Silence is Golden (Percy Jackson AU)

Chapter 18- Leo

Ok, guys, before we get started. I need a favor.

Seriously.

Guys take a chill pill. Breathe. That's it breathe. It's not like I'm about to kill all your favorite characters.

O.O Oh wait....

Leo could remember the first time he saw Hazel Levesque. It wasn't something he could forget easily.

She was a new transfer from another orphanage down state, an annoyed golden eyed girl in a flowery white dress. She wore her hair down, and the frizzy curls obscured her mesmerizing eyes.

Leo had been practically dragged into the old building by the scruff of his shirt. His combat boots scraped across the floor and Festus had been gripped tightly in his hands till his knuckles were white.

The lawyer, or whoever that guy had been, had sat him in a chair outside the office right next to Hazel.

Leo had sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd been so close. So close to escaping that time. He almost gotten away. Stupid icy sidewalk.

"Something wrong?" Hazel asked, picking at a thread on her dress.

"My whole life." Leo snorted. He looked up at her running a finger around the rim of Festus's neck, "You. You look new."

"I am new." Hazel said blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes. "To here at least. Not quite that new to having no place to call home."

Leo nodded. He knew that feeling. No home. No friends. Expect Festus. He looked down at his Dragon, and it felt like a bit of home, a bit of his mom.

"What's that?" Hazel asked.

"Nothing." Leo said, then, "Everything."

Hazel didn't respond as if she knew it was a touchy subject. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out by his tone. Leo swallowed hard.

"I'm Leo." He said anxious to remove the attention of his safekeeping talisman.

"Hazel."

Thinking back on the moment, he could have bolted out the door and never seen her again. He could've changed his entire life, his future. He never would've been adopted by that horrid foster family, he never would've met Jason and fixed his stood car, he never would've gone to the movies and...He never would've seen her with another guy.

Yeah, Leo saw the way she looked at Frank, even if no one else did. She was head-over-heels giddy around him, a new source of confidence rolling off her shoulders.

And part of Leo wished it was him.

But his more rational side kicked in. It would never be him. Never again. They had been friends, best friends, he missed his chance. He broke off their relationship, all those years ago, whatever it had been, it was nothing now.

And in four days, it would just be a bad nightmare, from an uncomfortable window seat, as he watched the land around him shift from cold winter, to snowy plains and frosted air.

He leaned against his car fingering his ticket to freedom. Behind him the school building rang for a change of class. Of course Piper seemed like the type of girl who liked to get something done before she forgot, then forget about it.

The Monday morning was unreasonably frigid. Leo huddled against his car door to avoid the sharp winds. He gently pocketed the information foldable.

Sneaking out of the hospital hadn't been a problem. Putting a grease monkey with a mechanical engineering background on a second floor room with a tree right outside the window was not the smartest idea ever. Getting his clothes back, easiest thing ever. Just ask that blond haired volunteer guy if he could change back into his freshly cleaned clothes.