Here is yet another chapter.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own HHO or PJO. All rights go to Rick Riordan.

XV Mother Earth's Offer

(Piper)

Landing on top of a volcano at high speed is not fun, unless you are a son of Jupiter. The good part is, we found Jason lying on a rock, looking exhausted and frustrated. The bad news was, two huge giants guarded the pathway off the mountain, so we were stuck until we could somehow find a way to defeat or bypass those giants. The gods couldn't help us, because of the magical shroud I saw that was encompassing us. It would probably block the sight of all the gods, even Apollo, so there was no one who could help us. Jason jumped up at the sight of us.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" I asked.

"I'm ok, but it's almost impossible to get off this mountain."

Then, his eyes widened as they saw that the seven of us had been all grouped up together. Annabeth, Leo, Percy, Frank, Garen, himself, and I were all grouped onto Mt. Etna. Suddenly, a rumbling chuckling noise sounded and we heard a slow, sleepy voice begin to speak.

"The seven of you are determined to stop me. I, mother Earth, the most powerful being besides Chaos himself, and you think you can defeat me? I have killed millions, destroyed more hopes and dreams than you could possible imagine. Those who join me will be rewarded greatly for their services. Those who elect to oppose me will soon find they regret their decision, and will be punished most severely. Now, I ask each and every one of you for the very last time, for this will be the last time I will ever extend this offer. I will ask each of you individually. Percy, you could become the greatest hero. You would not need to worry about friends or family again, for they will come under my protection. I promise, nothing will happen to them. Will you join me?"

Percy answered without hesitation, "No, I will not serve you. I am loyal to my friends, and they support the gods. I will not join your tyrannical, stupid, and corpulent giants. They will be defeated like last time!"

"Very well, Perseus Jackson, you will live to regret this day. Jason Grace. You could be forever reunited with your family. You could have power, all the power in the world. If you join me, you could have all of this. Do you accept my offer?"

Jason was more hesitant than Percy. He was not as good at stopping his fatal flaw, which, like all Romans, was a thirst for power.

However in the end, he still answered, "Gaea, I do not serve anybody. I fight for the cause I want to support. I cannot be bribed, especially under these circumstances. I will never serve you. I stand with Percy."

"It seems that you too, Jason, are proud. Very well, you have turned down my offer. When I win, I will show you no mercy. Piper Mclean, you could have your father back, both mentally and physically. He would pay you more attention, after all that you have been through. Jason could be yours. Your deepest hopes, wishes, and dreams could be fulfilled by me, but of course they require a price. That price is joining and working for my side. Do you accept this generous offer?"

As soon as Jason turned down Gaea's offer, I had already known that I would not serve Gaea. Now, I was even surer of my decision. I did not need Gaea's manipulation to make Jason love me. If he truly loved me, no amount of manipulation could change that. If he truly loved Reyna, there was nothing I could do. As for my dad, I was sure that he would recover with time. And when you are fighting giants, the mortals should have all the time they need, that is, until we get defeated, if we do ever get defeated.

I answered without any tremor and sign of weakness.

"I will never work for you. You, Mother Earth, are supposed to be responsible for life. You are instead killing us. This shows how corrupted and evil you are, and I have no wish to be on the corrupted and evil side. I do not wish you to ever extend another offer, so your threat has no significance to me. I refuse your 'generous' offer."

"So you all seem to be intent on refusing you and being good little children. Well, you'll see one day how wrong you were. Next, I turn to Leo Valdez. Leo, I know you miss your mother. I am sorry that I had to take her life, it was a necessity. I will now tell you that I can reverse that. I can bring your mother back, and not just back like in a spirit or ghoul, but back, as in flesh and blood. I will also be able to fix your precious dragon, Festus, and he will seem like new. You could have your very own workshop, with tools and tidbits that you can use whenever you feel up to it. I could supply you with a much better toolbelt than that silly one that Hephaestus gave you. All you need to do, is accept the offer. So, after I state the rewards, I ask you, just like I will ask each and every one of your comrades who haven't turned me down yet, Will you join my side, and fight, build, and work on projects for me?"

Leo stood tall. "My mother died an honorable death, struck down by the enemy. One day, I will meet her in Elysium. Festus can always be reused. 'Everything can be reused'. Ever heard of that one Porta-Potti face? I will not join you. I don't have a mind as evil and screwed up as you do."

"I never expected any of you to join me, but I always extend the offer to my enemies. Next is Frank Zhang. I could bring Hazel back Frank. I could bring back your mother and grandmother. You never be that left-out loser. You will be the center of attention. People will adore you. You will have power. You can have all that I can give, which is quite a lot. All you have to do is accept my offer and join my side."

Frank cut Gaea off before she even finished.

"I won't serve you, so shut up and go away Dirt Woman."

"My My, Frank Zhang. I expected better manners from someone as sophisticated as you, Fai," Frank gasped at that word. "Honestly, I expected better of you. Never mind, on to Annabeth Chase, the dream architect. You could build monuments, beautiful cities. There would be huge plots of land specially reserved for you to build. You could have your friends back, all those who died fighting my stupid sons. Your friend Luke would always be by your side. You could have more power than the gods, and have the power to easily dispatch someone to the Underworld, whenever you feel like it. All of this will happen, as long as you say yes."

"There was a time that exploiting my fatal flaw against me would work. I have learned to overcome hubris with the advice of the gods. The gods are infinitely better than you Gaea. I have a knack at picking the winning side, Gaea, and I feel that the gods will certainly win, because of your ignorance and stupidity which has caused you to lose all the wars from the First Titan War to the Second Titan War."

"So, the last person is Garen. You were alive two thousand years ago. I expect you wonder what happened to your girlfriend, comrades, parents. I could show you everything you wish to know about. If you join me, your rewards will be even better than what I have just offered you."

Garen, being the one who has been with us and the gods the least amount of time, hesitated the longest.

"I have a duty to Percy, who made me feel at home. I also trust his judgement. He has declined your offer, so I will also decline. It is true that I wish to see what happened, but this curiosity is not enough for me to turn my back on friends and work with evil. I decline your offer."

"Very well. Well, I wish all of you heroes the best of luck in getting past my giant sons!"

There was the sleepy sound of laughing, followed by the deep-throated chuckle of the two giants as they got into position to stop us from leaving. We probably would have been stuck there forever. However, suddenly,fourteen flashes of light glowed on all sides, and the gods arrived in their full battle regalia, this time with an actual battle to fight, instead of finding a dead demigod, and two other demigods plus a satyr standing over him. At least, this is the story that Percy had told me when we were on the ship and had nothing to do.

2 giants vs. 14 gods. Who will win?

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~RAfan2421