Chapter 6 - Past
Jason
After Annabeth had her little catch-up session with Piper, she went into Jason's room to "deliver some new bath salts."
She looked at Jason like he was crazy and a liar, and asked why Jason would tell Piper that they were best friends.
"Do you want me to tell her everything that happened? That she was so upset and mad? That she was so frustrated that she jumped out the window?" He asked, "That she hated me? Did you honestly think I was going to tell her? I don't want her to be unhappy and feel locked up." And I think she's kinda cute, and maybe now we can have a small chance.
Jason didn't tell Annabeth that last part. He was pretty sure she would slap his face and tell Piper to stay away from him. That would not make it happen.
Annabeth sighed. "I guess you're right. Don't tell about suffering, don't tell her about sadness, okay? And don't tell her about anything bad between you. But don't go taking advantage of her unawareness. If you do," Annabeth threatened, "I will make sure you do not speak again."
Jason gulped and nodded. He wasn't sure what she could do, but her menacing gray eyes warned him not to go against her.
She spun on her heel and walked towards the ornate double doors to his room. She opened the door, and turned her head one last time.
"Oh yeah, and your bath salts have mysteriously disappeared. She winked, gave him another glare, and walked out.
Wow. She is really scary. Jason thought.
Unknown
"I've got the info, boss," the person said, "All about little miss Piper McLean."
The boss grinned in an evil way. "What do you have about her, child?"
The person scowled at "child," but gave the info nonetheless.
"She hasn't been in a relationship in years, so no one's going to really care about our plan. She's unaware about Tristan." The boss winced.
"She's going to be a maid, but the prince, Jason," the being paused and hissed, "is faking as a best friend, most likely to take advantage, boss. There's also a blonde haired maid, supposedly her best friend from years ago, ma'am."
She smiled. "The maid, Annabeth, will not get in the way unless she finds out, but she won't. The prince, well, he's not a problem, he's actually part of the plan." The individual pursed his lips and frowned.
"But my lady-"
"My plan is for Piper to be 'happy,'" She said, "and the prince's heart may be a little broken along the way," The man grinned, "but I assure you that you will get what you want in end, young one."
"What shall I do next?" He asked.
"Just sit and watch, Leo, sit and watch." They both smiled simultaneously.
Piper
Piper felt a strange sensation go through her. She shivered, but ignored it otherwise. She looked around the infirmary once again.
The same white walls, brown curtains, windows, beds, and torches stared back at her. So did some of the patients, along with one of the nurses. The patients were a mix of young men and women, and she noticed one girl who was wrapped in bandages and seemed to be trying to cover her face from the guards. One of the guards, an Asian looking one stared at her. Piper noticed something in his stare, something like pain and a little of something else. It looked like, hope? Piper stopped thinking about it and thought about the prince, Jason.
He was incredibly cute and seemed to care for her, for some reason. He actually seemed to worry for her. Piper shook her head and stopped thinking about it. The nurse who was staring at her earlier came over.
"How are you doing sweetie? Is your head feeling alright?" The nurse smiled a glowing smile and continued to ask her questions about her condition.
"Yes, ma'am, I am doing fine, thank you very much." Piper replied, looking at the nurse. The nurse was very beautiful with short, blonde, curly hair. She wore a small amount of makeup, but she still looked very nice.
"No need for 'ma'am' or anything, sweetie. I've noticed your boyfriend has come to check on you a lot. He seems like a kind boy." The lady sighed dreamily.
"He's not my boyfriend, he's just a newfound friend," Piper glanced at the door. "Speak of the devil."
Said blonde prince walked in the door, and noticing that Piper saw him, he gave a big grin.
"Hey Pipes!"
He walked over to her and asked her lots of questions.
"How do you feel? Have you gained your memories?" He looked a little concerned at that one. "Does your head hurt? Do you think you can go along in life now?"
Piper smiled. Jason seemed genuinely concerned and the nurse seemed to silently squeal at her and Jason's interactions.
"I'll just leave you guys to it then," the nurse said, giggling. She walked away, and Piper and Jason shared a glance.
"She kind of scares me," Piper admitted, "and yeah, I'm better now."
"Oh yes, I have also gotten my memory back." She glared at Jason, making him gulp and shiver. His eyes widened and his face turned bright red, his blond hair making him look even more red.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so s- "
Piper burst out laughing. Jason looked confused.
"Piper, why are you laughing…?"
Piper couldn't help it. She burst out laughing again. Jason's confused face was so cute, and so was his apologetic face.
"I-*giggle* - didn't," Piper snorted, "regain my- hahaha- memory. But you should have seen your face." Piper giggled some more. Realization and relief covered his face and his face color toned down. He sighed. Piper squished his cheeks with her hands.
"Who's a cutie when he's confused, who's a little cutie?" Piper grinned as Jason blushed. As she was rubbing his cheeks, he shocked her on accident. She yelped.
"Bad Sparky! Bad!" Piper scolded. Then Piper realized something. She started suspiciously looking at Jason.
"Why were you so worried about me remembering about whatever happened?"
