Chapter Text
The first couple of weeks in Hawaii had been amazing. He finally had enough space to train without people staring at him and easy access to the ocean to relax when training got a bit too much or the war seemed too close for comfort.
The barbecue had gone great. Everyone had gotten along (despite some grumbling from Nico and Danny) and had enjoyed their time getting to know each other. Percy had enjoyed the fact that everyone at the table knew about the mythical world and that he didn’t have to hide it.
Kono, as promised, had begun to help Percy learn to control his water powers, which was new because he always seemed to discover his abilities on the fly. It was nice to be able to learn things about himself without it being a life or death situation.
She usually showed up around five thirty in the morning and would take him out on a surf board, telling him that he needed to feel one with the ocean. Despite growing up on an island, Percy had never spent this much time in the ocean before. The water in the rivers around Manhattan was toxic and they only managed to make it down to the beach once a year if they were lucky.
Late one Saturday morning, after his lessons with Kono and before his combat lessons with Steve and Danny, Percy contacted Camp Half-Blood by IM. He had promised Chiron that he would call about a week after they’d settled. He hit the button by the sliding glass door as he made his way onto the porch of the house. A few days before, Steve had installed a mister on the awning of his porch so that they wouldn’t have to use the hose every time they wanted to IM someone.
Chiron seemed pleased when Percy told him that Chin and Kono were legacies of Kanaloa and that they wanted to help him expand his powers over the oceans.
“I’m glad people who have water abilities can help you train.” Chiron explained. “In the old days the older children of Poseidon helped train the younger ones but the last half-blood child of your father died fifty years before your birth.”
“It’s been pretty cool.” Percy said. “I’m glad to have someone to ask questions. No offense, Chiron.”
Chiron gave a small smile. “None taken, I am limited in what I can teach you.”
“Are you alone?” Percy asked seriously as he changed the subject. “There’s something I wanted to talk about but it’s supposed to be secret.”
“Yes, it’s afternoon here. All the year-rounders are should be finishing their activities for the day.” Chiron raised an eyebrow. “What did you wish to speak to me about?”
“Dad told me about the Romans.” Percy said bluntly.
Chiron looked surprised. “That is an unusual turn of events.”
“Nico came across his Roman sister. Hades found out and the Fates showed up saying that soon we would know about each other and be at peace but that Nico finding out would be the catalyst.”
Chiron looked weary. “I can hope for peace but we have thought that many times over the millennia. What is different this time?”
“A mutual enemy.” Percy stated. “What’s that saying? Annabeth said it once. The enemy of my enemy is my friend or something?”
“Perhaps.” Chiron stroke his beard in thought. “None of the previous Greek and Roman interactions had a bigger enemy to defeat.”
“Maybe this will make us see that we’re really not that different.”
“We can hope.”
“I’m arranging a meeting with the Big Three leader of the Roman Camp through Nico. He’s supposed to bring him tomorrow afternoon.”
“Are you sure that is wise, Perseus?” Percy always knew it was serious when Chiron called him by his full name. He only ever did it when he wanted Percy’s full attention.
“I think if we want to defeat the Titans, we need to work together.” He explained. “There aren’t enough of the Greeks to take down the whole Titan army, especially if most of the minor gods are on His side.”
Chiron looked lost in thought. Percy waited for him to process, finally he said. “Perhaps you are right. We have been having trouble raising allies to fight. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to put out feelers to the Romans. But Percy, please be careful. I remember the last war we had with them.” Chiron got a haunted look in his eyes.
“Of course. I’m only meeting with one of their leaders.”
“Just trend cautiously, the Romans and Greeks have a long and contemptuous history. It will not be discarded overnight.” He warned.
Percy nodded, taking Chiron’s advice to heart.
“I’ll keep you updated.”
“Thank you and good luck with your extracurricular training.”
Percy swiped his hand through the rainbow and watched as it reset. He dug out another drachma. “Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Annabeth Chase in San Francisco.”
The rainbow shimmered and an image of Annabeth assembling a lego city with her twin brothers in the living room of her house appeared.
“Hey Annabeth!” Percy called out to her.
She looked up startled as her brothers said, “Cool!”
“Hey Matt, Bobby.” Percy said.
