Mark of Athena

Disclaimer- I own the plot, and nothing else. Everything you recognise belongs to Rick Riordan.

Prologue-
Nico POV:
It was a warm, happy day at Camp Half-blood. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the Ares cabin had gone hours without causing a fight. Not.
In actuality, it was cloudy, wet, and cold, and there seemed to be screams coming from the arena...

Nico was dead meat. He'd shadow-traveled into the middle of the arena and collapsed, just as Annabeth was about to disarm her opponent, Clarisse. Beside them, Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner were sparring. Travis was the source of the screaming.
Annabeth turned for just a second, and in that moment, Clarisse struck. She hit the hilt of Annabeth's knife with her sword, and, with a clang, it fell to the dirt. Disarmed, Annabeth stood with Clarisse's sword at her chest. "Dead," Clarisse stated. Annabeth stepped back, annoyed. She turned back to Nico, who had just gotten up off the ground.
"Nico. Di. Angelo," Annabeth said loudly, punctuating every word. "What. In. Hades. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?"
A sheepish looking Nico faced her. "I, um... Shadow traveled here?"
Annabeth stalked up to him. "I can see that. But did you have to arrive now? I was just gonna finish her off!"
"Sorry Annabeth..."
"Ughhh!" she sighed. "Any news on Percy?" she asked. Nico shook his head, and she stalked off, leaving him to fend for himself. He shrugged. He hadn't meant to arrive then, and the Fates seemed to be on his side for a change. If he'd interrupted Clarisse like that, well... He shuddered to think about what she'd have done.
"You're welcome!" Nico called over his shoulder as he left the arena.
"I was doing just fine without your 'help' kid," Clarisse yelled back.
Nico broke into a run, just in case Clarisse decided to get violent. He stopped at the Big House. Chiron would want to know that he was here.
"Nico, my boy. What brings you here?" Chiron called from the porch.
"Oh you know," Nico replied casually, "just needed a break from... Them."
"Nico!" Chiron scolded, "You should know not to talk about them here!"
Nico winced. "Sorry Chiron."
"Very well. Do you know how long you will be staying?" Chiron inquired with a strange twinkle in his eye.
"A while. I need to recover my strength before trying to go back." At this, he grimaced slightly. "All that training and then trying to shadow travel here in the same day... It'll be at least a week."
Chiron smiled at him gently. "She has a different training schedule, I take it?"
"Different is one way to put it," Nico muttered as he strode off to his cabin. "My podex is still sore from trying to ride that eagle."

On the way to his cabin, Nico stopped by the _ to grab a bite to eat. Upon arriving, he got one of the biggest surprises of his life- Jason Grace, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion; the Praetor who had been missing for months, sitting alone at the Zeus table.
"Jason?" he blurted out, unable to stop
himself. Jason turned, and a flicker of recognition seemed to show in his eyes, and he mumbled something under his breath, just before he passed out onto the table before him. Nico just stood there, shock written all over his face. If they knew about the Romans... Oh, Annabeth was going to kill him!

Jason POV:
Unbeknownst to Nico, Jason was having a great day. He'd spent the morning with Piper and Leo, working on the Argo 2. At lunch, they split up as each one sat at their respective tables- Hephaestus for Leo, Aphrodite for Piper, and Zeus for Jason. Jason had just been ready to take a huge bite out of his hamburger when...
"Jason?" a voice from behind him exclaimed. The voice seemed familiar, but he couldn't seem to place it. He turned, and saw a boy, about thirteen, standing at the edge of the _. The boy had black hair, dark eyes, and was looking at Jason like he was a ghost. Something about him seemed familiar...
Then, with a gasp, he remembered. The boy was Nico Di Angelo, son of Pluto. He was... He was from the Roman camp. Camp Jupiter! As soon as he recalled that, flashes of memories seemed to flash before his eyes. He saw the Titan Krios fall beneath his hands. He saw Nico limping out of the trees with his arm around a girl that he knew was Hazel, Nico's sister. He saw a wolf running into the camp. And with that, Jason's eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed onto the table.

