AN: This might be a little AU.
Disclaimer: Do I look like Rick Riordan to you? I own nothing in the PJO/HOO world besides the plot and any OC's.
Chapter Two: Impossible
Blake may be amazing at traps, but with plans? Not so much.
We argued with Terminus, trying to get past the Pomerian line. After an interrogation, ("What do you think you're doing out of bed?" and "I should tell Reyna about this!"), he said he can't (or won't, I'm not entirely sure), let anyone on Probatio enter, especially without permission. I didn't know Blake was on Probatio like me, so that didn't help.
The weirdest thing of all was when he insisted that I had a weapon.
"Don't you dare, or I will choke you! Can you feel that? You better get rid of that weapon, or else-"
"But I don't have a weapon!" Blake had protested.
"Not you, her! I was pointing at her, idiot! Can't you see anything?"
"But I don't have anything either!"
"Yes, you do! I'm pointing at it-oh, you know what? Forget it. Kids these days..." Terminus was a complete idiot. Not to mention completely useless.
The light drizzle became a storm. I didn't want to go back to the barracks, so I headed to the Temple Hill, which I've never been to before. Blake accompanied me. We argued along the way.
"How the bloody hell was I supposed to know he wouldn't let us in?"
"Oh, I don't know-it's the middle of the night? We're on Probatio? Which you didn't tell me about, by the way."
"I'm not the one carrying secret weapons in my bra!"
"First of all, you don't have a bra. Second, I don't have a weapon! I can barely use a dagger, damn it!"
"Oh, you can use a dagger just fine, mate. You just can't use it right, now that's the problem."
We reached Temple Hill. We sat in Mercury's temple, shielded from the rain. "Are you from Britain?" I asked out of nowhere.
"I stayed there for about a year. The accent rubbed off on me a little. What about you?"
"California."
"You don't say."
"Just did." I grinned at the flicker of annoyance across Blake's face.
"You don't talk about your life much, do you?"
The smile dropped as fast as it had come. "Well, at least I know I'm not an attention-whore. But want to know one thing about my life? It sucks."
"Who's doesn't?" We sat there for a long time.
"Hey, Blake?" I asked. He turned to me. "What did you do in the Wolf House?"
He stared at me. "Well, what everyone else did...You did go there, right?"
I nodded quickly. "She didn't...train me though...She asked me a few questions and, well, sent me here..." Blake looked at me curiously but, to my immense relief, didn't say anything. "So, anyways," I said hastily. "Why exactly did we try to break into New Rome?"
"Oh, you didn't know? Well, after the Second Giant War-you know about that, right? Percy Jackson and everything?"
"Yeah, Alyss made sure of that."
"Well, after that ended a few months ago, the two camps allow weekend visits and everything, so everyone can hang out..."
"But I don't see any Greeks here..."
"They were in New Rome, I think. Either way, a few of the Greek demigods often stay for days at a time."
"Who?" I said, excited.
"Oh, you know...Percy Jackson...Annabeth Chase, demigods like them." He said casually.
"And you didn't think about telling me this earlier?" I said before hugging and squeezing the air out of him.
"Can't...breathe..." I let go him. He rubbed his sides. "By the way, do you know who your godly parent is yet?" I shook my head. "Your mortal parent?" Again, I shook my head. "Who did you stay with, then?"
I paused, wondering if I should tell him. But then I looked over, and realized...Once I was out of here...I would never see him again either way. "Well, the first two years of my life, I think I was was with my mother...Then I was in foster homes for the next seven years. My most recent home is the home I've stayed in the longest. She was my guardian since I was nine...And I'm almost 14, so that's like, five years."
"You're 13?" Blake looked surprised. "I thought you were older."
"Wow, thanks. Was it all the fat?" I was overweight for my age. Most people deny it, so I expected Blake to do the same.
"You're just chubby now. You maybe be shitty with weapons, but you still lot some weight."
"Whatever," I rolled my eyes.
"Hey, if it helps, she'll technically be 13 next week. Anyways, we need to find your godly parent. Do you have any superpowers?"
"Yes, but I decide to hide them so that I come off as mysterious. I have the ability to do anything I want, but I'm such a good person, I decide to do things the hard way like commoners like you so-"
"Alright, bugger off! You ramble a lot, and you seem smart, so maybe Minerva is your parent?"
"I'm pretty sure my Greek parent is a guy..."
"Well, you said you weren't sure if it was your mother taking care of you when you were a baby, so...Yeah, it could be anyone..."
"That makes me feel so much better. What do we do now, though?"
