Jason was just about to relax, ready to eat his hamburger and daydreaming about Piper every now and then, when suddenly a black sandy pile of, well, sand  landed on his sandwich. He jumped back in surprise, almost falling off the bench, but he caught himself in time. That's when his best friend and girlfriend showed up. They ran over to him, as he stood up from his seat.

"Hey, Superman," Leo greeted, ignoring the pile of black sand, as if it was never there. He and Piper seemed to be panting a little like they had sprinted to him-which they most likely had. "Do you mind coming with us for a split second?"

"What's going on?" Jason quickly asked.

Leo laughed nervously. "Well, funny story. You remember that Pitch Black guy we were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah..."Jason slowly answered.

"Well turns out, he's here. At camp," Leo explained, his hands going to his tool belt and pulling out tools and making something gods knows what. "And did we tell you that he's also fighting Jack?"

Jason looked at him like he was crazy. "What? And you just left him there to fight by himself?!"

"No," Leo quickly covered. "We weren't going to leave him. We just thought it'd be better if we had backup."

Apparently while Leo and Jason were talking, Piper had gathered the rest of the Seven and told them what was happening. Percy kept complaining about not finishing his meal, but Annabeth shut him up by elbowing him in the ribs, then kissing him. The Seven headed outside, to where Pitch and Jack were fighting.

Jason sighed. "What's the plan?"

*********************************************************************

"This has got to be the most stupidest plan we had ever made," Annabeth grumbled next to Jason and Hazel, as they knelt down behind a bush, watching the exchange between Jack and Pitch Black. 

Jason couldn't agree more. They had talked about what to do once they were nearing the forest, then Leo and Percy had come up with an idiotic plan. Annabeth was about to say something like, "That's a really stupid plan. You're going to get yourself killed," but they couldn't argue because they had gotten closer to the two enemies and the demigods didn't want to let Pitch know that they were there. 

Leo had insisted that the demigods waited for Leo's signal. And knowing Leo, it would most likely be a sign that was big and obvious, grabbing everyone's attention. But the first part of the plan was that Percy was suppose to casually walk out and stop Pitch from killing Jack, then restraining Pitch and questioning him. Now that wasn't the stupid part of the plan. Well, walking out into the middle of a fight, that was stupid. So was negotiating with the enemy.

Basically, this whole plan was stupid from the get-go.

"Can't believe we made Leo make the plan," Jason mumbled. Annabeth and Hazel nodded in agreement. Frank, Percy, and Piper were on the other side of Jack, watching and waiting as well.

"Next time," Hazel joined in the conversation. "Let's just listen to Annabeth's plan. Or better yet, make up a plan before  we head to our deaths."

Jason nodded.

"This is why I'm  the daughter of Athena, not Leo," Annabeth whispered.

Before Jason could ask her if she indirectly called Leo a girl, he saw a mop of black hair walking out from behind the bushes.

Percy.

The son of Poseidon walked towards the two enemies who now saw said demigod.

"Well," Pitch started, staring Percy down. "What do we have here?"

Even though Percy's back was facing them, Jason could almost see the troublemaker smirk plastered on his cousin's face.

"I'm Percy," his cousin answered, slowly taking out his sword Riptide, still in pen form. "A friend of Jack here."

Pitch widen his eyes in surprise. Then realization took in. "Oh," Pitch mocked. "So this  is the special one?"

Jason was confused when Pitch said this, and he wasn't the only one. He looked over at Annabeth and Hazel, both wearing the same expression as he was.

"What does he mean?" Hazel whispered. Jason shrugged.

"I-I don't know," Annabeth admitted, not liking the fact that she doesn't know something. Jason turned back to the conversation they were eavesdropping on when he heard Jack speaking.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, looking at Percy, slightly letting his guard down.

Pitch just smiled at the two boys in front of him, like a parent smiling at a child who didn't know a whole lot about the real world.

"You children will never learn, will you?" Pitch asked. like he knew something they didn't. Which, knowing bad guys, he probably did. 

Jason got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something bad, or even more worse, was about to happen. Apparently, Jason was right. 

Whether he was impatient 'cause he's ADHD or he figured he was getting nowhere, Percy broke the silence by asking, "Why are you here?"

Pitch chuckled at him, like he found it amusing Percy was asking the questions instead of Jack. And for a split second, Jason could've sworn he saw the Boogeyman glance over to where Jason and the girls were hiding. 

