Blake POV

After Ruby had made those defiant statements, the newly repaired Argo II ascended from the Coliseum and headed east. According to Nico, we would need to reach an underground temple in a place called Epirus, where the mortal side of the Doors of Death was located. Apparently, these doors were like a shortcut for Gaea's minions to leave Tartarus, which more likely than not would include the giants we'd already beaten. This information boded ill, as it implied that there would be dozens, if not hundreds, of enemies on the other side of the doors, which Percy and Annabeth would have to avoid or defeat in order to close them and get back to the mortal world.

Even before going to the temple, Jason said we'd need to find Diocletian's scepter. Apparently, it would allow Nico to raise an army of spirits to help us defeat the monsters that would undoubtedly be guarding the Doors. Our course was changed to meet this goal, and we headed to a place called Split, in a country called Croatia, where Diocletian's Palace was located. Along the way, I learned that he had been a Roman emperor in ancient times. My team and I also brought Team JNPR up to speed on what was going on. Jaune looked awestruck when we got to the part about how Yang had single-handedly taken on and then beaten Alcyoneus, then him and his team were horrorstruck almost immediately afterwards when they heard about Ruby's injury. Their horror was short-lived, however, when they remembered that they had seen Ruby in prime condition. Their faces remained impassive for the remainder of the story.

"By the way, did Ozpin seem to be hiding anything when he sent you guys out?" Yang asked when we were done.

"No, why?" Jaune replied.

"When he spoke to us, he seemed to be withholding information. Then, the day after we arrived here, we found out that he knew exactly what he was getting us into," I explained.

"He probably figured you guys could handle anything this world could throw at you," Pyrrha told us.

"Except that the earth itself is stirring against us, trying to prevent us from reaching this Athens place," Weiss pointed out. "If he knew that, why would he send first-years?"

"Didn't Chiron say Ozpin told him Hera had selected us? He might be a skilled Huntsman, but he's not about to disobey a goddess," Ruby said. Weiss merely shrugged in response. "Oh, did you hear the good news?" Ruby asked Team JNPR excitedly. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what she was thinking, but made no effort to stop her.

"Enlighten us, Ruby," Ren said calmly.

"Blake and Yang are dating now!" the red-clad girl exclaimed. Our fellow students were all taken aback. Nora recovered first.

"You're together -together?!" she yelled. "Congratulations!" This response was exactly the kind one would expect from the hyperactive girl. In fact, it was slightly calmer than I thought it would be.

"Yup," Yang answered happily, putting her arm around my waist. Despite how stressed out I was about everything that had happened since reaching Rome, the heat from the brawler's body calmed me immensely. I suddenly felt guilty about being stressed, because I remembered that Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus, where the slightest mistake could get them killed. Compared to them, I had it easy.

At some point during the journey to Split, I was outside when we suddenly got boarded by a crew of dolphin-hybrids, led by a masked figure in full Greek combat armour. I noticed his sword was made of gold, not bronze, but it was of the same form as those used by the demigods of Camp Half-Blood. In moments, his crew seized control of the Argo II and demanded we give them our valuables.

"Do we have a choice?" Leo grumbled. "Just stay out of the engine room."

"I am Chrysaor, and you are my prisoner. You are in no position to give me orders," the masked leader told him. Annabeth would know how to beat this guy, I thought, before having an idea. As I went over the intricacies of my plan in my mind, Chrysaor's crew made their way through our ship and tied up all the passengers. When that was done, Jason attempted to barter for our lives and freedom and the like, but Chrysaor was having none of it.

"Chrysaor! I challenge you, one-to-one, in open combat. I win, you leave us alone. You win, you do whatever you want with us," I declared. The demigods looked slightly worried about that plan, because their lives depended on my skills alone, but no one said anything.

