The Forgotten Ships

Silena

                    Disclaimer:
The characters belong to Rick Riordan, as do the PJO and HoO series.

Written by:

@libraryhaunter
@AmAeRaI
@Chilea
@The__Crazy_Girl
@BrokenTimeTurner

                [♀SiLeNA♀]

The beach was buzzing with activity. The Hephaestus kids were all busy setting up everything for the fireworks display. The Athena kids were, as usual, in charge, sending campers to re-arrange the striped beach towels and get more food. Some Hermes campers, quick but not always reliable, were running most of the errands. Pollux and Darius were just setting out refreshments. A few Apollo kids had turned on some soft music, and one of them was gently strumming a guitar. There was a smattering of other people trickling in as Silena sat at the shore, the sea tickling her toes and splashing the hem of her plain white sundress.

She was pretty sure her siblings were all watching, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She was sure that they, although nervous and excited for her, weren't nearly as scared as she herself was.

Come on, Silena, she chided herself. You're the senior counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin. And this isn't your first date. Far from it.

It didn't help her nerves one bit.

"Silena."

She turned, her heart stuttering between almost stopping and speeding up at the sight of him. He stood, looking a little uncertain, which was something not many guys could have pulled off at five feet eleven inches (How did she know the exact details? [insert embarrassed cough] Never mind) and was yet endearing. His tousled black hair looked like he had run his fingers through it a lot of times. His tentatively melting brown eyes were caught been hope and indecision as he looked at her.

She smiled at the sight and he smiled back, looking relieved, as though he had expected her to have forgotten about their date.

"I thought this was a nice place to sit," she said stupidly. Her voice faltered slightly and she reminded herself of what she had been thinking earlier, but the little courage she had had appeared to have deserted her.

"It is."

He sat down, a little clumsily, next to her.

"What do you guys have planned for the fireworks show this year?" She asked, hoping to distract him from his apparent discomfort.

His face brightened, then sobered slightly.

"It's a surprise. I can't tell anyone."

She laughed. The Hephaestus cabin always insisted on keeping things a surprise. She wondered that the younger campers in their cabin never slipped up and told someone.

"Not even me?"

He glanced shyly at her, but she caught his eyes with her own, staring at him.

He stared back, finally drawing in a breath.

"I didn't say it before...I know you know...but you look beautiful."

She felt herself blush.

"It's different, other people telling me I'm pretty, me seeing what Mom's passed on to me in the mirror...it's different from when you tell me, Charles."

He blushed, too, and looked away for a second. She was afraid she'd scared him off.

"Anyway," she said hastily, not knowing what to say.

It turned out that it didn't matter. At that moment, one of Charles's cabin mates called out, "Everyone here?"

There were nods, and assenting shouts from the campers. The satyrs were crowded around Mr. D, who was boredly sipping a can of Diet Coke. The nymphs were in their own groups at the edge of the forest. Chiron was looking around, appearing to be doing a quick head count. As Silena looked around, she spotted Percy and Annabeth sitting a little way away. Percy was telling her a joke and she was laughing. Silena smiled to herself.

Please, Mom, let them be happy together. And us, too, of course.

There was no reply, not even a slight hint of someone at the edges of her thoughts.

"Watch," Charles breathed.

The first firework exploded in the sky. It spelled out Happy Fourth of July, Camp Half Blood. This one was always the same.

Then the others whizzed into action.

"Oooh..."s and "Aaahh..."s rose from the audience as mesmerising bursts of color illuminated the sky, and the beach where the campers were spread out. The gently rolling waves caught the light as the events of the camp year started to fold out in shimmering images across the sky. Everything that had happened danced into life high up there, far above them. People laughed and talked excitedly, pointing out themselves and their friends and siblings. Even the infamous pillow fight which Mr D himself had to come and stop appeared there.

"I do not look like that," Silena heard the camp director hiss, sounding horrified. "I'm not nearly as fat."

"Sure, you're not," someone else nearby, also hearing him, snickered. Probably Drew. It was a good thing for her that Mr D hadn't heard her. Or she would be a porpoise in the ocean right then. Silena wondered if that would be such a bad thing.

"Look!" Charles sounded like a five year old showing his mommy something he'd found. It was rare that he sounded like that, and she looked.

It was the Capture the Flag game's events, played out in the sky. There was Silena, with Annabeth and Percy, going to rescue Charles. The ant hill. The dragon. Everything.

"I'm not that brave," she whispered as she watched. "You're exaggerating."

"I'm not." For once, he looked her in the eyes. "I was serious when I made that firework. I'm serious now. You saved my life, Silena. And I-I wanted to thank you."

"Don't thank me," she said, although she felt a little disappointed. Why was that? "You would've done the same for me."

She almost covered her mouth. What had she said? She didn't know he would've done the same for her. She couldn't just assume it.

But he didn't seem to mind.

"I would have," he said, his voice dropping. Even over the sound of all the fireworks, all she could hear was his voice and the ringing in her head as he moved closer.

She leaned up, and they kissed. Under the fireworks which wrote in the sky, if only temporarily, her bravery, and more importantly to her, his love for her, with their friends surrounding them, with the night alive and asleep and lit up and dark at the same time...they kissed.