"This is where Pitch's lair is?" Jason asked in disbelief, as the boys looked at the hole covered by an old bed. "I thought it would be more..." Jason paused, trying to find the right words. "I don't know, isolated."  

Jack and Jason had left Jamie to go find Pitch's lair in the woods. Jack remembered all too well about the last time he had been to Pitch's lair. It had not gone too great and when Jack had gotten back to the Guardians, they thought that Jack had betrayed them, leaving them all hurt and sad. 

Back then, there used to be an old rickety bed above the hole in the ground. Why there was a bed, Jack had no idea. He thought that maybe back when Pitch was a human, that was what he used for his bed, with a mattress and sheets and pillows of course. But he honestly had no clue.

When Jack and Jason had arrived at the entrance of the lair, Jason was more than confused when he just saw the lonely hole.

"You know, there used to be an old, wooden bed above it," Jack said.

"Seriously?" Jason scoffed. Jack nodded.

"Well," the blonde haired boy said. "That was a let down. Can't say that I'm a little disappointed. Also a little suspicious."

 Both boys stared at the hole until Jack spoke up. "You ready?"

Jason sighed before looking up at Jack. "As I'll ever be."

Just before Jack was ready to jump down, something flew around his head. Jack tried to swat at it, but he missed every time, until the little pest settled down onto Jason's shoulder. Right before Jason was ready to smack it, Jack saw what, or more like who, it was and shouted, "Stop!"

Jason's hand was in mid-air, the boy himself looking at Jack. "What?"

Jack walked up to Jason's shoulder and leaned down. "Baby Tooth!"

The little tooth fairy was pleased to see her closest friend. She waved at him and smiled real big, causing Jack to grin.

On the other side, Jason was completely confused.

Jack remembered his friend and said, "Jason, this is one of my friends. Her name is Baby Tooth. Baby Tooth, this is my new friend, Jason."

Baby Tooth flew up level to Jason's eyes and flew around his head. Jason followed her around, until she came right back to where she started. The two stared at each other until Baby Tooth flew into Jason's mouth.

Jack couldn't help but laugh at his friend's expression. Jason's eyes were bugging out of his head, trying to get the little fairy out of his mouth. A few moment later, Baby Tooth came out of Jason's mouth. She went back to Jack and shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "His teeth are white, I guess. But not as white as yours."

"What the Hades was that for?" Jason asked, spitting to try to get the taste of fairy out of his mouth. 

"That was Baby Tooth, who wanted to see what the great Jason Grace's teeth looked like," Jack grinned.

"Well could you tell your little fairy friend to not do that again?" Jason pleaded.

"Okay, okay," Jack laughed.

He turned back to Baby Tooth, who gestured to him. Jack nodded and faced Jason again.

"She promised not to do that again," Jack said.

Jason still looked wary. "Whatever," he mumbled. "Let's just go get Percy."

At the mention of Percy, Baby Tooth tensed.

Jack noticed and scrunched his eyebrows. "What's wrong, Baby Tooth?"

The little fairy looked at him sadly, then motioned for the boys to follow. Before either boy could speak, Baby Tooth flew down into the hole. Jack and Jason glanced at each other, before flying down the hole with the little fairy. 

When they got into the cave, Jack spotted Baby Tooth by a cage. He nudged Jason with his elbow and pointed to where his friend was. "She's over there."

Both boys ran to Baby Tooth, who was fluttering around the lock that held the door in place. Jack turned his back to the cage, and swung his staff instinctively in case Pitch were to show up at any given time. When Jason gasped, Jack turned back to see what had made his friend gasp. What he saw shocked him as well.

There, lying in the middle of the cage, was the missing person they were looking for.

Percy.

And he didn't appear to be moving.

Both Jason and Jack rushed to the cage. Jason tried to open the cage, but with thier luck, it was locked. He started to struggle with the cage, shaking it, seeing, trying anything to wake his cousin up. Jack knew he must be worried sick about his friend, but he also knew that if Jason kept rattling the cage, Pitch or his new partner could hear. 

"Jason," Jack whispered.

