A/N I've nearly done it! This fic and one more and I'll have a bingo :-) Can you tell I'm a little bit pleased?
So this piece started because I decided I wanted to write a story from the point of view of someone who's largely out of it, so to speak. I hope it works.
It's been written for round 7 of hurt/comfort bingo and fills the "Head Trauma" prompt on my bingo card.
Please let me know if you enjoy it.
"Urgh."
Jason grumbled his way back to consciousness unwillingly. Cracking his eyes open, he immediately slammed them shut again as the stab of agony from the light threatened to split his head in two, and swallowed down the resultant wave of nausea that teased at his stomach.
More prepared now for the sunshine, he let his eyes crack open again. The world swam alarmingly in and out of focus, never staying still for long enough for him to get a handle on where he was or what had happened. He couldn't think; couldn't do anything past the pounding in his head; was utterly dazed and confused.
He let his eyes slip shut once more and tried moving his head to find a more comfortable position, moaning wordlessly as fireworks seemed to explode in his brain. Pain slammed into him in waves but he forced his eyes back open with a supreme effort. His head was swimming and he felt dizzy and nauseous even lying still.
Despite the fact that his level of comprehension was nowhere near approaching his level of consciousness (which wasn't saying much right at the moment), Jason felt a compulsion to try to move. This was a mistake. As soon as he moved his head again, this time with his eyes open, the world split sickeningly into two and then four, before swimming back to one again. His stomach convulsed and bile rose in the back of his throat.
Without real awareness of what he was doing, Jason rolled onto his hands and knees, arms trembling with the effort of keeping himself up, as his stomach emptied itself of its contents. Blackness nudged at the edges of his vision and Jason found himself edging sideways towards it. Sleep sounded wonderful right now and perhaps when he woke the world would be less confusing and his head would hurt a little less.
He let himself drop to the ground once more but rolled to the side, trying to escape the sour smell of vomit that turned his stomach and made it cramp viciously once more.
Darkness closed in, receded, then closed in once more. Too tired to fight, Jason gave into it, slipping into oblivion gratefully.
"Jason! Jason!" Pythagoras' voice was intrusive and not welcome. Jason groaned and tried to turn away from the sound. Pain exploded in his head once more even with his eyes shut.
"Hercules… I found… unconscious…"
The words were disjointed and confusing, and, more importantly, too loud for him to cope with right now. Jason tried to slip back towards unconsciousness to escape it.
A gentle hand insistently tapping his face put paid to that though.
"Come on Jason. Wake up." Pythagoras was definitely not going to let him be. "I need you to wake up for me now."
Jason moaned wordlessly again.
"That's it," Pythagoras encouraged. "Now open your eyes."
That really didn't seem to be a very good idea, but the gentle slaps against his face were shaking his head from the inside out and Pythagoras' voice was unrelenting. Maybe if he just cracked his eyes open a little it would satisfy the mathematician and get him to shut up? Getting some peace and quiet definitely sounded good right now. Jason managed to peel his eyelids back a little, opening them no more than a crack.
Light slammed in again, no better than it had been before, making his head explode with throbbing pain once more and eliciting another involuntary groan. He shut his eyes again. It was definitely not worth the effort.
"No, no, no," Pythagoras said urgently. "Open your eyes for me. Come on Jason. I need to know where you are injured."
Jason really wasn't able to process his friend's words properly – wasn't understanding more than about one in three – but the urgent and concerned tone in Pythagoras' voice filtered through his fuzzy head. The mathematician sounded very worried and Jason felt he should find out why, or reassure him, or something.
He forced his eyes open fractionally; enough to see a bright blur hovering in front of him that sent stabbing pains through his head. Slowly the blur coalesced into a hazy oval, which in turn became the face of his friend, his features fuzzy and indistinct.
Pythagoras smiled.
"There you are," he said softly. "Welcome back."
Jason frowned, trying fuzzily to come up with a response. The best he could come up with was another soft groan.
"Where are you hurt?" Pythagoras asked, hands already beginning to run over Jason's body to locate any potential injuries, not waiting for a response – perhaps knowing that Jason's level of comprehension was nowhere near where it needed to be to give him the answer he needed.
"Go 'way," Jason managed to mumble. "Hurts."
