A few days later, Leo realized that when Calypso put her mind to something, she really committed. When Leo had returned to her cave later that night and informed her that he had some ideas on how to get started she had insisted that he eat plenty of food for dinner and get as much sleep as possible, "We'll be working every day until we can get this done," she'd said.
What Leo hadn't realized was that when Calypso said they'd be working every day, she meant to say that they'd be waking up at the crack of dawn and spend all day working under the sun. Luckily, once Leo started picking up pieces of the machinery, his mechanic instincts kicked in and he knew exactly what he'd have to do. Calypso worked easily with him, lending aid with anything he needed and working quickly to get it all done.
Although there were often times when she needed his help or explanations, Calypso proved herself to be a pretty efficient helper, and Leo had a feeling that they'd done this before. However, Leo soon realized that even with his and Calypso's combined speed, this project was going to take a while, "I can't remember how long it took me to make this originally," he'd told her, "but I have a feeling that this will take at least a few months. It would be easier to work with new materials, but all the ones we have were melted into weird shapes by the fire or destroyed into tiny little pieces…"
Calypso sighed, disappointed, "I suppose there's not much else we can do about it. Hand me those wires," and then she resumed work with renewed vigor.
She had insisted they work until sunset, when it was too dark to really see what they were doing. Leo ate his dinner with gusto, and passed out promptly, only to be woken up at sunrise once more.
For the most part, they worked together in a comfortable silence, but half-way through the second day Leo's ADHD kicked in and he decided to distract himself by asking Calypso random questions.
"So…" he started, "what's your favorite color?"
She looked up at him, an amused look on her face, "You know, no one's ever asked me that." She turned her head out to the ocean, "But I suppose I'd have to say blue. What about yours?"
"Red." He answered quickly, thinking back to the dress she'd worn on his first day here.
She smiled, as if knowing exactly what he meant by that, "Red, the color of blood and fire…also of courage and strength."
"And love," he added, thoughtlessly. 'Dammit, great going, Valdez. Now she's gonna think you're in love with her…But maybe I was once in love with her…?'
She turned to him and cocked her head to the side, "Yes, and love."
"What about blue?" he asked, looking to change the subject quickly, "What does blue stand for?"
Turning back to what she was working on, she answered, "Blue is the color of the sky and the sea….serenity, wisdom and…" She trailed off, looking steadily at her hands.
'And sadness,' the thought. This time, at least, he held himself back from speaking the words out loud. And yet, as he looked at Calypso, he realized that the description suited her: she was wise and serene, and also sad. He wasn't quite sure that he was courageous and strong, but he'd like to think he was….or perhaps he just wanted Calypso to think so.
It pained him to think of Calypso as sad, but he realized that she'd probably been alone for a really long time…waiting for him.
"So," he tried again, "what's the first thing you want to do when we get off this island?"
"I haven't been off this island for over three thousand years," she said, looking up at him, "frankly, I'm not sure I'd recognize the world anymore... But I suppose I'd like to visit Malta first, my birthplace."
"Okay," he nodded, "then Malta will be our first stop."
She looked at him from the side of her eye, "What about you, Leo? Where would you want to go?"
"To be honest, I'm not too sure. I can't remember where I came from."
"You told me once," she said, "that you were from a place called Texas. And your friends, they live in a place called Camp Half-Blood, in New York."
He looked to her, surprised that this hadn't come up before, "Texas and Camp Half-Blood…it sounds right, I think. I feel like I should know what those places are…do you think I'll get my memory back if I go there?"
"I'm not sure," she said softly, "but maybe you'll remember some things. Your friends," she spoke carefully now, "they should all be there at Camp Half-Blood. You told me about them the first time you were here. I think you were very close, but…"
This time he was looking at her intently, leaning forward, "But what? What happened?"
She sighed, "Well I don't know, Leo. You were on a quest with them, trying to defeat Gaea, the Earth Mother, one of the strongest beings in all of existence. She's a worthy opponent, and I just don't know if you all survived, or even how you could all possibly survive, especially knowing that you…" She shut her eyes tightly, as if remembering something painful, "Nevermind. You told me they were all incredibly strong demigods, I'm sure they're all waiting for you back home."
