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CHAPTER TWO: PIPER
Piper wasn't having as much of a blast as everyone else.
What could an unbalanced spirit possibly mean? That one question had been on her mind all evening. If Leo was to swoop into Camp Half-Blood with Festus, she wasn't sure whether she would wring his neck or squeeze the life out of him with a hug.
She'd never forget the first day she'd met Leo at the Wilderness School, when he had defended her from Dylan and the other girls who hated her. While he did cause more commotion and trouble for himself and Piper, she appreciated that. Leo might have acted clueless and absolutely stupid at times and he might've teased her over everything, but he always remembered Piper and he knew which boundaries not to push.
Piper regretted her actions. She'd been so reckless and rude to Leo; how did she just not realise that? She should've been there for Leo after he'd returned from Ogygia instead of Hazel. She was the best friend.
She made a vow right then and there, that if – no, whenever Leo Valdez decided to return, she'd make more time for him. She'd appreciate his actions and gestures, and they'd tell each other everything. She'd sacrifice her time just like he sacrificed his life, but would that ever be enough?
Not once in her life, had Piper ever felt so guilty.
The only highlight of the night so far, was probably Annabeth and Travis staying away from Percy and Katie, respectively. The latter pair had been drenched in goo, and their Fourth of July celebration obviously wasn't going so well. Katie was fuming so much that vines appeared, surrounding her blanket.
Piper and Jason had never celebrated Fourth of July at Camp Half-Blood – they'd been on the Argo II for the actual holiday, anyway. Under normal circumstances, they both would've been absolutely pumped – probably not Connor Stoll pumped, but still, pumped. The news that Nico had announced in the Big House several hours earlier diminished their mood, instantaneously.
Was Leo cursed?
Jason, noticing her conflicted thoughts, rubbed Piper's knuckle with his thumb and pressed a kiss against her temple, comfortingly. "Forget it all for just one night," he murmured. "Just enjoy tonight."
She instantly relaxed in his arms, almost melting into a puddle of Piper McLean. Ever since that sort-of-date the other night where they'd kissed under the stars – for real, this time – Piper had seen her boyfriend in a different light, and it wasn't just the glasses. She loved him, and he loved her. The passion and caring between the two of them had almost skyrocketed, and there wasn't a single hour that they weren't with each other – with the exception of sleeping, of course.
The glasses did make him seem like a new and not-so-clichéd edition of Superman, though, and Piper liked that.
Piper smiled up at Jason, her kaleidoscope eyes shining brighter than ever before. She snuggled in closer to him, slinging a lazy arm around his waist. Looking around at everyone else, she took in the view of couples everywhere – some long-term relationships, some short-term and others flings – and the rustling of leaves in the background. The flames of the fire crackled in the night-light and lanterns were set out beside each blanket. If there weren't couples together, there'd be friendship and sibling groups cluttered together and scattered everywhere. Chiron smiled warmly at the large group of demigods celebrating not just an overdue American holiday, but also the celebration of another victory – again. Even Mr D. seemed to crack a smile.
A group of Apollo kids – Will, Austin and Kayla being the only three that Piper was familiar with – led the singing of campfire songs, grinning at each other. Other campers joined in, but harmonization was out of the question.
Annabeth and Percy were sat on the same picnic blanket on the right of Piper, but at least a foot away from each other. Piper giggled as she watched Annabeth wrinkle her nose and held her palm up like she was saying "Go away, Percy." Poor Katie was being treated like that, too. Hazel and Frank were cuddled up together despite the fact that they apparently, weren't supposed to do so. Nico slunk back in the shadows, as usual.
This isn't right, Piper thought. We're not complete.
She squeezed her hold on Jason a little tighter, and shook the wavering thought away from her mind. Like Jason had told her to, she was going to enjoy the night.
"She looks so perfect standing there, in my American apparel underwear…"
Piper's half-siblings went absolutely crazy, screaming at the top of their lungs, and she couldn't resist rolling her eyes. Her sisters adored Five Seconds Of Summer, and their Aussie accents and their 'badass, punk look'. Piper couldn't deny it – they were attractive. At least, they were over her own father… for now.
