September, 17th 2011

I don't own any of the characters, Rick Riordan does!

Beta for this Chapter: Mcat9905

A/N: Hey there, loyal readers! :)

Again, no Greek Chapter for you D: I'm sorry, this needs to be fixed. But the Romans have time to catch up anyway xP And I enjoy writing Percy just too much, I know :D. But hey, let me be, I love it xP Hope you do too ;P Not much to say but that I'm more busy than I usually am and that's why there's less talking and more uploading. Thanks again for the many reviews, I love you all, you're too nice to me ;_;. And I put too much effort in the planning of this story that I could just quit it when the book comes out. So no doubt, it'll be continued! :o

This chapter is really important btw. I enjoyed writing it very much, especially the end...

Please enjoy!


Chapter XXIX

Percy

He woke with a start, when someone knocked against the wall of tent number three with full force. The annoying sound started to pound in his head, and he finally groaned and forced himself to sit up. Who had the nerves to interrupt his sleep when he had only lasted about… a few seconds? Like in trance, he walked over to the door and touched the wall next to it, so the tent would open for whoever stood before it. He was so sleepy that he didn't even notice how he just stood there in his boxers.

"What?" came out of his mouth and it sounded harsher than he had meant it to be. But the demigod felt like it was still the middle of the night, even when sunlight started to blind him after he opened the tent. It also took him a while to make out who was standing before him. It was Reyna and she didn't even flinch when she saw him like this. Her hands pushed him inside and closed the door behind her so nobody would start staring at him and his… well, outfit.

"It's six o' clock, time for the morning march. You better get dressed or Lupa will eat you for breakfast when you appear like that in front of her." Her voice was cool and she sounded fully awake, her brown eyes normally open and she stood there in full armor over her purple colored shirt. Percy himself couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"6 o' clock? Are you kidding me? That' the middle of the night! No way I'm going to get up for some...march!" he looked at her like she had just announced to stop fighting and start a career as a ballet dancer. Finally, his seagreen eyes had opened up fully just to stare at the daughter of Mars, and this wasn't really the most pleasant way to open your lids when they were still full of sleep. Reyna just rolled her imperious eyes at him and sighed.

"Yes, you will show up to that march or feel the consequences. Be grateful, I let you sleep in today because of your first day yesterday. Normally, waking up is at 5:30 in the morning. Here, put that over your purple shirt and see if it fits. And don't dare pull over a sweater, it's very important to wear the shirt." The demigod hadn't even noticed until now but in her lap, she had a few purple shirts, another sweater and a full Roman armor, which she now dropped on the table in the corner of his room. How she managed to get this all here and still be able to close the door and everything, Percy had no idea.

"But… we just got to bed at 2 o' clock! Wouldn't 'sleeping in' be a little longer, like… 10 or something?" he suggested with hope swinging in his voice. But Reyna just began to laugh dryly and shook her head.

"Oh no. Nobody knows of our meeting so that doesn't count. What does count are the seven and a half hours you normally get for sleeping. According to Lupa, that's the exact time a soldier needs. At the moment, there are winter holidays where the weak demigods get in for training. In February, the morning march is far earlier. Don't be such a girl and get dressed already." She looked at him coldly but Percy could swear he saw a little understanding in her brown eyes. But maybe it was just his imagination. Finally, Percy nodded in agreement and sighed. Reyna left the room to give him his space and said to meet up with her at the white main house in five minutes.

To his surprise, the armor fit perfectly. It was as if it was made for his body. The breast plate fit the size of his muscles, and the leather things on his arms and legs also weren't too small or big for him. Alright, he needed a while to figure out how to fasten the Roman shoulder pads but as soon as everything was into place, he felt great. The weight didn't even bother him that much.

