Fortunate Son of the Sea God

A/N: Here you go guys another chapter. This one was pretty tough but I think I'm quite satisfied with the final result. Also, I would like to encourage everyone to leave a review from now on. I always read them and I try to use them to help improve the story. Lastly, for those who have read what I've written so far for my first fanfiction: 115: The One, I really don't know what to do with that story. I originally had a direction for it that I thought was pretty solid but after a few chapters I just didn't feel good about it, unlike this story. However, I won't give up on it just yet, I'm going to try and figure out a new direction for the plot and hopefully it works.

See ya next chapter

Disclaimer: I own nothing besides any O.C

Chapter 7: Light My Fire

Leo POV

"Leo, you have a customer!" yelled Leo's helper waking him from his nap. Leo sat up off his back and immediately banged his head on the undercarriage of the car he was napping under. Leo was a mechanic at a repair shop in Houston, Texas and business had been slow that day when he decided to doze off.

The reason he chose to sleep underneath one of the cars was just because that's where Leo felt the most comfortable, around machines. He didn't know why but ever since he was a small child he had always held a fascination in how things work and whether or not he could take something apart and put it back together good as new.

Leo laid his head back down and slowly slid out from under the car while muttering a few swear words.

His assistant, Betty, stood waiting for Leo at the entrance of the shop with a man in a wheelchair. As Leo made his way over to them, he became suspicious of the man's true intentions. He was wearing a full military uniform complete with nice shiny shoes and a prim and proper haircut. Leo was barely able to make out what his name was from the front of the uniform

CHIRON

"What a stupid name to give your child," Leo thought to himself as he walked over and shook the man's hand. Leo didn't immediately realize that his hands were still greasy and dirty from working on cars all day but Chiron didn't seem to mind. Leo noticed that while Chiron did have a kind expression upon his face, he had multiple bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in weeks.

"So what brings you into Valdez repairs today mister?" Leo asked. "I'm assuming you don't need your oil changed or anything," he added as he casually pointed at Chiron's wheelchair.

Chiron chuckled at Leo's sense of humor. That was something Leo had always considered himself to be blessed with, his sense of humor. While it did get Leo sent to the principal's office all the time when he was in school, it helped out in many other ways. Whether it was trying to cheer himself or others up or trying to get a bully to laugh in order to weasel himself out of a fight.

"I'm here to speak to a Mr. Valdez, I'm assuming that's you correct?" Chiron asked.

"Right you are my friend, can we talk here or would you rather it be in private in my office? Leo asked motioning towards a door on a nearby wall with a glass window that read:

LEO VALDEZ

HEAD MCSHIZZLE

"What's a McShizzle?" Chiron asked with a confused look.

"Why it's-", Leo started to explain.

"-nothing to worry about right now," Betty interrupted before she pulled Leo aside to where Chiron couldn't hear them.

"I don't like this Leo are you sure we can trust this guy?" Betty asked concerned.

Leo glanced over her shoulder to look at Chiron; he gave Leo a polite smile.

"I'm sure," Leo whispered before returning to Chiron.

"So where do you want to talk?" Leo asked with his signature mischievous smile that had gotten him into trouble so many times, he wasn't sure why he was doing it now but here he was.

"Your office will be fine," Chiron responded politely as he and Leo walked over to the door.

Leo let Chiron in first before making eye contact with Betty; she gave him a nervous look that Leo dismissed by returning a smile and then shutting the door.

"Quite a mess you got here Mr. Valdez," Chiron spoke as he glanced around the room. The office looked as if a tornado had blown through as documents were scattered all over the floor, some weren't legible at all due to the numerous amount of grease stains. The desk was covered in all sorts of trash, tools, and more paperwork.

As messy as everything was, it was perfect in Leo's opinion; his severe A.D.H.D and A.D.D agreed as well.

"Please just call me Leo," Leo said to Chiron.

Chiron nodded in response before he managed a sigh.

"Did I do something wrong?" Leo asked concerned. He had inherited this repair garage from his mom and he tried to do his best to keep it running as best as he could for her sake but it was tough on Leo sometimes. He didn't mind working on the cars, it was the other stuff that was tough to him like handling insurance and calculating people's bills and stuff lie that. Leo wouldn't have minded doping everything for free but he desperately needed the money to keep the place operational.

