Ok, so here's the first chapter of the Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles fan fiction story. Please read, comment, and tell me if you like it, honest opinions accepted!

CHAPTER I

The whole thing would have never started if Leo hadn’t wanted to play soccer.

It was the first sunny day in weeks, and when Leo saw Jason and Annabeth in the mess hall at breakfast, he started trying to talk them into going to a nearby park just a little bit outside of Camp Half-Blood. “C’mon,” Leo had said to Jason. “We should go to the park and play some soccer. You know, do something normal for once. Besides, Annabeth will be there.”

“I never said I was coming!” Annabeth shouted half-heartedly from the Athena table. “You were just trying to make me come and I said no!”

Normal, Jason thought. Nothing will ever be normal again.

“No, Leo,” Jason replied quietly.

“Jason, you have to!” Leo said. “Besides, it’s not going to do you any good to stay here and mope around for the rest of the day.”

Jason said nothing. “Listen, Jason,” Leo said in a quieter voice. “I know you miss her, but it’s been almost a year now. You got to get over it sometime!”

Jason’s expression hardened and he glared at Leo. “Well, it wasn’t your girlfriend who died!” he shouted angrily.

Leo flinched back for a moment. Jason tossed his untouched plate of food into the brazier for the gods, rose quickly to his feet, and marched away.

Annabeth quickly followed him. Leo ran towards them, trying to catch up, and still pestering them about soccer.

One hour, a lot of fighting, and an angry centaur who was accidentally set on fire later, Jason and Annabeth had reluctantly agreed to play soccer with Leo.   

Leo had this devilish grin on his face as they walked towards the park. Leo was holding a soccer ball in his arms. “C’mon, everybody!” Leo shouted when they had arrived at the park. “Leo against all!”

    Jason hadn’t even played for fifteen minutes when he said, “That’s enough, Leo. I’m not going to play anymore.”

    “What?” Leo exclaimed. “But we just started playing!”

    Jason started walking toward a wooden park bench that stood nearby and Annabeth followed him. They both sat down and stared at the sky.

    “Fine,” Leo mumbled. “I’ll find someone else to play with.”

    Leo sounds like a little kid, Jason thought.

    “Percy was such a good guy,” Annabeth murmured dreamily.

    Jason wondered if she was even talking to him when she lowered her head and stared at him, her stormy gray eyes widening as she spoke. “At least before-before....” Annabeth trailed off, unable to say the word.

    It made Jason wonder just exactly what Annabeth had really saw in the pit. “Tartarus,” Jason finished the sentence for her.

    The air seemed to turn colder when he spoke the word. Annabeth nodded. “Annabeth,” Jason began nervously. “What was it like in there?”

    Annabeth turned away. “Well,” she started shakily. “There was layer upon layer of darkness.”

    “What do you mean?” Jason asked.

    “Um....kind of like the sea. In the sea, there is layer upon layer of water, getting colder and darker as you descend, and the pressure continues to rise until it crushes you. It’s the same thing, except in...in-”

    “Tartarus,” Jason said, saying it for her.

    “Right. Anyhow, except in the place you just named, the pressure crushes your brain, not literally your physical brain, but your sanity, and it goes on forever. There’s no sea floor there,” Annabeth explained.

    “Percy...it happened to him. He-he lost his sanity,” she stammered.

      Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes. “That stupid satyr! What was he thinking? He was probably overwhelmed by Gaea’s forces immediately. I should’ve stayed in there...” she trailed off, lost in her own thoughts again.

Jason remembered Coach Hedge. The old satyr had been annoying at times and had violent tendencies but...Coach Hedge had sacrificed himself to save Annabeth and Percy from Tartarus. He closed his eyes and remembered the Coach staring determinedly into the endless darkness beyond the open bronze doors, reaching out a hand to pull Annabeth out of the chasm. Annabeth had been kneeling on the steps leading up towards the Doors of Death, which had been open at the time, trying not to get pulled farther down into Tartarus. She had Percy, who was unconscious, slung over her shoulder, as the Coach lifted her out of Tartarus and into the light of day. “Coach!” Annabeth exclaimed. “What are you doing? Who is going to close the Doors from the other side?”

    Coach Hedge looked back one more time. “I will,” he replied.

    Then he walked onto the steps at the Doors of Death that led down into Tartarus, lifted his baseball bat, and screamed, “Die, Gaea!” closing the Doors of Death behind him. “I guess we have to close the Doors on this side,” Jason said finally, hardly able to speak.

    Frank had turned into a dragon and carried Percy onto the ship while the other six demigods closed the Doors of Death from the mortal side.

    “Why did Percy have to die?” Annabeth asked sadly, snapping Jason out of his memories.

    Jason looked away, feeling guilty. Annabeth seemed to know immediately what he was thinking. “It’s not your fault,” she said, taking a deep breath. “After all, he did kill Piper...”

    Jason felt like he’d been kicked in the chest when Annabeth said Piper’s name. It brought back so many bad memories...

