HAPPY HOUSE OF HADES RELEASE DAY!

Now I'm sure that this kind of material is exactly what we all need in preparation for tomorrow, but it came to mind and I was really into it. I wrote it in one night. My mom is currently circling like a vulture and being all 'go to bed!' (as I am writing this from the night of the 7th seeing as my school starts at an ungodly hour- this is an author's note, you don't need to know this!)

Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the book. Please remember: NO SPOILERS. Just be very careful with those because ruining other people's experience is an Octavian thing to do (remember kids: he killed a person during games!) Also remember not to expect happiness but to appreciate what Riordan is doing, go into the reading with an open mind about everything imaginable, and tell me how you liked the book without spoilers.

Also enjoy this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters portrayed below, nor the epigraph's text. I wish though.

Ghosts That We Knew

You saw my pain, washed out in the rain
Broken glass, saw the blood run from my veins
But you saw no fault no cracks in my heart
And you knelt beside my hope torn apart
But the ghosts that we knew will flicker from view
And we'll live a long life
So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light
Cause oh they gave me such a fright
But I will hold as long as you like
Just promise me we'll be alright

-Mumford and Sons

"Vitellius?"

The Lares groaned, offended. He really was the last person that Jason wanted to see and he guessed that he hadn't hid that really well.

"It's nice to see you too, Jason Grace," he said. Jason closed his eyes. His head spun. In circles. Again. And again. And…

"Put your head between your knees," Vitellius said. "It'll help."

His voice had changed. He'd gone from the annoying household deity to the ex-military doctor. Jason listened to him and realised that he wasn't wearing pants.

"You're in full Roman dress," Vitellius sniffed. "Looking dignified for once."

He had a toga praetexta on- one with a purple border, worn by generals and praetors and centurions. He'd worn one before, it wasn't new. The linen tunic under it was unfamiliar, usually Jason cheated and wore jeans. The wrap and sandals however? He'd never been that decked out in Roman dress before.

"Why?" Jason asked looking around. He was in the Fifth Cohort's bunkers, he'd recognise the place anytime. He'd grown up there. But he hadn't been there in ages.

"Now that's… complicated…" Vitellius said.

"Why?" Jason asked. He frowned. "Where is everyone?"

"At your funeral," Vitellius asked.

Jason didn't attend. He digested the news of his death all on his own. With Vitellius. (So basically all on his own).

"I don't…" Jason shook his head. His mind was blown. He literally couldn't remember anything about the war he'd died in. His memories only stretched to a good luck kiss that he'd supposedly gotten right before going into combat. Or at least he hoped that he'd gotten a goodbye kiss before...

Vitellius sighed and launched himself in another explanation.

"To storm or to fire the world must fall, An oath to keep with a single breath…" he quoted. "It was either your oath to praetorship to always protect New Rome, or that small destructive boy's oath to redeem his mother's death."

"His name is Leo," Jason said coldly.

"Right. In any case, your oath prevailed. To save the city you took a leap of faith that you knew you wouldn't land, and your sacrifice was key in victory. They mourned you right on the battlefield before even celebrating victory," Vitellius said.

Jason's stomach tightened.

"And of course you're just the newest son of Jupiter promoted to minor godhood," Vitellius said. "Except this time as a lares- a household god…"

"A protective spirit," Jason said quietly. Who was he protecting? Apparently he wasn't very good at doing that, he'd died. Well... he wasn't sure how informed Vitellius was, but apparently he'd done good with his life. He'd done what he'd had to do. That made it a little less traumatic to accept.

"Indeed. Like me!" Vitellius said.

Sure.

"But… protector of what?" Jason asked.

Vitellius shrugged. "You'll figure it out in due time."

Jason got up. "I need to go."

"They're not at your funeral anymore," Vitellius said. "I assume your body's already been burned hours ago."

"Super," he said. He'd been rather attached to that body- pun unintended. "But I can still..?"

"Why of course," Vitellius said. "Feel free."

And so Jason was off.

