AN
Roy: Hey guys, sorry for my absence. I had quite a bit on my plate as soon as I got back from our vacation. Problems exist and they are a pain in the ass.
Jake: At least you're back man, we know it hasn't been easy on your end with the emotional rollercoaster and all.
Roy: Don't I know it, just like how Percy's gonna feel down here.
Twista: Well let's get to business! Percy's going to be blasted back and forth by the end of this chapter by the stuff he'll see.
Roy: Once again, no replies for now since I don't feel it, sorry.
Twista: Cheer up!
Jake: That's right! Tonight we're going out! So if you guys liked this chapter leave a follow, favorite and review below!
Twista: Enjoy!
Disclaimer: PJO and HOO are not ours!
Percy 3rd Person POV
As if he hadn't seen enough weird crap in his few months of memory, this sure took the cake seeing that the camp was half populated by ghosts. Shimmering spectral forms were everywhere at camp, some were standing by doors like guards, some were phasing in and out of the structures while some just walked around and conversed with mortal and ghost alike as if they weren't see through spirits.
Their small group walked by as the ghosts stopped and looked at Percy with surprise. Reyna was leading, not giving a single thought about their points and stares while Hazel and Frank who were on either one of his sides, were a bit surprised as the ghosts pointed at him and said 'Graecus!' and vanishing in fear soon after.
A little boy ghost wisped away as Percy raised a brow and said "What's that all about?"
Frank had his hands in his pockets as he said "Oh them? They're Lares, House Gods."
"Lares?" questioned Percy,
"Yep," said Hazel nodding, "The Camp is filled with them, they're ancestral spirits. They're harmless anyway."
"Consider them mascots," said Frank as he removed his helmet revealing his babyish face that did not go well with his wrestler like frame.
"Why are they freaking out then?" asked Percy, "I think they called me something like Greggus?"
"It's Graecus" said Hazel, "It means Greek"
Frank put a hand on his chin and inspected Percy saying "Come to think of it you do have the looks of a Greek…you think you were related to one?"
The Son of Poseidon shrugged and said "How should I know, as I said dude, my memory is gone."
"How is it gone?" asked Frank,
Looking at his hands, Percy gave a frustrated sigh and said "I don't know…it just is."
Hazel decided to change the subject and said "Greeks and Romans had quite a rivalry so maybe since you kind of looked like one, the Lares just over reacted."
"Wait till you see Vitellius," said Frank with a small smirk, "You haven't seen nothing yet."
Hazel laughed as Percy shrugged and when the laughter died down, Frank and Hazel were stunned as Percy said "Hey uhh, I just want to say thanks for saving me back there guys. I don't know if I would have made it here without you."
"We should be doing the thanking Percy," said Hazel, "we were just doing our duty but you saved Frank's life. I think you would have been fine without us judging from the amount of power you showed the Camp."
Frank nodded in agreement and said "Yeah what was that? I know Neptune is the God of the Seas but I never knew his kids could do something like that! Now the entire camp must be buzzing with the news!"
Thinking back, Percy never really thought about how his little display of power would affect how the campers saw him. How was he supposed to know they weren't used to that amount of power? Lupa had taught him to act with his special talents only when necessary and the situation called for it.
Percy looked around to see campers whispering amongst themselves as he said "I never wanted it to be like this, I never knew people would react this way. My powers just came from my parent; I guess you guys have something like that?"
Frank and Hazel went silent as they came to a stop at a section of the camp where two paths made a T. Reyna, who was in front, turned and said "Frank, go and check on the armory. Hazel, you will accompany me and Percy to the principia. Everyone else, back to your duties, I'll fill you all in during the evening muster, prepare for the war games."
The crowd dispersed as some muttering were heard, Percy listened in and heard "He's dead."
"He's dangerous to keep around,"
"Probably a traitor, he's too powerful to be a noobie."
"He looks kind of cute,"
"Let him join the fifth, you know, the Greeks and Freaks."
The Son of Neptune wasn't one to lose his temper but he was a bit pissed by their comments. He flared his killing intent as some campers staggered and felt weak in the knees.
