#damn if only Leo and Beckendorf got to be brothers

[stillcarmine]

AU where Thalia and Luke find Leo as well as Annabeth. 

Annabeth and Leo, traumatized besties. They get to be Annoying Children together. 

Hephaestus is still a dead beat, and doesn't claim Leo.

He ends up in the Hermes cabin, even though he's pretty sure where he's meant to go.

But this makes it easier to hide his fire. 

He still sneaks into the forge to tinker and Beckendorf takes him under his wing.

It's not unheard of for the children of other gods to be interested and good with machines, but Charles is pretty sure Leo is his brother.

But the kid isn't saying saying anything for a reason, is staying in a crowded cabin for a reason, and Beckendorf has a guess.

He leaves it alone and just looks out for the kid.

Luke and Annabeth don't know about his fire. At least, he didn't tell them.

The closest he came to was when the cyclops was after them and he asked if fire could hurt them and Grover told him that they were immune.

Leo slumped, because that was his only way to help his friends.

He either never visits Thalia's tree or is there all the time, but only when no one else is around.

He like. Doesn’t get Annabeth’s longing for a quest. He doesn’t want anything to do with the dangers of demigod life.

They’re best friends but this causes the worst arguments between them and after one, Leo runs from camp.

Annabeth thinks that she’ll have to be allowed a quest to look for Leo, but that doesn’t happen.

They originally aren’t going to look for him, figure a satyr will likely find him, but Beckendorf pushes for one.

He eventually finds Leo and Leo doesn’t want to come back. He tries to give the older demigod the slip but Beckendorf just keeps finding him and it stirs up a lot of Emotions(tm) for Leo.

Eventually Leo snaps and breaks down for the first time in years and his brother holds him asks him to come home. Leo relents.

Annabeth doesn’t know how to apologize when Leo comes home, and Leo doesn’t know how to ask for one or give his own. But from what he’s seen of actual siblings around camp, siblings usually don’t make big productions out of saying sorry, and he guesses that can work for him and Annabeth too.

He manages to keep his fire powers a secret for years and then Percy Jackson shows up with his water powers and Leo scratches the back of his neck and thinks “Damn, I can’t afford a narrative foil.”

Leo was never as close to Luke as he was with Thalia so his betrayal doesn’t hit him quite as hard, and he’s better able to see him for who he is.

Cue years of Annabeth and Leo growing apart as she gets wrapped up in all of the quests.

Things between them are tense when Thalia comes back to life. None of their relationships are what they used to be, but Leo is so happy his friend is back, and feels such a pang of grief for his mom that he can’t breathe.

He bites his tongue but wishes he could bring the Fleece to the ashes of her shop and revive her too. When Annabeth goes missing, and the Hunters of Artemis go on a quest to find her, Leo is ready to sneak after them, but runs into Percy, who says he’s planning on doing the same thing.

Then Nico di Angelo finds them both and this just isn’t going to work.

He asks them both to stay, because they don’t have any experience with quests. Percy was just trying to be logical but he accidentally hits on Leo’s feelings of inferiority, because it’s true, there’s nothing Leo can do out there to help Annabeth, except his fire, which only ever hurts people.

Suddenly Percy’s got two people he doesn’t know well asking him to bring back their loved ones.

He pulls Leo aside and asks him to keep an eye on Nico. Leo is not in favor of this idea because 1) should a twelve year old be watching a ten year old (irony oh irony), 2) Nico is annoying and reminds Leo too much of himself, though he doesn’t yet recognize that’s what’s bothering him about the other boy and 3) Leo is. Bad with people. He is bad with emotions. He should not be left with a kid he doesn’t know who is feeling Big Emotions while Leo is also feeling Big Emotions.

But he eventually agrees.

It’s bad for a while. Leo doesn’t know what he’s doing. The older campers are helpful but Leo doesn’t let them do everything because he gave his word and he’s going to keep it. Leo and Percy made a deal, and he isn’t going back on it.

