tw: mentions of anxiety/meds
If weapons were allowed inside the Pomerian Line, several of the Eight demigods would already be dead. Roman demigods cascaded into an angry mob in the forum. Some threw plates, food, and rocks at the Argo II, which was pointless, as most of the stuff fell back into the crowd..
Dozens of Romans had surrounded Piper and Jason, who were trying to calm them without much luck. The daughter of Venus's charmspeak was useless against this many screaming demigods. Daria felt her eyebrows furrow like they did when she was nervous.
Jason's forehead was already bleeding. He seemed to be pleading with the crowd, "I'm on your side." But his orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt definitely didn't help matters- nor did the warship overhead, firing flaming spears into New Rome.
"Shit," Daria cursed, taking in her surroundings. There were armed legionnaires setting up catapults just outside the Pomerian Line. "Look over there."
"That'll just make things worse," Annabeth said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Daria mumbled. "Hopefully Reyna can deal with them. We've got to go."
They kept running past the fauns and lars, past the exploding Terminus and the demigods that were some of Daria's closest friends. Finally, she spotted an opening. Percy, Hazel, and Frank were standing by a fountain. Daria raced up to them, she would just have to believe that Jason would be okay for now.
"Annabeth!" Percy called. "What-?"
"I don't know!" she yelled back.
"I'll tell you what!" cried a voice from above. Octavian had reached the bottom of the ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"
"Right." Of course, Daria was arguing with Octavian, but she was pretty sure that she was scowling at Annabeth. "What proof-"
At that moment, the Argo II returned fire. Legionnaires in the field scattered as one of their catapults was blasted to splinters.
"You see?" Octavian screamed. "Roman, kill the invaders."
Daria sighed. She was going to regret this, but she pulled rank. "Romani!" She commanded above the noise. "Retreat!"
Those who were still loyal to Reyna, namely the First, Fourth, and Fifth Cohorts, slowly glared at her as they cast their rocks to the side. The chaos was still effervescent, however.
"We have to leave," Daria said to her friends. "Now."
Percy nodded grimly, "Hazel, Frank, you coming?"
Hazel donned her cavalry helmet, "Of course we are. But you'll never make it to the ship unless we buy you time."
How?" Annabeth asked.
Hazel whistled for Arion. Instantly a blur of beige shot across the forum. He reared, whinnying and scattering the mob. Hazel climbed on his back like she'd been born to ride, which, well she had. Strapped to the horse's saddle was a Roman cavalry sword.
Hazel unsheathed her golden blade. "Send me an Iris-message when you're safely away, and we'll rendezvous," she said. "Arion, ride!" The horse zipped through the crowd with incredible speed, pushing back Romans and causing mass panic.
Daria felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they could make it out of here with minimal casualties. Then, from halfway across the forum, she heard Jason shouting.
"Roman!" he cried. "Please!"
Daria's heart clenched. Maybe they were choosing not to recognize his rank because of the "two praetors" issue. Either way, he and Piper were about to be overwhelmed with plates and stones. Jason tried to shield Piper, but a brick caught him above the eye. He crumpled, and the crowd surged forward.
"Get back!" Piper screamed. Her charmspeak rolled over the mob, making them hesitate, but Daria knew the effect wouldn't last. She couldn't possibly reach them in time to help.
"Alright," Daria turned to Frank. They had to leave now. "Frank, it's up to you. Can you help them?"
He swallowed nervously. "Oh, gods," he murmured. "Okay, sure. Just get up the ropes."
Daria let Percy and Annabeth lunge for the ladder first. She figured out of the three of them, she was the least likely to be killed if the Romans got a hold of her. Octavian was still pitifully clinging to the bottom, but Percy yanked him off and threw him into the mob.
They began to climb as armed legionnaires flooded into the forum. Arrows whistled past Daria's head. An explosion almost knocked her off the ladder. Halfway up, she heard a roar below and glanced down.
Romans screamed and scattered as Frank, today a full-sized dragon, charged through the forum — a beast even scarier than the bronze dragon figurehead on the Argo II. It had rough gray skin like a Komodo lizard's and leathery bat wings. Arrows and rocks bounced harmlessly off its hide as it lumbered toward Piper and Jason, grabbed them with its front claws, and vaulted into the air.
"Is that...?" Annabeth seemed to choke on her own thoughts.
