A/N: Hi guys! Happy Friday, hope you've had fantastic weeks and a wonderful New Year!
I do have a quick request: I put a poll up on my profile with regards to a potential quest for Calypso and Leo sometime in this fic and it would mean so much if you could go take a look? Thanks!
Another nice long chapter for you guys as a thankyou for the overwhelming response from last chapter (and as a bribe to get you to go to the poll on my profile, I admit) so enjoy!
Shy
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The first time Calypso realised that draining her immortal essence might be painful, she was already sitting behind Leo on the back of Festus the Dragon, flying headfirst through the shield that bound Ogygia and herself.
She had begun packing her things the night Hephaestus told her of her fate and Leo had helped, as much as Leo could. More often that not, he was too busy playing with the trinkets and flotsam that had washed up on Ogygia over the ages. Calypso was beginning to realise her hero was easily distracted to the point of absurdity.
Luckily, she was a goddess (for now) and she did not need help carrying her things or arranging her possessions. When Leo found an old compass that had once belonged to Drake the pirate, he took it apart and put it back together, noting that the inside had some kind of mechanism that allowed it to function underwater. Calypso on the other hand, finished folding her clothes and tucking them into a thick canvas bag she'd woven long ago but never expected to use.
"But it's from the late seventeenth century!" Leo muttered, studying the device in his hands. "It shouldn't be able to do that."
"It was probably a gift from his father." Calypso sighed, absently. She was taking samples of all her plants and herbs with her, hoping that somewhere she could try her hand at recreating her garden. She recalled a conversation long ago with Percy about Manhattan and how it was too crowded to grow flowers.
"Who was his dad? Poseidon?" Leo distracted her, taking the compass apart.
"It seems logical but no. Drake was a son of Hermes."
"Ah, thieves." Leo said. "I get it."
Calypso rubbed her eyes tiredly. "You may take whatever you like. I'm sure their owners no longer care." The fire was burning brightly, lighting up the cave and when Leo glanced at her, her hair looked sort of fiery and wildly curly from playing on the beach in the wind. It wasn't a bad look for her at all.
"Are you okay?" he ventured, warily. Usually asking girls questions like that was not a great idea but Calypso was looking around at her cave like she was trying decide if she should punch it or mourn it.
"This place has been my home for a very long time. I hadn't realised I'd collected so many things and now I can't imagine living without them." She admitted, wearily. "It is a silly problem to have."
Leo remembered how he'd felt about his meagre possessions when he was in foster care, how even though it appeared as junk, he'd kept each and every bit that mattered to him. Anything he left behind at any of his homes were things he had never really cared for. You had to pack light when you were running from the state anyway.
He stood, leaving the compass by the fireside. "You know, we can come back and get all of it." He suggested, calculating how long it would take to move Calypso's cave. At least a week to give Festus proper breaks in between.
"No." Calypso murmured. "The island will not crumble. It will all be here if I ever decide to come back."
"Would you?" Leo asked. "Come back I mean?"
"Perhaps." Her eyes slid between the fire and Leo. "Then again, perhaps not. I suppose this should be my first lesson in being mortal. You embrace change so easily." She sighed. "My father and his brethren- the Titans' biggest weakness was their inflexibility. It is how the Olympians have triumphed for so long. I was never taught how to change and now I find myself about to become mortal of all things."
"It's not all that hard." Leo pointed out. "It'll fly past without you even knowing and you'll adapt without realising."
Calypso looked unconvinced. "You make it sound so simple."
"It is simple, Sunshine." Leo replied. "How much more stuff do you have?" he asked, bluntly changing the subject.
Calypso rolled her eyes. "I doubt my loom will fit on Festus' back so I suppose, I've finished."
"We could try," Leo muttered, squinting at the wooden structure. "If we broke it down-"
Calypso burst into laughter. "Leo, that loom is older than Dionysus. It does not 'break down' into different pieces." Leo looked ready to take up the challenge but she shook her head, firmly. "No, my loom will stay here. They are not hard to build for someone who knows how."
"Will you still be able to make that sweet fire proof fabric?" Leo asked. "Cause I got about thirteen brothers and sisters back at camp who would make you a loom that shouts compliments in exchange for fire proof overalls."
She giggled but nodded. "Yes, I believe that magic will stay with me."
"Excellent," Leo sighed, leaning back on one of the Ancient Greek chaises that decorated the cave. "Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Lemonade and Stew and Fireproofing for all Sizes!"
She smiled, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "You remember that?"
"'Course I do." He shrugged. "Why do you think I came back? I need your pretty voice to make the whole thing work. Bursting into flames only works for so long before the customers are going to need a little somethin' extra."
"Well that's when you start serving the stew, you see." She sighed, mock-sternly. "You'll definitely need me to organise the whole process or else you'll be lynched by hungry, unentertained masses within the first week of business!"
