Chapter Text
The end of the world happened on a Tuesday.
Or rather, the end of Jason’s world happened on a Tuesday.
It went like this:
Jason was at Camp Half-Blood for the summer. He was far too old to be a regular camper - he had aged out three years ago. But he and some of his friends still came to stay during the summers to teach some classes for the younger demigods. This year, it was him, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth.
It was strange, but the group had almost fractured in half following the war with Gaea. He and Piper, along with Percy and Annabeth, were the only couples that had stayed together. Frank and Hazel had broken up not long after the war, but the breakup had seemed pretty amicable. Hazel called her feelings for Frank “puppy love” and said they valued their friendship way too much to let this break their relationship apart.
Which was great for the rest of them, because they didn’t have to pick sides. Historically, Jason hadn’t been great at picking sides - he had struggled for months to pick between his Greek and Roman sides after all, and ended up wiggling his way into a compromise.
Jason and Piper definitely had their rough patches over the years. There was that huge fight and breakup last year which resulted in Jason alternating between moping in Percy’s dorm room or aggressively (stupidly) going out of his way to seek out monsters to fight and almost getting killed multiple times.
But they worked through it, and this summer they were together and their relationship was stronger than it had ever been. He knew they were young, but he thought Piper was it for him. He had imagined growing old with her - having kids and grandkids and a home. He was afraid to have this desire - this hope - it almost seemed arrogant for a demigod to hope for a family and kids. But he had also learned that sometimes the hope for a better future was all that kept you going when everything else seemed lost.
And right then, everything was great, so Jason pushed his fears out of his mind and focused on his sword fighting class.
“Alright, today I’m going to teach you the basics of the Roman style of sword fighting,” he began, looking at his class consisting of the newest campers, most of them between ten to twelve years old. Most of them wore armor that was too big for them or crooked, and some of their helmets slid way too far down their faces and obscured their visions. Gods, had he been this tiny? A familiar feeling of protectiveness filled his chest and he hoped these kids would never have to face down world-threatening villains or dangerous quests.
The warm fuzzy feelings he had for the kids were quickly extinguished, however, by a freckled kid at the back.
“Why do we have to learn Roman techniques, exactly? I know the Greek and Roman camps are all buddy-buddy now, but that doesn’t mean we have to adopt their culture. Especially not after what they did to our mother,” the kid said.
“Your mother?” Jason asked, and then noticed the boy’s gray eyes, exactly like Annabeth’s. Athena. Of course. The Athena campers at Camp Half-Blood had never quite trusted the Romans despite Annabeth’s close ties with Camp Jupiter, and it seemed like that attitude was being passed along to the younger campers.
“The gods were always fighting with each other, and so were humans,” Jason said, trying not to let his exasperation leak into his voice. “If we based our lives on our godly parents’ conflicts then none of us would ever get along. And besides, nobody is asking you to like the Romans, just learn from them. Wouldn’t Athena say it is wise to learn from as many different sources of knowledge as you can?”
“Besides, when you fight monsters, different fighting techniques can be useful. If you’re facing down a horde of monsters, the Roman technique is better. It’s more disciplined and helps you conserve your energy. But in a one-on-one fight, the more unpredictable Greek techniques might be more advantageous, so that you can take your opponent by surprise. Now, any more objections?”
Nobody else objected, and Jason noted with satisfaction that the Athena boy looked grudgingly impressed.
After the class, Jason met his friends at the pavilion for lunch. He and Percy had taken to sitting together at either the Poseidon or Zeus table since they got sick of sitting alone and Chiron had better things to do than nag them about sitting at the right table for meals.
Percy was already at the Poseidon table when Jason arrived, stuffing his face with a cheeseburger. Jason slid into the seat opposite Percy. “Hey, man,” he greeted.
Percy greeted him back, but his mouth was full so it came out more like “Bey, Phbam,”
Jason shook his head and turned his attention to the Aphrodite table, looking for his girlfriend. He made eye contact and winked at her. She blew him a kiss, resulting in her younger siblings giggling and twittering at them.
“How were your morning lessons?” Percy asked, his mouth finally empty enough for his words to be intelligible.
“I had a sword fighting class with a bunch of the newer kids,” Jason said, tucking into a plate of carbonara. “Do all the Athena kids hate the Romans? I had this little Athena kid in my class whining about how they shouldn’t learn Roman techniques because of how they disrespected his mom.”
