The next day, there weren't many answers.
After the explosion, Piper and Jason – free-falling and unconscious – were plucked out of the sky by giant eagles and brought to safety. Cressida's vines had sunk back into the earth as she'd passed out for a few hours, which wasn't that long considering what she'd just done. Percy and Pollux expected her to be out of it a lot longer than she was. Pollux had actually been very impressed with Percy's idea to save his sister which was something he actually told him.
Leo didn't reappear though.
The entire Hephaestus cabin scoured the valley, finding bits and pieces of the Argo II's broken hull, but no sign of Festus the dragon or his master. All the monsters had been destroyed or scattered. Greek and Roman casualties were heavy, but not nearly as bad as they might have been. Overnight, the satyrs and nymphs disappeared into the woods for a convocation of the Cloven Elders. In the morning, Grover Underwood reappeared to announce that they could not sense the Earth Mother's presence. Nature was more or less back to normal.
They'd actually done it. It actually worked.
Gaia had been separated from her source of power and further weakened by Cressida taking back her power over the earth, charmed to sleep, and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo's fire and Octavian's man-made comet.
An immortal could never die, but now Gaia would be like her husband, Ouranos. The earth would continue to function as normal, just as the sky did, but Gaia was now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness.
At least, that was the hope ...
Octavian would be remembered for saving Rome by hurling himself into the sky in a fiery ball of death. But it was Leo Valdez who had made the real sacrifice.
The victory celebration at camp was muted, due to grief – not just for Leo but also for the many others who had died in battle. Shrouded demigods, both Greek and Roman, were burned at the campfire, and Chiron asked Nico to oversee the burial rites.
Nico agreed immediately. He was grateful for the opportunity to honour the dead. Even the hundreds of spectators didn't bother him.
The hardest part was afterwards, when Nico and the now seven demigods from the Argo II met on the porch of the Big House.
When Hazel revealed Leo's true plan.
Piper never had the Physician's Cure. Leo had pulled her and Frank aside in Delos and asked for their help. He'd spoken with Nike and Apollo about his plan to destroy Gaia with fire, but he had to get far away from everyone because he'd been certain that such an explosion would kill any mortal within a quarter of a mile.
He thought there'd be a chance that he, the son of Hephaestus could survive the blast and that no one else would agree to him doing it alone.
Cressida had started crying at that. Because that was the best Lunatic Let's-do-it Leo Valdez plan she'd ever heard, and it was the last one she'd ever hear.
Percy had been hopeful that he'd come back any minute, but Cressida caught the look that the children of Hades and Pluto exchanged.
Leo was gone.
But at least he was with his mother now. Both of them were in Elysium, she was sure of that.
It made her smile to think of all the mischief he and Castor would get up to.
The next day, the second since the battle, Romans and Greeks worked side by side to clean up the warzone and tend the wounded. Blackjack the pegasus was recovering nicely from his arrow wound (his boss and boss lady were not happy when they heard their precious pegasus was injured). Guido had decided to adopt Reyna as his human. Reluctantly, Lou Ellen had agreed to turn her new pet piglets back into Romans.
Cressida was busier than ever as she coordinated with Reyna and Frank, the leaders of the two camps working well together - Percy liked to include himself in that little group considering he hardly left his girlfriend's side and sought to help her out with everything if he was going to follow her around like a lost puppy. Not to mention the fact that someone had to remind her to eat and take care of herself with how easily she forgot and got distracted.
The Romans bivouacked next to the strawberry fields, where they insisted on building their standard field camp. The Greeks pitched in to help them raise the earthen walls and dig the trenches.
Cressida and Pollux were also introduced to their half-brother Dakota who shared his Kool-Aid with them - well with Pollux at least. Cressida had already tasted wine and the Kool-Aid just didn't really compare. Pollux couldn't get mad at his sister for underage drinking when she pointed out that it was literally the most normal teenage thing she'd ever done in her life. And as usual, she was right. Not to mention the fact that Pollux had also done the same thing numerous times so he was really none the better.
And just like Dionysus, Pollux and Percy freaked Cressida out by actually getting along. It was like seeing Percy actually save her and take care of her pushed away any remaining animosity he had for the guy. They actually acted like bros.
Though, something that took even more years off Percy's life was when Annabeth, Piper and Reyna would chase him away so they could steal Cressida as they roamed camp to check on the progress of the repairs.
