Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series. Rick does.
A/N: Also I forgot to do this last chapter but thank you Death Fury for suggesting Lilly for Percy's sister, and thank all you guys for your reviews. You're all awesome.
(Percy POV)
In the car back to mums apartment I'm struggling to contain all my happiness at now having a little sister. Every time I look at her my heart explodes with love. How can such a tiny person have such a massive effect?
I look at Reyna, who is sat on the other side of Lilly in the back of the car with me. Hestia said that she'd take us back to New Rome tomorrow morning, and although she was slightly annoyed at the Goddess, she took it fairly well. Regardless, she is smiling happily down at Lilly and letting Lilly grab hold of her finger. She is surprisingly good with babies.
Paul parks the car and we all climb out. I carefully pass Lilly to mum and follow them as we walk up to the apartment.
"You can sleep in my room tonight. I'll sleep on the couch." I whisper to Reyna, walking through the door.
"Oh no, I appreciate the offer but I couldn't put you out like that." She quickly returns, giving me a thankful smile.
"It's fine, seriously. Also I don't think my mum will let you decline." I tell her in a quiet voice. She looks ready to argue, but we reach the door to the apartment and as we are walking in my mum says.
"Reyna dear, you can sleep in Percy's room tonight. He won't mind sleeping on the couch." She gives me a look that says, don't even think about arguing. I just give Reyna a nudge and whisper.
"I told you." Which earns me a light tap on the arm.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay, I'm sorry if this causes you any inconveniences." Reyna says a little apologetically. Mum just waves it off and shows Reyna to my room, talking happily about the adorably small girl in her arms. I watch them go for a second before heading to the kitchen, to find Paul making some coffee.
"Long day huh?" I joke, taking a seat at the table. Paul turns to me with a grin.
"Something like that." He grins.
"I still can't believe that she's actually here. Some part of me thought it was a dream, but it's like I'm seeing colour again after only seeing black and white." He gushes, his eyes growing a little distant with happiness.
"Tell me about it, I've wanted a sibling for years. But in all honesty I thought that the first would be a child of Poseidon." I reveal, leaning back in my chair. Paul nods in agreement as he pours his coffee into a mug and takes a seat opposite me, and we sit in a comfortable silence. Both of us smiling like morons.
Mum walks in carrying blankets and pillows. This feels familiar. She hands them to me and I make my way to the living room.
As I'm walking through the hall I catch a glimpse of Reyna. She's standing in mum's room holding Lilly and slowly dancing around the room with her, whilst humming quietly. She's dressed in a white nightie, which hugs her figure a little loosely. Huh, that must be one of mums old one's.
I continue to walk into the living room when it hits me. I look back just before Reyna spins out of view, and I feel a soft pang in my chest. Holy Hephaestus she looks angelic. Her hair is hanging loosely down her back and is swaying with each step and spin, and then she's gone.
I shake my head slightly and carry on into the living room, where I make my bed on the couch. I quickly go get changed into some shorts and clean my teeth. I bid everyone a good night and go to bed, thankfully to a dreamless sleep.
(Line Break)
I'm woken up by a slight tickling across my face and the soft calling of my name. What is that? I slowly swat at my face, trying to get the tickling to stop. Only for a small laugh to follow and stop saying my name. Who is that?
As I slowly wake up, I can hear the blurry voices of a conversation going on next to me. They sound like they're joking about something and a laugh confirms that. But as I finally get one eye open there's no one in the room. Did I imagine that?
I slowly pull myself up and rub the sleep from my eyes. Last night was pretty awesome. I stumble into the kitchen where everyone is sitting around the table, chatting and laughing as Reyna tells them a funny story about me from Camp. It's really nice to see Reyna coming out of her shell. I stumble into a chair and lie down on the table.
"Well good morning sleeping beauty." Mum chimes, giving me a warm smile. I smile back and mumble back something, I'm not really sure what.
"Percy, Vesta will be getting here in an hour, so you should probably get ready to leave before having breakfast." Reyna informs me, giving me a sharp poke in the ribs to wake me up a bit. I mumble something in the shape of an agreement and head to the shower.
Hestia appears in here usual plume of fire, scaring Paul halfway to Hades. Mum goes to bow, but is swiftly stopped by Hestia who begs mum to meet Lilly. Mum agrees readily and leads the Goddess down the hall.
"Are all the Gods like that?" Paul asks quietly.
"Like overgrown children? It's probably better you don't know the answer to that." I sigh, making Reyna laugh and Paul look a little terrified. Who can blame him.
Hestia comes back into the room giggling a little. She's like a kid. Mum follows her in carrying Lilly and I can immediately feel myself smile.
