Disclaimer: I don't own PJO.

A/N: Hey :)

So this is just meant to be a two-part story, showing the thoughts of Silena Beauregard. If all goes well, I may continue writing this with other emotions ;)

Silena is in Elysium after her death, where she watches on everyone at Camp. Whilst she's in Elysium she thinks on the emotion of love, and the different types of love.

Pairings in this chapter: Beckendorf x Silena, Percy x Annabeth, hints of Piper x Jason, Katie x Travis, slight Luke x Thalia, and a one-sided pairing of Leo x Thalia

I hope you enjoy this :)

Love, Skylar. x

In the Mind of an Aphrodite Girl: Love.

Part 1.

Love. That's what everyone thinks that we Aphrodite children are best at. Well, let me tell you something stranger: we're not. And how about you? Yes, you, right over there! You say love is easy? No. No, it's not. Why? Let me tell you.

There are different kinds of the emotion love. It takes a certain skill to assess the situation of love. You need to see the love, find out what type of love it is, then finally see what you can do (or rather what an Aphrodite child can do).

-!-

Family Love

I was sitting on the white leather couch in the huge living room of Elysium. That place was perfect. No wonder they called it Heaven. Lounging opposite me flipping through the channels on a Hephaestus-built flat screen 3D television was Luke. He looked better than the last time I saw him. His skin had a healthy glow and his eyes were that perfect ocean blue that I knew Thalia loved so much. Beckendorf sat next to me on the couch, his arm wrapped around me. We all gazed at the TV in boredom. Channels flashed by as Luke continuously clicked the remote's button. That was when...

"Luke! Stop! Wait!" I jumped up and grabbed the remote off him. He let out a startled yelp as I threw a plush white pillow into his stunned face. I hopped back up on the couch and resumed my snuggling position with my boyfriend, flipping back onto the channel which I found interesting.

"She drives me crazy!" Jason growled as he paced up and down the deck of the Argo II. He was talking about his sister Thalia, of course. In the past few days he had lost his memory, found bits and pieces of it again, got saved by Greek demigods, was sent on a quest, saved Hera and found his sister. The best event that happened was seeing Thalia again. She brought back a few warm memories of his childhood (because only a few memories were returned to him then). But then, she left.

"Wait, who?" Luke asked, as he shoved the pillow off his face and leaned back on the front of the couch.

"Oh, shush you!" I smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "I want to watch!"

Piper patted Jason's shoulder. "No she doesn't," she told him. "And besides, you love her anyways."

I cooed and aww-ed at this, while Luke shot me a dirty glare.

"Look who's interrupting, now!" He said in a mock angry voice.

Jason grunted a reply, probably meaning that he agreed with Piper, but didn't want to admit it. Piper apparently thought the same as me. Finally he let out a long sigh. "Yeah," he said. "I do love her."

I grinned happily before shoving the remote back to Luke.

"Here you go!" I smiled and he rolled his eyes.

-!-

Pet love

"Come on," I called to Charlie, dragging him by his hand across the Elysium living room. "I want to go look at the new make-up products Persephone brought in today from outside!"

Beckendorf laughed, and it was a nice deep sound that I liked very much. "Okay, okay!" He told me. "I'm coming."

As we walked past the flat screen TV, I waved hello to Lee Fletcher, the former head counsellor of Apollo's cabin. He didn't wave back since he was so immersed in watching what was on the screen. I looked up at the TV and stopped abruptly, causing Beckendorf to crash into my small frame. This sent us careening over the leather couch, where we tumbled over onto the floor, him sitting cross-legged and I on his lap, sitting awkwardly.

On the TV screen was the unmistakeable Percy Jackson and the blonde haired Annabeth. They were at the arena, arguing over... a dog? Not just any dog though. This one was a fluffy golden beauty. Percy had his arms around the dog, shielding him/her/it from the irritated Annabeth.

"No, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth said in an exasperated tone."We're so not bringing that dog home with us for break."

Percy frowned at Annabeth, before giving the dog a vigorous rub on the back, cooing in a ridiculous voice. "Don't worry Lucky-"

Lee chortled. "He named the dog Lucky?"

"- I'll make sure you come home with us. That nasty girl won't have a say in what I do or don't do!" And with that he stuck his tongue out at a furious Annabeth.

"Nasty?" She said in a totally calm and controlled voice, her composure calm and her face expressionless. We heard Percy gulp audibly as he paused to look up at Annabeth with a scared expression.

"It was a joke!"

