Falling Backwards (A Heroes of Olympus AU and Fanficton)

Chapter 2

Leo yawned as he woke up, stretching sleepily. He felt surprisingly refreshed after some sleep. He smiled for a moment, thinking about how much work he could get done, now that he was good on sleep for a couple of days. He still needed to find Calypso. Something in Leo knew that finding Calypso wouldn't be such a great idea, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he sat up, opening his eyes.

Leo looked around, and realized that he appeared to be in a prison of wooden bars in a room that he had absolutely no memory of. The walls were painted sky blue with little clouds on them, there was what looked like a diaper changing table, a dresser, a wooden rocking chair, some shelves, and a chest. Was he in a nursery? He must be, judging by how babyish everything looked. But then why was he in a prison and why was everything so big? Leo tried to stand, but found that his legs were wobbly and he immediately fell back down on his butt. That was weird. Why couldn't he stand up?

Leo looked around his prison, and found a soft light blue blanket that had pictures of little bears dancing on it. That was just weird. But still, maybe it could be of some sort of use to him as a tool to get out of this prison with. Leo grabbed it, running the soft material between his fingers and finding it oddly soothing. Then, Leo saw his hands.

These definitely weren't the hands he'd fallen asleep with! These were tiny and chubby and hard to maneuver.

Leo tried to speak, but all that came out was garbled gibberish. He was starting to get really scared.

Without warning, he suddenly let out a wail, terror taking over his mind.

After a few moments, he heard the door to the room open and he was scooped up into someone's arms. The warmth that these arms gave him felt slightly familiar, but he was too freaked out by everything to try and figure it out. He didn't care who it was, he just needed comfort.

"Oh, shhh." This was a voice that Leo definitely knew. It was the voice of one of his best friends. But why was he hearing it now? "It's okay, baby. Mama's here. Shhh." The person holding him rubbed little circles into his back as he buried his face into the crook of their neck and cried. Then, the voice began singing. It wasn't a song that Leo recognized, but it was so beautiful and gentle and was sung with such love and tenderness. Leo felt himself calming down as a rubbery plastic object was being pushed between his lips. He had no idea what it was, but he accepted it without complaint. As he sucked on it rhythmically, he calmed down even more.

The person that Leo definitely knew didn't stop singing and rubbing circles into his back until his wails had become little hiccups.

"Oh, baby." The voice cooed. "See? Mama's here."

Leo was starting to get even more confused. Why was Piper calling herself his 'Mama'? And why was he so tiny that she could hold him so easily?

"It's okay, my little Leonidas."

Leo looked up at Piper in confusion. She definitely didn't look like the Piper he knew. She had a septum piercing, snake bite piercings in her bottom lip, an eyebrow bar, three piercings in the upper part of her left ear, and two in her right. Her kaleidoscopic eyes were surrounded by dark eye shadow and thick eyeliner. She wore a black t-shirt that said something that Leo couldn't understand, ripped black jeans, studded black combat boots, and dark purple lipstick. A black beanie sat atop her choppy braided hair that had purple and green streaks in it.

"You doing better, sweetheart?" Leo nodded after a moment, still trying to figure out what was going on, and why Piper was dressed like that. "That's good. Daddy is making us breakfast, so we'll want to get you changed quickly." Leo was about to wonder what horrors were in store for him during this 'change' when Piper stuck a finger into what Leo had assumed until now was underwear. "Oh, looks like my baby boy needs to be changed before we eat." Leo wanted to hide from the rest of the world and never come out, but Piper simply smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry, baby. We'll get you out of that yucky diaper and into a nice clean one in no time."

She lifted Leo onto the diaper changing table and began undressing him. Leo wanted to fight back, but she was much stronger than he was. She had him in a new clean diaper and a blue onesie before Leo could begin to fight back. She gave him another quick kiss before she scooped him up into her arms and carried him out of the nursery.