A/N-Hey guys! I know I've been inactive for about two years but I've decided to come back and finish up all my stories. It's an unfinished business thing, really. Check out my profile if you want to know updating time and whatnot. Chapters are longer, this one's 2, 280 and this is probably the shortest chapter I have compared to the upcoming chapters. Even if you've read this story before, please go back and read-I've changed a few things from the beginning chapters. Anyway, what are you doing here-get to reading!
3rd Person-
"You know what, guys?" Thalia said as the demigods reached the camp's border. "I should stay behind—Annabeth doesn't know we're leaving and she's not in the best state right now. I can't leave her like that, she's my best friend."
The group drank in her words and everyone nodded their head.
"I think she'd really appreciate that." Hazel remarked.
Jason was slightly disappointed but solemnly agreed. "Do whatever you need to do, Thalia." Her brother encouraged.
However, the son of Hades did not agree with the plan. He motioned for the group to continue then pulled Thalia aside.
"Look, I think you have good intentions but I think we need all hands on deck to find Percy." Nico said, concerned.
"Nico, if I'm being perfectly honest—I don't want to find Percy." Thalia's eyes began to water. "Or rather what's left of him."
"I've been thinking the same thing too." Nico admitted. "What if we don't get there in time?"
"Exactly." The daughter of Zeus said in a low voice. "And should you guys bring back any bad news—I need to be here for Annabeth."
"Hopefully that won't happen, I mean, look at Annabeth now and Percy's not even dead. She would be devastated if he died."
"Should Percy not return," Thalia shuddered then continued. "Do you promise to IM me immediately?"
"I promise." Nico turned around to rejoin the group. "Take care of yourself, Thalia."
You too, Nic." Thalia said.
Once the son of Hades was well out of earshot, the girl shook her head solemnly.
"I couldn't bear it if something happened to you." She whispered softly.
3rd Person-
"Alright, so what's the address again?" Jason asked as the group neared the ocean where the Argo II was ready for sail.
Frank pulled out the paper Phoebe had written and read, "San Francisco, CA 94133."
"Wait a second," Leo held up his hand. "Isn't that Al-."
"Alcatraz." Hazel finished.
"Yep." Nico popped the 'p.'
"Lovely." Piper grimaced.
"Isn't that near camp Jupiter?" The son of Jupiter questioned.
"About an hour away from the camp," Hazel answered. "Why?"
"I should check up on them." Jason said. "They need to know what's going on and be prepared should the doors open."
"So do you want us to drop you off and we'll meet up later?" Leo offered.
Jason looked at the sea and shook his head. "No, I'll travel by air. It'll be much faster."
The group nodded as they boarded the ship; watching Jason as he disappeared behind the clouds.
Leo quickly programmed for the ship to sail as the rest of the demigods settled in the cabins on the upper level of the ship.
Piper sat on her bed, steam practically emitting from her ears and nostrils.
"I mean, who does Jason think he is?" She asked herself. "I wanted to talk to him on this trip-just to figure out if there was anything—anything at all—left between us. But I see clearly now. He wants Reyna. Not me."
The daughter of Aphrodite shed a few tears. "I don't need to be the daughter of a love goddess to see that."
In that moment, Piper decided to turn a new leaf. She was pinning for a guy who was obviously over her and it was time for her to do the same.
She was destined to save the world and no amount of crying would help her do that. Piper McLean was better than that.
"I want my life to mean something," Piper whispered. "I will do something good in this world someday. I know I can."
3rd Person-
Across the hallway, another girl was facing another dilemma. Persia of Athens paced across her room anxiously, her silver eyes full of worry.
"It's my entire fault," she murmured to herself quietly. "Percy would be here if it weren't for me. It was my job to protect him."
The girl, frustrated, threw her hands up in exasperation.
"I've done nothing but cause trouble ever since I've been here. I screwed up the hunter's chance to go to Olympus, chased off Apollo, and for gods' sake I couldn't even defend myself on Olympus which caused Percy to fall in the first place."
