Chapter Text
They accepted. He would have to stay with Diana and go back to Gotham on the night, he would answer all the questions they wanted. He was tired, not physically but mentally. That's why he thought that the origin of all his problems was what he was. The blood in his veins. Being a demigod had ruined his life. So if he had an opportunity to just being a normal guy he would take it.
Zatara disappeared after saying some weird words. Diana said they would be taking something called Zeta-Tubes, it was some kind of teleportation device. For an instant he wondered if it was a trap and that thing would smite him; but Diana pushed some buttons and a robot voice announced:
"Wonder Woman. 0-3. Guest. H-03."
She went in, nodding at him.
"It's okay, it's completely safe."
He sighed, the glass tube closed and the last thing he heard was the engine of a motorcycle arriving in the cave. A light surronded him and the next thing he knew he was in some kind of booth. He felt like when Nico first shadow-travelled him. Dizzy and disorientated. Stepping out he could hear some cars passing, there was a bulb that barely emitted light.
"Are you feeling well?" Said Diana on his side. "The first time doing this can be a little difficult."
He shook his head.
"I'm fine."
"Okay, well, my apartment is a couple of blocks from here. Come on."
It was, by Jason's calculations, 2 am. Despite that some cars passed by and you could see one or two people walking in the street. They were in D.C, Diana's city, because apparently every heroe was in charge of a city. He wondered who was California's superhero.
She didn't talk. He expected some kind of small talk or something but she just kept walking by his side. Jason saw her, her eyes were darker than his, hear hair was a shade of black that almost appeared to be blue. Her skin was tan, he looked in his memories for some infomation about her, he remeberd that she was an Amazon. He didn't knew if it was the same as his world but he suspected that it was different. She didn't have that energy around man, you know, the slavery kind. Jason thought about her prior behaviour, almost polite, she had defended him with Batman. But the recent events made him wary about who and what to trust. It could be just a trick.
She stopped in front of a very fancy bulding. She looked through her jacket and pull out her keys. Once inside he follow her to the elevator.
"My place is on the last floor. I hope you're not afraid of the heights."
He went in.
"No, I don't mind."
She smiled.
"Great."
The doors close. There was no music, just the sound of the light above his head. Jason could see himself on the metal. For an instant, the person beside him wasn't Diana. Short black hair, electric blue eyes, black clothes, a bow on her back and a silver tiara on her head. Thalia. They were nothing alike, he tried to imagine themselves as kids. He knew she dyed her hair, so he pictured her as blonde, smiling at him. He didn't knew nothing about her. After the war there wasn't some much time they could spend together, he regretted that. She was his sister and yet he barely knew her.
The doors opened, erasing the picture on the glass. Washing away the broken hope Jason had in his soul.
Diana sighed. Seeing a package at her front door.
"I hope is the set of frying pans I order online. It's been almost a month." She mumbled.
She opened the door and the picked it up.
"Made yourself at home."
He wasn't going to lie. This place was bigger than Leo and Aurora's shop. Almost everything was white, there was large bookshelfs on the walls, marble statues, golden swords hanging up the T.V. On the bottom was a massive window, he approached, seeing the city from above, the lights and the moon. He liked it, but it was not like Italy, he missed the trees and the quiet, sometimes he used to go out and just stare at the sky, thousans of stars decorating the atmosphere. It was beautifull.
Here there wasn't so much stars. Almost nothing.
She took her coat off, hanging it besides the door. Her sword (that Jason only realized now was hiding in her back thanks to the clothes) went to one of the walls that had also a bow.
"Are you hungry? I think I have something on the fridge or I could make something."
Jason looked at her. He didn't want to be rude, he really didn't; something inside him just wanted some excuse to snap at her, yell, fight. But aside from break into his house and basically kidnap him, she hadn't done anything wrong. He knew in her mind she was trying to help him. But still he shook his head.
"No, I'm good." He bit his lip. "Thank you tho." He was in fact, not hungry. In Capitignano he only ate because Aurora loved feeding others. She expressed her love through food, the truth is he hadn't been hungry since the first time those lightning hit him. He susppected that somehow they had messed his hability to feel the hunger. He still eat of course, but here he didn't had to pretend.
She gave him a small smile.
"You must be tired then. Follow me."
Another thing he hadn't felt in a while. The need to sleep. He only did it when he was bored or extremely relaxed.
But still he went after her. The hall had a lot of doors, frames decorating it. Some where new, others appeared to be from another time. Diana with soldiers, black and white ink. WWII uniforms. He knew that, just like the Hunters, Amazons were inmortal, so he guessed she had been around a long long time.
"So, this is one the guest rooms. You can use everything, feel like this is your place too. It will be for some time. I don't have any rules, you are not a prisioner here. You can go out and everything just tell me before, okay? If you want me I can go with you but just for this first days try not to..."
