*Note: Happy New Year, y'all! Have this new chapter to celebrate! Sorry it took so long to make this one, y'all. The ADD kicked in and I got distracted with other projects. Also, don't expect other chapters to be up so quickly in the next few months. I'll be student teaching, which means I'll be super busy with that. I ask for your patience in the meantime.

Chapter 6: The Romans

"And finally," Hercules concluded his presentation. "My model city would include a pantheon of heroes."

But right as Hercules touched on of his model temples, the whole thing tumbled down like a bunch of dominoes. Both ruining the presentation of his model city project and disappointing our history teacher, Mr. Herodotus. Although, between you readers and me, I really think everything pretty much disappoints Herodotus. Heck, Herc's project wasn't the only one he didn't like.

"Perfect." Herodotus gave his usual disapproving look. "Another city destroyed by Mr. Hercules."

"I thought it looked pretty good." I told Hercules with a smile as he sat down next to me.

"Thank you, Aria." Herc said when he sat down next to me.

"Well, flunkards, so far, I'm very disappointed in your pitiful excuses for model cities." Herodotus began to talk about our projects. "Mr. Adonis and his so-called 'Adonisville'."

"What?" Adonis asked as he looked at his project. "Not enough statues of me?"

"Miss Cassandra with her ridiculous city of the future, Miss Helen with her cliché city under the sea," Herodotus listed. "Miss Aria with her silly city of gemstones."

"It's efficient with resources, free of controversial politics, provides free welfare" I listed why I thought my model city was good before moving the box around in the sunlight, making the little crystals reflect in the light. "And it sparkles!"

"And that brings us to Mr. Icarus." Herodotus then turned to the only student who hadn't yet presented. "I trust you won't disappoint me."

"Well, trust away, Mr. Herodotus." Icarus said as he carried his covered project to the podium. "Ok. Uh, the time has come to unveil my model city. Prepared to be amazed because it's really, really, really good."

Just then, a loud gong went off. Signaling the end of class and the end of the school day.

"Oh! Darn it! Now I won't get to show off my magnificent handiwork." Icarus gripped before grabbing his project and started to leave. "Well, see ya!"

Herodotus stopped him. "Mr. Icarus, I expect to be amazed by your project first thing Monday morning."

Icarus gave a nervous smile. "Yeah, well, it'll be amazing, all right."

Mr. Herodotus gave a nod and then left the class amphitheater. Icarus, on the other hand gave a relieved look. I knew what was up with him by know. Icarus hadn't come up with a good idea for his model city project, and after seeing our teacher hating everyone else's models, Icarus was scared that what he would come up with wouldn't be any good. But, on the plus side, he had plenty of time to make one.

"Hey, Icarus, can't wait to see your model." I told him as I started to head on out myself. "Now that you got a few more days to work on it, you've got time to make it amazing."

"I know." he said. "Got any good recommendations for research?"

"Hit up the Alexandria library in Egypt." I suggested. "They got everything there!"

"Thanks!" Icarus smiled before telling me one other thing. "Oh, by the way, Aria. Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, buddy!" I smiled before waving goodbye. "See ya Monday!"

Yep. It was my birthday again. My sweet seventeen, as I like to put it. And the moment I got out of the class amphitheater, I made a beeline right for my locker. To celebrate my birthday, Mom decided to take me with her on a business trip for the weekend. The destination of said business trip? Well, why don't you readers read a little bit more to find out? I don't want to spoil everything. I finally reached my locker and opened it up to grab everything I needed from it, right as Helen and Pandora were walking by.

"You seem awfully excited." Helen stated when she stood by her locker.

"And in quite the rush." Pandora added. "Where are you going?"

"I am gonna spend the weekend at the hottest and newest tourist spot of the century." I grinned excitedly as I put my school scrolls back into my locker.

"You're going to Atlantis?" Pandora asked. I shook my head.

"Nope. Rome!"

"Rome?" Helen repeated.

"Never heard of it." Pandora shook her head. "What is it?"

"It's a new civilization just north of Sicily." I explained to them. "My mom wanted to welcome them all by giving them some teas in hopes they'll fund her business, and she and I are gonna be the first visiting Greeks!"

"Oh, that sounds so exciting!" Helen said.

"Yeah, but the thing that sucks is that it's a 120-drachma rent for one of their rental houses." I stated. "Mom had to use most of the funds from the tea shop just to pay for it. Hence why she needs the funds from Rome."

"Oh, Aria, if you needed the money, you could've just asked." Helen told me. "I would've been more than happy to give you some."

"I wouldn't have known because it was a surprise." I told her. "Mom wanted my 17th birthday to be extra exciting."

"Oh, happy birthday!" Helen clapped her hands in excitement. "When you get back from your trip, you and I are so going shopping."

"Can't wait." I smiled.

"Wait, you're 17, and you're a senior?" Pandora asked in confusion.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Did you skip a grade?" she questioned.

I gave her my best poker face possible. "That, you can blame on my… uncle."

"Oh, right!" Helen went on with my lie. "You're… uncle was the one who signed you up for Prometheus Academy last year."

I gave a thankful smile when Helen and I looked at each other. If there was one thing that came out of me telling her my secret last semester was that Helen never told anybody else about it. And was especially good at keeping my secret just that. It really is a shame that she and I don't usually hang out together that often, she's a really good friend to have. I was lucky to have her.

"Yeah, he must've thought I was a year older or something." I said. "Well, gotta blaze! See you girls on Monday!"

"Bye, Aria!" Helen waved as I ran out of school to get ready for Rome.

The Next Day

"Happy birthday, sweetie." Mom told me when we finally arrived at our rental guest house in Rome.

It took most of the afternoon of Friday and part of the day the following Saturday to drive there, but Mom and I finally arrived in Rome. And let me tell you, it was beautiful. Every building was made out of the finest alabaster stone in the whole Mediterranean and each roof had the finest red tiled shingles on them. It almost felt we were in a whole other world when we got to Rome even though we were just a country over from Greece. I was so excited to spend the weekend here while Mom had her business trip.

"Thanks, Mom! This is gonna be awesome!" I beamed when I saw the house. "We talked forever about going to Rome, and here we are! 4,000 years before!"

"Look, you go pick yourself out your room, while I check in for the weekend stay." Mom said as she dropped me off at the house with our rental key.

"You sure you don't want me to do it for you?" I offered her. "You've been getting really bad headaches lately."

Mom gave me a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

I hesitated before speaking again. "If you say so."

And with that, I went towards our rental house as Mom left in the chariot to go check in. But I still couldn't help but worry about Mom. I don't understand why she's not making it such a big deal that she's got these bad migraines, and I know there's more to them than what she's telling me. I want to talk to her about it, but now wouldn't be the best time. We're supposed to be on vacation, so I won't bother her with such a thing.

Anyway, I unlocked the door of the house, and I felt my jaw drop when I saw what it looked like on the inside of it. It had to have been bigger than Mom's tea shop both in Athens and back in Salem, and I was actually impressed with all of it. You know, for a whole civilization built by copying everything the Greeks did but more violently and enslaving pretty much all of Europe to expand their empire, these Romans knew how to do their interior design. I ran upstairs in our rented house and picked out the first guest room I laid my eyes on, which felt like it was bigger than my old room in the Underworld but a lot brighter. It was perfect!