From what he could tell (which wasn't all that much), Pythagoras' expression softened.
"I need to know where it hurts," he said patiently, speaking as if he were talking to a very young child. "I cannot make it better if I do not know."
"Head hurts," Jason muttered hoarsely.
"Just your head?" Pythagoras asked. "Nowhere else?"
Jason's eyes wandered sluggishly towards his friend. He couldn't quite understand the urgency in Pythagoras' voice. Everything kept lurching around, making him feel distinctly nauseous, and he was so very tired.
"Ah, you're awake!" Hercules' voice boomed, the volume cutting through Jason like a knife, threatening to make his head split in two again.
He whimpered.
"Hercules!" Pythagoras admonished softly, keeping his own volume as low as he could.
Jason moaned and moved his head from side to side, trying to escape even that slight sound, eyes closed once more. The fireworks apparently exploding in his brain reduced both his hearing and his understanding to the point where his friends' words became disjointed and confusing again.
"… wrong… head injury… need more light… treat him."
Hercules' response was a rumble of sound with no actual words that he could understand. Jason edged gratefully towards the welcoming dark of sleep while they were talking, only to be roused once more by a gentle hand shaking his shoulder. He forced his eyes open with effort.
"Jason, no," Pythagoras said softly. "You need to stay awake."
His face was so serious and so worried that Jason felt obliged to try. He kept seeing two of the mathematician though, and wondered hazily when Pythagoras had acquired a twin.
"Urgh, what's that?"
Hercules' voice was somewhere on the other side of Jason, although he couldn't seem to summon up the will to turn to look at his older friend. Mercifully the bulky wrestler was speaking much more quietly than before.
"I suspect he has been sick at some point," Pythagoras answered calmly, still looking at Jason. "It is a worrying symptom." He looked across Jason towards their older friend. "We need to move him outside. There will be more light there and I will be able to assess and treat him properly."
Jason only managed to latch onto the word 'move'. That seemed like a spectacularly bad idea right now.
"I'm fine. Just… need… sleep," he slurred.
Hercules' answering incredulous snort lanced through him, bringing with it another wave of pain. Jason half curled in on himself and scrunched his eyes shut once more.
"Actually, I think sleep is the last thing you need at this precise moment," Pythagoras murmured softly. "You really do need to try to stay awake for me." He tapped Jason's cheek lightly again. "Please open your eyes?"
Jason struggled to comply. The world was still swimming in and out of focus alarmingly. He looked at Pythagoras miserably.
"Tired," he managed to slur.
"I know." Pythagoras commiserated. "But I think it might be dangerous for you to go to sleep now… and we do need to move outside."
Jason whimpered wordlessly, unable to think enough to articulate properly through the thumping in his head.
"I am sorry," Pythagoras went on. "It is simply too dark in here for me to tell what is wrong. I cannot help it to stop hurting if I cannot see what I am doing properly." He sighed. "But I do not think you are really aware enough to understand what I am saying."
Jason blinked slowly at him in confusion. Nothing was really making any sense. His head was swimming and as he tried to focus on his friend, Pythagoras seemed to split into two and then three, before settling back to one again. He was so very dizzy.
Pythagoras seemed to nod and slipped his arm around Jason's back, dragging Jason's free arm across his shoulders and struggling to lift him from the floor, first into a sitting position and then to stand. Then Hercules was there on the other side, taking most of Jason's weight across his broad shoulders, his arm securely around his friend's waist.
As they stood, white hot agony lanced through Jason's brain, driving away what little semblance of conscious thought he had, and he sagged between his friends, head lolling.
Slowly, Hercules and Pythagoras began to move forwards half-carrying Jason between them, his feet (like the rest of him) only marginally responsive. While he was largely unaware of his surroundings, he was at least trying to move in the right direction – although it had to be said that that it was more of a stagger than a walk and without the support of his friends on either side he would have been unlikely to remain on his feet.
Dizziness was coming in waves and nausea gripped his stomach. Jason's eyes rolled behind his half-open eyelids and he sagged even more as darkness began to creep in once more at the edges of his vision.
Then Hercules caught his foot on something and stumbled to one side, pulling his friends with him with jarring force, although managing to keep on his feet somehow. Jason whimpered as the pain spiked again, the sights and sounds of the world around him fading away completely as blackness overcame him and he slipped into unconsciousness once more.
