Percy Jackson, A New Life

A/N This is an AU story where Percy is a Roman demigod and Hera/Juno brings him to Camp Half-Blood a few days before the Sea of Monsters events in an attempt to control the Great Prophecy. Eventual PercyxBianca

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus, not me. I also don't own Lord of the Flies.

Chapter I The Start of a New Life

"So Kronos is trying to bring another pawn into play by poisoning that tree my idiot Husband turned his newest daughter into. Well, let us see how he reacts when I put my own pawn into play. My Champion is much more powerful than that girl as he has easily proven during his time at Camp Jupiter." Juno had watched over the boy since he was a small child. She was the Goddess of Marriage after all and through her powers she had known when Neptune had broken his vows to be with a mortal woman. She had sensed that the child was powerful when she had gone to check on the mother. No doubt he would prove to be more powerful than all of her idiot husband's children, especially the arrogant prick Hercules.

Juno had another champion she could use, but young Jason was exactly that, young, and when Thalia was brought back into play then many complications would arise. Juno had no doubt that Thalia would wake up, if Kronos failed to do so in his latest plot then Jupiter would probably try to do so himself sooner or later. It was time she paid another visit to her first champion. He would need instruction and probably a little bit of her power for her ploy to be successful. In a few days she would make her move. The Great Prophecy would resolve itself in her favor one way or another; she would make sure of it, she had to make sure of it.

Line Break

Perseus Jackson, Son of Neptune and Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, was tired. He had just come back from a party after winning the War Games with his formerly disgraced cohort. Normally winning the games was a great accomplishment since it helped bring some amount of honor back to his cohort, but the party afterwards was terrible. Well, the party itself was fine; the terrible part had come mainly from the arrogant little prick known as Octavian. He was an upstart Centurion from the First Cohort and Camp Jupiter's Augur who had decided to also become a politician, the bane of soldiers everywhere. It was widely known in New Rome that Perseus was in line to become a Praetor and Octavian had lately been doing everything he could to try and weasel into his good graces. Perseus had to be on guard whenever Octavian was near. Thankfully, since he was a Centurion he had his own private room to retire to. It was small, but it was more than the regular legionnaires, who had to share a room with nine other people.

Perseus had just finished praying to Neptune and Juno ‒ his father and Patron respectively ‒ when there was a flash of light and Juno herself was standing in front of him. Juno frequently paid him visits in his dreams to talk about various events, but for her to visit him in person meant that she had something important to tell him. He dropped into a low bow before his Patron and said, "Your will my lady."

"I know. Arise and be seated my Champion, I have need of you once more."

"Of course my lady."

Perseus knew at once when Juno summoned a chair of her own and sat down that he would most likely be there all night. Well, there goes his sleep. Indeed it was early morning when Juno finished explaining about the fact that the gods had a Greek aspect in addition to their Roman aspect, and the subsequent existence of Greek demigods. She said that the two demigod groups constantly got into wars and the existence of the other camp remained a closely guarded secret from the other after what the mortals dubbed the American Civil War. The Roman demigods had defeated the Greeks, but the Greek's mortal allies had defeated the Roman's allies. The resulting stalemate forced the gods to take drastic action to prevent such an event from occurring again. "I understand what you have told me my lady, but if you don't mind me asking what does this have to do with me?"

"I am glad you asked Perseus. I need you to spend the next couple of years at the Greek camp in order to assist in bringing about the end to Kronos' second attempt at defeating the gods. As they are, the Greeks will be no match for the Titan Army. However, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be able to change that. I fully expect you to change campers into soldiers and you will need a couple years to do so. You will need to become the leader the Greeks so sorely lack."

Juno gave Perseus a few moments to let that sink in. He was stunned at the massive task she had delegated to him; he would have to leave his home and all of his friends for a few years to fight in what he would think of as a foreign war, but like a good Roman he showed no change in emotion other than a slight widening of his eyes. Romans never showed weakness, and even though she was his Patron and he trusted her above all others, he stayed true to his Roman values. Juno was mildly impressed as most others would have freaked out at the monumental task, but one of the reasons she had chosen Perseus to delegate this task to, was because she knew he would accept and he would complete it to the best of his abilities no matter how much it pained him. And accept it he did.

"My lady I will do as you ask, but I foresee a few problems. Since the Greeks use Ancient Greek instead of Latin as we do, how will I be able pass myself as a Greek? Also what will we do about my SPQR tattoo? I have grown fond of it and I have no wish to lose it, but will not the Greeks demigods and gods notice it? And what shall we do about my belongings?"

Juno was once again mildly impressed at him, because of his foresight. However, she had already planned everything out. "Those are good questions. To answer the first question, you should have no problems understanding Ancient Greek. Your mother apparently brought your father's two aspects together into one." She noticed him scowl slightly at the mention of his mother and father, but Juno continued on. "To answer your second question, I will use the mist to disguise your tattoo. Everyone who doesn't know about the existence of the Roman demigods will only see the tridents and the peacock and possibly the SPQR if they are adept at seeing through the mist. However, those who do know about the existence of the Roman demigods will see the full tattoo so you will have to be careful around the gods and a few others."

