Percy
The walk to my office was relatively silent, all things considered.
The new recruits had already finished their preliminary training for the day, having been settled in their barracks by now.
Since they were built so long ago, back when the Legion was much larger than even its current size, there was more than enough space in the barracks, which only needed a small amount of refurbishing and modernising before it could be put into use.
Although martial law was still in place, the restrictions had been lessened considerably since the planning of the Legion expansion had begun, and as a consequence there were still some people loitering around the city as I made my way back to my office, the sun already setting.
The sun was already beginning to set even early into the evening, as a consequence of Summer coming to an end.
I hope that results in a stalemate for a couple of months. I mused. Fighting a war during winter would be awful for the Legion.
So many issues, so many logistical, organisational, bureaucratic, whatever other issues it made my head hurt.
Just one step at a time. I told myself.
I gave a curt nod to the two auxiliaries guarding the doors to the offices, before the door was opened for me, allowing me in, where I quickly ascended the staircase immediately in front of me, taking the first door on the right, depositing me back into the familiarity of the office.
I sat down with a groan, checking some of the documents at the top of a fresh, though encouragingly small pile of documents which had recently been deposited on my desk, needing my signing off.
Expansion of the smithing complex - that was quick. I thought it would take them a couple of days to ask me for help.I thought as I began the menial work, though the relative mindlessness of it put me at ease.
More ill at ease than relaxed, all things considered.
Unfortunately, although the task did allow my mind to take a break, that also meant it began to wander.
Gods, it's all so much. I've imprisoned Octavian, conscripted ten percent of the population of my people, and turned the government into a dictatorship, even if it is temporary.
I groaned, putting down my pen and leaning back in my chair.
Gods, I miss Artemis.
It had been a couple of days since we had last spoken, and she had told me about… Orion.
At the end of the day, all this, had been a distraction, to try and avoid the moment when I would simply have to wait.
And now, here I am.
It was a strange feeling, this sort of helplessness, not one I was particularly accustomed to, and one which I was even less fond of.
I suppose at some point, I need to accept that I am not a god. I can't always control my problems, or the problems of those around me.
But where did that leave me? Artemis was somewhere out there, and I wanted, no, needed, to-
Let go.
I had to face it, at some point. This sort of stress, singleminded worry, it wasn't getting me anywhere.
And Artemis would agree if she was here. I admitted to myself grudgingly.
I had promised to take care of myself, after all.
Though perhaps she wouldn't notice if I was a bit rough around the edges by the time she got back.
XIXI
Theseus
I was fuming when I walked away from Percy.
I felt shame coursing through my veins as I thought back to it, making me grit my teeth in frustration.
What did I even do?
Have a tantrum, and walk away. I thought frustratedly.
Though, there wasn't much I could have done otherwise.
I know I can't beat him, and he has support from his entire command structure, and is practically a damn saint in the city.
There really wasn't much I could do.
Realising that I hadn't walked very far, I looked back to the spot by the walls of the city where I had left Percy, only to find it empty.
Fuck, fuck, Fuck.
Gods, Reyna would kill me if she had seen what I had done.
I never was as good at this politics stuff as her. I justified to myself miserably.
I checked my watch.
18:32
I'll grab something quick to eat, and I'll get back to Reyna. I thought to myself. Maybe she'll be awake this time.
Even though I knew deep down that it wouldn't be the case, I squashed those feelings and tried to distract myself, deciding to ruminate about the state of the war, and most importantly, my friends.
Gods, what had even happened to Camp Half-Blood?
I knew that if they had come under any sort of attack similar to New Rome, they would almost certainly have been wiped out.
It was a tough pill to swallow, but the truth was that Camp's population was about the same as the Legion.
Before the conscription.
I passed the guards by the main gate into the town, nodding poltitely as I walked through.
No, there was some sort of alliance between the Romans and the Greeks now, so I assumed that Camp Half-Blood still existed.
It has to. I told myself.
I didn't know what I would do if my home was destroyed.
Although, New Rome isn't too bad. I admitted to myself.
Whether out of stubborn loyalty, or newfound ire towards Percy, but I felt strangely guilty about feeling so at home in the Roman enclave, though admittedly, Reyna's influence on me probably made me at least somewhat biased.
Reyna's influence…
I frowned, thinking back to Percy's words about me, and Reyna.
'Percy!' I heard a feminine voice call out to me, bringing me out of my reverie, to find myself already in the forum, as I spun around carelessly, trying to find the person who had called out to me.
It was fairly crowded, especially as it was around dinnertime, and some of the harsher policies of martial law had just been lifted the day before, so many citizens were taking the opportunity to dine out.
'Over here!' I turned again to see two figures waving at me, and I smiled in relief when I recognised them, quickly walking over.
'Hazel, Frank! How are things?' I greeted somewhat awkwardly, realising I hadn't really spoken to them since a day before the Hunters of Artemis arrived.
