Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO Series, all rights go to Rick Riordan.
A/N: Sorry about the delay on this, my laptop and this website have been having a disagreement about how to upload this chapter for a while. I've also been mad busy with deadlines, so I'm sorry if this isn't great.
Percy (POV)
We make it to the front door of Reyna's house just as Midnight comes trotting up to the pair of us. Where does she keep running off to? She didn't come from my house where the Hunters are.
I don't think on the matter too much as I give her an affectionate pat on the head, before letting her walk through the door before us.
"Where have you been?" I ask her, closing the door and walking into the living room and to the sofa with Reyna. The bed is up way too many stairs, and the sofa is much more appealing.
"Just scouting around, making sure no one is up to anything they shouldn't be." She returns, stretching out on the soft rug in front of the sofa we sit on. This attack has rattled even her.
"Find anything interesting?" I follow up, wrapping an arm around Reyna as her eyes begin to flicker shut. She must be exhausted.
"No monsters that I could find, all scents have begun to dissipate. However, there were a few people looking a little shifty, but they all scattered the moment they saw me and all I could get from that distance was something about a meeting." She informs me as she curls her tail around to her nose and making herself into a perfect circle. Well that's adorable. But we should probably have a look into those people tomorrow.
Feeling the exhaustion from the last two days wash over me I succumb to sleep. Please don't be a bad dream.
My eyes open and I am sat in my mums apartment living room by myself. I quickly glance around and notice a few differences in the room, like a colour of the door to the kitchen and a different picture on the wall. That doesn't look like a good picture.
I get to my feet and walk over to the picture and examine it. It is a picture of my mums actual living room, with everyone sat around, Mum, Paul, Reyna and Midnight. Something's wrong here.
That's when I notice the big problem, everyone is dead. Paul has a massive hole in his chest where his heart should be, Mum's throat has been cut from ear to ear, Reyna has a knife in her back at the base of her neck and Midnight doesn't have any obvious injuries but her mouth is all bloody. What is this? Where's Lily in all of this?
"It's a beautiful sight, don't you think?" The disembodied voice of Erebus asks, flowing through the room. Not the word I'd use.
"No, I don't think it is." I growl back, looking around the room for a shadow for him to be hiding in. There is a particularly dark shadow in the opposite corner of the room. Yea, he's over there.
"Why don't you stop with the theatrics and come out all ready." I state crossing my arms and leaning against the wall.
"Oh you're no fun." He mocks, melting from the shadow in the corner and forming in the armchair by the corner in a long black cloak. He seems shorter than before.
He takes a minute to look around the room as if taking in the room for the first time. Which can't be true, he made this whole place.
"So, did you enjoy last night?" He asks, his gaze now resting on me fully. I feel like I should be more unsettled being the centre of his attention, but I'm really not.
"Hmm, it wasn't my best night. But we got through it and we will continue to." I reply, taking a seat on the opposite sofa as I watch his every move. This obviously isn't just a house call.
"That picture on the wall is just a warning of what is to come if you don't get out of my way, and trust me my threat extends far beyond the pions in the image. Everyone you care about will die." He threatens me, leaning forward in the armchair. Why is he trying to intimidate me in a dream?
"I think we both know that I will never let you touch any of the people I care about." I shoot back with a cold tone. Erebus just laughs at me as he leans back in his chair, crosses his legs and snaps his fingers.
In the next instant, the picture becomes a reality and my heart sinks at the sight. I can never let this happen.
"Oh you can try Godling, but I don't thi…" Before Erebus can finish his sentence I am violently pulled from the dream, and thrown towards a bright white light. I feel like this is a bad sign.
I'm dropped into another chair, but I am in a blank white room this time. My god, can people stop hijacking my dreams.
"I'm sorry at what my son just showed you, it's a reality that he wishes to see to try and break you." Chaos reveals, appearing in front of me with a sorrowful expression. It's not her fault.
"And I'm sorry but I can't do anything to stop him as it would count as interfering. All I can say is that he will try and make a move in the next couple of days." She tells me, looking up at me more seriously now. What are the consequences for interfering? Surely Erebus is interfering, but nothing is happening to him.
"Thank you for the heads up, I'll move them to Rome tomorrow where I can keep them safe." I plan, standing from my chair as if that'll change anything in this moment. I'm still in the dream seaweed brain.
I feel a bit embarrassed standing in front of Chaos, so I sit back down and look around the blank space we are sitting in.
"Nice place you got here." I remark, earning a small laugh.
"You do realise that you are staring into an endless void that I created so that we could talk." She laughs, gesturing to the empty white space all around us. Well that sounds a little extra.
"I figured, just trying to lighten the mood." I concede with a small grin.
"Also, about Reyna being my Champion. One thing you should know about her powers." She starts, actually glancing around nervously. Didn't she just say she created this place.
"I designed them to unravel slowly, so that she doesn't get overwhelmed by them. But that little trick you guys pulled off at the training area, might have sped that up a little. Don't worry, she'll be fine. But her powers might flare out a little for the next few weeks or so." She quickly adds at the end before I can get too angry at myself. I knew I shouldn't have done that.
"Ok, thank you for letting me know. Don't want her to randomly punch a hole in something or someone if she gets a bit annoyed." I return jokingly, offering her a small smile which Chaos awkwardly returns. Can't believe the creator of the Universe can be this awkward and nervous.
