Ok, so I was suddenly struck with the urge to write this last night. I call it a Worst Case Scenario Preparation One-shot. (Well, maybe not the absolute worst case, but for me, memory loss is pretty bad.)

It came out much longer then I intended, but oh well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

"…now that the danger is past, the Greeks and Romans must be separated once again, their memories wiped and altered so that normalcy may be restored.

No arguing! You two groups of demigods are incompatible. Though you have cooperated for this battle, you would be at war with one another within the year.

I'm sorry if this makes you unhappy, but there is nothing else we gods can do to protect you from yourselves..."

Leo sat in the grass outside Cabin 9, watching the other demigods go about their day.

Some things were still the same: the Aphrodite campers were still drop-dead gorgeous, the Ares cabin was still red and covered in barbed wire, and the children of Hephaestus still spent most of their time in the forge.

Annabeth and Percy were standing in front of the Athena cabin and arguing. What could be more typical?

It may have looked like an average day at camp, but really, Annabeth and Percy were the only people acting completely normal.

For one thing, the Stoll brothers hadn't played a single prank in the month since the war had ended. Which wasn't overly surprising, Leo thought glumly, when you remembered that there were no Stoll brothers anymore. Only Travis, and he was understandably in no mood to joke around.

It was also weird not to be constantly watching out for Clarisse, in case you needed to get out of her way. Even now, a month later, Leo expected to see her around camp, intimidating some new camper or fighting with Percy.

Percy and Annabeth were now kissing, the Athena cabin surrounding them and looking on with interest.

"Leo?"

He turned around. Piper. Man, he really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"Beauty Queen! I was just thinking that…"

Piper smiled sadly. "I know. We need to talk." She sat down in the grass next to him and twisted her braid, a nervous habit she had.

Leo wasn't sure how she had become his girlfriend (Sometime in the middle of the Giant War? He couldn't remember) but they had been dating for a month. At first it had been okay, if a little weird-feeling, but now Leo didn't think he could take it any longer.

Sure, Piper was great, but he'd never really thought of her in that way. And the whole time…well, Leo had felt like he was forgetting something, or someone, important that he needed to take care of.

Piper sighed. "Leo, I…I'm sorry but…I don't think…" She was nervous too. That made Leo feel better.

She collected herself. "This…we…aren't working out. I can't think of you as anything other than a friend. I'm sorry."

Leo felt as if fifty pounds of lead had been lifted off of him. "No problem Pipes. I was just going to say the same thing, though I don't quite see how anyone can think of the Leo-man as 'just a friend.'" He grinned.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Geez Leo, sometimes you are so…"

"Hot?"

She punched him in the arm.

Leo tried to dodge. "Whoa there! I use that arm sometimes!"

She laughed a little, then sighed. "I'm sorry I'm not that much fun anymore. It's just that…ever since…you know, I've felt like…something's missing. You know? This whole month with you…I just felt like there was someone else I should be spending time with. Like I was betraying someone…I don't know." She shrugged. "It's probably nothing."

Leo's mouth felt dry. "No, no it's not nothing. I felt exactly the same way."

Piper nodded.

They sat in friendly silence for a while, watching the not-so-typical camp life play out before them.

Percy and Annabeth were gone, probably sparring in the arena. Travis Stoll was sitting on the steps of the Hermes cabin, looking grim, serious, and not at all like the usual Travis. Katie Gardner sat next to him, her arm placed around his shoulders comfortingly.

Leo raised his eyebrows. When had that happened?

Piper rose to her feet. "I have to go; I promised Lacy that I'd teach her how to braid a feather in her hair." She grimaced. "See you later, Leo."

She bent down to give him a sisterly kiss on the cheek and walked over to the Aphrodite cabin.

Leo smiled. At least some things hadn't changed. The sun still rose in the east, and Piper still hated anything to do with hair and makeup.

After she had gone inside, he reached into his tool-belt and brought out the stick. He frowned as he studied it. It was charred and blackened, as if it had caught on fire but been extinguished.

For the zillionth time, Leo wondered where it came from.

His memories were fuzzy, but he could remember one or two things.

The stick had once been important. That was easy to remember. What he couldn't figure out was why it no longer held any significance, and why he still kept it now that it was useless.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. Sometimes, if he concentrated very hard, he could see a face: a pretty, coffee-colored face surrounded by a halo of cinnamon curls and set with two laughing gold eyes.

He wished he could remember her name.

She had given him the stick. He was sure of it.

He wished he could remember why.

"Just take it Leo, please." Her face was streaked with tears.

He shook his head. "I can't Haze. It's all you have left of Frank."

Hazel was sobbing so hard, she could barely speak. "He…he would…want you to have…it…too." She took his hand in both of hers and closed his fingers over the stick.

Her hands were cold.

"Frank would never have trusted me not to burn it up by accident."

She smiled a little. "He trusted you. He told you to take care of me, but…since you can't do that, please…take it. Something to remind you of me…of all of us."

Leo hesitated.

Hazel glanced around nervously. "We don't have much time. Take it."

He felt cold, colder than he had ever felt. And hollow.

"Okay."

Hazel knocked on the door to the praetor's quarters, awkwardly shifting her weight from side to side. Reyna's message had seemed urgent, but she sure was taking a long time to open the door.

It was past dinner time, nearly curfew, but Hazel's fellow legionnaires were still outside, enjoying the pleasant late-summer weather, just like every evening.

Of course, there were a lot less of them then there were a month ago.

Bobby and Gwen were gone, of course, and Frank…

Hazel shook her head. She'd promised herself not to think of that.

The door opened. Hazel stood at attention, and then nearly lost her composure from shock.

Reyna had obviously just stepped out of the shower, her hair was dripping wet, and was wearing a pair of blue pajamas that had a hole in one knee. Aurum and Argentum peeked out from behind her fuzzy purple bedroom slippers.