'Oh you know, It's been a bit hectic since conscription, but uh, actually- Ouch! Yeah, Hazel I was getting to that.' Frank said, rubbing his arm reproachfully as Hazel gave him a meaningful look.
'Look, Theo, we need to ask you a favour.' Hazel picked up from Frank, finally getting to the point.
'I mean, sure?' I responded, still unsure about the whole thing. I still vaguely had Reyna in the back of my head, but Frank and Hazel were also my friends, and I could tell from their demeanours that this was something important.
'Great, thanks man, appreciated.' Frank said, looking around.
The market had thinned out considerably in the short amount of time, but there were still too many people around for whatever they needed to tell me.
'Look, just come with us, I don't think anybody here would know about what we're talking about, but I don't want to risk it.' Frank said mysteeriously.
XIXI
Theseus
I jogged slightly to keep up with Frank's massive strides, Hazel somehow seeming unfazed at his side as she kept up with his pace just fine.
'You have a house, right?' Frank asked.
'Yeah, got one after my promotion.' I responded.
Frank nodded. 'Good. Let's go there.'
The walk was short and silent, punctuated with Frank or Hazel whispering into each other's ears as they walked along, pointing out certain people, and sometimes asking to take different routes.
When we finally got to my house, I barely waited to lock my door before rounding up on the two of them.
'Okay, so this Jason Bourne secret spy espionage shit, what's with that?' I confronted them
'Jason Bourne?' Hazel asked.
'I mean yeah, it's an awesome movie series-'
'No but, you didn't choose mission impossible? James Bond?'
'Oh sue me for being original, I guess.'
'No both of you stop.' Frank interrupted, turning to face me directly. 'Theo, what we're about to tell you is a strict secret that cannot be known by anybody else outside of us three. You will be toeing the line between treason and insubordination. By the laws of the Geneva convention, you will lose your status as an international diplomat, along with the immunity it provides you, and will be treated as a spy, and if caught will suffer the punishment befit of an enemy operative under New Roman law.'
My heart skipped a beat, and for a moment I could have sworn time slowed down.
'I mean, depends on what the favour is.' I passed off nonchalantly.
Frank fixed me with a piercing stare. 'Theo, I mean it. There's no going back from here. You know your brother. The consequences will be severe.'
My interest was piqued immediately by the mention of Percy.
'What does this have to do with him?' I asked forcefully.
Frank shared a look with Hazel.
'Seriously, what do you know?' I asked.
'We warned you, Theo.' Frank said.
'You remember Ella, right? The Harpy?' Hazel asked.
I nodded slowly. 'Yeah I remember. The weird Harpy who kept talking nonsense during our quest. Say, what happened to her?' I asked, though I was beginning to dawn on the answer.
Why would a Harpy be important?
'Theo, it wasn't nonsense.' Frank said seriously.
I raised an eyebrow.
'Right, okay at the start we both thought it was nonsense, but after a while, some of it almost started to… Make sense, you know?' Frank explained.
'You're not filling me with confidence here.'
'I understand that, but just listen, I talked to Hazel about it, and we figured it out. They were prophecies.' Frank finished, looking at me expectantly.
Of all the answers I was expecting, Prophecies was not one of them.
'Prophecies?'
'It makes sense, Theo. Think about it. We found her in that library, near where that weird guy Phineas was. Maybe there was some sort of divine book that was lost, left there, and she somehow found it, and read it. You saw how much she adores reading, I'm sure of it.' Hazel explained, jumping in excitedly.
'I still don't see what this has to do with me.' I explained confusedly.
Sure, she knew a couple of prophecies from a book a god probably misplaced, what did that have to do with anything?
'Theo, it's not just prophecies from the past, it's future ones too. That's the gibberish. Prophecies that haven't come to pass yet.' Hazel explained, a manic gleam in her eyes.
I thought about it hard.
New prophecies.
The idea gave me hope, that maybe there was some sort of solution to this.
Still, what were the chances she would have read and memorised the exact prophecy to win this war?
'I mean, it could be any prophecy though.'
Hazel shrugged. 'That's what we thought too. But there's this one prophecy she keeps repeating more than the others.'
I raised an eyebrow sceptically. 'You're losing me here.'
Hazel shook her head.
'Really, I mean it. It fits what's been happening. Here, read.' Hazel said, pulling out a piece of paper.
I took the piece of paper from here, taking a look at it.
half-bloods shall answer the call.
storm or fire, the world must fall.
oath to keep with a final breath,
foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
I sucked in a bit of air quickly.
'You recognise it?' Hazel asked excitedly from beside me.
'I- Yeah, I do. Back in Camp, we have an oracle. Right after the battle of Manhattan, she proclaimed it. We all assumed it would be for the next generations, not…' I trailed off.
It fit too perfectly to be a fluke.
