Okay, I've decided that I'm going to get all my stories on the same page- or chapter, more like- by the end of this month. So, I need to get this one up to 13 or 14 chapters or something like that, so expect a lot of updates...
Once I have everything figured out and at the same level, I will be updating either weekly or close to it. Summer's coming up, and who's excited for it?
Disclaimer: I own nothing- sadly enough.
"Piper!" Bailey yelled, knocking Piper back into Percy's arms as her friend came hurtling at her and engulfed her in a hug. Percy stumbled back, but held up Piper as best as he could with Bailey hugging the life out of her. "Are you okay? Percy fixed you, right?"
Piper blinked as Bailey pulled away and looked worriedly at her. "What are you talking about?" she asked as she stood up and brushed off her clothes.
"Last night..." she trailed off and tilted her head as she looked between the two Greeks. "Why're you blushing?" She narrowed her eyes. "Percy didn't kiss you, did he?"
"What? No!" Piper replied quickly, her blush that was leaving her sparking up again. His arms around her really did something to her head and she wouldn't stop thinking about it. "No, that's not what happened."
"Definitely not," Naden snickered, brushing past Bailey to look out for threats and Jason.
"It was nothing," Percy said immediately, his own face more red than it had been a minute ago. "Can we just get this over with?"
"Naden, I order you," Piper announced as she cleared her throat and tried to will down her blush.
Naden only laughed and Bailey bounced on her heels, looking between them with confusion, amusement, and curiousity. "What happened? Come on, Peacemaker, tell your best friend."
"We have a job to do," Piper squeaked, moving past them and towards the Senate House.
Percy's eyes flickered to her lips and he stumbled with his weird actions. Just because Bailey had brought up the thing about them kissing doesn't mean he gets a big desire to do it! No, no, they're on a fragile bridge into real friendship, and he needs to rebuild the bridge not kiss her. Or look at her lips. Or wonder if they taste like strawberries or maybe that sweet taste from that leaf...Chaos, what was wrong with him!
Meanwhile, Piper and the crew was heading towards the Senate House, Percy standing a few people away from Piper, but close enough that he could catch her when the time comes. That is if he can get his thoughts off the kissing and back on the job at hand. ADHD really does something to a person, more specifically Percy.
Piper, wasn't having any of those thoughts, she was just thinking about what happened in the morning which probably wasn't any better. Waking up in Percy Jackson's arms a few days after they became friends again...after she cried herself to sleep...and all he had to say was hi. Granted, she didn't have anything to say back, so she shouldn't really been talking- she hadn't then either. But, still. He acted like it was okay for her to just wake up with her side in his chest and his arm over her stomach and around her waist and his face so close to her. And why- how- was he so freaking warm? Chaos, it was like he was his own personal heater and fire and everything. Just because he's the son of the sea doesn't mean he gets to be warm all the time. He didn't even use a blanket. And Piper liked it! What was wrong with her? Liking her friend's body heat. That sounded wrong. But really, the feeling, the warmth, the nice sleep, the comfort, the whole thing- she liked everything! Why? Wasn't this her friend? Someone she would be able to tease about liking someone and joke about couples and everything? She was not- because it wasn't friendly- supposed to like waking up in his arms. And if it counts- it does in Piper's book- they were only "new" friends for a day or two and she had two mental breakdowns in that time, crying a whole lot more. He makes her cry- not him specifically, he makes her think it's okay to cry- and safe at the same time. How is that even possible? Piper was losing it, she decided. She was slowly going crazy.
When they reached the Senate House, Naden hesitated at the door, everyone looking back at their commander. "You don't want to wait another day or something?" Naden asked, looking concerned for her boss and friend.
Piper blinked, confused by what she was saying before remembering where they were. "Oh." she bit her lip and thought for a second before shaking her head. She stood up straight, fixed her hair and stared determindedly at the door. "I want to get this over with," she announced and Percy felt a surge of affection go towards her; she could face something so hard on her while looking strong. "Let's make some peace at this Camp."
