A/N: Here you go, the final part. o3o Where (I hope) your questions will be solved. Like I said, you'll meet a couple of new people, but they appeared a long time ago. Sorry about the lengthy flashbacks – hope you wouldn't mind! :)

Once again, a lot of hugs and thanks to my superawesomefabulous beta reader, great friend, and Partner-in-Crime Simon Layton for all the encouragement, patience and fellow-shipping of Leper. I owe a huge part of this chapter for him, for setting off the plot bunnies and smoothing out the wrinkles. Keep being awesome, Mr. Flamingo. :D

And seriously, guys…the reviews for the last chapter was a dream-come-true! xDDD Hope you all enjoyed the cliffhanger. (I regret nothing! :P) Thank you so, SO much! *cries tears of happiness* :'D

Enough a/n now. Read, Enjoy and Review! :3

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Leo and Piper and the Camp Half-Blood series. I own my Leper Ship Cadet uniform.

- Part Three -

The last time…

...

...The young goddess flew down after her husband; his moody, dejected countenance worried her. She had never seen him looking so displeased with himself. She had never seen him throw away his bow and arrows so harshly. It was his symbol, his power, and his weapon – and he treated it with suitable honor. But not today.

She caught up with him near the demigod camp, flying lower and lower, and finally they perched on the sacred Pine tree. Apollo winked from the Western horizon before his chariot disappeared. From here, they could see the entire camp – godly vision penetrating to every end and depth of the valley and beyond. But his sight was set on one corner. She followed his eyes to the hill hidden deep within the woods. It was uninhabited for a long time, until a few months ago when a demigod reopened the forgotten forge.

"My Lord?" she whispered tentatively.

He sighed. "Psyche. Why did you follow?"

She held out the handful of arrows. "They fell off the quiver."

He took them without a word. Psyche was worried – he was troubled about something. Eros was quiet since he returned from Olympus that morning.

"Anything wrong, lord?"

"My mother wants to punish her daughter. Or rather, it's a two-way penalty, but I'm afraid that she will be the one to face most of the suffering. And…she is already wounded."

"Punish her own daughter? But why?"

Psyche knew the girl. It was a still a secret for many that her memories was altered for the 'Greater Good,' to save the world. Queen Hera had to make those sacrifices – it was a choice between a few demigod lives and total destruction. None of them knew if the exchange succeeded yet. The Greeks had accepted the Roman once he proved his valor, but the other hero was still under an enchanted sleep.

But what of the individuals? Would they ever get their true memories back? She, Psyche - once a human maiden that was immortalized to be the Goddess of Soul - knew how much had been changed in certain demigods' lives, or rather, in their souls. It broke her heart that these children had given up so much at such a young age, even without their knowledge.

"My mortal half-sister called off the Rite of Passage for the daughters of Aphrodite when she became the counselor of the Cabin Ten. She didn't want to see any more heartbreak. And then the son of Jupiter himself broke her heart. You know how happy our mother was over them, remember? Now she wants the Roman to see what he lost…"

Realization hit her in a second. Jealousy. A cruel, yet effective weapon.

The Goddess of Love was not someone to make an enemy of.

"And she wants…"

"…her daughter to fall in love with the son of Hephaestus for a short while. Yes."

"But that's an evil trick, Eros! Isn't it enough that their memories were altered entirely, and they now believe that they're only friends so that the Roman can fit in their lives? You cannot do that to your own relatives, my lord…"

Eros sighed. "You know better than anyone else about my mother's anger, Psyche. I don't want to put them through it, I really don't! Loves and lives of the demigods aren't our toys. But Aphrodite is both my parent and my superior…I must obey her orders. What if she curses you to punish me too? Wasn't once enough, love?"

Psyche looked again at the forge. It was deserted except for two teenage demigods – the demigods in question. The boy – Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, was trying to comfort the sobbing girl. First heartbreak was always the most painful. Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, was having a hard time forgetting the words Jason told her. Did he really mean them, that they couldn't have anything more than a friendship until he regained his all of his memories, and that he didn't want to be unfaithful to his own home and 'family'? Of course, he tried to smooth it with hopeful words. But the meaning was still clear.

And it hurt.

Lady Aphrodite was angry at the son of Jupiter for upsetting her daughter. She was madder with the daughter for letting herself get cast off. How could she, when the goddess had told her that it was a possibility, an opportunity? That she saw the what-could-have-been, and that she had the power to make it come true? That the goddess wanted it to come true?

And now they both would pay for the goddess' anger.

