I was standing outside the Command Tent when he made it back.
Reyna told me and Frank to keep a look out, in case Percy stumbled out of nowhere. I was desperately hoping that he did as well - though five hours ago, he sounded like he wasn't gonna make it out alive. I hoped that he was alive because if he wasn't, I was the one to go home and tell Annabeth that little Alan wouldn't have a father when he grows up.
Frank was staring out in the distance, his eyes just wide opened as if looking for any signs of danger. "Why do I get the feeling that something is terribly wrong?"
"Don't say that for the love of god," I warned. "It's always a bad saying."
But deep down, I knew he was right. My gut told me that Percy was in trouble, but I couldn't put a finger on it. I just prayed that he would be alright because at this rate...
On the radio call we had with Percy, he sounded like he was on the edge of his sanity. He must've been through some serious trauma down in the chasm because he sounded so close to tears. The injuries he gained from falling...jeez, blood poisoning? That sounded like a harsh way to die - doing nothing but slowly die from such a simple problem with the blood in his leg.
I knew Percy was strong minded and that he was tough, but if there was one thing that got me worried was that he sometimes helps others rather than helps himself - he would be more interested in other people's health and problems. I knew he would do that sort of thing, because it was his fatal flaw - relentless loyalty. Frank told me that once before, right after the Giant War.
I decided that I had enough. I tightened my jacket around my shoulders. "I'm gonna have a look around. I'll keep you posted if I see anything."
Frank nodded. "Okay, sure thing."
I walked off, my winter's coat trailing in the wind.
I was walking along the base of the Icefall, trying to take in the last of the sunlight as night approached.
The ground was all ice and snow yet there was a hint of rock and ground. I was just trudging along the whole base, just breathing and sighing as I looked around trying to find Percy. I knew it was a stupid thing, but I wanted to look around myself because I was just praying that Percy was alive.
Just looking at the Icefall's landscape made me nervous - it looked like the Titan's stronghold from where I was looking because the landscape was just completely unforgiving and hostile. Plus, everywhere I looked it was like I was watching massive spear stands because the ice was trailing upwards like the columns that supported the fortress of Kronos's temple.
I cupped my hands to my mouth and shouted: "PERCY!" The sound carried out in the evening light and echoed into nothing but empty cold air.
"Come on, Percy. Where are you?" I asked myself. "Come on bro - give me a sign that you're alive."
I was maybe eight hundred feet up the Icefall. I didn't know how I could've gotten that high up but at the moment I didn't care one damn bit.
"PERCY!" I called out. "Percy, where are you?"
It was like this for ten minutes. And by that time, I was giving up hope but then I heard a sound over the snow. It was small and weak, but I heard it nonetheless. It was just one word and it was:
"Jason?"
I walked towards the sound. It was clearly coming over to my right and it just drove through my head as it kept saying my name, over and over again. "Jason. Jason. Jason!"
I climbed up a small ledge and I was met with a startling sight. For a moment I thought it was a ghost because he was so pale and skinny but I knew it was him. Who else had black hair that messy and had sea green eyes that blazed with such intensity.
Right there in front of me, clutching his leg, was Percy Jackson.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "What the hell happened to you?!"
He was bruised all to Hades - his face was just blue and green and purple; his arm might've straightened slightly but looked bent still; his trouser leg was shredded and stained red with blood and his Polartec jacket was ripped in several places.
"Holy Zeus," I muttered as I inspected him. He was shaking from the cold and I knew at any moment he was going to pass out. As it is, his eyes were very droopy.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey," I frantically tried to get his attention. I shook his shoulder. "Stay with me buddy - don't even think about sleeping."
"Can't tell me what to do pal," he replied, his voice very dull. "I can't even move. My leg..."
I looked at his leg and inspected it. I had to rip his trouser leg to see the damage, but what I saw made me want to throw up at the sight. Around the gash, the veins underneath the skin were visible and they were dark blue. The whole gash was inflamed and swollen - judging by the look of it, the slash went deep, maybe past the bone.
"Looks bad, huh?" Percy asked weakly.
I shook my head. "I've seen worse."
That was a lie - I have never seen anything like this. Septimsimia? Blood poisoning? Forget it. I knew right away that Percy was in a critical state and he needed urgent attention.
"Don't...tell Annabeth," he said. "She'll...worry...too much..."
Just then, Percy's eyes rolled back into his head and fell backwards.
"Percy!" I gasped as he just fainted. I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a sitting position. "Percy, don't you dare sleep on me man!"
He didn't take any notice of my shouting, but he did start mumbling. He kept on saying Annabeth's name over and over. But then...he kept saying: "Luke...Zoe..."
I didn't know who he was talking about but he said them with so much emotion...like he knew those names. I didn't think much of it - I was more interested in getting him off the Icefall.
I grabbed my radio and spoke into it. "Frank! Jason to Frank - do you copy? Frank, pick up the radio for crying out loud!"
"Whoa," Frank chimed in. "What's wrong man?"
"Frank, meet me on the Icefall!" I cried out. "I can't get him down on my own! I need you to get up here ASAP!"
"What the hell is going on? Who's 'he'?"
I threw my arms up in annoyance - Frank is so dull! I just screamed into the phone, "Percy! Right next to me! In bad shape! Unconscious! Need help! Get your stupid ass up here, NOW!"
I have never lost my cool like this before, but I was deadly serious about the whole situation. Percy was clearly in bad shape - I had to get him off the mountain otherwise he was gonna end up in a far worse state.