I then made sure I was alone when I was in my room; Mom wasn't back from checking us in and there were no looky-loos for miles. So, I took off my satchel and gently placed it on my bedroom floor.

"Okay, we're here." I whispered into my satchel. "You can come out now."

And from my satchel, two small snakes slithered out and onto the hardwood floor of the guest room. Once the two snakes had their entire bodies on the floor, I watched them shapeshift into the best two friends a girl like me could ever have, the greatest duo in both the mortal world and the Underworld: Pain and Panic. Yeah, they snuck into my satchel when I left school while I was talking to Helen and Pandora. But it's cool, I invited them. The imps really wanted to see me off to Rome before they had to go back to work. Also, they really could've used some fresh air. It's been a while since they've been out of the Underworld.

"About time." Pain groaned as he turned back to normal. "I could hardly breathe in that thing."

"Next time, we turn into something smaller, like a brooch." Panic agreed as he popped his back. "No offense, Aria, but the satchel's not as comfy as we thought."

"None taken, bud." I grinned. "I just can't believe Hades actually let you guys come up to visit me!"

"Neither can we." Pain agreed with a smile.

"Speaking of which," Panic said as he dug back into my satchel and pulled out a small box. "He wanted to give you this, but he got called to an Olympus meeting."

Ooh! Another little birthday gift for me? I wondered what Hades got me this time that could compare to my bookmark from last year? So, when Panic handed me the box, I opened it up, I saw the most beautiful pair of diamond-shaped gold earrings I've ever seen. They were exactly what I needed to make my new look into something really fabulous. And two small, yet beautiful birthday gifts and an added big birthday gift? This was starting to one-up my birthday from last year. Almost.

"Oh, they're perfect!" I said as I put the earrings on. "Now people won't think I'm a lesbian with this haircut."

"Lesbian?" Pain repeated in confusion.

"A lady who dates ladies." I explained to them. "Like that poet, Sappho."

The imps nodded in understanding before the two of them looked around the guest room.

Panic whistled as he looked around. "Nice place you guys rented."

"I know, right?" I smiled as I sat down on the guest bed. "Shame you guys can't stay for much longer."

"Yeah, but we were lucky enough to get this far." Pain said.

"You're our best friend, after all!" Panic agreed. "We do a lot for you."

"Aw, you two are the best!" I smiled before laying down a point. "But you guys better get going soon before Hades finds out you guys left work."

"She's right." Panic turned to Pain. "He'll be mad at us if he finds out we ditched."

Pain nodded before looking up at me. "Promise you'll bring us back a souvenir?"

"I'll try." I smiled at them before giving them goodbye hugs. "I'll see you guys soon, okay?"

"Bye!" the imps waved me off before we broke off our hug.

"Wait!" I stopped them and gave them another hug. "Last hug!"

The imps hugged me back again before finally letting go.

"See ya soon!" they smiled at me before disappearing in a puff of magenta and teal smoke.

"Honey?" Mom then called for me downstairs, now returned from checking us in.

"Yeah, Mom?" I said as I left my guest room to see what she wanted.

"You didn't tell me your friend became a god." she said with a smile on her face as she looked at a newsscroll in her hands.

I blinked as I walked downstairs to see what she meant. "My friend's a god?"

"Yeah, listen:" Mom began to read the newsscroll while I looked over her shoulder. "'Romans, our prayers have been answered, for we now have a god. A great and glorious one that shall forever be known as'- "

My eyes widened at a picture of this new god. "Icarus?!"

Mom nodded. "Isn't he one of your friends from school?"

"Yeah, but-" I said in confusion. "How the heck did he become a god?"

"I don't know." Mom shrugged before suggesting something. "But how about we drop by for a visit? I'm sure that'll make him happy."

"Okay." I agreed unsurely.

Mom nodded and the two of us left the rental house and made our way towards the main temple in the center of Rome, but my only thought in the whole manner was what exactly Icarus did this time to get confused as a Roman god. And by the time we reached the temple, I knew that my answers would come much sooner. When Mom and I approached the temple, we were stopped by a Roman guard.

"State your purpose, sweethearts." the guard told us in a Brooklyn accent.

Mom gave the guard a mean glare. "Beg your pardon?"

I immediately stepped in before Mom would start a riot. "We're here to see the new god."

"'Ey, go right on in." the Roman told us with a smile. "He'll be happy to see some devoted worshippers."

Well, that didn't go quite like I expected, but at least Mom and I were able to go in. And when we got into the large temple, the first thing that got Mom's and mines attention was a large throne that sat in the back middle of the temple, where two Romans were waiting hand and foot for the person lounging on the throne. A person about my age wearing red robes and had wild dark hair and one bulging red eye.

"Hey, this is fun!" Icarus grinned before turning towards a servant girl. "Sweetie, give me another bite of that tomato pie, would ya?"

"Hey, Icarus!" I called out to him.

"Aria!" Icarus grinned as he hopped out of his throne and gave me a hug. "Hey, buddy, how you doing?"

"So far so good." I answered.

"Good to see you again, Icarus." Mom greeted him.

"Hi, Ms. Serena." Icarus smiled. "You guys are gonna love it here! There is no place like Rome."

Just then, two Romans, one light haired and wore a light blue toga and the other darker haired and wore a yellow toga, walked into the temple towards Icarus and bowed respectfully towards him. I could tell by their facial similarities that they were related. Maybe brothers? I dunno. They were kind of attractive though. Not my taste, but they were attractive. "Oh, great god Icarus, are you happy?" the light haired Roman asked.

"We've carried out your designs for Rome." the other Roman stated.

"Yeah! Couldn't be happier! Love the waterslide, love the ballpark," Icarus told them before showing me to the Romans. "And love that my good friend is here!"

"Nice to meet you." I said to the Romans.

"'Ey, you must be the tea lady we've heard about, right?" the dark-haired Roman asked my mom.

"My name is Sirena," Mom introduced us. "And this is my daughter, Aria."

"Name's Romulus," the dark-haired Roman introduced himself and his friend. "And this is my li'l bro, Remus."

Romulus and Remus? Oh, yeah, I remember reading about these guys during my class over the Roman Empire back in Salem. It's rumored that they were raised and nursed by a wolf named Lupa after they were abandoned when they were kids, and she was able to train them into strong leaders. You know, with every myth I read, I still always find it surprising that the people I meet in this world, especially the famous mortals, just seem like regular people. Not glorious or powerful born heroes or leaders. The point is made exactly when it came to the Roman brothers, who seemed more like a couple of typical Brooklynites from New York.

"Great god Icarus," Remus turned his attention towards my friend once more. "You are so great a god that we are gonna throw a big, swingin' festival in honor of your greatness!"

"No, no. Not in honor of me." Icarus denied that as he turned towards me. "In honor of my good friend Aria. It's her birthday, after all."

I was stunned, honored, but stunned. "You sure?"

"Absolutely! You deserve it!" Icarus smiled before putting up an authoritative voice. "And your god decrees it."

I looked over at my mom with wide eyes for confirmation. "

What are you looking at me for?" Mom asked me as she played along with Icarus' lie. "You god decrees it."

Well, if she was okay with it…

"Then we celebrate!" I addressed the worshippers within the temple as if I was some empress. "Let us feast! Music! Revelry! Tomorrow night, we celebrate!"

