Angel's Oath
x x x
Jason and Piper walked hand-in-hand down the streets of Rome. It was strange being back here after so many years, especially without the other five members of the seven. That quest seemed like a lifetime away to the couple. Things had been quiet ever since they had defeated Gaea, which they both were grateful for. Unlike the quick succession of the second Giant War right after the second Titan War, no major war had threatened the earth since Gaea.
Piper pulled out her phone (Leo and his siblings had created a monster-proof model) and took a picture of an old, Roman-styled monument for Annabeth. Annabeth's architecture company had recently been commissioned to design a romanesque office for a law firm and wanted to come to Rome again for research, but she hadn't been able to. She and Percy had their hands full with their young hyperactive children. So Piper, who was planning on going vacation soon anyway and had already been considering Rome, volunteered to go and take some pictures for her.
Piper hadn't realized how hard seeing Rome again would be. It made her a little sad, but also a little wistful, too. When they weren't running for their lives or worried about the impending destruction of the earth, Piper enjoyed hanging out with the other members of the seven. Sure, the surviving members all lived near Camp Half-Blood, but it wasn't the same anymore.
First off, Hazel and Frank were dead. In Hazel's case, again. It turned out that Piper was right when she had claimed to storm OR fire the world must fall, and that the other would die. Percy had been storm, while Frank was fire. Percy defeated Gaea, while Frank, faced with a drakon, had fallen when his life stick had caught fire. Hazel survived the battle, but when confronted by the Olympians for escaping the Underworld, she agreed to be sent back on the condition that she would be with Frank.
Secondly, there were several new additions to the gang, too: Luke and Hazel and Calypso. Luke and Hazel were Percy and Annabeth's children. Luke, who was four, took after Annabeth and Athena, but had Percy's hair. His eyes were Annabeth's. Hazel, who was two, seemed to take after Percy so far. She was a little troublemaker. She had Percy's bright eyes and brooding stare but Annabeth's curls. She'd already taken after her father by getting kicked out of her day care. Calypso- yes, the goddess Calypso- was currently dating their friend Leo Valdez. After the war, Leo went off on his own solo quest to find Ogygia again, armed with his toolbelt and the astrolabe. He returned a month later, Calypso in tow. How Leo got an immortal girl to fall for him, Piper would never know, but, regardless, she was happy for her friend. They opened a shop together, Leo & Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters. Neither mortals nor demigods understood the significance of the name, but it seemed to be a running joke between the couple.
There would be another addition soon, too, Piper thought with a smile. She laid her hand on her stomach, which just barely showed the signs of a pregnancy. Jason noticed her action and smiled brightly at her. Piper didn't know how Jason would react, but he'd been ecstatic.
"Do you want to grab something to eat?" Piper's husband suggested. The look in his eyes begged her to say yes. After hanging out with Percy so much, Jason had picked up on his eating habits. Percy could eat more than anyone Piper had ever met, with Jason a close second.
Piper smiled teasingly at her husband. "I was thinking we should stop by the Pantheon first." She waited for a second, but decided to be nice. "Alright, if you insist."
Jason grinned and dragged Piper over to a small cafe with large tables out front. "I've been looking at this place all week."
Piper rolled her eyes but didn't comment.
They were seated by a waitress at a table outside near the side. Piper faced the shop next door, while Jason faced the other customers.
"So, is Rome a little bit better when we're not being chased by a bloodthirsty goddess?" Piper questioned.
Jason was about to answer before he stopped, staring off at something behind Piper with his mouth open and his eyes wide. He looked startled.
Piper groaned, her fingers closing around Katropis. Not Another Monster. Apparently, Rome never changed.
x x x
Jason was stunned. When he came to Rome, he expected to see a few gods, sure, maybe Tiberinus and Rhea Silvia, but not... not Nico di Angelo.
He remembered the words of the son of Hades when they'd been on the Argo II, fighting their way to the Doors of Death: "I'll lead you to Epirus. I'll help you close the Doors of Death. Then that's it. I'm leaving- forever."
So far, Nico had kept his promise. Jason had assumed that the prophecy's prediction of 'an oath to keep with a final breath' was referring to this line. Nothing else made sense. But, here he was, Nico di Angelo, in Rome. What were the odds?
The demigod definitely looked better than the last time Jason had seen him. He still had the stereotypical child-of-Hades features- dark hair and eyes and pale skin- but his eyes weren't so sunken and they sparkled happily, his face wasn't so gaunt, and he was actually smiling.
Piper turned around to find out what her husband was staring at. She looked around for a second before her gaze landed on Nico. Her jaw dropped. She was about to get up and go over when Jason grabbed her hand. He was pretty sure that Nico didn't want to see either of them ever again. They hadn't exactly parted on the best terms, Jason especially. They both watched as Nico read over his menu as he sipped from a tall glass. Both Jason and Piper had expressions of bafflement on their faces.
Another man came over to Nico, calling out to him in Italian. Nico looked up and grinned at the man- a tall blonde with blue eyes- before responding in the same language. Neither Piper nor Jason could understand what they were saying. Jason knew Latin, though, and Italian had its origins in Latin, so Jason could pick out a few words here or there, but, for the most part, he was clueless.
Piper gasped. She was a daughter of Aphrodite- as much as Piper tried to suppress that side of her- and she could analyze the relationship between the two.
The blonde bent over and planted a kiss on Nico's cheek before sitting down at the table across from him. The two talked a bit more, before a waitress approached the table to take their order. Nico ordered, and turned to survey the cafe while the blonde ordered. His eyes landed on Piper and Jason.
Both of them winced. They'd been caught. They both fully expected to be attacked by newly risen undead. Instead, Nico did something that surprised both of them even more than they already were: he smiled at them.
It wasn't a smile like, Oh, I kind of know you, so I'm just going to be nice, it was a real, sincere smile. A happy smile.
Then Nico turned away and began to talk to the man again.
x x x
A day later, when Jason and Piper were on their flight back home, Piper finally brought up the topic for the first time.
"I never knew," she said quietly, barely audible over the hum of the airplane engines.
Jason frowned, hesitating for a couple seconds before answering. "I did," he said miserably.
Piper looked betrayed, but she looked like she had already guessed that he knew.
"I wanted to tell you," Jason assured her pleadingly. "But it wasn't my story to tell."
"How long have you known?" Piper asked. As much as she was hurt by finding out that her husband had kept something like that from her, she knew it wasn't his fault. He had tried to do the right thing- like always.
Jason looked out the window, his eyes distant. "Since Split. Diocletian's Palace."
Piper's eyes swirled, a multitude of colors. "I noticed that something seemed different," she remembered. "Nico... He became more... isolated."
"Yeah," Jason agreed sadly. "We met some gods there."
Piper didn't seem surprised.
"There was Favonius, that god of the West wind, and he took us to Eros," Jason explained. "He was the one who had the scepter. Anyway, Nico had to confront him, and in the process... I found out his secret."
"It wasn't Annabeth," Piper realized, her eyes widening. "It was..." She didn't finish, but both of them knew who she meant. Percy.
Jason sighed. "'I'll lead you to Epirus,' he'd said. 'I'll help you close the Doors of Death. Then that's it. I'm leaving- forever.'" Jason and Piper fell silent.
"'An oath to keep with a final breath,'" Piper recited in a sad whisper.
They fell silent, thinking of the son of Hades, both lost in memories of the past.
x x x
thank you for reading my oneshot… I don't know where I got this idea, it just came to me and I knew i had to write it!
please review… idk maybe ill do a part two if i get enough support, but i kind of like this standing alone. i feel like a sequel/companion would ruin it.
review!
-kay