PJO/HoO: Headcanons

74. Aging

Leo opened his eyes and smiled at Calypso, who was laying across from him in bed.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," Calypso replied.

She frowned. Leo did too. Her voice was...different.

Calypso shot up in bed, and Leo let out a high scream.

"Cally!"

Calypso dove for a mirror and stared at her face. It was hers, but it wasn't--it was a middle-aged woman's face, wrinkles in the corners of the eyes and on her forehead.

"Leo, what happened?!" Calypso wailed.

-

"She appears to be aging at an extreme rate," Will said in the infirmary. Calypso was laying on one of the beds, her face pinched with worry. Her hair was now streaked with gray. "After all those years of immortality, I believe her mortality is catching up quickly."

"How long does she have?" Leo asked.

Will sighed. "At this rate? A few hours, maybe, if she continues at this speed."

Calypso let out a sob, and Leo hugged her.

-

A few hours later, Leo and all of his friends were gathered around the bed of an old woman who had been sixteen years old less than a day ago.

Leo gripped her hand.

"Calypso," he whispered. "I-I love you."

Calypso swallowed. There was a lump in her wrinkled neck.

"I love you, too," she said.

Leo squeezed her hand and watched as a tear slipped down her cheek.

Suddenly, Calypso's eyelids drooped and her whole body simultaneously relaxed. The hand Leo was holding dropped its grip.

"No!" Leo yelled. "This wasn't how it was supposed to be! Calypso, please! Please!"

***

I wanted to just get that out of the way to be honest. It could've been so much more feelsy but I'm in a terrible mood and I'm not going to have the motivation to write it tomorrow. So here ya go. Two headcanons in one day.

God today has been...I don't even know. I should be mourning, but I'm just kinda tired. I've been listening to classic rock and working on a new book all day. I don't think that's what you're supposed to do when one of your greatest inspirations in life kills herself. But it hasn't hit me yet. So yeah.