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This chapter is definitely a long one!

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Chapter 47

Jason

Jason had been running for a very long time.

He had been so, so convinced he was lost down in the catacombs forever.

Until he had heard their voices.

"Oh, we're just peachy, Beauty Queen." It was echoing throughout the tunnel, but Jason had no way of tracking where it came from. "How are you doing back there, fighting all those monsters?"

Jason started walking forward.

"As soon as I start helping you guys, they're going to come out from everywhere, and we'll get killed, or worse, captured." Piper's voice was getting louder, stronger. It was definitely Piper. Her strong voice was undeniably hers. "So, you two can keep carrying Frank, and I'll keep protecting you. Okay, Fix-It Boy?"

Carrying Frank? Jason thought. What happened to Frank?

"How about you two switch off?" Hazel's voice sounded depressed, tired, sad, almost a sort of hollow. Jason instantly felt bad for her. She was like a little sister to him. It crushed him to hear her like this. "Piper, come take Leo's side of Frank and Leo will get out his hammer and fire and protect us. After a while, you two will switch again. I'll decide when. Got it?"

Her voice was definitely loud, though. The echoing effect was confusing him, though. He wished they would stop talking, but then again, if they did, he would lose them for sure.

"Sure," was Leo's reply. One word. One, perfect word. It didn't bounce over itself. It was traceable. And it was forward.

Jason broke into a sprint and chased after his friends.

It had been a little while. He hadn't heard anything. He'd reached a split, and he didn't know where to go, so he'd stopped and refreshed his arm wrappings. When he heard it again.

"Guys, I don't think going to the ship right now is the best idea." Leo. Thank the gods for Leo.

It was coming from the tunnel to the left. So that was the way he ran.

"What?" Hazel. "Why not? Frank needs help!"

Jason ducked into the right tunnel this time. And he followed the voices of his bouncing friends.

Nothing in his head was screaming, TRAP, so he continued to run for his friends. It was their voices. Some things just couldn't be replicated by monsters.

"Jason needs help." Piper. She was thinking about him. Even now.

But why did she think he needed help? Did she think he was injured?

She didn't seem…sad, or hysterical. He followed the voices. But this time he was also listening to them, too.

"What do you mean?" Hazel, voice of reason and confusion at the same time. Good, old Hazel.

"We mean that Jason and Nico should be on their way to the Doors of Death right now. What if they get there with no back-up? Nico has a broken leg. He can't walk, how do you expect him to fight?" Piper. They must have informed Hazel about Nico, then.

Jason turned and continued running. Their words were echoing less and less. He was getting closer.

And they continued to fight. And then Hazel talked about checking Frank for injuries. Jason felt the tug of Piper's charmspeak at one point. But he continued running. He was going to find them. Because it was time for everything to end. Or, at the very least, be delayed. For a long time.

Hopefully.

They talked about a broken rib. They were still far. Simply because their words were still bouncing and because Jason hadn't found them yet.

And finally, he heard a conversation that sounded hushed. Like it was supposed to be whispered.

"You're better at the whole 'friend zone' thing than I thought you were gonna be, Valdez." Piper. She sounded…smug. Sure of herself.

"What?" Leo. Naturally. It sounded like a conversation between the two of them.

"She loves Frank. Frank loves her. You love her. She chose Frank. You're still there for her when she needs you, because she's completely oblivious to the fact that you love her. And you're okay with that. She wants to be just friends with you. You're okay with that as long as you get to be near her. You saved her from falling to her death when we were fighting the Sky Pigs and she still thinks of you as only a friend, and you're completely okay with that. Because you still get to be near her. That's called 'friend zoning,' and you're better at it than I would be, that's for sure." Piper's little speech wasn't exactly upbeat, Jason had to admit, but it was the truth.

"Look, Beauty Queen, I don't know what you've been seeing for the past…long time, I don't remember how long we've been doing this, but I'm not in love with her. She's one of my closest friends." Leo must have really thought it was some big secret. Poor guy. Hazel is probably the only person who doesn't know.

Works out for him, Jason decided.

"Please, Fix-It, those words sounded hollow even to you. You just want to help. Which is sweet. But I think Frank sees it, too. So watch out, okay? He can become a bear, remember?" Piper. Just wanting to tell it like it is.

His girl.

"Yeah, I know." Leo. Poor guy. He sounded so defeated.

The rest of their conversation he ignored.

He just followed the sound. He didn't want to hear anymore of their little conversation.

Jason was so close. They had stopped speaking, but he could feel it. He was close to them.

He ran up to a cross road again. Crap.

Say something, he willed them. Anything, please.

But nothing. No sound came.

So he went with instinct. He chose left.

He noticed, as he ran, that the catacombs started turning subtly darker. The light was depleting.

Until he could see nothing at all.

He stayed silent. He continued moving.

The flash of light that appeared nearly blinded him.

He threw his arms up to cover his face and he cringed, but he didn't make a sound.

This situation he had thrown himself into suddenly seemed very dangerous. And powerful.

He squinted as he walked into the cavernous opening.

Monsters. That was all he saw. Monsters. By the hundreds. They didn't seem like they were doing anything, though. Just sort of…milling around. Jason crouched low and moved across the floor. He shot behind one of the pillars and looked over. And then he saw it.

