Between the battles: Heroes of Olympus one shots

Three Story Monster

Leo bolted upright in his bed, his eyes wide with fear. He could feel his body temperature rising, and he burst into flames, burning through his t shirt. He cursed softly and whipped it off, throwing it on the ground and jumping out of bed to stomp on it.

Leo sighed once the fire was put out, and ran his hands through his hair, trying to keep it together. He shook his head and walked over to the balcony, and quietly pushed the doors open, trying not to wake up Calypso. He glanced behind him, and saw her sleeping form across the room, the moonlight falling on her, illuminating the room.

Leo stepped out onto the balcony, barely feeling the cold February wind. He leaned his elbows on the railing and looked out onto the city, cars streaming past and people below rushing past, even though it was about four in the morning, from Leo's estimations. He fisted his eye and sighed again, trying to shake his nightmare out of his head.

He heard a rustling behind him, but he didn't look back as Calypso approached him softly, a white blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Her almond eyes were clouded with sleep, but she walked over to the railing besides Leo and leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Nightmares?" She asked, but it wasn't a question. She knew.

"Yeah." Leo sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. He was painfully aware that he didn't have a shirt on, but he tried to ignore it.

"Want to talk about it?" Calypso pressed softly, her breath making puffs of fog in the cold air.

"It was about the underworld." Leo confessed, his voice barely above a whisper.

He felt Calypso stiffen besides him, and she gently put her blanket around his shoulders as well. She bit her lip and stared into the distance, her fingers tapping the familiar morse code Leo taught her.

"It's coming back?" She asked, tapping the same message over and over again, just like Leo did.

"Yeah, mostly. Some parts I still can't remember clearly, but I'm actually thankful. But there's just so much I need explained...." Leo trailed off, his hand rubbing his right wrist, where he could feel the scar, and his back tingled where he knew were many more, just waiting for him to remember their story. Some of them were old, from his time with abusive foster homes and gangs, but there were ones he had no idea what happened, where they came from. But he knew why they were there.

"It probably is best you don't remember." Calypso said, her hand finding Leo's. She pried his fingers off his wrist and took it in her own, softly tapping her message onto the scar, and Leo could almost feel himself relaxing, the panicked tension fading away.

"You're probably right." He said, keeping his eyes fixed on the horizon. "I know why he did it though. He had to."

Calypso shook her head, her hair, brushing against Leo's shoulder.

"That may be true, but that doesn't make it right. You are a hero. You had the cure, it was just a matter of time until you found me. He didn't need to do it." She replied, her fingers tapping harder on Leo's wrist.

"He had to. I broke the oath." Leo sighed, flipping his hand over and catching Calypso's hand in his. Her fingers curled around his, and they stood in silence, watching the cars and the people of New York.

"You could go back." Calypso said, jerking Leo out of his stupor.

"Not yet." He said, just like he said every time either of them brought it up. "Just a little longer. I need to get better, they can't see me like this."

Calypso pursed her lips, and glanced sideways at Leo. "You know they miss you, and they will do everything in their power to help you. From what you've told me, I'm willing to bet they will storm the underworld and attack Hades himself for doing what he did to you."

"That's exactly it. I don't want them to worry, or go and attack the lord of the dead. I want it to be like it was before I died. Before the huge crazy quest." Leo said, gripping the railing tightly with his free hand.

"Besides, we can't just leave Bunker 9 ¾. I put a lot of work into this place." Leo said, trying to lighten the mood.

Calypso laughed softly, her fingers starting to tap their pattern again. "True. I didn't put up with you working day and night for months to get this place running to just abandon it."

Leo smiled inwardly as he remembered the long months it had taken to finally set up their machine shop, but it had really been worth it. They had people coming in everyday for lunch, or just coming to hang out in the café part of the garage Calypso managed, and the garage section was never empty. They were even considering hiring some help because they were getting to many customers, but Leo didn't mind all the work. It kept his mind busy.

"But you have to consider them too." Calypso continued, snapping him out of his reverie. "It's been over a year. How long now exactly? I know you've been keeping track."

Leo nodded, already doing the mental calculations. "One year, six months, two weeks and four days exactly."

"See? You miss them. And maybe the Hypnos kids could help, or Nico. From what you told me, he is on decent terms with his father. Maybe he could do something." Calypso said, nudging him with her shoulder.

"I don't want to be a burden." Leo countered, bumping her back. "I just need more time, that's all. Just a little while longer and I'll stop having the mightmares every night, and I'll be able to go back."

Calypso sighed, creating another puff of fog. "It's your decision. I'm happy anywhere, but I will admit I've grown attatched to this three story monster." She laughed, and Leo grinned.

When they had first found this place, it had been pretty intimidating. It was just outside of Manhattan, and they were pretty sure some teenagers had been using it as a hangout. There was spraypaint all over the walls, and the second floor celing was sagging alarmingly. All in all, it had taken forever to get into living conditions, and even longer to build the shop. The authorites had come by at one point, demanding legal documentation and whatnot, but a quick mist job by Calypso took care of that. But the nickname three story monster had come from when they had first arrived here, the place looked exactly like a monster, with two of the windows being eyes, and the garage doors looked exactly like teeth.

But it had been worth all the work. It was exactly how Leo had imagined it, and he loved working with the machines everyday, and talking to fellow mechanics and customers. Calypso felt the same way, she was just happy to be off the island and interacting with different people again.

"You know, they'll probably find their way here themselves. We are getting pretty popular." Calypso said, and Leo nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Percy and Annabeth especially. Percy has the run of the city." Leo tried to joke, but his hands clenched, and Calypso squeezed back, and tapped her fingers on his thumb.

"It'll be fine." She promised, and Leo couldn't help but believe her.

"Yeah," he replied, his fingers tapping the same message back to Calypso, "We'll be fine."