So last chapter I got a review saying that Percy already asked the gods for Calypso's release so the Themis should not have had interfered with the demigods but instead work it out with the gods. So—as you know, in the PJO/HOO/TOA series Rick Riordan already determined what happened to Leo and Calypso after Leo rescued Calypso from Ogygia. There's already an official ending to that.

My story does not take into account everything that has occured in the the PJO/HOO/TOA series, this is just an alternative ending because I love Caleo and want to write about them. Again, this is MY TAKE on what happens after the rescue. Themis wasn't really an evident character in the official series, but I wanted her to be the first god figure in this fanfiction because, well, that's just MY storyline. I don't intend the reader to envision every single detail of the official series to be what had happened before this fanfic.

Sorry this is kinda long.

—Anywho, third chap here we come.

m

Chapter 3

The ship rocked back and forth leisurely as urged by the lapping waves. Leo sat on the dock alone when his name was shouted out by multiple people. Glancing up, he noticed everyone coming towards him, Hazel leading.

Everyone—except for Calypso.

"Leo! Are you alright?" Hazel asked, making her way towards him with astounding speed. She placed a hand gingerly on his shoulder.

"What happened?" inquired Jason, standing before Leo with his brows furrowed.

Others murmured their questions, waiting for answers, with coach Hedge, who yelled "Die!" as an exception.

Unfortunately, Leo did not want to be the one answering. He just wanted his own confusion consoled by one person, and she wasn't even here with him. Why wouldn't she be here with him?

Seeing the dejected look on his face, Piper said, "Guys, Leo looks like he's okay. You're not hurt anymore, right Leo? Physically…?" She waved the word away. "Your shirt is clean. Looks like the goddess might've reversed the injury. But… do you want to talk to us? At least tell us what Themis said?"

Percy cocked his head to one side, waiting with the rest of the group.

Usually, Leo would love to pull off an awesome prank and have everybody give admiring glances approval. But he didn't pull of a prank, and nobody was smiling now. Currently, he didn't want to be at the center of attention of all of the—almost all of the crew members of the Argo II. The warmth of Hazel's hand was seeping into his skin, and it felt a bit too hot for comfort. "Uh, I just need to—some time to think," he says awkwardly. "Figure things out… Alone."

"But what's going on?" Percy wondered. "What did she make you do? Is it a quest? We're going to help you. And we might've been caused to vanish after a second of seeing you hurt so, um, missing information? You sure you're all right?"

"I'm—" Leo sighed. "Yes, I am. No, she didn't give us a quest—none of the sort. It's… different." Leo clamped his mouth shut, looking back at the son of Poseidon. Finally (to his relief) Hazel's hand slipped off his shoulder. Leo exhaled, his legs anxious to go off searching for the person he needed to see.

"Talk to us when you feel like it, okay?" Hazel encouraged, sharing concerned glances with Piper. Leo noticed.

"Hey, it's fine guys." He stood up, waving them off. "It's no big deal…" He licked his lips, trying to ignore how false he just sounded. "I'm fine. We're okay now, it looks back to normal enough." He glanced to the side. "I'll find Calypso. Um, we can keep moving now. To our destination… now that we're done with Ogygia."

As Leo shuffled forward slowly, the crowd began to dissipate and his heart started to pick up its pace again. Cal, Calypso, he thought, and went off to find her.

A single knock sounded at the brown door, and Calypso jumped, standing up from the wooden crate she was sitting on. Please leave, she thought to whoever it was.

The handle turned, and dread filled her when she saw him.

He didn't say anything for a while, just stared at her. She averted her gaze away.

"Calypso," he started, his voice hollow. "I'm sorry—"

"Why are you sorry?" she snapped, and he flinched. She pursed her lips at the look on his face, wanting to say something when Themis's words stopped her. It was befuddling, and consequently, questions quickly crowded her mind.

Did the goddess meant that she couldn't talk to Leo normally at all?

Could she even tell him that she didn't know what to do when that might show that she still cared?

How could she ever talk to him when she wasn't even sure if she was supposed to act detached from everything, or just fakely, platonically friendly—if that was what Themis wanted?

How to keep him safe? What was the extent of this ambiguous rule? Calypso took a faltering step back, and the frown on Leo's face deepened. "I—" she stammered, "I don't even know if I should talk to you."

"Cal, please—"

"Can I go back to Ogygia?" she blurted.

Leo bit down on his lip hard. "You want to…"

"Can you bring me back?" she told him. "I—I want to go back. I don't want to stay here." So much about not knowing if I should talk to him, she thought. "I don't like it here."

Leo kept on staring at her, staring through her. "Just—just tell me why." His voice broke.

She gazed at him, her expression slowly morphing into stone. "You know why." Then her eyes widened, because she didn't know if those words counted when it came to breaking the rule. So confused, she thought. I'm so confused.

And scared.

"Look, I don't care about what that goddess said, okay?" Leo insisted, his voice raising. "I don't care if she thinks you should bottle up… your emotions…"

But I do! she wanted to yell. I care! But that stupid, stupid warning forced her to stifle her words. And now without them being let out, her tears stubbornly pushed through in their place. "I don't," she mumbled instead.

