Chapter Title: We Celebrate Victory

For a moment, the battlefield was silent except for a few fires burning, and a mass of retreating monsters all screaming in panic. We all stood around Colton, the man simply lying where he was — still breathing, having simply gone unconscious after defeating Polybotes. Reyna had gotten to him first right before he touched the ground, getting down on her knees and putting his head in her lap.

I had to admit, as cute as it was, I definitely felt lucky that my sister who is head over heels in love with this man wasn't here to see it. She can be.. pretty possessive about Colton at times, as much as he can be very possessive over her.

But either way, he had given it his all to save everyone, again. I really wished that he would stop doing that to be honest. But then again, given how useless, held back or busy —which to be clear, Terminus could never be called the first two at all so he was just busy — the gods were, it seemed likely that anytime things got bad, Colton would have to turn into the Monster King to defeat whatever threatened all of us.

That much was once again proven today, as was my growing respect for Terminus. That god could hold his own and kick ass, even as a statue, which to me, made him even more impressive — though the fact that even he trembled in the face of Colton as the Monster King, it just made me wonder who wouldn't tremble in that guy's view.

Anyways, a ragged circle of Romans, followers of the Monster King and Amazons stood around him. Tyson, Ella, and Mrs. O'Leary were there. Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Lavinia, me, Luke, and Percy.. we were all there too. Even Gwen, Professor Ludwig, Joey, Leclerc, Dale and Dakota were there too, plus some of the members of the other cohorts as well as the some of the Wardens and all of the Heralds, while Octavian.. he seemed to be nowhere in sight.

Which if I had to be honest, was fine by me. That coward didn't even deserve to be in the presence of us after all the shit that he did. He really didn't deserve to be here at all. Like seriously, fuck him.

The Romans were all looking at Colton in surprise, all except Lavinia that is. "Okay.. let me.." Hazel started. "..guess this straight. He.. was the Monster King the entire time?"

"Just over two years now.. yes.." Percy replied.

"You're kidding.." Frank commented anxiously, and Percy shook his head 'no', and Frank just stayed there silent, the fact that Percy was not kidding slowly sinking in for him. Frank's eyes turned back towards Colton, the shock from the realization that it was true finally sinking for him evident on his face.

"There's no way.. after all he did against Rome.. the Monster King is our ally..?" said one of the other Romans. That caught me by surprise. All he did against Rome..?

"What the son of Neptune says is true.." Cháris said plainly. The shock on the Romans and Amazons' faces, for a lack of a better phrase, can be imagined to say the least.

"So we literally have had one of the biggest enemies of Rome in the past here among us for basically a small portion of a week and never realized it until now..?" Gwen muttered, absolutely shocked and biting her nails nervously. I had to admit, it did have me wondering what the hell the Monster King did to Rome in the past to have the Romans this afraid of it.

"Wouldn't be the first time he's done stuff like this.. since aside from Michael, none of us.." Percy continued, though Luke looked slightly guilty for some reason — I had a feeling I knew why, but just kept my mouth shut for now. "..even knew he was the Monster King until my birthday last year — it's a long story about that, honestly.. that we'll probably tell later."

"Yeah.. that's fair.. preferably when he's awake.." Reyna muttered. She had sat down on her knees right by Colton, with his head currently in her lap. He looked almost angelic just calmly resting like that.

That's when Lavinia spoke up. "I knew for a long while that he was the Monster King.. I saw him become it in a dream.." she admitted, causing all of the other Romans to turn towards her, in shock.

"Why didn't you tell anybody..?" Gwen asked.

"I really didn't think you all would take me seriously — I mean, no one took anyone from the Fifth Cohort seriously.. so I just kept it to myself.." Lavinia said back to her, and Gwen stayed silent.

To be fair, she had a good point indeed.

"Yeah.." Lily from the First Cohort started. "..I get it, since I know how you feel. People thought of me as crazy for thinking that I belonged somewhere else and not here."

