Chapter Title: I Get A Better Reunion With My Girlfriend Than Percy Does (SUCK IT SEAWEED BRAIN!)
(A/N: With all of the holiday stuff going on, I forgot to give my usual shoutouts to -JASONSGRACE , goddessofwisdom- , Az56796743 , and AO3 user laurellins as their original characters did make an appearance in the last chapter, so big oof on my part. Either way, this chapter will be a big of a long one simply due to the reactions of the newcomers towards finally seeing the monstrous demigod for the first time.)
When I saw Kayla, I swear to you.. I didn't know what to do for a few moments. Like, time just slowed down for me. Maybe that's the powers Kronos gifted me when I was blessed by him to be an honorary son of his after we scattered him, IDK. Point is, just seeing her.. it felt like a dream. No, not a dream. A moment of pure emotion.
Pure emotion full of joy, desire, affection, and love for what should be very... very obvious reasons at this point right now. Reasons that in retrospect were obvious from the get-go basically.
Because I had been torn apart from her for what was apparently six fucking months by apparently Hera/Juno (who I am also kinda pissed off at her since she did it to an honorary son of hers), and believe me, even after trashing the Giants' attack on New Rome, I was still pissed off about it. Why do the fates seem to have a damn obsession with trying to keep me apart from her?
Like what the fuck even was their problem? Like.. hello? HELLO?!
Was having time with her too much to fucking ask for at this point? Is it really that too much to even ask for right now?
It seemed that apparently, it actually was too much to ask for — much to my frustration, and utter rage. Like, what kind of fucking universe was this where that was too much to ask for?
In what fucking universe was this logic acceptable?
Whatever, fuck them all. Every single one of them, for I do not give a shit right now what they think of me thinking this. I really did not even give one to any of them at this point.
I was really getting sick of their shit by now, believe me. But now, finally.. after going through the amount of shit that I've had to endure in the past few days, the Gods have rewarded me by being able to reunite with the daughter of Apollo my heart burns like an inferno for. For how long that would last.. I didn't want to think about it right now. Like fuck that thought.
FUCK IT ALL THE WAY TO TARTARUS.
Rant aside, at this point, it was pretty obvious to me what I wanted at this point — if my prior statements about this hadn't already made it clear.
All I wanted right now was.. her. Touch her, hold her, kiss her.. be with my glamour girl archery goddess again. Because god damn it, apart from my family, she's literally the only thing that matters to me in this world. I would fucking murder every single giant in a blind rage all at the same time if I meant I would get to be with her again. That is how devoted to her I am. The sound of that fucking idiot Octavian rudely interrupted my train of thought though, especially since it came in reply to this.
"We come in peace!" shouted someone on top of the warship. I think it might have been that Leo guy, I wasn't sure. Either way, I felt a shiver of anticipation come over me — I was definitely looking forward to punishing him to trying to ask out my Kayla. Because seriously, it would be a blow to my reputation if I didn't and one that I probably would never forgive myself for if I did.
"We're here under a banner of truce!" Katie called out, while she was still climbing down the rope ladder. From the looks of it, it seemed like a whole lot of people — many of them familiar with some new faces in the mix — were onboard the ship or climbing down the rope ladder.
"Truce?!" Octavian spat back, angry. "You've brought a warship within our city limits!"
"We're still hovering.." Annabeth, who was already on the ground by now, said back while looking rather smug or something in the process. "..so technically we're not in the city."
"You won't feel so clever with a Roman Spear in your -.." Octavian started.
"Centurion!" Reyna shouted. "Stand down!"
(* "Beauty And A Beat" by Justin Bieber starts playing here *)
I turn towards Octavian, and I am about to sock him right square in the fucking jaw — all I can see right now is just pure red — when I hear her call my name.
"Colton?! COLTON!"
My vision turns to normal. I drop what I'm doing, turn around, and start running towards her. Tears are dripping down my cheeks now, but I don't care. All that matters is Kayla. I've been gone from her too long, and I need her right now, or else it feels like my feelings for her will consume me.