Reyna stepped back as she turned to see Percy looking calm with his hands in his pockets. Everyone didn't know what just happened but Reyna did; she raised a brow at Percy and was impressed that he could harness his killer intent to be some sort of external pressure.
Frank shivered and said "Uh…y-yeah, I'll g-get g-going."
Shakily the crowd did the same and Hazel felt impassive to it and said "Wow Percy, didn't know you could do that."
Reyna walked up to them and said "You know what he did Hazel?"
She nodded and said "My brother can do the same and he taught me how. I know a flare of intent when I feel it."
Truly there was more to Percy that meets the eye. Reyna then gestured at the structure at the distance and said "Let us go, the principiais waiting."
"What is that?" asked Percy, "Headquarters?"
"Something like that," said Hazel,
The Son of Neptune was curious on how Hazel knew about killing intent and she spoke of her brother who knew how to do so. Reyna nodded and gestured for them to follow.
Inside the principia, Percy was impressed by the design. The ceiling had a mosaic of Romulus and Remus with their Wolf Mother Lupa. She had told him the story a dozen times but she said that they weren't the only twins she was proud of.
He never knew what that meant but he never dwelled on it. The floor was polished marble and the walls were draped with velvet. Poles with bronze medals and banners were aligned by the back but the one in the center was missing.
In the room's center, a large wooden table was covered by cluttered papers, computer tablets, knifes, pens and even a bowl of jelly beans. Percy went to reach for one as Hazel slapped it out of his hands and said "Ever heard of Julius Caesar? There were a lot of assassinations in Roman Times like poisoning so I wouldn't do that."
Percy stepped away from the bowl and said "Really?"
Hazel smirked and shook her head saying "Just kidding, go ahead."
He moved away from the bowl saying "No thanks…"
Two life sized statues of dogs, greyhounds, one gold, one silver, flanked Reyna's chair which was one 0f the two high backed chairs behind the table. Hazel remained standing so Percy did just that as Reyna crossed her fingers and scanned Percy head to toe saying "Percy Jackson huh?"
"Percy is short for Perseus," said Percy with a small shrug,
Suddenly, the two statues growled and bared their teeth as Percy's eyes widened and stepped back. Reyna put her dagger on the table as she said "My dogs here, Argentum and Aurum, do not like your tone. Speak with respect and remember who you are speaking to."
"Who am I speaking to?" asked Percy wearily looking at the snarling dogs,
Hazel nervously darted her eyes back and forth as Reyna said "A Daughter of Bellona and Praetor of the Twelfth Legion."
Percy was a bit irritated by this girl; she was a warrior just by looking at her. Her posture, her alert eyes and her body movements. She spoke with pride and demand and he guessed that knife she pulled out and put on the table wasn't just for show. What he didn't like was how she wasn't speaking with him on fair grounds.
"No name?" asked Percy,
Reyna's serious eyes turned dangerously angry but suppressed as she slammed her hands on the table as she stood and said "Who are you to ask that?"
"Me?" asked Percy, "I'm just Percy Jackson"
The dogs growled at him but as Percy crossed his arms, Reyna fell back to her seat noticing Percy's eyes were now a dark, violent purple. The dogs whimpered in fear as Percy said "I don't like how you talk."
Even Hazel felt weak in her knees as the two girls started to sweat profoundly as Percy's killing intent was radiating hard from his calm look. Percy gave her a kind smile and said "Let's start over shall we?"
The intent vanished as Percy said "I'm Percy Jackson, Son of Neptune."
Reyna composed herself and nodded saying "My name is Reyna. Lady Juno personally bringing you here does give merit but I would like to hear it from you, who are you really?"
Hazel listened in as Percy said "I don't really know, I just woke up in some forest by Lupa months ago and she trained me until a few days ago and I made my way here."
"How many months ago?" asked Reyna, "It's weird, Lupa almost never lets Demigods who she finds stay with her for long. It's about a month by max."
"About eight," answered Percy,
Hazel then said "Isn't that when Jason disappeared?"
"Who's Jason?" asked Percy as his eyes turned back to normal,
Reyna gestured as the seat beside hers and caressed her dog's head as she said "My…partner. Jason was my partner praetor. You see he vanished about eight months ago. Have you seen him anywhere? Blonde, blue eyes, purple shirt, scar on his lip?"
