"It's hard to believe almost a year has passed…" Leo mumbled, staring at the poster on the building in front of him. It matched the flyer Cass had handed him at the café. San Fransokyo Institute of Technology Spring showcase, April 5 at 8:00pm! Come see the mind blowing inventions our students have to offer! There was a clock tower nearby it that read 8:45. Just beyond them, a building glowed with lights, and cheers could be heard, like something amazing was going on.

It had taken a while for the shock to wear off. They had eaten quickly and left, because Leo was on the verge of a major freak out. He didn't know what to think. He'd left everyone for so long! Calypso had tried to calm him down. She suggested going to see the showcase as a distraction.

"A single year is not so long." Calypso comforted, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Your friends will understand."

"I know that, but…they must think I'm dead." Leo sighed. "How could I abandon them for so long? We should be flying Festus straight to Long Island."

"You said it yourself that you wanted to think things over before going back. We have the rest of our lives to be with your friends, so let's enjoy the moment. Is this celebration not a lucky chance for us?" Calypso asked with a gentle smile, which Leo returned.

"Yeah. You're right…It'll be just one more story to tell when we get home. Let's go!" Leo's tiny smile morphed into a wild grin. He grabbed Calypso's wrist and charged towards the building.

When he saw what was inside, his jaw dropped. And that was saying a lot for Leo, who built a giant bronze dragon inside a magical flying ship. These inventions were amazing!

A huge crowd had gathered at one end of the exhibition hall, and they were all fawning over something a short boy was presenting. Lots of moving parts…they look like ants. Leo mused. Wait…oh my gods! Each of those tiny things was a robot, he realized as the black specks changed shape. The kid, who was probably the inventor, bowed. Leo couldn't really hear what he was saying, but he caught one word. "Microbots!"

With that, the presentation was over and the crowd began to disperse. Leo turned to Calypso excitedly. "Did you see that? So many parts! I have to figure out how he made them work together."

"I would like to know as well. But let us take our time! From the looks of it, that boy isn't going anywhere soon." She gestured to where the crown had been, and sure enough the boy was in conversation with two older men. Standing beside him was another teenager that might have been his brother. Whatever the topic was, it looked serious. Leo nodded, giving a word of agreement to his girlfriend. Man, saying that was weird. Leo never got the girl! Especially the one who was smart and beautiful and…Okay, Leo, snap out of it. You're turning into an Aphrodite kid. Let's focus on all this cool tech and not make a total fool out of ourselves...

And truly, the robotics projects were as amazing as Leo had heard. Since he was a kid he'd dreamed of visiting San Fransokyo. Forget Silicon Valley, this city was the number one tech hotspot in the world. The inventions all varied incredibly, from a pair of mechanical arms to someone running underwater to a cat wearing rocket boots—those were awesome! Leo was right in the middle of inspecting them when somebody bumped into him.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, man. Didn't see you there." Said an Asian-looking boy who looked three or four years older than Leo. Next to him was a messy haired kid that looked like he was his brother.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "That supposed to be a short joke or something?" He teased. The other guy had at least six inches on him.

The younger one laughed. "Jeez, Tadashi, you're so rude."

"I wasn't—oh, shut up, Hiro." Tadashi sighed. "We need to go find Aunt Cass and the others and tell them you're in. Bye!" He called, leading Hiro towards the doors.

"What odd names." Calypso commented, "Still, they seemed close."

"Yeah." Leo agreed, then shrugged. "Wait, they said Aunt Cass! Those guys must have been her nephews."

"They did not look very alike."

Leo shrugged. "Probably someone of a different race on the other side of their family. It's pretty common here. Come on, let's keep looking. All this tech is amazing!"

And indeed, the two saw a lot of marvels that night. Leo couldn't help thinking that with a little Celestial Bronze and a bit of magic, these inventions could be turned into super awesome demigod tools. They wandered around for over an hour, and Leo probably would have stayed until he was kicked out, but Calypso reminded him that they were going to get an early start tomorrow. Even on the best metal dragon in the world the trip to Camp Half-Blood would take a while. Jupiter was closer, but as Leo had accidentally fired on New Rome last time he was there, he thought flying in unannounced on another fiery war machine wouldn't be the best idea.

"What are you going to do?" Calypso asked suddenly as they were walking across the school grounds. They were mostly deserted, with the occasional person who was, like them, leaving the showcase. The path was lit by lampposts every so often.

"Huh?" Leo replied, returning his attention to her. In the dim lamplight, her face seemed unusually serious. She stopped walking, waiting for his answer.

"When we go back. You said that with Festus, we would reach the Camp within two days. I know you're excited about it, but have you thought about what you're going to say?"

