Okay, guys, I finally got the polls up-seriously, I have got to learn how to stop procrastinating. So, go vote in your spare time, please-I need an accurate representation of what you all want.
SirPepsi: Um...thanks. Sorry, this makes me feel awkward-your fancy words make me want to sit up straight and act all sophisticated and stuff, but I'm basically the opposite of that. Still, I liked your compliments very much. They make me happy-in a different way from everyone else's compliments, but in a nice different way.
seaweedbrain's sister: Thanks. Nice to know I'll have one reader if ever I get published. And I'm glad you like the story.
amanatman: Yeah, I know Roseus has kind of disappeared, but he's still there, I promise. He's mentioned in this chapter, and will be more thoroughly discussed at some point in the near future. And I know 'what in Hades' is getting kind of overused, but I'm running out of options that don't involve actual curse words.
RMS Titanic (guest): You know, I'm not really sure if Eris was in Tartarus or not...I assume she was, maybe...but I came up with that on my own-I figured I probably needed to add a god into the story, since there've been new gods in every book in this series. I think. I thought Eris would be best.
Rajell Cellar (guest): I wish it was that simple. I mean, technically it is, but then I'd be upset either way because certain people would be upset...so it's better if there's a vote, because then it means that I can just be like 'This won-if you're not happy with it, get over it. The vote was fair.'
Chickenismylife (guest): Well, they're obviously going to see each other eventually-at Athens, when they meet back up. And, in case you haven't noticed, the chapters have all mostly been extra long lately. You all should be very happy.
Albert25Einstein: As I said at the top, the polls are now open...If you could go vote on them, that'd be great. There are two, just so you know, and they should be visible on my profile page...and you're welcome.
summergirl012: The polls are up, you can vote on it for real if you want to now.
Mythology Girl (guest): Awww, thanks so much! You really have no idea how much that means to me-and yes, I'm hoping to be a professional writer some day. I want to be the next big author-like J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Rick Riordan-you get the gist. That's a personal dream of mine.
Aurora (guest): One word: proud. You are only the second person to guess-and the first person had several heavy hints before they got it. Shhhh-don't tell!
jinnyatthetop: the polls are up and open on my profile page, if you wanna vote (and please do) you can now do so.
TellDaStarsHello (guest): Thanks, very much. Honestly, if it was just a few POVs, I don't think it'd be that confusing. If people mostly say yes to it, I'll probably pick the top three voted on POVs and only write them-that way it shouldn't be too confusing, nor should it waste too much time.
tammywammy9: Follow your intuition. It seems to be on target. (gods, I feel like I'm reciting a fortune-cookie thing...)
GladiolaDaPoodle (guest): Yeah, quite a lot of research has happened on Greek mythology. Kind of fun, finding new stuff out, and then kind of not fun...research feels kinda like studying, and studying is just...ick.
Divine Protector of Skyrim: Yes, I know-I just got it up today. Like, an hour ago, maybe? Anyway, vote please!
BunnyBo: Nah, Eris is a real goddess. But I made up her personality and appearance, so that deserves a few creativity points in my column, right?
Wild-at-Heart14: You know, I almost wish something like that would happen to me. Chewing out a stranger would break the monotone nicely-but I live in the middle of nowhere, where you could probably count on your hands the number of people who know Percy Jackson, and we don't even have an actual bookstore-we have plenty of places where you can buy books, but not one store completely devoted to books. It kinda sucks.
ElijahS34: Exactly, Elijah...twists and turns...
Aliana (guest): Thank you very much. I like that paragraph too-one of my favorite pieces of writing in the story. And, yeah-Aphrodite just loves cryptic warnings, doesn't she? Oh, and I sort of have this problem where I occasionally randomly switch POVs without realizing it. I try to make sure and go back to edit those spots, but I don't always get all of them.
Annabeth1 (guest): What do you have against Jason? I mean, he didn't really have much of a personality before, but in House of Hades, I thought he kind of proved that he actually has emotions...and he was kind of a decent person.
Qwerty (guest): A Sally POV would be cool, huh? I'm not going to do that in this fanfic, though-maybe the next one. 'Cuz I'm doing an after the giant war sequel thingy when I wrap this one up-actually probably more than one.
Carrot Seven: I do pretty good with the foreshadowing, don't I? Although I think sometimes my hints are apparently too subtle, cuz lotsa people don't get them.