Eros pulled out two arrows with bright pink and glittery tips. Arrows of temporary infatuation, sparkling and whimsical. There was nothing solid about that kind of love. He notched them on the bow and pulled back the string; but Psyche stopped him, laying her hand on the twin arrows. He looked at her, weary and confused.

"If it's unavoidable, at least show them the truth. They ought to know it. They have a right to know it. Even if it is for a short while, give them a chance to see what was supposed to be theirs. Your mother wouldn't see the difference. Not if they're soul mates as I know they are. Trust me on this, lord."

She touched the tips of arrows, and they turned clear and transparent. Eros shot them at the two demigods across the vast grounds – his aim was perfect. The young heroes didn't feel anything more than a tiny pinprick, but they felt…released.

The Immortals flew back to Olympus. And the demigods…

"It wouldn't be like that, not this time," Leo said stubbornly. Would Aphrodite go on her angry fangirl mode again and try to console her poor broken shipper heart? Who cared? Not him.

"I know my mother, Leo…she won't-"

"Then I don't care! You can't live your whole life scared of your mother!"

"She – Is – A - Goddess!" Piper pleaded. "Don't forget what she could to you…"

The crazy, stubborn glint didn't leave his eyes. It wasn't that he didn't know that an angry love goddess was one of the worst persons that you could have on your enemies list. As far as he was concerned now, all that mattered was that his last dearest person in this complicated demigod world was leaving the camp, leaving him…

Yes, Leo had an unfortunate habit of regularly falling for girls out of his league. It provided a lot of amusement both to him and the other campers when they were all teenagers; he good-naturedly laughed with the rest of them about his sudden infatuations with pretty girls everywhere. If there was a girl in a mile radius and she was hopelessly out of his league, he probably had gone dewy-eyed over her for at least five seconds. But that was years ago, when they were still crazy teenagers. Everyone grew up. So did he. Sure, he still laughed and joked with the other campers, (nobody – except perhaps the Stoll brothers – could beat him on the contest for the Clown of the Camp Award) but in a way, he was much subdued on the infatuation department now.

It was possible that Psyche had a part in it.

...The other children of Hephaestus had gone down to their cabin exhausted with the day's work. The ship was coming up beautifully with everyone's hard work and dedication. Cabin Nine worked from wee hours of morning to sunset – and it was only when their cabin counselor chased them out that they left for dinner. They were very enthusiastic about this project – it was probably their biggest creation in living memory. The Athena cabin insisted with helping with the designing it to be ultimate battle ship, while every other cabin added their own personal touches to the Trireme. Leo sometimes had trouble listening to everyone – just how many cooks did one soup need?

He wasn't alone, though. The main control panel of the ship was a job he worked on by himself – he didn't trust anyone else with mammoth task. While he was taking apart a Playstation to see if it could be rewired into the control panel, he kept throwing sideways glances at his visitor. She wasn't talking. The cup of tea in her hands was getting cold, but she hadn't even touched it. Leo asked a few questions, but her wet-blanket replies made it clear that she didn't want to talk.

Yet he knew that Piper wanted company. Why else would she stay in the Bunker when there was a hundred other places in the camp where she could be? He thought he guessed why – it was one place Jason wouldn't visit that day. Not when he had a bit of accident the previous day that involved a hammer and a massive wing and an oar. Leo didn't know what happened between Piper and Jason, but she seemed much shaken.

Silence didn't work well with ADHD demigods, and definitely not with him. And he hated seeing Piper look so down. She was so obviously and deeply in love with Jason, so why couldn't Sparky keep her happy for Tartarus' sake?

"Hey, Pipes? Pass that soldering iron, will you?"

She seemed shocked and disoriented for a moment, and then passed the tool with a mumbled word. Leo attached a few wires and then gave up. The Playstation was fine, but he had enough of silence.

"Tell you what, I'm going to take a break. Want to come out?" His ship can wait ten minutes, maybe an hour; his friend needed some cheering up.

They went out, and Leo cracked a few jokes about the ship and giant Enchiladas- sorry, Enceledus – and their time at the Wilderness school; and a little by little, she started smiling again. Much better.

They didn't see the two immortals watching them across the hill, nor did they feel the invisible arrows sinking into their hearts.

And then everything changed.

But the change was so quiet, and felt so natural, that none of the Greeks – least of all the two teenagers – felt it. It was a normal sight to see the two demigods laughing and joking throughout the day, sometimes even having a friendly quarrel over nicknames and who-gets-the-first-coke. The rest of the demigods loved to hang out with them. Some were even jealous of their simple and easy fun. But both of them felt – or rather, knew – that this was what they wanted. They didn't bother to spoil the beautiful moment trying to name it.

