Welcome to Greek meets Roman! I will try to revise and edit as much as possible. Disclaimer: The characters and places you know belong to Rick Riordan, everything else is mine.

Same thing as last chapter's announcement: I divided the document into two chapters. Thanks for sticking with me and reading this even though I didn't update in December. Here is Chapter 12, wrapping up the Greek demigods' adventures in Cleveland!

Thanks for all the followers, favorites, and reviews!

Previously - Lou Ellen POV

"Wait wait!" I pleaded. "If you let us go, we'll build a shrine for you at camp. Demigods at Camp Half-Blood will worship you as the true goddess of Love, not Aphrodite! I could even convince Annabeth to build a cabin for you!"

The goddess hesitated, clearly thinking over her options. She was not going to agree over my plan, so a surprise attack's our best option. Jake and I can't subdue Erato, but we can sure as Hades distract her for long enough so we can leave the museum, unharmed, with an intact painting.

Time to battle a goddess!

Lou Ellen POV
Cleveland, Ohio

Ok, listen to my plan.

It might be crazy, but it's still a plan.

I would attack Erato first, hopefully subduing her for enough time for Jake to escape with the painting. But Erato was powerful with her staff, and simply escaping the museum wasn't going to fix things. I would have to take the staff. Erato's hesitation was washing away, so it was time to attack.

I dashed towards her, kicking her in the legs. Caught by surprise, Erato stumbled towards the ground. I stabbed her abdomen while she was down, the wound already spurting out golden ichor. But before I could fight her further, Erato pushed me five yards away from her. She looked at me, enraged. The fire was literally burning in her eyes.

Erato screeched, "You insolent demigod! You shall pay for this with your death!"

I was fucked. F-U-C-K-E-D. I had to take her staff or both of us would die. Without it, we could actually beat her! I jumped forward and snatched her staff from her arms. "Jake, get the painting and leave!" I yelled.

Jake recovered from his state of shock and sprinted away with the painting. Or tried to, since the painting's width was almost the size of his height. He stumbled away to the exit, not quite leaving the room yet. What was he doing? He had to escape! We need the painting!

Ok, I could deal with Jake's idiocy later. But Erato's staff was pulling me towards the muse pretty quickly. I couldn't keep the staff from Erato forever, so I have to break it! Since this is her supposed weapon of power, she should be weakened enough so we could escape.I could feel the staff coming back to its owner pretty fast.

I tried snapping the staff in half, but it didn't work. Not even a crack appeared! But that made sense. It was a weapon of power of a goddess, and even though she was a minor one, Erato was still a deity. I continued trying to bust the staff. Finally, some cracks showed up!

Erato caught onto my plan and pulled the staff telekinetically towards her. "Don't you dare try to break that staff, daughter of Hecate! It's mine!" We were only 10 feet away from each other, but that distance was getting smaller and smaller, second by second.

My efforts to hold onto the staff formed blisters and red boils on my hands. Unfortunately, I let go of the staff instinctively to end the injuries, making it propel to Erato. But there was one last ditch effort I did: try to hold the staff with my leg. However, between Erato's pull and my hold, combined with the cracks already there, the staff broke int two.

The shock made me fall down, but that was nothing compared to Erato. While the two staff pieces returned to her, but she looked as pale as snow, coughing up pieces of ichor. Her dress shrank in size and she lost her divine glow. Almost like a 90-year-old woman with Alzheimer's. She fell to the ground, almost making me feel bad about breaking her staff.

But Erato wasn't going to stay weak for long.

Her staff was already combining into one. In a half a minute, she would be rejuvenated and bring down all her wrath on us.

I stood up and ran, catching up to Jake. He sighed in relief, and we both sprinted out of the room and the gallery. The security guard was still there and blocking our path, so Jake knocked him out with a blow from the hilt of his hammer. Not enough to kill him, but definitely long enough for the next hour.

I looked back at Erato, who was trying to get up from her knees. "You may have gotten out of my grip this time, half-blood, but you will feel my revenge!" she hollered. "I, Erato, goddess of erotic poetry, curse Lou Ellen Blackstone, daughter of Hecate, to lose all of her romantic or sexual partners for the rest of her life! You will be alone forever!"

Pink smoke wisped out of Erato's body and entered mine. The smoke made me lightheaded and dizzy, but the feeling washed away after a second.

I looked at Jake, who said, "We have to leave the museum."