Cherriesawesome: Aww, no, cherries! I'm gonna miss you. :'( Oh, and yeah, research definitely went into this. Kind of boring, stuffy, weirdly-worded old book research, which is way too reminiscent of studying, but I soldiered on...for the sake of the story. (is this one of those places where a *swoons dramatically* would be appropriate? Or is it just weird? Aw, screw that, I'm doing it anyway) *swoons dramatically*
drinkingthestarswithbob: Meh. At least you have a love life-in the words of fandom Leo, I'm as single as a pringle. But maybe you should just talk, or tell him-you'll regret not acting on your feelings. Or you could pull a Percabeth and just let yourselves get closer as friends for a while, then have a totally awkward conversation in which you make things impossibly hard for him and then kiss him. It could work out nicely, you never know.
DaughterOfTheTrident: Thank you-I hope the writing world will want me, because that's what I want to do. Become an author, that is.
Maia Jackson (guest): Nice pun. Very...punny. (Oh, ha, look at me, I just crack myself up) I have plans for Percabeth telling their personal living nightmare, don't you worry.
Sophhascoconuts (guest): You're so sweet...I do that same thing for my fave fanfics, so I totally get that...and I apologize for the crushing feeling of disappointment whenever there's no update, but doesn't the elated giddy joy make up for that?
Enjoy!
Chapter LXXXII
Hazel
When she sees Frank flying back, Hazel's heart does that familiar tap-dance in her chest-the one that used to irritate her, because her feelings were betraying her reasons for coming back. Now, though, it's reassuring. It reminds her that she has something to live for-not just defeating Gaea.
"Frank!" She calls to him when he gets closer. He shrieks in reply-the shrill call of the eagle who's form he's taken.
Percy slides off of Frank's back before he has a chance to land-falling almost ten feet before landing easily on the deck of the Argo. Annabeth runs to him and throws her arms around his neck, causing him to stumble back a bit. He hugs her tightly back, resting his cheek against the top of her head.
"I missed you." Hazel hears him murmur into Annabeth's hair.
Hazel turns away, blushing slightly, feeling guilty on having intruded on their private moment.
Frank and Jason have both landed on the deck by now too, and Frank's already turned back-Hazel doesn't know how she missed it.
She races forward to him, and he does the same before catching her up in a bear hug. Hazel loses herself momentarily in the wonderful feeling of safety she gets whenever she's in his arms-and then finally pulls back to kiss him chastely on the lips.
"I'm glad your back." She tells him, a little shyly, and he smiles at her.
"Me too." He replies, and then his expression changes to one of concern when he notices the bandages on her shoulder. "What happened? What's wrong with your shoulder?"
Hazel opens her mouth to answer, trying to come up with a way to reassure him that she's fine, but is-luckily-interrupted by Percy's exclamation of pain. She and Frank both turn to see what happened, and find Percy rubbing his shoulder, smirking at Annabeth, who has a murderous expression on her face.
"You're late." She accuses, glaring at him.
"It's not really fair to be punching him for it, though, when you told us you didn't expect him back until midnight, at the latest, in the first place." Piper points out. "It's only a little after eleven now, so, technically, he's early."
"Beauty Queen has a very good point." Leo says, ignoring Piper's protest at the use of her nickname. "Besides, you're the one who said he was going to kill you-trying to stall the inevitable?"
"What's he talking about?" Percy asks. His gaze drops, almost as if magnetically drawn, to her injured leg, still wrapped in bandages like Hazel's shoulder. "What's wrong with your leg? What happened?"
"I'm fine, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth tells him, rolling her eyes dismissively. "Nothing I can't handle. And it should be almost completely healed by morning."
"Annabeth." Percy says, his tone warning. "What happened?"
"Monsters attacked." She answers vaguely. "As if that's unusual."
"No, but what is unusual is the fact that your leg is still wrapped in bandages, presumably several hours after said attack." Percy replies.
"I think Annabeth is starting to rub off on him." Hazel whispers to Frank.
"Seems like it, doesn't it?" He whispers back. "Since when does Percy use words like 'presumably'?"
"You hang around with me too much." Annabeth grumbles. "Your arguments almost sound smart."
Leo laughs out loud at her insult, but Percy ignores it and glares down at his girlfriend. "Annabeth. Tell me. Now."
