sky blue ● jason grace

let

 tw: mentions of anxiety/meds

If weapons were allowed inside the Pomerian Line, several of the Eight demigods would already be dead. Roman demigods cascaded into an angry mob in the forum. Some threw plates, food, and rocks at the Argo II, which was pointless, as most of the stuff fell back into the crowd..

Dozens of Romans had surrounded Piper and Jason, who were trying to calm them without much luck. The daughter of Venus's charmspeak was useless against this many screaming demigods. Daria felt her eyebrows furrow like they did when she was nervous.

Jason's forehead was already bleeding. He seemed to be pleading with the crowd, "I'm on your side." But his orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt definitely didn't help matters- nor did the warship overhead, firing flaming spears into New Rome.

"Shit," Daria cursed, taking in her surroundings. There were armed legionnaires setting up catapults just outside the Pomerian Line. "Look over there."

"That'll just make things worse," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Daria mumbled. "Hopefully Reyna can deal with them. We've got to go."

They kept running past the fauns and lars, past the exploding Terminus and the demigods that were some of Daria's closest friends. Finally, she spotted an opening. Percy, Hazel, and Frank were standing by a fountain. Daria raced up to them, she would just have to believe that Jason would be okay for now.

"Annabeth!" Percy called. "What-?"

"I don't know!" she yelled back.

"I'll tell you what!" cried a voice from above. Octavian had reached the bottom of the ladder. "The Greeks have fired on us! Your boy Leo has trained his weapons on Rome!"

"Right." Of course, Daria was arguing with Octavian, but she was pretty sure that she was scowling at Annabeth. "What proof-"

At that moment, the Argo II returned fire. Legionnaires in the field scattered as one of their catapults was blasted to splinters.

"You see?" Octavian screamed. "Roman, kill the invaders."

Daria sighed. She was going to regret this, but she pulled rank. "Romani!" She commanded above the noise. "Retreat!"

Those who were still loyal to Reyna, namely the First, Fourth, and Fifth Cohorts, slowly glared at her as they cast their rocks to the side. The chaos was still effervescent, however.

"We have to leave," Daria said to her friends. "Now."

Percy nodded grimly, "Hazel, Frank, you coming?"

Hazel donned her cavalry helmet, "Of course we are. But you'll never make it to the ship unless we buy you time."

How?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel whistled for Arion. Instantly a blur of beige shot across the forum. He reared, whinnying and scattering the mob. Hazel climbed on his back like she'd been born to ride, which, well she had. Strapped to the horse's saddle was a Roman cavalry sword.

Hazel unsheathed her golden blade. "Send me an Iris-message when you're safely away, and we'll rendezvous," she said. "Arion, ride!" The horse zipped through the crowd with incredible speed, pushing back Romans and causing mass panic.

Daria felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they could make it out of here with minimal casualties. Then, from halfway across the forum, she heard Jason shouting.

"Roman!" he cried. "Please!"

Daria's heart clenched. Maybe they were choosing not to recognize his rank because of the "two praetors" issue. Either way, he and Piper were about to be overwhelmed with plates and stones. Jason tried to shield Piper, but a brick caught him above the eye. He crumpled, and the crowd surged forward.