Are you looking for a little more
Than this hold-you-down broken town
Better leave now or you'll never know
How far do you wanna go?
Calypso stares out over the sea and sighs. It has been weeks since Leo had left. Or had it been months?
Time is hard to tell in Ogygia.
She runs her fingers through the sand and stares out again, and this time she sees a large ship, heading straight for the beach.
Calypso sighs and stands and heads towards her cave. The last thing she wants to do is to fall in love all over again, especially since Leo's absence has been so hard, harder than Odysseus's, even harder than Percy Jackson's.
She watches from her cave as the big ship lays anchor and a rowboat departs for shore.
She draws the curtain across the entrance and backs further into her cave, hoping to buy herself a bit more time before she loses her heart to another stranger. She crouches against the wall and puts her head in her hands.
"Calypso!"
Her head snaps up, towards the curtain. Can it be?
"Calypso! Where are you?"
She knows that voice. It haunts her dreams, never fading, never leaving.
"Calypso!" The voice sounds alarmed now, advancing towards the cave.
She pulls back the curtain and there he is, his back to her, staring down at the beach.
"You better not have stepped in the garden," she manages to choke out.
Leo spins and they lock eyes. He looks the same, except for the circles under his eyes and the cuts on his hands, face, and arms. He even has a new scar on his chin. He looks tired, more tired than he has ever been, but it all fades away when he smiles at her.
"And if I did?"
She smiles back. "I'd have to do this-" she flings herself at him and he catches her easily, swinging her up in his arms.
They hold each other for a moment. Calypso pulls back and subtly wipes tears from her eyes. "How… how are you back? A hero never finds this place twice."
"I made an oath. And I had some help," Leo admits sheepishly. "There was this astrolabe I had found."
"Odysseus's?"
"Yeah." He drops his arms from around her waist and grabs her hand, pulling her down the beach. "C'mon. Let's go."
"Wha-"
"The war's over. We won." Leo explains. "And it turns out awhile back Percy made a deal with the gods that you'd be free."
"Percy made a deal? For me?"
"Yeah," Leo chuckles. "His girlfriend, Annabeth isn't too excited, but I'm not complaining." He sees her face and stops. "What's wrong? Is there something you need to grab before we leave?"
"No," Calypso shakes her head. "I just…" she trails off, sinking down to the sand. "I can go free?"
"Yup." Leo crouches beside her, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"Away from here? Forever?" she gapes at him. "I can't… I can't imagine it."
"It's okay," Leo murmurs, pulling her into his arms. "I'll be with you." A thought strikes him. "Unless…" he pulls away. "Unless you don't want me to come with…"
"No!" Calypso reaches for him. "I do. It's just a lot of big news. That's all."
"I know. But you'll get used to it. Come on." He stands, pulling her up with him. "Let's get out of here."
"Can we go far?"
He grins crookedly. "How far do you wanna go?"
I can be the one, you can be mine too
We can run away, disappear
Get the hell out of here
On board the Argo II, things get a bit more complicated.
Although Calypso's curse of falling in love with heroes is over, when she sees Percy, she wants to cry. And when she sees him with Annabeth, she feels her heart break all over again.
Percy is as warm and kind as ever, but Annabeth is distant and coldly polite. Calypso understands and tries her best to avoid the couple, but that isn't easy on a ship.
Piper and Hazel are much warmer, and slowly Calypso feels more and more at ease among the people on the ship, and eventually even Annabeth warms up to her (it probably helps that Percy will kiss her publicly and shamelessly, no matter who's around).
And yet, that small, harmless gesture still tears Calypso's heart, and Leo notices.
They are sitting in the crows nest one night. Calypso is staring at the stars.
"It's curious," she says.
"What is?"
"The stars are the same as the ones back in Ogygia. I had thought they'd be different."
Leo is quiet for a moment. Then, he speaks. "Are any other things different?"
Calypso turns to him, aware of the double meaning in his words. "Things like…?"
Leo shrugs. "You. Percy. Us." It's barely a whisper.
She sighs. "It's part of the curse, I guess. A part of my heart will always belong to the many heroes I've found over the years. But," she takes his hand, tracing the new scars with her thumb. "I think I've finally found the one to hold the rest." Their eyes meet and she smiles at Leo.
Leo doesn't hesitate to pull her in for a gentle kiss. "When we finally get to Camp Half Blood," he winds an arm around her waist, "we're getting the hell out. Wherever you want to go."
She curls into his side. "I think I'd like that very much."
Tell me you'll come with me
Tell me you'll run with me
Tell me you love me
How far do you wanna go?
At camp, they stay for a few nights, so Calypso can adjust to life in the 21st century. Chiron is welcoming, as always, and the campers are amazed to see the minor goddess in the flesh.
