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Collections/Challenges: Whumpay, Day 27
Prompt(s): Resurrection
Characters: Jason, Percy, Nico, mentioned—Charles, Silena, Lee, Castor
Rating: General
Summary: Jason wasn’t supposed to die. Nico knows this, Hades knows this, but neither are willing to do anything.
Percy is.
Or, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice except it’s Percy and Jason
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The underworld was cold. Foreign.
When Jason had first arrived he stood before a council of judges, Pluto—Hades, being one of them. He’d seen the surprise on his face, the eyebrow raised in suspicion. He watched the god chat with Letus—Thanatos—the two muttering to themselves, glancing at him what felt like every five seconds.
The trial started soon thereafter and he was silent. They watched snippets of his life starting from his time at the wolf house, ending with his final stand against Caligula. It covered everything. Every heroic moment, every moment of selfishness, weakness.
(He was pretty sure he saw some old lady brush away a tear—but don’t quote him on that.)
It had been a unanimous decision that he could spend the rest of his “life” in Elysium, lest he wanted to chose rebirth and shoot for the Isles of the Blessed.
He chose Elysium.
He was perfectly content to live out his afterlife here until his friends joined him. He wasn’t impatient—he told himself that he could do some exploring, he could show them all the good spots once they finally died. Which hopefully wouldn’t be for a while.
It had been a few hours—or days, time was weird here—before he’d gotten comfortable. He’d made some friends, someone named Charles and a pretty girl named Silena. They reminded him of Leo and Piper to an unsettling degree—from the way they looked down to the way they acted.
He met a few other demigods to. A son of Apollo named Lee Fletcher, a son of Dionysus named Castor, both of whom died during the latest Titan war. Jason remembered Castor’s twin, Pollux. They had talked a few times during his stay at camp—before the war with Gaea.
He’d made friends with some older demigods he didn’t know, a few Romans, mortals who believed in the Greek gods but weren’t related to them. The entire time he’d been looking for Leo, asking everyone if they knew him. Every-time he heard the word “no”, his heart broke a little more. He wasn’t sure how it would’ve been possible, didn’t want to think too hard on why he wouldn’t have known—but he was starting to suspect that his friend wasn’t really dead.
He didn’t know how to feel about that.
…
Jason had been given an apartment near the beach, located in the same building as Charles and Silena. It was beautifully decorated, tailored specifically to his style and interests—everything was gorgeous.
(If he didn’t know better, he’d think all of this was real and solid.)
He’d learned pretty early on that your soul didn’t carry any scars from your lifetime. Well, asides from whatever killed you. Jason had looked at a hallway mirror during his first tour of the house and didn’t know how to feel. The scar above his lip was gone, the scratches from his fight with a hellhound was gone, even the wound he’d gotten from Michael was gone. Things that he used to define him—scars that were apart of who he was.. gone. Now, the only scars on his body were the two puncture wounds from Caligula’s spear.
He hated it.
…
He often found himself standing by the “ocean”, the sound of the waves lapping onto the shore was comforting, drowning out the silence and crushing weight of being dead. Maybe he should’ve been scared—considering his death and his father, but it was peaceful nonetheless. Hell, you couldn’t die twice, so what’s the harm?
That’s where he’d been when he felt it; the air shifting, something approaching that wasn’t supposed to be here. He heard footsteps on the ground behind him and turned to glance at it. His shoulders slumped but his eyebrows rose in surprise, unsure how to feel
“What are you doing here, Percy?” His voice was airy and light, tired but peaceful. Across from him stood the son of Poseidon himself. Standing just a few feet behind him was the son of Hades, arms crossed over his chest, scowl etched into his face. He was looking at Jason like like this was his fault.
“Why are you asking that like you don’t know the answer?” Percy asked. Jason’s blue eyes softened and he smiled sadly at the older demigod.
“You can’t bring me back, Perce.”
The demigod took a step forward, his shoes crunching on the sand. Jason noted bitterly that he no longer made noise when he walked. “But I can. Nico talked to Hades, he made a deal—“
“Percy.”
“You remember Orpheus and Eurydice? He agreed to the same thing, now shut your mouth so we can get this over with.”
