Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO.

A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait! Special thanks to Josh and JayKayy, and thank you to all for being patient with me. Enjoy. :D

- Skylar. x

Pairings in this chapter: Beckendorf x Silena, Clarisse x Chris, Percy x Annabeth, one-sided Calypso x Percy, Jason x Reyna, slight Jason x Piper, Thalia x Luke, Katie x Travis.

In the Mind of an Aphrodite Girl: Love

Part 2.

If you love it like I love it

And you feel what I feel inside

If you want it like I want it

Then baby let's get it tonight

If you feel it, say hell yeah (hell yeah)

Say hell yeah (hell yeah)

Say hell yeah (hell yeah)

This is love, this is love, this is love.

- This Is Love, Will. ft. Eva Simons

Unconditional love

Have you ever heard of unconditional love? The type of love where you love someone regardless of their actions or beliefs? This love is said to be the purest and most sacred. It is often associated with the love of gods. My mother once told me a story about Hermes and his love for his son, Luke.

"Hermes? Are you okay?" My mother Aphrodite asked the sad god.

Hermes was sitting in a secluded corner of the Olympus gardens, his head bowed into his hands. He had refused to attend the Olympian council meeting, instead preferring to stay out in the gardens to mourn for his favourite son. It had been only two days since the burial ceremony of Luke Castellan, and the whole of Olympus was in a quite sombre mood.

"Leave me alone, 'Dite," Hermes said softly, not in the mood to have a chat with the oh-so-bubbly love goddess.

My mother, instead of walking away with a disdainful expression, took a seat next to her divine brother and wrapped an arm around him. "There, there, Hermes," she said gently. "The boy knows you loved him."

He looked up at her, his brown eyes red-rimmed and glossy. "I didn't say it to him at the very end," he whispered in a broken voice. "But I love him. Even though he went to Kronos' side and tried to eradicate Olympus, I-I still love him."

Aphrodite smiled at him, her eyes slightly watery. "That is so sweet!" She cried, clapping her hands together and giving a little squeal, shocking Hermes. "It's called unconditional love, sweetie." With that she bounced up from the seat and gave Hermes a quick hug. "That's a new one," she muttered, making a fluffy pink notebook appear with a puff of perfume and pink dust. "Unconditional! Hah! Perfect."

I sighed and gave a small groan as my mother finished her tale, beaming at me the whole time. My mother just had to ruin everything by doing that!

-!-

Celebrity Crush

I was sitting down on the green grass area near the entrance of Elysium, watching the Underworld creatures pass by. Outside the boundary of Elysium was a darker place, filled with people's souls and ghosts that roamed about. Monsters and creatures of many kinds drifted past, some of them getting really close to the golden fences of Elysium. The Field of Punishment were the farthest away from Elysium, thank Zeus.

I was watching the souls float by when I spotted a familiar figure amongst the spectral beings. This figure was clad in dark clothes, his hair a bird's nest, and wearing an unmistakeable silver skull ring on his left hand. I stood up and ran to the gold gates, squinting and rubbing my eyes to see whether what I saw was real. And it was.

"Nico!" I called, waving to the son of Hades. He gave a jump and then looked around nervously before spotting me waving and smiling at him. Then he blushed and began walking up to the gates to greet me.

"Hey, Silena," he said shyly as he approached. "How's Elysium going?"

"So, so," I answered, tucking a strand of hair in place. I then beamed at him and he gave me a grimace.

"Let me guess," he said, while I continued to beam at him. "You want to know the gossip going around at Camp?"

"You know me so well!" I grinned and he shot me a pained look.

Nico had an I-don't-really-want-to-talk-about-gossip look on his face, but I shot him my best puppy-dog eyes. Nico tried valiantly to look away, fiddling with his ring all the while. Then he sighed wearily. "This is gonna take a while," he sighed. "I'll climb over."

I smiled at him and he blushed wildly, climbing over the gate to sit on a grassy patch next to me.

"Well, at Camp there's a lot of celebrity crushing, going on..." He started, and then began to look scared at my hungry expression for more gossip. "And... erm..."

I wiped the look off my face and busied myself by tidying up his hair. "Silena!" He groaned, slapping my hands away.

"I'm making it look better," I protested, and he grumbled but let me brush his hair properly. Goodness, I thought. Boys really need to learn to groom themselves better. "So who are the girls crushing on?" I asked.

