Hopelessly Rome-antic [Re-writing]

Return

Weeks passed before we returned to the Past.
Personally, I was starting to wish I had never had gotten that stupid necklace. I wouldn't have created so many problems and I wouldn't have gone through so much pain.
Amelia hadn't really forgot our mission and was the one who was the most interested in it.
Callum was slowly realizing what a burden my "power" was. He had spent a lot of time creating theories on what would happen if we did such action or such thing. He came up with ideas that I was the one who had started the entire fight and had created "history" in a way, but Amelia quickly dismissed that.

Days passed, assignments were due and tests were done. Grades were given and lessons were studied but I couldn't get the entire issue out of my mind.
Eopei's face kept appearing in front of my eyes at the most random times. I'd be walking to class and I would see her in the corridors; I'd be walking in the streets and see her face on an advertisement board. Of course, I'd quickly realize that it wasn't Eopei but my imagination. It was driving me crazy.

That's why I decided that we should probably go back to see how the situation had evolved.

Amelia had immediately said that she wouldn't be able to join us. Since our small disappearance, her parents were barely letting her out more than a night and so it'd be difficult to explain why she would be gone for a weekend without calling them everything twenty minutes.

Callum volunteered to come with me. I think mostly because he didn't want to leave me powerless if something happened, but also because he was curious.

"You're going to need this" Amelia said as she tossed us to package, wrapped in thin wrapping paper.

"Oh Hell no. I'm not wearing that" had declared Callum once he'd unwrap the gift. It was a roman toga, and it looked pretty authentic by the naked eye.

"I had a friend of mine make them for the party, but since you're going back now, I thought it'd be more appropriate to wear them immediately. You'll fit in more."

Callum had complained but did change into the costume while I was still unwrapping mine. It was a perfect replica of a roman dress, not a single detail was missing (to me at least) and it also fitted perfectly once I put it on.

We hugged goodnight and I gave Amelia the permission to lock us from the inside so no one would come in the room while Callum and I prepared for the journey.

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We "landed" in a palace, but after a short examination from Callum (which basically consisted of staring at the entire place and showing off his Latin skills) we arrived to the conclusion that it was the imperial palace of Rome.

It took us more time to find people though. Since we had no idea where we were actually located inside the palace, we walked around pointlessly to find someone for directions. Callum tried his Latin again but apparently messed up words and so we accidentally offended some random person.

In the end, it turned out that there was a celebration outside and that most of the people had gone there. When we asked if there was an access to the prison, we were also told that we wouldn't make it in as visitors without an imperial letter, but that we could try... in which case we would end up in the prison for a longer amount of time.

Callum was the one who found the place of the celebration. And it was grandiose.

In front of the palace, where the crowd was allowed to gather, there was indeed a celebration. People were crowded close to the steps and they seemed to gather from everywhere in the city.
All wore colorful clothes, the richer people had jewels to complete their fashion.

"Wow" Callum said, after a few minutes of utter silence from him.
And indeed, wow.
The place was unique, colorful and full of life. It was an amazing experience.

"Look at this" Callum murmured as he walked closer to see the event.
Meanwhile, I focused on the crowd itself, mostly families out. But my attention was caught by two women, standing at the front of a shop, whispering in each other's ears.

When they caught sight of me, they immediately stopped and I knew I had been the subject of their conversation.
I walked toward them, trying not to shake as I feared to be humiliated in public or even bringing attention to my sudden appearance back.

"How may we help you, young lady?" The oldest of the two said. She once-over looked at me, probably judging my lack of "fashion."

"Are you the woman from the heaven?" The second woman asked. She was quickly slapped on the arm by her friend and fell silent.

"Yes I am. But I appear to not be dressed appropriately for this event。could you help me?"

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"Wow... This is truly what a goddess should look like" the two woman said as they let me walk out of their shop.

I struggled not to fall onto my dress as I made my way out and spotted Callum in the crowd. I waved frantically at him before his eyes finally landed on me.
He took time to realize who was waving at him and when he finally understood who it was, his eyes nearly fell out of their pocket.

"A..An...Andy??" he said "Is that you?"

"No shit sherlock... Let's go"

I thanked the two women and promised to pay the back for their hard work. Grabbing Callum's hand, I forced him to follow me through the crowd.

"So, did you find out what festival this was about?" I asked him, pushing people away as I tried to make my way toward the front row.

"They are celebrating Vulcanalia."

"Vulcanalia?"

"It's a ceremony in honor of Vulcan, the roman god of fire and volcanoes. They hold this huge ceremony in order to appease the god, so that he will not burn their crops."

We kept on walking throughout the crowd. I was getting tired, as the more we walked, the more I felt like we would never reach the front row. Callum had now taken the lead, holding my hand and helping me to move through the crowd as I suffered in the long dress.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked as I almost tripped onto the edge of my dress.

"We're moving toward the edge of the city, where they'll hold the ceremony" He explained.

We kept on walking for a whie until Callum suddenly stopped, grabbed my shoulders and forced me to be in front of him.

"Look, don't we know him?" he whispered in my ear.

I looked in front of me, where Roman soldiers were standing, torches in hands around a large amount of wood. Behind them stood officials on horses, also holding torches. And further behind them were stood the most important generals of the city and palace, all dressed in red, gold and black, also on horses.

I scanned each face, looking for a familiar person when my eyes landed on him.

He was there, alive and well.

"Move forward" a general ordered and the soldiers started to march forward. They were closely followed by the officials and the generals. The crowd cheered as they moved through the people. The generals waved, making sure to still hold their torches high.

"You should say hi" Callum whispered to me as he pushed me forward, in the front row as the horses passed by.

"Yeah.... I dont think so"

But there was really no chance that the universe would let me alone for a second, because as I was trying to go back to safety behind Callum's back, someone in the crowd spotted me.

"Isn't this the goddess from heaven?"

And the world stopped.

People started to whisper, they moved quickly to turn back to me as the horses kept passing by. I awkwardly waved as people stared. Callum was hiding a proud smirk on his face until he suddenly started to stare behind me.

"Andromeda?" a masculine voice asked.

And I swear I forgot how to breathe.