The Roman brothers and the servants in the templed all cheered in agreement.

Icarus gave me a high-five in agreement. "Man, this god is gonna get funky with his godly self and make some noise!"

"All hail our god!" the Romans all cheered.

The Romans then bowed before Icarus in respect, and they all left the temple to prepare the city for the festival. Leaving my mom and I with Icarus, which gave me plenty of privacy to talk to my friend about his latest little adventure. Although, if I have to be honest, I'm actually surprised the Romans considered Icarus a god at all, but then again, Romans always assume -well- everything. I think this one Roman emperor once thought he could win a fight against Poseidon by stabbing his sword onto the beach several times, so Romans will take anything into consideration if it boosts their pride. And not questioning an eighteen-year-old boy if he was a god was part of it.

"So, you go to Alexandria to try and build a model city, and you end up becoming a god in Rome?" I interpreted his little misadventures that happened thus far over the weekend.

"Pretty great, right?" Icarus asked as he laid back in his throne. "This has been a pretty great day and a half so far."

"But your father must be worried sick about you," Mom stated. "Didn't you tell him where you were going?"

"It'll be fine." Icarus brushed that issue aside. "Dad-alus is in an inventor's convention in Sicily for the weekend."

"What about school and our friends?" I asked.

"I'll make it to class and to hang out with everyone," Icarus brushed the worry off with a wave. "Don't worry."

"Just don't let this get too far out of hand, okay?" Mom told him. "They say that impersonating a god is a major offense."

I then remembered what happened the last time that this sort of incident happened. Icarus really should've learned after that one guy from Thessaly after he was struck by lightning when he pretended to be Zeus to get his citizens to be loyal to him. And trust me, that whole thing wasn't fun for the imps and I either when we got roped into that. Pain still hasn't grown back some spots of his hair after that whole mess.

Anyway, back to the story.

"But don't worry! They love me here!" Icarus assured us. "I've got everything all figured out! I'll be the greatest Roman god there ever was! Especially since I'm the only one."

"I'm rather impressed." Mom said to me. "With how eccentric he seems, it's amazing he's got his false god life all figured out."

"I just hope he doesn't get too carried away." I said back.

The Next Morning

"You excited about your party?" Mom asked me as we entered Icarus' temple once again.

"A little nervous, actually." I admitted. "I've never had an entire city celebrate my birthday before."

"Hey, you deserve it." Icarus overheard as he came up and hugged me. "You're my second-best bud, after all."

"Thank you, Icarus." I patted his head before he let me go.

"Great god," Remus, now dressed in a long white robes, bowed as he and Romulus, wearing matching pink robes, entered the temple. "Icarus, as the day of your festival dawns-"

"Ah-ah!" Icarus corrected him. "The day of Aria's festival."

"Right." Remus rephrased himself before continuing. "We proclaim that from now on, all Romans will dress themselves just like you."

Romulus then presented blue and purple robes towards mom and I. "Gifts for the lovely lady Aria and her mother."

Two servants then approached Romulus, who then handed them the robes, and the servants dressed Mom and I in them over our dresses to help us better fit in amongst the Romans and their new fashion choice. Mom got the purple robes -which went better with her emerald-green eyes, and I -of course- got the blue robes. Don't get me wrong, I love purple, but it just does not match my eyes at all. That's why I mostly stick to blue colored clothes.

"Thank you." Mom thanked the servants when they finished. "These are lovely."

I looked at my robes happily before twirling around. With all these fancy clothes and having a festival held in honor of my birthday, I was starting to feel like a princess! I take back what I said, this birthday was definitely better than last year's. I mean, last year was great, but this year? I got my mom, my best friends got me the most beautiful earrings I've ever seen, and now Icarus is throwing me a party! Maybe his whole Roman god shtick isn't such a bad idea after all if he treats his friends like royalty with his godly privilege.

"Isn't this great?" Icarus asked me. "All this is mine as far as the eye can see. And I see-!"

Icarus then gave a gasp at something he saw.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's Herc!" he told me.

"Really?" I beamed in excitement. "Well, what are you waiting for? Call him over! He's gotta see all this!"

Icarus nodded and called out for our friend. "Hercules! Up here, buddy!"

"Hang on, Icarus, I'll rescue you!" I heard Hercules yell from outside the temple.

Rescue? I get that Icarus was away from Greece for a couple of days, but I wouldn't necessarily call this a rescue mission. That's part of Herc's problem, really. He's a great guy and all, but he jumps to conclusions and situations faster than a rabbit. Anyway, the moment Hercules came barging into the temple to 'rescue' Icarus, he ended up slipping on the floor and fell. Sliding across towards Mom and I and eventually hitting his head on the stairs that lead towards Icarus' throne.

I cringed on the epic fail before helping Herc up. "You okay?"

"Aria?" Hercules looked at me and my mom in confusion. "Ms. Serena, what are you doing here?"

"We're here to celebrate Aria's birthday." Mom explained to him.

"And, Herc, if you rescue me from this, I will never forgive you." Icarus told him as he hopped off his throne.

"I must've hit my head harder than I thought." Hercules stated as he rubbed his head. "What is going on here?"

"Well, they made me a god, Herc." Icarus explained. "Rome is my town. I came, I saw, I par-tayed!"

"Pretty wild, right?" I asked Herc.

"I-it's unbelievable." Hercules stated.

"Believe it, baby! Check it out!" Icarus grinned excitedly as he pointed towards two Roman servants fanning him. "These guys just fan me all day long! They do whatever I say! Look!"

The servants saw Icarus pointing towards them and they bowed their heads respectfully, that is, until Icarus commanded them to act like chickens. And just like that, the servants stopped what they were doing and immediately started clucking and flapping their elbows about like chickens.

"My every stupid wish is their stupid command. Aren't enough hours in a day." Icarus laughed before ordering another servant. "Hey, fat guy, dance like a monkey!"

Hercules then looked at me. "So, you knew about all this?"

"I was just as surprised as you are," I told him before I began to gloat. "But Icarus promised to hold a huge festival in honor of my birthday, so I was okay with it."

"Aria, don't be like that." Mom scolded me before turning towards Hercules. "It's nice that you came all this way to find Icarus."

Herc shook his head. "I was so worried about him. I thought he was lost or in some kind of-"

Hercules cut himself off with a horrified gasp and an even more horrified look. Something that I had grown too familiar with over the span of the year and a half that I've known him. Because that gasp he made, dear readers, was what I have come to label as the gasp of mistake. Something Hercules does whenever he realizes he made a huge mistake that could only mean that he accidentally brought trouble with him.

"Hercules, what's wrong?" Mom asked him.

"We have to get Icarus out of here right now!" Hercules said frantically.

"What?" Icarus interjected offendedly. "Have you lost your astragaly? I'm just getting warmed up."

"Hercules, I want you to answer me openly and honestly:" I addressed the demigod. "What did you do this time?"

"Nemesis came with me to find Icarus." Hercules warned. "She's here in Loam."

Nemesis? Oh, that's bad.

"Rome." Icarus corrected.

"Whatever!" Herc yelled.

Icarus gave a careless shrug. "Who's this Nemesis chick, anyway?"