"Where did the band even get those lyrics from?" Jason asked.
She shrugged in response. "Who knows? Maybe they're sons of Apollo. I mean, the Luke guy does have blonde hair and blue eyes…"
Jason's smile froze and wavered the slightest bit. Piper clamped her teeth down onto her bottom lip and bit back an apology. She knew that Jason didn't particularly like what was happening with Apollo. They'd barely interacted and even Piper thought Zeus was out of line. Surely, the Fates would have foreseen Hera and Apollo's meddling. Piper had never been a fan of Hera's but she still didn't approve of the punishments the two gods had received: removal of their godly powers until they've proven that they can be trusted once again, and knowing Zeus, that would be next to never.
But then, Jason's dad was in fact, a total drama queen – more so than her own mother, Aphrodite. He probably could've won an Oscar award for an entire millennium, every year.
Piper shivered as the nightly breeze intensified slightly and Jason rubbed his hand up and down her arm as a poor attempt to warm her. Unfortunately, neither of them wore anything more than a shirt and shorts.
The acoustic version of an international boy band's song slowly diminished into a small buzz. Kayla stood up and cleared her throat, gaining everyone's attention.
This daughter of Apollo was one of those girls – one of those girls who everyone liked. While the camp was working of building the Argo II, Piper had the pleasure of making a few friends and Kayla had been one of them. She'd learnt that Kayla was a great singer, thrower and archer, but she was horrible with swords.
"Uh, hi," she said, standing up with a shy smile. "As you all know, the Apollo cabin teamed up this year with the Hephaestus cabin for the fireworks this year. And, let me tell you one thing: it'll be so much more awesome than last year's."
A chorus of "Boo!"s erupted from the Hermes campers, with Connor being the loudest, going, "Hey! That's offensive! At least we don't sing lame songs by the campfire like we're in a sappy movie."
Cue the chorus of ooooohhhhh's.
Piper decided not to question what happened last year.
"This next and final song is dedicated to all of you – more specifically the six of the prophecy, Reyna, Nico and anyone else who's lost someone special," said Kayla, who ignored Connor's response.
"When we fought, we all lost someone whether it be someone we hated in camp or someone we loved, and it's because of this that we're all together right now."
Apollo kids, Piper thought with a small smile. Always so poetic and having a way with words.
"And for us, 'old kids'," she continued. "This is the second war we've fought in, and-"
"Yeah," Jake Mason popped up beside her and interrupted her speech. "We want to recognize every hero and every death- oomph!"
A few campers laughed as Kayla rammed her elbow into his ribs. Jake groaned and rubbed his chest with a wince. "Right," she said with a nervous laugh. "And, it's not just us Greeks who've fought twice. The Romans also fought at uh," she shot a glance at Jason who mouthed Mt. Krios to her. "Oh, yeah!" Kayla snapped her fingers. "You guys fought at Mt. Krios, so we've decided to pay our tributes to both Greeks and Romans. So, please bow your heads down for a minute, to pay your respects."
The silence seemed deafening to Piper. She closed her eyes and ducked her head. She hadn't known many casualties but a death was still a death.
Kayla sat back down by her siblings and nodded at Will, who in turn, began to pluck the strings of his guitar. Piper felt like she was being taken down memory lane. This song was her all time favourite, and she recognized it within a heartbeat. The nostalgic, melodic tone of the introductory guitar was heaven to her ears.
Piper remembered the first time she'd asked her dad about her mum. She was seven and he'd just come home from another day of work. "Why don't I have a mum?" she'd inquired. He'd only reply with, "Not here, honey. Your mother's not here," and the heartbreak was clear in his eyes and voice.
When she'd first joined the Wilderness School, she'd thought Leo Valdez was a strange lunatic – and he really was. They'd stood up for themselves against Dylan and the bitchy girls who Piper had often wanted to gouge their eyes out with a fork. It was Piper and Leo, the two best friends, against the rest of the world. They stood together and they weren't alone.
