Chapter 8: Revelations of the Outcast

Third Person POV

"I hope you're all ready to know about the truth about Nero." Jupiter announced, with Minerva, Vesta, and Mars beside him. Assembled in the Senate House are all the centurions (sans Octavian) and the praetors. Everyone else stayed outside to monitor the Savior's activities.

"You may all know him as Nero Redgrave, son of Vesta and champion of Mars and Minerva, am I correct?" Minerva asked. All the Romans present nodded.

"But, his real name, is Perseus 'Percy' Jackson, son of...Poseidon." Mars explained.

In an instant, everyone present stood in shocked silence, except for Reyna, who already knew.

"A...A...A graecus?" Leo asked.

"Is there a problem, son of Vulcan?" Vesta asked.

"Nothing, Lady Vesta. I'm just as surprised as everyone else. At least Octavian isn't hearing this." he gulped.

"Anyway, he was born in New Yor-"

"WHAT?! NEW YORK?!" everyone asked loudly, interrupting the god of war.

"Yes, New York now will you please let us continue?" Minerva asked. Instantly, all the Romans were silent.

"Thank you. Now," Vesta continued. "-in case you're wondering why in New York and why we told you it's not safe, it's because there is another...camp there."

"For Greeks? How come we don't know of them?" Frank asked.

"It is to prevent another bloodbath, son of Mars." Minerva explained.

"Anyway, he first entered the camp when he was twelve, when he was given his first quest to recover my Master Bolt from an unknown thief because this might result in a third World War." Jupiter said. "The thief was at first, an influenced and manipulated Mars,"

The war god shuddered a little with guilt.

"-but the real thief was Saturn's greatest servant: Luke Castellan, son of Mercury. For the rest of the Titan War, he served as his general, for he thought that we gods don't care about our children."

The Romans couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"His next quest involved the Golden Fleece." Mars said. "It was located in the Sea of Monsters, also known as the Bermuda Triangle. They recovered the fleece to heal the Greek camp's borders so that monsters may not break through."

"What do you mean by 'they'?" Gwen asked.

"His companion, was my traitorous blonde bimbo of a daughter, Annabeth Chase." Minerva replied with coldness.

"That...blonde jerk on top of the colossus?!" Jason demanded.

"Yes, Jason. Anyway, along the way, they encountered Circe in her island spa. She tried to capture them but Chase released the other prisoners and they destroyed the spa." Mars said.

"Hence, why I'm here." Reyna interrupted, shocking the other Romans.

"Now, when the Fleece was recovered and as it healed the borders, it did something much greater." Jupiter continued before turning to his son. "It brought your sister back."

At this point, Jason began to whimper and cry.

"T...Thalia...she's alive?"

"Alive and well, Jason. Alive and well." the sky god replied.

"Where is she? I want to meet her again." he stood up, excited.

"When the time is right, Jason, I will let you two see each other again."

With a sigh of relief, the son of Jupiter sat down again.

"Anyway, during a quest with Chase and Thalia," Vesta continued. "-they met another group of sibling demigods: Bianca and Nico di Angelo, both children of Pluto."

Again, everyone's jaws dropped until Jupiter continued the story.

"Another quest was initiated which involved saving Diana and Chase from the Titan Atlas. The Greek campers had to team up with my daughter's Hunters, a group Thalia used to be part of until the end of the war. Sadly, during the quest, tragedy struck. Bianca, who joined the Hunters, was killed when a broken Talos prototype fell on her. The worst part was that she was only twelve and Nico was ten."

The Romans showed signs of pity for Pluto.

"And another Hunter perished by a parent's hand: Zoë Nightshade, daughter of Atlas (cue gasps). After her death at the hands of her father, and partly, Ladon, Diana made her a constellation in the sky, and her constellation, 'The Huntress', was my son's favorite. Thalia later joined the Hunters, taking Zoë's place as their leader." Vesta said.

"What sucks the most for me was that she was the one who created Nero's first sword: Riptide. I would assume he still keeps it somewhere." Minerva explained. "With that quest done, he was able to earn Diana's respect."

"What about Nico?" Hazel (yes, she was invited by Frank) asked.

"After he heard about what happened to Bianca, he ran away, and upon witnessing his display of power, everyone instantly concluded he was a child of Pluto."

The Romans present started to listen attentively again as Mars continued his champion's story.

"Next quest, he had to enter the Labyrinth of Daedalus. The quest was led by that bimbo, Chase."

Everyone, especially the two praetors, became appalled at the slightest mention of the graecus that attacked them.

"During the quest, they ran into Nico again, who defeated King Minos and took his title as 'Ghost King'. Nero had to go to Mount Saint Helens to prevent the Titan army from reforging Saturn's scythe. There, he and Chase...freaking kissed before the mountain went kaboom." Mars grunted, making Piper, who was silent and in shock the whole time, gasp.

"WHAT?!" Jason exploded.

"I know it's hard to believe, my son but, yes. That happened." Jupiter stated. "Anyway, Percy survived the explosion and the party returned to the Labyrinth to complete the quest. They were able to recover Ariadne's string since it was the only thing that could get them out. When they did get out, the Camp was preparing for battle against the Titan Army, led by the monster, Kampe. They won the fight, at the cost of two, sadly."

