Disclaimer: I own nothing, sadly enough.
Everything froze- the people, the birds, the Earth even.
Piper had stumbled back, falling with her eyes wide and her hand holding her nose as Percy clutched Jason's collar and they stared, gaping, at her. No one really knew what happened for a few moments- it had seemed so unreal that they couldn't believe it- but when it really kicked in that Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and breaker of Piper's heart, had just punched the crying girl, something set off in Percy. He shouted a string of names that would've put the god of cursing to shame and landed a harsh, painful punch to Jason's nose. Percy's eyes were dark and there was a little storm raging in them as he repeatedly caused Jason the pain he deserved for hurting Piper mentally and now, physically. The lake and the river inside the Camp were raging and Romans gathered around to stare in worry, wondering what was happening.
Piper, on the other hand, held her mouth, her eyes wide and filled with tears that were falling down her cheeks steadily, watching the boys- Jason trying unsuccessfully to fight back. She didn't get up, make any sound except little chokes as a dull throbbing hit her nerves from her nose. It wasn't hurt too bad, since she was immortal and everything, but damn, Jason was aiming to hurt Percy pretty bad. She still couldn't quite believe it- what had happened. Jason just punched me. Not on purpose, no, but it didn't really help that he had made her cry, denied anything about their relationship, and then got into a fight with one of her crew and friends.
"How dare you?" Percy roared with Jason's nose bleeding freely, his lip swollen and a sure sign of a black eye.
"I didn't mean to!" Jason yelled back, coughing and kneeing Percy in the stomach, forcing him off the praetor. "I would never hurt her!"
"Bullshit!" Percy was quick to stand and go after him again.
"Do you think I would intentionally punch her?" Jason boomed, dark clouds forming overhead and lightning flashing, attracting even more attention from Romans and Piper's crew. "I would NEVER do that!"
"But you're willing to break her heart and make her cry?" Percy delivered a swift punch to the son of Jupiter's stomach making the latter groan in pain and fall to his knees, closing his eyes tightly. "You, son of a bitch!"
"I didn't mean to hurt her," he snapped through gritted teeth, picking his head up to look the son of Poseidon with a dark glare and the flashes of lightning illuminating his dark eyes. "I didn't want to hurt her."
Percy growled angrily, rain falling down with harsh droplets to match his anger. Didn't mean to, didn't want to! The nerve! He went to kick the guy's face for being such a little fucker when Piper whimpered his name from behind him and he settled with kicking Jason back to his back, making sure to have him stay down while he checked on her. He wasn't finished with him and when Hades came a-knockin' he would be. "Are you okay?" he asked immediately as he rushed over to her side and cupped her face in his hands, his eyes scanning quickly over her face for any type of pain. His eyes were soft and there was a cut on his lip, making it a little swollen.
He wiped away the tears as she shook her head slowly and sniffled. "I want to go to the cabin," she whispered, her voice breaking, as she pleaded with him with sad brown eyes that were shining with the still falling tears.
"Yeah, yeah, of course," he replied quickly, but made no move to get up instead making sure her nose was okay and nothing was wrong. "Can you stand?"
She nodded wordlessly and he helped her stand up, their hair sticking to their faces as the rain came down hard on them, showing Percy's pent up anger. Flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder banged around them- it wasn't long before the Romans and crew would come to see what was happening. At least they can't tell I've been crying, Piper thought bitterly as Percy kissed her forehead reassuringly. "Wait here for a second, okay? I'll just be a second."
"Don't kill him," she said, biting her bottom lip to keep it from quivering.
Deciding not to think about how she still cares for the bastard, he nodded and kissed her forehead again. "I won't. Just wait, okay?" When she nodded, he turned around and looked at Reyna, Nick, and their daughter helping Jason up and fussing over him. He pushed the young boy out of the way causing the sister to scream out at him and Reyna to glare harshly at him, standing in front of her husband. "Move," Percy snapped harshly, his inner storm showing again. "I won't hesitate to fight you, too."
"Get out of the way," Jason hissed, pushing her away and facing Percy with narrowed eyes.
Percy, upon seeing him, grabbed his collar again and there was a sound of metal clanking as the son of Jupiter's family grabbed their swords and pointed them at him. "You ever go near her again, and I will kill you, got it?" Percy warned darkly, the seam from the purple shirt ripping.
"Why does she suddenly matter to you?" Jason spat, pushing Percy away from him and pointing his own sword at the son of Poseidon. "It wasn't like you've spent your whole life looking for her and are a perfect saint! You've probably hurt her, too!"
