Hello! This came to me in the middle of the night. Enjoy the story!

Dedication: To Floatfoot who asked for a piece on Lupa and Chiron.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters shown below and the first half of this story is Rick Riordan's text told from another point of view.

Mine

"So, Jason," Chiron said. The blond boy sitting in front of him bore such a very Greek name for a clearly Roman boy. "Would you mind telling me –ah- where you're from?"

Images flashes through Chiron's mind -exactly of where Jason was from. He recalled the Little Tiber cutting through the green valley in the shape of a G, the red tiled roofs of the next door New Rome, the busy forum, the sounds of combat drills in the Fields of Mars...

"I wish I knew." Jason told Chiron in a serious, stoic voice. It always caught Chiron off guard to see a young demigod –who, if he'd have been at Camp, would be raging with hormones and emotions and opinions and the need to get it all out- speak with such a placid voice. The fact that Chiron hadn't spoken to a Roman half-blood in a very long time didn't help.

The boy launched himself in recounting his morning's story. Waking up in a bus amnesiac, fighting the wind spirits he called venti, getting picked up by Annabeth and Butch… As far as Chiron could tell Jason was being as frank as possible. He seemed nervous, but Chiron encouraged him to keep talking without ever making him stop. The way he said it was straight forwards and nearly military, as if Jason was reporting the morning's duties to a superior.

Chiron took a sip of lemonade. "I see. And you must have questions for me."

"Only one," Jason admitted. "What did you mean when you said that I should be dead?"

Teresa McCraw- 1915

They'd spotted her ages before she even got to the hills. A young girl wearing trousers and holding a cane was a strange sight for the era.

Demigods had yelled through the magic borders that were sustaining the valley at the time. 'Who are you', 'what are you', 'are you okay', 'how can we help'... The young girl was clearly delirious. She managed to mention water and ambrosia. She was a demigod, the campers panicked. Get Chiron, get water, get ambrosia, get the president- do something!

Reassured of her blood, one boy –a brave type, James Norris son of Zeus- had crossed the borders and had knelt by her. Other campers followed, pushing their luck and going to find the monsters that'd chased her to Camp and exhausted her.

"Tess," she'd managed to cough out according to James. "Name's Tess."

James had held out his hand and drawn the humidity right out of the air- rather good at controlling the weather, he had been. He managed to give her a drink. Being a son of Zeus it wasn't enough, but it was just what the newcomer needed to get back to her wits. She'd asked where they were, and James said that she was at a safe place in New York. He'd told her that the monsters wouldn't come, and that she was people who could protect her if they did.

"No," she said. "No, no, no, not the East! I didn't mean anything, anything but the East, My Lord!" She cried at the sky.

"She's dehydrated, James!" A healer, John, waiting right inside the border said. "She doesn't know what's going on. Bring her here, Chiron won't be long and I can help meanwhile."

James had managed to pick up the frail girl, skeletal as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"No, no, no!" Tess had screamed, clawing at James. Her nails were cut in arrowheads, as if she were used to fighting and needing to inflict maximal damage. She had given him quite a cut on the cheek. A pale trace of it had haunted James' skin for the rest of his life.

Encouraged by his fellow campers, his will to do well, and his ignorance- James brought the girl across the borders. The second that the magic took effect, Tess had screamed bloody murder and fallen limp in his arms.

Nothing on Tess could indicate any signs of an injury that could be fatal. 'Tess' was buried properly. It was as if crossing the borders had shut down her system according to the campers, like she'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. Chiron knew that that was exactly what had happened, even before he'd discovered that the cane of hers that he'd confiscated turned into a rather sharp gladus. After that discovery and last piece of evidence, he had contacted Lupa. Then he learned what her real name was, what she'd been doing in New York and how old she was. But he didn't tell anyone.

"She was marked," James would have repeated about her for the rest of his life. "Marked on the arm, with a dove and some letters and some sticks, of all strange things."

Chiron wouldn't break his silence now. He just looked at Jason with concern, wondering why he was still here. Had the gods stopped watching over Camp? Would they realise at anytime that a child of Rome was here?

"My boy, do you know what those marks on your arm mean?" Chiron asked concerned. Was this what was keeping the child of Rome alive and well? His incredulity? That still didn't explain how he'd lost his memory...

She'd done five years of service for the Fort, Lupa had explained to Chiron about Teresa. Under the linage of Venus.

"The colour of your shirt?"

She was our praetor: not just any Roman.

"Do you remember anything?" Chiron asked growing more and more concerned.

Jason looked down at himself as if he was expecting answers to appear.

"No," he said looking up again and meeting Chiron's eyes, straight and proud like a soldier. "Nothing."

"Do you know where you are?" Chiron asked out of pity. The boy may as well know so that the shock didn't kill him when he remembered where he was from. "Do you understand what this place is, and who I am?"

"You're Chiron the centaur," Jason said. Chiron wasn't according him any brownie points for that tidbit of information. It was rather obvious. "I'm guessing you're the same one from the old stories, who used to train the Greek heroes like Heracles. This is a cap for demigods, children of the Olympian gods."

"So you believe that those gods still exist?" Chiron said.

"Yes," Jason said immediately. "I mean, I don't think we should worship them or sacrifice chickens to them or anything, but they're still around because you're a powerful part of civilization."

