Heheheheh. Sorry not Sorry. Next chapter will be a Hazel one which will both make people happy and angry I think. Hehehehe. Because like, I haven't even tried to hide what's going on at the end of this chapter but Percy has no clue.
Quip Scarlet: This Octavian is basically the same as canon Octavian- so kinda a dick.
The Official Clarisse: Yep, Percy protected her Panda pal. As for Bianca, I mean, she's related to Nico, and he and Will were both dumbasses about it so really is it shocking she's also an idiot when it comes to crushes.
Guest: Denial of the fact that she likes Reyna, for reasons that will come up later. And honestly can you imagine the Romans reactions if Percy was just like 'Oh, you're related to Mars, I whooped his ass as Ares' or 'Oh? I helped save Artemis- and I once drove the sun, good times'. Because let's face it, Percy's adventures are insane even to other demigods.
Drizzle: Octavian is a dick, but not the biggest dick.
Weirdhead: Well I mean it is Octavian- and Percy is very much ready to throw hands at this dude.
Undeath9087: My favorite Octavian scene is near the end of the fic, Percy's just done with his shit by then, and yeah he reminds her of Alabaster because of how he looked at her, and no I haven't reached HOH yeah, I've not been well for a while so my writing has suffered a bit and gone slower but I mean, I have plans for how it all goes down. And there will be such incredible angst my loves.
Percy felt a rush of rage when she realised what Octavian was doing. She wasn't sure what exactly he had to hold against Hazel, but the fact that he was blackmailing her was painfully obvious and she slipped her hand into her pocket, gritting her teeth as her fingers curled around her pen.
"What did you just say?" that made Octavian's gaze swing back to Percy and he gave her a false smile again.
"It's a personal matter Percy- nothing for you to worry about." he sounded so casual, as if he wasn't blatantly making threats- gods but she wanted to strangle him.
"I think blackmail is-"
"Blackmail?" Octavian gave her a wounded look, pressing a hand to his chest, "What makes you think I'd ever blackmail one of our own. Percy, I'm not an enemy, I'm a friend- a very powerful friend to those who are open to my friendship-" his eyes flicked up and down Percy again, "And perhaps more-"
"Oh really-"
"Yes. I was simply offering a hand of friendship to Hazel. Rumors can be so tricky to deal with-"
"Sure you were-"
Octavian stepped forward suddenly, his eyes meeting Percy's- and she was suddenly hyper aware of the dagger still gripped in his hand. "Making assumptions can be very dangerous- it would be a shame for you to grasp the wrong end of the dagger- so to speak. You could do very well here-" and there was no mistaking the way his eyes travelled up and down her body again, his lips twitching into a slight smirk. "As long as you understand how the world works-"
"I do-"
"Percy-" Hazel was moving suddenly, pushing her way between them. "It's fine-"
"Hazel-"
"Percy-" Hazel was stood sideways- so that she could keep an eye on both of them as she pushed Percy backwards, "Everything is okay. There's nothing for you to worry about-"
"See Percy." Octavian's smile was almost mocking, "There's nothing untoward going on. I haven't been doing anything wrong. And if you'd like I could be a very good... friend, to you." and gods but Percy wanted to lash out and punch that smile off his smug face. But she knew doing so would probably not only screw herself over but Hazel too and she couldn't do that.
"I should take Percy and go." Hazel stated quickly, "I'll think about what you said."
"Excellent," Octavian said. "By the way, your sister is here."
Hazel stiffened. "My sister? Why?"
Octavian shrugged. "Why does your sister do anything? She's waiting for you at your father's shrine. Just…ah, don't invite her to stay too long. She always ends up distracting Reyna. And she has a disturbing effect on the others. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to keep searching for our poor lost friend, Jason. Nice to meet you, Percy."
Hazel stormed out of the pavilion, and Percy followed. She was sure she'd never been so glad to leave a temple in his life. She wanted to murder Octavian- he made her blood boil and her skin crawl. As Hazel marched down the hill, she cursed in Latin. Percy didn't understand all of it, but she got son of a gorgon, power-hungry snake, and a few choice suggestions about where Octavian could stick his knife.
