Chapter XXIV: Jason

It was settled. Given he didn't die during the war itself, Jason was going to resign from being a demigod.

He lay, sprawled across his bunk. His hair probably looked like a mongoose nest. The sheets of his bed were torn apart and his clothes hung on various hooks. A couple of scrolls lay on the ground and his rocking chair was upside down. Jason remembered Annabeth's pained face when she walked into his room.

Okay, so it wasn't the neatest bedroom on Earth. But he was a teenage boy. A regular teenage boy who fights monsters as an occupation and has guard duty in his spare time. Jason drags a comb through his messy blonde hair and throws on an unwashed pair of jeans and a shirt.

Piper had been given guard duty after Leo had stormed off deck. He began to fix all the broken floorboards and leakages in about one hour. It wasn't brand new, but it sure looked a lot more like the Argo II instead of a squashed rotten tomato.

He walks drowsily above deck and steps into the dining hall. Annabeth sits at the head chair, her eyes gleaming on a battle book. She semi-consciously pours her maple syrup all over her glass of water instead of her pancakes. Percy slumbers on the table, drooling. His hair is one mess of black strands.

Frank acknowledges Jason's presence by raising his cup of water. Jason had struck an unusual friendship with the guy. He was funny and quite enjoyable to be around. The whole change of praetor had brought about this friendship. Jason plops down on a seat next to Frank.

"Where are the rest?" He asks.,

"Piper's coming, Hazel's probably also coming with her and Leo is not leaving his room."

"I guess I'm the one to blame" Hazel says as she walks in, followed closely by Piper. Piper gives Jason a small smile before resuming to pick up her breakfast.

"What for?" Jason asks

Hazel's face darkens. She walks off to the other end of the table and takes a seat. Before Jason can confront her, Annabeth pipes up "Woah! Look at this thing I found out in The Battles of Peridoclemy" She lifts the book for everyone to see.

"Umm….." Jason stares at a picture of a bloody battle scene. Soldiers lay on the ground and blood is spilt everywhere. Chariots, horses and armor were also present. Jason shrugs, nonchalantly, "How is this thing going to help us in the war? If you're going to say, this is how it'll look like, everyone knew that."

Annabeth smacks her forehead. "No! For god's sake Jason! Its a byzantine quagmire. Used by Charles the First when his ostracized minister revolted. Like guerilla warfare. The opposing army is lured into the center of the arena, completely unaware its actually an ambush. Then the alternative infantry envelops them and strikes. This is quite an intellectual way of thinking. Whoever invented it must have been brilliant."

"Translation?" Percy asks, blinking his eyes stupidly.

Annabeth groans and smacks her head. "This is an intricate trap which was used by many of the Indian and English rulers of the ancient centuries. Basically, your opponent enters the battlefield and sees that there is no one from your army in sight. So, unknowingly they move further and further until they stand at the midpoint of your attack. Then, our army emerges from hiding and surrounds them on all directions."

"Trapped." Piper says.

"Exactly. So the opposing army has to attack. If we can hold them on longer, we might even defeat Gaea's minions. Only her minions."

"But the number of the opposing team is large." Hazel observe.

"That's always been a downfall. But we seven are pretty powerful if we've managed to get so far. If we use teamwork, we can beat atleast half of them. Chariclo has her huge army with soldiers, weapons and food. If Nico and Reyna succeed, we'll have both the camps fighting as well. We'll kick some serious booty together."

Jason begins to nod, joined in by all the others.

"We'll discuss the rest once we get to Greece. Seems there's a lot of planning to do"

Annabeth and Percy leave to research more on the ancient traps. Frank stands by the rail on duty, watching out for any occurrences in the breezy cool ocean. Leo comes up later, grouchily and learns of the 'byzantine quagmires'. He presses a few control buttons on his control boards and a small trapdoor latches itself open on the ground.

"I built this since we could all use a bit of training." Leo's voice spreads over the dark misty room, followed by Jason, Piper and Hazel .

The room lights up and Jason's eyes widen. There are two sword fighting arenas at the corner of the room. There are target boards for archery and knife throwing. Small punching bags are at the other end for muscling up the arms.

Leo's smile turns a bit sad at he stares at the training room. He leads them to another door.

