Hey there, here's another chapter. You've probably noticed I haven't added any old English to Zoe's dialogue by the way, this will remain constant throughout the story, as it'd would be rather annoying when she's the only point of view in this story. I'll try to keep her formal but modern English is better for improved clarity.

"This is Gwen. Show her your talents and she may stand for you," Jason said.

He'd led me to a girl, apparently a legionnaire would need to stand for me tonight so that I could join the legion. Jason and Gwen were both members of the Fifth Cohort, which had a mixed reputation amongst camp. It was a continued embarrassment that they'd lost their bearings in a failed quest years ago, but Jason Grace was part of it and everyone greatly respected him.

I'd learned as much over a quick lunch where I'd been introduced to a few of his friends. They'd also suggested a spar with someone as a smooth way to get someone to stand for me. It had come attached with a warning that if I made a bad showing then others might be more reluctant but that wouldn't be an issue for me.

"Hello, welcome to Camp Jupiter!" The girl, Gwen, said giving me a friendly smile.

"And good luck Zoe, I'll be watching you in the stands," Jason added before turning and walking away.

Gwen led me to the centre of the arena and I sized her up. A human woman, around twenty years old with a noticeably large, muscular stature. I likely looked very young to her, my body being only 14 years physically speaking. With a bow and arrow, I could easily impress her.

"So, what do you think of the camp so far?" She asked me after a moment, her voice light.

I thought about all I'd seen today, clamping down on my all memories of the place as an enemy hideout. It was many things, large, regal, military. I decided upon a neutral answer. "It's very organised."

Gwen smiled. "Yes, it is," she agreed. "I love it here, we're safe and I have people looking out for me."

"How many people are here?"

"Hmm… there's about two hundred active legionaires, but there's also many ghosts and more people going to college in what we call New Rome," she replied.

I nodded; far larger than Artemis' hunt or Camp Half-Blood then. After a pause she asked, "you don't have a weapon, do you? Do you know how to fight?"

"I don't have any weapons. But I'm very good with a knife and a bow and arrow," I replied, I couldn't mask my pride my prowess.

Gwen looked surprised by this. "You've learned how to shoot? Don't you think you should carry a weapon around or haven't you fought any monsters yet?"

Clearly it was out of the norm to know how to shoot arrows, especially upon arriving with no weapons to speak of. It also might be considered strange that I wasn't chased by monsters on my way to camp Jupiter. But escaping death does lead to strange events.

"I used to have weapons but they're lost or destroyed now," I explained away.

Gwen didn't appear satisfied with my vague answer but didn't press the issue. "Okay then, come in here and I'll see if I can find you some suitable weapons," she replied, taking me over to a side room, some extension of the main Armoury (which was located elsewhere) presumably.

I entered after her and flinched at the sight. The room was filled with shining gold. I immediately looked down, I'd always associated gold with Apollo and even the memory of him made my blood boil - well usually it was only mild annoyance but nevertheless so much gold was unpleasant.

"Zoe?" Gwen had noticed my discomfort, of course. I wished she wouldn't bother to worry.

"Are you alright?"

I attempted to look more relaxed. "I'm quite well. The sight of the gold was merely startling," I replied honestly; sincerity was important after all.

She shrugged, perhaps most wouldn't act so adverse to the sight of gold. But most people hadn't met Apollo, his cabin at the Greek camp was solid gold. Probably the same here as well. I preferred things to be more subdued.

She picked up a few gold weapons. "You said you could fight with a knife, right?"

At a nod from me, she continued. "Okay, there a few things here which should work would you be happiest with a gladius, which is a short sword or else a Putio, a dagger?" She held up each of the weapons as she said their names.

I briefly tried each weapon out before choosing a short sword. I wouldn't say I liked it greatly, but it would do for now. Perhaps I could make my own weapon whilst I was here, something I was more comfortable with. Gwen favoured a long spear herself, which would typically put me at something of a disadvantage.

"Let's have our fight then," she grinned in excitement, clearly keen to show off to me, the new person. I couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement myself.

As we faced each other in the centre of the arena, I considered my chances. I was almost certain Gwen would underestimate me. She was a centurion and several years older than me, physically at least. She was also much bigger, stronger and her weapon had a very long reach. She had no reason to think I was anything other than inexperienced.

Just the opposite was true however. Even using a weapon that I didn't like, and not my preferred bow, I was in my element. Romans traditionally fought as teams and likely didn't do a great deal of one on one fighting whereas I was very much an independent fighter regardless of my time spent as a huntress.

However, she was stronger than me and I couldn't underestimate her. I hadn't so much as held a weapon since my death. Gwen hadn't died recently and she was hardly a rookie. Even the greatest amount of experience wasn't everything against the natural disadvantages of a short sword against a long spear.

I faced her, expressionless, holding my sword in front of me while she held her spear. In the stands, Jason was also accompanied by a few of her friends who had decided to watch the fight. I mostly ignored them but wondered what they were expecting to see. Perhaps they just wanted to spend time with Gwen and were prepared to wait.

We began to circle each other slowly. I was waiting for her to attack first, as I'd need a good chance to approach her before I could land any strikes.

She obligingly lunged. I swiftly dodged to the right and tried to get in close but she hadn't let her guard down. The spear followed me, forcing me to keep my distance; my sword felt tiny in comparison. I continued to circle her as she slowly turned.

She soon lunged again, seeing as I wasn't about to make any stupid errors. I dodged again. She followed with a second jab but I avoided it easily. Speed and timing was key for me to get around her guard, so I waited for her to attack again before committing to any attack.

Her lunges came faster and with more variation to try and catch me out. It wasn't nearly enough. Soon enough she became a touch too overconfident, and she lunged with a bit too much energy. I dodged and ran behind her before her spear could catch up, to deliver a swift blow. She stepped back and turned to stop me with her spear but I ducked below it and was in the perfect position to stab her in the stomach-

A strong hand - Gwen's - was suddenly pushing my head back. She'd taken a hand off her spear? That was unconventional, but unfortunately effective. Not standing at full height I lost balance and my head hit the hard ground. I immediately rolled away from Gwen before she could take advantage of my position and got up.

She'd indeed charged towards me with her spear but I'd expected this and quickly moved back before charging myself, keen to attack before she recovered her stance. I dodged her spear again -she really was quick- to launch an attack on her side.

Mindful of her tactics, I tried grabbing the shaft of her spear in my other hand. She quickly wrestled it off me and I nearly lost my balance. It proved to be enough though for she couldn't stop my blade. I held my sword at her neck.

"Yield."

Gwen breathed heavily. "I surrender."

I lowered my sword, as she stared at me in disbelief. It felt good to defy expectations. She took a step away from me and lowered her spear. "That was... very good," she said.

I nodded, putting the sword in its sheath on my waist. In truth, I'd taken her by surprise and she'd been less cautious then she might of, even then she'd been very adaptable. In time, she could potentially defeat me – in a straight fight without my preferred weapon, granted. Either way, I could still fight.

"I trust that I have sufficiently proven myself?"

Her reply was rather stiff. "Yes… You've exceeded my expectations, even."

I glanced at the stands, where her friends were muttering to each other. Right, a loss wasn't what she had expected. Maybe I should have thrown the fight? No, I didn't want a second life filled with more secrets and deception. I wasn't about to do myself a disservice.

I did walk outside alone however, leaving Gwen with her friends. No point in forcing her to make pleasant conversation when she was disappointed in herself. Still, with my fate as a member of Camp Jupiter assured, I didn't have much to do before dinner where Gwen would stand for me so I could officially join her cohort.

"Hey Zoe, where are you going?" A voice said behind me. It was Jason.

"Nowhere."

"I'll come with you," he replied, eyes twinkling with humour.

I nodded politely though I'd have liked to refuse. He was a boy and I was a former huntress. More than that, he was a well-respected male hero. Could I expect him to be anything other than insufferable, ultimately?

Well, I'd have to see. My old biases were not everything. I wasn't a Huntress of Artemis anymore. Quite who I was remained to be seen, but I couldn't simply close myself off from the world, as a child forever. Jason could prove to be interesting. I'd withhold judgement for now.

"You beat Gwen," he said after a moment.

"Indeed."

"So... would you tell me about yourself? We don't know anything about you," he said. By 'we' I assumed he was referring to him and Reyna. "I think we should've found out more before we sent you to Octavian."