The son of Jupiter either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, because he just kept on jiggling the bars. 

"Jason," Jack said, a little louder.

"We've got to help him," Jason insisted. "We have to get him out. He doesn't like to be trapped."

Jack was confused at the statement. But he shook his head before he could interpret what his friend said, and took gently took Jason's arms and lowered them. He looked his friend in the eyes.

"We will," Jack promised. "We just need to find a way to unlock the cage."

"Why don't you try freezing the lock, mate?"

"Did you say something?" Jack asked, looking at Jason in bewilderment and wondering how his friend sounded strangely like someone he knew. Someone awfully familiar.

"No," Jason replied, slowly reaching for his sword.

"Good," Jack commented. "Cause if that were you, that accent would've been terrible."

"Gee, thanks," Jason sarcastically remarked, eyes carefully scanning the dark, ominous cave.

"Over here, you blubbering idiot!"

Then there was a smack and an, "Ouch!" coming from the boys' right. They slowly turned around until they came face-to-face with a group of people that Jack was clearly happy to see.

The Guardians.

Jack ran up to them. "Are you guys okay?"

"We are fine, Jack," North assured. "But you need to worry about your friend over there. He is in trouble."

Jack nodded. But before he went back, Jack froze the lock on the Guardians' cage and broke it. His family broke through the door and ambushed him with hugs. At least, Tooth and North did. Bunny just smirked and shook his head. He had no idea where Sandy was and for a moment, he was terrified that something bad had happened to his friend.

Tooth took her time with looking Jack over. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Jack laughed and brought his friend's arms down to her side. "I'm fine. Better than ever."

"Jack?" Jason asked, sword still slightly raised in wariness.

"Oh, right," Jack realized. He turned so he was facing both his friend and his family. "Jason, these are the Guardians. North, Tooth, and Bunny. Guys, this is one of my friends I made while I was away. His name is Jason."

Jason waved. "So, these are the Guardians? No offense, but you guys aren't exactly as I pictured."

The Guardians grinned. 

"No," North agreed. "We are better, yes?"

Jason smiled. "Much better." Then he turned his attention back to Percy. "I'm sorry, but I need to..." He motioned to his cousin and the Guardians understood immediately.

"Of course," North said. "Go get Percy."

Jason nodded his thanks and he and Jack sprinted back to the cage that held Percy. Jack lifted his staff and froze the lock like he did with the Guardians and broke it. Jason swung the door open and ran to help Percy. He knelt down to him and lightly tapped his cheek. Jack joined him and checked to see if his friend was unharmed.

"C'mon, Perce," Jack heard Jason murmured beside him, shaking the son of Poseidon.

While Jason was trying to wake his cousin up, Jack was seeing if the unconscious demigod had any injuries. So far, Jack had found none, until he actually looked down and saw a giant red stain on the front of Percy's shirt. How had they missed that, Jack had no idea. He wasn't sure as to how that had happened, but he knew that it couldn't be good.

"Jason..." Jack worriedly spoke, his eyes never leaving the bloody shirt.

Jason looked over to Jack and when he saw him staring at the shirt, his face paled. He leaned over to lift the shirt up, and what they saw scared them more then either boy wold like to admit. 

Percy had somehow gotten batted and bruised during his stay here. But what shocked the boys the most would be the three long scratches that traveled from his shoulder down to his abdomen. Jason cursed in Latin and Jack sure wasn't going to repeat what he was thinking as well. The marks looked deep, but Jack couldn't be sure. It was obvious that Percy had lost a lot of blood, but neither Jason nor Jack could tell how long he had been like this. They weren't sure what to do. Then Jack got an idea. It was a very terrible plan, but it was the only one that he could think of at the moment. 

Jack was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Jason curse again.

"What?" Jack questioned.

"Out of all the things I forgot to bring, it was ambrosia," Jason scoffed to himself. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. Jack was beginning to grow concern for his friend.

"What if I covered him in ice?" Jack asked out loud.

Jason slowly brought his eyes to meet Jack's, and Jack automatically knew that it was a horrible idea. The son of the sky glared at him. But behind those angry blue eyes, there was desperation. They were running out of options.

