"Just another day. Just one more day. We can make it. We can make it," Leo muttered to himself like a prayer as he hiked alongside Percy, Sam and Sophia, heading towards New York.

Ever since they left Georgia, Leo, Percy and the twins they had rescued a few days back, had been having monster attacks every thirty or so miles. Even though Percy never showed it, Leo knew that he was getting really worried about their safety. The fact that Percy practically wore his heart on his sleeve didn't help either.

The extraction part was a piece of cake. He and Percy, upon arriving at their destination, had found the nine-year old brother and sister locked up in a store room in the attic of the very posh villa. Luckily for both parties, the house was abandoned at the time which enabled an easy rescue, or things could've gotten a tad violent. The monster attacks had begun as soon as they entered the South Carolina Coast and hadn't decreased even once.

It had been three days since, and he and Percy had taken turns explaining the Greek World to nine-year old Sophia and Samuel Beckham, supposedly children of Apollo, Hermes or Aphrodite, based off their appearance. By now, the quartet had faced a nice-sized pack of hellhounds, four empousai, two Laistrygonians and a few dracaenae. The twins had helped wherever they could, by distracting the monsters so him and Percy could finish them off without getting overwhelmed.

This particular morning, however, Leo had woken up to a whimpering and thrashing Son of Poseidon, which troubled him. He knew that Percy occasionally had nightmares from his time down there, but never before had Percy uttered a single sound through it, much less whimpered,even during the worst ones. He tried to talk to Percy once he was fully conscious, but got nothing out of him. "We have to hurry," Percy said very quietly, looking at the still asleep siblings. "We need to get to Chiron soon."

Percy was fidgeting more than usual and kept glancing around nervously, almost as if he expected something to happen. Leo noticed that he kept looking behind his shoulders with an almost scared expression, like someone, something was following him and was out for his/their life. His restlessness affected Leo as well, and he too began to keep a better lookout just in case.

A couple of hours and some more hellhounds later, the quartet heard a blood chilling, massive roar. He glanced at Percy, only to find him as pale as Hades, if not more, and his eyes were wide with... terror? Leo did a double take at the sight that made him gulp visibly. He had a good reason to be afraid of whatever was out there if it scared Percy so much. Samuel (Sam) and Sophia, meanwhile, had taken to hiding behind his and Percy's legs. After bout ten seconds of absolute inactivity, Percy took off towards the nearest tree grabbing Leo and Sophia, who in turn grabbed her brother. Once there, he immediately dumped out everything from his bag and began rummaging through them. Leo was thoroughly confused which was evident on his face. "What are you doi-" he began asking only to be cut off when Percy thrust the Ambrosia reserves from his pack into his hands and then proceeded to toss the canteen of Nectar and some mortal cash to Sam, and a spare dagger to Sophia.

Why the heck does he have daggers with him? I thought he only used Riptide, Leo wondered to himself, confused.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Percy suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes, fear, acceptance, and guilt swimming in those sea-green orbs. "You need to go to Chiron," he began. "Iris-message him as soon as you enter New York, and find out where he is. Go directly to him wherever he is. I have a feeling he isn't going to be at Camp." Leo went to say something but his amigo was on a roll. "Protect Sam and Sophia. Do not, under any circumstances, stop until you reach New York. Promise me, Leo, that you won't come back to find me, that you will keep moving," he asked, desperation and anxiousness clearly visible in his oceanic orbs. Leo wavered. "Why... why are you saying this? You are coming with us... right? I mean... you are right here..." he trailed off unable to gather his incoherent thoughts. Percy looked down. "Is it something to do with how and why you woke up distraught this morning?" Leo asked the son of Poseidon softly, yet his voice was laden with concern for his friend. Percy glanced at the confused twins, and then locked eyes with Leo. "He is out for blood, Leo. Your blood. He intends to hunt you down, drag you into his domain and destroy you piece by piece for all eternity for killing his wife. he is sending hordes of monsters after us as we speak, to separate you from the rest of us and then capture you-" Leo felt his jaw embrace the ground as he just figured out who Percy was referring to. "- Swear to me, Leo," Percy was saying. "Swear on the River Styx that once i give you the head-start, you will not look back even once or try to find me, and will go straight to Chiron as i instructed before, without any delay."

Leo simply stared at the twenty-year old standing in front of him, his jaw still on the floor, as his eighteen-year old brain tried to comprehend the words that came out of Percy's mouth. "Percy, you... you... aren't... why?" Leo stuttered, as a single drop of tear trickled down his sooty face. "i.. i cant let you do this. Not a second time. He wants me, Percy, not you! I wont let you go back down there once again if i can help it. And I can help it," he was openly crying now. "What exactly are you two talking about?" asked a very puzzled Sam. Percy gave him and Sophia a sad smile and turned to Leo, probably for the last time while they were still here. "because i know the place, buddy. I have been there before, and even though the horror's aren't meant for mortal eyes, i cant let you go down there without any knowledge and experience of the place whatsoever. Just swear your oath and i will swear one too. I will find my way out. No matter how long it takes, i will come back to you guys, i swear upon the River Styx." Thunder boomed across the cloudless sky as the oath was sealed. Leo just nodded numbly. "i swear upon the River Styx to follow your instruction to the very last word and not do anything that will slow down the rest of our journey," he said tearfully as thunder was heard rumbling once again, and Percy let out a sigh of relief.

