23 [Jason]

Fate/Defiance

Chapter 22 [Jason]

By theMadLad

Beta: Old man of the mountain

Chiron sighed as he heard Jason ask the same question he had been asking for the past few months the fifth time this day.

"When are we leaving?"

And so Chiron replied with the same tired words he spoke each time in response, "When our last student arrives."

"Ugggh, I really hate that guy." Jason groaned as he threw his hands into the air in frustration. But then suddenly, his face lit up with an idea, a familiar look that caused Chiron to roll his eyes with a slight smile.

Jason's face was enveloped by a mischievous smirk, one that disappeared just as quickly as it arrived before he turned to his fellow campers with a roar, "Don't you all hate that guy too?!"

Sitting around a bonfire were the rest of Chiron's students, namely Heracles, Asclepius, Castor and Pollux. In response to Jason's words Heracles just gave a noncommittal shrug, while Asclepius ignored him entirely, instead choosing to angle the pages of his book enough to see with light of the bonfire.

In disappointment at their lack of response, Jason then turned to the two twins in hopes of a better response. A smile crawled on his face as the prideful older brother with his nose pointed high, Castor, gave a subtle nod.

And if Castor was in then…

Jason watched with a smirk as Pollux darted her eyes to the side before giving off the same subtle nod in confirmation.

"Haha! Alright!" Jason laughed before peeking over at Heracles and Asclepius with a smile, "How about we give him a 'warm' welcome, ay?"

Heracles raised a brow at his words while Asclepius continued to ignore him, so Jason went straight for the throat, bringing a fist to the air with exaggerated indignation, "After all, I heard he already became famous! That bastard, having us wait and delay our training all while his name has already spread throughout the world—aren't you angry?!"

Chiron sighed.

He never told any of them about Icarus, only that they had someone coming to join them soon. But somehow, Jason found out, and instead of being excited to meet such a person… he was aiming for petty revenge.

Chiron's various students perked up at Jason's words as he continued—he had already set the bait and hook in front of their eyes… now he just had to reel them in, "Not only that, but I heard he might even be younger than us—!"Jason dramatically paused as they took in his words with intense interest, then followed up with a smirk as he finished his speech, "—and he isn't even a demi-god!"

And that was it.

—Jason had them.

Castor stood up immediately after Jason finished, pinning the blonde boy in his place with an unnerving stare. Pollux narrowed her eyes while Heracles did the same, although with an excited grin as well. Even Asclepius put down his book while listening closely with feigned disinterest.

For all of Jason's faults, Chiron couldn't help but be proud of the boy. He might not be a very good warrior, but he was the only one who could bring everyone together… even if only for dubious reasons.

Jason was only Hermes' great-grandson, so while he personally didn't care much for such a thing, he knew that was definitely not the same for others—they were all the direct descendants of gods.

And he knew just who to rile up first.

Jason stared straight into Castor's eyes while walking forward with a confident gait, "Not only that, I heard he was from Athens as well!"

The look of disdain compounding on Castor's face made any hatred Jason had towards Icarus disappear. He finally felt some vindication towards the arrogant bastard who always acted so high and mighty!

He was the only one who could be arrogant while condescendingly looking down on others damnit!

"And he isn't even royalty!"

Jason had interacted with Castor long enough to know how he ticked, and the one thing he knew that Castor took immense pride in… was his heritage.

He believed it made him better than everyone, so seeing someone challenge that view… did not make him happy. Especially since Icarus not only had surpassed him, but did so while being an exact antithesis to him and what he believed in.

Icarus was from Athens, Castor was from Sparta.

Icarus was a civilian, Castor was a prince.

Icarus was a mortal, Castor was divine.

"I also heard he could fly!" Jason finished, hammering in the final nail to Castor's warring psyche.

Jason's smile was so wide that it became painful as he watched Castor, the Son of Zeus—God of the Sky, tremble with anger.

"Is this true?" Castor spoke with gritted teeth towards Chiron, who replied with a sigh before giving a nod of affirmation.

The rest of the students had their eyes widen in disbelief with the confirmation of Jason's words. Chiron, while initially annoyed by Jason's action, smiled when he realized the result. While Jason's words would definitely fulfill his one-sided vendetta against Icarus, it also had the effect of lighting a fire under the other's hearts.

After all, they were all born special, they were the children of Gods! How could they let someone mundane, and younger than them surpass them in their own purpose?!

But that wasn't everything.

His words weren't just intended to target Castor, but Asclepius and Heracles as well.

To Jason, Heracles was the strongest, and he would never back down from proving it so, especially from someone his own age who had already received such recognition. While Asclepius would definitely become interested in a normal mortal who had achieved such feats. He was weird like that.

…As for Pollux, well she would support Castor wholeheartedly.

Jason might not have the strength of Chiron's other students—but that didn't matter, as he knew how to grasp their hearts between his hands with nothing but words.

"So, who's with me?! Let's give this so-called 'Hero' a 'warm' welcome!" Jason roared with a charismatic smile.

—And this time, the agreements were much clearer.

…Chiron also resolved to never let Jason anywhere near him whenever the oracles would visit.

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Icarus suddenly had a bad feeling as he carried Atalanta to their tent for the night… something which his paranoid self took very seriously.

In response, he quickly resolved to double up Paimon and Atalanta's training tomorrow! …Hmm? Why did Atalanta suddenly shiver in his arms, it wasn't even cold tonight due to their bounded field!

Well, it was probably nothing!

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"Ick-arrr-is?" Atalanta spoke as Icarus encouraged her while pointing to himself.

"Not quite." He spoke with a frown and the shake of his head, making sure to imprint the negative meaning of his words and actions into her mind.

"Icarus." He clarified with a smile and nod, wanting to imprint positive reinforcement and signals to encourage her in contrast to what he did before.

"I-Icarus?" She responded hesitantly, not wanting to disappoint. But, Icarus' grin only widened as he started to pat her head with happiness, causing her to yelp from the sudden affection.

"There you go! You got it, I believed in you." Icarus spoke as Atalanta mewled in satisfaction from his encouragement. Icarus felt something stab into his heart as he watched the small girl smile from his head patting skills.

S-so cute!

He then left her as she went to go shoot with a bow, as she had been eager to practice after they had gone hunting together. Icarus had brought her along with him as she was a much better tracker than him and he was unable to hunt from the air as he was still waiting for his wings to finish having their additions converted into his special alloy.

She was amazed when she watched Icarus take down a large boar with his compound bow. She had always been careful to steer clear of bigger game while living in the forest, so watching Icarus take it down so easily with his bow was like opening her eyes to a whole new world.

The moment they returned to camp, she immediately asked to train how to use them using a form of charades, which Icarus quickly agreed to after deciphering her strange hand signs.

Of course Icarus made sure to give her blunted arrows that she was unable to hurt herself with, she had given him a fierce pout for that—but he held steady. Only after forcing Paimon to be target practice did she agree without issue.

Poor Paimon.

Other than that, Icarus often went hunting with her to save up a surplus of food or work on studying the books that Daedalus had left.

But now he was finally ready to leave camp.

His wings had finally finished and he had enough food gathered up for a long trip. Paimon had also been able to regrow its bronze feathers during this time.

He had also packed up all the things he was going to take with him. From the loot to from the centaur camp, to the olive trees he had gained through his offerings.

He had even washed all his things with soap!

Now he could finally, finally head out in search of Chiron.

So, this morning he had Atalanta help him take down the tent they had been living in and store it away. She was a bit sad at the realization that they were leaving, but it was nothing a good headpat couldn't fix.

But before leaving they gave one last offering to the gods, one which was much larger than any he had done prior. The hearth had blazed as they gave their thanks, asking only for directions in return.

Shortly after they had finished up, the shadows in the forest seemed to grow, with the sun's rays leaving an obvious path forwards.

He had his wings strapped to his back, ready to deploy at any moment. Atalanta was also armed with a bow, Icarus had also given her a quiver filled with arrows that she had strapped to her side.

"Ready?" Icarus asked her with a smile.

Atalanta gave a firm and serious nod in response, although it was unable to come off as anything but cute, "Hn."

"Then let's go." Icarus spoke as he grabbed her hand while beginning to walk down the trail lit up by the sun. He also gave off a slight whistle which drew Paimon's attention, "Paimon, go scout ahead. If anything happens make sure to protect Atalanta."

The bronze bird made the closest sound to snort before eventually nodding in affirmation. "Good boy. If you do well I'll give you some extra food tonight."

Paimon quickly took off with a cheer, eager to fill its belly full of meat tonight. Icarus laughed as he watched the bird go, with Atalanta doing the same even though she didn't even understand what he said.

It was pretty cute though.

So he gave her another headpat.

(New Character Images)

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Author's Notes

Ahhh! Sorry for releasing so late, I had something come up.

Hope you enjoyed it although it is pretty short due to me constantly rewriting it. I also introduced Chiron and the Heroes-in-Training, I hope you enjoyed their little interactions. I wanted to highlight Jason's charisma a bit as well.

Leave a like and comment, comments make me happy!

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