Sunflower

4

Tw for thoughts of suicide and anxiety attack

Will is the first to notice the Roman Praetors on top of the hill, "Neeks. They're here."
    Nico strides toward them and greets them with a small smile, "Hey Gem."
    "Hello Nico." Hazel smiles and forces Nico into a hug. She holds it for far longer than Nico wanted but he suffered through it, simply happy to see his sister.
    Frank decides to simply smile and wave. Reyna hugs Nico as well, he can see the sadness behind her eyes as they walk down the hill into camp. Will is still at the bottom, picking apart a pine cone that had found its way there. Reyna sends Frank and Hazel into the camp and the other three make they're way into the forest. Will splits off from them to collect Aelia from her cabin. When they get there they're laughing about something but Aelia stops when she sees Nico and Reyna.
    "What is this?" She asks cautiously.
    "Another attempt for you to change your mind." Nico replies coldly.
    Aelia laughs, "You thought they could persuade me? I mean no offense to the two of you but I won't listen to you."
    "We know." Reyna says.
    "There's only three people that would be able to. Piper, Leo-"
    "I'm not dragging them into this." Aelia hisses.
    "Again we know." Will mutters from behind her.
    She glares over her shoulder at her brother. "And the other person is Jason." Nico finishes.
    Nico can see Aelia tense up, "He's dead. He has no say in this."
    Nico raises his eyebrows, "But I'm right am I not? He's one of the only people you'll listen to."
     "What are you getting at Nico?" Aelia asks impatiently, "Get to the point."
    Reyna places her hand on Nico's shoulder and Nico closes his eyes. His mouth is moving quickly as he chants under his breath. Almost like a light flicKering, an image of Jason showed up next Nico. Aelia stifles a gasp as she stares at her friend in front of her. She clasps her hands over her mouth as she steps back.
    "Nico?" Jason asks quietly, keeping his eyes locked on his friend.
    "We have a problem." Nico mutters.
    Already his face is pale in effort of keeping Jason's spirit there in the clearing. "Don't you dare Nico-" Aelia threatens, her gaze turning angry.
    Nico keeps his eyes on Jason, "She wants to bring you back."
    Jason looks surprised, "Well that's good isn't it?"
    "Not exactly." Nico sighs, "To bring a soul back from the Underworld you need to sacrifice a soul that has cheated death. Aelia wants to bring you back by sacrificing herself in the process."
    Jason stares at the now crying Aelia in front of him, "No."
    "I have to." She cries, "The others need you back."
     Jason steps forward as if testing if he can move. He quickly comes to stand right in front of Aelia, "You don't have to do anything. I'm fine where I am."
    "You're dead Jason! How is that fine to you!" She nearly shouts.
    "Yes I'm dead. That's what happens when you get stabbed with a spear." He says sternly, "But you cannot do that to yourself for me. You say the others need me, but they need you too."
    Behind Jason, Nico falls to his knees and the image of Jason flickers. "You're smart Aelia. Don't do this."
    "This is the only other way to bring you back!" She whispers.
    "If there's another way, you'll find it. But please, I am begging you not to sacrifice yourself." He sounds desperate.
    Aelia is quiet, "Okay."
    Jason looks down at her, "Okay?"
    "I won't. But I will bring you back." She whispers.
    Jason smiles, "I know you will. I need to go before I end up killing Nico."
    "I'm fine." Nico mutters, though it's very clear he's not.
    Jason smiles at Aelia, "Goodbye for now Sunflower."
    "Goodbye Lightning boy." She whispers.
    When he disappears Aelia collapses to her knees sobbing. Nico also collapses in exhaustion. Will rushes forward to Nico and Reyna to Aelia. "It's okay." Reyna whispers to the young girl.
    Aelia mutters something but Reyna couldn't hear her. But Aelia kept repeating it over and over. "I didn't get to say goodbye."
    "You did, you said goodbye to him." Reyna reassures her.
    Reyna feels like she could collapse on how much energy that took from her and Nico. But she knows she needs to make sure the younger demigod is alright. After a few minutes, Aelia still hadn't calmed down and Reyna placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry but you need to sleep."