Perseus was relieved. His SPQR tattoo was just as much a part of him as his beating heart. The tattoo had the letters SPQR with crossed tridents above them and a peacock in the middle of them, while underneath he had seven bars of service. He had to work hard to earn respect since he was a son of Neptune. Neptune lost respect after the 1906 earthquake incident by one of his descendants that had almost completely destroyed Camp Jupiter and New Rome. Neptune had regained some respect from the Romans when one of his sons led the Romans and their mortal allies to victory in the Pacific Theater during World War II, but it wasn't enough. Actually Perseus had a second tattoo. He had a tattoo of a wolf with its maw open and its sharp teeth showing on his left forearm, but he doubted that he would have to hide it. He had gotten it to pay tribute to Lady Lupa, and many other Romans told him that it looked scary.

"To answer your third question, I will bring most of your belongings to your new cabin once you arrive there. I say most, because you will not be able to bring your armor and weapons. I will gift to you a special gladius, but you will have to obtain other weapons on your own time. I will however, conceal your purple Camp Jupiter shirts the same way I am going to conceal your tattoo. This time most will only see the laurel branches and not think anything of it, but once again you must be careful around the gods and some others that I will warn you about later.

That brings me to my next point, you must be extremely careful around the camp director and the activities director. They are Dionysus, the Greek version of Bacchus, and Chiron respectively. They are the most likely to notice your Roman heritage since you will be around them the most. Chiron will certainly notice your Roman fighting style, but he will not say anything about you being Roman unless he absolutely has too. Regardless I want you to do your best to keep your true heritage in the dark. I expect you to come up with an appropriate cover story of course, but if you are revealed at any time I will step in to do what I must. Now, I suggest you get some measure of sleep. You do not need to pack your belongings since I will simply transport them over. I will return at seven to transport you. You will not be going directly to Camp Half-Blood; instead I will bring you to a school where a daughter of Athena is going to go. She will be trying to pick up a demigod that a faun recently discovered. You will arrive there seemingly by chance and go to camp with them. I will call a meeting of the Senate and tell them that I am giving you a task that will last a few years so they do not think you deserted. I have faith in you my Champion, I am sure you will make me proud."

At that Juno departed. She had told him to get some sleep, but Perseus didn't think he would be able to. Instead he decided he would use this time to write notes to his friends. Juno would probably tell Jason something about his disappearance, but he still wanted to write a note to his fellow Champion. He had become like a little brother to Perseus over the course of their time in the legion. He would also write notes to Gwen and Dakota, his closest friends other than Jason. He was close to some others in the Fifth Cohort but not close enough to require a personal letter. They would probably be crushed when they learned about his disappearance since he had helped return honor to the Fifth Cohort, but Jason would rise to the task in a few years. Perseus had taught Jason all that he could and he had no doubt in his mind that Jason would become a great leader in time. He hoped Jason would become Praetor eventually as well. When he returned he was going to run for Praetor and then maybe the two of them could rule together. Two Praetors from the Fifth Cohort would bring much honor upon it and Jason knew exactly how Perseus worked. Together they were truly a force to be reckoned with.

After finishing his letters, Perseus decided to ask Juno to give his armor and most of his weapons to Jason and Dakota. He wanted Gwen to have his pugio. Then he decided to take a nighttime stroll around New Rome. He would be leaving soon and it would be many years till he returned so he wanted to make the most of his remaining time here. While he walked about, he reminisced about his time. He remembered when he was just a legionnaire and he played a huge part in winning the War Games for the Fifth Cohort for the first time in more than twenty years. He remembered challenging that cocky Centurion of the First Cohort to a duel in the Coliseum for insulting Gwen a year later. He had defeated the boy with only his bare hands and a pugio. Perseus hadn't even worn armor either. The Centurion ended up being replaced later that week by a less cocky soldier. He remembered the infamous Feast of Fortuna a few years after where the fauns had somehow ‒ with Dakota's help ‒ managed to steal and drink several barrels of wine and then covered half of New Rome in flowers when they began to play their pipes and sing. All five cohorts had to work together to remove all of the plants since the fauns were too hung over to do so themselves. The next Feast of Fortuna the wine had been placed under heavy guard. That was also the night he had received his first kiss. Gwen and he had actually been ordered to guard the wine, but Jason and Dakota had covered their shift instead. Since they were technically on duty he and Gwen had snuck off to the Garden of Bacchus. There they had both shared their first kiss with each other… and second kiss, and third, and fourth. He then remembered all of the various moments he had shared with his three friends over the years.

He really wished he could say goodbye to Gwen, Dakota, and Jason in person but he knew Juno wanted to leave as soon as possible. He and Gwen weren't dating since they really didn't have time to do so, but had he become Praetor he would have appointed her his replacement as Centurion and then asked her out soon after. So far they were just friends, but still she was the closest thing to a girlfriend he had ever known. As Perseus paused his reminiscing for a moment, he realized he was standing in the exact spot in the Gardens of Bacchus that Gwen and he had kissed so many years ago. It was his favorite spot in New Rome. He was brought out of his musing by the very girl he had just been thinking about.

"Hey Percy. I see you're standing in our spot."

"Hey Gwen," he said, trying his best not to let depression seep into his voice. He apparently failed. Well, that or the fact that Gwen always seemed to know what he was really feeling.

