TRIGGER WARNINGS- THIS FIC WILL INCLUDE ABUSE, DEPRESSION, MURDER, DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND SIMILAR THEMES. PLEASE BE WARY WHEN READING

Hey guys, yet another update! This chapter is slightly shorter than the others, and I don't really think it's well written, but hopefully you'll like it.

There is some angst in this one, and definitely a lot of hurt/comfort. No triggers for this chapter, at least not that I can think of.

This chapter is the one is where they talk to Leo about the memories, so I hope it'll go okay. I'll spare you of the long author's note now. Hope you enjoy, I love you all so much and stay safe besties!

"First off, I just want to ask you something," Piper said. She waited for Leo to nod his consent before she continued. "Did you believe your Aunt Rosa when she said you killed your mom, and do you believe her now?"

Leo looked down at the floor, and bit his lip. "Yeah," he admitted quietly. "I was devastated over losing my mom, and she didn't exactly help. It kinda got stuck in my head."

Percy felt a pang in his heart. It had been years, and he had been blaming himself for his mother's death the whole time. He couldn't even imagine how terrible that would be. He was angry at himself for never noticing that the son of Hephaestus felt so much guilt, even if he didn't know what it was for.

On his first quest, when he had believed his mom to be dead, he had felt an indescribable amount of guilt. For Leo to deal with that for so many years, and without even talking about it to anyone, he must have been stronger than they had ever known.

He decided that it was the right time for him to speak. "It wasn't your fault, Leo. Gaea killed her, not you."

"That's not true," Leo said, and he sounded shattered. "It was my fire that killed her, my mistakes, my lack of self control-"

He cut himself off before he could get too angry.

"Oh, Leo," Hazel said softly. "You were only eight. I know demigods in New Rome Percy and Annabeth's ages who have worse control over their powers than you did then."

"Yeah, but I should have tried harder to control it!" Leo said, suddenly furious. "Mi mamà is dead because yo era dèbil, y hay una guerra porque yo era demasiado débil para luchar contra los eidolons!" (TRANSLATION: I was weak, and there is a war because I was too weak to fight the eidolons)

The Seven looked confused and lost. Except for Annabeth.

"No eras débil, Leo. Eres fuerte y valiente para pasar por todo eso y aún así tener una sonrisa en tu rostro todos los días." (TRANSLATION: You weren't weak, Leo. You are strong and brave to go through all that and still have a smile on your face every day)

Leo jerked his head up and stared at her. "¿Tú hablas español?"

"Sì," Annabeth said. She switched back to English- the rest of the seven was starting to look annoyed that they couldn't understand the conversation between the two. "I promise it wasn't your fault."

Leo lowered his eyes. "You don't know that."

"We do, though," Jason interjected. "You were 8. If you could talk to your mom now, even she would tell you it wasn't your fault."

"It's okay if you can't think that it wasn't your fault straight away, but at least try?" Piper begged.

"Okay," Leo whispered.

"That's not all," Hazel said. She took a deep breath. "What Aunt Rosa said about you being a devil, did- did you believe that? Do you believe that?"

Leo stayed silent.

Percy's heart broke for the boy in front of him. "Leo," he said. "It's not true. You're not a devil. You're amazing."

Leo chuckled slightly. "Watch it, Aquaman, or Annabeth will get jealous. Besides, I don't think my dad would much appreciate being called a devil."

Percy rolled his eyes playfully. "Seriously though, you aren't a devil, dude. She's just a witch."

Leo laughed. "I once drew a picture of her as a witch and gave it to her."

There was a short pause as the room processed what Leo had said, before they all erupted into laughter.

"You actually did that?" Piper choked out through her laughter.

"When I was six and I was staying at her house. She wouldn't look at me without doing the cross sign for the rest of the week," Leo replied, gasping for breath from his laughter.

That just made it better, and everyone in the room burst into fresh giggles.

After about five minutes, they finally managed to calm down and stop laughing.

"Bro, six year old you was a legend," Jason chortled.

"Speaking of younger Leo," Hera's voice interjected, causing everyone to jump, "can we please get back to watching the memories?"

"Lady, we just watched two of my least favourite memories," Leo said, sounding extremely annoyed at her. "Can we please have a break?"

Hera was silent for a few seconds as she thought about it, before saying grudgingly, "Fine. You can have half an hour to walk around, stretch your legs, whatever you mortals need to do."

"Eat?" Annabeth suggested, rolling her eyes in disgust.

"Drink?" Percy added, equally annoyed at the queen of the gods.

"Not put kids into fireplaces?" Leo suggested. "I know that would feel a bit weird for you, but it's what the rest of us do."

The rest of the group looked at him in concern, but he ignored them.

Hera harrumphed. "Yes, all that. Now go, before I change my mind."

A group of demigods had never sprinted out of a room faster than they did at that moment.