(A/N: Ooh, this is a long chapter for all you wonderful readers who have favourited, followed, reviewed or even bothered to read to this point! The timeline is sort of confusing but for now, here's a super basic version:
Chapters 1-5: set after the Final Battle, back at Camp Half-Blood.
Chapter 6: (kind of a flashback type thing) set before Gaea begins to awaken. 'She stirs.'
Chapter 7 and on: Calypso's POV of Leo during HoH.
When it changes again, I'll definitely let you guys know. Until then!
Shy x)
CHAPTER SEVEN
The first time Calypso despised a hero on sight, he had just wrecked her island, to be fair.
It didn't take a genius to realise the gods had disconnected themselves from the mortal realm. After the hundredth time of cursing Zeus and telling him precisely where he could stick his master lightning bolt, the total lack of angry thunder was an obvious clue.
So, when Leo arrived in a blur of howling wind and flashing bronze, destroying her dining table and most of her beach with a crater the size of a drakon, he had been both an utter surprise and an infuriating wrecking ball.
She hadn't believed her ears when the almighty boom rolled out over the island. Such noises just didn't happen on Ogygia. Chattering birds, rushing winds, rolling waves, yes. Bangs that sounded like attacks? Of course not.
When she came to the edge of her garden, Calypso's eyes widened with incredulity as she took in where her dining table (her three thousand year old, beautifully carved dining table complete with pewter goblets engraved with dolphins and enough pristine, painted china for a host of people) used to sit among the dunes. Now, an enormous crater filled with its wreckage took its place.
"Sphere!" she heard someone call. "Come to Papa!"
Her eyes narrowed at the voice because it was unfamiliar but undeniably mortal. She moved with graceful, purposeful steps, trying to calm her anger as she came across the centre of the destruction.
He was cradling some kind of bronze orb in his hands, though it glowed with heat, his back to her, revealing only a slightly charred shirt and a mess of dark unruly hair. A hero, she deduced but not the usual type. He didn't look tall or muscular. On the contrary he was…stringy. And ignoring her. And ruined her furniture. What in all of Greece were the gods thinking?
"What are you doing?" she snapped, irritation morphing into anger when she took in the extent of the damage. "You blew up my dining table!"
His head snapped toward her, revealing an angular face with wide dark eyes and caramel skin so different from her own. But it didn't matter. Because the more she looked, the more she realised he was also just as short as her and his expression was annoyed. "Oh I'm sorry! I just fell out of the sky. I constructed a helicopter in mid-air, burst into flames halfway down, crash-landed and barely survived. But by all means- let's talk about your dining table!" he snapped, irritably.
Her hands tightened into fists and she had to stop her jaw from dropping. Of all the- that weasel faced- and he said he'd- oh, someone was in trouble for sending this brat here! She seethed, internally.
"REALLY?" she shrieked up to the bright sky, furiously. "You want to make my curse even worse? Zeus! Hephaestus! Hermes! Have you no shame?" How dare they do this to her? Shutting off from the mortal realm was one thing, interrupting her solitude with this second rate demigod was just too much!
"Uh…I doubt they're listening." The boy said, unimpressed. "You know, the whole split-personality thing-"
She ignored him so she didn't feel tempted to rip out his tongue for speaking to her like an imbecile. "Show yourself!" she roared. "It's not bad enough I am exiled? It's not bad enough you take away the few good heroes I'm allowed to meet? You think it's funny to send me this-this charbroiled runt of a boy to ruin my tranquillity? This is NOT FUNNY! Take him back!"
"Hey Sunshine, I'm right here, you know." He called to her, indignantly.
The gods were laughing at her. They must be. "Do not call me Sunshine! Get out of that hole and come with me now so I can get you off my island!" she ordered, stiffly. He looked like he might have wanted to protest but instead, grabbed his ridiculous sphere and began to climb out. Without looking to make sure he was following, she took off down the beach to inspect the rest of the damage.
"This was a pristine beach!" she snarled, mourning the beautiful vista of her home. "Look at it now."
"Yeah my bad," he muttered, nearly rolling his eyes. "I should've crash on one of the other islands. Oh wait- there aren't any!"
