Ace lay in his bed emotionless. After he'd cried himself out, he'd dived into this state of not feeling much of anything. Ebony's apology hadn't even sparked a reaction in him. There wasn't a need to feel anything anymore. It didn't matter, and he didn't move.

He didn't want to face the others after what had happened. He didn't want Leo to see him this bland. He hadn't felt this way in six years. The silence of the room held comfort for him. Nobody staring, nobody laughing, nobody forcing his hand.

There was a soft knock on the door and Clarisse stuck her head in, "Ace?"

The blonde turned his head slightly to look at her, "Hu?"

"We're landing for supplies"

"Okay." Ace sat up slowly, swinging his legs off the bed, "Where?"

"Great Lakes."

Ace nodded slowly, "I'll be up in a minute."

After she'd left, he pulled on a brown denim jacket over the muscle shirt he already wore with his jeans. He glanced in the mirror to check for any stray tears, before heading up on deck.

"You okay?" Clarisse looked concerned.

"I'm fine." He answered without much conviction, "We should go."

" ...Okay..." She didn't look convinced but headed out to the deck anyway. Ace followed her, looking around at the lake rather than his friends.

Clarisse looked at Jason and gave him a look you need to talk to him. Now!

The younger blonde just shrugged, whispering to her, "He gets like this sometimes. He'll be fine."

Clarisse nodded, "I heard Ebony apologize to Ace but I think it just upset him more..."

Ace interrupted them, "Are we doing something?"

"Repairs." Jason answered, "The attack left damage. Leo says its easy to fix, but he needs materials. There's line and celestial bronze close by, and we were going to send a group into town to get some tar. I was thinking that you might want to go with Leo and Hazel to get the line and bronze."

Ace shrugged, "Whatever."

Leo walked up to him, "Ready?"

"Sure." The blonde hopped down to the land easily.

Leo followed him quickly. "...Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine." Ace stated as Hazel join them, and the trio started walking. He couldn't look at Leo, and stared focused straight ahead of them. Leo brushed his hand against Ace's and smiled. The blonde didn't react.

Leo sighed and walked ahead of them. Hazel looked between the two, before speeding up to Leo, "What happened to you two?"

"I don't know...

"Maybe he's just still upset about what Ebony said." Hazel offered.

"Clarisse over heard her apologizing...But I don't think he even reacted..."

The girl shrugged, glancing back at their friend, "He'll calm down."

Leo shrugged, "I hope so..."

As they wandered along the beach, Ace lagged back from the other two, watching the sand beneath his feet until suddenly Hazel stopped and he ended up running into her. Several feet in front of the trio stood Octavian in full Roman battle armor.

Leo drew his sword, "What are you doing here?"

Hazel drew her own weapon while Ace just stood behind the two. Octavian smirked and shrugged, "We were just on our way to attack the Greek camp."

"How did you find out? Gael would never tell." Leo glared at him.

"He did." Octavian answered, "He just needed a little persuasion."

"You tortured it out of him." Hazel accused.

Leo glared at Octavian, ready to rip his throat out. The augur just smirked wider, "I guess we might see you there...unless you don't make it in time."

Leo looked at Hazel, panicked as Octavian left. She looked between the boys, "We have to go, now. Will we be able to get there without doing the repairs?"

"It'll be pushing it to her limit but, yeah."

"Then lets go." The girl turned back towards the ship, and started to rush there. Leo rushed after her. Ace followed them, rushing without really thinking about it. When they got back on board, the blonde quickly disappeared into his room again. As he locked the door though, he realized that he wasn't alone. He turned to see Venus sitting there in all her ever changing glory.

"Hello, Ace." She smiled lovingly at him.

Ace went to sit on the bed across from the chair she was in, "My lady."

"Tell me about the kiss."

He blushed, "It was nothing...Just a thing...to avoid father's rage."

"Well, why do you insist on ignoring Leo? He's hurting, you know, he doesn't understand why you won't talk to him or hold his hand." She sat cross legged and stared at him, waiting for a reasonable response from Ace.

Ace looked at her scared for a minute before looking away, and muttering, "I love him...Maybe a little bit too much..."

"Ace, sweet heart, there is no such thing as loving too much."

The blonde shook his head, "He's changing me...Making me weak..."

"How is that? Because, Ace, all I see when you're with him is happiness. So, unless you call happiness 'weak' you're wrong."

Ace curled up against the wall, pulling his knees into his chest, "I...I'm too emotional."

"Ace Kindle, listen to me!" she was getting frustrated, "There is nothing wrong with being emotional. Besides, I have special plans for you and Leo Valdez."

"Special plans?"

"Yes. Very, very special plans and an amazing gift." She smiled warmly at him.

He shook his head, "What kind of amazing gift?"

She smiled again, "You'll just have to see..." With that she was gone.

Ace's heart was pounding, and after a few minutes he stood. He made his way up on deck, and over to Leo. The Hispanic turned when he heard Ace come up behind him.

He smiled slightly at Ace, "Hi."

The blonde didn't answer, he just went up to Leo, and kissed him. He made the kiss sweet, and loving, and apologetic. At first Leo didn't respond but then after a few seconds he kissed back with equal amounts of sweetness, love, and apology.

Ace pulled away after a minute, and smiled at him, "I love you."

Leo smiled happily, "I love you too." Then he pulled him in for a tight hug, he never wanted to let go.