ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

xxi.

Aza stared at the deck of the Argo II. She blinked slowly, faintly hearing Jason's voice buzz in her ear like a fly. Her chest was empty and aching, her eyes glazed over - numb, and yet still frustratingly aware of her pain. She had failed. Her best friends had fallen into Tartarus, and she was powerless. She was weak - she wasn't fast enough, and she wasn't strong enough. She let her injuries slow her; if she had only ignored the pain a little bit more, or tossed her bronze cuff at a slightly different angle. She should have pushed everyone further away from the edge; they should have talked on the ship.

As the others carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold, Aza stared at the deck. It was her fault - all her fault. She should have been able to save them - her best friends. Her two best friends, the ones who had been there for her through it all; she hadn't done enough. She hadn't been enough.

She distantly heard the rumble of departure, and yet Aza stared at the deck. She didn't care if the conversation was important; she didn't even try to listen. Her eyes shimmered with unfallen tears, but her head already ached from so many. Piper rubbed her shoulder, and she could faintly hear her words laced with charmspeak - words meant to soothe, but Aza was impenetrable, unable to even hear the girl's soft, warm voice.

Jason was on her other side, and he rubbed her back - she could feel his electric gaze burn her cheeks every few moments, but if he said anything she didn't hear. Her left arm, which was slowly beginning to feel better, grasped the red indent on her right forearm where her cuff used to lay; her fingernails carved crescent-moons in her skin - white, fresh imprints around raw, red skin.

She heard Leo say, "It's my fault." He sounded miserable, she knew that, but it wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but hers. She should have been faster - she should have pushed them away from the cavern; it should have been her, not them.

Hazel's words floated in one ear and out the other, but it was the most she had comprehended in several hours, "No - no, this isn't your fault. It had nothing to do with you - Leo, listen. I won't allow you to take the blame. I couldn't bear that after - after Sammy..."

"It's my fault," her voice was hollow, and the raspiness wasn't present at her miniscule projection, "No one else's. I should have been faster. I was right there."

"Aza," Piper shook her head with a sigh, reaching down to cover Aza's hand with her own. She gently pried her hand from off her forearm, so her fingernails could no longer indent the skin, and Piper laced their fingers together, squeezing her hand tightly, "It's not your fault in the slightest. They wouldn't want you to be angry at yourself - please, don't blame yourself."

"It is–"

"It's not," Jason said firmly, and a crackle of electricity ran up her spine, "Please don't say that. It's not healthy to blame yourself."

"They're not dead, Azzie," Nico shuffled over, still using his black sword as a walking stick, and he knelt in front of her, managing a small, sad smile, "If they were, I could feel it."

It didn't make her feel much better - if they weren't dead, they were somewhere in the Underworld. Probably in the most foul, dangerous, despicable pit in the Underworld, where the gods placed everything they feared the most. And now, her best friends had fallen. Leo piped up from the helm, "How can you be sure? If that pit really led to... you know... how could you sense them so far away?"

Nico glanced over his shoulder at Hazel, and Aza's vision slowly cleared. Her thoughts still raced, but her friends' voices were slightly closer, less hazy in the fog. Hazel admitted, "We can't be one hundred percent sure. But I think Nico is right. Percy and Annabeth are still alive - at least, so far."

"I should've been paying attention. I could have flown down and saved them," Jason pounded his fist against the rail, turning back and murmuring a soft apology when Aza flinched slightly. He wrapped his arm more firmly around her back and allowed her to lean against him.

Frank sniffled, "Me too."

"It's not any of your faults," Piper's voice strained slightly, and she sniffled, "None of us should blame ourselves. Percy and Annabeth wouldn't want that."

"She's right," Nico nodded grimly, and Aza wondered if her friends' eyes would gain the same broken-glass quality, like he had been shattered and shakily pieced back together, "Even if the pit hadn't been buried, you couldn't have flown without being pulled down. I'm the only one who has actually been into Tartarus. It's impossible to describe how powerful that place is. Once you get close, it sucks you in. I never stood a chance."

Frank sniffled again, and he hastily wiped his eyes, "Then Percy and Annabeth don't stand a chance either?"

Nico twisted his silver skull ring, "Percy is the most powerful demigod I've ever met. No offense to you guys, but it's true. If anybody can survive, he will, especially if he's got Annabeth at his side. They're going to find a way through Tartarus."

Jason's arm tightened around her back, "To the Doors of Death, you mean. But you told us it's guarded by Gaea's most powerful forces. How could two demigods possibly–"

"It's Percy and Annabeth," Aza swallowed thickly, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her jacket, "If anyone can, they can. We have to believe in them. He told me - made me promise - to lead you guys to Epitus. To the mortal side of the doorway; they're going to meet us there. So, we're going to the House of Hades, demolishing Gaea's forces like a stupid kid's sandcastle, and then we'll work together with Percy and Annabeth to seal the Doors from both sides."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes before reciting, "Two promised bonds, both held by three shall be the key to victory. But it wasn't what I thought - not the bond between my father, uncle and grandfather," she frowned at Nico and shook her head, inhaling deeply, "I promised your sister, Bianca, that I would always watch over you. I promised Percy and Annabeth that I would help you lead them to the Doors of Death. But I certainly don't feel like we won."

Nico stiffened at the mention of his sister, and she could have sworn the shattered glass in his eyes fragmented further.

"We got the Athena Parthenos," Piper said, "and Percy and Annabeth are still alive - we have our two teams, ready to attack Gaea. Maybe that was the victory it meant."

"But can we do all that and get Percy and Annabeth back safely?" Leo asked.

"Yes." Aza snapped

At the same time, Nico shuffled his weight, "Maybe," he sighed, and cast a guilty look in Aza's direction, "I don't know how they'll manage it, but Percy and Annabeth will find a way. They'll journey through Tartarus and find the Doors of Death. When they do, we have to be ready."

"It won't be easy," Hazel sounded nervous, "Gaea will throw everything she's got at us to keep us from reaching Epirus."

"What else is new?" Jason rolled his eyes.

Piper nodded, "We've got no choice. We have to seal the Doors of Death before we can stop the giants from raising Gaea. Otherwise her armies will never die. And we've got to hurry - the Romans are in New York. Soon, they'll be marching on Camp Half-Blood."

"We've got a month, at the most," Aza said, "Ephialtes said Gaea would awaken on the first of August, some stupid auspicious date."

"We can do it," Leo straightened importantly, "The Archimedes sphere can upgrade the ship. I'm going to study these ancient scrolls we got. There's got to be all kinds of new weapons I can make. We're going to hit Gaea's armies with a whole new arsenal of hurt."

Jason managed a small smile, "Sounds like a plan, Admiral. You want to set course?"

Aza managed a weak smile when the others stared at her, as if she was their deciding factor. The daughter of Phobos wiped the few straggling tears off her cheeks and sniffled before rasping in the loudest, most daughter-of-Phobos voice she could muster, "The gods will have to have to invent a new word for the pain I'm going Gaea and her minions through."

Leo chuckled dryly, and he drummed his fingers on the control panel, "That's our Aza. Festus, raise the sails. We've got some friends to save."