Hazel bit her lip. This wasn't the Percy she knew. She kept telling herself again and again – kept reminding herself that this was the boy who put them through all of this... but all she could see was the clueless demigod who had ended up in Rome, carrying a goddess on his back.

"Please, Percy," she pleaded. "History isn't meant to be tampered with. You're better than this. Let the past be the past."

Percy didn't respond as the images continued to shift restlessly. Everything that was related to Reyna started to fade or change – the assault on Camp Jupiter, their encounter with the Amazons.

"There's no use!" Piper said. "We have to fight him."

"You sure?" Leo frowned. "I'm all for attacking a fellow delusional demigod and all, but this is Perce we're talking about."

"We don't have a choice!" Calypso agreed. "It's do or die. Not die – but you get the gist."

With them bickering among each other and nobody deciding to step up just yet, a black blur tackled Percy and the scenes all skittered to a halt like a movie on pause. (Somehow, one of the scenes depicted an Oscar-worthy Jason Grace knockout.)

"Get off of me!" Percy yelled and unsheathed his sword. "Mrs O' Leary? What are you doing here?"

The hellhound whimpered and backed off at the sight of her master's condition. Yet she didn't waver, eyes begging him to stop all of this madness.

Hazel heard stories of Percy having a hound of darkness for a pet. Her previous owner was a Greek inventor, who died during the battle of the labyrinth.

But she had never seen it in person. Compared to the hellhounds she faced previously, this mutt seemed as tame as one could get.

Percy's eyes softened. His sword arm dipped.

"Please," he said. "Leave."

Mrs O' Leary did not. She remained at her spot in front of the images, still pleading for her master to come to his senses.

Big mistake.

Percy's eyes steeled and without thinking twice, he slashed through the hellhound's neck with his Celestial Bronze sword.

"No!" Piper charged and parried his sword across the floor. It spun and clattered across the marble tiles, until it settled by Hazel's foot.

Percy didn't stop Piper as she held Mrs O' Leary's head as she let out her last whimpers.

The hellhound melted into shadow.

Piper sniffled back tears and turned to Percy, dagger raised. "How could you? She was your friend! She trusted you!"

"I know," Percy whispered. "I know. I can change it. I – I can change the past."

Hazel's heart chilled.

The prophecy.

To Mrs O' Leary, Percy was the sun. They both were from different worlds, but shared the same loyalty.

It's been so long she almost forgot the lines, but it was polished in her memory once more.

The sun and death partake its test.

Which meant the prophecy was coming together.

"No!" Calypso stepped up. "You're making things worse! This isn't worth the pain, Percy. Leave it alone!"

"Quiet!" Percy snapped. "I can fix all of this! Leave or fight me!"

That set the mood.

Piper remained rooted to her spot, probably because she wasn't suicidal. They were all aware that Percy was a demon fighter, even without Riptide.

"No," Hazel said.

"Excuse me?" Percy demanded.

"I said no," she spoke louder, more determined. "It doesn't have to be this way. Percy, don't forget who you are. You're our friend, Annabeth's boyfriend, and the glue that holds everyone together."

Leo whipped to her like, We're on the urge of fighting the most dangerous demigod in history and you're giving him a pep talk?

Hazel glared at him. Leo turned away and whistled.

Percy wasted no time talking to her. He proceeded to recreate history as they know it.

She wanted to stop him, to punch him in the face, but she found it hard to. It's not her own reluctance – it was him making them feel this way. He was changing their minds to make then run away, leave him rather than fight him.

It took all her willpower, but she managed to stride towards the son of Poseidon.

Hazel punched him in the face.

Leo winced. "Dude!"

Percy was hardly wavered. His face didn't even look affected, but he turned to her, eyes like shattered glass.

"You listen to me, Perseus Jackson," she growled. "You're above this. You always resented the gods, but you're acting just like them. Think about it!"

He didn't stop his creation. Behind him, Piper started to change. She started to flicker from her orange camp T-shirt and shorts to someone more fashionable, someone like a modern-day goddess.

In a shower of golden lucid sparks, she disappeared.

The scene portrayed a fashionable Piper with designer clothes, a perfect hairstyle with her celebrity father, Tristan McLean at the beach.

Hazel lowered her arm, eyes glued on the scene.

Her friend seemed so... happy.

The scene dissolved into another – Leo and Calypso, Leo staying on the island with her, both deliriously happy and romantic.

"HEY!" Calypso blushed like wildfire. "STOP THIS!"

Leo couldn't bring himself to meet the Titaness's eyes.

Hazel was considering to punch him in the crotch just to prove a point, but did she mention that they were by the chasm? One wrong move and pew! Down the hatch of Chaos they go! Where did the chasm come from? No idea. But the mansion reflects the owner's wishes, so she assumed that Percy had willed it there.

Just as he was about to change it, a very unexpected individual thwarted it. The scenes dissolved, and Octavian was behind Percy, eyes scrunched in concentration.

With the motivation/willpower-hold that Percy forced on them dissolved, Hazel delivered another punch to his face, but he didn't even move. Hazel's hands were starting to ache.

Percy glared at Octavian, sending bloodlust everywhere in the room.

Also, did she also forget to mention that Percy could be pretty scary when he wanted to? Imagine the thing that scared you the most. Multiply that fear by a thousand. Then it might just reach the level of terrifying that he was making them feel at the moment.

"You." Percy grabbed Octavian by the collar of his cloak. Then faster than anyone could have stopped him, he threw Octavian down the chasm of chaos.

Hazel never thought she would ever feel sorry for the augur. But after he just saved Leo and Calypso and led them through Tartarus... even Hera could feel bad for a mortal baby.

"NO!" Festus the dragon tackled Percy. Leo's hands were ablaze.

Despite being shorter than Percy, Calypso grabbed him by the collar and her glare bore into him. "You just crossed the line."

Percy's face was an emotionless mask. With the snap of the finger, both Leo and Calypso, along with Festus all disappeared in lucid sparks.

He stood up slowly, brushing his collar like he'd just tripped on the way to school.

"You're the last one here," he said, turning to Hazel. "There's no use stopping m-"

Hazel ran riptide through Percy's chest.

Tears welled in her eyes as she forced it deeper. Her friend was going to die by her own hand the second time.

Again, why did he have a mortal body? Shouldn't he be a ghost?

Or is he no longer a human?

Percy spat blood and collapsed to the ground.

Hazel fell to her knees, watching the blood pool form around her friend's corpse.

She just killed her friend.

She cried and wailed as loud as she could, her own ragged voice resonating in the mansion.

The structure began to quake, free from Percy's control.

The last thing she saw before the building collapsing on her was a figure with white hair running towards them.

* * *

Camp Jupiter, Son of Neptune Era

"I present to you, the crew of Argo II!" Frank declared to the crowd. "They have ventured far and difficult journeys to make peace among us! The senate has voted and formed an alliance with them!"

The Romans cheered. Hazel smiled so widely she thought her face might split in two. With the gods united, the war of Gaia would not be a problem.

"Aw yeah, baby!" Leo pumped his fist into the air.

Through the week-long discussions with the Greek demigods, the Argo II crew had bonded with Hazel and Frank, the two praetors of Camp Jupiter thoroughly.

After clearing some air, she and Frank began to introduce each of the crew to the Romans.

"Behold, Piper! Daughter of Aphrodite..." he started.

She zoned out throughout most of it. The adrenaline roared in her ears, until they finally made it to the last one.

"Last but not least, we have the leader of Camp Half-Blood, son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson!"

End