"Just the wound, of course," Jack added quickly.

Jason clenched his fists, but Jack had a feeling that he wasn't mad at him. Jason lowered his eyes and sighed in frustration.

"I got nothing else," he muttered. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help him. We've got no water, no ambrosia, no nectar, no nothing!" 

Jack placed a hand on Jason's shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Well, as of right now, the only plan we've got is freezing Percy's wound."

Jason bit his lip and nodded. "Yeah, yeah okay." He sighed. "Do it."

Jack placed his hands on Percy shoulder and torso. He willed the ice to cover the scratches until he felt that it was enough. When he was done, he removed his hands and lowered the shirt down. Jason started to shake Percy again.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Percy's eyes begin to flutter open and took a deep breath. Jason and Jack both sighed in relief.

Jason clapped his hand on his cousin's shoulder, startling Percy.

"Wh-what?" Percy croaked, his eyes starting to droop a little. "What happened?"

"Hey, hey. Look at me," Jason gently ordered, tapping his friend's cheek. "How do you feel?"

"Like I've been to hell and back," Percy's groggy voice replied. "Again."

Jason huffed a smile and scooted over to make sure that his friend didn't have any more injuries that he didn't know about, like an overprotective brother.

"What is the last thing you remember, Percy?" Jack took over the questioning, seeing what Jason was doing.

Percy scrunched up his eyebrows in concentration. "Uh, I remember being in my room, about to leave when I was hit in the back of the head with something hard. Next thing I know, I'm here who knows where, and Pitch was mocking me, then...nothing."

He tried to get up, but Jason gently pushed him back down. "You need all the rest you can get, Perce."

"Jason's right for once," Jack agreed. "You can barely stand."

Percy huffed. "I can sit up." Then he proceeded to sit back up again.

Both Jason and Jack rolled their eyes but helped Percy so that he was leaning against the bars of the cage that he was in. "Comfortable?"

Percy nodded.

Jason nodded back then turned his attention back on Jack. "What do you mean "for once"?"

Jack shrugged innocently. "I have no idea what you mean."

Jason's jaw dropped open in mock surprise. "Hey!"

Jack grinned and saw Percy stifling back a laugh as well. That was, until he winced in pain. 

Jason immediately saw this and brought his attention back to his friend. "Are you okay?"

Percy grimaced. "I'm fine." 

Jason gave him a look, and Percy sighed. "So, I might hurt a little." After a little thinking, he added, "Is this ice?"

"Yes," Jack answered. "Now, what exactly happened to you?"

"Funny story," the black haired boy nervously chuckled. "Frank was in this dream of mine, but it wasn't...Frank, per say."

Jack and Jason both wore the same expressions on their faces. 

"What do you mean that he wasn't Frank?" Jason asked.

Percy sighed. "I highly doubt that you would believe me."

"Try us," Jack challenged.

Percy took a deep breath and proceeded to tell them about his dream. Which coincidentally, turned out to be a nightmare. After Percy was done, he avoided both Jack and Jason's concerned stares. Percy just closed his eyes and took a breath.

"I promised Annabeth that I wouldn't use that power again," he stated softly. "I-I promised myself."

In all of his three hundred years, Jack never thought that he'd see someone look so guilty, so ashamed. So...lost.

"What was this power that you promised never to use?" Jack finally, gently, asked. 

"Jack," Jason softly warned.

"No, no it's fine," Percy answered. "I figured sooner or later you would ask that." 

He still avoided their gazes and told his story. "I-I was mad, I guess. I mean, who wouldn't be? Me and my girlfriend were about to be killed. Again. And I started to think since that I was the son of the sea god, I could somehow control the poison that was coming our way. And so, I was manipulating the poison to go back to the goddess that was about to kill us, and I was so focused on wanting to kill her that I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings. I was close to finishing her off, when Annabeth stepped in and stopped me."

Percy bit his lip and, for the first time since telling them about his dream, looked up at them. His eyes were screaming with shame and guilt. And if it was possible, a little bit of fear. Jack had never seen eyes like this before, and if he was being honest, it terrified him. 