"Go outside?" He interrupted her. He knew that besides what she was telling him, the moment he tried to step out of that door they would track him.
She pursed her lips.
"I really wished this could be different. If it was on me you would be with your family and all of this would be over. I promise you, we will figure it out."
Jason wanted to believe her. He really did, but something in his chest just told him that this was just de beginning. As long as he had some pinch of ichor in his body he would never be truly free.
He didn't answer. She nodded.
"Well if you get cold or something there is the controller of the A.C and there are some more blankets on the closet. Feel free to unpack your things. My room is right across the hall if you need anything. Good night."
He knew it was unconfortable for her, didn't blame her. He didn't unpack, he just grabbed something more confortable and changed. There was two doors, guessed one was the closet and the other one the bathroom. Diana was right, there was a couple of blankets in it, besides that it was empty. He grabbed his pack and put it inside without taking anything off ot. He just wanted to pretend that he was okay with this. He went into the other door, just as everything in this bulding the floor was white marble, really different to the wooden tiles on Italy. Those were warm, this wasn't.
It was huge, it had a shower and a bathtub, two sinks and a big mirror. Everything was white and golden, it kind of reminded him to Olympus. And for the first time he arrived this earth, the thought of his proyect came into his mind. The temples. Something inside him was always against injustice, he wanted all to feel included, even the gods. Had his dream died with him? Did someone took it? He had been working with Annabeth, she was so smart and nice, they didn't started everything until the girl had every detail planned out. Would she continue it alone? Fulfilling his wish and honoring his work? He hoped so. Knowing the girl he knew she would.
He saw himself in the mirror. The scars were no longer fresh, since they were deep they turned into a odd shade of red, his skin had more moles thanks to the sun, hair longer than when he arrived and somehow it was more golden than blonde. His eyes were the same, the shine never came back. A fear had born in him the moment he saw it, didn't knew what it meant but he hoped they could figure it out. A side of that nothing had changed in him. He was the same. He was nineteen, roman demigods could live until adulthood, even older, on the other hand greek demigods barely made it till eighteen. His whole life he followed everything they told him, he was a 100% roman but when he arrived Camp Halfblood he started to want that life, free and epic. But then, he was dead. His heart pounded in his chest but still he was dead, in his world he'd must've had a funeral, burned his body, shared a meal with it. He just knew they did that, it was the tradition, but he was here, in another world, meeting people and trying to live a life. He felt guilty. Had they mourn him? Had they cry? Did someone say a speach? Had Nico went down to search for him? Did Jupiter even felt the slightlest sadness? He didn't know. And he would never know, he could only guess.
He fell in the bed, the sheets were soft and fresh, on his left the entire wall was made of glass, he could see all the lights and the sky. He could sleep or just stare at the city. He definitely didn't miss it, he wanted to go back to the woods, he always felt more drawned to the nature.
He choose sleep. Hoping nothing came in his mind, no voice, no dream, no nightmares. Just completly emptiness.
As always, he was wrong. The same pictures, beach, sun, spear, sand, laugh. No matter how many times it happen he always wake up terrified. Sweaty. With a strange feeling in his soul, like he should've stayed dead.
When he woke up the sun was rising. The clock on the side of his bed marked 7 am, since he couldn't get out of the apartment without Batman thinking he was escaping he decided to do push-ups and sit-ups, as many as he could handle. It was one of the few moments he could just turn off his brain. It was almost 10 when he heard the door across the hall open. She knocked.
When he opened the door he saw her different than yesterday, her hair was loose, she had no make up and was dressing a pastel pink pijama. She smiled at him.
"Good morning. How did you sleep?"
He shrugged.
"Good, I guess. I almost forgot the sound of the city."
She grimace.
"Yeah, It must be very different from your town in Italy. I hope we can get you there sooner than later."
He just nodded, knowing that she must've a lot of questions.
"So, I was wondering if you would want to go out to have something to eat? I know it's pretty late but we can catch something."
He pursed his lips.
"Okay."
There was a light that suddenly came into her eyes, a smile on her face.
"Great! Let me get ready and we'll be out in no time."
He closed the door, going to the closet to get some clothes before hitting the shower. He eyed the tub, he wanted to have a moment to relax in warm water but right now there was no time for that, maybe later.
He was ready in ten minutes. He grabbed his phone, earphones and went out to the living room, Diana wasn't there yet, so he walked around. Looking at the book, some were in Latin, some in Greek, all kinds of leguages. The weapons were most made of gold, but her sword, the way it shine reminded him much of his own weapon. Imperial gold. But looking closelly he notice it wasn't gold, it was more of bronze, a sudden image of Riptide came in his mind. Celestial Bronze. A more pure form of godly metal.
