Hi guys, sorry for not updating any sooner.
Okay, so this is just a filler and I'm sorry, but I had to get it in there! Hope you like it anyway :)
There will be FOUR more chapters of "The Light in the Sky" and then that's it. No more.
I get really emotional thinking about it, but I know there has to be an end, and soon.
Oh well, not over quite yet at least.
I don't own PJO/HoO
Oh yeah and I also changed the picture. Tried to make Leo's hair a little more accurate, but it's not perfect sorry :H
So I noticed something AMAZING the other day:
* House of Hades Spoiler *
In House of Hades, when Leo is on Calypso's island, he sees an image of Reyna flying to Greece. And Calypso says to him: "I suppose that is your girlfriend? Your Penelope? Your Elizabeth? Your Annabeth?"
HOLY HEPHAESTUS she says Your Penelope guys!
Lenelope does exist! Somehow. Not really. But I still think it's awesome :D
I didn't even know Odysseus' girl's name was Penelope until like three weeks ago.
Chapter seventy: Octavian's Demand
~Piper's POV~
Piper's heart beat exactly once after the end of Jason's and Percy's speech before the whole crowd erupted.
Shouts of agreement and anger, cries for peace and confusion and general uproar ensued, blocking out all attempts of theirs to quieten either of the camps.
Finally, it was Coach Hedge, whom Piper hadn't noticed standing there, whipping out his megaphone and yelling "QUIET OR I'LL MAKE ALL OF YOU DO THIRTY!" into it which silenced the crowd.
The megaphone must have been magically enhanced since Piper had last heard it used, as its sound blasted from it like an explosion, probably rupturing the eardrums of those nearest the satyr.
Piper herself could hear nothing but ringing for a few seconds, but at least the people around were either shocked or deafened into silence.
Quickly, before the shouting could start again, Piper spoke up, pouring all of her will into the words.
"Please, guys, we need to work this out without shouting each other down. I say a team of envoys from both camps should talk about a possible peace treaty while the rest try not to kill each other. Okay?"
The charmspeak washed over the crowd, and they didn't start yelling again. Several faces were nodding and muttering in consent with Piper's idea, but suddenly there came a single voice from the Roman side.
"And why" it sneered, as the idiot Octavian stepped forward "should we listen to you, daughter of Aphrodite? Your words are traced with magic, you're not fooling anyone!"
He turned to his troops, and raised his voice.
"Don't let the Graecus' words blind you, legionaries! Accepting each other? Learning from each other? That's complete nonsense! Rome does not need to learn anything from anyone, and we most certainly won't accept the people whose fellows destroyed our sacred city! We came here for revenge, and we are not leaving until we get it!" He cried and raised his plethum, stabbing it into the air.
To Piper's horror, the Romans were repeating his words, nodding to each other as if Octavian was convincing them to resort back to their original plan: destroy Camp Half-Blood.
Just as she thought the fighting would recommence, Reyna stepped forward, facing Octavian with a look of disgust on her face.
"Back down, Octavian" she said, and her voice was low but so dangerous, Piper got the creepy-jeepies. "You are not praetor, you have no authority."
Octavian wasn't scared, but sneered at Reyna "Neither are you, Reyna. You broke our laws so your rank was taken from you. Just as theirs was.". He pointed at Percy and Jason.
But Reyna wasn't fazed. She arched an eyebrow, reminding Piper forcefully of Annabeth.
"As far as I know, legacy of Apollo, my rank was not yet taken from me. Whereas you never even had it.
You want a war, knowing that it will cost the lives of our legion, but will not gain us anything.
You are not a leader, and you will never be. So step down if you know what's good for you."
Wow, Piper thought, as she watched the battle of wills between the two Romans.
That girl was seriously scary when she wanted to be.
After a minute, Octavian seemed to decide he valued his limbs more than a war between Romans and Greeks. He took a few steps back, but then stopped, looking livid.
"Maybe you are right, Reyna. A war will merely cost us lives. But Rome cannot go on without getting at least some of its revenge." he looked around for support, and almost half the legion nodded. Piper could see in their eyes how angry they were at their wounded pride.
"Kill the one who fired on New Rome, and we will sign your treaty!" Octavian called, with answering yells of approval from the other Romans.
It was as if someone had punched Piper hard in the gut.
Kill the one who'd fired. Kill Leo.
Without meaning to, she stepped up to Octavian.
"How DARE you say something like that?!" she screamed, as rage built up inside her.
Octavian didn't even care enough to notice Leo was no longer with them, and now he was asking for him to be killed. But Leo was already dead! Dead. Dead...
