A/N: One day my sister and I were just wondering what would happen if Annabeth and Calypso met...so here's the best possible scenario I could come up with. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Just before the school year began, the Chase family took a trip to the seaside. Annabeth stood in the shallows, salt water lapping at her ankles. Thoughts of Percy started to pop into her mind. But she pushed them away. She didn't want to think about anything that had happened that summer, yet. Still, it was hard since she was right in the domain of Poseidon.
Sighing, Annabeth waded farther into the ocean. She'd already made a sand city complete with roads, arches, and even a dam that blocked a small channel of ocean water from flooding the metropolis. There were only a couple hours until they left, and she'd been sitting under the hot sun all day. A quick dip won't matter, she decided. I just need to cool off, that's all.
Annabeth dove down and submerged herself in the ice cold Pacific. She swam a little ways and then came up for air. Immediately, she realized something was wrong.
She heard the faint yells of her stepmom and dad as they tried to make her come back. But it was too late. The giant whirlpool had already begun sucking her in. Before Annabeth could shout anything, she was sucked out to sea hundreds of miles away. I'd like to see Percy one more time. She didn't even have time to wonder how that thought got through before she went unconscious.
Calypso was enjoying a quiet walk on the beach of her small island when she glimpsed something floating towards her. Not another hero, she thought, her heart twisting painfully. Since Percy Jackson had left, many others of his kind had been washing up lately. The Fates were even crueler than usual. The war was definitely coming nearer; in the oceans, it was already beginning. Just this morning she had sent another handsome young man on his way, never to return. Calypso squinted at the approaching figure. This hero was a girl.
Brushing some of her caramel hair from her eyes, Calypso walked to the very edge of the shoreline, where the sand met the sea, but could go no farther. The girl with golden-blond hair clutched a plank that was barely keeping her afloat. Waves gently pushed the unconscious victim to Calypso's feet.
Calypso picked up her latest visitor and gently carried the latter up to her home.
Annabeth woke up sometime later. She was in a dimly lit room with scented candles flickering in the darkest corners. A girl with olive skin and brown hair sat beside her, gazing out the window at the full moon, singing softly.
"Uh…ah…" Annabeth managed to utter these sophisticated words before she began coughing like crazy as seawater spewed out of her lungs.
Calypso immediately turned and handed her patient a glass of nectar from a nearby table. "Drink slowly, not too much," she instructed.
Annabeth did as she was told, feeling better after a few sips. "Where am I?" She managed to get out.
"Ogygia," the gentle girl replied, for what seemed like the millionth time in the last two months. Or was it two years? Minutes? It was hard to tell in this timeless place. For all she knew, another millennium could have gone by.
Annabeth blinked in recognition. "You mean you're Calypso?"
"Yes," Calypso replied, startled that her visitor knew her.
"So you know Percy," Annabeth continued. She winced, wishing she hadn't said that aloud. Hopefully her face was hidden in the semidarkness.
"Percy Jackson? Yes, I know him. Are you his friend?" Calypso replied carefully. She'd seen the wince.
"Yeah. I'm his friend," Annabeth repeated, as if to confirm it. She got up from the cot and hopped to the floor. "Well, thanks for saving me from certain death by drowning. I'll be going now."
"Wait! You're not healed yet," Calypso grabbed Annabeth's shoulder. For such a thin girl, Atlas' daughter was strong and caught her patient by surprise. Annabeth stopped groping for the door.
A fragment of memory from Percy's stay reminded Calypso of the question she had asked him one morning, from his sleep talking. "Annabeth?" Calypso guessed.
The other girl stiffened. "How do you know my name?"
"You talk in your sleep," was the first explanation Calypso came up with. It was true—Annabeth just hadn't said her name. A lot about something called the Hoover Dam, though. But who would name a dam Hoover? It was simply absurd.
Annabeth frowned. "Hm. No one ever told me that before."
"It's not that important," her caretaker said quickly, guiding Annabeth back to her bed. "You should rest. Don't get up until at least daybreak."
"Okay, okay." After grumbling a bit, Annabeth eventually fell into deep slumber. Calypso suppressed a sigh as she continued to heal Annabeth by singing. For some reason, she felt that Annabeth wouldn't like her very much. But she'd do her best to change that. And if nothing happened, her visitor would be off soon, anyway. How odd that the Fates sent me this one, Calypso thought absentmindedly.
Breakfast was eaten in silence. Annabeth wanted to go away as soon as possible, and Calypso just respected the apparent need for quiet.
Annabeth couldn't help but gaze around at her surroundings. "Nice place," she finally admitted as the ever present (but never seen) servants collected the last of the platters.
"Yes. I guess you could call it 'paradise'," Calypso agreed.
Annabeth cleared her throat. "I'll be going now." Then she coughed again, her throat raw from salt water scratching it.
Her host frowned. "I think you'll need to stay at least another day. My singing can't heal inside injuries, like sore throats. I just managed to extract the last of the excess water in your body last night." She handed Annabeth another glass of nectar, which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Annabeth drank from the cup, letting the liquid of the gods soothe her inflamed esophagus.
"Well," Calypso said decisively, getting up from her seat, "I'll be in the garden if you need me. Feel free to wander around."