We all turned to look at her, having been caught by surprise. "But now I know.." Lily continued. "..that I really do not belong here — I was supposed to be somewhere else. Probably where you four come from."

I had to admit, this was very interesting. I needed to see what Colton's views on this were and how exactly did she know once Colton woke up.

So, with that all said, we all silently stood there waiting for him to wake up.

It was a tense few moments. I wondered if he would never open his eyes.

Finally, he did, after coughing a few times. He stared up at us, and smiled. "Guess I overdid it again, did I..?" he said simply, and we all went berserk with applause and delight and celebration.

Luke simply punched him in the arm. "Now I know why Lee told you to stop passing out that one time.." he said jokingly to him. Colton didn't even flinch, he just calmly took it and said back, "Fair enough. Not my fault I kept doing it back then."

The noise of the celebration just felt deafening and surprising for a group partially composed of people who had seconds ago were rather trembling at Colton being the Monster King. Now, it seemed to have all gone away.

The Romans began to chant, "COLTON! COLTON! MONSTER KING! MONSTER KING!"

They didn't seem to be even scared of what Colton was on the inside anymore, well.. all of them except Octavian, that is. I could see the asshole from a distance, looking on in disbelief and shock. Then again, they could be just trying to prevent Colton from doing any perceived badness against New Rome by appeasing him. Whether it was this or it was actually genuine, I could not tell.

Either way, I took a good level of satisfaction from seeing Octavian like that to be honest. Because seriously..

Serves him fucking right.

I meant it. Serves that asshole right indeed.

They mobbed Colton. Before he knew it, they were raising him on a shield. The cry changed to, "Praetor! Praetor!"

I turned to Percy. He looked absolutely shocked, then simply smiled. I was absolutely stunned. How..?

"She offered it to both of us.. so I'm not surprised that in the end, he turned out to be the one she chose.." Percy simply muttered.

My jaw just dropped open.

I didn't know exactly what to even believe now. I really did not at all at this point. A part of me felt that Jason was going to flip when he got back. On the other hand though, it wasn't even surprising at all — because after Manhattan, the rivalry between Percy and Colton seems to go in the opposite way of what it had been prior to that point.

Among the chanters was Reyna herself, who held up her hand and grasped Colton's in congratulation. Then the mob of cheering Romans carried him around the Pomerian Line, carefully avoiding Terminus's borders, and escorted him back home to Camp Jupiter.

Octavian simply watched it all, and the expression on his face was simply unreadable right now — well, almost unreadable. It was bordering on a mixture of shock, hatred and jealousy in no particular order.

The look on Colton's face was one of absolute shock, but I'm pretty sure deep down inside, he didn't mind it at all. Because to be fair, either way, this was a win for our cause. Maybe there was hope that Romans and Greeks could put aside their differences and fight alongside each other.

Luke looked at me and Percy. "What the hell.. even just happened..?" he asked the two of us, looking absolutely dumbfounded on what had just occurred. He looked like he was waiting for either of us to give him an answer.

I didn't really know.

Percy did however.

"A more honorable legend taking flight.. I might be great, but in the end.. I just want to be left alone.. and I think to that end, the Fates did well in giving me a rival like Colton.." Percy said simply, and it didn't take me long to understand exactly what he meant by that.

Colton was who Percy didn't ask to be, the hero that people perceived him as. Basically, Colton was the rival that Percy could disappear behind. It made absolutely perfect sense when you think about it.

It was like their rivalry had meant to exist from the beginning, almost as if it was planned right from the start. And as crazy as that may sound, I have to think that it really has turned out for the better for many.

Especially us demigods.

Almost as if some higher power had interjected him into what was supposed to happen without him..

- — - — - — -

The Feast of Fortuna had apparently nothing to do with tuna honestly, which despite being the son of a sea god, seemed to be fine with Percy, from what I could observe that is.

I don't even know why it did, nor did I even try to ask. To be honest, I didn't feel like even asking about it. I mean, why would I given the circumstances of what is happening now? It just didn't feel right.

