Hopelessly Rome-antic [Re-writing]

Home

I do not remember for how long we stood in the rain.
To be honest, I do not remember how we ended up there. My memory is messed up, with bits of colors and flashes of scenes here and there.

Nothing concrete. Nothing decisive.

Callum is by my side in a split of second, just as I feel my legs collapsing under me.

"Steady." He says and helps me back up.

"Where are we?" I ask. My voice is weak, just like the rest of my body.

"You did it. You did it Andromeda. You got us back home."

Looking around me, my vision is also hazy. My eyes are covered with the rain and I can barely make the surroudings.

All I know is that Callum is right. We are home. Back in the present time.
Distant voices call my name as I try to steadily walk.

"Marianna?" I speak out to the blonde figure standing only a few meters away from me.

The girl is drenched in rain, her blonde hair is sticking to her thin body and her dress is almost getting see-through. She looks at me, then around.

"Wh..wh...where are we?" Her voice cracks.

She's scared.

"We're somewhere safe. Don't worry. We're safe." I repeat as she runs toward me and hugs me. Her sobbing takes over the quiet night, slightly covered by the sound of the rain hitting the pavement.

Callum is dialing a number on his phone. His hands are shivering, shaking in the cold of the night. He waits but I can hear the faint swearing as the phone does not seem to work.

"Come on...come on...Hello? Oh gosh. It's real. Okay. Can you come here quickly? We're around the Main Boulevard. Yeah. Bring covers. Lots of covers."

Turning to me, he brushes away his wet hair falling in his eyes and grabs me by the shoulder.

"Amelia will be in any minute now. I'm gonna go try and find the others."

Main Boulevard.

We are truly home. Only a few streets away from Amelia's house and mine.

Marianna is still sobbing as I hold her, her thin body shivering in the cold. From aware, the headlights of a car pierce the rain and the loud sound of a car parking abruptly makes me look up.

Amelia jumps out of the car and rushes to my side. Dressed in her pajamas, she almost cries as she sees me.

"We need to get her inside." I say as I help Marianna walk to the car. The heating is on and warming up the inside as Marianna settles on the towels or covers that my best friend brought.

Nearby, Callum shouts my name. Amelia is already walking toward him. He's limping, carrying another person on his shoulders.

"Unconscious but he should be alright."

Aahmes.

Amelia lets out a small cry as she helps the two of them toward the car.

Aahmes and Marianna are fine. Where was the rest of our group?

I ran through the street, yelling frantically the names of Eeopei, Aero and Tatum Marcus.

I passed through the same area four times, still searching when I heard a soft cry. It was so soft I thought I had imagined it at first but when I looked carefully, hidden under the small protection of a window was Eopei and Aero. Both of them holding onto each other.

"They are here!" I yelled as Callum jogged over.

"He's wounded." Eopei said. Her lips were almost white and her makeup had run down her eyes. By her side, Aero was holding onto his arm, eyes and mouth tightly shut close. Under his left hand, his clothes were tinted of red and his blood was running down his arm, falling at the end of his fingers and creating a small pool of blood at his feet.

"I'll help him out but we might need to get him to the hospital. He's losing a lot of blood."

Eopei was on her feet in an instant, supporting Aero on her shoulders and walking slowly with Callum.
The four of us marched back to the car, where Amelia had helped Marianna and Aahmes to settle down and gave them covers to warm up.

"We need to find Tatum." I said loudly. "He can't be too far away. We must find him."

"Andy... I haven't seen him around."

"Everyone is here... he must be there too. Somewhere. We need to find him."

"Andy" Amelia's voice was calm. Her eyes were filled with tears and she placed her hand on my shoulder. "He didn't make it."

"No...no... he was right behind me" I started to shout. "He helped me up the hill. He was right behind me."

I collapsed on the ground, in a puddle of mud water. Eopei and Aero had gotten inside the car while Callum kneeled down next to me.

"I know. He was right behind us but he didn't make it."

"He was right behind me." I repeated.

Slowly, the scene was replaying in my head.
We had reached Calcatta and Aero had insisted that we left the horses behind.

"Easier to run." He said as one by one, we dropped off the horses and rushed in the forest.

Behind us, the yells of the soldiers were getting closers.

"We'll cut through the forest and hide in a cave. There is one not too far."

Marianna and Aero led the way, running in front of us as Eopei and Aahmes also rushed. Callum was right in front of me, helping me climb on the rocks and pulling me when the hill was too steep for me to walk on my own.

"What about Tatum Marcus? We can't leave him behind." I shouted as I noticed Tatum way behind me. His sword was out and he wasn't running, more like walking.

His face was drenched in sweat and his eyes were almost shooting daggers.

"I'll buy you some time." He yelled at us.

Aero nodded and hurried for us to get in the cave.
In my bag, the small bottles collided against one another as I rushed inside.

"Tatum Marcus. Get in. Let's do this together." I told him as he waited nearby.

Callum was already giving out the bottles that I had hidden for so long now.

They were strong potions that I had gotten from a doctor in rome. I had one of the servants get him to talk to me discreetly on the day before and he had made some drink powerful enough to put us to sleep as fasy as possible. With the necklaces that I had given to the others, we'd all be able to travel back to the present.

Together.

Safely.

"They are nearly here." Callum whispered as he opened his bottle and downed it. I did the same and watched as one by one, Marianna, Aero, Eopei and Aahmes collapsed on the floor.

Calluk checked their pulse in a hurry abd linking their hands before turning to me, extanding his palm.

"Let's go home."

"I...I can't... he needs to be here."

Tatum Marcus still out there and our eyes locked as I pulled out his bottle and carefully placed it behind a rock.

Not once his eyes left mine as I slowly felt the potion working its way through my body. Callum's hand was strongly holding mine, almost crushing the bones as he collapsed in the ground next to Marianna.

"Tatum..."

My voice was a small whispered as I drifted.
The last thing I saw was Tatum Marcus' stare tearing apart from mine as he drew his sword and began to fight.

It was all in slow motion, the swords, the yelling, the blood and death.

It was all in slow motion as my head hit the cold ground and finally I collapsed into darkness.