"Wait, guys! We have to wait for the praetors!" someone calls out, but I don't care. Nothing is going to keep me away from the beautiful girl in the familiar camp outfit in front of me running towards me, tears staining her cheeks. I didn't give much of a shit about that at all, even though I am a Praetor right now. I missed her badly, really I have. There's no way around that — none at all.
I didn't fucking bash in Polybotes' head as the Monster King, help Lavinia ascend and kill the Trojan Sea Monster in the process, or literally just bulldoze the majority of the entire Second Cohort by myself — and yes, by myself — just to not be able to return to her, damn it. I did all of that just so I could get to have this moment with her.
I'm the Monster King, god damn it and you don't fucking tear this king away from his Queen. You just don't fucking dare do that to this guy. Try to do that and I will kill you, no excuses.
So, I ran to her. It seemed like deja vu like back at the funeral for me and Percy during the Second Titan War when she — and the rest of camp as well — thought Percy and I both were dead. I kinda hated this moment for being similar to that, but I couldn't hate it completely. Not when the one girl that meant everything to me was finally back to being with me. Like, that really was the only thing that truly mattered to me here.
And yes, Kayla Knowles — apart from my Greek family — was literally the one thing that was why I was still breathing. Why I had even put with Octavian's shit and in my own way — to whatever degree possible, found ways around that to make sure that my plans moved forward.. it's why in all honesty despite it ending taking us into a trap, the hitchhiking idea had been pure genius on my part. Now that I was back with her, I wasn't planning on the Fates tearing me away from her again — and if they did.. well, they were going to have an extremely hard time preventing me from killing and destroying anyone that stood in my way to get back to her, I would make sure of that. Because seriously, I think it's well known now that if you rip me away from her, there's going to be a very long trail of dead bodies behind by the time I get back to her, that's for sure.
My arms wrapped around her back tightly, and hers with mine too. I may have been a good bit possessive when hugging her too, but I'll admit, I just wanted to make sure she wasn't an illusion or anything. But she didn't disappear at all, so this was the real deal. She cried into my chest, and I just petted her head, as she clung tightly to me - letting all the distress and unease from being away from me for so long out.
My heart soared — higher than possibly could be ever imagined at all. No joke, that is what it felt like holding her in my grasp again after so long. Pure and utter joy. Even though it hurt for her to be crying again, I had to tell myself that I wasn't to blame here at all.
I kissed her forehead gently, and she giggled happily, wiping away the tears of joy she had and just staring up at me as cutely as she always had. She was back by my side.. finally. I lacked any other words to describe how it felt, it was just that sweet.
It took me a few more moments before I figured out exactly what to even say, even as the sounds of a few other pairs of feet running towards each other signaled that Jake, Michael, Percy, and Annabeth had all caught sight of each other and were all making a beeline for their respective other. Well, that and Percy Annabeth saying each other's name helped me in making that assessment.
"Gods, Kay.. you're as beautiful as ever.." I say at last. "Words cannot describe how much I've missed being with you~"
She beamed brightly. "I can say the same for you.." she said back to me. "..though I see you've gone and made a name for yourself here." She did a mock pout in a playful manner, suggesting that she didn't really mind me gaining more recognition and fame for myself — simply due to me having to be the hero — at all, which was nice honestly.
"Yeah.. well.." I said, scratching the back of my head. "Things happened.. I had to reveal who I was to them in order to save their home.. and they basically made me co-leader of this place in thanks for it."
That really wasn't all that far from the truth, if I had to be honest even with Octavian being an absolute ass-hat. She kissed me, rather hungrily which was understandable given how long we had been separated and then she pulled away after a few moments in which I was kissing her back just as hungrily, smiling all the while. "Moving on up in the world, I see.. typical Colton.." she teased, and I couldn't help but blush a little, causing her to giggle. Oh, how I missed that lovely sound. "I'm just glad I've found you again."
"Believe me, Kay.." I said back. "Words cannot describe how relieved I am to be back with you too."
How I had missed her indeed. But finally, she was back with me. Everything was okay now.
