The Day The Storm Moved On (AU)

Jason IX

I sit at the edge of the hill and watch people come and go. I wonder if I scream, they'll feel my pain as well.Percy and Leo join me with grass stains in their respective places looking ashamed and pissed off.

"You are one cruel person; you know that Jason?"

I give a half smile and lean back against the ground. "Oh, I'm well aware. Maybe next time you should think twice about throwing me into a classroom just to chase me around half the school."

"So, basically have common sense is what you're saying. Sorry, no can do. Chlorine has ruined this brain."

"Yup, if you think I have anything left up here after sniffing gasoline for my entire life, you might want to get checked out as well hermano."

I chew the inside of my cheek in silence, looking but not actually seeing. They sit in silence next to me. Out of Leo's bottomless bag he pulls out a couple of drinks and hands us each one.

"Do you even bring school items with you," Percy asks.

Leo doesn't even say a word as he pulls out all of his school supplies, textbooks included. We watch in amazement as he stacks them next to him.

"Alright Mary Poppins, how do you have a basic ass backpack but the cargo space of a battleship?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. All I know is that my dad gave this to me the week before he disappeared, and I've been using it ever since. This has been the only bag I've used since I started school, and the only bag I need when other things come up as well." He shrugs again and takes a swig of his drink. "It's the only materialistic item I've cared for."

Silence falls over us again. Out of the corner of my eye I see Percy pull out a necklace with a sword on it. It glows bronze in the fading sun, the leaf shaped blade hung down with inscriptions on the hilt; although what it said was impossible for me to read. He twists the blade in between his thumb and index while watching the sun set.

"Looks like we all have more in common than our lack of brain cells. My dad gave me this necklace before getting killed out at sea. He said it was a weapon that was written to be used by Hercules himself. He also said that it fit my name. Something about a Greek hero of sorts. I'm amazed it hasn't rusted with how much water I put it through, hell I even wear it during my swim meets. The best part about it is that it's just sharp enough to stab my finger so I can write in blood, like a makeshift pen."

"Well now we know why the teachers always have an extra pen for you jackass," Leo grumbles.

The ring on my finger grows cold. Absent mindedly I twist it around my finger. "Since we're sharing heirlooms from our dead paternal figures, might as well tell you guys about mine." I shift around and clear my throat. "My ring used to be a coin that my father would always carry with him. He had found it when he met my mom. He carried it around in his breast pocket. He said it was a coin, called an aureus or something like that. He told me that he was walking around town when some ass wipe decided to rob him. Even though he gave him the money, the guy shot him. The coin took the brunt of the blow, but it still pierced through.

Doctors were able to stabilize him and what not, but he was devastated that his coin was destroyed. Instead of throwing it away he decided to forge it into a ring. He wore it until I was born, from there he put it on a string and gave it to me as a necklace until my fingers were big enough to wear it. Two years later he died due to left over shrapnel, deemed safe when first inspected, being in his heart."