"What's wrong Perce? You're usually not up this late and I know you were tired last night so something must be on your mind."

"You know I could ask the same thing."

She turned and looked at where the sun was starting to rise. "I just felt like something big was going to happen today and I couldn't manage to fall asleep. Well, Dakota's snoring played a part too," She said with a halfhearted chuckle. She was obviously worried. Since she was here Perseus decided that he would let her know now that he was going to leave for a few years. She would probably take it the hardest. If he left without telling her personally now, she would hate him forever.

"Gwen," he started with a sigh as she turned to him with worry clear on her face. He hated to do this to her, but he couldn't disobey his Patron, not after all she had done for him. "Juno came to see me last night. She told me that I'm going to have to leave to perform a huge quest for her."

"Why are you so sad then? It wouldn't be the first time."

"I'll be gone much longer than the all of the other times."

"How long?"

Perseus felt horrible. Gwen looked ready to cry already, but like a true Roman she refused to let the tears fall. She probably suspected his answer, but he knew he had to tell her to finalize it anyway. "A few years."

Gwen turned away again, she refused to cry. She refused! She was a Roman and they didn't show tears! Her tear ducts didn't want to hold back her grief and sorrow though. She felt a hand on her shoulder offering silent support. She turned back to Percy and launched herself into his arms. "Percy you better come back you here. I don't care how long it takes, just promise that you will come back."

"I will Gwen."

"Say the words!" She cried out despite the fact that she had buried her head in Percy's Camp Jupiter Shirt.

"I promise Gwen. I will come back, no matter how long it takes." At this point Percy felt like crying himself, but he had to hold himself together. At least for Gwen's sake; she needed him to be strong now more than ever.

"Good. You've never broken a promise before so I know you'll come back." She took her head off of his chest and put her soft hands on his cheeks, guiding his head down so she could meet his eyes with her own. She closed her teary eyes and leaned up. She gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Percy kissed her back just as softly and couldn't help but feel deep sadness like he hadn't felt ever before. It seemed like through the kiss she was magnifying his sorrow with her own. He could feel her tears running down her cheeks onto his only to pool where their lips met. She pulled back after a few seconds and opened her tear filled eyes to look at him in the eyes again. "I wanted to make sure I didn't have any regrets and that no matter what happens you'll remember me." She sobbed out still trying her hardest to reign in her tears and failing.

"Gwen," He choked out. "I could never forget you."

"A few years is a long time Percy. I'm sure you'll find someone else to love. You always did have that special something that drew people to you and made everyone want to believe in you despite the odds."

He wanted to tell her that he could never love anyone else, but he knew in his heart that if he made that promise, it might be the only one he would ever break. So instead he drew her closer to him in a hug and stayed silent. After what seemed like hours but was probably a few minutes, they drew apart. When he opened his eyes again, he saw his other two best friends walking up.

"Had a bad dream Perce," Dakota said. "So did Jase, so he decided to come up here with me to clear our heads."

"We heard the whole thing Perce," Jason said. "It won't be the same without you bro."

Percy was sure he had Juno or Lady Vesta to thank for bringing the four of them together for the last time for a couple of years, but at this point he didn't care. He was just glad he had one last chance to say goodbye.

"You've been like the brother I've never had Jason. I'll miss you too bro."

"Hey what about me!?" Dakota yelled with halfhearted indignation. It was obvious that both he and Jason were pretty broken up over this too.

Gwen managed to piece herself together enough to respond for Percy. "Are you kidding me Dakota? You're obviously the brother no one wants but secretly likes. Especially with all that snoring, I mean come on; you keep the whole Cohort up half the night. It's like you keep a bear hidden in your bunk somehow."

"It's just one of those unsolved mysteries Gwen." Jason stated.

"Come on Perce you're on my side at least right?"

"Sorry Dakota, but they're right."

"Oh come on! I get no love." Dakota shouted, having succeeded in cheering them up, if only for a little bit.

"Dakota, when I leave I want you and Jason to split up my weapons and armor. Here Jason take my gladius," Percy said as he removed his sheathed gladius from his belt and handed it to Jason.

"In return Perce I want you to have my pocket watch. You'll need it more than me wherever you're going," Dakota said. It was a gold watch that told time in Roman Numerals with a steel chain attached to it. It was enchanted to always tell the correct time and date regardless of the time zone. It also allowed one to tell what time it was in different areas by simply thinking of them while looking at it. It had once been Dakota's grandfather's and it had passed down to Dakota. The enchantment had actually come from Dakota's father, Bacchus. Looking in Dakota's eyes, Percy knew that it meant a lot to Dakota to give it to him.

"Thanks bro, I'll hold onto until I can come back and give it to you." Percy turned to Gwen. "Gwen I want you to have this," he said as he removed from his belt his pugio ‒ the very pugio he used to defend her honor all those years ago ‒ and gave it to her. He could tell it meant a lot to her based on the look in her eyes. Then for what would be the last time in many years, the four best friends shared a group hug.

After what seemed like hours, Juno herself appeared in front of the hugging friends in a golden flash of light. "Come Perseus. It is time."

The four reluctantly detached themselves from Percy and let him walk over to Juno.

"Be safe and make sure to come back Percy."

"Take care Perce."

"See you Percy bro."