Percy shook his head as Reyna sighed and said "I thought as much. How about your powers? What power do you possess?"
Now, this is where Lupa told him to be very, very careful. She told him to never, ever mention his purple eyes. Percy nodded and said "As I showed, I can control water and generate earthquakes."
Reyna nodded and said "How did you hold the Gorgons in the air? How did you settle Frank Zhang on the ground?"
He had already thought about this and waved his hand as a ball of water formed over his palm and he said "I can control water in most forms even water vapor. That is how I did it."
He looked calm in the outside but in the inside, he was repeatedly saying "Buy it, buy it, buy it, and please don't question it."
Reyna nodded in understanding as Percy gave a small smile and Hazel said "So am I going to take him to Octavian?"
The daughter of Bellona said "Wait, so you remember nothing at all?"
"Bits and pieces," said Percy, "My name, how to use my weapon and finally just another name."
"Another name?" asked Hazel curiously,
"Yeah," said the Son of Neptune, "A girl named Zoe? Do you know her?"
Reyna shook her head as Argentum circled Percy and she said "I know all of our present legionnaires and I know no one by the name of Zoe."
"Yeah thought so," said Percy,
"You said you have a weapon," asked Hazel, "Can you show us?"
Pulling out his pen, Percy watched the two girls' faces turned from confused then into awe as Percy uncapped his pen and Riptide turned into its true form. Percy held the leather grip and twirled the sword around.
"Amazing," said Hazel, "It's nothing like I've ever seen before."
"There some of these old designs in the armory back then," said Reyna,
Percy put it away as he said "So your other praetor is missing? Can't you lead alone? You seem capable."
"I can but the Feast of Fortune comes near and it is needed for there to be two praetors." Said Reyna,
"That is why we're searching for Jason," said Reyna, "We need him back."
She stood and said "Hazel, take him to Octavian for the auguries to be read. If he approves, bring him to the evening muster and we'll decided which cohort you'll be in."
"Cohort?" asked Percy,
Hazel nodded at him and said "They're the divisions. There are five cohorts and we get placed in them when we enter the Legion."
"Which one are you in?" asked Percy,
"Same as Frank," said Hazel, "The fifth cohort."
Percy nodded as Reyna then said "Hazel, answer his questions and if Octavian lets you live, let's see how far you'll go in the Legion."
Hazel 3rd Person POV
As Hazel and Percy walked the streets of the camp, Percy was wolfing down a cupcake as he drank coffee from a cup that Hazel bought for him from one of the Camp's many vendors.
The male sipped his drink as he threw away the muffin's wrapper and he said "Thanks for the snack Hazel."
"It's no problem," said the dark skinned girl, "by the way you ate that you looked kinda hungry."
"You know it," said Percy finishing his drink,
Hazel chuckled as campers eyed Percy as they walked. The Son of Poseidon crushed the cup and threw it away as he said "So these cohorts, they're like combined of all kinds of demigods?"
"Yeah," said Hazel, "Not just demigods, legacies too."
"Legacies?" asked Percy,
"Second or more generation demigods," said Hazel as she looked forward, "Their parents could be demigods or their grandparents."
Percy listened as she continued "As long as they have a God's blood in them, they're trainable. Just like most Roman emperors claimed, they said they were descended for Gods and it was often true."
She pointed to the distance where some sort of shines stood. Percy squinted his eyes as Hazel said "The guy we're looking for, Octavian, he's a Legacy of Apollo and he's supposedly gifted with the gift of prophecy."
"Supposedly?"
"You'll see," said Hazel with a slight scowl,
They ducked as a kid riding a giant eagle swooped down and he said "So you're not arranged by parent?"
"That's horrible," said Hazel, "I'd be all alone then."
Inwardly, Percy felt some sort of lingering feeling about being alone. He was stripped of his memory and he knew nothing of his past and he came here hoping to find Zoe but alas, he wasn't able to find anything.
"How about children of Titans?" asked Percy suddenly for some reason, "Any here?"
"I don't know any except one," said Hazel, "Camp is strict on that and Titan's rarely have human children but they don't like to one I know."
