Chapter 2: A feisty friend.
Disclaimer - I keep forgetting that I'm supposed to put this here but i don't own Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan does.
So this chapter is based on Percy and Reyna. This fanfiction isn't going to be a long one, just enough chapters so that I can fit everything in.
Chapter 2: A feisty friend.
My time at Camp Jupiter was going pretty good so far. I have only made one real friend so far aside from Jason but most people seem to like me. I've been here maybe a few months and I can hardly walk down the streets of New Rome without shouts of "Hey, Percy." or "How ya doin' Perce?". I wouldn't say that it was annoying, but I could do with a few days of just complete and utter silence. I would stay in bed all day and listen to my thoughts, but being in a Roman legion, that was pretty much impossible.
Even though Jason was the Centurion and leader of our cohort, he still treated me as a friend and equal, something that I was grateful for. He had become my best friend since I got here and we could always be seen duelling or hanging out. He did something really awesome though. Our centurion, Gwen, had gone off to college in New Rome, and when the senate was deciding a new centurion, Jason suggested me. So here I am, Centurion Percy. I hadn't had much conversations with people other than him, though.
I had really only had conversations with four other people, Octavian, the guy who murders teddies, a chubby asian kid named Frank, my 'sister' Hazel, who's a daughter of Pluto, and the Latina girl that was sparring with Jason. I had had one conversation with her, and from what I gathered, her name was Reyna, she was a daughter of Bellona, and according to her, I should stay out of her way.
Out of those three, the only one I could really call a friend was Hazel, no, she was probably tied for best friend with Jason. The only reason Jason actually wins is because she's my 'sister'. It was hard to believe a daughter of Pluto could ever be so cheerful. For instance, there were two at Camp Half-Blood, and the youngest one, he was a complete emo and his sister was kinda similar. They both rarely talked and you'd barely ever see either of them smile. His sister wasn't really emo per say, just often really glum and moody. Still, even though I was a child of Hel, not Pluto, I loved having Hazel as my sister. She never failed to find the light, even in the darkest of moments, and I loved her for it. It felt as if we'd known each other for all eternity.
Now I know what you're thinking, yes I have been keeping tabs on Camp Half-Blood and Olympus. They have no idea that I even exist yet, which is good. I doubt that Pluto/Hades would take it well if he couldn't remember the mother of his child. The Camp is being run by Dionysus/Bacchus, as punishment for something he did a while ago. I was actually really disappointed at Camp Half-Blood. There was a huge lack of members, a lack of real security apart from some old tree, and a complete lack of awesomeness. I've gotta say, even though the Norse were far superior to the Romans, their camp was amazing.
Frank Zhang was interesting. A chubby Asian-Canadian kid with little-to-no self confidence. He was a son of Mars and he was in our cohort, along with Jason, Hazel and I. For a son of Mars, he was exceptionally skilled at archery. He could rival even a child of Apollo in that aspect.
I've already talked about Hazel. My 'little sis' has quite a sad backstory to her. Her mom tried to sacrifice Hazel in some messed up cult and they had both died when the police killed her mom in the raid on the cults headquarters and another cultist used her as a hostage and slit her throat after the police wouldn't comply. In the underworld, she gave up Elysium so that her mother wouldn't be sent to the fields of punishment. She wandered the fields of Asphodel for awhile before being rescued by our 'siblings', the kids from Camp Half-Blood that I was talking about earlier. Apparently their names are Bianca and Nico, and they were there to bring their long-dead mother back two life. Unfortunately, their mother had chosen Rebirth a long time ago and the now grief-stricken children of Hades had met her and decided, 'hey, if we cant bring one family member back, might as well bring another.' I have to admit, I wish to meet these two some day.
Octavian, however, is someone I wish I never met. The kid was rude, obnoxious, annoying, and a descendent of Apollo. He thought that just because his ancestor was a god that he ran the camp. He was constantly talking about how the badly the praetors ran the camp, and that if he became praetor, everything would be better. I wouldn't be surprised if in the next praetor election, he would run against Reyna.
Now Reyna, what a mystery she was. She was gorgeous, beautiful, stunning and overall just amazing. She was however, a mystery to me. No overall backstory, no real life goals, just good-old Reyna blowing with the wind. She was a born leader, that much I could tell. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she won praetorship in the next election.
My thoughts were cut off by Hazel's shouts of "Percy? Percy! Are you even listening to me?" I looked over at her. "Sorry, Haze. What were you saying?"
