Guys, I'm so sorry that this is late. For some reason I just lost a little bit of motivation but I'm back now and I'm hopefully going to be more consistent with my updates in the future. As an apology, this chapter and next chapter will be a two parter where more than one character is reunited with Leo. The next part will be up on Wednesday or Thursday instead of the weekend. I hope that it makes up for my shameful behaviour. And there is a general warning for this chapter and next about gang violence.

Killua minamoto : Sorry but Rosa and Teresa will be a little further on in the story, but they will definitely both be appearing. And I don't want you to change, you're an amazing reviewer as you are.

Sidda : Oh, both are incredibly attractive, it's so hard to choose! I'd love to see a dragon Leo though... I mean, he'd be all predatory and everything, and that would be very hot.

IraTamashi99AmyliaZanpakuto : Thank you, and I really like this one as well. It was a lot more cheerful than most of my writing.

ObsessedwReading : Thank you :)

Melancholy's Sunshine : I like the way you think :) All of the characters that you just mentioned will be coming back, and if you don't mind then I might borrow one or two of those ideas.

Kittehx1 : The others will make sure that he doesn't forget.

Gavroche Is Life Itself : Thanks :)

Patrick : Normally it will be on the weekend, but this week it will be Wednesday or Thursday as well as the weekend.

Zoethezany III : Gotta love fluff.

Connwaer Heap : Sparkle is adorable. And yep, she is like those two.

Our Mismatched Socks : Thanks, Sparkle is a little sweetie.

Skyfir3S4kur4 : I'm glad that you are enjoying it, and Jadon will be back soon.

Epiphany Aria Grace : Thank you, and I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it.

Epicawesomen00b : Yay, I enjoy overwhelming fluff :) And Sparkle being clear sighted is awesome for Leo. I hope that you have a great day as well.

Alvin6299 : I'm sorry for making you wait so long :(

Disclaimer : Unfortunately, Leo Valdez still isn't my property.


Leo sat curled up in Bunker nine. Everyone else had left for dinner at the camp fire, but Leo had stayed behind. He knew that they were probably worried about him, and he felt guilty for lying and saying that he would be right behind them when he had no intention of leaving the bunker at all.

They had all been working away at lots of different projects when Harley had ran up to him with a huge grin. His little brother had pressed an amazing ring into his hands. The ring had the initials of all of their siblings and a flame decal ran through it. When Leo had asked Harley why he had made it for him, Harley had beamed up at him and said that it was for protecting them all.

Leo had thanked his brother profusely, and he really did love the ring, it just brought up memories of another ring that he had yet to claim.

That's why he was now huddled up in the bunker. He desperately wanted to track down Jadon, Cedric, Darien, Aura and the others but it had been so long and Leo didn't know what they'd think if he turned up again. Darien and Cedric had been really angry with him before he left and he knew that Aura and Jadon had been seriously hurt by it.

Leo didn't know if they were all still together though. And that mixed him up inside even more. He was torn between longing for them all to still be together and hoping that they had all gotten of the streets. It was a horrendous mindset, and Leo had hidden himself away in the bunker so that no one would have to put up with his mood.

"Leo? Are you still in here?" He should have known that someone would come looking for him anyway.

He curled into an even tighter ball and hoped that whoever was searching for him would miss the spot where he was hiding.

No such look.

Leo heard someone flop down in front of him and buried his head further into his arms, praying that the embarrassing trembling in his shoulders would cease.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Piper placed a hand on his shoulder, and Leo looked up. He knew that he must have looked pretty pathetic as Piper winced before pulling him into a hug.

Leo held out the ring that he had been given, and Piper stared at it bemusedly before it clicked.

"Oh Leo." She hugged him again.

"I miss them." Piper rocked back on her heels, and Leo realised that the rest of the seven had obviously been hunting for him as well as they had gathered behind Piper, staring at him sadly.

Leo flushed a little in humiliation, they had seen him like this enough whilst watching the stupid videos.

"Then I think it's time that we found them." Leo gazed at the determination in each of their faces. And then he smiled softly.

"That's if Chiron will let us go." Piper's hand clenched his as she pulled him up.

"He will." She whispered.

In the end, Chiron had agreed to let them go on the condition that they travelled like mortals instead of demigods. He didn't want them to draw to much attention, any more than seven demigods would draw anyway.

So they had travelled like a group of normal teens, catching buses and trains. Percy absolutely refused to get in a plane even when Jason had tried to convince him that Zeus wouldn't shoot down a plane with his own son in it.

That made the journey a lot longer than it would otherwise have been. Leo didn't know whether to resent waiting longer or to feel relief at having more time to organise his thoughts.

The others had been giving him some space, and he was grateful for that, but he still had no clue how they were going to find the gang if it had dispersed.

They finally reached a hotel near to the location of the gang when Leo had been there.

They checked in hurriedly and went up to their rooms. There was a room for the girls and a room for the boys. Piper had paid and Leo was really thankful to her for how much she was dedicating to finding his old gang, how much they were all dedicating to helping him out.

Everyone convened in the boy's room to plan out what was going to happen.