Nico took a deep breath before beginning.

"Clarisse...? Is that who I think it is?" Chris Rodriguez asked hesitantly, pointing a shaking finger up at a huge poster of a smiling blonde-haired boy adorning Clarisse's bunk bed wall.

"What of it, punk?" Clarisse retorted, staring up at the boy admiringly.

"B-b-but that's-!" Chris tried to interject, but Clarisse spun on him like an angry provoked lion.

She stabbed a stubby finger on his chest. "Don't. You. Dare. Say. A. Word." She growled, jabbing her finger on him with each word.

Clarisse then turned away from a stunned Chris to finish pasting glue-tack on the poster when her cabin door swung open, revealing Percy, Nico and Annabeth. The three were clad in bronze battle gear, their weapons strapped behind their backs.

"Hey Clarisse! Do you wanna spar right now? We've got new campers-", Percy broke off from what he was saying as he noticed the poster on the wall. "-whoa! You like Cody Simpson?" Percy stood still, staring with his mouth hanging wide open up at the blonde-haired Aussie boy.

Annabeth then caught sight of Clarisse's enraged look. She grabbed Percy's hand and began tugging him backwards, away from the furious daughter of Ares. "Seaweed Brain!" She whispered, "Start backing away, and then run as fast as you can to your cabin!"

Percy gave a slight nod to his girlfriend, not removing eye contact from the fuming, blood-boiling, ear-steaming Clarisse. Nico walked backwards into the shadows, disappearing from sight. Percy and Annabeth however had no ability of shadow travelling, so as soon as they were one foot away from the cabin, they broke off into a sprint their weapons strapped on their back long forgotten, Clarisse right behind them screaming a war cry.

"Oh, wow," I breathed. Nico finished his story with a satisfied smile on his face as he recalled the event. "I never knew Clarisse celebrity crushed on him! Do you have another story?" I asked Nico eagerly.

Nico nodded. "This one is about Annabeth's celebrity crush..."

Annabeth hummed a bright and merry Christmas tune as she hung silver tinsel around the Jackson's house. It was Christmas break, and Sally had generously offered to let Annabeth, Nico and Thalia stay over for the holidays so that they could all be together.

Walking over to hers and Thalia's shared room, she opened the door to find Thalia bobbing her head up and down to music on her iPod. She waved a quick hello to her friend before spotting her life-sized cardboard model of her favourite celebrity. She walked over to him and began hanging tinsel around his neck, ignoring Thalia's fake puking noises behind her.

"Why," Thalia started in a horrified tone, "would you have a life-sized model of Percy in your room?"

Annabeth turned around to face the blue-eyed daughter of Zeus. Frowning she replied, "This isn't Percy!"

At that moment, Nico walked in the room, mouth half-way open to ask a question. He took one look at the life-sized model of "Percy" and his mouth hung slack. "Y-you-no-err-Percy?" He stuttered, mouth agape at the celebrity smiling back at him. Thalia let out a snort of laughter and had to shove the sleeve of her hoodie over her mouth to muffle her laughter.

The blonde groaned. "Once again, that is not Percy!"

"Hey, Wise Girl!" Percy entered the room holding a huge cardboard box full of shiny baubles and Santa ornaments. He looked up at what Thalia and Nico were staring and snickering at. His eyes widened slightly but he quickly regained his composure. "You know, when I said to take a picture of me, I didn't know you would go to the extreme and get a life-sized poster of me."

This time both Nico and Thalia were half-rolling on the floor laughing. Annabeth glowered at Percy who gave her a timid smile. "That is not you," she gritted out. "That's Logan Lerman! And he's way better looking!"

Thalia paused, and took one look at Percy and then another at Annabeth's poster. "They look identical," she said, whilst Percy yelled out an indignant, "Hey!" in response to Annabeth.

"Believe what you want," Annabeth snapped and she walked over to Percy, dumping the tinsel on him.

"Ooh," I commented. "Logan Lerman actually does look like Percy! And he's cuuuute, too."

Nico just grinned, standing up and brushing his pants off. He looked over at the huge black castle which loomed over the Underworld. There was a red light at the tip of the spire, repeatedly flashing. There was one flash, then two quick flashes. "I've gotta go, Silena. My dad is calling me. Nice talking to you."

