Take To The Skies

by ChrisfromMars

What if there were more gods than just the Olympians? What if the Milky Way isn't alone out there? What if Gaea was protecting us all along from these "other gods". Maybe not, but Leo is building a magical observatory to find out. There isn't much time, but a lot an happen in a few seconds. What will Leo find? Dare to find out, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.

1. Frostbite and Sunburn

Prologue.
It's hard to visualize nothing. The second you imagine nothingness, you fill it with something. Yet here I am, drifting in absolute silence. Am I dead? I think. There's no way that's going to happen. Not unless I let it. It's often said that humanity will need an enemy greater than itself just to survive, and here we are. It's the actions of every individual person that decide the outcome. I focus on the only thing I can, my memories. I almost laugh. And it was all going so well. I'm drifted through memory lane, back to the stories I heard about what happened three years ago.

Chapter One: Frostbite & Sunburn

August 1st, 2014, 8:46 A.M. -Half Blood Hill
Festus became an indistinct ball of fire in the sky-a second sun- growing smaller and hotter. Then, in the corner of Jason's eye, a blazing comet streaked upward from the ground with a high pitched, almost human scream. Just before Jason blacked out, the comet intercepted the ball of fire above them. The explosion turned the entire sky gold.

August 2nd, 2014, 5:47 A.M. -The roof of Cabin One, Camp Half Blood.
Piper and Jason stayed on the roof until dawn broke, and Piper started to believe that they could have a fresh start. It might even be possible to tell a new story, in which Leo was still out there. Somewhere...

December 21st, 2015. 5:00 P.M. -Somewhere above the Himalayas.
Nico's dark brown eyes flew open. It's so bloody cold Nico thought bitterly. Nico sat bolt upright, one glance at his surroundings and he immediately knew what had happened.

"Dammit Zeus!" Nico screamed."
"Just because your still mad at Apollo doesn't mean you have the right to vent your anger on Will!"

There was thunder in the distance. Nico decided it was best not to verbally scold Zeus again, probably for at least one or two decades. Nico's eyes flitted over everything around him, taking in details like a rapid fire camera thanks to his ADHD. They were in a plane, thousands of feet from the ground, however the "thousands" in that statement was changing at an accelerating rate towards "hundreds". They were falling and spinning out of control. The plane was in bad shape. The entire left side of the tiny metal plane had been blown off. The rim of the hole was jagged and smoking. Nico smelled jet fuel. The plane was going to blow any second, yet how it hadn't the moment the plane had been struck by lightning, Nico had no clue. Nico was grasping tightly against the wall opposite to the hole in order to avoid being thrown from the plane, gripping so hard it hurt his knuckles. Also, the fact that the plane was spinning uncontrollably didn't help at all either. Nico's face and hands were numb from the cold, winter wind pounding at him at 30 mph. His hands felt like they were swollen, and his nose was dripping nasal fluid as a reaction to inhaling the frigid air. Nico's black shirt was torn, and in the area it'd been torn at he felt warm blood trickling down the sides of his ribs. I must have gotten nailed by some pieces of shrapnel Nico thought, wondering how bad it was. If worse came to worst, luckily Will Solace was an expert in healing. Oh gods, Will. Nico's blood ran like lead through his body, his heart pounding in his chest. Grasping the sides of the plane, Nico struggled to get to the smoking cockpit. He could already hear the roaring of the flames starting to grow, the second that it hit the fuel tank... He tore open the cockpit door, quit literally, seeing as it had already been blasted off it's hinges. It flew past Nico as it was sucked out the side of the plane. Inside the room was Will. Will was already strapping a parachute on.

"You ready to go Death Head?" Will called. Nico grinned at his nickname.

"Sure thing, Sunny Side." Nico called back. Will ran passed Nico, towards the side of the plane that had been ripped. His white fur coat was burnt in areas, his blonde hair askew in the wind. Nico's thoughts drifted back to the year earlier, when they'd first met. His voice shook him out of this thoughts. "They really are beautiful, but dangerous. Somehow these mountains remind me of you, Nico."

