"It was nice meeting you, Sparky," said Leo.
Jason felt like he'd been struck by lightning. No one had called him Sparky since he'd left Piper. All those memories suddenly came flooding back to him, the ones he strived to never think about. He remembered the night he and Piper had finally admitted their love for each other. He remembered waking up in bed next to her. He could suddenly recall the taste of her lips. He could feel the pain of Piper choosing an arranged husband over him, more vividly than ever.
"Don't call me that," Jason warned, his voice dripping with misdirected anger.
Leo raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, sorry. Geez."
Jason felt instantly guilty. He apologized and then the tinkerer walked away. Then he felt a flame ignite beneath his heart, and it began beating faster. He pictured Piper's face, and he suddenly knew he had to see it again.
"What was —?" Percy began to ask, but Jason cut him off.
"You go on ahead."
"What?"
"You don't need me to talk to Gallio. I. . . I've got something I have to do."
It was true. He was going to visit Piper, and only death could stop him. His biggest regret was how the two of them had ended things. He didn't want her to look back in ten years and have that be her last memory of him. He was going to see her again. He didn't know how she'd react to him and he didn't know what he was going to say to her. All he knew was that he needed closure, and seeing her was the only way to get it.
Jason turned and walked through Neapoli at a quick pace. He knew exactly where to go; he knew these streets just as well as Rome's. He passed by people, some he even recognized, but ignored them all. He had one thing on his mind and one thing only.
He reached Tristan McLean's villa and knocked on the door. He waited anxiously for many seconds before it finally opened, revealing Tristan himself. He looked just as he remembered him, although his hair now had some streaks of gray and his face was coated with shock.
"Jason Grace," said Tristan. "I. . . what. . .?"
"I need to see Piper," Jason said urgently.
Tristan seemed to gain a bit of his composure. "Oh. Of course. But, she's not here. She lives with her husband now."
"Where?"
He stepped out of the doorway enough to point at a building a bit down the road. "Turn right after that building there and it'll be the villa at the end of the street."
Jason turned and started to leave, but then Tristan caught his wrist.
"Jason, wait!" he said.
Jason impatiently turned and faced him again, surprised to see a guilty face staring at him.
"I never knew," Tristan said regretfully. "About the two of you."
Jason stared with widened eyes. "She told you?"
Tristan nodded. "Piper's mother, her actual mother — she destroyed me, Jason. My love for her persists just as strongly as the day she left. I never wanted my girl to feel this kind of pain. I thought I was doing what's best for her, by giving her an honorable husband before she could ever have her heart broken. Little did I realize that I was causing just that."
Jason didn't answer for a time. His mind raced with the new information. He realized there were so many different possibilities that could have played out instead. They could have stayed together all this time, if only they'd just fought for each other a little harder.
"And what if she told you she wanted to marry me instead?" Jason asked. "What would you have said?"
Tristan shook his head. "Piper asked me that same question, but my answer remains the same. I honestly don't know."
Jason said his goodbyes to the man and then left. He followed Tristan's instructions and soon found himself approaching a villa smaller than the one he'd just walked away from. As he got closer, his heart began to beat faster and faster. He'd felt less nervous when he faced that hydra so many years ago.
He reached the door and knocked. He waited, but there was no answer. He knocked again, but still received no response. After knocking a third time and waiting for what felt like an eternity, he was about to concede that she wasn't home, but then the door opened.
She wore a robe and her hair was wet, as if she'd just taken a bath or been in the middle of one. Her unique eyes were as dazzling as ever and he was certain she'd never looked more beautiful. She also had this flowery scent about her, which was quite pleasant. She looked very mature, too. The last time he'd seen her, neither of them had even reached adulthood yet, so it was new; it wasn't unwelcome, though.
Now that he was actually in her presence, after so long of missing her, he froze. He'd been so confident and determined several seconds ago, and then it all went away in an instant. All of the possibilities of what to say to her that he'd thought up on the way there were forgotten. So he just stood there, frozen and staring while probably looking like a complete idiot.
But, to be fair, Piper wasn't much better. Her face showed a mixture of shock and confusion. She retreated half a step back and crossed her arms over herself, likely self-conscious about the fact that she wore nothing more than a robe. He didn't even know how long for, but the two stood there in a standstill, neither making any move or saying anything. Then something magical happened.