Campers, Amazons and Lares crowded the mess hall for a lavish dinner. Even the fauns were invited, since they'd helped out by bandaging the wounded after the battle. Wind nymphs zipped around the room, delivering orders of pizza, burgers, steaks, salads, Chinese food, and burritos, all flying at terminal velocity. It was an absolute buzz of activity that would drive a man to insanity if he tried to keep up with all of it.

Despite the exhausting battle, everyone was in good spirits. Casualties had been light, and the few campers who'd previously died and come back to life, like Gwen, hadn't been taken to the Underworld. Maybe Thanatos had turned a blind eye. Or maybe Pluto had given those folks a pass, like he had for Hazel. Whatever the case, nobody was even complaining at all.

Colorful Amazon and Roman banners hung side-by-side from the rafters. The restored golden eagle stood proudly behind the praetor's table, and the walls were decorated with cornucopias—magical horns of plenty that spilled out recycling waterfalls of fruit, chocolate, and fresh-baked cookies.

The cohorts mingled freely with the Amazons, as well as the human versions of the Wardens and even the Heralds, with everyone jumping from couch to couch as they pleased, and for once the soldiers of the Fifth were welcome everywhere. The only ones who seemed more conservative in the celebrations were his elite guards, who were all off keeping tabs on the outskirts of Camp Jupiter per Colton's orders to act as a early warning system in case of any more attacks Gaea might have ordered. I think that because Percy changed seats so many times, he actually lost track of his dinner, at least from what I could see of it. I just sat with Colton and Lavinia over at the edge of it all.

"Is it always like this celebration-wise..?" Colton asked Lavinia, as he ate his food like the rest of us.

"Not usually — usually it's.. for a lack of a better word.. usually the First and Second Cohorts celebrating in one group, the Third and Fourth cohorts bemoaning how they had the misfortune to be grouped with us — who would be sitting by ourselves feeling miserable.." she replied, and Colton just hissed in response for a moment, but soon calmed himself down.

"Yeah — well thank god you don't have to say any of that anymore now.." I chimed in, and for probably the first time since I've gotten here, Lavinia just smiled.

"Yeah.. hopefully.. and for that, thank you both.. and Luke.. and Percy.." she said happily, and Colton just beamed while looking at his meal.

There was a lot of flirting and arm-wrestling—which seemed to be the same thing for the Amazons. Kinzie and Percy were having some sort of discussion, Tyson and Ella were just enjoying themselves, Hazel and Frank were both having a good time, Dakota and Luke were just telling each other jokes, and Gwen was just chatting with other people.

All in all, great times. Great times indeed — not far apart from what celebrations at Camp Half Blood would be like more or less. That thought made me think of Jake — and how much I really did miss him. God, how I wanted to hug him and be with him again..

I shook off the pain and just kept a smile on my face, despite the fact that my heart ached over him. Colton seemed to be in the same boat as his eyes seemed to flicker for a split second to pain about not being with Kayla before reverting back to their normal mood.

Once everyone had eaten and the plates stopped flying, Reyna made a short speech. She formally welcomed the Amazons, thanking them for their help. Then she hugged her sister and everybody applauded.

Reyna raised her hands for quiet. "My sister and I haven't always seen eye to eye—"

Hylla laughed. "That's an understatement."

"She joined the Amazons," Reyna continued. "I joined Camp Jupiter. But looking around this room, I think we both made good choices. Strangely, our destinies were made possible by the hero you all just raised to praetor on the battlefield — Colton Reynolds indirectly, alongside direct intervention by Percy Jackson."

More cheering. The sisters raised their glasses to both Colton and Percy and beckoned them forward. Both boys did so.

Percy looked like he didn't know what to say, and simply just said that he was lucky that he hadn't been chosen to be praetor since he really wasn't the best person for it, and that's when Colton smacked him in the back of the head.

Percy turned around, clearly annoyed.

"What is your problem?" Percy simply said to him.

