Author: VivDaKing
Summary: After a slow and painful falling-out with his friends Percy decides to leave the memories of camp behind. Returning after three years he gets tangled up in a war against the Primordial Gaea. Together with Artemis, the hunters, and six of the most powerful demigods of the era. He starts a campaign to save the world. Again. Set during HoO. Pertemis.
A/N: long ass at the in if anyone actually reads these lol.
Chapter 7: First Day in Rome
In hindsight, the dream was comical. A Snarling villain with unlimited power looking down on the desperate hero or whatever. But when he was there, When he was in the moment. The power of the earth was colossal. The sheer presence of Gaea, all that malevolent power just bubbling under the surface, ready to be used.
Percy shuddered, that wasn't something he would want to relive again.
Though he had the horrible feeling he was going to be having many more late-night visits from a psychotic bitch hell-bent on taking over the world.
It had started when he had fallen asleep under a tree beside the highway somewhere near where he was supposed to go. His internal radar had been pinging like crazy but he had to catch some zs before he passed out because of exhaustion.
The sound of cars rushing by had lulled him into an uneasy sleep which had turned into that unwanted nightmare.
He had been running into the unknown. The darkness was absolute, he couldn't even see his hands from where he stood and his weapons had magically disappeared. He was running from something. Someone. He knew he had a good reason to be running but he didn't know why. It was at the tip of his tongue but had slipped away just as quickly as it had come.
The darkness around him was full of something. Something tentacle-like and sticky. It poked at him, tugged at his har, pulled at legs, and pushed him around with the sole purpose of slowing him down apparently.
"You are no match for me, Perseus Jackson, "A voice hissed and the world preened and almost purred. The ground shook and the darkness around him seemed to shiver with pleasure after hearing the snakelike drag of the tone. A dramatic but very cliche flash of lightning revealed a looming figure in the distance.
The figure was tall, almost reaching as tall as the jagged cliffs that surrounded the valley they were in.
Another flash of lightning revealed a face as green as poison any grass would be and held an expression of distaste. The ugly face was made of what seemed to be grass and vines and had dirt for eyebrows, but at this distance in the dark, it was hard to tell.
The androgynous features made it hard to tell if it was male or female but the boulders on its chest and the earth feeling of power which permeated the air didn't make it a hard guess.
Percy looked around himself and in the aftermath of the lightning he could just make out vines that were draped on every tree around him. They moved around, slithering and swirling, tossing and turning and reaching out towards him.
In his sudden distraction to make out his surroundings, he felt something tighten around his ankle and very soon he was falling face-first into the dirt and soggy grass.
Percy made to get up but the earth under him turned into a sludgy substance. He was dragged in, face first. He gasped and struggled against the sudden appearance of quicksand which accelerated him drowning in the earth below. He gulped in a final breath before he was submerged into the earth.
The dirt around him hardened and he felt that he couldn't move, he was trapped underground. Buried alive.
He tried to channel whatever power he had within him to dry and break the seal dirt. It had helped him in the wolf house and he hoped it would help him now. Whatever progress he had made in the past couple of seconds were in vain as the dirt around him turned into rock.
"I am the earth, Sea Scum, I control the very ground under you at all times" The voice roared and he shuddered, or tried to The stone around him would not let him move, however small the movement was.
" And you, You are nothing but a demigod, you are my pawn Jackson, and you will be the reason for the fall of Olympus," the voice said, and the stone which he was trapped shuddered, like a cat getting a backrub.
Percy could feel his lungs burn as he hit the ceiling of however long he could hold his breath. He yearned for the oxygen which was only a foot away from him but on the other side of impenetrable rock.
His twitching became frantic though he didn't move an inch. Just as he was at the breaking point, just as he was about to be suffocated heard a peal of maniacal laughter shake the stone he was stuck in.
With a final muddled through about fishes and dry land, he fell into darkness' comfortable embrace.
"Do you want some free samples, Dear?" Percy heard a voice say and he jerked into awareness.
Well shit, and Percy ran.
The rush of battle and adrenaline never got old to Frank, The battle seemed to give him power in a way he couldn't describe.
Now, there was an entire battalion of monsters coming at him. His sword slipped into his hand, and he caressed the blade unconsciously. With a guttural laugh, he charged into the battle.
The world slipped away as the only thing that he could perceive was the edge of his blade and the enemies around him. In the tornado of battle, he could feel another being, battling it out with the monsters. He didn't know if the thing was going to go after him after he had been finished with the monsters or if the being was going to just leave but right now he knew only one thing. The enemy of the enemy was his friend.
