Jason didn't really knew what to think about Hera. Before the trip he actually never gave a second thought on her. She took his memories, hated his sister, used him as a piece of chess in her plan and messed up everything in his life. He could have hated her, but then decided that he shouldn't care about her anymore, because most of the gods were self-centered jerks.
He remembered how shocked he was when he heard about this bonding trip. Never ever, ever would he have expected that his father would even care about how his children and his wife had for a relationship. He expected it from Neptune, heck even from Pluto, but from Jupiter? After he has got to know him, he saw his father only as a egomaniac who only cared about his well-being and wanted to have all the power. And he was a lousy father and husband. But that thing practically blown up his mind.
Back then his sister was visiting him and he could remember how she was shouting at his father how stupid this whole idea was. Jason himself was too shocked to speak. What did the big three thought they could achieve with this? Demigods and their step-mothers, that couldn't end well.
Thalia was protesting about hours with their father. Jason sometimes stood beside her and gave some arguments against this trip, but mostly he was thinking about how this trip actually would end.
He thought about the other goddesses: Salacia (Roman) or Amphitrite (Greek) and Proserpina (Roman) or Persephone (Greek). He has heard some awful stories from Nico about his time in the underworld and how Prosepina has turned him into a dandelion. He couldn't imagine that one trip could get them bonded. He didn't knew as much about Amphitrite, but he heard from Percy that she is somehow cold towards him, but not hostile.
Jason sighed, right now Percy had of course a almost perfect relationship with her. Jason knew that he shouldn't feel this way, but he couldn't help but be envious of this guy. He had an awesome mom, a girlfriend that he knew from the beginning, he was respected everywhere and had this lovely personality that you couldn't help but love.
Of course Jason had an awesome girlfriend with Piper too. He would never dare to go for another girl, because he loved Piper dearly, but he wished that it was like with Percy and Annabeth and not like him who known Piper because of false memories. To that he was taken away from his Roman home and also broke Reyna's heart because of that. He flinched at that. Reyna...he never loved her as a lover. To him she is, well, was his best friend and like a sister to him. He knew she felt more for him and he wanted to talk about this to her, but then he got taken away. He felt like the biggest jerk for how he treated her. She didn't deserved this. At least he could have talked to her during or after the war, but what did he did? He was mostly preoccupied with the war or Piper. He felt ashamed of his actions. He definitely was going to talk to Reyna after this whole thing. She deserved this.
His thoughts then drove back to Percy. He thought about how his mom was alcoholic and abusive and he was taken away from his sister by Hera at the age of two. For years he thought his mom was dead and that he was an only child. Percy on the other hand had a mom who always supported him. He had met her, she was lovely. The mom, any child would want.
Jason was respected in his camp, yes, but somehow he couldn't help but feel like everyone is expecting him to be the responsible, the one with a plan, the one who had control over everything, the one that didn't broke. Percy was like him, but everyone seemed to be friends with him and respected him, while people in his camp only respected him, but only a few were really his friends. Percy just had this lovable and loose attitude everybody loved.
Jason shouldn't think about him like this. Nico had the right, Leo had the right, even Frank, but him? He shouldn't complain about all of this, but he envied Percy. He was his best friend, but also someone who had the better life in general it seemed.
Jason shook his head. He really shouldn't have this thoughts. Percy was his bro and it wasn't his fault that Jason's past was so messed up.
He then thought back again, when he heard about this trip. Back then he thought a lot about Hera or Juno. He should have hated her. She took his family from him, his memory and his best friend (even if that mostly was his fault), but because Jason was Roman, he understood why Hera acted this way. She has sacrificed some fates to help saving the world. If he was younger he would totally agree with her. Now he wasn't too sure anymore, but he understood. And at least no one died because of this plan.
If it wasn't Hera he would never met his girlfriend Piper or his best friend Leo, he would never saw Thalia again, and probably Gaia would have won the war. He had such mixed feelings about her and he was not sure whether he should hate her or admire her. He then decided to look up for her in the mythology. As a Roman Jason of course knew the stories of Hera since she was one of the most important goddesses in Rom. But back then he only listened to the stories and didn't really thought more about it. Back then such things were stories for him, he didn't thought of these gods or goddesses as actual people with feelings. They were above him.
But after he restudied all the myths, he couldn't help but feel bad for Hera. For centuries she had to live with my father who cheated on her again and again. He couldn't imagine what would be if Piper did that to him. Because of that it seemed she turned really bitter. Her bitterness doesn't excuse the things she has done, no, but Jason felt for her. He wondered if anyone ever loved her these past few hundred years. Had she friends? Family members that supported her? He then understood that Hera was more complex that he thought she was. Before that he always thought that Hera was a greedy goddess who only cared about her own desire. He now thought that maybe after all this time she only sought for an escape of all of this, that sought for love.
