And here is the final part of the Cedric/Darien/Aura/Jadon trilogy. All of your questions will hopefully be answered and I hope that you enjoy the final farewell to those four characters. Next weeks chapter will be on another character.
Logwet : I really love cliffhangers P:)
Melancholy's Sunshine : Maybe a little bit of both childish and badass Leo will come out. Oh, and I have something special planned for officer Cormac later on.
Creampuffs-and-fluff : Thank you, and I get so excited by all these lovely reviews that all of you reviewers are giving me.
Skyfir3S4kur4 : I'm sorry for hurting you, but I can't guarantee that there won't be anymore in the future ;)
ObsessedwReading : Thank you and don't worry, Leo will definitely reunite with both of them this chapter.
Alvin6299 : Thanks and it will all work out for Leo, though whether this will be in a good way or a bad way you'll have to read to find out.
Connwaer Heap : Oh, Leo will be getting his answers one way or another. And yes, it is quite sad that in the end Leo's actions were for naught. And thank you for the compliments, you all know how to make me blush.
Matt : He would be but unfortunately Nico isn't going to be in this one.
Hermes child awesomness : I'm glad that you like the characters, and I hope that this is a quick enough update for you.
Guest : Teehee that might just happen.
Gavroche Is Life Itself : :)
Sidda : I usually ship Ron and Harry because I love pretty much all Ron angst. And I'm a massive anime fan so I think that I understand. I think that I'd prefer Percy as Leo's sempai and then Leo as Nico's sempai. I think that Leo and Percy would both make awesome sempais.
Our Mismatched Socks : I'm glad that you liked it. And, no, Cedric didn't die. I think that you have him mixed up with Diggory who is a completely different character (I didn't realise how confusing having a character called Cedric and a character called Diggory would be until I had already done it),
Disclaimer : I think that you all understand by now that HOH is not mine.
Leo folded his arms and morphed his face into the sternest expression he could manage.
"Cedric." The older boy stirred, his head appearing from underneath his covers to peer blearily at the bars. Leo could pinpoint the exact moment that Cedric realised that it was him.
With a thump, the now twenty one year old man rolled out of bed and landed on the floor. He scrambled to the bars of the spell, hastily kicking the bed sheets behind him. His eyes locked onto Leo's and Leo shrank back from the dishevelled, defeated appearance of a person who he had once looked up to.
Cedric's eyes were bloodshot and a tiny scar was clear on his jaw. His hair was tousled and matted and although he was more muscular than the last time Leo had seen him, he also held the appearance of someone who had not eaten properly in a long while.
"Leo." His voice was raspy, not from disuse but from overwhelming emotion.
Tentatively, his fingers stretched beyond the bars of his cell to gently rest upon Leo's face.
"A knife Cedric. Seriously?" The hand that had been lightly resting against his cheek rested sharply at this, and Cedric's hollow eyes turned downwards in shame.
"It wasn't mine." These words were stifled by emotions, and Leo's hand clenched around one of the bars of the cell to stop himself falling over. He couldn't afford to be lenient right now, if Cedric was lying then he deserved to be behind bars no matter how much Leo might despise that situation.
"Then why did you have it?" Cedric's eyes met his again and Leo felt himself quaking at the sheer, desperate intensity within them.
"How are you even here? You left, they beat you up and you left. Why?" These words were choked, and Leo's compassionate side raised it's head. He reached between the bars and grabbed Cedric's hand. The older boy reciprocated.
"I wanted to see you guys again. I didn't expect this." Leo half heartedly gestured with his free hand, narrowly missing Hazel who was standing near him. Cedric's stare didn't deviate from Leo's face.
"Neither did I." A bitter smile tipped his mouth up. Leo snatched his hand back angrily.
"Then why were you trying to arm the gang?" Cedric drew his hands inwards and shuddered. He appeared to shrink before Leo's eyes and his heart ached at the sight of the once proud leader so broken and distraught.
"They were going to slaughter us. They outnumbered us and they didn't seem to care how badly they hurt us. I just wanted more defence, but Darien was adamant that we shouldn't stoop to their level. I wouldn't betray him like that, even if he broke up with me. The knife wasn't mine Leo." Leo believed him. His tone was adamant despite the darkness in his eyes.
"Then why didn't you tell them who's knife it was? You could have gotten out of this..." Leo was cut of by a broken laugh, a hollow chuckle that hurt him to hear. Cedric's pained gaze pierced through him.
"The knife was Jadon's." Leo's hands tightened against the bars as those words looped around his brain. Why would Jadon have a knife? None of the options that Leo could think of were good. Besides him, Hazel exhaled loudly in shock at this announcement, and her hand sought Leo's back in a form of comfort.
"We - Darien and I - had a massive falling out with both Jadon and Aura for not warning us about your idiotic plan to run away. Aura forgave us pretty easily once we had apologised, but Jadon seemed to be drifting away from us. He was colder, almost paranoid. We came to rely on him more and more as the stupid war deteriorated and his way of coping with the pressure seemed to be freezing us all out so that he could focus on what he was doing. I thought... I thought that we should leave him to it. If that as how he dealt with his mess, who was I to take away his coping mechanism?" Leo felt a coil of misery within his stomach. Jadon had suffered so much due to his absence and the entire gang had been affected by his stupidity.
"Eventually I decided that we had to confront him about his paranoia. He switched from icy calmness to hysterical panicking most days and it was hard to watch. So I went to his room. I found him inside, slipping a knife into the back of his pants. I... I'd been drinking a lot as the stress if the war took its toll and I lost my temper with him completely. I screamed at him for hours, I was so hypocritical. I just needed to vent my rage and Jadon was unfortunately in my way. He kept protesting, trying to tell me that the knife wasn't for any of the reasons that I was thinking of, but I had been worried about his hysteria for a while and this seemed like condemning evidence that the kid was going crazy." Leo's shoulders shook with the effort needed to stop himself from weeping like a kid at this news. What had happened to Jadon in his absence to make him sound so unhinged.
"I staggered away from the hideout, drunk out of my mind and fully intending to sink the knife in the closest body of water that I could find. I was too out of it at that point to realise how impractical my plan was. I was swaying as I walked and an police officer came over to see if I was alright. He saw the knife in my hand and arrested me on the spot. They gave me a night to sober up. They asked me about the knife, and I just couldn't give Jadon up. I kept getting flashbacks to when he was an innocent little twelve year old who worshipped the very ground you walked on." Leo leant his head against the bars.
This was all just too much. Cedric was in jail because he had taken a knife of Jadon who had turned into a paranoid mess. The gang were at war with Cruella. Everything had gone to Hades. And Leo had to find a way to fix it. After all, this was his fault, he was obliged to find a solution. The fact that his gang family was in turmoil was another factor in his need to find a solution. Leo decided not to tell Cedric that Jadon had gone missing just yet. The boy had enough to worry about.
He leant forwards, stretching his arms as far as he could in an attempt to loop them around Cedric's neck. The older boy seemed to catch on to what Leo was attempting as he shuffled his haggard form closer, slotting his arms through the bars either sides of the ones that Leo was sticking his arms through and fastening them around Leo's waist.
It wasn't exactly the most comfortable hug ever, but it was so charged with emotion that Leo remained within it for longer than he had intended.
As he drew back, he wished that he could break his friend out. He also knew that Cedric would never accept that. No matter what his flaws were, no one could claim that Cedric wasn't honourable, and although his imprisonment was wrongful, he would see it as punishment for his reliance on alcohol and his self perceived failing the gang.
"I'll see you again soon Cedric. Hopefully by then everything will be sorted out." Cedric smiled wistfully as Leo turned to go.
"It was good to see you again." He muttered. Leo sent him a final smile.
"You to."
