A/N: HELLO EVERYONE HAPPY MONDAY!
Hope everyone's having fun getting ready for the holidays (whether that be Christmas or any other fantastic holiday season) Me personally, well, I'm preparing for Christmas so I'm stuck trying to force my little sister to pay for her half of the presents (always a gargantuan effort) and I've gone into a wrapping frenzy so all the gifts are beautifully wrapped and colour coordinated with each other and the ribbon. Seriously, my new job plays carols all day over the radio and I think they've infected my brain. Blech.
Anyway, thanks to the overwhelming response to last chapter, you guys are actually incredible and I love you all with the force of virtual bear hugs.
Random question: DO YOU GUYS WANT TO SEE CALYPSO AND LEO ON AN ACTUAL QUEST? I'm very curious.
Much love and reluctant Christmas/holiday spirit,
Shy x.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The first time Leo realised maybe having friends along wouldn't have been such a bad idea, it was while he face down a pissed off skyscraper with a frilled neck.
The next day was much the same though Leo decided to let Festus test out his speed, the dragon still on the course set by the whirring astrolabe that tilted and jostled every now and then as if recalibrating.
Every so often, Festus would swerve and follow a completely new course as though the island had moved to the point where Leo wondered if maybe it did jump around the Mediterranean at times. For now, Festus seemed set to follow a course over Tunisia to south of Crete but who knew when that would change.
He was catching a tiny bit of shuteye (seriously, riding a metal dragon for days at a time was hard work) when the first low moan echoed from the waters below.
He frowned, blinking when he realised Festus had drifted close to the water. "What's up, buddy?" he grumbled with a yawn but the dragon remained silent save for a small growl.
Another long moan, like a whale song rippled out over the ocean. It made Leo wary and he sat up, resetting Festus' configuration to aim for a higher altitude. From what he could tell, they were in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, heading due east towards Greece.
He was so consumed with resetting the dragon that he almost didn't see the enormous glowing yellow eyes peering up from the waves.
The water trembled and the eyes disappeared, leaving Leo drawing out his hammer apprehensively. No sooner had he removed it than the water exploded beside him.
A long dark column came flying up from the depths, spraying him with cold, sharp raindrops. Leo covered his head and peeked up through the spray, searching for an end to the shape that now cast Festus into its shadow.
The enormous figure was covered in thick black scales, each the size of a sedan and gleaming with a rainbow-like sheen like spilled oil. The water poured onward as the column continued to rise, squirting seawater into his eyes and obscuring his vision. Even so, Leo could see some kind of pointed fin sprouting from the other side of it and as his gaze flew up to the top of the enormous shape, he could suddenly see a stumpy, narrow head topped by the glowing yellow gaze and a large crevice of mouth filled with jagged teeth.
"WHOA!" Leo bellowed, making Festus swerve to the right to avoid the creature as the water fell away revealing a kind of thick, undulating sea snake the size of a skyscraper which moaned again like a whale and surged towards him. "RIGHT! RIGHT FESTUS, FLY RIGHT!"
The dragon obeyed, ducking out of range right as the creature dove again, its ferocious stare reminding him of an eel's as it locked on to him. Its eyeballs alone had to be twice the size of the Big House back at camp but somehow the sheer size of it was impossible to really comprehend.
"What the hell do people put in the water around here?!" Leo complained, loudly as he directed Festus to fly straight up to the creature's head. First rule of fighting monsters was to figure out what it was, although Leo desperately wanted to fly straight past the creature and leave it wailing by itself. His courage failing, one hand shook as he grappled with the hammer and the other began to heat up frantically until it was covered with a thin layer of golden flames.
Leo tried to get a good look at the creature but Festus wasn't stupid enough to get close, not when the beast kept trying to charge at the bronze dragon, jaws snapping and bellowing in a long drawn out cry that made his ears throb. He remembered hearing Percy explaining about something his father had said back at camp. About how Gaea's near awakening and subsequent defeat had scared off the land monsters but the sea monsters were all riled up.
Of course Leo would find one on his first solo quest.
"C'mon!" Leo wailed as it dove towards them again, making the pair rear backwards. The dragon spun away in a roll that made his demigod passenger clutch tight to his neck and managed to escape the attack. As it drew back, Festus let loose a fierce jet of flames from his jaws, making the creature rear back in pain with a louder, deeper moan. This was all Gaea's fault. Damn Dirt Face. "She's buried back in her hole for another million years and she's still messing with me!"
