▬▬▬ CHAPTER ONE ▬▬▬

I haven't read Camp Jupiter Classified: A Probatio's Journal so I mostly did some worldbuilding here with my own opinions on what Camp Jupiter/Wolf House is like along with the meta from other PJO fans. Hope you don't mind! I've had these ideas for a while now before the book was released and I just felt too lazy to change them lol

IN HIS HALF-CONSCIOUS STATE, Percy ended up tumbling over the stone altar he was laying on and fell face-first on the ground.

"Oh no!" Esmerelda gasped before rushing over to make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, Ethan snorted. The idiot nearly stabbed himself when he fell over. I can't believe we're stuck babysitting this train wreck.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," he said dryly. "Had a nice nap?"

"I... what...?" Percy looked up at them, lost. "Who are you guys? Where am I?"

"Ethan," he introduced himself curtly. "And that's my girlfriend who's currently fretting over you. Come on, Essie, he's not a baby. One drop on the head's not gonna stop him."

It's not like it ever stopped him before, he thought in amusement. 

Esmerelda merely rolled her eyes and ignored him. "I'm Essie. Are you okay?"

"Uh, I think...?" He mumbled, looking down at himself. It was like he was unfamiliar with his own body. He didn't seem to recognize the clothes he wore, the sword he held, or even the hands he was currently staring at.

It was pretty sad, actually.

Nevertheless, Esmerelda offered him a hand which he took gratefully. She pulled him back on his feet. That was when he proceeded to look around the cave, not at all recognizing where he was at.

"Do you know where we are?" He asked.

"No," Ethan lied swiftly. "And before you ask, we don't know how we got here either. Essie and I were sleeping in bed before we suddenly woke up in this cave just a few minutes before you did."

He figured he should take charge of all the lying since Esmerelda... wasn't really that good at it. No offense to her of course. At least she always tried her best.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Esmerelda asked Percy tentatively, noticing how the distress in his face would grow every second.

"I..." He hesitated, swallowing down nervously. "I don't... remember anything."

"What do you mean?" Esmerelda asked, playing clueless.

"I can't remember anything..." He mumbled, looking ten seconds away from going into hysterics.

Thankfully, Ethan stepped in. "Is there anything that you can recall?"

It took a while for Percy to answer, which only worried them some more. Jason knew a few minor details about himself when he arrived at camp, but what about Percy? Surely Hera didn't give his memories a complete wipe, did she?

Finally, Percy answered his question:

"Annabeth," he said firmly. "I... that was the first thing that came to me when I woke up. I doubt that's my name though."

It took all of Esmerelda's willpower to not go 'awwww!' and gush over how cute Percabeth was. Over at the side, she could see Ethan roll his eye at the cheesiness.

You know what, Ethan figured. At least Hera didn't toss in some other random girl and gave her fake memories of a relationship with him. We don't need another Piper situation right now.

"Do you remember anything else?" Esmerelda asked.

"My name," he said quietly. "It's Percy. Percy Jackson. I know that. And, uh... I know that I'm... sixteen, I think?"

She didn't say anything, but he got it right. He was sixteen years old. In a few more months he would be turning seventeen in August. Hopefully they would get all this insanity over with so he could have a proper birthday party back home in New York.

"Any more?" Ethan inquired further.

Percy's face fell, and he went back to looking at his hands as if hoping the answer would appear on his palms or something like that.

"Nothing," he whispered. "I don't even know how I got here. I can't remember what I was doing before this. I can't remember anything about my life. Only my name and my age, but that might not even be right..."

It was, though it wasn't like any of them could actually confirm it for him.

"Do you guys remember anything?" It was his turn to ask. There was a little bit of hope in his voice, like he was hoping that maybe he wasn't the only one going through this thing or that he would at least have some people to relate with.

It was understandable of course. Esmerelda wouldn't want to be left to deal with this sort of thing alone. Especially without any memories.

"My memory's intact," Ethan shrugged. "You, Essie?"

"Same here," she replied, then changed the topic with a suggestion: "We should get out of here now. Try to figure out where we are."

Both boys agreed with her. Ethan brandished his sword while Esmerelda brought out her adamantine labrys. Percy followed suit, holding Riptide up only to freeze and glance back down at his weapon, before his eyes darted to the weapons they were holding next. It was like he hadn't realized how naturally he wielded his sword and the sudden fluidity of his movements had stunned him.

