Disclaimer: I do not own anything and no money is made off of this! I'm just having an amazing time playing around.

AN: Sorry for the delay in the chapter! I'll try and have the next one up at some point this week as well. Thank you for all the feedback, you're amazing!

Tempting the Fates

Chapter Nineteen

Tryptic

Jason

"I can't go with her. You know that I can't. Not after earlier, not when she's…"

"It was an accident. Listen, I don't know exactly what happened between the two of you but we need this. You of all people ono—"

"You're not listening! No one is listening! I'm not over reacting. I just can't go there with her and I don't think… honestly, I don't think that she's the right fit for this mission."

"Just because you two had a disagreement or something doesn't mean—"

"It was not a disagreement. You saw her. Maybe it's being close to the ancient lands or maybe it's the stress of the whole situation building but she's losing control. Her powers are stronger than she is at the moment… don't look at me that way, you know that it's true. You've seen it. You've felt it. They're growing and they're not being controlled. Follow me, Grace?" She threw her hands out hoping that the former praetor would see sense.

First she lifted one hand and dropped it before repeating the action with the other, mimicking a scale. "There are two reasons for this: she either can't or she won't. Don't ask me to break down for you all the ways that could get someone killed."

They were sat on deck— it had started raining so everyone else had retreated below. Annabeth, though, had grabbed onto the son of Jupiter and requested to have a word with him about tactics. Issues she and Piper were having were immediately put aside— as much as he might wish to remain neutral, he couldn't say no to even a mini war council. The legion was all about procedure and stratagem.

Jason dropped his face into his hands and took a deep breath. The blonde locks had started to grow out, not the tidy cut preferred by the legion; he was starting to look more Greek every day. "I follow you," he finally responded.

Whatever answer he gave was not going to be satisfactory to someone. "Are you positive, Annabeth? Two hundred percent? Because if I do this… personal reasons aside now… but if I do this, there are a lot of people who aren't going to be happy with me. Especially not after your incident."

Annabeth stood before him, arms hugged to her body waiting for his reply. Her head bowed slightly conceding his point. So that's what it was now referred to. After Percy had fallen there had been an incident wherein she had been unconsolable and fanatical. "Three hundred percent. You saw the look on her face, Jason. I couldn't breathe… she wouldn't let me. I'm not saying she did it on purpose, I'm rational enough to know that. But what she means and what she is capable of doing right now… is it worth it? With Hazel and I going down there… she's not going to charmspeak the sceptre from him."

She dropped down in front of where Jason sat, crouching before him. Her grey eyes met with ones the colour of the sky and held on tight. There was something in them, strong and imperial like Percy's but not in the daring and prevocational way that landed the other demigod into trouble more times than it landed him in good. Cousins though they all were, technically, none of them really looked alike. There were a few defining characteristics that half siblings from the same godly parent might share— shape of their eyes, slope of their nose, curvature of their mouth, length and leanness of their muscles— but the likeness wasn't the likeness of some not-quite relation. Maybe Jason hadn't held the weight of the world solely on his shoulders but he had the look of someone who would understand sharing it.

"It can't be her, Jason." Annabeth pushed.

The second that he yielded, she saw it in those same eyes blinking once, twice, thrice and then the minor inclination of the head.

"Okay. It can't be her. We'll be there soon but if it's not her then it has to be someone else."

For the first time since the son of Poseidon had fallen into the pit with Nico di Angelo at his side, she reached out and grasped someone. Her fingers closed around his bicep and she gave a reassuring squeeze.

"Diocletian was the last demigod ruler of Rome, Jason. And you know just as well as I do whose son he was."

"Jupiter." That one word sealed the decision like wax on a an envelope. He sat up a little bit straighter and regained the posture the Roman legions were famous for— powerful and contained. "We're arriving in Croatia soon. I need to go speak with her." The son of the sky god stood and scratched at the back of his neck when he turned back around to cast a secondary look to Annabeth.

Give him ghosts, monsters, angry satyrs, hungry cyclopses, pissed off goes any day. What he was going to face was a thousand, no, a million times worse. "Are you sure you don't want to be the one to tell her?"

Annabeth stood before him blinking.

"Yeah… no. I didn't think so. Hopefully I come back from this alive otherwise you'll have to find another idiot to take her place."