Bailey paused. "How do you want to do this, Peacemaker?"
"Well, Peacey," Piper shot back with a shaky smile. "I think I should go in first with my crew and then you come in, alright?"
"Are you sure? We can go in first-"
"No, we're going in and that's final. Come on, Naden, open the door."
Percy slipped in next to her as Naden opened the door and everyone in the House stopped talking, looking at who decided to interrupt their meeting. "You okay?" Percy whispered as they walked in and was met with the room full of Romans.
Piper's stomach was knotted in fear, nerves, and worry and her heart was pounding, but she nodded confidently. Chaos, the one who trusted her, had put this in her hands. Percy was here, Naden and her crew, Bailey...She could do this. But as she saw Jason and Reyna on the praetors' chairs, she slipped her hand through Percy's. Just in case, she thought to herself as she stood tall and tried not to look at anyone in particular. "I am Piper McLean, Chaos's Peacemaker," she announced, her voice surprisingly steady and proud.
There was complete silence for a moment before Jason fell out of his chair, the senators yelled objections about Chaos not being real, she was Greek and not to trust her, and everything else- Percy seemed to be big on people's minds, too.
"SHUT IT!" Bailey screamed, everyone quieting down immediately as she glared at them. Piper smiled a little as Percy rolled his eyes at her choice of words.
"Way to keep it professional," Naden joked, standing on Piper's other side, in between Bailey and her.
"What do you mean you're Piper?" Jason snapped, standing up and looking wildly at her. "You- You- You disappeared years ago!" To make his point known, he waved his hands through the air.
"Percy? Is that you?" Reyna asked quietly, though her eyes were harsh and nonmoving on Piper.
The senators decided to yell out things again, only one by one this time. "She's a graecus, we cannot trust her!"
"What is Percy Jackson doing here?"
"Who are you, really?"
"What do you want?"
"Chaos is not even real!"
"Seriously?" Piper asked, rolling her eyes with a small smile. "Bailey, go ahead."
"Thank you," she stressed dramatically before repeating her earlier call. "You will listen and not interrupt until my commander is finished, or we shall kill you, got it?" She called into the room after everyone silenced.
Remembering how angry she was last night, they all shut up and saved questions until the end.
"Thanks, Bail," Piper said before dropping Percy's hand- this movement was not unseen by Jason who seemed a little more angry- and walked forward. "I am Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite and Peacemaker for Chaos. Chaos is alive and is keeping peace through the galaxies, and not only Greek and Roman mythology, but all the mythologies. Bailey," she gestured behind her, "is a Peacekeeper of Chaos. I am Chaos's personal assistant and any person who makes a comment about him will have to have a talk with me. This is my crew, for safety purposes, and yes, Percy Jackson is a part of it. Now, I have come for one reason and one reason only: There is about to be a war within the gods and this Camp needs to be willing to stick together and not take sides in it. I'm not allowed to give you any information until I know how much you know about this, but it's not going to be pretty if it happens. Taking sides within Camp will cause even more chaos and war, broken relationships and grudges will be held. If we stick together, we will be able to go through this war that I'm trying to stop with more ease and less death. Now," she paused and looked around at everyone's shocked faces, "any questions?"
"Where have you been?" Jason blurted immediately, his eyes intently on her.
"With Chaos," Piper replied calmly. "But where I have been is none of your business because you are married and a father."
"You're still my friend!"
"Still...your...friend?" she asked slowly, Percy's eyes flashing. "Is that what you just said?"
"Yes!" He waved his hands through the air again. "We were friends and you just left!"
"Out!" Piper ordered him, her eyes hard and finger pointed towards the door. "I will talk to you when I am finished here."
"I have to be in this meeting-"
"You have to be outside!"
"I'm a praetor-"
"And a liar!"
