Phew, okay. Y'know, this whole situation was supposed to be Sammy being transported forward in time from 1943. But, I nixed the idea because it was really random. So, I had him already be dead and brought to life temporarily by Pluto/Hades himself. Much less random :P But it makes more sense than the first idea.
I am no longer taking votes for the Espie ship. You guys may keep saying who you like, but I won't be keeping track anymore.
This is because I feel like the same guest reviewer is voting for Espark over and over again. It annoyed me that they even went to the first chapter and put their vote in that review. So, no more voting. It's not like you got any prize for guessing right anyway, so what was the point of cheating?
You guys will find out whose ship will sail when it comes to Piper's rescue. *legasp at spoiler* Until then, squirm.
Once again, let me repeat: NO MORE VOTES.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a little weird, but the ending will probably have you yelling at me again! xD
By the way, I ship these: Caleo, Frazel(eo), and Hammy. I feel like Hammy needs to exist a little bit, don't you? They're so cute together and I wish we got to see more of a relationship between the two before Hazel had to go to Alaska... :(
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize as canon. Kids/Teens are mine.
XVIII
SAMMY VALDEZ
Sammy regained consciousness without opening his eyes. He was lying on what felt like a hardwood floor, though it kept swaying underneath him. A light breeze ruffled his curls, tickling his face.
Voices kept ringing in his ears.
"Where'd he come from!?"
"The Underworld, stupid, didn't you hear Lord Pluto?"
"Who is he?"
"He looks a lot like Papi!"
Sammy groaned, wanting to make the voices stop. He clutched his head.
"Hey, you okay?"
Sammy's eyes fluttered open. Large brown eyes were looking down at him. He yelped and nearly crashed his head into them.
The person squealed and sat back. Sammy noticed this was a girl. She was Hispanic, with curly black hair and big brown eyes. Wait…
…she looked just like his granddaughter, Esperanza!
"E-Espera—" He stopped himself. No, he thought. That's not little Anza. She's down in Elysium right now. This girl's name can't be Esperanza.
The girl cocked an eyebrow. "You know my name?"
Or maybe it can be…
"Sorry," Sammy said. "It's just…you look a lot like this woman I know. Her name's Esperanza Valdez."
The girl smiled sadly. "That's my abuela. I'm named after her. My name's Esperanza Grace Valdez. You can call me Espie."
Sammy blinked. Her abuela? Then that had to mean…
He looked around and studied the surrounding people. Four teens and one adult. The other girl in the group was white. She had blonde hair cascading down her shoulders with intense green eyes. A younger lad right next to her had scruffy black hair and grey eyes. They shared similar features, so Sammy assumed these two must be siblings.
A colored kid sat directly behind Espie. He had really intense golden eyes that reminded Sammy of Hazel—which first made him sad, then reminded him that she was in trouble.
Next to the colored kid was a tall, muscular Asian man. He had a kind face, but something about this guy made Sammy very suspicious. What was that feeling he had suddenly felt in the pit of his stomach? Resentment? Jealousy? Whatever it was, Sammy decided he didn't like this man.
And finally, way back behind the group was another Mexican. He wasn't paying attention to the group surrounding Sammy. Whatever he was doing, Sammy didn't want to know. He kept waving his arms while holding a little box and mini steering wheel. It made Sammy's head hurt. But this kid looked exactly like Sammy! Only, he was way grungier and greasier. Could that be my stunt double, Leo?
Espie followed his gaze and took a look at the boy at the…what even was that area? She looked back at Sammy. "That's Tulio, my twin brother."
Tulio, huh? Brother…then, little Leo…
"If you don't mind my asking," Sammy began. "Would your father happen to be one Leo Valdez?"
Espie grinned the same way Sammy usually grinned. "He's our Papi!"
Sammy smiled. Oh, Anza's going to be so happy to hear that! "That's…uh…great!" It finally hit him that these children of Leo were Sammy's great-great grandchildren…
…his brain was going to implode from weirdness.
"May I ask who the rest of you are?" he ventured.
The blonde spoke first. "I'm Lacy Jackson. This is my brother, Bobby."
She had motioned to the black-haired boy, who nodded and said, "Hello."
The man spoke next. "I'm Frank Zhang."
Sammy nodded at him, still pretty wary.
Then the colored kid piped up. "I'm his son, Sammy Leo Zhang. You can call me Sammy."
Sammy grimaced. "Oh…well…I don't think that's going to work."
"Why not?"
"My name is Sammy. Sammy Valdez."
Frank sighed. "I knew it."
Espie glared at the Asian, but then looked softly at Sammy. "So…Sammy Sr. or Sammy Jr?"
Sammy smiled. "Senior. And, to break the ice; yes, I know you're my descendant. I remember holding Leo in my arms when he was a baby. To see that he's all grown up now with kids of his own…well, that makes me feel older!"
Espie smiled. "So, you remember being alive?"
"Of course I do." Sammy looked over at Tulio, then back at Espie. "I can't wait to tell your abuela of my adventures up here with her grandchildren! She'll be jealous!"
The group laughed. Well, almost everyone laughed. Frank and Other-Sammy were still looking uncomfortable.
"Do you remember Hazel?" Other-Sammy asked.
Sammy nodded. "Yes, I do. I've been waiting a long time to see her again. I was told she was in trouble."
Other-Sammy nodded. "Yeah…before we go into that, though…I think you should know about what she's been up to."
He rummaged through his pockets. A few seconds later, he pulled out a picture and handed it to Sammy.
The image was so sharp Sammy felt he could reach in and touch the people within it. There were four people present in the photograph: a younger-looking Frank, a child version of Other-Sammy, another colored child with smoother black hair and dark eyes…
…and Hazel.