    Reyna channels the exhaustion she's feeling and pushes it into Aelia. Sure enough she ends up falling asleep. Reyna sighs, lifting the girl into her arms. She looks over to where Will also has Nico in his arms. "You know where her cabin is?"
    Reyna shakes her head, "No but I'm sure it won't be that hard to find."
    Will smiles, "Thank you for helping tonight."
    "Of course. By the way, do I have a place to stay?"
    "Your choice between Hestia's cabin or the medical cabin. Neither will anyone bother you, unless Nico wakes up." Will says as they walk through the forest.
    Reyna nods slowly, "Alright. Make sure he'a alright, I can't imagine what that did to him." She nods to Nico who is hanging limply in Will's arms.
    "I hate that he's the one with these powers. I hate that he feels forced to do this kind of thing to himself. I'm scared that he's going to push too far one day." Will whispers.
    "He will. He'll push too far one day and he'll need help. All that matters is that you'll be there for him when that happens."
Will nods, "I had a question on something Jason said to Lia. I was going to ask her but know... yeah that's not happening anytime soon. Why did he call her Sunflower?"
    Reyna smiles, "They had these nicknames for each other. Jasons has always been Lightning boy, only due to the fact he could summon Lightning. And if you look at her name Aelia Fluer, it translates to Sun Flower. Which Jason found hilarious for many reasons. In Roman Aelia translates to Sun, the fact that she's Greek just added onto it for Jason. Also the fact she's a child of the sun god, he found everything ironic about her name. At first she hated it but then it became their thing. Not even Leo and Piper participated in it."
    "I guess that is ironic." Will says with a small laugh, "I'd never heard that."
    "Figures, if you weren't really around when Jason was she never brought it up."
    "You seem to know her well."
    "In a way I do. I mean we're from different camps but even then I heard all of these things about her from Jason. He really did love her like a sister, and she loved him like a brother. It was hard for her to lose him as you remember. She just broke down, I know she was reliving her times with him." Reyna says looking down at the girl in her arms.
    When her and Will split off she walks toward the shining gold cabin in the corner of the main cabins. She pushes the door open and is met with a dozen pairs of eyes. Some of them come over quickly when they see Aelia in Reyna's arms, "She's alright. She just had a rough night."
    She leaves the cabin trusting the girl will be fine in the hands of her siblings. She stumbles into the Hestia cabin, or at least what she thinks is the Hestia cabin. Nobody is in there so Reyna collapses on one of the few beds, falling asleep quickly.
   
Aelia jolts awake and her heart is racing. She looks around her, seeing the familiar Apollo cabin. But instead of feeling relaxed she's even more stressed, if she was in her bed what if she dreamed Jason coming? Her breath catches in her throat as she paces the length of the cabin. It had been such a relief to her to be able to Jason once more even if he was still dead. She got to say goodbye to him, she got to hear him call her Sunflower again. Unless she dreamed it all. Tears start forming in her eyes as she picks at her nails, all she wants is her Jason back. She stops pacing and slams her hands into a post of one of the many bunk beds. Her whole body is shaking as she lowers herself to the ground dissolving in tears. She hits her head back against the pole over and over trying to rid of her headache that has formed.
    The same thing keeps floating through her mind , what if it didn't happen?
    She knew the easy way to find out would be to go find Nico, Will, or Reyna. But she couldn't breathe right. She knew she wouldn't be able to walk straight if she tried. She cradles her head in her hands and lets out a scream that turns into a sob. Everything ached for some reason as she sits there rocking back and forth. She feels gentle hands on hers and she looks up to see Will kneeling in front of her, "It's okay."
    "Tell me it was real. Tell me it was real." She mutters.
    Will nods, "It was real. You got to say goodbye to Jason."
    Aelia cries harder, "I never thought I would hear that again."
    "Hear what?"
    "Sunflower. He called me sunflower again, Will." She whispers, a hint of a smile on her face.
    "He did. Want to tell me why he calls you that?" He sits next to her and she leans into him.
    Her smile grows as she talks about Jason and their nicknames. Will sits there stroking her hair. He was trying to stop his hands from shaking. The last time he'd seen her have an anxiety attack like that was back when Jason first died. Back when she thought Leo was still dead too. She had slipped into an almost depressive state. She completely shut down. She wouldn't eat or drink. We had to force her to. But slowly Piper got her up and going again. Since then Will had been making sure her anxiety was alright. He knew the little sparring that her and Piper did helped her manage that part of it. This attack showed how fragile she still was from his death. Will is scared she won't heal from this, that something will always trigger her to fall back into her state of nothingness.
