Hey, look, an update! Also, this is for Cocoa Awkward who wanted Jason saving Nico in battle. So here you go!
Jason could see quite a bit from his bird's eye view. The battle raged beneath him as the giants and Gaea's forces advanced on the Greeks and the Romans. Jason still wasn't quite sure how he'd done it, but Nico had somehow convinced most of the legion and the majority of Camp Half Blood to join forces and make a final stand in Greece. Greece, a country that Jason had no ties too, that many of his Roman brothers and sisters didn't have ties to, yet here they all were, baring their shields and gnashing their teeth in the face of the enemy.
Percy was well enough off. Fighting immortal beings more powerful than himself was his forte. A blonde head beside him, from what Jason could see, Annabeth, held off monsters at Percy's back as they tried to close in on Gaea, the Earth rolling tumultuously around them.
In his own fight, Jason had taken to the sky with campers on the backs of Pegasi and and three large and brooding, dark blobs that Jason thought to be the Furies, coming to aid on behalf of Nico. And speaking of Nico, that's where Jason was currently headed. In Nico's direction, at least. Nico, wonderful, incredible Nico who'd (again, apparently, according to Jackson at least) shown up with forces to turn the tide of battle in the favor of the Seven. Hades, as well, and some lesser gods of the Underworld, had burst forth from the field. Out of all the gods helping, aside from the other two members of the Big Three, Lord Hades seemed the least affected by the ancient power of Gaea. Perhaps it was because their domains were similar (the Earth, and the caverns below it) or that the Lord of the Underworld had the least amount of ties to Olympus, where Gaea was trying to make her stand.
It was Lord Hades, Jason would be the first to admit, that was the god being the biggest help.
Reyna, in the short minutes they had been able to talk to one another between slashing at Gaea's minions with all their might, had called Hades' appearance, quoting from Nico's words who had been quoting his father, "damage control" and "a preemptive strike against his brothers and sisters making fools of themselves against the great Earth Mother." Which seemed to Jason as a lot of fancy death-deity talk for "I'm trying to get shit taken care of here."
And Nico, it seemed, had taken after his father. Jason, during his periods of time in the sky, had been able to spot the son of Hades fairly easily. He was surrounded by a thick black aura, blacker than oil but with the same similar shine, and moved through the throngs of monsters, killing them simply by being. It was mostly this reason that Jason had yet to touch down near him, for fear of being one of Nico's casualties. It was obvious that the blessing of Hades was working.
That was, until, a manticore that seemed to have it out particularly for Nico, was able to lodge a thorn right under Nico's shoulder blade. Oh and down he went, the aura Nico had fading into a weak glimmer until it went out like a light bulb burning out. Jason didn't hear himself shouting as he dived head first towards Nico's broken form but he did register the lightning bolt that struck the manticore down before he had moved to finish off his prey. All that was left of him was a scorched mark on the Earth.
To be honest, it wasn't the poison that Jason was most worried about. One stinger from a manticore wasn't strong enough to kill a toddler, let alone the fourteen-year-old boy that was Nico di Angelo, however the stingers were sharp enough to merit a punctured lung or heart or artery or something Jason had missed and was equally bad. Jason didn't even hit the ground as he snatched up Nico in his arms. His fingers barely skimmed the bloodied grass. As Jason clutched the injured teen to his chest, he heard Nico give the tiniest groan right by his ear. Relief coupled with worry washed over Jason in waves larger than the ones Gaea was making out of the Earth.
Nico would not be the one to fill the last breath part of the prophecy. He would not. Jason would make sure of it. The winds picked up around him and he carried Nico away to the quickly busying medical tent.
Reviews are love, requests are open!
And yes, the manticore here was Dr. Thorn.