I do not own either the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series.
Leo Valdez travelled half way around the world, took on some of the Olympians most dangerous adversaries, travelled all the way back to Camp Half-Blood, defeated Gaea, one of the primordial goddesses that created the entire Earth, died, came back to life, and returned to an island which was said to be impossible to reach by a person who had already visited it once befor.
For Calypso.
In short he had done a lot (Understatement of the year). So, you could excuse him if he was currently throwing a hissy fit.
He and Calypso had flown straight outwards for five days and still weren't able to cross the barriers surrounding the island. Currently they were back on the Ogygia, planning their next course of action. And by planning, they meant that Calypso was staring dejectedly at the setting sun while Leo was pacing left and right, accomplishing nothing, while muttering angrily to the ground.
"Leo, calm down. It doesn't matter if I can't leave. I'm just happy you could come back here."
Leo glanced at his immortal girlfriend and snorted. If she was happy, she was doing a really crappy job of expressing it. She looked like tears would flow any moment now. He wanted to comment, but he decided against doing anything. He went back to cursing the ground.
As if reading Leo's thoughts, Calypso scowled. "If you aren't going to do anything right now, I'm leaving. If you want me, I'll be in the cave."
With that, Calypso stormed off, leaving Leo to mull over his thoughts. Leo stared at Calypso's retreating figure. Somehow, even after all he had done, Leo still ended up as the bad guy. He would never ever understand girls.
Sighing, Leo plopped himself down onto the sand and stared at the setting sun, just as Calypso was a few moments earlier. His thoughts were flying all over the place. He was angry, even after all he had been through, his wish still wasn't fulfilled. He had saves the fricking WORLD, and yet the gods didn't bother to lower the barriers surrounding Ogygia. Currently, multiple Spanish swear words were used to describe the Olympians in his head.
Sadly, his colourful commentary was interrupted when he heard someone clear his or her throat behind him. His head whipped around to see who it was. There Hephaestus stood, smiling sheepishly at his son.
"Hello son."
Leo pulled out a spanner, a big one, and flung it at the god. On connecting with target's forehead, said target yelped. Leo felt a small twinge of satisfaction course through his body. When the saviour of the planet throws something at you, you are supposed to yelp.
"What was that for?" cried an outraged Hephaestus, rubbing his sore noggin. "You could have killed me!"
"Dad." Leo deadpanned."You are immortal. You can't die."
Hephaestus waved his free hand dismissively. "Details details. I came here to give a bit of advice to you."
Leo breathed in deeply, to control the urge to pummel his father. "I saved the entire world. And my reward is a bit of advice?"
Hephaestus looked a bit guilty, but continued nonetheless. "I know you want to leave here with Calypso. I cannot lower the barriers around it, but I can give you an idea on how to escape." He paused to watch Leo's reaction. Leo had calmed down a bit, and was now regarding Hephaestus with narrowed eyes. The god continued. "A strong magic keeps the borders up around this island. It may be powerful, but it is magic nonetheless. It cannot think for itself. It has to follow a specific set of rules at all times. Do you know what rules the barriers follow?"
"Yeah. No man can find Ogygia twice in his life and Calypso cannot cross the boundaries."
"Very good." The god said approvingly. "Now tell me, how did you get here?"
Leo frowned. Where was Hephaestus going with this? "The rules said that no man can find Ogygia twice in his lifetime. So after I died, I had Festus get me here. He isn't exactly a man, and I was already dead. So technically, I never found the island the second time. I came back to life after Festus reached here. So the rules weren't broken and I still reached here."
By this point, Hephaestus was sporting a proud smile. "Well done. Now could you shorten that entire explanation for me? What did you do to get here?"
"I told you, I was dead whe-"
"I do not want the details. I just want to know how you got here. What did you do to get here?"
By now, Leo's frown could not get any deeper. But it wasn't due to being upset. He was thinking. Hard. He knew that Hephaestus was trying to make him see something that wasn't there before. No, Hephaestus was trying to make him see something that was there all along, but was hidden before. A small part of his brain was dramatically protesting the interrogation.
I am not being interrogated!
Unbidden, his thoughts went from interrogation, to police, to criminals, to courtrooms, to lawyers, to legal documents, to-
"...loopholes..." he whispered. Leo's eyes were now wide open staring at his father who was sporting a large smile. Leo swallowed before repeating.
"Loopholes... I found a loophole, and I used it."
Hephaestus was now giving a loud belly chuckle. "Yes. You found a loophole. That is the weakness of all magic. If you can find the loophole in the rules the magic is following, you can render it useless as long as you follow its rules. You did not break the first clause of the rules when Festus tried to get you here, and so the barriers did not affect him. If you use a similar method, it is possible to get Calypso out."