"You should be ashamed of yourself, you excuse for a human being!" she yelled right in his face, making him flinch. She was so angry, she was about to get out Katoptris when strong arms wrapped around her and held her back.
"NO!" she cried, trying to get at Octavian's throat. "NO! He- how dare he – when Leo's not – when he's-"
"It's okay, Pipes" Jason's voice muttered to her from behind as he gently pulled her away.
Piper's vision was blinded by tears of rage and grief, so she could barely see Annabeth step in front of her, her hands balled to fists at her side.
"What Piper was trying to say, is that we can't full fill your request." she said, her voice low.
"And why is that, graecus?" Octavian sneered at her.
"Because" Annabeth drew a breath. "Leo's already...gone. He was one of the two who sacrificed themselves for us, which you would have realised if you would have stopped to think for one minute. So your revenge's already been taken out."
Piper had calmed down to quiet sobs, but Annabeth's words made the tears fall faster again.
"Pipes" Jason whispered into her ear. "Calm down. We're going to try to get them back, remember? But we can't let them know that."
His words took a while to register with her, but when they did her breathing became more even again.
Jason was right, they were going to try to get Leo and Penelope back, but they wouldn't succeed if they couldn't get the camps to call off the war soon. And Piper raging around like a mad person wouldn't help with that. She needed to get a grip.
"Annabeth's right" Reyna was saying now, looking grim. "The debt to Rome was repayed with the death of the half blood. Now discussion for the treaty can commence."
Mutterings went through the Roman crowd, but apparently they all still respected Reyna and thought of her as their leader for none of them argued.
"Fine." Octavian muttered, knowing that without the legion behind him, it would be wiser to stay quiet.
Reyna turned toward the Greek side. "We will send out five envoys. Let us meet at your main building in two hours while we discuss our side of the treaty."
Piper could see Percy and Jason exchange a nervous glance. They both knew that speed was essential if they wanted to save Leo and Penelope before it was too late.
The day was moving swiftly ahead, and Hermes had said they only had until tomorrow evening.
But what could they do? The Romans would expect all of them to be involved in the design of the treaty, and they could hardly leave without explaining what they were up to. Piper knew that getting Leo back from the dead wasn't something the Romans would welcome.
So there was only the option of trying to get this done as quickly as possible.
"Let's say one hour, okay?" Piper asked, making her voice sound calm and convincing again. "The sooner we get this over with the better"
Reyna raised an eyebrow at her, but nodded. "Alright."
Both sides retreated to their respective camps.
Piper and the others were immediately swarmed, with Greek campers demanding to be told the whole story, without any exceptions, but Percy said "Not right now, guys. We need to sort out what we want written in the treaty, and before that I think we" he gestured at himself, Piper, Annabeth, Nico and Jason "could use some cleaning up. Head counsellors to the meeting room in half and hour, okay?"
Everybody nodded, and the crowd dispersed with many disappointed mutterings.
"Right" Percy was now saying to Piper and the others. "We need to leave immediately after the meeting with the Romans -"
"Percy" Annabeth suddenly interrupted her boyfriend.
"What?" he asked.
"I don't think it would be wise if all of us went to the underworld. If we all leave camp they'll notice, and anyway, we shouldn't leave the others alone when things are so...delicate."
Annabeth's words made sense, and Percy nodded reluctantly.
"You're probably right. But who should go?"
"Me" Piper said immediately. She knew she had to, there was no way she was staying behind.
"I'll go too" Jason said, but Piper shook her head. "No, Jase. We need you here. You and Percy."
Percy shot her a look. "What? No, I have to-"
"Piper's right, Percy." Annabeth said, laying a hand on his arm. "You two are the leaders, whether you want to be or not. It would be bad if you left now."
"But who'll go instead of us?" Jason asked.
"I will" Annabeth said, at the same time as Nico said "Me."
Everybody looked at him, slightly perplexed.
Nico raised his eyebrows. "How do you think you'll get into the underworld and back without a son of Hades?"
He had a point, Piper thought.
"Fine, it's settled then. Annabeth, Nico and I are going to go. Or does anyone have a problem with that?" she said firmly, daring anyone to contradict her.
No one did.
"Here" Percy said, giving her the bottle of ichor. "You'll need to leave straight after the meeting, got that? We'll make excuses for you if anyone asks."
Everybody agreed, and so they made their way to their cabins, ready to clean up a little and pack their bags for the underworld.
As she walked Piper held tightly onto the little bottle in her hand, which seemed just a bit too small for her to be their only hope.