Percy took Juno's hand. "Are you ready Perseus?"

Percy took one last look back at his friends. Gwen had seemed to give up trying to hold her tears back and was now crying openly. Dakota and Jason were better off, though only slightly as they too had tears running down their cheeks. No one was saying anything about this un-Roman-like emotional display however; Percy had no doubt that he had a few tears running his cheeks as well. As he looked back at his best friends, he gave Juno a short nod. They disappeared in a golden flash as he said goodbye to his old life. It would be many years until he had once again returned to his home and the four friends were able to reunite. By that time all four would have changed. It was truly sad, but that day had marked the death of innocence and childlike dreams in all four friends. Through heartbreak, tears, and sorrow they had all grown up. They had all begun the path to a new life.

Line Break

Perseus walked into the school where he would 'bump into' the daughter of Athena. The school was called Meriwether College Prep. It was some 'progressive' school in downtown Manhattan. Based on what his Patron had told him and what he was seeing, he was glad that he didn't really have to go here. His cover story was that he was looking for a school to go to, but there was no way he would ever go here willingly. The teachers were all wearing jeans and rock concert shirts and the only chairs were beanbag chairs. How anyone ever got work done here he would never know.

An hour later he learned that they didn't actually get work done. The teachers didn't give grades and based on the English final he sat in on, they didn't have control over the students either. The English final actually consisted of an hour of unsupervised teens and preteens being left in a playground to try and reenact Lord of the Flies. Well the crazy students succeeded. Within five minutes after the teachers left the playground erupted in mass pandemonium. Well, at least some good came out of the whole experience. Perseus found the demigod who attended this school. He also found out that said demigod was best friends with a Cyclops; a baby Cyclops that was apparently a baby in more ways than one. He had started crying the moment he got picked on by a group of bullies. Perseus had then discovered that said group of bullies included Laistrygonian Giants. Well, unluckily for them he was in a bad mood. He couldn't wait to vent his emotions by killing monsters. Lastly, he found out that the daughter of Athena was absolutely terrible at sneaking. Just because you may be invisible doesn't mean that you don't cast a shadow. I mean really one would think that a daughter of the goddess of wisdom would know that.

The group of bullies had come over to either recruit him or bully him, but they backed off after he gave them one of his trademarked 'wolf-glares'. It was a glare he developed during his time with Lady Lupa and had perfected during his years at Camp Jupiter. It seemed to say 'you may be bad, but I'm one thousand times worse than you could ever dream to be'. His glare combined with his looks made the group ‒ and everyone else ‒ stay away from him for the rest of the hour.

Perseus had a mop of spiky black hair that refused to be tamed and his bangs fell down and slightly covered his sea green eyes. He had a scar over the right side of his lips, that was thicker and longer than Jason's, that he had received when he was six years old during the events that led to Juno taking him to the Wolf House. He was buff, but not overly so. He had the kind of lean muscles that one developed through years of combat. He had on jeans with a steel chain for a belt. Attached to the belt was the chain leading to Dakota's pocket watch that he kept in his right pocket. Also attached to his belt, on his right hip, was the gladius Juno had given to him upon arrival this morning. It was enchanted so that the mortals didn't even notice it. He was wearing an enchanted black leather jacket on top of his purple Camp Jupiter shirt. Since he wouldn't have armor for a while, the jacket was enchanted to be as strong as padded boiled leather. It was also self-repairing.

In addition to the gladius and jacket, Juno had given him her blessing. Since she was his Patron and he was her Champion she was able to give him her full blessing. Now Perseus had power over minds. His ability to manipulate the mist was much more powerful. In addition his mind was shielded from even gods and he could read minds in return. The mind reading would take time to control however. Juno told him that right now he would probably have to make and keep eye contact in order to read minds and even then he would only be able to read surface thoughts. Eventually he would be able to sift through people's recent thoughts and memories from across the room. Juno had also told him that in order to read someone's mind, his willpower would need to be more powerful than his target's. As a result he would be able to easily read the thoughts of mortals, but demigods, monsters, and mythical creatures would be much harder, and gods would be near impossible unless they were really distracted. His powers also allowed him to cloak his demigod aura, hence the six unsuspecting Giants. They were no doubt anticipating an easy meal, but they were in for a surprise.

Perseus waited while discretely watching the two demigods, the Cyclops, and the Giants. Based on what he had overhead from the lead bully, some prick named Matt Sloan, P.E. was going to be when the demigod and his Cyclops friend would be beaten down in dodgeball. It was also most likely when the Giants would make their move. Perseus didn't want to trust in a daughter of Athena that was too stupid to hide her shadow, so he got ready to do most of the heavy lifting when the fighting inevitably broke out. That was fine with him; he was going to vent his emotions after all. Besides its not like he couldn't handle six giants with little to no help; he had faced worse odds before. Honestly, Perseus doubted that he would even have to use his powers.

P.E. finally arrived. Perseus just walked into the gym with his hands in his jeans pockets since he didn't have a gym uniform to change into and there was no way he'd be caught dead in the uniform that Meriwether had. It consisted of sky blue shorts and tie-dyed shirts. Gods but they looked like a bunch of juvenile delinquent hippies. As he walked by the unsuspecting demigod, Perseus briefly made eye contact and read his surface thoughts. Apparently he was named Will Solace and his Cyclops friend was named Tyson and he had a bunch of strange scars on his back. He filed that information away in case it was needed. At the very least it was interesting. It showed that the Cyclops ‒ Tyson ‒ had a violent past. Based on the fact that he had cried so easily when Sloan had begun to pick on him, Tyson probably received those scars while being picked on by someone or something else.

