Chapter Five: Remember Me?

Reyna gave Percy a Roman military solute, soon followed by the entire senate, "Perseus Jackson Ave! Filius Vesta, non quis fuerim, Apollinis, Dianae, Mercurius, Minerva, et Pluto, legatus Mercurii, centurio cohortis quinta legio Fulminata!"

The rest of the meeting was a blur, Percy didn't bother to pay any attention to the senate and burried himself in thoughts.

Why did Vesta send him here?

What really happened in Alaska?

Where has he seen Reyna before?

Why does he feel like Hazel should be dead?

What the Hades is really going on?

Percy stared out of the senate's window, thunders boomed loudly as lightning flashed wildly. A storm is coming, bigger than anything anyone has seen before, and nobody can escape it.

Line Break

"… and there has been no major monster activities around camp ever since the fall of Othris." Jason said as he concluded the senate meeting.

"Wait!" Percy called out when Reyna was about to dismiss the senate, drawing many attentions, "After this meeting is over, I need a word with praetor Reyna, alone." Said Percy will sending a meaningful look at Reyna, who seemed surprised at first, but quickly nodded.

"Does anyone else has anything to added?" Reyna asked.

Many shock their heads.

"Then this meeting is adjourned." Reyna announced loudly as the senators got off their seats, returning to whatever they were doing before the meeting.

Line Break

"You want a word with me?" Reyna asked, more likely stated emotionlessly as she approached Percy with an unreadable expression.

Percy nodded, before gesturing, "Walk with me?"

Reyna flashed him an incredulous glance, but followed Percy anyway.

The pair walked on the streets of New Rome silently, Percy raised his eyes at the architectural structures, before finally breaking the silence, "Incredible, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is," Reyna nodded, "What is it that you want to talk to me about?"

Percy sighed, "How did you know me?"

Reyna's eyes widened a bit, but she quickly wiped out any evidence of emotions being led loose.

"What do you mean how did I know you?" Reyna questioned in an ignorant tone.

"Cut the crap praetor," Percy answered directly, "I know we've met before. Don't lie to me, I'm champion of the Goddess of Wisdom. I could tell it from how your face would darken every time my name is mentioned or when I'm in your presence. Also, your reaction when you first saw me with my mother in Principia was rather obvious."

Reyna sighed, "Fine, does the name C.C. ring a bell?"

Percy's eyes widened as memories of his adventure through the Sea of Monsters during his second quest flashed into his mind, "You were on Circe's island!" He half-shouted in utter surprise.

Reyna nodded, "Yes. My sister Hylla and me lived there for our entire lives until you destroyed Circe's SPA with your female companion back when I was twelve." She said bitterly at the mention of her old home being destroyed.

Percy's face darkened when her was mentioned, "For what is worth Reyna, I'm sorry. I was a guinea pig back then, and that bitch was the one who fed Mercury's vitamins to all those vile pigs who destroyed your home."

Reyna's mouth formed a small "O" shape, but quickly closed it as she regained her composure, "I never knew you Circe turned you into a guinea pig. I guess I can't blame you since it wasn't your fault, and even it was, you wouldn't have had a choice. I have one question though, why would you call your companion a bitch? If I remembered it correctly, you two seemed close."

Percy's fist clenched, before sighing, "I suppose you would already know this since you are the praetor of New Rome with access to all Rome's darkest secrets and you were working for Circe. Regardless, I need you to swear on River Styx to never repeat what I'm about to tell you without my consent."

"I swear on River Styx to never repeat what you are about to tell me without your consent under any circumstances."

Percy nodded in return, "Ever heard of the Greeks?"

Reyna shot him a confused glare, even though she has an idea where this conversation is leading to, it's just too crazy.

"Well," Percy continued slowly, "If you know your history well, then you would know that there were the Greeks Gods before the Roman Empire conqueror Greece. After the fall of Greece, the Greeks Gods were worshipped as well, but with different names, and some of them with very different personalities."

Reyna nodded, waving Percy to continue.

"How do you think the Roman Gods were even here? The Greek Gods are real. The only moved to Rome from Greece, the location of the original Mt. Olympus after the fall of Greece, and adapted their new personas. For example Artemis became Diana, Hades became Pluto etc. However, their old personas, which we call their Greek equivalents didn't just go away. The Gods still have two forms, and they sire demigod children in their both Greek and Roman forms, while many minor deities only belong two one pantheon, your mother Bellona for instance."

Reyna's jaw dropped, "Are you telling me this because you are a Greek?" She questioned suspiciously.

Percy clenched his jaw, "No. I was a Greek, a son of Poseidon no less, but not anymore."

