Perseus Jackson sat on the small beach on the island of Ogygia, hands buried deep into the sand as he laid back, watching the waves gently brush against the coast. The mist stretched far into the horizon, blocking his view, save for the golden sun that was setting.

All was peaceful.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. The bath he had taken earlier and a change of clothes had certainly helped, but he couldn't stop his restlessness. His friends may be in trouble. After the incident at St. Helens, he was unsure whether Annabeth had made it out before all hell had broke. loose. He prayed that she had, and for Grover and Tyson.

He had no idea how long he spent here. Time was hard in Ogygia, according to Calypso.

He heard soft footsteps behind him. He opened his eyes and turned around. It was Calypso. Her auburn hair waved in the sea breeze. The golden light from the sun brightened her face. Her eyes were filled with amber, her lips curled into a soft smile. She was wearing a silver dress, changed from her casual jeans when she was gardening. Percy had never thought golden light would blend with silver, but she somehow managed to make it work.

"Dinner's ready," she said, "figured I should let you know." And with that, she briskly walked back to the cottage.

Percy watched her leave and sighed. From his estimation to watching the sun, he figured he spent about half a day, from dawn to dusk. It had been a blur, mostly with him going in and out of consciousness. Then he had woken up on a bed with a teenage girl looking at him with concern. After being told he had ended up on the magical island of Ogygia, Percy had spent the first few hours trying to get home by controlling the sea, to no avail.

Dejected, Percy sat on the surf, not wanting to talk much with Calypso. Although he knew he was being rude for not talking to her apart from the mutual introduction, he couldn't help it. He wanted to go back.

I should go and patch things up, Percy thought. He got up and walked back, already smelling the roasted chicken. His stomach groaned in hunger at this. The tantalising smells of dinner increased his pace.

The door was open. He stepped in and was greeted by the sight of dishes floating in the air, carried to the mahogany table where Calypso was seated.

"Woah, what are these?" Percy took a step back, slightly startled.

"They're my invisible servants," Calypso replied, smiling at his bewilderment, "They keep me company."

Percy saw some sadness in her eyes, as though that statement was contradictory to her actual thoughts. He wondered why she was all alone on her island. He didn't have the chance to ask her when he had landed here, with him drifting in and out of consciousness.

Taking his place, he stared at his silverware for a moment to contemplate his following words. "Sorry for earlier," he broke the awkward silence, "for...you know."

He didn't dare meet her eyes, whether it was because of his embarrassment or her intimidation or her beauty.

"It's okay," he heard Calypso reply. "I understand how worried you are for your friends."

"How did you know?" Percy asked, surprised. He didn't recall telling her about that.

"You talk in your sleep." Calypso responded, then her expression became questioning. "Who's Annabeth?"

Percy's face became red. "She's...um, just a friend." He flashed back to when Annabeth had kissed him. His lips tingled at the memory.

Calypso seemed to detect his undertone of not wanting to talk about it. Thankfully, she dropped the subject.

"Well, I know you're really confused about all of this, so ask away. You probably have a lot of questions." Calypso took a bite of her chicken.

Percy laid back on his chair, taking a deep breath before saying, "Where's Ogygia? Why are you alone here? Why can I not go back?"

Calypso swallowed her food and said, "First of all, Ogygia is a magical island where I was born. You can't go back because of its magic. I'm alone because as much of a home it is to me, it is also my prison. Being a child of Atlas, after the Titan War, I was sentenced to a lifetime on this island."

"What?" Percy said incredulously. "That's not fair! I knew a child of Atlas as well, she wasn't punished."

"But I supported the Titans in the war, you see."

Percy sat there in slight shock from registering her words. "Why would you do that? They're evil!"

"Really, Percy? All of them are evil, all the time? Tell me this, in all honesty: Why do you support your father, is it because he is a good person, or because he is your father?"

Percy bit back a retort. Calypso took that as his answer.

"Exactly. The gods are not good rulers, quite the contrary, yet you still support your father because of the blood you both share."

Unable to think of a response, Percy put a spoonful of food in his mouth. The two finished the rest of their meal in silence.

Two days. At least that's what it felt like to him. He hoped time here was the same as time in the rest of the world, unlike the Labyrinth.

His hope for leaving this place was dwindling. Repeatedly he'd asked Calypso on how to return, but he'd never gotten a straight answer. He had a gut feeling that there was a way out, yet she was reluctant to tell him. What her reasons were for not doing so were still unknown to him.

Despite all this, he still liked the island. It was the only island he'd ever visited free from pollution. As the son of Poseidon, he could appreciate this. The beach had sand that sparkled like crystals, and the foliage was lush green with no hint of destruction. The ocean was a deep hue of marine, reaching out into the horizon where it was then obscured by the rolling mist.