The mood was off throughout New Rome. It mustn't be that long after the War… Vitellius had said something about weeks? Supposedly his 'little Greek friends' had demanded that the senate release a signed agreement that no harm would be done to Jason's body if it was returned to Roman soil and that he was forgiven for the 'betrayal' he'd been condemned for.

"It would have come out faster," Vitellius had said, "But there were priorities."

Bodies were all over the place, some even unrecovered. Some of the injured were still in mortal hospitals, waiting for relocation, and they were having a field day trying to figure out whose body was where.

Super.

The coffee shop was full. People were huddled together with their hands around warm cups and their heads tilted. It seemed empty.

The legionnaires didn't seem to see him. Maybe that was a good thing- he'd probably freak people out. He'd have to ask Vitellius how the whole visibility issue operated. Maybe he could figure out how to become visible one day, if he was going to be a lares spirit for long.

Jason looked around at the few people around, glad that he was still as tall in the afterlife, and saw familiar faces. From both camps. It kind of blew his mind. Armour, orange shirts, bronze, silver, Xiphos, gladus, any dagger in between, badges, tattoos, beaded necklaces… It was a mind-numbing melee. Within in, there were several people that Jason really wanted to see. To stop himself from going on goose-hunts left and right to find them, he decided to just walk around and see who he stumbled across.

That's when he spotted them.

Frank and Hazel.

They were sitting on a bench outside. Or rather Frank was sitting; Hazel was lying across his lap, her hair twirled around Frank's fingers. He guessed that they'd solved their situation. He smiled a bit, but still hoped that Leo was okay.

"I think you should go to bed," Frank said.

"I'm okay." Hazel said. She looked exhausted, Frank was right.

"Listen to him," Jason said.

"What if I order you, as centurion, to go to bed?" Frank tried.

Guess they hadn't heard him.

"I'm not tired," Hazel said sharply, sitting up and curling up in a ball on the other side of the bench.

"Okay, okay," Frank said defensively. It was quiet.

"I'm tired," Hazel said finally.

Frank drew her in. "I know."

"I just… I don't like it in the barrack. My section's empty," Hazel said. "Super empty. I sleep where all the new kids were…"

"Sleep here," Frank said. "It's okay. I'll make sure that nobody draws a moustache on you."

Hazel grinned and rested her head on his shoulder. Within seconds she was out cold, so Frank carried her to the barracks, to bed, and Jason didn't see him come out. He walked inside after them out of pure curiosity. Hazel was curled up in bed, tucked in and everything. Frank had even found her an extra blanket from the supply chest. He'd left it open though, so Jason went ahead and closed it for him.

Okay.

Well, at least Hazel was taken care of. Eventually, once she recovered from her dizzying part to play, Frank would have someone to take care of him too.

He spotted a bunch of centurions and ex-centurions (there'd been reforms after the Titan War) all chugging… Kool-Aid? Oh gods, Dakota was converting others.

Right now the guy in question was too sugar-drunk to do anything, but he didn't look in great shape. It was with a pang to the heart that Jason realised that there was nothing he could do, so he spared himself the sight and kept walking.

Hannibal the elephant was in the stables, along with Bobby. Bobby, big and gruff Bobby who never said a word to anyone but had been dubbed the Elephant Whisperer within ten seconds of arriving in camp, was with him. And he was pouring his heart out.

"...and it just doesn't feel the same even though it didn't feel the same since Jason left anyways so I really don't know what's going on right now but I don't like it," he said. "I hate the barracks now because Dakota just gets even more stoned than he ever has since Gwen isn't even around anymore and nobody says anything about it because we all wish that our bodies had that exact same default so that we could just make it stop because if it's not real life work around the fort, like rebuilding New Rome or burning shrouds with bodies or shrouds without bodies or identifying the dead or shipping them cross-country, it's in the dreams and in the looks people get and in the fact that your bunk doesn't shake in the exact same way because the guy upstairs isn't there anymore…"

Hannibal spotted Jason. He'd read somewhere, or maybe Piper or Annabeth had told him, that animals had better sensory perception than humans did. Even Reyna's dogs growled at monsters before they'd even realised that they weren't alone, on quests. He guessed that that was true.

