Disclaimer: Still don't own Percy Jackson!

AN: That quick! It's up! Really, you all are so inspiring and I love that you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Tempting the Fates

Chapter Fourteen

Conscious Choices

Annabeth

Annabeth stood above deck with her arms crossed over her chest suppressing a shiver from the cold. Her eyes refused to meet any of the half bloods around her and were instead fixed to a spot on the ground just to the right of her battered sneaker. A tremor traveled align the length of her spine when she realised a piece of web was still caught on her shoe. She stamped at it for good measure.

A brush of contact came to her shoulders and she'd blame her overreaching nerves as the reason her hand flew up and she nearly punched Leo in the face.

The boy jumped back raising both hands like white flags clearly afraid that she would cause him some kind of bodily harm.

Smart boy, she thought to herself not because she was larger than him. She was a fairly petite girl despite her wiry muscles but she had also learned about fifteen different ways to flip a guy over her shoulders and land him stunned on the ground by the time she was twelve. That number had only multiplied over the years.

"Hey… s-sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You just looked like you were freezing over here and since I'm the guy with the hot hands I figured I'd offer what little help I'm good for, yanno?"

She bit back a snarky comment that was bubbling up in the back of her throat like bile and swallowed it down. Honestly, it was the nicest offer she'd had since everyone had decided she'd gone bats in the belfry bananas. She was the most senior member and Percy was gone. Jason might have been a leader but it was her duty to make sure that they met up exactly where Hazel had promised and get the both of them back. That was her job. Emotional breakdown or not and she would be damned if she couldn't handle this one little thing. Besides, all the heroes had to deal with stuff like this.

But this stuff always seems so much easier in a book. Real life is harder.

"Thanks, Leo. Yeah… that'd be okay. I appreciate it." She even attempted a gratified smile for his sake but from the stiff feeling in her face and the forced politeness in his eyes, she was positive it'd come out more of a terrifying glower. Well, she tried at least. His hands snapped to life in that way they did defying all mortal logic and Annabeth held her hands out in front of them rubbing them together and basking in what little warmth there was. Sure, she could have returned below deck (and Leo was either kind enough or smart enough not to suggest it) but after the meeting all she wanted to do was stay right where she was— where the action was happening.

Hazel had returned unharmed with tears still drying on her cheek and defiance blazing in her eyes. Hecate had told her plenty and even prized her with Gale the farting ferret who honestly Annabeth was pretty certain she was going to murder soon for its noxious emissions— that had to be illegal in most countries the thing was burning the ozone faster than anyone could get a gulp of fresh air. Maybe she would turn it into some kind of hand warmers and give it to her mother as a present. It would absolutely reek. Okay not her mother, that was harsh. Maybe Aphrodite for being such a vindictive bitch.

Cool it, Annabeth. You're going to get yourself turned into a pumpkin or… a farting ferret just like Gale.

The thought made her shutter. She stepped a little closer to Leo and was thankful that he wasn't all about jabbering away. The silence seemed to make him uncomfortable, though, if the way he was shifting his weight back and forth from one foot to the other on repeat was any indication. Annabeth made a conscious decision to try and be nice— maybe that would convince everyone she wasn't going to fly off the handle if they so much as breathed the wrong way. Besides, she was upset before. Not that she wasn't upset now but she had just witnessed the boyfriend she'd been without for months fall into the pit of Tartarus thus leaving her without him once more. She had a right to be upset and, yeah, maybe even go a little crazy. Then there was the whole Piper ordeal and that would make anyone even more loopy. She shook her head trying to clear the jumble of thoughts from it.

Stick with just one frame of mind, Annabeth. C'mon. You can do it.

She mumbled to herself. Clearing her throat, she turned to face Leo better attempting to be more open and slightly more human. Fear widened his dark eyes and she nearly snorted and left but the more stubborn part of her remained steady in its resolve.

"Do you think it will help? What Piper said about Styx… do you think she'll help us if we go on this mission for her and bring her Diocletian's staff or whatever?"

"I dunno. I mean it wouldn't be the first time one of the gods agreed to help if we did some of their dirty work for them. I just… can't really figure out what she would want with the sceptre. I mean isn't it a little bit strange? To want a sceptre that has nothing to do with you? And might control things she can't even control? Doesn't make a lot of sense." Leo grinned, the light from the fire making his eyes look more lit with mischief and his ears that tiny bit pointer from the shadows. Annabeth could have swore that for a second his teeth even look a little sharp. Very much like an imp or an elemental spirit. "But since when do the gods make sense? Maybe she's gone all schizo, too."

"Or she's a collector. I've met a business minded monster or two," Annabeth mused. This seemed to tickle Leo who just let out a laugh and rolled his eyes.

