OMG! You guys are the best! So after I posted the chapter, I went straight to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I checked my phone and I got over 30 e-mails just from the story! Thank you so much! I've never had so many people adding the story to their alerts and favs before. Even in reviews, it's probably the highest amount I've ever received.
10 reviews, 26 alerts and 21 favourites so far! Amazing! Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments.
Anyways, moving on. Let's get on with the actual chapter 2. Woohoo! I'm glad I'm done with it! I will be putting some more of Leo, thanks to WHayley's suggestion. Seemed like a good idea. I haven't said much about him and he doesn't have as great as a love life as others. But not in this chapter. So far, my story is more on the lovey-dovey side of things. But I think it's necessary when people reunite after no connection with one another after a long time. But this chapter won't be as emotional as the last one. We need to get to the actual story hehe.
To Emily: Will do. Thanks for the suggestion. Will probably do it in the later chapters.
Credit: God1801, who is helping with plans in the story. More are welcome to help.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any of the books in the series HoO or PJO. All is Rick Riordan's property
II
Annabeth
"So that's Jason Grace." Percy said. Of course he would know him. Everyone in Camp Jupiter should. He was after all the previous praetor and the one who toppled Mount Othrys by defeating the titan Krios. Everyone here had strong feelings for Jason. The same goes with Percy at Camp Half-Blood. All of the Roman campers missed Jason the same way Camp Half-Blood missed Percy. The only difference is, is that the Romans didn't seem so down and gloomy like the Greeks were.
Annabeth looked over to where Jason was and saw him standing face-to-face with another girl. It was the one in the matching purple toga that Percy was wearing. The gold and silver dogs trotted happily around Jason, probably happy to see him as well as they wagged their tails in the air. It seemed like Jason had a girlfriend back here after all. It only made sense. The two leaders of both camps falling in love with each other. Then something dawned on Annabeth.
Piper.
She's going to be heartbroken if she finds out. Annabeth turned her gaze over to the boat where she saw Piper with her head down, and could see something glistening towards the ground. Oh no, Annabeth thought. Piper was indeed crying. One moment she was happy, but then it all vanished. She looked exactly the same as Annabeth when Percy went missing. Leo realized what was happening and threw an arm around her to comfort her. Although he looked uncomfortable. Well, he was new to all the girl business. No girls had ever liked him. Even so, he seemed to be keeping up a good job.
Annabeth felt guilty. All this time she thought of her own feelings and was blinded to see or even care about how Piper was feeling. She was in the same situation as her. But Piper was the one who was having the harder time. Her emotions were now mixed between happy and guilt. She shook off the feelings and just continued on like she wasn't at war with herself.
Her thought's were suddenly interrupted when someone shouted from the crowd of Romans, "Stop this I tell you! These Greeks are here for one reason and one reason only!" Every turned to see who was causing all the commotion. A boy with blond hair with dark blue eyes. He was in a white toga and was wearing a purple shirt underneath. He would've freaked Annabeth out a little if it weren't for him holding a stuffed teddy bear. Annabeth laughed quietly, but Percy looked annoyed and serious. Octavian was not to be tempered with.
"Do you seriously think that these Greeks will bring us any good?" Octavian told the people of Rome. "The son of Poseidon has already brought Polybotes and an army of monsters to come and attack us. Who says they won't come back?" This got the crowd to murmur among themselves. This boy has some skills with persuasion. He probably could've been chosen to be praetor. Annabeth thought. And that would have been bad for us.
"We should get rid of these liars and save the world from Gaea ourselves!" Octavian said, sounding more like an order. A few people cried out in agreement, but most just stayed quiet.
Jason stepped forward, "What are you doing Octavian?" He asked. "It's clear that we need to work together. Or have you forgotten the prophecy." That got Octavian pretty good. But that kid just didn't know when to stop.
"Of course I know the prophecy. I am Octavian! The one who consults with the auguries!" Octavian countered.
Someone in the background yelled out, "Yeah! By sacrificing stuffed animals!" Everyone broke into laughter. From there, everyone broke into arguments. Supporters of Octavian versus the supporters of the praetors. Mainly Percy now.
"Well, just remember who saved you guys in the first place!" Reyna shouted with complete confidence, somehow yelling over the crowd. Everyone silenced and stared at her. "It was Percy who saved us. A Greek. I know, as well as many others, that the Greeks can be trusted."