I hope Hera let him retain his fighting skills, Esmerelda thought as they cautiously crept towards the only path that was given to them. Percy was the universe's biggest monster magnet so she already knew that watching over him was going to be a tough challenge. If he forgot how to kill monsters... Well, they would be even more screwed.

The walk to the exit was quiet. Esmerelda's senses were alerting her of a threat, but she had a feeling it wasn't because of any monsters. Beside her, Ethan was just as tense so she at least knew this wasn't something her mind was conjuring up due to paranoia.

Luckily for them, the cave wasn't super big. It wasn't even hard to navigate through. They just walked straight ahead and after a couple of minutes, they finally found the way out.

"We're in a forest," Ethan murmured, taking in the sight of many trees surrounding them.

The trees were very large, and super tall too. Esmerelda had never seen them before in New York, but she knew what they were. They were pretty famous anyways.

"Redwood trees," Ethan concluded, as if reading her thoughts. "That means we're somewhere on the coast in central California."

Or southern Oregon, she mentally added, though she knew that wasn't the case. They had already been informed beforehand that the Wolf House (and Camp Jupiter) was somewhere in California.

Percy shot him a weird look. "How do you know all that?"

Ethan just shrugged, not saying anything. Spend a couple months at Camp Half-Blood where the dryads were, and you would be spitting out random facts about trees like it was nothing.

"I see something," Esmerelda suddenly announced, pointing up ahead. There was a tall cobblestone fixture somewhere in the distance. Fortunately, it didn't look too far. "Come on."

That's probably the Wolf House, she realized, her shoulders sinking in relief. She was just glad that they would be reaching shelter soon.

...But then her hopes were crushed once they actually reached the building.

"What the heck is this...?!" Her jaw dropped in horror.

She didn't really know anything about the Wolf House. She knew it was famous for something that she didn't really bother to care about, so it had to be at least decent right? Maybe a cottage in the woods sort of thing or an actual house like the Big House in Camp Half-Blood.

Either way, she was kind of expecting something intact. And well... what she was looking at now certainly wasn't.

The Wolf House was nothing more than the remnants of a burnt down mansion. There was no roofing, no proper doorways, or glass protecting the windows. All that was left of it were the moss covered walls and some wooden beams holding the upper floors together.

She and Ethan exchanged a dark glance. Hera was gods damn lucky she couldn't be killed because if she were mortal, the two of them wouldn't hesitate to take turns strangling her for all the bullshit she was making them put up with.

"Uh, guys," Percy whispered as they continued walking. "Why are we going towards the creepy house?"

Because we're supposed to, unfortunately, Esmerelda mentally answered.

"For shelter," was all she told him.

"Oh," he swallowed thickly. "Are you also getting the feeling that we're being watched?"

"Yes, now shut up," that was Ethan, obviously.

They entered stepped into the courtyard of the mansion. It was entirely empty, but Esmerelda knew better than to believe what she was seeing. They weren't really alone. There were people here. Many of them.

And then she saw it.

Down on the ground was a faint footprint. It looked small. The person who made it was probably around ten years old or so. But what mattered most was how fresh it looked. She glanced over at Percy and Ethan, who nodded in understanding.

FWOOSH!

Esmerelda turned her head to avoid the spear that had been thrown at her. It pierced through the wall behind her head. Before she had any time to retaliate, several armed kids swooped down on them from above.

With a wave of her hand, she sent two of them hurling back into the trees. Several more ran at her with their Imperial gold swords raised, and she ducked her head with each vicious swipe they tried to make on her before elbowing one of them down and striking the rest with her labrys.

There's so many of them here, she thought as more kept coming. These were other members of the Wolf House, weren't they? Were they expected to kill them?

She tried her best not to making any lethal hits, but it was hard since they seemed pretty eager to kill her. A boy with a spear tried jabbing at her, and she knocked it aside before jumping onto a nearby wall to avoid the incoming swordsmen.

Over at the other side of the courtyard, Ethan was testing out his new whip. He lashed it out and it immediately responded by wrapping itself around the throat of one of their attackers. He yanked the whip to the side and the unfortunate kid ended up swinging around and knocking down his comrades like they were bowling pins.

"Who the fuck are you people?!" He asked, but it was a little hard to receive answers from people he was beating up. He snapped one kid's knee by kicking at it and then axe-kicked another kid to the ground.

