Terror coursed through Hazel like fire in her veins, burning her alive from the inside out.

Before her was Jason, crumpled on the floor.

Dead.

Silence suffocated her; she glanced around frantically in horror. Reyna's face was chalk white, a look of disbelief written like a poem on her features. Gripping her spear with white knuckles, her posture was rigid.

Annabeth's posture, like Reyna's, indicated that she was still preparing for attack. Her eyes however, were a dull grey instead of the alert silver that usually filled her gaze.

Looking so murderous that Hazel nearly did not recognize him, Percy stood to his girlfriend's left. His eyes said what his lack of words did not. This was the stare of a warrior who still refused to acknowledge what a hero's true fate always would be.

Hazel's own boyfriend was positioned to her right, and was holding her hand in a death grip. The daughter of Pluto did not have to turn to know what Frank looked like. Slumped over in defeat, looking anywhere but forward, his stance was a mirror of what it had been a week ago when it had been Hazel's brother where Jason was now.

Leo's face, lacking all of the playfulness that resided there ordinarily, painted a picture of a boy who had seen death all too often. It was as though this tragedy had always been expected; the only question had only ever been when it would occur.

The only one in what was left of the burning senate house that looked joyous was the augur himself. Octavian stepped back from the murdered praetor with glee radiating through every movement he made. Obviously pleased with his work, he looked straight into Piper's eyes, and beamed.

All at once, the silence was shattered. Piper charged toward the legacy of Apollo, dagger in hand, shouting words that would have made Hazel blush, had the situation not been what it was.

Before Octavian could even open his mouth to taunt the enraged daughter of Aphrodite, there was a gleaming celestial bronze blade at his throat.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't run you through right now." Piper seethed, her beautiful face twisted in rage.

Giving no response to what Hazel had thought was quite an important question, Octavian instead shouted "Now!"

Legionnaires burst through the remaining walls, and before Hazel knew it, there was a hand around her throat, and a another holding back her arms. Kicking around wildly, she was at a loss. Around her, her friends were dealing with the attackers in their own way. Annabeth and Reyna had chosen to fight back directly, and both were coming shockingly close to stabbing the opponent.

Hazel however, was at a loss. It was one thing to impale monsters and Giants, but these were demigods! They too had S.P.Q.R. tattooed on their arms. They too lived at Camp Jupiter. Killing one of them would be as good as Octavian killing Gwen.

A few of her comrades seemed to feel the same way Hazel did. Leo had escaped his assailant's grip by lighting his hands ablaze, and was currently fighting with one of the extra swords they kept on the ship. Percy, Hazel noticed, seemed to be purposely avoiding the legionnaire's chest and head, slashing his legs instead.

Piper however, seemed to not care about her own well being at all. The fire in her eyes was as bright as ever, and not even the Roman's increasingly tight hands around her neck stopped her furious attempts at charmspeaking their attackers away.

"Octavian is using you! We're trying to stop Gaia! The Greeks aren't going to hurt you unless you hurt them first! Let go of-" her words ended, and a strangled gasp took their place.

Flailing desperately, Piper kicked the still laughing Octavian in the stomach, before ceasing her efforts to focus on breathing.

It was Annabeth who managed to stab her opponent first, followed quickly by Reyna. While Annabeth aided the others in escaping, Reyna charged forward, spear in hand, and impaled Octavian through the chest before anyone could register what had happened.

Hazel herself managed to free one of her hands while Annabeth punched the Legionnaire in the face, and she drew her Spartha in such a way that the Legionnaire went running.

After surveying the room, it soon became apparent to Hazel that she and her friends were the victors of this fight. But at what cost?

Jason, son of Jupiter was dead. This was one blow that the daughter of Pluto wasn't sure they could recover from. Jason had been their rock, a reasonable, experienced voice of reason in their numerous frantic planning sessions.

Aside from Piper leaning against Leo, coughing shakily, no one made a noise. Perhaps, like Hazel, they realized just how big of a blow this was to their chances of surviving, let alone killing Gaia.

Surprisingly, it was Frank who spoke first. "It was Jason's idea to come here. He said he couldn't call himself a praetor at all if he didn't at least try to negotiate with Octavian. I- I told him that it was a good plan. If I hadn't…"

"It wouldn't have mattered." Reyna's voice sounded hollow. "Jason swore that he would do everything he could to protect the half-bloods that lived here. Jason never breaks an oath."

Nobody commented on Reyna's usage of present tense.

"Damn prophecies." muttered Percy darkly from behind Hazel, the bitterness in his voice like venom.

Piper's hacking had not gotten any better throughout this conversation, and Leo shot Hazel a worried glance from across the room.

"Piper are you alright?" Hazel questioned, wincing even as the words left her mouth. Of course she wasn't alright, she had nearly been strangled to death.

"No." Leo answered for her. "She's not." Doubled over in what Hazel could only think of as an attempt to cough up her lungs, Piper looked exhausted.

They all were, really Hazel decided, shooting her allies a glance as she walked over to where Piper stood. They had just finished slicing up a hydra when Jason had proposed coming to deal with the Greek and Roman situation before they dealt with Gaia herself.

What had happened after they arrived could only be described as a disaster. Aside from the fact that many loyal campers had tried to kill Leo on sight, forcing him to defend himself with flames (which in retrospect, was a very bad idea), it soon became clear that the only living Roman who still had the slightest bit of faith in them was Reyna.

And now here they were, one demigod short of the seven that had answered the call;the call that Hazel was now assuming could only have been to their own deaths.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review if you have the time.