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

Hey guys, I know I keep ditching this story, but I promise it's not going on hiatus, I've just been focusing on my other stories a little bit more. I'll try to update a bit more regularly. I don't really know what to do with this chapter, but I'll figure it out. If you have any ideas for memories you'd like to be shown, please tell me in a review or PM me. I read every one of my reviews, and I appreciate them all. So please, review, follow and favourite the story if you like it. Hope you enjoy, I love you all so much and stay safe besties!

When Leo woke up, the first thing he saw was a blinding light.

The first thing he heard was hushed voices talking above him.

The first thing he felt was a crushing grief for his dead foster brother.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking around. The voices fell silent.

Before Leo could think, he was hit by what felt like a solid wall, forcing him back onto the bed. It took him a second, but he soon realised that Piper had hugged him fiercely, and was now talking at top speed into his hair.

"-you could have died, you could have fallen, that was so stupid-"

"I get it, I get it," Leo groaned, pushing her off him. "Where even are we?"

"Hera showed us the way to an infirmary," Jason said, holding Piper's arm reassuringly. "You've been out for a couple hours."

Hazel bit her lip. "Leo, we do need to talk about the memory that showed before you ran off."

Leo tensed, but sighed. "Yeah, I figured."

"Is it okay if we just ask you questions and you answer?" Annabeth asked, switching to "logical but kind at the same time" mode.

"Yeah, sure," Leo agreed. "But I can refuse to answer a question whenever I want."

"Deal," Annabeth said immediately, probably not wanting to give him enough time to change his mind.

Leo bit the inside of his cheek, pushed himself up against the headboard and sighed. "Fire away."

"In the memory, whose blood were you covered in? Was it yours?" Piper asked immediately.

Leo flinched slightly, almost unnoticeably. "No, it wasn't my blood," he said carefully. "Well, not most of it, anyways."

"So some of it was yours?" Hazel asked, her voice going up several octaves due to her alarm.

"Yes, but not much," Leo explained quickly, before she could get too worried for him.

"That's not much better," she said, still distressed as her voice (somehow) went even higher.

"That's not the point," Percy interjected. "Whose blood was it?"

Leo took a deep breath, and prepared himself to reveal something he had done his best not to think about in a long time.

"It was..." he trailed off before forcing himself to continue, his eyes fixed on the blanket in front of him. "It was my foster brother's. Cayden."

The room was silent.

"What-" Hazel cut herself off. Her voice was hoarse, and she cleared her throat before continuing. "What happened to him?"

Leo chuckled bitterly. "I'm sure that'll be revealed as we watch the memories, considering Hera can't seem to distinguish between memories I'm okay with being shared and memories I want to keep to myself!" His voice had risen to a shout at the end of the sentence, and he was glaring at the ceiling.

The ceiling did not reply.

"Okay, so is there anything we can do to help?" Jason said placatingly, sending an anxious glance at the ceiling above him. "Something that doesn't involve angering the queen of the gods?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Can we just get out of here and keep watching the memories? I want this whole thing to be other with as soon as possible."

"Sure," Annabeth said.

Leo sat up in bed, and swung his legs down. He stood up- just a bit too fast, and he sat down heavily on the bed.

"Careful," Piper warned him, extending a hand to help him.

"I'm fine," Leo waved her off. "Does anyone know the way back to the TV room?"

Everyone shuffled their feet and avoided each other's eyes, mumbling under their breath about how it "didn't seem significant" or they "forgot the way".

Leo sighed. "Hey Tia?"

"I'll guide the way," Hera's voice said, sounding exasperated.

At that, the door swung open, with a path of light going down the corridor.

"Pretty cool," Frank said under his breath.

With that, the group followed the light down the corridor.

"Hey Leo," Piper said suddenly. "Why was your first instinct when you were trying to get away from us to climb a two thousand foot tower with no safety net or harness or anything?"

Leo winced slightly, trying his best to think of an answer which wouldn't reveal too much.

"I guess it's instinct by now," he said. "When I was running from foster care, a lot of the time we would hide pretty high up so that nobody could find us. It's kinda comforting."

"Who's the other person?" Frank asked.

Leo snapped his head around. "What?"

"You said us," Frank explained. "Who else was with you?"

Leo blinked. He hadn't realised he did that. "No one. Just a friend that I met in foster care. Every time I got moved, she got moved with me and we always ended up together. It was awesome."

"What was her name?" Hazel asked, sounding curious.

"Not important," Leo said. "How is this relevant?"

He flinched, biting his lip. He had been too defensive. Now they would definitely ask for more information.

Jason frowned. "Well, it wasn't before, but now it is. Who was she?"

Leo was seriously starting to get annoyed now. "Look, it'll probably come up in the memories at some point. If not, I'll tell you. Ok?"

Looking around, it was obvious that nobody was happy with this answer, but they didn't want to risk him getting annoyed.

With that, they reached the TV room. They sat down in exactly the same arrangement they had been in before, and the TV turned on once again.