"Jackson.. you and I both know that what you just said about you not being qualified for being praetor is a full load of horse shit.." Colton said back. "You fucking defeated the damn Minotaur at only twelve years old by yourself.. you defeated my father, Mars' counterpart, in a duel.. you helped my sister Clarisse recover the damn Golden Fleece.. you held up the damn sky to help rescue Lady Artemis.."

"Diana.." someone said from the otherwise quiet crowd.

"..Your suggestion about using a mortal guide helped Annabeth out on that labyrinth quest.. and to top it all off, you gave hope, the only thing left in Pandora's damn jar, to Hestia.."

"Vesta.." someone called out.

"..when it all mattered most during the fight in Manhattan.. if anything, you are perhaps the bravest fucking man here that I have ever had the honor of being a rival of.. and possibly the second best man in the entire damn room suited for being a praetor after myself. I believe this one hundred percent, end of story. And yes.." He turned to the Romans and Amazons, and just pointed at Percy. "..this man actually did do all of what I just said."

Octavian exploded into a flurry of incoherent noises in outrage, but he was shushed by the crowd, shocked at Colton just casually naming off Percy's antics like it was nothing. I mean, to be fair, Luke and I.. we've been there to witness parts of it or the aftermath of most of it, so we knew Colton wasn't kidding about what Percy had done.

Percy wanted to say something again, but the campers drowned him out with applause. Reyna took away both his and Percy's probatio neck plates, then called me and Luke up, and then took away our probatio neck plates too.

Octavian shot us a dirty look, then turned to the crowd and smiled like this was all his idea. I hated that bitch so much, I just did — god, I wanted to put an arrow through his head so bad. He ripped open a teddy bear and pronounced good omens for the coming year—Fortuna would bless them! He passed his hand over Percy's arm and shouted: "Percy Jackson, son of Neptune, first year of service!" Then he did the same for the rest of us.

The Roman symbols burned onto our arms: a trident, SPQR, and a single stripe. It felt like someone was pressing a hot iron into our skin, but we all somehow managed not to scream. Colton didn't even flinch at all. That man was made of nerves of steel.

Like seriously, Colton is just built different.

Octavian embraced Percy and Colton and whispered something to both of them. Colton got a very angry look on his face in response as Octavian then moved back.

Then Reyna gave Colton an eagle medal and purple cloak, symbols of the praetor. "You earned these, Colton."

Queen Hylla pounded Percy on the back. "And I've decided not to kill you, Percy."

"Um, thanks," Percy said.

Percy just made his way around the mess hall one more time, because all the campers wanted him at their table. Vitellius the Lar followed, stumbling over his shimmering purple toga and readjusting his sword, telling everyone how he'd predicted Percy's rise to greatness.

"I demanded he join the Fifth Cohort!" the ghost said proudly. "Spotted his talent right away!"

Colton just stayed where he was and snorted. "His greatness was always out in the open.." he said loudly, taking everyone including even Octavian by surprise. "I was the one who surpassed him at the last minute."

No one even bothered to ask a single question as to what Colton had meant by that. Once again though, me and Luke — along with Percy — knew what he had meant. After all, all three of us had been there to witness it.

Don the faun popped up in a nurse's hat, a stack of cookies in each hand. "Man, congrats and stuff! Awesome! Hey, do you have any spare change?"

All the attention embarrassed Percy, but he was happy to see how well Hazel and Frank were being treated — as were me, Luke, and Colton — plus Lavinia who simply smiled from where she was. Everyone was calling all of us the saviors of Rome, and believe me — we all deserved it. There was even talk about reinstating Frank's great-grandfather, Shen Lun, to the legion's roll of honor. Apparently he hadn't caused the 1906 earthquake after all.

Percy sat for a while with Tyson and Ella, who were honored guests at Dakota's table. I didn't exactly see what was going on over there.

After dinner, the entire legion got the night off. Percy and his friends — including me — all drifted down to the city, which wasn't quite recovered from the battle, but the fires were out, most of the debris had been swept up, and the citizens were determined to celebrate.

All except Colton. He actually drifted over to Temple Hill for some reason. What that reason was, I really have no idea to be honest.