"I hate that guy," she muttered in English. "If I had my way—"
"He won't really get elected praetor, will he?" Percy asked. One thing she did know in her very guts was that no one should ever let a guy like that have power. She felt dirty just from being in a room with him.
"I wish I could be certain. Octavian has a lot of friends, most of them bought. The rest of the campers are afraid of him."
"Afraid of that skinny little guy?" Percy paused, "No- no. I think I get it. He might not be tough in the same way as I am but- he's got power."
"Reyna's not so bad by herself, but if Octavian shares her power…" Hazel shuddered. "Let's go see my sister. She'll want to meet you." Hazel gave Percy a sidelong glance, "She likes to be informed about anyone new coming to camp."
Percy didn't argue. She wanted to meet this mysterious sister, maybe learn something about Hazel's background—who her dad was, what secret she was hiding. Percy couldn't believe she'd done anything to be guilty about. She seemed too nice. But Octavian had acted like he had some first-class dirt on her.
Then again- even if you hadn't done anything wrong information could be twisted couldn't it? Hazel led Percy to a black crypt built into the side of the hill. Standing in front was a teenage girl in black jeans wearing a loose fitting silvery long sleeved blouse.
"Hey," Hazel called. "I've brought a friend."
The girl turned and Percy froze- her eyes wide. She should know this girl, she could feel it, her breath caught in her throat.
The girl was pretty, she was around the same age as Hazel, she couldn't be older than thirteen or fourteen. She had olive toned skin, with long silky dark hair that was pulled into a long braid- she had a splash of freckles across her nose. She had a dark black looking blade strapped to her belt.
She knew this girl- she knew her- and the girl stared at Percy with a stunned look on her face, and- and there was relief in the other girls eyes, pure relief. She looked almost like she wanted to cry. And she couldn't hide the weak smile that formed on her lips.
Hazel glanced between them, her brows furrowing, "Uh, Bianca meet my new friend P-"
"Percy-" Bianca stepped forward before snapping her mouth shut, eyes widening, as if she'd said something she shouldn't.
Hazel's face lit up at that, "You've met?"
"We have." Percy said quickly, "We have haven't we? Hazel said your name is Bianca- I- I know you don't I-" and Bianca winced, a pained look on her face.
"I-"
"Please- you know me." Percy's voice was pleading, desperate, "Please help me out here-"
"I wish I could." Bianca swallowed hard, "I wish I could Percy I really do-"
"You do know me then. You're not denying it-"
"I won't. Not with you. I owe you too much for that-"
"What?" Hazel's eyes widened, "You owe her. You really know each other-"
"It's complicated Hazel." Bianca gave her sister an apologetic look, "I really am sory but there's only so much I can say- I've been forbidden from- I can't-"
"Who?" Percy's voice was desperate, "Who's forbidden you from helping me? I have a right to know my past-"
"I know you do." Bianca looked almost broken as she stared at Percy, "I know you do believe me Percy. But I can't. Gods I wish I could." Bianca stepped forward, grabbing Percy's shoulders tightly- and Percy found herself hugging her Pillow pet closer as she met those eyes, dark, familiar. "But if I did interfere too much- she'd- she made it clear what would happen."
"She?" Percy grasped the straw desperately, "You're talking about the one who stole my memories. Was it Juno?"
"She told me what would happen if I did and I can't." and while Hazel wouldn't be able to see her sister's face, Percy did see the way Bianca's eyes flicked to Hazel, the fear in them- and somehow Percy understood. Juno had made threats- had told Bianca that if she helped Percy then Hazel would pay the price- and Percy felt her heart ache for the other girl- who looked so wounded by the fact that she couldn't help her.
And- somehow Percy knew that she'd probably do whatever it took to protect her siblings too- she had more than just Luke she was pretty sure- if only she could remember them fully instead of just frustrating flashes of memory.
"I get it." Percy took a deep breath, "I don't like it but I get it." she gave a strained smile, "Just- if you- can you tell my family-" but Bianca shook her head and Percy felt her shoulders slump.
"I'm sorry Percy. You will remember. I'm sure of that." Bianca's words were confident- and Percy let out the breath.
