187Without further ado... (I've already made you wait too long). Enjoy this unexpected POV.
Calypso
Calypso had been at Camp Half-Blood for six days, after the foul-smelling wind had taken all seven demigods of the prophecy, and Nico, to... somewhere. It didn't take a child of Athena to figure that even though the Giant War was over, demigods- especially those eight- still had enemies.
All Iris-messages failed. All the contraptions the Hephaestus cabin endeavored to come up with either exploded or didn't work. The pegasi couldn't trace them, not even Blackjack, Percy's pegasus. The children of Apollo asked the god for help, with no luck- apparently, Apollo had gotten into trouble with Zeus. (At least some things were as Calypso remembered them; godly politics were always brutal.) The satyrs and various nature spirits couldn't help, either- it seemed like the heroes' location was hidden, and very well, at that. The worst part was that Calypso could help, but no one trusted her, and even the ones who did didn't believe she could, or should, try to use her magical powers to find the demigods. The centaur, Chiron himself, had warned her against using her magic. But Calypso disregarded that.
Calypso reflected on those early days as she sat on the beach of the lake at Camp Half-Blood. The sand was pleasantly warm under her, and a cool breeze ruffled her hair, which danced in the sunlight. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine herself sitting at her dining table, barefoot, back on Ogygia. (Before Leo landed and destroyed her dining table, of course.) It wasn't that she missed it there; of course she was glad to leave!
But she missed the quiet and the calm, relaxing peace of the island. This lake on the edge of camp was where Calypso came to think, away from the sometimes overwhelming hustle-and-bustle of camp. She could still hear the sizzling of the lava climbing wall, the hammering at the forges, and the chattering of the naiads and dryads, but they were more distant at the lake.
When Chiron had nervously Iris-messaged Camp Jupiter to inform them that their praetor and a centurion had (again) vanished while on a pleasure trip to visit their friends and the other heroes of the prophecy... suffice to say that Calypso could hear the bellowed Latin curses halfway across camp. Reyna herself had flown in on a giant Roman eagle to work with the Greek demigods. Search teams were sent out to the east, since that was the direction the demigods had been seen heading towards. Reyna organized teams of pegasi and skilled demigods to search, and also led the Hecate cabin's effort to track down the missing heroes.
Calypso tiredly laid down in the soft sand as she remembered the camp's collective reaction to their heroes being gone, and Calypso herself arriving with Leo, who'd been there for less than twenty minutes before being whisked away. Again.
The campfire, which had been twenty feet high and bright purple before, was now an ugly shade of vomit green and barely up to knee level as Chiron broke the news, bowing his head sadly. Calypso stood next to him, fidgeting awkwardly and uncomfortably aware of everyone's gazes on her.
None of the demigods seemed to like her much, except for the Aphrodite girls. It could have been the fact that Percy Jackson had once landed on her island. Or perhaps simply because she was not a demigod. Another possibility was because Atlas the Titan was her father. Or, maybe because she'd supported him in the first Titan War. There were, in all honestly, a lot of reasons why they wouldn't like Calypso. Whatever the reasons, the children of Aphrodite were still squealing about how Calypso had done her hair, or her clothing, or something of that nature...
Calypso would never understand the children of the love goddess, no matter that she'd lived for several millennia. On Ogygia, Leo had often complained (jokingly) about them, besides Piper, his friend. Honestly, they were even worse in person.
More memories with Leo played in Calypso's mind. Him teasing her. Him grinning that mischievous smile of his. Him... Calypso fought to keep her expression stoic. First Odysseus, the ancient hero, had left. Then the pirate- the roguishly handsome son of Ares, Drake. Then, there was Percy. Percy was just like the other heroes who had washed up on Ogygia's shores. He was handsome, with his sea-green eyes and tousled, jet-black hair. He was powerful, even for a son of Poseidon. He was also both charming and youthful. So of course, Calypso fell in love with him; but then, he left too.
But what about Leo? He was different. He was nothing like Percy or the other heroes. At first glance, he wasn't handsome. At all. He was scrawny, short, and lacked manners. He didn't seem that powerful, being a son of Hephaestus, fire-user or not. He wasn't charming or elegant, either. He was pretty much the opposite. In fact, he seemed to take pleasure in antagonizing Calypso. Yet... he was handsome in his own impish way. He wasn't traditionally powerful, but strong in a way only Leo could be. And once you got to know him, he actually was quite amusing, not to mention that he'd saved her. And now, he was gone.
She was jolted back to the present as Chiron cleared his throat loudly. "As many of you are aware, Leo brought back Calypso from his... er... trip. Travis, Connor- is there any more space in the Hermes cabin for Calypso here?" He looked at a pair of identical-looking boys, with the same smirks and twinkling eyes. They had pointy, elfish ears and a lot of nervous energy, if their tapping fingers and constant movements were any indication. They reminded Calypso of Leo. The slightly taller one stepped forward.
