[David's Pov]

I was never comfortable with the concept of the holiday.

Usually, it meant that the streets were extra loud and messy, which would always put my dear scumbag of a stepfather in a bad mood.

Even after I was sent to Westover Hall, the school only celebrated when the oldest kids inside would leave their territory.

In short, I had just learned what Valentine's Day was at noon on that very day.

"So it's a day for people who love each other? Like families?"

The entire cabin roared with laughter at my question.

"Not unless you're into that kind of stuff!" Kara cackled from her bunk bed.

Instantly, a frayed pillow swung down from above and smacked her in her round nose.

"I'll take a hard pass," Clovis said from the second floor, "Clarisse is a burden, but you carve out a revolutionary level in unattractive."

With an enraged snarl, Kara snatched the pillow stuck to her face and hauled its owner to the ground.

If the floor weren't made of the same material as a wrestling mat, Clovis would have broken his back.

But that near-fatal didn't faze him at all. Clovis got up and tackled Kara, headbutting her straight in the gut.

"Fight! Fight! FIGHT!"

The whole cabin gathered into the ring as Kara and Clovis struggled to strangle each other, shouting curse words and insults.

I would have been more concerned if, you know, this kind of commotion didn't happen at least three times a day.

"Hey," A low whisper came from my left.

Surprisingly, Marcus kept his distance from the fight in the middle of the room.

After sparing a glance at the crowd, he urgently beckoned me to his bed. I quietly got up and slid next to him.

"What's up? If you want another sparing, my sword—"

"No, not that, you dolt," Marcus scowled. Then, he let out a huge sigh, extracted the annoyed frown, and nervously scratched the back of his neck.

Typically, Calming Down and Being Nervous were the two things you would not expect from a hardcore Ares child-like Marcus.

Needless to say, I was significantly taken aback.

But that surprise was nothing compared to the question he asked as a follow-up.

"Newbie, do you have a date for the party?"

"Date?" I repeated.

For a second, I wondered if he was asking what day it was, but even I wasn't that dense. If Valentine's Day was about non-family love, then there isn't so much the word could mean.

"No, I don't have one. I didn't even know there was a party today. First time Valentine's Day, remember?"

As I explained myself, my thought drifted over to Zoë. Did the Hunters celebrate Valentine's Day as well? What if they stayed for extra months...

The imagery of our dance at Olympus and, more importantly, our farewell in the woods washed up in my head.

One happy, one melancholy memory, but in both of them, Zoë was etched into

It was a guilty thought, but I couldn't help but wish Zoë would finish whatever task she had at hand. Then, she would leave the hunt...

...although, if she left the hunt for me...how would the other members think?

"Hey!"

Marcus snapped his finger right under my nose, breaking my daze.

"What's the matter with you? You looked like someone killed your cat," He muttered, irritated.

"Sorry," I muttered, pushing the uncomfortable feelings aside, "What were you saying again?"

Marcus scowled, "Look if you don't have a date, I need your help. I—"

He rummaged in his pocket in search of something. However, Sherman barged in with a wide grin before Marcus could pull out the item.

"Yeah, green greens," He said, using my nickname, "You can help Marcus by playing poker with him at the Big House because this one doesn't have a date for three years straight."

The whole cabin roared with laughter, including Clovis and Kara, who each had a black eye and bloody nose.

His face redder than a ripe tomato, Marcus threw Sherman's hand off his shoulder and bolted up to his feet.

"Screw off! As if you had any luck with that girl from Demeter's cabin, you—"

Sherman cut off Marcus by pulling out a green envelope from his sleeve.

Instantly, everyone crowded around Sherman, uncaringly pushing us aside with their shoulders.

"Whoa, look at that!"

"Wait, seriously?!"

"No way! Miranda caved in?!"

"Little strokes fell great oaks, my friends," Sherman smirked, waving the little envelope as if it was the 5th golden ticket, "Now, who else has a partner for tonight?"

Most cabinmates raised their hands, whooping and jeering at the few that didn't with deplorable expressions.

Sherman clapped his hands with a satisfied grin, "All right then. We have 2 hours before the party starts; let's check on our partners. As for the unluckys..."

He threw us each a small sack. One landed on my lap, and when I opened it, it was filled with a handful of chocolate drachmas.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"Poker," one of the cabin mates answered, "The partner-less Campers spend the night at the Big House."

"Usually, you'll find your next year's match there," Sherman added, "Of course, there are unfortunate exceptions..."