I threw my radio to one side and just picked Percy up from underneath his armpits. He had gotten lighter than the last time I saw him - maybe a few stone lighter. I didn't have anything to wake him up, because if there was one that got on my nerve is that when supporting someone down, you had to have the other person support them as well.
"Come on Percy," I murmured, dragging him slowly along. "Don't die on me."
An almighty roar sounded behind me. I looked up and I could see a massive dragon appear out of nowhere. It landed right in front of me and stared at Percy, who was still mumbling nonsense in his passed out state.
"Frank, we need to get him to Base Camp quickly," I said frantically, immediately draping Percy on Frank's scaly back. Frank shot into the air, once he was sure that me and Percy were safely secured.
Frank landed twenty feet away from the Command Tent. No one was around - everyone cleared off when the search for all of those who died in the avalanche ended. I jumped off and pulled Percy off with me. Frank turned back into human form and went up to me.
I quickly inspected Percy. He didn't look too good - his leg had started to bleed again and his eyes fluttered every now and then. He was barely breathing - he kept on wheezing.
"Frank help me out here," I ordered. When he didn't come over, I looked at him. He was in shock as he saw Percy's condition.
Now wasn't the time to be shocked. Percy's life hung in the balance. Once again, I found myself screaming in fury. "Frank, help me support him you stupid asshole! Help me!" That snapped him out of his shock and he rushed over to Percy's over side and draped one of his arms around his shoulders.
All the commotion I was causing must've gotten their attention because Clarisse stumbled out of the tent, scowling in annoyance.
"What in the name of Ares is..." She stopped mid-sentence as she noticed Percy, unconscious in both mine and Frank's arms. Her eyes widened in horror. "What the hell?!"
"Get the medical team!" I ordered. She immediately went back inside and started barking out instructions. Me and Frank followed suit.
We rushed inside and everyone's attention went over to us. Everyone gasped as they saw Percy's battered up frame, but they didn't say anything as they cleared the table of everything that we had on it, as me and Frank placed Percy gently on the table surface.
Medics started to work immediately on him, cutting off the bandage on his leg and taking off his Polartec jacket. Then they removed his sweater off his chest and I noticed that he had a few more wounds that I never accounted for - his chest was covered in nicks and scratches, like he was thrown out of a window (it must've been from our tumble down the Icefall while facing Everest). I could see the full extent of the damage that he had in his arm - the bone had snapped again and his humerus was twisted into an even painful angle.
As I watched, I saw Clarisse pour nectar into Percy's mouth, forcing him to swallow. The cuts on his chest instantly vanished. His arm straightened itself but the gash on his leg didn't fade. I had no idea why it wasn't fading - it must've run deeper than that.
While Clarisse and the medics were working on him, me and Reyna and Nico stood back and watched. Aaron joined us and just watched as everyone else tried to save Percy.
"I couldn't sense his life force for a moment," Nico said, clearly shaken up. "If you hadn't found him at the time you did, we would've had a problem."
"Flipping hell," Aaron muttered. "He doesn't look too good."
Reyna didn't say anything, but I could clearly see her distress. She, like many of us, was one of Percy's friends and she hated seeing like this.
Just then, everyone started rushing around Percy. Clarisse looked panicked, and that set me off.
"What's going?" I demanded.
"He's not breathing!" she shrieked.
"No!" Reyna screamed, rushing over to Percy's side. She pointed one of the medics who was just pumping his hands against the son of Poseidon's chest - trying to get his heart beating. "Keep pumping!"
Then, she did something that would've gotten Annabeth jealous and mad - she pinched Percy's nose closed, pressed her lips against his and started breathing into him.
CPR. I knew this kind of medical training - when a person stops breathing and their heart fails, you start pressing and pushing your hands on the patients chest, and then you pitch a person's nose and breath oxygen into him or her, to get extra air into them.
Reyna was desperate - I knew that much. She changed from being the hardened warrior I once knew, into the girl who cared more for her friends now. Percy was clearly one of them and she trying her best to save him.
I was scared that I was going to lose my friend, so I started praying. I prayed that Thanatos wouldn't reap his soul from his body; I prayed that Hades wouldn't take his soul to the Underworld; I prayed for a miracle to happen, because everything just seemed hopeless.
Reyna was about to give him another breath of air, when suddenly Percy gasped, making Reyna jump back in surprise. He sucked in a lungful of air and his eyes flung open, his sea green eyes looking up at the ceiling. He seemed to be glowing from where I was standing - almost like he was shining blue.
"Jesus Christ!" Aaron exclaimed, as he took a step back.
Percy was panting, and was sweating as he kept taking in deep breaths of air. He then looked at me from the corner of his eye. He frowned slightly, his eyes half closed.
"What happened?" he croaked.
I cried out in relief and rushed forward, giving him the biggest bear hug in history. "Don't you dare do that again, Percy! You scared the crap out of me!"
"Jason," he wheezed, "can't breathe over here. Crushing my rips."
I let go. "Sorry," I apologised.
Reyna was crying and smiling at the same time. She just lent forward and hugged Percy's face. Percy just patted her on the back, weakly.
"I'll be alright," he groaned. "God, I got such a headache."
Everyone laughed and started clapping their hands, knowing that the hero of Olympus was alive and kicking. Me on the other hand was just overwhelmed by the whole thing.
My friend was still alive. He was back.