Jason was upside down, but not in a good way. The impaled tree branch made it hard to breathe. Surprisingly, he felt no pain.
He was dying.
Again.
His life, sacrificed for another.
Gaia was right. Jason always seemed destined for death.
But why? Was it because it was the right thing to do?
He started looking back into his life. Growing up a roman soldier, he was always taught to lay his life on the line for the innocent. For those who didn't have the power to defend themselves. And he believed in that philosophy. Why have power unless it's used for others?
But then his comrades began dying. Quest after quest. Year after year. He had all this power, and for what? To watch his comrades die fighting for others?
When was he allowed to die?
Then Piper and Leo came into the picture. Two people that had become very dear to him. They had helped him when he was at his most vulnerable, and they had truly become his closest friends.
But they were demi-gods as well. They would die just the same, fighting an endless war. And for what?
He was so tired of fighting. No, he wasn't tired of fighting. He didn't know why he was fighting. What was he fighting for?
For Piper? Leo? Reyna? Thalia?
While he wanted to protect those people, they weren't the reason he went on quests and fought monsters. His father, and the other Olympian deities decreed this to be. Why had he never asked why demigods were sent on quests? Sent to their deaths, every single day?
Why did Jason fight?
An image of Armin and Jean came to him. Armin was holding onto Jean's unconscious body, waving his blade at a titan.
I can't protect them. He felt anger at the thought. Jean and Armin were the ones that saved him when he first got here. He promised he would get stronger to repay his debt. Now all he could do was hang from a tree.
An image of Reiner and Berthold came to him. Reiner was protecting Berthold in his titan form from an onslaught of rabid monsters.
It's not their fault. Not only had they been child soldiers, but Gaia had taken advantage of their sins to return to power. He recalled Reiners face before he made the deal with Gaia. He wished he could tell them he doesn't blame them. But all the blood in his body was leaving him.
An image of Mikasa and Eren came to him. They were both crying, but Mikasa was smiling. Jason had never seen her face make that expression.
"You wrapped this scarf around me." She told him. "Thank you."
I never thanked her. Jason remembered how Mikasa taught him how to use their equipment. He wanted to tell her, but the wind couldn't carry his empty voice.
An image of Levi came to him. He was wearing his civilian outfit, sitting on top of the wall. He waited for the scouts to return home. Jason tried to laugh, but the hole in his lungs made it hard.
I'm never going to see that scary man again.
He was surprised that the thought made him sad.
Jason recalled their argument in Ehmirch. Jason had never argued with someone like that before. Everyone at Camp Jupiter was too scared to disagree with him. And the people at Camp Half-Blood kept their distance.
Levi on the other hand, was a confident, strong willed individual. He told Jason the truth straight to his face. And Levi kept to his convictions. And how did Jason respond? He brought up his subordinates in their argument. He knew that would trigger him. He saw the way Levi looked at those corpses they dumped. He wanted to apologize to Levi.
He wanted to live.
The tears trailed up his forehead.
He wanted to find out what it was like to live. Not for others. But for himself.
All the people he had met, all of them fighting to live another day. They had no powers, no godly parents, no allies, and yet they fought.
He wanted to fight. Fight like how they fought everyday.
He raised his weak hand.
I WANT TO FIGHT! I WANT TO LIVE!
Jason felt the sky tremble. It answered his call.
The power of the universe entered his soul.