"Who is it?" asked Percy,
Suddenly, a few meters away, a fight was breaking out between two guys. Percy and Hazel could only watch as the kid with a red stained shirt which Percy thought was blood, stood as he was being held back by a girl with orange hair like a autumn leaf.
"Take back what you said Larry!" yelled the stained shirt male,
The other one called Larry then growled as he said "Make me loser!"
Percy took a step but Hazel put a hand in front of Percy making him stop and the auburn haired girl said "Dakota that's enough!"
He calmed down as Larry said "That's right you drunk! Listen to her and get back to your band of bozos!"
Hazel leaked some killing intent of her own as their eyes fell on her and she pointed at Larry saying "Get out of here Larry before I'm the one who kicks your podex!"
He growled as he and his group walked off. Dakota dusted his shirt as he said "Thanks Hazel, Gwen I could have taken him."
The girl sighed and said "You could have been stripped of your centurion rank. You shouldn't start fights Dakota."
"He started it!" said the older teen, "He insulted our cohort's honor!"
"Let it go Dakota," said the girl, "We'll show them in the War Games."
He gave a huff as the girl noticed Percy and said "Hi, who are you?"
Dakota's eyes widened and said "Whoa! You're the kid from earlier today! They guy who wrecked that entire horde of monsters!"
Gwen's eyes widened as she said "They're already giving you names you know, the most popular one is The Dark Tide."
"Great" thought Percy, "Already making names for myself"
"The Dark Tide?" asked Percy,
"It's because of the color of your hair and your power over water," said Gwen, "My name is Gwendolyn, daughter of Trivia. This here is Dakota, son of Bacchus."
Percy smiled and said "I'm Percy Jackson, glad to meet you guys."
Dakota shakily stood and said "Hazel, we'll see you later."
She nodded as the two walked away and Percy said "Nice guys,"
"They're centurions of the Fifth Cohort," said Hazel,
Percy then said "Seems like the fifth isn't too popular,"
She slowly nodded as she led him to Temple Hill. Soon, they came at a crossroad where Percy could see a city nothing like the Military Camp. It was beautiful as their view overlooked the city and Percy could see adults there, children and even some pets.
"You have a city here?" asked Percy,
Hazel nodded happily and said "Yep!"
She extended her arm to show Percy a tattoo where there was a circle with a crescent line below it and a long line ran down and a line was horizontally placed. Percy raised a brow and said "What is that?"
"It's a tattoo," said Hazel, "You see, the horizontal lines designate your years of service to the Legion."
"You have one," said Percy, "One year"
"Right," said Hazel as she put it away and said "If you're accepted, you will be on probatio until you fulfill a year of service or an act of valor then you'll get your first stripe."
"How do you get the tattoo?" asked Percy, "Looks painful"
"I'll leave that as a surprise," said Hazel with a smirk,
"So there are families here?" asked Percy,
Hazel nodded with a smile looking at the city and said "It's an entire community. Schools, shops, hospitals, houses and complexes you name it. We have it."
Percy smiled softly thinking about it as they crossed a bridge that went over the Little Tiber and saw over the hill that there was lightning flashing over the temples. Hazel took a breath and walked towards a stony path up and Percy followed.
They walked past different shrines of different designs, altars of Gods were aligned to the stony path and they made their way forward and as they passed by one of them, Hazel pointed at it and said "That's Reyna's mom's temple, Bellona, the Goddess of War."
She then pointed at a red altar where it seemed like it was a crypt and she said "Temple of Mars, the second most important Roman God. He was called the Avenger."
They aimed for a white domed altar with marble pillars as storm clouds circled above it. Percy looked up and said "That must be Jupiter's?"
"That's where we're headed," said Hazel with a nod, "Octavian reads auguries there at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus."
"Best and the greatest?" asked Percy with a translation in his head,
Hazel gave him a nod as he said "How about Neptune?"
Hazel pointed at a small shed like altar where Percy entered with Hazel. It had a small altar in it with a bowl with three moldy apples. The Son of Neptune seemed a bit upset but something told him that this was his father but he didn't feel a too deep connection.
He walked out with a sigh as Hazel said "Sorry…"
"Its fine," said Percy, "I guess he wasn't too popular."
