A New Order of Chaos

Coming Back

Jacksonville, Florida

"Next time you want to argue with a giant crab about his weight, do it without me on Festus!!" Calypso recriminated her boyfriend of three years, Leo Valdez, while coming out of the water.

Leo himself wasn't in the best condition either: like his girlfriend, his clothes were gashed, not burned, but soaked wet. He had a big bruise over his right shoulder, which made kind of impossible for him to repair his bronze dragon in middle air while trying to evade the attacks of a giant crab, who got disturbed by their friendly visit.

"You saw him! He looked like Cosmo in that episode of 'The Fairly OddParents' where Timmy asked only for dessert, no nice meals!" Leo excused himself, dripping water from head to toe, while gesturing a big round body, arching his arms.

"Valdez, for the last time... I can't understand references about your time!!" Calypso exploded in anger, pushing away the wet hair of her face and walking more further into the beach. Surprisingly, no mortal was watching at the moment of their landing, so that allowed them to look a little more natural.

"That's why I'm here, Sunshine. To teach you about our world" Leo replied, not even upset by her tone or her glare. Like he couldn't get mad at her.

"Is not my world yet, Leo-"

"Sunshine, you just gave the first- wait let me count them" Leo interrupted himself, looking back to the water and the place where they stood. Calypso just rolled her eyes and shook her head "-thirty steps into our world. Welcome!!" he greeted her, opening his arms wide in the air.

"Why are you so cheery? We could be anywhere" Calypso recognized. And, in some point, she was right. Since Leo appeared riding Festus over Ogygia, three years ago, they've been landing in different places, most of the times, filled with monsters. This forced Leo to teach Calypso the basics about combat and sword fighting. That was basically everything that needed, since Leo's magic tool belt gave them food and tools for their disposal "We may not be in your country"

"Actually, we're in America" Leo pointed to a sign he found in the beach. Despite his dyslexia, Leo could distinguish the word 'Florida', which meant he was in the state of Florida. That, if he didn't failed Geography in school, was located in the SouthEast extreme of the United States "We're in Florida..."

"Florida? It doesn't look like it has many flowers..." Calypso looked around, like wanting to find something that belonged to the name. Leo chuckled slightly.

"No, Sunshine. Florida is named like that because... Actually, I don't know why is named like that" Leo acknowledged, making Calypso roll her eyes.

"Let's just make a warm place to rest" she suggested, walking away from the beach.

~oOo~

A few hours later, Leo and Calypso had found shelter in an abandon house. It was an old nice house, but it looked half destroyed because of a tsunami, because half the house was open.

"This is the best we can find while I fix Festus..." Leo explained, grabbing old wood from the house and turn it on fire.

"Fix Festus?" Calypso asked, confused "Leo, we made it back... Where do you wanna go?" she continued, not understanding. Leo shrugged.

Honestly, Leo never gave it much thought about it. All he knew is that he wanted to go back to Ogygia. He didn't mind much if he got stuck in the island with her. But now that they were free from the Island, from fates, from... the Gods, Leo didn't knew which one could be the next step into their new lives. He may not left a proper family, but he cheated his friends at the end of the War, and he kind of started the war between camps, so either Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter were 'no go'.

"I don't know... I don't have a plan, Cally..." he admitted, sitting down next to her and playing with some spare times in his hands "I thought I was gonna get stuck in the island with you, I never contemplated the possibility of... getting out"

"You were planning on staying there?" Calypso's look on him soften and got closer to him, hugging him "Leo, I love you... but that has to be the dumbest thought you ever had!" she whacked him behind his head.

"Hey!" Leo complained, rubbing his neck and staring at her, not surprised. It was an untold rule that Calypso would whack him on the head whenever he'd say or do something stupid.

"I wasn't gonna stay there and you neither" Calypso stated, serious.

"You really wanted to trade that pacific life for this?!" Leo gestured around him. Calypso nodded and leaned her head over his shoulder, getting comfortable against him "I don't think we're being smart here..."

"Being smart is not your thing..." Calypso pointed out, closing her eyes.

"So, what do you say if we take a leap of faith and, if we see a sign, we'll follow it?" Leo proposed.

"Can we decide in the morning?" Calypso ended the conversation, falling asleep in Leo's shoulder, Leo following soon afterwards.

~oOo~

"Well, we came, we slept, we ate, we bought a T-shirt. Now, what do we do?" Leo asked Calypso, once they were back on the side of the road and with a very much alive (and fixed up) Festus.

"I have an idea, thought it could be a risk..." Calypso confessed. Leo nodded at her to continue "How about, we ride Festus and we head to the first direction the signs tell us?" she proposed to him.

"Make an impulsive and reckless decision without not knowing where we'll get?" Leo repeated, a smirk forming in his lips "Look at that, Sunshine! I'm rubbing off on you!" he beamed at her, making a poor imitation of a cheerleader.

"Don't make fun of me!!" she scolded him, smacking his arm. Leo chuckled, but nodded.

"OK, now we have to find- never mind" he cut himself, pointing at a sign.

Athens, Georgia - 269 miles / 433 kms

From his place, Chaos smiled at the image his vortex showed him.

"Follow the way, son of Hephaestus... Soon, you'll meet your family back..."