Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series. Rick does.
(Percy POV)
(1 Month Later)
It's been quite the interesting month in New Rome. I haven't rejoined the Legion, but I'm not exactly sitting idly around. Well, maybe a little.
Hestia has been sending my out on rescue missions to save lost Demigods. Mainly young kids who don't know how to get to the Wolf house and are living on the streets, and a couple of rescues from horrible houses.
There was this one little boy who Hestia had told me about who was living in Los Angeles. His father, who was a drunk, was beating him daily. So I told Reyna that I was going on a mission for Hestia and started my trip to LA. Which in actuality was a really short trip, I just jumped into the San Francisco bay and followed the coast all the way to LA.
It only took me about 5 hours to get there, which is a lot quicker than walking. I snuck out of the water and onto the beach, dried myself and made my way into the city, because there's nothing weird about a man walking out of the sea wearing a long coat and jeans.
All that Hestia told me was an address in Korea town, and the name Sam. So I wandered through Korea town for about an hour trying to find this house and when I did, I was disgusted. It was a small-dilapidated house, with piles of rubbish surrounding the front door and the front lawn. I traversed the rubbish heap of a lawn and made my way to the front door, to hear a rough voice shouting and slurring words. Well that doesn't sound good.
I quickly kicked the door in, only to recoil at the horrendous smell that escaped through the door. I pulled the collar of my coat over my mouth and I ran into the house, using the shouting to guide me. I followed the voice up the stairs to find a massively overweight short man, pounding and yelling at a door.
"You know, if you ask kindly the door might open." I said with a smile. He turns his red eyes to me and squints.
"Who the fuck are you?" He demanded angrily, turning his full attention to me.
"Nobody important, but I will be taking your son from you." I deadpanned, as I walked towards him. The guy actually laughed at me as he eyed me up and down.
"Sure you are princess. Now get the hell out of my house, before I beat the shit out of you." He slurred as he looked up at me. He looked me up and down, apparently deciding what to do next.
His choice was to throw a punch. It was quicker than I had thought it was going to be and I only just managed to avoid getting a black eye. I returned with a punch to the stomach, making him double over and then delivered a quick knee to his chin. He falls to the ground, limp and unconscious. I turned to the door he was banging on and knocked lightly.
"Sam? Are you in there?" I asked quietly. I didn't get a response, which was kind of expected.
"Sam, it's ok to come out now. Your dad won't hurt you anymore." I continued, trying to sound as friendly as I could. The door opened an inch, revealing a muddy brown eye.
"Who're you?" A small voice asked, as his eyes fell on his father.
"The guy that's going to get you out of this hell hole." I replied with a small grin, making him open the door a fraction more.
"Do you mean that?" He asked again, his voice breaking a little bit. It broke my heart to hear the hope in his sad voice.
"Of course little man, let's get you out of here." I replied, crouching down to his eye level and holding out a hand. He slowly reached out his hand and put it in mine, opening the door the whole way now. He couldn't have been more than 8, he wore a patchy top and baggy jeans and he had long straight brown hair that matched his eyes.
"Let's get you out of here." I said, leading him out of the house.
(Line Break)
As we made our way to the Wolf House I explained to him the mythological world and that we were going to a place where he will train. Before he could come to Camp Jupiter. He seemed a little disheartened but walked into the house with a determined look. I think he'll do alright.
Anyway, apart from that I got a smallish house in New Rome. Spent most of my days training, I've met up with Frank and Hazel a couple of times. They're still not really used to being Gods yet and it's really funny. People will bow to them and call them Lord and Lady, and they will get so flustered that they almost always nearly flash away.
Midnight has adapted to the city life quite well, people aren't afraid of her anymore and actually greet her and give her treats. Which obviously makes her very happy.
Then there is Reyna. I think Reyna has become my best friend here. We hangout whenever we're free, going out to café's, or sparring with each other, or just generally helping each other whenever the other needs it. She's helped Midnight get me out of a few depressive states and I've helped her open that ironclad shell of hers a bit.
I also try and help her with work, but I usually just get told off for doing it wrong and sent away with Midnight laughing at me. So a pretty exciting month. I'm currently sitting in a café eating lunch with Midnight lying at my feet. I scan the crowd as it goes by, watching people going about their daily business in the sun.
