CHAPTER THIRTY:
KEEPING YOU AROUND

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WHEN, AT LONG LAST, Kit's feet hit the solid ground of the Argo II's deck, he was quick to disappear downstairs to his cabin, conveniently ignoring the stumbling footsteps of Leo and Hazel following behind him with the sheet of now dented bronze in between them. 

Kit was tired. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to sleep away the past twenty-four hours, to wake up to the simplistic feeling of Leo's lips on his. Their kiss, just the beginning of a seamless day. No Nemesis wearing his mother's face, mocking him. No Narcissus, no groupies, not even Echo. His mind was a loose thread slowly untangling, caught between the fingers of a hidden higher power. His dad, knowing his luck, watching over him and laughing like the evil villain in a Disney movie. That bastard.

Kit just wanted to forget, to sew up the unravelling image and let it rest. He slammed his door shut behind him, sinking down onto the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. He sighed, ears ringing in the sudden silence. He reached into his pocket, unsure why it hurt to see the words he'd already committed to memory. It wasn't like they could've changed since the first time he read them.

You'll spend your whole life paying for mistakes you'll never truly learn from.

"Oh, yeah?" Kit scoffed, quickly crumpling up the piece of paper. He pushed himself off the edge of his bed, feet dragging him towards the circular window that filtered in the dim afternoon light. He flung the window open, feeding the piece of paper to the ocean before he could change his mind. "Fuck you, Nemesis. Learn from that!"

He then retreated back to his bed, kicking off his boots so he could curl up properly with his head pressed beneath the pillow. In the darkness behind his eyes, he could feel her; she scratched at the hollow crevices of his skull just enough for him to understand. Gaea. Maybe he was merely going crazy, searching for signs of the obvious. What everyone would already suspect. A villain reaching out to him. She'd whisper his name only, nothing else. Not quite present but haunting him just enough to flood his gut with panic.

"No," he blurted, sitting up with fingers tugging at the roots of his hair. As if the roots were Gaea planting seeds one by one, slowly invading the one thing left that was solely his — his mind. "Get out of my head!"

Gaea, if she was ever there, surprisingly complied. Now, Kit searched for new sounds in the silence — the steady pounding of waves against the side of the boat, the faint shout of Percy's petulant voice and Hedge yelling something vaguely insulting down at the water nymphs. After what seemed like hours, the engine began to hum again. The oars creaked and groaned while Kit's stomach dipped with the feeling of the ship lifting into the air. He waited for Leo to show his face, barely making it to a minute before the eager boy flung his door open. He was caked in a gross combination of sweat, lime dust and tar, and he smelled like the sewer they slept in that one time, but he wore an eager grin that set Kit's insides alight.

"I did it," he declared, throwing himself at the foot of Kit's bed despite his protests about 'ruining the sheets.' A stupid smirk appeared on his face then, causing Kit to roll his eyes. "Not only am I ridiculously hot, but I'm also a genius."

"I'm loving the confidence," Kit deadpanned and shoved Leo's shoulder at the same time. "But dude, you're washing this shit off my sheets if you're not careful."

"Relax, would you?" Leo grinned. "Seriously, babe, if you want me to strip, you just have to ask."

He snorted as Kit glared daggers at him, finally listening and rolling on his side until his feet landed on the floor and he could shuffle down onto the carpet. Grimacing at his now ruined bedding, Kit laid on his back, his head coming to rest beside Leo's. He was quiet, dark eyes gazing at the ceiling blankly. He was not quite ready to move on from before. In the meantime, Leo watched him curiously.

"You okay, Christopher?" he asked, unsure what to do when Kit wasn't retorting with a snarky comment.

Kit mustered a tiny smile. "Of course."

If anything, this only freaked Leo out more, but he let it slide with a wince down at his watch. "I should get back to work. There's a meeting in the Mess Hall soon, one hour. You'll be there?" he rambled on, to which Kit just hummed in response. "Kit?"

"Yeah," he forced his eyes to Leo's. "Sorry, I'm just tired."