As he left the prison with Hazel, they carefully undid any damage that they had inadvertently or purposefully caused to the security of the building.
They exited silently and after they had gotten far enough away Hazel dispelled her mist cover.
"So it looks like Jadon is at the root of this problem." Hazel's voice was quiet, but her words struck Leo like a blow.
"He must have a reason, he must!" Hazel nodded at him mournfully and they headed back to the hotel in a silence that was a lot more strained than before.
As they approached the hotel, a figure in a stained and torn hoodie became visible, slumped against the wall of the building.
The demigods approached cautiously, in this area they had gangs to worry about as well as monsters and they weren't taking any chances.
"Are you okay?" Leo's voice was suitably concerned and the figure's head snapped up at the sound of it.
This action caused the hood to fall back, revealing a very familiar face.
"Jadon!" Leo stared at the pitiful figure on the ground and his heart wrenched. He wanted to be annoyed at his childhood friend, Cedric was in jail due to him after all, but Jadon seemed terrified, his pupils blown wide with fear and his body trembling slightly.
"Leo! You really did turn up..." Leo was baffled by this statement.
"What do you mean?" Jadon stood shakily and pulled Leo into a tight hug.
"I had a dream that you would be here. That you would help me." It was at this moment that the other demigods poured out of the hotel, ready to curse and shout at him and Hazel.
Everyone halted at the sight of Jadon who was currently squeezing the life out of Leo.
For one awkward moment, everybody just stood and stared at each other (Leo swore that he could hear crickets in the distance). And then something clicked.
"Wait, you said that you had a dream?" Jadon released him and nodded, snivelling a little bit.
"I think that we should go inside and talk." That was Percy and he didn't sound impressed.
Leo nodded so Percy wouldn't murder him there and then. He then grabbed Jadon's arm.
"You need to come with us." Jadon agreed and they all filed in.
Once again everyone gathered in the boy's room, though this time they had the addition of Jadon.
"Well I've heard Darien and Aura's side of the story, and I've just came back from finding out Cedric's side of the story, so I guess it's time for you to tell me our side." Leo knew that his friends wanted to know what he and Hazel had just been up to, especially after the mention of Cedric, but Leo homed in on Jadon.
Because Leo was formulating a theory and only Jadon's tale could confirm or negate it.
"Cruella's a bloody monster!" The older teen exclaimed. Leo raised an eyebrow and wondered whether or not he should be hoping that this was the case.
"Leo, you fight monsters, don't you?" Leo stared at Jadon blankly, waiting for Jadon to elaborate. It looked like Leo's theory was only just beginning to dawn on the rest of the demigods.
With a shaky breath, Jadon reached underneath his shirt and pulled out Leo's old ring.
Jadon ran a hand through his shock of blonde hair before presenting the ring to Leo.
Leo took it reverently, slipping the band onto his skinny finger. It was still too big on him, but it wasn't as big as it had been when he was ten.
"Thank you." He mumbled, and Jadon gave him a proper smile, minus all of the negative emotions that he had been previously displaying. He then began to speak, addressing all of the demigods, but mostly directing his speech to Leo.
"If you've talked to the others then I assume you know about the gang war?" Leo inclined his head to indicate that he had while running his finger over the band. He had Harley's ring on the opposite hand and Leo felt secure with symbols of both his past and present adorning his fingers.
"I mostly stayed off of the front line as I'm more of a healer than a fighter." Alarm bells began ringing in Leo's head.
"But occasionally I would be drawn into a fight and I began noticing things about some of the gang members we were fighting. No one else saw what I saw and I thought that I was going insane. This went on from after the year you left and I thought that maybe losing you had tipped me over the edge, especially when Darien and Cedric turned against me."
What did you see?" Annabeth's voice held a note of urgency as she asked this question.
