Chapter III: Jason

My memories were slowly returning to me as Juno had promised. I can't say I felt relieved though. Quite the opposite, I felt mostly conflict. I was really starting to develop feelings for Piper, this beautiful daughter of Venus who didn't even have to try to be gorgeous. I don't mean a kindergarten "hi, I like you, want to be my girlfriend?" type of liking, either. I mean the kind of liking where you can't stop thinking about them, and feel like a part of you was missing when they're not there. At the same time, I knew that I really was head over heels in love with Rayne, the girl who had been my best friend since I can remember, and started to be a lot more than that. A lot of my memories were centered on her. I cursed the goddess for putting me in this situation. Lupa was right about one thing, relationships were distracting.

Ever since Leo, Piper and I had returned from our quest to rescue Juno, the camp had become even more preoccupied with their missing leader. I sighed. I knew my brothers and sisters at the Legion weren't looking for me. Lupa would have told them if it was meant to be, I'd find my own way back. Once news of my Roman heritage and the infamous exchange had spread through the camp, random campers would come up to me and ask me why I wasn't leading campers on a quest to rescue Percy. Truth be told, I felt that this was where I was meant to be. Hera had risked it all to make this exchange and I knew how much was riding on this. If this didn't work, we might possibly be on the brink of another civil war and even worse, allowing Terra to destroy Olympus.

Leo's boat was beginning to take shape. I rarely would see the kid, except for meals and at council meetings. He spent pretty much all of his free time in Bunker 9 with his brothers and sisters working on his ship. Piper on the other hand, whenever she wasn't busy with her cabin (which was most days and nights), it was pretty reliable that she'd be somewhere around me. When I was around her, it was like the world stood still and I wanted nothing more than to be with her. Then reality would snap back in and I'd realize how that could never be. Annabeth has been spending most of the days studying, making war strategies and some other stuff that I didn't understand. I knew it must be hard on her, knowing that her boyfriend was out there and didn't remember her. I seriously wished Percy luck; I had learnt the hard way that the Legion wasn't very forgiving.

I remembered when I was eight; one of the older warriors had challenged me to a duel. I wasn't very experienced with a gladius and was still extremely clumsy with my powers. Needless to say, I lost. I had an ugly scar from my shoulder to my opposite arm pit as a constant reminder of my failure. After that, I had trained and trained to regain my dignity. Later, I had challenged Dakota and reclaimed my honor. I left him with a matching scar.

I walked the perimeter of the camp, stopping in front of my sister, Thalia's tree, memorized by the Golden Fleece, which sparkled mysteriously in the moonlight. The dragon that guarded the fleece laid in a deep slumber, occasionally snorting and blowing fire out of its nostrils. I sighed, silently wishing that Thalia was here, but knowing deep down that she was off somewhere far away with the Hunters of Artemis searching for Percy Jackson. I laid down on the snow covered grass, not minding the cold as it soaked through my jacket. There was too much on my mind and I couldn't stand to be in my cabin with my father, Jupiter, staring sadly down on me.

I think I dozed off once or twice, because at one point I imagined that Rayne was laying with her head on my stomach, looking up at the stars and daydreaming of the one day when she could openly call me her boyfriend and not just behind closed doors.

For a daughter of Mars, Rayne was extremely intelligent. So intelligent that she could easily have been mistaken for a daughter of Minerva. Her mom was extremely bright too, from what Rayne had told me. She said that her mom left the west coast shortly after she had been born to take a job at Carnegie Mellon University as a professor of ancient civilizations. Unaware that she had once dated a Roman god. When Mars showed up on their doorstep one night, in full biker gear and explained that the safest place for his daughter Rayne was at the Legion camp, her mother had told him to go to hell, and that he was a lying, good for nothing – yeah, you get the idea. Mars being the stubborn guy that he is took Rayne away from her mother in the middle of the night and brought her to the Legion camp at the age of five. She of course passed her trials with ease, being born of Mars' blood. Even at the age of five she was a very brutal fighter.