Jason nodded and Hannibal tooted. Jason gestured and, somehow despite Jason's horrible charade history, Hannibal understood it. He put his trunk around Bobby's shoulders.

"Thanks man," Bobby swallowed. "Means a lot to me."

Jason wished that he could've hugged Bobby himself.

When he stood at the fort's doors, open for today since legionnaires and campers flowed to and from New York and the temples, squinted and shaded his eyes- he saw the big stone statues of Terminus still standing. As well as a tiny dot, spinning –cartwheeling- nearby.

He grinned. He really did smile.

He saw the Stoll brothers cornered by a bunch of legionnaires from the First Cohorts.

"Guys, guys," Travis said trying his knack at diplomacy, his hands raised in front of him. "It was a fair question, in all honesty…"

The guys didn't seem to think so. The gold came out and the tension shot up, so Jason intervened. He picked up a pebble on the road and tossed it at one boy. Ah. He should've known. William, Octavian's biggest admirer. He was definitely in the top ten on the list of things that Jason hadn't missed while amnesiac.

William turned around, scowling.

"Who did..?"

Nobody else on the street was closed.

"Well?" One boy –Axel- said. "You want first hit?"

"I…"

Jason tossed another pebble and William's eyes popped.

"D'you see that?" He said pointing. "D'you see that?"

"Leave them alone!" Jason said. He didn't even know what Travis and Connor had said to get in this mess, but he knew that fifty kinds of Hades would get released if they got beaten up- even if it was a normal occurrence at Camp Half-Blood.

Apparently this time the volume had worked because the guys all panicked.

"Who is that?" Axel said.

"Your mom," Jason said. "Leave. Now."

William's eyes popped out of their sockets. He looked at the two Greeks and back. He didn't want to look cowardly in front of them… but he was. Big debate.

"Get out before I get mad," Jason said trying to tap in to everything he remembered about the A Christmas Carol movie he'd been forced to watch.

That was enough.

Travis and Connor blinked and slowly looked around.

"Thanks Mrs Axel's Mom," Travis said, confused as could be.

Jason, even though the volume might be on, laughed.

It wasn't half as bad as he thought, seeing Nico in the crowd.

The first important thing to note was that Nico was among the crowd of people in New Rome. The second important thing to note was that Nico seemed to be... enjoying it? Well, maybe not, but a rowdy son of Vulcan had his arm around Nico as he laughed and laughed and laughed, and Nico hadn't killed him yet. That had to be some kind of good sign right there... To top it off, the kid was smiling! As if he didn't mind, as if it were satisfying to hear someone laugh like that in his presence. Maybe it reminded him of a time before he'd gotten claimed? It was weird to see Nico like that, but Jason was happy.

He was getting there.

His heart stopped beating.

Percy and Annabeth.

Together.

Not because the other would die if not.

But, like, by choice.

Being romantic.

His stomach twisted in the weirdest possible way.

They were coming out of the baths. Percy was dry and Annabeth was soaked. Well, not exactly, Percy was grabbing bits of her hair and pressing the water out. Plus it gave him a good excuse to play in his girlfriend's hair, so Jason thought that it was kind of a genius move to pull.

"So, any other places you want to Underwater Kiss?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, a few," Percy said.

"A few? I thought the Romans didn't like water, historically," Annabeth huffed.

"We can't hit all of them now," Percy said. "Got to pace ourselves."

"Oh yes, pacing," Annabeth said rolling her eyes. "Since we have such a long time to make all of these underwater locations last."

"With a little luck yes," Percy said.

"That's not what I meant," Annabeth said darkly.

"I know," Percy said. "It's just what I keep thinking about now."

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck. He had bruises wrapped around it like ivy climbing a wall, and they reached his cheek.

"We're okay, you know," she said. "You're beating yourself up about Jason, Chris, Mitchell and everyone else- but really… we're okay."

"Okay," Percy said emptily.

"I think that we can hit one more," Annabeth said touching his cheek.