A form. A form made of sand, it seemed, obviously not completely stable, was composing, shifting, losing pieces, but it was basically the shape of a woman. But her sandy eyes were closed. But her mouth moved.

"No. Wrong. Discard it. Again."

The voice that had been haunting them for so long now.

Gaea.

It was time to end this battle. It had been too long.

She was standing…or, pooling, really, she didn't have feet, her robes ended in a pool of sand, next to what looked like a sewing table. There was a small machine on top of it as well.

The thing at the front tossed the thing aside. It seemed to be…a monster.

It stood up and began milling around with the other ones.

The thing at the machine pulled another monster to it and laid it down on the table. The machine went to work, opening it up. The thing took parts from various places and started filling the monster, removing parts, replacing parts, leaving parts.

It reminded Jason of a sick version of Build-A-Bear.

"Wrong. No. Again!" Gaea hissed. "I want these new monsters to be perfect. Impervious to the demigods at least. Destroy them all."

Gaea was creating new monsters? What? Jason thought.

The flying pigs were then automatically explained. And the snake women with wings they fought on the ship.

Explained.

And then Jason saw what the things, he really had no idea what it was, it was something he had never seen before, was getting the new monsters from.

The Doors of Death were chained open, just like Janus said, and new monsters were coming out of there every second. He tried to see in, but he couldn't from his distance. Nothing was clear. It was just…dark.

Until, he did see something. It was light colored. Completely out of tune with the dark scene. It looked like wispy blonde hair.

Annabeth.

They had made it. They were alive.

Or, at least, she had. He had yet to see Percy.

Jason tried to stay positive. He held up the dagger. One or the other. One or the other. The Doors, or Gaea?

He slipped to the next pillar. He needed to get close to the Doors. He needed to speak to Annabeth about it.

The Doors, or Gaea?

None of these monsters were perfection. They could still be killed.

But what would happen if she found the one that couldn't?

The Doors, of Gaea?

Close the Doors, no more monsters. Delay Gaea, no more Gaea. For a long time.

Hopefully.

He slipped to the next pillar.

And the next one.

The Doors, or Gaea?

And before he knew it, he was pressed right against one of the doors of the Doors of Death.

"Annabeth," he whispered. The machine was surprisingly loud. He doubted she could hear him.

"What?" her voice came quickly and quietly.

"It's Jason," he whispered.

"Where are you?" she replied.

"I'm against the door. To your…left, I think," Jason said.

"How do you not know?" Annabeth asked.

"It's my right," he replied.

"Jason, what are we going to do?" Annabeth asked.

"Where's Percy?" Jason asked.

"Unconscious. He's with me, don't worry," Annabeth replied.

Thank the gods.

"I have a dagger. Janus gave it to me," Jason started.

"What? When did you see Janus?" Annabeth asked.

"Long story," Jason replied. "Point is, it can cut the chains or the Doors of Death and close them."

"That's great!" Annabeth's reply was excited.

"Or, it can send Gaea back. Delay her for a lot longer," Jason countered. "What should I do?"

"Do you know what she's doing?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Jason replied.

"She's enhancing monsters. I've been watching her and that…thing do it for a while now. It's…horrifying. It really is. Take out the Doors. Get rid of her experiments. The rest of us can fight her on our own," Annabeth replied.

"We can't do it without getting you two through the Doors first. And we need back-up. The two of us can't fight her on our own," Jason replied.

"Where are the others?"

"Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel are somewhere, nearby, hopefully, and Nico is…safe, for the moment, I assume," Jason replied.

"Okay. Okay. Well, we can't just wait. What if she finds what she needs in the monster? Then we're all doomed," Annabeth whispered. "It's now or never."

"Okay. Come on. Pass Percy over to me," Jason whispered.

It took a lot of effort. But they pulled Percy through to the real side. Jason hugged his unconscious body. He had bloody head scrapes and his hair was wet and his eyes were closed. His mouth was slightly open.

But he was still Percy.

Jason made sure he was hidden in the shadows before helping Annabeth through.

And then he hugged her. She hugged him back.

"We made it," she whispered.

"You made it," Jason whispered.

There was a shift, and then Percy whispered, "Hey, I think I would like a turn hugging my girlfriend, please."

Annabeth threw herself at him as quietly as she could. Jason laughed a little. He wondered what they had been through together, in that hellhole.

Probably hell.

No, wait. That was Hades's domain. Never mind.

"Welcome back, Percy," Jason said.

"Always a pleasure to be back," Percy replied.

"Now, we have some doors to close and some Gaea to kill. You ready to help?" Jason asked.

"Man, if I can survive Tartarus, I can survive this," Percy said as they both readjusted they're battered and bloody bodies into crouching positions.

"Okay. On the count of three, you two rush the room and charge Gaea. Go straight for her if you can. I'll get these chains."

They nodded.

It was good to have them back.

"One. Two." Jason raised his knife and they drew their weapons.

"Three," Jason said, and they lunged out and Jason swung his knife through the first chain.

Gaea screamed a frustrated cry.

And the battle began.

Sorry it wasn't a big sha-bang with lightning and bright lights and happy dances and tears, bringing them back from Tartarus, but...here they are! Yay!

The next chapter will be the last! Except for maybe an epilogue. Maybe...still deciding.

Thanks for Reading!