I was awoken out of my daze by heavy footsteps. Instinctively, I reached for my pocket to find nothing there. I remembered that my sword had been broken on our quest and the sword that Juno had given me laid in my cabin. I jumped to my feet, tense with anticipation, ready to fight whoever was trying to sneak up on me.

"Relax," said a familiar voice that I recognized to be Annabeth. My muscles relaxed and I sat back on the cold, damp earth. She took a seat next to me and stared up at the cloudless night sky.

"You see that constellation?" She pointed to a constellation of a huntress. "That was my friend Zoe Nightshade. She was a Hunter of Artemis who bravely died saving her patron," She paused awkwardly. "Percy sort of forced his way on the quest; Zoe didn't want Percy to go, but he came along anyway. He wanted to make sure that I was safe. I bore the weight of the sky, and held on, knowing that he was out there somewhere, looking for me." She brushed her fingers for her hair, and even in the moonlight, I could see a bright streak of gray dancing through her hair. She really did bear the Titan's Curse. An image of Atlas crumpled underneath the sky's weight, screaming into the night sky flashed in front of my eyes.

"Annabeth, you're not going try to find him, are you?" I asked. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

She started aimlessly pulling up grass from underneath her and her eyes were focused off into the distance. She stayed silent for a few minutes before saying: "I don't have a choice, Jason. He would go to Hades and back to save me and I have to return the favor. I dream of him every night, every time I close my eyes, he's there, calling for me, asking for me to help," I could see fresh tears running down her cheeks. I had a weird gut feeling that something was extremely wrong, but I couldn't quite place my finger on it. I reached out and brushed the tears away from her face.

"Annabeth, you can't save the world. Juno has put everything on the line. You don't understand the Legion camp like I do. We study Roman history every morning reading about the bloody battles between the Greeks and the Roman's. We're raised on the idea that Greeks are our enemies. If you go into the camp and let your identity or Percy's be revealed, both of you will probably be killed on the spot. Not to mention-" apparently Annabeth had had enough of my speech, because she cut me off.

"To Hades with Hera!" Annabeth shouted, a little louder then she had meant to. The sky rumbled and the air seemed to crackle around her. "I know that that's my fatal flaw; I know I can't save the world! I just can't sit around and wait for Percy to come back, Jason." She stood and patted the tears away from her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket.

Little did I know, I would be cursing myself for the decision that I was about to make for a very long time. I met Annabeth's stormy gaze and quietly whispered, "may the gods be with you." I saluted her and then turned my back towards her and headed back towards camp.

I didn't look back, because I knew that when I did, Annabeth wouldn't be there. I felt a pang of guilt in my gut; I knew that I could have stopped her if I wanted to. I knew that I could have offered to tag along. I knew that I probably was going to regret my decision for a very long time.

A/N: So whatcha think? Jason should have stopped her from leaving? Annabeth is acting strange? Yeah, I know. You'll see what's going on soonish… Mwhahaha. This chapter was essential to the development of the story, plus it gives you a lot of yummy background on Rayne and Jason. We'll be back to Percy's POV next chapter!

Once again please review! Reviews make me extremely happy! And when I'm happy, I update more. And as always, feedback is greatly appreciated – positive or negative. Let me know if you hate it, love it, mixed feelings. You get the gist.

Responses to some reviewers:

Poseidon262: I agree, I was feeling the same rushed feeling when I re-read the chapters. I'm going to try to take it slower from now on. Thanks for the critique!

Anime Princess: Haha, you'll just have to keep reading and see for yourself! I love conflict (if you haven't noticed, I think I'm a tad bit of a drama queen…)

Key to the gods (as appearing in the story)

(Roman : Greek)

Neptune : Poseidon

Apollo : Apollo

Vulcan : Hephaestus

Minerva : Athena

Mars : Ares

Mercury : Hermes

Venus : Aphrodite

Terra : Gaia (Earth)

Uranus : Ouranos (Sky)

Jupiter : Zeus

Juno : Hera