Before anyone asks, I DO have permission from NBrokenShacklesN to write this story! I want to thank her for letting me write it, and I highly recommend you read her story. It's one of my favorite fanfictions, actually!

Warnings: I own none of the characters. Anything bold belongs to NBrokenShacklesN

WARNINGS: LANGUAGE

It had been three days since Leo was claimed by Hephaestus, but he should have known that things would go wrong eventually. The day had been pretty decent; he'd gotten the speech and explanation of the tunnels and was planning to explore them. His sword fighting was improving in the eyes of the others at a fast rate, but not fast enough to look suspicious. And last but definitely not least, no one had discovered his fire powers in the week and a half he'd been here, other than Chiron.

Lunch time rolled around and just as Leo prepared to leave to finish his project in the forge, the entirety of the camp from the youngest camper to Chiron and Mr. D were swept away in a bright light.

THUMP! Over a hundred people and a handful of nymphs, satrys, dryads, and a centaur hit the floor painfully, the light dying rapidly. Groaning, Leo sat up and hastily stood to bow to the Council of the Gods that stood before him. As everyone was too busy trying to ease the pain from the fall, he was the only one that had stood up and he saw Hephaestus and Zues nod in approval.

Before he knew it, several other demigods were joining him in bowing and kneeling.

"What are you doing here?" Zues demanded.

Everyone shook their heads, symbolizing their lack of knowledge on that topic, when another bright flash of light interrupted the interrogation. A book lay in the center of the floor with a sticky note attached.

Zues removed the note and read the elegant hand writing scrawled across the paper.

'Dear Everyone,

Fate did not occur as I saw fit and I sent a time traveler to fix these horrid mistakes that have been made. Unfortunately, I can only do so if you read this book and the next, which I will send in time. Enjoy reading!

-Chaos

Havoc erupted, gods arguing, demigods screaming at the mere name, and others standing there looking rather confused.

"Hey!" Leo shouted. No one heard him.

"HEY!" He screamed louder. Still nothing.

"... EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" They heard him that time and everyone turned to him in shock, as Zues's face began to turn red with anger. "I'm sorry, Lord Zues, all of the gods, and my fellow campers, and mentor, but I had to get your attention somehow. If Chaos has gone out of his way to send us this book, it must be important. If we ignore a direct order from the creator of all things, who knows what will happen? Who would like to read first?"

"Since I already have the book, I suppose I will," Zues replied, silently admiring the demigod's bravery and how he took charge when there was chaos around him. He'd make a good soldier; just don't tell anybody he complimented a demigod, if only in his head.

He examined the cover. A body engulfed in flames that obscured his form except for a shadow and the barest traces of skin through the smoke. Around him were storm clouds and lightning striking random areas around the flames. At the top, the words, 'Change Through Flame,' had been written. The O in Through was made to appear as a clock and he turned the book over to read the summary to the gathered group.

'When the world falls to Gaea, Leo Valdez is the only one left to save it,' he cut himself off at the mention of Hephaestus's problem kid.

"Leo?" Percy questioned.

Leo took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna tell you anything. It's all in the reading."

Zues took that as his cue and started skimming the page once more.

'but how? Why by traveling back in time! This is Leo's story, how he rose from the ashes of a broken world, and risked everything to save it, of the joys, and the pain of being the savior, hidden in the shadows... Well as much as fire can hide...

Prologue:

Leo regained awareness in a dark place. This utterly suprised him as he was fairly certain he was dead-"

"What?" Hephaestus demanded.

Leo waved his hand. "It'll explain everything, I promise."

'in fact the last thing he remembered was an axe splitting his skull and a searing, though brief, jolt of pain.'

Many people, including Hephaestus, his children, Percy, and several others that cared for Leo, shifted in their seats at that description.

'He also knew that wherever he was, it wasn't the Underworld because he'd seen it destroyed with his own eyes.'

"Excuse me?" Hades snapped. "What did you say about the Underworld being destroyed?"

Leo fidgeted uneasily in his seat. "That happens in the future. I was sent back in time to stop it, among other things."

The god of the Dead looked ready to say more, but he shut his mouth as Zues gestured madly to the book. Leo, meanwhile, looked down at the reminder of the loss of the souls of his friends.

'This brought him back to where he could possibly be.

"Leo Valdez, your fate was spun eons ago; I wrote it out myself. But fate as I wrote it was ignored."

Ah, so someone was there, and if they were talking about fate as if they wrote it, they must be someone important, meaning Leo better bow or face unpleasant consequences. Leo had learned the hard way that not bowing to dietes ended you in hot water, a lot of hot water. Leo made to stand, in the process of realizing he had a body and by Hades, it hurt! Leo let out a pained groan, it felt like someone had taken every muscle in his body, stretched them twice as far as they could go, tied a few knots in them, and added knife slashes for good measure.'

Percy gulped. "That sounds painful."

"It was," Leo confirmed, "but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the injuies I got during the war."

Nyssa rubbed Leo's back, drawing a strange look from her younger brother, and she sent him a look that clearly said, "I'll be grilling you later."

'Leo promptly got reacquainted with the floor.'

Several people sent Leo sympathetic glances, but he glared harshly; he didn't need pity.

'"Um, I would bow your fate writingness, but my body has decided that the floor needs a long hug."'

Snickers spread through the room at the joke.

'Just as he had said this, a warm breeze enveloped him, relaxing his muscles, and healing his injuries, a breeze that emitted from the being before him.

