The Son of Death (Percy Jackson x Male Reader)

Percy Joins The Cohort Of Losers

3RD PERSON POV

The campers were dressed for war.  Their polished chain mail and greaves gleamed over purple T-shirts and jeans.  Sword and skull designs decorated their helmets.  Even their leather combat boots looked ferocious with their iron cleats, great for marching through mud or stomping on faces.  In front of the legionnaires, like a line of giant dominoes, stood their red and gold shields, each the size of a refrigerator door.  Every legionnaire carried a harpoonlike spear called a pilum, a gladius, a dagger and about a hundred pounds of other equipment.  If you were out of shape when you came to the legion, you didn't stay that way for long.  Just walking around in your armor was a full body workout.  Hazel and Nico jogged down the street as everyone was coming to attention, so their entrance was really obvious.  Their footsteps echoed on the stones.  Hazel tried to avoid eye contact, but she caught Octavian at the head of the First Cohort smirking at her, looking smug in his plumed centurion's helmet with a dozen medals pinned on his chest.  She ran past Reyna, who was cantering back and forth on her Pegasus Scipio, nicknamed Skippy because he was the color of peanut butter.  The metal dogs Aurum and Argentum trotted at her side.  Her purple officer's cape billowed behind her. 

Reyna: Hazel Levesque.  So glad you could join us.

Hazel knew better than to respond.  She was missing most of her equipment, but she hurried to her place in line next to Frank and stood at attention.  Their lead centurion, a big seventeen year old guy named Dakota, was just calling her name.  The last one on the roll

Hazel: Present!

Thank the gods.  Technically, they weren't late.  Nico joined Percy Jackson, who was standing off to one side with a couple of guards.  Percy's hair was wet from the baths.  He'd put on fresh clothes, but he still looked uncomfortable.  Hazel couldn't blame him.  He was about to be introduced to two hundred heavily armed kids.  YN looked at him with an odd look.  Sadness, Hazel decided.  The Lares were the last ones to fall in.  Their purple forms flickered as they jockeyed for places.  They had an annoying habit of standing halfway inside living people, so that the ranks looked like a blurry photograph.  The centurions were about to try and sort them out, but YN beat them to it.  Orcus appeared in his hand and he slammed the bottom of the shaft into the ground.  It sounded like a deep bell toll.  The Lares quickly moved into their proper spots, all of them looking nervous.

Octavian: Colors!

The standard bearers stepped forward.  They wore lionskin capes and held poles decorated with each cohort's emblems.  The last to present his standard was Jacob, the legion's eagle bearer.  He held a long pole with absolutely nothing on top.  The job was supposed to be a big honor, but Jacob obviously hated it.  Even though Reyna insisted on following tradition, every time the pole was raised without its eagle, Hazel could feel embarrassment rippling through the legion.  Reyna brought her Pegasus to a halt.

Reyna: Romans!  You've probably heard about the incursion today.  Two gorgons were swept into the river by this newcomer, Percy Jackson.  Juno herself guided him here, and proclaimed him a son of Neptune.

The kids in the back rows craned their necks to see Percy.  He raised his hand.

Percy: Hi.

Reyna: He seeks to join the legion.  What do the auguries say?

Octavian: I have read the entrails!

Octavian said it as if he'd killed a lion with his bare hands rather than ripping up a stuffed panda pillow.

Octavian: The auguries are favorable.  He is qualified to serve!

Campers: Ave!  Hail!

Frank was a little late with his ave, so it came out as a high pitched echo.  The other legionnaires snickered.  YN gave them all dirty looks, they shut up quickly.  YN was surprisingly well respected, even though he's in the fifth cohort, he was incredibly powerful.  Reyna motioned the senior officers forward, one from each cohort.  Octavian, as the most senior centurion, turned to Percy.