As he watched the jocks and popular kids walk over to Sloan's side, he decided to walk over to the 'nerd' side which is where Will and Tyson were. It made no difference in the long run as he planned to stick it to the bullies before the Giants attacked.

Just like he planned, Sloan called out. "Hey new kid what's your name?"

"Matt Bell," he replied. No need to give out his real name. He didn't need to be connected to whatever the mortals would decide went down in this gym when the Giants attacked and he killed them.

"You look pretty cool Bell, so why don't you come over to our side instead with those nerds?'

"Well, Sloan you're a bully and I don't side with arrogant, weak little pricks who feel the need to hide their own inadequacies by picking on others. So no, I'll stand right where I am." He could see the vein on Sloan's temple pulsing as he and those around him reddened in anger.

"You're dead!" Sloan shouted. "No matter how tough you think you are your team is weak and outnumbered. We'll destroy you and when were done beating you down in dodgeball, we'll beat you down for real!"

"I look forward to it," Perseus said. His lips quirked into a smirk that made even the Giants shiver. It was the smirk of someone who had stared Death in the face and laughed at some private joke between the two. It made many people on the other team rethink their choice for once.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but he is right. They outnumber us and most of the people on this team aren't exactly athletes." The voice came from Perseus's right and as he turned his head slightly to the side he noticed that it was Will who talked.

Will Solace was worried. For the first time in his life it seemed that he would make it through a whole school year without being kicked out. That was normally good news, but on other hand that wouldn't matter if he was killed in this dodgeball game. Normally he loved dodgeball as it seemed like the one of the few things he was good at. He seemed to have some uncanny knack for knowing where all the players were and where the balls were. He was able to dodge like no one's business. He was also able to throw with crazy accuracy. Personally he thought it was his ADHD that helped him out. However, he usually didn't have to play against kids that were almost as big and muscular as Tyson. Seriously what did these kids eat? Raw meat with a side of steroid injections? Small children?

This Matt Bell gave him a little confidence. At the very least he respected him for saying what no one else had the stones to. Still that wouldn't help them too much during dodgeball. Unless Matt Bell pulled some crazy magic shit out of his ass, then their side would get beaten down and all his words would prove useless. Oh how close he was to the truth without knowing it. Close, but not quite. Tyson began muttering about how the other kids smelled funny, but Will ignored him. He wasn't too surprised after all; they did look like the type of kids who only showered once a year.

Will was hoping against hope that they would manage to win. He desperately wanted to beat Sloan's bullies and have Matt Bell's words prove true. He wanted to expose the bullies for being weak like most of them were. It seemed like there was a little voice in the back of his head that was saying to trust Bell. Will decided that he would. At the very least this would prove to be an interesting end to a somewhat normal school year, well normal for him anyway ‒ there was that year that the whole school except him had randomly started rapping. This one class period would end up blowing all of the other events in Will's life out of the water in strangeness.

The first dodgeball came from one of the beefy visiting kids at a speed that Will had never deemed possible before. It went flying at Bell and the only reason Will was able to see it was because of his ADHD going into overdrive. He wanted to yell out but the ball was traveling way too fast for his warning to reach Bell in time. Bell was just standing there, hands in his pockets, smirk on his face.

It turned out that his warning wasn't needed. Bell dodged the ball without even looking at it. He didn't even seem to move. He leaned as little as possible to the side so that the ball missed, but no more than that. As everyone's eyes widened considerably at such a display, Matt Bell's smirk only grew. "Is that all you got?"

"Uh… uh everyone a-all at once!" Sloan managed to stutter out. Everyone on the other team threw their balls except Sloan. Despite the circumstances Will couldn't help but think that the other team threw balls at each other all the time, if you know what he means.

What happened next could only be described as… godly. Bell dodged every single ball thrown at him. His body was a blur. When he was done he was standing in the exact same place, with an even bigger smirk on his face. Then Sloan threw his ball. Bell caught it easily and then said something that made Will believe that he was definitely a god… the god of Badassery.

"Hey Sloan, I think you dropped this." Bell's arm was a blur as there was suddenly a bright red ball in Sloan's face. Sloan's nose erupted in blood as it shattered and he went down. The gym was silent except for Sloan's pained moans. No one could believe what had just happened. Then the Gym doors slammed shut as if by magic and the six beefy giants became… well literal Giants.

"We Laistrygonians will take great pleasure in eating you Matt Bell. You have made this meal much more interesting. We hope you will keep it up. We haven't had a meal fight back in a long time," the one called Joe Bob said. Well, that explained their size; a healthy diet of school children to help them grow big and strong. Yeah he had the answer to his question about their diet; definitely small children… or not so small children.

And then suddenly Bell was laughing. "Oh, I'm sure I'll make this meal interesting. I don't intend to just fight back I intend to kill you." Will was stopped from thinking about how crazy Matt Bell had to be as a huge, flaming, bronze cannonball flew by and hit the wall, exploding as it made contact. Any jokes about huge flaming balls would just be out of place in this situation. There was after all a large chance of death being dished out with those flaming balls. Haha flaming balls.

