PERCY'S POV:

There were celebrations all over the place, Zeus had suddenly showed up after the war and had as usual attempted to gloat about how his children and how the campers under his authority had won the war blah blah blah. You get the picture. But this time I wasn't having any of it.

"Zeus, with all due respect, all you did was desert us when we needed you. You set the worst example a king could ever set. You set the worst example a father could ever set. You failed the campers. End laughed at us and mocked us that you weren't going to be any help. And he was correct. So stop gloating before I end this war with the sad note of your demise." I threatened seriously.

"You can't talk to me that way Jackson! Who do you think you are!"

The words had barely left his mouth when my whole army stood in a guard in front of me taking offensive positions against Zeus. Elmont and Gregory were at the forefront, their arms raised against the king of Olympus in a 'Dare you' manner. Zeus suddenly realized that I wasn't the old Percy Jackson, that I withheld powers far beyond him and authority that rivaled Chaos'. He nervously gulped.

"That's who I am Zeus. My third in command has power enough to destroy you forever, my second in command can knock the big three out of the park singlehandedly with the authority to strip you of your kingship with merely a few words. The real question here is, who are you? A king? A ruler? Ever since the end of the second giant war, you've become more of a tyrannical ruler. I have the authority to order your death Zeus, the only reason I'm not doing it is it'd disturb the balance of nature. So watch yourself, the balance isn't a reason good enough to hold me back for much longer." I warned in a cold tone. Zeus just nodded.

"Zeus. This is your last chance. Be a king while also being there for your family. Don't misuse your authority. Otherwise as the incharge of this planet, I'll not only make Poseidon king instead of you, I'll have you removed from the Olympain Council with a non reversible verdict and you'll be out once and for all." Elmont threatened.

"I.. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful!" Zeus squealed in fear, cowering.

"Good. Now leave. Let us celebrate this win the Chaos way. We'll show the campers how fun it actually is when you don't have to watch that you don't insult a God by mistake." I said and dismissed him. He nodded once and teleported out.

The campers were all looking at me like they'd seen a ghost, not used to seeing one of their own rattle the egoistic king of the Gods so badly. But it was necessary. I don't have the power to order his death, I lied. Only Chaos can decide to end a high ruler's life forever. I can just kill him so that he is reborn again. But he didn't know that, so that got the job done. He'll be more careful now.

"What? Stop staring at him and let's celebrate." Elmont said to the campers.

They nodded enthusiastically, wondering how good a job we'd do of throwing a party.
But I interrupted.

"Wait. We party later. First, bury the dead with honor. We'll use a way that no one has ever used. We will party over the funerals."

"What! That's absurd! You wanna insult the dead by partying over their funerals!" One of the campers screamed.

"That's outrageous! You can't undermine their sacrfice like that!" Another said.

"Enough. First listen. I'm not saying you should party because they're dead. I'm saying you should party because you're alive while they're dead, which is what they probably wanted. All of you safe. Just think. The ones that died, they're your brothers, your sisters, your loved ones. They're family. And family doesn't mourn in victory. They celebrate together and cry together. Today we don't celebrate the victory. We honour the sacrifice of the dead. After a proper funeral, instead of cremeting them, we'll party with them present. We'll party together. We'll show them that their sacrifice has been invaluable to us and that we respect them so much that we can't ever party without them. Because if not for them, there wouldn't have been a party. There wouldn't have been us. A war is won with determination, and they didn't lack that. So not only today, but in every party, you should remember their names." I ended, taking a deep breath. It was a new idea, but I wanted to do something different to honor the dead this time, with so many wars, so many deaths and each sacrifice forgotten just with a proper burial.