I smiled up at him and blew him a kiss as he climbed back over the fence. "See you next time, Nico!"

-!-

Unrequited love

Unrequited love is another type of love which my mom uses to interfere with other people's relationships. Take for instance Percy Jackson's and Annabeth Chase's relationship. It's going all fine and smooth until blam! Rachel Dare appears. Then Rachel starts taking an interest in Percy, who has no romantic interest in her at all. This is unrequited love. Sometimes it's so sad. One person likes another, but the one that he/she loves doesn't reciprocate their feelings. Or the other way around. Damn.

There was another girl who loved Percy other than Rachel. Her name was Calypso. I learnt about her story when I reached Elysium, watching their tale on the Hephaestus TV. I felt sorry for Calypso. So many heroes whom she fell in love with always left her in the end because they didn't love her back.

"Why won't you stay?" Calypso asked sadly to a now healed Percy Jackson.

Percy had a sorrowful expression on his face. "I can't, Calypso. I'm sorry but my friends need me."

Calypso felt her heart break again. It had happened so many times in the past with so many heroes, but each time it occurred again the pain felt fresh and almost unbearable. She wanted to plead with the handsome hero to stay, but she knew the effort would be futile. Percy seemed to care very deeply for his friends. Oh how she wished that she could just escape Ogygia and travel with him.

"Take my raft," she said after steadying herself. She breathed in deeply, struggling to hold her emotions in herself. "And take this clipping of Moonlace to plant in your garden." And also to remember me, she thought sadly.

Percy accepted the clipping and he began to walk down to the beach. "Thanks, Calypso. For everything."

She watched as the hero set sail on the raft, drifting away from her island. She dropped down onto her knees, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through her knees. Closing her eyes, she prayed to the Olympus gods. 'Please, please make it stop hurting.'

I sat still as I watched the poor girl cry softly on the screen. She was now alone and would be for another thousand years. I stifled a small sob as I watched her try and collect herself again.

-!-

Romantic love

"Hey, beautiful," Charlie called to me as I walked past the Elysium lounge. I was carrying bagfuls of new cosmetic products Persephone bought for me and was halfway bringing them to my room.

I paused, twirling gracefully around at the sound of his voice. The twirl brought me into his arms and he wrapped them securely around my waist so that I wouldn't fall.

"Why, hello handsome." I smirked back at him and leaned down to press a kiss on my forehead. I couldn't help it but snuggle slightly closer into his embrace.

He peered down between us and saw the plastic bags with Mac makeup and a stack of Girlfriend and Seventeen magazines. "Persephone?" He inquired, a smile playing on his lips. I nodded once and pulled away, walking up the rest of the way to my room before dumping them on a dresser. Peering outside, I checked the time on the huge clock in the middle of the area. Hmm, I thought. Time to see how my girls are doing.

Rolling up the sleeves of my t-shirt, I skipped the way downstairs, grabbing the remote off a snoozing Ethan Nakamura. He stirred slightly and when I patted his forehead and whispered soothing words, his head fell back upon the pillow and he let out a loud snore.

I clicked a button on the remote and the TV blared to life, so I quickly adjusted the volume and switched to Annabeth's channel to check up on her. Annabeth's channel was a strictly private channel which filmed Annabeth's adventures during the day. It was strongly opposed by Athena, claiming that her daughter should have some privacy. Unfortunately through the intervention of my mother, Athena could not have any say in this. The channel had many uses, ironically one of them was being used by Athena to spy on Annabeth's and Percy's doing. Personally, I didn't really use it to spy on Annabeth, no, no. I just used it to check up on her, as a good friend would.

"What do you think of their relationship?" Annabeth whispered to Percy, not taking her eyes off the leader of the Roman Camp.

The pair was sitting at a huge outside dining hall. Lavish scenery surrounded them, and it reminded me of Ancient Rome. "Ah," I mused. "So this must be the Roman Camp, Camp Jupiter."

