt wash over him. Still, if he had done anything to Frank, surely he would have remembered it, wouldn't he? Surely hacking up or setting a big guy like him on fire wasn't a very easy thing to miss, but who knew? Maybe he did kill Frank. He had tried to strangle Annabeth, after all.

"What's most important right now is knowing if the Eidolon is gone." Jason said as he struggled to get to his feet. He stumbled, and instantly Piper was by his side, helping him up.

Leo gave a sheepish laugh. "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

Percy grinned. "We throw rocks." He said as he picked one up and tossed it between his hands.

"What?"

"That's a terible idea." Annabeth dismissed, whacking the boy on the arm. "We just have to try and trigger the Eidolon, and if nothing works then... I guess it's not here."

Percy frowned. "We could trigger the stupid thing if we throw rocks at him!"

"No, Percy. That could hurt him."

"That's the point!"

"Percy." Annabeth growled. "It's a terrible idea."

And would hurt, Leo wanted to chip in. If he had it his way, he would have chosen to not try anything at all. What if the Eidolon turned out to still be there? What would his friends do with him then? They hardly had any time before Gaea planned to rise, fixing the ship would take way too long even if they got started on it today... surely they'd leave him behind to make things easier. It'd be better with no Leo than with him trying to murder everyone, after all.

"I guess we could try it..." Leo sighed, going against his better judgement. If they didn't, then he figured that things would be a whole lot worse.

Annabeth stared at him. She looked a little annoyed that he had sided with Percy and his (definitely terrible, Leo agreed) idea, but she took in a breath and stood up, and then the others did the same. "No harm in trying."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "We're really just going to throw a bunch of stones at him like that?"

"What else would you like us to do?" Hazel muttered. "Set him on fire instead?" As she spoke, she was picking up rocks and had three in her arms already. Leo felt his stomach turn, imagining what it would feel like to be hit by one of those bad boys.

It'd probably hurt.

"No, but-" Jason began saying, though Hazel cut him off.

"We have to hurt him for this to work, Jason." She snarled. "I don't like it either, but I'm not going to question it."

Jason furrowed his eyebrows and glanced over at Leo, who in return shrugged his shoulders and mouthed the words 'what gives?'

She was upset about Frank, he knew that, but it felt like that Hazel was on board with the rock throwing idea solely because it meant getting him back for what happened. That wasn't cool. At all. It actually kind of stung a bit.

As Hazel continued to walk away, Leo moved to catch up with her. When he did, she didn't even look at him.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, of course not. Why?"

"You seem kinda mad."

"Well I'm not."

"Is it about Frank?"

Hazel stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest, though to Leo it looked more like she was hugging herself. He got the feeling that he shouldn't have asked that, but her reply made him glad he did. "Yes."

"... Do you want to talk about it?"

A few seconds of Hazel looking as if she was going to burst into tears later, she nodded her head and collapsed to the ground. "What if he's dead?" She started to sob, then got embarrassed and quickly wiped the tears away. "It's not fair for me to be mad at you, I know. No one can even tell what happened to him, but just imagining that you did– you could have done it, or did it..."

The others were looking at them now, definitely wondering what Hazel was so sad about and why Leo was standing there awkwardly, but he waved them away and they all scattered to collect more rocks. Thank the gods. He didn't think he could have handled an audience.

Not knowing what else to do, Leo sat down. "I don't like thinking that I did it, either." He admitted before realizing that that much was fairly obvious. "I've tried to murder all of you guys now, with me probably behind the ship crash and all. Like, hey! I even attacked New Rome and started a war! Who knows how many people I hit?" Leo laughed, then he went serious. "I don't want Frank's blood on my hands, too."

Hazel gave what Leo took as a laugh, though to be completely honest he couldn't tell. "I understand that it wasn't you, but at the same time it was and-"

"You don't need to explain yourself, Hazel. I get that you think of me as some crazed murderous monster now. It's okay."

"I'm just scared."

"Of me? Yeah, I get it. I am too."

Hazel shook her head. "No, of everything. I want to go back to Camp Jupiter and hang out with my friends again, Leo. None of us on this quest are even adults yet, and we're trying to save the world."

"Stuff like this happens because it's supposed to." Leo assured her. He heard his mother say those words countless times and they used to give him a little bit of comfort, so maybe it would do the same to Hazel? Life was bad because someday it would be good... eventually. "The gods have everything planned out. They know what they're doing." Except that they don't, but a little lying never hurt anyone.

"I think that's a dumb way to look at things." A new voice said, one that belonged to Piper. Leo hadn't heard or seen her sneak up on them, but suddenly she was standing between him and Hazel and was talking like she had been there the whole time. "Don't get me wrong, it's nice and sweet, but the way I see it, we're in this on our own. Our parents might check in once in awhile, but who really cares? They've got like a hundred other kids to keep up with."

Leo frowned. "I was trying to be wise."

"Yeah, well your wisom sucks, Valdez. Leave that to Annabeth." Piper laughed. "Hazel, listen to me. I can't guarantee that everything is going to turn out okay or if we'll be able to get Frank back, but if we stick together I believe that we've at least got a shot. Are you happy with that?"

Hazel nodded.

"Great. Now let's get on with throwing rocks at our little Wise Man here."