Chapter Text
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cecidit; he fell
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"hurry up!" jason said, to leo and frank, who were fastening up the athena parthenos. he'd just helped piper up, and jumped down over the side of the ship, landing square on his feet. hazel was right: the floor wouldn't hold for long. he needed to hurry up and get all of them out of here as soon as possible. the chasm that led to tartarus, the ancient version of hell, seemed to stare at him like an eye would. every time he thought of it, a horrible sense of dread and discomfort curled up in his gut.
"c'mon, hazel," he said, pushing his doubts to the side. "we need to get onto the ship as fast as we can." she nodded, and he took hold of her hand. they sprinted towards the argo ii, and jason used the wind to boost her up— she didn't need much more than that, and easily climbed up along the ladder and onto the ship.
for a few moments, he looked ahead blankly. then he snapped himself back into focus. this place, so close to the pit of tartarus, was no good. he'd barely used his powers and already felt a bit tired. and it was like some invisible force was subtly calling him towards the chasm, not so much that it overpowered his movements, but just enough that it set him on edge.
percy and annabeth were stepping away from the pit now, going towards the rest of them. then, annabeth stumbled, and her legs were swept from beneath her. jason's breath hitched in his throat. percy caught her, but she was moving backwards— something was pulling at her.
"her ankle!" hazel screamed. "cut it! cut it!" she seemed to be unable to elaborate beyond that. nico had rushed to the scene now, and grabbed one of annabeth's arms while percy grabbed the other, and they tried to pull her back. it seemed to take all their strength, but still, even they were being dragged towards the pit along with annabeth. "cut it!" hazel was saying, again, now frantically trying to move her way down the ship with something coiled in her hands.
cut what? jason thought, then saw it; spider silk was webbed around annabeth's leg. that would mean... it was arachne's weight dragging her down. he put a hand on his sword hilt and ran towards them. "nico!" he yelled. "cut the string around her leg!"
he looked at jason, startled for a moment. then he reached for his sword. in doing so, his hold on annabeth loosened— with a sob, she fell onto the ground and dug her nails into the rocky floor. percy too stumbled into her, and the two of them would have gone careening into the pit if it weren't for hazel. she threw a rope at them, and percy held it with one hand. nico's sword sliced through the air swiftly, cutting the spider silk that was pulling annabeth down.
but that only brought a moment of temporary relief. jason knew it was not just the spider silk. it was tartarus itself. it was pulling all of them down towards it, and soon enough, either they would fall in or the cavern would collapse and crush them anyway.
percy and annabeth were sinking deeper in, and nico was grabbing the rope as well but he stumbled near the edge of the chasm and slammed into a ledge with a loud crash. hazel's feet were sliding across the rocky floor. with one hand, jason grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away. with the other, he held a part of the rope. he could feel the muscles in his arms straining as he tried to take steps backwards and bring her with them. for just a moment, it worked; they all stopped, and he could feel the relief about to explode through him when he felt hazel being dragged towards them again.
he swore and forced himself to think past the panic that was taking hold of him. even if frank, leo, and piper could join in and help with the rope— which wasn't possible, unless they decided to let the athena parthenos fall into the pit and crush a few of them as well— strength wouldn't work.
suddenly, jason felt angry with himself. he was the son of the sky god. he could fly, he could make others fly. what the hell was he doing?
bracing himself, he dug his fingers into the rope and focused on conjuring up the winds. it was harder than it should've been. there were no storm spirits nearby to do his bidding; he had to use his own will-power to move the air. it was barely enough to stop their fall. to anyone else, it might've looked like pulling on the rope was working, but jason was all too aware of how brittle his grip on the winds was.
somehow, although barely, it was working: hazel and him were taking steps backwards, and nico had finally gotten his bearings so that he could pull at percy and annabeth with one arm each. jason felt the chasm's pull on all of them: it was tartarus itself reaching out, crazed with the opportunity to take some demigods in its deadly embrace.
let go, he heard a whisper in his mind. you've always loved freefalls, haven't you? this is your chance.
the voice was familiar. it did not belong to gaia, but something that had often come into his dreams— or nightmares, rather. he filtered it out and grit his teeth. one hard pull: that was all it should take to win this tug-of-war. the pull from the pit was strengthening, bringing them in closer to the chasm again.
you won't win, he thought. not today.
he took hold of the winds bringing them closer to tartarus— as if they were puppet strings— and, with all he had in him, he pulled. as if his body was simulating his powers on a physical level, he felt himself pull the rope too, with a strength he didn't know he had. percy, annabeth, and nico were propelled far away from the range of the ledge they were at, crumbling on the floor behind him. hazel too went backwards, her back slamming into the wall. the wind didn't really affect jason: he didn't move.
although the adrenaline hadn't quite faded from him, the mix of relief and exhaustion hit him, and he let out a few tired swear-words. "annabeth!" hazel yelled and ran ahead to her, hugging the fatigued and stricken girl tight. in the gesture, they both took a step closer to the edge and jason winced.
