Thanks for the reviews :) I don't own the characters.
I realise this story is pretty long, but I did warn you in the very first chapter that it would be a long one ;)
Yet as Phoenix McLean guessed correctly, we are indeed drawing to a close.
But there's still a little bit to go, so I ask you to stick with me, after all it would be a shame to
abandon this story now, after everything we've been through together ;)
Read on, my faithful and most awesome readers.

Chapter sixty-eight: Injuries and Possibilities
~Percy's POV~

When he woke up again, a pair of grey eyes were sparkling above him.
"Good morning Sleeping Beauty" Annabeth grinned and he weakly stuck his tongue out at her.
"Are you okay?" he asked his girlfriend, noticing how the right side of her face looked badly burnt and one eye was black.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's you and Jase we were all worried about." her tone was slightly edgy, but from her expression Percy gathered that Jason was okay as well.
"What about Nico?" Percy remembered suddenly "Did he make it out in time?!"
He started to sit up, horrified that he hadn't thought to make sure Nico was outside before letting the temple collapse, but Annabeth laid a calming hand on his left shoulder.
"He's fine, Seaweed Brain. Pretty shaken up, seeing as Gaia used some of his energy to rise, but okay."
Percy breathed a sigh of relief, although his chest hurt from the dirt he'd inhaled.
His right shoulder was also throbbing painfully, and he didn't think he would be able to put weight on his left foot.
Still, he motioned for Annabeth to help him up, who obliged, letting him lean on her.
Percy saw that he was back on board the Argo II, and wondered where the others where.
"The others are downstairs in the sick bay. But I thought you might want to wake up under open sky." Annabeth explained, and Percy smiled down at her. She was right, after Tartarus every bit of daylight was like a blessing.
"Let's go downstairs" he said, and together they managed to descend the stairs and made their way to sickbay.
When he opened the door, there were cries of "Percy!" and "You're awake!". Piper gave him a huge hug, which was rather painful, but he returned it, so glad to find his friends alive.
Then Piper moved aside to reveal the others, and Percy drew in a sharp gasp.
They all looked terrible.
Nico, who was sitting on a chair next to Jason's bed, looked even paler than usual, and his forehead was clammy with sweat, as he nibbled on some ambrosia. Jason was sitting up, but his face was still swollen and cut up pretty badly, and there was an angry red mark all the way up his sword arm.
He saw Percy looking at it and grinned weakly "Little too much lightning".
Piper, who had moved into the light, was sporting a black eye like Annabeth, and had her hand in a makeshift bandage. When she smiled, Percy saw that her lips were cracked and bleeding, though he had no idea why.
The next bed was shielded a little from view by Hazel, who was in the middle of putting a gazillion band-aids on her arms and legs, which were all scorched badly and bruised. And in the bed, out cold, lay..
"Frank!" Percy yelped, and started forward, forgetting that his left ankle was broken.
A sharp pain flared up his leg and he would have fallen onto the ground had Annabeth not held him up.
"What.. how did it happen?" Percy asked, horror in his voice, as Annabeth eased him onto a bunk.
The other's expressions were grim now.
"Porphyrion." Annabeth explained and they all looked at Frank's right arm, his arrow arm.
There was no longer a hand at the end of it, instead a stump covered in bandages, already stained a deep crimson with blood.
"Oh gods" Percy groaned, leaning against the wall. "All right, tell us what happened."
"Well" Annabeth started. Then she explained about how when she'd joined the others, they'd already disposed of three giants, making them slip and slide back down the mountain. But Polybotes, Porphyrion and Enceladus had reached the top, where they had all started to fight.
From the look on Annabeth's face, the fight had been pretty tough.
"...and then Frank got injured. Piper and Nico were already out, and we thought this was it. But then something incredible happened. The ground underneath the giants' feet simply opened up and they fell, probably straight back to Tartarus."
Percy nodded. "They were dragged down with their mother."
All the others except Jason looked at him in awe. "How did you do it?" Hazel whispered, and Percy looked to Jason, asking him silently to explain, which he did.
When he'd finished, Nico was looking at Percy.
"Have you got it?" the son of Hades asked, and Percy nodded, pulling the vial with the drops of ichor from his pocket. "Yeah."
Nico eyed it, something like worry in his face. "That's not a lot."
Wasn't it? Percy wondered. Now he looked at the vial more closely, he realised that Nico was right, there were indeed only a few drops inside.
"What's that?" Piper asked, looking from the vial to Percy to Nico.
"The Blood of the World." Nico said, which didn't really help.
"And that iiis...?" Piper prompted, looking at Nico, who shifted, uncomfortable with all the attention.
"It's the blood of Gaia. It carries her strength, or rather it carries the strength which she took."
Nico met Percy's gaze and Percy suddenly understood what the golden liquid might be able to do.
He continued to stare at Nico, completely lost for words, until Piper interrupted.
"Er, I'm still not getting it."
"It's obvious, really." Percy said, his eyes now moving down to the suddenly precious vial in his hand. "You had the vision, Piper. You heard it. That which is taken, will be returned."
Comprehension dawned on his friend's faces, as they realised the meaning of those words in combination with the liquid in Percy's hands.
"No way" Jason breathed.
"Yes." Nico said, but there was doubt in his dark eyes. "We might be able to bring Leo and Penelope back."
They all stared at him, completely dumbfounded, but Percy saw sudden hope in their faces.
"But" Nico told them "it won't be easy. We would have to travel into the Underworld, and then it'll only work if they're in the fields of Asphodel"
Annabeth's expression became dark. "I can't see that happening. They sacrificed themselves to stop Gaia from rising. That's a hero's death, and it would certainly earn Elysium."
Percy felt his own hope diminish, but Nico answered Annabeth.
"Not necessarily. The judges of the dead could have taken the sacrifice as a kind of suicide, which is judged pretty harshly down there. That might have been enough to earn them the fields."
It was a slim chance, but Percy could see the resolution in all of their faces.
"We have to try" he said firmly, and everyone agreed.
"First we have to get back to America though, and-" suddenly Hazel's eyes widened in worry.
"The camps! How do we know they're not at war anymore?!"
Inwardly, Percy cursed. He'd completely forgotten about the feud between Romans and Greeks, and felt ashamed for it. How could the fact that his friends might die have escaped his mind?!
"Reyna should be back by now" Nico said "I sent her on with Coach Hedge and Mrs O'Leary for shadow travel. Maybe they've stopped the confrontation."
"Well," Annabeth said "there's only one way to find out. We have to get back as quickly as

possible. "
"lt'll take ages though!" Jason said, his expression desperate.
"Not necessarily." a new voice suddenly rang out, as a glowing form appeared in their midst.
"Maybe I can be of some assistance."
It was Hermes, the god of thieves and travellers, a huge grin on his face.