The sounds of nature were as pleasant as its views. The brushing of waves against the sand, the chirping of nightingales in the trees, the whispers of the wind.

He looked up and saw the sun hanging at a certain angle he'd begun to memorise already. Time for lunch.

Getting up, he headed for the cottage. However, he did not find a meal already placed at the table, instead seeing Calypso standing at the kitchen, cooking. She turned her head as he stepped in and gave a nod of acknowledgement, since her hands were preparing some meat.

"Don't your invisible servants do the cooking?" Percy asked curiously.

"Yeah, but sometimes I'd rather do it myself," she replied. Then she washed one of her hands, reached up and grabbed a carrot, looking at him in amusement. "Do you know how to chop one of these?"

"Uh..." Truth be told, he'd never cooked before. Meals at camp were always prepared by the harpies, and when he stayed at his mom's, he had never came home before dinner to help cook, since school always ended late. Usually he'd just help set the table.

Calypso's eyes danced with mirth. "I'll take that as a no. Come here, I'll teach you."

Face flushing with embarrassment, he walked there and took the carrot and stood there like an idiot. She looked close to bursting into laughter. "You need a knife to cut it."

"Right," he muttered, grabbing a knife nearby.

"Wash it first," she ordered.

"Which one?"

"Both!"

After complying with her orders, Percy put the carrot on the chopping board and held the knife with his right hand. Before the carrot could fly if he were to press down, as Calypso could clearly predict, she stopped him and sighed, though her lips were pressed together in a poor attempt to hide her laughter.

"You're really new to this. Here, I'll teach you," she said. She guided Percy's left hand to hold down the carrot, and his right to chop it into segments. "Just move your fingers as you chop," she instructed. Percy nodded.

Finally, he was done. He looked at her for further orders, but none came. "Nice, though your slices are a bit thick. Oh well, it'll have to do." Percy smartly stepped back and let her finish. His hands still tingled from where Calypso's soft hands had touched.

After lunch, where there had not been much conversation - Percy didn't feel like bringing the dodgy subject since helping to cook, he lounged on the beach for a while before becoming bored and walking back to the house, and to his surprise, Calypso wasn't here.

Instead, she was in the backyard, gardening. Percy's head peeked from around the corner. Calypso saw him and waved, her hand caked with fresh dirt.

She took a look at his expression and grinned. "I take it you're not a fan of gardening either?"

Percy shook his head. "No, it's just that...my mom keeps a garden, but we lived in an apartment, so there wasn't much space to hold a garden this big."

"What's an...apartment?" Calypso asked, clearly confused.

Percy mentally slapped himself. Of course she wouldn't know what an apartment was, she hasn't seen the outside world in forever.

"Um...it's like a house but taller and with more rooms, each one for a different owner." He explained it as best as he could.

Calypso slowly nodded, like she understood. "I see." She was quiet for a while before she added, "Seems like I missed a lot while I was here."

Percy bit his lip, unsure of what to say to break the awkwardness.

"So what plants do you like to grow?" He changed the subject.

She shrugged. "Carrots, potatoes, strawberries, flowers of various kinds..."

"How about that one you're planting now?" He pointed at the seeds that were placed in the hole, about to be buried. The seeds definitely did not look like they came from your local supermarket. They were marine blue and black blended together with spots of yellow that glowed in the tiny pit.

"Oh, this? That's moonlace, it's one of my favourite plants, because it blooms at night. I like to look at it every night when I'm thinking -" she abruptly stopped, her face flustered.

"When?"

"Nothing." She turned back to her gardening. "I shouldn't have said so much."

Percy watched her take her shovel. Scooping a mound of dirt, she covered the seeds until he could no longer see it, although he felt like he could.

He dropped the subject.

It was dinner time. The two were seated at the table, just like they had for the past two days.

Conversation was kept to a bare minimum, and Percy felt like it was due to the earlier talk they had in the garden. What was she going to say? It was the question he wanted to know the answer to, yet he felt like he should know, or he already knew but he couldn't get it.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "What's going on?" He blurted out suddenly.

She looked up from her meal. "What?"

"What is really happening? Why can't I go back? What is it you're not telling me?"

Calypso studied her fork for a while, as though contemplating an answer. "I've been here for as long as I could remember, Percy. I haven't heard of the mortal world in forever. Yes, the gods do visit from time to time, but even then, their visits are never frequent, perhaps once every two hundred years. I've yet to hear about "apartments" and whatever things that have changed since..."

She exhaled. "My point is, I spent everyday looking at the same scenery. The same sun rising and setting. The same stars twinkling in the dark sky. The same flowers, same house, same room, same bed, same food, same activities I have done, again and again, for as long as my memory stretches. It's almost enough to shatter anyone's mind."

"And as if..." A tear slid from her eye. "As if that weren't punishment enough, The Fates send heroes like you here. Odysseus, Drake, and now you."

