I missed out last week cause of internet issues and perfection paralysis. As a gift I brought OOC Naruto to make it up to you guys. I'm aware that I'm so nice.

Yeah, I gave him a flaw. A moment when he isn't completely in the right. Criminal, I know.

Sorry if I'm being very satirical (I kind of find it annoying when the author rants about reviews for like five paragraphs before the chapter. Like, get on with it. Reviews are plain good for your story)

I'm just acknowledging that yeah, Naruto would probably never do something, but I think I've set it up, discreetly but I think it's there, so give me some slack. (It's four paragraphs, not five!)

Jason is woken up by being thoroughly shaken.

His eyes snap open and he startles into an upright position, which makes his forehead splat on his assailant's nose. The person shouts and they stagger back. By the voice, it's Naruto.

There is a snort to his side. "Told you," The person says. Her voice is honey, sweet and smooth.

Jason turns to look at who it is because there's no way that's Clarisse. And it's not. It's the Piper girl that Hedge was talking about. The one Jason had spent a couple of minutes staring at.

Jason figures they got her after the fight and he'd been passed out for it. It takes a long time for him to figure this out; his brain feels like it's melting.

Jason swivels his head around a bit. They're in a park and Jason is splayed out on one of the benches. Piper, Clarisse and Naruto are surrounding him. Jason is glad he isn't claustrophobic because he'd be suffocating with the little space they give.

Jason turns back to Piper, questions on his lips, but the edges of his vision start creeping in. He's shook again, and they back off.

"No sleeping, Jason," Naruto tells him. "We need something from you before you do."

Clarisse levels a glare at him. "You need it," she corrects.

Naruto sighs like they've had the conversation hundreds of times. "Fine. I need you to give me the location of the camp."

Jason is not fine enough for this. His body is protesting in ways Jason has never experienced. Therefore, he can barely think. "What camp?" He asks after a while.

Naruto pinches his nose. "Jupiter obviousl— Jason. Jason!" He's shook again. Jason wakes up and after a few attempts.

He gives the location Naruto is asking for.

Naruto very abruptly gets up and starts walking away, barely remembering to tell Jason thanks. Piper frowns. "He seems like a ripe asshole."

Clarisse pulls Jason up then puts him on her back. "No, he's desperate."

Jason doesn't understand what any of that means. Naruto is a great guy, and he doesn't know what about the interaction gave the idea to Piper that he isn't.

He doesn't figure out that before the darkness approaches again and encapsulates all of his vision.

Naruto doesn't stop sprinting through the highway, nor when he comes upon a tunnel that looks more and more like a cave. He only stops once he meets the end of that tunnel and comes upon a simple doorway.

To the side of the door there are blazing torches. They illuminate a banner reading 'Camp Jupiter' and reveal guards leveling their weapons at him, decked out in Roman armor. They are two.

"Halt!" The one of the left shouts. "Who are you?" She demands.

"Are you a demigod?" The other one asks.

Naruto raises his hands to his head, forcing himself to stay put and not just charge in. "Naruto Uzumaki," he introduces. The two look at each other then back at him, not looking convinced for a second. "—and, uh, no. I'm mortal."

Apparently that's the wrong answer because the right one asks him, squinting through his helmet. "Mortal?"

"It's not a disease."

The left one puts down her spear, like Naruto couldn't be behind her with a kunai in between her shoulder blades in a second. She asks him, "How did you find us then? Why are you here?"

"Unimportant. What is important is that I have a question for your leader," Naruto says. He idly plays with the hem of his jacket.

The two look hesitant. "If we are to allow a mortal to pass, we have to have a good reason to. What 'important' question is this?" The girl asks.

Naruto sees no reason to hide his information. "I'm looking for a friend. I believe he is here." He looks at the Camp through a fold in the flaps. It's different from Camp Half-Blood. A lot more purple.

The girl laughs. "You said it was important. The praetors could hardly be bothered."

"It is," Naruto says, "Because it involves… a missing… person of your own. Jason Grace. Son of Jupiter."

The girl's amusement falls off. "How do you—?"

"Cause I've met him," Naruto says, smirking. He's got them.

Thank gods, he'd pulled out the Jason thing out of his ass.

