EDITED: 5/20/2013

This story was written before Mark of Athena came out, so some stuff probably, most likely won't match up with the book. But this story is still awesome. :P

Perseus: Master of the Elements

VOLUNTEER WORK

CHIRON, the centaur, was worried. Word had come from Camp Jupiter that they were entirely surrounded by various monsters, led by Echidna and her son, Chimera. The Romans requested assistance, and right now Chiron was about to ask the campers of Camp Half-blood to help the Romans.

The giants have been defeated for about a few months, although after their defeat the monsters never really died down. They had regrouped in Alaska, the land beyond the gods, and found a new leader, Echidna, the mother of all monsters. Earlier that day, Chiron received an Iris Message from the other camp, from the Praetors Reyna and Jason. They looked battle-worn and tired, and they had begged for reinforcements.

Chiron was holding a war council in the Big House. Even though the minor gods and goddesses each had their own cabin, only the Olympian god's children were a part of the war council. Annabeth Chase was early as usual, jotting various ideas down on a notepad. Across the ping pong table sat Clarisse La Rue, sharpening her fourth electric spear. Conner Stoll were chatting with Will Solace. Travis Stoll was trying to get lucky with Katie Gardener, and Piper McLean had her chin in her hands, looking bored.

Poor Piper, Annabeth thought. She was never really the same after Jason left her for Reyna. When the Argo II landed in Camp Jupiter, Percy and Jason got along brilliantly, and when Percy offered Jason his former position of Praetor back, Jason graciously accepted and stayed in Camp Jupiter with Reyna. When the Prophecy of Seven was completed, Jason chose Reyna over Piper, and the two got into a romantic relationship.

Leo Valdez walked through the front doors and smiled widely. "The party just started!"

Annabeth looked up from her notepad and scoffed. "You wish."

Leo opened his mouth to make a smartass reply when he was silenced by Percy Jackson walking through the door. Instantly, the entire room went silent out of pure respect. Leo once made a joke that even mosquitos don't even bite Percy out of pure respect. That just proved Annabeth's theory of how Leo said something stupid every ten minutes. The reasons why every demigod, every monster, and even most of the gods highly respect him are because of the deeds he preformed in the Giants War. When the Nemean Lion showed up on the battlefield in Greece, every demigod fled except for Percy, who stood his ground.

Percy then proceeded to slay the beast within ten minutes, thanks to his hydrokinetic powers and a large Greek fire bomb. Yet that wasn't it. Percy also assisted Leo Valdez to slay the actual Hydra, whenever Percy cut off a head Leo would burn it, not allowing more heads to grow. Also, Percy fought Gaea hand-to-hand long enough to distract her while Jason and the others worked the spell that would send her back to Tartarus once and for all.

Percy sat down in a chair next to Annabeth and gently took her hand in his, squeezing it underneath the table while Chiron started his speech. "As some of you may know, the monsters never really dispersed after the defeat of the giants and Gaea."

The counselors nodded.

"The have all regrouped underneath the command of Echidna and her offspring, the Chimera."

Percy stiffened at those names. He remembered the incident at the St. Louis Arch, and he didn't want it to happen again. Travis and Conner yawned, not bothering to hide it. "Get to the point already, Chiron," Travis said.

"They are attacking Camp Jupiter. The Romans are asking for reinforcements because they already lost too many people due to battle." Chiron said tersely. Years of teaching heroes have really taught Chiron patience.

"The mighty Romans begging for the Greeks to help?" Clarisse scoffed. She hadn't gotten along with the Romans, although Clarisse did save a lot of Roman lives. "How uncharacteristic."

"They are dying, Clarisse. Just because they insulted your father, Ares," Will said, "doesn't mean you have to go all ballistic on them—"

"They never even heard of his name!" Clarisse said harshly, emphasizing the word name. "You would've thought that they would at least know the Greek counterparts of the Roman gods!"

"Calm down children," reprimanded Chiron. "Clarisse, you don't have to go."

"Well then, who is going?" Annabeth asked.

"Who would like to go?" Chiron asked the counselors. "You would take fifty half-bloods with you. That's about a fifth of the campers here."

Clarisse shook her head violently and resumed sharpening her spear. Travis and Conner said no simultaneously, Katie Gardner sighed and said that she had plants she needed to tend to, and Will Solace shrunk into his chair, muttering no meekly.

"Why don't you guys want to go?" Chiron asked, rather disappointed.

