I apologize severely for the yearlong delay. There's not much to excuse, and I won't try to bore you with the whys. Good news: I'm done with this story! HOWEVER, because I am still deployed (for a tad bit longer than we first thought) I can only give you this chapter while I'm in port for the day. You'll get the rest when I return home, and in quick succession.
Calypso in Wonderland is still on hold while I'm deployed, as the guest that keeps trolling the review section has honestly made me NOT want to update that story, even though I really wanna get it done quickly. Tell an author to update because it's their only duty in life? Yeah, that's not gonna go well for the readers, even if the 'order' does make the author giggle and roll their eyes in amusement :(
Honestly I am sorry. As you've probably seen, other stories (fanfiction as well as my own personal novels) have taken my attention. And as I've pointed out, fanfiction is not my life. I do not dedicate my life to it, contrary to what some believe. Though I love my stories, sometimes it gets a bit difficult to update them as quickly as I originally had…
Some never-before-seen fanfictions I've been working on: A Western AU with Leo as a bounty hunter. Still working on the middle plot for it. Eventual Caleo in the story, too; Some Nightcrawler fics, including Excalibur Kurt (Olympics!Nightcrawler AU for two awesome tumblr users) and XMA cinnamon roll Kurt (basic fluffy things about family); Also have a random Teen Titans fic about Beast Boy, though I'm still working out the basics of it. That one will probably never get published, but it's just good to let you know what's going on in my brain.
As I've said, I'm working on my own novel as well as the fanfictions. This novel will be the first of a series of at least three books. I can't give specific details, but I will give you this tiny detail: The mythical Icarus is a main character in this series.
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize as canon.
Chapter Seven: She Rescues Him
Finding Jason had been easier than going into Solitary.
Piper had walked confidently through the halls and floors, peeking into windows every now and again to make sure she wasn't passing Jason.
One door a few floors up was marked Dr. Gerald, leading psychiatrist. Piper found that the door was ajar and slowly pointed her ear towards it as she crouched down.
"Now, Jacob," she heard an old voice say. "I know this must be hard for you. But you need to accept reality."
Piper was about to turn away—the patient was named Jacob. She had no interest here—when she heard a weak voice call out:
"You need to accept reality. I'm telling you the truth, and so is Leo! And, seriously, my name is Jason, not Jacob!"
Piper's heart soared. Jason was still fighting! And he was right here!
She kicked open the door. An aging man blinked in surprise from behind a desk. A file was under his hands.
Jason turned around in his seat. He was wearing straightjacket, and he looked as if he hadn't eaten in a day. His hair was disheveled, his face pale.
But his eyes brightened instantly at the sight of her. "Piper! You're here!"
The man rose slowly from his chair. "Miss, I don't know where you came from, but—"
"You really don't want to get up," Piper said, laying on the charmspeak thick. "You've talked to this patient enough. Why don't you rest up here while I take him to his room?"
The man blinked, as if realizing he was exhausted. "Yes," he said blearily. "You do that."
Piper kept suggesting calm things to the man as she shrugged Jason out of the straightjacket. Eventually, he dropped off and rested his head on the desk. A snore erupted from him moments later.
"Thanks, Piper," Jason said. "What took you?"
"Traffic. Where's Leo?"
Jason shook his head. "He's in trouble. I don't think he's got much longer."
"Before what?" she asked as they rushed through the halls.
He gave her a haunted look. "Before he isn't Leo anymore."
Spinning.
That was the word that described what Leo could see 90% of the time.
The nurses were spinning constantly, almost like personified whirlwinds. The female doctor waved her hand and Leo's eyes lost focus. The ground came up to meet him, yet when he collapsed, it still spun. Some of the floor tiles were spinning faster than the others, and Leo thought they were beginning to spin around him. No…Yes…Yes they were! They wrapped him up, tied his arms together like he'd been caught in a web.
"Stay still, dear," a venom-filled voice cooed. "Isn't it time for your medicine, little lion cub?"
At the word 'medicine', Leo instinctively went limp. He remembered how it coursed through his veins, cooling the fire his body carried within. Or…had it been there at all? What did it cool, exactly, if not a maddening fever? Was he sick again?
Leo looked nowhere and everywhere at once. The spinning never stopped. The tornado that was his vision kept growing, becoming dark and loud. He screamed at the pain in his head, asking—no, begging for the sudden images of pain and destruction to stop plaguing his mind.
A hand steadied him, anchored him to the ground. That hand was the only thing that wasn't spinning. It was beautiful and solid. Leo wanted to hold it so badly.
