Chapter Text
When Leo fell down the Grand Canyon, he thought he would die.
He was unsurprisingly alright with that fact, only screaming because it was his body’s first instinct. He let himself fall, wondering if it would hurt, this death. It couldn’t be as bad as getting beat half to death, or drowning, could it?
In fact, Leo thought this would be much more efficient than past events.
So when Leo saw Jason hurtle himself over the edge after him, his heart almost stopped before he even hit the ground.
No, Jason couldn’t die. Leo would never forgive himself.
As Jason's body gained speed, coming towards Leo faster than he himself was falling, Leo wondered why he’d ever do such a thing. Especially when he had no memory of Leo, and definitely not their late night talks in the dormitory, when Leo thought he’d found someone who cared for him.
The falling stopped, Leo knew that, when Jason hugged him around his waist and wished they didn’t die.
“J-J-Jason…” He managed, breathing hard.
The other boy opened his eyes, and his face was so close to Leo’s that he could see every detail on it. Small freckles that wouldn’t be visible otherwise, the scar on his bottom lip, where he pulled his lip between his teeth when he was concentrating. A little, almost invisible, scar that sat on the tip of his nose.
But what took most of Leo’s attention were his eyes. His eyes, blue like the atlantic ocean and just as vast. Leo could get lost in them, he realized, and be completely fine. Go down like the Titanic, and not even notice.
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“Ohhhh-kay. Look up there and please tell me those are flying horses.” Piper groaned.
For a minute, Leo thought she really did hit her head too hard, but he looked up anyway. In fact, there were flying horses in the sky, but that just made him think maybe he hit his head.
As they got closer, Leo saw a brightly painted box with wheels being towed behind the animals. A chariot.
Reinforcements,” Jason said beside him. Leo still had trouble not looking at his eyes. “Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us.”
“Extraction squad? That sounds painful.” Leo said dumbly as he got to his feet, helping Piper up as he went.
“Where are they extracting us to?” Piper asked, holding a hand to her head and the other tightly gripping Leo’s arm.
Leo watched as the chariot landed on the far side of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked their giant wings in and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they could tell it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot– a tall girl with long blonde hair pulled into a messy bun, who looked only a little older than Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a brick wall. They both wore the same outfit, jeans and an orange T-shirt, with shield tossed over their backs and knives strapped around their waists.
The girl jumped off the chariot before it had even finished moving. She pulled out her knife and ran towards the group while the bulky dude was reigning in the horses.
“Where is he?” She demanded. She had gray eyes, and they were fiercely lit up like the stormy sky above them.
“Where’s who?” Jason asked.
She frowned, like she couldn’t accept that answer, and looked towards Leo and Piper. Leo’s face turned hot under her gaze. “What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?”
Leo had to force himself not to laugh at that. The Coach's first name was Glesson? Leo thinks he would’ve laughed, even given the current circumstances, but he’d just fallen down the Grand Canyon, so he wasn’t feeling up to it.
“Uhm,” Leo said, clearing his throat. “He was taken by some… tornado… dudes.”
“Venti,” Jason corrected him. “Storm spirits.”
“You mean anemoi thuellai?” The blond girl asked, raising her eyebrow. “That’s the greek term. Who are you? What happened here?”
Jason explained, while Piper and Leo nodded, and added things he missed or forgot to mention. About halfway through the story, the guy from the chariot came to stand next to the blond girl. He stood glaring at them, arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his bicep, which Leo had to keep a straight face at.
When Jason finally finished, the blond girl gave him an unsatisfied look. “No, no
! She told me would be here!” She screamed in outrage. “She told me if I came here, I’d find the answer! She lied to me!”
“Annabeth!” The bald guy grumbled. “Check it out.” He pointed at Jason’s feet.
Leo looked as well, confused. Jason was missing his left shoe, and his foot looked like a lump of charcoal. Leo fought back a gasp.
“The guy with one shoe,” The guy said. “He’s the answer.”
“No, Butch.” The girl- Annabeth- spat. “He can’t be. I was tricked.” She glared at the sky, and screamed at it with venom in her voice. “What do you want from me? What have you done with him?”
The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.
“Annabeth.” Said Butch, putting a rough hand on the girl's shoulder. “We gotta go. Let’s get these three to camp, and figure it out there. The anemoi thuellai might come back.”
She stayed silent for a moment, her body shaking with anger. “Fine.” She looked at Jason with resentment. “We’ll settle this later.”
She turned on her heel and marched toward the chariot.
“Whats her problem?” Piper asked, shaking her head. “And what's going on?”
“Seriously.” Leo agreed, crossing his arms.
“No way.” Jason scoffed, and waved his hand towards the blonde. “I’m not going anywhere with her, she looks like she wants to kill me.”
Buch hesitated before speaking. “Annabeth's cool. You’ve gotta cut her some slack- she had a vision telling her to come here and find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to fix her problem.”
“What problem?” Piper asked curiously.
“She’s been looking for one of the campers, who's been missing for days.” Butch explained, “She’s losing her mind with worry. She thought he’d be here.”
“Who’s that important?” Jason asked.
“Percy Jackson,” Butch said. “Her boyfriend.”
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Leo stood on the back of the chariot with Piper and Jason, thinking. Butch handled the reins and Annabeth adjusted an odd looking navigation device. Leo wanted to know how it worked. They rose over the Grand Canyon and headed east. Or, he was pretty sure it was east. The wind ripped through his army jacket, and he felt the icy wind hit his skin. Over the skywalk behind them, more storm clouds were gathering.
As the chariot bumped and Leo almost fell out the open-ended back, only saved by Jason absently grabbing his arm, Leo let himself think.
Although he was very aware of Jason's hand still on his arm, it wasn’t the first thing on his mind.
He knew Percy Jackson.
Or, rather, he knew of him.
In one of his foster homes, years ago, he’d gone to a school in New York. It had only been for about four months, but he’d gone to school with Percy. He was sure it was him. He had an English class with the boy, and there were many rumors about him, and about where his scars came from.
And before that, he’d seen Percy on the news. He’d seen his story, about getting kidnapped and bravely escaping. Leo had to keep a conscious effort not to let his face show his shock.
He decided, even if it might not be for the best, that it was no one else's business. As far as anyone else was concerned, Leo Valdez did not know Percy Jackson.