"So..." the gears in Leo's mind were spinning furiously. "...if I can get Calypso out of the border without her crossing them, then she can be free?" His was ecstatic for a few moments, but then his face dropped again. "How am I supposed to do that?"
Hephaestus shook his head. "I cannot tell you how. That is something you must figure out on your own. Just make sure you don't to anything you may regret later on. I must leave soon, but before I go, I have something for you."
Hephaestus pulled out a laptop from one of his own pouches that were wrapped around his fearsome belly, and gave it to Leo.
"I took the liberty of making a copy of Daedalus's laptop for you. It could help you with your current project. All I ask is that, you don't show Annabeth that. She is still searching for the person who had borrowed it from her for a few days."
Now all thoughts of escaping the island escaped from Leo's head as he stared wordlessly at Hephaestus.
"You stole Annabeth's laptop?!" Leo was now waving his left arm about hysterically. His right was wrapped around the laptop as he held the veritable goldmine of information close to his chest.
Hephaestus looked insulted. "I did not 'steal' the laptop. I asked Athena for permission first."
Leo took a huge sigh of relief.
"Then I asked Hermes to steal it."
Leo looked shocked once again. Hephaestus gave yet another loud chuckle and smiled fondly at Leo.
"You may get your gift for tinkering from me, but you got your mind from your mother. She was brilliant when it came to finding solutions to any problems. I bet that she could even be smarter than one of Athena's children, but don't tell them I said that." Leo grinned at that comment and Hephaestus mirrored that smile. The he started glowing faintly. Leo looked away before his retinas could be burnt. With a soundless flash, Hephaestus disappeared.
Leo looked down at the laptop. On its surface was a large triangular symbol. The Greek alphabet delta. Below that was a short note, taped to the laptop.
Make your mother proud. –H
Leo looked back at the sun, as it slowly descended. His will grew stronger. He would complete this task.
For Calypso.
Leo took off running towards the cave.
.
"So what are we supposed to do with that?"
The two of them were in Calypso's room, on the bed. The bed was made for a single person, but the two of them, both being small in stature, could easily fit on it. Both occupants were lying on their belly putting their weight on their elbows as they arched their backs to get a good view of the laptop's screen. Leo was busy searching for certain documents, while Calypso looked on, mildly confused.
"Have you ever heard of Daedalus?" Leo asked exasperatedly. Calyspo's eyebrows furrowed.
"Hermes might have mentioned that name a few centuries back, but I'm not sure. Why, what did he do?"
Leo frowned for bit. Searching for one of Daedalus's first creations was taking an awful lot of time. That was supposed to be expected, as the dude literally had centuries of free time. Leo nearly groaned in frustration. Daedalus was supposed to be a genius. Couldn't he had installed a 'search by name' button?
"Daedalus was the dude who made this thing called the Labyrinth. It was a sort-of maze, but the distance travelled inside the maze was not in keeping with the distance on earth. Like a person could walk for a few minutes inside the maze could end up travelling more than a thousand miles on the surface."
Calypso frowned again. "So what does that have to do with escaping Ogygia?"
Leo continued searching for the files on the Labyrinth while explaining. "This may get a bit technical, so bear with me. The fact that one could travel a thousand kilometres by just walking for a few moments inside the maze shows that you don't really pass through the space between the two points, but somehow the maze, using a combination of technology and magic, can bring the two points closer together and you can travel that shortened distance."
Calypso continued staring at Leo . Leo rolled his eyes, sat up and pulled out a paper and a pen. Placing the paper on the bed, he drew to black dots on the two opposite corners of the paper. He then proceeded to draw a circle around one of the dots and held up the paper to Calypso.
"Imagine that this paper is the world. We are here." He pointed to the circled dot. "This is the barrier around Ogygia." He pointed to the circle. "We want to get here." He now pointed to the other dot. "The labyrinth, if we can navigate it correctly, can bring both these points together," Leo now folded the paper in such a way that one point was over the other. "so we don't have to travel the entire distance between them, but we can directly reach our destination by using the Labyrinth." He now folded a single corner outward, so that the two points that were previously inside the fold were now visible. Part of the circle around the first point was still hidden by the fold.
Leo now drew a line from one point to the other, without cutting the original circle. He then opened the paper to show that the original 'border' of their origin was still not cut through. The Latino was now sporting a thousand watt grin. "This way we can get out of here, without crossing the borders of Ogygia. That way, we aren't breaking any rules."
Calypso was staring wide-eyed as comprehension slowly dawned upon her. She still didn't understand the details but she understood what it meant. The goddess suddenly lashed out and grabbed Leo in a hug.
