Hi! This is another story writen for the PERCY JACKSON SHIP WEEK! I saw it on Burdge-bug's tumblr, and basically it's one ship being glorified for every week until The Mark of Athena comes out. So I thought it'd be cool to write a story for each week. The order goes as such:
august 6 august 13: Grover and Juniper. (Check)
august 13 august 20: Clarisse and Chris. (Check)
august 20 august 27: Silena and Charles. (Check)
september 3 september 10: Thalia and Luke.
september 10 september 17: Hazel and Frank.
september 17 september 24: Piper and Jason / Reyna and Jason (optional)
september 24 october 1: Percy and Annabeth.
This story is... not really Frank/Hazel in its best light... and I've got something happier planned out, so I'll probably post that too. But I've had this ready for a while and the idea's been poking at me, so I decided to post it.
Disclaimer: Me no own.
Percy Jackson Ship Weeks #5 Hazel and Frank
For your Own Good
Frank knelt and reached under his bottom bunk in the barracks. He searched for the piece of firewood but couldn't find it. He rolled his eyes and lied flat on his stomach and then on his back to try and get a better angle. He got it, but there was nothing there.
For a second he was puzzled, and then it alarmed him. Holly freaking gods-damned Styx, he couldn't find his freaking lifeline! Gods, he'd gotten more responsible over the summer- both in the saving-the-world department and as far as camp life went, but leave it to Frank to lose the fire-stick.
He calmed himself down and thought for a second about where it might be. Nothing came up in his mind, and he found himself starring at the group of girls playing a hand-clapping game in the center of the room, which involved a Latin rhyme.
"Want to play, Centurion Zed?" Natasha who'd caught him starring into midair asked.
They found it hilarious that when he'd been asked to spell out his name he'd come up with "'Zed-h-a-n-g" instead of "'Zee-h-a-n-g" since he was Canadian and he said the alphabet right. Centurion Zed was his new tag.
"I'm good, thanks." Frank replied.
It couldn't be home because although he'd gone back to Vancouver to visit his Mother and Grandmother's grave, Zhang mansion was burnt and cleaned up so he hadn't stopped anywhere. He'd taken Arion out of the stables, ridden over, and come back in a day. Had he even brought the stick with him? Was that last week? Gods of Olympus, everything was such a blur and a question of if and when and perhaps now in his mind. He felt as nebulous as a cloud spirit.
Was it at Camp Half-Blood? Nah, Clarisse would have called. He hadn't yelled it out to the Greeks any more than he'd yelled it out to the Romans, but he'd warned at least Clarisse that his life depended on the stick and so not to throw said stick into the forest or the pile of firewood, or to imagine that he was some sort of nature hoarder.
The Argo II! That was where. That was when Frank's long state of confusion and semi recklessness had started. Although it'd been two weeks since he'd last seen the ship, which was docked –according to fair argument and consensus of nations and la-di-dah- at Camp Half-Blood's beach. It was mostly since Leo and Percy were there, the boat had been built at Camp, and what in Hades were Romans supposed to do with the ship?
He checked his watch. Shoot, he didn't have time to call Percy or Leo or whoever was at Camp Half-Blood right now. He had to go to muster. Jason and Reyna were good praetors (surprisingly good praetors) but they wouldn't tolerate a Centurion being late, and by bias Jason was harsh on the Fifth Cohort. 'Pressure makes diamonds' pretty much summed up Jason's leadership skills (though justice and Styx were thrown in). He didn't want to see a Cohort he'd worked so hard to reform while he'd been Centurion collapse again.
He made his way out into the streets where he met up with Dakota, and five minutes later the conch horns blew and the Romans drinking soda on the porches or playing catch immediately scrambled for armour and weapons thinking shoot-shoot-shoot-shoot why did I not get ready five minutes earlier like I'm supposed to. Same as yesterday.
The cohorts assembled in neat lines like chess pieces on some invisible board. Frank called roll, marching down the line with his scroll, checking off names. One girl was late but since she'd been the one stuck with insomnia due to dreams last night (or at least according to Frank's eyes and ears in the girl's barrack, a girl from Montana named Lydia) he gave her a get-out-of-jail-free card.
He got to the last name, 'Aurelia Montgomery', a legacy of Victoria and Moneta who was way more skilled and sweet than she let on. His chest felt like it was stuck in a Hannibal stampede when the names stopped there. Usually next in line would be him, and then Hazel, if he weren't Centurion and she weren't…
Dakota must've caught him starring because he grabbed Frank by the shoulder and pulled him back just as the praetors met up front and called for order, and then the colours. Dakota shot Frank a look.
"We've gone over this," he whispered. Frank didn't say anything, he just looked forwards. Mentally he knew it, but psychologically… Well, under-the-throat was a different story.
"Frank," Dakota repeated. "It's not healthy and it's not good."
"Yeah," Frank said.
"You think I'm the only one who notices it? Do you think that the Cohort is blind?"
"No, please Dakota leave me-"
"-Or the legion, for that matter? We've. Gone. Over. This."
