As night fell on Camp Jupiter, many of it's residents were having trouble sleeping which included one of their praetors, Frank Zhang.
The Canadian-Chinese demigod son of Mars was tossing and turning around in his bed unable to go to sleep for some reason.
At first he contemplated taking a stroll to help ease his nerves but he realized that wouldn't with anything considering what he was having trouble with.
Jason. More specifically Jason's death.
Like with most new demigods at Camp Jupiter, when he first heard about Jason he seemed more mythological than actually real. The son of Jupiter was described as the perfect Roman: hardworking, brave, and virtuous and always followed the rules.
Compared to someone like Frank, a mediocre archer who didn't even know his godly parent, it felt like they lived in different worlds.
Frank really didn't have many friends at Camp outside of Hazel so he mostly kept to himself but the few times he did engage with talking with campers, it was mostly about Jason and how they were going to find him.
Still, even when they did find him Frank still assumed they would be in very different worlds.
Then Percy arrived and soon he, Percy and Hazel went on the quest to free Thanatos from his shackles and before that Frank had learned about his relation to Mars giving him a conflicted heart.
Throughout much of the quest, Frank felt like he was holding everyone back as Percy or Hazel was the ones seemingly to get them out of trouble while he was sort of fumbling through the quest, as if he couldn't feel anymore different from Jason Grace now.
But in the end, he managed to pull his weight and help Hazel defeat Alcyoneus as help save Camp Jupiter as well.
It was amazing but it was only the beginning Frank knew.
Soon Argo II arrived in Camp Jupiter and it's size impressed Frank (he made a mental note to not tell Leo that or he would brag non-stop) and stepped out four demigods.
Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena and Percy's girlfriend.
Leo Valdez, the son of Hephaestus.
Piper Mclean, the daughter of Aphrodite.
And finally Jason Grace… the son of Jupiter.
During the initial meeting he wasn't focusing on Jason as much but he could he looked different from what others had told about him.
Things soon escalated quickly as the ship fired on the camp and the seven of them were forced to high-tail it out of there.
His early experience on the Argo II was him being with Hazel, he could tell Percy wanna to catch up with Annabeth and he didn't feel comfortable around the others… especially Jason.
Things only got worse as they learned that Nico, Hazel's brother was being held prisoner by two of the Giants in Rome.
While it was naturally assumed that they would go and save him, both Jason and Leo brought up that it could be a trap and that they didn't know if they could trust Nico.
Frank couldn't believe what he was hearing, Nico was someone he had befriended at Camp Jupiter and was Hazel's brother. Of course they could trust him!
Needlessly to say, his view of the great Jason Grace was slightly dampened that day.
Over time however, Frank was able to let it go especially since both Jason and Leo expressed regret at making the accusation and Hazel seemed more or less fine.
Frank was able to at least get on speaking terms with Jason, which was crucial since they all needed to work together for this quest to succeed.
But talking to Jason revealed to him, that Jason wasn't a mythical hero or the perfect Roman as he had been described at Camp Jupiter.
He was him and everyone else, a kid trying to figure out his way in this messed-up and screwy world of theirs.
And honestly learning that, Frank felt a lot closer to Jason than he ever did.
But now they had to focus on completing this quest and that they did as they made it to Rome to rescue Nico.
Frank, Hazel and Leo went to search for Nico but ended up fighting possessed eidolons. They managed to overcome them and reunited with everyone including Nico who had been rescued by Percy, Piper and Jason which was a relief to him.
But then it seemed liked they could never suffer any good luck as Percy and Annabeth soon fell into Tartarus with the hope they would meet at the Doors of Death soon.
Frank couldn't help but despair. Two of his friends had potentially died and all he could do was watch.
So he resolved to do his part and reunite with them at the Doors of Death.
Still that was easier said than done, but it gave him a chance to bond with his other crewmates including Jason, where he learned a lot more about her past. Specifically about his sister Thalia, how he was abandoned by his mother and how he was raised by Lupa.
Frank couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, having gone through so much at a young age. And the added pressure on top of it from being Jupiter's son.
That has got to be though.
But through their conversations, Frank felt like he finally knew the real Jason not the one that Camp Jupiter pushed as this invincible hero.
They had formed a real bond, one that was finally shown when Jason entrusted him as one of the praetors of Camp Jupiter while they were in Eprius.
It was an incredible show of trust that Frank swore he wouldn't fail.
Returning to reality, Frank thought about all this while in his bed, especially now that Jason was dead.
But their bond still remained.
And Frank was determined he wasn't going to let him down.