He knows, Jason thought, that pit in his stomach beginning to grow even more. He looked over at Annabeth. The daughter of Athena caught his gaze. She was thinking the same thing he was.

"Young demigod," Pitch continued. "Do you know nothing of the gods?"

Percy scoffed. "No, I thought they were just myths from old stories people used to tell. Then, I fought the Minotaur, a Fury, a hydra, some gods, some titans, and a bunch of other stuff with the help from my friends."

Jack looked impressed with Percy's accomplishments, but for Pitch? Pitch just gave him a smirk.

"So, no I know nothing of the gods," Percy sassed the man in front of him. "I, along with my friends, were part of either the Titan War, the Giant War, or in my case, both wars."

Jason raised his eyebrows. He would had never thought that Percy Jackson would ever tell another living soul, or immortal in this case, about the crap that he went through.

Pitch gave him a malicious grin. "Son of Poseidon-"

"How did you know that?" Percy asked, not even caring that he just interrupted the Boogeyman, uncapping his pen and pointing it at the vile man.

Pitch's face was one of shock, but the expression faded just as quickly it appeared before anyone could notice. 

Then, in a blink of an eye, Pitch had Jack and Percy bound together with his black sand. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Annabeth's grip getting tighter on her ivory sword she had gotten from that  place. He knew that she was thinking about jumping out and attacking the Boogeyman, but Percy had him promise that she wouldn't do anything rash if something had happened to him. Jason really didn't want to die, but he promised Percy.

So he gently but firmly grabbed her and held her back. He then turned his attention to the conversation before them, ignoring the daughter of wisdom's icy glare.

Leo, hurry up with that signal, Jason thought.

Pitch got right up to Percy's face, which, for some reason, Jason found oddly uncomfortable. "I know about a lot of things about a lot of people," the Boogeyman stated. "Including you." He walked around the two tied up boys.

"I know how the gods used you as a pawn, how you and that daughter of Athena, who you love so much, had fallen into Tartarus together and the gods never bothered to help."

Jason could see the color drain from his cousin's face when Pitch mentioned the Pit.

"Stop," the sea god's son croaked. Jack looked over at him in concern.

"Are you okay?" He softly asked, unaware of what Percy and Annabeth had to endure.

"I know what your biggest fear is," Pitch continued, ignoring the conversation the boys were having. "That's what I'm best at. Knowing what people's greatest fears are. Including yours. Yours is that everyone that you ever loved and cared for are dead. They've died and you couldn't do anything about it. It was your fault they died, after all."

Jason's eyes widen. He couldn't believe what happened. None of this should be possible. Pitch turned towards the bushes where the Seven were hiding.

"Bring them out here," Pitch ordered.

Before they could react, Jason and the girls were being pushed out from their hiding spots and into the clearing of the forest, by black grain-looking horses. Nightmares.

Jason stood up and helped Hazel to her feet. Annabeth had already gotten up and rushed to help her boyfriend, but the nightmares were blocking her from reaching Percy. Jason glanced over and saw Frank helping Piper to her feet as well. Hazel and Piper raced to their lover's arms. Jason held on to Piper, as if she was going to be taken away from him.

"Are you okay?" Jason quickly whispered to her.

"I'm fine," Piper replied. "We have to find a way to help Percy and Jack." Jason agreed.

Before he could reply, Pitch stepped in. "Oh, look at what lovely couples we have here," he mocked.

He glanced over at Frank and Hazel. Hazel was slightly hiding behind Frank, who had his arm out in front of her. Pitch walked over to them and chuckled.

"This is the best you can do?" Pitch challenged. The Roman demigods didn't reply.

"Come on now," Pitch taunted. "Don't you want to say anything? Anything at all, to me?"

Again, neither of them answered him.

"Well, I've got something to say," Pitch continued. Then he glared at Hazel and Frank. "Your fear is that you think that you're going to die...again," Pitch said to Hazel. "You're afraid of dying alone and you're afraid that people will be angry with you for what you've had done in the past."

Hazel's lip began to tremble slightly, while shaking her head. Frank glared back at Pitch.

"Leave her alone!" He shouted. "Hazel is a good person!"

Pitch swerved his head to Frank. "You're one to talk," he coldly replied. "You're afraid that your stick would one day burn out."

Frank scoffed, which was a first time Jason saw him or heard him do anything of the sorts. "Hey buddy," Frank said. "I already knew that. And I'm not scared of it."

