A/N: In a moment of insight last night I realised that the only thing worse than waiting for HoH would be actually having it. Imagine. You are holding the fate of the entire PJO-verse in your hands, just waiting for it to come crumbling down around you. ANYWAY, thanks for all your lovely reviews, and I hope you all enjoy chapter eight.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO since I am not Rick Riordan.


Chapter Eight

[Leo]


Leo woke up with a strangled scream, sitting up in the bunk. He looked around him, recognising the fire-lit walls of bunker nine. He groaned, climbing out of the bed and rubbing at a scar on his chin. Checking the new watch he had made himself last night, he saw it was only 6:52 am. He had hours of the day left and not enough patience to stay in bed.

He quickly washed and changed clothes (bunker nine had everything a demigod would ever need- beds, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a load of weapons), opening the door into the main workshop.

The fire that he had lit last night was still burning in the grate, though it was more subdued. He pointed a finger at it, sending a stream of flame to make it bigger. He yawned and sat down at one of the workbenches, an empty sheet of paper in front of him and tools scattered all around. His thoughts travelled, just like last night, to Calypso.

She had seemed so kind, so nice- and hot, the voice whispered annoyingly- yet she couldn't be. She was a Titan, after all. Leo had heard about the Titans- older than the gods, and evil to the core. Yet, Calypso wasn't evil. Was it possible for a Titan to be nice? Leo didn't know, and thinking about it was giving him a headache.

He focused instead on her words. Find your passion, Leo, it will help. Leo knew the only thing he was ever passionate about was machines, and he was best distracted when working on a project, such as the Argo II. He frowned, taking a small pencil stub and tapping the rubber against the wood. He needed a project to work on- but what?

An image of Festus the dragon flew into his mind, and a smirk crossed his face. Maybe he could make his own Festus- but not a dragon. Something different- and he knew just what.

Still smiling, he lowered his pencil and began to sketch.


It was around two when there was a knock on the cave door. Leo pulled a keypad out from a heap of scrap metal and pressed several buttons. A screen, similar to a computer, came down from the ceiling on a bronze tube. The screen flickered several times before displaying a high-resolution picture of Calypso, stood outside the cave. Pressing another few buttons on the keypad, Leo sent the screen whistling away as another bronze tube shot down from the cave roof. He shot a burst of flame down the tube, and then sent it away. The doors glowed red for a moment before grinding open.

"Hey Calypso," he greeted, swivelling round. "Come on in." Calypso looked stunned for a moment before entering the bunker. The door slid down behind her, slamming on the floor with a loud bang that made her jump. Leo turned back to the blueprints, which he had almost finished, and was now adding the final few touches.

As he moved the pencil, he pondered on the fact that he'd let Calypso in. He knew that if it had been anyone else, he would have left them out there. He couldn't explain it, but he trusted her, even though they barely knew each other. Maybe that was the reason he didn't mind her presence. She wouldn't encourage him to be his old self- someone who no longer existed- and just let him do his own thing. Besides, she was nice to him, and didn't ignore him. That had to count for something, right?

"Wow," a voice breathed next to his ear, and Leo looked up, startled. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed Calypso sneaking up on him. Looking down at the blueprints, he noticed two new additions he hadn't planned on adding, but seemed perfect. "That looks amazing, Leo. Though complicated. However will you manage it?"

"Machines are easy," Leo replied, picking up the blueprints and blue-tacking it to the stone wall. "It's people that are hard. With machines, you don't have to worry about offending them or getting hurt. With human beings… it's not like that." Calypso smiled slightly.

"Well, I can't say I understand," she said airily, "However, I would love to help." Leo sent her a disbelieving look, and she shrugged. "What can I say? This could be the most interesting thing all autumn. Winter's coming soon, and most plants cannot grow in snow." Leo pondered this for a while, then shrugged.

"Alright. You ever worked with machines at all?" She shook her head, and he almost chuckled at her cluelessness. Almost.

"I guess you'll just have to teach me," she replied. Leo nodded, picking up a sheet of dented bronze and a mallet. He tossed a tangled ball of copper wiring to Calypso, who caught it clumsily.

"Sure. You can start by untangling that." He tossed the mallet in the air casually and caught it again. "I'm going to start hammering out the bronze. We'll use the bronze for the shell, but it'll be hollow inside. If it's too heavy, it wont work." Calypso nodded.

"Alright." She sat down and began to twist the wires out of their tangle. Leo brought the hammer down on the bronze, feeling his worries slip away. His wasted muscles ached as he worked but he paid them no mind. Machines, he could handle. Calypso, he could handle. The outside world? Not so much. Better to just hide away and forget everything else existed. He almost managed it, too.

