Leo Valdez

After Lester and Meg left with the body of Jason Grace, Piper and I seemed to freeze on the runway, looking at the helicopter as it flew away.

"Hey, Pipes?" A man said on the other side of Piper— her dad, I think. He seemed familiar. "I'll be in the car, okay? Just... Take your time."

Piper just nodded her head, biting down on her tongue.

A silence hung in the air as Tristan McLean walked away— shock still settling in for me, but not for Piper.

She was past that.

"I don't know if I should scream or sob," my best friend admitted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe he would..." Her voice trailed off. "Well, no, actually, I can believe it, which makes it so much worse, that fucking..."

But since all Lester and Meg had time for was confirming that the casket getting loaded onto the helicopter belonged to Jason, I didn't know what Piper was referring to.

"What... Happened?" I asked, crossing my arms. "We're you there when it happened or...?"

Pursing her lips, the daughter of Aphrodite looked down.

"I... Yeah." She confirmed, nodding her head. "I was there. And so was Lester and Meg— I assume you know their situation?"

"Uh, yeah, mortal god being a slave to a 12 year old child of Demeter who's dad is like, an evil Roman emperor or whatever?" I responded, a small bit of that catching Piper off guard. "Calypso and I travelled New York to Indianapolis with them. Well, with Lester. Eventually, Meg joined. Had to help deal with one of the emperors, but he's still alive."

She blinked.

"I... Didn't know that about Meg." She commented, taking a breath. "anyways, they showed up and there was a prophecy that I guess Jason has known for... A while now? We broke up like, a few months back, but we were still friends obviously— he's... Was... One of my best friends. Anyways, sorry, he's been working on this stuff for shrines and temples at Camp Jupiter and we were exploring an underground maze, not the labyrinth, I don't think. But apparently he found one of Apollo's pythias when we got separated the like, only time we ever got separated, and she told him a prophecy that said, eventually, one of us would die— him or me. No way around it."

"So he broke up with you because of it?"

"Wh— oh, no," Piper clarified, shifting her weight from her left side to her right. "We were already apart by then. I was the one who ended things, not him. He never told me about the prophecy, but when Lester and Meg showed up, we tracked him down at school, and it was like he expected them because... Well, he was. Jason like, confided the prophecy and everything into Lester, who told him to tell me. Which... He did, eventually. But it's..."

She sighed.

"We tried to take down Caligula's fleet of ships— or at least, to slow them down since they're on the way to Camp Jupiter. To try and kill the emperor because we're crazy, I guess, and we got pretty far, but he was able to track us down and he nearly extracted Lester's like, godliness— whatever is left of it. Meg and I got trapped in venti. And Jason... Got stabbed. In the back."

I looked down, suddenly feeling like a piece of shit again for coming back from the dead.

"We got wisked to shore pretty fast after that— Tempest took us, and then he went searching for Jason and... When he brought Jason back, I like, screamed at Lester to bring him back." Piper wiped her eyes. "Turns out, even the god of medicine can't being people back from the dead. I sobbed and screamed at him to wake up for like, as long as my lungs let me. My dad came down at one point to see what was going on so he thinks Jason died in some surfboarding accident since he doesn't... Know, which is still so weird, but..."

She shrugged again.

"Yeah." My best friend concluded, her voice shaking. "I thought that after last summer, everything would be fine and..."

A tear fell.

"Everything is going wrong."

Carefully, I placed a hand on Piper's shoulder, wondering how alone she must've felt last night believing that both Jason and I were gone.

I can't believe Lester and Meg never told her or Jason I was alive.

"I can't believe that we'll never get to see him again." I said, trying to process everything that's going on, even as I'm not a part of it— something else that felt weird. "fucking of course he sacrificed himself, I... Are you going to the service?"

She shook her head.

"Dad and I were supposed to leave this morning, but this sort of took priority," she explained. "We have to drive to Tahlequah— my dad sort of lost... Everything, because of the Triumvirate. Not that I care about the house or anything like that, I fucking hated that place, but..."