Octavian laughed, "These weaklings?" At that moment, Percy lifted his hands and the Tiber River rose 20 feet into the air. Leo, who appeared out of nowhere along with Piper, held out his hand and a ball of fire appeared.
"You were saying?" Piper asked. Everyone stared in amazement. The only ones who weren't surprised were Jason and Annabeth who already knew their powers. "Now get down on your knees and beg for mercy." Abruptly, he went down on his knees and pleaded for forgiveness. Everyone, even the Romans couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Octavian stood back up with a furious look. He was mad enough that steam would come out from his ears and nostrils.
"Damn you Greeks!" Octavian said. Then Octavian thought about Leo and Piper's abilities and reconsidered, "Maybe you aren't all useless after all." Well that was a sudden change of emotions. A little suspicious Although, he was such a good actor, no one would suspect he was up to something. Leo's fire died down and the water from the Tiber River fell creating an enormous splash that almost got the demi-gods wet. It got everyone to jump a little, not wanting to take an unexpected shower. They all glared at Percy who just smirked innocently.
"Whoops?" Percy said innocently. Jason, Annabeth and a few others laughed.
"Come on. We should probably head inside to discuss the matter further." Reyna kindly suggested. Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo and Piper followed Reyna into the city, where all the people who gathered also went back into the city. There was one thing that stuck into Annabeth's mind, and that was Octavian could not be trusted. And he didn't seem to like them at all.
You could hear everyone sigh in relief that the Greeks weren't here to attack them. The adults released their children from their arms, who were just as scared as the parents. Although, when the kids were let go, they just became joyful and started playing with their friends. But the adults still felt uneasy about the whole Greeks-are-here-but-they're-not-attacking-phew situation.
Annabeth tried to stay as calm as she could when she entered the Roman camp. There were such amazing architecture involved and the buildings were extremely beautiful. Sure it was a based off of Greek structures but it's so close to Greeks that most people wouldn't notice the difference. Leo seemed pretty fascinated with the barracks.
Piper overheard some of the Venus girls gossiping about a couple of people, and by a couple, they mean the Greeks. But being a daughter of Aphrodite, she couldn't help but eavesdrop. Typical. Leo heard some girls talking about him and went off, stupid enough, to ask. Annabeth couldn't resist thinking about what the girls would do to him. Would they slap him? Kick him? Punch him? Okay, sure it was a little bit of mean thoughts, but that kid could never really get girls to like him. Well he came back with a red cheek, looking surprised, but it was to be expected. But his expression threw Annabeth off. It looked hurt and surprised, but not surprised that he was slapped. Surprised in a happy-er way.
Jason was up ahead with Reyna, are catching up with each other. They were talking and laughing so casually around each other like nothing had ever happened, which just seemed to be hurting Piper even more. Leo and Hazel found themselves getting into a conversation. Something about looking like some person named Sammy? Whatever they were talking about, Frank didn't look to happy. Annabeth started to suspect things going on between Frank and Hazel. Annabeth, of course, was walking happily hand-in-hand with Percy. Percy would tell her about his adventure when she was gone, feeling a little sorry that she wasn't with him. Octavian was just hanging out in the back, doing nothing in particular.
The demi-gods all kept walking around and everyone got to know each other a little bit. To their left, they passed the field of Mars where some people were setting up defenses of some sort. Probably getting ready for the war games. They continued their walk stopped just before entering the city and crossing the Pomerian line. Annabeth, Leo and Piper were about to enter, when a voice made them jump.
"Excuse me! Please leave your weapons here with me." Annabeth, Leo and Piper looked around for the source of the voice, but all they saw were buildings an arm-less statue and some older demi-gods. The three looked around, clueless about anything. "I'm over here!" The voice was now getting angry. Leo turned around finding an angry statue face staring right at him, like right at him!
He yelped and jumped back, "OH MY GODS!" Leo must have jumped 10 meters in the air at least. Annabeth and Piper did get a little freak out, but didn't really say anything. Everyone just started laughing.
The statue looked a little insulted, "You do know that you are standing in front of a god, right?" The white statue asked the ever so surprised Leo. Annbeth gazed in awe and Piper's face became puzzled that said creepy. However Leo calmed down and became the most impressed of them all. He started poking and sniffing around the god statue and observed it from all angles while saying things like, "Whoa! Are you a automation of Hephaestus? This is too SICK!" Leo was practically squealing like a girl now. Every time Leo had poked the god, its face got angrier and redder, until he couldn't keep it bottled up anymore.