“Hi Percy!”
“Percy!” Annabeth said. “Where are you? Is that Hawaii? Did you get a quest from your dad and not invite me?” She accused.
Percy smiled. “No, Wise Girl. I’m at my cousin’s house in Oahu.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, actually I was asked to come here by Dad so I guess you’re kinda right?”
“Poseidon asked you to go to Hawaii? Why?” Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows in thought.
“I have a cousin on his side who’s a Navy Seal. Dad thought I could get more training out here in preparation for what’s coming than I would in the city.”
Annabeth looked thoughtful. “Why didn’t he just ask you to return to camp for some year-round training?”
“I think it’s his way of making sure I can stay with Mom. Her and Paul wouldn’t be able to see me but maybe once every couple of weeks and I wouldn’t be able to finish the school year.”
Annabeth looked impressed. “I’m glad he thought of your education. And there really isn’t a lot of room to train in New York. I mean there’s Central Park but so many mortals go there and they all stare at you like you’re crazy when you practice your combat moves.”
She frowned like she was remembering an unpleasant experience and Percy held back a laugh. He lived less than a mile from Central Park and it was where he usually went to train on the weekends. He didn’t care that he was usually viewed as one of the crazy park people because mortals couldn’t see his sword.
“Yeah. Steve has a whole plot of land, including his own beach!” Percy grinned happily. “And Steve’s boyfriend is a Legacy of Zeus so he’s helping out when he can. It looks like San Francisco is going well for you.”
Annabeth smiled down at her brothers who had gotten bored with the conversation and had begun knocking down the buildings, pretending to be monsters. “Yeah, it’s been pretty great. Part of it is probably that I can defend myself now.”
“You talked it over with your dad and step-mom?”
Annabeth nodded. “She apologized to me.” She still seemed a little shocked by the idea that her stepmother actually cared. Percy figured she had villainized Mrs. Chase in her head a bit.
“I’m happy for you.” Percy said.
“Thanks. So what are you learning?”
“Well some of Steve’s friends are descendants of the Hawaiian ocean god, so they’re teaching me how to control my powers better.”
“Sounds fun. You’ve always discovered them on the fly.”
“Percy!” Steve called. “It’s time for training.”
“Coming Steve!” Percy called back into the house and then turned to Annabeth in the IM. “I gotta go, talk to you soon?”
“Yeah. Stay safe, Seaweed Brain.”
“You too.”
He swiped his hand through the mist again and went inside, interested in what Steve had planned for his training today.
Training with Steve was always interesting. Once he dropped him blindfolded out of a helicopter ten miles off shore and told him to find a way back to the islands. He was entertained when Percy came back an hour later riding a hippocampus. Then he made him redo the exercise using only his senses. He used the currents to push him back to island and barely had use any effort to swim, though he was still a bit tired when he walked out of the ocean.
Danny’s lessons were more about his land abilities. He had helped Percy discover that as Poseidon was called “The Stormbringer”, he could actually summon hurricanes. Together with a little help from Danny and Grace he had accidentally unleashed a Category One on Hawaii. It was a good trick to know and hoped he and Thalia could try to do it together too.
Danny was reluctant to try anything involving Percy’s “Earthshaker” abilities, especially after he learned that Percy had set off Mount St. Helens early that year. But, he agreed (after a loud argument with Steve and Kono) that Percy needed to learn to control it so he wouldn’t set off a volcano or cause a major earthquake by accident... again.
Steve and Kono took Percy on a nice yacht out to Lōʻihi, Hawaii’s active undersea volcano. (Danny had refused to come. Though Percy had tried to reassure him that Poseidon wouldn’t harm him with Percy on board, Danny didn’t want to risk it.) They chose that volcano because it was out of the way of civilians and in a sort of neutral zone between the Hawaiian Gods and the Greek Gods.
They discovered that Steve could in fact breath underwater like Kono and Percy. They dove down three thousand feet to the volcano itself, which Percy noted was bigger than Mount St. Helens.
The volcano hadn’t been active in a few years and Percy discovered that if he laid his hand on the surface and concentrated he could feel what was going on inside it. Kono led him to one of the small vents and told him to activate it.