The next morning, Leo woke up in front of a low fire and Calypso was talking to herself.
"…and you must make sure to water the plants and clean the fountain. The birds will like bathing in it, they should arrive next month. And you must sweep down the beach and make sure the cave is cleaned out. Also, you should probably check the herb store every now and then to make sure nothing has rotted. If it has, empty the jar and refill it with whatever is in the garden. Try to make sure there is an even amount of each available…" she was lecturing to mid air.
"I'll do all of that if you give me five more minutes, Sunshine." Leo moaned, grouchily as the sunlight crept inside the cave and illuminated the crystals above him like light bulbs.
"Oh," Calypso started, turning to look at him. "I thought you might have slipped into a coma. I'm just giving the air spirits instructions as to how to keep the cave."
"I'm sure they know already." He yawned. "How else does it get clean?"
"I'll have you know, I do most of the work around here Wonder Boy." She poked his stomach with her toe and Leo grabbed her ankle in retaliation, rolling over and tucking her foot under his arm like a stuffed animal kids sleep with. "Leo, stop that!"
"Mmm…can't hear you…" he yawned again, his eyes slipping shut. His grin had grown though, betraying him.
"I am in need of my right foot!" Calypso squawked, stumbling on one foot as she tried to disentangling herself. "Leo!"
"Shhh…sleeping now…" Leo repeated, unable to contain his snicker.
"You are such an infant."
"You keep this up, you're gonna hurt my feelings Sunshine."
"Let go."
"Or what?"
"I'll beat you with my sandal."
"I think I'm gonna have to pass."
"Leo."
"Oh fine…" he grumbled, releasing his grip. He sat up as Calypso began to strap her liberated ankles into a pair of light brown leather sandals like the popular kind he'd seen in stores, with gold clasps and beads threaded on them. Except these were authentic. She wore a pair of light blue jeans that suddenly seemed tighter than normal and a bright red t-shirt that fit her perfectly.
"That's what you're wearing on the…um…flight?" Leo asked, weakly.
"Is it not correct?" she asked, raising a brow.
"No, no it's fine, it's just…tight?" he asked, his voice maybe an octave higher toward the end.
"I have made them slightly smaller. It is to prevent them from flapping in the wind. You haven't known the frustration of struggling against the inevitable until you've tried wearing a chiton on a chariot." Calypso suddenly smiled, coyly. "Why? Do you not like them?" She wore a threaded headband across her forehead and her hair was braided as per usual and Leo was in trouble because she was prettier than anything he'd ever seen and she liked to kiss him.
"Umm…sure?" Leo tried not to squeak as he considered the fact that Calypso would be sitting behind him for hours, looking like that.
"Good." She said, simply as she picked up all her bags with ease as though they weighed nothing more than a feather. "You will have to help me attach these to Festus. I've tried to keep them as light as possible, the bags should help with that."
"What do you mean?"
"They are enchanted to make their contents light." She explained, suddenly tossing one of the large sacks to Leo. "Here!"
He caught it by the skin of his teeth, prepared to buckle to his knees under the sudden weight but surprisingly, it was about as heavy as a loaf of bread. "Are you sure you don't want me to try taking that loom apart?" he asked, studying the large wooden structure.
"As I said, the magic is mine, not the loom's." Calypso chuckled as she led them outside to where Festus was enjoying the sunlight on his solar panels.
"How's my favourite fire breather this morning huh?" Leo greeted and Festus arched his back like a feline. "I'm taking that as good." He cracked his jaws and Leo nodded. "I promise we'll get you some Tabasco sauce when we get back."
"Tabasco?" Calypso echoed.
"It's a kind of chilli sauce. He's hungry. Festus has a taste for it and we indulge it because, hey, it's better than a mechanical dragon with a taste for demigod blood, right?" he explained.
"A mechanical dragon who likes chilli sauce," she snorted. "Sometimes I wonder if you're even real, Leo Valdez."
"Because I'm so dreamy?"
"Ridiculous was the word I was thinking of." She replied, neatly and Leo rolled his eyes.
"Hardy har har." He said, witheringly but he looked a little concerned. "Seriously though, we're probably gonna need to stop somewhere along the way so I can find him some. Kicking Ketos' scaly butt took a lot of energy I think."
"A brave, valiant steed." Calypso cooed, patting the side of Festus' enormous head. The dragon made a series of clicks in reply.
"No, she's not driving." Leo told him, sighing.
Crack whirr clack creak.
"Better than me? Calypso doesn't even know what an engine is!"
Clickity clack clack whirr clack click click.
Leo rolled his eyes and turned to the sea goddess. "Apparently Festus is happy to be your driving instructor when we get back to New York, though I warn you he's a traitorous beast."