"Just get out, Jason," Percy snapped, glaring at him harshly as he clenched his fists to the side. He thought it was okay to just act like he didn't break her heart millions of times? If one thing about Piper leaving was clear, it was that Jason had been the cause of Piper's mental breakdowns and the loss of a good friend to him.
Jason narrowed his eyes in hatred at his old friend, but stood up to leave anyway. "We're not done talking about this," he hissed as he passed Piper who was standing calmly, though her heart was shattering another time. Friends, he had said as if he didn't ruin her whole life. You're still my friend. You were my friend. Nothing more. He wasn't the love of her life or a bastard. No, he was "her friend." There was no way in hell they were friends.
"Now," Piper cleared her voice as she looked around. "Any other important questions?"
"Why is Percy Jackson with you and Chaos?" one senator yelled out.
"Classified," Percy replied because really, he couldn't say oh, to protect Piper and help her with all her problems and to save Olympus again.
"How do we know to believe you?" Reyna asked a little harshly, Naden's hand darting to her sword.
"What?" Piper blinked at her. "Didn't you hear me? There's a war with the gods. Neptune, Minerva, and Jupiter to be exact."
"You haven't been heard from in years. How can we possibly know if you aren't just on the wrong side? Titans perhaps?"
"Are you considering her a traitor?" Naden hissed, glaring up at the praetor.
"I'm looking out for Camp," Reyna replied calmly.
"What do you know of the war?" Piper asked, narrowing her eyes at the mother.
"I know there is trouble within the gods," she said, "but I do not know the extent. Besides, if this has to do with Greek gods, why is it any trouble to us Romans?"
"If you do not know anything," Piper started slowly, walking towards her, "you have no place to talk about me making things up. I was sent here by Chaos, and Chaos knows whenever there is a problem. Percy and I," she gestured to the two of them. "saw what had happened to start the problem. You have no idea how big this is. Poseidon is dieing."
"Poseidon," Reyna pointed out with a sneer, her automatons standing at alert near her, "not Neptune."
"What's the difference?" Bailey exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air. "If Poseidon dies, Neptune dies too!"
"That doesn't matter to us," Reyna explained breezily. "Neptune is not a worthy god in Rome."
"You watch what you're saying!" Percy roared with his eyes showing a storm.
"I don't think you're understanding, daughter of Bellona," Piper said calmly, poking the dais. "If one god dies in either form, the whole center of Olympus will be shook. Minerva is on Neptune's side, Jupiter on the other side. If the gods pick sides, they will pick children and you will not be able to contain order in your Camp. You'll be weak and everyone could run over you."
"No one will be run over me," Reyna growled.
"If a god dies, there's no order!" Piper shouted. "Especially if it's a major god in the Greek's side. I don't care if it's the lowest god in Rome, it will affect you somehow. The spot will be filled and it could be someone worse, someone that would kill all of Rome and any Romans who step foot in water."
"I do not see your point, McLean."
"That's Peacemaker to you!" Bailey warned, eyes narrowed and deadly on the mother.
"If Poseidon dies, Neptune dies. Neptune may not mean much in your aspect, but Mars does and Mars is taking Neptune's side for Venus. If Neptune dies, Mars will go to war with Jupiter. They will recruit people from Camp, force them to take sides and fight friends, family members, comrades. Bellona is on Mars' side, it only makes sense, and your kids could be separated and fight against each other. You and your husband could be forced to fight against each other. No one will listen to you in Camp, no one will care what you have to save because it's all for all. Do you want that, dear Reyna?" Piper asked, raising an eyebrow.
Reyna had paled at the thought of her kids fighting each other and had a haunted look at the thought of having to fight Jason which made Piper's stomach churn uncomfortablely. "What do I have to do?" she wondered, looking down at Piper with distrust, but determination.
"We will work through the steps. Today, you must warn everyone about what is to come. I will not be able to get to Olympus to start my job until I have finished other things, so it may be longer than I would like. You will tell them to work together, no matter whose ancestors or patrons are involved. You are ruler of this Camp and you must enforce rules. We are staying here for a couple days to make sure everything will go well, is that clear?"
