AN: Sorry I've taken so long. I've been away. Will try to get some more done, now, but have a lot on. As always, thanks if you've left me a review. I really enjoy reading them!
Jason came to lying flat on his back on the bed. His entire body ached with exhaustion, so much so that he almost couldn't move his muscles. He hadn't felt this bad even when they'd been travelling through mountains in Europe constantly battling gods and monsters.
Zagreus lay beside him, smiling and watching him. The God's eyes were different, where once they had been nothing but darkness, now they were ringed by pure gold. "Good morning, my handsome angel," he said.
"Morning?" Jason repeated, "How long was I…" He trailed off as memories of the previous night returned. It almost hurt to get to them. The feeling of utter helplessness as whatever it was had possessed his body, and the miserable certainty that he'd made a huge mistake trusting Zagreus at all.
He got up. At least he tried to. His wrists were still chained.
"Hush, now, my lover," said Zagreus, "You've helped me get ready to take over the world. This is a time for celebration."
"Celebration?" Jason repeated, "Let me go!"
"No," Zagreus replied, coldly. "Why would I do that?"
Jason gaped, but only for a moment. He'd been incredibly stupid. Of course Zagreus was only pretending to be nice while he needed something from him. He'd needed someone for his friend to possess, he'd used Jason and now Jason was useless.
"You don't need me anymore," Jason tried, "I'm not a danger to you, you can just let me go."
"But I want to keep you," said Zagreus. "You're going to be my pet."
Jason shivered, "I don't want to be your pet," he hissed.
Zagreus looked genuinely surprised. "Why ever not?"
Jason gaped once more.
Zagreus put a hand on his face. "I can tell you find me attractive, so you will enjoy the sexual parts."
Jason shivered at the unemotional voice Zagreus used.
"You will find me a perfect master. I will care for you, protect you and satisfy you. I will have the world at my fingertips, and you will want for nothing."
"Protect me?" Jason shouted, "You let that thing possess me! And then… and then…"
Zagreus frowned, "And then I kissed you so Aion, my Roman essence, and myself could combine to one essence. He lives inside me now and…"
"And then what happened?" Jason interrupted, angrily, throwing Zagreus' hand from him. He couldn't remember, couldn't tell if he'd been used so completely. These creatures had used his body without reference to his consent. How far had they gone?
"What are you asking me, Jason?" Zagreus asked, sitting up solidly for the first time since the conversation had begun.
Jason fumed, but he didn't know if he could say the word.
"Did you… did you…?"
"Did I rape you?" Zagreus asked for him, in that same casual voice.
Jason wanted to boil his skin off. He nodded.
"Of course not, my love," Zagreus said, simply.
He wished that he could believe Zagreus, but it was not easy.
Zagreus put his hand back on Jason's face, but Jason didn't want to look at him. He wanted to run, but that wasn't possible, so instead he stared anywhere else. Zagreus moved his hand to Jason's chin and forced it to move.
"Jason," he said, this time with no sneer to make Jason cringe, only kindness, "when I take you for the first time, you will not only remember it, you will never want me to stop."
Breath caught in Jason's throat.
"When I take you for the first time," Zagreus continued, hand leaving Jason's chin to slide to his cheek, "I will have you begging for more," his hand slipped down to Jason's neck which it circled, "when I take you for the first time, you will forget how to breathe you will be so beyond pleasure."
The hand on Jason's neck tightened just a tiny amount, just enough to slow his breathing, just enough to raise his heartbeat, and just enough to remind Jason that he was turned on by Zagreus' control over him.
His cock quivered. It was impossible to hide it, and however much Jason wanted to. This was so wrong. He fought people like Zagreus, stopped them trying to destroy what Olympus and the Western Civilization had created. He didn't go around sleeping with them.
"We will rule, Jason," Zagreus assured him, "We will win this fight, and then I will be more than your father could ever dream to be. I will be fair and just and powerful, and you will be there at my side, and thank me for the chance. I will be your god and your lover, your master and your slave."
He pulled Jason into a kiss, and Jason didn't protest. Then he snapped his fingers. The chains on Jason's arms pulled him back onto the bed, until he was flat on his back, his arms slightly apart. Another set of chains wound around his feet, and they pulled too, until he was on the edge of pain, breathing hard and panicked. There they stopped.
"I will not rape you, Jason," said Zagreus, "but I own you. You must not forget that."
Jason gasped. One more inch and he was certain his body would snap apart, and that decision lay in the hands of the god staring down at him. He had the power of life and death over Jason. He did own Jason, in all ways that mattered.
"Think about it, Jason," said Zagreus. "But we do not have long. There is somewhere I need to be."
xxx…xxx…
Percy and Piper took Pegasi back to the Empire State Building with a handful of campers. They'd left Chiron to contact Leo, Hazel and Frank. No one suggested asking Nico for help, and Percy wasn't about to.
He'd quickly put two and two together. He knew which ritual needed the child of an elder god and could give the one who performed it the power to destroy the gods. And it meant that not only were the gods, Olympus and Western Civilization in danger, but that Bessie was too.
Blackjack greeted him like an old friend, thrilled to see him again. Percy grinned at him, despite the danger.
They flew to the Empire State building and went up in the elevators after the usual argument with the guards. They ran all the way to the throne room, ignoring the complaints of the muses and other creatures they passed by, and sprinted into the council chambers, where nobody met them.
