I. AQUILA
❪ GREEK WARSHIPS
AND JUDO-FLIPPING
GIRLFRIENDS ❫

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AQUILA STOOD WITH HAZEL, PERCY AND FRANK AS THE GREEK WARSHIP DESCENDED OVER THE CAMP. She recalled an hour or so earlier, when they had received the holographic scroll from Percy's camp.

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The scroll was spread out over Percy's lap, and Aquila moved a little more to the front of Frank to get a better view of the scroll that Tyson claimed was from a "funny and small" boy named Leo. A video recording flickered on the parchment, a boy - Leo, she presumed, who reminded her an awful lot of the boy in Hazel's photograph - in Greek armour grinned up at them. He had a rather cute, impish face, curly black hair and wild, hyperactive eyes. He was sat in a dark room with timber walls like a ship's cabin. Oil lamps swung back and forth on the ceiling.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as Hazel stifled a scream, glancing over at her friend, concerned.

"What?" Frank asked, "What's wrong?"

Aquila figured it was the startling resemblance to Hazel's childhood sweetheart from the black and white photograph from her abandoned childhood home in Seward. The kid in the parchment looked exactly like Hazel's old boyfriend.

"Hey!" Once again, Aquila jumped, too distracted by her thoughts to register the scrawny young boy on the scroll had begun to talk, " Greetings from your friends at Camp Half-Blood, et cetera. This is Leo. I'm the..." He looked off screen and yelled: "What's my title? Am I like, admiral, or captain, or -"

A girl's voice yelled back, "Repair boy!"

"Very funny, Piper," grumbled Leo. He turned back to the parchment screen. "So yeah, I'm... ah... supreme commander of the Argo II . Yeah, I like that! Anyway, we're gonna be sailing towards you in about, I dunno, an hour in this big mother warship. We'd appreciate it if you'd not, like, blow us out of the sky or anything. So okay! If you could tell the other Romans that. See you soon. Yours in demogodishness, and all that. Peace out."

Aquila couldn't help but roll her eyes with a snort, turning to her friend, noting the ashen look on her golden-eyed friend's face. Hazel looked like she'd seen a ghost, and Aquila couldn't blame her. The resemblance between her ex-boyfriend and the boy in the parchment was uncanny.

"It's Sammy Valdez, " she said. "But how... how-"

"It can't be," Percy said. "That guy's name is Leo. And it's been seventy-something years. It has to be a..."

Aquila rested a gentle hand on her friends shoulder, "He must be a descendant of Sammy, Hazel. It's not-"

They were interrupted by horns blowing in the distance. The senators came marching into the forum with Reyna at the lead.

"It's meeting time," sighed Percy. "Come on. We've got to warn them about the warship."

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And that led them to now, stood at the front of the crowd with her friends, looking up at the sky at the majestic Greek warship that descended above them. Aquila had a sinking feeling in her stomach that none of this would end well. Octavian would freak and attack them, or the Greeks were actually going to attack them. They were Percy's friends, she chided herself, they wouldn't risk it.

She was nervous about seeing Jason again, unsure of how much he'd changed in the last few months, if he'd even really remember them. She couldn't help but recall the morning after Jason disappeared, a distressed Reyna had confided her fears to her that Jason could be dead, or being held hostage by some kind of enemy, and they had no way of reaching him.

No doubt the Greeks above them were having the exact same thoughts as them, seeing Percy again, his girlfriend was on that ship. She couldn't imagine how - what was her name again? Annabelle? No, Annabeth, yes! - must've been feeling in that moment. Even though Percy had told her Annabeth was one of the bravest people Percy knew, seeing someone again after so much time had passed? The poor girl must've been having a panic attack.

She raised her eyes up back to the ship, squinting against the glare of the sun. She could make out a tall, muscular blond figure at the helm, clad in purple. The breath caught in her throat as she realised who it was.

Percy seemed to sense her nerves and gave her a comforting smile, "It'll be fine."

Terminus had come to an agreement, she assumed, as she ship stationed itself above New Rome, and a rope ladder fell from the ship, and one by one, the Greeks climbed down it. She could make out the blond figure she recognised as Jason coming down first, possiblt a strategy for peace and the other three demigods followed.

It seemed like eons had passed till the curly haired blonde girl Percy had since identified as his girlfriend - which she of course made a teasing remark about, surprised a goofball like Percy had ended up with someone like the girl Percy described - made her way through the sea of Roman demigods that had gathered to witness the newcomers.

