Whoop, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter- after this one there's only one more before the minific- which has a couple of nice sweet chapters as well as some less sweet stuff. Anyways, should be interesting seeing your reactions to the minific- it has something a few people have asked for. And we start gettimg a rough idea of the Argo II's crew.
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Undeath9087: Ah but the wholesome stuff then makes the pain hurt even more later on. Like, Luke holding Percy as she died wouldn't have been half so painful if there hadn't been all of the sibling bonding stuff earlier in the series now would it?

The day went by much faster than Leo had expected. He'd been more than happy to see his friends when they reached the Dining Pavillion- he'd forgotten to get changed with the news so he had been in his pajamas- but that was fine because Piper and Jason had been too- and no one had cared much anyway- though Leo had burst out laughing when he'd realised that Jason was soaking and Thalia had looked particularly smug.

Since they'd only just gotten back from a quest Chiron had declared that they were exempt from any usual camp activities- which Leo was grateful for since it gave him time to talk with Piper and Jason about their plans- which included explaining the truth about Jason at the campfire that evening.

They were in the middle of discussing just how to explain when Chiron had called Piper over with news of a video call from her father. Piper had invited Leo to come of course, since his girlfriend was with her dad, but Leo had turned her down- he knew that the call would be about her and her dad, not about him and Calypso- besides, from what Chiron said she planned on coming home as soon as Piper's dad had arranged for a flight to take her to New York, which would almost certainly be sooner rather than later.

Leo could wait for a few days.

Piper might not see her dad again for weeks- and given how he'd been when she'd last seen him- yeah. Yeah she deserved some private time for that phone call. So Leo stayed hanging out with Jason, the son of Jupiter hadn't really gotten a true tour around the camp with all that had happened, so Leo showed him around, grinning as did- and as they walked they talked, and, well, Leo could hardly be blamed for being curious.

"So." his voice was light, curious, "What are you gonna do about Pipes?"

And Jason's face went slightly red. "What do you mean?"

"You like her dude- don't go all red I'm not gonna judge you. Piper's awesome, she's beautiful, smart, brave. She's tough as anything. I'm not gonna lie if I wasn't madly in love with Calypso and if I didn't see her as a sister I'd probably have a crush on her too. And come on Jason she clearly likes you- and by now if it was just because of what Hera did then that would have faded. She's got the hots for you." he said that in a singsong voice and he received an elbow to the stomach for his efforts- which made him double over and groan, "Dude! Low blow."

"Shut up Valdez." Jason was smiling slightly though, and when Leo straightened up he sighed, "You're seriously asking though?"

"Well duh, I might tease but you're one of my best friends dude." Leo slung an arm over Jason's shoulder, "So, you and Pipes, is it happening? Do I need to give you the best friend talk before Drew gives you the big sister talk-"

"Drew scares me more than you-"

"Yeah yeah we all know that. Drew scares everyone more than I do. Now answer the question dude."

"I-" Jason hesitated before groaning, "I like her Leo. I do- I really do." he gave Leo a sidelong long, "I just- things are complicated- with my memories coming
back-"

"Please say you don't already have a girlfriend."

"I- don't think I do." Jason sounded almost hesitant, "There is a girl who's important I think- but I don't think we're dating. I don't remember fully but I think I maybe had feelings for her?"

"Gods that sucks." Leo said bluntly, "But- the question is, which one of them are your feelings stronger for?"

And Jason went silent for several moments before he spoke, "Piper. I think. But I'm not ready to- I need to know for sure- I need to make sense of my own memories before I make any big choices like that."

"There's no mad rush." Leo clapped Jason on the back firmly. "But keep me updated yeah? Just so I can get some popcorn if you and Piper do decide to give it a try- I said it before, I'll say it again, Drew is gonna make mincemeat out of you."

"Don't keep reminding me." Jason groaned. "She's a terrifying barbie doll"

"She would thank you for that description." Leo grinned, "She calls herself a beautiful monster a lot. She knows what she is."

And Jason's lips twitched, "I love this place." he admitted, "I really do- it- is so chaotic and crazy- I'm pretty sure I saw a girl carrying a plant chasing another girl screaming that the plant was going to eat her-"

"Yeah, that sort of thing happens a lot." Leo shrugged, "We're a chaotic bunch us Greeks."

"I-" Jason hesitated, "I think I feel free here in a way I didn't back... home. It's a lot more structured. More like an army."

Leo's expression turned curious at that. "No luck remembering exactly where that is?"

"Not yet. But it'll come back to me. It's all starting to come back."

"We're going to have to go there aren't we?" Leo's voice was quiet, "We know that we're going to have to work together. We have four members of the seven right here."

"I think the other three are back at Camp Jupiter- I think that's what it's called." Jason agreed. "Which means we're going to need to go there- but Hera's messed up. I- I don't know how much me being with you will help win them over- we're not as laid back as you guys from what I remember."

"We'll figure out a way to make it work Jase." Leo's voice was firm, "It's not all on you dude. We'll make it work I promise you. We have Pipes- and we'll have Annabeth too- though right now she's probably trying to help Rache survive her dad. And we'll probably have Rache too because no way is she gonna let
Annabeth go off without her."

"Thank you." Jason's voice was almost painfully earnest. "Usually I'm the one having to do the reassuring."

