Shattered

Jason

Jason could only watch in horror at the fallen titan's final act before he was sealed in his eternal prison. The fiery being, reeking of demonic energy, and larger than a planet, drove his massive sword deep into the nearby planet the son of Jupiter and his comrades had been fighting to save. Sargeras, titanic leader of the Burning Legion, an army of demons that reached across all realities, laughed maniacally as he was pulled back by his brethren. They had defeated him, but how could they heal Azeroth from such a grievous wound?

"Pretty depressing, right?" Chelsea whispered in his ear.

He nodded, unwilling to look away from the screen.

It was Saturday, and for once he had the house (mostly) to himself. He had made plans with Chelsea to come over and raid together, talk about what happened at prom, and just kind of hang out. The plan had almost hit a snag when Hades and Persephone were leery of letting him have a girl over without parental supervision (which he couldn't believe with everything he had been through), and he had almost been reduced to begging on his hands and knees before Demeter stepped in. The elder goddess stated that if Percy and Nico got to go on a trip to a museum (which was way oversimplified), then he should be allowed to have a friend over, and that she would keep an eye on them. Hades had looked like he was going to press the issue, but Demeter's glare won out. So much so, that his adoptive father left them money for pizza.

"You mean to tell me, that after all the demons we've slain, the friends we've lost, and the sheer number of hours we've put into our artifacts, that we lost?!" he practically cried out in disbelief, gripping his mouse so tight that the plastic threatened to crack. "Wait, that's the bad ending right? If we do it again but faster, we save the day, right?"

Chelsea absently reached over and grabbed a slice of the meat lovers pizza that sat between them on the bed; frowning when several pieces of sausage fell off as she pulled it free. "Nope," she said, popping the 'p', before taking a rather unladylike bite of the greasy mess that passed as pizza. "That's the end, minus giving up your artifact's power to help seal the wound."

"I have to what?" the son of Jupiter cried, looking at his mighty Tauren paladin's sword and shield, Truthguard. He had braved the depths of an ancient tomb to retrieve the powerful set of weapons, infused them with power and the blood of thousands of demons, and he was expected to give them up?! Just like that?! Suddenly, the world getting stabbed didn't seem like such a bummer. Hades, he had let his grades drop (slightly) so he could invest more time into gearing up Super Sparky.

The blonde swallowed the last of her pizza (Seriously Chelsea? That was like two bites?!) and rubbed her mouth clean on her arm. "Yeah, it's a bummer," the girl shrugged. "But next expansion we get a necklace and do pretty much the same thing all over again. Plus, you can just transmog your artifact's appearance onto whatever new weapon you get."

He bobbed his head side-to-side as the cutscene ended. "I guess that's true... Still though."

"Level. Grind. Repeat," Chelsea chuckled as she responded to something in guild chat. "That is the Warcraft way." She then pushed the pizza box closer to him. "Aren't you going to have anymore? You've barely touched it."

Jason eyed the pizza skeptically. "I don't know Chels, getting pizza from a gas station sounds sketchy to me." The pizza did taste good, even if it was a bit greasy from all the meats piled on top, but he had heard enough horror stories about food purchased at gas stations to make him hesitant to eat more than two slices. "So, you go on right ahead."

Chelsea looked at him as if he had just uttered the darkest of blasphemies. The blonde girl closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and closed her laptop. "First of all, city boy, Fast Stop, is not a gas station," she said, using air quotes. "It's a general store that happens to sell gas." The blonde leaned forward, but still kept a comfortable distance from him, a clear sign that she was feigning her rage. "Second, you should be thankful for its existence! Do you know what it was like around here before it was built? Hmm? A twenty minute drive -minimum- to any place that had a store, let alone pizza! Third-"