Meanwhile, Percy had no idea what was going on.

"What the fu—?!" He wasn't able to finish the curse before he was locked into a sword fight with another one of the attackers.

Much to his absolute confusion, he was actually able to disarm the guy before another wave of people came at them.

He looked down at his sword in bewilderment. How the fuck did he do all that?!

"Percy, pay attention!" Ethan snapped as a pack of wolves joined in on the fight.

Wait, wolves—?!

Percy turned his head to the side to see about ten or more wolves flood the area. A majority of them surrounded Esmerelda, who hesitated on slashing at them with her labrys and instead used her telekinesis to slam them through several of the mansion's walls like they were ragdolls (which honestly didn't look any less painful than if she were to cut them down).

If he hadn't been confused before, he certainly was now. These wolves didn't behave like normal wolves did. They weren't mindlessly attacking them, they were being smart about it. The way their eyes stared at him made him think that they were looking for weak points. Every lunge and attempted bite looked too calculated. These wolves knew what they were doing.

One of them jumped towards him, and he stepped to the side before slashing down at it's back.

Suddenly there was a loud growl in the air, making the hairs in the back of his neck raise up. For some odd reason, he was able to understand it. Enough, it said.

The wolves stopped and so did their other attackers. They all stepped back, allowing Esmerelda, Ethan, and Percy to regroup.

Esmerelda couldn't help but look over at the kids who attacked them. They were far younger than her trio. The eldest looked about fourteen, just two years younger than her. The youngest looked like a six year old.

Before she could analyze them further, Ethan nudged her with his elbow, jutting his chin forward. She looked over and felt her eyes widen.

A gigantic wolf was stalking towards them. The beast was abnormally massive. It was taller than Ethan by several feet, with reddish brown fur, and glowing silvery eyes.

Percy stared. "You can talk."

Silence, the wolf said with the voice of a woman. The she-wolf regarded each of them with critical eyes. 

Esmerelda tried not to fidget under her unnerving stare. It was like she was trying to find some worth in them.

The three of you are more experienced than the ones who come here, she said. But I am not impressed.

She faced Esmerelda. Powers are not encouraged here, daughter of Trivia. Neither is the weapon you wield. True Roman soldiers fight with the gladius or the pilum, not some flimsy Greek weapon.

Esmerelda shrank. Powers weren't encouraged? That would explain why Jason felt more comfortable with his sword or spear, and why he looked so excited when he saw her do magic... But oh gods, was this lady going to make her fight with a sword? She sucked at sword fighting!

The wolf turned to Ethan next. I've never had a child of Nemesis come here. You are adequate, but you don't fight like a Roman. That will be remedied soon.

Lastly, she turned to Percy, sizing him up and looking more displeased by the second.

Son of Neptune... she murmured, and some of the kids surrounding them muttered in concern. Well, I'll see what I can do with you.

Percy cocked his head back, feeling a bit offended.

I am Lupa, the she-wolf finally introduced herself. The wolf goddess and the trainer of all Roman demigods and legacies. You have been sent here to be under my care and to be trained in the Roman ways.

Esmerelda stole a glance at Percy. He was staring blankly at the massive wolf, and she winced in sympathy for him. He was probably struggling to compute the part about them being demigods. That poor braincell of his.

"How long are we going to be here?" Ethan was the first one to speak. It was obvious that he wanted this mission to be over with as fast as possible.

You will leave if I deem you ready to do so, Lupa snarled. And that is only if you manage to survive. Weakness is not tolerated here. If you were to show weakness at any moment, I will devour you.

The veins in Esmerelda's body iced over.

"Devour?" She said in what she hoped wasn't a feeble voice. "As in... you'll eat us?"

Rip you to shreds. Devour. Eat. Take your pick, Lupa said coldly. Do not show weakness, and you will live.

"And what exactly counts as 'weakness' to you?" Percy asked warily, sharing a worried glance with Esmerelda.

The wolf ignored him and started to walk away. 

Aut vincere aut mori, she called back to them. This has always been our way. The Legion will not accept weaklings.

And then she disappeared into the forest, her wolves following her.

Esmerelda felt like she had been stabbed with an ice pick.

"Aut vincere aut mori," she repeated grimly, able to easily translate the Latin. "Conquer or die."

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They had been staying in the Wolf House for about a week now, and they already wanted out.