"Fine." She sighs loudly. "A little while after you left, a herd of Peryton attacked-carnivorous flying deer. They sound really stupid and kind of laughable, but those teeth are so not funny. And they don't stop attacking until either all of their victims are dead or they've all killed and eaten one person, according to legend-and that seems to be true, based off of our experience." She gestures to Hazel, Piper, and Leo. "Hazel was the first one to get bitten-one of the Peryton slipped past her guard and bit her shoulder. Then my leg got bitten, and Piper's arm and forehead got cut-Leo was busy trying to find different ways to blow them up without killing us to really engage in combat very much. It was thanks to him that we finally managed to kill all of them."
"You left out the part where one of the Peryton decided that tackle football was more fun than dive-bombing." Leo reminds Annabeth, grinning a little.
She glares at him. "My ribs are fine now. The ambrosia and nectar worked quickly on them."
"What, you broke your ribs too?" Percy asks. "How much trouble can you get in while I'm gone? It was only a few hours!"
"Oh, whatever, Seaweed Brain-I bet you got yourself into a way bigger mess than I did." Annabeth counters.
"That's not-that doesn't mean-that isn't relevant to this conversation!" Percy stutters.
"This conversation changed topics about a minute ago-keep up, Seaweed Brain. We're done talking about what happened here-now it's your turn." Annabeth tells him stubbornly.
Percy and her do the silent-staring-contest thing for a few minutes-he loses, judging from the faintly triumphant smile on Annabeth's face. He sighs, then takes a deep breath. "We fought flying snakes and mutant screech owls, Frank had to go into a beehive tomb alone to meet his ancestor, then Echidna showed up with the stupid Chimera and we had to fight them and the snake bit my arm but I'm fine now and we killed the Chimera so Echidna ran away and then I heard a familiar voice so we went into the woods and found Thalia and the Hunters and agreed to rendezvous in Athens when we get there because they have some part to play in our success against Gaea." He says in one breath and then gasps for air.
"Wait-what? You saw Thalia?" Annabeth asks.
Percy groans, still breathing a little hard. "Can it wait until tomorrow?" He whines. "I'm tired."
Annabeth sighs in frustration. "Fine." She tells him. "But in the morning, I expect you to tell me everything. Got it?"
Percy grins. "Why would I do anything less?"
"Knowing you, you'll try to leave out all the dangerous parts and make it sound as if you went for a stroll in the park." Annabeth tells him.
"When have I ever done that?" Percy asks, innocently widening his eyes.
Annabeth crosses her arms. "When you bathed in the River Styx? And you didn't want to tell me about it, and then when I called you out on it, you told me it 'wasn't important.' And then, when I asked you right out, you told me 'Maybe a little.' Who even does that?"
Percy smiles down at her as she rants and then leans down and kisses her-she breaks off midsentence.
Hazel turns away, fanning her face-the couple's constant displays of affection still unnerve her. It's so...inappropriate.
Annabeth breaks away first, and Hazel can hear her heavy breathing. "No fair." The daughter of Athena complains. "No kissing me when I'm arguing with you. It gives you an unfair advantage."
"Like you being a daughter of Athena, and, as such, winning almost every argument ever?" Percy replies. "I think kissing just evens the odds."
"Exactly." Annabeth replies. "If you have the same chance of winning as I do, it's not fair anymore."
Percy laughs and kisses her again. "Too bad, then, Wise Girl."
Hazel smiles at their antics and nestles closer into Frank's side, loving the feeling of his strong arm wrapped around her shoulders. She's always been someone who takes care of herself-she still is-but nothing beats how safe and secure she feels next to Frank.
Hazel realizes she hasn't heard Jason speak and turns to look for him-she smiles when she sees him. Well, him and Piper, more precisely. They're standing off to one side, whispering quietly to one another, smiling at each other and holding hands.
At first, she'd been unsure of both of them-they seemed too perfect, too good to be true. Especially Jason-he did what needed to be done without complaint, and he did it well. It was a little scary, how perfect they were, especially together-but when Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, and Jason had to step up...well, he showed more of his true self-he's not perfect, although he tries to be, for everyone else's sake. And Piper...she's not perfect either. She has flaws, and fears, but she's loyal to her friends no matter what.
Percy stretches his arms over his head and winces-his back must be hurting; he's been exerting himself when he should be resting.
Hazel feels a rush of worry for her friend-he's always trying so hard to play things down, to act like nothing's wrong, that it's almost impossible to tell what he's really feeling. She knows he has to be having a hard time with memories, and the pain from his back can't be helping...
She pushes her worry away, though. Percy would just deny any problems and say he's fine if she confronted him about it, and he does have Annabeth, after all. Annabeth is the only one who understands what he's going through-there's no way Hazel will ever be able to do that, and it's probably better if she just lets them both be.
