#this time with something more sappy ad highly unlikely to happen

[rays-of-fire-and-ice]

Sentinel

Two Weeks of Hitsuhina 2024 - Day 7: Your Courageous Back / This Light I See

Rating: K/General with mild themes and mentions of injuries.

Setting: end of the Thousand Year Blood War arc.

Synopsis: In the immediate aftermath of Yhwach’s defeat, Momo reflects on Toshiro's strength and the lengths he's gone to to obtain it.

AN: I decided to listen to both This Light I See and Momoiro no Hana to see if either gave me an idea for this day, but in the end, they both inspired me, so I’m writing for both themes. And would you look, it’s yet another ‘Momo reacts to Toshiro’s Completed Form’ fic! How original XD In this case, I wanted to take it in a slightly unexpected direction.

This one ended up being a bit of a mess, but hopefully it's an enjoyable one!

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The air is still and silent, but thick with the smell of broken concrete. This isn't what makes Momo raise her head and focus on it. A thrum runs through it, one she and most Shinigami only experience when a battle has come to an end. One that said the battle was over. Sometimes, especially in times like this, that sense can be wrong, that there's another threat lurking beneath that needs to be dealt with.

She's drawn away by the faint coppery scent of dried blood.

She glances at her unconscious captain, checking one of his wounds hadn’t reopened in the last twenty minutes. The fresh bandages she’d wrapped around him are still clean. She brushes the hair that’d fallen across his face to make sure the gash on his forehead and the cut on his cheek hasn’t opened either. It’s of little comfort to discover no blood. She wishes he were awake.

Still, it could be far worse for the two of them. Momo grimaces thinking about the others buried beneath the debris. She can sense their reiatsu, all faint and flickering from injuries.

She turns her gaze to Toshiro. She has to stop herself from doing another double take at the sight of him. He stands a short distance away, back turned, Hyoruinmaru drawn at his side, and somehow a fully grown adult.

She bites the inside of her cheek remembering her initial reaction, how she’d gaped at him after he’d landed in front of her and tried to instruct her move further from the battlefield. The giant Quincy was distracted by Byakuya, and she was caught off guard by the sudden new appearance of his childhood friend; so much so she kept staring at him as he led her to safety and she nearly dropped her captain while carrying him away.

The building he’d taken her to had one side completely caved in while a lone wall remained, facing the battle taking place in the far distance. Until Toshiro had returned, she’d gone between looking around the wall to watch the battle from here and keeping her captain propped up against the wall to continue tending to his injuries.

“Kuchiki is searching the area,” Toshiro had informed her. “He knows I’m here, he’ll come to us when he’s confirmed there’s no further threats.”

“You didn’t want to check with him?” she’d asked. In hindsight, she wonders if she'd sounded ungrateful; it certainly hadn't been her intention.

He hadn’t answered right away. “I checked the area on my way here, it was safe. Aside from you, Kuchiki, and I, there’s no active Shinigami in the immediate area.” He’d gestured to Shinji. “How’s Hirako?”

“He’s all right, I’m almost done healing him.”

He’d turned away. “Keep going then. I’ll keep watch.”

And that’s how it’s been for the past hour. Not another word has been spoken since, and she’d wrapped the last bandage around her captain's arm twenty minutes ago. In all that time she’d wanted ask how he came to be like this, but she’d held back.

She takes stock of herself. The weariness and razor-edged anxiety she knows comes from being in quiet battlefield. The dread in the pit of her stomach is from the war itself, that their enemies had powers beyond anyone’s imagination, and that they were leaving the fate of all the worlds to a Human far too young to be in a battle like this.

The daring hope and meagre relief -- hampered by the other emotions and sensation running through her -- that clamber through her chest is from Toshiro’s survival against the giant Quincy, but it’s paired up with an uneasiness. She wants to chalk it up to his sudden change in appearance – it had been jarring afterall to see him suddenly not look as she’s always known him – but it feels like only a part of the reason.

She checks her captain over one last time before standing up. She winces at the stiffness in her leg, taking a moment to stretch them. Toshiro turns his head a fraction, a corner of his lips and his lashes coming into view. After a beat, he returns his gaze to straight ahead.

Perhaps that’s what bothers her. He hasn’t said a word or looked her way for the past hour. This war might still be going on in other parts of the palace, and there might be battle still to come. They both need to be vigilant until they see or hear otherwise.

Yet, she’s still bothered by his silence and refusal to away from what’s ahead.

Her footsteps scrap along the ground, coming over small bits of rubble and the remains of the tiled floor. He doesn’t give any indication that he’s aware of her approach. Funny, it’s usually him who sneaks up on her.

“Captain Hitsugaya,” she tries, but still he doesn’t move. “Is everything all right?” He must be in deep thought; he has no other reason to not look her way.

The closer she gets, the more he fills her view. There's something about his stance. It’s strong, solid, a typical posture for any alert Shinigami. The uniform he wears is mostly ruined. She notices the patches of dirt and rips in the white fabric and black fur lining. The ice trimming on the ends and encasing his shoulders, forearms, and shins glimmers in the light. Hyourinmaru shines, and she shudders at the freezing waves emanating off the blade and brushing over her.

His back is straight, strong, not a hint of weariness or weakness from injuries. His shoulders at wide, and she suspects they would still look that way even without the ice that encases them.

It all inspires a her a strange confidence - no, reassurance – within her. He’s like a sentinel, watching out for her and Shinji, ready to eliminate any threat that comes their way. This is the strongest she's ever seen him, and judging from how his reiatsu dispurses across the area like a cold wind, it might even be close to his full potential as a Shinigami. Whatever he had done to become like this, she never thought anything would lead to him achieving the milestones of Shinigami before he even graduated, let alone whatever made him turn into an adult.

Caught up in these thoughts, she reaches out and touches a hand to his back. Before he reacts, the jolt of cold racing up her arm makes her realise what she’s done. She expects him to startle and spin around to confront her. She has an apology ready on her lips, but not an explanation.

She blinks when none of that happens. His posture stiffens and he lets out a surprised grunt, even lifts Hyourinmaru a fraction, but he otherwise remains motionless.

“What’re you doing?” he asks without looking back. His bewilderment is evident in his tone, but there’s also a tightness in his voice.

