Okay so I've hit a block the last few days so I'm taking another break- I think it's because both this one and the Roman AU do have similar themes and it's all familiar- 'cause I have sorta started the first chapter of the Kane Chronicles one which I think is helping me get back in the swing of things because obviously it's nice to play with new characters and stuff- also- the first chapter has Gabe in and I do love some pain- but don't worry I'm not going to stop with this one or the Roman AU. I just need to switch things up a bit with my writing if that makes sense. Also- baby Percy is adorable and I switched up ages for the Kane Chronicles one so the events of the Kane Chronicles happen a fair bit earlier than in canon and Carter and Sadie are older than Percy.
Replies:
JjlovesPJO: Hahahahah. And yeah, Hazel's just there giving some crazy side eye like 'Wait, wait does that mean that my secret brother is Percy's brother?!'
Undeath9087: I mean, when he finds out the truth he'll realise that there was never anything that Bianca should have been blamed for- she was literally trying to bring back the one person Nico really wanted back, and then Hera fucked with them and ruined everything so yeah, he's gonna feel really guilty for what he said. And don't worry. Archie won't be coming on the quest- he's got to balance getting to Percy with not being noticed too much by the gods- and going to Thanatos would not be smart for him.
Guest: Don't worry, Archie won't be a prominent part of this one lol!
Weirdhead: The sad thing is, I can picture that and it would be adorable.

There was a long uncomfortable silence after that, and Percy wondered what Hazel thought she'd figured out- she was looking between Percy and Bianca with wide eyes, but Percy pushed her questions down. She doubted she'd get any straight answers if she asked.

It was Don the faun who broke the silence- Percy was grateful for that fact. It had gone very very awkward very quickly. "Hazel!" the faun's voice was eager, and he was working his way toward their table, grinning at everybody, sneaking food off plates, and pointing at campers: "Hey! Call me!" A flying pizza smacked him in the head, and he disappeared behind a couch. Then he popped up, still grinning, and made his way over. Percy found herself smiling- it felt weirdly familiar.

"My favorite girl!" he smelled like wet goat wrapped in old cheese. He leaned over their couches and checked out their food. "Say, new kid, you going to eat that?"

Percy blinked, "Aren't fauns vegetarian?" not that she knew how she knew that.

"Not the cheeseburger, man! The plate!" He sniffed Percy's hair. "Hey…what's that smell?"

"Don!" Hazel said. "Don't be rude."

"No, man, I just—"

Their house god Vitellius shimmered into existence, standing half embedded in Frank's couch. "Fauns in the dining hall! What are we coming to? Centurion Dakota, do your duty!"

"I am," Dakota grumbled into his goblet. "I'm having dinner!"

Don was still sniffing around Percy. "Man, you've had an empathy link with a faun!"

Percy leaned away from him. "A what?"

"An empathy link! It's real faint. Like it was severed but I can still smell traces of it on you."

"I know what." Bianca stood up suddenly, worry flashing in her eyes, "Hazel, how about we give you and Frank time to get Percy oriented. Dakota and I can visit the praetor's table. Don and Vitellius, you come too. We can discuss strategies for the war games."

"Strategies for losing?" Dakota muttered.

"Death girl is right!" Vitellius said. "This legion fights worse than we did in Judea, and that was the first time we lost our eagle. Why, if I were in charge—" "Could I just eat the silverware first?" Don asked.

"Let's go!" Bianca stood and grabbed Don and Vitellius by the ears.

Nobody but Bianca could actually touch the Lares. Vitellius spluttered with outrage as he was dragged off to the praetor's table.

"Ow!" Don protested. "Man, watch the 'fro!"

"Come on, Dakota!" Bianca called over her shoulder.

The centurion got up reluctantly. He wiped his mouth—uselessly, since it was permanently stained red. "Back soon." He shook all over, like a dog trying to get dry. Then he staggered away, his goblet sloshing.

"What was that about?" Percy asked. "And what's wrong with Dakota?"

Frank sighed. "He's okay. He's a son of Bacchus, the wine god. He's got a drinking problem."

