Leo was in full-on panic mode.
Frantically, he began to search around Calypso's room, as if she might be hiding somewhere just waiting to pop out and say "Surprise!" But he felt the joke was getting a little old now.
Vaguely, he was aware of some movement around him, and it wasn't until Hazel snatched some half-burnt orange T-shirt from his hand that he even realized his hands were on fire.
With a start, he realized he'd been muttering under his breath. "Wha-when-?"
"Leo, you have to calm down." Hazel spoke firmly.
Almost automatically, Leo sat down on the floor, his back against the bed.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Percy asked.
Leo looked about the room in a haze. Vaguely, he registered the way Percy and Annabeth stood close together, as they always seemed to do after Tartarus, Frank's face resembled something like a confused bulldog, Hazel who was still throwing away the tattered remains of the T-shirt, and Jason and Piper, who kept exchanging worried glances with each other.
Leo spoke as if in a vacuum, "Calypso, she's…gone."
"Well how do you know for sure she's gone? Maybe she just got lost somewhere around the camp for all you know!" Frank spoke hopefully.
"Then why are all her shoes missing? Her clothes? You think she just carried that with her on a casual stroll around the grounds, Zhang?" Leo snapped.
"Hey!" said Hazel, "Be nice! Frank is just trying to help."
Part of Leo wanted to snap back at Hazel, but just as quickly as he'd been angered, his anger subsided, "You're right," he glanced back at Frank, "sorry."
Frank nodded, "Alright, we should spread out and go looking for her." He said firmly, "Annabeth—you go to Chiron and all the heads of cabins and let them know what's going on, we need to see whether any camper has seen her today. Percy—go to the lake, see if the nymphs or any fish have seen anyone travel by way of the lake today. Hazel, take Arion and run a perimeter around the camp. Piper, Jason—"
"Will stay here and look after Leo," Piper interjected.
Frank didn't miss a beat, "Right. I'll go speak with Reyna and we'll set up a search party with the Romans. Everyone report back here in an hour. Now, move out!"
Frank's orders were followed with no hesitation, and not a minute later did Leo suddenly find himself in Calypso's half-emptied room with his two closest friends for comfort.
"You alright man?" Jason spoke hesitantly.
Suddenly, something snapped inside Leo, "Wait, what if she didn't leave on purpose? What if she was taken?"
Piper glanced at Jason worriedly before she spoke, "Leo, you said so yourself…all her things are gone."
Leo shook his head, "No! Calypso wouldn't just leave without telling me, no way! Something must've happened to her. Somebody took her and made it seem like she left on purpose!" he began frantically searching around the room again, "There has to be a clue here—something to prove Calypso didn't leave on purpose!"
He heard some kind of whispered argument between Jason and Piper, but he paid them no mind. There had to be something in this room that would give him a clue as to Calypso's whereabouts.
"Leo…" Jason started reluctantly, "don't you think that's a bit far-fetched? It's not like just anyone can walk into this camp…"
Leo shook his head firmly as he continued moving things about the room, "The camp's defenses aren't iron-clad, we all know what sorts of things have happened in here, it wasn't too long ago that—" but whatever words were going to come out of his mouth died suddenly in his throat as he spotted a single, small item on top of Calypso's dresser, "no…no, no, no!" he mumbled as he stared at it in horror.
It was a ring, sitting right on top of her dresser. A special ring, of course. He could remember the day she obtained it very clearly.
He and Calypso had stumbled into a small jewelry shop during their time in Florence entirely by accident. However, upon seeing the pair, the seller had smiled mischievously and showed them a thick, beautiful golden ring with a knot design and handed it to Calypso. Automatically, Calypso's hand reached out to receive the ring, only for it to fall apart and break up into twelve thin, interlocked, delicate rings. Calypso had gasped quietly in surprise as the old seller chuckled at her reaction.
"This is an ancient Florentine Puzzle Ring," the jeweler said, "back in the days husbands would give these to their wives when they suspected they were unfaithful. If the wife ever took the ring off, it would fall apart, and she'd be unable to put it back together before her husband could come home and learn of her adultery." The seller chuckled and looked to Leo, "Might be worth the investment," he winked at Leo, "we know that pretty girls are never out of options. Of course," the man smiled, "you'd have to be smart enough to figure out the puzzle yourself."
Scoffing, Leo plucked the ring from Calypso's hand and glared at the jeweler, "Yeah? And what will you give me once I figure this out in less than a minute?"
