Chapter Text
When Reyna woke it was to sunlight on her face and hard ground beneath her body. The ground smelled of dew, the air was filled with bird song.
She woke to find a forest, a familiar forest, around her. Trees climbing high around her and herself tucked into a nook between two trees.
She woke in a body that was not her own.
Her hair was short and loose, rather than long and braided. Her shirt was orange with a faded logo, rather than purple with “QUEEN SHIT” on it (Octavian got it for her a few years ago). Her pants were worn and torn jeans rather than soft blue. A backpack sat beside her.
Her hands were lighter, with scars she didn’t recall. Her body had an ache she didn’t recall. Her muscles were firmer, her body stronger. Her back was tight and in desperate need of a stretch, as if she’d held the weight of the world on it.
She cracked her back and it felt a bit better.
The most important thing to note of all of this was of course…
She was now a guy.
This was not what she expected today. She needed to figure out where exactly she was and how to reach camp.
And then the gorgons attacked.
OO OO OO OO
When Perseus woke it was to faint light shining through the curtains, and a soft bed underneath his body. The air smelt of sage and fresh cookies, the air filled with sounds of movement.
He woke to find a dark room, unfamiliar and lived in. The walls were covered in pictures and sketches, and he was on a large bed against one wall.
He woke up in a body that was not his own.
His hair was long and braided rather than short and scraggly. His shirt was purple, and there were words on it rather than orange with the faded logo. His pants were soft and blue rather than ripped dirty jeans.
His hands were darker, without the scars he’d grown familiar with. His body felt better than it had since he’d woken in the wolf house. His muscles were leaner, still strong but less… built. He was comfortable and ready to fall back asleep.
He pushed himself up regardless.
Of course, the most important thing he noticed was…
He was now a girl.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected of the day, except maybe more gorgon attacks, but it certainly wasn’t this. He needed to figure out who he was now and-
Blonde hair and grey eyes, a bright smile.
The image was fainter than it was before, and he clung to it desperately.
Then there was a knock on the door.
OO OO OO OO
Reyna was running, she’d been running for what felt like hours but was truly much shorter. She was running from the Gorgons, with no weapons and only the body she’d taken over to fight. She hoped to find something to fight with along the way, but so far there was only trees.
The gorgons had struck at her before she’d even realized their presence, before she could flee. But their claws had skated off of her (the body she held?) skin without leaving a mark. The gorgons had been unsurprised, but sulky, and she was realizing it was not only their claws that couldn’t touch her skin.
None of the branches whipping at her skin so much as scratched her. Nothing stung, nothing ached to be hit with. The only pain she felt was internal, old injuries and pains remaining.
It seemed her skin was impenetrable, like Achilles of the myth. She was blessed with iron skin? Or well- this body was?
She didn’t understand.
But despite the iron skin, she fled. She had no idea where she may be weak, and if they gorgons hit it-
She needed to reach camp, needed to get home. She was sure Octavian would know how to fix this. Hopefully her body was okay- was the one who she took the body of in her own body? Would someone notice? Would they believe her claiming it?
She was worried, but first she had to survive to reach camp.
The gorgons were rushing after her, but the body was fit, more fit than her own, and she was able to keep ahead of them despite the pain that came with it.
Old scars ached, and her back and knees throbbed with the actions. She felt for whoever’s body this was. This wasn’t a very enjoyable experience.
She jumped over a log, ducked under a branch, flinched instinctively when a branch hit her arm, only to leave no mark. She heard cars ahead and angled herself towards the noise. Over, under, dodge around, scramble around a ditch, climb a hill, push through the brambles.
Her clothes were torn, but she was unharmed. It was like nothing she’d ever experienced.
The trees thinned and ahead she saw a road, cars driving along it. Her eyes locked onto a familiar billboard. She knew where she was.
She knew how to reach camp.
OO OO OO OO
Perseus didn’t know who was knocking on his (his bodies) door, but they got more insistent when he remained quiet.
“Reyna! We need to go over the notes for the next meeting, are you up?”
Perseus swallowed, uncertain what to do. Was Reyna the name of the body he had now? He was Perseus before- was this like before? Was his old body not even his? He didn’t know what was going on-
“Reyna?” the voice went quiet for a moment. “Reyna are you alright?”
The person sounded concerned, Perseus swallowed and slipped out of bed.
“Yeah, I’m awake, you can come in.”
