AN: Hey guys, I'm back once again! Are you ready for chapter 11? Some big stuff happens in this chapter, so look forward to that! Enjoy the chapter and DFTBA!


Chapter 11

December 21st

The night passed by uneventfully. In the morning, Leo checked in with Festus to see if he had a location for them. "The big guy says that there's only one lake in England that fits our criteria," Leo said. "It's about an hour's flight."

"Let's make sure we set down far enough away that none of Lancelot's people see us," Jason said. "That way we can get the element of surprise."

Leo nodded, but he didn't meet Jason's eye. Jason felt a pang of mingled guilt and anger. "Do you have any of those cords you bound Nike with?" Jason continued, pushing past his brief surge of emotions. "Because if we're right and she's there, I'd like to bind her up and take her back to Olympus so we don't have to worry about her coming back again."

"Yeah, I have some," Leo said. "Made a bunch of extra, just in case."

"Great," Jason said. Everyone stood around in awkward silence. As the sort of quest leader for this sort of quest, Jason felt like he should give some kind of inspirational speech before they hopped on Festus and flew into danger, but he didn't really know what to say. "Right, then. Let's go."

The four of them climbed aboard Festus and took off into the air.


After about an hour, they set down in yet another forest. This particular set of woods, though, featured a deep blanket of snow, which steamed as Festus landed in it. Jason was the first one down, sinking into the snow up to his mid-calf. "Yeah, we're definitely in the right place," he commented, steam rising with his breath. He debated on whether to bring his gladius or Excalibur. While it was true he had no training with the longer sword, he also felt like there was some important reason to bring it rather than his short Roman blade. He decided to follow his gut and strapped the new sword to his back. He decided it was too long to strap to his waist.

Piper, Leo, and Calypso were all gearing up for the battle and the inclement weather, wrapping themselves in jackets. Jason decided he should probably dress for warmth, too. He wasn't cold yet, but he could feel the cold, and knew it wouldn't be long before he needed a jacket anyway. After bundling up and preparing their weapons, the four of them gathered in a circle to discuss the game plan.

"Here's what I figure," Jason said. "Piper and I should go in first, get their attention, while you two sneak around and attack from behind. Aim for the psycho goddess. We need to get her tied up and out of the fight as quickly as possible. While you two attack her, Piper and I will go after Lancelot. With any luck, we'll take them out without too much trouble and be done before lunch."

The others nodded. "Alright, Piper and I will go now," Jason continued. "You two follow close behind, but stay out of sight."

As Jason and Piper walked towards the lake where they were sure to meet their foes, Jason sighed. "I'm sorry Pipes," he said. "I've been acting childish the last couple of days. It's just… a lot to take in, having Leo back."

Piper sighed. "I know it is," she replied. "But Jason… I don't know… I always thought you could handle things better than this."

"I know," Jason said. "And with anyone else I could have, but Leo… he's my best friend, Pipes. Can you imagine if Annabeth apparently died, then you find out months later she was perfectly okay and just never got around to telling you?"

"I'd be pretty upset," Piper said, "but I'd be willing to forgive her if she was willing to put forth the effort and if she was really sorry about it. And Leo is really sorry and guilty about not telling us."

"I know," Jason sighed. "I know he is." Before he could keep going, an arrow landed on the ground right in front of them. Figures leaped out of the trees: twenty or so of Lancelot's undead soldiers had ambushed them.

"You fools," one of them said. "You've brought us the sword of your own free will!"


The undead army led Jason and Piper to a small compound on the edge of a lake. Well, compound was a generous term. It was really just a spot on the shore surrounded with wooden walls. The undead troops led them through the makeshift gate. There were lots of tents in the walled area. Standing in front of the biggest tent, in the very center, were two people, a man and a woman. The man was Lancelot, Jason recognized him from his dreams. He was taller and slimmer than the other knights, with a better trimmed beard and neater hair. Some of his handsome looks had decayed along with his skin. Still, he struck a regal figure.

Next to him was the woman who'd knocked their plane out of the sky, and had been after Jason and Piper for a year: Khione. She had added a crown of ice to her outfit. Lancelot, too, wore a crown, though his was pure gold. He smiled maniacally as they approached. "You imbeciles!" he cried out in joy. "After I'd heard you'd killed the Black Knight and taken the sword… well I was afraid you'd fly back to America and I'd never get my hands on Excalibur. But Khione told me you'd come, that you'd want to finish what you'd started, that you'd want to save the Lady of the Lake." He laughed loudly. "And now you're here. Give me the sword, Jason Grace, and I will spare your life."

"Your life is mine, however, Piper McLean," Khione said. "As revenge for what you did to me in the Mediterranean."

Piper shrugged. "You shouldn't have been so far south."

