The Sword: Reforged.
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Disclaimer: I do not earn money from this.
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Penal Legion admittedly sounded very weird, but I really should've expected them to pull something like it to keep me out of New Rome. In the latter days of the Roman Empire, when it was flailing about in civil war, prisoners were sent out to fight barbarian hordes. I wasn't exactly a prisoner, since they still hadn't figured out how the heck I managed to break out of those gold cuffs. As it stood I got a 'V' stamped on my right arm, and a line underneath it. V for vinctus I was told, which easily translated into prisoner, and the line was for the beginning a year of service.
Yeah, they still expected me to do what they said even though I got nothing in return. I wasn't allowed into their universities, into their libraries, their retirement homes, and maybe even their ships. There was no way I was getting into one of the legions, let alone get to bunk with them. In all sense I wasn't allowed any benefits or pay, but I had to work for them anyways. It would've been tough luck for me, if not for the fact I had one hundred thousand dollars' worth of cash from selling half the crown off.
I went back and rubbed it into their faces, along with my new address in the town closest to New Rome. Turns out that people are much more willing to part with property when the cash is right in front of their face. I didn't even need to use the Mist to convince the landlord to sell me the house I had been eyeing.
Probably because it was a dump, that definitely had something to do with it. It was one of those suburban houses that stayed after the rest of the suburbs got swallowed up by the strip malls and Wal-marts. The owner hadn't exactly been keeping it maintained, so the paint way chipped, the windows cracked, and there were tiles missing in the roof.
On the other hand, I didn't have to run from monsters anymore, had twenty grand on hand, and plenty of time on the other. I was more than prepared to fix up my new house, and make it look like a giant kick to the nuts to the Senate. Throw me out of the barracks? I'm going to make my own house! One with a training area, a television and a fridge!
…you know what… forget about the training area…
The construction of my glorious new man-cave was a great journey, that was helped by my decision to actually give myself a name. Though the process was a lot easier said than done, I introduced myself as 'Percy' for some reason to the Senate. It clicked well enough, probably my name from my criminal past. I scribbled on a last name too, but it was really too silly to talk about. I think that it was 'DeBlue' or something like that, sounded pretty stupid but I really couldn't come up with anything else, and I liked the color.
Still kept the outside pretty scrummy though, there were a lot of kids running around and I didn't want them to get any ideas if I decided to color it nice and cheery. A new coat of gray paint, replaced windows, and tiles but I didn't fix the dead yard or the picket fence. Nice and comfy inside, scary on the outside, it appealed to my fading past of a criminal who just wanted to be alone.
It would've been nicer if it actually worked as I had intended.
"You know I heard that you get fed at camp." I pointed out to the girl rummaging through my fridge. "Fancy foods, too."
"Fancy, healthy foods." Lyra held a frozen pizza carton in one hand, and one of the tubs of ice cream I kept in the refrigerator in another. The Augur's nose crumpled when she examined the insides of the actual fridge, and not the freezer. "Though your fridge is nearly just as bad."
"Salads are cheap to make." I protested, feeling more than slightly outraged about the insides of my fridge being filled with healthy foods. "And I've got plenty of meat in there."
"But you have no bread." The moocher cried out, closing the refrigerator and putting the pizza in the oven and the ice cream into the microwave. As good as my fridge was, it tended to turn anything I put into the freezer into chunks of ice. The ice cream was literally ice. "What I would give for a nice piece of white bread…"
"I'll buy some with my next paycheck." I grumbled as the girl gave a squeal and lumped herself on the couch next to me. She was already beginning to demolish the carton of ice-cream, calories were quite important for seeing the future apparently. I was a bit unconvinced of it, until I realized that the girl never seemed to gain weight even though she ate twice as much as I did. "Honestly most of my paychecks go down to food now."
"I'd help but I can't exactly get a job like you." The sandy-blonde moocher huffed as she continued to ravage the carton of ice cream. The girl kept her hair cut short, with tufts sticking in every direction, quite different from the usual athletic ponytails that the other Roman girls favored. "Besides, I've been giving you stellar reviews so far, maybe the Senate will send you on a quest like you're supposed to."