Turns out Lupa had a very severe definition of 'weakness'. At least four kids had been ripped apart by her and her wolves for various reasons like tearing up after receiving a grievous injury, being too exhausted to continue the brutal training sessions, or flinching when one of the wolves snarled at them.

It wasn't a pretty sight. Thankfully, Lupa at least had the decency to have the wolves carry the 'failures' out of everyone's view, but they could still hear the terrified screaming followed by the low growls and the sound of flesh being teared to shreds.

Out of the three of them, Esmerelda knew that she would be the one Lupa would devour first.

She was what Lupa would deem 'weak'. She was sensitive, sympathetic, and much too kind to be a proper Roman soldier. It was always hard for her to put on a face of cold indifference when Lupa or the wolves were around. It was hard to bite down her complaints about the sword training in fear she would be taken next. And she hated having to stand by and watch those other kids be taken away for showing weakness.

Percy would be next after her, the second one at risk. He wasn't as overly sensitive, but he was brash and clearly hated what they were all subjected to in the Wolf House. It was clearly taking all of his willpower not to go over and save the 'failures' from being killed.

Lupa didn't seem to like his personality either. During times where things were calm and kids weren't being killed for stupid reasons, he was kind of a jokester. He always had something sassy to say, which the she-wolf obviously didn't approve of because it wasn't very 'Roman' of him.

And then there was Ethan... Unlike her and Percy, Ethan had Lupa's highest approval. She seemed to favor him the most out of everyone, which wasn't a surprise. Esmerelda supposed that on the outside, he would definitely fit the bill for a 'perfect Roman soldier' but she knew him better. He was just as infuriated—or more, actually—with Lupa. When the wolves weren't around he would say the worst things about her, his lone eye dark and his voice laced with murder.

"Gods, I can't believe I actually wanted to burn Camp Half-Blood down," he muttered dangerously as they scavenged the forest for edible berries. Lupa was forcing them to survive on their own by making them feed themselves with whatever they could. If they died from eating poisonous berries or uncooked meat then it wasn't her problem.

"Had I known about this place years ago, I would've had Luke burn this shithole down instead," the hate in the boy's voice was so palpable that Esmerelda could feel his burning rage.

Luke would've hated this place, she agreed. If he were alive with them right now, he would've been ranting alongside Ethan and the pair of them probably would've spent hours on planning a way to take down Lupa and rescue the kids here.

(Though it was a good thing he died before he could find out about this. He would've triggered another war and they didn't need a third one among the second one they were already dealing with.)

"They're literally creating child soldiers," Ethan continued to fume as he angrily picked at a blueberry bush, but he was so angry that he kept accidentally squishing them instead. "I mean, yeah so is Camp Half-Blood, but at least it's still treated like a summer camp there! Everyone here is so obsessed about being a 'proper Roman soldier' it's sickening!"

"To some of them it isn't," Esmerelda muttered under her breath. "They think it's normal."

She could see a clear divide between the Romans in the Wolf House.

Aside from her, Ethan, and Percy, only a handful of them were demigods while the rest were legacies. The Roman demigods were older than the legacies, and the way they behaved reminded her a lot more of the demigods back at camp.

They were lost. Confused. They didn't understand shit about the gods. Most of them just wanted to come back home after their mortal parent pretty much dumped them here. They didn't get why their godly parents couldn't be here for them or why they were never around and there was a very noticeable bitterness around them whenever the gods were mentioned. Because of how unprepared they were, they were more likely to die.

Meanwhile, the legacies were the exact opposite. They came from Camp Jupiter, or 'New Rome' to be more specific. They already knew what to expect since their families had been through the same thing, so they were more prepared. They knew from day one to never show weakness, so their faces were always stone cold even when facing a terrifying Lupa or her wolves. They also clearly revered the gods. It was actually kind of disturbing how much they worshiped people who didn't really care about them. Any disrespect towards their gods (or a bitter comment from a demigod) would be met by either a stunned expression or a sharp remark from the legacies.

They had their physical differences too.

Most of the legacies were third or fourth generation (or more). They had more mortal blood than divine blood. It made them weaker. While the demigods could handle the rigorous training Lupa set for them, the legacies more often fell behind or collapse. It was the most common way for them to get killed. That, or dying from exposure which never happened with any of the demigods. Demigods just couldn't easily get sick like they could.

