The heat of the sun was unbearable. In his semi-professional opinion, it should be illegal to anything when the temperature reaches the plus side of 110˚. And he would be in the only place in the world lacking a shade tree on the hottest day in million years.
Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the meteorologist had said it was a record high that morning before he left the house. Of course that would never stop him, why would a record high in the middle of July stop him from doing the work?
It would not. It never has. And, sadly, it never will.
He wiped his brow with the collar of his cut off shirt, leaning back in his seat. What he would give for some shade. And a refill on his water cooler, he sighed looking down at the empty cooler by his feet. It was the hottest day in forever, and he was already out of water.
That meant it was time for a break. In his semi-professional opinion, everything stopping progress meant it was time for a break. And he was too hot to work without water.
"To the truck!" he grinned shutting off his tractor and leaping out of the seat into the freshly cut hay. The truck had a cooler filled with soft drinks, and a lunch box. Not only that, but he could retreat to the house to refill his empty water cooler with the truck, and sit in the air conditioning, and possibly been done with hay for the rest of the day. Days setting record highs were not days to spend only on the tractor, they deserved a trip to the lake, or at least the pond.
He jog-walked to where he had left the truck that morning, imagining the refreshing taste of soda running down his throat and the satisfying full-feeling he would get from the bologna sandwich waiting for him. He grinned stupidly as he crossed the field. And stopped when he saw someone was sitting on the edge of the truck bed.
The man was defiantly not what anyone would describe as handsome; average-looking was outside the realm of possibilities too. He was big, slightly overweight, bald, covered in scars and grease. He wore leathers and a sleeveless, much like he would if he was wielding.
The man offered a can of soda to him, grunting.
"Who are you?" He asked guardedly, stopping several feet away from the truck. "You're trespassing, this farm is private property."
"Do you want a drink or not?" the man tossed the can at him.
He caught the can, staring at the man skeptically. He was hardly a frail little weakling, but even he knew better than to tangle with a burly man. And this man was burly as they came, with muscle hiding all over his person. This man was not someone to take lightly.
"How'd you find this field?" he was three miles from the nearest road, through thick forest and uphill, this place was close to impossible to find. "And how'd you get here?"
"You called kid. I didn't answer last time, so I thought I'd try harder now."
"I didn't call anyone."
"Not you, the other you," the man waved his hand and looked just to his left.
Out of his peripheral, for just a moment, he saw someone who could have been his twin. But when he turned to get a better look, the image was gone. "What? What other me?"
"My son, the one who built the battle ship to sail the Seven to the Ancient Lands," the man shrugged, adjusting slightly on the edge of the bed.
Hold on, slow down, again from the top now, and tell me everything.
"We lost that fight," he sighed looking down at the can the god had tossed him. "I must have been the first one to die."
"Couldn't tell you, and honestly I don't care about the details. I'm just here for one reason."
"And what's that?"
"To make sure you remember and go find everyone else," the god looked up at him, locking their eyes. "Like you said, this place is hard to find."
"They all agreed?" he had thought maybe Percy and Annabeth would agree to this, possibly Jason, but he had thought the others would just go on. Especially Hazel, she had already escaped the Underworld once, he had been sure she would just stay after dying a second time. "They all came back?"
"That's what Hades told me," the god shrugged. "I've never been one to trust Hades, but the other gods have gone in search of their children. I thought I'd join them."
"I thought you didn't really do 'people'," he air-quoted people, remembering the brief conversation he had shared with Hephaestus as the demi-god, Leo.
"I'm not a personable person, but I have a duty to my children. In particular the ones who risked everything to try and save us Olympians," the god sighed. "So, I've sent a signal out to Percy, he's looking for you in that town close by."
"Which one?" there were three towns close by, in relative terms.
"The important one," the god answered, and in a flash of blinding light he was gone.
The day suddenly seemed to cool off.

Leo stretched climbing out of the old beater he had just made the hour drive in. It would have been better if there had been air, decent suspension, and the car ran a little quieter. But it had gotten him this far, so he could force himself to keep the complaints to a minimum.
Now all he had to do was figure out where in this place Percy was waiting for him. Where would the Son of Poseidon be when he was only partially the Son of Poseidon? Or where would they be looking for whoever he had been before? He could remember the others, but everything about who he had been was fuzzy.
It must have been a complicated life, or painful, making the current one the better thing to remember. That however, was not helping him find Percy and whoever was with him. He rolled his shoulders, stepping away from the car and slamming the door shut. Hopefully someone would come pick her up; she was a beater, but she was still a decent back-up vehicle.
"Where o where could Percy be?" He asked himself starting down the street. "And who could he possibly have with him?"
He walked around for what felt like hours, staring at cars as they drove past him, waiting for one of them to pull over like some white kidnapper's van in the movies and open up to reveal Percy and the others waiting to haul him in and get him back to the Ancient Lands. Nothing even remotely close happened, and he was beginning to think he had chosen the wrong town, again.
He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. If this adventure failed to pan out into something, he'd have a lot of explaining to do. Having an imagination was one thing, but running off because of it was unacceptable.
Maybe he was just crazy. That guy, he had just appeared in that field and vanished the same way. And it had been really hot that day, he could be seeing things because of the heat and he had been out of water. And who names a kid Percy anyway?
I know I've been gone for what seems like forever, but I'm here now waiting.
He slipped into a pizza parlor around dusk. He was hungry and pizza had always been a good option. As he crossed the parking lot he saw an ancient Volkswagen bus that looked like it had been used as cover for a paintball war. It was a shame what people did to classics, he shook his head as he passed the bus. Not only that, but there would be hippies is the pizza place.