"One last thing," he whispered his voice choking with emotion." Tell Annabeth... tell her that I love her and that i am sorry I broke my promise. Tell her I will come back to her, even if I have to climb my way out for centuries," he finished, and a tear rolled down his left cheek. The grim atmosphere was broken by another roar, this time closer to their location, and a few blood red eyes glowed from the surrounding bushes. "Remember your oath," Percy said urgently, wiping the tear from his face. "Farewell, αδελφός. Until next time." He raised his hands and suddenly, Leo felt light headed. He tried looking down at himself but couldn't see a thing. All too soon, the feeling of his solid body came back to him and he steadied himself against a tree trunk, while Sam and Sophia doubled over retching as they spilled their guts out. Leo himself felt a bit nauseous, but that passed soon.

He sunk to the ground as the events of the past hour caught up to him. The first time Percy fell into Tartarus was because he had opened that damned fortune cookie, and hadn't made sure to get everyone on board before securing Mama Parthenos in the cavern back in Rome. This time, Percy willingly let himself be captured in his place so that he didn't have to go through that pit alone. He yelled in rage and his entire body was engulfed in raging flames, as he cursed himself for being such a failure. He punched a tree as he cursed himself for being so ignorant. If only he had been more alert, he could've seen the signs of anxiety Percy had been showing the last three days.

He slid down against a tree, his body still engulfed in roaring flames, as he held his head trying not to break down again. If only he had agreed with Percy when he insisted on making fewer stops and keep moving, maybe they could've evaded this moment. But he hadn't, and now his friend, his brother, was somewhere back in the forest willingly surrendering himself so the three of them can make an escape. He simply sat there wrapped up in guilt and sorrow, silently bawling his eyes out until Sophia gathered herself up and came up to him and gave him a huge hug. He didn't respond. He couldn't respond. He felt so terribly hollow inside, he just felt like sitting there for all of eternity until he got covered in dust and cobwebs and slowly got wasted away.

But no. He couldn't. He had an oath to keep. He couldn't let Percy down after everything he did for them, and so he hauled himself up and called to the twins. "Come on niños, we need to keep going," he said, his voice hoarse. "I know this is not the time, but, what exactly happened a while back? And what the heck was that dizzy thingy?" Sam asked as they headed towards the Holland tunnel. Percy had outdone himself in transporting them across an entire state as they had been somewhere in the woods of Virginia a while ago. "That was called Mist Transport. You remember about that veil we call Mist which shields our world from the Mortal world?" Leo asked. The twins nodded. "Yeah so basically demigods have this ability to use the Mist to their advantage to create illusions or disguise themselves or manipulate minds, also in some cases, to travel. The ability to travel using the Mist is easier for children of Hecate, for obvious reasons, and children of Poseidon or other gods having a water domain. It's really similar to the kind of teleportation done by immortals, but more complicated than that. We practically create an illusion of ourselves not being at a place and appear in another, it's pure manipulation, however not all demigods can accomplish this. There are two more people other than Percy who can successfully do it, and they are both children of Hecate. Don't worry, you will learn about it soon enough. Don't stress your brains so much," Leo chuckled at the lost expressions on the twins' faces. He thought back to the day Percy finally was able to successfully accomplish Mist Transport. Nico and Chiron had been slack-jawed while Annabeth beamed with pride at her Seaweed Brain.

Annabeth. Oh Gods, what was he going to tell Annabeth?

........................

Chiron asked them to head to Olympus for some strange reason, and said he would meet them there. All Leo knew that he wanted to crash in his bunk in Cabin 9 as soon as possible, in the company of metals and gears which he knew how to fix. Apparently, Tyche was in a good mood today because they found a ride to Madson Square as soon as they reached the island of Manhattan. Leo stared at the landscape that passed by. Percy had saved his life yet again in the last four years. The words of his oath rung in his ears and he decided to help out at either camps to the best of his ability until Percy came back. It was the least he could do to return the favour.

"You can count on me, Perce," he muttered, looking blankly at the clear blue sky. "i won't ever let you down. I swear upon the River Styx." Thunder boomed across the cloudless sky for the third time that day as the trio sped along the way that brought them closer to a place half-bloods called home.

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Hey guys! so i finally completed Leos's part. please let me know if you think something needs to be changed or if you like it. the next pov will be from Hogwarts continued into Olympus. also if you guys have any confusion regarding to Mist Transport, just ask and i will answer it to my best ability. the next phase of the story would be the reading of the story books, but with a twist. while the books rightfully belong to Mr. Riordan, in this story, i will make them to be Percy's journals, so the books wont have proper names, instead will have the season and the year in which each quest happened. the timeline is designed to be starting from 2009 so this story comes up to take place in 2017. feel free to ask questions and criticise the story. i will post the timeline of events with the next chapter.

Date: 17/07/2017

Time: 13:30 IST/ 08:00 GMT

Happy Reading! see you next chapter!