𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 》 JASON GRACE ¹

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ⁿⁱⁿᵉ

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𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴
𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴
𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴
╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄╯

''HMM.''

Noelani hummed along as the three contemplated on how they crashed, but in all honesty, she wasn't really listening. She was sat a meter away from the others, staring at the ground between them.

Her mind was sidetracked with a lot of thoughts that wouldn't stop buzzing around her head. She would say they were like bees, but they die once they've stung, her thoughts were more like wasps because even though she didn't aggravate them, they stung her and they didn't die, they kept coming back for more.

But the main one, the 'Queen wasp' if you will, was about the fall. Annabeth mentioned once before how she had to stop blaming things on herself, but Noelani couldn't help it, it was just second nature by now.

''It was my fault,'' she said without thinking. Her head shot up in shock, both her and Piper making eye contact. They had spoken the exact same words at the exact same time. Noelani was shocked that Leo didn't make a joke about it.

''Girls,'' Jason said gently, looking between them both, ''It wasn't your fault. You were both asleep when Festus conked out-''

''Exactly!'' Noelani said before she could stop herself. Her leg moved towards her chest and her good arm cradled it, trying not to bring the other one inwards too so she could bury her head in them. She also noticed Jason eyeing her hands and kept the idea of not digging her nails in at the front of her mind, she didn't want to upset him any further.

''There's nothing you could have done anyway,'' Leo piped up, looking between both girls. ''You're both just shaken up. You're in pain. Just rest.''

Noelani wanted to protest, but she stopped the words in her throat and simply nodded. It wasn't the time or place for an argument, so she would just keep the thoughts to herself and try not to do anything else that would be her fault.

Piper also agreed, her eyes lightening up when Leo said 'rest' and she curled up into a little ball on the floor - she seemed hesitant at first but Jason nodded encouragingly at her and she fell asleep.

Leo stood. ''Look, um, Jason, why don't you stay with them, bro? I'll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him.''

''It's too dangerous,'' Jason spoke up before Noelani could. ''You shouldn't go by yourself.''

''Ah, I got an endless supply of breath mints. I'll be fine,'' Leo said, a little too quickly and Noelani realised he was more shaken up than he was letting on. ''You guys just don't run off without me.''

''Funny,'' Noelani scoffed, eyeing the cast on Piper's foot.

The next few minutes were spent in silence - it was slightly awkward, but Noelani didn't know how to break it. She was too busy glaring at the floor again and Jason was too busy studying her side profile with a frown.

At last, he spoke first. ''You're doing it again.''

''Doing what?'' Noelani asked innocently, but she wasn't a good liar, her voice came out shaky and Jason knew she was aware what he was talking about. 

''You're blaming yourself again,'' he said anyway.

Noelani only hummed, not sure how else to react to the statement. She glanced over at Piper's sleeping form and the thought of her not actually sleeping crossed her mind - what if she hadn't survived? What if one of them had died? It was a miracle they survived after all, if Jason hadn't been there they were sure to have finished the quest right then and there.