I nodded, and we left towards the exit. But as we were running there, loud beeping blared throughout the building. I asked Jake, "What's happening? Did Erato activate the alarm?"

"Not yet, I hope," Jake replied. "Um, Lou, could you make the painting smaller? It's kinda getting hard to carry."

"Oh yeah. Sure." I chanted a quick spell, which shrunk the painting to a size of 18'' by 12'' (45cm by 30 cm).

But as we entered the exit room, police and museum security were guarding all the existing doors. I glanced at Jake and whisper-shouted, "Hide the painting in your shirt!"

Erato, or the security guard, sounded the alarm. There were a dozen guards at the exit, all heavily armed. Most of them had guns, guns! You'll die if you try to disarm someone with a gun!

Jake tapped my shoulder, and pointed towards the gift shop. "All the visitors are over there. We can blend in. But it looks like the police are checking their bags and going through a metal detector."

"We can deal with that later. Let's go," I replied. As we walked over there, Jake brushed my shoulder with his. Did I feel static? My heart sped up a bit as well. Probably because we were conducting a heist and minutes away from escaping. But Jake's touch did feel good.

Lose those thoughts, Lou, I berated myself. This was not the right time to think about Jake and static.

We entered the line at the gift shop. Nobody was freaking out that much, which probably meant that the museum staff and security didn't divulge that a painting was stolen. Maybe the visitors were told this was a fire drill. If only they knew what really happened...

"Visitors, exit the museum in an orderly way in the lines at the various exits," a staffer announced through a megaphone. "The exit will be safe and smooth. We just need to check your bags so nobody steals anything. And, the staff will give each of you a card which grants a free entry at our special galleries for the next semester and a voucher of $20."

Well, the free entry card was useless for us. But $20 could help us on the quest. "Jake, let's just stay in the line until the we're right next to the detectors. We can take a run for it through the sliding doors. And the Impala isn't far from here."

"Sure. But we need a distraction so they don't shoot at us. Maybe you can create a small explosion at the wall or something?"

I winced at his proposal. "Ehhh. If I create too big of an explosion, I might lose control and blow up this whole room, us included. No explosions from me."

Jake looked at me, surprised. "I haven't practiced using magic to make explosions. Usually costs too much to repair the damage. And the window was a small one, okay?" I defended myself.

Jake put his hands up apologetically. "Okay, I can create a bomb. But can you make a shield to stop the bullets from hitting us?"

We moved on further in the line, and I could see the sliding doors leading to freedom. "That's easy. But just stay within six feet from me."

I always believed that magic wasn't supposed to create destruction. That's why I didn't use it for explosions. Even though magic is stereotypically evil, and was historically used for nefarious means, I was never going to use it that way. Especially after what happened to my father and step-mom...

No! I was not going to think about that now! It was a long time ago, and I have to get over it. And I couldn't afford to think about them. We were on a quest, and Percy was probably too tired to properly defend himself, Annabeth, and Thalia.

Jake tapped me on my shoulder, interrupting my thoughts. "Earth to Lou! Oh, you're here. Thought you had amnesia."

"What?" I asked, a bit harshly. Jake didn't have to make fun of me.

"Can you hold the painting so I can make the bomb?"

"Sure," I replied. Jake gave me the painting, which I hid under my t-shirt. We stepped forward in the line, as Jake got tools and whatnot out of his backpack. I tried looking at the items in the gift shop, maybe some I could buy when I come back. Who am I kidding? Why would I go back to Cleveland?

One step forward. Okay, we had limited time until we were going to exit the museum. Technically we were escaping, but 'exit' sounds better.

One step forward. I looked back at Jake, who was still tinkering with the bomb. He had to finish soon, because I had a bad feeling about what would happen if we stayed here.

"I finished, Lou!" Jake said.

I turned back and smiled at him. "Great. And I have a bad feeling about staying here for too long. Erato is probably recovered by now."

He nodded, saying, "Then let's skip a couple people." We walked past mortals, who didn't even notice us! They were addicted to their phones, literally glued to them! Ugh, mortal technology. Mortals were so dependent on it. Now, we were third in line for the exit. The time to throw the bomb was coming soon.

One step forward. Now, we were second in line. I told Jake, "It's time to throw the bomb. Do it!" But the African Art entrance was full with people. A No-go. And there wasn't a single place without any mortals! We would have to go through security the normal way, and they would surely catch the painting! Styx, that wasn't supposed to happen!

