Sorry for taking so long! Took me some time for an idea to come up, but here you go! Thank you so much for the reviews!

- characters/etc are all rick riordan's and he's awesome, bye -

II
Jason

Jason was worried out of his mind.

He was on a suicide mission with six other demigod friends, plus their half-goat chaperone and a recently-rescued, dangerously-ill Nico di Angelo. His girlfriend was being driven mad by her Oracle-knife. Camp Jupiter was about to wage war on Camp Half-Blood. Oh, and you know those six previously mentioned demigods? Two of them were currently trying to fight their way through hell. Like, literally.

The only good thing about the mission (if there was such a thing- safer to say it wasn't so bad) was that it was full-on democracy aboard the ship. That is, when Coach Hedge wasn't on his favorite listen-up-cupcakes-i-rule-this-ship mode. If he'd been responsible for leading, Jason was pretty sure he'd be having a mental breakdown right about now.

Lunch dragged on slowly as it always did. Meals these days were pretty much the same, Jason though. They'd each play around with their sometimes blue food (that was supposed to cheer them up reminding them of Percy, but actually just depressed them even more) and at some point one of them would look up and try to talk about the Percy-and-Annabeth-are-in-Tartarus elephant in the room. Of course, Jason reflected guiltly, that person's usually me. The pang of guilt could be a falcon roaming the skies above them, for all the good it did him. He spoke up for what seemed like the millionth time.

"I still think we should go get Percy and Annabeth first"

Coach Hedge grunted and got up. "I'm not hanging around for another one of these long, boring talks. When we get to the fighting, you know where to find me" and the satyr retreated to his room, his hooves clocking as he went.

Leo scoffed. "Just don't interrupt a baseball match or he'll throw his bat at you", and rubbed the back of his head resentfully.

"Jason, look", breathed Nico weakly. "I want to save them as much as you. Even more, actually, because I owe Percy loads. But as crazy as it sounds, their situation is astoundingly better than that of Camp Half-Blood. You were born a Roman, man. You know exactly the sort of damage they can cause. We help out the camp, then we help out our friends. Trust me on this, they'll be as fine as anyone can be down there. They've got each other, and let me tell you, they make a hell of a good team. Besides, Percy will probably just kill the Minotaur a third time."

Frank's mouth dropped. "Third time?" he whistled appreciatively. "Every time I think I've heard the best of this guy, something better comes up"

"Oh, come on, Frank!" said Hazel. "Back in Alaska he basically conjured up a tsunami and acted like it was no biggie! And you're surprised he's killed the Minotaur a couple of times?"

Frank chuckled.

But Jason wasn't satisfied. "But they're in hell!", he emphasized.

"Sounds to me like they've both been through hell and survived it", said Leo. "Besides, Camp Jupiter will probably turn out to be Camp Half-Blood's personal inferno"

"He's right, you know", came Piper's soothing voice. "If there's any two people who can make it down there, that's Percy and Annabeth"

Jason wasn't able to tell if he was being charmspeaked, but, tired as he was, he couldn't bring himself to care. "Okay, fine, I'll drop it. But now I've got you guys talking... how exactly are we protecting Camp Half-Blood once we get there?"

Hazek sighed miserably. "Well, as much as I'd like to make peace with the Romans, we won't be able to do it, at least not at first"

Frank took her hand and squeezed it lightly. "Yeah, it'll probably take some time until they even consider hearing us out. Octavian's got them full on battle mode, and once you get a Roman on battle mode..."

"Bad", said Jason darkly. "Very, very bad"

"The Athena Parthenos!", yelled Piper, her face lighting up. Four confused demigods turned to her, frowning.

"What's the statue got to do with it?" asked Leo.

"It's godly stuff right? Powerful, like the Golden Fleece and Thalia's pine tree, right? Wouldn't that mean we can use it as a shield somehow?" she said, her eyes full of hope.

"I'm not sure that'd work, Pipes" Jason hated to be the one to discourage her, but someone had to say it. "The tree and the Fleece protect the Camp from monsters, not unfriendly demigods"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's a stupid idea" she didn't sound so sure.

By then Coach Hedge had come back, probably lured out by words such as "battle", "monsters" and "unfriendly".

"Why can't we shoot them out of our way?", complained Coach Hedge, getting hold of a plate full of nachos for his second lunch.

There was a collective sigh among the group. "Because", started Frank (it was his turn- the Coach asked this about once a day, so Hazel had come up with a system that said each day one of the five would be responsible for explaining it to Hedge). "That's make them like us less and fight us more. We've pretty much started the war already, we don't wanna make it any worse. We've already got more trouble than we can handle."

"But wars are so much fun!" said the satyr, munching on his mexican food. Jason rolled his eyes.

