I keep seeing headcanons in which either Percy or Annabeth died. Or the ones where hazel was taken back to the underworld, so frank burnt his little wooden stick, and Jason died trying to defeat Gaea, so Piper committed suicide, so that only three of the seven returned.

Or, yet another, where it says that, after the war, the seven created one last plan and then went through with it. 'Suicide.'

What is WRONG with people?! Why would they write such things?! Why?

And if either Percy or Annabeth died, not both, then that just makes me cry even more than if they both died, because they don't deserve to ever be apart.

I try to ignore such headcanons, but the likelihood that Rick will end up killing at least one of our favorite characters is like 99.9%.

Oh, great. Now I made myself cry.

Anyway, here's Chapter Thirty-four. It sucks, I know, but what can you do?

Chapter XXXIV

Jason

Jason feels terrible.

Not physically. Physically he's fine, except for the occasional twinge of pain in his recently dislocated shoulder. But as he looks down at Piper, laying on a cot in the infirmary, with a huge purple bruise on her forehead, he feels horribly guilty.

He'd dropped her. If it wasn't for Percy, she would have fallen over the edge of the ship. And before that, when she fell through the bay doors, Jason couldn't do anything about it.

He feels so helpless. So utterly useless. So far, he's done practically nothing for this quest. The only thing he was good for was when he resigned as praetor and gave the position to Frank so that he could lead the legion.

Maybe before that, he'd done okay. After all, he had helped free Hera, even if all he did was distract Porphyrion. But now?

Now he was nothing. He couldn't even save his girlfriend. Honestly, she was probably better off without him.

He sighs and scrubs his face with his hands, wondering what's going on upstairs. He wants to be up there, helping, but he can't leave Piper.

He's probably better off staying out of the fight anyway. Otherwise he might get someone else killed.

Or get hit in the head again.

He looks back at Piper, at the bruise on her forehead. She'll probably have quite a few other bruises too, from when she got tossed around the deck.

"Mea culpa." He murmurs to himself. My fault.

He wishes he could switch places with her. He'd much rather have gotten yet another head injury than see Piper get one. She doesn't deserve that. She doesn't deserve any of this. She deserves so much better.

And yet even if they had switched places, Piper still might have gotten hurt. And it probably would have still been his fault.

His heart feels like it's breaking. He can't keep being the reason that his friends get hurt. He has to do better. And until he does, they need to stay away from him. Piper in particular. Because her pain is like his own, except so many times worse. Seeing her hurt is hundreds of times worse than getting hurt himself.

He's broken out of his thoughts when Leo walks into the room, followed closely by Hazel.

"I'm fine, Hazel, I don't need anything!" Leo protests.

"Your skin is as cold as ice! I don't care what you say, I'm going to get you some ambrosia, and you better eat it, Leo Valdez, or I swear I will shove it down your throat." Hazel threatens. Jason leans back and smiles, bemused. He hasn't seen too much of this side of Hazel. Usually she's calm, sweet, and quiet. Now she's like an overprotective mama bear.

Leo tries to stare Hazel down and loses by a landslide. He looks down at his feet. "Fine, Hazel. Whatever you say." He mumbles into his collar.

"Good." Hazel says, breathing out loudly. "Now come over hear and let me look at that cut."

Leo follows her meekly over to one of the cots, while she grabs some ambrosia from the cabinet and hands it to him, hands on her hips. Leo rolls his eyes and mutters something under his breath, but he eats it.

"What happened?" Jason finally asks, his curiousity getting the better of him.

Hazel glances over at him. "Thalassa grazed him with her dagger. Apparently, the weapons of a Primordial are not something you want touching you, because now his skin is ice cold and he can't summon his fire."

"Wait. What?" Jason is even more confused. "Who's Thalassa?"

"Primordial goddess of the sea." Percy's voice answers. Jason turns just in time to see Percy walk through the doorway, with Annabeth right behind him.

"Didn't you kill her husband?" Jason asks.

"Yeah." Percy answers.

"And now he's killed her too." Leo adds. "So we don't have to worry about any more sea gods or goddesses being unbelievably rude to us. Right?"

"Hopefully." Percy says. "But you never know."

Annabeth tugs on his arm. "Percy, come on. I have to check your stitches."

Percy sighs, but follows her over to another open cot. As he walks by, Jason notices there's a stripe of blood seeping through the back of his shirt.

"You're overreacting, Annabeth." Percy mutters. "I'm pretty sure I would have felt it if one of my stitches had ripped."

"I don't care." Annabeth tells him. "I'm checking them anyway." She glares at him with her arms crossed until he sits down. "Take off your shirt." She orders. Percy looks mildy embarassed, but he turns his back to the others and does as she says.

