LovelyAstorxia- aw they remind me of grover and percy too! and awh thank you that's so sweet! if you end up drawing something pls show me i'd love to see it! and i would love to give you guys the continuation you deserve, esp after this chapter. it may be a while, but rest assured i will be back :)

all about hope- haha if i write a continuation percy will definitely pop up!

radoddish- u know, casually rising from the dead...

guest- aw thank you so much! i appreciate you following this story, u have no idea

AyeraeW- i totally get that! calypso's not my fav character but not my least fav u know what i mean

the title of this chapter is inspired by the song 'long way home' by tom waits...it's pretty fitting imo :)

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

Yeah, those were never good words to hear. Leo winced, rolling off whatever had broken his fall.

Oops- it looked like a dining table had broken his fall, and based off the girl's expression- that was not a good thing.

The girl scowled down at him. The sun was too bright, drowning out the features of her face.

"If someone is going to break my table, I'd at least expect it to be the right person! Oh, this figures-" The girl finally took a breath from her scary, angry tangent, cursing under her breath. Leo saw her head thrown up towards the sky. "You had one job!"

"Uh, excuse me?" He called out, holding a hand to block out the sun.

The girl turned back to him, and he noticed two things: 1) she was very pretty and 2) she looked like she wanted to murder him.

"You!" She said with an angry stomp of her feet. "You are not supposed to be here."

"I've heard that before," he muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

The girl rolled her eyes, walking down into the crater, and yanking Leo to his feet. He got a better look at her: golden brown flowing hair, his height...beautiful. Completely and utterly out of his league, he figured, even without the snarl she was giving him.

"Who are you?" She demanded, hands on her hips as she scowled at him.

"Well-"

"Never mind," the girl cut off. "I don't care who you are. Come with me, if you must." She began walking away

"Hey, lady, I don't want to be here either!" Leo said angrily, following her.

She suddenly stopped, whipping around to face Leo, her face only a few inches away from his.

She gave him a cruel smile.

"Well," She said. "Welcome to Ogygia- you are a prisoner, and this island is your jail." She whipped back around, her hair smacking Leo in the face.

"Hey, Wait! Ogyg-what?"

"Just when I thought this curse couldn't get worse."

"Curse, huh?" Leo asked, whistling. "You're a regular old princess."

"Excuse me?" Her eyes glinted murderously, and again, Leo was struck by how pretty she was. Maybe it was something about girls who were obviously aggravated by him.

"Alright, not into the princess vibe, I get that. Castaway, maybe…"

"Come with me," she snapped. She grabbed his wrist, dragging him inland, into a grove of trees.

"What, no icebreakers? Introductions?" he asked, being dragged along the underbrush. "I'll start. My name is Leo Valdez-"

"Again," she interrupted, pulling him into the nicest garden he had ever seen. His eyes scanned the garden; there was too much to take in. "I don't care who you are."

"You're not feeling it," Leo stated, as the girl gave him a small shove to kneel. She pulled out some rope from her pocket, beginning to bound his wrists together. "I get that- you have no idea how many of my friends didn't want to be around me when we first met!"

"A talker," the girl said under her breath, scowling. "And the curse gets worse."

"You're bringing this curse up a lot," he observed. "Anything I could take a whack at?"

"Hush!" she scolded.

Leo was now completely bound, sitting in this girl's garden. With a flip of her hair, she turned her back on him. She began vigorously digging in the dirt, muttering curses in Ancient Greek, occasionally switching back into English.

It was almost nonsensical to Leo until he picked out one name: Percy Jackson.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

The girl stopped her digging, snapping her head around to glare at him.

He laughed nervously. "I, uh, kinda overheard you say Percy? Because I know Percy! If, you know, that helps my case."

The girl rolled her eyes. "It does not help your case."

"Then, forget I said anything!" He snapped his fingers. "Hey, wait...you're the lady named after Caribbean music, aren't you?"

The girl gave him a withering glare. "Caribbean music."

"Yeah...reggae?"

"Calypso!" She screeched.

"Okay, sheesh!"

For the most part, Calypso left him alone. She tended to her garden. Leo watched. It was a big island, after all. He was more concerned with getting back to his friends, to his ship.

It wasn't until a few nights in. Leo had grown fond of the island, and got used to walking it, right as the sun was about to set.

