Hey guys I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's got some relationship building in it. Anyways my guys- just a lil bit of news- I've started to have some more solid ideas for the Roman AU- and I'd like to hear your thoughts on some of the possibilities.
Possibility 1: Percy and Jason start off as besties from the start, cute friends to lovers style romance, both in the Fifth, would be very cutesy, would probably have Octavian still be a dick in this one- lots of childhood pranks on him though which would be humerous.
Possibility 2: The Jackson go back a long way like Octavians family, Percy and Tavie grow up as best friends- less horrible Octavian in this version- with very much rivals to sorta friends to 'Oh shit I have feelings for Mr Holier than thou' on Percy's part.
Undeath9087: Who knows how it's all gonna pan out- you'll have to wait and see. And yeah, the Cyclopes aren't such a big problem- though Piper and Jason are definitely gonna need Leo for a rescue. As for the others, well, you'll have to wait and see how they get dealt with- but yeah, Leo's got more resistance to Charmspeak than he did in cannon that's for sure, it'll still affect him but if he realises what's happening he's capable of fighting through it. And don't you worry- there will be some Zoe-Leo interactions. My only hint for that is 'Fungus' so make of that what you will.
LizPercival: Honestly I can't really say if I will or won't, but I will say that I have comforted myself over the cruelty of her death by imagining just how much fun she'd have causing chaos in Elysium. Honestly for someone like Percy Elysium would be in some way's much more relaxing and happy than life was- she's just there like 'Give it a few years, my family will be here then we'll really party'.
The Official Clarisse: They are a very lovable trio I must admit, and if you say so! I'm sure you're not. As for the name, the only reason I was considering changing it was because of how strongly Greek it is. But I do prefer it.
Guest: It is tricky- I love the name Persephone and having it shortened to Percy, I'm just struggling to decide if it's too Greek for the Romans. Marina is a good option, I am definitely spending time considering options for it I'll be honest. As for Bianca- she doesn't have an Underworld ban- she's not as close to Percy so Hades just told her to stay away and trusted that she would- which she has. Percy has had zero visitors other than Hades I'm afraid so if you're hoping for that you may be disappointed guys, but like I said, Bianca will be popping up in the minific between TLH And SON's plotlines. Which will include a very happy event in the first chapter which is bittersweet but still very much a positive thing- and it will have a bit of clarity on how Nico and Bianca's relationship is getting on- and you will end up feeling sorry for Bianca- and Nico too honestly- he has not handled his grief well, especially not in the early days and he said some pretty unfair things that will be mentioned. And honestly I love that you ask so many questions but I can't answer them without spoiling so much! I wish I could. I really, really do.
PJ Fan 285: It's not that random at all it's something that I have spent time considering and will come up again later in the story. Ethan picked it up, you know that much, but let's face it. No one would want to keep it so he disposed of it without telling anyone- but again, it will come up later so I can't say too much more.
Piper felt a mix of many things- gratitude, relief, a storm of emotions she couldn't even begin to unravel- Leo had headed off to check on Festus on his own- Jason and Piper had offered to go with him but truthfully Piper felt so drained that she wasn't even sure she could walk- Leo kept saying he was pretty sure she was in shock and honestly, he was probably right- she'd felt cold so they'd wrapped a blanket from the first-aid kit around her shoulders and Jason had agreed to stay with her until Leo got back.
She did feel kind of guilty for the fact that Leo was going off alone because she was too much of a mess to go with Leo but- Leo and Jason kept telling her that it was okay and that she was in shock so she needed to take a few minutes to calm down, and besides there wasn't actually much that Piper or Jason would be able to do to help Festus- the dragon was all Leo's domain and they both knew that. Besides, Piper was feeling pretty battered too- Leo was probably right about the broken ribs and even if the ambrosia had helped it hadn't completely gotten rid of the pain and when she tried to stand up there was a sharp ache there- and unlike Leo she wasn't used to quests and getting battered and bruised- she felt bad about that. Like she was the weak link- Jason seemed to be handling his battered wrist pretty well.
But they'd both been reassuring and it did make sense- Leo at the very least did stuff like this a lot. He was used to fighting monsters and toughing it- he'd survived being inside of a volcano. And as much as she could handle a normal level of injuries she was not used to any of what had happened lately so broken ribs were definitely a new thing for her.
