AN: This is a collection of drabbles that will reveal what happened to the characters from The First Legion Series after The Gigantomachy. The timeline is between The First Legion Series and Heroes and Legacies. Readers were left with questions at the end of TFLS and the beginning of H&L: how did Jason deal with Piper's death, and why did she have to die? Why did Thalia leave the Hunt? When did Rachel give up the spirit of the Oracle? What ever happened to Reyna and Dakota and Leo and Hazel? These questions and more will be answered in this collection.

This fic will be updated sporadically throughout the duration of H&L, so be sure to alert it. Also, if you haven't read my series', you may be lost reading these drabbles.

Another note: many of these will be songfics, which I've never written before, so we'll see how it goes. The chapter title denotes the song title.

Thanks for reading.

-dmac

The Truth

Jason

The floor was cold and hard, and the stench of vomit filled the small room. The scene was an all too familiar one. I couldn't tell you how many times I've passed out hugging the toilet in the last few years; more times than I haven't, that's for sure. I don't know whose bathroom I was in: a sleazy motel's, my crack dealer's, that whore's from over on 3rd? Like it mattered; at least it wasn't the drunk tank at the county jail. Oh, yes, I've woken up there plenty of times.

I sat up and leaned my back against the wall, knocking an empty vodka bottle around and pulling a needle out of my arm in the process. No wonder I didn't know where I was. My head throbbed like I had lightning bolts bouncing around between my ears, which might've been the case. My stomach suddenly flipped, and back to the toilet I went. I heaved and heaved so fiercely that I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head. There was nothing to throw up; I haven't eaten in days, and what booze was in my stomach, I'd thrown up sometime during the night. So, I dry heaved until the nausea subsided, then returned to my spot against the wall. I closed my eyes to block the blinding sun that was shining through the small window, but they shot back open when I heard a voice that I never expected to hear again.

"Jason," she said.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't slow my racing heart. All I could do was stare and let a tear escape the corner of my eye.

"Oh, Jason," she sighed as she knelt down beside me. "Look at you."

I didn't have to look down at myself to know that my already filthy shirt was covered in vomit, that I'd wasted away to a mere hundred and thirty pounds, that I haven't showered or shaved in days, or that I hadn't had a haircut since I can't remember when.

"What's happened to you?" she asked, her voice heartbroken.

What a stupid question. She knew full well what happened to me. She left me. She died on me. That's what happened. I couldn't deal with the pain, so I found ways to make it disappear. I guess I got that from my mother, the using-to-deal mechanism.

"What are you doing here?" I finally choked out.

"A lot of people are worried about you: your friends, your sister, your father."

I shook my head, "My father doesn't give a damn about me."

"He wouldn't have sent me here to talk to you if he didn't care. He wouldn't ask a favor from Hades for just anyone, you know?"

I blinked, "My father asked Pluto to let your ghost out of the Underworld?"

And she was a ghost. I knew that when I first opened my eyes. Her skin was iridescent and shimmered in the sunlight. She was nearly translucent; I could almost see right through her.

"He can't intervene directly, you know that. It would set a bad example," she rolled her eyes with annoyance at the god's reasoning.

I was irritated that anyone would want to intervene in my life. They had no right. This was my business, no one else's…not even hers. "Well, you can go back and tell my father-"

"Tell him what, Jason?" she interrupted. "Tell him you're strung out, tell him you've become an addict like your mother was, tell him you've lost all respect for yourself? And what am I supposed to tell your friends and your sister, the people who love you?"

I rubbed my still pounding head; I didn't want to deal with this right now. "Make something up. Tell them I'm on vacation out here on the west coast. Tell them I've made some really good friends, and I'm doing fine. Tell them anything you want to, just don't tell them the truth."

She stared into my eyes with that pressing gaze of hers, "And what exactly is the truth?"

The truth…I've never actually said it out loud. That just makes it real. I'm not in denial, at least, I don't think I am. I know what I've become since I walked out of Camp Half-Blood four years ago. I just don't want anyone else knowing.

"I've gone crazy," I actually said it. "I'm strung out over you, over your death. I've lost control. I couldn't cope with losing you. And I don't want anyone to know about it."

A tear rolled down her iridescent cheek. I hated telling her this was her fault, though, it's not really her fault. It's just because of her, because of what happened to her and the way I felt about her.

"You're asking me to lie to the people who care about you the most, the people who want to help you?"

"Yes, I'm asking you to lie. I'm asking you to do this one thing for me. I know it's not right, but you know why I'm asking you to do it," my voice cracked with emotion. "So, if you ever loved me, Piper, please have some mercy on me."

She was crying now, which broke my heart. All I ever wanted was to see her again, but not like this. Not like this.

"Why won't you let them help you, Jason?"

"Because they can't help me!" I yelled in frustration. "I'm beyond help."

She shook her head, "Don't say that. That's not true."

"That's the absolute truth," anger and certainty resounded in my voice. "There's only one person who could've ever helped me, and that's you. I still need you, still love you…that's the truth, but not even you can help me now. The only thing you can do for me is tell everyone I'm fine."

She touched her shimmering hand to my cheek and looked at me with sympathetic eyes, "You know I can't do that."

I closed my eyes and leaned into her touch, "I know."

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any songs, lyrics, or titles used in this fic.