Festus nudged Leo with his head and blew steam out of his nostrils. Crick clickity clack whirr snarr crick.
"What do you mean, prettier?" Leo exclaimed, outraged. "I'll have you know I am dashingly handsome!"
Crick whirr.
"That's it, I'm finding the cheap Tabasco sauce when we land." Leo snapped but his eyes were bright with amusement.
"Oh hero," Calypso snickered. "It's not Festus' fault if he has an eye for female aesthetics. I'm sure he thinks you're handsome also."
"Dashingly handsome." Leo stressed with a grin and a slight blush.
"Of course," she sighed. "And overwhelmingly modest."
Clack whirr tick clack craw?
Leo frowned. "I don't have anything on me. Can you wait til we can land somewhere?"
"Is he really so tired?" Calypso wondered, uncertain as to the endurance of mechanical creatures like Festus.
"More than I thought." he told her, absently. "Don't suppose you've got a magic Tabasco fountain huh?"
She paused and dropped her things to the ground. "I think I may have the answer." She disappeared up to the garden and came back with a large glass jar the height of a basketball back board, filled with dark red beans. "These are an old type of pepper we ate in Greece." She explained, wrestling the lid off and placing it before Festus. "Only the bravest used to eat them."
Festus sniffed the offering, locking his teeth around the neck of the jar and tilting his head so the beans rushed into his mouth. For a moment, nothing happened and then Festus' jaws shattered the glass and he collapsed onto the ground twitching.
"Festus!" Leo leapt forward, alarmed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry!" Calypso exclaimed, suddenly fearful. "I didn't mean to hurt him! I thought he'd like them!"
"Festus, come on buddy, what's wrong? Huh? Just tell Leo and I'll-" Leo had to stumbled backwards as the dragon suddenly leapt into the air, flying with incredible speeds around the island, in loops and dives like he was a demigod who had just been given a gallon of nectar.
"Whoa." Leo muttered, looking back at a few spare red peppers on the sand. "Any chance we can bring those back with us?"
"He seems to like them." Calypso agreed, looking pale. "I just hope it hasn't injured him."
Leo picked up one of the beans and shrugged, placing it on his tongue. Immediately he spat it back out, gagging and spluttering. "Holy Hephaestus what is that thing?"
"It's a tsili fasoli." Calypso shrugged, swallowing one whole. "I get cravings for them every few years."
"That's not chilli, it's poison." Leo moaned, his mouth aflame with spice.
Calypso rolled her pretty eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Wonder Boy."
"It feels like it burnt a hole in my tongue!" Leo stuck out his tongue and leaned toward Calypso, frantically. "Did eet burn a ho' in mah tongue?!" he asked, his tongue waggling madly.
"Your tongue is perfectly fine, hero." Calypso muttered dryly. "As is the rest of your mouth though it's somewhat large at times."
Leo uncapped his water and nearly inhaled it in his haste to drink. "Gah, those things are dangerous." He complained, the aftertaste just as bad as the bean itself.
Calypso looked amused. "Such a shame that I end up with a hero who can't hold his chilli." She said, tauntingly.
"Oh I can cope with chilli." Leo retorted. "That, that was not chilli, that was like battery acid."
"How exaggeratory. What would you know about spices?" she said, haughtily as she knelt to sweep up the remaining chilli beans to take with them.
Leo narrowed his eyes as he bent down to help. "Oh that's it, I'm making you enchiladas when we get back to camp."
She paused in her work and inclined her head thoughtfully. "I don't know that word but it sounds intriguing."
Leo cackled in response as he collected the last of the beans and poured them into Calypso's open palms. "I'll show what proper chilli tastes like, Sunshine."
"Very well, you may make me these…enchiladas." She pronounced the unfamiliar word carefully before glancing up at the swooping dragon. "Now call back Festus so we can start packing."
Festus the Dragon was much harder to reign in after his little morning snack and Leo likened the effect to how some kids reacted to red dye in cordial and candy. "Alright, that's the last of it." He muttered, making sure everything was securely fastened. "All on board the SS Festus."
He climbed up to his seat at the front, behind Festus' enormous neck and the dragon growled slightly with a series of clicks and whirrs as if to say No switching me off this time, got it? Leo chuckled and patted his neck in reply.
Calypso took a deep breath as he extended his hand to help her up. She took one last glance at the sand beneath her feet, the familiar foothills, the way her crystal gave glowed, further up the island. And then she grabbed Leo's hand and let him pull her into the seat behind him.
The dragon hummed beneath her in a way that was a little disconcerting but she locked her arms around Leo's waist as he gave Festus the command to leave and squeezed her eyes shut, a traitorous tear sneaking from beneath her eyelid. She had wanted to leave Ogygia for so long but it has still been her home. Leaving was bittersweet.
