if I fell, a percy jackson and the olympians fanfic

a/n: long time no fic, I guess.

this one, I must warn you, contains swearing. also death. if you, like me, found the blood of olympus to be a bit of a disappointment, I hope you stick with this fic to the end. if you liked the blood of olympus and don't feel a need to change anything about it...well, I hope you'll like it, too.

if i fell

The night before, Piper does not think to tell Jason I love you, even though they haven't been together long; he kisses her goodnight all she says is, see you tomorrow, and she does, and he falls asleep with their hands entwined on the bus.

When he wakes up, he doesn't know her anymore.

The clouds churn and Jason looks at her blankly– they are only ten feet apart but the space between them seems to widen into a river, a sea, an ocean. Leo cracks weird jokes and spits over the side off the cliff, and then it happens.

There is nothing to warn them – only a slight shift in the winds as everything turns to vapor. Jason produces a spear out of midair and seems are freaked out as she; Leo is batted to the side by an invisible hand of air and rolls and rolls, gathering gravel in his hair. Coach Hedge yells, look out, cupcakes! and then a sword tip grazes his side and he falls. Blood spills onto the ground and Piper thinks about how she once set his pants on fire. She is too stunned to scream or yell or move, damn it, as Coach Hedge is lifted into the air and out of sight.

Jason darts in and out of her vision, battling grey things, and Leo turns to his side and pukes, coughing and shuddering. Piper picks up a rock to help but then a gust of wind slams into her and she is falling, falling, into nothingness, and there is nothing except the cold cutting her face, and she closes her eyes –

She is suspended in midair. Jason holds her and he is avoiding her eyes. He does not see the tears fall a million feet into the canyon below.

Jason's chin bleeds when the blonde girl shoves her dagger under it.

"Where is he?" Her grey eyes are mad, constantly darting, focusing on Piper, on Leo, on the gray sky. Her dagger presses against Jason's throat – he makes a strangled, gulping sound.

"Stop!" Piper pleads – he may not remember her but she does, she does, and he caught her and she may even love him and she doesn't like to see him hurt. "Please, we don't know anything –"

"Liar," she hisses, and she knees Jason in the gut so he falls to the ground, to turn to Piper instead. Something in her expression looks broken.

"We can help you find whoever you're looking for –" Leo offers, but the girl lashes out with one hand and Leo bends over and coughs up spit.

The girl gets in Piper's face. "Tell– me–where – he– is." She gets a little closer to Piper's face with each word. "I swear I won't hesitate to kill you –" her eyes sweep the ground – "all three of you. Tell me where he is, and I'll back off, and you can go back to being little nothings."

"We don't know." Piper winces and the knife's cool metal touches her neck. "I'm not lying, please, please believe us, we were attacked, and our Coach…person is probably d–dead –" Dumbly, she begins to cry, and the girl removes her dagger. Her grey eyes fall to the ground.

"You're not lying," she whispers, and she doubles over and begins to cry. Her body shakes and she gasps for breath, and she turns to the sky and shrieks, "Why are you doing this to me? Why?" and lightning flashes. Another guy approaches and touches the girl's shoulder, then helps her back to the chariot – the girl's cries haunt Piper's ears.

Jason stands. "What the fuck is her problem?"

The guy turns to them. "You have no idea what the hell you're saying, kid. If you'd gone though what she has –"

"Who's she lost?" Piper cuts in.

The guy is grave. "Her boyfriend. A guy called Percy Jackson."

They tell their story – Jason whispers, "I can't remember...anything", and Piper says, "This is a mistake, we've known each other the whole year –" and the girl sneers, What's his last name? and Piper knows it, she knows it, she knows it. Her mouth goes dry. She knows it.

Piper can't remember her boyfriend's last name. She can't remember when she met him, how she met him, anything about him, except that she thinks she loves him. The blonde girl says, "It was a trick of the Mist, that's all. None of it ever happened. That's why you don't remember." She looks bitter. "There aren't mistakes, not in our world."

Jason looks at his shoes and Piper wants to scream but instead she bites down on her tongue so hard it bleeds. Blood fills her mouth but she swallows it down.

The moment the chariot touches down, flames ignite over Leo's head.

"What the –" Leo stumbles and falls, but the flames follow. He screams, "Get them away!" but they don't, so Leo kneels on the ground with his hands clenching the grass and makes soft, choking noises. The flames fade. Piper helps Leo up and he is trembling. She feels the goosebumps on his arm.

"You okay?" she whispers, but Leo's eyes are red and he pulls his hand away and doesn't reply.

"Wow," someone from the crowd comments, "Bunch of nutjobs you got us, Annabeth."

She throws a spear on the ground. The same guy comments, "I guess you didn't find Percy, then."

Annabeth snarls, "What the fuck do you think, Stoll?" She turns to Leo, who still looks white. "The fire wasn't real, by the way. You were claimed – by Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths and fire and a bunch of other shit I'm too tired to name –" the clouds roar – "yeah, shut up, pisspots. But yeah, basically, if you've got a phobia of fire, you'd better get over it quick. And for what it's worth, welcome to Camp." Her hand touches her neck and clasps a thin necklace. "Someone get the other two to Hermes until the campfire. I'm too tired to put up with this bullshit."

The crowd vanishes except for a tall, pretty Asian girl who latches onto Jason like a leech. Leo's eyes are still wide and he stops at the first bathroom and doesn't come out. The girl rolls her eyes, "Good riddance," and loops her arm through Jason's. Piper snaps, "Get away."

"Okay," the girl says, in a dazed voice, and she prances off.

"How'd you do that?" Jason wonders, but Piper's anger at the whole day in general kind of spills over. "I don't care, okay?" she snaps. "Just g–go away. Please."

She doesn't really want him to obey, but he does, and Piper stands in the grass on a winter day, all alone.

Piper doesn't go to Hermes Cabin. She goes to the second one instead, the one withwith peacocks on the outer walls. The moment she steps over the threshold her head goes woozy. A voice yells in her mind, so loud it pounds at her skull like tiny fists – FREE ME! FREE ME! and she blacks out.

She remembers Jason kissing her and her father and surfing on the beach and peanut–butter–and–jelly sandwiches and a beautiful woman's smile. If only she could wake up that happy.

Piper wakes up to a damp pillow – she's been crying in her sleep.

"I told them to take you to Hermes Cabin," Annabeth murmurs sullenly on a chair close by. Piper tries to sit up and it doesn't work. She falls back and the tears on the pillow make her hair and the back of her neck damp. "What the hell happened?" she asks.

"Search me," Annabeth shrugs. "You were the one who went exploring. I saw the Hera door open, saw you conked out on the floor, screaming Stop! Stop! It was creepy."

"I–I…" Piper tries to remember. "There was a voice in my head. A woman yelled, all crazy-ish, Free me! It hurt so bad...I passed out. I guess."

"Huh." Annabeth shrugs. She stands. "We'll figure it out tonight at the campfire. In the meantime, rest, and please don't wander off. I've got enough on my plate without you trying to clamber on, too."

The only thing they figure out at the campfire is that everything sucks.

Jason summons lightning and arcs of electricity streak his hair and the whole night he looks at her all concerned, but that's probably a mistake because apparently he first learned her name this morning. Leo sits with his half–siblings and looks at everything but the campfire changing different colors.

Rachel's eyes turn fluorescent green and she hisses out strings of words that Piper doesn't understand. She ends with "–and death unleash, through Hera's rage," and Piper remembers the voice in her head, screeching, FREE ME! She shivers, even though she is closest to the fire.

Someone says quest, quest and everyone takes up the chant. Piper needs to go. Piper's got to go. Piper says, "I want to go."

Someone laughs – the pretty girl, the one who likes Jason. "Please. You? You're worthless. You got here this morning and you spent the rest of the day unconscious. You know nothing."

Everyone around goes, Yes, that's right.

Piper pleads, But I've got to go. It's supposed to be me. I have a feeling. I got a vision. She does not say, My father has been taken. She can't say that, but the crowd agrees anyway.

The girl stands. "Stop!" she glares at Piper. "Y–you're a witch. Think you're so smart? Well, I may just know something–"

She never finishes, because Piper begins to glow pink. Everyone stares at Piper and she snaps, What? When she looks down she's wearing a dress and her hair is combed and she's wearing makeup and accessories and her face is clean. There is no dirt under her fingernails and all her zits are gone. Leo says, "What the–?"and Jason says, "Piper, you're a knockout," and Chiron says, "Daughter of Aphrodite," and everyone kneels.

Piper says, "Fuck."

That night, Piper sees purple fire and her father writhes under a giant, scaly foot. The voice scoffs, Time's almost up, little girl. Piper tastes metal and her lip is bloody, soaking the pillow. She can't go to sleep again.

Her cabinmates sneer at her and Piper can't take it anymore. All her half–siblings look so fake and plastic and they stare at her with contempt in their eyes. The Asian girl, Drew, coughs "even Mom's blessing can't hide the ugly," when Piper tries to rub the makeup away, and for some stupid reason Piper's tongue is tied. All she can think of is that these mean, hurtful people can't be her family. She murmurs, "Aphrodite is not about this," and she hears the whole cabin erupt in laughter as she rushes from the place.

Leo does not tell them how he got the dragon. He does not tell them why the Boreads say he smells of fire and really, he does not tell them a thing. She asks him, "Why were you so scared when you first got claimed?" but he only clenches his jaw. Piper's sick of the secrets, but then remember she has too many of her own.

Khione's fingers touch Jason's neck and she croons in his ear and Piper's heart nearly implodes. She tells the goddess to back – off – now! and Jason looks so grateful. When they leave he whispers, thank you, and Piper doesn't tell him how easy it was to help because she'll never give up on him, on them.

His hands are around her waist. She tries not to feel anything but her cheeks are heating up embarrassingly so she closes her eyes and takes deep breaths.

When she opens them she is falling into thin air and she screams and Jason catches her. Leo is crying and sobbing as Festus crashes to the ground and he writhes and his tears fly up onto her face.

Jason grunts in effort. He begins, "Shit –" And he lets go.

Piper slams into the soil and her ankle goes Nope and she pukes bile in the bushes to her side. Jason carries her to a shelter and then he and Leo disappear into the gloom. And then there's a noise, and Piper takes her dagger and stands and Jason's voice says, "I'm coming up," but it's not him.

The Cyclopes tie her upside down next to Jason, the real Jason, who's been knocked out and his eyes are closed and she tries to say his name but she can't. Piper struggles and the blood rushes to her head and she feels nauseous.

Leo appears out of nowhere and suddenly there are flames dancing on his fingertips and he is walking through fire and there are explosions wherever he points. The female Cyclops stands in front of Piper, taunting, taunting – Leo's palms shoot out a burst of flame and the monster rolls out of the way. Piper's hands are literally tied and she can't move.

The fireball hits the side of her face and she screams as the embers cut into her skin and char her flesh. Somewhere her shrieks turn to sobs but nothing helps, nothing, and she can smell the burn. She is crying and thrashing and the skin around her left eye feels like a million needles are poking at the skin. Her tears do nothing to help the burn and she can't see anything, can't hear anything, can't feel anything except the pain – oh, the pain.

Piper blacks out.

In her dream, the voice says, Kill your friends or your father. Or you all die.

Jason wakes Piper up with a soft touch on her neck. The clouds sail past her. She hopes everything was a dream but her fingers touch her face and come back with tiny droplets of blood. She can't see much through her left eye.

"I need a mirror." Her voice is hoarse.

"Um, no –"

Leo says, "Piper, this is my fault –"

"Get me a mirror," Piper orders, power in her words.

"Okay." Jason hands it over.

She holds it in her hands for a long time, not looking at the reflection, but when she does, she feels numb. The left side of her face is raw and red like uncooked meat. Dry blood cakes her skin. The pain cuts through her cheek and into her skull, leaving her wincing. Piper's hand traces the wound without touching it and she drops the mirror, sending it sailing two hundred feet below them, cutting through the clouds like the marks on her skin.

"You okay?" Jason asks.

"No," Piper says. A teak traces the red skin, creating a tingling path on her face. She's a hypocrite, she's a hypocrite, she's yelled at her half–siblings that being pretty isn't important and here she is now, crying over her looks.

Leo speaks to her when Jason has slept. Clouds soar past them. Piper watches them and tries to stay awake, tries to resist sleep and the nightmares it will bring.

"You awake?" His voice is soft.

"Yeah," she whispers back.

He turns to her and his hair is ruffled in the wind and his features look softer in the moonlight. "Piper… I'm so, so sorry. This–this is all my fault." He sounds like he's crying and even though she can't see very well she makes a grab for his hand.

"I don't blame you," she says, even though she does, and there is a kind of clenchy feeling building up in her chest. He looks so guilty and so sorry and Piper is actually bitterly pleased that he feels regret – because he should.

"I blame me," he says.

"Nah," she tries to say something else, but that bitterly happy feeling is ballooning. Anything she tells him now will sound too much like the lie it is.

"Shut up, Piper!" Leo sounds panicked now. "You don't get it! Whenever I use fire I hurt people, and–and that's why I stopped! That's why I run away so much! That's why my mo–"

"Why what?" There it is, that feeling of anger that he is still hiding secrets. "Talk, Leo."

"Nothing." He's closed. His tone is short. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'll make it up to you…and I appreciate you not hating me. Even though you should." He slumps over Festus. Piper watches him pretend to sleep with her good eye and she wonders why Leo hasn't run from this crazy shit yet.

Piper is the only one who can resist Medea's charmspeak– the sorceress looks at her confusedly for a second, but then throws back her head and laughs silkily. "You're a daughter of Aphrodite?" Piper's eye twitches. Inside the cage, Hedge's eyes glare at her. Push for it, cupcake!

It feels good to drown the witch in her own poisons.

As they fly, Jason's thumb goes in circles on her back. She can't find the strength to look at him. Her cheek still throbs dully and Jason hasn't looked her in the face properly since the injury. She doesn't blame him. She probably looks a nightmare now; the goddess of beauty must be cursing herself for claiming her. Surprisingly, the thought makes her eyes brim over. She's feels so frail and weak and useless, but maybe she deserves one day of mourning. One day.

The wolves come at night.

By the time Jason rouses her, tells her in an urgent voice they need to leave, right now, they are surrounded. A man walks forward and takes one looks at her and then he laughs, like she's not worth his time. He speaks in Latin, gestures at Piper, and laughs. Jason stiffens, then charges. The wolves close in on them and Leo shoots fire. Flames wreathe the ground around them and Piper can't help it; she stumbles back and falls, shivering.

Jason looks angry at himself. He asks Leo, "Do you have anything silver? That's the only thing that'll hurt them."

Leo shakes his head. He is pale. "I can't keep the fire going much longer."

Jason clutches his lance. "Okay, so I guess we –"

An arrow hits him in the shoulder and he collapses. One hits Leo in the ankle and he goes down, too. The flames die, to Piper's relief. The wolves spring forward at her, but go down instantly to the arrows that seem to be falling from nowhere.

One hits the man in the palm and he howls. His eyes fix on Piper – the only one who hasn't been harmed – and he growls menacingly, then runs into the forest. The rest of his pack follows.

Piper crawls over to Jason, who is turning green. Leo writhes in pain next to him. Piper trembles, says, "Hold on, I have nectar –" and that's when she feels the knife on her neck.