"Some of the girls we were fighting,, well, they had one donkey leg and one prosthetic leg and their hair was made of fire. Everyone except me just saw a bunch of pretty girls, and for some reason they would always target me." Leo's fists clenched as the rest of the seven gasped. The only logical explanation that could be derived from this was that Jadon was a demigod. And Leo had a pretty good idea of who his godly parent was. Blonde hair, good at healing and Leo had heard him sing once and the teen was incredible. Jadon was a son of Apollo.
It was at this moment that the light in the room intensified. A mini sun had appeared over Jadon's head and as it bobbed around a mini golden arrow pierced it.
Jadon looked horrified.
"What's going on!" He spluttered, and Annabeth stood up.
"Hail Jadon, son of Apollo." She said in Chiron's stead before she explained claiming. Said boy stared up at her in confusion as Percy grouched on about how Jadon was eighteen and that he should have been claimed ages ago.
"Jadon, it's hard to believe, but the Greek Gods are real, as are their Roman forms. Everyone here is a child of the Gods." Jadon gaped at him, jaw occasionally moving as if he was about to speak but couldn't find the words.
"Monsters are also real, the descriptions that you just gave us suggest that those girls are really empousai." Jadon just looked dumbfounded.
"Is that why you got a knife?" Jadon turned to Percy, who was the one to ask this, with an incredulous look.
"They had freaking flames for hair. What the hell was a punch going to do against that?" Percy looked sheepish at this.
They gave the distraught boy a few minutes to absorb this information, but Jadon's expression was becoming more and more curious.
"So what Gods are you all children of?" They all answered this quickly, naming the God or Goddess, whether they were Greek or Roman and also what they were God or Goddess of.
Leo was last to speak, and Jadon's amazement as he stared at him was kind of embarrassing. He couldn't help but wonder if the older boy had gotten over his crush on him yet.
"So do any of you have, umm, powers?" Jadon's question was hesitant, but all the demigods answered him calmly, some with small demonstrations. For his demonstration, Leo made a small ball of fire hover over his palm. Nothing too flashy, but Jadon still seemed awed by it.
"So do you have any powers?" Jason sat back against his headboard as he scrutinised Jadon.
"I... I can heal people in a way and I have really good aim if that counts for anything." They all nodded and Piper informed him that these were typical Apollo traits.
And then another startling truth slammed into Leo's mind.
"Wait, so Cruella is an empousa? And if so, why didn't she kill me when she had the chance?" Jadon looked stricken, both because he was probably imagining tiny ten year old Leo getting murdered by an empousa but also because Leo had given her an opportunity to do so.
"Didn't Gaia say that the Fates wouldn't allow her to kill you? Maybe Cruella was bound by the same thing." Annabeth's reasoning made sense, and Leo was content to leave it at that. He wasn't about to question a decision that had kept him alive.
Everybody seemed to be digesting the news that Leo had been saved from getting killed by a monster at the age of ten purely because of the Fates intervention. It wasn't a pleasant thought. And the next thought that Leo had wasn't much better.
"If Cruella's gang is mostly made up of monsters then we're going to have to take them out, aren't we." The other members of the seven nodded and Jadon looked morose.
"What about the human members?" Leo hadn't considered that problem. That's why he was lucky to be part of a team.
"Empousai can use charmspeak so the human members are probably being forced to do her bidding. After we defeat the monsters then the effect should wear off."
Leo was all for charging out right now and taking down the monster gang, but the others shot that idea down. They made some compelling arguments about how everybody needed some sleep and that Leo had promised to visit the gang again tomorrow. It was already early hours of the morning, and although Leo was fine with no/minimal levels of sleep, the others (especially Jadon) all looked like they could use some.
Jadon was arranging to meet them tomorrow after they visited the gang when Leo began to wonder where exactly Jadon was staying. After all, the gang hadn't managed to find him.
"Jadon, where have you been staying anyway?" The older boy flushed and shifted uncomfortably. Leo knew that that meant Jadon had been on the streets, and he wasn't going to let his friend go back to them now.
