Caleo Oneshots

Looking Down (His Fault pt. 2)

"Dad what the fuck are you doing?" Leo yelled, his body still engulfed in flames. Hephaestus had grabbed him right before Zeus had taken on his true godly form, and teleported them to some other room on Olympus.

"Taking a risk and sticking my neck out for you." Hephaestus said with a mildly bored expression. "I'd rather not see my most accomplished child disintegrated."

"Seriously?!" Leo yelled. "That sick son of a bitch needed to hear it!" Hephaestus stayed silent. "Besides," Leo said, deflating, "I don't care if I die anymore." His voice turned to a whisper, "She's gone." He started to tear up.

"Oh quit your crying." Hephaestus said, taking a step towards him. "She is not permanently gone just yet."

Leo took a moment to register what he'd just heard. When he did, his head shot up. "What?" he whispered.

Hephaestus's face took on a more gentle expression. At least, Leo thought it was supposed to be a gentle expression. "She died recently, yes?" Leo nodded. "Then her soul is not completely severed from her body."

Leo couldn't believe it. What are you waiting for? his brain said. Go save her!

He started for the door, stopping only when he heard his name called. He turned back.

"Do you know how to get to Hades' Palace?" Hephaestus asked, an eyebrow raised.

"...no."

"Of course not. This is as far as I can get you. Good luck."

Before Leo could ask what he meant by that, he waved his hand and Leo collapsed, feeling like he was falling in a bottomless pit of blackness before he passed out.

––

Leo woke suddenly from a dreamless sleep, sitting up. He realized he wasn't in his bed and looked around. He was on the ground outside, but it didn't seem like the normal outside. The ground was black rock and the sky was a deep rust color. The landscape consisted of dead trees, big rock clusters, dead grass and, were those tumbleweeds? In front of him was a set of black wrought iron gates, intricately detailed and easily thirty feet tall. Beyond was a monstrous gothic palace, with turrets and gargoyles alike. It seemed to be made of obsidian or something similar. It was pointy, and sharp looking. Surrounding it were probably hundreds of skeletons clad in armor and swords and bows and arrows.

Leading up to and continuing beyond the gates, was a line of people. Except they were all gray and see through, and all seemed forlorn and dejected. With a start, Leo realized what they were. Souls. Which meant that he was in the Underworld. The rest of the recent events came back to him. Piper telling him Calypso had died. Him storming Olympus, and his dad saving him and telling him he could save Calypso.

Leo wasn't sure where exactly Calypso's soul was, but Hades would be. So all he had to do was sneak into the Palace of the Dead, past who knew how many skeleton guards, and talk to Hades, the god of death, without getting killed. Easy peasy.

––

"Get off me!" Leo yelled, arching his back as another skeleton grabbed him from behind. Together it and the three in front of him wrestled him to the ground, clamping on a pair of handcuffs that seemed to be made of the same material the palace he was currently trying to sneak into was made of. He tried to burn them off, but it was no use. With swords and spears pointed at him, be begrudgingly got to his feet and allowed himself to be escorted away. He would still see Hades, just in a less dignified way than he'd hoped.

Two guards each took one of his arms and led him through what could be described as a servant's entrance to the castle. They were as silent as the dead, which wasn't surprising, seeing as they were dead. Or maybe they'd never been alive to begin with. Did that make them alive in their own, dead, way? Leo's brain itched.