"Ah, one last thing before I leave you to your sleep." Chaos remembers with a click of her fingers. I wonder what else she had to say.
"As for what I was trying to say during the siege. Those foul creatures my son has created from the shadows, they have two fundamental weaknesses." She starts, starting to walk around my the chair slowlyem. It's almost as if she's lecturing me on something.
"One is fairly obvious, and you might have realised it yourself this morning. But they can't stand the light of the sun and in turn, those touched by the sun cannot stand the touch of the darkness." She reveals. I had thought it was a bit weird that they disappeared when the sun rose. Is that why Will took such a dark turn after being shot?
"They are creatures go the night, created in the darkest depths of Tartarus. If they were to be exposed to even a fraction of the suns light, in any form, then they would scatter back to the shadows from whence they came." Chaos elaborates, walking back around to the front of the chair. Like vampires then.
"Yes, I guess they are bit like vampires." Chaos laughs, reading my thoughts so effortlessly. I can feel the heat in my cheeks begins to rise in embarrassment, and nervously laugh with her. I should really try and hide my thoughts better.
"Yes you should." She adds, wiping a glittering tear from her eye. Was that a star?
I watch as one of her eyebrows arches high, but thankfully she doesn't make a comment this time. Instead she continues with her explanation.
"Now, I'm sure you realised this when you were fighting these Shades, such a despicable name, but you can't injure them by just stabbing or cutting them anywhere. No there is a specific point in the dead centre of their chest where they are vulnerable." She explains, looking kind of frighteningly serious. This isn't her usual expression.
"Tha…"
"Also, try to fight them individually. They all have an aspect which the excel in and they work flawlessly in a group, I mean they're still pretty difficult by themselves, but at least there will only one of them." She interrupts my thanks with her last minute thought. That's more like her.
"Thank you for your help Chaos, I will be sure to try and put it to good use." I say, bowing my head.
"No young wolf, you don't bow to me. You are only in this mess because I couldn't keep a handle on my own son. So think nothing of this help." She smiles, before the white space dissolves into nothing and I am finally left to sleep. So much work, such little time. I should really get a move on with my project, and I've already found a few people that will do perfectly.
(Line Break)
I wake with a start the next day, finding the three of us still in Reyna's living room. Midnight curled tightly into a ball snoring softly and Reyna tucked into my side with her cape covering the pair of us. You wouldn't have thought we were fighting for our lives the night before if you saw us now.
Slowly I extract myself from Reyna and make my way into the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as I can. I quickly navigate myself to the fridge and grab milk. Cereal will have to do this morning.
I sit at the breakfast bar as I think over what's happened over the last few days. Two days ago I woke up from my coma, and then yesterday I found out that Chaos had given me some wings. Please let that be the only gift she snuck onto me. Then last night we were besieged by the largest force I have ever seen in my life, and I'd guess about half of the Legion has been killed in one assault. Which isn't the best start.
And while we're on that point, I should probably go and check on the situation with the wounded when I have a minute.
I just finish my bowl of cereal when I hear footsteps coming towards the front door of the house. Good see that I have my hearing through Midnight back. I guess our powers are starting to come back.
I walk to the door and open it to a Legionary with a fist raised, looking a little startled she hesitates for a second.
"What can I do you for?" I ask, leaning against the doorframe. The Legionary looks confused as she quickly double checks the house before continuing. She must be new.
"I have a report from Head Medic Stone for the Consul." She delivers quite robotically. She must be very new, last night must have been ruff for her.
"Ok, I can pass it on for you. She's sleeping at the moment." I return, taking a step towards her and closing the door slightly behind me to keep from disturbing Reyna and Midnight. Who's probably already awake and listening.
"I am." Her voice floating through my mind like a leaf on a breeze. I thought as much.
The Legionary looks at me cautiously, looking me up and down in my attire, which doesn't quite look like your standard Roman outfit. She doesn't know who I am.
"I am Percy Jackson, the Consul's Praetorian. Whatever you need to tell her can be passed on by me." I inform her, standing up straighter and showing my Legionary and Praetorian tattoo to put her mind at ease. She visibly relaxes before catching herself and her cheeks explode red. Seems like she's still getting used to this ranking system.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to presume anything…."
"Don't worry about it." Raising a hand I cut her off and smile to try and ease her mind. Her face goes a bit redder, but she takes a breathe and settles herself as I sit on the door step in front of her. Roman training is pretty useful sometimes.
"Anyway, Stone would like to inform the Consul of the final count for wounded, dead and missing." She states grimly, her cheeks paling almost as quickly as flushed. This is going to be great for Reyna to wake up to.
"Ok, lay it on me." I tell her readying myself for the bad news.
"Is Reyna awake yet?" I quickly ask Midnight.
"No, but she'll probably be waking up soon. This news is going to shatter her, be careful when telling her." She informs me sadly, and I can't find a way to disagree with her. But she needs to know.
The Legionary pulls a small scroll from a pouch on the back of her belt and opens it slowly, almost as if the slower she opens it the less likely there will be writing on the paper. From her expression I can tell it didn't change.
"Stone would like to state that of the original Legion size of 2670, a total of 1689 are dead or missing." Holy shit.
"There are 300 injured who are stable and are expected to make full recoveries and that leaves 981 unharmed or with minor injuries, leaving us at about 48% of our original strength." She lists the figures stoically, but I can see the concern and worry in her eyes. No one has a poker face quite like Reyna.