"Don't move," says a girl's voice. "You're surrounded." Then – "Who the fuck are you idiots? Getting in our way just as we finally tracked Lycaon…"

Piper's fingers yearn to touch Jason, who convulses before them. "What have you done to my friends?"

The knife brushes the underside of her chin. "I'll ask the questions, thank you very much. Who are you newbies and what are you doing here, interfering with our hunt?"

"I'm Piper. I'm a daughter of Aphrodite. We were sent on a quest to find Hera. From Camp Half–Blood." Piper's arms reach out as Leo groans. "Please help them!"

"She's a daughter of Aphrodite?" someone giggles. "Looks more like –"

Piper's eyes sting and her fists clench, then unravel in hopelessness. The knife is removed. She can't bring herself to stand so the girl kneels instead. She looks more amused than worried. "I believe you. And don't worry about those two, there's a little poison on the arrow but it's not too bad. They'll just be useless for the next…say, six to eight hours." She turns to her companions. "Let's go."

Jason groans, then opens his eyes. Piper looks at the girl, stunned. The blue is the same.

The girl stands up and sprints into the wood. The others follow, silver shadows that glint softly in the moonlight.

"Thalia…" Jason whimpers.

And Piper screams for her to come back, again and again and again, and Jason's blood spills onto the leaves.

"She was my sister," Jason whispers, "and I may never see her again."

"Let's get used to that," Piper hears Leo say darkly.

Piper says, "I'm sorry. This is…my entire fault." She doesn't elaborate. She doesn't tell them how exactly she's doomed them. She doesn't tell them how she's supposed to kill them. Jason doesn't argue, just slumps behind her and puts his face in his hands. She thinks he might be crying, but she doesn't turn around.

You're almost out of time, says the cruel voice in her dreams. Kill your friends: the son of Hephaestus who wounded you so deeply, and the son of Zeus, who can't remember enough about you to care. Or I kill your father. Piper wakes up gasping, clawing at her burn. The blood dries on her fingernails.

Piper prays to her mother for the first time. Help me. Heal me. Nothing happens.

When she looks into Katoptris all she sees is her mutilated face.

The giant chants in her sleep: You've run out of luck, and I've run out of patience! Her father's face is covered in soot and he looks up in time to the giant impale him with his spear. He lets out a small whimper of pain and breathlessness and then he slumps and he doesn't glance up again – Piper knows she is screaming but nobody wakes her up, nobody picks her up and says, go back to sleep, that was just a nightmare. And it's not. She'd been given a choice: kill Jason and Leo or kill her father and she hadn't reached him in time.

The fire blazes purple and orange. Her father's blood falls to the ground and the giant laughs and laughs and laughs.

She can't eat, she can't sleep. She's a murderer.

The giant king, Porphyrion, sniggers as he throws her father's body in front of her. Piper throws herself forward and she is weeping like a child as she buries her face in her hands. Blood has coagulated over the hole in his chest and he looks oh, so very dead. When she touches his skin it is dry. The monster laughs, You chose to save these two, but they're going to die anyway!

Piper doesn't know who she's talking to when she manages to cough out, "I'm so sorry."

Jason and Leo both hold their hands out to her but when she sees their faces they look horrified, disgusted. It hurts much more than she'd like to admit, but she knows it's true. How can they ever trust her again?

Then Jason touches her shoulder softly. She looks us; they are surrounded by snarling wolves and the giant watches them amusedly. Leo's fires form a ring around them and Piper touches her father's face.

"We don't have much time," Leo says.

Piper's burned cheek throbs in the icy wind as she stands up and Jason puts an arm around her. Leo's hands ignite again, flames coursing up and down his fingers.

"We're gonna die," Jason murmurs.

"I don't care," Piper whispers back.

When Piper screams, "Sleep!" everyone around her falls. There is control, there is authority in her words and she feels a cruel pleasure ignite in her chest when she tells the Earthborn fighting her to drop dead and they crumble to dirt in obedience. She has power. She will learn to use it.

When Hera explodes into an inferno of gold, Piper closes her eyes, but still hears Jason fall. When she can see again, Jason lies at their feet. His chest is still. Piper cradles his head against her, and she is crying. She pleads with the goddess, "Can't you save him?" and Hera bows her head and says, "No."

She concentrates on him, willing him to breathe again. She whispers, "Get up. Get up." She knows that really, she doesn't know him as well as she'd like to, but she'd thought she loved him once, and the thought of him going cold without her makes her equal parts angry and sad. "Get up!"

When his eyes flutter open, they fix on her with such gratitude. She cries with joy and hugs him, and he hugs her back tightly, and she'd really like to kiss him. He says, "You saved my life." She shrugs, like it's no big deal. She doesn't say, I couldn't let you go, but he holds her hand and doesn't let go. Maybe he understands.

Jason looks up and says, "Percy Jackson is at the Roman Camp, and he probably doesn't know who he is." Annabeth leaves the room and everyone trickles out after her. The son of Zeus can't meet Piper's eyes and then he says, "I'm sorry. I…don't remember if–if there was someone, but –" Piper puts her head on the table.

She should be helping with the ship. She should be training, praying for the success of their quest, helping Annabeth look for signs of the other camp. Instead, every night at dinner, she tosses a slice of pizza into the fire and prays to her mother to make her beautiful again. She's weak for doing it, and she knows it, but every time she sees Leo she sees the flames cutting her flesh and something like Khione's cold anger overtakes her senses.

She's angry, all the time. She's pathetic, for waking up every morning hoping that her face would've been magically healed while she slept, only to realize the reality of things and feel the same ache all over again.

Nobody can look her at her anymore. She doges mirrors and avoids the truth – that she looks as bad as a harpy now. Drew sneers in her general direction every time they cross paths, and one day Piper can't stand the giggles – she screams, "Spit it out!"

Drew holds up her hands in mock innocence. "I didn't say anything."

Piper turns away in disgust: Drew coughs, "Miss Cyclops."

She can't even muster the courage to turn around because of the tears that suddenly threaten to fall; it takes all her strength to keep them in their ducts. Slowly, slowly, she walks away but they are laughing behind her, jeering at Piper and her disfigured features. Piper breaks into a run – she tears past the Apollo kids, who are leaving the arena, and she flings Katoptris hard at the closest target. The dagger falls short and reminds Piper only of how much she needs to train, which only angers her further.

Suddenly her knees buckle and she sinks to the sand and she watches the bronze knife glint in the sun.

A voice says, "Jeez. Get up."

When she doesn't, Annabeth sits down too. "Get off your ass. Cabin six has wrestling."

Piper turns to see thirty grey eyes blinking at her, pointing. She tells them, "Go to the beach," and they go. Annabeth looks both amused and disapproving. "You're not allowed to charmspeak your way out of everything."

Then she adds – "Don't listen to Drew."

"She's a bitch," Piper whispers. "I–I hate her. I hate all of them. I hate this!" She points to her face and her fists shake.

Annabeth's fingers trace patterns and she says, "Nobody'll mind it if you don't. Jason doesn't care how you look and neither do I. Plus, scars heal, and yours will too. People've gotten way worse than that, and you're alive, damn it. Stop acting so…so pathetic, and do something. Train. Talk to people. You're one of the seven, Piper. Stop wallowing and start acting like it."

Piper closes her eyes and she hears Annabeth sigh in frustration and walk away. It takes a long time for her to stand up again.

The next day, when Piper shows up for practice, she sees the corner of Annabeth's lip curve upward, and when they duel Piper is knocked to the ground and her knee bleeds and she is sweating. It feels great to do something.

When she wins her first Capture the Flag game, Jason holds her in his arms kisses her. Tingles like tiny shooting stars dart through her. Time slows and her heart races and she has to pinch herself to make sure it's real. It is, and everyone is aww–ing and whooping, and Piper kisses him again, because haha, she can.

She tosses grapes in the fire and sees Leo laughing with his cabin. Heal me.

They fly over New Rome and they're too late. The ground is rubble; nearly every standing structure is dilapidated. Small black figures gather on the shore and Piper feels their eyes on her as she clambers off the ship, leering, jeering, judging eyes.

Jason takes a tentative step forward but a voice cuts through – "Don't move."

When the girl pushes through the crowd Piper feels inferior. The other girl is tall and tough and her coppery skin glows in the sunlight. She clutches a spear in her right hand and her cape flutters in the wind and she looks so strong and beautiful. Her eyes flash with hate when she glances at Piper.

Jason says, "Reyna –" and Piper hears something in his voice – longing or happiness or hope. She realizes her fists are clenched and she unravels them.

"Shut up," Reyna snaps, with such loathing in her voice that Jason shudders.

"You were supposed to be here," she says.

Jason holds up his hands in surrender and asks: "How did you know we'd be here?" and at the same time, Annabeth says in a feverish voice, "Percy. Where's Percy? Did he tell you?"

"I told you to shut up!" Reyna shouts; she steps closer to Jason so that they are nearly touching, nearly kissing – then her arms go out and Jason is knocked on his back. Piper hears the breath get knocked out of him and she helps him up.

"I lost my people," Reyna snarls. "I lost good soldiers, I lost my sister. I was a fucking idiot to think you'd come. I–I thought you'd help!"

The last words ring in the silence like a gong and Piper studies the bruised crowd a few feet away. Reyna's features glow with anger but she looks proud and striking and Piper's fingers automatically go to her burned skin.

She's supposed to be the peacekeeper, she remembers. She begins, "We're sorry, but now we're here...to help, and–"

Reyna laughs. "Help? I don't want your help, y–you half–baked graceus hypocrite. Don't try convincing me with your charmspeak. It's not going to work on me." Piper's eyes sting: half–baked? It hurts, because it's true.

Annabeth pleads in an anxious whisper – "Where's Percy?"

Reyna grunts at nobody in particular and someone else emerges from the throng, a dark haired guy leaning on an Asian boy and a small, curly–haired girl. His arm is in a sling and he has a long scar across his right cheekbone. When he looks up Piper sees that his eyes are a brilliant green.

"Oh," Annabeth whispers and she hurtles forward at the guy, who reels backward in confusion – Annabeth kisses him with a kind of desperation but his eyes are wide open in shock. The daughter of Athena steps back and Piper can hear the unrest, the disquiet, in her breathing.

"You're…you're…Annabeth," the guy says. His lips form something like a smile and his good hand touches Annabeth's face like she's a piece of rare china.

"Yes," she tells him, almost eagerly, "I'm Annabeth. I'm your girlfriend. Do you remember anything else?"

Percy's face tightens. "Not much. F–flashes."

Piper sees her friend's shoulders slump but then straighten."That's okay. We can start over," Annabeth suggests, "and I'll help you." Slowly, she touches his cheek and his entire frame relaxes and he smiles. Piper tries to reach for Jason's hand but it is out of reach and he is not looking at her, he is looking at Reyna with an odd expression on his face. Leo gestures to Percy and Annabeth and makes a gagging motion and Piper ignores him.

Reyna grumbles, "I wish I gave more shits about your lovefest, but now that you're here I guess we'd better talk." She shoots Jason a murderous look and she walks away. Piper sees that her ears are red and her hands are shaking. Jason watches her go and there is a small smile on his face, turning the crescent scar upward.

Leo opts out of the discussion and offers to take the augur for a tour of his ship. Before he leaves his eyes glow insanely and Piper feels a chill of both uneasiness and anger. He says, this is gonna be epic, and then he walks away. Her spine is still tingling.

Piper looks up at the sky and flames suddenly bloom in the clouds. Streaks of fire tear to the ground and make the earth rumble. There are screams of shock and pain and Reyna shoots to her feet.

"You – fucking – traitors!" she yells. Her eyes are furious and she is gritting her teeth and then there is the spear in her hand again and suddenly Jason is on the ground. Reyna thrusts and there is blood on his forehead. She whispers to his prone form – "I hate you –" and she sprints away.

Annabeth and Percy and Frank and Hazel disappear into the dust and the angry cries and Piper lifts Jason and drags him into the horde. There are punches, knives thrown her way, and Piper keeps yelling, "Stop! Stop!" but it's not working. Reyna stands some distance away, looking at the ship with revulsion writ clearly on her face.

"Help, please, we didn't do it," Piper says, and she knows the other girl can hear her, but she only turns and holds up her spear, and someone yells, "Kill the traitors!" They mob her, and a knife grazes her side, and she sees blood. Jason is too heavy and he is weighing her down as she falls, scraping her shoulder against the gravel, but Frank is barreling toward them and then they are flying. When they hit the wooden floors of the Argo II Piper passes out.

Piper wakes up from her nightmare, breathing hard. Her back hurts. She sits on a chair by Jason's head. His head is bandaged and he is snoring. Piper turns and Leo is sitting on the chair next to her and his eyes are closed. Something like resentment bubbles inside her but she shoves it down.

She asks, "What time is it?"

He jerks awake and his eyes focus on her and he says, "Not yet morning...Piper, I'm so sorry."

Piper feels her mouth press into a line, and she cannot say anything for fear that it might sound too harsh. But her heart protests: it is Leo's fault. They had one chance for peace and now it's gone.

He mumbles, "I screw everything up."

She feels her whole body stiffen, then she whispers without really meaning to, "Yeah, you do." Leo's eyes turn glassy and he leaves the room and Piper hates that she feels satisfied.

With every bite of her dinner, she prays, Cure my burn.

When they land in Kansas Piper knows it's a trap. It is misty and dark and Tempest disappears the moment Jason gets off. Blackjack whinnies and nuzzles at Percy, who looks around the gloom.

And then Piper hears Gaea's voice in her head, chanting, chanting. Well done, little girl. You cannot escape now, but you may choose…who will die with you? Gaea's voice is soft and ragged and rusty and it sneaks around her brain and Piper feels like screaming.

"We–we…have to get out…" Piper clasps her hands over her ears as Gaea hisses, The son of Jupiter, so valiant, the son of Poseidon, so strong…who will die?

She drops to her knees and tugs at Jason's jeans, but he is motionless. Percy, too, seems rooted to the spot. When she looks up, they are both glaring at each other and their eyes flicker golden. They wear identical, frenzied grins and when Gaea whispers at them to fight, they only snigger in plain agreement. She is full of horror, unable to move, as Jason unsheathes his gladius and Percy uncaps Riptide.

Jason moves so quickly Piper is knocked to the ground and the earth digs into her, trying to immobilize her, and Piper finds it hard to sit up again. The blurred figures of Percy and Jason fight each other and Gaea sighs –If you can't choose, I will.

"Stop," Piper tries, but her voice is too feeble from her hesitation and her weakness, and she can barely hear it herself – Percy kicks and Jason's sword flies from his hand. Gaea is laughing, Kill…kill! and Percy raises his blade at Jason's chest. Piper yells again, "No!"

Percy pauses and the yellow eyes bore into her. She wants to say something, anything, to make them quit fighting, but Gaea's soft words filter into her ears, like a sweet melody: Choose, Piper McLean, would you rather Jason died? and something in Piper shuts down, because she can't even let the idea of Jason dying enter her head. She sees Percy's sword aimed at Jason's heart and she should tell them both to stop fighting, but she can't move, she can't speak: what if Jason gets hurt?