Chiron gave Leo an assuring look before responding, "Oh no its not that, I'm actually here to recruit you to join a special new division in the army."

This totally surprised Leo, the Army? He had never given any thought to the idea of going overseas to fight in any war.

What also caught him off guard was the special division part, what made this division "special" and why was he being asked to join it? Hopefully they hadn't learned about his special power that he had kept secret since the accident with his mom.

"Ok, wow," was all Leo could manage in response.

"I understand it's quite a lot to take in," Chiron spoke up sympathetically.

"Yeah…no shit," Leo grumbled to himself.

Chiron managed another deep sigh, he really didn't seem to be totally supportive of this whole thing by the way he's acting right now.

"Leo, I know you've experienced a lot of grief because of your ability but this is an opportunity to try and use it to bring happiness to you and others," Chiron tried to assure him.

"How do you suppose I'll do that huh?" Leo snapped at Chiron. "Just throw some fire at some angry Viet Cong (Communist guerilla soldiers) and presto! They suddenly love America!"

Chiron just stared at Leo with a sad look in his eyes, this just made Leo even angrier, he thinks he understands what it's like to not only lose someone you love and understands you, but to be the one responsible for it.

Leo thought back on the day a few years ago, it was just like any other day when he walked into his mom's garage. She was working under the hood of an old truck when Leo tapped on her shoulder to get her attention.

"How's mama McShizzle handling it today?" Leo jokingly asked her.

She turned around and gave Leo a smile, she was covered in grease and sweat from working all day but that didn't bother her.

"Oh, it's just great my little Mr. McShizzle," she responded as she rubbed Leo's messy curly hair before giving him a kiss on the forehead.

"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore, you can take it easy with the smooching," Leo complained. He truly loved it, but he didn't want to look like a child in front of the other mechanics at the garage.

His mom managed a chuckle despite how tired she was, "You'll always be my little Mr. McShizzle," she said to Leo before embracing him in a hug.

Leo would've loved to let this moment last forever until he heard a man cough trying to get their attention.

Leo turned around and saw a deliveryman with a cardboard box in front of him. For a second Leo thought the box was floating before dismissing it as his imagination.

"Package for Leo Valdez," the deliveryman spoke up.

"Um, that's me," Leo responded with a confused tone, he hadn't received any kind of package since his Tia Callida had mysteriously sent him a box full of knives. His mom quickly got rid of the box but Leo was still curious about it.

"Sign right here," the man said, as he pulled a pencil and a slip of paper out of seemingly nowhere.

Leo hesitantly signed the slip of paper and suddenly the paper and pen vanished out of his hands.

"Who…?" Leo started to ask before the man interrupted.

"Oh, don't worry I'm just a messenger," he assured before giving Leo a wink and walking out the door.

"Hey wait!" Leo called out as he ran out the door after the mystery man. Leo pushed open the door and looked around the surrounding street but saw no signs of the mysterious man. Leo shook his head in disbelief before walking back into the shop.

"What was that all about?" one of the mechanics spoke up.

Leo simply shrugged his shoulders before going over to help his mom with the truck they were working on. They labored on joking around the whole time until it was dark outside.

"Hey Leo, can you get my other wrench out of the toolbox in my office?" his mom asked.

"Yeah no problem," Leo responded as he walked over to his mom's office.

"Be careful I haven't replaced the lights in there so it will be dark," she warned.

Leo nodded his head to let her know he understood before he walked over to the office and opened the door and shut it behind him. He was greeted with complete darkness in the room. He had a faint idea where everything was but Leo was still nervous. One time he tripped over a toolbox and nearly broke his nose.

He grimaced at the thought of that happening again. He needed some kind of solution to make his way through the darkness. Leo started tapping his foot in thought before snapping his fingers at an idea, he would ask his mom if she had any matches.

Leo turned to go back out the door before he noticed a faint light and a warm sensation from his fingers. He looked down at his hand and nearly had a heart attack, his right hand's fingers were engulfed in flames!

