Thrice will the Underworld steal sons of Three
When traveling by shadow, by silk, and by sea.
The Child of Anguish may save souls from rest,
Her mother's domain brought death in the West.
To sink or to swim through Styx's black gates,
By Imperial Gold, a daughter meets Fates.
-Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Oracle of Delphi
Jason's team is up by eight when the last buzzer sounds and the home team's side of the gym erupts into cheers.
He gets a slap on the back, knuckles in his hair, squeezed into the center of a group of nasty smelling guys who are all laughing and jumping up and down like ten year olds. Jason's laughing too. He'd been worried for a while there. The other team really had them on the ropes. He thinks he saw less giants fighting in the war for Gaea.
The trophy gets passed around. Some of the guys kiss it. Some of them raise it up for the crowd to scream for. Some of them pretend to lead it in a waltz. Eventually, it makes it to Jason, and the team all shouts their victory.
The spectators from the winning half of the gym flood the court, totally ignoring the protests of the referees. Jason breaks through his teammates to shake the hand of the losing team's captain. The guy looks pissed. He tries squeezing too hard on Jason's fingers during their handshake. Demigod bones don't break easily, though.
"DUDE!"
Jason turns. Piper and Leo are pushing through the crowd towards him. He can't help but burst out laughing when he gets a good look.
Leo has himself painted from head to toe in their school colors - red and yellow. When he sees Jason laugh, he grins and lifts up his shirt to reveal Jason's initials and number painted across his belly.
"You like?!"
"I love."
"You better!" Piper snorts. "He stained my car seats."
Piper's in her usual distressed designer clothes. Trailing after her by the hand is a girl he doesn't recognize. That's nothing new. She changes girlfriends like Jason changes socks.
"Congrats, Superman!"
Jason beams and sweeps his friends up into a hug, laughing harder when Piper wrinkles her nose at his sweaty uniform. "I didn't think we were gonna win!"
"Well, that was a stupid thought!" A voice pipes in behind him.
When Jason turns his head, his lungs stop functioning.
Juliette is sparkling.
Her hair is in a ponytail high on her head, decorated with a huge red bow. Her yellow cheer uniform is long sleeved and tight fitting. Her lips are cherry red, and her smile is crystal white. Her face is painted too. Jason's jersey number is stamped onto her right cheek.
She squeals and leaps at him. Jason catches her around the waist and spins her in a circle.
"That was amazing!"
"It doesn't feel real," Jason laughs.
Juliette's white sneakers return to the ground, and she beams at him, reaching up to honk his nose playfully.
"Of course, it's real," She giggles. "You've earned it."
Jason grins and pulls her in for a kiss, careful not to smear her face paint. The crowd cheers again. Leo is wolf whistling. Piper is fake gagging and covering her eyes. Somewhere up in the stands, the band starts blasting their school's fight song. Jason smiles into the kiss.
She's right. This is what he's fought so hard for.
Gods, he really wishes it were real.
Jason is soaked to the bone. Lightning forks through the clouds, and he feels its power deep in his veins. He hears the rushing, the swirling of the waves around the ship.
There's a storm raging. He is a storm.
Caligula grins at him, thin, slimy lips curled in distain. He holds out a hand to receive Incitatus as the horse trots to his side, and he swings up onto his steed.
The spear that he's wielding is sharp and cruel.
Jason adjusts his hold on his gladius. He plants himself between the emperor and his friends. They need to go. He'll hold this guy off for as long as it takes for Apollo and Piper to get Juliette and Meg out of here.
But Jason knows that he's facing a god. He knows what that means.
There's only been one time in Jason's questing career when he walked into a fight truly believing he wouldn't be coming out of it. It was a situation a lot like this one. He had stood unarmed before the giant king Porphyrion and vowed to feed his corpse to the wolves.
Jason had been defending his family back then too. He'd had a purpose to keep advancing, regardless of what he thought the outcome would be.
If it hadn't been for Juliette that night, Jason would have died.
But Juliette is in no shape to help him right now. So Jason is going to have to push down the fear that's threatening to freeze him in place so that he can take his turn in saving her.
What was it that he'd said back then? What was it that gave him the burst of courage that he'd needed to make the first move?
It's time for him to be a Soldier Boy one last time. Jason plants his feet and bellows.
"I am the Son of Jupiter!"
Even though he's never had a father.
"I am a child of Rome, consul to demigods, former praetor of the First Legion."
Even though the memories of that childhood were never returned to him.
"I slew the Trojan sea monster."
Even though he was never praised for it.
"I toppled the black throne of Kronos and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands."
Even though he was fourteen years old.
Jason's speech hasn't done much for his courage. He's glad that it's raining. Under the full moon, Jason raises his sword to the sky, to his father, who has never given him any sign that such an action is appreciated, and shakes the salty rainwater from his cheeks.
"I am the Champion of Juno. I am pontifex maximus, High Priest to the Panthenon. I am a demigod of Camp Halfblood. I am a member of the Seven Heroes of Olympus."
