(A/N) Sorry about the long update, I had a lot of schoolwork to do and crap. I'm so glad we had a snow day. For all of you Whovians out there, I made a snow Dalek (since the snow was too powdery to make an actual snowman, my brothers and I just piled up the snow and I just said "Hey it looks like a Dalek" so it went from there)

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Leo POV

"We left him!" Jason cried, burying his face in his hands. I awkwardly patted his shoulder, but he smacked my hand away in a blaze of fury.

"Dude you couldn't carry him uphill like that. He was dying anyway." I pointed out, trying to calm my best friend down. Jason shot me a look like daggers, his icy blue eyes digging into my soul and judging me silently.

"He has a family to return to!" the son of Jupiter snarled. "What about Will and Hazel? Huh? And the others?"

"We have a family, too, you know!" I snapped, immediately putting up my defensive barriers. Family was a touchy subject; it always has been, since my mother died in the fire. Even though people had reassured me that Gaea was the one to blame, I couldn't help but blame it a little on myself. Sure, I blamed myself less than I had before I came to Camp Half-Blood. I took one glance at Jason's hurt expression and my gaze softened. "Jason-"

"I get it." the son of Jupiter hissed icily and turned away from me. Festus made a clicking sound and I sighed, patting his muzzle, which was warm despite the fact that our breaths were coming out in puffs of wispy steam. We were in the forest that surrounded the entrance to the tunnel. From the outside it didn't look much like anything, and it certainly didn't look like it went so far down that the oxygen supply ran out. Jason had refused to leave, claiming that if Nico was still alive we would be there for him if he emerged, which I doubted, but I didn't voice it due to the fact that I didn't want to break Jason's spirit more than it already was.

"Jason…he's not coming back." I said softly, trying to deliver the news in the best way possible.

"Don't say that!" his voice cracked a little and, though I couldn't see his face from my position on the floor, but I could picture his tear-streaked cheek and red eye in my head. "He…he…"

"He's gone." Silence reigned for a long time, with nothing but the rustling of the foliage overhead and the soft whisper of wind flitting around the boughs. That's when I realized that I could hear soft, quiet whimpers and muffled sobs. "Jason please…"

"I've lost too much!" he wailed, agony lacing through his every word. It was the agony of a person who had nothing left to live for. I hoped that at least I was enough, that I could be the one that gave him some sort of reason, but I knew that wasn't the case.

In a desperate effort to console him, I said, "Jason I know, I know, I get it-"

"No!" he screeched and the clouds began to form a funnel overhead. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, yet rain had yet to come. "You don't get it! You'll never get it! You don't know what it's like to be-" he got choked up but continued bravely, "to be tortured in your own head!"

"I know-"

"Stop saying that! You don't know! Stop pretending you know!"

"Jason-"

"Just shut up, okay?! JUST SHUT UP! Leave me alone…" he bubbled into tears. It pained me to hear his cries; it was an obvious plea to the gods to strike him down right then and there, put an end to his suffering and pain. His shoulders shook and he tucked his knees against his chest, hugging them close and burying his face into the fabric of his jeans, which stifled his cries. His blonde hair was mussed and his fingers were trembling. Festus made a cooing sound like a mechanical pigeon and butt his head against Jason's side, but that was like poking a coiled rattlesnake with a stick. I knew that my bronze dragon meant no harm, but I shooed him away and he tromped off to go hunt.

I put a hand on Jason's shoulder and I felt him go rigid all over. "Don't touch me." he whispered harshly, but his voice was shattered like jagged pieces of glass.

"Listen. I know I'll never know what you went through. I know you're having a war in your mind, but we have to move on. For…for Nico's sake. If you sit here grieving and sinking into depression, then his death was for nothing. We need to save Reyna, Frank, and Percy. Three lives to make up for the three we lost. If they all die, we'll have six deaths. Six. Do you want that?" Jason numbly shook his head, which was a sign that he was listening. "Good. Let's go."

