Hey there! Welcome to another PJO story of mine!
Okay, so here's the thing. I have a shit ton of PJO oneshots and stories lying around in my drive and somehow? I never? posted them? Like?
I'm stupid, okay?
Anyway, since there seem to be a lot of love missing for Leo Valdez, I'm gonna love him.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own PJO, HOO or any other amazing creations from Uncle Rick. He does. If I ever get to meet him will I shake his hand and punch him in the jaw? Yes. Yes I will.
ON THE FIC!
"Take her! Take her away from here!" a woman's voice echoed through the loud cries of the night.
"But Mara…!" her male counterpart tried to reason with her, but the woman was set. Taking the small bundle in her arms, she pushed it into the hands of a maid that waited patiently – and beyond scared – for the argument between the couple to end.
"Tamiya." The woman – Mara – smiled to the maid "Take her away from here. Our solemn wish was to watch her grow and become the woman she is meant to be. But if to protect her I need to lay down my life… so be it."
"Queen Mara…"
"Find her a loving home, Tamiya. And make sure that, when the time comes, she learns who she really is."
"Yes, my Lady." Tamiya bowed deeply.
"And Tamiya?" the male called.
"Yes, King Nidhal?"
"Pray to the gods to protect her."
( O_ O)
"Leo, hurry that ass!" Annabeth's voice screamed from the other side of the door.
"I'm coming, hold up!" he turned to the door to glare at it, before looking back to the laptop "I gotta go."
"Then go, what are you waiting for?" a melodic voice rang from the speakers "Your life is waiting for you out there!"
"You know my answer to that, don't you?" he raised an eyebrow before grabbing his backpack.
"I do…" the laugh was even more perfect! "Bye, Leo."
"I'll hit you up tonight if Percy lets me live." He winked and closed the laptop. "What?!"
"Who were you talking to in there?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"My ultimate ego, what's up?" he grinned "Can't a guy have his moments in front of the mirror?"
"Oh, gods." The blonde rolled her eyes "Let's just go, Valdez."
The two walked to the training fields where Percy and Chiron waited for them. The son of Poseidon grinned when he saw Annabeth, and the centaur waved at the two newcomers. The plan had already been made, and teams paired up. Percy and Annabeth were together – obviously – and Piper had decided to pass this one on, leaving Leo to pair up with the first person that showed some interest.
The point of the game was to find an item hidden somewhere in the Camp. There were clues on the locations, riddles to be deciphered and people that knew the answer to some of the questions. Everyone was excited, and Rachel was ready to give away the first clue. Percy took Annabeth's hand and smiled softly, and she grinned back.
"Okay, is everyone ready?" Rachel smirked "Go to where the fire gets hot. It's black and metal like a pot."
"What the he-HEY!" Percy let out, being immediately dragged away by Annabeth.
"Care to tell me where we are going?" he laughed.
"Campfire." She smirked, and the raven-haired boy rolled his eyes. Only his Wise Girl to solve a riddle so fast.
"You're not participating?" Will was leaning against the doorway of the infirmary.
"I have no desire to pursue in a silly game in where the winning prize is a week-free of any kind of chores." His soft voice rang from the tree branch above him, and Will smiled.
"Is this because you have no one to play with?"
"Hn. As if I care about that." He rolled his eyes and hid further in the shadows.
"You know…" Will looked up to the dark kid "If I weren't on duty, I would be your partner."
"Shut up, Solace." He rolled his eyes, but Will could see that he wasn't fully opposed to the idea.
"Sure thing, Nico."
.
"Where are you going?" Leo asked.
"To the Aphrodite Cabin. I heard they have a clue!"
Leo groaned but followed, nevertheless. He was received by Drew who eyed him up and down before proclaiming "Roses are red, Violets are blue, you'll never guess where I've hidden the clue."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now hurry up and find it so I can go inside and finish my nails." She rolled her eyes and pointed inside. Leo glanced at the only thing misplaced: a flowery pot on top of the desk.
The son of Hephaestus rolled his eyes and walked inside, picking up the pot and grabbing the paper under it. Drew kicked them out and closed the door, and Leo turned to his pair to read the clue. "On a hot day, I give you a cool seat. Come sit there now and find what you seek."
"That is just too random!"
"I know, but we need to figure out. Where do we sit under in the summer?"
"Inside, near an AC? In the shade? Get yourself a hat?"
"Wait, what did you say?"
"'Get yourself a hat?'"
"Before that."
"'Inside, near an AC?'"
"After that."
"'In the shade'."
"That's it! A tree, bro!"
