romeo, leo valdez

chapter thirteen

psa: the way leo comes back isn't going to be the same as it was in the book so if that annoys you sorry. but as you can see i've already written parts that are different than in 'trials of apollo' like percy is still at camp, apollos not there etc. so, sorry again if it bothers you.

One month.
That's how long had passed since Keisha's suicide attempt. She was still in a coma, but Will confirmed that she was improving more and more each day.

On the day that marked a month, was also the exact day that Leo Valdez returned to Camp Half Blood. It took everyone by surprise. The campers were enjoying breakfast in the morning sun when a gigantic shadow passed over them.

A large, golden dragon swooped low over the dining pavilion, landing in the strawberry fields. Not a second after Festus' landing, a lanky body spilled off his back, landing face first in the plants. Spitting out dirt, Leo Valdez rose to meet the eyes of hundreds of campers, staring at him in utter disbelief. Hesitantly he raised a hand in greeting, before quickly turning around and offering a hand up.

A feminine hand appeared in Leo's and Calypso slid off the dragons back, but with much more grace than her boyfriend. She glanced around, half in awe, and half in nervousness. Shyly she looked over to where people were gradually starting to make their way over to them.

"LEO VALDEZ!" A shout could be heard clearly through the distant rumble of quiet conversation.

Two bodies landed directly in front of Leo and Calypso, as if they'd just flown there (they had).
Before Leo could even register this a body flung itself on him, making him topple over. Groaning, he tried to return the Daughter of Aphrodite's hug as well as he could while being squashed.

"Geez Pipes, it's almost like you missed me," Leo cracked a joke.

But Piper didn't laugh. She peeled herself off him and stood up, standing next to Jason. Jason managed a weak smile and offered his hand to Leo, which he accepted gratefully.

Piper was furiously wiping at her eyes, and Leo noticed that she wasn't the only one. As the crowd of all the other campers had arrived. Jason hugged him briefly before pulling away and clearing his throat.

"We, um," He started, voice breaking. "We thought you were dead,"

Jason's voice was hoarse, and Leo could feel guilt squirming in his stomach when he noticed the Son of Jupiters eyes were glassy, and filled with tears which he blinked back.

As usual, Leo didn't know what to say. He scratched the back of his neck and said awkwardly, "well i was actually, but Festus gave me the Physicians Cure,"

Piper furrowed her brows. "Where have you been? It's has been six months!"

Leo reached behind him and grabbed Calypso's hand, bringing her forward. "Well, I went back to Ogygia and had to rescue my damsel in distress," He winked at his girlfriend to which she rolled her eyes. "And then we travelled,"

As Leo was taking, he didn't notice that quite a few campers were glaring at him. Nico Di Angelo, who had always been on relatively good terms with the son of Hephaestus, was looking at Leo so angrily that if looks could kill, he'd be long gone.

By now the rest of the 'eight', had stepped up and Leo introduced them to Calypso. Then suddenly everyone in camp, formed a line and began taking it in turns to either hug or slap Leo, or both. Chiron watched on from the side, slightly amused and slightly confused.

After quite a while, Will Solace and Nico were the last two.

Will didn't hug nor slap Leo, but merely offered his hand to shake. Leo accepted, and they exchanged small talk. Behind his boyfriend, Nico was trembling with anger. It may have been injustified, but all Nico could think of was his friend lying in a
hospital bed, in a coma and having been driven to suicide for nothing. Leo was alive, and while Keisha was tearing herself apart and ruining herself, he was traveling the world, enjoying a romantic holiday.