"Oh, sure."

"Really! Y-you're the most beautiful, intell-"

Annabeth sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, Perce. You can bring the dog back home-"

Percy whooped and cheered at this, hugging the golden dog. "Thanks, Wise Girl! You're the best."

"BUT," Annabeth continued. "If it makes a mess, you're cleaning it. And I'm not explaining this to your mother." Annabeth then walked out of the arena as Percy grew quiet again.

"Don't worry, boy," he told the dog, rubbing it between its ears. "I won't let that nasty-"

"Who's nasty?" Sally Jackson asked as the Iris Message appeared through a puddle on the ground.

"Oh! Um... Hi mom. I want you to meet Lucky-"

"No, Percy. No pets."

-!-

Friendship

There was just one person whom I didn't like, excluding the Hunters who thought "love was worthless". And that person was Drew, the girl who replaced me as head counsellor for the Aphrodite cabin after my death. When that was announced, I had glared at the Hephaestus TV for five minutes straight, causing the other people in Elysium to look at me funny. Hey, it wasn't my fault. This girl was a total brat. She made the whole cabin practically be slaves for her. Slaves. What of the teaching of Aphrodite? What of love? She brushed the whole thing off, pretended it didn't exist.

I was overjoyed when my half-sister Piper McLean overthrew Drew and took her place as the head counsellor. I liked Piper. She had spirit, she was beautiful and I knew that she would be a great leader for the cabin.

I sat by a beautifully lit fountain, dipping my finger in the crystal clear water before skimming my fingertips over the reflective surface. As soon as I touched the pool, Drew's face appeared- a memory- and she beamed evilly at Piper.

"Honey," she crooned in a fake sugary-sweet voice. "I love all my friends."

"Until they're not your friends anymore," I said cheerfully, plunging my fist into the water, straight into Drew's pretty face.

The memory then disappeared in a spiral, the cloud evaporating out of the pool. I was then left staring at my reflection, which I blew a kiss, before frowning as I noticed my hair. I quickly fixed the problem with ease. Unfortunately that was something I couldn't do with Drew.

-!-

Weather Friendship

"What-cha watching?" I said, plopping myself down on the furry carpet of the Elysium living room. After spending months and months in this 'Heaven', things eventually grew boring. At times when I felt bored I would usually head down to the Hephaestus TV to see what was going around in the world. I loved the Camp Half-Blood channel the best. It was quite useful to see what was going around the camp, especially the newcomers and the fresh gossip about new couples. The Hephaestus TV also could be used to track other people in the world. Thank the Gods for Hephaestus TV.

"Hmm? Oh, just... Percy." Luke replied absentmindedly as he glanced down at me.

I tutted at him, shaking my head and messing up my hair a bit. "That sounds so wrong."

He glared at me. "Not that way."

Percy was sitting in what looked like an utterly boring mathematics class. No one was paying attention to the old math's teacher at the front, who was talking in a dreadful monotonous voice.

Sighing, Percy glanced around the class. Everyone else was absorbed in one another, bunching around together in groups, giggling, laughing and gossiping.

"Oh Zeus," I heard him mutter. "If Annabeth could see this she'd laugh and say I was a loner."

He dug in his pockets a few moments, pulling out some 5 Gum. As he unwrapped the wrapping of the delicious treat, it made a slight crinkling sound. The whole room paused for a moment, including the teacher. Thirty heads turned to Percy's direction, a few kids were even sniffing. Finally a few pairs of eyes landed on him. They watched with rapt attention as Percy slid the gum piece into his mouth. Then, all hell broke loose.

"Hey! Percy! Can I have some?"

"Perce, my man! Do you mind if I-"

"I'll go on a date with you if I could have just one piece of that deliciousness!"

Percy groaned. "Why is it that some of my so called friends only love me when they need something?"

"That's called weather friendship, love," I said, knowing he couldn't hear me. Luke just shook his head, laughing silently.

-!-

Attraction

The law of attraction states that "like attracts like". Now, in the law of... attraction, this is not necessarily so. Opposites do attract, too.

