3. A few people may have been wondering what the muckup with the story was- I put the same document as the second chapter, without realising I had to upload stuff- I'm still fairly new, but i'm getting into it; i'll have everything nailed down soon enough. So anyway, because of the mix-up i was late with the second chapter, so here's the third chapter, early. The fourth chapter will be coming on time, for those of you who are paying attention to the story...and thankyou to eveningstar1996 and BananathePhone for following, and to the prior for a favourite.

Hazel

Hazel walked into breakfast, still rubbing her tired eyes. She brushed her hair over her ear and walked over to her usual table- but no-one was there.

"Hazel!" a familiar voice cried. "Over here!"
Frank, along with the other five, sat at a table, the one closest to the praetors, a seat empty for her. One of the people sitting down was Leo. Hazel hadn't felt half as brave as she had done standing up to Thanatos or Alcyoneus, fainting the moment he said his name. The moment he said his second name, she felt as if an entire house had fallen on her, and her world, and before she knew it, she'd sunk towards the floor, spinning down into the endless black thoughts of her mind. It was similar to death, in a way, only that sense of finality was incomparable, and the darkness afterwards was utterly, incomprehensibly absolute. She's known Sammy Valdez in 1941, not too long before she'd died. Being brought back to life was a surprise; the technology that was around currently was a surprise; the introduction of gods and monsters into her second life was a surprise; but nothing compared with having a reincarnation of him appear in front of her, as well as him being one of the seven demigods of the prophecy. In her old life she would have just considered it chance, but she knew now, as a demigod, there was no such thing as chance. She'd felt like she was betraying Sammy's memory when she'd even started to look at Frank in a different way to her friends, and that sense of betrayal had heightened when she'd seen that picture of him in her old home. She'd also felt that way when Gaea had shown her that image of her, married, happy as she was sinking into the mud in Alaska. She had known that it was fake from the moment she'd seen the people of the vision's pure marble eyes, but it still struck a sore nerve.

Now she could see Leo's face, the mirror image of Sammy, who had exactly the same surname (that had been the knockout), Valdez, she felt like her heartstrings were being pulled different ways yet again.

She couldn't even look at him without feeling her fingers tremble, her knees weaken- and worse yet, every time she looked at him, feeling those emotions she felt, she could almost feel her hands bringing the knife down into Frank. Sweet, simple Frank who cared for her so much. Frank was aware of who Leo was similar- well, identical- to, but he didn't have any idea of how much pain it was causing her.

She'd been overjoyed when she'd had all the attention after completing her quest with Percy and Frank- it'd been such a relief to have people paying attention to her, being friendly, but she hadn't felt one hundred percent comfortable. Now, she realised, she was about to get a whole lot more uncomfortable, even if she didn't have the stress of thinking about Leo. Was she going to call him Leo or Sammy? Hazel knew just what Sammy was like, and Leo seemed exactly the same. Joking around constantly, light hearted. Sammy would be a little weird for everyone else, especially him, so she'd keep it to Leo.

Everyone's eyes were on the seven. Whispers of greeks, magic, and war machines reached her as the Romans watched the demigods sat at the 'special' table. Eyes flickered to her as she walked over to the table and sat down.

"You sleep okay?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, fine thanks." Hazel smiled at Frank, who stopped eating for a moment to grin back, then shook his head as if trying to clear it and carried on.

Percy may have eaten a serious amount of food, but Frank ate like a starved Minotaur, shoving down every morsel down with a frantic air.

"How long before we leave, Leo?" Piper asked, delicately chewing on a pain au chocolat.

"Few days or something. There was something wrong with the ship last night- one of the sails was being a little unresponsive, but, it should be sorted by now, so unless something like that happens again, we'll be on our way soon.

"What time is it?" asked Hazel, yawning and covering her mouth.

"Coming up to eleven," Jason replied.

Hazel was nervous. She'd been nervous when she'd seen how much her brother was capable of. She'd been nervous when she'd introduced Percy to Nico. She'd been nervous when Percy and Jason had shaken hands. Now, after a whole night of deliberation, and after the excitement and interest had worn off, she was practically shaking in her boots. Around her, there was enough demigod power to defeat a god in seconds- both Jason, from what she'd heard, and Percy, from what she'd seen, had defeated a giant- Percy had defeated Frank's father- Mars! Or was that Ares- in single combat, and they'd both defeated Titans.

