Jason Grace | Percy Jackson (oursavinggrace) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2023-02-05 00:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, jason grace (oursavinggrace), piper mclean (adaughteroflove), ~2023 february |
WHO: Jason Grace and Piper McLean
WHAT: Jason's arrival
WHEN: Today
WHERE: Downtown
WARNINGS: Talk of death
STATUS: Closed/Complete
Jason didn't know what he had expected from death, but it wasn't this. One moment he'd been speared through the heart, and the next he was being healed by someone he didn't know, in a place he didn't know. Then he was...okay? Alive? Or was this how death worked?
He sat up after the healer had left, looking around him with no idea of where he was, or how he'd come to be here. Carefully, he stood, a hand going to his chest where it found nothing...not even a scar from the mortal injury he'd just received. Not even the healers of Apollo were that good.
He raised his eyes to the place around him, which certainly didn't look like California. Or the Underworld.
Quid mihi evenit?
He took a few steps forward, trying to decide which direction to turn when he heard a voice that he'd recognize anywhere.
***
Piper had just gone out to get some food, and was heading back to her apartment. She'd been in Madison Valley a few months now, but was still getting used to it. Still, she'd accepted she was stuck here and had started settling in. She'd even signed herself up for the Speed Dating later in the month in hopes of finding friends...and maybe more.
The last thing she expected when she turned the corner was to come face to face with Jason Grace.
Her heart surged with a thousand feelings - joy, loss, grief, surprise...she guessed she'd just never expected him to show up here, and she didn't quite know what to make of it.
"Jason?" it was a whisper, but she hoped it was loud enough for his demigod ears to hear.
***
Which it was. Jason looked up at his name and his eyes met Piper's. He saw the grief in her eyes and that told him without words that what had happened back home had been his last moments. That he didn't make it. He had known that, but it still hurt. It still scared him, even though he knew that he'd made the right decision.
He didn't say anything, but closed the distance between them and embraced her.
***
Piper had frozen as he hugged her, but after a moment, she melted into it. Maybe they were dating anymore - for a lot of reasons that were neither of their faults - but that didn't mean she didn't love him. Maybe not in the way she thought she had, but he was one of her dearest friends, and his death had been a brutal reality of what happened to demigods when they were way too young.
She finally put her arms around him and hugged him back, then stepped back to look at him, not trying to hide the tears that streamed down her cheeks.
***
"Hi," he said, awkwardly. There was so much that words couldn't say, so much they had been through together. The break-up had not been his choice - but it hadn't really left bad blood between them. He still loved her, and knew he always would, but he wasn't going to bother her with his feelings, either. She had the right to make her own choices, and her choice had not been to be with him.
"Where are we? What is this place?"
***
Piper relaxed a little. Madison Valley was something she could talk about - something easier than what had happened between them, or to Jason.
"It's Madison Valley. It's not...I mean, you're not - " She stopped. "It's a town. In another dimension. It's not like...the Underworld. You're alive here. And we can't leave the town - there's like this giant dome - but there are amazing people here and it's safer than home. No monsters have tried to kill me yet."
She tried to smile on that last bit, and almost succeeded.
***
Jason, however, could see through her smile. He didn't say anything, but he felt that sinking feeling again. He'd made the right choice, and he didn't regret it...but he hadn't wanted to die at seventeen, either.
"Sounds interesting," he said, faking his own smile. He hated that things between them couldn't be easy like they once were, but he supposed that his death had just added onto that awkwardness that had been started by their break-up. "How exactly did we get here?"
***
"Nobody knows," Piper shrugged. "It's all mysterious and not even these brilliant scientists here have been able to figure it all out. But people come from all different times, like you...I came here from quite a bit after you - after - "
***
"After I died," he said simply. He'd just say it so that she didn't have to. "I know what happened." He ran a hand over his chest again, as if he could somehow feel that spear that had taken his life. He couldn't, but he still knew it had been there. "Is anyone else here?"
***
"Leo's here!" She smiled for real, this time. "He'll be so glad to know that you're here. It's been...hard, you know. For him." She paused. "For me. We might not still be dating, Jason, but you were always my friend. I didn't mean for this - "
***
"Siste!", he said, holding up a hand to stop her. "Don't. This wasn't anything you did. You heard the prophecy. I was never going to let it be you. That was my choice. And I would never have made a different one."
***
"But I broke up with you, we aren't - I mean, I wasn't - "
***
"Piper, I didn't do it because I wanted you to date me again. I respect your choices. I did it because you're my friend, and you'll always be my friend."
And he couldn't have lived with himself if she'd died instead.
***
Piper was silent for a while, then silently looked away. That was just like Jason, to be willing to sacrifice himself for others. Part of her wished he hadn't...but she was grateful to be alive.
Clearing her throat, she changed the subject quickly.
"Come on, I'll show you to the apartments. You should have a phone, too. You can use that to access the network."
***
Following along behind her, he pulled out the phone and quickly figured it out, posting a message to the network. He had a lot to deal with tonight, and a lot of questions still for Piper, but if he was being given even a moment more of life with his friends, then he'd take it.