"We've got some space, but-"
"The Hephaestus cabin will take her in," interrupted a tan, muscular girl dressed in a tank top and athletic shorts. She had a red bandanna tied around her head, keeping her hair out of the way. Her arms were stained with grease, and she had a don't-mess-with-me attitude around her. Calypso vaguely remembered her name: Nyssa, Leo's half-sister. "Right, Jake?" she nudged an equally muscular boy with a cast on his arm. He nodded, and Calypso was struck by how differently they were built than Leo... while they were strong and muscular, Leo was lean and wiry.
"This is highly irregular..." Chiron started, but was interrupted.
"Please...we haven't seen Leo in such a long time, and..." a little boy who couldn't have been more than nine years old stepped forward. He wore a stained grey T-shirt and cargo pants that looked like all its pockets were stuffed with tools. Sure enough, he took out a piece of wood and started absentmindedly sanding down the edges to make a point. Calypso smiled faintly; she recognized that action. Leo started fidgeting whenever he was anxious. "We haven't seen Leo, so..." he repeated, and Nyssa put an arm around his shoulders. The other cabins looked on fondly, even the Ares cabin.
"A friend of Leo's is a friend of ours, even if Leo's an idiot," she stated firmly.
Calypso smiled wryly. None of Hephaestus' kids were very comfortable around her, like the god himself, but at least they accepted her and didn't judge her immediately. Calypso supposed that it would've been hypocritical of them to do so, considering that their father was Hephaestus, who was made lame after Hera saw his disfigured face and tossed him off of Mount Olympus as a baby. And for the most part, the Hermes and Aphrodite cabins were nice to her.
Nemesis' children hated her, but apparently they held a permanent grudge against the world. Iris, Tyche, and Demeter were slightly skittish around her, while Dionysus (both the god and his cabin), Athena, and Apollo were just tolerant of her. Ares, however... somehow, nearly half of them blamed her for the eight heroes' disappearance. Thankfully, their head counselor, a tough girl named Clarisse, thought that idea was (quote) "completely idiotic, but who would expect any more from you, punk?" Dionysus had eyed her and then refused to talk, flashing away to Olympus. Calypso guessed that the council was in complete disarray- the disappearance of eight demigod heroes who saved the world and the reappearance of a banished goddess tended to cause some inconvenience for the gods.
The camp didn't allow her to help in the search effort, at least not directly, so Calypso was forced to stay at camp. Of course, they had valid reasons to do so: they didn't know if the Olympians would kill her once out of camp, they didn't know if she was still immortal or not, they didn't know if she would attract more monsters than demigods, etc. And to top it all off, her magic from Ogygia seemed to be fading slightly. Calypso could only see brief glimpses into the past and some very minor magic.
What she'd seen... it wasn't exactly pleasant.
Calypso shuddered. Those brief images were the stuff of nightmares... she'd seen Leo and Percy shouting at each other in what appeared to be a heated argument in topics ranging from Leo's mother, the Giant War, and Calypso (that was bound to come up sooner or later). She'd seen the two children of Hades (well, one was a daughter of Pluto) turning on each other and saying vicious, soul-crushing things. Leo had told her that Nico, the son of Hades from the 1940s, had went through Tartarus- literal hell- by himself. Now, to hear his half-sister saying such things... She'd seen the two Roman demigods (Frank, the current praetor, and Jason, the former praetor) fighting each other as if their lives depended on it, which might have actually been the case.
And the worst part? All the other demigods had just been standing there, watching, and making no move to stop the fighters at all. Calypso had sensed some sort of restraint around them, so perhaps that was why. But still- who had enough raw power to keep eight of the most powerful demigods in history restrained somewhere, presumably against their will, for six entire days?
Suddenly, a loud boom shook the sand, and Calypso was jolted out of her musings. She glanced around instantly- she was alone on the beach, but all the campers in hearing range were racing towards the beach in a furious mass. She jumped up, instinctively grabbing a discarded, unsheathed Celestial bronze sword from the beach and hefting it up. She squinted into the azure blue sky; there was a pegasus approaching. Must be a returning search party, then. She relaxed her grip on the blade, but kept it held at the ready. The pegasus had two riders, and as they grew closer, Calypso could make out Reyna, sitting proudly in the front with a grin on, and another girl sitting behind. She had curly hair and hazel eyes- That's one of the Seven! Hazel! Another pegasus, jet-black this time, landed deftly on the beach, just a few feet away from Calypso.
This one had two passengers as well- a blond girl with stormy grey eyes, and someone with his arms around her waist. Percy! And that's Annabeth! Calypso ran forward, scanning the horizon for the rest of the demigods. If three of the missing demigods were here, the others must be coming as well... Right?
