Chapter Title: A Cabin That Still Brings Nostalgia
(A/N: This chapter will touch upon concepts about Colton that will crop up again and again as this book goes on, especially in Son Of Neptune. On an unrelated note, it would be interesting to see Colton collide with maybe my Star Wars OC, Cameron - adopted son of General Grievous, or perhaps Lux Bonteri. I don't really know why, probably because of all the Clone Wars videos I'm watching at this current time.)
Let me be brutally honest with you, the Ares Cabin — improved or not — has always been and always will be home to me. Like, the Ares Cabin should also been made into a Greek historical landmark, alongside the Poseidon Cabin, the Typhon Cabin, the Apollo Cabin and the Athena Cabin. Like, let's be serious — with the exception of the Typhon Cabin, these four cabins had — and still are — the homes of four of the greatest demigods in history, hands down.
Hermes Cabin — with Luke — wasn't far behind, but it didn't matter. Look, I had done great feats myself alongside Caeli, but our feats paled in comparison to what Colton and Kayla have done. Like, there was no contest at all. They just did.
Was I jealous? No.
In fact, I absolutely was proud of what Colton had accomplished to be completely honest with you. I really was. I mean, not many people — demigods for that matter — could say that they were the brother of the guy who became the first Monster King in basically 60 years, they just couldn't.
So yeah — I was on a level that few could really even match here. Moving on.
If you asked me on how Clara felt about the Ares Cabin the first time she saw it as we were heading back from the campfire, it would be something along the lines of satisfaction, as if something inside her told her that this definitely was a cabin made for the children of her father - or our father if you took all of us together.
She seemed fascinated by it, honestly. She had a certain gleam in her eyes that really indicated that. It was honestly similar to how Kayla was when she first arrived at camp. She had that same gleam when she asked around about Colton, who at the moment, was in the Infirmary due to passing out after killing a Colchis Bull that very nearly killed him in the process.
It was remarkable to notice really, to be honest here. It really was.
"So this is the Ares Cabin..?" Clara asked.
"Yeah.. welcome to our home.." Sherman muttered. He looked really out of it, as if something was missing. Of course, I knew exactly who was missing from this. Colton.
Believe me, I missed him a lot too. Colton was probably the best sibling I have ever had the honor to be a big brother to, honestly. Clarisse had been it for a while, and then Colton had come along, and his rapid rise soon had me considering him as the best.
But now, he was missing - and I had no clue where he was at all. It hurt honestly, it really did. Nothing in the world could adequately express how weakened the Ares Cabin - my siblings - felt without our legendary sibling among us. Now, we had Clara who to be honest, seemed really interested in every aspect of the cabin, especially the pictures of Colton that were in there.
"So Colton lived in here?" she asked, looking at one photo that showed him in the thick of the fighting at the Battle Of The Labyrinth, firing the MG42 with Michael right next to him. Caeli and Kayla could be seen to the right, and I with my Garand off to the left. I forget exactly who had taken the photo, honestly.
"Yeah.." Clarisse said. "He did. His bed was right there." She pointed to where he had once slept, the bed underneath Mark's that was two bunks down from where Clara was standing looking at the photo of him.
Clara walked over to his bed, and simply just stared at it for a long while. "Wow.." she muttered. "So this was the bed of a legend."
"Colton was many things.." Ellis said. "Legend is only the tip of the iceberg that he was turned into."
That was true. Becoming the Monster King had made him a walking iceberg of things that we had no idea he had even become, and the prophecy that had led to the fight between him and Kayla on one side and the rogue Giants on the other had only strengthened this. To be honest, when it came to the whole reveal during the final battle with Kronos and the Titan Army in Manhattan that Colton was the Monster King and Kayla was the Monster Queen, the surprising part of it all - at least to me - was that Michael had known about Colton becoming the Monster King the entire time and despite his attitude, having managed to not even let it once - even accidentally - slip from his mouth. That was honestly impressive in my book.
"So.. what exactly brought him here?" Clara asked.
Clarisse, Benjamin, Mark, Ellis, me, along with some of the others - we all shared uneasy looks with each other. Then, I reluctantly spoke up.
"Colton.. he wasn't always the fiery boy we speak of him as.." I said simply, yet a bit reluctantly too if that hadn't already been made clear to you. "Before he was introduced to the world of the gods, from what little he shared, he had always been a happy-go-lucky kid, despite some anger issues on his end and family issues concerning his father that we.. well.. none of us still have any clue as to what that is all about. He refuses to tell anyone about it, even Kayla. But his entry into our world changed him forever. He lost both of his parents - his biological mother and his adopted father at the same time - to the Lydian Drakon in front of his own eyes. Really traumatized the poor kid."
Clara simply gasped in horror. You could tell in her eyes that despite being a child of Ares like the rest of us, she really did feel sorry for him. "That's.. just.. horrible.." she muttered.
"Yeah.. I know we all puff ourselves up here as the toughest, meanest, people that you don't want to mess with type of kids here at camp.." Clarisse said. "..but let's face it. Even we couldn't help but feel sympathy for him when he first arrived. Ares claimed him when he just managed - barely - to even hold a sword in his hands for three seconds.. Colton was that traumatized by what had happened. He had basically broken down to nothing but a scared husk, devoid of the happy-go-lucky nature formerly within himself. It took us at least two weeks to even get him as so much to even say a few words around us at all."
"It was literally like we had went from being the toughest kids at camp to people helping someone else recover from their trauma.." added Sherman. "Even though none of us really knew anything about how to do that."
"But you all succeeded, it seems like.." Clara said back. "How?"
