aces: leo valdez¹

017

In which; There's still no place like home
(except maybe the other version
of home 3000 miles away)

"JASON!" Piper kept calling his name as she held him, though she'd almost lost hope. He'd been unconscious for two minutes now. His body was steaming, eyes rolled back in his head as he lay still. Hana cradled her shoulder as she looked down at him- she couldn't tell if he was even breathing.

"It's no use, child." Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl. Hana hadn't seen the goddess go nuclear, but her face felt like she'd just received a third degree sunburn. Thankfully she'd closed her eyes, as dizzy as she'd been and Leo had gone the extra mile to clamp a hand over her face, but she could see the after-effects, laid out in the courtyard.

Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporised. The ruins restored to what they were before- still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed mud-ogres. Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Piper's side, her hand on Jason's forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"

"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen-"

"Fix him!"

Hera's eyes flickered with power. "I did warn him. I would never intentionally hurt the boy. He was to be my champion. I told them to close their eyes before I revealed my true form."

"Um ..." Leo frowned. "True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?"

"I unleashed my power to help you, fool!" Hera cried. "I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."

"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed him!"

Leo shook his head in dismay. "That's what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera's rage. Come on, lady. You're a goddess. Do some voodoo magic on him! Bring him Back."

"You owe him that much!" Hana spat. Hera glared at her and opened her mouth to say something, no doubt insulting, but was cut off.

"He's breathing!" Piper announced.

"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever-"

"Jason," Piper called, "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

Nothing happened. Maybe Piper imagined his breathing, or simply mistaken the rough stuttering sound of someone else's. Hana felt for her, clearly the two had some strange kind of relationship going on and it was never easy to lose someone. If Hana wasn't seething with rage herself she probably would have been sobbing on the floor.

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. His mortal spirit- "

"Jason," Piper said again, forcefully. "Wake. Up."

He gasped, and his eyes flew open. For a moment they were full of light- glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and his eyes were normal again, that crystal clear blue. "What- what happened?"

"Impossible!" Hera said- like Jaosn surviving her death form was an insult to her pride.

Piper wrapped him in a hug until he groaned, "Crushing me."

"Sorry," she said, so relieved, she laughed while wiping a tear from her eye.

Thalia gripped her brother's hand. "How do you feel?"