And then, Jason came around. Stupid Hera, Piper thought with a mental scowl. But then again, if it weren't for Hera, she'd probably be dead at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and she wouldn't have her own Superman. Many times, Jason Grace had told her, "I'm here for you Pipes. We'll make it through, I promise."
And, he kept his promises.
"You're not alone, together we stand. I'll be by your side, you know I'll take your hand," Will sang with perfect pitch.
At that lyric, Piper raised her right hand up to hold Jason's, whose arm had been draped around her shoulders. She interlaced their fingers and reached up to kiss the corner of his mouth.
Jason smiled, crookedly, and hummed along to the song, as did most other campers.
"We'll make it through," he murmured to her, rather than sing the last lyric as Will's strumming came to a stop. Piper didn't miss the discreet smile Will shot at someone in the crowd, but she did miss who it was.
The fireworks erupted barely a second later, and Annabeth momentarily seemed to forget Percy's state. He used this moment of ignorance against her and pulled his girlfriend in against him, despite her protests.
Piper could only grin at them and laugh, before looking up into the sky as the noise of everything else simmered down.
"I've never actually seen fireworks live before," Jason admitted.
She stared at him in shock before returning her gaze back to the pink and silver, exploding fireworks. "Really?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Fourth of July was literally just partying. That's the Roman way of celebrating, so it's pretty cool to experience it from the Greek side."
Piper was about to reply, but the ripple of murmurs in the crowd stopped her. Percy suddenly sobered up, his grin faltering and she exchanged a confused glance with Jason. The fireworks in the sky right at that moment depicted a huge African-American guy, whose muscles seemed to bulge out of his sleeves.
This wasn't an image depicted by fireworks, she realised. It was a holograph, which seemed like fireworks.
"Beckendorf," she heard Annabeth breathe out.
"Oh, hey," Piper said, tugging on Jason's hand. "It's the old Hephaestus cabin counselor. Died from an explosion, I think?"
A beautiful girl popped up – slim waist, blue eyes and black hair. Silena Beauregard, she thought. Piper had never known her but she did know that Drew talked trash about their deceased half-sister who had sided with the Titan's side. But, she turned out to be loyal in the end, so that's what counted, right?
Plus, kudos to her for denying the Rite of Passage.
Several other headshots came up and Piper heard Lee Fletcher, Luke Castellan Ethan Nakamura, Michael Yew and Zoe Nightshade. Holographs of Clarisse fighting off a drakon, Percy fighting against several monsters at once, Percy and Annabeth standing back to back and so many others appeared.
She pretended to understand what was going on.
An holograph of Percy and Annabeth kissing underwater was displayed and Piper resisted the urge to say, "Awww." It was pretty hard, since the two of them were so red that they'd probably put beetroots to shame.
Piper looked away for one second to brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and the moment she looked up, she found herself staring back at herself in her pink snowboarding jacket with Jason's arms around her waist when she'd fallen off the Grand Canyon.
How in Hades had they gotten that image?
"Oh, gods," Piper moaned in embarrassment, tearing her eyes away.
Jason chuckled. "Good times, eh?"
She watched as images of the Argo II and the battles at Greece and Camp Half-Blood floated in the atmosphere. Every time Leo was shown, it felt like a stab in the heart. But, Piper managed to force out a soft laugh when an image of Octavian stuffing himself into an onager. It was rude, yes, she knew that, but she couldn't help it. She'd heard the story from Nico, who'd been there to witness it, and she still thought the deceased augur's actions were a little more than ridiculous.
The final image – an image of all the Greeks and Romans together – slowly dissipated and the usual fireworks exploded into the night sky before ending with a bang.
Jason pressed his lips against Piper's temple and said, "I love you so much, Piper."
She smiled for real this time. "I love you, too."
A/N: Jiper fluff! Yay or nay? In your reviews, it'd be great if you said what you want to see happening in this story or what you think is going to happen, as well as who's POV you'd like for the next chapter.