A/N: Recognizable sections from the Mark of Athena

"Emmanuel Building," Percy said once the ship was ready to go. "That's where we have to go."

Hazel tried to ignore the waves of anxiety she could see practically rolling off Percy. She wasn't doing so good herself.

Percy knelt next to Jason and Piper. "How's the shoulder?"

Piper smiled. "It'll heal. Both of you did great."

Jason elbowed Percy. "Not a bad team, you and me."

"Better than jousting in a Kansas cornfield," Percy agreed.

Jason frowned. "Uh, what?"

Percy grinned. "Nevermind."

"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."

Frank hunched his shoulders. "I just read the name off the screen. Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."

Leo grinned at the others. "He reads Chinese."

"Just a tiny bit," Frank said.

"How cool is that?"

"Guys!" Hazel snapped. She crossed her arms. "This is serious! We have until we get there to figure out what to do."

"Please don't do this, Percy," Nico rasped. He was collapsed in a chair.

Hazel was stunned at how much her brother had changed in the few days he had been away. He'd always been pale since she knew him, but his skin looked even paler if possible. He was only in the jar for three or four days, so she couldn't imagine how he looked in his, Percy, and Annabeth's original timeline.

Percy sighed. "Nico. Unless you have a better plan-"

"Yes!" Nico shouted, but his voice cracked and faded. He doubled over and coughed. Will Solace handed him a cup of water. Once he was done, Nico cleared his throat. "I'll go. I can do it, Percy. Last time I was stupid, but I know I could do it. I'll figure out a way to get out, but-"

"You are not going," Percy said firmly. "Nico, you're an actual zombie right now. No way would you last a single second like this. Will would last longer than you." He crossed his arms. "Annabeth and I know what we signed up for when we volunteered to fall again. And yeah, it's going to really suck, but we can deal with that. We're already dealing with that." He smiled. "Hey, if you wanna help, tell the Hermes cabin to sacrifice some coolers or canned goods. We can pick those up when we stop by the altar."

Nico leaned his chin on his sword which was balanced with the point on the floor between his feet. He gave Percy a sad look.

"Oh," Percy grinned. "I almost forgot." He pointed dramatically to the empty cup of water Nico had used. "I thought water wasn't your type."

Nico let out a soft laugh. "It's not. It's that thing I wish I really didn't have to keep around."

Percy looked insulted, but seconds later his started laughing with Nico too.

Hazel blinked. "Why are you two just laughing right now? And what is so funny? I don't want to accept that Percy and Annabeth have to fall! So could you guys help me figure out a way to change this or not?"

"Nothing," Percy said, immediately sobering up. "Hazel. Somebody has to go. We have to close the doors."

"Why can't we just close the mortal side?" Hazel asked desperately. "That must have some effect!"

"The Doors have to be controlled on both sides to close," Nico said firmly. "It's like a double seal. All seven of you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory like Percy and Annabeth, then it wouldn't do any good."

Hazel bit her lip. No. There had to be something they were missing. She went over the lines from the prophecy. Wisdom's daughter walks alone / The Mark of Athena burns through Rome / Twins snuff out the angel's light / Who holds the key to saviors' plight / The giants' bane stands gold and pale / Won through pain from a woven jail. Wisdom's daughter was Annabeth who went on her own quest alone. The Mark of Athena was pretty obvious. The twins were obviously the two twin giants. The angel's light was still up for debate on whether it meant Will or Nico. The saviors had to be Percy and Annabeth, and their plight was Tartarus. But the key was still unknown. The giants' bane obviously meant the Athena Parthenos, and the last line was how Annabeth defeated the giant spider waiting for her. What was the key either Will or Nico had?

"Look, Annabeth's smart," Percy continued. "She's going to cut the spider silk, so we won't be dragged in this time. We talked about it, and we decided that we're jumping on our own accord. No one's dragging us in or anything. We want to do it ourselves." His eyes turned hard. "All of you promise not to step in or do anything. Swear it."

Nico made a small noise. "No. Oath to keep with a final breath, Percy. Remember?"

Percy frowned. "You know what I mean. Don't swear on the Styx, but just… please don't do anything."

Hazel felt empty as she promised not to step in. She squeezed her eyes shut and leaned into Frank who pulled her close.

A/N: I definitely think Hazel would be the one who doesn't want to give up, and who wants to keep trying to figure out another way. You could argue Jason would be like that, but I think Jason is more of the throw himself in front of a train for someone rather than figure out another way.

Also, it kinda sucks copying and pasting from AO3. Like I typed the story in google docs, but then when I pasted it into AO3, I changed up some of the words and stuff. Anyway, it puts it into code form first then I have to delete it, paste it again, then it works, but my formatting doesn't save so I have to go through and re-italicize or underline stuff.

Next chapters will be up tomorrow. I think I'll put out 15 at a time or something.