xxiv. when in rome

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
WHEN IN ROME
(trigger warning: mentions of self harm and death)

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HER HAIR WAS THE colour of ink bleeding across a page, eyes brown like the hue of a decaying rose, each of its petals fading away. Bones jutting at graceful angles, a voice like honey and poison mixed in a dangerous brew. Areum Min was a walking contradiction, and yet Annais Min couldn't help loving her mother anyways.

She didn't remember much of her childhood, truth be told, only the bad bits seemed to stand out. Finding her mother, who always seemed so happy on the outside, strewn across her bedroom floor was definitely a bad memory, a horrible one, from a night where Areum could no longer take it anymore. Annais tried her best not to think of it. But for six months, she'd pictured the woman's lifeless features with every blink of her eyes. The ones that matched that same decomposing hue.

It started a month after she, Jason and the others returned to Camp Half-Blood. The moon had been high in the sky when she went to sleep. Its light had shone through her window, casting eerie shadows on the walls of the Hades cabin. For what seemed like a second, Annais slept. When she woke, it was in that same light. Only this time, there was someone else in the cabin. She knew it just by a creak of weight against the floor.

Areum.

She stood to the right of Annais' bed, clear as day, merely watching her daughter sleep with vague interest. Annais had frozen (in shock? Fear? She wasn't sure, even now, what emotions had flooded her senses) but she knew she screamed once the woman reached out, pale lips opening to mime silent words as her ice cold fingertips hovered inches away from Annais' face. Annais had sat up, reaching for her ring without thinking twice, but with a sigh that sounded like a wail, the woman had disappeared in a puff of smoke that left a sour scent in the air.

Death. Decay.

Annais hadn't told anyone about it, even when Jason and the likes poked and prodded for answers. For a while, she thought she was finally going crazy. And the last thing she wanted was her new friends and the guy she kind of, sort of, liked to think she was a whole new level of messed up.

But after six long months, she was beginning to think she'd made a mistake.

Their first night on the Argo II, Areum Min woke Annais singing a song that only Annais seemed to hear. Her lips moved, no sounds coming out, and yet Annais knew she wasn't imagining the soft hum of you are my sunshine that seemed to echo within the junctions of her brain. Annais had rolled over, hands pressed to her ears in vain, but the sound didn't leave until the sun began to rise and Rome formed in the distance with battle lines already drawn.

Fucking great. Not only was Annais tired, again, but she was about to meet potential enemies in foreign territory, a time as good as any to need her wits about her.

"Well, don't you look well-rested," Annabeth Chase grumbled as soon as Annais appeared out on the deck of their flying warship. "I thought I told you to sleep, Annais. Gods, do you ever listen to me?"

Annais merely glowered in response, biting back a slew of insults as her eyes scanned their surroundings with evident wariness. At the very front of the ship, a white flag flew from the mast, a gesture Annais knew would've come from Annabeth, ever the overthinker. Beneath it, Leo Valdez paced around like he'd had one too many coffees, Mel trying fruitlessly to calm him down as he chatted her ear off about the last minute changes he'd made to the Argo II.

The others kept their distance for as long as they could; then, the bow of their ship broke through the clouds, and everyone knew it was time to take their places. Annais found herself standing between Jason and Ezra. To her right, the dark-haired girl bit at her nails anxiously, reaching for Annabeth with her spare hand. Annais was quick to avert her eyes from the fond gesture, sighing to herself as Jason nudged her ribs with his elbow, expectant.

"Yes?" she said, unable to hide the tiniest of grins that tugged at the corner of her lips.

This boy...

"You look tired," he noted, gaze tracing the bags beneath her eyes.

"Gee, thanks," she deadpanned. "Way to make a girl feel special, Grace."

Jason smirked, "I make you feel special, Min?"

"Can you two hold back the flirting for, like, a second? Now is not the time," Annabeth hissed in sheer frustration. Annais blushed, because yeah, that was a thing now, and everyone knew it. Annais and Jason flirted? Sure, nothing ever came of it, but one day, he seemingly grew a backbone, called her pretty to her face and hadn't stopped ever since.

