Hi! This is Innoverse (duh) with another fanfic (even more duh). This one is focused on Jason's earlier years, when he still hasn't figured anything out. I always imagined that Jupiter would be afraid to claim him, so it wouldn't happen until later, and that he'd be an outcast so he could slowly rise to 'fame.' Or whatever. My fantasies about Jason's earlier life.
Ironically, this is Jeyna, even thought I'm a Jasper supporter. BUT then again, it's friendship, so... Meh, whatever! Just enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own HoO. R-squared does. (Did I mention I love that name for R.R.? It's so mathematical and clever!)
- Gracie: Jason's POV -
Jason had never been so irritated by someone in all of his eleven years of life.
She didn't talk much as he showed her around Camp Jupiter, but every time she did decide to open her mouth, she seemed to ask all of the exact wrong questions. Personal questions. And he absolutely couldn't stand personal questions. They always hit too close to home—they always managed to make him feel uncomfortable and jealous about other people who could answer them. Some people had learned the hard way to stop asking. But for the life of him, Reyna would just not leave well enough alone.
They stopped outside the boarder of New Rome, where they could see people walking in the streets, women chasing after their small children, and families sitting together at picnic tables. All the picture perfect scenes of family and friends—something Jason figured he'd probably never get to experience. He'd gotten over it a while ago, though.
"This is New Rome," he explained to her. "It's a city for demigods. When you've done ten years of service in the Legion and if you choose to retire, you can either go out into the mortal world—or live here and start a family."
Reyna looked at him, and he expected the same silence that he'd been greeted with most of the time when he showed her something. But instead, another hit below the belt came out of her mouth. "Does your family live there?"
Jason frowned slightly, and started walking towards Temple Hill to show her the shrines. "No."
He could answer that truthfully—he did, in fact, know that his family was not in New Rome. Otherwise, why would they have just dumped him in Sonoma? They knew he would've come back to them eventually. Well, if he'd lived, anyways.
"What about the mortal world?" she asked. He didn't answer her.
They trudged up the hill towards the shrines, Jason pointedly not looking in her direction, hoping that she will get the message and quiet down with the personal questions. They reached the top of the hill, and Jason made a short gesture towards the buildings. "This is Temple Hill. They have a shrine for most of the important gods here."
He led her through the maze of strange looking buildings, naming off the gods that the shrines were for until they came to a particular shrine—the Bellona shrine. It was her mother's. It was large and open air, made with stone columns and a tiled stone floor polished until it almost looked like a mirror. A bonfire burned in the middle, and torches lined the outside.
"This is Bellona's shrine," he explained. "You know, your mother."
She walked inside and looked around, running her fingers on the stone and looking at the bonfire that was burning in the middle. She looked a little pleased. "Why is it so big?"
"Bellona is one of the most important gods, besides Jupiter and Mars, of course," he said.
"Who's your parent?" she asked.
And there it was again. Another one of the biting, personal questions that Jason wished she'd never asked. Because he didn't know. He wasn't claimed yet, even after nine years of living as a demigod. His parent still had neglected him. Yet another family that wanted nothing to do with him. Jason felt so appreciated.
He pretended not to hear her. "Come on. I'll show you the barracks."
She frowned at his obvious attempt to change the subject and muttered something about men underneath her breath, but followed him off the hill anyways. Quite honestly, Jason wanted to get this tour over with. He wanted to finish showing her the camp, and get away from Reyna, go back to the few friends he had. He didn't like her questions, or the way she got under his skin effortlessly. He had enough people do that already without having somehow who could do it without even knowing him.
As they walked on the path back towards the main militarized part of the camp, a group of Mars' kids came up the path. One slammed into Jason, and since he was short and light for his age (they made fun of him for that, too), he hit the pavement, landing on his rear-end. The entire group snickered as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Watch where you're going, Gracie," the boy who'd knocked him over jeered. Jason hated that stupid nickname. They just loved calling him a sissy.