“It’s weird,” Percy said. “I think that started after Reyna brought the Athena Parthenos here - someone in the Athena cabin, I’m not sure who, started going around telling people that bringing the statue back didn’t change the fact that the Romans ruined Athena, and that it was the Roman’s fault that Annabeth and I had to go through the pit.”
“Don’t tell Annabeth I said this,” continued Percy, looking slightly shifty, “But Athena’s kids can.. make judgments about people based on where they’re from. I mean, Annabeth hated me and was convinced we’d never be friends in the beginning just because our parents hate each other.”
“So how’d you convince her to date you, man?” Jason asked, even though he knew exactly how Percy and Annabeth got together.
“I still have no idea,” Percy said, grinning. “Terrible decision on her part, really, but I’m not about to question it.”
“Might have been the whole ‘turning down immortality for her’ thing,” Jason said drolly.
“Could be,” Percy shrugged, suddenly looking embarrassed. Percy was probably the most powerful demigod alive, but had never liked the reverence and adulation that came with his accomplishments. Jason thought they were all very lucky that Percy was far too self-deprecating to let all the admiration go to his head. Greek mythology was, after all, full of stories about heroes who let their victories go to their heads and flew too close to the sun (literally, in the case of Icarus).
Percy was also the only other demigod who really understood the pressure that came with being a Big Three kid. Piper was great, but this was a part of Jason she could never fully understand. Percy got it - how people expected you to lead, to be strong and never break, just because your dad was the Biggest Kahuna on Olympus.
Nico and Hazel didn’t have the same expectations. They used to be ostracized, which sucked, but it also meant that nobody would ever expect them to be leaders whether they wanted to or not, even though Jason was certain both of them could kick his ass in a fight. But no matter what, despite having aged out, both camps still saw him and Percy as de facto leaders whether they liked it or not, and Jason knew that they’re both the kind of people who would take that burden on so that someone else didn’t have to. He was glad he had Percy as a friend, though. Everyone was worried he and Percy wouldn’t get along before the Argo II sailed to Camp Jupiter, but Jason had never felt such a deep kinship so rapidly with another demigod before.
After lunch he had time scheduled with Annabeth to consult her on some designs for new temples for minor gods and goddesses at Camp Jupiter. Annabeth’s help has been invaluable in making progress on his promise to Kym. In hindsight, his oath had been rather rash and made when he had been more ignorant about exactly how many gods and goddesses were in the Greek and Roman pantheons.
Kym’s had been the first temple he worked on, and it was completed a couple of months after Gaia’s defeat. He and Percy had placed Kym’s action figures on her altar and made a sacrifice to her, and it seemed like Kym had appreciated it because a warm sea breeze had drifted through the shrine after.
Jason made his way to Cabin 6, waving to Austin and Kayla as he hurried past them and stepped inside. He liked Cabin 6 a lot - he wasn’t sure if it was a placebo effect but he felt smarter whenever he stepped inside, like he could actually remember the names of the Nine Muses if he wanted.
Annabeth was already at the large drafting table in the corner of the cabin, bent over so close to the table her nose almost touched the paper in front of her. Jason tapped her on her shoulder. “Hey,” he said, causing her to jump.
“Jason!” she gasped, turning around and looking up at him. “You don’t just barge into someone’s cabin without knocking!”
“Sorry,” Jason said, not sorry at all. Annabeth needed to learn how to read and be vigilant at the same time. “So, can we keep working on the design for Harmonia temple?”
“Yes,” Annabeth said. “You’d think that a shrine to the goddess of peace would’ve been a priority, but apparently not”.
Jason rolled his eyes. “The Romans aren’t exactly known for wanting peace.”
The two of them got to work, and soon were deep in discussions about how the goddess of peace could best be represented in the 100 square feet of land that had been allotted for her shrine.
Jason and Annabeth hadn’t gotten along for a long time, but this project had brought them closer and made them both realize they had more in common than just vying for Thalia’s affection whenever she’s at Camp. They both shared an interest in actually learning about their Greek and Roman history and using that knowledge in battle - something Annabeth constantly complained about Percy never doing. They were both terrible at keeping in touch with their feelings and expressing them. Over the many hours working together on this project over the last couple of years, Annabeth shared more about her history with her father, Luke Castellan, and Thalia, and they came to the rather sad conclusion that another thing the two of them had in common was abandonment issues. A lot of wine was drunk that night.
