CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:
NINE LIVES

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THE FIRST TIME KIT kissed Leo, they ignored each other for three days. Kit hadn't planned for it to happen. In the days after their quest, Kit and Leo, in a surprising twist of fate, were inseparable. It was Leo's arms Kit had woken up in, burning burning burning — but not from pain. He'd looked up into Leo's face — his tear-stained, war-beaten face — and smiled. Leo had fought for him when Hera insisted he was gone, bought him back from Death's returning claws with Piper's charmspeak.

That counted for something.

(Everything.)

So Kit could no longer deny that things had changed.

They faced Camp Half-Blood's questions together; their surprise, scepticism and suspicion. One morning, while Clarisse and Kit exchanged verbal hits across the ping pong table in the Big House, Leo reached for his hand and refused to let go. It was nice, like a great icy wave of water at the beach. And so the next time Kit raged, the inferno trapped within him blazing, he reached for Leo, their calloused fingers slotted together, and held on for dear life. The wave soon came and doused the fire to mere embers.

Kit couldn't make much sense of it. Leo was his confidante, a calming force when the going got tough. But he also made Kit feel. When Leo bled, Kit wept. When Leo laughed, Kit's heart forgot how to beat. And when he kissed him...

It wasn't planned, but Kit could not lie and say he hadn't thought about what Leo's lips would feel like against his. In fact, he thought about it so much that Kit had to wonder if he was on the brink of insanity. If something had happened to his brain when his heart stopped beating. Leo was... Leo. And Kit was not even half the man that Leo deserved.

But Kit Dempsey was also selfish. That hadn't changed.

And he didn't stop to think when Leo caught his eyes one day, hair wind-swept and skin sun-kissed from long days spent organising the construction of the Argo II. Kit closed the gap between them, hands bone-white around the sleeves of Leo's new army jacket — Kit still had his old old; it no longer smelled like him — and crushed his mouth to his. Leo froze, but the shock was quick to fade into delight. Liquid bones as he sunk into Kit's touch. Warm mouths and hammering hearts and lungs burning from a lack of oxygen.

Kissing Leo was like participating in a fight that Kit knew he would lose. Each press of Leo's mouth was hot but not uncomfortable, kind of like dipping your toes into a warm bath and learning over time to appreciate the sting. When Leo's hands came up to lace through his hair, Kit didn't pull back, despite the sharpening of his senses as realisation settled in.

Kit Dempsey was kissing Leo Valdez. Their mouths were touching. Leo had pressed him up against the skeletal structure of their ship. In that moment, there was nowhere else he wanted to be, no one else he wanted as much as Leo. He liked everything about kissing him — the familiar buzz of fear, the knowledge that Kit may be condemning him, that Leo yearned for him anyways.

So he didn't let go. As Leo pulled back, Kit drew him even closer. Chest-to-chest, nose-to-nose, his words were a mere whisper in the gap between their lips. A secret to take to the grave.

"Tell me to stop," he said — demanded. "Tell me, Leo."

Leo shook his head, brushing his lips to Kit's once more as his eyes traced his features with a sense of fondness. "I can't," he admitted. The sweetness in his voice was teeth-rotting. "I want you, Kit."

And so Kit kissed him again, harder this time, like the answer to all his problems could be found in making Leo Valdez happy, just for that moment. Monsters didn't love how someone like Leo deserved to be loved. But Leo knew that, and if he was prepared to burn in Kit's aftermath, then Kit would let him.

They didn't see much of each other at first. Cheeks blood red, Leo's confidence dwindled every time he met Kit's gaze. It was only when they worked on the Argo II together that they interacted, and Leo always found an excuse to direct him over to the opposite side of the ship.

But on that third day, as afternoon bled into night, Kit and Leo stayed behind long after everyone else retired for the evening. Soon enough, it was just the two of them, and Kit's hopes were long gone, a distant memory that he buried in the back of his mind. Their kiss(es) were a hazy dream. Foolish, he thought, frowning at the back of Leo's bowed head. To think he ever stood a chance.

To have let his guard down for even a second...

What was wrong with him?

Leo appeared then. Like he could read Kit's mind, he drew closer, standing just out of reach. "You should turn in for the night," he said. He was looking at Kit shyly, like a child waiting for a verbal lashing. "I can finish off here."

