Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or the Heroes of Olympus Series.

Story: Divided Soul

Chapter 13: Foreboding Waves

Castra Semideus

Annabeth Chase sat on the beach; the sun slowly sank beneath the sea green waters of the ocean. The Pacific Ocean had been far from peaceful since the Greeks had arrived at the Roman camp. Annabeth wasn't sure, but she had the strange feeling that the ocean had been this way for a lot longer than that. She watched the waves strike the shoreline; she could feel the emotion of the god of the sea in each rolling wave that struck the sandy shoreline.

A noise from behind the daughter of Athena alerted her to a visitor. She turned to see a dark brown haired girl. Piper stepped toward her friend. Annabeth smiled at her.

"You're up late. Can't sleep either?" Annabeth asked.

Piper smiled at her friend before plopping down in the sand next to her. "I'm pretty anxious… about a lot of things," Piper said. Her voice trailed off at the end.

"Is one of them a certain blonde haired son of Jupiter?" Annabeth gave her friend a mischievous smirk.

Piper sighed. "That obvious, huh?"

Annabeth smiled. "I'm sure it's as obvious as my thoughts."

Piper chuckled. "About a certain dark haired son of Poseidon."

Annabeth nodded. "Gods, we're screwed up."

"Tell me about it. I thought the girl was supposed to be hard to read."

Annabeth bumped her shoulder into her friend. "Don't tell me that a daughter of Aphrodite is having a hard time reading a boy," Annabeth said with mock astonishment.

"Hey, you're just as confused as I am," Piper retaliated.

Annabeth sighed as her gaze drifted toward the sea again. "I know. It's even more frustrating to me. You don't know how hard it is, not knowing."

Piper bumped her shoulder in return. "Hey, if it's hard for a daughter of the love goddess, it must be ten times worse for the daughter of Athena."

Annabeth looked at her friend and smiled. "You remind me so much of Silena. I guess I've told you that before."

Piper nodded. "Everybody says how great she was."

"You're not half bad yourself." Annabeth grinned at her friend.

"Thanks, it means a lot." Piper returned her smile before staring back out toward the sea. "The ocean has been pretty rough lately." Piper looked at Annabeth questioningly.

Annabeth nodded. "I know. Poseidon's not happy."

"It's about Percy, isn't it?" Piper gave her friend a questioning glance.

"I think so; I guess he's not happy about what Hera and Ares did to him." Annabeth frowned at the thought.

"Neither are you."

Annabeth sighed before lying down in the sand and looking up at the stars. "I know. Now I'm even more worried with the whole loss of the curse of Achilles thing."

Piper mimicked her friend by lying down in the sand. "Do you think Nico will find out what happened?"

"He will. He knows how important this is." Annabeth looked up at the stars before clearing her throat. "Percy and I use to lie on the beach at camp and watch the stars."

Piper turned to stare at Annabeth. "Sounds pretty nice."

"It was." Annabeth's eyes seemed to glisten in the moonlight as the moon rose into the sky.

"Annabeth, we'll get his memories back." Piper gave her friend a reassuring smile. "You and Percy are mom's favorite couple, she won't let that go away so easy."

Annabeth nodded. "I hope so, I miss him so much. It's so hard to see him, but not be able to do anything about it." Annabeth sat up, a sad and disheartened expression on her face. She looked over at the daughter of Aphrodite with a desperate look in her eyes.

Piper sat up, and then she pulled her friend into a warm embrace. "I'm here for you; we're all here for you."

"I'm here for you too, don't forget." Annabeth smiled as a lone tear slipped down her cheek.

Next Morning

Scipio stepped out of his tent early in the morning. The sun was just barely above the horizon as the son of Neptune walked to the beach. He was always an early riser, but today he was up earlier than ever before.

The foreboding of coming danger was something that he couldn't escape. He knew that the weakening of the Achilles Curse had something to do with this war, but what? That was one of many questions that raced through his mind.

He stepped onto the sandy shore and made his way to the ocean waves that continuously pounded the shoreline. He plopped down on the sand as the water raced up to meet his waiting toes. The sudden feeling of the ocean opening itself up to him overwhelmed his senses. He could feel the raw power of the sea as well as the anger and frustration that fueled that power. His father was quite upset. This information made Scipio curious, but he wasn't too concerned.

Neptune and Scipio had never been close. In fact, the Consul of Rome had never met his father. The only gods he had ever met were Mars and Juno. Even after the war, he had never seen any other gods. He knew that Jupiter was disappointed in him because of all the demigod deaths. He couldn't blame the king of the gods. Scipio hated himself for the loss of the Praetorian Guard; they were his friends, and his family.

Scipio turned at the sound of someone walking toward him. Jason Grace stood at the edge of the sand with a sheepish look on his face.

"Sir, may I join you?" Jason asked carefully.

Scipio smiled at the respect given to him by the former Praetor of the first legion. "When no one else is around you can call me Scipio. I really do hate formalities," Scipio said, as he gave the son of Jupiter a crooked grin.

Jason smiled at the Consul of Rome before walking to his side and sitting down cross legged.

"Can't sleep?" Scipio asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's hard, I can remember my friends here, but vaguely," Jason said, his voice full of sadness and frustration.

Scipio's green eyes bored into Jason's blue ones. "I'm sorry about that. I know Juno cares about you; I don't believe she wanted to make you feel bad."

Jason just stared at the son of Neptune warily. "Why are you so nice to me now?"

