The hot stale air of the forge was hard to suck down as Leo took another deep breath, swinging his hammer down on his next masterpiece. It was an Imperial Gold Blade with a handle of pure white ivory with a distinct lightning design on the pommel. Leo's arms had begun to feel tired after so much time attempting to perfect his work. His small but very well defined muscles ached as he took a quick breather from the work that had consumed him for the past two days.

"Leo! Where are you? Why is it so hot in here? And ARE YOU DONE YET?"

The sword that he was currently making was for his best friend Jason, or at least his closest human friend because he was pretty sure he couldn't count Festus.

"Over here near the back!" Leo replied as she neared. He began to put his shirt back on, usually working with it off due to the extreme heat. He liked to admire his newly acquired muscles in the plenty of shined shields and armor around his workplace. Piper looked a bit more mature with it being almost 3 years since the war, her kaleidoscope eyes twinkling as she saw Leo get stuck in his own shirt attempting to put it on. The closer she got Leo noticed that he was now several inches taller than her, time was kind he thought as she approached him.

She looked at me and slightly smiled, "So have you finished Jason's sword yet? Him and Percy are gonna be sparring soon."

"Got it right here Pipes just needs a few finishing touches" "It's amazing Leo, and it's not even finished!" Piper exclaimed as she laid her eyes upon the gold and white sword for the first time. "Can you hurry up a bit though? Jason and I have reservations with the rest of the group that we won't make if they finish sparring late." Frank and Hazel were visiting from Camp Jupiter, where they lived. Annabeth had managed to corral Percy in long enough to move in with her and take college classes at the nearest community college until they were able to find something better.

"Oh the gang is here?"

"Yeah we wanted to throw a fun little couples night" Piper replied with a smile not noticing the faint expression of loneliness Leo had accidentally let appear on his face before quickly straightening it out. Leo continued to finish off the sword, all the while thinking of how much has changed since the war.

Finally Leo finished and handed the sword to Piper in a white leather scabbard,"Have one of the Hecate kids enchant it to transform into a coin or something later". As Leo turned his back to wipe his hands of residual grime he could hear Piper say a faint thanks as she ran out the forge excitedly.

Leo looked down at the shadow his body cast against the sunlight leaking in through the open doorway where his friend had left through.

"Have fun"

-
Leo flopped down on his bed looking at the ceiling of his personal room. He felt a weird tingle in his right forearm and moved to scratch the itch he felt but only met cold bronze. He had forgotten about that. The Apollo kids said it was phantom limb. During the Battle of Olympus also was shot down while flying on Festus by some of the catapults Gaea's forces were fight with, medieval much?At the moment he thought nothing of it, he just threw some ambrosia in his mouth to ease the pain and took back to the air, throwing flaming tools off his dragon with his uninjured arm. Later on it was discovered that his arm was absolutely shattered, the adrenaline and ambrosia making Leo not notice at the time. No magic or medicine could've saved it.

When he had been recovering from his injury he'd been and absolute wreck. Leo was first and foremost a, builder. An inventor. A son of Hephaestus. A mechanic, just like his mom. So when he lost his arm it felt like he had lost everything, he'd lost who he was. He lost what made him important. Leo was ashamed to admit that during that point in time he'd even considered ending it. It was only for a brief second before he realized that he had a lot to live for but it happened. He thought about it. His morning coffee was replaced but with morning Tequila. He justified to himself by saying it helped relieve the pain but nothing ever really relieved it. His days and nights were consumed with wallowing in pity by himself in Bunker Nine, telling people he was simply working on something new so they wouldn't notice how weak he actually was.

Leo tried to move on. Losing an arm shouldn't completely cripple a hero like him he thought as he pushed through the urge to give up. But it's hard to keep fighting when the universe finds every possible way to keep you down when you do. One drink to numb the pain became two just to make sure. Two drinks became three because why not he's not do anything else right. The rest were for when he realized that drinking made it easier to forget. Eventually someone noticed.

July 7th, 2013 (approx. one year after The Great War)
"Hey guys do you know where Leo is? I haven't seen him in awhile." Nyssa yelled across the forge of Cabin 9.

"He's probably just in the Bunker like always Nys he usually gets lost in a project and forgets to tell us" replied Steven, one of her older brothers.

"Well I'm gonna go check. He's been really different since we all came back."

