This was written before HoH so anything that happened since then doesn't apply here.

I

Where in the World?

Jason was tired, the adrenaline rush was starting to wear off. The giants were defeated, and all who remained was Gaea who the seven, Nico, and some of the gods had just managed to corner. As the evil goddess started to fall back into her eternal slumber, she managed to curse the demigods with her last bit of strength.

"You may have defeated my children and me, but before I sleep again. I'll eradicate you from this world!" She cackled, as she shot a whip of power at them. Before Jason could react a flash of white light blinded him and his friends as it suddenly felt like the world turned upside down.

~)*(~

Jason felt himself tumbling through an uncontrollable vortex. He could vaguely hear the shrieks, and shouting of his friends over the roar of the wind in his ears. Eventually the world stopped spinning and he hit the ground with a painful thud. Jason clutched his head, and massaged his temple trying to get his bearings straight, as he sat up painfully. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. He looked around in wonder. He was no longer in the battle field of Greece, and was instead in a conifer forest. He shook his head and stood up on shaky legs, looking around and trying to swallow the unease that twisted in the pit of his stomach.

Suddenly, Percy and Nico appeared, tumbling out of thin air. Jason blinked in surprise, and rushed over to their aid. He surveyed the area waiting for the rest of the seven to appear, but they didn't. Percy looked around frantically still in battle mode, while Nico just stood up brushing the dirt off his clothes nonchalantly.

"Where are we?" Nico asked cautiously.

"I have no idea" Jason replied dubious. Percy relaxed after a moment and looked around confusion spreading across his face.

"Well this isn't camp, judging by the trees. Where are the others?' he asked carefully. A silence fell across the three as fear started to grip their hearts. Surely the others would have appeared by now right?

"Well let's find out." Jason announced urgently instinctively taking charge of the situation. His gut told him to start west, as his friends strolled through the forest until they came upon the edge of the cliff. They looked out in wonder. The cliff was three hundred yards above the ground, and overlooked a lush valley. Jason looked over to his right and saw a sparkling, blue lake with a small town settled on its banks.

"I say we go down there" he suggested. "Maybe the others got deposited in that city." the others nodded in agreement.

"We can find out where we are to." Percy added.

It took the trio the rest of the afternoon to climb down the mountain, and get to the village. Of course Jason could have just flown them down, but Percy and Nico adamantly refused. As they walked through the village the locals all stared at them like the aliens they were. Jason self-consciously looked down at himself and then back at the villagers. The three of them did stick out. It was as if they were the only modern dressed people in the whole town.

It was as if the village was stuck in the middle ages. The women all wore old-fashioned dresses in dark, drab colors. The men all wore black or brown pants with boots and a heavy, woolen shirt, some wore vests, or cloaks. Jason wondered if he and his friends have stumbled upon one of those renaissance fairs or something. The stares, and the atmosphere made him nervous along with each passing minute of being unaware of where they and their friends were.

The trio made their way to a building with music, and laughter pouring out of it. They cautiously walked inside to discover it was a sort of bar. Strangely, there wasn't a policemen anywhere in sight, and no one seemed to notice three minors strolling in.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else and ask for directions" Percy suggested as he dodged and weaved between dancers and drunks. He had a disgusted look on his face, and wrinkled his nose as if he smelled something repugnant. Jason raised an eyebrow. He wondered what was making Percy so agitated. It was just a bunch of mortals.

"There has to be someone sober enough to talk to in here" Jason insisted. Just then the band stopped playing, and a strong, middle-aged man stood up on stage, and started to tell a story.

"Long, long ago when Alagaesia was ruled by the Dragon Riders..."

"Did he just say Dragon Riders?" Nico asked.

"Alegaesia?" Percy questioned. Jason ignored them and kept listening.

"The land was in its greatest era of peace and prosperity. There wasn't a supreme ruler of the land; all four races shared the land equally. If anyone ever tried taking over, or disturbed the peace, the dragon riders would come and make things right. Alas for this golden age was soon to crumble when Galbatorix came into power. He was jealous of the riders and wanted revenge, so he killed them all, and made himself king of Alegaesia. One hundred years we've lived under this tyrant, come join the varden, and we will put an end to his injustice once and for all!" the man shouted. People cheered and clanged their mugs together in triumph.

"Jeez these people take renaissance fairs way to seriously." Jason thought to himself.

"Arrest this man for anarchy against the king" someone from the back shouted. Then out of nowhere dozens of soldiers in scarlet uniforms came to arrest the story teller.

"Come to our camp just outside of Surda to join the resistance". The man said as he ran out of the bar with soldiers sprinting after him. Jason's hand rested on the pommel of his gladius as he and his friends restrained themselves from running to the man's aid. It was probably just one of those reenactments or whatever they had at these things. This couldn't be real, but that didn't stop the demigod's instincts from flaring up.

