Just as those words left her lips a dark, shadowy figure entered the room. Once again, the room became silent as everyone watched the figure walk over towards Eb and her friends. Ebony recognized the figure immediately. It was the same dark figure that would visit her every year on her birthday. The same dark figure that would talk to her when she wasn't living up to his expectations. The exact same figure that pushed her to be the child in the prophecy then reamed her when she wasn't.
"Its my father..." She whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
Gael followed her gaze, "Well, he...he does seem to heading over here." Ebony swallowed nervously then stood and waited for her father to be done scaring everyone.
The figure walked up to them. It was hard to tell if he was more Greek or Roman in that moment since Hades to Pluto didn't change much. He ignored the rest of them with cool ease, focusing on his eldest daughter, "Ebony..."
Eb nodded, "Father. What brings you here?"
"We need to talk. Somewhere...more private." He may of glanced at Reyna with that line, or it might have been a trick of the setting sun.
She ran a hand through her short black hair, "Okay." She brushed passed Gael and headed for the door, with the god following behind her.
As they walked, he stepped next to her. Every few minutes, his clothes would flicker with sudden gems that would just as quickly disappear as he tried to hold himself as Hades without slipping into Pluto. Made only harder by them being with the Romans. He really should have done this sooner, "There's something I must tell you...you're not going to like it either..."
"What is it?"
Hades stopped walking, looking down at the city of New Rome in its glittering glory, "Do you like it here, Ebony?"
Ebony shrugged again, "It's nice. It really is. It's beautiful...But...I have this strange feeling...As if...As if I really belong here."
"That's good...considering you do belong here."
"What are you talking about?" Sadly, she didn't need to ask. She already had a feeling of what he meant. "You mean...I'm Roman?"
"Yes, you were taken to the wrong camp at which point it was too late to bring you here."
"How in the heck did I get taken to the wrong camp?!"
"A satyr found you, and took you to the Greeks. It's happened more throughout history than most gods would like to admit."
Ebony groaned and looked around the city, "So...I'm really supposed to be here...Everything I thought was a lie."
"Not everything, but you will restart here. Reyna has agreed to let you join the legion. You will join them, and train with them." The way he said it made it clear that arguing was out of the question, "This is your chance, Ebony, to fix things."
"What do you mean, 'fix things'? What's there to fix?" Anger and disappointment were seeping into her voice.
"The riff. The Greeks and Romans need to work together or else the world is going to be destroyed. Hera has her method of trying to reunite the camps with switching my brothers' spawn. I have you, Nico, and Hazel. Get to know your little sister."
"Father, I don't...If this is about saving the world why do I feel like it's to make up for not being the child in the prophecy?"
"Things do not have to be either or, Ebony. They can be both." Hades turned his back on the city, "Don't fail." With that, he sunk into the shadows.
Ebony kicked a rock and cursed, "Dammit!" She walked back to all of her friends, sulking the whole way.
Gael looked worried, unable to eat. As she approached, he stood, "What's wrong?"
She pulled him in close and hugged him, "A lot." She kissed him then pulled back, "I'm...I'm Roman."
"You're...what?" He wasn't sure how to react to that.
"I'm Roman." She sat and told them what happened when she spoke to her father. Gael sat next to her, and put an arm around her. He had no clue what to say so he just kissed her cheek. Ebony half smiled at him.
Leo looked at Ebony, "Does that mean you're staying here when the quest is over?"
"Yeah. He said I have to stay here. Train. Bridge the gap. Reyna has agreed to let me join the legion..."
Jason looked over at his fellow Praetor, but she just shrugged, "How am I supposed to refuse Pluto?"
Ebony groaned, "This really sucks..." She stood, "I'm going to find Ace." She kissed Gael once more, smiled, then left.
Ace sat on the deck of the Argo II, his head resting against the automatic catapult he'd proudly built. He'd been crying.
Ebony walked towards him carefully. "Ace?" She stood next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at her, brushing his tears away, "Hey, why aren't you down there feasting?"
"There isn't much point to feasting anymore. Not after the news I just received." She told him what Hades/Pluto told her.
"So...Its like some sick joke of us competing for the suckiest father tonight?" Ace really did try to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it didn't work.
"Yeah." She hopped up on the railing of the boat, "But...I came here for help...Can you train me? I don't know the first thing about being a Roman or fighting like one."
He didn't answer for a minute before standing, and smiling brightly, "That's it! The solution to both of our daddy issues!"