Jason was dreaming of the sea. That on itself was weird, since his father was the sky god and he mostly dreamt he was high up among the clouds. But tonight his sleeping self was walking down a beach he'd never been to while watching the waves. They came and went strangely, mechanically, lacking their usual freedom and carelessness. As a demigod, Jason could only interpret that as Neptune's being sad (Poseidon, whatever). Although the gods weren't supposed to have favorite sons or daughters, Percy Jackson seemed like a pretty good candidate for the spot of his dad's favorite. Alas, of course they have favorites, Jason thought. If the gods lived by their rules, neither Percy or Thalia would exist.

"And what a terrible loss that would be", said a voice beneath his feet. Jason felt a cold chill come up his spine as he looked down and saw Gaea's sleeping face inlaid in the sand. It looked like her eyes were nearly closed but not quite, but Jason couldn't tell if that was because she was getting stronger or he was becoming paranoid. Maybe a little bit of both.

"The sea mourns its lost child as I grow stronger", the voice didn't come only from under Jason anymore. It engulfed the whole beach. "He is his father's favorite, you know. I wonder, Jason Grace, if your own father is as proud of you?" Gaea laughed, the low crackling sound reverberating along the shore.

"Take a look, Jason Grace, and see what you can't save." The sun shifted and everything went dark. Jason saw a small light ahead and stumbled towards it. It turned out to be a Riptide, glowing in Percy's had as he slumped against a wall with Annabeth's sleeping head resting on his lap. Jason could tell he was fighting to even keep his eyes open.

Riptide's light was extinguished as abruptly as it had appeared. And now Jason found himself sitting on a hardwood bedroom floor, next to a window framing the Empire State Building.

Beside him was Reyna, along with Dakota, Octavian, Henry, Lisa and Peter, the centurions. Scattered about were purple Lares, shimmering as they moved. Reyna and Peter had their heads bent low over a map of Long Island while the Octavian brutally savaged a teddy bear and the others engaged in a heated discussion. Jason caught the words "fewer", "Chiron" and "woods". He shuddered.

Suddenly he was engulfed in a thick, grey mist and the beach slowly reappeared around him. Gaea's face was still resting in the sand and Jason felt her icy gaze through her closed eyelids.

"Sweet dreams", she whispered sarcastically.

Jason woke up with a start. He was sweating, the sheets clinging to his naked chest as he sat up breathing heavily.

Still panting, he got up and went in search of a bottle of water. Jason stood on the deck, taking small sips from his bottle and letting the cold breeze play with his hair. As a normal person, Jason couldn't help but think how silly everything seemed in moments like these, when time drags out slowly and all the worries in the world can't keep you from relaxing.

Of course he wasn't that normal. His extra-sharp demigod senses let see farther than most people and his even sharper son-of-Jupiter senses told him they were about halfway across the Atlantic, aside from their height and the temperature and humidity of the air around him. Jason sighed. Sometimes he wished he wasn't a demigod, that he could be a boring little mortal life without worrying monsters might smell and pursue and attack him.

Wondering what his life might have been like if his dad wasn't the freaking sky god didn't do him any good, though, so he made his way back down the stairs to the recreation room where the small fridge was. The kitchen always remained closed at night, though Jason didn't know why- but he suspected it had something to do with Coach Hedge liking to chew magic plates.

Jason was always mysteriously thirsty when he woke up in the middle of the night - as in, really overwhelmingly thirsty - so he threw his empty water at the bin (three points!) and opened the fridge, reaching down for a can of Coke. When he straightened up, he heard someone clear her throat behind him and spun around to find Piper leaning against the doorway, staring at him.

"Is everything okay? I heard you walking around", she whispered. Jason was suddenly conscious that he hadn't put on a t-shirt before leaving his room. She's probably noticed it too, he thought. Piper looked like she was trying not to stare.

"Yeah, fine", he said, feigning casualness. "Just came for a drink" he opened his Coke and extended his arm to her. "Want some?"

She looked away. "No, thanks. I won't be able to sleep afterwards"

"Right. Sugar. I guess I'm too thirsty to care" Jason chuckled. "Good night, then. See you in the morning" he kissed her on the cheeck when he passed her.

He was halfway across the hallway when she called him back. "Jason. Wait" he turned back and walked over to where she was standing. Up close, he could see the bags under her eyes and- was it his imagination, or was she thinner than usual? A protective instinct rushed over him and he put an arm around her, running his fingers through her hair tenderly.

"What's wrong?", he whispered.

Piper lifted her face, looking so desperately broken and helpless Jason wanted to hug her tight and tell her everything would be alright.

Tears filled up her eyes as she barely whispered, "I think Thalia's in trouble."

Cliffhanger, yay! So, it takes some time for good ideas to gather in my mind and stuff, so be patient with me, 'kay? And keep reviewing cause that's what's keeping me going (I think I wouldn't even have written this if it weren't for the positive feedback)

Until next time!