"You think you can beat me¸ the greatest swordsman in history?" Chrysaor laughed. "Very well. Untie her and give her her weapon," he ordered one of his crew members. The comforting weight of Gambol Shroud in my hand relieved me from the pressure ever so slightly, but I took a deep breath regardless. I opted to use the default form to begin with, and let Chrysaor take the first swing. If he was as good as he claimed, I wanted to be on the defensive. His attack was almost too fast for me to see, and I just barely managed to dodge. Is this how Percy felt that day at camp? I wondered. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, but I didn't want to reveal my secrets too early, so I took a low swing at my opponent's legs. He jumped over my blade and brought his own down towards my head, intending to split it in half. I rolled to the side, avoiding Chrysaor's sword so narrowly that I felt the wind as he cut through the air. I got to my feet and faced him warily. We circled for a few seconds, neither of us making a move. Eventually, I swung again, an intentionally easy attack to block. Then, without warning, I unsheathed the katana so that I was duel-wielding. Chrysaor's mask hid any surprise he may have had as he tried to kick me. I deflected the kick with my katana as the cleaver still pressed against Chrysaor's gold sword, knocking him off-balance. As he staggered, I activated the pistol and took aim at his head.

"I win," I told him when he had regained his equilibrium. Instead of complying, he attempted to cut off the hand holding my pistol, so I jumped up and backwards off a shadow clone, firing my pistol while I was in the air. His mask shattered, and he immediately brought his hands up to cover his face. "Leave!" I ordered him. He stormed off the Argo II, returning to his own ship. His crew followed while I untied my friends.

"Holy shit, Blake, that was incredible," Jaune complimented me.

"Well, what do you expect? She's a ninja, of course it was," Yang told him, smiling. I rolled my eyes as she continued, "besides, Blake's incredible at everything." Under her breath, she then added "as far as I know" and winked at me. How she always managed to come up with dirty jokes, regardless of the situation, was beyond me.

"If anyone's wondering, we'll reach Split in a couple of hours," Leo called. We all nodded, then Jason decided we needed a plan on how we would actually acquire the scepter once we arrived at Diocletian's Palace.

On arrival, it was decided that Nico and Jason would go alone to the palace for reasons I wasn't really listening to. Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed behind to guard the ship against more boarding parties or sea monsters. While Nico and Jason were gone, an unfortunate truth dawned on Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"We lost our weapons when we were kidnapped," Jaune said fearfully. "They're probably still on Remnant." This was really bad news, because we'd all figured having an extra team of Huntsmen and Huntresses would be extremely useful against the giants, but without their weapons there wasn't much they could do. No one had a solution to this dilemma, but we didn't have long to think about it. We saw a pegasus flying towards the ship, carrying a girl dressed in armour. Naturally, we drew our weapons as the two came in to land.

"Please! I am not an enemy!" the girl told us, raising her hands as if surrendering.

"Reyna?!" Frank gasped. I figured "Reyna" was someone from Camp Jupiter.

"Yes, Frank, it's me. Where's Jason?" Reyna answered.

"Not here," I told her warily. She narrowed her eyes at me in distrust.

"Where is he, then?"

"He went with Nico to get Diocletian's scepter," Frank replied. "If I may, why are you here?"

"It's Octavian. When you guys didn't return from your quest, he started spreading stories that the Greeks had killed or captured you. Now the legion is preparing to attack the Greek camp," she explained. "I came to warn you guys."

"But you're the praetor. Can't you get everyone back under control?" Hazel asked.

"Octavian's lies have taken hold. Without solid proof that you're okay, there's nothing I can do," Reyna told us.

"Wait, didn't Athena say something about returning the big statue to the States before the Romans attack?" Ruby asked.

"Shit, you're right," Yang replied. "But we don't have time to go back, and there's no way one pegasus can carry something that big."

"What big statue? You mean the Athena Parthenos? Did you find it?" Reyna asked incredulously.

"Yes," I answered. "It was in Rome, under the Coliseum. It's now in the stables."

"Show me."

We brought Reyna to the stables to show her the Athena Parthenos. She gasped when she saw it, and explained that it had been lost for centuries, ever since the Romans invaded Greece and removed it from the Parthenon in Athens. Apparently, there had been much debate about whether or not it still existed.