Tall, beige columns held up the triangular roof on top of the building, and it was spacious and oh-so-nice looking. Vines of dark green winded up the columns adorned with flowers of an assorted variety of colours. They branched up at the perpendicular edges of the building into clusters of flowers, preciously and strategically placed. Torches of fire were lit and surrounded the buildings in their holders, while groups of fireflies buzzed around idly. In the middle of the huge area were rows of tables, each with a mosaic symbol of a god in the middle. Hot steaming foods in platters were on the tables and glass cups filled with red rich liquid, possibly kool aid, were lined up neatly. Large groups of campers were sitting at these tables, talking and laughing as they ate and drank. It was the perfect scenery of a Patrician mealtime in Ancient Rome. The only difference was that this was Camp Jupiter, and the peoples were campers.

"Who?" Percy asked, popping a few grapes in his mouth.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Jason and Reyna, of course. They look so… so…" she paused, searching for the right word. "Edgy. O-or uncomfortable."

Percy just shrugged, continuing to eat grapes. This time he encouraged Annabeth to try throwing them in his mouth.

"No!" She said, trying to control her laughter, before settling down. "But seriously, Percy, look at them!"

He set down his bowl of delicious red grapes and turned to focus on his girlfriend. Oh the things he did for her, such as ignoring his beautiful grapes to talk to her about his mate's relationship. Turning his eyes on Thalia's brother, he saw that even though he was amongst a crowd of old friends, not once did he look up. Percy saw that Jason looked so out of place. He looked thoughtful, and was not mixing in with the laughing crowd. Following Annabeth's gaze along the line of the Praetor's table, he saw a moody Reyna. Her eyes were cloudy as she stared straight at the blonde child of Zeus. Once in a while she would shake herself and pretend to be laughing at Dakota's jokes.

"They must have had some history, would be my guess." He finally stated, and Annabeth gave a sharp nod before turning to face Percy.

"Open your mouth," she smirked and he raised an eyebrow. "Come on." She goaded, and when he did, she tossed a grape at him.

-?-

Whatever happened to us? Jason thought tiredly. He felt so confused. Just a few weeks ago he was… He was… Who was he? His memories had been erased, and he was still fighting to retrieve them. Tossed into a world of the unknown with only his fighting instinct to guide him, he had stumbled upon the Greek world. There he met Piper.

Oh, Piper. She was so beautiful. She was kind, generous and gorgeous. Chocolate brown hair framed her face and those kaleidoscope eyes had him at first sight. He was surprised when she had claimed that he was her boyfriend, but felt secretly delighted, even though he had denied the claim when they first met. Then as his memories slowly came back to him, he remembered another girl. Reyna, she was called. Reyna, the praetor of Camp Jupiter. Reyna, his first love. Reyna, the girl that used to be…

He frowned. That used to be what? He slapped himself in the forehead, trying to remember, and he ignored the snickers his friends gave him. Groaning he tugged at his messy blonde hair. He wished Thalia were here to help him with his memory loss. Jason sighed as he began poking at his food again. He was so confused. So utterly confused.

Lifting his glass of red kool aid, he let it touch his lips before gasping slightly at a kaleidoscope eye reflecting on the glass. Dark lashes framed the eye, which winked once before disappearing. Shrugging it off as a hallucination of Piper's eye, he sipped the drink and time stopped. The scene before him froze and the edges grew blurry. Soon before he knew it, he blacked out.

When he came to, he was watching a scene. It was as if he were in a cinema, and on the screen was a scene of one of the places he had seen before. The camp's arena.

It appeared to be sunset, as the ground was bathed in orange, gold and pink light. It streamed through the gardens and he felt as if this was a long time ago. A scuffle was heard and he spun around as the sound of voices reached his ears. He gasped when he saw the sight before him. There he was, wearing traditional gold armour, walking hand in hand with a girl the same age wearing a purple toga with gold embroidery. The cinema Jason had the appearance of a god. His blonde hair had sunlight streaming off it, and the sunset colours made his armour gleam and shine. He whispered something in the girl's ear and she let out a hearty laugh. The Jason that was watching widened his eyes. He recognised the girl. It was Reyna.

"So, you wanted to tell me something?" She asked shyly.

"Yeah," he smiled down at her before grasping both her hands. He leaned down and whispered three words which made Jason gasp. Reyna in the scene, however, seemed absolutely thrilled and lifted up her lips to meet golden Jason's. Golden Jason broke the kiss off to stare deeply in her eyes. "We've only been together for a few months and I don't know whether we'll be together forever. But right now I want to be with you and be happy and have fun."

"No…" He groaned and buried his head into his hands, squeezing his eyes tightly and refusing to watch the scene. Gold Jason reminded him of the gold days, when he wasn't confused. Gold Jason was there as a reminder of a good time in his life. And now, he was gone.

He shuddered and gasped as his eyes fluttered open to meet worried kaleidoscope eyes. He blinked a few times to get his orientation, then realised that everyone in the hall was staring at him.

"Are you okay?" The voice of an angel greeted him and he knew it came from the owner of the kaleidoscope eyes. Piper.

"Y-yeah…" He said shakily. "I…" He trailed off. He couldn't tell Piper he had another memory flashback. She would ask and her voice would compel him to tell her. He couldn't do that to her. He couldn't break her heart with his still strong feelings for a certain female praetor. "I was just exhausted," he completed the sentence, and as she took in his appearance, she deemed him as truthful, before telling him that he worked too hard and needed to rest more. Jason nodded to it all, not in the mood to talk.

He stood up abruptly and began striding out of the hall. With one last backwards glance, he locked eyes with the brunette praetor. Then he forced himself to tear his eyes away and never look back. It was better this way for both of them.

-!-

Lust (Desire):

Lust and desire. Is it really a form of love? Perhaps it is on a different level, but it really does depend on your perspective. My divine brother, Eros, always said desire was a form of love. My mother was also ready to agree with that statement.

What exactly is lust? Is it only just strong sexual desire? Or could it be defined as something else, perhaps? Maybe a lust for… for food?

"You either love me, or lust for me," Thalia panted out, trailing her hands down Luke's buttoned up shirt.

She didn't know how or why she was in such a compromising position in one of the most inconvenient times (Percy was somewhere out there battling with a few of Kronos' rising army). All she knew was that she was no longer a tree, and Luke was no longer the young boy that he used to be.

"Both," he managed to rasp out, leaning down to suck on her neck. She softly moaned his name and that only made the heat between them even more intense. Slowly he kissed up her jaw until he reached her lips. He paused, waiting to see if she would reject him, and when she didn't, he pulled away and just stared at her for a while, trying to imprint this image forever in his mind. At that moment he saw her… and he wanted her. The way her electric blue eyes were boring into his own, her face all flushed in a delightful pink shade, her black shoulder length hair mussed up and her perfect lips slightly open. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed deeply, and he felt his arousal grow. He could only think lustful thoughts of her, and when he realised what he was doing, Luke pulled away from her, fully.

"We can't do this," he groaned, turning his head to one side. He couldn't bear to look at her, for fear that his lust would overcome him and he would destroy the only love he had in this world. There was no reply from the girl and he held his breath. She hated him. She must hate him. She had offered herself to him fully but he denied her to himself.

"You love me." She spoke and he whipped his head around to stare at her in amazement. Her jumper sleeves were rolled up showing her flawless skin, and as she sat, she swung her legs from side to side. Luke was surprised to see that she had an outrageous smile on her face, and as if to prove to him that she was real, she reached out and touched the scarred side of his face, trailing her finger along it.

Taking her hand away from his face and not averting his eyes from her gaze, he simply kissed the tip of her finger.

-!-

Relationship love:

One of the most infuriating and difficult types of love was relationship love, the love between a girl and a boy, or a girl and a girl, or a boy and a boy. This type of love had the most sought after advice. Usually at the Aphrodite cabin, everyone would have a huge stress out on July the Fourth, due to all the boys being too shy to ask their girl out. This would then cause a huge problem with the girls thinking that their boys didn't like them. And then the result was heartbroken people everywhere. This then in due course led to relationships being fixed by Aphrodite children.

"So, what are we doing today?" Katie Gardner asked me as she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. "Hopefully it's not…" She trailed off as she caught a gleam in my eyes. "Oh no, Silena. No. I am not helping you with your love magic again."

"Oh, come on," I goaded, before remembering what she said. "It's not love magic!" I sniffed, slightly offended, and crossed my arms over my chest.

Today was June the 30th, and whilst Charlie had asked me to the July fireworks, Katie had not been asked yet. Emphasis on the word 'yet'. Of course me being me, I always had something up my sleeves in case emergencies like these occurred.