Jason hoped after this that this trip would work. He never would have thought this, but the imagination with him having a family was great. Sure he had his friends and his girlfriend, but he always wanted a family that wasn't dysfunctional.
He sighed. He was just being stupid. That would never happen, but he at least could hope for it. The only problem right now, was that Hera and Thalia hated each other. Neither of them seemed to make a progress to each other. Jason definitely needed to do something against this.
He thought of his sister. Before a year ago, he didn't even knew her, but now he couldn't imagine life without her. She was his only family left and Jason wanted that she was happy too. Her past was way worse than his ones. She lived with their abusive mom, was turned into a tree for years and lost her best friend and possibly love Luke. Hearing all of this Jason really wanted to go to the Fates and punch them in the face for what they had done to his sister. She didn't deserved this, nobody did. But then again, they were demigods and their world was crap.
He secretly really wished that Thalia would quit the hunt. It was selfish, but he wanted to grow up normally with her and not see her young forever while he grown old and died. He now knew how Nico felt when Bianca joined the Hunters. Jason couldn't really understand how Bianca could have left her own brother. Because of this Nico started to change. He was not there back then, but he heard it from Percy and Nico, who first refused to tell him. Thalia didn't knew Jason was alive back then, so he didn't gave her any fault, but Bianca did. At least Nico had Hazel right now. The guy really needed some family. He remembered when he broke down last night. He may be mysterious and all, but Jason knew that Nico was a broken child deep down.
"You look like you are in deep thoughts." a female voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned around to see Hera walking towards him with a neutral expression on her face. Just now Jason remembered that he was still on the Skywalk.
"Um, just thinking about how awesome this place is." he lied to her. She didn't needed to know his personal thoughts.
Hera raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms. Jason sighed. He needed to get better in lying.
"You are even worse at lying than your father when he comes back from one of his sex from his lovers." she said rolling her eyes. Jason noticed the bitter tune in her voice.
Jason didn't looked at her. "Well, I don't really know how that is your concern." he said. He really didn't wanted Hera to know what he was thinking about.
Hera glared at him. "We are on a bonding trip Jason. And I am your father's wife. I think this is my concern."
Jason just rolled his eyes a bit. There is that attitude again. "Where is Thalia?" he asked her not seeing his sister around.
Hera pointed behind her. "She didn't wanted to come here, seems like your sister is afraid of heights." she said. There was no hint of amusement in her voice. Jason knew that Thalia was afraid of heights, so he wasn't really surprised she wasn't here. But he was really surprised that Hera knew of her fear.
"She told you about this?" he asked surprised. Never he would have thought that Thalia would have admitted that, especially to Hera.
Hera just shrugged at that. "I figured it out. She hesitated going on the Skywalk and the only reason could be that she is afraid of heights." she simply said.
Jason was surprised by that, but he tried to keep a straight face. "Yeah, she doesn't like to talk about it." he said a bit awkwardly.
Hera huffed at that. "I figured that out too. Your sister inherited the stubbornness of your father and she is rude to people too."
At this Jason glared at Hera. "She is only rude to people who have hurt her or are rude to her or her friends." he countered not wanting Hera to insult his sister.
Hera glared at him. "What do you want to say with this?" she asked dangerously.
Jason had enough. Yes, he understood her, but nobody messed with his sister. "If you wouldn't always threaten her or be rude to her, she would be way nicer to you." he replied calmly.
"You sister is one of the most insufferable people I got to know! She is disrespectful towards me in every way!" Hera almost cried. The people on the Skywalk were turning their heads towards them.
Jason didn't gave in. "Why do you hate her so much? I know she is a product of my father's cheating, but you don't seem to hate me as much as you hate her." she said.
Hera glared at him intensively. She didn't seemed to like that he was speaking against her. "Don't speak like this to me Jason Grace!" she whispered dangerously.
Jason glared back. He wasn't going to go down in this fight. "Then tell me why." he said.
Hera now looked like she wanted to kill him any second. For a moment they were just glaring at each other, but then Hera interrupted the eye contact. "You know what, you have been standing too long in the sun. Let's go somewhere else where it is more cool." she said to him calmly.
Jason stared at her in disbelief. He expected her to explode, but not this. "You are avoiding my question." he noted.
Hera glared at him again. "This is none of your concern Jason Grace!" she shrieked. She was breathing already heavily.
Her loud voice seemed to attract some people. A concerned blond-haired woman came over to them. "Ma'am, is everything okay?"
Hera glared at the woman. "Everything is fine!" she cried at the woman.
The woman stared at her in shock, then quickly recovered from it. "How dare..." she began, but Jason interrupted her. "Everything is okay." he said giving her a charming smile.
The woman just stared at Jason incredulously. "Are you sure?"
Jason just smiled at that. They didn't needed attention from the mortals. "I am sure."
