Piper was seeing red.
She couldn't think of a time that she'd felt this upset. This betrayed. How could Calypso do this to her? To Leo? To all of them? They'd brought her into their group, they'd accepted her, Piper had even comforted her, bonded with the girl. And now this?!
"Well?" she snapped.
For a second, Calypso's face remained guarded, "I-I don't—what are you-?"
"Don't even start!" said Piper.
"We heard you in the woods, Calypso," Jason's voice was calm, collected. Like the calm before the storm.
Calypso's eyes searched wildly around the room, first looking to Jason, then finally settling on Piper. And then, all at once, Calypso's expression just…broke.
It was like a glass shattering, her shoulders collapsed inwards, her torso contracting like she'd been punched in the gut, her knees gave out under her. And then a shuddering, rough intake of breath, like a woman bursting from the water after diving in far, far too deep.
"Oh Piper," sobbed Calypso, "I've done a terrible, terrible thing."
Piper's eyes shot sideways at Jason, wide with surprise, "What did you do Calypso?" Jason said evenly.
But the girl was inconsolable, her hands covered her face as she heaved huge, breathless sobs, "Oh gods, I can't believe—I never thought—"
Piper couldn't help herself, the girl was clearly in distress. Piper was afraid she would hyperventilate and pass out any second. She got down on her knees and put her arms around Calypso, "Okay, breathe. Calm down," she murmured.
Calypso took deep, shuddering breaths, it was a full five minutes until she was finally calm enough to speak. "I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely, "I never meant for this to happen. Please, you have to understand."
"Understand what?" Jason had sat down against the door, watching the two of them from afar.
Calypso finally looked up from her hands, exposing milky white tears pouring down her face, "The most important thing is that I love Leo. You have to know that. Please understand. The last thing I want to do is hurt him." Her voice was laced with desperation.
Piper and Jason exchanged glances, "We know that Calypso, but something strange is going on. You need to tell us what it is. We're worried!" Piper insisted.
Calypso took yet another shuddering breath as she kicked her legs out in front of her, positioning her back against the far wall, her hands tangled in her lap, her eyes cast downwards, her shoulders slumped. If Piper had any propensity to paint the former goddess now, she'd title this piece Sorrow.
"Calypso," spoke Jason, "who was that man you were speaking to in the woods?"
Calypso did not look up when she answered, "His name is Antreas." She spoke softly, as if she were speaking to herself. "He is…my betrothed."
"I'm sorry—your what?!" Piper spat out.
"We were meant to be wed eons ago. We were going to have a beautiful ceremony, I had everything planned. My dress took months to weave and sew. It was going to be the wedding of the millennium." Calypso's voice remained dejected, completely detached from emotion. "He was the love of my life."
"But then," Piper prodded, "what happened?"
"Well," breathed Calypso, "what always seems to happen to heroes," she looked up, her eyes locking on Piper's, "war."
*Flashback*
It was the dawn of time. Calypso was barely a young nymph, still wasting her time running down the hallways of her father's palace with her feet bare and her hair unbound, making flower crowns with her sisters, laughing loudly without a care in the world. She was young, her powers still just soft glowing embers hinting at what was to come. Mostly, she just used her powers to make pretty flowers bloom and injured birds take flight. She was happy, life was good.
At some point, she supposed, she heard a rumor fly about. A rumor that there may be a war. But they were just murmurs. Whispers in the wind. Nothing solid. No blood drawn. Just whispers.
In that time, Calypso began to see a young warrior constantly hanging about her father. He was tall, athletic, with a head of soft dark curls. A walking sculpture of the ideal male physique. He was always quiet, stoic, obedient. He was her father's right-hand man—any word from her father, and he would perform immediately, no questions ask. Many of her sisters' heads turned when he'd pass them in the hallway, but Calypso did not care for him—she was too busy running around and being a nuisance to notice the finer attributes of her father's warrior. And for many years, it remained that way.
At some point, when the whispers of war became heated conversations behind closed doors, something changed. Her father started encouraging his children to practice their sorcery, to learn how to fight. How to be warriors. But Calypso didn't care for it, she was in pursuit of the finer things in life, like running around the sandy beaches of her father's estate and stealing sweets from the kitchens. She got in many a yelling match with her father and her more fanatical siblings. And there Antreas was every time, just at the edge of her vision, standing at her father's side, stoic, unemotional. Always watching, never speaking.
