(I literally rubbed my hands together and cackled when I saw this.)
On the edge of everything, before the beginning and after the end, there was love. And in that space of broken time and so far away from a world that only one of them can return to, Jason and Kai stand in a cylinder of glassy crystal, awaiting the decision of the gods that brought them to this to begin with.
"They'll choose you," Kai says, staring at Jason with those golden eyes of his, the ones that have seen so much more of what Jason can be than any other mortal. Kai has seen him slay demons, stand toe-to-toe with the gods, and sacrifice his entire livelihood to save a stranger. Jason is the better human, the better person.
Jason shakes his head, but he knows it's true. "I can't let them leave you here. You'll never die! This would be it, this would be all you see for eternity! Is that what you want, Kai?!" It's not Kai's fault, Jason knows that, and yelling at Kai about what his fate will be doesn't help anything. But the unfairness of the situation is obvious to Jason; Kai, the once-prince, following Jason around the world wanting nothing in return but his love, and Jason turning him down every time, unwilling to let Kai sacrifice anything for him. He'd thought if he pushed Kai away, he could stop Kai from ever trying to save him. But now, thanks to him, Kai is going to be stuck here forever.
Eternity is a foreign concept to Jason, who's always figured he'd die a heroic death while he was still young. But however long eternity is, he can't let Kai's eternity be this. He can't, and that's what prompts him to draw a knife and turn it on himself.
"No! Jason! You can't kill yourself, not for me!" Kai screams, tries to stop him, but there's nothing to do; the blood is already soaking the floor, the blood of the god-child, the perfect one. The blood of the one who's meant so much to Kai, pouring out in front of him and landing on the clear crystal, soaking into Kai's knees when he kneels, trying to stop the bleeding he knows will never end.
Jason's voice is already heavy and slow when he finally speaks to Kai. "Kai... what are your last words... for the son of the gods?" Kai knows what he means, and he knows what he should say. A simple "I love you," the confession that's never been said out loud that would mean so much to Jason to hear as he died. But those aren't the words that Kai holds onto until he's sure Jason is breathing his last, until that last desperate breath that comes before the godling's death.
"Loving you was the most exquisite form of self-destruction."