"I'd rather you don't eat me out of house and home before that happens." I grumbled as I changed the channels. I stopped when I came to a documentary on the Empire State Building though, an intense feeling of Déjà vu going on before I started changing it against. "How are things going in the Senate."
"They're more focused on sending out expeditions to get Imperial Gold than on quests." The Augur sighed, and put away the empty carton of blueberry ice cream. I didn't know what she was depressed by: the lack of ice cream, the wait for the pizza, or the Senate's lack of interest in sending out quests that she said were needed. Having known her for quite some time, I knew the last of them was the least likely to be true. "So a month or two will probably-."
There was a rapid knocking on the door, and I was about to answer it when it was kicked in.
A boy with a scar on his lip, followed by a girl with pitch black hair came barged into my house and pushed up the door. Several thuds later, and some loud screeching they both gave a relived sigh.
"Oi, I hope you're going to pay for that." I stated irritably as the two began to move the second couch to block the door. "Or at least re-hinge it for me."
"Jason? Reyna?" Lyra questioned and the two turned towards her immedeitly. Yeah, go ahead and ignore the person who owns the house you just broke into, no way he won't kick your ass three ways to Sunday. "What are you two-."
"Rome is under attack." The boy named Jason breathed out, "We ran… to get the Penal Legion."
"You've got five legions already." I pointed out with a huff, though I did give the two glasses of water without getting up from my seat. It was easy to do really, I got water, put it in the cup, turned the cup over and placed it in front of them. The black haired girl seemed to eye me with mistrust, until I got closer and she blinked rapidly at my height. They took the cold glasses of water and drank with gusto. "I doubt they need my help…"
Honestly, just because someone has a sword that can incinerate everything, doesn't mean that you should ask him to help out every single time. That was a recipe for incompetence, and me lacking sleep in the immediate future. I didn't care about the former, but I really liked sleeping on the bad that I paid for.
"The sea monster of Troy has surrounded the city." The black haired girl stated with such a straight face I was afraid she was glare a hole into my wall. "The Legion is stuck within it, we had been practicing the defense of our city today. Jason and myself utilized my Pegasus to fly out, but we were shot down."
I blinked and turned to the resident Augur.
"Does this happen often?" I inquired, in all seriousness.
Lyra bobbed her head side to side a bit, then settled on shaking her hand in a 'so-so' gesture.
Well I was certainly glad I wasn't allowed in that place.
"Well I have no idea what the heck to do." I admitted and the blonde boy's and the brunette's jaws dropped.
"You're a Son of Neptune!" The boy cried out, making me frown and turn up the volume a bit. Shark week waited for no man, or city in this case. "Can't you go tell it to leave? Or use your sword on it?"
"Sea monster vs Sea monster doesn't work out." I waved my hand in their general direction. Lyra smacked me in the arm, making me frown while she cradled her hand in pain. "What was that for?"
"Explain more." The Augur insisted and I gave a sigh.
"Sea monsters are good against fire and water." I explained and gestured to myself as the two began their protest. "I would know, trust me. Me attacking that thing would just be ridiculous, since I wouldn't be able to do jack against it and it couldn't do the same with me."
"Then what can we do?" The two asked and I gave a shrug. I wasn't in the mood for hard thinking at the moment, it was Shark Week. Televised ocean superiority, I couldn't care less about anything else at the moment. Still, Lyra cleared her throat and held out her hand.
"I believe that I can answer that question." The Augur pulled out a pink teddy bear from her bag, and I handed her the pocket knife I used to hotwire cars ever since I left the Wolf House. Most of her stock of animals was at her place in New Rome, so she insisted I buy her one for all times. Since I had to buy a teddy bear for the express purposes of it getting gutted, I bought a pink one.
"Do it in the kitchen." I demanded, I was not going to pick cotton out of my couch again thank you very much.
The oven's timer went off, and the teddy bear was lost in the joy the pizza brought.
I turned to the two legionnaires who were watching their camp Augur demolish a pizza with gusto. The two seemed to be caught between outrage and shock, and I would've laughed if I didn't have to deal with what caused their reactions every day.
"So do you guys like Shark Week?" I patted my couch, Lyra wasn't going to let up until she finished that pizza.
…
The glyph upon the cavern worried me greatly.