"I guess I just- I- I don't remember anything but I know I have a family and I know they're probably worried about me-" and Bianca winced at that, and Percy wished she could understand why. But asking wouldn't help. So she'd just have to try and figure things out herself.
"How do you know each other?" Hazel blurted interrupting them both, "Bianca-"
"Hazel I wish I could explain but I can't." Bianca shook her head, giving her sister an apologetic look. "I can't say more than I already have." she paused, "How did you two meet?"
"Oh." Hazel glanced at Percy, "Frank and I were on guard duty-" and she explained once more everything that had happened since Percy had arrived at the gates-
though Percy noticed she left out Octavian's not so subtle blackmail attempts.
Once the story was over Bianca pressed her lips together with a worried look on her face, "The story about Gaea, please tell me you warned Reyna."
"Of course." Hazel nodded.
"Who's Gaea anyway?" Percy's voice was almost hesitant.
"She's the earth goddess." Bianca glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."
"Mother Earth…is evil?" Percy asked.
"Very," Bianca said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos—um, I mean, Saturn-" Her eyes flicked to Percy, who winced at the name, though she wasn't sure why, "to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."
"I feel like I've heard that story before." Percy said softly. "Not the Gaea part though."
Bianca sighed, "She got mad when the gods overthrew Saturn- so she took a new husband, Tartarus and she gave birth to a race of giants who tried to destroy Mount Olympus but the gods managed to fend them off the first time."
"The first time?" Percy's head was starting to ache- there was something just out of reach.
"Last summer-" Bianca looked pale as she stared at Percy, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. The Romans at Camp Jupiter stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay-" Percy felt a shiver running down her spine which she couldn't explain, "-and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared-" her voice was strained. As if she didn't like what she was saying. "He-" She pressed her lips together, "He probably faded back into the abyss." her eyes flicked down and Percy followed them- she'd started playing with the ring on her thumb absent-mindedly- she wasn't sure why but it was comforting. "We all thought that the war was over but now it seems like the Titans defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods.…"
"You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked.
"Of course." Bianca sighed, "The Romans don't trust me. Reyna does kinda but the others don't. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto... well, no offence but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck." she rolled her eyes at that.
"They let Hazel stay here though."
"That's not the same."
"Why?"
"Percy-" Hazel cut in, "look, the giants aren't the worst problem. Even... even Gaea isn't the worst problem. The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, that's our biggest worry." she looked over at Bianca, who had tensed, her eyes flicking between Percy and Hazel, as if she was waiting for Percy to say something, waiting for her to jump up and yell. As if whatever Hazel was getting at should be something she already knew.
"The dead aren't necessarily staying dead. Mostly it's the monsters coming back." Bianca's gaze was laser focused on Percy again.
Mostly? That was a weird way to phrase it- what else was coming back then- but Percy was jerked out of her thoughts by shout from down the hill and Percy turned her head to see a guy, she hadn't met him before, with short fiery red curls and gray eyes- and he grinned as he approached them.
"Who's that?" Bianca's voice was confused and Hazel gave a small shrug.
"He arrived four weeks ago- got into the second. I think his name is Archie."
"Hey-" Archie jogged up to them, a relaxed smile on his lips, "I was passing by Reyna and she told me to come and get our newcomer." he gave Percy a warm smile, "She heard Bianca was here, figured you'd want to talk to her so she asked me to give Perce a tour-"
"Perce-" Bianca tensed slightly, "Did-"
"I can call you Perce right?" the guy shot Percy a grin- and Percy wasn't sure what it was, something about his features was familiar, almost comforting- though- at the same time something in her gut was saying something was wrong, it was a strange confusing mix.
"I- I guess?"
"Hazel and I don't mind-" Bianca tried to start, but Archie waved her off.
"I can handle it- I assume Octavian approved her right?"
"Yeah." Percy nodded, "He wanted to kill my panda. But he didn't, I asked him not to- think he thought it'd make me feel like I owed him or something along those lines."
"He what?" and there was a flash of something in Archies eyes- dark and scary, but it was gone before Percy could place it, and he held out her hand. "Don't worry Princess, I'll make sure no creeps like him get to you."