Just then, a loud hissing noise appeared out of nowhere. We looked around for any signs of snakes, but to no avail. Which, I found really weird, not because the ominous animal noise que was a very weird thing to add for such a menacing character, but because Nemesis' sacred animals weren't even snakes at all. They were -no joke- geese. Not snakes. Snakes were more associated with other Greek deities like Hera or Hermes.

"Nemesis is the goddess of vengeance." Mom briefly explained. "And from what I remember from my Papouli's stories was that she takes her title very seriously."

Hercules then gave me a nervous look. "Sometimes I forget you and your mom know more about our world than we realize."

"It's a blessing and a curse." I agreed.

"Right." Icarus gulped. "Question, is Nemesis a nice goddess of vengeance?"

I gave him a mean look. "What part of 'takes her title very seriously' did you not get?"

"She can transform her arms into deadly weapons," Hercules explained. "And her specialty is smiting false gods!"

Mom then looked over at Icarus. "Did I warn you?"

"You warned me, and I didn't listen." Icarus began to panic. "D'oh, man! We gotta get outta here before she sees any of this!"

"Before I see any of what?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Our heads turned to see another figure standing in the temple. A young woman with straight black hair stood with her hands on her hips as she gave an unimpressed scowl to the four of us. She wore a gold helmet with black spikes all around the rim with matching shoulder guards, a grey crop-top with matching Arabian-styled pants, gold bracelets on her arms, and gold sandals. One would've assumed she was some sort of bounty hunter, that is, if this woman didn't have a lime-green aura and fiery red eyes.

"That's Nemesis?" I asked Herc.

"Scary, right?" Hercules gulped.

I gave an impressed smile. "Actually, she looks like a total bada-"

"Aria!" Mom stopped me. "You know how I feel about that sort of language."

"Sorry, Mom." I quickly apologized.

"Hi." Icarus greeted Nemesis with a slight shudder. "Goddess of vengeance, I presume?"

"Oh, yes!" Nemesis started cackling like a madwoman.

"Definitely sensing a hint of insanity." Mom whispered to me.

"Yeah, even Hades doesn't mess with her. No matter how much she helps with the business." I whispered back. "Although, I think he may owe her money after the whole Tantalus incident."

"Tantalus incident?" Mom repeated.

"Something the imps once told me about." I briefly explained.

"Now, let me ask this again:" Nemesis continued. "Before I see what?"

"Before… you see…" Icarus hesitated before coming up with a lie. "What a fright my hair is today!"

Nemesis arched a brow. "What?"

"That's right!" I played along. "It's just impossible, really. He can never get it to look appropriate for godly visitation."

"Yes! And introductions are in order!" Icarus stated nervously as he backed away from the goddess. "Hello! You must be Nemesis, I must be Icarus, and we must be going."

Icarus then joined the rest of us, but just as we were about to leave the temple. Remus approached us again and started bowing to Icarus. Okay, this guy really needed to scan rooms before entering to make sure no blood-thirsty vengeance goddess was standing in there just waiting to smite, kill, seriously maim, or do anything to exact vengeance upon mortals.

"The festival is about to start," Remus told him. "Oh, great god Icarus."

"And what a great job you're doing, too, Remus!" Icarus shut the Roman up before shoving him out of the temple. "Forget about it!"

"What did he just call you?" Nemesis demanded an answer.

"My lady, you misheard Remus." Mom lied to her. "He said 'oh, great job'!"

"That's right!" Icarus agreed. "You see, here in Rome, we believe in the power of positive feeling, so whenever we see one another, we say, 'great job'."

"A positive feeling makes for a positive civilization, my lady." Mom added.

"Yeah! Like so:" Icarus demonstrated as he turned towards Hercules. "Great job, Hercules!"

Herc went on with the lie. "And you're doing a great job, too, Icarus."

Nemesis arched a brow. "I could've sworn that man said god."

"Oh, no!" Hercules lied -good for him doing better than the last time he lied- to Nemesis. "That can't be because, uh, the Romans don't have a god."

"That's right! This is a brand, spanking new civilization here!" I added. "Plus, I heard one guy say that the fliers they sent out were all returned. No zip code, y'know?"

Hercules agreed with me. "Yeah! Plus, they worship, uh…"

"Corn!" Icarus said as he picked up an ear of corn from a table.

"Yeah! They worship corn." Hercules went on. "And who doesn't, in their own little way, worship corn?"

Nemesis then glanced over at someone. "Then what is he doing?"

Our heads turned to see a Roman had wandered into the temple and started bowing towards Icarus, clearly not making this situation any better.

"He's... looking for a drachma." I lied.

"Right!" Icarus agreed before shooing the worshipper out of the temple. "Hey, look, pal, I told you that you lost your lucky coin out in the hall!"

Unfortunately, the moment the worshipper was thrown out, and entire crowd of devoted Romans were waiting outside the temple and started chanting. "All hail great god-"

Icarus slammed the door shut before they chanted any further. "They're helping him look."

Nemesis' eyes narrowed. "My smiting sense is tingling."

"You should get that checked." I said.

"No, you foolish child." Nemesis said to me before scanning the room. "Something smells like a false god around here."

"Oh, I'll tell ya what smells!" Icarus folded his arms before he went dramatic again. "You and your so-called suspicions! To think that you would suspect me of being a false god!"

I facepalmed at his dramatic actions. This was definitely not going to end well.

"Well, we don't have to put up with this witch hunt." Icarus pushed past Nemesis and led Hercules, my mom, and I up the stairs of the temple. "We're leaving, and the next time you wanna frame me, I suggest you call my lawyer, and I will see you in court!"

"Well, I think that went pretty well." Mom stated as we walked onto the balcony.

"All hail great god Icarus!" the Roman crowd below all cheered and chanted.

This was definitely not good. I immediately turned around to see Nemesis turning her head the moment she heard that. A wicked grin grew on her face as I saw her right arm turn into a sword and her left arm into a battle axe, just like Hercules said earlier. Now, I was scared of her about to kill us, but props to Nemesis for being creative with her weaponry. I wonder why none of the other gods did stuff like that?

"Mom, no offense, but your timing is real bad." I told my mom.

"None taken." Mom agreed with me when she realized she made that call too early.

"I think I'll be seeing all of you right now!" Nemesis said as she started stalking up the stairs towards us.

"Mom, you have to get out of here." I said to her. "Now!"

"Aria, no!" Mom denied. "You are not fighting off a dangerous goddess!"

"I'll be fine!" I argued back. "Just get to safety!"

"Just like your father. Completely stubborn." she shook her head before turning towards my friend. "Hercules, take care of my daughter."

"She's in good hands." Herc assured her.

"Be careful." Mom told me right as she walked down the steps.

Apparently, Nemesis wasn't too bad of a vengeance goddess because she didn't immediately smite Mom when she walked past her. Then again, Icarus was her main target, so I suppose certain accomplices to him pretending to be a god involved those willing to fight back and protect him. Not the innocent bystanders who are excused from a potential fight. Which was what Hercules, Icarus, and I were desperately trying to avoid.

"Ok, now, Nemesis, let's-let's not be hasty." Icarus tried to reason with the goddess of vengeance.

"Oh, don't worry." Nemesis flashed a fanged smile as she imitated the finger to the throat gesture with her sword arm. "This is going to be long and slow."

