the great wave | percy jackson

𝑥𝑥 - piper

The funny thing is, this wasn't new to any of them. Piper had actually watched a fight in the Colosseum before, albeit a staged one, in a set reproduction in Hollywood as an extra in one of her dad's movies. She also knew both Percy and Ash had fought in arenas before, and from what Jason had shared of his crazy Roman past, he probably had too. There was something particularly novel about this experience, however–staring down at her friends facing up against two twelve-foot giants, looking as tiny and insignificant as bugs. But what they also looked was very, very angry. Piper could feel the air becoming charged with a dark electricity she hadn't felt since the Wolf House. And was it just her or was it getting colder?

Worry overcame her as she watched the simmering demigods, almost overriding the pain from her shoulder. Jason may have looked bitterly resigned, but he'd been trained his entire life to follow orders and obey the gods. The Greeks on the other hand... She didn't know Percy very well yet, and Ash had always been closer with Jason, but who she did know very well was Annabeth.

In the six months it took to build the Argo II, the two girls had gotten very close, and Annabeth had opened up to Piper in a way she didn't exactly seem to open up with anyone else. But she didn't need the daughter of Athena to tell her that Percy and Ash were more dangerous than they appeared; she could see it in their eyes even from all the way up here.

Piper recalled the stories she'd heard about Luke Castellan, and what Annie told her about every demigod having a line, a line they'd eventually cross when this world became too much and they either died, went crazy, or turned against the gods. There was a time, she'd said, when Annabeth's mother, the goddess of wisdom herself, had suggested destroying both Percy and Ash to prevent them from reaching that line.

She really, really hoped they weren't about to cross it now.

Unfortunately, they didn't really have a choice. Ash's molten gold eyes flickered up to where the daughter of Aphrodite was sitting, specifically at the frail, shaking form beside her that forcibly kept the young warrior in line. Piper studied Nico di Angelo out of the corner of her eye. For some reason, she'd pictured him looking exactly like the smaller, maler version of Ash, which she knew was ridiculous, but he didn't look anything like his biological half-sister Hazel either. Lanky, scrawny, and deathly pale, Nico was exactly what came to mind when Piper thought 'son of Hades,' and not necessarily in a good way. Like in a this-kid-looks-majorly-anemic-and-emotionally-unstable kind of way. But that also may have had something to do with being stuck in a jar for a week.

"Del," he croaked, and Piper's attention shifted just in time to see Ephialtes and Otis make their first strike. Together, the giants picked up a fake mountain as big as an apartment building and hurled it at the demigods.

Percy and Jason bolted. Ash, on the other hand, shot straight up. The mountain shattered above the trench the boys had dived into and the crowd rustled, quietly murmuring for blood. Apparently the frigid glare the daughter of Death had on was enough to keep them docile as she drew her Stygian bow and began to shoot directly into Ephialtes' face. Somehow the relative silence of the arena heightened the tension as the giant staggered and roared. His brother struggled to lift another plaster mountain while the boys huddled together in their ditch, yelling unintelligibly and waving their arms. Piper internally begged them to hurry up, there was simply no time for them to be fighting now if that's what they were doing. She knew that both boys individually felt far too responsible not only for the quest and group as a whole, but also for the wellbeing of the girl above them, who was now dodging a slew of plastic sheep thrown with the force of cannonballs. If Percy and Jason didn't learn to work together, and STAT...

Somewhat surprisingly and very, very thankfully, however, the two boys moved as one unit, leaping up out of the trench and throwing themselves towards Otis, leaving Ash to handle Ephialtes solo. Piper couldn't resist the urge to smirk, although Nico was making some very stressed-sounding noises next to her. So they'd finally learned their lesson, huh?