Part of him wanted to push her and find out exactly what she'd been about to say, but he held back, knowing that she'd tell him when the time was right. "You're right, I'm sure they are," he said, "I can feel it in my bones!"
She laughed, and it sounded like angels, "Well if you can feel it in your bones, then…"
He grinned, "Exactly!"
They both resumed working quietly then, but a thought bugged Leo more and more, "I know you probably don't know much, but…could you tell me about them?"
"Tell you about your friends?"
"Yeah," he was frustrated once more that he couldn't remember anything, "anything you know about them would be nice. Maybe it'll jog something?"
She nodded, "Of course Leo. You're right, I don't know much as I never met them, but I do remember some of the things you told me about them…"
And so Calypso began to tell him of his friends Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Percy, and Annabeth. As she told him more and more about his friends a strange longing started building up in his chest; they sounded amazing, like they'd meant the world to him, 'I have to get us out of here.'
That was the night the nightmares started.
When Leo woke up the next day he felt both exhausted and confused. He tried to remember exact details of the dream he had, but all he could remember was some kind of explosion and lots of fire. And pain, he could remember being in a lot of pain. Even now, as he thought back to the nightmare he could remember the feeling creeping up his arms, the flames crawling up his body, feeling so much heat—
"Leo, what are you doing?!"
He started, and looked up to find that Calypso had dropped her water pitcher in shock, "What..?"
"Are you trying to light up my entire home on fire?!"
He looked down at himself and muttered a sound of surprise. He'd been so caught up on his thoughts of fire that he'd accidentally started one all on his own. Quickly, he stopped the flames emanating from his body, but unfortunately Calypso's curtains didn't escape their reach.
"Ehh," he scratched the back of his neck, "I'm sorry. I can pay for that! I think? Do you even care about money?"
Calypso huffed, "I'll have to make some new ones tonight. What were you thinking lighting yourself on fire indoors?"
"I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought," he said, feeling a little sheepish, "It won't happen again, Sunshine, I'm really really sorry." He tried giving her some puppy dog eyes to sweeten the deal.
Her face softened, and Leo had to hold himself back from first pumping at his success, "It's alright, I guess. Just make sure not to do it again, I don't want anything else distracting us from our task."
He saluted like an army soldier, "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"
She laughed softly and rolled her eyes, "You modern men and your weird mannerisms."
He grinned, now completely certain that she wasn't upset, "Ah, well, you know us modern men, Sunshine. We're just irresistible!"
"I'm sure," she said sarcastically, "and also incredibly lazy. Now stop wasting time and let's get to work!"
Leo resumed working on Festus that day with renewed vigor, resolving to put the nightmare out of his mind. Whenever he found himself dwelling on it, he'd distract himself by starting another round of questions with Calypso.
"So," he started, "what's your favorite food?"
She thought for a moment, "Grapes. Green grapes to be more specific."
"Grapes?" he asked, astounded, "Grapes? Out of all the possible foods in the world and your favorite is grapes?"
"I'm not sure what's got you so surprised, grapes are sweet and refreshing. What's wrong with grapes?" She looked somewhat miffed at his reaction.
"Well I don't know," he said, "what about chocolate? Or Doritos? Or ice cream? Ooohh or even What-a-Burger?"
She tilted her head, looking completely confused, "What's a 'Doritos'?"
"Oh, no, no, no," he facepalmed and shook his head, "you poor deprived creature. I mean I get the whole 'stay on this island alone for millennia' curse deal, but not letting you have chocolate? That's just cruel!"
"Can you stop talking gibberish and explain what you're talking about, Valdez?"
'Okay,' he thought, 'she only calls me Valdez when she's mad. So I'm guessing I pissed her off. Oooh boy, great going Valdez. Okay, now to disassemble the landmines you oh so smartly set up.'