"Delta?" Questioned Annabeth as she made quick work of the climb downward. The girl was trained to the extreme, I had some difficulty climbing down the chasm myself.
"It's the mark of Daedalus." I explained, and brushed my palm over it. The bright blue glow of the man's symbol, told me all that I needed to know. "This is how Castellan managed to escape… or to commit suicide." I added on bluntly.
"Why would the mark of Daedalus be here?" Inquired my skilled partner, her hand twitched toward the pen she carried. The little note of mortality I made must have scared her slightly. "I thought he had died?"
"The Labyrinth connects all places." I explained, and stepped back from the glyph. I did not want to test the Labyrinth just yet. "And Daedalus lives up until this time."
"Do you think that he helped Luke escape?" The edge behind Annabeth's tone made me blink, before making me smile. Artemis would have loved her, already searching for more pray beyond the one she already sought. I had to admit that the short-haired girl was a tad aggressive for my own taste, but I knew she would've made a fine hunter.
"Daedalus cares only for himself, and he has let his creations grow un-minded throughout the world." I explained, it was a common secret in the world that the old inventor still lived. His creations were tied with himself, and many of them, including the labyrinth was still operation because of his life. "Castellan most likely stumbled across this, and utilized it to escape the camp…"
"Or?" Annabeth questioned, since I trialed off.
"The Labyrinth is the deadliest of places to exist." I stated bluntly, there was no use in not telling her everything I knew. That would only prove counterintuitive to our goals. "Castellan entering it alone, even armed as you said he was, would, most likely have ended in his death. I would rather have this gate guarded rather than to tread within it for his corpse."
"He isn't dead." A young boys voice wafted from the shadows, and my heart clenched at the sight of familiar hair and features. Bianca's brother… "I asked around, and he's not pushing up daisies just yet."
"So you and your sister were born of Hades." He twitched at me mentioning of my sister. I could only believe that he held me responsible. I was about to apologize when Annabeth walked over to the boy and gave him a solid thump on the back of the head.
"Missing for a week and now's the time you show up?" The blonde demanded as the young boy cradled the back of his head. It wasn't a serious blow, but I was sure that it stung. Given the rather lithe and athletic form of the one who gave it, I was sure that it was more than a tad painful.
"Oh, Hades!" The boy cursed still doubled over and clutching the back of his head. "I'm feeling dizzy! You could've given me a concussion!" The boy clad in an aviators jacket pointed at Annabeth. "Not everyone trains as much as you, Annabeth! Normal folk can't handle what you and Clarisse do!"
"Man up and answer her questions, Nico." Annabeth huffed and crossed her arms over her torso. "It wouldn't kill you to actually train and not just rely on your gifts, you know?" The blonde added the last part as an afterthought, but I couldn't help but agree. Meeting a few of Hade's sons and daughters, they tended to rely more on their powers than most children of the Big Three.
"If I trained with you and Clarisse I probably would." The boy muttered before straightening and taking a deep breath. His eyes met my own, there was anger there, but not as much as I suspected. "Yeah, Hades put me and Bianca in the Lotus Hotel so we didn't age for a while, waiting for the most opportune moment to get us out and all that." The pale boy rolled his eyes. "Fat lot of good that did, eh?"
I gave a sigh, he wouldn't do well in his report if he was so hampered by his hatred of me.
"Your sister…" It was best if I got it out of the way now, rather than let it fester and pop in the most inopportune moment. "I apologize for leading Bianca to her death, Nico."
The boy blinked rapidly for a moment, and his gaze met Annabeth's who had a smirk on her face.
"Pay up." The blonde held out her hand and the brown haired boy scowled and tossed her a drachma. "Sucker."
"Tch." Nico gave a snort, and waved his hand about. "Fine."
I was sure that I was a fish with the expression I was making.
"B-but why aren't you angry?" I questioned, utterly confused. The smirk on Annabeth's face wore off, and turned stoic as she turned away and began to climb the chasm. That only drove me further into my confusion, by all means.
The boy seemed hesitant, before shaking his head.
"Because I told Percy to follow her."