"I know, shut up." Frank hissed hopping that Jason and Reyna were too busy dealing with the Third Cohort's attendance issue to hear him.
"Well you're a smart guy. If you knew, you wouldn't still be gazing at the spot she used to have and-"
"I know, shut up." Frank repeated, shoving Dakota. But his shove sort-of came out really, really hard, so Dakota stumbled out of line with a yelp of surprise. Frank's eyes sprawled and he paled as heads spun around.
Dakota tried to come back into place as if nothing happened but the two praetors had already spotted the disturbance like the half-hawk humans they were. Reyna tapped Jason's shoulder to let him know to stay, and she stalked over. Frank planted his feet solidly so he wouldn't cower at her gaze, but boy did he know that he was in trouble.
"What do you think you're doing?" Reyna hissed so low Frank only could hear. Frank didn't answer and Dakota didn't chime in to make matters worse. Reyna's harsh face softened.
"Go take a walk," she said. "Cool yourself. Jason will talk to you later."
And she said 'Jason', like, 'Jason the human being with a soul'; not 'Praetor Jason' as in 'The Destroyer'.
"Yes Reyna," he said, inclining slightly before walking away. He walked to the edges of the fort, took off his helmet and threw it against the stone wall.
"Damn it," he hissed at himself. He sighed. Now he'd done it. It was like his fingers were buttered. Everything he touched slipped through his fingers and crashed all the time. Being in the empty fort reminded him of that, which was a depressing though. But he was stuck there. He didn't want to go in New Rome at that time in his armour. That was like advertising 'I AM LEGIONNAIRE AND I GOT MY SORRY PODEX IN TROUBLE'.
Well, while he had the time and privacy…
He walked over to the baths, which he and Jason and Reyna had learned was the best place to send IM's from. He fumbled in his pocket, under his armour (never easy) to find a denarii. Thankfully he had one.
"Hey Fleecy do me a solid," he said tossing it in- the only way to pay for an IM with roman currency. "Argo II crew member, Camp Half-Blood."
The image flurried and he saw Leo, leaning against the forge wall and talking to a pretty girl who was hugging a skateboard. For a second Frank thought of leaving him alone and contacting Piper, but Piper had a boyfriend now and according to Leo 'it ain't safe to go near them without saying you have a five year old with you'.
Frank highly doubted it, but he was very fond of avoiding couple mush nowadays.
"Yo, Valdez," he called.
The girl and Leo turned around.
"Oh. Zhang. What do you want? Yeah Abby, that's just one of the romans, you know, they always need my help." Leo shot Frank a look. "Seriously. What do you want?" He nudged his head towards Abby with every word.
"Oh, wouldn't want to interrupt, then. I'll see you at the camp fire Leo." Abby said.
"Yeah. Sure Abby. Later." Leo said. He watched her walk away a little hypnotically, and then turned back to Frank. "Damn it Frank that was a pretty girl that's into skateboarding. A freaking pretty girl that's into skateboarding! Do you know how rare that is? And she was talking to moi, Frank, moi!"
"Sorry. Just wanted to know if you'd see the stick anywhere."
"Like the stick? No. Why? Did you lose it?"
"Sort-of," Frank admitted. "I was wondering if it was in the Argo II."
"Nope," Leo said. "We have awesome parties in there and I haven't seen it once."
Great. Greeks partying where I might've lost my lifeline. This sounds so unpromising I think Barney would cry.
"Well, you know the loose board in Percy and Jason's cabin?" Frank asked.
"Yeah," Valdez nodded.
"That's where I hid it. Could it be there?" Frank asked.
"Dude, you hid your lifeline in an enclosed space where both Jason and Percy were kept for long periods of time? What kind of idea was that?"
"Can you check?" Frank asked, not in the mood to deal with humans in general.
"It's not there, trust me. I hide the screwdrivers I don't want Nyssa to use there." Leo said. "I would've noticed it. Sorry. Are you sure you lost it? 'Cause that's really bad. Dang. I'll ask Piper if you want."
"Okay, sure." Frank said. "Thanks a ton Leo."
"No problem. How are you… you know… doing?" Leo asked.
"Okay," Frank nodded. He didn't want to talk about this. "I've got to go, muster, you know."
"Yeah, sure." Leo said. "And I've got a pretty girl to go find again. Later Zhang. Say hi to Jason for me."
"Sure," Frank said.
Leo cut the IM and Frank slumped against the wall. Okay…
He still couldn't go back to muster because he was shamed for the night and possibly eternity. He didn't feel like going back in the barracks. When they were eerie it let too much thoughts wander back to times like when she used to come and find him in there if he was nowhere else.
New Rome was out. He didn't want to be in the Capitoline Hills, praying and being a good little Roman, worshipping his Dad. There was nowhere on the Camp grounds that he wanted to be anymore. Fuck, he didn't want to be in the legion anymore. What was the point? He took up air and food, a bunk and a title. He always screwed up. He always messed shit up. He couldn't do anything right, his track record had it written all over it. Fine print, big bold letters, underlined and highlighted with blood.