Suddenly, the people at the European Art gallery entrance, whatever it's called, scurried away like avoiding a predator. And they might as well have been.

Erato barged in through the space left by the visitors, visibly furious. Not only was her face the amalgamation the angry birds, her aura was engulfing, suffocating this room. She was scanning this room for us, and hopefully she wouldn't notice us and move on.

"Did you find them?" Erato asked the guards who were following her. They shook their heads, infuriating her even more.

She scanned the crowd once more, until she locked eyes with mine. I looked away. Please don't notice us!

"That's the girl and her companion! Arrest them!" Erato shouted, pointing at us. Fuck!

I felt air moving behind me. To my horror (and later my gratitude), Jake threw the bomb he just made at Erato.

The bomb exploded at her feet. BOOM!

The shock of the bomb was weak, but all the things near the explosion were burnt and crisp, including Erato herself. Her clothes were all black, and her face was covered in soot. She fell down to the ground again! The mortal guards looked fine enough for wear.

I could hear some ringing in my ears, but that wasn't a major problem. While the guards were rushing to help Erato, Jake pulled my frozen figure towards the museum exit. The shock subsided and I regained control of my legs. Almost to safety! We both sprinted towards the Impala, running and running. Jake unlocked the door with his powers that I couldn't bother to find cool and we were both safely in it.

Freedom!

We escaped Erato, the guards, and the museum! I placed the painting, the goal of the mission, onto my lap! I succeeded! I didn't have to mess everything I touched.

I slumped on the seat. The exhilaration wasn't enough to combat the fatigue. I looked out of the dashboard and saw guards and policemen running out of the museum, but they clearly didn't know where we went.

I looked at Jake, and for some reason, we laughed. Laughed! Why? The mission had a je ne sais quoi that was so funny!

"Did you really have to throw the bomb when I least expected it?" I asked Jake, not seriously. "I couldn't even cover my ears from the ringing, which I still have, by the way." I hope the ringing would wash away at the end of the hour.

Jake looked at me with an Are you joking face. "Did you have a better solution? There was no other way to beat Erato, who we didn't expect. And the ringing will go away in a few hours, so relax. Plus, you were frozen when Erato saw you. What would you have done?"

That was true. But my ears had a very strong case that Jake was to blame. I smiled, waving aimlessly towards Jake. "Just drive. We don't want to wait too long for Annabeth. Erato might be able to smell our scents, even from this distance."

"I know. But I'm glad bomb incapacitated her for some time. Combined with the broken staff, she won't follow us." Jake turned the keys, starting the Impala's ignition.

I looked at him in the eyes seriously. "Don't underestimate her. She's a goddess, known to have giant vendettas. The literal definition of Hera!"

Jake chuckled before exiting the parking lot, driving towards the lakefront. The trees and scenery were very nice, something I didn't appreciate the way to the museum. After a quarter-hour, we arrived at the road where the car was parked before. Another car was occupying the spot, but it didn't appear that someone was panicking over their stolen car.

"There's a free spot," I said, pointing to a free spot a few spots away.

Jake nodded and parked there. I opened the door and started walking into the forest where the others were.

"Will the driver notice the changed car spots?" Jake asked.

"Does it matter? All we've done is steal less than five miles of mileage," I replied.

Soon, we arrived at the clearing where the three were last. I braced myself for the worst. What if all three were kidnapped, or worse, dead? To my relief, Annabeth and Thalia were both resting on the same tree trunk. Percy was patrolling the area. Good!

Once he saw us, Percy's cautious expression shifted into one of ease. He ran towards us, pulling Jake and I into a bone-crushing hug. "Thank gods you are all right! You were taking so much time; I was wondering if you failed or even died!"

I pointed towards Jake and I, saying, "You can see we're not dead. Anything bad happen here?"

Percy waved his hand. "Nah, I only had to kill a stray monster who got too close to us three. You got the painting, right?" Percy asked, his tone shifting into seriousness.

"Yeah, here it is." I took out the painting out from under my t-shirt and showed it to him.

"You sure this is the painting? It looks a bit small to be carrying the remedy." Percy asked, weirdly disappointed.

Jake rolled his eyes. "We had to use a spell to reduce its size. Lou, can you reverse the spell or something?"

My cheeks twitched in embarrassment. "Not my fault. None of us could carry a painting that large through the museum. But I digress. Stand back. The painting is giant."