"Frank," Percy confirmed, a few feet above them. "He has a few special talents."
"A few?" Daria mocked. "Keep climbing, Turtle Brain!"
Without the dragon and Hazel's horse to distract the archers, they never would have made it up the ladder; but finally, they climbed past a row of broken aerial oars and onto the deck. The rigging was on fire. The foresail was ripped down the middle, and the ship listed badly to starboard.
There was no sign of anyone but the curly-haired boy that they had met at lunch. Leo stood amidships, calmly reloading the ballista. Annabeth's face twisted with horror.
"Leo!" she screamed. "What are you doing?"
"Destroy them..." He faced Annabeth. His eyes were glazed. His movements were like a robot's. "Destroy them all."
He turned back to the ballista, but Percy tackled him. Leo's head hit the deck hard, and his eyes rolled up so that only the whites showed.
The gray dragon soared into view. It circled the ship once and landed at the bow, depositing Jason and Piper, who both collapsed.
"Go!" Daria yelled. "Get us out of here!"
With a shock, Annabeth ran for the helm. She made the mistake of glancing over the rail and saw armed legionnaires closing ranks in the forum, preparing flaming arrows. Hazel spurred Arion, and they raced out of the city with a mob chasing after them. More catapults were being wheeled into range. All along the Pomerian Line, the statues of Terminus were glowing purple, as if building up energy for some kind of attack.
Daria clenched her teeth. Her duty was to this quest, and she had no regrets about being on board. But still, this was her home being destroyed for the second time in two days. She could only hope that Reyna would survive the aftermath.
Annabeth grabbed the aviation throttle and yanked it straight back. The ship groaned. The bow tilted up at a horrifying angle. The mooring lines snapped, and the Argo II shot into the clouds.
***
Leo wished he could invent a time machine. He'd go back two hours and undo what had happened. Either that, or he could invent a Slap-Leo-in-the-Face machine to punish himself, though he doubted it would be as painful as the glare Daria Jackson was giving him.
"One more time," Annabeth said. "Exactly what happened?"
Leo slumped against the mast. His head still throbbed from hitting the deck. All around him, his beautiful new ship was in shambles. Their bronze dragon figurehead, Festus, was coughing up smoke like he had a hairball, and Leo could tell from the groaning sounds on the port side that some of the aerial oars had been knocked out of alignment or broken off completely.
He choked back a sob. "I don't know. It's fuzzy."
Too many people were looking at him: Annabeth (Leo hated to make her angry; that girl scared him), Coach Hedge with his furry goat legs, his orange polo shirt, and his baseball bat (did he have to carry that everywhere?), and the newcomers, Frank and Daria.
Leo wasn't sure what to make of Frank. He looked like a baby sumo wrestler, though Leo wasn't stupid enough to say that aloud. Leo's memory was hazy, but while he'd been half-conscious, he was pretty sure he'd seen a dragon land on the ship — a dragon that had turned into Frank.
And Daria... Jason had described her well. A kick-ass, five-foot-tall girl with a quick-silver smile. Though the "smile" part wasn't exactly shining through right then. Daria gave Leo the same impression that Hera had given them at the Wolf House, like she was already ten steps ahead, and she didn't like the ending.
Daria crossed her arms. "You mean you don't remember?"
"I..." Leo felt like he was trying to swallow a marble. "I remember, but it's like I was watching myself do things. I couldn't control it."
Coach Hedge tapped his bat against the deck. . "Look, kid," Hedge said, "you blew up some stuff. You attacked some Romans. Awesome! Excellent! But did you have to knock out the satellite channels? I was right in the middle of watching a cage match."
"Coach," Annabeth said, "why don't you make sure all the fires are out?"
"But I already did that."
"Do it again."
The satyr trudged off, muttering under his breath. Even Hedge wasn't crazy enough to defy Annabeth.
She knelt next to Leo. Her gray eyes were as steely as ball bearings. He had no idea where the stereotype of dumb giggly blondes came from. Ever since he'd met Annabeth at the Grand Canyon last winter, when she'd marched toward him with that Give me Percy Jackson or I'll kill you expression, Leo thought of blondes as much too smart and much too dangerous.
"Leo," she said calmly, "did Octavian trick you somehow? Did he frame you, or — "
"No." Leo could have lied and blamed that stupid Roman, but he didn't want to make a bad situation worse. "The guy was a jerk, but he didn't fire on the camp. I did."