Scipio laughed. "We're alone; I don't have to play the almighty Consul now." Jason laughed in return. Scipio's laugh stopped abruptly and his green eyes darkened. "But, if you tell anybody that, I'll kill you."

Jason's smile faded quickly. "Yes sir."

"Good. So Jason, how are we going to get your memories back?" Scipio stared at the younger demigod thoughtfully.

Jason returned the stare, but his eyes showed that he was in shock at Scipio's concern. "You want to help me?"

Scipio rolled his eyes. "Of course, you're one of my legionnaires. I want to make sure that you're ready for the challenges to come."

Jason nodded. "I don't know how to bring the memories back." He looked down at the sand sadly.

Scipio stared at the demigod next to him sympathetically. "How about you continue working with the first legion? Their presence may help to jog a few memories."

Jason nodded. "It might help." He looked at Scipio curiously. "I've never met a demigod as powerful as you."

Scipio smiled, but then the smile faded into a frown. "I doubt there's been one. I'm the only child of the big three that has ever survived bathing in the Styx. Many have tried, but they all failed to survive."

"I never knew that." Jason's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Lord Mars gave me the details. I'm the only son of Neptune to try; all of the others were children of Pluto and Jupiter." Scipio stared off into the sea before turning to look at Jason again. "He thinks that I survived because I'm a son of the sea."

"You don't believe that's it?"

Scipio smiled. "Lupa taught you well. Yeah, I think it's more than that." Scipio's smile changed into a serious expression. "This whole weakening of the curse, it has to be connected to the monster's ability to reform so quickly."

Jason nodded. "Do you think this has to do with the doors of death?"

Scipio's smile returned. "Yes, I think it does, but not in the way that most people believe."

Jason stared at Scipio in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Scipio began to draw shapes in the sand. He drew a map of the United States. "I think the doors of death have two meanings." Scipio quickly drew Greece and its surrounding islands. He marked an area near the south of Greece, the Peloponnese. "This is the town of Limenio. The Diros Cave was believed to be a doorway to the Underworld. One of its ancient names was the Doorway to Death."

"So that's where we need to go?" Jason said a little louder than he intended. His excitement wasn't hard to see. Scipio smiled at him in amusement.

"Yes, one of the places we need to go." Scipio drew a mountain in the middle of Greece. "The other is Mount Olympus, the original home of the gods. It is the foundation of their power. The enemy will strike their first, in order to weaken the gods."

"You said two meanings. What did you mean?"

Scipio's smile widened. "The prophecy says doors of death. Another ancient place that was called a doorway to death was the ancient location of Gaea herself."

"Gaea's resting place is called a doorway to death?"

"Yes, it was originally on the island of Crete, but just like other ancient locations it shifted to the west."

Jason held up his hand. "Hold on. You're telling me that Gaea is resting somewhere in the United States?"

Scipio nodded. "Not just somewhere, she sleeps under the largest and most powerful volcano in the world."

Jason's eyes widened. "Hawaii?"

Scipio laughed. "That would be a nice vacation spot, but no, she sleeps under Yellowstone National Park."

Jason frowned. "I've heard of that volcano. It's what scientists call a mega volcano, right?"

Scipio looked at the map he made as his smile turned to a frown. "Yes, if that volcano erupted it would destroy the world as we know it. Most of the United States would be demolished and the sun would be blocked out for years. The world would plunge into another ice age."

Jason ran his hand through his short hair as he stared off into the sea in shock. "We have to stop it."

Scipio placed his hand on his cousin's shoulder. "That's exactly what I plan on doing, but first we need to defend this camp against the main assault, and then we go to Camp Half Blood with the chosen seven. We sail to Greece and find the original doorway of death. It will lead us to the headwaters of the Styx. There we will discover the reason for my failing curse and the reason for monsters reforming so quickly. From there we go to Mount Olympus and defeat the enemy."

"You make it sound so easy." Jason held a handful of sand and let it drop through his fingers.

Scipio laughed as he smiled. "Far from it. Those two tasks would be enough, except that we will have to return here and lead an army of Greeks and Romans against the full forces of the enemy. We will fight them and prevent them from waking Gaea." Scipio's smiled faded into a frown.

"There's something that you're not telling me." Jason glared at Scipio questioningly.

Scipio sighed. "The last fight with Gaea led to one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the ancient world. The island of Thera exploded, causing massive damage for hundreds of miles."

"You're afraid this will happen here?"

"The prophecy says that the world will end in fire or storm. A volcanic eruption could cause both to happen, but only one of them is needed to destroy the world as we know it."

Jason nodded. "Thankfully prophecies don't always mean exactly what they say."

Scipio smiled. "You've learned a lot even without your memories. We can only hope that the prophecy is not meant to be taken literally, but figuratively." Scipio stood up and offered his hand to the son of Jupiter. Jason grabbed his hand before Scipio lifted the former Praetor to his feet. "Now I think you need to join your legion." Jason saluted before running back into camp.

Scipio turned back to look at the sea. "Father, I know you don't care for me, but just this once help me do what's right." Scipio turned and walked back into camp. The waves rolled onto the shore even harder than before, as if Neptune was answering his son's prayer. The sky outside of the camp grew dark; a storm was coming, in more ways than one.

AN: A somewhat dark and foreboding chapter, but I hoped it helped to answer some of the questions regarding the new great prophecy. Although it may have created a few more questions than it answered. Thanks again to Starlit Reader for another great job betaing this chapter.