𝟬𝟮𝟰. the biggest do-gooder i know

JASON'S WORLD WAS CURRENTLY GETTING ROCKED. He was taking swing after swing to the head, hearing Thalia talk about their family, their mother, and eventually how they got separated. The whole time, Jason couldn't believe his sister was real even when she spent almost an hour explaining their story. Thalia Grace was a living, breathing embodiment of all Jason had lost. The more she told him about their family history, the more devastated he got.

It wasn't the fact that his mother was a washed up television actress with an alcohol addiction that wrecked him, it was the fact that she had given Jason up when he was a toddler to appease Hera, who was angry at Zeus/Jupiter for having, not one but, two children with the same mortal woman.

Throughout the quest, Jason was steadily regaining his memories. He began to remember his careful choices and how honest he was throughout his whole life. He never broke any rules, always obeyed authority, and made sure his word was as good as gold.

To think that his life had began with such an act of selfishness was earth-shattering.

To top it off, Thalia handled her emotions so well. Too well. She didn't seem fazed by them reuniting or any detail of their quest. Nothing seemed to surprise her—the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising. Leo tried to break the ice with jokes. Jason was grateful he had agreed to stick around while he and Thalia talked. Still, a small part of him wished it was Aera instead.

After their encounter with the werewolves, Aera had collapsed in the middle of the woods and Thalia had sent one of her hunters to take care of her someplace else. After what he did to Piper, Jason didn't have much faith in Coach Hedge's woodland healing. He worried about Aera and her condition.

If Aera were there, maybe then Jason would be able to take things in stride the way his sister was. Maybe then his past wouldn't be as overwhelming. But Jason knew that was selfish. He was supposed to be their leader.

And yet, it was taking everything in him not to break down. Thalia didn't even bat an eye when Leo recounted how Aera had chased the wolf into the snow after messing with his insides...literally.

Thalia laughed in a strange way. "Aera's never known when to quit a bad habit."

Jason's interest sparked. "Do you know her well?"

"We bumped into her while running from monsters in Virginia," Thalia told him. "Me, Luke, Annabeth. As soon as we met her, she demanded to be let into our group. Aera's always been bossy like that. Said she could be valuable, though she never explained how. She kind of just forced herself in. Aera didn't even know how to hold a knife back then but her determination's what won me over. She just wanted to survive. She was seven."

"Did she know about me?" Jason questioned, unable to resist the urge. "I mean, did you ever tell her?"

Thalia shook her head sadly. "Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Aera or Annabeth or Luke, my best friends. It was just too painful."

"Chiron knew." Jason said weakly and his voice didn't sound like his own. "When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, 'You should be dead.'"

"That doesn't make sense," Thalia insisted. "I never told him."

"Hey," Leo interjected. "Important thing is you've got each other now, right? You two are lucky."

Thalia nodded, her expression softening. "Leo's right. Look at you. You're my age. You've grown up."

"But where have I been?" Jason wondered, feeling increasingly despondent. "How could I be missing all that time? And the Roman stuff..."

Thalia scowled. "The Roman stuff?"

"Your brother speaks Latin," Leo informed. "He calls gods by their Roman names, and he's got tattoos." Leo pointed out the marks on Jason's arm. "Aera has the same one, only hers has nine lines and a dove."

"Really?" Thalia asked, sounding surprised for the first time. "Aera's the last person that comes to mind when I think of tattoos. She's terrified of needles."

"For real?" Leo snorted.

"She doesn't remember me," Jason explained. "We've met before. That's why she came with us on this quest. There's a week in her memory that's been wiped. Why was my entire life erased when hers was only a week?"

Thalia's eyes flickered with a mixture of emotions that were difficult to read. Her fingers plucked nervously at the bowstring in her lap, as if she was grappling with the weight of her words. Finally, she spoke, "I can't say for sure... but if Hera's the goddess who orchestrated this, I'd say Aera's at a far greater disadvantage than you are."

"Because of the war last summer?" Leo asked.

Thalia's nod was barely perceptible, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Most of the gods were unhappy when they spared her. They only did it out of obligation."

"It was a favor," Jason recalled. "A request from that Percy Jackson guy."

"The gods aren't good at keeping favors," Thalia grumbled. "Aera went through a lot even after they cleared her charges. She had constant nightmares and couldn't step a foot out of camp because of how dangerous it was. Not that camp was that kind to her either."

"I saw that," Jason noted. "They're all scared of her."

Thalia shrugged. "Maybe now that she's come back with a child of the big three. Before that, it was different. The campers were furious with her. They ignored her, refused to eat or train with her, and gave her a hard time whenever they did speak to her. I heard they even put maggots in her bed to try and drive her out."

