All Heroes Fall

"Hold on a second, you saw who?" Jason asked Percy. Percy rolled his eyes.

"It's not Arabic, Graace. Me-du-sa." Jason rolled his eyes and shook his head. I grinned, although I knew this wasn't the time or place for it. This was serious.

"Medusa, as in the Medusa?"

"Yes, Jason. The Medusa. Is it so amazing that I met her?" Percy walked to the side of the ship and looked out to the passing clouds. His black hair tousled by the wind, he looked very handsome. On this ship, his eyes always seemed brighter. Happier.

"But, you didn't just meet her. She wouldn't recognize you . . ." Jason looked genuinely confused. But his eyes lit with a thunderstorm when he understood what had come to pass. " Unless you've met her before." Jason laughed and shook his head in disbelief. "You killed Medusa. Holy cow, Jackson. I knew you had guts, but I never knew you had a death wish."

"Who needs wishes when you have mythological powers?"

"Yes, this is all nice and dandy conversation, but we have more important matters to focus on. Let's take for instance, the fact that the monsters are leaking out of Tartarus. Or, the fact that monsters are leaking out of Tartarus." This common banter was nice and all, but we had more important things to focus on.

"Always the kill joy aren't you, Chase?" Leo said joining the group. Piper, Hazel, and Frank joined him shortly afterward.

"She's just trying to get things done. Which is more than I can say for you Repair Boy." Piper walked to Jason's side. He draped his arm around her shoulder as they leaned against the edge of the ship.

"I'm the one piloting this ship, if you don't mind." Leo crossed his arms in a defiant stance while Hazel scoffed at him?

"Really?" She asked. "Because from my view, there's no one manning the ship at all." Realizing this, Leo's eyes widened as he ran to the controls. Turning the wheel, he righted the ship sending the rest of us fighting for balance.

"I'm serious, guys! We have to figure out what to do!" I said. We weren't getting anywhere, and I was starting to become anxious, and worried.

"We could post some of us at the doors to stop monsters from escaping," Leo said.

"That's too dangerous. We'd lose our lives preventing the inevitable," Hazel countered.

"Maybe we should find someone else to guard them," Piper suuggested.

"I'm not quite sure that would work either. Who would be willing to do that?" Percy suggested. Leo, Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Percy broke out into argument about what should be done. Frank and I walked toward each other and looked on in amazement. Just a moment ago, they were joking. Now, this. Frank finally spoke.

"Hey," he said. "Hey?" He said louder. "HEY!!!" He shouted. Everyone froze. Frank never shouted at anyone. Never. "What if," he said calmer. "We just do nothing."


Silence.


Leo laughed. "You're joking right?" A thought occurred to me.

"No. He's right." I said. All eyes turned to me. "We would waste time on a distraction that can't be helped. If we were to kill the monsters as they exited the doors, they would just reform and try to escape again. They only way we can stop them, is by closing the doors. And we can't do that if we don't have every person to help. We work better as a team." Nodding. But doubt.

"That's a nice plan and all. I mean, I'm all for doing nothing, but," Percy said. "How are we going to close the doors in the first place?" That, was a problem, yes. But I knew what to do.

"We have to go to hell and pay a visit to the Lord of the Dead." I smiled

"And his son."

Notes

Nico's been kind of absent lately. :/

Not anymore! :D