There's Nothing Sweeter

Disclaimer: I own neither 'Percy Jackson' or 'Harry Potter'. All recognisable characters, content or locations belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

Chapter Nine:

At dawn, on the third day since Percy and company's departure, Gwen was on the beach, running her usual morning laps. After two weeks, her speed and stamina had increased with help of the tree nymphs, who'd spent centuries running from persistent gods, but as she stopped after her fourth circuit, Gwen was interrupted in her routine by the presence of Lee, clad in exercise shorts and an undershirt, damp with sweat and what have you.

Normally, the Apollo children got up at dawn and spent the time before breakfast playing basketball, or volleyball, or swimming in the lake, or something equally as active, specifically for the purpose of exhausting as much of their excess energy as possible. It also kept them close-knit and fit, but as she eyed the Apollo cabin counsellor now, it was apparent that, for whatever reason, they'd finished up their morning activity early.

Gwen herself had at least another hour before she had to get ready for breakfast, and with every intention to spend that time practising her Tai Chi and the skills Clarisse wanted ingrained into Gwen's muscle memory, she was somewhat irked by the intrusion.

Even if it was Lee Fletcher, who'd somehow wormed his way under her skin with absolutely no intention to let her go.

"What's up, Legolas?"

"Nothing," he answered, settling himself on Gwen's yoga mat. She kicked him for his trouble, settled gracelessly in the sand beside him and cast a thousand mile stare over the ocean. The rising sun had painted the sky golden, and when she turned back to the son of Apollo, his smile was bright. Gwen was sure she'd never seen him look so peaceful. "I love the sunrise."

"No surprise there," she acknowledged, and her green eyes met blue, bright and fathomless. She'd never understood what it meant when people said that eyes were windows to the soul and Gwen didn't really believe it anyway, but she thought she could stare at Lee Fletcher's eyes forever.

And she hated that weakness.

With effort, Gwen wrenched her gaze away from the Apollo cabin counsellor, glowered at the lapping waves and firmed her resolve. She would not submit to whatever power Lee Fletcher had over her, or Merlin help her, she'd regress into that weak, orphan girl ready to cling onto any attention anyone gave her. And if Gwen knew anything, it was that she wouldn't be that girl again. The witch wouldn't let herself.

"What do you think about this lightning bolt drama?"

Gwen grimaced at the unpleasant reminder. She'd kept her mouth shut since Percy and company had left for their quest, but somehow word had been leaked of the entire mess and now the camp was divided the same way as their divine parents, and it was all just too much drama Gwen couldn't be bothered dealing with. More annoying was the fact that the Athena campers had taken to shadowing her everywhere, and Gwen was this close to simply hexing the morons.

"Why?" She asked gruffly, "Why does my opinion matter?"

"It's your father's lightning bolt," Lee answered plainly, "And he's accusing the Lord of the Seas of stealing it. Its wrong."

"Whatever," she groused, and got to her feet. She dusted off as much sand as possible, gathered up her exercise gear when Lee got up from her mat, and made her way towards the cabins. Lee followed, annoyingly persistent.

"What do you want me to say, Lee?" Gwen asked, exasperated, stood at the base of the Zeus Cabin porch, "Quite frankly, I have no loyalty to either of them, so why should I pick a side?"

Lee stepped backwards, his expression inscrutable, and Gwen wondered what was happening. It seemed as though Lee had been asking about a lot more than whom she thought was right in this mess, but his expression was shuddered, closed off to her, and Gwen had never been particularly good at reading him anyway.

"I don't know," Lee answered, "I just figured you'd care enough to fight for the right thing. I guess I was wrong."

Lee turned and began to walk away, and Gwen followed, insulted, bewildered, hurt and somewhat outraged. She'd never been able to let accusations like that go uncontested, and this time was no exception. It bothered Gwen that it was Lee she was confronting, but short of walking away, which was something Gwen would never do, there was nothing she could do about it.

"Care? You don't think I care?" Gwen exclaimed, "Of course I fucking care! Those Olympians sent a couple of twelve year olds to the goddamn underworld! Excuse me if I want no part in approving of that bullshit. Its nice to know what you think of me though, so thanks for that, asshole, and fuck you very much."

Heedless of the sparks she was radiating in her anger, Gwen stalked back to the Zeus cabin to retrieve her shower things. She cared not for the fact that her anger left the air around her an uncontrolled wind storm, that her hair had become a frightfully frizzy mess, and that the few campers awake had witnessed she and Lee's brief spat. Instead, she focused her attention on solely retrieving a change of clothes and her toiletries, glared at anyone brave enough to stand in her way as she headed to the girls' communal bathroom and tried to calm herself under the scalding hot shower spray. Before she could manage that, however, Silena found her, and Gwen braced herself for another argument with another friend.

