AMARANTHINE-ɪ, pjo/hp

AURORA'S PROPHECY IS COMPLETED

They were the first heroes to return to Camp Half Blood alive since Luke so naturally there was a celebration. Though Aurora's quest had been sudden and not official before it certainly was now. Chiron had pulled her aside and given her a stern lecture about running away on quests without telling him. However, he did pat her head and tell her that she did great. Everyone at Camp obviously treated them like celebrities. She, Annabeth, Percy and Grover wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in their honor. There was even a huge chocolate cake baked in honor of Aurora herself. She helped herself to a lot of it. After all, it's hard to get chocolate cakes on quests.

Then there was a procession to a bonfire where they got to burn the burial shrouds made in their honor in case they were dead.

Annabeth's was gorgeous made by her cabin-mates -gray silk with embroidered owls. Percy told her that it was a shame she wasn't burnt in it earning him a punch from both Annabeth and Aurora.

Aurora's was last minute. No one knew where she had disappeared. However, the minute the Aphrodite Cabin found out that she had gone for a quest, they set to work. The end product was both beautiful and scary. Smooth white velvet with red rose petals stitched on it and droplets of blood splattered across it. The Aphrodite Cabin refused to reveal whether the blood was real or fake.

Percy's was made by the Ares Cabin and was the funniest. They'd taken an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER painted really big in the middle.

Aurora had laughed a lot about it and teased Percy never endingly. It was fun to burn.

At the Camp Fire, Aurora was cornered by Kayla. She hadn't spoken to her ever since they had returned.

"How could you?" Kayla asked, and Aurora looked up in surprise. Her tone was filled with bitterness and anger. Something Aurora didn't expect.

"I'm sorry?"

"Did you have to leave on your own? Do you even know how worried I was? We didn't know where you disappeared. Everyone was worried sick! And you come back all happy and smiley! You could have at least Iris Messaged me!"

Aurora did feel guilty. She looked up at her friend. She looked a mess. Her eyes were red and puffy and dark bags circled below them.

"I'm sorry, Kay Kay, There was no time. I missed you so much though."

And that was all it took for both of them to break down as they hugged each other, sobbing. It took some while but finally Lizzie, Isabelle and Luke managed to calm them down with a lot of persuasion and promises of candy.

The only Cabin upset with them; or in particular her and Percy was the Ares Cabin. They had heard about their dad and sent poisonous looks her way every time she passed by. She sent them right back. She even pranked them a few times with the help of Lizzie.

She wasn't scared of Ares or his stupid children. However his curse still lingered in her mind. And so did the prophecy. She had been betrayed by Ares and even Hades and had made a lot of choices on her quest. But she had a feeling that none of them were the ones her prophecy was concerned with. And the last line about the truth too didn't seem as though it had happened. Yet.

Soon Aurora was back in Cabin 10, and everything was slowly going back to normal. Or as normal as it could be for a demigod. She still argued with Valerie and Michael. She spent time with Kayla at the archery range and Isa at dagger fighting. She allowed Silena to do her hair every morning and every night. She and Annabeth took their weekly visits to the Woods and talked and laughed like old times. She also spent a lot more time with Percy and they bonded more than she had ever thought. He was quickly becoming one of her closest friends. The only person she hadn't spent much time was with Luke. He had been very busy ever since they returned.