Frank led them to the mess hall and a celebration began.
He explained in detail who Leo was so everyone knew what he had done. Once that was over everyone went to eating and talking amongst themselves.
Many of the campers came over and slapped Leo on the back in offer of congratulations. Leo couldn't remember ever having so much attention. Well…positive attention anyway.
He and Calypso sat next to each other around the low tables. Frank was around the table corner to his left and Hazel to the right of Calypso.
Hazel had calmed down and was cheerful. She was being really nice to Calypso. When they left the field of Mars Hazel went straight to Calypso and towed her to the Mess hall. She hadn't left Calypso's side. The whole time talking to her and introducing her to all the people that came up to greet Leo.
At first Calypso was a little distant, but soon she warmed up to Hazel and soon the two of them were getting along like old friends. Leo was very grateful to Hazel for making Calypso feel welcome. He actually felt himself getting a little teary eyed over it.
"Leo?" Frank asked. "You listening?"
"What?" Leo replied while turning his attention back to Frank. "Sorry I spaced out."
"I was asking why it has taken you so long to get back to us. What were you doing?"
"I want to know the same thing. What happened after the earth mother and I went sky high?"
"No, no, no," Hazel said. Apparently she had been listening. "You are the one that left us in the dark for three months. You tell us first."
"Ok, ok," Leo said and raised his hands a little. "Well…the last thing I remember is a lot of fire and an explosion…actually I also remember seeing something like a screaming fireball hit us right before the final strike."
Frank and Hazel exchanged glances before looking back at him. Leo paused for a moment and continued.
"Anyway…I don't know how long I was…gone. The next thing I remember is Festus and I flying around. Not long after we landed in Ogygia. There we found…" Leo glanced at Calypso not sure how to continue. He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with too many details. Under the table she slipped her hand into his and winked at him while her hand squeezed his.
"Once Leo landed on his face on the beach," She continued for him, "we left that island far behind and came back here."
"How did you find Ogygia?" Hazel asked. "I thought once you find it once you never find it again."
"Maybe for others that is true," Leo stated and smiled. "But for me anything is possible."
"But how did you do it?" Frank asked.
"Back in Bologna when Jason and I cornered those dwarves I found an old navigation device that was made by Odysseus. I found that it needs to be powered by some kind of crystal. A crystal that I found on Ogygia the first time I was there. I figured out how to work it and built it into Festus as I rebuilt his body."
Leo continued with his story. He told them about landing in Oregon and finding out that he had been gone for three months. Calypso then took over and talked about their detour to Canada and coming here.
When it was all over there was a brief pause before Hazel responded.
"So…why did you come here first? Didn't you think that Jason and Piper would be at Camp Half-Blood?"
"Yeah they're your best friends," Frank added. "They are going to be pissed when they find out that you came here first."
"Not that were not happy that you did," Hazel said quickly.
"I don't know…I guess I was a bit scared to go back to Camp."
"Why? You knew that Gaea was defeated. The world didn't end."
"Yeah, but that didn't mean that Camp Half-Blood didn't get destroyed in the process…or even if it survived I had no guarantee that everyone survived…I guess I figured that coming here would be the safer choice to start with."
"You don't have to worry about anything," Frank said. "We all survived. Even Nico and Reyna."
"They did?" Leo asked, his spirits lifting a bit.
"Of course!"
Frank launched into his story of how the battle went from the ground while Leo was up in the air.
"And then when Octavian fired on Gaea he got caught and flew away with the missile…he died."
"So that's what that fireball was," Leo said. He kind of felt bad for the guy. Octavian may have been a selfish jerk, but that seemed like a harsh way to go.
"After it was all over we all stayed at Camp Half-Blood for a couple of days before we came back here."
"Frank and Reyna are the Praetors now," Hazel said. "He has been doing a great job. A natural leader."
"I wouldn't say that," Frank said sheepishly. "Reyna is the one who has been doing all the work really. I'm still not sure what I am doing."
"Frank is being modest. Reyna has commented multiple times how good he has been."
"Where is Reyna anyway?" Leo asked suddenly realizing that it was weird that she hadn't made some kind of appearance yet.
"She is in Camp Half-Blood for the week," Frank replied. "She was getting stressed out and needed a break from all the repairs, and organization that we have been doing constantly since we got back. She'll be back in a few days."
"Ah ok…So what has everyone been up to the last few months? You two seem to be doing well here. What about the others?"
"Well Jason and Piper stay at Camp Half-Blood," Hazel explained. "They decided to go to school in New York. They go there during the day and return to Camp after school. Jason is also working on keeping his promise to make sure that all the minor gods are recognized at the camp. Chiron is working with him on where they are going to build everything within the camp.
"Percy and Annabeth are going to high school together. They visit the camp often, but live in the city with Percy's mom and step dad. Annabeth has gone back to working on designing the new Mt. Olympus."
"Oh yeah," Leo said. He had forgotten that after the Titan War a lot of damage had been done to Olympus. Annabeth had been put in charge to redesign everything. Though her work was cut short once the gods shut down Olympus around the time Gaea started to wreak havoc everywhere.
"Glad to hear everyone is doing alright," Leo replied starting to lose concentration a bit. Hazel must have noticed because she gave him a concerned look.