(* Music pauses here *)
THUD!
The sound of someone hitting the ground hard drew our attention away from each other and over to her left / my right, where I couldn't help but start laughing hard internally. Annabeth had apparently judo flipped Percy onto the ground - and believe me, the amount of satisfaction I felt over it was refreshing. Suck it, Seaweed Brain! I thought to myself in my mind.
Some of the other campers here cried out and some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, "Hold! Stand down!"
Annabeth put her knee on Percy's chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. I don't think she even cared at that moment what the Romans thought of her right now. I currently didn't for that matter, not when I was finally reunited with the one girl that meant so much to me.
"If you ever leave me again," she said to him, her eyes stinging, "I swear to all the gods—"
Percy just laughed in response to this - no joke. That was how he responded. Simply by laughing - about as classic Percy as you can get. Annabeth, for her part, simply melted from what her facial expression showed.
"Consider me warned," Percy said. "I missed you, too."
I took a moment now to look at what Michael was doing. Sure enough, Jake was literally crying into Michael's shirt due to having missed him so much while Michael just hugged him back and patted him gently on the head. Luke, meanwhile, just looked pained to be honest and for good reason - bro had been expecting Thalia and she wasn't here. Believe me, I felt bad for the guy.
The rest of the campers from Camp Half Blood that had come on this quest, including my own sister and brother, all stood there nearby with the six I hadn't seen before, looking on with happiness and joy. The minute those six had laid eyes on me, however, their reactions were very varied — but one thing was for certain. I could tell that they were all very well aware of who I was. Looking over all of them, I was honestly stunned. Even though I had seen what Jason and Leo looked like, each and every single one of them matched what I had seen on that bus in that vision back during the Battle of Manhattan.
Remarkable, really. What these few had to do with the Great Prophecy, I had zero idea at this point. Even so, every time I looked at Leo and watched him start squirming under my gaze, thoughts of what exactly I would do to punish him filled my mind. Even so, I already knew I couldn't do anything too extreme that might end his life, since judging from what I had already heard about them, there was little doubt in my mind that he truly was a member of the eleven so killing him was not the best idea.
Reyna simply walked over towards Percy and Annabeth, who presently stayed where they were, looking at each other. "Ahem."
I really couldn't help but get a stupid grin on my face just watching this now. Deep down inside, I definitely had won this round - even though there was no competition over this. Kayla simply just kissed me on the cheek though and I just melted, and I mean.. melted with a smile on my face. She giggled.
"Gods.." she muttered. "I missed that so much."
I just smiled even more.
Annabeth rose and helped Percy to his feet. She really looked like she wanted to kiss him again so badly, but she managed to restrain herself. She was about as needy as Kayla had been, judging from the look on her face and as with a lot of things about this day, I couldn't really blame her any at all. I really could not.
The tall blonde boy now cleared his throat. "So, yeah...It's good to be back." I could tell that he looked very dumbfounded at me specifically. He took a moment before clearing his throat, before he spoke to me. "So.. I guess you're Colton Reynolds then, I presume?" He asked, and I simply nodded.
"Well.." the blonde responded. "..nice to finally meet you." I could tell, though, that there definitely was some sort of inner turmoil going on inside of him involving me, just a gut feeling though. He held out his hand. "I'm Jason. Jason Grace."
So this was Thalia's brother, I thought in my mind as I sized him up, even though because of the awkwardness I felt about taking his spot as praetor and what seemed like awkwardness for a different reason in his eyes, an awkward silence passed between us for a few moments before I finally shook his hand.
- — - — - Switch To Third Person POV - — - — -
To those that had joined the ranks of Camp Half Blood last winter and gone on the quest to save Hera, to be laying eyes on the current Monster King seemed to cause them to emit a varying set of emotions depending on person.
Jason, for starters, was just dumbfounded.
