Shipping and Ripping with Alyx, Claire and Tori

Hazel x Ostrich

She didn't mean to.

Hazel had been worried sick for absolutely ages. Scared ever since he'd last been seen turning into an ostrich and speeding off out of Camp Jupiter.

Nobody truly knew why he'd done it. He had Hazel, he had his friends, he had an important job at Camp Jupiter: why had he just left?

She'd blamed herself, she'd cried. It didn't seem like he'd ever return, but Hazel would tell herself each night before she went to sleep that the next day she'd wake up and be able to share a milk-free coffee with him again. So many memories...

It was only natural that she would want to go looking for him, and that's exactly what she did. Searching and searching, day and night.
She would never give up. NEVER.

- 1 month later -

"She has to give up soon. It's been a month."
Piper, still alive Jason, Reyna, and some other less important people were sat around an Iris Message, looking at Hazel looking for Frank.
Hazel was a mess: her hair was knotted, her clothes were torn, her lips were cracked, she walked with a limp, her voice was hoarse, her body was stick thin and her face was dirty. But still she searched.
"She'll never give up. We have to send someone to bring her back to camp."
"You're right. She'll never forgive us, but it's the only way."
As one, the three important demigods turned to the three insignificant campers.

- - -

Meanwhile, in a Laistrygonian's lair, Frank thrashed against the ropes binding him. Beneath him, a giant stirred a massive cauldron of boiling water.
"Nearly," the monster rumbled, and shuffled back into the other room.
"Our special meal is nearly ready. We have saved him for this special occasion!"
A chorus of cheers echoed.

As soon as the Laistrygonian was out of sight, Frank stopped thrashing and continued to hack at his bindings with the sharp stone he'd picked up in the holding cellar. His weapons were on a shelf across the room, just out of reach.
The second piece of rope snapped. Frank got to work on the third.

- - -

"NO!" Hazel screamed. It was a raw,broken sound that almost persuaded the campers dragging her home to let go and apologise. Almost, but not quite.

When they got there, Hazel had calmed down a little, which was even more terrifying. She was probably plotting their deaths but luckily they were saved by Reyna, who put down her newspaper (the headline was about animals escaping from zoos) and ran over.
"Hazel!" She exclaimed. "We've been so wo-"
Reyna never got to finish, because she was run over by a speeding ostrich (A/N that just autocorrected to speeding Patrick XD) .
The ostrich came flying out of the woods towards Hazel, and she ran at it too. They collided, Hazel sobbing tears of joy, and the ostrich making odd squawking noises. Hazel flung her arms around the ostrich, who curled its neck around hers, and as she stroked its feathers, it rested its head on her shoulder.
Picture this.
Now picture Frank's expression as he watched Hazel kiss the ostrich straight on its beak.

Frank, who had in the last month survived everything from monster attacks to almost being lunch, just so he could could get back to his amazing and wonderful girlfriend, watched her making out with some random ostrich and was tempted to end it there and then.
There he had been, tortured and captured, striving to get back to her, and here she was, not even looking for him, already moving on.

Frank stood, bloody and beaten on the outskirts of camp, and found he was to tired even to cry.
He fell to his knees, ready to make it all go away. Ready for The End.

He forgot that he was still holding his quiver, which went rolling down the hill, bouncing and rattling all the way to the bottom.
Everyone jumped at the noise, and slowly, Hazel looked up at him.

- - -

Hazel was enjoying her reunion with Frank after all these weeks, when she looked up and saw... Frank. She took in his expression; she followed his gaze to the ostrich. She was tempted to either kill herself or kick the ostrich for egging her on. Only that would be animal cruelty, and Hazel wasn't cruel, so clearly that thought never went through her head.

*****

"Frank!" She sobbed, running towards him. "I can explain! I am so, so sorr-"
"NO!" Frank bellowed. "I can't believe you Hazel! I can't believe I went through so much for you, and you moved on so easily! I can't believe you would rather have a dumb animal than me!
But most of all, I can't believe I even considered ending myself over some stupid girl."

Hazel was too shocked and heartbroken to do anything as Frank ran away from Camp and joined the all-male version of the hunters.

The End

*****

Okay, okay, okay. None of the stuff between the asterisks actually happened. Despite feeling betrayed, Frank agreed to sit down with Hazel and talk. They realised that there had been a misunderstanding, and ended up snuggled together like always, and swapping stories of the past few months.

~

The Actual End For Real Now