It had taken longer than he wanted to admit to figure it out. It was surprisingly hard to cause even a small eruption now that he wasn’t in mortal danger. Danny suggested it was because Geo-Thermokinesis wasn’t one of the main powers he had inherited from his father. His specialty lied in Hydrokinesis and Tempestakinesis.
He always came home from his lessons exhausted but happy. His mother seemed to enjoy being able to watch what he did for new lessons. He supposed that it was reassurance and evidence that her son was prepared for the war that was coming.
———
The day after speaking with Chiron and Annabeth, Percy was sitting in the living room waiting for Nico to show up with the leader of the Roman demigods. He had gotten so lost in his thoughts about the Romans and the Titans that he was startled when Nico appeared in the middle of the living room. He slid out of a shadow holding the arm of a blonde haired, electric blue eyed boy wearing jeans and a purple t-shirt who looked about a year or two younger than Percy.
He stood up and had opened his mouth to greet Nico and the Roman when the front door of the house swung open, Steve and Danny coming home from work (they had not been pleased to be called in on the weekend).
Nico had had to grab Jason after lights out at Camp Jupiter so no one would wonder where he was. It was his co-praetor’s turn to be woken up if they were needed in the middle of the night. So while it was around seven in the evening in Hawaii, it was ten at night in San Francisco.
“Uncle Danny?!” The boy who had to be Jason sounded surprised but he grinned happily as he caught sight of the blonde man who walked into the living room with Steve.
“Jason?” Danny said. “What are you doing here? Come here, give me a hug.”
Jason embraced Danny tightly.
“Jason is here because I wanted to meet the leader of Camp Jupiter.” Percy said. “Nico brought him. You two know each other?”
“I was sent to Camp when I was six. I was too young to join the Legion, you have to be at least eight, so I was put into the custody of the Fifth Cohort’s Centurion at the time, Danny Williams.” Jason explained. “He basically raised me for those two years until I was old enough to join. He retired the same day I joined up.”
Sally was leaning in the kitchen doorway where she had been preparing dinner for everyone when she stood up straight with a raised eyebrow and asked. “Your mother sent you to camp when you were six?”
Jason shook his head. “Lupa did.”
“She’s like their version of Chiron.” Nico said.
Percy nodded. “What about your mom?”
Jason shrugged. “I don’t really remember much of her. She gave me to Lupa to train when I was two.”
Sally smiled sadly. “I’m sorry to hear that, Jason.”
Percy couldn’t understand that. His mother had loved him so much that she had waited until literally the last possible second to send him to camp. He didn’t say anything about Jason’s mother, though. He knew lots of demigods had hard lives in the mortal world and that he was very lucky. He had a mom who not only understood what was really going on in the world but who also loved him with all her heart. Some demigods had neither of those things and others only had one.
“They gave him to me because I was the only Legacy of Jupiter in the Legion at the time.” Danny grinned. “It’s so good to see you.”
“You got my letters?”
“Sure did. You made Praetor, I’m proud of you.” Danny patted Jason on the back. “Did you get mine?”
“Yeah. Grace is beautiful, man. Did you name her after me?” Jason grinned teasingly.
“Nope. Didn’t even occur to me.” Danny smirked.
“Uh, I feel like I’m missing something.” Percy said.
“Guess we should do full introductions.” Jason said, holding out his hand for Percy to shake. “I’m Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata.”
Percy took his hand. “Erm, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, representative of Camp Half-Blood. Your last name is Grace and you’re a child of Zeus?”
He looked at Nico who shrugged with raised eyebrows. “I never knew his last name, Hazel has only ever called him Jason.”
“What’s wrong with my last name?” Jason asked defensively.
“Nothing.” Sally said soothingly. “It’s just that Percy and Nico have a friend who’s the daughter of Zeus. Her name is Thalia and while she prefers not to use her last name, it’s Grace.”
Jason’s eyes widened. “You know Thalia? Do you know how to contact her?” He asked eagerly.
“Um.... yeah, man. It shouldn’t be a problem. We should tell her anyway.” Percy said. “She has a right to know she has a brother.”
“I think she knows.” Jason said in thought. “I remember her. I don’t know what separated us though.”
