Disclaimer: I do not, in any physical, mental or emotional form, own any character or setting or theme from PJO. There, I said it!

CALYPSO

II

I raced through my gardens, tears flowing from my eyes.

I had kissed him. I had hated him, and I had kissed him. I hated myself. I hated the gods. I loved Leo Valdez.

Do not cry, I chided myself. I cried my eyes out.

Forget him, my mind told me. I remembered every day he was here, the smoke, the fire, the noise - something else besides peace and quiet and weaving. A son of Hephaestus, he was not remotely handsome, or even slightly good-looking. He was more the cute, scrawny type.

And I, fool that I was, had fallen for him. You vlacas, I screamed at myself. This is all your fault. Get over him. He will not come back.

And yet, every single day, I woke up, left my loom standing in the corner and walked out of my cave, to the beach. I wore jeans and T-shirts, in memory of the demigod who showed me how to dress like a modern girl. I had no idea what that was.

I built a dining table in my spare time. It was made of cedar wood, and I smiled slightly when I finished varnishing it. It was the first real smile since Leo had left. Then, I remembered Leo, and it vanished.

I had not smiled since. And I did not have the heart to use the dining table. Every time I sat down, my gaze would fall on the spotless white linen, the gleaming ceramic plates, the perfect crystal goblets. My fingers would clamp around the so painstakingly embroidered tablecloth, and the next thing I knew, the dinner of perfection was lying in a spoiled heap in the sand. The servants would clean most of it up, and I would sit on the dunes, eating figs and watching the moonlight play across the still, silent ocean.

It gave me resolve, I admit, to create something imperfect, something that was not totally straight or wonderful.

Odysseus had been perfect. I had tried not to fall for him. I did. He left. My heart broke, but I got over it when Drake came.

Drake was straight and tall. I had tried not to love him. I failed. He left. My heart broke, but I got over it what Percy came.

Percy was wonderful, the best of all. I tried not to even tell him, and failed at his goodwill. He promised me something. He did not keep that promise. My heart broke, and I had still not gotten over him when Leo arrived.

Leo was different. He was horrible at first, annoying me, teasing me. I tried to get him off my island. It didn't work. Leo stayed, and tried to get off the island himself. I hated him.

Then, Gaia arrived. She wanted Leo dead, but, for some reason, I did not kill him. I banished Gaia, and started to help Leo build a raft. We became friends, and then, I started to dread the day when he would leave.

On that fateful night, we were eating a picnic on the dunes. We talked. Leo seemed reluctant to leave. He talked about trying to find Ogygia again. I told him the rules said it was impossible, and he said he was not good at following the rules. I felt sad that I was losing a good friend. Then, a raft was washed onto the beach. Leo's raft.

I knew what this meant, but I tried not to show it as I helped Leo rig the sail and the 'guidance console' as he called it. Then, he turned to me.

"The raft finally got here," he said.

I snorted, trying to hide the fact that I had been crying. It was dark, so hopefully, Leo wouldn't be able to tell. "You just noticed?"

"But if it only shows up for guys you like -"

"Don't push your luck, Leo Valdez," I told him. "I still hate you."

"Okay."

"And you are not coming back here," I insisted. "So don't give me any empty promises."

"How about a full promise?" he asked. "Because I'm definitely -"

I don't know why I did what I did next. Maybe he was annoying me, maybe I… wanted to. In any case, I just wanted him to shut up, before he could go and do anything reckless. Yes, you guessed it. I kissed him.

For a few seconds.

Then I pushed him away. "That didn't happen."

"Okay." Leo's voice was higher than usual. He was so surprised.

"Get out of here."

"Okay."

I turned, wiping my eyes furiously, and stormed up the beach, the breeze tugging my hair. I started to cry, and to cry, and to cry.

That was how I spent most of my time after that. In fact, if a hero washed up on my shores, I doubt I would have noticed him, or been able to take care of him.

I was broken. I was a mess. But I didn't care.

Now, I spent most of my time working non-stop. I got up early in the morning, to escape the dreams of Leo coming back, because I knew they were just dreams, and it hurt much, much more when I woke up and he wasn't there. I visited his forge, trying to detect how much time had passed by checking how much the stones had weathered.

I could only assume that it had been two weeks. My skills at reading weathered stones were sadly neglected.

I worked in my orchard, and at my furious, yes, almost maniac assault, my garden bloomed and grew and expanded in size. I grew ridiculous amounts of strawberries, and so many citrus trees and grapevines it became preposterous. I harvested basketfuls each day, and my loom caught cobwebs.

I worked deep into the night every evening, for I did not want to go to sleep. The dreams - dreams of Leo, dreams of the outside world - would crush me, more than any amount of work ever could.

After two weeks, I finally collapsed, around midday. My servants found me and brought me back to the cave, and forbade me to go out. They nursed me back to health, and forced me to sleep. There was always somebody sitting by my bedside to hold my hand and wake me up if I saw anything at all.

I stayed in bed for about seven to eight days, always trying to convince them to let me out, but oh, they would not. I had to rest, they said. To recuperate. I was too weak to be doing anything in my gardens.

It went so far that I was not even allowed to see the state of the outside world. The servants assured me that my island and my plants were well cared for, and I hoped it was true. I became a little more homely, cooking brews and drying herbs, and sweeping the floor.

I started to bother about my appearance again. My wardrobe changed from jeans to chitons and I brushed my hair regularly. I started to braid part of it back even.

Of course, I thought of Leo the whole time. Even when the servants let me back to work - at the loom, though, not in the garden - his face, his grin, his eyes, his jokes haunted me. They followed me through the day, and I always thought to myself, what would Leo have said? Would he have laughed? Would he have scowled? Would he have - No, bad Calypso. You are not supposed to be thinking about Leo.

And then I stopped thinking and worked for a while, and then something would happen, like a servant tripping or a pot boiling over, and I thought to myself again, what would Leo have done in this situation?

I was stuck here, in this cycle, and as the days passed on, I had to admit to myself - Leo, infuriating as he had been, had held my heart more than any of the others. Even Percy Jackson paled in comparison.

My servants finally let me out, a few days after I had discovered how to embroider jeans and T-shirts. I worked on more complicated designs all the time. When I visited the ruins of Leo's workshop, some of the walls had fallen. I and my servants agreed that little less than a month had passed.

A month, I thought sourly as I set up the loom for a new, white-and-orange design I wanted to try. I survived a month without Leo Valdez.

The idea of suicide then occurred to me, but I left it where it was, since I could not die. I had tried, believe me, but I could not. It was impossible. The only thing that came from it was a boatload of pain. And, believe me, I had had quite enough of lying around in bed, waiting for injuries to heal already.

So, did you like Calypso's character? She has a pretty old-fashioned way of thinking (though not as old-fashioned as Zoe's). Read and Review, please!