Do all good things have to end?

"Leo…" Piper whispered, her voice still unsteady. Even so, her charmspeak had enough power to calm him down and make him listen. A tiny part of his brain warned him that he would agree to anything she said when her voice was layered with Charm, but he didn't bother with that warning.

"C-calm down, Leo…"

All the tension left his mind and he felt his body relaxing as the message reached every nerve. He tried to fight it – stay stubborn, worried and almost angry – but it wasn't easy when he could hear her sincere pain and concern behind the charmspeak. She didn't command anything. It was just a simple, innocent request. He took deep breaths willing himself to relax, and even his heightened temperature returned to normal gradually.

"Better?" she whispered gently. Leo gave a small nod.

"Curse you and your charming voice, Princess," he said in a grumbling voice, but they both knew that he wasn't really angry. "But you're not charming your way out of my questions and running away, okay?"

She nodded obediently. "Fine. You really want to know it? You haven't forgotten what my mother can do, right? No — don't disturb. I know that you don't care and that you'll face anything. But….I care, Leo… You and Jason were my first friends. I can't let either of you ever get under Aphrodite's, or any other god's bad side because of me. You, Jason, every other demigod here…you all will be safer far away from me. Please…please don't try to stop me, Leo…"

"I won't be any safer far away from you, " Leo retaliated. "What if a monster gets me and I need a knife-wielding demigod princess lifesaver to save me? No offence, but most of your sisters don't really match my type of description."

"Ha, ha," she gave a nervous laugh. Her voice faltered. "You don't need me to protect you, Firebender. Besides, I bet there's another out-of –bounds princess waiting for you somewhere with a knife."

"To skewer me, probably. If you really want to leave, at least let me come with you! Two is better than one. I promise I won't annoy you more than ten times a day. Just lemme go get the toolbelt."

"No. You can't join Artemis' retinue…"

Leo stepped out of her hands and stomped around in frustration, swearing alternatively in Greek and Spanish. The grass turned crisp and went up in flames under his feet.

"Why? Piper, you can't, can't, can't join the huntresses. You're too precious! Sure, immortality's cool, and I guess the girls have a lot of fun going around the country chasing monsters for eternity. but you-have-to-swear-off-love-forever! You're a daughter of the freaking goddess of love, Mclean!"

Piper sighed. "Leave my mother out of this, Leo. This is my choice. Artemis doesn't care about your parentage. She only wants you to be truly willing. She-"

"-and are you?" He grabbed her shoulders again and stared into her eyes. "Are you truly willing? I don't care about what that Sparky did or said, but you can't give up everything because he was a jerk! This is your life, Piper!"

"…Don't make this hard for me – it's bad as it already is!"

Leo had to concentrate hard not to burst into fire – he could feel the air around them rising in temperature again with his desperation. The girl felt icy-cold under his hands. I can't hurt her, he thought. Breathe. Remember Mom's workshop. Calm down.

"Are you going to leave me? Again?"

"L-Leo…"

In a few days, Olympus was in chaos. Gaea was still stirring in her sleep – the temporary setback at the Wolf House only angered the Goddess and delayed the Apocalypse. But it was coming nonetheless. Just as most of them were going to take a breath, word came from the Underworld that the God of Death was missing. Thanatos was never a popular figure even among the immortals of Olympus, but his disappearance was unsettling because of the prophecy. Thanatos guarded the Doors of Death – what chance did the demigods have if Gaea held him in prison? Queen Hera told them to keep calm – "time wasn't ripe yet" – but the gods were restless.

When the prophecy was giving the gods nightmares on one side, the situation at the Greek camp worried them in the other. Hera's gamble of exchanging leaders was threatening to fail. They hated to accept it, but the gods depended on their children for their mere existence itself. The war against Gaea depended on the daughter of Aphrodite to keep the heroes together, and it included her keeping the son of Jupiter allied to the Greeks. Aphrodite's momentary spite with his regaining memories and rash words, and her curse on the couple, earned her a long sermon from the King and Queen of Olympus themselves.

Getting scolded in front of an audience is a horrible experience – even for the gods. Hera ordered her to undo the curse and set things back as they were.

Her pride wounded, and her anger increased – the Goddess of Love had to let off her steam somewhere. When she entered the Olympian forges for the first time after a thousand of years Hephaestus was surprised; but he had to watch helplessly as she forged her own lead arrows and left without a word.

