"I'll go."
The cacophony of noise that had drowned out even the sounds of the new recruits training under the supervision of Dionysus down in the Labyrinth beneath their feet suddenly fell to tomb-like silence. There was a breath of it, before the room was plunged back into the raging ocean of noise.
"No, Leo!"
"Not again, Leo! We'll send someone else!"
"Who said we had to send anyone?"
"I'll go!" Leo roared, and again the room quieted. His eyes met Percy's. The child of Poseidon was leaning against the wall in the corner, eyes listless and bloodshot as always, but now watching Leo closely. A look of respect passed between the two, and Percy nodded in sorrowful acceptance of Leo's decision.
The rest of the room was not so complacent.
"Leo, we can't ask you to do this." It was Reyna this time, stepping forward, her toga closer to the floor than it usually was now that it was only hanging on thin, wasted shoulders. Despite her seemingly ruined figure, her eyes were more reflective of the time she had spent in the Underworld. Indeed, for her first few days here, back from the dead, she had been almost a ghost herself. Only a sheen of her original strength had returned, a show of power to push away help while she dealt with what she had seen and experienced alone in her heart.
"No," Leo returned, nodding, "you can't. Which is why I'm offering. No one else can fly on Festus the way I can, and no one else has done something like this before. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise you all again."
It was a half-hearted attempt at a joke. They all knew that Leo would never come back from this, even if it was a success, a highly unlikely possibility. It was doubtful that Ouranus, the Protogenos of the Sky, would die by an explosion of Greek Fire. It'd probably just make him mad enough to throw his full force at the remaining demigods alive, Percy thought, and then Leo would only experience the fate they all would receive a few hours earlier. The thought wasn't comforting.
Jake Mason advanced from the back of the room to stand by Leo. "You sure?" He asked, and Leo faced him, eyes resolute and tired.
"Very." Leo's voice was firm, if sorrowful.
"Then okay." Jake couldn't stop the tears that stuck in his throat when he spoke.
Leo wasn't oblivious and pulled the man into a hug. Jake buried his face into his friend's shoulder. At the back of the room, Percy had looked up and was watching the proceedings. He found his throat tightening and moved forward out of the shadows, reaching out to hug Leo. Leo returned it, once Jake had let go, and found his own throat betraying him. The son of Hephaestus's eyes glimmered with tears, and his voice was strange when he pulled away from Percy and spoke.
"I'd like to talk to Calypso, if you don't mind." He addressed Reyna, who nodded solemnly, and turned, Leo trailing her down a long hall till they reached the bathroom of the seaside villa.
When Reyna left, Leo turned on the faucet and tossed a drachma into the running water. His voice was cut off by the door closing when Reyna moved to return to the main room. She was stopped in her tracks by Percy, who was leaned against the wall a ways away, his arms crossed.
"You know that it's not gonna work, don't you?" He confronted her.
She nodded. "We all do."
"Then why are we sacrificing him?" Anger was boiling to life in Percy's voice. "There's no way sending a dude with a whole bunch of Greek Fire on the top of a metal dragon to blow himself up in the middle of Ouranus's gut is gonna kill the Protogenos of the Sky." Percy drew out the last four words, rage seething beneath them.
"No," Reyna conceded, keeping her calm, "but if Jason's still up there- if he's still alive- then we might be able to weaken Ouranus enough for Zeus to incapacitate him."
"If Jason's alive." Percy repeated, emphasizing the doubts she had placed in her own answer. His anger had faded a little at his realization of Reyna's exhaustion.
Reyna nodded. "And if not, then we've done all we can, and we can die knowing that."
Percy sighed a little, reconciling himself to their fate.
They walked a little ways down the hall, stopping before they entered the main room.
"Should we tell Piper?" Percy asked, pity in his voice.
"Yes... But not yet."
Percy nodded in acquiescence to her decision, and they pushed through the door, back into the chaos of the main room.
- - -
Rowan shook Jyn awake when they landed, still somewhat shaken from her reminder of Jedha's prison.
"We're here." She explained when Jyn gave her a confused look.
Outside the window lay the waste of Jedha. A large city, looking more like a fortress, lay far away in the sandy desert of the planet, rising on a huge outcropping of rust-colored rock into the burning light of the sun. Cassian's words, spoken to Jyn, reflected what Rowan was thinking.
"That's Jedha," he introduced, "Or what's left of it. We find Saw, we find your father."