Reyna raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

Percy gestured Reyna to move, "Come on, we'd better take this conversation to somewhere private, you know anywhere we can talk?"

Reyna nodded, "Yes, my house on the Via Principalis."

Line Break

"As I was saying," Percy continued once they reached Reyna's house, "The Gods have two aspects, and they are a lot more active in their Greek aspect. Unknown to the Romans, after the WWII, Apollo's oracle called the Oracle of Delphi issued a prophecy saying a half-blood child the eldest Gods, meaning Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto will make a choice that will either save or end the era of Gods when whoever it is reaches sixteen."

Reyna nodded, curious about Percy's story.

Percy chuckled a bit, before his face darkened again, "I still remember that damn prophecy that ruined the first half of my life. A half-blood of the eldest Gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds, and see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze. Huh, I can't even count how many people died because of that stupid prophecy. Yes, that was me."

Reyna stared at Percy in shock, unable to imagine the son of Vesta in front of him must have been through in his life before.

"When I was twelve, Jupiter's Master Bolt and Pluto's Helmet of Darkness both went missing. Naturally, they blamed me who just got thrown into the whole madness of the world of Greek mythology. They threatened each other with the third world war, and I had to lead a quest to retrieve their symbols of powers. I was after retrieving the bolt and the helmet that we discovered the identity of the thief, Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes, also the fact that Saturn was rising."

Reyna nodded in acknowledgement.

"There is one other thing you need to know first. There was another demigod who was in the line of the candidate of the prophecy before I was born. My cousin and best friend, Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and Jason full blood sister. You see, Jason was born to Jupiter and Thalia was born to Zeus. The American Civil War was actually a clash between Greeks and Romans which resulted in the victory of Rome. The entire demigod population was almost wiped out from the surface of Earth and that's the reason the Gods created the mist. Not to shield mortals from our world, but to separate the Greeks and Romans, making sure neither will ever remember or encounter each other. The Greek equivalent of Camp Jupiter is on the other side of the country, in Long Island actually, and it's a fly on the wall comparing to New Rome."

Reyna smiled proudly at that.

"Thalia was five years older than me. Pluto sent a small army of monsters after her when she was on the run, and she fell at the hands of my least favorite monster in history, the Fury Alecto. Before she died, her father Jupiter turned her into a pine tree to preserve her soul. A magical border that protects Camp Half-blood from monsters was created ever since. After the events of my first quest, Luke poisoned Thalia's tree. Without the borders, Camp Half-blood was wide open to any monsters, and Saturn could easily send an army to attack. So, I sneaked onto a quest and helped to retrieve the Golden Fleece in the Sea of Monsters."

Percy paused to catch his breath, before continuing, "What we didn't predict was that, the Golden Fleece didn't only heal Thalia's pine tree, but herself as well. When she fell on Half-blood Hill, she was only twelve, and after the fleece healed her, she was only a few month away from sixteen since a tree ages too, only slower than humans."

Reyna gasped, "That's Saturn's plan! He will either have an exposed camp or another chance to manipulate the prophecy!"

Percy nodded, "Yes, you have no idea how manipulative that evil son of a bitch can be. The next summer, Thalia, myself and that bitch Annabeth went to a boarding school to retrieve two powerful demigods a faun found, in the end we ran into a Manticore. Diana's hunters showed up but too late. That bitch was captured, a few days later, we found out Diana was captured too on a solo hunt to hunt down a very ancient monster called "The Bane of Olympus". Another prophecy I remember, 'Five shall travel west to the Goddess in chains. One shall be lost in the land without rain. The Titan's curse one must withstand. One shall perish by a parent's hand.'"

Reyna's eyes widened, "You don't mean…"

Percy nodded, "Yes, I do. We later discovered that the Titan Atlas escaped his burden under the sky by forcing Diana to hold it on Mt. Despair, which happened to be in the same location as the new Mt. Othris. During our journey west, the newest hunter, Bianca Di Angelo died, and we discovered the monster Diana was hunting was the Ophiotaurus. On Othris, I held the sky in Diana's place so she could put Atlas back under the sky. Unfortunately, another friend of mine, Zoe Nightshade, the lieutenant of the hunt died by Atlas' hand. One shall perish by a parent's hand. She knew it all along, but she came anyway."

Tears are now streaming down Percy's cheek uncontrollably at the mention of his dead friends. He wiped them away before apologizing, "Sorry."

Reyna nodded, wondering what kind of friend the son of Vesta considered Zoe to be.

