Chapter Title: I Find Myself Staring At A Man Losing His Mind

(A/N: I know the Romans don't pop back up until Fort Sumter, but for some reason, I feel like it's only fitting to, as best as I possibly can, document Octavian's descent into madness — or at least, how he proves Colton's words from a couple of chapters ago to be accurate. I might as well kill two birds with one stone here as well, since why not describe some of the history the Monster King has with Rome while I'm at it with this. And what better perspective to convey this through than Gwen, who herself despite being a retired legionnaire now, finds herself conflicted after witnessing Colton's savage beatdown of the legion earlier? Anyways, enjoy!)

Gwen was never one to stop and stare at a scene for long. This was kinda obvious for starters, since she did have ADHD and was a demigod, so unless she wanted to get turned into monster stew, normally she wouldn't be making the mistake of stopping too long to look at something. But this, in front of her right now, was different. So, so different.

The forum was a mess, that's the best way she could use to describe what was going on in front of her eyes right now. Shops were in rubble, fires continued to rage — small to medium sized fires fortunately, not large scale conflagrations that threaten to burn down the entire area. Debris was everywhere, and so were people. It was almost as if the great sacking of Rome when the Western Roman Empire fell, carried out by Barbarians supported by the forces of the current Monster King at the time was repeating itself all over again. At least the atrocities - the unspeakable atrocities that followed were not repeated during this scene today. Medics, lares, and fauns were all over the place too, tending to the injured. Some people were dead, as much as it shocked her. Thankfully, those that were injured for the most part didn't have very serious injuries, allowing the medics to concentrate on those that did. The immovable object and one man army on this day by the name of Colton Reynolds had taken great care not to harm any of the legionnaires, lares or fauns' butts that he kicked too badly, even as he disarmed many dozens of them during his brief rampage in and around the forum.

On the subject of that son of Mars who had pretty much turned the lives of Camp Jupiter upside down more than Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, and Michael Yew combined had, Gwen was at a loss for words to describe how she felt about him. In the brief time she had known him, everything she thought she knew about demigods, about the Gods, about the Monster King, about the Second Titan War, about even Camp Jupiter itself had been turned upside down.

That boy never seemed to stop throwing surprises out of his figurative sleeves, even from the first day he came to Camp Jupiter. But now, when faced with Leo seemingly betraying everyone and firing on Camp Jupiter, he had to pick between his girlfriend — who Gwen honestly still can't believe is that Kayla Knowles she's heard older demigods talk about — alongside his Greek family versus his loyalty to Rome.

And what does he pick?

His girlfriend — because as much as Gwen thought he was joking, Colton unfortunately had not been kidding when he said in the forum that Kayla pretty much was his world. It was that simple of a choice, but it was a choice she wishes he didn't have to make that easily. Especially given what Octavian is now saying as he addresses a crowd by the forum, Reyna off somewhere else to help clean up damage. "Romans! Listen up!" Octavian bellowed. "Before you, you see the truth! The Greeks lied to us all! They never wanted to help us, and instead tricked us into thinking they were here to help! Nothing has changed at all!"

Gwen could hardly believe what she was even hearing out of Octavian's mouth. She had never really considered him as much of anyone worth being taken seriously before, considering how much he basically flaunted his status and where he came from in front of everyone else, to the annoyance of many. But this.. to tap right back into the old stereotypes and assumptions about Greek that had led to so much bloodshed in the past, after all that Colton, Luke, Percy, and Michael had put into proving that those stereotypes didn't really stack up to the present reality.

Even when Leo had fired on the camp, she had seen both shock, confusion, and fear in the eyes of a lot of their Greek demigod relatives and companions as they were climbing the ladder to the Argo II, at least in the glimpses that she saw behind the scene of Colton dominating the entire legion. Even with Colton, even with all the rage he was showing, she could also see brief moments of frustration and regret flicker in his eyes, almost as if he knew something that mostly everyone else didn't.