He tended to have the ability to walk in at….exactly the wrong moment.

Calypso was sitting on the shore, face buried in her hands and quite clearly, sobbing.

He wasn't good with humans...especially crying ones. Broken machines always had a fix, whereas people were much more difficult.

Leo quickly disappeared back towards the garden. Something told him that the scary, immortal goddess wouldn't be too happy if he saw her cry.

Calypso came back to her garden a little later, no evidence of tears on her face. She stopped short once she saw Leo, holding out a plate of food towards her.

"Hi," he started nervously. "I know you said we couldn't do icebreakers, but a little known fact about me is that I make really good fish tacos."

Calypso gave him a suspicious look. "You made fish tacos?"

"Well, they're not really fish tacos. I didn't have tortillas, so-"

"Why would you do that?" She didn't say this in a rude tone. She genuinely...seemed surprised.

Leo shrugged. "Call it some island prisoner bonding."

Calypso's face soured, as she reluctantly sat down next to Leo. "Heroes- you're all the same."

"To be fair, I'm not much of a hero. You should exclude me from your hero complex."

Calypso scoffed. "I'm sure you'll prove me right soon enough."

"What is your deal?" Leo asked. "Heroes burst your little bubble, so what?"

Calypso took a bite of the taco, eyes widening. "This is...good."

"Don't sound so shocked," he said, shaking his head. "But seriously, what is with the grudge against heroes?"

"No one's ever made me a fish taco before," Calypso said thoughtfully. She looked over at Leo. "Is that what friends do?"

"Uh...yeah, I guess." He felt like an idiot: of course a girl stuck on an island wouldn't have any friends. Of course, she would get attached to any hero who ends up here. "It must...be hard having people leave so often. Like...Percy."

He leaned ever so slightly away, in case Calypso was about to punch him in the face. She didn't, though.

Calypso just sighed, sounding defeated. "Percy Jackson is the reason I'm in this mess."

"What?"

She threw her head back, groaning. "Nevermind! It doesn't matter." She paused. "You don't care anyways."

"Hey, who said that?"

"We are not friends, Leo Valdez."

"We could be. And friends usually share things with each other. Not to brag, but I have loads of them."

Calypso didn't seem convinced. She turned away.

"Listen..." He started. "I know what it's like to be unwanted. To feel like you don't have a purpose. All I'm saying is that if you and I are going to be stuck on this island together, we may as well like each other."

Calypso hesitated. "You're supposed to be Rosemary Reiger, you know."

"Rosie?" That was one name he wasn't expecting to hear. He flashed back to the ship, pushing Rosie out of the way of Khione. It was instinctual...he didn't have to think, he would've done it ten times over again.

"I…" Calypso hung her head in shame. "I would do anything to get off this island."

"Okay…" He wasn't sure where this was going.

"Even if it means working for Gaea."

"Oh." Leo slumped down, disappointed. "Is this the part where you kill me?"

"There's something Gaea wants badly…" Calypso bit her lip, nervous. "Something I told her I could help her find. Something...powerful."

"And what's that?" Leo asked, taking another bite of his taco.

"Max Reiger."

Leo choked on his taco, prompting Calypso to hit him squarely on the back. Leo coughed up half of his taco, feeling nauseous.

"I'm sorry, what? I think I misheard you. Max...Max Reiger is dead. He drowned, like, three years ago."

Calypso raised her eyebrows. "No, he's not. I saw him about a year ago. He and his father visit. That's...that's why you're supposed to be Rosemary, you know."

"I..I'm having a little trouble following, not going to lie."

"I was supposed to give Rosie information about her brother. She was supposed to abandon your quest."

"But...but why would you do that?"

She lowered her head, ashamed. "Gaea said she would be able to release me."

"So...you know where Max is? What are you waiting for, senorita, tell me where he is!" He couldn't believe this! Rosie was going to be shocked...elated!

"I..I don't know. Not at the moment, at least. Poseidon would always bring Max to visit me...he trusted very few with Max's location. I believe he would move Max often, always scared that Gaea or Zeus would find him. He is supposed to be dead, Leo...Zeus ordered it. But I know Poseidon, and he could never do that to his son, so….him taking Max and making his family believe he was dead was the only way. I...I'll admit it's been about a year since I've seen them. With the gods incapicatated right now, I doubt he even knows where Max is. It's safer that way."

