Okay, so this is one of the last chapters of this installment of Legacy of Camp Half-Blood. I've still got one chapter for after this, unless anyone has a request that they'd like to put in that I haven't thought of for the future installments (installments meaning each summer camp session, so the next installment will be their next summer, when Ciara is thirteen).

So, unless someone has something they really want to see happen (like maybe an all-out prank war, though I thought that might go off better once the characters stop hating each other for the most part, and yes, I do have some plans for a prank war), then next chapter is going to bring this first summer full circle.

In the meantime, have some funny, fluffy, sticky fun.

Kai's P.O.V.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

I grumble and pull my pillow over my head. "Go away!" I'm in no mood to be entertaining idiots today. Earlier, I decided to get some practice in, and Nico thought it would be a great idea that, since I seemed to be doing so much better, he and I have a sparring session. Needless to say, I feel like I've got more bruises than skin right now. Even ten hours later, everything aches, and never before have I so wanted to smash a vase on my big brother's head.

*Knock* *Knock* Knock*

"I said go away!" Whoever is at the door just doesn't seem to understand that I don't want to go outside right now. Or that by persisting, they are putting their very life in danger.

"Not happening!" The door slams open and footsteps echo off the floor. "Come on, get up. Your bruises can't possibly be that bad."

I turn over to glare at Sam from underneath my blankets. "What the hell do you want?"

He smiles that annoying sunshiney grin at me. "You've been moping in your cabin long enough." He grabs the blankets and yanks them off me. "Whoa, your big brother really worked you over good."

I groan and pull my pillow back over my head. "I said go away!" This is one of the last people I want to deal with right now. Mostly because he's so damn persistent. He just doesn't know how to take no for an answer.

"Ah...nope!" Sam sits down on my bed, pushing on my shoulders until I'm flat on my stomach. "You're coming out of the cabin whether you like it or not. But I'll at least do something about these bruises before we leave."

It's funny. Sam is supposed to be a healer, but he's more like a bad cold. I just can't get rid of him. For some reason, he seems to think that I'm not really as scary as I used to be. Hmph...if he really thinks I'm not scary anymore, then maybe a few summoned zombies will make him change his mind. I've been practicing, so I think that I can summon more than just a rotting, dismembered hand, or accidentally flood the camp with a skeletal army.

Then, Sam's hands press down on my back, right into the bruises. I bite my lip to stifle a groan, before a soft feeling of relief washes through me. Ah...so that's what the bright idiot is doing. With every motion, my body starts to ache less and less. He must have taken pity on me, because I get the feeling that my bruises won't be purple and black and yellow much longer.

But, that makes me suspicious of his motives. "Alright, so what exactly is it that you want from me?" Since he's going to all the trouble to relieve some of my pain, I should probably at least hear what he wants before I shoot him down. Though, at this point, he should probably be expecting to be shot down, no matter what he wants from me.

"Well, we're having a big campfire tonight, and I thought that it would be a good idea to drag you along, since you hate socializing with people." I can just feel the cheery smile he's directing at the back of my head.

And then, there's also his astounding lack of logic to consider. "You know, you'd think that you wouldn't drag someone who hates socializing to a social gathering. It'd probably be a good idea for you to get your head checked, because you obviously have a few screws loose."

"You'd think so, but that's not the point." He's not even contesting my insinuation. "I'm not suggesting it because you hate socializing and want to torture you with it, it's because I think that you'll like it if you just give it a try. Even if you only talk to a few people that you're comfortable with, that's okay. But you can't keep going with this whole loner act you've been putting on forever." He moves his hands a little more, pressing deeper into my skin, like he's trying to give me a massage.

"And you think that I would like talking to a bunch of idiots?" I'm not afraid to admit that I do not have a very high opinion of the other campers. Especially those Aphrodite girls. They piss me off the most because of all their damn squealing.

"No, but I think that you might like hanging out with the legacies. You know... Caiden, Eran, Ciara. They're not nearly as crazy as some of the campers." He presses down on my shoulder, right where there's a knot in my muscles. And I didn't even know that there was a knot there. " You should just give it a try. Then, the rest of the camp might be less scared of you." He says that like it would be a good thing.

I take the pillow off of my head and settle it under my chin instead. "And who says that I want the rest of the camp to like me?"

Sam pulls his hands back a little. "Because when the three of us were out there, trudging through marshes and the Underworld, looking for Ciara, you reached out to us. I think that you're a lot more willing to make friends than you'll admit, because you're afraid of getting hurt." I twitch a little, then move to toss him off my back, only for him to press his hands down again around my spine. "I don't need to know why you're so afraid of getting hurt, but it won't hurt you to at least try to get along with people. It's not like I'm telling you to hook up with anyone. Just...give them a chance to see what you're really like. And none of that scary and cold death stuff, okay?"

