ALEA IACTA EST ; GRACE

018.

PHILOMENA STOOD ON A wooden ship, her hair blowing in the wind as she sat next to a black girl in a purple shirt.

She looked around herself, the ship she was standing on wasn't much of a ship, it was more like a couple of wooden planks being kept together by ... well, it seemed like it was being kept together through pure willpower.

In front of her sat two boys whose backs were turned to her, she could only see their purple shirts and that one had brown hair in a military cut, the other however had black hair, which was being whipped around by the wind in every direction. Philomena had never seen a Roman demigod with such messy hair, not even Jason after he had returned from one of his many and long quests.

The rowing boat they were on wasn't moving thanks to the oars, it seemed to float over the water, pulled by an invisible force.

The girl to her right held onto her hand and was about to whisper something, but all that came out of her mouth was a scream. Though it couldn't have been the girl's since this was Philomena's voice that was screaming.

Opening her eyes again, Philomena found herself standing in a dark forest, seemingly alone.

Until she wasn't alone anymore.

The ground beneath her shook slightly and a figure appeared out of the muddy floor. Well, it wasn't really a figure, it was more like a floating face made of mud which looked at her mockingly from below.

"Philomena Yıldırım," said the figure, her voice low and husky, but unmistakably the voice of a woman. "What a failure you are."

'Gee thanks,' was what Philomena wanted to say, but nothing came out. It was as if something was keeping her from speaking.

"You have so much potential with all the powers your father has given you. And you failed to even uncover a single one of these abilities you have been presented with," the face continued on, its features blurring for a moment and then returning back to those of an angry woman.

"Daughter of Cupid, the god of love and emotions, you could have the world at your feet but you prefer hiding away in the shadows of Jason Grace and other strong heroes, don't you? They made you believe you are weak, are worthless but I've come to tell you that you aren't. You are the most powerful of them all."

She paused, letting the words sink in.

Philomena stood in the same place she had woken up in, wondering what kind of shit this person – if you could even call her that – was on. What kind of powers did she possess?

"I want to help you, Philomena, but I can't just yet. I have to grow stronger, but until then, train your abilities, learn to control them and when the time is right, we'll fight side by side to take those down who have underestimated you."

With these words the mud-face disappeared and Philomena fell into a void, flailing around with her arms, still not really getting what just happened.

She opened her eyes another time, already expecting some kind of fucked up dream or another strange creature to talk to her, but luckily, she woke up to the interior of Camp Jupiter's infirmary.

Trying to sit up, Philomena looked around. The infirmary was almost empty, only a few beds occupied by injured demigods.

Then, the memories came rushing in. She had fought in the main hall against Krios, with Jason and Reyna, both girls had been knocked out by the titan, so what happened to Jason?

Had he fought the titan until the very end? But how, when he had given his sword to Philomena? Was he still alive?

Philomena wanted to call someone, but her throat was dry, only a croaking sound escaping her as she looked for someone, anyone who could tell her what was going on.

"Philo, you're awake," Jason exclaimed as he entered the infirmary, a huge smile spreading on his worn-out features. His hair was grown-out and messy, almost like the guy's in Philomena's dream, dark bags spread underneath his eyes and his shirt wasn't ironed.

With a croaky voice she responded, "You look like shit." Her eyes rested on his, which were red around the corners, as if he had cried (or smoked weed, but Philomena guessed that Jason wouldn't smoke).

Chuckling, he came closer, "Sorry, had I known you would finally wake up, I would've put on some make-up and a better outfit."

"You are forgiven," she replied, a smirk on her face as he sat down next to her, scanning her body, but first and foremost, admiring the red color of her eyes, how he had missed seeing her eyes over the past two weeks.

"So tell me, what's going on? And please get me some water," Philomena instructed Jason, her throat still scratchy but her desire to finally know what has happened being bigger. It almost made her forget her weird dreams.

"Oh, you missed a lot," was all Jason told her before he stood up and left the infirmary again to get her some water.

Jason told Philomena everything that had happened after she passed out in the middle of battle. He had defeated the titan Krios, Camp Jupiter had won and Saturn had never returned to Mount Tam, the gods had killed him, was what they all believed.

Following these great news, it was obvious that there were also casualties among the Romans.

Julia and Marcus had died and after Reyna and Jason had left the main hall alive, the rest of the surviving soldiers had lifted them onto their golden shields and surrounded by loud cheers, which contrasted the tragedy of the dead bodies around them, the pair had become the new praetors of Camp Jupiter.

Jason named other demigods who had died, his face contorting in pain as he named them, first and last name, it was as if he had memorized each one of them, since he possibly couldn't have known all of them.

Without interrupting him, Philomena listened as he listed the names of the dead, the names of those Jason couldn't save. He hid his face in his hands as he went on, not wanting her to see how much this battle, this war, had destroyed him.

The last name Jason listed was a name Philomena knew all too well, a name she could put a face on, could associate a voice with. Hearing this name made her heart stop, only to beat faster than ever.

Alexander Evander. Alex.

Her friend Alex, the only friend she had ever had before meeting Jason, was now dead. And Philomena didn't even have the opportunity to go to her funeral because she was weak and had been rotting away in a hospital bed from a broken rib, a concussion and whatnot.

Maybe the mud-woman was right. Philomena Yıldırım was nothing but a failure.

HOPE speaks !

hi my lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and well ... the trauma is big but the potential to bond is too ... or well, Jason and Philomena have to bond before he disappears in around two months time :D

love you lots <3