Calypso prayed the gods would take him back soon, her escalating rage clouding her vision. How dare he speak to her like this? When she stopped walking, she realised he was so busy gawking at the island that he didn't realise he was right behind her until he'd knocked her over. She grabbed his arms to steady herself as they paused by the waves.
"Gah!" she squeaked, unevenly. The irony wasn't lost on her. How many times had she'd said goodbye to her heroes with an embrace on the edge of the surf? And now she clutched this infuriating, insolent little runt at the same place. Oh let him leave soon, she bemoaned internally. Let the Fates save some of my dignity or I'll be the laughing stock of Olympus.
"All right. This spot is good." Just a few feet from the shoreline was where the raft always appeared for her heroes. "Now tell me you want to leave."
"What?" he asked, looking confused and frustrated by her demands.
"Do you want to leave? Surely you've got somewhere to go!" she snapped. They always had somewhere to go, some quest to achieve, some lives to save, some world to rescue, some woman to return to.
"Uh…yeah. My friends are in trouble." He explained, haltingly. "I need to get back to my ship and-"
"Fine," she cut him off. Calypso had already had just about enough of the gods' latest prank. "Just say, I want to leave Ogygia."
"Uh, okay." He said like she had gone mad. "I want to leave- whatever you said."
Whatever she said? WHATEVER SHE SAID? "Oh-gee-gee-ah." She pronounced, stiffly. Her home, her island, once a place of magic and power and now- it was simply 'whatever she said'.
"I want to leave Oh-gee-gee-ah." He repeated, raised eyebrows as though indulging her.
The words felt bizarrely cleansing, so different to any other hero's announcement. "Good. In a moment, a magical raft will appear. It will take you wherever you want to go."
"Who are you?" he exclaimed, his tone exasperated.
I'm a sorceress. Or I was. Now I'm a dream, a ghost, she wanted to tell him, her thoughts bitter. I'm the second-best option to great heroes and the perpetually heartbroken, stupid girl who used to be someone. You're just a joke they're playing on me at my expense.
Instead, she said: "It doesn't matter. You'll be gone soon. You're obviously a mistake." As soon as the words were out, she realised her cool and stiff her voice sounded, how harsh the words actually were. She put it to the back of her mind mercilessly. "Any moment now…"
But the waves simply rolled in, unbroken and eternal as always. "Maybe it got suck in traffic." He suggested, sarcastically but Calypso's attention was too focused on the raft's absence to pay him any attention.
"This is wrong." She muttered, glancing up at the clouds again with a furious glare. "This is completely wrong!" The gods had sent him here and now would not take him back even though he wanted to leave, as was the requirement of her curse. Are the ancient rules made just for your benefit, you heartless immortal heathens! She swore internally. Have you chosen to abandon them too?
She realised the demigod was speaking again but his words were confusing and useless. "So…plan B? You got a phone or-"
She tossed her hands up with a scream of frustration and stormed back towards her garden, the entrance guarded by lush apple trees. What in Hades were the gods thinking? Cutting themselves off only to reconnect just long enough to leave him with her? If she had to be imprisoned here, surely she could do so in peace!
He ruined her island, insulted her with his rude attitude, blew up her dining table, didn't even apologise for it and he was meant to be her new hero?
Calypso wished the gods had stayed disconnected.
He was nothing like her previous heroes. He was loud, talkative, snappy, argumentative. He didn't tell her that her eyes sparkled like the Aegean Sea as Odysseus had. He didn't watch her with covert, admiring gaze like Percy had been caught doing. He didn't even follow her demands as a goddess!
He called her Sunshine for Hades' sake!
But if the gods were gone now again, there was no way to get rid of him. Avoidance seemed to be her only option. She returned to her garden, forcing her pointed hand-spade into the rich soil. Her garden had always had a way of calming her soul, taking out the pieces of bitterness, loneliness and regret inside her, dusting them off and putting them back a little lighter.
Not now, though. Now, all she could feel was white hot rage at the gods for sending her this hero. He wasn't tall or muscular or heroic. The snarky, insolent runt was as short as she was, skinny to the point of scrawny and downright rude.
