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Percy and Annabeth’s son, Jason died at 16 after ditching school with his friends and crashing Percy’s car. His friends were hospitalized, but survived. When he gets to the underworld, Hades says he will take a few days to decide the boys fate and that Jason can stay in Elysium while he waits.
In Elysium he meets Jason Grace, a friend of his parents, the one he had beer named after. Jason still appears 17, the young age he died at. Jason allows Jace, son of his old friends to stay with him. Often Jace catches Jason staring at him. At first it seemed creepy but, when he asked why and he replies with things like, “you look so much like your mom” or, “your dad used to say that,” it all made sense.
After a few days both of them were starting to question what was taking Hades so long. Jason kept telling Jace that he would be fine and when he officially got put in Elysium he could move in with him at least until his parents arrived. This made Jace feel a little better, but deep down he was still beyond worried. He knew he wasn’t the best when it came to how he talked to and respected people including his parents, but that wasn’t his biggest concern. His biggest concern was the way he treated and talked about the gods. He wished he could be as sure as Jason sounded about Elysium.
About a week later, his judgement day finally came. Upon arriving in the court room, he quickly noticed Hades frustrated demeanor. That’s when Hades stood up and announced, “as much as I would like to place you in Elysium, you are not your parents and their good deeds can not cover your bad ones, so I am truly sorry to say, that for betraying your parents trust, some of the greatest demigod heroes to ever live, and for your foolish acts of defying the gods, I have no choice but to place you in the fields of punishment.” Jace went into shock.
He just stood there shocked, desperately clinging to an ever fading hope. Hearing the sentence, Jason Grace barged in at a full sprint. He was a mess of blood, dirt, and sweat. If he wasn’t already dead I’d say it was getting close to his time. It isn’t exactly easy to break into a room guarded by the undead.
Upon entering the huge courtroom he rose his voice and questioned Hades. “How could you sentence the son of two of the greatest demigods to ever live, a 16 year old boy, to eternal punishment? If you do this Hades, demigods, both living and dead, will never forgive you. Are you willing to live with that?”
Hades with a stern, but almost regretful expression on his face replied with one simple phrase, “I have no choice, someone has to pay.” As he began motioning to the guards to retrieve the boy who had come in seemingly innocent just a few minutes before, Jason Grace, with a sad but determined grimace on his face, spoke up again, “I’ll pay.”
Jace turned to look at him, his eyes bulged out of his head, questioning what Jason was doing. Hades looked up at Jason dumbstruck. He knew the kid was a hero when he was alive, but he wasn’t expecting him to continue such a legacy in a world made up of dead people. “You said my death was untimely and heroic, and that you would one day reward me for it. You said you would grant me a request one day, as long as it wasn’t returning to the living world. Going to the fields of punishment is my request. You swore on the Stynx Hades.” Before the god or Jace had a chance to argue, Jason Grace signaled to Hades, sprinted to the god’s side and with a movement of the god’s hand, and the increasing sound of Jace’s cry’s, vanished from sight.
A few weeks later a deathly skinny man, dressed in all black showed up at Jason’s doorstep. He stood out like he didn’t belong among the dead quite yet, but seemed too comfortable for his visit to be out of the ordinary. Without knocking, he trudged in dragging his feet on the floor. “Jason, I’m here!” Jason, hearing the call and seeing the man at his door was confused. He didn’t understand how his living uncle, was in the underworld and could see him as if he was alive and well.
The man, seeing it wasn’t the Jason he usually came to visit, but instead a skinnier, almost starving looking version of his nephew who had died only about a month before, replied “oh, hey Jace.” “Hey Nico.” Nico smiled sadly, “I’m sorry this happened. Your parents said to tell you that they love and miss you. I came here to see how you were doing and to introduce you to Jason, but it looks like the two of you have met already.”
Jace started to break down. “Nico, Jason was your friend and I couldn’t save him. He helped me and I ruined his life. I couldn’t sleep so he would tell me about his quests and mom and dads to distract me from the nightmares, sometimes I would even keep him up into crazy hours of the night, but he never even seemed bothered.”
“Yeah, Jason has those nightmares too. He told me that the worst ones usually are of his friends dying in battle, calling out for Jason to save them, and he try’s to in his… present form, but fails every time. He told me about one specifically where he steps in the way of a sword for your dad in the last titan battle, but it just goes right through his ghost like body and into the body of the very living Percy Jackson, sending his bro, his words not mine, to the same fate as himself.”
Nico, after finishing the story, saw Jason looking upset. “Hey, umm are you ok?” “Nico, Jason’s gone.” “You think I don’t know that Jace, Ive known him since I was young you’ve only just met him! I had to come to the underworld just to visit him!” “No, he did it again. He used his request to save me. You have to get him back Nico.”