"please," he croaked. "back off from the chasm, guys." he wanted to sigh but found it unnervingly difficult to take a proper breath. all eyes turned to him, but no one argued. the side of nico's head was bleeding from that crash against the ledge and he stumbled once when walking but pointedly denied percy's help. the other boy helped anyway. hazel steadied annabeth, still holding her in a half-hug and saying something to her as they walked towards the ship.
they were all quite far behind him, away from the ledge, when he felt the force that had tried to drag them down come again, but he was ready for it. he kept a strong hold of the winds, although the effort was making him dizzy and weak. "hurry," he said to the rest of them, but his voice came out so ragged he wondered if they could hear him properly. "the ground's unstable."
percy looked at him for a moment too long. a frown creased his eyebrows. "you hurry as well, man."
he wanted to smile but could only manage a weirdly twisted expression instead. "i can fly," he said. but, in the state he was, he knew that he sure as fuck could not. annabeth had boarded the ship first; she collapsed on the spot. hazel was climbing up the ladder, and nico was behind her. he watched with a spectator's dull stare, then remembered that he needed to move as well.
right then, jason realised how close he was to the pit. how had he even gotten there? he hadn't moved at all. yet there was the gateway to tartarus, hardly a metre besides him. he blinked. the pull coming from it had disappeared. just as well, because he was completely drained. even if it were a matter of life and death, he doubted he could even summon sparks.
its a trap, his rational would've known. but he was starting to see things in a blur, and all he could think was that he had to stand straight.
he took a step forward and swayed. he felt lightheaded. looking up, he saw percy's face: he was saying something, along the lines of, "are you okay?"
then he felt something pull him backwards. percy wasn't pulled though, and jason vaguely wondered whether it was a certain vengeance reserved for him. he didn't even try to fight it— he couldn't, really. his vision had turned grainy, like a spoilt television screen with coloured images just breaking through.
he was saying something. what was he saying? he felt his lips moving to form the same words again and again. later, he would learn that he was saying, "stay away. i'm alright."
tartarus didn't even need to drag him into the pit: jason did that for him. his balance and energy finally gave up, and he fell.
he saved the others, but he fell.
but he fell.
he fell.
he-
someone caught him.
it was so sudden he barely got to take in a surprised breath. he was falling— he could've sworn he'd already fallen in— and then someone grabbed him by the arm and waist and pulled him away with a sharpness that made his muscles hurt. he stumbled into that someone, in a sort of embrace, and his legs had given up so the two arms steadying him were all he had keeping him upright.
his breaths were shallow. he couldn't make himself look up, but he knew who it was. he could smell the scent of sea-salt and something else that was like lemongrass. "shit, man," percy was saying, "i was terrified for a second. don't do that again."
with his head buried in the side of percy's neck, and a steadying arm, for just a moment, he felt safe. but he knew, he was anything but. although barely on the verge of consciousness, jason tried to speak coherently. "it's not done... it- it's the one pulling-"
"it? what d'you mean?"
as if the question elicited a reaction, a force sharply tugged at jason, strong enough that it would've certainly taken him down if it weren't for percy holding him. even then, the two stumbled. "oh," percy said. "that."
jason's head was pounding. he could barely breathe. a voice entered his head, against his will. too afraid to join me alone? that's alright. his hands were shaking.
the force tugged again, and this time he was pulled backwards like a dog on a leash. he must've blacked out for a bit, because the next thing he knew was that both he and percy had fallen partway into the pit. percy was grabbing a ledge maybe twenty feet below the top of the chasm. with his other hand, he was holding jason, who felt about as useful as an extremely heavy doll.
percy was saying something to someone, but all jason could hear was the voice that had made its way in his own head. there is no escape. why are you so afraid of falling, son of jupiter? let go. you cannot win twice.
jason wondered if he could get him and percy out of this situation, one last time. if he could... could he?
you are powerless, the voice said to him. but by all means, do try.
it echoed in his head. there is no escape.
jason could try, certainly. he wanted to. he really did. but he couldn't do anything: not even a spark came through.
you are doomed, jason grace. and the other boy is a bonus.
later on, looking back at the haze of fatigue that had doomed him in the first place, he remembered saying one thing. he remembered the hardened desperation in his voice as he rasped out, "leave me." he said it more than once. "let go." once, he added, "i'll meet you on the other side."
percy's face was white with effort. his nails were dragging against the ledge, threatening to slip. he knew it was hopeless. but his eyes were set with a sort of determination, and his grip on jason's arm was tight.
"no," percy said. his voice was resolute. "if you're going down, i'm coming with you."
he let go, but not in the sense jason had asked for. he didn't let go of jason: he let go of the ledge.
the two of them fell into the endless darkness. into tartarus.
endless darkness.
the two of them.
the two.
and although jason couldn't see anything, he felt someone hugging him close.