Prologue to The Lost Hero
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO (though if Rick Riordan is feeling generous… no? Okay, nevermind)
Okay, this is my first fanfiction – criticism accepted (and wanted!)
Percy
It was late at night. Annabeth and I were walking back to our cabins. The campfire finished about half an hour ago, but we had decided to take a midnight stroll on the beach.
"You know, Seaweed Brain, I wish every night was like this – calm, no one trying to kill us. Just the two of us."
"Even if it is freezing outside." We both laughed.
"I know what you mean, though, Annabeth. But then it just wouldn't be camp. In any case," I murmured as I kissed her, "I'm not going anywhere any time soon."
By then, we had reached the cabins. We said goodnight and shared a goodnight kiss and entered our respective cabins. I stared at my ceiling, thinking about the past few days. I finally got to see Annabeth, Grover, and a lot of my other friends after these long months. Maybe nothing will go wrong for once, I thought, as I drifted off to sleep.
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Percy, wake up.
My eyes jolted open. I didn't know where I was. I was supposed to be in my cabin at camp but now… Oh. I was in the throne room on Olympus. I was fully dressed, lying at the base of my father's throne.
It was Olympus, but something was off. Some of the gods and goddesses were acting weird. Those particular gods and goddesses also looked slightly different.
I knelt before Zeus, except Zeus seemed kinda off.
"Why did you bring me here, Zeus?" I asked.
"I am Jupiter, not Zeus." I looked at him, confused.
Athena, noting my confusion, stated that Jupiter was Zeus's Roman form and explained the difference between the Greek and Roman gods.
"Thank you, Athena." She nodded. So she's still Athena.
Suddenly, I saw movement at the base of Hera's, no – Juno's – throne. A boy about my age appeared and sat up. He bowed before Jupiter and Juno, but looked just as confused as I was.
However, he knew the difference between the Greek and Roman gods. "How come there are Greek gods here?" he asked Juno. Then, he spotted me.
"A Greek? What, in Pluto's name, is he doing here?"
I approached him and held out my hand. "My name's Percy…"
He drew a sword sharply (no pun intended) and eyed me warily, as if he didn't trust me.
Juno looked at us. She said, "Jason, stand down. In order for the new prophecy to work, the Greeks and the Romans, whose camps have been separated for centuries, must be united."
I was confused. Then again, I'm confused a lot. "Romans? There's another camp? Why didn't we know about them? They could have helped us fight the Titans!" I thought of Beckendorf, Silena, all those who had died. I wondered who might still be alive if the Romans had fought with us.
The boy, whose name was apparently Jason, glared at me. "I was about to ask where you were during the war. Why didn't you…"
Juno cut him off. "You see? This is why we need my plan. The two camps will never get along unless their leaders are exchanged!" Several gods nodded, other shook their heads.
Murmurs of "No, it's too risky," and "It'll never work. If they can't cooperate now, what will switching leaders and wiping memories do to help?" responded to Juno's statements.
"Say what?" Jason and I yelled when someone, I think it was Hephaestus, mentioned wiping memories. We glared at each other.
"I was hoping to give both of you a taste of each other's camp, to let you know what your allies are like. I'm hoping that if you look at each other's camp without your current prejudices, it will be easier for you to cooperate," Juno explained.
Mars stood up. "I, personally, am all for a fight…"
"SHUT UP!" the other gods roared. They had obviously been down that road recently.
"If you two think that you can cooperate, then we won't have to go with my plan. Unless there are any other ideas…" Juno looked around. No one, not even Athena, stepped forward.
"Then it's settled. You two have three days to prove to the council that you can cooperate. Otherwise, your memories will be wiped and you will be sent to each other's camps. Now go get some rest. Tomorrow will be your first day working together."
Each of the gods got up and left. Jason and I separated, each following our godly parent/patron (apparently, Jason had a patron rather than a parent).
As we finally went our separate ways, we glared each other goodnight. This would never work. I sighed. Annabeth would know what to do…
Poseidon seemed to read my mind. "No, you may not speak to Annabeth, or anyone else from camp. You two need to prove you can do this by yourselves. You are Camp Half-Blood's leader, not Annabeth. Now get some rest," and he teleported himself into the ocean.
I sighed. So much for my peaceful and ordinary break… I had realized a while ago that Jason and I weren't going to start coexisting peacefully anytime soon. I wondered when I would get to see Annabeth, my Wise Girl, again.
And with that sad thought, I fell asleep.
So, what do you think? How could I have improved? Did you like it? Here's hoping you did!
Thanks for reading (and, hopefully, reviewing) ;)
