How much Annabeth disliked the Romans, their city, however, was nothing else but beautiful.
The buildings made of marble and ivory, gleamed in the early morning sun and the rooftops of Rome's apartment houses built a sea of red. Women with kids, soldiers and normal street folks filled the air with talking and laughing while vendors stood behind their stalls praising their goods. And what goods they had.
It had its advantages to live in the center of a world empire. You could get fruits and materials from all over the Mediterranean, like gold and silver from Hispania, lemons and olives from Sicily and wine, oils and honey from Greece. Purpure fabrics came from Greece as well. That's why Agrippina took Annabeth with her as she got the fabrics for new clothing: the owner of the stalls for purpure silk allowed discount only for other Greeks.
Agrippina had been one of the richest persons on this earth yet she claims she needs to be on budget.
"Are you even listening?" Percy asked and with jolt Annabeth remembered he was there too.
"Eh…" She looked at him sheepish. "Sorry lots of thoughts."
He rolled his eyes and murmured. "Athenians."
Annabeth had to grin. Even though he meant it as an insult, Annabeth loved to be called an Athenian, because the Romans would always call her 'idiot' or 'slut'. Or 'dumb'. That was always the worst insult to her. Even though it wasn't a common thing for girls in Greece, her father had hired a teacher. And Annabeth had loved it to learn, to write, to read. For a girl she had an exceptional knowledge, but the Romans never cared about it anyway.
"Annabeth!" A man's voice shouted.
Annabeth craned her neck and spotted behind one of the stalls, her friend Theutras. He waved at her with his short, fat arms while his big belly bounced in excitement. He was wearing an old and tattered chiton, but Annabeth still envied him for it. She wanted to wear her old clothes too. He was in his late thirties and the few hair he had left, started to turn gray.
But his whole appearance warmed Annabeth down to her feet.
"Who's that?" Percy whispered as they approached the stall.
"Theutras!" Annabeth half greeted and half answered Percy's question.
She shook the old man's outstretched hand with a smile playing on her lips. "How are you?"
"Oh fine, fine, my dear. As fine as you can be surrounded by them." With 'them' he meant the Romans but they couldn't speak it aloud when Roman soldiers kept passing them.
Theutras smiled with glee. "So how is my little princess?"
Annabeth gave him the best grin she had and started examining the fabrics. "Oh it's okay I guess. You know how Agrippina is, but in last time she's become better since our high-born starts to be annoyed by her."
Theutras started to laugh. "Sweet how I always get the gossip before everyone else does."
"Are we talking about Agrippina as in 'Agrippina the mother of the emperor'?" Percy asked when he stepped next to Annabeth. "You are a servant of this Agrippina?"
Annabeth let out a sigh and pointed at the metal plate at her throat. Every slave of Rome had it: A collar with a small plate, where the owner has written down his name so if the slave flees, people can bring him back to his master.
Annabeth's was old and rusty. On it, you could read Agrippina's name and the address of the emperor's palace.
Percy stared at it for a moment so intensely that Annabeth thought he might grip it and rip it away but instead he turned around hastily and started to tug at the silk in front of him.
Theutras looked at him smirking. "Who's your friend, dear?"
Annabeth, confused by Percy's reaction, had started to look for Agrippina's silk. "His name is Perseus. He's from Argos."
Theutras nodded thoughtfully. "Oh yes Argos. My grandfather said, it was a lovely city before the Romans came. I take it from your reaction that you aren't one of the emperor's slaves?"
Percy shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm not a slave. I left Argos on my own."
"Then, what are you doing here?" Theutras asked and eyed him warily.
Annabeth started to wonder too. Did he mention what he did when she was so absorbed in her thoughts? No, he hadn't. Annabeth had a great memory and she would know if he said something like that. But he had to have a job in the city otherwise he wouldn't look like a nobleman. On the other hand, people without Roman citizenship couldn't do much. Romans tolerated them but nothing more. Even if there were intelligent or strong, they weren't able to become famous or rich. The Romans took care of that.
Percy had developed a sudden interest in the other stalls next to Theutras'. It seemed like he wouldn't answer the question so Annabeth decided to break the silences. She grabbed Agrippina's requested fabric and handed Theutras some denarii before she turned back to Percy.
"You said something about owning me a lunch." She tried a smile and it seemed like it was the right decision.
Percy's face light up and his lips formed a big grin. "Right you are. Come on, I know where to get the best pea-puree!"
He gripped her wrist and started to drag her through the crowd. Annabeth could only yell a short "Bye, Theutras!" Over her shoulder before Percy and she disappeared between the people.
Annabeth had never been too fond of the tavernae in Rome. Most of them were dark and dirty places where criminals and outcasts met to drown their sorrows in mysterious, alcoholic liquids but the taverna Percy led her to, was nothing like that.
It was a wide and bright room. Windows lined up on each side of it and at the far back was a bar made of polished wood. Different types of smells swirled around Annabeth's nose as they stepped inside and sat down at one of the empty tables. At first she couldn't see any employees, but soon a slim man walked toward them. His toga was covered with grease spots and something that looked suspiciously like fish sauce.