Grabbing a blowtorch to open the door Nyssa left the Cabin and headed towards the forest, where the Bunker was located. After about a five minute walk she made it to large stone surface that served as the bunkers doors. Using the blowtorch she entered as the doors slowly pulled away.

The inside was dim as Leo seemed to only keep one light on in the center of the room. At first it was difficult to confirm what she saw but as she got closer Nyssa was sad to see that her eyes had not deceived her. Sitting on his chair with his face plastered to his desk lay Leo with bottles all around him. The overwhelming smell of alcohol and must grew stronger the closer she got to him. Being closer Nyssa noticed the tear stains on his face as he slept. Leo was not okay.

After that day Nyssa had pulled Leo up from his depression and forced him to fight. If he could not find the strength with himself to keep going then he would use hers until he could. She fed him when he tried to starve himself. She bathed him when he would relapse and puke on himself. She forces him to leave the Bunker every once in awhile to experience life outside of pity. Nyssa was slowly but surely helping Leo love life again.

She (along with the rest of Cabin Nine) had worked together for a month straight creating a prosthetic good enough for their brother. The exterior was a simple sleek bronze design, it being Celestial Bronze but the interior was the interesting part. It was filled with all types of hidden functions that Leo still didn't quite comprehend to this day. He had cried tears of happiness when his Cabin presented it to him and Nyssa explained all the ins and outs.

But right as life had been getting better, right when Leo began to believe that maybe he could be okay again the universe set out to bring him down once again. It had happened so quick. It was Leo's 17th birthday, exactly a year from the day Nyssa had found him when she died. She was driving to the store to get him a birthday cake when she was t boned by someone who was on their phone. The paramedics told him it was instant, that she felt no pain. But did any of that fucking matter when his sister lay dead and broken in her car with no one with her? She survived two wars to die like this. She killed for her family to die like this. She was a good person and she was gone in an instant.

Losing her was almost as bad as when he lost his mother. Except this time it stings a little more because he doesn't have the veil of childhood innocence to soften the blow. Grief is a bitch. There was one night after the funeral where he sat and stared at a bottle for hours wondering if it'd help. But Nyssa wouldn't have wanted that.

As Leo sat in his room lost in the memories of his sister he feared sleep. Because with sleep came nightmares and he wasn't looking forward to nightmares. He had recently begun to feel tired all the time since he often skipped sleep for work but tonight he just felt so...empty. The nights had began to be Leo's dreaded time of day, even more than the times it was his turn to clean out the Pegasus stables. As the moon slowly descended he had a single thought before he let the nightmares take him again," Hope those guys are having fun."

He woke up the next morning in an absolute panic crying and gripping the sheets of his bed tightly in flaming hands. He had a nightmare of watching Nyssa walking to her car that day, he would follow her begging her to stop but she won't stop. She'd get in the car, lock in her seatbelt, look him straight in the eyes and say that she'd be back. Then the car hits her right in front of him. He was never able to stop her no matter what he did. It was a dream he'd been having for awhile. The worst part was that whenever she was pulling out she'd roll down her window and tell him she loves him.

Leo hasn't been able to stop her, but he will. He let real Nyssa die but he wouldn't let dream Nyssa die to.

As he collected his thoughts at waking up yet again to a nightmare he checked his tricked out "Team Leo" alarm clock Harley had gotten him for staying alive through the Giant War. It read a solid 5:32 A.M he groaned at the earliness because he usually can't go back to sleep after a nightmare. He took off the work clothes he slept in and put on a pair of grey sweats and an old Camp shirt he had laying around. Putting on a grey sweater and worn out sneakers Leo stepped out Cabin 9 with the cup of coffee he prepared with the coffeemaker he had installed shortly after he was named counselor. With his hood covering his wild curls he was able to walk around unnoticed by the slim percentage of early risers in Camp.

As he took a walk around just taking in everything he stared at the roads in front of Camp with some parts fear and some parts regret. He went to the beach to sit and just admire the sunrise but when he got there he spotted his friends. Apparently they had gotten back late and all slept around the bonfire that they had had going on. The couples all slept cuddled together on different blankets, each couple having their own.

"So they did have fun, good for them." thought Leo as he began to walk away.

He spent the rest of his morning in Bunker Nine with Festus and Buford thinking of endless upgrades and listening to some Green Day that reminded him of Thalia, Jason's sister who had stopped by the camp several times to visit Jason in the past two years. The beginning of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was playing with Leo having a perfectly good self pity session before a knock alerted him. Checking his watch he noticed it was already 1, most of the campers being awake now. Opening the door an Apollo camper showed himself.