'Oh my God were going to die,' he thought as another ball flew by him and exploded against the wall.

"Not 'oh my God', but 'oh my gods'." Bell corrected from over to his left. Will looked over and noticed that he was still standing in the same place, untouched with a smirk on his face. Except now he had a glowing gold sword in his left hand. Well, that was new. There was also a sheathe on his right hip. How Will had failed to notice a sword would forever be in question. He knew he was dyslexic, but missing a freaking sword was borderline blindness. Will recognized the sword from history class as a Roman gladius. He was brought out of his thoughts when Bell spoke again.

"Remember when you said I would have to pull some crazy magic shit out of my ass to beat them in a dodgeball game; well it might not be from my ass and it might not be magic but watch closely because I'm about to pull some crazy shit." Will didn't know how Bell had known about that. He must have spoken his thoughts out loud; how embarrassing. That or Bell was reading his mind, but come on that was just too crazy to believe. Right? "Nothing is too crazy Will Solace. Remember that, it will serve you well in the future." Wrong.

As Perseus, aka 'Matt Bell', dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged his way to the first Canadian Giant, he couldn't help but reflect on how much he hated Canadians: mortal and immortal. The regular Canadians weren't as bad as the immortal ones, but it was a close call. The mortal ones might not throw exploding bronze cannonballs, or 'flaming balls' as Will had so eloquently put it, but they were hockey crazed and they did think that curling is a real sport, which was almost as bad. Almost… but not quite. So for now the immortal Canadians were worse. Of course, that was subject to change.

As he was thinking all of this, Perseus had finally managed to reach the first giant. It was easy for him to dodge the cannonballs. If you could dodge an arrow you could dodge flaming bronze cannonballs, or something like that. Once he was in reach, Perseus swung his gladius, hamstringing the Canadian Giant. The moment the giant hit the ground, Perseus shoved his gladius through its temple. He was already moving onto the next Giant by the time the first seemed to realize that it was dead and dissolved into golden dust. He quickly dispatched the next two Giants in relatively the same way. He noticed that Tyson the friendly Cyclops had decided to help out and deflected cannonballs at two of the Giants, killing them. That left only the idiot Canadian Giant named Joe Bob. He had also noticed that the shadow in the corner that was a certain daughter of Athena had moved during the short battle. Honestly he had been really tempted to beam her in the face with that first dodgeball for having no common sense. For someone so 'wise' she couldn't even remember that she had a shadow. However, luckily for her Sloan's face was an irresistible target.

Will Solace was currently standing in the same spot he had been in the whole time as he watched Matt Bell 'pull crazy shit'. His legs had decided that no, they didn't want to move. He would have to thank Tyson later. Tyson had deflected all of the cannonballs that had come his way and somehow managed to destroy two of the Giant things in the process. It appeared Tyson had his own 'crazy shit' to pull. Hurray for crazy shit.

On the other side of the Gym Annabeth had been in a similar state. She was a daughter of Athena and was known for her wisdom, but she was shocked. The tough looking cocky kid had not only dodged all of the balls thrown his way in a practically impossible show of speed, but when the Laistrygonians revealed their true nature he didn't freak out like she figured he would. No, he smirked, taunted the Giants, and pulled a glowing golden gladius out of a previously hidden sheathe on his chain belt. She had started to move into action herself, but that made her freeze in her tracks. His sword was gold, not bronze like the very dagger she was wielding or like all of the other monster killing weapons she had seen. And yet, it seemed to do the same job as he had killed the first Laistrygonian with quick efficiency.

She had planned to kill one of the Giants and run in front of the entrance to the boy's locker room. The other Laistrygonians would no doubt be enraged and they would throw the cannonballs at her. She would dodge and the explosion resulting from the reaction of the built up gas in the locker room and the cannonball would have blown a good chunk out of the wall, allowing the others to escape. However, this Matt Bell, whoever he was, made it clear that he could handle the Giants himself as he dispatched the remaining two. Still she didn't want to seem useless, so she decided to sneak up and backstab the final Laistrygonian Giant.

"You're good young hero, but I told Babycakes that I would bring her tasty treats so I will crush you!" Joe Bob yelled out.

"You know for a Canadian you don't say 'eh' enough," Perseus said as he stared down the Giant.

"What? I don't get it?"

"You don't have to. The dead don't need to understand jokes," Perseus said as he began to charge the Giant. However, before he was even halfway there, a bronze dagger appeared from Joe Bob's chest. 'Finally!' he thought with an exasperated sigh. It took her long enough. When this was all over, he would be having words with this apparently lazy, common-sense lacking daughter of Athena on the proper timing of jumping into fights. She had practically waited until the last enemy was dead to make her entrance.

Matt Sloan chose that moment to regain consciousness. Perseus fixed that problem with a quick pommel smash to the side of the head. Really it was the least he could do. He sheathed his gladius not a moment too soon, for moments later the principle and multiple other members of the staff broke through one of the doors.

"What happened here? Will Solace you were here. What happened?"