Even though he's never going to see the other five of them again.
"Your time in the world of the living is long over, Caligula," Jason tells the emperor. "You disgrace the ideals of the Empire. In Rome's name, I will send you down to the Fields of Punishment where you belong. I suggest you pray that Pluto may have mercy on your soul."
The wind is whistling between them. It's drowning out the voices of his friends behind him. Jason feels a calm settle. He feels that fear begin to fade into the background of his instincts. He lets the soldier within him take over. He lets himself fight one more battle.
One more.
Just one more.
And then he can finally give in.
Caligula is smiling from the back of his horse. He claps Jason a slow round of applause.
Incitatus snorts at him and stomps his front hooves. "This kid's hardcore, Cal. Why don't you say badass stuff like that?"
"I just don't have such a talent for it, I suppose," sighs Caligula, eyes twinkling in amusement. He leans forward on the horse. Towards Jason. If he closes his eyes, Jason feels like he can almost feel the sharp point of the man's golden spear. "I have no real reason to kill you, boy. I'll let you take the girls and go if you wish it. Just as long as you vow never to interfere in my business again."
There's a ship two yachts behind them filled with pots of Juliette's blood.
Jason narrows his eyes. "I have every reason to kill you."
Caligula laughs. He twirls his spear and kicks at Incitatus' side flanks. "Well, then! Do try to make a pretty face for our audience when I plant my spear through your chest."
The horse whinnies a mocking laugh, and they charge.
Jason just spent a whole minute introducing himself. He can't help but scoff when the twelve years - thirteen now - of combat experience marked into his flesh are simply ignored by this overconfident imposter calling himself a god.
He dodges Caligula's strike without flinching, rolling over one shoulder as Incitatus trots right past him. Jason straightens up into a kneeling position and flourishes his gladius.
"You clearly never stood on your own battlefields!" He calls to the man. "I have. I've trained legions of demigods. I'd say you could stand to learn a thing or two!"
Jason's taunts seem to irritate Caligula. His mocking expression sours, and he readies his horse to charge Jason again.
Piper screams his name from the other side of the ravine. Jason glances over.
Juliette is dead on her feet, being limply held between Piper and Meg as Apollo shares a screaming match with his imaginary arrow friend. Jason growls in frustration.
"Go!" He orders. "Get out of here!"
Green eyes lock onto his. Purely green. They look so afraid that Jason nearly gets himself skewered by Caligula's next strike of his spear.
He looks back to his fight just in time to dodge again. This time, though, Incitatus is prepared for his army-roll. The horse kicks out at him, and Jason takes a hoof to the stomach. It knocks him onto his back into the rubble.
There must still be pandai that his storm didn't eliminate. An arrow strikes Jason's sword arm.
He hears Piper scream. The sound is like packing broken glass into his ears. Jason grunts in pain and raises a hand to his missile wound, rolling up to his feet.
The arrow struck the joint of his elbow. Just a glance at it is enough for what little medical knowledge Juliette's managed to hammer into him to confirm that the tendons there are severed. Without ambrosia, that arm is nonfunctional.
So, Jason swaps his sword to his nondominant hand. He can still do this.
"GO!" He pleads to his friends.
The second of attention on them is enough for another arrow to strike his left thigh.
He cries out and hits the deck. Literally. That leg collapses underneath him, and Jason finds himself on one knee. Piper screams again. This time, Meg and Apollo join her. Looking back up from the blood blooming across his dress pants, he sees why.
Caligula is charging again. Jason grits his teeth.
This fight is unbalanced. He's not going to stand a chance without a-
The flow of air around Jason's feet changes. It's not a change that he's controlling. Jason looks down in alarm. His heart skips a beat when a dark, electrified shape manifests beneath him, lifting him clear off the deck of the broken ship and out of the range of the emperor's spear.
He grins.
At least somebody heard Jason's prayers.
"Tempest!"
His ventus friend whinnies in greeting, tossing his silvery head. Jason laughs.
He's had a lot of hard times since last December. Not all of this past year has been good. But his friendship with Tempest is a sunny spot.
Jason hopes that he'll be okay once this fight is over. He hopes that his positive influence on the ventus will be permanent. He doesn't want Tempest to go back to the angry, lonely spirit that he was when they'd met.
The thought drags Jason's gaze back to his friends. Back to one of them in particular.
Juliette hasn't spoken. She hasn't screamed. She's down on her knees, and she's staring across the chasm at him. Only at him.
Her hands are submerged in the seawater that has run onto part of the ship.
If there were ever a time that Jason could remember her - all of her - he'd want it to be now.
In this moment, as he shouts in pain and doubles forward onto Tempest's neck, a third arrow buried into his left shoulder, Jason only says one prayer to the gods.
Please, let him remember her before he goes.
He just wants to know who she is.
He wants to know how he was supposed to have loved her all this time.
"I told you this isn't a game!" Caligula yells, charging. "You don't walk away from me alive!"