We were laying in the grass just outside of New Rome watching the clouds. We had been talking for a bit before I trailed off into my thoughts. Hazel sighed and rolled her eyes. "Did you hear that the Praetor elections are coming up soon? Who do you think's gonna run this time." I thought for a moment, before answering her question. "Definitely Octavian, all that guy talks about is how he would make a good praetor. 'Bow before the descendant of Apollo, peasants! You're leader has arrived for dinner!'" I said doing an impression of the brat. Hazel giggled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Though I doubt the would win"
She was silent for a second before speaking again. "What about Reyna?" I turned my head. "What about her?" Hazel shrugged. "I think she would make a great praetor. Are you going to vote for her?" I thought about it for a second. "Of course I would." Hazel smirked. "Maybe I'll tell her that. I'm sure she'll be touched." My head snapped to her. "You wouldn't dare. You know how much she hates me. If she so much as hears a whisper that I would side with her, she'll murder me!" Hazel rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
We stayed there for a few more hours before the horn sounded for dinner. We lazily got up and headed for the mess hall. Since it was our day off, everybody had either slept all day or just hung out and did nothing. Regardless, when we got to the mess hall, everyone was chipper and energetic. We got our food and went to sit beside Jason and the rest of our cohort. As we sat down, Jason looked up at us.
"Hey, guys! How've you been?" He said while taking a bite. "Just been talking outside the city." Jason raised an eyebrow. "What about?" Hazel shrugged. "The upcoming elections. Octavian and Reyna's chances of winning. All that." As my eyes drifted to the shadow that was drifting towards our table, I could only say one thing. "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."
The scrawny blond kid walked up to our table and nodded at each of us. "Commander Jason, Centurion Percy, legionnaires. I heard you talking about the upcoming praetor elections, and I trust I have your vote in this?" The raised an eyebrow. I was about to speak up and say we were voting for Reyna but Jason beat me to it. "Of course we are, Octavian. You'd make a much better praetor than any of the other candidates. Maybe not Reyna but there are two praetors any-" He was cut off by Octavian's furious face turning to him.
"You think Reyna would make a better praetor than me? Please. She has only interest in herself, not the benefit of New Rome. She is-" This time the was cut off by someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned around, only to be met by the harsh glare of the daughter of Bellona. "I'm a what, Octavian, huh? You want to finish that sentence?"
Watching Octavian go through a mixture of feelings, which included fear, to pride, to fear again, and finally to confidence was hilarious. I almost fell over laughing. At seeing my expression, Octavian glared at me. "What's so funny, Centurion?"
I grinned. "I find it funny that you're political opponent is making you shit yourself." Octavian glared and Reyna smiled a 'thanks' at me. Jason just burst out laughing and Hazel started giggling.
"Well then, Centurion, if you think you could do better, I challenge you to run against me for praetorship." I laughed. "No way, Teddy Bundy. I'm quite content to watch from the sidelines." Jason elbowed me.
"You should do it Perce! Show him his place!" I looked dumbfounded. "Jason, I've been here for like 4 months and you're telling me to run for praetorship. That is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard from you." Jason rolled his eyes. "Oh, why not! Everybody loves you and you're a great leader! Why do you think I suggested for you to be centurion?"
Octavian looked at Jason. "I think you should listen to your friend, Commander. He's right. He's not fit for the honor of praetorship. He-"
He was cut off by Hazel scoffing. "Oh pleeeease. Like you deserve it any more than him. My brother would make a great praetor." I looked at her incredulously. "You're siding with Jason on this one?" She shrugged. "It's true, you would be."
I turned to Reyna. "What about you, Reyna? How do you feel about this?" She thought for a moment. "I'd be more honored to serve by you than this weasel." She said pointing her thumb at the legacy of Apollo. Octavian narrowed her eyes. "Fine, then! Whichever one of you I end up working alongside, I will make life very difficult for you." And with that he stormed off.
I took the moment to process the information that had just been given to me during that conversation. "Did I really just sign up to run for praetorship?" Jason laughed. "Yeah, buddy. You did." I put my head in my hands. "I'm such a freaking idiot. I've been here for four months and I'm already running for praetorship." Hazel put her hand on my shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, you and Reyna have our votes." I looked up and smiled at my little sister.
Of course, I wasn't panicking that I had signed up to run for praetorship after only four months at camp, I was panicking because of how much I just screwed up the plan. I needed to focus on stopping Ragnarok, not leading a city. Odin was probably ashamed of me, I had let my personal quarrels come before the safety of my people. I'm so stupid.
As dinner finished, we all got up to head back to our barracks. Before I could leave the mess hall, however, Reyna pulled me off into an adjoining hallway. "Look." She said. "I know that you're probably freaking out about this whole thing, but you running could actually benefit the camp." I raised my eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.