"You didn't let me finish," Pitch smirked. "You're afraid of your stick burning up, yes, but you're greatest fear is that no one likes you for you, Frank Zhang. You think that everyone you know don't really appreciate what you do. Kind of like that Leo Valdez kid you hate so much."

Frank was shocked to say the least. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, but he couldn't produce a sound. "I-I don't hate him," Frank weakly protested, sounding like he was trying to convince himself. He looked like he was about to cry. 

But Pitch ignored him and walked over to where Piper and Jason were standing. Jason slightly stood in front of Piper, enough to where she could see and also to where she could fight, just in case.

"Why are you doing this?" Jason asked.

Pitch looked over at Piper and grinned. He leaned towards Jason and whispered in his ear. "Because it's fun."

He kept his eyes on Piper when he said it, then straightened up. "You, dear Piper," he began, looking up and down at her. "You are one beautiful girl."

Piper gave him a disgusted look and Jason couldn't help but smile. If anything, Piper could take care of herself whenever she needed to. That's one of the things Jason loved about her.

But Pitch just wouldn't have it. "You scared that you're nothing more than just a pretty face with a powerful voice. You're afraid that people only like you because you're Tristan McLean's daughter, nothing more, nothing less."

Piper glared at him, while her eyes started to tear up. Jason couldn't stand seeing Piper upset. He hated the fact that Pitch had just said that no one really liked her. He glared at the Boogeyman as well, when said immortal faced him.

"And you," Pitch listed. "Mr. Jason Grace, one-hit wonder. Big shot hero. What are you afraid of, I wonder?"

Jason shook his head. "I swear if you do anything, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Pitch shot back. "You'll kill me? That's nice and all, but you're missing the big picture here."

"Yeah?" Jason countered. "And what's that?"

"You're nothing more but a boy," Pitch answered. "A mere boy who is scared that people only like you because you are the son of the sky god, king of the gods."

Jason's glare intensified. If looks could kill, Pitch would be a smoky pile of black sand right now.

He then turned to Annabeth, who was glaring at him fiercely. If Pitch was scared of the glare Annabeth was giving him, he didn't show it. He walked towards her slowly.

"And what do we have here?" He asked, staring at the daughter of Athena.

Percy's not going to like that, Jason thought. 

Almost as if he read his thoughts, Percy started to struggle against the bonds.

"Leave her alone!" Percy shouted. "She did nothing!"

Jason could hear the desperation in his voice. Pitch must've heard it too, for then he grinned.

"So," Pitch drawled out. "You must really like this girl, yes?"

Annabeth's glare was so intense, it almost made Pitch take a step back. Almost. He looked scared for a millisecond, but was replaced with a mischievous grin that Jason wasn't sure what he saw. Pitch leaned forward while Annabeth leaned away from him.

"You are afraid of spiders," Pitch finally said.

Jason wanted to shout, "Really? We haven't noticed. Thanks for that deduction, Sherlock." But he held back his tongue.

"I already knew that," Annabeth replied, crossing her arms.

Pitch raised his eyebrows at her. "But," he smiled. "Your greatest fear is..." Pitch paused. "This is interesting," he mused, amusement shown on his face. He leaned slightly forward again. "Your greatest fear is your boyfriend."

Everything was dead silent. Jason turned to look at the daughter of Athena in disbelief. Percy had stopped struggling and hung his head.

He knows, Jason realized. Percy knew that Annabeth was afraid of him. Jason caught Annabeth's stormy gray eyes. Why?  He wanted to ask. Why are you afraid of your best friend, your  boyfriend? 

As if reading his mind, Annabeth gave him a look that said, I'll explain later. Frank cleared his throat, breaking the silence that had become between them.

"W-why are you afraid of Percy?" He quietly asked.

But instead of answering, Annabeth turned her head away, as if she were embarrassed.

Or ashamed, Jason thought. Why would she be ashamed?  One part of his mind asked, but he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Yes, Annabeth," Pitch whispered cruelly. "Tell them why you fear the one you love. Tell them what has made you so afraid of the one person you have known for years, the one who understands you, the one whose been through everything with you, the one..." Pitch stopped to look at Annabeth, who was trying either not to cry or punch him in the face. Probably both. Pitch grinned at her in the most cruelest way. 

He leaned into the wisdom's daughter's ear and whispered, "The one who fell into Tartarus for you."

And with that, Pitch let Jack and Percy go, leaving them to deal with each other. 

But not before dropping something in his place.