"We could try walking into all the temples?" Blake suggested. We started with the more likely ones. The minor gods and goddesses' temple, I just felt out of place. In Mars', a burn appeared on my arm. I had no idea if that was supposed to happen. In Minerva's, I fell into a pile of owl pellets. Once inside Apollo's, nothing happened. I turned to Blake, excited-
-to see he was putting out the fire at the tips of my hair.
"I don't get it." I slumped on the ground of Jupiter's pavilion. It had stopped raining. It was almost dawn. We had gone through all the possible temples in sight, even the ones that seemed impossible; like Bellona. "Why does that happen? I mean, you're not a Son of Ares-I mean, Mars, but you didn't get a burn."
"Maybe it's because you're Greek?"
"Oh, wow, you racist dumbfuck!"
"No, I meant-" Blake sighed, exasperated. "You got problems, mate, problems." He got up to leave. "You coming?"
"Naw, I like to watch the sunrise. See you later, Blake. Hey, uh, thanks for saving me...earlier today. Well, yesterday, technically." I coughed, flustered.
"We're all friends now, ya know. We stick together, especially Josh and Liam." Blake grinned before leaving. I felt a flush of guilt, since I don't think I cared about them as much as they seemed to care about me. Shaking my head, I turn to the east, deciding that the best view of the sunrise was from Jupiter's temple. It was at the top of Temple Hill, revealing a stunning sight of New Rome, the other hills, and the rest of the camp. A light glowed in the distance-the sun. The sky was a mixture of orange, red, blue, purple, and even green. The stars faded as the sun soared into the sky. I couldn't help but grin as the light washed over my tired self.
"You're not going to get anywhere with this." Startled, I whipped around to see a boy around my age, if not a bit older. He appeared out of the shadows, dressed in mostly black.
"What?" I frowned, crossing my arms. "Who the hell are you?"
He just shook his head. "At this point, you might as well walk to Camp Half-Blood. You don't know how to fight, you don't know you're own parents, you didn't even go to the Wolf House."
"Does everyone here feel the need to lecture me? And why were you eavesdropping? And technically, yeah, I went to the Wolf House."
"Whatever. I always hang around Temple Hill. It's not my fault you and your boyfriend talk really loudly." He extended his hand. "Nico di Angelo." he introduced.
I took it, planning to crush it. "Alexis Dare." I felt a warm current flow through the tips of my fingertips. Nico yelped in pain-from whatever left my fingers, the fact that I was crushing it, or-
"Dare?"
Smiling sarcastically, I left. I never noticed that the burn on my arm was gone, because there was one thing Nico di Angelo had said that remained in my head for the rest of the week.
Why don't you just walk to Camp Half-Blood?
I trained for the next 3 weeks, which I found was extremely hard. The Roman way was just so different from the Greek way. At first, I competed against Blake, but found that he wasn't that great with weapons, either. Liam was a horrible teacher. He fought at his level, leaving me in the dust. My sword was out of my hands in less than 30 seconds. He clearly has no idea what "Go easy" means.
"You're posture sucks!"
"Well, how am I supposed to hold this stupid piece of shit?"
"Oh, I don't know-the right way?" As you can see, he wasn't very helpful.
Alyss was into archery. When we attempted to do sword-play, well...we got nowhere...
"You're not even trying to use it!" I yelled.
"Sorry, I just didn't want to hit you!"
"That's the point-OW! REALLY?"
"You told me to hit you!" I had stared at her, wondering, Is this girl for real? I would've been happier if she was mocking me. However, her expression was genuine.
Josh was a pretty good teacher and everything...He had quite a temper, though. He was especially picky about my fighting style, claiming it's not Roman. We end up fighting verbally instead of physically.
"How many times do I have to tell you-"
"What is it this time?"
"That's not how a Roman demigod stands!"
"Well, I'm not a Roman demigod!"
"Well, you happen to be in a Roman camp."
"Not for long."
"Okay, fine, then. You can find someone else to help you after you fly your way to Camp Half-Blood!"
Josh would be my best bet...If my mouth wasn't so goddamn loud. Soon, he came up with a way to have my do exercises without having to talk to me...most of the time. Most of them involve running, lifting weights, obstacle courses, etc.
See, Camp Jupiter doesn't really have that many obstacle course...So what Josh does is, well, he sort of makes his own. Now, when I say that, don't think that he literally makes one just because he's s Son of Hephaestus-or Vulcan, whatever. No, he just tells me to do things like "Climb that pole with only your hands, then jump off onto the roof, leap onto that, and then..." And that was what he called 'simple'. It made me think about parkour. Once I managed to complete an obstacle, he timed me until I was fast enough to his liking.