It had taken a moment for the monsters to sense the other demigod within the fray and they had split up. Frank had his own group of monsters to deal with and the other had his own. They made quick work of the monsters, the satisfaction of a good battle was something he would never get from them, he was too well trained for that.
The last monster was all that was standing, a massive lastorygonian giant twice the size of a normal one and twice as high. He was about to charge and try a new move he had trained for when an arrow shot through the forehead of the giant. It left a much larger hole that an arrow of the size should leave.
The giant dropped like a sack of boulders and promptly disintegrated into golden dust.
"Are you from Camp Jupiter by any chance?" The boy asked getting up from his kneeling position.
"Yeah, I'm part of the legion, I'm assuming you are a demigod too?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, Lupa told me that was the son of a Roman god. " He said with a nod.
"Yeah well, it'd be best if you'd follow me, I'll take you to camp Jupiter where you will learn how to defend yourself from the monsters of the outside. But you defended yourself pretty well here, let's go shall we?"
"Yeah, let's go before we get more gorgons after us, I've just killed one that really wants to feed me free samples of broccoli on toast?" Percy said with a shudder and Frank laughed.
"Come In Jackson!" A voice called in through the door. Percy gave Frank a nod and he walked into the Praetors office.
From what he could gather from Frank's rather brief explanation about the Romans, the Praetor was basically like their leader, like a president he guessed.
Did he walk into the room only to be assaulted by a pair of automaton dogs?
He pushed them away with a shoo and turned to the main reason he was there.
The Praetor, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, otherwise known as praetor Reyna was currently flipping through a massive pile of papers.
"Why are you here again ?" she asked and shuffled through the pile of papers at her desk.
"Ah yes, New Demigod, do you know who your godly parent is yet-" And when, finally, she looked up she froze. She locked eyes with him and he could see a hundred thoughts flashing through her eyes.
Her face contorted into a look of pure fury and she lunged at him, jumping over her desk and inhuman distance and with a wide ark brought her elegant gladius down at him.
He blocked her but he could feel the fury through every single blow she dealt him. He backed up, letting the blows glance off his blade and let himself get backed up, she was the only way he could get his memories back.
Percy deflected another strike to his neck and she suddenly pulled back, Her Look of rage settling into a stony facade.
She seemed to struggle with herself for a bit before she drew back and sheathed her sword.
"You Destroyed my home, Jackson, Knowing full well Who you were. I do not understand why you are here as a new demigod." She said, her voice almost a snarl.
"Huh, I knew you looked familiar. " Percy muttered, mostly to himself. Sensing The Praetor's tension, he capped his own sword and sighed.
"Predator, I apologize for any destruction of property I may have caused in the past. I, Unfortunately, Have lost all my memories," other than a single memory of a virgin goddess hugging him then blushing, But he wasn't going to say that.
"All my memories of all my life other than the past few weeks. " He said, trying to look as innocent as possible, but miserably failing at it by the look of the expression he was getting from the Praetor.
"He isn't lying Praetor Reyna,'' a feminine voice spoke in their heads, They turned only to see Lupa's wolf form sitting tall in the chair Reyna previously occupied.
"Sit down, we have much to talk about, " The wolf said and gestured to the two bean bags that appeared on either side of the desk.
"So… You're telling me we're going to war against a primordial?" Reyna asked with a hiss.
Lupa had explained that there was going to be a war and that Reyna should double down on training the legion but forgot the tiny detail of telling her who they were going to war against. Leaving that unfortunate job to Percy, He swore he heard her laugh while she left.
"Yeah.." Percy said remembering the dream that he had gotten, Primordial all right.
Reyna slumped into her office chair and sighed, "Your entrance has given me a lot to think about Jackson, " She pressed a button beside her papers and a cup of coffee appeared on the table.
She took a sip and put down her coffee mug. "I want you out of the camp and out of my mind but you… you need an intro to the camp of all things," She pointed to a small salt sitting on a granite pedestal.
"Take a palmful of water and pour it over your head, It will tell you who your godly parent is," she said.
Percy turned to the fountain, it was an old greenish fountain with a mineral buildup which seemed to be adding on to the fountain for hundreds of years.
He held his hand underneath the flow of water until it filled his palm and he splashed it onto his head. The water began sizzling as soon as it touched his hair. Like drops of water on a very hot pan, but it did not evaporate. It flowed around his hair and then it floated over his head forming a shape which he guessed would be his parent's symbol of power.
A trident.