Which was cute, normally, but with Rome right below them, it seemed kind of ill-timed.

The Romans had just spotted them. Ringed by the Oakland Hills and twice the size of Camp Half-Blood, the number of demigods that pooled out of what Jason had said was the Senate, pointing up at them with wary expressions, was astounding. It would've amazed Annais had they not been so suspicious.

All it would take was one wrong move. This had to be perfect.

Suddenly, the decking shuddered like a bomb had just been detonated. Annais stumbled, one hand reaching for Jason and the other for the railing in front of her. She caught herself before she fell overboard, whirling around looking for signs of an attack, but there were none.

Instead, a statue several feet tall hovered in front of their faces, shrieking at them at the top of his lungs. From the waist down, he was nothing but a marble pedestal, but the rest of him was definitely human, all curly hair and hardened eyes the colour of muddy stone.

"I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian Line!" he shrieked halfway through Annais' observation of him. His voice was high-pitched, ringing painfully in her ears with no intentions of quieting down. "And I certainly won't have Greeks!"

"Listen here, buddy," Ezra began fiercely, only to be interrupted by Jason clearing his throat. Sighing, she went quiet, knowing what that meant. In her words (though Annais would be inclined to agree) Jason Grace was a natural-born hero, the leader returning home after a long expedition away. So Ezra stood back, listening with a pout as he addressed the statue like an old friend.

"Terminus," he grinned, blonde hair tousled by the wind. "It's me. Jason Grace."

At that, Terminus hissed. "Oh, I remember you, Jason." Well, that wasn't concerning at all... "I thought you had better sense than to consort with the enemies of Rome."

"Consort," Ezra repeated with a half-amused, half-condescending snort. "Gods, are Romans always so fancy?"

Sensing the statue's fragile temperament, Piper cut in with a sheepish but hopeful smile. "Look, we just want to talk. If we could--"

"Hah!" Terminus intervened, causing Annais to scoff. "Don't try that charmspeak on me, young lady. And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands."

Honestly, what the fuck was happening? Camp Half-Blood had always been guarded by Thalia's tree, for as long as Annais could remember. Was this thing the Roman equivalent? A statue with a righteous attitude? Thank the Gods she wasn't Roman then...

"Um, okay..." Piper trailed off, shooting the others a wary glance. When her eyes met Annais', the other girl merely shrugged, hand circling the ring on her finger. Could she risk bringing it into Rome with them? Would anyone know what it really was? "But how would you slap it? You don't have any arms..."

Jason winced at that, and Annais knew Piper had made a mistake. A second later, Terminus screeched in outrage, a sharp pop following as Piper gasped and dropped the dagger from her smoking palm.

"Lucky for you, I've just been through a battle," he glowered as she clutched her hand to her chest. "If I were at full strength, I would've blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already."

Somehow, Annais didn't doubt it. Meanwhile, further down the line of demigods, Leo stepped forward with narrowed eyes. He hadn't said much since Terminus' arrival, which was odd seeing as he usually never shut up, but bringing up the Argo II and Festus was like poking a sleeping dragon.

"Did you just call my ship a monstrosity?" he repeated like he was giving Terminus a chance to take it back. "I know you didn't just do that."

"Oh, Gods, Valdez," Ezra scoffed as Mel fought to drag him back into line. "What are you going to do about it? Strangle the overgrown garden gnome with your tool belt?"

"Overgrown garden gnome?" Terminus echoed in fury, literal smoke beginning to pour out of his ears.

Annais sighed, turning away from the scene as Annabeth fought for control again. "Let's just calm down," she commanded in a voice that even silenced Terminus for a moment. "I take it you're Terminus, the God of Boundaries. Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of--"

"Oh, I know who you are," Terminus interrupted with a judgemental sniff. "A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. How scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for the Goddess."