"I think, Chiron, that they are all tired of the fighting. I for one, don't want to go either," Annabeth stated. "After all, the Giants War has only been over for a few months." In her heart, she added, I've got something to do.

Leo smiled. "I'm real good friends with Jason and all, but I'd say no. I'm not really the leader type, you know what I mean?"

Annabeth nodded in agreement. Percy stood up, let go of Annabeth's hand, and raised his hand. "I'll go."

"We'll need more than one person," Chiron said. "Who will it be?"

"I'll do it," Piper said, standing up as she did.

The counselors all raised their eyebrows. Out of everyone there, Piper was the least expected to go back to Camp Jupiter, especially after her break up with Jason. Percy looked surprised too. He had expected Annabeth to change her mind when he said that he wanted to go.

"Great. Percy and Piper, you guys have an hour to pack your bags." Chiron commanded. "Council dismissed."

An hour later, PERCY and PIPER arrived at the location of the Argo II with fifty demigods. There were no Ares's children there; they had a profound hatred of the Romans for disrespecting their father. The vast majority of the campers were from the Apollo cabin, some were from Hermes and Nike, and a few were from Athena. The ship's crew was all from the Hephaestus cabin.

They boarded the ship. Percy and Piper got the captain's quarters, where two comfy beds were located. Percy, being the gentleman he is, set up a curtain across the two beds, giving Piper her personal space. The Argo II lifted off of the ground and started towards Camp Jupiter.

Percy rested on his bed and studied a map of Camp Jupiter. He planned on landing a little bit north of the Little Tiber since all of the bad guys were attacking from the Fields of Mars. Percy put the map down and sighed. He was thinking of Annabeth again.

Ever since the Giants War was over, he and Annabeth had resumed dating, but this past month… Annabeth had grown further and further away from him. She was too busy with her Architect of Olympus things and had no more time for Percy. Whenever Percy asked her to watch a movie with him, she would always say that she had something to do. Annabeth never even said I love you anymore, and Percy doubted that she still did.

In the past, if Percy volunteered to do something, Annabeth would always do it with him, no matter how reckless or stupid it was. She was his mortal anchor, the thing that kept him alive when he took a dip in the Styx. Percy held up the sky for Annabeth. He refused immortality for her. She was too valuable to Percy to lose; yet she was still slipping away between his fingers.

The curtain opened up, and Piper stepped out. Percy had always thought that Piper was above average in looks, but Annabeth, in his mind, looked better no matter what. Jason broke her heart, Percy thought. Why is she going to Camp Jupiter then?

Piper slipped past him and muttered something about cookies and milk. After eating some cookies and drinking some milk, mused over why she had decided to come. She refused to believe that Jason had chosen Reyna over her. The reason she decided to go to Camp Jupiter, Piper thought, was for closure. Just to make sure that Jason didn't really love her anymore, so she could just move on and find some one else.

After all, Piper thought, all the memories I had of him, they were all fake, implanted. She hated that fact. Piper hated how she fell in love with a guy of whom she had fake memories. Piper tried her best to not be a stereotypical Aphrodite girl, but like all of them, she gets extremely emotionally attached to the people she falls in love with.

Percy's voice rang out suddenly. "Pipes?"

Piper froze. Only her dad calls her that, but he's… well, Tristan McLean is in a better place now. "Don't call me that," Piper hissed.

Percy opened the curtain that separated the two. "Is there something wrong?" His voice had concern etched in it.

"Yes," Piper answered. "You're intruding on my personal space."

Percy frowned. He stayed there anyway, sitting on the edge of Piper's bed. "Why did you come?"

"Because it felt right," Piper said, memorizing the script she had created in her head, just in case anyone asked her that question.

"Is it because of Jason?" Percy asked boldly, the Hero of Olympus getting closer to Piper than she liked.

Piper's gritted her teeth, and she mustered out all the charmspeak that she could. "Leave me alone," she charmspoke.

Percy smiled. "Impressive, but ever since that incident when Aphrodite tried to get me in bed… well, lets just say I became resistant to charmspeak forever." Percy shuddered just thinking about that incident.

Oh gods, that's gross, Piper thought. "Well, what about you and Annabeth? It doesn't seem as if you two are doing anything lately."

That struck a nerve. For one second, Piper could've sworn Percy's bright green eyes flickered. "We are fine," he hissed.

