Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Warning: Strong language in this chapter.

AN: My apologies for the short chapter! I'm trying something a little different after some of the comments made to me here and at Archive of Our Own. I may post the next chapter shortly but, it's going to be my personal goal to attempt to post something around 5 chapters a week. It's really ambitious but I feel like it's been great the past few days just sitting down at the keyboard and bashing it out. Hope you enjoy!

Tempting the Fates

Chapter Five

Hanging On

Hazel

She could hardly believe that they had managed to find Annabeth just in time. There seemed to be a lot of that happening lately— everything just in the nick of time, not a second more to spare. All the same, Hazel was glad for the fact that Annabeth was alright and the Athena Parthenos was unharmed. As much as she loved her fellow Romans, she didn't place much faith in their ability to forgive and forget. And as hopeful as the members of Camp Halfblood were about their chances of survival, well, there was a reason that the Greeks fell and the Romans rose.

Clearing her thoughts, he watched as Leo and Jason with the help of Coach Hedge fashioned the relic to some last minute rigging and managed to hoist it up onto the ship. It all looked a bit dangerous to her but she just reminded herself that there were gifts on their side. Gifts more powerful than retrieving wealth from the earth.

But then Annabeth screamed and what had been cause for celebration— after all, they were ahead for once!— was cause for chase once more. Turning her head to the side, she opened her mouth to say her brother's name but she got no further than, "Ni…" and it died on her lips. The still recovering son of Hades was no longer beside her when she blinked.

Without even a second to think, Hazel sprinted forward her feet hitting the uneven and capricious ground. A yelp left her lips as her foot punctured the floor but fortunately she threw the other out and kept going forward without plummeting into the darkness below.

Oh gods. Oh gods. That could have been bad.

Hazel nearly skidded over the ledge but came to a stop just in time. Her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets when she realised that not only was Annabeth no longer there but Nico was dangling besides Percy.

How in the name of the gods…

Annabeth's voice startled her from behind. Chancing a look over her shoulder, she was shocked to see the blonde girl on the deck now overseeing the Athena Parthenos being lifted. She was sat over the side shouting at Jason. Well, cross that off of the list of things to worry about.

Reigning in her ADHD, she managed to focus on the here and the now. The situation built up in the pit of her stomach as her eyes for a second time met the sight of the two boys on the ledge barely grasping. Before Hazel could ask or scream or shout or cry about what they were both doing and how dangerous it was, concern exploded past her lips in an irrational spray of ridiculousness. "What are you doing down there?! Get your butt back up here, Nico! And bring him with you! The floor is giving."

Without asking she knew. Somehow she knew that Nico had been the one to save Annabeth and that he'd disappeared form her side calling the shadows up around him like only the Ghost King could and he had shadow traveled, grabbed the female demigod, and landed back on the ship. Just when she thought she had her half brother figured out, he had to go and surprise her— Hazel never would have guessed he had the strength. Not while he was still recovering from the toll Tartarus had taken on him. Not that she thought that was the only toll he had paid; there were many.

There was a niggling in her stomach, the uncomfortable fluttering feeling. As much as Nico surprised her, she still worried about his strength. And whether or not he would be able to get the other demigod and himself back to safety.

But then it came. It came from the depths of the pit— the spite, the rage, the hate and resentment— venom spewing as the voice quaked in their heads.

YOU COME TOO CLOSE AGAIN, HALF BLOOD. YOUR FRIENDS SAVED YOU THEN BUT THEY WILL NOT SAVE YOU NOW. AND THE BOY... YOU WILL NOT SAVE HIM EITHER.

She had no experience, no context within which to place the voice but the way her vision blackened and her limbs quivered void of any strength, she knew. Tartarus. He was calling for her brother and in the last bit of sight, her vision swimming, she saw his Stygian blade fall from his fingertips and the fear on his face.

No. No. No no no nononono.

Hazel just barely managed to keep herself from tumbling headfirst into the pit as well. The voice left them and though it was gone, she struggled to push herself back up.

Nico's eyes, dark as ink, met hers. The circles under his eyes stood out purple on ashen skin.

"Hazel! Meet us... On the other side. I'll find it this time, I know I will! Meet us there. You have to lead them!"

"I will!"

And then they were gone. They disappeared into the black and a scream tore from her lips. She threw herself up onto her feet and with the floor quaking and pieces falling away, she took off for the Argo II and hopped on board just in time for take off.

Annabeth's slate eyes locked onto Hazel. It was only then she realised that she was crying, her vision wobbling and watery, not quite focused. Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head. "T-they… they didn't make it."

"What do you mean they didn't make it!? Hazel… where are they! Where's Percy?!" Annabeth strode forward under she was nose to nose with the daughter of Pluto, malice dripping from her voice.

"They fell. I couldn't reach them and N-nico… he couldn't travel. Tartarus… Tartarus took them, I could feel him and N-nico… he wasn't strong enough. They fell! They fell, Annabeth! Oh gods, they fucking fell!"

She lost it then, screaming as they took off. Pointless, wordless shouts. Frank soon engulfed her in his arms and spun her around, pressing her face not his chest. Hazel kept screaming but the sound eventually died.

Somewhere behind her, Annabeth came undone. The sobs and the shouts and the shuffling.

"No! No no no! He can't be gone… he can't be fucking gone. No… no don't you dare… don't touch me! I have to go back for him… I said don't fucking touch me! Get off me… you'll be sorry. Get your fucking hands off me!"

Someone had to hold her back— probably Jason— for her own good. And probably for Hazel's protection lest Annabeth come completely undone and lash out at the last one to see either of the two boys on this plane.

The filth that left her mouth in English and in Greece would have shocked a sailor, so creative in its colour. Annabeth cursed them all, especially Hazel. Especially Nico. And Hazel cried quietly against Frank who stroked her hair murmuring for her not to mind. Nico surely did all that he could. After all, he'd saved Annabeth and maybe she couldn't see that right now but… and the words continued. They flew away in the air like balloons on a breeze. She was in no place to concentrate.

Annabeth must have been brought below deck (surely Jason had, in the most delicate of ways, manipulated a pressure point to knock the girl out) because the air stilled and in the quiet she heard… "what's next?"

Lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes, she pulled back away from Frank and stood up straight.

"We meet them at the Doors of Death. I promised him that we would meet them, and I plan on keeping my word."

The daughter of Pluto had no idea how they were going to succeed in their quest— how they would get the saved relic to Halfblood Hill on time or how they would find Percy or Nico— but she did know that they would.

After all, the impossible could happen. She'd been dead for countless years and yet here she was, alive. Miracles could happen even if you didn't believe. But she had to believe in this one because she had to believe that in a world where one boy had survived so much bad, he'd survive long enough to know there was also good. And that hadn't happened for Nico yet.

Turning to the railing, she leaned over the edge, forgetting her propensity for motion sickness. "We're coming, Nico," she whispered. "Just hang in there."

As always, please review! Let me know what you think of attempting a different POV. Hazel is particularly difficult, I think, since I connect with her so little throughout the series. Let me know if I should attempt it again or maybe steer clear.