The daughter of Aphrodite was leant against the shoulder high shower stall, and Gwen couldn't care less about the fact that Silena probably had an amazing view of her bare bum. In the dorms, the Gryffindor girls learned to discard modesty real fast, and Gwen was absolutely no exception to that particular rule.

"Do you know the reason why Chiron had to break up a fist fight between Lee, Mick, and the Stoll twins?"

Gwen grunted, eyes closed and hands efficiently lathering shampoo into her sable hair. "Buggered if I give a damn."

"I'll tell you why," Silena continued, apparently ignoring Gwen's comment, "Connor and Travis took insult with Lee's presumptions about you, and they reacted with fists. Mick didn't like the two to one odds against his brother, and so he got involved too."

Gwen cracked open one eye, made sure Silena wasn't pulling her leg, and then shrugged. The hurt, and the anger, broiled inside her, and her temper threatened to lash out at an unsuspecting daughter of Aphrodite, and Gwen struggled to keep it at bay, aware that Silena didn't deserve that.

"Do you expect me to be grateful for the boys? I don't need them fighting my battles for me. Lee was out of line, anyway, the git, so excuse me if I don't feel the slightest bit bad for him."

"What happened?" Silena queried. She wore a sincere frown of concern on her face, and Gwen marvelled at the fact she'd gotten so close with the girl so quickly. "Word is that you two got into an argument this morning. What was it about?"

"He basically called me an apathetic bitch this morning for not caring for what was allegedly 'right'," Gwen answered, "I corrected him of that assumption. Then I came here." Glibly, she added, "I must say, I'm rather impressed by the Camp Halfblood gossip mill."

"You're a hot topic," Silena explained blithely, "So what are your thoughts, concerning, well… everything?"

Gwen reiterated her point with unrelenting conviction, towelled herself off and began to get dressed. She dried her hair with a charm, brushed and styled it into her usual, haphazard braid and gave Silena a mirthless smile.

"Are you going to tear strips into me for not picking a side, too?"

Silena rolled her eyes, linked their arms together and walked with Gwen towards the Zeus cabin. She looked entirely unfazed by the glances sent their way, but Gwen supposed if you were as pretty as the Beauregard daughter, then you'd have to get used to the attention sooner or later.

"Of course not," she scoffed, "I couldn't give a damn about war. My mother just picked old Davy Jones' side because her lover did too."

Gwen hummed her acknowledgement. "As good a reason as any, I suppose."

When they reached the Zeus cabin, Gwen ushered Silena inside and began to store away her shower things. Dirty clothes were deposited in her laundry hamper, her toiletries were haphazardly dropped on Thalia's bed and Silena was examining the room with an eye for pretty things, and Gwen wondered what she thought.

"So what's the extra bed for?" Silena queried.

Gwen shrugged. "I think its just a symbolic thing, for Thalia."

"I didn't peg the big guy for sentimentality."

"Eh, neither did I," Gwen agreed, "But there's no other children of Zeus floating around, is there?"

Silena conceded the point with a nod, cast her gaze out one of Gwen's windows and hummed thoughtfully. The Aphrodite cabin counsellor was rather observant, Gwen had noticed, far more so than anyone really gave her credit for, and as Gwen watched her watch the camp, the witch wondered what Silena saw beyond the window.

"Demeter Cabin are sticking to themselves in this mess," Silena observed, "I don't think we'll have much access to the pot circle until the issue is resolved. A shame, I suppose."

"What about the Hephaestus cabin?"

"Decidedly neutral. I was talking to Chuck about it last night, actually. Same with the Dionysus twins, though I think their dad's told them to avoid you and that Jackson kid."

"His name is Percy," Gwen informed her friend, "And what's Clarisse's opinion?"

Silena grimaced. "She's just eager to pound some skulls. Clarisse doesn't really care who. You know she feels that she has something to prove, don't you?"

"I got that impression, yes," Gwen confirmed. She looked at her watch and sighed. Breakfast was in ten minutes, and though she had no desire to face the masses, skipping meals was not tolerated unless a camper was infirmary bound.

With that in mind, she gathered up the things she'd need for the day, followed Silena out the cabin and locked it behind her. Their conversation continued on the way to the dining pavilion, and once again, the glances sent their way were summarily ignored.

"I guess its obvious where Connor and Travis stand," Silena mused.

"And Lee as well." Gwen's tone was bitter, and Silena's smile was sympathetic.

"He'll come around, Shorty."

"Whatever," she grunted, expression sour. They reached the pavilion though, and headed their separate ways. She could hear conversation around her, arguments, mostly, about the Poseidon and Zeus debacle, and Gwen blocked it out, not interested in being approached for her opinion.

Again.

.. Instead, she settled at the Zeus table, made her offerings and dug into her breakfast, and as she did so, her time at Camp Halfblood had never seemed so lonely.

Author's note: A difficult chapter to write, and somewhat shorter than the others. Reviews are love and your predictions are always entertaining.. Until next time, -t.