As he stopped in front of them and asked Percy with a grin what they wanted to eat, Annabeth could smell fresh baked bread.
Her stomach growled.
As a slave she would always get the rest of Agrippina's food (if there were any) or she would have to buy herself from the little pay she got every month, but mostly slaves starve.
Since she was gazing at the back of the store where a man was making oatcakes, she hadn't realized that Percy and the waiter had stopped their conversation and were watching her with grins.
"Who's your little girlfriend, Percy?" Asked the man.
Annabeth glared at him. He was tall with brownish hair and bright green eyes. They weren't sea green like Percy's, it was more a bilious green. His expression and the mischievous smile just like the upturned eyebrows, let Annabeth recall an old statue in the house of her father. It was Hermes the messenger of the gods and the longer Annabeth thought about it the more she thought the man could be him.
The man laughed. "Not very talkative, are we?"
"Leave her alone, Marcus." Percy said and leaned back in his chair. "I want the usual and for my friend here the same."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him, but Percy just grinned and shooed Marcus away. It seemed like the two of them had known each other for a while now. Percy was generally very comfortable in this venue, maybe because he finally got to leave Theutras stall.
Annabeth bit her tongue but the curiosity got the better of her. "So about what Theutras asked…"
Percy's expression became guarded. "It's complicated."
"Why did you leave Argos in the first place," Annabeth traced the Greek name of Argos on the table surface. "And why come to Rome?"
He looked outside one of the windows from which you could see the busy street. "I told you the Barbarians-"
"That's no reason to leave. You can't tell me just because some barbarians came to your home, you leave everything behind and travel right into the heart of the enemy."
Percy sighed. "It's true what they say about Athenians. You're too intelligent for your own good."
Annabeth smiled at the table. "Thanks but no changing subject. Come on, you need to-"
She was cut off by the door being ripped open and three Roman soldiers stepping into the venue. The one in the middle of them was taller than Percy, with light blond hair and electric blue eyes that resembled the sky. Medals were pinned at the breast plate over his toga and under his arm he was carrying a legionnaire's helmet with a big red crest. He was wearing this typical soldier's clothing: leather strips fixed at a black belt and a big sword dangling at his right.
The other two men next to him were harder to describe for Annabeth since they wore their helmets on their head. But she could tell that they weren't as important as the guy in the middle because they didn't have any medals or any big crest. They were probably guardians.
The man with the blond hair searched the sitting area until he spotted Annabeth and Percy.
His expression broke into a grin and immediately Annabeth felt panic rising in her chest, when the man started coming toward them.
"What is he doing? Do you know him?" She asked Percy who was watching the whole scenario rather calmly.
He gave a short nod but then the man was already in front of their table, looking down at the two of them. "Percy, there you are!"
Percy got up and the two of them hugged in a brotherly way.
Annabeth's eyes widened.
"Ave, Jason." Percy said with a sly grin, when they separated and sat down again.
Jason smiled too and for the first time he turned his look to Annabeth. "And who's that, Percy?"
"I'm Annabeth," Annabeth snapped.
Jason looked at Percy with a raised eyebrow. "Friendly."
"Annabeth, that's my cousin Jason." Percy's eyes wouldn't met hers.
"Your- your cousin?" Annabeth stuttered and suddenly it dawned on her. "So that's why you came to Rome in the first place. Your cousin is a big deal here and you can enjoy his privileges while your fellow citizens are sent into slavery."
"Annabeth, it isn't like that. I-" Percy said but Annabeth had enough. She didn't want to be around a Greek who betrayed his country.
"I'm going." Annabeth spat and grabbed the basket with Agrippina's silk. Percy called after her but she stormed out of the taverna and slammed the door behind her shut, forgetting the chance to eat Rome's best pea-puree.
Yay Dramaaaa 3 and because I know how much you love it, it will get a hell of more complicated pretty soon ;) (don't worry, Percabeth is coming as well)
Don't forget to leave a review, if you enjoyed reading
The Review Corner:
Knightlark
Thanks! I've been working on the idea for quite some time, so I hope it will work out well...
thein273
You really think this is historical accurate? I appreciate the compliment but seriously alone in the first chapter I have done a no-go for accurate historical stories: The coliseum. I can see that you are quite a history fan yourself so I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention this. The coliseum was built under the reign of Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus declared it open since Vespasian died before the building was finished. And all of this happened a good twenty years after Nero... Yes, I love history, especially Ancient History, but this is a fanfic. Research takes long, detailed research takes even longer. You will meet a lot of historical inaccuracy here. It hurts me as well but I just don't have enough time to invest in this story. I'm sorry, I really am.
Anyway, thank you for the compliment.
The last of them all
Thanks :D
Runner of Sorts
I DIDN'T PRESSURE YOU! and omg it's Peter Capaldi, I have no idea who that guy is but I hope he's gonna be a sassy doctor :D Also thanks for the review :)