Leo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He'd been so focused on getting back to New York that he hasn't really thought about it. "Apart from charging in of Festus, I don't really know. I mean, its April now. The war with Gaea ended on August first. They must have thought I was dead all this time...I can't just pop up one day and go 'Sorry, guys, got lost'!"

"You're right to want to return." Calypso took his hand. "They are mourning you even now. And the only way to remedy that is to go home."

"I know that, it's just…I've left a lot of places behind. But I've never actually gone back to one. Percy was missing for a while, yeah, but at least they had some kind of news from Jason. I've been gone longer and I'll bet they know nothing. I want to get back as fast as possible but I'm not sure what to do."

"Just tell them your story. I know it seems hard now, but did you not take out three full grown Cyclopes with only that tool belt once? Any hero who can do that can handle a little reunion."

Leo smiled at her praise. He'd told her the story of his first quest when they were flying back from Ogygia. "Thanks, Calypso. First thing tomorrow we'll fly back east, and once we get to camp—"

Leo was cut off by loud screaming. "What's going on?" He demanded, looking around for the source of the noise. Could it be a monster attack?

"Back there! The exhibition hall!" Calypso pointed back the way they'd come, alarm in her eyes. Leo followed her gaze and cursed when he realized what was wrong.

The hall, which they had left not ten minutes ago, was on fire. Leo could see the flames from here, and the insane amounts of black smoke drifting into the sky. "How did that happen so fast?" He cried. I didn't even use my powers! Why does stuff like this always have to happen?

"What do we do?" Calypso asked, waiting for his decision. Leo was the fire guy, after all.

"There's no time. Someone has to help, come on!" And so the couple dashed back across the school campus, dodging the occasional panicking civilian. They skidded to a stop in front of the building. Lots of others were standing around in horror, watching the blaze as what looked to be the last of the showcase attendees fled down the steps. Flames shone through the glass, no doubt consuming everything inside. Leo grimaced, this was bad.

He saw Cass's nephews running up as well. They seemed to be fine. The older one intercepted a woman who'd just exited the hall. Leo couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, but he did catch the words "Still in there." The woman then ran off, and the brothers shared a look. The older one, Tadashi, said something his brother clearly didn't like.

"Tadashi, no!" The boy yelled.

"Callaghan's still in there. Someone has to help." And without another word, Tadashi ran towards the flames. What an idiot! With a fire that powerful, the entire building could collapse at any moment!

Calypso had watched the two as well. She turned to Leo, waiting for an answer.

"The guy's going to get himself killed, hero complex or not. I'm going after him." Leo told her, sounding a lot braver than he felt. Sure, the fire wasn't a problem, but he'd spent enough time with Annabeth to know about buildings, and he wasn't immune to falling debris. One wrong step and he'd be a Leo pancake.

"You're not going in there alone." Calypso told him.

Leo bit his lip. Sure, he didn't want to leave her alone, but he had to go. "I have the best chance of making it out with the mortals trapped inside. I'm the only one for the job."

Calypso was torn, Leo could see that much. "Still, if it were to fall, it would take a miracle to dig you out…wait!" Her face lit up with an idea. "I will get Festus. If anything goes wrong, he can move through the fire to get you."

Leo grinned. His luck was terrible, so even if all went well the mortal police would probably blame the fire on him. Festus would make for a great escape. "Perfect. I'll see you in a bit, then."

Calypso gazed at him seriously for a moment, and before Leo noticed what was happening, she pulled him close and kissed him on the mouth. She pulled away a second later and gave him a dark smile. "You're coming back to me, all right?"

Leo laughed. "Don't I always, sunshine?"

"Get going, demigod."

Leo nodded and turned away from her, making a mad dash for the exhibition hall. He heard the mortals shouting at him to stay away, that it wasn't safe, but he ignored them. Leo crashed through the doors and raked his eyes over the scene, which didn't look good at all. Flames roared everywhere, and there was the occasional crash as something collapsed. "Anyone here? Yo, Tadashi! Answer me!"

There was no reply. Leo moved through the building as quick as he could (which was very quick indeed), but the flames kept getting hotter and more intense. He might be fine, but anyone else would be in an insane amount of pain, from either burns or smoke inhalation. Soon there wouldn't be any space that wasn't occupied by roaring flames.

Suddenly, Leo heard a loud groaning noise. He raked his eyes all over the scene before spotting it—a portion of the roof was starting to bend inwards. And also…standing right under that spot…No, no, no! Tadashi!

"Get out of the—" Leo's desperate yell was cut off when everything around him froze. For a minute, so did he. What the heck? He thought when he could move again. The flames were frozen like crazy glass sculptures and Leo couldn't hear a thing. Out of nowhere, a plume of black smoke erupted in front of him. From it emerged a huge, misshapen figure.