She flinches her hand away, even locking her opposite one around it and bringing it to her chest for good measure. “I, uh – I’m sorry! I don’t know why I did that.”

“…You don’t know why you did it?”

How lame, she thinks. “No, I…”

His head lowers, then turns, enough for her to see his eyes over his shoulder through his bangs. “I wouldn’t do that again without saying something. While I’m like this, I can control what I freeze if it touches me. It might slip if it’s something unexpected.”

That explains the sudden cold. She thinks to step around and speak to him face to face, but again she doesn’t. She stands behind him, his shadow casting off to the side, beside her. “I called out but you obviously didn’t hear me.”

He says nothing, which only makes her the furrow in her brow deepen.

“What is this? Why are you like this?” she finally asks.

He inclines his head away. “It’s Hyourinmaru’s Completed Form, an extension of my bankai.”

She gasps. “You mean this is the next stage of it?”

“Something like that.” He raises Hyourinmaru out to the side, his arm at the level of his shoulder. “I couldn’t fully access Hyourinmaru’s abilities as I am, so I needed to age up into this. form”

A pang runs through her heart. “What?”

His arm slackens, half bringing the blade back to his side. “It’s not permanent, if you’re worried about that.”

“Oh, no, that’s not – even if it were, we’d --” She shakes her head. “I just can’t believe something like this is possible, that’s all." She takes him in from head to toe again. To think something like this could come from Hyourinmaru. "How did you, uh, discover it?"

“It's a result of my training in the caves.”

She remembers those days. After they’d reconciled, she’d learned about his excursions to the caves in the Rukongai, even came to visit him a few times with snacks for him. He never really gave a reason for why he was so focused on training. A Shinigami is expected to train often to maintain or improve on their skills, but she always felt his was excessive during that time.

“It took a lot,” he continues. “To tell you the truth, I don't like it. It feels..." He jerks his head up. "But it’s proven to be essential in this fight. Still, that Quincy showed me I still have much to learn.” His grip on his zanpakuto tightens. “ I’ll get better, until it’s truly perfected.”

Another pang runs through her. This time it shows on her face too. She wonders if he saw her he’d take his words back. “Captain Hirako made me realise everyone has their limits, and that’s okay. We should always aim to get stronger, but there comes a point where we can't go any further."

"I'm not at my limit," he says, adamant. "I know I can still get stronger. Just watch me."

She cringes. Her words were meant to to be a reassurance, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. She lets out a quiet, tremulous sigh. "But you've always been strong, Hitsugaya-kun."

He says nothing. He needs to hear more.

Slowly, her hand returns. Just as she expects, there’s no cold racing up her arm. Something about that relaxes her, makes her lower her guard and lean forward until her forehead presses into his back as well. He doesn't tell her off, doesn't even make a sound.

“You’ve always had to carry so much on your shoulders," she says. "Did you become this strong to carry it all?”

She feels through his back before she hears the hitch of breath. “What’re you saying?”

“Even before you became an unseated officer, you had so much put on to you," she says. "You achieved milestones that most Shinigami don't achieve until they're nearly a century into the role. Some don't even achieve Shikai before their service comes to an end. And there you were, a child with bankai before you were even an unseated officer." She lets out a huff. "It's incredible, you're once in a generation really...but it must have come with a lot, right?"

Still he says nothing, but senses something change in him. It's in the longer breaths in and out, and how his free hand curls into a loose fist.

She doesn't understand why she's bringing this up now of all times. It comes pouring out of her, locked away for decades. She'd watched him afar, seeing him grow and becoming more powerful as the years went on. Many senior figures had high expectations of him, and the whispers among many Shinigami spoke of him as a prodigy, some even going as far as to claim he was a reincarnation of a legendary heavenly guardian that was born into the Soul Society every few centuries.

She hadn't stopped to think about the effect such things would have on him until after Aizen's betrayal. He was always up to the task, to show others he was indeed a prodigy and giving more weight to the reincarnation myth with every milestone he achieved, but that didn't mean he needed to That didn't mean it affected him in other ways. Did it make him feel he needed to be a sentinel for her and the others? To always put himself in harms way to protect everyone?

She thinks back on his training. Why had he trained? She always had her own ideas, but maybe one of them was true. The one where she thought he didn't think he was strong enough. Perhaps some would say he wasn't, but it's not the sort of strength he needs. The one he did need he already has. It's the one that she wished more would recognise in him.

"You’ve been strong for so long," she says softly. "It’s okay to rely on me and others too."

“What?” His head comes over his shoulder. “I know I can. Don't discount your own strength.”

She can’t help but smile. “I know that too, but you often try to do these sort of things by yourself. You don’t want to burden anyone else or you fear they’ll get hurt.” Her grip on on his jacket tightens. “If an enemy shows up, we can fight them together. If you sensed it before too, and the battle here is really over, then...you can rest. You don't have to be like this anymore. I don’t need you to protect Captain Hirako and I right now."

She frowns at the shudder that runs through him. She lists her head upwards, but his face is gone, head bowed. Is he overcome? “Hitsugaya-kun?”

He murmurs something, and she must have misheard. "What is it?"

His shoulder stiffen, as if realising he said something he wasn't meant to. “I’m fine, just…tired.” The hoarseness of his voice says otherwise.

She listens to his heartbeat through his back while be collects himself. Then, to her surprise, he begins to turn. She quickly leans back and comes face to face with him. She would’ve smiled and perhaps even joked she’s not used to having to crane her neck to speak with him, but his gaze stops her short.

It's soft, and his usual frown his gone, replaced by a pained pinch in his brow. His gaze his soft, warm even. She's never seen him so vulnerable, it makes her want to envelope him in a hug. She resist the urge, settling for holding his free hand instead. The gesture makes him swallow and close his eyes.

She isn't blind; he's quite handsome like this. It's him, years into the future in a strange way. She can even feel a faint heat beneath her cheeks with how he gazes at her with such a face. But it's not him as he is now.

She smiles. "I'm here."

That makes him open his eyes again. His lips part, about to speak, when the reiatsu comes to both of their senses. Toshiro snaps to attention, and Momo looks back him. In the far distance, a figure sprints and jumps over the ruins.

"It's Captain Kuchiki," she says.

