𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

love's fall

JASPER ELIANO
JASPER'S VISION BLURRED. His heart thumped an unsteady rhythm. His body screamed. His knees gave out, and the skeletons holding his arms let him go.

He was walking through a wasteland and he couldn't breathe. The sky was fuzzy with fog and the ground was squelchy and he could feel it in his boots. He could see two giants wrapping their meaty hands around him and then he was in a jar with a handful of pomegranate seeds at his feet and he knew, he knew no one would come for him.

But he couldn't resign himself to Hades. He couldn't let himself die. He couldn't be a wandering ghost; he couldn't be like his sister, not if she wasn't even there anymore. He could not be nameless.

And then he was in a seat with a Native American girl, her hair choppy, her shoulder bent awkwardly, and Jason Grace and Percy Jackson and Erith Jay were fighting giants in the arena.

And then they were gone and all Nico had to remember them was Percy's trembling fingers and Erith's dusty face. He sat in the mast, starved, and he didn't want to talk to anyone. Not Annabeth. Not Leo. Not Hazel. 

Now he was in Salona, and Cupid was laughing at him. Jason and Annabeth were fighting an invisible force, and Nico was screaming, and Erith and Percy were as good as dead, and nothing ever lasted, nothing.

All throughout the images, four words echoed in Jasper's mind: You want secrets? Here.

The spirits disintegrated into ashes. The rocks of the cairn turned white as frost. Bryce Lawrence stumbled, clutching his head, both nostrils bleeding.

Nico marched toward him. He grabbed Bryce's probatio tablet and ripped it off his neck.

"You aren't worthy of this," Nico growled.

The earth split under Bryce's feet. He sank up to his waist. "Stop!" Bryce clawed at the dirt and the plastic bouquets, but his body kept sinking.

"You took an oath to the legion." Nico's breath steamed in the cold that surrounded him. "You broke its rules. You inflicted pain. You killed your own centurion."

"I―I didn't! I―"

"You should've died for your crimes," Nico continued. "That was the punishment. Instead you got exile. You should have stayed away. Your father Orcus may not approve of broken oaths. But my father Hades really doesn't approve of those who escape punishment."

"Please!"

Nico's face distorted terribly. "You're already dead," he snarled. "You're a ghost with no tongue, no memory. You won't be sharing any secrets."

"No!" Bryce's body turned dark and smoky. He slipped into the earth, up to his chest. "No, I am Bryce Lawrence! I'm alive!"

"Who are you?" Nico asked.

The next sound from Bryce's mouth was a chattering whisper. His face became indistinct. He could have been anyone―just another nameless spirit among millions.

"Begone," Nico said.

The spirit dissipated. The earth closed.

Nico looked back at Jasper and Reyna, who were both kneeling on the ground, staring at him. Aurum and Argentum turned in circles, as if their mechanical brains had short-circuited.

Nico's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.

―

Reyna's face was streaked with tears and Jasper knew his didn't look much better. He made a move toward her, but he was shaking so badly he fell, his palms digging into the grass.