    "Kind of like you and Nico. We just created these nickanames to drive each other crazy but it was our thing. Eventually we came to love the names. Speaking of Nico, is he alright?" She looks up at him.
    "He's fine, still asleep. He passed out pretty quickly."
    Aelia frowns, "It's my fault isn't it? He only did that because of me."
    Will considers this but shakes his head, "He's Nico. He does what he wants, when he wants. Even if you tried you wouldn't have been able to stop him from doing that. I also don't think summoning Jason was only for you. I think he needed a little clarification too."
    "I'm sorry. I haven't been thinking straight lately." She apologizes quietly.
    "How have you been feeling? Be honest." Will asks.
    "I was doing better until this morning. Nothing major has triggered anything. The only reason I did this morning was because I was scared that I made it all up in a dream."
    "I can assure you it was not a dream."
    "I know that now. Thank you Will."
    "You don't need to thank me."
    "Yes I do because you're basically the reason I'm still alive. Gods who knows what would've happened if you weren't there for me after he died."
    Will leans his back, "You would have been alright. You're weird like that. When something knocks you down you always get back up."
    "You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed, walk it off." Aelia smiles absently.
    "I'm sorry?" Will looks at his sister as she sits up.
    "It's from Marvel. Jason forced me to watch all of them with him a while ago." She explains quietly.
    "Of course he did. Are you okay now?"
    Aelia nods, "I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me."
    "I always have to worry about you. That's what siblings do."
    The two siblings sit in the cabin for a while longer until one of the other cabin members comes to get them to make capture the flag plans. They all walk over to the archery range that is practically always abandoned with the exception of the Apollo children or every once and a while the Hunter of Artemis. But right now they have counselors from each of their team cabins there to help discuss plans. Will stands at the table that usually has arrows on it and starts writing down a game plan for tonight's game. This week's cabin leaders are Apollo and Hermes. Luckily they have gone against each other before so Will has a strong idea on what the Hermes cabin will do. Each time these two cabins have gone up against each other they have had the exact same teams. On the Apollo side they have Athena, Hades, Ares, Demeter, Nemesis, Dionysus, Hebe, and back when Jason was still alive Zeus. And whenever the Hunters showed up the Apollo team got them too. Then for the Hermes team it's always been Hecate, Tyche, Nike, Hypnos, Iris, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Poseidon.
    It had always been fun for Aelia and her friends. It just so happened that Piper, Leo and Percy were on one team. And Aelia, Jason and Annabeth on the other side. The six of them always went full out on each other, just trying to win. It had been running since the war with Gaea that whichever team won the other team had to admit the other was better until the next match. It was dumb and cheesy but they all enjoyed it. And then eventually Nico and Will joined in on this.
    "Alright so last time didn't go as well as we would have liked. I think we can all admit that. Hermes cabin had figured out their perfect offense team. Ours was close. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
    "Well obviously Ares needs to stay on offense." Clarisse says.
    "Nobody was denying that part." Nico mutters from next to Will.
    "Demeter are still good for staying to guard?" Will asks, looking at Miranda.
    Miranda nods, "Yeah we're good. We've been working on new protection plants for these. We're testing them now."
    "Okay. Nico you're still an offense, same with Nemesis. Hebe and Dionysus, maybe split your campers? And Annabeth, your cabin seems to work well on figuring out a way to guard." Will says.
    Annabeth nods, "Yeah alright but I'm going offense. I need to settle something with Percy."
    Aelia laughs quietly from her place at the targets. "We have our cabin split as well. Most are staying back, so if any of your campers need healing send them back there. But there will be a few with bows in the offense group." Will claps his hands together, "Just do what we usually do. We're going to win tonight!"
    A few small cheers come from the counselors but most of them just nod in agreement. When they all stand up to leave an explosion rocks the ground beneath them from  the middle of camp.
    "It's okay! My bad!" They hear Leo yell quickly.
    Annabeth shakes her head walking over to Aelia. She grabs a bow and stands beside her. "How are you?"
