Author's Note: Sorry for leaving this one for so long but I kinda felt like no one was reading it so I've been working on my other stories more. But the inspiration bug bit me again so here we go.

Memories: Jason Part 3

Jason stood out on the balcony of the Praetor's villa overlooking New Rome. It was night time and the lights of the city glowed gold under a full moon. Stars twinkled above him and he sighed. Someone stepped out of the shadows next to him and leaned on the railing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" It was Nico. That made him glace up, he'd expected Reyna but he smiled anyway. Nico was cool, the daughter of Pluto might still be something of an enigma but they more than likely wouldn't have won the war against Saturn without her. He looked back out over the city and sighed.

"It's nothing." Nico snorted derisively.

"Yeah and I enjoy Senate meetings." Jason laughed at her sarcastic remark. It was common knowledge that the Ambassador of Pluto had little patience for the occasionally petty goings on of the Senate.

"I don't know, just a bad feeling. It's been quiet for a few months." Nico nodded and folded her hands in front of her.

"The calm before another storm." Jason nodded slightly at the daughter of deaths words.

"Yeah, but it feels like something's going to happen soon." Nico nodded slightly her face still in shadow.

"Something's begun. That much I know. Things in the Underworld are growing restless. How's Hazel doing?" Nico hadn't been by in a few weeks, presumably dealing with said restlessness in the Underworld. Jason grinned.

"Fantastically, she's already made Centurion." He turned and fully faced Nico for the first time since she'd appeared. His eyes widened. Nico was a bit of a mess. Her shirt, black as usual, was torn and tattered, she was thin as a rake and so pale she practically glowed in the moonlight highlighting the obvious injuries she was sporting. There was a dark bruise blossoming under her right eye, her bottom lip was split and bloody. There were scratches at her neck, shallow but bloody. Her usual aviator jacket was tied around her waist revealing arms covered in scars and a few fresh cuts and bruises. Her hair was matted with the dust monsters burst into when slain. Her jeans were torn up and her knees where scraped and bruised. Her shoes were splattered with mud and monster dust. She turned to him and snorted at the expression on Jason's face.

"What? You'd think you'd never seen a demigod after a fight before." Jason scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Explains why you didn't go to Hazel first. You need anything?" Nico shook her head.

"No, I've got what I need at my apartment but I wanted to see how Hazel was doing first." Jason nodded.

"Without her kicking your ass for getting hurt and not getting actual treatment by a doctor, or at least a medic." Nico nodded slightly.

"There is that, though I doubt she would actually kick my ass." Jason laughed.

"I doubt she could. She's good and getting better daily but I don't think she's on your level." Nico's smile was a bit sinister. Jason had only seen her in battle once but she was a sight to see on the battle field. She radiated death on a whim and he swore that if she tried hard enough she could kill with a look. Her sword was a devastating tool that she used to cleave monsters in two and summon the dead. He couldn't help but wonder what had managed to get her so beat up but he didn't ask, Nico tended to shut out anyone who tried to pry into her life.

"Why come here though, I mean you could have popped in and out of the fifth cohort's barracks without anyone knowing you were ever there." Nico shrugged wincing slightly.

"I don't know. I guess the same reason you came out here. Nice view, good place to think about bad feeling and things to come." She stifled a yawn and stretched cracking her back. Some of the dust caught in her hair rained to the balcony. Jason shook his head slightly.

"You should get some sleep Nico." The daughter of death raised a condescending eyebrow at him.

"Don't tell me what to do Grace." From anyone else the words would have sounded like insubordination but from Nico there was almost a teasing quality to them. Her mouth didn't smile but her eyes were twinkling. He couldn't help but hope she opened up to him eventually, she seemed like she would be a good and true friend if you could get past the wall of shadows she surrounded herself with. He was chipping away at it but it would take time. Nico looked back out over the city.

"Besides I wanted to check in. See if everything was alright." That made Jason raise an eyebrow, Nico never openly cared about anyone but Hazel.

"Oh? Why's that?" Nico shook her head.

"Not sure, just a bad feeling." Jason nodded smiling slightly and gently placing his hand on Nico's shoulder.

"We children of the elder gods gotta look out for each other." Jason had been expecting one of Nico's rare genuine smiles, not the scary one from earlier, but the one that showed a glimpse of who Nico might have been before she was dragged unwillingly into the battles between gods and monsters. That smile was rarer than a sighting of the gods themselves these days. Jason had only ever caught a glimpse of it when Nico smiled at Hazel. Instead her whole face darkened and the shadows around them seemed to deepen, the whole night seeming to darken around them despite the bright moon hanging overhead.

"Yes, we should." There was a faraway hollow tone to Nico's voice as she played absently with the shadows that had gathered around her hands. They curled around her and swirled like they were caught in a breeze. It made Jason a bit nervous, knowing that she had that kind of power at her fingertips and that she hadn't intentionally called forth the shadows. They had come because her emotions had shifted. Storms sometimes did that with him when his emotions got out of hand but Nico's face was carefully schooled into a blank expression. No hint of what she was feeling showed on her face but the twinkle that had been present moments before was gone entirely leaving her eyes looking like deep pits. Most of Camp Jupiter thought of her as a harmless traveler but Jason had seen different, as he was sure Hazel had as well. Hazel looked at her sister with the kind of awe and caution one used when examining a bomb, unsure of when or even if it would explode and kill everyone around it. Without looking up from the shadows slowly lacing around her fingers she spoke.

"Goodnight Praetor." With that she sank into the shadows and vanished taking the oppressive feeling the darkness had brought with her. Jason shook his head. He had no idea what he'd said wrong. He sighed looking back out over the city one more time before turning and walking back into the villa. He paused to say goodnight to Reyna and plan the next morning's patrols before he headed off to bed. He entered his spacious room and closed the door behind him before he noticed the figure dressed in an elegant toga standing in his window, a goatskin cloak hanging from her shoulders. He'd seen her before, she was his patron after all but it never meant anything good. He bowed and she spoke.

"It is time I make my move. The sides of this family have been divided far too long. Pluto's gambit can only go so far if his daughter refuses to become a true member of either camp. Hades children, ever the loners. Though I suppose that is partially the fault of the daughter of Poseidon and Venus's son. Cupid does love to stir up trouble." Jason looked up confused.

"Hades? Poseidon?" Juno nodded.

"You will understand soon. Much is happening throughout the world and I fear I may not have made this move soon enough. But the bridge between the Greeks and Romans must be forged. So, I will forge it with the lightning and the sea. Do not fail me Jason Grace." Jason's vision went white.

He woke up in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't know.