Chapter Text
When he opened his eyes, Jason immediately knew he was in one of his demi-god dreams but for some weird reason, this one didn’t feel like the usual dreams he would have.
He found himself lying in a bed of hyacinths, tiny white and orange butterflies fluttering around his body. He was about to shoo away the insects, one of the butterflies phased through his body like he was a ghost or an illusion. Standing up from the ground, he was in awe of his environment, standing in an unfamiliar place in a tall forest that seemed as high as the sky itself with strange things flying past him. Compared to other forests he’s been in, there’s a similar Mist covering the forest but something about this Mist feels… different from the one he's known.
'Where in Jupiter am I?’
Immediately, Jason‘s brain was hard wired in survival mode, checking his surroundings and trying to figure out why he’s here when he hears hushed voices coming from the behind.
“..sign of them.” There, two kids in different sizes all wearing the same bright orange t-shirts, stepped out from the bushes. The two each share the same facial expression: fear, panic, and sadness, but why? Jason leaned in closer to hear them more clearly.
“Fuck….who’s gonna them?” the first kid said, sweat dripping down their face.
The second one scratched their head, their pink hair bun becoming undone as they tried racking their brain on this problem. “Fuckkk.. I don´t know... You should tell them!” They pointed at their friend.
“What! Why can't you tell them?!”
“You’re closer to them than I am! Plus, Annabeth and Drew kinda scares me…”
“I mean, I'm scared of them too but you don't see me forcing you to tell them the bad news.
“Look, let's just head back to camp and decide then.”
“Fine. Last one there has to clean the pegasi stables!” And the pink haired kid ran off leaving the other kids behind.
“Hey!! You cheated!!” they said, chasing after them.
Curious, Jason chose to follow after those other kids in hopes of getting answers about this dream.
Following those kids wasn’t hard since he was technically a ghost since he didn't need to take a breather every five minutes and they didn’t see him. Soon, the kids had reached their destination: A hilltop where at the bottom, far in the distance was a sign. It was a bit blurry for Jason to see so he got closer.
‘Camp… Half-blood?’ Something in his head was telling him to go inside, like there was this invisible string pulling him in.
Walking through the grounds, he found many kids running past tall Greek inspired temples next to vastly different shaped cabins that go on for miles. It looked like a regular summer camp as a bunch of kids and camp counselors were running around with the same bright orange t-shirts, all doing camp activities or talking with others but something felt different about this camp, probably the fact that the campers were sparring with actual swords and doing magic spells. Before Jason could figure out why the fuck was he having this dream, something else caught his attention.
“You must be out of your damn mind if you even believe in that bullshit!!”
Right in front of Jason was a scene of the same kids from earlier looking all awkward, standing off to the side as these two girls were bickering about something and another girl standing next to them, fiddling her fingers. The first one was a tall dark-skinned African girl with half of her hair was all white, split down it long braids contrasting her black hair. Unlike the other kids Jason had seen around the place, the girl was wearing a gray camp t-shirt. In front of her was a tall Asian girl with dark hair in ringlets, plenty of silver jewelry around her neck, and perfect makeup and just like the other girl she's also wearing a different colored shirt, a pink one. The pink shirt girl was glaring with her arms crossed, clearly annoyed by something. The third girl was also African but instead she had large curls going down her back and multiple freckles all over her body, wearing the regular orange shirt like the others, fidgeting with her bracelets.
The white haired girl looked like she's trying to convince the Asian girl about something urgent, her posture seems to radiate confidence but her eyes tell Jason a different story, one Jason was familiar with. “I'm telling you, Hera showed a vision to me, a possible clue where to find them. I know we don't usually trust her but maybe we should at least try to follow it?”
