Alternate Main Title: Kayla IV / Piper IV

Chapter Title: Things Change For The Better

(A/N: A little bit I didn't explain in the last chapter. Colton in the flashback vision that Jason saw was actually not entirely using Gilham's manual. His method of loading on the hellhound is actually from another Confederate manual, William J. Hardee's light infantry tactics. This version is "load in 9 times" instead of "load in 10 times", among other things. Two chapters left after this and then that's Part I done with!)

The return of everyone had been so sudden. Katie, Travis, Connor, and Rose had just returned from their quest to free Iris, who had been captured. It's a story that I think Rose herself should be telling you and not me, so I won't go into it. But like I said, it had been very sudden.

One minute we were all eating in the dining pavilion, and the next in a blink of an eye, the six sent to free Hera were back — just like that.

With zero warning at all. Needless to say, all of us were definitely caught by surprise. No one could even doubt that part at all. But with them back, that meant only one thing - that the quest to free Hera had obviously been a complete success. So there was legitimate cause for celebration, which the rest of camp took no time in immediately using as a means to celebrate.

- — - — - — -

Piper had not remembered much about the rest of that night, if she had to be honest here. They had told their story about what had happened on the quest to camp, and believe me, the level of surprise and shock on Kayla's face when they had mentioned the fact that the Monster King actually had a secret spiritual backup in case of well.. things like whatever happened to Colton occurring.. was worth seeing for one to believe it. Piper wasn't lying about that part at all. They also answered a million questions from the other campers, but finally Chiron saw how tired they were and ordered them to bed. To be fair though, Piper herself had a million questions about a lot of things at the moment, most of those things relating to the missing Colton Reynolds of course.

It felt so good to sleep on a real mattress for once in a while, and Piper was so exhausted, she crashed immediately, which spared her any worry about what it would be like returning to the Aphrodite cabin.

The next morning she woke in her bunk, feeling reinvigorated. The sun came through the windows along with a pleasant breeze. It might've been spring instead of winter. Birds sang. Monsters howled in the woods. Breakfast smells wafted from the dining pavilion—bacon, pancakes, and all sorts of wonderful things. Normally, the smell of breakfast would have been enough to have Piper in a good mood, but unfortunately, due to what confronted her, internally she was both annoyed and delighted, for an opportunity that she had been waiting for had arrived.

Drew and her gang were frowning down at her, their arms crossed. Nearby, Alyssa was frowning at Drew and her gang as well.

"Morning." Piper sat up and smiled. "Beautiful day."

"You're going to make us late for breakfast," Drew said, "which means you both get to clean the cabin for inspection."

A week ago, Piper would've either punched Drew in the face, or hidden back under her covers. Now she thought about the Cyclopes in Detroit, Medea in Chicago, Midas turning her and the others to gold in Omaha. Looking at Drew, who used to bother her, Piper laughed. Alyssa simply smiled.

Drew's smug expression crumbled. She backed up, then remembered she was supposed to be angry. "What are you—"

"Challenging you," Piper said. "How about noon in the arena? You can choose the weapons."

She got out of bed, stretched leisurely, and beamed at her cabinmates. She spotted Mitchell and Lacy, who'd helped her pack for the quest. They were smiling tentatively, their eyes flitting from Piper to Drew like this might be a very interesting tennis game. Alyssa was also smiling, for she had been the one to encourage Piper to do this while on the quest.

"I missed you guys!" Piper announced. "We're going to have a great time when I'm senior counselor."

Drew turned bug juice red. Even her closest lieutenants looked a little nervous. This wasn't in their script. Not at all.

They had been outplayed by Piper and Alyssa.

"You—" Drew spluttered. "You ugly little witch! I've been here the longest. You can't just—"

"Challenge you?" Piper said. "Sure, I can. Camp rules: I've been claimed by Aphrodite. I've completed a quest, which is one more than you've completed. If I feel I can do a better job, I can challenge you. Unless you just want to step down. Did I get all that right, Mitchell?"

"Just right, Piper." Mitchell was grinning. Lacy was bouncing up and down like she was trying to achieve liftoff.

A few of the other kids started to grin, as if they were enjoying the different colors Drew's face was turning.

"Step down?" Drew shrieked. "You're crazy!"

Piper shrugged. Then fast as a viper she pulled Katoptris from under her pillow, unsheathed the dagger, and thrust the point under Drew's chin. Everybody else backed up fast. One guy crashed into a makeup table and sent up a plume of pink powder.