"It's so soon after what happened?" I suggested. Piper nodded. "I get that— I think I'd get shot if I tried to step inside Camp Jupiter again, but... After my mom died, it made it really hard to leave Houston. Not that I had a choice— nobody would take me in."

The daughter of Aphrodite nodded in response, leaning against me, closing her eyes.

"I don't want to go." She choked out as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, an attempt to comfort her. "And did you say Calypso earlier? What... What? What's up with that?"

Pulling my lips into a tight smile, I squeezed Piper's shoulder.

"I was on her island last summer— Ogygiga." I explained, resting my head on top of hers. "I'm still not completely convinced she doesn't hate me at times, but we're dating, more or less. I swore I'd go back and get her, and I did— after the end of the battle. Took us way too long to get back to New York. She's in Indiana right now, at the Waystation with some former Hunters. I'll probably go back there, but... Maybe I'll make a couple pit stops before then. Houston isn't too far from Tahlequah, right?"

Chucking, Piper rolled her eyes.

"Leo, you do not need to come with my dad and I to Tahlequah. We don't live in the city— we're gonna be on the Rez. It's just unpacking, it won't be that fun."

"Okay, but everything is more fun with two people." I tried to reason with the daughter of Aphrodite. "And also, I have a magical toolbelt to help if you have to assemble any stupid Ikea furniture. If you don't want me to come with, I won't— it's your place. But it'd be nice to at least pretend to have a kind of normal life for a couple days. Hang out with my best friend— cook her and her dad some mean dinner."

"Hmm..." Piper hummed, standing all the way up again. "you did make some really good tacos in those sewers. But you have to tell me all about you and Calypso if you come with. Or meet us there. I assume you'd ride Festus?"

"I mean, I could, but I'd definitely beat you and I don't know where I'm going." I countered, pulling out a small container of oil for Festus to drink before pressing the button that makes him turn into a suitcase. "But this is a lot easier, if there's room for it."

Piper rolled her eyes.

"You never cease to amaze me, Leo Valdez."

I smiled.

"You love me." I insisted. "Platonically, of course."

"What, you don't want to go out on another awkward date and then kiss once and realize that we actually don't like each other?" The daughter of Aphrodite just had to bring up our pre-Jason fling, though, as weird as it was. "I thought it'd be fun. Though how Hera made me forget that I like women, I'll never be sure. Men..."

She shivered.

"No offense."

I smiled.

"No, it's okay, it's just means I have less competition." I insisted. "Not right now, obviously— I'm debating Calypso, but... Theoretically. You're not bi, then?"

"I don't think so— I'm actually pretty sure I spent most of last summer crushing on Annabeth." My best friend admitted, which surprised me because her and Annabeth are so different. "But she's like, the straightest person I know. Well— okay, Frank and Hazel, too."

"Percy?" I questioned.

"Has to be bisexual— though he may not know it himself yet."

I rolled my eyes.

"I hate that you're right— where should I put Festus?"

•••
One thing was certain— if Piper didn't need the help moving (which, she did, but could've done without), her dad definitely needed help.

He was... Depressed, I guess? I could tell that he was trying to bring his mood up for the sake of Piper and me for a lot of the drive to Houston, but when Piper was asleep, he'd drop the act.

On my last day there, Piper was just unpacking a lot of her clothes while I helped Mr. McLean hang up some photos in the living room.

"That look okay?" I asked my best friend's dad, who seemed startled by my voice.

"Hm? Oh, yes, thank you." The former movie star insisted, though I'm not convinced he even looked at the photo I had just hung up. "You've been such a help to Piper and I, Leo, I'm sorry that I can't offer you anything besides a couch to sleep on. Piper said you're headed to Houston next, is that right?"

I nodded my head.

"I'll probably leave after lunch so I can get there by evening."

"Oh! Okay." He responded, thinking to himself— something he's done a lot of these last few days. When he walks around the house absently, I could almost mistake him for a ghost. "are you from Houston, then? Your parents must be worried sick by now, do they know where you are?"

