Okay, so I haven't been paying much attention to this for... wow, over a year. Sorry guys. Hopefully this Christmas themed Caleo One-Shot can make it up to you.
I originally wanted to post this on Christmas day, but I was up until nearly 2 AM in the morning trying to finish it. So i spent most of Australia's Boxing Day finishing up. I got the idea from ScarletGoldmist's 'Home For Christmas' fan-fic (You should really go check it out. It's good). I also own nothing about this except the idea. Not even the music belongs to me. Alison does, however.
Please Come Home
Leo couldn't believe how much time had passed between the time he had arrived on Ogygia that second time to the time when he and Calypso were able to get back home to Camp Half-Blood. But, like them, time had flown by.
According to the newspaper he had picked up in Greece (of all the places they had to return back into the world, it had to be there) it had been August 18th. Thankfully, it was still the same year. Of course, that newspaper had to have been a few days old at least. Not to mention, Festus had to break down and crash land into the side of a forest covered mountain in the middle of nowhere. And Leo had to find the nearest metal scraps just to fix the navigation system.
Talk about agonising.
However, after nearly a day of searching and another hour or two on top of that for repair, the navigation system was fixed. And that was how they found out that they were in Greece… and that the nearest town was at least another day or two's walk north. It was Calypso's idea to start the trek into town early the next morning. So that's what happened.
Eventually, after a few weeks of hunting for enough metal to temporarily fix Festus' broken leg as well as a few other injuries the metal dragon had sustained during the crash into Greece, the trio had managed to walk all the way to Athens. The lack of godly metal was making it so that Leo's dragon couldn't fly.
It was mid-September by the time they stopped walking. Unfortunately for them, the monsters were still strong in this part of the world. As soon as the son of Hephaestus had walked into the Athenian Acropolis with Calypso asleep on Festus' back beside him, the gemini attacked. It was obvious that they were still sore about what had happened over a month ago.
The only good thing about being in the Acropolis was that there were still lots of Celestial Bronze items hanging around the place… not to mention pieces from the Argo II that had been hacked off during the Giant Gathering. Well, that and being with Calypso. Unfortunately, the monsters didn't give up their assault in trying to kill the three of them. So it was that Leo spend most of his days fixing Festus and most of his nights defending their makeshift camp.
Come October, Festus was finally back in flying condition. And with Festus flying again, the trio were off. Only this time, Calypso had taken control and was deciding to go everywhere but back to Camp Half-Blood. But Leo didn't mind. He had said that they would go wherever his sunshine had wanted as soon as his dragon was fixed. He just didn't expect the world tour that Calypso was taking them on.
It wasn't until December 10th that Leo finally felt the strongest urge to find his friends and let them know that he was alive and well. And Calypso could tell that something was worrying the son of Hephaestus. So when he finally did let her in on what he wanted, she wasted no time in marching over to Festus and telling the metal dragon that they were going home. But, even when they reached America, the gods had other plans.
Finally, it was Christmas Eve and Leo, Festus and Calypso were allowed off Olympus. Yes, they had been on Olympus with the gods for an entire week. Of course, having been so close yet so far from his friends was almost like agony to Leo. But at least Calypso got pardoned personally by the gods, was made temporarily mortal and got to live the rest of her mortal life with her Supreme Commander and Repair Boy.
Now, Leo and Calypso were circling Camp Half-Blood on the back of Festus, trying to figure out the best way to 'return from the dead'.
" Can't we just land in the Amphitheatre and get it over with?" the son of Hephaestus groaned.
" No. You've done enough destroying this year." The titaness replied sternly.
" But…"
" No. We are walking there like normal people."
" If you haven't noticed, Sunshine, I'm Leo Valdez. And Leo Valdez doesn't know the meaning of normal."
Calypso won the argument… but only because Festus decided to side with her this time.
The dragon landed just beyond the border of camp and let his riders slide to the snow covered ground. He only blew a puff of smoke in his master's face when the son of Hephaestus starting whining about not getting his way. With a slouch to his shoulders at not having the chance to land in the amphitheatre like he wanted, Leo led the way into camp.