More flashes danced across Jason's vision. He saw Thalia, years younger, gently chiding a small boy with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. With a start, he realized it was he. The memory disappeared, and another took its place. This time, it was of him only a few years younger, leveling a sword at a black haired girl. Reyna, Jason thought.
He saw a huge fort with an... Elephant? The memories came back faster and faster until he saw himself talking to Reyna again. He saw himself walk out of the room, and towards a huge house. Then he saw a bright flash of light, and everything went dark...

"Jason? Can you hear me?" a voice above him asked. Jason groaned.
"Piper, just leave him. The nectar we gave him-" Jason forced his eyes open, gasped, and shut them again.
"Jason?" Piper asked. He groaned again, and opened his eyes.
"Wha- What happened?" he asked shakily.
Annabeth, the other person in the infirmary told him. "You just passed out. Can you tell us anything?"
"I was sitting at my table, and..." Jason bolted upright, eyes wide. "Where'd he go?"
Annabeth looked confused. "Who? Nico? He's at his cabin. Why?"
"Get him," Jason said. "Please," he added after Piper glared at him. Annabeth called to an Apollo kid to go get Nico. He ran off, and Annabeth turned back to Jason.
"Explain." Annabeth said.
"I know him," Jason explained.
Piper looked confused. "But-"
Annabeth turned on him. "I-I've seen him before. At the Roman camp."
Annabeth and Piper's eyes widened.
"That little-" Annabeth's rant was interrupted by none other than Nico as he stuck his head around the corner. She turned on him, eyes blazing. Jason winced. He did not want to be Nico right now. "You knew about the Romans?" He hesitated, then nodded. "And when, exactly, were you planning on telling us?"
"Annabeth-"
A thought seemed to strike her, and she pulled out her knife. "Where is he?"
"Annabeth-"
"Where. Is. Percy?"
"I don't know!" This seemed to jolt her out of her frenzy.
"You don't know." Annabeth repeated dully.
"Can I explain?" he asked carefully, and she nodded. "I first heard about the camp from some ghosts, and I decided to investigate. They let me into the camp, and I met Jason and Reyna, his co-Praetor. Co-leader," he explained as Piper opened her mouth. She closed it again. "There, I'm Pluto's ambassador."
"When was this?" Annabeth asked, finally.
Nico hesitated, then replied cautiously, "Before Percy went missing."
Annabeth straightened. "And you didn't think to tell us about this?"
"Annabeth, I couldn't. Hera made me swear on the river Styx not to tell."
"That stupid, interfering Goddess!" Thunder rumbled in the sky. She looked up for a second, scowled, then turned back to Nico.
"What else did she say?"
"Annabeth-" The fire was back in her eyes as she took a step towards him.
"What are you hiding Nico?"
Nico took a deep breath, then hurriedly said, "Something about Percy, and the Wolf House, and sleeping?" Then, to everyone's surprise, he dove towards a shadow on the floor, and disappeared, just as Annabeth lunged at him.
Annabeth screamed curses as she stomped outside, probably looking for Nico.
"Do you know what just happened?" Piper asked Jason.
"Sort of. From what I gathered, Nico heard something about Percy's disappearance, and didn't tell anyone."
"Oh." Piper sat beside Jason on the bed. "How'd he do that?"
"He's a son of Hades. Comes with the territory, I guess."
"So... You remember?" She asked him.
"Yeah. I guess I just needed a trigger- something from my life before."
"Remember anyone in particular?"
"Well, there's Reyna, my co-leader, and Hazel, and Dakota, and Bobby and-"
"You and your co-leader- were you like... like Percy and Annabeth?"
Huh? Jason mused, like Percy and Annabeth... Oh! Jason held Piper's hand in his.
"We weren't, together, Piper. In time, we may have, but I'm with you now." Piper, ecstatic, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
Suddenly, a scream pierced the air. "Sounds like Annabeth found Nico," Jason remarked.
"Tell me what happens?" he asked.
"Sure." Piper rose and, with a wave, sprinted towards where Annabeth and Nico surely were.

How was it? Seriously- I want to know. Anything to improve? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Wow thats a lot of questions. Anyways, this is a rewrite of my old story on fanpop. I will be posting both on both sites though. Until next time

-kaitie