Epsilon and his Army of Chaos (Watty's 2013) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 18: What Do We Do Now?

I'm really soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I haven't updated for two days. I went to the movies twice to watch the City of Bones and the Sea of Monsters with my friends (yes, I have friends). The Sea of Monsters was good but they left SO much out of it. I was disappointed.

Anyways, thanks for all the comments last chapter. The owner of my favourite one and receiver for this chapters dedication is .... ThaliaGrace101 for their comment, "OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG TEN DAYS!!! TEN FRICKING DAYS!!!! EEEEKKKKKKKK!!!! (that scream was louder than Aphrodite when she found out percabeth is happening again: P ).Oh my Gods!! Rick!!! Don't let Leo or Percy die!!! Kill Jason or something just don't let it be Leo or Percy!!! (don't kill me but Percy and Leo are plain awesome and I want them to be alive
)Oh my Gods I'm squealing so loud my brother is looking at me weirdly with this WTF happened to you look. XD XD I'm super hyper don't blame me." Thanks ThaliaGrace101!

I would also like to acknowledge Think_inspiration for her amazing comment (actually ALL her amazing comments) only hers was too big too put down and I've already dedicated to her two or three times. Thanks a bunch Think_inspiration!

Moving on! This is chapter 18. Enjoy ...

Chapter 18: What Do We Do Now? - Luke's POV

I woke up in a hammock.

I had absolutely no idea where I was and I admit, I panicked. I struggled to get out of the twisted blanket and eventually ended up falling on the hard, wooden floor, still half stuck in the hammock.

'Ow,' I muttered, pushing up on my elbows and rubbing my head.

'You know, I would've helped if you'd asked,' came a sly voice from the corner.

I whipped around to see Travis sitting cross legged on a pile of crates.

'Travis,' I sighed, 'What happened?'

He shrugged, 'No idea. All I know is that we're back on Argo II. We're in the infirmary. I haven't seen the others. I thought that I'd wait for you to wake up.'

I looked around and realized Travis was right. Hammocks hung from the ceiling with medical supplies scattered around. Five of the other hammocks were occupied. Piper and Frank were in the two closest to the door. I spotted three black cloaks with their hoods drawn up and figured that they were Percy, Leo and Bianca. I supposed they were all resting from their time in Destruction's prison.

'Where's Clarisse?' I asked as I removed the tangled sheets from around me.

Travis pointed to one of the black lumps, 'There.'

I suddenly felt really cold, 'Then who are the other two?'

Travis' face fell.

'Leo and Bianca,' his voice quavered, 'I think-I think Annabeth and Percy got left behind.'

I sat down on the hammock only to slip and fall off it. We'd left them behind. Percy was the main person we aimed to save, and he was the one we'd left him behind.

Travis got up from the crates and moved to the window.

'I can't believe we couldn't rescue them,' he whispered, 'He's our commander. What will we do without him?'

'We follow Luke,' Clarisse said suddenly, trying to sit up in the hammock only to get hopelessly ensnared. 'Little help here.'

I chuckled and walked over to free her from her captor.

'Well, I appreciate the faith,' I said once I'd gotten her loose, 'But I don't think I can lead the army.'

She shook her head, 'Percy left you as second-in-command for a reason. He wants you to be commander if he can't be.'

'She's right,' Travis crossed his arms.

I stared at him, 'Choose a side, will you?'

'Percy left you as second in command,' Clarisse glared at me, 'So he wants you to lead us.'

'But I don't want to lead you,' I cried.

The door swung open and Jason, Reyna, Hazel and Sally walked in.

'We heard shouting,' Hazel said, 'Is everything alright?'

'Yes,' Clarisse said, smirking, 'Everything's peachy.'

I bit back a retort and walked over next to Leo's hammock. His breathing was steady but his hands looked pale and he was even thinner than usual.

I glanced around at the other three who'd been captives and saw that they were pretty much in the same condition. Every one of them looked like they'd rubbed way too much sunscreen on themselves. Their skin appeared unhealthy and they all looked starved.

'What happened?' I muttered.

'You guys were holding the portal open,' Reyna said, 'And then the others dived through. We waited for Epsilon and Annabeth, but ... but ...'

She couldn't continue so Jason took up the story.

