The Tribute Returns (Percy Jackson Hunger Games crossover)

I Thought We Were Dead...

Percy Jackson's energy was falling quickly. With his trident, which he had a sneaking suspicion was from none other than his half-brother Finnick Odair, there was no way for any of the creatures to touch him, but it was harder when you added defending the five unconscious people below him. 

Clove had passed out after killing two of the monsters with her knives. Cato had lasted impressively long, sheer grit and determination combined with his extensive training helping him survive and continue to fight long after everyone else was down. 

Percy slowly fell to his knees under the onslaught of wolves, sustaining numerous injuries as he protected his friends from harm. He didn't know how many were left; all he knew was it was too many. His desperation mounted as his limbs grew heavy from the constant strain on his muscles. 

Although his endangered friends made the fight much harder, the thought of their possible injury gave him unbelievable courage and strength to push through his pain. His vision started to darken sporadically. He tried to push through it, tried harder to help his friends, but the harder he tried the more the darkness pervaded his sight.

Finally, the wolves seemed to catch onto his priorities. Two of them lunged simultaneously for Rue's neck and Percy's. He plunged the trident into the throat of the wolf going for Rue and closed his eyes, waiting for the fatal blow. However, it never came. He opened his eyes cautiously to find pure blackness surrounding him. 

He looked around and found to his confusion that he could easily see all of his friends even there was no visible light source. Were they safe?

As soon as he though the word safe, a small light appeared in the distance, growing as it came towards them at a frightening speed. Percy forced himself to his feet and held his trident out in front of him in a defensive stance as it got closer and closer. 

He had to close his eyes against the intense light as it enveloped him, and when he opened them again he was in the middle of a large grassy field. Behind him lay a medieval-looking fortress with mounted weapons, people lining the walls. In front of him, hundreds of people in purple togas and armor stood at the ready as if preparing for a charge. 

Percy gritted his teeth and prepared himself. He knew this wasn't a battle he could win, but to Tartarus with it if he wouldn't try. The ranks stood silently, waiting for an order. Hesitantly, one of the people in a purple toga stepped forward. She was mounted on a winged horse and her toga was decorated with more gold than any of the other ones. She wore a golden laurel crown and exuded an air of authority. 

"Percy?" she asked hesitantly, coming closer. "Percy, what happened?"

He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think through his exhaustion. 

"What?" he managed. "Who are you guys?"

The girl stopped and looked at him with a look of disbelief. 

"You're not serious, are you?" she asked, sounding worried. "Is this actually happening again? You have got to be kidding me."

Percy gripped his trident tighter. He couldn't make any sense of what was going on. "If you're going to kill me, do it now," he growled impatiently. He didn't know how much longer he could stay on his feet. 

"Percy, you look awful. If you really don't remember anything, I'm Reyna and you're in New Rome. We won't hurt you, but if you let us, we'll help you and your friends. If you don't put that weapon down, the people behind you might die."

Percy hesitated. He glanced backward at his unconscious friends before looking back at Reyna. 

"Thank you," he whispered before his vision went black and he fell to the grass.

*            *            *

"What in Jupiter's name is going on?!" Reyna asked, looking around for anyone who might have answers. "We have to IM Camp Halfblood. I don't care whatever sick plan it is this time. Also, search the ranks for anyone missing from Camp Jupiter. Where is Praetor Frank?" she asked urgently.

"He's on his way with Hazel," supplied Dakota, his eyes locked on Percy's prone form. "Gwen went to get them."

Reyna nodded. "Good. Has anyone had a breakthrough on a way to have constant access to the Greek camp?"

Everyone shook their heads. The leader of the Engineering crew spoke up, the senior Vulcan camper. "We've tried everything we can think of, but Leo was the only one with the mechanical expertise to actually pull it off," he admitted.

The Roman campers had only known Leo for a short while, and most of it had been hating him for firing on their home, but after the betrayal of Octavian, they had forgiven him. His sacrifice had given the Romans the excuse they needed in order to do so without damaging their pride. All of the children of Vulcan had visited Bunker 9 by then, and that was only a taste of the son of Hephaestus's true skill. The Argo II, his crowning achievement, had been destroyed or lost when he himself had disappeared. 

Nico insisted that he was still alive, but unless he came back no one else would ever learn of his discoveries he had made in the making of his ship. He had tried to teach his siblings as he went, but it was too advanced to teach in such a short time before he had to take off, never to return.

Reyna sighed. "We need to double our efforts. If there's something else coming up with heroes turning up with their memories wiped, it'll give us a huge advantage. Any sign of when they'll be waking up?"

The medics in the tent nodded, not looking up from their work.

"Knowing he's a son of Poseidon helps a lot, he'll be up in a couple of minutes. The others will be out for a while, maybe up to a few days," one of them said.

Reyna nodded in satisfaction and sat back to wait. When he woke up, Percy Jackson was going to be in for one heck of a grilling.