Sapphire XXX

The goodbyes were more emotional than Sapphire, or any of the demigods, expected they would be.

Lou Ellen sent Blaise Zabini off with a kiss and one of her many earrings adorning his left earlobe. Malcom and a Ravenclaw boy were among many demigod/wizard pairs who exchanged addresses so that they could try to write to each other during the year, though the owls crossing the ocean problem hadn't been addressed. Nico went to shake Harry's hand but ended up giving him a bro hug. Sapphire herself was the recipient of a rib-cracking hug from Luna Lovegood that she did not see coming from an inch away.

Daphne and her sister were the only ones expected to share an emotional goodbye, which they did. If they hadn't, Sapphire would probably have passed out.

"Safe travels," Chiron said to the professors, "and good hunting."

Professor McGonagall inclined her head respectfully. If she was even the slightest bit confused by Chiron's foreshadowing she hid it well, a lot better than every other wizard there.

"Thank you, Chiron."

There was a scramble to make sure that everyone had a Portkey, and then they were gone without even a toe left behind.

That was a good thing.

"Well," Leo said, "that was a thing."

Sapphire nodded. "Do you think we'll hear from them again?"

"Daphne and Fay are living at camp this year," Lacy reminded her. "We're bound to hear something."

The send-off broke up quickly. There were several demigods, mostly Hermes's kids, who were planning to leave camp for the year but had put off packing until the last minute and now had to rush to fill their bags before the harpies came to eat them.

Sapphire had already finished packing. She said her own goodbyes and then she and Leo headed out to the canoe lake with Jay in tow, planning to spend time together until Sapphire and Jay absolutely had to leave. They sat at the end of the dock, watching the naiads weave elaborate baskets.

"So," Sapphire asked, "March?"

"I thought we'd decided that you're deciding on the music," Leo said.

Sapphire elbowed him with a smile. "Not what I meant, Fire Boy, and you know it."

Leo grinned. "Only if your parents are okay with it. I never want to do anything to get on their bad side. Asking them to let us get married was the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life."

"Which parents are you talking about?" Sapphire teased.

"All of them!"

They both laughed. Jay purred from his patch of sunlight.

"Are you sure you want me to meet more of your family?" Leo asked once Sapphire had stopped giggling. "I mean, Christmas is one thing but spending a whole week with them…"

"It will be fine," Sapphire said firmly.

They were both good at playing down their demigodishness, and it wasn't like her family was normal anyway.

"We've got the Mist and four other people to cover for us," she added. "And it's not like my cousin's a werewolf or anything… I think."

Sapphire and Leo looked at each other.

"That could be a problem," Leo said.

"I'm pretty sure my family is human," Sapphire protested, "though it is debatable with Great-aunt Elfreda."

"That's the one that's like my Aunt Rosa, right?"

Sapphire nodded. "Yup."

"Neither of them are invited to our wedding," Leo decided.

"Agreement."

Jay meowed and stood up, stretching. 'Time to get going.'

Sapphire gave Leo a kiss. "Jay's right, we've gotta go."

Leo sighed. "I wish you could stay during the year."

"You just said you don't want to make my parents mad," Sapphire giggled. "I've got classes to catch up on. I'm going to have to stay an extra semester as it is."

It turned out that mortal schools didn't give credit for classes taken at schools of magic. Go figure. And here Sapphire thought that at least Herbology could stand in for biology. So she and Amber wouldn't be graduating together, but at least she and Ed would get extra time to prepare for the SAT and the DSTOMP to get into New Rome University.

The music and poetry analysis sections on the Demigod Standard Test of Mad Powers were supposed to be killer.

Leo and Sapphire walked to the Hades cabin hand in hand. Nico, Ed and Mike were waiting there.

"Shouldn't you be headed home already?" Leo asked Mike. "North Carolina is a long way by pegasus."

Mike grimaced. "I really tried, but there was an, uh, incident with my stepmother's family on Boxing Day. I'm staying here until it blows over."

Leo frowned. "Sucks, man."

"So, we ready to go?" Sapphire asked Ed after an appropriate amount of silence.

"We've got about five minutes until the harpies come to eat us," Ed said.

"That's a yes," Sapphire translated. She shouldered her bag and held out her hand to Ed.

"I hate shadow travel," Ed muttered.

He took her hand and grasped it so hard that her fingers started to go numb. Jay put both of his front paws on Sapphire's foot.

Sapphire smiled. "Bye, see you at Christmas."

"Bye," Nico said.

"IM us," Mike told them.

Leo looked at Sapphire. "I love you," he said.

Sapphire's smiled widened. "Love you too."

Shadows flowed around them, and then they were gone.

"I'll be at Camp Jupiter," Nico said before he too disappeared into the shadow of the cabin.

Leo and Mike looked at each other.

"Forges?" Mike suggested. "I've got an idea for making weapons we could use against werewolves and regular monsters."

"You had me at forges," Leo said. "Lead on, good sir."

They headed for the forges, pegasi and mechanical dragonlings flying overhead. The sounds of satyrs playing their pipes in the strawberry fields and the remaining Apollo kids practicing in their cabin drifted through the air. On Half-Blood Hill, Hermes's kids scrambled to cross the border, harpies nipping at their heels. The portal between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter lit up, ready for the traffic flow between the camps to start back up.

Leo fingered the newest bead on his necklace, blue with two linked rings for Percy and Annabeth's wedding.

Summer was over.

FINIS

A/n: And that's the end of this one. It has taken a while, hasn't it? Anyway, the next story, for the sake of keeping things in chronological order, is not going to be about Sapphire, it's going to be about Amber. Remember Amber, Sapphire's twin sister? Well, she's not just a mortal anymore so of course she's going to get her own adventure. It'll be a Kane Chronicles/ Young Justice crossover and the working title is Sisters by the Styx Book 3.5: Mount Justice Magicians. Working on this should give me time to work out the kinks in Book 4, which I recommend preparing for by reading the Virals series by Kathy and Brendan Reichs. Not dropping any hints or anything. ;)

Should have the first chapter of Book 3.5 up in a month or so. Real life is a thing.

Yours in demigodishness,

Cynder2013