"Thank you…"
"Tina." She fills in for me when I pause.
"Thank you Tina, I'll be sure to inform the Consul when she wakes up." I nod my thanks, take the scroll from her as I climb to my feet and turn for the door when Tina's quietly voices a question.
"Was it you that was covered in flames during the battle?" The tremble in her voice brings me to a stop. Is she scared of me? Is everyone scared of me?
"Yes… it was." I answer hesitantly half turning back, not wanting her to be more scared of me than she already is. There's no advantage to being respected through fear.
She's quiet for a moment and I watch as the fear dissipates, turning only to gratitude and respect before she bows her head slightly. What the? What's happening?
"Thank you, a hundred times thank you." She almost whispers, her eyes looking like they're about to tear up at any second. I definitely wasn't expecting this.
"When you returned to the Principia, you saved my friends and I from certain death." She explains, tears beginning to stream from the corner of her eyes. Well this is better than her hating me for something I did.
"I see, well I'm glad I was able to save a few of you. I'm just sorry that I wasn't able to save more." I return remorsefully, again turning for the door with my head hung low. I was too slow for so many.
"But I think that it's amazing that you saved as many as you did. You are just one man after all." She calls after me as I walk through the door. Just one man? I need to be more if we're going to survive. I need to change my idea into reality a lot sooner than I thought I was going to need to.
I give Tina a final nod before closing the door and heading back into the living room where I left Reyna and Midnight. I find Midnight sat by the door expectantly, and just like she said, Reyna was just waking up. I don't know if that's convenient or not.
"Ease her into it." Midnight warns, following me over to the sofa and sitting as close to Reyna as she can without getting on the sofa. She has the easy job here.
"Good morning." She says sleepily, rolling over on the sofa. I really don't want to ruin her morning.
Before I can even begin to try and broach the subject, her eyes focus on me and the scroll and she cuts in.
"What is it?" She asks wearily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she pushes herself up to face me. She's got too keen an eye for bad news, or maybe I'm just really bad at hiding it. I mean, I am holding the scroll in plain sight still.
"I just got the report from Stone about the state the Legion is in after the attack." I tell, taking a seat next to her. Reyna visibly stiffens, but forces herself to take a breath and relax a fraction. She won't be ready for this.
I slowly hand Reyna the scroll, and hold it for a second as she tries to take it.
"Just… Just don't let it get you down too much, unfortunately we don't have the time to pause on this for too long. We need to make preparations so that this doesn't happen again." I force out, hating every word as it leaves my mouth. She eyes my suspiciously for a second, noting the way I put it. She's seeing right through me, I can feel it. She knows I would mourn them all for the next year if time aloud, it just doesn't.
Midnight nuzzles Reyna's free hand, showing her unwavering support. After a loving stroke, Reyna slowly opens the scroll and I can all but see her heart stop as her expression drop lower than Tartarus. I move to comfort her when a wall of power slams into me and nearly sends me from the sofa, even Midnight dips her head and flattens her ears. Crap!
"48%" She whispers as a gust begins to circle the room. This isn't good.
I try and place an arm around her, but struggle as her power begins to expand. Guess Chaos was right about her powers being a bit haywire.
"Reyna, I know it's a lot. But please try and stay calm." I try, dodging as a rogue cushion gets caught in the swirl of power. Reyna just looks at me with sad eyes threatening tears.
"But, I lost so many. So many friends and families broken and it's all my fault." Her voice straining as she begins to cry. Midnight whimpers slightly as she takes a step away, a bit fearful of the power circulating in the room. I need to calm her down.
I exert some of my own power, grab hold of Reyna and pull her into a hug and start to stroke her hair and rub circles into her back whilst whispering that everything is going to be ok.
It's not immediate, but her powers don't get anymore out of hand and she begins to calm down after a minute as she softly cries into my chest.
"How could this have gone so wrong. We prepared, we took precautions and they still stampeded over us like it was nothing." She sobs, clutching onto my shirt as if it was all that kept her alive. But we didn't expect the numbers.
"I know we did. But what we weren't prepared for was the sheer numbers he would bring to bare, he basically unleashed centuries worth of Demigods from the Underworld on us." I start, thinking my words over very carefully. That's a change.
"They may have shown up and knocked down our walls, and butchered hundreds of Legionaries. But, we survived. We outlasted them and that will be their downfall, because we will not let this kind of atrocity happen again, and this time we know what's coming." I reassure her, pulling her from the hug so I can look into her teary eyes. She looks like she wants to give up.
"We have all been through too damn much to give up now. So we get back up and we carry on, and if not for us, for all those who fell so we can stand again." I finish, watching her starry eyes for any flicker of doubt. But all I see is the reformation of her will and smile. There's my girl.
"You're right, we need to regroup and make a new plan. We should have a meeting with the Praetors and the surviving Centurions." She starts, wiping tears from her eyes as her mind already running through plans A-Z and I can't help but smile. Midnight creeps closer again, looking a bit embarrassed about taking a step away. Who can blame her, Reyna just displayed a lot of power.
"Sounds good, but first I need to tell you about my dream." I say, earning an inquisitive head tilt and raised eyebrow.
After telling Reyna and Midnight about my dream from the night before, they both looked suitably concerned. Which is fair enough I guess. I was threatened by a Primordial God after all.