A shockwave rippled through the group as Annabeth's jaw clenched in annoyed contemplation. It was clear she wanted to retort, to bring out her dagger and drive it through Terminus' throat, but she fought back the urge to finally shut him up as she spat out, "What exactly do you mean by that Goddess? And what's so scandalous about--"

"Right," Jason clapped his hands together quickly. Annais side-eyed him but said nothing as he struggled to hide his panic. This was not how he wanted things to go. "Anyways, Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can--"

"That's impossible," the statue sneered, cutting them off for what felt like the hundredth time in the span of five minutes. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!"

"Which is it?" Leo frowned, oblivious to the way the blasted statue froze in pure anger. "Surrender or leave?"

"Both!" he spat. "Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?"

"Man, I think I judged you harshly, Terminus," Ezra cackled as Leo blinked in disbelief. "If you weren't Roman, I could see us being friends."

"As if I'd be friends with a spawn of Hera," he scoffed, saying the words like he was repeating a curse. Ezra sighed in what could've been mistaken for disappointment had Annais not known her so well. Before she could retort, his eyes drifted over to where Leo was fishing through his tool belt. "Ah! Stop that right now, young man. Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."

"The what?" Piper frowned at the familiar phrase.

"City limits," Jason translated instinctively.

"Oh," Ezra frowned. "I've been hearing Pomeranian, not gonna lie."

At that, Jason rolled his eyes. "Why would Terminus be talking about a dog, Ezra?"

"I mean, the rest of what he's said is utter bullshit, so I wouldn't put it past him."

Somehow, Terminus didn't hear their bickering as he continued to argue with a red-faced Leo. "And this entire ship is a weapon," he roared in his marble toga. "You cannot land!"

They'd officially reached an impasse. Terminus wasn't going to let them in, but they couldn't turn away now. Turning away meant accepting Gaea's return and, well, the demise of the world as they knew it... They had to do something, and Annabeth knew it.

"Leo, stop the ship," she ordered with a clenched jaw, as if the words pained her.

"Uh, what?"

"You heard me," she said. "Keep us right where we are."

Sighing, Leo cast a wary look at the others before pulling out a controller and pressing several buttons on it. Immediately, the oars poking through the sides of the ship stopped moving, prompting the ship to a shuddering stop. Once again, Annais had to reach for Jason, who smiled and intertwined his hand with hers as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Wisely, Annais kept their hands behind her back, eyes tracking Terminus' line of vision.

The last thing they needed was a stupid statue seeing them holding hands and accusing Jason of treachery.

Fortunately for them, he was too busy partaking in a stare-off with Annabeth.

"Terminus," the blonde girl said. "There's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"

"Well... no..."

"Then we can keep the ship aloft," she pointed out with a hint of triumph in her voice. She'd found a loophole, at last. "We'll use a rope ladder to reach the Forum. That way, the ship won't be on Roman soil. Not technically."

For what seemed like forever, Terminus genuinely considered her offer. Soon enough, he sighed and nodded. "I like technicalities," he admitted in a sheepish tone. "But still..."

"All our weapons will stay aboard the ship," Annabeth promised him, to which Annais heard Ezra snicker. As if. "I assume the Romans -- even those reinforcements marching toward us now -- will also have to honour your roles inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them too."

"Well, of course," he frowned. "Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?"

While Annabeth seemed fully prepared to risk it if it meant seeing Percy with her own eyes, the others weren't so sure. Slowly, Leo stepped forward, ignoring Terminus' scowl on the side of his face as he implored, "Uh, Annabeth, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," she insisted. "No one will be armed." She sent a not-so-discreet nudge into Ezra's ribs. "So we can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obeys the rules." And with that, she turned back to the statue. "Do we have an agreement then?"

"I suppose," he sighed. "For now, you may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. Please try not to destroy my town."

One by one, they descended behind enemy lines, Annabeth the first to go. Somehow, no one had noticed the ring that stayed firmly on Annais' finger, nor did they notice the charm bracelet that hung around Ezra's wrist with each of her weapons attached in the disguised charms. As long as they didn't have to use them, no one needed to know.

