I was wandering around Tumblr, mostly laughing at Nico stuff for some reason, when I came across a theory about Leo. Now, it's not that new of a theory. Honestly, since the end of BoO it's probably been a prominent one. I never thought about it, personally, but when I finally sat down and thought about it, I couldn't let it go.

It's bittersweet, to say the least. I won't say what theory it is, but you'll soon know. I personally would not think this is a thing, but I can definitely get behind and defend it if Rick decides in ToA to put it this way.

Also, I'm trying a style-change. Don't expect it too often. I love writing past-tense more, but decided for some strange reason to try present. It's hard to switch to something you're not used to, but I find it good for the brain and imagination.

(Please don't comment about my not-updating the other stories. I'm halfway through Calypso in Wonderland's new chapter, and am almost done with Because Being Together is Enough's new chapter.)

I own nothing you recognize as canon.

*~That Bittersweet Possibility~*

At first, Leo didn't notice it.

Then, it tickled his brain.

He's tried to ignore the thought, and sometimes he can.

But it's been bugging him a while, now, and he really wants to speak up about it.

But something holds him back.

Leo sits at a coffee table with his girlfriend, the super-hot, super-awesome, super-holy-cow-how-did-he-score-this-amazing-goddess girlfriend. She's ordering some tea, and Leo looks at his menu, frowning at the weird German words.

"Um…water?" he tries in English.

The waiter nods, writing it down. "More?" he prompts.

Calypso immediately goes for some weird German dish. Leo looks at her and whines, "Give me a hint, please? This place doesn't have pictures!"

She gives him a sly smile. "I told you to try and learn a little of the language before we came. Just basic sentences, dummy."

"But that requires me actually caring!" He's joking, of course. Calypso has been very understanding of his dilemma, since he's not an immortal that can instantly translate things in his head.

Calypso had found she was still immortal when they'd left Ogygia years ago. Leo had thought that would be a problem, but she never strayed. Ever since they'd fixed Festus on the nearest piece of land with metal on it, the couple had been travelling from country to country in Europe. They'd spent a year in Greece first, working their way North. Every year they switched countries, the only roadblock for them being Leo's language barriers.

He'd had the same trouble ordering food in France last year, and Italy two years before that. Eventually he got enough of each language down to say "I want—" (point at menu item), "Where's the bathroom?", "Have you seen my girlfriend?", and the ever-popular "Do you speak English?".

"Just get this." Calypso points to something on his menu and he relays that to the waiter, most likely butchering the pronunciation. The waiter merely smiles, takes the menus, and leaves.

Calypso puts her attention on their surroundings. Leo tries to do the same. Today, they're in a lovely outdoor café surrounded by a park. Bikers zoom past. People walk their dogs. Leaves float gently to the ground in the soft wind. The day just feels perfect.

And that's what bothers Leo.

Perfect days happen every day to him. It only rains or snows when the time feels right, which wasn't an odd thing at first; but when he wants it to snow to have a snowball fight with Calypso and it suddenly happens…it's an odd coincidence.

Another odd thing is himself.

It's been years since he rescued Calypso. Years since the Giant War. Years since he last saw his friends.

And yet he still feels like a fifteen-year-old. Not even feels like. He looks like a fifteen-year-old. He remembers his mother saying the men in their family had a tendency to be late bloomers when it came to height and muscle, but he should be at least nineteen. People stop growing at that age, right?

Maybe he's just destined to be forever-scrawny, and he supposes can learn to deal with that.

But it still bothers him.

Something feels off. Every day he wakes up and feels the same. Every day he feels extraordinarily happy, content, carefree. The sameness, he knows, should drive him insane.

But every time he wakes, it's like a new life. A new adventure. No day is the same as the last. No place is the same as before.

Perhaps the off-ness is that he doesn't feel out of breath every time he and Calypso climb a particularly steep hill, or run just for the fun of it. It's like he's flying, or floating, across the roads.

When Leo mulls over these oddities, he feels as though he's trapped in a maze, blinded by fog. Calypso's with him, but it's like she knows the way through the fog and maze. She's always there, smiling with him, laughing with him, exploring with him. But she gets that look in her eye that makes him wonder, What does she know that I don't?

Finally, as the waiter brings Calypso and Leo's drinks, he can't stand it anymore. "Calypso," he blurts. "I…I need to say something."

She looks at him with calm, unblinking eyes. "Yes?"

"Does…Does something feel wrong to you?" he asks.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Leo tries to gather the jumbled clues into one singular thought. "Do you feel anything weird about this?"

"About what? The café?" She takes a sip of her tea. "It's perfectly safe."

"That's what I mean by weird." Leo looks down at his cup. "'Perfect'. Every day, it's perfect weather. Perfect people. Perfect surroundings. No weirdos. No dangers. No monsters! I haven't fought a monster since the war! Don't you think that's weird?"

