AN: Hello, not dead. I've just sat my first year of A level, and the subsequent exams. Also my laptop charger had stopped working and I got a new one yesterday, so I'm back, and here we go with the next chapter, thanks for waiting.

I don't own it if you recognise it. Oh, and I tried to kinda write Clarisse a bit nicer but still in character. Did I manage it?

In which Leo gets invited on a Quest

Leo really wished that they got to have the chariot race without interruptions. The Hephaestus cabin had made an awesome chariot, like; it would so have won, even with Percy having Tyson to bat away any grenades or anything. Leo had been considering the shock factor of having Shelob pull their chariot. Unfortunately Beckendorf vetoed the idea. Having Shelob in the main camp would just end up with the Athena cabin running away, or chasing it with spears, or standing on a roof and throwing spears, either way it wouldn't end up well for Shelob. It would have been a good way to distract the Athena cabin though.

Leo had asked Shelob about the Athena cabin- if she was contractually obligated to attempt to kill any Athena campers, being a spider and all. Apparently she was exempt from this, as the Hephaestus kids that had set her as a sentry had figured her killing Athena campers would be frowned upon by Chiron.

Anyway- back to the birds- The completely evil birds, and no, he wasn't referring to the fact that their dung was poisonous and was being dropped like mini bombs on the campers, although it was. Nor was he referring to the fact that they were doing their best to kill campers by pecking them to death, although they were. Leo was referring to the fact that one of the projectile feathers had scratched the sides of his chariot!

No he wasn't the one driving it, but it was still a project he had worked on and he wasn't going to let the birds get away with that sort of nonsense. So, "Hey Beckendorf, try the button five down and three across from the big red button in the middle". He'd like to see how these birds would fair against his heat seeking missiles. Programmed of course to a specific body mass and height, didn't want to hit any other campers.

The missiles were fired, it went brilliantly, a few birds were hit by the first one, and then exploded, leading to what amounted to grenades falling on the campers below. Ok... So when he said brilliantly, no-one died. Well Leo thought, for demigods, no-one dying was pretty much a miracle.

Guess who didn't see it that way...

If you guessed Tantalus, you get nothing, it was obvious. He tried to assign Leo to dishwashing duty, and then remembered that Leo was a son of Hephaestus, and so leaving him in a room with metal plates and lava hot enough to forge in... Would probably lead to a lack of plates. So instead Leo was instructed to clear up all of the ruined chariots unaided. Tantalus was rather gleeful as he informed Leo that he better clear up quickly before the harpies came, because he wouldn't be calling them off.

So, what this lead to was Leo, as the sun went down, frantically shoving the last lot of scraps into the massive wheelbarrow to be taken to the forge and recycled, while the rest of the camp were around the campfire, he wondered what he was missing. It was soon that Percy and Annabeth left camp, so, perhaps it was today the quest was appointed. The problem with his memories being dulled, was that he was really bad at remembering when things happened the first time around; particularly the events in the titan war, as he only knew the stories, and didn't live it the first time. As he was rushing to the forge to empty the wheelbarrow, a hand grasped his shoulder, and almost yanked it out of place.

"Clarisse! Heart attacks are a pathetic way to go, don't do that to me!"

"Runt. I've been assigned the quest to find the Golden Fleece."

Leo brain short circuited, Clarisse had? What? Yeah he knew that it wasn't technically Percy's quest, but he didn't know Clarisse had been chosen instead. "Wow, congratulations. Which of your cabin mates are going with you?"

"None. You are."

"Oh". Leo was about to protest, he wasn't meant to get overly involved in quests, he wasn't meant to interfere in this war! Except, Clarisse was a daughter of Ares. If her cabin mates wouldn't go with her, who would? How much of a dash to her confidence would it be to reject her now? She had sought him out, and if he refused... She'd still go, obviously, she was too prideful not to, but it would definitely make her feel more segregated, more likely to isolate herself and her cabin. Besides, he needed to see how Maimer 2 held up in combat.

"When are we leaving? And who's the third member; quests always have 3, right?"

"There is no third member."

"But that's bad luck".

Clarisse turned to him with a wild look in her eye, but slightly watery as well, "No one else wanted to come on a quest lead by me."

"Have you tried Aphrodite".

"No, why would I possibly try them, they're all useless."

"They have charm speak. I doubt the person who has the Golden Fleece will be willing to give it up. Although I have no doubt you would put up a brilliant fight, It would be better strategically, to just ask and walk out with it."

"I... I thought you were meant to be Hephaestus, not freaking Athena!"

"Both Drew and Silena are pretty strong, but you're the quest leader, so you'll have to ask. And ask, Clarisse, don't threaten, you won't get either of them that way."

As Clarisse walked away, a though came to Leo, and he couldn't help but laugh, causing Clarisse to come storming back, and shove her spear under his chin. "Something funny Runt."

"No, not you, I just found it hilarious that we're planning a quest with A son of Hephaestus, daughter of Ares, and daughter of Aphrodite. How annoyed are our parents gonna be".

Clarisse snorted. "I'd like to see the state of Olympus's throne room when we leave tomorrow."

"I'd like to see Olympian family time around of Hephaestus T.V".

As Leo walked back to his cabin, he thought that was the first time he had ever heard Clarisse give a genuine laugh.