When she looks back to Toshiro, that softened look is mostly gone. There's remnants of it in his eyes, like the glowing embers of a dying campfire.

"Thank you, Hinamori," he says hoarsely, before turning away from her. Her smile remains, albeit a bit diminished. She'd hoped to speak with him more, to hear what he had to sya just now. Maybe he'll tell her later.

For now, watching him take several steps ahead to meeting Byakuya, she remembers what she thought he's murmured earlier. She keeps telling herself she misheard, and yet, her heart hopes for the opposite.

It's always been for you.

[winryofresembool]

Caleo one-shot: Back in Waystation

Warning: Tower of Nero spoilers! Do not read past this point if you don’t want to know anything that happens in the book!

Summary: Calypso returns from the band camp and she and Leo finally sort some things out (Post ToN).

A/N: Here’s the 'fix it' fic I promised. Like I said in one of the author's notes of TWLitF, I feel like Rick did these two very dirty in ToA, especially in the end when he left things so open ended. It would have been better for both characters if he had made them, you know, deal with their issues. I know this fic ended up being very sappy but it was something I myself would have liked to read so... I hope you guys enjoy it too.

Also, since this fic has taken a lot of my writing time for the past 2ish weeks, I'm not going to post a new chapter for TWLitF tomorrow. But worry not because I am hoping to post normally again next Thursday! Stay tuned!

Don't forget to let me know what you think of this fic!

Words: 4100+

genre: fluff, slight hurt/comfort (you know, the usual)

warnings: none

AO3

...

It was already late August. The weather had started getting slightly cooler in Indianapolis and people were getting prepared to go back to work and school after the summer vacation. Even Leo was preparing for the start of the new high school year; he had finished his community service teaching the homeless kids shop skills a week before and gone to buy some supplies for the school year. Now all that was left to do was waiting.

If the young demigod was totally honest to himself, he was getting a bit antsy. His girlfriend had been gone for pretty much the whole summer, counseling at a band camp and not telling him when exactly she would be back. If ever. Leo was worried that she’d meet someone way cooler than him at the camp and just leave some message that he shouldn’t be expecting her to return.

Before she had left, things had been complicated between them; they had been arguing quite a lot and Leo hadn’t exactly been his usual self after returning from his trip to California. He had found out about the death of his best friend Jason and accompanied the heartbroken Piper to her new home before flying back to Waystation where the information about Jason had fully sunk in. Unlike Leo himself, Jason would never be back.

Calypso had never known the son of Jupiter and she didn’t know how strongly his death had affected those who had known him. That’s why Leo felt like he couldn’t show his mourning to her and for a few weeks after his return he had been pretty withdrawn. Instead of going back to school with Calypso he had been tinkering in Jo’s workshop until Jo had dragged him out of there and forced him to take care of himself, to eat, to shower and so on. She had also been the one to suggest the community service for Leo, and after considering it he had finally decided it could be a good idea. Having something to do that forced Leo to leave the house had a positive impact on him and even though he still missed Jason, he also knew that Jason would be mad if he didn’t try to move forward, so he did. That led to Leo’s current issue, Calypso. He wished he would have had an opportunity to talk with her properly before she had left….

Loud clanking pulled Leo back from his thoughts. He was in the workshop again, this time with Jo and Georgie, trying to fix a part of Festus’ wing that had broken when one of Leo’s homeless pupils had accidentally thrown something at it, not knowing Festus was there. Jo was instructing Georgie with something that looked way too dangerous in the hands of a 7-year-old but Leo knew from experience that since she was a demigod (suspected to be Apollo’s daughter), she would have to learn to fight sooner rather than later. Waystation may have been a safe haven for demigods but Georgina wouldn’t be able to hide from the monsters forever.

Leo was going to ask Jo’s opinion on how to make the wing part more durable when the workshop door opened. Expecting it to be just Emmie who would tell them the dinner was ready, he didn’t even turn to look at the newcomer. But soon he felt weird tingling on his skin that had absolutely nothing to do with Emmie as he smelled the very familiar cinnamon scent and realized that the steps were lighter than the older woman’s.

“Hi,” he heard a soft voice say and he finally turned around to see his girlfriend standing right behind him. She was smiling at him, although slightly awkwardly, probably as unsure about their situation as he was. A hundred different emotions rushed through Leo as he took her in; happiness, nervousness, uncertainty… and how had he forgotten she was so damn pretty? When he didn’t say anything for a moment, she tilted her head slightly, looking at him expectantly. Finally the gears started moving again in Leo’s head and he spread his arms, leaping into a hug.

“You late, Sunshine,” he mumbled against her shoulder as he tightened his arms around her. Calypso recognized the reference to what she herself had said back on Ogygia and couldn’t stop her smile from widening a bit as she responded to Leo’s hug. He probably would have kissed her on the mouth too but Jo and Georgina’s presence made Leo a bit self conscious about showing affection and he ended up kissing her cheek instead. “Missed ya,” he whispered after that.

Eventually the couple pulled away from the hug. Calypso greeted the other two people in the room and turned her attention back to Leo again.

“So, I’m Sunshine now again? No more Mamacita?” Her tone was suspicious but Leo could tell that she was actually happy about the change.

“Yeah,” Leo shrugged. “Reyna had quite a talk with me about how ladies should be addressed and apparently Mamacita isn’t an appropriate way to do that,” he said sheepishly.

Calypso cocked her eyebrow a bit at that piece of information. Even though she hadn’t met Reyna personally because she had left for her band camp before Reyna and the other hunters of Artemis had visited Waystation, she did remember hearing the name before. “Reyna? Isn’t she that girl who you saw in that vision back on Ogygia? The one with dark hair and…”

“Yes, that’s her,” Leo said cautiously. “She’s a Hunter now so she and her group visit here pretty often.” Before Calypso had time to say anything to that, he added: “She’s acting like a sister figure towards me and she’s scolded me a lot for… well, a lot of things.” He decided to not reveal that a lot of their talks had revolved around Calypso.

Calypso’s expression softened at his comment. “I’m glad someone has been keeping you in check while I was gone. Maybe I should let her do that more often.”

