Hello everyone! This fanfic is an idea I've had for a little while and I thought I'd go ahead and give it a shot for fun. As much as it pains me to step away from Solangelo (my only otp), I must admit Jasico is a secret delight of mine that I have wanted to try writing for a while. This story is supposed to be medieval fantasy; it does not take place in the Riordan-verse world.

In it there are three kingdoms- Olympus, ruled by Zeus, Atlantis, ruled by Poseidon, and the Underworld, ruled by Hades. Magic exists though there are no gods involved, but necromancy (practiced in Underworld) is forbidden.

*Rated M (eventually)

*Characters belong to Rick Riordan!

Part 1:

Captured (1/5)

Jason, son of Zeus and Heir of Olympus, shifted his grip on the reins of his horse Tempest. The forest was dark and eery this time of night and the potent smell of pine sap and horses met his nose.

"I still think it's a mistake, putting you at risk like this, my Lord. I can have Austin escort you back if you like," Luke spoke from beside him, where he sat atop his own horse. Jason could see his point; the sun had already descended low in the sky, ready to slip beyond the horizon any minute. Deep in the forest as they were the light would soon be gone, leaving their small hunting party to be engulfed in eery darkness.

"Not yet." Jason narrowed his eyes, scanning the forest. He could see no movement.

"Your father has assigned me to protect you," Luke tried again. "It's dangerous this far out in the woods at night."

"Of course it's dangerous," Jason muttered wryly. "I'm out here aren't I?"

Luke pressed his lips together and didn't reply. That was smart of him. Jason sighed. "Though my father doubts it, I am perfectly capable of protecting myself. Let's just give it a little longer. They prefer the dark anyways. If there's any time they'll make their move... it'll be soon."

Luke nodded slowly. "Has it occurred to you we may have received misinformation?"

It had. But Jason was stubborn. "I'm not wrong." He couldn't be, not again. His sister's life depended on it.

"But the King-,"

"Will be most displeased if I return empty-handed again," Jason said curtly. "Now hold your tongue. Frank! Austin! Spread out a little and keep an eye out." He heard hoofbeats as they moved to obey his orders. Frowning, Jason turned his attention back to the woods. It wasn't that he particularly disliked his guards, just that it hadn't been he who had chosen them.

Jason snapped out of his thoughts as the shadows flickered in his peripheral. Squinting, he peered past the tree trunks, searching until... There! Almost entirely obscured by the darkness, he could make out the distant silhouette's of three riders in the fog. "There!" Jason shouted. Without waiting for a response from his men, he kicked his heels into Tempest's sides and the horse lunged forward in pursuit. He heard shouting behind him as Luke and the others hurried to follow after him.

Tempest snorted in protest as Jason steered him through the thick underbrush. It probably wasn't the smartest idea but he didn't want to risk them escaping. Up ahead the shadows seemed to warp and flicker. As he broke through the trees and onto the dirt road that carved a path through the woods, he got his first good look at them. He realized he had miscounted. There were four riders ahead of him, all of whom wore dark clothes; black trousers, black tunics, black cloaks that billowed behind them as they rode. Wide hoods concealed their faces from view.

Necromancers, servants of the Underworld.

They had heard his shout. Even as Jason approached he heard one of them shout something in Latin, a warning to the others. It sounded like a girl. Their horses bolted.

A glimmer of light caught Jason's eyes and he noticed that the cloak of the one in the lead had an unusual gold embroidery around the trim. Imperial gold. Ornate. expensive. His eyes narrowed.

Cursing, Jason urged Tempest after them. He heard the thuds of hooves behind him and knew Frank, Austin, and Luke had fallen in after him. Up ahead the trail twisted sharply. One of the riders, the second farthest one from Jason, twisted in his saddle, raising his arm. The ground shuddered beneath their feet.

