Hazel rushed back to the living room, draping her rucksack against her shoulders and grasping her sword in her free hand. The sharp, Imperial Gold tip trailed along the floor, the heavy weapon cutting a long stripe along the once beautiful carpet.

Despite Leo's best intentions, the countless monsters had pretty much ruined the whole 'luxurious' feel of the Argo II.

"Hazel! Great, let's go!" Percy smiled when she ran into the room and plonked the sword on the floor, beginning to tie her hair into a rushed ponytail. The lack of organisation was killing her!

"Where are you going?" A voice spoke from right next to her ear. Hazel screamed, clutching her chest and jumping away from the source of the noise before turning to see... her half-brother?

"Nico? What? How... huh?" She stuttered, working on calming her heart down. The Son of Hades looked unimpressed.

"I was at Camp Jupiter. Not that anyone noticed, of course..."

"No, no, we did notice! We just-"

Nico shot his half-sister another disapproving glance. "Right, ok, you noticed. So, I'll ask again, where are you going?"

Annabeth jumped in briskly, brushing a strand of curly blonde hair behind her ear. "We're heading to a cave quite near to here, right next to the ocean. Apparently, there's been an array of strange weather anomalies happening around that area, so we figured that's where the possessed gods have been hanging out."

Nico nodded absently. "Right. Can I come?"

"Umm..." Percy looked over at Annabeth, looking for an answer. She shook her head.

"Sorry, Nico, we've already prepared ourselves. Maybe you can stay here and watch Jason, ok?"

Nico sneered at Jason on the couch. He appeared to have zoned out, staring at the ceiling, and seemed to be having difficulty breathing. "Great. That'll be fun-"

"Hey!" Hazel punched her half-brother in the arm. "Behave, ok?" She gave him a strict look and he shut up quickly.

"Alrighty! Let's go save the world! Bye, Nico!" Frank said awkwardly, gesturing with his arms in a clumsy, self-conscious way. Hazel's heart fluttered at the sight of her sweet boyfriend, and she smiled to herself.

Then, she hugged Nico and left the ship with her friends to find their probable death.

~·~·~

"Are we nearly there yet..." Percy whined for the thousandth time, and Hazel had to stop herself from punching him the face. Only because Annabeth did it for her, though.

"Yowww! Wha' was da' for?" Percy protested, clutching his nose and turning away from his girlfriend, obviously deciding to sulk from now on.

"No, we are not here yet! You'll notice when we arrive; it's pretty obvious!" Annabeth looked over at her boyfriend, who was still holding his nose and over-reacting, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Seaweed Brain."

Percy looked over with a big, dopey grin on his face. "Yay!" Annabeth laughed and pecked his cheek, and Hazel felt a large hand enclose around hers. Frank smiled down at her, and squeezed her hand gently.

Once again, Hazel's heart fluttered, and she bit back a squeal. She loved her Beast Boy so much... (AN: Awwwww!!!!)

However, the contented atmosphere was abruptly ruined by a clash of thunder. Hazel followed Annabeth's gaze to find a creepy cave entrance in the side of a looming black cliff. Murky grey clouds gathered overhead, while thorny, thick vines decorated the sides of the cave by wrapping and twisting up the rock.

The nearby ocean was restless and thrashed threateningly. The salty sea sprayed droplets across Hazel's face, stinging her cheeks, and she quickly shielded herself.

"I'm guessing we're here now..." Percy whispered, his voice suddenly quiet and serious. No one bothered to reply, the answer swirling clearly through the howling wind.

Hazel gulped. "Ok, come on," she urged, biting back her fear and walking forwards. "Lets just go in, slice the gods up with the sword, and leave. Simples!" She made a little meerkat noise.

No one laughed.

~·~·~

"Hello demigods. We were expecting you!"

Oh great. They hadn't even decided to have a wonderfully timed nap. Instead, they had been sitting and talking lazily, which was extra strange because they were all Gaia...

Hazel's brain was scrambled.

