𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

17

𝐀 𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 for Annabeth as she walked through the forum. Some looked tense, some nervous. Some were bandaged from their recent battle with the giants, but no one was armed. No one attacked.

Entire families had gathered to see the newcomers. Jason saw couples with babies, toddlers clinging to their parents' legs, even some elderly folks in a combination of Roman robes and modern clothes.

After the past months at Camp Halfblood, it was a refreshing sight. Jason had forgotten what Camp Jupiter promised, a safe place for older demigods, a relatively normal life.

In front of them, the demigods made way for a girl in full Roman armor and a purple cape. Dark hair tumbled across her shoulders. Her eyes were as black as obsidian.

Reyna.

Nothing had changed here and yet everything had. Jason felt like a stranger in his own home.

The two girls considered each other. Annabeth's friends fanned out on either side. The Romans murmured Jason's name, staring at him in awe. He hadn't missed that.

In fact he used to actively discourage it. He didn't like being put on a pedestal. He didn't like being revered as some mythical hero. He was just Jason.

Then someone else appeared from the crowd, and Annabeth faltered.

Percy, Annabeth had described him well. Practically everyone at Camp had. His dark hair was windswept like he had just returned from a walk at a beach, his eyes shone and his lips formed a soft smile. He didn't look dangerous, not in the way Jason had expected.

The guy was lean, better than decent looking, an easy going expression on his face. He looked... relatively normal. Jason, Piper and Leo had heard so many stories about the guy, it was hard to imagine him as the hero in all of them.

Annabeth looked stunned. For all her planning, she looked taken aback.

Reyna straightened. With apparent reluctance, she turned toward Jason.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague..." She spoke the word colleague like it was a dangerous thing. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends—"

Annabeth surged forward, like she had barely heard Reyna's words. Percy rushed toward her at the same time. The crowd tensed. Some reached for swords that weren't there.

Percy threw his arms around her and they kissed.

Jason may have let out an audible, "Aw."

Sue him, he's a romantic.

Percy pulled away and studied her face. "Gods, I never thought—"

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, "Hold! Stand down!"

Annabeth put her knee on Percy's chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. Jason tensed, like everyone else. He had thought he knew what to expect, at least with the Greeks.

"If you ever leave me again," she said, "I swear to all the gods—"

Percy had the nerve to laugh.

"Consider me warned," Percy said. "I missed you, too."

Annabeth rose and helped him to his feet.

Jason cleared his throat. "So, yeah.... It's good to be back."

He introduced Reyna to Piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing, then to Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign.

"And this is Annabeth," Jason said. "Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."

Reyna's eyes sparkled. "You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

She held out her hand. "I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you."

Reyna clasped her hand firmly. "It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!"

A few of the Roman campers hustled forward— The Centurions. Two kids appeared at Percy's side, a burly Asian guy with the buzz cut who seemed about sixteen. And a young girl, maybe fourteen, with dark skin and long curly hair. Her cavalry helmet was tucked under her arm. Hazel. Jason had met her briefly before he was abducted by Hera. She seemed nice enough, though she stared with that starstruck look everyone had while looking at Jason.

Someone else pushed through the crowd, next to Reyna with a few 'excuse me's and 'fuck off's.

His hair was dark brown and his face turned away from Jason's. He seemed to be arguing with someone in the crowd. His toga was half wrinkled, and he struggled to cover himself with the white cloth.

His right arm had scars running down, red and brown over his freckled skin. They looked like lightning bolts carving down through his skin.

Then Jason saw his eyes.

One brown, one blue.

"Oh," He said, his lower lip pulled back with his teeth. Jason didn't know why he couldn't look away, "Fffff" His lip was still pulled back and Jason's head swam. The eyes.

His eyes.

Why would Hera give Jason that memory? Angry eyes staring at him?

"Fuck you— You're alive!" He blurted.

"Dante," Hazel smacked his arm, but he didn't look away.

"See, idiots? I didn't kill him," He turned to the crowd assembled behind him. "Fucking assholes, I told you guys— Ow! Hazel sorry."

Dante.

Dante Pierce.

Jason was going to throw up. The name repeated in his mind over and over again and yet he couldn't remember much.

He remembered Dante arriving at camp at eleven with training from Lupa. He remembered being friends. But he supposed friends didn't look at each other with malice. Friends didn't look genuinely disappointed the other was alive.

"What are you staring at, Grace?" He spat.

Jason hoped he wasn't flushing red when he felt heat rise to his face. "I'm sorry, I—" I don't remember you.

Meanwhile, Reyna was giving orders to her officers. "...tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And, Octavian—"

"You're letting these intruders into the camp?" A tall guy with stringy blond hair elbowed his way forward. Octavian. "Reyna, the security risks—"

"We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian." Reyna flashed him a stern look. "We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better," Octavian grumbled. A thousand memories rose to Jason's mind when he thought of the boy. He had always been the only one who didn't defer to Reyna as his superior. When they were younger, Jason considered him his best friend. "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."

"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."

Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go."

The officers dispersed. Octavian shot Percy a look of absolute loathing. Then he gave Annabeth a suspicious once-over and stalked away.

Percy slipped his hand into Annabeth's. "Don't worry about Octavian," he said. "Most of the Romans are good people—like Frank, Hazel and Dante here, and Reyna. We'll be fine."

"We'll be fine,"

"Excellent," Reyna said. She turned to Jason, and Annabeth thought there was a hungry sort of gleam in her eyes. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion."