GOLDEN DAYS |JASON GRACE| {1}

LIX

[JASON]

ONCE THE LIGHT DIED, Kyra closed her eyes and collapsed, Jason catching her before she hit the ground,

"Kyra! No! No, no, no!" He yelled, stroking her hair out of her face, "Kyra, wake up. Please." Tears filled Jason's eyes, "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

Leo and Piper rushed over, "Is there anything we can do?" Piper asked,

Jason ignored them and kept calling her name as he held her, though he'd almost lost hope. Kyra had been unconscious for two minutes now. Her body was steaming, her eyes rolled back in her head. He couldn't tell if she was even breathing.

"It's no use, my champion." Hera stood over them in her simple black robes and shawl.

Jason hadn't seen the Goddess go nuclear, thanks to Kyra. She saved him.

 But he did see the aftereffects. Every vestige of winter was gone from the valley. No signs of battle, either. The monsters had been vaporized. The ruins had been restored to what they were before—still ruins, but with no evidence that they'd been overrun by a horde of wolves, storm spirits, and six-armed ogres.

Even the Hunters had been revived. Most waited at a respectful distance in the meadow, but Thalia knelt by Jason's side, her hand on Kyra's forehead.

Thalia glared up at the goddess. "This is your fault. Do something!"

"Do not address me that way, girl. I am the queen—"

Jason glared up at the Goddess, "Fix her!"

Hera's eyes flickered with power. "She looked upon my true form. There's nothing to save."

"Um ..." Leo frowned. "True form is bad, right? So why did you do it?"

"I unleashed my power to help you, fool!" Hera cried. "I became pure energy so I could disintegrate the monsters, restore this place, and even save these miserable Hunters from the ice."

"But mortals can't look upon you in that form!" Thalia shouted. "You've killed her!"

Leo shook his head in dismay. "That's what our prophecy meant. Death unleash, through Hera's rage, shall be contained by the child of healing and plague."

Jason watched Kyra's peaceful face, as if she didn't just have her eyes fried by the Queen Goddess. Eyes he would never see again. He was never going to see her smile, hear her voice, watch her fight with her bow and arrows.

Piper watched the pain in Jason's face, feeling his heartbreak, before looking up at Hera, "Come on, lady. You're a Goddess. Do some voodoo magic on her! Bring her back."

Jason half heard their conversation, but mostly he was focused on Kyra's face. Her sweet, beautiful, breathtaking face. Then he noticed something. "She's breathing!" He announced.

"Impossible," Hera said. "I wish it were true, child, but no mortal has ever—"

"Kyra," Piper called, putting every bit of her willpower into her name. Jason could not lose her. He needed her. They all needed Kyra, "Listen to me. You can do this. Come back. You're going to be fine."

Nothing happened. Had Jason imagined Kyra's breath stirring?

"Healing is not a power of Aphrodite," Hera said regretfully. "Even I cannot fix this, girl. Her mortal spirit—"

"Kyra," Piper said again, and she imagined her voice resonating through the earth, all the way down to the Underworld. "Wake up."

Kyra began to cough air back into her lungs and everyone's eyes widened. Jason helped her sit up and rubbed her back as she gasped and her eyes opened. For a moment they were full of light—glowing pure gold. Then the light faded and her eyes were normal again. "What—what happened?"

"What do you remember?" Piper asked,

"Hot," She muttered, her eyes still trying to focus, "Mouth is dry. And I saw something... really terrible."

"That was Hera," Thalia grumbled. "Her Majesty, the Loose Cannon."

"That's it, Thalia Grace," the Goddess replied, "I will turn you into an aardvark, so help me—"

"Stop it, you two," Piper said. Amazingly, they both shut up.

"Remind me never to do that again." Kyra groaned,

Jason smiled and cupped her face in his large hands, "Trust me, I will never willingly let you do that ever."

She let out a small laugh before wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his neck, "Never?"

"Never."

Kyra leaned back, looking up at the Goddess, "Couldn't give us more than five seconds to prepare for that?"

"Not exactly like I can control it, dear child." She looked at her closely, "And neither can you. You can feel it, can't you?"

The three of them stared at Kyra in confusion and the blonde nodded, "My dad showed me."

"Showed you what?" Leo asked,

Kyla held out her hand and a ball of light form in the middle of her palm, "That I'm special."

Jason watched in awe as the light danced across her hand before disappearing. Was this something that most children of Apollo can do? Or just her?

The light disappeared and Jason helped Kyra to her feet before he gave her the last nectar from their supplies,

"Now..." Piper faced Thalia and Hera. "Hera—Your Majesty—we couldn't have rescued you without the Hunters. And Thalia, you never would've seen Jason again—I wouldn't have met him—if it weren't for Hera. You two make nice, because we've got bigger problems."