It was Leo's father, Hephaestus. Leo watched him suspiciously. After all he'd been through, immortals randomly showing up to meet him set him on edge. Even if that immortal was his father. The two stared each other down for a second, Hephaestus's eyes inspecting Leo critically. Then the god let out a short laugh and grinned at Leo. "It's good to see you back, kid."

"What?" Leo still had no idea what was going on. His return wasn't special enough for a god to welcome him home, so what was Hephaestus doing here?

"Everyone's been worried about you. You were gone for quite a while…but this isn't the time for that, we can talk more when you're a bit closer to home. I hate for this to be the first thing I've got to do when you've only just made it back, but Leo, I have a favor to ask."

Of course. He'd never just stop by and say hello. Leo thought bitterly. "What is it? In case you didn't notice, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"I did notice. That's why I'm here." Hephaestus answered. "You need to save that boy."

"Which I was already doing…"

Hephaestus rolled his eyes. "He'll be badly hurt even if you hurry. But don't let him go to a mortal hospital—he needs demigod treatment."

Ooookay. Leo was fine with that kind of mission. "So he's a half-blood? My brother, probably, am I right?"

"That's it. Tadashi Hamada is my son. His little brother Hiro is too, but he is safe for now, so he can wait. When Calypso gets here with that dragon of yours, take him straight to the Roman camp. He's a Greek, but there isn't enough time to get him to Long Island."

That, Leo had a bit of an issue with. He got the feeling that if the saw the spectacular Valdez show up on another highly dangerous war machine, they wouldn't take too kindly to his visit. Seeing the hesitation on his face, Hephaestus shook his head. "Don't worry about them, they won't attack you. They know they've got a visitor coming."

"Visitor?" Leo questioned.

"There's no time now, we'll talk later. Anyway, once you get there, you'll find a quicker way to New York than Festus. Roman medicine is all well and good, but Tadashi belongs at Camp Half-Blood. And…yeah, that's all you need to know." Hephaestus nodded to himself. "Feeling up to the challenge?"

Oh, you went missing for over eight months? Too bad. Well, now that you're back, do this for me. As much as it irritated Leo that he had been given a job so soon, he nodded. It was another demigod, his half-brother that needed help. There really wasn't much choice. "Rescue Tadashi, take him to Camp Jupiter, meet with our mysterious form of transportation, and get him to Camp Half-Blood. Easy." Considering the last godly errand I was sent on, this is a piece of cake.

"That's it. You'll need to come back for his brother eventually, but for now just get Tadashi out of here." With that final confirmation, Leo's father began to fade and the flames started flickering again. Just before he disappeared, Hephaestus added one last statement: "And Leo? Everyone's missed you. A lot."

With that, his father disappeared. Leo was alone amidst the now roaring flames. A loud groaning noise reminded him of the danger—part of the roof was collapsing! And Tadashi was right under it!

Leo searched frantically for the demigod, but he couldn't see him through the smoke now, which was growing thicker by the second. That is, until he heard Tadashi calling out.

"Professor Callaghan? Where are you? Professor, we've got to go!" There he was!

Leo dashed forward, yelling as loud as he could, "Tadashi! Get out of the way!"

Tadashi spun around quickly, probably alarmed at the thought of another person being in the burning building. But just as the two locked eyes, the roof gave way with an almighty crash. Concrete and drywall and metal rained down upon the two teens, and Leo heard Tadashi scream.

Something heavy knocked Leo to the floor, stunning him for a minute. He came back to his senses a moment later, and spit out a mouthful of nasty-tasting ashes. That heavy thing, which Leo realized was a metal support beam from the roof, was still lying on top of his shoulders. Oh, and look at that, it was on fire. Joy. At least he didn't seem to have broken any bones. But I'll bet I'm going to have a massive headache tomorrow. Still, it was probably way worse for…

"Tadashi!" Leo cried in alarm, shoving the beam off him and scrambling up as fast as he could. His vision swam, but he didn't care. "Can you hear me? Where are you?"

The entire layout of the building had changed in the last few minutes. Apart from the gaping hole in the roof, there were now dangerously unstable obstacles and flaming piles of rubble everywhere. The roar of the flames was so loud now that Leo doubted he'd be able to hear Tadashi's reply. If Tadashi still could reply, that is.

Miraculously, he heard an unmistakably human groan coming from somewhere nearby. "Tadashi? Where are you, man? I'll get you out!"

"I'm…here." The other boy said with a cough. He doesn't sound so good…

"Just hold on! Don't try to move, I'm coming!" Leo called back to him. He moved forward more carefully this time, not wanting to make anything else fall on Tadashi. Everything was unstable now.

