Chapter One
Jason sighed again as he began his long trek back to the Academy from Kora's. He'd left early from the small party that Hercules, Iolaus, and Lilith were having there…he just…wasn't up for it. He hadn't been up for much these last few days, and he knew why.
Break would be coming in a week…that meant that he, and most likely, Hercules, and Iolaus would head out for Corinth to check up on things. It wasn't that he wasn't looking forward to returning home for a few days and it wasn't even that he dreaded having to work the entire time as King…it was just…she wouldn't be there.
His break from the Academy fell on a different week then hers, every year he missed her by a few days. It wasn't fair! He barely got to spend any time with her as it was. He hadn't seen her in nearly a year, and the last time he had it was only for a few moments before she returned to her own school.
He kicked a rock by his foot as he continued walking. He kept thinking about how odd it was that two people living in the same palace never saw each other. But then he shook his head, that was the same as a few of the cadets at the Academy. You could share a room with a person and barely ever see them or speak to them. And the palace was huge compared to the small rooms of the Academy. You could probably fit hundreds of people in the palace and they'd never see the others.
He shook his head remembering how, when they had been younger, they had done everything together. She had only been a year younger than he was, but it never mattered. She always wanted to prove that she could do whatever it was that he could do. And she could too, some things she could even do better than he could!
Gods, he missed her. It truly wasn't fair that he saw so little of her. After spending so much time together as children, it seemed almost cruel to continue on like that. But what could he do? Nothing, she attended her school, he attended his. It wasn't like he could just go to her school, it was only for women, and he doubted that Ophistus would allow her to attend the Academy. He sighed again, those seemed to be the only options and neither would work.
Thinking that always got him down, as did this time of the school year. Hercules and Iolaus knew something was bothering him, but he never told them what. It was just too personal, and he didn't want to give Iolaus leverage to mock him for missing her. No, that wouldn't be good at all.
He paused before the large doors that led into the Academy. Most of the cadets were asleep by now, it was pretty late and they had training at dawn.
'Great,' he thought to himself, 'Cheiron's going to work us to death so we're too tired to do anything over break.'
He groaned, not to mention, Fiducius was probably going to give them all a huge exam before they left, so even if they somehow managed to scrape up energy to have fun…they'd still be worrying over whether or not they did well on the exam.
He shook his head; it wasn't like he was going to have much fun anyway. With that he opened the door and began navigating though the halls of the Academy. He had just entered the training room, a shorter way to reach the dorms, when he saw Fiducius walking towards him.
"Ahh, Jason, there you are," he said, reaching into his robes and pulling out sealed parchment, "This just arrived for you."
He handed the parchment over and continued on his way out of the room, leaving Jason to stare at the royal seal and wonder what on earth Ophistus could be writing to him about…he was going to see him in only a few days after all.
Deciding that he looked a fool just standing there staring at paper, he resumed his walk and finally made it to his room. He threw himself on his bed, getting comfortable as he broke the seal and unrolled the parchment.
He read only the first few lines before sitting bolt upright and quickly reading the rest. He looked up, eyes wide before re-reading the message once more. He dropped the paper into his lap and looked around the room…a huge grin growing on his face…
A/N – Short, again, I know. Chapters will get longer :)