I remember a certain Demeter child by the name of Katie Gardner. She was a good friend of mine, but very... well... she didn't have a lot of fun in her life. No! I didn't mean it like that. Continuing on, well she was quite like Annabeth, or a child of Athena in a way. Katie was (well, she still is) a pretty daughter of Demeter with a certain small crush on one prankster named Travis Stoll. They were like opposites. Katie always reprimanded and scolded Travis of his "childish, immature ways". Travis thought Katie was "paranoid, uptight and needs more fun in her life". In a few ways, both were correct about one another. I've always loved the Tratie paring. They were one of the best couples around (after Percy and Annabeth, of course). Katie and Travis didn't know about the many bets that the Aphrodite cabin had placed on them getting together. Both Katie and Travis thought that they hated each other. Someone forgot to tell them that there's quite a fine line between love and hate.

Charlie and I were sitting together on a loveseat, watching some kind of dance movie. What was it called again? Oh. Right. Footloose. I had watched this movie around a gazillion times before, so I was growing more bored by each second. That was when I took the remote and switched channels, viewing the Camp Half-Blood channel.

Katie was squatting on the ground, pulling up the weeds which were threatening to overgrow her precious strawberry plants. With each weed, she grabbed hold of them with a clenched fist, before yanking it furiously out of the ground, imagining it to be that horrid Aphrodite whore's hair. Grabbing hold of one particularly stubborn weed, she pulled, and fell over on her bottom, her eyes glistening with a few tears at the sharp pain throbbing on her backside. Why, you ask, was Katie upset about that Aphrodite girl? Well this situation was the result of watching a certain Hermes boy make out with that girl.

Katie knew then why she felt so upset. She wasn't actually that angry about the Aphrodite girl. Okay. Maybe she was, but she was slightly more upset about the fact that she was jealous about the girl. Feeling jealous about the girl Travis was kissing meant that she had a crush on Travis. Katie groaned in despair. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'I can't be... attracted to Travis, can't I?'

Oh, but Katie was. What she thought was once pure hatred was blossoming into something else. Was it... love? Katie shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't be in love with Travis, nor... attracted. But then again, Katie always did notice how the sun shone in his lovely brown hair, how his blue eyes sparkled so beautifully like an ocean, how perfectly sculpted his muscles- No. Bad Katie. Don't even think about it. Shrugging, she sat back up and began scooping up the weeds again.

-!-

In-Person Crush

This type of love was... how would you describe it? Hmm. Stalker-ish. It was that overly obsessive love. The one where you monitor your crush's every move. And by that I mean e-v-e-r-y move.

Who, you ask, has this type of love? Well, it'd be that new Hephaestus head counsellor, Leo Valdez. And who is his 'crush'? That answer is pretty easy. His crush is Miss Thalia Grace (No, Luke, don't you frown at me!). Unfortunately for Leo, Thalia doesn't return his feelings at all, as hers is currently (Luke! Stop that fist pumping right now!) with a certain person in Elysium.

This love is a fairly new concept to me. I didn't realise it existed when I lived (well, sorry, Mother). I decided the name for this type of love when I was watching the Camp Half-Blood channel with Luke one afternoon (or was it morning?).

Leo sat at the Hephaestus Mess Hall table, admiring the Hunters who were sitting at the Artemis table. There was one girl in particular who he was watching: Jason's sister, Thalia. Of course his mate would kill him if he were caught looking, so he had to be satisfied with taking quick glances at the daughter of Zeus. 'Oh, Hades,' he thought. 'Why did the gods curse me?'

Leo had a liking for beautiful girls. Especially beautiful girls that were out of his league. And this was why he had a small - no, gigantic- crush on Jason's sister.

He looked up from his unappetizing soggy cereal to watch the Hunters. Yep. There she was. She's still there. Oh, wait, nope, she moved just a little bit. Her left foot moved just slightly. Her lips twitched into a smile. Leo felt like he was going to throw up, but in a really good way. Wait, no! Throwing up wasn't good. Wait. Was it?

By the end of this, I was scribbling furiously in my note book, taking down all the things I learnt about this new type of love. If Annabeth was here, I bet you that she would be proud. Well sort of proud, that I'm actually note taking. But I don't think she would approve with my note taking of love.

Luke was sitting on the floor, his arms crossed across his chest, his jaw clenched and his eyes glaring a hole at the television screen. I hopped up from my seat, tucking the pencil above my ear as I did so, and patted his shoulder.

"There, there," I crooned. "She doesn't love him."

Luke relaxed a little bit, so I decided to play with him a bit. Glancing off to the side so he couldn't read my face and see I was lying, I added, "Yet." Then with lightning fast speed, I shot up and ran to find Beckendorf before Luke could murder me. I glanced behind once, a smile on my face, as I saw his murderous glare.

"Beauregard!" He called angrily.

I winked back at him.

-!-

To be continued.