Sunflower

10

Tw for mention of death

Aelia grins over at Jason, almost teasing him that her team had won the flag game. Beside him Leo is mumbling under his breath, clearly mad that they lost. "At least it ended better than last time." Clarisse says loudly, "This time the elf didn't try to kill anyone."
Leo tenses up beside Jason. Jason frowns and starts to get to his feet. But a hand clamps on his wrist stopping him, "Don't bother. She won't listen to anyone."
Leo is looking up at him but the amusement has left his eyes, leaving an empty shell of the Leo Valdez Jason had known. "I'll make her listen. She has no right to say those things."
"Actually she does. Because she's right. I did try to kill someone last time."
"For the last time Leo, that wasn't you."
"It might as well have been." Leo pushes himself to his feet.
He looks back at Jason again, "Will you be at the Spar match?"
Jason nods absently, instead of focusing he's glaring at Clairsse as she leaves.
He was going to be at the Spar match, no way would he miss that. He'd heard many stories from both of his friends about these weekly events. He was more than ready to see one in person. But against his knowledge both Piper and Aelia have been keeping something from him about these matches. Neither one had told him why they started in the first place. They decided early on that he didn't need to know that.
So they never did. Jason hadn't figured it out, and luckily none of their friends said anything about it either.
The next day Jason found himself amongst the crowd of campers who also went to enjoy these matches. He slowly made his way through the crowd to the front where he could see Aelia and Piper both readying themselves. Both of them have their hair pulled back, and are dressed in tight fighting clothes. They both already wrapped their hands and now we're simply waiting for Leo, or whoever was calling the match.
Jason had guessed right when he saw Leo stand up on a stool. Even then he barely stood a head above the crowd, "Alright everybody! Who's ready for another match? I don't need to introduce these two lovely ladies because all of you know them already. Are you both ready?" He pauses and then starts again when both girls step onto the mat with a nod, "Alright then! Let's get this started! Ready... set... spar!"
Jason watches in surprise when instantly the two girls go forward at each other. Piper says something to Aelia, who kicks Piper in the stomach. Piper retaliates quickly and tries to flip Aelia over, off the mat but Aelia reverses it, sending Piper flying off the mat.
He joins in on the applause and cheering when Aelia helps Piper up to her feet. Both still have smiles on their face, showing that these matches are very much for their own fun. Leo starts them once again. They stake a minute to go at each other again but when they do it's very aggressive. Piper tries to run Aelia off the mat meanwhile Aelia jumps over her. Piper stumbles, almost falling off the mat herself. Aelia takes her stumble to go at her again. Jason watches in anticipation as Aelia climbs up onto Pipers shoulders and leans back. Piper falls back and flies over Aelia, hitting the mat with a loud smack. When she gets up Jason can see the blood on her face. She wings at Aelia but she sidesteps and avoids it. Piper finally succeeds at getting Aelia off the mat when she tackles her backwards onto the grass. The last round ended quickly with Piper flipping Aelia off the mat almost right away.
Jason can hear Aelia groan in frustration as she lays on the grass even after the match is over. Piper smirked and walked over to her. She lowers herself and says something to her, Aelia narrows her eyes at her. Piper helps her friend to her feet. They both look around before their eyes land on Jason. They both walk over and Leo isn't far behind them. Jason points to his own nose while looking at Piper, "You have a little something here."
She rubs the blood away, "I'll be fine. I've gotten worse from these. A while ago I broke my arm."
Aelia flinches, "Still very sorry about that."
"Who cares about that? You learned the move! And I didn't even teach you." Piper gives Aelia a high-five.
Aelia looks at Jason, "You've been busy. But sir Lightning boy here hasn't been. So I forced him to teach me."
Jason smiles and shoves his hands in his pockets, "I couldn't resist."
Piper claims how betrayed she feels and Aelia laughs. It was clear how much they all missed these little moments with Jason. Leo loops his arm around Piper's waist and walks off with her, leaving a wink towards Aelia. Aelia and Jason walk the other way in silence. But Jason says something, "It looked like you two had fun."
"Oh we always have fun. Or more like, whoever doesn't get a face full of mat has fun."
Jason smiles, "But that's the best part!"
Aelia laughs, "Oh how wrong you are. Must have been a while since your face planted into a spar mat."
"Gods I haven't sparred since I was at Jupiter... and that was months before I died. And you know, there aren't many opportunities to spar in the underworld."
"Really? No dead warriors to fight with?"
"Sadly not." Jason looks down. "I don't understand why you guys didn't start these before I died. I could have watched them."
"Mm. Well now you get to watch them. But we never had a reason to start it before you died." Aelia says, staring at the hill.
"I was right! I was the reason you started sparring!" Jason says loudly, "I knew I'd get it out of you! Piper and Leo refused to tell me the truth. So I thought it was some dark secret why you started, but this? This is even better!"
Aelia stares at him, "It wasn't that hard to figure out."
Jason pouts, "Give me a little credit here. I was so proud I figured it out."
Aelia sighs, "Alright fine. Good job. Even though it wasn't that hard." She says the last part quickly.
She dodges Jason's hits with a laugh, "I'm kidding! I surrender!"
He stops and pats her head, which doesn't even meet his shoulders, "I missed you Sunflower."
"Not as much as I missed you."
"Apparently. Now it's been awhile, catch me up on your life."
"How far back?" She jokes.
"As far back as you want to tell me."
Aelia looks up at her friend before dragging him towards the Apollo cabin, "Alright then. If we're doing this we need snacks."
Jason agrees with her and together they raid the Apollo cabin and run off with armfuls of snacks. They both go out to the docks and sit at the end.
"Where to start... ah how about this, I've been a follower of Hecate for over a century now. Maybe joined her ranks a year before I went to the casino. Eventually I'll stop aging and I'll be immortal." Aelia starts slowly.
"Immortal? Really?" Jason asks excitedly.
Aelia nods, "That and I have magic. So it was a win-win for me and a loss for Hecate because now she has to deal with me forever."
"She might end up banishing you after a few centuries." Jason laughs.
"Probably. You know Hazel's story? With her mother?" Jason nods, "My mother was similar. She hated that I was a witch and she hated that I was a Demi-god. More than that he hated Apollo for cursing me. She hid me away from the world, kept me a secret. But then I ran away. To the Lotus Casino. I thought it was a god send, but it was my biggest curse yet.
"I was there for over a century. But I saw Percy and Annabeth there when they came. I got curious so I followed them. But of course I left a little while after they did, which happened to be years after they had left. Blah, blah, blah. I came on your quest. Came back. And then you died. I shut down after that."
"Shut down? Aelia..." Jason says quietly.
His mind is racing with everything Aelia just told him, but one thought is blaring red in his mind. She broke down?
"I'm all good now, you don't need to worry. I have Will who has been monitoring my anxiety since then, only once has it gotten really bad since the original break down."
"It's my fault right? That you're suffering from this."
Aelia stares out at the water, "Yes and no. You had no control over what happened. Neither did I. It just got to be too much for me to handle. At least that's what Will told me."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. Like it said you had no control over it. Besides you're the one who died."
Jason glances over at Aelia but she's refusing to look at him. They both look back when someone calls out to Aelia. She gets to her feet and Jason follows her lead. Aelia steps forward. The person running towards them is one of Hecate's followers, and their eyes are full of fear. "Jessie? Are you okay?"
"No! Aelia we need to get out of here! Now!" Jessie grabs her arm.
"Explain yourself."
"Hecate has gone off the rails! She's coming after her followers. Already she's hit the township, no one was left alive. We seriously need to leave." Jessie says quickly.
Aelia puts her hand to their cheek, "Go to the safe house. I'll be there as soon as I can leave, alright? Take anyone you see with you."
Jessie rushes off without a question and Aelia stands there completely frozen in place.
"Aelia?"
"I need to leave." Aelia mutters.
"I know, what can I do to help you?" Jason asks.
He moves in front of her and catches her shaking hands in his own hands. "I need to find Will. I don't have time to find anyone else. If Hecate already went to the township she'll be here next."
"Go find him. I'll tell the others. Stay safe."
"I'll try my best." Aelia offers a light smile.
She rushes off, her hands glowing at her side. She quickly makes her way to the medical cabin trying to avoid all the other campers. She enters the cabin and goes straight to Will. He looks up from what he's doing and stands up quickly. "What's wrong? You're shaking!"
"Hecate is coming after me. I need to leave."
"Hecate? Why?"
"I don't know. But she's on her way here now."
"When will you be back?" Will asks.
He runs to the back of the cabin and pulls up a loose floorboard and grabs a backpack out of it. He tosses it to Aelia and she straps it to her back. When he had his back turned, she'd summoned a cloak to hide herself. "I don't know. Will, keep an eye on the emergency channel. I'll try to talk through it."
His eyes are wide as he nods. She hugs him quickly and walks back out of the cabin. He stands there for a moment longer. "What the hell?"

