Different Than In Pictures

By: xXxDaughteroftheKingxXx

AN: This is a much… darker story. Rated T, obviously, but I think T is appropiate for this...

The story is about what might've happened if Rome didn't accept Percy. It's very AU, so I apologize for not getting facts right...

So, without further ado, here is Different Than In Pictures.

Disclaimer: Don't own PJO/HoO.

Part 1

PIPER

NEW ROME WAS much more different than what Jason had described it as.

Of course, it was still very disciplined and warlike, like he'd said, but the kids seemed crueler, angrier. In fact, the first thing they had done when the Argo II sailed into their camp was send a volley of arrows towards them.

"Wow," Leo had said sarcastically, putting up the shields around the ship, "friendly bunch of people."

Piper couldn't help but agree with him. How could Jason, one of the sweetest, nicest people she'd ever met, come from this? There must've been a mistake somewhere. Piper even tried imagine Zeus sending a birth certificate for Jason, only this time with the Greek god of the sky as his father, not the Roman. The image didn't work very well in her mind.

After landing, Jason had taken one person with him to meet the praetors, and that person was Annabeth. It was clear that, out of all the demigods on the ship, Annabeth and Jason were the two leaders. Despite having gone on a quest, Leo and Piper were still newbies, while Annabeth was the ultimate expert at this.

The two had been approached by two teenagers—a skinny blonde boy wearing a white toga with a blue t-shirt underneath that was wielding a knife and teddy bear[1]Piper tried not to laugh at that) and a tall girl with black hair wearing a regal purple toga and golden armor underneath of that. Two metallic dogs—one silver, the other gold—were kneeled at her heel, following her everywhere. Their ruby red eyes seemed to find Piper and stare at her the entire time, a thing of which Piper found extremely creepy.

What had Jason called the two teenagers? Pray… Pray… Pray something.

After several moments of a quiet argument between Jason, Annabeth, and the two teenagers, the Argo II and its passengers were allowed in. Piper heard from Annabeth later that the girl—whose name was apparently Reyna—had vetoed her companion—Octavian—'s decision. Smart girl. That Octavian boy looked like nothing but trouble. After all, how many peacemaking people walked around a camp carrying a knife and a teddy bear? Piper guessed not very many, if any at all.

It took them a while to actually be able to get into the camp, which actually seemed more like a city. First, they were stopped by this weird statue of a Roman god—Terminus, Piper remembered—who required them to remove their weapons as they entered the city. There, once again, Jason and Annabeth met those two teenagers—Praetors, they were called—and learned nothing of where this Percy Jackson was. Then, they were escorted to the Senate House, the place where most of them, including Piper, either fell asleep or zoned out.

That had been about five minutes ago. The meeting or whatever in the Senate House had been dismissed, and they were sent to the Fifth Cohort.

"Did you learn anything about Percy?" Piper breathed, running up next to Annabeth.

Annabeth's fist moved to where her knife once was, and she cursed under her breath while shaking her head. "Nothing," she muttered, voice angry and impatient. "Damn Romans won't tell us anything. They know who he is, but that's all they'll tell us."

"And you haven't seen him anywhere around here?"

"None of us have, Piper," Annabeth said gravelly. "I have a bad feeling about this… He's either in some deep trouble, on a quest, or…" Her voice trailed off, and she cringed. "Let's just hope he's on a quest or something, Piper."

From the finality in Annabeth's voice, Piper could tell their conversation was over. The daughter of Athena remained silent the rest of the way to this 'Fifth Cohort', while most of the other demigods talked to each other. Leading the way, frame tall and proud, was Jason Grace.

Jason… He hadn't seemed the same this last week. He'd been stressed even more this week than he had during the quest, and that was saying something. The stress seemed to increase even more when they reached Camp Jupiter. Most of the campers there seemed to know him, but they didn't welcome him. In fact, Piper had even caught a few of them—one being that Octavian guy—shooting nasty glares at the son of Jupiter. It was pretty much the opposite of Camp Half-Blood; Camp Jupiter didn't even seem to care that Jason had disappeared and was now back.

"Well," Jason finally stopped in front of a large, Roman-styled building. A small smile lay on his face, "guys, welcome to the Fifth Cohort."

The group walked in silently, noticing that it was fairly crowded, much like the Hermes Cabin. Leo snorted softly, and Piper just barely heard him mutter to the Stoll brothers, "Roomy."

A tall black-haired boy in the back of the room looked up when the demigods had entered. At the sight of Jason, he grinned, while many of the others in the room gasped excitedly. "Jason Grace," the boy said, grinning wildly. "Good to have you back, man!" He and Jason embraced with one of those strange 'man-hugs', before letting go, and looking over each other.

"And you're…" Jason grimaced, as if trying to remember the boy.

"Dakota, son of Bacchus," the boy said, unfazed by his friend's amnesia. "Senior centurion of the Fifth Cohort." He glanced at the others, blue eyes widening. "I see you brought your… graecus friends to stay here."

"Did he just say 'greggus'?" Travis(or was it Connor?) Stoll snickered, nudging his brother and Nico. Annabeth rolled her eyes, shushing them.

Jason scowled. "Reyna and Octavian ordered we be sent here," he said, a disgusted expression on his face when he mentioned Octavian. There must've been bad blood between the two, or at least that's what Piper noticed. "Speaking of which, why weren't you there?"

Dakota shrugged. "Fixing up the Cohort for our visitors," he said smoothly, but Piper could just barely tell he was lying. His eyes showed it. "Gwen was there, so it's okay."

"Oh… okay," Jason didn't sound like he believed Dakota either, but he went along with it.

The son of Bacchus flashed them all another a smile. "Well, make yourselves at home, oh, unwanted of the Roman camp. This has been your senior centurion, and I bid you all a goodnight." With that, he turned on his heel and walked back to his bunk, collapsing onto it. The Greek demigods looked at each other, confused, because it was only about four o'clock... No where near the time to go to sleep, even for them, who were used to the EST.

A younger, dark-skinned girl giggled, standing up. "Jason," she said, smiling, "it's good to have you back. I'm Hazel, your cousin."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Another Big Three kid?

"Daughter of Pluto," Hazel confirmed. "Nice to meet you all. I apologize for Dakota's behavior, he's a little… wonky." She glanced at Leo, eyes slightly widened, then turned away.

"Wonky…" Will Solace repeated. "Strange word."

Hazel grinned and nodded. "Yeah, well, like Dakota said, make yourselves at home. I… don't think we have enough bunks here, but I'm sure we can get you some cots." She turned, also about ready to leave, when Annabeth cut her off.

"Wait," Hazel looked at the daughter of the Athena who was speaking curiously. "Do you, by any chance, know where Percy Jackson is?"

Piper noticed that the room seemed to darken. The Roman demigods that had been watching all looked away and went back to minding their own business. Hazel's smile faded.

"No…" the daughter of Pluto said hesitantly. "I… I don't. Sorry."

It was then that Piper knew there was something wrong. These Romans were hiding something about Percy Jackson, and whatever it was, it wasn't a good thing.

AN: Oooh... They're hiding something... *creepy music in the background*

Now, this takes place a couple of weeks before Solstice. Say the Hephaestus kids did an extremely good job, and they got it done EARLY. OMG. Lol.

[1]: Say that Octavian managed to convince Reyna to make Rome choose a new Praetor... earlier. Say... like, Winter Solstice earlier. And, since Percy isn't there... say the Romans chose Octavian.

Thanks for reading, and review! (: