Adapting to Time and Fate

Chapter 4

-Awake Why?-

"I am here, but not.

I am silent, but deafening.

I am in all you see, yet unseen.

I slumber, yet am awake

I am…."

Percy jolted up from his dream panting. His eyes scanned the dark room. A perk of having the power to adapt was gaining night vision very fast.

"Percy, you alright?"

Percy turned around to see Will looking at him in alarm.

"Yeah Will, I'm fine, just an odd dream," Percy answered with a sheepish smile.

"Have your nightmares from you know where gone away yet?" Will asked curiously. With Percy's power to adapt, he could likely heal from anything, perhaps even mental scarring.

"I haven't had one since the second night of getting this little gift from Chaos. You think it's a coincidence?" Percy said, looking thoughtful.

Will shrugged, it was possible.

Percy frowned suddenly then asked, "What time is it Will?"

"Three in the morning, why do you ask?"

Percy looked around the dome he had created for them to sleep in. He felt off, like something was wrong or he had missed something.

Percy looked back at Will. "No reason Will. If you want to go to sleep, I can take the watch over for tonight."

Will raised an eye brow. "You sure? You looked like you were exerting yourself pretty hard yesterday."

Percy only nodded before getting out of his sleeping bag carefully. Annabeth was right next to him sleeping.

Will shook his head and shrugged his shoulders again before getting up and laying in his own sleeping bag next to Nico.

Percy grabbed a stick and grabbed a rock and then sat down against the wall of the dome. He then began to sharpen the stick he grabbed as silently as possible to keep his hands busy. His eyes though roamed the campsite. However despite what appeared to be alertness, Percy was thinking. What had that voice meant in his dream? Why did he dream of that voice? He had more questions, but those two were the two that were keeping him awake at the moment. So for the rest of the night, Percy sat there, sharpening a stick till it was a toothpick, pondering the mysterious voice in his dreams.

-Departure-

Will and Nico packed up the next morning. Will wasn't so sure that Nico should shadow travel so soon after the strain it left on the boy after the first trip, but Nico assured him that he would be fine. Percy made sure to thank Nico for the ride there, before taking Will aside and told him to keep his eye on the son of Hades. If Will didn't know how much Percy actually cared for Nico up to that point, he sure as Hades did after Percy pulled him aside. Percy also said that he would look into curing the shadow affliction, even if it took him going to Hades to do it. Will shook Percy's hand when it was offered as the two silently made their accord.

After the two came back, Nico and Annabeth were looking at the two with curiosity but didn't bring it up at that moment. Percy figured he was in for an interrogation from his girlfriend rather soon. He may have been dense, but he was far from stupid. He knew Annabeth and the look she gave him told him all he needed to know about what was coming.

The second the two left, Percy wall pulled back inside the dome by Annabeth and sat down. Annabeth leveled her best Don't-you-dare-lie-to-me-Percy-Jackson glare she had at him and asked, "What did you and Will talk about?"

It was less of a question and more of a demand. That was Annabeth for you.

"Nico," came Percy's fast answer.

"What about him?" she probed as her glare intensified to impossible levels.

Percy squirmed a bit at the glare. The question was fine though, he didn't mind that, but that glare made him shudder. "I told him I would help Nico and his shadowy problem."

Annabeth's glare let off and she nodded. She had been looking into it for Will as well, it was an interesting problem. She still couldn't figure it out, though she had some theories, but no means to test those theories.

Percy cracked a smile and chuckled.

"What's so funny Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked with a raised eye brow.

"Oh nothing, just it's you and me and no supervision," Percy replied simply.

"Is that what you want?" Annabeth purred into his ear as she sat down on his lap.

"Just you and me Wise Girl, what do you want to do?" Percy smirked.

"Ask me that later tonight and you might find the answer you're looking for," She whispered into his ear, then proceeded to get up off his lap.

Percy blinked then laid down and groaned. She had him going for a bit there. "Tease."

Annabeth smirked over her shoulder as she left the dome. "Guilty as charged."

The couple eventually made their way to New Rome. It was a mostly quiet trip if you didn't count the conversations between the two lovers. Worst monsters they saw were hell hounds surprisingly. You'd think a son of Poseidon would get a bit more attention, but apparently word must have gone around Tartarus that messing with the duo was detrimental to any monster's health.

Despite a bit worrying, the lack of monsters made the journey that much easier. Now entering New Rome, well, that was a bit more of a debacle.

"What do you mean you won't let us enter?!" Percy growled.

"I said I'm not opening the gates unless my superiors come to the gate to escort you," the guard replied. The guy had this wary looking his eye, as if he was afraid of Percy.

"Then send someone to go get Frank or Reyna! They know who we are and are both expecting us," Percy replied exasperated. Annabeth simply watched with an amused smile on her face as she watched Percy try to reason with the stubborn guard.

"I will not send anyone, I don't see anyone worth reporting, just two Greeks looking to give me a headache," the guard scuffed.

"What is your cohort soldier," Percy demanded.

"First, the best and brightest," the guard smirked.

"Of course you are," Percy remarked sarcastically.

The guard's eye's alight with anger. "You have something against the First Cohort, graecus?!" The guard demanded.

