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Odysseus have no idea what he's looking at.
Maybe his mind completely gone crazy after the past five years, or Calypso finally get tired of him with his hysterics and decided to teach him a lesson by sending him madness?
The boy in front of him slowly blinks.
Odysseus copying the sign.
The boy bows his head owlishly and stares at him with a blank face.
The King of Ithaca squints and raises his eyebrow, unsure how to react.
But the boy half-standing in the sea seems too real to be a hallucination. Maybe he's overheated under the sun and just seeing things?
He raises his hand and waves at him. Odysseus waves back slowly, not daring to look away from the illusion of his broken mind.
Before he could say a word, he hears footsteps behind and a pair of warm arms wraping around his shoulders. He almost flinched, he would never get used to this.
A high voice laughs quietly in his ear and asks:
"What are you doing here alone, Ody? What are you looking at?" His gaze returns to the sea, but the figure is already gone.
Illusion.
"Aren't you hungry, dear? You should go home and eat something tasty." Not a question, statement.
Odysseus freezes for a moment, but soon stands up, allowing Calypso drag him into the cave.
As they walk, his thoughts keep returning to that boy. He bites the inside of his cheek, memorizing his black hair and glowing green eyes.
It couldn't be...
_ _ _
The next morning, Odysseus again looking at the sea.
But he can’t just sit any longer, so ignoring the pain and burning in his eyes he turns away from the view and takes the knife.
Wood carving is one of the few things Calypso couldn't forbid him. The blade glides easily across the wood. He imagining his son holding the finished animal figurines in his hands.
How Telemachus hugs them to his chest and plays with them, and...
...it seems like he would be too old for them now, huh?
Odysseus swallows when he accidentally cuts the finger. He curses quietly, trying to stop the bleeding, but being distracted by the shadow looming over him.
No. She shouldn't see the wound.
A shudder almost runs through him when he thinks about the goddess, but when he looks up… a big wave rises above him.
The water washes over his head before he even notices, dragging him along with it. Odysseus clinging the rock in fear, his heart beating wildly as he desperately tries not to choke on the water or his own feelings.
Poseidon.
A name carved in his memory
He finally found him and going to tear him apart?
After he was locked in this hell for many years, with no way to escape the goddess's grip...
Why now?
Disappear without leaving a trace? Never seeing his wife and son again?
He won't die here.
He won't.
Odysseus prepares for the next blow, but the water suddenly loosens its strength on him... and slowly retreats.
He coughs up the water and quickly crawls away. His body is shaking with adrenaline, his chest is tight with rage, he feels sick.
His gaze doesn't move from the sea, not even for a second. He blindly grabs the fallen knife, waiting... for something.
But no matter how long he waits, nothing happens.
Calypso's embrace makes him flinch. The goddess frowns but says nothing. Her sweet words take on a metallic tint.
Returning to the cave where the ocean is hidden, for a moment brings him a sense of relief.
For a moment.
_ _ _
In the morning Odysseus returns to the beach.
Again.
His thoughts were jumbled as he walked along the shore. It seemed easier to let the God Of The Sea take him than to endure this torment again, again, and again.
Today the sound of the waves is quiet, almost calming, and… he refuses to continue that thought.
He must look so pathetic that even the god who hates him feels pity for him.
That thought causes the dark feelings in his chest to flare with even greater force. Odysseus grips the handle of the knife tighter and his fingers turning white.
The rage turns into strength and he cuts cuts and cuts with that dull knife, steaming up the wood until he feels even more exhausted.
Sweat pours down his body, and the sun doesn't make it any better. The thirst is unpleasant, but he doesn't even glance toward the cave where he knows there's water. No.
Instead, he forces his legs to move and walks toward the river.
The river is always clean, clear, and sparkling in the sun. It's a beautiful, perfect sight, and it almost makes him sick.
He cups his hands and drinks, quenching thirst of his. His tense senses notice a movement, and Odysseus's eyes meet those of a deer.
This cools his desire to drink more and he gets up to get as far away from those eyes as possible.
Calypso's eyes, who follow him everywhere.
When he returns to the beach, he's allowed to be alone again. That allows him to feel a sense of relief, and he hates the thought that it became normal.
That the goddess is watching him everywhere. Except on the shore, sometimes.
The waves touch his feet, cooling him, and for the first time in a long time, he wants to swim. He looks around, afraid that what happened yesterday will happen again, but the sea doesn't look threatening at all.
This is no consolation, but he still goes into the water up to his knees.
The sea is neither cold nor warm, perfectly cool, the kind it never was in Ithaca. He fights the wish to return to dry land and now standing waist-deep in water. Odysseus looks at the waves glistening in the sun, when his eyes suddenly widen.
He almost jumps back, but a firm grip on his wrist stops him.
"..please, don't scream!"
Asks him the creature, that boy. And he's still completely underwater when he confidently pronounces:
"I can help you."
_ _ _
Odysseus is silent. He is quieter and calmer than usual, and She notices it.
Calypso smiles deeper, with adoration in her eyes, pressing herself against him and it almost physically hurts when she allows herself to touch his thigh.
The rest of the evening passes as usual, and the next one too, and the next, and next…
She clings to him more often than not and doesn't allow him to be alone for long. Calypso becomes more and more cheerful every day and finds different ways to spend time with him.
One day, she leads him to a clearing and sits him down on the grass. Singing, she braids his hair and weaves flowers into it like a crown. She rests her head on his shoulder and whispers passionately, "..king of Ogygia. My king."
When he doesn't react, other than a trembling hands, she laughs softly and hugs him with a look of happiness. The same day, she tells him she likes to play with his hair and forbids him to cut it.
Odysseus is not feeling good. But when he's not?
His hands ache from hard work, his head hurts from lack of sleep, his chest is full of unspoken grievances, but he forces himself to hold on.
He has work to do.
Early in the morning, despite the pain, he makes his way to the shore. Slowly, hope flares in his chest as the ropes tighten around the logs.
Calypso looks at him with joyful eyes as she notices the disappearance of the portions of food that were always been untouched before. She hugs him around the waist and says:
"How wonderful, it's good to see your appetite is growing, my dear."
The only thing that never changes is pain.
He always refuses her. He always resists her. He always cries from her touch.
She always convinces him. She always takes him by force. She always touches him.
Every day it happens at different time and in different place. And he doesn't want it to happen here.
He's walking by the water when she hugs him and calls out to him. That day, he feels himself on edge, and words slip from his lips accidentally.
He expects any response, but she acts differently. It would almost make him laugh hysterically if only she hadn't dumped him on the beach.
He feels a raising panic.
She touches.
This time he doesn't ask her to stop, but begs her to return to the cave or choose any other place.
She doesn't listen.
He breaks free, tries to escape and wants to leave.
She moves the vines and he can't object. She calls what's coming «his punishment».
She doesn't know how horrified the sea is by her words.
He shakes his head and speaks with eyes to stop the rising wave.
After that, for several nights in a row a hurricane rages on Ogygia.
_ _ _
She wakes up.
She opens her eyes and realizes a disturbing truth:
She doesn't feel Odysseus on the island.
Calypso is left alone again.