"That's awful," Jason said. A sense of protectiveness washed over him. He remembered how tense Aera had been in Nevada when Butch insisted they all go back to camp. When they got there, she had shrugged off their insults as smoothly as shrugging off a designer coat. Jason had no idea they were being so mean to her.

"Constantly being around that guilt isn't healthy," Thalia continued, running her fingers up and down the smooth arc of her bow. "It eats away at a person. No wonder Percy asked Chiron to let her leave."

Jason felt himself scowl. "I thought they were enemies."

"Maybe to Aera." Thalia's eyes glittered with amusement. "But to Percy, Aera was a good friend. To my understanding, they actually trained together at camp for a bit."

Jason tried to picture it: Aera Kim the Ravager of Olympus and this great Percy Jackson fighting side by side against some common enemy. It seemed impossible and almost absurd, considering how much she hated the guy. But then again, she had harbored an interest in Lit the second she saw his annoying sword and annoying biceps. Percy Jackson was also #2 on her ranking system, a score above Jason's.

Jason felt that pang of jealousy again. He stared at the fire. Suddenly, he was glad Aera wasn't here. "She seems to have a lot of those."

Thalia's gaze felt heavy on Jason. "Aera's an extremely loyal person. She never gave up on Luke."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Leo uttered, his tone serious for once. "Wasn't Luke the bad guy?"

There he was again. Luke Castellan. He was #1, even though he wasn't alive anymore. How was Jason supposed to compete with a ghost?

Thalia kept her eyes trained on Jason and his face, as if trying to piece something together. Then she shook her head, "Aera's here on this quest with you now. That's all that matters. She'll be valuable to have on your side during all this."

"What if she's not?" Jason asked, voicing the worry that had been gnawing at him. "On our side. What if she chooses the giants instead?"

Thalia's fingers continued to dance across the smooth arc of her bow as she spoke, her eyes fixed on some distant point beyond the flickering flames. Jason could see the tiredness in her eyes, despite how timeless she looked. There was a sense of age riddled in her features, a heavy weight of experience. He wondered how long she had been carrying it, how many battles she had fought and how many friends she had lost in the process.

Jason saw that look in Aera's eyes sometimes too. In those brief, split second moments when she thought no one was paying attention to her.

"As demigods, we have tough decisions to make," Thalia said at last. "All we can do is trust each other to make the right ones."

"That was beautiful," Leo sniffled, jokingly wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

Jason's mind was reeling. So many pieces of his life were falling into place, yet he was still so disoriented. Jason had always known Aera was someone with a complicated past, but he had never fully understood the depths of her loyalty. He trusted her judgment but it was hard to let go of that fear. Jason didn't want to be abandoned again.

Except his memories hinted more so towards the outcome that it had been the other way around.

Aera, Piper, Hedge, and the Hunter Phoebe were toasting by a kerosene heater when Jason joined them in the tent. Phoebe had set up this silver tent pavilion thing right out the cave they were talking in. It was adorned with fluffy blankets and a handful of comfy throw pillows. Piper looked back to normal. Her hypothermia seemed to be fully gone now and she was decked out in a new parka, gloves, and camo pants like a Hunter. She and Hedge and Phoebe were kicking back, drinking hot chocolate.

Aera was a different case. She was also wearing a similar parka except she had on heeled boots instead of snow boots. She seemed nervous. She kept shaking her leg, clenching and unclenching her jaw, and she was missing a mug of hot chocolate.

"...I'm telling you, Phoebe," Aera was restlessly saying as Jason was entering the tent. "It was her. You've got to go look again. Send another tracker if you have to."

"Aera," Piper said softly in a soothing voice, "you were cold and alone. It was dark. No one would blame you for imagining things."

"It wasn't in my head, Piper!" Aera protested. "I know what I saw."

"What did you see?" Jason interjected.

Jason's voice startled all of the them from the conversation. Immediately, the tent was deafened with silence, leaving Jason wondering if he had interrupted something important. He felt his heart skip a beat when Aera met his gaze. He hoped she wasn't going to pull another trick on him in front of his sister.

Coach Hedge was the one who snapped away the silence. "Glamour girl says she saw Silena Beauregard when she was out there in the snow."

"Silena Beauregard?" Leo asked, sharing a concerned look with Jason. "As in your sister who died last summer? That Silena Beauregard?"

"Unless there's another Silena Beauregard I don't know about," Hedge grunted.

Aera's teeth sank into her bottom lip. She sounded urgent when she spoke, "It's not that bizarre. Think about it. Everything we've seen on this quest. The venti reforming, the lady in the dirt. Midas has been dead since before our ancestors took baths regularly. He's now whole and living and breathing in the 21st century—"

"Aera," Thalia interrupted her firmly before she could finish, "I know what you're thinking, but it's not possible. There are some forces of nature you just can't tamper with. Death is one of them. There are consequences to messing with the natural order of things, consequences beyond our comprehension. Even Luke would agree with me if he was here."

"Well, he's not here, is he?" Aera said curtly, glaring at Thalia. "I know what I saw. It was her. Silena's the reason I went to the Bay Area. If we find her, maybe we can find out what happened to Jason and I."

Nobody seemed to know what to say. Or even what to believe. Aera sounded so certain, so convinced it was Silena, Jason didn't know what to believe. He also knew Aera was still trying to recover and he didn't want to potentially open any more wounds.

Jason remembered something from San Francisco. He had once followed Aera into a graveyard.

Jason raised his head at the horizon. Under the dimming blue, a lone willow tree stood in the center of the cemetery. The tree was so large, the shade of its leafy canopy laid a layer of grey shadows over the tombstones that rested in the solemn meadow. The crows perched on the weeping branches sang their organ tunes. Far past it, the sun was beginning to set, splattering an arc of purple, orange, and pink across the sky, all colors that were far too bright for the despairing graveyard.

Aera was dressed in all-black attire and had her hair loosely pulled back with a black ribbon that had a gleaming black gemstone in it. She toted a large bouquet of red carnations in one arm and a yellow, medium-sized bag of chips in the other, which Jason thought was rather incongruous.

Of all places, the graecus had come here. To a dreary graveyard. Jason wanted to know why. After escaping their captivity twice, he had been closely tracking her movements, to see if she would lead him to some clue about where she came from or what her intentions were. Perhaps, she had a guilty conscience and the graveyard would unearth more of her gruesome crimes. Or so Jason hoped.

When she finally stopped at a particular grave, Jason noticed that there was already a family standing there. A man, a woman, and another Jason perceived to be their son. He looked around 5 or 6 years old with a tuft of pale brown hair and bright green eyes.

The woman's eyes, which were identical in color to her son's, widened as soon as she noticed Aera approaching. The man, who had a wide, friendly-looking face, turned on Aera with an expression of hatred etched across his face.

"You dare show your face here?" he bellowed. "After what you and your deranged boyfriend did to my Silena?"

"Francis," the woman hissed, pushing their son behind her legs. "Luke has passed on. We must not speak ill of the dead."

"I'll speak ill of anyone who had anything to do with my daughter's death," Francis spat, turning on Aera. "I warned Silena not to get involved in your little revolution. You promised you would keep her safe and now look what you've done! You are nothing but a liar!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Beauregard," Aera said quietly, her head bowing in shame. Her voice was shaking and so were the flowers in her arms. "I'm really, really sorry."

"You're sorry?" he seethed. "If you're so sorry, bring my daughter back! GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER BACK!"

Mr. Beauregard lashed out at Aera, taking hold of both her shoulders and shaking her violently. The gifts she had brought were knocked out of her hands and soon stomped on in the scuffle.

As the chaos erupted, Jason stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do as Mr. Beauregard continued to vent his anger and frustration at Aera. And Aera, who had nearly solo'd six of New Rome's best soldiers with a dagger and was an expert at manipulation, stood there in silence, her eyes downcast, as she did nothing to stop the man from his onslaught.

The little boy clung to his mother's leg, whimpering and trying to hide from the commotion. The crows on the willow tree cawed mournfully, as if sensing the tragedy in the air.

Eventually, the man's wife managed to calm Mr. Beauregard down and gently pulled him away from Aera. Jason could see tears streaming down the woman's face, as she looked at Aera with a mix of pity and disgust.

"Silena may not have be my daughter," she said, her voice racked with emotion, "but I won't let you ruin my family. Everything you touch is cursed. And now you've cursed Silena into an early grave. Don't come back here again."

Aera stood there numbly for a more few heartbeats before slowly turning and walking away, stepping on the bouquet and chips strewn on the ground. Jason hesitated for a moment before following her again.

As they left the cemetery, Aera's shoulders were slumped in defeat and her footsteps were slow, losing all trace of her characteristic confidence. She rubbed her trembling arms, which must have been cold in the eerie wind of the graveyard.

They were enemies but Jason had this strong urge to comfort her. He just didn't know how. Jason wondered if this was one of the reasons why Aera was so ruthless in her actions - perhaps she was trying to make up for something she had done in the past.

"You wanted to know who I am," Aera spoke suddenly. "Now you do."