The first thing that they noticed was that Thalia's Pine was decorated from tree top to base in Christmas decorations. Snow covered the pine tree's branches like a natural form of tinsel with brightly coloured ornaments randomly placed so that the snow didn't dominate the tree. It was obvious that the whole camp pitched in because there were letters on the branches to and from various campers, the Christmas lights were actually Hephaestus cabin designed - god and goddess shaped ornaments that lit up when the sun went down (Leo could tell), and each one of the giant baubles had the names of late campers carefully written on them.
But, most important of all, was the tree's topper. It wasn't a star. Nor was it an angel. But it shone like a well-polished and glitter covered shoe. If it was closer, Leo could have sworn he would have been able to see his reflection in it. Next to that, it was obviously a newer part of the tree because the son of Hephaestus could have sworn he had seen a glimpse of a star last year. The topper itself now looked to be a combination of eagle and pegasus. It was obviously made to symbolise the joining of the two camps.
" What is wrong with that tree?" Calypso asked innocently, gazing up in awe at the sight.
" There's nothing wrong with it, Sunshine. It's just got Christmas decorations on it." Leo replied with a smile.
" Christmas?"
" Yeah, you know. Giving gifts to friends and family, Santa Claus, birth of Jesus, massive feast." Upon seeing that the titaness didn't understand, Leo sighed and added " I'll explain it better later. Right now, come on."
With that, the son of Hephaestus grabbed Calypso's arm and started to drag her down into the valley and towards the amphitheatre. Along the way, they passed a number of Christmas and other festive holiday traditions.
The Hermes cabin seemed to have gotten their hands on a bunch of bazookas and had blasted all the cabins with various items to do with the seasons (Leo thought he had spotted a giant cube spinning top stuck in one of the Hephaestus cabin chimneys).
Someone had done something to the Hades cabin so that it looked like something out of that Christmas carol story, complete with the words 'Bah, Humbug' on the roof of the cabin. Scenes of Scrooge with the ghost of Marley, the three Christmas ghosts, and little Timmy were also displayed around the cabin. Though, why little Timmy was there, Leo had no idea.
Closer to the Arts and Craft centre stood a massive candelabra that could hold nine candles. Calypso wasn't the only one confused about the giant candle holder. They all just stared (dragon included) at it for almost a minute as if the candelabra itself was going to explain what it was. After receiving no clue as to what the thing was for, they continued on their way.
And the randomly placed poles with mistletoe hanging from them wasn't suspicious at all. Leo couldn't help but stop under some mistletoe just so he could kiss Calypso. Once he explained what he was doing (Calypso just had to pull away in confusion, didn't she), the daughter of Atlas, surprisingly, went to give Leo another kiss. It was Festus who interrupted that second kiss with a few creaks and clicks which translated into 'Can we continue now?'.
When, finally, the trio arrived at the Amphitheatre, they found the place more than full. Orange, silver and purple shirts were practically shoulder to shoulder, but that may have also been because part of the place looked like it was under reconstruction. With all the bodies crowded around each other singing Christmas carols and swaying to the music, it was hard for Leo to pinpoint where his friends were… but he managed it in the end.
They were all sitting together in the front row, including Thalia, Reyna and Nico (and was that Will Solace sitting next to the son of Hades?).
But the first thing that stopped him from rushing down to them and screaming out that he was alive and well was the girl sitting at the grand piano on the stage. She looked to be about fifteen years and had long, dirty blonde hair that swayed in the cool wind that was blowing. And with the way she was singing and the way her fingers were dancing across the piano keys, Leo was more than sure that she was a daughter of Apollo.
"I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads
And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds
If you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings"
The daughter of Apollo sang the words in a slow and meaningful way that Leo wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a lullaby or what. But whatever it was, it was good… even if they had only caught the end of the song. As the girl stopped playing and stood to face her audience, Leo and Calypso both clapped along with the rest of the crowd. And neither one of them failed to notice, when Will Solace stood from his place next to Nico di Angelo and went to help his half-sister down from the stage and back to her seat, that the girl had a white cane in hand and thus was blind.