“Your father may have separated the two of you. Probably because you’re Roman and she’s Greek.” Nico said.
Jason nodded. “Maybe. Or it might have been my Patron.”
“Who’s your Patron?” Percy asked.
“Juno.”
“Who?” Percy shook his head. “Sorry, I haven’t studied the Roman forms as much as the Greek.”
“Hera.” Nico groaned.
Percy grimaced.
“What’s wrong with Juno?” Danny asked. “I mean, she’s not the most friendly to demigods but she’s not a Titan or a monster.”
“I don’t know what she’s like as a Roman God but as a Greek, she kind of likes to make our lives miserable.” Nico said.
There was a clap of thunder in the cloudless sky.
“That’s not to say she doesn’t help.” Percy said hastily. “She helped a lot on the quest last summer. But she also has it out for my best friend for just speaking the truth.”
“Maybe we should change the subject.” Steve glanced up warily.
“Yeah.” Jason said. “Anyway, it’s nice to meet the leader of the Greek camp.”
Percy shrugged and ruffled a hand through his hair awkwardly. “I’m not really the leader of Camp Half-Blood. We don’t have the type of leadership like you guys seem to.”
“You are the one who people look to for a leader, though.” Nico pointed out.
“Yeah but I wasn’t elected or anything. They only follow me because I’m supposed to be the child of the prophecy and I’m a powerful child of the Big Three. When Thalia was still at Camp, they all followed her first.”
“What kind of command structure do you guys have?” Jason asked.
“We have the Head Counselors and Chiron, our activities director. Mr. D is ‘camp director’ but it’s really just a formality.”
“Mister D?” Jason asked.
“Dionysus, the god of wine. He’s serving a hundred year banishment from Mount Olympus at camp for chasing some nymphs that Zeus declared off limits.”
It was Jason’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Wow, you guys have an actual god at your camp.”
“Yeah, I mean... it’s not that weird is it?”
“Kinda. The gods, at least the Roman ones, don’t interact with us much.”
Percy cleared his throat. “They interact with us a lot. Sometimes too much.” He mumbled to himself.
“A lot of Romans would be jealous. We hardly ever even meet our parents once.”
“I’m sorry, man. Maybe that’s something we change, everyone deserves to meet their parents at least once.” Percy said.
“It would be nice. Some of us are lucky like Hazel.” Jason said.
Nico made a face but kept quiet. He wouldn’t call Hazel lucky. Yes she had gotten to meet her father but soon after both she and her mother had lost their lives. Of course Jason probably didn’t know that.
“So have you guys been kept aware of the Titans rising again?” Percy asked.
Jason nodded seriously. “We’ve been monitoring Mount Tam closely. The camp is nearby and we have guard shifts to keep an eye on it.”
Mount Tampalais, in the mystical world it was known as Mount Orthys, was the base of the Titans. Had the Romans been placed their strategically by the Gods?
“Your camp is by Mount Tam and ours is by Olympus.” Percy realized.
“They placed us there on purpose. We guard Orthys and you guard Olympus.” Jason finished Percy’s thought.
“And it has the added benefit of keeping the Romans and Greeks far apart.” Percy said. “Chiron said that we’ve always fought when we got near each other but we’re far enough apart now that we probably hardly ever run into each other.”
“Wait, your camp is in New York.” Jason said.
Percy nodded. “Let me guess. You were told that you shouldn’t go to New York because it was crawling with monsters?”
“Yeah. They’re supposedly attracted to Olympus.” Danny said.
“We were told not to go to San Francisco because the monsters are attracted to Mount Orthys.” Percy turned to Danny with a smirk.
Jason shook his head in disbelief. “They lied to us to keep us apart.”
“In their defense, there were major wars between both of your groups for years that cropped up whenever you were close to each other.” Sally said. “The American Civil War caused at least 600,000 deaths.”
Jason nodded. “Fair point.”
“The Romans and Greeks should keep in contact about operations and intelligence.” Steve said. “That way everyone knows what’s going on and who’s fighting where.”
Jason grimaced. “That’s probably a good idea. I’d hate for someone like Octavian to run into a Greek half-blood while on a quest.”
“Octavian?” Percy asked.
