Disclaimer: Guess what?! Still no.

Piper's POV:

When I woke up Annabeth was gone. Thalia was still asleep, and Nico was huddled in a ball at the foot of her bed, which was really sweet, because it looked like he was going through a lot of grief to make an effort to make it up to Thalia and stay close by without offending her.

That was sweet. I didn't think he'd done anything wrong. I hoped Thalia would forgive him. They're so cute together. I mean they're basically inseparable whenever the Hunt visits Camp Half Blood. To everyone but me and Anna they are best friends. And that's what they act like as well. They don't act like some sort of lovesick fruity Aphrodite children's dream couple. They act like best friends who sort of slipped over the line of friendship and couple status somewhere along the line. Which is, I think, better than love at first sight. In a way they're like Percy and Annabeth, but more Goth. Except for if either of them heard me say that they'd probably try to kill me.

Anyway, I wanted to believe Jason last night, but I couldn't. Not yet at least. Someday maybe. But I couldn't focus on that right now. I had other things going on that were more important. I was on the original quest that started the process of unity between the camps. I knew Gaea's strength, how quickly it was rising. I knew her ways. I had to help. But first I had to train the Aphrodite cabin. There was no way I was going to be embarrassed in front of the Romans by letting them see how weak the rest of Aphrodite's children were.

I had to think about this. I could use charmspeak to help them learn faster, but they still had to train through basic movements. That would be a problem. Mitchell and Lacy were game. They would help, and I knew they would learn quickly: Mitchell was a guy, and even though he was a son of Aphrodite (really all he got from Aphrodite was about what I got from her- perception, ability to see chances, etc. but with a little more fashion sense and the like) that didn't mean he would want to get his butt whooped by a girl. Lacy never liked being known as the little Aphrodite girl. Yeah she was in tune with that stuff, but from what I can tell, she's a lot like people make Silena sound like.

Aphrodite's daughter for sure, but not a pathetic helpless girl. She was ready to make her own name. I bet Drew and her lot wouldn't fight me too much on this because I doubt any of them would be able to live with the shame of getting beat by "Dumpster Queen". Hmm.

Well that was all fine and dandy, but I needed a way to train them. A place, and some way to do it quickly. Ok maybe the stars and constellations, and staring at the night sky would help. Not really because Jason's a son of Jupiter. It was more about that time when I was out at Grandpa Tom's cabin with Dad and he showed me all the constellations, and told me the stories Grandpa Tom had told him.

But it was kinda partly because of Jason. Ugh. Damn him. I was fighting against a girl who looked to be a daughter of Ceres. And winning by charmspeaking myself into blending Greek and Roman offense passably. And when I finally won, I turned around, grinning, to see Jason kissing a girl I didn't even know. Jason was standing halfway turned away from Annabeth, with a nightmare of a wetback (AN: I have nothing against Hispanics. I am just representing what I think Piper's thoughts would be if Reyna kissed Jason. Reyna is Hispanic in my story because the meaning of the name is Queen in Spanish. And if she was kissing Piper's boyfriend, Piper would be a bit biased.) attached to his face.

I'm guessing that when Annabeth ran over to take the blow for Percy, Nightmare (do you like my new nickname for her?) noticed Jason and as Jason stood to help Annabeth (because they are friends after all, and I'm sure he felt guilty about hurting her) she attached herself to his face. You may be wondering where he finds fault in this. That would be the fact that he wasn't immediately detaching her from his face.

I vaguely remember that when I threw Katoptris at her and, screamed that she was a witch, she stopped kissing him and screamed when Katoptris went clean through her foot. And she landed on the ground. Which means Jason wasn't holding her, but I refuse to remember that.

Moping in self pity is getting me nowhere. I can't believe I'm back to this already. I need to do something productive. Before I puke. Quickly, I threw on a t shirt and jeans, and of all things, I put on my moccasins. They remind me of my heritage. I don't think anyone else here has as much Native American blood as me. Without thinking about it I switched my t shirt for a sleeveless one and put on my sleeveless faux buckskin dress.

I don't know why I did, but it looked great on me either way. Oh crap, I sound like one of my lovesick siblings- like *shudders* Drew! Somehow I managed to convince myself that I needed to train with a dress on, and practice working around a dress's limitations, since I end up in a dress quite frequently on quests, courtesy of Mom. After quickly throwing my hair (which was getting pretty long- I couldn't find any scissors without going through Travis and Connor, who wouldn't give me a pair) into a loose braid that came down to the middle of my back, I slung a bow and a quiver of arrows onto my back (I figured they were useful, and why not see if I inherited any great skill from my mortal ancestors). I continued to put on a pair of Jolly Roger earrings that Mom enchanted for a birthday present (they turn into a pair of stiletto throwing daggers on one ear, and a pair of duel stiletto close range combat daggers if I need to use two at once instead of Katoptris) and grabbed my sword. I was still talking to the Hephaestus campers about making me arm cuffs that would turn into a shield, because that would be awesome, but Valdez was the head counselor and well do I even need to explain past that?

