"I remember you."

"You…you what?!" she stared at him, shocked, still reeling from that kiss.

"Well, I mean not really-" he looked away, suddenly shy, "I mean, well, I don't remember everything exactly but I—"

"Leo," she cut him off, suddenly desperate to know more—she tried to quell the hope swelling in her chest. "What exactly did you remember?"

He looked at her again, his hands fidgeting with some wires inside his toolbelt absentmindedly, "I remember you telling me you hated me, but it didn't sound like you meant it. And then you told me I wouldn't be coming back but I promised you that I would and then…"

She breathed out, "And then I kissed you."

His cheeks reddened, "Yes, and then you kissed me and told me to leave. And when you turned away, you were…you were crying."

"Is that all you remember?" she tried to keep her voice even, speaking past the lump in her throat. He'd seen her cry too many times.

"I think so," he nodded slowly, "I remember being confused, like I couldn't really understand what was happening. And when you kissed me I felt like…" he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I don't know, it's already slipping away."

She smiled tightly at him, "Well, it's not everything, but it's a start."

He took a step towards her, "Calypso, I'm sorry. I wish—"

"No, Leo," she held up a hand, suddenly scared that he would embrace her again. She wasn't sure she could handle that at the moment, "none of this is your fault. I shouldn't expect for your memory to come back all at once. I just—it's just…"

She trailed off, confused. She wasn't quite sure what exactly she'd been hoping for. Perhaps she just wished that he would remember his feelings for her. A simple moment in time, no matter how significant it was, meant nothing in the greater scope of things. The fact that she'd kissed him and he'd promised to come back wouldn't mean anything to him. It wouldn't make him remember he loved her.

He was still nervously fiddling with something in his hands and took a breath as if to say something.

"Like I said," she interrupted before he could speak, "it's okay. I'm okay." She cast her gaze out to the sea, and realized she couldn't be there with Leo a moment longer. "Look I still need to weave those curtains that you burnt down the other day. I'm just going to go ahead and work on those for the rest of the day, don't worry about me."

The small machine in his hands made a strange noise and lit on fire, he dropped it, "Okay."

She chuckled softly at the irony, "Oay," the last words he'd ever said to her (he was such an eloquent hero, wasn't he?)

She turned quickly and marched away without looking back at him. Walking steadily, she made it to her cave way too soon, she had yet to work through her feelings and wasn't quite sure what to make of everything. Figuring she'd at least stay true to her words, she sat and her loom and began to weave.

Weaving was something she had enjoyed doing for millennia; the work was repetitive and soothing, but she soon found that though her hands were busy, her thoughts were left to wonder.

It had been incredibly difficult for her, those first few days that Leo was back. When he first got there and revealed his lack of memory she had hoped that it was a fluke, that perhaps he was exhausted and sick and maybe that's why he couldn't remember her. But when he opened his eyes once more and still couldn't remember her she realized that the condition was more serious than what she had originally hoped. There were no words to describe what it felt like to have Leo look at her like he had that day: confused, lost, surprised. She had imagined their reunion so many times and in so many different ways, but never like this.

She didn't miss the flash of guilt and frustration that clouded his eyes any time she'd question his memory and had resolved to stop causing him reason to worry. Valiantly, she had tried to cast her pain to the side and to simply help him—she figured the only way to heal him was to get him back to himself and to get him back to his home in Camp Half-Blood. She was afraid that if she waited around for his memory to return nothing would happen, and anyways Leo wasn't the type of hero who would have waited around for something to save him, he was a doer. The first time he'd come to her island he did nothing but work on his way out, so she figured that doing the same thing his second time around would help.

But then of course there were those moments where he'd say or do something that was just so familiar. He'd act exactly like he would have before, and in those brief moments she would forget his memory loss. She could almost convince herself that her Leo was back at times, like when he said one of his stupid jokes, or when he bragged about his machines—but then the moment would shatter quickly, her hopes would plummet and her heart would hurt just a little more.

She looked down, startled to realize that her work was already done. She sighed and hung the curtains up on the rod that Leo had fixed so long ago. Her task had been finished much too quickly, so she cast her eyes about in search for something else to keep her busy. She proceeded to clean up the entirety of her cave, spending extra time in the attached room that she had given to Leo.

Leo, she had come to learn, was a bit of a slob. Sighing once more, she proceeded to organize his scattered drawings and diagrams as best she could. After making his bed and sweeping up, she cast a final glance around the room, satisfied with her work. Then, on top of the table, she saw a strange orb and inside it sat the crystal she had given him so long ago. She approached it and picked it up gently.

"So this is what sent you back to me," she spoke softly, looking at the strange machine intently…

"I'm not gonna leave you here! After you helped me and everything? Of course I'm coming back. Once I rebuild Festus, he'll be able to handle an improved guidance system. There's this astrolabe that I, uh…that I found in Bologna. Anyway, I think with that crystal you gave me—"

"You can't come back," Calypso insisted.

Leo's face dropped, "Because I'm not welcome?"