"So why don't you get started rebuilding Rome whilst I call my mum and get her over here." I quickly say before they can try slip in anything supportive and helpful. I've already got a plan, I'm going to get her to hopefully more here. Or at least to Camp Half-Blood.
"Are you sure? We can focus on getting your mum here if you want?" Reyna asks, placing a hand on my knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze. I give her a small smile and place my hand on hers. I love her so much.
"Don't worry," I tell her, "I've got a handle on this, and you can't be seen prioritising me over Rome. The Senate will have a field day." I watch as the acceptance of my statement sinks in and she slowly nods.
"Are you sure you're ok with that?" Midnight pipes up in my head, her silver eyes sympathetic as they look me over. It'll be fine.
"Yea, I got this." They glance at each other for a second, before Reyna sighs and pulls herself to her feet, straightens her clothes and wraps her cloak around her shoulders. And like that, she's as regal as always.
"Well I'll get started with Rome, you get your family here so we can protect them." Reyna basically commands, she waits for me to nod before making her way out.
"I love you." I shout after her, and hear a faint response from the door before it slams.
I stretch before getting to my feet and make my way to the bathroom to Iris message my mum. I need to get them here as fast as possible.
I swipe a drachma from the bedroom before going into the bathroom and turn the sink tap on. I pull a small amount of water from the tap and turn it off, I walk into the bedroom and sit on the end of the bed before turning the orb of water into a fine mist and toss the coin into the mist. Seems like forever since I've done this.
I whisper the prayer as Midnight pads into the room, jumps up onto the bed next to me and leans her head on my shoulder. Lilly will like seeing her.
An image appears and begins to focus in on a dark haired woman, and a few seconds later my mums face focuses. She's in the kitchen with Lilly in her arms and heading out the door it seems. Just caught her.
"Percy?" She asks, looking a little confused. Lilly just chuckles happily as she reaches for the image. Sally turns away slightly so that Lilly doesn't end the call.
"But puppy." I hear Lilly protest, which makes me smile. Midnight would be pissed if anyone else called her that.
"Hey mum, how's it going?" Leading with a slightly lighter topic, I try to come across calm and as if nothing is wrong. She'll see right through this.
"Oh Percy, what happened? You look… awful." She asks, concern already flooding from her. Called it, literally took five seconds.
"Thanks mum, I try hard for this look." I return with a small amount of sarcasm and a smile. Which only really earns me a small scowl in return. Get on with it Percy, before you annoy her too much.
"Right, sorry. Well, we were attacked two days ago and we're still kind of recovering from that." I tell her, my chin falling to my chest instantly in guilt. She shouldn't be involved in any of this. She should just be living her life with Paul and Lilly in peace.
"Percy that's awful, how is Rome? How is Reyna?" Mum quick fires the questions and I get a word in before she can spiral out of control.
"Rome will survive for now, and Reyna is fine at the moment. She's rattled, but already on her way to fixing everything up." I reassure her quietly, not able to quite look her in the eye properly for what I have to tell her next. She won't like this.
"That's good, well tell her I said hi when you see her." Mum continues effortlessly, apparently missing my apprehension at what I need to say.
"There's one more thing mum." I start. Finally looking up at her to see a knowing look on her face. Of course she wasn't going to let it go that easily.
"I had a dream…" I continue slowly, watching her expression remain the same concerned but steadfast expression on her face. She really is the best.
"Basically Erebus threatened to kill all of you unless I let him destroy the world." I tell her, my eyes dipping again. How can I expect her to uproot her life over a dream, which in Demigod terms are never what they seem in the first place anyway.
"And I would like for the three of you to come to Rome so that I can keep you safe." I finish, worrying about her response.
"Ok, I'll tell Paul and we'll try and organise ourselves to get there. It might take a few days though." She returns with barely a pause, which surprises me. She agreed so quickly, but it needs to be quicker than a few days.
"Are…Are you sure that's ok? I know Demigod dreams aren't the most reliable things, I just want to make sure that you are all safe and I can't do that all the way from California." I add, looking back up a little desperately. I need her to be certain of this, moving her here would be a massive strain on their lives.
Mum just gives me this small smile that says, emof course I'm serious about this/em, and turns and walks back toward her bedroom. The Iris message follows mum into her room, where she puts Lilly on the bed. She's going to start packing now? She hasn't even spoken to Paul yet, and he needs to think about the school after the Christmas break.
"Mum sho…" She cuts me off with a look over her shoulder and pulls a suitcase out of the wardrobe she had moved over to. She really is a scary woman sometimes.
"Percy, I understand what you're saying. But you wouldn't make this call if you didn't think there was the slightest chance that you thought it would actually happen, am I right?" She asks, putting the suitcase down and opening it up.
"Well, yea, I suppose."
"Then I am going to take it seriously as well. Paul will understand, he can take some time off from work and we will make a plan when we get there ok." She continues, pulling clothes from half a dozen different draws. Where are all these clothes coming from?
"We were meant to meet him now, but I'll message him and tell him what's happening." She says, answering my next question before I could even ask it.
I glance at Midnight, and she has a similar expression of slight confusion and disbelief as I probably do. I don't think either of us thought it would be this easy.
"Ok, well let me know when you're all ready and I'll come and get you." I tell her, relief building in my chest. They're going to be fine, and Paul is a chill guy, so I'm sure he'll understand.
Mum just nods and gives me a warm smile as she swipes her hand through the Iris message.