"Sorry, if you don't like my company." He meekly said. He was at a loss at what to do, not expecting her to get so emotional.

She looked at him in mortification. "Oh no, that's not what I meant. You're great company. It's just that...The Fates send me heroes that I just can't...I can't help but fall in love with."

There was a silence as fragile as glass. "Me?" Percy asked.

She smiled through watery eyes. "Yes, you. They come and they leave. They stay because they are stuck here. Only when I have truly loved them, the raft appears."

Just as she said those words, Percy looked out of the window, and sure enough, he saw a wooden raft rippling on the water, docked to the beach by a rope. He was rather sure it wasn't there just moments ago. It didn't even look magical: just a normal raft made out of wood, tied together by rope and a white flag whipping in the sea breeze.

"So...I can go home?" Percy tentatively asked.

Calypso looked at him for moments, her irises burying deep into his, then she shut her eyes as more tears spilled. She nodded.

His mouth was hanging open, unsure of what to say, or what to think. He could go home, but seeing Calypso in this state...he stood rooted to the ground.

"Just go," he heard Calypso say. She still wasn't looking at him.

"I..."

A flash of light startled the both of them. Hephaestus appeared, dressed in the same attire Percy last saw him in his workshop.

"Hephaestus," Calypso greeted him, wiping her tears with her napkin. The god grunted at her, "Calypso, good to see you." He didn't ask why Calypso was crying, thankfully.

He turned to face Percy, who greeted him with a courteous nod.

"We need to have a talk, if you wouldn't mind." Hephaestus gave a meaningful look at Calypso, who bowed in understanding and took her leave. Percy shifted his gaze from her to the bearded man.

"You're in a lot of trouble, lad." Hephaestus projected a vision of a news report that seemed to be live. It displayed Mt St. Helens in a bad state. Lava was spelling from its peak, smog spewing into the sky which had now turned grey. The smoke choked the clouds, black snow raining upon the nearby city.

"The unexplainable eruption of Mt St. Helens has startled Washington. The government has ordered a mass evacuation of the city until the eruption has stopped. So far, no lives have been lost, although millions are leaving as we speak." The reporter said.

Percy stared at the projection in shock. What had he done?

"You caused a big disturbance. The city isn't the problem. It's what St. Helens is protecting that is."

"Typhon." Percy said.

"Aye. It took us ages to defeat him. If this caused enough of a disturbance to wake this ancient terror, it will be the turning point of this war, the war that's about to begin soon."

"What about my friends?" Percy asked frantically. "Annabeth? Grover? Tyson?"

Hephaestus stroked his beard. "They made it out, thankfully. The Labyrinth helped them for once. No idea why that would happen, but you're not complaining."

Percy exhaled a shaky breath. "That's good."

He shook his head. "No, it's not good. The reason why I came here is to warn you. It's quite apparent everyone in Olympus has heard about the incident. Zeus is beyond angry. He's taken your actions as treason against Olympus, for attempting to wake Typhon."

"What?" Percy shouted. "That's insane! Why would he think I'm a traitor?"

"That's what everyone is thinking. You have to see his perspective. You're one of the Big Three's kids. You have the power to reduce Olympus to rubble, from the Ophiotaurus to the Great Prophecy. He thinks you've went over to the other side to seize this power."

"Then he's an idiot." Percy argued hotly.

"I'll admit, part of his reasoning, though he won't say it, is that he wants you dead. He'd rather kill you off somehow so the prophecy is never fulfilled. Ironic, since he had a daughter too, but that's beside the point. However, he's not the only one. Ares and a few others are half convinced. A war within the Olympians is occurring as we speak. Which is why I came here. If you go back, there won't be a chance of surviving a minute there."

There was a silence. "So you're saying...I have to stay."

Hephaestus nodded. "Until we sort this out. I'm on your side, just so you know. You're a good kid. I can always appreciate a demigod that fought Ares and won." He gave a scruffy smile.

"But what about my friends?"

Hephaestus looked at Percy with a sort of sympathy. "You'll have to fake your death. It'll throw Zeus off the trail for a bit. I doubt he'll visit Ogygia to find you. Probably forgot about it for all Hades knows."

Percy leaned back on his chair in defeat. "Alright, I'll stay, but can I see the situation from time to time, like watching the news?"

"You'll have to ask Calypso for that." He replied. "Speaking of her, you should tell all this to her."

Percy could already envision that conversation. Gods, how awkward would it be to live with her for gods knows when?

"Alright," Percy finally said, "Thank you for everything, Lord Hephaestus."

Hephaestus grunted. "My pleasure. All the best to you." Percy looked away as he transformed into his true form. And he was gone.

Percy took a deep breath. He walked to Calypso's room, heart pounding in his chest.

Hi, this is my new story of a Perlypso.