ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

δ

AZA could have signaled to the Argo II for back-up, but she was simply having too much fun. Her limbs ached to stretch, her bronze sword a delicate extension of her tanned fingertips, and the suitors quickly realized they preferred a fate by Piper's blade. They crowded around the daughter of Aphrodite even as she shouted, "Save yourselves! I'm too dangerous," and drove them back into Aza's unforgiving grasp. Their resilience in her game of cat-and-mouse was almost admirable.

To her left, a suitor raced forward with a stone-tipped spear. She swung around to slice it in half, but Annabeth's drakon-bone sword beat her to it. The two shared a silent smile; the smug tilt of the blonde's lips fuelled their competition. Neither darkness nor light would spare the suitors: their opportunity to repent expired. The blood on their blades only bothered the girls for one reason: so many millennia after Odysseus, they fouled their swords with scoundrels.

Ozone overcame the perennial scent of sulfur, and Aza spun. Jason lifted his javelin to the sky, and the clouds darkened in milliseconds. Thunder shook the palace and a bolt of lightning ricocheted off the golden spear-tip and blasted a dozen suitors into ashes, leaving smoldering piles a few meters from the girls.

Annabeth sliced down the last suitor, one of the Carthaginians, and Aza spun in a circle to survey her friends. Annabeth wiped the blood from her forehead and smiled at Piper, who finally sheathed her cornucopia. Jason sheathed his blade, and it seemed like all too long since he, in his normal physique, smiled in Aza's direction. But she didn't have enough time to appreciate it, nor shout in alarm, as the Roman crept behind him and buried his golden sword so deeply the tip jutted through the front of his shirt, just below the ribs.

Her scream of rage shook the earth, and dust rained from the ceiling. As her vision tunneled, she pointed at the Roman and clenched her hand into a fist. Her thoughts swirled, her vision beginning to blur. A translucent fire spread from his heart, and in an instant he was gone.

She caught Jason an instant before his head hit the ground and cradled him, placing a hand on his shoulder to position his wound. Annabeth raced forward and ran a hand through her hair, shaking out her curls, "Gods – oh, gods."

"Pull it out!" Aza snapped, and she closed her eyes as Annabeth placed a gentle hand on Jason's back. Her other hand remained apprehensive around the hilt as though it were Excalibur, but she hid from Aza's glare and yanked it through quickly.

Piper winced and placed a firm hand on Jason's shoulder as Annabeth removed hers. She barked the words like a military sergeant, "You're going to be fine. Annabeth, ambrosia! Aza, stop the bleeding!"

"Yeah. Yeah, I got it," Annabeth ripped open her supply pouch and unwrapped a small golden square.

"Right, right." It took Aza a few moments to tear her eyes from the wound. She gently shifted Jason's head and pulled the knife from her sandal, accidentally nicking her ankle. She cut the fabric of her dress and tore strips.

His face was pale. It was difficult to ignore his ice-cold skin whilst she bandaged the wound, wrapping the fabric tightly around his torso. Annabeth pushed small pieces of ambrosia into his mouth and used her hand to help him chew.

His eyes were hazy, fogged over like when she first met him. He hazily focused on Annabeth as she fed him another bite. "Jason – I'm sorry. About your mom. But the way you handled it... that was so brave."

Aza tied off the bandage and pulled his shirt down. She readjusted Jason in her lap, ignoring the pounding in her chest, like her heart was about to burst. "The blood's still soaking through – and the smoke... why is it smoking?"

The others thankfully ignored her pitchy whine, and it was only Annabeth who held the bravery to meet her eyes. "Imperial gold," the blonde's voice wavered, "It's deadly to demigods. It's only a matter of time before –"