Chapter 8: Arena

Hi again. Not much to say here... except... nothing. For once.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Percy

He awoke, being dragged along a cold, smooth marble floor. Nico's eyes were open. Frank's weren't. Nico whispered—a dry, raspy sound— "Psst! Perce!"

Percy looked to him, and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"We gotta escape before they get us wherever they're going. It could be the death of us."

Percy grunted in agreement. The centaur was holding Nico by his shirt with one hand, and Percy in the other. Frank was somehow tangled in the tail. Apparently the centaur was only used to carrying two. Nico tilted his head. "Ready?"

Percy nodded in affirmation. They simultaneously pulled themselves out of the strong arms, and kicked the centaur in the neck and torso. He was overwhelmed. Nico's kick had hit a pressure point, and caused the centaur to black out.

Percy shook Frank awake, and Nico filled him in on what had happened. The son of Mars shakily got to his feet. "Well we better run before the guards find out something happened."

Nico nodded. "Let's go." They ran through the foreign passages. Running seemed to be all demigods did. And it was. Running for their lives from monsters. That was a demigod's life. There were rooms behind the walls. Probably prisons. They skidded to a stop in front of a bronze door. Nico pulled a key out of his pocket.

"Nico where did you—"

"Son of Hades. I have my sources." Nico didn't even look to Percy as he said this.

The door opened, but it didn't budge. Percy and Nico rammed it together with their shoulders. "Agh! Nico it's no use. We need Frank's strength." The bulky son of war stepped up and rammed the door. It swung open.

"Not bad Zhang. Not bad at all." Frank seemed surprised (pleasantly so) at the comment from Nico.

They ran through the large gates and continued running until they reached a dead end. Percy looked around desperately. "Damnit! We're dead meat!" His thoughts were confirmed when a horde of hundreds of earthborn turned the corner and glared at the trio.

Leo/Jason

Why can't Jason let it go... The blonde had been worrying for Leo for hours now, even though the son of Hephaestus was almost completely fine.

"You broke a ton of bones in the fight! You can't just be fine!" Jason glared him down, until Leo dropped his gaze.

"Jason, I just... I'm fine. Why are you so worried about me?" Jason's expression looked as if the son of Jupiter found it hard to digest that he had actually asked.

"Firstly, why wouldn't I?! You're my friend and you came extremely close to death. And also... if I had done my job and protected you... none of that would have happened." Leo immediately gripped the taller boy's shoulder. "But of course I had to be an idiot and leave you unguarded for a minute... If you died, I never could have forgiven myself." Jason's voice was shaky.

"Jason, you can't blame yourself. You did what you thought was right." Jason met his eyes. "Besides, it's not like I actually need protecting. I got this bad boy." Leo rolled his sleeve up and flexed his nonexistent bicep, causing Jason to scoff.

"Ok next time, I'll just stand on the side and watch your bad boys fight off the giant. Without interfering. At all." Leo's face paled.

"H-Hey you know I was kidding right. Any protection is appreciated."

Jason smirked and smacked the scrawny boy in the back. Leo winced, and Jason immediately remembered the broken spine. "I-I'm sorry! Are you ok?" Leo grinned and nodded at his friend's concern.

At that moment, the door swung open, and a minotaur trudged in. Jason put an arm around Leo protectively. Leo wasn't about to complain.

"Tem minutes. You fight in ten minutes." He left and slammed the door behind him.

Jason loosened his grip around Leo's shoulders. "B-But you can't fight!"

Despite Jason's protests, Leo got to his feet and nudged himself in the ribs and spine. "I'm fine."

"Y-You sure?" Jason stood up and checked to make sure Leo wasn't bleeding anywhere.

"Sure I'm sure. We better get ready for the fight." Instantaneously, a wooden chest appeared in the far corner. Leo ran to it and opened it. "More armor huh?"

He tossed Jason the bigger set of armor, and the blonde expertly attached the breastplate and all the other stuff. I keep forgetting that he was a praetor... Leo picked up the smaller set.

"Hey check this out! They actually got my size this time!"

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know they made breastplates that tiny."

"Hey shut up." Leo put on the breastplate with some hardship. "Ok I guess we're ready." He lightly punched Jason's imperial gold chest, only causing his fist to hurt. "Owww..."

The minotaur appeared again and motioned for the demigods to follow him. Leo was relieved. At least this one isn't dragging us.

They emerged in a completely different arena. This one wasn't a desert like the last. There were four "islands" with steep cliffs reaching down into nothingness. Between the islands, there was nothing. Literally. There was only air, and a pit so deep that anyone—even Jason—would be killed if he fell.

Their opponent wasn't a giant. Thank Hephaestus. But it wasn't a pushover either. Their opponent—opponents—were a group, rather a legion, of twelve-feet-tall Hyperborean Giants. Jason was glad they were on the opposite island from them. The farther they were, the better. Then one of them stepped forward on the air and started to slowly walk on the air. Oh right! They can walk on air, but it takes a long time!

Meanwhile Leo panicked and shot a huge flame at the frontmost giant, killing him.

"Leo! We can't defeat them head on. We have to run and pick them off. The air can help us."

