Last chapter ended up a lot darker then I expected, so this one should be quite fluffy in contrast :) I'm grateful for all of your faves/follows and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well.
Zoethezany III : But at least she didn't g to Tartarus... I don't think that that makes it any better, does it?
Killua minamoto : Even if you think that I deserve them and shouldn't have to thank you for them, I still have to because all of your reviews are so kind. I'm glad that you like my writing style, and yep, Leo is very unlucky.
BlazingFlames22 : Teehee :)
Kittehx1 : I didn't just destroy your OTP did I?
Melancholy's Sunshine : Ooh, I might have to write that into a later chapter.
QueenMoonlace : I am really mean to both Leo and my OCs...
Cupcake Gal : I hope that you get better soon. And I'm sorry for making you cry.
Matt : All of those characters will be having their own chapters.
The Steaming Cactus : Yes I am, and it shouldn't be too long before you get it :)
Guest : I hope that this is soon enough for you.
Connwaer Heap ; I'm happy that you liked my rhyme, and Leo was chosen because he was fated to meet Layla again (blame Aphrodite).
Patrick : I'm evil because I write fanfiction and all fanfiction writers have a hidden evil side ;) Sorry for making you cry though.
1HoWillSayUnkown : Thank you, and they will both make a reappearance in a later chapter.
Sidda : Well I'll answer to both here then :) I love that song as well, it really does suit Leo. And Jadon will be making his return. Why do you think that you have lost your reviewing touch?
Our Mismatched Socks : Yes she did, and although she did love the other boy, she loved Leo as well and always felt regret over what she did to him. And I'm glad that you like this story as much as my others.
Epiphany Aria Grace : I'm hoping that that's a good wow.
IraTamashi99AmyliaZanpakuto : I write what would make me sad, maybe that's how I manipulate everyone else's emotions. And it makes me happy to hear that you were looking forward to more of my work.
ObsessedwReading : Thank you, and I'm glad that you enjoyed both chapters.
Disclaimer : Still. Not. Mine. Sob.
Leo's hands were clenched into annoyed fists as he gently steered Festus. The air was filled with the merry chatter of his friends and his girlfriend, but Leo wasn't exactly in the mood to join in with them.
He had been planning this for a while, a nice trip around America with Calypso where he could introduce her to the modern world. No astounded looks from campers who were still in shock over Leo's reappearance at camp, no fussing siblings and most of all no friends whose attempts to be compassionate had started to really annoy Leo after about two days.
It wasn't that he didn't care about his friends, or that he wasn't touched at how they were trying to look after him, but Leo was fed up with how so many people were focussed on his death despite the fact that he was back.
So yeah, Leo had been looking forwards to a little alone time with his girlfriend, maybe just a week or two of flying to different American states. He had been so excited when he had went up to the big house to ask Chiron if it would be alright for him to leave the camp for a little while. And then his hopes had been dashed when Chiron stated that it was perhaps not the best idea for Leo to leave the camp so soon.
Apparently, a lot of monsters were still gunning for the seven and if they realised that Leo Valdez, the demigod who had made Gaia explode, was back and better than ever then they might just have a teensie weensie problem that would have to be resolved with Leo dying. Again. And permanently this time.
So Leo's plans had seemingly been thwarted. But then Chiron had offered up another solution.
If Leo took two of his friends along with Calypso then Chiron would sanction the trip.
And so Leo had had to reason out which friends would be least troublesome to take. None of his siblings really enjoyed leaving the camp so they were out as Leo didn't want to make them feel as if they had to join him.
Usually, his first choice for anything like this would have been Jason and Piper, but Piper had the disturbing habit of going into Aphrodite mode whenever anything romantic happened between any of their friendship group, and Leo was not willing to put up with the fangirling as he tried to get Calypso used to America. Plus, crazy paparazzi people had the occasional habit of accosting Piper and Leo did not want to introduce Calypso to that level of insanity.
Jason was still an option though, so Leo noted that down.
Percy and Annabeth were instantly eliminated from Leo's "who gets to chaperone me and my girlfriend list". The reason was obvious, the tension would kill them all. Calypso was still a little angry at Percy, Annabeth would be the tiniest bit jealous and Percy would switch between trying to placate both girls.
That left Frank, Hazel, Nico and Jason as his short list.
After much deliberation, Leo had decided that it would probably be best to ask Jason and Hazel to accompany them.
Frank was really busy lately with praetor duties which meant that Hazel would be feeling a little neglected and up for a trip. And Nico was starting a relationship with Will, and Leo wasn't going to interrupt that as Nico was shy enough already and needed all the encouragement that Will could give him to stay in the relationship without feeling awkward.