"Sorry Sushine," he tried, "I'm just surprised. I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't be able to try more modern foods. And now that I think about it I'm pretty sure chocolate was discovered in the Americas at some point in history, so it wouldn't have been found in Ancient Greece…"
She sighed, "I can only eat what I can grow by my own hand on this island, Leo."
"Yeah well, when we get off this island, we can go on a food tour. You have to try chocolate, and ice cream, and junk food, and—have you ever had pizza?"
"Pizza?" she laughed, "No, I'm afraid I haven't. Do you think I would like this 'pizza'?"
"Like it?!" he said, slightly offended at the mere thought of someone not even liking pizza, "You'll love it! I'm pretty sure if you don't love pizza you're some kind of crazy person! I think that's grounds to have a person committed."
"Committed to what?"
He laughed; it was kind of cute how modern vernacular was completely lost on her, "Committed to a crazy house. Like, locked up with all the crazy people."
Her eyes widened, "They just lock mentally ill people in a house? But that's so inhumane!"
He laughed once more, "Okay, I should probably explain that one too…."
Every night thereafter, Leo had nightmares. Some were so intense that he'd wake up in the middle of the night drenched in a cold sweat. Most of the time the memories of them would slip out of his grasp quickly, but he tried to retain as much of it as possible, he was sure that these memories were linked to his past somehow.
He considered telling Calypso about his dreams but quickly decided against it, he didn't want to get her hopes up. So far, all that he could remember was pain, and he was sure that whatever those memories were, they were completely unrelated to Calypso. Calypso was happiness, he decided, he wouldn't find her amongst those memories.
He decided to continue working as if nothing were amiss. On the fifth day of work, Calypso complained to him about the command board he was working on, "You've been taking days on that little piece," she said, "shouldn't you be working on the rest of the machine?"
Leo had given her a half smile, "This little piece is the command board, and this is how we'll be able to control Festus. It takes forever because everything's so intricate." he held it up to her, "You can't rush perfection."
She'd gotten that look on her face again, the one that looked hopeful and hurt at the same time. Leo had an inkling that perhaps he'd said something to the same effect before...
They continued on this pattern for a few more days, but halfway through the second week, Leo was exhausted and irritated. His muscles were sore and cramping from the hard labor and his brain felt fried. He'd had repeated nightmares of being on fire and in pain, he'd also had some where some older woman forced him to play with snakes (what the hell kind of babysitter was that?), and he'd had others where someone was hitting him repeatedly.
The nightmares seemed to gather more and more speed, as if determined to expose him to every negative aspect of his life. He was almost convinced that nothing positive ever happened to him. (Aside from Calypso, of course.) All that he could gather of his past life so far was pain, but from what Calypso had told him he was sure there was some good experiences, somewhere. He just wished he could remember those. Why couldn't he have dreams where he was with his friends, the ones Calypso told him about?
He had experienced a particularly vivid nightmare the night before, and he found himself frequently revisiting it throughout the day. The nightmare was a memory from when he was a child, of that there was no doubt. He was in an auto repair shop with his mother, and then somehow there was a fire. The details were a little foggy, but he could remember being separated from her and knowing that he couldn't save her. All that he could remember was the pain of losing her, and this mind-numbing guilt that sat heavy on his chest.
He groaned and dropped the hammer he was holding.
"What's wrong?" quick as ever, Calypso had looked up from her work and was on him like a hawk.
He waved her off, "Nothing, I'm just tired."
She peered closer at him, "You do look exhausted. Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine," he groaned, irritated, he had a short fuse today and Calypso's worrying wasn't making it any better, "I said I was fine didn't I?"
She stood and put her hands on her hips, "Just because you say you're fine doesn't necessarily mean you're fine. We can't get off this island if you work yourself sick. Now tell me, are you really okay?"