"You can stay with us if you want." He knew that his friends wouldn't mind. Jadon seemed to dither over this, and Leo decided that it was time for his secret weapon.
He leant forwards and put on his best puppy dog eyes.
"I'd really appreciate it if you stayed Jadon. I missed you." Jadon was helpless in front of the power of Leo's cutest puppy dog eyes and soon the girls were all leaving as Leo got ready for bed. When he was ready he walked over to Jadon.
"You can share my bed if you want." Jadon looked stricken by this.
"Even though I'm gay?" He muttered, and Leo rolled his eyes before tugging him over to the bed.
"I don't care that you're gay, you're still my friend. Now come on, the quicker we go to sleep the quicker we rid the streets of monsters." They climbed into bed, and Leo noticed with a slight twinge of amusement that Jadon was trying to keep as far away from him as physically possible.
Leo shifted so that he was facing Jadon and curled up so that his head was buried into Jadon's chest.
"Relax Jadon." He muttered, and he felt as Jadon's muscles gradually loosened as he drifted off.
Leo woke up to a camera flash. He wiped his eyes blearily and realised that he was draped over a blushing Jadon, and that Piper was standing at the foot of the bed taking pictures.
"Piper, I will murder you if your cabin get a hold of those." His friend giggled and sauntered out of the room, calling over her shoulder that they needed to get ready as the rest of the demigods were waiting for them downstairs in the dining room.
Leo yawned and stretched and then began flipping through his bag for a new set of clothes. He spotted a pile of clothes on Percy's bed with a note lying on top and shuffled over to see what it said.
He read the note and then thrust the clothes towards Jadon.
"Percy said that you looked to be a similar size so he'll lend you some clothes for now. We'll go and fetch your stuff after we meet with the gang again." Leo suddenly found himself in an incredibly tight hug from behind.
"Woah, I know that your grateful and all, but I don't want to be stealing Percy's hug." Leo joked, trying to discern what exactly had shifted in the atmosphere.
"I really missed you Leo. And everything just went downhill after you left. The leaders were so angry at me and Aura. Then we found out that you handed yourself over to Cruella for a beating and the gang went to war. It was so scary watching the relationship between Cedric and Darien get worse and worse while the fighting escalated. And then I found out that I had these freaky powers and that more and more opposite gang members were beginning to look like monsters. I had to run because the fighting got worse whenever I was around."
"Monsters target demigods more than normal humans. What I don't get is why Cruella went to war with a bunch of mortals anyway." He could feel Jadon shrug as the taller boy's head nestled into the crook between his neck and shoulder.
"You know that the knife was mine, that Cedric took it off me and then go arrested. I wanted to confess so badly. But I knew that they would probably keep Cedric in custody anyway as a runaway child, and then no one would be able to heal the worst of the gang's injures. But the pressure and the guilt got to me, I couldn't stay." Leo sighed.
"You know Darien thinks that he drove you away and Cedric feels guilty for not noticing what was wrong sooner." Jadon pulled back from the hug and turned Leo around so that the fiery demigod was staring into his wild eyes.
"Why would they do that, I was the one who messed up?"
"Well, Darien doesn't know that the knife was yours." Jadon cringed at this.
"And they both think that they could have done more to comfort you when I left." Jadon shook his head.
"They shouldn't blame themselves for me being an idiot."
"Well they do. And do you know why?" Jadon shook his head.
"Because we are a family. Even if we both left we are still a part of the gang." Jadon's eyes welled up at this, and Leo sent him a soft smile.
"We'll clear all this mess up after we do away with the monsters. But first we need to get ready as I don't want them to eat all of the good food before I get there."
Piper had used her status (after claiming that Leo owed her for making her pull this stunt) to get Jadon breakfast as well despite the fact that he hadn't been legally booked into the hotel. She had also paid to get an extra bed put in the boy's room.
Jadon had retreated back there with Leo's DS to entertain him while the others had ventured back to the gang headquarters.
