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: eet iis what eet iis.
Chapter 7: First Day in Rome
Percy Jackson.
Piper hated that name. Not because she hated the man himself, she had never actually met him. She hated his name because it triggered emotions in people that made her head hurt. Every time his name was said, it sent a wave of needles stabbing into her forehead; emotions did that to her.
She was able to tune it out, most of the time but the sheer amount of influence the name carried was almost enough to bring her to her knees sometimes.
The last time someone had mentioned Percy's name was during a campfire and the lively meet had turned dark. To Piper it had seemed that the silence was pressed into them, strands of foreign conscience nudging the emotions of the campers around her. the sudden drop in the emotions made her ears pop and she braced for the emotional tsunami that was to come.
That campfire was the only reason she believed anything Annabeth had said about Percy Jackson. She had felt the tentacles that seemed to control the emotions of the people. Control was not the right word- no- you couldn't control people's emotions. It just wasn't possible. the strands were nudging the thoughts, twisting memories, and making people forget the smallest things in just the right places to make the emotion burn through, more intense and more destructive.
The things Annabeth and Grover had told Jason, Leo, and herself were tales of dramatic bravery. Going to the underworld at the age of twelve to confront one of the most powerful gods of all time. Traveling into the Bermuda triangle at thirteen to save a legendary fleece of gold to save the camp from utter annihilation. Facing off against a titan at the age of fourteen and carry the weight of the sky. The tales only seemed to grow, ending with him matching the titan lord in one on one combat and eventually forcing the essence of Kronos back into Tartarus.
Annabeth had chuckled sadly and muttered something about a humble asshole and not being able to take a compliment. Soon after, her wall would be up in full force as she would stiffly tell piper she had something to take care of and rush away. Probably to wipe off a tear or two.
Piper was thankful she came to the camp when she did as the years Percy Jackson was gone had slowly numbed the effect of the emotions. The introduction of new campers with less of an emotional connection to Percy had lowered the intensity of the emotions.
Emotions in numbers were bad enough, emotions of this intensity would probably have turned her brain to mush.
She tossed another stone into the pond and watched the water ripple, distorting the reflection of the bright moon. She turned to the path leading out of the forest where the pond stood and began walking in long strides.
The second meeting would being soon and she had to be there before either Leo or Jason would say something the pissed off Annabeth.
Piper walked into the blue house, with a quick wave to Chiron she climbed the stairs into the meeting room.
The second piper walked into the room two needles of swift intense pain pierced her forehead. Annabeth and Jason were in an argument. Again. Rubbing her temples piper forced down the annoying pain.
Annabeth and Jason were standing up with their hands placed firmly placed on the desk in front of them shouting all kinds of profanities at each other.
"You need to calm down." piper said quietly, her voice almost strained.
The effect was almost immediate in the pair, Jason's shoulders slumped and Annabeth sheathed her knife before the spell broke.
They both looked at her, trying to force their anger back so they could continue their confrontation but the tension had passed and they sat down, pretending to be more civil to each other. For the time being at least.
"Ok, what is going on in here?" Piper asked, the previous magic no longer present in her voice.
"She wants us to go to the old sea, " Jason bit out, his irritation slowly resurfacing.
Piper raised an eyebrow, "And what has that got to do with anything?"
"It has everything to do with everything," Jason almost shouted.
"The Romans that we will be bringing along with use on this quest will be put under the death sentence for crossing into the old sea. I don't care what we do but I don't want to risk the lives of the Romans," he said and slumped back into his chair and crossing his arms, like a very annoyed child.
Annabeth slammed her fist into the table "When will you get it through your thick skull that Greece is a country surrounded by the fucking Mediterranean. " she ground out.
"And you can't forget the fact that we are going on a quest to try and close the doors to Tartarus. None of this will matter, we will probably die before you can get killed in a sack of rabbits" Leo said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. "But hey, at least Festus will be there," he said patting his bag in his usual overly childlike manner.
Jason sighed and dropped his face into his palms. "I'm sorry" he muttered.
Annabeth grumbled and sat back down, "Leo, how is the plan for the Argo 2 going?".
"Oh man, You're gonna love this," he said enthusiastically and pulled out a blue paper roll the size of his forearm.
A picture of a large boat with ancient Greek design was on the paper, along with the cross-sections which showed multiple rooms and multiple engines. He started at different parts of the boat and engine cross-sections with a stick and began rattling off about titanium alloys and carbon power cells.
Neither herself nor Jason seemed to understand anything but Annabeth could follow judging by the look of absolute incredulousness on her face.
"Leonardo Valdez" She hissed. "I am in a bad mood already, don't make me kill you, did you just tell me you are going to make a replica of an ancient ship, I am so done with you, Valdez. I better be there when you draw your new blueprints because I am not spending what might just be my last days on an inefficient old Ship. " she snapped.
Leo opened his mouth to defend his 'amazing' ship but thought better of it. Seeing the expression on Annabeth's face it was a good choice.
She took a sip of what looked like herbal tea and sighed. Controlling her annoyance she walked over to the shelf. Pulling out a globe she set it down on the table with a thump.
"Me, Percy, and Grover have planned out a Path to Europe," she said and tapped on the globe. The small, handcrafted globe slowly expanded, ballooning into the size of a beachball.
"The path leads to Rome first. I have a task in need of finishing there, then it is a straight path to Greece. Nico, a son of hades, will meet us in Rome and he will guide us to the mortal side of the doors of death. " she said.
