Chapter 6: Regret Among the Ranks

So...I found out I accidentally said that Jason=Sister in Chapter 1 so...I'll just wing it, I guess. Sorry.

Third Person POV

"Where. Is. My. Father?!" Piper demanded.

"Uh...uh..." Zeus stuttered. He has never seen or heard Piper this furious before.

"Piper..." Aphrodite started. "Your father...ever since you disappeared...well..."

"Well WHAT, Mom?!"

"He's not been himself lately. I told him everything about the gods and he fainted but you leaving...it was hard on him. Your dad developed a drinking problem and at one point, almost did drugs."

"And you didn't do anything about it?!"

"I tried, my daughter! He just wouldn't stop!"

"You should've tried harder!"

"What's wrong, McLean?!" Annabeth snarled like she was worse than Medea. "Lost your daddy?"

The angered daughter of Aphrodite was about to throw Thalia's spear at her but instead, tosses it to the ground, near Thalia, still on the ground.

"You're not worth it, Athena-spawn." Piper growled as if she never knew Annabeth. "For someone meant to be smart, you've become much dumber than Lycaon."

Before the campers start pointing their weapons at Piper, they got gun barrels touching the back of their heads, with Bianca placing her lightsaber-katana near Annabeth's neck, before turning to everyone.

"Everyone! Who would you trust more in this war?! Us or Him?! Lady Chaos or The God of Heroes?! Choose!"

"We'll be waiting." Zoe growled as her SMG's barrel was on the back of Clarisse's head.

Then, there was a long silence as Piper left, with no one trying anything. A certain daughter of Zeus began to mumble to herself:

"Can I still trust Tristan? Is Piper right about Annabeth?"

Percy/Zenon POV

The crowd dispersed, with most of the campers glaring at Jason and I as they walk away.

"I'll go help Piper." he said.

"Sure. I'll help the others."

While Jason was accompanying his girlfriend somewhere, I thought about what happened that night: that night when camp betrayed me.

Flashback! (Still Percy's POV)

I was roaming around camp when we heard cries for help outside the border. That's when Tristan (obviously not Piper's dad) came along. A pack of hellhounds attacked him. When I charged with Riptide, the monsters jumped back and formed a circle around me. Tristan was behind me.

"What are you doing? Head to the camp borders!" I commanded.

One of the hellhounds lunged at me and knocked me to the ground. He suddenly punched the hellhound, sending it off me. I got back up.

"Nice shot. Thanks...uh...What's your name?"

"Tristan Porter." he said.

"Well..." I started, swinging Riptide and destroying a hellhound. "You remind me of the father of one of my friends."

I started wiping out the hellhounds until the last one ran away (only to get shot by Will). The next thing I knew, they praised HIM, not me. The next day, well, framed for vandalism and all that. When I walked to the beach to clear my thoughts, I caught Annabeth and Tristan making out. They noticed me and she did the one thing that broke me: she sneered at me and said:

"Tristan's better than you, Percy!"

I couldn't take it anymore so I stormed out of the beach. The day after that, almost no one talked to me but Jason and Piper. Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Reyna were somehow too busy to even notice what's going on. It was during one night the week after that I heard Annabeth yell out:

"Jason, you're a big excuse being Thalia's sister!"

"Why are you calling me that like I'm a female?!"

"Because you're like McLean: a wench! A man-wench!"

I went to the source of the noise to see the son of Jupiter on the brink of tears.

"You okay, Jace?" I asked.

"No..." he replied, adjusting his glasses.

"I know how you feel. B**** cheated on me last night."

"Ouch."

Tristan later insulted Jason by taking his glasses. Everyone but Leo, Mitchell, and Drew (Calypso, Nico and the Romans were at Camp Jupiter, completely unaware.) laughed and I got angry when Thalia did NOTHING to help Jason. Bla bla bla, trial. Bla bla bla you know the rest. At one point in the Void, Zoe called me a psycho, to my shock. She showed me a file containing my kills. It was bigger than Jason's and Piper's files combined. Our conversation went a little something like this:

"Perseus, you've been bit of a psycho lately."

"Wait, what the hell, Zoe?!" my jaw dropped when she handed me the file.

"Your Kill Count Document: KCD for short. Here are Jason's and Piper's."