"It's late, Leo," he rolled his eyes, pushing sweat-slick hair back from his face. His voice was calm and seemed to take Leo off guard. "I'm sure the ship will still be here tomorrow."

Surprisingly, Leo didn't take much convincing. He grabbed his jacket from where he'd discarded it at the helm, gave Festus the figurehead a fond pat on the top of his bronze head, then returned to Kit's side. They made their way down the dirt path together, the forest swallowing the bunker and the ship whole. It was silent for a while. Kit kept his gaze on the floor, counting down the minutes until he reached the security of the Ares cabin.

Don't get him wrong, things were still... tricky with his siblings. Sure, Nettie had been momentarily ecstatic to have him back relatively unscathed. They were the first to hug him when they crash landed in the Mess Hall, her red hair spilling over him like a sea of blood. Kit had clung to her like it was the last time, just grateful that someone was happy to see him. The others continued to keep their distance — Clarisse, perhaps, most of all, once she returned to camp — but he no longer dreaded facing them each night. He'd confronted far worse in just a matter of days.

But this... thing between him and Leo?

Kit didn't do relationships. He watched from afar as everyone else around him found someone to 'love' and he was okay with that. Being alone. No matter what his stupid heart claimed as it ached and called for Leo to just take his hand. To allow Kit a fragment of peace.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" he said almost instinctively.

"Bright and early," Leo nodded, hesitating at the foot of the Ares cabin. Kit didn't notice him at first, too busy reaching for the door handle when Leo spoke again, "Hey, Kit?"

Kit turned around. He wasn't sure what to expect, but the sudden lack of distance between them followed by the graze of chapped lips on his wasn't it. Leo stayed there for a second, invading his space, one hand pressed over Kit's heart like he wanted to make sure this was real. That he wasn't the only one feeling this way, like the whole world was erupting, tearing at the seams. That Kit's heart also skipped a beat, just like his...

When he stepped back, he was grinning. Kit's face was embarrassingly red, and he scowled and gritted his teeth as Leo winked. "You should meet me earlier tomorrow," he suggested, most of his hesitance gone just like that. "If you want to."

Kit shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe."

(Spoiler alert; he did.)

And it became their routine.

Kit would rise with the sun — grumble his way to the bunker where Leo was waiting — and they'd work (make out) until Jason, Piper or somebody else joined them for the day, then they'd go back to ignoring each other. Not in the way they did before, where Kit felt like he was navigating a land mine most of the time, but in the way where secret glances and sly smirks were so much more fun than acknowledging the weight of every kiss and every touch. Though they weren't exactly subtle, and everyone surely knew by the time five of the eight were ready to depart for Camp Jupiter (a long story, really; it turned out that Jason was actually a Roman demigod, and the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood was where Percy was hiding out.)

Which was where Kit and Leo were heading to now.

Not that either of them were paying much attention to their surroundings as they snuck downstairs to make out some more.

(If there was one thing to distract Leo from pouring all his energy into the Argo II and Festus, it was Kit and how much he liked kissing him. That was all there was to it, though. Don't get it twisted.)

As Annabeth paced the deck like a mad woman, everyone else avoiding her like she had the plague, Kit trailed kisses down Leo's neck, army jacket long since discarded on the floor. At the back of his mind, Kit knew that at some point, they would need to head back upstairs. Camp Jupiter was enemy territory. It didn't matter that Jason was with them. There was a reason the Greeks and the Romans were always kept apart. Blurring the lines like this was dangerous.

In more ways than one.

"Kit," Leo hummed, gently tugging at Kit's hair when he grazed his hands over Leo's waist. "As much as I'm loving this—"

"Stop talking, Valdez."

"—We really should join the others." He smiled sheepishly as Kit tore away to glare at him. "I'll make it up to you later? Annabeth might just kill me before we even get to this new camp."

"She wouldn't," Kit muttered. "'Cause I'd kill her first."

Leo regarded Kit with fond amusement. "Oh, I'm sure Annabeth is so scared of you."

"You really have no confidence in me, huh?" he scoffed, pressing a lingering kiss to Leo's jaw, teeth against warm skin. "I hate you."

"Love you too, Christopher," Leo laughed.