"I'm useless." She said miserably. For a while, Persia sat there reflecting on what Gaea said—what seemed like—a long time ago.
"I'm just a blood drop away."
These words begun to echo in the girl's ear and slowly became the solution to all the problems she had produced. If she gave herself up to Gaea, she could find and rescue Percy.
On the other hand, Gaea would undoubtedly use her to open the doors. Persia fiddled with the bow she'd gotten before they left camp and weighed out her options.
"I may be able to save Percy and take out a few Giants which would be good…"
"Orrr…I could wind up getting myself and Percy killed, opening the doors which would in turn, destroy the world."
A tear escaped from Persia's eyes. "But it's my j-job." She chocked. She HAD to protect Percy. It was the only reason why she was given another chance at life. Maybe her destiny as part of the seven was to save Percy, even if she perished in the process.
"Besides," She whispered. "I've got nothing else to lose—I've already lost Apollo."
Persia was still angry towards the sun god. Every ounce of affection he showed led her to believe that he truly loved her. Yet, it was hard to believe. When she looked around, he had all these children and Persia had been hearing stories of his flirtatious behavior which hadn't disappeared over the century.
Part of her understood that he had thought she was dead and it was only fair that he moved on. After all, Apollo is immortal. But every day she was chained onto that rock, Persia couldn't help but think of his heart-warming smile and his melodious voice. Every day she fell harder and harder but all these past decades made it seem like he didn't feel the same.
The former huntress shook her head. Apollo would soon be someone that she used to know and regardless of her love for him, maybe this was for the best.
"Speaking of for the best," Persia locked her jaw. She had made her decision. "I've got to save Percy."
She found a sticky note, scribbled some words, and pulled out a small, pocket knife. Setting the note down on the bed, Persia placed the knife on the center of her palm with a firm grasp.
"I hope this works."
The girl sliced her palm open and felt a searing, hot pain. She made sure her bow and arrow were secured as she watched one drop of her blood to summon Gaea.
3rd Person/Frank-
While boarding the ship, there were only so many rooms. Therefore, two people had to share one. Frank offered to bunk with Leo which delighted Hazel, who thought her two favorite people were finally getting along, but puzzled Leo who was sure Frank hated him with a burning (no pun intended) passion. Frank, however, had another plan.
He was simply going to keep an eye over Leo and determine if he and Hazel really were in a relationship. Out of the corner of his eye, Frank briefly glanced at Leo and shook his head.
Leo was toying around with some tools absentmindedly. Frank didn't understand what Hazel saw in him, after all, he acted like a child and although Leo was quite skillful, he couldn't make her 'diamond' problem go away.
Then Frank remembered: Leo Valdez was Sammy 2.0.
Hazel had a rough past but Sammy was one of the good things about her past. Almost as if their thoughts were synched, Leo piped up.
"I, um, know this is kind of taboo for a budding relationship. You know, to ask about previous relationships…" Leo cleared his throat. "But I don't suppose you know anything about Sa-"
"Sammy?" Frank finished. Leo nodded quickly, curious.
"Well," Frank started nonchalantly. "He was, well, you."
Leo grinned. "Ha-ha, you got me. No, seriously, what was he like?"
"I'm not joking, he was exactly like you. He looked exactly like you, sounded like you, even made jokes like you."
"Like me?" Leo repeated, confused.
"She's pretty much using you if you really think about it."
Tears began to form in Leo's eyes but Frank, unnoticing or rather unfazed, continued.
"I mean, no offense dude, but I don't exactly see a lot of girls gunning for you." Frank added.
"Well, you know don't spare my feelings. Add more insult to injury, why don't you?" Leo scoffed.
"It's nothing personal Leo, it's just that Hazel's past is a huge part of her now. She's just trying to hold onto her past."
For a fraction of a second, Frank felt bad for dumping this on the demigod but it was the (slightly embellished) truth.
Now this would cause a bridge between the Leo and Hazel thus, Hazel could move onto someone better. Someone like him.
"But hey," Frank shrugged. "If you want her side of the story—ask her."
Leo's jaw tightened and his fists were balled.