She had her suspicions that Leo attacking the camp wasn't actually part of the plan, that something else happened up there, but whatever the case maybe, none of that really mattered anymore. What mattered now, Gwen realized, was how to make sure Octavian didn't end up wrecking the quest to stop Gaea. Sure, she knew that Colton alone could probably keep Octavian and his followers from attacking the Argo II crew directly, but there was another place that they had spoken of.

Camp Half Blood.

The place where those Greeks' siblings were. Gwen's heart filled with horror, though she tried not to show it, at the possibilities that now filled her mind. No, he wouldn't.. she thought to herself, looking at Octavian once more as he continued to spread that hostile rhetoric towards the Greeks. "We let them into our camp and this is how they repay us!" he shouted. "Are we going to stand for it..?"

"NO!" shouted the other Romans in front of him.

Gwen thought of Colton once more, of the monster that boy had become. If he was with the crew on the Argo II, he couldn't protect Camp Half Blood if Octavian moved on it. No, she would have to — and if she couldn't prevent him from moving on it, she would at least attempt to delay him as long as possible.

She hissed, knowing what she had to do. She could be cast out from being a Roman for doing so, but the other demigods at Camp Half Blood were just as much as the children of the gods as were she and the other Romans, even if not directly. She had to find Reyna.. now.

- — - — - — -

To Gwen's credit, it really wasn't too hard to find her former superior. While she wasn't within hearing range of Octavian's inflammatory rhetoric, being over on Temple Hill, she was at her usual place that she usually went to whenever she was over here, at Bellona's temple. She was pacing back and forth in front of the temple, as if deep in thought — though she obviously had been pulled from it when she turned to see Gwen approaching.

"Gwen.. what is it..?" Reyna asked her, not really wanting to chat for long. Gwen was simply panting, having basically ran over. "It's Octavian.. he's trying to incite the Romans into going after the Greeks and killing them because of those stereotypes he still believes in.." Gwen gasped. Reyna muttered something under her breath that sounded like swearing to Gwen.

She could tell, the praetor was very unhappy. "Why.. why does he have to go and run his mouth..?" Reyna said simply. "Why.. does Colton have to be more devoted to his girlfriend..?"Gwen could really tell that Reyna wasn't exactly happy about Colton being more devoted to his girlfriend than siding with Rome. But then again, given the man's own words at least in Gwen's mind, it should have been obvious that he would have made the decision to side with Kayla and the Greeks over the Romans if he had to make that choice. He may not have liked it, but he would have done what he felt needed to be done, and that was that.

Gwen, at that, decided to let Reyna know. "He literally said himself that she is his reason to live.. so it shouldn't be that surprising that if it came down to it, he'd pick her.." she said, a little bit annoyed. Reyna just looked at her, stunned. Her jaw seemingly trying to close, but failing.

"Without her, he's nothing.. you could tell just from how he is around her.." Gwen continues. "..she's the light that keeps him burning."

Reyna tries to talk back, but the words die on her lips because she knows Gwen is right - and she knows something else now too. Something that terrifies her too.

If Kayla or his family goes, Colton may just follow the path of the earlier Monster Kings and stomp out New Rome. That would be unthinkable, and yet thanks to Leo and Octavian, that could become reality.

Reyna gets a serious look on her face now, for she knows now what she has to do. "Okay.." she says finally. "I'll see what I can do. Hopefully, I can keep Octavian at bay and keep him from perhaps going after his family." And with that, she sets back off towards the forum, hoping to moderate and quell the liability to any chance of defeating Gaea. Because if she can't..

..she really doesn't want to have to imagine what happens if she fails.

(A/N: And with that, another chapter down! Short one, I know. But still, at least another angle on events in the third book of Heroes Of Olympus covered with this one. Next chapter should be the conversation between Colton, Luke, Lavinia, and Kayla back onboard the Argo II. Other than that, hope you all like this newest chapter!)