After fully dressing himself, Percy finally made it outside. And he immediately regretted it. Over the night, the temperature had fallen in the valley. The whole meadow was full of hoarfrost and it was freaking cold! The boy was only wearing his T-shirt as Reyna had told him- and began to wonder what the hell the reason for this was. Well, he happened to find out very quickly. At the white marble house, all, really all of the campers were gathered. Percy had never realized how many they were. Over 70 people at least, from the age of 5 up to maybe 20 or even older. Wondering why the young folks didn't go to school or something, he joined this… army with his eyebrows raised. He met up with Reyna as promised, who stood in the front of them all, her arms stemmed in her waist. As almost always, her gaze was imperious and she glared at all of them, nodding at Percy as a greeting when he walked up to them. Realizing, how many people here gave him the death stare, he asked himself just what he had done to make them all mad. Was it because he joined the first legion on his first day? Maybe. He'd understand if several hard working people would be mad because of that. His thoughts were interrupted by two arms hugging him from behind.

"Morning, Percy!" a melodic voice sounded happily. Blond, curly hair flew into his sigh and suddenly, the teenager was well aware why the main part of the male soldiers were giving him those deadly glares. Second thing he was confused about was how this girl could look and act so fabulous at six o' clock in the morning. Sorry, night. Must be because of her mother, he assumed.

"Morning, Dakota." He said, managing a small smile. His green eyes looked over to the death-stare-people and he coughed slightly. His hands lifted and he forced Dakota to let go of him. Fortunately, the rest of legion one arrived just then and didn't give Dakota the chance to complain about his behavior. Reyna raised her voice and it was heard loud and clear, all over the meadow.

"Alright, everyone. You know the procedure. I and my legion run forward and the second comes after that. For today, we have 10 miles to go. Grasp your backpacks and stand in a firm formation! Start!"

On her command, the whole group moved and walked over to a whole mountain full of backpacks. Percy raised an eyebrow but followed them, smiling at Gwen for a good morning greeting. Though he still felt like falling asleep, the cold was keeping him awake. He felt like his arms froze to death. Maybe he was immune to swords, but apparently, hoarfrost didn't quite like him. Even if it was a form of water, he really preferred the liquid kind.

When he reached the mountain of giant backpacks that looked like things the military would have, he grabbed one and almost fell over. Oh goooods, these things were heavy! How could they- he interrupted himself and looked over to the other soldiers. Even the little girls and boys at the age of 5 did have rucksacks that were big enough to reach over their heads. But they didn't complain one bit, stood in line perfectly and waited for their order. Alright, now there was no way to deny it anymore: These people were-completely-insane! With difficulty, he managed to get the rucksack on his back and marched to the front, where Reyna and the others were waiting. Wait a minute...didn't Reyna just say something about 10 miles? She...she was kidding, right?

As the black haired boy soon found out: She hadn't been kidding. His whole morning, the time while he would normally want to sleep, would now consist mainly in running, breaking out in sweat, falling back, being pulled to the front by an amused Bobby or Hazel and trying to hold it together so he wouldn't look like a total girl. Now he understood what the shirts were for. Even if his breath was creating little puffy clouds every time he exhaled, he still felt like his body was so warm that if he dropped over in the frozen ground right now, the whole meadow would be full of green grass again.

After a few miles though, Percy began to get used to it. He even found a method to get a relatively normal tempo that would match with the others. It was like they were some big organ that marched through the forest. Their route was mainly just around the Castra, and it was interesting to see it from this point of view. There were many hills surrounding the Camp, and you could see the surrounding land from up here. Well, as far as the thick mist would let you. And that was even thicker now in the morning than it was last afternoon.

At some point, they had reached the beach, and the Son of Neptune was reminded of last night's dream...


She was starting to walk closer to him now, her feet brushing the beach like it was the easiest thing in the world to look graceful while walking through deep sand.

Her hair was extremely curly and honey blonde like a princess's, pulled back into a loose ponytail and creating waves down her back. Her shorts were white and the shirt she wore was bright orange but he didn't bother to take the time and read the words that were written on it. The boy was distracted by her flawless and tanned skin, and most of all, those eyes. Grey as if he was looking right into a thunderstorm. Intelligence emitted from them like fireworks, and the look on her face was questioning while she approached his dream self, dropping in the sand next to him. He immediately knew who her godly parent was: Athena. Not only because her eyes resembled those of Hazel, no, he just somehow… knew it.

