A/N: so I guess this little episode is going to take two chapters to get out properly. I tried doing it all in one go, but it's way too long for one chapter, so I guess you will all have to be okay with two shorter chapters! More notes at the bottom, but for now, enjoy!
Leo hadn't been lying when he said he'd had ideas. Two weeks later, Calypso was sure she'd visited more cities and countries than there were stars in the skies, and still Leo insisted that there were so many more to see. Every day brought a new adventure: new sights, new smells, new sounds…it was exhilarating.
"Get down!" came Leo's yell as he ran towards her.
Calypso ducked her head down and covered, already very familiar with what would happen next. 'Three, two, one…' the resounding BOOM! caused Leo to grin wickedly at her as yet another quick invention worked perfectly.
Oh yeah, that was another thing, the monsters. It seemed as though once Calypso got some of her mojo back the monsters started coming in swarms. She supposed it made sense, one demigod traveling with a mortal wasn't enough to attract many monsters, but once you pair a demigod and a mortal with god-ish powers, it wasn't too surprising that monsters showed up.
Calypso still rolled her eyes when she thought back to Leo's reaction to the first swarm of monsters that attacked them. The poor boy had positively freaked when a couple of cyclops attacked them and mimicked his voice. It would seem Leo had no memories of fighting previous monsters, but those Greek battle instincts kicked in soon enough. Leo was quick with his hands and able to rig up bombs and machines that would help them defeat the monsters, and Calypso was no wailing maiden herself.
Just like they had when they built Festus, Leo and Calypso quickly got a feel for each other's abilities and worked together seamlessly. The monsters never stood a chance.
"So, mademoiselle, ready to get out of this stuffy country?" Leo gallantly extended a hand to her as he gestured towards Festus.
She laughed, "Oui s'il vous plait!"
He pulled a face, "And in American that means…?"
"In American that means let's get out of this stuffy country, Hot Head!" she took his hand and climbed aboard Festus.
"Good enough!" he nodded and climbed on behind her.
"Oh but do you think we could see the Eiffel tower one last time before we leave?"
"I suppose you can't deny a girl anything in the city of love," he sighed, acting as if it was sooooo difficult for him to grant her request, but Calypso knew that Leo loved the sight just as much as she did.
She sighed dreamily when they flew by the Eiffel tower one last time; Paris truly was a beautiful city. Sure, there were some smells she could have done without, but overall the city truly was amazing. Leo had told her that Paris was called the "city of love," and she could very much see why. She and Leo had broken into the Eiffel tower after hours, and it was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. And when Leo surprised her with roses and a picnic all the way up there…well, suffice to say it was a night full of love.
"We'll come back here, someday," Leo murmured into her ear and then nipped at her earlobe.
She smiled, and turned to see him, "I would love that very much."
He grinned at her, "Well then, it's a done deal!"
And because he looked so wonderful with the Eiffel tower slowly vanishing behind him, she kissed him soundly.
"So, where to next?" she said as she turned forward.
She could almost feel him grinning behind her, "Don't you know, Sunshine? It's a surprise!"
She laughed, "How come I never get to know where we're going?"
"It's not like you'd know anything about it anyways!" he chuckled, "Besides, it's more fun this way, keeps the romance alive and all that good stuff."
"I think Paris was more than enough to keep the romance alive, don't you?" she threw back. Leo made a strange choking sound and when Calypso turned she laughed when she realized his ears were on fire once more. Oh how she loved teasing him! Who'd have thought that the great, funny Leo Valdez would get so flustered about such things?
"Could you—you know what? Just for that I'm not telling you!" he managed to sputter out.
Calypso kept laughing, "Oh no worries, it was worth it!"
He grunted, "Well anyways, we should get there sometime tomorrow morning, you should get some sleep."
She tried to hide her yawn, "But I'm not tired yet…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he murmured as she nonetheless leaned back and he wrapped his arms around her. "You used a lot of magic today, get some rest."
"Mmmhmm…" she was asleep in seconds.
"Hey, Sunshine, wake up!"
"Hmmmghhh…"
"Come onnnnn, you won't wanna miss this sight!" Leo's voice was much too excited for this hour.