Sure, he had that vision in which he saw what Colton looked like back at the Wolf House in December, but to be back where he belonged for the first time in months, only to find out the very same kid he had seen in that vision had now replaced him as praetor.. Jason certainly did not know what to even think about it. One thing was for certain though, Colton looked as every bit as intimidating as everyone at Camp Half Blood had made him out to be. As monstrous and as brutal as everyone had described. While he had certainly felt small compared to Cato, despite Colton being shorter than he was, Jason felt like an ant when compared to Colton.
From the brown hair to the dark eyes to the incredible number of scars he had on him, even on his decently toned set of muscles — Jason had never seen a person covered in so many scars in his life, there were too many to count — Colton looked more like Darth Sion, the "Lord Of Pain", from Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic than a Greek demigod, except Colton actually had hair compared to the bald Sion. Or at least, Jason thought, maybe some sort of freak of nature that mythology had yet to write a legend about. He wasn't really sure which of the two it actually was. And then the bloody statue.. from what he had heard about Colton being the Monster King, and from what he had said of the battle to Kayla who had only told the Romans about it all before just mentioning part of it to the others, it wasn't really too hard for Jason imagine Colton bashing in Polybotes' skull with the statue, as much as doing so really made him want to puke every time he did.
Leo was.. as could be expected, trembling in fear more or less. He always knew while working on the Argo II that this day would come eventually — the day when he would have to face the music for having the idiocy to try to ask out Kayla when she was loyal to her boyfriend. He had to admit, the man wearing the uniform of a praetor with Kayla's arms wrapped around him, the one whose chest she was crying into while he gently patted her head, looked like a damn tank if he had to be honest here. Colton didn't look incredibly muscular like that of Jason or Percy in Leo's opinion, but he still looked like he could just as easily snap Leo's neck like a twig if he wanted to. There was simply no way he could compete with how badass Colton was, acted, and even looked. He just couldn't at all.
He was only hoping that his contributions to Camp Half Blood and the Olympians so far would have Colton looking at a lighter punishment for him every time he and him locked eyes with each other.
Clara was amazed. Here she was, standing in front of the boy that her siblings at Camp Half Blood had told her so much about. The one that had moved mountains for the Greeks during the last war. The "Beast Of Camp Half Blood", the Monster King, the "Sniper Of Olympus".. here he was now, in the flesh. From what Kayla had said of his actions during the quest for Argonaut, there was little doubt in Clara's mind that Colton had proven himself every bit worthy of being both an excellent Greek and Roman. This man definitely seemed to be going places.
Even so, she couldn't help but look concerned a bit as she had noticed the interaction — or sort of interaction — between Colton and Octavian. The way Colton had looked like he was about to sock Octavian in the jaw and the way Octavian just eyed him with jealousy and envy as Colton hugged Kayla made it seem like to her that these two had developed a sort of obvious rivalry towards each other, and that gave her a sense of dread should this decide to rear its ugly head soon.
Piper was at a loss for words — for both visual and emotional reasons. In her opinion, Colton might as well have looked more like Erik from the Phantom Of The Opera without his mask on, except Colton still looked very handsome despite his many, many scars. It added a sense of durability, toughness, and tenacity to him that made him only seem even more imposing than he already was.
But then, for him to suddenly turn into someone entirely different once Kayla had called his name — Piper could definitely see why Kayla Knowles truly was his world. The way he interacted with Kayla, looked at her with those eyes that spoke of him moving mountains for her if she asked him to, it was one of the sweetest things Piper had ever witnessed in her entire life. It was, more or less, a vindication of her words to Kayla after the quest to save Hera that Kayla had truly deserved someone like Colton and right now, she felt a sense of happiness and adoration at the way this sweet couple interacted with each other right now.
Bryce looked like he was face to face with a legendary artifact. No, a living legend was probably the more correct phrase if he had to be honest here. And why wouldn't it.. right in front of him, with his arms around Kayla, was the man everyone at Camp Half Blood spoke so highly of, the one who made Jason's achievements seems minuscule in comparison. The ace of aces for the Greeks, in person. Having been made a believer rather than one who feared the Monster King thanks to the quest to free Hera, Bryce had begun to question a lot of things since then. But at this point, he knew at least one thing that was certain about his future going forward - helping out this man was going to reap a lot of rewards for him in the end.
