A/N: Alright. This is in honor of The House of Hades (out in 8 days!) and I will update once a day until next Monday, or if you prefer House of Hades Eve.

This is a collection of seven one-shots each from the different perspective of one of the seven demigods. They will represent what could possibly happen in HoH (hence the name).

I'm really trying to keep them in character, but this first one felt way off. So let me know.

Also, I'm working on Chapter 4 of Minding Your Business. That story is way more polished than this so it should maybe be out by... Saturday?

Bear with me!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

Piper choked back a sob as she turned away from everybody else.

Today had been incredibly hard for all of them. They had been fighting for days on end without any sleep whatsoever, and all of them were freaking exhausted. Not to mention the fact that all of them were fighting with each other or siding against the others.

Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, and without them here, the rest of the demigods were falling apart.

Everyone was fighting. They had all started choosing sides. Most of the time the line-up was Hazel, Leo, and Nico arguing against Jason, Frank, and Coach Hedge. Piper tried not to pick sides, but most of the time she ended up getting pissed with all of them because they pulled on her to pick their side.

The most common fights were about how to proceed from here. Jason and Frank wanted to take the most direct route and go directly there, but Leo and Nico wanted to scout through safer territory. Only a very few number of physical fights had broken out between them.

Piper honestly didn't know what to do. Even her charmspeak wasn't strong enough to hold everyone together. With Percy and Annabeth gone, it felt like the entire crew was falling to pieces. It was like a pair of glow-sticks trying to fit together without the connector piece to hold them steady. Percy and Annabeth were the connecting piece that they had just dropped down a deep dark hole.

She knew it was her fault. If she had insisted on Jason taking Annabeth up to the ship first, it was a good chance that they would all be okay.

Her chest tightened and suddenly, it was hard to breath.

Piper knew she didn't belong on this quest. She wasn't good enough or strong enough. She was just taking up space, and because of it, Percy and Annabeth had suffered.

Somewhere deep down, she did know that she was worth this, but right now, she couldn't see it. In fact, she couldn't see anything.

A pair of arms slipped around her stomach and squeezed her tightly when another sob wracked her body.

"Piper," he whispered into her ear. His body was pressed against her back, and his breathing was ragged.

Since that night, Jason had been extremely… clingy. They were still a considerably new couple, and Piper could still count on one hand the number of times he had touched her for really no reason at all. Jason hadn't really ever been into displaying affection, and Piper was a little afraid to push him. She always felt like their relationship was so breakable, and she didn't want to lose Jason.

"Hey," she said hoarsely.

"Don't cry." Jason said.

Piper turned around in his arms and wrapped her body into his. She buried her face in his neck. He smelled like fresh air.

"It could have been us. Maybe it should have been us."

Piper's body froze. He had just finished telling her that she didn't need to cry. Most of the time, he was the one telling everyone that everything was going to be okay. So why was he saying this now?

She pulled back enough to study his face. He was frowning, and his brilliant blue eyes were watered down to the point of tears.

Piper decided to man up. This whole time she had been letting everyone else comfort her. Maybe the reason she thought she was so worthless all of the time was because she never tried to help anybody else.

She cupped his face with her hands and pulled him against her. "Hey, stop it. Percy and Annabeth are going to be fine. We're going to get them out and they're going to be fine."

Piper felt his tears drip down onto her neck. "What if had been us?"

She ran her hands through his hair comfortingly. "It wasn't though. It wasn't. We're okay."

Jason pulled back from her and jerked his fingers across his face, erasing the evidence that he had been crying. "I would have done the same thing. There was no way I would have been able to let you go. You're everything to me, Piper."

Piper's breath caught when she finally understood what Jason was trying to say. It didn't matter that he couldn't say exactly what he meant yet because Piper already knew. She knew that he loved her. He didn't need to say it right now.

Right then, reality hit her like a slap in the face.

There was no way any of them should be acting like this. They didn't have time to argue and fight with each other. Their lives were ticking away, and any one of them could die at any minute.

She was done acting like a princess. She was done acting like she wasn't useful. Dammit, she was going to make herself useful.

Nothing was perfect. Nothing was even remotely close to okay, but things would get better. Everything would get better in time.

Piper was going to make damn sure that everything did.

A/N: So? Leave me a review and give me a suggestion on who's next! One of the Seven!

Thanks for reading!

-SomethingMoreCreative