Family Feud

Leave it to my luck to constantly have things go wrong when I'm on my highest. I made my way through the atrium, following Reyna's trail… I think. I assumed she was going to her room. No such luck.

I arrived to find her room unlocked and devoid of life. Leaving her helmet on her bed, I returned to the atrium to try and find her. I could overhear some sort of argument in the distance.

I'll get to that later.

CRASH!

On second thought, I might want to check that out.

I rushed over to the sound of the commotion. The journey led me to one of the living rooms in the house. There I was greeted with a… troubling scene.

"YOU TWO BIT DAUGHTER OF APHRODITE! YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST STAYED DEAD!"

"I'm sorry! I told you I'm sorry! Was dying not enough?!"

Drew screamed at Silena, who was curled in a fetal position, bawling her eyes out. Hazel was pulling back on Drew, trying to get her away from Silena. Rubies and emeralds were popping up left and right at her feet. And Piper… Piper was on the ground unconscious. Broken glass was littered around her body. Blood pooled around her head. Drew was swinging around what looked like the top half of a vase. But if she was carrying that half…

My vision went red as I pieced together the events. A tug in my gut left me nauseous. The very ground beneath us started shaking, vibrating the entire island to its roots. Waves churned along the coastline. It seemed as though the island were reflecting my rage.

I focused on the gut feeling and called for the sea. Within seconds, a torrent of water flew through an open window and crashed into Drew. I wasn't going to let her get off that easy. I willed the water to form a cocoon around her and lifted her off of the ground. She wriggled and tried to free herself, to no avail. The veil of water also covered her face, so she tried to scream for air. I was half tempted to let her drown… Perhaps even make her implode…

I opened up a small patch of water around her head and tried to keep my voice steady.

"Drew… go to your room…"

She continued struggling in the water's grip. "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL THIS EXCUSE OF A SISTER—"

"DREW! Unless you want me to purée you in that water, you will shut up and go to your room NOW!"

To emphasize my point, I threw her against one of the couches with enough force to topple it backwards and send her rolling with it. She coughed and scampered back to her feet. Still soaking wet, she realized there was no way to win this and stomped off to her room.

I turned my attention to Silena, who was still sobbing and hyperventilating on the floor. Hazel knelt by her, trying to comfort the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Could you help Silena to her room? I'll be there shortly. I just have to take care of Piper first."

Hazel nodded and, with some comforting words of support, helped Silena to her feet and escorted her to her room.

I turned my attention to Piper. She was still breathing, much to my relief. I picked up her limp body and placed her on one of the couches (the one that I didn't just flip over). With a little bit of work from the water that splattered on the floor, I healed the gash in Piper's head. It was definitely going to scar. I just hoped that the damage didn't do anything worse.

Piper mumbled out, but otherwise remained still. I caressed her cheek, running water along her head and face until I was sure the wound was fully taken care of. Only when she started snoring did I breathe a sigh of relief. She is just sleeping now. If Drew struck her just two inches lower…

Pulling myself out of that thought, I placed a blanket over Piper. With her now comfortably resting, I made my way down to Silena's room.

Making my way down the hall, I passed by the silver haired nymph, Thŷella.

"Hey. I hate to ask this, but there was a bit of a scuffle over in the living room." I pointed down the hallway, back the way I came. "Could you guys possibly have that cleaned up?"

The oceanid bowed her head slightly and mumbled. "Yes, Master. Right away. Though, if I may ask, what was it about?"

I frowned. "I'm about to find out."

Her eyes widened and she nodded quickly before trying to quickly escape my sight. I turned around to grab her wrist. She panicked slightly, but regained her composure.

"Is there anything else you need assistance with, Master?"

I gave her a small smile, but I was trying to work out why she was so timid around me.

"No. I just wanted to ask you to please be careful and not hurt yourself. There's broken glass and other nasty stuff." I thought back to the small pool of Piper's blood.

She looked briefly taken aback, but gave a slight nod. I let her leave and returned to my journey. I arrived to Silena's room to find the door ajar. Walking in, I found the crying daughter of Aphrodite on her bed, still being whispered to by Hazel. The golden eyed demigoddess looked up at me, her expression clearly uncomfortable. I walked up to the pair and sat down next to Silena, opposite of the side Hazel was sitting.

"Okay," I said, "what happened?"

Silena didn't say anything. She just kept her head bowed, staring at the floor.

"Well," Hazel said, "Silena and I were just having some lunch. We were chatting about our time in the Underworld and how boring it was."