I decided that I should practice moving around and fighting in the rigging. I jumped over Percy, who was waiting for Annabeth (who I can see running in the distance) and swung into the rat lines.

I knew I was one of the fastest in the crew from training the rest of the Aphrodite cabin, well really all we got to was getting them into passable shape, by racing up and down the ratlines, and through the rigging. And the prizes that were motivation for them were ones I really didn't want to give. But I had never done anything but run up and down them. This was the perfect time to train because between three sons (and one daughter) all being upset, each one being a child of a different brother (the girl had a younger brother by the same god) it was a lightless, moonless, starless night full of shadows and dark that I assumed was only ever present in Tartarus. The sea was tossing and turning, waves crashing onto the beach with monumental force, rocking the ship. Hard.

Not to mention the wind. Which was filling up the sails and blowing my braid straight out behind me. As well as the storm clouds crashing with thunder and electrifying the midnight blue of the sky for moments at a time with lighting. It was on the brink of raining. I could feel the wetness in the air. I could almost hear the sizzling and popping in the clouds right now because of the water and the electricity contained within them.

Perfect, right?

By the time I had processed this I was halfway up to the foretop. And I proceeded to climb back down lower. I needed to practice lower in case I fell.

And so I did. Twisting turning, I must've looked like a mad woman because I moved as if I was holding a dagger, dodging and twirling as if there were other people there. I quickly got my balance and continued moving upwards. Climbing up and down, back and forth, I learned to use my ascents and descents to my advantage; swinging around a rope pulled taut like a trapeze bar to come down as if kicking someone.

Very quickly I gathered an urge to pull out Katoptris that I couldn't resist long. For some reason, as soon as I pulled my dagger, I started hearing all the horrible things people had ever said to me, all the things that, no matter how well I hid it behind my I-don't-care-this-is-me-so-deal-with-it attitude, made me feel worthless and pathetic.

I kept reliving the moments I had tried hardest to forget in my life as I climbed. I got to the foretop and just kept climbing. Up and up and up. Never stopping. I finally found some place perfect for me that I could call home, but this is me, Piper McClean, isn't it? Nothing's ever perfect for me. I thought Jason might be the exception but I guess I was wrong, and now I sound like I'm quoting Paramore.

At this point I'm as high as I can go, and the ship is rocking violently, but I still keep my balance. That's me. Stoic, unbreakable, rock solid, unemotional Piper McClean. Because if I'm not who's going to be?

Clarisse is predictable, Annabeth is logical and calculating but cold and harsh, and Thalia is exactly what she wants to be. Katie is just like plants, completely unpredictable; sweet and kind, with a razor sharp edge you don't want to feel. So what's left for me? Bubbly Aphrodite girl? Hell no.

So I get solid unemotional rock. All this in the space of a second, I whip out my bow and nock an arrow, an arrow that even through the mayhem that is this tossing ship, hits it's mark. I launch myself into a spiral 'ninja leap' across the void between the foremast and the mainmast, unfurl in time to grab my arrow, and use it to redirect myself. Instead of landing on the maintop as would be predictable, I push myself away from the mast, and fluidly as if in one motion, catch myself on a rope just beneath it and swing myself up into a very smooth and nimble sailor's entrance through the lubber's hole. (One perk of being a movie star's daughter is that I got to hang out on sets- he worked on some movie about a sailor on an old fashioned war ship.)

Jason comes around the corner just as I land (and ironically clichéd,) before I recognize his face, I plunge my knife into his stomach.

He doesn't look mad at me or anything, just very guilty as he turns and drops simply but surprisingly gracefully down to the deck, especially since he is bleeding from his gut. I watch as he runs to the side and dives into the water. Simultaneously, he calls down a bolt of lightning. Ah, I see. But he's still not a son of Poseidon and therefore, if he doesn't get out of the water soon he'll still drown. Geez, Pipes, no time like the present to get a crash course in facing your fears. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw Jaws when I was 2, OK?)

And lightning just makes it worse, because I would hate to die by electrocution. Oh well. Even if he is a no good son of a (insert swear word of your choice here), he matters more than any of those things. And in that moment, I find myself diving into the relentless, stormy water, straight after Jason. I just swim straight down because I can't see to far in front of me because it's the middle of the night and Nico's having issues too. Luckily I found him, and I had to practically sling him around my shoulders in a fireman's carry to effectively swim for the surface.

