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"I knew Apollo campers had good aim, but Chaos," Piper mumbled as she worked on the wound in Percy's shoulder. "That was the only place you could've got hit."
"Pipes, I'm fine," he laughed, pushing her away, though his shoulder was throbbing. He may be powerful, immortal, a hero, and a bodyguard, but that arrow really hit the spot- and no, not like when you're eating.
"Stop moving," she snapped in response, swatting his hands away from her waist from where he tried to push her away and of him because really, did she have to be that close and somehow smell like flowers? Very, very annoyingly nice smelling flowers, he might add.
He sighed and leaned back in the wall of the infirmary with his armor off, his black uniform shirt laying next to him- it took all of Piper's power not to look at his chest and focus on his shoulder. "It's not even that bad," he continued to protest, watching her.
"Yes it is, now just shut up and wait until I'm done." She tilted her head so that her hair would fall over her shoulder and not get in her vision. "How'd they even know where to hit?"
"I don't know," he replied with a half shrug, thinking better of it than to annoy her further with a full shrug. "Maybe it was just a lucky hit."
"Whoever shot it must have not seen you."
"It doesn't matter, Pipes," he chuckled, "I'm fine."
"You just got shot, Percy, I don't think that means your fine."
"I'm immortal, it doesn't even hurt anymore."
She shot him a glare. "You haven't taken any ambrosia, Percy, it has to hurt."
"So, why don't you give me ambrosia?"
"Because you ate that jerky on the ship, and you'll blow up your stomach if you eat ambrosia."
He paled. "How do you know?"
"Because Chaos told me about it. That's why we don't have nectar or ambrosia on the ship."
"Then what do you use for, you know, pain?"
"Depends on the injury." She stepped back and beamed at him. "There."
He rolled his shoulder and grinned at her, feeling little to no pain. "What'd you do?"
She packed away their own little First Aid kit and Percy started to put back on the armor. "That's a secret," she answered with a smile.
"Well, thanks." He stretched his arms and stood up. "Now, what do we do?"
"Give a tour to the others, observe who's on whose side, and then wait for Chiron."
"Do you think they're making Chiron choose sides, too?" he asked as they left the infirmary and headed down to the porch of the Big House where the others were waiting, watching the campers with wary glances, just in case they did something again.
"I hope not," she replied, looking around her old home. "That'd make it a whole lot harder to keep peace around here."
"There's a reason you were sent, Piper," he said, "you have to make peace here."
She sighed and frowned at the ground. "I know."
He grabbed her hand and squeezed in reassurance, and for their own little personal pleasure. "Hey, cheer up. You did it at Camp Jupiter, you can do it here."
"I know, but here's going to take a while."
"Here is going to fine."
"Come on, guys," Piper said, ignoring him and looking to the others. "We'll show you around. Make sure to look out for fights and whispering."
"So, how do you know who's whose kid?" Carl paused. "Did that make any sense?"
"Just ask Percy whenever you need to know," Piper told them. "I'm sure he knows about everyone in Camp, so it won't be hard to get their names and everything. Right, Percy?"
He shrugged. "I guess. But I haven't been around for the past few days so there may be some people that I don't know. You know, new campers, and everything.
They walked around, Percy and Piper hand-in-hand (unconsciously, of course), and they were shown the sights, the places where they had to go. Piper learned about the new cabins that hadn't been there when she left, and they observed the campers, watching who was on whose team. So far they only figured out that Apollo and Hermes were on the same side, Ares and Aphrodite were fighting, but it was nothing compared to the fights with the Demeter kids and Athena, so they were on the same side- which is pretty obviously, since Piper knew her mom would think that Poseidon taking that bolt was an act of love, and there was no doubt in either of the Greeks' minds that Athena was on Poseidon's side. Hephaestus was against Apollo and Hermes, and they were on Athena's side. And Chaos, this was really diffcult to keep track of. Honestly, Piper thought they ought to make a list of who's on whose side.
It was when they were heading back to the Big House that another big fight broke out, and it was a lot more deadly than a fire. Piper was so fucking thankful that the Romans only stayed a few days after the Giant War. It was hard to tell who was who from which cabin since it was just a clash of bronze weapons, bronze armor, yells, cursing, and some even were just going into with their fists. Fire was on the tree that stood high next to the Big House and there were people injured on the ground, some being carried away by Apollo campers and others just left there. Vines were growing with painful looking thorns and they were encapturing a few campers who were screaming to be let out.
It was a full out war.
And people were just getting started.
"PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN!" Piper ordered with as much Charmspeak, authority, sterness, and any thing else that would be useful in a situation like this, into her voice. Her voice was loud, hard and her throat ached afterwards. "EVERYONE, WEAPONS DOWN!"
The clashes froze, sword on sword, shield blocking spear, arrow notched in bow, vines stopping mid air. "You will put your weapons down right now," Piper repeated in a quieter voice so she wouldn't lose her voice at the end of the day. "Everyone, vines down, shields, swords, bows on the ground. Now."