Annabeth was going to ask where the garden was when she saw the expanse of vegetation all around the island. By the time she turned around, Calypso had disappeared among the rows of grapes and honeysuckle.
After exploring the island, Annabeth thought, just maybe, that she could understand how Percy had stayed here for two whole weeks. It was a beautiful location, with birds singing charmingly in the treetops and sweet scents wafting from the gardens.
Evening came, but Annabeth didn't feel hungry, so she didn't go back for dinner. Calypso didn't come looking for her, either. Calypso didn't mind; she might as well eat alone, anyway, remembering Annabeth's eloquent statement of six words at breakfast.
Later, the two girls met up by chance near the moonlace patch. Annabeth reluctantly helped Calypso plant more of the delicate plants with the round moon giving off its mystical light.
Calypso hesitated a bit, and then held out a young shoot of moonlace tentatively. "Would you give this to…um…Percy?"
Suddenly, it hit Annabeth. Here in the moonlight, Calypso did look exceptionally pretty…irresistible to any guy. Including—
Seeing the look on Annabeth's face, Calypso amended quickly, "We were pretty good acquaintances—he seemed to enjoy his time here, so I just wanted to give him a keepsake." She tried to keep the sadness out of her voice.
With a stony expression, Annabeth plucked the fragile plant from Calypso's fingers a little too hard. The broken blossom fluttered to the ground between the two girls' feet.
"Oh. That's unfortunate. It's okay, just forget it." Calypso turned her head so Annabeth wouldn't see that she was crestfallen. It dawned on the permanent Ogygia inhabitant that Annabeth and Percy probably had something going on even before Percy had fallen out of the sky and into the ocean. That would explain why Annabeth had been avoiding her all day. Percy must have been talking about her. The brown-haired girl couldn't help smiling the slightest bit at that thought.
Calypso walked away, under the pretense that she was tending to other plants in the middle of the night like any other normal person would do. But she just wanted to get away from her somewhat hostile guest. Calypso was looking forward to daybreak, when the raft would take Annabeth away forever; and this time, Calypso wouldn't regret the eternal absence of a hero from her immortal life.
Annabeth remained by the moonlace patch, staring at the torn flower. She'd wondered why Percy seemed so distant every time he talked about Ogygia. Even with his horrible burns from the lava, there was no way he would need two weeks to heal wth Calypso's magical singing ability. And he gets mad at me for still having feelings for Luke. Annabeth winced at the thought of the guy who'd traveled the country with her for two years.
And it was obvious that Calypso liked Percy too. Why else would she want him to remember her? Annabeth was getting pretty angry at Percy. Then a small voice inside her head pointed out: at least he left in the end.
Annabeth took a look at her current environment one more time. She reluctantly accepted to her inner self that paradise was definitely hard to leave behind, even if it took two weeks to do it. And add a beautiful girl…Annabeth shook her head, not wanting to think about Calypso.
At the end of a sleepless night on the beach, Annabeth Chase came to one decision: when she next met Percy Jackson, she'd tell him that, just maybe, she'd forgive him for letting her think he was dead for two whole weeks while he took a fourteen-day vacation in paradise. She walked towards the cove where her ride would be waiting, the sun peeking over the horizon.
Calypso was waiting by the raft when Annabeth arrived, a linen bag in her hand. "Breakfast," the olive-skinned girl explained. Her guest had missed mealtime again. "Is your throat okay?"
Annabeth nodded. To tell the truth, it still throbbed a bit, but she wanted to get away as soon as possible. Just once, she'd be able to resist paradise.
"Well," Calypso said with a small smile on her face, "Tell the raft to go to the Golden Gate Bridge. I believe a certain hero is looking all over for you. Although it's only been two 'days' here, you've been missing for a week in the 'real' world."
"You mean Percy's looking for me?" Annabeth's throat suddenly felt much better.
Calypso nodded. "Hermes visited me today and told me. You'd better hurry before he wanders farther than that. Even if he's the son of the sea god, dangers lurk at every corner; much more than he can handle."
Annabeth paused. "Listen, sorry about last night. Um, if you want…I guess I could give him that moon plant."
Calypso shook her head. "You can't take one while the sun is shining. That's okay. He might as well forget me."
Annabeth pursed her lips as she looked around. "You like gardens, right? I'll tell him to plant one."
Calypso looked startled. "You don't have to…"
"Look, you made him comfortable in those two weeks. He needed the break, I guess. I suppose I'll have to thank you for that. Besides, a garden is great for—uh—bonding, and such, so it'd be a good experience for all of us."
"Alright," Calypso replied, not daring to tell Annabeth that Percy had already promised that. Oh well. If Annabeth became mad at her again, no matter how hard she might search, she'd never come upon Ogygia another time.
"Um, see you." Annabeth stepped on the raft a bit awkwardly, but it straightened itself out under her.
"I'm afraid not," Calypso corrected. "How about 'farewell'?"
"Okay then; farewell." With this final statement, the raft left the cove and Annabeth sailed out of sight, waving the slightest bit. Calypso waved back, not as shyly, thinking that perhaps she might miss this hero a little bit after all.
Well, how'd you like it? Good? Bad? What? Suggestions welcome!