The House of Hades

Chapter 33: Hazel

Last chapter! And posted on the day the real book comes out, haha.

Hope you enjoy this chapter! Gotta admit, it's kinda sorta depressing, but personally I think it ties everything up pretty nicely.

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Chapter 33: Hazel

Hazel was in a daze. 

After a lot of worry, toil, injuries, and tears, they had reached the House of Hades.

She had single handedly summoned about ten thousand of the dead.

She, Percy, and Annabeth had destroyed all the monsters while Leo, Frank, Jason, and Piper had mysteriously figured out how to use the Athena Parthenos to summon the gods to help them destroy the giants.

They had closed the Doors of Death.

They had lost Nico, Annabeth, and Leo along the way.

That was a pretty accurate summary of the past few weeks. And everyone else was an absolute mess. No one was celebrating their victory. True they had won, but the price had been too high. 

Hazel stood at the stern, the wind blowing in her hair, and watched as the Ionian Sea passed beneath the ship. Yeah, they had got the ship working without Leo. Last night, she had had a dream of him writing an instruction manual for the ship. When she woke up, she found the thousand page book crammed underneath the control panel, full of instructions a three year old would be able to understand. So they had been able to get the ship started pretty easily.

Except now they were going west instead of east. Yup, no rest, no break for the weary demigods. Now they had to go back to Camp Half-Blood, break up the fight between the two camps, break it to Camp Jupiter that their praetor was dead, convince the gods to help in the fight against Gaea, and head back to Greece for the final confrontation. More impossible stuff to do. Hazel wondered if they would ever catch a break.

Her eyes welled up with tears as she made her way below deck to the Mess Hall, though she had to smile when she saw Jason and Piper already there. They were, ahem, talking without words. Ever since they had gotten out of the House of Hades, Jason and Piper had been having one, long, reunion. Gosh, they were even worse than Percy and Annabeth.

Percy and Annabeth.

A tear slid down Hazel's face. However depressed everyone else was, it was nothing compared to how Percy was feeling. It was just so unfair. Now, he and Annabeth would never get their happy ending. 

She decided to go visit him again. Ever since they got back on the ship, he had spent the entire time shut up in his cabin, refusing to talk at all. Hazel didn't know what he and Annabeth had gone through in Tartarus, but it had obviously stretched him to the breaking point.

Then Annabeth getting locked in Tartarus to die? Yeah, that had pretty much finished off the job.

Hazel knocked on his cabin door, and when she didn't receive an answer, she opened it to see Percy curled up on the bed, fast asleep. Tiptoeing up to his bed, she saw he was hugging...a teddy bear? And a picture of Annabeth.

Hazel allowed herself one sad smile, before trying to walk back out of the cabin without waking him up.

Too late.

Percy's eyes shot open, and he sat straight upright in his bed, Riptide already uncapped. He had been on edge since Tartarus. And his eyes...Hazel wondered sadly if he would ever be the same again.

When he saw Hazel, his expression closed up, and he lay back into bed, very pointedly displaying his back to her. 

Then Jason and Piper walked in, holding hands, followed by Frank, who grabbed Hazel's hand when he saw her sad expression.

They all grouped around Percy, all of them trying how to say that he needed to snap out of it in the most tactful way. 

But then Hazel realized that was what they had been trying to tell him all say. So she tried a different approach,

"Percy, my mom, before she - um - got possessed by Gaea...she used to say that sharing a burden makes it easier to bear. But if you don't want to talk about it, it's okay,"

Percy turned towards her, and in his sea-green eyes, she got her answer.

They reflected hundreds of horrible tortures from Tartarus; hallucinations, monsters, betrayals, they showed a great sadness, along with an anger almost as large. And a bitterness. Lots of bitterness. 

And then he spoke,

"We're on our way to the Camps, to the gods, and then back to Greece. I'm not going to back out of this, but I have one condition. When we finally kill Gaea, I get to strike the final blow,"

His fists clenched, but Hazel heard some of the old Percy in there too. Jason smiled,

"You've got yourself a deal," and clapped Percy on the back. Percy didn't smile back, but he did attempt a kind of half-grimace. Maybe there was still hope.

Then, a huge thump sounded from above deck, and a shout from Coach Hedge. Everyone rushed upstairs, Percy hobbling on his broken leg, but still in the lead. Wow. 

Worst timing ever for another monster attack.

When Hazel reached the stern, though, she saw Percy standing stock-still, as though turned to stone. There, on the deck, was a gigantic mound of black fur that Hazel recognized as Mrs. O'Leary, the first and only friendly hellhound she had ever met. And there, besides her...honey-blond hair, streaked with dirt, and dust, stormy gray eyes. Hazel felt like she was about to faint.

It was Annabeth.

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Aaaaaaand, cut! 

I finished! Oh my gosh, I actually finished! I'm so happy!

Thanks so much to all you wonderful readers, especially the extra amazing ones who voted and commented.

Seriously, when I first started this story back in June, I never expected to get more than a couple hundred reads, maybe a vote or a rare comment here and there. But now...4,593 reads? 260 votes? 214 comments? And I'm on the first page? It's amazing, and it makes me so happy to think that people actually enjoyed this.

I want to dedicate this chapter to all you amazing readers, but I would like to acknowledge Mumreader and Magicalmas, who were the first to comment and vote on this story, as well as annakins19 and PiperMclean33088, who were sometimes the only ones who bothered to comment on chapters, Lasereyes66 for his encouragment and really nice comment, and OurLostSouls, my_seaweed_brain, AvaDecker, partygirl237, booklover105, eshelfish, payton32rox, reader1323, LittleBlackStar_x, midnight_rain729, and EvilEspressoDrinks for either voting consistently, or posting many really nice comments. Thanks!

And, that concludes my House of Hades fanfiction! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!