Chapter 6: A New Crowd.
Thanks to the reviewer who gave me the tip to put these in Grammarly, that should fix the He/The and To/Two problems. Anyway, Percy and Reyna are now praetors, yay! Also, how has the Camp taken the news of the Greeks close arrival. Find out this time, on DRAGON BALL Z.
Chapter 6: A New Crowd.
Things were looking up for us, finally. Reyna and I were praetors and (luckily) people didn't throw things at us the way treated Octavian. Even Octavian's support had dwindled, people realized that he was a huge dickhead and stopped following him around.
After the Svartalfar invasion, Reyna and I were made praetors and as a token of appreciation, Lupa had gifted me Romulus as a companion. He didn't do much, just slept in the corner of my office while I did work and followed me around sometimes. He was more of a travel and battle hound.
The camp had not taken the news of the Greeks arrival very well, and with their arrival scheduled for tomorrow, a dull spirit wavered over New Rome. I had just finished the paperwork that had been dumped on me and was heading to Reyna's office to wait for her/help her.
Honestly, being praetor was far easier than I imagined it would be. The minor problems got turned into paperwork in which you only had to read the headline, as the rest was just boring details, and stamp yes or no. Of course, some of the work was just time wasting. You had important things like 'Cohort four is in need of a new ceiling for its barracks.' YES. Then you had stuff like. 'Requests for softer toilet paper'. Those were the ones I looked at in disbelief for a moment before stamping NO.
Honestly, this job could be surprising at many points. People came to you with all their problems, even the ones you'd never hear of if you weren't praetor. I once got a request to help a child of Mercury because he'd locked himself in a box. A box. I had to slice the locks off with my sword and I looked in to find a dying kid that looked as if he'd been in there for days.
I walked in to find Reyna sitting with her head resting on one hand, and a stamp in the other as she read once sentence before stamping yes or no, similar to my tactic. She looked as if she'd been awake all night. Upon seeing me enter, she smiled and almost collapsed from exhaustion. "Hey, Perce. What are you doing here?"
I shrugged and took the seat opposite her. "I came to see if you needed any help, and once you're done if you want to go out for a coffee or something?" She almost drooled at the thought. "Coffee, that's just what I need right now." She groaned. I laughed. "I told you to follow my strategy instead of staying up all night reading nonsense." Reyna nodded drowsily. "I'm starting to think you're right. I've been awake for at least 22 hours at this point."
I laughed at her misery and took half of the paperwork and her spare stamps. She thanked me and went back to her half, stamping every five seconds or so. About 20 minutes later we finished the paperwork and Reyna almost collapsed right there. I picked her up. "Come on, Rey. Let's go get you some coffee." I dragged her out the door and out onto the streets of New Rome.
I found a nice little coffee shop and put her at a table for two. I went up, ordered our coffees and sat back down with them both in hand. Smelling the scent of coffee, Reyna immediately woke up and snatched it out of my hand before chugging half of the burning hot liquid. Immediately her eyes widened and she started panting as she realized what she had done. I laughed as she, in a panic, started frantically fanning her mouth. Eventually, she calmed down and glared at me.
"Why didn't you help me?" She asked with a slight scowl on her face. I just chuckled. "What was I supposed to do? Shove ice down your throat?" She glared for a few more seconds before smiled and started laughing too. We talked for a little while more, mainly about praetorship and the Greeks arrival that was taking place tomorrow.
"So what do you think will happen tomorrow, do you think the two groups will start to fight or will it be peaceful?" I asked her. "A bit of both, really. We'll respectfully let them into Camp as we would but I can guarantee that there will be a few fights by the end of the day." She responded after thinking for a moment.
"Hazel tells me that you to have got some siblings coming from the Greek Camp. You excited?" She asked me and I nodded, grinning. "Are you kidding! I'm ecstatic! So is Hazel, they were the ones who took her from the underworld after all. Bianca's my age and Nico's two years younger than me. What about you? Any half siblings coming here?" She shook her head. "None that I know of."
We finished our coffees and left the shop, hand in hand to go to our separate praetor quarters and get some rest. Our rooms were right next to each other's, and sometimes one of us would sneak into the other's bed for the night. This night was no different.
I awoke to find Reyna's head on my chest and her face looking peaceful as she quietly breathed. Now I know what you're thinking, and no, Reyna and I haven't 'done it'. Neither of us have really thought about it, to be honest. We're quite content with just laying in each other's arms as we sleep.
I lay there for a while, watching her as she slept, but not in a creepy way. Eventually, her breathing pattern changed and she opened her eyes. My girlfriend looked up at me and smiled, before closing her eyes and nuzzling her head against my chest, as a dog would. "Morning, beautiful," I said as I leaned down and kissed her head. She grinned and pulled up from her resting spot on my eight pack before giving me a full kiss on the lips. "Morning to you, sir." She grinned cheekily.