That was all until an early spring morning, when Calypso found herself sneaking around the woods early. She'd been nursing a small dove with a broken wing the previous night and had snuck out of the castle first thing in the morning to check on the poor creature and make sure it was okay. There was a thin layer of fog in the air that gave the woods a strange, hazy feeling, but Calypso had grown up in these woods, and she walked boldly to her destination.
In her careless rush to check on the small bird, she didn't realize she'd gotten much too close to a bear enclosure until it was too late. All at once, Calypso heard a wild Roar! That froze her in her spot. She turned her head quickly and saw that the bear was fast approaching. She would not have time to escape its path.
She shut her eyes in anticipation of the attack, when suddenly, she felt herself being shoved sideways. "Move!" it was Antreas, emerging out of the fog with a sharp spear in hand.
The bear gave another mighty roar as it went up on its hind legs and prepared to attack its new enemy. Antreas, ever the warrior, crouched with his spear held high, ready to attack in a moment's notice. The bear started charging, Antreas shifted his spear, poised to pierce the bear's heart.
"No!" she cried, "Don't hurt it!"
Antreas hesitated, his gaze shifting to Calypso for just a split second, but that was all the time the bear needed to close the distance towards the Greek warrior, who was thrown to the side by the bear's mighty paw.
Calypso gasped in horror—what had she done? "Wait!" she cried helplessly at the bear, "No, stop!" She couldn't believe it, here was Antreas attempting to save her and she stupidly distracts him and gets him hurt. "Hey! Over here!" she jumped up and down, attempting to distract the wild bear's attention. Antreas was slowly getting up, but his strong arm was clearly injured. She picked up a rock and threw it at the bear's back, "I said, look here!"
Finally, the bear turned, 'Now what?' she clearly hadn't though this far ahead. The bear was angry now, and closing in on Calypso faster than she could think of a plan. But not fast enough that Antreas couldn't. The warrior pulled a length of rope from his belt and lassoed it around the bear's paw, and Antreas heaved with more force than Calypso ever thought a man his size was capable of. It was enough to throw the bear off balance and cause it to fall on his back in a tangle of limbs.
Antreas reached her in a second, "Run!" he snatched her hand as he led her through the forest, jumping through rocks and streams in a dizzying pattern that soon left Calypso completely disoriented. Finally, after he the bear's angry roar was little more than an echo, he slowed their breakneck pace and sat down on a rock next to a small creek to inspect his injuries. Calypso winced, his right arm was slick with blood and he had three huge gashes running across his bicep. Those would definitely leave a mark if allowed to heal on their own.
"Are you okay?" she panted, still catching her breath from the impromptu run.
The warrior didn't even flinch as he inspected his wound, "I think I'll live."
"Here," she said, "let me see it." Antreas hesitated, but Calypso was insistent, "Please, this is all my fault. I distracted you and you got hurt. Just let me help."
The stoic warrior nodded and extended his arm silently for Calypso's inspection. Calypso quickly tore a strip from the bottom of her frayed robe and dipped it in the creek. She then efficiently began to clean his wound, wincing at how deep the gash really went.
"I can heal this partially," she said, "but not completely. I'll have to sew this closed."
Antreas nodded, "Do what you must."
Calypso nodded back, luckily, she'd been on her way to care for a wounded animal, so she'd brought her small medical kit with her. She took out a thread and needle and got to work. Antreas sat quietly with his eyes closed as she worked.
"I'm sorry," she murmured as she worked, "I should have been more careful. I should never have scared that poor bear into attacking in the first place."
Antreas opened his eyes and turned to look at her—how had Calypso never noticed his eyes were such a bright green? "What are you doing out in the woods at this hour anyways?"
Calypso hesitated, "Well, I was just on my way to check on this injured dove I found last night, I wanted to get to him before he started moving around too much, and I guess I was just in such a rush, that I…" Gods above, was she flustered?
Antreas chuckled, "All this just for a dove?" His left hand covered Calypso's, which, she now realized, had been lingering on his bicep for much longer than was necessary, "You're a very interesting girl, Calypso."
Calypso blushed as she busied herself binding a makeshift bandage around his arm, "Well I just thought…"
"Hey, it's okay," he said, "I'm just glad I was there to save you."
"Right, thank you," she said, "for saving me. And for not hurting that poor bear. It was my fault for startling it."
For the first time in all her years knowing him, Antreas actually smiled, "You have a good heart. That's rare to see these days."
