I
JASON

Jason was starting to wish that he was the one who fell into Tartarus. The stress the leadership title came with was just about close to unbearable. He couldn't even imagine how Percy handled it while remaining sane. It was maddening to think that Percy just knew what to do, that he could just know how things would pan out. Jason wanted to be a good leader like that. He didn't want to let his friends down.

It's because he's better than you, a voice whispers at the edges of his mind. He shook the comment away because he was almost positive that it was Gaea. Old Dirt Face's attempts to turn him against his friends had become such a regular thing that it was easy for him to ignore without much effort. "Nice try." he mutters.

He was sitting alone, against the Argo II's bow where he was peering down at the glistening sea below. They were traveling by sea until Leo had finished repairing the ship's aerial functions. He wished they were in the air because as much as he tried to believe that being a son of Jupiter was the reason why he felt wrong traveling on sea, he couldn't. He knew why traveling on sea had felt wrong. It was because Percy wasn't there with them on the ship, doing his son of Poseidon thing by scanning the waters for potential threats.

And Annabeth wasn't there shouting orders at them. He found it odd that his missed the thing that annoyed him most about her, but maybe it was because it was better that she's gave orders. It was safer that way. Instead, Jason was handed that job and that meant he had to think. Like really think before he gave an order. He didn't want to lead his friends into the hands of Pluto. Sure, he was praetor back at Camp Jupiter, but he was praetor beside Reyna. It was she who gave all the orders and formed all the brilliant battle plans. Jason just nodded his head and said something like, "Listen to Reyna, she knows what she's doing". He just preferred to work together.

It's not like Jason hasn't led anybody, either. He was a centurion of the Fifth Cohort and led the Battle of Mount Othrys. He led the cohort into battle plenty of times, but he preferred the sidelines while Reyna took charge. Especially when he knew she enjoyed it.

"Jason?" a voice called. It was his sixth sense that told him it was Piper. He knew that sooner or later she would come. After he stormed out of the meeting they were having on their next move. He was glad that she checked on him because it had been awhile since they were alone. "Leo set sail for Camp Half-Blood."

Jason gives her a stiff nod and then turns to face her. "Who made that decision?" he asks.

"We all did." Piper answers as she was moving closer to him. "We cast a vote."

"Right." Jason snorts, wondering why he didn't think of that. "The Greeks and their democracy. Ha."

Piper takes his hands in hers. "Are you all right?

Jason clears his throat and looks into Piper's kaleidoscope eyes. "I want to say yes, Pipes but I can't." she stays silent, knowing that he is not finished. "Percy and Annabeth led this quest because they knew how to, but now the weight is on my shoulders and I don't have a freaking clue on how to lead this quest. What if I lead us to our deaths? What if I fail?" Jason's voice cracks and Piper throws her arms around him.

"As much as I wish Percy and Annabeth were here, I know that we can survive without them. They didn't take all of our strength with them." she murmurs in his ear. Her tone was reassuring.

Confidence lifts him, but there was still the pool of doubt waiting for him to take a plunge. Jason kisses her and when they pull apart he gives her a small smile. It wavered, but it was a sign of hope. "That's what I call a "pick me up."

Piper leaned in for another kiss when the ship shook, abruptly causing her to fall into Jason. He steadies her and scans the deck for trouble. His eyes widen and he pulls his gladius from its sheath. The other demigods and Coach Hedge file onto the deck with their weapons ready. Standing in front of them was an army of dracaenae. There weren't many, but enough to outnumber them two to one. At his side, Piper unsheathed her dagger, Katoptris.

The demigods surround the army of dracaenae and all of the lizard women begin to hiss. Jason didn't think it was very original. "No one will die today, demigodssss." the dracaena that was obviously the leader spits. Jason takes a step away in caution. He didn't want to get hit with some old lizard woman's spit. "We are hear to aid you on your quest."

"Nice try." Hazel says in disbelief from behind Jason. She then raises her spatha.

Jason was sure the dracaena rolled her eyes. "Our lord wishes that you accept our help." she replies in her ever constant hiss. "He sendsss his regards from Tartarussss."

"Who is your lord?" Jason questions, pointing his gladius at her armor clad chest.

"Lord Kronossss, of course." the dracaena tells them in a tone that states that the answer should have been obvious.

Leo let out a nervous cough, but the flames in his hair burned on. "Hold on, are we talking about Kronos, the guy who tried to take over Olympus?" he askes her, then lets out a laugh. "Is he bi-polar or something?"

Jason sees Frank throw Leo a glare, but he's the only one. The dracaenae don't appreciate his comment, either. "Listen," Jason tells the dracaenae with his gladius still raised for a fight. "We don't want Kronos' help. There's no way we can trust him, either. For all we know, he could just be trying to escape Tartarus." All of the other demigods nod in agreement, even Nico, who tended to object to everything Jason said.

The leader purses her scaly lips. "Very well, demigodssss." she hisses, once again. Jason was getting tired of all of the hissing. "Letsss hope you do not regret thisss." Then, one by one they hop off of the Argo II onto a much smaller ship beside it. Leo lets out a huge sigh of relief as their ship sails away from the Argo II.

"Thank gods." Leo grins. "I thought I was in for another week of repairs. I had just got the aerial functions to work, again."

Jason rubs his ears when he imagines that Leo's words end in a hiss. "I'm just happy that the hissing is gone."

Frank nods in agreement. "I was trying to shift away my ears."

Piper snorts and sheaths her dagger. "Can you even do that?"

Frank gives her a smile and shrugs. "I can try." he says.

Jason was glad to see his friends at least attempting to act normal despite everything. "So, are we even going to discuss the fact the Kronos tried to hand us an army?" Jason mumbles, taking his unwanted role ad leader.

Nico mutters something in Ancient Greek that Jason didn't understand. "This isn't about Kronos, it's about Gaea." Nico explains. "He knows there is a chance she will rise and not even he wants that."

Hazel meets Jason's eyes and he read in the panic written in her golden eyes. Then, they were all looking toward him,except Coach Hedge, who was yelling curses at the dracaenae's ship. Jason lets out a stressed sigh. "Look, I'm not a genius at battle strategy like Annabeth and I'm not fearless son of Poseidon." he says. "All I know is that our friends need our help and we need to get to the ones that we can first." Then he turns to Leo. "You said the aerial function were up and running?"

Leo nods and gives Jason a grin. The flames in his hair seem to grow. "Thanks to Archimedes."

"Well, get us up in the sky and to Camp Half-Blood. Our friends, both Roman and Greek need our help." he instructs.

Leo gives another nod and heads off. Jason turns to Frank, Nico and Coach, who had stop yelling do to the fact that the dracaenae were out of sight. "Be on the look out, just in case." he says. "We can't let this ship get damaged, again. We won't have time to stop for repairs." Before they go, Jason tells them that he, Piper and Hazel would take over in a few hours.

When they were gone, Hazel announced that she was going to try to get some sleep, leaving Piper and Jason alone. "Well, I'm impressed." she smirks and pulls him to her. "I've never seen you so in control."

Jason doesn't look at her, he just looks back at the sea hoping Percy would pop out of the water and take back the burden. "Yeah, well I hated every minute of it."

I thought I'd give it a try, you know. I can't handle the wait. Be kind and review? Thanks for reading!