Mark of Athena Ch. 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the Heroes of Olympus, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any of the characters in these combined series. I wish I did, but I don't.

AN: Enjoy(:

Annabeth

Gods! I forgot how amazing it feels to have Percy's lips on mine. To tangle my fingers through his thick, messy hair. To feel his soft hands on my waist.

Eventually, I had to pull away to catch my breathe. When we both stopped gasping for air Percy grinned.

"So you didn't find some big tough new boyfriend while I was gone?"

I rolled my eyes. What a ridiculous idea. As if anyone could replace Percy, who had been my best friend since we were twelve years old and who I had had a crush on almost as long.

"I'm sure I could have," I joked, "but I wasn't really looking. I was too busy picking up your slack."

Percy chuckled, "Isn't that Jason Grace's job?"

I grinned, "Jason is great on quests, but he is a terrible teacher! I had to pick up all of your classes. Mythology was easy,but sword fighting? I don't even fight with a sword," I complained.

"Life is hard all around." He replied with a smile.

I returned it easily, "So what have you been doing all this time?"

"Sleeping mostly," He answered.

I was just about to ask him to elaborate, after all, Camp Jupiter didn't seem like the sleeping in kind of camp, but he seemed to have taken the thoughts from my head.

"Hera put me to sleep and hid me until Camp Jupiter 'needed' me. When I woke up I knew I had to find Lupa and she sent me here."

I seriously doubted that was the whole story, but I decided to let the subject drop.

"How long have you had your memory back?" I pressed, thinking of how Jason was still missing bits and pieces of his life.

Percy answered, "I drank a vial of gorgon's blood during my quest to Alaska and got my memory back." He looked at the floor nervously and added in little more than a whisper, "But I never fogot you. I could never forget about you."

I inhaled sharply. I attempted to control my face, but I'm sure my shock was clear to Percy who could read me like an open book.

Was it really possible that every minute I spent worrying about him and wondering where he was he could have been across the country doing the same? Every night that I spent dreaming of him could he have dreamt of me too?

After I composed myself I asked in a weak voice, "Did you remember anything else?"

He shook his head, "No. I tried so hard to just remember my address or my mom's name, but it wouldn't come."

I nodded. Jason had told me something similiar to that.

"What's with the toga?" I questioned, failing to hide my amused grin.

Percy laughed, "Not the most attractive outfit I own, I'll admit, but I had to wear it. There was a Senate meeting before you arrived and I didn't have time to change." He explained.

I began to ask another question, but Percy quickly quieted me with a kiss.

"We can finish this interogation later," he announced, grabbing my hand and leading me back outside," But now it's time for your first Senate meeting." Percy added with a fake grin plastered on his face.

Jason

The wait to begin the Senate meeting lasted a very long time, and not a minute of it was I released from two things: Reyna's eyes on me, burning a hole in my back, and Piper's hands grasping mine simply because it was familar in this unfamiliar place.

Everyone from Camp Half-Blood, except Percy, sat on one side of the room, while the Romans sat on the opposite side. The praetors were seperated from both groups to show their nuetrality, though I knew, at well as everyone else, that both were far from nuetral.

The meeting began on a light subject: whether or not to kill us (yes, I was included with the Greeks, but so was Percy).

"Enough!" Reyna shouted after a few minutes of listening to Octavian's well rehersed speech, "We are not here to decide whether or not to fight. That decision has already been made. We will not attack unless they initiate the battle, which Praetor Jackson has assured us will not happen. We are here to decide when our heroes will leave for this epic quest and in what ways Camp Jupiter may support them."

She had hardly finished her statement when an unfamiliar voice shouted, "Why should we do anything to support these greeks?" He said greek like others might say vomit.

Reyna flashed around with a hard look on her face, "I will remind you that we are also sending four heroes: Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, Hazel Lovesque, and Frank Zhang."

The crowd seemed to be taking this information in when the same voice retorted, "The newbie, the traitor, and a couple of losers from the fifth cohort."

Reyna glared at the owner of the voice, "I will have you know that the newbie is your praetor, that the traitor did not choose to leave us, and those losers brought back the eagle and restored our camp's honor. Furthermore, David, you would do well to keep in mind that you will NOT speak out of turn in these meetings, and your blatant disregardof my authority is beginning to anger me."

"Nice monologue," The boy, David, must have had a death wish to be talking to Reyna like he was.

Reyna calmly turned to where a built boy that I reckognised instantly as a son of Mars, stood silently, "Would you please escort our friend, David, from the premesis?"

The boy nodded and grabbed David by his arm before hauling him swiftly out the door.

"Does anyone else have anything to say to me?" She glared at the crowd. I rolled my eyes at her dramatics but remained silent as did everybody else. Beside Reyna, Percy Jackson sat looking utterly bored.

I surpressed a grin at the memory of me feeling the exact same way when Reyna 'disciplined'.

And then I heard it; A whispered word from the Roman side. Traitor. It seemed to bounce around the room. Traitor. Traitor. Jason Grace is a traitor.

Some part of my brain acknowledged that the meeting was back on appropriate subject, but I couldn't make myself focus on the words being said. Traitor? When David said it, it seemed so much less serious. He was just fishing for an insult, after all.

I knew how it looked. I disappear and show up eight months later on a Greek warship. But I assumed they all understood the exchange. A leader for a leader. Me for Percy. It was not our choice. It was obvious, though, that some people did not see it that way at all.

AN: Hope you enjoyed! Review! Love, Jess