At his words the woman just shook her head incredulously and left them muttering words like "What a maniac" or "poor kid".
Jason almost laughed at that, but then he remembered Hera who was raging. She seemed to have enough of this. Waving with her hand she muttered something. "Now we can talk without interruptions." she told him. She probably either reduced their volume or made a silent invisible bubble. Jason didn't really got the gods powers.
"I believe this is my concern since this is a bonding trip. That were your words right?" he continued their conversation.
At his words Hera became speechless. Jason almost did smiled triumphantly, but decided to drop it. But he never saw her speechless before.
"You wouldn't understand." she whispered.
Jason rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, like you thought Percy couldn't understand it?" he said sarcastically.
Hera stared at him. "How did you…."
Jason laughed. "How did I know about you and Percy's talk? Easy, he told me. He didn't said what you two talked about, but he said that you were different than he thought." he said calmly remembering about his talk with Percy. It confirmed his thoughts that he had about Hera.
Hera stared at Jason numbly. It was clear that she didn't wanted to talk with him about this. Her hands were shaking and pugging on her shirt.
"You said this is a bonding trip. I can't bond with you if I don't know what problem you have with my sister." he said almost softly.
He heard Hera sighing. "You know, your father had always a great charm. I guess you inherited that from him." she said smiling a bit.
Jason was taken back by this. He did not expect this. "Um...thanks?" he asked awkwardly rubbing his neck.
Hera chuckled at this which shocked Jason. "He always went for the women who were beautiful on the outside. It didn't mattered which attitude they had, he just wanted to have some fun with them." she said almost broken. Jason now felt pity for her. He couldn't imagine the pain of someone cheating on you.
"Your mother was one of them. Beautiful, very I must say. One of the most beautiful lover of Zeus that I have seen yet, but she was a very clingy person. She thought Zeus of her own achievement, her own trophy. That it was an achievement to get a god as a lover." she said disgustingly. Jason now listened to her closely. He knew almost nothing about his mother and now he finally had the chance to.
"When Zeus left, oh well, she went mental. After her department she became alcoholic. She couldn't stand how her mighty god has left her." she said bitterly. "Your mother was always an egoistic woman but after Zeus department her life went down and you two, especially your sister had to suffer under it." she said very quietly. Jason was almost horrified by this. He knew his mom was bad, but this?
"How do I know you are not just inventing this?" he pressed.
Hera laughed at this. "What use would this have? I have no reason for lying. No your mom was like this. The only thing she got in common with all of Zeus lover were her looks." she said.
Jason wanted to protest, but he knew she was right. He decided to stay quiet.
Hera sighed. "I don't know if you heard about the Big Three Pact." she said.
Jason nodded at that. "I think Percy and Annabeth told me about this."
Hera nodded at this. "So you know. Then you can imagine how happy I was when I finally heard that Zeus would keep his thing in his pants. I finally thought we could have a happy marriage together." she said laughing bitterly. "Oh how wrong I was."
Jason now really felt bad for her. His father was probably the worst husband ever. A cold breathe of air blew to him making him shuddering a bit.
"The day when I heard that your father had another child, it was one of the worst days in my life. I threw away my whole life for this marriage, just so I am married to the most unfaithful husband in the whole world. I can't escape from it since I am the goddess of marriage. People are mocking me. Mocking me and my life and I just can watch it and when it finally seemed everything was going to be okay, of course your father couldn't keep his promise." she said softly. Jason thought that they were tears in Hera's eyes, but either he imagined it or she really quickly wiped them away.
"Your sister is the reminder of this whole mess alright? She reminds me everyday about how unfaithful Zeus was again. How stupid my life is, how I am trapped in this hell." she spat.
Jason didn't met her eyes. He never really thought about how other goddesses or gods felt. He always thought they had an almost perfect life, but thinking about it now it seemed that they were all hiding it under a mask.
"But that's not Thalia's fault. She isn't responsible for this."he told her.
Hera glared at him. "Don't you think I don't know that?! No, she is just the product of all of this! But just because I hate Zeus ways and his lovers I shall not at least dislike the product? Then tell me why people always hate the products in the market and hate the producer?" she cried.
Jason frowned at this. He hated the way how she spoke about his sister. "You are blinded by your hate and bitterness." he said softly. "You can't compare products with human beings. It's not Thalia's fault." he said.
Hera just huffed at this. "She is still a reminder of his unfaithfulness." she said,
Jason groaned in desperation. "Then tell me why you dislike her more than me? And why did you took me away from the only family I ever had?" he cried at her.
Hera's expression was unreadable. Jason suspected that she became pretty good at not showing her emotions.
"When you were born, I gave up, okay? First it was Jupiter, Zeus counterpart, and secondly it was with the same woman again. I didn't even had the force to be angry. By that time I also knew that you were the child of the Great Prophecy." she told him.