"They're brainwashed, obviously," Ethan hissed, pulling her back into the conversation. "Their families have been part of this world for generations. All they've been told is to fight for the Legions and the gods. It's all they know. Why do you think there's a New Rome for them to live in? They need more soldiers for the Legion. That's the only reason they've got a place to live in for adulthood."

Esmerelda winced, but didn't say anything to disagree. She quietly ate her (thankfully not poisonous) berries while mulling it all over.

It was... so painfully unfair that the Romans had their own little New Rome while the Greeks were left with nothing. But then again, it made sense and so did Ethan's statement.

Here was the difference between the Greeks and the Romans: Camp Half-Blood raised heroes while Camp Jupiter raised soldiers. The Greeks were all about survival. Survival of the fittest. Natural selection. All that jazz. They trained for the sole reason of survival and they only became child soldiers thanks to the Second Titanomachy. Had it never happened, camp would've remained being a survivalist training ground than a war one. 

Meanwhile, the Romans were all about fighting for the Legion. Serving the gods. Unity. It explained why powers were discouraged. The majority of Romans were all legacies, most of them didn't have powers. Since unity was such a central focus, it would be pointless to train certain kids on their powers when a huge portion of the army didn't possess any of those powers. They were trained to be part of the legion, not to be an individual hero.

"You should be careful," she whispered to him. "Someone could overhear you."

He scoffed. "Let them. I'll cut their tongues off before they could bitch about me disrespecting their precious gods. I don't know why they care so much about them. They're even more shittier than the Greeks."

That was another thing Esmerelda noticed. The fact that there were more legacies around than demigods told her that Roman gods didn't visit the mortal world to procreate as much. The Romans had never met, spoken, or even dreamed about a god other than Lupa. Meanwhile, they had Dionysus moping about wine in Camp Half-Blood (before he was recalled to Olympus) and they were usually allowed to visit their parents during the holidays.

It was actually kind of saddening, especially whenever she looked at the Roman demigods. Compared to them, the Greeks had it easier. Hecate used to contact her through her dreams, Drew would get fashion tips from Aphrodite, Percy got a birthday present and a hug from Poseidon, and Nemesis even talked to Ethan a couple of times!

(The gods still sucked though.)

"Come on, Ethan, you shouldn't be this moody," she gave him a bright smile. "It's April 23rd!"

"And?"

"It's your eighteenth birthday! You should be happy! Do you know what this means?" She asked excitedly.

"I'm finally eligible to go to an adult prison instead of a juvenile detention center if I were to screw up in covering my crimes," he answered bluntly.

Her smile faltered awkwardly. "O-oh, well, I was talking about you being able to vote..."

"That too." Voting was also important.

Esmerelda let out a despondent sigh. There was no point in uplifting his mood. "I'm sorry you're stuck here. You should be back in New York doing... I don't know. School or something. It's supposed to be your last year too. What if you don't graduate?"

"Mr. Blofis has it covered, just like with Percy," Ethan shrugged. "So don't worry about me not being able to graduate. Now come on, we should go back to training."

Esmerelda hated training for two reasons. The first being that she sucked at the sword. She just preferred using the labrys instead. Or even her throwing knives, but apparently, Lupa didn't approve of those either so she was stuck with the sword (or gladius as they called them). The second reason was that Lupa always there to watch them and it was nerve-wracking with the wolf goddess around. She knew she didn't fit the 'ideal Roman soldier' type.

I need to improve, she thought worriedly. Or else she'd kill me or make me stay in the Wolf House longer while Ethan and Percy venture out to find Camp Jupiter. The three of us are supposed to stay together!

The sword lessons she learned back at Camp Half-Blood weren't even good enough for these lessons. Romans fought differently than the Greeks. The Greeks were more... slashy whereas the Romans were all about being stabby.

Luckily for her, she was practicing with Percy who was good with giving her pointers even though he had know idea how he knew that.

But during today's training session, she was... very much distracted.

And Percy could tell.

The amnesiac was very much aware of how Esmerelda's eyes kept trailing over to the side of the clearing, where Ethan was. The son of Nemesis was training against a group of Lupa's wolves, evading their attacks and slashing at them with ease, though his battle prowess wasn't what got her distracted. It was the fact that he was shirtless.

"Essie," a smile curled over Percy's lips. "Can you please stop drooling over your boyfriend and focus on the lesson?"