Thankfully, Calypso, Jason and Hazel all agreed, though Calypso was a bit disappointed at the change in plans.
"Hazel." Jason called out to him suddenly. Whilst Leo had been flying Festus his body had been on autopilot as his mind wondered, but he was now firmly back in reality.
"What's up?" He tried to keep his voice neutral and to shake of the lingering irritation at being treated like a little kid.
"There's a mortal family down there being attacked by monsters!" Leo cursed and instantly sent Festus into a dive that would allow them to come to the family's rescue.
They swooped down, and Leo landed Festus with practised ease.
The sight was pretty overwhelming. The adults were both knocked out and a young, mortal girl of about eleven was standing in front of them, desperately fending off monster attacks with a branch. Tears streamed down her face and blood was encrusted on many parts of her body, but she still fought bravely to defend the couple behind her.
A picnic basket lay slightly further away from the child and it became horrifyingly clear to Leo that this family had just been trying to enjoy an innocent outing together.
The demigods instantly jumped into the fray, fending off the monsters and cutting down as many as they could.
It didn't take too long, after all, four trained fighters against a handful of mostly low level monsters didn't require much effort.
Once the last monster had been slain, the golden dust still twinkling in the evening sun, Leo turned towards the young child.
A gasp was wrenched from his lips as he observed the state that she was in.
Her legs had collapsed now that there was no danger, and she was now on her knees panting heavily. Blood coated certain areas of her body, but the wounds at least seemed to have stopped bleeding so the red was mostly dry.
Jason and Hazel went to check the parents, and the girl's breath hitched as she attempted to heft the branch again.
She looked up warily as her arms struggled to raise her impromptu weapon, and Leo inhaled sharply as her long hair fell away from her face revealing sparkling eyes that glinted with determination.
She was taller than he remembered, and her face had matured some, but Leo could still recognise the girl in front of him.
"Is that you Sparkle?" Her eyes snapped to him, and shock took over her face. The branch fell from her fingers as she gaped at him.
"Leo!" She squealed after a second of staring, and she made as if to launch into his arms, but changed her mind as she glanced back at her still unconscious parents. The couple who had adopted her had not yet woken up, and Leo knew that all three of the regular humans needed treatment.
"Sparkle, my friends can help your parents, but you have to trust me and let them."
Sparkle's eyes flicked between her parents and Leo, and then she nodded, struggling to her feet and moving out of the way so that the others could check on her parents. Leo had to lunge forwards and catch her though as she almost toppled over again.
Calypso joined Jason and Hazel after Leo handed her some medical supplies from his belt, yet her eyes lingered on Leo and Sparkle curiously for a moment. She had not been present at that strange time during the quest where Hera had forced everybody to watch his memories so she didn't know who Sparkle was.
"What where those things?" She inquired, eyes searching Leo's. Leo cradled her body closer as he debated what to tell her. He also idly noticed that it still felt right to be hugging his little sister figure despite the fact that she was eleven, no longer the sweet, innocent five year old that he had known.
"They kept changing. First they looked like thugs and that's what mommy and daddy saw them as, but then they looked like monsters." Leo scrambled to cobble together a decent answer, but he was saved momentarily by his friends' reports on the state of Sparkle's parents.
"Their both okay, though they may have to be checked out for a concussion." Leo smiled, relieved that the people to whom he had entrusted the young girl were safe. Then he turned back to the problem at hand, though he did notice that Sparkle appeared a lot more relaxed once Jason had affirmed that her parents would be okay.
"They were monsters." Leo eventually chose to go with the truth, ignoring the looks that he got from the others for saying this.
Sparkle tensed up again, and Leo started to deal with her wounds using supplies from his belt still.
"Monsters? Like the ones in those tales you used to tell me before bed?" Leo nodded as he tenderly bandaged up one of the worst wounds. Calypso joined him, but Jason and Hazel sat back to keep an eye on the adults.
"Yes. They don't usually attack normal people though." Sparkle's gaze turned even more confused.
"Normal people?" Leo winced as he realised that he was probably going to have to stretch the truth a little bit to assure Sparkle that she was safe without blowing her mind by revealing that the Gods were real.
"Well, some people are chosen to fight these monsters and they keep everyone safe. I'm one of those people and so are my friends here." The others clearly approved of that explanation as they grinned and waved at the child.
"Why couldn't mom and dad see them as monsters then?" Leo finished wrapping up another wound, and pulled out a box of band aids out of his tool belt for the smaller scrapes. He smiled inwardly when he realised that they were Bob the Builder band aids.
"The monsters appear as whatever most humans can see as plausible. The people who fight them see through it more often than not though." Sparkle's eyes turned fearful, with the slightest hint of excitement held in their crystalline depths.