"Okay, we're going to head over to the abandoned construction sight first and if we don't see any of them there then we'll head over to their old headquarters." Annabeth immediately took charge, and Leo was fine with that.

Their luggage was dropped of into the rooms before they set of in search of the old construction sight.

Leo's feet easily took him towards it, he had memorised these streets as a kid and the knowledge apparently hadn't faded.

Or maybe it had.

Leo took a deep breath as he stared up at the giant office block built on the land of the old construction sight.

He touched one of the perfect walls silently.

"Is this..." Leo nodded before Jason could finish his question. It looked as if someone had finally gotten around to clearing up the site and building something there.

His breath caught at this visual representation of how the city had moved on without him. Things had changed since he was ten, and Leo was terrified at the thought that the gang might be totally gone.

He felt a reassuring hand grasp his shoulder and sent a shaky smile at Frank.

"Come on, let's go and check the old hideout." Leo refused to be beaten here, not after getting this far. The others agreed, and they turned to walk away, leaving behind the clean, efficient office block that had taken over the gang's old free running space.

Leo's breathing got more and more strained as they got closer and closer to where the hideout used to be.

Leo began to panic. What if that building had been knocked down as well? It had been abandoned far longer than the construction sight had been.

A cool hand (though technically everyone's hands were colder than his) slipped between his fingers, entwining them with theirs.

Hazel squeezed his hand lightly and his breathing became a little less laboured.

And then the building came into view. It was still standing, and it looked the exact same as when Leo had last seen it. His knees almost buckled in relief.

Then he noticed two boys standing guard outside of it's doors who were eyeing the demigod group suspiciously.

Leo had no clue why they'd have stationed guards, the only time the gang had gotten into trouble had been the time when he fought the other gang, and that had all been cleared up.

One of the kids was around twelve and the other seemed to be fourteen.

"Guys, wait here please." The others made noises of protest and Leo waved them off before jogging over to the boys who tensed at his approach. Leo raised his hands in the universal sign for not wanting trouble, and the twelve year old scrutinised him for a minute. Then his jaw dropped.

"Leo!" The boy squeaked before breaking away from his post and wrapping his arms around Leo.

It was then that Leo recognised the boy, the first person to receive his pamphlet about gay gang leader adoptive fathers.

"Hey Alec." Leo grinned and held up his hand. He knew that his friend's probably thought that he had just been attacked and were more than likely gearing uo to brawl with the young boys.

The fourteen year old stared at him haughtily as Alec broke away from him, eyes shining.

"Do you want me to fetch the leaders Alec?" The teen deferred to the younger boy for some reason, waiting until Alec said yes to run into the complex.

Leo waved his friends to come forwards as Alec bombarded him with more questions then even he could handle.

And then the other sentry as scrambling out followed by two other people.

One of the new arrivals was a young man of twenty one, the other a young girl of eleven.

Leo almost choked on his own spit at the scar on the man's face. It was underneath his eye, barely, and it cut across to his ear.

But Leo could still recognise both of the figures.

"Darien. Aura." Both sets of eyes widened, and Leo shifted in the awkward silence.

And then a fist was launched into his face and Leo was falling backwards.

Luckily, Percy managed to catch him before his head attempted to make friends with the floor.

"What the hell?" Percy hissed, but Leo yanked himself out of his friend's arms to face Darien.

That turned out to be more painful than the punch as the siblings were both crying softly whilst holding hands.

"The prodigal has returned at a very bad time." Darien muttered, before turning on his heel and walking into the compound.

He gestured for everyone to follow him and the demigods obliged.

As they walked in, children and teens of all ages could be spotted bustling around. Some looked banged up whilst others seemed to be sparring. It was like a less official Camp Half blood and it hurt Leo's heart to see the gang acting like they were in the middle of a war.

Some of the gang members clearly recognised Leo and an excited buzz spread through the building as people statred to gawk at him as if he was a legend.

Two people remained conspicuously absent though.

Neither Jadon nor Cedric were amongst the crowd of familiar faces.

Leo started out of his headcount when Aura ushered them all into a makeshift meeting room.

They all sat down, but Cedric still didn't appear.

Leo wondered if the two were so angry at him for leaving them hat they weren't even going to come and check up on him. Leo quickly appraised Darien and Aura. Darien had always been the calmer leader, the more compassionate, but his mouth was currently pulled in a taut line despite the shimmering tears in his eyes. And little Aura, who had always appeared wiser then her years, had a weary look as if she were exhausted.

Leo was not liking this at all. Most of it was starting to click in his head, and he wanted to scream with frustration. He had allowed himself to beat up so that the gang would be safe, yet it looked as if they were in the middle of a gang war.

He had just ended a war and now he had walked right back into another one.

Silence still smothered the occupants of the room, though Darien looked to be bracing himself for this inevitable conversation.

Leo beat him to it.

"Where's Jadon and Cedric?" The previously unshed tears spilled from both Darien's and Aura's eyes.

"Cedric is in prison. And Jadon is missing."


So remember that the normal update schedule will be every weekend, but there will be two chapters next week to make up for how long it took me to write this one. See you all for part two :)