Calypso actually felt sorry for her and Leo could see that. Without a word, the son of Hephaestus took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze, not knowing what else to do to comfort his girlfriend. They stayed like that as they watched Will return to the stage and signal the rest of Leo's friends to join him. Not even when Festus curled around himself and started falling asleep did they move. And the only kind of movement made as the son of Apollo raised a microphone to his lips and spoke was Calypso returned Leo's comforting squeeze and Leo stiffened.
" Thanks, Alison, for that lovely reminder to those we have lost and what they possibly wish for us now. But now the Crew of the Argo II, Reyna, Thalia and I would like to perform a wish of our own."
Will then handed the microphone to Jason who was standing beside him and holding Piper's hand. " You all know that a few months ago, on the first of August, we lost many of our own to Gaea's forces despite winning the war. And we all know that we lost one of the greatest heroes of our time in that war, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. Without him, we never would have won. But the ten of us have high hopes that our Leo managed to survive that blast he was lost in… and with that, we dedicate this next song to one Repair Boy, Dragon Master, Supreme Commander of the Argo II, Leo Valdez."
No one said a word as Will moved over to the grand piano and Nico to a guitar not far from the bigger instrument (only the gods knew how hard the son of Apollo and son of Hades would have practiced to get this right). Reyna and Annabeth went to the side to collect seven more microphones as Piper whispered words of encouragement to her fellow performers. Whatever the song was, it must have been a sad one.
Once everyone was ready, Will started the song by running his fingers along the piano keys. Leo recognised Jake Mason over by the sound board, flicking a series of switches and giving a small nod. The next thing Leo knew was that Reyna had her microphone up to her lips and was singing.
"Bells will be ringing the sad, sad news
Oh what a Christmas to have the blues"
Nico was next to sing, despite having already started playing his guitar the moment the Roman Praetor had started singing. Leo didn't judge the singing – there really wasn't much to judge – but he couldn't help but be surprised at the slight Italian accent the son of Hades had to his voice when he sang. It was actually a nice surprise.
"My baby's gone, I have no friends
To wish me greetings once again"
It was obvious, the second Piper raised her microphone and stepped forward a few seconds after Nico had stopped singing, that everyone was taking turns to sing. But it was not long after Piper had raised her microphone that everyone (minus Will and Nico who obviously had their own, hands-free microphones) raised their own mics as well, easily confusing the son of Hephaestus. It was only while Piper sang her part that Leo realised that the others were acting like a backup choir what with their soft 'oohh'ing into their mics.
"Choirs will be singin' 'Silent Night'
Christmas carols by candlelight"
Jason was next to take over the lead part as Piper stepped back in line. Like Piper, he too stepped away from the others. Those watching could only guess that it was a visual way to separate the lead part from the choir.
"Please come home for Christmas
Please come home for Christmas"
As the son of Jupiter finished each of his two lines, the Choir piped up (Will included) and finished with the words "Please come home". Then Jason stepped back and all ten demigods were singing together as one.
"If not for Christmas by New Year's night"
When Frank took his awkward step forward (it was obvious that the guy was getting stage-fright bad), the choir went back to their original 'oohh'ing voices that they had taken up when Piper had started singing. Meanwhile, as the song went on, someone in the audience started to sway gently to the music. Sure enough, the rest of the camps followed suit as Frank's voice rang over them.
"Friends and relations send salutation
Sure as the stars shine above"
Hazel was next as unwanted tears started welling in Leo's eyes. And, of course, the pachinko balls were back inside Leo, causing mayhem to his organs. Not to mention the sudden urge to not want the others to know that he was home and listening to them at that very moment. For some reason, his fire wasn't working.
"But this is Christmas, yes Christmas my dear
The time of year to be with the ones you love"
Annabeth took Hazel's place as lead singer with Frank taking hold of his girlfriend's hand the second she had returned to his side. The Choir was also back, singing "Please tell me" and "You'll never roam" when the daughter of Athena took small breaks in her singing.
"So won't you tell me you'll never more roam?
Christmas and New Year will find you home"
Annabeth was quickly followed by Percy, who traded his place in the choir for her. The last two segments of the choir were only sung once Percy had finished certain parts of his verse. "No more sorrow" and "No grief or pain" were complete with sounds of people holding in their soft sobs and chokes.