Smiling, I just looked down.

"Ah, yes..." Nervously, I chuckled. "Originally I'm from Houston, but I'm just going to visit. I haven't been since um..." I let out a breath. "Since my mom died when I was young. Like Piper's mom, my dad has never really been in the picture, so... I travel a lot. I'm living in Indiana right now, but the people who took me in do know that I'm here, don't worry."

"Your... Oh, I'm... Sorry." Tristan McLean apologized. "Is that why you ended up at the same school as Piper? Because they couldn't... Find a home for you?"

I shrugged.

"More or less— I ran away from my fair share of Foster homes. They sucked. Eventually, CPS didn't want to deal with anymore, I guess, so they sent me to the Wilderness School."

"That's awful," Piper's dad commented, which was true. That school sucked. "Piper went for her kleptomania, as I'm sure you know— I tried to talk the judge down to a different punishment, especially since it was across state lines, but... Even I didn't have enough money for that. In the end, she made friends there, though, which is more than she'd done at most other schools— so maybe it was a good thing she committed grand theft auto."

I chuckled.

"Yeah," I agreed. "maybe."

•••

That afternoon, I left the McLean household after giving Piper the longest hug we've ever shared.

"If you need anything, even if it's just a buddy to rant to about life or crushes or relationships, or just somebody to sit on an IM with," Piper reminded me. "Call me, okay?"

"Likewise, Beauty Queen," I insisted, messing with the top of her hair. "If you need anything, Festus loves flying over open fields and that's basically all it is from here to Indiana— I'm just a call away, okay?"

She nodded and for a moment we just stood there, the grief festering and pooling up in both of us.

"It's going to get easier." Piper said, I think trying to convince both of us. "It has to."

"It will," I agreed, putting my hand over my second camp necklace— Lester had given me Jason's necklace with it's single bead before I even realized who it belonged to. "He wouldn't want us to be like this forever."

Smiling, Piper tried to hold back the tears in her eyes as she let go of me.

"Fly safe," she insisted. "At least try and let me know if you make it— even if it's by snail mail because nothing else is working yet. I think my dad's going to be an ever bigger mess until he knows you're safe, too."

"Will do," I promised. "Only if you guys promise to eat all of those leftovers."

The daughter of Aphrodite smiled.

"I think we're set for like, a week," she agreed to my terms, crossing her arms. "See you around?"

"See you around," I agreed, though I didn't promise it, because if I did, I worried that I'd jinx it.

As I walked away from the house, I pretended not to hear Piper break down as her father asked her if she was going to be okay. I myself tried to ignore my own tears as they fell down my face, burning away in a way much hotter than the way fire ever feels on my skin.

Because just like that, I'm alone again.

Sure, maybe I could turn around and spend another few days in the McLean household. Continue to help them settle in and maybe even meet a few family members or childhood friends of Piper.

But, eventually, I would still have to leave.

Because it's not my home. And it's not right and turn around and act like it could be— it's not fair to insert myself into Piper and Tristan's life like that.

Of course, I have Calypso— but for how long? Things have been rocky at best, and maybe she just wanted me to get her off her island, but if so, I'd appreciate it if she just told me that.

I could go back to camp, but who's at camp? Nico, I suppose, but... According to Percy, he doesn't stick around, and it's not like the two or us are close.

Plus, he has a boyfriend now. So he has somebody he can hang out with.

Which leads me... Back in Indiana, I guess? To see if I really like it with Emmie and Jo. And if I don't, maybe I to back to camp in the summer.

Or maybe I'm back on the streets.

Who knows.

For now, I'm just riding Festus (the closest thing I have) to my hometown, wondering how bad of an idea this is.

I guess only time will tell.

•••
Hiiiii guys I was listening to EPIC and got the carnal desire to write a little story about Leo so uh yeah don't worry I'm still working on working with the thief but I need to do this as well for my own sanity lol