"Leo," an angel—for any voice that could clearly penetrate the hurricane of madness in his mind could only belong to such—sang. "Leo, settle. I've got you. Hang on to me."
Leo desperately clutched the hand. Arms wrapped around him and the world slowly stopped spinning. Caramel-colored hair invaded his sight, and a cinnamon scent wafted into his nose. Memory stirred. He could remember a beach, a garden, a cave, and…
"Calypso," he whimpered.
Her beautifully sad smile flooded his vision. She kissed him on the lips and he was suddenly freed from his madness. He could remember where he was again, and found he was never tied by the floor tiles. The relief overwhelmed him.
He sighed and let the comforting blackness overtake him.
Calypso held Leo closely. His eyes closed and he went limp. Thankfully, he was still breathing. Calypso exhaled and set him down against the crook of the wall. His head lolled against his chest.
The goddess before them laughed. "So, you've still got some power, eh?" she teased. "Too bad it's only healing power and—" she snorted "—Mist manipulation. A shame you didn't take after your father more, dear. A disappointment to the end."
Calypso growled low in her throat. "I never wanted to be like him. So don't you dare compare me to him!"
Lyssa clicked her tongue. "Daddy issues, hmm? We'll have to help you work through that."
"I don't need your help."
"They all say that, sweetie." Lyssa motioned and her mania shot forward. Two of them grabbed Calypso and flung her sideways.
Calypso groaned, rubbing her head.
Another mania clutched her by the throat and lifted her into the air. Calypso choked, trying to breathe. She clawed at the monster's hands vainly.
The constant whirling of the mania around her was starting to make Calypso's head spin. She closed her eyes to focus, clinging desperately to the vision of Leo, safe inside Camp Half-Blood, his madness cured.
A burning sensation swelled deep inside her. She would not allow this…minor goddess to take her or Leo! She opened her eyes and, using as much of her old power as she could muster, pushed the mania back. The monster's hands were jerked off of her neck and it screeched as it slid back towards Lyssa.
Lyssa took a step forward. "Perhaps you have more power than I had originally thought."
Calypso felt her powers returning. Whether or not Zeus or any other god had deemed her worthy to have them at the moment, she would not take it for granted.
"You dare underestimate a Titan?" Calypso snarled. Her whole form began to glow.
Lyssa glowed in response, cackling. "You think yourself a Titan? Look at you; you're nothing more than a feeble shadow of one. Even when you were still immortal, no one considered you a Titan." Her eyes glowed red. She grinned. "You were nothing more than a nymph."
Calypso screamed and threw her arms up. A surge of power shrieked through the air, ripping down the plaster on the walls. Water fountains exploded. The floor tiles disintegrated underneath her. Her body floated about a foot off the ground.
Calypso recognized this power. Her immortal form was trying to come forth. It was burning away the feeble mortal shell that she had slowly gained once she'd left Ogygia. If she released her true form, she could prove this tiny goddess wrong!
"I am no nymph," Calypso snarled, her voice carrying in three different octaves at once. "I am Calypso, daughter of Atlas. Ruler of Ogygia. And I am far more powerful than the likes of you!"
She allowed a bit of her true form free. The light burst from her hands and disintegrated the mania in front of her. Lyssa took a step back, clearly afraid.
Then, Lyssa seemed to regain her composure. She floated upwards, matching Calypso's power with her own. The entire lounge was crumbling. TVs shattered, their remains swirling around the two powerhouses. Couches and chairs crumbled as well, their leather flying through the air.
That was when Calypso realized they were still in the lounge. Patients were yelling in confusion. The non-mania nurses were trying to evacuate them, but the hurricane of plaster, wood, and leather kept them moving in different directions. Calypso heard multiple screams cut off sharply.
They're looking at us, she realized. Our true forms…mortals cannot see them without dying!
She risked a glance at Leo, who was still blissfully unconscious. She couldn't stay this way for long. If Leo woke up, he'd look directly at her…
…and I'd end up killing him!
The thought of becoming Leo's killer—the immortal that made the poor son of Hephaestus die twice, directly and indirectly—only fueled Calypso's anger. Her form glowed brighter, and more mortals turned to ash under her blinding light.
Lyssa chuckled. "You've got power, Calypso. I underestimated you, it's true. But you are still no match for me. Being imprisoned made you soft, and nearly becoming mortal turned you into a weakling."
She shot a blast of energy at Calypso. The Titaness felt the sting on her shoulder, where the energy had hit her, but she did not move. She gritted her teeth and shot her own energy blast forward. Lyssa batted it away.
