CHAPTER 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series or the Heroes of Olympus series. Anything you recognize in this belongs to Rick Riordan.

Author's Note: This is the first chapter of the revised "The Happily Ever After" (yay me). This one's not too different than the original. I hope it delivers, though!

After getting Festus repaired, Leo had his sights set on going to New York as soon as possible.

"If that's okay with you, of course," he had said to Calypso, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. In return, she smiled at him.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, "I've always wanted to go to that camp of yours."

Now, they were soaring through the skies, the wind blowing through their hair as a body of land inched closer and closer at the horizon.

Calypso pointed ahead as tall, blocky structures appeared in their line of sight, "Look! I-is that New York?" Her voice was full of excitement and anticipation.

Leo grinned, "Sure is, Sunshine. Ain't it beautiful?" Calypso nodded. The beauty of the city was vastly different than that of the garden at Ogygia. Rather than an earthly, natural kind of beauty to it, New York City radiated something that Calypso couldn't quite put her finger on. She leaned forward, intrigued by its ethereal glowing lights, the roads that crisscrossed the city, and the massive buildings that seemed to reach to the heavens. (A/N: This is literally the longest paragraph I ever probably wrote in this fanfic.)

When they first touched down, they actually landed a little near the outside of New York, where there were less mortals to witness a giant robotic dragon (or with the Mist, probably an airplane) land in the middle of a settlement.

Calypso frowned, "Leo, what are you doing?" Leo had dismounted Festus, and was now jogging away from them.

He turned back to look at her, and called out, "Just stay there! I just need to check something! I'll be back real quick!" Calypso sighed, and leaned against Festus.

"I seriously cannot keep up with that kid," she murmured to the dragon. Festus, in reply, let out a series of clicks and whirrrrs to express something that Calypso didn't quite understand.

Meanwhile, Leo was now in the midst of the city, searching the streets for anything with that day's date on it. It was quite nostalgic, to be back in the world of the living. He took a deep breath, remembering what it was like to be here, then continued his search. Whipping around wildly, he finally spotted a man in a suit carrying a newspaper. Soon enough, Leo popped up at the man's side, peering over his shoulder.

"Hey, can I borrow that? Thanks!" Leo snatched the newspaper out of the man's hands and dashed away with a smile.

"Hey!" the man shouted, but the boy had already disappeared.

A couple minutes later, Leo showed up to where Calypso and Festus were waiting, panting and holding up the newspaper triumphantly.

"Got it!" he announced, his breath beginning to even out. Anxiously, he flipped through the newspaper to the cover and scanned for the date. Calypso watched as his eyes widened, and then he gasped.

"What? What is it?" Calypso asked, concerned. Leo threw the newspaper to the ground dramatically.

"Nine months!" he wailed, "I've been gone for nine months! H-how could that be? Ohhhhhh, they are not going to be happy with me! W-wait! Have I even aged? Is Hazel older than me now? Who's in charge of the Hephaestus cabin?!" Leo continued to rant nervously as Calypso stared at him with her eyebrows raised.

"If you're so worried, then shouldn't we try to get to camp…you know…soon?" Calypso asked.

"What if camp totally changed? I hope they didn't worry about me! Did I miss the fireworks again?" Leo rambled on.

"You know, Leo, nine months isn't that bad if you think about it," Calypso tried to reassure him, tapping her fingers against her leg impatiently, "At least it wasn't even more than a year! What if you were gone for a century or-" Calypso paused once she saw that Leo clearly wasn't listening to her. She sighed in despair.

"Leo."

"…yes?"

"Can we just go to camp now?"

"O-oh. Yeah, sure. Sorry, I got a bit…distracted there, didn't I?"

"You sure did."

The son of Hephaestus laughed, then clambered onto Festus again. He offered his hand to Calypso, and lifted her on.

"Well, if anything changed," Leo told her, "it's that I won't be the seventh wheel anymore!"

"Who said you still aren't?" Calypso teased, "I could still hate you." Leo laughed, and pulled her into a hug, startling Calypso.

"Oh, I seriously doubt that," Leo replied, grinning, "Anyway…" He let go of Calypso, and faced forwards. "It's time to go home."

She nodded, also beaming brightly, "Right."

Then, they took off again, towards Camp Half-Blood and the moment they had been waiting for so long. They were going home.

A/N: That's a wrap! This one is definitely longer, and I snuck a little more fluff into this one (the hug). I hope you guys liked it! New chapter updates will come through during the next few weeks. Please see the last chapter for what's been updated and a note!