She was older than last Sammy had seen her, about ten years older perhaps? Fifteen, maybe? All he could tell was that she had become a beautiful woman. And she had started a family…
…without him.
It broke his heart. Now he understood what had made him so uncomfortable around Frank. He was her husband!
Don't be jealous, he scolded himself. You went and did it first with Maria. Plus, you've been dead for decades now. It's only fair Hazel found someone else…
It still hurt him to think that Hazel had let Sammy go, even though he had let her go before he died.
Sammy looked at Frank, who was shifting uncomfortably. The Latino smiled and held out his hand. "You're very lucky to have her, Mr. Zhang. I'm glad she can be happy with you."
Frank smiled and shook his hand. "Thanks. You know, she never forgot you."
Sammy laughed and shoved a finger in Other-Sammy's direction. "I suppose she named this lad after me?"
"That was my idea, but yeah."
The guys laughed. Other-Sammy shifted at the attention.
"You said your name was Sammy Leo," Sammy ventured. "Any particular reason you have my great grandson's name, too? Or is it just because the Valdez family is so magnificent your family had to copy us?"
Lacy snorted. "Geeze, now we know where the sass originated from in the Valdez family!"
Bobby chuckled. "He's just like Leo!"
"Other way around," Sammy corrected. "I came first."
Other-Sammy interrupted the oncoming argument. "Mom said I was named for you and Leo. You because…well, you know why. And Leo because he had been thought dead for a long time. It was still that way when I was born, so Mom and Dad gave me his name. That's why I like going by Sammy Leo, and not just Sammy."
The Latino smiled. "That's sweet. Speaking of Leo…is he here on the…what even is this?"
It finally dawned on him that he was not on normal ground. It looked like he was on a ship…
"This is the Argo II," Lacy announced. "A flying Greek warship!"
Sammy didn't say anything to that. Modern technology has certainly advanced! I thought planes and rockets were something back when I was really their age. Now mankind has flying ships? Who needs water travel!
"To answer your question," Espie said. "Yes, my father is here. He's below deck right now. Though…he kinda got sick a little bit before you arrived."
Sammy gave her an apologetic look. "That's too bad. I should probably stay away from him until he gets better, right? Don't want to freak him out with all this strangeness."
Frank chuckled. "We've seen stranger things than people coming back to life. Hazel actually came back to life when Leo and I were teens."
He went on to explain Hazel's life up to this point; how she had died in Alaska six months after leaving New Orleans; how she came back to life almost 70 years later; her involvement in this weird war against giants and the earth itself; how she was related to the Roman god of death and riches—which Sammy kind of already knew, since the god had introduced himself to Sammy.
It was a bit much to take in, but, being dead, Sammy had an easy time believing most of it. Were he still the ignorant old man from a few decades ago, he might have turned his nose up at the whole 'dying and coming back to life' thing. But now he was actually doing just that. The universe was just full of surprises.
Suddenly, a yell came from the stairs that most likely led to the lower decks of the ship.
A tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man ran onto the deck, panting and looking flustered. The blonde man raced across the deck and stood beside Frank.
Frank asked, "What's wrong, Jason?"
The man—Jason—huffed, "It's Leo. He's…"
Esperanza stiffened. "What's wrong with Papi?"
Leo? Sammy thought. I hope he's alright! I don't want to come back to life to see my great-grandson suddenly die!
Jason grimaced. "Well…he's not sick anymore…"
Footsteps echoed on the stairs. A blonde woman with teary grey eyes burst onto the deck. She was clutching her stomach, laughing.
"Oh, gods," she giggled. "That's hilarious! I'd be concerned, but right now I need to laugh at this! I'm sorry, it's just too rich!" She burst into a fit of laughter again, using the railing to steady herself.
Another figure appeared on deck.
It was a small Hispanic teen boy with curly black hair, deep brown eyes, and impish features—pointy ears, round face, etc. He was scrawny, his clothes literally hanging off him. The boy was holding up his way too big overalls with one hand and waving a worn tool belt in the other. He had a deep scowl on his face.
"It's not funny, Annabeth!" he yelled in an all-too-familiar voice.
This boy had to be Leo, though Sammy was confused about his appearance and youthful look. Apparently, this was not a normal thing, for everyone's reactions just screamed abnormality.
Other-Sammy burst out laughing. "You shrank," he howled in laughter.
Espie giggled, trying to hide her amusement. "Papi, you look just like Tulio, now!"
Frank was red-faced, failing at hiding his smile.
The boy's scowl deepened. "I will set you all on fire," he threatened.
Sammy was scared of this, but the others seemed to just laugh harder. Does he always threaten them with fire? Wait, why would he say that in the first place?
Then he remembered Esperanza telling him Leo had been born with the gift of fire. She had said poor Leo couldn't control it as a child.
Well at least he's confident enough with it now to make threats with it…
Then Leo locked eyes with Sammy. He tilted his head. "Why's Tulio dressed like that?" he asked distractedly.
Tulio piped up behind the boy, "I'm over here, Papi."
The boy kept turning his head back and forth between Tulio and Sammy so fast Sammy thought he might get whiplash.
Sammy waved at his great-grandson. "Hello, Leo. I bet you wouldn't remember me…much less recognize me at this age!"
Leo blinked multiple times, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Bisabuelo?" he asked disbelievingly.
Sammy nodded, smiling warmly. "Yes."
Leo's eyes rolled to the back of his head. He collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.
Sammy exchanged a glance with Frank. Frank shrugged. "I said we've seen stranger. I never said Leo would be able to handle something of this magnitude. Especially when he's dealing with his own weirdness."
Sammy nodded and walked over to his stunt-double. He shook his head at the passed-out Valdez. "Today's just not his day, is it?"
A/N: Hee hee. Plot twists all around!
Happy Halloween everybody!