In a blink, Jason was shoved up against the back of the Senate House, the daughter giving a small scream, Piper gasping as the sword fell to the ground with a clank. "I'd never hurt her," Percy replied with a growl as the son of Jupiter groaned in pain from the hard impact. "And I've been worrying for a fucking long time, Grace, unlike you."
"Just because I didn't exactly love her didn't mean I wasn't worried about her!"
"Yeah, you showed that real well, bastard." Percy slammed the praetor's back against the wall again. "Just don't even look at her, got it?"
"What are you? Her fucking parent?"
"I'm a real friend," he snapped, the seam ripping some more and without warning, Jason fell to the ground with a loud thud and a groan of pain. "What happened to hero, asshole?" Percy sneered as he pushed the younger boy over to his side on the ground before walking back to Piper, his whole mood softening as Romans rushed in from every side. "You okay?" he asked again, tilting her chin to look at him from where she had been staring at the Grace family trying to help their dad up.
She nodded without words and Bailey hurtled around the corner with Naden and the rest of Piper's crew coming from their side. "What happened?" they demanded, looking around and getting soaked by the rain.
Percy jerked his thumb towards Jason and wrapped his arm over Piper's shoulders, already pulling her out of there so they could find out where to go. "Ask him."
"Again?" Bailey asked with anger and stormed over towards him, none of his family getting in the way. "What'd you do?" she poked his chest rather harshly as Piper let Percy lead her out of there, but she continued looking with a blurred vision from her tears.
"Nothing," Jason replied darkly as he used his son for support.
"You better tell me..." Bailey's voice trailed off as they turned the other corner of the building and the two Greeks headed out of the area. Piper's head was spinning, her nose hurt, her eyes hurt, her throat hurt, and most important, her heart hurt. Her stomach was tired of being knotted in pain and her heart was crushed from the vice grip the imaginary hand had on it. Her head couldn't absorb everything that was happening and her loving ex-boyfriend (who had cheated on her, mind you) had just punched her while trying to beat up her new- old- friend. She was soaked to the bone from the angry rain and lightning was still flashing; her ears hurt from all the thunder.
"Are you sure you're okay, Piper?" Percy asked softly, anger in his stomach and his thoughts were muddled with ways of killing Jason, but his eyes were gentle and none of his anger showed around the Peacemaker.
She shook her head and still didn't speak a word, though he could tell tears were streaming down her cheeks. Without questioning anymore- girls like to not talk about what's bothering them, right? -he took off the ring and with his arm still around her, led her to the new Chaos cabin.
Piper zoned everything out and tried to figure out her thoughts. Let's start from the beginning, shall we? When she first arrived at this horrid place, she had a mental breakdown and refused to come out. Percy had come back a day after they had reinstated their friendship and held her while she cried, trying to assure her everything was okay. Somehow, he managed to get her out of the ship and to the borderline of New Rome where they met Jason and Reyna Grace's twins- one of them was Nick. She had another mental breakdown- she seems to have those a lot since Percy came- and almost fainted. Jason admitted to not knowing who Piper was even though she really hasn't changed, and of course, remembered Percy Jackson. Percy, again, somehow got her to calm down- er, he held her while cried and apparently they both fell asleep in the same room, the same bed and everything. They had woken up almost spooning and they had a very awkward morning. When they came back into Rome, they crashed a Senate meeting and Piper had to send out Jason because when she introduced herself, he freaked out and demanded answers. Then she explained the problem that Camp Rome was facing and Reyna was being very moody and unbelieving as usual, forcing her to go more into detail then she would have liked. Once that was over, they went outside and Piper brought Percy with to go talk to Jason. Jason, an idiot, had raged on about them holding hands- in comfort, of course- and then he tried explaining his actions and made Piper cry when he said he loved her like a sister. Percy and him then got into a fist fight which she tried stopping, but in the end, got punched. Percy had freaked out and beat Jason up even more while they made it rain and thunder and all. Jason made up some stupid lie of never meaning to hurt her and then the Romans and everyone came and Percy told him that he was worrying for Piper for a long time and being a real friend. Then they left and are now heading to the Chaos cabin.
Eventful day, no?