The plane had stopped spinning, but Will still needed to hold on to the walls. He stopped there for a moment and looked out. Nico followed his gaze. It would have been breathtaking, but Nico was already out of breath. The Himalayan mountains spread out before them, the white peaks of the mountains reaching for the skies like the teeth of a giant creature. Below them spread a canopy of white snow.
Nico projected a thought to Will, something he was able to do thanks to the Empathy Link he'd established with him awhile back. Do you really think he's down there?

He'd better be, we've got no way to get back home if he isn't.

Best of luck then.

You too.

He jumped from the plane. Nico didn't need a parachute, it was dark enough to where he could shadow travel at the last second before he hit the ground. It would slow his momentum down enough for a safe landing. Nico stepped through the door and fell.

The feeling of falling from a plane wasn't new, but it still caused him to panic involuntarily. The wind slammed against his face, it felt like it was rebelling against him, ordering him to stop falling. Nico forced himself to remember that he'd be fine, and spread out his arms and legs. Lifting his head up, he relaxed. It was a wonderful feeling, not touching the ground. It could almost be mistaken for flying if you fell backwards and faced the sky. Nico saw Will deploy his parachute below him. Nico felt the shadows whispering to him as he prepared to make his jump. Even though he'd learned so much since he'd arrived at Camp Half Blood, he still didn't know where they came from. He often heard things about the near future from the shadows. They weren't bound to a time stream like humans were, they simply existed, observed, and whispered thoughts.

'They're coming! The invaders!' one said.

'Hide! Everyone hide!' said another.
'Please! Save us! Please!' another said.

Nico sighed. The shadows were stirring much more these days, like they were running from an apocalyptic monster. Nico saw the ground below him. He was only a few seconds from impact. Nico imagined himself slipping through a crack in the light, the space where the sun wasn't reaching. It felt like falling, but much, much faster. Nico heard the whispering again, this time much louder. It sounded like he was in a dinning hall at a public school, but everyone was whispering.
Nico willed himself to slip out of the shadows on the ground. Nico saw a crack in the blackness and jumped out. It felt like getting out of a freezing cold lake and into the wind. It chilled Nico to the bones, to the point where he couldn't move more than a few feet. Nico felt his lips becoming numb. Looking up he saw the plane falling. It was on fire and leaving a trail of smoke. It landed on the ground about a hundred feet away in a fiery explosion. Nico tried to channel "Will. I'm really cold, what about you?"

Nah man, I found this hot tub, I'm just chillin'. OF COURSE I'M COLD!

Right. Where are you.

Look up.

Nico looked up. He dodged out of the way, the effort making his limbs feel like they were falling apart. Will landed right next to where Nico had previously been standing. Will's parachute fell like an overhead blanket over both of them, blocking out the twilight that still existed after the sun had left the horizon. Will took out something from his pocket, but it was too dark to see. At least with human eyes. Nico extended his Shadow Vision, something Hazel had taught him to do. It worked similar to how she was always able to find her way underground. Everything that the shadows touched relayed a signal through it, same as the Earth. It's how Gaea had been so powerful. Nico sensed that Will was holding small stick doused in gasoline. Will pulled the parachute off from over top of them and wadded it up. He set it on the ground, taking a match out of his pocket. Will sat down, legs crossed. Nico walked up next to him. "Why are you sitting down, your butt is going to freeze."

"First of all, it's actually not that bad, second of all, you don't need to worry about me, I actually can warm myself, I'm more worried about you. Besides, your going to get killed if you don't stop obsessing over my butt all the time."
Nico felt himself turning red and looked away, before sitting down too. It wasn't as cold as he thought it would've been. Will set the match and the stick on the parachute. Will extended his hand. A beam of sunlight shot out from it. "Ever since the Apollo kids lost the ability to see glimpses of the future, we've been gaining the ability to control sunlight." Nico nodded. It made since that Apollo would try to give a replacement for the gift of prophecy, ever since Delphi went missing. Will aimed the beam at the match. The beam grew smaller, like it was being shone through a magnifying glass. The match burst into flame, next, so did the stick, then the parachute.

"We make a weird couple, don't we." Nico said.

"Why is that?" Will asked.

"You control light, I control darkness."