As Festus soared high above the ocean, Calypso's eyes opened and she suddenly became aware of the thin woven light that surrounded the island, the magic that bound her here. Hephaestus had said she had merely to pass through it to leave, shed her immortality and become mortal.
The moment they passed through it, Festus was completely unhindered, Leo also unaffected. But Calypso knew something was wrong.
She gasped, her whole body suddenly frozen and deathly cold. The power she had always known suddenly failed her and she felt something icy dripping from her nose. When she lifted her hand to it and pulled away, it was covered in glowing gold ichor.
She trembled as the cold enveloped her and began to gnaw on her bones, the ichor secreting from her nose, her mouth, her ears. It dripped constantly, the pain escalating until she couldn't contain her cries any longer and screamed long and loud directly in Leo's ear.
"Calypso? What's wrong? Hey, talk to me! Calypso!" he was yelling but she couldn't answer, couldn't do anything but wheeze helplessly as her lungs constricted tightly, the cold icy feeling spreading and filling her from the inside. "What the hell? What is this stuff?" Leo was asking, frantically. "Calypso? Answer me!"
Leo, she tried to say but all that came out was a wet cough and the ichor dribbled out of her mouth, falling to the side and splashing into the water far below. As it did, the waters glowed eerily so there was an illuminated trail following beneath them as Calypso shook and moaned.
You have chosen your path, Titan's child. An ancient voice, not unlike Gaea's but without the maliciousness, murmured in her head. This is the price for rejecting immortality.
The ichor welled in her throat and she choked, vaguely realising the water was coming closer as Leo tried to find somewhere to land. The pain felt like it was tearing apart her every cell; her power, her magic was slipping from her, drifting away in golden swirls of dust from her skin.
Using every ounce of strength she had left, she reached out a hand to the dust, trying to command it not to leave her. It obeyed but even as she felt it flow back into her heart, the splitting pain washed over her head and her vision went dark, her ears still echoing with Leo's calls.
A/N: Wow, so that spiralled very quickly. These two just can't catch a break, huh?
Review time!
Ilovethisfanfic: I definitely see a vacation in their future at some point. I hear Egypt is nice this time of year…muahahaha. Glad you liked it and the fluff ;)
Winonabcd: OH MY GODS BREAAAATHE YOUR REVIEW MADE ME HAVE A SQUEAL-INDUCED HEART ATTACK MYSELF THANKYOU! :3 So happy you liked it!
Correction: Hey, I love Percy just as much as the next PJO fan. He's such a fantastic, awesome character, I love reading and writing about him. But there's a reason he's mentioned like this in my fic: Firstly, I'm going along with one of the themes from House of Hades where Percy realises that he's forgotten about a lot of people (Bob and Nico included) and suffers from the guilt of doing so. Secondly, this is from Leo and Calypso's POV primarily, both of whom are of course going to be pretty biased (Calypso because of how things ended and Leo because he cares about Calypso) so that's why there hasn't been a lot of Pro-Percy defense so far. As for him and Annabeth helping out, I disagree, I think they'd help out in spite of the cursing because they're just that type of hero, they do the right thing because it's the right thing. And besides all of that, the Percy-Calypso confrontation (which is inevitably going to happen) is sure to have anger, bitterness, guilt and regret on both sides because they both did things they regret but also have a right to their respective anger.
Blue234: YOU ARE ALSO AMAZING, THANKYOU FOR REVIEWING!
Guest: Arigato ;) and yes, I basically came up with this because I hate character deaths and I didn't like the idea of Leo becoming immortal and spending eternity with Calypso. He'd make a terrible god, let's be honest. Glad you liked it and thanks for reviewing!
Guest: HAPPY FRIDAY AND THANKS FOR REVIEWING, I CAN HEAR THE SCREECHING SQUEALS OF FANGIRL JOY THROUGH MY LAPTOP AND THEY MAKE ME HAPPYY!
Sydwashere: YOU ARE PERFECT THANKYOU FOR READING!
Red: Updates are every Friday and Monday, if that helps ;) Thanks for reading and I'm really pleased you're enjoying it!
AB: TEAM LEO FOR THE WIN!
Tara Luna Apple: kissy romantic stuff is the greatest *sighs* Anyway glad you liked it and as for the l-word, it will make an appearance soon, I promise ;) Thanks for reading!
Blueice2449: Oh my gosh, I didn't even see the Leo in Theleonisus until you pointed it out ahaha and as for Carter and Zia, yeah, it is a bit like that but then Calypso has waited long enough, I think she'd ask him out first if she knew what dating and going out was. Glad you like it and thanks for reading!
Avid Reader 101: Here it is, I hope you like it! ;)
THANKS FOR READING EVERYONE, HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!