"Frank," someone called. He turned around and saw Jason in his bronze armour and regal purple cloak, multiple badges and medals on his chest. The newest one was the Grass Crown, the highest and rarest decoration any soldier to have. It was pinned on a general or commander who broke the blockade of a beleaguered Roman Army (basically who got a Roman army bit out of a Styx-load of trouble). One of the perks of being 'storm' was apparently the shiny badges. Leo had been offered one but he couldn't figure out how to pin it to his tool belt so he'd given it back.
"Yeah," Frank said. "Look, I'm really…"
"Sorry?" Jason said. "Yeah, I got that from your face. Think that's why I came to talk to you?"
Sometimes he felt like Jason was just the sixteen-year-old dude version of Lupa. Asking you questions so you figured out what was going on.
"No," Frank said. "Look, I know, that was out of character, Centurion's should hold their temper better, watch out or title will be taken and all…"
"You think that that's my problem right now?" Jason asked. "I couldn't care less about the roman stuff and official titles right now."
Frank nearly died. Jason was tough on the camp's traditions being followed, having been raised in the Fort and all.
"I care about you, man. What was the fight with Kota about?"
"It wasn't a fight," Frank said maybe too quickly, "I was just being stupid."
"Stop lying or I'm bringing over Rey's dogs." Jason said. "As much as they hate me, they hate liars more. What was it about?"
Frank looked left and right and anywhere but Jason's calm face.
"Dakota caught me looking at the spot Hazel used to have in the ranks, and when he told me to snap out of it he was really persistent and kind of annoying."
"And punching him fixes that how?"
"I don't know, now I'm stuck talking to you. It's nearly worst"
"Funny." Jason said. He sighed. "You know that everyone's upset, right? Fifth cohort, Olympian council, everyone on that boat, everyone who used to know her…"
"Yeah, yeah." Frank said. "I know, I've heard it. How does that help? It just makes more miserable people in the world."
Jason paused and looked over Frank.
"We're invited to New York for a game of Capture-the-flag and weekend," Jason said. "I'd go with the first cohort since they won last War Games, but I promised Reyna a weekend in Berkeley. I rather not let Octavian and his minions go alone, so I'll get the senate to send the Fifth instead."
"Okay," Frank said. "Sure."
"And that's not an order." Jason said. "I just want you out of here for a little while. Clear your head, you know?"
"Alright."
"Come to tonight's muster," Jason said. "Just pretend nothing happened and you'll be fine. Only way to avoid scandal in Rome."
Frank felt as if Jason knew this by experience. Lord of the sky, conqueror of Mount Othrys, Reyna Sabourin's boyfriend and all; he probably did.
"Okay. Thanks man."
"Don't worry about it," Jason said. He looked like he was going to say something more but then he just walked away.
Marching from one end of the country to the other should've taken weeks but it took the Fifth cohort two days thanks to all the Roman road networks. They were like a spider web of shortcuts across America. The only potentially nasty thing you'd find there were lone wolves and maybe a monster or so that'd managed to pick up a cohort's sniff through the barriers. There was also the harmless occasional ghost who came to visit one of the Lares living in the cohort tents. The worst you'd get was Vitellius who was trying to convince the other spirits that he was brave by stepping into Greek territory.
The tricky part was getting past Peleus the dragon once they got to Camp. He blew fire and Frank and Dakota had to hold the cohort's fire as to not permanently damage Greco-Roman relationships by killing their dragon, but soon enough a bunch of Ares kids came and got the guard in a tamer mood.
Frank saw the counsellors gather, Leo's crazy grin and Piper's kaleidoscope eyes left more of an impression than the rest. He'd talk to them later; right now getting the Cohort organised and sorted into their cabins was more important.
He saluted Chiron and Mr D, and the counsellors came to retrieve their siblings or cousins (depending on the legacy).
"I don't know where to go," Sasha said, the legacy torn apart.
"Well, who do you get along with better? Children of Mercury or children of Mars?"
"Mercury," Sasha said. "No offence."
"Well go with the Stoll brothers." Frank said. They had about 25% of the cohort with them.
"Yeah man! We'll install beds on the roof!" One of the Stolls –Frank didn't know which- cheered.
The guy replacing Annabeth was immediately on his case about how physically impossible that was, to which the first Stoll's brother said, "No way man, duct tape won't fail us now."
Dakota was trying to convince Patrick that Hecate really, really was Trivia in Greek.
"This sucks," Frank overheard Ben say. "No cabin to Flora?"
Oh boy, here we go… Frank said. Ben was the child of the goddess of flowers. Imagine how hard that was for a six foot five guy with big arms, a bald head and family pride. He'd been teased about it so much that now he was too quick to defend the title of 'goddess of flowers'. Either way, he got along really well with Butch.
"Problem, Ben?" Frank asked.
"No cabin to Flora," he said.
"I'm sorry," Katie Gardner said. "We don't really have her on the Greek side. Like Janus. Demeter's a nature goddess though."
Ben didn't look convince so Frank leaned in.
"Hey Ben? See that girl over there? Long blond hair, leafy green eyes?" He said low enough so Katie wouldn't hear.
"Cute one?" Ben asked, following Frank's gaze.