We lay like that for a little while longer, her head rested on my chest as I stroked her hair comfortingly. Then I looked down at her. "Wanna get up and get ready for the Greek's arrival?" She nodded and got up, before heading into her bathroom to have a shower. I heard the shower turn on as I left the room, heading into my bedroom and then into my bathroom as I turned on the shower. I stripped down and got in.
The hot water was soothing on my body as I relaxed. My thoughts drifted to the Greek demigod camp that was traveling to Camp Jupiter today. We were going to meet them out on the Fields of Mars just before lunch, and we were expecting enough of them to make a cohort. They were bringing with them their leader, a Centaur named Chiron. They were originally going to bring the god of the camp, Bacchus, but he was needed on Olympus, and besides, his presence wasn't needed anymore. He had been there as punishment for something he did on Olympus and with the attack on the camp, Jupiter decided his punishment was over.
We still had no idea how they would get here, we assumed the gods would teleport them but we weren't sure. I had finished waking up and cleaning myself so I turned off the shower and stepped out. The cold air made me shiver as I dried myself and got changed.
Since the greeks were coming today and I knew that there was a good chance that I'd get mixed up in a fight, I wore my golden praetor's armor and purple praetor cape. Under that, I wore a simple Camp Jupiter shirt and jeans.
After fixing my cape up I stepped back into my room to find Reyna wearing the exact same things as me. The exact same things. All the way down to black socks. We both gaped as we looked at each other and realized this, and then we started laughing.
"Is this creepy or cute?" I asked in between laughs. Reyna shook her head and shrugged, also laughing. "I don't know, it's just funny!"
Eventually, we calmed down and I offered her my hand. "Shall we, m'lady?" She smiled and took my hand. "We shall." I kissed her hand and she laughed. I stood up and we walked to the breakfast hall.
It was only 8 in the morning, and the Greeks were scheduled to arrive around 11, so we had a few hours to spare. Another perk of being praetor was that you got all these privileges that only praetors were subject to. One of these privileges was that we got the head table to ourselves.
Sitting down at the head table, Reyna and I ordered our food and watched as it appeared on our plates. Reyna was having simple bacon and eggs while I decided to have something much more delightful.
Being that it was a special day today, I ordered blue pancakes. Now I know what you're thinking, 'What The Hel? Blue Pancakes?' To understand, you'll have to venture into the darker part of my biology.
I'm not a demigod like you probably thought, I'm a full-blooded god. When my mother came down to Midgard all those years ago, looking for a 'fun time', she came across a man. This man had come down to the mortal world for similar reasons, though with a completely different goal.
This man was Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas, and he was looking to create a demigod.
They didn't recognize each other. Poseidon because he didn't even know the Norse Pantheon still existed. He thought they had all faded a few millennia ago.
My mother didn't recognize Poseidon because⦠well, this is where it gets complicated. He was at a stage where both his Roman and Greek forms were flickering, as he had just been in a verbal fight with Zeus, so my mother saw a mixture of both aspects and didn't recognize him because of it. Also, that technically makes me a son and god of all three pantheons, not that I call the other two my family.
Poseidon had left as soon as he and my mother finished, and from what my father told me, he had been with four other women that night. Only one of them produced a son, and he was a Greek-Roman demigod that was attending Camp Half-Blood. If he hadn't been killed in the attack, he would be arriving at Camp Jupiter today.
Back on track, being a son of Poseidon gave me this weird trait of liking blue foods, weird, I know.
Once she saw the color of the pancakes I was eating, Reyna looked at me weirdly with her mouth hanging open, she almost dropped her fork too. I shrugged. "Weird fact about me: I like blue foods." Was the only explanation I gave before I started digging in.
I noticed Jason and Hazel giving me weird looks as well. I grinned at them and continued eating. Another strange thing, I noticed the chubby Asian kid I'd talked to before, Frank, getting closer and closer to Hazel until they were almost touching. Hazel didn't seem to notice him though. I glared slightly at Frank. Though she wasn't technically my sister, it sure felt like it was. Part of the things that came with gaining a little sister was overprotectiveness. I ate with a slight scowl on my face every time I looked at the son of Mars.
Not too long later, Reyna and I finished our breakfast and noticed that most everybody else had as well. I looked to her and nodded, she nodded back and stood up. Immediately everybody quietened down and looked at her expectantly.
The daughter of Bellona cleared her throat and began speaking. "Now, I know that everyone is a bit excited today, though many of you are quite unhappy with the Greeks arrival that is taking place today." That was met with a few nods.
Reyna continued. "You must remember that we are a legion, the Roman legion, possibly the greatest human force on the Earth and we are expected to act as such. You will stand and greet our guests with respect during their arrival. If I hear one insult or taunt thrown a Greek's way, you'll be digging trenches in the fields of Mars for the next six months." Her announcement sparked outrage among the legion. I tried hard to hold my smirk in.
Reyna held up her hand, clearly annoyed. "Don't fret, you will not need to have much interaction with them anyway, Percy and I will be the ones greeting them, you'll simply be standing guard in case the Greeks try anything. Of course, you'll also be there to show them not to mess with us and such." A few people laughed.