My heart clenched at the words. It made sense, suddenly, why he wasn't angry and Annabeth's own anger. The young boy couldn't blame me for his sister's death, without blaming himself for Percy's as well. I wanted to be angry, but I couldn't and when I thought about it, I knew why I couldn't as well.
"Percy would've followed us regardless, Nico." I gave a small huff and a small smirk. "I knew him well enough to say that he would've done what he did regardless of what anyone said."
I went about my way out of the chasm, leaving the young boy behind. However, I still heard a soft sob as I left, and withheld my pity. I saw Percy interact with him, how he tried to be an elder figure as Bianca left her own brother. That may have been how I started to take a liking to him, as he didn't place any blame on Bianca, and only made sure Nico was happy. He did it all while he was worrying over his best friend, and his plans to follow us on our journey.
I would've been far more happy to know Nico had hated me, but now he hated himself. I hoped I could help him before he did anything drastic, as many born of Hades did. My words about Percy should help him…
"Do you believe what you said?" I was immediately questioned by Annabeth as I exited the chasm, her voice cold. I hoped that we wouldn't argue so early in our new relations, she would have been a good friend and I wanted her to be.
"Yes." I couldn't allow Nico to continue under the cold shoulders he was probably being given. Percy was popular in the camp, a hero to heroes, I could only imagine what the rest of the camp did to him if the logical nature of a child of Athena warranted such harshness. "And I am sure you know it as well."
The blondes features warmed as a small, sad smile crept over them.
"Yeah, Seaweed Brain would have followed on regardless." The girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I just found it easy to dislike him, you know? I couldn't just put it all into training, I was still angry at everything until he told one of the Stoll's and word spread. And then…" The girl shook her head, obviously disappointed in herself.
"You'll find a way to make it up to him later." I promised her, and she nodded dully somewhat lost in thought. I would've liked to leave her to her thoughts, but things needed to be done. "You said something about Percy's brother being here?"
It should be interesting to meet someone who was practically family to Percy. Sally was his mother, but siblings tended to share more to one another than their own parents. That was most certainly the case when it came to the Hunters, Artemis and I both knew that their was a gossip ring within the hunters that we weren't a part of, but it was largely harmless so we let it be without question.
"Yeah, Tyson's at the Hephaestus cabin." That seemed to bring the girl back to earth, her focus returning quickly. "But we need to do something before meeting with him."
"What?" I inquired curiously.
"A friend of mine's in trouble, and you're going to help me get him out of it."
…
"So what's the plan guys." I asked as I walked back into the living room, utterly refreshed. I don't think I'll ever get tired of taking showers. A few weeks without a good showers changes a man. I received a myriad of stares. "What?"
"Put a shirt on!" Lyra threw one of the seat cushions at me, and I batted it away with a huff. Her face was bright red, though I was sure that stopped the second time she saw.
"This is my house." I protested, grumbling as I took one of the many gray shirts I had on hand. The color was unpopular, but being unpopular made it go on sale for a dollar per shirt, so I wasn't complaining. "Bunch of pansies."
"You have a lot of scars." Jason noted with a frown. "Was your trip here that bad?"
"I had most of these before the trip." I huffed as I set myself down on my kitchen table, the living room and kitchen were in the same place. Though it was separated by the peninsula that extended from the wall that the stove was held to. It was efficient, and kept the other rooms pretty large. "Pretty sure I had one hell of a life before I lost all my memories."
"That must suck." Jason commented idly, while Reyna seemed to be more interested on Shark Week. I knew I'd eventually meet someone that liked it as much as I did! She liked it so much she wasn't even looking at me anymore.
"Well I'd guess that someone with regeneration has a better time of it than someone who doesn't." I shrugged as he blinked at my explanation. "I'm just glad I have all my powers, I can't imagine how I would've gotten all the way here without them."
Lyra gave a scoff, and I tossed the seat cushion right back at her. Seeing as my strength was at least an order of magnitude higher than hers, she hit the floor with a dull thud.
I turned to the two still conscious guests in my house.
"So what's the plan."
"We're supposed to find the bow of Hercules." Reyna's voice seemed a bit higher pitched than normal, but otherwise it was similar to the effective tone she utilized before I left. Jason seemed to get a look at her, then began to snigger until she punched him in the side. I didn't pay it much heed, friends did what friends do. "A group of three shall search for the bow that failed to protect the ancient walls, within the deepest of valleys it lies waiting to be absolved for its failures."
"Doesn't seem too hard." I admitted and Jason gave me and a shake of his head.
"Thereupon the arrows must be gathered. The weapons housed in molten rock, aging metal, and under the eldest tree are untouchable by the same poison that will save Rome." Reyna took a deep breath, and I met Jason's eyes as I mouthed 'there's more?' and he nodded back to my displeasure. "Launched from the skies, the arrows nine must pierce the heart of the beast and spread its poison true by the hand of the Son of Jupiter."
"Well at least we got the last part." Jason huffed, huh, I didn't know he was a son of Jupiter. I would've thought the son of a more important god would be more of douche. Jason was really… normal to say the least. "Though I need to say that I'm not looking forward to getting swallowed whole."
"I thought getting swallowed whole is all the rage for all the young soldiers." I quipped, and the blush on the guys face was worth all the money I spent on the house. Wait, scratch that, the look on his face when Reyna started laughing at him, along with me, was irreplaceable. I shook my head, ah jokes were always nice in serious conversations.
"It's not that funny guys!" Jason protested, clearly still bright red from his accidental innuendo. "C'mon stop laughing! We've got to find out where to find all these things before Rome runs out of food!"
"Grand Canyon, Mt. St Helens, Redwood, and Detroit." I wiped a tear from my eye, as the two people the same age as me looked at me as if I had suddenly grown another head. "What?"
"How are you so sure?" I was immediately questioned, and I gave a shrug.
"Probably something to do with my last life again." I tapped my head. "It's kind of easy to understand those prophecies, so long as you put your mind to it. Oldest trees in the US are the redwoods, St Helens is a volcano, Grand Canyon's a valley, and Detroit is rusted junkyard."
Reyna was giving me an odd look, as if we'd seen each other before. I wouldn't lie, I would remember if I'd seen a girl like her before. Of course, that may be the case with my amnesia, but the girl would tell me if she knew anything about me right?
"Well we should get to the Redwood national park as soon as possible." I went over to my closet, bringing out a few duffel bags. I had been strangely compelled to make them the moment I finally had some spare time on my hands, and I didn't see any reason why to argue about it. I packed all the things I thought we needed into them. I tossed them at the two, who received them with no small amount of discomfort. "What're your sizes?"
"Why do you ask?" The only conscious girl inquired, Jason already unzipped his bag and was looking through with something akin to happiness in his eyes.
"I've got a few jackets I picked up at a flea market." I haggled them down to eighty percent their normal price too. The guy who was selling them looked more than a little seedy, so I held none of my criminal skills back. I left with several high quality jackets, and a man weeping softly in his stall. "Leather, better protection than just T-shirts, warm too."
"We're both medium." I got the two sizes, they were brown, and closed up when you put a button through a hoop. Definitely made by hand, which was why I doubted the guy that sold them made them himself. Sleazy, and more than a bit greasy haired, I knew he had haggled some small family down out of the jackets. Made me feel pretty good, since I knew that he didn't even break even.
"What is this thing?" Jason held up the most important part of the duffel bag with reverence in his eyes. Reyna's eyes followed mine, and hers lit up in wonderment as well.
"That is the Annihilator." I smirked as Reyna produced her own out of her duffel. "Three feet of crowbar, hammer and axe. Best tool made in history."
"It's not going to do well against monsters." Reyna pointed out with a placid tone, though the way she was swinging it made me fear for the structural integrity of my home.
"It's for more mundane uses." I stated bluntly, hoping that they'd drop the subject. I got it mostly because it would've been nice to have something that could break into anything short of a safe without pulling out Aestus. "Doors and things."
And cars, windows, fire extinguisher boxes, etc. etc.
Judging by the look I was receiving from the girl, she didn't believe me all that much.
"Plenty of other supplies in there." I handed each of them their jackets. "I figure we'll grab you guys a set of clothes before we head out." I cocked my head as I caught their scent. "And some soap too."
"The monster spat at us." Jason explained weakly, "It dried while we were flying…"
I blinked at that explantion.
"And you're sitting on my couch!?"
Oh this was going to be a long trip.
…