'The portal started closing,' he said in a hollow voice, 'Angel and Flames tried to go after them, but like you said, it would've been suicide. Annabeth became visible for a second, like she'd gone through as it was closing. We hoped they'd make it through in time. But,' he looked at the ground, 'they didn't.'

'You three collapsed when the portal closed,' Hazel persisted, 'We thought you were just exhausted from the energy it took to open the portal. Sally, Reyna and I got you three back to the boat, Jason and Piper helped Flames. We got you three into the hammocks and got some food in the other four before we got them to rest. Then we went above deck to make sure Festus knew where we were going.'

'Oh,' I felt like my mouth was filled with sand.

'We wanted to go back for Epsilon and Annabeth,' Hazel whispered, 'But we can't open portals.'

'So that's it,' Travis slid down the wall and placed his head in his hands, 'they're dead.'

Jason frowned, weariness etched in the lines around his face, 'What do you mean?'

Travis looked up, 'Think about it. Flames, Angel, Piper and Frank escaped. You can imagine Destruction isn't going to be too pleased. Who knows what he'll do? He could go into a rage and kill them?'

'Epsilon isn't so easy to kill,' Clarisse reminded him.

'Oh, come on, Drakon,' Travis said hopelessly, 'Think about it. Epsilon must be at least as weak as the others. He's been starved in there, not to mention tortured. How long do you think he'll last now that the others have escaped?'

Clarisse lapsed into a stunned silence.

'He's still got Annabeth,' I mumbled.

Travis shot me a look and I remembered that Annabeth was the one who betrayed him all those years ago. Now he was alone in prison with her.

Jason, however, nodded in agreement, 'Annabeth would look after him.'

Travis shook his head, 'I don't know, guys. Epsilon is really strong. But even he can't hold out forever. We have to end this soon, or he isn't going to make it out.'

His voice choked up at the end. I glanced over at Leo and Bianca.

'Come on, guys,' I said, 'We should leave the others for a while. Is there a place we could sit?'

'The lounge,' Jason motioned to the door, 'Let's go.'

We filed out the door one-by-one in awkward silence. We exited the infirmary and headed up to the lounge.

It was pretty sweet. Eight huge, comfy massage chairs were gathered around a mahogany table. Plates and cups rattled with the ship inside cupboards surrounding the interior of the room.

Painted over the walls was a moving picture of Camp Half-Blood, showing what was actually happening. As I watched, a little girl ran around the fire in the middle of the cabins doing cartwheels.

We all took seats around the table. Strangely, Sally, Hazel, Jason and Reyna steered clear of one chair in particular. I want to sit in it but Jason caught my arm.

'No one sits in that one,' he told me, 'We keep it empty.'

Now that I looked at it closer, it did have an empty feel to it. A spider had weaved one lonely web in a corner.

I frowned, 'Why do you keep it bare?'

The four's faces fell.

'That's where he always sat,' Jason sighed, 'Our friend, Percy Jackson. We don't let anyone sit in it as a tribute to him.'

Hazel pointed to the one that Clarisse occupied, 'We usually keep that one empty, too. It was where our friend Leo use to sit before he died. But because there aren't enough chairs-'

She trailed off and Clarisse shifted. Jason looked a little guilty, but I'd already guessed that he knew who Flames was.

I moved away from Percy's chair with growing unease. I seemed unfair to go near it now that he was most likely doomed. I took a seat across from Hazel and we all lapsed into uncomfortable silence.

'So,' Clarisse broke the silence as easily as she might a monster, 'We're headed back to Camp?'

'Yeah,' Jason said bluntly, 'We gotta get the Piper, Frank, Angel and Flames back. And let the others know what happened.'

More silence. Sally hadn't said a word. She knew that Epsilon was her lost son and was probably mourning over his impending death. I glanced over at her, and sure enough, her head was bent low over the table, tears shinning in the corners of her eyes.

'We have to do something!' Hazel cried out suddenly, slamming her fist against the table.

She let out a sob and I noticed all the silverware in the room shaking. Reyna lay a hand on her arm and the cutlery stopped moving. Even though we all looked crestfallen, we wanted the same thing.

And I intended to get it for us.

'She's right,' I said, 'We have to rescue them. Epsilon is important to this upcoming battle, as is Annabeth. We've all got a part to play, and we need to help them play it.'