Reyna, Hazel and Frank all have plans today so I'm eating alone for once. It's actually surprisingly peaceful eating alone. I notice a small girl stop her mum and point at me.
"Isn't that the Consul's bodyguard?" I only just hear her ask. Since when was that a thing? I give her a little wave and shake my head at her. Her eyes get wider as she hides behind one of her mum's legs.
"You scared her." Midnight says with a small laugh.
"What? How?" I ask, looking down at Midnight. Who continues to laugh at me.
"Normally people wouldn't hear what she said from this distance. She probably thinks you have some special power over New Rome now." Midnight explains to me. I look back at the little girl, who is looking a little embarrassed as she walks away with her mum. That's gonna spread like wildfire. Percy Jackson, the Consul's bodyguard who has special powers over New Rome. Wonderful.
I pay for my lunch and make my way towards the Senate House. Might as well check if the meeting is done. It's a short walk to the Senate House and when I get there I walk through one of the back entrances and leave Midnight outside, so that I don't disrupt the meetings proceedings.
I stand in a one of the back corners, hidden in the shadows thanks to my black jeans and coat.
"I still don't understand why we are trusting this Greek boy! He walks around completely unsupervised. What if he attacks the city? We all know what he can do without his weapons." A guy calls out. It looks like the guy that replaced Octavian as the Centurion of the 1st Cohort. He was probably one of Octavian's followers. He has black hair and is fairly skinny for a legionnaire. I bet he's spewing xenophobic bullshit left and right.
"Really? Are we still talking about this? Sit down and shut up Benjamin, we've already decided that he can stay in New Rome and that if he wishes he can rejoin the Legion." Dakota says, obviously vexed by Benjamin. Benjamin sits down, glaring at Dakota and Alice. I bet he wanted to be Praetor.
Reyna is just sitting quietly, watching the proceedings unfold.
"Anyway, I think that about wraps up everything for today. Meeting adjourned." Alice says, standing up with Dakota. Everyone else stands up and slowly files out of the building. I give everyone a minute to leave before walking out of my dark corner and over to Dakota and Alice.
"How's it going guys?" I ask, giving both of them a fright. Dakota nearly spills his Kool-aid, I guess he's still addicted.
"Percy? What're you doing here?" He asks, quickly regaining his composure.
"Just came to see how you guys are doing." I reply. Dakota visibly relaxes, while Alice seems to be inspecting me a little.
"So how was the meeting? Boring?" I ask, finishing quietly looking around the room.
"You know how it is. The same things go round about a dozen times before we finish." He smiled. Yea, they bored me half to death too.
"What have you been up to?" Alice inquires. Her voice is level, but I can just pick up the hints of some kind of accusation. She doesn't fully trust me does she?
"Um, I trained for a few hours this morning. Then I walked around New Rome with Midnight, had some Lunch and now I'm here talking to you guys." I reply happily. She looks at me a second longer, before nodding at me and walking away.
"She doesn't like me." I whisper to Dakota, who laughs at me.
"Nah, she's just a little slow to trust people. You'll get through to her with your winning personality eventually." He sniggers, patting me on the shoulder and walking away. Well, what to do now?
I'm pulled from my musings by a tap on my shoulder.
"You should do a better job of sneaking in to this place." A familiar voice scolds. I turn around and grin at Reyna, who's now wearing her purple toga and glittery cloak with her hair braided over her shoulder.
"No one saw me?" I assured, indicating to the now empty room.
"I saw you." She chided, giving me a pointed look.
"Touché Reyna, touché." I admit. She grins and gives me a slap on the shoulder.
"Be more careful in the future, especially with what they were talking about." She implores, walking towards the front door. I follow her and ask.
"Why's that guy got such a thing against me anyway?"
"He was one of Octavian's lackeys, quite devote from what I've heard." She sighs rubbing her forehead. Called it! As we walk outside we're greeted by a happy Midnight, who runs up to Reyna first. That hurts.
"Well hello Midnight. I was wondering where you were hiding." Reyna greets the wolf, giving her a stroke. I feel like she likes Reyna more than me sometimes.(Line Break)
We're walking back towards the forum when an Iris message appears in front of us, showing a somewhat shell shocked Paul.
