It didn't look like much. It was a hole in the ground, now about twenty feet wider than it had been, but you could feel the danger radiating off of it in waves.

It shook you to your core, a chill you could feel in your bones.

And they hadn't even made the leap yet.

"You guys don't have to come with us, you know, Percy," Will told him gently, "We couldn't ask you to go through this again."

"No," Percy sighed, "You guys are my friends. The problem you're having is on us, too. Besides, you're not making it through Tartarus on your own."

Annabeth slung a bag over her shoulder, sliding her Drakon Bone sword into its sheath. "We beat Kronos once, with Luke's help. We couldn't have done it without him. We're older, stronger now, but he's still a Titan. There's no way you're beating Kronos without us."

Horace eyed them jokingly. "I can't tell if I should be grateful or offended."

Annabeth scowled. "We can't guarantee survival in Tartarus, not to mention what will happen when we actually get to Araluen. You'll need all the help you can get if you want to prevent the future that Apollo watched unfold."

"Yeah!" Came Leo's voice from behind them, "There's no way you're staying alive without everyone's favorite Supersized McShizzle!"

"Everyone's favorite what?" Evanlyn grimaced, wrinkling her nose at him.

Piper slapped him upside the head. "Don't mind him. He's just the Repair boy."

"I resent that, Beauty Queen," Leo pouted, "Hazel, back me up. I am the epitome of scrawny chic."

"Who are they?" Alyss asked, pointing in the direction of the daughter of Pluto and son of Mars, "Are they coming with us?"

"I told you I would introduce you to my pet dragon, didn't I?" Percy grinned, a stark contrast to the dark atmosphere that came with standing next to the pit, "Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque, from the Roman Legion."

"I thought you said that we wouldn't have time to get to the Romans before Araluen was destroyed."

"That would be true normally," Percy admitted, "But not when you've got a Speedy Gonzalez, cussing sailor of a demon horse that can cross the country in eight hours and chomp through gold."

"Flying horses," Will mused, "Demon horses, cursing sailor horses. Is there anything this world doesn't have?"

"Don't forget Nico horses," Percy chuckled at his own inside joke, "But I'll tell you about the wizards some other time."

"Alright," Percy clapped, focusing himself, "We're going to Hermes's Shrine, finding out how to open its gate to Araluen, saving your world, and somehow making it home alive. In the meantime, Nico, Solace, the other Head Counselors, the Hunters and Reyna will protect both camps. Good? Good. Let's go!"

He stepped forward to jump, but Nico tugged him back with a stern glare. "Your plan is a little half baked for having the fates of two dimensions resting on it."

"Hey," Percy grinned cheekily, "Where there's a Will, there's a way, and we've got two Wills."

"You've been waiting all day to get to use that one, haven't you?"

"Hey, wait," Will complained, "How come he gets to still be Will and I have to be Solace?"

"You could be William instead," Percy offered, "Maybe Bill?"

He looked over at Nico. "What do you think about calling your boyfriend Willy from now on?"

"Go see my father."

"Ouch."

"Anyway, Percy," Piper cut in, rolling her eyes, "You shouldn't just jump into the Pit of Hell."

"Are we going to tie a rope?" Alyss offered, "It'd definitely be safer."

"There's not a rope in the world long enough to reach from the mortal world to Tartarus," Annabeth shook her head, "It's speculated that it takes nine days to fall into Tartarus, never mind how long it would take if we were climbing. Plus, whatever we tie it to may well be swallowed by the pit before we reach the bottom and we'd end up falling anyway."

"So how are we getting down there?" Horace asked, "It's not like we can just fly down."

Halt leveled him with a flat stare, looking up from where he was sharpening the Celestial Bronze saxe knife he'd been given.

"Flying horses," he monotoned, "Pet dragons, whatever else these demigods are hiding up their sleeves. Have you even been paying attention, boy?"

"Ah," Horace nodded sagely in his infinite wisdom, "So we are flying down."

"Excellent deduction."

"I can't carry everyone," Frank admitted, "I probably can't even stay transformed for as long as it would take to fall, especially not as something like a dragon. But on the likelihood that we don't fall near a body of water like Percy and Annabeth did, I can definitely stop you all from-"

"Becoming pancake splatters on the floors of monster land?" Leo interjected impishly, "Yes, thank you very much, Franky boy."

"Leo," Hazel scolded as Frank winced, "You can just fall. Yell 'Flame on' or something and fly yourself."

To which the son of Hephaestus's jaw completely fell open.

"Dude," he gaped, leaning against a similarly incapacitated Percy, "Who's been teaching Hazel things like that?"

"Hazel?" Percy called cautiously, stepping forward as if approaching a wild animal, "Have you been getting enough sleep? Hanging around the right people? Flossing before bed?"

Hazel blushed, wringing her hands together. "Leo's just always teasing Frank, you know, so I figured maybe I should step in a little sometimes. Then Leo's been teaching me sarcasm and I've been hearing stories about Piper's first quest and... yeah. Am I doing it wrong?"

"So it was you!" Percy accused, shoving Leo off of him, "Who's been teaching Hazel things like that. You idiot."