It’s not fun though because Nico is chafing at being given a babysitter. He eventually blows up because he’s been under so much stress and Leo remembers how he did the same thing once and how Beckendorf stayed with him through it.

So that’s what he does.

When Nico’s calmer, they talk about how they’re both worried and tell each other about their sisters, though Nico seems a bit sour about hearing about Annabeth’s adventures with Percy.

And it’s better from there.

Until Percy and Annabeth come back to camp.

Leo isn’t there for what ever happens, knows that Nico’s run off and… Chiron seems fine with that?

Leo isn’t though, and taking another page from his older brother’s book, he goes to find Nico.

Leo’s no good at goodbyes, and after just getting Annabeth back, and learning that Thalia is taking a different path that means they’ll only see her a few times before they die and she goes on living-

Well, he can’t bring himself to say anything in person. He leaves a note for Beckendorf, knowing he’ll understand and tell the others.

Kronos forces somehow learns about his fire and use that to try to convince him to join their side. How the gods cursed him with this awful power and then just left him without any acknowledgment. That they must have something terrible planned for him, that’s the only reason they want heroes in the first place.

How his father, god of fire, stood by while his mother died in a fire and did nothing.

That one gets to Leo.

But he’s got a mission, and doesn’t have time for the problems the titans have with the gods or the gods with the titans or whatever. He can’t change big, lofty stuff like that, is no child of prophecy but he can pay forward the kindness shown to him in the past.

That's what he can do.

#leo valdez #annabeth chase #thalia grace #percy jackson #nico di angelo #charles beckendorf #i love the idea of Leo siding with Kronos but idk how to write it and having a real family has a major impact on his life #damn if only Leo and Beckendorf got to be brothers #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #the lightning thief #the titans curse #tbh I have like 0 memory of the og series so there’s prob plot mistakes here #that’s also why I cut it off there lol #I’ve been meaning to do a reread so if I ever get around to that maybe… #look leo cares deeply about people and if he had a loving influence earlier in his life like dang just imagine

[ladizel]

some friendly reminders

leo’s full name is leonidas

annabeth had a dog

reyna had an abusive father

when percy dies, so will grover

bianca may have never known about nico being gay

thalia has lost her brother once again

luke kept a diary

nico is scared of the dark

when pollux wakes up in the morning and wants to say hello to his brother, no one’s there

hotel valhalla has yoga to the death

THE KANE CHRONICLES EXIST WOW WHO KNEW

FRANK ZHANG ALSO EXISTS

LEO FREAKING VALDEZ COMMITED SUICIDE AND HAZEL AND FRANK HELPED HIM

LEO WAS THE FIRST TO NOTICE HOW SAD NICO’S EYES WERE

THE NOT MY TYPE JOKE ISN’T THAT FUNNY AND PERCY ONLY SAID THAT BECAUSE HE WAS SHOCKED AND CONFUSED THAT NICO HAD A CRUSH ON HIM WHEN HE THOUGHT HE HATED HIM

PIPER PUNCHED A FUCKING GODDESS IN THE FACE DAMN GIRL

OTHER CAMPERS ACTUALLY EXIST OUTSIDE FROM THE SEVEN AND THEY DESERVE AS MUCH LOVE AS THE MAIN CHARACTERS

OTHER CAMPERS HAVE LOST SIBLINGS AND IT’S LIKELY THAT MOST OF THEM HAVE WATCHED SOMEONE THEY LOVE DIE IN FRONT OF THEM

SILENA AND CLARISSE EXIST WOW

PERCY HATED POSEIDON FOR GIVING HIM TYSON AS A BROTHER

BIANCA AND ZOË AND OTHER HUNTERS GOT KILLED IN THE WAR TOO

MANY AMAZONIANS WERE KILLED TOO AND NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT

THE DEMIGODS ON KRONOS’ SIDE FELT ABANDONED BY THEIR PARENTS AND HAD EVERY RIGHT TO FEEL THAT WAY

LUKE’S MOM PROBABLY KNOWS THAT HE’S DEAD AND WISHES SHE DOESN’T

BIANCA WAS SCARED OF DEATH

THE KANE SIBLINGS ARE ORPHANS AND HAVE HAD CONVERSATIONS WITH THEIR DEAD PARENTS WHO FUCKING KNEW

MAGNUS HAS DIED BEFORE

WALT WAS FUCKING DYING AND IS NOW HOSTING THE EGYPTIAN GOD OF FUNERALS

ZIA, CARTER AND SADIE WERE POSSESSED

GROVER EXISTS AND SO DO MANY OTHER SATYRS WHO HAVE DIED IN BATTLE

CHIRON HAS WATCHED ALL THE HEROES HE TRAINED DIE

THALIA, REYNA, NICO, ANNABETH, PERCY AND ALL OF CHB AND CJ DON’T KNOW ABOUT JASON’S DEATH YET

BIANCA DID NOT DIE SO YOU COULD SAY THAT SHE WAS SELFISH TO JOIN THE HUNTERS

SILENA REGRETTED JOINING KRONOS AND WAS DISTRAUGHT WHEN SHE FOUND OUT BECKENDORF DIED BECAUSE OF HER

PERCY MANIPULATED BOB AND MADE HIM KILL HIS BROTHER

ETHAN NAKAMURA DIDN’T GET A BACKSTORY AND I’M PISSED ABOUT IT

CONNOR AND TRAVIS HAVE BOTH BEEN THROUGH WARS BUT THEY’RE STILL SMILING AND PLAYING PRANKS

KINZIE AND PHOEBE DIED IN THE WAR TOO

NICO TURNED A LIVING BOY INTO A GHOST AND DESTROYED ALL OF HIS MEMORIES AND HE’S FOURTEEN

PERCY HAS BEEN THE CHILD OF THE PROPHECY TWICE AND CHOSE THE FIRST PROPHECY SO NICO WOULDN’T HAVE TO BE THE ONE IN IT

HAZEL WAS BULLIED AND SWORE IN SCHOOL

NICO’S SWORD ABSORBS DARKNESS

WHEN NICO SUMMONED SKELETONS IN LAST OLYMPIAN WHEN HE WAS ONLY ABOUT TWELVE, HE MADE AN ARMY OF MONSTERS SHAKE IN FUCKING FEAR

CHIARA AND DAMIEN AND OTHER CAMPERS LIKE CLOVIS EXIST WOW

JASON GRACE MEANT NOTHING TO HIS MOTHER WHO USED HIM AS A MEANS TO BE CLOSER TO POWER

LUKE WAS SCARED OF THALIA FUCKING GRACE

FRANK COMPARED PERCY FIGHTING TO A DEMON

ANNABETH HELD THE SKY FOR A DAY WHILE PERCY HELD IT FOR LESS THAN AN HOUR

GROVER HAS BEEN THROUGH AS MUCH AS ANNABETH AND PERCY AND DESERVES THE RECOGNITION

WILL BECAME HEAD COUNSELLOR AT AROUND AGE THIRTEEN AND SAVED ANNABETH FROM DYING FROM A POISONED KNIFE

NICO WENT THROUGH TARTARUS BY HIMSELF WHEN HE WAS FOURTEEN AND POSSIBLY HAD IT WORSE THAN ANNABETH AND PERCY BECAUSE HE WAS ALONE WHILE THEY WERE TOGETHER. HE NEARLY WENT INSANE INSIDE AND THE GODDESS OF FUCKING MISERY TOLD HIM THAT HE WAS PERFECT ALREADY AND THAT SHE COULDN’T MAKE HIM ANYMORE MISERABLE WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THIS

#ig: demipottergodfandams #pjo #hoo #rant #am i a troubled kid? yeah queue could say that