Again, the Romans showed pity.

"But, the Labyrinth was still standing and can still be used." Minerva said. "And there was only one way to destroy it: end Daedalus. Nico released his spirit and passed on two things: his pet hellhound, Mrs. O'Leary went to Perseus,"

"Uh...I hate to interrupt but, tame hellhounds exist?" Frank asked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, kid. They exist." Mars told his son.

"-and," the wisdom goddess continued "-his laptop, ugh. You can probably guess quick on who got it."

"Great. SHE got the laptop." Reyna spat.

"And that contained valuable information on a lot of stuff."

The Romans started to get angrier but they did their best not to snap in front of the gods.

"I hope you're all ready for the main event: the end of the Titan War." Jupiter said.

"What happened to the Greeks towards the end?" Leo asked, a lot more curious than ever.

"While you guys attacked Mount Othrys, took down Krios, and destroyed the Black Throne, the Greeks had to defend Mount Olympus from Kronos himself." Mars explained before continuing with a sad look on his face. "It was total chaos in Manhattan. Despite their small numbers, the Greeks continued to fight the Titan Army. Many friends fell in service to Olympus but, in the end, the Greeks prevailed, when Perseus played his part in the Great Prophecy: he gave Chase's dagger to Luke, who killed himself to prevent Saturn from completely rising."

"You mean the son of Mercury hosted Saturn? How is that possible?" Gwen asked.

"One last thing, Lord Jupiter: how did Ner-...Percy, stand a chance against such a powerful force?" Frank asked.

"Before the final battle, he went to the Underworld to take the curse of Achilles." Jupiter replied sternly. "His mortal anchor, was Chase."

They started to get angrier than usual.

"After the end of the battle...well, they started to date." Mars gulped.

"WHAT THE CRAP?!" Jason, Reyna, and Piper exploded.

"That was for like...a year until that day." Minerva said.

"What day?" Leo asked.

"The day he received his...special arm." Vesta said. "One day, Minerva had requested Perseus to go on a quest to defeat the Eastern Titan of Light, Hyperion so that he and Chase can continue dating. After he went down, Perseus passed out, waking up with his new arm."

The story was continued by a slightly appalled Minerva.

"I was hoping most of the Greeks would still accept him for who he is but, I was wrong. When he got back to camp, he caught my daughter...cheating on him for his arrogant half brother that I despise."

"I could've sworn I saw a guy with Chase. That was probably the douche." Jason spat.

"Yes, Jason. Anyway, my daughter became disgusted by Perseus's condition and left him. Soon enough, Neptune disowned him, and spoiled that...that...idiotic boy with titles and riches alike! (Sigh). I'm starting to sound like Diana."

"That...asshole." Reyna cursed.

"Even if there were other Greeks, Thalia and Nico included, that still supported him, this was too much for Perseus to handle so, he ran away."

The mic, if there was one, was passed back to Vesta.

"That's when I came in with Minerva and Mars. We took him in, trained him, and soon enough, we sent him here. The rest is history."

The Romans stood in shocked silence. Everyone was unaware that someone had been hearing them. No, it's not Octavian, it was the man in question. Shaking slightly, Nero snuck back to the infirmary to not arouse suspicion from everyone else. What he didn't know was that the gods, praetors, and centurions, continued to talk about him.

"Now, we have one last question for you all." Jupiter announced. "Now that you know about who Nero really is, what do you think about him now?"

Silence reigned throughout the air but Jason was the first one to break it.

"I feel...really bad for him. If Thalia trusts him a lot, I will too." he stated, before turning to the others.

"Reyna?" "Blondie's gonna pay for what she did to him."

"Leo?" "Still the same guy to me."

"Frank?" "Same with Leo. Nero's our friend and comrade no matter what he used to be."

"Gwen? Hazel?" "We're with the guys."

"Uh...Piper?"

Everyone turned to the daughter of Venus. From the look on her face, she couldn't believe that she had been dating a graecus the whole time.

"C...Can I get some space with him?" she asked.

"Hope you won't do what we think you're going to do." Jason warned.

"I won't. Don't worry."

Meanwhile in the infirmary, Nero stared at Devil Bringer, shaking and tearing up slightly after the eavesdrop he just pulled off. He turned to see Piper approaching him from his left. The son of Vesta looked at her a little harshly. This only made her sigh in annoyance.

"You were listening, weren't you?" she asked.

"It's not like you would care about me anymore." he replied coldly.

"Stop rubbing it in the wrong way, Hotshot."

"No! Don't you get it?! I don't belong here because I'm not like you guys! I'm no Roman from the start, and look at me!"

"I said, stop thinking like that, Hotshot!" the daughter of Venus screamed, slapping her boyfriend really hard before continuing with a softer voice.

"You're the one for me. You earned my respect, saved me, and stole my heart. You belong here in Rome, with Jason, Reyna, everyone! Especially, with me."

The son of Vesta started sobbing slowly at his girlfriend's words. He was still accepted by her: his girlfriend for two months. Piper jumped on the bed to make out passionately with Nero. However, it wasn't so peaceful anymore when he heard the voice of Sparda in his head:

"The hunt for the Devil Arms must begin, and this is something you have to do alone, in order not to risk your lover's life."