"What are you talking about?" She was wary at first, this sounded an awful lot like sarcasm.
"I'll vouch for you. It just means that I'm suppose to look out for you, keep you out of trouble-"
She smirked and pouted playfully, "But I like trouble..."
Ace continued, ignoring her interruption, "And teach you how to fit into society. Reyna will let me. I can teach you how to be Roman which will show my dad that I'm not a scortum puerilibus."
Ebony smiled, "Thanks." She instantly felt a lot better knowing she'd have someone to count on and have her back.
He couldn't contain his excitement, and hugged her, "Now, lets go back to the feast. I'm starving."
Ace wiped the last of his tears away, before pulling her through the streets back to the couches. Now that it was out anyway, he raced right up to Leo, and kissed him sweetly, "Hey, Bello. Are you having fun?"
Leo kissed back, "Of course!"
"I want to show you around after you're done eating, okay?" His smile was so bright and childish, it seemed impossible anybody could say no to it.
Gael put his arms around Ebony, "What happened to him?"
Ebony rested her head on his shoulder, "He's going to teach me how to be Roman..."
He raised an eyebrow, holding her close, "Ace is going to teach you how to be Roman?"
"It solves both of our problems with our parents. It gives him the chance to show his dad that he can be Roman and make him happy and it gets my dad to...well...nothing makes him happy. It just gets Hades off of my back for awhile"
Gael nodded, "Okay, as long as everything works out."
Ace had his fingers link with Leo's as they were about to explore New Rome, but he stopped and turned to face the Praetors, "I will vouch of Ebony. We have to do it all official later, but I felt like saying it now."
Octavian glowered at the boy, "You abandoned the Legion. As a traitor, you shouldn't even be allowed within the gates. Now you want to vouch for this...Greek."
"Shut up!" Percy and Jason chorused together.
Ebony stood abruptly, "Okay. Look Octavian, I don't know how a stick got shoved that far up your ass but you need to figure out a way to get it removed. Just because I grew up at Camp Half-Blood doesn't mean I'm any less Roman than you! This isn't an either or thing. This is a both. I am both Roman and Greek." When she was done everyone looked shocked, she guessed she was the first to ever talk to Octavian like that.
Ace smiled at her behind Octavian's back before unlinking his hand with Leo's. He threw his arms around the other blonde's shoulders from behind, and made his voice sound sympathetic, "Poor, Octie! Did she hurt your feelings? They are very easily hurt, aren't they? What if I kiss and make them better?"
Octavian growled, throwing Ace off of him so he stumbled back into Leo, before storming off towards the Temple of Apollo. Ace waved at his back, "Bye-bye, Octie!"
Ebony laughed then looked at the shocked, yet amused, Jason. "What?
"Nothing." Jason shook his head, smiling at her.
Ace latched onto Leo again, "Come on, Bello! There's lots of pretty buildings to look at, and libraries, and things you can use to kill people! Lots of fun, you know?"
Ebony smiled at Ace and held up a finger, "Wait! Ace! One more thing. Is that what you meant by, 'getting in trouble'?" She used air quotes for "getting in trouble".
"What? No! That was just pissing Octavian off. I do that everyday!"
Leo rolled his eyes at his boyfriend while Ebony laughed, "Oh man. With the two of us...I don't know if Octavian will be able to handle it."
"You are not teaching her to be you, Ace." Reyna put in, "You are teaching her how to be Roman."
"Yes-yes, I know, Miss Preator Ma'am." Ace muttered dejectedly, "It is my job to piss Octavian off though. I've been doing since we met when we were two." Ebony laughed then took her seat beside Gael again and curled into him.
Gael put an arm around her happily. Ace started pulling Leo towards the rest if the city, "Come, my love, pretty killing machines to see." He pressed close to Leo, whispering to him, "And you will be coming in more ways than one before we're back on the ship."
Leo laughed and waved to everyone, "Gotta go guys. See ya later!" He followed Ace out the door.
Ebony played with Gael's charm that represented her and smiled. But it faded quickly when she remembered she's Roman now. Knowing Hades, he would make her get with a Roman even though she's supposed to be bridging the gap. He, like any other Roman or Greek god or mortal, wants his child to have pure babies.
Gael smiled, kissed her temple, and whispered to her, "I love you. No matter what."
She looked up at him smiling, "I love you too. I always will." She kissed him sweetly.