Worry flashed briefly in Leo’s eyes because he thought she was implying that she would be leaving Waystation so she decided to calm him down. “Relax, Repair Boy. I didn’t mean it that way. I wanted to stay here with you and that hasn’t changed. Besides, high school is pretty great, you know? I want to get through that. But, um… I’ve been thinking. About what was going on between us before I left.”

“Oh? Yeah, me too,” Leo replied, combing his messy hair with his hand.

Suddenly they remembered that there were two extra pairs of ears in the room listening to them, ending the conversation there.

“Ahem,” Jo cleared her throat, understanding the situation all too well. “Leo, how about you take Calypso’s bag into her room? I can see the wing meanwhile. I promise Festus will be better than new soon.” “Sure, I can do that, mom,” Leo said with slight reservation in his voice.

Calypso gave Jo a thankful look, exchanging a couple of words with her and Georgina before pulling Leo out of the workshop.

The two occupied the room Calypso used to sleep in before the band camp. Leo didn’t hang out there that often, but he was reminded of one particular time earlier that spring when he had been there. That night Calypso had had some nightmares and she had found out Leo was awake as well. They had stayed up talking for a long while in Calypso’s room until falling asleep next to each other. Even though they had been fully clothed when Emmie had come to wake Calypso up for some morning gardening (Leo felt like bursting into flames even at the thought of having done something that involved taking their clothes off. It wasn’t that he had never thought of it - he was a 17-year-old boy who was very much in love with his girlfriend after all - but he didn’t think they were quite there yet. And he highly doubted that Calypso would appreciate him even requesting that), the mother hens of Waystation had still pulled them apart and had some very embarrassing talks with them. Comparing it to the time when Percy and Annabeth had fallen asleep at the stables of Argo II, Leo felt like those two had gotten off easy.

“So… How was the camp?” Leo started awkwardly after setting Calypso’s bag down in her room, snapping out of his memories.

“It was good,” Calypso said simply, sitting down on her couch, Leo following her. “I am impressed by how talented these kids with no special powers can be.”

“Don’t underestimate the regular mortals,” Leo noted. “In my homeless kid group there were a few that were really good at the shop skills even though I’m pretty certain they couldn’t see Festus.”

“What do you mean with that?” Calypso asked. Before she had left for her camp, she had heard about Leo’s plans for the community service, but what she didn’t know was that Leo had used Festus as the place to teach the kids. Leo explained the situation to her.

“But isn’t that kind of risky?” she wanted to know then. “I mean, I know he’s your friend, and all, but what if he had accidentally started blowing fire at them or something?”

“C’mon, of course I had safety precautions for that,” Leo protested. “I may be an idiot but I do know my way around mechanical dragons.”

“Right. Of course.” Calypso said. Before their break she might have started a debate about Leo’s safety precautions but given the circumstances she decided that it would be better to not question it. A silence fell between the two as both wondered how to approach the topics they really wanted to talk about.

“So how have you been doing, really?” they asked almost simultaneously.

“Um, you go first,” Leo said, attempting to be polite.

“Like I said, I did enjoy the camp,” Calypso answered, getting a dreamy look on her face. “It’s… still so fascinating to me to see how the regular mortals – I guess I’m one of them now – live, having no idea what’s going on behind their backs… And I learned a lot of things about modern music that Apollo didn’t teach me. I know how to play the guitar now! But…” she hesitated a bit. “What about you?”

Leo got a strong feeling that she was actually going to say something else after that ‘but’. Her face told him that she was debating in her mind about something. Maybe she was even going to say she had missed him? But instead of asking about that, he answered Calypso's question.

“Decent, I guess, all things considered… Who would have thought that I enjoy teaching? But I guess it helped me that I could relate to those kids’ situations… and it’s kept me distracted from what happened with Jason…” He was looking down at his hands, hoping it would manage to keep him calm enough.

“Yeah…” Calypso seemed to be thinking about something for a while. Eventually she asked: “Hey, would you like to tell me more about him? I mean, what was he like?”

Leo was surprised by the request but he did what he was told to do.

“Jason… He always put the others’ happiness before his own. On the day we met, Piper was about to fall in a canyon but he jumped after her without knowing that he could fly. Crazy, I know, but that’s the kind of guy he was” He noticed that even though it hurt, he was now able to smile at the memory.

“I don’t remember if I’ve told this to you but Hera had messed with his memory; he didn’t remember almost anything about his past, but I think he took it all like a boss. If I had been in his boots I would have probably punched her in the face. Jason also accepted me as his friend even though…” Leo’s lip started trembling but he bit it and managed to continue: “Even though I had never had real friends before Piper and Jason and didn’t really know how to act around other people. That’s why the jokes. He was probably everything I wished I was - strong, smart, etc. - but never made a big deal out of it. He was so humble. After what happened with Dirt Face he probably thought he’d get to live a normal life and be a regular high school student, but...

“The Triumvirate…” Calypso said for him, having heard that part of the story before.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded sadly. “From what I’ve heard, Jason knew he would have to die in order to let Piper and the others survive and Apollo to succeed in his mission. He wasn’t like me, though. I hadn’t really accepted death when I decided to sacrifice myself against Potty Sludge so I used the Physician’s Cure. Jason, though… he had accepted his fate and he died knowing that Apollo would make things right. I’ve heard from Apollo that his last wishes were that no minor god would be forgotten again, and that Apollo would remember what it was like to be a human even after he becomes a god again. And to me it seems Apollo is holding to that promise. I know things won’t probably ever be perfect for us, but… if even one god is on our side… I feel like some things might improve at least for the next generation of demigods and… Jason didn’t die in vain.” He sighed, fiddling with his hands like always when he was dealing with difficult topics.

“So you think that Jason was the reason why Apollo was able to change?” Calypso asked.

“No, probably not the only reason, but… a reason nevertheless.” Leo said absentmindedly.

“Jason and you were willing to die for your cases. Sometimes I wonder… if giving up my immortality was the right choice, but hearing these stories makes me feel more peace with it. Life is short when you are a mortal and that’s why we should live it the fullest every day… and that’s why…” Calypso leaned towards Leo until their lips touched. It was a short and gentle kiss but it made Leo flustered and worried he might accidentally burn something.

“W-what was that for?” he stuttered when they broke apart.

“Stupid. You thought I found some hot clarinet guys from the camp and forgot about you?”

