A/N: Well, this is random. I've been writing a lot of really dark stuff lately for this fandom, and maybe taking a break from said dark stuff once in a while could prevent me for writing a lot more dark stuffs in the future. xD Or else, some of you might get the impression that I like torturing the characters. o_o
The pairing's considered to be LeoxPiper in the story, but meh, it's probably lighthearted, and just played for the laughs. There might be other random pairings thrown in for fun as well.
Anyways, special thanks to Sweetly Blissful for beta-ing the story and this chapter and giving me advice for the characters as well. :D
Of Love, Gossip, and War
Day One
Leo Valdez exited Bunker Nine in a great mood. Another day had passed and he did a pretty good job working and planning for the Argo II. It was New Years Eve, and there was an event going to be held in the Amphitheater after the sing-along to welcome the new three hundred and sixty five days of the year. Leo walked out from the woods with his siblings and marched toward their cabin as they heard a horn being blown in the distance.
"Dinnertime, guys!" Leo announced, and hurriedly they formed a line and instead marched toward the dining pavilion. They sat down at their cabin's table and did the usual dinner stuff. They talked about their plans for the New Year, their New Year's resolutions, et cetera.
Leo let his cabin mates chat within themselves, and looked around the other cabins' tables. Jason was sitting alone at the Zeus cabin's table. Leo wanted to break the silence surrounding his friend's eating zone by sliding in and start making fun of his cropped hair, or drag Piper beside him. Anything that would make him cheery; or anything that would just plain annoy him.
Chiron the centaur walked towards Jason's table and started talking to him. Jason frowned. They appeared to be talking about something really serious, Roman camp maybe. He watched Jason as he stood from his seat and followed Chiron out of the pavilion.
Leo continued to move his eyes around other tables. When his eyes wandered to the Aphrodite Cabin, he frowned. Not a single camper was sitting at their table. There were no Aphrodite kids in sight, including Piper.
"I wonder who's going to be cursed this time," Someone from Leo's table whispered.
"Well, I sure hope it isn't going to be me!" another one chimed.
Leo turned back to his cabin mates when he noticed they were huddled up closely together like some rugby team. "What curse? Are you talking about Cabin Nine curse?"
"Oh no, this is different," Jake, Leo's right hand man for the Hephaestus cabin, said in a whisper. "We're talking about the New Year's Curse of the gods."
"What about it?"
"It's a random curse given to one of the campers by a god," Nyssa started. "It happens every year in camp. The Olympian gods decide who will perform the curse and then later, they'll decide who's going to be cursed among us."
"It can either be a good curse or a bad curse." Another one of Leo's siblings continued, "Some curses can give you good things, some not, and some are just plain useless."
"But still," Nyssa shrugged, "I hope I'm not going to be picked. I have had enough of curses—good or bad—this year."
"Let's all just hope we all have a curse-free year," Leo said, patting everyone's back in assurance. A minute later, someone had tapped his shoulder. Leo turned around to see Piper in, well, some kind of Indian-styled costume. She wore a long cream-colored skirt and a short blouse of the same color. There were sashes wrapped around her body, with bracelets as accessories. Her hair was braided and she didn't have make-up on, but never mind that she still looked pretty.
"What's up, princess? Out dancing for snakes?" Leo said, grinning.
Piper arched an eyebrow. "What's funny?"
"Nothing, nothing at all. So, is there something you want to ask?"
"Um, not really," Piper glanced behind her. Her fellow siblings were standing in a distance, all wearing the same costume Piper was wearing. They were bustling about their hair and make-up.
"Actually, Leo, it's our cabin's turn to lead the occasion," Piper followed Leo's gaze. "Originally we were supposed to perform some Greek dance, since it's the tradition, but then I suggested we should try something different. You know, something new and all. Then it was Drew's idea of an Indian theme, and I didn't have much of a choice. I just hope the gods aren't going to get angry at me. Oh, I shouldn't have said anything…"
"And you're telling me this…why?"
"Oh, I don't know," Piper admitted. "I'm not really comfortable dancing when people are watching me."
"Oh, but then there's Jason," Leo grinned again. "You're uncomfortable because you're gonna dance in front of Jason."
He couldn't help himself but laugh when Piper's face turn red. "The brave Piper McLean can save distressed fathers and charm people to do stuff, but is afraid to dance in front the love of her—Ouf!"
Leo was inconveniently interrupted by Piper's bare foot. The whole pavilion's attention turned toward the Hephaestus cabin's table and watched the two friends amusingly.
"For the last time, Leo…" Piper said loudly, and Leo was getting the feeling that he wasn't the only being told here. "He's not my boyfriend." She looked around. "Not yet," she added quietly.
Leo raised an eyebrow, despite a foot rooted on his face. "I gef fa ficfure. Now, puf the foof down. If's unhygienic for me, and I should frobrably shtop falking now because your foof…fastes very inferesfing."
After the sing-along, everyone fell silent as the Apollo kids cleared out the amphitheater stage and the Aphrodite cabin made their entrance. Leo snuck out from his cabin's row and sat beside Jason.
"Oh hey, Leo," Jason greeted and looked up towards the guys and girls on the stage.
"Is that Piper?" Jason asked incredulously.