She turned her head towards him so fact she probably got whiplash. Her entire face was growing red. "What?! I wasn't—"

"—You were drooling over him."

"I was not!" Her voice rose an octave and her face looked like it could burst from how red it was. "I was just—" A choking noise could be heard from her. "Oh no, he's coming over here right now! Stop talking! A-act cool, just act cool!"

Percy was barely containing his laugh. "Dude," he snickered. "You're the one who needs to—"

"—Shhh!" She begged.

Ethan finally reached them and she hoped she looked perfectly calm.

"Lupa and the wolves are gone," Ethan told them quietly. "We can stop now. It's about time for dinner anyways. Essie, you can stay here. Percy, you're helping me hunt."

Percy let out a groan. "Hunt for what?"

"A bear. A weasel. Anything we can come across. I don't particularly care, I'm hungry. Now let's go."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Hunting for game with Ethan wasn't exactly Percy's preference for passing the time. Then again, he couldn't really remember what other hobbies he had before he woke up in that cave a week ago, but he knew it certainly wasn't this.

Don't get him wrong. It wasn't that he disliked Ethan. He was a pretty cool dude if you ignored the clipped remarks and the constant death threats. Esmerelda was cool too; she was fun to joke around with and seemed to share the same braincell as him.

But he couldn't help but feel as if they were... hiding something from him?

He didn't want to suspect any of his new friends of anything, they were literally all he had here, but there were times where they would behave strangely around him. As if they actually knew him before he woke up with amnesia.

Esmerelda was the most obvious about it. The first instance went like this:

"Percy, you should be more careful!" Esmerelda fretted over him after he snapped at Lupa for criticizing one of the kids for 'slacking off' again when the kid was just purely exhausted to the point of near collapse.

"She could've killed you," she continued to worry. "I doubt your mom would like it if you were sent back in a bodybag. Then again, your whole body would actually be eaten so I doubt Lupa would actually put you in a—"

"—Wait, what?" Percy paused, wondering if he heard her right.

She blinked at him. "What?"

"You mentioned something about my mom...? Hold on, do you know who she—"

"—I think Ethan's calling me!" She squeaked, panic and terror written all over her face. "Gotta go, bye!"

And yeah... So you can kinda see why he was so suspicious.

Ethan gave him weird vibes too. After Esmerelda's slip-up (and the other slip-ups after that), he went on to prod her boyfriend for more information. He was kind of hesitant about it since Ethan was a pretty scary looking dude, but for some odd reason he felt like he could trust him (sort of).

At first, Ethan had been really good at lying to him. So good that Percy actually started to believe him until Esmerelda slipped up again (he wasn't even angry, at this point he just felt bad for her shit lying skills). So he went back to trying to get more information from Ethan.

It actually started to work. Whatever reason Ethan had to lie to him obviously wasn't worth it in the older boy's opinion because Ethan's replies became more monotone. He was still lying of course, but his answers were always in a blunt, uncaring manner as if he was thinking 'you know what, if this annoying kid figures it out on his own then whatever'.

So yeah, they were lying to him. He didn't know why, but he at least knew that they didn't actually want to. Esmerelda always had this guilty look on her face whereas Ethan literally looked like he could care less if he managed to figure out the truth.

He wanted to ask them why they were lying, but he knew that something was keeping them from telling the truth... He just wished he knew what.

"Can you focus?" Ethan huffed beside him as they trekked around the forest. "All we had to eat were some stupid berries. If we don't find some animal to kill, we'll probably be dead from starvation."

"Sorry," Percy muttered. "Just, uh, thinking about things. You're sure we've never met before?"

"Who knows," Ethan drawled lazily.

"I know you and Essie have been lying to me," he said.

"Good for you. You've got a brain."

Percy's eyes widened and he spun around to face him. "So you admit it! We do know each other?"

"Dunno."

His shoulders slumped. "Come on, man, help me out here. I've got no memories!"

"Not my problem. Now focus."

And the conversation ended after that.

They managed to nab some squirrels for dinner and carried them back to the Wolf House. Some of the remaining kids were already there, eating their own food that they managed to hunt down while the unluckier ones had to settle with some (hopefully not poisonous) berries.

