The Flaming Dove

Hi! I'm Amberfire3, dauther of Athena! I'm new here... so yeah. Leo is cool. So I made a story about him/Piper.

Chapter 1 -Leo
I was sitting in my room on the Argo II. It was a large, comfy room with a porthole window and lots of beanbags. I had tacked up lots of pictures of Jason, Piper and I on my walls, and the porthole had a clear view of Festus' head. But, even with this epic room, I was miserable. I had taken to locking myself in my room for hours at time, just to think, and (though it's hard to admit) sometimes cry. Since when did Flaming Valdez, supreme commander of the Argo II, become so... angsty?

Well, you see, when Jason's memories came back, so did mine. The Mist that had fogged up my brain for so long had lifted. And now I remember everything.

It was me who had become Piper's best friend at the Wilderness School.

It was me who had set fire to Coach Hedge's pants that memorable day.

And it was me who had gone up onto the dorm roof the night of the meteor shower and summoned the courage to kiss Piper.

When the memories filtered back, I stopped talking for a few days. I went into ultra-fixing mode, and that helped take my mind off of it. But they noticed, and asked me what was wrong. I was stubborn, and said 'Nothing' like it was no big deal. But I was burning inside.

Piper doesn't remember, I don't think. Lucky girl. I think Aphrodite was kind enough to make her stay in Mist-mode. As I pondered this, I summoned some scraps from my tool-belt absent-mindedly, and I was done before I realized what I was doing. I had made a small model of Festus' head.

I missed Festus. He was like a best friend to me. I was no longer a third wheel when he was around. We were in pairs: Piper and Jason, and Festus and I.

Wow. Creepy. I was paired up with an automaton, while Piper- Piper had her Jason.

I sat up on my beanbag at this. It was almost dinner. Dinner on the Argo II... It's pretty boring, though the food is first-class.

I exited my room, walked down the hallway and pushed open the Dining Room door.

Clarisse, Annabeth and Piper were already there, talking about what would happen at Camp Jupiter. Annabeth was twirling a gray strand in her hair, which I noticed she did when she was nervous or exited. Clarisse had her Doc Martens on the table, which was normal. And Piper was chewing her lip.

"Hey guys!" I exclaimed as I approached. "What's up?"

"Oh, you know, talking about the Romans..." Annabeth trailed off. "Leo, where have you been all day, anyway? You missed lunch!"

"Er, I was.. in the boiler room," I lied. "The fire was dying."

"So you gave it fire... all day?" Piper asked sceptically.

"Uh.. yeah. And I.. uh.. adjusted the Dubstep soundboard."

"Hmm." Annabeth wasn't buying it.

"So, any screaming men in purple togas yet?" I joked nervously.

"Leo, we're five days away from Camp Jupiter."

"I was kidding! Anyway, where're the others?"

"Well," Clarisse said. "Hedge is sleeping, Jason is sending an Iris-message to Thalia, and Connor, Travis and Grover are finishing their game of Guitar Hero. Pretty much like normal."

"Ah. When's the dinner bell going to-"

I was cut off by, obviously, the dinner bell. Connor, Travis, Grover and Jason wandered in all at different times, but Coach Hedge seemed to still be asleep. Good riddance. The cooks onboard, Mellie and Argus (who knew they were good at cooking?), presented their food, an odd mixture of cheeseburgers and fancy Italian pasta. As we all chomped down on our food, pretty soon the conversation turned to Percy Jackson and Camp Jupiter. I stopped listening.

Jason was doing most of the talking, obviously, but I didn't really care, to be honest. I caught words like 'senate' and 'Terminus' and 'praetor' and 'Reyna'. Wait.. who was Reyna? He hadn't heard her name in the conversations before.

"Reyna is praetor currently, unless she's stepped down, or been... killed. There might be another praetor by now, since I left, but I doubt it. I was praetor with Reyna, and you don't want to get on her bad side. But if you're her... friend, she should be okay."

Man, these talks were always boring. Or depressing, like yesterday, when jason had told us about Camp Jupiter's feelings for Greeks.

But as I watched Jason, I saw how his face sort of.. lit up whenever he mentioned this Reyna girl.

Hmm... this could be fun. I had never seen Piper jealous before. And, maybe, just maybe, she'd come to me instead of him. I had a lot of grudges against Jason. He stole Piper from me, he was Roman, so he got all the attention, even though he is kind of... dim. And he's always so... perfect. He'd sacrifice anything for his friends...? Psh, yeah right. I can tell when something's just an act. He's the son of the King of the Gods, for goodness sake! They'd be talking about him for years, and I'd just be his trusty sidekick, Flaming Valdez, the dangerous fire guy who had a magic tool belt.

As I watched the others natter away, I thought to myself, when am I gonna get some glory over here?

Chapter 2- Piper
Coming soon