"Opposites attract, I guess." He turned his attention back toward the now flaming parachute. The flames gave off heat and light, illuminating the darkness that the sun left in it's absence as it set beneath the mountains. Nico pulled his black leather jacket tighter around him. Even though it was thick, it wasn't warm enough to block out the mountain coldness. Nico looked around. To his left, where the plane had landed, smoke rose above the flaming plane. A large field of icy tundra spread out of view beyond that. Nico could see a few tree's growing, somehow still living and green. They looked like Christmas tree's. That reminded Nico that Christmas was in four days. The glowing fires contrasting greatly with the snowy landscape. To Nico's right rose a mountain. It stretched miles towards the starry sky. Around it more mountains encircled them. They were in more or less a valley. Will spoke, shaking Nico out of his thoughts. "We're going to have to head over to that plane eventually, this fire won't last us long, and we need a heat source." Nico nodded. "I could shadow-"

"No!" Will yelled.

"I know, I know." Nico said. "But I haven't told you my plan yet!"

Will looked Nico in the eyes. "Dude, you're only supposed to shadow travel once every five days! You've already done that!"
Nico sighed, frustrated. "Will, you know how you created sunlight just now?" Will nodded.
"Well if you do that while we're traveling, the shadows can't touch me, I won't start fading." Will looked thoughtful.

"Fine, but if this doesn't work, no shadow traveling for two weeks!" Nico stood up, his muscles warmed. Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were pinkish. They were starting to tingle as the feeling in them returned. Will stood up next to Nico. Nico willed them both to slip into the shadows. Everything went black, and the whispering started again. Suddenly there was a burst of light, and Will was standing there. The whispering stopped. That's when the panic hit them. Nico looked around frantically. They were in a room with a checkered tile floor. All around them footsteps could be heard. The mania of frantically scrambling people instilled panic that ran deeper than either he or Will could explain. They felt like if they didn't do something fast they'd become part of the crowd, a voice that nobody could see, lost forever.
Nico was the first to recover.

"Hey, it's okay." Will looked Nico in the eyes, fear evident. "Will!" Nico yelled. Will took a deep breath.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"This is why people are afraid of the dark." Nico said. "Darkness radiates fear, because this is where fear lives."

"Can it hurt us?" Will asked.

"Only if you let it." Warned Nico

"What do we do?" Will asked looking around.

"Close your eyes."

"What?!"

"Do it! The light you made is protecting us, focus on making it stronger, and ignore the fear, then the laughing will go away!"
Will closed his eyes, he started glowing, like a lava lamp. Nico closed his eyes as well, picturing coming out of the shadows next to the plane.
A rip in the nightmarish scenery caused Nico to open his eyes. It looked like somebody had torn a hole in a green screen, and he was looking at what was behind it. The snowy ground held upon it the plane. Nico stepped out into the bitter cold, followed by Will. Again he felt like he was walking into the wind, but this time without the feeling of coming out of an icy lake. Nico turned to Will, the light he had been emitting fading. His breathing was ragged. "Did it work?" He asked.

"Yeah, it did." Answered Nico.

Later on, they both finally fell asleep next to the warmth of the burning plane.

The dreams were as pleasant as ever.
Nico was standing on a beach. There was a hurricane in the distance. Palm tree's were blown by the massive winds, almost horizontally. Trash flew everywhere, the waves slammed into the ground, over and over. Suddenly, Nico saw a shooting star streaking through the heavens, lit by the flames enforced by Earth's atmosphere. Nico realized that it was less of a shooting star and more of a meteorite, heading towards the ground at supersonic speeds. It lit up the entire sky in brilliant colors. With a massive splash, the meteorite slammed into the ocean, exploding on impact. A massive tidal wave stretched into the sky, rushing straight for the beach at 200+ MPH. Suddenly the dream changed. Nico was standing on a rocky cliff, staring into the horizon, at the sunset. Nico watched, horrified, as what appeared to be a creature large enough to be seen from space, swallowed the sun, and the sky went dark. Once again the dream changed. Nico was sitting on top of a car, his skeleton chauffeur driving him towards an unknown destination. Nico looked at a city that he was driving away from. Standing in the midst of the city was a humanoid, larger than any god or titan he'd ever seen. They only thing that came close was the entity of Tartarus that Percy had described. It looked to be made entirely of fire. With one massive swoop of his hand, the entire area was engulfed in flames, and Nico felt every single person in the city die.