Percy, admiring her for staying calm in such a situation and feeling a little dazed himself, dropped the water snake trail thing he had made to get the water safely from the sea over to the burning and dying tree. Thankfully, it was over the tree, so it put out the fire with a big splash.
The others, having been trained to stop from listening to Charmspeak, blinked and tried to keep their swords up and alert just in case one of the other campers tried something. Apparently, Piper had been praticing her Charmspeak because that was really, really powerful...and really, really annoying.
"Take twenty steps away from everyone," Piper commanded, her eyes flashing through the many different colors and her hands open palmed in a gesture of peace. "Twenty, big steps."
Leaving their weapons were they were on the ground and having the vines unthread from the bloody people who fell to the ground without much strength. Piper waited until everyone- including Percy- was twenty steps away from every person and the campers were spread out in front of the Big House and out of harm's way- for now. "Okay, now Apollo campers, I want you to slowly move towards the injured and move the ones from your side to the right and the others to the left. Every single injured person."
The Apollo campers blinked, but did as she said, slowly pulling the people to their respectful sides and then stood at the heads and feet of the groaning kids. "Go get some ambrosia, bandages, and nectar," Piper said, looking at them side to side. "The Apollo campers only, and hurry back."
Once they were off, Percy shook his head and rubbed at his forehead. He mentally cursed himself for being such a target to Charmspeak because who knew what enemies they would have to face that had that ability. He had to protect Piper, and doing whatever the enemy said was not a good way to go about it. He moved back to her side and shot a glare at her for being so damn powerful and controlling him when he was supposed to stay her side- you know, Chaos's rules, and all.
"Now, I want the people from Poseidon's side to go to the right, and the people from Zeus's side to go to the left. Slowly, and no picking up weapons."
The majority of the campers left over to the right and only some went over to Zeus's side. Which meant that the gods supporting Zeus didn't have a lot of cabins here, or he just didn't have anyone on his side. But it looked like there was definitely Ares kids on Poseidon's side, with Hermes, Apollo, and even some Iris kids over there. On Zeus's side, he had the Demeter kids, which would explain the vines- Piper thought only Dioynsus kids could do that, but apparently not- and the Hephaestus cabin, with a few Hecate, Nyx, and some other kids that Piper couldn't identify, but those numbers were short.
But what Piper didn't understand was why?
Not why are they fighting like this and taking sides in a war that's not theirs? but a why are they helping parents who abandoned them, and they didn't knew existed until they were 11, when they never helped them? That kind of why. Which, when you look at it, made quite a lot of sense. Their parents got their mother pregnant, then left her to be a single mother, raise a child that was dangerous to her and any others, and you never heard of them until you came to Camp. Or, they got pregnant, gave the kid to the dad, left him to be a single father and raise a child that was dangerous to him and any others, and you never heard of them until Camp. They never helped, never talked to you, you didn't even know they existed. Piper knew, even if she was gone a thousand years, that the gods didn't change their ways, didn't become more involved in their children's lives. It was against the rules, so they wouldn't do it. So, why on Earth would these kids- that's all they are so far, kids- want to choose sides and "help" out a parent never there for them?
Piper would have to look into that, but right now, she had more pressing matters to attend to.
"Okay, help all the injured people- do not leave a single person alone- as much as you can," Piper ordered, still using Charmspeak. "Apollo campers only. The rest of you, don't move."
Percy frowned and leaned over the slightest to ask Piper quietly as the Apollo campers went along helping people on each side, "How do they even know about the war?"
"Yeah, I suspected Olympus to be cut off," Naden whispered on her other side, but her eyes were on the campers.
"And Chiron obviously wouldn't say anything."
"I think," Piper replied, "that one of the dryads or a satyr over heard, and of course gossiped around here, so the campers heard."
Percy nodded in acceptance to that answer and began to watch the campers again, feeling a sense of admiration and a little pride go out to Piper. She was so calm, and she had a reason for everything, even if it was a little far fetched- how the dryads or satyrs ever got down from a closed off Olympus was a mystery, so it didn't make much sense- but you never know what could happen. She deserved this job, though; the one with making peace even when it seemed impossible because she could do anything she set her mind to. And if Percy would have to pick out of any of the people he knew- and he knew a lot of people- to fix the problem in his second home that was actually more of his first now, he'd pick Piper in an instant. And that was not just because of her Charmspeak or ability to make any guy fall head over heels when she wanted him to, or even when he didn't- but that last part was definitely not Percy.
"Poseidon's side," Piper addressed the small crowd on their sides, some cut up and bruised, but nothing like the injured, "who do you have on your side?'
In a daze, a boy from the Ares cabin replied, "Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Iris, Apollo, Hermes, Morpheus, Triton, Asclepius, Peitha, and Mania." Cheers erupted at the end of the sentence and the people on Zeus's side boo-ed and yelled things that were not so nice.
"Quiet," Piper demanded, swiping her hand and they all shut up instantly as she turned to the other side. "And you? Who do you have?"
