Finding Leo

Chapter 4: Never Forgive Myself

HERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER FOR YOU!
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Leo's POV

All I could do was stare. They weren't moving. Then I screamed.

Percy's POV

I was in the middle of kicking Blue Team butt when I heard two people scream. Then, a moment later, a third. It sounded like it was coming from our flag. I finished off my opponent, a boy from the Ares cabin, and ran to the flag. I pushed my way through the brush, and when I finally made it to the clearing, I couldn't believe what I saw.

Jason and Piper, unmoving, were buried under a large and burning tree branch. Leo was in the oak above them, just staring. His hair was smoking.

"Oh my gods... Leo, what happened?" I demanded. He just shook his head, tears still streaming down his face.

After a moment, he finally spoke. "It... It's my fault." He managed to stutter. Then, he raised his voice. "I freaking killed Piper and Jason! IT'S MY FAULT!"

"Leo, calm down! Help me get this off of them!" I said, gesturing towards the branch. I walked to the base of Leo's tree and held out my hand so he could climb down. Instead, he backed away from me,  going higher into his tree.

"Stay away from me!" He pleaded. "I don't wanna hurt you!" He stopped moving when he saw the look of horror on my face.

Leo was afraid of hurting us? He would never...

Then, out of nowhere, he jumped down from the tree and started to run.

Annabeth's POV

I saw Percy run in the direction of the flag a moment ago,  but I didn't have time to worry about it. The Blue Team was slowly falling back, thanks to Leo's cannons. I laughed to myself. Repair Boy finally did something helpful. I made my way further from the Red Flag, and managed to escape into the bushes. I got away from the main battle to search for the Blue Flag.

It wasn't hard to find, stuck in between a crack in Zeus's Fist. I smiled. No one seemed to be guarding it, but I was wiser than that. Quietly, I picked up a decent sized rock and threw it to the other side of the clearing. The stone hit the ground with a loud thump, and instantly about half a dozen hidden Blue campers left their hiding spots and rushed over to the noise. This was my opportunity. I climbed up Zeus's Fist, and pulled the Flag out. By the time the Blue guards had turned around, away from the rock I threw, I was already sprinting back to our Flag. As I crossed the battlefield, Red campers cheered and blocked anyone from the Blue Team from getting to me.

The battle was going great. I passed Nyssa and Jake in their trees, firing the cannons like they'd been doing it their whole lives. I also looked up and saw Conner and Travis manning a cannon of their own. The twins shot a cannonball at an unsuspecting Drew, knocking her over and giving her a face-full of mud. I remembered Leo mentioning the cannonballs that exploded when they made impact, covering their target in liquid dirt. The Stolls cracked up, highfiving each other. They turned back to Drew, who had gotten up, but still looked like she dunked her head in melted chocolate ice cream. Connor and Travis laughed harder, if possible. "You won't need one of those beauty facials tonight, Drew," Travis called down to the daughter of Aphrodite. "I think we just gave you a mud face-wash."

I also noticed Nico on the battlefield. He had taken cover behind a large boulder, but I knew what he was doing. He closed his eyes, and a moment later the boulder cracked in two, and from it came forth three skeletal Knights, undead steeds and all. I caught Nico's eye, and gave him a thumbs up.

Will Solace was trying to shoot out the Hephaestus cannons, but every time he let an arrow fly, a Venus flytrap summoned by a Demeter girl of about 11 with long black hair would rise up from the ground and swallow his projectile whole. Eventually, two Demeter boys that looked to be only about 9 worked together and created a gigantic Venus flytrap that imprisoned Will. The two half-brothers fist bumped. It made me feel satisfied that young demigods we're learning combat so quickly, because you never know what could happen in the life of a demigod. (This sentence is for you L-o-a-D!!!)