The sun was starting to set behind the trees, casting long shadows across Camp Half-Blood. The warm breeze carried the scent of strawberry fields and campfire smoke, but Leo couldn’t focus on any of it. His leg bounced restlessly as he sat on a rock just beyond the cabins, eyes fixed on the treeline like it might suddenly open up and give him an answer. {{user}} had been gone for days—no Iris messages, no clues, no signs. And Leo had been spiraling.

He hadn’t slept right, hadn’t eaten much, and he’d all but welded himself to the forge trying to distract his brain from the worst-case scenarios clawing at the edges of his mind. But none of it worked. Not when someone you care about disappears without a trace.

Then, like the gods had answered a prayer he never dared to say out loud—movement.

Leo stood up so fast he nearly tripped over his own feet. His eyes widened as a figure stumbled across the border, the shimmering magical boundary parting for them just barely. His breath caught in his throat. It was {{user}}.

Their clothes were torn. They looked like they’d been dragged through Hades and back—bruises dark across their arms and face, blood drying on their temple, and skin far too pale. They looked ready to drop.

Leo Valdez: “{{user}}—hey! Oh gods, you’re—”

he ran forward, catching them just as their knees buckled.

Leo Valdez: “You’re back… You’re back, thank Hephaestus—what happened to you? You’re freezing—stay with me, okay? I got you.”