“What are you talking about Jace?” “He went to the fields of punishment for me and I don’t know what to do! Please, Nico, you have to bring him back! I killed him Nico!” Nico, startled upon hearing what happened to his old friend, was furious. “My father will bring him back.” Nico shadow traveled into the courtroom of his father, Hades, the god of the underworld, with an angry scowl on his face. “Hades!” “Son, not a good time, I have a lot of trials to get through today.” “Father you can’t just sentence Jason Grace to eternal punishment!” “He sentenced himself actually.” Nico was fuming, “He is a great leader, always sacrificing his life to save others and he died a heroes death! He slew more monsters than even a god can count and he saved more innocents than that! He is a friend to all demigods of both camps, and he is a friend to me. Father, please explain to me how a demigod such as Jason ends up in the fields of punishment!”
“Someone had to pay Nico. A life for a life, that is just the way of the underworld. It has always been that way and always will be. There’s nothing you or I can do. Besides he used his death wish, what was I supposed to do?” “Release him now!”, cried Nico. “I can’t just let people out of their resting places. They’ve earned there eternal home, good or bad and once they are in they’re is no coming back out.”
“You are the literal god of the underworld Hades! It’s your fault a hero is being punished for the good moral act of saving a life! Their was a moment of what seemed to Hades like a loud silence as he watched the tears streaming down his son’s face. Please father.” “I’m sorry Nico, there’s nothing I can do.”
Jace was still staring out the open door when Nico arrived there for the second time of that day. He came in at a full sprint, nearly running into a wall. After muttering to himself about stubborn demigods, he finally looked at Jace, “I am going to get Jason! You’ll be fine until we get back!” Grabbing his bag, Nico shadow travelled away, leaving Jace with no idea where he went or what his plan was.
Nico arrived in New York City at 1:00 in the morning on his cousin’s doorstep. Not wanting to wake Percy or Annabeth, he let himself in. This was a bad idea considering he was walking into the house of two well trained demigods. Upon entering he had a dagger pointed at his chest and a very angry Percy Jackson ready to kick the hades out of him.
“Oh, Nico,” Annnabeth muttered as she pulled away her weapon! “Thank the gods it’s you! I cannot take another monster barging in my door and knocking over… forget that! Is Jace okay? Please tell me he’s in Elysium!”
“Annabeth calm down. Nico how is Jace,” Percy asked. Nico seeing the worn out faces of his friends figured it would be better to save the bad news for later. “He’s doing good considering the circumstances. He was tried a few weeks ago and sent to Elysium.”
After hearing this the couple embraced dragging Nico into the middle of them. “Thank you Nico.” Annabeth said, still crying. “Now what is it you need help with?” “Actually I was just wondering if I could stay the night?” “Of course,” Percy and Annabeth said simultaneously. “Thanks,” Nico said with a sigh.
The next morning he awoke to his body being shook by a very concerned looking Percy Jackson. “Nico, Neeks, wake up. Hey, it’s just a dream. Nico come on it’s not real. It’s not really happening. Your safe.” Finally he woke up with a groan, “What do u want Percy?”
“I want you to tell me what’s going on. You were crying out Jason’s name in your sleep. The best thing you could have done for us and for Jace was to check on him, just like you did so why are you so upset.”
“Your son is fine Percy! I was dreaming about Jason, your friend! Maybe you’ve forgotten that he died too, but I didn’t forget.” Percy dreams about Jason often enough. It was over twenty years ago now that his best bro had died, sacrificing himself to save the world. He had wondered if his cousin had the same nightmares. After all, Jason was Nico’s first real friend, the first person he had opened up to.
“Do you have those nightmares too?” “What nightmares?” Questioned Nico. “The ones where Jason sacrifices himself and then bleeds out in front of your face.” Nico looked at Percy with his bloodshot eyes and responded, “the ones where he is lying on the ground, spear through his back, crying out for help, but no matter what you do you just can’t reach him in time; yeah I do.”
Percy looked at his younger cousin and sighed, “I’m sorry.” “Doesn’t matter, I need you to help me save him.” “Nico, Jason died 26 years ago. He wasn’t someone who would want to cheat, not even at death, he won’t want to come back now.”
Percy used to have this same conversation with his cousin almost daily, but he thought that after years of the idea not coming up, he had finally convinced Nico that coming back wasn’t what Jason would have wanted. “I thought we were over this. I know you miss him, so do I, but we will get to see him in Elysium again. He wouldn’t want us to be worried about him or blame ourselves all the time.
“Percy, Jason isn’t in Elysium that’s why I came to see you and Annabeth. I need your help to save him.”
“What do you mean he’s not in Elysium?” Percy heard his own voice rising.