Oh, kindly ones, now I'm stuck because he's to heavy for me to carry up the side of the ship the way I usually do with niches and the space between boards and knots and such. I don't know what possesses me to do this, but I sling him off my shoulders and hold him next to me like I'm just holding him to keep him from drifting off instead of sinking. I proceed to turn and whisper in his ear using charmspeak. I tell him to fly, and discover that even though he's unconscious my charmspeak is powerful enough that it works.

But he being in his aforementioned state of unconsciousness, the way this is accomplished is through draining my energy to him so that his son of Jupiter/Zeus voodoo can take affect. We make it up to the deck and I take a coil of spare rope and tie him to my back, climbing up the netting to where he was taking up less energy even with the added weight. Achieving this, I take Katoptris and slice through the only knot that really mattered. And I begin to charmspeak him into healing again. This draining me tremendously, I stay only until he wakes up. I had already taken his shirt off because between the hole and the blood it was ruined, and it was really just making him colder. This is how I knew that by the time he woke up it was safe for me to leave, as the gushing wound was now just a faded pink scar.

So I was the first thing he saw when he woke up. And if I know him at all, he sat up to watch me get up, turn and dive off the opposite side of the ship and swim the two miles across the bay and get out on the other side.

I run to the training ground. I have to go somewhere where I'm allowed, even expected to hit and slash at and destroy things.

Annabeth is on the far side destroying a dummy with her dagger, then picking up her design book and adding to a design for what I'm guessing is a new type of armor that protects different weak points; probably one that's lighter weight and more breathable but that still inconspicuously protects Percy's weak point. Annabeth knows as well as I do how invaluable he will be in the battle. But what good will it do if he has special armor? So she has to make something new that will be easy to make standard issue.

As I start on the far side, I work my way through a dozen invisible enemies, mainly focusing on my form, and charmspeaking myself into using both Greek and Roman forms and cadences. And it was working. But it was exhausting me, as if I wasn't exhausted enough from the day/night I've had. I ignored this fact, which was probably stupid and suicidal seeing as I hadn't eaten and if I collapsed the Romans might kill me for showing weakness.

Either way, I eventually collapsed from dizziness and fatigue into a crying heap on the ground, hugging myself. I had enough sense to pull myself back to my feet, but it was all I could do to keep my sobs relatively silent, as I stood there not even trying to stop my crying, just hugging myself. And then some conceited jerk of a person from Ares, or Mars, as it were, saw fit to swoop in and kiss me square on the lips in the middle of my openmouthed sobbing. His tongue started roaming very roughly and ungraciously through my mouth, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I bit down. Hard. And didn't let go. Ok, eventually I did let go, but at this point his tongue had been cut in two by my fury.

Simultaneously pushing him to the ground and kneeing him in the groin, I proceeded to yell, "You sick, stupid son of a (insert swear word of your choice here)! Don't you know that a rose shouldn't come without thorns?! Don't you know that I'm Jason Graces …" My voice caught here and I had to take a deep shaky, shuddering breath before I could go on. "Go away! Leave me alone! I'm sick of being the beauty queen, and having people see all of what's fake and none of what's real! I'm done. I'm not just some cheap Aphrodite girl who can't defend herself! From now on, I'm not yours, or Jason's, or anyone else's! I'm mine, I'm me. I want to be left the hell alone! Got it?"

The guy nodded mutely, turned and scrambled off through the crowd. Wait, crowd? I took a moment to register this before I started mentally screaming at myself. Way to go Piper. Amazing. This is just like it has always been. You have to do something to get any attention at all. Something off limits that no one else does that always spirals way out of control. Not even the people you love the most give you any attention after the shock and the new of what you've done this time.

Ugh, I'm talking to myself again. So now I'm a nutcase, and kleptomaniac with behavioral and civil disobedience issues. Great.

"Here's his tongue if you want to sew it back on," then I spit it out and turn and run. And again I have everybody's attention; nobody's real care, but everybody's obsession. Why can't anything go right? Why do I always have to deal with things by having my retaliation spiral out of control?

Why can't I be me and get my dad's and Jason's attention without working for it? And this is my chicken-egg dilemma that always comes full circle. Why does every bit of attention I get have to be earned? And I realize that even now I'm earning attention by running. By leaving. By being something they aren't.

Author's Note: Tell me what you think: Review, favorite, I don't care. Flame if you must because again I don't care you're just voicing your insecurities on the subject of *wrong cue card you idiot* I really need better help around here. Mark over here (Mark waves as he cannot talk, recently having had his tongue bitten out by one Piper McClean) just ain't cutting it. But for those of you who must flame, I do have some very choice words to rainbow worthy colorfully tell you were you can shove your opinion.

Just. DON'T. Squee.

Thank you, have a nice day.