Percy Jackson son of Neptune

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Like Percy has suspected, he won the election to Praetor almost instantly. Three other candidates had thrown their hats in the ring, and then Percy had strolled up to a podium during a legion dinner, announced he was running, and returned to his seat. Frank had enjoyed watching the faces of the other candidates, as they realized that they had no chance of winning against the man who killed an augur and was cleared by the gods.

Speaking of the augury, Frank was pleased by the new augur, a child of Apollo that had come from the Fourth Cohort, ironically, though she chose to remain a legionary in the cohort, only doing her duties when required. Unlike Octavian, she was good at what she did, making their lives much easier.

Election day had come, and without even rigging the elections, Percy won ninety percent of the votes. Frank didn't even know who the other ten percent could have voted for, but neither was he bothered by it. What he was bothered by was the fact that he was currently escorting two children of Pluto to Percy, having found them by the Caldecott Tunnel entrance. He knocked on Percy's door, after scaring the Praetorians outside off.

"Who were they?" The older boy asked, tipping his head towards the scattering Praetorians.

"Evocati, uh, retired legionnaires who decided that Percy's the second coming of Augustus or something." Frank said, waiting for the door to open. "Groupies, basically."

The door flung open, and Percy stood there, wearing the purple toga of the Praetor over a set of incredibly rare bronze armour, one of the heirlooms of the legion. He looked at Frank, before his eyes wandered over to the two accompanying him.

"Frank?" He asked slowly.

"They appeared at the Caldecott Tunnel. Claim to be children of Pluto." He informed him, noticing the way Percy's eyes widened a fraction.

"That's a bold claim to make." Percy said, looking at the taller boy.

"I have papers to prove it." He said, handing a scroll over to Percy.

"I can open this here? Or do I need to call an assembly of the senate?" He asked.

"Here is fine." Percy opened the scroll, his eyes flickering along, before he looked up at the boy.

"Ambassador to Pluto?" Percy said, more to himself. "It's about time." He rolled the scroll back up, before sticking it in his toga, and extending his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, Ambassador di Angelo. Or do you prefer Nico?"

"Nico is fine." He responded, shaking Percy's hand.

"Frank, go assemble the legion. We'll induct Hazel after my meeting with the Senate." Percy said, before grabbing his arm, and pulling him in close. "Stand for her, Frank. She'll need a friend, and there's no better."

Frank nodded, and turned to the girl, Hazel, giving her a shy smile, which she returned.

"Come on, I'll take you to the barracks, and show you around from there. We'll make our way to the Senate House, and the meeting should be concluded by then." He said, before setting off in a slow pace so that she could keep up.

She asked questions, and he answered them, pointing out facts about each of the places they were visiting. She was talkative, though she did use some phrases that Frank didn't understand, but he assumed it came from growing up in New Orleans. All in all, he enjoyed the walk, and by the end, had decided he didn't mind standing for her, when the time came.

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The meeting in the Senate House went well. They had all been surprised by the appearance of Ambassador Nico di Angelo, just like Percy had been, but the papers he submitted were admissible, and by the end of the session, New Rome had a new ambassador, one for Pluto. Nico wondered how they would react if they knew he was really a Greek, but didn't ponder it for too long. Surprisingly, the Senate voted to have a house built for him. It wasn't large by any account, yet the gesture was important. He met with Percy's Co-Praetor, and girlfriend, Reyna, who seemed to be the female version of Percy.

The two seemed to have silent conversation, until Reyna glared at Percy, only to get a massive smile in return. He kissed her on the cheek and vanished, leaving the two together.

"I'm sorry about that." She apologized. "Percy's been dealing with hero-worship from the younger legionnaires, and he's had to put down a few cults in the past two weeks. It's becoming tiresome."

"Hero-worship? Why, what did he do?" Nico asked, genuinely surprised. Even Thalia, the Heroine of the Great Prophecy, was treated like a normal person.

"It's a combination of things." The Praetor revealed. "He killed Krios in one-on-one combat, letting another centurion destroy Saturn's throne, but the thing that really drew people to him happened a month and a half ago. Our former Augur decided that he could insult myself, Percy, and Neptune in front of him and get away with it. Percy killed him."

"I- What? Isn't that supposed to be illegal?" Nico spluttered out.

"Oh, it was. I had to arrest him." Reyna said, her voice tightening up some. "But then Mars showed up in the middle of our trial, and acquitted him, which started the majority of the problems we're having. Half the Senate sees Percy as a potential dictator, while the other half sees him as the new Augustus. The citizens, for the most part, support Percy, which is concerning those senators further."

"I'm surprised you're letting me know all this." Nico admitted. "I'm not one of you, not really."

"Your status as ambassador says you are." Reyna told him softly. "When you're here, you are a senator, and will be treated with the due respect, but you also represent your father, and we Romans admire Pluto greatly."

"Why?" Nico asked. "Most people would be scared of the God of the Underworld."

Reyna shrugged. "Death is a part of life. Who are we to dictate how it is lived?"

Nico decided he liked this place.

MMXVII

AN: Hazel is here, and Nico is Ambassador to Pluto.

Cheers, CombatTombat