They were deep in a spirited discussion about where to place the altar in the shrine when they were interrupted by someone barging into the Athena cabin. It was the same annoying kid from earlier.
“Annabeth, Chiron asked me to get you for dinner,” the kid began, and then stopped abruptly in the doorway, his eyes narrowed. “A boy and a girl aren’t supposed to be alone in a cabin together. It’s against the rules!”
Gods, this kid was annoying.
“It’s fine, Eric,” Annabeth said, sounding amused. “Jason and I were just working on the design for Harmonia’s temple at Camp Jupiter.”
“Concordia, you mean, if it’s at the Roman camp,” he said, eyes still darting between them suspiciously.
Little know-it-all.
“Yes, the temple of Concordia,” Annabeth said, still sounding amused with a touch of exasperation. “You can go back to dinner, Eric, Jason and I will be right there.”
“Alright,” Eric grumbled, and ran out of the cabin.
“That kid is so annoying,” Jason burst out once the door shut behind the boy.
Annabeth laughed. “You would have hated twelve-year old me, then. I loved correcting people.”
“I don’t think you should be using the past tense there. You love it when Percy’s clueless and gets all his myths mixed up.”
“Ok, well, I still love correcting people,” Annabeth conceded. “But I like to think I’ve gotten less obnoxious about it over the years. Eric just reminds me a lot of myself. He’s had a rough home life, and he tries to overcompensate by trying to show everyone how smart he is and how he’s got everything under control.”
That made Jason feel like a jerk for his earlier not-so-charitable thoughts about the kid. Almost all demigods had rough childhoods and resorted to various coping mechanisms to deal with it.
“Come on, let’s go to dinner,” he sighed. He got out of his chair, his stiff muscles groaning, and pulled Annabeth to her feet. “Before Eric starts creating rumors about what we’ve been doing in here.”
“Oh it’s far too late to avoid those rumors,” Annabeth grinned. “By tomorrow, all the twelve and thirteen year olds at camps will be convinced we’re cheating on Percy and Piper. But the older counselors will shut that down and they’ll move on to new gossip next week.”
Annabeth was proved right (really, Jason should know better than to doubt her by now) when he found Piper waiting on the steps of Cabin One for him after the campfire sing-along.
“I hear you’ve been having hot, steamy sex with one of my best friends,” she greeted him, grinning.
Jason rolled his eyes. “Do the kids at this camp have nothing better to do? Maybe we should send them on a bunch of quests so that they have bigger things to worry about.”
“It’s a good thing the kids are more focused on gossip than wars and quests,” Piper reminded him as she retrieved her pajamas from the cupboard. “It means all of our wars and prophecies actually meant something for this generation of demigods.”
“I know, I know,” Jason grumbled. “I bet I wasn’t this annoying when I was twelve though.”
“I bet Dakota and Gwen would disagree,” snorted Piper.
They both changed into their pajamas and cuddled up on a bunk to sleep.
“Oh no, I forgot to switch off the lights,” Piper whined. “I don’t want to get up again!”
“No problem, “ Jason grinned. “I’ve been practicing, watch this.”
He concentrated on the cabin, and allowed his consciousness to feel the electricity running through the walls, and then choked the flow of electricity to the lights, making sure the air conditioning stayed on.
“Wow,” Piper sounded impressed. “You can control all forms of electricity now?”
“Yep,” Jason said. “It was Percy who gave me the idea, actually, when he mentioned - “ he cut off. He didn’t want to bring up Percy’s torture of the goddess Akhlys with her own tears in Tartarus many years ago.
Sometimes, I think, well, aren’t living bodies mostly water? Including monsters? Percy had said. That comment had terrified Jason, even though he’d tried not to let it show on his face. He didn’t want to think about what horrors Percy could unleash if he truly, completely, lost control. Jason also didn’t want to think about what he would do if he was driven to his breaking point. He’d experienced fear and anger, sure, but nothing like what Percy, Annabeth and Nico had faced in Tartarus.