"And that was all it took," Calypso murmured, "in a castle full of people, that small act of kindness…it was everything. From that moment on we were together every day. Sneaking around late at night, waking up early to find each other in the woods. I even started taking fighting lessons, just as an excuse to be near him all day. My father was over the moon thinking I'd finally decided to start paying attention to his fanatical ramblings. And for a few years that was my life, pretending to be an obedient daughter, avoiding any conflict with my father so as to not bring his attention to my sneaking around. But it was all a ruse, all I really wanted was to be near Antreas. We were young, and in love, and so very happy…"
"So, what happened?" Jason asked.
Calypso smiled bitterly, "Well, he was so loyal to my father. He couldn't stand lying to him. It took a lot out of him to keep the secret for so many years. I was so scared of what my father would say once he found out, but I needn't have worried. He was overjoyed when he found out we were in love, and immediately offered up my hand in marriage. Antreas accepted, of course, and that was that. We were engaged to be married."
She sighed then, and her brow furrowed, "Of course, we were doomed from the start. The murmurs of war just kept getting louder and louder, until it was inevitable. The Olympians would wage a war against the Titans, and my father was to be the General leading the army to victory. Of course, Antreas had to go into battle, it was his solemn duty as my father's right-hand man, and I…"
"You followed the man you loved." Piper stated.
Calypso nodded, "Yes, I did. I loved my father, and I loved Antreas even more. Over the years we'd been together I'd honed my skills as a sorceress—I could never join the fight as a warrior, but I thought, perhaps, I could just be a healer. That didn't seem quite as bad, and I'd get to be near him, to take care of him if he was injured. And once the fighting was over, we were to be married in a huge celebration. To celebrate our love and our victory over the Olympians and usher in a new era of prosperity for the Titans. We had an entire eternity before us. I was so swept up in it all, I didn't realize we were destined to lose from the very start…"
Calypso trailed off. It was so quiet Piper could hear Jason's even breathing from across the room.
"We were fools, thinking that just because our love was so strong, we could get away with anything. My father sent Antreas on a mission to spy on one of Aphrodite's favored warriors. It was just supposed to be simple reconnaissance. I remember waiting up for Antreas, ready to administer aid in case something went wrong…I'm not sure what happened, but Antreas arrived from Aphrodite's palace covered in blood. There was a struggle and he'd had to kill the warrior, and Aphrodite saw his face. Antreas was now a wanted man."
Calypso looked up at Piper, "I'm sure you of all people know how your mother gets when one of her favorite lovers is taken from her. She was out for blood, and she would not stop until Antreas was dead and her lover avenged."
Piper's cheeks flushed, and she looked down in shame. Yes, that sounded like her mother…
"Well, it didn't take very long at all for Aphrodite to get her wish. By that time the war had escalated to its climax, and things were very near their conclusion. It wasn't very long after that when my father had the Titan army make their final stand on Mount Orthys. It was absolute chaos. At some point I lost track of Antreas, and I went looking for him... And there he was, Ares had him on his knees, Aphrodite watching gleefully, and before I could do anything he…"
Piper shut her eyes, trying to keep her emotions at bay, how horrible…
Calypso shut her eyes, as if the action would block out the images from her mind, "His death was quick at least, that much was a blessing. I don't remember much after that. I'm told I went into a blind rage, I attacked the goddess with everything I had. But I was emotional, and I wasn't a warrior, Ares knocked me away before I could do much damage…
"By that point the battle was pretty much over. The gods had new weapons with them, things we weren't prepared for. Zeus's master bolt electrified the air, Poseidon had his trident, and Hades had his helm of darkness…the Titan army was eviscerated soon after. I was knocked out at some point, and when I came to, I was in Mount Olympus, in the gods' shiny new throne room. They were deciding on our…punishments."
"They decided to send you to that island, right? Ogygia?" Jason interjected.
Calypso nodded, "Yes, that was part of my punishment, to be imprisoned in Ogygia for the remainder of my years on this earth, but…" she looked to Piper now, "your mother was upset with me for attacking her. She had to get her conditions in."
"So she cursed you to fall in love with whoever landed on your island." Piper surmised.