By evening, the general mood had improved somewhat. The dining hall pavilion had never been so crowded. The Romans were welcomed like old friends.
Coach Hedge roamed among the demigods, beaming and holding his baby boy and saying, "Hey, you want to meet Chuck? This is my boy, Chuck!"
The Aphrodite and Athena girls alike cooed over the feisty little satyr baby, who waved his pudgy fists, kicked his tiny hooves and bleated, "Baaaa! Baaaa!"
Cressida had been the first to meet him earlier, along with Clarisse, and both of them were named godmothers to Chuck.
But while Cressida had been busy with camp, Clarisse was trailing behind the coach like a bodyguard and occasionally muttered, "All right, all right. Give the kid some space."
At announcement time, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet. "Out of every tragedy," he said, "comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the gods!"
The demigods all joined the toast, but their enthusiasm seemed muted.
The feeling was mutual to everyone: We saved the gods again, and now we're supposed to thank them?
Then Chiron said, "And to new friends!"
"TO NEW FRIENDS!"
Hundreds of demigod voices echoed across the hills. It was a good moment.
At the campfire, after a few songs, Reyna and Frank were called to the front. They got a thunderous round of applause from both the Greeks and Romans.
"Tomorrow," Reyna said, "we Romans must return home. We appreciate your hospitality, especially since we almost killed you –"
"You almost got killed," Annabeth corrected.
"Whatever, Chase."
Oooooohhhhh! the crowd said as one. Then everybody started laughing and pushing each other around. Even Nico had to smile.
"Anyway," Frank took over, "Reyna and I agree this marks a new era of friendship between the camps."
Reyna clapped him on the back. "That's right. For hundreds of years, the gods tried to separate us to keep us from fighting. But there's a better kind of peace – cooperation."
Piper stood up from the audience. "Are you sure your mom is a war goddess?"
"Yes, McLean," Reyna said. "I still intend to fight a lot of battles. But from now on we fight together!"
That got a big cheer.
Zhang raised his hand for quiet. "You'll all be welcome at Camp Jupiter. We've come to an agreement with Chiron and Cressida: a free exchange between the camps – weekend visits, training programmes and, of course, emergency aid in times of need –"
"And parties?" asked Dakota.
"Hear, hear!" said Conner Stoll.
Reyna spread her arms. "That goes without saying. We Romans invented parties."
"You've clearly never been to one of my parties. Us Greeks actually know how to have fun," Cressida said as she stood, and her brother hooted along with a few other Camp Half-Blood campers.
She really did take after her father who was the god of revelries.
Reyna raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge, Lynn?" she asked, and Cressida smirked something wicked.
"Oh, it's a promise. My father is the god of revelries. I could win with my eyes closed."
"We'll see about that."
Another big Oooohhhhhhhh!
"So thank you," Reyna concluded as Cressida sat down again. "All of you. We could've chosen hatred and war. Instead, we found acceptance and friendship."
Then she did something that no one expected.
She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.
"We had one home," she said. "Now we have two."
She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn't feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna's shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.
"And, in a gesture of peace," Reyna continued when she let go of Nico. "Are you ready Cress?"
The demigods were awash with whispers, even Percy was confused as his girlfriend made her way over to Reyna with a grin.
"Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano," Cressida announced loudly and with perfect pronunciation as the voices hushed. "For services to Camp Half-Blood, for fighting for it and for us, for welcoming us and for surviving almost a complete week, I present you with this," she said as she held up a leather cord with a single bead on it and Reyna spun around as she lifted up her hair and Cressida draped the necklace around her neck.
Reyna then spun back around to face Cressida.
"Cressida Lynn, for services to the Twelfth legion Fulminata, for fighting with us and for welcoming us, I name you a full member of the legion."
Cressida held out her arm as Reyna looked to the skies and there was a bright flash as if the sky had taken a picture with the flash on and when the demigods blinked the light away, Cressida's arm was no longer bare.
An SPQR tattoo just like Reyna's, just like her boyfriend's, rested on her arm. A thyrsus wrapped in grapevines was printed on her skin, the symbol of Dionysus - Bacchus, or whatever - followed by the letters SPQR and a single line.
And the two girls embraced as Annabeth and Piper stood and began clapping, the rest of the demigods joining suit before Reyna and Cressida faced the crowd, their hands joined as they raised them into the air.
"To peace!" the two girls bellowed, and the entire crowd echoed the call.