Time Waits for No One
Jason felt tears starting to drip down his face, as he tiredly climbed aboard the Argo II. Usually, he would quickly wipe them away, to make sure no one would see, but now... Percy and Annabeth were gone, fallen into Tartarus, and he hadn't been there to help. He had been focused on saving a stupid statue of Minerva, sorry Athena, who apparently had gone schizophrenic, and hated all Romans. She had sent Annabeth on that stupid, stupid quest, alone, for a hunk of gold, and now both Annabeth and Percy were gone. Gone.
He sincerely hoped Minerva, Athena whoever seriously regretted it. Because Jason was having a hard time trying to convince himself the statue was worth it that Athena was worth it. Because he had been pretty happy in keeping Bellona as their war goddess and Minerva as their arts and crafts lady. He was fairly certain if Minerva knew what he was thinking, he'd be turned into something much worse that a spider. Though, considering what just happened, he didn't think he'd be able to stomach seeing another arachnid.
No one was willing to talk to each other. No one wanted to talk only to realize that two voices were missing. Jason wasn't about to bring it up, but this needed to be resolved. He didn't want to stress out someone who was already so fragile, but there was no other choice.
He tiredly approached Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, Pluto. "Are you okay? No stupid question," he berated himself even as all of the others turned to look at him and Nico. Nico had raised his head and his dark eyes stared into Jason's blue ones, slightly glassy with shock, no with tears, Jason realized.
He took another breath and tried again, "Do you need anything after...?" He let his sentence trail off. Nico shook his head, still unwilling to speak. Jason took it as a sign to continue, but what he wanted to ask wasn't the question that came out, "Why didn't you tell everyone about the two camps? They could have found me, and you guys could have found Percy, so much quicker."
All the others looked at Nico to, particularly Hazel. Nico heaved a sigh, "I wanted, I really did. Percy is my cousin, no matter what; he's some of the only family I had left. But, my father forbade me. When I found the Roman Camp, and brought Hazel to it, I was going to tell the others, I mean another camp of demigods, a city where we can live until adulthood, it...it was unbelievable. But my father stopped me. He said interactions were forbidden, and that it would destroy the tentative balance they had created."
Jason still wasn't happy, "But when I was switched with...with Percy," saying his name hurt, "couldn't you have told us then?"
Nico looked straight into Jason's eyes now, "Look at what happened, can you honestly say, if I told the Romans you were at a Greek camp that they would agree to work together?"
Jason winced. The situation between the Greeks and the Romans had almost completely deteriorated. The Romans would have attacked Camp Half-Blood without mercy, if they thought their praetor was being held hostage there. He sighed and nodded.
He turned to Leo, "Is the ship ready to head to Greece?"
Leo nodded, his face uncharacteristically grim, "The Archimedes Sphere can help me upgrade the ship as we go, along with making ourselves some new arsenal and weapons. But right now the ship can fly, as long as we don't get attacked."
That was probably not good enough, but they needed to go. "Leo, let's get moving, we need to head to the House of Hades. Nico, give Leo the directions and help guide him. When you're done, you should head to the cabins, get some rest. Hazel, stay with Nico." They all nodded. "Piper, Frank and Hedge, keep a lookout. If anything tries to attack," which will happen, his mind spoke treacherously, "keep them away from the ship. I don't want a big fight, so don't engage them, just keep them away." They nodded.
"What are you going to do?" Piper asked.
"We need to tell Chiron what's happening. We need to warn them. He deserves to know what happened to Per...Perc...them," he finished. "Do you any of you have a drachma?"
Their faces dimmed in reminder to their fallen comrades. Leo reached inside his tool belt and pulled out a dirty, grimy drachma. He handed it to Jason wordlessly, his face solemn.
"Thanks," Jason managed. He turned away from them as he headed back to his own cabin. He wanted to do this alone. He could hear the others going to do the jobs he had assigned them.
He entered his cabin and shut the door. He rummaged through the bathroom cupboards until he found a spray bottle of Windex that was almost completely full, as no one dared use it on Buford, after the disaster with the nymphs. He dumped the cleaner out and filled it with water. He angled himself so that the water would form a rainbow, gods he hoped the connection would be good.
"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Chiron, at Camp Half-Blood," he intoned, throwing the drachma into the mist. An image showed up of Chiron in the Game room, around the pool table, with the other cabin leaders, he could also see Thalia, dressed in the Hunter's outfit, her circlet shining, and a death-to-Barbie t-shirt. Seeing her made him feel slightly better knowing she was safe, but not for long.