Before she can say anything, the right guy speaks for the first time in a while. "Who are you looking for? Maybe we know them."

The girl is about to hiss, but she stops, then considers. "Not bad, Frank. I'll inform your cohort of your judgment."

Frank, apparently, smiles.

Percy is a unique looking individual, so it's not hard for Naruto to find a few descriptors. "Black hair. Pale, but with a slight hint of olive. A slightly crooked nose from being punched a lot. Green eyes, kinda look the sea—"

Another look between the two. This one Naruto can't decipher. Maybe, hesitation.

"Name?"

"Percy. Percy Jackson." He's said that name so much, it has gone stale in his mouth.

To his surprise and elation, both their faces light up in recognition. The girl looks annoyed. "I knew that boy would cause us troubles."

"You know him? So he's here?"

The girl sighs. "No, he's not."

Shit. He's lost them

"I don't believe you," he says.

Frank pipes in. "Genuinely. He left for a quest."

"Zhang," The girl bites.

"Sorry."

Naruto squints. He's going nowhere with this.

The stalemate is broken when two people start approaching, talking without the assumption someone from another camp is listening.

"—I should be on that one at least. With me there, they would have been back by now," One says.

"You? On a quest that holds the entire camp's future on the line?" The other asks, with a high-pitched voice.

The first gets offended. "Not like you could do better, Octavian. The Alaska winds alone could kill you. The monsters wouldn't even have to do a thing."

"You think you could survive on the Hubbard Glacier?" A guffaw. "Hilarious."

They reach them and push open the Camp Jupiter flaps.

"Get out losers. It's our watch, now."

Naruto takes a single glance and deduces that the guy who said that is a Hermes kid. Or whatever the Romans call him. He's a bit bulkier than say— Travis, but has got the pointy, elf-y ears that everyone in the Hermes cabin has.

The other kid, Octavian, is quite the opposite of bulky. He's got scrawny and thin limbs. His body has so little fat and muscle that if you squint, you can see the outline of his skeleton.

He's got blonde hair that makes Naruto feel self-conscious, if just because he doesn't whatever the fuck that is. And he's got this sneer that makes Naruto nearly punch him reflexively.

Naruto smiles at the Hermes kid. "Thanks, man."

He gets a confused look. "Who in Pluto are you?"

"Nobody," he responds. Naruto turns to the girl. "I'll be leaving now with my information on your missing camper. Um, you said Alaska, right?"

The girl tries to stop him. "It's honestly not what you think it is. He's not in Alaska."

"Then where is he?"

She pauses.

That seals the deal. How is Naruto going to believe her after that?

Naruto twists on his heels, and sprints back in the direction he came from. Their words of warning, and their shouts of surprise at his speed fall on deaf ears.

When Jason wakes up properly, he's in the camp infirmary. Clarisse is at his side again. Piper and Naruto are nowhere to be seen. In fact, there is no one else in the room.

Clarisse turns to him, then without surprise, tells him, "You're awake."

And the first reply that comes to him is, Indeed, the floor is made out of floor.

He keeps quiet though, because that would probably be more dangerous than fighting a titan again. He instead turns around, but freezes when a pang of pain shoots through his entire body.

His muscles and nerves burn and Jason struggles to shift around. Clarisse is turned away from him, in fresh Camp Half-Blood clothing, with all the muck and blood washed off her.

"What happened?" Jason croaks and Clarisse passes him a glass. The liquid on the inside is a bright mustard yellow, like melted butter. Jason looks at Clarisse doubtfully, but sucks it up and drinks it.

It doesn't taste anything like it looks. It tastes acidic but sweet, like apple juice. Jason has always loved apple juice. It warms his chest and sparks up in his throat just the way he prefers. Blood rushes to his cheeks, to his chest, the tips of his toes.

Ah. Jason has had this before. It's nectar. It heals demigods.

"Whatever thing you did to convince your dad to strike you with his master bolt. It allowed you to win, but it was way too much for your body. You haven't moved for the entire day."

"How do you know it was my father's master bolt?" Jason asks. "It was overwhelming but…"

"It was just as overwhelming to see," Clarisse says, then she looks down. "But that's not why I know it. My father told me."

Jason's eyes widen in surprise. "Mars? He visited you?" For a second Jason thinks, Must be nice.