Confused Leo asked him what he wanted, "The Romans are here to discuss a plan suggested by the Gods themselves and want ALL the Seven there."

"Alright Wes I'll be there just give me a bit" "Its in 20 minutes Leo be there" he said with a bit of finality before walking away from the entrance back to camp. As Leo moved to say bye to Festus he whispered to him "This better be interesting".

As he walked to the amphitheater he felt kinda self conscious in his slummy looking grey sweats and ratty sweater. He still had it zipped up due to the cold morning weather not helped by Bunker Nine's lack of a heater. You would think a human flamethrower wouldn't get hot but recently his fire hasn't been hot. Maybe it knows just how bad Leo's emotional state is and is working off of that. He never really understood his power. Ever since Nyssa Leo doesn't even feel like he has the gift, the only times his fire feels hot is after the nightmares.

Maybe Hephaestus just decided Leo didn't deserve the gift anymore. Leo wouldn't blame him if it was him and that was his reason, he was not a "great" son of his anymore. All he could take pride in is the fact that he was, he was once good enough for his father and his family before he let them down or more importantly, he let Nyssa down. If only he had stopped her. Maybe she would be alive and Leo's fire would return to him. Maybe then he would stop feeling so damn cold inside. His chest ached as he thought about the pain he felt inside. It was always there now, sometimes not as bad but it never went away.

As he shook the thoughts out his mind, he took a look at the camp that had become his home, with friends he considered family. Recently it's been different, they started to treat Leo differently since Nyssa. Most weren't sure how to act since he lost his arm but since her death he's become a social outcast. No one had conversations with him anymore without glancing at his arm every 10 seconds or giving him the looks of pity as if he was broken. Maybe he was. Hoping to distract himself Leo walked even quicker to the meeting Chiron has kept secret but he noticed something strange.

Remembering a few faces he knew what was up right away, smirking he said under his breath and speeding his walk a bit,"The Romans are here".

As Leo neared the amphitheater you could hear the commotion before you even saw it. The clamoring of hundreds of teenagers in the stands all combined to create a restless atmosphere as the combined group of Roman and Greek teens wondered why exactly their leaders had brought them together. Looking around Leo spotted a roped off area where he found the rest of his friends joking with each other.

"Hey Leo", greeted Hazel as she was only one to notice him since Jason and Percy had got into an arm wrestling match with the rest cheering for their respective sides. Leo replied with a small smile and sat down a bit away from the rest of them, he didn't do it it on purpose it was just kinda instinct. Hazel noticed however and looked at him with concern in her eyes before sitting down next to him tapping his arm for his attention. "Hey Hazel! Why aren't you with them?" Leo said with a nod of his head toward the group. "I should be asking you that Leo, you've been really distant from the rest of us lately is everything okay?". Pulling his right sleeve down a bit self conscious of his arm, an act not ignored by the watchful golden eyes of the daughter of Pluto, Leo replied "No need to worry about the Bad Boy Supreme Hazel just a couple sleepless nights is all". As he turned away not being able to lie to her and look her in the eye Hazel grabbed his left arm. "I know that's not all Leo. I'm...We're all worried about you and just want to see you get better" she said looking deep into his eyes. As Leo stared at the girl that could've been, he felt old feelings stir inside but he pushed them away as guilt clouded his mind for even thinking about it.

"Doesn't seem like they're worried", Leo said coldly as he abruptly turned away from her before scooting away and staring straight at the stage waiting for the announcement to begin.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Chiron belted out as loudly as possible to gain control over the GrecoRoman population before Mr. D busted out a bit of godly power that silenced everyone.

"As you all know we are being visited by our allies of the West, our Roman brothers and sisters!" At this loud cheers can be heard from the group before they quieted down almost instantaneously. "This is because of big plans given to us by the gods themselves! I would like to invite a proper hero and leader, Reyna! She will help explain." Leo spotted a figure in bright golden armor with a purple cape following her like a colored gust of wind. As she made her way to Chiron Leo couldn't help but notice just how breathtaking an image she'd created. Her posture, her attire, just everything about her made her out to be a stunning warrior queen destined to lead her people to glory, and Leo thought she actually was in a not so far fetched way.

