The Blood of Olympus: Fan Fiction

Chapter XXII

A/N: Fair warning, it's short... Sorry!

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XXII- Jason

To be honest, Jason wasn't expecting Piper to return so quickly.

So when she had climbed on deck barely twenty minutes after she had left, it was safe so say Jason was a bit startled.

"Piper!" He yelped, as she nearly collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He caught her before she could crack her head open on the deck.

"I'm... fine..." Piper assured wearily.

"No, you're not." Jason insisted, guiding Piper below deck as she leaned against him. "Stay here," he instructed, setting her down on the couch in the lounge room. "I'll go get some ambrosia."

After making sure she was alright, he headed downstairs to the sickbay. Grabbing the ambrosia, he ran back out into the hallway and nearly ran into Hazel.

Hazel let out a small chuckle. "Gods, Jason. You're in a hurry. What's with the rush?"

Jason held up the baggie full of ambrosia. "Piper just got back."

Hazel followed as Jason continued back up to the lounge room. "Is she alright?"

Jason nodded without looking back. "A few scratches and bruises, here and there. She's just tired."

They finally reached the lounge room, where Piper had fallen asleep, her head resting on a pillow.

Jason couldn't help but smile. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep; so carefree.

"Hey, I heard Beauty Queen was back," Leo exclaimed as he walked through the doorway.

Jason held a finger to his lips as he nodded, signaling the son of Hephaestus to be quiet.

Leo nodded, understanding the silent message. He sat down beside Jason on the couch opposite to Piper's. "Man, she looks exhausted. She sent that giant back to Tartarus in... what? Twenty minutes? Fifteen? Impressive."

"Tell me about it," Jason murmured, leaning back and closing his eyes. "At least that's one more giant we don't have to worry about anymore."

"Yeah," Leo agreed quietly. "What worries me, though, is the amount of giants we do have to worry about."

"And the rest of Gaea's army." Jason added.

"And Gaea herself," Leo muttered.

"Boys," Hazel chided from her spot beside Piper. "Be more optimistic. We've got a chance at victory."

"A small chance," Leo added.

Hazel frowned, "That's still a chance. We've just got to believe that we can win this. Juno picked us for a reason-- we're pretty powerful."

Jason sighed and opened his eyes, "You're right, Hazel. It's just hard to be optimistic at a time like this."

"You don't have to tell me twice," said another voice.

Jason looked up to see Annabeth walking in. "What?"

Annabeth shrugged as she sat in a chair beside the two couches. "I've been in a war before. It's always hard to be optimistic, especially during a battle as big as this one."

Jason nodded, remembering that Annabeth had fought in the second Titan War in Manhattan.

"What are you guys talking about?" Percy asked as he walked in, sitting down on the floor in front of Annabeth.