I'm sorry for the late update. I forgot to post when I would post this chapter last time, but I did put it on my profile, in case anyone actually checked. As for why this is much later than usual, I wasn't very satisfied with the way I wrote this at first, so I revised it heavily. And this is the end product.

Reviews: THANK YOU ALL!

Jason

Jason's stomach threatened to let his dinner from the night before escape. There was so much blood… too much. It practically blanketed the entire room. Jason glanced down, and bile rose up into his throat. His sneakers were stained bright red. It didn't help that some of his training from Camp Jupiter suddenly resurfaced in his mind; anyone who lost that much blood couldn't possibly be in any sort of good condition.

Jason tried to pull his eyes away from the grisly scene, but something (morbid curiosity?) kept him from doing so. The upright figure staggered around, clutching a wound on his side. The figure on the ground lay unmoving. Jason couldn't tell who was who. There was complete silence, only broken by the ragged wheezes of pain coming from the standing figure. There were no sounds from the still figure.

Jason managed to tear his eyes away. Annabeth was sobbing silently, and Hazel was shaking so badly that Jason wanted to give her the entire stash of ambrosia they had onboard. Frank was pale, clenching his teeth. Piper was taking deep breaths, over and over and over again. Jason wanted to comfort her, but he couldn't. Leo didn't seem to notice the blood, or more likely, was just trying to ignore it (Jason didn't see how anyone could not notice the blood). He was anxiously eyeing the unmoving body lying on the ground.

"Well done!" a sudden voice called. Lyssa. A loud snap, and the smoke started leaking out of the room through some invisible means. Another snap, and Jason, along with everyone else, fell to the floor. Jason instantly rushed to the prone figure, unmindful of the slippery blood. He didn't know what would be worse—finding that it was Nico lying there, or Percy? Nico or Percy? Nico or Percy?

But just as he reached the body—no, the living being—he froze. Damn you Lyssa!

"Now, before you start accusing me of murder and whatnot, he's simply unconscious. I had to knock him out so that the other would not be killed. I need you all alive—for now." Jason gritted his teeth in frustration. Lyssa sounded so nonchalant about it, and she was being purposefully vague about the "he" she referred to. But it was good news that neither was dead. There was so much blood, though…

"But what about the blood?!" Jason burst out. He wanted answers. And when the son of Jupiter wants answers, he gets answers.

"Dramatic effect," Lyssa replied promptly, and the demigods were unfrozen. Jason kneeled next to the figure. It was Nico. His face was sunken in, and there was a streak of blood in his hair. There was blood all over him. Jason fought back his nausea, and examined Nico's body—Nico—for wounds. But there were none. Then why wasn't he awake, if Lyssa had simply "knocked him out"?

"T-there's no wounds on Percy. Except for his side," someone said, next to Percy.

"There's none on Nico at all," Jason replied, his brow furrowing. "This makes no sense…" Then he got it. Who comes to mind when thinking of something that makes absolutely no sense at all?

"Lyssa!" Annabeth and Piper exclaimed at the same time.

"What did you do to them?!" Hazel yelled, crouching next to Nico.

Leo and Piper both cursed (Honestly, Jason had cursed more on this "quest" than during the entire Giant War!), while Frank glanced around suspiciously.

"Would you please stop accusing me?" Lyssa's unmistakable tone sounded annoyed. "I can't have them dying right now from their slight injuries, I told you! I need to use the sea spawn for my—ah, for reasons—and that other one can't die before I kill him. Anyway, di Angelo was about to stab Jackson with his Stygian iron blade, and that would've erased Jackson's soul," she explained cheerfully.

Annabeth looked pale from the thought. "It's not slight when the injuries are life threatening!" she growled. Jason imagined Lyssa rolling her eyes, but Jason was confused over Lyssa's cover-up until he remembered that Lyssa didn't know that he and Percy told the others about their oaths.

"Gee, thanks. I feel so loved," someone added sarcastically. It was Percy! Jason tackled him in a huge hug before stepping back, letting Annabeth do… uh… things.

"A little help here?" a weak voice called. Nico. Hazel helped him up to a standing position, and Leo supported him from the other side.

"Whoa, dude, you're even lighter than me!" Leo joked. The tension in the air dissipated, and everyone laughed, though Jason still felt uneasy. The demigods filed out of the room, leaving the bloody mess behind.