Reyna narrowed her eyes at the powerful girl and reluntactly waved her hand in dismal. "You shall take the few bunks in the Fifth Cohort."
"No," Piper replied. "We have a section set up for us from Chaos."
The praetor sat up straighter, her eyes hardening. "You have no such thing."
"He's the creator of the universe, he can do whatever." She looked down at her ring, taking it off her middle finger and peered inside the rim, finding words that said, East of aqueduct, 200 yards from Pomerian Line, New Rome.
"It's on your rings," she told her crew, Bailey and their crew. "Bailey, take everyone with you, to get settled in, please."
"Where are you going, Piper?" Bailey called, looking over at her.
"Somewhere," Piper answered with a shrug. "Percy...will you...?"
He smiled at her softly. "Yeah." He walked over to her and she smiled at him gratefully.
She took a deep breath and grabbed his hand. "Let's get this over with." They headed towards the way Jason had went and the rest of Chaos's recruits headed to their temporary home with Reyna obviously seething about it.
"You sure you want to do this right now?" Percy asked softly as they spotted the blonde Roman pacing a little away from the Senate House.
Piper thought carefully for a moment. Do it, she'll get to yell at Jason, finally tell him how big of an ass he is, maybe Percy'll even hit him so he could feel some pain. But if she does it, she'll have to deal with the pain again and the memories of the videos and lies and everything. If she doesn't, she won't have to go down that road, but the wound would never ever be able to probably heal- it'll only be covered and will still send pain through her. She wanted it gone and she wanted it gone today.
"Yes," she replied confidently, pulling him by his hand towards Jason.
Jason looked up when they cracked a twig and the first thing he said was, "What's he doing here?"
"He's here for my safety," Piper answered, blinking in surprise.
"Gods, Piper, I want to talk to you alone," Jason snapped, throwing his hands through the air.
"I'm not leaving," Percy announced calmly and sternly, his eyes narrowed and watching Jason intently. One word...
"Just talk to me as if we were alone," Piper said, playing with her bracelets on her wrists.
"But we aren't- and what is up with you two holding hands?" he exclaimed, anger and frustration in his voice.
"What?" Piper looked at their intertwined fingers and held them up. "Emotional comfort."
And a little personal pleasure, Percy added to himself, relishing in how small and soft her hands were even after everything she had done.
"So you two- nothing's going on between you?" Jason asked, looking between them.
We just woke up in the same bed together... "No, nothing."
Jason ran a hand through his hair and calmed down a little. "Can you not do that?" he snapped, waving at their hands.
"Why not?" Piper shot back, glaring at him. "I'm allowed to hold hands just as much as you're allowed to have kids."
"What does that have anything to do with this?"
"You cheated on me!" Piper yelled, tears coming to her eyes at the reminder and how he didn't seem to think it was at any importance.
"What? No, I didn't," Jason replied, waving his hands through the air. "When'd you hear about this? You just flew off the fucking planet!"
"While we were dating," Piper explained shakily, but quietly, "after the Giant War, you were kissing Reyna and telling her loved her behind my back. I watched videos about it."
Percy's fist clenched- the free one- and he squeezed her hand in comfort. Jason suddenly looked a little pale.
"Then you altogether stopped talking to me, and now you're trying to say we're friends and I'm not allowed to hold someone's hand?"
Jason sighed and shook his head. "I wanted to tell you- I was going to-"
"When?" she demanded, choking. He didn't want anything to do with her. "When I found out she was pregnant?"
"No, no, no." He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "It was a hard time for everyone, Piper. The war ended and everyone was mourning and I didn't think you could take anymore with Clarisse dieing and Lucy and everyone hurt..."
"So you just thought it'd be a good idea to give me hope that I actually had some happiness?"