"Judging by the fact that you used a derogatory term against me, I'd say I have all the proof I need to say that you don't like Greeks, likely because of what happened to a certain augur," Percy smirked.

The guard turned red with anger. "Octavian was a hero! He killed Gaea, not that wild child of Vulcan," he argued.

That's when Annabeth stiffened. She knew that this guard took it too far. Insulting Leo was too far, and Percy still felt guilty over his death. He protected Leo's sacrifice as dearly as all the sacrifices from the second Titan War and Giant War. They were his heroes and friends and she knew he would rather die than let their memory be tarnished in front of him. She tried to intervene, but it was too late. Percy had the poor guy a foot off the ground, holding him by his armor straps.

The other guard was sitting there watched with discomfort, but ready should things go too far. He was about to tell his buddy to just let them through. They were clearly important, and knew all the right names, by Hades, they even looked very familiar, especially the boy. Then the other guard said the words he knew would piss this Greek guy off. He watched as the boy's smirked turned to a feral snarl in an instant. Next thing he knows, the moron is a foot off the ground. He lower his spear threateningly at the boy but didn't get very far as the girl, got in his way.

"Trust me, you don't want to attack him, he will put you through these walls before I can stop him," she said, clearly alarmed at how the situation was going downhill. "Just let me calm him down."

Then the boy talking in a low voice said, "The second I see your Praetors, they will know of your incompetence, even if I have to break this door down with your body as a ram." His buddy the boy was holding in the air looked about ready to piss himself.

"Percy, put him down, he's just being stupid, you don't need to do something even stupider to make him seem smart in comparison," the girl coaxed.

Then an epiphany struck the guard with his two feet on the ground. "Oh shit, I am so sorry for his behavior and I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you right away! You must be Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase right?" He asked, alarmed and embarrassed.

The girl, Annabeth, nodded, at him for a split second and then continued to coax Percy down.

"Let him down Percy, he won't do anything else, will you," she asked with a glare pointedly at the guard Percy was holding. He nodded his head furiously.

Not ten minutes later the two were inside the gates and heading for Camp Jupiter's inner structures. Frank met the two right next to Terminus at the entrance to New Rome.

"There you two are," Frank greeted happily. Percy gave him a small smile as he shook Frank's hand while Annabeth came over and gave the Praetor a light hug. Percy and Annabeth gave over their weapons to the Terminus before entering New Rome as was tradition and walked with the Praetor to his home on the outskirts of the small city.

Percy was quiet the entire time, which was unnerving for both Annabeth and Frank. Percy was rarely quiet like this. Only a slight frown marred his stone façade, proving how bad of a mood he was in. Frank had known Percy long enough to know that Percy had many sides. Most of the time he left his heart on his sleeve, but when he put up his walls, that guy could be as frosty as the Arctic waters and near impossible to read if his more serious side came out to play.

Once the group had entered Frank's house they were of course greeted by Hazel. Percy, of course, could not help but smile at the young women as she came to give him and Annabeth a hug. Reyna knocked at the door soon enough, just as Percy was sitting down with Frank while Hazel and Annabeth continued to stand and talk. Hazel went to go open the door and came back with the other Praetor. Everyone greeted her as she stepped in and sat down with her co-worker and ex-co-worker.

Percy's face was still stoic but had a small smile on it none the less as the three gave small talk, informed one another on the goings on of the two camps. Reyna eventually though got sick of Percy's silent brooding.

"Now are you going to tell us why you seem a little put off right now?" Reyna asked, a little annoyed at his less than forth coming nature in whatever was bothering him.

"Gah," Percy scowled, "One of the guards at the gate wouldn't let us through and then to make it worse, he insulted Leo's sacrifice."

Frank's eyes darkened and Hazel's smile fell. While Frank might not have always liked the Latino boy, he was respectable and his sacrifice was an honorable one. As a Roman, he respected sacrifice, especially the honorable ones. Hazel had been closer to him though, as a friend, someone she could open up to. Both took this insult personally.

"What cohort was he in?" Frank growled.

"I'll give you one guess," Percy scuffed.

"First Cohort then," Reyna answer as she shook her head. They had been harder to manage as of late due to the death of their centurion and the camp augur. Many had large egos and superiority complexes.

Percy nodded at the answer.

"I'll get their names tomorrow, there are only four shifts during the day for the gate, and only two people to guard the outside of them. We'll take care of it," Frank said, his tone tinged with anger.

Percy smiled. "Thanks Frank, Reyna. I truly do appreciate it."

"No problem Percy," Reyna smiled lightly.

"Yeah Perce, we got your back on this one," Frank nodded.

The evening progressed much lighter as the group shifted down to a restaurant to eat. The group talked and laughed at both the old times and the new times till they left for the night.

-End Chapter 4-

Alright, so, not much of a cliff hanger, but it's not meant to be. I'm sure many of you are wondering why have there been no big action scenes and my answer is that I'm working on it. I do have plans for the plot, but this is only getting the ball rolling right now. I do have some action planned soon, but it's still in planning as I'm trying to be careful as to how the storyline will progress on. I need certain things to happen first, and characters to be introduced before I can get to the good stuff. Maybe I'll throw in a spar if I can't write the action scene I want to yet. This story is just getting started.

Also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone!

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