“You still… love me?” Leo asked in return. Even though he technically knew it (how else would he have gotten out of Ogygia in the first place?), it wasn’t something Calypso said aloud often and especially after the events of the past couple of months Leo had had a lot of doubt in his mind. Hearing it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt a smile spread on his face automatically.

“We may argue sometimes and you may be kind of insufferable when you’re in that mood but after taking some time to think I recognize that I am at fault too for the issues we’ve had and I am willing to admit that. Sometimes I’ve blamed you for things that were not your fault and I’m sorry about that. Besides, I see that you have learned a thing or two while I was gone. Not calling me Mamacita is a good start. So, yes, Leo Valdez. Se filo.

Even though Leo hadn’t spent a lot of time learning Ancient Greek at Camp Half-Blood, he still knew what Calypso’s line meant. His heart suddenly feeling full, he had to admit that the line felt more powerful when said in your first language. But there was a language even more near and dear to him than Spanish; one that his mother had taught him when he had been very young, one that he had repeated countless and countless times when missing her. During their flight from Ogygia back to the States he had taught a certain rhythm to Calypso so she knew the meaning too. When he started tapping against the back of her hand, a small sniffle came out of Calypso’s mouth.

“You haven’t done that in a long while,” she said quietly, her voice slightly cracked. “Gods, I feel I’ve been pretty selfish lately… All this time I have been thinking about my own struggles and have forgotten you have your own… yet your feelings towards me haven’t changed… You know, Apollo was right to get mad at me that one time.”

“What?” Leo asked, not understanding what Calypso was talking about.

“When we were on our way to that zoo…” she referred to the time when they had just arrived at Waystation. “Oh, never mind. What matters is that I see more clearly now. I’m not sure if I’m much better than those men who left me in Ogygia.”

“Of course you are!” Leo exclaimed. “You were stuck there for thousands of years! I… can’t even imagine… being forced to fall in love that many times and having to watch all of them go… I would have gone nuts. Thinking about it, I find it crazy that you didn’t just throw me out of your island. You deserved something better.”

“Leo…” Calypso said, turning his face towards her gently. “I think the fact that you weren’t exactly the type of hero that I was hoping for back then was the reason why things ended up going differently with you. I did not fall for you because of the curse. I fell for you despite that. And… after spending so much time together without having any time off from each other, I… started taking things for granted and forgot to be grateful. I owe you a lot. But I want to make it clear that that’s not why I want to be with you. I want to be with you for you. Sarcasm and bad puns included. And that’s what I remembered while I was gone.”

“Hey, Cal…” Leo removed Calypso’s hand from his jaw and took it into his. “I think we’ve both been faulty for these issues. The others here have made me realize that I haven’t exactly been the best boyfriend material either. I don’t talk about my issues. I make jokes at moments when I shouldn’t and probably make you think I don’t take our relationship seriously. Like that one time when I compared it to machines. I… I think I can see now why that annoyed you but that’s just how I roll. A machine geek and a clown. Those will probably always be a part of who I am so I’m not gonna promise that I’m just gonna magically change. But what I can promise is that I will try to make you see that I do take this seriously. Because I do.”

Calypso gave him a small, genuine smile and squeezed Leo’s hand slightly.

“I believe you. And… maybe we’re just one of those couples who enjoy bickering. What’s a life without challenge?”

Leo chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t have said it better myself, Sunshine.”

“I haven’t given my permission for the nickname ‘Sunshine’…” Calypso gave Leo a pointed look, which however quickly melted into a mischievous smile. “But we’ll see about that. More seriously speaking, though… I should try to keep my temper in check more as well. That doesn’t mean that I won’t call you out, though, when you deserve it.” She nudged him playfully.

“That’s fair enough,” Leo admitted too, giving her a lopsided smile.

“Yeah… Listen,” Calypso said suddenly. “In case you still doubt my commitment… I have something to show you.”

She went to her desk and took some papers out of the drawer.

“Here. Something I found on Ogygia after you left. Thought you might want to see it again.”

Leo took a closer look at the drawings and his mouth opened in surprise.

“You… these…” he said, dumbfounded.

“I just made Leo Valdez quiet? Miracles do happen.” Calypso teased but then turned her focus on the papers as well. It was a blueprint of a garage building Leo had drawn while stuck on Ogygia with Calypso. Besides Leo’s own workshop, there was a space for Calypso to do her work as well. For something that had been sketched in only a few hours, it seemed that he had still put a lot of thought into it. Even Annabeth Chase would have been proud of it.

“I… I wasn’t expecting to see these anymore,” Leo said with a hoarse voice, his eyes gleaming in the dim light of the room.

“But it was something you dreamed about, right?” Calypso asked, worried she had done something wrong.

“Yeah… still do.” Leo nodded, the papers shaking in his hands. “I didn’t think you’d remember…”

“I remember a lot more than you think I do,” Calypso said. “I used to be a titaness, remember? But… when I saw it I knew it was important to you and I kept it because it was my way to hold onto the hope that…” She swallowed. “That you would come back to me.”

Leo leaned in to give Calypso a kiss on her forehead. “And I did. Hey, wanna hear a secret? I took something from Ogygia to guide me back there. I think I still have it…”

He started fiddling with his toolbelt for a while before he found what he was looking for. It was a tiny piece of crystal from Calypso’s old cave.

“It was thanks to this that I got the astrolabe to work and managed to find back… You can have it.”

“But I…”

“It has done its job. It brought me to you. So, who is more suitable to carry it?”

“Thank you.” Calypso looked at the crystal with teary eyes. “It… may have been my prison but it was also a home… This… means a lot to me.”

“I hope it’ll remind you of the good things you experienced there. Not the bad," Leo said quietly.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, it… it will.”

“Good.”

Calypso leaned against Leo’s chest to calm herself down, getting his shirt wet but he didn’t complain. She didn’t move from there for a long time, and Leo was starting to get a bit worried before she finally lifted her head and swiped her nose on a tissue Leo dug for her from his toolbelt. Then she looked at him with her puffy eyes, somehow still looking good in Leo’s opinion.

“I don’t know what just happened there…” She mumbled. “I guess… this whole past year… or more… has been a lot. Yet I haven’t been able to cry even once… Somehow it just all flooded out of me now.” “’s OK.” Leo said, stroking Calypso’s long hair. “Trust me, I’ve been feeling that way… well, probably since I was 8.”