The second visit went pretty much the same way as the first, Aura and Darien filling them in on some more important details of the gang war while Leo was occasionally accosted by members who recognised him.
However, this time when they left they had a definite plan of how to help the gang. Piper had subtly coaxed information about where Cruella and her cronies (Leo noted that that would make a great band name, Cruella and the cronies) could possibly be holed up.
Using their demigod wisdom and knowledge of battle, they had narrowed down her possible location to the four most likely destinations.
As they stood in the elevator on the way up to their floor they divvied out the locations and came across one fatal flaw of their plan.
The seven of them couldn't equally cover all four locations on their own at the exact same time. One person would be forced to cover the final location on their own, and that plan wasn't acceptable to any of them.
The only solution was to ask Jadon to team up with them. An untrained demigod who had only just found out what he was.
They entered the boys room (their now designated meeting space) and smiled at Jadon who instantly turned off Leo's DS and flung it to the side, portraying just how nervous he had been whilst they were gone.
Annabeth filled him in on their plan to take out the monsters.
"I'll help out. I need to help out." Jadon's voice was steady, firm, and Leo was proud of his old friend. He was going to make a great demigod. Leo made a mental note to talk to Jadon about camp later, they had enough to deal with right now.
"Well it looks like I have my partner then." Leo smiled and rooted in his belt for one of the daggers that he stored in there. A bow would be better for a son of Apollo but Leo knew that Frank hadn't brought his spare so a dagger would just have to do.
They had decided to head out in the evening, around six, so they had some time to give Jadon some brief lessons in monster fighting and dagger wielding.
He was pretty good, and Leo felt safe knowing that his friend would have his back.
They had a meal in the dining room at five, and then they were gearing up.
After a round of goodbyes and good lucks, the demigods scattered and headed off to their allocated location.
Leo had cheated though. He had picked the location that he knew was closest to the area where Cruella had resided whilst Leo was in the gang. And he knew she'd be there.
Fate had a strange sense of humour, and the fact that a rival gang from Leo's childhood was literally ran by a monster was typical douche move by fate. At least it had led to his reconciliation with his old friends though.
Silence was their third companion, and Leo could tell it was due to Jadon's nerves. During their training earlier they had explained that only certain types of metal worked on monsters which was why Jadon's knife probably wouldn't work. This had most likely added to his friend's guilt as Cedric had been arrested for possessing Jadon's knife, a knife that wouldn't have done him any good.
Leo had tried to alleviate some of the other boy's guilt, but his words hadn't had as much of an impact as he had hoped.
And now wasn't the time to help get rid of Jadon's emotional problems as their destination came into view.
Leo gestured to the side of the building where the windows were mostly all broken or cracked. They crept towards them and after seeing no sign of anyone, they shimmied through. Jadon had a lot more difficulty with this than Leo, being both taller and bulkier than the Latino, and Leo had to tug him through.
Once both boys had successfully traversed the window, Leo pulled his trademark hammers out his belt and advanced carefully.
"Well, well, well. Two demigods wander into our lair. I didn't get to kill you last time Leo Valdez. I will greatly enjoy the pleasure this time. Monsters slunk out of the shadows, their ranks occasionally punctuated by human thralls.
Her face was less pretty with glowing red eyes, pasty white skin and framed by flames. Her prosthetic leg also made odd clanking noises as she walked, clashing with the sounds made by her hoof.
"I'd say that you got prettier with age, but I don't feel like lying." The gang leader/monster gnashed her teeth together.
"And I'd say that you had gotten funnier but I to don't feel like lying." Leo turned to Jadon with fake amazement.
"Dam Jadon, I'd say that I just got burnt but that's an impossible feat even for that flame head over there. I mean, geez, I've heard of red heads having fiery tempers but she's taking this a bit too far." Cruella's demonic eyes lazily flicked over Jadon.