The rest of the day passed by with no more surprise announcements by Lyssa. Jason learned how to play Go Fish, at Percy-who-apparently-was-completely-bored-just-sitting-in-his-sick-bay-bed's insistence, and Mythomagic (at Hazel's insistence, while Nico crossed his similarly-bed-ridden arms grumpily but secretly looked pleased). Mythomagic was surprisingly fun, and Nico was like an entirely different person when explaining that no, Jason's Minotaur couldn't actually beat Nico's Hydra, since Nico had a limited-edition holiday Dionysus card in reserve. Of course, the first thought to come to Jason's mind was, Mr. D has a holiday limited edition card?!

Jason also helped Leo, Hazel, and Frank (well, mostly Leo) with the golden netting that would hopefully capture Lyssa at the next, and final, fight. IT was surprisingly satisfying work, and Jason made a mental resolution to help out the Hephaestus cabin at Camp Half-Blood/ Vulcan kids at Camp Jupiter more often. It was calm and peaceful, at least until newly-released Nico asked to talk to Jason, who was talking with Piper at the time. In private, in the dining room, where the anti-listening device was. What's so private that he needs to take these measures?

"What's up, Nico?" he asked the younger demigod. The son of Hades bit his lip.

"It's going to be you and Percy," he blurted out, then winced. Jason blinked. The most intelligent thing he could come up with to say was,

"Huh?" Great job, Grace! Totally smooth!

"The duel tomorrow. It'll be you and Percy. I sensed some of the Furores' excitement. With Lyssa taking your forms, our plan, and the actual fight, it's going to be chaos. Annabeth gave us all our individual roles, except you and Percy. You just need to fight the Furores off, piss off Lyssa so she'll take your forms early, try not to kill anyone, and… actually, that's it," (Definitely not much at all for puny demigods…) Nico explained. "You need to be able to keep a clear head. I've told Percy already."

"I know that already, so—" Nico cut off the older demigod.

"I'm going to get some Underworld spirits to try to possess you." Jason gaped at Nico. What?

"You need practice," he said simply. Jason thought it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. It was also incredibly smart. So he agreed. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to resist the spirits telling him to knock himself out with a brick. (Ha-ha, Nico. Very funny.)

"Does everyone know their roles for tomorrow's fight?" Annabeth asked as the group began settling at the table for dinner a couple of hours later. Jason immediately noted the positions at which everyone sat at. Old praetor habits were hard to break. Going clockwise form the head of the table, it was Annabeth, Percy, Frank, Hazel, Leo (who joked that he was proud to be sitting at the other head of the table), Piper, Jason himself, and then Nico, who looked awkwardly across the table at Percy.

"So basically, I use charmspeak and stuff while you guys fight," Piper summarized. Jason squeezed her hand under the table. He hoped that that was enough to reassure her.

"No, I'm in charge of contacting camp, remember?" Frank protested. Judging based on everyone's blank stares (well, everyone's blank stares but Annabeth), no one did remember. Annabeth sighed, and taking a deep breath, explained everything in one breath, with Percy and Leo muttering nicknames as she went.

"Seaweed Brain (Percy: "Me!") and Jason ("Sparky!") are going to be hosting Lyssa ("Evilness personified…" "Wow, Percy, that's a long word!"). Piper ("Beauty Queen!") will be fighting the Furores with her charmspeak, maybe even Lyssa. Hazel ("Miss Metal Detector!") is going to use the Mist to our advantage. Frank ("Beast Boy!") will try to get rid of the force field around the ship, and talk to camp or the gods. Leo ("Me!" "Repair Boy!") is in charge of using the netting to capture Lyssa. Nico ("Death Boy!" "No, Death Breath!") will help with capturing Lyssa by using his powers. And I'll be helping out everyone and coordinating the whole thing. ("Wise Girl!")" Leo whistled softly after she was done.

"You forgot something important, though," he pointed out.

"What could possibly be more important that the pl-?" Annabeth started.

"Try not to die." That effectively shut everyone up.

Jason slept without any nightmares for the first time in… well, a long time. Even while he was safely at camp, he'd had bad dreams—Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus, fighting the giants, Nico's confession, fighting Ma Gasket. The list went on. But he had no dreams at all that night.

It was, Jason thought, the calm before the storm. In fact, it was, quite literally.

The story is nearing the climax... and the climax shall be updated sometime during the weekend.