He grumbled something not-so-nice under his breath, and as they walked path, he shoved Jason down again. The went away, hooting and hollering, while other people on the path just laughing at him openly while he got up off the ground—again. Reyna was just frowning at him.
They started to walk back down the path again, and Reyna asked, "Why do they call you 'Gracie'?"
"Derogatory nickname," he muttered. "What do you think?"
"But your name's Jason," she stated flatly. "That doesn't even rhyme."
"Jason Grace," he said. "My... my last name."
She frowned a little. "What's your middle name?"
He stopped walking in the middle of the path. They were in a deserted area now, where nobody else was walking. Who asks that question to a stranger?
Jason hated that question more then he hated the nickname. His truthful answer would pretty much sum up everything—it was a sob story within itself. It brought up all of the nasty feelings of resentment and bitterness at whomever his family might be, angry feelings for just leaving him like that. And then there was also the bone-crushing sadness, because he never really got to have a family, or a real childhood. He'd always been a soldier, and will always be a soldier. No home baked cookies or Christmas morning's for him.
Because Jason Grace didn't even know his own middle name.
He would always be just Jason Grace, not like Gwendolyn Anne Cole, Centurion of Fifth Cohort, or Octavian Augustus Hunter, Augur of the Twelfth Legion and Centurion of First Cohort. Sometimes he might add 'of Fifth Cohort' onto the end, but that wasn't something you advertised or were proud of.
He could only remember his last name partly because of the short snippets of memories he did have, and partly because it was kind of easy to remember, even for a two year-old. As near as he could figure, he'd never been told what it was before he'd been left for dead, or he just couldn't remember it. He wished he knew it just like he wished he knew who his parent was, or the name of the raven-haired girl in his memories, or even the sickly blonde-headed woman. He wished he knew it like he wished he knew if someone was actually looking for him, or if they'd left him on purpose. He wished he knew it like he wished he knew what a family felt like.
He turned towards Reyna. "Why do you care?" Her eyebrows shot up, and she looked mildly surprised. "We're touring a mythological camp for Pluto's sake, and you're asking questions about me! Why do you care?"
There was a beat of silence.
"Because it doesn't look like anyone else does care, Jason," she said softly.
Jason's bottom lip trembled. He collapsed on a nearby bench, and stared at his shoes. He couldn't believe how mind numbingly true that statement was, and how he knew it, too, but it still managed to hurt just as bad when it was finally said outright. Reyna sat beside him, and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Everything sucks," he muttered. He pulled up the sleeve of his hoodie so Reyna could see his tattoo—the one without a parentage symbol. "I've been here for nine years and I'm still unclaimed. My family abandoned me when I was two. I don't know my own middle name. You're absolutely right, Reyna. Nobody cares."
She looked at his face for a moment, and then pulled him into a hug. Jason was surprised—he hardly ever got hugs. Especially not from strangers. Especially not from strangers who happen to be girls. Especially not from strangers who happen to be girls that come from an island where men are turned into guinea pigs.
"That's not true anymore," she said. "Because from now on, I'm going to care."
Wow, that was pretty sad. Jason, your early life is officially a train wreck.
I personally think Reyna and Jason should be good friends like Percy and Thalia, while Jason dates Piper. Doesn't Jason/Reyna seem kind of like Percy/Thalia's relationship? Or is that just me?
P.S. Gwen and Octavian's names are made up. Just in case you didn't figure that out... Octavian's middle name was inspired from the following quote in SoN:
"You remind me of someone," Percy said. "I can't remember who."
"Possibly my namesake, Octavian—Augustus Caesar. Everyone says I bear a remarkable resemblance."
That's from the scene when they're in the temple of Jupiter so Octavian can read the auguries—page 55. Two names from the same guy, but hey, whatever. Oh, by the way, spoiler alert.
Anyways, reviews are appreciated. :)