Holy shit, she thought. If there's a fight, it'll be world war three. Inside the mess hall. She almost laughed at the prospect, then remembered all eyes were on her table. Laugh in this situation, and you'd be carted off to the doctor's in a straightjacket. She'd heard something about the romans dirlling holes into heads to cure disease. She shuddered.

"Reyna said there's going to be a senate meeting kind of around now, so we'd better go, guys," Percy announced as he finished.

Percy

The seven walked into the meeting just as everyone was sitting down, reminding Hazel of when she arrived late to the war games before the quest, except this time, no-one was going to threaten her for being late- indeed, everyone else, even the Lares looked as if they expected to be threatened by them. They took seats just to the right of Percy's praetorial seat, on the right of Reyna.

"Romans!" Reyna called. "I must say to you that-" she paused momentarily to glare at a kid who continued his conversation with his friend for a moment too long. "-that the Prophecy of the Seven," she took a breath, "is without a doubt coming to pass, and that I am of similar mind to my fellow praetor Percy that the seven do involve greeks and romans.

A clamor burst from the spectators beneath them, each and every Roman screaming for his own view. But, as always, there was one venomous voice that stood from the crowd. "How can we be sure? As far as our leader Percy's persuasive skills are trustworthy, i'll assume! And, being not quite the shining example of intellectual capacity Reyna may be, it is with regret that i must say: where is the evidence, Jackson?" spoke Octavian.

"Who are you?" asked Annabeth, staring at Octavian.

Taken aback by the intensity of her gaze, he was briefly lost for words, and then found his voice. "I-I am Octavian, augr of Apollo. I discern the wills of the gods; and who might you be?" His sneer indicated that he thought of her as lesser already; but his assumptions were shattered.

"Seeing as you're an augr, can't you see that Gaea is waking? I'm pretty the gods aren't just speaking about the conversations they've just been having, much rather the oncoming fate of the world that lies in the hands of seven demigods. Haven't you seen the giants with your own eyes? Or is this just an average day for you Romans? And watch it. He's actually pretty smart." She said.

Percy and Reyna grinned.

"We've all witnessed the onslaught these giants have brought to Camp Jupiter," called Percy, his voice echoing across the area. "Would you really leave the fate of demigods in the hands of a creature who is undoubtedly our most willing destroyer, and doom all those who live in the city by denying Greeks a chance for some...stupid idea that you've all persisted in believing, despite the fact you haven't come across any Greeks, apart from me, and now, them," gesturing to the group sat beside him, "for centuries. It's time to set aside our differences, because that's what Gaea is counting on."

"Inspiring, Jackson, but what do you wish us to do? You're the one with the warship!" said Octavian.

"I ask for nothing more than your trust. When we call for your help, when we call for demigods to aid us, are you gonna say no? Because you hate Greeks? Well, you didn't know I was Greek until i said so, and everyone seems to get along with me just fine, Octavian."

"When will you need us?" asked Reyna from beside Percy, who up until this point had been silent. "How will we know?"

"You've seen Iris-messaging first-hand, Reyna. This battle we fought, out there," Percy said, pointing to the Fields of Mars, which looked like a field that a giant baby had trampled through, "that was a skirmish. We have to protect Camp Jupiter, and Camp Half-blood. We don't have another choice. "

"What do you suggest, then?" She asked.

"I think we should have an exchange. Kind of like the one between me and Jason, but on a larger scale. Greeks move here, and Romans move to Camp Half-blood. Twenty-five or so demigods switching places with each other; that way we'll learn about each other- all this is going to do is make it easier for us to cooperate, to trust each other- and of course, aid when necessary, both ways."

Octavian shot to his feet, looking incensed.

"Praetor!" he shouted hastily, "This is ridiculous! Especially given our current circumstances, and surely if New Rome is your primary concern, as I've no doubt it is, you cannot consider this..." he glanced at Percy dismissively, "outrageous proposal."

But Reyna sat still and silent, musing. She glanced at Percy. Then at Octavian.

"I think...that this is a good solution," she announced slowly. "It's the best answer we have to Roman hate for Greeks."

"Praetor!" yelled Octavian in rage.

"Octavian, will you give it a bloody rest!" she shouted.

