Chapter Name: Interlude - The Romans On Olympus

(A/N: I guess you could call this an extension of Bellona's chapter earlier in a way, given that this is a chapter from the perspective of the Gods rather than the demigods on the ground. Also, this is set on a Roman version of Mount Olympus — which technically is just Olympus in NYC but more in the colors of Jupiter's temple on Temple Hill than anything else — just for convenience. Might edit this chapter a bit later, dunno. We'll see.)

June 23rd, 2010 (between the events of "Lavinia VI" and "Michael VII")

While mornings on Olympus, especially in times of peace or around the Summer Solstice when the power of the Gods — with some exceptions due to being deities of the night or some reason — is at its strongest, are usually peaceful, today was anything but peaceful. For the streets of Olympus were filled with wandering deities, all weighing the same concerns on their head.

That of the war against Gaea.

As could probably be apparent, there wasn't a uniform line of thinking about the war among the Olympians, each of whom seemed to have their own opinions about various aspects of this war and how to ensure the future of them and their children, with multiple points of disconnect over various issues formed between all of them. But, despite the disconnect over these issues, there was at least a couple things that they all were thinking about at the exact same time.

Namely, they were thinking about four names, four demigods that had been dropped off at Camp Jupiter a few days ago: Colton Reynolds, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, and Michael Yew. Four demigods that represented to many a very dangerous threat to their children and to the prospects of the Olympians in the current war, for quite a few reasons. The biggest reason of them all, unsurprisingly, had to concern Colton Reynolds since it was known that he was the current Monster King, a force that had been used far more for evil against the Gods than used for good for the cause of the Gods. Many a Roman God had a bitter taste in their mouth over the Monster King, especially the Olympians, for many a demigod child of theirs had suffered and died in cruel and horrific ways at the hands of past Monster Kings and the followers of the Monster King. Those that had survived came back as broken, insignificantly mere shells of their former selves, with even some of the most powerful and determined demigods of past generations having come back to Camp Jupiter weak and scarred beyond all possible chance of repair.

Yet, as Bellona had observed, Colton was different. Much, much different. Even after finally being told — in stages — what exactly he had been crowned for, he stuck by the Olympian cause despite it, despite being the kind of guy that probably would have used the powers of the Monster King much like most of the other Monster Kings had in the past against the Gods. Even after he had regained his memory, he still fought for the Gods. It was remarkable really.

Even when he could have just left Lavinia to rot in the belly of the Trojan Sea Monster, he didn't. Instead, he allowed himself to get swallowed and went in there to save her, and somehow caused her to overcome her own insecurities and become an honorary child of Mars in the process. Even though the God himself had said nothing about why he did what he did, the distraction caused by all of this was enough to distract the other deities' attention from and also help to obscure the fact that in the process of saving Lavinia, Colton had been made an honorary child of one more god, that of Orcus — the god of broken vows and eternal punishment. If anything, come hell or high water, Colton seemed to be dead set on fighting for the Olympian cause to the bitter end, though most, if not all of the other Roman deities who hadn't really paid much attention to this demigod from the counterpart of one of their own until after the Battle of the Labyrinth could tell that his motivations for fighting for the cause weren't just because of his loyalty to the Gods despite him still being able to call them out on their own flaws at will — that had certainly been a part of it, but not the whole story.

As much as the conversation about the War with Gaea was about mainly Colton Reynolds and Percy Jackson, who due to his own exploits and feats — even on the current quest he was undertaking to free Thanatos — was also a hot subject of conversation in Olympus, the conversation also mainly focused on what drove Colton Reynolds to being the unstoppable juggernaut that had demolished the First and Second Cohorts for the most part without breaking a sweat.

As a result, one on Olympus could hardly talk about Colton Reynolds without bringing the current Monster Queen, Kayla Knowles, into the conversation — which naturally turned the topic towards the unexpected connection between the son of Mars and the daughter of Apollo. Their relationship had, if anything, seemed like something out of a best seller novel, as Venus had put it — except none of the best seller novels had put in the added twist of both of them becoming royalty in the process. Even so, it was really amazing in the eyes of the other Roman deities' eyes to wonder how it was that this girl — as innocent as she was then and fragile as she was now — was somehow the main reason behind Colton's seemingly out of nowhere batshit insane record of feats stretching back to the time he fought Tantalus and won flawlessly.

