Chapter Text
There are few things as powerful as the joy of someone who got a second chance and found their purpose.
Kim Reynolds
The rooster crowed. It was dawn, and soon the Mo estate would be abuzz with activity.
His cousin would come to beat him, his aunt would laugh at him and then beat him again, and the servants would add their share of beatings to take it out on someone, since they couldn't do it with the ones really responsible for their misery.
It was a painfully familiar routine. A routine that however won't be there that day. Because Mo XuanYu will die today.
The young man looked at the woman in front of him, her green eyes shining in the semi-darkness, then at the book in his hand.
He knew what he had to do. He had already known for a while.
She looked sad as she said, "You're the only one who can do it, Mo XuanYu."
He laughed, "The only one so useless that he can die without being a problem for anyone."
She didn't correct him, and it hurt, worse than when his father kicked him out of the sect because he was a dirty cut-sleeve.
He closed her eyes and shook his head.
How ironic, his usefulness found in the fact that no one would miss him.
His eyes stung, but he ignored the tears. This was no time to cry.
He had a job to do.
“There… it's not as bad as I expected,” Talia said, smiling at the work she'd done, her hands still dirty with hair dye.
It was lucky that the Huntress had decided to spend a few weeks at the Camp, otherwise Jason would have had to ask Chiron for help, and it would have been too embarrassing.
Jason looked at himself in the mirror, ignoring the mess on the floor, and feeling satisfied with what he saw. There was no longer any trace of blonde in his hair.
“It's pretty good,” he said, running a hand through his hair, unable to hide his relief as he did so.
What he saw in the mirror was his face, only his.
His sister commented, "Now Leo won't be able to call you blonde Superman anymore."
“He'll have to stick to the Clark Kent jokes. I also have glasses,” he retorted, pointing at the glasses with a finger.
“Should I expect to see you flying around in blue tights?” she teased.
“It could be a career idea,” he tried to joke, but he saw a shadow pass over his sister's gaze.
No, this was definitely not the time to joke about that. Not when he had only been alive for two months and remained at Camp Half-Blood as if in self-imposed exile.
And wasn't that what it was? He wasn't exactly doing anything there, he helped with the campers' training, occasionally his friends came to visit, but other than that, he didn't do much else.
Jason didn't know what to do: in New Rome Frank and Hazel were doing great, Reyna had joined the Huntress, Percy and Annabeth were planning to get married, Leo had opened his own workshop and Piper...Piper was happy with her new girlfriend.
In those ten years in which he had was an oak tree, Juno's gift to save him from death at the hands of Caligula, everyone's lives had moved on.
Not that he minded, but he felt out of time, a relic who couldn't fit into the world.
Or maybe he was the one who hadn't been able to adapt before, when he'd tried to go to a mortal school and it hadn't gone well.
“You know, I heard that in New Roma they have remedial courses for people who want to go to college but one didn't have a traditional education,” Talia said lightly, too lightly.
Jason grimaced, "I don't think it'd be for me."
“Well, you certainly can't stay here and be a head camper your whole life. Your experience could be useful elsewhere.”
"Where? The army? Because, let's face it, military life is the only one I know."
“It doesn't have to be,” Talia commented, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Well, it's not like a son of Jupiter has many options,” he replied, trying to hold back the bite. “There were always expectations of what I should do. If I go back to New Rome, they might try to give me command of some cohort or something.”
“It doesn't look bad.”
“It's not, but I don't know if that's what I want,” he said, rising from the chair and missing the warmth of his sister's hand. “Now you will think I am a coward.”
“Jason, anyone who knows you knows that you are not a coward. It took me months to decide what I wanted to do after returning. You'll see that you too will be able to understand it."
She made it easy. The Huntress had become her family. Jason couldn't feel at home anywhere.
He smiled sadly, "Too bad the Huntress don't allow men into their ranks, huh?"
She poked him in the chest, “I could ask the divine Artemis to turn you into a girl. It wouldn't be the first time she's done this."
“As tempting as it is, I am forced to refuse.”
Talia rolled her eyes, “Okay, you don't know if you want to go back to the military, which is legit since you've been in it since you were three. But what do you want to do?”
He hesitated. Here's the million dollar question.
He first thought he knew what he wanted: to reclaim what he had lost by living as a glorified child soldier, to grow up with Piper, get married, start a family and maybe train the next generations of heroes.
One thing he was doing at the moment, but even coaching the kids at Camp Half-Blood didn't make him happy.
Had he been brought back to life for this? To act as a mentor? Not that he despised his second chance (why give it to him though? Hadn't the gods finished with him?), but Chiron was already there to train the heroes.
At most he could be used as an example of what to do to not die. Was it enough to make him come back?
Seeing him lost in thought of her, Talia made a decision, "Well, let's go."
"Where?"
“To the arena. I'll make you get your head out of your ass by beating you.”
“You just want an excuse to kick me,” he retorted.
Talia stuck her tongue out at him, “What kind of big sister would I be if I didn't use every opportunity to remind my little brother who's boss?”
“Technically, I'm older than you now,” he reminded her.
“And technically our father is married, but that didn't stop him from having us.”
“Touché.”
"Si? Do you want to stay here all day or do you want to show me what the son of Jupiter is capable of?” she provoked him, pointing to the fatal flaw common to many children of Zeus: arrogance.