“When your mom…”

“Yeah,” Leo nodded. “But wanna hear a weird thing? Even though things haven’t exactly been easy for us… Right now I’m feeling more balanced than in a long time.”

“And why is that?” Calypso asked.

“This is gonna sound cheesy as hell but I think it’s because I’ve finally found a home. No, I don’t mean Waystation as a place, although I admit it’s cool as heck and the only place about as safe as Camp Half-Blood. But I mean the people here. You guys make it home.”

Even though Leo didn’t say it aloud, his eyes told Calypso that he wanted to say ‘especially you’. She understood.

“I think… I feel the same way,” she said.

Leo brushed a strand of her hair aside from her face and leaned in to kiss her. The gesture made Calypso happy because so far Leo hadn’t been the one to initiate the more romantic displays of affection, even though she sometimes wished he would. It might have been a bit sloppy, but neither minded, just enjoying the warmth of the kiss.

After they finally separated, they continued talking for a long time, occasionally bickering, but it cleared the air between them. Calypso wanted to teach Leo to play the guitar (“But what if it makes me too irresistible? You’ll have to drive all the ladies away!” “You have a bit too high expectations on yourself, Leonidas.”). Leo told her about his pupils’ and Georgina’s most recent shenanigans. They also ended up speculating about Apollo’s plans now that he was a god again and reminiscing the times on Ogygia. At some point Leo dug the Valdezinator from his toolbelt and got Calypso to sing along to the music, making both a bit emotional again but in a good way. They fell asleep huddled in each other’s arms on the couch and didn’t even care when Jo and Emmie found them there the next morning, giving them quite a scolding again.

[captain-ed-tucker]

The True Maniac

You are the chosen one, they say. You are meant to be the savior of the world, they say. All those words, they are my company every day, day after day, they follow me, stalk me, haunt me everyday of my life, it's almost insane. Wait...it IS  insane. Funny you should say that really cause ya know, I knew this gal the other day who had a hot ass and gosh she was cute and I could go on and on...oh...oops...I went on one of my rants again. I'm sorry. I'm rude. I should start again. My name is Johnny Lawrence and you are probably one of the voices and people that come through my head each and every day, you all keep me company, it's kinda sweet, but in a creepy way. But I'm the step son of Sid Weinburg, he's the CEO of Texaco and Time Warner, yes, that guy on TV that asks you for more subscriptions, that creepy greasy guy is my step dad, funny you should ask why the bloody hell am I related to that guy in the first place. Ah, it's a long story really, I hope you have patience cause I'm probably gonna ramble and ramble and go off on maniac induced episodes where my thoughts might not connect with my words and my stories may seem more fantastical than usual, it's all up to you to whether to believe me or not, I don't care if you don't, nobody has believed me in a long while.

You still here? Wow. I'm suprised, most voices and people tend to go away after awhile, you are creepy as hell, after my imaginary dead brother York, who by the way never existed, nor was ever born. I hope for the sake of my story, no York was ever born in San Francisco, it's highly unlikely, but hey, you never know.

Oh and by the way, I lost my girlfriend becuase of a BLIP, lost my title for the All Valley Championship cause I was concussed and dizzy and hallucinating, only to be fucking crane kicked in the face. But hey, at least I have a job as a Rad Tech and am living on my own, so ha! You can't call me a basement dweller since I live in a apartment all by myself overlooking the ocean and ninety percent of the time, I see tourists hanging out there taking selfies and making out like it is some sort of lover's nest. Ugh, I guess I get what I pay for...literally...I got this place on the cheap side with the help of AdBuddy since I could barely afford it on my own and rent is fucking up my savings, like C'mon, stop fucking me up here damn it! And not to mention the fact that my REAL step brother's trial Ryan Weinberg, who has been accused of sexual harassment at the workplace and I was named as a witness, my step dad wants me to lie on the stand...can I do that? I mean... that just feels so wrong, very wrong. Tell me I'm not the only one that I'm feeling this way, cause I have no idea what to do next.

Oh...great Jed is here, wait just a minute while I talk to him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh Johnny, just here to deliver your latest mission, the details will be soon revealed as you go."

"Don't you think this is not the right time?"

"Oh but it is."

"Oh and by the way, you will have a handler, she has a certain Jai sais ne qoui about her. You will know her when you see her...DON'T FUCK THIS UP!"

Okay...now Jed has left and I'm still stuck with you. You have this intense, scruffy look about you...I can tell you really are a curious person, you aren't like the others before...that's interesting. Most have tried to change me, give me orders or tell me that I'm chosen or some bullshit...some of those days I'm convinced of that bullshit and actually believing it, the scariest part is not hearing a lie, it's believing the lie and perpetuating the lie. I get up and head to my apartment and flick all my pills that are there to "fix" me...you can't fix what is broken and I am broken.

I also find the package for Neberdine Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology. Odd...they never send me anything, I haven't even heard of them at all. It is scary and creepy though, I wonder if the FBI is watching me, I might close the curtains and I should...you think I could be watched...right? I...I feel like everything has eyes and cameras and ears and mics and all the tech in the world to enhance interrogate me before I have a chance to defend myself...wait...the phone is ringing...I have to pick it up, just wait here ok?

"He...hello? Who is this?"

"This is Neberdine Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology research institute inc. Speaking, we are here to speak to you becuase you have been chosen as a "Hero" Candidate"

"Well...what DOES a hero candidate do?"

"Well we have them do experiments that others normally do not do and we treat all sorts of problems, including prostate problems"

"Popcorn problems?"

"Yes popcorn problems."

"Thank you...I'll consider it."

I hang up the phone in utter confusion and now you are looking at me like I'm an idiot! STOP STARING AT ME JOHN KREESE! STOP!

END OF PART ONE

I get up and, oh...fuck, you are there again, well done you asshole, you are still with me. Oh well, I don't have time to yell and holler at you, I have to get ready and go to work and then head over to my parents house, my brother is celebrating his engagement to Adelade and they are going to announce a wedding date and it all is amongst this scandal of his sexual harassment of a clerk. I have no ideas what I feel or where I stand anymore.