All of this is starting to sound a little familiar. "Have you been talking to Nico?" If he has, I swear that he's going to get buried under a mile of dirt.

"Nope!" He grins as I turn my head enough to see the look on his face. "Just my big brother. He said that children of Hades seem to be more prone to this kind of attitude. At least, that's what he said that he observed from observing you and Nico."

I groan quietly into the pillow. Of course... Dr. Sunshine is the one who told him that. "And what if I say that I won't go to the campfire?" Not that he would have come in here without a plan. You don't just waltz into the Hades Cabin without a plan.

"Then I'll tell Dad that you sing really well, and he'll come charging in here and drag you out to sing in front of everybody!" It definitely sounds like if I had turned him down outright, that this is the plan he would have fallen back on. And that's the last thing that I need. The god of the sun dragging me out to sing in front of people that will just make fun of me for it.

"Fine..." I stuff my face into the pillow again. But if he even thinks about trying to make me sing, I am going to bury him so far in the ground that he'll be able to say hello to my father for me.

"Alright, all done!" Sam's weight leaves my back and he tips himself off my bed. "You should be able to move around now without any pain. Just try not to get into any more fights today, otherwise your body is going a lot more sore than someone with your impatience is willing to put up with."

I sit up slowly, my pajamas disastrously rumpled from having Sam messing around with my back. "Okay, now get out so that I can change. I'm not leaving my cabin looking like this."

Instead of leaving, Sam just keeps on grinning. "Wow, I didn't think you were such a girl about how you look, Kai."

I stare at him flatly. "You have five seconds to leave before I bury you in twenty tonnes of rock." Two seconds later, he's gone, and the slamming of the door echoes through the cabin.

And two minutes later, I emerge from my cabin, dressed in dark jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. My tastes in clothes definitely came from my big brother's liking for leather. Something that his husband has loudly appreciated on more than one occasion.

To prevent Sam from trying to grab my hand or something, I follow him obediently to the fire-pit. Overhead, the sky is going dark, and the stars are starting to come out. Admittedly, he picked a good night to drag me out of my cabin. If worst comes to worst, I can probably sneak off halfway through the campfire once the Apollo Cabin start singing. Maybe I should go stargazing tonight... Laughter from the fire-pit distracts me, and I catch sight of three very loud legacies with mechanical roasting sticks, roasting marshmallows over the bright orange flames of the campfire.

Sam tugs on my jacket. "Over here, I made sure to save us a couple of seats on the quieter side of the campfire." He nods over to where some of the Demeter and Hebe campers are sitting. They're less enthusiastically friendly, and aren't really fond of me to begin with, which means that they're more likely to leave me alone.

I take a seat in front of the flames, staring at them as they flicker against the darkening sky. Then, I turn to Sam to ask him what he's planning to do to me tonight, since there's no way he's going to leave things like this without getting some kind of stupid fun out of it, when suddenly a mass of white streaks towards my face, and I instinctively duck. Unfortunately, whatever it was hits the top of my head, skimming across my hair and sticking there.

Reaching up to my hair, I feel around gingerly for whatever it is that's gotten stuck there, and my fingers find something extremely sticky. I bring my fingers down and examine them, finding little bits of melted marshmallow stuck to them. You have got to be kidding me... I look up to where three very enthusiastic legacies were roasting marshmallows, only to see them grinning eagerly at what seems to be very good, and very unfortunate aim. I narrow my eyes at them, and Caiden Grace bolts from his seat, racing away from the legacies of Poseidon and Hephaestus.

Ciara...

Ciara's P.O.V.

As Kai and Sam turn to look at me and Eran, Caiden bolting in terror, I can't help the smile on my face. Poor Sam has a little bit of singed hair on top of his head from Eran's flaming marshmallow, while there's gooey white stuff stuck in Kai's inky black hair. And the look on his face is downright murderous. That would certainly explain why Caiden ran like the harpies were at his heels.

Still, it's hard to take Kai seriously when he's got sticky white goop in his hair.

Sam's eye twitches slightly, then he gets up, pulls me to my feet, and shoves me toward Kai. "You go sit over there. Me and this flaming idiot have to talk."

Sam drops himself right down where I was once sitting, and proceeds to start pulling on Eran's ears and muttering something, rather angrily, into the legacy's ear. And as a seat has conveniently been vacated for me, I cautiously approach a still very pissed off Kai. "Uh...hi?"

Kai glowers at me, clearly not happy with me. "And you got a marshmallow in my hair because...?"

My eyes travel up to where the white goop is still stuck to his hair, and I resist the urge to laugh, but not to smile. "Well...at least I didn't set it on fire...?"

