[3] 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 ― p.jackson, l.valdez

015.

「015. stay true to you 」

VAL DIDN'T want to exist in the near vicinity of eros- cupid, whatever you wanted to call the heathen of an immortal. val didn't want any of it. he didn't want to be facing this god to get something they needed. he was an agreeable person, mostly patient and mostly neutral about most things when it came to the gods. he'd accepted long ago it was better just to not fight against it (though that didn't stop him from voicing his opinions loudly to others) and just go ahead with it. but cupid wasn't one of these times. the immortal made val angry- raging, fueled with pure fire in his veins. why did things have to be so hard? they were just coming for a sceptre. must everything they face always come with something that could potentially aggravate everybody?

annabeth always used to joke that for an aphrodite kid- most didn't handle their emotions with much care. except for val, of course. she used to joke that just one of these days he'd snap. looking back on it now, annabeth was right. he might just snap. specifically, now. he wasn't a guy to get angry- he wasn't the type of person to get annoyed. but he was going to snap.... now.

and another thing: he decided he hated flying. not the type of flying jason did- the guy knew how to control the winds. he'd consider that proper flying. feeling it in your face, the wind brushing around you- sort of tickly, actually. this guy? no, never. he felt out of control (not like he was ever in control either, ahah). his thoughts were scattered, no boundaries between his body and the rest of the world. he felt like he was shifting constantly, like dust in the wind being scattered to the corners of the earth.

the west wind carried them into the sky above split. together they raced over the hills, past roman aqueducts, highways and vineyards. as they approached the mountains, he saw the ruins of a roman town spread out in a valley below – crumbling walls, square foundations and cracked roads, all overgrown with grass – so it looked like a giant, mossy game board.

favonius set them down in the middle of the ruins, next to a broken column the size of a redwood. val's body re-formed. for a moment it felt even worse than being the wind, like he'd suddenly been wrapped in a lead overcoat.

"yes, mortal bodies are terribly bulky." favonius said, as if reading his thoughts. but val was tense- and when he was tense, he had the terrible habit of becoming defensive- even if people didn't see it. "honestly," scoffed the wind god, "i don't know how you stand it, day in and day out."

val glades, scanning his surroundings at the same time. the town must have been huge once, he could almost imagine it. he could make out the shells of temples and bathhouses, a half-bruised amphitheatre and empty pedestals. if he blinked hard enough he could imagine people bustling about probably speaking rapid latin or something similar. the old city walls weaved in and out of the hillside like stone threat through a green cloth. some areas looked like they'd been excavated, but most of the city seemed to be abandoned, as if it has been left to the elements for the last two thousand years.

"welcome to salona," favonius said. "capital of dalmatia! birthplace of diocletian! but before that, long before that, it was the home of cupid."

the name echoed, and val felt dizzy. he wasn't a child of hades, certainly not. he didn't look that good in black, if you were talking stereotypes. but val didn't want to be a child of another god. he was proud to be an aphrodite kid, and that was that.

but right now? whispers echoed through the ruins. he spotted jason wincing a bit, but nico looked passive- perhaps he'd gotten used to the voices. but val... they were so loud. every whisper to the others felt like screams and pleas to val. they were so real and raw they made him stumble into nico. he gripped onto the shorter boy's shoulder, hissing as he held his head. this place wasn't right- more so than val could have ever imagined. spirits grappled at his mind, wailing in sorrow, screaming in pain, yelling curses... all directed at cupid. he'd known cupid was an utter dickbag, but this set it in stone. val didn't want to go. not at all...