A/N:

Guys I am so, so, so sorry for how long it's taken to get this chapter out. You guys have been nothing but sweet to me, and I feel really bad for making you wait this long. It's almost been a year, how could I be so cruel?! :( Anyway, I tried to make this chapter longer, and it is by almost a thousand words, so hopefully that at least helps to win forgiveness back from you guys. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or DM'ed me. I have NO intentions of abandoning this story. Hopefully you guys like this chappie as much as the others. All feedback is loved! Thank you guys for being the best followers ever, I'll try and be a better author,

justawkwardlystandingthere.

Time stood still. Piper tried to run towards Percy, to yell, to do something, but her feet seemed to be frozen to the ground in shock. Behind her, Jason let out a choked, half-growl half-sob, that made Piper's heart clench. Silent tears were dripping down Frank's face, poor Hazel looked like she was about to throw up, and Leo was literally smoking with anger. But worst of all, by far, was Annabeth. She was yelling and screaming bloody murder, thrashing frantically against the ropes binding her to the railing as if her life depended on it.

And each of her cries was like a slap in the face. Because it was Piper's fault, all of it. She had screwed up too many times to count that night, and now Percy was about to pay the price. Letting Phobos go, forgetting to make Deimos swear on the River Styx, allowing Percy to be separated from her. Hell, she had practically signed his death warrant. His blood was on her hands, and it would never come clean. The guilt washed over her in waves, enveloping her until she couldn't breathe, but she let it in, welcoming the pain, hiding behind it. It was petty of her, sure, but the blame and the guilt and the hurt were more bearable than a world without Percy Jackson; a world in which she had killed Percy Jackson.

"NO! STOP!"

The words tore themselves out of Piper's mouth without her consent. She doesn't know what she expected to happen; Phobos to drop his sword, and release Percy, surrendering with an apologetic smile on his face, one that said 'this is all just a big misunderstanding.' Under any other circumstances, Piper would have snorted at the absurdity of it all. But she just couldn't bring herself to even think about smiling at the moment. The word sounded dirty, tabooed. Because Percy was about to die, and no one should ever smile again. So she didn't laugh, instead, she closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself for the sickening crunch of metal penetrating flesh and bone that she knew was coming. The last sound Percy would ever hear, whispered a tiny pessimistic voice in her head, infuriatingly bringing tears to her eyes.

Only it never came.

"Piper. Piper! PIPER!"

Someone was yelling. Jason. Yelling her name, she realized, not Percy's.

"You have to do it again, Piper, quickly!"

Annabeth too was shouting now, her voice sounding somewhere between exasperation and utter devastation.

What the Hades was she talking about? Do what again?

"Piper, they're about to kill him, do it NOW!"

That snapped Piper out of her daze pretty quickly. She looked up, shocked, as she was hit with a wave of deja vu. Phobos was advancing towards Percy, sword pressed threateningly to his throat. But…. But that didn't make any sense. How was Percy still alive? He had been in the exact same position over a minute ago, why hadn't Phobos killed him?

"PIPER, NOW!"

Piper wanted to scream. She didn't understand what they were asking her, what they wanted her to do. She was missing something, something obvious to the others, and now, once again, Percy was going to die because of her stupidity and inability to understand. The others were still screaming; screaming at her, and screaming at Percy, even at Phobos and Deimos. Frantically begging someone to do something. Because no one, no one, could bear the idea of losing the son of Poseidon. And it was just too much. The pain and the fear and the pressure and the panic, on top of her own guilt, was just too overwhelming. Her head felt like it was about to explode, and her body tightened with anger.

"STOP!" She slid to a halt, panting, covering her ears with her hands. "Everybody just stop!"

Incredulously, they all obeyed, voices trailing off, pleads dying halfway-spoken on their tongues. A cold bead of sweat trickled down the back of her neck, as all eyes turned to her. No one dared to breathe, and the night was silent once again. The spontaneous calm spell was confusing— disorienting. It felt as if they were on TV, and someone had hit the pause button. And in a sudden moment of clarity, she realized exactly what had happened. It had been her. Her words alone had been the only thing that stopped that sword from burying itself in Percy's chest. Before, Piper had always had to consciously try when she was using charmspeak, deliberately choosing her words and concentrating on making others believe them. She had always thought of her charmspeak and her normal voice as being two separate parts of her, two different parts, but now she wasn't so sure. Maybe they had always been one and the same, and she had just never realized it, never wanted to realize it.