Calypso doesn't meet his eye.

He continues: "Shouldn't we run out of money eventually, too? We always seem to have cash, no matter where we are.

"And why haven't I grown? Did the physician's cure somehow make me immortal and no one's telling me? Or are you or one of the gods casting some sort of spell?"

Leo trembles when Calypso won't answer him. "Please," he whimpers. "If you know something, just say it. I promise I won't get mad if you did something to make me…I don't know…"

She finally looks at him. Tears fall down her cheeks and she laughs humorlessly. "Took you long enough."

"What?"

"It took, what, four years for you to bring it up?" she says. "How long has this been nagging at your brain?"

"Not very long," he admits. "Though, now that I'm thinking about it more…Why haven't my friends tried to contact me? I'm sure Nico or Hazel would have felt me coming back, right?"

"They would feel no such thing," Calypso finally whispers.

Leo blinks. "Why not? Nico said he could feel when someone close to him dies. Wouldn't he feel it if the opposite happened?"

"Leo," Calypso says in a tone that reminds Leo of his mother. "They wouldn't feel you coming back…because you never went back."

Leo's speechless. His thoughts start drifting in different directions, trying to comprehend what she'd just said. "But…But how can I…? How can we be…?"

And then she says the thing he realized he never wanted her to say: "Leo, you're dead. You have been this whole time."

The world just up and stops. The leaves have frozen mid-fall. People have been silenced. Bikers and joggers are frozen in place. Even the wind is gone.

Leo wants to argue. He desperately wants to say he's alive, but he can't. Instead, he reaches up to his neck, pressing two fingers there. Nothing. No heartbeat. No pumping. Nada. He wants to hyperventilate, but strangely his body acts the same: calm, cool, collected. Leo realizes this is normal; he can't have a heart attack or a stroke if his heart no longer beats.

Calypso takes the hand that is pressing against his neck. She pulls it down and rubs her thumb against the back of his hand. "Are you okay?"

Leo gulps. "I…I don't know."

"Then let me explain." She clears her throat. "When you died, you thought the physician's cure would bring you back, yes?"

Leo nods mutely.

"Festus had not administered it," she says. "When we left Ogygia, it was not to the overworld. Festus flew us here, to the Underworld."

"The…" Leo looks around at the frozen-Germany. "How is this…?"

"Your body had disintegrated, Leo. The cure cannot bring back the dead without a body. What was left of Festus was reprogrammed by Hephaestus to carry your spirit to Ogygia. You truly freed me, and for that I will stay in Elysium with you."

"But, the lines," he weakly states. "The boat, the three-headed dog, the judges…isn't cutting in line against the rules?"

She smiles. "Not when Hades himself judges your brave soul and grants permission for your spirit to immediately travel to Elysium after you rescue me. This is your personal Elysium, Leo. You deserve it. Whatever you want, you can have. If you want your friends here after they die, they'll be able to come to you. Same with your mother. If you want to travel the world, you can. And if you still want me here…"

Leo grips her hand. "This is a little hard to accept," he admits, tears falling down his face rapidly. "I thought…I really thought I'd…"

Calypso maneuvers around the table and hugs him. "I know. I'll be here for you."

"I…" Leo breathes in and out for a moment. "I don't want to be in Germany right now."

"Okay."

"Is it instant?" he asks. "Or will I have to take a fake plane?"

Suddenly, Germany is gone. A scorching heat blasts both of them into a standing position. Calypso blinks and shields her eyes against the bright sun.

"Where is this?" she asks.

Leo gives her a sad smile. "This is Houston, Texas. My old home."

He faces the house that materializes in front of them, waiting patiently. The door opens, and a beautiful woman with long, curly black hair, dressed in greasy overalls, dirty shirt, and old work boots strolls out. She gives him a big smile and opens her arms.

"Mijo," she whispers. "Welcome home."

Leo immediately falls into his mother's arms, and pulls Calypso with him. Pure happiness engulfs him, purer than what he'd been feeling the last few years. Those ignorant years were just a taste of what he could have, he realizes. Leo's heart swells at the happy times he knows he can have now. With his mother. With Calypso. Possibly even with old Sammy Sr. Even with his friends once their times come.

The revelation that he's been dead this whole time hits him hard, and it will take some getting used to. But Leo knows it will never bother him. He's finally found his home in Elysium. He's with his family at last.

As sad as it is to finally understand that he's dead, Leo couldn't be happier.

A/N: I'm, uh...I'm gonna go curl up in a corner and think about what I've just done.

Sorry that ending was fast. You guys know me enough by now: I don't like dragging things on and on if I can help it.

Now that I'm thinking about it, this is most likely going to have a second part. It will still be happy/sad, and will involve closure with the rest of the Seven+Nico.

But until then, back to my sadness corner.