She stays in the Big House, with Chiron and Leo visits often, taking her on tours of the camp's many cabins, to the strawberry fields, the sparring rings, the amphitheater, the arena, the woods, and the beach. She enjoys the strawberry fields the most, and Leo often finds her helping the Demeter kids with gardening.
On one of those days, he finds her watching with a puzzled expression as Katie Gardner yells at Travis Stoll for stealing her basket of strawberries. He holds it over his head teasingly, and laughs as she jumps for it. Calypso is even more confused when Katie gives up and gives Travis a kiss in exchange for the basket.
"They are in love?" Calypso asks.
"Katie and Travis? Yeah. It confuses everyone else too."
"It seems a bit strange to show affection that way."
"You should see them during a really bad fight. One minute, they're ready to kill each other, and the next minute they're kissing like there's no tomorrow." Leo looks down at her. "Kinda reminds me of how we were."
"Were?" Calypso asks playfully. "If you mean I was ready to kill you, then yes, we were like them. Who said I stopped?"
He just laughs and kisses her cheek, then pulls her towards the empty pavilion. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
He leads her to a bench at the Hephaestus table, and they sit side by side.
"What is it?" Calypso asks.
"Well…" Leo trails off. "You've seen camp. I was wondering if you wanted to see the world outside of camp."
"You mean there's more out there than here?"
"You have no idea how large the world is. I was thinking we could do a road trip."
Calypso blinks at him. Leo mentally face palms himself. Of course she wouldn't know what a road trip was. "A road trip is where people take a trip in a car and drive all around the country."
"A car?"
"It's like a… chariot… but it doesn't need horses to run."
"Is it magic?"
Leo grins. "If you want to call mechanics magic, then yeah, I guess."
"And where would we go on this… road trip?"
"Wherever you want to go. We could tour the entire United States."
"United States?"
Leo mentally face palms himself again. "That's the name of the country we're in."
Calypso nods. "And how far would this road trip be?"
He smiles at her. "How far do you wanna go?"
She smiles back. "Far."
"Then we'll go far. And when we want, we'll come back here."
"Okay," Calypso decides. "I'll do it. I'll go with you."
Leo cheers and pulls her off the bench, twirling her around the pavilion. As he brings her in for a kiss, he says, "You'll love it. There's so much to see."
There's an open sky staring back at us
And it's daring us to tear it up
Bury that town in a cloud of dust
How far do you wanna go?
They're on the road the next day. Chiron had grudgingly given clearance for the trip. Leo had played the 'I helped defeat Gaea and saved the world' card and Chiron had found it difficult to argue with that.
Calypso is amazed by the car. "It runs on it's own power?"
Leo pops the hood to show her the engine. "This is what makes it go."
"Amazing."
She gets in the passenger seat and fidgets with the jeans and t-shirt Piper and Hazel had found for her to wear. She decides she likes the jeans, she enjoys the freedom her legs have to move without skirts to get in the way.
Leo heaves their suitcases, full of similar clothes into the trunk and gets into the driver's seat. He turns the key in the ignition and clasps her hand. "Ready?"
She takes a breath and nods. "Yes. Let's go."
Their friends waved as they crossed the camp boundary, and onto the main dirt road.
Leo shows Calypso the radio, and she spends the next half hour turning the knob, playing with the radio stations.
She finally settles on the country station. There's an open sky, staring back at us, and it's daring us to tear it up… croons from the speaker.
"This is modern music?"
"Yup. It's different from old Greek music, I know. A lot of things have changed."
At night, they curl up together in the backseat of the car with a blanket. Leo wraps his arms around Calypso and twirls one of her curls through his fingers.
She huddles closer, pressing her face into his chest.
"What's wrong?" Leo whispers.
She raises her head to meet his eyes. "Do you really want to know?"
"Of course."
She gives him a wry smile. "Alright. But you can't laugh at me."
"Not even a little?" He grins.
She sighs and rolls her almond eyes. "No, not even a little. Promise me."
Leo cups her face in his hand. "Calypso, I promise I won't laugh at you."
She rests her head on his shoulder. "Well... I am very, very afraid of the dark."
Leo stays true to his word and doesn't laugh, just pulls her closer and holds his hand out, palm up. "I think I can fix that." A gentle fire appears in the palm of his hand, faintly illuminating the dim car and throwing shadows across his face and Calypso's. "Better?"
She nods and smiles at him, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Much. Thank you."
He doesn't say it, but for her, he would set the world on fire.
Bigger dreams came from smaller things baby
Yeah maybe we are a little crazy
But I see that look in your eye
And I can tell your ready to roll
I just need to know
How far do you wanna go?
