Heroes Of Olympus Quick Stories

Hazel's Death

She knew it was coming. She'd been told the week before by her father, in a dream.
"I can't hide you any longer," Pluto had said.
He'd given her a week's notice, to say her goodbyes. What more could she ask for.
Of course, Hazel hadn't told anyone. She tried several times, but the words would always stick in her throat.
She'd begged her friends to have a picnic on Half-Blood Hill today. They thought it was just for fun. Only Hazel knew it was so she could tell them goodbye. Today was her last day.
So Percy and Jason sat by there girlfriends, squabbling over who was the better boyfriend.
"I caught Piper when she was falling down the Grand Canyon!" Jason said.
"Oh wow! That's almost as good as when I caught Annabeth when she was falling into Tartarus!" Percy retorted.
"You slipped and dropped her!"
"Yes, and then I fell with her!"
Annabeth and Piper laughed and hugged their boyfriends tightly.
Leo and Calypso sat a few inches away, Leo attempting to braid Calypso's hair. Nico sat by himself, eating grapes.
Hazel clung to Frank, watching her friends. The best friends she'd ever known. The friends who were her life. The people she loved.
"Hazel?" Frank whispered. She looked up at him, tears shining.
"What's going on?" Frank continued. "You've been acting strange all week. What's wrong?"
Hazel took a deep breath. It was time.
She stood slowly and cleared her throat. Her friends quieted down and watched her closely.
"Hazel?" Percy asked. "What's wrong?"
Hazel felt the tears coming. She opened her mouth to speak, but a flash came from her left. The others reached for weapons, but Hazel only flinched.
"Pluto?" Nico's strained voice asked. "What are you doing here?"
The god cleared his throat. "Did you tell them?" He asked Hazel. She only shook her head.
"Tell us what?" Frank asked worriedly. Hazel only shook her head. She hid her face with her hair, but the others still saw her shoulders shaking and knew she was crying.
"It seems," Pluto said. "That I will be doing the talking after all."
"What are you talking about?" Percy spat.
"Watch it, Jackson." Pluto said. "Hazel was given a week to tell you this, but it's pretty obvious she could not do it."
"Pluto?" Nico's firm voice prodded.
"It's becoming too difficult to hide her. The other spirits have heard rumors. The other gods are declaring treason, saying I betrayed the laws of death for my own child. They're going to declare war if I don't take her back."
There was silence for several seconds until Frank's wavering voice asked the question they were all thinking.
"Take her?" He said.
"Yes. Back to the underworld."
They all knew it. But it didn't make the shock any easier.
"You can't!" Percy cried.
"Father, don't!" Nico plead.
"Please, don't take her!" Piper wailed. They all scrambled over words, pleading with the god of the underworld to leave their friend to live.
One voice cut through. One voice, two words. And it silenced everything.
"Take me."
It was Frank. Hazel's head snapped up and watched as Frank made the only bargain that would work.
"Excuse me?" Pluto asked.
"Take me instead of Hazel." Frank said, stepping forward.
"Frank, no!" Hazel cried, finding her voice.
Pluto watched the exchange with interest.
"That is the only possibility. But it is ultimately Hazel's decision." He said.
Frank turned to his girlfriend.
"Hazel, please." He said, shaking. "I don't want to live without you."
"And I would never forgive myself if I let you do this." She replied, tears shining in her eyes.
"Hazel, just please let me-"
"I can't, Frank."
"No." Nico said, stepping forward. "But I can. You two need each other. The rest of us need you. Let me take your place, Hazel. Nobody here will miss me."
Nico stood confident that Hazel would accept his logic. Instead, she surprised her brother.
"I would miss you." She said. The girl turned her golden eyes to her friends. They stood before her, all allowing tears to fall freely. She let herself cry with them. Her friends. Her family.
"If any one of you took my place, I'd never forgive myself." She continued. "This is my fate, and I must own up to it."
Nobody spoke. Finally, Pluto laid a hand on Hazel's shoulder.
"It's time." He said shortly. Behind her, Hazel heard the god of the underworld making a portal. She didn't have to look to know what it would look like. She'd died before, after all.
"Elysium." Nico suddenly blurted. All eyes shot to him, including Pluto.
"What?" The god said. Nico locked eyes with his father.
"She gets Elysium." He said.
Pluto's eyes widdened. "I wasn't aware you are the judge of that." The god challenged.
"I'm not." Nico agreed. "But she deserves it. It's the least you can do for her and us."
"Her and you? I owe you mortals nothing."
In an instant, Frank as under the god's nose.
"Nothing!" The warrior hissed. "Actually, I believe you owe these very demigods PLENTY! While you gods were sitting in your relms nursing your poor headaches us eight 'mortals' saved the world! And if it wasn't for Hazel, we would have never even made it across the ocean! So what in Zues's name do you think you mean by 'you owe us nothing'! If Hazel doesn't deserve Elysium than nobody ever did! So you'd do well to send her there, if you think you must take her away from us!"
By the time Frank and finished, nobody knew what to say. This wasn't Frank Zhang who could turn into a teddy bear or a bunny rabbit. This was a new man entirely.
Hazel stood by, crying to herself. She loved Frank, and she didn't want to leave him. But she had to.
As for Pluto, he stared into the fearless eyes of Frank and saw something there. Something that was the making of a true legend.
"Fair enough." The god said. He turned and took Hazel's forearm gently. "Come."
Hazel turned back to her friends one last time. They all watched in fear all saddness. But Hazel couldn't watch much longer.
"I'll never forget you all." She said before she was drug into the portal of death, leaving her life behind her.