She looked at him with a worried look as they entered the altar of Jupiter where Percy could really say it was definitely Optimus Maximus. The marble floors were etched with inscriptions and mosaics, the giant marble pillars were amazing and strong and at the center stood Jupiter's statue in a XXXL purple toga holding a bolt in his hands.
The kid at the altar raised his hand as lighting flashed hard and as he put his hands down, the skies cleared and light broke through the storm. Percy smirked and said "Impressive…"
Truly it was considering the kid didn't look like much. He was tall and skinny, over sized jeans, a baggy toga and to sum it up, he looked like a scarecrow wearing a bed sheet.
He turned as Percy saw a mad look in his eyes as if he had been playing a video game for hours. He held a knife in his right hand and what looked like an animal in the other. At a closer look, Percy saw that it was a stuffed bear and he chuckled a bit seeing it.
"Ah the Graecus!" said the teen, "Welcome!"
Percy could tell he wasn't really glad about it and he decided to play this out. He smiled politely and said "Hey"
Hazel narrowed her eyes and said "Percy this is Octavian, a Legacy of Apollo."
The Son of Neptune nodded saying "Percy Jackson, Son of Neptune."
"I've heard of you," said Octavian, "The Graecus now being called Tenebrarum Aestus! (The Dark Tide)"
He gestured at the stuffed animal and said "I don't care about the titles, what are you going to do with that?"
He held the bear high as Hazel crossed her arms and said "He guts them since there is nothing else he can beat."
"That's not nice Hazel," said Octavian, "You should be more polite to people."
She scoffed as he said "You see once upon a time, we used to gut animals and read the future using their entrails. Alas, time passes and we move on and now I use the stuffing inside stuffed animals to do so."
"Don't you have Oracles for that?" asked Percy,
"An Oracle?" asked Octavian with a chuckle, "That's cute I'm sorry but we're fresh out of Oracles."
He gave a kind smile which Percy saw through. He had dirt on Hazel and she knew it but he held it above her head like a bully. This guy was sadistic, he loves showing others who's in charge. Percy didn't like how he was picking on Hazel.
"We're here to check the auguries if Percy can join us," said Hazel,
His smile was wide as he said "Alright"
In a flash, he raised his knife and stabbed the stuffed animal violently as its stuffing spilled out. Octavian held it with his hands as he said "It seems as if you are eligible for the legion. Congratulations."
Hazel gave him a smile and nodded as Percy grinned back. Suddenly, a voice in his head said "Lad, remember what this is about."
He looked at the floor where a inscription was and he said "Wait…I saw this somewhere before."
"That?" asked Octavian with a raised brow, "That is The Great Prophecy!"
"I remember it being important," said Percy,
"Yes yes yes," said Octavian waving his hands, "We all know that."
He gave a look at Hazel and said "Now if we had the Sibylline Books I requested for Reyna to quest for, we'd have a lot of new prophecies to study."
"Reyna isn't stupid," said Hazel, "Those were lost and burned."
"Anything is possible," said Octavian with a mocking smile, "Like say picking up a diamond in the camp paths."
Hazel growled as Percy noticed this and thought "There he goes again, I swear, these kinds of people…I despise them."
"Let's go Percy," said Hazel grabbing his arm but Octavian then said "Oh Hazel one more thing."
She stopped in her tracks as Octavian gave her a smirk and he said "I would appreciate your support during the voting at Fortuna's Feast otherwise some…things will be circulated at camp. Oh and your brother and his band is at your father's temple, he said to go meet him. You know how they make the camp act, they make them uneasy."
Hazel's face was twitching with anger but Percy had enough of this. He smiled at Hazel and said "Go ahead, I need a word with Octavian, we'll catch up."
She nodded and left quickly desperately wanting to leave Octavian.
Hazel was kind to him while all Octavian was doing was picking on her, they were close to the temple's exit but Percy turned at Octavian with a deadly glare as he exploded his killing intent making Octavian collapse on his knees.
The augur shakily got up as Percy's eyes turned purple once more and he lifted a finger and pulled it towards himself and Octavian's body flew towards him and he said "I don't like what you're doing."
"What is this!?" said Octavian, "Release me at once or else!"