"Right, let's go help rebuild this place." I turn to Midnight, giving her head a rub.
"Yea, get your lazy ass moving." She returns playfully, jumping off of the bed and bounding for the door. And after all the shit we've had to deal with after the last two days, I can't help but smile and be hopeful. We will weather this.
(Line Break)
The first thing I decide to do is go check on how Will and Nico are doing. I really hope that Will pulled through the night, I should check on Dakota as well.
The smoke that was rising from the Principia has been reduced so a small whisper of grey drifting into the sky. They finally managed to put that out.
I can see small groups of Legionaries rushing around moving slowly fixing and cleaning up all the destruction that had been inflicted. It's going to take a while to clean up all the mess.
Midnight pads ahead of me sniffing the ground at the corner of a building. I wonder what she's picking up?
"I can't get over the fact that the scent of all the monsters just disappeared in an instant." Midnight mutters, looking up and down the street in concern. I understand what she means, I lost all sense of the monsters the moment the sun rose over on the horizon.
"I know what you mean, it's almost like it was a bad dream that spilled into reality." I return as we continue our way to the Circus Maximus, falling into step beside her. Could it be some kind of trick that Erebus pulled to hide his forces?
"According to Chaos he just spirited them all away in the shadows." I sigh, looking at the shadow of one of the buildings that we're walking past. Could he really have done that?
Benjamin (POV)
"Things are coming together nicely." A voice resonates deeply from the shadows around me, which makes me jump slightly. Oh brilliant, he's back.
"I'm glad my lord." I return, forcing a smile onto my face as I turn in the dark room trying to find the source of the voice. He can't just appear like a normal God can he?
"But where would the fun in that be little Godling?" Erebus asks, forming right over my shoulder. I struggle to hold in a flinch as he does and turn slowly to face my new 'Master'
"Are all the plans running smoothly then?" I divert, moving the conversation away from him reading my mind so effortlessly. Where's Rickon been hiding of late anyway? He's excellent to divert the conversation to.
"Quite. The skirmish was rather successful, we brought down their wall and killed hundreds of your brethren. By the time we are at full strength, they will not be able to stand against us." He starts, pacing towards the far side of the room, which is hidden in the deepest shadows. It would help if I could see where everything is, how else am I meant to find my way around here?
"Your not." Erebus states simply. But lights flicker into existence in the direction that he is going and shows his great black throne. And here I thought Jupiter was bad.
"Only a year remains, before I will have gathered all the strength and forces that I need to crush the Olympians and their wretched offspring." Erebus continues, taking a seat on his throne.
I walk up to his throne and stop about six feet away, feeling a little giddy at the thought of New Rome crumbling around that Harlot and Betrayer Reyna, and her little Greek pet Percy. They will pay for what they did to me.
"Now, tell me of the flaws in their defences. I imagine that they'll make some changes now, but tell me what you remember." Erebus commands, slouching in his throne and summoning a chair for me to sit in. This must be the only reason he's let Rickon and I live for so long.
"Of course my lord, this is what I know…"
Percy POV
I find Nico and Will in the same corner they were in last time I saw them. Nico still doesn't look like he's slept. But he always looks like that.
Will on the other hand looks a thousand times better than he did, and the spreading black has already retracted half as far as it had gotten. Thank the Gods for Apollo.
"Hey guys, how're we doing?" I ask, trying not to let my worry come across. Nico looks at me with his tired eyes and I can see the relief of Will's state in his eyes.
"We're doing alright, whatever Apollo did worked and Will is on a fast track to recovery." Nico informs me as we both turn our attention towards the sleeping demigod. We need good news at a time like this.
"That's great, remember to look after yourself as well. We can't have you dropping due to exhaustion." I tell him with a smirk and laugh a little as he sighs in resignation. Someone's already said the same thing to him.
"Yea yea, I'll get around to it." He huffs, waving me off with his hand. I laugh as I retreat from the pair of them, making my way towards the HQ. Let's see if I can't find Dakota on the way.
"Oh yea, tell Reyna I had a look into that matter for her. She needs to hear what I found out." Nico calls after me. But when I look back to ask what he's talking about, he's curled up on his side and already asleep.
"Do you know what he's talking about?" I ask Midnight, looking down to see she looks just as confused as I feel.
"No idea. We'll have to ask her when we get a moment alone with her." Midnight returns, scratching one of her ears before trotting off towards the HQ tent.
There aren't any screams as I walk through the wounded today. There's the odd groan and yelp from someone being treated, but other than that all the wounded are sleeping soundly. At least no more will die. For now I guess.
With a deep sigh, I enter the Command tent to find Reyna with an armless Dakota and a shellshocked Alice. What in the Gods names happened to his arm? I really need to ask.
"Percy, it's great to see you." Dakota declares joyously, jumping to his feet and taking me by surprise a little.
"Yea, you too man. Hows the arm?" I ask, and immediately regret the choice of words. There's a pause and a tense air fills the room for a second before he responds with.
"Gone." Theres a few more seconds of tense quiet before he laughs and sits back down. I laugh with him, whilst glancing at Reyna and Alice.
"He's on a lot of painkillers right now." Alice informs me as I get closer. Yea, that makes sense.
"I figured as much." I laugh, before looking down at the table of maps and reports. The maps have been drawn and written all over, showing the breach in the wall and the ruined Principia.
I don't dare to look at the reports, I don't want to know the names of the dead just yet.