"Uh, hey," Percy grinned weakly, opening his arms out in an open gesture and confirming that his brain was also scrambled. "We came to help you..."

Athena stepped forward, her eyes glowing a muddy green colour. "I don't need help, little pawn! It's you who need help; it's such a shame your precious little gods are mine!"

"Gaia, you can't do this!" Annabeth interrupted, stepping forward with her hands in fists at her sides. Anger was etched on her face and her teeth were bared. Hazel had never seen her look so angry before.

"Oh, sorry, I'll just give up now because you've told me! Yeah, sure." This time, it was Neptune, no, Poseidon, who moved towards the group, his roughly handsome face molded into a vicious smile.

"Let him GO!" Percy shouted, furious, though his eyes shone with worry. Gaia began to ramble on with another mocking comeback, when Annabeth whispered into Percy's ear discreetly. After a second, Percy discreetly held his palm out behind his back. "The sword?" He murmured, opening and closing his fingers.

Frank looked at her questioningly. She hesitated but nodded, and her boyfriend pressed the hilt of the sword into the Son of Poseidon's hand who grabbed it immediately.

"-and therefore, you silly demigods will never, ever, ever, defeat me!" Gaia finished, clapping her... his hands in delight.

Percy nodded. "Hmm, yeah. Sure. There's one problem: we are not going to be defeated that easily!"

Hazel watched in awe as Percy leapt forwards with the speed and grace of a gazelle. He spun the sword above his head and sliced a small gash in his possessed father's arm. Immediately, Poseidon's eyes cleared and turned a clear sea green colour. His weather-beaten face showed pain and shock.

"S-son?" He asked, looking confused.

"Dad, get out of here," Percy told him, and Poseidon obeyed. Immediately, the sounds of the thrashing waves ceased. "Hazel, catch!"

Before Hazel could even blink, she stretched out a hand and her fingers closed around the hilt of the heavy sword from Telesforos. It hummed with energy and glowed with power, filling Hazel with energy. She spun around and nicked Demeter's hand. The goddess screeched in agony, cradling her arm to her chest, and disappeared in a poof of cornflakes.

"Yes!" Hazel grinned. "Frank!" She threw the sword towards the Son of Mars who nimbly grabbed it from the air and swung it towards Hephaestus' chest, attempting to cut him a little.

However, the huge, muscly god - who was still Gaia, Hazel reminded herself - swung out an arm. She screamed as the arm made contact with Frank's stomach and he flew backwards, his head smacking against the rock. He slid down and landed in a crumbled heap at the floor, still conscious but wheezing.

The sword was still in his hand, and Percy ducked under Hera's flailing limbs to grab it, swapping it with a square of Ambrosia which Frank stuffed into his mouth before standing up, good as new.

"Quick! Help!" Hazel yelled, barely able to stop Apollo's strong punches from smashing her into bits, but the boys were too far away to help and Annabeth was already struggling against Persephone.

A massive fist came flying towards her face, and Hazel closed her eyes, preparing for the pain.

But none came. Instead, Frank was shouting. "Hazel, move! Hazel! Hazel!"

Hazel cracked open her eyes and found Percy standing completely still. His eyes were closed, his arm out, and his chest was steady. With a gasp, Hazel realised he was controlling Apollo's hand, stopping it.

"Percy..?" She asked, unsure. He threw the sword towards her and she grabbed it, slashing a gnash across Apollo's knuckles. Both the god and Percy unfroze, Apollo looking around with a suprised expression and disappearing and Percy doubling over, breathless.

"Hazel, pass the sword," Annabeth yelled, close to her, and Hazel handed it to her friend, watching as she freed Aphrodite, Persephone and Artemis in one swing. Hazel scanned the rest of the gods. There was Hephaestus, Ares, Hermes, Hera, Athena and Zeus himself, standing tall and strong.

~·~·~

"I have the hostages!"