After cleaning and cooking the squirrels, they shared it with a tired looking Esmerelda. And after that, they fell asleep under the broken down roofs of the house, fully aware of Lupa's watchful gaze plastered on them.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

They had been stuck in the Wolf House for three agonizing months now. It was finally June and about ten more kids were devoured by Lupa during that time. Miraculously, Esmerelda and Percy weren't one of them.

Esmerelda's skills with the sword had improved. She was no master like Percy or Ethan, but it was good enough that Lupa would stop breathing down her neck about it during training.

I can't believe I'm still alive, she thought to herself, shuddering when she recalled Lupa's threatening snarl.

She was currently bathing at a creek that wasn't too far from the Wolf House. Everyone used it, but thankfully, it was enchanted to always be clean so at least they weren't bathing in dirty water or contaminating it. 

She let out a soft sigh as she used her magic to conjure soap and cleaned herself with it. Her whole body was tense, and she was pretty sure the only times she was ever given any time to truly relax was when she was deep asleep. But that didn't even last long because paranoia would wake her up several hours earlier than she was used to since she came to the Wolf House.

I hope we get out of here soon. She didn't think she could last any longer in here. She was tired. She wanted to go back home. She wanted to see her family and friends again. Heck, she'd rather go back to Hogwarts and deal with the annoying reporters of the Daily Prophet then be here.

Gods, she couldn't believe that Étienne went through this too. She hoped he didn't get too attached to the people he trained with, especially if those people ended up getting devoured by Lupa and her wolves. That would've fucked him up more than he already was.

Suddenly, a branch snapped.

Hastily, she sank down into the water until she was fully covered and looked around, only to see Ethan storming towards the creek with an angered look on his face.

"You scared me," she breathed out, her body relaxing. "What's wrong?"

"Lupa killed another one. A legacy this time. He couldn't continue on with training and begged for a break." He bit out. "Have I mentioned how much I hate the gods?"

"Yes," Esmerelda answered before turning her head away when she saw him beginning to undress. Her face turned into a vivid shape of red. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm gonna join you," he said in a 'duh' tone.

"But what if Lupa catches us?!"

"I doubt she'll kill us for bathing together," he said dryly, followed by the sound of a zipper being undone. At this point, she was contemplating on dunking her head under the water to cool off.

A few seconds later, she could hear him joining her in the water.

"Essie, sweetie, we've seen each other naked hundreds of times," Ethan emphasized, creeping towards her. She could practically hear the teasing grin in his voice.

"I know, we're just... very open?" She squeaked, only for her face to burn when she felt his naked body press against hers. He had effectively trapped her in his arms with a needy hug, his cheek nuzzling against her wet hair in an affectionate manner.

"When was the last time we fucked?" He asked out of the blue.

"Ethan!" She hissed, hoping nobody was around to hear that.

"No, seriously. The last time we did it was all the way back in February," he stated. "That's literally four months of pure hell."

"I can't believe you're worrying about sex at a time like this," she said in disbelief. "We're supposed to focus on the mission Hera gave us!"

He snorted. "You mean the babysitting duty? Percy will be just fine without us following him around for a few hours..." He said suggestively, his hand trailing lower and lower...

"Absolutely not!" She was scandalized by what he was suggesting. "The wolves can smell arousal! That's why they're always trying to separate you from me! If they smell anything off, we'll be in SO much trouble! Plus, think of the children you'll be mentally scarring!"

"Forget about the stupid kids," he rolled his eye. "Knowing them, they'd probably encourage it since we'd be 'reproducing the next generation of Roman soldiers to fight for the all mighty gods'." He mocked.

The poor girl nearly fainted at the reproducing part.

Ethan didn't notice and just barreled on: "Though you got a point about the wolves... We should probably wait until after we get out of here. Don't want any interruptions, do we?"

"...You mean if we get out of here," she mumbled quietly.

Ethan fell silent for a few seconds. "What do you mean?"

"I doubt I'll make it out of here," she said, sounding miserable and scared. "Lupa doesn't like me. She always watching me. She thinks I'm weak, I know it. She's just waiting for me to make a mistake so she could kill me."

"No," Ethan said. "No. That's not gonna happen."

"Ethan—"

"—No," he repeated, his voice harsher. "Lupa's not going to kill you. That fucking fleabag isn't touching a hair on your head, okay? She'll be releasing us soon."

She looked up at him worriedly, but said nothing.

His face softened. "You don't have to worry about anything, okay? You're not going to get killed. I'm not losing you again."