"One?" Percy said. Their energy was back.

"Hey, you wanted to ration."

"I thought that you'd appreciate the logic."

"Screw the logic," Annabeth said.

Percy fake gasped, got punched in the arm, and off they went.

So did a big weight on Jason's chest.

Gods. Oh gods. Oh gods, oh gods, no, no, no, no, no. Karmatic debt bite in the butt, much?

He saw Leo.

Leo was sitting alone in a part of the fort where they'd stored bodies during the last Titan War, and maybe they had been used again. Maybe that was why the only people there were Lares.

He was sitting on a pile of firewood covered in a tarp. He was weighing things in his hands: a gear that might've popped out of a clock (but was probably out of an automaton given the context)… and a golden coin bent in two… with Caesar's face on one side.

"Both," he said shaking his hand. "Really guys?"

Jason felt his heart twinge. He'd had the coin in his cabin onboard the Argo II. Had Leo been the one to clean out his stuff? Oh, gods… The guy looked even smaller than usual, with that look on his face and swaddled in a big hoody that looked like it was probably Percy or Frank's.

He hid his face in his hands.

"Should've been me. Should've been my oath..."

Hair raised on Jason's neck.

He walked up to Leo and smacked the guy across the head.

No, he wanted to scream. No, it shouldn't have been you. It could've been either one of us, it ended up being me, okay? Leave it at that.

But he couldn't. Unlike William and Axel, Leo would recognise Jason's voice if he spoke and he wasn't sure if he wanted that. If it would help his friends to hear him, or just make everything worst.

Leo looked up. Not as if he'd been slapped, but as if a breeze had picked up. Good enough? So he could touch concrete objects, like pebbles, but not people. Got it. Also walking through doors- that was cool.

Jason jumped in the unpaved floor and dragged his feet in the dust and soil. Then he jumped again to create two eyes with his footprints, and then he circled it all and hoped that Leo got the point.

Leo looked really freaked out. Oops. He looked around –left, right, up and down (which were, contextually, valid places to look) and frowned. He just shook his head and sat back down.

Jason would've slapped him again (maybe one day sense would just bleed in through the guy's pores), but stopped himself. Leo rummaged for a tiny drill-like tool in his tool belt. He pierced a hole through the coin that'd been IVLIVS, took off his camp necklace and strung both knickknacks on.

He dragged his feet in an arrow towards where most of the people who were out and about were, trusting that Leo would find someone to connect with in the crowd.

Leo smiled and followed its direction, though it looked a little half-hearted.

Jason wished he could do more

No more stalling. It was time for him to buck up and grow a pair.

He headed towards the principia. His feet led the way. He felt like a runner who'd gone over the same track so many times that he could turn his brain off and go the right way, except this time instead of pushing the door he kind of just strolled through it. That was weird.

Okay, so he'd known that he'd find Reyna there. He'd mentally braced himself, which didn't mean that it didn't hurt a lot, but he'd braced himself. Piper, on the other hand… Gods, he'd been hoping not to see her right away. Not on his first day on the job, anyways. He felt his strength crumple right away.

She and Reyna sat across from each other at the table, both of their hands traveling from a same bowl of jelly beans to their mouths.

Reyna had refused to share food of any kind, much less jellybeans, with him for years after they'd met.

Piper's hair was done up in a single braid, but such a neat and tight one that one of her sisters must have done it for her. Similarly, her outfit was well put together and her socks matched- so someone was definitely taking care of her back home. Lacy, maybe? Whoever it was, Jason owed him or her one. She was even armed- which she had an annoying tendency to forget.

Reyna's hair was loose down her back, though two small braids kept it all behind her ears. Pieces of her armour were on the chair next to her, leaving her clad in a toga pulla, a dark toga. Jason chilled. The last time he'd worn one himself had been when Molly –the ex-praetor who'd raised him- had been poisoned. Her nails were chewed- a super bad sign- and the dogs lay directly on her feet –even more protective than usual, another bad sign.

Reyna swallowed her last handful of jellybeans.