Trying not to let her disbelief show, Piper turned to face the two gods, gesturing to their swords. "Drop them." She tried her best to keep her voice steady and calm, to not show how scared and freaked out she really was. When they didn't respond immediately, she glowered at them with what she hoped look like a sharp glare, but probably ended up looking more like she felt: scared and out of her element. "I said drop them!" Reluctantly, they obeyed, both of their swords clattering to the floor. "Knives too," added Piper as an afterthought. The god rolled his eyes, but proceeded to pull out a total of five concealed knives, from his jacket pocket, waistband and boot. He glared at her as he threw them down, each landing buried to the hilt in the wooden deck, blades quivering.

Piper gulped, swallowing back her fear. Time for the tricky part. "Now let Percy go." The son of Poseidon was still hanging limply in Phobos's grasp, the god's iron grip on his hair and the back of his collar the only things keeping him from collapsing onto the deck. Phobos smirked at her, merely tightened his hold on Percy, eliciting a small, involuntary cry of pain from the son of Poseidon. Piper's body tensed at the sound, and it took all of her self-control to keep from visibly flinching.

"I said release him," she repeated, her voice dropping dangerously low. "Now."

Glaring daggers at her, Phobos obeyed, falling victim to the potency of her words. The god forcefully shoved Percy towards her, eyes full of loathing. The son of Poseidon stumbled, but she was there before he could hit the ground, letting him crumple safely into her embrace, ignoring the waves of pain that rolled through her as his body jostled her already-throbbing ribs.

"Sorry," he muttered, voice cracking against his parched throat. And at that moment, Piper wanted nothing more than to stand there and hold him, to reassure him that he never did anything wrong. But she knew that if she even hesitated, Phobos and Deimos would break free of whatever hold she still had over them, and in the position she was in— injured and cradling her half-delirious friend, with the rest of her family still helpless and trussed to the railing— that she couldn't afford the luxury of comforting him. So instead, she somehow managed to push Percy to his feet, doing her best to ignore his cry of pain, positioning herself so that she stood slightly in front of him, her arm thrown out protectively, doing her best to shelter him from whatever potential threat she knew was about to arise. Praying that he wasn't going to pass out, she turned her full attention back to the two enraged gods.

"Daughter of Aphrodite," growled Deimos, his voice tight, "release us now." His words hit her like a punch in the gut, his voice impossible to ignore. Taken by surprise, Piper found herself about to obey before she caught herself, her yesdying unspoken in her throat. Damn. She had completely forgotten about Deimos. Phobos may have been under her spell, but Deimos, Deimos was a completely different matter entirely. Her charmspeak was trivial and weak compared to his; his demanded the attention of everyone within a hundred mile radius. It was wickedly strong and completely electrifying, matching perfectly with the devilish glint in his eyes.

"N..n…no." she fought to pull the word out from between her lips, her head beginning to throb from the effort. But Piper was stubborn— almost suicidally so— always had been, and probably always would be. So she did her best to fight him, raging against the cage of his words the best she could. Their battle was completely mental, but it was physically draining, leaving her feeling faint and out of her element— something she wasn't used to when it came to charmspeak. She hated how her words, usually so smooth and put together, trembled with uncertainty. Her voice had been the one thing she could constantly count on— she had never been completely confident in her ability to fight with a blade— and now it was gone.

His hold over her shifted suddenly, strengthening, and she knew it was all over. He held her in an iron fist, controlling her will like a marionette on a string. She was helpless, she realized, they were helpless. Because her friends were completely depending upon her to save them, to get them out of this mess she had created, but she couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough. A cruel smile plastered itself over the god's face as he realized that he had won, that they were completely at his mercy, and that there was nothing she could do about it.

