A/N: This is a story about if Leo had met Annabeth, Luke and Thalia when he ran away the first time. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't actually have been on the run together, the ages don't exactly match up and they were probably in a different place anyway, but for story purposes, I'm just going to ignore that. So Leo's going to be 8, Annabeth 10, Thalia 12 and Luke 14. That way in TLH Leo will be 15 and Annabeth 17 which I think works okay for this. Please review, I don't mind constructive criticism but no flames, please. Thank you! (Oh, btw apologies if the line breaks don't work)

Leo had been on the run for three days now. After his Aunt Rosa had refused to have such a diablo child stay with her, he hadn't taken any chances. There was no way he was going to a foster home. Who would want to take in a child who had murdered his own mother, anyway?

He had slept under a house the first two nights, but he had been spotted by an old woman who lived next door. She had chased him with her broom and reported him to the police. After that he had slept in the sewers, which happened to be where he was now.

Leo's stomach grumbled. All he had eaten in the three days besides the water he had gotten from fountains was a stale bit of bread he had found in the rubbish. He got up, shaking the rank water from his dirty clothes and peered into the darkness. He was almost tempted to use his fire, but he had sworn to never use it again after what had happened. He crept forwards, his bare feet squishing into the floor of the sewer.

Suddenly he heard voices ahead. He gasped and pressed himself to the sides of the sewage tunnel, hoping to go unnoticed. He couldn't think of who else would be down here, besides the police who were trying to catch him. The voices continued; they seemed to belong to children by the sound of it. He let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Unfortunately, the children heard it.

"Who's there?" A boy's voice rung out, echoing in the bleak tunnel. Leo could make out three kids, the boy who had spoken, and two girls, both older than he was.

"Luke, what if it's another monster? " The smallest girl spoke. Leo decided to step out from the shadows. Wait, monsters?

"It-it's just me. Leo Valdez. I'm hiding from the police, I… I ran away." Leo's voice shook slightly, the boy was a lot bigger than his eight year old self.

The older girl looked at him in curiosity, "So did we. I'm Thalia, and this is Annabeth." She pointed to the other girl, who looked about ten. "And this is Luke." The girl had shortish black hair, and looked twelve. Leo reckoned she could probably beat him up with no troubles at all.

The boy, Luke smiled at Leo. "You look a little young to be out on your own, Leo. Why don't you tag along with us for a while?" Leo grinned. He supposed he could use some friends.

A couple of hours later, the four kids were out of the sewer and in a clearing in a bunch of trees, eating some food Luke had stolen from a supermarket. Leo was laughing along with the rest of them like he had known them forever. His laughing stopped when Thalia asked him a question.

"So, what caused you to run away? You know about our reasons, of course but I don't think I've heard anything about you yet." She looked at him expectantly.

Leo was quiet. He looked into the eyes of the other three, all filled with understanding. He guessed if he had to tell somebody about his fire, it might as well be them.

"This is gonna sound a bit out there so I don't mind if you don't believe me." He said, looking at his feet.

Luke chuckled. "Believe me, we've had our own fair share of 'out there'" The girls nodded in agreement.

"Um, okay. But you might not wanna be around me much after I tell you." Leo warned them, before continuing. "So long story short, I've got a …thing, with fire. I don't know why, but it's never hurt me, not once. And I can control it." Leo held his palm out, allowing flames to dance across his skin. The other three watched in amazement. "A month or so ago, I was in my mama's workshop- I never knew my dad- and there was this woman, she was like, made out of dirt. And she was sleeping. She said some stuff, and… I lost control." Leo trembled and held in his tears. "I- I killed my mother. The workshop burnt down, and she didn't get out in time. I survived it, the flames didn't burn me, but she-"Leo broke off.

Annabeth shuffled closer to him and put her arm around his shoulder. "It's okay Leo, you don't have to tell us the rest if you don't want to."

Leo sniffed. "No, you guys should know. The police took me, said it wasn't my fault and gave me to my Aunt Rosa. She called me a diablo, a monster. So I ran away. The police nearly got me once, but I escaped. And here I am."

Annabeth hugged him tighter. "Leo, I don't think you're a monster. And you're not the only one with weird powers, too. Thalia's got a thing for lightning. Luke steals stuff, like really well. And me…well I don't have powers but I am pretty smart, I guess."

Thalia and Luke nodded in agreement. "So, you're one of us now?" Thalia asked.

Leo thought for a moment, then grinned. "I reckon I am".

A/N: That's it for now, I'll update soon. Please review and tell me what you think. Thank you!