She's hesitated too long – Jason bellows in rage and a bolt of lightning strikes Percy in the chest. Piper sees his body convulse for a split second and then there is an explosion and Piper is blown ten feet backward into the cornfields. She rises and pushes forward again spluttering mud and blood, and Percy is lying, limp, before her. His breathing is slow, rugged, and Jason is staggering toward them, gladius in hand, his golden eyes glowing with murder.

Choose…

Percy is stirring.

Choose…

Jason lifts his gladius –

Choose!

Piper shrieks, "Stop!" at the same time Jason thrusts downward. Percy has recovered enough to attempt to roll away but he's too paralyzed for it to work. The golden tip of the sword hits his side and Percy lets out a scream.

"Stop!" she yells, "Stop! Stop!" and Jason looks at her doubtfully. She sees his knees shaking and his sword drops to the ground next to Percy's writhing frame.

"Get out of them!" She speaks to the creepy eyes and the manic smiles. Her tears are making everything blurry – "Stay off our ship and don't come back!"

Jason crumples and his head hits the mud, she races to him and she lifts an eyelid – his irises are blue. Percy's shirt is soaked in red and he is groaning in pain; Piper tries to feed him nectar but the blood still spreads, onto the dirt, her jeans, her fingers. She is crying, pleading for him to hang on, for someone to help them, but all she can picture is Annabeth's face when she sees her boyfriend and when she figures out that Piper let it happen.

Blackjack throws her off on the deck the moment they touch down– the sound brings Annabeth and Frank running up to meet them. Annabeth's face turns pasty white and she catches Percy right before he slumps to the floor. Blackjack whinnies angrily at Piper and takes off again, his hooves nearly slamming into her head.

"What the hell happened?" Annabeth screams at Piper – she struggles to hold Percy up and Frank rushes to help them. Frank hoists Percy with surprisingly gentle arms; he murmurs, "I'm gonna get him to the med bay," and he stumbles away. Piper tries to lift Jason to his feet.

Annabeth stands motionless in front of her. "How is it that Jason's practically unscathed while Percy's losing blood by the second?"

Piper begins, "Gaea was controlling them –" Already, she sounds guilty. Annabeth's eyes are narrowed as she says, "And you let that happen?"

"Gaea wants two of us to die, a boy and a girl…" Piper tries, "she was asking me to choose, I couldn't do it–"

"But you nearly did," Annabeth says. Suddenly she moves forward, and Piper thinks she might actually hit her, but when she opens her eyes Annabeth has stopped a few inches away. She is twitching in fury, trying to control herself, but her mouth is curled into a terrible snarl of disgust and anger. Again, Piper feels the remorse crawl up her spine like a horde of lizards.

"You nearly let him die," her friend murmurs. She looks at Piper in the eyes and Piper's fingers are trembling and she might collapse. "We're all supposed to be on the same side. How–how could you do that?"

Piper tries to take a step forward to soothe Annabeth but the other girl makes an instinctive move backward – she whispers, "Percy is everything to me."

Piper says, "I know–"

Annabeth replies with stony eyes, "Then you'll understand when I tell you to not talk to me for...a while."

"I'm so sorry," Piper pleads but Annabeth is gone. Piper hauls Jason to his feet and she trudges down to the med bay. She is weeping, she can't see straight, but the crimson droplets on the floor lead the way.

That night, when she talks to Jason, all he makes are reckless promises that scare the daylights out of her. All she remembers is, over and over again: An oath to keep with a final breath... and she can't let that final breath be his.

The next time they touch down the Romans catch up to them. Reyna jumps off an eagle nearly knocks Piper out with a single blow and Annabeth runs into the fighting without a word to any of them. Hazel runs over fifty Romans on Arion while Frank drops Leo into a burning building and Jason and Percy just about kill themselves trying to get them all away. They're not working as a team at all.

Piper sees an image of a beautiful woman smiling serenely at them – Jason tells her about how Reyna talked to her once, but when Piper gets close, she vanishes. Piper knows who the lady was – her mother, ignoring her as usual, and it is hard to fight the pain emanating from her chest.

When Annabeth comes back she throws the map on the floor. She turns to the sky and yells, "Screw you!" and then she crumbles to the floor, crying, shivering, looking behind her every now and then like something's chasing her. Piper tries to help her but Annabeth recoils, so Hazel takes over, shooting Piper a guilty look as they pass. Piper feels unwanted and useless, but she supposes it is her own fault. (It always is.)

That night, Piper prays for her mother to heal her skin and her friendships and her life. She wants this all to be over.

The next morning Hazel says, "We have to help my brother. The giants're holding him," and nobody agrees. Hazel's eyes turn the color of tin as Leo and Jason both begin to argue with her, and she gets so frustrated all the silver in the room begins to clatter. She finally clenches her fists and storms out of the hall. Frank looks so tired and he does not follow, only wipes the dirt off his nails.

They are all silent, but Annabeth looks at Percy with a soft smile and she gestures to the image–projector–thingy on the wall, says, "Hey, it's the Big House, Percy. Remember that?"

Percy's nostrils flare as he stands up; the movement is so sudden they all lean back.

"No," he snaps, "I don't remember anything! I drank fucking gorgon's blood and nothing's – coming – back –" he clutches his head like it's causing him pain – "so shut up about the goddamn Big House, okay?"

Annabeth's expression turns horribly cold, and she wipes her hands on a napkin. She says, "Okay, sorry for trying," and she walks out of the room. Percy sinks down into the chair and covers his face with his hands. Maybe Piper is hearing things, but she thinks he chokes back a sob.

When Piper tries to hug her, Annabeth doesn't back away. Then she says, "It's only because my life really sucks right now."

Piper cries as she twists the river god's horn off his head, and when she jumps off and turns, she sees his horrified expression, sinking into the murky waters. Jason grabs her arm – "Run! Run!" and Piper does, forcing one foot to go after the other. She trips over vines but Jason holds her hand and when she reaches the beach she kneels and cries furious tears into the sand. The Argo II shimmers in the distance, and Piper says without thinking, tracing a finger over the cornucopia, "We can't let Hercules have it."

Jason says, "But we promised –"

Piper tells him, "Right now, I don't give a shit about the gods and their endless needs. I'm not giving this to him. I'm not letting him win."

It's awesome drowning Hercules under a tidal wave of food and seawater. She snorts when they fly over him and the sunlight hits their faces and everyone is laughing and high–fiving and yelling profanities at the tiny island. In all her life, Piper's never felt this close to anyone; she looks around at her friends and doesn't want to go ahead with their quest. She just wants to bask in the sunshine forever. Maybe, she thinks, that is a good idea for later.

Jason holds her hand and laughs with childlike glee into the wind, and Annabeth winks and bumps her shoulder. Leo and Percy still swear loudly at the pile of fruit they leave behind.

Yeah, it feels good.

The next day, Annabeth leaves the ship alone, ignoring Percy's pleas to accompany her. Hazel, Frank and Leo leave too, and Frank trips Leo down the gangway. Piper stands on the top deck and tries to let herself feel something, anything, other than fear, but it doesn't work. For the first time, she wonders if their journey will be worth it. Already, most of them have been through so much. When this is all over, she wonders, what will they have left? Will they ever be able to lead normal lives without remembering?

Later, she and Jason share a slice of his birthday cake and when he kisses her Piper feels springtime bloom in her chest and when she opens her eyes again she sees the sunshine turning his hair bronze and gold and his eyes shimmer like puddles of rainwater, and Percy and Hedge sing the Pokémon theme song from far, far away. She doesn't remember ever feeling this happy.

For a wonderful moment, she is a teenage girl and he is a teenage boy and they are spending a sunny afternoon together. There is no burn on her face and there is no sword sheathed at his belt, and the world does not rest on their fragile shoulders. It is a nice feeling.

Piper does not see Percy and Annabeth fall: she only hears Hazel's piercing scream afterward, and Frank cursing as the walls plummet into Tartarus. Everything around her is falling, crumbling into the pit of blackness, and Piper struggles to hold on to the colossal statue that Annabeth worked so hard to retrieve. She realizes halfway that she is crying, though she is not sure whether the tears have come for strain or sadness.

They settle down on a nearby hill and the sunset is beautiful. The others speak with hope and determination, that Percy and Annabeth can survive Tartarus, that they are strong, and that they'll be there at the House of Hades waiting for them.

Piper watches Nico. He does not say anything, but that may be because he can't. He closes his eyes and Piper knows he is trying to sense Percy and Annabeth. He opens his eyes and he looks broken. Piper wants to ask him, "Do you think they'll make it?" because Nico is the only person who can really tell them, but before she can, he hangs his head. Hazel holds him and says, "Let's get you some rest." But Nico shakes his head and he looks straight at Piper.

Piper gets it. He's answering her question.

There are bitter arguments every day. Frank says, "We should take the sea route," and Jason says, "We should take the land route," and then everyone is yelling. Piper screams in frustration, "Just go back to sleep or something, jeez!" and most of them drop to the ground immediately, their mouths already open in a yawn. Nobody is forgiving when they wake up.

The first time Hazel controls the Mist she curls up in a ball and cries. Jewels gather around her in piles, cutting her off from the rest of them, but Frank wades through the gems to get to her.

Something alerts her– Hazel opens her eyes and shrieks, "Frank, don't touch them!" just as Frank lets a single ruby rest on his palm. Hazel turns into a demon, kicking and screaming and crying, as Frank cradles her to his chest, but she keeps saying, "You're gonna die...you're gonna die...why'd you touch it?" Her sobs turn to gasping chokes and Frank lifts her and carries her to the sickbay.

He says softly, "It'll be okay."

Nobody else sees him slip the shimmering red crystal into his back pocket.

Monsters attack and they argue and Piper struggles to keep her charmspeak under control. One night a swarm of storm spirits attack and Piper screams, "Shove your weapons in your hearts!" Behind her, Frank raises an arrow to his chest.

It takes half an hour to get him to snap him out of it, and when he does, he does not look Piper in the eyes, even though he says It's okay. Hazel glares at her and Leo stays a comfortable distance away. She is tempted to scream at them, at everyone, that it's not her fault, but of course it is. She finds herself pushing down bitterness more often than not these days, and she's thinking bitter, mean thoughts against the gods and all that she is fighting for. She knows it's not okay but she feels satisfaction, picturing herself yelling at her mother: her mother, who has neglected her prayers for nearly a year. The thoughts scare her, and she wants to know if she's going insane, but only Annabeth can be a friend to her right now and she isn't here.

Jason tells her, "It's not your fault."

She snorts.

"Hazel will come around," he says. "I'll talk to her."

"She's angry at you, too," Piper reminds him. "For not wanting to rescue Nico." Seems like all they do is fight these days.

"Oh." Jason's fingers tighten on her shoulders. It hurts but she does not yelp. They are silent for a while, and Piper feels her burn under her thumb.

Piper looks up at the sky and thinks, as loudly as she can: Mom?

Mom, help me. Heal me. I need help…your help. If you're listening…just…please.

Mom?

"Huh?" Jason asks, and she realizes she'd spoken aloud.

"Your mom contacted you?" He faces her. He looks angry, despairing…jealous. "What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything." Piper looks bitterly at the sea far beneath them, and even though it's not possible, she sees her marred skin in the waters and, again, feels that shot of sourness scorch her veins. "I doubt she ever will."

Hazel begins speaking to her again, slowly, slowly, and then they are laughing and talking together all the time. It feels good to have a friend, she admits to herself one night as Hazel talks animatedly about cheeseburgers, one who doesn't look at her like she's a mutant. The younger girl offers to teach her swordfighting, and offers Piper a piece of shrimp gumbo.

Each day they get closer to the House of Hades, and tensions run high. When Piper offers Nico Percy's room he flinches and slaps her with a look so angry she trembles. Leo barely speaks and Jason's hair grows into his eyes and Frank broods in his room, turning something small over and over with his large fingers. When Piper takes out Katoptris she first notices her hollow cheeks, then the uneven strands of her hair, then the burn. Everyone is changing.

When Nico and Jason return from Croatia, Nico is pale and cold and he slinks into the darkest shadows of the ship the moment they land on deck. Jason closes his mouth about anything that happened and when Piper accidentally attempts to charmspeak it out of him, he purses his lips in a firm, angry line and walks away. He doesn't talk to her for a while after that, and Piper gets sick of apologizing. She is also sick of the thick, thick secrets in the air, of Hazel's first death, of Frank's plastic bundle, of Leo's mother and Jason's whole life and Piper killing her own father.

Leo brushes past her to repair Festus and he doesn't even look at her. For the first time since the accident, she feels a brief stab of pain for him – she wonders if she should go to talk to him but Leo summons a burst of flame to his palm and fear erupts in Piper's chest; she nearly trips backward to get away. She is gone before he can turn around.

She is so stupid. She's faced monsters and giants but she's scared of fire?

Not just any fire, she realizes. Leo's fire.

Piper keeps watch that night and it's so cold. Leo works on Festus close by. There is fire flickering on his fingertips but Piper's too scared to go closer. Somewhere – she knows its stupid – she is frightened that he might lose control again.

The cold creeps down her spine. It's familiar, she realizes, too familiar and too hostile. The warning bursts from her lips but then Leo screams and shoots the fire from his hands – Piper lets loose a guttural cry, forgetting Khione, forgetting the the threat to the ship, and when she looks up, Leo is gone, replaced by the goddess of snow.

Piper realizes her fingers tremble, but not from cold. She has quite possibly killed Leo because of her stupid, senseless phobia – something she was half blaming him for.

Khione laughs. "It will be fun to kill you. Now that Gaea has the two more…competent ones, you're mine to finish." She smiles, and an icy wind pins Piper to the ground, shaking.

"Percy and Annabeth," Piper gasps, "They're still alive?"

"Barely." Khione's breath is icy on her skin. Piper holds up her dagger but she sees her skin and Khione's pale beauty. The goddess's laugh is a hiss. "You're foolishly brave, daughter of Aphrodite…although," she sneers, "you don't look much like her daughter…"

Piper suddenly feels blue–flamed anger pushing her to stand up and fight, so she struggles to her feet, resting her hands on Festus' snout, which is still warm. He's been shut down, but Piper feels the heat from the bronze and she knows Khione will be killed to his fire.

She closes her eyes, lets her sword drop to her feet with a clang, and begins to talk.

Festus' eyes open and he breathes a searing flame of blue and white into the frost. Piper is knocked backward and she shudders at the flare, but she looks at the dragon shooting fire from his nostrils and she thinks, I did that. I did it.

The air is warm again, and ash swirls around her, and Khione turns to powdered snow when Piper swings Katoptris at her. She feels powerful and strong and bits of icy soot hug her skin, her burned cheek. It's amazing.

They find Leo at a café and he sips his coffee and his hands are still. Piper sees heartbreak on his face and sadness in his smile and determination in his eyes, and, for the first time since forever, she feels no anger at all.

The House of Hades is dark and damp and Nico can barely speak. They have to split up and Leo and Hazel disappear into shadows. Piper hefts her sword and faces the thousand ghosts that she cannot kill, and they dive into the fighting. Frank barks orders at his legion as they follow the narrow passageways to get to Hazel and Leo, and Jason looks weary when she takes his hand.

"You okay?" she asks. "Not being praetor?"

"Kind of." He sounds kind of tired and kind of angry. Piper releases his hand.