"Would you please STOP that? I am Terminus, the god of boundaries!" Terminus releasing his fury by slapping Leo with his invisible hands. It was the same cheek he was holding onto a while ago too, and wasn't completely recovered from whatever happened to him. The invisible thing kind of surprised Annabeth and Piper even more. Could this god get any weirder? " I heard that." The god snapped then looked back at Leo. "Make the same mistake next time and I'll turn you in to my personal wall!" Leo looked like he was about to crack up any second now due the stupidity of the idea, but seeing Terminus's serious face, he controlled himself.
Terminus calmed down then yelled again, "Single file, please! Get your IDs ready!"
"Hey Terminus," Jason greeted, "nice to see you again." Terminus' eyes turned to Jason with wide eyes. With his invisible arms, he hugged him.
"Jason, my boy! How have you been?" Terminus asked. "Your sister-in-arm here was quite worried about you, even though she tried to be the big brave she is." Both Reyna and Jason started blushing and Piper's face fell. "Julia! Come here!"
"I've been taken care of." Jason smiled at the Greeks, who smiled back.
A petite girl came out holding out a tray. The girl was no older than 6 years old. She had her hair tied into two pony tails and was wearing a blue dress. She smiled, showing her two missing teeth, as she lifted the tray to us. Terminus turned to the Greek demi-gods.
"Weapons in the tray please." Terminus said. The newer demi-gods tensed. What would they do without their weapons? "Oh don't worry, you'll get them back when you leave the city. Julia will take good care of them in the meantime." Everyone reluctantly put their weapons on the tray. Once all the weapons were on the tray, Julia scurried off. "All right. Off you go now. Enjoy your visit." Even though they couldn't see his arms, they were certain he was waiving them good bye.
Demi-gods were walking along the stone-paved streets, chatting with their neighbors, running their own shops, the whole city is basically a replica of the old Rome. Or at least, that's their what they attempted. All of the roads led to the middle where the forum was located, according to Reyna. In fact, that's where they're headed. As they passed various different buildings, Reyna pointed out some of the more important buildings, like the senate house, the aqueduct, where the water would flow through, and the coliseum, where special events were usually held. Obviously nothing that included violence. Behind the pomerian line, no weapons were allowed, for the citizen's safety. The thought of older demi-gods really started to annoy Annabeth, and her curiosity got the better of her.
"Why are all these demi-gods here in the camp? Are they even demi-gods?" Annabeth finally getting the thought out of her mind.
Reyna was too busy still showing everything to Leo and Piper, so Frank answered instead, "Yep. All demi-gods and their offspring."
"Those who wanted to raise a family, stayed here until their children are fully grown." Hazel added. "They take advantage of the camp's magical borders and protect them from any monsters." Annabeth stared in amazement. So many demi-gods got to live their lives to the fullest, away from danger and grow to be old. Not many demi-gods these days could even reach the age of 30. But there they all were, in a variety of different ages. The range was 40 years at least to 80 years at max. That's all Annabeth saw so far anyways.
"That's so amazing." Annabeth commented. Maybe me and - no. We wouldn't want to stay here, thought Annabeth. Then she saw some weird floating thingy and jumped a little into Percy who held her tight, prepared to defend her. When Percy found what the problem was he just laughed.
"Don't worry. Those are just Lares. They're like the protecters of this camp and cohorts." Percy explained. "Each have a different responsibility." Annabeth just punched Percy playfully.
"That's for laughing at me." She said.
They all continued down the road until they reached the forum. It was where they would discuss the matter of the "Prophecy of Seven", as the Romans would say, or the next "Great Prophecy", as the Greeks interpreted. The nine demi-gods walked in to the forum, taking their seats. Reyna went to the front, where the leader would sit to begin their meeting.
"Let us begin," Reyna started, then glared at Percy who sat down beside Annabeth. There was something in Reyna's eyes. Was it sadness? Jealousy? Anger? No, it was probably nothing. Her expression immediately disappeared and was replaced with an unreadable one.
She then patted a seat beside her, "Won't you join me, Percy?" Percy sighed and got up, obviously not intending to do so. He sat down beside Reyna uncomfortably. Of course with his returned memories, it'd feel prety awkward to be sitting beside another girl isolated from the rest, when your girlfriend is one of the few among the crowd.