"I don't have anything to tell you," I replied, with some irritation.

Jason choked down a few chuckles. I glared at him, but he only grinned, failing to keep a straight face.

"What," I said sharply, "do you find so humorous?"

"Sorry, sorry," he said quickly. "It's just...how serious you are and how easily you're annoyed."

I looked at him in disbelief. I was used to respect or challenges, not this casual attitude. Was he laughing at my weakness? Would he be laughing if I'd shown him I was a huntress?

Jason stopped smiling. "Listen, I don't mean to laugh, I really don't," he said, more seriously. "It's just... after everything that's happened, it seems weird that you'd be so secretive."

Oh. Everything that's happened? He had clearly been involved in something huge recently and it had influenced his behaviour. I could emphasise in some respects. The life of a demigod often led to odd moods given the relentless trials and the pressure.

"What happened?"

He seemed hesitant to say anything, and I was in no position to demand anything of him. "Of course, you haven't heard," he said, staring into space.

"A few months ago, Titans tried to take over the world. Do you know about gods and mythology?" He asked me, to which I nodded.

"So in San Francisco, there was this huge fortress run by the Titan leader – I shouldn't say his name. We then trashed the fortress, cutting off their power and preventing them from taking over. Their army disintegrated in the east once their power base was destroyed. Olympus' fall was prevented," he explained.

I frowned, I recalled watching some fighting occurring in New York while I had been dead though I hadn't fully understood everything occurring. I supposed his tale was not the complete story.

"That sounds like an incredible feat. Did you have to fight Atlas?" I replied, before immediately regretting uttering my father's name.

"He was the worst. Throughout the fight, he tried to invade my thoughts and curse me, and everyone else. We couldn't really do anything about him; he was busy holding up the sky so we didn't properly fight," Jason replied. "I'm surprised you've heard of him though," he added, inquiring.

I knew I needed him to trust me at least a little, so some more truth would be necessary. "Yes. I know a great deal about monsters, I have been trained to fight previously," I said. I wasn't sure how best to mention being a huntress.

Jason nodded for me to continue.

How much more detail could I safely add? "I was... leading of a group of monster hunters. We were like nomadic travellers."

"You were a leader of this group? What happened to it?"

"I left." I answered vaguely. "The group itself is still active, I believe. But the current leader is Thalia now," I continued, hoping he wouldn't demand any more detail. Not that I'd be obliged to answer.

"Thalia? The name sounds rather familiar," Jason replied sounding uncertain. I merely nodded, unsure how to reply.

I looked around. We'd been walking aimlessly for a while now, wasn't dinner soon? I would be happy to stop speaking with Jason, even if he hadn't been too bad so far. Aside from the random laughing and the prying. I was being uncharacteristically tolerant perhaps.

"Well, it makes sense that you're trained, you fought well today," Jason said.

"Thank you," I replied. "Perhaps we'll have a chance to fight at some point too?"

He chuckled once more. "You're still the rookie and I'm the Praetor here. I'll be happy to prove it, if necessary."

"Oh right, it's all about status here, isn't it? I'm supposed to be honoured you're even speaking to me now, aren't I?" I replied dryly.

"Pretty much. Right now, everyone is higher ranking than you. And they won't let you forget it." Jason confirmed.

"Right, and I didn't even think to carry any letters of reference with me through the wilderness," I mock-complained.

Jason laughed. "Extremely forgetful of you."

We talked on lighter subjects for a little while, given that it seemed neither of us had anything better to do. From what I could gather, Jason thought it was refreshing that I hadn't been here during the Titan War for whatever reason. It was nice. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a conversation with a boy and it had just been pleasant.

Back before I died, (it was becoming easier to accept this idea with every passing hour), I recalled speaking with Percy Jackson. He'd been kind and he'd made a real effort to understand me. But we'd known each other for such a fleeting period and we'd never simply talked. It was a lost chance.

"Looks like it'll be dinner soon! I'll show you the way to the pavilion. Let's get going," Jason eventually brought up and began leading me.

That's the end of this chapter. What do you think? By the way I may have to add in an OC Roman or two at some point. Give me an idea or two for a character? Thanks for reading and I hope you review!