Chapter Text
Jason was dead.
The words held so much weight, but they felt so light when Nico said them. When they were pressed, pulled, and e-shaped in his mind. Like a dream he would wake up from at any moment.
Like he’d open the door, and Jason would be there, smiling.
But he wouldn't. And Nico knew that.
Jason was gone. Another hero destined for Elysium, potential rotting and undiscovered in the sands of time.
A boy meant for grandiose stories, words printed on a page. A boy meant for eulogies, not new memories.
It was stormy when Nico left his cabin, thunder rolled across the sky.
And he didn’t think of it as Zeus’s rage, or grief.
Instead, it was Jason’s final goodbye. One last hoorah as he rode off to rest. And Nico knew he was happy, safe, content, wherever he was.
He was free from the fight, and that subsided the grief enough for Nico to turn his face to the rain and smile.
Jason wouldn't want Nico to grieve as deeply as he had, he’d want Nico to live. To remember.