Pretty isn't Pretty - Jason Grace

0. Prologue

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0. Prologue

"It's human; we all put self interest first."
― Euripides, Medea

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Piper was happy. Sure, the situation may not have been the best. Jason was a roman demigod. Percy Jackson was probably at the camp Jason grew up in without any of his memories. There was a possibility of them going to war with the romans. There was an evil Earth goddess who wanted to kill them all and take over the world. Yeah, things weren't amazing.

But Piper McLean was happy.

She had a home. She had friends. She had an amazing boyfriend. Life was good.

So when Piper went to bed with a smile on her face, she was not expecting to end up in a graveyard. Piper blinked, even rubbing her eyes to make sure she was seeing things correctly and...yep, definitely a graveyard. It wasn't cold per say but kind of eerie. The grass was trimmed neatly. The headstones were all polished.

"Hello Piper."

The girl turned, surprised to find a woman there. She was in a black dress. The sleeves hung from her shoulders before slipping into a modest V neckline. Her hair was left open in dark waves over slim shoulders. Her face was perfect, radiant and attractive, set with eyes that seemed to change colour.

She wasn't looking at her. Instead her eyes were focused on a single headstone, crouching down in front of it.

"Mom," Piper sighed. Great, she had to deal with her mother now. The young girl had a complicated relationship with her mother.

Aphrodite looked at her and smiled softly. She then looked back at the grave sadly. Piper walked closer, coming to stand behind her with her arms crossed across her chest.

Edward Mallory
Memento Mori

"Did you know him ?" Piper asked.

Aphrodite nodded. "I loved him. For a time."

"What happened ?"

"He changed..." Aphrodite sadly looked at it. Her hand reached for the tombstone and brushed her fingers against the cold, moss covered stone. "He became someone never thought him capable of becoming. An ugly individual."

"What ? He put on weight or something ?" Piper couldn't help but ask with a scowl. Sure, her mom might be all about preaching love and accepting all but there was no was this goddess who always seemed to look like a size 0 supermodel didn't consider gaining weight as unattractive.

Aphrodite laughed quietly. "No, he was handsome. One of the handsomest men I've ever met." She looked at her daughter. "He became ugly inside."

Piper nodded, lips pursed. She honestly didn't care about this guy. He was dead. One of her mom's dead conquests. Did Aphrodite high jack a potentially lovely dream to introduce Piper to her dead boyfriend or something ? She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "What am I doing here, Mom ?"

"I came to warn you." The goddess stood up and dusted off her dress. There was something about her that seemed different. Her features while still ethereal and otherworldly looked set. As though the form she had donned was special. The soft shape of her eyes and the plumpness of her lips. The curve of her nose and the arch of her eyebrows. Was this the form she had taken when she had been dating this man ?