"Simple.. really.." Clarisse explained. "We got him to even come out of the cabin after two months to start training with the promise of being able to take revenge on the Drakon that killed his parents. The fact that the Drakon could only be slain by a child of Ares was the real key to it all - and arguably the first sign that something unlike anything any of us had ever seen before lurked within him in retrospect. His eyes went from terrified and afraid to focused, vengeful, determined, and angry so fast that I.."
Clarisse paused, her eyes looking down at the floor. "..I still have nightmares every now and then about it.. it was just - you blink, you missed it.. that fast.." she reluctantly admitted. "It.. it was like he had just instantly accepted the offer as soon as the words had left my mouth."
"That... that is quite the story.." Clara said, looking like she was having difficulty trying to process all of that. I couldn't blame her at all, really. I myself was absolutely bewildered when Clarisse had told me about that the first time - it took her saying what had happened again three more times before it had sunk in that Colton had just changed that fucking fast.
"In many respects, the quickness of how quickly that switch just flipped in his head there.." I said. "..felt eerily similar to what happened when Kayla came to camp. Colton had mellowed out a bit by then.. the prophecy that put him together with Kayla having a large part to do with that. Simply put, he hadn't even asked for the oracle to give him a prophecy at all. Cleaning up there one night while Percy was out with Annabeth and Grover on his quest to retrieve the Master Bolt, the old oracle simply did just that. He never said a word about it until after the whole quest for the Golden Fleece. He just looked like he had seen a ghost when he got back to the cabin that night after receiving the quest."
To be honest, while we all speculate as to what really had caused the whole rivalry between Colton and Percy - what really had been said in that conversation before Percy went back to NYC that year when it all started - I do suspect that being given that prophecy by the oracle might have played a part in it. Whatever the case, it was clear that these two were at each other's throats from what I heard from Clarisse while at college.
"So what exactly happened when Kayla came to camp - in Colton's head?" Clara asked, a bit nervous now.
"Colton.." I began, but Clarisse interrupted.
"He's never really been the type to talk about girls, honestly.. up until Kayla came around.." she said. "Up until then, he had always been focused on training and killing monsters.. even when he mellowed out a bit despite the start of the rivalry between him and Prissy.."
I couldn't help but cover my mouth and giggle at the sound of her nickname for Percy coming out. That will never get old, honestly. I mean, a few of our siblings definitely looked like they still found it funny even now.
"..and in his own words, there really was not any girl here that he wanted to win the heart of. Of course, we know now that it was partially due to the prophecy he got from the oracle that night.." Clarisse continued. "..but if he had been rapidly becoming one of the most powerful demigods in the history of Camp Half Blood at that point, then Kayla's arrival in hindsight only accelerated this tenfold. After nearly dying to a Colchis Bull that he still killed, he passed out upon seeing Kayla for the first time. After meeting her in person, just like last time, he just changed instantly. It wasn't like as obvious as last time though at first, but it soon became that."
"How exactly did he change?" Clara asked.
"Colton was full of rage that he had a good bit of control over, thanks to our help.." I said. "But when Kayla came around, it was like anything that he perceived as a threat to her and to us - his family in general - set him off. Like, he would beat people up if they did something really mean - but even then, he wasn't that angry or superhuman that he literally bore the brunt of repelling an assault by hordes of Stymphalian Birds, clearing the Apollo Cabin of any snakes in or around it on Snake Day for a consistent period of time from when Kayla came to camp up until he disappeared, or proceeded to face off against Tantalus in a sword fight when he revealed himself to be working for Luke and Kronos - and then proceed to win. He did all of that in less than two weeks."
Clara simply gasped. "It was like another switch in his brain had flipped.." Ellis muttered. "Albeit one that made him far more terrifying eventually than anyone could have ever imagined.. though to be fair, in the end.. it was for the better."
That was also true. Colton is many things, but would I trade the amount of good fortune - despite the Gods - he has brought to Camp Half Blood for the world? Nope. Not in a million years.
"Kayla just made him push himself to a level that none of us believe was even possible.." Mark said. "We all knew he could be crazy at times, we just didn't suspect that the level of crazy he was at - or would come to thanks to Kayla - would be both terrifying and beneficial at the same time."
"None of us knew that he and Kayla would become what they were now when she first came to camp.." Benjamin said, in a rather accurate summary of what the cabin felt back then according to what Clarisse had told me. "..all we knew then was that we had a new camper in the Apollo Cabin that contrary to what Colton had said in the past, he seemed to instantly care about dearly after passing out. I mean, he has literally slept with her in that same bed in the past when they were friends - also in the head counselor's bed too."
"Wow.. really?" Clara asked, surprised by it all.
"I mean.. let's just say.. for a rich girl, as sweet as Kayla is, she's also quite a bit fragile when without him.. she ignited something inside of him — I guess the gentle, kind, loving, affectionate side that he had locked away inside of himself — that he only really ever displays around her.." Clarisse said back. "..she's the gentle girl to his rage-filled self. Beauty to his beast, if you may."
Clara nodded.
"So he's just a big softie when it comes to her.." she says, and I just nod. Because that was completely true. Colton's true weakness - in an similar way to Percy - is his girlfriend. Otherwise, as he currently was, he was basically unstoppable - always growing in power just when you thought he had reached his limit, climbing the ranks of power in ways that normal demigods just never could, alongside Kayla. He was Godzilla in a way - a force of nature that just existed to completely challenge what we knew about everything.
And maybe in a way, he was that Godzilla from the Heisei Era - a being with rage against humanity who became, thanks to someone he came to care about, an anti-hero.
The foil to Percy Jackson.