“Hades sentenced him to the fields of punishment.”
“What?”
“Jace stayed with Jason in Elysium until his trial, he was sentenced to the fields of punishment, and Jason took his place as his final request from Hades. You have to help me bring him back!”
“Typical Jason move,” Percy thought to himself. Why did he have to save everyone else all the time. Why couldn’t he just let Percy save his own kid. If he would have refused more quests to save the world like Percy had, Jason Grace might still be alive.
“I’m going to let Annabeth know where we’re going, be right back.” Percy was worried sick about his friend. He hated Jason for sacrificing himself like that, but also couldn’t thank him enough for saving Jace. Why couldn’t he have been there for his own kid?”
“I’m coming!” “No your not!” Nico sat in the living room listening and waiting for Percy to lose yet another argument to Annabeth like he had been doing since he was twelve, but it was taking too long. “Guess I have to go break this up.” Nico muttered to himself as he stepped into the kitchen. “I don’t care if one or both of you come, but Jason could be hurt right now and I am not going to let your stupid argument stop me from getting him out of more trouble then he is already in.” The argument had been going on for nearly fifteen minutes now, so when Nico intervened, both Percy and Annabeth stopped and silently glared at him annoyed at the interruption, but realizing that he was right came to an agreement.
“I don’t like this Percy.” “I’ll be fine Annabeth. Besides, you are coming most of the way with me.” Percy was doing his best to convince her. “Yeah, and staying in a nice safe place in Elysium while you go to the fields of punishment on yet another deadly quest as soon as we get there.” Annabeth said sarcastically. “So basically all of the times you will need me I won’t be there. Wait, who else is going on the quest?” She asked, her curiosity always getting the better of her. Nico looked at her with a mixed expression on his face, “unfortunately I think I know.”
“Why does a quest require three people again?” Asked Percy as he opened the workshop door. “Just another one of the gods oddly specific, impractical little rules I guess.” Exclaimed the man and owner of the shop. He had a small build, pointy ears, brown curly hair, and brown eyes that looked to be a thousand years older then the rest of him. “What’s up Percy, Annabeth?” He responded to the three guests nodding his head to Nico. As Percy was just about to respond, Nico jumped in, “I need you to listen to me Valdez. “Geez ghost boy, not even a hello before begging for my help!” He smiled to himself as if laughing on the inside.
“This isn’t a joke. Since he left you don’t seem to care anymore. You see bad things happen, people breaking and it’s just one big laugh for you. He wouldn’t want you to live like that. He would want you to fix things, build things like you did before, concentrate so hard on them your whole body would catch fire, and when you finished whatever crazy project you were working on you would get the scariest smirk on your face and crack the corniest joke the gods have ever heard. I know I’ve told you a thousand times to get your act together, but you really have to now. Jason needs help Leo, and I’m going to be there for him this time, so if you want to help we are leaving now.”
“What’s wrong with Jason?” Leo’s expression changed faster than Nico thought possible. Maybe the guy did know how to take things seriously. “He took Jace’s place in the fields of punishment, but that was days ago. He could be hurt Leo.”
“Why didn’t you stop him!” Nico looked into the eyes of a very distressed Leo Valdez, “I wasn’t there, how could I have stopped him.” Leo didn’t seem to like his reply, the greasy towel in his hands began to smoke as he looked back at the son of Hades. “Nico he was your friend! How could you let him do this?” Leo looked as if he was about to throw fists when he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.
“There is no need to fight over something that already happened. The only thing you can do now is to go and help Jason.” She sounded so calm, as if the fields of punishment was somewhere like McDonald’s where you could just go right in and place an order without the nearly 100% chance of a painful death. “Cal, you can’t exactly walk up to the god of the underworld and order his servants for takeout. Excuse me Hades, may I please have an order of Jason Grace with no death penalty on the side? Isn’t going to work down there.”
“Of course not, but you demigods are some of the best to ever live and each of you has done crazier, more impressive things. Together you took down Gaea and played a part in taking down Nero. I would still be rotting on an island without you Leo. So go save your friend like you did me, but please come back in one piece. I’m not as good at fixing things as you are. I love you Mcshizzle!” Leo’s face contorted into a lopsided grin, embarrassed. “I should never have told you that story.”
Leo preferred happy dragon riding. He had only shadow traveled once before and was sick for the next hour afterward. Somehow this time was not as pleasant. The four demigods had been sitting behind a dumpster for what felt like forever when finally Leo stopped vomiting long enough to speak. By that time, his voice was raspy and barely audible, “where even are we?” Annabeth was not far from him as he unsuccessfully attempted to keep at least some of his meal down. She was rubbing Percy’s back as he also was losing all three courses of the day in the same manor as Leo. “About a mile from the mortal entrance to the underworld.”