"I'm going to enjoy killing both of you." She raised one elegant hand and some of her lackeys charged at the demigods.
It was a rough fight, but Leo was taking out quite a few of the minions and Jadon had also managed to send a few to their dusty doom. That was when things went pear shaped.
"Everyone stop!" Cruella's voice was so beautiful that Leo instantly lowered his weapons. He wouldn't want to disobey this beautiful woman now would he? With sinking dread, Leo realised that Cruella had remembered her charmspeak.
"Now demigods, come to me." They both walked forwards obediently, Leo's teeth gritted as he fought the effects and Jadon's eyes fearful as he was easily controlled.
"I was going to let my sisters tear you apart, but I just thought of a much more interesting ending to your lives." She stalked forwards, cupping their chins in a mock-loving manner.
"Don't you want to fight for me boys?" Leo felt frustration and anger rise through him. Yes he did want to fight Jadon. He was angry at Jadon. The older boy had waited until Leo was leaving to confess his crush, making it harder on Leo to go. He had broke his arm once due to petty jealousy. He had gotten Cedric thrown in prison.
One part of Leo was screaming that this was wrong, that he had forgiven Jadon for all of this, but the part that was influenced by Cruella's voice was stronger.
His fists clenched.
"Drop your weapons boys." The empousa ordered, and two of her minions scurried forwards to drag the weapons away.
"Now fight." Leo felt his fire consume his brain, making him lunge forwards and land a solid punch in Jadon's stomach. Jadon's eyes were also angry, and as they boys wrestled on the floor, Leo realised that Jadon had plenty of reasons to be angry at Leo.
Leo had shown him up, hadn't returned his feelings and had left him.
Leo got the upper hand and started landing brutal punches. He wanted to stop, he didn't want to hurt his friend.
"STOP!" Piper's voice radiated power, and Leo was relieved as his body obeyed her command, stilling and no longer pummelling Jadon.
His chest heaved, they had really gone for each other and both boys were battered, though Jadon was admittedly worse.
Now freed from Cruella's influence, Leo rose shakily, hauling Jadon up with him. The older boy leant in.
"I forgive you." Leo understood that these words weren't just for the fight, they were for everything that had happened in the past.
"Me too."
Piper and Jason entered the building angrily. They nodded to their fellow demigods. Leo drew two more daggers from his belt, tossing one to Jadon. They weren't his favourite weapons but the dagger would serve its purpose.
The monsters' attention was completely on Piper, the dangerous girl who could rival the charmspeak of the empousai. This meant that they weren't watching Leo. He slid forwards slowly, drawing closer and closer to the lolita clad monster. And then his dagger was in her back. As she crumbled, her "sisters" shrieked and lunged forwards. The room was filled with action as the four demigods worked in tandem, Godly weapons against monster's claws.
And then it was over and the room was filled with dust and heavy breathing. The thralls looked bemused.
That was when the other demigods burst in.
"Hey guys, you missed the party." Leo flashed them a cheeky grin, as they raced over to inspect everybody's wounds.
He turned his inquisitive gaze upon the duo who had joined him and Jadon in the fight. Piper shot him a dark glare.
"I realised that you had seemed a little to eager to get this location and that this was probably the location that you thought most likely to house the monsters." Leo smiled guiltily as the others confessed to having similar lines of thought, that's how they all got their so soon.
He then grinned deviously.
"So how did it feel to be part of a gang fight?" Jason glared at him and Piper rolled her eyes.
Piper then used her charmspeak to convince the thralls that the gang had disbanded after a massive fight with their group caused the leader and her most trusted members to flee. She then convinced them that they would never harm any members of Leo's old gang again.
After that was sorted, Piper sent them on their way.
Jadon meekly crept forwards.
"Do you want me to heal some of that?" He offered, and Leo shook his head.