"Ares visited me," Clarisse corrects. "It was in a dream. He said… a lot of things. He wasn't happy about me helping someone that had wounded him."

Nevermind. Now Jason feels like a dick.

"It wasn't your choice," Jason says, "Not really."

Clarisse says nothing. She sighs. It's too old for her.

There is an awkward air as Jason struggles to find words. He can't find any to console Clarisse, so he does the next best thing. He changes the subject. "A day?" He asks. "How are we here? At Camp?"

Clarisse takes a long moment of pause before she says anything. For some reason, Jason finds this act foreboding. "Naruto took the car and we flew," she says.

"Where'd he take it?" Jason asks, kind of flippantly.

Clarisse looks at him with the corner of her eye. "You don't remember?"

Jason tilts his head with confusion. "Remember what?"

Clarisse purses her lips, looking like she's wondering how to tell him something hard. "Well after the fight, we woke you up and we got you tell us where your cam—"

Jason does remember that. "He took the car to my camp?" He asks, eyebrows raised into his hair.

Clarisse doesn't need to say anything. It lines up too perfectly to need something like confirmation. Doesn't make it less maddening. "He left me?" Clarisse sucks in a breath. Then it really hits Jason. "We're at Camp. Nearly three thousand miles away. If I want to get home, I'll have to travel back, possibly being targeted by titans."

Clarisse tries. She really does. "Well no titan with a brain is getting into a plane."

"Monsters don't have such inhibitions. Jupiter only struck me with that bolt because he wanted me to defeat those titans. Against monsters, I doubt he'd help. It's the same concern as when we were going there." Jason shakes his head. "Why not just take me there? Even while I was unconscious?"

"Unanimous decision. It was too much of a risk for you and Naruto to be together while you were unconscious or useless if awake."

Jason would usually let things slide. The rationale makes sense. In fact, Jason would have probably ruled to do the same thing if the roles were reversed.

But today, ever since he came to this stupid camp really, Jason is feeling a bit different. "That's not a reason that would stop him. There's another reason he's doing this."

"Oh? What do you think the reason is then?"

"Anything but it being sensible," Jason says, "What do I know, though. I've only known him for, like, two weeks."

Clarisse sighs. "Sensible is unlike him," she agrees, "But if we're going to be shitty gossipers about him, I guess we should talk about you."

"Me?" Jason says, flame blown out by the sudden change in the conversation's direction.

Clarisse turns to him fully. He spies scars. Burn scars. "Yeah. I mean you did try to leave me behind."

Fuck.

"He told you?" Jason asks, as he shrinks on himself. "I was kind of hoping he wouldn't."

Clarisse snorts. "You actually thought for a second that he'd keep it from me?"

"I said I was hoping, not expecting," Jason says. "Are you mad?"

Clarisse looks at him like he's stupid. He is. "Guess."

Jason looks down. Maybe he shouldn't talk so much shit about Naruto when he's not much better. Maybe even worse. He gets another look at her scars and he winces. "I'm sorry."

Clarisse raises her brow. "Say the same situation happened now. Would you suggest the same plan?"

Jason is stunned. Reflexively, he wants to say that it was logical. And it was. But something holds him back. Picking up the habits of the Greeks, he remembers and discomfort rushes through him.

"I don't know," is all he can answer.

"Then don't apologize."

Clarisse sticks around. Jason gets some time to wonder if she's so mad, why she waited for him to wake. Then wonder why she's here.

The door at the end of the infirmary swings open and someone walks in.

Jason looks over Clarisse's shoulder to see who it is. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize the girl.

She has strawberry blonde hair, a shade brighter than his but not the golden shade the Apollo kids have. Her eyes are a shade of gray that reminds Jason of silver. Even as he is slumped on a hospital bed, the girl looks at him like he's a threat.

"Clarisse," She addresses. She pauses a bit at Clarisse's wounds but doesn't say anything, either unsurprised or uncaring.

"Annabeth," Clarisse says, emphatically.

Annabeth looks at him, running him over, probably wondering who he is. After a second, she turns back to Clarisse. "Have you seen Naruto? I can't find him."

Jason remembers the conversation between him, Chiron and Naruto and puts the name to the face. This is the Annabeth.