Khione laughed. "Soon it will not matter how far south you go. No one will be able to escape my storms. Lancelot and I will launch a new Ice Age!"

"You're delusional," Jason said. "How exactly are you going to accomplish that?"

Khione faltered somewhat. Jason realized for the first time how wild her eyes were. He'd been wrong before. Lancelot wasn't the mania, Khione was. It didn't matter if she actually had a plan or not, she was completely consumed by what she wanted, namely to defeat Jason and Piper and establish herself as some kind of Ice Queen. Jason had never seen a god become a mania before, but looking at Khione, he knew that was the only explanation. Whether she'd ever return to normal, he wasn't sure. Still, he and Piper needed to delay them a bit longer, just to make sure Calypso and Leo could get into a good position. Jason really hoped they'd be able to find a good place to attack from when the fight began.

"And why exactly did Gaea resurrect you," he asked Lancelot.

"To take over England," Lancelot replied. "She was going to help me take Excalibur, and using it I would conquer all of England and regain my rightful place on the throne."

"Right," Jason said slowly. "Well good luck with doing that once we've sent you back to the Underworld."

He drew Excalibur and yelled. Lightning rocketed down from the sky, easier than it had ever been for him before, and ricocheted off the blade, vaporizing Lancelot's entire army. Jason smirked at Lancelot. "Now it's two on two," he said to Lancelot and Khione. "Or, better yet, four on two." Suddenly, Calypso and Leo leaped out from behind one of the tents, charging Khione. Jason and Piper leaped forward, swords pointed at Lancelot.

Khione just laughed and snapped her fingers. The snow around the "King" and "Queen" swirled, and Khione and Lancelot teleported across the field. Jason, Piper, Leo, and Calypso met in the center, and turned to charge towards the new location of their targets. Just then, the snow swirled again. The wind picked up, and in seconds they were in the middle of a snow storm. That wasn't even the worst of it. Khione had apparently picked up a new trick. She'd just created a dozen twenty foot tall monsters made of snow and ice.

"Okay, new plan," Jason said, but before he could finish his thought, Leo lit himself on fire and charged straight through one of the snow monsters and towards Khione. "Or we could just improvise," Jason muttered.

"Jason, go get Lancelot," Piper said. "Calypso and I can handle these things."

Jason charged across the snowy field, the sudden snow storm obscuring his vision somewhat as the snow peppered his glasses. Lancelot was waiting for him with sword drawn. "Perfect," Lancelot said. "Just how I wanted. A man to man fight between you and me." Lancelot struck first, his longsword moving so fast the air whistled. Jason raised Excalibur to block the strike, but only just managed to get his blade up in time. The longsword felt awkward in his hands. He wasn't at all used to the blade. He quickly regretted his decision to bring it and not his gladius.

Jason backed away from Lancelot, parrying the blows each time, but barely. He tried to pay attention to his friends' fights, but it was difficult with the snow and the intensity of the fight he was in. He only knew where Leo was by the bright glow of orange and yellow flames. He could hear Piper and Calypso fighting the snow monsters somewhere behind him, but he couldn't angle himself to see how they were doing.

Lancelot laughed as he continued to push Jason back. Jason really was struggling to keep up with his opponent. Lancelot suddenly kicked out, his foot landing square in Jason's chest. Jason fell backwards, tumbling away. It was done. Lancelot was about to win, and it hadn't even been a very long fight.

Then Jason heard a faint voice, coming as if from the end of a tunnel. Do not give up hero. You are Excalibur's chosen. You are greater than Lancelot. Now show him your power.

Strength surged through Jason's limbs. He rolled out of the way as Lancelot stabbed downward and popped back to his feet immediately. Jason was on the offensive now. Excalibur clashed against Lancelot's sword with great rapidity. The snowstorm around Jason seemed to abate, or at least the wind started obeying him without Jason even trying. He whipped a whirlwind up around himself and his foe.

Lancelot's face went from confusion to fear very quickly. "How are you doing this?" he cried out.

"I'm the chosen wielder of Excalibur," Jason replied. With his next hit, Lancelot's sword shattered. Shrapnel flew everywhere. Lancelot turned and ran, but Jason increased wind pressure against his foe's front, halting him in his steps. He yelled and a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky, bounced off his blade, and vaporized Lancelot.

"One down," Jason murmured. He turned to find his friends. Without realizing it, Excalibur was increasing his wind control so much that he'd effectively stopped the snowstorm. It was just a light flurry now. "Wow, what a sword!" Jason exclaimed.