Percy nearly jumped out of his skin as she gave vent, and a large number of eyes turned towards her.

Even as octavian sank back into his seat, diminished in stature, Reyna calmed, and relaced in her chair. "Meeting adjourned. I would like to see all senior officers in the principia afterwards."

Percy sat as well. "Are you ok?" he said quietly. "Octavian's a real pain in the-"

"It's not just him, though, Percy." She said, looking exhausted. "Just the whole thing, trying to settle everyone, make them all happy and satistfied at the same time. It...it takes a lot out of you."

As the senate members filed out, the six who had been sitting on Percy's left came and clustered around the two.
Annabeth hugged Percy as he stepped down from the Praetor's dais.
"Oh my gods, percy! That was such a good idea! When did you come up with that?"

"Hey, it was a heat-of-the moment thing," he said.

"I think, actually, that you had a plan since you walked in; I think you were awake all night thinking about that," she said, smiling.

"A little bit," he admitted, "but mostly," he murmmured, "I was thinking about you." He kissed her on the lips lightly, making her smile widely.

"Percy and Annabeth, sitting in a tree-" The lone chant was cut off by a yelp of terror as Annabeth slid her arms from around Percy's neck and stormed off behind him. Percy turned to watch in amusment as she proceeded to belt the Hispanic kid a punch to his arm. He yelled in pain, and Percy wondered if he was the brightest guy. He knew he wasn't the best person to talk about brains; but, he was pretty proud about the way he'd handled himself in the Senate meeting, and he was also pretty happy when Annabeth said he'd done good. It felt like he'd eased the tension and his own worries. Still, annoying her? Not the best idea this guy had had. That was Leo, wasn't it? He seemed relaxed, not uptight at all, in fact he was about as loose as you could get. A bit of a joker. Just a bit. Sometimes it was all well and good being serious, but you needed some time to relax.

I'm always joking around, he thought. Still, not as much, and usually only when i'm about to die.

He'd spoken the truth earlier- he hadn't been able to sleep properly, worrying about Greeks and Romans- he'd had a dream about Octavian trying to set an olive tree on fire that he was repeattedly whacking himself on the head with. After stirring from that, he lay in his bed, thinking about Annabeth. Just the thought of her made him feel happy, comfortable inside. He glanced back. He saw Leo clutching his arm and hobbling after them as Annabeth caught up with him.

"So! Do you want to...show me around?" she asked happily, holding his arm.

He grinned down at her. He'd grown a tiny bit taller than her, which was marginally satisfying. He wasn't that petty, though.

"That sounds cool."

Leo walked back through the crowded streets towards the Argo II. He rubbed his shoulder, grimacing, at the spot where Annabeth had punched him- and boy, she knew how to punch. Still, annoying her was worth it just for her expression. That was what it was all about, watching some fools' faces scrunch up in absolute rage as he laughed his head off, literally. You know what he should do? Maybe he could make a video recorder, real small, so that he could play it back in super slow motion. Maybe he'd even play it back to the people he'd filmed. Still, now he had to go and check over the Argo II. Annabeth was off wandering like a love-struck harpy, leaving the rest of them with a day wide open. Other than that girl, Reyna, who was getting this exhcange crap sorted. Leo wasn't too happy. He'd really settled into Camp Half-Blood, and getting his new family bitchslapped by the arrival of twenty, thirty unfriendly Romans didn't seem like the best idea. Still, this Percy guy must have some kind of idea what to do, right? It's not like Leo was the most in-the-loop guy here. He hated the idea, as well, of having to stay in a room with Hazel and Frank. Hazel weirded him out a little bit- not that he was scared, but curious, wary was more like it. She had this kind of agelessness to her, a little bit like she'd just suddenly stopped aging. She could have passed herself off as two years older, and two years younger. And the guy, Frank. Well, when he'd turned into that ant-eating freak yesterday, he'd almost popped his eyeballs. A little creepy when you're looking at a rat, eagle, bird, rodent, and knowing that it could be him. It wasn't like Leo thought he was an agent of Gaea or some crazy rubbish like that. it was just...unnerving.