The two ran to the edge of the forest, running their quizzical eyes over the general view of it. Leo's gaze trailed over the barks of the trees, trying to find some sort of abnormal aspect in them, but he had found nothing so far. The two entered the forest, looking out for clues or pieces of information that could help them find the next clue.
.
"Found it!" Annabeth shouted, grabbing a piece of paper from under a rock.
"What does it say, Wise Girl?" Percy rewarded her with a quick kiss before turning his attention to the paper.
"'I may wake you up in the morning but when I leave it is usually time to go to bed'. What does that mean?"
"Well… An alarm clock can't tell you to go to sleep, despite waking you up." He suggested "My mom usually wakes me up, but that doesn't mean that when she leaves is bed time."
"Let's think of this a bit more… antique. People woke up with animals, roosters singing, right?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So… what wakes up the roosters?"
"The sun?"
"And when it goes down, that means the night came. Hence the time to go to bed." She smirked.
"Where are we gonna find a sun?" Percy frowned.
"Well, Chiron said that all the clues and answers are either locations or people, and they were always a pair. So, if we found this clue in a location, that means someone has the next clue. Someone is the answer to this."
"Could it be the Apollo cabin?" the male suggested, and Annabeth smiled brightly.
"Maybe even the head of the Apollo cabin." She winked, kissing his cheek "Maybe that head of yours isn't so full of kelp as I thought, Seaweed Brain."
"Why, thank you." He took her hand "Shall we?"
A couple of minutes later, the couple was entering the infirmary. Lee Fletcher immediately turned to them and smiled, pointing them in the direction of the back office. They quickly got there, and Will lifted his bright blue eyes from the papers he was organizing. Nodding at the view of them, the blond stood up and walked to them.
"Funny of Rachel to put the answer to my riddle the Sun." he smiled "Good job you two."
"Thanks Will." Annabeth smiled "You have a riddle for us?"
"I do. It's the last one, however. Are you ready?"
"Yeah, shoot!"
"Where is the treasure chest?" he smiled and waved them off "Good luck!"
"What kind of riddle is that?!"
.
"Found it!" the male shouted, and Leo ran to him.
"What does it say?!"
"'Where darkness creeps and minerals lie, in a mountain I may hide. What am I?'" he read, and Leo sighed.
"Have I mentioned I hate riddles?"
"You have, several times in the past hour." His companion nodded.
"Okay, brainstorm! Keywords are hidden, minerals, mountain and darkness. What am I describing?" The raven-haired male frowned.
"The Seven Dwarfs."
"The Seven Dwarfs? From Snow White?"
"Yeah." He nodded "All I can think about right now is that stupid song that goes 'We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in our mine the whole day through! To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we like to do'."
"A mine… a cave! Man, I could kiss you right now!" Leo exclaimed, grabbing his arm "I know where the reward is!"
The two ran across the forest in the direction of a cave that was common knowledge of the campers. Mainly because it was close to the Council of Cloven Elders, but Leo knew of it because during a hurried race against time and a very pissed off automaton he had built, the cave had been his refuge. Once he got there, he saw Percy and Annabeth arriving the entrance, looking around.
"Guess you found out too, huh?" He called out, and the couple turned to them.
"Leo! You're here!" Percy grinned "How did you find out?"
"Buddy man here remembered the Seven Dwarfs." He smiled proudly "Have you seen what the item is yet?"
"No, but we could go get it together. And maybe split the reward?" Percy suggested, and Annabeth nodded in agreement "Percy is right. You deserve it as much as we do, we got here at the same time."
"Okay, then let's get inside the damned thing and see what awaits us!"
The four entered the cave, and Leo snapped his fingers to give some light to the dark shadows of the natural refuge. They looked around, seeing the rock walls glimmer due to incrusted gems. But it was Percy who found it. On a thick column of rock, broken in half so it stood 4ft high, was placed a tiara. A golden leaf tiara with three gems in the center. A medium round emerald on the left, a medium round rose quartz on the right and a diamond shaped semi-black opal in the middle.
"What the…" Percy frowned and approached to pick it up.
"Percy be careful. It might be cursed." Annabeth advised, but the boy picked it up nevertheless. It was light and thin, but resistant.
"It's not cursed. It's just a crown."
"Technically, it's not a crown. It's a tiara." Leo smirked "But okay, yeah. What do we do with it?"
"Prance around and hope it sends out a curse?" Leo's companion suggested.
"Or we take it to Chiron and we show him that we won." Annabeth rolled her eyes and took the tiara away from Percy.
"Yeah, that idea seems better." They nodded and left the cave.