"It's moments like these when I love that you're the son of Jupiter." Jason lifted Leo with the winds and quite literally threw him over to the next island. "ACK!" He fell with a thud, causing Jason to wince and grin at the same time. He shot another giant with lightning, then bolted over the air to Leo's side.

"Come on! Flames!" They simultaneously shot fire and lightning. Jason pushed them back with the winds. There were about thirty of them to start. Now there were only twenty-two (TWENTY-TWO! Idk I just like that song.) thanks to the powerful and endless attacks.

Jason pulled out Ivlius and transformed it to javelin form. The farther the giants were, the safer. He locked spears with one of the leading enemies who had managed to reach the island alive. The Hyperborean was strong. Very strong.

Jason yelped as the Hyperborean slowly started to overpower him. "Leo! Help!" Leo charged and pulled a celestial bronze dagger out of his belt as he ran. He leaped up and stabbed it into the Giant's hand, making him drop the spear, which rolled into the endless pit. Then, he shot fire to blind the giant as he grabbed Jason and retreated to a safe distance.

Jason caught his breath and charged the giant, stabbing it in the gut, watching it disintegrate into golden dust. "Thanks. I didn't know you could use a knife."

"I can, but I speed-fight. Not straight-up combat. So not on your level unless I use my agility." He shot one last ball of fire.

"Let's move." the son of Hephaestus nodded in agreement, as Jason wrapped his arm around Leo's skinny waist, and carried him over to the next island. Leo put the knife back in his belt.

He shot more waves of red flames, killing off more and more of the giants. They had done it! Just one more. Jason hit him with lightning, causing the giant to drop into the endless pit.

He high-fived his comrade, who was smirking like a madman. "Whoo! Jason you da man!"

Their spirits plummeted when the ground started shaking, throwing them both off balance. Jason put his arm around Leo's thin frame, protectively. They were both terrified.

Out of the opposite island gate, a huge automaton dragon appeared. "Leo! How do we take the machine down?"

The son of Hephaestus stammered nervously. "I c-can't tell from here! I-I need to get closer! S-Sorry!" Jason felt bad for making Leo nervous.

"Hey it's ok. I'll fly you around him." Jason lifted the unprepared demigod and hurled him toward the dragon, as he screamed at him to wait. Oops.

Leo landed on the dragon. Oops again. The dragon turned its head and glared at the weak-looking hero on its back. Leo's expression was helpless. He ducked to avoid the dragon's fire breath.

Jason gulped as he watched his friend fight for his life. Leo pulled a huge hammer out of his belt and slammed it into the dragon head with tremendous force. While the beast was stunned, Leo quickly opened its main control panel in its neck and disarmed its fire breath. "HaHA! YOU'RE NOT GETTING LEO VALDEZ SUCKER!" He pulled the main cord, and shut the dragon down. "You coming Sparky?"

Jason was on him faster than he could think. "Are you hurt? Burns?"

"No no I'm fine. Let's leave before something else tries to kill us." Jason flew them back into the gate they had entered through. The same minotaur led them back to their rooms.

On the way, Jason heard footprints and a voice that unmistakably belonged Nico di Angelo. Well, prisons mess with your mind don't they?

When they entered the room, Jason realized how weak he felt. He leaned on Leo, who readily accepted the responsibility of keeping the heavier hero upright. "You ok Jason?"

"Y-Yeah just a little tired... but... the Argo II... how will we...?" It was a question that had consumed both minds for the past day.

"We'll be lucky to survive another day... Jason I don't know if we can get back to the ship. Unless the others save us, we're trapped forever.

Percy

There were hundreds of them. There was nowhere to run. Percy desperately looked pleadingly at Nico, who was trying his best to shadow travel them to safety. Finally, the son of Hades gasped and opened his eyes.

"I-I can't... I used so much energy lately." He drew his stygian iron blade. "I guess... we fight to the death."

Percy was shocked. "You can't be serious! They'll kill us!" One look from Nico shut him up. Percy drew Riptide and Frank put five arrows on the bowstring.

Then it happened. The two swords started to glow, and Nico grinned. "This is why you should trust me." The two fighters charged through the earthborn, killing them by the dozens, as Frank provided irreplaceable support, occasionally morphing into a tiger and fighting those who cornered him. There was hope of survival. We'll save them... we'll get out of here alive.

Jason

Leo had led the blonde to a corner, where he stood, still taking support from the walls.

"Hey Leo. Can I see that blade you used in the fight?" Leo pulled out the knife in question and held it out to the more experienced fighter who held it in both hands.

"I learned to use a knife early on, but I got this one at Camp Half-Blood."

"Not bad Leo Valdez. You are truly a man of many talents."

Then Jason did it. He didn't know what led him to do it, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out Ivlius. He tossed it, changing it to its sword form, placing the blade on his friend's bony chest. Leo put both hands up in surrender. "Whoa man! I don't wanna fight you!"

Jason blinked, as if snapping out of a trance. "S-Sorry. Sorry." He quickly moved the blade away from Leo, but there was something different about it. It made him feel powerful—more so than usual. It was glowing as well. "Something's happening. I feel that... Ivlius is stronger now. We can escape."

Hi again. So sorry for the late update! I got caught up in a lot of stuff and I tried to post this as early as possible. Anyway, Reyna is coming in soon (not next chapter, but probably the one after that)! And Reyco is happening! Please review!