A Daughter of the Sea, but Not Half Human(Young Justice and PJO xover)

Chapter 3: Denial

Mount Justice

August 19, 19:39 EDT

Aeliana stood just outside of the ring, to the left of M'gann, sipping at a blueberry smoothie. After becoming concerned with her sugar intake, Kaldur and M'gann had cut her off from cookies for a little while, with Aquaman's permission before. Not even the girl's best pegasus eyes, which had gotten her the uniform hanging up in her bedroom as a gift from her stepfather in the Fisherman Kingdom, had made them budge on that ban so far. She was still allowed to bake to her heart's content, but she couldn't help the evil eye she gave to Wally as she watched him munch on her precious blue chocolate chip cookies.

She was only brought back out of her glaring session when she heard Artemis say, "Kaldur's nice, don't you think? Handsome, commanding... You should totally ask him out."

"He's like a big brother to me," M'gann giggled. "But do you know who would make the cutest couple? You and Wally."

Aeli didn't miss the disgusted look Artemis had as she glanced at the speedster.

"You're so full of passion, and he's so full of... of-"

"It?" Artemis offered, causing all three girls to chuckle a bit.

"Hey, Aeli, is there a guy that you like?" the Martian questioned. "I heard you talking to a boy last night in the bathroom when I got up for some water."

Aeliana cursed herself in Ancient Greek. She really needed to be more careful about Iris-Messaging around here. She'd figured that she could tell Percy to be quiet if she heard footsteps, but she hadn't accounted for the fact that M'gann could fly. What if the redhead had chosen to poke her head in? Granted, the Mist might've made it look like she had a computer in her lap or something, but from what she'd seen, M'gann held a strong belief in magic, so it likely wouldn't be as effective. The brunette decided she had to be more careful from now on, lest she get an earful from Chiron or have Mr. D turn her into a dolphin... again.

"Hm? Oh, that was my brother, Percy. I promised him I'd call every night," she explained, having gotten good at hiding her emotions. One did not survive April Fools at Camp Half-Blood without a good poker face. "And, as for boys? I'm not really interested in dating." Much to the chagrin of the entire Aphrodite cabin.

The brunette wasn't against love, rather the opposite, actually. She fully supported Percy's relationship with Annabeth, as well as the relationships of everyone else at camp, but dating for herself was... difficult.

Simply put, she had too many trust issues to put herself out there. She believed that if there was someone out there who was meant for her, she'd find them with time. However, that didn't mean she was going to stop hanging out with Piper, or that she wouldn't let some of the other Aphrodite girls try to find a guy for her. She didn't have the heart to turn the mostly sweet girls down; especially not sweet, ten-year-old Bailey.

"You're not?" M'gann asked in surprise.

"... If the right guy comes along, I'll give it a shot. I do believe that everyone out there has their perfect partner, but, well," the girl wanted to say that Aphrodite is almost as good at holding grudges as Hades and his kids, but instead, she just said, "Fate has a funny way of doing things. Besides, Wally would die if I started making cookies for a boy other than him."

The girls began to laugh a bit at that until Red Tornado began to descend from a hole in the ceiling, in the middle of the arena before starting towards something else. However, he didn't get far, as Wally ran over immediately.

"Do you have a mission for us?" the speedster asked excitedly.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," the robot responded accordingly.