Why not?

Continued from Hazel's Last Stand .

It was spring at Camp Half-Blood. The sun was shining, and the air smelled sweetly of growing strawberries. The Camp had just beaten off a monster invasion a day earlier.

However, there was a sour note to that wonderful statement: the Camp only survived the attack because of a very special young woman had died to protect it.

A week earlier, Hazel and Piper were racing against time to bring a document to Camp Half-Blood, warning of the impending assault. They were travelling through an old tunnel under Long Island Sound, being chased by numerous monsters. While Piper got the papers to Camp, Hazel bought her time by bringing down the tunnel on the monsters, drowning in the process.

Now, as the Camp was recuperating from the attack, Piper stood next to the brickwork tunnel entrance, embedded in the sand dunes.

Annabeth walked over.

"Hi, Piper. What's going on?"

Piper barely looked up.

"I'm saying goodbye", she responded, her voice brittle. She knelt down in the sand, placing flowers around the tunnel one by one.

They stood together in silence for a few minutes.

Piper broke the silence.

"Why did Hazel have to die like that?", she asked.

"She didn't ", said Annabeth. "But she choose the option that would save the Camp. That would save you, "

"But why?", Piper asked. A tear traced down her cheek.

"Because she was a good person", Annabeth explained. "The real question is: why not?"