A symphony orchestra.

- excerpt of "Rain" by Charles Bukowski

Jason was starting to regret stopping by Washington DC. It wasn't as bad as New York or Italy, but the flocks of tourists made him nervous. Worse, many of them were students, children/teenagers wearing school colors, on fieldtrips.

Jason stayed close to Percy, never losing sight of him and grabbing his arm when he feels like they were being seperated. The fabric of Percys hoodie was soft and felt nice between Jason's fingers. Sometimes he'd reach out and grab Percy's arm for no reason.

Jason was hesitant to allow Percy to see the sights. Percy wanted to enter al the souvenir shops and see all the statues of war heroes he didn't know. It was like the fieldtrip to D.C. he wasn't allowed to go to in 8th grade because of his behaviour.

Percy found his way to the Vietnam War memorial. It was a long strip of dark stone in a shape of a V. Percy's face turned somber. He grazed the names with his fingertips as if he could feel the loss from the stone. Jason thought of Hazel and Nico. They could always sense death and suffering from things like this.

People took pictures and moved on, slow and respectful. Percy loitered around the memorial, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration. His eyes stayed glued to the dark stone slabs.

Jason gently touched his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"War losses," He said.

"Yeah. Sucky way to die, huh?" Jason said, swallowing thickly. Suddenly, his throat felt dry.

"At least our wars aren't waged between each other. At least we die fighting chaos and not men." Percy said.

"Are you okay?" Jason repeated.

"Don't they deserve a memorial?"

"What?"

"Our losses." Percy said. "Luke, Zoe, Bob, Bianca," Percy swallowed. "They deserve so much more than a memorial, but isn't it the least we could do?"

"Yes," Jason said quietly. "It is."

The two of them stood, looking at the memorial as the cloudy sky grew darker. They stuck around until Percy spoke up again.

"Let's get some coffee and get going. I think... I think I'm done here." He rurned to look at Jason and gave him a weak smile which Jason returned.

Even the darkest of memories were a part of who we are. Percy and Jason sipped coffee as rain poured outside of the Starbucks. Shivers went down their back as the sound of heavy raindrops crashed into the ground as if the sky itself was falling. Preparing itself for what was to come.

Percy accepted the rain. Jason suggested buying an umbrella. Or manipulating the water and air to stay dry. Percy shook his head. They both could find a way to use their skills to avoud the rain if they wanted to, but didn't. Percy looked up at the falling sky and smiled for he saw a star. He told it hello.