Where is he? Leo wondered as he circled the pile of debris. There was no sign of Tadashi in there. "You still with me, man?" Leo asked the wreckage. Nothing. If I don't find him soon, he'll be… "There!" Leo finished his thought out loud, running forward when he saw what had to be a hand sticking out from under the pile. Leo shoved aside a flaming piece of drywall and several charred bits of something-or-other, finally stopping when he uncovered most of Tadashi's upper body.

He didn't look very good. The older boy's face seemed largely okay, but his arms were covered in cuts, bruises, and burns. His jacket was smoldering, and he was unconscious. This is bad, this is bad…I need to get him out of here. Leo stepped past Tadashi to shift the rest of the debris off him, but a large metal beam was trapping his legs and it was way too heavy for Leo to lift. It was lying on top of even more rubble. Leo would probably be able to pull Tadashi out of that, but with the beam trapping him it was impossible. Still, he tried anyway.

It was no use. Leo tried about fifty different ways, not mo matter how hard he strained the beam refused to move. Come on, come on, he doesn't have much time… The fire was all around them now.

"Leo!" A voice shouted from above. Leo looked up, and laughed in relief when he saw who it was—Calypso, riding in on Festus to save the day. Dang, that girl was amazing. They hovered around the hole in the roof, which was just large enough for Festus to move through. "Are you all right?

"I'm fine. But the roof fell on this kid, and I can't get him out! I need Festus to move this beam here. Just lift it up a bit and I'll get him out! Be careful, though, he's hurt really bad!"

"Got it!" Calypso answered. Leo moved back a few steps so he wouldn't get conked on the head by one of Festus's massive wings. The dragon inched forward, his front legs extending to grab the beam. His giant claws closed around it, and Calypso eased him backward with a look of severe concentration. The beam jerked with every wingbeat, jostling the wreckage underneath it, and also Tadashi.

When there was enough room, Leo dashed forward and grabbed Tadashi's arms, pulling him away from the file of flaming rubble. "I've got him! Can you land for a second? We need to get him out of here!" Leo felt bad asking that, as Calypso wasn't immune to fire, but that was the only way to get Tadashi out quick enough.

Calypso didn't seem to mind. "Let me find a clear spot!" She called back to him, and then had Festus release the beam. While she went about landing a giant metal dragon in a very crowded building, Leo inspected Tadashi.

Man, he did not look good. His jacket and shirt had been largely destroyed, revealing large burns on his back and equally bad ones on his arms. His legs looked better, but they were bloody and one of them might have been broken. And with it being so hard to see, Leo was probably missing a lot of injuries. Tadashi needed a healer now.

"Over here, come on!" Calypso jolted him out of his worried inspection. She had grounded Festus maybe twenty feet away, but couldn't get off and help in fear of being burned. Even being as high up as she was, the flames were swirling way too close. Leo nodded to her, then pulled Tadashi into his arms and lifted him bridal style. It would probably hurt like crazy for the burns to be touched like that, but Leo couldn't manage it any other way. Tadashi was heavier than he looked.

He made his way over slowly, trying not to trip. As he reached Festus, the dragon crouched as low as possible to allow him to get on. "Here, help me get him up!"

Calypso leaned down and grabbed Tadashi's shoulders, pulling him up as best she could. Leo pushed him up, and soon the unconscious boy was lying across Calypso's lap. Leo scrambled up himself, sitting right in front. That way Calypso could concentrate on not dropping Tadashi while Leo navigated.

"We're taking him with us, I'll explain in a minute. Are you ready?" Leo asked.

"Go, go!"

Leo pulled on the retractable reins, making his dragon stand tall. "Festus, up and away! Get us out of here!"

The dragon crouched again, then with a massive jerk, launched himself skyward through the hole in the roof. Leo vaguely heard the mortals gasping and screaming, but he had no idea what they were seeing. Maybe a giant gush of smoke or some kind of explosion. With each beat of Festus's massive wings they rose high above the fire. Leo let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"What now?" Calypso asked. "This boy needs medical attention. I can try to sing for him, but my magic cannot heal such extensive wounds."

"Can you keep him stable for maybe a half hour?" Leo asked.

"Probably, but why? Who is he, and where are we taking him?"

"We're headed north. To Camp Jupiter—to the Romans." Leo sighed. I really didn't want to go back there unannounced, but we have no choice.

"Is he a demigod?" Calypso questioned quietly.

"Yeah. According to Hephaestus, this guy…Tadashi is my brother. And he needs our help."

Wow. 4,038 words without this little note.
That's the longest fanfic chapter I've ever written!
Anyway, thanks to all of you that followed and favorited, and even more love to those who reviewed!
Wasn't this chapter HOT?
Who could their mysterious ride to Camp Half-blood be? The faster you review the faster you find out!
Until next time, my lovelies!