Blood Of Olympus: An Epilogue:

LEO

Phew!
   The war with Gaea was over. All applaud for the amazing Leo McShizzle.

   I died but I managed to revive Festus before that. Festus, my boy, in turn gave me a new lease of life. Seriously, Leo? 'Lease of life'? I must have spent too much time with Annabeth during the war to have picked up such fancy 'Athenian' words from her.

   OK, having said.. Er, thought that, let me proceed to the biggest aim of my life: To rescue Calypso.

   Well, finding her wasn't hard. What with the crystal, the astrolabe and my amazing Archimedes' sphere... Well, obviously I managed to chuck the whole 'No man finds Ogygia twice' rule.

   Ma' gal knew I was coming. Or atleast she hoped I would. And I did! I rescued her off that island in 5 minutes ( Well, it could've taken even less time, but Calypso claimed that I looked/smelled like death and insisted I took a shower. She also insisted upon packing an ENORMOUS, and I mean ENORMOUS basket with sandwiches for the 'journey'.)

   Anyways, we have now been flying together upon Festus' back. For how long? We have no idea. Time is difficult in Ogygia and equally difficult while flying through time and space, somewhere between the Mist and reality.

   Oh well, we have eaten through only half the supplies that Calypso brought, so I guess we'll be good for a few more days. On the whole, I think it was a smart thing to have waited for a few extra minutes in Ogygia.

   So, in the time that we have been flying, we talked. Me and Calypso. Some jolly and peaceful alone time before we returned to Camp. Or wherever that Calypso wants to go, because I leave the choice to her.

   But I miss my friends from Camp Half-Blood. I miss my buddies from the Argo II. Heck, l even miss our scary Coach Hedge.

  I wonder now, after the war with Dirt Face, what happened to the two camps. Sure, I turned into a human torch and lifted Gaea into the sky as per plan. But then, something collided into me. I think that 'thing' helped accelerate Gaea's death. I wonder what it was though.  

   I also wonder, did both the camps survive? What were the casualities? Assuming the Greeks and Romans survived, did they unite or did they turn on each other? 

   Another thing that worried me was my friends. Were they alright? I really hope they are. Thinking anything other than that made me wallow in unbearable pain. No, my friends are brave. They are survivors and would DEFINITELY be ok, all awaiting my return, probably.

   Holy Hephaestus! My friends! What with rescuing Calypso and saving the world, I never thought about my friends' reactions upon discovering my plan. Gods, is everyone mad at Frank and Hazel for helping me in what I had done? Had I been gone long enough for them to start worrying? I suspected I had. But what worried me the most is that they probably feared me dead. And knowing them, they would definitely find a way to blame themselves in one way or another for my disappearence. Oh well, atleast it would be a nice surprise for them when we return, assuming the world was still in the 21st century...

   With a sigh, I turned to look at Calypso. She was sleeping, with her hands around me for support. It suddenly reminded me of my first quest with Jason and Piper. Piper had held on to me like this, in a perfectly sisterly way. But today, I finally, FINALLY got my girl. Well yeah, I officially asked Calypso if she would be my girlfriend. She had blushed a little and replied with a small smile, "Yes, you idiot, YES" before giving me kiss.

   I talked a lot with Calypso, here on Festus' back. She told me about her past, how she had helped Atlas and was in turn 'imprisoned' in Ogygia. She told me about the heroes who had appeared on her island, how all of them had left and broken her heart. Well, technically I too had left her but hey! I returned and that counts for something.

   I told Calypso what Percy had told me when we were battling Victory. Her features seemed to soften just a little, as though she had forgiven Percy for what he had done. She then whispered, "Percy is a good hero. Brave in battles, but soft at heart. It is no wonder he saved Olympus." But seeing my (probably jealous) expression at this, she laughed and kissed me. So yeah, I think it is cool between me and Jackson.

   It took me some time, but I too gradually opened up to my past. How Hera had interfered with my childhood, how Gaea had killed my mom and how I had been on the run from different foster homes all through my life. It was hard. But she was there to wipe my tears. And I am really grateful to her for that. Finally, there is someone on Team Leo.

   I looked up at the sun rising over the blue ocean beneath. We are still travelling in a place that was hidden by the Mist, because my astrolabe continued to act crazy. But a few hours later, when the sun had properly risen and Calypso had woken up, my astrolabe blinked, beeped and then started to show meaningful readings. We were back in the mortal world!

   I asked Calypso and she agreed- we were going back to Camp Half-Blood. I set the astrolabe with the right coordiantes. We should reach there around midday, I figured.

   Me and Calypso.
Calypso and me.
Going back to Camp Half-Blood.
Going back to my friends.
Going back home.

PS- (Leo's Perspective)
By the way for all you mortals and demigods reading this- I installed a voice activated diary in Festus so that I could record all the crazy things happening to me during this journey. All those old-timey travellers like Crusoe and Vaso de-Gama kept diaries. But since I am way cooler than that, I have this trans-free, voice activated journal, complete with wifi and bluetooth for free sharing ( although the wifi and bluetooth only work in the mortal world). I just need to think what I want to write, and it gets automatically noted onto it.

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