"But remember, Lord Mercury has said that it's the will of the gods that we put aside our differences, even just for a little while. Olympus will learn where our attackers came from and who they serve, and they will hunt them down and eliminate the threat. Do not worry, however, because Lord Mercury visited us again recently and told us that the legion might be needed to fight the threat soon." The legion cheered at that.
"Alright, meet out on the Fields of Mars by 11:00 sharp. Be in position and ready for our guest's arrival. You are all dismissed." With that, everyone got up and left the mess hall.
Since regular training was canceled, and Reyna and I had no paperwork to do, we met up with Jason and Hazel to hang out until 11:00.
We didn't do much during our wait, just wandered around the city mainly. Hazel wanted to look through some shops, while Jason and I wanted to go get some food. Strangely enough, we were suddenly starving even though it had only been half an hour since breakfast.
Once Hazel was done, we decided to get some McDonald's and eat it quickly before we had to go. I didn't order much, just a cheeseburger Happy Meal and a coke. Yes, I still eat Happy Meals, you got a problem with that?
Jason got a happy meal too, and it wasn't long before we were fighting over my toy since he didn't have that one. I swear Reyna slammed her head on the table fifty times before she started yelling at us. "WILL YOU TWO JUST PICK WHO GETS THE TOY AND SHUT UP!" That scared Jason into submission, and I smirked at my success.
Jason played with his toy while we waited for Hazel to finish her food. Once she did, we left the McDonald's and headed for the Fields of Mars.
The Fields of Mars are quite a barren place. They remind you of some World War 1 battlefield with all the dirt and trenches everywhere. When we got there, pretty much the whole legion was standing in position, looking around expectantly for the new arrival.
Jason and Hazel went to join Cohort five as Reyna and I stood at the end of the long pathway that the legionnaires made up. We waited for another ten minutes before a faint buzzing could be heard. We looked around expectantly, waiting to see what was making that noise. It was only when a legionnaire shouted. "Look, up!" that we saw them.
A large, flying ship was headed right at us, and the whole legion prepared for battle in case it started firing on us. As it got closer, we could make out the shapes of many people standing on the deck of the ship.
"Filthy pirates." I heard Reyna mutter beside me and I looked at her, confused. She shook her head. "It's nothing." I narrowed my eyes but turned my attention back to the ship.
It hovered in front of us as we waited for some kind of signal to start fighting, but instead, it just dropped onto the ground, shaking us all. Large planks were pushed over the sides of the ship as people started to make their way over to the side. Reyna and I walked to the end of the path.
"Greeks!" I shouted in a welcoming tone, opening my arms to show no hostility. The first and only person to come down was their leader, the Centaur Chiron. He was tall, possibly because of the horse legs, and the had a shaggy beard and shoulder-length hair. He reminded me of Thor, only his hair was brown and the had the bottom half of a horse.
"Praetors Percy and Reyna I assume?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Reyna and I nodded and he held out his hand. "I'm Chiron, head of activities at Camp Half-Blood." I shook his hand and Reyna did the same.
"Are your campers going to be coming down from their battleship?" Reyna asked cautiously. Chiron nodded, and then signaled for everybody to come down. The first two down were a blonde girl and a skinny kid both about my age. The blonde had bouncy curls and wore a bead necklace, while the other kid had a swimmers body and held a golden pen.
"These are Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and Ryan Johnson, son of Poseidon, my star campers. Retrievers of Zeus' lightning bolt and survivors of the Sea of Monsters" My eyes shot up at the last name. So this was my brother, I must admit he does look like me. "Hi." They both said feebly, and Reyna and I just gave them curt nods. Chiron told them to head down the path and that he would meet them there after the introductions.
The campers all came down in little groups, halfway through I had forgotten most of their names. I think there was a daughter of Athena named Clarisse, and a son of Ares named Malcolm. It's hard to remember. Then, the two people I had wanted to see most came down from the ship.
"These are Nico and Bianca Di Angelo, children of Hades," Chiron announced, and I immediately engulfed them in a hug. They looked so shocked and confused, they obviously had no idea who I was.
"It's so great to meet you guys! I'm your half-brother Percy, son of Pluto. Hazel's told me so much about you two!" I said with a grin on my face. Their faces immediately went to surprised. "You're our brother?" Bianca asked while Nico perked up. "You know Hazel?" I smiled. "Yes, Bianca, I'm your brother. And yes Nico, I know Hazel, we're best friends. You'll see her on your way down, by Cohort five. We'll talk later, there's still more to go." I said, hugging them both again and pushing them lightly down the path.
Sure, they weren't my actual siblings but I could still feel a bond there. We'll have to catch up later though.
More and more people came off the ship. It felt like there were more campers than there were legionnaires, but I knew that wasn't true.
I saw Jason making googly eyes at one of the new arrivals, a daughter of Aphrodite named Piper. I smirked. This was gonna be fun.
Chapter 6 done. This one was kinda short because I just wanted to introduce the Greeks. More stuff happens next chapter, such as Percy going to visits some family. You'll learn more about that next chapter. Bye for now!
Word count: 3333