He'd felt, now, for a while, that he finally had a family that he could relax with. Not only were his demigod friends closer to what he was, if not exactly, but once he found out that practically all of them were friendly, he found it also far easier to leave behind his old solution of simply running away. He'd enjoyed himself spending so much time with Jason, Piper and Annabeth, even if having Annabeth in the same room as him made him a little nervous of sleeping, that he'd relaxed even more, almost forgetting that they were only four of seven. It was hardly the case that any of them left him out of anything, even if Piper and Jason were together, but he wasn't exactly grateful for the way the girls had shuffled him out of the room, especially Annabeth, with Piper's help, for Percy. His suggestion of boys and girls in seperate rooms' rejection was a shattering of his hopes for genuine time with the guys, oppurtunities for pranks, laughs, jokes.

Leo wandered down the road, keeping to one side, unconsciously keeping the bronze hull of the Argo in his sights as his thoughts, also drifted. He wasn't your average Hephaestus kid, bulky and heavy from hours at the forge. He was lithe, slim, light, constantly moving. That didn't stop him, and his daydreaming helped a pair of hands seize him by the shoulders and drag him into a side alley. It was particularly narrow, and lead to easy access to people's gardens, save for the doors.

He almost laughed, thinking it was Jason or someone else familiar trying to annoy him, and then he gasped for air as a fist sank into his stomach. Doubling over, trying to breathe, he saw out of the corner of his eye a semi-crouched figure sweeping another punch towards him. He reached towards the moving hand and pulled it over the right of his shoulder, using the figure's momentum to pull himself to one knee and one foot and to drive a shoulder into its stomach. It was his attacker's turn to draw his breath, staggering backwards. Leo clambered shakily to his feet, and watched his attacker draw a short dagger, glinting gold in the midday sunlight. He threw himself to the side as his assilant slashed downwards at the space where he had been a second ago,crashing against the brick wall, jarring his shoulder. He kicked upwards, sending the dagger flying out of the would-be murderer's hand. He set both hands aflame, and the figure didn't even scream or run, which was the usual 'first-time' reaction to his combustible body. He did hesitate, though, which gave Leo the opening to smash the figure, now visibly clothed in black, in his stomach. His other hand went under his throat and pressed him against the wall, flame now spreading across his clothes. "Who-"

Leo flicked his eyes to the side, to the entrance of the small alley, and saw a second figure pause there. His face was hidden by a hood, and as Leo watched, he pulled a mask from his jeans pocket and joined the person he was holding by the throat in attacking him. Leo cracked a hook across his pinned attacker's face, sending him crashing to the floor, turned, setting his whole body aflame in time to recieve a full-bodied tackle to his torso, throwing him viciously to the floor, atop the first body. His tackler let out a choked, panicked scream, leaping up and swatting madly at his clothes. Leo kicked out, landing a blow on his knee, forcing him to cut off, clutching at his knee, which could evidently no longer support his weight as he fell to the floor. As Leo stumbled desperately to his feet, he also drew a knife, identical to the first, and slashed upwards, slicing Leo's thigh even as he delivered a ruthless kick into the grounded figure's stomach, who curled up in pain, dagger thrown to one side in agony. A single kick to the head caused his movements to cease for the moment.

Leo staggered out of the alley, looked around, and slowly hobbled off towards the Argo II, ignoring the questioning, wary stares thrown the way of his sliced, battered body. He quickened his pace as he heard the weighty footsteps of legionnaires close. The last thing he wanted to do now, given the attitude towards Greek half-bloods around here, was to explain to some legion twat why there were two unconscious Romans lying in an alley with an incinerated set of clothes.

Leo hauled his body up to the top rung of the ladder descending from the Argo II. He rolled out, and feebly hit the switch to pull the ladder in. He didn't want another freaking nut coming in and stabbing him while he was lying there. He gradually pulled himself to his knees, and then to one foot, and then the other. He walked below decks, stumbling downstairs, and heard voices emnating from the door to one of the bedrooms. He used a hand to aid his feet in hauling himself through the door, which he barged open with his shoulder and a crash.

Inside, Frank and Hazel leapt apart from their sitting positions close together, jumping- Frank put himself between Leo and Hazel, unaware of the fact that it was Leo, and was about to shift when he saw Leo collapse onto his knees, holding his thigh.

"S-Leo!" Hazel cried, even quicker than Frank, who had started forward, darting round him to seize Leo's shoulder.

"Dude, it's cool. I won't ask what you guys were doing, i don't wanna know." he mumbled, laughing through half-closed lips.