Psyche had only a few seconds to erase the memories off the two demigods and etch them in their deeper subconscious, never to be forgotten, only mometarily elapsed; the invisible arrows pierced them from behind as they were entering in the dining hall.

Pain.

Sharp, piercing, excruciating pain that seemed to strangle his breath and wring his heart, twenty four hours a day. In dreaming. In waking. Every second he breathed. A wound that didn't heal. A wound that bled profusely, numbing every other sense. A torture that destroyed everything, taking away even his will to live.

Every waking moment was filled with twisted memories. Sleep brought more torment with never ending nightmares.

Even after four years from that agonizing month, Leo Valdez still couldn't remember anything that happened in that time except for burning pain. He couldn't feel the pain of a physical burn – but the pain of a charred heart was not something he could ever forget.

His siblings were roused in the night with screams, as he dreamt of every person he lost. The pain that never left you no matter how much you ran away, because you could never run away from yourself – it came back. The hollow depth in his guts yearned to fill up. The cracked and broken heart's aching made it agony to live from one second to the next. He heard Esperenza Valdez's last screams in the locked forge. He could see the the laser lights in the night sky that killed his dragon. He remembered the happy laughter in the air when he was…

…He didn't want to even think the name, because that name brought the worst memories, worst pains, worst nightmares. The building of Argo II was temporarily put on hold with the main designer-builder-commander in the Infirmary with a migraine no medicine could heal. Chiron finally had to put him under an enchanted unconsciousness to bring him back – and even that couldn't fully cure him.

He didn't forget it. He didn't want to repeat that experience.

"Tell me, Piper. Are you going to leave me again?"

Tears ran down faster from her eyes when he heard his breaking voice. She had heard it earlier – she didn't want to hear it again.

He was her best friend, the first person who didn't think she was a thief or a freak, the only person who could make her smile in the worst of situations, the one person in the entire world who understood her. Nothing hurt her more than that dejected, broken voice and the defeated pain in his eyes. When she was the cause behind it…

"Leo…"

"If…if you really want to go…I won't stop you."

His face and voice said the absolute opposite. Was it his clown-thing to be able to say and voice two completely contrasting things? But she knew. Piper knew that if she said 'yes, I want to leave, don't follow,' – if she truly meant it – he would listen and honor her wish. He would suffer, for months, or even years…but he would stay out of her way.

If she asked him to.

Because he respected and cared for her more than anyone else.

Because…

…no, she couldn't word it. She wouldn't risk it.

"Leo…I…I have to leave…"

He sighed dejectedly. "Nothing I could say would make you stay, then?"

She shook her head.

Leo looked down to her. In the bright moonlight he could see her eyes changing colors rapidly, and standing this close, he could even see his reflection framed in her kaleidoscope irises. The last time he saw it was four years ago, at the door of the dining hall. It was nighttime too. His last clear memory before the burning. He remembered just one more thing. Five simple words that felt like a soft breeze every time they came up to his mind. Five simple words that felt like a comforting caress when life was too terrible. Five simple words he hung onto like a last straw to a drowning man, even though the memory itself was painful…

"I will never leave you."

And now the speaker was leaving him.

He had only one more card to play – the one that both of them were most reluctant to bring up again.

"Pipes…"

She covered his mouth, fresh tears filling in her eyes. "No. Don't say it."

He pushed away her hand gently. His own eyes stung. It was hard to speak through the lump in his throat. But he had to say it.

If he didn't, he would regret it forever.

He closed his eyes, steeling himself. If even this failed, he would turn back and let her go.

"Piper… Listen to me, okay? Just this once. Isn't it…isn't it obvious? You know it, Piper….I know that you do. Look at us. Look around us. It's just the two of us here. Everyone had moved on. The wars, the prophecies, the promises we had to keep, the sacrifices…they're all yesterday's news now. Except us. Why are we still standing here? Why haven't I let you go already? Why are you still here? You can use your charmspeak and order me to stay away, but…but we're still standing here, aren't we? Why, Pipes?

"You can think, 'Oh, it's okay if I leave Leo, he can move on, he'll find someone else, he does that all the time.' But…it's not true, Piper. I can't move on again. There will never be another someone else again. Do you think you would be able to move on? It's a long and painful process. And I've used up all my chances. I can't think of another person again. Not…not after that curse. I mean, look at yourself! You're running away! Running away will never solve it! Joining the huntresses…that's not moving on, Piper. Not even Artemis will be able to make you forget… "Haven't you felt alone, Pipes? You can't lie to me…I have seen how you avoid the conversation and walk away sometimes. You remember how hard it was the last time… Do you think that either of us would be able to survive it again? Will you leave me in this mess, Piper?