It's been over a week since they left. Summer is back in session.

Suddenly he's glad Naruto isn't around right now because this would be a total shit fest.

Clarisse is apparently thinking the same thing. "We should go for a walk. You'll need some air for this."

"Okay?" Annabeth says.

Jason tries to get up. His leg wobbles.

"S' fine, Jason. I'll tell her alone."

Jason isn't sure why he wants to go, honestly. He sips on the nectar till the burn is a bit too hot in his chest, then puts the glass and gets onto his feet. They don't wobble this time.

"See?" He says, "Good as new."

"I really don't need backup."

"I want to come, Clarisse."

With that, Jason pulls his slightly less sore body forward and opens the door for them. Annabeth walks through and Clarisse follows after a few seconds later. Jason closes the door behind him.

Then, Clarisse says. "Prissy got kidnapped,"

"Tact, Clarisse," Jason reprimands. Clarisse rolls her eyes at him.

Jason turns to Annabeth, waiting for the shock and is surprised when her face remains an eerie calm. Usually when someone is revealed a piece of information that is quite big, they unconsciously let out a 'what?!' or something of the sorts. Something that isn't:

"Yeah," Annabeth replies.

Jason is left stunned, nearly tripping and falling because of that. Apparently, Annabeth did not need air to process the events.

"Nothing to say?" Clarisse asks, peeved at her efforts being useless.

"No, I knew that already."

The girl grunts. "Don't come with your holier-than-thou attitude, Annabeth."

"Jealous that I have a brain, Clarisse?" Annabeth retorts.

Suddenly there is animosity in the air. Jason is thrown for a loop, cause that was so quick.

Annabeth rubs her sinuses. "I was at Percy's house the day you guys stopped by. I'd only just arrived after you left, so instead of trying and failing to tail you, I went to talk to Percy's mom. She told me everything."

"Why'd you come to camp now then? Why'd you wait?" Jason asks, curious.

"Poseidon had a quest for me to do." Annabeth looks mad for a second. "Held me up."

Jason shares a surprised look with Clarisse. "Poseidon sent you on a quest? Aren't he and Miner– sorry, Athena— like mortal enemies?"

Annabeth nods. "Yeah, they are. I imagine he sent me on the quest, hoping for my death, or perhaps just to mess with me. You know how the gods are."

Yeah. Jason does know. Very well.

"Mess with you? What was it?" Clarisse asks.

Annabeth's face darkens. "I'll show you."

She pulls them to Cabin three. An overwhelming scent of the sea washes over his face and settles in his lungs. Jason feels like he inhaled salt then swallowed down clumped up beach sand.

He resists the temptation to curl up his nose, because Poseidon would probably take that as a slight, and Jason drinks water daily to survive. He doesn't want that turning into balsamic vinegar.

Annabeth opens the door, and Jason thinks she's going to turn into a sea cow till she doesn't. Instead, her not sea cow fingers point to a young cyclops stuffing his face with grapes and strawberries.

Jason isn't sure if he's more shocked about the cyclops in a Camp Half-Blood cabin, or the fact that cyclopes are omnivores so could logically live without consuming meat. Like human, demigod meat.

One may say, 'Priorities, Jason,' but honestly, he's the only one who's asking the real questions.

He zones back in, and in that split second of thought, Clarisse somehow has gotten her spear already in her hand. Her skin is glistening with the same red aura from the fight with the titans.

"He's harmless… for now. Say hi, Tyson," Annabeth tells the cyclops.

Tyson waves his big arms, smiles all innocent, then goes back to devouring the berries.

Jason will admit it does look harmless. But he's not going to trust it just because of that.

Jason has had many cyclopes encounters, but the one that sticks to his head is the one that had almost eaten him on the quest he just came back from.

Sue him if he's not feeling trustworthy.

Annabeth steps back outside the cabin, and Clarisse is on her the moment she does. "You brought a cyclops to camp!?"

"You got a problem with that? Take it up with Poseidon," Annabeth retorts, "He claimed it as his son."

The door slams in their faces. Harsh storm winds blow Jason's hair back.

Jason takes that as a sign and steps away from the cabin, telling Poseidon that he'd much rather prefer apple cider to balsamic.