"Ow."
Jason woke up with a throbbing headache and opened his eyes a little unwillingly. Above him he could see the edge of a canopy of trees and beyond that the night sky, stars twinkling brightly. He blinked at it in confusion for a few long moments, not sure how he had got here – or even where here was for that matter.
"What happened?" he mumbled vaguely.
"I was rather hoping you could tell us that." Pythagoras' voice was calm.
Jason turned his head, groaning as his headache came crashing down on him even more. He brought one leaden arm up to massage his temples, yelping and allowing the arm to drop as his fingers brushed against an area that was horribly sore.
Pythagoras' face swam into view.
"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.
Jason grimaced.
"Head hurts," he admitted.
"I am not surprised," Pythagoras answered. "I suspect you have a fairly bad concussion – you have certainly been showing all the signs of it. I would expect you to have a sore head and a pounding headache for the next few days to be honest."
"Mmm," Jason replied, still more than a little foggy and unable to come up with a proper response.
"This is the most lucid you have been since we found you," Pythagoras remarked. "I have woken you several times over the past few hours but you have been no more than semi-conscious until now. I will admit that I was beginning to grow more than a little worried so I am pleased to see you return to yourself."
Jason attempted to sit up, wanting to see a little more of their surroundings. He made it about halfway up before a wave of dizziness overcame him and he sank back to the ground, panting as he rode out the nausea that clutched at his stomach. Pythagoras rested one hand gently against his chest.
"Rest for now," he said. "We are in no hurry to leave here."
"Where is here?" Jason asked. "Where are we?"
"A clearing in the woods," Pythagoras replied. "I needed more light to treat you than the temple where we found you afforded."
"Mmm," Jason responded again.
Then what Pythagoras had just said filtered through his dazed mind.
"Temple?" he asked.
"Yes," Pythagoras said. He looked at Jason and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Jason, what is the last thing you can actually remember?" he asked.
Jason closed his eyes, frowning, and blew out a long breath as he tried to sort through his muddled thoughts. What was the last thing he could remember?
"I think we were having breakfast," he said finally, opening his eyes to look at his friend. "Hercules said something… about a… job?" He blinked, trying unsuccessfully to clear the haze from his mind. "We were supposed to be guarding something for someone? Or taking someone somewhere?" He paused. "I'm sorry," he apologised. "I can't quite…"
Pythagoras sighed.
"Jason, that was four days ago," he said gently.
"Wha…?" Jason asked, still trying to get a handle on everything. He wasn't being helped by the thumping in his head; it felt almost like his brain was trying to force its way out through his skull.
"Try to relax," Pythagoras advised kindly. "I do not think you will do yourself any favours by becoming upset." He paused and took a long look at his friend. "In the meantime I have something that may ease your headache a little and help you to feel a bit better." He gestured towards a crackling fire with a small pan to one side of it.
"Pythagoras, I've lost four days somewhere," Jason replied with a groan.
"It may come back to you," Pythagoras comforted. "Although I have to be honest that with the head injury you have sustained I am not terribly surprised that you cannot remember the immediate past."
Jason struggled to sit up again, wriggling his bottom along the blanket he was apparently lying on and pushing up slowly and painfully with his arms until his back was supported by a handy nearby tree. The dizziness came in waves again and he allowed his head to drop forwards and his eyes to close as he tried to ride them out. Dimly he was aware of a hand on the front of his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Pythagoras right in front of him, watching him with a worried expression.
"You really should be lying down," the mathematician fretted.
"Please just tell me what's going on?" Jason asked. "I've woken up feeling like my skull's about to split in two, in a strange place and you're telling me that four days have passed that I don't remember… please Pythagoras…" He reached his hand up to his forehead. "I can't think straight… I can't… why are we here?"
Pythagoras sighed.
"Very well," he agreed, "but first I have something I would like you to drink for me… I promise it will help."
He let go of Jason's shoulder, stood up and moved over to the pan he had pointed to before, carefully pouring the contents into a cup and bringing it back to his friend.
"Here," he said firmly, crouching down in front of Jason once more. "Drink all of this for me and I will tell you all I know."