Almost.


Calypso left around nine, promising to get food. Leo watched her go somewhat sadly- he liked having her around. Sure, he still had his doubts about her intentions, but it was amusing, and rather sweet in a way, how she was so naïve about things. He had shown her how to solder and shape bronze today. He looked over at the automation's head, the only part he'd gotten done so far. He hadn't got the voice recognition started up yet, but he was working on it. There was a dial in the machine's ear which he could turn to make the eyes light up and the jaw open and close. He could feel the air humming with all the possibilities of what he could do with this thing.

He found his eyelids drooping, and it was becoming harder to stay awake. In the end, he just let his head drop onto the table, hoping the nightmares wouldn't come.

They did.

This time, he was dribbling the tiniest bit of nectar onto his thigh, sealing up a large gash that had been delivered by a Cyclops. His head ached from a blow but he daren't drink any of the stuff- he'd had too much already, and besides, he needed to save it. Who knew how long he'd be here, before the others came to get him out?

Suddenly a hiss sounded from behind him, and Leo grabbed his bag, rolling away across the rock as a sharp piece of flint hit the spot he'd been sat in a moment before. Cursing, he tightened the lid of the nectar flask, dropping it into his rucksack and zipping the bag up. Then he struggled to his feet, racing away across the uneven, rocky ground. It was dark, but Leo had grown used to it, being able to see just the tiniest bit. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw a tall, woman-like creature, and heard the sound of something sliding over the stone.

Deciding to take a risk, he raised his hand and willed the flames to come. They did, and in the firelight, Leo could see a woman with twin snakes for legs. With a yelp, he extinguished the light. He tried to remember the monster's name- Scythian something?- then gave up, coming to a halt.

Tartarus was a wide, deep, and uneven pit, with the floor changing levels and becoming uneven constantly. Now he had come to one of the biggest drops he had ever come across in this hell; a drop so deep that even with fire he could not see the bottom. He looked over his shoulder to see the Scythian thingamabob several feet behind him. Uttering a muttered curse, Leo took his chances and jumped.

The air whistled past him, becoming colder and colder. This was a bad idea! Leo thought, squeezing his eyes shut. The thing about jumping down a cliff, however, is that you can't change your mind half-way down.

Just when Leo thought he would freeze to death if he fell any further, he hit the stone floor with a deafening thud. Pain racked his body, and he felt the bones in his arm and ankle break. With a strangled cry, he struggled to his feet, limping a few feet on his broken ankle before collapsing to the floor with an agonized howl.

"Leo!" a voice crooned in his ear. "Leo, wake up!" Leo's eyes snapped open. The pain in his arm vanished at once, and he looked up to see Calypso, an expression of panic on her face and one hand on his shoulder. He twisted his wrist and saw that it was morning- around eight. He groaned, sitting up, stiff from his awkward sleeping position. In Calypso's other hand was a tray, heaped with fruit and other things that he couldn't make out.

"Just a nightmare," he managed to say at last. She nodded, looking worried. Sliding the tray onto the table she sat down beside him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders in a comforting gesture.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, so polite and concerned. Leo meant to refuse, yet he found himself pouring out the memory, the dream, and the memory in the dream to her. Calypso listened in silence, and when he'd finished, she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she took a small glass bowl of diced fruit and passed it to him.

"Eat," she commanded. Leo eyed the bowl, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. Bile rose in his throat and he shook his head.

"I can't," he said, pushing it away. Even the smell of food made him sick nowadays. Calypso fixed him with a stern glare.

"Eat," she insisted, pushing it back towards him. Leo eyed the fruit uneasily, then looked up at Calypso's thundery expression. Knowing somehow that an angry Calypso was not someone he wanted to meet, he picked up the tiniest chunk of apple with his fingertips and placed it in his mouth. He forced himself to choke it down, feeling nauseous the whole time. However, Calypso smiled. "That's good," she told him. "You need your strength, and you haven't eaten in a long time." She surveyed him sceptically. "A shrunken stomach, I would think. Just eat as much as you can, but force yourself to eat a little more every day. You should eat mainly healthy stuff, too."

When did you become a doctor? Leo thought in irritation, but forced himself to eat a chunk of melon. It made him feel awful, but he ate it anyway.

Calypso was smiling. He didn't ask why. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.


A/N: A lot of Caleo in this chapter. Well, I hope you guys liked it! Until next time (i.e, tomorrow) I'd appreciate some reviews!