"There'll be no more sorrow, no grief and pain
And I'll be happy, happy once again"
Nico and Will then went on to do an instrumental duet on the guitar and piano respectively. Finally, the song finished with everyone on stage coming together to sing the final, repeated words… the same words that Percy had sung mere seconds before hand.
"There'll be no more sorrow, no grief and pain
And I'll be happy, happy once again"
Silence. Not a clap was sounded for the group that had just finished their tribute to their friend. And that was because the song deserved no applause. Not because the song was that bad (because Leo would deny anyone who said that the singing was crap and out of tune, and because that song really wasn't that bad), but because of how deep and meaningful the song was. It meant a lot to Leo to be able to arrive home just in time to hear that.
Of course, Leo couldn't just stand around letting his friends… no, his family… mope around and think that he was still lost to the world somewhere or quite possibly dead. Somehow he managed to steel himself and plant the biggest grin ever on his face. And, of course, Calypso had to notice.
" What are you planning, Valdez?" She whispered, trying not to ruin the obvious surprise that her (not)boyfriend was planning.
" Oh, just a little Spanish carol." Leo replied before turning to his sleeping dragon and raising his voice so that he definitely was heard. " Hey Festus!"
Aside from the fact that everyone in the amphitheatre was confused by the sudden and mostly familiar call and name, Festus opened one eye and trained it sleepily on his master. He snorted his disapproval at being woken up.
" Yeah, buddy. I know. But if you can do me a small favour now, I'll let you sleep for the rest of the night."
A few obviously grumbled clicks and clacks along with a slight growl.
" I just wanted you to play that CD I gave you. Please?"
Another snort followed by the dragon closing his eye and moving his head. Leo merely shrugged his shoulders and turned around, his grin faltering just slightly at the thought of his dragon not helping. He knew it was probably his fault for having woken the dragon from his sleep. But he didn't bother his friend any further.
Instead, he started making his way down to where his friends waited, still as trees, on stage. He only missed a couple of steps as he made his way down because he was about to start singing when Festus decided that he was going to play the background music that they had recorded up on Olympus. Either Calypso had gone over to the dragon and scolded him (she was known to do that) or the dragon had finally decided that playing the music wasn't too big an ask. But Leo took his little stumble all in his stride and set himself alight as he picked himself up and started to sing.
"Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y felicidad.
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad
Prospero año y felicidad.
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart."
Unfortunately, in true Leo style, he could never - and probably will never - master grand and heroic entrances. Calypso could only sigh and shake her head as the son of Hephaestus randomly waved his flaming hands around as he danced down the stairs and eventually tripped himself up. She knew that dancing down stairs was going to lead to bad endings the second she realised what he was doing. But all she could do (aside from smirking, that is) was hurry to Festus and tell the dragon to stop playing the music.
Leo, on the other hand, didn't feel so great after falling flat on his face at the bottom of the stairs. All he could do was shift his head to the side and try to blink away the pain. Not to mention spit out the wad of stray snow that had fallen off his head. That just didn't taste good at all.
The son of Hephaestus lay like that for a good three minutes as his pain transformed into embarrassment. Failing an entrance in front of Calypso, fine. Failing an entrance back home with everyone from the hunters and both camps watching, not so fine. And the fact that no one was coming to see if he was okay or not, yeah that just seemed to ruin the effect. It felt like the time when Piper had charmspoke those eidolons out of him, Percy and Jason and Frank didn't bother to catch him as he fell while the girls focussed their attentions on Jason and Percy.
" I feel so loved." He weakly muttered, his words echoing around the silent amphitheatre.
After another few minutes that seemed to take forever, someone finally found their voice.
" L-Leo?"
With some effort, Leo managed to peel himself off the Amphitheatre floor and sat on the step that he had so gracefully missed. Then, with his mischievous smile planted bravely on his face and his flames extinguished thanks to his fall, he looked up at his friends on stage. " Hey guys. Got your call. Thanks for keeping your chins up for me."
There was a moment's silence as the shock arrival of Leo Valdez, in the flesh, died away only to be replaced with a number of other, mixed emotions. Aside from the relieved and confused expressions on the faces of Will, Hazel and Frank, everyone else on stage looked like they were about to murder him again. Needless to say, the smile on Leo's face disappeared.
