Nyssa/Leo: Can't decide whether or not this is incest since they have different mothers, but whatever. Don't give me a bad review only because you have a problem with the pairing.

I was walking to the pavilion to join my siblings for dinner, when I decided to wait for Leo. I know he had said he knew where the pavilion was, but I'd just make sure he got there and found the table all right. I turned around, but what I saw made me stop. My new brother, Leo, was standing in the middle of the forgery, completely still. His face was lit up with the eerie, flickering glow of a flame. I looked closer and realized that his hand was on fire. I shook myself out of my shock and ran into the forges as fast as I could, hoping I make it there in time.

"Leo!" I screamed, running into the main room, the room I had seen him in from outside. He was sitting in the middle of the room on the dusty concrete floor. In his hands was a tiny flame; its light flickering across his grease-streaked face. I didn't know what to say.

I had a moment where you realize you've done or said something really awful without meaning to, but you can't take it back, no matter how much you want to. I can't believe I had said anything about the fire powers. How could I have been such an idiot? There was no way for me to have known whether or not he had them, and telling him to his face that he was 'always dangerous' was probably one of the stupidest, most inconsiderate, heartless things I've done. I'm usually a nice person, I swear, I just wasn't thinking!

Leo was silent. Our eyes met and I was washed over with total guilt. This was my fault. I made him feel like this. I made him feel like some sort of monster, just because he was lucky enough to have this amazing gift. He didn't move. Didn't say anything.

After a moment of silence, I took a step into the room and sat down on the floor, about five feet away from him. The setting sun shone through the holes that had been rusted into the tin walls, making tiny, pinprick sized shafts of light. They scattered the room and exposed the dust particles that were drifting through the air.

Leo slowly brought his fingers in, extinguishing the tiny flame. He focused his gaze on his hands, examining the motor oil that was inevitably gathering in the creases of his palm. It happened to anyone who worked in the forges. Eventually we just gave up on washing it off. We worked often enough that we got used to it.

"Nyssa, I'm sorry." He whispered. I looked up and flashed him a grin. Or tried to, at least. Today had been so tiring and nerve-wracking, and to learn about Leo's secret on top of it all, all I could manage was a weak smile that fell almost immediately.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." I reassured him. "If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry. I was such a jerk to you. I had no idea." I confessed, but realized all I was doing was giving him excuses. His eyes softened and he shrugged his shoulders. Just barely, but I noticed it.

"You didn't know. And you're right. Believe me. If anyone knows how dangerous I can be, it's me." He said softly. I barely knew Leo, and I had this vision of him, but it was all based on first impressions. He was an annoying joker, probably pretty accident prone, and a total instigator that had no trouble getting someone mad at him. But that was all just some front he put up. It masked a secret so big that it was killing him inside, and I had made it worse by mentioning the Great Fire of London. And after all that:

"That must be terrifying." was all I managed to say.

"You have no idea." He muttered, shaking his head sadly, and letting a strand of curly brown hair fall into his chocolate eyes. And I knew he was right. I had no idea. There was no way I, or anyone else, could imagine the pain that came with a talent like his.

We sat there, on the concrete, probably getting sawdust from the floor all over our butts, for another few minutes. I wasn't hungry, but Leo was at the end of a long day. I was worried what might happen if I didn't get some food in him. Working in the forges, even for a little while, has been notorious for zapping every ounce of energy out of the campers, fire-wielding or not.

"Leo, do you want to come up for dinner with me or should I just have Chiron save you something for later. If you don't really feel like facing the cabin, that's fine by me." I asked softly, breaking the silence.

"I like you." He said, all of a sudden, and I heard him put back up his overconfident ego, hinting that the previous conversation was not only over, but never happened. Which, considering the circumstances, was a pretty good plan.

"I'm a likeable person, but I don't think it'll work out between us. I am your sister, after all." I smirked and stood up, brushing the sawdust off of my butt and offering him my hand to pull him up. He laughed and shook his head at my joke, grabbed it, and yanked himself up to his knees. I don't know what I was expecting. I mean, he makes fire on his hands, so would they burn me? Will they be more callused than usual? Or just normal? His hands were warmer than most peoples, but not gross. They weren't sweaty or anything. They were more toasty. Like...a...campfire. Huh. That made a lot of sense.

"I'll go. It's fine. I don't want them thinking I'm weird or anything for missing dinner on my first night." He decided, brushing the sawdust off of his butt and pulling himself to his feet.

"Right, because you're so not weird." I joked.

"Was that sarcasm? I was beginning to think you had no sense of humor. Thank god." He laughed, throwing his hands animatedly up in the air, shouting to the sky.

"You mean 'thank the gods'" I corrected, bumping him over with my hip.

"What?" He asked, clearly not used to the CHB lingo yet.

"You'll catch on eventually. Let's go, Valdez." I sighed and shook my head, shoving his shoulder forward, towards the arena.

Our arena wasn't very big. Not that impressive. It was pretty run down. The walls were blackened in areas from explosions (chariot races can get pretty intense). One side was collapsing and the Athena cabin was working on repairing it, so it was covered in scaffolding. But when I led Leo past it and towards the cabins, and beyond that, the dining pavilion, his eyes widened.

"Holy crap. That thing is amazing." he mumbled as his steps slowed in order to admire the 'amazing' arena.

"No it's not. It's probably the building most likely to collapse and kill you. So lets keep moving." I suggested, grabbing him by the elbow and dragging him away from the rickety scaffolding.

~at dinner~

"What are we supposed to be doing?" he whispered loudly from behind me.

"We're giving an offering to our godly parent. Just scrape a little food into the fire and thank dad. I usually give him the bad stuff."

"So what you're saying is we just dump whatever we don't want to eat into the fire? We don't have to eat, like, our vegetables or whatever?"

"Awesome, right?" I asked, turning toward him and smiling.

"Sweet." I watched as he cut away the flabby, jiggly portion of the, I think it was beef, and flung it into the fire with a fork, along with some unidentifiable vegetable that looked vaguely like green beans. I laughed when he missed most of the flames and hit the edge of the fire pit, splattering the blackened bricks with his dinner.

"Shut up." he mumbled, waving the fork in my face and heading back to the table.

And...REVIEW! Please? It would make my day :) I'm sorry if I don't update ASAP. I've got a lot going on and don't know when I'll find time to write very often. But don't let that keep you from ALERTING! Thanks for putting up with my author's note and for reading my story...yup. Okay. NOW REVIEW! What do you think of the pairing?