Alyssa simply looked nervous in the presence of Colton. Even if the way he interacted with Kayla was sweet and all, it still didn't change the fact that he looked every bit of what Camp Half Blood had said he was. And yet, she was also a bit curious too — curious as to how exactly had Kayla Knowles had drove such a guy like this to do the things that he had done. Even if he did look at her like she was his entire world, something still didn't add up for her. It's not like he just turns into a completely different monster entirely when she's in danger now, is it?
Either way, the reactions of the various members of the quest to save Hera finally coming face to face with the boy who was the Monster King demonstrated that for all of the questions answered for them, Colton Reynolds only still seemed to be inspiring a heck of a lot more questions about him from them.
- — - — - Switch Back to First Person POV - — - — -
"So anyways.. this is Bryce Harper, Alyssa Hadley, Clara Everett, Piper McLean, and Leo Valdez.." Jason then said, and it felt fitting to finally put names to faces. Clara seemed a bit more like Michael, but in an Ares way — which kinda made me wonder if I had two Michaels here now instead of one. Piper was, for the lack of a better word or words, drop dead gorgeous.. as was Alyssa, and then there was Bryce, who seemed to low key remind me of Tartarus himself. I swear, there was something about him that just did, I don't know why.
Jason then introduced Reyna to Piper, who looked a little miffed that she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing, then to Leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign after shaking off his fear of me — that's what it seemed like — for a moment. And while Jason was introducing the rest of the crew from Camp Half Blood, I couldn't help but notice two things. The first one was that Lily and Rose were talking to each other in a way that seemed more like friends.
At first, I was confused, but then it hit me.
Sisters switched.
Rose has a sister here.
Lily is Rose's sister.
The second thing was that upon Piper saying that Jason had told her so much about Reyna, the latter had looked off to the side in a more dejected kind of manner while saying "Ancient History, I assure you." I made a mental note to visit Bellona later on today and ask her about it.
"And this is Annabeth," Jason said. "Uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."
Reyna's eyes sparkled. "You sure you're not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"
Annabeth didn't know if that was a compliment, but she held out her hand. "I only attack my boyfriend like that," she promised. "Pleased to meet you."
Reyna clasped her hand firmly. "It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions!"
She went to talk with the other centurions, and I just stayed watching everyone else chat, including seeing Kayla seemingly becoming fast friends with Lavinia, which was nice to watch. I'll admit, the pink haired girl seemed more like a fan girl now meeting Kayla in person if anything.
Meanwhile, Reyna was giving orders to the other Centurions as I walked over to them. "...tell the legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And, Octavian—"
"You're letting these intruders into the camp?" Octavian said indignantly. "Reyna, the security risks—"
"Octavian, please.. for the love of god.. shut the fuck up for once in your life.." I hissed under my breath.
"We're not taking them to the camp, Octavian." Reyna flashed him a stern look. "We'll eat here, in the forum."
"Oh, much better," Octavian grumbled. It was typical of the man, the one guy who trembled before me due to me being the Monster King and yet didn't defer to either me or Reyna, despite the fact that he was a scrawny, pale asshole that looked like a knockoff version of Luke and had three teddy bears hanging from his belt, which caused me to let out a low growl. I would snap his neck with my bare hands before Kayla's teddy bear ended up being cut open by him, I would make sure of that if he ever tried — Reyna or the other Romans' protests be damned.
Kayla must have noticed, because she just gently cupped my cheek and nuzzled her head into my neck softly, causing me to stop and turn my attention back to her.
Octavian, meanwhile, just kept going to my irritation. "You want us to relax in the shadow of their warship."
