DESPITE THE GRIEF, the Earth still turned on its axis. The world still needed saving, which was what they were doing.

The first three days were spent trying to get their shit together. They flew to Epirus to shut the Doors of Death, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, they could actually do this. That Annabeth and Percy were actually alive in Tartarus and that they were going to close the doors on that side.

The day after that, after they'd had a meeting in the mess hall at way-too-early-in-the-morning-o'clock ( it really wasn't; Kat had just woken up at her usual time, around eleven in the morning ) trying to figure their shit out, Jason and Piper cornered Kat.

"Hey," Piper said softly. "Can we talk?"

Kat looked over at her, her gaze flicking to Frank before she looked back to Piper. "Yeah," she said. "We can talk. Come on."

She walked off, letting them follow her as she went down to sickbay.

"Are you still in pain?" Jason asked, concern tingeing his voice as Kat strode into the sickbay.

"It's just my head, it doesn't hurt that bad," she said, hands busy as she filled a cup of water and grabbed ibuprofen. "It really was an accident, I swear! I was worried about you, and it slipped out. I saw blood run down your chest."

She popped the pill in her mouth and swallowed it down with water, turning around and reaching out for Jason. She lifted his shirt up with one hand and traced a finger down the shallow gash going down his chest.

He frowned. "It didn't hurt for that long, I was fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"Of course we do," Piper spoke up, leaning on the counter next to Kat. "No one else is going to worry about you otherwise."

"You don't worry about yourself enough," Kat agreed quietly, sipping at her water. She was still dealing with blood loss, too, on top of this. Ugh.

Jason raised his eyebrows at her. "Just like you."

"I have no self-preservation, that's different," she argued. "I said I'm sorry for using my powers."

"We know," Piper gently put her head on Kat's shoulder. "It's scary, knowing that you could go insane every time you use your powers."

"It's a blessing and a curse," Kat smiled ruefully, moving her hand to touch Jason's arm. "I'm sorry. I'll try and be better about it."

"I know you will, but thank you for trying." Jason leaned down to kiss her head, then Piper's. "Thank you for being here for me. Both of you."

"Always will be," promised Kat. They stayed there like that, standing there peacefully.

"We'll make it out of this," Piper vowed. "Together."

"Yeah," Kat agreed, and she actually believed it. They would get out of this together, whether dead or alive, but she could see them making it out of this quest alive and ( hopefully ) thriving. "Ride or die."

* * *

"Hey," Frank said to her that same day when dinner was basically over because Hazel and Nico had just walked out, "do you want to talk?"

Kat's lips pulled into a small smirk. "Wow, I'm popular today," she commented, standing up and stretching. "But, yeah, let's talk, Foo Foo Bear."

"Why do you call him that, anyway?" Leo asked as she ambled over to Piper to kiss her forehead ( she'd missed and kissed her nose; oh well ).

"Because I was a weird kid," she told him, ruffling his hair as she walked past him to kiss Jason on the cheek. "Says the one who calls me Kitty Kat, you fucking NASA Employee."

"Oh my gods, you're still on that?" Leo groaned. "I'm not an astronaut."

"No, but you could be!" Kat grinned. "Or you could, like, be a rocketeer or something."

He stared at her. "Do you know what that means?"

She shrugged. "No. It's a gang, I think, or something like that. I don't remember. But I wasn't talking about the gang."

"A rocketeer and an astronaut is pretty much the same thing, idiota."

"I thought it was someone who makes rockets! Sue me." Kat rolled her eyes, flipping him the bird before walking out of the mess hall with Frank. "Your room or mine?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Cool," she said, pushing open the door to her room because it was closest. She barreled in, stumbling forward before catching herself, turning and posing with a flair as he shut the door behind her. "What's up?"

"Aren't you supposed to have good footing as a daughter of Mer — Hermes?"

Kat rolled her eyes. "You caught me at an off time, Foo Foo Bear, what am I supposed to do about that?"

He chuckled. "Even you have off days." He glanced over at her bed, where one of the stuffed cats he'd gifted her was sitting. "You brought one with you?"

"Excuse you, I love this cat with my entire life." She walked over to her bed and picked up the stuffed cat, hugging it to her body tightly. "Can't sleep without it. 'Less I sleep over at Pipes's, of course — oh my gods, don't give me that look. We just sleep. And maybe kiss. I promise."

Frank looked like he didn't believe her. "Sure." He sat down on her desk chair, so she figured it was fine to flop down on her bed. "Are you okay?"

"What?" she looked up at her ceiling, her lips pulling into a frown. "I'm fine. Honestly, Annabeth and Percy falling down in Tartarus is sad, yeah, but it's not like I'm the closest to them. I should be asking you that. You're friends with Percy, aren't you?"

"Yeah . . . yeah, I am," he said. "It's hard, but we'll get them out of there. You're not friends with them? I thought you fought that war with them."

Kat's eyebrows furrowed. "You know about that?"

"Percy mentioned it sometime. You're avoiding the question."

"No I'm not, I'm just surprised. Genuinely." She paused, before answering: "We did fight that war together, but they were off doing their own thing. Y'know, because Percy had Achilles's Blessing, and he was fighting everything because he was invulnerable . . . and Annabeth got stabbed really early on. I remember stealing — uh, borrowing — medical supplies for her. She was still badass, though. But I was mostly fighting monsters with my siblings or "borrowing" supplies."

Frank furrowed his eyebrows. "Is this why you're such a kleptomaniac?"

Kat clicked her tongue approvingly, shooting finger guns at him. "It's in my blood, bro."

"You sound like Leo."

"We are besties, after all," she shrugged. "Well, except for you, but you know what I mean. We went through that stupid Wilderness School together."

"Because your mom sent you there," noted Frank.

Kat's expression twisted into one of disgust. She sat up and leaned against her headboard. "Oh no."

He looked at her, concern flashing in his eyes. "Have you talked about your mom to anyone?"

She snorted, looking down at her hands. They looked nothing like her mama's, which she was thankful for. Her thankfully dark skintone, her nimble fingers, her callouses from playing guitar that never reminded her of what her last name was or the blood that runs through her veins or the fact that pretty much all of her DNA came from her mama. Because gods didn't have any DNA. Because that's just a mortal thing. They're too otherworldly ( too godly, Kat mused ) to be compared to sheer mortals. It's a disgusting thought. She hated it because she knew where it came from.

"She always liked you better," she admited. "Thought you could handle more responsibility. Not like me."

"Kat."

"I hate talking about her, Frank," she said, anger charging her voice. "What else am I supposed to say? Every time Jason or Piper say my middle name I immediately get angry at them. They know it gets me to listen, and they don't use it a lot, but gods I hate them for it because it's a reminder that everything I have is because of her. Her, her, her. She never leaves my life. My sword was owned by her before it wanted to be mine. My powers were passed down by her, and she has better control over them. Nothing's mine."

He frowned. "I'm yours, aren't I?"

"I met you because of her," she said. "Honestly, Leo was the first person I thought was mine, even though I met him because I was forced to go to the Wilderness School. Maybe Piper too, but she's always been more of a free spirit. And I met Leo first. That's why I'm so attached to him. And he's so unlike mama, and he brings out the best of me. The me that doesn't want to be controlled. The me that doesn't want to be just an extension of mama."

"You're not an extension of your mom." Frank said it so firmly, she could almost believe it.

Kat sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Aren't I? I've been reminded of it my entire life. The only parts of me that aren't from her is from papa — and look at how that went down. For me and for him."

"No, you're not," he insisted. "Just because you're biologically your mom and dad doesn't mean that you are them. You're Kat. The Kat that would fly over whenever I was feeling sad. The Kat that would make jokes until I smiled. The Kat that I've spent my whole life with. That's who you are."

Kat totally didn't tear up. Nope, she's Kat Mikhailova, she never cries. "Thanks, Foo Foo Bear."

"You know, you sound completely unserious using that nickname."

"I know, that's why I used it."

Frank huffed, but it was so a laugh. "What do you mean by she liked me better than you?" he then asked, making the mood somber again. "Just because I'm more responsible?"

Kat shrugged. "She wants me to take over the company," she said. "You know, 'cause I'm the only heir and all, but that also comes with being a diplomat. And, you know, being friends with all the gods and being some kinda bridge for the god and mortal world. Which is automatically a no, because I cannot befriend every god, have you seen me?"

"I think you could do it," offered Frank. "You just don't want to."

"I don't," she said. "It's just so boring. I'd hate to be mama. Where's the fun and excitement of life? No crime, traveling for business only, little surfing because I wouldn't have time. What would life be at that point?"

"I don't know," he replied. "But I'd be here for you, whatever you do."

"Even if I killed a man?" she smirked.

"Don't go that far, please," he answered. "You would . . . you know . . . kill someone. For fun."

"I would," she sighed. "But you never answered my question."

He was quiet.

". . . I would visit you in jail."

"You'd bring me my bail from mama," she said, getting out from her bed and hugging his upper body once, quickly, before bringing herself to her closet to find pajamas to sleep in. Maybe she should go steal something from Piper's closet. Hm. "But I appreciate the sentiment, nonetheless."