And with a departing wink, he disappeared out the door and up the stairs that lead to the main deck. Kit followed not too far behind him. As Leo suspected, he found Annabeth at the top, arms crossed over her chest, lips pursed and foot tapping on the ground.

"And where did you disappear to?"

Leo smirked. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Annabeth merely sighed, looking ready to tug her hair out at the roots as she barked out an order and Leo, wisely, listened. She merely shook her head at Kit before disappearing over to the starboard rail. There, she gripped one of the bronze shields Kit had suggested adding as defence, her sights set on the gold-and-green Oakland Hills dotted below them. The clouds had just broken and the sun was shining over New Rome like a blessing from the Gods themselves.

Kit wondered what those hills would look like painted in blood and buried beneath bone.

To the right of him, Piper paced back and forth, narrowly dodging Leo as she practised the speech she'd prepared for the Romans upon arrival. "Lower your weapons," she recited, shuffling anxiously through a stack of neatly printed palm cards. "We just want to talk."

"You tell 'em, Piper," Kit goaded with a grin.

Piper stopped and thought for a second. "You don't think it's too much, do you?"

Kit shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm just the muscle."

"Right," she chuckled, only somewhat amused. Subconsciously, she was still shuffling those cards, as if her hands had a mind of their own. "Silly me."

The closer they flew, the larger Camp Jupiter seemed to become. It was twice the size of Camp Half-Blood, much to Kit's chagrin. At the centre, there was a sparkling blue lake that glimmered beneath the late afternoon sun. New Rome towered beside it — easily recognised by the winding streets, temples and parks, and the great coliseum that Rome was known for. Kit wanted to hate it, but part of him admired the ruthless undertones. The villas may have been colourful, flowers blooming in the gardens, but there were also craters in the earth, statues in ruins, a whole army of demigods rushing down the streets dressed in polished armour and holding sharpened swords or spears. They were prepared. Friend or foe, they were ready to defend, to protect what was theirs and theirs alone.

This was the type of city that Luke would've loved. Kit couldn't help but question if this was what he had in mind for Camp Half-Blood once. A miniature city of their own making, built from the ground up from years of violence and loss.

Something in Jason's eyes seemed to harden at the sight of his old home. He was standing at the helm on a raised platform, knuckles bone white around the hilt of his golden sword. He wore a toga and a purple cloak, his hair wind-ruffled and golden as ever. Confident, but woeful. Once upon a time, this place was home to him. Now, it was nothing but a vague memory, a part of a puzzle Jason had only just uncovered.

Was there a longing there, too? An ache to return home?

Kit wondered if he'd betray them. After all the shit he'd given Kit, would he follow in his footsteps after all?

At this thought, a warning horn started to blare below.

Just as quickly, a giant BOOM! sounded on the deck and sent Kit flying. In the place where he'd stood just seconds before, yellow smoke rolled over the shoulders of a statue of some kind. A mere torso and marble head, the strange man's body splintered into a rocky pedestal. His features twisted into a rather realistic sneer as he barked out order after order.

"I will not have weapons inside the Pomerian line!" Then, with an insolent stare at where Kit was picking himself up and a disgusted once-over of the shocked others, he added, "And I certainly will not have Greeks!"

Before anyone could say anything, and before Kit could even think to reach for his sword, Jason stepped forward with just a tad too much confidence. "Terminus, it's me. Jason Grace."

"Oh, I remember you, Jason," Terminus' stone brows furrowed into a frown. "I thought you had better sense than to consort with enemies of Rome."

"But they're not enemies—"

"I'll kill you—"

"That's right," Piper and Kit spoke at the same time. She shot him a pointed look, as if to say can you please shut up for one goddamn second? Then continued, "We just want to talk. If we could—"

"Ha!" the statue scoffed, startling her. "Don't try that charmspeak on me, young lady! And put down that dagger before I slap it out of your hands!"

Piper frowned at her bronze dagger, though made no move to tuck it away. "Um... okay. But how would you slap it? You don't have any arms..."

"Impertinence!" Terminus roared, and with a sharp POP! sound, Piper yelped and let her dagger clatter to the ground. "Lucky for you I've just been through a battle. If I were at full strength, I would've blasted this flying monstrosity out of the sky already!"