Although, that said.
'I, still don't understand what favour you could possible need from me.' I said.
Frank and Hazel exchanged a look.
'...Right, so um, Ella, we're kinda hiding her in the woods.' Frank explained sheepishly.
I blinked. 'I just, why?'
'Well, your brother.' Hazel said, a note of hesitance in her voice. 'I- We, don't trust him to have the prophecy. This can end the war. It would take away the legitimacy Percy has for all this. The opposition is waiting for the slightest slipup. You've seen what he's done to the Legion. To New Rome. He wouldn't put the lives of the world first.' She muttered softly, almost scared to tell me.
I sighed, leaning back against a wall.
'I know.'
'You do?' Frank asked surprisedly.
'Just had an argument with him about it.'
There was an awkward beat where neither Hazel nor Frank really looked like they knew what to say.
'So, since the conscription, every single Legionnaire is expected to commit their whole week's schedule to training the new recruits, and we don't really have the time to take care of her anymore. So we were wondering, if for the time being, you could?' Hazel asked.
Seeing the complete sincerity in both of their eyes, I sighed defeatedly.
'What have I gotten myself into?'
'The questing group, obviously.' Frank replied.
I looked up again. 'Pardon?'
'I mean, I assume this quest will have both Romans and Greeks in it. We had already theorised it, but you confirmed it for us.'
'So? There'll be others.'
'Percy, do you really trust any of the other legionnaires to get the job done? Half of the Legion can't defend themselves outside of squadron formations, and the other is too bigoted to be viable. It has to be us.' Hazel said determinedly.
'We're also the only ones who aren't under Percy's sphere of influence. We have to do this. For Rome, and Greece.' Frank added.
The serious atmosphere of the conversation gave way briefly to silence, the three of us stewing over what had just been revealed.
I nodded. 'Right, so uh, that all?'
'So you'll take care of Ella?' Hazel pressed.
I shrugged. 'I've done worse.' I said, thinking back to the first couple of days with Tyson, all those years ago back at Camp.
'Thanks Theo, you have no idea how much this means to us.' Frank thanked me appreciatively, clapping me on the shoulder approvingly.
I smiled softly. 'No problem guys. We'll get on the quest, and win this war.'
'...And take care of Ella.' Hazel added.
I rolled my eyes jokingly. 'And take care of Ella. Bring her over whenever, I'll get her settled in.'
'Thank you so much Theo, also, maybe get some books? That might keep Ella entertained for a while.' Frank suggested.
'Frank, Ella probably read Charles Darwin when he first published his work.'
'Check the young adult section? There are some big books there.'
AN:
So, next chapter is bit dark. Just a heads up.
And, so I have expanded the plot for the seven. I felt like the best approach for it would be simplistic, as it's not really the focus of the story, though the conclusion of the plot, and I feel it's a good representation on where I've gone with the story. Not too outlandish and OC, but definitely changing some of the core aspects Riordan had in his books.
So yeah, yet another chapter closer, and all the buildup of the last chapters is going to keep coming and coming and nothing is going top stop it, because a part of my soul will break off and wither away if I have to write another buildup chapter in a while.
School's been a nightmare, who knew DP was so rigorous, just one of the most demanding academic curriculums in the world, so honestly at this point idk how or when I'm going to finish this. Hopefully before I start losing more time to homework.
SO yeah, Reviews.
Guest932: As far as I know, the Romans don't have the styx to swear by, (or else I just forgot I added that and I have a major plothole to deal with), honestly, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. But yeah, I'd say Theo just wouldn't think of that in that moment, especially when Percy reacted that way to his revealing knowing about Reyna's assassination attempt of Percy, making him realise that this is a lot more serious than he thinks, and that he's in a bit over his head. That's why he was so willing to join Frank and Hazel. Frankly, he realises he knows a lot less about this place then he thought, but also that he really is actually quite scared of Percy. A theme I hope I've expanded on well in the past, and also want to expand on in the future.
Sankarea396: Lol, men do stupid things for love or whatever the fuck the saying is. Idk, the way I interpret it is that Theo wasn't really fully convinced, but there was enough evidence for him to see to make him suspicious, and the timing was pretty awful with Percy dissolving the senate in place of the junta only like a couple of chapters ago. Percy just confirmed his suspicions, and gave him a whole lot more than he bargained. I don't plan on him really being relevant anymore, though.
Fugy: That's the headcanon I have in my head pertaining to no real armed opposition to Percy's dissolving the senate. It has precedent. Percy fits the requirements for it. He has proven a competent leader before, especially with support among the populace from the praetorians. New Rome won't really be an issue as with say, the imperator series, where even a short trip from Percy abroad with the legion in the finale, for example, had him rushing back to the city where the senate might have tried to overthrow his rule.
And that's about it for today. Good afternoon, good evening and good night.
Slán, Murph