Startled by the strength of the unbidden memory, she set the orb down on his table quickly. 'How could he ever think he wasn't welcome?'

She left the room swiftly. Then, she went around to her garden and resolved to work on it some, as she had been neglecting it of late. Work went by smoothly for quite a while and she was almost able to forget about her worries when her pruners suddenly fell apart.

"And my gardening tools?"

"Look, I just sharpened the shears. Cutting vines with a dull blade is dangerous. And the pruners needed to be oiled at the hinge, and—"

Of course, she'd forgotten to oil them.

Frustrated, she stabbed the two pieces on the ground and allowed a small growl to escape her. Realizing that she couldn't escape thinking of him, she let her mind wander and found her thoughts going back to that heated kiss they had shared.

When Leo had snapped at her out of nowhere, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He was usually so calm with her, joking and making light banter, but then she remembered his attitude when he had first landed here, how that biting sarcasm that had driven her crazy. She couldn't quite figure out what had put him on edge, but if she was completely honest with herself, Leo's anger had frightened her. She had convinced herself that although Leo couldn't remember his feelings for her, he would still come to love her again, but she was suddenly presented with the idea that this was a new Leo…he had no obligation to love her once more.

So she came clean to him, needing him to understand, needing him to know. And then he kissed her. At first, the kiss was sweet, like that of a lover. But then it changed into something heated and wild—like Leo's own flames. She should have probably stopped him, but she had let herself be swept up in her emotions. Never before had she connected with Leo in this way, their bodies and their emotions moving in sync—at the moment, it didn't matter that he didn't love her, it didn't matter that he had no memory of her. All that she knew at that moment was Leo and his heated body. And for that small amount of time, it had been enough.

But then, of course, reality came crashing down. Her hopes were shattered again. She really didn't know how long she could keep going like this, she had always been guided by her feelings, and she had always felt too strongly. To keep having her heart crushed over and over again, with no reason to hope that it would all come out okay…she was sure she would be driven mad soon.

All of a sudden, it was all too much. Shaking, she dropped to her knees and covered her face as she felt the tears come once more.

And for the first time in her life, Calypso prayed.

"Please," she sobbed, her voice tight, "please, I've never asked for anything. After everything you have all done to me, I have been patient, and I have been kind. If not for me, then please… please help him…please...he's a good person, he's a hero, he helped defeat Gaea…He doesn't deserve this…"

She trailed off, suddenly exhausted, and breathed deeply.

"You're right," a deep voice came from behind her, and she whirled around to find the speaker, "he was very brave."

"Lord Hephaestus," she rose, wiping away the last of her tears, "you came."

He smiled kindly at her, "Always lovely to see you, Calypso. And may I just say your strawberries look especially delicious this year." He looked about her garden with interest.

"Thank you."

"And your grapes, I'm sure even Dionysus would be jealous of those!"

"I'm sure."

"And those roses—"

"I hope you're not here to talk pleasantries," there was some steel in her voice, how could he talk strawberries and roses at a time like this?

He grimaced, and rubbed the back of his neck in a move that resembled Leo way too much, "Ah yes, of course. Sorry, I didn't mean-"

She took a deep breath, she'd been around Leo so long that she'd almost forgotten how regular children of Hephaestus acted. Where Leo was talkative and friendly, Hephaestus was always awkward and uncomfortable around people; he always acted like he'd rather be working on one of his machines. "It's fine. Please, tell me what you came here to say."

He cleared his throat, "Um yes, that, Leo." He produced a set of wires from thin air and proceeded to fiddle with it as he talked, the motion so familiar to Calypso that her heart clenched, "Yes well that's a really long story. I figured you should get some answers."

"I would like that very much," she said, as kindly as she could.

"Well you see, in the final battle against Gaea—well that is, the prophesy said 'To storm or fire, the world must fall,' fire, of course, being Leo…"

She nodded, willing herself to be patient, "okay…"

"So, well, in order to defeat Gaea, Leo had to sacrifice himself. He needed to die." The machine he had been working on suddenly sprang to life and flew away, he quickly started working on something else, "But him and his friends, they had Asclepius make the Physician's Cure beforehand."

Her eyes widened, "The Physician's Cure? But that's…"

"Outlawed by Zeus after it upset everyone, yes," he locked eyes with her now, "that's what has caused so many issues."

"So what happened?"

He dropped the machine in his hands and it zoomed away, "Well, through his sacrifice, Leo was able to defeat Gaea and put her back to sleep. There was a lot of chaos afterwards, you have to understand—all the gods' Greek and Roman sides were fighting with themselves, and it took us some time to get back to ourselves. By the time I realized what had happened, Leo's dragon had already administered the Cure and it was caught in the Mist surrounding Ogygia.

"As you know, the use of the Cure had been banned but, well…he's my son. And if it weren't for him, then Olympus would have surely fallen. So I went to Zeus and asked that he make an exception and allow Leo to live on. Of course at the end of the day, it was all up to Hades, but you know how upset he gets when he has to let mortals out of the Underworld…"

"Yes, I am familiar with his opinion on that," she said, thinking back to all the tales she'd heard, "so then what happened?"

