Finding Leo

Chapter 3: Leo's Mistake

Leo's POV

I woke up, but kept my eyes shut. My head was pounding, and my arms and legs felt like jelly. Where was I?

I could tell there were bright lights. I was in a bed. Voices around me. Was I dead? Yeah, that's it. I'm in the Underworld's checkup room.

Ok, Leo, think... Infirmary? It has to be. I vaguely remember someone waking me up in the woods, right in the middle of a nightmare. In the dream, I was on Festus's back, Jason and Piper in his claws. We were battling Gaea. I was on fire, literally and figuratively. We had Dirt Woman in the sky, away from her source of power, and we were winning, but I knew we needed more. I looked to my friends, and told them to get out of there. Of course, they argued. I didn't give them a choice. I willed my flames to become hotter. "I love you guys," I told Sparky and Beauty Queen. Then, Festus dropped the two of them. My dragon and I flew towards Gaea. We were almost there, then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a giant fireball plummeting towards both of us. Then everything went black.

Now, here I am. What an adventure. After debating it for a good five minutes in my mind, I decided it should wake up for real. I opened my eyes, and took a moment to realize where I was. I was in the infirmary. Surprisingly, I was the only patient in there, and all together there were two other people in the room. I was lying on a bed, covered in white blankets, and standing at the edge was none other than Chiron himself.

The centaur's eyes widened when he saw me. He yelled to the only other person in the room, a nearby Apollo camper. "He's awake!  Get the others." The demigod nodded and headed for the hallway. Chiron swiftly left through another door, and I was left alone.

Great. Thanks for the explanation, buddy.

A millisecond later, the entire crew of the Argo II plus Nyssa and Jake barged through the door. The Apollo camper was straggling behind them, weakly protesting something about giving me space, but it was no use. I was bombarded by questions. Hazel was sobbing into Frank's shirt, Nyssa and Jake were right up in my face asking me questions, Percy and Annabeth were by each other's side, simply staring in bewilderment, and Jason was shaking his head in disbelief. Meanwhile, Piper walked up to my bed, raised her arm, and slapped me across the face. "That's for disappearing," she said. Then she punched my forearm, and I cringed. "That's for not coming back until now," and finally she slapped me again. "And that's for everything else."

I sat there rubbing my cheek. "Nice to see you too, Pipes." After a moment, I saw a hint of a smile play across her lips. She wasn't really mad. Then, I addressed everyone. "Anyone care to tell me what happened?"

Then Annabeth spoke up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," she waved her hands in the air. "You supposedly 'die' defeating Gaea, disappear for days, crash-land in the woods, and YOU'RE the one that wants an explanation?" She shook her head and rubbed her temples. "You, Leo Valdez, are truly something else."

I sighed, then told them the story, everything from the physician's cure to flying home. When I came to to the part about crash landing, I explained how we had caught some bad weather about three miles from camp, and Festus and I had spiraled down to Earth. Luckily, it was right next to Camp Half-Blood.

When I finished, the girls started tearing up again. Hazel, who had just finished crying, turned back to Frank's shirt and bawled. Without warning, and one by one, each of them, came forward and embraced me. Soon, we were all in a mega-group hug. "We missed you," Hazel was able to say through soft sobs.

***2 WEEKS LATER***

Percy's POV

Tonight was capture the flag! Man, I still felt like a kid new to Camp, getting excited over this, but it was great. Once they let Leo out of the infirmary the day after we found him, things kind of went back to normal. The Romans stayed an extra day to celebrate his return. We were happy beyond belief. The Seven had survived the war, against what Gaea had said about a few of us dying.