"Look who came to say goodbye." Hestia gushes. She really likes babies. It's a shame that she can't have any as a maiden Goddess.
"Goodbye Lilly, I'll come visit whenever I can." I say, planting a kiss on her forehead. I then give my mum a light hug and shake Pals hand, giving them a warm goodbye. I take as step back to Hestia and wait to be flashed away. Reyna offers a quick farewell just before the flames engulf us and we reappear back in New Rome.
"Thank you so much for taking me there, I can never repay you enough." I say, turning towards Hestia with a big smile. She quickly pulls me into a hug, before she flashes away. Kind of making it look like I was hugging a fire. That's not going to spread weird rumours.
"So Consul back to work?" I ask, praying that she says no.
"Yes. I don't know why you're asking like you have a job though." She replies with a small grin. Slowly she secures her iron shell back in place and walks off towards her house, looking as stoic as ever. Well it was nice while it lasted.
(5 Months Later)
(Senate House)
You may be wondering why I am in the Senate house, it's a good question and I don't really know the answer myself. Reyna told me yesterday that I had to be here at 10am, and here I am and no one is here.
After waiting for 5 minutes senators start to show up. Slowly at first and then all in one big wave. It's about time. Reyna sees me and walks over.
"Good you're here. This meeting may get a little heated, I was asked to bring you. So just stand by me and don't do anything stupid." She whispers a little urgently. I just nod and follow her into the building. Everyone looks grim as Hades.
Once everyone has taken their seats, except me that is, Dakota stands up and brings the meeting to attention.
"Senators, we are here to discuss the information that has been brought to our attention." Dakota begins, looking around the room. Everyone still looks pretty grim, whilst Benjamin looks pretty smug. That can't be good.
I look down at Reyna, who shrugs. Even though I'm behind her and she can't see me. She frightens me sometimes.
"There was an attempted murder in New Rome last night." Reyna and I gasp in unison, earning a few questioning looks. How else did they expect us to react? Dakota smiles in relief for a fraction of a second before he continues.
"There aren't many witness accounts and the few there are, are vague and inconsistent. One claims they saw a spike of ice try to impale the victim, while another claims that a man in a cloak tried to use a bronze knife." The room is in silence as everyone thinks over what he just said, and as he is about to continue Benjamin stands up. This can't be going anywhere good.
"Well I think it seems pretty clear who our first suspect should be." He almost gloats. His gaze falls on me and his eyes dance. I just wolf glare back at him, making him flinch slightly.
"Well don't stand there like a bloody tree, out with it!" A Lare calls out, making Benjamin glare at him.
"Well there is only one person in the entire city and barracks that uses water and bronze as weapons." He doesn't say my name directly but you would have to be as stupid as a rock not to catch that.
Everyone's eyes fall on me, a couple sympathetic, some others deep in thought and a few agreeing with the statement. Dakota gives me an apologetic look before sighing.
"I'm going to go out on a limb that you are talking about Percy." Dakota says, obviously battling himself not to berate Benjamin.
"Obviously, the graecus is a son of Neptune and the Greeks are know to use celestial bronze." Benjamin lays down the facts like they're law. I see Reyna's hand tighten into a fist making her knuckles go white.
"While that may be true, there has no mention in any record anywhere that a son on Neptune has the ability to control Ice." Alice pipes up, looking down at Benjamin a little bored. Huh, I didn't know that. Reyna throws a worried glance my way. Yea I told her I can use ice. But Benjamin doesn't stop there.
"I told you all that this would happen." He starts, completely ignoring what Alice said.
"He is a threat to our safety and should be removed immediately a-" His rant is cut short by a small laugh from Reyna, making every bodies head snap towards her. I look down and see that she is really struggling to contain her laughter. Well this is a first.
"Consul, what is so funny?" Benjamin asks, grinding his teeth.
"So many things Centurion." Her voice instantly freezing over when she states his rank and her gaze swirling like the entrance to the underworld, making him shrink back into his chair.
"First, if you're accusation is correct. How did Percy get the knife into the city? Terminus would have stopped him." She says, her voice flat and emotionless. It looks like Benjamin wasn't expecting people to pick apart his evidence.
"Second, Percy wasn't in New Rome last night. He was down at the barracks till late last night, and there are about 50 witnesses who can testify to that." She continues, pushing herself to her feet.
"And finally, do you really think that if he planned this attack and also planned to stay in the city that he would have used water as a weapon. Even for him that would be stupid." She finishes, her voice hitting like a sledgehammer. Benjamin is stunned silent for a few second before he composes himself.