Percy's eyes widened. "You let him drink wine?"

"Gods, no!" Hazel said. "That would be a disaster. He's addicted to red Kool-Aid. Drinks it with three times the normal sugar, and he's already ADHD—you know, attention deficit/hyperactive. One of these days, his head is going to explode."

Percy looked over at the praetor's table. Most of the senior officers were in deep conversation with Reyna. Bianca and her two captives, Don and Vitellius, stood on the periphery. Dakota was running back and forth along a line of stacked shields, banging his goblet on them like they were a xylophone.

"ADHD," Percy said. "You don't say." Hazel tried not to laugh. "Well…most demigods are. Or dyslexic. Just being a demigod means that our brains are wired differently. Like
you—you said you had trouble reading."

"Are you guys that way too?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Hazel admitted. "Maybe. Back in my day, they just called kids like us 'lazy.'"

Percy frowned. "Back in your day?"

"I wish I was ADHD or dyslexic." Frank spoke up, drawing Percy's attention to him, "All I got is lactose intolerance."

Percy grinned, "Seriously?"

And Frank genuinely pouted- which just made Percy like him even more. His shoulders slumped as he said, "And I love ice cream too."

"You poor thing." Percy couldn't help but giggle- and when Hazel joined in it turned into full blown laughter- it felt nice. Sure this place had her feeling weirdly on edge, but with Frank and Hazel she almost felt at home- they were nice people. She could see herself being good friends with them both.

Once she managed to stop laughing Percy took a deep breath, still grinning, "So guys, I gotta know, what's so bad about being in the Fifth Cohort. You guys are awesome- sugar addict Dakota included."

"It's complicated." Hazel was still grinning, "Aside from being Pluto's kid, I want to ride horses."

"That's why you use a cavalry sword?"

She nodded. "It's stupid, I guess. Wishful thinking. There's only one pegasus at camp—Reyna's. The unicorns are just kept for medicine, because the shavings off their horns cure poison and stuff. Anyway, Roman fighting is always done on foot. Cavalry…they kind of look down on that. So they look down on me."

"Their loss," Percy said firmly. "What about you, Frank?"

"Archery," he muttered. "They don't like that either, unless you're a child of Apollo. Then you've got an excuse. I hope my dad is Apollo, but I don't know. I can't do poetry very well. And I'm not sure I want to be related to Octavian."

"Can't blame you," Percy said, "Though I feel the need to defend Apollo kids- not that I know why." she huffed "But you're excellent with the bow—the way you pegged those gorgons? Forget what other people think. Always make the most of your strengths."

Frank's face turned as red as Dakota's Kool-Aid. "Wish I could. They all think I should be a sword fighter because I'm big and bulky." He looked down at his body, like he
couldn't quite believe it was his. "They say I'm too stocky for an archer. Maybe if my dad would ever claim me…"

"If he doesn't then we'll figure it out, track him down and beat him up." Percy promised with a small grin that made Frank burst out laughing.

"Yeah, totally let's just go beat up a god. You're crazy Percy, you know that?"

"I'm down if you guys are." Hazel grinned too. "Sounds fun."

"See- you guys are awesome." Percy declared, "And yet-"

"The Fifth is the worst." Hazel pulled a face, "That started way before us." She pointed to the back wall, where the legion's standards were on display. "See the empty pole in the middle?"

"The eagle," Percy said.

Hazel was stunned. "How'd you know?"

Percy shrugged. "Vitellius was talking about how the legion lost its eagle a long time ago—the first time, he said. He acted like it was a huge disgrace. I'm guessing that's what's missing. And from the way you and Reyna were talking earlier, I'm guessing your eagle got lost a second time, more recently, and it had something to do with the Fifth Cohort."

Hazel stared at Percy for a long moment, a startled look on her face before she spoke, "You know, you might be insane and goofy but you're pretty smart. Yeah, that's exactly what happened."

"So what is this eagle, anyway? Why is it a big deal?"