“And what if you’re wrong, huh? What if it leads you into another dead end where we don´t find them AND this time you´ll get someone hurt over this stupid so-called ‘clue’.” The Asian girl scoffed, gesturing her arms toward the Big House. “Besides, we have bigger things to worry about, Olympus’s gates are mysteriously closed for some reason and there's way more monster attacks happening against demi-gods that leave camp, leading them to be injured or worse. While the disappearance of the two is upsetting and tragic, we need to focus our efforts and resources towards protecting the campers.”
‘Giant monsters? Olympus? What is going on here??’ Jason thought to himself, growing more and more confused by the whole interaction. “Why do they know about Olympus too??” He asked aloud.
While Jason was trying to decipher everything that's happening, the African girl's face seemed to grow more irritated for a minute, she looked like she wanted to claw the other girl's eyes out with her bare hands and was attempting to do so instead, the curly haired girl finally spoke up. “Annabeth, it's okay. I got this here.” Annabeth, who clearly wanted to speak more, took a breath and stood off to the side with everyone else while the curly haired girl continued speaking.
“Drew, I know you and Annie don't usually see eye to eye a lot and might clash once in a while but please trust me on this: this clue could help figure out why Olympus is on lockdown and why our friends have gone.” She places her hands on Drew’s shoulder. “I just need you to trust us, trust me on this. If we fail to find them in about a few months, we´ll focus more on the camp,” She then held up her pinky to Drew. “I promise.”
Annoyed but persuaded, Drew interlocked their pinkies together while looking away for a minute, so everyone couldn't see her hiding a smile, but the girl and Jason saw it. It was small but it counted.
‘I wonder if they’re sisters or something.’ He thought to himself, ‘I’m still so confused on why I’m here?’
“Fine, you win Mara! Go on a wild goose chase for all I care!” Annabeth began to cheer while the freckled girl, now named Mara, hugged Drew tightly. “Thank you girl! We won’t let you down.” While being stuck in a bear hug, Drew couldn’t help but smile softly at her friend but she quickly started frowning again.“Okay, okay, thank you for the hug, but listen while you’re doing that, head down to Nevada. There’s two demi-gods with their satyr waiting for pick up, and according to Coach, they´re with a special package.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
At the mere mention of ‘special package’, Jason’s body jolted and in the blink of an eye, the camp was gone. Now Jason had found himself floating in an endless deep space, with no one else around for miles to see or hear.
“Hello! Is someone there!!” He shouts, with his question echoed through the void. “Why am I here? What do you want with me!?” Soon, the void speaks back to him as a lady over ten feet dressed white robes and a peacock cloak appeared. On top of her brown hair was a gold lotus shaped crown, matching with her lotus shaped scepter. Her face was almost stoic but yet, there’s a small amount of fear hidden inside her sharp brown eyes, fear that was all too familiar to him.
She would’ve looked much more regal and powerful if she wasn’t chained up in what seems to be a giant dirt cage.
“Jason Grace, my dear champion…” Her voice was powerful and yet soft, like a concerned mother. “You need to hurry and help, before it’s too late for me and the whole world.”
“What do you mean ‘before it’s too late?’ I don’t understand at all!” asked Jason, who’s losing patience with everything, exploding at this strange lady. “Can you or someone else just explain what is going on here!? Why am I having this dream? Why are you speaking to me? What am I supposed to do?”
But the woman didn't answer his question, instead she said, “Everything will be explained to you on your journey very soon, Jason. There’s so much I want to say to you, to help alongside you for your mission but time is not on my side right now..” Afterwards, the lady placed her hand on Jason’s forehead, a yellow glow emanating from her fingers making him feel lightheaded but his soul more empty, like something is missing but he couldn't place what was it. At that moment, another voice spoke to the void, this one sounding more harsh and dangerous calling out for someone. “..era…ake up…”
The goddess gasped. “She knows.”
“..son….how dr…” The voice grows much louder, making the whole room shake and fall apart.
The lady looked down to Jason with a grim smile, her eyes watering. “Hurry, now. I’ll see you soon....son.…”
After that, the giant lady and the realm disappeared and Jason woke up.