"If this is payback from Dionysus," she muttered as she worked, the rage slowly beginning to transform to pain and regret. "I am going to tear out his eyes when I next see him…oh that wretched, drunken vlakas! Oh, chazos koritsi," she berated herself. "Eiste ena athyrma ton theon. Gelane eis varos mou."
She continued even when she heard him enter the garden with a Holy Hephaestus of surprise. She hid a smile at that, pride stealing her wet eyes for a moment. He stood a little distance away from her right. "I think you've punished that dirt enough." He suggested, idly.
Calypso scowled. "Just go away." She ordered, although she imagined it would be difficult to take a weeping goddess seriously.
"You're crying." He stated, his expression flickering into something that appeared nervous and wounded. It didn't surprise her. Modern mortal men seemed to have acquired a phobia of crying females.
"None of your business." She snapped, although the bite was taken from her words. The reality of the situation was beginning to set in and Calypso was bitterly taking in yet again how at the mercy of the gods her life had become. "It's a big island." She offered with a pleading note to her voice. "Just…find your own place. Go that way, maybe." She waved her hand in whatever direction. Just leave me alone.
But he didn't. Of course he didn't. That would've been the polite thing to do. To honour the lady's wishes. Modern mortal men also seemed to have developed a phobia of chivalry and manners. "So, no magic raft." He deduced. "No other way off the island?"
Not unless you swim away. "Apparently not!"
His mouth turned down into a frustrated scowl. "What am I supposed to do, then? Sit in the sand dunes until I die?" he asked, snarkily.
"That would be fine…" she muttered, grimly. She shoved her spade into the earth, nearly skewering a carrot. "Except I suppose he can't die here, can he? Zeus! This is not funny!" she shouted again but no one was listening. She would be stuck with a permanent annoyance, her existence a plaything of the gods for the rest of time.
"Hold up." He suddenly cut in, looking utterly shocked by her outburst. "I'm going to need some more information here. You don't want me in your face, that's cool. I don't want to be here either." She forced herself not to flinch at that. It was a good thing he didn't want to be here, she told herself. At least they were in agreement on that. "But I'm not going to go die in a corner. I have to get off this island. There's got to be a way. Every problem has a fix."
She felt almost sorry for him, standing there in half burnt clothes with a glint in his eyes like rock-hard determination. But even rocks eventually chip away to nothing. She'd learned that lesson eventually. "You haven't lived very long, if you still believe that." She noted, with a note of bitterness in her laugh.
For the first time, he looked at her, really looked at her, not like an irritation or a mad woman. Like she was a goddess, an immortal. Someone who had seen the world change too many times to count. "You said something about a curse." He changed the subject, though he looked sort of curious now too.
"Yes. I cannot leave Ogygia." She stated, blankly and prepared for the inevitable judgement of her next words. "My father, Atlas, fought against the gods and I supported him."
His eyes looked ready to pop from his skull. "Atlas. As in Titan Atlas?"
"Yes, you impossible little…" the words were on the tip of her tongue but even as she rolled her eyes, Calypso tried to tone down her anger. If he was really stuck here, he was a prisoner as she was and spending eternity spiting each other seemed a poor use of their time. "I was imprisoned here, where I could cause the Olympians no trouble. About a year ago, after the Second Titan War, the gods vowed to forgive their enemies and offer amnesty. Supposedly Percy made them promise-"
"Percy?" he echoed, realisation dawning on his face. "Percy Jackson?"
Her eyes shut as though that would protect her from the stinging tear building inside her chest. It didn't work. The tears escaped from her tightly squeezed lids and the bright smile of her sea-demigod hero flashed inside her mind.
"Percy came here." The boy added, comprehension in his expression when she opened her eyes.
"I-I thought I would be released." Calypso said, stiffly as she held back the rippling betrayal of her heart. "I dared to hope…but I am still here."
You forgot me, Percy, a small part of her sighed. It was the only promise you made me and you broke it like all the others. Calypso mentally shut that thought away.
His next words shocked her out of all sadness and straight back into irritation. "You're that lady!" he exclaimed. "The one who was named after Caribbean music."
