Review Response

Anonymously96: thank you for the great review, it got me thinking about the endgame which was fairly vague before the publishing of chapter 1, but now I have a concrete end that I want to happen. Hopefully, you understand a bit more of why lupa is the way she is in this fic. This is an AU, a more realistic one in my opinion. Sally's lack of presence will be explained but will be done later, as to avoid spoilers. The pairing is still up in the air. Percabeth could be it, but in my opinion, you have to do canon ships really well or you should not do them at all, there's also very few ships I could do well that would fit in the narrative I'm trying to make.

Ch. II

Over the course of eight hours Percy finally arrived in Napa, just one pitstop in his journey to the legion, just one stop in his journey to regain his father's honor. Percy could distinctly remember when he learned of how the Romans felt about his father. It was an ominous day, Lupa had been particularly rough with the day's lessons and later that night he had received insight to how New Rome viewed the gods.

Flashback, 5 years ago.

"Listen close sea spawn, you need to listen to what I teach you. If you would pay attention and stop screwing around, you wouldn't be a pathetic excuse for a demigod." Lupa admonished him for the umpteenth time, he was truly getting tired of this treatment. 'Same story different day' Percy thought resentfully.

"Care to tell me why you detest my existence, why don't you say my name, why is it that I don't get the same treatment as your other pups?!" came his very loud reply. Lupa only growled in response.

"You seem to misunderstand the nature of romans, sea spawn. Have you ever heard of the story of Coriolanus? No, of course you haven't, you were delivered a blank slate and it wasn't important for your training." Percy's eye twitched at the blank skate comment. "Coriolanus' real name was Gaius Marcius and was one of Rome's great generals and had turned the tide of many battles that were a lost cause. He was one of the greats, a man of great thumos, great spirit, the likes of which we do not see often. After he showed exceptional valor in the siege of a Volscian city named Corioli where he fought his bitter rival Aufidius and gained the title of Coriolanus. In response to this the Roman senate had only one honor left to give him after his years of service: the office of Consul. However, in order to gain the position of consul he would also have to convince the Plebs and to do that he would have to bear his wounds to the people. Coriolanus did not approve of flaunting wounds like they were some trophies to display to move the masses, he did not gain his wounds for the people, he gained them because it was his duty as a roman and because it was right. But at the same time, he refused to level himself to the level of the Plebs, which he viewed as lesser than him, eventually of course he succeeded as all Romans do. What do you think happened next?" lupa asked him.

"He became Consul?" he replied nervously.

"No, in fact quite the opposite. He had gained enemies in the office of the tribunes, the officials elected by the Plebs. He was in contention with the tribunes for the same reasons that he disliked the Plebs, he viewed them as beneath them. The tribunes were able to drive the Plebs into a mob and convinced them not only to revoke their support but also accuse him of treason using Coriolanus' hate for the Plebs. They said that if he openly hated them now, it would only get worse with the accent to Consulship, and they bought it. They held a trial and the Plebs exiled him, in response he exiled the Plebs, they both viewed themselves as roman and they could not come to compromise. In his anger he turned to the Volscians and his enemy Aufidius and joined his cause, he honestly believed that what he was exiled from was no longer Rome and so he would join the Volscians and reclaim Rome and make it what he thought it ought to be. His military prowess greatly helped the Volscians, and he became invaluable to the members of the Volsci's military becoming as important as Aufidius, some say even more, and Rome sent envoy after envoy to negotiate with him for peace. Cominius, a Roman general whom he regarded as a father, was turned away, Menenius, a senator and a member of the Patrician, the upper class, whom he regarded as a friend, he turned away. It was only when his mother and wife approached him that he finally relented and accepted the peace terms. Aufidius was reasonably feeling betrayed, this man he let into his army was not taking peace talks on their behalf, and thus conspired to have him killed when he came back to report. When he came back, he and his coconspirators battled him and killed him, with Coriolanus dead his rage subsided and gave him back to Rome where he had the most basic of burial rights, not befitting a man of his service. What does this tell you of the roman people?" Lupa finished.

"That they didn't think he was good enough? But what does this have to do with me?" Percy asked.

"no child! He was more than deserving of all the honors that Rome had to offer, it shows that the Romans are a fickle and unforgiving people. It relates to you because Neptune is not favored in the least within New Rome, we are a land power and have no need for a navy or sea gods other than the little Tiber. Countless times in our history Rome, and New Rome, has been damaged or destroyed by the children of Neptune. The city of Rome, my city, the one I helped create was destroyed, the Romans, my people, my cubs, humiliated all for the emotional whims of your family. So, I care little of what you think of my treatment of you, or anyone's treatment of you. You are no more than an assignment for me, you are no cub of Rome, you are ruin incarnate and you will only bring chaos and humiliation, just another link in Rome's most flawed lineage." Lupa chided the child before her.

"I… I see, ok-okay then Ill, I'll make you proud to call me Roman." Percy stuttered, eyes starting to mist as he backed up and headed to his makeshift living quarters.

Lupa almost did not want to dignify that with a response "I highly doubt that." The audacity of the sea spawn.

Present Day.

As he came out of his musings, he was nearing the outskirts of Fairfield, and decided to stop by somewhere near and grab another bite to eat. He would forever remember the oath he made to himself that night as he fell asleep. "I swear on the river Styx, I will restore the honor of Neptune and my family." And as he walked back on the road that would take him to the legion the citizens of Fairfield noticed that this day in particular there was thunder rumbling in a crystal-clear sky.

Authors note: chapter two is out, some characterization of Lupa and Rome. I took a lot of the chapter, mainly Coriolanus, from my political theory class and the nature of governments and its people. Coriolanus was in fact a real person as well as the locations Percy hits in this chapter, google maps is a wonderful thing. Everything is important, even little things, and especially the oath at the end of this chapter.