Jason wasn't particularly arrogant. He was perhaps too sure of himself, and if he was in the same room with Percy he had to prove which of the two was the better, but it was due to their respective fathers rather than a true inclination towards arrogance.
A little sparring, however, would do him good to not think about depressing things like his life.
“Okay,” he said finally. "Let's go."
Mo XuanYu's hands were shaking – whether it was from blood loss or fear, he didn't know either.
She was still there, making sure that he completed the ritual and that nothing could interfere.
“Mo XuanYu,” she said, her voice ancient, powerful. “The time is now. If you hesitate, it will all have been for nothing.”
“I guess it would then take too long to find a replacement.”
“Time that wouldn't exist because the world will end if you don't summon him,” was the reply, and well, who was he compared to the salvation of the world?
Although, if he were to be honest in his final moments, he wasn't doing it to save the world. He was doing it to get revenge.
Finally deciding to abandon the hesitation, he began to recite the spell...
There were some children of Ares and Huntress sitting in the stands. Someone must have heard them talking in the armory, and word had quickly spread.
They were the first, but Jason had no doubt that there would be others soon.
“Happy to have an audience all to yourself?” he joked with her sister, while she rolled her eyes.
“More people will watch me kick your ass.”
“I wouldn't be so sure, sister.”
Talia's smile at him made her look like a shark preparing to attack her prey.
Sunlight glinted off the polished arena floor as Talia circled Jason with predatory grace. Her stance was low, sword poised; a sculpted figure of vigilance. Jason shuffled back, muscles tensing, his eyes daring to match her every step.
"Come on, little brother," Talia taunted, a wry smile curling her lips. "Show me what you've learned from the Romans."
Jason's grip tightened around the hilt of his sword, adrenaline and excitement for battle boiling through him.
She lunged. Steel clattered against wood. His arm jolted from the impact, but he held the ground. Talia's brow arched in silent praise, yet her onslaught did n't cease.
At feint. To parry. Their dance was a blur of motion, dust kicking up around their boots. Talia's attacks were relentless, her determination etched into every strike. Jason knew this dance, though. He knew her moves about her, her about her tells about her.
As she reeled back for another strike, Jason called upon the wind. It obeyed, a sudden taste that whipped sand and dust into a blinding veil. Talia's eyes flashed with surprise and annoyance, her vision obscured.
With the wind at his command, Jason advanced, the wooden blade slicing through the air towards her. Victory was a heartbeat away—a triumph he could taste like the electric charge of a storm.
But then, amidst the roar of wind and pulse of blood, a voice cut through—an undeniable command that halted him mid-strike.
"Come...come back...and save...errors…"
Jason turned around, but no one was there. It had been stupid, Talia could have taken advantage of it. And she was about to do so, when a blood-red portal opened behind him and something grabbed his arm and dragged him with it.
The last thing he heard was Talia's voice screaming his name.
Mo XuanYu's body lay examined on the ground. The woman stroked his head, in a final kind gesture for an unfortunate soul who had known nothing but exploitation and pain.
“Your sacrifice won't be in vain,” she promised. “You will be admitted to the Elysian Fields, and celebrated as a hero.”
Some would say it was silly to talk to a dead body, but she knew the boy's soul was feeling her, and she hoped to offer him a little comfort.
She didn't want him to become a resentful spirit, he didn't deserve that.
She got up. There was someone she had to welcome.
When Jason reopened his eyes, he found himself in a clearing, surrounded by ghostly trees and a strange, unhealthy-looking greyish mist.
He leaned against the tree to get up, feeling his legs weak and wanting to vomit. He took uncertain steps, not even sure where to go.
He thought he saw some sort of cottage on the horizon, but he wasn't sure, not when his head kept spinning.
He heard a female voice greet him, "Welcome."
He raised his head, and found himself facing a beautiful, but deathly pale woman with green eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a high, ancient Greek-style ponytail. Her dark, sleeveless dress seemed to ripple as if the fabric was shedding ink and she was wearing sandals.
The fog surrounding him suddenly made a lot of sense.
“Hecate? Are you the one who summoned me?” he asked, as he tried to hold down the little food she had ingested.
“I helped, young hero. But I can't take credit that isn't mine."
“Why am I here?” he asked, as he tried to see where her sword was.
“Vengeance and justice.”
He coughed out a laugh, “Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. Look, I don't know what Jupiter did to make you angry, but..."
He felt dizzy again, and his vision went blurry. He almost fainted but something supported him. It was a gray-skinned man in rags, and Jason had no idea where he had come from.
He heard a neigh from behind him, and the goddess spoke, “You must go. The spell also took a lot of your strength.”
“I didn't realize…”
“I'm sorry that this is not where your first meeting will take place.”
“First meeting with whom?”
There was no response: instead, out of nowhere some sort of carriage appeared – not that he could make out much beyond the fact that there were black horses pulling the vehicle – and he was forced onto it.
Hecate spoke again, “You're still too weak to face it. I'll have you taken away from the Mo estate. I know you have a lot of questions, but you need to be patient. Your quest has just begun.”
Before Jason could ask anything the vehicle began to move, speeding away from the goddess.
He tried to jump down, but his strength failed him. His nausea and weakness took over, and he found himself closing his eyes.
As he walked away, Hecate sighed, “I hope you manage to complete your task this time, Wei Wuxian.”
At that moment, a scream rang out from the Mo estate.
A servant had just found Mo XuanYu's corpse.