"I almost killed a goddess with her own poison," the son of Poseidon continued. "And you know the worst part?"

Jack wanted to look away from the pain in the sea green eyes, but he just couldn't bring himself to. It was like some force was making Jack look in the deep pit of blame in his friend's eyes.

"What?" Jack heard himself say.

Percy's next breath was shuddering a little bit when he spoke. "A part of me enjoyed it."

Neither boy moved a muscle for at least a minute, until Jason piped in. "What do you mean, when you said that you enjoyed it?" He softly asked.

His cousin sighed. "A little part of me enjoyed it when I was bringing pain and misery to, well, the goddess of pain and misery. I just, I don't know what was wrong with me. I thought that I was doing fine, but then Kellie popped up. She told and showed me something awful and I just..."

Percy shook his head and ducked his head down. Jack glanced at Jason, who was watching his friend with concern. Jason placed a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Perce," Jason gently began. "Whatever happened with Kellie wasn't your fault. She pushed and pulled at you to use that power until you had no choice but to, you know. She just wanted to make you angry and upset to get what she needed."

"This isn't really making me feel any better," Percy interrupted, looking up at his cousin.

Jack rolled his eyes. "What Lighting Boy is trying to say is that this whole thing, with Kellie and the weird blood bending thing that you do, or did, and every other thing that happened in the dream was not your fault. Okay? It was Pitch's."

Jason gave Jack a look, but he ignored it. Percy, on the other hand, didn't look convinced. "But I-"

"No. Shut up," Jack interrupted. "You may think that this whole thing was your fault, but it wasn't you. Not really. It was Pitch who made you do it, not you. It was all a dream. You have got to stop blaming yourself for everything. Yes, that Kellie was a monster and that she needed to be destroyed, and yeah she didn't need to go out like that, but I'm telling you that it's only going to get worse if you keep blaming yourself for that. Please, I'm begging you Percy. I know it's hard, but please. Try to forgive yourself."

Percy looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind and nodded instead. Jason raised his eyebrows at Jack, but didn't say anything. Someone whistled behind the three boys, making them jump, causing Percy to hiss in pain.

"That was quite impressive, mate," Bunny called out. 

Jack completely forgot about his family when he was helping with Percy. He looked over to them and made sure that no one was around them. When he turned his attention back to his friends, he saw that Percy was beginning to get on his feet with his help from Jason. Jack got up as well and helped his friend, to where that he was still leaning against the bars. He then took the ice and melted it down to where it was water, helping Percy heal faster.

"Jack," Percy called.

"Yeah?" Jack looked at Percy.

"Thanks. For everything. You too, Jason."

Jason grinned at his cousin. "No problem, man. You would've done the same."

Jack nodded in agreement. 

Percy grinned back at both boys. "Let's go back home, then." 

Percy pushed off the bars and, with the help from Jack and Jason, the three boys walked out of the cage and towards the Guardians. Once they were all together, they started walking to the exit of the cave.

They got halfway there when they heard a loud, slow clap echoing through the cave.

"Well done," a British voice mocked. "I never would have thought that the troublesome trio would ever achieve their goal."

Out of the shadows, Pitch Black appeared, a smug grin on his face. Everyone got their weapons out. Even Percy got his sword out, despite the amount of pain that he was probably in. For someone who had their organs almost taken out, he was holding his own just fine, though he was probably just putting on a show.

"Oh no need to be defensive," Pitch continued. He spread his arms out. "I cannot believe that you're leaving so soon."

The Boogeyman chuckled maliciously. "The fun has just begun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry this took forever. In all honesty, I was watching Marvel's AoS and I got caught up in some of the fanfiction that I was reading.

But another chapter done!

And don't worry, my action-needing people! There will be action in the next chapter....

I think.

Either next chapter, or the one after that. I don't know.

But on the bright side:

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

The best gift that I got was either going on a trip to New York or being able to purchase a jacket AND a Supernatural sweatshirt or t-shirt. 

What was yours?

Until next time.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

-Kayla