"GRAWWWWWW!" the monster growled in response as it cracked its jaws a hairs breadth away from Festus' tail. It was an agile sucker and Leo had the sickening suspicion that if he flew away on Festus, it would simply follow after them. He wondered if Ogygia's natural borders would defend against evil scaly skyscrapers with bad tempers.
He sent a blast of crimson flames when Festus drew closer enough and it howled in pain but when it dove for him a second later, Leo was nearly crushed between its rows of razor fangs. Only a quick dive from Festus kept him alive and even then, he got the impression that he'd only really managed to piss it off even more. A sail-like ring-shaped fin around its neck rose and quivered like a threatened rattle-snake.
The creature was bigger than anything he'd ever come across. Not even the giants or the Titans he'd faced were as large as the eel-like creature who locked its yellow gaze on him and wailed in fury. Its throat gurgled and suddenly a jet of hot, sticky liquid spewed from its jaws, gushing an unhealthy looking green. Out of instinct, Leo lifted his hands and a wide arc of fire burst from his fingertips. The water hissed as it came into contact with the fire, evaporating into a fine mist, which parted around him. Leo urged Festus to duck out of the way but the dragon's tail was tagged by a few spare drops of green spray. As he watched, the droplets began to eat away at the metal, leaving tiny jagged holes in the bronze.
"Acid." He deduced, shaking his head angrily although his arms trembled. "REALLY?!" he bellowed, incredulous, completely frustrated and somewhat terrified.
Leo was out of his depth and he knew it. Out on the open water, land was far away and there was no way to hide or regroup or buy enough time to create a solution. He needed Annabeth's brain or Piper's mythology knowledge, something to figure out what this thing was or how to beat it. He needed Percy's skill with water or even the ability to zap the sucker with a bolt of lightning like Jason. He needed to be able to turn huge like Frank or conjure a distraction with the Mist like Hazel.
He and Festus could launch fire attacks at this monster all damn day but he'd probably get his head snapped off in the process. What Leo needed was his friends to have his back.
You're alone, you stupid demigod, his brain howled. Concentrate. Focus. You have to get away. You have to keep going.
As if realising the absolute worst time to make itself known, the weight of his Stygian oath suddenly bore down on his shoulders and crept into his chest, wrapping itself around his spine like a parasite. The Styx never forgets, it seemed to whisper even as his ear drums were assaulted by the howling of the creature and the deafening splashing of waves as it moved about the frothy sea.
The beast moaned again and looked ready to puke some more crazy acid water on him but Leo steered Festus in a loop around its enormous head to distract it while he concentrated. He tried to remember the lessons of Monsters and Beasts from Camp but answer to the very first question was evading him: What is the creature?
"Think Leo, think…" he muttered, studying the creature's thick scales. "What is it?" It looked like an enormous ugly snake but nothing about it truly stood out except for the enormous fins on the side of its face and the frill around its neck that stood up like a Frilled Neck Lizard-
"The fins…" he realised, the name coming slowly as Festus let loose more fire and ducked low around the creature's underbelly though that was armoured as well. "It's like a sea snake…or a sea dragon…"
The story leapt to his head- of a princess who was sacrificed to the sea after her mother proclaimed her more beautiful than the gods themselves, of how a hero had freed her from being eaten by a fearsome sea kraken called-
"Ketos!" Leo called out, momentarily distracted by his triumph. "You're Ketos!" The sea dragon growled in response, its fearsome jaws spread wide and his breath a mist of foul smelling air in Leo's face. From between his fangs, the smell originated from scraps of pink flesh, jagged tips of spears, possible a broken ship or two. "Dude," he coughed, gagging. "You have got to start flossing."
Again Ketos dove for the automaton and its rider and this time, Leo had to let loose an explosion of flames to keep it from swallowing them whole. It didn't deter it for long. The gurgling noise came back and Leo didn't escape the acid mouthwash a second time. The poisonous rainfall caught a few drops on his arm. The reaction was immediate, letting loose a stinging pain that raced through his veins and causing enormous sickly green, pus-filled welts to his skin. Whenever they brushed against Festus or his shirt, it felt like someone was clawing the flesh from his ulna.