Nico woke with a start. The sunlight was beating down on his face, even though it was still freezing. Nico sat up. It was cold as ever. The fire from the plane had died down quiet a bit. Will was already awake, making breakfast. Nico stood up and walked over to where he was standing. In his hand he held out a stick, and on the other end of the stick was two fish, sizzling and smoking. "Where the hell did you find these fish?"

Will looked up. "Over there"

Nico looked where he was pointing. There was a lake somewhere in the distance. "You can fish?"

"Not really" Will replied. "I just walked around for awhile, looking at the trees to see if they were growing anything edible. Then I saw a crate near the lake filled with supplies. Medical, food, weapons, the works."

"Okay never mind, I'm sorry I asked." Nico said, thinking that Will was being sarcastic.

"No Nico, I'm serious, look." Will pointed to a crate sitting behind him.

Nico did a double take. He walked over to where the crate was. There were two backpacks inside, equipped with sheaths for all sorts of stuff. They had a ton of latches for expanding or contracting the size, so it wouldn't ever be too bulky or small. There was canned food, wrapped fish, sandwiches, and all sorts of other food in there as well. Nico dug around and saw on the bottom were all sorts of weapons. Swords, knifes, bows, quivers full of arrows. And, whoa and behold! Fleece jackets! Nico dug one out and threw it on. Nico dug around some more and saw that the weapons were made of the usual demigod materials such as Celestial bronze, Imperial gold, and Stygian Iron, which made Nico extremely suspicious. But strangest of all were the weapons that looked like they were made of mortal steel. But they emanated warmth. Looking through the medical supplies, there were the usual disinfectants, bandages, cling wraps, and instructions, but there was also an abundance of ambrosia and nectar.

"It's like they knew we were coming." Nico said.

"Yeah, we're probably in danger of dying, everything in there is probably going to be poisoned or explosive. Still, I've done all the usual tests and most of everything seems to be real. But there's one thing in there that I don't trust." Will turned toward Nico, pulling a metal weapon out of his pocket.

"Is that a... gun?" Nico asked. He hadn't seen a mortal weapon in so long.

Will nodded grimly. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe this was intended for somebody else to find. The only weapon in there I can use well is the bow, but the arrows are tipped with..."

"What?" Nico asked.

"Lunar Silver."

"You mean like the Hunters of Artemis use?" Nico asked again.
Will nodded and sat down next to Nico, handing him a fish. It smelled so good that Nico couldn't wait to take a bite. It was juicy and crispy on the outside. Nico hadn't eaten fish this freshly caught in years. Nico felt the warmth of the food coursing down his chilled body. Suddenly Nico felt a sharp, burning pain on his side. He dropped the fish in the snow and clutched his ribs.

Will sat up, looking furious. "You idiot! You got hurt on the way out of the plane didn't you?!"

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention it." Nico answered.

Will took out the medical supplies. "Lay down."

"Fine." replied Nico.

Will took off Nico's jacket and lifted his shirt. Looking down Nico saw how bad the injury really was. It looked discolored and infected, the shrapnel from the plane had burned the area too. Will looked over the area, before lifting Nico's arm and injecting something. It was anesthetic! "Dude! Why are you giving me anesthetic?!" Nico complained, his speech slurred.

"That shrapnel is moving toward your heart, it's not very deep but I have to get it out."

Nico watched Will take out a magnet from the bag. It felt cold against his ribs. Nico felt the metal moving out of his body as the electromagnet turned on. It tingled, and Nico knew it would hurt like hell later on. Will's hands flew over the area, cleaning it out and applying cling wrap. When he was finally done. Nico felt much better.

"Just sit down, the anesthetic has to wear off, I'll keep an eye out for people. If you fall asleep, make sure to message Thalia that we found Hunter weapons."