More demigods parted as she watched Reyna step forwards to greet Annabeth. The two seemed to consider one another. The other Greeks and Jason fanned out on either side of the confident blonde, although Aquila could see the nerves that had settled in her steely grey eyes.

The small crowd in front of Percy, Aquila and the others parted, and the stormy grey eyes met green. Aquila watched the simple exchange of glances with anticipation, the tension so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. She couldn't quite pin-point the emotions running through Annabeth's expression.

Reyna straightened, and reluctantly, she turned towards Jason, Aquila's heart pounding. She remembered when she had sheepishly admitted the crush she harboured for Jason all those years ago when she was thirteen, and she felt her face heat up, grateful for her dark skin and the sun beating down on them, careful to conceal the thoughts running through her mind. Of course, that crush was long gone now. Jason was like a brother to her. A brother that drove her crazy, but in the end, she knew that she would risk her life for him. She knew how Reyna felt about him, aswell.

"Jason Grace, my former colleague..." to Aquila, she could hear the cold tone to Reyna's voice, as the Praetor tried to keep her emotions in check. "I welcome you home. And these, your friends -"

She was cut off as Annabeth surged forwards, Percy following suit, and the two shared a passionate kiss, wrapped in each others embrace. Aquila felt her heart melt, rolling her eyes at the cute couple as they didn't seem to care that they were surrounded by a crowd of Roman demigods.

Percy pulled away from Annabeth, studying the blondes face. "Gods, I never thought -"

Aquila couldn't help but let out a laugh as Annabeth suddenly judo-flipped Percy onto the paving stones behind her, starting the Romans that surrounded them, Reyna yelling out an order to stand down.

"I like this girl." she whispered to Hazel quietly. The curly haired girl didn't seem to register her voice, fixated on the surprising exchange between the boyfriend and girlfriend.

Annabeth's knee rested on Percy's chest, her forearm against his throat. "If you ever leave me again," she said, "I swear to all the gods -"

Percy laughed, "Consider me warned. I missed you, too."

Annabeth rose and helped him to his feet. Jason cleared his throat, eyeing the two nervously, "So, yeah... It's good to be back."

The Greek demigods came forwards and introduced themselves to Reyna and the intrigued crowd.

"And this is Annabeth," Jason said, "Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."

"You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?" asked Reyna amusedly.

Annabeth chuckled, "I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you." She held out her hand for their Praetor, and Reyna returned the gesture, clasping her hand firmly.

Aquila, Hazel and Frank hustled forwards, and she met Annabeth's curious eyes. She glanced at her friends quietly, following Hazel's eyes, no doubt looking at the boy from the parchment, Leo. She felt bad for the girl, knowing how difficult it must be to see someone who looked so much like the boy she once knew.

Reyna was giving orders to the other officers, "...tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And, Octavian-"

Aquila closed her eyes letting out an exasperated sigh as the irritating man opened his mouth to argue, "You're letting these intruders into the camp?" He elbowed his way forwards, and Aquila faught back the urge to punch his stupid face.

"We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian." Reyna flashed him a stern look. "We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better," Octavian grumbled. Frank shot Aquila a glare, noticing her stepping forwards, as if to cut in, "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."

"These are our guests." Octavian was clearly irritating her, "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

Aquila snorted, and had to stifle a laugh as Percy made an input, "Good idea. Go burn your bears, Octavian."

Hazel elbowed her in the ribs, giving her a look as she tried to hold back a smile. Even Reyna seemed to be trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go."

The officers dispersed. Octavian shot a Percy a look of absolute loathing, turning a small glare towards Aquila, clearly noticing her attempts to stop her laughter. She sent him an innocent smile and a little sarcastic wave, shuddering as he turned his back.

Aquila turned back to see Percy slipping his hand into Annebeth's, "Don't worry about Octavian," He consoled, "Most of the Romans are good people - like Aquila, Frank and Hazel here, and Reyna. We'll be fine."

"We'll be fine," Annabeth repeated Percy's words, almost like she was trying to convince herself.

"Excellent," Reyna said, turning to Jason. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion.

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And that's the first chapter done! I know it's a little boring bc it's basically the entire second chapter of Mark of Athena. I thought it was a good way to just introduce Aquila as a character into the story, you sort of get to see her dynamics with the other characters too. I'm not particularly enthralled about the chapter but I want to get it up. I can edit it at a later date ofc but still! I'm gonna do it in the style of the books but with each chapter being just Aquila or Leo's POV. The first few chapters will be Aquila's POV, ofc.

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