"This is what I call the 'Destructive House'. I made it for Percy to try his water powers without flooding the bathrooms, for Jason to try out his lightning without electrocuting us. For Frank to change into animals and for Hazel to do her gemstone thing. I tried to do my best for Piper and Annabeth but all I came up with was a computer in Annie's room and maybe a half-live robot in yours, Pipes, to perhaps charmspeak."

Piper laughs. "And you Leo?"

"Ah, well, what is Festus and Buford for?"

The girls immediately run off to the arena and begin to practise sword fighting. Piper was becoming better and better. Her movements were agile and swift and her aim was perfect. Hazel was a good teacher. Her skills were excellent.

Jason turns to Leo. "How'd you come up with this?"

"I was thinking about the war. I know we have constant practice with all those idiots that try to endanger my ship but we might need to polish up our skills for the big battle with Mud Woman. We've got allies, we're coming up with strategies, but what if we fail at the last hurdle? This way, I'm ensuring nothing can go wrong."

"Good thinking, but you do know that line never exists in our world, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess." Leo replies half-heartedly. He turns away to go when Jason stops him.

"Are you okay? I mean, something's happened and I won't push it. But I'm your best friend and I won't ever turn my back on you, ok?" Jason says confidently.

"Yeah, I know." Leo mutters and Jason watches him walk off from the room.

"So much for friends" Jason groans inwardly.

Jason practices sword fighting all by himself. When Hazel takes a break, he combats with Piper and beats her eventually. However, Hazel is slightly harder. He cannot get a single throw at her. She blocks every movement. He pretends to attack her lower limbs but brings his sword at her neck. She deflects it and strikes at him.

Jason's sword goes flying out of his hands "OK!" he raises his hands in surrender "Where am I going wrong, Ms. Levesque?

Hazel smirks "You're not bad. Just hope your opponent isn't as good an anticipator as I am. Other than that, just be prepared for any sort of blow." With that she resumes classes with Piper. Jason tries the bow and arrow but fails miserably. His skill with the dagger is a bit rusty but he can balance it and aims quite well to throw it at the target.

Frank, Percy and Annabeth later join them. The training room is bustling with noise. Piper excels at the dagger while Frank teaches Hazel the bow. Percy and Annabeth duel with each other, the victor changing each round. After Percy get exhausted, Frank and him try the 'Destructive House'.

Jason walks out on deck for a little air.

He stares at the darkening sky, the shining stars that lit it up. He rubs his palms on his temple. From the corner of his eye, he spots a dark figure coming towards him. He blinks his blue eyes to see Leo, looking hesitant.

"Leo?"

"Jason. I have to do something which my life depends upon. I need to go somewhere. I can't leave without telling one person and I'm telling you cause I know you won't stop me."

"Leo?" Jason asks, alarmed. "What are you doing?"

"When I went missing, I met someone. I swore to release her from her home prison."

"Swore?!" Jason exclaims, a little too loudly.

"On the River Styx. It's my life that's being endangered. I know there's a war going on and I know I shouldn't leave you here but this is equally important to me."

"Leo, where are you going to go?"

"An island. I promise I'll try to come back and I know we'll see each other again. So, beat Gaea up for me incase I'm not there to witness it, kay?"

"What's her name? The girl so important to you?"

Leo shakes his head blatantly. "Not now. I've left all my controls and mechanics in charge of the Six. Don't mess them up. Send my love to Pipes and the others and tell them I had to go. Don't mention where." He climbs over the Argo II's rail and into a raft. His hands play with a small device and a crystal enclosed within it.

"I can't let you go, knowing we might not survive our missions!"

"Jason, please. I will come back, I will. I need to find my place in the Prophecy."

Jason sighs. He jumps onto the raft and gives Leo a bromance hug. Without a word, they both break apart and Jason climbs back up. "Farewell, Captain." Jason salutes.

Leo smiles, the tiniest bit. "Farewell, Grace."

He turns back to his raft and begins to speed away into the eerie darkness of the night. Jason watches it become smaller and smaller until it's just a tiny blur. A black speck in blackness. The raft finally disappears, leaving Jason staring from the ship.

"We're gonna miss you Fireboy." he whispers to himself.