He knowingly glanced at Marcus, who flipped him the bird in response.

It was more akin to the Marcus I knew, but there was no hiding his crestfallen atmosphere as he picked up the chocolate sack.

After Sherman led most of the cabin's five members out, the remaining few said they would go to the Big House and hopefully sabotage the game in their favor.

I doubted they could outsmart the Children of Hermes while cheating, but I wished them luck.

The cabin was empty except for Marcus and I, who heaved a sigh and threw himself onto the bed.

He started to chuck small hand-knives across the room to the dart board. One of the knives landed between Percy's eyes, plastered over the plank.

"Come on, Marcus. Don't be so down. You needed my help for something, right?"

Marcus glanced at me, balancing the next knife at the tip of his forefinger.

"Forget it," He scowled, landing his last shot at Sherman's pillow, which was covered with stitches, "It's never going to happen anyway."

"What's not going to happen?"

"I said forget it! Sophia wouldn't—"

Marcus hurriedly bit his tongue, but it was too late. I propped on my bed in excitement.

"Sophia? You mean the Athena girl from before?"

I vaguely recalled her from one of our previous Capture the Flag games.

Marcus had been oddly passive during the match, and he never took his eyes off Sophia the whole time we were under custody.

"You want to ask her to the party!" I exclaimed, sitting up from my bed.

Marcus glowered for a few seconds, then, with a resigned sigh, nodded heavily.

From his pocket, he pulled out a small envelope. It was cramped on all four edges, and the opening threatened to rip open at any moment.

"There's no way in Hades that she'd agree anyway," Marcus muttered, casting aside the letter on the ground.

I picked up the envelope. It was rough and poorly made, but it is evident that Marcus spent much time writing it.

"Why not?" I asked, "I can tell you really want to take her to the party. If so, I don't see why not."

Marcu flopped back onto his bed.

"You're still too naive, newbie," He muttered, "Just because you want it doesn't mean you can have it."

"Isn't that the code of conduct of our cabin?" I pointed out.

If I counted all the things my cabinmates "permanently borrowed" from other campers, I'd be ranting on for a good month or two—it's a nightmare to return all of them one by one under their noses.

Even Marcus couldn't disagree, but he didn't look any better. He stared at the underside of the bunk bed, full of scabbards he made.

"Sophia likes books," He said, "Whenever she has a chance, she always has at least three books next to her, reading and reading..."

Marcus shifted in my direction, "And well, we both know I'm unfamiliar with literature. Let's say she reads my letter and decides to come out—then what?

What am I supposed to say to her? I've never opened a single page of a book in my life! What if—"

Marcus paused momentarily as if a giant spider got stuck in his throat.

"What if...she is disappointed in me?" He finished in a mutter.

His confession made me hesitate, and Marcus continued glumly.

"I'll never be a suitable guy for a girl like Sophy," He said, "She deserves someone smarter, not some blockhead ignoramus. Some matches aren't meant to be together. You know what I'm talking about?"

A chilling idea settled in my head as Marcus looked me in the eyes.

What if I became a man not enough to satisfy Zoë Nightshade after she left the hunt? Wouldn't that be just ruining her life all over again after whatever happened between her and Herakles?

"You're afraid you'd hurt someone by liking them?" I asked cautiously.

Marcus didn't answer my question for a long time. In silence, he looked over his reflection over the knife in his thick-skinned, coarse hands.

"Sophia has such soft hands, you know," He said. The eyes in the reflection became soft and misty as if looking at a beautiful rainbow across the bronze blade, "Whenever she'd flip over a page, she always makes sure that it won't damage the book."

Then, the light in the eyes darkened.

"My hands...my hands are too rugged for her," Marcus said. He thrust the last knife in his hand. It landed right in the middle of the owl mark on the right.

"Besides, she is from Cabin 6. We won't mix well anyway."

With a resigned sigh, Marcus got up from his bed.

"Come on, newbie. The others will be waiting in the Big House. I'll show you how a real poker player plays."

He tried to muster a defiant grin, but it came out as an adust grimace.

As Marcus prepared to leave for the Poker Night, I carefully straightened out the discarded envelope's edge, sealed the loose opening, and handed it to Marcus.

"I think," I started carefully, in case Marcus lashed out in irritation, "Even if the chance is slim, it is worth a shot, Marcus."

"What makes you say that?" Marcus scowled.

"Because you like her, don't you?"