"You don't what?" Leo breathed.

"I don't have emotions anymore." When he didn't say anything, she added, "For you. Emotions for you." Then she noticed that his hands were clenched into tight fists, and the broken look on his face made her think, Don't make this harder for me. Please. "You can't rescue everyone from everything, Leo. So stop. Stop trying."

He shook his head, lips parted. "You can't hurt me any more if you just tell me how you really feel, you know?"

"Leo, don't. You should never have taken me out of of my island."

"Themis's punishment wouldn't be worse than this."

"I want to leave. I'm not staying here. And you can't change my mind." She hugged her elbows. "I wish… I wish we never met."

Leo clenched his jaw. "You don't mean that."

Of course I don't, she thought. "I do."

"Calypso—just stop. Don't be this way."

"What are you trying to do?" she asked him.

Leo shortened the distance between them, he reached his arms out to clasp her shoulders, looking into her stony eyes. "I'm trying to make you tell me the truth."

"What truth?" she asked. Inwardly, she wailed, Why? Don't you know what could happen? Her heart beat as if she had just ran a marathon, and she felt queasy. "I am telling you the truth—that's why it's so hard!"

"Just stop!"' he yelled. "Screw what that law titaness said. You think what she has to offer is worse than me losing you?" He was breathing heavily, his fingers gripping tightly on her shoulders.

"Don't, Leo." She shook his hands off. "I mean it."

"Don't what? Try and get through this together? Talk to you?"

"Yes. Don't try. I'm not going to give in, if that's what you're thinking. I've got nothing to give in to."

"I—" He swallowed. Then he spoke, slowly at first, "I was there with you in Ogygia. You hated me at first, but then that changed. You wanted me to leave. You wanted to leave yourself. You said the gods were unfair. I—I tried to change that for you." His clothes started to smolder subtly. "I talked with you. We worked on the sand together. Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters. You remember that. It was—it was great. And that's when the raft came, because you felt it, too. And I didn't want to leave you, because I care for you, and want you to be happy. So I had to come back, because I couldn't think of a situation where I would do otherwise. And you did want to leave, yeah? It's okay, I know. I know what you're doing, but you don't have to keep on doing it. Because I love you. That won't change. You're not going to hurt me if you do, too. You're not, all right? Not like that. Don't get caught up in Themis's words. Please. Then I'd lose you, and how worse can that be from the punishment?"

Calypso shut her eyes, rocking back and forth on her feat unsteadily. You're making it way too hard for me, she thought. I love you, too.

And now, since she can't express her feelings out loud, they're all forced to be bottled inside her mind, and it's tiring. Why couldn't you just stay in the island forever, Leo? rang a selfish thought. You're the best person I've ever met, and I don't want to lose you. "I shouldn't have left Ogygia," she whispered aloud, bottom lip quivering.

Leo looked at her longingly, steam curling up the sleeves and collar of his fireproof white button-up, and it was hard for Calypso to tell what he was thinking, except that his thoughts were probably desolating. She wanted to know, and she also didn't.

Her legs feeling weak, she faltered backwards. Leo placed a hand on stack of wooden crates before him and one crate instantly burst into flames. Wide-eyed, he patted the fire a few quick times with his hand and it quickly smothered, revealing the scorched wood of the corner of a crate and leaving behind swirling ash.

Well, that's a good representation of us, Calypso thought.

Leo stared at the blackened corner, tapping the finger of his resting hand once against it. He then flicked his head up, gazing silently through the coiling, tapered tips of his hair. After a beat, he told her, "I'm not going to pretend nothing has happened and accept your guise of not feeling anything."

"Leo, I think you should just leave me alone."

"Don't tell me what I should do when I know that's not what I really should do." His hands burst into flames again, but he didn't seem to care, his gaze as intent and searing as the flames enveloping his fingers and palms. "You can't shut me out again, I've had more than enough of that," he mumbled.

She slumped, her fingers digging into her palms. How she just wanted to go over and hug him tightly (though not flames and all). How she wanted to put her lips onto his and wipe away the bleakness in his eyes, feel his fingers in her hair. How she wanted to close the distance between them and tell him everything. Tell him that she loved him too.

But she couldn't. She couldn't or she would really lose him. But if she didn't, would she also lose him? The smoke began to billow in the air, licking and curling against the ceiling of the room, and Calypso racked her brain for anything she could say to make him give up. She might have been cruel, but she was doing this for both of them.

"I swear on the River Styx," she pronounced with heartbreaking clarity, "I will never show my love in the manner of Eros to you again."

In a few seconds, Leo's fire had blown out like the rain had just drenched it. The inferno in his eyes diminished and flickered off, leaving space for despairing anguish to fill. The charred planks of the wooden crate clunked to the floor at his feet, and his mouth set in agony. He clutched his hair, knotting it between his fingers. "Take that back," he said, his voice barely audible.

Calypso gripped her fingers tightly, curling them into one another. "You know an oath on the Styx can't be reversed. And I wouldn't want to take it back even if I could."

Leo let his hand fall. His brows creeping towards each other in understanding, he turned away and swiftly pushed his way out. The door slammed shut behind him, and once again Calypso was drowning in darkness, and it wasn't easy to breathe.