Jason's and Piper's own KCD's were only as big as a quarter of my document. Mine has like nine hundred copies of one of the longest word in the English language.

That's when I got used to being a psycho: because I kill more than my friends.

Present (Percy's-ah...never mind.)

I walked back to the Chaos Mansion when Thalia came up to me. I placed my hand on my gun.

"What do you want?!" I growled.

"What did Bianca mean when she questioned everyone's loyalty?"

"You're still loyal to Annabeth even if she has become like...who? Hitler?"

"What? You're calling her a tyrant?! That's madness, Percy!"

"Go talk to one of her half sisters, Krista. She'll tell ya."

Hopefully, Thalia will listen to Krista.

Back to 3rd Person POV

Thalia was in front of the Athena cabin's door and knocked. Malcolm answered.

"Hey, Thalia." he greeted.

"Can I speak with someone named Krista?"

"Percy told ya, eh? Alright, she's on the couch."

Thalia walked over to the brown haired daughter of Athena.

"Krista? What did Percy say about Annabeth?" the daughter of Zeus asked.

"She's pissing me off. I can't handle the constant nagging from her, saying that we're 'not good enough for camp' and never will be."

Thalia's jaw dropped at what she heard. To think that her own best friend is now an arrogant and tyrannical nag. Her head slumps down as she walks out on the brink of tears. Annabeth suddenly stopped her.

"You let McLean and her friends run free! Why, Thals?!" she demanded but Thalia suddenly shoved her away.

"I thought we were still friends, Annie! It seems that I've lost you a long time ago, where you used to be in love with Percy!"

"Don't mention that weakling's name in front of me!"

"Annabeth, he, Jason, and Piper wiped out an entire army without taking a scratch. How is that a 'weakling'?"

"Because I know Tristan can kick his ass!"

"Were you blind when they fought?! Percy beat him without weapons!"

"He cheated!"

"He beat Tristan fair and square!"

Annabeth refuses to believe what Thalia is saying and draws her dagger and points it at the Hunter's neck. A gunshot is heard, alerting everyone. It was Luke, with his assault rifle's barrel smoking.

"You okay, Thalia?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Annabeth walked away, still glaring at Thalia and Luke. Leo rushed out to meet them.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Annabeth pointed a dagger at me for believing in the truth." Thalia replied. "Where were you while that was happening, Leo?"

"Sulking in a corner for not being able to help Jason and Piper during those days. The Romans were also sulking, which is why they don't go out much."

"Hey, don't blame yourself." Luke said. "The three have grown a lot."

"I just hope my brother will forgive me." Thalia muttered.

In an apartment somewhere in New York...

A gruff man was sitting on a sofa in complete depression. There was an empty beer bottle on the table next to him. Aphrodite came into the room via teleporting.

"Tristan?" she asked.

"Aphrodite, what now?" he replied, still groaning.

"I...I found our little girl."

This made Mr. McLean stand up instantly.

"Piper? She's back?"

"Yes but...she's not really herself anymore.

"Why?"

"She serves as one of the three personal assassins of Chaos."

"Piper is a killer? How did this happen?"

At this point, the depressed actor was on the brink of tears.

"I already told you, Tristan."

"She changed like that?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Hey, dad."

Both turned to the source to see a certain daughter of Aphrodite with her cat-armor on.

"Pipes!" he exclaimed happily, running towards his daughter and giving her a crushing hug. Jason walks in with his armor on, minus the bat-helmet.

"Hey, Mr. McLean." he greeted. The actor stopped hugging Piper and extends his arm to the son of Jupiter.

"Jason Grace, I presume?"

"Aye, sir."

They both shook each other's hands.

Percy/Zenon POV

I sat under Thalia's tree, rubbing both the Golden Fleece, and Peleus's snout. A certain moon goddess straight up popped out of nowhere and sat next to me.

"Y'know, I'd say that what that daughter of Athena did was worse than Orion's act."

"Sheesh, you don't have to be this supportive on us."

Artemis just gave me an approving nod, which made me look skeptical.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just nice to see you back, Perseus."

"Aye. I'd say I miss the others: the ones that still considered me, Jason, and Piper, friends and you, just needed something normal to talk about."

"Shut up. And you have your chance." she stood up. "Go talk to them if you want."

With that, Artemis left the scene. I turned to Peleus.

"What?" I asked, which was pretty stupid since he's a dragon.