The dream started like usual. Nico was once again sitting on a beach, watching the hurricane. 'No time to lollygag' thought Nico. Nico willed himself to slip out of the dream, much like he slipped out of the shadows. Nico felt the illusion of sleep fade away, and he felt all his weight disappearing as his consciousness was unchained. Nico was floating above the encampment that he and Will were in. Looking down Nico saw his body laying down, and Will rummaging through the supplies. Memories started flooding back. He'd learned this technique of traveling through real life only a few months ago. He'd remembered all the dreams he'd have where he'd somehow spied on the enemy, and had started wondering how. He realized that his mind was unchained when he was asleep. Not only could he traverse other peoples dreams, but he could traverse the world. Nico willed himself to appear at Thalia's side. Nico watched as what looked like paint dripped down over the world, the colors swirling and forming the new picture of his surroundings. It reminding Nico of the picture once drawn by Vincent van Gogh, called Starry Night. Nico was unfamiliar with where he was. It was white, there were tiles everywhere. He heard the sound of running water. Nico looked around. There were stalls, and sinks. Suddenly Nico felt like an ice grip was seizing him. He knew instantly where he was, and he needed to leave immediately. Nico willed himself to go skyward, knowing that he'd accidentally just appeared in the woman's locker room. He was now floating miles away from where he had just appeared at. 'Your an idiot Nico, a really creepy stalker too...' He thought to himself. Nico tested the area for any sleepers. Nico found the infirmary. There were a few people just coming out of sleep. Nico jumped into one of the dreams. Nico was standing in a field, under the full moon. There were animals walking around, and a lone hunter stalking the prey. When the animals saw Nico, they all ran away. "Aw come on! Who the devil are you?!" said the dreamer. Nico turned. She appeared to be around thirteen, her bow pulled, she was aiming straight at Nico's chest. "I need you to send a message to Thalia Grace." Nico said, facing her.
Suddenly her eyes went wide in surprise, and she put away the arrow, slinging the bow over her shoulder. "Wait, your that kid who came through here with the Parthenos aren't you?" She asked.
This was going to be the tricky part. He needed to keep her calm, if she realized she was dreaming, it would become a Lucid Dream. It was highly likely that she had never had one before, and if she had one for the first time, the shock would electrocute her body away, she'd have a stiff neck for days.

"Listen, I'm trying to save a friends life, everyone else thinks he's dead. Would you be willing the help me?"
she looked at him thoughtfully. Standing up from her hiding place she walked over to Nico, and shook his hand.

"You saved the world, didn't you? Of course I'll help. How?" Nico explained to her what he'd found in the crate.
She furrowed her brow. "How long ago did you see the crate?" She asked.

"Just this morning." Nico said.

"I thought you were in the Himalayas this morning. Actually, why am I not on the move with the hunters right now...?" she looked around as if expecting to see the other hunters.

"Listen, I need you to take a deep breath." She turned to him. She did so.
Nico sat down. "Sit down and calm your heart rate, I'm going to tell you something, I need you not to get shocked or excited." She eyed him suspiciously, but sat down.

"This is a dream." Nico said.
Her eyes went wide, but she calmed down. "I need you to tell everything I've told you to Thalia." She nodded.

"So if this is a dream, does that mean I can fly?" she asked. Nico nodded. "You have to expect it to happen, like, turn around and expect that there will be an airplane or a glider behind you." Nico answered.

"I've got to go now," Nico said "Make sure to remember everything I've told you."

Nico woke. Will was shaking his shoulders. Looking up, Nico saw the stars, millions upon millions of them, like the sky had glowing white freckles. Nico sat up, his sides hurt like hell, but he ignored it. The fleece jacket had kept him warm, even though the fire from the plane was really dim. Nico realized that he was extremely hungry. "Will, do we have anything to eat?"

"I think we've got other things to worry about." Will replied, pointing somewhere along to ground towards the mountain. Nico followed his gaze, sitting up. Somehow his wounds didn't hurt. Will was no joke when it came to healing. Nico saw what the "other things" were. A flaming SUV was driving at 80 mph towards them.

"Holy sh-"

"Nico." Warned Will.

Nico grabbed his sword from the ground, unsheathing it. Nico felt a rush of power from the blade. His blood started to pump harder, his eyesight cleared. He was thinking faster than usual, taking in information rapidly. It felt like he'd just been injected with an EPEE-pen. The SUV was being swarmed by what looked like humanoid moths. "Dammit," Nico complained. These must've been some kind of cheap knock off of The Furies. Possibly the monsters Percy had talked about that cursed you if you killed them. Nico knew what he had to do.