His face turned back to the bright red color and he bit his lip.
"Nothing, nothing," he replied. Piper frowned and narrowed her eyes, making Jason chuckle nervously.
"Did you, like, try something on me?" Piper asked, her eyes flickering to a dark green. Jason's face turned into a stuttering tomato at that point.
"No! I swear! In fact, I have a fiancée named Reyna!" Jason denied quickly. Piper's eyes slowly went back to a vivid green. Piper's frown came off quickly and she grinned, nudging the scarlet boy. She poked his pink cheeks and made him tell her all about his fiancée.
"Reyna is an amazing and strong woman. She is kind of fierce, but once you get to really know her, she is really caring and sweet. She has two dogs, Aurum and Argentum, who are always by her side to protect her," Jason paused, "but she would never need to be protected anyway. She always wears armor, like she is scared to be too vulnerable. She always has one long, dark braid going down her back, almost representing how neat and perfect she is."
Piper smiled. "I've met her before, I think. She used to live in my village, but was taken up to nobility when the orphanage found out that her mother was Queen Bellona and her father was the general Julian. They were separated at Reyna's birth. I hope your life with Reyna is nice. You really seem to love her."
Jason sighed and looked down. "That's the thing. I do love her, but I see her as a sister. We've been friends for 2 years, and no matter how hard I try to love her, I always see her as my best friend or sister."
Piper's eyebrows furrowed. "Two years?" She looked confused. "For me, she only left 2 or 3 weeks ago."
Thalia
Thalia paced around the bright palace room nervously. One of her friends, Piper, went missing when she went out to look for things for her "baby sister" Lacy. She was most likely taken by Romans, who had raided her village the night she went missing.
Rome. Just the thought of it made her angry. Her father, the oh-so-high-and-mighty emperor, barely showed his face, and when he did, he didn't win the nicest father award. It was a wonder how her mom, Beryl Grace, an actress who was entertaining for a party, even got close enough to have not one, but two children with him.
The other child was named Jason, name chosen by Jupiter, their father. Jason was a nice kid and all, but he never broke the rules. Punctual, perfect, and patient. Thalia would always break the rules, because she was never one for rules. Always compared to Jason, She wasn't meant to be a princess, yet moved through five palaces, now in Greece with her friend/enemy Percy Jackson, aka Kelp Head. Piper, Percy, and Thalia were best friends, Piper meeting them after she won a singing contest or something. Then Piper practically moved in with Thalia, but they shared some of the same taste, which was a relief.
A knock on the door interrupted Thalia's train of thought.
"Come in!" Thalia shouted. Percy walked in, his sea green eyes confused. He had dark purple bags under his eyes, making him look like he was going to fall asleep any moment.
"I've sent scouts to look for Piper and a few extra towards Rome," Percy reported tiredly. "I've asked people who got away from the Romans if they had seen her, but none did. I found Lacy crying next to Piper's bed in her cradle. Luckily, she wasn't taken."
Thalia sighed in relief at the news of Lacy, but was still worried about Piper. What if she became a slave? What if her spunk had gotten her killed?
"Percy, I have to go to Rome," Thalia said, shocking Percy as well as herself. "I am still a princess of Rome, and maybe I can convince Jason to help me get Piper out."
Percy looked a little uncomfortable. "I don't want to risk you getting hurt or attacked."
There was an unspoken thought he was implying. Just like Piper.
Thalia snorted. "Me? Getting hurt? I trained for 5 years at different palaces with different styles. With all due respect, Most High Majesty," Thalia rolled her eyes, "I think I can handle myself."
Percy gave his signature lopsided grin and nodded.
Piper
Piper knew she was missing something. Well, yeah, two years of her memory. But she felt like she needed to check on something. She had a small tug at the back of her mind about a child or something… She just shrugged off the feeling.
Jason
Jason was walking around the courtyard of the palace when he saw a rope with a weight on one end swing over the garden fence. It just so happened that Jason was standing right next to the fence.
The weight swung and hit him in the head. He yelped.
"What in the name of Pluto is going on?!
The weight was quite heavy and hit like a rogue horse.
Jason looked up as a girl with a hood jumped down and kicked him in the face.
"Gotcha! Aha! Don't make a noise or I'll slit your throat," a girl said, grabbing him and putting her knife on his neck for emphasis. "Take me to the royal family and I'll let you go."
"What are you- um- going to do with them?" Jason asked, nervously.
"Just torture them until they give back my friend," the girl grinned.
Jason gulped.
"Uhhmm…" Jason got nervous as the girl's dagger pressed deeper into his throat.
"I'll bring you to them," Jason groaned.
The girl smiled and loosened her grip on Jason a tiny bit, but that was all he needed. He pulled himself down quickly and kicked her legs out from under her.
"Aahh!" The girl fell down and her hood fell to reveal wild black hair with streaks of blue. Jason's eyes narrowed. He took a good look at the crazy girl so he would remember her in case she managed to escape. He stared into her bright blue eyes and something clicked. He gaped.
"Thalia?" "Jason?"