Hey guys! Here's just another reunion story story, hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Don't own PJO or HoO, never will.
Chapter 1: Annabeth's POV
The ship sank lower in the sky, and we could already see the massive crowds growing around our landing spot. A couple people, who looked to be leaders and possibly heroes stood towards the front of the crowd. One guy, however, was forced to stand near the back, and he had a large carving knife in his hand, a scowl on his face, and a stuffed kitten under his arm. Seeing how he was being sort of shunned by the rest of the crowd, I decided to ignore him.
He wasn't the only thing I was trying to ignore, though. A certain raven-haired boy came to mind all to often over the last few days. The Seaweed Brain was getting much harder to ignore as we closed in on the ground. Along with a female, he stood towards the front in a purple toga. Beside him stood a muscular guy with his arm around a golden-eyed girl. That's one less girl to compete with, I thought.
We were hardly 10 feet off the ground, and within seconds, a huge thud jolted through the ship as we touched down. The gangplank descended and our precession began. First, Jason walked out, followed by me, Piper, Leo, Thalia, Grover, and lastly Chiron. We stood in a line before the Romans, as they were doing to us. None of us had any weapons on our person to assure them that we wouldn't attack. I was hoping against hope that they would return the favor.
Jason was the first to pipe up, "Hey guys! I'm back!" It was quite understated and informal, something I had believed the Romans to resent, but his former position as Praetor must have given him trust because everyone, except the 2 people in the purple togas and the creepy dude with the stuffed kitten, cheered.
Next, it was my turn. "Greetings, Romans. My name is Annabeth, and I am one of the senior campers at the Greek counterpart of this camp, called Camp Half-Blood. We will not attack, and we have no weapons on us. As you are probably aware, the giants are rising, and will try to take down Olympus from its roots in Greece. Also, we are missing two campers, and we believe that you may be able to help. Has anyone seen Percy Jackson or Nico di Angelo?" I asked that, even though I knew that Percy was directly in front of me at this time. Nico had been gone for months, almost as long as Percy. We assumed he was vacationing in the Underworld, but he would have notified us and written back to send new information about things from his father.
The other girl in the purple toga spoke. "Welcome to Camp Jupiter, Greeks. We do not plan to attack, and we are aware of the circumstances that are causing us to reunite. One of your missing campers, Percy Jackson, is right in front of you, now a co-Praetor of this camp. Nico di Angelo was here about a week ago, but seems to have been captured by Gaea and the giants. Shall we begin the formal introductions?"
"Yes," Chiron spoke, "I believe we should. I am Chiron, trainer of heroes and demigods for centuries. I am the leader at Camp Half-Blood, along with Dionysus, or as you would call him, Bacchus. Beside me is Grover, a wonderful satyr, or faun, and the new spirit of Pan. Next is Leo, a likely member of the Great Prophecy, and a fire user, son of Hephaestus, or Vulcan. Afterwards we have Thalia Grace, full sister to Jason, Lieutenant to Artemis, or Diana, and daughter of Zeus or Jupiter. Then we have Piper, another likely member of the Great Prophecy, charmspeaker, and daughter of Aphrodite, or Venus. I believe you know Jason, and as she just introduced herself, Annabeth is the official architect of Olympus and daughter of Athena, or Minerva. And you are?"
Percy took charge here. "As you all very well know, except maybe you three," he pointed at Piper, Leo, and Jason, "who seem to be new to Camp Half-Blood, I'm Percy, Savior of Olympus, son of Poseidon or Neptune, whichever you prefer. Next to me here is my co-Praetor, Reyna, who happens to have a lot of impressing titles that I really can't remember right now, daughter of Bellona, who really doesn't have a Greek counterpart. Then," he pointed to a fierce looking girl next to Reyna, "here is Hylla, Reyna's sister, and leader of the Amazons (I couldn't remember if she was the leader or not). Over here," he pointed to the couple I saw from the ship, "are Frank and Hazel. They both just came back from a quest with me, Frank's a son of Mars, or Ares, and Hazel's a daughter of Pluto, or Hades. Then, if you'll look all the way in the back, we have our camp Augur, which is pretty much like our oracle, except Octavian here cuts open teddy bears to see the future instead of being possessed by a spirit. Speaking of which, where is our camp oracle today?" He asked, as though he fully remembered life before this.
"Rachel is still sleeping." I said, "The spirit possessed her about an hour ago, and it was nothing important, just something about the peanut butter being bad, but it drained all her energy."
"Okay then." Reyna said, with a slightly confused look on her face. "Now that we have that taken care of, you may find someone, such as your lost hero here, to take you on a tour of camp, then we will find you somewhere to sleep after dinner. Tomorrow morning we will have another Senate meeting, and all of you, including your sleeping oracle, shall attend to discuss this quest. Until then, good luck, and I hope you enjoy your stay here at Camp Jupiter." Reyna smiled quite falsely, and looked at Jason for a second before turning and walking away.
