When Harry and Calypso arrived back at the Black Mansion, the warmth of the household—Teddy's laughter, the smell of Andromeda's cooking, Kreacher muttering angrily at a broom—should have comforted her.
But Calypso felt none of it.
She walked straight past Teddy's excited greeting, past Andromeda's curious questions, past the living room where the television played cartoon. She went to her room and sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her hands.
Her fingers trembled.
Her chest felt tight.
For centuries—no, for millennia—she had believed that she was the one who suffered the worst.
Banished to Ogygia.
Cursed to love those fated to leave her.
Alone, forgotten.
But seeing her father…
Seeing Atlas bent, chained, trembling under the weight of the sky itself…
A weight so heavy that even in titan form his knees shook—
a weight that didn't let him rest, move, or breathe freely—
Compared to that, her paradise-like prison had been mercy.
And she hated that truth.
Harry found her sitting silently, her back turned toward the door. The pendant he gave her lay on the bedside table, glowing softly.
He stepped inside quietly.
"Calyssa?"
She didn't reply.
Harry moved closer and noticed tears on her cheeks — tears she was trying to hide.
"What's wrong?"
Her voice cracked as she whispered:
"I thought I had suffered. I thought Zeus condemned me to the worst fate."
She clenched her fists.
"But my father… Harry, he suffers every second. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't move. He doesn't live."
Her voice rose, trembling.
"I was imprisoned in a paradise. But he—he carries the weight of the entire sky on his shoulders!"
She finally turned toward him, eyes full of desperation.
"Please, Harry… please help him. I—I'll give you anything. Anything you want, just free my father."
Her voice was small.
Broken.
Desperate.
Harry sat beside her and placed a calming hand over hers.
"Calyssa… stop."
She looked up, confused.
Harry smiled softly—a foreign expression filled with quiet certainty.
"You don't owe me anything. I didn't save you because I wanted a reward."
He paused, squeezing her hand gently.
"And I don't help Atlas because he promised me anything."
Calyssa blinked.
"Then… why? Why go through all this trouble?"
Harry leaned back slightly, looking toward the window where morning light filtered in.
"Because I know what it feels like to be alone."
"Because I know what it feels like to be trapped by someone else's power."
"And because no parent deserves to suffer while their child cries for them."
He met her gaze firmly.
"I already told Atlas — I'm going to build a construct strong enough to hold the sky."
Her lips parted in surprise.
"You… already planned to help him?"
Harry nodded.
"From the moment I first saw him carrying that weight. I knew no one deserves that."
"I don't break promises, Calyssa. I said I'd help him—and I will."
She pressed a hand over her heart.
"Harry… thank you. I… I don't deserve this kindness."
Harry shook his head.
"You deserve far more than what Olympus ever gave you."
Calyssa's tears finally fell—this time from relief, not guilt.
She leaned forward and whispered:
"If my father ever stands free… it will be because of you."
Harry rose, brushing her hair gently.
"Then let's make sure he doesn't wait another three thousand years."
And for the first time since returning,
Calyssa smiled through her tears.
Harry returned to his workshop the same evening, his mind burning with determination. The forge flickered with runic light, enchanted flames shifting between blue and silver as he summoned stone, metal, wood, and divine dust.
He needed a construct.
A magical creation capable of enduring a Titan's burden.
But every attempt shattered.
The moment he added enchanted weight—one percent of the sky's force—the construct broke like glass.
Cracks spider-webbed across the metal.
Runes exploded in sparks.
Even magical alloys he forged from basilisk hide and celestial bronze buckled like clay.
Harry wiped sweat from his forehead, growling in frustration.
"This is going to be harder than I thought…"
The weight of the sky wasn't simply physical—it was mythic, conceptual, bound to duty, legend, and punishment. Nothing he created could mimic that yet.
After days of trial and error, Harry realized he needed to understand the original enchantment itself. Only then could he build something equal—or superior—to it.
So he traveled again to Mount Othrys.
As always, Calypso accompanied him, holding his arm tightly as they Portkeyed to the mountaintop. She refused to stay behind—even a second away from Atlas felt like a second of lost time.
Atlas sensed their arrival immediately.
His human-sized form appeared, still bent heavily under the cosmic burden, chains glowing with ancient energy.
Harry stepped closer.
"I need to study the runes binding you. If I'm going to build something that can take that weight… I need to understand what the gods forged."
Atlas grunted.