"Caribbean music." She echoed, flatly. I was named by my mother who was one of the great ocean Titans! She wanted to growl. I was named Calypso, the Hidden One, destined for sorcery. Not some brand of pathetic mortal music!
"Yeah." He looked thoughtful. "Reggae? Merengue? Hold on, I'll get it…"
She was a hairs breadth away from gouging out his eyes with her spade when he clicked his fingers together. "Calypso!" he exclaimed, cheerfully though he suddenly looked doubtful. "But Percy said you were awesome. He said you were all sweet and helpful, not, um…"
Seeming to have finally noticed the murder in her gaze, the boy stopped even as she stood, fingers curled to talons. "Yes?" she prompted, hissing.
"Uh, nothing." He said, hastily.
"Would you be sweet if the gods forgot their promise to let you go? Would you be sweet if they laughed at you by sending another hero? A hero who looked like- like you?" she growled. Forget being sweet. Forget being kind and helpful. Where had that ever gotten her? She should've learned from her parents. Soft hearts are the first casualties of war.
He looked uncertain. "Is that a trick question?"
"Di Immortales!" she screeched and stamped off to her cave, cursing his stupidity. Calypso cleaned off the dirt from her arms and neck in front of the magically refilling basin, trying yet again to calm her temper. She hadn't been so angry in years but this demigod seemed to have a way of getting under skin.
"Hey!" he called after her, entering the cave with a stunned look towards her air servants. They appeared to her as faint shimmering outlines but she knew that to mortals, they were simply invisible. "So…I get why you're angry. You probably never want to see another demigod again. I guess that didn't sit right when, uh, Percy left you-"
How could he understand her? How could anyone at this point? "He was only the latest!" she snapped, shaking her head impatiently. "Before him, it was the pirate Drake. And before him Odysseus." And before him Clyro and before him Theleonius and before him several others. "They were all the same!"
The same pretty words and handsome looks, the same heroic core, the same irresistible need for help, her help. "The gods send me the greatest heroes," she continued. "The ones I cannot help but…"
"You fall in love with them." The demigod guessed. Well at least he remembered her curse, she thought sourly. "And then they leave you."
Unable to help herself, the wash of regret and loneliness began to surface again. "That is my curse. I had hoped to be free of it by now, but here I am, still stuck on Ogygia after three thousand years." Three thousand, four hundred and seven to be precise, but who was counting, really?
"Three thousand." He echoed, his voice tight all of a sudden. "Uh, you look good for three thousand."
"And now…the worst insult of all." She said, an uncharacteristic sneer on her face. Only the ruthless survive, Calypso recalled her father saying. "They gods mock me by sending you."
The curiosity in his face vanished, replaced by a closed off expression lit with seething anger. "Fine. I'll leave you alone. I'll build something myself and get off this stupid island without your help." He snapped and Calypso felt a tiny seed of sorrow and empathy for him burrowing into her stomach.
"You don't understand do you?" she murmured, softening. "The gods are laughing at both of us. If the raft will not appear, that means they've closed Ogygia. You're stuck here the same as me. You can never leave."
A/N: Ta-da! Hope you liked it :D This is the first of Calypso's HoH POV chapters which will go on for a little while yet. And now, REVIEWS!
Mila-is-a-bookworm-101: I. Love. You. Too. Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoyed Calypso's POV :D
The Invisible Pretender: First of all, I'm glad you like Calypso, I really enjoyed shaping more of her character for this story. Second, there's several chapters to go before the grand separation of Caleo so you've got time to prepare tissues and comfort blankets for it (I know I needed them to write the damn thing)! And thirdly, I really hope you liked their first meeting, I just love their dynamic during the novel. Glad you're enjoying it :D
StarOfIron: Yay! Another Caleo fan! I'm in love too ;) Thanks for reviewing!
Dragonrider2345: Hope you enjoyed the Caleo feels in this chapter and thanks for the feedback about Calypso's character (it's the one part I get sort of nervous about) Thank you for reviewing!
Totalbooknerd13: ME TOO! :D
Sonata Appassionata: It makes me so happy when people take the time to review each chapter as they read it! Glad you're enjoying it, and speaking of feels, these two hit me hard in this chapter. I love how they just like picking on each other :D Thanks for reviewing Firsts!