"Do the thing." Nico said.

"I got it." Said Will, understanding without actually needing to hear what Nico had to say. He ran for the bow and arrows in the crate as Nico began his transformation.

Nico felt for the bodies underneath the soil. They'd been well preserved from the cold. Nico commanded bone and muscle to shoot out from the ground. The ground exploded as random body parts flew around him, like debris orbiting a planet. Nico separated the bone from the muscle, looking for a size that fit him. He found enough to piece together an entire skeleton roughly bigger than he was. He laced it on top of himself, making a makeshift skeleton. The bones cleaned themselves, all smell and grime disappearing. Nico then felt for the muscle, laying it on top of the bones. He left slits for his eyes and nose. Nico felt everything lacing itself together, the exoskeleton building itself. He felt like he had a new layer of body, without skin. Experimentally, he tried sprinting. He tore through the tundra, faster than any Olympian could. By that he of course meant the human athletes, not the actual Olympians. Nico ran back over to the bones that had fallen unceremoniously after he'd left the area. Nico found a few sharp ribs and attached them to his elbows and knees. Will suddenly spoke into his mind.

You know that really is disgusting...

Hey, at least if my body gets incinerated, I have an extra one.

Sometimes I feel like I have a love/hate relationship with you Nico.

Just stand back and let Nico do all the badassery, Sunny Side.

Nico faced the SUV, extending his shadow vision. He felt two souls in the vehicle, one had cheated death. He searched deeper. One had escaped a curse, but she wasn't really the target the moth ladies were after. The other soul had somehow done the equivalent of flipping Death the bird and making a really bad "yo mamma" joke about him. Nico sighed. That was probably Leo. Nico took a sprinting stance, taking his sword in his hands. The SUV was getting closer, the leathery ladies body-slamming the car every step of the way. Nico took off. He headed at what felt like 45 MPH. Before he rammed into the truck he commanded his exoskeleton to tighten around him as he jumped. He flew into the sky, spinning in a circle as he held out his sword, making a Nico/Sword cyclone, taking out several of the monsters as he flew over the car, causing them to melt into shadow. He landed behind the SUV, using his hand to catch himself as he hit the ground. Lifting his gaze from the ground, he saw what had been chasing Leo on foot. A wave of monsters, cyclopes, dracaenae, hellhounds, chimera, (creatures with the body of a lion, head of a goat, and a snake for a tail) and what looked like hundreds of telekhines marched through the snow.

Nico once again took a running stance. Elbows pointed, sword raised, toes barely skimming the ground, cut in swirls through the group, do as much damage as possible before regrouping with Will. Nico thought. Nico ran through the crowd at top speed. Nico slashed back and forth, as he ran, decimating the monsters left and right. Whenever they noticed the clump of death going 45 MPH through their ranks, Nico jumped forward, going even faster. As he ran Nico commanded the bodies he slashed to delay disintegration and instead fall under his control. The major things like souls moved on, but the basics like their spirits and a copy of their memories stayed. Nico commanded them to attack. Nico multiplied his ranks whenever he attacked, as the enemies turned into allies before dying. It was like a plague was spreading throughout the ranks. Nico had to doge a chimera who lashed out at him. Nico remembered that those things had human-like intelligence. Nico faced the creature. It was sizing him up, thinking of the best way to strike. Nico didn't wait to attack. Jumping, he became airborne. Nico willed the ribs he'd earlier attached to his elbows and knees to shoot like projectiles at the eyes of the lion and the snake, blinding both. Nico spun in a circle as he fell, and like a saw split the creature down the middle. Nico landed on his side, but the exoskeleton took the blow. He felt ribs cracking, and was grateful it wasn't his own. Nico sprung up. The exoskeleton was draining his energy fast. Nico began the sprint back when something grabbed him. Nico realized it must've been a cyclops from the strength of the grip. "Die demigod!" It yelled as it squeezed Nico. Suddenly an arrow pierced it's eye and Nico slashed his way out of the monster's grasp.

