Bit of Jasper as requested- post-NAPPING. Just a small thing, will pick up later!
Piper leaned a little closer to the mirror. Her hand shook, fingers quivering over the scar on her lip. A little memento, from the horrors. She only had to close her eyes for a moment and she could see the spear in his back; see it yanked out and plunged back in. No matter what she did, what she tried to remember, that was always there.
Three months. That's how long it had been. It could have been three years, three decades, three lifetimes. She would still see it. His legacy lived on, covering Temple Hill in glory to hundreds of previously unknown gods. But Piper would give that all up in a heartbeat, just to apologise to him. While their split had been mutual, the guilt wrung from it weighed in her stomach like molten lead. Oh, how she would change things. They could have stayed in contact, they had still been close. All those months of barely two words to each other and now look at her. A scar on her lip, just like his. One of his hoodies, she had never returned it. And Temple Hill. What she wouldn't give just to speak to him one last time, to se his face, that smile that always seemed a little bewildered, but was genuine and showed every time he saw her.
She dropped her hand, gripping the basin as she began to tremble, tears burning her eyes. It should have been her, that night. Jason had had his life given away when he was an infant, he had lost his childhood to Lupa's training, he grew up knowing nothing but the Legion. And then he finally, finally, gets a shot at being a normal teenagers, attending a school, living a life away from monsters and quests and emperors, piling his focus into a project that aspired peace between the gods… and was killed for his efforts.
Piper wanted to scream and stomp and swear, she wanted to take her tantrum to Olympus itself. But what good would it do, really? There was no getting him back. She had lost him. Forever. At the cost of sparing her own life, a life she would throw away if it meant relieving him of a burden he never asked for.
But what of her dad? That wasn't fair. He was still not stable, struggling to settle in Oklahoma as his daughter withdrew into herself, turned sullen by guilt and grief and a rage she could not fully express. He understood nothing of the gods or the emperors or the camps; it would break him all over again. He gave Piper whatever space she needed, but seeing her own undoing threatened his state of mind.
Then an idea came to her, startling her somewhat. Why hadn't she thought of it before? She wondered, staring at her messed hair and red, puffy eyes, tears staining her cheeks in multitude. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand, picking up a prism with the other.
With the emperors out of the way, demigod communications were back up and running.
Nico did not look happy to see her, but was not surprised either.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't call at all."
"I just want five minutes with him." Piper insisted. Nico's brow creased and he looked away. "Please." She pressed, charmspeak seeping unwittingly into her tone. Nico sighed, shoulders slouching.
"Give me an hour."