“Akhlys,” Piper said softly, giving voice to his thoughts. “After they got out of Tartarus, Annabeth told me she was scared of Percy and what he did to Akhlys. But I could never be scared of you, Sparky,” she said. “You’re super powerful, but I know you’d never go that far.”
How did she always know the exact right thing to say? Gods, he loved this woman. Not for the first nor the last time, he sent a thank you prayer to Aphrodite for creating Piper and letting their relationship work.
“You’re perfect,” he mumbled, burying his face in her stomach.
Piper laughed. “Far from it, but thanks.”
They snuggled under the covers, and Jason slipped into unconsciousness, exhausted from his day. Of course, a restful night’s sleep was too much to ask for. He slipped into dreams almost immediately.
In his dream, he was standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill next to the Athena Parthenos. Below him, it looked like a hurricane had hit the camp. The dining pavilion and stables appeared to be flooded. Most of the cabins’ roofs were blown off.
The worst part was the bodies, floating face down in the water, some of them impossibly tiny.
Next to him, the statue’s eyes began to glow silver.
For years, you chafed at being thrust into the position of leader, the statue said. You ran away from your legion, from your duties, from those who looked up to you. Soon, a day will come when you will have to step up. Claim your position as Zeus’ son. A general of the demigods.
Your fatal flaw is indecisiveness, Athena continued. But if you do not learn to overcome it, you will not be the only one to suffer, she said gesturing at the carnage below them.
Accept your destiny, Jason Grace.
Jason woke up gasping for breath. He toppled out of the bed, knocking his knees painfully onto the granite floor, and dry heaved. His breath came in faster and faster pants, and he was nauseous and couldn’t breathe enough -
“Hey, hey, Jason, it’s okay,” Piper murmured behind him, her voice still thick with sleep. “You’re safe now,” she soothed, rubbing his back.
“Take deep breaths with me - inhale - exhale - inhale - exhale - inhale - exhale - are you able to breathe now?” she asked, still rubbing circles on his back.
Jason felt better after doing Piper’s breathing exercises. His heart rate was calmer and he was able to speak.
“It was - a really bad dream,” he began, using his shirt to wipe some of the sweat off his forehead. “Athena spoke to me. She had some, uh, pretty dire warnings.”
Back on the Argo II, during the war with Gaia, almost every member of the Seven had hidden their dreams and visions from the others, out of fear of being judged for their pasts and just regular old fear of dying. But now, years later, they all know better - and trust each other a lot more.
Now, Piper listened to him, rubbing soothing circles on his back as he explained his vision.
“Athena spoke to you? Not Annabeth or one of her other kids?” Piper asked, a note of incredulity in her voice.
“Yeah, I thought that was weird too. I’m not looking forward to telling Annabeth about this,” Jason winced.
“You don’t have to tell her,” Piper said, pulling away and looking him in the eye.
“What?” Jason asked, surprised. “I thought we were all past the whole hiding stuff from each other thing.”
“We are,” Piper said. “But Athena didn’t mention Percy or Annabeth. Maybe they’re not involved in this next big thing, whatever this is. Don’t you think they deserve a break? And if you tell them about it, they’ll want to get involved. Especially Percy.”
“Okay,” Jason sighed, still not happy about the idea of keeping secrets from their friends. “But we’ve got to tell Chiron.”
“In the morning,” Piper said. “I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to see the curlers in Chiron’s tail.”
“Chiron curls his tail?”
The thought was too weird for Jason to process. The great Chiron, teacher of heroes like Achilles, carefully curling his tail was the weirdest mental image.
“Yep,” Piper giggled. “Percy’s seen them.”
“But, wait,” Jason said as another thought occurred to him. “Chiron’s hands can’t possibly reach his tail. Someone would have to do it for him.”
Piper and Jason’s eyes met as they simultaneously exclaimed, “Mr. D!” and burst into uncontrollable giggles.
“I love you,” Jason said, as their laughter tapered down. “I know I’ve told you a hundred times - but I’m so lucky to have you. I -” his voice broke.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Pipes.”
“But you do have me,” Piper said gently. “With our lives, I can’t promise I’ll always be with you, but if I end up in the Underworld before you, I’ll wait for you. And you better do the same for me.”
“I will. I promise,” Jason said, kissing her fingertips.
“Come back to bed then, Sparky. Thinking about Mr D curling Chiron’s tail for him should scare away any more bad dreams.”