Esmerelda's face was full of despair. "But—"

He cut her off, placing his hands on her cheeks and bringing himself down for a heavy kiss. It was loving and passionate but almost desperate. When they pulled away, there was pain written all over his face.

"I am not losing you again," he repeated shakily, but the certainty in his voice didn't go unheard.

About a second later, they heard the sound of footsteps. Percy was running towards them. He would've freaked out at the fact that he was clearly interrupting in a private moment, but the shock of what previously happened won over him.

"Guys," he panted. "Lupa just talked to me."

Esmerelda snapped her head up. "What do you mean? What did she say?"

"We passed," he exclaimed, a wide, unbelieving grin splitting his face. "She's letting us go to find Camp Jupiter!"

Her jaw dropped. "S-seriously?! We're free to go?!"

"Yeah!" He nodded his head enthusiastically. "I'll let you guys finish up! I'll be at the Wolf House getting my things ready!"

Percy eagerly hurried back after that, and Esmerelda and Ethan were left alone once more.

Ethan's shoulder dropped with relief.

"See?" He murmured to her, pressing his lips against her forehead as she sank into his arms. "I told you I'd keep you safe."

Esmerelda didn't reply. While she was relieved that Ethan had protected her, she couldn't help but realize what he had done. He had used his powers and manipulated the decision of a god. 

It made her wonder... just how powerful was he? 

( BONUS! )

(this is just for fun but here's how Lupa would grade Essie, Ethan, and Percy)

Esmerelda Black: 0/10. Not Roman at all. The girl can't use a sword properly and she's way too emotional and soft. Very good in terms of powers, but she's not even supposed to use them in the first place.

Percy Jackson: 6/10. Best swordsmanship I've seen in years, but he cracks jokes way too much and uses odd slang language (what are memes?). His lack of seriousness and his constant usage of his powers deducts some points.

Ethan Nakamura: 9/10. Excellent boy, a perfect example of a fine Roman soldier. Easily one of the best that I've ever trained. Has a serious, no-nonsense attitude as well. Had to dock one point off because he gets so soft and mushy when Black's around.

— author's note —

Jason gets a lot of hate for leaving Camp Jupiter which I don't really agree with. Like yeah, one of the reasons was for Piper (ew), but somewhere in the books he literally states "It was hard to feel at home in an army". That quote kind of stuck with me.

When I was a kid and first read the books I was like "Jason's so awful, how could he just leave his home like that?!" But then as I grew older and reread the books again with more a critical eye, it started to make more sense to me why he would do that, and that quote came back to me again. Camp Jupiter is more like a military rather than a summer camp like CHB. It's strict, their motto is to literally be strong because weakness isn't tolerated. I feel like Jason was quite literally deprived of a decent childhood because he was raised in an army, raised to be a child soldier.

And he didn't see anything wrong about it until he lost his memories and came to Camp Half-Blood. While the kids there were still being trained, they only did it for their own sole survival, not because they were in some army for the gods. The kids were still allowed to be kids. They were still able to go home to see their mortal families (if they had any) and connect with the mortal world, etc. So in my opinion, I feel like Jason saw the freedom they had and once he got a taste of it, he craved it so much that he decided to leave Camp Jupiter for good.

THIS IS ALL JUST MY OPINION BY THE WAY! And now I know some of you are wondering if he's still gonna leave even though I already confirmed that Jeyna's gonna happen here, so I'm here to say:

I will have Jason stay in Camp Jupiter and he and Reyna will be co-praetors after the war. He'll still struggle with his identity as a Greek or Roman (can't blame him for that) throughout the quest and.... that's pretty much all I can tell you without spoiling anything 😅😅😅

Anyways, I hope you guys don't mind me writing about Essan + Percy's experience in the Wolf House under one chapter. I wanted to get to the action right away and I didn't really wanna write too much about the Wolf House for more than one chapter. Next chapter's gonna be about them trying to reach Camp Jupiter so look forward to that!

(And yes, Percy is basically third wheeling. Karma for all the times he made poor Grover third wheel with him and Annabeth 😂)

Now here's some memes :D

What should we call this trio??? The Wolf House Trio??? The Fake Romans??? Idk

From -chxcolatte:

Some Essie fanart from Lunar Eclipse 💕:

Also... you know what I just realized??? Ethan's eighteen now. He can legally adopt Nico 😂😂😂😂😂