"I see what you're saying. If I was dead, I'd not want you to bury me, then party with my death looming over your heads like a dark shadow either. Just think. Silena, Charles, the hunters, the amazons, every person that has ever died for us. We always think of them so sadly. We never see how they died protecting us and are in a better place. I'm not saying we should be happy about it, I'm saying we should honor their deaths. Their memories. For most of us, their memories open old wounds that can never heal, that just fade away over time. I still remeber when Silena used to advise me to put some makeup and I'd just ignore it. But whenever I think of her, I tend to think only one thing now. 'She's gone.' Instead, why not ponder over the happy times, cherish the beautiful memories I had with her? That goes for everyone here. Think about it." Annabeth said, while wiping a tear from her eye. All the campers eventually nodded. But I had something more to say. And I said it. Once I did, they all nodded apprehensively and the funeral began. Incantations were spoken and golden drachmas left in the coffins so that they could have the money to board the ride to the underworld. Casualties had been heavy. We'd lost about 60 campers, 12 soldiers from the army of Peace and surprisingly (or not) The Council's Army had come out scathed, but with every member a survivor.
Then, the most novel way of celebrating began. Just what I'd suggested after Annabeth's moving words. This party didn't have any kind of lavish food or drinks or music. No pomp no reverance. No grandeur no splendor. Instead, people - friends of the dead. They took chances in narrating the gappy memories they had with the deceased. Those embarrassing, funny moments that made most of them break down at the end. Even a few guys from my army went on stage and spoke. There was one thing in common in all the speeches. Almost every person broke down into tears at the end, but with a smile rather than a sad face. People were touched, but in q positive way. They were motivated by the deaths of their loved ones to live the life that the deceased would have expected them to live. An honorable, honest and loyal one. One more proof of the change in their mindset was the fact that every one, while concluding, instead of ending it with the usual 'I'll miss you' ended it with 'No matter where I am, I'll always remeber you.'

It was a very moving moment for everyone. They were happy yet sad, content yet with a nagging thought of having something taken away from them. In the end, Chiron spoke for each camper. The most emotional scene so far. That guy literally spoke with names of those 60 campers, listing their likes, dislikes, habits, some specific memories related to them. The speech lasted avout an hour, and had everyone in tears including me and my army and everyone who probably didn't even know the dead that well. This guy was really like a father to everyone here. He himself was in tears.

Once he'd composed himself, he began once more "That was touching. And relieving at the same time. Thank you Percy. We all feel a lot better now. Thank you. For everything. For helping us despite what we did to you, for being there for us, for suggesting us this wonderful way of celebration. We are forever indebted to you." Chiron said, smiling affectionately at me like he used to. That smile still melted me. Still made me feel so secure.

"You made a mistake, we are past it. That's what family does. In the process I found another family and now I'm blessed with two. So no matter what you do, you were and always will be my family. Nobody can take it away from me. I did what I had to in order to protect my family. Both my families. It was an honor allying with these campers. They are doing excellent under you, hope they excel at whatever they do." I stood up and said.

Chiron came forward and engulfed me in a tight embrace. Eventually all the immortal campers led by Frank and Hazel came and it became a group hug. The hug consisted of, in the campers' words legendary people. A photo was taken and circulated, and it came to be known as the legendary hug. I smiled a bit when I first heard the name, but Sky felt it was a cute gesture.

Once the night was over, we all went to sleep in our respective cabins after burying the dead with proper burial rites. Omega built his own little cabin beside ours. Yeah, I went to our makeshift cabin to see Skylar. I knocked on her door and her sweet 'come in' invited me inside.
"Hey."
"Hey." I sat beside her.
I just kept staring at her beautiful face.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"No. You just look lovely."
She blushed a bit before her expressions became serious.
"What?"
"How are you feeling? Like really. All this while we haven't gotten much time to talk about it."
"About what? I'm fine. We won the war, I'm happy!"
"Yeah, but what about your feelings towards camp?"
I sighed. "Yeah, I hated them when I came here, but I can't blame them. It's difficult to be a leader. You need to put yourself and your loved ones behind the priority which is keeping the majority safe. And like I said. They're family, and family forgives. So I let go."
"I know you let go. What I'm asking is how much have you let go?"
"All of it! Why? Why are you asking this? Okay I know you're twisting the main point. Cut it out and tell me what's bothering you."
She sighed and said "Do you want to stay here again now?"
"Of course I wanna stay here! I don't understand your question! I forgave them so why wouldn't I wanna stay here?"

"Like...sometimes when you're on a mission or like... Forever?"
Realization of Slylar's entire conversation and hesitation hit me like a truck. I took her hand in mine and softly said "Sky. It's true that I've forgiven them. But what they did came with a consequence. I found the Primordial Council where everyone treats me like their own, like they care. The Creator of the universe proudly boasts about me as his right hand. And I have this awesome girlfriend who is right now feeling needlessly insecure. So tell me, why would I wanna stay here?"
"Really?"
"I swear on the name of the Primordial Council Skylar, that I'll never leave your side. If I do the Council deem fit to end me." I said staring in her blue orbs.
"Percy. That kind of commitment... I just asked a question, and it would have been understandable if you wanted to stay. I didn't want you to say this. Now if you go back on your word anytime in the future, the Council will be bound to kill you! I can't ask you to do that for me!"