"Jason!"
"What happened?"
"Are the Romans-"
Chiron held up his hand and the room fell silent, "What is the news, Jason?" He had said it calmly, but Jason could hear the worried undertone.
He took a breath, "We are setting sail. An...Annabeth has found the Athena Parthenos," a cry of shock met his words but he continued, "and we have rescued Nico di Angelo from Gaia. He has told us the location of the mortal side of the Doors of Death. They are in the House of Hades, in Epirus, Greece. We are heading there now."
Chiron opened his mouth to speak, but Jason interrupted him, he wanted to get it all out, "When we arrived at the Roman Camp, Leo was possessed by Eidolons, and they made him attack the Romans. It was not his fault. They are coming to Camp Half-Blood, so be ready. They will not hesitate to kill you all. Attempt to reason with them. Tell them we have the Athena Parthenos, and to meet us all in Greece."
His arm was starting to get kind of tired. Chiron looked shocked, "Very well. Thank you for the warning, we will be ready."
Jason nodded. He was so tired. Thalia then interjected, "Where's Fish Boy and Wise Girl? Shouldn't they be here with you?"
At any other time, Jason might've felt jealous of the closeness that Percy and Annabeth had with his blood sister. But right now, all he felt was numb. He licked his lips and took a deep breath, "They...in Rome...there was an accident." It felt wrong to say accident, as if it was something simple.
The others gasped. Thalia looked stricken and Chiron's eyes widened. Clarisse narrowed her eyes and drew her knife, brandishing it at Jason's image, "What happened to Prissy?"
Jason closed his eyes as Chiron made Clarisse lower her weapon. "The Doors of Death, there are two sides, one in the mortal side the other in the Underworld. To close the Doors, both sides need to be closed simultaneously."
"And where are the Doors in the Underworld?" Chiron asked.
Jason closed his eyes. Thalia gasped, she must have understood from his grim tone and facial expression. "Please, please no," Thalia rasped out. Everyone else looked at her in shock. Jason had never heard her sound so desperate.
He took a deep breath, "The side to the portal in the Underworld...is in Tartarus." He kept his eyes closed, but he could hear the uproar it brought. He could hear the cries of confusion and horror. He kept spraying robotically; he couldn't even fell his hand moving it.
"Grace!" snapped Chiron. His eyes opened slowly despite the tone. Chiron had never sounded like that before. "Where are Percy and Annabeth?"
"They...the Athena Parthenos was guarded by Arachne, underground. Annabeth had retrieved it alone, and we met up near the surface. But, the ground had split and they..." he closed his eyes once more, and he could feel tears gathering up at the corners of his eyes, but he made no move to hide them, or brush them away. It would have felt like a slight against their sacrifice. "They fell, into Tartarus."
Chiron jerked back, while many of the cabin leaders flinched and blanched. Connor and Travis Stoll, had twin looks of horror, mirrored by many people in the room. Thalia had her hand over her mouth, looking devastated. He could understand why, Percy and Annabeth had been the center of the camp, the leaders, the people who had saved and lead them all to victory.
He swallowed heavily, the tears starting to make their way down his cheeks, but no one dared call him out on it. "P-Percy said," it still hurt to say his name, "for us to meet him at the House of Hades that they would make their way through Tartarus, and close the doors on the other side."
"Oh my gods," Thalia breathed, her face frozen in horror, "Di immortals."
"That is grave news indeed, "Chiron said, his face grim, "Thank you, Jason," he had to stop and swallow, "for letting us know."
Jason just nodded, his throat was closed up. He wiped his eyes, for the tears impaired his vision, but left his cheeks. The image wavered; the spray bottle was almost empty.
"I need to go. We'll...we'll try our best to contact you again. We'll rescue them." Jason said, he raised his hand to swipe across the image.
Thalia cried out one last thing before he cut the image, "Be careful! Just don't die, okay!"
The image was gone and his hand hurt from pumping it for so long. He left his cabin, and made his way to the control room. Piper, Frank and Hedge paid him no attention, so focused were they on their task. He could see tear tracks on their faces. He pushed open the door and Leo, Nico and Hazel looked up at him. He nodded.
"Let's go," he commanded. They were going to rescue Percy and Annabeth and they needed to hurry. For, time waits for no one.
It was an idea I had awhile ago, but I only got to writing it now. Hopw you like it. I used to have a different penname but this is my new one.