They left the bar shortly afterward, after deciding that no one was sober enough to talk to, and Percy looked like he was about to punch the next person who so much as breathed on him. The trio ventured to the streets and started asking random people some important questions like. "Where the heck are we?" and "Have you seen our friends?"

Most people just looked at the half-bloods like they were lunatics and kept walking. Anyone who actually talked to them kept giving the same answer. Insisting that this was Alegaesia, and just giving the three weird looks whenever they mentioned where they were from and if they were anywhere near Greece. It was like the demigods were speaking another language to these people. Eventually Nico's patience wore off, and he grabbed the boy they were questioning and threw him against a wall roughly.

"Where in Hades are we really? And don't give me this Alegaesia crap." he demanded giving the kid his death glare (literally). The poor kid couldn't be more than ten years old, and he looked absolutely terrified as tears brimmed in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. We're in Furnost by Lake Tudosten. I-I don't know what crap is!" he insisted struggling against Nico's hold.

"Look kid just tell us where on Earth are we.' Percy clarified gently as to not upset the kid further. The kid gulped, and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Nico asked tightening his grip.

"Nico." Jason warned, but the son of Hades ignored him his scowl deepening.

"What do you mean by earth? I'm sorry. I've already told you where you are. Please don't hurt me." Nico huffed and dropped the kid. The boy cowered from the son of Hades and shook with fright.

"Earth as in planet Earth, what do you think I meant?" Nico spat. The boy just looked up at the half-blood with fear and confusion.

"I don't know!" he cried and darted away. Nico was about to run after him but Jason gripped his shoulder.

"The kid has had enough Nico leave him alone." Jason ordered. Nico shrugged out of Jason's grip and scowled. He looked around before kneeling down on one knee, and placing his hands on the ground as if feeling for something.

"Uh Nico?" Percy asked. The son of Hades ignored him, and frowned.

"Well it's official.' Nico said standing up and brushing off his clothes. "We're not in Earth anymore."

"What do you mean we're not on earth anymore?" Percy asked his eyes narrowing.

"I can't feel the Underworld anymore." Nico clarified clenching his fists looking jumpy and scared. 'This has never happened to me before. It's like it's not even there. Maybe it means we're in another dimension or something." For a moment the three said nothing as they let the weight of Nico's words settle over them. Suddenly, Percy's head pricked up as if an idea struck him.

"Gaea" he said his wagging his finger. "She said something like I'll eradicate you from this world! Before she fell back to sleep or whatever. You don't think she was serious do you?" he asked the question as if he already knew the answer and was hoping someone would prove him wrong. Jason bit his lip uncertainly, while Nico just clenched his fists tighter his gaze looked like was hoping to make something blow up just by staring at it hard enough.

"Nico, Do you think you can shadow travel us out of here?" Jason asked hopefully. Nico's eyes brightened, and a small smile quirked at the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah, let's try that. Grab on" he said grabbing his friends hands and concentrating on the shadows while forming an image of the Argo II in his mind. Suddenly he cried out, and doubled over as a wave of nausea passed over him.

"Nico!" Jason cried putting an arm across his shoulders.

"I'm fine" Nico managed after a moment. Shrugging himself out of Jason's grip.

"What happened?" Percy asked carefully standing away his arms folded across his chest in disappointment.

"I-I don't know. It's like I've been blocked or something. I can't do it. I'm sorry.' he said sounding angry and devastated. Percy grumbled and kicked the dirt in frustration.

"Well, it looks like phones won't be invented for another five hundred years so that limits our options. I don't suppose any of you have a drachma. Do you?' he asked. Nico patted his pockets, but stopped when a cold hard truth settled over him.

"Guys." he began carefully. "If I can't feel the Underworld and we're in another world then this probably means we're beyond the help of the gods. So an iris-message probably wouldn't work anyway." Jason's breath caught in his throat as fear started to take control. He glanced at Percy whose scowl intensified his eyes resembling miniature hurricanes.

"H-how is that even possible?" Jason asked breathlessly. Nico opened his mouth to speak but Percy spoke first.

"On Frank, Hazel, and I's quest we went to Alaska which was farther North than the gods control. We were alone, as is the case with Tartarus as well." he said darkly looking away fidgeting uncomfortably. Nico nodded in agreement absentmindedly. Jason rubbed a hand through his hair and bit his lip. He walked backwards and slid down the wall of a building as his legs turned to jelly from the shock. Never in his life had he ever felt so lost, and hopeless not even when he lost his memory. Even at his lowest moments at least he could count on a higher power out there watching him, and on his side. Now he felt like he didn't even know how or where to proceed from here. Percy sat next to him.

"It'll be okay Jase. I mean, I didn't put up with four years of this shit just for the enemy to get rid of me that easily. We'll find a way to get out of here." Percy insisted. Jason detected the low growl of controlled anger in Percy's voice. That's when Jason realized both Nico and Percy have been in a situation like this before, and Jason suddenly felt silly for acting so scared. Jason rubbed his face, and took a deep breath.

"So what do we do now?" he asked to no one in particular. Nico stood shuffling his feet in the dirt his arms crossed, as he looked around uneasily. Jason had a feeling the son of Hades was hiding something, and was it just him or did Nico look paler than usual? Then again Jason figured Nico was always hiding something, but that still didn't stop Jason from having his suspicions.

"Let's sleep on it. Maybe one of us will have a dream. I think I saw an inn nearby." he said stamping his feet and looking at his friends still sitting on the wall with conviction. Percy nodded, and jumped up.

"Sounds like a plan.' he said offering hand up to Jason who took it gratefully.

They walked up to an Inn. All three emptied whatever cash they had in their pockets (Nico did anyway Percy just shrugged empty handed, and all Jason had was five dollar bill). The Inn keeper accepted their coins but looked confused at the paper money. He gave them a key and told them to go upstairs.

The three conversed a while trying to make sense of their long, tiring, and confusing day. The only thing they could agree on was that they were definitely placed in some kind of alternate universe or something, because of the Underworld situation and there was no way all those people in town could keep up the medieval act for that long without cracking (especially under Nico's death glare). Jason laid in bed that night staring up at the ceiling, reflecting on just how lost and scared he was. He supposed the others felt that way too, because for the first time ever they didn't even have a direction.

~)*(~

Percy wasn't really expecting to dream that night considering that they were beyond the influence of practically anything mythological as far as he knew. So he was mildly surprised when his dreams brought him to Camp Half-Blood beach. He sat in the waves enjoying the sea breeze and gentle waves lapping over his toes. He looked over to his right and was both annoyed yet relieved to find his least favorite goddess (besides Gaea) Hera walking toward him. There was no need to bow, he'd already carried her across a river which was more respect than he'd ever shown to anyone.

"I'm sorry about what Gaea has done to you heroes." she began sounding uncomfortable as she stared out into sea. "However, I-we can't bring you home." For once she actually looked sad as if she actually sympathized with Percy instead of just shrugging off other major things like stealing his memory, and eight months of his life. However, Percy was too angry at hearing she couldn't bring them back to appreciate her concern.

"What do you mean you can't bring us back? How else are we supposed to get back to...? Earth! Where are the others are they alright!?" he spat out rapid fire questions. His hand inched towards his back pocket where riptide was kept as he did every time he was angry. Hera's eyes flashed and she crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Your friends are fine, safe here in our world. Gaea only had enough strength to send you three, the ones she figured were the most powerful, and the ones she hated the most. I'm afraid the only way we can bring you three home is if you win the war against Galbatorix, and liberate Alegaesia." she said.

"The Locals were serious about all that stuff about the varden, and dragons?" Percy asked skeptically. Hera nodded. Percy looked down and blinked as his mind tried to process everything she just said. He felt his anger and frustration rise within him and mess with the ocean around him. The winds picked up and the water started swirling around his feet in response to his inner turmoil. "Why should we help them? What does all of this have to do with us? Why can't you bring us back?"

The goddess looked at him in pity. Percy hated that look. He'd rather have her stare at him with distaste like he was used to instead of this. He felt like she was looking at him like he was already dead and it made his skin crawl as the waves crashed against the shore with greater intensity.

"Everyone who lands in a world whether they were born into it or brought to it, has a destiny to fulfill in that land. For example, you were born with several prophecies surrounding you as were your friends to accomplish on Earth. Now that you have been sent to this world you three have a purpose to perform here as well. Apollo has prophesied that your obligation to this world is to fight in this war against Galbatorix." she said.

"Once the evil king is dead and Alegaesia lies in good hands, will you and your friends ever reach the sands of thy land again."

"Great another prophecy" Percy grumbled with dread. As usual Percy had dozens of questions bubbling inside him, but Hera was already fading away.

"I'm afraid this is the last time I can talk to you or send you aid. Join the Varden. Beware magi..." and she was gone. Percy yelled in frustration and sent a blast of water in the direction she was standing in. He let out a long sigh and looked back forlornly at his beloved camp, as the world started to fade away along with the goddess.

Percy woke to sunlight streaming through the window of their room. He replayed what the queen of the gods told him to his friends. Of course none of them were happy to hear what Percy had to say. They had just finished a war only to be literally sucked into another one, without any down time what-so-ever. In the end they decided the only thing they could do was to go along with the prophecy.