"No please!" Jason begged. Festus raised his head and I locked gazes with him. A silent agreement seemed to pass between the two of us, and I hoped that I was thinking what Festus was thinking, though it was highly likely that robotic dragons thought differently than Latino elves. I sprang on top of Jason and Festus stormed over, spreading his wings and preparing for flight. "Leo!" Jason wailed and thrashed in my grip. Lightning arced down from the heavens and thunder bellowed like an enraged animal. He was normally much stronger than me, but in his aggrieved state he could only struggle feebly as I hauled him onto Festus' back.

"Leo no! He's still here! We have to wait for him!" Despite how, with every wrench Jason gave, a piece of my heart chipped away, I managed to get him secured onto the bronze dragon. I used a seatbelt to bind his hands, and it broke me into tiny little fragments watching tears drip down his face. I finally let go and he immediately tried to leap off of Festus' back, but my dragon, being the helper he was, took off before he could push off of his metal plates.

"NICO!" Jason screamed. "NICO NO!"

-Ω-

"He's still not eating." Will told me, deep lines of worry and exhaustion clearly etched into his once-happy face. "He's simply…lost the will to live." I tried to restrain the tears that threatened to spill over, but failed miserably. Will continued, "We have to keep him in a medically-induced coma most of the time or else he'll start pulling out the IV needles that are keeping him alive."

When Jason and I had arrived back at camp, we soon learned that everyone had thought we were dead. They had even burned our funeral shrouds. We were greeted by amorous bear hugs and tears of joy, but the mood had quickly dampened when they realized that only two people had returned from the trip, not the supposed six that they had hoped; Nico, Frank, Percy, and Reyna were all absent. They had another funeral ceremony, this time only for Nico, and all of us had watched the flames leap into the air as the shroud burned, cloaked in a depressing silence. Will had been devastated. He himself had stopped eating for a period of time, all of the light and jovialness that I usually associated with Will Solace crumbling into ash like the fibers of Nico's burial shroud. At least he had something to distract him from the grief; ever since we arrived home, Jason had become unresponsive.

Jason didn't speak. He didn't eat. He didn't even move, much less get up to relieve himself. Accidents were to a minimal, though, for if he didn't eat he didn't have anything to get out of his system. It was all too much like when Percy, Piper, and I had gathered the Dziki potion for him and had found him nearly lifeless on an infirmary cot when we returned. This was exactly like that, only his eye was open, which made it much more horrible.

Sure, he slept most of the time due to the drugs Will was giving him, but when he was awake he just stared off into nothing, his blue eye like shattered glass. He was pale, each blue vein distinct against his chalk-white skin. Even more so was his thinness; he wasn't as thin as he had been, but it was as if he had relapsed back into the pitiful emaciation he had suffered through before. His cheekbones jut out and his arms were frail and limp, never moving from his sides.

I nodded gravely at the news Will had given me and stepped inside, with the son of Apollo trailing behind like a lonesome shadow. Piper was already there and despite the fact that there was little chance he would reply, she was talking to him. It was mostly about her day and what she did at camp, the usual activities. Even so, it was a heartwarming thing to see. They would make a great married couple someday if everything worked out. Piper looked just as disheveled as Will; her hair was a mess and there were deep, defined shadows under her eyes, suggesting that she hadn't had much sleep. This was even despite the visiting hours in the infirmary that prevented her from staying by Jason's bedside all night, which she most certainly would have done if it was allowed.

"…and Clarisse then slipped and went up in flames! It took the entirety of the Apollo cabin and a very big fire hose to put her out!" Piper gave a halfhearted chuckle and ran her thumb over Jason's pale hand. The son of Jupiter was asleep, his missing eye covered by gauze rather than an eye patch.

"Is he up?" I asked just for the sake of conversation. Piper gave a sigh and pursed her lips, her eyes becoming rather misty.

"Well he did say my name." she replied and my heart dared to lift a little at the comment, though it was dragged down back into the dark when Piper said, "It was just a whisper, a little twitch of the lips, but he said my name. It is progress, but he hasn't said anything else. In fact, right after he said it he slowly reached over and tried to pull the IV needle out of his arm. Will had to put him under again." She looked at her boyfriend again, a tear trickling down her face. "I don't blame him though, the world just kept pushing and pushing and pushing on him, and then everyone became surprised when he shattered."

"Yeah." was all I could say without breaking down. Under my breath I added, "Jason, please come back."