Rowan remained silent, throwing her backpack over her shoulders and following Cassian, similarly prepared, K-2, and Jyn, who also bore a duffel bag, out of the U-Wing.
That was when the feeling hit her. Like a wave, dread washed over her, and she knew that something was in Jedha that was not natural. She glanced at Cassian, who also seemed tense, and knew her suspicions were not exactly ungrounded.
The group moved to a small projection of rock in front of the ship that stuck out from the burnt orange plains beneath them and gave them an excellent view of the city-fortress. Hovering above it was a massive Imperial Destroyer. Small cargo ships hurried to and fro from the city and the Destroyer, and these were what seemed to catch Jyn's attention. Her and Cassian were crouched behind a large rock, watching the activity with binoculars. K-2 and Rowan stood side by side behind them. Rowan's eyes were far away, preoccupied with the tugging she felt in her mind from some unknown force.
"What's with the Destroyer?" Jyn asked, and Rowan was jerked reluctantly from her thoughts. She watched Cassian hand her his set of binoculars and respond.
"It's because of your old friend, Saw Gerrera. He's been attacking cargo shipments."
Rowan couldn't help but notice the harshness in Cassian's voice. She knew that he knew that something foreign was here.
"What are they bringing in?" Jyn persisted.
"It's 'what are they taking out?'. Kyber crystal." He answered, and glanced at Rowan. Understanding passed between them. "All they can get." His eyes fell back to Jyn, not without a side glance of concern at Rowan. "We wondered why they were stripping the temple; now we know. It's fuel for the weapon." Cassian's eyes flickered with dread.
"The weapon your father's building." K-2 stayed matter-of-factly beside Rowan, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Dang, K!" She gasped, her heart seeming to restart. The tension of the conversation had absorbed Rowan, and the dread and anticipation in her heart had been more than enough to completely distract her. She'd forgotten the presence of the droid standing beside her.
Cassian only laughed to himself. Jyn looked slightly irritated, and Rowan couldn't tell if her next words were directed at her or the droid.
"Maybe we should leave target practice behind." The woman mused, rather pointedly.
K-2 sounded offended. "Are you talking about me?"
"She's right." Cassian agreed. "We need to blend in. Stay with the ship." He commanded the droid, standing and walking to Rowan.
K-2 was indignant. "I can blend in." He protested. "I'm an Imperial droid. This city is under Imperial occupation."
Jyn was standing now, walking toward the droid with her bag in her hands. "Half the people here want to reprogram you. The other half want to put a hole in your head."
"I'm surprised you're so concerned for my safety." K-2's voice was dry.
"I'm not." Jyn plopped her bag into K-2's outstretched hands. "I'm just worried they might miss you and hit me."
And the woman walked off. Cassian followed her, patting K-2 on the shoulder, a laugh in his eyes. Rowan walked with him, putting K-2 behind them, though she heard his next statement clearly.
"Doesn't sound so bad to me." K-2 muttered.
Rowan stumbled, snorting with laughter, and Cassian beamed in amusement as he steadied her.
The sun was hot, but the temperature of the planet was cold, so that they shivered in the shadows and sweated in the sunlight. With these alternations, they made their way to the city. On the way, Cassian placed a hand on Rowan's upper arm, slowing and stopping her as she gave him a concerned look. Jyn didn't notice and continued forward.
"Something's here, isn't it?" He asked, fixing her with a knowing expression.
Rowan nodded, squinting against the sun that peeked out from behind Cassian's head, giving him a strange looking halo. It turned the flyaway hairs into lines of gold and gave him a magnificent crown. She smirked a little to herself at it, but Cassian was too preoccupied with his own premonitions to notice.
"Do you know what it is?" His voice was concerned.
"I have an idea," Rowan returned enigmatically. "If it is who I think it is, then he's not much of a threat to the right people."
"Who is it?"
"I'll tell you when I find out." Rowan returned, a mischievous smile slipping slyly over her face. She turned back to follow Jyn, and sighing, Cassian followed.
"You're not at all helpful, you know." He commented when they were moving at a swifter pace, catching up with Jyn.
"Who said I had to be?" She laughed.
Cassian rolled his eyes.
"If I'm right, then we'll both probably meet him." Rowan elaborated. "If not, then that's certainly okay." She grinned rather grimly. "I'm not a big fan of him."
Cassian smirked. "Who are you a big fan of, then?"