"I need to get more paperwork done," she said pushing herself away from the table.

"Nuh-uh," Piper said, mouth full. "Park your butt back on that chair. If I'm not allowed to wear his hoody in public and bawl my eyes out, you're not doing anymore paperwork than strictly necessary, see urgent."

Reyna sat back down and kept eating. It made Jason smile sadly. He'd been pretty sure that eventually they'd get along- or at least he'd really hoped that his best friend and girlfriend would get along. He imagined that the basis of their relationship being that Reyna would get a kick out of a daughter of Venus like Piper, and Pipes would appreciate the fact that Reyna could beat him up. Not that they'd feel horrible and eat junk food together.

Oops.

Reyna got up again and Piper shot her a look.

"We're going to run out," Reyna explained, gesturing towards the bowl of candy. Piper relaxed and Reyna went to one of her food hideouts- the one behind the tapestry. She pulled out cherry liquorice.

"Can you literally pull food out of any crevice in this place?" Piper asked, amused. She'd never been in the principia. He'd have paid to see her face the first time she saw the murals. She'd love it.

"As many as Jason would let me stuff down with junk food," Reyna said. "It bothered him that I ate so badly."

"It's good that you ignore him. All of this is coming in handy," Piper said.

Reyna smiled a bit, but it was weary and tired and more saddening than anything as she sat down.

"Hope you don't mind," Reyna said, offering the bag. "We're out of jellybeans. It's been a really rough weekend."

"Arranging funerals can't be fun," Piper said. "But like I said, I know that I'm more useless than anything fault of being Greek, but if there's anything I can do- just let me know."

"That's appreciated," Reyna said. She wouldn't do it, but she did genuinely appreciate the offer.

Piper looked like she hadn't slept in months. Reyna too. Piper's eyes were bloodshot and puffy, though her face looked dry and her lips weren't cracked. Reyna looked composed as per usual.

Jason ran out the door.

He figured that once wouldn't matter since he'd make up for it later, but when he sprinted down to New Rome (past a very cute Julia and a very serious and not so cute Terminus) and stopped at the Camillia's Candy Shop, he evidently didn't and couldn't pay for the baggie of jelly beans that he filled. He hoped that it just became invisible with him as he ran back to the fort.

Anyways, he put it at Reyna's usual spot for jellybeans (an easily accessible hole in the floor underneath a rickety panel- one that she wasn't getting fixed anytime soon). He left a piece of the baggie sticking out so that she'd notice. If she did, it wouldn't be for now- the conversation between she and Reyna was even more serious than when he'd left.

"You know, he really felt bad about not being able to help you out," Piper said. "At camp? He really wanted to be able to do paperwork or attend senate meetings, do inspections and muster and refereeing. Gods, he missed it all so much and felt so bad… Most of all he wanted to call you, tell you he was alright. But you needed to find out about us –I mean, the Greeks- the hard way for everything to work."

"I understood," Reyna said.

"Yeah, well, Jason didn't give you that much credit," Piper said. "Always beating himself up."

"I know!" Reyna sympathised.

Did he really do that?

"And don't even get me started about how it was on the ship," Piper said. "I mean, he didn't do anything wrong, but he felt so bad about being condemned for treason and being kicked out of camp."

"He must've been fun to deal with."

Piper shrugged. "You really have to bring these things up for him."

"You really do," Reyna agreed. "He's stubborn."

"He's unconfident."

"He's selfless."

"He's martyrish."

"Nice word."

"Thank you."

"He's also dead."

"Screw you."

"I know. We should talk in the past tense. It hurts less," Reyna said simply.

"I don't really care," Piper said. "It's going to hurt one way or the other… May as well pretend. No?"

"No," Reyna said. "No… You really can't pretend. Then the world overlaps you."

"Don't particularly mind," Piper said putting her feet up on a chair and bundling up.

The door of the principia opened. Reacting as if a legionnaire had just walked in uninvited, Reyna turned around offended.

"It's called knocking," she said.

"Oh never mind that, we all know that you two eat like pigs," Annabeth said. That didn't stop her from taking a piece of licorice for herself.