Annabeth tapped the now expanded globe and muttered something in Greek, a bright red line glowed into existence, stretching from San Francisco to Rome.
"This line shows the fastest path to Rome from San Francesco." She said pointing at the red line.
The line went straight up from San Francesco, passing through Oregon and Montana into Canada. From where it passed through Saskatchewan and Hudson bay where it went over Greenland. The line turned south and passed through the British Isles and France, through Switzerland, and finally, Rome.
"Looking at historical charts for monster activity in the path where we are going, Canada will have a sizable chunk of monsters but the more north we go the fewer monsters there will be. Greenland won't be much trouble but when we get down through the British isles and into France, things will begin to pick up again." Annabeth took another sip from her mug and continued.
"I don't know how long we will be in Rome, but as soon as finish with my quest, we will continue to the doors of death. " She scribbled something on a scrap piece of paper and turned to Jason.
"I'm assuming you will be piloting our ship?" she asked.
Jason nodded, as the son of Zeus, areal navigation was his specialty.
"Perfect, Leo," she said and looked at the boy in question sharply. "You better include a proper cockpit in that ship of yours,"
Leo gave her a blinding smile and began scribbling something on the blueprints.
"I have asked Percy to choose the last two demigods of our quest at New Rome. Grover and Coach Hedge will be joining us as well," Annabeth said. "Now, who wants dinner?"
Mars looked down onto the wargames which had just begun at camp Jupiter. The sight of the battle was glorious but unfortunately, the campers were holding back from the battle being truly great. Mars looked down to focus on his children, Frank, Laura, and Beth, he didn't have more children than her. Though he had his fair share of legacies.
The battle unfolded much as expected, the attacking half fought the defending half while some campers managed to slip through the defenses. Mars was about to leave for one of his duties when he felt a spike of intense bloodlust on the fields which were named after him.
This was not typical for the war games. The campers rarely if ever wanted to kill each other, let alone in cold blood. Mars looked closer and saw a sight that made his immortal heart drop. Perseus Jackson was fighting two centurions and two Legionnaires at the same time and the grin on his face was chilling. The face of a predator who was completely sure of his prey's ultimate demise. A face of a man playing with his food before devouring it.
Another spike of bloodlust followed and Perseus' eyes flashed red for a moment before reverting to the cold green. Mars could feel the power bubbling under their surface as they threatened to lash out to raze his surroundings, incinerate the grass, flood the city, destroy the stands.
Without a moment's hesitation, mars transported himself onto the grounds. The four campers were teleported out of the vicinity, leaving the space the size of a tennis court.
Mars summoned a spear and a shield and without or taunting, engaged the demigod.
Reyna's eyes locked onto the sudden change of situation in the fields of mars. With the sudden appearance of demigods and the loss of a structured battle, any remains of a fight were dropped and were drawn to the origin of a shockwave that threw many to the ground.
In what seemed to be a massive whirlpool of golden light, fire, and water, shockwaves rippled outward. The whirlpool dropped and revealed Percy Jackson and Lord Mars locked in brutal combat.
The strikes and blocks of each were completely impossible to follow, the only evidence of them even connecting their strikes were the shockwaves generated by metal slamming into metal.
Without a warning, the ground underneath the two battling deities exploded. A shower of gold exploded and the sudden bright light forced almost every mortal in the nearby vicinity to look away.
A far corner of Reyna's brain supposed that it wasn't surprising at the speed that they fought, the battle would end soon at the speed that they were going.
She wasn't far off with the prediction, the smoke from the explosion subsided to show a crater and two figures, one of which had a clear upper hand.
Percy's defensive didn't last long as mars came crashing in with a strong punch to his chest. His already heavily injured form could only take so much more injury and he collapsed to his knees. He tried to stand up, only to stumble and fall flat onto his back.
Mars shuddered as he felt the bloodlust drain out of the boy and through Percy's closing eyes, he caught a glimpse of the bright sea green they had associated with him. He wondered what the boy would have done if he had the full knowledge of his reporter. While relying on instincts was the most mortals could do, Being a three-quarter god meant that he could partition his mind, leave one half to take care of the instincts while the other analyzed and implemented strategies deep in his repertoire.
He clutched his arm and willed it to heal, the feeling of bones snapping back together was something he never enjoyed, less so now. His entire body rippled as the injures faded, for the time being, Jackson did a number on him. A far cry from the by he "fought" in San Francisco many years ago.
He lent some of his energy to Jackson, enough for him to heal himself, and turned to the stands. A second later thuds could be heard across the feels where people knelt.
"Rise" He commanded and the entire population of New Rome and the camp stood.
"I have come here to issue a quest, Frank Zhang, my son, you will be leading this one."
He pulled a piece of paper,
"1. Go to Alaska.
Thanatos and free him.
back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die."
The sudden awkwardness in the air made his lookup. Mars was a god, and he was all-powerful but he blushed.
"Don't question it, I'm not the god of poetry, follow this list or die" he muttered and snapped his fingers. A copy of the "prophecy" materialized in Frank's pocket.
Mars sent a final mental message to Frank, giving him a strong recommendation for the quest mates, and with a final look at the campers, he flashed back to his palace on Olympus.
He had enough with demigods for the day.
A/N: So. I had to throw this one out there to kinda kill that writer's block. Bit shorter than promised but so it shall be. As usual real life happened and I'm not getting enough time to get to writing the chapters.
PS: I love reading your reviews so don't forget to leave one, I really do appreciate it.
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