"You don't have to ask. You deserve it." I replied softly and caressed her cheek lovingly.
"Thank you Percy. It means a lot." She smiled and kissed me on my cheek.
"Hey you know , I should be asking you whether you're alright or not. You were kidnapped by an evil after all!" I joked.
"Oh please. That act was a piece of cake."
"It was difficult to see though. Even when I knew you were acting all along. I don't know what I'd have done if it was real."
She held my hand tightly and squeezed it.
"It wasn't real. And we'll never have to worry about it ever being real. Because I trust you'll never let anything happen to me no matter what. And even if you're not around, they say I'm pretty powerful myself! " She smirked.
"Oh that you are. You are one dangerous woman!" I said and kissed her. She kissed back passionately and, what followed was a blissful night.
The next morning I woke up with Skylar by my side.
"Hmm.. I can get used to this." I said as she smiled.
"You better not. I don't think my dad is gonna like this a lot." She giggled. I'd never heard her giggle. I just thought it was so immature for someone like her. But I loved that sound. Then I realized what she'd said and straightened up.
I always end up forgetting that not only is her father my boss but he's also the most powerful being in the universe.
I jumped out of bed, put some clothes on, kissed her once and went to my room to clean up.
Once I was in my normal clothes without any armor, I sat on my bed thinking about a few things. The war, honestly had been better than what I'd hoped. The day those two had told me that Gaea and End would be attacking the same day, I'd just visualized the campers up against both of them and their army. Then I came up with plans in the way. First the spy, then Skylar's kidnapping, then her return and so on. Although it sounded easy, there was risk in almost every step. There was no margin of error. And neither of us made any. A perfectly flawless execution.
I rose up and went outside the tent to see that everyone had woken up and the guys were preparing to leave. Some of them were rearing to leave, to go back home after a long mission.
I saw Chiron and the immortal campers talking about something. I went over there and cleared my throat. They jumped a bit and realized they didn't even know I was right behind them.
"Damn kelp head. You are almost as stealthy as a huntress." Thalia nodded appreciatively.
"Coming from you pinecone face, that's a huge compliment so thank you."
"Don't get used to it. Anyways, you're leaving already? Why the rush? The war just ended yesterday and today you'll go back?" She said.
"Have to thals. I have a job there. The world can literally end if I don't hurryup. And besides, the Council needs us. With two members gone and Lord Chaos not having either the commander or the sergeant or the the third in command, there'll be total Chaos up there. But I'll come back and meet you guys when I have the chance."
"Yeah. Don't forget us my boy." Chiron said.
"I can't forget what's etched in my heart Chiron. They are forever my friends and you my second father. Nothing can change that."
Chiron smiled and hugged me. While we were talking, the boys had assembled outside and were waiting by the ship. Skylar came and hugged everyone. But for some reason she was smiling very broadly.
"What happened? " Annabeth asked.
"What happened is that I just had a call from Celestio and you're all invited to visit the city by my dad! Also, someone's waiting for you!"

"That's great! But uh..we don't know anyone there except Reyna who's in coma.. So who can wait for us?" Hazel asked stupidly. Annabeth nudged him
"Oh of course! Reyna's awake!"
"I can only imagine how much pissed she's gonna get when she realizes she missed the action! Let's go record her expressions! Travis grinned evilly. Yeah. One more example of how some people never change.
And so we all went to celestio that day. We showed them the planet. Travis even whistled at the vastness and beauty. Both the brothers indeed recorded Reyna's exoressions, but she was so furious she was tossing aside whatever she could lay her hands on, and the camera happened to be one of them, so it broke. Finally she calmed down and then they were taken into the city where people kept on saluting me and bowing to me. It was a bit wierd, but I couldn't help it. This is how I was perceived here. As their leader. And that's how it would always be. That's who I knew I'd always be. A leader. A hero.

(A/N: AND SO IT ENDS. THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME TILL THE END, YOU CAN READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK TO KNOW WHAT HEIGHTS THIS BOOK HAS REACHED, ALL BECAUSE OF YOU ALL. ALSO, CHECK OUT A/N IN THE NEXT CHAPTER)

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