"Exactly her. Her name's Miranda, she's a daughter of Demeter."
Ben turned to Frank who nodded. "You've got a point," he said. "You sure have good taste, Centurion Zed."
That felt like a punch in Frank's stomach so he just patted Ben's shoulder and walked off to find the next problem worth solving.
None having emerged, he followed Clarisse and a second generation legacy of Bellona named Aurelia to Cabin 5, where they were greeted with punches in the arms and loud talking and insults. Frank had a comeback to each, although it felt overwhelming to be surrounded by a million relatives who were all either a) bloodthirsty, b) violent, c) brick walls or d) all of the above. Good, but slightly overwhelming.
"That bunk's free, but it's under Sherman's so watch out, Zhang." Clarisse said.
Frank said, "I think I can handle Sherman."
"Yeah?" His brother asked him, cracking his knuckled. Frank shined the arm bands of his armour with his thumb.
"Pretty dang sure."
Leo fished him out before Sherman could pick a fight. Frank took off most of his armour, but kept his chest plate with all the badges on in case anybody needed problem-solving, or to find a Roman leader quickly.
"You don't have a speech to make to thank us for our hospitality and to proclaim greatness and cooperation between nations?" Leo said. "No fancy scroll you can unroll with that fancy Hollywood wrist flick until it rolls onto our beach?"
"Shut up Valdez, this is Capture-the-Flag." Frank said. "This is friendly. Not, like, protocol. Or at least I hope not because if so, Dakota's doing it."
"That's the spirit," Leo said. "Come on, time to fish out Piper."
"Why? Doesn't she have, like, twenty million legacies to deal with?"
"That's exactly why," Leo said. "Besides, we have a surprise."
Styx.
Leo's surprises including remodelling your living space overnight, bursting into flames (which Frank had taken a long time to get over) and revealing that the salsa in your taco wasn't actually salsa.
Piper was busy handing out pillows to a variety of people and trying to make all the sleeping bags fit in the cabin like one big game of Tetris.
"You know what guys," she said. "Screw that. We're sleeping outside, behind the cabin. Great view of Eros Creek, much room, fresh air, beautiful stars. We'll move the stuff out tonight or else Cabin 11 will steal." She saw Frank and Leo, checked once again that everyone was okay, and a few minutes later they were walking towards the Stables.
"Okay, what is this?" Frank asked.
"We're picking up Percy and Annabeth," Piper said looking straight ahead and away from Frank. "Straight from Percy's apartment."
"Which means cookies," Leo said.
"They don't know you guys are here yet," Piper said. "It's a surprise. Shh. They also don't know that a certain someone charmspoke them out of school for a few days extra. Shh on that too. Seriously, because his parents don't know about that either."
"Besides, we can't let our best people not be there when it's Capture-the-Flag against you lot." Leo said.
"Afraid?" Frank said.
"Not at all," Leo said. "It'd just be a shame for them to miss seeing us scoop up a victory."
Piper pushed open the stables and picked the mare she always took out. Leo found a Pegasus that didn't curl up at the back of the pen when he got close up, and Frank found the horse that seemed most excited about having a descendant of Poseidon around.
Piper released Blackjack who neighed and followed them proudly out, vocalising as if he expected to be understood. Frank didn't speak horse, but he always imagined that Blackjack had as much to say as Arion. Except he hadn't seen much of Arion. Not since… Well… He'd disappeared sometime in August, only a day after Frank had taken him to Vancouver.
The flight to New York was thrilling, wind against their faces and all. Frank felt like Superman with his Centurion's cape flapping around the wind. The view was spectacular, and the number of ant-sized people and cluttered cars was amazing.
They landed on the rooftop patio of one building.
"Mortals won't wonder what the horses are doing on the roof?" Frank asked.
"They live in the same building as Percy Jackson," Leo said. "I'm guessing this Styx either isn't a first, or isn't surprising."
Piper had pulled open the stairwell's door and they followed her down. Somehow Leo and Piper knew exactly where to go, so Frank wondered if maybe the 'not surprising anymore' was a bit their fault.
They rung the door and Annabeth answered, which just made her seem like part of the household. She gasped and smiled wide when she saw them. She grabbed Piper in a hug.
"Percy, get over here," she called, hugging Frank.
"What happened to all of that 'don't move until you finish your algebra, and that includes kissing me- don't you flirt, Percy Jackson'?" Came his voice.
"Dude," Leo said. "Priorities. Us, the girlfriend, and then the algebra."
Soon they were all sitting in the living room and Percy's mom, Sally, had materialised from the home office where she'd been on a phone conference with her publisher.
The thing about Sally Jackson-Blofis was that after ten seconds of meeting her you felt like she was your mom. She was just that kind of person; warm and caring and thoughtful and happy and comforting to have around. She laid a plate of cookies on the coffee table and asked Leo about one invention he'd been working on since the Argo II returned to America ("It'll change the world. I swear. Bill Gates will be washing my car."), she asked Piper about her fighting and the advertisement for an international help organisation that she was voicing (her father's agent had decided to pick on Piper and before Mr McLean could stop it, Piper was all about helping feed children in Kenya). She asked Frank about his cohort and congratulated him for the new Crown Medal she noticed on his chest (how did she notice this? It'd taken Dakota three hours and he'd been at the award ceremony).