"Very well. But careful—these runes were made by Zeus himself, carved with Promethean fire."
Harry placed his palms against the glowing chains. Power surged against his skin—pressure like the crush of a tidal wave, heat like the heart of a star, the pulse of ancient divine rage.
The enchantments were brutal.
Inelegant.
Punitive.
They weren't designed to support the sky.
They were made to punish.
Harry's eyes widened.
"Atlas… these chains don't hold up the sky. They hold you."
Atlas looked grim.
"I know."
Atlas's eyes narrowed.
"I had nothing else to tell. The sky floats on its own. Since Kronos split Earth and Heaven apart, they have hung in balance. I carry nothing but a curse."
Harry stepped back, stunned.
"So even if you let go—"
Atlas finished for him.
"—the sky will not fall. Earth will not break. The stars will not shatter."
"My burden is not necessity. It is punishment."
Harry exhaled, relief easing into his shoulders.
This changed everything.
He didn't need a construct to hold the literal heavens.
He needed something to redirect the enchantment, to receive the binding, to absorb the curse.
A conceptual anchor.
A pseudo-Atlas.
Something powerful enough to trick Olympus's ancient magic.
Harry nodded slowly.
"This makes my job easier. A lot easier."
Atlas raised an eyebrow.
"Then do what you came to do, Harry. I am ready whenever you are."
Calyssa clasped her father's hand.
"And I will be here every time Harry returns."
Atlas looked at her with pride shining in his weary eyes.
"My star… your freedom gives me strength."
Calyssa smiled, tears slipping down her cheeks.
Harry watched the moment with quiet warmth.
Then he turned away, already mapping runes in the air with glowing fingers.
"I'll build something to take your place. I'll break the chains of your curse. I won't fail you."
Atlas gave a dry laugh.
"You freed my daughter. You think I doubt you now?"
As the wind howled around the mountain peak, Harry's resolve hardened.
This wasn't just a project.
This was a Titan's liberation.
A promise between two beings carved from myth and loss.
And every time Harry returned to his workshop, Calyssa was right behind him—bringing tea, watching his work, whispering encouragement, and sometimes falling asleep on the forge bench while he carved runes late into the night.
She had suffered too long.
Atlas had suffered longer.
The forge's flames roared to life with a flick of his hand, bathing the room in shifting blue and silver light. This was the part of magic he understood best—creation. The act of turning raw will into something real.
He rolled up his sleeves and placed a blank piece of parchment on the workbench. A quill lifted on its own and dipped into shimmering ink.
"Alright," he muttered. "No sky. Just the curse."
The quill moved quickly, guided by a mixture of instinct and experience. Soon the page was filled with the sketch of a tall, rune-covered structure: plates of celestial metal, a core of pure magical resonance, runes from different magical cultures woven together like armor.
A construct that would take the Titan's punishment for itself.
Harry exhaled. "Let's see if this works."
He began forging.
Basilisk-hide strips hissed as they met molten celestial bronze. A meteor shard cracked open under his hammer, sparks flying like fallen stars. Moonstone dust swirled into the mixture, making it glow faintly with lunar light.
Each hammer strike rang through the mansion.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Calyssa watched quietly from the corner, fear and hope flickering in her eyes.
"It's only the frame," Harry said without looking up. "The hard part comes next."
She didn't answer, but he heard the way she breathed—slow, careful, trying not to disturb him.
Hours later, the metal frame stood completed. Harry wiped sweat from his brow and reached into an obsidian box.
Inside lay a glowing crystal.
The core.
A contained heart of magic.
Harry placed it on a runic circle and began engraving sigils one by one, his voice low.
"This core needs to endure millennia of punishment," he said. "It's not weight—Atlas told me. It's the curse itself."
Calyssa tensed. "My father… he endures pain, not burden?"
Harry nodded once. "Yes. Your father carries an idea, not a sky."
Her hands shook. "Then if this works… he'll be free?"
He didn't smile—not yet. "We'll see."
He set the core into the frame.
The construct pulsed—
—then shattered into a thousand glittering pieces.
"Harry!" Calyssa rushed forward.
He waved a hand tiredly. The pieces reversed, snapping back into place, the explosion erased.
"Version one," he said dryly. "Next."
They tried again.
And again.
Twelve failures. Twelve explosions. Twelve reversals.
On the thirteenth try, the construct gave a steady, soft hum.
Harry leaned forward. His heartbeat quickened.