Kit's breath hitched when Leo leaned down and dropped a kiss onto his forehead. "Rest if you want. I'll make sure you're awake for the meeting."

"Thanks," Kit swallowed thickly.

He didn't actually manage to fall asleep, but it was the thought that counted. He pretended to be bleary-eyed for the sake of Leo's smile when he crept into Kit's dorm to wake him, yawning and stretching his arms as he followed Leo above deck. It was well past dinner time but no one seemed to mind the late-night meal as they gathered together. It was the first time all eight of them were sitting down at the same time, what with Hedge taking the helm while they spoke. Kit found it strange. Even more so that he didn't hate it. He had the misfortune of sitting opposite Percy — who, for once, was preoccupied with the abrupt, awkward tension between himself and Jason when the two went to sit at the head of the table. Sparks literally flew from Jason's hands at the implied challenge. Kit had to smother his laughter when Annabeth smacked them both around the head and took the chair for herself.

This was normal. It might've been their first time alone in a room together, sure, but everything seemed to fit into place. There was no space for Gaea to get to him here. For a second, he was safe. Just Kit again.

"So, where to now?" came Leo's apt question as he chewed on a mouthful of pizza. He'd offered a slice to Kit, but he denied it for his own meal — good old fashioned nachos and cheese. Besides, he was pretty sure he saw Leo spit on one of the pieces earlier and willingly eating someone's spit, regardless of their relations, was not something Kit was about to do. It took him a second to tear his eyes away from Leo's mouth to realise he was actually saying something of importance. Something Kit should be (but definitely wasn't) listening to. "I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

Percy was eating a piece of blue-crusted pie that looked delicious — not that Kit would say such a thing to him. "We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," he declared with an insistent shake of his head. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City earlier. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

Great, Kit let out a sigh, rubbing his temples to ward away the headache he could already feel forming. Just what they needed right now.

Piper, bless her, said, "I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans? Maybe... maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

Jason took her hand then, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb to reassure her. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's," he added with a nervous glance at the boy in question. Thankfully, Leo was too busy eyeing his next pizza slice to pay much attention. "Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth interrupted. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side either. But until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

"She's right," muttered Hazel, who traced the ruby encrusted rim of her plate as she spoke. Kit watched with interest as she pushed it away from her, face appearing pale and sickly. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have their honour to think about. They've been attacked. They're going to shoot first and ask questions post hac."

"Lovely," Kit said. "Anyone else losing their appetite?"

Piper spared him a weak smile before sighing. "No, you're right. We have to keep going. Not just because of the Romans, but we have to hurry."

Ah, right. Kit certainly didn't miss the time crunch of a quest, where every decision they made actually mattered. He was surprised they pulled through on their last quest. What were the odds they could manage it again?  

"Nemesis said we only have six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed," Hazel said, because Kit really wanted to think of Nemesis again.

Jason frowned at her. "You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?"

"I think," Hazel shrugged helplessly. "But if so, that's not much time."

"Why six days?" Percy wondered then. Kit was amazed he hadn't spoken up sooner. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"

At first, no one answered. From beside him, he heard Piper release a shaky breath, as if she was preparing herself to deliver a fatal blow. He had a feeling whatever she was about to say would put him off his dinner entirely.

"There's more. I've been seeing some things in my knife."

Here we go. That was always concerning.

Frank froze with a forkful of spaghetti hanging from his mouth. Kit scrunched up his nose. He certainly had their father's table manners. "Uh, things such as...?"

"They don't really make sense," Piper warned before going on to reveal, "They're just garbled images, but I saw these two giants dressed alike. Maybe twins?"

Kit rolled his eyes. "I'm so getting real sick of giants."

"Same," Jason muttered.

"Twins..." Annabeth echoed, more to herself as she pieced her thoughts together. "Like in Ella's prophecy. If we could figure out those lines, it might help us."

Despite only hearing it once, Ella the harpy's prophecy was ingrained into Kit's head, kept aside for safe keeping.

