Chapter Text
Leo woke up with a jerk, which surprised him. The waking up, not the jerking part. As far as he knew he shouldn't be awake at all; he hadn't been asleep. He'd been dead.
It was September, nearly the autumn equinox. The Earth Mother had risen from her sleep along with her children, the giants, and hordes of monsters and had crushed the squabbling gods. Western Civilization as we knew it had been destroyed, and the Mist had faded, causing mass hysteria and madness. The demigod camps had been decimated, wiped out at Camp Half-Blood's borders by a massive earthen tsunami that crushed everything in its path, leaving almost no survivors. The prophesied Seven had failed in their quest, only one managing to escape from the slaughters at Rome and Ephesus. He retreated, sailing across the Atlantic as fast as he dared, hoping beyond hope to return to camp in time to prevent a massacre. Along the way, he rescued two of the trio sent to protect and transport the Athena Parthenos, but failed to rescue the statue or the other protector before he was lost forever. Heartbroken by the losses, the remaining three demigods returned to Long Island only to find the two camps in chaos and the earth goddess preparing her armies. The three survivors tried to warn their individual friends and allies, and some heeded their words, joining them on their ship. But before all could join, the camps were swallowed up by the earth, the only survivors being those on board the Argo II, one of the statue protectors falling with the camps.
Thalia had been expecting a lot of bad things to happen over her lifetime. She was the daughter of Zeus, for crying out loud! Drama was literally in her job description. And if it wasn’t, then it should be. However, the end of the world was not something she was expecting. Not that she should have expected anything less. Of course it would happen to the girl who got turned into a tree. Thalia ducked beneath her shield, barely avoiding having her head taken off by a hellhound's swipe. She shook herself back to attention. It wasn't time to feel sorry for herself! A sudden cry rang out near her. Leo had stopped briefly to bend over a fallen demigod, an empousai had gotten close, and Thalia saw red. Literally and figuratively. Blood flowed from a gash on Leo’s arm, which he ignored as he swung his hammer at the monster. It probably wasn’t that serious, but it didn’t matter to Thalia at the moment. The empousai had hurt Leo. That monster had hurt Leo. Okay, that was it, the gloves were off, and Thalia wasn’t holding back any longer. With a scream of outrage, Thalia raised her spear to the heavens, and every hair in the vicinity raised as she brought down the largest lightning storm she’d ever dared to. They deserved it. They’d hurt Leo, her unofficial second little brother. They’d poked the mama bear, now she was picking a fight. She’d make them pay.
I really didn't mean to blow up the subway in New York City. It just kind of happened. How was I to know why the monsters thought taking the subway into Manhattan was a good idea? Wait, hold on. Maybe I better back up. Non intellegent si modo initium belli Titanis ab initio. Forsitan si incipiam a tempore Peregrinationis? (Wait, Buford, don't write down the Latin! They don't need to read that! Or this!) I guess this all started when I traveled through time and space in order to save mis amigos-no-longer-amigos from being smothered to death by our friendly neighborhood great-grandmother, the earth primordial. Wait, that makes even less sense than the first sentence. Okay, sorry. Backing up even more… Ας δούμε, ταξίδι στο χρόνο, πεθαίνω, Ρώμη, όχι, Νέα Ρώμη, όχι, εμ… ω! (Buford! What did I say about the languages?! Yes, Ancient Greek counts too! What did you think I- grah!) Hola, mis compadres, monsters, gods, and any random potential mortals, clear-sighted or otherwise, who may find this. If you are watching this off a walking table, then Buford found someone he trusted to do something about this. Highly unlikely, so I'm guessing you found a broken table and managed to get the right code in. Also highly unlikely, so I'm actually guessing you hacked Buford. Not very possible, but not an impossibility. Anyway, hope you guys are doing alright and aren't dead yet! I’m Leo Valdez.
Leo didn’t remember becoming aware of his surroundings. Which didn’t make sense because in order to be aware, you’d have to remember it, right? Or maybe it was like waking up. You don’t know when you stopped sleeping, but you just know that you’re awake now and you were asleep. Except, ya know, it wasn’t sleep. It was death. First thing Leo felt was pain.