Jason is shocked when he sees the enormous cut across his back, with black stitches criss-crossing over it. He manages not to gasp out loud, although Hazel does.

Just then, Frank walks in. He stops dead when he sees Percy's back. The look on his face is priceless.

"Whoa, Percy. How'd you keep quiet about that?" He asks. It's exactly what Jason was wondering.

Percy glances over at them, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I have a high pain tolerance."

Annabeth smacks the back of his head.

"Ow!" He says. "What was that for?"

"It isn't funny." She tells him, her eyes stormy.

"I wasn't laughing." Percy answers, confused.

"I'm not stupid, Percy. I know you were smiling." She responds. Percy rolls his eyes, grinning. Annabeth hits him in the back of the head again.

"Ow!" He exclaims. Everyone else laughs, Jason included. Annabeth and Percy just smile, or, in Percy's case, grin.

When everyone finally stops, Annabeth points at a place on Percy's cut.

"See, you did rip some of your stitches." She says. She points to three other places. "You ripped one here, here, here, and here. And now I'm going to have to redo them."

"Go ahead." Percy tells her. "I'll be fine."

Annabeth blows out a breath. "I know. But I don't exactly like giving you stitches, you know."

Percy smiles. "I know, Wise Girl."

"You don't know anything, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth teases. Then she sighs in surrender, looking at his back. "I'll go get what I need. Stay here."

"It's not like you're leaving the room, Annabeth. Everything you need is in the cabinet." Percy points out.

"I know. But I also know that the second I turn my back, you're going to get up." She says. Percy pretends to be offended.

"You have absolutely no faith in me, Wise Girl." He shakes his head in mock exasperation. Annabeth rolls her eyes and walks over to the cabinet. When she opens it, the door blocks her view of Percy, so she leans around the edge of the door every few seconds to make sure Percy hasn't moved.

After rummaging in the cabinet for several minutes, Annabeth sighs. She shuts the door and dumps her stuff on Percy's cot.

"I'm going to have to get more towels from the supply closet. There aren't any left in the cabinet." She glares at Percy. "Stay."

"I'm not a dog, you know." He says mildly, leaning back on his elbows.

"You might as well be." She mutters. She walks out of the room, pausing at the doorway to send a warning look at Percy. Then she heads into the hall.

Percy's expression turns serious. "How's Piper doing?" He asks Jason.

Jason glances back down at Piper's unconscious form. "She hasn't woken up yet, obviously, and she's got a nasty bruise on her forehead. But she's breathing okay, and she's not bleeding anywhere. She'll probably wake up soon."

Percy gets up. Frank snorts in amusement.

"That didn't take long." He teases, his arms folded over his chest.

"It's not like I'm leaving the room." Percy points out, heading to the cabinet. He grabs something from it and tosses it at Jason. Jason catches it reflexively. "Here. Try to get her to drink some."

Jason looks at the bottle in his hand. Nectar. "Thanks, man." He scoots closer to Piper and lifts up her head, putting the bottle to her lips. She swallows immediately, and the bruise on her temple starts to fade, color rushing back into her skin.

"No problem." Percy tells him. He walks over to Leo next and looks at his cut. "That'll be fine in a few minutes. Although you might feel cold for a while."

"How do you know?" Leo asks. The question sounds kind of rude, but Jason knows Leo's just curious. Which is surprising. Usually Leo tries to be rude.

"I've gotten cut by the blade of a Primordial, remember? I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to forget, considering the fact that I'm not wearing a shirt and I have stitches." Percy answers, his tone teasing. Leo grins. He's about to reply, probably some completely smart-alec comment, but is interrupted by Annabeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouts, her voice angry. Percy pales slightly. Jason winces in sympathy, but smiles at Annabeth's overprotectiveness. "I told you to stay! What part of that do you not understand?"

"I didn't leave the room." Percy points out. Annabeth seizes his wrist and drags him back over to the cot.

"I don't care if you didn't leave the room; I told you not to move!" She scolds him.

Frank coughs. Jason's pretty sure it's to hide a snicker. Percy grins at him sheepishly from over Annabeth's shoulder.

Annabeth sighs. "What am I going to do with you, Seaweed Brain?" She murmurs, the anger draining out of her.

"You know you love me, Wise Girl." Percy tells her. She glares at him.

"Just shut up and let me redo your stitches." She orders, picking up the stuff she'd thrown on the cot.

Percy shrugs. "Fine with me. Do I get a kiss afterwards?"

Annabeth hits him in the back of the head again.

So this chapter is pretty much completely dialogue. Just the Seven talking to each other.

It's really rambly, and there isn't really a point to it, but it made me smile, so hopefully it'll do the same for you.

If not, well...you'll just have to wait for a better chapter.