The new kid, Frank, scowled. "On purpose?"
"No!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut. "Well, yes. . .1 mean, I didn't want to. But at the same time, I felt like I wanted to. Something was making me do it. There was this cold feeling inside me — "
"A cold feeling." Annabeth's tone changed. She sounded almost... scared.
"Yeah," Leo said. "Why?"
From belowdecks, Percy called up, "Annabeth, we need you."
Oh, gods, Leo thought. Please let Jason be okay.
As soon as they'd gotten on board, Piper had taken Jason below. The entire time they had been above deck, Daria had looked like she was one second from bolting to her boyfriend. Now, at Percy's voice, she paled lightly. The cut on his head had looked pretty bad. Leo had known Jason longer than anyone at Camp Half-Blood. They were best friends. If Jason didn't make it. . .
"He'll be okay." Daria's expression softened, probably trying to reassure them both. "He always had a bit of a thick head."
"Frank, we'll be back." Annabeth was already turning away. "Just. . .watch Leo. Please."
Frank nodded.
If it was possible for Leo to feel worse, he did. Annabeth now trusted a Roman demigod she'd known for like, three seconds, more than she trusted Leo. He groaned internally, Frank was going to judge him so hard.
***
Daria gently pushed open the door to Jason's cabin. She had yet to go into her own, Percy offering to put away the few things that had somehow just been sitting on the deck after everything had calmed down. But that could wait.
Piper Mclean was sitting on the desk chair by the foot of Jason's bed. She had her legs crossed underneath her and was staring at her dagger, only startling seconds after Daria had entered.
"How is he?" Daria murmured, crossing the short space to crouch by Jason and his head wound. No sudden death date was floating around the blond strands that were scattered on his pillow. That was good, Jason was so pale that she wouldn't be surprised to see Thanatos browsing his I-Pad from the nightstand.
"No change so far." Piper laughed grimly, "don't know whether that's good or bad."
Daria sat on top of the sheets, making sure that she wasn't blocking off Piper completely. Daria knew that she was schooling her expression into one that masked any worry or fear that was pumping through her. She also knew that if she had read Piper correctly, she would call Daria out on it.
"I'm-" The daughter of Venus gathered her thoughts. Daria was surprised. She would've thought that Piper was a natural calm and collected speaker by the way she handled herself in front of the Romans. "Listen, I'm not going to take him from you."
At Daria's silence, she kept talking. Daria didn't mind. Piper had a nice voice to listen to. "When he woke up, we-Leo, Jason, and I- were on a bus out in the Grand Canyon somewhere." Piper played with hair choppy hair, but Daria could tell that it wasn't because she was nervous, probably just a habit.
"Hera fucked with our memories, obviously. So I thought that Jason and I had been dating for a while, I didn't think it was odd that we were holding hands or that he was sleeping on my shoulder." Her eyes twinkled, and she smiled at the other girl. A genuine smile. "When he woke up, the first thing he did was look up at me and say 'you're not Daria.'"
If Daria's heart wasn't beating fast at the beginning of the story, it was now. She couldn't manage to contain the small blush that felt hot against her cheeks. "Thanks," she cleared her throat. "I mean, for telling me that. I wasn't like jealous it's just that-"
Piper rolled her eyes. "Boys say stupid stuff sometimes. Trust me, I get it." Her eyes slid over to Jason, but Daria could see no longing in them. "But that one, is head over heels for you. It's annoying." She didn't put a like in front of it. Daria wondered if that bore any significance.
Daria groaned. "I've heard it all before. It's almost like he's competing for the 'Oh, you're that couple award."
"What's that supposed to mean?" A petulant voice croaked its way into their conversation.
"Nice to see you awake, Sparky." Piper shot him a grin before standing and making her way to the door. "I'll uh, leave you alone for a bit." She pointed at Jason, "don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Jason rolled his eyes. The door shut with a creak.
"So," Daria started.
At the same time came Jason's hoarse voice. "Are you going to kiss me?"
Daria frowned. "Stop that. You're hurt."
Jason shrugged, then winced. "Never stopped you before. There was that time-"
Daria smirked back. She could tell he was eager to prove that he hadn't forgotten anything about their relationship. That comment she made back at lunch must have done wonders. "You can barely sit up."