Aelia disappears when she reaches the sunlight. She keeps a watch at the top of a nearby hill. She enhances her eyesight using her magic. But she notices it's a lot harder to draw from her magic now that it usually is. She tenses when Hecate arrives at the camp. Aelia disappears once again and appears at the safe house that Hecate's followers made long ago.
She walks into the charmed house and sees a group of followers already there. Jessie stands up when they see her, "I was starting to think you wouldn't make it."
"I had to wrap a few things up. I waited until Hecate came to camp. You were right. She isn't going after her children, just her followers." Aelia reassures them.
Jessie nods, "Someone from the township sent a message out right as she came. One of the camp followers went there right away. It was in ruins. Everyone was dead."
"Somethings wrong with Hecate. She's never done anything like this. Have any of you done anything to piss her off?"
"But we knew she would eventually. Why else would we have established this safe house?" Says one of the girls.
Everyone nods along with her. Aelia sighs, "Yeah that's true. We're all lucky it is here. Or we'd all be dead. All we have to do is let Hecate cool down and then keep our heads low for a few years."
"My family doesn't even know I left." One of them complains.
"Yeah? Well our entire camp doesn't know why all the rest of us left." Jessie argues.
"Jessie shut up. The camp knows or they will know shortly. I told my brother where I was going and what was happening." Aelia sighs.
"Was that the best idea? What if Hecate finds out from him?" One of Jessie's friends demand
"He wouldn't say anything."
"Hecate is a goddess. She could make him tell her." The friend continues.
"What's your name?" Aelia asks, stepping towards the kid.
"Aelia..." Jessie touches her arm.
She shrugs it off and the kid stands up straighter, "Charles."
"Well Charles. Clearly you don't know my brother. Because he will keep our secret. He would pay with his life before he gave me away. No matter if she's a goddess or not. I chose to tell him and if it happens to backfire, which it won't, I will make sure you all stay alive. Because I am in charge here. Are we clear?"
Charles nods and steps back.
"Good. Now everyone get comfortable, we're going to be here for a while." Aelia claps her hands loudly.