"Come on!" she laughed, tugging at his hand. Her smile was warm in the gold light flickering through the branches of the trees.
"I'm coming!" He laughed too, his smile wide as he watches her cinnamon hair cascade around her shoulders and around the waist of her perfect white sundress. Her face was sun kissed and beautiful, a perfect smile lighting up those coffee brown almond shaped eyes.
"Come on!" she cried again the tiara of copper leaves adorning her head glinting as they emerged onto the beach.
"Where are we going?" He asked, his dark brown curls falling in his face.
"You'll see." They came to a boulder and she paused, out of breath. "Close your eyes."
"Why?" he smiled suspiciously.
"Just do it," she pouted, her perfect pink lips turning to a pout.
He did as she said, his fingers twitching nervously as he felt her strong fingers cover his face to make sure he couldn't see. He felt her body, warm with her heart beating fast, right behind him. Her eyes could barely peak over his shoulder and he knew he had grown since he last saw her.
They walked a few steps, around the boulder Leo touching the cool surface careful not to fall; that wouldn't be very impressive.
"Alright," he could hear her joyful smile. "Open 'em."
He did and saw the perfect sight. It was a picnic, complete with a red checked blanket and a basket.
"This is awesome!" He turned to her with a huge grin but her smile had faded. She was staring at him with an almost confused. "Calypso?" Leo asked.
"Leo...?" she stared at him for a moment and came closer her body only centimeters from his. Her fingers reached out for his and interlaced.
"Calypso..." Leo bit his lip, preparing to say what he had wanted to for so long.
"Yes?" she smiled gently.
"I..." He paused, his words catching in his throat. "I... I love-"
"Oh shut up," she grabbed the back of his head and kissed him.
At frost Leo tensed but then laced his arms around her waist, one of hers around his neck, the other holding onto the back of his head. He wanted to stand there forever, never pull away from her.
He smiled through the kiss but then, just as fast, she pulled away. "Calypso?" He asked.
She bit her lip and he was terrified to see tears at the corners of her eyes. Her bottom lip trembled and before he could stop her she was running down the beach, white dress flowing behind her.
Panic and fear in his heart he followed her bare foot prints along the beach until he came across the ditch in the sand. She had tripped and only a few feet away to where she had crawled she sat, hair and dress wet at the tips from the waves. Her arms on the sand and her face hidden. Sobs rocked her thin frame and she looked like a princess, lost and alone on the shores of a long forgotten beach.
"Calypso?" He knelt a bit away watching the incoming tide touch the edge of her dress, pushing it on the wet sand. "Calypso?" his voice caught. "What's wrong?"
"I miss you!" she sobbed. "I miss you!" Her face came up out of her arms, eye pink and puffy from crying. Astoundingly she still looked beautiful. "Leo Valdez..." she muttered like a spell. "Come back!" She screamed to the unforgiving waves.
"I'm right here," Leo tried to laugh but when he attempted to touch her shoulder he went right through. "Listen to me," he said, kneeling in the sand next to his beloved. "I'm right here."
"Come back..." she continued to whisper, staring at the sky, waiting for her miracle.
"I'm right here." He reached for her face, his fingers brushing the tear streaked skin.
"Leo?" She turned, reaching for his face with and outstretched hand.
The son of Hephaestus felt himself slipping. He was falling away into an oblivion. "No!" He cried, trying not to loose her face. "I'm right here!"
Leo sat up, body soaked in sweat, dark curls sticking to his freezing face.
"Calypso!" he yelled. His chest rose and fell, panic surging through his veins. His lower body was twisted through ripped and singed sheets. His shirtless upper body was freezing with the air around him but burning with passion.
He wiped the hair out of his face and untangled himself for the sheets. For a moment he sat on the edge of his bed, heart beating wildly, rubbing his eyes, trying to remove the image of her smile form behind his eyes. But it wouldn't go away.
Standing he pulled on his jacket, not bothering with his shirt and touched the water smooth fabric, woven carefully with her strong, gentle fingers. He walked from the room, bare foot wearing shorts and a jacket, but he didn't care what he looked like.
The air above the deck was cool, clean, and crisp. He breathed deeply, his heart finally coming back to a normal beat, or a normal for him.
As he opened his eyes he was almost shocked to see another human on the deck. Wind swept dark hair hid the face but from the orange tee shirt and blue clashing pajama pants Leo knew who it was.
"Having trouble sleeping?" Percy Jackson asked, sending the other person behind him.
"A bit," Leo admitted.
Percy turned a tired smile on his face. He looked newly washed like he'd been thrown about like a rag doll and then cleaned off clumsily which was almost an acurate description. "Me too," he said.
"Dreams?"
"Mostly..." Percy looked back out to the sea and Leo saw the exhaustion behind his eyes. He wasn't just physically tired. Tartarus had wiped him out, maybe forever. He admittedly was more tired since he had emerged from the darkness. "You?" It took Leo a moment to realize that Percy was asking if Leo had been having the traditional demigod nightmares.
"A bit," Leo pulled the jacket around his thin chest, blocking the cold.
"About?" Percy pried.
Leo opened his mouth but the scene came surging back, shutting his mouth and squeezing his heart. "Nothing much..." He struggled for breath.
Percy nodded, realizing that he couldn't pull it out of the skinny boy. The older of the two watched the other intently. Leo moved to the railing, staring out at the gentle waves breaking around the hull of the ship. He caught the details that before Annabeth he never would've seen.
