Hey! It's PandaBearPotter, back with a sad one-shot. I'm taking a break from Sea, my other story, to write this… having a bit of writer's block with that one. Hope you like it! By the way, I don't own PJO or HoO.

Piper had had a rough day.

She had been woken up by the Stoll brothers pulling a prank on poor Lacy. The stupid twins had replaced her clothes with amazingly ugly clothes, even to Piper. Then, as she was passing the archery range, someone purposefully shot her in the butt. It was a blunt tipped arrow, but still, who does that? After that, she tripped and fell into the lake, and the Naiads had tried to drown her (who knows why). At dinner, she was pushed and dropped her whole plate into the fire.

Now, as she walked into the empty cabin, Piper was starved, cold and damp, and close to tears.

Everyone else was out at the campfire, signing songs and roasting marshmallows, having a good time. Not even Jason had noticed when she left.

As Piper pulled her hair out of its braid, she noticed a magazine sitting on a bed. The date on it said September 1st.

That meant that exactly one month had passed. One month had passed since Doomsday. One month had passed since Leo…

Piper couldn't finish that thought.

A tear rolled down her cheek.

Piper made her way back to her bed and tried to pretend that she was fine, but another tear rolled down her cheek.

It had been a month since she had seen Leo, with his devilish grin and wild black hair. "Where are you?" she murmured quietly, the image of the explosion burning in her mind.

Piper bit her lip; she wasn't going to cry; he was still out there. And yet… and yet something was telling her to give up. Something was telling her that never again would she see the boy that had literally saved the entire universe.

He was gone.

Piper was now sobbing, big heaving sobs that seemed to echo in the silent cabin. She collapsed on her pillow, squeezing it as it was thoroughly soaked with her salty tears.

A song suddenly appeared in her mind, one that had been popular a little while ago. It seemed to fit the occasion a little too perfectly.

Through her tears, Piper began to sing quietly.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I am feeling so small
It was over my head
I know nothing at all

And I will stumble & fall
I'm still learning to love
Just starting to crawl

Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye

Say something, I'm giving up on you
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
And anywhere I would've followed you (Ooh-oh)
Say something, I'm giving up on you

Say something, I'm giving up on you
Say something..."

She finished the song and burst into harder tears, more raucous sobs. "Why, Leo?" she sobbed. "We could have found another way... we could have…" Yet inside, Piper knew that if it hadn't been Leo, it would have been Jason.

There was no other way.

In her delirious sobs, Piper had noticed a few campers tentatively wandering in, but Piper didn't want them there.

They shouldn't have to see her like this.

Not knowing what else to do, she managed to say something along the lines of Get out I need to be alone.

The campers left, and Piper was left alone to her sobs.

So she cried.

Piper would have cried all night if she hadn't been so tired; eventually she fell into a restless sleep, with nightmares of the battle, Jason being destroyed instead of Leo, and horrors indescribable with words.

It was early morning, like 3am, when Piper woke up again. But she didn't wake up naturally. There was a dark, shadowy shape looming over her bed in the darkness, and it had shaken her awake.

Panic seized her mind.

She almost yelled for help, but the shape put its hand over her mouth.

And then it said the words she would remember for the rest of her life as her happiest moment.

"Is that the type of warm welcome I get, Beauty Queen?" the figure pouted.

Piper gasped, and sat up in bed. She wrapped her arms around the figures neck so tight she could her him choking.

"Where were you?" She whispered into his shoulder. "We all thought you were dead! Why didn't you come back?"

"I brought a certain someone back with me, but that's beside the point. She's asleep on Festus; wouldn't want to wake her up, and I DID come back. But you thought I was dead? Didn't you know that Uncle Leo still had a few tricks up his sleeve?"

Piper smirked and pulled away from Leo's embrace. Then she promptly punched him in the cheek.

"Ow! What was that for?" Leo whisper-shouted. Piper had the feeling that he already knew, but she sassed him about it anyway.

"It was for you leaving us for a month with no idea if you were dead or alive and sneaking up on me in the middle of the night!" She retorted.

Leo smirked. "You got me there, Beauty Queen."

Piper giggled silently and raised her fist. "Are you ready? I have a smack in me for every single day you've been gone."

Even in the darkness, she could see his fearful expression change into a smirk.

"If you can catch me." Leo sprinted off in the darkness, and she could hear him yank the door open.

Still in her clothes from yesterday, Piper raced out of the cabin.

And she smiled for the first time in a month.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. Please review! If I get a few requests, I might continue this… maybe? But for right now, bye and mischief managed!(Okay, I know that's HP but I'm called PandaBearPotter for a reason, right?)

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