In a strange way, the pain was almost helpful. The sharp sting suddenly brought every single part of the situation into focus for him, turning everything almost painfully clear. The tight hold of his oath on his spine, the anxious flop of his stomach, the stench of seawater and rotting flesh and the smooth hum of Festus' machinery beneath him- all of it was suddenly sharp and explosive against his senses.
Ketos howled angrily and Leo realised that as long as it was looming over him, it had the advantaged and would be impossible to attack anyway. He had to bring it down, at least to the water surface. Then he could figure out his next plan.
Leo thanked the gods the stinging poison was confined to his non-dominant arm and in the face of everything else going on, the adrenaline made it easier to push the pain to the back of his mind for the time being. "How did he kill you…?" Leo muttered through gritted teeth, his mind racing as he grabbed for the rope and grapple hook from his tool belt.
His mind immediately thought of the traditional story: Ketos had been defeated by Medusa's head which the original Perseus had sliced off earlier in his adventures. Busy guy, Leo thought errantly but immediately tried to focus.
He didn't have a gorgon head so he'd better hope that wasn't the answer.
"The mouth, aim for the mouth!" Leo shouted, hoping the acid hadn't damaged Festus' communication and command modules. He steered Festus forward, leaning close to the bronze dragon's head to keep from being thrown off as the automaton ducked and spun, diving wildly as they neared the enormous creature's jaws. Leo's hands shook as he began to swing the grappling hook like a lasso on the end of the rope but he waited until he was just close enough to see the back of its throat, slick dark grey flesh hidden behind row after row of knife-like teeth like a shark's. He was about to try to launch the hook but his hands faltered, shaking too badly to aim the hook properly.
Realising how close Leo was to its jaws, Ketos obviously saw its opportunity and reared forwards, spreading its mouth wide and for a second, Leo thought he was absolutely done for. With the glinting jaws looming over him, his brain went wild as it spat out all the things he'd never get to do. There would be no sixteenth birthday, no reunion at Camp Half-Blood. He'd never get to hang out with his half-siblings or annoy the living daylights out of his best friends ever again. Screw Ogygia, he'd never even make it across Tunisia. Calypso would wait on her island forever and think he was just like every other stupid heroic jerk who left her empty promises-
His resolve suddenly hardened and Leo's hands stopped shaking in a single moment.
No way in Hades was he going to die having kissed that infuriating, stuck up, wonderful goddess just once.
With a hefty swing, he launched the grappling hook into the beast's mouth and it sailed through the air in a smooth arc. Leo almost didn't want to look but miraculously, the hook caught on a jagged tooth and the moment the rope began taunt, Festus swooped downwards toward the water, escaping death yet again. Leo was going to have to come up with an enormous thank you present for his favourite mechanical flying friend.
Whereas he'd previously hesitated, Leo could now feel the adrenaline flowing freely through his veins, quickening his every action and thought. He looped the rope around Festus' neck and tied it off in a split second, forcing Ketos to follow Festus' trail, plunging down toward the bright blue ocean right as the answer came to Leo.
In most stories, Perseus used Medusa's head. In one, however, he found the monster's weak spot on the back of its neck and managed to pierce it deep enough to kill it.
It wasn't much. Miniscule, really.
But it would have to do.
Just before Festus hit the water, Leo untied the rope and steered the dragon in an enormous loop upwards as the momentum continued to pull the creature down towards the ocean. Leo had exactly one teeny tiny itty bitty chance but with the intoxicating mix of stinging clarity and rushing adrenaline flooding his system, his eyes were drawn towards a spot where the creature's enormous dorsal fin melted into the flared collar around its throat. The dark oily scale there was dented ever so slightly, a ripple in Ketos' slick impenetrable armour.
Leo held his hammer high before letting it smash down on what he prayed to the gods was the weak spot Perseus had once used millennia ago.
Ketos' response was immediate. It howled at a higher pitch than anything Leo had heard it make previously and arched itself backwards and away, crashing down into the water like a humpback whale falling on its back.
It sank down into the water and Leo breathed hard until the yellow glowing eyes disappeared into the ocean again. Not dead but unwilling to keep fighting.