"Jason, duck!" Luke's shout rang through the icy air. Jason obeyed just in time; an arrow whizzed over his head, arcing from Austin's bow straight towards the closest of the riders. No! Jason thought. We need him alive! By some twisted stroke of luck, the arrow missed its mark. Instead of hitting the lead rider, it struck the rider on the back right. The girl. A sharp cry of pain rang from her lips as the arrow embedded itself in her thigh.

"Hazel!"

Jason scratched out his previous note; at least two of them were girls.

The rider with the gold on his cloak twisted around at her shout. Their pace had slowed considerably in the confusion. The pounding of hooves echoed in Jason's ears as he chased after them, gaining distance with every stride. A feeling of triumph crowed through him as he closed in-

Only to disappear a second later. One of the girls, the one who did not have an arrow in her leg, had pulled her horse up and around, holding out her palm. Shit, Jason thought. Not a second later the ground split open before him. Tempest barely reacted in time, leaping over the chasm and landing roughly on the other side. He heard shouts behind him and knew the others had skidded to a halt.

"Bianca!"

This time it was a boy's voice Jason heard, anxious and full of fear.

The girl who had created the chasm slid from her horse, landing nimbly in the dirt. A second arrow released from Austin's bow flew past him at the girl. It missed her by a heartbeat. "Nico, go! Get out of here!" she shouted.

Nico.

Jason recognized the name.

Nico di Angelo.

Son of Lord Hades.

Heir-Prince of the Underworld.

In all honesty, he didn't care much about any of the others, but the boy in the lead... That one could not be allowed to escape. Luke and Frank had finally managed to navigate over the chasm, while Austin hung back, knocking another arrow and aiming for the girl. Drawing their swords in unison, Luke and Frank charged.

"Bianca!" the boy screamed again.

Jason watched the girl draw a knife and swipe ferociously at Luke, distracted for a moment, before looking back up the trail. He cursed aloud, seeing the ever-increasing distance between him and the Prince. Jason kicked Tempest forward and charged down the trail after him. The boy who had been shouting, froze for a second before wheeling his horse around and taking off down the path after the Prince.

With an onslaught of panic, Jason realized he had lost sight of both the Prince and the girl with the arrow in her thigh in the fog. No, he thought to himself in mounting horror. No, no, no, no, NO! Not again! All their planning had been completely wasted! Or perhaps not... Jason thought desperately.

The boy who had remained behind, screaming for the other girl, was only ten yards ahead of him.

Two options occurred to Jason then; he could either continue to pursue this boy and hope he knew the way and that he would lead back to Nico or Jason could simply capture this other necromancer instead. Their were numerous problems with the first plan, the most apparent being that there was no way this boy would be so stupid as to chase down his master while being pursued. Even if he did, it was unlikely that the Prince and the girl would be foolish enough to slow their pace now before they reached the border into Underworld territory.

Jason raised his hand, concentrating, and the air around him crackled with static electricity. He couldn't risk hurting the boy so he summoned a bolt of electricity that slammed into the ground ten feet in front of his horse instead. The animal gave a hair-raising screech, spooked.

It gave Jason the time he needed to catch up.

Gathering his reins into his left hand and reaching out with his right, Jason came neck to neck with the other rider. Try as he might though, he couldn't reach out far enough to grasp the necromancer and drag him from his horse.

Jason heart missed a beat when he looked at the path ahead of them; he couldn't see much through all the fog but it appeared to descend steeply into a wide creek. They were about to cross into Underworld territory. He couldn't let the necromancer reach it.

Cursing under his breath, Jason kicked his feet from the stirrups. With a final prayer to whatever gods resided above, he threw himself sideways into the other rider, toppling both of them from their horses.

They hit the ground hard. Just as he had intended, Jason landed directly on top of him. He heard the breath driven from his lungs with a sharp 'umph!'. Jason lay there for a second, dazed and stunned, trying to gather his thoughts. He waited too long. He yelped as the necromancer's palm slammed into his elbow, making him lose his balance. Just before he fell though, the other rider's jerked his leg up roughly into Jason's ribs. Jason toppled to the side.

