It took awhile but, miraculously, they managed it. They pulled Leon out of there. Surprisingly, none of his bones were broken. Leo couldn’t help but be amazed.
“How come you were not crushed by Festus?” he asked.
“I wear light armor 24/7. Guess that’s it.” Leon grumbled.

Leon seemed to grumble a lot. Leo was taken aback by how tall the guy was. He had dark brown hair that stood up here and there, tanned skin, a scowl, bronze -colored eyes, thick eyebrows and he was in a bad need of a shave. Despite his obvious muscles, Leon was slim and lean.

The four demigods and nymph sat around a fire, Khione tied up in a celestial bronze netting, with a dirty sock as a gag.
“Was it necessary the dirty sock?” asked Madeleine.
“Trust me. It’s pretty effective in shutting up a goddess.” said Leo.
“So it’s true.” said Charlie, “You’re THE Leo Valdez.” Madeleine had insisted on bandaging Charlie’s ‘scratch’, which was a long scar.
“Yeah, that’s me.” said Leo, wiggling his eyebrows, “Super Leo Valdez!”

Charlie laughed, it was a nice, cute, 9-year-old laugh. Madeleine wasn’t amused, but she seemed to respect Leo a bit more.
“So her,” she pronounced the h softly, “She is truly Calypso?”
Calypso answered, “Yes.”. It was obvious the girls didn’t get along.
“Oh…” started Madeleine, “I expected you older.”

“Oh shut up, Madeleine.” said Leon. He was removing his dented light armor and putting it inside a duffel bag. Leo was surprised with what ease Leon said that. Usually guys don’t say these things in fear that they’d insult the girl, but not Leon. Leon didn’t seem to care if Madeleine was a girl or boy.

Leo couldn’t help but look at the dented armor. As son of Hephaestus, armor and machinery easily amazed him. He picked a dented bracer and looked at the dented celestial bronze, “Such a shame. It was so well-made.” It indeed was, the metal was smooth and it shined, and it saved a demigod from being crashed by a 100 ton metal dragon.
“Why, thank you.” said Leon.
“Oh, you made it?” asked Leo
“Yeah.” said Leon, “I’m a son of Vulcan.”, then he quickly added, “Roman version of Hephaestus.”

“Really? I thought you were Greek.” said Leo, remembering the swearing Leon had done while he was under Festus, who was resting and snoring mechanically.
Leon shook his head, “On the godly side, I’m Roman. On the mortal side, I’m Greek.” He looked at the fire, “Just to make things funny, I’m Spartan.”
“Seriously?” laughed Leo, “Those guys are, like, Greekest of the Greeks!”
Leon also started laughing, “Yeah, I know.”
“How did…? I mean, if your mother’s greek?”
“I’ve been asking that myself for years!” Both boys laughed even more.
“Man, that is so ironic.” Leo’s mouth was hurting a bit from too much laughing.
“No, what’s ironic is that I’ve been named after a Spartan king.” Leon’s mouth was also hurting from too much laughing. “King Leonidas.”
“That’s your full name?” asked Calypso.

Charlie nodded, he’d been smiling uncontrollably, “Yeah, without the ‘King’, of course. When he was in Camp Jupiter, they shortened it so people wouldn’t feel threatened that he’s half Greek.”
“Oh, they do that?” asked Leo.
“Uh-huh. They even write it on documents and plaques that they give you.” said Leonidas bitterly, “I hated it. They turned me into a french guy.”
“That’s not bad.” said Madeleine.
“It is, if, originally, you’re greek.”

After that, the band of demigods shared different stories and joked until the stars and moon came out. Leo yawned, Charlie had laid his head on Calypso’s lap, Madeleine was jealous of that, Leonidas was looking at the skies.
“Man, coming back from the dead.” He said.
“M-hm.” replied Leo.
“Was it painful?”

Leo was a bit surprised by the question. Usually people would ask how it was being dead, but, he guessed, the fact that Leonidas was an Exorcist (he still didn’t believe that there were demigods training and working in the Underworld), he had known what it feels like. “It was.” answered Leo. Then they sat silently for a while, admiring the stars, until a question popped into Leo’s head. He jumped up and looked around for a sign.
“Dude! You spilled sand on me!” complained Leon. Everybody else was looking at Leo in surprise, even Calypso.
“What year is it?” asked Leo, more frantically than he expected.
“Relax, Robin Williams” said Leonidas, “It’s 2014.” Leo calmed down a bit, “Your friends are still alive. You will go back to them” Leo didn’t notice the bitterness in Leonidas’s voice as he said that.

Leo was so happy, he couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you.” he whispered to the Fates. Then he sat back down, happily. He didn’t notice the gloomy looks the three Exorcists had, but Calypso did.
She decided she’d inquire about that later, right now, they needed sleep and rest.

Notes

Suggestion: Read this one to if you wanna laugh.

Ode to Frustrated Fanfiction Writers:
..... Hello....
...... It's me.....
.....I was wondering if after all this time you'd like to comment....
....... To go over everything ....
........ They say that time helps you improve your writing....
...... But I haven't done my improvement...

.... Hello? Are you reading this?...
..... I'm in a studio dreaming about how you used to vote....
... When I was awesome and free.....
.... I've forgotten how it felt before you stopped commenting...

... There's such a difference between chapters...
... That you're getting tired of it.....

... Hello from the other side....
....I must have begged for attention a thousand times....
.... Because I want to be one of the most popular writers on this site...
... But when I begged you never seem to be on the Internet...

... Hello from the outside....
....At least I can say that I've tried...
.... To tell you please read the long chapters....
.... But it don't matter because you apparently don't have time to read...

.... Hello, how are you?
... It's so typical of me to ask for attention, I'm sorry...
... I hope that you're well....
... Did you ever read all those many, long chapters that I wrote....

... It's no secret, that I am...
...Asking you to subscribe, vote, and comment,...

...So hello from the other side....
....I must have begged for attention a thousand times....
.... Because I want to be one of the most popular writers on this site...
... But when I begged you never seem to be on the Internet...

... Hello from the outside....
....At least I can say that I've tried...
.... To tell you please read the long chapters....
.... But it don't matter because you apparently don't have time to read...

.... Ooooohh, to read...
.... Ooooohh, to read...
... Oooooohh, to read...
... To read...

... Hello from the other side....
....I must have begged for attention a thousand times....
.... Because I want to be one of the most popular writers on this site...
... But when I begged you never seem to be on the Internet...

... Hello from the outside....
....At least I can say that I've tried...
.... To tell you please read the long chapters....
.... But it don't matter because you apparently don't have time to read...


Original song, "Hello", by Adele (all copyrights to her)

Original Heroes of Olympus universe and characters, Rick Riordan (all copyrights to him)

I own nothing of the song "Hello" (Adele)
I own nothing of the Heroes of Olympus franchise (Rick Riordan)
So don't get confused.

(BTW, I don't want to be one of the most popular writers on this site. I'm just a girl who wants to have fun.)

*Audience claps* THANK YOU EVERYONE! YOU'RE AWESOME!