Percy smiled as he and Annabeth graduated from the university in New Rome.

"I can't believe we made it." Percy whispered into his girlfriend's ear.

"Through college?" She asked with a grin.

"I always assumed that something would go wrong. Someone would jeopardize the peace, a somehow a monster would penetrate the barrier or something else would go wrong." Percy said.

Annabeth realized her boyfriend had a point.


That night, Percy and Annabeth were taking a nice, relaxing walk through New Rome.

"So, now that we've graduated college, I think we can both agree we'd like to get a place to live here in New Rome where it's nice and calm and peaceful." Percy said to his girl.

Annabeth nodded and said "Yeah, our plans can finally work out the way we wanted them to."


While Percy and Annabeth would've been just fine getting an apartment in New Rome, Reyna and Frank would not hear of it and insisted on having them move into one of the largest and most luxurious villas in the neighborhood of 7 hills.

"This really isn't necessary." Annabeth said.

"We want you to stay here. Think of it as your reward for all your services in the giant war." Frank said

"Speaking of which, maybe we shouldn't get settled in yet. I mean, we are leaving for Camp Half Blood tomorrow morning." Percy said

"Good point." Annabeth said

"I can't believe it's been 4 since Gaea was defeated." Frank said.

"But the price was too high." Percy said, thinking of the explosion that had ended the battle.

"Man, I wonder how Jason and Piper are holding up; after all, He was their best friend." Annabeth said.

"Yeah. They always get very emotional at this time of year." Frank agreed.

"Come on, we better go get some sleep, it's a long ride back to half-blood." Percy suggested.

"Good idea." Annabeth said as they went into their new home while Frank headed over to his praetor's house.


The next day, several people were preparing to go to Camp Half Blood. Percy and Annabeth would be taking Blackjack (Who stayed in the stables at Camp Jupiter), Hazel and Frank were taking a chariot pulled by Arion and Reyna was taking Guido, since he had decided he was her new Pegasus to replace Scipio.

Anyway, they all headed out at the exact same time.


When they arrived at Camp Half Blood, they found everyone was already heading to Bunker Nine, since that where the funeral service was always held.

Well, technically, it was held right on top of the cliff.

Anyway, when they arrived, the monument of the hero that had sacrificed his life to defeat Gaea glistened in the sunlight.

It was a likeness of Leo Valdez, riding Festus the dragon into his final battle. The statue of Leo was the size of the real Festus and the statue of Festus was 10 times that.

Nico was standing in front of the statue while everyone else took their seats.

"Welcome. As you all know, we are here once more to remember and recognize the demigod whose brave sacrifice allowed us to win the battle against Gaea that fateful day. Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, willing sacrificed himself in a comet of fire in order to defeat Gaea, once and for all. And now, to say a few words, like usual, I would like Leo's 2 closest friends, Jason Grace and Piper Mclean to come forward." Nico said.

Jason and Piper stood up and walked over to the podium.

Jason began "Leo was my best friend. We could always count on him to lighten the mood by saying some corny joke or accidentally lighting himself on fire when we needed him to. I'll always regret that I didn't get the chance to tell him how much I appreciated him as a teammate and more importantly, as my best friend."

Piper then continued "Leo was a true friend. He never lost his temper with any of us or let his emotions keep from serving his duty. Even when I could sense he was jealous of being surrounded by so many couples, 24/7, he didn't let that stop him or cloud his judgment of what was right. I always admired that about him. Not letting anything deter him from what was right or wrong. I just wish he had someone here today to miss him even more then we do."

After Jason and Piper took their seats, Nico held out a burial shroud. This one was fiery orange and was lined with mechanical dragons and in the center was an image of the Argo 2, Leo's greatest achievement, with the figurehead's jaw open, as if its breath had created the shroud.

"To the fallen hero." Nico said as he lit the shroud.


Dinner that night was damp, when all of a sudden; there was a huge dragon roar in the distance.

The campers scrambled their weapons and ran to the boundary to see a huge metal dragon flying straight towards, with 2 people, a boy and a girl, on his back.

"Is that." Piper asked, not even daring to hope.

"It can't be." Nico said

"Oh yes it can." Jason said, pointing at the driver.

"I'm back. FLAME ON BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Leo's voice shouted as he brought Festus in for a landing.

"Leo." Piper shouted, clearly overjoyed that her friend was still alive and she and Jason ran towards them.

"Hey Sparky, Beauty Queen." Leo said as he helped the girl dismount.

"I should kill you." Piper said which was how Leo knew she was happy to see him. In fact she was so happy; she punched him in the gut.

Once he recovered, she hugged him and Jason made it a 3 way hug.

"This must be Calypso." Piper said of the girl that was currently pulling bags out from under Festus's belly.

Leo nodded as he made the introductions.

Percy and Annabeth were the next ones to reach them.

After they got their hugs from Leo, Percy looked at Calypso awkwardly, but she smiled at him and said "I don't blame you Percy. I'm glad things worked out the way they did."

Annabeth however, was less then pleased to see Calypso and it had nothing to with the fact that she used to have a crush on her boyfriend.

"You're curse nearly got me killed." She said angrily.

"What do you mean?" Calypso asked, confused.

Percy explained what Annabeth was talking about and Calypso looked troubled.

"I'm sorry for that. I was just so angry. I never really wanted that curse to come true. In fact, I regretted it the moment I said it." Calypso said

Annabeth softened up and accepted her apology.

"So, what's been happening since I left." Leo asked curiously.

"I think we need to have long talk at the big house, mainly because you've got some explaining to do." Piper said and Leo nodded, relieved to finally be home.


Once they were joined by Frank, Hazel, Nico and Reyna, they headed up to the big house so Leo could explain where he's been.

"After the comet blast, I was dead. However, I had Festus inject me with the physician's cure. Using an astrolabe I recovered from the Kercopes and the crystal I got from Calypso when I crashed on her island, I found my way back to Ogygia, where I rescued Calypso." Leo began.

"However, since Festus had taken on significant damage from the blast, we had to stop somewhere to make repairs." Calypso said

Leo nodded and said "We wound up back in Athens, where I found all the celestial bronze I needed to make repairs and upgrades to Festus in my father's temple. It took me about 2 years to make all the repairs needed and then we decided to do some sightseeing, since Calypso hasn't been in the real world for eons."

"We arrived back in the states early this morning and headed straight here." Calypso said.

"Okay, now you know what I've been up to, now can you please fill me in on what's been happening here?" Leo asked

Percy nodded and explained how he and Annabeth were now living in New Rome after they finished college, Nico staying at Camp Half Blood full time to perform the proper burial rituals, Hazel being promoted to Centurion, Jason being made the pontifex maximus for Camp Jupiter and constructing shrines for all the other gods, such as Kymopoleia, Octavian's death, the usual.

"Wait, so you 2 are living together, are you getting married?" Leo asked

"No." Annabeth said

"At least, not yet." Percy corrected.

Leo decided to drop it and went to go check on things in cabin 9.