Chapter 33 - Standard
Percy headed towards the Colosseum, since it was the most visible point and he knew the Roman Forum was close.
Once at the Colosseum he asked someone passing by for directions to the Roman Forum and soon found himself amongst the ruins of the ancient religious centre of Rome.
Column capitals and blocks lay scattered amongst the ruins of various temples, all in various states of collapse from earthquakes and many parts being cannibalised for other buildings, and yet still standing tall.
Percy strolled down Via Sacra, skirted the arch of the Emperor Titus, passed the Temple of Vesta and Temple of Caesar and finally found himself approaching the east side of the Temple of Saturn. Percy frowned up at the Temple of Saturn.
It wasn't much, really just six columns along one side of the temple with one measly column remaining on each side. But a quick glance at the relevant information for the former temple informed Percy that those eight columns were only the front porch of the temple.
He hesitated, glancing around at all of the tourists whom were meandering around the ruins.
The demigod wasn't sure how he could get up to the temple without questions being raised by mortals around him, since he was certain they wouldn't appreciate him clambering over the ancient ruins.
But Percy didn't know what to do or search for when he got up to the temple, set two dozen feet above him.
There was no one whom could provide a distraction for the demigod, so Percy sighed and vaulted over the railing. He scaled the foundations of the temple with ease, hauling himself up and realising just how large the Ionic columns were.
Percy turned his attention away from the towering columns and frowned down at the main area of the temple, now just forlorn steps leading down towards jutting and crumbling walls of stone with smaller areas protected from the elements. Percy put his hands on his hips.
"Okay, Kronos," Percy said to the air, "I'm here."
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, maybe for Kronos to emerge from nowhere and hand something over to him, but Percy assumed that was rather unlikely considering how they'd yet again parted ways.
Percy scanned over the ruins, more than aware that many tourists were gaping at him as he trampled across one of the most ancient temples in Rome. There was nothing there. Percy ground his teeth, wondering if Luke and Kronos had just sent him on a wild chase for something that didn't exist, before his gaze landed on one of the smaller areas covered with a tarpaulin.
Or, more specifically, the smoky figure of a jaguar as it opened its mouth in a wide yawn that bared sharp wispy canines at the demigod before rising to it's large paws and leaping down from its perch.
The weeds beneath its paws flattened, leaving Percy questioning whether it really was conjured from the Mist or was in fact a real jaguar. Percy backed up either way, since those fangs looked sharp.
The big cat stretched once more, looking rather irritated to have been woken. Percy heard a loud caw, and glanced up to find a crow had landed on the very top of the Temple of Saturn. It peered down at the demigod before turning and grooming through its wing with its beak.
Percy hesitated as the jaguar slipped underneath the tarp, before sighing and following.
Stupid immortals with their complex signs.
The alpha ended up jarring his knee when he landed, grunting as he dropped to one knee, the fall further than he'd expected. He turned and peered back up, but the exit had sealed over.
"That's great," Percy muttered under his breath. The black jaguar snarled from ahead of him, so Percy sighed and forced his feet beneath him. "I'm coming," he muttered, "I'm coming."
Percy uncapped Riptide to give himself some light before advancing down the small tunnel, having to turn to the side at sections to scrape through. The jaguar a dozen feet ahead faded through a cave-in, and Percy swore under his breath before working at the base of the crumbled rocks. Fortunately the cave-in wasn't packed in and wasn't large, so Percy was able to scrape some rocks aside and continue on when they crumbled down.
Before long, the small tunnel widened out into an underground cavern. Percy gaped at the empty statue plinth in the centre of the room, the base ivory. However, the empty statue plinth wasn't the most surprising thing in that underground cavern.
The Mist black jaguar had dissolved into the air, now shot through with gold as it approached a wooden staff set on its own plinth into a hole chiselled into the stone.
A wooden staff with a banner flowing from the top, a banner inscribed with the initials S.P.Q.R. and the number XIII attached to the top. Sitting on the top of the wooden staff was a golden lion.
The Mist's golden colour deepened as it flowed to the top of the staff, and solidified again only this time into the image of a golden jaguar, mouth locked open into a vicious snarl as it faced the lion.
Percy gaped open-mouthed, staring in disbelief at the Roman standard that had been hidden beneath the Temple of Saturn for years.
XIII.
The Thirteenth.
The demigod reached forwards, closing a hand around the wooden shaft of the standard. The golden figures gleamed in the darkness of the cavern as he lifted it out of the plinth.
The little jaguar even had golden whiskers, Percy noted.
The alpha frowned deeply, resting the standard against its plinth as he noticed the packaging half-hidden behind the plinth, looking like it had been forgotten and discarded years ago. He frowned deeply, moving over to it and promptly froze when he recognised the handwriting scrawled over the delivery slip. The handwriting of a twelve year old:
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor, Empire State Building
New York, NY
Percy's hands fisted. How the Hades had Kronos got hold of that?
It had been years, but Percy still remembered his first quest and his encounter with Medusa like it had only happened yesterday.