After that, Jason's afternoon became really interesting. The fight he had with Piper was prodigious— the fact that she had managed to restrain herself enough not to throw a chair at his head was the highlight. She had had a million choice words to share with him, the latter half which had resulted in him fighting against kneeling on the floor before her, holding his stomach because he was sure he was going to be violently ill. The way his insides twisted wasn't natural like they were physically knotting in on themselves.

At that point she'd started crying and forgive him. Piper apologised and agreed that maybe she should sit this mission out— she was exhausted after all. Maybe some rest would do her good, especially with the upcoming battle with Gaea and whatever awaited for them at the Doors of Death because that wouldn't be pretty either.

Jason extricated himself from the position of supplication at her feet and had nodded before leaving the room.

Following the fight was breaking the news to Hazel who, fortunately, took this far better than Piper. This was much more easily explained with a tale of exhaustion and maybe she'd been more effected by seeing Percy and Nico fall than she'd let on. The look in the child of Pluto's eyes was one of compliance but the look on her face read 'save it, Grace. We'll be having a chat about this later.' Later was fine as long as it wasn't right then.

Then they arrived in Croatia, wandered around a beautiful city never having the chance to enjoy getting lost between Annabeth's memorising of a local map and Hazels' ability to feel the streets (and Jason might not have minded getting lost for awhile just so he could clear his head of all the shit that was happening), and then they discovered an oversized Angel with a really poor fashion sense enjoying some of the local ice cream.

"Is that really…"

"An Angel," Annabeth supplied for Hazel. "There are less towardly things."

"An Angel. That's a nice change. Somehow I pictured them differently."

"You mean without the rooster wings," Jason supplied. "Somehow a Rhode Island Red wasn't exactly what I had in mind when my mom bothered to drag me to church."

Hazel's face pinched in the way only a girl born during her time period could, looking both displeased with the language and amused at the same time. "Well, yes."

"He's seen us and… wait… is he actually waiving us over?" Annabeth stalked forward edging around the crowds in the streets and on the sidewalks. It was a beautiful area filled with various vendors peddling their goods and while she did not cut a straight line, she was both cautious and predatory. Jason had to admire that about her: a tenacious daughter of Athena and unflinching.

The younger demigods followed after attempting to maintain the same air as she, on the hunt without alerting their prey by occasionally glancing at goods being sold and speaking with the vendors for five seconds before turning attention else where. Only one or two grumbled in their language unhappy with foreigners touching their goods but clearly not having money or inkling to buy them.

A crowd passed by then and Annabeth attempted to push through but she wasn't large enough to have much effect and was carried away a few feet by the taller gentlemen laughing and shouting as they went. When she untangled herself and bolted forward back in the direction of their neighbourhood Angel, he was gone.

"What! He was just there. Where did he go?"

Jason couldn't help but laugh when the first place she glanced was up.

"I would have done the same thing," Hazel defended holding onto Annabeth's arm. Apparently glancing skyward was just as likely a direction as any and yet the image of a rooster angel man just cracked him up. Maybe Jason Grace was losing it but if that turned out to be some kind of monster man or enemy elite he was fairly certain he was going to have to suppress a case of the hysterical giggles whilst wielding his sword. For a split second he indulged in the thought wondering who was the first demigod to go completely off the rails.

"Last place I saw him was over there," Jason waved toward the ice cream truck unmoving at the side of a square. It was hot and it had been a long day so he reached into his pocket and produced some local currency and bought an ice cream cone.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"It's hot. Don't pretend you aren't hungry."

Shooting a withering stare in his direction, she accepted the fast melting cone and sucked some of the liquid off the side before chowing down. Hazel accepted with far less protest.

Then he felt it. A warm wind but not like a breeze, natural and flowing, but one that was created by a presence. Much like he had felt with Boreas, but tropical and zoetic— Jason immediately turned his attention and took over tracking.

The other two demigods followed behind him quickly unsure but unspeaking, not wanting to break his concentration as they stalked their angel. "He can't really be an angel. I mean… could he?" The daughter of the Underworld whispered.

"I guess it's not any more strange than satyrs or fawns or the gods themselves, is it?" Annabeth whispered in her ear, staying close behind.

"Yeah but angels?" Hazel's curls fell across her sticky forehead as she shook her head. It was a weird idea to entertain.

Around the boulevard, down an alley and further into the city they traveled on the trail of the warm zephyr. The closer the trio edged on the vicinity of their target, the more tangible the trail became. It was like seeing warm lines painted in the air, signs that showed him what direction to pass across the roads and behind buildings. Blue eyes were sharp, aware of any danger they might encounter but oddly enough there were none.