"There it is," he murmured. "The resonance. Atlas' curse… the frequency matches."
The construct pulsed again, stable, glowing softly like a sleeping heart.
Calyssa's breath caught.
"So… you can free him?" she whispered.
Harry touched the frame gently, feeling the steady thrum of magic beneath his fingers.
"I can," he said at last. "And I will."
Her eyes glistened. She stepped closer, her voice fragile.
"Harry… thank you. Not for saving me. But for saving him."
Harry met her gaze briefly, then looked back at the construct.
"I made a promise," he said softly. "And I don't break promises."
Artemis arrived at the Black Mansion quietly, without her hunters, without fanfare—just a single soft flash of silver light on the lawn. She walked toward the door slowly, her bow slung across her back, her expression uncharacteristically uncertain.
She had faced monsters older than mortal memory.
She had hunted beasts that brought cities to their knees.
She had confronted gods, Titans, and nightmares without blinking.
But today, she was afraid.
Not for herself—
but for what she had become in Harry's eyes.
She knocked gently.
Kreacher opened the door, squinting up with a frown. "What does Lady Artemis want?" he asked stiffly.
Her heart sank at the title. Harry always told his household to treat them as friends, not royalty.
"I came to speak with Harry," she said quietly.
Kreacher hesitated, then stepped aside. "Master Harry is in the garden. But… be careful. He is not the same with Olympians anymore."
Artemis nodded and slipped inside.
She found Harry behind the mansion, watching Teddy practice sword swings with Percy's old training sword. Teddy didn't notice her arrival—he was laughing, swinging wildly at a training dummy.
But Harry noticed.
He stiffened instantly.
His posture shifted subtly, protectively, placing himself between Teddy and her without even thinking.
It was instinctive.
And it cut deeper than any blade she had faced.
"Harry," Artemis said softly.
He didn't smile.
Didn't relax.
His voice was polite—but cold.
"Artemis. What brings you here?"
There was distance in that voice.
She swallowed.
"I came… to apologize."
That made him pause.
Artemis stepped closer, stopping several feet away—close enough to speak, far enough to not seem threatening.
"I know what happened at the Council strained things," she continued. "And even if we disagreed with Zeus… we didn't stop him either. We didn't stop Hephaestus. And because of that, your son almost died."
Harry said nothing.
She looked at Teddy, who was still practicing happily.
"Hestia hasn't visited much," Artemis said softly. "Neither has Athena. And even Aphrodite avoids the mansion now… You've closed your doors. Not physically, but here." She tapped her chest.
Harry exhaled.
"Artemis," he said slowly, "you're not my enemy. None of you were. But when Zeus thought murdering a six-year-old was easier than talking… how can I trust any of you now?"
Her shoulders tightened.
"I understand," she whispered.
Harry's voice lowered, controlled but weighted with emotion.
"You saw what I did in Olympus. How far I was willing to go. I don't want that. I don't want to hurt any of you. But if anyone tries to harm Teddy… he becomes my whole world. And a threat to him is a threat to me."
Artemis nodded.
"I don't blame you," she said. "I would burn my hunters' enemies to ash. And they are not even my children."
She hesitated.
"But Harry… you won't even let Hestia hold Teddy anymore. She never hurt him. She adores him." Her voice softened. "You treat us like criminals. Like we are waiting for an opportunity to strike."
Harry looked away.
"It's not personal," he said. "It's fear."
Artemis stepped just a little closer, hands open, empty.
"Harry," she murmured, "please don't shut us out. We were allies once. Friends, even. Maybe we failed you. Maybe we didn't stop Zeus fast enough. But we want to fix things."
Harry watched her carefully.
"Trust is slow to rebuild," he said.
She nodded.
"I know. But let us try."
A long breath left his lungs.
He looked toward Teddy—still safe, still smiling.
Artemis' voice softened like a quiet breeze.
"We're not perfect… but we are not your enemies."
Harry's gaze lowered.
"I know."
She stepped back, giving him space.
"I won't push. I just wanted to say… I'm sorry."
And for the first time since Olympus, Harry's expression finally shifted—
not warm,
not forgiving,
but no longer frozen in distrust.
A small step.
A small beginning.
He nodded slowly.
"Thank you, Artemis."
She bowed her head gently.
And for the first time in many days, the distance between Harry and the Olympians no longer felt like a chasm.
It felt…
like the beginning of a fragile, needed healing.
Author's Note:
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