He didn't know if the head was still in the box, and he honestly didn't want to find out either. The thought of opening that box and coming face-to-face with the monster's eyes – and being subsequently turned to stone – sent shivers down his spine.
Percy capped Riptide, picking up the standard again. He didn't know why or how Kronos had got hold of Medusa's head, and he wasn't going to ask to find out, but he did hope that the Titan knew what he was doing.
The old box he tucked under his left arm, holding the standard aloft in his right as he turned to scan the cavern, noticing again the empty plinth where the Statue of Saturn should be standing.
"Please don't tell me there's another statue out there that someone carted off," Percy pleaded to the darkness. The standard shuddered in his hand, though whether that was an answer or something entirely different Percy didn't know.
Percy frowned at the figures on top of the standard. "Is there any way out of here or will I be stuck here forever?" He questioned, maybe hoping that something would answer.
The standard glowed brighter, the jaguar on top seeming to snarl at him, which Percy really hoped was his imagination. Of all the things Kronos could have given him, a vicious jaguar was not what he had expected.
Not knowing where else to go, as there was no other exit in the cavern aside from the way he'd entered, Percy ducked back into the passageway. With the standard lighting the way it was much easier to make his way down the small tunnel, and Percy soon arrived at the exit to the cavern.
The side was smooth and the exit still seemed to have been covered back over, so Percy glared at the standard in his hand. "I don't suppose you can help?" He asked, not really expecting anything.
So he was surprised when the lion trembled and the standard slid a few inches down in his hands to rest the butt against the floor. For a brief second nothing happened and Percy considered hitting the jaguar against the stones beside his face, at least until the ground rumbled and rocketed up to the surface.
Percy swore and ducked, guessing that the cavern wasn't used to tarpaulin covering the exit.
The standard in his hand shimmered and shrank down into a baton, so Percy ducked out from under the tarp into daylight.
"There he is!"
Percy's head jerked up at that shout, since those words were regularly screamed at him. He wasn't disappointed, finding that a pair of rather irritated security were making their way over, glazed-over golden eyes fixed firmly on the son of Poseidon.
Eidolons.
The demigod cursed under his breath. He shook the baton in his hand, which snarled back at him. "Hey," Percy said, "I need your help," he added as he vaulted a railing, keeping a tight grip on the box with Medusa's head in. The duck-tape sealing her head inside looked old and semi-frayed and he didn't want to lose his grip and end up spilling her head onto the Roman Forum.
Questions would be raised if everything alive around him turned to stone, and Percy assumed that would cause more problems than he wanted to deal with while running from security for walking all over the ancient ruins of the temple.
Percy bounded back into the streets of Rome, glancing behind him to find that the security guards were still following him. "Look," Percy said once he'd ducked into a side street and extended out the standard, hardly believing that he was talking to the golden figures atop the Roman standard for the Thirteenth Legion. "I've got to get back to my friends. Can you two do something?"
The jaguar bared its teeth at Percy, while the lion growled. Immediately, Percy remembered how the standard for the Twelfth Legion was activated – remembered himself yelling Twelfth Legion Fulminata in defence of Camp Jupiter. Unfortunately, Percy didn't know the name of this legion. "If you two could give me a hand here that would be great," Percy said.
The two seemed to consider it, making Percy briefly entertain the idea of throwing the standard at the eidolons, if only in the hope it would activate itself. But then the jaguar flicked golden eyes over to the eidolon-possessed security guard and immediately it was as if the spirits were wading through tar. Next to him, the lion purred and then the earth was crumbling beneath the two spirits.
Percy stared at the chasm that he'd created across the side street.
"Ah. Thanks you two," he said. "Think you can fix the street now?"
The lion roared at him, which Percy mentally translated as NO, and the jaguar lay down across the pole and promptly closed its eyes. Percy sighed. "Right. Ok." He craned his neck around to get his bearings.
He didn't know how long he'd spent on his personal task, but knew he had to get back to the ship. Percy glanced from the old box tucked under one arm towards the glowing standard held in his other hand.
"How am I supposed to get back to the Argo II like this?"
The golden figures snoozed in response. Percy shook his head and skirted the chasm in the ground, stepping back out onto the main street of Rome and hoping that the Mist disguised the standard as a stick or a cane – either option would be better than being accused of stealing from ancient ruins.
Despite his close brush with eidolons, Percy was feeling markedly better about their chances. Though, faintly, he tried to consider what reasons Kronos might have for leaving him Medusa's head.
None of them were particularly nice.
Fun fact: the 13th Legion genuinely had a lion for a standard. They were created by Julius Caesar (which was unusual because every other legion he created had a bull as a standard) and were with him when he crossed the Rubico and throughout his conquering exploits. Look it up, it's interesting. And their name is also very interesting, if you can find it - it gives me an excuse to plant Saturn's/Kronos' jaguar on top with the lion :p. Also, there's a massive hint in this chapter towards something else going on (2 in fact) so I'd like to hear your opinions for what you think will happen in your reviews!
Dandyish: I left it open-ended for a reason. I have a plan for a third part, but it's unlikely to happen soon.
Summerpigeon: Kronos would be a terrible encouragement.