Calypso groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes open, cursing Leo under her breath. When her eyesight finally cleared up, however, she sat up alert, "Gods above, it's gorgeous!" she breathed.
Before them was a gorgeous city with a plethora of different buildings from different eras, but the buildings that caught her attention the most were tall, aged, beautiful castles and spires that stood proud despite their obvious age. The city had an aged look about it, like most European cities, but this one had its own charm that set it apart from the rest.
"What's this place called?" she asked eagerly.
"Bienvenidos a Leon, España!" he spread his arms, as if christening the city.
"Espa…Spain? I think I've heard of a Spain."
He laughed, "Yes, Spain. I'm named after this city! Get it? Leo, Leon?"
"I thought you were named after the constellation?"
He furrowed his brow in confusion, "Oh yeah, maybe that was it…but there is something I remember about this city…" he winced and shook his head, "Ah, well. I'm sure it'll come to me. But anyways we're here!"
Calypso placed her palm on his forehead worriedly, she didn't want him to suffer from those migraines that he got whenever he forced himself to remember things. "Are you feeling all right? If you're gonna be in pain we can go somewhere else…"
"Nah, I'm fine! Besides, this is the one country where one of us actually speaks the native language. It'll be fun!" he waved her hands off him and pointed to a nearby hill, "Take us down there, Festus!"
Luckily for them both, the initial headache seemed to be a false alarm, as the remainder of the day brought no more headaches from Leo. Leo talked up several of the young trip advisors and they gave him a list of places every tourist needed to see, plus the locals' best restaurant recommendations. They tacked onto several tour groups and saw the beautiful cathedrals and architecture around the city, and by sunset they were both happily stuffed with some delicious paella.
"Holy Hephaestus, I'll never eat again!" Leo groaned as they walked out of the restaurant.
Calypso giggled, "The locals didn't lie, that was one of the best meals I've ever had!"
"You said it," he nodded, "but just you wait, once you try my enchiladas you'll re-think that!"
"Oh yeah? I'm starting to think you've talked them up so much they're actually going to turn out terrible."
"You take that back this instant, young lady!" he waved a menacing finger at her, "Don't you dare insult the great Leo Valdez's cooking!"
She laughed, "I don't know, I just think—oof!" she stumbled into Leo and clutched her side in pain. Something had struck her, something…was stuck on her.
"Calypso! What—" his eyes widened as his gaze locked onto something past her, "What the hell is that thing?!"
"Ma-manticore!" she managed to gasp out as she managed to lock onto the creature, "it has…" her vision swayed and she lost her balance.
Leo caught her and dragged her out of the manticore's way, "Calypso what's wrong?"
She tried not to wince, but wasn't sure of her success, so she lowered her hands and showed him the spike sticking out of her side, "Poison. Need to. Take. Out." She gasped out, gods this must be some potent stuff.
"What?! Calypso, I can't—"
"You. Have. To." She tried to lock her gaze with him to indicate the urgency, "I'll die. If you—don't."
He gulped and nodded, taking a hold of the spike, "Okay, okay. On three: one, two—" he yanked the spike out before he got to three, Calypso tried to bite back a scream as she felt the spike tear more tissue on its way out.
"I can still smell you, little demigods!" the manticore taunted, and suddenly it jumped out in front of them, "There you are!"
Leo quickly dragged her out of the way as the manticore's tail swept towards them, Calypso tried to help as much as possible, but she felt weak, woozy, and tired.
"Calypso what can we do? How do we kill it?" Leo asked quickly, half-carrying her as he continued to dodge the manticore's deathly scorpion tail.
"Too...strong," she mumbled, "hard to…hurt."
He groaned, "Oh great, this is just great! And Festus can't hear us from this distance…" he glanced around worriedly.
"You have to…leave me behind," she forced out, "I'm slowing you…down…" There was no way Leo could get out alive if he was dragging her everywhere, he needed both his hands to work up a machine and was barely surviving the manticore's attacks with Calypso's dead weight. It was the only way he stood a chance, he had to understand that!
"No way in Hades," he muttered as he once more narrowly evaded the manticore's attacks.