Tenneyshoes: Damn straight Calypso (as she constantly reminds me) is not some lovestruck, simple-minded nymph who needs the gods to make her powerful. She is powerful, as she says in this chapter. I loved researching her ancestry and in particular, her mother, and trying to weave that into my fic! Also, I'm sensing a bro-talk between Leo and Jason in my future about Calypso, maybe once they've reunited? I'm already thinking about a Leo POV from when the group meets up in Malta… really glad you like chapter six!
Tara Luna Apple: You wonderful, wonderful reader, this does make my day! I'm so happy everyone seems to like Calypso's personality for Firsts, it was the part I really worried over when I was writing her. Hope you like today's chapter too!
Ravenwolf24: Me likey too :) I fell in love with the whole i-think-you're-cute-so-therefore-i-must-irritate-t he-crap-out-of-you dynamic in the book and just couldn't resist. Glad you're enjoying it so far!
Guest: Awww, thanks! I really hope you liked this chapter, their first meeting is kind of adorable in the books ;)
The Oz Meister and Jen Baas: Poor Hermes is indeed split and this was a flashback to just before Leo turned up on Ogygia, where it continues on in this chapter and several others. The timeline is sort of confusing, I admit. I'll have to post something about it next chapter. Also, a$$ wooping for the gods? Agreed. Thanks for the review!
27lablover: HERE IT IS, LOVELY READER! Hope you love it as much as last chapter!
Mcshmiggins: I legitimately googled that manga and spent about an hour on their wikia page: oh they're adorable! I like the kind of anti-male sentiment of Misaki which comes from distrust because I really think it reflects in Calypso's backstory too. Also, Leo as cocky and laidback? That is a definite yes. Really hope you enjoy this chapter and I promise there will eventually be fluff!
Meganreads: I love replying to reviewers, particularly repeat reviewers because it feels like having a twice-a-week conversation where we fangirl and talk about how awesome Caleo is together :D Also, Calypso's POV of Leo's time on Ogygia will take up the next couple of chapters but I'll try posting a sort of timeline next chapter if I can figure it out to make things less confusing. Glad you're enjoying it so far ;)
Miana: I'm taking it to infinity and BEYOND! Totally joking, I just finished watching the Toy Story saga again and it is still stuck on my brain :D Next couple of chapters will be Leo's time on Ogygia in Calypso's POV so I hope you enjoy it!
Angel's Apple: Holy Zeus, this was a marathon review. Alright, deep breath. Firstly: AHHH! I KNOW CALYPSO, RIGHT?! I love her even more after I researched her ancestry and backstory for this fic: One does not simply mess with Calypso of Ogygia, sorceress and Titan's child. Unless you're Leo Valdez. Secondly, calculus sucks and I hope this makes it less boring for you :D Thirdly: So. Yes, you have told me. Yes, please continue saying such wonderful things, lovely reader! I'm really glad I'm conveying Calypso realistically with enough character. She's definitely fun to write. Personally, I loved all those books, although I do understand, some books just touch deeper than others. YAY! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! Fourth: I'm really happy you liked her entrance. I really wanted to explore some of Calypso's backstory before launching Leo at her. I'm going to try to fix up a timeline for Friday's chapter in the beginning author's note but all you really need to know is that chapter six is set before the gods' aspects split, chapters 1 to 5 are set after Gaea is defeated and the next few are set during HoH. I know, it confuses me too. I will improve it, promise! I'm so happy this made you wanna write again, I'll admit, most of my inspiration for Firsts comes from some really fantastic PJO fanart on tumblr. Lastly *blushes* awww, shucks, you're making me all pink! Glad you enjoyed chapter six and really hope you like Calypso's POV of Leo during HoH over the next few chapters :D
Shayelee: So far, I love brilliant readers like you. Thanks for reviewing, hope you enjoy chapter seven. Next Friday is The first time she admitted that the demigod might not be a total waste of space.
NOTE: 'chazos koritsi, eiste ena athyrma ton theon. Gelane eis varos mou' is Greek for 'stupid girl, you're a plaything for the gods. They laugh at me.' I think
vlakas is Greek for idiot or oaf