Jason was never expecting to.
"She will," He murmurs to himself. "She'll walk away."
That's enough to make him raise his sword again and meet Caligula in the middle for battle.
Jason has never given much thought to the land of the dead. Is his mother back down there?
When they defeated her soul, did she return to the Fields of Punishment?
Will Jason see any sign of her once he's reached the Underworld? Does he want to?
Will he have to hear her suffering?
Caligula's spear clashes with Jason's sword.
He wonders if Nico will ever come to visit him. Jason loves that kid like family. They're brothers, even if that kind of emotion is something Bianca's ghost has never allowed Nico to express.
He hopes that Nico will grow past that. He hopes that he'll be happy one day.
He takes a slice to his cheek when an arrow whizzes past him. The two horses dart apart. They end up on opposite ends of the deck, and Jason looks over to his friends once again.
He hopes that Leo makes it back home. From the look on her face right now, Piper is going to need him. The two of them always were closer than they were with Jason. For the first time, that fact doesn't make him sad. He's relieved. They'll have each other to lean on.
Meg is crying. He wonders if she understands what's happening. She's seen enough things crumble by now, that she must recognize an ending when it's before her. Jason is glad that she'll find a real home in Camp Halfblood when all of this is over. Jason wishes that he could have.
Basketball.
Face paint.
Jerseys.
Buzzers.
Crowded gymnasiums.
Red hair bows and pom poms.
Jason can't breathe. He chokes on his tongue. He looks at Juliette.
The wind is raging. Her hair is tangled.
She's crying now. Apollo's arms are around her waist. She's struggling against his hold, kicking, screaming, trying to ram her fists and elbows into any part of the former god that she can reach.
She's so beautiful.
Her voice is beautiful. Her face. Her hair. Her black-stained lips.
Jason finds Apollo's gaze as Tempest turns around for the next charge at Caligula.
She needs to live.
Juliette needs to live.
She deserves it.
He deserves it.
Jason fucking deserves it.
He's given his life to Olympus.
He's given his childhood to Juno.
He's given EVERYTHING to Jupiter.
Gods damn it, he just wants her to live.
Is that too much for him to fucking ask?
Dad?
Can you fucking hear him? For once?
JUST LET HER LIVE.
"GO!" Jason screams at Apollo. "Remember!"
Remember that they aren't ants.
Remember that they exist.
That they live.
That they think.
And cry.
And deserve more than to be just fucking soldiers.
That they love one another.
That they're tired of burning their friends.
Their families.
That the only scars kids like them should have are the ones that they got from childhood. From staplers.
Remember that they bleed.
Remember that they mean something.
Please, gods, if there's one thing Jason leaves behind.
Just remember that he didn't want to die.
He just wanted for her to live.
And he was never more important than her.
Even if all of those titles that he holds are true.
She was always so much more.
Because she was his.
He's been expecting it, but it still surprises him. He's been expecting it to hurt (because what in his life hasn't?), but the pain still startles him. Caligula must get the bright idea to throw the spear. Maybe he isn't such a hopeless tactician after all.
Jason stares down at the tip of Imperial Gold protruding from his chest.
He's bleeding. He's bleeding red. He's done it a thousand and one times, but this time feels special somehow.
He coughs. Iron splatters his lips. He falls forward into Tempest's mane.
His friend is warm for once. Jason lets the lightning in the ventus' body sing him a soothing lullaby.
"Get her out of here," He chokes. "Please, Tempest. Save them. Get them away."
The horse lets out a cry, realizing the extent of Jason's injury. The way the spirit jolts mistakenly knocks Jason's legs loose. Unbalanced, his stomach swoops as he topples from Tempest's back.
He lands face-first on the deck. It pushes the tip of the spear back inside his body.
It's tearing apart Jason's muscles. The gold is scraping the bones in his sternum. Blood is leaving him so quickly.
Jason turns his head so that he won't drown in it. He feels the liquid cool around his face in the night air.
He can't hear anything.
That's good, he thinks.
Jason doesn't want to hear his friends' pain.
Tempest is gone.
That's good too.
Maybe he's doing as Jason asked.
He doesn't see Juliette.
He can't see her.
The space she was kneeling in is empty.
The ship is empty.
That's good.
He knows that's good.
She's safe then.
Right?
...Jason's...he's...
He wants her.
He wants Juliette.
He wants to see her one last time.
Jason never meant for this to be the end.
He knew, but he didn't know.
Why did he think he was ready?
He isn't ready.
He doesn't want to die.
He's scared. Gods, he's so scared.
Jason just wants to be with his family.
He wants Thalia.
He wants his sister.
She'll put him back together.
She isn't there.
She's never there.
Jason wants to tell Leo he's sorry. Oh gods, he's so sorry.
He died for nothing.
Jason's going to be all alone down in Elysium.
He isn't ready to be without her.
"I warned you."
There's pulsing in his chest. By his heart. He holds onto it. Golden and glowing and warm and welcoming and-