They were sitting very close to the waves that crushed in the sand, some of them were washing over Percy's feet but he didn't really seem to bother. He had looked up to the girl but quickly put his attention back to the necklace.

"Hey… no, I'm not really hungry." He responded, fingering the crystal in the middle of the beads. The girl -he really would like to at least know her name- leaned forward and smiled, lifting a hand to stroke the grey streak out of the demigod's face. It was then that he noticed that the girl had just the same kind of streak beside her face and it left him with the question where the heck those came from.

"Are you still worried about this leadership issue, seaweed brain?" she grinned and somehow, this name seemed to click something in his memories. Wasn't this an insult? Didn't feel like it… it was more like a warm feeling came from his chest at these words, and he couldn't quite describe why. His dream self just smiled slightly and looked up from the necklace.

"As always, you just keep reading my mind. I'm starting to feel a little too transparent."

"Oh, that's easy. Your mind is simple to read because you really are simple." She ducked away, but his dream self still managed to punch her in the arm.

"Stop it, Annabeth. I'm not in the mood for 'you're so stupid'-jokes okay?" he sighed and leaned back in the sand, looking up at the flawless blue sky. Percy, in his watching position, kept looking out at the ocean. A name popped into his mind. 'Long island sound…' but before he could think of more, the blonde girl interrupted his thoughts.

"Oh wow, did you just call me Annabeth? This must be really serious then." She looked impressed, but still as if she was kidding, and sat closer to him again. Her slim but seemingly strong hand reached out to hold his, checking him out with a gentle gaze. His dream self began speaking again, doubt in his voice.

"It kinda is. I'm still not positive about this leader thing. You know, we never had such a thing as a leader bead or any other sign… why now? And I don't really feel like I should be wearing this after…" he stopped himself, his gaze became sad and the same happened to Annabeth. So her name was Annabeth… a beautiful sound. Finally, the blonde began smiling again, stroking over his hand with her thumb.

"Look at me, Perce." She demanded, willing for him to sit up. And he did. His seagreen eyes were questioning, wondering what she would tell him now.

"I know the thing with Luke still upsets you -and you're not the only one- and that so many others died… but this bead." Annabeth pointed at the crystal and then looked back up to him. "It's a symbol of how much we all trust you to lead us. We're all aware that the losses were unavailable, and that it's not your fault. You should really keep that in mind, Seaweed Brain. We made the bead so that it is a symbol of who to look up to. It's nothing like an official title or something, and if you want to give it to someone else, you could do so…" she raised one of her slim eyebrows and his dream self seemed to think about it. Finally, he grinned kinda cocky.

"Alright, I'm gonna keep it. But just so you know, the leader commands you to do several things this evening…" he winked at her, suddenly standing at his feet and holding out a hand to pull her up.

"Oh, really? I'm looking forward to finding out…" she smiled and for the first time didn't make a joke about just how smug that had sounded right there. She leaned in closer to him and put an arm around his neck when the black haired teenager suddenly pulled away.

"Race you to dinner!" he grinned and began running over the dunes, letting go of her hand.

"You never learn it, do you?" she was already behind him, keeping up with the demigod just fine, and laughed at the stupid jokes he made on the way. Their voices finally disappeared in the distance as Percy himself awoke.


Now, running through the woods and thinking about this dream, it was really strange what deep and pleasant feelings he got only from a dream. This may have never happened, right? But somehow, deep inside, he knew it did. It seemed familiar for him to have real dreams about things that actually happened… maybe another drag about being a demigod? Then again, this dream had raised so many other questions…

Out of nothing, his thoughts were interrupted by a high and creepy howl. It was the same as last night... almost. This time, it sounded more like panic. Wait a minute, since when could he read the howls of a wolf? He shook away his thought and came to a sudden halt. And he wasn't the only one.

