If anything like what Leo thought had happened under the Parthenon had happened, he understood why (y/n) didn't want to talk about it.
They walked in silence, stair after stair after stair after stair, occasionally stopping for (y/n) to rest. Twice, she had collapsed and would have fallen down the endless spiral if Leo hadn't caught her.
It was hard, seeing her like this. Walking with her head down, stumbling with every step.
At long last, Leo saw a glimmer of sunshine through the crack in the Parthenon's steps.
"Look, Bubbles." He said to her. "We're almost there." (Y/n) blinked as the sunshine hit her eyes.
Leo hit the ceiling and the crack widened. It seemed smaller than last time, or maybe it was just hard to help (y/n) through.
On the dirt and grass, (y/n) laid down and laughed.
"I thought I was never getting out of there." She smiled for what must have been the first time in four and a half days.
A voice echoed from somewhere nearby.
"Did you hear that? That laugh?"
"Was it her?" Feet broke into a run and seven worried faces burst into view.
"(Y/n)!" Percy yelled, bolting for his sister and wrapping her in his arms.
"Ow, ribs!" She squealed. Percy loosened his grip, standing up, still hugging her.
"I knew you could do it, Valdez," Annabeth said, approaching Leo.
"Thanks."
"So, what happened? We've been looking for you two forever!" Piper exclaimed. Leo retold his story to the rest of the quest members.
"So you defeated Gaea again?" Jason laughed. "I need to step up my game."
"I would've liked to give her a piece of my mind," Percy grumbled.
"Couldn't have done it with out (y/n)," Leo said.
Percy pulled (y/n) into a hug again. Over her shoulder, Percy locked his sea green eyes with Leo's and mouthed a few words: Thank you. Leo nodded in response. That's when he noticed the tears in Percy's eyes.
Percy Jackson, the two-time Hero of Olympus, was crying.
Before anyone else could see, Percy let go of his sister and quickly wiped his eyes.
"Come on," Hazel said, guiding (y/n) along. "Let's go home."
As they began their way back to the Argo III, Percy approached Leo.
"What happened down there?" He asked. Leo shook his head.
"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me. But my guess it pretty awful."
"What is it?"
"She was in an arena, with a couple of piles of monster dust."
"Oh gods." Whispered Percy. "Do you think...?"
"Yeah. I think she had a good old-fashioned fight to the death battle."