"As much as how it is really, really embarrassing to admit – or even dangerous, knowing what your mother thinks - meeting you, being friends with you, falling...falling in love with you… That's the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't want to be alone again, Pipes. I don't want to lose you, too. Call me selfish or whatever you want, but… please stay here with me. For me? For both of us?

"Don't…don't be a huntress, Piper… Don't leave me forever…"

He finished.

He didn't know what he sounded like, but he knew that he couldn't manage another word.

It was the longest he had spoken for the whole night. Confessing was hard, and in their position it was almost a death sentence…but he had to do it. If he had to pay with his life for his…love, he would do it.

A wall seemed to break between them – so many years of denying of their own feelings washed away in a tidal wave.

Piper tried to talk, but for once in her life, she was beaten for words. After several failed attempts to reply, she simply buried her face in his chest and sobbed harder than she ever did that evening, maybe her whole life. How did she even decide to leave him? How did she take such a headstrong and rash decision to leave the one person that she truly loved? The only one who knew what they had both sacrificed for the future of the whole world? The only one who made the same sacrifice with her? Leo was left almost struggling for breath in the intensity of her embrace, and he returned it with his own.

They stood there in the glade, hugging, crying, comforting each other and even laughing a little for a long time, undisturbed by none.

There was no taking back of what they said, both verbally and mentally. If there were consequences, they both would face them. But there wouldn't be another heartbreak for them. Not before the end of their lives.

When she could finally find her voice again, she whispered, "Okay. "

Leo felt like he could fly to the moon in the flood of elation. Funny how the simplest words could mean so much.

There were no words for his happiness.

Hand in hand, they went up to the Pine tree at the top of the hill. The moon was still shining brightly, but Leo did not feel like it was trying to steal his Piper anymore. No one would ever pull them apart again.

"Tell me again. Why do you want to leave so much?"

She smoothed his brow with trembling hands. " Just gonna tie up some loose ends before polishing our rough draft of a story, Firebender. And I want to do it by myself. I won't take long, Leo."

"Why can't you wait until the morning? It's midnight, Pipes! Wait 'till morning and we both can go!"

"Nope. This demigod can't wait. I'm stubborn, remember? Besides, there are some people I have to meet alone. You know, people like my mother. I'm not letting you two meet until I'm positive that she's going to turn you into some squeaking guinea pig. And…other people…"

He knew who those other people were. "Fine. Well…wish you luck, then? Promise that you will come back. Soon."

His playful tone had returned, if ever so slightly. Piper smiled and patted him in return.

"I said I would."

"Say it!"

"I…I swear on the River Styx that I'll return. Happy?"

He smiled despite the building pain in his chest. She was still leaving – it would be hard to get used not to have her around. But she would return. They both would just have to wait for the right time. And the right time would come. And when she returned…well, there would never be another lone journey for either of them.

"We'll see about that."

The camp fire had ended a long time ago. It had to be at least midnight now – or maybe even later. It was a miracle that the kitchen harpies hadn't swooped down upon them. Piper took a drachma and tossed it high, and summoned the Chariot of Damnation with a clear voice. (Leo wished they had bothered to renew their name. The 'Chariot of Damnation' didn't sound very…catchy. Bad for business.) The earth dissolved into a puddle of mud. A smoky grey cab with three shaggy old women in the driving seat pulled up in front of them.

"You sure that thing would be safe?" Leo asked, eyeing the quarreling women. "Stay in one piece, Princess."

She laughed. "I'll try to! Don't go burning up anyone, okay?"

He pulled her hair and ruffled it. "No promises. Remember to keep in touch. If you don't send a message at least everyday, I'm going to bug Iris every five minutes with anon calls."

The Gray sisters honked impatiently. "Are you coming or not? We don't have forever to wait here! Gimme that eye!"

The daughter of Aphrodite turned to him and reached up to kiss him gently on the forehead. Their eyes shone with tears. Neither of them wanted to bid goodbye.

"Come back soon."

Piper nodded, her face shining with glee.

"I will."

- The End -

A/N: *hugs pillow and weeps* I will never forgive the Leper-muse for changing the ending. :P

Guess it's better than the original conclusion, though. DO tell me what you think, and feel free to offer concrit! :) What d'you think of Psyche's intervention? Would Aphrodite recover from losing her OTP? Do you think that Leo and Piper will have a happily-ever-after? Or…?

Thanks a million for the faves, reviews, alerts and general sticking along, everyone. :') I cannot express how wonderful you are. :) Thank you!