"Well," he began fidgeting again, "I couldn't just walk my way on down to the Underworld, you know, so I had to wait for Hades to come pay a visit to Olympus. I waited until the first day of winter, when he came to take Persephone down to the Underworld. I figured he would be in a good mood then."

She nodded, "Of course, it seems reasonable."

"Right. So I approached him and asked him about Leo, and he said his soul was in the Underworld, but that his judges couldn't decide on where to put it because his body was still alive. He said it was causing a lot of fights and issues. And then Persephone came up to him and he told her how he missed her—"

"Can we stick to the relevant parts of the story, please?" She interrupted him, realizing that this was probably the longest he'd talked in a long time.

He shook his head, "So anyways, he said he would be willing to make an exception for Leo and to let his soul out of the Underworld, since, you know, we all owe him so much. But because no soul should escape from the Underworld unscathed he required an extra condition…"

She stilled, "And what was it?"

"He had to be doused in the River Lethe."

"He what?!"

"I said doused, not submerged!" he said quickly, "Look it was the only way to get Leo out, okay? So Hades splashed him with the water and let his soul go… And anyways I found a way to get him to recover his memories."

She waited, "….well what is it?"

"Oh right, sorry. Once you get out, take him to Camp Half-Blood, and bring him to the Hypnos cabin. He'll have to be put in a deep sleep and covered in the Golden Fleece. The experience might be a bit painful for him, but…he should wake up the next day with his memories returned."

She almost shouted in frustration, "The Golden Fleece? Hasn't that been lost for centuries? How am I supposed to find it?!"

He waved his hands at her, trying to still her anger, "No, no, the Fleece, it's been found. Percy Jackson found it. Well not him, Ares's girl, Clarisse. Anyways, it's at Camp Half-Blood."

She took a breath, "Okay then. So once we get out of here we'll just go to Camp Half-Blood, wrap him in the Golden Fleece, put him to sleep, and then he'll be back to normal!"

She laughed softly, relieved. After all the trials she and Leo had both been through, she was finally starting to see the light. They could get out of this, they could be happy together.

But then she noticed Hephaestus wasn't smiling, "What is it?" her voice sounded sharper than she'd intended.

He grimaced once more, "There's…something else."

"What? What else could there possibly be?"

He groaned, and rolled his eyes skyward, "Well, you see, the Physician's Cure…it isn't really as effective as legend would have it be…"

She could almost hit him, 'Gods does he really not realize what a terrible conversationalist he is?!' "Lord Hephaestus, please. You've toyed with my emotions long enough. Just tell me the truth."

"I'm sorry Calypso," he sighed, "if it was a machine I would fix it, no problem. But mortals and souls and feelings…After all this time I still can't figure them out...

"The Physician's Cure needs to be administered very soon after death in order to be effective, but by the time that Leo's dragon administered the Cure, they were already caught up in the Mist around Ogygia. As you well know, time flows differently here…"

"So it was too late," she whispered.

"Yes," he looked down, putting away the small apparatus in his hand, "by the time the dragon administered the Cure his soul was already in the Underworld, his body had been dead for a while in the mortal world. If Leo leaves Ogygia he will die within the week."

She shut her eyes tightly, "Please. Please tell me there's another way."

He hesitated, "There might be…"

She rushed forwards and seized his scarred, callused hands in hers, "What? What is it? Tell me!"

"Well I have no power over these types of occurrences, and I had already meddled enough in Leo's fate as it is, so…I went to my beloved wife for help."

'Oh, no…' if there was one goddess that Calypso was sure hated her as much as Calypso hated her back, it was Aphrodite. After all, it was the Love Goddess's fault that Calypso always fell for those heroes. It was all her fault that they always loved someone else. Were it not for Aphrodite, Calypso was sure she would have lived a long and happy eternity by herself in Ogygia.

"What did she do?"

"Well she was very moved by you and Leo's story; you know how she loves those tragic tales of love. But anyways, she did agree to return his body to its regular health and grant him a normal, mortal lifespan…but there is a cost."

"Of course, there's always a cost."

He smiled apologetically, "To grant this gift, it would require a great act of love. Leo sacrificed his life in the hopes that he could conquer death and find his way back to you…"

"And is that not a sufficient act of love? What else could Aphrodite require?"

"Um. Yes, well, it would have to be an act of love from each party. You would have to sacrifice something of equal value in the name of Aphrodite."

She froze, 'He can't mean…'

He took a breath and looked at her steadily, "You would have to give up your immortality."

A/N: dun dun dunnnnnnn! I actually thought this would be a short chapter, but I guess Leo's story was longer than I'd anticipated! I meant to hold off on publishing this for a few more days, but I'm impatient so I just went ahead.

The next chapter will be from Calypso's point of view and there will be A LOT OF FLUFF :D so be ready for that :) I'm really excited about it, I need these poor kids to be happy for a minute ;)

As always, thanks for reading, and be sure to leave me your thoughts!