Jason had been so absorbed in sorting out this newfound information about Aera that he hadn't even realized that she had stopped walking. Aera turned around, faced him, and asked, "Are you happy now?"

Far from it. Jason felt horrible. And overly intrusive, for witnessing this moment between Aera and the Beauregard's. Her past was a mystery he stopped at nothing to solve and all that was left on the other side was ruined flowers and a broken family. He had expected something horrendous and inhumane to be tied to the graecus. Jason had no idea what to make of this.

"Alright," Thalia said in the present, breaking Jason away from his thoughts. She moved forward and took a bold seat next to Aera. "Fine. Let's say you did see her. Let's say that patron brought her back just like she did for the others. That would mean she's working for the enemy. Favors like that don't come for free. Silena would have a strict agenda. You would face her knowing she would eventually have to kill you for her freedom. Is that sort of twisted fate really worth disturbing her from her rest? Is that what you really want for her?"

Aera remained silent. Jason remembered the gifts she had brought to Silena's grave. Back at camp, Chiron had mentioned Silena's birthday. The honey butter chips were Silena's favorite Korean snack, Aera had said as she pleaded the Beauregards. Jason's heart wrenched at the memory.

"She's not coming back, Aera," Thalia said. And she didn't sound mocking or patronizing, just honest. "You have to learn to live with yourself. Or else her sacrifice would have been for nothing. Or else all of their sacrifices would have been for nothing."

"How do you know?" Aera asked, not looking at her.

"Know what?"

"How do you know she's resting?"

Thalia's eyes softened. "Silena deserves to be in Elysium. She's a hero, Aera."

"What about me?"

"Time is on your side," Thalia encouraged. "You're only 16. You can learn and make better choices. The gods are limitless. They'll eventually forget what you did."

"That's not what I—" Aera gave her head a light shake. "Never mind." She sniffed and casted a sideways glance towards Jason. "So, I heard you two are siblings. Like, actual blood-related siblings."

Thalia's hard expression returned. "What about it?"

"Nothing," Aera muttered. Then she looked up at Thalia again and said, "Your face still looks like a pinecone."

Jason braced himself. Instead, a smile broke out across Thalia's mouth. She surged forward and pulled Aera into a big hug, which the latter obviously grimaced at. Leo shrugged at the gape of Jason's mouth.

"You still smell like a pinecone," Aera pointed out, doing that thing where she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"The seasons have changed but you're still the same," Thalia said, ruffling Aera's hair. "I still have to take care of you like old times."

"More like I took care of you," Aera said pointedly, swatting the older girl's hands away. "Remember that guy in D.C.? Shorter than you? Baseball cap always worn backwards? Major overbite? That boy was so hideous, the first time I laid eyes on him, I lost my 20-20 vision. If it weren't for me, you would have gotten your heart broken by a medium ugly man." Aera let out an airy scoff. "It's a good thing you're a Hunter now. You've always had the worst taste in boys."

Thalia cocked an eyebrow. "You're one to talk."

"Annabeth," Aera corrected, still fervently continuing her tirade. "Annabeth has the worst taste in boys. What does she see in that Lochness Monster anyway? He's sixteen years old and his mom still does his laundry. Even I do my own laundry."

Leo gave her a thumbs-up, "Good for you, Aera."

"I heard you went back to camp recently," Thalia said to Aera. "Did you...speak to Annabeth at all? She's been having a hard time."

"That's what she gets."

"Annabeth's been losing sleep," Piper chimed in generously. "She's been trying really hard to find Percy."

"Does she really think their relationship will last?" Aera huffed. "What with every monster and their mothers trying to kill him every five minutes? I bet one of them finally filleted that fish. That's why he hasn't returned."

Phoebe sniffed and shook her head. "Boys," she mumbled, like it was the worst insult she could think of.

"Speaking of," Thalia mentioned. "We'll need extra coats for Jason and Leo. And I think we can spare some chocolate. We'll need all the energy we can get if we're gonna pay a visit to Aeolus."

Phoebe grumbled, but pretty soon Jason and Leo were also dressed in silvery winter clothes that were incredibly lightweight and warm. The hot chocolate was first-rate.

"Cheers!" said Coach Hedge. He crunched down his plastic thermos cup.

"That can't be good for your intestines," Leo said.

"Or your complexion," Aera added.

Thalia patted Piper on the back. "You up for moving?"

Piper nodded. "Thanks to Phoebe, yeah. You guys are really good at this wilderness survival thing. I feel like I could run ten miles."

Thalia seemed impressed. "You're tough for a child of Aphrodite. I like you."