"Oh thank god it worked." Paul sighs in relief.
"What's happening Paul?" I ask, a little urgent. I only asked him to call me in an emergency. But Paul just smiles at me.
"Your mums going into labour." He chimes, his grin growing bigger by the second. YES! I smile back at Paul and then frown. How am I going to get there?
"This is great. I'll try and find a way to get there." I say, putting on a smile to hide my disappointment. I can't get there in time, there's no way.
"Ok, hopefully see you soon." Paul replies, swiping his hand through the image. I'm actually impressed he got it to work first time. I look over at Reyna who is smiling at me a little.
"How am I going to get there? It's on the other side of the country." I whine, hoping that she'll give me a good plan. But before she can say anything, a whirlwind of fire explodes in front of us. I instinctively step in front of Reyna, to stop the flames from reaching her. Yay being fire proof. Hestia then steps out of the flames and gives me a smile.
"I hear you need a lift." She grins, looking at us.
"I didn't know you offered a taxi service." I grin back, making the Goddess laugh a little. That's when we both notice that everyone around, including Reyna is bowing.
"Please stand everyone and go about your business." Hestia calls out and everyone does, albeit slowly as they watch the goddess.
"Lady Vesta, it is nice to meet you." Reyna says, as she stands from her bow.
"You to Reyna. It's nice to finally meet the person Percy trusted with our secret." Hestia replies kindly, giving me an accusing glance. I just smile at her and shrug my shoulders.
"What? It was absolutely necessary." I reply, making Hestia sigh.
"Anyway, we have a pregnant lady waiting. Lets go." She continues, a little giddy. She's as excited as I am about this birth.
"You're going to be on your own for a bit. Take care." I tell Midnight, giving her a soft pat on the head.
"Ok. Tell them I say hi." She replies, running off down the street. She snaps her fingers and I can feel warm flames wrap around me for a second and then I can hear cars driving past. I open my eyes and see that we are in an alley opposite the hospital my mum should be in.
"Um, why did you bring me?" A confused Reyna asks. Hestia and I both spin around to see her standing behind us a little awkwardly. I look at Hestia, who just gives me a confused shrug before looking back to Reyna.
"I really don't know. I didn't mean to." Hestia admits, before turning to look at the entrance to the hospital. I follow her gaze and see my mum being guided in by Paul. I lose all self control and sprint across the street, making a few cars swerve and honk their horns at me.
"Mum!" I call out, making her turn and look. They both smile as they see me running up to them.
"How did you get here?" They ask in unison. I really thought that would end when I stopped hanging around the Stoll's.
"A little Godly intervention." I say with a wink, looking back at the alley. Seeing Hestia wave, while a slightly embarrassed Reyna crosses the street. She's changed out of her toga and cloak and is now wearing a pair of worn jeans, a white top, a leather jacket and boots. It's a good look on her.
She spots me watching her and all she says when she gets up to us is "Hestia". Before we all walk inside.
"So I guess you're the infamous Reyna." Mum asks, as we walk through the lobby.
"Yes and it is a pleasure and an honour to meet you Mrs. Jackson." Reyna replies, bowing her head slightly. I hold in a laugh as mum tries to figure out how to reply to Reyna. But thankfully we reach the reception, where she gets whisked away by some nurses.
"I guess I'll keep you updates. Unless you want to come in?" Paul offers. I immediately shake my head and step away, earning a grin from Paul and Reyna.
"Nope. I'm good." I concede. Paul nods and runs off after my mum. While Reyna and I sit down in the waiting area.
"Your mum seems nice." Reyna says as we sit down. Why does this sound familiar?
"Yea, she's the best." I gush a little, still smiling like an idiot.
"Oh yea, did Hestia have an explanation or anything?" I ask, remembering the Goddess slight blunder at bringing Reyna.
"No not really. She just said that it might have been she was so excited that she wasn't really paying attention." Reyna explains. Yea, sounds like something Hestia would do.
"But, she gave me a change of clothes and then sent me after you." Reyna continued, obviously thankful for the clothes as explaining why you're wearing a toga would have taken a while.
