107: …But it doesn't suit you.
As I watch Jason dissolve into golden dust, I once again find myself stunned. Why would he do that? Wasn't he just begging me to bring the others here so he could survive? Does he really think that my chance of winning like this is that small, that death is so certain that he might as well do it himself?
"...Or is he just that much of an asshole?" I ask. Would he kill himself just to spite me? To deny me a potential ally and screw me over a bit more?
-It doesn't matter. Focus on the labyrinth. Once again, a right turn is certain death - Mash is forward and to the right, so I guess I'll move forward for now..
I advance down a sloping hallway, and-
The sound of grinding stone above, and I move as fast as I can-!
Something crashes to the ground behind me, and I turn just in time to see the enormous boulder start to roll.
"Oh come oooon!" I scream as I start to run. I know I use a whip, but I'm really not the heroic archeologist type! Why do I have to-!?
Stone catches my heels, pressure moving up my legs, to my back, and-
It hurts. It hurts. Ithurtsithurtsithurts-!
I hear crunching, splattering sound, mixed with screams, and then…
"Fuck this." Says Jason, driving his sword through his chest, and I feel my blood pressure starting to rise. "See you-"
"In hell, yeah, yeah," I roll my eyes as I turn left and begin trudging down the hall.
Of course my very last guess would be the-
With a sound of grinding stone below me, I find myself launched upwards-
"Fuck this," says Jason as he impales himself-
"Shut up already!" I shout, punching him in the face an instant later. The stupified look on his face as he dissolves makes me feel a little better, but…
"Back it is!" I say, turning around and beginning my annoyed march back to the previous room. "Just how many damn traps did Daedalus have to put in this place, huh!? Wasn't it enough to make it just a big ma-aaaze…" My voice dies off as I see a hulking white form shadowed against the light of the previous chamber.
It was seriously that close behind me!? Or did I draw him in by shouting-!?
The minotaur advances, a sadistic grin on his face-
"...Fuck this." I say, and crush my brain stem with [Invisible Providence].
"...Fu-Gfah!?" Is all Jason can get out before my fist smashes into his face.
"Just where do you think you're going, you piece of shit!?" I shout, heedless of the monster I know is nearby.
"I'm leaving! I don't want to get eaten, so I'm just gonna return to the throne! Even stabbing myself won't be as bad as that!" Jason says.
"Like hell you're leaving! I don't want to get eaten, so stay here and help me fight him!" I'd put a better spin on it, but I really just don't care what this guy thinks of me. "While we're at it, quit it with that stupid pity party act! You're a hero, so act like it, you bastard!"
"Ex-hero! I'm an ex-hero! That's over! It's all over! Now I'm just a cursed loser with a tragic ending, so leave me alone already!" He protests, reaching for the sword he dropped when I punched him.
Naturally, I punch him again. "What's over!? You've been summoned, haven't you!? You're alive, aren't you!? Your friend has been transformed into the worst possible version of himself! What the hell right do you have to say it's over with just that, you lazy bastard!?" Yeah. That's what felt wrong to me. This guy, who swung at me the moment I implied I had bad feelings about Heracles, just where does he think he's going with his friend in whatever state Alter-Ego's Noble Phantasm has left him?
He catches my wrist on the third punch, hurling me into a shoulder throw that slams me painfully against the marble floor. "What do you know!? You're young, so you can't possibly have felt it! 'Try and try again' - that's naive! Mere persistence isn't good enough! Sometimes, you fail, and that's the end! Some things can't be fixed! Sometimes, there's no do-over!"
I rise on shaky feet. "Who said anything about trying 'again'? This isn't about establishing your kingdom, or conquering the seas, or whatever. This is about Heracles. This is about that friend of yours. Even if you screwed up absolutely everything else in your life, you never failed him, right? He showed up, even when you became a villain - even when you had been mislead by Medea into trying to aid the incineration of humanity. Heracles still appeared to help you, right?"