"It is known that Percy is affiliated with the Gods in some way, maybe he convinced one of them to hide a weapon from Terminus." He replies, making most of the people in the room roll their eyes.
"Then what of the time he spent between leaving the barracks and going home? He could have easily managed to attack the poor girl in that time." He continues, seemingly on a roll now. But I just see Reyna grin slightly. What's she planning?
"As for using the ice, maybe it became a weapon of opportunity when the girl fought back." He finishes, looking triumphant at his response. I would never attack a girl. Well, unless she was trying to kill me. But that's different.
"So your whole case relies on the period of time between when Percy left the barracks and got home?" Reyna ask, getting a smug grin in return. Everyone else is watching the exchange like a tennis match, and I'm pretty sure I saw someone taking bets.
"Well you'll be disappointed to find out that I can provide an alibi for his whereabouts." She grins. Well it's not a lie. Everyone looks a little shocked at her response.
"As I was with Percy when he left the barracks and he then came back to my house to help me with some paper work that I had yet to finish. But, being Percy, he fell asleep halfway through and effectively slept on my kitchen table." She informs everyone. Dakota's grin grows exponentially as he stands again.
"There you have it. It couldn't have been him. We will begin a proper investigation and find out who the actually criminal is." Dakota says in a commanding voice. He's getting better at this.
The rest of the meeting crawls past. They spoke about what had been done to prepare for the coming war. In short, they've increased the level of training and integrated some more solo fighting skills. Walls now surround Camp Jupiter and New Rome, with defensive weapon emplacements set and ready. The Legion has been slowly growing as well, Sam even turned up as well. That was a nice reunion.
During all this time I had been out completing missions for Hestia. Still mainly helping lost children, but there is the occasional hunt for dangerous monsters as well. Those are fun. In return, Hestia takes me to visit mum, Lilly and Paul.
The meeting draws to an end, finally, after 3 hours. Well that wasn't so bad. Then I hear something.
It's so quiet you could have played it off as the wind. But is sounded so much like a quiver. I slowly scan the room so that I don't alert anyone. But I don't see anything. Did I imagining it?
I stay on alert and rest my hand on my watch. Then there is another sound. It's the faint sound of wood bending and straining. Someone's got a bow aimed in here. I take a step closer to Reyna and put my shield hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me confused, but doesn't ask any questions.
"Meeting adjourn-" Dakota is cut off by, well, me. As he is finishing his sentence there is the telltale twang of a bowstring. In a flash I pull Reyna behind me and expand my shield. There are two thuds against it, and one glancing scrape. I only heard one, where are the other two? There is panic as people see the arrows sprout from my shield, and people start running for the exit. How did they get a weapon in her? I'm going to be having some strong words with Terminus later.
I peak over the top of my shield and look for the attacker, but like before I can't see anything and that's when I notice the arrows. The arrows are pitch black and are a little formless, as if they might just disintegrate into a shadow at a moments notice. Not these again.
"Ok here's the plan. You take the shield and secure the building from the outside and I'll deal with the attacker." I lay out my plan and Reyna just nods. I was expecting her to argue with me.
I wait for the next arrow to strike and then quickly hand the shield to her, well I guess it was more like a throw. I will the water from a bottle of water that was on Reyna's table and quickly catch another arrow. Oh how I miss my swords.
Reyna is running for the door when I spot the hidden archer taking aim at her. They are hidden up in the rafters of the excessively large room. Not today asshole.
I quickly make my water into a whip and flick it around the archer's ankle, making them yelp in surprise and making them loose the arrow. Ah shit.
I pull the assassin towards me and as they are about to hit the floor I grab them by their throat and slam them into floor, causing the ground to tremor a little bit. Looking down I see that the would be assassin is one of the younger Legionnaires in camp. He only found his way here couple of months ago, but he looks wrong.
He's as pale as Nico, if not more so and has large black rings around his eyes. While his eyes are pitch black, but I can tell they are looking at me as a sadistic grin grows on the little boys face.
"I don't think that I am your biggest concern here." He grins, his voice sounding a little disembodied. What? I quickly look up and see what he means. Reyna is lying by the doors with an arrow through her stomach. No!
I give the weird kid a quick punch to the temple, knocking him unconscious and I run over to Reyna's prone form, where a small puddle of blood is slowly growing. I slide to my knees as I get close to her and slowly pick her up. She lets out a small gasp of pain as I do, but doesn't protest.
"The only time you don't wear your bloody armour to a meeting and you get shot. Fucking typical." I mutter to myself as I inspect the wound. She laughs weakly at me and looks down at the arrow. It pierced her just below her ribcage and has gone completely through her. Well, at least that makes treating her a little easier.