Frank looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "It's the symbol of the whole camp—a big eagle made of gold. It's supposed to protect us in battle and make our enemies afraid. Each legion's eagle gave it all sorts of power, and ours came from Jupiter himself. Supposedly Julius Caesar nicknamed our legion 'Fulminata'—armed with lightning—because of what the eagle could do."

"I don't like lightning," Percy said.

"Yeah, well," Hazel said, "it didn't make us invincible. The Twelfth lost its eagle the first time way back in ancient days, during the Jewish Rebellion."

"I think I saw a movie like that," Percy said, "Wish I could remember more."

Hazel shrugged. "Could be. There have been lots of books and movies about legions losing their eagles. Unfortunately it happened quite a few times. The eagle was so important…well, archaeologists have never recovered a single eagle from ancient Rome. Each legion guarded theirs to the last man, because it was charged with power from the gods. They'd rather hide it or melt it down than surrender it to an enemy. The Twelfth was lucky the first time. We got our eagle back. But the second time…"

"You guys were there?" Percy asked.

They both shook their heads.

"I'm almost as new as you." Frank tapped his probatio plate. "Just got here last month. But everyone's heard the story. It's bad luck to even talk about this. There was this huge expedition to Alaska back in the eighties.…"

"That prophecy you noticed in the temple," Hazel continued, "the one about the seven demigods and the Doors of Death? Our senior praetor at the time was Michael Varus, from the Fifth Cohort. Back then the Fifth was the best in camp. He thought it would bring glory to the legion if he could figure out the prophecy and make it come true—save the world from storm and fire and all that. He talked to the augur, and the augur said the answer was in Alaska. But he warned Michael it wasn't time yet. The prophecy wasn't for him."

Percy felt a strange tingling sensation on the back of her neck. That prophecy- she was connected to it, she knew she was. "But he went anyway right?" that sounded reckless and stupid- she'd have probably done it too. "What happened?"

Frank lowered his voice. "Long, gruesome story. Almost the entire Fifth Cohort was wiped out. Most of legion's Imperial gold weapons were lost, along with the eagle. The survivors went crazy or refused to talk about what had attacked them. Since the eagle was lost," Frank continued, "the camp has been getting weaker. Quests are more dangerous. Monsters attack the borders more often. Morale is lower. The last month or so, things have been getting much worse, much faster."

"And the Fifth Cohort took the blame," Percy guessed. "So now everyone thinks we're cursed."

"We've been the outcasts of the legion since…well, since the Alaska disaster. Our reputation got better when Jason became praetor—"

"The kid who's missing?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Frank said. "I never met him. Before my time. But I hear he was a good leader. He practically grew up in the Fifth Cohort. He didn't care what people thought about us. He started to rebuild our reputation. Then he disappeared."

"Which put us back at square one," Hazel said bitterly. "Made us look cursed all over again. I'm sorry, Percy. Now you know what you've gotten yourself into."
Percy sipped her blue soda, a frown on her lips, "I don't even know where I come from." she said after a long moment. "But- I've got the feeling that this isn't the first time I've faced crazy odds." she smiled at Hazel and Frank. "Besides, joining the legion is being better than being chased by a bunch of monsters who want to kill me for stuff I didn't even do. I've got myself some pretty cool new friends- and- I feel like maybe together we can turn things around for the Fifth Cohort- I think I'm good at stuff like that." A horn blew at the end of the hall. The officers at the praetor's table got to their feet—even Dakota, his mouth vampire-red from Kool-Aid.

"The games begin!" Reyna announced. The campers cheered and rushed to collect their equipment from the stacks along the walls.

Percy grinned as she stood up. "So, we're the attacking team? Is that good?"

Hazel shrugged. "Good news: we get the elephant. Bad news—"

"Oh, shall I guess?" Percy's voice was jaunty, "The Fifth Cohort always loses. You know what." she gave a determined grin, throwing an arm over Hazel's shoulder. "I think we
should change that don't you."

"Yeah right." Frank laughed, "How about instead, you help us chalk up my thirteenth defeat in a row."