(* Monster King Cameo Theme begins playing here *)

It boggled their minds really hard as they kept trying to comprehend it. It seemed inconceivable to a lot of them that this girl somehow had been the spark that set off the meteoric rise of one of the most unexpected and great demigods of the current century, quickly surpassing that of Percy Jackson in just one battle. Colton had blindsided most of them in just doing what he did.

(* Music stops playing at end of audio *)

He really had — one minute, they were all talking about Percy and the next, Colton's name just exploded out of nowhere. As more and more info emerged about who this previously unknown was though, the more divided the gods became over him. The revelation that he was the Monster King only intensified this too — as had the other points of interest centered around him just being the Monster King as described above.

Not even all that Luke, as Kronos' eventual host, had done against the Gods could shift the conversation away from Colton being well.. himself, and in the process, redefining what it meant to be a defender of Olympus in the process even more than Percy did. Because while Percy had crossed the Sea Of Monsters and located the Golden Fleece, held up the sky to save Annabeth, killed the Minotaur with nothing but its own horn, and right now — was in the process of freeing Thanatos with his own memories gradually returning, Colton's achievements through their own impossibility and sheer unbelievability seemed to match Percy's achievement for achievement, even if Colton had or hadn't intended for things to be that way.

So in case it wasn't obviously already, it was clear that Colton Reynolds had made a splash with the Roman Gods on Olympus, alongside Percy, Luke, and Michael Yew — who was in a similar boat to Colton. Michael's name almost always seemed to pop up these days whenever Colton was talked about, which in turn had more eyes pointed squarely at Apollo for rather obvious reasons, at least in the minds of the Gods — those that were left — that still believed that it was a mistake to allow the current wielder of the Monster King into the lives of their children at Camp Jupiter.

For not one, but two of Apollo's kids — regardless of if they were Greek or not — and those that were still loyal to Olympus at that, to attach themselves to the wielder of the Monster King the way that they did — with one of them essentially being his right hand demigod and the other his girlfriend for that matter — it was unheard of at all, or rather.. it was basically unthinkable really.

Many of the Roman Gods, and rightfully so due to what past Monster Kings had done, refused to accept at first that two of the Sun God's children could just follow the current Monster King the way they had. But after the reports of what Colton had done to those that had tried to tear her apart from him and the lengths he had been willing to go to protect her, including using the power of the Monster King to save her and Olympus itself, many started to have a change of heart.

Regardless, many had been against the idea of letting him in at the start when discussions about the Great Prophecy and how to deal with it had begun last September — but once Juno had basically made it happen anyway and Colton started demonstrating that he wasn't that type of guy that many of the Roman Gods — even after all the boy did at Camp Half Blood and Manhattan — thought he was, their ranks had gradually started to dwindle. The fact that Colton was the son of Mars, the second highest god in the Roman hierarchy of Gods, only added to this trend — as Mars was fiercely supportive of his son, and given the fact that Colton was literally moving heaven and earth for Apollo's daughter, the Sun God himself also gave his support.

As a result, the opposition gradually dwindled to a collection of major and minor gods led by Victoria, the Roman aspect of Nike. And even then, its members had their faiths wavering at points too, and such was the case today with Bellona, the only high ranking God other than Victoria among this faction. Sure, she had given Colton the mission to protect her daughter from the coming battle no matter what the cost, but even she doubted that he had the ability without the power of the Monster King to protect her daughter should the need arise. By the end of the day that Colton, Michael, and Lavinia had left Camp Jupiter on their quest, those assumptions had been completely thrown out the window — if any assumptions had been left after Colton had torn through the bulk of the Second Cohort like a madman to the point that even now, some of its members were still in the infirmary.

