"Ow"

Jason frowned as the girl pounded her fists on his back, yelling insults he could just make out through her gag.

He had told her that she could keep it off if she didn't scream, but the moment he untied it she shrieked louder than Harpies at the gates of hell, effectively almost bursting Jason's eardrums. He'd also told her that if she'd be peaceful and didn't try to run off he'd let her walk by herself, which, again, hadn't worked out, because Jason had to sprint after her the second she was unbound.

So now he carried her over his shoulder to his living quarters while she thumped his back and kicked his chest, trying to wiggle out of the grip he had on her waist.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Jason kept saying, shaking his head. He picked up his pace so he was running, anxious to put her down.

When they finally reached his cell he kicked open the door with his foot and set her down gently on the bed. She glared at Jason mercilessly, her multicoloured eyes sparkling with hate. Jason flinched as the door behind him slammed shut.

"I'm not going to..." Jason said, thinking of the right word. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

The girl started to scream once more, making Jason sigh heavily. He hated this situation, and cursed whoever had sent him this woman.

"I swear I won't do anything you don't want" Jason promised as she tried to break her bounds once again.

To prove his own point, he kneeled down in front of her and untied her ankles, thinking naïvely that her stillness meant she was calm. She had dark, smooth skin, soft to the touch and delicate in a way that he felt like he hadn't experienced in centuries. He was very gentle to undo the cloth around her mouth, making sure he didn't catch any hair in his fingers, and he carefully undid the ties on her wrists, standing up in front of her and smiling politely.

"There now, better?" He asked warmly.

She responded by standing up and punching him in the gut. If he was a normal man, that would have made him double over and not get up, but he wasn't normal, and only winced against it.

"HOW DARE YOU!" The girl snarled, punching continuously. Jason kept catching all of her flying fists with little effort, having trouble concentrating on the situation.

"How dare you think you can just have me like an object for winning a game!" she roared.

Jason backed up every time she threw a hit, until now he had his back was pressed against the wall.

"I didn't think that" Jason said, turning his head away from her as she started to try and throw slaps.

"I am a person, not a trophy, you big ugly gorgon" she swore at him, and he frowned deeply.

"That's a bit under the belt" Jason protested, feeling rather like a punching dummy.

"You want under the belt, Roman?" She seethed, her eyes warning him she wasn't lying, a finger in the air between them.

Her braid had completely fallen off at this point, eyes blazing with a passion Jason wasn't sure why she had. One of the straps of her tunic was about to slip down, but Jason was sure if he made a move to help her pull it back up she'd punch him in the nose.

"My name is Jason" Jason said hastily, trying to make the conversation friendly. "What's yours?"

He extended his hand for her to shake. Like acquaintances, Jason thought, how formal. She looked at his hand and rolled her eyes, pushing it away.

"Why do you even care?" The girl said, finally giving up and collapsing back onto the bed. She paused before looking up at him.

"Piper" she muttered, fingering her shell necklace. "My name is Piper."

Jason nodded. "That's a nice name" he said, and she shot him a look of contempt.

"Was this to make fun of me?" She asked him, lifting the necklace up.

"I think it was to make you look more appealing" Jason said. He instantly regretted saying it, his eyes going wide. He went to correct himself, but Piper interrupted him.

"You look too young to be here" she said. "What did you do? Kill someone? Rob? Try and kidnap an innocent girl walking along the street?"

"I'm not the one who captured you" Jason told Piper, pointing a finger at her.

"You're the one that's going to keep me" she argued, her hands balled at her sides as she stood again.

"I only want to help you" Jason said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You don't want to help me" Piper yelled, shaking her head. "You just want to pretend like you will. Gain my trust and then...and then assault me!"

Jason recoiled, putting his hands up and stepping further away from Piper. He shook his head, suddenly miserable.

"I don't want to do that" he mumbled. "I really don't."

He slumped against the wall, his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor as Piper stood over him silently.

All he could see when he closed his eyes was Thalia, how she'd looked when that guard had tried to attack her, the pure fear on her face, the lightening she summoned. His whole life had been ruined by that man's single action and Thalia's uncontrollable fear.

Thalia, Thalia, Thalia. His heart ached.

"I don't want to do that. I'd never do that" Jason said, standing and staring down at Piper, who looked confused.

"You've got to trust that I want to help you" Jason said, pulling up the strap of her dress with no hesitation. "Because I alone am your only way out."

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Percy Jackson was not really the kind of man to hold a grudge.

