The Afterlife (HoO Fanfiction)

The Final Battle

Hi, Emma here. before we start, I wanted to share with you a message that Calliope left me in our shared Google Doc in which we write this fic. This was the last chapter she had to write. It made me laugh. Enjoy! Only 2 chapters left!

-Hi, welcome to my final writing marathon. It is now 12:04 am, and I have to wake up at 7:30 am to do 90 km by bike, my first day of 24 days of biking. And I will try to be coherent. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, my life has no sense. This message is for you (Emma lolz), but if you want to put it as an author's note, feel free. I'm happy that we've finished this at last, 5 years later.-

P.S.: What she wrote wasn't  always coherent, but I still like Calliope

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The demigods could, at last, see what was around them. The walls had crumbled in a terrible crash and the pain in their hearts had subsided. All somewhat disoriented, they took a moment to slow down their heartbeats.

Reyna, Thalia, Hazel, Frank, Piper and Jason had met up first and took less time to react than the others. Hazel and Frank ran towards Delilah and Adelaide. The two girls were crouching on the ground, protecting themselves from the attacks that had spontaneously stopped. Hazel helped Delilah to get up and she took her in her arms.

"I'm so relieved that you're okay! What got into you? Why did you come to help us?" she asked. Delilah dried the tears on her face before trying to reply.

"We thought that you might need some assistance."

Nico and Will had caught up with the group. Both of them were paler than usual. Nico placed his hand on Adelaide's shoulder, attempting at comforting her.

"I understand. Sometimes we need to prove that we are heroes, for once."

Adelaide smiled feebly, thankful. The son of Hades and the daughter of Hecate had more in common than they suspected.

In the meantime, Jason had rushed towards the group of young demigods. They all were between 14 and 17 years old. They were the lost demigods. Some of them were still wearing their orange or purple shirts. Jason took them one after the other in his arms. The kids, all beaten up, were surprised by this sudden rush of tenderness from a superior. These few young girls and boys had been sent to Europe for quests destined to fail because of the absence of prophecies. They were held hostage for all that time. A young girl with pale eyes and dark tangled hair allowed her traits to show how relieved she was.

"I'm so sorry, we tried everything to save you. I never should have sent you on these pointless quests," Jason apologized. "Where is Arthur?"

A young boy with ginger hair and freckles stepped forward, his eyes on the ground.

"We lost him in Spain. A drakon."

Jason looked desperate, but he straightened up before announcing:

"We will honour him at camp. I swear it upon the River Styx that I will never send again demigods to their almost certain death."

All lowered their heads in a respectful gesture for a moment. An uneasy feeling was settling on the arena. How could Jason promise such a thing? What if... Ananke's words had hurt everyone and some words were making their way in more than one mind.

All turned to the stands, surrounded by gods who still had an empty gaze. Leo studied the scene. He was holding on to Calypso's hand. She had a few small cuts, but nothing life-threatening. Ananke didn't have a lot to say to her, the young woman had been betrayed many times by the gods and hated them deeply already. She didn't dare to say that if there was a way to destroy the gods without hurting the mortals, then Ananke might be right, after all.