𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

drown, live, ghost

ERITH JAY
"SO, ERITH STARTED, already knowing the answer, "are you worried about her?"

"Pshh, me? Worried? Nah." Percy's reply was too casual, and the forced smile on his face didn't meet his eyes.

Erith and him held hands as they wandered around Rome, trying to find their way back to the ship. Tiberinus' warnings had settled deep into Erith's ribcage, like bricks in her lungs, and as time pressed on, she could hardly control her panic. Between Annabeth possibly dying every second they walked away and Nico possibly dying every second they wasted―it wasn't very fun or relaxing.

Not that Rome wasn't pleasant. It was incredibly so. The day was nice. The buildings were gorgeous.

"Gaea wants to destroy this place," Percy said suddenly, as if reading her mind. He looked around as they walked. "I'm not planning on letting her."

"Gaea also wants to destroy Nico, and cut you and Annabeth open for some weird ritual. We're not going to let her do anything."

Percy nodded. "True that." 

After a few more minutes of walking, Erith said, "Sorry for crying all over you last night."

Percy snorted. "I cried, too. Chill."

Erith wanted to say more, but she wasn't sure where the line was.

Percy opened his mouth, and then stuttered on his words. "Gods, our lives are just one big mess."

"True that," Erith said, stealing his words.

Percy huffed. "Let's just get it all out in the open, yeah? I'll start. I don't like your boyfriend, Jason Grace is an idiot, I probably just left my girlfriend to die. Nico, the kid I've made myself responsible for, is suffocating somewhere in a jar while we casually walk through Rome. I'm depressed as fuck, which is super selfish of me, because everyone has enough to worry about without fawning over poor Percy Jackson." He sighed, a heavy sound. "Gaea invades my dreams probably every other night on average talking about Tartarus and the destruction of Camp Half-Blood and whatnot. Also, I think I'm going crazy." He looked at Erith. "Your turn?"

Erith had noticed his fingers had wrapped around hers, squeezing as if in a death grip. Sweat slicked their hands, but Percy just kept readjusting his grip, as if determined to not let her go.

"Well," she said, "Leo is an idiot, but don't do anything stupid with him, because he's my idiot. And Jason is a good guy, he's just emotionally clueless. I'm just as worried about Annabeth as you are, and Leo, and―" suddenly she couldn't go on.

Percy squeezed her hand. "I know."

"I'm worried about you," she said in a voice too quiet.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Well, let's get through this part first." He glanced at her, his hair matted to his forehead with sweat. "Nico's your friend, right? Well that kid is my responsibility. So let's cut the casual stroll short and run."

"I thought you'd never ask."

And they ran, still holding hands.

―

THEY FOUND JASON and Piper having a picnic, which was pretty anticlimactic. Erith was so winded she nearly fell over by the time they reached the hill.