I followed Katie down to the lake, my beach towel tucked under my arm and my picnic bag swinging along. To Katie's utter disgust and to my absolute pleasure, she allowed me to dress her up for our girls' beach party. She had on a perfect chick yellow bikini with stripes and big shades, going for a retro look. I on the other hand was dressed in a pale pink and polka dot bikini.

The sun was glaring down on us by the time we were down at the lake's shore. Annabeth greeted us, along with a few others from different cabins. "Hey Silena, Katie," she grinned broadly, and it was good to see her relaxed for once.

"Hi!" I grinned back at her. Annabeth was sporting waist high faded jean shorts with a floral patterned bikini top. She had shiny aviator glasses which reflected the lake scene. Surprisingly, Percy was nowhere near her. In fact, he was all the way around the other side of the lake, sitting at the jetty surrounded by a group of boys.

"Relationship problems?" I enquired, and flashed a knowing smile her way.

She grumbled as she shifted her bags and items to make a spot for me to sit down. "Yeah," she sighed.

"Want to talk about it?" I leaned down on my makeshift pillow and pulled out my Gucci sunglasses. Katie had already gone down to the shore to talk to the younger girls, and I had forgotten to ask her to put sunscreen on me. "Hmm," I muttered, applying some to myself and ignoring the hungry stares of the camp boys as they watched eagerly.

"It's… It's stupid, really," she started, twirling her hair with a finger. "We were just talking about the holiday arrangements, and when he said that Rachel would be staying for a while, I don't know what happened. I was so angry and confused. This has never happened before, so why should it happen now?"

"Jealousy." I commented, waiting for her to continue.

"I know." She murmured, and her aviators made it hard to see her emotion. "I told you it was stupid. And now because of this, we haven't spoken to each other for a whole week."

"Achievement!" Katie chuckled as she plopped herself beside me, wringing her wet hair out. Annabeth bit her lip and Katie realised we were having a serious conversation. "Um, well that is-"

"It's okay, Katie," Annabeth cut her off with a small smile. "Anyways what I was worried about is whether he's going to ask me to the fireworks."

"He hasn't asked you yet?" I said, shocked, and I was pretty sure Katie's mouth was hanging open too.

"Nope." She replied, popping the 'p'. "I can't help but think that he will ask some other girl." The blonde glanced up at me as I casually stood up and dusted the sand off of my legs. "Silena?"

"Not now, Annabeth," I answered, grabbing my makeup kit. Flipping it open I carefully applied some strawberry lip gloss, smacking my lips in satisfaction as the coat I put on shined.

"Oh no." The girls behind me groaned and my shoulders shook with laughter. "Silena, can't we think about it first before-"

I cut Annabeth off. "No. I have a plan to make them ask you out tonight."

"Them?" Annabeth's brow furrowed.

"Percy… And Katie's special someone." I smirked as I watched Katie grow silent, trying to figure out what I meant.

"Special someone? Travis?!" She turned beet red and I nearly let out a guffaw at her expression.

"I never said anything about Travis being your special someone. But… your wish is my command!" I winked at her and her mouth dropped open.

"No!" She gasped and I nudged her out of the way. Grabbing all the towels and food, I made my way back to the cabins, away from the boys.

"Where are you going, Silena?" Annabeth asked as she and Katie jogged to keep up. "I thought you were going to head to the jetty."

"I'm trying a different method." I replied, opening my cabin and dumping the stuff on my bunk.

Settling herself down on my fluffy love heart pillows, Annabeth asked, "And what would that method be?"

"Ignore them." I casually replied, locking the cabin shut and closing the window blinds.

Pulling on a light summer dress, I worked around the mess in the cabin, tidying stuff as I did so. I made a huge space in front of the large flat screen TV and pulled out a couple of chick flicks.

"Isn't ignoring them the opposite of what we're meant to do?" Katie asked curiously, catching the huge fluffy pillows I threw at her and Blondie.

"Hmm? What do you mean 'opposite'?" I did quotation marks in the air with my fingers, pausing as I noticed that on one finger my nail polish had chipped.

Annabeth, catching on to what Katie was saying replied, "She means aren't we meant to get their attention?"

"Oh no, not today. Today we make them miss us."

Finally realising what I was trying to do, they grinned up at me, finally settling down on beanbags and pillows to watch the movie marathon.

"What are you waiting for, man? Just hurry up and knock on the door." I stirred slightly, raising my head from something soft and warm underneath me. Thinking of it as some part of my dream, I rested my head down again.

