Jason shrugged. "I guess we figure out where the Argo II is." He gulped, bowing his head. "To... to tell them..."
Piper nodded quickly, so she wouldn't start crying again. "Yeah. That sounds good."
"I never thought of it before, but..." he furrowed his eyebrows. "I guess I could... track the Argo II."
P
iper looked at her boyfriend, surprised. "Really? I didn't know you could do that."
Jason nodded. "It's... faint, but...I can sense where they went. It's like a trail of smoke or something. It's hard to see, but it shouldn't be impossible to do."
"Will... will you be able to make it that far?" she asked softly. She touched her hand to his shoulder. "We can stop and rest for a bit, if your feeling tired."
Jason shook his head in refusal. "No. If we're close to camp, I could probably grab a pegasus or two. That way, I won't have to carry all of you at once."
Piper bit her lip.
'He's thinking clearly, at least.' she thought. 'That's good.'
When they appeared at camp, it was already nighttime. Everyone had gone to bed, so there wasn't anyone to prevent them or delay them any longer than needed.
Trying to be quiet, Piper snuck into the stables. The pegasi and horses snickered and whinnied, but Piper hissed "Be quiet, or I'll turn you all into dog food!". That shut them up for a while.
She finally recognized a black pegasus, barely visible in the darkness of the stables.
"Hey, Blackjack!" she whispered happily. "You want to go for a ride?"
The pegasus whinnied happily, but Piper shushed him before he could wake anyone up.
"Alright then, " she smiled, grabbing a blanket from the wall. "It's going to be long, though. You think you can do it?"
He looked at her like, 'Seriously, woman? You doubt my skills?'
Piper laughed, the first time all day. "Alright, then."
Jason had waited for her outside, still bundling Nico in his arms. When Piper returned, she found him snoozing.
"Not tired, huh?" she rebuked.
Jason looked up at her, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Just resting," he insisted.
Piper sat down next to him. "I'm tired, too." she mumbled.
Jason looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry I haven't really been myself since... you know..."
He glanced at Nico's body, which was cradled in his lap, then back at Piper.
Piper saw his distress, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She sniffled.
"I know..." she whispered. "I miss him, too."
Jason looked like he was in the mood to hit something. "It sounds cheesy, but...he was just...too young, you know?" he looked at Piper, his face distraught. "He'd already had a bad childhood, with the World War II crap going on. Not to mention that his sister left him, then died without ever properly saying goodbye. His mother was killed, and his father treats him like a piece of schist. Animals hate him, people don't trust him and think he's weird just because he wears black."
He paused, taking a moment to breathe,
"He... He went through Tartarus alone, and had to watch his best friends fall into that place as soon as he had left it. He...had some things that he kept to himself... because he thought that people would just push him away again."
He stopped there. Piper feared that he had broken down again. Then, he got up suddenly, wrapping Nico up in his arms.
"Let's just get this over with," he said.
It had taken them the entire night, and almost half of the next day for them to finally track down and land on the Argo II. The whole time, Blackjack kept on shooting worried looks at Nico, and then he would look back at Piper like
"Is he gonna pop put of that blanket and scare me or somethin'?"
Piper would just shake her head and bury her face into his mane.
'If only it were true,' she thought bitterly.
She was starting to genuinely worry about Jason. Despite not having any means of rest in the past 75 hours, he hadn't let go of Nico since he died. It's like he thought a monster was going to snatch him away from his arms. Everytime Piper offered to hold onto him, he insist that he was fine, and continue to carry him. She thought that he might be going crazy.
When they landed on the Argo II, the first person to appear was Leo. When he saw them, he nearly spat out the water he had been chugging.
"Good gods, Sparky!" he cried. "Don't scare me like that."
He glanced at Nico's body.
"Hey, what's wrong with Zombie Dude?"
Jason and Piper looked down at the floorboards.
Leo's cheerful expression turned into disbelief and sadness churned into one.
"Oh...oh, gods."
"Hey, guys!"
Hazel burst into the room, her curly hair flowing down her shoulders, a beaming smile on her face.
She looked at everyone's faces in the room, and she frowned.
"What's...going on? Did someone get hurt?"
Her eyes drifted to Nico.
"No..." she said in shock. "NO."
She crumpled to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
Frank and Annabeth ran into the corridor, hearing Hazel's cries.
"What the-" Frank said. He looked at Hazel, then at bundle in Jason's arms. He furrowed his eyebrows sadly.
Annabeth gasped, her hand over her mouth. Tears were brimming the corners of her eyes.
Suddenly, Percy's voice floated from farther up the hallway.
"Hey, Annabeth?" he called. "What kind of meat do you want on your sandwi-"
The black haired boy walked for around the corner. He looked at everyone in confusion.
"Uh...I guess I'll be making more sandwiches, then?
He noticed that Annabeth was crying. Infact, everyone was in pretty bad shape.
"Hey..." he said. "What happened? Why's everyone so sad looking?"
Moving into the center of the room, he walked over stopped in his tracks when he saw Nico in Jason's arms.
"He's... not," he gulped. "...Dead, right?" His voice cracked at the end.
His suspicions were confirmed when Hazel sobbed again.
Percy leaned against the wall. His arms were shaking.
"I... never thought he would actually...". He covered his face with his hands, wiping his eyes.
Jason cleared his throat, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the figurine that Nico had made for Hazel before he passed.
He walked up to Hazel, and dropped the statuette carefully into her hand.
Nico's last words echoed in Jason's mind.
"He wanted you to know that he has faith in you," he said to Hazel, his voice quivering slightly.. "He wanted you to know that he loved you, and that he knew you were going to do well."
Looking at the statue, Hazel scrunched her face in despair and began to sob into her coat sleeve.
"He wanted you guys to know that he was story for failing us. For not getting the statue to Camp Half Blood."
At this point, everyone was an emotional wreck, or close to it.
Jaso turned to Percy.
"I hope you're happy."