"The next summer, I was informed that the Titans plan to invade camp using the Labyrinth. So I went on a quest to find Daedalus and convince him to not give Ariadne's String to the Titan army. After a few long, agonizing weeks we found him with the guide of a clear sighted mortal. We were too late, but we did convince Daedalus to help us to defend camp. The battle was one of the toughest I've ever seen. We were outnumbered almost 1:3, but we just kept fighting. Even that, it wasn't enough. In the end, Daedalus had to kill himself, destroying the Labyrinth in the process along with the monsters in them. Also, I discovered Luke Castellan was hosting Saturn."

Reyna gasped, "How can a mere demigod possibly hold the essence of the Titan lord?"

Percy chuckled, "That's the million dollar question, isn't it? A few weeks later, a friend of mine found out that to do so, he had to bath in River Styx."

Reyna gasped again, before her gaze become questioning.

Percy just nodded, "Yes, I bathed in Styx as well a week before my sixteenth birthday. Things were far worse than the First Titan War. You see, I accidently blew up Mt. St. Helens after discovering the Telkines were re-forging Saturn's Scythe, in attempts to destroy it. Unfortunately, the blade survived, and Typhoon, who just happened to be imprisoned under that mountain awoke in the process. The Gods, who weren't nearly as powerful as they were had to fight Typhoon on the other side of the country while Saturn's army launched an attack directly on Olympus in Manhattan. All we had were forty demigods, thirty hunters and around a hundred natural spirits and Satyrs against an army of five hundred monsters and two hundred demigods. We held them back for days, which was a miracle really. By my sixteenth birthday, we were down to less than twenty demigods even with the Ares campers who joined the battle later, a little over ten hunters and very few natural spirits and Satyrs left. Typhoon was only hours away from New York, and Saturn almost, almost had enough power to consume his true form again. We were pushed back to the Empire State Building, and the fight came down to the throne room of Olympus. I made my choice, choosing to trust Luke and handed him my dagger who fought Saturn with his will and stabbed his Achilles heel, destroying Saturn in the process, while Nico and myself convinced our fathers, Pluto and Neptune to join the fight, sending the storm giant back to Tartarus in the end."

Percy chuckled at Reyna's shocked face, "I believe the legion was striking Othris while we defended Olympus, right?"

Reyna nodded, "We always presumed that Saturn went back into Tartarus with the destruction of his throne, so that's why."

Percy nodded again, "After the battle, they offered me godhood."

Reyna's jaw dropped again, "WHAT?"

Percy just laughed, "Yes Reyna, I could have been a God. I wonder what would it have been like if I didn't turn it down."

"Why would you do that!"

"For the sake of demigods of course. I forced the Gods to claim all their demigod children at the age of thirteen, and build cabins for every single immortal deity, major or minor. I made them to spare the minor Gods to joined the Titan's cause knowing the Gods had it coming themselves. Thrones were built for Vesta and Pluto on Olympus as well."

Reyna nodded, "Then why are you here?"

Percy's face darkened, "Ever since then, everyone at camp treated me like a freak or an outcast, excluding a few. That girl who was with me on Circe's island back then was my best friend, and she started to feed people lies about me. A few weeks later, that paranoid son of a bitch Jupiter summoned me to Olympus and accused me that I would betray them in the future because I was too powerful and refused to become one of them. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Mars and Bacchus, even my own father Neptune voted for my banishment. Only Apollo, Diana, Mercury, Minerva, Pluto and Vesta voted against the decision. Ceres and Vulcan abstained and they apologized to me later because Jupiter threatened to kill every single one of their demigod children had they supported me."

Reyna's face morphed into both disbelief and shock, but Percy continued before she could make any comment.

"What's worse is, Jupiter cursed me, with immortality. Not hunter immortality, more like God immortality. So technically, I'm a God without any domain or Godly power whatsoever, more like an immortal demigod who can't die and has to suffer in misery for the rest of the eternity. I'm sure Jupiter would have tossed me into Tartarus had a few Olympians not threatened him with war."

Reyna shot the son of Vesta in front of her a look of pity, it's a wonder how a person can still be sane after everything he's been through.

"After that, I visited my mortal parents, only to find out that they've left for Canada, saying they just had a perfect mortal little girl and they don't need a freak in their lives anymore. I spent the next few weeks or so hunting around the country with Diana and her hunters. It was fun, but eventually I had to leave before Jupiter finds out and gives them trouble. A few more weeks later, Apollo, Diana, Mercury, Minerva, Pluto and Vesta visited me and told me of the Romans. They all blessed me, or in Vesta's case adopted me. You must know that they did so in their Roman equivalents minus Athena but I think you know why. My mother adopted me as Vesta, not Hestia, and since I've relinquished my title as son of Poseidon, I'm a Roman now, therefore I can find a new home at Camp Jupiter."

"Well," Percy concluded as he looked at his watch, "I'd better get back to my cohort, see you around."

With that, Percy Jackson left Reyna's house.