Disclaimer: I am still waiting for MoA.

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Different but the Same

"You've changed, Percy!" Annabeth pushed him away as she stormed out the door.

Her vision was tainted red, and angry tears were streaming down her cheeks. She wasn't supposed to act like this. Annabeth was acting... irrational, unwise, illogical, ridiculous... and nothing like herself. That stupid, idiotic son of Poseidon, making her act like this. The rage spread like a wildfire through her veins, and all she wanted to do was slash at her problems and watch them dissolve. Maybe she would punch Percy, while she was at it. Percy. A lump formed in her throat. Annabeth was so angry, but every time she thought of him, all she could see was Percy's face as she stormed out the door. His sea green eyes, filled with confusion and hurt. Confusion and hurt, caused by her.

She flinched as she marched out of city limits. Where were the temples? The gods were absent; but maybe, just maybe, one of them could help her. She wasn't desperate enough to pray to Hera. She would never be desperate to enough to pray to her. Annabeth knew that it was necessary, to kidnap her boyfriend, take all his memories and then send him to a Roman camp that would have killed him if they had realized he was Greek. It didn't mean she was happy about it.

Annabeth looked at the hill. The temples were magnificent. She could easily spot the temples that belonged to Pluto, Jupiter, and Mars. There was another temple, a lighter shade of red then the temple of Mars. Annabeth read the inscription. Bellona... Goddess of War... All meetings about foreign wars were held in her temple... Maybe looking at the architecture would take her mind off everything, at least for a little while. She walked into the temple, her footsteps echoing in the empty silence. It was filled with statues of what Annabeth presumed was Bellona, holding various empty weapons. The ridged columns had round edges, suggesting that... Annabeth froze. There were footsteps. There was someone behind her. Annabeth pulled out her knife.

She whirled around, the tip of her knife at landing pointed at someone's throat. That someone also had a knife at her throat. Annabeth's opponent had her long dark hair in a single braid and hard but piercing eyes. She was wearing a purple toga, with Roman armor, and Annabeth was sure she had seen her before. The pieces clicked together soon enough.

Annabeth put away her dagger. "You're Reyna. One of the Praetors."

Reyna sheathed her knife, also, but cautiously, as if she expected Annabeth to attack her. "You must be Annabeth." she said stiffly.

"Look, I'm sorry about..." Annabeth started to apologize about Circe's Island. Part of her didn't want to; They had turned her boyfriend into a guinea pig for gods sake! Then again, she released the pirates that destroyed their home. "Save it." Reyna said stiffly, sitting down on the temple steps. After a few moments, Annabeth sat beside her. The view was amazing. From here she could see New Rome, gleaming in the sunlight, and Camp Jupiter, filled with soldiers, the fields of Mars... Then she noticed the way Reyna was acting. She was slouching, her dark eyes filled with torrents of emotion: anger, confusion, frustration, and just a hint of relief. Her shoulders were filled with tension. "What are you so worried about?"

Reyna's head snapped up, and her eyes met Annabeth' was a battle of wills, Reyna's cold brown against Annabeth's blazing grey. They glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, brown broke off. Reyna slumped down. Right now, she looked nothing like the stong, stoic leader of Camp Jupiter. She looked like an exhausted teenage girl who had to carry the weight of the sky. Both of them were like rubber bands, stretched far beyond their limit by the universe. They still haven't snapped. At least, not yet. Annabeth sighed.

"Jason seems the same, but different..." Reyna said.

"And you're afraid that he's not the same boy you knew." Annabeth completed. She could relate. That was one of her biggest fears. The first two, one being that Percy was dead, the second one: Some Roman girl had replaced her. The third? That he wasn't her Seaweed Brain anymore, that he wasn't Percy. She was afraid that he would end up being some cold Roman, and not at all the boy she knew. Reyna was feeling the same way.

"What was Jason like? Describe him as you knew him."

Reyna looked at the blue sky, almost wistfully. "He was... an idiot."

Annabeth laughed, but it was small. "An idiot?"

"And annoying." Reyna huffed, "Persistent, a good swordsman, a leader. He was cautious, controlled."

Annabeth smiled. "Jason hasn't changed at all. Except for the annoying part. He probably got more annoying."

Reyna snorted, and Annabeth could swear there was a new light in her eyes.

"Tell me about Percy."

Annabeth tapped her foot on the step below her.

"He's... reckless, impulsive, obtuse, goofy..."

Reyna laughed. "Goofy? I can picture that."

"Sweet, witty, loyal... and a Seaweed Brain."

"I doubt Percy has changed. If anything, he has grown more perceptive."

The sweet relief of a weight being lifted from her shoulders fills Annabeth's heart.

A few minutes of comfortable silence passed. Annabeth was thinking about Percy, and she had no doubt that Reyna was thinking about Jason. Reyna suddenly whistled a four note tune that sounded oddly familiar.

"Is that Rue's whistle?"

Reyna looked at her with a surprised expression. "You like the Hunger Games?"

"It is an amazing series and movie."

She smiles. "Gale's hot."

Annabeth looks at Reyna incredulously. That was the last thing she ever expected to hear from her.

"Peeta's hotter."

They both break out in a full force laughing fit, and Annabeth can feel the pull on both their rubber bands loosening.

Annabeth and Reyna- Greek and Roman, Athena and Bellona... Different but the same. Even if the last one was an oxymoron.

A/N: Wow, this is really late. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Hope the quality makes up for it.