Soon enough, the whole camp was gathered around the campfire as Chiron and Rachel announced the winners and rewarded them with a week-free pass of chores. After dinner and the party subsided, Leo bid his friends goodbye and went back to his Cabin. Entering his room and closing the door behind himself, he practically ran to the computer, turning it on. The image flashed on, of a room with a large bookshelf on the opposite wall, a desk to the left right next to the entrance door, and a queen-sized bed to the right, where a girl was sitting down with a notebook in her hands.
Her humming filled his ears, and he sighed happily. He'd rather just stay put for a bit longer, just watching her do her business than to bother her. She was so beautiful it hurt. Leo noticed the little wrinkle on her forehead that popped up every time something was troubling her, but he would ask her about that soon enough. For now, he settled with watching her write on the notebook, only stopping to hit the high notes of the song she was singing.
"Well, I gotta say, that was one of the best ones so far." He turned on the video chat remotely and watched her as her eyes lit up at the sight of him.
"Leo!" she exclaimed and ran to the desk, plopping down on the chair "How are you?"
"I'm good, as always. You?"
"I'm okay." She smiled "How was today?"
"It was a treasure hunt. Pretty cool to be honest, Jack wasn't all that bad – the guy I paired up with – but we found the item at the same time as Percy and Annabeth. So, the reward was split between the four of us." He told.
"And what was it?"
"A week with no common chores. Oh, this is gonna be good!"
"I'm glad you had fun, Leo." She smiled.
"What's up with you?" he asked, and at her confused look, he continued "Something's troubling you. What's going on?"
"Some things happened at school, nothing you should worry about." she brushed it off.
"Welp, now I'm worried." He fell on the bed with his laptop on his stomach "So start talking."
"Okay, but you have to promise you won't get mad." She pulled her knees up to her chest.
"Did someone hit on you?" he raised an eyebrow.
"…remove the 'on' from that sentence."
"What?! What happened?!" He sat up as quickly as he had been hit by lightning. The computer fell but he quickly picked it up, placing it on his lap.
"To be honest, it's still pretty confusing." She admitted "I mean, after I woke up, the teachers told me I had been attacked by two people, but they weren't members of our school."
"Who attacked you? What did they look like?" Leo asked, but she remained silent "Tell me."
"I… I don't know. My colleagues said they were fair and pretty, with pale skin and blond hair… straight up cheerleaders. But."
"What did you see?" he asked.
"I might be going crazy, Leo, and this time is for sure." She sighed "Nevertheless, I'll tell you. There were two of them. I saw them as… as women with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, and one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg. I'm not joking, Leo, you must believe me."
"Hold up." He looked for an image in his computer, a scan of an old textbook Annabeth had on mythical creatures and found it. "I'm gonna send you an image. Can you tell me if that is what you saw?"
"Sure. Send it. Although I'm all for believing I actually fell and hallucinated the whole thing."
Attachment: 1 image.
"How did you… Leo!"
"Is that what you saw?" he raised an eyebrow, looking into her eyes.
"Yes! That's it! Both of them! How did you…?"
"That's an empousa." He declared, swinging his legs to the floor "That's a monster from the Greek mythology."
"Okay, great, so it has a name. What the freak does it want with me?" she shrieked.
"I don't know. Did she say anything to you?"
"She called me 'prinkípissa' or whatever it was." She gulped "Leo, am I in trouble?"
"No, you're not." He smiled softly "But I'm gonna do something about it."
"What?"
"I'm gonna bring you to Camp Half-Blood." He declared, placing the computer in the bed and standing up, buttoning up his pants and shirt in front of the camera "If you have monsters on your tail and you did nothing, that must mean something. You're in danger, and I'm not gonna let you get hurt."
"Are you going to talk to… Chiron? That's it, right?"
"Yes. I am. He has to do something about this." He tied his shoes quickly.
"Leo?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm scared." She whispered, and the male looked up to her glistering eyes.
"I know. I'm gonna protect you. Yo prometo." He smiled.
"Okay." She nodded "Thank you."
"I'm gonna go now. I'll talk to you soon, okay? For now, try to relax. Record a song for me, okay?" he kissed two fingers and put them in front of the camera, smiling as she did the same.
"Okay. See you, Leo." And she hung up.
The male took off from his cabin and walked to the Big House. He entered and walked to the Rec Room, where he heard Chiron and Annabeth talking about the efficiency of the game played earlier. Leo knocked and entered after hearing Chiron's permission slip. He closed the door and eyed the three occupants of the room: Annabeth, Mr. D and Chiron.
"Leo! What brings you here?" Chiron asked, his tone jovial and carefree.
"I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we have a situation, Chiron."
"What's going on, Leo?" Annabeth frowned.