"Draven." Rowan answered, shooting him a sarcastic look. Cassian laughed. It was then that they caught up to Jyn standing on the dusty road in front of the great city gates that reached high above their heads.
- - -
"This where we get in?" Jyn asked. Cassian only nodded.
They got in the city by way of a fake ID and a few lies. Rowan found herself amazed there hadn't been more blasters and bullets, but she was discovering, to her relief, that violent entrances weren't Cassian's style. She had never been really good with a blaster anyway.
They were soon walking through streets just as crowded and tense as the ones that filled the trading post on the Ring of Kafrene. Rowan soon noticed that the tension went much deeper than the business, though. Stormtroopers marches in troops about the place; hooded and cloaked men and women went about, eyes fixed on the ground, not daring to look up. The Stormtroopers were what unnerved Rowan the most, and true to his nature, Cassian did his best to step in front of her as casually as possible whenever they passed near.
Rowan followed close behind Cassian and Jyn, keeping her eyes peeled for any indication of the person, the god, whose presence she had felt. The dread was just beginning to grow noticeably stronger when she watched Jyn accidentally bump into some passers-by.
"Hey!" The man turned, facing Jyn, who started at his deformed face. "You just watch yourself!" He threatened, but his friend struggled against him, giving Cassian an apologetic look as he pulled his friend away from the fight he obviously wanted.
Cassian did the same with Jyn. "No, no," He placated, gesturing to Jyn and calling her a "tourist" as he continued, "we don't want any trouble." When the men had turned away, he forced Jyn forward, muttering "Come on, come on."
Behind them, Rowan smirked a little. Yes, the tension was palpable.
Her knowledge was further confirmed when they passed one of the holographic wanted signs she'd seen with her face floating above for quite some time. A voice came from it, the generic tone of every Stormtrooper she'd ever encountered.
"Citizens of Jedha, you must come forward with information of the location of this missing cargo pilot. A reward of 600 credits for the information shall be awarded." Came the voice, and Rowan suddenly became far more interested in the face that hovered above it than she ever thought she could.
It was tan, a natural color, with a small nose and large brown eyes. His face was framed with black facial hair and a black mustache, flight goggles acting as a headband that pulled his greasy, stringy but abundant black hair back from his face, in a ponytail at the back of his head. There was an awkward smile on his lips, innocent, revealing a sweetness of character.
She was pulled out of her reverie by Cassian's voice filtering through the hot sun and dusty crowds. She looked up to see they had gotten a little ways ahead, and hurried forward.
"I had a contact- one of Saw's rebels- but he's just gone missing," Cassian was explaining to Jyn when Rowan caught up, "His sister will be looking for him. The temple's been destroyed, but she'll be there waiting. We'll give her your name and hope that gets us a meeting with Saw."
"Hope?" Jyn asked, incredulous and a little disappointed, stopping so that Rowan almost ran into her. Rowan shot her an irritated look.
"Yeah," Cassian gave Jyn an equally incredulous look, as if to ask "what else did you think we'd do". "Rebellions are built on hope."
The faith in Cassian's voice gave courage to Rowan, but she was immediately distracted. Behind Cassian, above his head, there stood a figure, silhouetted against the sun. Rowan was watching it curiously, and Cassian followed her gaze to it.
"Who is it?" He asked, recognizing the look she gave whenever she saw anyone from Earth there.
The figure then turned, and a gust of wind surged through the streets and along the rooftops. The cloak then drifted away, revealing nothing to be beneath it. The magenta colored fabric gracefully fluttered down to rest at Rowan's feet. She picked up the fabric and felt its richness, and then she smirked, grim understanding flickering behind her eyes. Cassian watched her change in expression.
"Who is it?" He asked again, and Rowan looked up. Jyn's eyes flicked between the two, confused.
"Who I thought it was." Rowan answered. "But I'm going alone to meet him." She added, nodding her farewell to them both and turning back into the crowd.
Cassian grabbed her upper arm as she moved to go and met her eyes. "You sure?" He asked.
Rowan nodded and shrugged. "Sure as I can be." She answered.
Cassian nodded, recognizing the firm expression in her eyes. "Okay... We'll meet here before we go to Saw."
Rowan's gaze was distracted, examining the cloak, as she nodded and turned. As if waking from a trance at the last second, she turned back to Cassian and Jyn, giving a two-fingered salute that reminded Cassian disturbingly of the visions he'd seen in the siren's mist, and finally disappearing with a smirk.