"Over this past year Greek and Roman unity has become a strong pillar in the demigod community and the gods have noticed. After seeing our strength in the war the gods have offered an idea, an idea they will help with." Reyna said as she walked around locking eyes with apparently everyone in the crowd, the charisma that comes with being praetor shining through brilliantly. But as her eyes landed on Leo they stayed. Leo didn't back down but kept her gaze, her eyes had so many layers of emotion he couldn't look away and apparently she felt the same. It went on briefly until Chiron awkwardly coughed. " They want us to be one" Reyna finished with a blush on her face desperately trying to keep a straight face.

"In accordance by the word of the gods we are to unite and be one city. A city of Greeks and Romans where we will never again be used against each other, instead we will find safety and strength in each other."

At this announcement there were several reactions. There was the classic shock the look most had not knowing how to process exactly what it meant, then there was anger as some Romans who had still not gotten over their hate immediately protested the idea, and lastly there was joy. The look on Leo's friends was amazing as they all group hugged happy that Frank and Hazel would be around way more. But as Hazel hugged Frank, her being the same height thanks to her higher seat, she locked eyes with Leo before he guiltily looked down. He then walked out the amphitheater under the distraction provided but many loud teenagers distracted by big news, not knowing a pair of dark brown eyes following his exit with interest.

As Leo walked away he felt conflicted, he should be happy for Hazel and Frank, them being his close friends he would be able to see more now. But Leo just wasn't able to smile at that thought. As he kicked a rock around he heard his name being called. He turned around to find Hazel running after him. Her brown, curly hair bounced around as she jogged to him before framing her face as she stopped. The purple of her shirt was faded and tied to be smaller, obviously an old one of Frank's seeing at how huge it was. Leo tried not to look at the small part of midriff the tied shirt had exposed but he couldn't help it.

"Leo! Are you even listening?" Leo snapped out of it before replying, "Yeah what's up? Why'd you follow me"

"You left so early so I went to check on you".

Leo looked down before putting his hands on his hips and turning around saying "Frank doesn't know your checking on me huh?"

"No but that isn't impor-"

"What are you doing Hazel?" This made Hazel rub her hands nervously as she looked down, before she looked up to meet Leo in the eye, which made her hair frame her face quite beautifully Leo guiltily added. "Nemesis." was all she said as she stepped closer to him.

"Why are you the seventh wheel Leo? You deserve so much more." Hazel said as she put a hand on his chest. Leo put his hand on her lower back as he touched his forehead to hers, "I got what I deserve. And lost what I didn't." he replied before opening his eyes to admire her. Her full lips were only inches away from his own. But just as the moment seemed about to collapse Hazel leaned in before Leo turned his head slightly, ending up near her ear. "I'm not worth it." he whispered before he untangled their bodies and quickly walked back to Bunker 9.

Hazel stood there for a few minutes just registering what happened and what she had almost done. She rubbed her hands for warmth, Leo's skin unnaturally looked in the direction Leo went with worry before whispering to herself,"Yes you are" and walking back to Frank, her boyfriend.

Reyna didn't quite understand Leo Valdez. Last she'd seen of him was at the beginning of last year when she visited for some festival, but even then it was for a few minutes before he disappeared walking towards the forest all alone. Seeing him taller, more muscular, and some facial hair under that ratty hoody shocked her. His dark eyes seemed to suck her in as he stared at her right back. After her announcement he looked around for a bit before leaving early. Why would he do that if all his friends were still there thought Reyna as she left to her given Cabin as Chiron dismissed the camp about 15 minutes later.

She stripped off her armor and cape as she thought of the new city to be built. It was a great idea, beneficial to everyone with only extremists like Octavian against the unity. As she thought of unity Reyna held up the orange camp shirt Chiron had given her as a gift. She shrugged before taking off the purple and donning the orange, going to the arena right after. She trained with several partners for a couple of hours before stopping to rest and relax, but not before stopping by her cabin for a shower and some essentials first. Grabbing her favorite sugary snack she headed to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset.

Reyna went through so much leading the legion so it was nice to just relax and watch the sun go down with a bag of Jelly Beans in hand as she wondered how her dogs were doing with the Vulcan kid she left them with back in New Rome. She hoped they didn't eat him. With her mind lost in thought she almost didn't hear the slightly familiar voice say her name or at least she thought. "Reina?", a somewhat deep voice inquired a few feet behind her. She replied as she turned around saying ," Are you calling me a queen?", before shock took over as the boy with the brown eyes met her gaze.

"You know it beautiful."

First Fanfiction guys! Constructive criticism is always appreciated.All rights go to Rick Riordan.