Hercules then chuckled nervously. "May I say just one word?"

I eyed him before eyeing at what was directly below us. Whatever Herc was thinking better work.

"Yeah, you wouldn't deny a last word, would you?" I started talking to Nemesis. "It's not honorable."

"Very well." Nemesis lowered her weapons. "What is it?"

Herc grabbed mine and Icarus' hands. "Jump!"

And jump we did, right out the window. We all held onto each other as Hercules tried grabbing a banner, only for it to rip from our weight and send the three of us into the aqueducts of Rome. We were practically surfing down the aqueducts like we were a bunch of skateboarders. But skateboarders, we were not. Especially since we were only doing it to get away from Nemesis, who was hot on our watery trail.

"Every time one of you get a genius idea, I get roped into it!" I yelled at them. "This is the Tapestry of Fate incident all over again!"

"At least if this were that incident again, we wouldn't be killed!" Hercules reminded me of when the two of us were gods during that incident.

Before I could make any sarcastic comments, the aqueducts beneath us gave out and spilt us down a waterfall into a very large fountain below in the city square. When the three of us swam up to the surface, I was the first to get out of the water because -friendly reminder- I hate getting wet! The guys, on the other hand, were taking their sweet time, especially the 'genius' one who thought he could pretend to be a god.

"Oh! That was awesome!" Icarus laughed as he swam around. "Let's go again!"

"No, Icarus!" I dragged him out of the water.

The minute I pulled him out, Hercules saw Nemesis closing in on us. We ran away from the fountain and into the city square, where we found ourselves surrounded by booths and wares that made perfect hiding choices. But hiding from Nemesis would be like hiding from a bloodhound. If we were gonna trick her, we had to be clever about it. Which became our saving grace when Hercules hid us behind a meat cart. The raw meat masking our scents as Nemesis stormed passed us with a crossbow for an arm now.

Hercules panted when he saw Nemesis leave. "I think we lost-"

"You jinx it, and it won't be Nemesis you'd have to worry about!" I threatened him.

Herc gave a nervous smile before nodding. "Noted."

An arrow to a slab of meat above our heads distracted us.

Icarus looked and gulped at the sight of Nemesis readying another arrow. "Think again."

The three of us got up from our hiding spot and ran. The sound of arrows flying through the air and destroying pottery and other wares behind us as Nemesis kept trying to kill us. Three of her arrows managed to hit and shatter ceramic head busts of Icarus as we fled near an alley. Icarus stopping for a moment to mourn the -admittedly- well-done craftsmanship.

"Alas, poor me." Icarus gave his rendition of the infamous Shakespeare line. "I knew me well."

"We have bigger problems!" Hercules stated when we saw that the alley was a dead end.

The new sound of whirring sawblades drew closer to the alley, and all we had to defend ourselves was Herc's strength, a few broken pieces of pottery, and a large bag of flour. That last one giving me a most genius idea to buy us some time to escape and trick Nemesis.

"I've got an idea!" I said as I ripped open the bag.

Hercules got a confused look on his face. "Aria, what-"

I stopped him after I blew flour all over his face. Hercules coughed as I rubbed more flour on his face and spiked up his hair to resemble Icarus' before I did the same thing to Icarus. After the boys were done with their little flour facial, I did the same thing to myself. I then grabbed the guys' hands and pulled them behind the cart where the ceramic busts once were. Sure, this fake Greek bust trope was cliché, but we had a crazy vengeance goddess trying to kill us and we needed a diversion to lose Nemesis.

"Shut up and stay still!" I ordered them as I hid behind the cart.

The boys quickly nodded and froze as we blended in with all the busts. Right as we saw Nemesis' shadow rapidly approaching the corner of the building.

"I've got you now!" Nemesis said as she jumped around the corner, but when she couldn't see us, she started swinging her sawblade hands in fury. "Curses!"

And with that, Nemesis stormed off in defeat.

"That was so scary!" Icarus shuddered.

Hercules nodded in agreement. "You're telling me."

"I think I have another addition to the list of people who want me dead." I said.

Hercules gave me a funny look as he dusted himself off. "Who all's on that list?"

"Mainly Hecate, but she's on my hit list too." I explained as I dusted the flour off of my person as well. "I'm just glad we were able to outsmart Nemesis."

"Yeah, good plan." Herc smiled.

"Yeah!" Icarus boasted as he dusted the flour off his face and began taunting Nemesis. "Fooled ya, Nemesis! Aria's wits are 100 times more powerful than your stupid smiting senses."

Nemesis stopped in her tracks and turned around to give us a deadly glare that would scare a gorgon. Yeah, so with her superhuman sense of smell, Nemesis also has superhuman hearing, which means that Icarus both insulted her and brought her back to hunting us down. Icarus face palmed at his mistake, and the three of us were sent running away from Nemesis. Again. We tried running into the Colosseum, but when all we saw was an open arena and hardly any hiding spots, it only meant one thing for us…

"Oh, no, we're trapped!" Hercules gripped in frustration.

Icarus started to panic. "We gotta find a way outta here!"

"I'll take care of that." a cold chuckle came from behind us.

To no one's surprise, Nemesis had finally caught up to us. Her arm, now a scythe, drew sparks as she dragged the blade along the walls of the Colosseum entrance we came through. Bloodlust in her eyes as she glared at Icarus with that still-painted cold smile that was more scary and wicked than the Joker's. All Herc and I could do at the moment was put ourselves in front of Icarus in a last-minute attempt to protect him from the goddess's wrath.

Nemesis raised her weapon-arm high above her head. "Hasta la vista, false god."

"Wait a minute. Have a heart." Hercules tried to reason with her. "Sure, Icarus is a false god,"

"But aside from that, what other damage has he done?" I added.

"He gave the Romans a vision of a new city." Herc finished. "It was a weird vision, but i-it's a vision."

We thought we'd gotten through to her. I thought Nemesis was a more honorable goddess and would let us go, thinking she had some sense in her. But when she didn't shapeshift her scythe arm back to normal after Hercules and I, I knew that she had one thing and one thing only on her deadest mind: Vengeance.

"When you get to the Underworld," Nemesis told us as she readied her blade. "Tell Hades he owes me money."

"Not so fast!"

All our heads turned to see Romulus, Remus, and the other Romans entering the Colosseum with various scythes, pitchforks, and various other assortment of gardening tools. Based on their readying attack poses, strong grips on their choice in weapons, and mean looks, I didn't know if they were here to help Hercules and I protect Icarus from Nemesis or help Nemesis smite Icarus.

"Well, all right!" Icarus cheered. "My people have come to rescue me!"

"Dunno about that." I shook my head. "They look pretty pissed off."

Remus pointed at Icarus. "You lied to us, ya lousy phony!"

Romulus nodded in agreement as he raised his scythe. "We want revenge!"

The rest of the Romans all yelled in agreeing voices as they raised their weapons as well. Yep. They defiantly wanted to kill Icarus for lying to them.

"Take a numeral, boys." Nemesis yelled at the crowd of Romans. "He's mine!"

But just as she was about to charge and slice up Icarus, someone stepped on Nemesis. I wish I was making this part up, but I'm not. Some giant or some sort of massively tall creature had entered the Colosseum arena and literally stepped on Nemesis. Immediately knocking her unconscious. I didn't exactly look at who did it because I was still stunned at the fact that Nemesis was now unconscious. I didn't think immortals could be unconscious.