Jason stared at him, his arms crossed over his chest. Was he being serious? Even if Hades was letting them do this, there was a reason Orpheus failed. Curiosity always gets the better of humanity—they have sayings based on that fact for gods sakes.
“Percy. I’m not going.” His voice was buttery smooth but firm.
The older man looked devastated, blinking at him with a frown tugging on his mouth. “Why not?”
“Because I died.” He said simply, shrugging his shoulders. Percy could still interact with the world, his body was solid, the life was radiating off him in waves—unlike Jason.
Percy fell silent, his shoulders hunching in on himself. Nico took that time to step forward, marching right up to Jason with a glare. If looks could kill, Jason would be in Tartarus right now.
“You weren’t supposed to die.” He snapped. “Now stop being un idiota and let’s go.”
Jason sighed, staring down at the shorter boy. His eyes were bright with anger, his hands balled by his sides, his chest rising and falling rapidly with harsh breaths. Jason’s chest didn’t move even when he tried to breathe.
He shook his head. “Nico, you can’t—“
“But I can—“
“You can’t cheat this!” Jason snapped, dropping his arms to his sides. Nico’s head shot back like he’d just been slapped, staring at the son of Jupiter in surprise. To his credit, he recovered quickly, firing back. “It’s not cheating if it was never supposed to happen!”
Jason laughed in utter disbelief, shaking his head before he pinched the bridge of his nose. Behind him he could still hear the sound of the sea, in front of him, he was far too aware of everything that made them alive. Everything he didn’t have. “I’m not going.”
“Why? You wanna stay dead?” Nico snapped, once again getting up into his space. Jason wasn’t threatened, but he was pretty sure this was some sort of intimidation technique. Maybe it would work if Nico had been taller than Jason’s shoulders.
Percy was still silent, standing a few feet behind the son of Hades, shifting like he didn’t know what to do.
“Nico—“ he growled, closing his eyes before he took a deep breath. This really shouldn’t be this difficult. “I’m dead. Okay? I’m dead.”
He took one of his arms and moved it through Nico’s shoulder. “Do you see this?” He snapped, using both hands to wildly slash through his body. To his credit, Nico didn’t do anything other than wrinkle his nose. “I’m dead. I’m a ghost. You guys need to accept that.”
“Says who?” Percy snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. “Says you?”
Jason felt like a lunatic. Only with these two did you feel crazy for asking to not get resurrected.
“Don’t you guys get it?” He implored, looking between both of them with a small smile, one missing his signature scar. He didn’t need to see himself to know it looked wrong. “I’m finally free.”
They both fell silent. Nico’s eyes narrowed, Percy’s hands clenched together, both of them looked at the sand.
Percy was the first to break the silence, looking up with dark, angry eyes. “Free from what, your friends?”
Jason didn’t have a response to that.
“Are you free from us? Your family? Your life—how can you say that?” His voice was rising and a few ghosts had stopped to watch the scene play out. Jason could see Charles in the crowd, staring at Percy with wide eyes and a triumphant smirk. Great. Now they had the ghosts rallying behind them too.
Jason lowered his voice, taking a step back from both of them. “You’re making this more difficult than it has to be.”
“No I’m not! You—” Percy probably would’ve kept going and it probably would’ve included some very colourful words, but Nico held out a hand to silence him. To Jason’s shock and surprise, Percy shut up with an audible click of his jaw, huffing angrily.
“We have a deal, Grace. Stop being difficult and let us save you.”
Jason shook his head, laughing once again. These guys would be great politicians. “Save me from what, peace? You can’t save me. If you bring me back, nothing’s going to change. Nothing.”
“Jas-“
“Stop trying to bring me back!” He snapped, staring down at the shorter demigod.
Percy was clearly fed up with things, grabbing Nico by the shoulders before he pushed him back, getting up into Jason’s face within the span of a second. His eyes were blazing with fury, and his voice came out harsh. “If you don’t stop being a fucking idiot so help me gods I will beat your ass. Don’t you realize how important you are? We can’t live without you!”
“Yes you can.”