"No, we're going to need to convince the gang that we fought hard enough to scare Cruella and her main followers into leaving. For that we could probably use some battle wounds." Jadon agreed to this logic and they headed back to the hotel. On the way back from the warehouse, Leo told Jadon all about camp and the older boy agreed to come back with them. The next day they would all be confronting Darien and Aura and explaining as much of the story as they could to them.
But first they needed to spring someone from jail.
Strangely enough, the man in charge of the jail didn't need too much convincing to release Cedric early on good behaviour, and he objected even less to releasing him instantly. Piper's charmspeak was really being used to its full potential on this trip.
They had given Cedric a little while to get used to being released, especially through such weird circumstances. They had also given him a chance to talk with Jadon. They had all worked out a cover story for why Jadon had had the knife, he was going to say that he had suspected that one Cruella's gang members had had a personal grudge against him and that this vendetta had scared him enough to get a knife to feel a little safer. He hadn't been planning to use it, he just wanted it to threaten the other boy if he made a move against him.
Cedric had swallowed up the whole story and him and Jadon were back to being close.
He also believed their tale of how they had fought the other gang and how Cruella had fled. He had expressed his deepest thanks, but Leo had brushed it off by saying that family needed no thanks.
It was now time to deliver Cedric back to the gang, and for Leo and Jadon to say their final goodbyes. Sure, they were going to try and stay in contact, but when they left they'd be leaving for good.
Alec was on guard duty again as they approached (Leo had a feeling that however the gang allocated chores was rigged). His expression when he saw how beat up some of the demigods were, coupled with the appearance of Jadon and Cedric was hilarious.
He had instantly ran up and attempted to hug Leo, Jadon and Cedric all at once. He had then bounded off to alert Darien and Aura to their appearance. He called over his shoulder to say that they should make their way to the same room as last time.
Leo was about to walk through when Jason tugged him back.
"We're going to stay here. This should be between all of you." Leo smiled gratefully as his friends before leading Cedric and Jadon in.
Many gang members cheered when they caught sight of Jadon and Cedric who waved bashfully (Jadon) or smiled broadly (Cedric).
When Darien and Aura entered, time was a whirlwind of hugs and stories. Everything was cleared up.
When they learned about Jadon being the one to possess the knife, they were a little disappointed in him, but the joy of having them all together again overwhelmed even those negative feelings.
Once every story had been told, Darien stood up and strode purposefully towards Cedric who tensed up, obviously expecting to be hit.
They were all taken by surprise when Darien instead kissed him full force. Cedric reciprocated instantly and Leo pulled a face at Aura who giggled.
The oldest people in the room pulled apart, and Cedric growled playfully at the look on Leo's face.
"Got a problem runt?" Leo shook his head and beamed, The atmosphere in the room was filled with joy and Leo basked in it.
"So are you two here to stay?" Aura asked, eyes flitting between Cedric and Jadon. Jadon froze.
"Actually guys, I'm going with Leo." Aura's face fell and the leaders frowned.
"Jadon, you know that we'd be happy to have you back don't you?"
"Yes, and I'm grateful for that, but after all that has happened, I just don't belong here any more. I know that you would let me stay here, but my place is no longer with the gang. I'm sorry" The gang trio stared at them sadly, though their eyes also held understanding.
"Then we wish you both good luck."
"You to." They left after that, escorted by the leaders and Aura. As they left, members flooded the corridors to say goodbye to the demigods.
It was a humbling thing, to have all of these people flock to you just to say goodbye. It was a sombre occasion, buy also joyous. They were all safe and the lost had been relocated.
When they reached the doors, they both were hugged by the trio.
They swore to stay in touch, and the they were leaving the gang behind for good.
Once they were a suitable distance away from the gang, Jadon placed a hand lightly on Leo's face and healed as much of him as he could with his powers.
"Come on Jadon, it's time to get your stuff. You're gonna love Camp Half Blood.
And there we have it, the end of the gang trilogy. Next time we'll be moving on to a different character. I hope that you enjoyed the gang reunion, I really enjoyed writing it. See you all next time.