"Sorry about this." I say, receiving a confused look. I pull the water that I had used earlier to hover around me as I grip the shaft of the arrow. I quickly snap the head off of the arrow and in one quick movement pull the arrow out with a sick pop. Reyna gasps again, trying to hold her pain in.
I then move the water over her wounds and hold it there, so that it can get to work healing her.
"Your plan sucked." She groans, giving me a small smile.
"Hey, all you had to do was run with a shield. How can you mess that up?" I say, trying not to laugh at the situation.
"Greek shields aren't as tall as Roman ones, I didn't account for that." She explains, as she starts to look a bit better. Before I can make a funny remark, the Centurions come charging back into the building. Fully kitted out and ready for war. They all stop when they see me holding a somewhat bloody Reyna on the floor.
In a flash Benjamin is next to me with his sword to my throat. Really man?
"Let go of our Consul, you graecus filth." He growls at me. I glance back at the other Centurions with a raised eyebrow. Only about 3 of them seem to agree with Benjamin.
"You do realise that I am the only thing keeping her alive right now." I tell him, pointing at the water over her wound. But it would seem that Benjamin doesn't care about that.
"Let. Her. Go! Or I will kill you." He yells at me. I'm about to question his intelligence when I'm cut off.
"Centurion! Stand down, he saved my life while the rest of you ran. Proving to be more of a Roman than the rest of you." Reyna commands, as she slowly sits up. Making everyone look at the ground in shame. Benjamin hesitates for a second, but slowly complies with his superior.
"The person you should be seizing is over there." I say, pointing over to the small boy on the floor. Benjamin glares at me before marching over the unconscious boy with a couple other people.
"Thanks, that really could have gone sideways." I whisper to Reyna, she nods as she tries to stand up and fails. I quickly jump to my feet and slowly help her up. Sure healing with water is quick, but it still bloody hurts for a while.
I support Reyna as she tries to take a step, she seems able enough so I give her a little space to try by herself. I look over to the group of guilty looking Romans and spot Dakota and Alice. I wave them over to me and they walk over with their heads down.
"Is everyone else alright? I didn't really have time to check." I ask them both. They look at each other a little shocked before looking back at me.
"Yes, everyone else is fine. And it would seem that thanks to your quick reflexes and skill over water, the Consul is ok as well." Alice says, with a grateful smile. I scratch the back of my head a little embarrassed at the praise.
"It was nothing, I just happened to hear the bow." I smile, making both their eyes go wide.
"You, heard it?" Dakota asks in disbelief.
"Um, yea. At first I thought it was the wind, but then I heard the twang of the string. That's when I pulled Reyna out the way." I explain, a little confused at their reaction.
"Where was the assassin in the building?" Alice asks. Still confused I point up to the rafters, where the boy was perched.
"Percy, that's a good 30ft away. How did you hear that? Especially over the talking." Alice presses, some many questions flashing behind her eyes.
"Um, I don't know. I just did." I reply lamely. That's when Midnight bursts into the room, apparently having enough of sitting outside in suspense. She sees me and comes bounding over and jumps into my outstretched arms, scaring the two Praetors.
"You're safe. Thank the Gods. When you didn't come out with the rest of them I began to worry." She cries a little, relief poking at the edge of my mind. Oh yea, I still need to ask her about that.
"Yea, I'm fine. Reyna got hit though, but it's nothing serious." I tell her, putting her down and pointing her in the direction of the limping girl. Midnight quickly runs up to Reyna and whines a little as she nudges her leg, silently offering to take some of her weight. I turn back to Dakota and Alice, who look to be in deep in a quiet conversation and taking quick glances at me.
"What's up?" I ask, feeling a little self-conscious.
"Nothing, but I think that we might have a job for you." Dakota states seriously.
"Really? I kind of liked to doing my own thing." I joke a little, getting a glare from both of them.
"I was only joking, geez." I quickly add.
"How would you feel about becoming a Praetorian Guard?" Dakota offers. What is a Praetorian Guard?
"A what now?" I ask, confusion filling my words. Alice sighs but smiles at me.
"In short you'd act as personal security, or if you prefer, a bodyguard." Alice informs me, holding a hand out to Dakota. Who grudgingly hands her some Denarii. They bet on me not knowing!
But I think about their offer for a second. I guess it would give me something to do during the days. But who would I be guarding.
"If you accept you will be the first Praetorian Guard I ages and you'll get certain privileges." Dakota says, trying to sell the position.