"Well, do tell, child!" Mr. D complained.
"I… There has been an attack by monsters in a high school. I came to know about it by no other than the person herself. She was attacked by empousai, probably the same ones that attacked you and Percy." He turned to Annabeth.
"Oh no. That cannot happen. We need to bring her to Camp ASAP. We cannot let a child be out there, alone! She must be brought here as fast as possible!" Chiron declared "Which is the school, Leo?"
"East High School. In Utah." He declared.
"That's odd. I have a satyr in that school and they reported back to me that there are no half-bloods around." Chiron frowned.
"That's because… she isn't a half blood. She's 100% human." Leo gulped.
"Then I'm sorry, Leo, but my hands are tied."
"What?!"
"There's nothing I can do if she's human, my boy…"
"She saw them! She saw the empousai as clearly as I'm seeing you! They called her princess, and the only reason why she was left alone was because someone walked in on the two empousai! I know they are going to try to attack her again, and next time, she might even lose her life! And you tell me you can't do anything because she's human?!" Leo shouted.
"Leo, calm down." Annabeth tried.
"I won't calm down!" his anger was oozing off him like heat, and a small spark could be seen in his palms "You sit there, claiming you do everything in your power to help people, but you can't even help her?!"
"Leo, even if I did choose to help her, what would I do? She can't cross the barrier!"
"I'll figure out a way! I'll build a safe house for her; I'll protect her myself if I have to! But please, help me help her!" he shouted, and Mr. D stood up.
"Enough." His voice resonated through the walls "Why don't you put that fire out, boy?"
Leo looked down to see a bright flame glowing in his hands. He blew them out and turned back to the god. "Sorry."
"You heard Chiron. She can't stay here, so we have no way to help her." He declared, and raised his hand to stop Leo "However, there are some mortals who prove themselves useful. If she survives, that is."
"So, basically you're not gonna do anything." He growled.
"I suppose that's an effortless way to summon it up." Mr. D took a sip from his Diet Coke.
Leo stormed out of the building.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Annabeth looked up to Chiron.
"I'm afraid not, Annabeth. This happens sometimes. And unfortunately, the most we can do is acknowledge it and pray for them." The centaur sighed deeply.
"I'm gonna go check on Leo." She declared and ran after him.
The daughter of Athena left the Big House and looked around, spotting a familiar face. It was Piper, and she looked confused. After asking Annabeth why the hell had Leo left the Big House on fire – literally – Annabeth explained her what had happened, and the two quickly found the male sitting in front of the campfire. He was no longer on fire, but his shirt had been burned down to ashes and laid at his feet. Piper sat at his right and Annabeth at his left, quietly waiting for him to speak up.
"This can't happen." He spoke after a few minutes, his voice hoarse.
"I'm sorry, Leo…" Annabeth tried.
"They have to save her." His breath hitched, and Piper looked his way. For the first time in her entire lifetime, Leo was…
"Leo, are you… crying?" the Cherokee female placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I need her, Pipes." He gulped down his tears and brought his hands to hide his face "And they won't do anything to save her!"
He burst into tears, and turned his head in Piper's direction, who immediately wrapped her arms around him and pulled him to her. Annabeth turned her body to him and placed her forehead on Leo's back, wrapping her arms around his waist as he sobbed uncontrollably. It took him a while to calm down, but when he did, Annabeth pulled away and took one of his hands.
"Leo… who is she?" Annabeth carefully asked.
"Her name…" he sniffed, turning his body to the fire but keeping his head on Piper's shoulder "Her name is Cassie. Cassandra. She huh, we go way back. Like, childhood back. And she… she's important to me. I can't lose her."
"You won't." Annabeth declared "I have a plan to save her and bring her here."
"You do?" Both Piper and Leo turned to her.
"I do. But I'm going to need your help, Piper."
"Anything." She nodded.
"Good. Why don't you go to bed, Leo? I'll arrange the plan with Piper."
"I want in."
"You can't. If Chiron finds out, you will be the first one to blame, and you can't know about it." Annabeth explained "Trust me. We'll bring you Cassandra back."
"Okay." He nodded, getting up "Thanks."
"Of course." Piper watched him walk away and eventually disappear "What is that plan of yours?"
"Something risky that, if you can't pull this off, we might as well be goners."
"Okay… I like it. What else?" Piper smirked.
"Come on." Annabeth stood up "We need to wake up two people."
A/N: Yeah, I thought there was more to it too.
Who the hell is this Cassandra person?
First to review gets a free block of cheese!
PS: Don't kid yourself, my chapters are usually not this long.
LoneeWolf :)