Leo's Return and the Seven's Reactions

Piper

        She was sitting down on the roof of her cabin, the only part of it that wasn't pink and sparkly. Piper was staring that sky, hoping that her imagination could turn a cloud into a dragon, a patch of blue sky a smile, anything that could prove to her that Leo was still alive. She could hardly get through a single day without breaking down over him, and every one of her dreams were of their final moments together, his smile telling them to go.
She bent, putting her head between her knees and tried to control her breathing. Piper had been having these episodes where she couldn't catch her breath. Will Solace said that it wasn't asthma, so she had no idea what it was. But whenever she thought about Leo, it always happened, worse than ever.
She had come up to the roof to get a bit of fresh air. Piper missed the deck of the Argo 2, living in a room that touched the sky. To live with her friends, to live with her best friends, that was something that she sorely missed. But with Leo gone, even Camp Halfblood didn't feel like home to Piper. If only she had been able to say goodbye to him. If on- No. No, she would not fall into that particular hole of despair. Not right now.
She lied down on the roof again, shifting until the shingles weren't digging into her back. "Leo, if you're alive, if you can hear me, please let me know. I don't know how much longer I can survive without you. You were more than a friend to me, you were my brother. Please, come back. We miss you more than you could possibly understand. Please, just send me a sign, or just one word, or anything! Please, Leo, we need you back!" Piper screamed at the sky and broke down in tears. She rarely ever broke down to this extent, especially without Jason near enough to hold her until she calmed down.
"Does six words work for you?" A small voice popped up from behind her. Piper started. She thought that she had locked the roof of the ladder. She always did when she was mourning a friend, not that she had had much experience with that before this. She turned, not believing what she saw.
Leo stood on the roof in a clean black suit, with a white rose in his hand. His hair had been brushed and cleaned up, and he wasn't covered with soot, which was a first. In his other hand he held a radio, playing "On a Good Day", the song that was playing when the trio met. Leo was smiling, and set down the radio. "Hey."
Piper stood up. How? How was this possible? How-how was he alive? And why was he clean? "Leo?" she said, walking towards him. She misstepped and stumbled, almost falling off the roof. Luckily, one of Leo's arms reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to safety. She stood in front of him, staring at his brown eyes and warm smile, wondering how he was alive. "L-Leo? How-how-how are you alive?" Piper said softly, softly tracing the lines of his cheek. He leaned into her hand.
"Hey Pipes. How have you been?" Leo said, with tears beginning to form in his eyes. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Piper buried her face into his shoulder, crying openly. Leo placed his head on top of hers, and felt tears begin falling down his face. They stood there, with Leo rubbing Piper's back, and Piper continuing to cry. He kept telling her that it was all right, that he was safe, and for once, she believed it. Finally, they both stood there in silence, just enjoying each other's company. Piper was the first one to pull away, but she didn't lift her hands from Leo's arms.
"Leo, oh gods, I missed you. We missed you so much. I can't believe you're back!" Piper said without taking a breath. "Are you okay?"
Leo gave a loud laugh. "Of course I'm okay, chica. Were you doubting that?"
Piper nodded, and pulled Leo back into a hug. "Yes. Yes, I was doubting that. Leo, you may not know this, but we all-we all thought you were dead. We mourned for-for two months." Suddenly, her expression turned angry. "Two months Leo! You were dead for the two hardest months of all of our lives! How could you sacrifice yourself for us? How could you do that? Why? Didn't you know that we needed you? How-why-what were you thinking?"
Leo sat down, and patted the roof next to him. Piper sat down, but held a steady gaze with him. He was not getting off the hook this easily. "Answer me. Now." Piper hated using charm speak on her friends, but she needed answers.
Leo let out a laugh. "No need to charm speak me, Piper. I was gonna tell you anyways! I stuck the Physician's Cure into Festus, who gave it to me after I, well, exploded. Then I found someone who I kinda helped, but I had to drop, umm, said person off at Olympus."
Piper would have liked to know more details about 'said person', but she wanted to know more about some other topics. "Okay, so you answered one of my questions. But still, why did you sacrifice yourself for us? Why haven't you contacted us sooner?"
"As I said to Jason literally 20 minutes ago, the back of a flying bronze dragon doesn't have great reception for communication that involves rainbows and mist. I've been flying nonstop ever since I saved you-know-who-"
"I don't, actually, know who!"
Leo smiled. "I'll get to that later. Anyway, I've been flying nonstop trying to get back here. I even managed to hook up a little hammock between Festus's legs."
Piper couldn't help laughing as she imagined Leo hanging on to fabric to keep from falling off while he was sleeping. "Why would you ever think that was a good idea?" she said with a laugh. "But you still left off one very important part. Why did you sacrifice yourself?"
Leo turned his head, trying not to look at her. Piper, sensing his reluctance, took his head in her hands, and turned it to face her own. It was obvious that he was broken up, not only by the tear running down his cheek, but by the way his voice broke when he began to speak. "I-I don't know. I know that only I could defeat Gaea. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I couldn't let anything to happen to you guys. I, I knew that if it had been one of you that had died, and if I thought for a second that I could have stopped you or helped you, that I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I couldn't let you guys get hurt."
As Leo spoke, Piper felt closer to him than ever. She reached over and took his hands and gave them a squeeze. "Leo, it's okay. I forgive you for everything. I'm sorry if I was being mean. I, I just want to know everything. I wondered about so much, and had so little answers that I want to figure out what happened."
Leo nodded, and began crying. Piper was stunned, but her Aphrodite gifts kicked in. Not only the love portion of it, but also the comfort part of it. Not many demigods had the skills, but Piper guessed that her mother must have been looking down on her. She carefully wrapped her arms around his shaking shoulders, which only seemed to make him cry harder. Piper tightened her grip on him.
"Leo, sshhh, it's alright. It's just me and you here. Oh, shhh, it's okay. You're back home, safe, don't worry." Piper continued to say what she hoped were comforting words until eventually his sobs stopped. Finally, he was able to speak without choking up.
Leo nodded into her shoulder, where his head rested. "Okay. Okay, I think I'm good. I'm sorry Piper, I didn't want you to see me like this." He said, gesturing to himself. "I probably ruined the Stolls' fanciest suit."
Piper gave a small, sad grin. What could have destroyed her best friend to the point that almost all of his jokes and mischief was gone? She decided to push. "Leo, it's okay to cry. I'm here for you. But what's wrong? I mean, you're home with us again. What's happening?"
Leo took a long, shaky breath before replying. "Okay Piper, are you ready for the long and sappy story?"
"Daughter of Aphrodite here."
"Alright then. When-when I was up in the sky on Festus righting Gaea, with you and Jason right next to me, I felt connected to you guys. More than just a friendly way, but like you would feel in a , well, in a family. I could never let anyone or anything hurt you guys. When I was revived my first thought was of you guys. My last thought before, you know, exploding was of you guys being safe again. And now here I am, all dressed up, sitting on a roof with my arms around my best friend, and I can't help but feel like this is a dream. But I really, really don't want it to be. I want to be able to sleep without waking up in cold sweats from a nightmare about me dying and then you guys dying. I, I want to feel safe again, and just being here with you has made me feel that way."
Piper nodded and closed her eyes, trying to hold back her tears. "Oh Leo. We'll keep you safe. You're more than my best friend, you're my brother. Thank you for telling me this."
"What are best friends for?"
"Exactly this."
        There they sat for hours, reminiscing about good memories and getting Leo caught up with the things he had missed. Then they just stopped talking, and sat in silence, looking over their camp that they had fought so hard to protect. They both agreed on something without saying a word.

It was worth it.