THE WAY I LOVED YOU - the lost hero

five

"What the hell?" Leo exclaimed, jumping to his feet, running over to the railing. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but seeing his best friend floating over the Grand Canyon was definitely not it.

Now that Piper was taken care of, Leo's eyes fell on the unconscious girl who remained in a pile on the sky deck.

He let out a sigh. Of course he was left with her.

Kneeling beside her, he rolled her around as gently as he could, so she was facing up. He made sure there was no bleeding from her head, which was difficult due to the dark red color of her hair.

Once Leo determined that there were no external wounds, he began trying to wake her up. He shook her arm, and almost let out a relieved laugh when her brown eyes flickered open.

"There you are," he murmured, secretly glad she hadn't died.

Anastasia's eyes found his face, and she squinted. Pushing herself up, she looked around, "Where'd the demon go?"

A smile ghosted Leo's mouth, and he looked up to find the magical portal thingamajig had disappeared.

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly.

"Where's Coach? Where are your friends?" she attempted to push herself to her feet, but Leo stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, slow down," he ordered, "You hit your head a couple times."

"Yeah, I can tell," Anastasia snapped, and he suddenly remembered why they didn't get along, "But I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened."

"Just wait until Jason gets back, and he'll explain it to both of us."

The way Anastasia looked at Leo was somewhat of a confused glare. However, she remained silent and in the floor.

After a few moments, Leo watched as Anastasia's mouth fell open, and he followed her gaze to find Jason floating onto the deck with Piper in his arms. Had he not seen this earlier, he'd be reacting the same way.

"Where did Coach go?" Piper asked.

Leo pointed straight up, "Never came down. He saved Anastasia and disappeared with Dylan the Storm Ghost."

"What happened?" Anastasia groaned, her hand reaching up to her head, "Am I going crazy? Those storm things, the gold sword... I'm hallucinating, right?"

"Maybe it's a shared hallucination," Leo said, dryly.

Jason walked over to where his sword was lying, and picked it up. He flipped it, and they watched as it shrank back into a coin and landed in his palm.

"Jason, those things-" Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes.

"Venti," he said, much too calmly, "Storm spirits."

"Okay," she blinked, "You acted like... like you'd seen them before. Who are you?"

Jason shook his head, "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know."

Leo looked up at the sky to find the storm dissipating.

"Coach Hedge said he had to protect four people," Jason said, "I think he meant us."