"Centurion Levesque." Even in ratty old pajamas, Reyna maintained her dignified air. "Please come in. We have much to discuss."

Speechless, Hazel nodded and walked through the door.

The interior was comfortable, if sparse. Reyna's cot was pushed up against the far wall, but unlike the cohort barracks, Reyna's quarters had a small kitchen, a couch, and a bookshelf with old historical and military texts in it.

Now that they were out of sight of the streets, Reyna relaxed a little. "Please sit down Hazel. I've been meaning to talk to you for ages, but well…things happen."

Indeed they did, Hazel thought as she sat down at the kitchen table. It was no secret that since the end of the Giant War, Jason and Reyna had been spending all their free time together.

"What did you want to talk about, Reyna? And, I'm sorry if I'm rude but…Is this the best time?"

Reyna smiled a little. "Yes, I am a bit of a…mess right now, but I assure you I will be back to normal by tomorrow." She stuck her chin out and plowed on. "Jason and I have…parted ways, you see." She shrugged. "It was an amicable break-up but still…a little upsetting."

Oh. "Is that what you wanted to talk about?" Hazel asked apprehensively.

"Of course not!" Reyna's face softened. "Well, maybe a little. But I really want to talk about you."

"Me?" Hazel was taken aback. "Has my performance been unsatisfactory? Is there trouble with my cohort? Is…"

Reyna shook her head. "No, everything's fine." She paused for a moment, then continued. "Just wait there a minute; I'll dish up some ice-cream." She opened the refrigerator and began rummaging through it.

Ice-cream? "Who are you and what have you done with Reyna?"

Reyna poked her head out of the refrigerator and glared. "I believe that when girls in the mortal world have…boy troubles, they get together and eat ice-cream. So we shall eat ice-cream."

She sounded so determined that Hazel couldn't help but giggle a little.

It was the first time she'd laughed in a month.

Reyna put her hands on her hips and smiled. "See? It's working already." She brought out the ice-cream box and began to dish it into two bowls.

Hazel decided to play along with the act-like-mortal-girls charade. She couldn't help being a little curious anyways. "So…what happened with Jason?"

Reyna sighed. "It was not…unexpected. Ever since the war, he's been distracted, preoccupied, not all there. This whole month, it's like a part of him has been missing." She seemed to steel herself. "I'm glad we finally tried, but it just wasn't working, for either of us. And while I'm a little bit disappointed, I'm confident we can continue as friends and fellow praetors. Now," she brought the bowls of ice-cream over to the table "enough about me. I want to hear how you've been doing."

Hazel stared in slight disbelief at her bowl, which was heaped with more chocolate ice-cream then anyone could eat all at once. She barely heard Reyna's question. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine."

Reyna put down her spoon and raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? Dakota tells me that you never talk to anyone, spend all your time alone, and cry yourself to sleep at night. Maybe that's 'fine' in your dictionary, but in my book, that's the complete opposite of 'fine.'"

Hazel didn't quite know how to respond.

Shaking her head, Reyna continued, speaking in between bites of ice-cream. "Never mind. That was a silly question. No one in the legion has been 'fine' since the war ended. Hazel…"

Uh-oh. Here it comes, thought Hazel.

"…I hate to ask you this, but I must know so I can put in in the records. And it might be beneficial for you to get it off your chest. What exactly happened to Frank?"

Hazel took a deep breath to steady herself. "Reyna, I'd rather…not talk about it. Please."

Reyna's usually stern face was kind. "I understand. But I'd think you'd feel better if you'd open up about it a bit more."

Nodding slightly, Hazel began.

"Well…the details are a little fuzzy…but from what I remember…you know I came back from the dead? When we were closing the Doors of Death…I was supposed to go back, like Gwen did, only Frank took my place." Hazel's eye's felt watery. "He…he had been carrying the stick, but he gave it back to me, and…" she frowned. There was something she was forgetting, she was sure of it. "He told me to take care of it for him. We…we tried to stop him, but…"

Reyna sat up straight. "We? Who else was with you?"

A face swam below Hazel's vision. A face with elfin features and curly black hair. Sammy? No, not Sammy. There had been someone else with her, someone who looked like Sammy. "I…I can't remember."

"Go on then." Reyna was obviously not satisfied with her answer.

"That's it." Hazel said sadly. "He sacrificed himself."

"And the stick?"

Hazel frowned. "I…I think I must have lost it sometime in the war." That part was a lie. She dimly remembered giving the stick to Not-Sammy, but didn't know how to explain that to Reyna without sounding crazy.

She let herself remember Frank's words when he…died.

He had told her to take care of the stick, even though he would no longer be tied to it.

And he had told someone else (Not-Sammy?) to take care of her.

"It's really strange." Hazel said quietly. "All my memories of the war are so…fuzzy."

Reyna nodded. "Mine too. We might have some kind of trauma. Jupiter knows we went through enough of that. Eat your ice-cream before it melts."

So Hazel started on the huge pile of chocolate. There was probably no Not-Sammy; it was just her grief-stricken mind playing tricks on her.

Still, Reyna was right about her not being fine. She wasn't fine, and it wasn't just about Frank. She blamed herself and missed him like crazy of course, but there was something else.

Ever since the war had ended, Hazel had felt…empty.

Like there was something missing, something besides Frank.

Hazel just wished she could remember what it was.

It was their turn.

Hera put her hands on each of their heads.

Hazel looked at Leo one last time. His eyes held an expression that was wordlessly sad.

"Goodbye, Hazel Levesque."

Man, I can't believe I did that to myself. I think I'm completely incapable of writing romantic fluff.

Oh well.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. :)

Lyzzie out.