"It was the most cruel act of all, cursing me to fall in love. She knew how deep my love ran for Antreas; not only would she punish me by making me fall in love with men who would always leave me, but I would live with the guilt of knowing I'd betrayed my love to Antreas every time…"
A wave of guilt crashed into Piper. Calypso was right, her mother had been unbelievably cruel to do what she did. It was all well and good to focus on the feel-good side of love but this…this pain was also part of it. Love was perhaps the deadliest emotion there was. It could bring joy just as quickly as sorrow. And this was not the kind of pain one could easily walk away from…
"My first years on the island weren't as bad. I was in pain, and I missed Antreas so very much, but I was left alone to grieve. That, I could live with. But that would not be the full extent of my punishment, because soon enough, I had a visitor, a young hero in the midst of a quest…"
She shook her head bitterly, "Well, you know my curse. You know what happened. I was helpless, I couldn't help but fall in love with him, no matter how hard I fought against my curse. And I did, with everything I had—" her voice cracked with emotion, and for a while she remained silent. Piper dared not breath.
"After he'd left the island, the guilt overtook me. I was desperate…I couldn't deal with the pain of it all. My heart couldn't take it. I…there's not many ways to kill a goddess, but there are some ancient rites, dark magicks…I was a sorceress after all. I knew what I needed to do. So I made a decision. A terrible, decision, but I didn't know what else I could do. The thought of facing eternity in that much pain was just….too much.
"The rites were completed, and I was prepared to perform the ultimate deed. But then…Apollo came to me."
"Apollo?" said Jason, his voice indicating he was not expecting the obnoxious god of the sun to be the saving grace in this tale.
Calypso smiled wistfully, "He was different then, he was a young god, still impressionable, still dealing with the guilt of what he'd had to do during that horrible war. He confessed he'd admired me from afar for all the years I'd been on my island. Every day, he would watch me as he drove the sun across the horizon, and every day he'd see my heart continue to break until I'd nearly withered away…he begged me to stop, to think about what I was about to do, but my mind was made up. I could bear the pain of Antreas's memory no more. It was too painful for even an immortal being to bear.
"So Apollo offered me a choice: I could kill myself and be cast to the darkest pits of Tartarus, or he could…heal me from my pain."
"Heal you?" asked Jason, "but how…?"
Piper gasped, "Oh. Oh, I see. Oh, Calypso…"
"Yes, you see now what a horrible thing I've done." Calypso wept freely now, "Because the only way to heal me from my pain was to make me forget about Antreas. Only by forgetting my lost love could I let go of the guilt. I'd still be cursed to live on my island, but at least it was a curse I could bear. So I agreed to Apollo's terms. He would make me forget, and I would continue to live on that island, cursed for all eternity, forgetting the man I loved, but at least I would be alive."
Tears welled up in Piper's eyes now, as she was overtaken by a mix of horror, anger, and…pity for Calypso. It was easy to forget how old the ex-goddess was just by looking at her, but the woman sitting before her now had lived through thousands of lifetimes worth of pain. No one deserved this kind of anguish.
"But then," Jason spoke softly, "what happened? How is he here? How is it that you remember him now?"
Calypso wiped at her face, "That day you found me by the creek, Jason, was the day Antreas had found me. He's been looking for me for many years now. He walked out of Tartarus when Gaea began to stir, and has laid low ever since, silently looking for me in every corner of this earth. And in the meantime, I had no memory of who he was, what he looked like, what I felt for him…"
She sighed, "Well, no spell can last forever. The second I laid eyes on Antreas, the curse Apollo placed on me broke. Now the memories are creeping their way back. Every smile, every laugh, every stolen kiss…every time I close my eyes, there's a new, fresh memory brought forth from the recess of my mind. I still haven't recovered everything, but I remember enough. Enough to realize what Antreas once meant to me…"
Piper and Jason locked eyes. This was not at all what they expected to hear tonight.
"So… what now?"
A mirthless laugh escaped Calypso, "Well isn't that the question? The truth is I don't deserve either of them. After all Leo did for me, here I am, experiencing anew all these feelings for another man. And Antreas…gods, he spent millennia being tortured in Tartarus, waiting for me, counting down the days until he'd find his way back to me, and there I was, taking the coward's way out." She sobbed, "And the worst thing is I know exactly what he's feeling, because it's what I felt when Leo didn't know me. But at least Leo didn't forget me willingly, like I did! I wanted to forget! How could I have been so utterly despicable as to do something like that to him? He deserved to be remembered by me, and I wasn't strong enough to even do that."
Piper's heart really broke for the ex-goddess, and yet… "Calypso," she said with as much certainty as she could muster, "you have to tell Leo about this. It's not fair to keep him in the dark."
Calypso nodded pitifully, "Yes, you're right. I know, it's just," she paused, "I need some time Piper, to sort out my feelings—to sort out my memories. Everything is coming back in a jumble and I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore. Do I stay with Leo? Do I honor my pledge to marry Antreas? Whose heart will I break aside from my own?"
