Chapter Text
"Jason, you better have finished your dinner by the time we are back!"
His mom was always on him about finishing his food on time. He knows that he needs to eat. Just because he came home after the final semester exam did not mean that he couldn't take care of himself. He was the one usually taking care of his stupid drunk roommates after they came back from a stupid party. He was always responsible.
"Yeah, you guys have fun on your date." Jason smiled at his parents.
"Okay, buh-bye", Dad had finally relaxed the moment Jason told him about the job. A miracle, honestly.
They were bear-shifters. Getting a major in Accounting was a great way to start on his dream of forming his own Mercenary Team. He wanted to form a freelance Curse-breaking Team, so forming it under the Mercenaries was a good choice. The only Rule that mercenaries absolutely followed was, no killing, and that was more because they did not want to get into trouble with the Assassins. Those were the True Crazies. Even governments did not want anything to do with them (of course they hired them, but they learned that making assassins fight pseudo wars was not a good idea. The Hard Way). Honestly, that rule worked perfectly for him. He was angling for the curse-breaking jobs that nobody wanted anyway.
His junior Magnus was already following him around like a lost puppy asking to be his Dismantler. Jason was not sure of it because the kid was a mess. A super smart mess, but still a mess. What if he got hurt on Jason's watch. It was not like Magnus would not get better offers either. He would fit right into one of those magitech software companies. Jason also did not want to let such an amazing dismantler go. So yeah, he’d kinda told Magnus he was already on the team. Super selfish, of course, but—come on. You don’t let talent like that go.
He was near the top of his class, and his final results will be out in a few days. He should definitely gain more experience of curse-breaking before Magnus finished college in two years. Maybe he would be able to find more team members, even. Save up to buy a base-of-operations (risk pay was high, after all). His parents had covered his tuition—couldn’t let Raj’s family one-up them, apparently.
It's cute how his parents get kinda competitive with his best friend's. They had met back in middle school, the other kids being weirded out by aromatic food from their lunch boxes (he genuinely pitied them), they were the only ones at their table. It was the start of a lifelong friendship. Raj's "nerdy" behavior seemed passionate to Jason, so he also opened up about being interested in curses and the reason for cursing somebody. It became their thing, making switches in conversations between solar system's behavior to curses made up by sad people. That's how he realized that he wanted to pursue curse-breaking as a career. Rajagopal was the Ace of their Debate Team in high school, and had gone on to get a degree in Political Science with a minor in Economics. He wanted to work in the UN international diplomacy as an Indian representative. His parents had moved here when he was 8, so he was an Indian Citizen, apparently. He was such an overachiever, that he skipped two grades of high school. The debate team was sadder than me, and I was his best friend lol.
The doorbell yanked him out of his thoughts. Looking out of the peephole, he saw a couple of police officers standing outside. That was not good. He opened the door.
"Your parents have been in a car crash. They have been admitted to a hospital" The policeman handed him an address.
"Okay" Okay. Door shut. His chest was tight—too tight. Like his bear wanted to claw its way out. He called Raj.
"Hi da! long time no call, huh?" Hearing a familiar voice made him feel slightly better.
"My prre- parents were in a car crrrsh- car crash. I'll send you the adder-address" He was panicking even while forming the words.
"I'll be there with my parents. Don't worry bro, they are probably fine" Yeah. They would be fine. Nothing to worry about.
He grabbed his coat, wallet and keys, put on is shoes and locked the door. They will be fine. Okay, they took the car, he needs to uber.
Take out phone. Go to Uber.
Pickup - home, drop - hospital.
Yup. 2 min wait
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go into car. OTP. going to hospital.
They are fine. They are at a hospital. They will be fine. Calm down. Be calmer. You can handle this. You are an adult. It's probably just the car that got damaged. They are probably fine.
Pay the driver. Get out, go and ask for the Arkoudas.
"Please come with me"
"Please take a seat"
"Mr. and Mrs. Arkoudas are dead. We did our best, but we could not save them"
Dead? They should be alive. They had been fine when he had seen them.
They were now dead.
Dead
Like. Actually Dead
Dead.
His phone is ringing.
"Hey, I'm at the hospital, bro. Where are you"
"They're dead. Like really dead. I thought they would be fine, but they're dead, bro"
"I'm following your magic prints. I'll be by you in a sec. Amma is also here. I've spotted you. We'll be right there" he hung up.
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Jason felt Raj's hand on his shoulder. Jason was lost. Should he cry? Was he already crying? He was hugging Raj. When did he get up from the chair?
His parents needed a funeral. They deserved a funeral.
.
.
"What are the procedures for getting the body?"
"We'll take care of that, kanna" Priya auntie was here.
"Uncle is on his way the church where your parents used to frequently visit. He is going to arrange for a funeral and a burial. Go see your parents' face for the last time. You should properly say goodbye." Rishi uncle was also helping him. He felt like crying again, relief and grief mixing inside him.
He was going to see his parents for the last time. Give them a proper goodbye.
Their faces seemed unharmed. He did not have the courage to look at the rest of their body. Did that make him a bad son? His parents had never wanted him to see their pain, so they would probably be okay with it, right?
He touched their faces for the last time. He didn't think that he would be strong enough to do that again.
"Goodbye"