Reflection
Summary*
Piper has never had an easily life. A negligent father, and absent mother, and a mixed heritage have done her no favours. Thrust into the dangerous life of a demigod and faced with tough choices, she has changed, but is it for the better or worse?
Look at me, you may think you see who I really am, but you'll never know me.Everyday, it's as if I play a part.
They think I'm a nobody. They are not all wrong. I'm a half Cherokee who never knew her mother. I'm a nobody to my father. They think I'm conceited. They'll never know that I refrain because I see what fame can do. They see a girl with choppy hair. They'll never see the girl within me- the girl who suffers for no fault of hers.
They call me a demigod now. They think I am the daughter of an Olympian. They treat me like a friend and sister- like family- but this is not who I am. I will be their downfall, for if I do not comply, they will be my doom. The smiles are a façade I can hold no longer, the laugh a farce I can no longer keep up. It is all a play- a tragedy.
Now I see, if I wear a mask I can fool the world,But I cannot fool my heart.
I look into the mirror now. The blessing of Aphrodite, my mother, has not left me. It is a mask. My tears run in rivulets, yet the mask refuses to crumble. The mirror lies to me. I am no beauty. The beast lies within me. I am ugly, for that is what death will look like when I bring it upon those who love me as their own family. The white and gold is a trap. It is ironic. It is a mockery of my fate. I am no innocent. I am a trickster who hides behind the beauty of it all.
I am a traitor. I am a spy, like Silena was, yet I am no hero. She fought to remedy her mistakes. I fight to save my father, yet I would be killing so many innocents. I would be betraying their trust. I go now on a quest with Jason and Leo to save them, yet none but I know that I am leading them to their deaths. I can fool those around me, but I'll never forgive myself. When they die, I will too.
Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?When will my reflection show who I am inside?
The girl that looks back is not Piper. She's not me. The girl who stares is not the beloved daughter if Tristan McLean. She is the black sheep of the family. She is a pawn in the games of an evil force she fails to comprehend. She is a coward who doesn't know how to save her father without destroying his world. A girl who has false memories of the one she thought was her boyfriend. She'll never get a chance to see who lies behind the mask, for death will long claim her before the time comes.
I am now in a world where I must hide my heart, and what I believe in
But somehow, I'll show the world what's inside my heart and be loved for who I am.
In a world of gods and monsters, I am stuck playing a game of cat and mouse-one I am destined to lose, for I am the bait. If I speak, my father dies, and if I don't, I will be a traitor. My cabin believes love is breaking a person's heart, yet I believe love is to make a broken heart whole again. Is this what my life will be? Playing hide and seek with my thoughts, burying them as secrets never to be told?
My thoughts and deeds hide within me, but I will face them. I will tell them the truth. I care deeply for Jason. Leo is a brother I never had. They will love me for me, as I love them. Someday, when all is said and done, they will know who I was, and I will hide no longer. They will know what drove me to treason, yet they will see my heart is true. Somehow, be it in life or death, they will find me, and we will all be happy once more.
Who is that girl I see staring straight back at meWhy is my reflection someone I don't know?
The quest is over. The prophecy has been fulfilled. I have Jason now, yet why does it still feel like I am nothing? Why do I not know who I am? Why do these feelings still plague me, and make happiness so elusive? The girl in my reflection is broken and confused. She contemplates something I would never do, yet it is the undeniable truth. The girl in the mirror is a hypocrite, for she will now prove herself worthy in the eyes of her half-sister Drew Tanaka. She will break hearts just because 'She needs time'.
Having escaped the Burning Maze once, my reflection has been forever changed, yet it is still a deception. My hair is singed, and my face is scarred, yet my traitorous eyes still hide their secrets. Why do I detest him for protecting me? I told him once to catch me if I fall. Even after I have left him, he pulls me away from the jaws of death. When did the girl in the mirror become as ungrateful as me? I do not know. She is not me.
Must I pretend that I'm someone else for all time.When will my reflection show who I am inside?
Jason is gone. He will be given to the winds in New Rome, the place he called home. In my haste I have lost the one tether I had. Who am I? What am I? I told him I needed time, but now that he is lost to me, why does it become crystal clear? Why do I look into the mirror and lie to myself? Why do I pretend that I don't love him when a part of me died that day too? Why do I still pretend that it isn't my fault, when it all started with me? Why do I crumble in Leo's arms as though I am the victim of this game? Is this what I am to be for my lifetime? A hollow mask, and a blurred reflection?