"What the heck happened to you?" asked Frank, warily, face as red as Hazel's, as if he should be scared of the bleeding guy on his knees in front of him.

"Some stupid twats... tried to kill me. But it's ok, i'll be good," he groaned, standing again with Hazel's aid. He looked at her oddly as she gave him a helping hand up. How come she was being so friendly? "I just need..." he tripped over his own feet going back through the doorway. "...some nectar..."

"Leo?" Hazel asked, following him out into the hallway as he walked over to the storeroom, to the left of the bedroom entrance. He went in, seized a canister of nectar from a shelf, and came back out again, twisting open the flask and throwing back his head to gulp down the godly drink as quick as he could. When he'd finished, his skin felt itchy, raw, like there was an infestation of ants underneath his arms. But, on ther other hand, he felt a hell of a lot better save for that. The stinging, sharp pain of his cuts had vanished, and the dull ache of his bruises had dissapeared.

"Leo, what happened? Did someone attack you?" asked Hazel.

"No, no, i did this to myself, see-It's a new fashion! Yeah, well done." said Leo sarcastically.

He walked back into the bedroom he was sharing with the two, and sat down on his bed. He took a quick look in the full-length mirror on one side of the wall, and had a heart attack when he saw the cuts in his army jacket. "Look at my fucking jacket!" He yelled, shooting up again.

Frank hesitated midway through his step. "Why do you wear the jacket if it just gets cut?"

"That's like saying, why do you wear a shirt when you're anywhere? Because you want to be warm, and my figure doesn't give me the option of not wearing one, and probably because you're not expecting to be jumped by a bunch of masked, dagger-wielding psychos," he moaned. "Plus I always keep my stuff in here. Anyway, how did you guys get back here? I was walking back and I didn't see you."

"We headed out before you, remember? You were trying to- well, run away from Percy's girlfriend when we left."

"Oh yeah." he mumbled embarassedly.

"So who were these guys that did this?" asked Frank, his tone lighter.

"I was just walking along, minding my own business, thankyou, when some prick grabs me by the shoulders and hauls me backwards into this little kind of alley? It led to people's gardens, stuff like that. So anyway i manage to get this guy down after he pulls an Imperial gold knife on me, and then a goddamn second guy walks past, sees me and jumps in. Well, i gave him a seriously warm reception- turned out he had a knife too, which i realised only when he gave me this-" he gestured to the slash in his trousers, where his thigh was. "- and then i knocked him out, as well. I ran then, to come back here, because i heard some legionnaires coming round."

"So..." Frank hesitated. "Why didn't you stick around to explain?"
"What, you think Romans and Greeks are best buddies now? I know, I know you two are...ok," he admitted grudgingly, cutting of their protestations. "They weren't exactly gonna play fair, huh? You have any idea who those two might have been? Got any psychopathic cultists hanging around here locally or something like that? Anti-hispanic movements?"

Frank and Hazel looked at each other, then said a single word: "Octavian."

"Wait...what? That guy who was talking in the senate meeting?"

They nodded.

"You're telling me that guy had the balls to send his buddies after me? The guy'd fall over if you blew at him, for crying out loud! And why would he want to? Seriously? I mean, i got his attitude towards Greek demigods and stuff all figured out, but really, trying to kill me? Gods."

"You have no idea what Octavian is like. He may not be the best guy in a fight, but he's seriously not the nicest guy at camp. Forget anyone you've seen that's got an unfriendly attitude- this guy outclasses them all." Hazel said. "He had the guts to stick his own spear through another camper's chest when her back was turned, you know."

"Don't remind me," Frank said, shaking his head as if to dispel a bad memory.

"What, is it okay to stab them like that if they're facing you?" Leo asked.

Hazel laughed. "it's not fun or anything, but unicorn horn shavings and our healers are usually enough to cure most people of pretty much anything."

"Good thing I only had a couple of scratches then," Leo laughed. "Too much of this stuff and you'll burn up. God snacks."

"No way."

"Yes way." Leo hesitated. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad sharing a room with them. "You guys wanna grab something to eat? I'm kind of hungry, but you don't have to, you know."

"Well I had breakfast but a snack wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," Hazel smiled.

"Yeah, actually. I'm getting pretty hungry again," Frank agreed.