(Recap: "We need to get out before we sink within the pit. EVERYBODY GET OUT FAST!" I yelled and in a matter of seconds, every single soul was out and safe. In a dramatic kind of a way the pit just collapsed on its own as if it had been bombed. Zeus held the sword in his hand and everyone was so busy seeing the entrance of the pit that they did not see the sword glowing. Within a few seconds, it was glowing bright enough for everyone to stare at it.

Then one by one, without warning all the Gods starting with the big three collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

Everyone was obviously confused, but before I could explain Iapetus spoke, "The mystery of the sword finally reveals itself, and look, Percy, you didn't even have to break your oath!"

I just nodded and looked at the mortal Gods. I went beside Annabeth and held her hand in mine. To clear the confusion of everyone I said, "Look, I can't say anything. I'm still bound and we destroyed the monsters, not rivers. The Styx will still consume my soul if I break it. Just wait for the Gods to wake up and you'll see."

The others just nodded. It was over. It was all over finally. No more Tartarus, no more monsters anymore...)

PERCY'S POV: 

We saw Nico intake a large breath and exhale relaxedly. That's when we knew. It was finally all over. The son of Hades had a ghost of a smile while Hazel was beaming widely. That confirmed it all, but still, the crowd barring the still unconscious demigods looked at me for confirmation. Instead of me, Iapetus spoke up, "He's gone. Zeus did not miss and a blow from that sword had to be more than enough."

I had my hands grasped in Annabeth's hand tightly, and I looked at her with all the love I had for her. And we kissed. Kissed like we never had, like there would be no tomorrow like we didn't have to breathe every once in a while. As if a silent indication, all the couples kissed. I was just smiling in the kiss and so was Annabeth, but that smile quickly vanished when my eyes fell on Leo who looked so lost and broken. The adrenaline of the war had vanished from his brain and Calypso was obviously still running in his mind. His eyes looked moist, I could tell he wanted to be left alone but wasn't sure how to say that to us.

I ended the kiss and still holding Annabeth's hand, I got inside one of the camp trucks and removed the key that was still in the ignition. Annabeth looked at me with confusion but I just smiled reassuringly. We then went to Leo, I grabbed his hand and handed over the key to him.

He looked at me a bit confused and I said, "Just go. I know you wanna go to bunker 9. We understand. We'll all pile up in the other vans and manage to fit."

He looked at me gratefully with eyes becoming moister every second. I looked at Annabeth and sent her a silent message, then we both hugged him tightly, and he cried. Finally cried. Finally let loose his emotions that he had bottled up inside him since he had lost Calypso. Eventually, the others must've noticed our hug because soon Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper all turned the hug into a group hug.

Once the hug ended Leo looked at all of us gratefully. Jason put a hand on his best friends shoulder and said, "Listen to me, man...We know you need time alone. But remember that no matter what we're always there for you alright?" Leo just nodded and proceeded towards the van, eventually revving the engine and driving towards camp. We had lost a lot during the war. Friends, family, brothers, sisters. Family...thank Poseidon my mother was safe...to think she was captured by Tartarus himself...I mentally shivered at that thought. I couldn't wait to see her now. 

Suddenly I could hear Will shouting my name. "Hey Perce." He came up to me and said, "Listen, dude, your mom's awake. Lady Hestia is unconscious and your mom had assumed the worst. Thalia just IMed camp and consoled her, but she says she still won't calm down till she has you in her arms." Will said smirking a bit, forcing me to blush slightly.

"We need to leave this place soon." As soon as the words left my mouth the Gods started stirring awake.

"Look the Gods are waking up!" Someone shouted as all of us saw the Gods sitting up rubbing their heads as if they'd suffered a massive head blow. Quite dramatically and comically every God was sitting upright and rubbing their heads as if trying to remember something. Then one by one the memories must've hit them and they all stood up like a spring and started looking around for any sign of an enemy. Jason who was closest to them explained patiently that we had won and they had passed out, and all of them were looking expectantly at me for an explanation.

"What? I still can't tell you since it has obviously got to do something with the sword. But tell me, do you feel any different? Or more like the same as you've felt since millennia?"

The crowd wasn't dumb; they got my indication and immediately began speculating. True to my belief the Gods started glowing a bright white for a while and we were forced to look away. Once the light died down I formally announced, just for fun: "Congratulations dear mortals, I believe you just got your Godhood and immortality back..."

Quite dramatically the Gods began looking at their bodies and feeling their powers again. Thunder and tornado boomed into the sky as Zeus and Poseidon beamed. Eventually, all the Gods tested out their powers. Apollo's method of testing earned him a glare from Zeus. Well, making the sun dance in the sky and smiling broadly at that isn't known to be an ideal way for testing powers, is it?

Now the confusion returned once again. How? That question seemed to be on everyone's minds as they stared at me. I just released Annabeth's hand and went towards where the sword that killed Tartarus had fallen. I picked it up and handed it over to Hades who for some reason was glaring daggers at me. Oh, I totally forgot I'd promised Hades he wouldn't lose his immortality but he had lost it anyway. Instead of arguing, I just motioned for him to hold the sword and examine it. As he did, his eyes widened every passing second. 

"Marvelous...brother look what this is." He said and handed it over to Zeus and Poseidon.

"Do not call me brother Hades, or have you forgotten we are no longer brothers?" Dad said a bit testily. Hades just ignored the comment and before either of them could say anything, Zeus was done examining the sword and had passed it over to my father. All the big three had their eyes widened.