She shifted slightly, wincing at the ache as she turned her head to look towards Jason, who was sat next to her, and she was surprised to see him watching her, he had a slight smile on his lips- though he looked kind of nervous. For a second it reminded her of the expression he'd had on his face after he'd kissed her the first time, up on the Wilderness School dorm roof—that cute little scar on his lip curving into a crescent. The memory gave her a warm feeling. Then she remembered that the kiss had never really happened.
"You look better," Jason offered.
And Piper felt her face flush- she wondered what exactly he meant by that. She didn't feel great, she felt battered and bruised, Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof. Her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. She didn't know what her face looked like, but probably horrible. It had felt pretty nasty before the ambrosia.
And gods but was she really worrying about her looks? She'd never cared about things like that before, not ever. Was it because of her mom being Aphrodite? Or was it because of her feelings for Jason? Apparently her memories were fake, so who knew how real her thoughts in the memories had been. Gods but she was a mess wasn't she?
"I do?" she didn't even realise she was going to say it until she did.
"You look... it's hard to put into words." Jason's face turned slightly pink- Piper couldn't help but think how cute he looked like that. "You look less... less tense. Now that
you're not hiding things."
"It-" Piper swallowed hard, "It felt good- getting it out. And- Leo promising that we'll do both helped even if I don't have a clue how we're going to do it."
"We'll figure it out." Jason reached out, grabbing Piper's hand, "It might not be easy but we will figure it out I'm sure of it. Especially if Leo says we will. I mean-" he shook his head, "If he can survive a literal volcanic eruption then I figure we're in pretty safe hands."
"We are." Piper shifted slightly, "Thank you. For staying with me- and- I'm sorry. For- I feel like I'm slowing you guys down."
"Piper don't think like that-"
"Leo dislocated his shoulder and he's up and trying to fix Festus while I'm just sat here-"
"If he's right and you broke your ribs then even with the ambrosia you needing to sit down for a while is understandable. Just because he's- I mean-" Jason snorted, "From the sounds of it he's a very experienced hero so he's used to getting hurt. He can handle it because he's used to it. Honestly I'm pretty impressed at how well he handled it."
"You did a good job." Piper gave him a faint smile, "It's pretty tricky to do it right isn't it? You have to have some experience I'd guess."
Jason shrugged, "I don't know." he admitted, "Just like with everything else. I hate this, not even knowing how I know things."
"But you're starting to have some memories, aren't you? Like that prophecy in Latin back at camp, or that dream about the wolf that you mentioned."
"It's fuzzy," he said. "Like déjà vu. Ever forgotten a word or a name, and you know it should be on the tip of your tongue, but it isn't? It's like that—only with my whole life. "
Piper sort of knew what he meant. The last three months—a life she thought she'd had, a relationship with Jason—had turned out to be Mist. It was hard to deal with something like that- though she was painfully grateful for Drew and Leo- and for Jason too, weirdly enough. He was so nice, just in general. And it wasn't like she could blame him. He hadn't asked for any of this any more than she had.
He must have seen something in her expression because he squeezed her hand gently. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm glad I have you guys." she admitted after a long beat, a soft smile on her lips, "I wouldn't last five minutes without you both I'm sure of that much-"
"Hey we need you too." Jason pointed out quickly, a soft smile on his lips, "I have no clue what we'd have done without you to translate for us at first- Boreas only talked to us properly because you spoke to him in French. If it wasn't for you we'd have been stuck with Khione translating and I'm willing to bet that she wouldn't have translated accurately-"
"I-" Piper faltered, a faint smile crossing her lips, "I- I guess you're right." that did help, knowing that she had at least contributed something even with everything that had been going on in her head was nice. "Thank you. Seriously Jason." she squeezed his hand in return gently.
"No need to thank me." Jason let out a laugh, "I'm just saying it how it is."
"Well you're pretty good at-" Piper was cut off when somewhere below them metal clanged against metal, like a door slamming shut. The sound echoed through the warehouse.
Jason stood. He took out his coin and flipped it, snatching his golden sword out of the air. He peered over the railing. "Leo?" he called.
No answer.
He crouched next to Piper. "I don't like this. Leo's not the type to not respond when someone calls out."
"No. He's not." Piper's voice was worried, "Is- do you think he's okay?" she dragged herself to her feet, ignoring the ache in her ribs."