"Octavian has a cult following, literally. People follow him around and worship him as some sort of god. I have no doubt that I can win, but he could easily get the place as my co-praetor, with all the followers he has. You running for praetor could change that. People like you Percy, they would immediately vote for you if they found out if you were running. Your votes could easily outnumber both mine and Octavian's, so I have no doubt that you would win." I looked confused. "What are you getting at, Reyna?"
She continued. "I'm saying that if we worked together in this campaign, we could stop Octavian from becoming praetor. He is already powerful and arrogant enough as augur, imagine him being the equal most powerful person in all of New Rome." I cringed at the thought. "So what do we do?"
"We work together. During our campaigns to get people to vote for us, we could slip in that a great second vote would be the other person. That way, when people go to vote, they won't just think 'Eh, what the hell. Octavian's alright I guess.' and vote for him." I thought about it for a bit. Reyna would be a much better co-praetor than Octavian, and if I had to work with anybody other than Jason or Hazel, it would be her. I held out my hand. "Deal." She grinned, shook my hand, and then pulled me in for a hug.
I tensed and blushed, but I still hugged back. She pulled away, as red as a tomato. "Sorry." She said before quickly walking away. I stared in confusion. She had just hugged me, and I enjoyed it. Not dwelling on it any longer, I headed off to the male fifth cohort barracks and got ready for bed. Laying down on my bunk under Jason's, I started thinking.
If Reyna was right about that many people being willing to vote for me, I should really get prepared to become a new praetor of New Rome. I shut my eyes and went to sleep, but not for long. I woke up at around 2AM, and I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up. Technically, it was against the rules to get up past curfew, but I needed a quiet place to think, away from Jason's snoring.
I pulled on a winter coat and left the barracks. I snuck out past the gates and walked to the Little Tiber. Sitting down on a large rock, I began to ponder. I wished that I had someone to talk to about this, possibly mom, or grandfather, or even great-grandfather.
As soon as that thought went through my head, a golden glow appeared beside me. I pulled out the sword that the Romans had given me and pointed it at the entity, only to find a smiling ethereal form of my great-grandfather. "I see your reflexes do well for you, grandson. If I were any monster, I have no doubt that my throat would be slit by now." I reached out to hug the ghostly figure, but saddened when my arms just went through it.
"I'm merely a- how would mortals put it?- a hologram. I'm still on Asgard, but I can see you next to me as you see me right now, ghostly." I nodded and asked him why he was here. He responded. "I wasn't kidding when I said we would be here for you if you needed support, advice, or just someone to talk to. Unfortunately, your mother and grandfather are both busy at the moment, so they couldn't respond to your prayers. Now, what was it you needed, my grandson?" I hung my head, ashamed at the reason I wanted to talk to him.
"I have made a great mistake that could ruin our plans to stop Ragnarok, great-grandfather." He raised an eyebrow, and I continued. "I have accidentally started running for praetor of New Rome, and if what people are telling me is true, I could easily win. If I win, I'll have to juggle preparing for Ragnarok with running a city." I was surprised when the Allfather started chuckling.
"My boy! That is no mistake, that is a great idea! Running for leader of the Romans will give you great influence over the Romans, and when you do tell them of your identity and Ragnarok, they will be more understanding!" I thought it over and realised he was right, if I was praetor, they would trust me enough to join me in preventing Ragnarok.
"Thank you great-grandfather, I never thought of it that way." He put a hand on my shoulder, though the didn't actually since the wasn't actually there. "Of course you didn't, even thought Loki is your grandfather, you often have cases of Thor-brain." I chuckled at my great-grandfathers jab at his eldest son and soon he was laughing as well.
"Well, is there anything else, Perseus?" I shook my head. "Are you sure." I looked up at him curiously. "What do you mean, great-grandfather?" He chuckled, again looking like a war-torn Santa. "You really are being daft today aren't you? You have the look of someone who's in love." I blushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Odin scoffed. "Please, you have the same look that Sif and Thor shared the first time they saw each other, and look at them now."
I blushed even more this time. "Well, I guess there's this pretty cute girl, she also happens to be running for praetor and we've made a deal to work together in the election." My great-grandfather nodded. "Is she a warrior?" He asked. I responded with. "Well, if she knew I called her cute, she would castrate me." My grandfather laughed. "That's a yes then." Then his form flickered.
"Perseus, I'm running out of time. Look, no matter what you do, your family and I will always be here to support you." And with that, he was gone, and I was left at the river alone, with only my thoughts.
Chapter 2 is done! I know about a third of these past two chapters were just backstory or recounting events in between chapters, but I don't want anyone to be confused. Next chapter, we get to the actual campaigns and elections for praetorship. Will Percy and Reyna win, or will I make Octavian find a way two screw everything up?
Word Count: 3083