Jason blinked at him for a moment, still a little disorientated, before taking the cup and slowly drinking the contents. It was not as bad as some of Pythagoras' concoctions had been in the past.
The mathematician smiled.
"Four days ago Hercules informed us over breakfast that he had found work for us. He had been engaged by the merchant, Lamus, to act as an escort to his daughter and her retinue. The girl was travelling to Metharta on the far side of the Forest of Calydon to be married. Her father had provided her with a party of servants and a substantial dowry, but he wanted some extra men to provide an armed escort… which is what Hercules had volunteered us for."
"It didn't go well?" Jason asked, trying hard to concentrate on Pythagoras' tale.
"No, for once everything went to plan." Pythagoras couldn't help but sound a little surprised. "We delivered the girl and her party to her new husband's family and were on our way back to Atlantis to be paid."
"So what happened?"
"The night before last we set up camp in a clearing at the edge of the forest," Pythagoras continued. "It should have been safe enough. I had heard that the King had taken steps to rid the forest of any bandits and Atalanta destroyed the band of Scythians who were living in there on our last visit." He paused and sighed. "Well, that was what we believed anyway. Unfortunately, it turns out we were wrong. Yesterday morning our camp was attacked by Scythians. There must have been a new band of them living in the forest. We barely escaped but knew they were tracking us. You volunteered to lead them away… which, I might add, you do far too often for my comfort. We agreed to meet on the far side of the forest, on the road back to Atlantis. Hercules and I made it there last night but you did not arrive. We feared you had been caught… or worse… but there was no sign that we could find of what might have happened to you. We searched for you. This morning we came across an old, ruined temple. It is so old that I could not tell which of the Gods it might once have been dedicated to. There were Scythian bodies outside. We ventured in and found several more dead Scythians. You were lying near them with a nasty head wound and I could only rouse you to semi-consciousness at best. The temple was dark inside and I needed light to assess your wounds so we brought you here. That was hours ago. It seems that something hit you on the left side of your forehead… possibly one of the Scythians… but if that was the case then you managed to kill him before you collapsed. I have cleaned and dressed the wound."
Jason struggled to process the information he had just been given. His brain was still decidedly foggy.
"Thanks," he muttered.
"I do not know how you came to be in that temple," Pythagoras said softly. "Or what happened between you and the Scythians. I had hoped you would be able to tell the story but I am not particularly surprised that you cannot."
"Mmm," Jason replied.
Pythagoras shot him a knowing look.
"I also suspect I will have to tell you all this again when you are a little less dazed," he murmured wryly.
"Maybe," Jason agreed vaguely.
He looked around the small clearing.
"Where's Hercules?" he asked, suddenly aware for the first time of the burly man's absence.
Pythagoras sniggered loudly. Until then he had been keeping his voice as low as he could. The sudden increase in volume cut straight through Jason and he couldn't restrain a small whimper.
"Sorry," Pythagoras apologised quietly. "Hercules is foraging for food. You know what he is like. I have never met a man more obsessed by his stomach."
"Yeah," Jason replied.
He tried and failed to stifle a yawn.
"Sorry" he muttered.
"Are you alright?" Pythagoras asked gently.
"Mmm," Jason answered. "Head's pounding… dizzy… very dizzy… and I feel a bit sick to be honest… But mainly I'm just very tired."
"Then rest," Pythagoras murmured kindly. "We do not have to leave here until you feel well enough to move. I have observed over the years that the best treatment for any sort of concussion is rest, peace and quiet. That should be easy enough to achieve once we are home, but for now just lie back down."
"Mmm," Jason said again.
He was fading rapidly now and really did just want to go to sleep. Encouraged by Pythagoras, he lay back down on his blanket and let his eyes drift closed. With one last effort, he forced them open again as a thought occurred to him.
"You and Hercules," he murmured, "you're both alright? You're not hurt?"
Pythagoras smiled gently.
"We are both fine," he replied. "Neither of us has been harmed. You did well in leading the Scythians away from us."
"Good," Jason replied, his eyes drifting closed once more, only to spring back open to half-mast as he looked sleepily at his friend.
"Everything is fine," Pythagoras murmured softly. "Just rest."
"…'kay," Jason managed in response. He closed his eyes and let everything fade to black.