"I guess I wouldn't mind. Who would I be guarding anyway? Please say it's not someone that doesn't like me, like Benjamin." I plead at the end. But the two just smile at me and turn towards the door. I follow their gaze and see Reyna leaning slightly on Midnight as they walk out the building. No, they can't be serious. She doesn't need a guard, she's like a whole bloody army by herself.
"Um, I don't think she really needs a guard." I say quietly, just in case she hears me.
"I beg to differ. She would have died without you here today." Alice returns, her eyes glinting slightly. She's planning something.
"I doubt she'll agree to it, and doesn't she overrule you anyway?" I ask, trying to find a way out. Reyna will definitely feel insulted by someone offering to guard her.
"She does. But I think she'll accept, give me a second." Alice replies with a small smirk. She's definitely up to something. Alice quickly runs off after Reyna and quietly talks with her.
"She's planning something isn't she?" I ask Dakota, who's just standing there with a cheeky grin. He's in on it.
"I don't really know, but I'm sure it'll work out." His grin only growing.
(Line Break)
After a minute of hushed words and the occasional glance Alice smiles and come running back to us, while Reyna looks a little defeated but, happy?
"She agreed to it." Alice sings, as Dakota hands her a couple more Denarii. He's going to go bankrupt if this continues.
"Huh?" Is all I can manage to say in response. I expected her to be outraged and deny the offer. Why'd she say yes?
"She said yes. So after we hold a little ceremony you will be appointed her Praetorian Guard." She finishes, rolling one of Dakota's coins along her knuckles. Well I guess as long as she's fine with it.
"WHAT!" An angry howl rolls through the Senate House. We all look and see an enraged Benjamin standing a few feet away. Should have known.
"What?" I ask him.
"You're making him a Praetorian Guard of the Consul? A potential enemy so close to her is idiotic." He rages, walking up to Alice who gives him a blank stare.
"Yet, he's the one that saved her while we all ran away." Alice returns calmly, glaring at the enraged Centurion like a hawk.
"It could have all been a ploy. We don't know what that boy has to say, he's still unconscious. They could be in cahoots." Benjamin continues, his voice a little weaker though. Did he say cahoots? How old is he?
"Who would you choose then?" Dakota asks, his patience running thin.
"U-um, I would… I would pick someone like Rickon." Benjamin stutters out. Of course he would, I bet he doesn't know that Rick can barely defend himself. Let alone someone else.
"While I'm sure he is a fine choice, Reyna has already agreed." Alice sniggers.
"Or would you like to take it up with the Consul herself." Alice indicates to the tired looking Reyna, who is sat on a bench outside stroking a very alert looking Midnight. Maybe Midnight should be the guard.
Benjamin grinds his teeth before storming off to Gods know where, which elicits a sigh from all three of us.
"Anyway, we'll do your ceremony tomorrow. So you have the day to yourself." Alice says, subtly inclining her head towards Reyna. On that note they walk away, looking a little pleased with themselves. I feel like I've been conned.
I make my way towards Reyna and Midnight, and smile when they look over to me.
"How're you doing?" I ask, taking a seat next to Reyna.
"I'm still alive thanks to you, so pretty good." Reyna replies thankfully.
"You would have done the same thing." I return, leaning back on the bench and looking at the blue sky. Reyna coughs to regain my attention and holds out my watch.
"Yea, I guess it didn't do you much good. You sure your skills aren't getting rusty?" I joke, earning a punch to the side of the head. I laugh as I rub my head and look back to the sky.
"I guess you're my new boss now as well." I say deep in thought. But I do spot Reyna tense up for a second out of the corner of my eye.
"I guess I am." She replies quietly, scratching Midnights chin.
"What do you mean?" Midnight asks, her voice content at being stroked.
"I'm going to be Reyna's bodyguard." I reply. There is about half a second before Midnight laughs at me, and she laughs hard for about a minute.
"And you thought that little girl was being ridiculous." She manages between laughs. She was being ridiculous. I shake my head at the wolf.
"Well then Consul where to next?" I inquire, jumping to my feet and standing to attention. Making Reyna smile a little bit.
"Home, so that I can change out of these blood clothes." She half orders, trying not to laugh.
"Yes ma'am." I reply, gently pulling her to her feet and supporting her as we walk back to her house.
Well at least I'm not guarding someone like Benjamin.
A/N: Sorry for the slight delay, I've been a little busy the last few days. Anyway, thought I should remind you that there is a big evil plot in the background as I haven't mentioned it in a while. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and you know the drill.
Also I'm going away over the next week and I don't know what the WiFi situation will be like, so if I don't update that's the reason.