(A/N) Sorry about the long update, guys. I'm currently working on another story, Black Feathers, that I put first rather than this story. It is my most popular story so far, so I think you should check it out. It's AU, though, and I know a lot of people who hate AUs, so sorry bout that.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Jason POV

"…and if you can hear me I want you to know that life is worth it. Please, Jason. You're all I have left, you're my boyfriend. This isn't just a normal visiting day, we're saying our final goodbyes. Everyone else visited, and I'm the last one. Chiron and the entire Apollo cabin have tried to make you better, but it didn't work. They tell us that when you go to sleep tonight you're not going to wake up. So…don't go to sleep, okay? Stay awake for me."

For some reason I was listening, I was listening with all I had. I could see, but not really; my eye wasn't processing anything, and it was as if I was sleeping with my eye open. But I wasn't asleep, just unresponsive. What was the point? Why was Piper trying so hard to keep me alive? If I was going to die tonight, good riddance! Nobody needs me. Nobody at all. I am not wanted; I could've saved hundreds if I had simply given my own life up so they could live. I was a coward, too scared of the aspect of dying to care of the others who were doing just that, who had been braver and more courageous than me. I remembered the battle with Gaea, how she picked the kids off one by one as if they were birds flushed from the grass. I could've stopped them. Somehow, I could have. Sure, I would have died, but then again they would have lived. Somewhere out there a family is mourning over the child that they had lost, and over the adult they could never be. I had no family, no one to mourn over me, so if that was the case why should I make the families suffer?

That's when, under all the layers of depression and hopelessness, I felt a twinge of exhaustion. It swelled in size, and it was gently coaxing me into unconsciousness. My eyelids became heavy, and the voices in my head, which were usually whispering foul and degrading things in my ears, urged me along. I obliged and let out a sigh as the feeling of weightlessness replaced the utter agony and suffering. That's when I heard Piper's voice, "Please, Sparky, don't leave me."

My eye snapped open. I wanted to stay awake. I wanted to stay awake more than I'd ever had before. How could I have been so blind, even with one eye? I did have a family, one that was bigger than all the other families, and one that would mourn until the end of time if I died. Family didn't just mean blood related, it was also friends and those who have touched you, and you have touched back, that effect your life almost as much as relatives. I could see the light, and it wasn't just blank and dull, it was bright and vibrant, sparkling with warmth and power. Hope. Hope like a beacon made me feel warm inside, my fingers and toes tingling with the sensation.

But the voices were still there, and they reached out to the light to try and snuff it out, but I kept them at bay as best I could. "Pipes," I croaked, surprised at how hoarse my voice was. I saw her eyes brimming with tears as she squeezed my hand.

"I'm here, I'm right here." she managed to choke out.

"Pipes please help me stay awake."

"Always."

-Ω-

I tightened my grip on my gladius as I stared into the shifting darkness of the hole, narrowing my eyes at how deceiving it looked. I turned to the group I had assembled, which included Will, Hazel, Rachel, Piper, Leo, and Calypso, and announced, "You don't have an unlimited supply of air. Only put on your mask when you feel it absolutely necessary." And with that, I stepped through the threshold, from the moonlight into the darkness. My recovery story was not that interesting; just like any old recovery story. Tears, hugs, kisses, food, songs, rehabilitation and special diets, that sort of stuff. I smiled to myself as I remembered my friends dragging me from rock bottom until I was soaring, feeling as if I could accomplish anything. I was not alone in the world, and I certainly wouldn't let this world succumb to whatever evil plan Exodus was hatching.

First and foremost, we had to get Frank and Reyna back. Nico had been almost positive that they were down there, it was just that we hadn't gotten far enough. I hoped that we wouldn't stumble across his skeleton or rotting remains, for that would just fuel my guilt, but I swatted the thought away. The average man fears the dark more than he fears death, and not just the literal darkness, but the figurative one, too. The one that consumed your body and mind, destroying it if it was weak enough. I had been consumed by that darkness, the darkness that always lurks at funerals, grave sites, and battlefields; that hides in the hearts of every living being, immortals, demigods, and mortals alike. Those who are too weak-willed will succumb to that darkness, but the survivors live to tell the tale, and pass it on through word of mouth. Beware the darkness. It can kill.

I held up my torch and felt my flashlight slapping against my knee. We'd brought it due to the fact that when the oxygen thinned and eventually ran out, the fire would sputter and die, but we didn't want to waste the batteries of the flashlights, either. I turned to see my group of assembled friends, their grim faces illuminated with dancing and flickering shadows like monsters in the night. Their faces were set and determined, their eyes sparkling with a fierce protective light. We were going to get Percy, Frank, and Reyna back, even if we had to tear Exodus apart piece by piece.