“NO WE CAN’T!” Percy roared. Some of the ghosts flinched at the sudden screaming. Jason himself shrunk back, his eyes wide with shock and a little fear. Percy never yelled like that. Ever.
“I can’t.” He said, quieter this time.
Jason didn’t know what to say, his eyes darting across the demigods face. “Perce—“
“Don’t you dare.” He snapped. Never-mind, him being quiet was clearly a facade because he was still pissed. “You have a family, friends—people who care about you—and you want to throw that all away?”
It was Jason’s turn to get pissed now, using his height to his advantage to look down on the older demigod. How dare he insinuate that Jason wanted to leave them. That Jason wanted to die. Jason spent his whole life reacting, rather than acting. God forbid a man want some peace in his afterlife.
“I’m dead Percy. I was fucking impaled. Twice. I’m not choosing to leave—I’m choosing to stay. Even if you got this deal from Hades, what makes you think we won’t suffer the same fate? That you won’t look?” He poked the demigod in the chest but his hand passed right through. He hoped that it helped with his point rather than making him look stupid. “I’m dead. I died. Okay? Get it through your thick skull and accept it. I was killed.”
Everyone fell silent and Jason hoped they would finally leave. He was done being a pawn for the gods, he was done risking his life every other month because they needed some random artifact. He was done living in fear. He was done fighting the monsters. He was done.
Apparently, Percy wasn’t.
“No.” It wasn’t angry anymore, it was final. A tone that should leave no room for debate. Unfortunately for Percy, Jason had joined his schools debate club months before his passing.
“Percy—“
“NO!”
Okay then, no debate for Jason.
“I love you, Jason grace. Do you hear me? I love you. And I can’t—I can’t live without you. Okay? You’re like a little brother to me.”
Jason’s eyes went wide with confusion and utter surprise. That was not what he expected the other demigod to say.
“You weren’t supposed to die like this,” Percy continued, taking a step back to give himself some room. “Even Hades admitted that. But now that I have the opportunity to fix it you’re being selfish. Do you understand that? You’re being selfish.”
Jason stayed quiet, a sudden shame creeping up his neck. That wasn’t what he wanted, that wasn’t his goal. He just wanted to stay dead. He didn’t want to mess with fate—he just wanted a break.
“You were supposed to die in your eighties after living a long, happy life. That’s what you deserved, not—not this. This was never supposed to happen.”
Internally, Jason laughed. If it wasn’t supposed to happen, they wouldn’t be in this situation right now. That’s kind of how fate works.
“Look bro, I’m not gonna accept no for an answer. So I’m going to turn around and you’re going to follow me, because if you don’t, I will never forgive you.”
Ouch.
“Leo will never forgive you.”
Double ouch.
“Piper will never forgive you.”
Jesus Christ, was he just listing off everybody Jason loved who still happened to be alive? Was this not the definition of guilt tripping?
Percy evidently didn’t care about Jason’s internal thoughts and continued ranting. “We’ll never forget that you turned your back on us. On life. Maybe you didn’t want to die—but you’re taking the cowards way out by giving up without a fight. So what if I look back? Then you get what you want. You stay dead. Jason, Hades himself said this was a mistake. No one wants to be a pawn, but guess what! It comes with the package. We get cool ass powers like flying and water bending and they get free child labour. It sucks—it’s definitely illegal—but that’s just how it is.”
Jason was stunned, his mouth parted at how well crafted his speech had been. Had he rehearsed that or did he just summon it from the depths of his soul? He wasn’t going to ask—but he was curious.
Percy still had his eyes locked on Jason’s, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Nico looked vaguely concerned, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly, but he also had a smile plastered to his face so clearly he wasn’t that worried.
“You mean too much to everyone, okay?” Percy said. His voice had gone quiet, only loud enough for them to hear. “So I’m gonna turn around, and you’re going to follow me.” His eyes were shining and his voice was desperate, like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. If anything, what just happened was the mental breakdown. “Because you’re going to choose to live your life the way you want to live it.”
Jason clearly didn’t look convinced (he wasn’t) and Percy hovered his hand over Jason’s shoulder. His eyes were begging, full of fear and desperation. “If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for us.”
“Do it for me.”