"What's going on?" Piper asked. The rest of the seven were trailing Hazel, and they all started talking at once.

"Chest closed."

"Dirt."

"The Stolls said..."

"I've been getting this weird vibe all day," Nico said once Reyna shut them all up and got them to speak one at a time. "Like something wasn't quite right with the whole dead/alive border…"

"No," Piper said. "No, you are not allowed to say that. Not now."

Jason moved behind her. He knew that he couldn't do much, but he put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't react. Of course not, he was like a ghost.

"Not in that way," Nico said quickly. Piper's face didn't make it look any better. Jason could nearly hear her thinking, how many kinds are there? "I mean… I've never felt this before."

"What is your point?" Reyna asked.

"Someone that's supposed to be dead isn't, but it's alright," Hazel said. She understood Nico, as per usual, and Jason was pretty excited because they understood him. "Someone got promoted to godhood."

It was hard to tell who was most shocked between Reyna and Piper. Piper was certainly more visual about it.

"You mean..?"

"Yeah," Percy said. He was grinning, his arm around Annabeth's waist.

"Jason's a god?" Piper said.

"We think, we can't be sure," Nico asked. "I'll have to ask Dad."

"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Piper asked, a smile breaking out on her face. "Where is he?"

Jason's mood sank. I'm right here, Pipes, he wanted to say. I'm right here. I can't be any more present and I'm sorry but…

"Piper," Reyna said warningly. "Roman gods… You know how they are not the same as Greek gods at all. He would not be a god like you think of it. Not like Hercules that you two met. He wasn't exactly of that calibre, few Romans are. None have been since Remus and Romulus themselves. He would be minor- even more minor."

"Which is what?" Piper asked cautiously, though Jason could tell that she'd already come up with the answer.

"A lares," Annabeth filled in. "A house god- a protective spirit."

"A protective spirit," Piper said. She smiled. "I like that for him."

Jason's hand tightened around her shoulder. She didn't even react like Leo had.

"So Jason could be right here, right now?" Leo asked excitedly. "Like, he could be wandering around? And if he wanted to he could just pull down people's pants whenever he wanted to?"

"Theoretically," Annabeth said.

"I think he should go for it," Percy said. He raised his voice like one of those goofs on ghost hunting shows. "So Jason, if you're here, please pants someone."

He tugged on the back of Percy's jeans. They didn't get far down, but enough to make him grab his belt loops and swear. There was a mix of gasps and laughing.

That's when Jason realised why he'd been turned into a lares, who he was supposed to protect.

Not a person. Not a cohort. Not a military group. None of the things that regular lares protected. But the Seven half-bloods. The Seven, who, now that he was dead, included Nico. This idea of Greeks and Romans laughing together, hanging out together, fighting together, nearly dying together, being ready to die for each other… the right of Greek demigods to walk around the fort and ask questions and learn without getting beaten up by First Cohort superiorists. Everyone's right to friendship across historical eras and land and time and dogmas and beliefs.

Piper got up and turned directly towards him. She squinted. Jason was pretty sure that she couldn't actually physically see him, but he felt as if he should fix his hair. She took a tentative step as everyone hushed up. He closed the gap and her shaky hands stretched out in front of her.

"Is he there?" Nico said. "I do dead people, not gods."

"I think so," Piper said. "I think I found him."

You did.

"I… I really think I found him," Piper said shaking.

Don't be scared. I'm still me. Sort of... But I promise that I'll keep trying to be the me that you like, one way or the other.

"I did," Piper said. She raised her hand. If he weren't a spirit, one that couldn't concretise and manifest itself yet and who probably never would for the sake of his friends moving on, she'd have touched his cheek. Jason wanted the touch so badly, despite himself.

It won't work out between us. I may still be here but I'm not at the same time. It's weird, but I know for a fact that it's too weird, even for us. But I'll still be here as long as you want me to.

"He's right here," Piper said.

"Can I slap him?" Reyna asked. A few giggled.

Okay, Jason grinned at her. Guess I'll protect you too.