I nodded for her to continue.

"Sometime during that, Drew walked out and overheard us. She made some sny remark about how Silena got off easy in Asphodel. Silena tried defending herself, but then Drew exploded on her. Things just escalated from there."

I held my chin in my palm, staring at the wall. "How did Piper get involved in this?"

Hazel looked down at her jeans. "Well, she walked in during the argument. Guess she heard the yelling. She tried calming everyone down, but she wound up distracted."

"Distracted how?"

"By Silena. She was trying to calm down Drew's yelling at first, but then she saw Silena in tears. She turned her attention to calming Silena, and that gave Drew the opening she needed to smash the vase against her." Her eyes widened suddenly. "Is she okay?"

"I think she'll be okay. She's lucky to be alive though. Two inches lower and she would have lost her ear… and that's if it wasn't hard enough to kill her… Why did Drew hit her?"

She shook her head miserably. "I don't know. Maybe because she didn't want Piper to use her charmspeak. Maybe she was just lashing out for being angry at this place."

I shook my head. "That doesn't call for that reaction." I then looked to Silena. "Hazel, could you go ahead and check on the nymphs. I sent them to clean up the mess."

Understanding the real purpose of my proposal, she nodded and left. Something tells me she was a little thankful to no longer be in the middle of this.

"Silena," I called.

She didn't budge. Seriously, is it just a daughter of Aphrodite thing to become all rigid when you're upset?

I wrapped my hand around hers. "Silena. Please talk to me."

Her shoulders slumped even further than they already were. She let out a long breath before looking at me.

"Why are you guys being so nice to me?"

That was a pleasant start.

"What?"

"Why are you guys being so nice? Seriously, Drew was right. I deserved worse."

I tightened my grip on her hand. "Silena, stop. You don't deserve any worse. Just about everyone at camp considers you a hero. Heck, after you passed, Clarisse glared at everyone and demanded that you be recognized as the hero you are."

She gave a sad smile at the memory of her gruff friend. "Still. Just because you guys are too stubborn to admit it, I did deserve worse. I was a spy, for Zeus's sake!" Tears started streaming down her eyes.

I climbed off of the bed and knelt down in front of her. Still keeping her hand in mine, I looked up at her.

"Silena, you're not the one to blame for that. I know Luke. I know Kronos. They nearly had me wrapped around their finger as well. If they threatened Annabeth the way they threatened Beckendorf, I probably would have done the same thing."

She turned her head away. "That doesn't excuse what I did, Percy. So many people died because I still carried out their dirty work. Even as we were fighting in Manhattan, I was still giving them information. How do you think the Minotaur knew where to attack?"

I thought back to my last fight with beef brains. That definitely wasn't a fun experience, minus throwing him off the Williamsburg bridge with an axe in his side.

"Again, other people would have done the same. We can't blame you for being human. Nor should you blame yourself. Need I remind you that only a few years ago, the gods were deciding whether or not they should even let me stay alive?"

She didn't look convinced. "Yeah, but that was for the safety of the world. I risked the safety of the world for one person."

I got her right where I wanted her. "I've done that every year for the past five years. It didn't matter who it was. My mom, Grover, Annabeth, I've risked everything for them. And I'd do it again, even if I knew the world would be wrecked in the process."

She eyed me over before sighing in defeat. "You're too damn nice to be stuck in a place like this."

I gave a crooked grin. "Probably. Tell you what, the Hunters need some clothes and they aren't exactly willing to go back to Artemis. You up for a shopping trip tomorrow?"

She looked up in shock. She tried to keep her face straight, but she couldn't conceal the excitement in her eyes.

"Where?"

I let out a laugh. "Anywhere you want. We can go anywhere in the world from this place."

Her jaw dropped in shock. "Umm… could we try the Mall of America?"

I groaned internally at the prospect of going to another mall, but she definitely needed it. "Absolutely. We'll just have to let everyone know where we're going tomorrow."

She beamed at me brightly. All signs of her previous worries faded away. "I can't thank you enough for this, Percy." She then lunged forward and tackled me in a hug.

"Anytime. Now don't go getting yourself down, okay? If anyone gives you a hard time and you don't feel like handling it yourself, you let me know. I'll straighten them out."

She let out a breath and mumbled. "Okay… I seriously lucked out with getting you as a master…"

I pulled away from her hug, but rested my hands on her shoulders. "Nope. Not a master. Just a friend who cares about you."