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," he repeated. Percy's eyes darted over to meet his, cautious but shining with a wry sense of curiosity. Kit wondered what he was thinking, then quickly decided it wasn't worth the torment of asking him right now. "There's no other 'daughter of wisdom' here but you, Annabeth. Aren't you lucky?"

"Juno told me... well, she did say you have a hard task ahead of you in Rome," continued Percy, looking pained that he and Kit were in a rare state of agreement. "She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

This didn't seem to reassure Annabeth (what a shock!) "Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors, something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

Oh, Gods.

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo grimaced. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

"Nemesis said a lot of things," Kit scoffed, crossing his arms firmly, as if to protect himself from the memory of the Goddess. A faint shiver ran down his spine, like eyes were gaping down at him from the ceiling. He shifted in his chair, keenly aware of Leo's arm pressed against his. "Most of it was dogshit."

"But there was one thing about bringing the Gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel pointed out, shooting Kit a little glare at the same time as if she was scolding him for his language. Kit couldn't help but snort, amused. "'An old wrong finally avenged.'"

Percy frowned then glanced at his blonde counterpart, who had otherwise stayed silent. "I was only a praetor for about two hours. Jason, have you ever heard a legend like that?"

"I...uh, I'm not sure. I'll give it some thought."

Yeah, Kit thought. Because that sounded believable.

"You're not sure?" Percy narrowed his eyes.

Jason hesitated then, but it was Hazel who ended up breaking the silence. "What about the other lines? 'Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the key to endless death.'"

"'Giants' bane stands gold and pale,'" Frank continued for her. "'Won through pain from a woven jail.'"

"Giants' bane," Leo murmured under his breath. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the Gods get their schizophrenic act together, then that's good."

Percy nodded in agreement. Surprise, surprise. "We can't kill the giants without the help of the Gods."

Despite this, Kit couldn't help but think of the last time he got involved in the mess between the giants and Gods. Hera had burst into otherworldly flames and burned him up from the inside out. Did he seriously want to do that again? Would he be so lucky to have Piper McLean, the determined Aphrodite daughter, around to use her charmspeak a second time? Leo seemed to be thinking the same thing. His expression dropped, wary eyes locking on the side of Kit's face, willing Kit to look back at him. 

Meanwhile, Jason turned to Frank and Hazel curiously. Kit wasn't sure if he skipped over Percy purposefully but he was loving every second of it. "I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a God's help, just the two of you."

"Alcyoneus was a special case," Frank sighed. "He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn — Alaska — but not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but Percy's right. We're going to need the Gods."

Kit groaned. "Yay."

It seemed, despite the overall despondent mood that washed over them at the thought of what lay ahead, a decision had finally been made. Kit could feel the heaviness of his eyes more than before. He longed to retreat to his cabin, dragging Leo along with him, where the two could ruminate over imminent doom together and eventually sleep the exhaustion of the day away. Eventually. 

"So..." Leo pushed his chair away from the table, clapping his hands together to get their attention. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to touch down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth was quick to suggest. "In case we need supplies. But also somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

Kit couldn't think of anything, which wasn't unusual, but for once neither could anyone else. Nowhere felt truly safe in the world, so did it really matter when something was surely to go wrong anyway?

"Well," Piper ventured. "How do you guys feel about Kansas?"

Kit scowled, nudging her arm as the group muttered their assent and began to go their own way. "Do I look like a Dorothy kind-of guy to you?"

Piper merely grinned at him, relieved that some of the tension had lifted. "I'm not sure you want me to answer that."

"Hey!"

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A/N: Okay shorter chapter but the writer's block has been blocking more than usual, so this has been written for weeks lol I just couldn't figure out how to finish it. I'm hoping it's good? More of a filler chapter tbh, but we've got a bit of angsty Kit at the beginning (and a potential foreshadowing moment, if anyone noticed...) Wrote the rest of this (and edited the Kit & Leo moments) while listening to Unknown by Hozier and Keeping You Around by Nothing But Thieves, aka songs that were definitely written for my babies. Anyone else see it? As always, thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts! I promise (kind of) that I'll be working on the next chapter. I had every intention of having this act done ages ago lol, so I've got a lot of catching up to do!