God, I wish I could put a bullet through his damn head right now, I thought to myself. It really just reminded about the thoughts I had about Tantalus back when he had come around during the dark times of the Second Titan War, back when Kayla had first come to camp. To be fair, I didn't really see much of a difference between the thoughts I had back then and the thoughts I was having now. I really, really hated the asshole now, probably about as much as I had hated Tantalus, if not more. With what would eventually occur down the road, among the few things in life that I really regret was not acting on that wish at that particular moment - because as I stated before, it would have saved us so much trouble. But then again, given what also occurred down the road, it - as much as I hate to admit it - might have been best that I didn't act on it at that moment.
"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to thank the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."
"Good idea," Percy put in. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."
"Do it.." I muttered, face full of mutual dissatisfaction for him — and at this point, part of that dissatisfaction I had for Octavian was probably due to him just merely existing at this point, I have no idea. That man was such an insufferable asshole.
Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile — whether it was either due to me or Percy though, I had no idea about that either right now. "You have my orders. Go."
And with that, the officers dispersed. Octavian shot Percy and me a look of absolute loathing. Then he gave Annabeth and the others a suspicious once-over and stalked away.
I took a moment now to look up at the ship overhead. It almost looked like Bowser's airship from the New Super Mario Bros Wii game that had come out this year — I had noticed while passing by a GameStop in Bakersfield while on the quest with Lavinia and Michael — it was so huge. I had to admit, even if the name was lame, it definitely looked more impressive actually here in person. And to think that the guy who had the gall to ask out my girlfriend after having been already told he was taken.. I was beginning to think, maybe it would be the smarter option to cut him a deal — what that deal would be, I wouldn't finalize it for some time.
But either way, it was safe to say that despite his initial part of pissing me off, it was safe to say that I was slowly starting to view Leo Valdez in a more favorable light.
Percy slipped his hand into Annabeth's. "Don't worry about Octavian," he said. "Most of the Romans are good people—like Frank, Lavinia, and Hazel here, and Reyna. We'll be fine."
I had my doubts about that, to be honest here. I really did. If their treatment of Lavinia and the rest of the fifth cohort was anything to go upon, then if we Greeks made one wrong move here, they would almost be sure to follow Octavian's cries for war like a damn hive mind.
As events would transpire later on, this for the most part was accurate to a fucking T.
From what it looked like though, it seemed that Annabeth felt the same way even if she didn't know the full story from what it seemed like, as if she was certain that something was going to go wrong here.
"We'll be fine," she repeated, trying to believe it. From her body language, I could tell she wasn't believing that at all to be honest. As a result, I couldn't help but get a bad feeling about the next couple of hours.
"Excellent," Reyna said. She turned to Jason, and for a moment, I could have sworn she looked at him like he was a meal or something. I don't know how else to explain the sort of glint in her eyes that showed themselves in that moment. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion."
That's when the voice of the oracle back at Camp Half Blood simply spoke in my head out of nowhere. "From gods present and forgotten, the juggernaut that ends the war is gotten. To save all and the world of myths, it falls on seven plus an army. Up the tower they must go, but when they go down, the final brawl awaits. A child's fate determines all, and her life must be kept awake at all costs. From the ashes of the ruins, one more personal fight awaits for the victor."
I had to use every fiber of my being to keep myself from screaming out loud, and for very good reason. Another fucking prophecy, of fucking course. I seemed to be a big fucking divining rod for these things, wasn't I? Like give me a fucking break with these things. But either way, it was already confusing from the start — even though I suspected this had something to do with the Great Prophecy, there were lots and lots of gaps in it that I just couldn't fill right now. Either way, the only thing I could do now is just store this prophecy in my brain, act like everything was okay, and just follow Kayla and the others into the forum.
I should have been happy that I was back with her, but a part of me couldn't stop feeling like there were some monsters around even though I couldn't see any. Could there be eidolons around?
I sure hoped not.
(A/N: And yeah, there's the reunion between Kayla and Colton. Going forward, due to the extra characters included here and still more coming, the next chapters — even the original content ones for this part of the story — will probably take even more time to do than before. And in case you were wondering, that prophecy at the end is a sneak preview of the last part of Book Three, aka the Giants' Tower, so keep this one in mind once we get to BOO as it will serve as the prophecy of that individual book/part of Book Three. Either way, see you next time!)