He hadn't held a grudge when his mother had to leave him for a disgusting man in the city, because he knew she was doing it for him. He hadn't held a grudge when no one would give him work at the age of 9, because he was too thin and weak to really take on any job. He hadn't held a grudge when the captain of the ship he worked on threw him overboard, because Percy knew he could survive in the water. He hadn't even held a grudge when the guards that found him stealing food from the marketplace tossed him in jail.

Then why did he still hold a grudge on Jason Grace? After so many long years?

Percy wasn't sure. After his 'little' explosion in the eating hall, he'd been thrown into the stables for some little one-on-one time with the horses, where he'd had some time to think.

He fed the horses oats from a bucket and walked around petting their manes, spying a rogue pegasi in the back of the stables with large dark wings that the mortals must not have realised when they bought it. He made his way back there and stepped in, smiling at it. Petting horses cleared his mind, that much he knew.

He had had a farm when he was very young that his mother kept. She worked really hard on it too, and it was close enough to the ocean that Percy could go and splash around during the hot days and then come home at night and have a dinner his mother had made. It was just him and her, and it was great, and they'd had so many horses. Sometimes he'd sneak in when his mother wasn't around and pet them, just a tiny little boy surrounded by horses he swore were talking to him.

His mother had never said it outright, but Percy knew even before the incident that he was the son of someone important from the way she said it. Your father would be so proud or one day, when he's not so busy with his big responsibility, he'll come and visit you.

And visit me he did, Percy thought bitterly.

His mother would not approve of his hate towards Jason Grace, he knew that. But it was so hard for Percy after what had happened.

Percy knew the Romans hated demigods and their superhuman powers, and that hatred drove demigods into hiding many years ago. It'd been so long since anyone had ever actually seen one in action that people starting thinking they were myths, and anyone who claimed to be one was insane and needed to be imprisoned. If anyone showed signs of using godly powers, well, Percy knew first handedly that they would be killed on the spot.

He clutched the bucket tighter and stroked the horse a little less softly, before regaining his composure and breathing deeply through his nose. Jason was trying to protect his family, Percy would have done the same, but still, it was a terrible thing to do, what he did all those years ago.

"Father, I told you, I can walk by myself! Yes, I definitely can. No, I do not need a hand maiden"

Percy ducked instinctively after hearing the definitely female voice yell out.

"But the gladiators, Annabeth, they might be roaming around here" warned a nervous male voice.

Percy chanced a peak over the stall of the stable and into the courtyard. It was dusk, and he realised he'd lost track of time again. He must have been in there for hours, giving names to the horses and brushing their coats.

The courtyard was large and circular, surrounded by tall buildings and bathed in orangy golden light from the setting sun and the two people arguing were a father and daughter, that much was clear.

The father was a tall man who wore a silver crown aloft his curly blond hair, brown eyes crinkled at the edges a scruff beard decorating his jaw and upper lip. He was wearing official looking robes and seemed like an important person. Radiating an aura of respectability, he seemed like he was very crucial to society.

Then, there was the daughter. Percy nearly toppled out of the horse stall. She had the same curly blonde hair as her father but a lot more of it, and on her head rested a circlet of shining silver. Annabeth, her father had called her. She turned and Percy caught a glimpse of flashing grey eyes, like the colour of storm clouds. She wore silver bands on her biceps and bracelets on her wrists, her tanned skin making him think of honey. Percy wasn't sure he'd ever seen someone so beautiful.

"You" the official man said, and Percy realised he had been staring.

"Me?" Percy mimed, pointing at his chest.

"Yes, you, stable boy, escort my daughter around the grounds" he ordered.

Stable boy, Percy thought, I can work with that.

"Of course" Percy grinned, jumping over the side of the stable and into the courtyard.

"Father" the girl muttered, but the man waved her off.

"Thankyou, I'll leave you to it now." He tried to embrace his daughter, but she shrugged away from him and glared.

The man walked off shaking his head and Percy strode up to the girl and offered his arm.

"I am capable of walking by myself" the girl - Annabeth - informed.

Percy smiled but lowered his arm, shrugging as he followed her.

She walked slowly, observing the buildings and tracing her fingers along the statues that lined the gravel path. The track lead you in a circle around the courtyard, lined with short green grass and white fountains. Statues of Gods and Goddesses that aided gladiators bordered the path in white marble, watching you walk along the ground with unseeing eyes.