"I don't know." Jason was tense, "We don't even know if it is him- I'd have thought it'd take him longer to deal with Festus." he pitched his voice low- and Piper felt a thrill of fear rushing through her.
If it wasn't Leo then who- or possibly what, was it? She'd been terrified enough with the storm spirits and when they'd met Boreas- and she knew there were a lot more monsters that she'd never even dreamed of meeting. "What do we do? How do we find out?"
"We'd have to check but-"
"I can handle it." Piper said quickly, a determined look on her face as she straightened up, "Do you think it's safe for me to have anymore ambrosia?"
"I-" Jason hesitated, "It can burn you up-"
"Only if I have too much-"
"How much pain are you in?" Jason asked after a moment, clearly trying to think fast.
"I can walk." Piper said quickly, "It aches if I move too much but I don't think it'll be too bad if I have to fight. It's- I can deal with the pain." she didn't have much choice- yes it ached pretty bad but if Leo could get up and be ready and raring to go with a dislocated shoulder then she could handle some broken ribs.
"Piper you have no training-"
"Do you-" and before Piper could finish what she'd been about to say Jason had his coin out of his pocket, and he flipped it and snatched a golden sword out of the air- and okay- okay but that was hot and honestly Piper could hardly be blamed for finding that attractive could she? Gods but it was so not fair. Would she even have these feelings if she hadn't had her memories screwed with by Hera?
She pushed away those thoughts- now definitely wasn't the time for her to be dwelling on her feelings for Jason.
Instead she drew Katoptris, gripping the hilt tightly. "Whatever happens next I'm coming with you."
"Piper-"
"I know it's dangerous but it'd be more dangerous for me to be alone since I have no training right?" she raised an eyebrow at him, and Jason's lips twitched.
"Glad you're back to normal. The makeup and the dress were a lot more intimidating than the dagger."
"Get going, Sparky, before I skewer you. We have a mysterious noise to check out."
"Sparky? I expect that from Leo but you?"
Even offended, Jason looked hot. It wasn't fair.
And together they moved towards the stairs, Piper just a couple of steps behind Jason as they moved towards the stairs, her eyes flicking around nervously as they moved.
A part of her wanted to grab onto Jason, she was terrified, but- she needed to be brave. She wasn't the type of girl who needed a man to protect her she never had been. So she would be as brave as she could be and- well she'd fake it when she wasn't actually feeling brave.
Thankfully Jason had a flashlight as they slowly made their way down the metal stairs, and he swung it around slowly.
As they descended the stairs Piper shifted her backpack, swinging it off her shoulders, forcing back a whimper of pain- she didn't want Jason to worry about her anymore than he probably already was.
From this point onwards she'd made a decision- she wasn't going to be the weak link on this quest.
She was going to step up and be useful.
She quickly unzipped her backpack, shoving her hand into it and curling her fingers around the smooth rounded metal of her own flashlight.
She pulled it out of the bag quickly before she unzipped it and slung it back over her shoulder, a determined look on her face as she flicked the switch and swung the torch around, eyes narrowed as she looked around, making sure to cover the area's that Jason didn't as they walked, and she felt something, a crawling sensation on the back of her neck, as if something was wrong.
And then- she wasn't sure what it was that drew her to it- but she shone the torch directly ahead of her- and she let out a scream, throwing herself at Jason, just as a a chunk of metal- Piper was sure Leo would know what it was but to her it was just a big solid heavy flying object came soaring towards them, thrown by a ten foot tall hideous one eyed monster with a black toothed smile.
It soared over their heads- it would have smashed Jason pretty hard, probably knocked him out, thankfully Jason seemed to have good reflexes because even when they hit the ground Jason was already moving, rolling and surging to his feet, grabbing Piper's arm and pulling her with him as two more Cyclopses stepped out from behind abandoned machinery.
"Oh gods-" Piper's voice was terrified, "Jason-"
"We can't fight all three." then Jason was dropping his flashlight and wrapping an arm around her waist and Piper grabbed onto him tightly and as more flying objects came
soaring towards them and the Cyclopses came rushing at them Jason was already soaring upwards, the winds obeying him, shooting them upwards so fast that it made Piper's eyes sting as the Cyclopses below bellowed in rage.
And Piper felt her heart pounding in her chest- if she hadn't been there Jason would have been knocked out, it could have killed him- maybe... maybe he was right, maybe she wasn't dead weight after all.