Enemy Within

ENEMY WITHIN

Before Piper could answer the door, Leo hurried inside the Aphrodite cabin, closed the door and locked it. He breathed a sigh of relief, though he looked like he was about to faint at any minute. "Uh, hey," Piper started. Leo turned wildly to her, paused, and then sighed again. "Oh, it's just you. I thought you were her because you almost looked like—never mind." He held his chest and let out an anxious laugh. "Enjoying this lovely evening, huh? Saw your siblings at the lake with a few people. Not joining them?"

"Uh, no, I'd rather stay here and rest," it struck Piper that Leo was starting a casual conversation between them when he looked really troubled, and she had an idea what was the problem. "You know, you should lock this door if you don't want anyone suddenly barging inside your cabin," Leo thumbed the door behind him. "But anyway, I need to hide here for a while. She just trashed our bunker. I was lucky to slip past her, but it was a narrow escape. She's on to me, man."

Piper knew right away who Leo had meant. A week ago, the people from the Roman camp came marching toward Camp Half-Blood's borders, with Percy Jackson leading them. At that time, Leo had set eyes to one of the Roman girls. It was not surprising anymore, to Piper at least, since this was coming from him.

Though, unlike his former love interests, this Roman girl (Piper didn't catch her name) also had a liking for Leo, so she gladly agreed to be Leo's girlfriend. At first, Piper was happy for them, but she didn't figure out that a little while later, Leo would fall out at the span of ten hours since his declaration of undying love for his new girlfriend. He didn't tell this to anybody except to Jason and her. "She was really sweet and all that," Leo said. "But she wouldn't leave me alone. Wherever I go, she's always on my tail. Yes, even the bathrooms, Piper. I still haven't finish building the ship, and I need some time for myself, you know. Everybody has to have some personal space. She isn't giving me any! But maybe I should stick with her for a little while. Love can blossom again at unexpected times, right?"

Three days later after their conversation, Leo was found hiding around Camp Half-Blood, witnessed by a few Greek and Roman campers. They all assumed he was hiding from his girlfriend, so they didn't say anything to her for his sake. But the Roman girl was smart enough to know that Leo was avoiding her. So she started rampaging around camp, searching desperately for her missing boyfriend. Ignoring the fact that she was beautiful, she was very, very violent for a girl her age, more than that Ares kid Clarisse. Piper was amazed Leo was still breathing.

He peered outside the cabin window. Leo was gritting his teeth and shaking his head. "You know what, Piper, being single isn't a bad idea at all," said Leo frantically.

"Leo, why hide here when there are other better places?"

"She doesn't like girly stuff."

"Well, that explains it." Setting aside her sarcastic comment, Piper felt really bad for Leo. He finally had someone who he could care for and only realized that she wasn't right for him. Like there was nothing right for him at all. It was like browsing through a clothes store. You found something good and tried it on, but to your disappointment, it didn't suit you. You returned the outfit back to its rack and continued your search. In this case, Leo bought that outfit and put it on anyway. This happened.

"Why can't you just break up with her?"

"Break up?" Leo coughed, "I could, but she's really hard to approach right now."

"Tell her you don't want a serious relationship."

"She – will – kill me! You don't know her, Piper. You don't like her when she's angry. And she looks like that right now. There has to be someway around this without upsetting her, I know it. Think, Leo, think!"

Then someone started banging the door. Leo squeaked and moved back at the back of the room. The door pounding continued until it blasted open (breaking the door down. Man, why do people keep doing that? Didn't they know how much were the repairs?). A tall girl stepped in, with cold fog creeping along her feet, making Piper shiver. "There you are!" the girl said in a sickly sweet voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"H-hey there," Leo stammered. He was shaking in panic. The girl had a very strong aura; Piper was starting to suffocate by it.

"You were gone for days and nobody is telling me where you were," the girl continued. She was slowly making her way towards Leo. "But I found you!" She giggled. She didn't appear to notice Piper on the sidelines. "Uh, that's great." Leo laughed nervously. "But I…wanted to tell you something, and I know this is a bad time." The girl's smile faded. Awkward silence followed until she whispered, "You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"

"Uh, well…"

The temperature had suddenly gone lower, and it seemed like some things were starting to frost. Leo's girlfriend didn't look well. "Is it her?" she looked at Piper menacingly. Leo swallowed. "No! It's something else."

"Is it my mother?" she snapped at him. "I…I thought you like me, not her!"

"What?" Piper looked puzzled. What's her mother got to do with this love crisis? Unless…

"I do! I do! But this is about you! It's—it's, uh…" Leo stuttered, and then started to laugh awkwardly. Finally, he looked at Piper. "Heh, it's a long story, Piper, really," Leo said, before fainting on the spot. "Piper, this is Yuki, Khione's daughter."

''A/N: Contest entry for the Olympian RPG "What If" Writing Contest. And Guess what guys, I won...by default. I didn't put much of a fight, though, sadly. Ah well, hope you had some good laughs with the story. And don't forget to check out Olympian RPG's website! It's a cool place to hang out.''