    Aelia looks seriously over at her friend and lets her arrow fly from her bow. She hears the familiar thud of it landing in the middle of the target. "I'm fine. Any reason you're asking?"   
    Annabeth bites her lip, "I overheard Nico saying something yesterday."
    Aelia looks down as Annabeth releases her own arrow, "Oh."
    When Annabeth raises her bow again she feels a hand guide her back elbow up a little bit. Another hand presses against her spine so she stands up straighter. "Now try."
    Annabeth follows Aelia's recommendation and her arrow nearly hits the center. "Look what you heard-"
    "You can't do it." Annabeth cuts her off.
    "I'm not going to." Aelia whispers going back to her own target.
    "Nico summoned him then?"
    Aelia's face is blank as she lets go of her arrow. She wastes no time on shooting again. She hits the other arrow directly in the middle, splitting it in two. "Yeah he did, nearly killed himself in the process."
    "So it worked then. If you aren't going through with it. I thought I was going to have to send Percy after you." Annabeth lets her arms fall to her side.
    "Well I'm not going to sacrifice myself if that's what you mean. Not yet anyways." Aelia still won't look over.
    "Lia..."
    "Don't. I just said I wasn't going to. I'm still going to bring him back though."
    "And how are you going to do that?" Annabeth asks thoroughly confused, "Nico said it himself, you need to trade a soul. Speaking of which, since when were you from a different time?"
    "First question first. I don't know. I'm going to figure it out though. I have my magic to help me." Aelia sighs, "I was in the Casino too. Much longer than Nico was. Over a hundred years I was there. I was born in 1895 then went there thirteen years later and came out in 2010. You can bet that was a surprise."
    "1895? That was over thirty years before Hazel was born."
    "I know."
    "That's why you were confused when Leo gave you the phone."
    Aelia makes a face, "He told you that? But yeah you're right. Half the things you all talk about make no sense to me. I've learned certain things but not many."
    "You always could have asked us." Annabeth says.
    "And told you I was over a hundred years old? No thank you."
    "Why would we care?"
    "I don't know. I guess I'm just used to hiding things. I practically hid everything about me when I was younger. Being gay may be more accpetable now but it wasn't in my time. And the fact my father was a god? My mother locked me away, very similar to Hazel. I was treated like a monster until I went to that Casino. I finally found a place that let me be me. Until I realized that it wasn't what it said it was."
    Annabeth frowns, "Did Jason know?"
    "About which part?" Aelia mutters.
    "Any of it."
    "No. I never told anyone until I said something to Nico. I was too scared to say anything."
     Annabeth stands there. "But there is something funny about my time in that casino." Aelia says with a smile.
    "What is that?" Annabeth asks.
    "I saw you and Percy." Aelia lets one last arrow fly to the target before sliding her bow over her shoulder. "I saw you there, and when I came here I knew it was you. I figured you wouldn't recognize me. I was dressed like I was from the eighteen hundreds, I would have expected you to."
    Annabeth thinks back to the Hotel and does see a young girl that looked like Aelia multiple times throughout their short time there. "You were there. I saw you."
    Aelia nods, "I was. You were the reason I left. I saw you leave and I wanted to know why you were dressed like that. So I followed you. But of course since time moves so much faster there, you were long gone by the time I left."
    "I'm sorry."
    "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault."
    Annabeth looks down again. The two stay quiet for a minute before Annabeth asks something else. "How was he?"
    "He said he was fine. He looked okay." Aelia matches the quietness in Annabeth's voice. Even without Annabeth saying who she was talking about, Aelia knew she was talking about Jason.
    "That's good."
    "I wish you could have seen him." Aelia frowned.
    "I wish I could have too. What did he say to make you change your mind?"
    Aelia shrugs, "Nothing. At first I lied about not doing it. He looked so sad when Nico told him what I was planning, so I lied. I said I wouldn't do it. But then he called me sunflower, I guess it just clicked."
    "I nearly forgot about that." Annabeth smiles sadly.
    Aelia can feel her eyes welling up with tears, "Shouldn't you go get your cabin prepared for tonight?"
    Annabeth takes the hint. "Yeah I probably should. I'm glad you decided differently." She pulls the younger girl into a hug.