- - -
"Clover!" Luke hissed in alarm when the satyr moved before Romulus gave the signal from the ship.
The satyr looked helpless. "My leg fell asleep!" He protested.
Luke rolled his eyes and looked back to the battlefield that lay before them. They'd hiked from a point far away on the shifting desert sands where they'd parked the ship. Romulus was communicating with them through radio, now high in the air above their heads. On any other planet, the ship would have been visible; not so on Jakku. The blistering heat, rising in waves from the sand, blocked out the view of anything more than two hundred feet in the air unless one squinted against the sun.
The ship they were looking for was parked outside of the city, and to there did Romulus do his best to direct them. The only issue, however, was the raging battle between that point and their current one.
Luke had spent some time here on Jakku before moving to Coruscant. He'd been a scrapper, selling pieces and parts of discarded ships to the buyers in their stalls littered throughout the city, if it deserved such a term. When he'd worked hard enough, he'd bought a ride with a smuggler by the name of Han Solo, that offered him passage to Coruscant, where his prospects were much better for jobs. There he'd lived on the streets for a little while, till he came across the bartender of the place that'd hired him, the place he'd worked until his lifestyle had been shattered by the satyr next to him, inching slowly but noticeably forward.
"Okay," Romulus's voice cracked to life over the radio in Luke's ear. "Move forward twenty feet- slowly- and there's an overturned stall you can hide behind." He commanded.
Luke nodded, though he knew the man couldn't hear him. Together, him and Clover snuck forward, softly inching through the sands, past a few corpses whose blood stained the dust. But one of the corpses was, in fact, alive. His voice rose, high and warbling, into the air.
"Traitors!" He screamed. "Traitors to the Rebellion!"
His bloody hand was pointed directly at them. Without a word, Luke and Clover turned on their heels and ran back to their original hiding place. Two or three other men arrived at the side of their fallen comrade then, but the man had expired in his attempts to point out the "traitors to the Rebellion". Luke released a pent up sigh, peeking out from behind the overturned trading stall when he though the coast was clear and seeing that the new arrivals had returned with war cries to the fight.
Luke rested his sweating forehead against the still relatively cool metal of the stall, slowing his heart rate and forcing himself to breathe. A hand suddenly prodded his shoulder, and concerned, he turned his face to see Clover, sheet white, facing the plains away from the raging battle. Alarm spiked in Luke's chest, and he turned to see what had scared the satyr so much.
The sight terrified him, too.
It was a manticore, slowing to a halt before them. Immediately, Luke drew Backbiter and moved to stand in front of Clover.
The manticore sounded pleased when it spoke. "Ah! More half-bloods for me to speak to!"
- - -
Rowan had slipped the cloak about her shoulders when Cassian and Jyn disappeared behind her. She knew it would tug her gently in the direction she needed to go, and it did, leading her ever so irresistibly through streets that seemed to block out the sun, past the low-lives and prostitutes that slunk through their lives in the filth of the alleys. The Holy City, it seemed, suffered from great neglect.
The cloak led her to a small salon, broken and abandoned, at the end of a long alley. The sun, coming from behind the clouds, drenched it in a reddish light so that it looked like the clay of the houses carved into the mountains near Santa Fe back home. Or, rather, back on Earth. Rowan advanced up the steps, passing women robed in rich pink, their faces covered except for the eyes. She nodded to them in greeting, and their eyes followed her intently, silently, maliciously. Rowan shrugged off the dread that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She steeled herself for what she knew this meeting would address.
She jogged up the clay steps and into the cool of the shade brought by the overhang from the salon's roof, supported by Corinthian columns, though Rowan highly doubted the builder of the salon knew what those were. The cloak fell from her shoulders then, its job done, and Rowan advanced forward, taking long, firm steps through the doors that swung open of their own accord when she reached them. She entered into a wide room, the ceiling high above. The floor beneath her consisted of marble, columns standing solemnly in a circle about her to support a domed roof that reached high about her head.
The salon was empty, and yet Rowan turned in a circle, holding out her hands as if to present herself.
"Hello, Eros." She said, and her voice echoed in the room. "You called?"
About her, a breeze suddenly arose, sweeping past her and forming into a man behind her. He was tall, muscular, with white wings that fell to rest behind his frame. A white t-shirt and jeans clothed his form, beneath his face. It was hard, difficult to look at, with red eyes that watched her with all the intensity of a preying lion.
"That I did." Eros said, "So glad you could come."