"What? What is it? Stop playing passing-the-parcel with the sword and tell us, for Olympus' sake!" Athena exasperated.

Zeus coughed and said, "This sword is made of 3 elements. Percy had informed us of two of these. Stygian iron and Chaotic Platinum. The third one is...is Olympian Gold."

The people waited patiently for some sort of a big reveal. Olympic Gold sure was rare, but not so rare that would widen the eyes of the big three. The Romans basically grew up wielding them after all. That big reveal was not by the Gods, however. It was by my wise girl.

"So that is the legend! Of course! Why didn't I realize earlier!"

And again there was confusion leaving everyone greatly irritated. I swear Clarisse looked like she could tear apart someone's head with her bare hands out of mere frustration.

I decided that further knowledge would not break the oath as I wouldn't be talking about the sword but just about the history. So I coughed and began, "There was this legend aeons ago that said that a combination of certain metals could make a mortal an immortal. Not just that, but it would give indefinite power to the race of the immortal if he was a crowned king. That is why I insisted Thalia let Zeus use it. As a king, once he used it the powers would return to every Olympian."

"And you knew of this legend all along?" Hades asked and I just nodded. The Gods looked more than satisfied now that they were no longer mortals. Aphrodite let out a squeal while Hermes was examining some rare diamonds - probably stolen from Hades' pockets. Meanwhile, Hades was busy talking to some zombie dudes that had appeared out of the ground. Great, more cracks and craters. Just what we needed...

Once the Gods were done testing out their powers and feeling perfect, they announced that a funeral would be held at camp half-blood in two days' time to let everyone regroup and organize a funeral for so many people. This had been the biggest war ever after all with the death toll expected to be at least 170-200 demigods. 

"Wow, this legend was so useful today. All though I can't believe you actually read something and that it actually helped Perce..." Jason said.

Reading.... I shuddered mentally at the thought.

"Wow, you honestly think I must've like, read it or something?" I asked incredulously and continued, "Tartarus was stupid enough to write what the legend of the sword was just beside where he had hidden it. Iapetus found out both the things at once and let me know."

"Thank God you are still the kelp head we know. I was seriously starting to wonder how you got so smart all of a sudden!"

"Thalia! I AM smart!" I said, but it came out more like a whine and had a few of my friends smiling amusedly at me. Just then Zeus cleared his throat to gain attention and began, 

"Okay children. Another war is over, and now because of Percy, we have no more monsters to worry about. This situation is very alien to us, we all need time. We also have to rush to handle our Godly responsibilities but we shall let Chiron know when we will have a party and gift ceremony. I believe our heroes need a lot of gifts for such a great win." And with that, the King of the Gods disappeared in a flash. Dad gave me a small encouraging smile and said, "Prepare for the funerals, children. We shall meet soon." With those words, he too flashed out.

Hades nodded towards me, so did a few others. Then with a smile towards their children one by one, they all disappeared and we were stranded in the middle of lava craters that would nee Godly fixing with just one truck for over 180 people, about 80 of whom were the nymphs, satyrs and cyclopes. There was no way the cyclopes would all fit. After a tight hug from Tyson, I told them the problem. "No problem brother! My brothers are strong! We are not tired! We can walk to the forges!"

"Are you sure brother?" I asked but by the time he had already rallied his brothers to walk. 

When I looked back I saw Grover standing there with a small smile. My smile widened seeing my G-man. We'd come so far, the both of us and yet after such a huge war the sheer happiness we felt seeing each other could rival no other happiness; for once I dare say - not even Annabeth. We lightly hugged and exchanged a few words, mostly asking each other how we were physically as well as mentally. Then he informed me that the nymphs and the wild would not travel in trucks. Apparently, they never did, I just didn't notice that. Grover wanted to be with them as Lord of the Wild to help them as much as he could. He also had to plant the seeds of all his dead satyr brothers. With an embrace, I said "See you soon, G-man. The funerals are two days from now. Be on time." He nodded and took off.

That left about 100 demigods with a truck that could fit in about 25 people maximum. I sighed. 

Just then Annabeth came to me and said, "Percy, I know you're worried how they'll fit in. But I already talked to Reyna to IM the camp survivors so they could send some eagles here. The Romans will fly to camp Half-blood and once Reyna has set up some things she will send those eagles back to gather the remaining Romans and bring them to camp. Chiron invited all of them formally to live with us at camp since their camp was blown. And Reyna was more than grateful, not that she had a choice."

"That settles so much wise girl. Thank you." I kissed her.

NARRATOR'S POV:

That day the demigods all returned to the camp and felt a relief. Percy and Annabeth had a lengthy chat with Sally Jackson, who was going great on her road to recovery. Percy that night offered burnt offerings to his father as well as Lady Hestia to thank her for taking care of his mother. The basic atmosphere was of mild celebration and a lot of mourning due to the huge losses. The Hermes cabin rarely spoke to anyone now, having lost one of their sharpest pranksters. The camp lost two of the most cheerful souls that day when Travis died because, after the death of his brother, Conner Stoll was never the same.

The next day was lost in all the preparations leading to the funerals. Chiron insisted that Sally stay back at camp since her kind nature was very soothing to everyone, especially the younger demigods. She agreed, and of course, Percy couldn't be happier - having the two ladies he loved most by his side. The Romans arrived by evening and were welcomed at camp. Some of them like ex-centurion Gwen who knew a lot of the dead soldiers were hit really hard by the tragedy. 

(A/N: PLEASE COMMENT AND VOTE, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED.)