Chapter Twenty-Three

Alabaster looked on with a passive expression as his eyes followed the pacing caesar. His black eyes held intelligence and cunning. If one were to look at the royal advisor, one would know that the pale man was one not to be trifled with.

Meanwhile the Emperor's thoughts swirled. Perseus' growing fame among the people threatened Triton's authority. The time would come inevitably that should Perseus choose to usurp the emperor and restore the Republic, the people would follow. He held his hands to his head. What could he do? "I hate him!" he shouted, kicking a table, sending the flower vase on top of it to the floor.

Alabaster watched with an unchanging expression at the angry royal. Finally he decided to voice his thoughts. "If I may sire," he said, stepping towards the panting man. "Why do you not just kill him?"

Triton turned to face his advisor, a savage look in his eye. "Why can't I just kill him?" he said quietly. "Do you know what I have heard the servants say?" He advanced towards the pale man and Alabaster's eyes showed a trace of fear.

"Do you know what they call him? Do you?" Alabaster began backing away from the caesar towards a wall. "They call him Perseus," Triton chuckled cruelly. "Perseus, Savior of Rome."The emperor grabbed ahold of the front of Alabaster's shirt and shoved him against the wall. "If I kill him he will be a martyr!" he shouted. "They call him merciful!" he bellowed, slamming the advisor against the wall, the pale man's eyes now full of fear. "If I kill him I will be the enemy, unmerciful to the savior!"

He threw the advisor to the ground. "Now Alabaster, my cunning servant, tell me, why can't I just kill him!" he bellowed. Alabaster lay on the ground, eyes full of terror at his emperor. Triton wasn't just angry, he was paranoid and insane.

Triton turned to the balcony where the red sun shone into the room. He rested a hand onto the railing and looked out at Rome before turning his head back to Alabaster. "We must be cunning. We shall wait. We will turn him against himself."

Percy sat next to Nico, leaning against the wall. The two brothers watched Luke and Thalia spar, spear and shield against sword. The two were very evenly matched until Luke kicked away Thalia's shield, leaving her with only a spear. Unfortunately for him, Thalia quickly disarmed him, hitting the bottom of his hilt with the flat of her spear. Then Percy saw Luke smirk and the eyes of the two brothers widened as they saw Luke pull Thalia into a kiss.

Thalia's hold on the spear slackened and the weapon fell to the ground. Eventually, the two broke away for air and Luke grinned at the blue eyed girl. The grin quickly disappeared when he saw Thalia smirk, and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground clutching his jaw.

Percy and Nico burst out laughing as they watched Thalia grinning over Luke, rubbing her knuckles. She placed a foot on her boyfriend's chest and leaned down, grinning cheekily at the blonde. "You want to play that game? I just rolled doubles, ace."

She made to get up until Luke grabbed her leg and pulled her onto the ground next to him. The blonde rolled on top of the spiky haired girl and gave her another kiss. This time though, Thalia wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

"Ew dude, can you not make out with my sister in front of me?" a disgusted Jason said.

The couple broke the kiss and glared at the younger boy who immediately paled. "Um, I'll just go now," he stuttered, walking over to Percy and Nico.

"Geez, did they really have to do that?" he said, sitting down. "I mean look at all the children they're scarring," he said, gesturing to the bearded and grey haired gladiators in the sparring area.

A hard object hit the back of his head. "I heard that!" came a female shout. Jason looked down to see what had hit him and found a sandal. "Good! Oh, and thanks for the gift!" the blonde grinned, waving the sandal in the air at the one-shoed Thalia.

"Jason, give it back!" she demanded.

He put a finger to his chin, as if thinking hard on his decision. "Hmm, how 'bout no." He laughed as he saw his sister turn a dark shade of red but instantly stopped when the electric eyed girl began charging at him. His eyes widened and he sent a wink to Percy and Nico. "See you on the other side my brothers!" he grinned before bolting away from the angry Thalia.

Percy and Nico were practically dying of laughter when Luke walked over to them. Sitting up, Percy stared at the two sprinting siblings. He turned to Luke and Nico. "Any of you got two denarii?"

Luke and Nico checked their pockets and nodded. Percy nodded seriously. "Good, because Jason's going to need them on the way to the Underworld," he said breaking out into a grin.

Nico and Luke rolled their eyes at the cheesy joke.

"Oh Percy," Nico said shaking his head. "You're jokes are so cheesy they're muensterous," he said seriously.

Luke and Percy stared at the younger boy before laughing.

"Aw, now I'm hungry," Luke complained.

"Oh, suck it up," Percy said.

"Nice to know you have such sympathy for me, Perce."

"It's what I do," Percy said, folding his arms behind his head with a grin.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Well, while you guys joke about cheese, I'm going inside," he said, getting up and heading inside the gladiator confines.

Nico slept peacefully that night, dreaming of the times when it was his family back on the farm. Everyone was alive and happy. 14 year-old Percy was teaching the 7 year old Nico and 9 year old Bianca how to ride a horse. If one were to look at the sleeping boy, one would see a single tear rolling down his cheek at the thought of his dead sister. In his dreams he was free. Here, he was happy. He dreamed of the good times, before Percy joined the army and before the Imperial guard came and destroyed all that he had ever known.

His dreams faded at the sound of metal clanging and Nico awoke, still half-asleep. His eyelids still closed, his ears listened to the faint sounds of metal and a groggy voice. It sounded familiar, but in his sleepy state he couldn't determine it. Finally, his exhaustion took over and drifted back into the dream realm.

Nico yawned as walked to the courtyard for breakfast with the other gladiators and soon found his friends at their usual place along the wall. But someone was missing. He sat down next to his siblings to see Percy comforting Thalia. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Jason and Percy looked at Nico grimly. Thalia turned her head slowly and Nico was shocked. Her electric blue eyes were bloodshot, small lines etched around her iris. "It's Luke, Nico. Luke's gone."

Author's Note: Dun-dun-duuuunnn. Yep. Paranoia, cheesiness, suspense. Thanks for reading and reviewing guys! Please review!