II

HAZEL

Hazel blamed herself. If she had been faster and smarter Annabeth and Percy would be here. They would be able to see the sun and hold hands. They'd be able to help them stop Gaia.

She plops on her bed and as soon as she closes her eyes an image fills her head. Percy was clutching onto the cliff with a mixture of determination and panic in his eyes while Annabeth was pleading him to let her go. Hazel quickly snapped her eyes open, she couldn't watch anymore.

The static of the intercom fills her ears, followed by Leo's voice. "Uh, guys." he says. "Brace yourselves." Then she felt the ship lift out of the water, but this time it was different. There was more power in the ascension and more speed. Hazel smiled because at least Leo had the spheres to keep his mind off things. If only she shared that luxury.

There was a knock on her door and she says, "Come in." She was surprised to see that it was Leo. His hair was disheveled and his grin was intact, looking like Sammy more than ever. It was sort of comforting because he reminded of her of the days before all the monster fighting and Gaia chaos. Hazel sits up. "Leo, shouldn't you be driving... or it is sailing this ship?" she interrogates.

He waves her off and glances around her room, "Autopilot." he answers. "And if anything goes down, Festus will let me know."

She had to admit that that was impressive. "So, why are you here?"

Leo shrugs, "Piper and Jason are having a moment. One where he stares off into space and she clings to him. You know, typical stuff and Nico is kind of gloomy and not in the spawn of Hades kind of way." he then clears his throat. "As for Frank, well you know..." he trails off.

"So, I'm last resort?" Hazel jokes.

"No exactly." Leo assures her with a smirk. "If you were knocked out, I was going to find Buford and maybe play some table tennis."

"So, I'm one up from an end table." she nods while letting out another laugh. "That's flattering."

"Can't choose who your friends are when you're on a ship." he tells her with a shrug. He then takes another look around her room before his face falls. "Just like Percy and Annabeth couldn't choose better friends who didn't make bad choices and get them thrown into Tartarus." Leo avoids her gaze by staring at the wall. "If I hadn't opened that stupid fortune cookie they'd be fine."

Hazel processes his words. "This isn't your fault." she tries to assure him. "I was right there and I could have cut the web." she croaks as tears fall from her lashes. She hurries and wipes them away before he could see.

"This isn't your fault, Hazel." Leo says in a sharp tone. He sounded angry and completely unlike himself. "Don't you dare blame yourself."

"But-." she starts to say, but she doesn't finish because Leo leaves her room, slamming the door behind him.

Hazel lies back down on her back, and looks at the ceiling. She decides that since no one's here to see, there wasn't any use in holding back the tears. After what seemed like an hour of crying, she drifts to sleep.

It was dark, darker than the Underworld and Hazel had even been there. And the noises, some sounded like howls and other sounded like screams. This is it, she thought. Tartarus.

Though, she didn't see them, she heard their screams. Percy and Annabeth were the loudest amongst the noises and that must of meant that they were close. She shouted their names, but they did not hear her. She was sicken by the fact that it was only just a dream. She believed that she should be stuck in Tartarus, too. She deserved it.

There was a loud thud and their screams were gone. Hazel couldn't help, but cry harder. "Are you hurt?" she heard Annabeth ask, after a while. Hazel let out a sigh of relief.

She hears a groan, "It's a thousand feet falls like that that make me miss my Achilles' curse."

"Are you hurt?" Annabeth says, again. Her tone is more urgent.

"My feelings are." and Hazel hears the sound of a smack. "Now, I'm definitely hurt." Percy mutters and Hazel can't help, but laugh with joy because her friends are okay. "I'm sorry, Wise Girl. I'm just trying to lighten the mood since I can't see a thing."

"What are we going to do?" Annabeth croaks into the darkness. "How are we going to find our way out of here?"

There was some shuffling and then a faint glow that illuminated from Percy's sword. Hazel could now see Percy and Annabeth. They were both leaning against a rock and Annabeth's injured ankle was propped up on Percy's legs. . Hazel's breath got caught in her throat when she noticed that the side of Percy's face was covered in blood. Apparently, Annabeth noticed, too. "Di immortales!" she cries, reaching toward his head wound. "I thought you weren't hurt."

Percy tries to wave her off, "It's fine, besides what's inside my head isn't nearly as important as what's inside yours."

Hazel blushes and looks away as Annabeth kisses him. Before she trains her eyes on them again, there's a loud roar and it was very close. Annabeth takes out her dagger and Percy jumps up. He heaves Annabeth up and puts an arm around her waist to support her weight. They start running the opposite direction, but are too slow due to Annabeth's ankle.

There's another roar and Hazel can see the faint outline of a huge monster thanks to Percy's sword. Percy props Annabeth against the cave wall and charges at the creature. He slashes and slashes, but misses each time. Percy stands his ground in front of Annabeth, obviously tired as the figure charges toward her friends and Hazel screams.

She sits up on her bed and cries. "No!" she shouts as she realizes she's awake. "No!"

Her door burst open and Piper is standing in the threshold. When she notices that Piper is sobbing, she hurries to her and throws her into a hug. "What happened?" Piper asks her as the sobs soften.

"It was Percy and Annabeth." Hazel sniffs. "They were okay. They survived the fall, but there was a monster and... and-." she begins at to sob once again and Piper pull her into another hug in hopes to comfort her.

i feel like this is a bit short, but i'm not sure on how to continue this chapter as hazel. next chapter is in percy's pov. thanks for reading and please feel free to write a review, the gods know i need it.