"Hey," Kit frowned, offended almost. "Sure, if you want to blast off Festus, go right ahead. But the whole ship? Too far, man." Another POP! sound and Kit gasped as his head snapped to one side, cheek tingling from the slap of an invisible hand. "Did you just bitch slap me?"

"Hold up," Leo intervened then. "I know you didn't just call my ship a monstrosity."

"What about me?" Kit shot him an incredulous look. "I just got my face smacked, Valdez! Priorities!"

Seeing that things were already going to shit, Annabeth stepped forward with raised hands. "Okay, let's all calm down. I take it you're Terminus, the God of boundaries—"

"What a stupid purpose for a God—"

"Kit," she hissed, just as his head shot to the other side.

"Fuck!" he cursed, matching handprints marked in red on each cheek. "Just wait until your back is turned, buddy."

"Okay!" Annabeth exclaimed over him. "Look, Terminus, Jason told me you protect the city of New Rome, right? I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of—"

"Oh, I know who you are!" The statue turned to glare at her with its blank eyes. "A child of Athena, Minerva's Greek form. Scandalous! You Greeks have no sense of decency. We Romans know the proper place for that Goddess."

Kit raised an eyebrow at her then, as if to say karma's a bitch. Annabeth pointedly ignored him, though there was a bite behind her words as she retorted, "What exactly do you mean by that Goddess? And what's so scandalous about—"

"Right then," it was Jason's turn to interrupt. "Terminus, we're here on a mission of peace. We'd love permission to land so we can—"

"Impossible!" the puny statue shrieked. "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Leave my city immediately!"

"Which is it?" Leo stupidly asked. "Surrender, or leave?"

"Both!" If it was possible for him to bleed, Terminus would've gone bright red from sheer rage. "Surrender, then leave. I am slapping your face for asking such a stupid question, you ridiculous boy! Do you feel that?"

"Wow." Unlike Kit, Leo's face remained unaffected. "You're wound up pretty tight. You got any gears in there that need loosening? I could take a look."

"Stop that right now," Terminus insisted as Leo swapped his controller for a screwdriver. Typical, Kit thought with a roll of his eyes. Another small explosion then made Leo drop his screwdriver. "Weapons are not allowed on Roman soil inside the Pomerian Line."

"The what?" Piper blinked.

"City limits," Jason translated as Terminus sneered at her.

"And this entire ship is a weapon, so you cannot land!"

"Leo, stop the ship," Annabeth ordered suddenly.

"What?"

"Annabeth, we're gonna get catapulted into the sun in a second," Kit pointed out with a wary look over the railing.

"You heard me, Leo. Keep us right where we are."

Leo only hesitated for a second before taking out his controller again and pressing some buttons. All at once, the oars froze, the ship shuddering to a stop. The silence seemed to stretch on far too long. Kit's grip tightened on the sword he was yet to discard.

"Terminus," Annabeth began at last. "There's no rule against hovering over New Rome, is there?"

The statue frowned, pale lips pursed. "Well, no..."

"So we can keep the ship aloft?" Annabeth asked — no, stated. Kit's smirk slowly returned as he realised where she was going. "We'll use a rope ladder to reach the forum. That way, the ship won't be on Roman soil. Not technically."

The statue seemed to ponder this with great chagrin. "I like technicalities," he admitted despite himself. "But still..."

"All our weapons will stay aboard the ship," Annabeth promised, and Kit's smirk dropped just like that.

"What?"

"And I assume the Romans — even those reinforcements marching toward us — will also have to honour your rules inside the Pomerian Line if you tell them to?"

"Of course!" Terminus scoffed, as if that should've been obvious. "Do I look like I tolerate rule breakers?"

And so the decision was made. Annabeth quickly discarded her dagger, followed by Jason then Piper. It was only Kit and Leo who hesitated, the latter of which approached Annabeth to mutter something in her ear.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It'll be fine," she insisted. Famous last words. "No one will be armed. We can talk in peace. Terminus will make sure each side obeys the rules." She looked at the marble statue again, daring him to disagree with her. "Do we have an agreement?"

Terminus let out a reluctant sigh. "I suppose. For now, you may climb down your ladder to New Rome, daughter of Athena. But please, try not to destroy my town."

If only they were that lucky.