Despite the gravity of the situation at hand, Chiron had to make gargantuous efforts not to laugh. Lupa, who had not known the gods as long as Chiron had and whose first demigod loss was fresher, did not forgive them easily. She thought them vain. She considered them the rightful ruler of the universe, but treated them more like a government than a monarchy or hierarchy or whatever you chose to consider the Olympians. She taught her demigods to distance themselves from them well and as much as they could. It was such a Lupa philosophy that Jason was presenting... Chiron suddenly realised how long it had been since he'd spoken to her.

"They move from country to country as the center of power shifts- like they moved from Ancient Greece to Rome."

An exact definition. Whoever Jason was in his world, he wasn't a nobody. Chiron decided to test two theories with one stone.

"I couldn't have said it better. So you already know the gods are real. You have been claimed already, haven't you?"

"Maybe," Jason replied. "I'm not really sure."

Seyamour the leopard smiled, and Chiron suddenly felt grave.

He waited as realisation of what had just happened dawned on Jason. He understood and automatically responded to Latin- not an instinct many Roman demigods had. He must be ancient to the Fort. Lupa must have addressed him in Latin instead of English as well- she didn't do that with the older children, Chiron knew.

"Quis erat-" Jason made a conscious effort to speak English. "What was that?"

"You know Latin," Chiron said. "Most demigods recognise a few phrases, of course. It's in their blood, but not as much as Ancient Greek. None can speak Latin fluently without practise."

Jason was making desperate attempts to put all these pieces of information together, which was still like making a blank puzzle. Nevertheless, Chiron pleaded with him to guess.

I can't tell you more, Chiron thought. I can't tell you where you are from no matter how much I see that it pains you not to know. This is the best I can do for you, half-blood. I cannot tell you the truth.

"I taught your namesake, you know, the original Jason." Chiron said instead. "He had a hard path. I've seen many heroes come and go. Occasionally they have happy endings. Mostly, they don't. It breaks my heart, like losing a child each time one of my pupils dies. But you- you are not like any pupil I've ever taught. Your presence here could be a disaster."

That you are not mine.

You are Lupa's.

Chiron barely slept, but during what could be passed off as sleep he dreamt. Dreams were a purely mortal experience. Chiron hadn't had dreams in millennia. But he immediately realised that he was being called.

The she-wolf stood in a clearing. Ruins, her palace, stood behind her proudly.

"It's been some time," Chiron said going to her.

Lupa looked at him as if she'd pounce at any given moment.

"Go on," Chiron said. "Don't try to intimidate me. You know that it doesn't work. Tell me why I'm here."

It's a long story, she said.

"I guessed that much," Chiron sighed. "The boy is yours, of course?"

Of course he is. Who else's?

"I was hoping you could tell me," Chiron said. "This is bad, Lupa."

Your annoying habits have not faded Chiron. Please stop stating the obvious.

Chiron chose to ignore her and to keep the comment that she too had some aggravating habits to himself. "I recognised his training right away. He must have been in your care for quite some time."

You don't understand Chiron, she said. The boy is mine.

"Of course he is, his training, like I just mentioned…"

No, more than just by training. I have matched him grow. I have watched him learn and break and try and fail and succeed, Lupa said. I have nearly disposed of him on several occasions, but he walks in the footsteps of his ancestry. He always succeeds no matter the cost to him. I have seen him nearly lay down his life for people, his people, Chiron- and that, I suppose, may be another reason why I haven't killed him in all these years. Because I cannot help but be afraid of his mortality and care for him.

"Remarkable," Chiron said. He'd known Lupa for a very long time- since before she was made immortal, actually. She'd been a young wolf, caring for Remus and Romulus who'd eventually killed each other for sole control Rome. Chiron had always attributed some small part of her character to the shock and the rapidity of her discovering how cruel the Fates were to half-bloods. Lupa's way of coping with that was by being harsher than most wolves and dissolving her natural maternal instincts. "For you."

Lupa snarled. I'm not telling you this to earn your pity or mockery, Chiron.

"My dear, I would not mock you."

Surely you haven't changed that much since the 1800's. Lupa said. Now she was mocking him. That wolf...

"You want me to keep an eye on your cub," Chiron said plainly.

I would appreciate it greatly.

"I shall," Chiron said. "On one condition."

Yes?

"You keep an eye on mine when he comes to you," Chiron said. "I know that it is not in your custom to do so until you evaluate the demigod–no need to bear teeth at me. But I can testify to Percy, my pupil's, worth. He and Jason are strangely alike you'll find when you meet him- different in mannerism, but same at heart. He is a good boy who will make a good man, and I can vouch for how much he deserves a happily ever after. Hera –Juno, pardon me- has torn him out of the best year of his life. And if not for that, then for the sake of an old heart that is mine, for the sake of an old friendship that is ours. Keep him safe."

I will, Lupa said. Just as long as nothing happens to mine.

"I will do my best. But you must know that he is about to embark on a quest- he leaves in the morning."

Ah yes, Lupa said. She got as close as a wolf could get to smiling. There is something you should know about our Saving Grace and his ability to always find himself in the line of fire as soon as he can…

"And a few little –ah- habits that you should know about Percy," Chiron said feeling his own lips turn into a smile.