Leo quickly shook out the flames without too much of a problem.

"Where the hell did that fire come from?" Leo thought to himself. He started pondering on what had just happened before coming to a quick realization.

Leo snapped his fingers again, on cue his fingers were engulfed in flames but it didn't burn Leo. He examined the flame for several minutes before remembering why he was in this room in the first place. Leo used the light of the fire to search through his mom's special toolbox that she keeps in her office before finding her special wrench.

He mad his way over to the door leading out of her office and shook the flames off of his fingers before walking out of the room and back over to his mom.

"Here you go," Leo spoke up before he handed the wrench to his mom who went back to working on the truck.

Leo anxiously stood behind her thinking about what just happened and whether or not he could tell her without terrifying her.

"Mom, can I show you something?" Leo asked excitedly.

"Sure, what's up?" she responded as she diverted her attention away from her work.

"Okay, watch this," Leo responded as he shut his eyes and snapped his fingers. Leo could feel the warm feeling again in his fingers as he waited for his mom's stunned reaction he was met with screams. However these weren't screams of excitement or joy, these were screams of absolute pure terror. Leo opened his eyes and looked at his mom who was cowering away from him in terror.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked confused.

"FIRE!" his mom screamed in terror as she pointed at the ground below Leo's feet. Leo looked down and his heart sank, he was standing in a pool of gasoline and somehow his feet ignited without him noticing creating a fire underneath him. Leo tried to step out of the fire but to no luck. Leo looked around for any kind of solution and then he saw something that would scar him for the rest of his life.

Extending from the pool of gasoline was a trail of the flammable liquid and it lead straight over to the truck his mom was working on. The fire was already quickly making it's way over to the truck and before Leo could warn his mom the truck exploded in a burst of flames engulfing everything in the area around it.

Leo shielded his eyes from the blast and was surprisingly left with not a single scratch on him. He let out a sigh of relief before he noticed his mom's burnt body lying down near him.

"Mom?" Leo croaked out.

She wasn't moving at all as tears started to form in Leo's eyes.

He collapsed into the fetal position and cried his eyes out until the fire department showed up and had to force him away from his mom's body.

Leo shuddered at the memory as he returned to the present day where Chiron was still talking to him.

"Leo, I'm really sorry for your loss but this is what she would want for you to do," Chiron spoke up trying to reassure.

Leo didn't respond but glanced over at several pictures he had taped to his wall that contained memories of him and his mother. One was off her trying to give baby Leo a bath with little success, another was of them riding in one of the go-karts at the local theme park, the last one Leo saw was right after she gave birth to him and she had him cradled in her arms with an unknown man next to her. Leo had never met the man but he had assumed it was his dad.

Tears started to well up in Leo's eyes at all the memories but he quickly wiped them away trying to look tougher than he actually was.

"Your father is a good man Leo," Chiron spoke up again.

Leo looked over him with a hopeful look in his eyes, "You know my dad?" he asked Chiron. Chiron simply nodded his head in response.

Leo took a seat in his chair behind his desk and opened the top drawer. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and removed one from the others. Leo snapped his fingers igniting a small flame and used it to light the cigarette. He inhaled a bit before exhaling a puff of smoke into the air. He kicked his feet up on his desk knocking off some garbage as he continued taking puffs of the tobacco smoke.

"Well, what do you say?" Chiron asked.

Leo kept his eyes locked on the ceiling fan spinning above as he burned through his cigarette.

"Aw hell, yeah I guess so," he grumbled. "Just give me a minute to reflect on some things real quick I'll meet you outside," he added.

"No problem," Chiron spoke before exiting the room.

Leo extinguished his cigarette on an ashtray before taking a look around his dirty office.

"I'm sure gonna miss this place," he spoke to himself before he walked over to a closet in his office and opened it and pulled the box out that he got the day his mother died.

Leo couldn't make out much of the writing on the box except for something about Olympus or something. Whatever, he tore off the packaging tape and took the lid off the box.

Leo glanced inside before pulling out the contents; he was now in possession of a new tool belt to go along with his many other ones…yippee.