I set the painting on the grass. I chanted, "Αναίρεση του προηγούμενου ξόρκι," which roughly translated into Undo the previous spell. The painting suddenly reverted to its original size, reaching its gigantic dimensions in a couple seconds.

Percy gasped in surprise, coming close to the painting. "This is big and so beautiful. Who painted it? Wait, is that boy naked?" He asked, shocked.

I squinted closely at where Eros was trying to capture Erato's attention. Oh! He was naked. I immediately turned my gaze.

"I mean, I know that gods revealed lots of skin, but isn't this a bit too much?" Jake asked.

Percy shook his head and told us, "Whatever. Remove the paint or whatever you have to do. I'll leave."

Personally, I think he was overreacting, but why should I care? Anyone could be offended over that.

Now, I had to wash away the paint to find the potion or spell to cure Annabeth. Starting off with some basic cold water could work, although the water might wash off whatever was hidden beneath the paint. But all the other alternatives could also wash off what was beneath, and we were right next to a lake.

Water was our best option. Especially since Percy, the son of Poseidon, was here. I asked him, who was still near us, "Percy, could you get some water from the lake? We'll need it to wash the paint." He nodded, walking towards the lake shore.

Jake whispered, "Is water one of the ingredients for the spell?"

"Nope, we're going to wash the paint out the normal way. If I use any more magic other than the one for Annabeth, I may pass out and there would be three passed out demigods here. I doubt you two could protect us."

Jake shook his head. "If you say so. If that's your plan, I'm going to help you." He got out some towels from his backpack just as Percy arrived back with in a perfect, bucket-like shape. Jake plunged two towels into the blob of water, and gave one to me.

I started scrubbing one corner of the painting, with Jake doing another one. The paint took some effort and time to wash away, probably since the painting was centuries old. After a couple minutes, I could see the two corners where Jake and I were scrubbing become white!

"It works, Jake!" I smugly told Jake. "Some things can be done in mortal fashion." He huffed, but continued scrubbing the edges.

Charles Meynier must be screaming at me from the Underworld, but I didn't feel bad about desecrating his painting. There was a duplicate at the museum where everyone could look at it. Unless Erato destroyed it out of her rage.

After scrubbing the edges off, I decided to scrub Eros' genitals. I wanted Percy to help with washing to heal Annabeth as soon as possible. And he should be able to help once Eros' genitals were washed away.

I called Percy over. "Percy, could you help us with the scrubbing? I already washed his genitals!"

Percy looked back and came over to help, dubbing it PG enough. Jake gave him an extra towel to scrub, and we went to work.

It took about another 15 minutes to finish cleaning the center of the painting where the spell or potion would be, no doubt. I was right!

I saw a script to a spell in English, with a vial of some orange liquid under it. The cure to Annabeth's comatose state! Readers, don't ask me how something 3-D like a flask can appear inside the canvas. If you do, the answer is the divine and magical world.

"Is that it? I mean, the vial and the writing?" Percy asked hopefully.

I nodded, making him breathe a sigh of relief. "I will need to chant the spell and pour the liquid on Annabeth," I said. "I don't know if it should be her wound or her mouth, but it should be somewhere in the writing."

We walked over to the tree trunk. While we were walking, I whispered to Jake, "Should I chant in English or in Greek? The writing's in English, but the language of magic is Greek."

"Probably in English," replied Jake. "We're not perfect translators of Greek, so you might mess it up." I could hear the unspoken like you messed it up before. But it didn't offend me anymore. Maybe a little bit, but I wasn't about to start arguing about it with Jake. The healing spell was a mistake, and this spell was my redemption.

"There's a reason it was written in English. Anyways, I trust you," Jake said, warming up my heart.

"Thanks." Time to cast the spell. "Jake, take the potion. Once I finish the spell, pour all of it on her wound. But make sure the potion flows at an even pace for around four seconds." Jake nodded, taking the vial from me.

"Percy, hold Annabeth down," I ordered. "I don't know what will happen once her body receives the liquid, but I want all of the liquid to be absorbed into Annabeth's body." Percy nodded too, sitting close to Annabeth.

I started the incantation, going purposefully slowly so I wouldn't make any mistakes. After I finished, I nodded my head towards Jake, who poured the potion on Annabeth's wound.

