Short stories, (PJO, HP, Sanders Sides, anything really. I take requests!)

Broken Crystal Cuts the Deepest

Okay, I might as well just call these short story things by now. So, as you probably don't know, I am obsessed with Drew Tanaka. Welcome to her untold story, as told by me, Cleopatra Alessi, daughter of Hecate and distant legacy of Hades. (I promise this won't be as creepy as the last one.

Let us begin.

Drew formerly, sweet, pretty, graceful, a perfect Aphrodite kid. Drew now?

Broken. What was formerly a beautiful glass sculpture now a mess of broken glass scattered on the floor.

The mark of her best friend's unblinking eyes seared into her mind, haunting her at the close of her eyes, in the day following her, so that she felt eyes on her back at all times, turning around and expecting to see an emaciated corpse with Silena's eyes staring back at her.

She hadn't protected the beautiful girl who'd protected her.

She let Silena fall, armor singed through with venom. Her perfect big sister, awesome warrior, makeup artist, passion blessed sister.

It sucked.

Hell, no, she couldn't explain remotely adequately, only let herself be towed limply away as the dying words of her sister burned through her mind in searing words of fire over and over again.

'Protect our siblings now, Drew.'

A frantic gasp for breath.

'Don't let them be hurt, please, please, don't let them be stupid like I was...'

Another rasping gasp. Her sister forced out four more words, just four more, before the light in her eyes dimmed and she went limp.

'I love you, Drew.'

Drew sobbed again, curling into a ball on Silena's perfect bed.

Then she straightened and wiped the tears away.

She wouldn't let her cabin be hurt.

Silena had said so, and Silena was always right.

*one year later*

Drew smiled sweetly at Lacy. "Now, Hun, remember!" She leaned close, her words tasting terrible in her mouth. "You don't make me mad. No one makes Drew Tanaka mad. You hear?" This was terrible, every minute of keeping this act up to her siblings was terrible, but she couldn't let them get hurt, she couldn't, and making them hate and fear her, fear her enough to shy away from anyone was the only reason. Silena didn't want them to make her mistake, to love anyone because if you give your heart away, it's far too easy to break it. That was why she'd enforced the new rules. "Go and put the shoes on." she commanded, throwing Lacy a contemptuous look as she scurried away.

A commotion caught her attention outside, and she hurried away just in time to catch a blonde boy, a scrawny boy, and a pretty girl walking toward camp.

Along with Annabeth. Wait, hadn't Annabeth gone to find Percy?

She looked at the girl again. As always, she could tell whose child she was. Aphrodite. Another sibling.

Well, that's terrible. She went up, snubbing the girl, attempting to flirt with the boy, but she just wasn't as good at it as Silena had always been.

The girl, Piper reminded her of Silena. Perfect, a rebel, strong as hell.

The girl Drew had tried to be before she had to pretend. She had tried to act like Silena so much, living by her rules, doing what she would do.

This girl came, and she was already perfect. No, Drew wasn't jealous, just incredibly gloomy.

Because this girl was almost exactly Silena. Well, minus the make-up and passion magic. Piper hated makeup, and she didn't have the ability to sense and control emotions like Silena.

It was still the same.

Piper went on a quest, Drew stayed at camp.

Then Piper came back.

Utterly fearless, she confronted Drew, threatened her with her knife.

Drew never let on about the concealed darts in her belt, potent enough to knock out an enemy for an hour.

She didn't let on about her amazing aim, and how she'd killed eight monsters 200 meters away as easily as breathing. She stepped down, let Piper take her place.

Because she was so damn tired of pretending.

She'd failed Silena.

It hurt, but she couldn't handle the accusatory looks and frightened glances anymore. She just couldn't.

And Piper was so like Silena anyway...

Ten years later, Drew adopted a child.

A beautiful girl who turned out to be a child of Aphrodite with long black hair and warm brown eyes.

A girl gifted in passion magic.

A rebel.

A makeup artist.

She couldn't name her Silena. Piper had already named her child that, named her child after a girl she never knew.

So she named her Amara instead, the ancient Greek word for love.

Ten years after that, Amara led her to Piper, and Piper was surprised because she hadn't know who the girl was. And Drew explained everything, breaking down near the end.

Broken crystal is sometimes prettier than something whole.