"Seriously?!" he snapped at her, "Is that all you care about? Getting off this stupid island? Using me? Where the hell are you even gonna go, Calypso? You don't even know anyone out there! And what about me, huh? You just decided that I was going to get you off this island like that" he snapped his fingers in her face, "like it's so easy? How can I even trust that everything you say is the truth, huh? I don't remember anything! Why would I want to go back to a world I don't even remember? And like you said, all my friends might be dead! Friends that—for the record—I don't even remember! If they were so fantastic, then why haven't they come looking for me yet, huh? Where the hell are they?" He stopped, shaking and gasping for breath.
"How dare you, Leo Valdez," Calypso's voice was a deadly whisper, "after everything, everything I've been through. After I waited centuries for you—how dare you accuse me of lying? Of using you? Is that really all you think of me?" she was full on yelling at this point.
"Well I don't know," he replied, her anger merely feeding the flames of his, "I wouldn't know any better, now would I? You're a sorceress aren't you? Why can't you just use some spell to bring my memories back? Have you even tried?"
"Of course I tried, Leo, that was the first thing I did! Do you have any idea what kind of torture this has been for me? After waiting all this time, after believing that I was finally getting out of here, after believing that someone actually cared enough to come back for me, the gods send back—"
"Send back what?" he interrupted, "Some damaged, useless runt?"
"They send back the man I love, without his memories. That's what they send back," tears—golden and shining like gods' blood streamed down her face, her voice calmed. "Leo, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in all the thousands of years I've lived. And when I saw you standing there on the shore, returned after so long I thought that finally, finally I could be happy and be with the man I loved, but then-" she swallowed, the tears still flowing freely, "but then you turned to me with that blank look on your face, and I just—"
Whatever anger was left in him evaporated, "Calypso, I—"
"No," she stepped closer to him, "you should know. Leo, I don't know what to do. I'm just as lost as you are. I love you with every fiber of my being, and it hurts every day that you look at me, knowing that you don't remember me, and that you don't feel the same way. I don't know how to act around you, I don't know what I should tell you, I don't know how to fix you. I just wish, so, so badly that you could just remember…I just wish you could remember what you felt for me."
She looked up at him with her big eyes, still shining with tears, and a strange wave washed through him. He wasn't quite sure what drove him to it; all rational thought had left him at this point.
So he kissed her.
The kiss started out slow, almost loving, and Leo took his time enjoying the feel of her, pushed up against him. But then, quickly, it changed. All of a sudden that fire that had coursed through him came back, and the kiss got heated, more aggressive; almost messy. Calypso responded to him in kind, both of them pouring their anger and their frustration into that kiss.
He dug his hands through her hair wildly, and the gentle hold he'd had around her waist turned into a tight grip. Likewise, she ran her hand through his hair, tugging at it, her other hand near his hip, his shirt gripped tightly in it. He was starting to get light-headed. He broke contact with her lips and trailed a line of kisses down her jawbone, ending at her neck and continued kissing her there, some primal instinct driving his actions. At this point, a small gasp left her lips, and Leo felt so warm he could have sworn he had lit himself on fire again. He went back to kissing her lips when—
"Don't push your luck, Leo Valdez," she said. "I still hate you."
"Okay."
"And you are not coming back here," she insisted. "So don't give me any empty promises."
"How about a full promise?" he said. "Because I'm definitely—"
She grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss, which effectively shut him up. If Leo had had gears and wires in his brain, they would've short-circuited. Calypso pushed him away.
"That didn't happen."
"Okay." His voice sounded an octave higher than usual.
"Get out of here."
"Okay."
She turned, wiping her eyes furiously, and stormed up the beach, the breeze tousling her hair.
He pushed her back, panting. She looked up at him, surprised, wide-eyed, beautiful.
"I remember you."
A/N: well this ended way differently than I'd originally intended. Buuuuut I have to say I'm kind of happy with it :)
The next chapter will be from Calypso's point of view, I tried to throw in some of it in the ending here, but more on that next time!
Don't forget to leave me your thoughts and tell me what you think! And as always, thanks for reading!
P.S. for those poor souls that don't know what What-a-Burger is, it's a fast food chain of deliciousness from Texas :)