The last wisps of the giant's shadow melts away and Piper can only focus on Percy and Annabeth, lying some distance away. Her ribs hurt. She has a cut on her shoulder and it hurts like hell as she struggles forward. Jason helps her limp to where the rest of the group has gathered in a circle.

"Do you think they're–" She hears Frank say.

"I don't think so...but –" Hazel murmurs.

Piper whispers, "No..." She lets go of Jason's hand and runs, frantic, eyes swimming, to where her two friends lie prone on the ground.

"Annabeth," she sobs, leaning down to touch the other girl's pale skin, but Annabeth's eyes blink open with some difficulty, focus on Piper with something like blind anger, and before she knows it, Piper's pinned to the ground with an ivory sword at her throat. Annabeth snarls in fury, as if not recognizing her. Piper lets out a strangled yelp and Annabeth presses the sword further into her neck. The ivory is warm against her skin.

"Get off her," Jason says in a voice that is both threatening and calm.

Annabeth lets out a crazy laugh, her expression is fierce and her eyes are mad, broken. "What? So you can try to kill me she did? I'll kill you, too…" her eyes brim over with tears, "I'll kill all of you! Y–you have no idea what I've seen–"

Percy moans quietly from in front of them, and Annabeth's anger seems to dissipate. She scrambles off Piper, throwing her weapon in Leo's direction, who yelps, and rushes to kneel at Percy's side.

Piper stands, wiping her face, as Annabeth touches Percy's hair with a gentle hand. Piper sees that Annabeth's shirt is torn and that a long scar stretches from her neck downwards. She chokes.

Percy looks terrible, lean and scarred; blood leaks from a gash in his cheek. It hurts, it hurts so much to look at the both of them. She'd stopped blaming herself for their fall into Tartarus but now she thinks: I'm a terrible friend for letting them go through all that.

She takes a tentative step forward again. "Annabeth, we have nectar, we can help him–"

The daughter of Athena has her pinned to the ground again; she's shaking with rage. Piper looks into the gray eyes and they're roving, shifting, maniacal. Annabeth's face is grimy and the tears fall off her chin and onto Piper's forehead. The others make small noises of protest but Annabeth speaks before they can make a move.

"You can't help him! You can't, you can't, you can't!" she yells; her voice echoes in the room even as it shakes unstably, threatening to bury them."You could've helped the day we fell, you could've helped when…"

Her voice breaks, and tears form glittering tracks."He–he kept me sane in there," she whispers. "And I kept him sane, too. I–I can't bear if–"

Piper's eyes begin to sting, too – "Annabeth, I know, and I don't want that to happen, either…but we can help him, if you'd let us."

They gaze for a long moment into each other's faces, and then Annabeth tumbles off her like her strength has been sapped.

Piper sits and takes the proffered bottle of nectar from Leo. "We'll help him," she promises. "We love him, too."

Annabeth looks five years old, shriveled and sniffling on the marble floor."Not as much as me," she whispers.

"No," Piper says. "Not as much as you."

Reyna waits for them on the ship and she does not look at Jason, even though he keeps trying to meet her eyes. Nico leaves with Reyna and Hedge and the statue and he snaps when Percy tries to talk to him. There's a look in his eyes that is familiar, but she can't put her finger on it. Then he is gone, melting into the shadows, leaving the seven half–bloods watching an empty space in the starlight.

The first day, Jason asks Percy, "How are you?" and the son of the sea god doesn't respond. He stares, emotionlessly, at the ground passing by below them. Frank tries to place a hand on his shoulder, but Percy steps away. Something comes to life behind his eyes: anger and fear and pain so real nobody speaks. He says, to nothing, "How would you be?"

They leave him alone.

Percy and Annabeth do not speak of Tartarus, and, after a while, they stop asking. Annabeth begins smiling at them again after a few days but Percy seems a lot more hardened and he looks at everyone distrustfully for more than a week afterward. Even though his memories have returned, Piper catches his clenching his fists a lot and one night she sees him practicing swordplay, only when he swings Riptide, a sheen of water vapor mimics his blade. She shivers.

Leo seems just about as angry these days. He is always tinkering with something; she sees bronze bits of armor littered across his room. More than once, she hears him whisper vows to come back in a mixture of Spanish and Greek, but, for some reason, he keeps glaring at Percy.

Then one day in the mess hall Percy says, "You should get some sleep, Leo. I could steer this week."

"I don't need help," Leo grumbles. Then, in a softer voice, "Least of all yours."

Percy's eyes tighten. "What's up with you?"

"Why'd you leave her?" Leo asks. His fists are clenched and he is shaking. "She's all alone on that island and you could have saved her but you didn't. And–and everyone think you're some big hero–"

"Oh," Percy says quietly. Then– "You met her."

"Yeah, I did, and she's still stuck on that island," Leo snaps. Fire erupt in his palms but he snuffs it out. "And it's your fault."

"Leo, I tried –"

"Bullshit," Leo yells, "if you'd tried, she'd be happy!"

"Okay, look." The son of Poseidon stands up and points at Leo with a shaking hand. "When I landed up on Ogygia I was weak and hurt and Calypso helped me, but I had to leave, because a war was beginning in the world above. My friends and family would die if I didn't return. If I hadn't fought that fight, Camp wouldn't exist, none of us would be alive–" he gestures at all of them angrily– "and you sure as hell wouldn't be acting like a dick right now. I–didn't–have–a–choice." He glares around at them all, daring them to argue. Leo begins, "But–"

"She cursed Annabeth," Percy says.

Annabeth sighs in a tired voice, "Perce..."

"She cursed Annabeth – and I don't blame her for being angry," Percy continues, "but I don't blame myself for leaving the island, because I'm alive. And I didn't forget about her. I asked to gods to set her free–"

"They didn't–" Leo snaps.

"So why are you angry at me?" Percy yells. "And because in my two months of freedom after the Titan War before Hera kidnapped me and wiped my memory, I didn't find the time to check up on her? I thought the gods would keep their word! You're pissed at me because they decided to act like idiots?"

Leo doesn't reply, just stares at the ground. Percy trembles on the spot, his breaths ragged; Annabeth reaches for him but he walks out of the room and disappears down the stairs. Piper winces at the loud slam of the door.

Annabeth rises, too, her uneaten bagel still on her plate.

"I don't know if that made you happy," she tells Leo in a small, sad voice, "but..." She doesn't finish, only puts her napkin down next to Hazel's and follows her boyfriend's steps.

Hazel glances at Piper, then at Leo, whose head is in his hands; she whispers, "Should we...?" and Frank only shrugs, and when Jason tries to put his hand on Leo's shoulder, the other boy shakes it off. One by one, they all leave, but as Piper exits the hall, wiping her hands, she hears Leo give a single, broken sob.

When Piper is roused by Frank to take over watch duty that night, she looks in the mirror and realizes that the scars on her are healing, turning a smooth pink. She thinks that maybe this is a sign of good things to come, and she braids a feather in her hair. She smiles at her reflection and for the first time since forever she's happy with herself; it only makes her more pleased when she remembers that she's done it on her own.

Leo is stoic at the wheel as Piper passes; seeing him reminds her that there are still wrongs she needs to right.

"Hey," she says.

His head snaps up: they haven't talked, alone, in months. She remembers how annoying she used to find him, how he used to laugh at everything. Now he barely smiles...but the same is true for nearly all of them.

"Hey," he replies.

"You okay?" Piper stands next to him. "After today?"

He's silent for a while; then he whispers, "No." He's so quiet Piper nearly misses his response.

"You wanna talk?" She considers touching his quivering shoulder. "About...Calypso?"

"I miss her," he says, almost dreamily. Then he shakes his head in quick jerks. "No...I–I..." His hands grip the wheel tighter. "I was such an asshole today. To Percy. I...didn't mean to yell...I mean, I knew it was unfair, but–"

Now she places her hand on his back and rubs her thumb in circles. The gesture seems to soothe him. "I'm so–so angry," he mumbles, "these days. All the time. I'm so angry and I don't even know why! And I try, like, so hard, to get rid of it, but every time...I–I just mess something up. Like today. I'm so...pissed of. And I'm so angry at myself for being that way."

Before she can say anything, he continues, "I don't know why I said all those things today. I just went crazy and lost control..." He looks at Festus.

"That happens when you really care about someone," Piper says. "It's totally okay to go crazy once in a while. And it's okay to be angry, too...but trust me, it feels much better to let it go."

His face crumbles, he looks at her face, her scar. "I'm such a screw–up."

"You're not a screw–up," she says.

"You said it yourself, the other day." Leo shrugs her hand off and turns to face her with an accusing, heated expression. "And you were right! I mess up everything I touch, even when I'm only trying to help... like with the Cyclops. I–I don't blame you for hating me."

"I don't hate you," Piper responds. "At least, not anymore...you hurt me, Leo, and it wasn't entirely your fault, but I was pissed and stupid and so I blamed you, because it was easy. Now...well, now I know how wrong I was, and I'm...so sorry." She takes a breath. "Percy'll forgive you," she tells him, "Just like I am...even if it takes him a long time like it did me."

"You're forgiving me? For what I did? Piper, I don't deserve–" Leo's eyes fill with tears and Piper takes two large, impulsive steps forward and hugs him. He is shaking.

"I'm so sorry," he mumbles.

"Me, too," she says. "For...all kinds of things."

She lets him go but holds his gaze; and he smiles in a kind of relieved way. His hands graze the surface of a shimmering crystal and she sees the same determined, strong look in his face. For the first time, Piper realizes how much she'd missed being around him. Warmth radiates from his skin and his growing grin, and she smiles back and wow, forgiveness feels really, really healing. She'd been stupid to hold on to her ghosts for so long.

The alarm begins to ring and Leo rolls his eyes. "Life."

"Life," she agrees, and she pulls her blade out and charges into battle.

Piper wakes up at dawn on the first of August and everyone speaks in short, clipped sentences. They have breakfast together, watching the approaching mountain, and Annabeth takes a bite of her toast. Piper can't shake the feeling that they might not all end up surviving and as she looks at her friends her heart begins to ache painfully. She can't, she can't let any of them go.

Jason holds her and it feels warm. She allows herself to bathe in the feeling as she kisses him. He whispers, "I'll see you soon," and she whispers, "You'd better." Everyone else hugs and smiles and claps each other on the back as Piper and Percy and Annabeth get ready to dismount. They speak words of hope and encouragement, with promises to "catch you later." It feels too much like goodbye.

As always, Piper finds it hard to swallow her fear as she hides among the Earthborn; she resists the urge to run away as she watches Percy and Annabeth struggle against the iron grip of Gaea's sons. She chants in her head: the plan, the plan, the plan, and maybe she can get through this.

"I'm ready," she whispers, and hears the soft buzzing of bees as Frank hurries to the ship back to relay her message. The Argo II hangs in the midst of a large cloud. She wonders if she will board it again.

She closes her eyes, and opens them again–

Her feet move forward into sight, and Piper raises her sword at the nearest giant and slashes.

Vaguely, she sees Percy and Annabeth fight their way to their feet; Jason swirls up on a tornado and Frank, who has morphed into a golden dragon, drops Hazel and Leo from a height.

The sky turns orange as Leo spins, shooting fire from his palms. Vials of Greek fire emerge from the pockets of his tool belt and explosions erupt across the mountain. Hazel turns somersaults as she descends, and she lands on a giant's back, slashing with her sword as she rolls to the ground. Frank lands on the highest point on the ruins, changes into human form, and nocks an arrow. He begins to shoot, and arrow after arrow pierces the enemy. Percy slashes and twirls, a bronze blur: fissures open in the ground when he yells. Annabeth darts around Enceladus, jabbing and stabbing; Jason's body crackles with lightning as he stares down the giant king. Piper joins Hazel in fighting a kind of old–looking giant and Piper charmspeaks him into dropping his weapon long enough for Hazel to stab him in the knee.

They're winning, she thinks with elation, they're winning.

Maybe that's when things begin to go wrong.

Annabeth loses her looting for a split second; Enceladus knocks her into a solid wall and Annabeth lets out a cry of pain. Her friends disappears under the crumbling stone, and Enceladus raises his weapon in victory and jabs at Jason, who tumbles out of the sky.

Percy looks at the unmoving pile of stone under which Annabeth lies. He yells, "No!" and changes course to help her. Polybotes raises his handand green poison crashes over Percy; the demigod does not move when the wave subsides.

The twin giants, Ephialtes and Otis, charge at her from either side; she weaves around their legs, stabs one in the ankle, and watches with satisfaction as they collide, then fall. Even so, Piper's arms tire as, a few feet away, Leo twists, a hammer in one hand, flames spewing from the other. Small metallic spheres circle him in midair; when they get close to a giant they eject smoke into their faces, temporarily disabling them. His fires burn in small patches all around the Parthenon. It takes all of Piper's effort to keep fighting, because the sight of the flames is still enough to make her shiver.

Movement from above distracts her– Frank, who has taken up his spear, is leaping down the broken stone wall, parrying a blow from a giantess who wields a wickedly sharp sword. Piper ducks and the top of a spear whistles an inch from her head. She tells the giant she's fighting, "Go fight Polybotes," in a loud, dominating voice that she didn't know she posessed. The giant looks confused, but he lumbers away; Piper turns to help Frank just as the giantess strikes the wall he's standing on, sending the demigod crashing to the grass.

Piper yells, "MISS!" at the javelin Otis aims at her, and he throws it ten feet above her head; she ducks unnecessarily and charges at him, kicking at his torso.

Leo's fires catch the grass, the withered wood, the spilled kerosene from his tool belt; a tongue of flame catches Frank's shoulder and, in his desperation to put out the fire, something small and plastic drops to the ground. Frank goes down on his knees, groping for whatever had fallen, as a giant looms over him.

Piper dashes forward to help– she parries the giant's javelin and slashes at one foot, then the other. He lets out a roar of pain and takes a step backward; Piper stumbles to Frank's side.

"Got–to–find–it–" His voice is so desperate it hurts her heart. She tells him, "I'll cover you," and looks forward at the wounded giant, who curses her, but gets to his feet.

Her mind goes into overdrive. Two giants approach her, one from the right and one right in front of her, but can't let them get to Frank...she yells, charging at the closer one, unsheathing Katoptris as she sprints. She buries the dagger in his foot, and as he doubles over, bellowing in anger and agony, she leaps upward and forward, vaulting off his knee, twisting in midair to slice at the second giant's torso. She screams, "Get away from us!" with enough force in her words to make them stop in their tracks, just as, behind her, Frank says, "No–"

She whirls around in time to see his palm curl around ashes and burning plastic; his eyes are lifeless as she slumps to the stone.

The shriek that emanates from her mouth is one of disbelief and does not sound wholly human; her eyes are stinging and her vision is going blurry. She stumbles to Frank, crying, and shakes his shoulder again and again – she doesn't see the giant approach until he snarls, "I'll let you join him," from behind her.

The giant slams his staff into her abdomen, but she feels no pain even as she tumbles across the ground. It takes so much effort to sit up.

When she can see clearly enough again, she notices Annabeth engaging the giant, Jason and Percy fighting back to back as three giants jab at them. Piper manages to rise to her feet and manages to take a few more steps forward in Frank's direction before her legs give way. Her eyelids are flickering open and shut, open and shut, and she can't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. All she sees is Frank, dying, while she watched helplessly from just a few feet away.