"I-I don't know. I don't know," he repeated with frustration evident. "I just- it came fast-"
"Did you ever really love me?" she blurted, tears making her vision blurry as she clutched to Percy's hand. "Or was it all just a lie?"
He shook his head again and started pacing. "I-I loved you, Pipes-"
"Don't call me that," she croaked, closing her eyes as she heart wretched in pain from hearing him call her that.
"I really did love you, when my memories were foggy and I couldn't remember anything, but when they came back and I saw Reyna again...something happened..."
"Why didn't you just tell me? I-I would've been less hurt and I could've at least stayed longer! Not like you would care."
"I did care," he promised, taking her free hand and wiping away her tears as Percy's fist twitched. He was going to hit him for one more lie and for touching her. "I did, Piper, I promise. I searched for you and everything, but it was more like a brother searching for his sister or something."
Piper choked back a sob and ripped herself from him, her heart down in the Underworld. A sister? A sister? She loved him and she was his sister? Not even a past girlfriend whom he still was good friends or hell, even a good friend! A SISTER. That's all she was to him. He didn't care she was missing or that she was hurting when he cheated on her or that she left without notice. He had forgotten her in a few years, asked Reyna to marry him and they had kids- Chaos knows how many, and he was happy now. He hadn't even recognized her until she said her name.
Percy's fist connected with Jason's face the moment the words left him. If Percy knew anything about relationships- he didn't know much, mind you- it was that if you ever broke up with a girl you don't ever, ever call her your sister, especially when you cheated on her and she has multiple videos of it or she vanished off the surface of the planet for it. You do not ever call your ex girlfriend who fainted at the sight of your kids your sister.
"What the hell, man?" Jason shouted, outraged as he held his most likely broken nose.
"You're pathetic," Percy spat, pushing Piper behind him. "You led her on for years, asshole!"
"Stay out of this, Jackson," Jason snapped, wiping his nose and glaring at him. "You were too busy fucking Annabeth to have noticed anything anyway!"
Percy grabbed the front of Jason's toga and lifted him up, his eyes stormy and holding tons of dangerous emotions. "I noticed," he hissed lowly. "I noticed the way she would flinch at every say of your name and she would never come to campfires. I noticed and you know nothing of what went on back at Camp. You caused a lot of shit to happen, and you didn't once care to tell Piper that you were planning to break her heart when you married Reyna."
He paled before growling, "Don't you dare-"
"A week after she left," he snapped quietly so that Piper wouldn't hear. "You didn't search for her, you took the advantage of her being gone and married Reyna, bastard."
"You-"
"And you have nerve to say that you were searching for her. Or that you thought of her as a sister. You do not say that girls."
"Look-"
Jason coughed when Percy punched him again, stumbling back as the son of Poseidon dropped him. But Jason, being Roman, was quick to get back on his feet and throw a returning punch. Soon the two of them were cursing and in a hand-to-hand brawl. "Stop!" Piper cried, grabbing at Jason and Percy whenever she could. "Stop it!"
But Piper had gotten in the middle of the fighting and Jason's fist went straight into her nose.
I was debating for a while on whether or not to stop it here or not, but decided that this chapter has plenty PercyxPiper and Percy hating Jason and the explanations, so the reaction comes next chapter where there'll be more explanations, PercyxPiper and Percy hating Jason, along with a clear brawl with Bailey and Jason. I plan to have it good and well.
Jason marrying Reyna would seem to happen early for them because look what they had been through, friends, Jason being taken, a war and injuries, a relationship. It would be better to make sure they had each other through anything else. As for Jason being a dick in this story, I'm sorry. Personally, I love Jason right after Percy and Nico on the guy side. He's pretty awesome, but the shock of seeing her and everything...Yeah, I hope you understand.
Let's recap, huh? Percy's getting weird feelings for Piper, vise versa for Piper, Percy and Jason have a fight, we get more in depth on the war and the past Jasper relationship, and Piper gets punched. Next chapter next week. Need some reviews- over 130, maybe?
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