A giant eagle flew towards her, and Calypso ignored it until she remembered something Leo had told her back on Ogygia- Frank, the son of Mars, can changed forms! Sure enough, as she watched, the eagle changed- its beak shifted into a normal mouth, its beady, intelligent, golden eyes morphed into warm brown eyes, and its feathers changed into skin and clothing- until there stood a burly demigod. Four more. Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared behind her in the shadow of a tree, nearly knocking her over. He was holding a solid black sword and wore a skull ring. He apologized hastily, not sounding very sorry at all. That must be Nico. Three more.
A glint of blond hair in the sky caught the sunlight like one of Calypso's cave crystals. She shaded her eyes, and saw two distant figures high in the air- one blond boy with a look of intense concentration on his face, and one girl who was smiling widely and who had choppy brown hair. Jason and Piper- Leo's best friends. But where's Leo?!
Her thoughts were disturbed by an explosion. A ball of fire was descending upon the beach, and appeared to have a harness of bronze wings that shone in the sun attached. As it grew closer, Calypso could hear the noisy metal wings flapping, and a very distinct voice was yelling something- very loudly.
"Who's the man?! Woo, Archimedes' inventions are awesome! Bad Boy Supreme is coming! Also known as Captain Toolbelt, Supreme Commander, and Super-Sized Mc- AH!" The rest was drowned out as a sooty, sheepish looking son of Hephaestus crash-landed right on top of Calypso. She gazed up at him. His curly, messy hair was wild, and his clothing was singed and smelled terrible. Luckily, he was no longer on fire.
Leo.
"Leo Valdez!" Calypso got back on her feet and unceremoniously pulled him up. "Explanation. Now." She smirked as she saw him gulp and nod.
As he started telling the story, he unstrapped the burned metal wings and tossed it to the side. The other seven demigods and Reyna gathered around, along with the entire camp. They added details occasionally, and Jason in particular seemed to take special delight in describing how Lyssa had looked like a giant garbage bag. By the time they were finished, everyone was silent. "... and then, after we dumped Lyssa-the-Trash-Bag to the side, we left and headed here. Reyna, her pegasus, and Blackjack the other pegasus met us halfway and... Yeah," Leo finished, smiling crookedly. Calypso was speechless, then doubled over in laughter.
"So. Basically there was an evil, insane goddess who wanted revenge on all of you and made you fight against each other," she started. Piper nodded and shrugged. "And then, you defeated her by putting a net around her," The eight heroes laughed.
"But seriously," someone spoke up. Calypso glanced over; it was Hazel. "What-" she never got to finish. A flash of bright, golden light appeared suddenly, and a goddess emerged. It was Hera, clad in a white dress and gladiator sandals.
"Demigods," she announced, speaking loudly. "Lyssa, the one who abducted you, has been sent into Tartarus, to join her mother, Night," The campers cheered. "The entire Olympian council applauds your bravery and resourcefulness in defeating her, although Hephaestus helped you," she sent a glare up at the heavens, and in response, thunder rumbled. "However," she continued, "Zeus has decided to grant him a pardon," (The sky cleared again.) "The imagined Argo II is no longer in physical form. Good day, heroes," another flash of light (Calypso covered her eyes) and the goddess of marriage was gone.
Calypso grinned widely and kissed Leo gently, unmindful of the dozens of campers milling around, and ignoring the cries of "Ship! Ship!" from the children of Aphrodite. (Seriously, what in Hades did a ship have to do with them kissing?! The modern world is strange, indeed.) Hand in hand, they headed back to Camp Half-Blood.
Hera
Hera stood, unseen, on the top of Zeus' Fist, overlooking the camp of demigods- one of the perks of being a divine being. Lyssa has a point, she mused. The demigods certainly understand each other now, but before, they did not. She stroked her chin and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Perhaps some more bonding experiences would do them good, especially the Seven of the Second Great Prophecy. The goddess of family smiled, and if she were a cartoon character (just not in Hercules; those representations of her were horrible), a light bulb would've gone on above her godly head. Yes, that would certainly help them bond.
Fin.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Strangely enough, this is my longest chapter.
Shoutouts and blue cookies to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited, and read (that includes all of you silent readers)!
This can be read as a single story, or a prequel to my next fic, which will be called "Flawed Heroes". Keep an eye out for that; I've already started writing the first chapter of that, and it should be posted sometime in the next two days.
I will be making minor edits and revisions to this story while I write the next, as well. (Ex: more description/ explanation of some things, fixing some typos/ minor grammatical errors, et cetera.) You don't need to reread this entire thing, since none of the plot will be changed. I'll just be fixing some mistakes.
UPDATE: Fixed Chapters 17-21.
Plot of "Flawed Heroes": Hera decides that the Seven heroes need to learn more about each other- specifically, their fatal flaws. So, of course, she unleashes a personification of each of their fatal flaws upon them. Because that's exactly how you learn more about your friends. At least, in the demigod world... -Appearance by Nico!
UPDATE: Nico will have a role to play as well...
Thank you, everyone! *bows*
Calefe out.