Remember (A Percy Jackson Fanfic)

5. Life after war

Percy's POV

The few days after the final battle were the most peaceful the camp had ever been, even better than the months after the Titan War.

Well, the months before Hera decided to play Switcheroo.

The aftermath of the battle was not easy to clean up. Half-Blood Hill was a messy patchwork of black splotches of burnt grass. Random holes and big craters dotted the landscape, signs of the places where monsters and demigods dug themselves out of the ground and the occasional explosive-induced craters.

The remaining golden dust of the monster army that hadn't been scattered by the wind had to be sucked up by some mega vacuum cleaner looking machine made by the Hephaestus campers. The holes all around the outside of the magical barrier had to be manually refilled and evened out as best as possible. The process took the whole day but at the end of it, camp was more or less back to looking like the natural paradise it used to be.

The Hunters of Artemis arrived at camp two days after the Battle of Half-Blood Hill (real original, I know) from San Juan, Puerto Rico. When they appeared at the base of Half-Blood Hill, I was shocked at how low their numbers were. A year ago after the Titan War, the Hunters had about 23 people, after losing about five or six to the war. There was no doubt that they would have gained some girls willing to join their ranks. Now, I could only count 17 Hunters.

The moment I saw Thalia, I knew something really bad had happened. She had bags under her eyes and her eyes were red, most likely from crying. She never cried openly. I quickly looked around the Hunters' ranks and saw that everyone mirrored Thalia's expression.

I made a split-second decision and stepped back before I could get castrated. Even though I was on relatively good terms with the Hunters, I could tell they were not in the mood to talk to anyone. Talking to Thalia could wait.

I couldn't even imagine how Thalia would react to Annabeth's death.

Not long after, lunch arrived and everyone filed into the dining pavilion, including the Hunters. As soon as everyone sat down on their respective tables, Chiron stood up to address everyone since Mr D was still on Olympus.

'We welcome the Hunters back to camp for the first time in a while,' Chiron stood tall and confident but I could tell he is still mourning the deaths of many of his students 'Campers, I recommend you all give the Hunters some space for a few days. I will let the Hunters decide if they wish to tell you what happened, though I do not recommend it.'

I saw Thalia and most of the Hunters give Chiron looks of gratitude from the Artemis table. I could tell nobody would get answers anytime soon. I could only wonder what happened in San Juan to deplete the number of Hunters like that.

'Normally, we would have a friendly game of Capture the Flag,' Chiron continued 'But I assume nobody is in the mood as of now.'

Murmurs of agreement arose from the crowd. Everyone was tired from the war. I was surprised that the Hunters passed down a chance to beat us up. Despite their low numbers, they could have still beaten us easily.

'Very well,' Chiron said breaking the silence 'Hunters, I hope you have a good stay for however long you wish.'

Chiron walked off the stage and nymphs strolled into the pavilion to serve lunch. I picked up my plate of roast beef brisket and walked up to follow the others to the sacrificial flame.

I scraped in the juiciest part of the meat and muttered a prayer, 'To Poseidon. Thank you, for everything.'

The smoke from the burning meat suddenly shifted to the smell of the sea breeze, letting me know that my dad was listening.