"You ok, Leo?"
"Oh yeah I'm fine," he replied with a yawn. "I guess it's just starting to hit me of how little rest I have gotten. Never really recovered from our quest to the ancient lands. Been too busy with other things."
"Well you two are going to rest well tonight," Frank said and slapped Leo on the back. "You two can stay with the Fifth Cohort. How long do you think you will stay here?"
"I hadn't thought that far ahead," Leo admitted. "I am just kind of making this up as I go."
"You must stay for a couple of days at least," Hazel blurted and then quickly closed her mouth as if she had said something bad. "Well…if you want to of course. You probably want to go see the others."
"I do," he replied. "I probably should…" He looked at Calypso again and she gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand again.
"What do you think?" He asked.
"Whatever you want," Calypso said cheerily. "Though I think some rest would do you some good. And maybe we can repair Festus a bit before we leave."
"What's wrong with Festus?" Frank asked.
"Some damage sustained from the fight," Leo answered. "One of his legs is in bad shape and his wings weren't doing well when we first returned from Ogygia. I have managed to fix his wings well enough to get us back to Camp Half-Blood safely, but there isn't much that I can do about his leg until we get back. I'll have the materials in Bunker 9 to fix him."
"Oh ok." Frank replied with a puzzled look on his face. Probably thinking about something. "I don't know what kind of materials that you need, but you can have a look at what we have and use it."
"Thanks buddy, but I think we will be ok. I don't want to take any building materials away from you."
A brief silence fell between all of them as Leo poked at a slice of pizza that he hadn't eaten yet. All the talk had taken the hunger out of him.
"Well I don't know about you, but I am tired," Calypso said to break the silence. "Hazel could you show me where we are sleeping tonight?"
"Sure thing!" She said and stood up. She walked around the table and gave Frank a kiss on the cheek and said good night to him. She gave Leo one last hug and took Calypso's hand and towed her away while saying something that Leo couldn't make out.
"So…" Frank said. "How does it feel to be back?"
"Honestly it doesn't feel like I have been gone more than a few days," Leo replied. "It's weird to think that I have been gone three months."
"Yeah…" Frank replied and looked down at his empty plate.
"You look beat buddy," Leo observed.
"Being Praetor is tiring," he replied. "Especially with getting everything reorganized after the war and all the construction that is going on. It's crazy. I don't know how Reyna managed to do it on her own for nearly a year after Jason went missing."
"That's why I tend to stay out of leadership roles," Leo said with a smile.
"Sure supreme commander of the Argo II," he chuckled. They both laughed at that. Leo felt more at ease than he could ever remember feeling since before his mom died. It was a bizarre feeling, but he liked it.
"You know sleep is starting to sound like a good idea," Frank said while yawning and Leo yawned as well.
"I can agree with you on that. Lead the way Praetor!"
They got up and Frank led him out of the mess hall into the night sky. The fog had cleared up slightly and Leo could see a few stars in the sky. Out in the camp were some campers that were unwinding after a day of work with Lars running around everywhere.
"Hey Frank can I ask you and Hazel to do something for me," he asked after a minute.
"Sure what is it?"
"Can you not tell anyone back at Camp Half-Blood that I am back? I want it to be a surprise."
"Why do you want that? Wouldn't it be better to tell them that you are back? Send an Iris Message or something?"
"Maybe, but you know me. I like to make the grand entrances. It's why I didn't try to contact any of you as soon as I made it back from Ogygia."
"Ok I won't say anything and I will tell Hazel not to. Though I can't promise that word won't reach Camp Half-Blood before then. With the camps being friends now the info could be passed on pretty easily."
"That is a risk that I am willing to take," Leo replied. "We won't very long. Maybe tomorrow and then be off by then…of course we will come back and visit sometime though."
"Of course," Frank said. "You just need to see everyone first. We understand…actually…if you don't mind me asking. Why did you come here first?"
"I told you."
"Yeah, but I feel there is more that you are not saying."
"Well…" Leo said stopping where he was. "You two were the only ones that knew about my plan. Even helped me to pull it off…I guess I figured that I owed it to you two to let you know first that I was alive. I bet it wasn't easy to think I was dead and that it was due to something that you had helped me do behind everyone else's backs."
"No it wasn't," Frank affirmed.
"So I just wanted to come here first…it would have been a lot easier if you had all just stayed in the same spot."
"I had to come back to Camp Jupiter," Frank said defensively. He was about to launch into an explanation when Leo cut him off.
"Easy there big guy," he said with a smile. "I know why you came back here. I wouldn't expect anything else. I am just saying it would have been easier."
"It would have been easier if you had come back sooner," Frank retorted.
"Touché," Leo agreed as they continued to walk to the 5th Cohort Barracks.
Quick question. Is this story moving at a good pace or is it going too fast?
I tend to spend a lot more time on my original story ideas than I do on this. Usually I rewrite a few times, but with this I am pretty much publishing the first drafts. Is it going good? I don't want this to become one of these stupid fan fics that are short and the story is rushed. I actually want it to be good. Write a review and let me know! I want to make this a good one and if that means giving it more time and attention to this story I will do it!