Thanks Will.

If you die I die remember?

It's nice to feel loved.
Nico jumped through the air, soaring above the crowd. Looking around, Nico saw the damage Will had done. Arrows stuck smack dab in the middle of piles of monster dust, there were at least fifty piles. Nico charged for the camp. The SUV had stopped moving. The bat-ladies lie dead and disintegrating. Nico felt the exoskeleton fall apart around him as he arrived at the car. Somehow the flames had disappeared. Nico opened the door to find Leo and a girl he'd never seen before inside. She looked like some sort of model. They were both unconscious. "Long time no see." Nico said. They both jumped awake. Fire appeared in Leo's hands and the girl lifted a gun to be level with Nico's face. Suddenly Leo sighed with relief, the girl lowered her gun.

"Yo Nico, man! It really has been forever. I totally almost killed you just then! Can you believe that?!" The girl glared at him.

"Fool, I obviously would have nailed him first with a sovereign steel bullet."

Will walked over, "Sovereign steel?"

The girl smiled, "It's like celestial bronze but ten times more potent. It's basically refined lunar silver."

"Ah, it's a shame I've never heard of it. Who might you be by the way?" Will asked.

"Calypso, Leo's girlfriend." She said.

Leo grinned from the drivers side seat. "I sort of rescued her from this cursed island and whatnot. But enough about us, how have you been?"

"Tracking you." Said Nico. They all turned to look at him, his voice, though quiet, was strident. He didn't talk very much to anyone except Will, but when he did everyone listened. "We finally got an all points bulletin on you six months ago. What the heck are you doing here?"

"Got lost." Leo replied in a glib tone.

"Ha-ha very funny." Said Nico. Nico didn't know why, but Leo was irritating him for some reason. He figured he should have been overjoyed to see him in so long, especially after they'd thought he was dead. Something about his lackadaisical smile and calmness irritated him.

"I'll tell you the truth. After I beat the clay off of mud-mouth, I got a sinking feeling I'd made a terrible mistake."

Will sighed. "Leo, that's not really a light topic to be joking about. She almost killed everyone that we knew and loved."

Leo rolled his eyes. "I'm the guy who went kamikaze on her, I did what needed to be done. Of course she needed to be killed, but in doing so I threw everyone out of the easy bake oven and into the microwave."

Nico scoffed. "It's hard to take you seriously when you talk about Gaea like one of those disgusting easy bake ovens."

Leo chuckled, but it was obvious that it was forced. Forced chuckles? Had Leo really changed that much over the period of time he'd been missing? "Hey, compared to what I probably did by killing her so completely... In comparison she really is just an easy bake oven."

Will was getting irritated, Nico could feel it, even though he didn't let it show. "What are you getting on about?"
Leo's grin faded into an expression of darkness. "Think about it. I spread bits and atoms of her all over the planet, carried by the wind and water. She still exists all over the Earth, but so completely obliterated that the atoms that used to be hers are probably now bits and pieces of us all. You probably have consumed bits of Gaea in the food you eat and the air you breathe. But that's not the point. I killed the embodiment of planet Earth, an ancient goddess who had been doing who knows what in her sleep. But what if she hadn't been lazily relaxing. What if the only thing she {could} have been doing was protecting herself from a bigger threat than anything that existed on Earth. Something unlike anything we've ever faced before."

Nico wasn't sure what Leo meant. A threat apart from anything on Earth? Sure, there was Tartarus, but that was a subdivision of The Underworld, which existed in L.A.. Technically it was a compressed dimension, a form of storing a large reality in a small area. It was so big in fact it had it's own gravitational pull, that fact alone had caused devastation to the Earths tectonic plates, but Nico doubted that was what Leo was in the mountains to try fixing. "Leo, what threat could be outside of Earth? Are you trying to tell me there's something else out there that Gaea was {protecting} us from?"

Leo slumped in his seat. "Well, that's why I haven't come home yet, I've been trying to find out. I just have to know! I know for sure that Gaea has been protecting us from a ton of stuff. Well more or less protecting herself. Her aura, Earth's magnetic field, has always protected us from solar wind that otherwise would have stripped our atmosphere away. She built the atmosphere that sweeps away the small ions that still get through. The crust is constantly regenerating, the cycle of life was only kept up by Demeter, but Gaea set up the idea. It's like Gaea built the original Unix, and the gods just made distributions of Ubuntu."