"A duel, then," Piper said cheerfully. "If you don't want to wait until noon, now is fine. You've turned this cabin into a dictatorship, Drew. Silena Beauregard knew better than that. Aphrodite is about love and beauty. Being loving. Spreading beauty. Good friends. Good times. Good deeds. Not just looking good. Silena made mistakes, but in the end she stood by her friends. That's why she was a hero. I'm going to set things right, and I've got a feeling Mom will be on my side. I mean, I already know that Colton would have been on my side if he was here. So do you want to find out?"

Drew went cross-eyed looking down the blade of Piper's dagger.

A second passed. Then two. Piper didn't care. She was absolutely happy and confident. It must've shown in her smile. Alyssa looked the same way.

"I ... step down," Drew grumbled. "But if you think I'm ever going to forget this, McLean—"

"Oh, I hope you won't," Piper said. "Now, run along to the dining pavilion, and explain to Chiron why we're late. There's been a change of leadership."

"That's right.." Alyssa said.

Drew backed to the door. Even her closest lieutenants didn't follow her. She was about to leave when Piper said, "Oh, and Drew, honey?"

The former counselor looked back reluctantly.

"In case you think I'm not a true daughter of Aphrodite," Piper said, "don't even look at Jason Grace. He may not know it yet, but he's mine. If you even try to make a move, I will load you into a catapult and shoot you across Long Island Sound."

"I would probably do worse.." Alyssa muttered, the mask slipping off a good bit. "I know Clara and Bryce probably would too."

Drew basically had enough with these psychos now. She turned around so fast, she ran into the doorframe. Then she was gone.

The cabin was silent. The other campers stared at Piper. This was the part she was unsure of. She didn't want to rule by fear. She wasn't like Drew, but she didn't know if they'd accept her. Alyssa, for her part, also looked unsure and perhaps a bit regretful of her actions too.

Then, spontaneously, the Aphrodite campers cheered so loudly, they must've been heard all across camp. They herded Piper and Alyssa out of the cabin, raised them on their shoulders, and carried both of them all the way to the dining pavilion—still in their pajamas, their hair still a mess, but neither of them didn't care one bit about it at all. Piper had never felt better.

By afternoon, both had changed into comfortable camp clothes and had led the Aphrodite cabin through their morning activities. Piper was now ready for free time.

Some of the buzz of her victory had faded because she had an appointment at the Big House. Fortunately, even though Alyssa was with the rest of the cabin by this point, Piper didn't have to walk to the Big House alone.

- — - — - — -

Kayla had been, as probably could have been expected, moping about by the Apollo Cabin - for she really didn't feel like being in the Typhon Cabin right now. Not with the void she felt by Colton's absence. Piper, while walking up to the Big House, just so happened to notice Kayla down in the dumps, so being the friend that she was, she decided to try to help cheer Kayla up.

"Hey there Kayla.." she said. Kayla just lifted her head from being buried in her arms as she sat on the rocking chair on the porch of the Apollo Cabin. She had been trying not to cry, but failing miserably by the way. Even with the news of her boyfriend's powers containing more secrets than she or even he had known about being revealed to CHB last night, she still felt lonely without him by her side.

Piper sighed. "You really do miss him, don't you..?" she asked. Kayla just nodded.

"I'm guessing that this is how he must have felt - albeit much less than it feels for me - when I had to leave CHB at the end of my first summer.." Kayla muttered. "From what Clarisse had said, he didn't really seem like himself while I was gone. Guessing her having enough of him was why she ended up dragging him out to the desert with her that one time."

"What are you even talking about?" Piper asked, a bit confused.

Kayla stopped crying and looked up at Piper, surprised. "I'm surprised no one told you about Chris Rodriguez.." she said. "He used to be at camp, until he joined the Titan Army a few months after Luke betrayed camp. Poor guy - he ended up being sent into the labyrinth with a couple other demigods in order to find the entrance that was at Zeus' fist. And man, was the labyrinth was a vicious predator back in the day.. he had the misfortune of watching both his teammates die and went insane after encountering Minos.. ending up in the Arizona Desert, not far from Clarisse' childhood home."

"Clarisse was born in Arizona..?" Piper asked.

Kayla nodded. "Believe it or not, yes she was.." she replied back. "So, once her mom called her.. told her about Chris.. while I don't know what was going through her mind at the time, she somehow figured that going to Arizona was a good enough opportunity to get Colton out of the cabin and 'stop moping', as she put it. Turns out, she made a great choice. Colton somehow talked Chris out of the mania."

