Authors's note: I do not own PJO or HOO in any way shape or form. This is my version of what would happen if the Doors of Death were literally doors, not that weird elevator thing they had in the books. Enjoy :)
It wasn't fair.
Percy & Annabeth had managed to fight their way to the Doors of Death against all odds & after a brutal battle with Hyperion; they had managed to get through. Their friends had been waiting for them on the other side, battered & bruised, but alive none the less. As soon as they were through, Hazel had reached out with the last of her magical reserves to pull an extremely thick & heavy slab of obsidian down in front of the Doors, leaving her tired & drained. Thankfully, the rock gave the eight demigods security & protection for a tear-filled reunion. Hugs went around, even from Nico, & they all began treating injuries. Annabeth dosed against Hazel's shoulder, exhausted from trying to keep Percy & herself alive in the hellhole that is Tartarus. Frank laid across their laps a golden retriever to keep them warm, & the other five huddled a few feet away, trying to find a solution to the Doors as Frank listened in from his place with the girls.
"Look," Nico said exasperatedly, "I wish there was another way to go about this, but this is the only way. The Doors must be closed by two people working in tandem, one on either side of the Doors, & we don't have one of our own on the other side at the moment. One of us will have to do it."
Everyone was quiet after that, all trying to work up the courage to volunteer despite their instincts telling them all to get the hell out of dodge & live to fight another day.
"I'll do it." Percy said quietly after a tense minute.
"What? No! Do you know what that would do to Annabeth? To all of us?" Jason whispered harshly as soon as the words left Percy's mouth.
"Who then?" Percy demanded, whipping around to face the son of Jupiter, "You, cousin? If not you, who will it be? Piper, Hazel, Annabeth, Frank, Leo?
Jason opened his mouth to defend himself but before he had a chance, Percy grabbed him by the collar & whispered menacingly in his ear, "Don't you even dare suggest Nico. I wouldn't put my worst enemy through Tartarus once, let alone family twice."
As soon as he was released, Jason scrambled away from Percy, shocked by the dark look on his face & the dead tone in his voice. The normally jovial & sarcastic boy was glaring at him, his face a mask of pain, fury & determination, eyes nearly glowing with the sea of emotion held confined in their depths.
The discussion had risen from a quiet planning session to a roaring debate by this time & had woken Hazel. Quietly disentangling herself from Annabeth, she asked Frank in a whisper to stay put & watch over to still slumbering daughter of Athena. Making her way over to the group, she knelt between her brother & cousin & placed a gentle hand on Percy's arm, looking deep into his eyes. As she began to speak, the rest of the demigods stopped arguing to listen to what the normally quiet & withdrawn girl had to say. "Percy," she asked softly, "is there truly no other way?"
Deflating he answered hollowly, "You heard Nico. This is the only way. One of us has to be on the other side to close the Doors, & I can't let one of you do it, I can't."
"Alright then." Hazel sighed, resolving herself to the situation. The thought of losing more family hurt her, but there would be time for pain later. Right now, they needed a plan. "Listen up; we're going to need to time this perfectly. A soon as I move the stone, monsters are going to try to get through, possibly Titans. We're going to need to distract them long enough for Percy to get through the Doors & help me close them. If Nico can raise some of the undead, they should give Percy enough time to get through. Jason & Frank are going to have to hold back Annabeth 'cause we all know she is not going to be happy about this. If you can use your Charmspeak to keep Nico from falling over Piper, he should be able to keep the skeletons coming until Percy's in position. That leaves Leo to help me with the Doors. Percy is certainly strong enough to push both, but my arms are limp noodles in comparison, so I'll need your help."
Looking around, Hazel was met with complete silence. Percy, Nico & Frank were looking at her proudly (at least, she thought Frank was, it's hard to tell with dogs), Leo gave her a small nod, looking resigned to the situation, but Jason & Piper were staring at her in shock & horror. Confused & suddenly self-conscious, Hazel stammered out "What? I might not be with the times but I did go to Camp Jupiter. It's not possible to live there without picking up at least some basic battle strategy."