Mount Olympus is ringed in fire and the wind picks up speed, making it difficult to get her bearings –smoke itches at her skin but she can't move. She sees Percy raising his arms, sees mist swirl around him. She sees Leo and Annabeth zipping in and out of sight. Hazel alone kneels beside Frank on her stomach, fifty feet away, her cavalry sword cast aside. Piper can see her golden eyes brimming over.

She tries to get closer. She clutches at a tuft of grass.

"This is my fault..." Hazel whispers in an entranced, detached voice; she meets Piper's eyes as she struggles to sit upright. "Because he touched...the gem..."

In the distance, Enceladus emerges from the smoke. Hazel does not move, only touches Frank's cheek tenderly. Slowly, she lowers herself until she lies on her stomach next to her boyfriend.

"Hazel," Piper tries. Her voice cracks.

No, she thinks, not now– she tries to stand, but drops to her knees. She speaks again, and this time her words reverberate, louder: "Hazel! Move! Move!"

For the fist time in Piper's life, her charmspeak fails.

Hazel closes her eyes as the giant thrusts downward with his spear, her mouth still slightly open when he removes the weapon, covered in blood. Her curly hair wafts around her face in the wind in an almost angelic way, and Enceladus' cackle fills the air.

The ground rumbles; Piper's eyes squeeze shut as the Earth Mother hisses, Yes. In the distance, Porphyrion roars, "Our Mother awakes! Finish them off!"

They...they've failed. They've lost.

All their months of surviving had been for nothing: Piper feels everything around her shatter to smithereens. Her whole body aches and it hurts to feel...in a final fit of rage she clambers to her feet and rushes at the celebrating giant. Her teeth chatter with cold wrath. This absolute brute has taken away both her father and one of her closest friends...still laughing, Enceladus bats her aside almost effortlessly, sending her plummeting down the mountainside. She comes to rest only when she hits a dilapidated stone structure, and her eyes fix on the mist around her.

This is it, she knows, as she turns over, coughing up blood on her camp t–shirt, to lie on her back. The ground rumbles in joy and she remembers that somewhere, Gaea has woken. In the fog, she senses the giant approaching her to end it. End her.

She looks up at the sky and lets a sigh escape her chest; right before she closes her eyes, Piper thinks she sees the gods descending from the heavens.

Piper wakes up in a pool of blood. She can move again and the first breath she is conscious of taking is a huge, greedy gulp of air; she ends up coughing, then wincing as her ribs protest. Still, she feels healed, like all her broken bones have been mended: the hurt she feels is more from within.

She stands with some difficulty. A distance away, the gods cut down the remainder of the giants. She watches as Annabeth helps Percy to his feet; they hobble over to where Leo and Jason wait. Piper cannot find the strength to join them; instead, she hobbles over to where Frank and Hazel lie and crouches down next to them. She stares as if willing their chests to start moving again, but, of course, it doesn't work. Hazel's hand lies an inch away from Frank's and there is a gash on his cheek. Hazel's expression is as close to serene as Piper has ever seen. If Piper ignores the wounds, they look like they might be asleep.

She hears footsteps behind her, then a gasp as Percy doubles over next to her and begins to cry. Annabeth kneels down next to Piper and clutches her face, shaking vigorously; Jason does not say anything but his breathing grows rough; Leo turns his face skyward and swears at the top of his voice, but then he begins to weep, too.

Piper is too numb to feel anything but grief, but as the gods gather around them in whats he suspects is a polite silence, she begins to feel rage.

For a long while, they stand in a circle around the two fallen demigods, saying nothing. Then, finally, Zeus begins, "Gaea has used their blood–"

"Shut up," Percy says in a thick voice, but he stands up straight and stares down the kind of the gods with green fire in his eyes. "Stop...pretending like you care."

Zeus, who still holds his bolt, has an ugly expression on his face. "Boy–"

"Stop it." Jason's voice is tired, sad. "Perce...he's not worth it."

"My son," Zeus says.

"Don't call me that." There is so much pain, so much fury in his voice: "I'm not your son. For so many years, I wanted you to treat me like one, but now...I'd rather be anything but related to you."

Zeus seems stunned into silence. His aura crackles gold, then navy, as he stares at his son.

Percy snarls, "I can't believe you have the fucking guts to show up now."

"You shut us out for a year," Leo adds. "We prayed to you for help, like, so much. Every freaking day! And you didn't even try to contact us. Because of a...headache."

"You misunderstand; it was more complicated than that," says a goddess with gray eyes exactly like Annabeth's: Athena. "It was, quite literally, our essences tearing us apart. The Athena Parthenos being at your camp...it has forced both sides of demigods to work as one, and so we are whole once more. You could not even begin to imagine the pain we had to bear–"

"You're talking to us about pain?" Percy interrupts furiously. He points to Hazel and Frank without looking at them– "You're telling us when two of our best friends just died?"

Athena does not reply; Percy seems to have lost the ability to speak and he sits on his haunches next to Piper; she touches his shoulder.

"You're no better than the giants," Jason finally says.

"Yeas, we're your pawns just as much as we were Gaea's," Annabeth agrees.

"Annabeth." Athena sighs. "We– the gods– all of us, we are truly regretful that–"

"Save it," Annabeth snaps. "For years and years, I defended you. When Luke turned on you–" she stares pointedly at Hermes, who glares back at her–"I convinced myself and tons of others that he was wrong, that you did care about us. I thought things would change after the Titan War–" She lets out a casual laugh that sounds partially insane to Piper. "I thought you would realize that ignoring us, the minor gods...it would come back to bite you one day. I thought you'd treat us better. Guess I was wrong." She reaches into her pocket, takes out a gleaming silver coin, and flips it mockingly at her mother's feet.

"Thanks for the curse," Annabeth says in a sardonic voice. "And thanks for all the great advice."

The gods murmur in disapproval: One goddess sniffs, "Insolent child," and Zeus thunders, "I ought to–"

Piper finally rises and steps forward to stand next to the daughter of Athena; her friend looks at her with both pride and gratefulness.

"Do it," Piper says. "Blast us to bits. Prove that you're no better than Gaea, willing to take out anyone who dares stand up to you."

Jason stands on Piper's other side and he takes her hand. "Yeah, do it."

"We don't care," Leo says, walking up beside Jason. Percy takes his place to Annabeth's right and shoots her a wary but determined smile, and honestly? Piper will remember this forever, she and her friends standing against all that has been done to them. In front of them, Zeus is gnashing his teeth and Athena whispers, "They're baiting you," but a silvery voice cuts through the tension– "Would you really let your friends' sacrifices go in vain?"

Piper feels a surge of anger as her mother steps forward, wearing a dress of the purest white and a completely fake, honeyed smile. How typical of Aphrodite to appeal to their hearts rather than their heads, especially at a time when they are so vulnerable. She wants to scream, cry, hit something...but her gaze is drawn to the inert bodies of her two friends and she finds herself accepting the truth of the goddess's words.

"We all understand your anger, and we promise it will be made up to you," her mother continues in a soothing tone. "But your friends at your camp are fighting a futile battle. Gaea has risen, and only you can stop her."

Annabeth shifts uncomfortably and Jason's palms are sweaty. They're clearly sharing Piper's doubts, but they all seem to be waiting for something.

Percy finally takes a step forward, and growls, "Fine. We'll fight. But we're doing it for Hazel, and Frank, and Nico, and Reyna, and Hedge...and our friends at camp who probably really need us right now. Not for you." He glowers at the gods as if daring them to contradict him. No one does.

"That's what they would have wanted," Aphrodite chirps as they turn to leave for the Argo II, whose mast still burns.

"Shut up," Leo grumbles. For some reason, this makes her laugh as she follows Annabeth up the rope ladder and steps onto the deck of the ship for what she senses is the last time. Below them, Zeus hefts his weapon. His face his displeased, unforgiving. "You'd better hold on."

The last things she sees is Hazel and Frank lying side by side on the blistered grass; she can barely vow to return, to give them a proper send–off, before the gods send them spinning across the water.

The Argo II literally crumbles as they hurtle across the Mediterranean and toward Camp Half–Blood. Leo and Annabeth rush back and forth from the engine room like they're a tag team and Percy stands on deck, using his powers to try and keep the ship together. Piper holds onto Jason's arm and he hangs onto Festus's neck. Sea spray bats her face; the wind is so strong she can't open her eyes for long. Below them, the sea gets closer; Percy summons a wave that pushes them upward, soaking them to the skin; the impact sends them spiraling into the clouds. Piper tumbles to the splintered floor and Leo helps her up; his face is the most serious she's ever seen it, and that scares her.

She hears Jason yell, "There!"

Piper can make out that Camp Half–Blood is chaos, even as they near Half–Blood Hill. Monsters flood the valley, rising from the ground in hordes, and hundreds of demigods tear across the green to meet them. The Greeks charge head–on, yelling and swearing; the Romans bring up the rear is flawless formation. The Athena Parthenos gleams at the top of the hill; Percy yells aloud, "TURN!" and the ship banks hard left to avoid it.

"They did it...finally, some good news," Annabeth breathes, staring at the ivory figure of her mother as the ship groans to a halt and semi–stabilizes.

Leo peers over the railing, where the demigods, who have noticed the hovering ship, are beginning to cheer. "I'm not sure if our ladder will work, or if I can even land anymore. Frank, could you–" He stops and winces at his mistake. Piper feels her resolve beginning to crumble again.

Percy's face is hard, though he still looks disoriented. He turns to Annabeth. "Jump?"

"Jump," she agrees. Then she turns to face them. "You guys...let's just make it through this. One last battle, for Frank and Hazel. Then...we're done."

"Sounds good," Jason agrees. He climbs on top of the railing and offers his hand to Piper. He helps her up, and Percy and Annabeth join them; she has tears in her eyes.

"You coming?" Jason asks Leo.

"No," Leo says. His voice cracks; he puts a hand on Festus's head. "Don't worry about me...I–I have a plan."

"Leo," Piper tries.

"Stop it," he mimics. His eyes are worried even though it doesn't show in his voice. "Piper, you're gonna need your charmspeak for later."

"The ship can't take much more," Percy warns. "You can't hold it together much longer."

"I don't need that long," Leo admits. He allows for a small smile. "Go. And...good luck. Chef Leo's tacos after this, I swear."

Jason lets out a small chuckle and Percy says, "Deal."

Together, they stand on the edge of the ship, four demigods staring down at the carnage below them. Jason hooks an arm around Piper; when he looks at her his eyes are glassy, but he whispers, "I'm not gonna let go." Piper wants to tell him how much she loves him, but once again words fail her and she squeezes his hand instead and he smiles.

They jump.

Jason slows the fall, so Piper sees Percy and Annabeth descend, releasing their hands to hold their weapons instead. Annabeth lands on the back of an armored Cyclops but she holds on and stabs it in the back of the neck. A huge whoop erupts from the crowd of demigods as Percy gets to his feet, yells, and lifts what seems to be the entire creek above his head in a swirling, icy funnel.

The wind roars in Piper's ears; she and Jason tumble to the grass at the foot of the hill and are immediately surrounded. Jason keeps his hand in hers for as long as he can but soon he is lost in the melee. Piper hacks and slashes, trying to remember both Annabeth and Hazel's teachings. She charmspeaks monsters into killing each other and aims for weak spots in armor and dust swirls around her in a perpetual sandstorm as the plows through the enemy. She spots familiar faces; Reyna soars through the sky on a grey pegasus, holding up the golden eagle. Clarisse tramples a legion of ogres under a blood–red chariot pulled by skeletal horses. Travis and Connor throw vials of Greek fire at anything they see.

Piper steals a glance upward; a trail of smoke follows the burning ship out of sight. Leo, she thinks anxiously.

Monsters approach her from all directions. She turns in a wide circle with Katoptris in one hand and her bronze sword in the other, slashing and thrusting, unrelenting. Cyclopes and ogres and snake-ladies die with every step she takes. When she is finished, the land is barren, riddled with blood and dust and bodies, and the few surviving monsters run away in terror. Who would ever think her to be a daughter of the goddess of love?

She reaches the edge of the battle and stoops to catch her breath: her sword now feels heavy in her hand. A couple of monsters notice her and make their way toward her, shouting, but then movement to Piper's right catches her eye.

Nico di Angelo raises his sword, and a few hundred skeleton soldiers surge from the ground and charge into battle. Nico collapses to his knees.

Piper runs to him, and the monsters pursuing her holler in rage. A group of younger campers –maybe ten, twelve years old– sprint past her, screaming for help; Piper turns and is immediately mobbed. A single Cyclops stares her down while the rest of his pack surges past without even a glance at her, yelling for blood. Slightly confused at this– they could have easily overpowered her as a group– she plunges her sword into the monster's foot and uses a battered shield to whack it across the face. She removes her weapon as the monster begins to disintegrate, howling, and turns around.

Oh no.

Her heart leaps into her throat– for a split second, in the heat of the fight, she'd forgotten about Nico. She sees him now, stirring feebly, nearly crushed by the stampede.

She runs to him– he's coughing and he has blood splattered over his face and hands. She puts a hand on his chest, screams, "Hey! I need a medic here!" To Nico, she says, "Hold on!"

A medic from Apollo rushes over– Will Solace, she recognizes, with Percy right behind him, holding off one of the Earthborn. The son of Apollo's face fills with horror as he nears them.

"Shitting fuck, Nico, I told you not to exert yourself," Will blabbers, unraveling bandages with shaking hands. Piper tries to feed the son of Hades some nectar from Wil''s canteen but Nico cannot seem to move a muscle.

Will trembles as he tries to staunch the flow of blood from multiple wounds in Nico's chest. Percy sprints to join them and he kneels by Nico's side, taking his hand. Piper is stunned to see the other demigod choking back sobs.

"Hang on," Percy mutters. "Please." Piper adds, in charmspeak, "Just relax. You're gonna be okay."

Nico's breaths become more and more ragged, and finally Will leans back, looking dazed and dejected. He turns to Percy and says in an undertone, "Too many."

"No," Percy cries, grasping Wil''s shoulder in desperation. "I–Isn't there anything...?"

Nico coughs. "...'sokay–"

"No, it's not," Percy whispers, bending so that his forehead touches Nico's bloody fingers. "Nico, y–you can't..."

Nico shakes his head, winces; Will tries, again, to stop the stream of blood flowing from a gaping hole in his neck.

"I...I'm sorry," Percy says in a broken voice, and a tear drops from his chin. "For...for Bianca. For being a shit friend. For everything."

The son of Hades shakes his head again; he might be smiling; but it's hard to tell in the mess of his face. "Forgave you...long time 'go," he mumbles. Then, slowly, achingly, he tries– "I...want you to...know..." He gasps in pain, a broken sound, then slumps slightly and stops moving altogether.

Percy buries his face in his palms, his nails still covered with Nico's blood. Will hangs his head and murmurs a blessing for safe passage to Elysium, placing his hand tenderly on Nico's forehead. And then Piper notices something.

Nico's eyes, even in death, are fixed on Percy. Lifeless, for sure, but also filled with...longing, and...love.

Love.

A switch goes off in her head as Piper replays a million scenes of Nico's anger and bitterness and his secretive ways. She remembers the rumors that followed him, the rumors she believed, and her heart swells with emotion because oh, how they have all misunderstood this child of Hades since the very beginning.