"So you never found out Max's location? Any of them?" Max Reiger was just out there, existing right now? Anywhere?

She shook her head. "I couldn't- not with the kindness he and his father showed me. I looked forward to their visits. And Max... Max is a prisoner in his own way, just like me."

"So, let me get this straight," Leo said, slightly annoyed "You were going to throw my friend under the bus with false information just to get her killed, so you could be freed?"

"I was just...so furious after Percy left," she snapped. "So upset when the gods didn't keep their promise. You try being stuck on an island for thousands of years, all by yourself."

Leo felt bad for the girl. He thought of what had been his prison- Wilderness. But even then, he had Rosie and Piper, and somehow, Wilderness had become his home because of them. But Calypso didn't have anyone; just her beautiful, daunting prison.

"Some birds aren't meant to be caged," Leo quoted, thinking of the time he watched 'Shawshank Redemption' with his friends.

"What?" Calypso wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"Nothing," He said quickly. He whistled. "So, I'm really not supposed to be here, huh?"

"No," Calypso sighed. "You're not supposed to be here and I am doomed."

"Nope!" Leo shot up, the gears already turning in his head. "No one is doomed, you ray of sunshine. Let's see…" He closed his eyes, focusing. "Okay. No problem. I can fix this. Okay...ha, idea! I get back to my ship and I tell everyone about Max-"

Calypso rolled her eyes. "Were you even listening? If Zeus finds out about Max, he'll go ballistic! Max, Percy, and Rosemary will all die. No one can know. And if Gaea gets her hands on Max-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! It's fine! I'll...I'll figure it out. I will find Max."

"It's not that easy!"

"So?" Leo shot back. "Listen...Max doesn't deserve to be kept away from Rosie. You don't deserve this life, either. I will find Max, and I promise you...you will be freed. If I have to chase down Poseidon to do it, so be it, I'll make it happen."

She shook her head. "They'll never keep their promise."

"I'll get them to. I happen to be very convincing and very annoying."

"You can't, Leo Valdez. It's impossible."

"Nothing is impossible!" he exclaimed, laughing at how wild this situation was turning out to be. "I just found out Rosie's brother hasn't been dead all these years! If that's possible, anything is!"

"You're going to go halfway across the world on a dangerous journey for her? For this Rosie?" Calypso didn't say this harshly...just sounded genuinely baffled.

"Yeah, I am."

That's when it hit Leo.

Why was he doing this?

He liked Rosie- the mere thought of her getting hurt or dying on this quest was too much for him to bear. He didn't want to send her on what was possibly suicide mission.

Crap. He liked Rosie- no, he loved her.

"Why?"

Leo fell back onto the sand. "I think I'm in love with her."

"Oh."

"Yeah," He said slowly, still trying to process it.

"You're lucky," Calypso said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"No, I'm not," Leo said with a sigh. "Based on my track record, this is going to end in disaster. I'm not too great with the ladies." The fact that it was Rosie, his best friend, made it so much worse.

Calypso glanced at him with an intense gaze. "Your mind has been tampered with."

"Uh, is that your way of flirting?"

Calypso placed a hand on Leo's forehead, making him think that maybe that was her way of flirting.

But then, he saw the weirdest, unexplainable thing.

Him and Rosie dancing on the roof of Wilderness.

Him and Freckles kissing.

"Someone tampered with your memories," Calypso said, frowning.

Leo smiled. He should've been angry...but he couldn't stop smiling. Him and Rosie...he liked the sound of that. Everything made sense to him now.

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, grinning. "Freaking Hera."

Calypso narrowed her eyes at him. "How exactly do you plan on pulling this off?"

Leo grinned. "I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. Count that as another fun fact for icebreakers." He was always up for a challenge.

"There's something I can give you to help you."

"You're going to help me?" Leo asked, surprised.

"I thought that's what friends do."

"Yes!" he said. "Exactly!"

"There's a cave down shore," she said, standing and brushing off her dress. "It has ogygian crystals. These crystals, Leo...they're magic. They're part of the reason I can't get off the island. Given the right kind of machinery, they could help you find anything."

The astrolabe. If Leo could figure that out...he could find Max.