He would've stayed there for hours, but Annabeth eventually realised that they had ten minutes to make it to supper, so they really had to go. Sally hugged each and every one of them, they told her to say hi to Paul for them, Percy threw together an over-for-two-nights bag in a record time (so Annabeth said) of one minute and forty seconds and they were off.
As they flew, Annabeth held on to Percy's waist, like some couples did with motorcycles. Frank didn't look. He was glad that his friend's relationship had made it through the war and stronger if anything. But it still hurt when he thought of everything that hadn't.
They settled their Pegasi in the stables just in time for the conch horn. Leo and Piper swore because they had to lead their cabins and Frank and Percy just strolled back to their rightful cabins, laughing at them.
Supper was fun. It'd been forever since Frank had been actually sitting while he ate, but the Ares cabin made jokes and insulted each other and tried to pick fights. Two girls actually got into it but Clarisse lunged over a girl named Beth and pulled them apart.
"Supper," she said. "Is for meat not fighting, punks."
To which Frank upmost agreed even if he didn't have Clarisse's thirst for violence.
They were heading over to the campfire –which had only gone over mildly well last time, so Frank was excited and a bit worried to see what'd happen- when he dropped his pace to get to the back of the pack with Clarisse.
"Hey, Larue," he said. "I've got a question for you."
"Yes, I actually was the one who got the blood stain on the Forge's roof." She responded automatically.
"That's not it- but I wanna hear about that later. I was wondering if you'd seen the fire stick anywhere." He said.
"The fire stick?" Clarisse asked. "Nope. You left with it didn't you?"
"I can't find it in the whole barrack, and I searched them all." He said.
"Weird," she said. "Well, you know that it's okay wherever it is, right?"
"Yeah," he said. "I mean, I'm still alive."
Clarisse gave him a friendly pound in the chest. "Well, thanks for letting me know not to worry if you burst into flames, Zhang."
"You're welcome." He said sarcastically. Clarisse punched him in the arm and he punched her back. He really did like Clarisse better than any other sister. She picked a fight if she felt like it and if you messed with her you were screwed. She didn't make simple things complicated. She was easy to follow, surprisingly trustworthy, loyal, and reliable. After the last summer of up and down and left and right and loop-de-loop and vertigo and everything falling out of his pockets and grip during the roller coaster ride… Frank needed someone like that around most of the time.
They were still exchanging punches when they sat down on the benches. He looked around and spotted purple clad legionnaires. Apart from that, it was hard to tell Greek and Roman apart. The later were certainly more serious and a little less excited to sing, but aside from that…
He spotted Nico di Angelo under a black banner, talking to a girl with sparks flying out of her hands who was leaning across from her bench. He sat alone, and Frank's throat tightened because only a few months ago, he wouldn't have been alone.
Frank still thought he might burst out laughing every time he was at a camp fire. Not because of the songs, it wasn't as if Rome didn't have dumb marching songs composed by Apollonian legionnaires. It was more that he saw Percy and Annabeth leaning against each other (having swapped the banners that said where cabins one and six sat) and bellowing these insane songs about how their Grandmother got dressed for war or about how many swords of Achilles there were on the wall. It was weird to see them -especially Annabeth, who'd been so serious and focussed in Rome- just lose it all and do that. To see Leo with people who actually understood him (or half understood him) and Piper with girly girls that she wasn't strangling; all doing funny hand gestures and knowing the lyrics by heart and yelling requests.
Luckily he didn't laugh, and he remembered one of the songs, and Clarisse kept making fun of him whenever he messed up (every couple of seconds). Even the Ares kids didn't think they were too good for campfire sing-alongs.
Everyone ran out at the end and Frank thought of catching up with Piper to see if anyone had any plan for sneaking out and doing something stupid (which Percy and Annabeth were –for not-so-mysterious mysterious reasons- so good at by this point of their Camp Half-Blood stays that there was no risk of getting caught).
She was ushering a little girl that mustn't have been older than eight through the crowd. She looked up and made eye contact with Frank. Then she turned back to the little girl and walked so fast that Frank lost her.
He frowned but found Leo who was talking to a dark skinned girl with the darkest eyes Frank had ever seen. She rolled her eyes at him, and left by the time Frank got to him, she had walked off to go catch up with whoever Lou Ellen was.
"Out of luck, man." Frank said.
"Hey, girl can't handle my swag. It's cool." Leo said defensively.
"Sure," Frank said.
"Speaking of swag, party on the Argo II tonight. Only the sixteen plus are invited because we only have so much Coke and the younger peasants aren't worthy." Leo said. "You can invite a few of the Romans. I mean, it's not like we can't cram more people than socially acceptable on that thing. Final battle proved it."
Frank tensed.
"Oh, man… Bro, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"
"No, it's cool." Frank cut. He didn't want Leo's excuses. Just because everyone else had moved on enough to put it at least a bit in the past didn't mean that the subject had to be taboo. No matter what Frank really, really, really wished for.
