The Quest for Closure (Camp Half-Blood Fanfic)

Kaitlyn's POV

"Ha! Beat you!"

I called down to the messy blond haired boy who was a foot below me. He rolled his gray eyes and climbed up alongside me on the edge of the climbing wall. "You ALWAYS beat me, babe. It's embarrassing."

I rolled my eyes. "No, it's embarrassing for you because you never beat me." I shook my head with false disappointment. "You need to up your game, Max."

He laughed and elbowed me in the arm. "Nope, you need to LOWER yours."

I grinned at him. "Levitate us back down?" I asked him.

"Sure."

Without a warning, the Hecate kid pushed me down the wall. "MAX!" I shouted at him.

He laughed as a lavender colored platform made of magic appeared below me, an inch above the grass. It set me down nicely, then came back up for Max to step on easily. He was lowered to the ground, and he jumped off. I rolled my eyes and picked myself up. I glared at him. "I hate you."

He smiled. "Me too, Kaitlyn."

A year had passed after Max and I had gotten together, meaning it had been a year since we ended our quest for the prized sword belonging to the Olympians, now belonging to the god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry, forges and the art of sculpture. It had been peaceful here at Camp Half-Blood, and I was grateful for that. Well, not peaceful... Percy had disappeared, and Annabeth had gone crazy about it. He was then found in like, some Roman camp or something, They then went on a quest, and they finally came back recently after a bit of some... chaos with the Romans and Gaea. They were now dealing with school, which sounded a LOT less impressive than a quest to defeat a primordial deity. But Percy told me it was more stressful than actual quests, and that he'd battle monsters any day over school work. Believe it or not, I trusted what he said.

Oh, and I also got a new camp counselor for my cabin! It was now Piper McLean, who was among the seven on the quest with Percy and Annabeth. She was WAY better than Drew.

[What Drew? You KNOW that's true. HAHA, no ,you can't make me wear the shoes of shame. YOU'RE NOT IN CHARGE DREW. My gods, just shut up, will you?]

So by peaceful, I meant peaceful between me, Max, and Tiff. Well... not so much for my best friend. She had gone through a lot recently, including the death of her mum and the breakup between her and James, a son of Hephaestus. Max and I did our best everyday to cheer our friend up, but deep inside I knew she was still going through immense pain. I couldn't blame her, of course. I'd be going through the same if that happened to me. But she's tough, so I know she'll pull through.

Max pulled me into a kiss. We were interrupted by Tiffany, who was trying to walk quietly towards us. I noticed, though. I pulled away, and Max gave me a sad face, but I quickly shot him a look to fix his expression. He covered it with a polite smile at our friend, but I slapped him 'cause it looked fake. He just frowned in objection. I smiled at Tiff. "Hello!" I said cheerfully.

"Hey," she said in monotone.

We all just stood there awkwardly. "Um, d-do you need anything?" asked my boyfriend.

She just shrugged. "Nah, but Andrew's doing something."

My boyfriend and I nodded slowly. To be honest, we did NOT like Andrew. We obviously couldn't tell Tiffany because it would make her angry and even more devastated. But the Ares child wasn't the best person ever. One time, he made fun of me because I was an Aphrodite daughter who liked active stuff, so I had to beat him up in the arena. Gods, that was fun. Deep inside, I had a feeling Tiff knew we disliked him, but she never mentioned it to us, so I changed up the subject. "Er, how you doin'?" I asked her.

"I'm fine," she answered with a mutter. "And DON'T charmspeak me to tell you more."

I raised my arms in defense. "Hey, you KNOW I can't charmspeak on a regular basis; it only worked that one time on the quest. And trust me, I've tried using it on Ms. Manners here." I put my arm on Max's shoulder.

He frowned at me. "'Ms.'? I'm a MaN."

I giggled. "Hardly."

I kissed his cheek. "Uh, why would you try to use your charmspeak on Max?" asked our friend.

I looked at him, then at Tiff. "Um, nothing."

Tiffany looked like she was about to say something else, but she just closed her mouth. "Um, I'm going to go wait for breakfast."

"Isn't a bit early?" asked my boyfriend.

"Yeah, but I clearly have nothing else to do."

I felt bad. She was clearly hurting and in need for a friend. Possibly multiple. Me and my boyfriend were really her only true friends, although she did like talking to other campers. She gave us a fake smile. "Bye, guys."

And she walked away as I watched her hug her body, hanging her head.