Piper nudged my shoulder slightly as we watched the campers running around from the top of Camp Half-Blood Hill.

"Are you and Y/N officially dating yet?" she asked quietly, staring down at the grass by her hands.

I shook my head. No.

"Is Jason dead?" Piper asked again, slowly.

I nodded my head. Yes.

Piper closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I don't understand why these things happen," she whispered harshly. "It's so unfair."

I leaned back on my arms, staring up at the sky. It was the middle of the evening when we climbed up here, but now the sky was darkening.

"You can say that again," I replied.

Piper tilted her head to me, her body shifting slightly closer to mine. "How are you dealing with Annabeth? I barely feel like I can breath."

"You just have to accept the facts," I answered, sighing. "It can take some time, you know. Took me two years. Heck, I needed someone else to help me with it."

Piper let out a deep breath, the cold air mixing with the carbon dioxide coming out of her mouth.

"Maybe," she said slowly, "you can help me?"

"Of course," I smiled. "Why else am I here?"

Piper closed her eyes. "Not by talking," she whispered. "Something else, just to take my mind off of things."

Before I could reply, she was on top of me. Her chest heaved against mine, pressing me to the cold ground.

"What are you doing --" I started.

"Just kiss me," Piper said in between kisses. She sucked on my upper lip, then my neck, traveling down my chest....

"Stop," I said, scrambling to sit up. "Just stop."

Piper stared at me, frightened, on the ground. Her eyes were open wide, then narrowed as she spoke.

"Do you just not like me?" Piper demanded, standing up to poke my chest. "Am I not good enough for you?"

I put my hands above my head. "I'm not your boyfriend," I said. "You have no right to just kiss me like that --"

"Shut up!" Piper yelled, forcing a few campers bellow us to stare. "You idiot, you have no clue what's going on! Jason's dead! He's dead, and he's never coming back! He probably won't even live in Elysium because of the way he died, even though he saved the world! You don't understand!"

"Yes I do," I argued. "So stop complaining, because I know exactly how you feel!"

"You don't get it!" Piper screamed, pounding my chest with her fists. "Jason's gone! He's gone, and dead, and I never even got to say goodbye!"

"You think I got a chance to say goodbye to Annabeth?" I asked quietly. "You think I expected her to die on that quest?"

"Demigods die all the time!" Piper cried, pulling away from me. She began to crumple on the ground. "But Jason, he had a choice! He -- he tried to hurt Y/N, and it's all because I wasn't ready for him yet. I could have prevented his death, but I didn't." Piper looked back up to me, her face covered in hot tears. "You had no choice when Annabeth died, but I did!"

I crouched down next to her, drawing her shoulder to my chest. "It's not your fault," I whispered. "You didn't know. No one knew. Quiet down, you'll live."

Piper shoved me back and stood up. "No, I won't," she said.

And then she grabbed Katoptris from her sheath.

"I'm so sorry," Piper whispered before plunging it deep into her chest, leaving me and the other nearby campers in shock.

Her body crumbled down, and I barely caught her before she fell.

"Shit," I mumbled. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Will Solace (I'm telling you, the guy's everywhere) came running up the hill. "Get her a stretcher!" he yelled to a few campers behind him. "Set everything up, I'll be there soon!"

I scooped up Piper the best I could, Katoptris still buried in her, and ran down the hill. A stretcher arrived quickly and I set her down on it.

"Fuck," Will said, carefully removing the weapon from her chest. "We'll need as much luck a demigod could get."

I stood up with shaking hands as Will and a group of paramedics began undergoing surgery. Y/N came running to my side in an instant.

"What's going on?" she asked before seeing Piper's chest stained with red.

"Let's go," I whispered, grasping her hand tightly. Y/N nodded, despite her curiosity, and followed me back to my cabin. We watched as Nico began running out of the her's, scrambling to Will's side when he finally reached him.

"Can you save fix her?" Nico asked urgently to his boyfriend.

Will shook his head. "It punctured her heart," he declared softly. "There's no fixing that."

Nico collapsed next to Will, burying his head into the crook of his neck. Y/N pushed herself closer to me, draping an open arm around my shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "And I know that's not enough to fill that gaping hole where you feel empty now, but I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," I replied quietly. "You took no part in this."

Y/N shook her head slightly. "Well I don't care," she said. "But you know what? I'm sorry I can't help. And I'm sorry I'm so useless. And I'm sorry that I'm apologizing, so let's just forget about everything right now."

I closed my eyes as she opened my cabin door and headed inside. We sat down on a random bunk as Y/N rubbed my back and leaned into me.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so fucking sorry."