"Leo Valdez, you have been chosen to go back and fix the wars, many who should have lived did not, and many who should have died live still, the world as you knew it has now come to an end, and Gaia is fully awakened, she will continue to destroy all life, until she is the only being in the world. This was not my plan. Those who I had entrusted to uphold the fates I wrote have betrayed me, and they will be punished most severely. You however, Leo Valdez, have the courage and the ability to fix these problems. Will you?"

"You're offering me a choice? No offence, sir, but that doesn't seem like the way most deities work."'

"So true," Percy muttered. "I've only known that I'm a demigod for one summer and I know that."

Leo sniggered.

'"I am not most deities." The voice boomed. "I am the oldest, the most powerful, I am Chaos itself. Do not presume to compare me to those whom I created demi-god."

"Right, no comparing got ya." Hades, thought Leo, looking round at the whirlwind that had suddenly ripped through the stereotypical white throne room. If this is Chaos when he's irritated, I do not want to see him angry. Leo turned back to the glowing being in the throne; he still couldn't work out anything but a vague outline of a humanoid figure, the brightness that Chaos was emitting would have blinded him had he still been in a mortal body.

"I am giving you a choice demigod, because it is my fault that you were in the situation that you were, because I was not watching as well as I should have been. It is the least I can do to try and give you this last choice. You can either do what I am asking of you and save the past that desperately needs saving, or you can leave the past and continue into oblivion."'

"Well, that's easy!" Travis exclaimed.

Leo smiled sadly at him. "When you went through what I did, it isn't as easy a choice as you think."

Several people frowned at the sudden change in Leo. What had he gone through that he'd rather vanish into oblivion than time travel?

'"Wow, saving the world, or oblivion huh." Leo thought that this would be an easy choice, if he had been asked this a year earlier, it would have been easy, he would never have chosen oblivion then. But now after all the fighting he was so tired, so weary of war, that oblivion now had a new appeal. To not exist, no worries or problems, no fears; no friends, no love, no laughter. Leo shivered; maybe oblivion wasn't such a good choice. He was Leo freaking Valdez, he lived to laugh, a place with no laughter, he was pretty sure he wouldn't like.

He looked back at Chaos, who seemed to be emitting a sort of approval, and asked "Why me, why not Reyna-'

"Who?"

"She'll probably come in later," Leo responded, twisting a wire in his hands.

'Conner..."

Travis and several others froze in their seats.

No, they tried to convince themselves. It's another Conner. It's not Conner Stoll.

'Why me?" This was a question that had been bothering him ever since Chaos had told him of the fate changing thing.

"Because Leo Valdez" Chaos spoke in a softer tone "You managed to keep laughing the longest. You may not be the best fighter, or the greatest hero, but you have the strongest spirit, and that Leo is what I need."'

Hesphestus grinned proudly. Leo most certainly did have a strong spirit and he prayed that no amount of pain would change that. It was hard to picture Leo Valdez, joker and class clown, broken.

'Leo gave a confused laugh, strongest spirit, what the Hades, and then froze. He laughed, he had laughed!'

Hesphestus's smile melted. Why had Leo been so suprised that he'd chuckled like that? Leo was always laughing.

"Since when do you not laugh, dude?" Percy snorted.

"Since she stole our hope," he whispered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing."

'He hadn't laughed since the destruction of the underworld, since Gaia had taken Hopes vase, and smashed it into a million pieces.'

Percy abruptly stopped snickering at the odd scenario of Leo Valdez not laughing. "I'm sorry, Leo."

"It's okay, you didn't know." And I would've like to keep it that way, Leo added in his mind.

'Even that now seemed like a distant memory, like he had, since being with Chaos, forgotten. Leo started to panic, he didn't want to forget, forgetting would mean losing all that he had left of his friends. He didn't want to lose them; his memories of the good times were all that had been keeping him sane!'

Hestia smiled, grimly. He may have lost them, but at least he cared for them deeply.

'"Calm child" the commanding voice broke through Leos' panic attack, and bought him back to reality. "I have not taken your memories away, merely dulled them, if you want to think on them you will be able to, I could not have you thinking on them always, should you choose to accept my offer, for you would be haunted by them all the time, and lose yourself in grief."

Oh, well now Leo felt stupid, but he had been so worried that he would lose what little he had to remember his friends by, that he sort of lost it. He looked to Chaos. "Sir, I would like to accept your offer of changing fate sir, but I'm afraid that I don't really know how to do it, I doubt Kronos will stop by me flaming on in front of him."'

There were a few laughs at the mental image until the sentence processed.

"Kronos?" Even Zues seemed afraid at the mention of his father's name.

Leo didn't say anything; he just bit his lip and fingered a beaded necklace (you'll figure out what it is and where he got it later)

'"You speak true Leo Valdez, but I will guide you. When you arrive back on earth, you will find yourself beginning at Yancy academy, the school that Percy Jackson attended the year before he discovered he was a demi-god. I will give you instructions on what to do, and when to do it, as well as providing you with anything I feel you need. Live well Leo Valdez, and save as many as possible."

Then Leo was falling into darkness, and shrinking, and generally feeling a great deal of motion sickness, till he reached the bottom of what seemed like a dark tunnel, and blacked out.'

"Well," Zues spoke after a long moment of silence, "Who would like to read next?"

"I will," Beckendorf offered and the Lord of the skies tossed him the novel.

Before he could begin, however, a bright light filled the throne room.

What is it? Find out next chapter!