The seller laughed heartily, "Fine we'll make a wager: if you can solve that puzzle in under a minute, you can keep it! But if you can't, then you have to pay for the ring and pay my bar tab tonight!"
Leo smirked and held out his hand, "Deal!" He winked at Calypso as the man shook his hand. "Ready to pay up?"
But the jeweler merely looked at his watch and hesitated for a beat before he said, "Begin!"
Of course, the simple puzzle was child's play to Leo. He took half a second to marvel at how well forged the bands were before he let his nimble, Hephaestus-gifted fingers figure out the puzzle in about ten seconds flat. Carefully, he looped his pinky finger into the center of the perfectly arranged ring apart and held it up for the seller's inspection, "That was cake, you got a harder puzzle old man?"
The man looked at Leo in shock before letting out a big belly laugh, "I guess you're smarter than you look then!" The man said good-naturedly, "My apologies, maybe you are good enough for the pretty girl after all! Here," he said, handing Leo a small, red box, "take the ring, give it to your lady, and if she ever takes it off you'll know you've been made a fool!"
Leo had half a mind to say something smart back at the jeweler, but Calypso was already dragging him out of the shop, trying to pry the ring from Leo's finger at the same time, "Give it here! I want to try!" Calypso said excitedly.
Leo shot one last glare at the jeweler as they exited the shop, but held out his pinky so that Calypso could pry the ring from it. As soon as she took the ring from his finger, it collapsed back into the cluster of bands. But try as she might, Calypso could not seem to figure out how to arrange the rings back together. She tried to put it back for the entirety of their lunch and the next few hours, but she simply could not get it.
"No fair!" she grumbled and once again, Leo put it back together at lightning speed, "You're cheating! Do it slower so I can see!"
Leo chuckled as he slipped the ring onto Calypso's right hand, "I think I'll let you figure this one out on your own. It's much more fun that way."
Calypso grumbled good-naturedly as she held her hand out in front of her and studied the ring, "Well, at least it's pretty."
Leo smiled, "It suits you. Maybe one day I'll get you another ring to match."
Calypso smiled knowingly at him, "Well until that day comes, I'll be very happy to keep this one as a sign of that promise."
Leo had put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head then, and so had ended another wonderful day in their extended euro-trip. Beginning that night and many nights after, he would often see Calypso pull the ring off and attempt to put the delicate bands back together. And every night, she would give up and frustratedly hold her hand out for Leo to put it back together for her. The ring, it seemed, was one puzzle that Calypso would not figure out.
And yet, there it was, sitting on her dresser. The rings all stacked neatly on top of each other, the intricate knot design arranged perfectly. Any movement, and Leo knew that the rings would tip over and fall into a jumbled mess as they had been every time Calypso had taken the ring off to play with it. The ring had been taken off carefully and deliberately placed on the dresser.
As if from above, Leo saw himself reach out for the ring. The second his hand grazed it, the rings fell apart in a jumble of bands. Absently, he felt his fingers automatically rearrange the bands so they lined up once more, just as they had so many times since he gave Calypso the ring. Almost as if on instinct, his hand sought to slide the finger back on Calypso's finger just as he had countless times before—he'd slide the ring back on, and Calypso would sigh in frustration, only for Leo to kiss her hand and smile at her before wishing her good night—only this time, her hand wasn't there.
"Leo?" Piper's voice reached him as if he were underwater, "Leo? Are you okay?"
His eyes slowly found Piper's worried face, "She never takes it off," he mumbled, "not unless I'm around to put it back together."
Piper glanced worriedly at the ring clasped carefully in Leo's hand, then shot another glance at Jason, who subtly shook his head. It was almost as if…
Leo's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You two know something."
"Wh-what? What do you mean?" Piper's voice was suddenly shrill.
"What do you know?!" Leo asked sharply, "Tell me!"
But Piper merely looked down at her feet guiltily, shaking her head.
"Jason?" he turned to the son of Jupiter.
"Look, man, I don't—"
"Please!" Leo grasped his shoulders desperately, "I know you know something, tell me what's going on!"
Jason looked at him then, "I—" but whatever he saw in Leo's eyes made him stop short. He sighed then, "Piper, we need to tell him."
"Tell me what?!"
"But we don't know if this has anything to do with—" Piper ignored Leo's question.
"Do with what?"
"Oh come on, Pipes, of course it does! You heard what she said last night!"
"Last night? You talked to Calypso last night?!"