To save Will from possibly revealing something the mortals wouldn't believe, Perseus decided to intervene. He snapped his fingers and instantly Mist converged around the area and all the mortal's eyes glazed over. "I was here so I can answer that. Matt Sloan and his thugs pulled out grenades and tossed them around screaming about how 'this was only the beginning' and 'they would hit a children's day care next'. I managed to knock out Sloan, but his thugs got away."

Due to his strong Mist manipulation all of the other mortals present were voicing their affirmations. No doubt Sloan would be in a ton of trouble when he woke up, probably in a cell. That's what bullies deserve however. Just because they were weak, they try to make others weak in order to make themselves look better. He hated bullies. Or maybe he was doing this to subconsciously take out his anger about Octavian, since he was the biggest bully he had ever seen and he had been untouchable. Either way Sloan was going to get what he deserved. Then he heard Will ask some man sitting off to the side for his affirmation.

Holy crap! He did not see the Gym teacher that had apparently been sitting there the whole time. The man was practically nonexistent if he had managed to escape Perseus's notice. The daughter of Athena could learn something about stealth from the fossil of a gym teacher. Speaking of her, she walked up to him, Will, and Tyson.

"Come on. We need to escape in the chaos," she said as she grabbed Will by the arm and began to drag him out a hole in the wall. Well thank you Captain Obvious. Nevertheless the girl was his ticket to Camp Half-Blood so he grabbed Will by the other arm and helped drag him out. Well, more like dragged him out by himself; the daughter of Athena apparently had more brains than muscle. Perseus wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not at this point.

Still Perseus turned to Tyson. "Come on Tyson, you need to come too." Tyson obediently followed. He was even kind enough to take Will out of their hands as he slung the poor kid over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Will is not okay. I will carry him for you," Tyson said cheerfully like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Perseus couldn't help it, he really couldn't. He burst into laughter. "Yeah laugh it up sword-boy; you're not the one being carried around like a sack of tomatoes," Will grumbled.

"Potatoes," Captain Obvious pitched in.

"What?"

"The correct term is potatoes, not tomatoes," Athena's daughter firmly stated.

"Whatever! The point is the same!" Will shouted. Perseus burst into laughter once more. He was beginning to like the supposedly wise girl. She obviously wasn't trying to be but she was kind of funny, what with her obliviousness.

As they walked down the street to wherever they were going, every single passerby turned to stare at them. No doubt they looked like quite the group. They had Captain Obvious up front leading them; at least she looked respectable. Behind Wisdom's daughter, an abnormally large kid carried an average sized kid over his shoulder like a barbarian carrying his bride back to his cave, or like a sack of 'tomatoes'; they were dressed like crazy pyromaniac hippies since they were still wearing their partially burnt gym clothes. Behind them Perseus himself walked. He wouldn't lie; with his hair, his scarred lip, chain belt, and leather jacket he probably looked like a street thug. As he thought all of this he laughed once more and watched as the people closest to their group quickly took multiple steps in the away from them.

"Care to share what so funny Chuckles," Will grumbled back to him from atop Tyson's shoulder.

Chuckles? Huh, that was new. "Not especially," he responded becoming serious again as they stepped into a dimly lit alley. For few more minutes they walked through more dark alleys. He was starting to get frustrated with Captain Obvious again. A couple thugs had made moves to mug them, but a quick wolf-glare showed them how much of a bad idea it would be. Perseus didn't mind doing it, but still could she be even more oblivious?

They finally reached a parking lot with only one vehicle in it. Perseus looked at it closely. It had Delphi Strawberry Co. written on the side with a background of rolling strawberry fields. He sighed; it looked like he would be riding the Happy Strawberry-Mobile to camp. Apparently the van already had a driver since 'Wise Girl' got in the side and not the driver's seat. The rest of them got in after and took seats. To tell the truth Perseus was rather happy with that knowledge. He didn't want her driving anytime soon; at least not with him in the car. She also looked to be only thirteen. Perseus was too and so was Will, for that matter so he wasn't sure who was going to end up driving if they didn't have a driver already. Tyson was out of the question. Cyclops may have great dexterity and hand-eye-control, but outside of the forges they had practically no finesse.

During the ride Annabeth, that was Captain Obvious' real name, explained to Will and Tyson that Greek Mythology was real and all that stuff. He had heard the Roman version of 'the talk' from Juno and then Lady Lupa when he was six. However, while he didn't pay attention to that whole talk, he did pay attention once Annabeth began talking about Camp Half-Blood. Juno had discussed it with him, but it was a good idea to get a camper's perspective on the camp since he would be spending the majority of the next few years of his life there. After that talk, came the talk he had been patiently waiting for. Annabeth asked him what he had been doing at Meriwether. That question would no doubt be followed by a plethora of other questions. He had his cover story ready.

"I was looking for a new school to go to," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Based on the way she had explained mythology and camp to them he knew he could easily get a rise out of her if answered her questions in a smart-ass way. A quick mind read proved that he was correct; she was already annoyed. He probably shouldn't do this since he was going to be spending the next couple years of his life around her, but he couldn't resist.

"Okay," she said, clearly trying to not let annoyance show. "So where did you get that sword and why weren't you surprised when the Laistrygonians attacked."

"Wait a moment," Will cut in, "Laistry ‒ what?"