Nico groaned. “Annoying teenage fortune teller.”
Jason laughed. “Octavian is the Augur of Camp Jupiter. It’s his job to figure out what the gods want us to do by reading the omens we receive.”
“So....”
“Think the Oracle but less accurate, more annoying and subjective.” Nico said.
“Oh.” Percy nodded.
“When did Octavian replace Cassie?” Danny asked.
“Last year.” Jason said. “Cassie finished her years of service and left Camp for the mortal world.”
“He wouldn’t have been my first pick to replace her.” Danny said. “He’s very...” He paused and tried to think of how to describe the descendant of Apollo nicely.
“Machiavellian?” Jason supplied.
Danny nodded. “That boy is going to get himself and others killed one day because of his power hungry tendencies.”
Jason shrugged. “He was confirmed by the Senate a few months before I was made Praetor. Not much I can do but try to curtail his schemes.”
“Just, keep an eye out at all times.” Danny warned. “I wouldn’t put it past him to assassinate you like Julius Caesar.”
Jason nodded. “Luckily he annoys Reyna as much as me so I’m not alone in trying to stop him.”
“That’s good. So how are we going to keep in contact?” Percy asked.
“I have no idea.”
“You can’t use those Iris Messages?” Steve asked.
“What’s an Iris Message?” Jason asked.
Percy explained to the wide eyes of Jason and Danny who, as Romans, didn’t use that type of communication.
“It would work but we’d have to be careful not to reveal ourselves to people that shouldn’t know.”
“Like Octavian.” Percy said.
“Yeah. How about a set time for contact? After 11 at night for me.” Jason said.
Percy nodded. “Alright. Unless there’s a major emergency?”
Jason nodded. “That’s fine.”
“I’m fine for whenever contact for awhile. This summer might be different but right now, just IM me whenever you need me. And I’ll IM you as soon as I can get ahold of Thalia. She’s been incommunicado for the last few months.”
Jason looked worried for his sister and Nico, knowing the feeling well, reassured him. “She’s okay. I’d know if she was dead.”
“She’s the Lieutenant of Artemis and has been really busy with the war on.” Percy said.
Steve nodded in understanding, “They’re like a combat unit, moving wherever they’re needed.”
“Yeah, they have safe houses around the country and are better prepared for scouting and recruiting right now than we are.”
“Okay.” Sally said. “Enough shop talk. Jason, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“I would love to, Mrs. Jackson, but I’ve already eaten and it’s late back at Camp. I have to be up at dawn.” Jason turned to Nico. “Can you get me home?”
“I don’t like how pale Nico looks right now.” Sally said. “His shadow traveling can be very draining, especially with long trips.”
Nico blushed. He was still having trouble accepting Sally’s mothering. His mother had died three or four years ago for him and Bianca had been gone for a year now.
“Why don’t you take Mrs. O’Leary?” Percy said.
“Mrs. O’Leary?” Jason asked.
Percy smirked. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
Percy led Jason outside to where his large pet hellhound was sprawled beside the house, taking up the entire side yard. He knew she was really happy to be able to see him everyday as opposed to once a week when he could only keep her at Camp Half-Blood. And she really enjoyed the hikes in the forests of Hawaii that they went on with Steve and Danny.
Jason paused at the sight of her and took a step back. “Woah. That’s a hellhound.”
“It’s okay, man. She’s domesticated. She belonged to Daedalus before he died and he left her to me to take care of.”
“Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a domesticated hellhound before.”
Percy smiled and rubbed Mrs. O’Leary’s head as her tail thumped like thunder on the ground. “Yeah, he rescued her as a puppy and raised her. Anyway, climb on her back and hold on to her collar.”
Jason did as Percy said carefully. He perched on her back gingerly, like he was straddling a ticking nuclear weapon, which to a demigod she might as well have been.
“Okay. Where’s Camp Jupiter besides in San Francisco?”
“The Caldecott Tunnel.”
“You hear that girl?” Percy said, “Take Jason to the Caldecott Tunnel and then come straight home.”
“WOOF!” Mrs. O’Leary slicked Percy’s hair back as she licked the top of his head and vanished into a shadow, Jason clinging tightly to her back.