'But how,' Jason frowned.

'Iris message,' I said instinctively. I was surprised out how fast the answer came to me.

'But we all ready tried that,' Clarisse sighed, 'Several times back at Camp.'

'We did,' I agreed, 'But now we know where they are; Destruction's Fortress in the Black Realm. We could do it.'

The others started warming to the idea, but really slowly. I could tell they were hesitating.

'He's right.'

Everyone looked over at Sally. It was the first she'd spoken since we'd been back on the ship. Sally met our eyes, one-by-one before continuing.

'He's right,' she repeated, 'We didn't know where they were before, but now we do. This can work. We have to try. Or else, the battle is lost. Epsilon will be our success or downfall in this war. We cannot do this with out.'

Percy as the success or downfall. It sounded all too familiar to the first Great Prophecy; Olympus to preserve or raze. Everyone thought that the hero was Percy, until we found out it was actually me.

Strange turn of events.

Jason leaned forward over the table, 'What do you mean, "our success of downfall?" Does that mean if he's not here, we're doomed?'

Sally tapped her sword hilt nervously, 'Worse than that. If Destruction breaks him and convinces Epsilon to be on his side, all is lost for us.'

As the realization of that sunk in, we all dug deeper into our chairs and into a scary silence.

Leo's POV

(AN: I could end it there, but I haven't updated for a few days, so I'll keep going.)

I could feel myself gently swinging back and forth.

When I woke, I was so comfortable that I didn't want to get up. It was so nice here. Maybe the army were on the holiday went on every 100 Chaos years. I often set up my own hammock in between two tall trees. Yeah, that's what was going on. We were on our routine holiday and-

I opened my eyes.

There were hammocks everywhere with medical supplies scattered and the strong smell of wood. I was in the Argo II infirmary. It all came rushing back.

Destruction's fortress; the escape; the portal; Percy and Annabeth.

What had we done?

I can't believe that we left him behind, after all he'd done for us. We'd taken advantage of him, and now he was stuck in prison with only the girl who betrayed him for company. I had never felt so useless and weak, not even when I fired on New Rome.

I sat up in my hammock and looked around. I spotted Piper, Frank and Bianca. I could tell it was Bianca, even though she had her hood drawn up, because the aura of death around her. No offence to her or anything.

I slipped out of the hammock considerably easily. I designed them, what do you expect?

As soon as I put weight on my left foot, I collapsed back down in agony. Guess that ambrosia wore off. My crash woke Bianca who whispered, 'Leo?'

I gritted my teeth, 'Yeah, down here. I just ... slipped.'

She tried to get up from her hammock but got twisted in the sheets. I stiffled a chuckle as she tumbled onto the floor. She nimbly made her way over to me with the grace of a doe. She knelt down next to me and grimaced.

'Here,' she said, reaching for some ambrosia which I ate gratefully. The familiar taste reminded me off home and my mother. 'Better?'

She pulled me up and I tested it gingerly. It still hurt, but not so much that I couldn't walk.

I smiled, 'Yeah.'

'Come on,' she said, 'Let's go for a walk.'

I dipped my head as she tugged me along. I was seriously excited to see Festus. Jason and Piper told me that no one could understand him, so they trusted that Festus knew where he was going. I couldn't wait to see what my faithful bronze dragon had been up to.

Bianca didn't release her grip on my arm until we stood on the deck. I limped towards the bronze figurehead at the front of the ship and she followed close behind.

Festus did a 180 to lok at me. He started at me (as much as a bronze dragon can stare) in a kind of stunned silence, making none of his usual creaks and squeaks.

'Hey, buddy,' I whispered, 'Miss me.'

A single drop of oil creaked from his glowing red eye and dropped to the ground. I reached up and stroked his snout. Festus snorted. Creak?

A felt my tears roll down my cheeks, 'Yeah, buddy. Its me, its me.'

As I stepped forward and put my arms around his metal neck, I just kept repeating that. I was dimly aware of Bianca standing behind me. But all I cared about was being reunited with my dragon after all these years thinking I would never see him again.

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

I spun around, wincing in pain when my broken ankle took my weight. I was expecting an awkward Bianca. Instead Bianca stood about two feet behind the other girl who was staring at me, wide eyed and stony faced. Hazel.