Our footsteps rang out into the silence, fading like dying screams in the night. The floor's downward slope began to become steeper, and we had to watch our step or risk tumbling all the way to the bottom. The stone walls seem to enclose us like a coffin, constricting the air as we descended, and I could clearly feel the change in oxygen levels as well as temperature. It became colder and colder as we went, like a giant animal breathing down our necks, causing the hairs on our skin to stand on end. Our breaths came out in puffs of wispy steam that curled into the air and disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place.

"So, how do we know that this isn't just some sort of wild goose chase?" Calypso questioned. Leo quickly shushed her, but the question had been asked. The dreaded question that had been lurking in the minds of all of us since we bid farewell to those back at Camp Half-Blood. What if this was just a red herring? A cruel trick just to lead us to our deaths and throw us off? But Nico had died here, and I didn't want his death to be in vain. If we didn't completely explore these tunnels then his death would have been for nothing, absolutely nothing. Right now Hazel and I were the only children of the Big Three left, not counting Percy due to the fact that there's a freaking parasite inside of him. We had started out with four. Four children of the Big Three, and now that number had been halved. All because one of them had been taken over by a stupid worm, a worm that probably had an IQ no more than five or six. Then again, he was smart enough to take over Percy, contain his ferocious conscience, and keep hidden for all these months. I take what I said back, he was smarter than all of us.

I almost forgot that Calypso was still expecting an answer, and I could feel all their eyes on me as we marched down the slope. I did not turn back to look at her, but I only said, "If it is just a wild goose chase, then at least we know he's not hiding here." It was a very vain and very, very bad attempt at humor. There was no reply, but I could sense everyone's dissatisfaction with the very idiotic answer I just gave. It's not like I could just voice my thoughts without confusing the living hell out of them. Thoughts were very, very complicated.

"Exodus…he's a new kind of evil." Hazel said quietly after a long period of time where silence dominated all. "He finds your weak point and then manipulates and twists it in ways that Gaea and Kronos could not. He won't kill your friend, he'll wear their face like a mask and go around killing innocents. He won't take revenge, he'll pull apart the threads of everyone else's lives until you're begging for mercy."

"That is true." Leo sad thoughtfully. "But I just think of him being the guy to put Skittles and M&Ms in the same bowl."

"Chaos." Piper agreed, shivering involuntarily. My hopes of everything being alright were lifted by their ridiculous humor.

"Or replace the songs on everyone's iPod with the KidzBop version." Will added with a shudder.

"Calm down Satan, you're giving Leo ideas." I snapped. Everyone laughed and for the first time in a very, very long while I felt at ease. Then again we were wandering down a long descending tunnel towards undeniable danger or possibly death. For some reason that realization didn't faze me as much as it would have a few days ago, but then again I felt like an entirely new person. Stronger, wiser, more caring. During my time in the infirmary, my sense of self-preservation had ebbed away to the point where I was suicidal, like a flower wasting away in the autumn. All I needed were friends, and I had been stupid enough to think that they didn't want me, that I didn't want them either, or need them, for that matter.

"Guys I can't breathe." Piper gasped. She was right; I was beginning to become light-headed, and the torch in my hand was sputtering due to the lack of oxygen.

"Alright, masks on." I ordered and everyone obeyed, slipping their masks over their faces. I immediately felt fore alert as it pumped oxygen from the tank strapped to my back into my lungs. I signaled for them to follow as I flicked on my flashlight, and they did the same. Somehow it seemed creepier now that we were using flashlights, since almost all of the heroes in horror movies use flashlights before the sociopath and/or demon monster thing jumps out and kills them. The beams of white light only went so far, and if I shined it the way we were going, I couldn't see the wall beyond. That wasn't good.

That's when I saw it. The little scratch marks that Leo had etched into the wall with his knife all those days ago. It seemed like eternity ago, which was kind of scary to Jason. How could time have gone by so fast? Only yesterday did it seem as if I was scrambling blindly through these same tunnels with Nico and Leo. We passed, and only I seemed to notice the scratch marks. Yet again I prayed not to see Nico's remains, but I came across none as I let the way. Deeper and deeper we went, and eventually we passed the steep drop where I had to abandon Nico. Bad memories stirred within me, but I didn't let them bring me down. In fact I didn't see any sign of a dead body. No bones or flesh, not even a scrap of clothing or his sword. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Did the beast that had been chasing us eat all of his body, clothes, weapons and all? A tiny spark of hope flared up in my chest, chanting, "He's alive, he's alive, he's alive. The son of Hades lives on."

I shivered at the thought and soldiered on, blocking the world out. My companions trailed behind me in nervous silence as the darkness seemed to become even darker. The oxygen in our tanks was slowly sapped away, but I was not alarmed; they were enchanted to keep refilling, courtesy of the Apollo cabin. Will squeaked as a pebble came loose and dropped from the wall, echoing in the silence. Our footsteps sounded like bombs going off. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. That's when I saw him, standing silhouetted against a metal door, his red eyes shining in the light of our flashlights.

Exodus took a sip of his Starbucks and adjusted his beanie. "Well, this is unexpected." he exclaimed.