Standing, breathless and panicked in the throne room of Olympus, Percy felt a little stupid.
"Could we be wrong?" he asked. "Could he be trying something else?"
Piper, face blotchy from tears and worry, simply looked at him blankly. Percy checked out Bessie's pool, where the ophiotaurus was happily mooing at the sight of him.
"Where would he go, then?" he asked.
Piper kept looking at him, blankly.
The doors slammed open, revealing Zeus looking a bit peeved.
"Twice in two days, Jackson?" he asked, "You do know we don't make an offer of immortality twice."
Percy hurried to show the reverence Zeus expected, "Lord Zeus," he said, "I have news."
"Of my son that you promised was returned?" Zeus sneered.
"He has returned, Lord Uncle," said Percy, barely managing to keep his respectful tone, "but we now believe he has kidnapped Annabeth and Jason."
Zeus frowned. "Annabeth? Do I know an Annabeth?"
Percy pushed down a wave of annoyance, "Annabeth, Annabeth Chase, the girl who helped save Olympus on numerous occasions, the girl who redesigned Olympus after it was destroyed by Kronos, the girl who retrieved the Athena Parthenos from Rome?"
Zeus' frown stayed on.
"Annabeth the daughter of Athena," Percy growled.
"Ah, right," said Zeus, "Yes, Athena and Zagreus never did get along, you know. Probably a bit of squabble. Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to… he's kidnapped her! What'll he do to her?"
Zeus shrugged, "Rape her maybe? Probably won't kill her. That would be rude. He wouldn't want to put Athena in such a bad mood."
Percy gaped. It had never even occurred to him that rape was a possibility, and here was Zeus talking about it like it was simple and would barely raise eyebrows.
"And Jason?" asked Piper, in the tiny voice of someone who knew the answer.
"Hmm, the same I'd guess," said Zeus, "He's probably and understandably annoyed with Hera, and Jason is the closest he can get to pissing Hera off without actually killing her. And though I have no problem with the idea of Hera dying a painful death, it would cause huge family problems, you know."
"You don't care?" demanded Percy, "you don't care if he…?"
"Zagreus is a growing lad, Jackson," smirked Zeus, "sowing his wild oats. Not unlike other Olympians I could mention."
"But …"
"What, you think all Poseidon's partners opened their legs with a smile? The sea is a monstrous thing, Jackson."
Feeling sick to his stomach, Percy ploughed on, trying to ignore everything he'd just heard.
"We think Zagreus is coming here," he said, "He asked me and Nico for help, and now he's taken Jason and can use Annabeth to get me to do whatever he wants. We think he's after Bessie."
"Bessie?" said Zeus. "He's got two pretty blondes in his bed already, do you think he wants someone else already?"
Percy had never wanted to smack someone more.
...xxx...xxx…
To Jason, it felt like he'd spent hours on edge, desperate for either release or the final snap that told him that his body was broken. Hours with his arms and legs nearly out of their sockets, with his back stretched further than he thought possible, with cramps in his muscles like none he'd ever felt before. He had thought he wouldn't be able to take any longer so long ago that he half believed he was dead. Except for the the exhaustion and discomfort.
"Jason," said Zagreus' soothing voice somewhere to his left, "you are doing so well. You will be free so soon."
"Please!" Jason breathed, "Please, I can't … take…"
"Shhhh," Zagreus hissed, "It'll all be over soon.
"Please!" Jason begged, "Please, Zagreus, I'll… I'm yours, I swear, I'm…"
"Oh, my lover," Zagreus sang, "I know that is the desperation talking, not the real you."
"Please!" he begged, wanting to sob, but knowing his ribs were so stretched out that he could never do it.
"Shhh," said Zagreus, "Not long now."
When the chains finally gave, he barely knew his own name. Zagreus took each of his limbs in turn and manipulated them, circling his joints, exercising each muscle, and Jason let him, because he had no choice. When he was done, Zagreus stroked the sweat from his brow and smiled down at him.
Jason met the gaze with his exhausted eyes.
"You belong to me, Jason," he said, "you will give yourself to me wholly, and you will love me," he bent his head and kissed Jason gently on the forehead, before whispering "Sleep, my love. You need to rest."
He stood and turned to leave. Jason fought his exhaustion to sit up and say "You don't."
Zagreus stopped and turned back, a frown on his face.
"Own me," Jason replied, "You can scare me into doing as you say, terrify me enough and I will open my legs and pretend I love it, but you'll never own me."
Zagreus' frown deepened. "You do not love me?"
If Jason had been less exhausted he would have laughed; the god sounded genuinely confused at the possibility. He shook his head. "You have confused love and fear," he said. "They are not the same thing."
Zagreus peered down at him. "If you love me, will you do as I say?"
Jason shook his head. "Not always."
"But if you fear me?" Zagreus asked.
Jason nodded, but his eyelids were drooping.
"Then fear is better," said Zagreus, but with a note of uncertainty in his voice.
Jason shook his head, and turned over so he no longer had to look at Zagreus. After a moment he heard the soft sound of Zagreus' feet retreating, and felt his shoulders relax because of it. He knew he shouldn't sleep, that he should find a way of arming himself and wait for a chance to escape, but he was too exhausted. His eyelids dropped, and he was fast asleep in moments.
AN: Thanks for reading. Reviews are warmly welcomed.