"Childs- in cabins- now. I've seen you enough for the day, shoo, shoo." The director called. Frank couldn't take him seriously in the tiger print t-shirt, not after dealing with people like Reyna and Jason and Lupa. But that moment his eyes flashed purple and he remembered that Mr D was a god- and so he tugged a couple from the Fifth cohort away from each other and said something along the lines of 'love is beautiful and so forth but not when you're dead, Andreas and Mary'.
Leo had already disappeared, so Frank was guessing he'd already spent some time as a shrub and wasn't willing to risk it again.
The party was cool but Frank couldn't really think straight. He was just looking all over remembering the 'hows' of the trip to Greece. How the sea monster had evolved legs and fought Piper in that corner, how Jason and Percy had lost it with each other over there, how Hedge had beaten that swimming dracanae to death with his DVD player there, or how Percy and Annabeth had scarred him by making out in that corner when they thought they were alone, or how Leo had set fire to that part of the wall (still scorched) or how Hazel and Ella used to sit down there and play this game that…
He shut his eyes. He would not think about her.
A Greek girl tried to flirt with him. The two troublemaker kids from Hermes (Connor and Trevor? Travis?) had snuck Mentos into the ship and scarred the ceiling- which earned them a round of applause. The Aphrodite girls made bets on a Percy and Annabeth kiss (Annabeth then refused to kiss Percy for the sake of it, and he starred at them coldly). Someone tried to sneak in a Pegasus. They were horrible to the thirteen year old who tried to sneak it on a dare- the usual party routine.
Finally it was just couples kissing and games of spin the bottle- neither of which particularly interested Frank- and so he headed back to the Ares cabin.
That was when he saw it. On the main deck, a board nailed on top of all the others. Frank felt his stomach twist and turn like a contortionist. It was hiding something, he knew it. He took his gladus and tried pulling it off for a second but stopped. He didn't really want to see it. Not the one bloodstain that hadn't washed away. Not Hazel's bloodstain.
He walked off, but his nightmare had started long before he fell asleep in the bunk under Sherman's.
The storm and the fire had long left, and Annabeth and Percy had been fished out by their immortal parents to go slay giants. Hazel, Frank and Piper were left on deck with simple instructions: wait for your parent.
And so they did. Piper had gone downstairs for two seconds, just two seconds, to go and get Katoptris- which was weird because everyone was sure that she'd had it twenty seconds ago.
They'd just blamed it on battle jitters, and down to the cabins Piper went.
It was as if she'd been glue holding things together and without her, Frank's whole world toppled around.
Hazel had been looking over the railing and looking beautiful while doing so. Her hair was loose around her head and she kept pushing it back. He was about to say so- but that was when Frank got a kick square in the back and he fell, nearly over the railing. He managed to turn around and launch a kick at the monster even if he was on the ground- a dracaena woman. He stabbed her through the heart with his pilum while she recovered, and that was that.
He got back up and saw Hazel decapitate one.
"They're invading!" She said, pointing above the railings. Frank looked and saw that she was right; they were crawling on the hull. The two they'd destroyed were already becoming ADHD dust, twitching and urging to glue the monster back together.
"We've got to abandon ship," Frank said. "There are too many."
Piper emerged holding Katoptris. Frank finally understood- Piper had been armed, it'd been a distraction just to bring her under deck. Thank the gods that they all underestimated the speed of a daughter of Aphrodite.
"Are you kidding?" Hazel said. "We can't. This ship is the biggest weapon that we can use against Gaia."
"You're right, but they need to go."
"Annabeth!" Piper said.
"She's back?"
"No, her knock-out gas. In a bombshell. She showed you how to activate it, right?" Piper asked.
The gas that Annabeth had concocted to knock out anything that was more than 60% ichor was wicked. They didn't have much, but Frank knew where the last bomb was.
"She did, I'll be right back!" Frank said.
He ran downstairs and rummaged until he found it. He slipped the pin out, and knew that he had twenty seconds to bring the bomb above deck or else the gas would be wasted. He put the handle in his mouth and concentrated on the biggest bird he knew about- an albatross. He shot up into the sky and at the mast of the Argo II. He perched on Festus' head as the ruby eyes rotated to watch him. He was high enough. He opened his beak and made an eagle's squawk to alert the two girls that the bomb was coming down.
Before it did, Frank's eyes focused on Hazel. She was viciously wiping out monsters.
Then he saw one come at her while she was busy. She turned around just in time to see it and to widen her gold eyes before she was impaled in the chest.
"Zhang! ZHANG!"
He sprang up and nearly hit his head on the bunk above his, not used to sleeping on the bottom.
Clarisse was wearing a sports t-shirt and sweat pants.
"Nightmare," Frank breathed.
"Got that. Now hush up or you'll wake up everyone." Clarisse said.
"They're all asleep? I thought I'd yelled or something."
"What, you think you're the only ones having nightmares and waking up in the middle of the night?" Clarisse said. Frank didn't say anything. He knew that he wasn't. The number of people who didn't sleep had scaled to half the population of campers. Even the legacies were, for the first time, just as affected by nightmares as demigods. "About the Levesque girl again?"