Still, Annais couldn't help the smidge of guilt that festered as Jason's hand released hers once their feet were firmly on Roman soil. Had he noticed? If he hadn't, would he be upset with her when he did? She should've left it, but parting from her ring was like cutting off a limb. Painful, unbearable...

Almost immediately, the Romans surrounded them, monitoring them from every angle. Annais stuck close to Jason's side as he followed after Annabeth, who marched through the crowd of wary demigods like they were harmless. There were so many of them; a sea of soldiers, young and old alike. Annais spotted an elderly man amongst those at the front, arms littered with scars from spears and swords. The sight was off-putting. Back home, you were lucky if you lived to see your eighteenth birthday, one foot already planted in a shallow grave. What was so different about the Romans?

To the right of her, a baby began to cry, the sound sharp and piercing through the silent crowd. Annais frowned. It was one thing if a Greek demigod lived beyond their teenage years. It was a whole different story if a Greek demigod lived long enough to have a child.

She didn't have a chance to dwell on it, though, for Annabeth suddenly stepped aside revealing a girl Annais didn't know but could recognise anywhere based on how Jason had described her. Dark hair pulled back in a tight plait fit for battle. Eyes as dark as obsidian, she surveyed each of the group individually, searching for their strengths and weaknesses, then tucking them away for safe-keeping.

Annais' shoulders tensed as Reyna's gaze landed on her. She wondered how she saw her, if she noticed the uneasy flash of emotion that appeared as she glanced between herself and Jason. He was already watching her, smiling like he was finally at peace. Annais frowned and turned away. Reyna's head turned at that, though her face didn't change as the silence continued to stretch on, both sides waiting for the other to make the first move.

And surprise, surprise, Percy Jackson was the one to extend the olive branch. With an ecstatic grin, he pushed his way to the front, immediately finding Annabeth and Ezra, who was clinging to the blonde girl's hand with a glower. His smile widened impossibly, though he refrained from rushing towards them as Reyna cleared her throat, the first flash of emotion appearing on her face; annoyance.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague," she began, forcing her stare towards the blonde boy who was yet to stray from Annais' side. A tiny part of herself, the part that was raw with vulnerability, feared that this was the moment, the moment she finally lost him for good. It would happen eventually. "I welcome you home." See? "And these... your friends..."

That word. She said it like it didn't mean anything, like the Greeks were nothing more than a passing convenience before she had Jason all to herself again. Annais' eyes narrowed, but before Reyna could say anything else to set her on edge, Annabeth's resolve shattered. At the same time, she and Percy surged forward, eagerly meeting in the middle. Percy held his arms out and easily caught Annabeth between them as she pressed her lips to his, Ezra long forgotten behind them. But just as quick as the intimate moment came, it changed as Annabeth ripped herself away from him like his touch was scalding. With a sneer, she snatched his wrist and flipped him onto his back, ignoring the Romans' shouts of warning as she pushed him against the pavement with her knee.

"If you ever leave me again," she warned, voice trembling. "I swear to all the Gods--"

Much to Annais' surprise, Percy merely laughed. It seemed that much like Jason, his memories had returned too. "Consider me warned," he said through dying snickers. "I missed you, too."

The last of Annabeth's anger faded away. She pushed herself off him then, holding out a hand to help him back up. Percy was happy to accept, pulling her into one last hug before searching for someone over his shoulder. He found her like magnets pulled towards each other, a certain softness appearing as he left Annabeth's side to stand opposite Ezra. The girl tensed. She couldn't see him, but Annais knew firsthand that Ezra would always know when Percy and Annabeth were close. They could walk into a crowded room unnoticed by everyone else and yet Ezra could easily seek them out.

"Hey, Ez," he murmured, pulling into a hug of her own. Ezra hesitated for a second, arms planted firmly at her sides, but caving in and wrapping her arms around his neck, holding on

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