Wrote this a while ago. Forgot about it. YOU SHOULD NOT FORGET TO REVIEW. See what I did there? Yeah? No? Pfft.
SO I had a dream about MARK OF ATHENA, in which they were traipsing through a forest to get to the candy house from HANSEL AND GRETAL. And I was really mad because they were only telling the story from Percy, Annabeth and Reyna's POV, and I wanted Jason. And Jason did this really BAMF thing with a shield and it was ggasjwefsdgwejfjw and I was basically drooling in my sleep even though I don't really like blond guys.
Yup. I'm excited. *muppet flail*
Home
5…
They're landing. Any minute now.
Jason can see the sprawling city of Camp Jupiter below them. It's beautiful. How could he have forgotten? There's the bakery. He hopes they'll still have chocolate pastries left by the time he gets there (if he gets there at all). Over to the right, he can see the coliseum. He took naps there, in between training. There, to the left, is the senate house. The Circus Maximus. The aqueduct. And right below the Argo II is the forum, where crowds of people are gathering, watching their descent.
Any second now, Jason will be home.
4…
"Jason, move us to the left a little."
He does.
"My left, you idiot."
He goes the other way.
"Thanks."
He can't help it. He's distracted. The place he's grown up in is right below his feet. He's so glad to be back, and so scared. What if they don't accept him? What if they accuse him of treason? What if they run a spear through him or fry his brains?
He's not worried, though, about the last. He's sure his son-of-Jupiter powers will kick in and keep him from being electrocuted. He just hopes it won't be necessary.
3…
He knows he's been replaced. He's been gone for 8 months. Of course he's been replaced. But who replaced him? Octavian? Jason wouldn't be surprised. That guy was a creep, but a charismatic creep. Like Hitler, Jason thinks vaguely. As he's thinking, Piper comes up beside him.
"Hey. Are you okay?"
She's nervous too. They all are.
But none more than him.
2…
The air smells different here. Like cookies and fog and the grease they use to polish armour. Like home. He breathes it in, the smell he's been missing for 8 months now. If he closes his eyes, Jason can almost believe that he never arrived at the Greek camp, that he's still in his room, trying to get a few more seconds of sleep before he has to get up. But then he opens his eyes and he sees the deck of the Argo II and Leo alternating between steering the ship and chugging coffee and Piper fiddling with the braids in her hair and Annabeth pacing around and muttering to herself.
It takes all of Jason's will not to jump off the Argo II in an attempt to get home faster.
…1.
Finally, finally, the Argo II is on the ground. All around him, Jason can hear people taking in deep breaths, because what happens next is going to change everything. But Jason doesn't care just now.
Because Jason Grace is home.