"Well, Athena, or Minerva, whatever you want to call her, was right," Reyna said. "Showing this to Octavian and the rest of the Legion would heal the rift between Greeks and Romans. But we have no way to get it there." This dilemma stumped us. I knew it was imperative that we prevent the Romans from invading, but there was nothing we could do about it. Yet again, I found myself wishing Annabeth were still here, because she'd have a solution in no time. We decided to wait until Nico and Jason returned, and sat down for food. Reyna ate ravenously, which didn't surprise me considering she'd flown across a three-thousand-mile wide ocean and then half a sea on what was essentially a horse with wings, so she couldn't have been able to eat very much on her journey. When she had finished, she asked Hazel and Frank for a report on what had happened since they had departed. The Greek demigods, as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR, kept quiet as the Romans recounted the events of the past few weeks to their praetor. Reyna was a good listener, not once interjecting with a question or comment, merely nodding at appropriate points in the story. She went wide-eyed upon hearing about Percy and Annabeth's fate, but still kept silent.

"So. Terra is rising again, to take revenge for the defeat of the Titans last summer," Reyna stated when Hazel and Frank had finished. "And Juno has brought heroes from another world here to save both worlds."

"That's pretty much it, yeah," Yang answered. "And even if beating her is impossible and we all die, I'm going out with a Yang." I rolled my eyes while Ruby snickered and Weiss sighed in exasperation. Reyna looked at my girlfriend blankly. "It's a pun. My name's Yang and…I'll go out with a bang and…No?" she explained, tapering off at the end.

"Yang? Roman commanders don't appreciate humour in serious situations," Frank whispered loudly. Before anyone said anything else, Jason returned with Nico. The latter was red-eyed, as though he had been crying, but I decided not to question it. They had a three-foot-long ivory pole with them, capped with a dark marble globe. I deduced that it was Diocletian's scepter, but didn't get a chance to say anything as Jason noticed Reyna and gasped slightly in surprise.

"Reyna? What are you doing here?" he asked. She explained to him what was happening with the Roman Legion. After she was done, Jason looked as stumped as we were about how to get the Parthenos back to the States. Things looked bleak, until Nico spoke up.

"I can shadow travel it there," he whispered. "But I'd need protection, because transporting something that big halfway around the world in one jump is impossible. I'll do it in increments, with bodyguards so I can rest."

"I'll take you," Reyna told him. "I need to get back to the legion anyway."

"And take Hedge. He's really annoying," Leo said. Nico looked as though he was about to protest when the satyr burst into the mess hall.

"Who needs killing?" he yelled.

"No one yet. But you get to kill anything that comes close to Nico on his trip back to the U.S.," Leo answered. Hedge looked excited to be off the ship and away from us, and he wholeheartedly agreed to accompany Nico and Reyna. Those two didn't look impressed, but they didn't say anything.

"We should leave ASAP," Reyna decided. Nico nodded and the group headed to the stables to get the statue. A few minutes later, they were ready to go.

"Good luck," Ruby told them, before they literally vanished into shadows. When they were gone, Jason turned to Leo.

"Take us to Epirus," he commanded. Turning to Hazel, he added, "You'll need to wield the scepter. Only a child of the Underworld can use it to raise an army of dead legionnaires." She nodded. With that, the ship ascended and headed even further east.

A/N: There's Chapter 9. Sorry it's so late, I was really sick this weekend and I had a lot of homework to do. Anyway, it's done now. So, yeah. Getting beaten was probably a huge blow to Chrysaor's ego, but never mind. I'm not gonna elaborate on Percy and Annabeth's journey through Tartarus at any point, because the actual events from The House of Hades fit in with this story well enough that they don't need changed. *Spoiler alert* Next chapter (or maybe the one after, I'm not sure yet) is gonna have a showdown between the Ice Princesses. I'll let you think about what that means until that part is written. Obviously I know what it means, but tell me in a review or PM what you think. Anyway, that's about all I have to say, so thanks for reading, leave a review and follow/favourite if you so wish.