-?-

"I can't. She's probably really mad at me." This time the warm thing moved and I shot up like a bullet. I held in a soft scream before I looked around. It seemed to be afternoon time. The TV was turned off, possibly by Katie. Remnants of our movie snacks were lying around the floor with crumbs. I shivered slightly with disgust. I would have to clean that up later. Glancing down, I realised that I had been lying on Annabeth's boobs. Whoops. I rubbed my eyes and climbed up my bunk, opening the curtain for a peek outside. Four figures were there: the unmistakable figure of my boyfriend Charlie, Percy Jackson, Travis, and – what was that? I rubbed my eyes again and stared down at the fourth person's feet. Hooves? Grover?

"That's why you have to hurry up and clear up the confusion. If you don't ask her, someone else will." Grover said forcefully, pushing Percy towards the door.

"No, no, no, no," Percy pushed back. "She was the one who jumped to conclusions. But…" He sighed, pushing his fringe back. He then lowered his head and turned pink. "But… I don't want to let any other guy ask her to the fireworks."

I felt like clasping my hands together and cheering. But first…

"Annabeth?" I jumped to her side, shaking her shoulders gently. "Get up, get up!"

"Mm?" She groggily said, then flipped around, pulling me with her.

"Up! Get up!" I said, but was muffled by a pillow. I shoved her off before kneeling beside her. I had no other choice. "Annabeth… Hey, you know, Percy's at the door?"

"What?!" She jumped up, smacking her head against mine.

"Owww!" We both exclaimed, and that was when the door was forced open.

Things flashed by so fast. One second I was laying beside Annabeth, the next a huge lump (namely, Percy) was between us. He was cradling her to his chest while she sat there stunned, her legs straight in front of her and her arms pinned down to her side.

"Are you okay?" He murmured, gently touching her forehead where we bumped earlier.

"Yeah." Blondie seemed in a daze. She lifted her hand to caress his face before giving him a vicious slap. The rest of us watched on in stunned silence before Annabeth leaned over and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. "Go fireworks with me?" She smiled innocently at him.

Already forgetting the slap, he rolled his eyes. "Of course, stuuu-pid."

They leaned in again to kiss and at that moment I felt Charlie's arms wrap around my waist. "Look," he said, nodding his head in the direction of Katie and Travis.

"Hey, Katie?" He stood at the door with a shy smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Y-yes?" She replied nervously, fidgeting slightly.

"Do you… erm… Would you like to, you know, go to the fireworks? Together?" He blurted out quickly.

"Yes," she repeated smiling.

"See?" I turned to Charlie, smiling. "Things did work out in the end for those guys!"

He shook his head, chuckling and hand in hand we walked out of the cabin, passing by Grover. Grover was humming along to a tune of his very own, looking very nonchalant.

"Grover, what are you doing here?" I asked and his sense of calmness was smashed into pieces as he became quite flustered.

"Blehh! Silena! Uh, I was just observing… um, demigod relationships?" His voice cracked and went higher at the end. I clapped my hands over my mouth to stop my giggles from escaping.

"Sure, sure."

-!-

Lasting love:

We are one tonight

And we're breathing in the same air

So turn up the love

Turn up the love

We're turnin' up the love

- Turn Up the Love, Far East Movement ft. Cover Drive

Before I fell in love with Charlie, what I was experiencing with other boys was a kind of shallow love. Being the daughter of Aphrodite, I thought that I would be experienced in love before I even knew it. I never thought I would be so wrong.

I knew I was beautiful (thanks to my mother's genes, of course), and I thought that when you loved someone, they had to reflect your beauty. So I dated boys who were handsome. I didn't date for their personality, nor did I care about their feelings. It was mutual for them, too.

Then I heard that there was a guy who had liked me for three years. There were two possible reasons for this – he was really obsessed with me (which would be really creepy!) or he loved me. At that time I had no idea who he was. But I was curious. After learning that his name was Charles Beckendorf, but known to everyone as just Beckendorf, I began to secretly watch him (which makes me sound creepy, but seriously…).

I don't think that I had ever fallen in love with someone so hard.