Leo chuckled. "Yeah, that's her. Unbelievable, right?"
They chatted about a few things before the show started. When Piper glanced at his direction, Leo gave her a thumbs-up. But that didn't help since he was sitting beside Jason.
After their cute performance on stage, the Aphrodite kids exited and sat to their own place among the campers. Suddenly, the noise and chatter died down. The only thing could be heard was the cackling of the large colorful campfire in the middle. The atmosphere became tense. Were they waiting for something to happen?
"So, what are we all waiting for?" Leo said, breaking the tension. The campers turned to look at him and shushed him, putting their fingers to their lips and staring at him like he was crazy. Jason looked surprised as well from the sudden reaction.
"It's time," someone whispered from Leo's back. They simply sat in their seats and waited.
Then a few minutes later, a gust of wind came into the stands, almost blowing Leo and a few other campers out of their seats. When it stopped, Leo's eyes were itchy. He was rubbing wherever it was in his eyes when he heard Jason say, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just dust or whatever," Leo blinked.
"So, who got it?" someone shouted from the back row. The silence was broken down by whispers and mutters among the crowd.
"No one?" another one said.
"I think no one got it."
"Oh my gods, it's a miracle!"
Then everyone started cheering and shouting in glee.
"We're free!"
"Freedom! Holy chickens, freedom!"
"Merry Christmas!"
Chiron stomped his hooves to maintain silence. He looked up nervously to the sky and then glanced at Leo for a moment before he cleared his throat.
"It seems that Olympus is still closed," he announced, "Perhaps the gods aren't in a mood, to—ah—choose a candidate. But I would think otherwise to celebrate."
The campers exited out of the amphitheater and resumed back into their own cabins.
Meanwhile, in Olympus…
Lord Hephaestus's punishment was lifted, and he could finally go back to his forges. He let out a sigh of relief and strode through the halls of the palace. There was nothing wrong with contacting his son, warning him about the dangers lying ahead in his quest, but Zeus had made it clear that it must be off-limits to send out any outside communication. Well, forget him! The other gods were trying to find ways to communicate with their children. Hephaestus decided to take the opportunity to talk to his own son, Leo Valdez. And then he gets punishment while the others didn't?
He heard giggling in one of the rooms of the corridor. Suspicious, he made his way to said room. Oddly, the door was open and when he peered, he saw his so-called wife, Aphrodite, giggling at the crystal ball. Crazy Lady.
When Aphrodite saw her husband standing the doorway, she skipped towards him and grabbed his hand. "Just in time, you have got to see this!"
Hephaestus flinched. His wife usually ignored him as much as possible, so seeing her approach him like a happy fan girl, to the extent of grabbing his hand? She was not in her right mind at the moment.
They came in front of the crystal ball. Hephaestus was surprised to see Leo in the ball, tossing and turning in his bed, his eyes almost darting everywhere in the dark.
He eyed his wife suspiciously. "What did you…?"
"Oh, don't you remember? It's New Years, and it was my turn."
It took time for Hephaestus to process what Aphrodite had said. When it finally dawned on him, he paled. Aphrodite simply chuckled.
"W-why my son?" Hephaestus stammered, staring at the ball wide-eyed.
Aphrodite shrugged. "I always love watching your son stumble and fall in love with, ah, women who generally have no interest with men. Or, at least, women who have no interest with him. So I decided to give him, what I would like to call…a small chance for love."
"CHANCE? IT'S A CURSE!" Hephaestus almost exploded. "WHO DID YOU…?"
Aphrodite waved her hand, and the crystal ball's image shifted. A young beautiful girl with light brown skin appeared in the ball, sleeping on a comfortable bed. Hephaestus had seen this girl before. It took him a while to realize that it was one of his son's friends.
Hephaestus's jaw dropped, his head slowly turning at Aphrodite. "Your own daughter?"
"Oh pooh, even though I like Jason and Piper together, it wouldn't hurt to put someone else between them and watch it go. It should be interesting. Really!"
"You don't understand! You're torturing him! And I thought you don't like seeing our children, well, get together."
"Well, that's the point. It's going to be like my Silena and your son, err, Charles Beckensnorf, right? But anyways, it won't last forever, I promise, so stop being a worry-wart, and just watch."
Hephaestus started to sweat profusely. "Woman, you are impossible."
Aphrodite decided to ignore that remark.
The images shifted back to Leo, who was up from his bed, pacing around, his fingers frantically tapping his chin. His eyes started to twitch in anxiety. Now he started clawing his hair, as if he wanted to rid a disturbing thought away.
Hephaestus himself looked like he was going to faint on the spot. Not another forbidden love story that might result into bloodshed.
The apocalypse must be coming.
A/N: Just in case some of you can't translate Leo's foot speak:
"I get the picture. Now, put the foot down. It's unhygienic for me, and I should probably stop talking now because your foot…tastes very interesting."
Now, I consider this story a much lighter, softer, and stupider version of that other planned fan fiction that has the same elements and ideas and conflict. Except darker. Like, really really dark. This is an understatement. This is like, what, a theme park version of it or something? Oh well.
The real fun starts on the second chapter, and hope you...enjoy this chapter at least. Reviews are always loved.