I'm sorry I took so long to post a chapter. I'm sorry the chapter is super short. ok now

catsrawesome yeah tbh i just got really lazy in that chapter (*cough cough* and this one but the next u get to see lots of ppl and reactions to individual pieces of Leo's past)

mondmaedchen i may take a long time between posts and i may post really short things once in a while but i promise i will not abandon this story

killua ok there will be a thing where everyone goes super pissed down to hades but that is not now (i don't want to give anything away but spoilers hades gets everyone even angrier than they are)

melancholy's sunshine ah yes i cannot wait to write angry hera, but alas, that is at least 6 chapters away

also sorry i stuck an oc inthe last chapter (though veritas is the roman god of truth so at least we have that) i just really needed a goddess of truth to get all Leo's angst out. i know how annoying ocs can be and i promise she won't appear again (unless u want her to for some reason)

At first he didn't hear words, only a collective roar of the crowd. He started to feel dizzy as his legs gave out again. He felt arms grab him under the shoulder so he wouldn't fall, but he no longer had the strength to fight. The sensation felt uncomfortably familiar, being unable to escape, and he started gasping for air as he felt the ghost of a knife scraping across his skin. He couldn't breathe, the noise was becoming too much, until he could make out one distinct voice.

"Leo, calm down, breathe, Leo, just-" There was a pause. "WILL EVERYBODY SHUT UP?" The room went silent. "Come on Leo, listen to me, look at me, breathe in… breathe out… breathe in…" This continued for a while until Piper finally calmed him down enough that she trusted she could turn her focus elsewhere for a moment. She look to Jason and Percy, who had ran to grab Leo before he fell. "Let go of him, let him down gently, and give him some space." They did as they were told and Leo slowly sunk into a sitting position. She turned to look at the crowd behind her. "Now, everyone who isn't a part of the seven leave now. Except for Ni- where's Nico?" She directed this question at Will Solace.

"You know where he went." He gave a grimace, he still didn't want his boyfriend shadow traveling yet, but he couldn't deny that it was necessary. Nico needed to have a conversation with his father as soon as possible.

Piper sighed. "Of course." She looked down for a moment. "I kind of needed him here right now, I have the feeling he would have known more about how to relate to him, but-"

Will gave a small smile. "You can't stop a man on a mission. Now go do your mission. I have to go, I wasn't as close to him as-"

"Give an IM to Calypso. Tell her to get down here. His cabin mates too."

"Right." He turned and left.

Piper finally focused her attention on the task at hand. Leo was curled into a ball crying silently, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"Leo-" She paused because she had no clue where to start. After that onslaught of information, where does she begin? "We all love you, and we just want you to be okay. You're not worthless, not by a longshot. You held us together during the quest. We would have broken down and given up if you weren't keeping our spirits up. And you defeated Gaia, for gods' sakes! Not to mention the ship, Leo, only you could have made that. You're a genius, and you're my little brother, and I love you. Please-" She reached out a hand to put on his only to be scorched. She let out a small shriek as she withdrew. He wasn't on fire but he was definitely too hot to touch.

"Sorry." He said miserably, bursting into flames. "Sorry, oh gods, I ruin everything." He started to get up and back away, but was suddenly embraced by someone. "STOP, GET AWAY FROM ME, I DON'T WANT TO BURN YOU!" He shoved the body away from him to find his friend unharmed with the exception of his clothes. "Jason, I- How did you-"

"Lightning is hotter than the surface of the sun, Valdez, I can handle a little heat sometimes." He gave a small smirk.

"Did you know you wouldn't get burned?"

"Lucky guess." He shrugged. "It was worth it. You can't run away from us, Leo. We don't care about any of that stuff. Well, we do, in the sense of we don't want you to be suffering through it, but none of it changes our opinion of you. You're still our best friend. You have to believe me, and if you don't right now, it's okay. But we're going to spend every day working to make you believe it, alright? Just- don't run away. We're going to get through this, together."

Leo started to sob as Jason brought him into his arms again and the others joined in. It was about fifteen minutes later when he finally looked up. "Where did Nico go?"

"Dad!" Nico yelled, having shadow-travelled to the Palace of Hades not two seconds after Leo finished his last confession. "Dad, you are going to talk to me, right now."

His father appeared before him. "What is the matter now, I was just-"

"Sending my friends off to the Fields of Punishment? I know."

"What- oh. This is about that Leo child, isn't it?"

Nico made an almost inhuman growl in the back of his throat. "Don't act as if you've done nothing wrong. You condemned a hero to eternal torture for no good reason, and before he even died."

Hades sighed. "But you see, it was after he died the first time. And he blatantly cheated death, I can't just start being the pushover god, when someone enters my kingdom as one of the dead, they aren't supposed to leave alive. The sea can dry up, the clouds can give way to clear skies, but nothing can make death go away. That's the one thing I have over them. Death is the most inevitable and permanent thing. When I allow someone to come back to life, or allow an exchange of lives, it is considered a miracle. If everyone starts doing it without my permission, I become a joke."

"What about when the Doors of Death were open? How many people escaped death then?"

"They were taking advantage of their circumstances. None of them actually opened the doors themselves so they could escape death. Valdez plotted against me, against his fate. And he would have ended up in Punishment anyway because at the time of his first death he had an unfulfilled oath sworn on Styx. You know how these things go."

"If I know Valdez I know that he would have made sure Calypso got off that island whether or not he was alive."

"You don't know that, it's only a guess. And if he did, he would have been released as soon as it was fulfilled, but as he had to go against me to do it, I will not have him get off so easily."

Nico had a million things he wanted to yell at Hades. Insults, swears, anything that could offend. Yet all that came out of his mouth was a soft "Please, he's my friend."

Hades almost looked regretful for a moment before he regained his composure. "And how long have you known him? More importantly, what did you even know about this boy? If you were such good friends, he must have told you everything about him, right? That's why you showed up here months after he returned, because you're so close that he tells you everything immediately, right? And-"

Nico winced. The words hit a little too close to home. "Stop."

Hades did no such thing. "You need to learn that I can't make exceptions every time you have a friend. I care about you, but I am a god. You can't just meddle in my affairs."

Nico stayed silent for a long time, thinking. "What if- what if he didn't cheat death?"

Hades sighed, curious as to what the boy had come up with. "How would that be possible?"

Nico explained. "A soul for a soul would be fair, would it not? What if someone sacrificed themselves to make up for you losing him?"

He scratched his chin. "It could be possible, but after this amount of time I won't take just any soul. I want a soul I am likely to never get otherwise. A willing immortal soul."

Nico was almost ashamed how fast his thoughts went from sacrificing himself to a certain other person. "If I got you an immortal soul, Leo can go to Elysium?"

"If he is judged as a hero, as I'm sure that will be the case. But whoever sacrifices themselves, I'm afraid, will not end up there. It's not really a sacrifice if you end up in paradise, now is it?"

Nico grimaced. "Asphodel?"

"Fine, I'll give the sacrifice Asphodel, just to do you a favor. Although it's still not much of a punishment for immortals, their spirits don't fade there in the way a mortal's would. Still, I guess it's miserable enough to constitute a sacrifice. Go, now, if you have the soul within a week, I will allow the sacrifice to go through and forgive your friend." Hades swished his hand and Nico was back at Camp Jupiter, surrounded by the seven all huddled around Leo, all of them with tears staining their cheeks. Nico's stomach dropped as he realized what he had agreed to. They weren't going to enjoy hearing this.