Beckendorf had a tall, strong build – strong muscles, broad shoulders. He was also handsome with black hair, smouldering brown eyes and a tan. He wasn't known around the camp for his looks though, but for the way that he could craft anything with his hands. I also noticed that he didn't manipulate others, though he was a strong and intimidating figure. Instead, he was kind and hardworking.

And that was why I felt like I needed him to ask me out to the fireworks. So I asked the witty and wise Annabeth for help. Together we schemed up a plan to get Percy away from him during a game of capture the flag. Unfortunately it went wrong, but the outcome was what I had hoped.

A time came when I had to meet with a previous love interest – Luke Castellan. What we shared was just infatuation. I had no idea that he would manipulate my feelings in a way so that I would be a spy for him. Is this what it felt like to have someone important to you threatened? I asked myself when he threatened to hurt Charlie. It was the first time I had felt like that and it was not to be the last.

When I learnt that Charlie had died in an explosion on the Princess Andromeda, I was shocked. There were two thoughts running through my mind: Charlie was gone and Luke lied. I was consumed by hatred for Luke, but I was also miserable without Charlie. Clarisse tried to cheer me up on multiple occasions but it didn't feel the same. I felt like my soul and heart had been ripped out of me, leaving an empty and cold shell.

The Battle of Manhattan was to be the last battle I fought. I remember that the Ares cabin was not present, and without them a monster – the Lydian Drakon – could not be defeated. I remember looking around amidst the chaos and realising that Charlie wasn't just the only person I loved. The campers are my family, too. So I went back to New York to convince Clarisse to come. She didn't agree, so I forced myself to take charge. To be courageous and brave for once. Maybe… just maybe, I could redeem myself in Charlie's eyes.

Taking on the Drakon proved to be the hardest battle in my life. I wasn't doing it to show off. I was doing it to protect the campers who I loved. I sort of knew that I would die. I didn't expect it to be abrupt. One second I was flying in the air from a hit, the next I was blasted in the face with fiery hot poison. I remember it burning through the helmet, burning through my face, seeping in my skin. What a laugh. This was the first time I didn't care about my beauty. At that moment, I heard the campers who came around me. I heard their muffled screams as they stared at my face, wasting away before their eyes. I heard Clarisse and I tried to smile, I tried to tell her it was alright. It would be alright. Clarisse was there now. My senses were dulling and I was at the point where I could only gasp futilely for air.

Though it seems emo-like, I wanted to die. I wanted… I wanted to… "Charlie…" I forced out, and my windpipe made it came out in a high pitched wheeze. "See… Charlie…" As if there was a projector in my head, like a movie, all the happy memories of our relationship started flashing by. Us kissing, us by the lake, us at a party, us just being together. Faster and faster they went.

Then the noise and sounds of the world slowly faded into thick blackness.

-?-

When I came to, I was laying in an old wooden boat. Charon was standing at the end, rowing us to the depths of the Underworld.

"You're awake, are you?" He spoke, and I quickly nodded, touching my face and feeling relieved that it felt normal. I glanced around to take in the scenery. Dull and bleak with plenty of fire. Yup, Hell.

"I'm being sent here?!" I squeaked, staring around fearfully. "No, no, no…" I moaned, grabbing my hair.

I felt a hand pat my back gently. "No, not here. There." He pointed over the columns of lava and gloom to a bright place of white and gold. "Elysium is where you're heading to, Daughter of Aphrodite. You've been deemed a Hero of Olympus. I've been ordered to escort you directly there under the orders of Lord Hades."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. "Seriously? No way! Thanks Charon!" I leapt up and hugged him, causing the boat to shake. "Sorry," I muttered, sitting back down for the rest of the ride as he tried, but failed miserably, to scowl at me.

As soon as Charon dropped me off at the gate, I spotted him immediately. There was no scowl on his face. No harsh greeting or a scolding for me being a spy. Charlie Beckendorf had the biggest smile on his face and his arms were held wide and open for me. "You're late," he grinned.

Time stopped and without any hesitation I ran towards him. In a quite un-Aphrodite fashion, I tackled him to the ground. "I love you," I smiled and pressed my cheek against his. "I have loved you for years. I don't want anyone else. I love you."

I felt his arms encircle me. "I love you, too." I felt him smile against me.

"Forever?" I asked.

"Forever." Charlie - my Charlie- confirmed.

And then we both closed the gap between us with a sweet kiss.

- The End. -