That.. boy.. is freakishly strong, Bellona thought to herself as she stood near the edge of Olympus on this day. And not just because of the power of the Monster King, not just because of all the other Gods and Titans and that primordial that have blessed him and his girlfriend, but there's something more.. something hidden more deeply inside of him.

She could sense it from the first moment she laid eyes on him — that there was more, much more to Colton Reynolds than anyone knew. What she felt inside of him felt strong enough to be able to actually kill Jupiter.. no scratch that.. kill a primordial.. as in actually kill it and not merely scatter it and do it so hard that the death would function the same as a deity's essence being scattered. It shouldn't even be possible at all.

And yet, Bellona could feel it inside of Colton — and she didn't think that he was even aware of this at all. Even when he had threatened Gaea, he still didn't seem even one bit aware of that power — though it seemed Lavinia sensed some bit of it.. it did seem that way.

Either way, Bellona right now didn't even know what to exactly think when it came to Colton. He was something more than just a mere demigod entrusted with the powers of the Monster King and blessed with the blessings of multiple deities. He was far, far more than that and it scared her to her core. What on earth are you, Colton Reynolds?

That was the question for which she currently had no answer.

She was brought away from her thoughts by the sound of another female voice nearby. "Oh there you are, Bellona!"

Bellona turned around and frowned a little. Coming up to her was none other than Ceres, who used to be one of the biggest critics and one of the biggest ones against using Colton's power as the Monster King to help defeat Gaea — which was understandable given that her children had seemed to suffer more than the children of other gods, Roman ones for that matter, at the hands of past Monster Kings. After Colton had proven all of her assumptions wrong in the brief 24 hours more or less that he was at Camp Jupiter, she was now one of the biggest and most vocal supporters of him.

"What do you want, Ceres?" Bellona said, not speaking to her fellow Goddess warmly at that.

"I just wanted to know what do you think of the golden boy right now — oh that Colton, he holds the key to our children's future.." Ceres mused, in such a tone that almost sounded at least to Bellona to be much more than hopeful and not in a healthy way at that.

Either way, she did kind of have a point, as Bellona herself was beginning to understand. As much as she didn't want to admit it, the spotlight of her whole family — from the Romans to the Greeks — was narrowing further and further and centering around the boy more and more as each day passed. Many of the other deities were understanding that like it or not, many things hinged around Colton Reynolds more than they would like to admit.

"Well.. he has done rather well.." Bellona said hesitantly, something that Ceres picked up on.

"Oh? You sound so surprised.." she said back to her fellow goddess. She knew, Bellona realized. She knew full well that Bellona was slowly coming to terms with the realization she recently had that like it or not, Colton Reynolds would be the key to Reyna's continued existence as praetor of Camp Jupiter. In the face of Jason's absence and Octavian's arrogance and other questionable qualities, Bellona worried that there might not be a strong enough person capable of filling Jason's shoes and becoming Praetor. She originally had wanted perhaps someone like Percy, but Colton had by now firmly wedged himself into that spot whether he knew it or not.

"Face it, Bellona. As much as you want Jackson, that Reynolds kid is the hinge which our future rests on and you know it.." Ceres continued. "Plus, it's cute that he and Jackson bicker with each other like the rivals that they are."

Bellona glanced up in surprise. Jackson and Reynolds.. rivals? That hadn't come up in the meetings.

"Wait.. rivals?" she said, for once speechless.

"Oh yeah.. both of them butting heads.. been like this since after Luke joined Kronos.." Ceres added. "You think after the Battle of Manhattan, the matter would have been settled.. but no.. anyways, I'll leave you be. You sure do have a lot to think about, it seems."

With that, the Roman goddess of Agriculture walked off, leaving the Goddess of War to think about things. Bellona had to admit, she did have a lot to think about. On the one hand, Ceres was right. As already stated, much rested on Colton's shoulders whether the boy wanted to or not. On the other hand, the part about him and Jackson being rivals was worrisome. Would this be something that would come to bite the Olympian cause in the butt?

She didn't know. Either way, she knew one thing and one thing only.

She was hoping that Colton Reynolds was a man who could handle this much responsibility that had been placed on his shoulders.