You can call it true love, destiny, or whatever you want — it didn't matter. In a single, idyllic moment, they synced together perfectly. He desperately wanted her and there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she wanted him too. They advanced on one another at the same time and both went straight for the kiss. Both of Piper's hands pulled his face toward hers while Jason's found their way to the small of her back and the back of her head so he could bring her as close to him as possible.
Bliss took control of them both. What were they doing? What about her husband? What if he came home? None of those questions mattered to Jason. The only thing on his mind was the woman he'd never stopped loving, who was now backing the two of them into her house without breaking the kiss.
The door closed and they slowly progressed through the home toward a bedroom, probably. Piper stopped kissing him only long enough to remove his tunic. Then her robe fell, leaving her completely bare. Soon enough Jason's shoes and pants had also been discarded.
They never made it to the bedroom; they couldn't wait that long. Jason picked her up and carried her until he found a table to set her down on. For several more seconds, their lips were glued together before he finally pulled away and they stared into each other's eyes. Her pupils were dilated and the two of them were slightly panting. His eyes darted downward for less than a second.
"Do it," she whispered, her tone pleading.
He was sure that if he tried to reply his voice would come out as barely more than a whimper. He'd never been happier than in that moment or more nervous, but letting her see that would ruin the moment. So he didn't say anything. He just punished her in every way he knew she loved for not choosing him all that time ago.
Half an hour passed and they'd found their way to a bed and lay silently together. Jason's bottom half was covered by the sheet but Piper wasn't under it at all. It took several minutes after their amorous activities had concluded for the heat to die down and them to fully regain themselves. Now that they were just laying together, completely naked, he began to feel increasingly nervous again. The fun part was done, and now they had to talk. They both had things they needed to say, and he had no idea how the conversation would end.
Eventually, she looked over at him, which meant he had to look at her. He had a hard enough time putting two thoughts together as is. With her looking like that, it was next to impossible.
"Gods I missed you, Sparky," she told him.
"Please cover yourself," Jason begged, pulling the sheet up to his chest.
She smirked and got under the covers. Now she was slightly less distracting.
"Why did you come back?" she then asked.
He met her eyes. "Demigod stuff brought me to Neapoli. And I just had to fix the way we said goodbye while I was here."
"So you want to say goodbye again?"
He hesitated. "Don't we have to?"
Her eyes met his. "Not necessarily."
Jason sighed sadly. "Pipes, you know nothing's changed. I can't —"
"Things have changed," she interrupted. "We're older now. I'm smarter now — smart enough to realize that life feels so empty without you in it."
His heart started beating faster. "What about your husband?"
"Forget him! I'll leave him. We can pick up where we left off."
"You really mean that?"
"Yes! I do."
Jason laughed with glee. Every word he said from then on was through a grin.
"I love you so much," he told her. "I never stopped."
"I love you too," she said.
They kissed again. He'd have been glad for it to never end, but he needed to tell her before they got too carried away. He separated their lips and gave her a somber look.
"We can't do this yet," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"I want to. You have no idea how badly I want to, but I can't right now. I've got things I need to do first."
"Like what?"
"Demi —"
"Demigod stuff, right," she finished for him with a disappointed voice. "Then when can we do this?"
"I wish I knew. A few more weeks? A couple months? This quest is too important for me to abandon."
She nodded dejectedly. "Bigshot Sparky, off to save the world."
He smirked. "I'll come back to you. I promise."
A/N: Did some ask for a twist of the knife? No? Oh, I'm sorry. . .
I'm really sorry. First off, I didn't kill Jason because of Trials of Apollo — I don't even read those. I know what happens in The Burning Maze, of course, but that's not the reason I killed him off here. From the very beginning, his character was designed to go out this way, and you'll understand the importance of it more next chapter. Last chapter was still very, very painful for me to write.
By the way, I'm surprised no one picked up on this sooner. I've been dropping death flags in increasing quantity for almost the past ten chapters. I expected some people to see this coming — maybe some of you did and just didn't want to spoil it.
I know this chapter is short, that's why I called it a bonus mini-chapter. A full-sized one is dropping tomorrow, as usual, so look out for that.
P.S. This can get sadder.