"But we promised—"
"Alright, somebody tell me what's going on NOW!" unintentionally, Leo had set Calypso's dresser on fire. He didn't feel too bad though, when it finally got Jason and Piper's attention.
"Woah!" shouted Jason as he and Piper rushed to put out the fire, using Calypso's blankets to snuff out the flames.
"Now both of you tell me what's going on!"
Piper and Jason looked at each other once more before Piper sighed and looked back to Leo.
"Leo, you'd better take a seat. There's something you need to know…"
So she told him. About Calypso, and about Antreas. Their beautiful, tragic love story. The curse, the deal with Apollo, the breaking of the spell. The whole story.
"Leo? Are you okay?" Piper said after finishing her story, "Please say something."
And yet, what was there to say?
A strange sense of calm washed over Leo in that instant. In a way, he figured, he'd been expecting for Calypso to leave him. After all, he had a pretty well-established track record with pretty girls like her. Hadn't he thought she'd be like every pretty girl he'd ever met when he first laid eyes on her? Calypso had always been too good for him, he never doubted that for a second. Nobody did. Why, even that old crochety jeweler in Florence had seen this coming—who was he, next to a girl like Calypso?
He couldn't even muster up the strength to be upset with Calypso. She was a victim of the circumstances just as much as he was, he supposed. What was the girl to do, confronted with her long-lost love once more? She'd only ever loved Leo as a result of that horrible curse cast upon her. She'd been isolated for gods-know how long before Leo came to her, it's not like she'd ever had options. Leo should consider himself lucky that she even came as far with him as she had once he broke her out of that island. Instead, she'd remained his constant companion, helping him recover his lost memories, and providing him love and companionship in the interim. He supposed he should be happy she waited until his memories were back and his friends surrounded him before she left.
And to be fair, Calypso had cared for him, he supposed. Those nights under the stars couldn't all be farce, and their kisses had all been full of what he thought was love once. Calypso had taught him how to be strong in some ways, and how to be vulnerable in others. She'd loved him just enough for him to come into his own person. But of course, now he knew that she'd only loved him due to the gaps in her memory. She hadn't known the love of her life had been locked away in some dark corner of her mind for perpetuity. And once confronted with the truth, of course she chose him, why wouldn't she? He was a strong, fearsome warrior who had proven himself worthy in her eyes, and to whom she had promised herself to long before Leo's life had come about.
A part of him wished she'd stayed for long enough to tell him she was leaving in her own words, but in a way he supposed it was better that she simply disappeared. Otherwise, Leo was sure he'd have embarrassed himself one way or another and begged her to stay. This way was easier, he supposed, like ripping off a band-aid.
Calypso was gone and that was that.
"Leo," Jason had gasped him by the shoulders, "say something."
Leo's eyes snapped onto Jason's worried face, but he merely shrugged off his hands as he began to slowly walk out the door.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Piper and Jason hurried after him, their eyes wide with worry.
"It's okay guys," Leo said numbly, "thank you for telling me the truth. I'm just gonna go to sleep now."
"But what about Calypso?" said Piper.
Leo sighed dejectedly, "You said it yourself beauty queen, she's gone."
"But don't you want to go look for her?" Jason said.
Leo merely held up the ring in his hand, as if that explained it all, "No." He said, "She left these behind for a reason. She's not coming back."
"But-!"
But whatever Piper was going to say was cut off by the sound of the Hephaestus cabin door slamming shut in her face, as Leo robotically punched in the buttons on his bunk to take him to his underground room. The second the door above him closed shut, Leo found himself absolutely exhausted, and without a second thought, he collapsed onto his bed and into a deep slumber.
Leo found himself among ruins. Mist clung to the air, obscuring most of his vision. He could barely make out some collapsed ancient towers around him, as if the place had been wrecked by some ancient war. Suddenly, he was aware of a girl crying softly somewhere nearby. Vaguely, he thought that the pitch of the sobs sounded somehow familiar.
With a sudden sense of desperation, Leo began looking about him wildly for the source of the crying. As he walked, the sobs got further and further apart, until they nearly stopped altogether. He began stumbling about the ruins in a mad rush to find the girl. He had to find the source of the crying before it stopped!
Suddenly, he turned a corner, and there she was. Calypso, lying on the ground, her jeans tattered, her shirt stained red with blood, her lip split open. He heard her give one final, quiet sob, and then she moved no more.
Leo's eyes shot wide open as he sat up, "Calypso!"
A/N: Alright what do we think? Keep it going or let it rest? Really needing some encouragement to keep going with this one.