Again, she looks at his shriveled form, at Percy crying silently into his hands. It strikes her suddenly how young he is. Only fourteen, same as Hazel, and he'd gone through so much pain...Nico had loved Percy, and he hadn't gotten to tell him, probably hadn't been able to tell anybody. But then– Jason knows, Piper remembers, recalling his sudden protectiveness of Nico since Croatia. He hadn't told anyone. He'd kept the boy's secret. Still...she can help keep his secret, too.

She leans forward, and, with a gentle hand, closes his eyelids, erasing the tender expression, leaving a very battered boy lying in her arms.

Will stands up, shoots her a crestfallen look, and walks away, wiping his eyes on a bloody tourniquet. Piper watches him go, wonders how many more lives he will be too late to save.

Percy doesn't move.

She touches his arm. "Perce. Come on. Let's finish this."

"Don't want to," he mumbles. "Too...tired."

He isn't just physically tired, she knows. He's emotionally worn; over the last year, he's been through too much for one person to handle.

"We're so close to the end," Piper says halfheartedly. "If...if we finish this–"

"Then what?" he asks hopelessly. "Then what? Do you honestly believe that our futures will be peaceful? The gods won't let us be. There'll be another prophecy, another quest..." He looks away, at the slowing battle.

"I know." Tears spring to her eyes. "You're right; we'll never be safe, not really...but you'll get to go live in Camp Jupiter, with Annabeth. You can go to college, get an apartment..."

The hazed look in his eyes clears away. "I...I haven't even told her I love her yet," he admits. There is something about the way he smiles at reminds her of the people in the romantic films she used to watch sometimes with her father. She hasn't seen this side of Percy, the soft side, in a long while.

This makes Piper smile. "I haven't told Jason, either." She stands, helps Percy to his feet. "Let's go tell them."

Percy gets an insane look in his eyes. He looks at Nico, then back at her.

"Okay," he says. Without warning, he grabs her hand and runs back into the fight.

Full of adrenaline once more, Piper fights with her eyes on Percy, who leaves her few monsters to kill. He turns into a machine, slashing and dodging and cutting things down. A layer of water vapor, like she'd seen him do so long so, mimics his sword: he might not be actually fighting with two blades, but it creates the same effect anyway. He never stops calling Annabeth's name.

A familiar roar fills the air; she hears a flap of large, mechanical wings and Piper looks up to see a cloud of yellow flames erupt from the clouds. Festus, whole again, bursts from the clouds with a yelling Leo on his back; he swoops down and breathes an inferno on a whole battalion of dracaenae. Leo screams, "How's that?" and the Romans give him a roar of approval. Her heart lifts.

She searches for Jason but can't see him, which worries her, but then Percy yells, "Annabeth!" and a distinctly irritated voice shouts back: "What?"

He goes crazy, felling monsters around him in a circle, cutting a path in the direction of her voice; Piper hears him say, "I'm coming. I'm coming." She hurries to help him.

Piper spots her first, a blonde blur impaling several cynocephali at once. She points, and Percy cries out, "Annabeth!" just as the last one crumbles to dust.

Annabeth turns, looking annoyed– "What in Hades, Percy?"

Piper stabs at a monster close to her. "Go," she tells him.

"Okay," he agrees, but his expression melts into one of pure terror– "ANNABETH!"

Piper whirls around, and sees what Ananbeth can't: two empousai creeping up from behind her.

"No!" Percy screams. Annabeth stares at him confusedly, unable to understand, her arms held up in a What? gesture. She's not wearing armor and is surrounded only by a circle of the dead.

"Fuck," Percy says, and he is gone from her side. Sprinting madly in Annabeth's direction, he nearly trips, but keeps running; Piper turns her attention to a two–headed monster attempting to chase him. The monster turns to her and raises an ax; she's forced to look away from Percy – and just as she stabs at the thing and the monster turns to ash, she hears a sickening scream, then a dull thump of a body hitting the ground.

Piper doesn't want to turn around.

The ground around her is littered with dead bodies of demigods and monsters alike; she closes her eyes and listens to the sobs. Further off, she can hear yells, cries, and the sound of the battle slowly dying.

She finally faces Annabeth, who cries over Percy's body. The demoness erupts into flames a few feet behind them, her dagger in Percy's chest. Annabeth's fingers claw at the wound, then at her face, painting her tears and face scarlet.

Piper can't move. She stands on the bloody battlefield with only corpses surrounding her, paralyzed, her throat dry.

Her sword drops from her hand and she staggers to sit next to Annabeth, who barely acknowledges her presence: around them, the battle dies; Piper can see only empty space around her. She lies on her back and stares at the she begins to cry, lying over the ashes of the monsters she'd just killed. Her vision goes blurry and her sight grey – because how can there be life and color in a world as dark as this?

She only opens her eyes when the earth begins pulling her downward– before she knows it, she's sunk an inch into the ground and she can't break free. As she struggles, she land shakes and the hills around her ripple, forming a large, beautiful face of a woman. Gaea's eyes are alert and open. Her muddy lips from a smile. Everyone is screaming, yelling; Piper sees Leo throw a vial of Greek fire at her and yell at Festus to climb. Gaea snarls and rises, a huge mass of earth growing higher than a skyscraper. The ground solidifies and Piper stands quickly, watching as monsters take advantage of the disorder in the demigods' ranks.

This is it– the final battle, only Piper doesn't feel like fighting anymore.

Leo shoots into the clouds with Gaea in pursuit: as if emerging from a dream, she hears Jason calling her name.

"I'll be back," she tells Annabeth, who nods without looking up. Aching all over, Piper stands up and follows Jason's voice, sprinting across the scarlet soil. He runs toward her, kisses her cheek, hisses at her multiple injuries. The smell of him reminds her of the first day of spring after a long, long winter. There's no time to tell him about Percy, and the news will probably demoralize then both further: even so, she can't find the will to speak. He asks, "You ready?" and she shakes her head no: "Me neither," he admits– then his arm circles her waist and they fly.

Tiny water droplets hit her skin and chill her down to the bone. Lightning flashes, blinding her: she can barely feel Jason next to her, holding her aloft the same way he did nearly a year ago at the Grand Canyon. She sees Gaea's indistinct form rising to meet them. Jason raises his free arm and storm spirits whip to life around them. The gust of air their create barely manages to deflect a huge blast of sand and rock that Gaea hurtles their way.

Festus dives out of nowhere and manages to grab the earth goddess with his talons. A jet of blazing blue gits Gaea in the face and she solidifies for a split second. Jason yells and a bolt of lightning sends tremors racing across the goddess's massive form. Leo flings Greek fire at her and crows when it explodes on her torso.

"That was for my mother!" he yells.

The venti churn around Gaea, faster and faster, keeping her contained in a swirling tornado of cloud and wind.

I am eternal, Gaea says viciously, her gaze fixed on Piper. You cannot even hope to defeat me!

And her mind clears. Suddenly, nothing matters anymore. Jason's storm and Leo's fire...they can't stop Gaea forever. This is her moment.

She looks straight into Gaea's green eyes. They remind her of springtime and leaves washed by rain, of the grass outside her grandfather's old house, the one she and her father used to visit...

Pain forces her words out. "You're so tired. So weary. You've watched for millennia as each generation of immortals took over..."

Gaea's smile fades. SILENCE! Leo shoots a lasso of fire at her; she writhes, but breaks free.

"Your husband didn't care about you," Piper says. "He threw your children into Tartarus, and the gods defeated the Titans. All your life...you've known nothing but pain...you want to escape. You don't want revenge, not really...you don't even want power. You want to be free. You want rest. "

Jason's eyes begin to droop. Piper's almost out of time.

"You want to forget," she calls, with her last bit of strength. "You're so tired of all the war and heartache...you just want to...SLEEP!"

The goddess shrieks, YOU CANNOT! but Piper's voice is strong and fierce and cuts through the sound of the rain like an arrow. Gaea's eyes close and she goes limp in the dragon's claw. The storm dies abruptly. Jason says, "No–" as he struggles to keep them both from falling. Leo's veins are alight and she thinks he yells, "I love you guys," before Festus opens his maw and launches another burst of flame at the drowsy goddess; Jason loses consciousness and they tumble through the air just as Leo and Festus, together, a blazing comet, a firey streak in the sky, disappear into Gaea's earthen frame.

Piper screams "LEO!" before a blast of heat hits her so hard she nearly faints; her grip on Jason is slipping dangerously and she struggles to hold onto him. They freefall from the sky, her eyes focusing only on the fireball that might be Leo; she thinks she might be crying but her skin feels frozen. Hazily, she thinks she sees a large black shape –Leo and Festus– begin to plummet towards her, caught in gravity's tight web...they way they're sinking, she suspects Leo must've been immobilized by the blast as well. Piper wants to call to him, but the winds steal her voice. Unable to feel, think, or slow the fall, she allows her body to simple breathe during the final moments before they land, but she hits the trees sooner than she expected and blacks out immediately.

She wakes up in a room of white. It's morning, and her eyes sting. Her arms are bandages and it hurts to move her head.

Slowly, she sits upright. Jason sleeps on a cot to her right, and a medic from Apollo works on Leo, who lies on Jason's other side. Jason's skin is marked with burns, like hers– she leans toward him, but can't reach. Annabeth is sleeping, curled up in an uncomfortable–looking chair by her feet. Piper studies her friend; seeing her wounds seems to remind Piper of her own. She tugs away at a bandage on her shoulder and it falls away to reveal a long, deep scar; the pain in her builds and builds until she gasps at the realness of it– the sound jerks Annabeth awake. The older girl regards Piper with some sadness as she struggles for a breath.

"You'll get used to it." She pulls back her long sleeves, and Piper sees more scars. She also sees the rings under her friend's eyes, and the wetness on her cheeks. Then Piper remembers–

"We're alive," she says.

"Yeah," Annabeth whispers in a trembling voice, "And...I don't know why."

Piper doesn't know why, either, and it drives her crazy; her whole body quakes and she begins tearing away the rest of the binds that cover her wounds. She regards the many scars and burns peppered across her arms, and thinks of Percy and Hazel and Frank.

"Why aren't we dead, too?" She cries out, "Why are we still here?"

Annabeth leans forward and embraces her: Piper realizes that they're both crying. Annabeth shivers in a kind of innocent way that only makes her cry harder.

"I don't deserve to be here," the daughter of Athena murmurs, "I'm not good enough."

Are any of them? Piper wonders dismally, as Annabeth stands up, wiping her eyes, and promises to visit later. Will Solace passes by her with red eyes and doesn't stop her when she swings her legs off the bed. She stands, unsteadily, for a few minutes, then takes a step, then another. Walking feels alien, but she still manages wrenches open the door and step out into the sunlight.

Everywhere and everyone bears signs of battle. She sees wounds on people's arms, legs, faces. The art building and a few cabins are partially demolished. The hills look on the verge of crumbling. Multiple large trees lie uprooted at the edge of the forest, but Thalia's Pine, with the Golden Fleece resting on a branch, still stands. The ground looks cracked, here and there, Piper spots a streak of blood on a stone, a pillar. She leaves some of her own on a large granite boulder that has partially crushed Cabin Two.

Nobody looks at her as she limps past; everyone seems to be preparing for something. Then a couple of campers pass her with large spools of string in their arms, and Piper finally understands. understands.

In the green, the Hecate and Athena cabins sit in sombre silence, weaving shrouds; Piper sees Annabeth join them, sitting by her brother Malcolm and accepting a reel of thread. Romans and Greeks alike walk about the cabins, but Piper feels no happiness, even though they've technically succeeded.

She lowers herself onto the grass and touches the dewdrops. Vaguely, she notices a long cut on her arm begin to bleed again. She does not react when her half–sister Lacey gently lifts her and walks her back to the med bay.

Is this what victory feels like? Emptiness and tiredness, and trying, so hard, to figure out who you are after you've won? Because if that's all there is, Piper doesn't want any more of it.

Piper lies staring at the ceiling fan; she must sleep, because when she opens her eyes Jason and Leo are both gone, and the Apollo kids are helping the rest of the injured out of the door.

She follows; it's evening and the stars are out, but there will be no campfire, no songs, tonight. The air is thick with sorrow and Piper watches each cabin and cohort carry their dead, wrapped in elaborate cloaks of different colors, up the path to the beach. Chiron leads with a large, unlit torch, his face cheerless. Losing this many students in a day might be new even to him; the fallen far outnumber the survivors.

She sees Jason walk through the crowd beside Thalia with his eyes on the ground; she joins the procession next to him.

"I'm glad you're alive," he whispers, and he takes her hand. His face is gloomy. "After all that..."

She nods, and she feels her toes dig into the warm sand by the sea. The sky is bright and beautiful and the moon winks at them from behind the clouds. The breeze is cool and whips her hair around her face. She steps into the surf and cold waves lap gently against her toes. It's nice.

Jason pulls her closer as the campers begin lining up the fallen in a long line on the seashore. Piper notices Tyson the Cyclops by Percy's shroud; he howls and cries into Annabeth's shoulder while she pats him on the back; Reyna stares blankly at the corpses of her kin; Leo lifts the metallic shroud of Harley, a twelve–year–old son of Hephaestus who Piper remembers fighting against in Capture the Flag. Her heart feels unfeeling and frigid as she obverses many of her friends slowly beginning to crack. What kind of world are they living in where kids are killed without a second thought?

She follows Jason to where Annabeth, Leo, Reyna, Tyson, Thalia and Grover stand in front of Percy and Nico's shrouds. Percy's is blue and green and Piper supposes Annabeth wove it herself; Nico's is black silk and reflects the starlight. Reyna's arms are crosses tightly over her chest as she stares at the row of the demigods. Piper wonders how many she'd known, fought with, in all her time as praetor. The thought fills her with sadness.

At the head of the line, Chiron lifts the torch. Five sons of Apollo shoot flaming arrows straight at it, and the top of the brazier flickers to life.

Chiron canters into the surf and faces them. "Today, we honor those who fought for our survival. They showed unrestrained bravery in fighting for our cause, and it is because of them that we still live. They will reach Elysium. Illi liberi sunt," he ends in Latin, which Piper roughly translates to they are free.

Illi liberi sunt, they echo.

Chiron hands the burning torch to a child of Nike, who lights the first shroud; it catches fire in a soft whoosh of flame. The torch is passed on, and on, and on, until Katie Gardner hands it to Annabeth.

Annabeth walks forward to Percy's shroud; Piper observes that most of both camps are watching in tribute. Annabeth beckons Thalia, Grover and Tyson forward; together, they set the son of Poseidon's shroud aflame.

Piper feels hollow as she stares at the sparks ascend in the sky; Annabeth sinks into the sand, shaking; Tyson whimpers, and Grover and Thalia stand together, not speaking. All around her, people are crying and shaking their heads in sorrow, and, for the first time, Piper glimpses an older couple next to Annabeth. The woman is crying, holding the man's hand. Percy's parents, she thinks, feeling as though an icicle is embedded in her chest.