The person shoved the door open, blue eyes quickly scanning Perseus, concern shining in his eyes.
“You aren’t dressed- ha I knew you liked that shirt!”
Perseus blinked, glancing down at the shirt he was wearing. It said “QUEEN SHIT” on it in sparkly gold lettering, he hadn’t read it earlier.
He flashed a grin at the boy, “Haha, yeah it’s fun. You caught me… er…”
The boy’s head tilted.
There was a long silence while he studied Perseus and Perseus studied him. He was wearing a toga haphazardly thrown over a purple shirt and jeans. There were stuffed animals hooked to his belt along with a knife, and a pile of papers were in his arms. He was pale, with blonde hair.
Perseus felt that the boy reminded him of someone.
“You’re not Reyna,” the boy said finally, his hands shifting the files in his arms, leaving one free.
“I’m not,” Perseus agreed, shifting uncomfortably.
“Who are you?”
“I…” Perseus didn’t know what to say to that. Was he Perseus? Was he this Reyna? Was he someone else entirely? “I was called Perseus?”
“You were called?”
Percy shrugged, “I don’t have any memories, but the body I had before was called Perseus? Uh… what’s your name?”
“Octavian,” he said, slowly moving into the room and placing the papers on a desk (already covered in papers). “You have no memories? What about this body before? Where are you from?”
“I… I woke up at the Wolf House… two months ago? They told me my name was Perseus Jackson. They trained me for a bit then… sent me off to reach a Camp? I don’t remember anything before arriving there though.”
“Well… good news is you are at the camp,” Octavian said. “And you’re telling the truth, so you have that going for you.”
Perseus blinked, “You know I’m telling the truth?”
“I’m a descendant of Apollo, I know when people are lying to me.”
That sounded like a helpful skill.
“The one you’ve… taken the place of is named Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano. She’s the Praetor of Camp Jupiter, a camp for demigods.”
“What’s a praetor?”
“Oh dear,” Octavian muttered. “We… damn it-“
He turned around and started pacing.
“Octavian?” Perseus asked hesitantly.
“We can’t tell everyone you’re not Reyna,” he said after a long moment, spinning to face Perseus.
“Why not?”
“The other praetor went missing about six months ago, we’ve not found him anywhere. He disappeared over night after a meeting with Reyna. If the people find out that Reyna is missing and has been replaced with someone-“
“It would cause panic?”
Octavian nodded, expression grim.
“You’re going to have to pretend to be Reyna. If we’re lucky- if we’re lucky then Reyna is you right now. She’ll be able to reach Camp. We can meet with her then.”
Perseus let out a breath and nodded, “Right… okay… so uh… what do I need to know? Reyna is in charge, right?”
Octavian nodded, motioning to some seats in one corner of the room.
“Let’s sit, I’ll go over the important information with you.”
OO OO OO OO
Reyna knew the hill she was running up, a familiar hill, one that she had run up before. The gorgons were behind her, she knew it, but for now she ran.
She didn’t have time to turn and go around the hill, she’d realized a second too late what hill she was running up. She had iron skin though, she could probably survive climbing down the other side even if she fell.
She had stopped at the top, staring at the hill beneath her with the road running through it. The camp was so close, so close to her, but she still had to reach it.
She didn’t wait for the gorgons to reach her, she knew they were coming. She had nothing to fight them with.
She started climbing down the hill.
It was slow going, having to pick her way down carefully, needing to reach the bottom. She winced when she slid down a section of the rocky hill, then froze.
She’d been invulnerable just seconds before.
But-
Her skin was red where she’d slid down, her arms having a shallow scrape.
What-
Then claws glinted out of the corner of her eye and she raised her arm to block, preparing for the claws to slice right through-
They skated off just as earlier.
What.
She was very confused- was she invulnerable or not?
The gorgon lunged for her once more, grin on her face and clearly realizing Reyna had just been hurt-
“Die Perseus Jackson!”
She froze, just for a second but long enough for the gorgon to send her flying off the hill side, wings snapping open as the gorgon caught her, carrying her up and over the road-
She scrambled for something, anything, to save herself, and grabbed the pen in her pocket.
She went to stab the hand with it and shrieked when it transformed into a bronze sword.
She fell screaming as the gorgon dropped her, hitting the bushes hard.
Scrapes covered her hands, blood dripped from her cheek, but otherwise she was unharmed.