Marcus stared at me in silence for a long time. Then, he snatched the letter from my grasp and growled, "I swear on the Shrine of Ares if you ever blab about this to anyone else—"

I gave him a thumbs up, "My lips are sealed, man. Don't worry."

Marcus smirked before running out of the cabin. I glanced at the clock, which indicated that there was roughly an hour before the Valentine's party began, which meant I had more than enough time to visit the forge.

[Line Break]

Cabin 9 was surprisingly less vacant than I had expected.

More than half of the residents had decided not to participate in either activity and instead to work on their projects. Judging by their concentrated expressions, the choice was voluntary.

I carefully made through the tinkering batch of Hephaestus children until I reached the smallest bunk bed at the very inside of the cabin.

Leo sprang up from his bed as soon as his eyes landed on me and greeted me with a wide grin.

"Hey, man! Been wondering when you'd show up. Here."

He reached under his bed, pulled out a drawer, and heaved a 4-foot-long onyx long sword.

"It's made from an alloy of Celestial Bronze and Cocyton Onyx."

As Leo held up the blade, it expelled freezing air like a block of dry ice. Tiny flickers of flame danced around Leo's fingers to prevent getting frostbites.

"Cocy...what's that?" I asked with a frown.

Leo shivered, "It means the material is smelted, or at least cooled by the river Cocytus. You know; the one that makes people sad."

"A vast understatement for one of the five main rivers of Tartarus, but sure."

I picked up the sword and, making sure to avoid touching the blade part, looked it over.

The sword itself wasn't too distinguishable in design. It was a standard long sword, slightly longer than the average length, and balanced by the hilt so that it wouldn't go flying out of my hand after a giant swing.

"Nice craftsmanship," I gave Leo a small applause. However, Leo switched in his signature mischievous grin and rubbed his palms together.

"Oh, please," He said in an exaggerated opera tone, "You're not honestly thinking I made something as mundane as a simple sword, are you? Isn't the sword a bit too long for your liking?"

I took some experimental swings with the sword.

"I mean...it could be a little shorter, but there's nothing really I can do about it."

"Wish it to get shorter."

I stared at Leo. Was he pulling my leg?

It was a regular routine in Cabin 5 for one to ask the other to do something completely stupid solely to make fun of them, so I was a bit skeptical at the silly request.

But Leo insisted that I try, so I grabbed the hilt and silently wished for the sword to get shorter. To my disbelief, as soon as the idea popped into my head, the blade shortened to a neat one-hand combat sword.

"Holy Zeus!" I swung the blade around with much more ease. Small snowflakes blossomed through the trajectory of the sword before quickly melting in the hot air of the forge.

Leo puffed up his chest and held his nose high, "If you want it, you can shrink it to a dagger size for easier portability. In addition, as you've just witnessed, the sword has a cryo-something ability, so it can freeze stuff."

"Cryokinetic," I corrected him. The vast amount of time I spent in Athena Cabin's study activities was paying off.

Leo shrugged, "Whatever. It means I made a spanking hot—err, cold sword. Oh, and also a scabbard."

"You really did," I caught the scabbard, hoisted it next to my belt, and slid the blade into it.

The cold aura emitting from the blade was still prominent, but I was delighted to have my own weapon once again.

"Thanks, Leo. I owe you one."

Leo gave me a salute and flopped back onto his bed, which, now I realized, was littered with various metal parts.

"Hey, If anything, I owe you one for bringing me here. I never had a..." Leo looked up from his tinkering job and scanned the cabin, filled with dozens of his fellow siblings.

He swallowed the next word, but I had a good guess what he was going to thank me for. I patted him on the back and turned to leave when Leo suddenly asked a question from behind.

"Hey, David. Do you think Calypso from the myths?"

I turned around. Leo was staring up with his back on his bunk bed, so it was difficult to see his expression.

"I do, why?" I asked.

Leo's hands fidgeted with the small scrap parts, combining them into a tiny boat, then an aircrew plane, and then a chair with a propeller attached at the back.

"In the myths, they say she was an evil sorceress," He said, "Do you think that's correct?"

The question took me by surprise. I never knew Leo was interested in Greek Mythology, much less in such a specific personage.

"Well..."

I ran through the story of Calypso and Odysseus. The exact years may vary, but the gist of the story was that Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and detained him on her island, Ogygia, for years, offering him to become immortal and become his husband.