At the Pomerian Line, the statue of Terminus wore a paper party hat. A rather pitiful party hat if I had to be honest, but hey.. whatever floats your boat, you know?

"Welcome, praetor!" he said. I sighed. Obviously, someone had forgotten to tell him that Reyna had chosen Colton over Percy. "You need any giants' faces smashed while you're in town, just let me know."

"Thanks, Terminus," Percy said. "But I'm not the person who was made Praetor. Colton was."

"Preposterous! You did much to lead the legion to victory! Why weren't you made praetor?" Terminus stated back.

"That's because the Monster King who took Polybotes down.. that was Colton.. Colton is the Monster King now.." Percy replied, and Terminus looked shocked.

"My word.. he was the Monster King the whole time and I never as so much even suspected a thing.." Terminus said, before laughing. "That boy knows how to hide secrets well!"

"He certainly does.." Hazel added.

"You have no idea.." I muttered, but none of them seemed to hear, as Terminus kept talking.

"Yes, indeed.. I will certainly congratulate him the next time I see him.. Where is my assistant? Julia!"

The little girl ran out from behind the pedestal. She was wearing a green dress tonight, and her hair was still in pigtails. When she smiled, Percy saw that her front teeth were starting to come in. She held up a box full of party hats.

Percy tried to decline, but Julia gave him the big adoring eyes.

"Ah, sure," he said. "I'll take the blue crown."

She offered Hazel a gold pirate hat. "I'm gonna be Percy Jackson when I grow up," she told Hazel solemnly.

Hazel smiled and ruffled her hair. "That's a good thing to be, Julia."

"Why not Colton?" Luke asked, and Julia frowned.

"He scary.." she simply muttered.

"He has that effect on people honestly.." I said. "Clarisse made him that way. He started off a scared little kid, and then he turned into a unstoppable boy full of rage because of her — all to take revenge on the monster that killed his parents, step dad and biological mom respectively."

"That's putting it lightly.." Luke added. To be fair, he wasn't wrong. After becoming the Monster King, Colton had become so much more than that, that was for sure. Then again, it hadn't been so much because of Clarisse completely that Colton had become that way — part of that was simply because of him in general, since he had chosen to become that.

"Although," Frank said, picking out a hat shaped like apolar bear's head, "Frank Zhang would be good too."

"Frank!" Hazel said.

They put on their hats and continued to the forum, which was lit up with multicolored lanterns. The fountains glowed purple. The coffee shops were doing a brisk business, and street musicians filled the air with the sounds of guitar, lyre, panpipes, and armpit noises. I don't know why that they did the last part honestly.

The goddess Iris must've been in a party mood too. As we strolled past the damaged Senate House, a dazzling rainbow appeared in the night sky. Unfortunately the goddess sent another blessing, too—a gentle rain of gluten-free R.O.F.L. cupcake simulations, which most likely would either make cleaning up harder, or rebuilding easier. The cupcakes would make great bricks.

For a while, we kept walking around with Hazel and Frank, who kept brushing shoulders.

Finally Percy said, "I'm a little tired, guys. You go ahead."

Hazel and Frank protested, but we all could tell they wanted some time alone.

So me, Luke, Lavinia and Percy simply left them. Lavinia hadn't said much the whole time, which was impressive honestly.

As we headed back to camp, we saw Mrs. O'Leary playing with Hannibal in the Field of Mars. Finally, she'd found a playmate she could roughhouse with. They frolicked around, slamming into each other, breaking fortifications, and generally having an excellent time.

Luke simply chuckled at the sight, while Lavinia just made a cute noise.

At the fort gates, Percy stopped and gazed across the valley. I turned towards Temple Hill. Even thought it was getting dark, I could see Colton making his way down from it, the new Praetor deep in thought — as Colton usually would. I couldn't blame him. As much as he — and Percy and Luke and I — wanted to return home, we couldn't. At least not at the moment.

Gaea and the giants — including Porphyrion's faction weren't done causing trouble—not by a long shot.