He's definitely not impressed. "Alright, then since you put it there, you can be the one to get it out."

He watches me expectantly, so I take a look at how stuck it is. Uh...I don't think that it would be a good idea if I touched that...my fingers would just get it stuck worse... I look around for something that could help, then I notice an unopened water bottle sitting next to Caiden. Well...he'll forgive me for this later, if he even cares. I discreetly call the water to my hand, and it brings the plastic bottle along with it.

As I uncap the bottle and the water flows out, Kai looks at me warily. "If you drench me with that, I'm throwing you into the canoe lake."

I raise an eyebrow at him as the water coalesces into a sphere. "You say that like it's a punishment. Have you forgotten that I'm a legacy of Poseidon?"

"No." He shakes his head, and a hint of a smile curves his lips. "It means that I don't have to feel guilty about it, or worry about whether or not you'll drown."

I pout slightly at his words. "Seriously? You just want to be able to punish me without risking killing me? That's cold."

"Speaking of cold..." He glances at the water twisting itself around my hand. "If you make the marshmallow any colder, it's never going to come out."

"I know that!" I hiss irritably and extend my hand towards the fire, letting the flames heat the water around my hand. And never before have I been so thankful for my apparent resistance to heat. "Now stop talking and let me focus, otherwise I'll just get marshmallow everywhere."

He rolls his eyes and shuts his trap, leaning his head down slightly to make up for the height difference. "Just hurry up. I hate the sticky feeling."

"Yeah, yeah..." I move the hot water to his head, taking hold of the surprisingly soft tufts of hair. I let my fingers ruffle the sticky locks, working with the heat of the water to pull away the re-melted marshmallow goop. Thankfully, since it hadn't cooled too much, the bits of white goop come away easily in the hot water, the sugar dissolving like a science project.

When the last of the white goop is gone, I pull my hand away from his hair, and all of the water comes with it, leaving his hair only slightly damp. He frowns slightly, then runs his clean hand through his hair, ruffling it slightly. "...I'm still taking a shower later."

"That's probably a good idea." I let the water splash onto the ground, taking all of the dissolved sugar with it. Then, I look up at him to see that he's no longer looking as murderous as he did earlier. "So...Sam managed to drag you out here, huh?"

Kai's eyes shift back to me, and I feel so awkward, sitting here. "Yes...he surprised me with his ability to use knowledge to his advantage."

I sift through the words in my head, before it all clicks together. "He blackmailed you!?" I cover my mouth for a moment to hold in my laughter as Kai's glare hardens again. "What could he possibly use to blackmail you?"

Kai's expression grows sour, like he just took a drink from a lemonade pitcher before anyone added the sugar. "If I told you, you would hold it over my head too. So it's not happening."

"Aw..." That really disappoints me a little. But, I suppose that there are other things that I can do to amuse myself. "Well, then since we're at the campfire, are you going to sing?"

His eyes widen, and I'm pretty sure that if he were drinking something right now, it would have just been spit out right into the fire. "Not happening."

"Why not?" I frown a little. "You can't sing?"

He turns his eyes away from me and glares into the fire. "Let's go with that."

"Okay...?" It's a weird answer, but I suppose that there's nothing I can do to force the issue. At least, not without drenching the entire campfire. "Then...how about you tell me how you three found me?" I've only heard bits and pieces so far from Dad and Sam, so it would be nice to have the whole story. Or at least a little more than I've got right now. "Sam told me that you were the one who asked for the quest."

I'm not sure if it's the light of the fire, or the heat coming off of it, but I could swear that Kai blushes a little. "Well, after you got kidnapped, I noticed that you weren't at breakfast. And half the camp was quiet, while the other half was freaking out. I didn't want to just sit around and do nothing, so I went to Chiron and asked him to send me on a rescue mission. He didn't want to, so I forced his hand. That's all there really is to it."

It's pretty easy to see that there's more to it than that, but if it's really something he doesn't want to talk about, then it would be mean of me to force the issue. So, I lean over and rest my head against his shoulder. "Thank you..."

"Hm?" He turns his head slightly, ruffling my hair with his warm breath. "For what?"

"For caring..." The thought sobers me up a little, bringing me down from the high brought on by the energy of the campfire. "I may not know everything that happened, but I know that you risked a lot to help me. So...thank you."

A slight pressure grows on my head. "It's fine..." His voice softens, kind of like the color of the fire. I blink, and the color grows a little fuzzy. I blink again, trying to clear my vision, but it only gets fuzzier with every attempt to clear it. My eyelids feel heavy, and the flames blur everything in my line of sight, before they fade away as well.

"Sleep well, Ciara..."