"Aww come on little demigods, at least stand and fight, all this chasing is no fun!" the manticore taunted once more, "I promise I'll kill you nice and quick if you leave me the girl!"
"Hey, ugly, no one asked for your input!" Leo yelled back.
"Leo. Please." There were black spots on her vision, she wouldn't last much longer.
"Just—hold on! I'll figure something out, I just need to think!" he muttered in frustration. "I just need to—"
"Ey, necesitas ayuda?" Calypso heard a male voice call out, she wasn't sure what the man was saying, and her vision was blurring too much for her to find the speaker.
"Can you—Puedes ver el monstruo?!" Leo yelled back urgently.
The man's voice laughed, 'how is he laughing at a time like this?' she wanted to yell.
"Si, hombre!" the man answered, "Es bien feo, no? Trae a la chica para aca!"
She wasn't sure what was going on, but Leo seemed to trust the man enough to hand her to him, "Leo, what—"
He ignored her and turned to the man who was holding her up, "Tienes algo con que matarlo?"
"Pues claro que si! Pero me gustaria ver si tu lo puedes hacer solo!"
Leo looked back at the monster and grinned back at the man, "Mira y aprende, viejo!" he reached into his toolbelt, Calypso wasn't sure what exactly he was doing but it looked to her like his hands were working too fast for the human eye to keep up. Gods, it sucked being a mortal sometimes!
"Nowhere to run now, little demigod!" the manticore was close enough to come in for the kill, but at that moment Leo yelled triumphantly.
"Oh yeah? Well before you eat me, I just have one request: can I hear that ferocious roar one last time?"
The manticore looked confused, but seemed pleased to concede Leo's request, and as it bellowed a giant "ARGHHHHHH!" Leo tossed the small device in his hands straight into the manticore's mouth, "What the—"
The manticore started to ask, but Leo interrupted him with a "Duck!" and the next thing Calypso knew she was thrown to the floor and she felt the earth shake beneath her with yet another giant BOOM!
"Allright! Take that scorpion king!" Leo yelled triumphantly.
"Nicely done," the stranger responded in an accented voice, "that was some pretty quick thinking."
Leo grinned back, "I told you—Calypso!"
He rushed forwards when she collapsed once more, she had tried to stand on her own, but perhaps that hadn't been the best idea.
"What happened to her?" the man asked sharply.
"She got struck by one of the spikes," Leo answered quickly, "She said they were poisoned."
The man frowned, "Okay, I know someplace we can take her where you will both be safe."
Leo nodded eagerly, "Please. Quickly."
Calypso's eyes closed on their own, and she felt herself be hoisted up in Leo's strong arms, "Leo…tell them…ambrosia…" she tried to hang onto consciousness long enough to make sure he understood, "no…not…a demigod…not…goddess…"
"Shhh, don't you worry. I'll take care of you Sunshine. You'll be fine."
And because he sounded so sure, Calypso finally gave into the poison's lure and let herself fade into unconsciousness.
A/N: ohhhh noooooooooo! Lol poor Calypso, only a mortal for a couple of weeks and is already about to die! I blame Leo!
Anyways, just so you all don't complain, a part of me did want to include chapters on all the beautiful cities and adventures the two had in Europe, but the focus of my story will not be those adventures, so I'm sorry that you guys will just have to be satisfied with a bit of a time-hop. It would take way too much time to add in those chapters and I'm sure you're all just as eager as I am to get them to Camp Half-Blood (Besides, I'm sure Piper's lusting for blood by now!)
Feel free to use your imagination and fill in all those lovely adventures the two had around Europe.
One of the more vivid adventures that I thought to include was where Leo met up with the nymphs that were in Narcissus's fan club and they attacked him, while the lonely "Team Leo!" nymph tried to defend him—this of course would be all the more hilarious because Leo will have had no memory of the nymphs and Calypso would have been adorably jealous. You can all pretend that happened for the purposes of this story if it helps :P
Anyways, the remainder of this chapter should hopefully be out by the end of the week. I've yet to name our mysterious Spanish stranger…I have his entire backstory but not a name! Hah, so feel free to throw out some suggestions if you'd like!
As always, thanks for reading and please drop me a line to let me know what you think!