"I don't think I'll be asking her anything."
Frank smiled as the son of Vulcan stormed out, passing Hazel.
"Oh hey Leo!" She smiled cheerfully. "Do you want to get lunch or something later?"
"You know what, Hazel—I would, but I don't feel like being used today." He spat in discontent. "Maybe tomorrow." Leo pushed past her, heading to the deck.
Hazel's mouth opened in disbelief. "What was that about?"
Frank Zhang stood in the doorway and shrugged. "Don't know. But if I had to take a wild guess, I'm betting he's probably mad at you."
Nico came out of his room after he heard the commotion.
"I think mad's an understatement." The son of Hades added.
Although relationships were tense, the group still met together in the mess hall for dinner. The demigods were thankful for no monster attacks and hopeful they would find Percy Jackson.
About fifteen minutes after the group sat in silence eating, Frank took a good look around.
"Hold on, where's Persia? I haven't seen her all day." He remarked.
The rest of the demigods scanned the room, no Persia.
"I'll go check on her," Piper stood up, walking towards the door. "She may have fallen asleep or something."
A moment later, Piper ran back into the mess hall, holding a sticky note in her hand. "She's gone!" The demigod exclaimed. "She sacrificed herself to Gaea to try to rescue Percy."
The group of demigods were visibly shaken, most of them shaking their heads.
"No, no, no." Leo ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "What was she thinking? She's going to get herself killed!"
"How did she even leave the ship without us knowing?" Hazel said. "I mean, I knew she felt Percy's fall was her fault but I didn't think she was going to sacrifice herself."
Suddenly, the entire ship shook violently. Piper was thrown against a wall and the rest of the demigods were holding onto the table to remain stable.
"Leo!" Nico yelled over the noise. "I thought you put the ship on auto-pilot!" (A/N-Or is it auto-ship?)
"I did!" The other boy shouted. "It's not the ship! Something must be attacking it!"
As if on cue, a figure crashed into the mess hall, piercing the room with a deafening shriek.
Well, it wasn't quite a figure. From the waist above, the monster resembled a woman-if a woman had talons and sharp teeth. Waist down, she had a scaly, snake tail which would explain how she got onto the ship in the first place.
The monster began to slither towards them and because she didn't have legs, the demigods had a few minutes to devise a plan.
"Anybody got any ideas as to what this thing is and how to defeat it?" Piper yelled out.
When she was met with silence and heading shaking, Piper slowly began to back. "Wow, guys don't answer all at once."
"Scatter!" Nico yelled. "She's not used to walking on solid ground, if we scatter she'll be distracted and that should buy us some time. Hopefully."
"You sound so confident!" Leo yelled back sarcastically.
"Well, has anyone else got a better idea?"
At the son of Hades' remark, the group took a chance and ran to different corners, still holding onto solid objects as the boat trembled aggressively.
Nico DiAngelo was right, the half woman/snake began turning in circles, trying to target a specific demigod now that she couldn't get to all of them. She settled on the son of mars and began advancing towards him.
Frank Zhang quickly notched an arrow onto his bow and aimed at the monster, steadying his shooting arm. Just as he was about to release the arrow; Nico shadow traveled behind the snake woman with his sword, slicing at the monster's back.
The unsuspecting monster stumbled backwards, her shrieks piercing the air. Nico was thrown back by the ship's violent force and Frank released the arrow, piercing the monster's shoulder.
This only got the monster even angrier and she lunged for her assailant, pinning him against the ground.
The group managed to distract the monster long enough for Frank to escape her clutches but they were unbalanced due to the ship's constant rocking and they were running out of strength and manpower. Fast. Leo tried his best to steady the ship but eventually, it would capsize and the demigods could only hope a miracle would come their way.
A/N-Lots of internal dialogue but it's necessary for the plot, trust me. Also I'm sorry for making Frank so OOC, I made him mean when I first started this fic and two years later I'm like, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Anyway, I'm just continuing that but I'll try to make him somewhat nicer in the future. If you could leave a review-especially if you're still here from two years ago, that'd be really cool.