On another day, with his friends' help, maybe a little of Percy's water mojo and a kick ass plan from Annabeth, Leo would've tried to destroy it, send it to Tartarus where it couldn't hurt anyone but as it was, he felt clammy and exhausted from wrestling with the enormous creature.
The thought made him pause, just for a moment. If he had his friends, he would go after the sea monster. But he didn't have his friends. He was alone with Festus in the middle of a region that had actively tried to kill him last time he was there. If he'd died, what would have happened? Would his friends ever know? Or would they assume he'd chosen to stay on Ogygia with Calypso and live an immortal life? Would Calypso ever know that he had tried to get to her? He had pictured her waiting on her beach, thinking he had lied to her. Would she feel betrayed? Or would she just think it was inevitable? Percy had explained parts of Tartarus to Leo. Would Calypso curse him like she'd cursed Annabeth?
Even as the weight of his oath on the Styx began to recede from his spine, back to its ever-present weight on his shoulders, it seemed to have grown even heavier than usual. He grimly realised the oath would either have him reach her and fulfil his promise or have him dead. Those were Leo's only options right now.
His body was trembling with the leftover battle-high but strangely, the weird pain-induced clarity to his vision was melting away. When he glanced down at his welt-covered arm, he realised he could barely move it. His arm was going numb but Leo decided he preferred it to the feeling of flesh ripping from his bones.
"Come on Festus," he breathed, wiping the sweat from his forehead as the crystal glowed again and Festus reset his course north, towards Sicily off the coast of Italy. "We're almost there."
A/N: No Calypso this chapter but hang in there, she'll appear eventually. And Ketos' reappearance does serve a purpose, I promise. I think. Maybe. Whatever.
Guest review time!
Tara Luna Apple: Agreed, Aphrodite is also goddess of fangirls, in my opinion but seriously, she needs to stop messing around with these two. Glad you liked it :D
Guest: He'll get there! Eventually! There's still all the hoops, 'conditions' and obstacles the gods want him to jump through yet and I have to encourage his character not to set fire to them instead. Glad you enjoyed chapter eighteen!
Z: GAAAAaaaaAaaaaAaaaAaaaa! When you leave me lovely reviews like this, I imitate a whale with my fangirl squealing THANKYOU! Don't worry, (most of) the gods' plan will become clear in the next chapter I think. Hope you liked nineteen as well!
Ilovethisfanfic: Awwww, thanks! Chiron is a stubborn old centaur, there's no way in hades is just gonna come out and say what he means *sighs* But (most of) the gods' plans become clear next chapter. I hope. THANKS FOR REVIEWING!
Daughter of Zeus: I LOVE YOU TOO DON'T CRY FRIEND! Here's some nice, fearsome angry Leo for you! They'll get together soon I promise hope. Thanks for taking a second to review :D
On: That's a very sensible reading strategy, I tend to go nuts and spend hours past midnight reading, silly Shy. And yes, Caleo is a worthy OTP that really needs to get together in Blood of Olympus, like seriously. Anyway, thankyou for reviewing and I will endeavour to remain fluffy friend!
Cecld: THANKYOU FOR REVIEWING :)
Guest: Geeking in process. And now we're full circle! Everything from here on out is my own work, so enjoy!
Pikapixie (is that a reference to Pokemon?): I don't actually go into detail as to how Gaea was defeated in this story (only that she was) but you're right, Gaea's been shuffling around the truth she sends to Calypso. Glad you're enjoying how it's coming together, it's one of my favourite parts of writing is weaving in the little pieces I leave in previous chapters :D THANKYOU FOR REVIEWING AND READING AND GENERALLY BEING WONDERFUL!
BLA: Sorry it was so late! I went out to the ballet for most of the night and then spent a couple of hours replying to reviews and posting the last chapter, hence why it was so late. I really should've picked days I'm not as busy on, honestly. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far (I like that we're back in present times as well, it's more fun writing new stuff than Calypso's POV of the book I think) and they will certainly get up to misadventures, I think. At least, that's what I'm planning. Thankyou for reading!
THANKYOU FOR READING GUYS I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER AND I SWEAR CALYPSO WILL BE...WELL, MAYBE NOT NEXT UPDATE BUT DEFINITELY THE UPDATE AFTER THAT!