"The plan's brilliant, but are you insane?!" Piper said, breaking out of her shock. "How can you even think about letting him do this?! It's suicidal!"
"Cause he's Percy. He's resolved now to do this, & knowing him, he'll do it with or without our help. I don't want to lose him anymore than the rest of you, but this is the way it has to be. I should have enough strength to move the rock in a couple of hours. Rest up while you can."
With that, she got up & walked back over to Annabeth & Frank. Seeing through her mask of calm right away, Frank changed back & pulled Hazel into his lap, wrapping her in a hug as soon as he'd passed Sleeping Beauty off to her overly heroic Prince Charming. Normally he'd be too worried about Nico castrating him to pull such a bold move, but he figured he was safe this one time. Leo started a fire in the middle of the chamber for warmth before sitting back down beside Nico in a companionable silence. Jason & Piper were sitting farthest away from the fire & all that could be heard from the pair was a constant flow of hushed reassurances & sniffles. Which they came from mattered not to the demigods, they'd all seen too much in their lives to see tears as a weakness.
It was time. They'd all spent the last two & a half hours resting up & trying to ignore the feeling of doom that pervaded the chamber, but now it was time to put Hazel's plan to action. As Hazel & Leo walked towards the stone blocking the Doors, Leo turned to Hazel & asked her something that had been bothering him since she'd laid out her plan, "Why me?"
Confused, Hazel turned to stare at him oddly, "What do you mean?"
"Why me? Jason's stronger than me & Frank would be better for moral support. I get why you didn't want Piper, she would never be able to do this but, why me?"
"Oh. Why you?" She mused softly, "I guess it's because you won't balk." Seeing the confused look on his face, she elaborated. "You're right, Jason & Frank are both strong & could easily pull the Doors, but we both know Annabeth is going to fight like her life depends on it once she realises what's going on & it's going to take both of them to hold her back. Aside from that, I think you understand the best. You've dealt with death before & made your peace with it. While the other two are used to death in battle, they don't really understand the sacrifice play like you & I do. That's why when we do this; I want you beside me the most, because you understand."
Looking shocked at the quiet daughter of Pluto, Leo felt like he was seeing the real her for the first time. Giving her a small smile, he reached for her hand & walked with her towards the Doors, ready to do his part.
Meanwhile, Frank & Jason stood in front of Annabeth & Percy with their backs turned, trying to give the couple some privacy as the Son of the Sea woke Annabeth.
"Hey." He said as she started to stir. "Come on, you got to get up now, Wise Girl. It's time to close the Doors."
"Huh. You guys found a solution? How long have I been out?" Annabeth asked as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.
"Couple hours. Hazel came up with a plan while you were sleeping. We need you back here with Jason & Frank though."
"What's the plan?"
Feeling nervous, Percy tried to distract her. "Close the Doors of course. Then all we have to do is take down Gaea & stop our friends from killing each other. Piece of cake."
Suspicious about his nonchalant behaviour Annabeth started to pick at him. "Okay, just what does this plan entail? What do Jason, Frank & I need to do?"
"You're the rear guard. You're still pretty tuckered out so you're going to stay back here & take out anything that gets past the rest of us while we close the Doors."
Unimpressed, Annabeth searched Percy's face & started to sit up more. "& I need two guards to do that? Bull." She said. "I normally trust you Seaweed Brain, but this "plan" of yours stinks worse than the Pegasus stables back at Camp. What's really going on?"
Giving up on hoodwinking the sharpest girl in Camp, Percy just pulled her forward for a last, chaste kiss, before looking into her eyes & saying, "Wise Girl, no matter what happens, I love you so much. You are the single best thing that has ever happened to me. &, for the record, Chiron told me what the tossed apple meant when we came back from our first quest. I was going to tell Mom & make it official when we got back."
With that, Percy gave each of the Roman boys a nod & walked over to Nico & Piper in the middle of the chamber, trying to ignore the ruckus behind him as Annabeth tried to get passed Frank & Jason, demanding answers.
