Y/N, to her very own surprise, woke up. She'd been out for who knew how long and had at one point been certain she was dead. The last fragment in her memory was of laying in the grass, watching the minotaur dissolve midair before blacking out completely. Now, she was on a medical bed, her body overburdened with a mountain of blankets. The air was warm and she was dry. If she never had to move, she wouldn't.

However, as soon as she heard frantic, hushed voices, she knew her peace wouldn't last long. Ever so begrudgingly, she forced herself upright. Yet again, to her surprise, her body hardly even ached. Laying there, nearly dead, in the grass she knew her ribs were broken and other parts of her body in the very least heavily bruised. But, she felt fine. Gently, the girl traced her fingertips over her ribcage just to do a double take. Still, no pain radiated through her frame.

"She's up!" A voice called out, one Y/N wasn't yet familiar with. It came from a girl, a very beautiful one at that. Her eyes shone like kaleidoscopes and her hair framed her face perfectly, braids peeking out here and there. Something unspoken about this girl made Y/N instantly take a liking. "Are you okay?"

"Uhm—" Y/N croaked, her throat dry and voice hoarse. "Yeah."

The girl smiled softly, the heavy weight of sympathy apparent in her eyes. "Well, I'm Piper. Leo's friend! And, this is Jason. Chiron sent us to bring you back to the big house."

A tall, blonde boy appeared behind Piper and smiled welcomingly. Y/N nodded back. "Why? Am I in trouble?"

"No," Piper stifled a laugh. "The complete opposite, actually." Ever so carefully, Piper began to help Y/N up off of the bed. "There are some other things that need to be discussed."

"Like what?" Y/N winced.

"Well, for starters, how you're the last member of our quest that we've been looking for." Piper explained. "And, seriously, what's going on between you—"

"Wait, what?" Y/N stopped Piper dead in her tracks as they stumbled toward the big house. Y/N could walk, but the ambrosia and nectar were still taking effect, and it would be a couple of hours before she was back to normal. "Quest?"

"Yeah," Jason piped up, Y/N having totally forgotten he was there. "Did you not realize? You were claimed when we found you up on the hill."

"Well, I was minutes from death so I wasn't exactly paying attention." Y/N muttered. "Who's kid am I?" The question felt strange leaving her lips, but she didn't know of any other way to ask it.

Jason and Piper exchanged a quick glance. "Y/G/P."

"Y/G/P?" Y/N questioned. "Huh."

"Good news is, you're not Leo's sister or anything." Jason snickered, Piper immediately smacking his arm in reproach to the comment.

"Why would that matter?" Y/N furrowed her brows.

Jason could hardly control his laughter. "Well...Whatever. Let's just go find the others. We've got a quest to discuss!"

Y/N watched as Jason bounded off towards the big house. Piper rolled her eyes.

"He's weird." Y/N admitted.

"Tell me about it." Piper agreed.

After Y/N and Piper managed to survive the awkward, dangerous trip up the porch stairs and down the hall of the big house, they entered a room full of people. Never before had Y/N felt more self-conscious. Right now, she was standing before a room full of people who probably expected the world of her.

Luckily, her eyes locked onto Leo's straight away, tucked away in the corner of the room tinkering with some strange contraption in his hands. His gaze lifted to meet hers, a smile immediately lighting up his features. However, it wasn't his normal kind of smile. It was anxious and half-hearted. He seemed to be just as nervous as she was.

Truth was, Leo was just that. He tried to keep his cool on the outside because he was truly burning up on the inside. He was stuck between an indescribable mix of nervousness and excitement about this quest and having Y/N on board with them.

"Now that everyone's here, let's get started." Chiron said calmly and lowly, grasping everyone's attention easily. The way Chiron was approaching this meeting put Leo at ease, seeing as how the centaur wasn't displaying any kind of nervous ticks. Which, either meant this quest wasn't the most dangerous thing in the world, or he was far better now at controlling his nerves.

"Lately, word has been spreading of a new army growing on an island in the middle of the pacific. We don't know who they are, who they're working for, their intentions or how large their numbers are. So, we need you all to find out what you can." Chiron explained. "I know it may seem like a waste of resources to send you all, but with not knowing how many this army numbers, it's best to be safe than sorry."

"So...we're basically going on an enemy watching vacation? Like...bird watching?" Leo stifled a laugh. It was only after he'd spat out the words that he sort of regretted what he'd said. Per usual, everyone in the room stared at him with unimpressed and annoyed glares.

The room fell silent and he dropped the contraption he'd been taking apart in his hands. He scrambled to catch it, but already knew it was too late. His stomach wrenched with embarrassment and he wanted to jump out of the window to his left.

Chiron sighed. "If that's how you want to look at it. But, don't let that get your guard down. There could be hundreds—even thousands prepping for war on that island. They will be able to sense you should you get too close and, depending on their motives, would't waste a second in killing you."

