Turning Tables - Leo Valdez AU

Chapter Seventeen

The dream started out in Camp Half-Blood. There were Cyclopes corpses and golden dust littering the grass, which was once green but was now slowly dying and turning a shriveled tan color. There was also an uncanny amount of blood, which was strange since there were no mortal corpses in sight.

I turned and saw all of my friends, their weapons drawn and pointed at a swarm of monsters approaching them. They were all wounded in some way; Jason's arm looked like it had almost been amputated, and his face was badly bruised. Piper had an arrow in her hip, which looked to be spreading poison across her body. Annabeth and Rachel were limping, but I was glad they made it out of the cave alive.

"If we die, I blame Leo," Piper yelled to Jason, weakly fending off another Cyclops.

"That stupid repair boy abandoned us," Jason agreed. "Why were we even friends with him?"

"It's not like anyone needed him anyways," Piper said. A hit right to the heart. "He's just the one who tags along like a popular kid wannabe."

In the distance, I could hear battle cries and swords clashing. In mere seconds, the battle cries became screams. I looked over to see roughly half my cabin mates lying motionless in the dead grass, monsters triumphing over their corpses. I looked back to my friends in horror.

"Well I could really use his humor to get by right now," Annabeth countered.

"What's the use of humor if you don't know how to fight?" Jason yelled angrily. "Fighting is the one thing demigods need to know, and does Leo? No, he doesn't."

"Why does Gaea even want him? A servant, maybe? Cuz it's not like he can fight on the first line," Piper asked, backing into Jason to escape a Cyclops's grip.

"Or the second," Jason added, throwing an imperial gold sword at a monster. "Or way in the back."

"I never would have guessed he'd be such an idiot," Rachel chimed in, throwing a plastic hairbrush at some tiny monster. "And now we're dead. Camp's been destroyed, and we're about to be."

"I hope he's banished to Tartarus." Piper "the ungrateful son of a--"

The scene faded. It was black and silent, except for me.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would overheat and burst into flames. I tried not to, but I could tell I was tearing up. In front of me stood Gaea, her expression soft, but more awake. The one I least wanted to see.

Are your friends hurting you again, my little hero? She asked softly. I growled under my breath.

"Yeah, but it's all because of you." I managed to say through gritted teeth. "You turned my friends against me, just to torture me and break me beyond repair."

Don't be so negative, Leo. I wasn't the one who turned them against you. You did that yourself. They always wanted to turn against you, but the final string snapped when you joined me.

"You murderer." I growled. "You--You... My friends are going to die because of you."

I do not rule the Cyclopes. That is another life force controlling them and telling them to attack your home. But why on Earth would you think those disrespectful demigods are your friends? You clearly deserve better than them.

"I deserve better? No, I don't. I-I've been in their way this whole time... Just trying to get them killed. All they said.... Was true...."

The truth is not always sweet, but there is something that is.

"What?"

Revenge. That's why I wanted you, Leo. To help you get revenge for what they've done to you.

Piper and Jason's voices echoed in my head. You're the odd one out, you're not a hero. You'll never be able to save lives like we have. Nothing you do is ever right. Nothing you say is ever really funny. You're a fraud. You don't even act like a demigod, like a hero.

"No..." I murmured. "I'm.. Not...."

The dream faded.