"You ready?" He asked as he neared the pair, "I don't know how long it's going to take to close the Doors. Can you keep the undead coming?"
Looking over at Piper for conformation, Nico nodded. "We tested Hazel's Charmspeak theory out while you were waking Annabeth. Gives me a real boost. I'll be fine."
Giving Piper a pointed look, Percy turned to Nico & stooped a little to look his younger cousin in the eyes. "When this is over," he said quietly, "can you be the one to tell my Mom? I know it's unfair to ask you to be the bearer of bad news, but I think she would take it best coming from you." Pausing for a moment, he blurted out, "She thinks of you as family you know, she & Paul, just the same as I do. After this is done, please don't block everyone out & fade away like you were before. I know you don't like the Camps, but you have Hazel to look after now. I'm sure Mom would love to meet & spoil her. Just, please? For me?"
Looking up for the first time since Percy started talking Nico nodded & grasped his forearm tightly in a warrior's greeting. "I will, cousin."
Stepping up to the slab of rock blocking the Doors of Death, Percy took out Riptide, gazing at the glowing bronze blade that had saved his life so many times before hardening his expression & looking over his shoulder at Hazel, "I'm ready."
Tears already pooling in her eyes, Hazel nodded & extended her hand, concentrating on the rock in front of her. After a moment, the slab jolted to the side, slamming into the chamber wall & raising a cloud of dust. The first thing any of them registered once the stone dust settled was the deafening roar of an untold amount of monsters as they surged towards the Doors.
Taking a deep breath, Percy shot forward, back into Tartarus. Watching the advancing horde of monsters he yelled, "Piper, Nico, I could use some backup!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, hundreds of skeletons in various tattered military uniforms appeared & stopped the horde in its tracks as the fought to break through the pile of surprisingly ferocious bones. Now sure that he wouldn't be overrun before he finished his job, Percy turned back to the group in Epirus & nodded to Hazel & Leo before grabbing the Doors & pushing them with all his might, though they didn't move until the other two grabbed on & started pulling.
Just before the Doors closed, Hazel stopped pulling & looking Percy in the eyes asked, "Are you sure? Once we close the Doors there's no coming back."
Looking over her head, Percy saw Annabeth screaming & fighting tooth & nail against a now bruised & bloodied Jason & Frank. Closer to the Doors was Nico slumped against Piper, who was keeping the Ghost Prince conscious with only her words. If he ever heard anyone say the children of Aphrodite were weak ever again, he'd laugh right in their faces. Love's children were downright scary when they wanted to be. Not that he was likely to talk to anyone who didn't want to kill him after today.
Giving Leo a nod, he looked down at Hazel & said, "I'm ready." Smiling through her tears, she grabbed the Doors again & helped the two boys close them, hopefully forever. Just before the Doors closed with an ominously final thump, Hazel was able to make out the Sea Prince's last whispered words, "Thank you Hazel."
As soon as the Doors closed, Annabeth stopped struggling & collapsed to the ground in tears. Turning away from what was now a plain wall of stone, Hazel clasped Leo's arm in a brief show of solidarity & mutual sadness before walking over to Annabeth.
"It's not fair!" the normally composed daughter of Athena wailed through her tears. Kneeling beside her, Hazel pulled Annabeth into a fierce hug as she let go of all the emotions she had been swallowing back since she laid out her plan & Percy's death sentence nearly three hours ago. Pulling back a little to look Annabeth over, the golden-eyed girl chocked through her tears, "No, it's not fair at all."
Sorry if this was a little Percy & Hazel centric. I have this thing for turning Percy into a martyr due to his loyalty & I think Hazel is so sweet & has so much room for character growth.
FWI: to those of you who didn't know, throwing an apple to a girl in Ancient Greece was a marriage proposal & if the girl caught it they accepted. In the first book Percy & Annabeth were using an apple like a hacky sack, throwing it back & forth, so they've technically been engaged since they were 12.