Leo's chest rose and fell with shallow short breaths, sweat covered his skin despite the frigid night. Shaggy curly hair stuck to his scalp, a little longer than before. His limbs trembled with the lingering pain of a nightmare. But the hope trapped in his eyes said it might have been a good pain. And hidden deep down there was something familiar. It was something Percy knew well.
"So who is she?" he asked.
"What are you talking about?" Leo jumped.
"Who is she?" Percy laughed, a sound rarely heard now a days. "You can fool me?"
"How do you know?" Leo tilted his head, completely confused.
"I see that look every day when I look in a mirror. You're lost. She's the only thing on your mind and nothing can shake it away. You're in love my friend." Leo smirked and Percy grinned in triumph. "So who is she? A girl back at camp? Someone you met in back there?"
Leo shook his head, curls bouncing and shoulders slumping. "No. I met her when I got shot of the ship. When you were... gone."
The realization hit Percy like a lightning bolt from the sky. "No..." he held his head in his hands. "You didn't. Please tell me you didn't land on..."
"What are you taking about bro?"
"Calypso," Percy said it slowly watching Leo's face cautiously.
He melted. His dark eyes softened his breathing becoming slower, calmer and his position slumping into a relaxed comfort.
"Yea..." Leo smiled.
"No..." Percy put his head on the railings. "No, no, no!"
"What?" Leo shook his head, "why 'no'? She's fantastic, she's lovely and once she stopped hitting me. And..." He stopped speaking and bit his lip.
"No..." Percy caught the look. "She kissed you?"
"In all fairness she told me to say it never happened."
"Please Leo," Percy stared at him, begging him with every molecule in his being. "Whatever she's said to you, whatever experiences you've had, whatever you think you feel I beg you to forget it. I understand what you're feeling but there's nothing you can do. Just forget it."
"I can't," Leo began shifting from foot to foot, his ADD energy coursing through his veins. "She's..."
"Listen to me!" Percy shouted.
"No!" Percy was astonished to see Leo hadn't lost his temper. Her was still smiling. "Listen to me. Why did you leave her?"
"What does this have to do with-"
"Just answer," Leo rolled his eyes.
"Because I was still in the middle of a quest."
"Who were you going back to?" Leo said calmly.
"Grover, Tyson, my mother, camp everyone..." He paused. "And Annabeth."
"Why didn't you go back?"
"I couldn't!"
"Just say, for now, that you could. After your quest was finished would you go after her?"
"I might have said yes back then..." Percy smiled, turning away from Leo and his strange questions. "But now...? No. I have a life... or had one. And I could never leave Annabeth."
"But did you love her?" Leo's tone was gentle. "And don't lie."
Percy thought for a moment, the gears in his head moving almost visibly. "No. She was my friend, practically my momentary savior. But no... I didn't love her."
There was silence as Percy dreaded the words bound to come from Leo's mouth. "I do." Leo was almost completely calm as he realized it himself. The words sounded almost like a wedding vow and Percy dreaded nothing more.
"You can't. You're never going to see her again," as Percy said it he felt like he was breaking the news to someone ho should've known better. But Leo's shoulders didn't slump, he didn't shake his head, his quiet voice didn't say 'I know'. Quite the opposite happened.
"But that's just it!" Leo bounced on the balls of his heals and jumped on the railing, walking along it with great practice. "I will. Once we get back ill get Festus back together and..." He jumped to the deck almost flipping in mid air. "I'll get her back."
Percy ran his hands along his face, scraping the skin on his scalp with his finger nails. "Don't you get it!" He shouted. "You can't! There is nothing you can do!"
"But there is!" Leo shouted back, a grin still hanging to his mouth. "I can do it I know I can."
"You can't!"
"Her curse is to fall in love with everyone who comes to her island right?" Percy nodded, exasperated. "Her curse is that no one will ever love her back, Odysseus, you, and everyone else whose ever landed there!" He was still shouting, keeping Percy's attention. Leo jumped back in the railing. "She's cursed that no one will ever love her back."
"And you do...?"
Leo sat on the railing, his energy still coursing through his blood. "With evey fiber of my being." He laughed, "and for how short I am that's saying something. And I will get her back!" He cried, not just to Percy but to the open air, and probably even to the gods. "I swore on the river Styx and I will keep my promise."
Percy's face blanched. "You can't..."
Before he could continue the door to below deck creaked open and three people stood- wearing pajamas and tired expressions.
"What are you doing?" Frank asked, Annabeth at his shoulder.
"We heard shouting," Jason yawned.
"Nothing," Percy glanced back at Leo who sat, legs dangling above the ocean, smile permanently stuck to his face. "It's nothing."
Annabeth stepped forward and smiled, her hand outstretched. Percy jumped up the steps and took her hand, walking back down not giving a backward glance.
Frank rolled his eyes and grumbled something about never getting a good night's sleep.
"Leo!" Jason looked back to his friend, who sat almost completely still. "You coming?"
"Nah," he shook his head. "I'm going to stay up for a bit."
Jason headed back down a muttered goodnight shot over his shoulder.
Leo sat there for the rest of the night, watching the golden light come over the horizon and somewhere a beautiful voice singing songs with the voice of an angel.
Plot bunnies are out to dystroy my life. I can't think straight I ship Caleo so hard.
Please leave me reviews. There Won't be another chapter (sorry)
I love you all :D (happy late valentine's day btw)