"Y-you…"Jason cringes, taking a step back.
"Servants corrupted by that mud… they become the worst version of themselves. Whatever it is Heracles has become, I'm sure it'll break your heart. Just the same way that his heart would break if he saw you as a miserable bastard like this," I say. "So-"
"Heh, heh… kill!" A guttural voice laughs, and I turn to see the Minotaur emerging from the darkness of the hallway I knew he would be approaching down. It's fine, though. Because, I'm sure I finally got through to Jason, so-!
I blink. When did Jason get replaced by a Jason-shaped cloud of dust-?
"Aaaahhhh! I don't wanna diiiieeee!" He screams as he takes off down the opposite hall with all the composure of a Looney Tunes character.
I, on the other hand, am totally composed as I sprint in the same direction.
"Don't lead him this way!" The Rider screams as he throws his sword back at me. "And your screaming is hurting my ears, so shut the hell up!"
"Don't try to trip me!" I shout back as I jump over it - but that's gonna slow me down, and he's already getting away, so I draw my whip-! "[Murak!]"
"G-ack! Get off of me!" Jason screams as my whip wraps around his throat, allowing my now gravity-less body to get dragged behind him into… the boulder tunnel, right!?
A sound of grinding stone- quickly, I end the spell on myself, redirecting what mana remains in order to- "[Murak] again!" I shout, slowing the boulder's fall. I land on my feet, resuming my sprint after the most disappointing Servant of all time.
Of course, a regular Murak can't fully stop a boulder, and so it begins to roll after us.
""AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"" By the way, Jason is definitely the only one screaming.
Suddenly he stops, and looks back at me just a few meters behind, before looking back in front of him, at- oh crap, that's a pit!
I can't slow down. I'm just barely outpacing the boulder as is! But the gap is too far. I can't jump it, even with Murak, and I'm totally out of mana right now, so-!
Jason grabs me as I reach him, tossing me over his shoulder, and sprints directly at the pit. "Cast it, cast it, cast iiit!" He screams as he jumps with all his might, and I can just see the torchlit entrance of the next room, barely out of reach-
I punch Jason in the face, and he loses his grip on me, and then, kicking off his shoulder-!
("Whyyyy!?" He screams.)
My whip barely snares a Torch sconce on the other side of the pit, and-!
"[Invisible Providence]!" My unseen hand barely catches Jason behind me, and with one final pull, we tumble head over heels onto the ground opposite the pit, even as the boulder crashes down behind us, lodging into the just-too-small pit in a way that perfectly blocks off the passage.
"You… freaking asshole…" Jason says through heaving breaths, lying on the floor.
"Back… at you…" I gasp, slowly rising to my feet. "Stand… the hell up, you bastard."
"Don't… wanna…" He mutters, a knife materializing in his hand. A backup weapon, huh? "I… give up."
…
"Giving up… is easy." I mutter, before finally fixing a glare on him. "But… it doesn't suit you."
He blinks.
"A girl who loved me… told me that once," I say with a wry grin.
"Tch." He looks away. "I'd rather hear it from her, then."
"...That's impossible," I answer. "Some things can't be fixed, after all."
"...My bad," He says after a moment, looking away.
"Make it up to me," I smirk back. "Let's kick this guy's ass."
"That's not the goal," Jason says, raising the knife to his face as I clench my fist again - but I unclench it as he flashes a rare grin my way. "The goal is Heracles, right?"
He presses the dagger to his cheek, and his beard begins to fall away. Once or twice, he cuts his cheek, but all in all, he seems experienced in shaving like this - that's an ancient sailor for you, I guess.
He closes his eyes, rubbing his now smooth chin - and then, with the blood from the spots he cut himself still on his hand, he slicks his unkempt hair back, and hacks what remains above his neckline off in a single cut.
"...That guy will be here soon. Theseus always said Asterios knew this place like the back of his hand, after all." He says. "So… what have you got left in the tank, Master?"