Reyna officially began the discussion, "Alright, as you all are aware of, the Prophecy of Seven is in motion. Or as the Greeks have said it earlier, their 'Great Prophecy'."
Leo stood up, "How can you be sure it's started?" Everyone in the room mentally slapped their foreheads. Even Percy, the Seaweed Brain already knew that it has started. Octavian sighed, not believing how stupid this Greek was.
"Because, we have already beaten two giants." Octavian said. "And I'm pretty sure you guys have fought one too."
"Woah! Two?" Jason exclaimed. "How'd you manage to do that?"
"Not at the same time you dummy." Hazel laughed. "Frank, Percy and I killed one on our way back to camp after a mission given to us by Mars. Alyconeas was the first victim."
Frank butted in and continued the story with a but more enthusiasm, "Yea. We found out that we couldn't kill him as long as he's in his birth place, so we used this extremely, supersonic fast horse to get him away from Alaska and killed him!" Jason, Piper, Leo and Annabeth stared at him in disbelief.
"Yes, then Percy defeated the other single-handed." Hazel continued. "Well, with the help of Terminus." Jason laughed at that. Terminus was never the violent type. Who would've thought he'd do such a thing? Obviously, nobody.
"Yea and Jason beat Porphyrion with the help of his dad!" Leo exclaimed. "It was all like BAM! and BOOM! with all the lightning stuff. It was pretty awesome!" Leo said as he did all these crazy actions to go along with his statement. Piper calmed him down and pushed him back down to his seat and then she stared at Jason, as if she was remembering that day. It was terrifying, yet she couldn't hide the fact that Jason looked so amazing and strong at that moment when he defeated the giant. Reyna saw her and gave her a dirty look.
"Ok, ok. We all defeated giants. Big deal. Right now, we need to get a move on to Rome." Percy suggested.
Piper looked confused. "Why Rome?" Then something hit Percy. He started remembering the words Ella had told them and all of the disturbing accusations Hera made of Annabeth. No, Percy thought while shaking the thought off, I can't let that happen.
"Percy, what's wrong?" Reyna asked.
"Nothing." Percy replied.
"It makes perfect sense now." Annabeth said, referring to Piper's previous question. "Since the Greek and Roman cultures were so alike, Gaea is off to destroy what is left of Rome in order to weaken the gods even more before their final attack on Olympus." Everyone was confused at this point. Annabeth sighed. "Rome is the birth place of the Roman gods, so if they destroy Rome to nothing, then the gods lose their Roman form, which means, they lose their Roman aspects. They lose power since the Roman form of the gods were more disciplined, warlike, powerful and united." Annabeth said that a little bit uncomfortably.
It took everyone a while to process the thought, but then Reyna seemed to finally get it, "So, to save Rome it is then." She told the rest. "But the question remains, who are the seven demi-gods who will be going?" That one question hit everybody hard. That would mean the fate of the world rested on the seven. Probably only Percy and Jason seemed relaxed. They've both faced situations where everything were in their hands. Everyone in the room thought for a moment.
Annabeth was the first to rise up, "I think that Jason, Piper and Leo should go. They were the only one that went on a quest after Percy saved us." She looked to Percy who was blushing a little. Little did she know, so was she. "Besides, they all have special powers. Jason with the power over lightning and air, Leo his fire and Piper with her charmspeak." Everyone nodded at this suggestion. Then Reyna stood up and gave her opinion.
"Percy, Frank and Hazel. They too have had the only quest since the fall of Mount Othrys." Reyna said. Again, everyone nodded in agreement.
"That's six. Who's the seventh?" Hazel asked. Percy took a thought for a moment and remember the words Mark of Athena. He looked over to Annabeth who was in deep thought. What he said next was surprising to everyone. His suggestion was possibly the only person who had no special power whatsoever.
"Annabeth."
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Possibly the longest chapter I've ever made. If I'm killing you guys with the one week waits, I'm sorry and I'll try to speed things up. Also, let's try to double the reviews! I know you guys can do it. I don't necessarily care what you say, but please don't go overboard with and negative comments. They are still welcome though. 'Till next time!
NinjaReads :D
Oh and I forgot to mention, I made the basketball varsity team and we have practices like everyday so I'm going to be even more busy than I usually am. But I'll still work on the weekends if I don't have homework.
