Clarisse led the other demigods towards the north, as instructed. It wasn't easy by any means. They were in Tartarus after all. They had been marching for hours as the terrain remained mostly unchanged. They had been forced to deal with the occasional monster attacks, but the mysterious man had seemed to draw most of them away. They crested a hill and stared at the sight below. A few miles away in a valley was what seemed to be a piece of the outside world. A mansion in the middle of a perfectly manicured lawn was in the middle, surrounded by a tent city. Oddly though, most of it seemed to be empty, though there did seem to be a good number of guards outside of it. That was when the howling began. Clarisse glanced back and saw a pack of hell hounds coursing over the crest of the hill behind them. She turned back to the other demigods and cursed under her breath. Too few of them were able to fight with any efficiency right now. Most of them had been wounded in the earlier fight and the few who hadn't had been worn down by both the trek and the atmosphere of Tartarus. That left her. Her cabin was normally like this, so she was not as affected by the draining surroundings. Her hand still hurt but she could still fight with a reasonable degree of efficiency. "All of you run towards that camp and get help. I will hold them off as long as possible."

Travis was the one who objected. "We can't just leave you here alone!"

"She won't be alone." Everyone turned and saw the man from earlier standing there silently. "I will be here as well. Hurry up you bunch. We cannot keep an eye on you while we are fighting. GO!" He roared the last bit and galvanized into action, the other demigods turned and started to run towards the distant haven. The man walked over to a nearby rock and sat down as the hell hound got closer. Clarisse glared at him.

"You're just going to sit there?"

The man smiled lazily. "My sources say you are a worthy demigod. Show me. Entertain me, demigod of Olympus. Give me a reason to do more. Being who I am has its privileges." He pulled out a Diet Pepsi from somewhere under his cloak, popped the top, and sat back.

Clarisse again cursed mentally. Prideful she may be, but she knew she could not hold nearly that many monsters off without help. She would be dead in minutes. The only hope was to put up a good enough fight that this stranger would help her. And fight she did. She used every trick she knew, performing her hardest, while occasionally glancing over at the cloaked figure to see if he was going to help. She only ever got a smile and a shake of the head in response. Eventually, inevitably, she was overwhelmed and forced to the ground. She closed her eyes, awaiting death. Suddenly the weight on her vanished and she felt something sprinkle over her. She opened her eyes in time to see the man snap his fingers as all the hell hounds burst into dust and dissolved. She stared at him angrily. "Why didn't you do that before?"

"I wanted to see if you had what it takes. I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. That was what I was testing. You fought against impossible odds, just to give your friends time to escape. That was worthy of respect, and that is why I stepped in." He walked over to her and offered a hand to help her up. "You were afraid yes, but that does not diminish your achievement. Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."

She hesitated a moment before accepting the help. The man pulled her to her feet before dropping his hood. His sea green eyes and raven black hair immediately jumped out at her. "Percy." She breathed. Then she took a step forward and delivered a punch to his jaw, sending him reeling backwards. He regained his balance before feeling his jaw gently and chuckling lightly.

"I guess I deserved that."

"Yes. Yes you did. How were you that good with a bow?"

"Why would you choose to focus on that? Everything that has happened and you are concerned about my archery. Figures. Anyway, you didn't really think I was that bad did you?"

"Actually, I did."

"Huh. I guess it worked then. You don't shoot as poorly as I did without intentionally messing up. That takes real skill to be that bad. Anyway, lets go check on your companions." He snapped his fingers and they both vanished. When they reappeared in front of the other demigods Clarisse fell to her knees and clutched her stomach for a minute. That had been horrible. It felt like she had been squashed, shrunken, and then sucked through a straw before being reassembled.

"Sorry about that. I am not used to transporting other people. I will remember that next time."

"Jackson..."

"Shutting up now." He waved a hand at the running half-bloods, flagging them down. "Hey guys! Fancy meeting you down here of all places. What were the odds?"

"Perce?"

"In the flesh. I imagine you guys want to get out of here right? Let's talk more once we are inside." He snapped his fingers and the group was transported, but this time he was careful to twist reality around them, instead of them around reality. It made things so much easier on passengers. They reappeared inside the mansion, and Percy walked over and opened the fridge. "Anyone want a drink? I have Saint Arnold's root beer." Several hands flew up and Percy pulled out some cold drinks and tossed them to the thirsty demigods.

"Right. Now, I bet you all have questions." At the answering nods he took a seat on a nearby couch and gestured with his left hand. "Ask away." This sparked a massive amount of questions being asked at the same time. Percy waved his hand again. "One at a time please."

Travis went first. "What are you doing in Tartarus Percy?"

"Looking for you actually. Gaea controls the doors of death, so I can get you guys out of here easily. The gods did me a favor by casting you in here. Much simpler this way instead of having to spring a jailbreak."

A hand rose in the back and Percy pointed at him.

"Why are you working for Gaea? Isn't she evil?"

"I see it as less of her being evil and more of her disliking the gods. Extremely disliking them. That and her mind has been slightly twisted by her long isolation. Those stories about the caring mother earth were fact, she was like that once. Since I am opposing the gods, she is the other side, so it is only logical I help her. Also, I am trying to find a way to bring back her old personality before she does too much damage to anyone else outside of the gods. I do not want collateral damage. That is more easily achieved if I am on her side and have some influence."

Conner was next. "We showed up at the council a little late to get all the details on why you are fighting for Gaea. Could you tell us the whole story?"

"I could, but I do not have forever. Here is the short version. Hera killed Annabeth. I made a deal with Gaea to get her back in exchange for me being neutral. That was the plan, and we were off minding our own business when the gods showed up. They tried to force me to go back on my word and held Annabeth hostage and said they would kill her if I refused to help. That was the last straw. I called on Gaea to protect us. I pledged to support her on the condition that I could choose whether or not I actually fight in every battle. She gave me a rather high position in her army actually as a bonus. Not that I am complaining."

Ananbeth strolled into the room and sat next to Percy before snuggling into him. "By which you mean you control a good portion of the army as well as a spot on the council."

"True. But I was trying not to brag. Anyway, now that you guys know the whole story, it is time for you all to make a decision. I can get you out to the surface, but from there you are on your own. Or, you can join me and serve under me. You would not have to fight the other demigods if you don't want to. Take the time to talk it over if you want. Personally, I would not want to go back to a bunch of squabbling babies with superpowers that tried to kill all of you."

The demigods went into a huddle and the deliberation was rather quick. Clarisse poked her head up, as she had proclaimed herself spokeswoman. "We're in."

This is a Clarisse version of Thalia's last stand. Saint Arnold's root beer is probably my favorite drink. Sorry for neglecting this story lately, MOE had a lot of inspiration, and I like to get off to a fast start on a new story. Action in MHC will probably pick up more. Oh, and the answer to the Christmas question via review will be answered here and in the next chapter.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ but they already know that the Greek and Roman Gods are real so why are they celebrating Christmas?

The answer to this is twofold. First, while I may write about gods in PJO stories, I am a Catholic, and so Christmas is important to me. Plus, I have a feeling CHB has a Christmas celebration. otherwise they would not have Easter or Thanksgiving as well, and I cannot see Demigods passing up a feast, an egg hunt for candy, and free presents. Also, Chloe is a little girl, and Percy and Zoe would like to see her as happy as possible.