She was pretty sure fall damage didn’t work like that but-
“Well hello,” said a voice.
Reyna turned to find an old woman next to her.
She looked… like a mess. Her clothes made of tie-dyed cloth, ripped-up quilts, and plastic grocery bags. Her frizzy mop of hair was gray brown, tied back with a peace sign headband. Her face was lined with many wrinkles and dotted with moles. She smiled at Reyna, revealing exactly three teeth.
“The maintenance tunnel is the entrance to camp, but you already knew that didn’t you Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.”
Reyna drew a sharp breath, “How-“
The old woman smiled once more, “If you want your body back, you will have to bring me to the one who is in your body. Only then will the path be clear.”
“You’ll return us to our proper bodies if I bring you to the camp?”
“I shall-“
“There!” shrieked one of the gorgons- and how were there two still?
Hadn’t she killed the one?
She clutched her sword, Perseus’ sword, and took a deep breath.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll get you to camp.”
The woman hiked up her dress, showing her feet were horribly swollen. “You’ll have to carry this poor old woman.”
Reyna did not like that answer but had no choice.
She took a moment to try and figure out how to sheath the blade (it shrunk when she started searching for the lid, hoping that might fix it), then crouched before the woman, ready to carry her.
The woman cackled, “Onwards!”
OO OO OO OO
Perseus’ lecture from Octavian was very thorough. He was told all of Reyna’s daily activities and given an overview of the meeting they had that day. They apparently had to decide how to handle the shortage of material for divine weapons, they didn’t want to go back to basic bronze again. Gold had some power but was much softer. Imperial Gold was ideal, but hard to make and the process lost. Normal mortal bronze did some damage, but not as much as Imperial Gold.
Apparently with new members of the legion they needed to make some decisions. Perseus had no idea what the right choice was, but Octavian explained the options and told him what he and Reyna had discussed before.
Perseus read the notes from Reyna, while Octavian explained what they were saying. Bronze and Gold combined retained the power of gold but with less of it, he wanted to use that to make blades that held less Imperial Gold but still the same power.
It sounded like a good plan, so he listened as Octavian explained it all in the simplest terms he could.
After Octavian was confident Perseus who was now being called Reyna wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself in the meeting in a few hours, he grabbed some clothes and told Perseus to change, then meet him outside his room.
Perseus found changing very uncomfortable.
This wasn’t his body, or maybe it wasn’t? There was a Reyna before him, so it must not be his body. But that just made it very awkward. This was a girls body, and he had to change.
Very very awkward.
He managed to change quickly, keeping his eyes up and on the wall, then hurried out to find Octavian waiting in the hall.
“You’ll need to make sure Aurum and Argentum don’t attack you.”
Perseus faltered, “What?”
“They’re Reyna’s guard dogs, passed down from praetor to praetor. They can sense lies, and don’t take kindly to threats to the Praetor. So, uh… we need to make sure they won’t attack you.”
Perseus swallowed, “Great… love that.”
Octavian smirked at him, “Scared?”
“No!” Perseus bristled. “Just… understandably wanting to make a good impression on the attack dogs.”
Octavian snickered at his response, then grabbed his arm and tugged him through the hall.
There were indeed two dogs there, one made of gold and the other silver. The dogs eyed him for a long second.
“Aurum, Argentum,” Octavian called. “This is Perseus. He’s taking care of Reyna’s body for the moment. Please don’t kill him, it would cause me problems.”
“It would cause you problems?” Percy spluttered.
Octavian smiled sunnily at him, “Well yes, if you died I’d have to handle all the paperwork.”
He headed out the door and Perseus blinked after him.
“Wait- what paperwork!? Octavian! Octavian I’m not doing paperwork-“
Octavian laughed as Perseus and the dogs hurried after him.
Realistically Perseus could see that Octavian wasn’t really relaxed. His shoulders were tense and his eyes darting around, but he seemed… unconcerned.
Perseus wondered if it was like how he could tell Perseus hadn’t been lying. Did he know that Perseus didn’t mean any harm?
Perseus figured that was it.
“Now, Reyna always orders the same thing from the bakery,” Octavian said as Perseus caught up. “You’ll need to be sure to order that.”
“They don’t know her usual then?”
“They might have a newbie,” Octavian pointed out. “She’s a familiar face, and all the normal workers know her, but they get new hires.”
“Then what’s her order?”
