ALL RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS (except Celeste, she's mine.) BELONG TO THE AMAZING RICK RIORDAN. I DO NOT OWN THE PJO/HoO SERIES!!!

Chapter 27 - Jason

So much had happened in so little time that Jason's head was spinning.

Piper had stood by him, helping him along, and Jason felt guilty leaning on her. But they had each other.

Now, they were back on the Argo 2 and things were getting stranger. No one saw Celeste for the rest of the night, and that took a toll on Percy who was being reassured by Annabeth.

Frank and Hazel were also comforting each other.

Jason then thought about Nico. He was sitting alone in a corner, fiddling with his Stygian iron sword.

Jason was about to go over to talk to him when he saw Leo, stumbling around with a grin on his face.

He ran up to Jason and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Dude. I need advice."

Jason gave his friends a strange look. "Advice? About what? What advice could you possibly need at our most desperate time ever?"

"Girl advice." Leo said, still smiling.

Jason froze, now understanding. "Celeste?"

Leo turned bright red and then nodded happily. "She kissed me man. And she actually enjoyed it. Can you believe that!? I mean, I know we're at war and the chances of survival are slim, but if we do make it, do you think I should ask her out?"

Jason patted his friend on the shoulder, holding in a laugh. "It's easy man. Just treat her like your best friend. Works for me and Piper."

Leo laughed. "Best friends don't kiss, Jason."

Jason stole another glance at Nico and then looked back to Leo. "Right. Of course. Now go steer the ship, that's your job."

Leo smiled and ran off to Festus, fully intact.

Finally, after Leo had left, Jason made his way towards Nico.

"Nico?" He asked.

The boy looked up at him, his eyes filled with pure annoyance.

"What do you want?" Nico asked.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." Jason said.

Nico gave Jason a look. "Go away."

Jason bit his lip. "Listen, I wanted to talk about...Percy."

Nico's expression grew deadly. "Go away!"

"Nico, I'm serious. Maybe you should tell him. It'd be better to get it off your chest then to sit with it inside of you for the rest of your life."

Nico stood up angrily. Then he ran off and didn't look back.

Jason sighed. He should've known it wasn't going to work.

Instantly, Piper was beside him. "What was that about?" She asked, staring after Nico.

"Nothing." Jason said, turning to face his girlfriend.

Piper gave him a smile.

Time dragged on faster than expected; the day before the Feast of Spes was when Leo called out, "Athens straight ahead!"

Jason was shocked they hadn't been attacked by anything yet.

He figured Gaea was saving the best for last. A grand finale.

Great.

Something below the water rattled the ship, putting everyone on alert.

"Here it comes," Jason thought.

However, they made it to the shore safely. Nothing attacked.

When they were all off the ship, everyone else seemed to also noticed how easy the trip had been. Something was off.

"Come on. We've got to find Gaea and the giants." Percy said.

Everyone began to walk, Percy and Jason in the lead, Celeste in the back.

Silence cut through the air causing an awkwardness among the group.

They had less than 24 hours until the Feast of Spes.

They had to hurry.

At this point, everyone had a weapon at the ready, prepared for anything to jump out at them.

Finally, after what felt like eternity, the voice of several giants were audible.

Faster than the blink of an eyes, everyone got in a hiding place, ready to strike.

Jason directed his eyes to Celeste who was hiding in a patch of tall grass. Celeste was the only one who could help them defeat a giant. One demigod and one god.

Jason knew Celeste wasn't a goddess, but her powers were similar, so she was what they'd have to settle for.

Then, the giants were literally inches in front of them.

The real war was beginning.

Annabeth was motioning out a plan to everyone with her hands.

Everything after that was a blur.

The sound of lashing swords, the whir of powers, the launch of arrows.

Meanwhile, Celeste stayed hidden, focusing on her true form. Her signal was to scream when she was about to release her power. If she forgot to scream or faltered for even a second, all 8 demigods would be a pile of ash.

They were trusting her.

Suddenly, Celeste's scream pierced the air and everyone shielded their eyes.

But Celeste wasn't screaming for them to shield their eyes, she was screaming to warn them to get away.

The ground started to shake and grasp at the demigods. The giant's lost their shock and began to fight back.

Jason saw his friends being dragged into the ground, fighting their way out and failing.

His own legs were sinking into the earth.

Celeste was nowhere to be seen.

Neither was Percy.

Jason had a sickening feeling something had happened to them.

Then, because he was so focused on Percy and Celeste's whereabouts, his legs sank deeper and deeper until the world went dark.

The last thing he saw was his friends being sucked into the ground, just like him.