Reforming Friendships

Okay, hey guys! Just a heads up! I'm not gonna do a psych fact for this chapter. This is going to be a short chapter. We're gonna check in with the people back at camp, and then a longer chapter containing the first piece of the pithos is coming. Maybe even the second piece because...why not? Remember, they still have about 7 days left.

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Jason Grace's P.O.V.

It had been a couple hours since Percy and the others had left for the first piece. Annabeth was getting more anxious by the minute. Leo, Tony, and the others had finished the Argo 3 and were waiting for their next orders. The campers were being trained, weapons were being forged, border patrol was set, Frank and Hazel had Camp Jupiter under control, and the Ares cabin was throttling the new kids.

All the war preparations were going well. As a former praetor, I was supposed to help with the preparations more than anyone, but my mind was elsewhere . I kept going back to what Annabeth had told me: talk to Piper.

I wanted to talk to her - especially now that she really had nothing to do since border patrol was set. But, I was scared. I was scared and nervous. I still liked Piper, but I couldn't tell her that. She had her girlfriend, and I really didn't want to confuse her by saying I liked her. She'd probably slap me.

But, nonetheless, I found myself walking over to the Aphrodite cabin to see her packing her clothes. I leaned on the doorframe and crossed my arms, trying to look collected. She looked up, a little startled at my appearance, but she didn't say anything and went back to packing her clothes. It was clear that if we were to talk, I was to speak first.

I cleared my throat, "So...quest. Another one."

She snorted, not looking up, "It's not any different. Avoiding death at every turn isn't anything new."

I smiled, "Did I miss anything while I was...you know...dead?"

She stiffened and looked at me, "Not much. I mean, unless you wanted to see all of us cry. Percy wasn't really the same. I mean, he was still a kid at heart, but his eyes looked even more broken than before."

I swallowed, "And you?"

She took a deep breath, "It took me a while to process what happened. I was determined to not let you die, but..."

She let the sentence hang in the air, and I nodded, "I heard you got a girlfriend."

She smiled fondly, "Yeah. She's awesome."

I sighed, not willing to ask more questions, "Look, I'm gonna say this outright. We can't be avoiding each other throughout the quest. If the gang's getting back together, then so should we."

She blinked, and I processed what I had just said before facepalming. I swallowed, rubbing the back of my neck, "T-That's not what I meant. I meant the we should be friends again, you know? Things can't be so awkward between us if we want the team to function properly."

She cracked a smile, "You're awful at talking to girls, you know that?"

I chuckled nervously, "In my defense, I'm still trying to adapt to being brought back to life."

She laughed, "That's fair." A moment of silence fell between us, and we looked anywhere but at each other. Piper sighed, "I'm sorry for avoiding you. I guess I'm still trying to process everything that happened in the past few months - including Apollo becoming the least annoying god."

I shifted, "So, what do you say about the friend thing then? I mean, we both know that we won't be as close as we were before, but that shouldn't hinder the team in any way."

She nodded to me, holding out her hand for me to shake, "Friends, then."

I smiled, shaking her hand, "Friends."

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Again, sorry about the short chapter, but the next chapter will definitely be longer. This was just to show where Camp was in terms of preparation. They're ready for orders.

Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed this filler. I'll be back with more chapters soon! See y'all soon!