for ana :D i hope you hate it!

for geek pride - pjo

oooh fun fact! the oath to keep with a final breath bit was jason saying "go, remember" to apollo, because those were LITERALLY his final breath, reminding apollo of his promise bye i hate it here

525 words by gdocs

It hits Leo, as he's flying on Festus, thousands of miles in the air, following Piper's car below.

He's the reason Jason died.

The thought is so ridiculous, honestly, that he laughs out loud. From below him, Festus creaks out a sound of confusion.

"It's nothing, buddy," Leo says, giving his warm hide a pat. "It's just —"

To storm or fire the world must fall.

An oath to keep with a final breath.

Jason had said it himself, hadn't he? Heroes always get in trouble trying to thwart prophecies. And yet, Leo tried to do it. He tried to find a loophole, he tried to figure out a way out of it, he tried to have everyone survive and —

Fire didn't fall. Storm finally did.

He never had his final breath. He died, sure, but he's breathing now. He hasn't taken his final breath yet. Jason…

Jason has. And Leo's willing to bet, because Jason is — was — his best friend, that Jason probably made some sort of promise and died upholding it. It would have been exactly the type of noble, virtuous, stupid thing that Jason would do.

Or maybe, Leo thinks, it has nothing to do with the prophecy at all.

He and Festus are high up in the air, but a chill goes through him that has nothing to do with the altitude. He remembers a curled whip, a red-leather jacket, and a motorcycle with Pac-Man shaped wheels.

Good luck is a sham, after all.

Didn't Nemesis warn him? Didn't Nemesis tell him that success requires sacrifice? Like Hades, Nemesis would let him get away with coming back. Not without taking something away from Leo in return.

Besides, he did open that fortune cookie under Rome. Maybe, maybe now that he's lost his best friend, maybe that price is finally fully paid.

So either the Prophecy of the Seven finally caught up with them, or Nemesis is still taking things away from him.

Either way, Jason is dead because of Leo. A flood of regret washes over him, and he's glad that flying Festus doesn't really require his concentration.

If he could, Leo would go back in a heartbeat. He wouldn't have tricked Piper and everyone else with the Physician's Cure. He would've died saving everyone, but it would be worth it. Jason wouldn't have died. Even if things played out the same, Piper would still have the Cure, and she would be able to save Jason's life.

Jason was supposed to build shrines for the Gods… He had a girlfriend… He was finally figuring out who he was, without all of the responsibility of either camp on him.

And, in a weird way, Leo took that away from him.

Leo wishes, all of the sudden, that he was still in the foster system. He wishes that he was still a naive kid, who didn't know he was a demigod, who didn't have to save the world.

He wouldn't have met Calypso, or Piper, or Jason, but at least Jason would be alive. At least things would be alright.

At least Leo wouldn't have the tear in his heart.