After Jake poured the liquid, Annabeth started convulsing like she was epileptic. Was that supposed to happen? Percy held her shoulders down and kept her in place, regardless of my doubts. I guess I had to trust the process. After a while, Annabeth calmed down and stopped shaking, making me relieve a sigh of relief I didn't know I was holding in.

I stumbled. Ugh, my brain felt so light and empty, but at the same time it was swimming against a hard current of unconsciousness.

Okay, this was happening. This was one of my greatest fears: that I'd faint from using too much magic. If I used more magic than my body could produce in that given time, I would be essentially using my human, mortal energy to power the magic. That means other human functions like breathing and thinking would not be a priority anymore. If I used enough magic, my bodily processes could fail and I could die.

(AN: Yes, I took this from the Kane Chronicles. Sue me.) I was probably going to collapse and lose consciousness, but I didn't feel like I was about to die. While I didn't use up all my energy, nobody actually knows how burning up from magic feels like. (Because they're dead!) Also, nothing is ever really what it can feel like. That's lesson one in Magic 101... scratch that, Demigod 101.

My body lost its energy used to stand up for the spell to wake Annabeth. As I fell to the ground, I hoped that the spell I just chanted actually succeeded at waking Annabeth from her coma. Hopefully, my effort would not be in vain and Annabeth would recover from her coma.

Percy and Jake both turned their heads at me in shock from the sound. Jake quickly ran over to me and laid me carefully down on the same tree trunk as Annabeth and Thalia were.

I so wanted to make my eyes stay open, but I literally could not do it. Why did magic have to eat up my energy?! I murmured to Jake, "I'm just... sleeping. It's... magic." My eyes started opening and closing in smaller and smaller intervals.

I turned my head over at Percy and Annabeth, who was stirring up. She opened her eyes, looking straight at me. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened wide, but I couldn't hear anything else since my ears did not have the capacity to hear.

My eyes and all my other senses didn't have energy to function as well. Hopefully I don't die or sleep for the next five hours!

Here is twelfth chapter of Greek meets Roman! I was planning to write a cliffhanger, but two months is a bit too long to wait. (This is not a cliffhanger.)

Summary: Erato and the guard are caught by surprise by Lou Ellen's attack, allowing her and Jake to escape with the painting. When they get held up at the museum exit, Jake throws a bomb at the pursuing Erato which allows them to go back to the other demigods without pursuers. After the demigods wash off the paint from the painting, Lou chants the spell with a potion that heals Annabeth. However, the exertion from the magic makes Lou faint and lose consciousness.

Why did Erato look so weak after her staff was broken? Erato imbued the staff with a lot of her power and energy because it was supposed to be her weapon of power. When Lou Ellen broke it, tons of power and energy inside just disappeared, weakening Erato a lot. But once her staff was healed, the energy returned back into the staff and Erato was as good as new.
The same effects would also apply to any deity if someone broke their weapon of power, even to Zeus or Poseidon. But it isn't be easy! Erato is not even a proper goddess, only a muse, but breaking Erato's staff took a lot of effort from Lou Ellen. Imagine how hard it must be for one to break the Master Bolt or Poseidon's Trident.

The painting of Erato is gigantic. GIGANTIC. The CMA says its dimensions are 273 by 176 cm (107.5 by 69.3 in.) With that height, it also must be super heavy. That's why Lou needed Jake for help.

I'm sorry if I made any mistakes on the museum's layout. I have never visited the CMA or Cleveland, so most of my information was taken from the Internet. If you've been to the CMA, comment on how it truly looks!

Lou's childhood with her father and step-mom will be talked about in later chapters. Lou's going through a lot of personal growth in this story, so there definitely will be an explanation. Especially for what I have planned in mind later on.

I really wanted to write down the incantation for the spell to heal Annabeth, but I felt that it wasn't that big of a deal and that nobody would remember or care about it. I was also feeling a bit too lazy. Feel free to imagine what the spell was and comment it out.

I have news on the new fanfic I told you guys I'm going to be writing! It was originally going to be called 'The Banished God', but that doesn't live up to the story's potential. I need help with naming titles for my fanfics. Look at the name of this fanfic: "Greek meets Roman"! I asked a friend for suggestions for the new story's title, and they gave me a great one! I won't spill the beans yet, but you'll find out when I publish the first three chapters!

You can give me a new possible name for this story through comments. I may choose the one that sounds even better than the one my friend told me. Or should I do a poll? If I do a poll, you still have to give me some possible names! You decide.

Have a great day and let's all Mystify!