"Sister." He grinned at her cockily and approached slowly, stopping at an uncomfortably close distance."I win," his voice was dangerously soft, his mere presence making chill bumps erupt up her arms, "and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it." He tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, the mockingly loving gesture made her skin crawl. "So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to kill your friends, sister. I'm going to kill them one by one, slowly and painfully, right here, right now. But you, you, I won't kill. In fact, you'll be the one doing the killing." He laughed quietly, but the sound was hollow and dead. His eyes flashed dangerously, and for the first time Piper wondered if the god was actually psychotic. "All it takes is one little whisper from me, one small suggestion, and you're mine, as obedient as a puppy."

"Or…" Phobos spoke up for the first time, clearly approving of his brother's plan. "Or we could leave you alone, and simply have a little talk with your friend here. I'm sure he would just love that idea." He turned to Percy, a cruel smile plastered on his face. "How about it Jackson, would you like to be our meat puppet for today?" Percy held his gaze, green eyes glaring back at Phobos defiantly, but Piper could tell the idea freaked him out.

No. No, no, no, no, no. Piper closed her eyes, trying to calm herself; there was no way she would let that happen, there was no way she would let that happen. It would completely destroy Percy. His worst fear was suffocation, for crying out loud, and being under the influence of Deimos's charmspeak was like being possessed, being locked inside your own head, unable to control your own actions or words. She hadn't talked much to the son of Poseidon before that night, but she knew enough about him to understand that he tended to internalize everything. Hell, she knew he already felt guilty about the whole Phobos and Deimos fiasco— not that it was in any way his fault. But this— literally being controlled like a puppet, being forced to kill his friends, to hear their cries, to feel their blood on his hands— it would destroy him; the guilt would eat him alive from the inside out.

"Oh you'd like that, wouldn't you, Percy," mocked Deimos, as he stepped away from Piper and toward the son of Poseidon. Percy's face was livid, and yet she could see the panic there too, almost completely masked by his fury. He struggled fruitlessly against Phobos's hold, but the god tightened his grip on Percy's hair, pulling his head back until the son of Poseidon cried out in pain. Piper suddenly found her voice.

"HEY, LEAVE HIM ALO…" Deimos cut off her protests with a mere wave of his hand, effectively silencing her.

Piper couldn't help but watch as Deimos knelt down next to Percy, whispering indecipherable words into his ear. Percy's pained eyes met her own, and it was apparent that he knew exactly what was about to happen; that in mere seconds he would be completely under Deimos's spell, a mindless slave to Terror's every beck and call. I'm sorry, his gaze seemed to say, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm sorry. And then it was gone; his sincere, tear-glazed eyes were replaced with hard, cruel looking ones, every ounce of Percy drained from his face.

At Deimos's urge, he got to his feet without hesitation, all previous injuries entirely forgotten, a cruel smile donning his face. Before she had a chance to react, he was already inches away, kicking her legs out from under her. Piper tried desperately to roll out of the way, but she was too late.

"Hey now," Percy managed to catch her by the shoulder, slamming her up against the wall with an unnatural amount of force. A merciless punch hit her straight in the chest, drove the air from her body, sent waves of fire up her already-broken ribs. "Where do you think you're going, Beauty Queen?" The words made her cringe; they were coming from Percy's mouth, but it wasn't him saying them. His voice was uncharacteristically harsh and cruel, laced with a sadism that was all Deimos's.

A second punch smashed into her shoulder, and agony roared through her body as she felt her arm tear out of the socket from the inhuman force. She screamed in pain— she couldn't help it— but Percy, Percy didn't even flinch. A mocking grin plastering itself over his face. "Aww, did I hurt you Princess? Let's do it again sometime." The following punch was worse than the first, and soon she was crying, tears dripping down her face.

Gods, she was pathetic. She felt completely helpless, she was completely helpless. And she hated herself for it. All of her life she had felt dependent on people, felt that she was less than other people. Before they left Camp Half-Blood she had promised herself that she would not become a burden to the rest of the seven. That she would work and fight and train until she could at least look at her friends straight in the eye without feeling like she didn't belong. Recently, she had finally felt like she was at that point, felt like she had finally found a sense of belonging. But now, now Piper realized that she had only been fooling herself. Who had she been kidding?! She didn't belong here, on a legendary quest to stop the end of the world, surrounded by the six most powerful half-bloods of the century. She was nothing compared to Jason, to Annabeth, to Percy. All she had done that night was screw up.