His blue eyes were unfairly attractive when he was offended, like someone had tried to mark up the morning sky with the lightest gray clouds. "I can too!"
She sighed, and it was like they hadn't missed a beat with each other, right back to their bickering and teasing, almost, there was still something....Or maybe Daria was overcompensating. Contrary to popular thought, Jason was just as much of a troublemaker as Daria was, constantly mouthing off to monsters and wreaking havoc during War Games; though the traits did dissipate lightly once he became Praetor. Subconsciously, she raised her hand to brush the strands of hair off of his forehead. Bad move.
Jason sat up sharply, stopping her in her tracks. He turned her palm in his hands, inspecting it as if her limbs were the problem. Trying to be nonchalant, he fixed his gaze on Daria, or tried to. She wouldn't exactly meet his eyes.
"You haven't been taking your meds," he accused.
"What makes you say that?" But the retort was half-hearted.
He raised her palm until it was in her line of sight. "Shaky hands, tell tale sign." He scooted closer to her until she was forced to lean against the wall, their legs pressed together. "How long?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. There's been a lot going on lately."
"And you being exhausted and forgetting important details is going to help us how?" Jason demanded. "You know what happens when you don't take your medicine. That's why you take them."
"I'm not doing it on purpose," she snapped back lightly. She wasn't mad at him and he knew that, but she hated being lectured.
"Yeah," he muttered and ironically, Daria started overthinking. Jason had enough on his plate he didn't need to deal with her, and he probably wanted to catch up with a girlfriend that wasn't so anxious all the time and she probably just ruined what was going to be a good moment and now he's disappointed and-
"Well, it's a good thing that I stocked up your room for you," he announced. "Leo let me design it and everything." He grinned wildly at her, and there was boyish pride in his expression. "I think I deserve a kiss now."
"You're such a child," she muttered, but he was already leaning in and who was she to-?
At that moment, with a loud thud, Leo and Hazel stumbled to a stop in the doorway, carrying a large sheet of hammered bronze between them.
"Leo," Jason groaned and Daria felt the lack of warmth immediately. Hazel shot her an apologetic smile. "What happened to you?"
His hair was greased back. He had welding goggles on his forehead, a lipstick mark on his cheek, tattoos all over his arms, and a T-shirt that read HOT STUFF, BAD BOY, and TEAM LEO.
"Ah, sorry for interrupting," he said. "Others back?"
"Not yet," Daria said.
Leo cursed. Then he seemed to notice Jason sitting up, and his face brightened. "Hey, man! Glad you're better. I'll be in the engine room."
He ran off with the sheet of bronze, leaving Hazel in the doorway.
Daria raised an eyebrow at her. "Team Leo?"
"We met Narcissus," Hazel said, which didn't really explain much. "Also Nemesis, the revenge goddess."
Jason sighed. "I miss all the fun."
On the deck above, something went THUMP, as if a heavy creature had landed. Annabeth and Percy came running down the hall. Percy was toting a steaming five-gallon plastic bucket that smelled horrible. Annabeth had a patch of black sticky stuff in her hair. Percy's shirt was covered in it.
"Roofing tar?" Daria guessed.
Frank stumbled up behind them, which made the hallway pretty jam-packed with demigods. Frank had a big smear of the black sludge down his face. Piper followed shortly, looking like she also had no idea what was going on.
"Ran into some tar monsters," Annabeth said. "Hey, Jason, glad you're awake. Hazel, where's Leo?"
She pointed down. "Engine room."
Suddenly the entire ship listed to port. The demigods stumbled. Percy almost spilled his bucket of tar.
"Uh, what was that?" he demanded.
"Oh..." Hazel looked embarrassed. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like...all of them."
"Great." Percy handed the bucket of tar to Frank and Annabeth. "You guys help Leo. I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."
"On it!" Frank promised.
"Care to join me, Dars?" But her cousin didn't wait for a response.
"Oh, screw this." Jason slammed his lips into hers, softening the impact at the last second. It seemed to last no longer than a second before he pulled away, leaving her mouth with a stinging sensation that she wanted to investigate again. Preferably in private. "Go."
If possible, Hazel looked even more seasick after the exchange. But Daria hopped off the bed with renewed energy. "Be back before you know it," she winked, dashing into the hallway. "Perce, wait up!"
Jason being dorky makes me smile :). Thanks for reading folks! Leave a vote, leave a comment! Happy Friday!
-M