She smiled coyly. "That's the best kind of master I could ask for." She then leaned in quickly and gave me a peck on the lips.

I may have turned bright red from the kiss. After all, at one point, this girl was arguably one of my biggest crushes…

"Well," I coughed, "I should probably get going. I still have to straighten out Drew."

She nodded understandingly, though her lips took a slight downturn. "Don't be too rough."

I gave a crooked grin. "That'll be up to her."

With one last hug, I left Silena's room and made my way down the hall.

I arrived to find Drew's door wide open. Be it curiosity or anger that drove me, I decided to simply barge in unannounced. It appears an announcement wouldn't have helped anyways. The room was empty. Preparing to leave, I caught a quick sound of someone talking to themself. It sounded like it was coming from… hmm… the bathroom. Makes sense to me.

Making my way to the open bathroom door, I could hear Drew bitterly muttering to herself. Leaning against the wall, I watched on as she ranted in front of the mirror, drying her hair while wearing nothing more than a towel.

"Stupid son of Poseidon," she said, "That chick got what she had coming."

I listened on with slight amusement.

"And now I have to sleep with him?! Ugh!"

She slammed a door to her cabinet shut and threw herself on the ledge of the jacuzzi, pouting ferociously.

"You know," I said, making her jump, "No one said that we had to sleep together. I'm fine with leaving everything as is."

She glared at me and stormed out of the bathroom, taking extra care to shoulder check me in the process.

"Why are you here then? Just leave me be and everyone can stay happy."

She sat down on the edge of her bed, crossing one leg over the other. A vile glare locked onto me as she crossed her arms.

"Well," I said, "I'm trying to get some answers from you. Why were you screaming at Silena, and why did you attack Piper?"

"BECAUSE," she screamed, "EVERYONE GOES TREATING HER LIKE A FUCKING QUEEN! It's disgusting! She's responsible for so many people dying, yet everyone just brushes that off!"

Okay, fair reasoning. I laid my trump card on her.

"Well, by that logic, shouldn't I also be treated like vermin? I've got more demigod blood on my hands than just about everyone here. The only one who might have me beat is Reyna; and that's just because she led an army roughly three times the size of Camp Half-Blood."

Drew looked taken aback, but she didn't relent.

"You were a hero who got landed in a crappy position," she insisted. "Just because people were willing to die for you doesn't make you responsible. She on the other hand was helping the enemy!"

I sighed. "Yeah. She screwed up. She screwed up big. But she's trying to make amends for it. Hell, she took drakon venom in the face for it."

She muttered. "Should've pissed on her corpse too…"

My fists balled as I tried to contain my rage.

"Now I see why everyone's been trying to avoid you. She may have screwed up, but at least she acknowledges it. You on the other hand still act like you're above everyone and won't stop acting pissed off."

She glared at me. "I was the queen of Camp Half-Blood! Now I'm just some concubine who has to spread her legs on command! No shit I'm pissed!"

My breathing settled. So that was it.

"I know," I said forlornly, now sitting down next to her. "I didn't want any of this to happen. If I could go back in time and change this outcome, I would."

Her glare faltered. Her arms dropped. It almost looked like she wanted to reach out to me.

"It… it's not your fault that this happened," she said. "My mom's the one who put me here…"

I scoffed. "Yeah. I still don't see why. Zeus said everyone had to be close to me. No offense, but you don't qualify."

She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow.

"None taken…"

I glanced up at her. "You know… the only reason you were a queen was because you manipulated everyone. Dictator would be more fitting. A very convincing dictator."

She smirked, looking slightly pleased with herself. "What can I say? I'd make a very good dominatrix."

The lustful glare in her eye didn't faze me.

"Thanks, but I've already got Annabeth covering that department. You however won't have to worry about that. You don't want to sleep with me? Fine. Then you simply won't."

I started to get up, but she immediately pounced. Latching onto my shoulder, she dragged me back down onto the bed.

"You wouldn't! You know the curse will take affect!"

"In a little over a week by my guess," I said with a shrug.

Her eyes widened. "You would let me be tortured?! I thought you were supposed to be kind!"

I grabbed her wrists and threw her back onto the bed with my weight uncomfortably on top of her, pinning her arms above her head.

"I'll be kind to those that deserve it. However, I won't tolerate someone who goes bashing in her sister's skull with a vase!"

She shivered underneath me. "That… that wasn't deliberate. I was scared of her…"

Talk about flipping a switch.

"Why?"