His dad was Neptune apparently and going off the emotion which was playing in the Predator's eyes, not very liked among the Romans.
It glowed a bright green bottle of what looked like soap landed on his head.
It was a bottle of unlimited facewash, toothpaste, deodorant, Soap, shampoo- A bunch of other things.
There was a note stuck to it too.
'Good luck Perseus' was written in swirly handwriting and a trident instead of a signature.
He chuckled, That was something his dad would definitely do, and then wondered why he thought that. He had never met his dad after all. Damned memories.
Reyna looked at him, Face twisted into a look of annoyance.
"If you cause an earthquake that forces the entire roman legion to find another location to rebuild, I will kill you, slowly and painfully. While feeding you Hamster Entrails. " She said and handed out a paper bag to him and an aluminum button.
"The bag has a celestial bronze knife and three SPQR shirts, toiletries are to be taken care of by the godly parent and your sleeping quarters will be with your legion. " she ratted out like she was checking mental checkmarks.
"The button will be your entrance ticket to the city of New Rome until you get your mark for one year of service. "
"Hazel Levesque will Show you around the Camp and you will be taken To the Augur who chooses whether you can go be part of the legion. " She said and pointed at the door.
"Hazel will be outside the door on the right. I wish you luck, Jackson, I'm obligated to say that by the way," she said and turned to face the paperwork that she had to go through today.
Percy walked out of the door whistling, at least she hadn't killed him yet.
Hazel turned out to be a shy Daughter of Pluto who had been at the camp since she was twelve. She knew the camp like the back of her hand and the tunnels underneath even better. They had taken some shortcuts through camp using these tunnels and she was a master of the mazes.
She was one of the most senior members of the camp but her only ambition was to retire from the legion so she could live a peaceful life going, to college and have a family. She was a Kind soul but that didn't tell the whole story in Percy's opinion.
Hazel carried the undertone of someone who was skilled in combat and not afraid to use it when the time came, she had a nervous twitch about her that was not really a nervous twitch really, it was her battle senses. She had seen things that no one should ever see in their time. And how Percy had come to these conclusions he didn't have the faintest clue. The thought it might have something to do with his lost memories but until he got those back, he had no idea.
"There are the shrines, " Hazel said pointing at the small horse-like structures in the distance beside the shore.
They had to get to Jupiter's shrine where the Augur was located, he would be the one to tell him whether or not he was worthy of being in the Legion or not. Which in Percy's opinion was the most likely position to be abused but that was just his opinion.
They made their way down the worn-down stone stairs into the large cobblestone street where all the shrines were located.
"Here is Pluto's shrine," She said bitterly and he understood why. The small hut was situated far away from the rest of the Olympians' shrines, it was dark and dingy only lit by a candle which seemed to give off a dark flame, instead of the usual orange.
"Nico!" she shouted and her voice brightened.
"He is the Messenger of Hades, he comes here once in a while. Hees my brother on the godly side" She said and turned to wave at the boy.
Nico, a boy pale as paper and muscular. He hopped off the roof and landed in front of Hazel, he smiled at the girl. When turned to greet Percy, he froze.
A myriad of emotions seemed to pass through the boy's face.
"Percy?" he asked and his voice wavered. The confidence in the boy's posture shattered and his face broke.
A single tear fell onto the boy's cheek and the boy looked like he had seen the dead rise again, which was an interesting state to be for a son of Pluto.
"Do I know you? You seem familiar" Percy asked the boy and that seemed to be the wrong thing to say.
The boy's expression turned furious. " 'Do I know you, That's all I Get, 'do I know you'!" the boy shouted.
"Yes idiot boy, you know me. Three Years, three Zeus be damned Years and I see you when you don't have a single memory in that thick skull of yours" He raged.
Remember this Jackson when you get your memories, use the Happy meal, and don't you dare say you forgot or I'll find a place in the fields of punishment just for you. " The boy shouted at him and walked backward into the shadow of the hut and melted. Leaving nothing but a faint whiff of burnt Burger.
Percy felt a deep sense of guilt. He felt like he owed the boy something and he would definitely have to give the boy a call… err, use the Happy Meal.
Hazel looked shaken at that display.
"I've never seen him act like that," she said with a gasp, mostly to herself.
"We should continue, " she said and they set off again.
They continued to the rest of the shrines while trying to digest the abrupt scolding he had gotten from a boy he was sure he knew but he didn't remember anything about.
"That is the shrine for Mars, Venus, Mercury, Juno, And Neptune…" She railed off at the end, her face tinted pink in embarrassment, and Percy's rage towered.