"But Leo—" Jason started.
"Please," Calypso stood now, some certainty returning to her voice, "you mustn't tell him. Spare him the pain of this. I will deal with this. It's my problem to fix, not yours."
"Calypso we just want—"
But the ex-goddess was firm, "No. You will not speak of this to anyone." There was a slight, desperate edge to her voice, desperate enough to sound like a threat, "Am I understood?"
Piper and Jason exchanged glances. Neither of them felt certain they could challenge Calypso at this point in time, "Okay," said Piper, "we won't tell him, but can I just ask you something?" Calypso nodded. "With all these memories creeping back…do you still love Leo?"
"Yes," Calypso nodded.
"And Antreas," said Piper, "do you love him too?"
Calypso hesitated, but nodded again, "My feelings for Antreas are still coming back to me, but what we had together, Piper…it was one of those epic romances bards would sing about. It was pure, and strong, and beautiful—built in the innocence of youth, and strengthened over a decades long war…"
Piper decided she didn't want to hear any more words out of Calypso. The way she was speaking about her former love… it made her nervous. For Leo.
"Okay Calypso, we'll keep your secret. Sort out your memories, and your feelings. I just hope you'll come to realize that you and Leo…you belong together Calypso. I know what you had with Antreas was special, but what you have with Leo is too. He would do anything for you Calypso…anything."
Piper paused, waiting for her to respond, but it seemed as if Calypso would indulge them no more. The ex-goddess's eyes were closed, and Piper was certain she was delving into yet another newly recovered memory of her former love. She took Jason's hand, and the two of them exited the Big House in silence, neither knowing what could possibly be done to fix the situation….
The following morning, Calypso was curiously absent from breakfast. Neither Piper nor Jason spoke up when Leo inquired after her. After all, they'd promised to keep their mouths shut. She probably slept in, Leo had reasoned with the rest of the group, and they all agreed that was likely the case and moved on to a different topic of conversation, like the upcoming battles.
By lunch Calypso still had not emerged from her room. Again, Leo inquired after the state of the girl, but this time it was Piper who suggested, "Maybe she's just feeling a bit under the weather. Or maybe her and Chiron just got distracted in one of their chess games and they decided to take their lunch up at the Big House."
Leo nodded half-heartedly, "Maybe, but maybe I should just check—"
"Oh no you don't!" said Annabeth, "You promised to help the Hephaestus cabin with those animatronic warriors today! We can't get behind on our war prep or we'll lose the whole thing!"
Leo's brow furrowed, "But I'll just be quick—"
"Oh, she's fine! Let the girl breathe for one day, you two have been attached at the hip for months! She spent the majority of her life completely alone, the girl probably hasn't had a moment to herself since you dropped into her island!" Annabeth insisted, "Now come on, Flame Boy! Stop trying to slack off!"
"But-!" but whatever Leo's next protest would be was lost in the wind as Annabeth dragged a still reluctant Leo off to the forges.
It was at dinnertime that Leo could tolerate Calypso's absence no more. "I'll just go check on her really quick, I'll bring her down for dinner soon!" he waved behind him as he ran up to the Big House. A cold shiver spread through Piper's body, this cool sense of…foreboding.
She nonetheless trekked to dinner with the rest of the group, but for every minute that Leo was not back at the table with Calypso in tow, she grew more and more on edge. She was almost not surprised when a panicked Leo ran up to their table a few minutes later, panting and wide-eyed as he spoke the words Piper somehow knew he'd speak all day.
"Calypso—she—all her things—" panted Leo, "they're all—she—she's gone!"
A/N: *insert horrified gasp emoji* Calypso's in the wind! Wherever could she have gone? What do you guys think? I'd love to hear your theories!
Also you got a nice, super long chapter-the longest chapter so far-so I hope you enjoyed it! I was frustrated it was mostly just a long, drawn out narrative, but aside from writing flashbacks upon flashbacks, there really wasn't a much better way to do this one. Not too much room for dialogue, but this chapter was obviously one that needed to be told. I'd love to hear what you make of it all. What do you guys make of Antreas? I know everyone pretty much loved Remus, but this was an OC that I wasn't sure how you'd react to.
Please review, follow, favorite, etc.! Your encouragement and feedback really inspired me to pick this back up. There's still plenty of story to tell with this one. I'm thinking at least 10 more chapters...who knows?