Piper

"Sup passengers!" a certain son of Hephaestus announced over the intercom, catching Piper off guard. The daughter of Aphrodite set down her shining blade Katropis. It was her looking glass, her way to feel helpful to the others onboard the Argus II. Piper wasn't a fighter, and her only defences were her words and, grudgingly, beauty – which would most likely not help when fighting a woman as old as earth. Well, technically she was earth. Piper shuddered. The things she'd seen through her knife… let's just say that Gaea didn't wear dandelion crowns and sing to birds all day long.

"This is your all-time supreme commander of the Argo II speaking," Leo continued. "We are arriving at the military – sorry - Roman camp in about one hour, so prepare your weapons -uh- I mean prepare yourselves for some slight turbulence."

Piper let herself sink back into her chair before a series of squeaks spewed out the intercom, followed by a sharp beep, then a hasty "That is all!"

Piper rolled her eyes at Leo. Though his antics got a bit annoying, he was at least a source of entertainment. Through all the stiffness towards Leo's lousy jokes, there was an unspoken thankfulness for the much-needed distraction. There's the stress, the war, the foreshadowed deaths of loved ones and even the guilt associated with killing the friendlier monsters. In the end, even the most high-strung demigods needed a break. In this case, Piper needed something to cloud her thoughts from another issue, not involving Leo's idiotic antics, or even Gaea's war.

The gods were stuck in her mind. Despite Zeus's hostility (okay, law) against helping the heroes, the gods have never paid attention to rules and this century wasn't an exception. Gods have been lending immortal hands to their children, which pretty much meant supplying tools to build a certain war ship, or even to hand out relationship advice.

Piper's mother had visited her a few months ago, through a dream, to share a few words of wisdom during her quest. The rendezvous had mostly consisted of Aphrodite raiding Medea's department store and squeezing Coach Hedge into a canary yellow blazer, but the love goddess did hint at Piper's relationship issues. She remembered Aphrodite clearly stating that she and Jason "couldbe". Even if those words were nonchalant, anything spouted from an immortal's mouth could have a hidden meaning. But Piper was having serious trouble finding a message other than "You and Jason are screwed- try again next time" or "Yep, this is going good but I'm not at all interested."

Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom. Couldn't Aphrodite have expanded on how she and Jason 'could be'? Piper's love life had gone nowhere besides downhill – she desperately needed a love goddess's help. Jason seemed to be slipping from her gaze every time she tried to lock eyes with him, and went out of his way to avoid talking to her alone. He was useless. She might as well forget love and focus on saving the Universe, right? Ha! That was wishful thinking; she couldn't get this kid out of her mind! Was there some sort of code to unlocking a stubborn half-blood? Perhaps, '1) Hold hands, 2) Lock lips' would do the trick. Of course, her mother decided to stay silent through all this instead of telling her what to do. Now all she'd been waiting for was a sign – What do I do? Who do I do…? Nothing. No answer. Of course.

Now Piper didn't want to seem more concerned about boys than the looming warnings of a gruesome war, but to top it all off, she was terrified for Annabeth – and Percy's potential girlfriend. Most of the Greeks were worried that the Romans would attack thembut Piper was a little scared of what Annabeth would do if Percy had another girlfriend. Would she attack the Romans? Would the rest of the camp follow her lead? She had been at Camp Half-blood longer than anyone else, and they would follow her footsteps in a heartbeat. This daughter of Athena alone could start a full-on blood bath between the two camps. That assumption wasn't too big of a leap – people had done wild things in the name of love, just thinking of the Trojan War made her shiver.

Piper jumped. A current of urgent knocks erupted on her bedroom door, followed by a strangled, "Piper?"

She immediately knew it was Annabeth, whom she'd been comforting for a while now. Ever since Piper returned from her quest she'd noticed Annabeth skipping meals to train, and working overnight on the Argo II. She was almost as bad as Leo. Needless, Piper was good with people she liked being around, even in their worst states. So she took the upset demigod (who happened to be older, stronger, and braver than she was), and gave her a shoulder to lean on. It was times like these that Annabeth would need Piper.

She pulled herself off her comfy armchair and pushed open the door. As soon as the steel hinges creaked open, Piper spotted a distressed Annabeth pacing the ship's hall on the verge of tears. That's how she always was. On the edge of breaking, but never to fall. Piper had yet to see a single tear. She quickly ushered Annabeth into her cramped cabin and sat her down.

"Explain" was all she needed to say, as they had both acknowledged that asking if she was alright was a really stupid question.

"What if he's different?" Annabeth's full gray eyes didn't meet Piper's. It was clear that Annabeth didn't enjoy seeming vulnerable, but there's only so much even a strong girl can handle. "Memories make a person. Without them…" Annabeth didn't need to say more.