Icarus grinned at the sight. "Hey, she's out cold!"

"That's not necessarily a good thing." Hercules gulped as he looked at who stepped on Nemesis.

"Holy…" I gawked as I looked up.

So, it wasn't giants who stepped on Nemesis, but they were tall. Three creatures dressed in Egyptian robes and jewelry were standing in front of the Romans, looking as proud as they seemed to be powerful. One of the creatures had a ram's head, the other -the only female of the trio- had a cat's head, and the third and who I assumed to be the ringleader of the trio had a falcon's head and carried a scepter that had a golden ankh symbol as it's headpiece.

Yep. I knew exactly who these three were.

"What are those?" Hercules gawked.

"Egyptian gods." I stated in full awe.

"Oh yeah, I remember seeing drawings of them all over the Alexandria library." Icarus pointed out.

"I am Ra, sun god of Egypt!" the falcon-headed god introduced himself and his fellow gods to the Romans. "We have come to answer your call."

The Romans were all happy with this news. "All hail our new gods!"

"Well, everybody's happy now, no harm done." Icarus clapped his hands before he tried sneaking off. "Guess that takes the little false god off the hoo-"

Icarus was immediately interrupted by Ra, who picked Icarus up by his scepter and held him up at eye-level.

"Again, Icarus, you really gotta stop jinxing this stuff!" I restated an earlier comment as I yelled up to him.

"Before we rule as your true gods," Ra continued as he glared down at Icarus. "We must destroy all traces of the false god."

Hercules tried going after our friend. "Hey, you can't-"

But right as Hercules tried charging at Ra, Bastet, the cat goddess of protection, hissed and swiped her clawed hand at him. Hercules was sent flying at me and for some reason, Bastet's strength was enough to get us both airborne. Where Khnum, the ram god of water, headbutted us and sent us flying right into the open palm of Ra. Ra then dropped Icarus into his hand and he closed his fist around us.

"And that means all traces." Ra sneered at Hercules and I.

I rolled my eyes. "I've always hated these vainglorious blowhards."

"You know these guys?" Hercules asked me.

"The Egyptians are a proud people, and their gods are all about pride and power, but they make the prideless and powerless their slaves." I told him as I tried freeing myself. "If Rome becomes part of their rule, things will be miserable for everyone."

"So, now as we extend our dominion to include the city of Rome, let us-" Ra stopped talking before flipping a switch on his scepter. "Boy, that really bugs me after a while. It's okay for a big entrance and all, you know what I mean? But then it's a real pain."

Geez, the scepter functions as a microphone to make the bird-brain's voice louder and more threatening?

"See?" I addressed Hercules. "Vainglorious."

Ra coughed before speaking again. "Now then, let's get down to business."

"First the destruction of this false god over here!" Remus called out from the crowd.

Ra gave an impressed look. "Whoa! You guys are bloodthirsty."

Bastet clapped her hands together as she marveled at the thought. "Oh, Sekhmet will simply adore these mortals!"

"She could always use their patronage to serve in her army." Khnum added.

"Let me guess: this Sekhmet's a war goddess?" Hercules asked me about the absent goddess.

"Yep. With the head and tail of a lioness and just as dangerous." I gave a nod. "Ares would absolutely love her if he were a cat person."

"Tell you Romans what." Ra continued. "I'll take care of the imposter and his buddies right after we get started on a little construction around here."

"Construction?" Romulus repeated in confusion.

Ra nodded as he explained his plan. "I'm thinking we put these people to work, dig up the town square, knock this bandbox down, then put some pyramids up right around here."

"Destroy the Colosseum?" Remus exclaimed dumbfoundedly.

If those gods think they were gonna get away with destroying one of the seven wonders of the world and it's home city, then they were surely mistaken. Only problem was, I had no idea how the guys and I were going to stop them. Especially since we were all cramped together in Ra's massive hand. So, all I could think of was throwing out some disagreeing protests.

"You can't do that!" I yelled at the gods. "The Romans are not your slaves! This is their city, not yours!"

"Oh, but we can, mortal, and we will." Khnum told me. "You humans were created on this Earth to serve us gods! To worship us and obey every given command."

"And any disobedience results in death to you slaves." Bastet finished as she unsheathed her claws.

Before I could insult the cat lady, Hercules whispered to Icarus and I. "I think I may have a plan."

"Well, if it's better than crying like a baby and pleading for mercy," Icarus shrugged. "Then, hey, I'm all for it!"

"Yeah, lay it on us, Herc." I agreed. "Whatcha got?"

"Just follow my lead." Herc whispered.

"So, uh, let's get this going, okay?" Ra told the Romans. "You guys handle the pyramid thing, and I'll destroy the bogus god here."

"Are you gonna let them do this?" Hercules asked the Romans. "Tear down the city you worked so hard to create?"

"Yeah! You're Romans! You fight for justice!" I reminded them as I gave them a chant of hope. "For the people of Rome!"

The Romans nodded in agreement, and all raised a fist. "For the people of Rome!"

I felt proud to see the Romans so pumped to fight for their city.

"Just for that, smart little miss," Ra started addressing me. "I'll do you first."

"Try me, birdbrain!" I shot back. Ra gave a growl at me as he aimed his scepter for the kill.

"You leave them alone!" Romulus yelled at the Egyptian gods. "They're right! You can't do this to us!"

"Oh, boy," Ra sighed. "People, people, people, you wanted gods, you got 'em! This is how it works!"

"We say it, you do it!" Bastet added.

"Thank you, daughter," Ra thanked her before turning back towards the Romans. "And if we sort of talk it over, then we're really not doing our job, are we?"

Great, the birdbrain was distracted. Now was the perfect time to escape and find some help. And when I eyed at a slowly recovering goddess on the ground, I knew exactly who would help us and the Romans fight the Egyptian gods. So, I managed to free myself from Ra's grasp and started climbing down his fist. Hercules and Icarus took immediate notice to this.

"Aria, what are you doing?" Icarus asked me when he saw that I was free.

"Cashing in my own vengeance." I answered before I let myself fall to the ground.

Thankfully, I survived the fall and I immediately rushed towards the recovering Nemesis. The goddess shook her head in dizziness as I helped her to her feet. I only hoped she wasn't planning on smiting me for protecting her main target when she saw that I was aiding her. When Nemesis finally regained her composure, she saw what I was doing and gave a confused look.

"You're helping me?" Nemesis asked me. "Why?"

"Help me save Rome from the tyranny of Egypt and let my friends and I free, and we'll call it even." I offered her.

"Rome can be a great city!" I heard Hercules say to the Romans. "Don't let them take it!"

"Yeah!" the Romans all agreed as they aimed their weapons at the gods. "We like Rome the way it is!"

"Okay, I've had enough. We're gonna need to level this whole place and start from scratch." Ra made up his mind as he aimed his scepter at Icarus. "Right after I waste the false god here."

Apparently, that statement got Nemesis' attention. Because the second Ra said that, Nemesis started stomping towards him with me following behind her.

"You mean when I waste him!" Nemesis corrected before shouting at him. "Shove off, featherhead! This is my collar."