There were only three people inside besides the workers. A high-maintenance chick in up-to-the-minute fashions, her blonde hair was pulled in a tight braid like Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, which failed to match the rest of her appearance. A guy sporting a tie-dye shirt and khaki shorts, his long dark hair swept to the side like a skater-dude's from the late 00's. The third was a guy in jeans and a t-shirt; he was the only normal looking one of the group.
They stopped their conversation when he walked in, the two guys watched him as he crossed the room toward them. He tried to ignore them, but he had always hated being scrutinized, and he had the distinct impression that was exactly what was happening. Finally the girl turned around to face him, her grey eyes narrowed.
He had the feeling he knew them. In that past life he was suppressing, he knew these three. Something about the no-nonsense air the trio was giving off reminded him of someone, or a few people. It reminded him of Jason, of Annabeth when they were in the middle of a drastic situation. Of Percy just before they engaged in a fight.
To convince you that I'm not a ghost or a stranger, but closer than you think.
"Can we help you?" the girl snapped when he stood at their table.
"It's me. I found you."
The girl smiled, looking over her shoulder at her companions, "we're we looking for scrawny rednecks?"
The blonde boy shrugged, the other leaned back in his seat with a crooked grin pulling at his lips. "Hephaestus said he'd be here."
"Hephaestus sent me, he said Percy was here, looking for me."
"Me, is a vague term," the blonde shook his head. "We're not looking for a 'Me', are we?" he looked at the girl.
Wings won't take me, heights don't faze me, so take a step. Don't look down, take a step.
"I'm Leo. I mean, I was Leo," his shoulders slumped. He had been Leo, but he remembered nothing about it.
"You were Leo?" the girl's brow arched. "You mean you're not anymore?"
"Give him a break. I mean, it's not like you're Annabeth anymore," Percy grinned.
"Yes I am, Kelp for Brains," she turned her glare at Percy.
"Sit with us," Jason kicked a chair away from the table.
Now I'm standing on the rooftop, ready to fall.
"So now that we've found Leo, what's our next move," Jason pushed himself forward, his arms folded on the table.
"We still have to find the other three," Percy answered shrugging. "Then we have to get back to Greece."
"And how do you plan to get to Greece. We don't have passports, and none of us have the cash to spend on seven trans-Atlantic flights."
"We don't have time to see the faults in the plan," Percy shook his head. "We have a small window of opportunity here."
"That's why we need a plan."
Perpetual motion, the image won't focus, a blur is all that's seen.
Had they always been this way? Leo could not remember Percy and Annabeth ever fighting. But, he was having a real problem with remembering anything about being Leo. Maybe this was part of the reason he did not remember, he hated confrontation and therefore left all of that behind him.
But he had to remember, he had to accept and remember all of it. He was a part of this, and they needed the Leo who had first gone with them to Greece. That Leo was necessary for them to return to Greece.
Percy was right; they had a limited time to do this.
He had to get it together, at least until they reached the Ancient Lands and stopped Gaia. Then, well then maybe he could go back home and things could return to normal. At least as normal as things could be for an orphan like him.
No, he had a normal life. That other person, he had the messed up life. Leo had the sad life, constantly leaving, running away and trying to start over.
Leo was insane and had the devious plots. Okay, maybe not devious but he had some pretty out-there ideas.
Here in this moment like the eye of a storm, it all came clear to me.
"It's Hazel," he breathed in excitement, the realization crashing into him like a wave.
"What?" the other three turned to him.
"We need Hazel. She can get the Argo II back."
"How?"
I think I'm at the edge now, but I could be wrong.
"If we still have our powers, if she can still summon things through the Earth, she can call the Agro II back to us."
"How do you know?" Percy leaned forward, watching him closely.
"Gaia made the earth swallow the ship. It's still there, waiting for us."
"Don't you think Gaia would notice if the Argo II suddenly started moving."
"Do you have a better plan?" he turned on Annabeth, his eyes narrowing. "All I heard was the three of you fighting over the lack of a plan."
I count the times that I've been sorry. Now my compassion slowly drowns.
"He's right," Jason frowned stroking his chin. "It's the only idea we've got."
"But it took weeks for us to reach Greece the last time," Percy shook his head. "How are we supposed to get back before the giants fully awaken Gaia?"
"I don't think she can be woken yet," Annabeth pursed her lips. "It should have already happened. When our blood was spilled over the Ancient Lands she should have had the ability to be reborn. That was why the Gods did not want us to sail to the Ancient Lands in the first place."
"So what? Since we didn't actually die, she still unable to be awakened?"
"I think so, but I don't know why it worked that way." Annabeth's fingers drummed on the table.
"It must have been Hades," Leo tried not to recoil from the sudden attention everyone was giving him. "He must have pulled us all out before we actually died, he saw we were losing and tried to give us another chance."
"So we're starting over," Annabeth shook her head. "Great."
She stood and left the table, Percy and Jason both sighed as they scooted away from the table. They followed after the blonde with heavy sighs, leaving Leo sitting at the table. He had come to try and help them, and this was what he was walking into?
I'm standing on the rooftop, ready to fall.
He pushed his chair back and moved to follow after them. As he crossed the room again, he saw Hephaestus sitting at a corner booth. The god raised a cup to him, a small smile showing on his face. Leo stopped for a moment, looking at the god before starting after the others.
"Good luck," he heard the god grunt.
Why'd you have to wait to find me?