"Is that it?" Annabeth crossed her arms, eyes flickering around the room. "That's all we're going to do?"

"Yes," Chiron nodded plainly. "Now, you all best be off as soon as possible. I had other campers prep the Argo for your trip, so go pack your things."

Apparently everyone was very eager, because in only a few seconds after their dismissal, everyone was gone. That was, except for Y/N and Leo. The girl was hesitant and Leo was afraid of what was to come. Sooner or later though, they would have to step aboard that ship whether they liked it or not. The pair locked eyes and the gaze wasn't broken until Chiron cleared his throat.

"Anytime now," He tried to encourage them out of the room. It was difficult to do so though, seeing as how both kids were glued to the floor by their own anticipation. With other matters to attend to, Chiron left the room, knowing that at some point the pair would leave.

A few minutes passed before Leo let out a deep breath and finally stood, stowing away his tools and small contraptions. He approached Y/N with a lopsided smile, offering out his hand. "How about I help you pack your things?"

"Uh, okay?" Y/N used his hand to stand back up from the place she'd been sitting. Before she could even move away, Leo laced his arm with hers and stood tall. He looked like a personal bodyguard, even despite his small stature.

Gently, he tugged the girl at his side alongside, down the hall and out into the open air of camp Half-blood. "To the Y/G/P cabin!"

"So," Y/N stumbled alongside Leo. "Is there anything specific I need...? Or is this just your typical packing situation?"

"Mhhm," Leo hummed. "Well, most importantly, you need to bring yourself. Other than that, enough clothes to last a few days? Some spare food? Y'know, the normal stuff."

Y/N laughed, causing Leo to look to her in confusion. "What?"

"Forget myself? That'd be pretty difficult you know?"

"Hey," Leo grunted. "Anything can happen here. It's a weird place with some even weirder people."

Sitting down in Y/N's cabin, Leo was both surprised and relived to find the place empty. Unless someone was hiding under a bed somewhere, everyone else must've been out for the day doing normal camp things, making new friends and enjoying the outdoors. He could already scratch everything on that list off except for the whole making new friends thing. It never seemed that he got around to doing that, ever.

There, in the silence aside from Y/N shuffling around and packing her things, sitting on the bed in the Y/G/P cabin made Leo's loneliness resurface. For the past few years, he'd grown used to staying in bunker nine all alone without visitors. Whereas the rest of the kids here shared cabins with their siblings. All around the cabin were photos plastered on the walls of campers after victorious games of capture the flag, ridiculous pranks and nights at the campfire. Y/N was already in a few of them, a wide smile on her face and welcoming, energetic ones on her siblings whose arms hoisted their newest family member up in the air.

The first day Leo met his siblings, they practically shunned him. He was small and scrawny, much unalike to his stronger, more muscular siblings. He could also ignite his entire body in a moments notice, so everyone feared him. No one took photos with the boy who could spontaneously combust. No one wanted to be bunkmates with the boy who burned down his mothers workshop. No one, aside from one girl, willingly found their way into his life and was happy to be here.

"Okay, I think that's it!" Y/N spun around with a small pack, a couple of apples somehow balanced on top of it all. Her smile was wide and more full of life than before when they had been in the big house. Now, she genuinely seemed excited and the feeling was contagious to Leo.

But, there was something prying at him. Her bag. "You don't have much there. Are you sure you have everything?" He asked.

"Uhm—" Y/N stuttered and nearly lost the apples to the floor, her bag shifting in her arms. "It's all I have, so..."

Leo's heart shuddered at those words. He remembered the day he first arrived here. He remembered his early years. He remembered the days oh so painfully clearly when he didn't have anything either. So, before he could stop himself, he had jumped up and was racing for the door.

"Wait here! I'll be right back!" He burst out of the cabin, slamming his shoulder into the door on the way out and cursing.

After a few minutes which probably seemed longer in her head than they really were, Leo came flooding back into the room. He was heaving heavy breaths from pure exhaustion and remained doubled over for another couple of minutes whilst he caught his breath. Once finally recollected, he stood up and unfolded a bundle of fabric before the girls eyes, a bright smile lighting up his features.

"It's kinda old, charred here and there...but it's warm!" He laughed lightly, handing a roughed up hoodie over to the girl.

"You really don't have to—"

"Nuh uh!" Leo shoved the fabric into her arms and refused her attempt to decline. "I insist! Besides, the Argo can get freezing at night and you will seriously regret it the rest of the trip if you don't take it now."

Y/N laughed and took up the soft fabric in her arms. "Alright, fine. I guess you know best, don't you?"

"Obviously." Leo rolled his eyes. "Now, what do you say? Ready to witness everything that is the Argo?"

Y/N pursed her lips and rocked on her heels. "I guess so. Lead the way!"