"Yea, they look nice. You kind of look like a biker girl." I say, trying to get comfortable in the very uncomfortable hospital chair. I spot Reyna's cheeks redden but think nothing of it, continuing in my endeavour.
(Line Break)
We have been sat in this waiting area for about 9 hours and Reyna and I have been chatting a joking with each other, acting like normal teenagers for once. Even though we're both immortal and I look 21. Details.
Paul has come out a couple of times, to keep us up to date. But in all honesty I have no idea what he's talking about. I'm currently lying sideways over my chair, with my legs over the armrest, leaning lightly against Reyna's shoulder, trying to follow Reyna's example and get some sleep. I'm a little jealous at how easily she fell asleep.
It's been nice spending time away from camp with Reyna, she comes out of her shell a lot more when there aren't people she knows around. I can feel my eyelids getting heavier as sleep takes its hold of me. Finally.
"Percy!" My eyes fly open at my name. The clock on the wall says that I've been asleep for an hour. Didn't I just get to sleep? I tilt my head back slightly and see that Reyna is leaning on her hand, still asleep. How does she do it?
I blink the sleep from my eyes and look for whoever called my name. I spot Paul scanning the fairly packed waiting room from a big double door. I slowly raise an arm so that he can see me and he comes running over. He looks a little tired, but his eyes are dancing with excitement.
"Do you want to come and meet your baby sister?" He asks, barely containing his happiness. I scramble to my feet, nudging Reyna by accident and waking her up.
"What're you doing?" She whines, pulling her jacket tighter around her, trying to get back to sleep. Well that was adorable. I give her another small nudge, waking her up again.
"Reyna, she's here." I tell her softly. She half opens an eye and gives me a questioning glare.
"Who's here?" She asks sleepily. Has she forgotten where she is?
"My sister, you blockhead." I jest, pointing at Paul. That seems to wake her up, as I now have her full attention.
"Well get going then." She says, giving me a little push to get started.
"Oh no buddy, you're coming too. You came all this way, even if it was by accident. You get to be my first friend to meet my little sister." I state, grabbing her hand and pull her up.
"A-are you s-sure? I-I don't think you're mum will want me in there, she doesn't even know me." She stutters, trying to pull out of my grip. I just give her a grin and pull her after me as I follow Paul deeper into the hospital.
It takes no time for us to reach the room that mum is in and when we enter I stop and gasp, as the little girl in my mums arms is breath taking. She has a mess of brown her and sapphire blue eyes.
"Percy, meet your little sister Lilly." Mum says, holding the smallest human I have ever seen in my life. I come to a halt by the door, Paul walks over to my mum and Reyna stops by my side.
"Go say hello Percy." Reyna whispers encouragingly, giving me a little nudge. I take a few steps forward, so that I am right next to mum. Mum looks exhausted but ecstatic at the same time. My breath catches in my throat as I look down on my sister. She is the most precious thing that I have ever seen in my life. I will protect her with my life.
"She's beautiful." I whisper, barely holding in my excitement. I lose all function to do anything, as I just stand there and stare at Lilly, who just looks sleepily back up at me. I don't really know how long I had been standing there, but I'm pulled from my awe by mum.
"Do you want to hold her?" She asks, holding Lilly out slightly. How the Hades do you hold a baby? I throw a panicked glance at Reyna who is standing just inside the door. Reyna rolls her eyes and smiles while miming how to hold a baby. Ok, we're going to talk about this later.
I mimic the way she holds her arms and take Lilly from my mum. She is so light and fragile I worry that I might break her. But she just stares up at me with those beautiful blue eyes, which make my emotions run rampant.
On the verge of tears I turn to Reyna, who is smiling at me. I'm at a complete loss for words, I glance back to mum and Paul who are hugging happily.
"Look how beautiful she is." I whisper to Reyna, motioning for her to come closer. She takes a couple of hesitant steps to stand next to me and looks down at the small bundle in my arms. Her eyes sparkle as she smiles warmly at the small girl.
"She really is." She whispers back.
Life is looking pretty great at the moment.
A/N: Sorry this took so long, it took me a while to write this one. I had to rewrite it a dozen times or so. I'm sorry if its not too great, but I hope that you enjoyed it. You know the drill and I'll catch you next time.