"Don't even worry about it, Hazel," Percy said, taking her by the shoulders, "I will find a way to lose him in Tartarus and make it look like an accident."

Hazel rolled her eyes at him affectionately, patting him on the shoulder in assurance.

"We should free fall for at least a little while before attempting to catch ourselves," Annabeth commented, focusing their attention, "Stay close. Hold onto someone. And once we get down there, stay on your guard. Evanlyn, Alyss, have you been given Celestial Bronze replacements for your weapons?"

The two girls nodded, so Annabeth sighed. "Then I guess we're going through with this. Take fifteen minutes to prepare yourselves, then we'll go."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay, Alyss?" Evanlyn muttered quickly, "That's a long drop."

"You don't have to tell me twice," the taller girl responded, visibly shuddering, "But thanks. I'll be fine. There's a lot more at stake here than me."

"You should still take care of yourself," Percy murmured, eyes haunted and tone dark under the information that Apollo had inadvertently spilled to him, "Just promise me, Alyss."

She stared at him resolutely.

"I will."

Will used his time to sit beside Apollo under the tree, biting his lip nervously.

"What's up?" The god beamed, flashing his pearly white teeth, "Don't tell me you're chickening out, Will. You're said to be one of the greatest Rangers Araluen has ever seen. It'd be a pity if that was all talk."

Will ignored the god's jab, opting to fold his hands in his lap and whisper instead.

"Is this okay?"

"What?"

"Is this okay?" Will repeated, louder this time, "To send them into another war, when they'd just finished their last one? To send Percy and Annabeth into Hell again?"

"I heard from Alyss," the boy continued meekly, "That Annabeth goes to sleep after the rest of her cabin and wakes up before them. I heard it's because her memories of Tartarus haunt her, shaking her, her body subconsciously trying to suppress her fear the same way she'd do if she were awake, leaving her in a cold sweat, jaw clenched and writhing in subdued pain. I heard she does it so none of her siblings worry."

"Horace says he hears faint screaming at night, true agony. He's in the Ares Cabin, and that's right next to Poseidon's Cabin. He says he thinks it's Percy, the trauma overtaking him."

"Different people go through trauma in different ways. I know that better than most. And though I haven't been here long, I've definitely been here long enough to know the kind of people that Percy and Annabeth are. Annabeth, who will stand strong for her own sake and that of the people around her, who need her. Who will ignore her feelings if it means that she can remain a beacon of power, reminding herself, more than others, that she is capable of greatness. Who would much rather crumble in private then let anyone see her moments of weakness. And alternatively, there's Percy, who lets his emotions run rampant, flaring indignantly for his friends and family, who would endure all the pain in the world if it meant his loved ones didn't have to."

"The way their dreams affect them..." Will faltered, steeling himself before trying again, "And demigod dreams, too... I'm told those are more vivid than normal. They're brave, so brave, for deciding to come with us, to help us, but does that make it right for us to accept this from them? Is it fair for you to make them go through that kind of suffering again? To make them face the terrors they already have?"

"Ah," Apollo grinned, "But this time it's not for us, is it?"

"They're not experiencing some cruel twist orchestrated by the Fates. They're not going on a god-demanded quest to preserve our thrones or maintain the balance of Olympus. Not this time. This time the fighting for something far more important."

"Do you know what happens, Will," the Sun God continued, turning to him, "When you tell a person whose fatal flaw is loyalty to fight for his friends, instead of for himself? What happens when you ask him to protect, instead of to survive?"

"It doesn't seem like a lot. Most people can't hear the difference. But for people like you and Percy, it's the world. There are only two instances in which mortals show true power, Will. And that's when they're backed into a corner, fighting tooth and nail because they know they're about to die, or when they believe in something bigger than themselves, something larger than words, so deeply, so truly, that you can't help but become empowered by a strength unattainable by he who stands alone."

"If Percy and Annabeth want to help you," Apollo insisted earnestly, "They will fight for you with everything in their power, and they have a lot of that. If they look at you and see someone worth defending, someone worth fighting beside... you'd better believe nothing will stop them from doing so."

"I may not always seem like it," Apollo whispered, "I may not always act like it, but I am an Olympian. I am the Patron God of the Ranger Corps and the father of an entire cabin of kids here at Camp. Possibly my greatest heartbreak, before even Daphne or Hyacinthus, was watching my children, my Rangers, lose their lives. Watching Araluen crumble to a force that had never been within your power to combat nearly destroyed me. The two of them may not be related to me in any way other than fake god DNA, but I would sooner give up my immortality than let anything happen to them."

"If they think they can survive the journey, who am I to argue with them? Separately, they are two of the strongest demigods, not only of the generation, but of history in general. This coming from the guy who watched the ancients grow up- Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, among others. Together, I'm pretty sure they could topple Olympus if they tried. With their friends? Forget about it."

"Take it from the god of Prophecy, kid," Apollo smiled ruefully, clapping him on the back, "You're going to make it through Tartarus alive. You're going to get back to your world. But what happens next, with Kronos, with Araluen, with your dimension as a whole... that's up to you."

And so Will Treaty turned to the Pit of Hell, staring into its eternal darkness.

And he trusted.

And he leapt.