Okay, so I haven't updated in a few months. I'm sorry. I'll try not to let the wait go too long next time (though I have a feeling that I'm not going to be trying very hard. Sorry in advance?).

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one-shot.

The Flame of Love

He always knew something like this would happen. It always happened. Especially to him. Before Jason showed up, it was just him and Piper, no one else. With Piper, he actually felt like he had found someone to belong with. He even dreamed about the future possibilities with Piper; they would grow up together, fall in love, get married, have kids together and basically spend the rest of their lives together in a nice home somewhere in Texas or wherever she wanted to live. Her choice was okay with him.

But, like everything else in his life, Hera had to interfere. She had to implant false memories of Jason Grace into his head and slap him right in the middle of his and Piper's friendship. Sometimes, at night, he swore he could hear his psycho babysitter telling him that he wasn't meant for Piper, that he was needed, not for love, but for something else.

" It is not your destiny, my hero." She would always say. " The Fates have other plans for you."

Usually, they came in the form of dreams and he would wake up drenched in sweat. Sometimes he would wake up to the smell or cry of fire. But there were the odd times where he would be awake and Hera would whisper in his ear and send a chill down his spine. And, whenever he looked behind him to have a go at the Queen of Olympus for scaring him like she was, he would always find thin air and worry his friends and siblings in the process.

Then he'd look over to Piper and Jason and he knew that Hera spoke the truth.

Okay, he admit, he had a bit of a crush on the daughter of Aphrodite. But what could he say? She was, quite possibly, the only one who had been kind to him and was able to befriend him. Or was that last part the other way around? Either way, before Jason showed up, there was a spark somewhere deep down inside him that Piper had lit for him. But that flame was lit a long, long time ago. Now, as he stood in the kitchen doorway of the Argo II, watching as Piper and Jason made out on the lounge in front of him completely unaware that he was there, he knew that that flame was now just a pile of ash.

" The Fates have other plans for you, my hero." Tia Callida's voice whispered behind him once more, causing him to stiffen. He had thought that had stopped when he and the others had set sail for New Rome. " And those plans will soon be discovered. Prepare yourself."

Like I haven't already done that. He scolded himself before making his way up to the helm as quietly as he could so that he didn't disturb the couple.

He was supposed to be asleep; though Piper and Jason were supposed to be asleep too. Now that they had Percy and Annabeth back and Festus was alive once more, the patrol schedule had to be changed - while the others took shifts in pairs (morning, noon and night), Leo and Festus took day and night shifts. What that meant that Leo was able to spend the nights asleep while Festus went on auto-pilot. Unfortunately, that also meant more torments in the form of dreams; and no that didn't include those about Calypso. If anything, they were mainly about the upcoming battle and Hera's love warning.

Climbing up the stairs, Leo couldn't stop the dry laugh from escaping his lips. How ironic was that? He was getting told off about a crush that he used to have on a daughter of the love goddess by the Queen of the gods – who, by the way, was no love goddess. Why couldn't life be like a machine for once? At least he would be able to understand it.

But something that he, Piper and Jason had talked about before saving Percy and Annabeth returned to his mind. Something about the prophecy. He was the seventh wheel of the group, so why wouldn't it be him that gave his life in order to put Gaea back to sleep?

Then again, if he did have to die, the girls would be crying – even if Annabeth said she didn't cry. On second thoughts, Annabeth was tough enough that she wouldn't be crying but she'd still be upset. Hazel and Piper, on the other hand… he didn't want to think about that. It would be like Hazel loosing Sammy all over again. And Piper… that little pile of ash that had once been her flame started to spark again, like it was telling him that he wasn't supposed to die.

Hades, forget the girls, the boys would be blubbering if he died. Especially Jason. Despite what Hera did to him, Jason had become his best friend. That would be just plain rude. He should at least have the decency of seeing his old crush getting married off to the guy who had been Hera's little experiment and had become his best friend before he died.

Once more he felt that spark of flame that belonged to Piper disappear into ash.

He must have been pacing up and down the stairs again (he did that nowadays whenever he thought about everything he had thought about that night) because he felt someone's hands on his shoulders.

" Leo, calm down." Piper's voice broke through his thoughts. The strange thing was, even though he didn't feel like he needed to at that moment, he obeyed the order.

" I think I preferred it when he was tinkering with things." Jason whispered in the distance.

Piper ignored him. " Tell me what's wrong, Leo."

" Everything. Something's going to happen to me when we find Gaea. I can feel it. Besides, according to Hera…"

Only then did he realise what had happened. Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite, had charmspoke him. At least he was able to save himself from a possible interrogation… or was he? With a shake of his head, he managed to shrug the girl's hands from his shoulders.

" It's nothing." He finished instead.

" You listen to me, Valdez. No one is going to die. Got that?"

" Let's pray you're right, Beauty Queen."

That sad, he made his way back to his cabin. It wasn't like him to be this depressing, but people change as they get older right? Maybe he was changing from clown to cop with all the serious and negativity that was coming out of him now. He hoped he wasn't changing.

It was then, as he entered the room that he rarely slept in, that he felt something inside of him begin burning once more. It was Piper's flame… but he had a feeling that this time it wasn't burning from the love of one.

Okay I'm going to try another poll seeing that I'm having a bad time choosing what one-shot to put up next. You can only choose one:

A) Thuke

B) PoseidonxSally Jackson

C) Chrisse

D) Percabeth