They turn around. Annabeth tells them she wants to go to the Big House, so they start going in that direction.

"Where's Naruto?" Annabeth asks them again.

"Camp Jupiter," Clarisse says shortly.

Annabeth, for the first time in the conversation, looks confused.

"That's my camp. I'm, uh, Roman and we have our own camp in the west," Jason explains, then gives Clarisse a look. "The gods there go by their Roman interpretation. My dad isn't Zeus, but Jupiter."

Annabeth, for the first time in the conversation, looks surprised.

"Jupiter, you say? So you're also…" Then she switches gears. "Another camp?" She asks, then she has an 'aha' moment. "That's why Percy was…" She trails off, head in the clouds.

"Percy was what?" Clarisse questions. "Have you met Jackson?"

Annabeth cringes. "Not… exactly. I'll explain when we get to the Big House. I don't want to explain it multiple times."

Smart philosophy. Jason would know; he's had to explain the Roman thing about fifty times in his Camp Half-Blood stay.

With a bit more curious urgency, they walk over to the Big House. At the entrance they meet Chiron with a couple of boxes at his feet, engaged in one-sided conversation with Argus.

When he sees them, his face… falls.

"Chiron?" Annabeth asks. "Is everything all right?"

"Annabeth," he says without his usual cheer. "I can imagine you're quite confused about the Percy situation. I apologize—"

"No," Annabeth says, "I know what's happening. I don't know why you didn't tell me but—" She looks down at the centaur's stuff, "Chiron, what's going on? That's your cassette player; why are-why are you giving it away?"

Chiron sighs. "I'm not giving it away," he says.

Why else would he have all his stuff on the lawn then? Unless the centaur is… moving out.

Chiron claps. Jason's eyes flicker up, and he sees similar looks of horrified understanding in Clarisse and Annabeth. "Whatever it is that you wanted can be answered by your new camp directors. Quintus is in there." He points at the big house.

"I can't– You need to know this Chiron," Annabeth says. "I've been having these dreams. It's been me, Percy and Grover. They're, like, conjoined. Grover calls it an empathy link."

Annabeth's speech is unstructured, like she's struggling to connect a thought— quite the contrast from her manner of speech before.

Chiron pauses. "An empathy link? That is quite the dangerous thing to use," Chiron says, "If one of you was to die, all three of you would perish as well."

"Grover set it up because he's trapped on some island. I think it's Polyphemus' island. And I think the Fl—"

The sky rumbles.

Chiron looks up. "The gods think I am a traitor. I figure they don't want me to know all this." He shakes his head. "Quintus is good. You can trust him. Be wary of Tantalus, though."

Chiron starts packing the last of the bags into the jeep. He tells Argus a location to drop them off, where presumably the centaur will be staying.

Annabeth stops the centaur again. "B-but there's still the prophecy. Jason is a son of Zeus, right? That means it could be about him."

"Jupiter." Jason is ignored.

"It's not about Jason. He's a year younger than Percy. The only way it could be if the worst was to happen."

"Oh." Annabeth shakes her head. "But—"

"Overthinking a prophecy is the most dangerous thing one can do. There possibly could be another child of the Big Three that is older than both of them. We simply don't know. Some prophecies remain mysteries like… like…"

Chiron looks down in thought, then the centaur looks back up, befuddled. "Well it seems like I forgot whose prophecy it was." Chiron shakes his head. "My point is, child, that we can't fret over who or what it entails. We likely won't know till the moment the prophecy comes true."

From how Annabeth and Clarisse look at each other, Chiron forgetting something is very unusual.

The sky rumbles again. Chiron looks up at the sky. "My time grows even shorter. I'm sorry, you three, I doubt I can continue this conversation if I want to announce to the rest of the camp of my departure." He pats all of their heads. "I'm proud of all of you. Stay safe. That goes double for you, Annabeth."

Annabeth looks down to the earth below them, then back at Chiron. "I will," she says. Her eyes are not mourning. Her voice does not crack.

Her eyes are alight with drive. Her voice is brimming with determination.

She lies. Jason is sure of it.

I was going to cop out of the possible angry reviews by having Jason almost nearly perfectly puzzle together why Naruto did as he did. I left it more open in this last minute edit.