Piper's anger rose, lit itself on fire. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for Phobos and Deimos to just suddenly appear on their ship, her home, and rip her life away from her. Suddenly she couldn't think straight. She was close to the edge, close to loosing it. And Percy's next punch was just enough to set her off.

"PERCY JACKSON YOU STOP RIGHT NOW!"

The moment the words were out of her mouth, she knew they were potent, laced with a record-breaking amount of charmspeak. She hadn't been trying to, but then maybe that was the trick.

Laced with enough charmspeak to take down anyone, anyone besides Deimos that was. And yet, amazingly, Percy actually faltered, his cold mask slipping for a fraction of a second, his actual face shining through. But it was gone as soon as it had come, and suddenly those terrible green eyes were mocking her again, grinning down at her cruelly as Percy uncapped Riptide.

It should have been simple really; she was hurt and unable to move, and a very angry demigod was standing over her with a sword; Piper did the math. She should have been dead right then and there. Percy's sword should have struck her straight in the chest, pierced her heart, drained the life from her. But being Piper McLean, of course nothing in her life could ever be simple, ironically even her death.

Lightning exploded through the sky, rattling the deck with its rage, reanimating the night. And suddenly Jason was there, knocking Riptide away, tackling Percy to the ground, and Piper just wanted to cry in relief. She felt gentle arms encircling her shoulders and leaned into the touch, recognizing Annabeth's tear stained face. Before she knew it she was crying into the other girl's shoulder, her entire body racking with sobs.

"Hey, hey it's okay, it's okay." she soothed, pulling Piper closer so that her head was resting on Annabeth's shoulder, wrapped in her friend's embrace. "You're okay Piper, Percy's okay, everyone's okay." Everything was a blur of sound and color, her mind registering random details. "Piper, you're in shock, I need you to pay attention to me." The daughter of Athena was blabbering, her words checking in and out of Piper's conscious. Over her shoulder, she could see Jason picking a dazed, semi-concious Percy up off the ground, struggling to carry him without jostling his injuries. Phobos and Deimos were nowhere to be seen.

Annabeth was still on autopilot, a constant string of orders flowing from her mouth as if it was the simplest thing in the world, as if nothing had just happened and this was just another normal day. The daughter of Athena's ability to remain calm and logical when under pressure would never cease to amaze Piper. "Jason can you get him down to the infirmary by yourself?" asked Annabeth, gesturing to her boyfriend who lay barely conscious in the son of Jupiter's arms.

Jason nodded. "He'll be fine, don't worry." Piper couldn't tell if he was trying to reassure her or himself.

It seemed to work, however, because Annabeth's body relaxed a fraction. "Hazel, he'll need nectar and ambrosia. And a change of clothes," she added, taking in Percy's trashed pajamas, soaked with blood and sweat. "If I'm not down there in five minutes, I need you and Jason to set his ribs and his arm. And whatever else is broken." Annabeth's voice was firm, yet she somehow never came across as bossy, and Piper honestly had no idea what they would do without her. Hazel nodded wordlessly, and followed Jason, disappearing below deck.

She turned to Frank and Leo. "Frank I need you to make sure those bastardsare really gone. And Leo, just get us the hellaway from here." They both nodded— Leo even gave her a little salute— before they both ran off, leaving Piper and Annabeth alone on deck.

Piper soon became explicitly aware that she was still half in Annabeth's lap, wrapped in her friends embrace. Embarrassed, she tried to untangle herself when a white-hot wave of pain tore through her, her vision turning black around the edges.

"Piper! Piper! Hey!" The daughter of Athena slowly lowered her back to the ground. "I need you to stay with me here." She pulled a small piece of ambrosia from her pocket and placed it in Piper's mouth. "I can't carry you downstairs by myself without hurting your shoulder worse, so I'm going to have to set it now, okay?" Piper couldn't find the energy to reply, but she managed to nod, almost imperceptibly, hoping Annabeth got the message. "Alright here we go." The older girl grabbed her injured arm, bracing herself against the deck. "On three, okay? One… two… three!" She pulled back suddenly, and Piper screamed as the bone popped back into the socket, agony roaring through her arm, her vision going completely black.

A/N:

I had this idea of doing Jason or maybe Annabeth's POV for the next chapter. What do you guys think? Yay or Nay?