"Hey, Leo," Percy calls. "Want to get us out of here?"
Leo smiles back at Percy-although it looks kind of forced to Hazel. Is he mad at Percy for some reason? "Sure thing." He replies.
"We'll have to set back down in the water soon, though-we have to meet back up with Roseus. I told him to wait for us a little ways ahead-d'you want the coordinates?" Percy asks.
Leo nods and quickly inputs the numbers as Percy rattles them off.
"That should be good, then." Percy says, and Hazel can't help but notice the exhaustion in his voice. He tries to hide it, but she can see it in his eyes and hear it when he speaks. He looks up at the stars, and she sees a flash of pain in his eyes-the pain that comes whenever he remembers his time in Tartarus. But then he looks back down, and it's gone. "I think I'm going to head on to bed, if that's okay with you guys?"
"You all deserve a rest." Hazel says. "Go ahead, Percy."
He nods gratefully to her and heads down the stairs with Annabeth right behind him.
Hazel follows the couple with her eyes and hopes that Annabeth doesn't have another nightmare-they both deserve a good night's sleep for once.
"Come on, guys, we should all get some rest too-even you, Leo. Festus has things under control." Hazel orders.
Leo opens his mouth to protest, but stops short at her warning look and nods instead.
After that, they all head down to bed-Hazel waits to make sure Leo actually listens to her, and Frank waits with her, so they're the last ones down the stairs.
Frank's room is first, but he walks with her down to her room to say goodnight.
Hazel turns to hug him, and looks up at his face, looking deep into his eyes. As she watches, she sees something there-a flicker of pain, a kind of broken look that makes her think his trip to Pylos wasn't as easy as he'd have them all think.
"Frank, what happened at Pylos?" She asks him quietly, and feels him stiffen. He looks away from her, and doesn't answer right away.
"A lot." He finally replies, just as quietly.
"Frank." She says softly. He looks back at her, and the pain in his eyes is stronger than before.
Her heart hurts to see him this way-it's almost like when Percy and Annabeth came back from Tartarus. He shouldn't look this way.
She takes his hand and leads him into her room-the nuns at St. Aggie's would have a heart attack, but at this point, she doesn't care. She isn't a little girl anymore, and she might not live past the next five days-she deserves to live a little.
"Hazel-" He starts to protest, but she turns around and twines her fingers with his.
"Frank." She starts. "It's okay."
She might not have Piper's charmspeak, but if it's not her imagination, the pain in Frank's eyes fades a little, and he manages a small, wavering smile back at her.
They sit down on her bed, leaning against the headboard, and she snuggles against his side, holding both of his hands. She turns her head to look up at him.
"What happened, Frank?" She asks him softly. "You can tell me."
He looks back into her eyes, and the pain momentarily magnifies, but then he smiles at her and it fades again. "I know I can." He tells her. He sighs, and then he starts to talk, slowly and quietly.
Hazel listens, and tears well in her eyes when he starts talking about the tunnels. His voice gets thick when he describes what he saw-her death, and his mother's, and that of everyone he cares about.
That's not fair. She thinks, trying not to let her tears fall. He didn't deserve that.
When he finishes his story, they're both silent for a few moments. Then Hazel squeezes his hands tighter.
"You didn't deserve that." She tells him, and a single tear escapes from her eye and traces its way down her cheek.
Frank smiles at her and reaches up, wiping the tear away with his thumb. "It's okay. I'm okay. I just don't know...how well I'm going to-to sleep tonight."
Hazel's heart beats faster, and her stomach fills with butterflies, but she says the words anyway. "You can stay here. With me."
Frank glances at her quickly, as if checking to make sure she's serious. "Hazel. Are you sure?" He asks softly, his voice grateful.
She nods. "Yeah. You can stay here, and I'll be right here to make sure you're okay. Okay?"
He smiles, his eyes ridiculously happy. "Okay."
Okay...I think I might have made myself cry a little. Still not over TFIOS...that book is a friggin' ocean of tears. Excuse me while I grab a tissue...
So, on a different note-I now have an official Tumblr account! My username on there is the same as fanfiction, so it's foreverskysong. Duh. You can ask questions or whatever, it doesn't even have to be related to PJO or this story or anything, and I'll do my best to answer them. I'll also reblog things like Viria's artwork or other stuff, and occasionally post my own stuff too. So...there ya go.
I love you, laugh at Brason, listen to Adam Lambert (I find his music is a great inspiration for Reyna), and LOVE PJO!