Piper's eyes went wide at the revelation. "Wow.. that's.. amazing.." she sputtered. "..Is.. he supposed to be able to do that?"

"As an Ares kid, nope.." Kayla replied. "Even he doesn't really understand how he did that at all. Either way, per his own admission, he couldn't really stop thinking about me the whole time he was there. No matter what he did, sooner or later.. his mind would inevitably return to thinking about me."

Kayla got up from her seat, and stepped off of the porch now, changing the conversation briefly as she did so. "Were you going somewhere..?" she asked Piper. The latter's mind was blank for a moment until she remembered.

"Oh right, yeah.." Piper muttered. "I was heading up to the Big House.." She turned quite a bit anxious. "Got a video conference with my dad."

Kayla simply nodded. "Might as well walk up with you, I guess.. since I got nothing else to do at the moment.." she muttered, and then the two walked off towards the Big House, leaving the Apollo Cabin behind. Neither of them noticed the shadowy Monster King simply sitting up in the trees above the cabins, watching the two.

"I thought I was naive about my feelings for him back then.. well, mostly - I couldn't really sleep a whole lot due to not being in the same bed as him during that time.." Kayla admitted. "..but from what he told me, it seems to me that he was just as naive about how he felt too. He accidentally admitted to Chris that I kissed him on the cheek during our first summer together at camp, who then proceeded to tell him that it was a sign that I wanted him - and that still went over his head."

"Boys will be boys.." Piper muttered. "What made him finally realize the truth..?"

"You know that part of the story where both he and Percy ended up on Calypso's Island..?" Kayla asked Piper, who nodded. She had been told this part of the story by Jason, who had heard it from Silena during a conversation they had after Piper had been claimed by Aphrodite.

"Hephaestus eventually visited them after two weeks.. brought along the information that I was in a completely emotional wrecked state.." Kayla started, a few tears threatening to come out of her eyes, but she fought them off. "..mentioned to him about how I - as Colton put it - was 'rambling on about how she never got the chance to tell her hero that he stole her heart'. I had realized, thanks to your mother and Silena, that I was in love with him after he got sent on that mission to Hephaestus' forge that resulted in him and Percy being on Calypso's island for two weeks - so I was in hysterics."

"You poor thing.. I thought Jason not remembering the times he spent with me was bad.." Piper said, hugging Kayla who just gently hugged Piper back. "..but that sounded worse."

"Tell me about it.." Kayla responded. "..all the pain, misery, grief I felt when I thought he was dead.. it only made the positive emotions I felt when he came back that much more pure, sweeter, and intense. Either way, after those words left Hephaestus' mouth, it didn't take him long to put two and two together about what he had meant when he had said them, and that's what caused him to put two and two together about his own feelings for me and realize the truth. He didn't put up with Percy on the way back, per his own words, for nothing - even with them being rivals."

Both of them separated from the hug, continuing on up towards the Big House. "I don't doubt it at all.. and I just have to say honestly.." Piper said, deciding now to express how she felt about the two. She paused for a moment before expressing that though. "Kayla.. what you and Colton have is unbelievably sweet. Even though since he's missing, I haven't had the chance to see him interact with you, I have no doubts that prophecy or no prophecy, he truly did deserve someone like you."

Kayla smiled brightly, in a way that made it seem like her whole body was glowing with power of many different, mutually supporting colors at the exact same time. Tears of joy spilled a little bit from her cheeks, as her eyes just lit up like a Christmas Tree. "Thank you.." she murmured. "Thank you so much."

Piper smiled back and nodded, happy that at least for now, Kayla was out of her funk for a little bit. Besides, with the knowledge that the Monster King came with a backup spiritual form to lead in case of missing wielder, she needed to be so, because in and of itself, it implied that her boyfriend was still alive.

Whether Kayla realized that or not, Piper couldn't really tell.

They both continued the rest of the way up to the Big House, chatting all the while. Chiron met them on the front porch in human form, compacted into his wheelchair. "Come inside, my dear. The video conference is ready."

Piper and Chiron both went inside, the door shutting behind them while Kayla simply turned around and stared out at the clear sky on this day, still smiling brightly. She still had no clue when she would see her beloved again, but she at least knew one thing now for certain.

There is still hope that I will get to be with him again after all.

That, to be fair, was precisely what she needed at this time.