I hated it.
I visited Temple Hill a few times, but saw no sign of Nico. I later found out from Alyss that he was Greek.
I guess I'll have to look out for him.
Alyss decided to help me with a bow and arrow. "If you can't fight a monster, might as well kill them off from a long distance away, right?" After a day with bow and arrow, I finally learned how to hold it. "Okay, this is a small mechanical dog that Josh made. It can move and fight and everything. You need to shoot it."
"But I don't want to shoot a puppy..."
"Alexis."
"Fine." The metal dog raced to me. I shot arrows at it. They all flew in every single direction, any direction but the dog. It was pretty hard to shoot and run at the same time. Soon, the dog was less than 15 feet away. I looked around frantically and saw a tall fence (around the baths). I climbed it and watched the dog run up to the foot of it.
It was time.
I tried to shoot it again. The arrow flew and hit the spot behind the dog. The dog turned around. Seeing that it was distracted, I leaped onto it's back, crushing it's back limb. Putting the bow over its head, so that the wooden part was under it's neck, I stabbed the back of its neck with the arrow. It broke apart with sparks flying.
Grinning happily, I slung the dead dog over my shoulder and walked over to Alyss. "How'd I do?"
Alyss just stared, horrified or just stunned, I don't know.
"Okay, I'll give you an amount of push-ups and sit-ups, then after doing that, run all the way to New Rome," Josh was saying. "This time, I made an obstacle course, with the help of a few other people, near the Coliseum."
"Aw, you made one just for me?" I raised an eyebrow cheekily.
"It's not for you-" Josh snorted. I pouted. "It's for everyone. But yeah, you'll be the first to use it. After that, you'll fight against Liam. Since he sucks at teaching, I'll be giving you tips."
"But-"
"But nothing." I soon started the pushups and sit ups, which were easier to do with each passing day. Running to the area behind the Coliseum, I froze.
The whole thing was over a big pool of water-and it wasn't still water. It swirled like a toilet does after you flush it.
It kept spiraling to the center. Gulping, I started at the beginning. I was supposed to go to the middle, where a tower waited, holding a flag. I'd get the flag, then make it to the end.
I was hopeless. It started out with a few sets of monkey bars. The whole thing was tilting and shaking, so I was already clinging for dear life. The bars themselves were sliding with the motion. I realized that if I tried my best...believed in my powers...and hoped for the best...
...I'd fall into the water faster than you can say 'Hades'. Which would be really embarrassing since people were starting to crowd around the obstacle course. Gripping the sides of the monkey bars instead of the actual bars, I inched my way to the platform at the end. The spinning platform. Can't anything be easy? A few more meters...
"Hurry up!" Josh's voice rang out. A few more feet...I dropped down onto the platform...and was flung into the water. It engulfed me. Panicking, I floundered, barely above the surface. Laughter filled the air. Everyone was, indeed, laughing at the girl who had been hanging from the ceiling a few weeks ago. "FINISH IT! GET BACK ON THE PLATFORM!" Josh screamed.
He cannot be serious right now.
"WELL?! GET CHO ASS BACK ON THAT PLATFORM RIGHT NOW!" I hate him so much right now. As I attempted to swim back to the platform, something grabbed my ankle. My head was forced beneath the surface. A dark creature circled around me. Holy shit...
To say I was scared of water was an understatement. Why? It might have something to do with the fact that I nearly drowned, long before I met Beatrix. Air bubbles bursted out of my mouth as I screamed. It spun, like a cloud, above my head, trying to reach the surface. Becoming dizzy, I raised my arms, trying to touch it, like a baby reaching out for a floating dust moat. My vision blurred, so I never saw the cluster of air bubbles float underneath my feet, gathering and tightening like a coil. It exploded in a blast of energy, shooting me out of the water, over the tower, and all the way to the end.
My chest heaved for air, the familiar warmth tingled at my fingertips, but I didn't notice. My eyes were shut tight, waiting to slam into the ground waiting for me 50 feet below.
It never came.
I cautiously opened my eyes. I was floating 10 feet above the ground. Everyone stared, shocked. "What? Too shocked to laugh?"
Josh smiled and Blake shook his head, pound. Alyss's eyes were wide, and Liam silently pointed above my head.
My head turned to the glowing blue lightning bolt hologram above my head.
I had finally been claimed the Greek way.
But I was still at a Roman Camp.
AN: Don't forget to review! XD