Percy opened his hand and slowly made his hand into a gripping position. Thunder rumbled as the area shook and Percy said "You should know better, I don't want you ever using secrets against Hazel ever again!"
"Who are you to say that!" said Octavian, "I'll have you killed! You'll die! You'll-ack!"
He gagged as he felt something choking him and he was feeling his blood rising in temperature. Little did he know, Percy was making his blood boil literally and Percy's violent purple eyes flickered with anger as he said "Threaten me will you?"
Percy brought Octavian closer to his face as he glared at Octavian's terrified eyes as he said "Such secrets, wasted on such a loose tongue."
His eyes flared as he said "You won't need Hazel's secret anymore."
The Son of Neptune's eyes took a deeper and commanding tone as he bored into Octavian's terrified eyes and said "By the Power of Truth, you will forget Hazel's secret and you will not remember our encounter here besides the augury reading."
Octavian's eyes turned pale as he was released onto his feet and said "By your command…"
With a slap of the air, Octavian was sent crashing on the foot of Jupiter's statue. Percy smirked at himself as his eyes turned back to normal and he told himself "Man, that's exhausting. No wonder Lupa said no more than ten times a day."
Walking out the temple and walking down the stone path, he saw Hazel standing by Mars' altar and she said "What happened?"
"Nothing," said Percy, "Just a bit of clearing up."
"I hate that guy," said Hazel with a scowl,
"Same," said Percy, "Too weird looking"
She giggled as she said "My brother his here with his friends, let's meet them."
She led him to a black pillared altar where behind it three people were waiting. One of them was a pale teen with a sword in a black scabbard on in back. He wore an aviator jacket over a black shirt and skull rings were on his fingers. He had messy black hair. He had chains on his black jeans while his bored black eyes were fixed on his hands as he was twisting his ring around his finger as he waited.
The second one was a really tall man who looked about his early twenties; he had short spiky brown hair and he wore a grey sweat shirt as a green jacket was tied around his waist. He had orange slit reptilian eyes, he wore a bangle on his right wrist and he wore cargo pants as a blue lizard about the size of a chameleon was on his shoulders as he spoke with it casually while his grin showed really sharp teeth.
Lastly, there was a girl who sat on the back of a thing that looked like a combination of a lion and an eagle except it stood at about ten feet and it wore full armor. She wore a denim blazer over her white shirt and a crescent necklace was around her neck. She wore jeans and on them, hung a dangling busted up lighter. Her long chocolate hair that reached her mid back was curled by the ends and Percy saw her bangs were being held up by a headband while she wore a pair of star earrings. A pair of large glasses was on her face as they covered her deep brown eyes. She held a small picture in her hands and she sadly looked at it as she waited.
Hazel saw them and said "Guys!"
The three's attention went to Hazel but then as they saw Percy, a split second of emotions showed on their face. Surprise, disbelief and simple happiness was on their faces as they approached.
Hazel hugged the short black haired teen and let go as she said "Percy, this is my brother."
Seeing their three faces, Percy had something like rapid flashing images before his eyes. He barley caught them but some he saw were a giant robot which detonated, a smashed truck as the girl sat on her ride as it stood over the machine and finally, a vision of skeletons rising from the ground.
A small headache found its way to his head as the short teen held out his hand and said "Hey, I'm Nico di Angelo, the tall guy is Talon West and the girl is Riley Casonus. We're glad to meet you."
AN
Roy: Done! So how was that? All will be explained soon!
Jake: Percy showing his VERY special powers again which will be VERY VERY important later on. Wow we took a few hours on this one.
Twista: Its DONE that's what matters.
Jake: I like how Octavian got thrown like a ragdoll…I hate that guy.
Roy: So do I
Twista: You hate a lot of people Roy, real or not.
Jake: She's right you know ^^
Roy: Shut up
Twista: So next chapter coming soon, tell us what you think! If you liked it leave a follow, favorite and a review below riiiiighhht here! It helps us out a lot!
Roy: Goodnight and goodbye for now, hope you liked it even if it was boring -_- It was way better when we first wrote it…
Jake: Later! Please review!
AN 2: We changed Riley's appearance as of April 23. 2014 at 8:25 pm