They start in New York. Calypso gasps when she first sees the city lights. Staring out the passenger window, she watches the buildings go by.
Leo points out the empire state building. "That's Mount Olympus."
"There?" Calypso's eyes turn stormy at the mention of the gods, and Leo doesn't say anything else as they drive by, but he does notice a faint thunder and a lightning bolt flickers in the sky.
They arrive just as the day is dawning, and they stop by the beach to watch the early summer sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.
"I can't believe it…" Calypso trails off. "It's the same… but it's different."
"It's still the same sun from Ogygia," Leo says, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
She leans her head on his shoulder. "I know. But it's… nice… to have a different view. I didn't know the sun could seem new. Everything's so new." Her face darkens. "The gods have taken much from me."
Leo eyes the sky as thunderclouds start brewing. "I wouldn't say that here…"
But it's too late, and the skies open up.
Calypso jumps as rain falls from sky, then turns her face up to feel the falling rain.
Leo throws his hood over his head, but Calypso stretches her palms out and catches the rain. Her face is serene, graced with an expression of exuberant joy.
"What are you doing?" Leo asks, grabbing her hand to pull her back into the car. However, he can't suppress the chuckle that escapes his lips.
"Feeling the rain. It never rained in Ogygia. I'd always heard about it, but I never thought I would ever actually feel it."
Leo doesn't drop her hand but instead he spins her out and back in, and she laughs and reaches for his face and they stand there, in the pouring rain, lips against lips in a kiss, and Calypso realizes how sweet love is when it's not born out of a trick of the gods.
So this is what it's like to love someone who finally belongs with you. She thinks as she closes her eyes and relishes in the feeling of the rain on her skin and Leo's arms around her.
I can be the one you can be mine too
We can run away, disappear
Get the hell out here
They end up in San Francisco, and by then it is mid autumn. They'd traveled through the whole of the country, seeing almost all the states, from Maine to Iowa to Montana to Oklahoma.
They saw Texas, where Leo grew up, and all the other states in between.
Calypso liked the hills in Pennsylvania the best. She'd never seen anything like them before.
Mount Rushmore confused her, even after Leo explained a few of the guys on the rock were demigods.
The thing that amazes her is how the trees change as the seasons pass by.
Leo avoids the Roman camp while they're in California, but makes sure they trek through the redwood forests and see the Pacific Ocean.
"Now you can say you've seen the whole country, 'from sea to shining sea'." Leo jokes.
Calypso shakes her head but she smiles. She knows she's missing something, but she's come to expect it by now.
They're hiking through a redwood forest, loosely holding hands.
"It's a song," Leo says as he helps her over a log. "But… man, if I'd known how long it would take to bring you up to speed with western culture…"
"You'd what?" she taunts.
"I can't decide between not even trying or trying to tell you it all in one sitting."
She laughs at that. "Just stick to telling me a little bit at a time. It's like Greek history; you wouldn't want to hear it all at once, no matter how interesting it is."
"That's true," he gags. "Sitting for an hour with Chiron is long enough. Especially when he has burritos for breakfast."
Calypso snorts and elbows him in the side. "You'd think you'd have been taught to respect your elders."
Leo elbows her back, but more somber this time. "There were no elders for me to respect. I didn't really have anyone."
Calypso just nods. She understands what it's like not having any parents around.
They just walk in silence, until Calypso breaks it with her words as she cups Leo's face in her hands. "You have me now."
"I know." He presses his forehead to hers. "And you have me, too."
Tell me you'll come with me
Tell me you'll run with me
Tell me you love me
How far do you wanna go?
They arrived back at camp in late December.
Leo parks the car just outside the border. Calypso lifts her head from his shoulder.
"We're home," he whispers.
She stretches, rubbing her eyes. "Already?"
"We drove all the way across the country and back. It was time to come home."
Calypso sighs, staring at the snow. "It's so different. Everything." She turns to Leo, now. "Thank you. This was the greatest gift you could've ever given me. Thank you."
"Calypso…" Leo doesn't know why the words get stuck in his throat, but they do. "I, um. I…"
But she already knows, and with a knowing smile she finds his lips with hers. "I know," she whispers. "I love you too."
It doesn't matter where they go. No matter the place, they'll always be home to each other.
And sometimes, Leo will turn to Calypso with the familiar gleam in his eye and he'll point down the dirt road to the world, and he'll ask "how far do you want to go?"
And Calypso will always smile at him and pull him into the car and say, "far."
And together, they traveled the world.
And of course they lived happily ever after.
Ta-da! I even included Tratie! Yay! Sorry if either of them is OCC. I was rushing a bit.
Mkay so I love doing these and I hope you guys like it too! I'm writing a Percabeth A-Z fanfic, so it will be up eventually.