Frank nodded.
"Yeah," Clarisse said. She scratched her back. "Yeah. Anyways, sleep. There are potions for that in the medicine cabinet if you want. Next to the pain medication. The really strong pills."
"Okay," Frank said. "Thanks."
"No prob." Clarisse said before turning back to her own bunk.
The next morning Frank was like a zombie. He didn't really care about what jokes were made around the table, and he didn't have the energy to tell Sherman to go away when he got challenged to an arm-wrestling match.
He just thought off the events that'd happened after his dream had happened in real life.
First, the gods couldn't bring Hazel back. Anybody who'd been brought back had died again, even Gwen.
Then he'd been made permanent Centurion during the Olympian council that'd been held after the war, and the nightmares had started.
Hazel's body had been burned alongside eighty-two legionnaires and eighty Greeks.
Then a monument to all those bodies that had once been people had been put up, and Hazel's name was on it.
Soon after a new kid joined the cohort and taking Hazel's bunk.
After that, Arion had escaped from the stables and nobody around the country had seen him since.
The Temple of Pluto had been expanded by the children of Hephaestus who were more than thrilled to be let loose on New Rome, the Fort, its temples, and anything else that'd been damaged; and Hazel hadn't been there to see it.
It'd been crap since she'd died; all of it.
"What's the matter, Zhang?" Percy asked. "Hellhound got your tongue?"
"Yes, that's exactly it." Frank said. Everyone looked at him knowingly, as if they weren't fooled and they knew that Frank had slept horribly. Except Piper who was looking at the ground.
He told them about the missing fire stick. Annabeth listed off a list of places he might have lost it, but he'd checked all of them. Except 'the baths' but he seriously doubted he'd lost his fire stick at the baths. And he had seen it since the girl he'd trusted it with had died. He hadn't been able to do it, but Piper had slipped her hand in Hazel's pocket. He remembered what she said to him when she'd folded his fingers over the stick.
"Look Frank, we're going to bury her, okay? We're going to bury her with denarii, and a Vestal priestess there, and a headstone and everything. The right way, and she's going to be off to the Underworld in honour and glory. But for now, you need to make sure that you and the world and your cohort don't die because that's how life works." Even the Charmspeak hadn't made that sound okay.
He shook that out of his head.
"Maybe it'll turn up on its own," Percy said.
"We're talking about a stick here." Leo said.
"If it contains the power to destroy someone's life…" Percy said.
"I really appreciate the light tone of this conversation." Frank said.
The rest of the day went by like a breeze. The only thing wrong was that Frank's brain was in an association mood. Some days, particularly after nightmares, everything went from what he was seeing or hearing to Hazel. It was ridiculous and bad, but that's what happened.
He saw two kids pushing each other out of a canoe. He remembered how they'd done that one day, everyone on the Argo II. He saw kids racing horses, and he thought of Arion. He saw the Hunters of Artemis and he thought of the Amazons and how that was the first time he'd seen her ride, the first time he'd seen her that happy. He saw Nico sulking around the shadows cast by trees. On and on and on…
It was before supper that Piper jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"Owe," he said.
"Stop it." She said sternly, eyebrows knit, lips pinched, face hard.
Before he could ask what he should stop, she spotted a sister of hers who was getting her hair pulled by some jerk that Frank really, really hoped wasn't one of his Romans, and went to go beat the guy up.
During supper he thought about it more than usual. Something was bugging him about that...
"He's ignooooring us," a brother chanted.
They talked about Capture-the-flag that would be played on Sunday night and Frank had to wake up and help Aurelia sustain that the Fifth Cohort would still pawn.
After supper he went and found Piper, who was walking fast. The grass was starting to spit out mosquitos by the millions and the air was cool and fresh as darkness settled down. Piper was alone and he caught her arm.
"You have it," he said. "You have my lifeline."
Piper pinched her lips. "No!" She said.
"Yeah you do. You knew where I hid it. Everyone else has been either at camp, on Olympus, in New York, or busy rebuilding everything. And you've been acting funny, I know you." He said. Piper's face didn't falter, but Frank knew for a fact that she was a good actrice. Piper wasn't a liar though; so she must be sure that she had a good case built up if she was doing this.
"Yeah." Piper said. "Yes, okay, I have it."
"Since when?" Frank asked. "Where is it? What did you do to it? Why?"
"Since the Greeks went to Rome last month," Piper said. "I'm klepto, Frank. It was beyond easy. I found the first loose tile in the barracks that I could, and there it was."
Crap, I thought that that hiding place was smart.
"Okay. Where is it?"
"Frank, I don't hate you. It's fine. I have a secret compartment under my bunk. People use them to store love letters most of the time and they're sacredly secret. Nobody would have ever looked in it." Piper said.
"Fantastic. May I have it back?"
Piper didn't say anything- which sounded a lot like 'no'.
"Why did you take it?" Frank asked. "I get that you're klepto and all, or at least you can be, but really? You stole from me?"