Percy walked towards us, now that the rest of the Romans were leaving, and hugged everyone. He started narrating all his journeys from the time he woke up until he killed the very last giant before he arrived. Sometimes he was extremely idiotic, though I had a feeling he was leaving the worst of it out, and I was very glad that he was still alive. At the end of his epic, he offered to give us a tour of the camp, with the help of Jason, who had also regained full memory. We all told little stories of our quests and lives while he was gone, and I'm pretty sure that Leo and Percy would make a dangerous duo, only to be compared with the competitive relationship between Percy and Jason, which seemed to be a ticking time bomb after less than an hour. Nearing the end, Piper, Thalia, and I were lurking towards the back of the group and discussing little tiny things. Piper was talking about the way Reyna looked at Jason, as if he was her lost boyfriend, though Jason had stressed the fact that they were still just friends when he left. I was discussing my relationship with Percy, and how he really hadn't made any distinguishing gestures towards me. Thalia was all the while rolling her eyes at the two of us saying, "Men are boring idiots." Piper pointed out how Jason and Percy seemed to be seriously talking, while Leo seemed to really be annoying Chiron and Grover. We could only guess at what they were saying.
Percy's POV:
As the tour was drawing to its close, Jason and I started to talk about Hera/Juno really messing up our love lives.
"Annabeth and I were going so well! We'd been dating for just over two years, and suddenly I wake up eight months after disappearing, halfway across the country with only a name and image of her in my head! I mean, I love her a lot, but how do you talk to the girlfriend you haven't seen in eight months?"
"I know, right? You see, Reyna and I were really close before I left. About a week after I left, we probably would have been a couple, but I just had to get snatched up by a goddess, and my patron that I can't ignore. So then, with no memory of Reyna, I wake up and find Piper, who is as equally as beautiful, kind, and generally awesome as Reyna is. So right as I start to finally think of asking her out, this image of Reyna and who she was to me pops in my head! So now, both girls seem to hate me, and I don't know who to choose!"
"Maybe I should just sneak her off towards the Little Tiber, and talk to her alone. I mean, I definitely don't want to catch up with her with everyone else around. I mean I love everyone, they're really part of my family, but I just need a moment with no one else to get in my way."
"Maybe I should just go bury myself in a hole for a year or two. That'll at least buy me some time to think, and maybe I'll fall in love with some worm or something so that I won't have to choose between them."
"I need you to finish off the tour and I need to go talk to Annabeth."
"I need a shovel, some food and water, and an oxygen tank."
We said simultaneously.
"Wait what?" I ask him, thoroughly confused.
"You're right. It's crazy. But, go ahead, I'll finish off the tour for you." He patted me on the back, and I went back to talk to Annabeth.
Annabeth's POV
Piper and I continued to talk until we both noticed Percy walking towards us.
"Hello, ummm, Piper! Hey Pinecone Face! Would you two mind if I steal Annabeth here away from you for a little while?" He asked, looking kind of awkward walking beside us. Piper smiled and Thalia rolled her eyes, which were their own versions of a "Not at all!". "Are you coming then, oh wise one?"
"What about me? You didn't ask me if you could steal me away. Don't I get a say in this too?" I asked, totally messing with him, but keeping an entirely serious face. His smile dropped at that, and turned into somewhat of a frown. "But I will come with you as long as you won't hurt me." I said quietly and smiled at him. I swear I could literally see the relief flood into his face. Carefully, he grasped my hand and led me away from our herd.
We seemed to be walking somewhere towards a large hill set on the side of camp. Knowing Percy, he was probably taking us towards that river he mentioned in the tour, the Little Tiger, was it? Anyway, we finally reached the banks and he motioned for me to sit down. I sat down and he did the same, keeping one of my hands in between his.
"So. People tell me you're Annabeth, eh?" He said with sort of a quirky grin.
"Yeah, but where'd you pick up that Canadian accent, eh?" I responded, trying to cover up my fear of him really not remembering by cracking a joke. It helped when he actually laughed and smiled at me.
"So, I hear that you're smart. Tell me something that would really surprise me about this world."
"Well, elephants can't jump. Does that count as surprising?"
He chuckled, "I would say so. Now, are we going to keep beating around the bush, or are we actually going to talk about why we came here?"
"First of all, nice use of an idiom. Second, do you actually remember me, or are you just going off what other people have said?"
"Well, I'd say it's kind of hard to forget one's girlfriend." He said and smirked at me.
"Well, if I didn't know better, I would have said you were an idiot for not telling me sooner. However, I know that somewhere deep inside that little head of yours," I said, tapping his skull, "some little gears are turning and thinking up something quite deep, Seaweed Brain." It felt so amazing to be able to call him that again, like seeing an old friend that you never got to say good-bye to.
"So… now what Wise Girl?"
"You tell me."
And with that, he leaned in, and we finally shared the kiss that we had both been missing since the day he left. And you know what? It was even more amazing than our first.
And that, my friends, was it. Maybe I'll continue it and make it a full length story, but for now, let's leave it at this.
-The Pen and the Spoon :{D