Leo seemed to be doing fine against Khione, his aura of flames stopping her attacks. Frankly, it looked like he was toying with her, waiting for her to wear down so he could wrap her in the god-containing cords. Piper and Calypso were doing well, too, but they needed his help more than Leo did. They were still outnumbered by the snow monsters. Jason leaped twenty feet into the air and landed with a huge amount of force on one of the snow monster's head. The creature burst apart.

"Nice of you to join us," Piper commented. She sliced off one of the snow monster's arms and it burst apart. Calypso dodged a fist of ice and thrust out her hand, casting some kind of spell that punched a hole through the monster's chest.

Jason whirled around, leaping up and bisecting one of the monsters vertically. "No problem," he said to Piper. "Just had to take care of some garbage first." He stabbed another snow monster. There was only one left. All three of them attacked it at once. It didn't stand a chance.

They were just about to cheer, when they heard of scream of pain from Leo. Khione laughed wildly. Somehow, she'd gotten lucky, and a huge icicle had pierced Leo's chest. "NO!" Jason screamed. Suddenly all his anger towards Leo vanished as his best friend hit the ground, the snow underneath him turning red as his blood soaked it.

Khione turned towards Jason and Piper. "Now for the rest of you," she said, smiling. She charged forward, wielding two five foot long icicles as swords. Jason and Piper ran to meet her. Calypso ran around the back to Leo.

Khione's ice swords were harder than regular ice; at least, they didn't shatter when they met the metal blades of Jason and Piper's swords. The air rang. Khione was fighting with a new energy and intensity, but she was still unhinged, and her strikes were uneven and sloppy. Plus, he and Piper were really angry, and they were using that to their advantage. Jason stepped inside one of her strikes and knocked one of her blades out of her hands.

Khione switched tactics. She swung her singular sword with one hand, and used her now free hand to summon up snow monsters, one at a time. Jason kept dispensing them, but her strategy worked in that it stopped him from fighting her directly too. Not that he needed to. Piper was doing very well on her own. All she needed was for Khione to make another mistake, and she did. Khione over-swung, losing her balance. Piper stepped around Khione and slashed off her left hand.

Khione screamed in pain as she fell to the ground. Her left hand dissolved into snow. Khione glowered at Jason and Piper, too weak to put up resistance anymore. "I'll destroy both of you someday," she growled. It sounded like she was about to leave. Sure enough, she turned into a flurry of snow and tried to drift away, but the snow wasn't even able to leave the shape of her body before golden cords shot out of nowhere and wrapped around the small flurry of snow that was Khione. It was Calypso.

Khione turned solid again and screamed. "NO!"

Calypso strode over with the golden cords and tied up Khione. "Unfortunately for you," she said, "I'm something of a master weaver. There is no way you'll ever escape these bonds."

Khione screamed in pain and rage, cursing all of them, but Jason ignored her. He turned to where Leo was lying in the snow, bleeding out. He and Piper sprinted over, Calypso following somewhat slowly.

Jason and Piper kneeled over him, tears falling freely from both of their eyes. The icicle that had pierced Leo's chest had melted away, revealing the ugly, gaping hole in his chest. "Hey guys," he croaked.

"No," Jason whispered. "No, come on man. Don't… don't die again."

Leo smiled weakly. "Hey, it's alright dude."

"No it's not," Jason said. "I just reunited with you. And all I've been is a jerk. I'm so sorry Leo. I should have… I should have…" Jason couldn't finish his sentence.

"No, really man, it's alright," Leo said. "Honest. Everything's fine."

Piper couldn't even speak she was sobbing so hard. Calypso was standing over Leo's head. Surprisingly, she didn't look upset at all, but Jason couldn't pay that any attention. He was losing his best friend all over again, and it sucked.

A puff of air escaped Leo's mouth, and he stopped breathing. Jason's breath caught. Piper's sobs only became worse. "It's alright," Calypso said. "Everything's going to be okay."

"How can you be so calm?!" Piper screamed. "Leo just died! Again!"

"Not for long," Calypso said quietly.

Before Jason could figure out what that meant, the wound in Leo's chest glowed red out of nowhere. The light was intense, blinding Jason momentarily. When the glow faded, Leo's wound was gone, his skin perfect, like he'd never been stabbed. Then, Leo gasped and sat up. Jason fell backwards away from him. Piper screamed.

"Whoo!" he yelled bracingly. "Wow! That always feels so weird!"

"H-how… what…?" Jason asked, completely incapable of stringing together a sentence.

Leo looked at him, abashed. "The Physician's Cure worked a bit too well. It didn't just bring me back to life. It's made it impossible for me to die."

A million questions jumped to Jason's head at once, but before he could ask them, a woman emerged from the lake, glowing faintly blue. The snow all around them melted. She smiled down at the four heroes. The Lady of the Lake had come out to thank them.


AN: *gasp* See you guys tomorrow with the last chapter!