The delighted, raspy voice broke through the tense silence of the stare-down between the demigods and Zeus. The other gods and goddesses had been freed, but Zeus, tall and slim, was particularly good at dodging and ducking.

Everyone turned to see Hades emerging from the seemly everlasting cave, his pale face grinning maliciously. Hazel craned her neck, attempting to spot the hostages, when two limp figures came tumbling down from between his long fingers, landing painfully on the rocky surface.

"Great! Gosh, I am so brilliant!" Gaia made Zeus say, and Hazel saw Percy and Annabeth roll their eyes. "Now, spill their blood!"

"No!" Frank screeched suddenly, lurching forwards. "It's Leo and Piper!"

"Indeed, little demigod. What a shame they won't be waking up anytime soon!" Hades cackled, producing a pure black dagger from his cloak and holding it carefully.

Hazel yelped and tried to rush to her friends, but Zeus threw an arm out, green-brown eyes sparkling. All of a sudden, a wall of powerful wind was right in front of the demigods, stopping them from saving the two unconscious demigods.

Percy let out a scream of anguish as Hades positioned the blade directly above Piper's chest, just over her heart. If that plunged down... Hazel let out a sob.

Suddenly, the wind wall blew apart. Jason Grace stood there, Nico beside him, hands outstretched, pushing the forcefield apart. His face was angry.

"You forgot to keep me ill!" He yelled, running up to Percy and taking the special gold sword. He cut his father's arm, watching him disappear, before turning to a startled Hades, his face contorted into a scowl.

"Now don't you dare touch my girlfriend!" The Son of Jupiter brandished the sword in front of him and sprinted towards the possessed god. Hazel breathed heavily. If he got there soon...

No. He was too far away.

Hazel could only watch in horror as the polished black dagger sank directly into Piper's heart. Her ears buzzed. Piper was dead.

But then Hades turned his gaze to Leo, the black dagger dripping Piper's crimson blood onto the Son of Hephaestus' white shirt, leaving ugly splotches. Hazel closed her eyes, unable to watch as Hades' thin arm swooped down once more...

But her ears didn't buzz. Her watery eyes opened to find Jason lying besides Leo, a dagger inbedded into his shoulder. She sobbed as she realised: Jason had pushed aside Leo to take the dagger for him.

Hazel, Frank, Annabeth and Percy, once frozen in shock, surged forward to their friends and cut Hades' chest. He disappeared, and in his place stood Gaia, stronger than ever.

"Blood has been spilt! I can destroy humanity now, thanks to your generosity! And, sorry about your loss... haha, not!"

Gaia melted into the floor and the exhausted demigods turned to examine their unconscious friends lying on the floor. No one spoke.

Leo looked the best out of them all. He was even skinnier than normal, in an unhealthy way, and he was covered in ugly gashes and dirt, but was otherwise fine.

Jason was pale, his shoulder bleeding hard. Percy ripped off some of his shirt and expertly bandaged the wound while Annabeth fed Jason Ambrosia and made him chew it. His scarlet blood was everywhere, soaking his purple t-shirt and dark blue jeans, and caking in his blonde hair and on his cheek. The dagger that Frank had pulled from Jason's shoulder - with Nico's guidance - lay abandoned on the black rock in a puddle of blood, still fresh. Hazel saw tears tracks on his cheeks and turned away, her heart breaking.

And Piper... she looked beautiful, only marred by the bright red-brown that stained her orange shirt like rust. Her eyes were shut, coffee-coloured skin pale, and chocolate brown hair strewn around her face like she was an angel. She lay perfectly still, too still, her arms spread out like she had been willing to except her fate.

There was silence as the dead and unconscious demigods were picked up and shadow-travelled back to the Argo II.

A crew member, one of the Seven was dead.

Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite, was dead.

AN
I can't even... just vote and comment... I don't know...

I'M SO SORRY! :'(

*Runs out of room sobbing* :'( :'( :'(

I *sniff* love you all *sniff* drama llamas...

RandomPhandom xxx

(2118 words! Wow!)