“Hot chocolate, medium, with extra marshmallows. A bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, on a plain bagel. Sometimes if she’s feeling extra hungry she’ll get a cherry pastry. Repeat it.”
“Hot chocolate, extra marshmallows, bacon, egg, and cheese plain bagel, cherry pastry,” Perseus said dutifully.
Octavian nodded, looking satisfied.
“Now, I have to do my duties for the camp today, so…” he looked rather reluctant to leave Perseus to just wander around the camp, which was fair. “Just say you need to catch up on paperwork today, I’ll stop by later to do it.”
“What’s your position?” He asked curiously.
“I’m the augur… though technically I fulfill the responsibilities of the Pontifex Maximus… and don’t actually do augury…”
Perseus blinked in confusion.
“If you’re doing another job why don’t you have that job?”
“Politics,” Octavian sighed.
Perseus thought that sounded unfair.
“I’m sure you do a great job,” he offered. “I mean… you’re getting me up to date and keeping the Camp from panicking…”
Octavian’s lips twitched, “You have no idea how much I do to keep the Camp from panicking-“
“Reyna!”
Octavian stopped Perseus, and he remembered that Reyna was the name of the person he was now.
He turned to face the voice, “Yes?”
“There’s a fight at the entrance, what do we do?”
Octavian nudged Perseus forward slightly, he guessed that meant to go with?
“Gather the guard-“ Octavian had mentioned guard duty “-on duty right now and get to the river as soon as possible.”
“Yes Praetor!”
Octavian sighed, “Can’t have an easy day. Let’s get to the river then, praetor.”
“Do you need to come?” Perseus wondered. And when Octavian bristled he quickly elaborated. “I mean- you said you had to do your stuff and all- I don’t want to keep you-“
“Right now making sure you don’t mess anything up is more important. I’ll stick with you, and if need be fight next to you-“
I just know I’ll fight next to you
Perseus shook his head at the flash of memory.
“-You do know how to fight… right?”
He nodded, then faltered. “I don’t have a weapon.”
“We’ll grab Reyna’s stuff on the way, let’s go.”
Octavian took the lead, which was probably somewhat suspicious, even more so since he had to show Percy how to attach the cape and sword to his armor.
“I thought you knew how to fight?” He muttered. “You don’t know how to attack your sword sheathe?”
Perseus flushed, “I… I think I have a magic sword, or I did. It turned into a pen, or the pen turned into the sword.”
Octavian raised an eyebrow, face a dash too close for Perseus’ comfort.
“Of course you did,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Perseus took the lead, with Octavian muttering directions to him until they reached the river- the river where a massive wave swept up and washed away the gorgons.
What-
Wait-
“That’s me,” Perseus hissed to Octavian. “Or well- my body-“
Octavian straightened, “Then Reyna’s already made it- wait you can control water?”
His head turned to Perseus, eyes wide.
Perseus blinked, “Uh… is that a bad thing?”
Octavian opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again.
“Well… it varies…”
That didn’t sound good.
“Well, that was a lovely trip,” a voice said, drawing their attention to see an old woman next to Perseus’ body. “Thank you, Perseus Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter.”
And, just when Perseus was ready to throw in the towel with this whole crazy body swapping day, the old lady made it weirder.
She began to glow and change. Her form grew until she was a shining, seven-foot-tall figure. A Goddess in a blue dress, with a cloak that looked like goat’s skin over her shoulder. Her face was stern and stately, and she held a staff topped with a lotus flower.
The campers around Perseus and Octavian looked flabbergasted. Octavian looked like he regretted climbing out of bed this morning.
He grabbed Perseus’ arm and yanked him down into a kneeling position, doing so as well. The rest of the campers quickly copied, including Perseus’ body, who was probably Reyna.
A young girl with curly black hair and dark skin spoke first, “Juno.”
“Queen Juno-“ Reyna as Perseus started.
“In time, Perseus Jackson,” Juno said, but Her eyes were on Perseus next to Octavian, not Reyna as Perseus. “If you succeed here in camp, you shall be restored once more. You’ve done well today-“ her gaze turned to Reyna in Perseus’ body “-perhaps there is hope yet.”
The Goddess turned away from Perseus, both his body and himself, and faced the rest of the campers.
“Romans, I present to you the son of Neptune. For months he has been slumbering, but now he is awake. His fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortune comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do not fail me!”
And with that she shimmered, a thousand colors reflecting, before she vanished.
And Perseus had to take charge.