    The Argo II had just landed at the peak of Mount Olympus. Porphyrion and all of the remaining giants who hadn’t been killed yet were marching up the mountain. “Die, all of you!” the giant shouted, throwing a sword at them.

Jason closed his eyes and changed the direction of the wind. The sword flew into his hands. Jason studied it. It was a long, curved, double-edged blade that was made of Imperial gold on left side and Celestial bronze on the right. Porphyrion reached for another sword. “Let’s kill them before they kill us!” Leo shouted.

    “We can’t without a god!” Hazel exclaimed.

    “Well, there happens to be one right here,” a new voice said.

    Everyone turned to see who had spoken. There was a man in grimy overalls with a misshapen face, hands that were so dirty that they were black, and cuts all over his body. “Hephaestus?” Leo asked uncertainly.

    Hephaestus nodded before saying, “You know what to do.”

    Leo shook his head. “No, I don’t,” Leo said.

    “To storm or fire the world must fall,” Hephaestus said, putting emphasis on the word fire.

    Jason didn’t understand, but Leo did. Leo turned to face his friends. “Everybody, get on the ship,” Leo instructed. “Annabeth, as soon as I am on the boat, take off immediately.”

    For some reason, no objected. Soon, all of the demigods were on the Argo II except for Leo.

    Leo glanced at his father. Hephaestus nodded. Suddenly, fire started falling from the sky onto Mount Olympus. “Thanks,” Leo whispered to his father before leaping onto the boat.

    Fire was still raining down from the sky as the Argo II quickly soared up into the air. Even from the altitude that they were at, they could feel the ground shaking as orange tongues of flame covered Mount Olympus.

    Slowly, the fire faded. The ancient mountain itself had come away unscathed but the buildings around it had all been leveled from the magical energy that it had released.

    “To fire the world did fall,” Leo said, staring at the fallen buildings in the cities surrounding Olympus.

    And it had seemed like something might actually go right for a change. But after what happened next, nothing would ever be right again for Jason.

    They landed in a field just a little bit outside of Greece for what Leo had called “necessary maintenance.”

Jason walked off the boat with Piper by his side. He smiled at her. “I can’t believe we actually killed the giants, and we’re all still alive,” he said to her.

He suddenly frowned. “Except for Coach Hedge...” he whispered.

“It’s not your fault or anyone else’s,” Piper said, putting a little bit of charmspeak in her voice to help Jason relax.

“Thanks,” he said. “It’s just...I feel like I could have done something more to help...maybe we all could have escaped.”

“C’mon, Jason. Quit thinking about the negative things. How about considering the fact that all of the demigods are alive?” Piper asked.

“It’s amazing that we’re all still alive,” Jason said truthfully.

Piper laughed. “Oh, I will always protect you, Jason. I swear by the River Styx,” she vowed.

Jason suddenly saw something out of the corner of his eye. “Look,” he said. “Percy is awake.”

Percy was stumbling across the deck of the ship. He had this wild look in his sea green eyes, as if he had seen a ghost. “Kill everything,” he panted.

Suddenly, Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out his pen. He uncapped it, and the pen grew into a large Celestial bronze sword. He looked right at Jason, but at the same time, it felt like he wasn’t actually looking at Jason, but at something else. “Monster,” he gasped, staggering backwards.

“Go away, monsters! Leave me alone!” Percy screamed, catching Annabeth’s attention.

Annabeth hurried towards him. “Percy,” she began.

Percy didn’t seem to hear her. He flung his sword at Jason. Jason wasn’t prepared and would have been hit by the blade if Piper hadn’t reacted in time. Jason stared in horror as the scene unfolded in front of him. In a millisecond, Piper had leapt in front of him and taken the fatal blow for him. Riptide impaled itself in her chest, and she fell onto the ground. She stared at him, the light already beginning to fade from her eyes. “I love you,” she choked out.

“Piper!” Jason shrieked.

“I promised...” her voice faded as her eyes closed for the final time.

An oath to keep with a final breath.

Jason was sad and angry. “You killed my girlfriend!” he screamed, running towards Percy and already holding the sword he had acquired from Porphyrion in one hand.

His vision turned red. He was sobbing as he swung his sword at Percy. He remembered lightning flashing and then....the next thing he could remember was kneeling on the ground, crying like a baby, next to a pile of ashes that had once been Percy before Percy had been incinerated by lightning. Annabeth was on the ground outside the ship, also crying. “Everybody, get on the ship,” Leo said. “We need to return to Camp Half-Blood now.”

A loud noise snapped him out of his memories. He rose to his feet and reluctantly drew his sword, the same one that had killed Percy. Piper would want me to see what it was, Jason thought. I suppose I better go find out...

    Annabeth had also stood up. “Which way did it come from?” Jason asked.

              Annabeth pointed. “Well, let’s get this over with,” Jason sighed as he started to walk towards the place that the noise had come from.