"Hera, Hades, Demeter, Hephaestus, Artemis, Dioynsus, Nyx, Aelous, Erebus, and Thanatos," a dazed Demeter kid answered before grinning and shouting with the rest of her side.
"Quiet," Piper repeated sternly, thinking hard on this. She was right about Aphrodite, Hermes, Apollo, and Ares. Of course, Athena was an easy one, and Triton, too, I guess if you looked into the minor gods enough. Luckily, there were quite a few gods who decided to go neutral which, honestly, was something that Piper really needed. But it looked like they were both tied with eleven people, maybe one or two more they don't know about- she's praying to Chaos that it's that low. But the tying, yeah, that some times isn't a good thing. Hera couldn't do much, and she knew nothing about that Peitha chick or the Mania one. Asclepius, she had heard that somewhere before, but she couldn't think place it. Thanatos, she knew him. Erebus, she had a clue that it had something to do with Nyx because she had heard them mentioned together before they left. The rest, everyone knew about, but it was so hard to tell who was at odds and who was in favor.
One thing's for sure, she's above the moon because Nike wasn't mentioned on anyone's team and they all knew what would happen then.
"All the gods have cabins here?" Piper asked, tilting her head at everyone.
They all nodded. "Some are really new," an Apollo kid told her while he worked on a gash in a Hephaestus camper's leg. "We didn't know who they were until Chiron told us."
"So you know then?" Piper asked Percy, looking up at him briefly.
He nodded. "Asclepius, that's the god of medicine and healing- he has a staff with a single serpent, but they got him mixed up with Hermes's caduceus with hospitals. Peitha, that's the goddess of...persuasion- she taught your mom how to work with the Charmspeaking abilities. Mania, she's the goddess of insanity, which is where maniac comes from, I think. Aelous, well, he's the god of winds and air, I think. Erebus, he's the god...of darkness, or maybe shadows- same thing."
"Okay, Ares kids, you clean up all the weapons and put them behind us," Piper ordered as if the explanations hadn't just been caused a lot of problems. "Don't use any of them, don't hurt anyone else, and just drop them behind us."
As the Apollo kids healed and the Ares kids gathered up the weapons, Piper kept talking to ensure that the others wouldn't break out of their trance and attack either them or the other side. She didn't need any more problems as it was. What she really needed was to get some rest because this Charmspeaking was a whole lot more tiring than it seemed and Chiron to come back, and at least ensure that the fights wouldn't be so big and they could talk it over. Of course, there would need to be someone watching over the campers so that another cabin wouldn't be set on fire or someone wouldn't be killed- Piper didn't want to think about the latter already happening, or had happened before she came. She had to focus on the positive, even where there's little of it.
Chaos, it'll be completely Hades when she gets up to Olympus.
She really needs to hurry now that she knows all this.
It was right when the Apollo kids announced that they had everything under control when Chiron, and the other immortal campers came back. They all looked furious, some weren't talking to each other instead glaring harshly, and there was a sense of disgruntling in them and surprise hidden well by all. There were burn marks on some of their shirts, hair singed at the edges and tangled, Connor Stoll was limping and Clarisse la Rue was clutching her arm. Chiron was in horse form with a fast asleep- at least, that's what Piper told herself- Nico di Angelo on his back. Thalia Grace was sparkling with electricity and when the Chaos crew looked to the right of them to see who was arriving, they all stopped at the sight of Piper McLean standing there with Percy Jackson and people they didn't know while they held the weapons behind them.
No one spoke, the other campers moved out the way and watched the exchange nervously and in anticipation to see what would happen. The arriving group just stared, Annabeth Chase in the background and looking at Percy with a frown, the gears obviously turning in her head; her face was smudged with dirt. Drew, who had soot on her legs that were bare up until her shorts, was the first to move by walking calmly up to Piper and without a clue to what she was doing, stood in front of her for a second.
It all happened so fast.
Drew's fist was flying towards Piper's face, Chiron was yelling at her, Clarisse was cheering her on, the campers were gasping, and she stood shocked to the core, planted at the ground while the clouds above them turned grey and thunder boomed just as a lightning bolt hit a few feet away from them.
And then Percy's hand was in front of her fist and her crew's swords were at her sister.
"You do not touch her," Percy growled. "Ever."
Cliffhanger.
You'll see why everyone was so pissed off, hurt, and why Drew decided to punch- excuse me, try to punch- Piper in the next chapter. Which reminds me, I'm sorry I'm so late on updating. I went on a camping trip, then to visit my grandparents, and then I got this major case of writer's block. You ever had writer's block where you just stare at the empty document page for an hour, trying to come up with something to post, but you just can't. Well, it's very frustrating to say the least.
But, I got it up and I'm going to try to do another chapter this weekend, along with one for each of my other two stories- which I think you should read, you know, because you guys are awesome- but I'm not making a promise I don't know if I'll keep. But I'm trying- or will try, I guess!
Well, I quite liked this chapter, and if you have any objections to the minor gods that I got off from gods-and-monsters . com, (no spaces) then please, when you tell me if you...
Love it? Hate it?
...tell me about it. C: