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dcmidivine · 4 years

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marked for death | casey & jesse

Date: Friday, October 9th Summary: Casey receives some discouraging news. Jesse is along for the ride.

Um, what? What do you mean it's about me?

...

Well, what did it say?

...

The son of Iris WHAT?!

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Casey had never considered going on a quest before, but it seemed now that he had no say in the matter. It should be fairly simple, Chiron had tried to assure him. All you're doing is figuring out why Persephone never met up with Hades at the turning of Fall.

If it were 'fairly simple,' then why in the FUCK does it say that I'm gonna die?!

Chiron had shown Casey and Jesse the prophecy that was delivered that Spring.

Drifting the edge of the swallowing sea,

The drowned and the deathless shall answer the plea.

In the land of the dead, two kings shall meet.

A cyclops will rise in desert heat.

The son of Iris by phantom is slain,

For the weaver of dreams, an old fear must drain.

By the tone of Chiron's voice, it was almost like he was reading off a grocery list and not foretelling the death of someone standing right in front of him. Casey tried his best to stay focused as Chiron prattled on about the details—something about meeting Demeter in Bermuda, she's not picking up her phone, blah, blah, blah—but Casey couldn't stop thinking about that line of the prophecy.

"By phantom is slain?" Casey repeated again, turning to Jesse as they walked out of the Big House. "What the fuck do you think that's supposed to mean? I don't fuck with ghosts, what the hell do they have against me?"

So much information had been handed over to the two of them– a quest, a new prophecy, a missing goddess– that Jesse had surpassed overwhelmed in the first few minutes and entered a very pleasant stage of complete calm. This was so far from how he had imagined his day going, it all felt too unreal to let fully sink in.

If Jesse had to name his least favourite things, he would narrow it down to Patrick, large bodies of water, and ghosts. Two out of three in one prophecy was foreboding– but the explicit threat of Casey's murder by phantom was doing a passable job of overshadowing his own trepidation.

Considering they had just been chosen for a quest together, Jesse should have been less surprised when Casey spoke to him. He rubbed the side of his neck and looked to the side away from him, grasping for some sort of silver lining to offer. "Uh, I mean, prophecies are vague, right? They never end up meaning what seems... obvious? It could be a, uh, a metaphor or something." Slain sounded pretty cut and dry as to what it meant, but saying that out loud seemed a little unnecessary. "I guess you don't have any undead enemies that come to mind?"

"Um, no. I don't know any undead. Is that a thing?" Casey's voice grew quiet. "Fuck, is that a thing?" Immediately, Casey thought of Gabriele, who could see ghosts wandering around New Athens and mention them casually in conversation. Maybe Gabriele could tell Casey if there were any ghosts out to get him. "Okay, but do I actually have to go on this quest? That's kinda fucked up, that they would know that I'm in danger and still choose to send me anyway. Why couldn't they just send literally anybody else?"

The number of questions Jesse clearly had no answer to was starting to give him a headache. With a shrug, he glanced back over at Casey. Jesse didn't know which direction Casey was headed or how long they were supposed to discuss this for, so he slowed to a stop, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I really don't know. Uh, I guess you're the only son of Iris at camp? I don't even know why that prophecy links to Persephone, or why they think it applies now."

"But I'm not!" Casey defended. "August is here sometimes! Right? Is he here right now?" Casey's mind was racing so quickly it felt like the world was blurring around him. The distant roar of the ocean slapping against the shore sounded more like the approaching drone of a swarm of locusts. Even the chirp of nearby crickets felt slowed, each one ringing out like a siren.

Fuck. Casey looked over at Jesse, who looked like he was mid-stroke, his eyes stuck halfway down his eyeballs.

Okay. Calm the fuck down, Casey thought. It'll be fine. Your mom will step in. You'll be cool.

Jesse's eyelashes fell like feathers, slowly and finally landing on the creased circles below Jesse's eyes. Then slowly, like the grand curtain of an opera house, they started to rise again.

I can't fucking believe Chiron would send me out on a quest knowing full well what the prophecy says is gonna happen to me. And in three days? Are you fucking kidding me? I don't even have a week to prepare for my motherfucking death mission? That's some BULLSHIT. Sushi-grade bullshit, I swear to fucking gods.

Casey released the breath he was holding in, and suddenly the crickets around him were chirping again. Casey looked at Jesse and waited a few seconds until he blinked, this time at normal speed, before looking away. "What the fuck do we even do now?"

Jesse spread his hands in the air in front of him and shrugged, coming up blank as to whether Casey’s brother was around. His attention wandered over in the direction of the cabins as he considered how the topic related to him, now- weaver of dreams certainly described the way his abilities worked, but he wasn’t the only child of Morpheus with that power. A small anxious weight settled on his chest at the idea that he had been chosen by mistake, but he breathed through it, recalling his last conversation with his father. Morpheus had definitely hinted that something important was approaching for Jesse. It doesn’t get much more important than this.

Casey’s voice pulled him back out of his head and Jesse ran one of his hands over his face, exhaling. He had been waiting for an opportunity like this for years, but it seemed wrong to embrace the thrill of it over the nerves when the person he was accompanying had just been given what sounded like a death sentence. “Uh, I guess we pack? We should figure out, uh, a vague plan, too. Two of my siblings just came back from quests, I can ask them what the... what the protocol is, I guess?”

"Sure. Yeah," Casey agreed emptily. But they came back from those quests alive, what they fuck would they know? Casey stopped and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Here. Call yourself so I have your number."

Jesse took Casey's phone and stared at the keypad, willing his brain to work. After a couple seconds stewing in how awkward his life was, Jesse had to hand back the phone without typing anything in, his cheeks red. "I, uh, don't remember my phone number. Sorry. Can you write yours down?"

"What? What do you mean you don't remember?" Casey stuffed his phone back into his pocket and held out his hand with an eye roll. "Just give me your phone, I'll type mine in."

Jesse bit the inside of his cheek and checked his pockets even though he knew his phone wasn’t there. “Uh, damn, I think I forgot it at home? Or work. Maybe.”

Casey clasped his hands over his face. "I'm gonna fucking die..." He took a deep breath. "I'm gonna fucking die because you won't answer your texts!" he screamed through his palms. He dropped his hands and stared straight at Jesse, his expression deadpan. "Do you have a pen and paper?"

Jesse winced at the reaction and ran a hand through his hair. “I... don’t,” he answered hesitantly, wishing that for some reason he did have a notebook in his back pocket that he had just forgotten about. “Sorry.” He swallowed back an embarrassing string of other apologies. “I can, uh, get it from...” It took a couple seconds to remember anyone the two of them had in common. “Uh, Alec? And text you from my place once I have my phone?”

"Fine," Casey agreed plainly. "Where do you live?"

"The Morpheus townhouse," Jesse responded quickly, relieved there was finally a question he knew the answer to. "In town."

Casey nodded. "If you don't text me, I will break through your windows with a shovel and find you." He turned toward the Iris cabin and stomped off.

Jesse sighed as he watched Casey leave, the nervous excitement that had built during the meeting with Chiron fizzling out. He waited until Casey was out of sight, scuffed the tip of his shoe against the ground, and turned to head in the direction of his townhouse. He had to start packing.

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