"Without them, you're worried he won't be Percy anymore," Piper finished. Annabeth gave a curt not, but something in her eyes made Piper keep going. "You think that he won't be the same person at all, different personality, different morals, different side of the war," she looked at Annabeth and turned her head, as if to say Now you go.

Annabeth took a slow breath. "Percy has always managed to squeeze of out situations. He always knows what to do and that's because of instincts. Those I know he has. But it's his heart that has always kept him alive. His integrity has convinced enemies to spare him and I don't know if he'll have that anymore. He might not remember me, and he might not love me, and while that's bad, he could even b-be…dead," Annabeth choked out the last word like it was bitter sitting in her mouth. "I don't think I could handle that." Piper listened intently even though they'd been over this many times before. It incredibly odd seeing Annabeth so miserable, but seemed even weirder to be giving relationship advice, given with what was going on in her own love life.

"Look Annabeth, obviously he's not dead!" Annabeth gave her a look that said Seriously, I came here for an adult conversation. She straightened and looked right into Annabeth's eyes so she knew Piper meant business.

"I mean for gods' sake, think about it. He's one of the seven so he really can't die before the prophecy comes to pass, right?"

Annabeth raised her head slightly, but her eyes her locked on the porthole behind Piper, as if Percy would come swimming for her as soon as the ship came into view. Ironically, they were 37,000 feet high, floating with the clouds not krill.

"So now that's dealt with," Piper told her, reaching to grasp the blonde's hand. "About the forgetting-you-thing, this kid fell in love with you once, and no matter how stupid you make him out to be, he would be an absolute idiot to forget you that easily. Trust me," Piper nodded earnestly.

"How would you know what he would and wouldn't forget?" Annabeth snapped, yanking her hand back. "The gods don't care what he does with personal life, as long as he gets the job done." The words were bitter, but pleading+++++++++ so Piper played along.

"Listen Annabeth, my mom would murder Hera if she broke you two up. She said that you guys were the cutest couple since Helen and Paris!" Annabeth looked horrified.

"But Piper!" she cried. "Helen and Paris both died!And they were stuck in a Roman versus Greek war too. And I'll bet Aphrodite planned it that way. She's always so set on making everyone else so interesting. Maybe she could take her own advice and grow a few brain cells. Now that would shake things up!" Annabeth was standing, her hands clenched till they matched the white sheets on Piper's bed. Even though she had some few hard spots with her mother, Piper didn't exactly love the way Annabeth spoke about her. Still, she tried to stay calm.

"Annabeth, really. I don't know what you need me to say here," Piper paused, knowing it was time to let her charmspeak leak through, "But my mom meant it in a good way." And at least she gave you any useful comments at all. "You guys aren't going to die."

Annabeth just raised an eyebrow. She probably heard the envy in Piper's voice, or maybe it really was the charmspeak, but this girl could see through Piper like she was an open book. Annabeth didn't say anything, she only gazed though the porthole, watching the clouds drift by. The anger was lost again. Piper noticed Annabeth's arm drifting up her neck, fingers enclosing around a silver owl pendant strung by a bronze chain.

"It's a pretty necklace," Piper told her reassuringly.

"Percy gave it to me." The girls stared at each other, not sure what to say.

"You better go get ready, I have to sort some things out with Leo," Piper said, rising from the bed.

"Good luck," Annabeth laughed softly, the tension nearly dissipating from the air. Nearly. Piper smiled back at her, trying to ease their friendship into normalcy, pretending that Annabeth didn't have permanently red rimmed eyes and she didn't have infinite circles under her own, but neither girl could honestly understand what normal really meant.

Piper left Annabeth in her room, that girl barely had any time to think her issues out. Annabeth was constantly looking for someone to help, something to fix, somewhere to be, and if that's how she handled the grief and what kept her going then good for her. Piper, on the other hand, had too much time on her hands. She knew every hall in the ship (and this is a pretty damn big warship) and she had gotten to know every demigod they'd brought onboard, which wasn't all too bad because the kids of the prophecy only selected a handful of half-bloods from each cabin to join them.

Soon Piper turned the corner heading to the control room and she stepped warily towards a door labeled 'The Control'. Piper hesitated before turning the knob. No doubt, Leo's little lair was rigged with stink bombs and embarrassing booby traps, so she'd better knock first. She reached her hand to the door, ready to rap on the steel, but was cut short by a hand pressed upon her shoulder.

"Huh?" Piper whipped around, her braid slapping against her cheek. She took a quick intake of breath when she saw which hero stood before her.

"Jason."

"I think," he said slowly, "that we should talk."