Soldiers bumped into soldiers, totally messing up their perfect square shaped formation. Some seemed confused and started to whisper among each other as if wondering what to do. Others looked concerned and started to stare at Reyna, whose expression was hard to read. It was something between astonishment and worry. It was clear the others soldiers waited for an order. If it would've been Percy, he would have run out of order for a long time, his fingers already in his pocket. He kept his pen-sword there as if he knew that danger could await you all the time, even while training or being in a secure place. His instincts told him something was wrong, and the waiting drove him insane. Then the daughter of Mars suddenly got a grip of herself and turned around on her heel. Percy wondered how she managed that on the glittery and frozen floor without slipping.

"First legion, you come with me. We're taking care of this. Pay attention to the signs. If we call, the second legion comes to help. Now continue the march!" she shouted over the increasing noise of talking soldiers. To Percy's astonishment, they actually listened and just kept running while Percy, Reyna, Dakota, Hazel, Gwen and Bobby made their way over to the direction where the howl had come from. Normally, Percy felt like running away from a noise like that. But something in his mind stirred as he began to uncap Riptide in preparation for an attack.

That was when they saw the hellhounds. There were three of them and each one was just as big as one of Lupa's wolves. One of the two silver wolves was already wounded, whimpering and licking his hurt hind leg. Reyna shot Gwen a look who immediately understood and knelt to heal the wounded wolf. The other five demigods had dropped their backpacks and drawn their weapons to help the other wolf who was trying to keep the hellhounds away from the Castra. Why he knew they were hellhounds? Again, he just...knew it. The front and biggest one of them had an orange piece of fabric around his neck and Percy wondered what that was for. Unfortunately, he didn't really have the time to think about it any further because that was when the hellhounds attacked.

The green eyed demigod managed to hold out well, even though his teamwork with the others wasn't that excellent. Dakota seemed to throw something from behind, being able to distract and hurt the hellhounds. Hazel had grabbed one of her knives and began attacking, changing between throwing them and using them as a normal weapon for stabbing. Bobby showed some wicked swordwork, as did Reyna. They dodged and rolled, stabbed and finally, there was only one monster left, the one with the orange scarf around its neck that made him look like an oversized lapdog. Reyna ducked away when the hound leaped to bite her and he was on his way for Percy now instead. The demigod looked up, preparing to strike the monster down without any mercy. His green eyes glistered with anger but when he met the eyes of the monster, his muscled suddenly stiffened. This dog wasn't bad. He couldn't just attack it, this was…

His thought didn't even come to an end when the hellhound was already on his neck, trying to bite his head off. His two front palms resting on his shoulders, this bite would've been totally deadly if it wasn't for his invulnerable skin. The dog kept chewing on him like he was a kind of toy gum that was impossible to bite through when suddenly, he whimpered and disappeared into dust. Percy made a face, realizing that he was now full of stinking dog drool.

"Now what was that? You had the way free for an attack and decide to become dog breakfast?" Bobby was standing behind the former dog, had stabbed him with his golden sword. Dakota ran over and helped Percy up, looking rather worried than mistrustful. She gave him a paper tissue to wipe away the drool which he was really thankful for. Again, Hazel showed him a strange stare like she still couldn't quite figure out where to put him but was almost positive that he wasn't on their side. But he was… well, at least he hoped so.

"Look, the enemy left us some sort of warning…" Reyna's voice sounded wary so they all walked over to her, even the now healed wolves and Gwen. The daughter of Mars was holding the orange fabric and when Percy stepped closer, he suddenly stopped in his track, green eyes widening in shock. This was way too familiar… no, it couldn't be, right?

In the middle of the orange tissue was the picture of a black Pegasus.


So...you get what Gaea is plannig? That dirty (haha) B** wants them to hate each other, let Percy doubt himself and she's pretty good at plotting. I wonder what'll come of this... Btw, secretly, Reyna enjoyed what she saw...XD No, kidding.

Hope you liked it, tell me what you thoughts please! :)