Thank you, thank you, thank you for your reviews, follows, favourites,
and just generally your support! You are awesome. It's that simple.
Seriously, I don't deserve readers like you, you're way too kind!
Okay, so some people seemed to fear that the previous chapter would be the last one
of "The Light in the Sky" but don't worry, it's not! Obviously haha.
There will still be a few more, I'm not quite sure yet how many because I changed the
plot a bit, so I guess you'll just have to stick with me and wait and see.
I promise to make it worth your while though! And also, when (Zeus forbid) the last
chapter is posted, I will definitely inform you guys about it being the end.
Just so you know.
I don't own these characters! (This makes me sad)
Right, so this chapter is a little fluffy, but come on, after all this heart break and fear
and danger we can all do with a little fluffiness me thinks.
And who doesn't like Lenelope fluff anyway? (Don't answer that)
So read on my friends, and tell me what you think!
(::) Take a cookie on the way (::)

Chapter fifty-five: Reunited
~Leo's POV~

Despite Hecate's warning not to linger, Leo couldn't bring himself to let go of Penelope. The fact alone that she was there, right here in his arms, breathing and alive, was enough to surrender him
incapable of mobility. And then of course it just felt so good to have her close to him again.
She was still shaking, whether from sobs or cold Leo didn't know, and he rubbed his hands on her back, trying to warm her up before remembering that he didn't have the ability to heat up his palms
anymore. A fleeting sensation of discomfort swept over him at that, but then the whole temple rumbled and he forgot all about it.
"Come on, we have to get out of here" Leo said and with regret loosened his grip on Pen.
The moment he did so, she swayed dangerously, and Leo had to reach out to stop her from falling.
Silently he scolded himself for not thinking of the fact that Penelope would probably be extremely weak right now, having just come back from the dead and all.
"Do you think you can walk if you lean on me?" he asked her and she nodded, her face tight.
Was she in pain? He wanted to find out, but there was no time. Already bits of ceiling started to crumble to the floor around them, and frantically Leo looked around for a hallway.
Yet he couldn't find one.
"Here" Pen said, tugging on his arm and motioning over to a dark stretch of wall. A very solid dark stretch of wall as far as Leo could see.
"Are you sure?" he asked, raising his voice over the noise of falling stone. Pen nodded.
They ran over to the wall and just before they crashed into it, it disappeared, revealing a dark
corridor. As quick as he could, Leo hauled himself and Penelope along the passage, dodging odd bits of rock as the whole building started to disintegrate. But it wasn't merely crumbling to the ground, it was partly disappearing, as if being sucked into an endless void.
Somehow Leo got the feeling that getting caught in that void would be much worse than being crushed by stone, and so he tried to run even faster, fighting against the pulling sensation that had gripped his body from behind. He would not lose now.
There! Finally, there was a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, dark light but definitely outside.
With a huge effort, Leo and Penelope sprinted the last few metres, and only just managed to jump out of the door at the end of the corridor before the whole temple gave a loud sighing sound and vanished into the night, far more peacefully than it's falling-apart inside should have allowed.
They were lying flat on the grass, breathing heavily, while Leo noticed dimly that not only the temple had gone, but the rest of the ruins as well. This wasn't important though at the moment.
His lungs still burning, he turned to Penelope, who was lying on her back, her eyes closed.
For one terrible moment Leo feared that the exhaustion had been too much for her, and he shook her shoulder.
"Pen! Can you hear me?!"
She didn't answer first but then croaked ,with her eyes still closed. "Ow, Leo, that's kind of painful."
Relieved, Leo let go of her, and helped her sit up.
For the first time since her reawakening, their eyes properly met.
"Hey there" Leo smiled, and Penelope smiled back "Hey there."
Gently, he pulled her close and kissed her, very softly on the lips. He could feel them forming into a smile underneath his own.
They stayed like that for a precious moment, the night air cool on their faces. Leo didn't register the fact that it had gotten dark far earlier than it should have. He didn't really register anything at all except the girl in front of him.
Finally, they broke apart, and an unspoken agreement to find shelter passed between them. They travelled a little way away, until they found another cave-like formation in the hillside.
Here, they crawled in and almost as soon as they had entered, Penelope slumped against the back wall with her eyes closed.
The moonlight shone in through a crack in the ceiling, and Leo was able to get a good look at Pen.
She looked different. Inside the temple, Leo had thought that her appearance had gone back to normal, but the Mist of the building had blinded his vision.
In fact, Penelope didn't look very healthy at all. Her hair had lost its usual purplish glint caused by
moonlight, and her face was ashen, ghostly pale.
She was thinner, too, and maybe Leo imagined it, but she seemed a little insubstantial, as if she hadn't quite returned from the realm of the souls yet.
Just to be sure she was actually there, Leo reached out and touched her hand, which was cold but thankfully solid.
This made Penelope open her eyes, and she regarded Leo with her normal piercing look, showing him that not everything about her had changed. Leo found he couldn't really care less if she was different in appearance than before, he only wanted her to be safe and alive.
"Do I look that bad?" she asked, chuckling quietly. He realised he must have looked pretty worried, and quickly he rearranged his face into a happier expression, which was easy.
"You look pretty awful. But it doesn't matter, you're back."
"Such a charmer" Penelope rolled her eyes, and Leo laughed. Maybe she hadn't changed that much after all.
But nevertheless there was a ghost of death in her face, and the only thing Leo could think of to get rid of it was rest.
"Come on, get some sleep. I'll keep watch." he said, and Penelope must have been really weary, for she nodded without protest and curled up on the floor, laying her head in his lap.
After a few minutes of silence, in which Leo thought Pen had gone to sleep, she spoke, her voice
an odd mixture of melancholy and gratitude. "You saved my life again, Leo."
He knew she felt bad, guilty even that he had risked his own well being for her for the third time now.
"I had to" he said, stroking her dark hair absent-mindedly, while contemplating the world outside.
"Why?" Pen asked, her voice sounding a little sad.
"Because I love you." Leo answered simply, feeling glad as he finally told Penelope what he should have told her all along. They might not have known each other for an awfully long time, but
there was no doubt in Leo's mind that he loved the girl lying next to him, loved her enough
to risk his own life for her. And somehow he didn't think that Aphrodite had anything to do with it; that feelings like this ran a lot deeper.
Penelope didn't answer for a very long time, and again Leo thought she had gone to sleep. Only when moon had wandered across the sky so much that its light no longer shone into their cave did she reply, as softly as the wind.
"I love you too."
They spoke no more after that, and finally Leo felt the rhythmic rise and fall of Penelope's chest which meant she had at last gone to sleep.
As he sat there gazing out at the night sky through the cave's entrance, Leo couldn't help but think that the stars had never looked more beautiful than tonight.