Percy got up from Piper's bed and went back to his, closing the curtain on the way. Piper followed Percy and in turn sat on his bed. "I'm sorry," she whispered meekly. "I didn't mean it that way, you know I didn't—"

"It doesn't matter," Percy quickly interrupted Piper. There was an awkward silence while Piper made herself comfortable on Percy's bed. "Do you…"

"Do I what?" prompted Piper, trying to finish the sentence for him.

"Do you know whether or not she still loves me or not?" Percy asked seriously. They both knew who she was.

"I don't know Percy…" Piper lied. "I'm… I'm not that big on gossip, ya know?"

Percy nodded solemnly. Piper really felt bad for Percy, he had done so many things for Annabeth, but she doesn't really love him anymore. Piper knew for sure that Annabeth didn't love Percy anymore; she had caught her cheating on Percy. Piper recalled that it was about a month ago when it happened.

It was a warm summer day in Camp Half-blood. Piper was wearing jeans and an orange Camp Half-blood t-shirt, flip-flops, and her hair was messy as usual. She hiked towards the beach, where she always went to mull things over. It was like her secret getaway.

When she arrived at her secret spot, Piper smiled to herself and sat down. It was right underneath a peculiar rock formation that sheltered her against the wind, and from that position Piper could see everything that goes on at the beach.

After ten minutes or so of watching the ocean waves lapping against the shore and musing over random things, Piper began to hear cooing noises. She focused her hearing senses and noticed that it came from right above her. Piper shrunk into a recession and listened to the best of her ability. What she heard shocked her.

"Oh Davis, you know I hate it when you tickle me," a girl's voice said. "But I do love it when you kiss me like that."

Piper heard the two people kiss. It was disgusting.

"But Annabeth," the boy, Davis, said, "You know you love it when I tickle you."

Piper was shocked. I thought Annabeth Chase was in a relationship with Percy Jackson! Piper thought. A prang of jealousy shot through her heart, but Piper quickly dismissed it. For a scary moment, Piper thought things that she shouldn't ever think about.

She thought of Percy Jackson being hers.

Piper quickly wiped her mind clean and contemplated on whether or not she should tell Percy. If she did… he might destroy the camp in rage, but if she didn't, when Percy figured it out it would be worse. As a child of Aphrodite Piper knew people's emotions and thoughts well, but she still couldn't fathom why Annabeth would cheat on Percy with some son of Apollo.

She decided to listen in on the conversation. Davis's voice rang through the air. "When are you going to break up with Percy so we can go public?"

Annabeth thought. "I don't know." Seeing the expression on Davis's face, she added, "Definitely this month."

Piper stayed hidden for a very long time, and she left the spot only when they left. She walked up to Percy's cabin and was about to knock when she hesitated. Piper, being a daughter of Aphrodite hated to see love relationships break, and she didn't want to rat on Annabeth either, even though she knew it was the right thing to do. Piper lowered her hand, turned around, and walked back to her own cabin.

Piper still wondered why Annabeth would cheat on a guy like Percy.

"Hello? Earth to Piper," Percy said. Piper jolted back to reality. "You've been zoning out for like five minutes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Piper answered quickly. Too quickly.

"I know something is wrong, Piper. Come on, tell me," Percy pleaded.

Piper remained silent. She decided to not tell Percy, she didn't want to break the news to him, and it should be some one else who broke the news…

"Pipes?" Percy asked. "Hello? Are you still alive?"

"Nooo," Piper said sarcastically. "I'm dead."

There was an awkward silence. Piper thought about Annabeth and Davis, but most of all Percy. A few months ago, Piper would've have given Percy a second glance, but now... he was a really handsome guy, and also really nice, too. If he was single, every single girl in the camp will jump on him. Piper smiled mentally. If that did happen, she wouldn't deny that she wouldn't try to get him, but after what happened with Jason, she was quite reluctant to get in a relationship.

"Pipes?" Percy asked.

"Yeah?" Piper whispered.

"I just realized that we are lying in the same bed together," Percy said.

Piper laughed, a melodic laugh (or at least that's what Percy thought) and said, "I intend to stay here."

A bold move, Percy thought. Hijack my bed, will ya? "Well then." Percy got up and went to Piper's bed. He got underneath the covers and smiled at Piper's reaction. "I'll take yours."

"Well then, Perseus Jackson," Piper said. "Good night."

Percy laughed and said, "Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Well how do you guys like it? Hopefully you guys liked it, but if you hated it, thought it was meh, or anything like that, leave a comment below.

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