"So you're a leader in your camp then. That stuff you boasted about to Porphryion. Was it all true?"

"Yeah, I think so." Jason's brows furrowed and he grimaced, shaking his head, "I did a lot of things-"

"Thanks. For handling Krios and taking down Mount Orthys." Leo's voice was very quiet, "It needed doing and we were-"

"You guys fought in Manhattan." Jason stated quietly, "What you did was probably more important than what we did. Your sister-"

"I know." Leo let out a breath, tilting his head back so he could look up at the sky, "Gods all of this is a mess."

"Don't I know it."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence until Piper tracked them down after her call with her dad, smiling and very clearly much happier than she had been before- she looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulder, and Leo noticed the way she grabbed Jason's hand when Leo had straightened up and declared that it was time for him to show his cabin mates and the senior counsellors something- it didn't take them long to find Beckendorf after that, and soon enough everyone was gathered, and the two sons of Hephaestus led the way to the Bunker, coming to a halt in front of the familiar limestone cliffs in the forest. When they reached it he turned to face everyone that was gathered- Chiron, Luke, Nico and Thalia were at the front of the group with Jason and Piper, and Leo took a deep breath before giving his most goofy smile- pushing down the thoughts that he was about to give up his and Beckendorf's precious secret space.

It was important. And he flourished his hand, "Prepare to be amazed-"

"Stop being a show off Valdez." Nico rolled his eyes, a smile twitching on his lips. "What is it?"

Leo willed his hand to burst into flame and he pressed it to the door, which swung open- and Leo noticed that Chiron was the only one who didn't look surprised- but then he had to have known about it, though he looked worried- Leo couldn't blame him. The Bunker did have a lot of dangerous stuff inside of it.

"Welcome to Bunker 9." he declared, "Our secret workshop."

"Leo found it a couple of summers ago." Beckendorf admitted, "It was his discovery, we used it a lot in secret."

"Dude, so unfair." that came from Jake, though he was grinning, "This should be fun."

"Come on in." Leo declared, leading the way inside, the others following him- and things were almost the same as they had been last time Leo had been inside- though a few small things had been moved from Beckendorf working- the most significant different was the fact that Festus's head was sitting on the central table, still battered and scorched from his final crash in Omaha.

Leo went over to it, a bitter taste in his mouth, and stroked the dragon's forehead. "I'm sorry, Festus. But I won't forget you." he felt Luke's hand on his shoulder, squeezing comfortingly, and Nico was suddenly at his side.

"Sorry." his younger brother gave a sad smile, "We all know how much Festus meant to you."

"He'll still be with us." Leo glanced over at his friends, who nodded- before his attention was drawn to Nyssa. "Guys, look at this!"

She was standing at one of the worktables, flipping through a sketchbook—diagrams for hundreds of different machines and weapons.

"I've never seen anything like these," Nyssa said. "There are more amazing ideas here than in Daedalus's workshop. It would take a century just to prototype
them all. "

"Who built this place?" Jake Mason said. "And why?"

Chiron stayed silent, but Leo focused on the wall map he'd seen during his first visit. It showed Camp Half-Blood with a line of triremes in the Sound, catapults mounted in the hills around the valley, and spots marked for traps, trenches, and ambush sites.

"It's a wartime command center," Beckendorf spoke up, "Leo and I figured that out on our first visit, "Camp must have been attacked before. Before our time I mean."

"When?" Luke's brows furrowed, "Monster attacks are normal this is overkill for that."

"Besides." Nyssa was looking at the map. "It looks really old, the date, does that say 1864?"

They all turned to Chiron.

The centaur's tail swished fretfully. "This camp has been attacked many times," he admitted. "That map is from the last Civil War. "

"Civil War …" Piper said. "You mean the American Civil War, like a hundred and fifty years ago?"

"Yes and no," Chiron said. "The two conflicts—mortal and demigod—mirrored each other, as they usually do in Western history. Look at any civil war or revolution from the fall of Rome onward, and it marks a time when demigods also fought one another. But that Civil War was particularly horrible. For American mortals, it is still their bloodiest conflict of all time—worse than their casualties in the two World Wars. For demigods, it was equally devastating. Even back then, this valley was Camp Half-Blood. There was a horrible battle in these woods lasting for days, with terrible losses on both sides." And Leo's gaze automatically turned to Jason, who stepped forward, a grim nod on his face as Thalia asked, "Sides? Did camp split?"

"No." Leo spoke up, "No it didn't."

"Oh gods." Piper's eyes widened, "This- this is what happened the last time- no wonder Khione thought-"

"Yeah." Jason nodded, his expression tight, "Her plan was a real dangerous one."

"What are you three talking about?" Luke's eyes narrowed, "What aren't you telling us?"

"I think it's time Jason reintroduced himself." Leo moved to stand beside his friend, and Piper caught his gaze and followed his lead, both of them flanking Jason either side as everyone stared at them, clearly curious, and Piper was grabbing Jason's hand and squeezing it tightly.

"Why would he need to reintroduce himself?" Thalia sounded confused, "Nothing you guys are saying makes sense."

"I'm Jason Grace." Jason's voice was strong- if Leo wasn't stood right next to him he wouldn't have noticed how shaky the other teen looked. "The son of Jupiter. And I am a child of Rome, consul to demigods and Praetor of the First Legion at Camp Jupiter."