"It belonged to Athena." Her voice almost made him jump. He turned around, she didn't appeared to be mad, her arms crossed and a small smile on her. "It was a gift from my mother when I left my island."
"Are you inmortal?" He wasn't known for being so straight forward but he decided he wouldn't waste time of his live just guessing.
She tilded her head.
"Do I look that old?"
Jason grimace.
"I mean, it's just...a lot of these books look old and also you have a lot of pictures in what looks like the World War two and at least in my world that happen quite time ago."
She laughed and nodded.
"I been alive since before the gods left these earth. Since the beginning of the time of men. But I went and discover this world not so long ago. I am an Amazon, a warrior, I don't age, just like my sisters; but that doesn't mean we cannot perish."
Jason nodded.
"I meet an Amazon in my world. They are not like you. They're more...adamant."
She raised her eyebrows.
"You've encounter amazons? I know some are not kind to men."
"Yep, just like that. In my world they didn't have an island or something like that and they had a lot of male slaves. Not so bad people tho."
"My sisters are recluntatly about helping the man kind. I was...sort of banish because of my believes. I think there is more we can do to protect this world and the people on it."
Jason pursed his lips, he thought like that too, but where did that get him?
"You can tell me more about your world while eating. Is that okay?"
He shrugged.
"I guess."
She patted his arm.
"Let's go then."
They talked, not about him, but this world. He told her, he preferred talking about who and what he was when the night arrived. He didn't want to repeat things; so Diana proposed get to know each other, know the person and just that. He told her about Nico, his cousin who just loved emo fashion, he told her about Piper, his first and probably last love, and he told her about his Leo... but he didn't talk about Thalia, he wanted her just for him. A memory held close to his heart. He was afraid of starting to lose her if he mention her.
They were in a park, 9pm, when Diana's watch made a sound. She looked at it, eyebrows furrowed and the she pursed her lips.
"It's Bruce. We can go now." She sighed.
It was like some kind of illution that broke. Jason nodded, undertanding that it was something to get done, even if he didn't like to be with Bruce.
They walked to the alley, Diana made him look out for everyone who might approach while she pressed buttons on the inside. She left him go first, the cave was just like yesterday, the only difference being that Tim wasn't on the computer, it was Bruce, his suit on but the cowl off. Somehow like this he appeared to be more intimidating, Jason didn't like that.
"We're here." Said Diana, a tired tone in her voice.
Batman grunted. Looking at the screan, focused on whatever he had in there.
"Where are the kids?"
"Patroling."
The chair turned, Jason could see his cold eyes land on him, scanning, analyzing every inch of him, his jaw clenched and the he pursed his lips, head falling slightly on one side.
"I analized your blood."
Jason was taken back.
"How did you even get my blood?"
"Diana cut you with her sword. I took it from there." He said like it was no big deal.
"In what moment?" She said, surprised by the words of the man in front of them.
He didn't say anything.
"You are a demigod." He said. A chill running down Jason's back. He bit his tongue.
"What?" There was shock on Diana's tone.
"And not only that, your DNA is almost the same as Diana."
He turned to see her, suddenly the air on his lungs disappeared. He thought about it, the hair, the eyes, that's why it reminded him to Thalia's. Zeus.
He took a step back.
"That is why...you...you have his eyes..." Jason felt betrayed. He just didn't know why.
She shook his head.
"Who? Jason..." she took a step forward, he took one back.
"Did they convinced you to do this? What is happening?!" His voice raised.
Bruce pushed a button, a new image on the screan.
"Not just that, your blood has 70% ichor on it. Almost the same amount as Diana's. Did they send you? To retrive the god's old power?"
Jason felt his knees go weak. What? A demigods blood should be 50% ichor, not 70, that had to be wrong, he had to be lying. But then the lightning came into his mind, the sudden charge of power, his cero need for sleep or eat. Why? How? What was happening to him? He clenched his fists, somehow convinced that they somehow knew what was happening.
"No." He shook his head even more, retreating almost completely. "That thing has to be wrong, that cannot be."
"Jason..." Diana's voice was calm, but he didn't need calm, he needed answers.
"No! It must be your fault! You are working with them, aren't you?! After all I've done! After everything I've been through! Why?!"
He wanted to cry, his stomach felt the need to throw up. He was shaking, didn't knew if it was anger or sadness but he didn't want to be there like some labrat.
"Who is they? Jason, I...we want to help you. You need to calm dow..."
She couldn't finish her sentence.
"No!" He yelled.
Suddenly all the power in the cave was gone, plunging the place into absolute darkness. When the back up lights started to funtion Jason was nowhere to be seen. Diana sighed.
"What are we gonna do now?"
Batman started to type something on his wrist.
"I'll call some backup."