"How're things going in here." I ask no one in particular.
"As well as you can probably imagine." Alice returns cynically, earning a glare from Reyna which makes her shrink before Reyna sighs and turns to me.
"We're just organising the funeral pyres at the moment, and we're going to make a memorial for all those that have been lost so far." Reyna says, picking up one of the reports that looked like names. There are far too many name on that list.
"That's a good idea, it'll help people remember their friends and what happened." I return, but I know she wasn't looking for a compliment, she's hating every second of this as much as I am.
"But we're going to save the funeral for when everyone can attend to so degree, so our main focus at the moment is our defences as well as replenishing our forces." Reyna starts, pulling out a second report. Is she going to actively start looking for Demigods, that would be dangerous and we'd probably lose as many as we bring in.
"Don't worry, I won't be sending Legionnaires out to find Demigods." She cuts me off before I can even voice my concern, but from the look in her eyes I know she's not done.
"We have hundreds of able bodied Demigods that have only just gone into retirement and a few older veterans who have come forward to serve in the Auxiliary. So that should help for now." She continues, and I can feel Alice's guilty gaze on me now. What are they not telling me.
"Well that's good, but we're still going to need more than what's here in Rome. We could try linking up with Camp Half-Blood when the time for the actual war comes?" I suggest, watching them both nod in agreement. They'd already decided on that.
"Yes, we had the same thought. We sent an Eagle rider with a message for Chiron about 10 minutes ago." Alice cuts in, but there is still a awkward and guilty air surrounding them.
"What is it?" I ask when I can't take it anymore.
"We were wondering if you would go and look for Demigods?" Dakota cuts in before either of them can say anything. That's it.
"Well, it would be too dangerous to send normal Legionnaires and you do have experience with it." He continues, happily starring at the roof of the tent. I mean that does make sense, Gods I thought they were going to tell me something awful had happened.
"Yea, I can do that. I can ask Hestia if there are any Demigods that she's been keeping an eye on." I think out loud, and watch as the two girl sag slightly with relief. They're so concerned about everything at the moment, but this is something I can do.
I see the grateful smile at the corner of Reyna's mouth as she cracks her mask for a second and then it's back to business.
Line Break
We spend the next three hours going over the plans to rebuild Rome and how to organise the Legion with its diminished ranks. We decide that the solidifying of the defences is the first priority and as the 1st Cohort has the most members still, we give them the task, which Alastair eagerly accepts. Someone wants to prove themselves different from Benjamin.
We also decide to have two more days of recovery before the funeral. This will also give us time to properly prepare the bodies and pyres needed. And hopefully enough will be recovered enough to attend.
"Is that everything." Reyna asks, looking at the rest of us. Dakota had come down off of his pain meds and was a lot more aware of the conversations now, but the other two didn't speak up. I do need to start my project.
"I was wondering if I could form a proper Praetorian Guard?" I just blurt out, surprising everyone. Well except Reyna, who just raises an eyebrow at me.
"I'm not sure if that's the best idea." Dakota quips in quickly.
"People might see it as Reyna trying to control Rome with her own personal Guard." Alice chimes in in an disagreeing tone. Only Reyna remains quiet as she thinks it over.
"Can you hear what she's thinking?" I ask Midnight.
"Always."
"Want to share?"
"No, I don't think so." She laughs before scratching behind her ear. The little traitor.
"Why?" I all Reyna asks, her face betraying nothing.
"Well one, obviously to better protect you when I'm not here. But secondly, this will be a group that I train from the ground up. I will completely reform them to be the best fighting force Rome has." I tell them, watching the shock grow on Alice and Dakota's face. But Reyna only grins as she nods.
"I'll allow it. But it can only be at most the strength of a Centurai, no more. Otherwise people might not be so agreeing with the idea." Reyna smiles and I can already see her mind flying with possibility of an elite force on the battlefield.
"Awesome, I'll start picking them out." Excitedly I turn and head for the door.
"But they have to come from every Cohort, so as not to show favouritism." She calls after me. Well that's a bummer, not a lot of the 1st or 2nd really like me that much.
"Sure, I can make that work." I return from the door, dread already filling my boots. I'll start with the other Cohorts first. Get the numbers up before I deal with the other two.
"Stay here and keep an eye on Reyna for me." I tell Midnight, who hadn't moved from her spot under the table.
"Of course. I mean I wasn't moving anyway, it's warm in here." She chuckles back, her eyes glittering in amusement. I just knew that's what she was going to say.
I give Reyna one last smile before I leave and head straight for the first person I plan on recruiting. I walk towards the temporary barrack for the 4th Cohort. I stride past all of the whispering and open stares and head straight to the semi cut off area reserved for the Centurions.
"Excuse me, where are you going?" A slightly braver Legionary calls after me. I ignore him and press on. I stop before I pass the wall separating the rooms.
"Lauren, you decent?" I call out, and wait for a reply. I plane around the quickly through together barracks in a bit of awe. I'm never going to get over how fast Romans can build stuff.
"Enough." Is all that Lauren replies with. Well that's not encouraging.
I push past my apprehension and walk around the corner to find Lauren in what appears to be just a baggy top that only just comes halfway down her thigh. Yep I should have gone to someone else first.
"Hey Percy, how can I help you?" She asks moving from her bed to the dresser. Please put some trousers on.
