The Return of Leo Valdez (After Blood of Olympus)

11- Nyssa

Annabeth's head rested on Nyssa's shoulder and her tears splattered on Nyssa's clothes.

"He was amazing," Annabeth said in between sniffles. "But I always knew something was wrong."

I patted her head. "I know Annabeth."

"He saved the world," she said. "He was like a brother to me."

Nyssa was quiet for a while. He was my brother, she thought. And I barely knew anything about him.

All Nyssa could do was nod.

"Annabeth!" A voice yelled from behind them.

Annabeth turned around. "Percy?" She said.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked running to Annabeth.

Nyssa sat on the sand as Percy and Annabeth ran towards each other.

The situation was getting really awkward so Nyssa just stood up and began walking away.

"Nyssa!" Annabeth called from behind her. "Thank you."

All Nyssa could do was nod.

When she got back to the cabin she plopped on the bed, the one below where Harley's was.

"Hey Nyssa," Jake Mason said. "What's wrong? Your eyes are red."

Nyssa sat up. "Nothing."

Shane turned around. "No something is wrong."

Then Shane's pale face dropped, his green eyes grew sad. "It's Leo."

Nyssa nodded. Her brother began surrounding her each giving her hugs and mourning.

Everyone began to start crying. The Hephaestus kids were known to be tough, but even the toughest man in the world have feelings.

"It's okay," Jake said. "He saved us. He lived up to his job as a child of Hephaestus. He's not just a hero of the world, he was the avenger of Hephaestus. He brought our father back to his glory days."

This didn't help Nyssa feel better. I knew he was trying to make her feel better, but this was something she would never get over.

"It's okay," everyone said patting her on the back.

"I appreciate the help," Nyssa said. "But I'm just can't accept he's dead...I mean really gone. Not like the ones in story books, like he's really dead. I barely knew him, but he's still really important to me."

"Nyssa," Shane said sitting down next to me. "Even if he's gone, he's in Elysium. He's happy now, trust me."

"It just seems so unreal that he's gone," Nyssa said furrowing her eyebrows. "You felt a change in the air when he arrived didn't you?"

The campers nodded.

"Leo was different than us," Nyssa said with a straight face. "He could have lived. If he could wield fire, then what else could he do? What else could all of us do?"

The cabin nodded in agreement. Nyssa began to see another side of his death. This wasn't something to mourn over, it was something to learn and push forward from.

"Sure we aren't invincible, but we are heroes and that makes us special! Leo isn't dead, and don't deny it, we all know he isn't," Nyssa yelled.

The cabin nodded in agreement.

"We can find Leo Valdez! We can do anything!" Nyssa hollered. She felt like she was in the middle of a prep talk. "We can brake the curse! We can build anything! So come on! To the forge! We're finding the conquer of Gaea! And we ain't stopping!"

The cabin cheered. Nyssa got them out of their slump. They were ready to work, they were ready to find their brother.