"All that talk," the goddess sneered. "For what? This weak shell? You hold back what you are, and I can see it. Keep holding it back, and you'll lose it. Go on. I'll take what's left of you."
Calypso could feel Lyssa's power inside her mind. Images popped up. Of her returning to Ogygia in a delirious state. Of her in a straightjacket, sitting inside a white room. Of Leo losing his sense of self forever, becoming nothing more than an insane sack of skin and bones. Of her closely following her love's path.
"No," she growled. "That won't happen."
She summoned the water still flowing out of the exploded fountains. She had gained certain control over water thanks to her time on Ogygia. Maybe she wasn't as powerful as Poseidon or even Percy Jackson…but she could still do this!
The water flowed forward in a wave. It maneuvered around Leo, but sent the other patients and nurses spiraling. They all crashed into Lyssa, who screeched in alarm. She howled as the pile of people sprawled out against her, going limp.
Calypso lifted Leo off the ground. Her 'invisible servants'—nothing more than a telekinetic power, as Leo had confusingly explained long ago—moved him away from the fight and into the hall. Lyssa was still struggling with the unconscious people on top of her to notice the lack of one son of Hephaestus.
Once Leo was out of harm's way, Calypso let it out. She flew higher, nearly touching the ceiling. Her immortal form was close to breaking free, now. Any more power and the outer shell would break; she'd be free from mortality once again.
Lyssa snarled and glowed brighter still. Her power, at such a close distance, dissolved the poor souls on top of her. The mortals perished instantly. Lyssa, instead of keeping to her strategy of staying away and using power to scare her enemy, decided to charge Calypso head-on.
The two immortals clashed against each other, and the entire room shook violently. Any other mortals in the room that had survived the flood and debris were disintegrated. The shattered remains that had been swirling in the room dissolved against the light the two immortals gave off.
Calypso yelled in defiance, punching wildly. Lyssa slapped her and wrapped her hands around Calypso's neck.
The Titaness's vision began to blur. Her power was waning. Her movements became restricted.
Lyssa's voice taunted her, even in the growing haze. "I have to admit; you will be the most interesting patient I'll ever have. Think of it: an insane immortal! I cannot wait to pick apart your sanity. You'll feed me more than any human ever could! Perhaps with your madness, I'll be powerful enough to capture another god?"
Calypso struggled under the goddess's clutches. She was getting weaker. Lyssa's powers came back into her mind, and the maddening images became stronger. Reality was crumbling around her.
"I'll start with your memories of that stupid little son of Hephaestus," Lyssa's voice growled. "Perhaps I should turn him into a fire demon in some of your memories? That way, it'll be harder for you to tell the doctor what's real—and easier for me to manipulate you!"
Leo's form in Calypso's memories shifted. He became an ugly beast, a horrifying monster that no one in their right mind would ever love.
No, she thought desperately. I won't lose him, even in my memories. He rescued me from my prison…I came here to do the same to him—I WON'T FAIL HIM!
Calypso howled, her powers returning full force. She lifted her hand to Lyssa's stomach. "I. Will. Not. FALL!"
An enormous burst of energy shot out of her hand and into Lyssa's abdomen. The goddess shrieked in agony. Calypso sent forth more shots—as many as she could muster—until Lyssa reeled back and got off of her.
"If you dare hurt me," Calypso growled, "or Leo, or any friends of his or mine…I will chain you up and throw you into the pits of Tartarus personally."
Lyssa howled. Her form tried to regenerate, but holes and cracks kept appearing on her skin. Calypso tilted her head in fake curiosity.
"Seems my healing powers have a flip side," she said off-handedly. "I can prevent someone from regenerating just as easily as I can heal them. How's that for a powerless nymph?"
The goddess screeched incoherent phrases, though Calypso was sure she got the message. Then, with a flash of gold, she disappeared, leaving her insanity nest behind for good.
Calypso collapsed in a heap of steaming flesh. Her true form was trying desperately to come forth still, and she didn't know what to do with it now.
Should she continue with the transformation? Become fully immortal again? Would the gods punish her for it?
She thought of poor Leo, still very much mortal. Poor Leo, suffering because of a goddess's wrath.
No.
She couldn't do it.
She allowed the mortal shell to take over again. Her mind fogged over with the human buzz of thoughts. Her 3000 years of memory slowly condensed. Her powers disappeared.
Calypso sighed in relief. Leo's safe…He's in the hall, safe and sound…I'll just…rest for a minute…
Her head dropped. She fell asleep instantly.
A/N: There. You now have a new chapter for this story :) The finishing chapters shall be posted in about a month. Think you can handle it until then? :)