"I'm here to make a proposition with you." I return, trying to hide my slight discomfort at her being half-dressed. Thankfully she does pull out a pair of jeans and slips them on. Thank the Gods.
"Oh yea, spill then." She says excitedly, taking a seat on her bed.
"I'm looking to form an actual Praetorian Guard, and I was wondering if you'd like to join." I state simply, watching her expression change ever so slightly from interest into thought.
"Hmm, and what's in it for me if I join?" Her question takes me by surprise, I hadn't even thought about what to offer people to join. Good going seaweed brain.
"Umm, nothing?" I return, I really should have thought about how id sell it to people. How I've survived this long is beyond me.
All she does is laugh and lie down on her bed. Did I say something funny?
"That's good, I thought this was going to be some kind of scam." She manages when she gets her breath back. How could this have been a scam?
"How could I have scammed you with this?" I ask incredulously.
"I don't know, people do weird things." Is all she say in return. This may have been a bad idea.
"Who else have you got so far?" She asks, quickly moving the conversation along.
"No one, you're the first person I've asked." I tell her begrudgingly. Something I am majorly regretting.
"Oh, I feel special." She giggles, before jumping to her feet and marching over to me. Oh Gods, what's she doing.
"I think I'll jump in on this, I have a good feeling about it." She smile before walking past me and towards a girl a few bunks down.
"Hey Lucy, want to me Centurion?" Lauren asks, taking the poor girl completely by surprise. I actually feel her pain.
Lucy seems to have frozen from the shock of the question, completely unable to speak to any degree. I think she's broken the girl with a sentence.
"Why're you stepping down? You haven't served long enough to retire yet have yet?" Another somewhat panicked Legionary splutters, looking nearly as shocked as Lucy.
"Nah, I've just got a top secret job offer and I'm going to see how it plays out." She replies suspiciously, whilst giving me a the side eye. Everyone already knows that it'll be me. There's no need to point it out.
A couple of Legionaries glare at me, but others just seem to nod in understanding and go back to doing what they're doing. On the positive however, Lucy seems to have recovered.
"Are you sure you want me to take over?" Lucy manages to stutter out, looking very unsure of herself. I think I've seen her fighting in the war games, she's good if memory serves.
"Yea, Ross and I were talking about it. You know with the whole war thing coming up, we were discussing who we thought were best suited if either of us died." Lauren replies matter of factly, which quickly brings an end to the conversation and she walks back over to me.
"So, who else did you have in mind for this little squad of ours?" She ask, the excitement reentering her voice. Ours? Pretty sure this was my idea.
"I've got a few more in mind, want to tag along while I ask them?" I ask her, already knowing the answer and heading for the door. This should be good fun.
Without having to look and apparently with no need for an answer, Lauren falls into step next to me as we make our way towards the Medics tent. I hope she's in there.
We enter the tent and I give it a quick scan for Angela, whilst Lauren does her best to look intimidating for a second. What's she doing?
I nudge her with my elbow and make my over to Angela, with the stares that I will never get used to following in my wake. I'm just like them, right?
Angela spots the pair of us and eyes us suspiciously as we walk over to her. She's probably going to say no.
"What can I do for you Praetorian?" She asks, her tone very guarded as she looks back and forth between the two of us. Why is she so suspicious of me?
"I want to make you an offer." I start, watching her eyebrow arch in questioning but she lets me continue.
"I'm make a Praetorian Guard and I want you to be a part of it." I tell her, looking at the disbelief grow into a grin on her face. She thinks this is a joke.
"Seriously?" She laughs looking between us. But seeing that neither of us are laughing with us she promptly stops and straightens her herself up in the chair.
"I think you'll find us very serious." Lauren pipes up, crossing her arms and looking down on Angela in mock seriousness. I really might regret recruiting her.
"But I've only been in the Legion for like a year, I'm not very good a fighting and I'm not even that good of a medic." She panics looking up at me a little scared.
"I'm sure not all of that is true. But your fighting ability doesn't matter, I'll be retraining everyone personally." I start, smirking a little as Lauren gives me a slightly offended look.
"And anyone who can stand up to Mars is more than capable enough to join. But I'm not going to force you into it, this is your choice. But you will have to leave your Cohort and the Medics to join." I explain, giving her a small smile to reassure her.
"If I join, can I bring Peter with me?" She asks. Who the fuck is Peter?
But at the mention of his name a blonde guy turns to look at us, and seeing us looking at him he slowly makes his way over. I mean we can probably do with another medic.
"Hey, what's happening?" He asks, stepping next to Angela almost protectively. So that's why she wants him to come.
"I have offered Angela a place in the new Praetorian Guard that I am forming and she has said that she'll only join if you do as well." I inform him, watching his eyes go wide.
"A Praetorian Guard? There hasn't been a guard since… well since…"
"312AD?" Lauren offers with a smile. Where the Hades did she pull that from?
"Exactly!" He proclaims. "It's just, that they didn't end well in Roman history. So it might not go down all that well when it's first brought up." He says, looking around a little nervously. What happened in the past?
"Be that as it may, I believe that we are in need of a specially trained force to help deal with the much more difficult enemies we are going to face." I elaborate, looking between the two of them. I'm not expecting everyone to jump on the bandwagon as quickly as Lauren did, but I wasn't expecting this kind of outcry.
"I'll lea…"
"I'll do it." Peter quickly cuts me off. But he was so against it just now.
"During the siege I felt so useless, I know we're not the best fighters, but I just feel like I could have done more." He starts, looking me dead in the eyes.
