safe || leo valdez x oc

fifty-seven: aruna is the new jason

ARUNA

~•♡•~

the sky was a brilliant blue, the same color as jason's eyes. the sun rose over the distant hills, so everything below them shone and sparkled like the entire city of rome had just come out of the car wash.

aruna had seen big cities before; new york, dallas, quebec city, L.A.- but the sheer expanse of rome completely threw her for a loop. the architecture seemingly made it bigger; all the houses seemed to be piled on top of each other, with red roofs spanning across the horizon. some of them were stained limestone, worn and cracked over the years, while some of the buildings were newer, with boxy, modern builds. even still, the entire city looked homey. there seemed to be no order whatsoever. alleys and streets curved and zigzagged with no cause. there were random water passages filled with boats, and those boats were full of tourists. it looked like the place you'd see in dreams.

"we're setting down in that park." leo announced, pointing to a wide green space dotted with palm trees. "let's hope the mist makes us look like a giant pidgeon or something."

as the ship descended, nobody really seemed to take any notice. none of the cars veered off the road. they didn't even slow down. nobody screamed and pointed. it was very simple; the ship landed in the middle of rome.

the disgusting sounds of car engines and people were all around, but the park was mostly serene. a green lawn sloped towards a forest, full of thin pine trees that shot up thirty or forty feet, then sprouted into canopies, like the truffula trees of the lorax. on the opposite side, a long brick wall snaked along the hill. based on the history of rome, it was either roman, or it was medieval. naturally, annabeth would know, but the top of the colosseum shocked aruna out of asking.

aruna's arms trembled. she was here. for six months now, they'd talked about sailing to the ancient lands. for a week, they had pinpointed rome specifically. now, the ruins of the colosseum were screaming in aruna's face, a taunt almost to her endeavors that led up to this point.

and we aren't anywhere near done. she felt panicky. they still had to locate the doors of death, close them, and then magically defeat gaea.

she felt like she didn't deserve this. she was sixteen. she hadn't even been given the opportunity to get a driver's liscense, and yet she was expected to save the world with a band of equally disqualified teenagers and a psychotic satyr with an attitude.

the world is a cruel and unforgiving place, she remembered. she'd been telling herself that for so many years now, it had lost its meaning. everything that had happened seemed so slow in the moment, and yet, it was a blur. forever she had spent waiting for leo, hazel, and frank to resurface from the ocean; except it wasn't forever. it was probably less than six hours.

not even half a day.

it occured to her that she'd only know jason for six months. her mist memories of him had gone away, but he was such a close friend, she didn't have to think about that. same with piper and leo; she'd known them for less than a year, and only really been friends with leo for the same length as jason. it was all a mystery to her.

six months.

she frowned. she felt like she had wasted half her life on... on what? she didn't even know. none of it seemed to make sense. she could barely remember anything that had happened before the wilderness school. it was all a blur, with little fragmented memories between; stealing a dog, learning how to draw from... who was her mentor? she knew it was someone. someone that'd had an impact of some sort on her, because she drew all the time now. she found it interesting how some of the more impactful people in our lives have no face, and no name.