"We can get out of here."she whispered
Tears of happiness were now slowly dripping down her cheeks as she buried her face in the crook of Leo's neck. After years and years of solitude and heartbreak, she finally found someone who not only came back for her, but also found a way to let her escape her prison. She could finally be free. She did not know how to pay Leo back. This freedom, this gift, he was giving her was priceless. There was no possible was for her to return this favour. All she could do was hug him tighter as the sobs grew louder. All Leo did was hug her back.
"Leo?" she whispered softly.
"Yeah?"
"Can you promise me something?"
She felt him nod slowly.
"When we get back can we build Leo's and Calypso's Garage?"
The hand that was stroking her hair softly stopped.
"Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters?" he asked, almost tentatively.
She nodded, smiling a bit. "Fresh fruits and vegetables."
She could now feel him smiling too. "Lemonade and stew."
She laughed. It was a half choked sound, yet it fully conveyed the enormous amount of happiness she was feeling. It was absurd at how easily they could remember a conversation that seemed to have happened a lifetime ago, yet they did. They stayed silent for a few more moments, until-.
"You are horrible at Origami."
Leo laughed. "Hush. We're having a moment."
.
Leo walked down the corridors of the Labyrinth, tightly holding Calypso's hand. Their hard work had finally paid off. The rebuilt Labyrinth was finally completed. The walked forward, looking around and the dark tunnels. The Labyrinth was a rush-job, and so they didn't have the time to make the murals and the paintings the original Labyrinth had, but it worked. Right now, it appeared much like a dry sewer, with much less filth. A dim light lit the tunnels, its source, unidentifiable. Leo had Festus morphed back into his suitcase form, so that the dragon could fit inside, and Leo was currently dragging the automaton with his free hand.
Calypso lad Leo forward, even though Leo could just as easily navigate the maze. The years spent making the maze were tiring, but worthwhile. Their bodies had remained unchanged for the 43 years they spent making the Labyrinth, but the changes could be seen in the way they carried themselves. Calypso, being nearly 3000 years old did not change at all, Leo did. He now spoke in a much less bubbly manner, he carried himself much more gracefully and his eyes emanated wisdom. Wisdom acquired through years and years of philosophical discussion with Calypso and learning about what life was for her back when she was free. Yet those very same eyes never lost that spark of mischief. The most notable change was that they stuck to each other. Neither would let the other get more than five feet away. This was brought about by being the only people an island with only each other for company.
They made a few turns and walked for a few more minutes before stopping next to a ladder and looking up. Above them was the ceiling with the faint outline of a hammer etched onto it. Leo swallowed.
"This is it." Calypso nodded.
Leo looked at her.
Ready?
Calypso nodded again. Leo climbed up the ladder and touched the hammer.
.
The grass out-side half-blood slowly swayed in the breeze. It had been a month since Gaea had been defeated, and as of now, the celebrations were still going strong. Demigods had died, but the celebration helped some handle the grief. Romans and Greeks together as one continued celebrating the fact that they were still safe. But, that was behind the pine tree. For the mortals, not a sound could be heard.
Suddenly on the ground, a few meters away from Thalia's tree, a symbol depicting a hammer glowed and the ground opened up. From the hole, two teens pulled themselves out. When they finally had both feet on the ground, they looked around. The girl looked around, very interested in the surroundings, while the boy looked around shocked. Leo pulled out his phone and checked the date. Over the years, he had miniaturized the laptop his father had given him into a smart-phone that comfortably fit in his hand, yet was as functional as the laptop version. The second version also had a search by name function, thankfully.
Leo suddenly started swearing. Loudly. In Spanish. Calypso frowned. She knew Leo only did this only when stuff was bad. Concerned, she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Is everything okay?"
He shook his head. "The date. It says that it's only been a month."
She looked at him quizzically. "Time on Ogygia flows differently than that on the rest of the earth. I thought you should have known that by now."
Leo blinked.
"Oh."
They continued staring at each other for a few moments. Then Leo cracked a smile. Calypso cracked one too. Soon both of them were laughing their heads off. Suddenly, Calypso froze and started to cough violently. Leo was immediately at her side, his expression concerned.
"Are you okay?"
She smiled at him, trying to show that everything was fine. Her efforts were ruined when she started hacking again, this time, coughing out ichor. Leo's expression grew serious as he picked her up, bridal style, and ran for the camp.
.
Running through camp was weird. It was weird in the way that he could remember where everything was, but not the people he was running past. He had run straight to the infirmary and laid Calypso in a bed there, still coughing out her golden-coloured blood. Thankfully, there was an Apollo kid in there, who had introduced himself as Will. I don't care about your name! Leo wanted to yell, but he kept it inside. Wouldn't want to piss of the person that is going to fix the love of your life. When Will had realized that the girl in his arm was coughing out blood, he had pushed Leo out of the infirmary and shut the door.
