JASON

It was the end of summer before we would all gather again. Reyna and Frank had taken the legion back to California. Piper and myself split our time between Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter as I, along with the help of Annabeth's architectural skills, began building the shrines I had promised for all the minor deities. Turns out, there were a lot of them. We were able to take a brief vacation to spend time with Piper's father at their ranch in Colorado for a week as he was between sets, and this was as close to relaxed as I had been that summer, if spending a week with your girlfriend's famous dad can be described as relaxing. Mostly Piper and he had long talks about her education and future and he began to trust her more and more or so I thought. Turns out he didn't really know about her being a half blood, only that her mother had left them when she was a month or so old, and she never explained Aphrodite to him. Generally I don't think he believed her as far as her power of charm speak went, even when she explained it was how she had gotten the BMW and other stuff, he just liked having her there with him. She actually spent a lot of time selling him on me being her boyfriend, and he began to trust me less and less.

Frank was helping Reyna rebuild and reorganize the 12th, and Hazel was a constant at his side. Percy and Annabeth hardly left Camp Half Blood as she supervised the repairs there with the other cabin heads and Percy… well, he trained and did whatever he felt. He was Percy after all.

Nico had also stayed at Camp Half Blood, but shadow traveled to Jupiter on several occasions to get a break from Will as near as we could tell. Still, Nico seemed happy. A creepy type of happy, but happy none the less. As he shadow traveled more he became stronger at it and seemed to require less rest each time but of course he wasn't carrying two others and a 50 foot magical statue so that probably had a effect. This was good. As creepy as Nico was normally to most, a semi transparent sleeping Nico was more than most people could handle. The prophecy had called for seven heros on the quest, but we, all of us, thought of Nico, Reyna and Coach as being part of our team. Only Nico would not be around for the dedication as he was traveling on business of his father. Once he had told us that, none of us really wanted to know what he was up to.

Thanks to Apollo being still silenced there had been no major quests demanded and Rachel Dare had used the summer to work on her tan. As a red head she had really sensitive skin and had to be careful about her exposure, but by summer's end she looked even more fabulous that before. She had moved into the big house from her cave and like the rest of us was preparing to return to the real world. Unlike the rest, she had promised her father during the last Titan war she would willfully attend the Clarion School for Girls and as the day grew closer for her return, her dread increased. Still to save the camp, and by extension the world, she prepared to honor the terms of her sacrifice.

The Hephaestus cabin had worked all summer on casting the bronze effigy for this morning's ceremony and since Piper and I had known Leo the longest Chiron had asked us to say a few words at its dedication. I agreed to go first, since I figured Piper would be a better speaker and have more impact anyway. With reserves I have commanded 500 of the finest Roman demi god soldiers to ever take the field, and fought monsters, giants and titans too numerous to say, but public speaking wasn't my thing. I had been told after the Battle of Camp Half Blood that Reyna had the power to give her strength to others and almost asked her to prop me up, but thought better of it. If I broke down emotionally, well, Leo deserved it.

So it was that we gathered at the edge of the woods, where the trail led to Bunker 9, on a early August morning to dedicate the memorial to Leo. The Hephaestus cabin had little experience with art, and almost as little experience casting normal, non-magical bronze. As a result the third casting was the first deemed usable and it looked only vaguely like Leo sitting nobly on Festus. It looked more like a raving demon sitting on what appeared to be an angry golden chicken, but after three tries it was the effort that counted. Plus we all would be returning to our real world schools the following week and there was no time to cast another. Perhaps some of the artsy guys from Athena would work with it to make it more accurate, or at least more pleasing, the following summer.

Dawn broke on my face and I saw the size of the crowd gathered to honor Leo. As I said, it was the first time the survivors of our quest had gathered since the battle, but the whole of Camp Half Blood turned out as well. I looked past the crowd and saw the planet Venus in the morning twilight. I focused on the morning star so I would not see the crowd, and began to speak.

"When I first met Leo, I had lost my mind. Well, my memories anyway. Hera, Juno as some of us know her, had taken my memories, but gave me a great friend to guide me so I would be safe until they returned. From the moment we met, we were fighting venti and Leo was cracking jokes. Most of you who were not here for it by now have heard the story of the defeat of Gaea, her titans, and all the monsters and giants she led. It should never be forgotten the role Leo played. He took us to the fight, kept our spirits up, and killed more than his share of monsters."

My eyes watered as I thought of my friend now gone, so I continued to look at Venus, now glowing golden in the dawn, seemingly growing larger as the sun rose. I sniffled and returned to the speech.

"You all know how Leo died as he himself kept Gaea from the earth, making her weak enough for him to detonate a bomb he built to kill her. What you may not know is that Leo knew he was going to die, days before, and had planned his death so as to save others, myself included. It is fair to say that without his sacrifice none of us would be here today, and the world would lay in ruin."

Venus glowed brighter that ever now, and "Are those wings?" I thought as it slowly dawned on me what I was seeing.

"Leo made the ultimate sacrifice, and more than Percy, Annabeth, Frank, or any of us, Leo was the bravest person I ever knew."

"And now I'm going to kill him." I said as Leo came in for a landing on a rebuilt Festus with perhaps the most beautiful girl (other than Piper!) I had ever seen riding behind him.

"Hey guys! Miss me? Sorry I didn't call, but fresh out of drachma for misting. Have I missed anything? This is my girlfriend, Jennifer" Leo grinned as he looked around. "What's with the angry chicken?"