She turned her head away, refusing to meet my eyes. "Her charmspeaking for one thing," she muttered. "Then there's what she did to Khione."

Note to self. Be sure to check on the snow goddess. As bad as this has been sounding, I better look into it.

"That's no excuse," I said, now pushing my weight further onto her. "Any problems can be brought through me. End of story."

She turned and glared up at me. "So now we can't even solve our own problems? You've certainly settled into your role well."

My grip on her wrists tightened. "There's a difference between solving your own problems and nearly killing someone. Especially when that someone was trying to calm everyone down."

Her eyes widened. "She's not…"

"No. Not for now at least. But that doesn't make this any better."

Tears started to form. "I didn't mean to hurt her that badly. I just… I just wanted to get her away from me."

"Yeah, well you did a crap job of that. Maybe now you see why people aren't too keen on being around you. You simply refuse to control yourself."

A tinge of guilt pierced her fabulous face. "I… I know… But…"

She suddenly broke down in tears. I can't lie, I felt kind of bad. What she did was wrong. No denying that. But hearing her reasons for it…

"Don't expect them to be too happy to mingle with you for a while. And I'm not going to stop Piper from getting even with you."

Her teary eyes widened, pupils shrinking in fear. "Please… don't let her treat me like Khione. I'm not… I won't be able to take something like that."

The puppy dog eyes had little effect on me.

"If it comes to that, I'll step in. Besides, I don't think anyone here could survive what we put Khione through."

She sighed in relief.

"But," I said, "That won't stop me from denying you my bed."

With that, I let go of her and climbed off the bed. Seeing as I had nothing more to say, I made my way towards the door.

"Oh, Percy," she called. "Are you sure you want to do that? I'm sure that there's something I could do to change your mind."

Seriously, this girl switched moods faster than Piper's eyes changed colors. The charmspeak was laid on thick, but at this point, I'm sure my exposure around Piper gave me some resilience to it.

I turned around to retort, only to find her standing one foot away from me. She gave a smug, yet seductive smirk. With little effort, the towel dropped from her body, leaving her naked form bare for all to see.

I'm not going to lie to you, it pained me to hold back. Her looks had more of an effect on me than her charmspeaking. A deceptively slim frame carried succulent features. Her skin was pale and flawless. Small traces of muscle gave her an oddly fit build. Her waist tapered, but contrasted with her round hips. Lest we forget the two bundles of joy hanging on her chest. By no means were they even in the caliber of some of the other girls, but they jiggled enticingly with every breath she took.

It was honestly unfair. She was an absolute half package for a daughter of Aphrodite. In the looks department, she excelled. Her behavior balanced it out though. If only she kept her behavior in check, then she'd be much more desirable.

Spotting my hesitation, she grabbed my hand and brought it up to her chest. Unable to resist at this point, I gave it a slight squeeze.

So supple and firm. If I could just—

I leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "No."

With that, I pulled away, my fingers aching for the soft flesh again. I strode back down the hallway, leaving a shocked and somewhat pissed daughter of Aphrodite standing in her doorway completely naked. Now that I managed to clear my head of any thoughts of ravaging her until she couldn't walk, there was one last trip that I needed to make. There was a certain goddess of snow that most definitely needed some attention.

A/N - I know. I know. This is a late posting. But a chapter about family drama being posted on Independence Day? I just couldn't help myself.

Well, here's a chapter I'm sure many of you weren't expecting. But, Ronin, what about Reyna? We'll get to her. One thing you'll notice is Percy gets dragged all over the place. When you have to overlook eighteen other people, regardless of age, things can get hectic.

So what were your thoughts on Drew's outburst? Warranted? Unwarranted? How about the punishment? Seems like she has quite the time limit on her to clean up her act. Not to mention, she tried seducing Percy the moment things weren't going her way. In all honesty, I was debating about having Percy fall for her. While it may have worked a few days prior, now with Percy having some experience under his belt, what is he going to lose? A partner in bed? He's already gotten more action than most guys in just the past few days. I don't know. I just don't see him being Drew's victim so easily.

And then Silena. Poor girl just can't get a break, can she? Or Piper for that matter. I know another shopping trip is probably the last thing you guys want given we had one with Calypso already, but the next one will have a different focus besides the shopping aspect.

Well, that's it for now. For those who celebrate it, hope you have a happy Fourth of July! For those who don't, hope you enjoy your day as well! Have fun, be safe! Leave a review! This is Ronin signing off.