You Give Liberty a Bad Name (a Percy Jackson AU)

I'll Follow You Anywhere

  Charleston, South Carolina: July 22, 1776
      Calypso felt the familiar rush of happiness and guilt when she saw her beloved. Odysseus Laertes was ten years older than her and newly widowed, but they weren't married and that was made it wrong for her to be meeting him. That was what made it even worse that she visited him at night and did things the Church would condemn her for.
     Odysseus stepped into the shadow of the willow tree Calypso was sitting beneath. She stood up and brushed the dust off of the skirt of her dress. In the moonlight, Odysseus looked the Greek hero he had been named after. He had the same broad shoulders and red hair. He even had a scar on his leg, though he had got it while hunting for a deer instead of a boar.
       "I was afraid you wouldn't come," Calypso said as Odysseus took her in his hands. "You're late."
       "I came," Odysseus said.
     He traced her cheeks with one finger. Then, he unclasped Calypso's bonnet and she let her hair fall loosely over her shoulders. She pressed her mouth to his and the two of them joined as one beneath the willow tree.
      Afterwards, Calypso caressed Odysseus's cheek and let her head relax on his comforting chest.
      "Why were you late?" she asked.
      He shifted and Calypso was forced to raise her head. He looked at her as if he knew his fate and didn't like it, but saw no way to prevent it.
      "I need to tell you something," Odysseus said.
    Calypso's heart lurched. She knew what he was going to say: he had found another woman — a more respectable one — and he was going to leave her. She dug her fingernails into her palm as he spoke.
     "I'm joining the Continental Army," he said,
      "You're what?" she asked.
       "I'm going to fight the Redcoats," Odysseus said. "I'm going to help drive them out of the colonies so that we can truly be independent."
      "I thought you were going to say that you were leaving me for another woman," Calypso breathed.
      "My only other mistress is the war," Odysseus said.
     Calypso leaned forward and kissed him again. He smelled like fire smoke and molasses. She wanted to bottle up that scent so she could smell it forever. The thought of not meeting him beneath the willow tree again made her heart break.
     Then she realized it didn't have to be that way. She pulled away from Odysseus's embrace and asked, "When are you leaving?"
      "Tomorrow," Odysseus answered.
       "Then I shall pack tonight and tomorrow I will follow you," Calypso said.
       "You're coming?" Odysseus asked, the surprise evident in his voice.
       "Who else will wash your socks and remind you to trim your beard?" Calypso teased.
       "I didn't expect you to," Odysseus said. "Your bravery impresses me."
       "I'll follow you anywhere," Calypso vowed. "You've already colonized my heart and I will obey my king even as he rebels against his own king."
    Odysseus laughed and the two spent the last hours of night in each other's arms.