What Piper wanted to know was, why couldn't anyone just give her the flat out truth anymore? Of course Jason knew what was he was doing even before they started dating- he didn't tell her the truth when she asked what he felt for Reyna. Now he tells her that he never really loved her, but didn't want to hurt her- didn't he really realize that not telling her would hurt her more? He also says that he never meant to, or never wanted to, hurt her in anyway- obviously, that's a lie because then he would tell her the truth about everything else before then and not have punched her. She was pretty sure that Percy was lying to her, too, saying that he worried about her for a long while- she was gone for years, he had to forgotten about her sometime through there and lived on with Annabeth. He's probably married and has kids just like Jason. Wonderful, now her heart hurts even more.
The Chaos cabin came into view, and they had to stop short of it. It was so...plain. It didn't even look like it came from Chaos or a god for that matter. It was just a regular building with marble pillars, steps, and a little picture in the triangular roof. It was white, like so white that it hurt your eyes and it completely stood out against the yellow grass and some hills around it, the trees of the forest being the only kind of contrast. "Wow," Percy said as they stared at it with confused expressions. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
Piper took off her ring and looked on the inside, A hundred yards in front of you. "Yep," she replied with a broken voice as she walked up, Percy's arm falling lamely to his side as he frowned at her back. He hadn't done anything wrong...right?
The Peacemaker looked at the big white door and tried to find where to put the ring. There was a small hole where there should've been a doorknob and she put her ring in sideways, watching as the doorknob appeared and looked back at Percy who was watching her from where they stopped. "You coming?" she asked as she gripped the gold part.
He nodded and took a couple steps at a time to reach her and walk in with her, both of them again stopping in shock at the inside. Chaos, it seemed, knew exactly what they would need in this kind of environment: a homey type of place. Well, that and a huge place to support all the people he sent to it. So, there in front of them was a huge living room with a fireplace on the left wall, glowing merrily and three couches in front and to the sides of it. There was even a TV hanging above it, turned off, but there. To the right of them was a bookshelf and a long dining table with the plates, silverware, and cups set up for breakfast tomorrow morning. The chairs were evenly placed and looked incredibly comfortable. In the far right hand corner was a kitchen with a silver fridge, complex stove- the one without the actual burners- and granite counter tops. The cabinets and drawers were a darker brown and the walls of the whole place were tan and even though they had no windows, it seemed as if there was sunlight coming in. In the far left corner, a door and a small staircase pressed up against the wall.
"Sweet," Percy whistled, grinning around at the place as Piper smiled a little at his reaction- she had seen this, too, but the outsides are usually much more distinct and the insides are different for the places they're at.
"I'm going to change," Piper announced quietly, heading to the staircase before even saying anything.
"Er, okay, I'll just..." Percy looked around and willed himself dry. "...stay here, I guess."
But she had already been half way up before he finished and he stared lamely at the place where she had just been. It was because of Jason, he decided. He hadn't done anything. He just stood up for her and tried to do what he could for her, so he didn't do anything wrong. Jason was just messing with her mind too much lately. It was not Percy's fault...right?
The upstairs was a long hallway, much like the one on Pluto only shorter. There were rooms for every separate person and then a bathroom at the edge. The walls were still tan up here and there was carpet, the doors brown and the handles gold. There were different colored plates on the doors with each person's name and Piper headed to the last door with her name written nicely on the lavender piece before closing the door and leaning her back on it. The room was enlarged something special, but it didn't really process with Piper right now. The walls held pictures of Pluto and the mountain were her dad was held after being kidnapped, her old house with her dad and the last place she saw her dad. Wow, she was missing her dad today, huh? Maybe it was because he always knew how to deal with these kind of problems- feeling out of place and not like yourself. He played different people and tried to not be him; maybe that was what she was feeling.
In all honesty, Piper was so fucking confused that nothing made sense; not even the color of the walls.
She headed over to the dresser that was against the wall directly across the door and shuffled through for some clothes as she watched a giraffe walk into the frame of the picture of Africa. Jason was married and had kids, Percy was back with her, she has had more mental breakdowns than she can count, Bailey was probably beating up Jason right now, Jason had punched her, Percy and Jason had gotten into a huge fight, and Piper wished that she hadn't gotten out of the bed from Percy's side this morning. When she was there...she forgot that the only thing people thought of her as was the "Peacemaker" not Piper, or Beauty Queen, like Leo used to call her or Pipes. She forgot about the thought of if nothing worked on Earth, there would war and the gods would take sides and Poseidon was dying and she was the only one who had to fix it. She didn't remember the mental breakdown she had when she met Jason's kids or what the day brought with meeting up with Jason and Reyna and maybe even their kids. She really, really just wanted to go back in time and just lay there with him.