Grover passes the torch to Reyna, who tilts it up to Nico's midnight shroud. Reyna's face crumbles in the growing firelight, and she says brokenly, "All he wanted...was to belong–" She begins to cry, and a Roman camper hugs her. Piper realizes that Reyna and Nico must've grown close on their trip to camp with the statue that might have saved everything: and she can't fully explain why, but seeing the praetor break down makes her final defenses fall apart. She closes her eyes and shakes with sobs and Jason hugs her tightly, his tears falling into her hair. She touches his hair and traces a scar down the nape of his neck. His breaths, hot in the chilled, stagnant air, warm her body. Sounds of the burning fill her ears, of tiny metallic clinks and the soft rustle of leaves. She can't recover from this, not now, not ever. She's seen so much death and there's no way for her to go back.

The torch is passed on. Piper watches the light from the burning shrouds illuminate the night and listens to her fellow campers cry, curse, console...

She remembers– "What about Hazel and Frank?" Shame fills her as she imagines them still lying atop the mountain.

"We'll go for them. Give them the burials they deserve. Tomorrow," Jason tells her. "I promise."

He pins her with his gaze. She leans forward and presses her lips to his, for the first time allowing herself to feel euphoria that they are both alive.

"Okay," she whispers; promises don't bother her anymore. The prophecy has been fulfilled, they're free of it...and she's determined for them to stay that way for as long as possible.

Along the beach, the Greeks and Romans settle on the sand, and Piper and Jason do too. Leo joins them a minute later, and they gaze and Annabeth and Grover and Reyna standing vigil by Percy and Nico's blazing veils. Piper slips her hand into Jason's and puts an arm around Leo's shoulder. She watches the multicolored smoke drift into the sky; shimmering red and gold and pink and silver. The air smells like wood and expensive perfume and freshly mowed grass at the same time; Piper inhales deeply and becomes aware of just how tired she is.

"Can you believe," she tells them, "that a year ago we were filling Coach's baseball hat with whipped cream?"

"Jason wasn't really there," Leo points out.

She rolls her eyes. "You know what I mean. "

"He gets it," Jason interrupts, "and so do I." He turns his stare skywards but squeezes her hand, filling her insides with warmth. "Hard to believe...everything. Makes you think, huh?"

Ahead of where they sit, Grover begins to play, soft, sweet notes on his panpipes. The music calms her, and she lies on her back, studying the Lyra constellation glittering beyond the world.

"What next?" Leo finally asks.

Jason leans back and brushes her hair out of her eyes. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow." He leans down and kisses her, and Piper's lungs fills with light. She curls into him, but still keeps a tight hold on Leo's hand, which he squeezes.

Jason's steady breaths tickle her ear as he holds her; Leo closes his eyes. The melody from Grover's pipes fill her head, and Piper tries to hum along, even though she doesn't know the song.

"Tomorrow," she mumbles.

Then, impossibly, she sleeps.

She dreams of cotton–candy clouds and crystal streams. She runs through a meadow, following dark figures she can't identify...she steps into a patch of dirt and sinks ankle–deep into the mud. She is screaming, but hands grasp hers and pull her to safety; she looks up, gratefully, to thank her rescuers, but the people before her– Hazel and Frank and Percy and her father– melt into shadow when she tries to touch them. She scrambles on the ground, crying, trying to grasp a memory of them, but then Gaea purrs in her mind, You can't bring them back. It's your fault they're gone, after all...Piper screams, and then she can't stop–

Piper jerks away to bright sunlight and the sea breeze stroking her skin. Jason still snoozes beside her, but Leo stirs and shoots her a sleepy smile; his burns look magnified in the daylight.

She untangles herself from Jason's arms and sits up groggily, shielding her face from the brilliance of everything– the sun, the golden shore, the morning rays turning the ocean blue–gold. Leo's watch says it's six–thirty in the morning.

Piles of ashes cover the seaside, and the ocean takes more with every wave that crashes on the shore. What used to be Percy is slowly being swallowed into the ocean. Maybe that's what he would have wanted.

Many campers still sleep, but many, including Thalia and Clarisse, and heading back into camp.

How, she thinks, can she have a normal day ever again?

Leo helps her rouse Jason, and they walk back to the mess hall. Tyson looks up briefly as they pass him: his eye is bloodshot, but nobody else seems to notice them.

In the green, Annabeth, standing at the foot of the stairs leading to Poseidon cabin, argues furiously with Chiron. She stamps her foot in evident rage and turns away from the centaur in disgust; but Chiron spots them and beckons them over with an urgent wave of his hand.

They jog to him; Piper notices that Annabeth's eyes are red and she wears a camp shirt that is too big on her.

"You think she slept in Three last night?" Piper asks.

"Who cares?" Leo demands. "What'd Chiron say to her to piss her off that bad?"

Chiron appears worn when the three of them stop in front of him.

"What now?" Jason asks Annabeth. The daughter of Athena glares at their teacher: she smells ocean–y from her night in the Poseidon cabin, a very distinct, Percy smell that makes Piper sad.

"Tell them," Annabeth grouses.

The centaur sighs. "You'd better call Reyna; we need to talk. Alone, in the Big House."

"Why?" Piper asks, but Annabeth responds this time, with a frown on her lips– "The gods have requested an audience with us."

"No," Piper says. "We can't go." She's never been this sure of anything in her life.

"Child," Chiron says sympathetically. "I understand, but–"

"We know you understand," Annabeth cuts in, "the gods clearly give no fucks."

The centaur doesn't even condemn her language. "There's nothing I can do, Annabeth. I'm sorry."

Leo speaks up. "Maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions. After the Titan War, didn't you all get, like, recognition for what you did? Maybe they'll just give us rewards or something, for being totally brave and selfless and badass. Besides, they're sane again, right?"

Annabeth glances at Chiron.

"They're sane, right?" Jason repeats.

"The thing is..." Chiron purses his lips. "Hermes is Zeus' messenger, but Dionysus returned and told me the news. It makes little sense, for he hates this place. He would return only if Hermes was occupied–"

"Which is never," Annabeth finishes. "Plus, Dionysus is one of the gods that wasn't affected by the split–personality syndrome. Something's up."

"I agree." Reyna places her hand on the table. "This doesn't seem the same as your typical happy gathering. A summons from the gods...so early, before most of us have woken up? It's a little unusual. I feel like they're going to tell us something, or do something, before the day begins...before everyone realizes it."

"Exactly." Annabeth glances at Reyna with approval, then fixates on Chiron. "And we made it pretty damn clear we weren't gonna play along with their little scheme anymore."

"It will do you no good to disobey the gods," Chiron says. "They don't forgive very easily. After all..." He looks at ceiling nervously. "It was because Zeus felt insulted after the Titan War that Olympus was closed."

"We don't care about the gods," Annabeth hisses; a tear sprouts in her eye that she brushes impatiently away. "They shut us out, pushed us away...they barely acted like they were on our side, let alone like parents."

"It's not like we asked for a lot," Jason agrees. "We just want some time to come to terms with...everything."

Chiron sighs. "I know...but all I'm saying is, you'll have all the time in the world to recuperate and reflect, once you return. Like Leo says, it's highly probable that the gods simply wish to acknowledge your efforts."

"Yeah," Leo says, maddeningly optimistic. "Maybe they'll offer us immortalilty...or, like, an all–you–can–eat buffet for the rest of our lives."

Nobody smiles. Piper looks at Annabeth and sees that her friend is watching Chiron closely.

"You don't believe that," the blonde accuses Chiron. "I know you. You have another idea of what's going to happen."

"It doesn't matter what I think," he says kindly. "I'm sure, when you have returned, your doubts– and mine, I admit– will have been dispelled." He smiles at her, and pats her shoulder reassuringly– "Don't lose your temper." To the rest he says, "I'll see you in a few hours." He canters through the open door.

Reyna's fingers curl into a fist. "We don't have a choice, do we?"

"No," Jason admits.

Leo rises; a grin is spreading across his face. "What are we waiting for, then? Let's go get what we're due."

Piper holds onto Jason's shirt atop Tempest; she turns to Annabeth, who rides on Blackjack with a stony expression.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Piper asks her.

"I have a hunch," she replies, but offers little else. The New York City skyline zooms beneath them, with vehicles the size of ants clogging the roads. Piper sees the Empire State Building looming up ahead, and, above, a snow–capped mountain jutting from the clouds.

Jason spurs Tempest higher, and Piper lets out an audible gasp. Mount Olympus is beautiful, with lush green trees and buildings gleaming gold; her eyebrows lift in pleasure, but she spies a large humanoid figure glowing pink in front of the largest structure, watching them, and her smile vanishes immediately. She does not want to talk to her mother right now.

"Land as far away as you can," she tells Jason.

Reyna has noticed the goddess, too. "This can't be good," she growls. The anger in her voice is too fierce to be fake. Piper looks at her– the praetor is gritting her teeth.

"I doubt that's a welcoming party," Jason murmurs to a doubtful–looking Leo in an undertone. Annabeth looks straight ahead, at the nearing courtyards.

"Time to test the theory," she murmurs, and, with a final flap of their wings, the pegasi and Tempest land on the white–tiled floors of the gardens of Olympus.

Fortunately, their horse dropped them off at a lower level, closer to the elevators, so Piper has a lot of time to take in the splendor of the place. Everything seems clean and shining; nymphs and satyrs and minor gods smile as they go past. Piper studies the buildings, and sees the salad bar Annabeth designed. Despite herself, she grins, and links her arm through Jason's.

Unfortunately, her mother still stands at the gates. She'd hoped that Aphrodite was only a lookout of sorts, but the goddess doesn't move as they approach her. With a shiver, Piper realizes she can feel her sickly smile from a hundred meters away.

Reyna and Annabeth lead; Piper, Leo and Jason fall in line behind them. Ahead, the massive doors of the throne hall glitter impressively.

When the two girls halt two feet in front of Aphrodite, the goddess shimmers pink and shrinks to human size, still smiling. Piper feels Jason tighten his grip on her hand.

"Our brave demigods," she coos. Incredibly, no one bows.

Her mother's eyes pass over them, unperturbed, one by one– before fixing on Piper.

"My daughter," she says, with apparent affection laced in her voice. She spreads her arms as if expecting Piper to walk into her embrace, but Piper doesn't take a step. Something in her mother's gaze makes her uneasy. Aphrodite lowers her arms.

"You've been so brave," she says.

"What do you want?" Her words come out laces with bitterness, but harsher than Piper had intended...but she feels no regret.

"I wanted to talk to you first." The charmspeak in her mother's voice sounds like syrup, but none of her friends move. "Privately. May I?"

"You may not," Jason grunts. "Whatever you want to say to her, you can say in front of us, too."

"I want them to stay," Piper agrees.

The goddess of love wrinkles her nose in slight disdain, but shrugs in nonchalance. She takes a step froward, towards Piper, who resists the urge to back away.

"I wanted to tell you..." her mother says, "I heard your prayers."

"What pray–" Piper begins hotly, but then she remembers and feels a wave of shame crash down on her. Oh.

Her mother's fingers touch her face. The nails are perfectly round and smooth, and Aphrodite hisses softly as she touches the burn– the first burn– right under her eye. "Such an unfortunate...injury," she hums, glaring at Leo, who cringes in guilt.

"I don't mind it anymore," Piper says, truthfully.

"My dear," she clucks, "I'm sure you don't...but I could heal it now, if you'd like...I could make you beautiful again. I'm sure you'd like it better, as would some others..." She smiles sweetly as Jason.

The son of Zeus looks angry. "I think she's fine the way she is now."

Piper tries to pull her face away but Aphrodite holds on, the lovely, manicured nails digging into her cheeks. "A daughter of mine can't just be fine," she says disbelievingly. She focuses on Piper. "Don't you want to look whole again, my dear?"

Whole.

The word plays around in Piper's brain as she remembers how she once pleaded at the sky to change her back. She recalls, full of shame, how she had been full of big ideas at first, telling her cabinmates that Aphrodite was not about this...but the practice had been so, so much harder. How much she had cried, how much she had begged her mother to repair her skin...until she'd healed. Inside and out, though she felt it more from within. Instead of letting the mark define her, she'd accepted the scar, worn it without ignominy. She'd forgotten the pain of losing her beauty and learned that there was power in other places, too. She'd taught herself to understand that her appearance didn't define who she was. She'd stood by the fact that feeling beautiful and doing beautiful things were more important than just looking it. She'd fought with her half–brothers and sisters over it...and here her mother is telling her that removing the blemish will make her more whole?

"I'm fine, honest," she tells her, pulling away at last. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather stay the way I am."

Aphrodite struggles to look both smiling and stern. "But...Piper, dear! You could be beautiful again. Don't you want that?"

"I did," Piper admits, aloud, for the first time. Her throat feels raw. "I–I prayed to you so much, but you never answered...I guess I got used to the scar in the meantime. I'm kind of glad you didn't respond, actually, because I feel stronger, somehow. I like how I look, Mom. Maybe it's time you tried to like it, too."

"It looks rather painful," her mother tries. "I would remove it to spare you pain."

"Bullshit," Jason says loudly.

The goddess turns to him, seemingly desperate. "Son of Zeus! Would you not see her beautiful again?"

"I think she's beautiful," Jason states plainly. Piper's spirits soar, but the goddess only smiles – somewhat pityingly – at this.

She turns to face Piper once more. "Dear, I implore you to listen to me. I will be honest. You do not look like a daughter of mine. I say this for your own good– you will be loved, respected, admired more if you had no scar! Listen to me. I'm your mother; I hold your best interests at heart. I will answer your prayers. I can make you attractive again."

Piper clenches her jaw, finally lets her irritation overcome her reason.

"First," she snaps, "stop charmspeaking me. It's not going to work." She takes a breath. "Look...I know I wished for you to help. It's not...one of my prouder moments. I was hurt, and scared, and alone, and angry...and I felt ugly. I thought everyone was ridiculing me behind my back: the ugliest of your daughters to ever live."

"Darling–"

Piper cuts her off– "But then I realized...people only cared about it because I did. I was self–conscious, and shallow, and stupid as hell, but I've grown. And I can honestly tell you that I'm not the same person I used to be, which I can't say for you. It's been eons, but you're still the same... but I wanted to break the...the stigma around your children. I wanted to show everyone that we can be smart, and fierce, and loyal, and not just a pretty face. And–and I wouldn't change a thing about my face if you paid me." She looks into Aphrodite's panicked eyes, and nearly smiles. "Jason says I look beautiful, and maybe sometime in the future I'll look in the mirror and cry because I'll think I look hideous. But...right now, I'm gonna choose to believe him."

Her own fingers touch her face this time, then her arms, feeling each scar that she's won, she's earned. "I may not look whole, but I feel whole, Aphrodite." She shrugs. "Maybe, if you weren't only trying to salvage your record of producing beautiful children, I'd have taken you more seriously."

When she looks up again, her mother is purple with fury.

"Don't come crying to me when you regret this," she says tightly, before turning around and dissolving into rose petals.

For a long while, they are all silent. Then Annabeth breaks into a huge grin. "Fucking hell, Piper. That was probably the most badass thing I've seen...in my life."

"Thanks." Embarrassingly, tears are threatening to spill over as she recalls– You do not look like a daughter of mine! "That might've been the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Leo offers a smile. "You really have forgiven me, huh?"

"I told you so, idiot," she sniffs, "and I really am sorry it took me so long to do it."

He laughs, then, and claps her hard on the back. "That was some speech, dude. I'm gonna teach it to my children, and theirs, and–"

She laughs; Jason kisses her. "That was seriously incredible. You're incredible, Pipes." She flushes, and then Reyna meets her gaze a little sheepishly.