Calypso elbowed him. "You're doing that thing where your not speaking English." She complained.

"Sorry, basically, she set up all the stuff that the gods inherited, but what if she was doing more than just that. It's often been said that Zeus was the ruler of the Universe, but what if that was just Zeus being hyperbolic. What if he only owns our Galaxy?"

"Are you saying that Zeus doesn't own anything outside of the Milky Way?"

"That's not all I'm saying. What if the Olympians aren't the only gods out there? What if there are creatures that are as powerful, or even more powerful than them. And if they existed anywhere, it would be outside of Zeus's domain. Some scientists are saying that our neighboring Galaxy, The Andromeda Galaxy, is heading for us and will arrive here sometime in the future. I think that somehow it's being steered by these Alter-Olympians, and now they can see us, and there going to get here five-gajillion times faster. That's why I've been going to the mountains, they're the closest place on Earth to the stars, my next stop is Mount Everest, I'm going to build an observatory with a little extra zing to it there, and find out everything I can about this place."

Nico exhaled, impressed. "Are you saying your not going back to Camp Half Blood with us? You do know that that's the safest place for you right?"

Leo looked deadly serious. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Nico, I have something to ask of you. Nobody can know I'm here, I have to have complete security in my work, or my information might be jeopardized. This might be the only way I'll be able to fix this."

Will looked sympathetic. "Hey, it's not your fault, it's not like there was any other choice to choose besides taking her out."

Leo laughed, this time it wasn't fake. "You make it sound like I regret murdering her! I saved you guys, I regret nothing. I've already given my life for you guys, I think it's better if people still believed that was true. I swear though, one day I'll come back to life, and when I do it will be with a bang."

Nico frowned, he knew exactly what Leo meant, but decided to ask anyways. "What are you saying, your not dead, your as alive as the skin on my forehead. I know what your going to ask me Leo, but how could I do something like that to everyone back at Camp Half Blood. How could I lie like that."

Nico could feel that Will was really confused. Nico sounded cryptic to himself, so he wasn't surprised. Leo's smile faded. "You know as well as I do that a true death isn't decided by who still exists on Earth and who doesn't. It's decided by people. If the people believe I've died, then the only place I live is in their hearts. As for how you will lie to everyone, that is where my final request comes in, Ghost King. You two are the only people who can ever know the truth of my existence, otherwise I will be forever chased by the Legions of Hades until I'm finally brought to justice for using the Physician's Cure. You can't cheat death without consequences. When I come back to life, I will most likely be confined to the safety of Camp Half Blood. The only thing that keeps Hades from seeing me now is Calypso's magic. But even the strongest magic can be overrun if enough people believe in something. Nico, Will, I need you to go back to Camp Half Blood and tell the other campers that you found the area that I died at. Tell them there was nothing left of me to take home. Tell the world, that Leo Valdez is dead. Also, tell them that my last words were 'All teh ladiez luv Leo!'"
Calypso slapped him at that last part. Will looked shell shocked. Nico was the first to recover. "Leo, was that crate I found for you?" Nico asked, pointing behind him.

"Ah yes, that'll do very nicely, you can't be too careful in the business of not getting killed, you know?"

Nico grinned. Nico went over to the crate and flicked his index finger up. A skeleton shot out from the ground. "Carry the crate." He commanded. The skeleton nodded in his compliance, grabbing the crate and hoisting it over to the SUV. Leo called to Will and handed him a note. Nico couldn't hear what Leo said next, but before he could ask, the SUV drove off again. Will walked over to Nico. "He told me to give this to Percy Jackson, something about Calypso." Nico shrugged. "Come on, lets get back home."

Will laughed. "How?"

Nico smiled. "Ever wanted to ride a dinosaur?"

Will smirked. "What, a zombie dinosaur?"

Nico made a three fingered claw towards the ground and pointed it at himself. Huge dinosaur bones clawed through the compact snow, rebuilding itself. "Lets go home."