Hazel VIII

"What's Nico got to do with this?" Hazel asked, after a few moments of silence had passed over the rest of the Argo occupants. She saw Percy lift his head to Annabeth who shrugged at him as if it didn't really matter; this was all just stopping them from leaving Camp Jupiter and going to Rome to fulfil the prophecy. At least that's the way the others all saw it, but Nico was her brother. Hazel could understand the importance of the urgency surrounding the whole mission, of course she could, but if he was wound up in this she wanted to know how and why.

"Hazel…Nico isn't a son of Pluto, and he's not Pluto's ambassador." Percy told her matter of factly, but Hazel shook her head quickly.

"Yes he is, I've seen him control skeletons, and I saw him walking around the underworld, and I…"

"He's a son of Hades." Jason told her suddenly, sending all eyes his way. "He's from their camp. He tricked us." The viciousness in Jason's voice made Piper step back a little as Hazel's eyebrows furrowed. Confusion sweeping over her, it wasn't just them he'd tricked, it was her. Why couldn't he have told her what he really was? Who he was? He knew everything about her.

"A few years ago, back in the second Titan war, when camp half-blood fought against Kronos, Nico told me the only way to defeat him was to go into the underworld and swim in the river Styx."

"Why would swimming in a river help you win a war?" Leo asked.

"The Styx is what Achilles mother dipped him in when he was a baby. It's what made him invulnerable." Piper told him, "Do you not listen to anything when Chiron talks about Greek myths."

"I can't believe you do listen, he goes on for hours…"

"Guys this isn't important." Jason told them quickly. "So Percy had the curse of Achilles but now it's gone? I didn't realise it could just…go?"

"It can't." Percy told him "Hera took it off me; it must have something to do with the doors of death being open. And besides we need to forget everything we know. Everything we thought we knew is wrong now." Hazel half glanced over at Frank, if what Percy was saying was true, then would there be a chance to take away his curse? To take away her curse?

Hazel saw Annabeth wrap an arm around Percy and brush some of his sweaty black hair from his forehead, the two of them together fit so well, looking at them and the way they looked at each other it was hard to see how they'd survived without each other for so long. In fact it was hard to imagine Percy without that glint in his eye; that excitement.

"I think we should head out, I'll go take Percy to the medical room to get some ambrosia." Annabeth said helping him stand up. "Captain supreme commander Valdez could you please start up the engines?"

"Aye aye Admiral Chase." Sam…Leo said, jumping at the opportunity.
Annabeth helped Percy up, despite his complaining that he was fine and helped him out of the room. The rest of them looked around at each other, suddenly at a loss of things to say. Leo picked up his magical remote again and began manoeuvring the ship. Underneath her feet Hazel could feel it moving, slowly to start with but then it began to pick up speed. They were on their way; they were headed to Greece to save the world. Then why did she feel so much worse than she had when the mission had started? She excused herself and went up onto the deck, leaving the brooding Jason with his new friends. She could hear Frank following her, but rather than yelling at him to go away like she would have done for anyone else she welcomes his presence, welcomed his awkward arms around her. She knew this was hard for him; he'd never been very good with expressing his feelings towards girls.

"I'm sure Nico didn't mean to hurt you." He assured her. "I mean it's not that big a deal is it? Hades and Pluto are basically the same person." Hazel found herself shaking her head letting her thick black curls fall around her face.

"It's not just Nico. It's everything. It's that kid Leo. Did you hear what Annabeth called him?"

"Captain supreme commander? Yeah I thought it was a bit pretentious too." Hazel gently shoved his shoulder and took a step away.

"She called him Captain supreme Commander Valdez. As in Sammy Valdez." The sudden realisation on Frank's face looked so much like hurt that Hazel felt her own heart reaching out for him.

"It's not him; it's not your old friend Hazel it can't be…"

"I know." Hazel said quickly "I know he's not, but…they must be related. And that means that Sammy moved on. He forgot all about me and got remarried." Frank shook his head.

"Who says he forgot you? But when we don't get the whole box of chocolates, half will do." Hazel made a face and Frank explained further "It's something my grandma used to say. It means that you have to take what you can get." Hazel chuckled and leaned over the edge of the ship, looking down at the fast moving ground.

"When did you get so wise?" She asked as Frank moved in beside her and turned to look at her. She turned away from the ground to look back at him, his chocolate eyes where neatly slanted at the sides, giving away his heritage. She loved his eyes; they were probably her favourite part of him, besides his smile which was gone now. Frank was very rarely serious but when he was it really gravitated to those around him, made them stay silent and listen to what he had to say.

"If I was wise, I would have told you that I liked you before the world started falling apart."

I don't like this chapter :/ they all feel really OOC, but the more I re-wrote it the worse it sounded. Sorry for trolling dudes.