Ra looked down at Nemesis in confusion. "And just who in Aunt Pearl's Pantheon are you, little mortal?"

"Mortal?" I began to laugh deviously. "Oh, you have messed up now, bud."

Ra tilted his head like the bird he was. "I have?"

"She no mortal, you pompous peacock!" I corrected him as I introduced Nemesis. "She is the Greek goddess of vengeance, herself! Nemesis!"

"And you're starting to be a pain-in-the-ankh, sister." Ra snapped at me before turning towards Nemesis. "And you, go shine your helmet somewhere before I lose my temper and smite ya."

Nemesis got a crazy look in her eye. "What did you say?"

"I said, I'm gonna smite ya!" Ra yelled at her.

Yep. He said the magic word.

"Girl," Nemesis addressed me. "Can you fight?"

"I was the lieutenant colonel in the Spar-OTC." I bragged as I pulled my sword from under my skirt -I keep it hidden in case of emergencies like this. "You tell me if I can fight or not."

"Prove the strength of your blade by my side, and I shall forever be in your favor." Nemesis offered me. "

As you wish." I bowed my head at her. "I have been waiting all week for a good smite."

Nemesis started cackling at Ra as she transformed her arms into swords. "Mister, you just opened up a big can of trouble!"

I stood by her side as I held my blade in my hands, a determined smile painted on my face as I glared up at the immortals. "We'll show you blowhards how we Greeks smite our enemies!"

Nemesis gave a war cry as we charged at Ra. I got in a good shot by stabbing my sword into his foot, forcing him to let out a pained screech and release Hercules and Icarus onto the Roman crowd below. Meanwhile Nemesis climbed onto Ra and started slashing her own blades at him. Although Ra looked more annoyed at our attacks than hurt, which became clear when he shoved Nemesis off of him and readied his scepter.

"Ok, you want raffle? You got it." Ra then turned to the other gods. "Gods, attack!"

"C'mon!" I rallied the Romans as I raised my sword towards the Egyptian gods. "Conquer or die!"

The Romans all raised their weapons. "Conquer or die!"

Cool, I just started a revolution.

"I like your fire, mortal." Nemesis complimented me. "What do you call yourself?"

"Aria." I introduced myself.

Nemesis gave me a proud look. "You'd make a fine bringer of vengeance, Aria."

"Thanks." I smiled before noticing oncoming danger. "Heads up!"

Nemesis and I dodged an attack from Ra. And while I thought the Romans were joining in, they hardly got to slash into the other two gods before Khnum's horns started to glow and Bastet let out a vicious meow that -while the thought of it sounds adorable on paper- sounded more like a lion's roar when she swiped her claws at the crowd. The Romans retreated, with Hercules and Icarus making sure they all got out safely before Khnum and Bastet chased after them. And so, Nemesis and I were left fighting Ra within the Colosseum. Definitely one of the coolest fights I've ever been in, but I don't think it tops me fighting Typhon or Hecate's stupid wolf. It's pretty close though. Especially when I helped Nemesis get Ra defenseless by having him shoot sunbeams at us, deflecting the beams from off our blades and sending them right into Ra's chest. The Egyptian god fell onto his back, and Nemesis turned her right arm into a whip that took the scepter right out of his hand and sent it hallway across the Colosseum.

"Let's see how you do without your little toy, sunny boy." Nemesis started to attack Ra before giving me a direct order. "Go after your friends and make those Egyptians beg for mercy, child!"

"Yes, ma'am!" I nodded at her order and ran out of the Colosseum.

I ran into the streets of Roma to find that while Hercules was fighting off Khnum, Icarus was being chased by Bastet like he was a mouse near the aqueducts. Geez, where was Anubis -the jackal/dog headed god- when you needed him? Anyway, I rushed over to help Icarus out, and when I reached the cat goddess, I immediately took my sword and stabbed it right into the tip of Bastet's tail. She let out a pained shriek as I grabbed Icarus and got him away to someplace safe and away from her.

"Thanks, buddy!" Icarus said when I hid him in one of the entrances of the Colosseum.

"Don't mention it." I told him. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Icarus nodded as I went back to the aqueducts to face Bastet, who was trying to look for me after I stabbed her tail. Good, I've always wanted to win a cat fight, now I'll finally be able to get that chance.

"Here, kitty, kitty!" I taunted the cat goddess to get her attention.

Bastet's ears shot up before she turned around to face me.

"Well, aren't you troublesome?" Bastet hissed at me. "If Father lets me keep you alive, you'd make a marvelous slave, little kitten."

"I won't be a slave for anyone." I remarked. "Especially an arrogant, pampered palace brat!"

And with that, the cat fight had commenced. Bastet swung her claws at me, but I was too quick. I raised my sword and swung it at the claws, cutting them to a decent point where they looked like they had been filed down. Bastet gave a horrified gasp before she swung her other claws at me, only to have them meet the same fate as her other claws. But just because her claws were now short, didn't mean Bastet couldn't fight me. She took a crook from her waistband and tried crushing me with it. I held my sword against it to prevent me from getting crushed, but Bastet was too strong for me. I needed a miracle if I was going to get out of being crushed cat food.

"Aria, watch out!" Hercules' voiced called out.

I got out of the way right as Khnum crashed into Bastet. Apparently, Hercules had tempered Khnum into chasing him, and when the ram god got close enough, Romulus and Remus took some banners and used them to trip Khnum. He then landed on the aqueduct and Hercules kicked him down and sent him crashing into Bastet. The two gods were then sent flying towards the Colosseum, where I remembered that someone there was still very outmatched in her fight.

"Nemesis!" I gave a small gasp.

I ran as quickly as I could towards the Colosseum, and I saw Nemesis was now pinned underneath Ra's massive foot again. The goddess struggled to break herself free as Ra readied to fire a sunbeam from his scepter right at Nemesis' face. I was not going to let that happen, even if Nemesis potentially had her bloodlust for smiting Icarus on her mind. She needed help, and I raced towards her to help her.

"Let me go!" Nemesis growled as she tried freeing herself.

"Well, sweetie, I'm about to show you how we do it down in the delta!" Ra readied his scepter for the final blow. "Say your prayers."

"Why don't you say yours, Ra?" I yelled at him as I slashed my sword at his heel.

While it did do it's damage and got Ra to free Nemesis from under his foot, my sword was completely busted. It had completely outlived its use after fighting off the Egyptian gods. The blade had now been shattered into reflective splinters on the ground where I stood and was now rendered worthless. And I never got to use it to actually kill something either.

Ra then glared down at me and aimed his scepter to kill me, that is, until Khnum and Bastet crashed into the Colosseum and ran into Ra. The three of them were sent flying and crashing into the other side of the Colosseum, getting knocked unconscious immediately. I had no idea how I got here before the other two gods, but I'm glad I did. And I'm pretty sure Nemesis was grateful too.

"Thank you." Nemesis said as I helped her up.

"Don't mention it." I found myself saying that along with Hercules and Icarus -who had arrived to see if the Egyptian gods were now concussed.

I laughed happily as I ran towards them and hugged them both. We actually saved Rome from the wrath of the Egyptian gods and made sure they weren't enslaved like Egypt's own people. Pretty crazy day, if you asked me. But the cheering Romans surrounding Herc, Icarus, and I all seemed very grateful for what we did. Heck, they even cheered for Nemesis when she approached the crowd.

