When You're Gone

Worth

Jason didn't expect anything good to happen. Which was fortunate, because Will, Cecil and Ellen came back, saying that Nico dissolved into the shadows when he got too agitated. Cecil blamed himself, saying that he should've gave him ambrosia earlier.

Everyone at camp was grief-stricken, even the Ares cabin. Annabeth and Piper cried together in the strawberry fields, the nymphs comforting them. Will hadn't come out of his cabin ever since he returned. Kayla and Austin had tried to coax him out to eat, but without Piper's charmspeak - and she was in no condition - he wouldn't budge. He was almost as stubborn as Percy Jackson.

He sat in the Zeus cabin, thinking of what to do. The Romans are waging war, and the Greeks had lost loyal friends, Percy and Nico.

Would Nico's spirit reside in Elysium? Or his father's throne?

"Jason!" Leo bellowed from the outside. "Jason, my bro! You won't believe this."

The son of Hephaestus slammed the marble doors open, panting from the run. He looked like he was about to pass out from exhaustion.

Jason stood up. "Leo, what is it? Are they starting the war?"

Leo grinned like he'd just pranked Piper. "Nah," he said, trying to hide his anxiety from the war. "Even better, I guess. Hazel and my homeman Zhang came."

* * *

Hazel and Frank were talking to the remaining seven, Annabeth and Piper. Their eyes were still red, and there were still dry streaks of tears running down their cheeks. Hazel seemed shaken up and Frank looked grim. They must have heard what happened back in Camp Jupiter.

"I can't believe Nico would do that," Hazel sobbed. "He's my only brother... I left him! It's my fault!"

Frank shook Hazel's shoulders. "Hazel, it's not your fault." He glanced at Jason, nodding in recognition. Jason nodded back, understanding the meaning of their arrival. Frank cleared his throat. "I... We came to help you guys in this war."

Chiron stroked his beard. "That's very noble of you, Frank Zhang, but wouldn't you be betraying your own region?" His worry lines grew even more visible from this war. "Are you sure you want to do this? You will be marked as a traitor."

"Been there," Hazel croaked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "They let Nico die. I'm not letting this get away. I want revenge for my brother."

Six of The Seven was now here, but the remaining one was not present. Percy was the glue of them. With him gone, he felt like the rest of them being together doesn't seem real, and it feels unnaturally awkward and the air is filled with unmatching aura. Their personalities don't match at all without Percy's bubbly personality and cheerful aura.

Even when coming back from... um, Hell, he still put on a brave face for everyone. Jason could feel that their auras alone clash with each other without Percy.

He could now understand why Percy was the glue. His fatal flaw is loyalty, and his father is the son of Poseidon. Almost everything in the Earth has water. Water is everywhere, and the best soluvent. It could dissolve almost every conflict and blend into anywhere as he wishes.

"You could stay at the Big House, for now," Chiron meekly suggested. "Nico's funeral is midnight. The burial rites... it's quite difficult without him to oversee it properly. It is quite ironic, since as he said, Demigods always insist on dying heriocally."

Jason could tell he was trying to lighten up the mood, but no one was in a laughing mood. The aura of death hung in the air like Oxygen.

Annabeth and Piper looked at each other and nodded. They both walked away to the cabins together, remaining a grieving silence as they thread across the fields. Hazel and Frank followed Chiron, who walked to the Big House, leading them there.

"This was unexpected," Leo muttered. "I'm not complaining, but, hey, maybe we could survive this. Or I could just make a machine - or a simple whack on Percy's head and stop this madness."

Jason crossed his arms. "I wish." He glanced at the stormy sky. The Camp's barriers protected them from the elements, but the storm outside seemed quite unnerving. He wasn't causing it, so it must be Zeus or Jupiter. "How did it come to this?"

Leo looked at Jason. "Blame the Three Fates, dude. They mess up literally every demigod's destiny."

Jason managed a chuckle, though it came out bitter.

He wished he could have Leo's personality to put on a stupid sense of humor, even when he's hurt. He doesn't want everyone to worry about his own condition. Only because he couldn't mask his emotions. Percy can. Leo can. Reyna can. Annabeth can. Piper can... they all could do it.

"... did you expect Nico to die?"

"What?"

"Hey, don't tell me you'd think Nico would live forever, dude. That guy's the son of frickin' Hades. You need to accept it."

Jason definitely didn't expect Leo to say that, especially when irony runs in The Seven. Hazel's mother died in an underground explosion; Frank's mother died in the war; Leo's mother died in a fire. Yeah, ironic.

Things couldn't get any worse, could it?

* * *

There were more bad news.

This morning, Kayla came running to the dining pavilion where everyone was eating their breakfast and shouted that Will was found dead in the Apollo cabin. Chiron told Austin to bring him to the infirmary, which was ironic - again, Jason had to point that out - considering that Will was the one managing the infirmary.

Despite Kayla and Austin's effort, the son of Apollo still was declared dead later in the day. The campfire seemed almost dead.

"Percy," Jason murmured, looking up to the sky, "is this worth it?"