the great wave | percy jackson

𝑥𝑥𝑣 - asphodel

potential trigger warning - scar talk
all of ur scars are beautiful, my loves <3

Ash insisted on getting cleaned up last. Partially because she was the only one with any serious first-aid experience, partially because she could take the pain a lot better than they could, and partially because she was admittedly scared to look at her face in the little mirror Piper had found in their Aphrodite-provided backpack.

Ash usually tried to prepare for the worst, so then she was never disappointed, but this time it was worse than she expected. As she carefully wiped her face with a damp towel, the layers of blood and grime and makeup came off to reveal a horrific new wound spanning the middle of her face. As foundation smeared across the cloth, the rest of her battlefield of scars was slowly revealed, and she realized Aphrodite must have specifically made her up in such a way that concealed them. She'd forgotten what she looked like without the scars...

Her throat constricted as she cleaned out the cut, not bothering with a gentle touch, blinking hard as she dabbed at the torn skin of her eyelid and tried not to wince at her own reflection. The love goddess had very helpfully provided them with credit cards, clothes, sneaker cleaner, but funnily enough, not an adequate amount of nectar and ambrosia, and she'd used most of it on the others, so the best she could do was take a swig of nectar and hope for the best. Yeah, that'd definitely scar, and subconsciously, she began to count the little white lines visible on her face, her neck, before catching sight of her own destroyed hand and swallowing harshly. Look, she wasn't ashamed of her scars, per se. They were marks of her bravery, trophies from 10 years of fighting. But hers were also... considerably worse than most of her friends. They marred her body noticeably on every single part, every side, every limb. And sometimes when she looked in the mirror, they couldn't help but be the only thing she could see.

Snapping herself out of her self-deprecating, miserable thoughts, she busied herself instead with soothing Mr. McLean, who was definitely having some sort of breakdown as Piper spoke softly to him about demigods and monsters, about her mother and their quest. After he'd quieted somewhat, Ash came to join Jason in looking out the window, drawn by the deep frown on his face.

"There's Berkeley," she murmured, pointing with her un-scarred left hand. "That's where I grew up. Up ahead is El Cerrito, and Richmond, and below us is..."

"Oakland, and the Berkeley Hills," Jason filled in. "Past that, San Francisco and Marin."

"Are you remembering something, Jase?" she asked quietly, turning slightly to him.

"I–"

Suddenly he tensed, and leaned so far out the window she grabbed the back of his shirt, just in case. He pointed. "What is that?"

Ash followed his shaking finger. "That's the Caldecott Tunnel," she said. "I... That's weird. My mom always hated that tunnel for some reason. Never went through it, always went around through Orinda..."

But Jason didn't seem to be paying attention, staring intently at the tunnel entrance where it cut through the hills between the East Bay and inland towns. It disappeared from view as they flew over downtown Oakland, but Jason still stared into the distance, somewhere far, far away.

₪₪₪

At first air traffic control wasn't too keen on letting an unscheduled helicopter land at the Oakland Airport, that is, until Piper got on the radio. Then it turned out to be no problemo. After they'd unloaded onto the tarmac, everyone looked at her.

"What now?" Jason asked.

Piper looked uncomfortable, but when she looked over at Ash, she nodded. It was her dad, her decision.