"Frank, if you really know me, you should know that it was never, ever about what I stole, but why." She said, crossing her arms stubbornly, her chin getting tougher like she was going to put up a fight.
Frank thought for a minute.
"You were scared that I'd burn it." He finally said.
"Yes, and you can't blame me for it." Piper snapped.
The words hit Frank like a slap. Piper realised it and her face slacked.
"Frank, I'm sorry." He said. "It's just… I was there with you when Hazel died. I saw the look on your face when she got stabbed and I saw the look on your face when she said her last words. I know you haven't been eating as much, do you think I don't talk to Jason anymore? I know you're touchy about everything. I know that you refuse to talk about it and about most of the Argo II."
"Well everybody's touchy about the War of Gaia." Frank said.
"But not everybody is depressed, Frank." Piper snapped.
Frank just looked at her dazed, as if that word was new to him. As if he'd never thought of it, heard of it before. As if he hadn't realised what was going on.
Piper finally talked again.
"I lost all my sisters, I'm living in the Aphrodite cabin with six brothers. I lost Hazel too. It was a bad war in which good people died, and sometimes I keep thinking that a part of you died there too. You're a zombie, Frank. And since you're not eating brains, I don't know why you're still walking around, and part of me wonders if you know either. And I wanted to make sure that in case, just in case, you started wondering why you even bothered with hauling yourself out of the barracks every day, you wouldn't be able to just stop."
Her words shocked him. Was he that bad? Was he really depressed?
"It was for your own good." Piper said.
He'd assumed that everybody was that bad after the war. Apparently he was wrong.
"Am I really that bad?"
"I don't know. You look that bad to us. Are you that bad? Do you miss her that much? Are your days that long and frivolous?" Piper asked. "That's for you to figure out."
"I don't want to figure any more crap out." Frank said.
"Then you're out of luck, because this thing called life's gonna be a bitch." Piper said. She was trying to make Frank spit it out and admit it. She was trying to get him to say it out loud.
"It's already been one."
"And it won't get any better unless you make it better." Piper said. "I'm only going to ask you once and if you hesitate, I'm disregarding whatever comes out of your mouth. Do you want the lifeline back?"
Frank didn't know what to say. Did he hate his life? Did he hate waking up in the morning?
Yeah. He actually did, he realised with a start.
"I thought so." Piper said. "Frank, you have to tell us when something's going on. Jason's not just the praetor; he's your friend. Dakota's not your co-worker, he's your buddy. Leo, Percy, Annabeth and I are an IM away."
"What was I supposed to say?" Frank snapped at her. "Yeah, I'm totally losing it?"
"How about 'things aren't going right' for a start?" Piper said. "Or even 'I need a break'. Or even 'help me'. You've never asked for help before have you?" She realised. "You've soldiered on your whole life, haven't you? After your mom died, after you grandmother passed…"
"Yes and I've finally found something that I can't just barrel through, okay?" Frank snapped. "Yeah, I hate my life right now. Yeah, I think it sucks that she's gone and I'm a screw-up for not having had her back during the ship's siege and not doing or doing a million other things. Maybe I was such a screw-up that it doesn't matter if she's gone, I wouldn't ever have had a chance at staying her friend or boyfriend or whatever it was. No, I don't think I'm 'getting better' or 'coping' or 'moving on'. Is that what you wanted to hear?" He was nearly yelling at her now.
Piper starred at him for a second.
"I'm going to have to tell Jason," she said.
"What?" He said suddenly aware that this was going to go to Rome. "No, no, no. You can't go that. Why the Pluto would you do..?"
"Because Frank, I ain't going to New Rome but you are, and that sounds a lot like the kind of thing people write in a- a suicide note or something!" Piper burst.
He didn't know who started crying first and who put the other up to it. He just knew that he couldn't take it anymore and he was tired of being strong and Piper must've been keeping it in for a long time. Either way, they were crying. And he wasn't sure who hugged who, but they were.
Frank wanted to tell her that he couldn't do it, he really did. But he felt like crap and he was so confused and as mixed up as gumbo.
Shrimp gumbo… her comfort food…
"Frank, don't let us lose you." Piper said softly. "Gods damn it, don't. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it's what I needed to hear, and you to say. We can help you Frank. All of us, the rest of the seven. And Dakota, Reyna, Clarisse. Nobody would make fun of you. You just need to talk to us. You don't have to soldier on when you're not fighting alone."
It was quiet for a few seconds.
"I wouldn't have done it. That stick's a reminder that you only live once, and only once. So is she, that second life didn't go so well, did it?"
"I think it did. She met you, didn't she? I think that that's part of why she was back. To meet someone who truly loved her, start to finish, unconditionally." Piper said. "But Frank?"
"Yeah?"
"Unconditionally is over now. She's gone. You can let it go, at least a bit if you don't want to do it at once. For what it's worth, I'm with you." Piper said putting an arm around him.
Frank put an arm around her and they walked back to the cabins.
He didn't like talking about his feelings or asking for help or looking even clumsier than he already was. But walking with Piper towards where Percy, Annabeth and Leo were waiting to tell them something… Maybe it was for his own good.