Presently, Leo was sitting outside the infirmary, staring out into nothingness. The short-haired girl next to him (Piper?) was sending him worried glances. The blonde boy (Jason?) was trying to keep the other campers from asking Leo too many questions. But Leo wasn't paying attention to any of that. It was as if a nuke had exploded right next to him and that horrible ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing anything else. His eyesight was all fuzzy, and he was feeling a bit woozy, but that didn't affect him in the slightest. His thoughts were in disarray. Worry choked down upon him.
The person he had spent a majority of his life with was now somewhere in the room behind him, and he wasn't able to do anything to help her. Helplessness was one of the emotions he did not handle well. He had felt like this only once before. Flashes of a fire. A child's scream. Police sirens. Memories of his childhood came rushing back, and it was all he could do to not break down into insanity.
The girl gently shaking him out of his thoughts, brought him back to reality as Will emerged from the infirmary. He barely spared her a glance as he stood up and turned around to face Will. A frown was etched onto his face, and Leo's heart started to clog his throat. When a doctor frowns at you, it means that something bad is going to be revealed. Gulping, Leo asked, his voice shaking.
"How is she?"
The doctor shook his head dejectedly.
It seemed that Calypso was strongly bonded with Ogygia. When separated from Ogygia, she would start to die. But Leo didn't hear any of this. This time the tears couldn't be stopped. He broke down. He felt the girl that was next to him hug him, but he didn't respond. He just continued weeping, lamenting the loss of the person dearest to him.
Will allowed Leo to mourn for a few minutes, before revealing that Calypso had a few moments of life left. Before he could finish the statement, Leo had pushed both him and the girl out of the way and was already inside the room.
.
"Calypso."
Leo looked at the slight figure on the bed covered with a sheet. Only her head and arms were visible from beneath the blanket. She gave him a weak smile. He slowly approached the bed, tears flowing freely.
"Calypso." he repeated, this time getting a hold of her hand. She gave his hand a weak pull, signalling to him to come closer. He leaned forward. He noticed her eyes were also a bit misty.
"Live your life. Stay happy." She whispered to him. Leo shook his head.
"How can I when-"he was cut as she repeated again.
"Stay happy." This time, she caught his hand with both of hers as she pressed a folded piece of paper into his hands. He glanced at his hands and then brought his eyes to her. This time he nodded, slowly. Satisfied, she leaned back into her pillow and closed her eyes. A tear rolled out one eye.
He stepped back and unfolded the paper. It was a whitish-yellow, due to its age, its edges cut a few times, but other than the few signs of aging, it was remarkably well kept. On one side, was the diagram he had drawn years back, to explain how the Labyrinth work. On the other side was a drawing. It was by no means a work of art, but it was a rather good sketch. On it were two people a guy an a girl planting a flower, out side a small house. Both seemed to be happy. Not estatic, with mile long grins on their faces, but happy. Content. The house behind them had a sign on it which read
'Leo's and Calypso's Garage.'
Unbidden, Calypso's words came back to him.
Stay happy.
He would.
For Calypso.
A few minutes later, she stopped breathing.
.
The lone figure made its way out when it was dark. When it passed Thalia's tree, it didn't bother looking back. After walking for a few meters, it touched the ground.
"Leaving?"
Leo didn't bother turning behind to see Hephaestus.
"She died."
It wasn't an accusation. It was a statement. A fact.
Hephaestus sighed.
"She was 3000 years old. She finally found true love. Her life may have not been great, but those last few years she spent with you, those were her happiest moments. She was happy with her life."
Leo did not reply.
Hephaestus tried a different angle. "Running away doesn't help."
"Are you going to stop me?"
Leo took the silence as a negative and jumped into the hole.
.
Chiron stared at the paper he had found outside his door this morning, trying to ward off the incoming headache. He picked up a cup of tea and took a long sip. As he finished, Piper and Jason rushed in.
"Leo isn't in his cabin!"
Chiron took a deep breath.
"I know."
He handed them the piece of paper, which they looked at, confused.
It was a picture of Leo and Calypso's Garage.
.
The boy dropped in at the flower shop again. The kind old woman gave him a smile, which he returned. He picked up a lily and placed in on the counter, along with some money. As she returned the change, she smiled again.
"Who are they for?" she asked.
The boy had come nearly everyday, and bought a single lily every single time. He rarely spoke to the people around him but always gave them a smile. But when she asked the question, the smile dropped. Lowering his head for a bit, probably to hide his face, he whispered back the answer.
For Calypso.