"There's a little nickname for the medic squad that I'm part of, we're called the Harbingers of Death. This is because we're always where the fighting is the thickest and we are far more likely to die trying to save someone. Do you know why?" He asks, looking between the three of us.
"It's because once you get put in to become a medic, you immediately get less combat training . Sure what Lupa taught us will help us survive, but in a war like this it's nowhere near enough. Half my squad is dead because we pushed people out of the way of danger, I don't want to die like that. I want to fight on even footing with everyone else and be able to protect everyone I'm trying to save." He states defiantly. Oh he'll do swimmingly.
"Well I guess that's that. I'll be happy to have you. The pair of you." I smile warmly and look from the fire in Peter's eyes to the calm acceptance in Angela's.
"I'll have a separate barracks built when everything else has been done for all of us to stay in, as you won't be able to return to your Cohorts. But we'll begin training tomorrow. So meet me at the training area at 9am." I inform them, waiting for them both to nod. Before taking Lauren and heading for the next person. I wonder where James is? I haven't seen him in ages.
It takes Lauren and me a good hour to find James, I had started to worry that he might have died during the attack. But no, we found him surrounded by a lot of younger looking Legionnaires and by the looks of it he was telling them a story. Well here's a side of him I haven't seen before.
I only just catch the end of his last sentence when he sees us approaching and stops his tale. emWas he telling them about the Giant War?
"Praetorian." He calls with a warm smile that I'm sure could melt the heart of many a girl. I wave as we approach and he stands, lifting a particularly small looking girl off of his lap. She must have got here like last week being that young, the poor girl.
"James, can we have a private chat?" I ask, hoping it doesn't sound too suspicious. But James just laughs and looks at the children all around him.
"Oh no, the Reapers come to get me." This is immediately followed by gasps from all the children as they look at me with fear in their eyes.
"But fear not, I'm sure he'll return me unharmed." At this the children seem to relax. Damn it man, don't do this to me.
Lauren lets out a small chuckle as James walks past and winks at me, and as I'm turning away to follow him out of listening distance a small tug on my cloak turns me back around.
I find the small girl that was in James lap holding onto my cloak with a fierce look in her eyes. She thinks I'm going to hurt him.
"You're not going to hurt him are you? He hasn't done anything wrong." Her voice is small but strong, even though it's barely a whisper I can hear her clearly. She's going to grow into a terrifying Legionary. I can't wait to see it.
I turn to face her properly and kneel down in front of her, looking her directly in the eyes. But unlike so many, she doesn't flinch from my gaze.
"You have my word that I will not hurt him. I just need to have a quick talk with him." I promise her, and after a few seconds she seems to accept my answer and lets go of my cloak.
"Good." Is all she says before turning on her heel and marching away. Terrifying indeed.
I stand and follow after James and Lauren who where watching from a few meters away. Both of them with wide smiles on their faces. They might not be the best combination.
"So what can I do you for?" James asks as I get closer.
"I have an offer for you." Is all I say, watching as his eyebrows raise.
After making the offer to James, he thought about his answer for about ten seconds before agreeing. Which was a massive relief.
There are five of us now, but we'll recruit more. And when we're at full strength, we will be a force to be reckoned with. But before any of that, I need to start calling I favours to make sure this all actually works out properly, and for that I need to call some Gods.
(Leo POV)
I'm not gonna lie, getting knocked the fuck out by Erebus was not my best moment. But then finding out what happened to New Rome while I was out was worse I think.
The others told me what went down, but I still can't believe that those law abiding Romans were beaten back so badly. The attack on Camp Half-Blood was like a bb pellet, whilst the attack on Rome was like a nuke.
I couldn't bring myself to face Percy and Reyna with Jason and Piper when they went to check on everything. And as cowardly as it felt, I grabbed Calypso and flashed us to our Palace. More specifically the workshop inside the Palace. I put all lockdown procedures into effect and complete shut everything off from us. Some might call it overkill, I can it taking a precaution against a Primordial.
Calypso understood my fear, but she was very against locking ourselves away from everything. It reminded her of her time on the island. So I lifted half of the lockdown. It was a compromise.
For the last couple of days I have been in the workshop tinkering and building, everything and anything that I could think of that could be used in this war.
And that's when Percy called, so randomly and out of the blue that it kind of shocked me a little bit. He wasn't upset with us for not being able to help, he understands what happened but wanted to quickly move on from the subject.
He gave us a quick run down of how Rome was fairing and in all honesty it's worse than I thought it was going to be. But he quickly moved onto the real subject of his conversation and it blew me away. The whole concept is really only something he would think of at a time like this. I'm sure Annabeth would be proud of his idea.
But his task for me and Dad, when I ask him, is to make armour and weapon. Lighter but just as strong, if not stronger than the standard issue. It's not impossible, just a bit difficult. But I'm sure Dad will know what to do.
When the call ended, I could feel my hands twitching and my legs bouncing in anticipation to start. If he pulls this off, Erebus won't know what hit him.
A/N: Well there it is, a little filler chapter to move some stuff along. Again sorry for the few months of nothing, but my deadlines are coming up this week and after that I should be able to dedicate more time to this story (especially with this whole pandemic thing).
I've also got a few ideas for some knew stuff and I've written an intro if anyone would be interested in giving it a read please let me know. It will probably be my next project when I finish this.