"Hello?" Aera broke in. "Ravager of Olympus over here?"

"Hey, I could run ten miles too," Leo volunteered. "Tough Hephaestus kid here. Let's hit it."

Naturally, they were both ignored.

It took Phoebe exactly six seconds to break camp, which Jason could not believe. The tent self-collapsed into a square the size of a pack of chewing gum. Leo looked like he wanted to ask her for the blueprints, but Jason pulled him away before he could get too distracted. They still had a mission to complete. Thalia ran uphill through the snow, hugging a tiny little path on the side of the mountain.

Coach Hedge leaped around like a happy mountain goat, coaxing them on like they were doing a track day at school. "Come on, Grace! Pick up the pace! Let's chant. I've got a girl in Kalamazoo—"

"Let's not," Thalia snapped. So they ran in silence.

Aera tugged on Jason's arm, falling into step with him at the back of the group. "I hate hiking."

She had her fur-lined hood up to protect her face from the snow. The parka she donned was so large and roomy, it made her look like a little girl trying on her big sister's clothes. Jason realized he had never seen her in anything that wasn't form-hugging. It was a cute change.

Jason interlocked Aera's arm with his. "You're doing great."

Aera squinted at the side of his face, her usual pompousness returning. "So, were you never going to tell me you and Thalia were siblings?"

"Actually," he responded, "I kind of did."

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "When?"

"Right after we left camp. When you asked me about the photograph."

Aera scrunched her nose up. "I thought you were trying to be all mushy and make some gross connection that we're all one, big happy family. Which, again, we're not, by the way. That would be so disgusting."

Jason bit his lip. It must have been a stupid question, but he asked it anyway: "Did you ever have trouble...you know, adjusting to the memory loss?"

"Well, I've never had amnesia before," Aera admitted, "but I have had a girl tell me I was their lover, even though I had no idea who they were."

"What?"

"Kidding," Aera smiled, bumping his shoulder lightly. "It was actually two girls and a dryad."

Jason wet his lips, but his jaw tightened on its own. "Do I even want to know?"

Aera took a careful look at him. "Probably not. Anyways..." She pulled the hem of the coat closer to her body. "I don't think you should be so hard on yourself. Whatever's happened in the past, it wasn't your fault."

"Thalia takes it so calmly," Jason observed, blurting out his thoughts. "Like it's no big deal that I appeared. I didn't know what I was expecting, but...she's not like me. She seems so much more together."

"I mean, she is immortal, and the leader of the fiercest group of man-haters in the world. Which is goals, honestly."

"Yeah, but it's like," Jason continued, struggling to put his feelings into words, "like Thalia handed me a baby—a really loud, ugly baby—and said, Here, this is yours. Carry it. I don't want to carry it. I don't want to look at it or claim it. I don't want to know that I had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of me to appease a goddess. You get what I mean?"

Aera studied him carefully. Jason took the silence as a buffer for her sarcasm and shook his head. "Sorry. It's just...it's just so confusing. Thalia's found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She seems so confident and comfortable with her life. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get there."

Aera rolled her eyes. "Please, you're the son of Jupiter and the biggest do-gooder I know. If anyone can overcome a severe case of mommy issues, it's you. Besides, if you had any more problems on your plate, I'd enter you in an eating contest and use the prize money to buy you a makeover."

Jason didn't get it. "What?"

Aera rolled her eyes again.

"You're doing enough, Jason," she said, squeezing his arm. "You're too hard on yourself. I wish you could see yourself the way the rest of us do. You're a good leader."

Jason's chest felt warm at her words. He appreciated Aera's comfort but it also filled him with a sense of dread. Would Aera still feel that way about him when she found out the truth?

Jason squeezed her arm back and gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Aera."

"I mean, you're a way better leader than I was..." Aera trailed off, peering around the mountain. "...leading a bunch of demigods to die in jeans. I should have at least warned them so they could change."

Jason's smile widened. There was still a lot to work out, but at least, he would have Aera around to get through it.

"You should listen to your own counsel," Jason said, playfully poking her on the nose. Aera glared at him as she dodged his finger. "We would be nothing without you."

"Well," Aera said thoughtfully, "none of us are wearing jeans now, so I guess it's safe..."

"I wouldn't want to lose my hiking buddy either."

"You're kidding."

Jason laughed at the look on her face.

As they continued trudging through the snow-covered trail, Jason tried his best to hide how lost and confused he felt about his identity, his place in the world, and his purpose. He didn't want to let go of what he had. He couldn't let go. Jason had always tried to do the right thing, but this time, he didn't know if that would be enough. And their visit to Aeolus' fortress only proved him right.