"That was cool," the other girl admits. "I guess...I was pretty wrong about you."

"Thanks," she allows. Then, in a burst: "Look, I don't know what Aphrodite said to you all those years ago, but I'm sorry. I mean...I hope I've proved that she can be wrong...about a lot of things."

"Appreciate it," Reyna says, "and yeah, I've pretty much accepted that godly intuition sucks." She offers Piper a genuine smile, and Piper grins back.

Annabeth smiles, looking at the large, imposing entrance. Something in her expression is wary. "Well, since you've put us in a good mood, how about we get this over with?"

"Definitely," Jason agrees, taking a few steps forward to push open the doors, and they swing forward in admittance. Her heart leaps with anxiety as they walk forward and take their places, immobile, before the twelve Olympian gods.

The scene that greets them is that last thing Piper had expected. Leo lets out an audible and slightly comical gasp; Jason and Reyna, perhaps from years of kinship, exchange an incredulous look. Only Annabeth looks unsurprised; the daughter of Athena wears a sneer.

The gods– except for Aphrodite, who sniffs at them, and Dionysus, who ignores them completely– writhe upon their thrones, groaning in pain. Their forms flicker: from Greek to roman and back again. When they pass Hermes, Jason exhales angrily. "Guess you were right about him."

"I don't get it," says Leo in despair. "They were fine during the battle! What the heck happened?" Only Reyna curses softly under her breath in response.

Zeus whimpers in pain, clutching at his head, as they approach. His appearance changes from a dark blue suit and tie to white-and-purple robes and cape, but he fixates on Jason with surprising intensity and his clothes turn purple.

"My son," Jupiter booms. Then he cries out, and hits his head hard with his fist; his shape changes again.

Jason stares uneasily at his father. "Uh–"

"Son..." Zeus twists like he's being bound by invisible ropes, a rather pathetic sight. "Too–much...conflict–"

"What he means is," Dionysus drawls behind them, "is that now that the camps are together, too many prayers are being said, too many complications to deal with as separate entities. Their cores are ripping them apart again." He flips a page of his magazine. "He's going to have to split the camps up again in order to regain his sanity." The king of the gods grunts, as if in agreement.

It takes a while for the god's words to sink in. Piper watches Apollo's attire change from a t-shirt and jeans to a gold toga for nearly a full minute, and then she understands.

"You're kidding me," Leo howls. "You're fucking kidding me."

"Unfortunately not," the god of wine yawns. When nobody responds, he adds, in a bored voice, "Sorry."

"We were told that as long as our camps got along, it'd be okay," Reyna growls, gripping the hilt of her sheathed sword. "We just won a war for you, together. Annabeth went through Tartarus to save the Athena Parthenos. Hedge, Nico and I risked our lives to get the bloody thing to camp...and now you're telling us it was all for nothing?"

The god sniggers. "And all is peaceful in Greco-Roman paradise?" He waves his hand and an Iris-Message shimmers to life, showing a vivid image of the Ares and Mars cabins getting in each other's faces, yelling themselves hoarse as everyone else takes sides. Chiron struggles to pull them apart.

Dionysus dissolves the image.

"You're lying," Piper says hollowly. Her insides feel like they're being consumed by acid.

"Why would I lie?" the god says, bored. "I'm fine. I very occasionally get the headaches the rest are going through–" he points at Athena, who shivers, her eyes sometimes flashing with mad hatred– "and I assure you, I'd rather prefer our annual meetings like so. However, Zeus is still capable of sending me to Tartarus, or worse, back to your rotten camp, where I would now have to deal with twice the amount of you little brats. It's easier to wipe your memories again."

"Yes, but–" Jason points at the ground, as if at Camp Half-Blood. "You can't expect things to improve so quick! It'll get better with time, and then we both get what we want!"

"We the gods don't do very well with patience," Dionysus admits, pulling a goblet from thin air and taking a sip.

"You can't separate us again," Leo announces.

Zeus is seemingly so infuriated by the banter her gains control again, this time in his dark-suited Greek form. "We can and will," he thunders, so loudly the floor quivers. "We cannot simply wait for change to occur– after all, we create change. We are change. We will–" he winces, and presses his forehead. "M-make it stop–"

"You can't toy with us!" Annabeth yells; with a jolt, Piper realizes it's the first time she's spoken since entering the chamber. "You can't put us together to help us win your war and then expect us to take this lying down! We– the Greeks and the Romans– we're meant to work together!"

Athena stands suddenly, as if alerted by the sound of her daughter's voice. "Kill the Romans–" The goddess grimaces as her image wavers back and forth; she finally solidifies as Minerva, who wears silken robes and a far more murderous expression than her Greek counterpart.

"Mother," Annabeth beseeches. "You're the wisest here. You've got to agree with me. Don't you see...how pointless it all is?"

"You–you–" the goddess's eyes harden, and she points a shaking finger and Jason, then Reyna. "You're consorting with them! You would spare these...Roman barbarians?"

"I would," Annabeth says firmly, with a similar mulish expression. "They're my friends."

"You are not my daughter," Minerva shrieks, collapsing in her seat; Annabeth flinches, but her frown only deepens. For an instant, the goddess's dress turns a softer grey, and she murmurs, "I–" but then she wails in pain.

Annabeth looks at Leo. "This is useless. They can't listen, even if they wanted to."

Jason wears a grim expression as he steps closer to his father. "Zeus. Jupiter– dad? Whoever you are...you can't do this. Not again. Not after what we just went through for you, proving that our camps can coexist. Please, we just need a little time."

"They can coexist in your happy little world." Dionysus frowns, and his loud shirt turns a more somber purple. "Not in our heads."

Jason ignore him. "Please."

Zeus's form seems to dissolve, but he straightens.

"Jason Grace," he says, with recognition in his voice. Then– "It cannot be avoided."

"Why not?' Piper asks, slowly letting charmspeak filter into her words. "I'm sure we can all come to an agreement, if we work it out."

The god only shakes his head.

"I don't get it," Annabeth snaps. "You let your children fight– and die– for you...only to redo it all?" She takes something from her pocket and waves it in a moaning Poseidon's direction– a ballpoint pen. Riptide.

"You want us to forget?" she screams. She quavers; tremors run up and down her frame. Piper feels own heart throbbing in anger and grief.

None of the gods reply; a few cry out as their bodies transform.

Aphrodite speaks. "I'm afraid the choice is made. You'll have a few moments to accept it."

"What?" Jason yells.

Dionysus shrugs indifferently. "What she means is...spend your time wisely. While you have some." He begins to glow even as he speaks the last words; so does Aphrodite. As if sensing their actions, one by one, the other gods begin to shine as well. Piper watches with incredulity and fury as the room becomes resplendent with a golden radiance. Leo mumbles, "Look away," but she wants to keep her eyes open, she wants to end it all. She doesn't mind vaporizing into the air, she thinks, but the light soon becomes unbearable. Furious at her weakness, she squeezes her eyes shut. She hears a swish as the gods flash out, and knows, without looking around, what they have left behind: five demigods standing alone in a massive, empty hallway.

Unaware of how hard she is breathing until Jason tugs her to his chest, Piper's chest is clenched so tight she can barely breathe. Annabeth stands with narrowed, angry eyes in stunned silence, before collapsing at the foot of Demeter's wicker throne. Reyna sits, too, clenching her fists.

"This is my fault," Annabeth says. "If I hadn't lost my temper..."

"We were all pretty close to losing it," Leo says darkly. "I-I...still can't believe that just happened."

"It wasn't your fault," Reyna murmurs. "I think...we were brought here and told this for a reason. In a twisted way, they think they're honoring us. If we hadn't come, they would've gone through with the plan without telling us at all."

"This is... honoring us for all the shit we went through for them?" Piper's voice shakes with resentment.

"Maybe we can change their minds," Jason says hopefully, clutching her fingers with his own. "It's not too late. Maybe, if we talk to them...maybe they'll listen. If we try hard enough, all of us, together, maybe we can get them to listen long enough to make them see sense."

They are all hushed, still. Piper runs a finger up and down her sword, her other hand in Jason's grip. His palms grow sweaty and suddenly she realizes she cannot lose him. She can't lose him now, she won't. She can't lose any of them. After all they've been through, all the people she's seen die: her father, Percy, Nico, Hazel, Frank...well, Piper doesn't want to remember a lot of it, but she can't afford to forget, either, because her time with her friends has shaped her like nothing else has. She feels like a blade herself: strong, sharp, indestructible. She will not let anyone take away these things from her.

"All right," Annabeth says with finality. She places her hand on Reyna's shoulder and gazes at the rest with barely-concealed, furious determination that makes Piper feel hope again. "We better not fail."

The gods sit on their thrones around them, as Annabeth explains their argument in a calm, intelligent voice. Most of them look ill, with a sheen of sweat layering their skin. The teleporting had clearly taken a lot of energy, but Piper feels no pity.

Leo is saying, "You've got to let us work out a system. The camps can be separate, but have visiting sessions a few times a year..."

Reyna adds, "It doesn't make sense to keep us apart anymore. We work well together, even if there are minor disagreements. We proved that yesterday, and we can keep proving it. We were meant to know about the other. It's the reason we've won this war." Her words sound fuzzy in Piper's ears, and her eyebrows knit together as she gazes around at the gods. They appear to be concentrating hard, seemingly deep in thought, listening. Their forms still morph, but most seem to be stabling. Again, she notices a lot of them sweating. It strikes her as odd.

Looking down, she notices that Jason's fingers are not intertwined with hers anymore. Funny, she doesn't remember letting go of his hand.

She tries to take it again, but she can't touch him. She tries again, this time more cautious, but her fingers stop an inch from him. An invisible bubble shields him from her. She whips around. Her mind races: Reyna's woolly voice, the gap separating Jason from her. The gods are still staring unflinchingly at Annabeth as she speaks...no. Not at Annabeth. They all concentrate on the space between Piper and Jason...but it's more than that. Because the way they stand, in a single line...Leo, Annabeth, Piper, Jason and Reyna...the space between Piper and Jason marks not only the divide between them, but between the Greeks and the Romans.

Suddenly, it all makes horrible sense to Piper, and fear clogs her throat as she screams. She pounds against the invisible wall that divides them, and with dismay notes that it has expanded, from an inch thick to nearly five.

"They've started!" she yells hoarsely to Annabeth and Leo, who react in horror. Piper screams Jason's name, and he turns in surprise. His expression grows horribly sad, but then he comes to the same conclusion she does. He says something to Reyna, and they both draw their weapons. As one, they begin attacking the shield with irate ferocity.

Piper draws her sword, and begins jabbing as well. Leo pounds with his hammer, and Annabeth uses both her drakon-bone blade and Riptide to slash at the same spot, again and again.

It's not working.

The barrier throws thicker, and, unless she is imagining it, more opaque. She's crying, crying, as she works away furiously at the gap with her weapon, determined to breach the divide. Leo grunts in pain and effort, but he is weeping, too; her resolve only builds. She can't let Jason get away from her, not this time. She's been a victim of the gods' games for too long now.

Tears blur her vision; sweat streams into her eyes. Piper stops for a split second to catch her breath, but the next minute she cannot remember her name, or why she's here. All she knows is that she's so tired...

She snaps out of it with a jolt. The other two still hit the wall from the other side, though their motions are slower. She is Piper McLean, she remembers, and next to her is Annabeth Chase and Leo Valdez; still struggling to get to her are Reyna and Jason Grace, and they will all live long happy lives doing whatever they hell they want. She is a fighter: that is who she is, and she'll be damned if she lets the gods rip away her world again.

She rains down a storm of blows at the forcefield, but is blown backward and lands hard on her back. It takes her longer to get up, and her mind begins to slip again, but Piper forces herself to stand. The wall between them grows thicker by the minute, and, even as she watches, it ripples, becoming a purer shade of white.

Piper discards her sword and pounds against the barricade with her fists. Her knuckles turn purple, and she is choking on her sobs, but she doesn't stop. Her body heaves; her breaths grow heavy. She is aware that she's screaming, but doesn't know what exactly comes from her mouth. She can feel the bones in her hands wither, then break. Blood splatters against her fingers. She keeps punching.

Even through the shield grows increasingly translucent, Piper can just manage to see Reyna crumple to the floor on the other side: she hears Leo's legs give way as well, then Annabeth's. Piper fights to stay awake, even as her mind threatens to slip away. She throws punch after punch, ignoring the pain; on the other side, Jason is crying.

For a scary second, she forgets everything. She forgets her name, her heritage, and she most certainly cannot identify the blonde guy striking the space keeping them apart with such intensity. Only the feeling inside her suggests that he means more than the world to her. Tears drip off her chin, and, as her shoulder slams into the partition, she thinks she hears a gush of air escape from the thing. The color drains out of the wall; and Piper remembers – "Jason!"

She scrambles forward and tries to reach him, touch him, hug him, but she can't. She weeps, then, her body sliding to the floor because no, it's not supposed to be like this–

And then, before she forgets, and regrets it all over again– "I love you," she cries out, "I love you!"

She knows he can't hear, but he puts his hand on the imperceptible blockade, and smiles wanly at her like he gets it. She places her palm in front of his, and nearly smiles, too: then the wall solidifies again. Jason instantly vanishes from view, and all Piper can see around her are barrages the color of fresh snow as she curls into a ball and cries into her own chest.

The last things she feels is the cold marble floors shifting underneath her as the world falls away into nothingness.

Piper sits under Thalia's tree, all alone.

It is nearly nighttime, and the funerals are soon, but the rest of Camp Half-Blood rejoices at their victory in the arena; she hears the whoops and the thunderous claps, but knows that the remainder of the seven– Leo, Annabeth, and Clarisse– will not be celebrating tonight.

The air is completely still as she lies on her back and gazes at the stars winking at her from beyond the boughs of the pine. For some reason, she feels a deep, dark sadness she can't fully understand, a sadness that makes her eyes water.

"Piper," a voice calls.

She sits up. Lacey waits at the foot of the hill with a small, tremulous smile on her face.

"We're leaving for the beach now, to burn th–the shrouds," says the girl in a soft voice. "Are you coming?"

Piper stands– and then it happens.

A breeze comes to life before her, swirling around her, reminding her vaguely of soft laughter. The gust of wind circles her frame, nearly lifting her off her feet; her hair lifts up around her shoulders, and suddenly, everything smells of springtime. Despite all the deaths she's seen today, Piper's heart lifts, filling her with hope and happiness that she thought she'd lost forever. The waft envelops her in a warm hug; her stomach fills with butterflies: a surprising but welcome sensation. The wind dies gradually but still too suddenly for her taste, touching her like a gentle hand, caressing her cheek like a soft kiss.

A smile forms on her face as she gazes at the horizon, at the setting sun. She hasn't smiled in a long time.

"Yeah," she says, not entirely sure of who she is addressing. "Yeah, I'm coming."

a/n: if you made it, thanks for being here. I apologize for all the deaths: I was quite annoyed by how the blood of olympus ended, so I wrote my own version. I hope you enjoyed the story. and if you'd like to know why I did the things I did in this fic, or even if you just wanna rant percy jackson with me, contact me on my tumblr.

please excuse my typos. I'm sure there are a lot, but I didn't want to put off publishing this thing for too long.

drop a review on your way out, if you can. it means so much.

vani