"Does that mean that I'll have to fight them now?" Leo shook his head instantly, and watched as the fear turned to relief and a spark of disappointment.
"No, some humans are just special enough to see through their disguises even if they aren't destined to fight them." Sparkle accepted that explanation, lying back into his arms as he placed a band aid onto the final cut. Her eyelids were slowly drooping.
"I missed you." She muttered drowsily, and Leo whispered it back as she drifted to sleep, the day's events obviously taking their toll on the young girl.
Leo now sat in a hospital with Jason, Hazel and Calypso. He shot Calypso a rueful grin.
"Sorry about this." She rolled her eyes at him.
"You don't have to be sorry about wanting to find out if someone you see as a sister is alright." When they had flew here on Festus, Leo had filled Calypso in on his back story with Sparkle.
They'd had fun once they had reached the hospital, somehow managing to convince the staff that they had found the small family being attacked by thugs and as they were all studying martial arts, they had saved the family by fighting the thugs away.
They had had to make up descriptions of the thugs of course, and Leo only hoped that they at least somewhat matched whatever Sparkle's parents had seen.
They should have really left after they had seen the trio to safety (they didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves after all), but Leo couldn't just leave Sparkle.
So his friends had all agreed to wait, and Leo found himself once again thinking about how annoyed he had been when he had been forced to bring chaperones. And he grimaced as he realised that today could have gone a lot worse if it wasn't for the extra hands that his friends had provided.
"Thanks." He muttered, and he knew that they had all understood when they all smiled at him.
A nurse appeared and announced that they could visit Sparkle for a short while, but that they really couldn't stay long as Sparkle needed rest after such a traumatising day.
Of course, the nurse used Alice's given name, but Leo mentally translated it to Sparkle as easily as he translated Spanish to English and vice versa.
He looked at his friends nervously, and hey waved him on with encouraging grins.
Leo followed the nurse, anxiously making paper hats with sheets of coloured paper that he retrieved from his tool belt.
And then he was staring at a somewhat groggy Sparkle who beamed at the sight of him. And it was as if they had never been apart.
Leo sashayed forwards, and placed his latest creation (a multi-coloured crown) on top of Sparkle's head in and over exaggerated manner.
"Princess Sparkle, you should never forget your crown." His one was pompous, and Sparkle burst into giggles. The nurse was also trying to fight a smile as she made sure that Leo didn't agitate Sparkle. Sparkle schooled her features as well as she could into a more sombre, regal expression.
"I am sorry my faithful knight. Perhaps I should glue it to my head so that I cannot forget it." Leo nodded in mock thought.
"A most sensible suggestion princess Sparkle, however I must object to you ruining your glorious hair with a substance such as glue." They stared at each other solemnly for half a second before they both cracked up. Leo could even hear the nurse hiding a laugh behind a fake cough.
They gave each other brief summaries of their lives (Leo left out anything particularly distressing) after they had lost contact with each other.
And then angry voices could be heard in the hallway.
"We must see our daughter at once!" Sparkle gasped.
"Mommy!" She exclaimed, before she attempted to scramble off of the bed. Leo pushed her back down gently as the nurse left to fetch Sparkle's parents.
A minute later, her parents barged in and pulled her into a hug.
They talked between themselves for a minute, but then they noticed Leo. At the suspicious looks that he was being given, Leo raised his hand in a (hopefully) friendly wave.
"Hi." And then they seemed to recognise him as the boy who used to look after Sparkle as he was getting his own hugs too.
The nurse returned and filled the adults in on what had happened, making sure to mention that they had been saved by Leo and his friends. The Shields then insisted that the others be brought in so that they could thank them properly.
At the end of that experience, all of the demigods were blushing deeply and Sparkle was giggling at his expression of embarrassment.
But all good things had to end, and Leo knew that they would have to leave soon.
He leaned in and kissed Sparkle's forehead softly.
"It was good to see you again Sparkle." He turned and went to follow his friends out, but a small hand suddenly gripped his wrist.
"You can't leave, we've only just found each other again!" She wailed, and her parents nodded. But Leo knew that his leaving was inevitable.
"I've got to go. I'm sorry." Sparkle's eyes welled up, and Leo's heart wrenched. And then Mrs Shield was shoving something into his hand.
"My number. Call whenever you want, Alice really cares about you." Sparkle nodded emphatically at this, and Leo snickered.
"Of course." He said a final goodbye, and left the room.
And although he was saying goodbye to her, he still felt light inside. Because that scrap of paper in his hand told him that it wasn't the last time that he would see his little sister figure.
So that was hopefully a lot more cheerful and fluffy then the previous one :) I hope that you enjoyed it, and I'm looking forwards to next time.
