The Return of Leo Valdez (After Blood of Olympus)

30- Leo

"Dad!" Leo yelled again and ran up to him, giving him a big hug.

Have you ever had that feeling where it felt like you were going to throw up and then explode with happiness? That was exactly how Leo was feeling.

It felt like forever since he fought along side his dad on the Argo II. He was happy to see him again.

"Sorry dad," Leo said quickly recoiling, probably blushing. "I just got a little excited."

Hephaestus let out a ground shaking laugh- literally. The walls and floors rocked from side to side and shook up and down, knocking Calypso on to her butt.

"It's just great to see you again Leo, you've been through so much, and has proven yourself worthy. The Argo II? Helen of Troy, I would give anything to see that again, my boy! Too bad though, it was destroyed in the explosion. Such a young, beautiful machine."

Leo could feel Hephaestus' pain.

The sadness of loosing a machine brakes Leo's heart every time, imagine what it can do to a man who has worked with machines since the early ages of the Greek Empire.

Hephaestus looked over Leo's shoulder. "Is that...Calypso?" He asked.

The fire god walked passed Leo and towards the Titan daughter.

"Don't tell Zeus," Calypso asked. "Leo rescued me from Ogygia. I don't want to go back there."

Hephaestus scratched his chin for a moment. "Let's not talk about this here, the gods have eyes and ears everywhere."

Hephaestus motioned for Leo and Calypso to follow him. Hephaestus began walking down the long hallway.

It was nothing special, just a long hallway made out of large dark brown bricks and the occasional torch on the wall, but what was at the end of the hallway took Leo's breath away.

The end of the hallway opened up to a big chasm. There was no ceiling. Instead, the stars shown above. They were in the heart of the volcano. At the center of the chasm a large railing circled around a hole. Inside the hole was hot magma. Every so often the molten rock would shoot up into the air and spew sparks in every direction, but didn't go past the railing.

"So this is your home?" Leo asked as they walked around the chasm to the hallway on the other side of the mountain.

"I live on Mount Olympus. This place is kind of like my business/vacation house," Hephaestus answered. "The cyclops do the work for me down here. I try to come on a daily basis, but things get in the way sometimes."

"Like what?" Leo asked intrigued.

"You know, natural disasters, this place blows up, Zeus losses his temper, an important event is happening on Mount Olympus, just the usual stuff," Hephaestus answered.

"Speaking of Zeus," Calypso asked. "Your not going to tell him I'm here right?"

Hephaestus hesitated for a moment. "I'm not sure."

Calypso sighed and looked down at the floor as she walked. Leo could tell she thought Hephaestus would send her back to Ogygia.

After walking down the opposite hallway, a large bronze door stood before them.

Hephaestus gripped the large wooden handles and pulled tightly on them. His veins popped out of his arms and his muscles clenched.

Finally the doors were opened.

"Welcome to my workshop," Hephaestus said. "Take a seat anywhere and make yourselves at home."

When Leo stepped inside the workshop, he stood in awe at the amount of machines.

He felt like a little kid again. He went from machine to machine, turning them on, studying them and nearly getting his hand chopped off by a few.

"You like my workshop, eh?" Hephaestus asked Leo.

Leo nodded with excitement.

"Good. I was thinking of maybe allowing some of your siblings to stop by as a summer field trip, with Chiron's permission of course."

"Dad...I...I...would love that!" Leo answered. "And I know everyone else would too-"

Leo suddenly stopped his blabbering and thought about his cabin. What were they doing now? Are they trying to find him? Do they not care about finding him?Were they even alive?

Leo's heart felt like a weight. Why did such an amazing room bring back so many painful questions?

"Leo, you may not have much time," Hephaestus said. "We should sit down and discuss everything now."

Leo nodded in agreement and sat on a wooden chair next to a rack of back saws.

"Calypso," Hephaestus said.

Calypso turned her attention to Hephaestus. "Yes?"

"Leo has worked hard to bring you off that island, and you've been on it long enough. I will not send you back to Ogygia."

Leo could feel his butterflies erupted into an awesome party. Calypso was staying? WHOOP WHOOP!

Leo's excitement was nothing compared to Calypso's. She was cheering, skipping around and beat her arms in the air.

"I'm staying!" She screamed in joy. "I'm really staying!"

"But, even though I'm fine with you staying, many people will not be okay with it. Once they find out your off Ogygia, they will do anything to kill you. That's why you should go to Mount Olympus. If Zeus finds out, he will get mad. If you tell him, you punishment may be....slightly better."

Leo gulped in fear. Zeus would punish them?

"Listen dad," Leo began to say. "The real reason we came here is so you can fix Festus. Can you help me?"

Hephaestus hesitated for a moment. "Calypso, I just need to speak to Leo for a minute, can you wait outside?"

Calypso gave an enthusiastic nod and skipped out the door.

"Listen, Leo," Hephaestus said slowly sitting down in a squeaky, wooden chair. "I've been watching over Festus. When you first re-built him, he was never destined to last a long time. When you built him a second time, he would not last much longer than the first."

Leo's heart felt like a weight. He seemed to know what was happening, but at the same time, he was clueless.

Hephaestus sighed. "Leo, Festus will not survive the journey to Olympus. He's just too beat up."

That's when everything came crashing down. Leo's heart was like an anvil, it pulled him down, preventing him from picking himself back up.

How could Hephaestus? The master builder of Olympus, tell his own son he can't build something?

"I'm sorry-" Hephaestus said.

"Your sorry?" Leo snapped. "You just told me my biggest friend won't make it back to Camp Half-Blood, and all you have to say to me is sorry?"

"I'm..." Hephaestus racked his brain looking for a new word, nothing popped up. "Leo, even though I can't re-build Festus, I can do 3 things with him. I will let you choose."

Leo took a deep breath in. "Okay."

"One, I can leave Festus here intact, he won't be able to fly or move around a lot, but you can visit him here whenever you want. Two, I can take him apart and send him to bunker 9 for you to use. And finally three, I can re-wire him into a bronze statue, for the whole camp to enjoy."

All three options left Leo unsatisfied. Finally, and idea popped into his head.

"Hey dad, I have a suggestion."

"Well what is it, my boy?" Hephaestus asked.

Leo got up from his chair and whispered it in his ear.

Hephaestus nodded. "I think I can do that."