19. On Earth...

Camp Half-Blood

Piper's pov

Piper struck the dummy again. This was the second dummy she was maiming in two hours. So much frustration built up inside of her, so much anger and that ever-piling guilt that threatened to swallow her whole. She spun around and attacked it again with her knives. She had adopted the dual knives as the standard weapons that Leo had made for her. They were much more suited for combat than Katoptris which she was very glad to get rid of. It hadn't helped in the slightest. Its visions were more gruesome than the last and it told nothing that would be useful in finding Percy.

Oh, Percy...

She skewered the dummy's head off and sighed regretfully. If only she could've seen it earlier, if only she had tried harder to convince them. But no, she knew there nothing more she or anyone could've done. What you really even do when the fates themselves are against you?

She wasn't really that close to Percy when they were on their quest in the Argo II. She did not know him that well either. She definitely grew a bond with all of the crew of the Argo II but it was only when the war was over that she and Percy formed a sort of sibling relationship. He helped her past the griefs of the deaths in the war and to come to terms with things as they are. In return, she was also always there for him.

"Except for the time he needed me the most. That time, I was useless," she thought bitterly.

"What did those dummy's ever do to you?" The voice of the daughter of Hecate drew her away from her pitiful thoughts. The young girl was staring at the skewered dummy's laying on the ground. Piper only shrugged nonchalantly in response.

"C'mon Piper, you did all you could. Don't beat yourself up over this," Diana comforted her by pulling her into a hug.

Piper returned the hug for a moment but then pulled back and started walking towards the cabins. Diana walked beside her. "I know," she started," but guilt is eating at me and I haven't even known him as long as Nico, Thalia, or Annabeth."

Diana, a son of Demeter named Taz and the daughter of Poseidon, Percy's half-sister Ari had gone on a quest to retrieve the mirror of Peirasmos when Piper's mom- Aphrodite herself had found evidence that the campers and gods minds could be tampered with about Percy. Piper would have gone herself but the prophecy made it clear that they were the ones to go. She had felt bad for them for having to go on a quest at such a young age. But then again, that is the life of a demigod. She had become friends with Diana after she came to Camp Half-Blood. They had come back two weeks later after finding the mirror but retrieving another mirror. It was the mirror of truth. They announced that the other mirror was destroyed and its hold over any and all minds should be revoked. They then proceeded to show the campers and the gods, Percy's entire life after he came to camp so that there could be no doubts about him betraying them by using the mirror of truth, making it known that the mirror cannot lie and only shows the cold hard truth.

Most of the gods and campers regretted betraying him after the presentation but a few gods like Ares, Zeus, and the campers like that new Xavier guy would not admit the truth. Piper could not believe that Annabeth was dating Xavier after Percy was banished, the whole Aphrodite cabin had disliked the relationship even if most of them thought Percy had betrayed them.

Piper was disappointed and aggravated that Annabeth could not see the truth that Percy was innocent and that she was only using Xavier to distract herself. She did come to her senses after his life had played out in front of them for all to see the truth. Annabeth had broken up with Xavier and had gone on a few quests to search for Percy herself. The hunters of Artemis are also searching for him to bring him as opposed to killing him. But over the months, everyone has come back empty-handed and Zeus ordered them to stop the quests to search for him.

"PIPER MCLEAN!"

Piper jolted at the sudden voice. She glanced at her friend who looked annoyed. "What?"

"You were zoning out again." Diana gave her a withering glare. "You did not hear anything I said, did you?"

Piper smiled sheepishly and shook her head. "Nope."

"Whatever," Diana rolled her eyes playfully and smiled at Piper, "Now tell me, there are rumours all over camp that Jason and you broke up. Are you okay?"

Piper hung her head down and thought of her answer. "I am surprisingly fine." At Diana's look of disbelief. "Really," she insisted. "After all, I was the one that broke up with him." she added quietly but Diana also heard it. Her eyes went wide, "Why?"

Piper absentmindedly rubbed her arms and explained, "I don't expect you to get it but I felt like we were pushed into this relationship by Hera and my mom. My first crush on him was a trick of the mist. The reasons I liked him were a trick set up by the gods. Sure, we got into a relationship later but it all feels so fake. I know it has nothing to do with Jason. I love him but I don't know in what way anymore. I wanted a break so I could figure out myself by myself without some deity manipulating us. I think Jason needs it too especially since he's going to building all those shrines for the minor gods."

Diana's expression of confusion soon turned into one of understanding. "I get it Pipes. As long as you are happy, I don't care who you date." She quickly adopted a crooked grin. "Say, why don't we take a stroll past the Hermes cabin today?"

Piper narrowed her eyes at the evil glint in her eyes in suspicion, "What did you do Ana?"

Diana smiled innocently and dragged Piper to the direction of the Hermes Cabin from which loud shouts were coming from. "Absolutely nothing. It is atrocious you think I am capable of such ...chaos," she said in a British accent.

Piper shook her head at Diana's antics. "Even if I was the culprit of such a thing, I would justify that they completely deserve it for what they did."

"What did they do?" Piper asked curiously.

"The stupid pranksters messed with my potion so that it exploded and covered the cabin in pink glitter. I am now banned from the potion's area for a month." Diana exclaimed exasperatedly.

"What was the potion for?"

"I was going to turn my hair purple. It was going to look amazing." She sighed.

"I am sure you would have more time make another potion after a month," Piper reassured her.

Diana sighed again. "That's true but-"

"TRAVIS, HELP ME!" a voice that sounded a lot like Conner Stoll came from the Hermes Cabin. Diana now wore an evil grin of satisfaction. Piper shuddered to think of what she did to them as retribution. Diana can be very vengeful like a daughter of Nemesis.

They hurried over to the cabin pushed through a crowd of people trying to find a source for the commotion. The ones who could see inside were either laughing so hard they had tears in their eyes or they looked disgusted.

"CONNER I cannot walk with these stupid fee-HOOVES." Suddenly a loud 'BANG' could be heard and Travis muttered loudly," Dammit."

Piper gawked at the mess in the cabin and more importantly the Stolls. Conner's body was inflated like a balloon and he was floating upside down around the cabin while Travis was trying very hard to stand up on his horse-like hooves that replaced his feet. Piper was torn between laughing at the hilariousness of the fact that the prankster kings got pranked HARD or helping. With what, she didn't know.

Conner's head then bumped into a shelf with bowling pins on them. Why bowling pins, she did not question it too much. The shelf then gave way to the bowling pins to fall directly on Travis. "OW, OW, OW, OW" he cried out.

At this point Diana was rolling on the floor in her fit of laughter. Piper tried to stifle her laughter but ended up laughing with the until her stomach ached. She wiped a tear falling down her cheek. "Camp Half-Blood is my real home," she thought with a smile.

Little did she know, soon she would lose Jason all-together and end up going back to Oklahoma with her mortal father, grieving her dead friend and aiding in yet another important quest.