"Laistrygonians, Giants from the north," Annabeth patiently explained. She was obviously not happy at being interrupted, but she was trying to be patient for the new kid.

"Umm in English please?"

"Filthy Canadians," Perseus readily explained.

Annabeth gave a sigh. "Just ignore him and answer my questions Matt Bell."

"Hey I resent that!" Will shouted indignantly.

"My name isn't Matt Bell," Perseus said.

"Okay, then what is it?" Annabeth was already clearly losing the battle to reign in her annoyance. She wouldn't make a very good Roman.

"Jackson, Perseus Jackson." Annabeth might not have appreciated the reference to the mortal spy world, but Will clearly did as he began to laugh. Tyson was just looking out the windows seemingly in his own world. Perseus was tempted to read his mind, but he really didn't want to know what was going on in the mind of the baby Cyclops.

"Alright Perseus, where did you get that sword and why weren't you surprised when the 'Canadians' attacked?"

"Well to answer your second question I wasn't surprised, because they are after all Canadians," Perseus stated with as little emotion in his voice as possible.

Will began to laugh again, while Annabeth let out a long suffering sigh. The driver was apparently listening to the conversation because he began to chuckle as well.

"Never mind; where did you get that sword?" Annabeth wasn't even trying to hold back her great annoyance anymore.

"From my Mother," Perseus answered.

"Alright so you're a demigod after all?"

"Of course, what else would I be? Canadian?" Perseus scoffed. Once again Will and the driver began to laugh while Annabeth seethed and Tyson seemed oblivious.

"Can you be serious for one second?"

"Sure… there done." At that Will simply couldn't contain his laughter anymore and it took him about five minutes to calm down. The driver was only in slightly better shape.

"Whatever, who is your mother?"

"The woman who gave birth to me and the one who raised me." The driver actually had to pull the van over to the side of the road in order to get his laughter under control. Perseus decided to end his little game and get serious… for the most part. "Do you really want to know who my mother is?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"My mother is Hera." The driver had unfortunately been taking a drink of coffee at the time and he spewed it all over the windshield and swerved into the oncoming lane. He straightened out, barely missing a hit from an oncoming car.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Annabeth shouted. "You're lying!"

"I'm not."

"You have to be. There is no way you could be telling the truth."

"Fine," Perseus said, "If you don't believe me then wait until we get to camp." Juno wasn't actually his mother; however, she had told him that he would be staying in her cabin and she would claim him right away when he reached Camp Half-Blood. She would no doubt find the looks of shock on everyone's faces when she claimed him to be humorous. Jupiter wouldn't be able to do anything about it since he had numerous demigods; Juno felt that she was entitled to have some too. It's not like she had actually cheated on him, unlike what he did to her, she had merely become his and Jason's Patron. The reminder of Jason sent a sharp pain through his chest. However, Perseus snuffed it out within seconds. He had a job to do; he didn't have time to feel emotions that would only make that job harder. He would return home in a couple of years anyway so being homesick would serve no purpose.

"I don't get it Annabeth. What's the big deal if Hera has a demigod? You said almost all gods did." Will asked.

"Because Will, Hera is the goddess of marriage. She hasn't ever cheated on Zeus, despite the fact that he cheats on her frequently," Annabeth tried to explain.

"Well, if Zeus has all these demigods, why can't Hera? It just doesn't seem fair at all."

"She just can't Will." Annabeth was truly peeved. First she had to explain mythology and all about Camp Half-Blood to two demigods, one of which apparently knew already, and a Cyclops. Then she had to put up with questioning Perseus Jackson, aka Matt Bell. Perseus had acted childish the whole time. He had deflected all of her questions with a straight face and no emotions. She had a feeling he was being difficult on purpose in order to get a rise out of her. Then when she had assumed he was finally getting serious, he had to go and blatantly lie, straight to her face. It was impossible that he was a demigod of Hera. However, a part of her brain told her that technically she was impossible too. She was after all a literal brain child. Her mother Athena had literally created her with thoughts. That didn't mean that Hera could have demigods though right? Well, Will had actually brought up a good point. Why couldn't she? Hera could have simply done the same thing Athena does to have children. No matter. She would find out the truth when they got to camp.

The rest of the journey passed in relative silence with all of the occupants deep in their own thoughts. The silence was only broken for Will to ask a few questions which Annabeth or the driver attempted to answer as best they could.

As they neared Half-Blood Hill, Perseus thought to himself that maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He would spend the next few years whipping the Greeks into soldiers while occasionally leaving to go on a quest or rescue a demigod. The Greeks couldn't be that bad right? They were known as fearsome warriors so Perseus's job would hopefully not be as hard as Juno had made it seem. He would do his job and then return to Camp Jupiter after he was done. Perseus couldn't have imagined just how hard his job would be.

A/N Whew that was one long first chapter. I actually wrote this over the course of a little more than twelve hours straight, only stopping to go to the bathroom or to get drinks and food. On another note, I personally have nothing against Canadians or Canada in general; Perseus on the other hand has a bone to pick with that whole country. Love it? Hate it? Review! I need feedback to let me know what I can improve upon and fix any mistakes I've made. Reviews also give me motivation that helps me stay up all night and put out chapters. So again, Review. KratosRain4 out.