"What are we even trying to save?" He joked. "A bunch of nutballs with too much time and power."

"Oh and, yanno, the world." She chimed in. "All the innocent puppies and kittens and babies."

"Or that. I like that a lot better… even if it means we have to go to some country called Croak."

"Croatia," Annabeth corrected and thought for just a fraction of a second how like Percy that remark was.

The two demigods stood huddled together and for the first time in the past however many hours, the daughter of Athena began to feel a little bit more like a human and less like a husk all dried up and purposeless. They two weren't talking about much in particular but she was trying and it was clear that Hephaestus' son was making the same effort with her; she had a feeling that Leo wasn't one of those who could deal with others having heavy emotions while he was bouncing around bubbly, hyper and vivacious. Just put a damper on his mood.

The shift in attitude, no matter how slight, probably accounted for the fact that when she felt a new touch to her shoulder from behind she didn't nearly jump out of her skin that time or punch the intruder in the face. Leo almost looked a little disappointed there wasn't carnage though, or maybe was a little perplexed the daughter of wisdom had nearly flipped him over her shoulder but failed to try and maim the next person who came traipsing along happily invading her personal space.

Jason's tempestuous blue eyes locked with her dark grey ones. She found herself tilting her head just slightly to make eye contact with him and worrying her bottom lip.

Great, he's going to try and say something about Piper.

She might have been trying to be mature and not alienate the crew members by being flipping crazy but that didn't mean that she wanted someone else meddling and trying to get her to forgive the poor girl who had first forced her to be knocked out and then nearly suffocated her with charmspeak. Aphrodite had never been her favourite goddess and, as if proving a point, Piper was now never going to be her favourite person. She might be mature and wise but she wasn't that together. Lifting a hand she waived off the other demigod and turned her back to him. "I don't want to hear it, Jason. Just leave me alone, okay? It's been a long day and I really don't feel like talking about it. You can go speak with her about it but keep her away from me or may the gods help h…"

"It's about Percy."

That shut her up like a ton of bricks to the chest. Snapping to attention, she shifted away from the warmth of Leo's fire. A conversation passed unspoken between the two males who did little more than make eye contact and tilt a head one way or another. It ended with Leo nodding and mumbling some kind of goodbye whilst excusing himself because he was going to get the ship ready to depart; they'd be leaving soon.

What she wanted to do was to ask. Just form a few little words and say 'what about Percy'? But she couldn't. It was like Piper had charmed spoken her into silence once more and while she had a will it wasn't her own to command. This time the pressure wasn't on her mind though but her lungs and her heart— had they stopped working? Jason, understanding so much, laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it the tiniest of squeezes. "Piper wasn't the only one who had a dream. I had one tonight, too, but it was different."

"What happened?" The squeak that left her throat was foreign and it took a few ticks of a clock to realise the voice even belonged to herself.

"He's okay. For now, I mean. He's alright. Percy and Nico are together with a Titan—"

"—Wait… a Titan?"

"And he has all his limbs attached still. I mean his clothes are looking a little worse for wear—"

"—Yeah but a Titan? Are they battling a Titan?"

"Like honestly. His shirt is basically a few strips of fabric held together by the sleeves and neck line."

"Yeah but you mentioned a Tita. Is it like stalking them? Gods, Percy would be stalked by a Titan."

"No, the Titan's totally cool. But his shirt… it's a mess. I saw so much more of your boyfriend than I ever wanted to see."

"…What parts of him did you see?"

"Nothing special. Somehow I got the impression that it's pretty humid down there, though, so I don't think he's going to freeze to death. That's the important thing. Well, at least not where he was or anything. I'm not exactly an expert on Tartarus or anything. There could definitely be like a massive frozen tundra somewhere down there but hopefully they'll miss it. Anyway, the important thing was that he was alright."

Without providing any real details of what he had seen besides an acid soaked shirt and the fact that Jason had apparently seen more of Percy's six pack and pectoral muscles than he wanted to, Jason wasn't exactly rife with information for her. It was somewhere around the point where the female demigod became so agitated about the Titan that her hands were nearly around his throat that the son of the sky decided to change tactics and provide at least some semi helpful information. Annabeth had never seen fear in Jason's eyes before but apparently going head to head with a descendant of war and wisdom didn't exactly appeal to him.

Pulling her messy blonde waves out of her face, she bunched it at the nape of her neck and held it there using her hands as makeshift scrunchies. At least it gave them something to do that wasn't assaulting Jason Grace. Somehow she was pretty sure that Zeus or Jupiter or whoever he was at that particular moment wouldn't hesitate with zapping his granddaughter out of existence even if that tiny little fact might be less than thrilling to her mother/his daughter. Tugging at the strands over and over, she used her fingers as combs (albeit very dirty ones) and attempted to tame her mane enough so she could loop it over and over, wrapping it around itself as if in a bun. Just as soon as she'd finished with nothing to hold it in place, she dropped the strands of hair free and then started all over again.

"So Percy's okay? F-for now, I mean."

"He was when I saw him."

"What did he say?"

"Well I didn't exactly talk to him. He couldn't see me. Neither could the Titan, either, I don't think."

"I need to sleep. I need to speak with him. Maybe if I can just get to sleep I can have a quick word with him. Let him know about Piper's dream. I mean that will be uplifting right? Knowing that we're on our way and that we'll be enlisting the help of a Goddess."

"I'm sure it will but, Annabeth, he couldn't hear me or see me. I only spoke to Nico briefly but he said it was dangerous. The monsters down there and Tartarus… they can feel the souls. You don't need a body."

Her eyes blazed. "Dangerous or not, I have to at least try and let Percy know that we're doing everything we can and that we're going to save him."

Jason's eyes clouded.

"Annabeth… listen, I know you want Percy back. But Styx… she said only one of them would return. She didn't say which one."

Her grey eyes met his, stark steel against a stormy sky. Jason might have been the son of the sky god but Annabeth was electric, her presence almost humming.

"It will be Percy."

Earlier

"So what exactly are we all standing around here for? Just chuck me down and I'll go clobbering all of Tartarus! Have the boys back in a flash if it weren't for needing to watch over you lot!" Coach Hedge grumbled. His bat was clutched in one hand and he was waving it dramatically. No one bothered to question him; all the teenage demigods assembled were putting on a brave face. Hazel's eyes were still wet, Leo's were a little puffy, Hedge's voice was wavering in a way none of them would point out or question. All in all they were in a complete state. But none of them were pointing it out to the others just in case it was the final straw. They'd seen Annabeth's back break and while no one blamed her, no one wanted a repeat either.

"I had a dream about Percy and Nico. Not about them, exactly, but a dream about how to help them. A physical manifestation of the River Styx has agreed to help us. She wants something in return but she swore she would assist them in completing their journey through Tartarus but there's also some… well, some bad news."

Piper stood before them all, her hair sticking out about ten different ways from the pleats it had been tied back in earlier. In her rush to get above deck she hadn't thought to stop and check her appearance. Despite the fact her braids were coming undone and she had eyeliner smeared almost completely off her right eye and she was looking slightly green tinged, she still managed to look authoritative and, in a way, pretty. Annabeth sort of hated her for that— not that she was the looks type of girl but really? It was just wrong.

I make you, daughter of Aphrodite, a pact now on the condition you will not try to alter what is to come in any way for you will want to but you must not interfere. Much like the son of Hades could not meddle when he discovered the identity of the son of a Greek God unknowingly residing at a Roman Camp. You must pledge this now though you do not know the task or I cannot ask it of you and I cannot espouse my help.

She had promised, of course, because there was a way to help save their friends. Whatever it was, it would be worth it. Only part of her might be motivated by the fact that Styx had been right and that she knew little of loyalty, least her actions of late had shown the exact opposite of that.

You will travel to Diocletian's last place of rest and you will retrieve his sceptre and return this to me. It will not be gotten easily. There is one who possesses it now, one who is not so kind as myself, though he will help you. He will ask a price to be paid and if you can pay it, he shall bestow it unto you. Have the child of Pluto bring this sceptre to me and leave it on my shores so I may entrust it to your heroes deep in Tartarus. You must be quick because time is different down there than it is for you, and its effect greater on the one who has seen its depths twice. It has been hours for you but days for them and they have great need of it. Not just in surviving Tartarus but triumphing over Gaea. This coming war cannot be won without it.

Agreeing had been easy. There was no reason they couldn't deviate from their travel to procure a weapon that would help so completely. But Styx had not been finished and it was what came next that woke the female half blood in the middle of the night.

Child of Aphrodite, I must warn you: I will do all I can to help but an oath has been made. Oaths are sacred and they must be fulfilled, witnessed by myself. Only one of your friends will pass through the Doors of Death. The other one will remain. And like Diocletian, you must accept what shall come to pass. Willingly retire yourself. You have, after all, swore an oath.

Styx had left like a tide going out, disappearing off shore leaving Piper blinking.

AN: Not my best chapter yet but I'm attempting to do the whole free form writing without obsessing and editing everything before hand. Also, I just wanted to move the story on a little bit in regards to a quest to help. What is coming next you may ask? Well without giving away any spoilers I'm toying with the idea of forward in time and then filling in backstory- another thing I don't normally do but am kind of toying over taking on as a challenge. We'll see! And like always, thank you!