Work is a boring affair as you can tell, you're already doing your kiyakis and forward thrust punches and I'm busy as hell scanning patients and I have lots of paperwork, not to mention the decontamination process I have to go through every day just for health purposes so I'm not literally emitting X Rays by the time I leave the hospital.

Getting rides on the tube to my parent's mansion is very expensive for now since my budget has been tightened becuase I went on a mania induced spending spree and I racked up so many charges and fees from gambling with the furries and casinos are never happy to see me, I never understood why that was the case.

Regardless, I have to call on an AdBuddy and he soon comes over and inserts funds into my account, but in exchange, I have to view a bunch of ads that are read aloud by the AdBuddy and one of them is about Neberdine Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology. Neberdine is everywhere...the pattern is the pattern, there is a larger force at work here and I'm sure of it. I know it, I can feel it at work, it's a bit mysterious to others, but not me, I'm the only one who understands how this works at all.

I can see you have cleaned up real nicely for the occasion and I thank you for that, I have to admit Sensei, you really look handsome in a suit, it really suits you...get it? Hahaha! Oh...I see you don't get the joke? Oh...ok, oh well then. I then go in and hand my coat to the butler and head up the stairs through the foyer and then meet my parents, my step mom and my step dad, both are looking regal tonight since their oldest firstborn is celebrating his engagement again since my "Incident". I hate to admit it but the nieces and nephews are the only reason I even bother show up to family functions at all, I hate this fake, plastic family filled with Barbies and Ken's, I want something more than this Kreese...but what is it I want?

Soon my brother Ryan is busy singing and wooing Adelade and she's smiling and tearing up and all that sappy shit, I wonder if she's marrying him for the money, I would hate for that to happen to Ryan, I had my own experience with Ali Mills and it didn't end well at all.

Soon the adults want to play balderdash but honestly, I feel suffocated and I wanted out of here as soon as possible, the fakeness was getting to me and I can hear them begging me

"Aw cmon! You used to love balderdash"

"Balderdash is fun!"

"Really? What's wrong, play with us!"

"Please play with us! Just one round! I promise!"

At that, I just can't stand it anymore, there is a roaring fury in me that explodes and I yell at the top of my lungs

"BALDERDASH IS STUPID! IT'S BULLSHIT!"

One of my nieces burst out in tears and I can only look on in guilt as as my other brother Andrew glares at me angrily, great...another brother that hates me...fun. I storm out and I see you following me, why do you follow me? Leave me alone, just let me get a smoke, at that moment I can see one of the dog shit cleaners whirr by, it's a small machine the height of my ankle and it sucks in the shit and sprays the sidewalk clean and I walk past and go home...I have to do this, this is everything I will do, to sign up for the trial and to cast you out for good, you had a great run but you need to fuck off.

I arrive at a grey concrete bulding with narrow Rainbow stripes running up the side and I can see the sign of the bulding is in Japanese and I enter and a Japanese woman coldly greets me and hands me a clipboard filled with paperwork, judging on the amount I have, I'm gonna be here a long time just filling out papers. Fuck my life. Another guy next to me adds "Ooo five bombs eh? See that? That's where the money comes from." Sure enough, there are five bomb logos printed on it and I add

"Is it safe?"

"Hell no! The more dangerous, the more money! That is usually how it goes."

I look down at the form and then sign it and turn it in and the intercom says

"Johnny Lawrence to intake exam room four"

The Asian woman bows before me and I bow back and I sit down in the chair, I'm apparently going to be strapped to a lie detector machine. The blood pressure cuff is slipped on my arm and a pulse ox device is placed on my finger and a galvanic skin response device is placed across my chest, she then asks me to tell her how I feel when I see a series of photos. I can hear the clicking of the machine as the metal needles move up and down the paper, leaving trails of red, recording my reactions and my responses and she starts with the first photo which is a bottle of pills and I reply

"Poisoned"

The next picture is of a family, sitting around a table and enjoying a meal and I reply

"Suffocated"

I then see a ink blot and I reply

"Confused."

The test goes on and soon she says "I want you to turn your attention towards me as I ask you this final question." And I look up into her expressionless eyes and I hear a ding and the green light next to me lights up and she said "Congratulations, you have passed the test, you are now in the ULP Phase III trial." She bowed at me and I bowed one last time and I left the exam room, perplexed at what was the final question. I sit down, holding my badge that is labeled with the number 1 on it and as I look up, I see a man I never thought I would ever see again in the flesh, Daniel LaRusso and he is yelling at a test protocor screaming "This is bullshit and you know it! PATRICIA LUGO!" And he storms off after the woman that handed me the clipboard, I don't know what does he want with her but FUCKK!!! HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! DAMMIT!

End of part Two

I get up for the day and I stretch the kinks and massage my knee, fuck, that knee has been giving me so much chronic pain for so long, I have resorted to opiates to at least bring the edge down, it doesn't help much with my life, I don't have a job becuase I'm labeled a "Drug addict."

I'm a drug addict for trying to relive chronic, never ending pain from the shattered knee, it's the same knee that suffered a devastating injury at the tournament and yet I managed to defeat Lawrence, Chozen worsened the injury and when I worked in construction, an accident shattered the knee and now I have to put it in a brace so it doesn't cave in on the weight that I put on my knee.

I slip on the brace and grab a stack of magazines and some cash and walk to the nearby store and ask for some cigarettes, the clerk asks me how I am going to pay and I snap

"I'm gonna pay with an AdBuddy."

"No AdBuddy payments accepted here."

I groan and pull out what little change I have and I slam it on the countertop and then he hands me my cigars and I light them, soon I feel a bliss sink over me as I limp back to the shared apartment I have with the others and I run to my room...I NEED THAT PILL! I want to suffer in a way that my knee can never give me suffering, this is the suffering that makes me scream and want to tear out my soul and I have begged for death so many times, but really, I am alone.

San Francisco is a boring as hell city, I moved here when my mom died seven years ago, I gave up hoping for healing, my opioids and my cigarettes were all I ever needed now a days. I swipe the drawer open and open the bottle. The pill is shaped in the letter "A" and I sigh, this is my last pill. I say

"This is it, you are my last pill, then it's fuck you forever."

I then sit on the couch in the cramped and messy living room and I grab the remote control and mash the pill up and snort it all up and gosh...I'm in it.

I wake up hours later, I'm in tears yes, but I am alive, this pain reminds me that I am alive, that I am breathing and that I am fighting, that I'm still awake and that I'm still ok. But I have to pay someone a visit, someone I haven't visited in forever, someone that I haven't spoken to in forever.

I then go to my wallet and yell at my roommate

"Who stole my money?"

"Well you haven't paid your share of the rent in two months!"

"MAYBE IT'S BECUASE I HAVE CHRONIC PAIN AND I CAN'T WORK! I'M ON DISABILITY!"

Oh wow...way to go you son of a bitch, you had to screw that up. Well then, let's try another tactic, the puppy brown eyes and some pleasing.

"Well can I at least have twenty bucks?"

"Well then, fine take some. Calm down junkie!"

Oh Fuck you bitch, like you had your knee kicked in and your knee crushed by some careless truck driver who was high on No-Doze to realize you were nearly under the fucking truck.

I snatch the bill from her hand and I go to my cousin Louie's home, as usual, he is in his A-Void pod, that antisocial idiot hates everybody, well I need his money and I need it now, I'm a man on a mission and nothing is going to stop me. One problem, he changed the combination to the safe and I grunt and I head out to the backyard and i find the pod and press the button and say

"Hey Cousin? How are you?"

A mechanical click and then he replies

"Fine."

I snort

"Your yard looks like a fucking mess."

And it literally is a fucking mess.

"Oh um...what's the combination to the safe."

Another click and a whirr and he replies

"I changed the combination to the safe."

"Thanks for the information Captain Obvious. So what is it?"

"Your birthday."

Really? Fuck you.

"I brought you something to eat."

"Applejacks?"

"Yea."

I slam the cereal on the table top in the dining room which looks like it has seen better days, I step over rubbish and junk from the good old days and I then enter the combination and then I grab the money and then leave, funny how my cousin used to be married until his wife was shot to death while coming back to work, I guess in a way, he can't move on from his loss like I can't move on from mine.

I stand at the bus station, ready to buy the bus ticket to Newark, but as soon as I want to enter the bus station, I want the A pill, I want it so badly, I can't resist the urge and I mutter a "Fuck you" and run off. I'm so ashamed and angry, I am weak and pathetic, that's all I'll ever be.

I approach my friend Kamreon who is playing chess with a foul mouthed furrie and the man is winning and Kameron is my source of these pills, I know that he can get me to them, I know so. I approach him and I ask

"I need more A pills."

"I can't, these pills are really hard to procure! These are from my dad's work!"

"Then how do I get into Neberdine?"

"Sign up for a study, help my dad make millions, for all I know, you could be testing deodorant for a week."

Fuck no, I am NOT going that route, to just end up testing deodorant, no way!

"Gimme a name Kameron! Any name!"

I slide over a one hundred dollar bill and he sighs and gives in before replying

"Patricia Lugo, and can I say something as your friend?"

"Yeah?"

"You sound like a junkie."

I roll my eyes and reply

"I am NOT a junkie!"

And I run off to a store that can dox that woman and give me something to work with.

End of part three

I soon arrive at the doxxing shop and a bored Asian man looks up at me and asks

"What can I do?"

I look to the side before scribbling onto a notepad and hold it up to the Plexar glass barrier and the unamused looking man adds

"Can't read your shit writing."

I roll my eyes before adding

"Lugo. Patricia Lugo of Neberdine Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology."

A few clicks of the keyboard later and a click of a mouse and he continues

"Patricia Lugo was arrested for disorderly conduct and public intoxication, had her arrest records wiped by ZipDox in order to get the job at Neberdine. But, ZipDox's records can be easily unscrubbed and that's why I call ZipDox, ShitDox. If you want more, you gotta pay us more than she paid ShitDox to get her records scrubbed. I'll say...500 dollars, and you get a free calendar as a frequent customer."

I sigh and slip the Bill's under the glass partition and he hands the calendar over and then adds further

"Patricia Lugo lost custody of her daughter Usnavy after the arrest and her daughter goes to Hunter College. I could have her daughter kidnapped, I know a few guys with a white van."

I shake my head, I don't want anybody hurt, that's the last thing I want, for anybody to get hurt in my search, my quest for the A pill. Nobody should get caught up in my quest for me to drown myself in self-misery and self-pity. He then adds

"It also says she has a FriendProxy appointment at the Bonsai Gardens."

"I'll be there."

"Ooo interception. Sneaky I see."

He smiles snidely and I pay up and leave and then I cancel her FriendProxy appointment and get a lapel pin with a FriendProxy logo on it and then I stride over to the gardens, they remind me again of someone I lost, someone I cared about, someone who meant so much to me in a fatherly way, the bonsai trees remind of him so much, it is really painful, and suddenly, she comes over and embraces me, breaking me from my thoughts and she says without a second thought.

"Remember when we met here? At this same place?"

"Oh yeah...oh yeah, all the beautiful Bonsai trees. They remind me of so much."

"I wonder what are you talking about? I was talking about the moment we met? Remember when we also went to Chinatown and we went over the Golden Gate Bridge?"

"Oh yeah, and I remember when we went to see my uncle Liam."

"Now who the fuck is Uncle Liam?"

That question brings my thoughts to a screeching halt as she continues:

"Honey? Are you ok? What are your ratings? You do not seem compatible at all."

I'm fucking pissed off, I'm not compatible with anyone and to hell with that bullshit talking lady! All she seems to do is yammer off on a tangent that I sure as hell do not talk about. Before I can stop myself, I cut her off and say:

"Listen up, I'm here to fuck your life up, I canceled your FriendProxy appointment and I'm here to ruin you forever."

She is taken aback and shocked, she seemed a bit stunned by what I was saying and I'm not sure how to react to that as she slowly digests the information and she adds

"What are you talking about."

And what am I talking about? I haven't a fucking clue at all. Perhaps it's the drugs or the energy that's fizzling out but I feel so ashamed and embarrassed, I have no idea how the hell am I supposed to get her to funnel me at all, I quickly walk away to a hall overlooking a pond where koi fish swim around and I see her again and she says

"You know, you remind me of my daughter. She's just like you. Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are so you desperate to join Neberdine?"