Hell, Jason thought in disbelief. Where did he learn to fight like that?

Scrambling up, he tackled the other rider as just as he tried to make a run for the stream. As he did so, his hood finally slid down.

Jason froze in surprise.

The boy looked to be around his own age or perhaps a year younger, though he was surprisingly small for his age. His skin was as pale as the snow, his hair black and feathery like the feathers of a crow. Hateful onyx eyes stared up at Jason, dark and dangerous. But none of that alone was what gave Jason pause. At first glance the boy's appearance was striking, sure, but beyond that he could only be described as, well... beautiful. Not at all the way a necromancer, one of the servants of the Underworld, should look. It didn't seem right. For a fraction of a second Jason even considered that he had been wrong; perhaps this boy wasn't even one of them. But that was ridiculous. With a glance down to the boy's neck he could just see the black markings that had been tattooed onto his pale skin, just above his collarbone.

He almost waited too long. Jason saw the boy's eyes flicker down to where Jason's hands were gripping his shirt, holding him against the ground. It was all the warning Jason needed that the boy was about to fight back again. With a strange feeling that could have been regret, Jason gripped his hair and slammed his head back hard into the earth, knocking him unconscious.

He sat there for a few seconds, panting tiredly, and eyeing the dark haired boy beneath him.

"Jason!" He heard footsteps running towards him and a moment later hands grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up and off of the fallen figure. Luke's dark face came into view, closed off and cautious. "Did you touch him? Jason, did you touch him?" he repeated urgently.

Jason shook his head slowly, still staring at the kid on the ground. "No. Just his clothes."

Behind Luke, Frank and Austin exchanged dark looks. Jason understood their concern; he had seen firsthand the kind of misery necromancers could inflict upon their victims through touch alone. Their magic is a poison, Zeus would say, Seeping into anything it can reach, destroying all it touches. Jason also knew Luke's mother, May, had been one of those unfortunate souls touched by necromancy.

"It's alright, Luke. I'm fine. I promise." Jason clapped a hand to his friend's shoulder. Taking a closer look at Frank and Austin, he winced. "I take it you didn't manage to grab the girl either?"

"Unfortunately not, my Lord," Austin answered, his grip clenching around his bow. "She moved so fast, I've seen nothing like it. She faded into the shadows like a- a- ghost. It was eery." Austin shuddered.

That was unfortunate but Jason could live with it. "At least we got this one," he said, casting another glance at the dark haired boy lying on the ground. His head had fallen to the side, dark bangs cascading over his eyelids.

"This is him?" Luke asked, looking critical. "Lord Hades's son? He doesn't look like much."

"Umm, no," Jason admitted reluctantly. "The Prince escaped over the border. I was forced to settle for this one." He nodded his chin towards the unconscious necromancer boy.

Luke wrinkled his nose, warping the scar along his cheek. "Well, he'll have to do. We should get some distance between the us and the border before he wakes up. Frank! Fetch his horse. We can tie him-"

"No." Jason held up a hand to stop him. Kneeling down, he scooped the fallen boy into his arms. He was curiously light, and thin. Jason was careful not to make contact with his skin. "I'm keeping him with me."

Luke's expression twisted. "Are you sure that is wise? Even unconscious he's still-"

"He stays with me until we get back to the castle," Jason ordered, striding to Tempest who had skidded to a halt thirty yards or so down the path after Jason had leapt off his back. The fog seemed to want to cling to the dark haired boy as he walked. It was probably overkill but he didn't want to let him out of his grasp for even a second until he had delivered him safely to his father.

Of course, whether the prince of the Underworld would actually help them was another matter entirely. Not that it worried Jason. His father could be… very persuasive when he wanted to be.

Okay, so perhaps he was worried.

Just a little.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you guys think and if I should continue. :)