What that said about where they were heading, he didn't know.

Probably right into a trap. Hasn't that been how this whole trek has been going from day one? Fortunately, I'm sure the girls and myself could use an outlet. Especially the girls… on second thought I kind of pity whoever we come in contact with today.

That steeled his resolve further. They were strong warriors he had at his side and whatever they faced— Eros or Cupid or some demonic hybrid from the depths of Tartarus— they would be valiant.

He was glad once more Piper had remained on board the Argo II; his gut tangled and gnarled like the roots of a tree, doleful that he could not pretend his resolve in her was unshakeable, or that she herself was steadfast.

So many things were changing.

Then he spotted it. Up ahead, it was like a fortress rising dark and daunting in the sky in a way that commanded reverence; Jason was happy to give it.

"That's it," wisdom's daughter's voice was firm and eager.

Remember, she has her own wants as well.

The palace before them was breathtaking in the way only something so pivotal to history can be— there a leader had lived, a nation had thrived, a people had risen and flourished and declined. Sure, it was putting a lot on just a place but Jason could feel the tug in the air, gravitating toward what he could only think of as a birthright.

"How are we going to get in? I can't see anywhere to enter except… well, I guess as tourists? Over there?" Hazel pointed out to them a few blocks down a large crowd of people waiting their turn to pay and push through turnstiles and be lead on a guided tour.

A zig zag of motion caught his eyes, russet feathers bustling in and out of view a few floors up. The problem? It was decidedly out of the way of the tourist group, and it was looking magnificent if a little decrepit— probably not completely safe to waltz around.

Annabeth launched into analyst mode and proposed scavenging the street for a handful of objects she had seen on the way over that could possibly be crafted into some kind of device— Jason interrupted her mid thought.

"Or I could fly us up," the son of the sky offered.

Steel orbs bonded with his own, unblinking, and for a split second Jason felt a tremble but not of his limbs. Inside. When she broke contact her voice was unwavering.

"I suppose that saves time," was probably the closest the daughter of wisdom was going to bestow upon a son of a deity who had control over elements (funny enough since he just assumed that she praised Percy for the same thing).

"It will be easier if you both hold on."

Slipping his arms around Annabeth, her body as pressed flush to his on his left side, Hazel to his right but where Annabeth turned in, the child of Pluto shied away holding only so much as was necessary. Up they flew, landing on a ledge a few seconds later. If the tourists noticed anything, he couldn't tell the difference. None of them were looking upwards save for a small boy but he could have seen anything.

Hazel laced her fingers together and touched the stone of the building, gliding her hands over it as if she were casually touching an old friend.

Maybe she is.

After all, she had been dead. Maybe this place held some kind of meaning.

"So much has changed," her voice was soft, just above a whisper and hoarse. "It doesn't sit well. These structures… they held such different intentions but they've been repurposed." Tip toeing further, Hazel's touch to the building was firm, feeling every little crevice in the building. The older demigods stood unmoving, watching her at work.

Maybe it was something to do with her power of wealth— finding minerals or jewels or unique combinations that could bring for riches— but whatever she was feeling was directly related to Diocletian's palace.

"Everything is wrong. The building feels it… the spirits feel it… be careful. He won't be happy." She turned to face them and for the first time, Jason recognised a dark aura about her that intimated her relation (however small) to Nico. Her voice was grave but she pointed and continued, "there's a staircase over here. We go down."

Of course we go down. We always go down and under.

Whatever hesitancy the son of the sky felt towards going underground, he refused to show. The slight quake of his hand was steadied when he pressed it to his side. And he inhaled and exhaled and reminded himself that the walls did not move, they could not close in. Just because he had nearly died quite a few times under a city similarly (nearly drowning while the son of the sea was impotent and paralysed to the same fate being only one of the times).

Taking a torch from inside the building, they headed down into the depths, all the while Jason prayed that Gaea slumbered.

Because the walls could move and the ceiling could fall.

The ground could swallow them all.

AN: And there is a cliffhanger! Apologies as this chapter wound up going longer than I thought. I changed my mind about a few things and when I started writing my ideas shifted and became something else entirely anyway! Which I'm completely okay with because I think the next chapter will be even more interesting. Stay tuned and thank you for all of your support! :)

And as a final note, there is a fun little fic challenge up on tumblr for percico and I decided to enter my story Elegy. I'd really appreciate any support and of course, you can all read some other fun Percico at the same time. .com