Before he could stop himself, he rushed forward, hugging Calypso. She pulled away, giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

"I'm going to get you a crystal."

"And I'm going to get you out of here."

Calypso smiled, disappearing towards shore.

Leo took the astrolabe out of his toolbelt.

"I will figure you out," he vowed, turning the astrolabe over in his hands. "And when I do, I'll find Max. I swear on the River Styx, Rosie, I'll bring your brother home."

An oath to keep with a final breath.

Leo was dead- so why did it hurt so much? It felt like every cell in his body was on fire, which was...you know, ironic. He couldn't see or hear. All he could feel was pain, which was starting to freak him out.

And then...he gasped and sat up.

It took him a second to register where he was. And then, he could feel the wind on his face and felt the sun shining on him...okay, so he was on Festus. There was a searing pain in his right arm. Once his eyes focused...he could see a large hypodermic needle retracting from his forearm, and retreating into Festus.

"It worked."

Festus creaked happily underneath him.

"Festus! It worked!" Leo exclaimed, yelling trumiphantly. He whooped at the top of the lungs, as his dragon flipped over in the air. He gave Festus an appreciative pat. "I couldn't have done it without you, boy. Thank you."

He couldn't believe that all the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. He opened the access panel, where the ogygian crystal was pulsating like a heartbeat in the astrolabe. He grinned, enjoying the sight of it. All it had taken for the link between the astrolabe and the crystal was a talk with Ringo back on the Caterina. Now...he was one step closer to finding Max- hopefully Zeus wouldn't find out and blast him out of the sky for it. Failure was not an option, as far as he was concerned. A lot of people were counting on him to succeed: Calypso, and the entirety of Poseidon's demigod children, even if none of them knew it yet.

He felt a brief pang of sadness, thinking about his friends back at camp. Of course, he didn't like the idea of faking his death. But as the pieces came together...it was clear that he had to do it. He was the fire that had to defeat Gaea, he made an oath he would keep to his final breath. Hera had told him back at the Wolf House that he had a terrible decision to make, one that would devastate him.

That didn't mean it didn't suck. There were times where he thought about abandoning his plans. There were even times where he thought about telling Rosie, giving her the chance to take the quest instead of him. It was her brother, after all.

But then...she told him her dream. She wanted to build a Sanctuary; a home for demigods who had none. And that was it. In that moment, he knew it was his destiny to try and find Max. If he was going to die on this quest, it gave him comfort to know that Freckles was going to change lives.

It was his job in being a part of the Eight. It helped to not focus on the gruesomeness of it. Instead, he thought of it as one, big, convoluted prank. He was just...taking the long way home.

I win, he thought to himself, their prank war in mind.

He just hoped she would forgive him.

Leo reached into his tool belt, pulling out two things. First, he made Hazel draw him a picture of Rosie, something he made her swear she would never tell Rosie about. Second, Max's rubix cube, something he had gone back for during the last few seconds of being on the ship.

Rosie was his home- so long as she was waiting for him, he'd be fine.

"Gear up, buddy," Leo said, patting Festus. "Home is waiting for us."

And we are done! Hopefully you guys don't hate me too much for the ending. And Roleo fans- I know y'all….I know. You guys are so patient, and I'm so grateful for that. I've written the entire series with this ending in mind...if you were to go back and reread, you would see little clues throughout the story. I kind of wanted Rosie/Max to parallel Thalia/Jason in a way! As of now, I'm going to be on a writing hiatus. I'm heading back to school, (in some form lol hi corona) so it's the perfect time for me to take a little break. However, that being said, my PMs are always open and I'm not going to be completely MIA. As far as a continuation, I definitely have a story in mind, one that would probably include both Rosie and Leo's POV- it would take place during the trials of Apollo era, but wouldn't necessarily be a complete rewrite of that series so no worries if you haven't read it (I myself have only read up to the burning maze). I probably won't, however, write it for a while...if I had to give a tentative timeline, I would say November or December-ish. I know that seems like a far time away, but it gives me enough time to write a perfect story/ Roleo reunion that you guys deserve. Oneshots and other longfics are definitely on the table as well.

To anyone who has commented, liked, followed, lurked this story...I can't thank you enough! Special shoutout to radoddish, who has literally been here since the beginning. Couldn't have asked for a better group of readers. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey.

until next time,

shegotofftheplane