But that was wrong. She shouldn't feel like that because he's probably married to Annabeth and they probably have this awesome life that Percy can't wait to get back to and he's her friend. There was no way that lying with him could ever be okay. That didn't mean she couldn't like it though- she shouldn't and really can't, but she does. It's been a while when anything was stress free for her or she could really relax and when's the last time a guy has held her? She needed it, and that's what she was going to do.
With a small amount of confidence and a large amount of nervousness, she made her way back down to the living room where Percy was sitting, staring at the flames with his knee bouncing with his own nerves and worries. "Can I sit here?" she asked softly, pointing next to him and then cursing herself. She was just supposed to sit, dammit.
He jumped, startled, but smiled reassuringly at her when he looked at her. "Go ahead, Pipes."
She sat next to him and there was a lengthy silence in which he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, noticing how her natural beauty stood out the most when she was wearing normal clothes like that slightly baggy t-shirt and jeans. Her socks were blue, he noticed, and her hair was in a ponytail, not a braid. "You okay?" he wondered, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer. She was still wet and there wasn't really a lot of heat from the fire. At least, that's what he told himself.
She nodded, putting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. "I'm tired of this, Percy. I just want to go home."
He pulled her closer and kissed her hair in what he hoped to be comforting. "It'll be over before you know it."
"No, it's not just that," she sighed and played with her hands in her lap. "I'm tired of being lied to and having to solve everyone's problems."
"Well..." And this is why Percy Jackson is better with fighting than girls. "Well...you're pretty good at it," he said hesitantly.
She snorted and shook her head. "I like exploring, but I don't like having everyone depend on me or having people's lives in my hand."
"I know how you feel," he replied with a hint of darkness in his voice.
"Yeah, well, you're good at that."
He shook his head. "I'm really not."
"I just...I just want to be normal. I wish I didn't have to go through thinking Jason was my boyfriend before finding out that it wasn't true and then having him cheat on me and everyone else ignore me and everything."
He was quiet for a moment before whispering, "I didn't ignore you."
"No, you and Annabeth were too busy making up all those months you weren't together."
"Is that why you left?" A lump appeared in his throat and he had to force out the next words, "You thought I- er, everyone was ignoring you?"
"Well, they were. Jason with Reyna, Leo being cool, Drew doing something to my cabin, you and Annabeth..."
He was one of the reasons. Chaos, there was that wave of guilt. "I-I'm sorry, Piper. I-I...I didn't mean to, honestly."
"The things for love, huh?" she shrugged and folded her legs on the couch.
"It's not happening anymore," he announced with such confidence she opened her eyes to look at him. He was gazing determinedly at her and his eyes were shining with sincerity. "From now on, you're my top priority, Annabeth be damned."
She looked away from him, but he continued to look at her. "You're just saying that because it's your job now."
"No, it's because you're my friend and I'm going to be a real friend to you and everything."
She blinked at him. "Really?"
"Mhmm. First thing we're going to do, eat some ice cream and make fun of some stupid movie." He grinned at her and she felt that old heart flutter. "Besides, a lot of shit happened today and we just need to forget about it." Forget about him.
She nodded slowly. "I'll try it, but it sounds cliché."
He laughed and ruffled her hair as he stood up and messed with the DVD player. "Go get the ice cream. We don't have a lot of time before dinner and we'll have to calm Bailey down somehow when she gets here."
How bad can it be? Piper thought as she smiled and stood up, getting some ice cream and settling down as he propped up next to her, a frozen block of ice he made acting like his foot rest. "Let's get this party started," he joked as they settled back and the movie turned on.
She rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm over her shoulders. Percy Jackson always managed to make her forget about her problems.
Cheesy, yes. Sad, yes. But all in all, I think it was pretty good. Piper really has had a tough weekend and Percy was there every step of the way. We'll probably get a look inside what happened with Jason and Bailey in the next chapter when they work on getting her to calm down before we head into the dinner where everyone will officially know Percy and Piper.
Well, new chapter sometime next week, maybe a little sooner, or later, not sure yet. Still have my goal of 13 before the end of the month. It'll be a little hard, but I've got a few days off and everything, so...
Let's say, 165 reviews maybe? You're all so wonderful, thank you for them- wow, that sounded a little formal. Thanks, guys, you're all fucking amazing. Better, better. Well...
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