Besides the magnificent shrine of Juno was a small shack, smaller than the average shed and it was in terrible condition. The wood was rotting and the roof had holes in it.
Inside was a small statue of a trident along with a pile of moldy apples.
Hazel sucked in a breath as she felt Percy's aura wash over her. His presence seemed to magnify and the friendly boy was gone. In his place was a warrior, a warrior of the gods.
Her skin tingled and the back hair in the back of her neck stood because of the amount of power that seemed to flow off the boy and she shuddered.
If this was the power of the son of Neptune, the might of Neptune himself would be on a titanic scale. (that was a bad analogy Hazel realized)
Slowly the sheer presence of the boy seemed to fade and the power sunk back into his body, tightly leashed but bubbling underneath the surface.
"I'm sorry Hazel, " Percy said with a sigh and turned back to the 'shrine'.
"But I hate the way Neptune is treated after all the wars he has helped the Romans win" he spat that word out like it was stinging his tongue.
"Those ungrateful… " He continued muttering under his breath, a myriad of curses from different languages.
"I understand, " Hazel said quietly. "Let's continue Percy, " she said softly and they did.
They made their way to the largest shrine in New Rome. It was the size of a large house, made of gold and marble Intertwined like two dancing. The grand doors made of the three sacred metals were open revealing a massive statue of Jupiter in a dramatic pose holding his lightning bolt.
Their footsteps didn't echo in the large open room which unnerved him. Then he saw A massive pile of stuffed animals in the corner and another piöe of stuffed animal carcasses and that made him even more uncomfortable.
"Who dares disturb the Augur of Rome?" a soft voice said from behind a pillar carrying a golden knife and a stuffed horse.
"Ah.. a new demigod?" He said, trying to sound mysterious. And Percy got his first look of the Augur, He was a scrawny blond boy with a pinched face and bony limbs.
"I read the fates' will, you are to be honored that the augur is willing to grant you such an honor." and he sniffed.
"I am Augur Octavian demigod and you will address me as such, inside or outside the Palace of Lord Jupiter." He said with a sniff.
He handed Percy the stuffed Horse and the knife and looked at him expectantly before shaking his head and muttering something under his breath. "You cut the horse to reveal its entrails, demigod. " he sniffed.
Percy did as he was told and the boy grabbed the stuffing.
Octavian began chanting in Latin and the 'entrails' began glowing gold. The air around him began shimmering and pulling towards the cotton and his chant's highs and lows seem to affect the air around them, The ait heated up and cooled down erratically. The entrails began glowing a bright sea green and they settled in a patter, not recognizable to Percy but that which Octavian understood perfectly.
His face went from understanding to a look of bitter anger.
"Son of Neptune," he spat, and his angered face turned a look of condescending superiority.
"You are allowed to join the legion, we will have the ceremony tomorrow morning at the praetor's office," he said. And pointed at the door.
"Out, I have important business to attend to," he said and turned to the pile of stuffed animals.
"Octavian, you have to make it today, you can't just make him sleep on the streets for the night, " Hazel said.
"I don't have to do anything Hazel Levesque, " Octavian said with a snort. And something flashed in Hazel.
Her presence seemed to tower over Octavian even though she was an inch or two smaller. Percy could hear the sounds of the fields of punishment echo in his head.
Octavian's legs were shaking and the color in his already pale skin seemed to drain out. Leaving him almost as pale as a lares. He shuddered and straightened up. Though he was definitely shaken. With a stiff nod, Octavian walked back to the pile of stuffed animals.
Hazel stalked out and then seemed to deflate and Percy followed her
"That- That- That- piece of insolent… Ugh," Hazel groaned and looked at him.
Percy chuckled.
"I think we both had enough anger today, It's almost time for dinner, some food should do us some good. What do you think?" She asked with a tired smile.
"Yeah, I think it will," Percy said with a laugh.
A/N: Here's another update guys. I hit the 3000-word mark (not including the Authors note.) and I'm proud of it I guess. I skipped over most of the usual tour of the Camp as this is fanfiction and you all (hopefully) have read the stories already.
And Frank's character changed. He is no longer such a timid boy like Cannon. As my change of cannon made it so that every one is claimed, it takes away much of Frank's insecurity IMO and he is better trained.
This story Just hit 10,000 views! Woho. Yay! lesgo!
If there are any major plot holes, Inconsistencies, or if you just think that this chapter had something vital missing. Leave a comment and I'll try to fix it.
PS: This chapter is Grammarly approved
PPS: I love reading your comments,
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