"Rome is ours again!" Romulus cheered.

"Thanks to Hercules, Nemesis, and Aria!" Remus added before he brought up a hot topic towards us. "You can be our new new gods."

"Oh, no, please, I-I can't be your god." Hercules denied respectfully. "Actually, I'm already on the god track back home."

"I think what I've got going for me already is good enough as is." I added. "I don't need to be a goddess to make it better for me."

"And I'm just a minor goddess of vengeance…" Nemesis stated right before turning her arms into swords again. "Who's still got little job to do."

"Oh, come on!" Icarus whined angrily.

"We saved your life just now!" Hercules yelled at her.

"And we had a bargain, remember?" I reminded her as I stood in front of Hercules and Icarus to protect them.

Nemesis scoffed before pointing one of her arm blades at Icarus. "The boy still must pay because he aggrieved the gods with his transgressions!"

"Oh, Nemesis, lighten up for once, will ya?"

All heads looked up towards the sky, and on a large patch of cloud, the Olympian gods were all there. I don't know how long they've been standing there, but they could've been really helpful when the Egyptian gods tried taking over Rome. But, the Greeks are known for their dramatic flair and rather big entrances, so I guess they just waited until everything was all said and done before revealing themselves.

"Father!" Hercules exclaimed happily.

"Well?" I asked Nemesis. "I saved your life and fought by your side in battle. Our arrangement is still there, and do you really want to make a fool of yourself in front of Zeus?"

I didn't think it would work, especially after the first attempt to reason with Nemesis earlier did not go so smoothly, but Nemesis gave a defeated smile as she turned her hands back to normal. Ceasing her lust for vengeance and smiting, for now.

"Very well." Nemesis told me. "You're lucky I'm an honorable goddess of vengeance."

"It was an honor fighting by your side, my lady." I bowed my head in respect.

Nemesis gave me a small nod of approval before she stormed out of the Colosseum and shoved Icarus in a huff. "Out of my way."

"Well," Hercules gave me an impressed smile. "You handled that pretty well."

I gave a proud smile. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"A little nudge in a more positive direction is what Nemesis really needs." Zeus addressed me. "She could learn a lot from you, Ariadne."

I bowed my head respectfully. "Thank you, your majesty."

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Hercules then asked.

"We got this ad about a city needing gods." Zeus explained as he showed us an ad that -apparently- the Romans had recently sent out. "Would've got it last week, but it was addressed to 'Mount Olympert'."

Well, I stand corrected from my earlier thoughts.

Remus nervously stepped forward. "Uh, excuse me, uh…"

"Zeus." I whispered to him.

"Thank you." Remus said before talking to Zeus once again. "Zeus, you don't wanna level our city, do ya?"

Zeus gave a confused brow. "Why would I want to do a fool thing like that?"

"Don't worry, you guys," Hercules told the Romans as he gestured towards the Greek gods. "These are some good ones."

The Romans all smiled before they started bowing and cheering. "All hail our new gods!"

"Well, then, I guess we should introduce ourselves. As you may have heard, I'm Zeus, father of the gods." Zeus began introducing the entire pantheon. "This is Hermes, Messenger God."

"Uh, Dad, I hate to interrupt," Hercules interrupted with an open suggestion. "But the Romans are a very patriotic people, and they're wondering if you wouldn't mind using special Roman names for yourselves?"

"Well, 'When in Rome…' and all that." Zeus gave a laugh before addressing the Romans. "What kind of names you got for us?"

The Romans then all looked at Icarus for guidance -weird saying 'guidance' and 'Icarus' in the same sentence, I know.

"You've named everything else we like." Romulus started.

"Why not our gods?" Remus finished the suggestion.

"Oh, I would be honored." Icarus said before turning towards me. "Got any good ones, buddy?"

"A whole pantheon's worth of them." I stated.

I then whispered some of the Roman god names I remember reading to Icarus to help him get some fresh ideas when it came to renaming the gods we were familiar with. What can I say? When you got opportunities like this and don't want to mess up what actual historians have been writing for centuries, you go for it. This was the one time I was grateful for learning about how the Romans copied the Greeks.

"Ooh! Those are good!" Icarus smiled at the names before he turned towards Zeus. "I think 'Jupiter' is a good name for you, sir."

"Jupiter? What kind of a-" Zeus stopped before smiling at the thought. "I like it!"

Icarus then went on to grant new Roman names to Hermes, Ares, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite respectfully.

"You – 'Mercury'." Icarus went down the line of gods. "And I like 'Mars' for you. 'Vulcan's' a good one. 'Venus' - That's kind of catchy."

Unfortunately, Icarus hit a stopping point when he got to Apollo, the one god who never really got a proper Roman title. "Hmm, What about you?"

I decided to take a stab at giving Apollo a Roman name when I remembered one name. "How about 'Phoebus'?"

Apollo thought for a moment. "I rather like that name."

"Hey, we should give ourselves Roman names!" Hercules suggested to Icarus and I. "That way we'll be known in other civilizations too!"

Icarus grinned largely. "That's a great idea!"

"Ooh! I want to be called 'Aramina'." I stated excitedly.

"That's a pretty name." Herc complimented.

"Thanks." I smiled.

Icarus jumped off the slab of debris and stood tall. "I dub thyself 'Íkaros'."

"What about me?" Hercules asked us.

I thought for a moment. Since his Roman name was already his Greek name in this universe, an interesting idea came to mind about what his new Roman name should be. Also, if this should appease any of you hardcore Greek Freaks out there, you're welcome. If you're still pissy about it and how it's still inaccurate compared to how it already was, sorry. Nothing much else I can do. It's not my fault this universe is inaccurate because it's a family film. You know, it can't have all the murder, familial horniness, and non-consensual relationships, but it can have the most famous names for it's figures. Double standard, people.

"How about 'Heracles'?" I suggested. "After your mom?"

Herc thought for a moment before nodding excitedly. "I like it!"

"Hey, speaking of mothers." Icarus tapped my shoulder before pointing at someone.

I looked towards the crowd to see my own mom walking towards me. She managed to keep herself safe during the whole scuffle with Nemesis and the Egyptian gods! I immediately ran up to her and gave her a tight hug, relieved that she was alright.

"One of these days, your little escapades will be the death of me." Mom told me as she kissed my forehead. "But I'm so glad you're okay."

"Sorry to worry you so much." I apologized.

"Hey, uh, Aramina," Romulus then addressed me. "What about your festival?"

"Festival?" Zeus -I'm sorry. Jupiter- overheard us. "What festival?"

"The Romans were gonna hold a festival in honor of Aria's birthday." Hercules explained as he gestured towards Icarus.

"He kinda decreed it when he was a false god." "Why don't you celebrate with us?" Remus offered the gods. "Give you a chance to get to know your new city better."

It was a really big offer to ask of the gods. I mean, celebrating amongst mortals doesn't seem like a godly thing to do. But, well, I'll give you readers a little hint as to what happened after the gods all discussed the thought before coming to a decision. Here's your answer, it was a good decision the gods made. And if you guys still can't figure that out, then do yourselves a favor and read the next chapter. This one's long enough as it is, I'm sorry.