Jason stared at her. "So...so you always knew that your husband would cheat on you?" He expected Hera to explode, but she only sighed.
"I dared to hope the prophecy was wrong or at least not the way I thought it was, but of course I was just a fool." she said bitterly. "When I knew that you were one of the Seven I knew I had to do something. Zeus, the fool of course wouldn't listen to me, so I sent you to Camp Jupiter since a Roman and a Greek couldn't live together. Not at that time. It was too dangerous."
Jason stared at her incredulously. "So you just let Thalia think I was dead the whole time? You let her live with our abusive mom for months alone? Do you hate her that much?" he asked angrily.
Hera glared at him. "I am not that heartless as you think Jason Grace. Thalia was almost in the age were she would go to Camp Half-Blood anyway. You on the other hand were just a infant. You needed to be sent to Camp Jupiter as fast as you could. I decided to keep you away from your sister for your own safety." she said.
"You took my family away from me for years!" he cried furiously. "You messed with my mind, took away my family, then my memories!" he cried. Screw the Roman way, his feelings were getting control over him.
Hera didn't changed her expression. "You as Roman should know the value of sacrifices. I tried my best to not let someone die. It was all necessary so you all could defeat Gaia. Would you rather have me not interfere and see how you and Thalia would have turned against each other because of your different origins?" she asked.
Jason shook his head. "That would have never happened." he said.
"That may be, but would you rather have then never knew of the Greek camp or would you have rather that Gaia would have took over the Earth and killed all your friends and family, including your sister?" she said calmly. Jason tried to calm himself down. It was all a lot to take. For years he had been worrying about his memory losses and everything else. Now it was the time of the truth.
"In the end you got your happy end. You have your sister, you have a girlfriend who loves you, friends who love you. You got you happy end, but me? Despite me trying to save all of this. Do you see anyone giving me credits to this? No, I am hated. More than ever, from the demigods, from the gods and from my own damn family." she cried hysterically. When she stopped she was breathing heavily.
Jason stared at her in shock. He never would have thought that this was all this extreme. For months he had thought she was almost like Gaia. Only recently he began to understand her, but now…
"I..." he said awkwardly not knowing what to say. All his anger was now gone, substituted by pure shock.
"Spare it Jason Grace, let's go back. This conversation is over." she said coldly walking away from him. Jason just nodded numbly following her.
When they came down from the Skywalk Thalia walked to them. "Finally, can we go now? I have enough from this place." she said.
Hera just gave her a glare and walked on, not saying anything. Thalia stared at Jason. "Woah, what's with her? She is even grumpier than usual." she said grinning a bit.
Jason shook his head. "You don't want to know." he said quietly.
Thalia looked at her younger brother in concern. "Are you okay?"
Jason just nodded. She didn't needed to know about this. "Yeah, let's go." he said.
Thalia looked like she wanted to protest, but she let it go, which Jason was very glad for. As they walked back to the bus station Jason couldn't help but think over their conversation again and again. He always thought that Hera was the villain in this play, but now he didn't knew anymore. It seemed like she was more complex than he had ever thought. In a way she reminded him a bit of Snape in the Harry Potter series. The one hero who everyone hated, but still was the responsible for the downfall of the evil.
Before that trip he thought he definitely knew Hera or Juno. Now he wasn't so sure anymore.
Finally I am done with this chapter! I am soooo sorry guys! University is a pain and I don't have time for anything anymore! I hope you liked this chapter. Finally I did one Jason chapter, it was about the time :D. I don't really get the hate for Jason. I mean, sure he is not awesome like Percy and he seems a bit "too perfect" but I think he is more complex than people think. I tried to picture his emotions about everything here. I think Jason is much ore insecure about things than people think. He got a huge reputation to live up with. His life got messed up twice (by Hera) and he is simply confused by all of this. Besides he is Nico's bro and Leo's best friend. Anyone who is soo close to my two babies is a fav of mine :D I think I already talked about Hera. For me she is one of the complex goddesses there. She is not simply evil like Gaia, no she has far more things to live up and through. I want people to see her in a different light. Let's face it, she is a bit like Snape. All of those stuff she may have done for her own desire like Snape did for protecting Lily's son, but after all the crap she has been gone through I wouldn't have wondered if she just joined Gaia. That doesn't mean she is perfect. She is very proud and sometimes arrogant and she sees herself above people because she is the queen, but I think most of this came after Zeus began to cheat on her or at least it wasn't as intensive as it was now. She is a bit like Calypso (awesome character, her and Leo are sooo cute :D), who has to endure heartbreak again and again, but instead of having Hera seeing one person and letting him (or her) leaving again, she is bounded to endure the cheating of her husband. I don't think any of us wants that his or her lover cheats on him or her and has no choice than to stay. Well, let's it is about it. I hope you liked this chapter. I will update as soon as I can!