"I wouldn't say what she did was right," I said, "But I don't think that makes her evil. If she wanted, she could have done much, much worse things. I think she was just far too lonely."

Leo nodded slowly and returned to whatever he was crafting.

[Line Break]

Right when I left Cabin 9, an array of fireworks set off in the sky. The people gathered by the campfire cheered as one, all of them arm in arm with their partners.

From the row of cabins, late couples were hurrying down the hill to join in the party—and from Cabin 6, I saw Marcus hobbling after Sophia, both of them only half in their respectful outfits, but their hands were firmly grasped as they ran to the fireplace together.

...Nice.

However, when I was about to head to the Big House, something caught my eye. There was a lone person huddled by Thalia's tree at the Half-Blood Hill.

When I made my way over, the namesake of said tree looked up with a scowl that would rival Clarisse.

"I swear, if you have anything Lee Fletcher gave you, I'm going to snap your neck."

Small electrical sparks flickered from the edges of her spiky hair, but I was more confused than intimidated by her threat.

"Lee Fletcher, as in the Head Counselor of the Apollo Cabin? Why would he give me anything? And why would you care?"

Thalia gritted her teeth as if I had stabbed her in the foot with my new sword. She angrily hesitated for a few seconds, then said, "That idiot has been trying to seduce me for days now. By the next attempt, I'm going to make sure the message is clear and permanent."

"You should really meet Clarisse. I think you two will make good friends."

Thalia scowled and emitted another round of sparks. Peleus rumbled in his sleep and shifted slightly away from Thalia.

"If you don't have anything to say, then leave." She spat.

The smart thing to do would have been to leave the angry daughter of Zeus alone. So naturally, I plopped down next to her on the grass.

"Why are you out here alone, anyway? There is a party down by the campfire—"

"I don't have a partner, you dolt."

"—or, you could go to the Big House instead of, you know, staying here...alone."

Thalia glared at me. It made me wonder, could she shoot lightning from her eyes as well? I wasn't eager to find out the answer to that question.

"Not that there is anything wrong with that," I hastily added before I got fried, "But you know, I'm just...curious."

I expected Thalia to scowl and shoo me away again. However, this time, her glower was headed to the outskirts of the hill.

Then, a sudden realization hit me. Thalia was sitting at the exact spot of her legendary last stand, where she held off a hoard of monsters while young Annabeth and Luke made it across the border.

"...Everything is so different now," Thalia muttered. Maybe she was talking to herself rather than me, but I propped up my ears and listened closely anyway.

"The last time I saw Annabeth, she was 7 years old. She was barely my waist height. I had to sing her lullaby to scare off the nightmares. She could barely hold the knife Luke..."

Thalia swallowed the name as if the word materialized in her throat as a block of sand.

"...the knife Luke gave her. When I woke up, she was 13 and a cabin counselor. She can stab two guys within 7 seconds. She is almost my height. And Luke...he is gone."

Thalia's voice shook. Her head hung low, between her knees.

"Between the three of us, I'm the only one that is left behind." She muttered, "Annabeth moved on. Luke is gone...and I'm still here. Alone."

The Daughter of Zeus wistfully tapped the bark of the tree.

"You're not."

Thalia's shoulders tensed. Her head was still tucked in, but her blue eyes flicked sideways to my direction.

"We're all here, aren't we?"

I handed her the bag full off chocolate drachmas. Thalia glanced at the bag suspiciously. I popped one coin in my mouth and handed her another.

After a quick hesitation, Thalia took the coin and stuffed it into her mouth.

From the inner side of the hill, a romantic chorus echoed from the campfire. A cross between victorious laughter and frustrated complaints rang from the Big House.

One way or another, everyone was enjoying the holiday on their own way.

Maybe this is the true meaning of a holiday.

If so...I think it's quite alright.


A/N:

And that's the end of the Valentine's Day Arc!

Out of the three chapters, I am most happy with this chapter, so I hope you feel the same as well.

For those wondering, I am doing well in the army so far and hopefully this smooth sailing continues until the end.

Also, there is going to be a small change in the arcs moving forward. These small stories are turning out to be longer than I first assumed, so I am cutting off the less important ones.

For example, the next story I originally had in mind was about the small story in Demigod's Story, where Percy helps Clarisse finds Ares's chariot.

However, I have decided to skip this one and dive right into the next one. Hopefully, I can get out the next chapter sooner.

That's all for now, I hope you all had a fun time reading and see you all next chapter!