And that was when all hell broke loose. The first ones to reach him were Jason and Piper who had abandoned their microphones to the stage floor with a loud screech (Jake hurried to turn off all mics after that). They started strangling and punching him.
Percy and Annabeth came next, also choosing to strangle him. The only difference being that Annabeth judo flipped him and then started to interrogate him while Percy merely strangled him and laughed.
" Leo Valdez!" Hazel's voice rang clear above the others as she made her way down to where the son of Hephaestus was waiting to be strangled yet again, Frank right behind her with a massive grin on his face and tears in his eyes. " Don't you ever scare us like that again! Do you hear me?"
" Sorry, guys. But it was…" Leo was cut short by Frank squeezing the life out of him in a massive bear hug, just without the bear form. " Okay, Frank. You can put me down now."
" Sorry." The son of Mars muttered as he placed his friend back on the ground.
Before Leo could even start explaining anything, Nico di Angelo materialised next to the boy and scared him half out of his wits. " How did you come back? Hazel and I both felt you…"
His voice failed him before the final word managed to escape the son of Hades' mouth. That's when Leo managed to escape the mass of friends awaiting an explanation. Stepping back and up two of the steps, he turned around and motioned for Calypso to join him now that he had deemed everything safe.
Calypso merely turned to face Festus, found the dragon now sound asleep, turned back to Leo and the awaiting demigods, and made her way to Leo's side with a look of pure determination glowing from her face. Leo could only smile as those darn pachinko balls returned to their favourite past time; hammering his insides. Gasps of awe echoed through the amphitheatre. Wherever he was, Chiron bent down and bowed, leading to a whole heap of campers following suit. Percy could only mutter her name.
" Guys, meet Calypso." Leo stated the second Calypso was by his side.
After the introductions, Leo had no choice but to explain what had happened in the past few months. In order to keep him from running off (like he was going to do that) Percy, Nico and Thalia each trained their weapons at him as Jason made the winds move him to the edge of the stage and Piper charmspoke him. But, after his interrogation was over, Leo was allowed to move freely again. Once the weapons were put away, he returned the favour and demanded to know what had been happening while he was gone.
Before anyone knew what was happening, the Christmas performance was back in full swing. Leo and Calypso took their place among their friends as the campfire rose to levels the son of Hephaestus never thought it could achieve. Calypso made fast friends with everyone and even forgave Percy - who wouldn't stop apologising. She even learnt from Chiron – who came to welcome her back into the world – and the others what was going on with the decorated tree and the giant candelabra. Turned out the candelabra was actually called a menorah.
Coach Hedge came running up to Leo and almost shoved his son, Chuck, into his face. Chuck merely bleated in a cute, baby way as he was passed to the son of Hephaestus before falling asleep in the demigod's arms. Leo kind of felt like he was his bisabuelo, Sammy, when he held the baby satyr, but he welcomed it like he was supposed to have been the one to hold him all along. Eventually, Coach took his son from Leo's arms and quietly took him back home to bed as Nico was forced back on stage for some reason.
Finally Leo and Calypso found themselves alone amongst the crowd of demigods and hunters. The first, uninterrupted kiss came from the titaness who sighed a soft 'Merry Christmas' as they pulled apart. Leo was next to start the kiss, not caring about what anyone else thought of his choice of girlfriend. When he pulled away for breath, he could only mutter four words as he looked into Calypso's dark, sparkling eyes and take in her cinnamon scent.
" Feliz Navidad, mi sol."
I hope I didn't place anyone out of character while writing this. Also, I don't see Will as a complete failure with singing and music playing like I've read in some stories. I think he would be at, say, a beginners level. I also think Will would have dragged Nico into at least learning how to play the guitar. And if you're wondering what Thalia was doing up on stage, she was part of the choir. I admit, she and the hunters were a last minute entry into the one-shot.
In order, the songs sung were:
'Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep)'
'Please Come Home For Christmas'
'Feliz Navidad'
Again, I own nothing except the blind girl, Alison. Everything else belongs to their respectful creators.