Ares - or Mars, Percy wasn't always sure - glowered at him as he walked past, Bellona staring off into the sunset, and Victoria wearing laurels with her hand resting on the soldier of a gladiator standing with his foot on the throat of his rival. Charming.

Percy remembered when he had to learn all the names for the God's again to fit in, before realising that Roman's don't really worship Neptune (or Poseidon) all that much.

"So what brings you here?" Percy asked. He went to repeat the question when he thought Annabeth hadn't heard him, before she answered, not looking at him and rubbing some dust off a statue of Jupiter.

"It's none of your business stable boy" she said flatly, sounding bored with the conversation.

She looked at him then, narrowing her stormy eyes and scanning him up and down, scrutinizing.

"But you're not a stable boy, are you?" She asked, coming closer. She grabbed his arm, and looked intently at the now healing gash in his skin.

"This is from a sword. Probably imperial gold. And you have a fading black eye, like you've been punched, as well as this-" she reached up and grabbed his bottom lip between her thumb and forefinger "-a split lip, maybe from hitting the ground a bit too hard."

"Aren't you a wise girl" Percy teased. Annabeth made a pfft sound and continued walking.

"I won't deny that" she said, and Percy thought he could see a little smile forming at the edges of her lips, before it turned into a frown. "My mother was a very smart woman."

Percy nodded, leaning against the rim of a fountain with one arm and brushing a wave of hair off his forehead.

"What are you doing here, Wise Girl?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm here as a prize" she divulged.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. Annabeth folded her hands and sat down opposite him, expression wistful.

"I'm not married, which is absolutely awful, apparently. So my father thought that maybe he could make my being unwed interesting" she sighed, swirling her finger in the water.

"I'm being sold off as a prize to a gladiator" she said finally, and Percy let out a big breath.

"That's intense" he laughed, and she frowned deeper, creating crease lines on her forehead.

"Its not funny. I could end up marrying you"

Annabeth said it as if it was the worst thing ever, and Percy put his hand on his heart.

"No no, I'm an honest stable boy" Percy joked, standing and puffing up his chest. "Not a huge gladiator, have you seen those men? They're the size of a Minotaur and twice as fat."

Annabeth laughed, a good honest laugh, her curls shaking behind her. "What's your name, stable boy?"

"Perseus" he answered with a smile. He was starting to forget where he was. Percy became aware he wouldn't have much longer before they realised he wasn't in the stables anymore.

"Perseus? That's Greek" Annabeth noted, and then she stopped smiling. "Are you Greek?"

"I am, yes" Percy admitted, watching in distress as the traces of happiness slipped off her face once again.

"I have to go now" she announced, standing and lifting up her skirt, looking as though she was going to start running.

"Why? Please don't go" Percy pleaded, but she rushed past him and knocked him into the fountain with a large, wet splash.

While Percy was under the water he wondered if this was going to be his life now. Getting pushed into fountains and tossed into stables, every now and then exploding a barrel of water in a hall and fighting lions for the remainder of his days. It seemed pretty boring.

After a moment, he sat up and climbed out, shaking his hands. He hadn't gotten wet, which really wasn't all that surprising for him.

"YOU'RE DRY" Annabeth yelled, pointing at him.

"Oh, you're still here" Percy said absently, flicking a piece of moss off his shoulder.

"How are you still dry?" She questioned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Percy warned, angered by her fear of him.

So he hadn't gotten wet? What was the big deal?

"Try me"

Her tanned skin contrasted so incredibly with her eyes, Percy thought. She radiated smart, giving off waves of intelligence and suddenly Percy thought 'my mother was a very smart woman'.

The grey eyed goddess.

Holy Hera.

"Athena" Percy said, grinning as he pointed his finger at her. He supposed this accusation could be very catastrophic if he was wrong, but he really didn't think he was.

Annabeth spluttered, obviously ruffled, and Percy knew he was right by the way she was affected.

"I've met sons of Athena before" Percy said over Annabeth's confused noises. "Never daughters. Although you might be... daughter of... Minerva, is it?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" She said angrily, but Percy was sure she knew exactly what he was talking about. The evidence was ubiquitous.

"THERE HE IS" a guard shouted, suddenly running around a corner and stumbling as several other guards collided into his back.

"Time to go" Percy said, getting down on one knee and smiling at Annabeth. "It was a pleasure to meet you, wise girl."

The guards ran to where they stood and Percy didn't even struggle as they held his arms and pulled him away, leaving the daughter of Athena to watch him go.

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Thankyou for reading!