'Uh, hey,' I wasn't sure what to say, but nothing beats hello, right?

'Hi,' she replied cautiously, her golden eyes flicking from me to Festus and back again.

'Festus doesn't really take to strangers,' Hazel said sharply, 'Not since his last owner died. You better step away or he'll take your hand off.'

I smiled sadly. She didn't know that I was his last owner. I didn't know what was with her bitter tone, though. I turned back and scratched under Festus' chin.

I glanced over my shoulder without turning my head. Hazel was glaring at me but shook was visible in her eyes.

'How can you touch him?' she demanded, 'No one but the seven can, and even then he won't let us get too close. The only person who could touch him like that was-'

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her freeze.

'-Leo,' she finished in a whisper.

I tensed. Without turning around I could feel Hazel's eyes on me. I continued scratching the dragon's chin. I could hear Bianca retreating a few steps back. I closed my eyes, wishing that Hazel would leave it, that I could be anywhere but here.

No such luck.

I heard her take a tentative step forward.

'Leo,' she repeated warily.

Sighing, I turned around and pulled back my hood, 'Hi, Hazel.'

That's as far as I got before she flew at me, punching every surface she could reach.

'Leo Valdez!' she cried, tears streaming. 'How could you? You let us think you were dead! How could you leave us like that? Why did you not tell us? It's been 10 years, Leo, 10 years! We've all thought you were dead for 10 years!'

'Please, Hazel!' I yelped. Each strike made me want to slip to unconsciousness. My head pounded and my body, weak from a fortnight in prison, was vulnerable to every hit.

'Hazel, it's alright,' Bianca said, trying to pry her off me, 'Everythings fine.'

'No!' Hazel screamed as Bianca pulled her back, 'He left me. He left us. Where have you been for the last 10 years?'

Her yells brought the attention of everyone else, save Frank and Piper who were still in the infirmary. Reyna and Sally were the only other ones who didn't know who I was. When they reached the top of the stairs and saw me, they gasped, shock registering in their expressions.

Luke ran to my side and helped steady me. Bianca was still holding back Hazel who struggled in the daughter of Hades' tight grip.

'Oh gods, Leo,' I heard Jason mutter. It wasn't something Hazel missed.

She whipped her head around, glaring viciously at the son of Jupiter.

'You knew?' she screeched, 'You knew who he was and didn't tell us?'

'He made me promise not to.'

Jason backed up, his eyes wide and his hands raised in surrender. Hazel turned back to me and leapt.

'How could you let us think you were dead?' she wailed.

She was pumelling me while Luke tried to seperate us. The others seemed to stunned to help.

'You left us at the Doors of Death. You were dead, for Hades sake, Leo! We all thought you were gone; gone and not coming back,' she sobbed as she pounded. I could fell my vision bluring and my grip on consciousness slipping. 'I thought you were gone forever!'

'Hazel,' I mumbled, 'Please.'

I caught her wrist as it came down for another strike. I looked straight into her eyes, 'Please.'

Something in her softened. Tears cascaded down her cheeks in a waterfall. Her bottom lip trembled and she lunged forwards a third time. Only this time, she wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace. I knew that she was really grateful that I was alive.

'Hazel,' I sighed before finally giving in to the ever increasing pull of darkness.

I know, I know, I know. A late update. Im sooooooo sorry! I was rewatching a TV series called Once Upon A Time. Its really good, and it really hard to watch and write at the same time.

Anyways, how did you like this chapter. I thought it was funny how Hazel attacked Leo when she found out. By the way, they're not getting together. She was just happy he was alive, and she's still with Frank.

Ok, like always, questions. Last chapter, the question was, 'If you could be a nature spirit, which one would you be?' Thanks to all those responses. This chapter, the question is; Which is your favourite book of the first series? That is from the LIghtning Thief to the Last Olympian. For example, my favourites are the Titan's Curse and the Battle of the Labyrinth. Also, does anyone have any ideas for questions? I'm kinda running out.

As always, please vote, comment and follow. Getting all that is always the main highlight of my days (my days are lame).

So, vote, comment, follow and remember THE HOUSE OF HADES COMES OUT IN 5 DAYS!!! OH MY GODS! ;)

TripleM out all!