(A/N: This part.. oh boy. Is it ever a gut-wrencher because trauma and PTSD, ladies and gentlemen. You have been warned. Plus, references to another PJO fanfic this time by raspberryfanfics called "Aspen", centered around good old Sherman Yang. There are references to some A03 fanfics, which will be credited at the bottom of the chapter for you to view.)
I don't speak much about my childhood growing up, but in retrospect, I'm glad that my parents conditioned me to not be as emotional when it came to death, funerals, and such, because to be fair, I don't think it would help Kayla if her boyfriend was just broken as she could be.
Even though we all showed solidarity and unity during Grover's time at the emergency meeting of the council of Cloven Elders and during Annabeth's chat with that bitch Hera, deep down inside, everyone around me was suffering. It simply manifested itself in different ways.
That much was true. Everyone seemed a bit different after the battle. The only one who seemingly hadn't changed, despite the anxiety I would get from the what-ifs, was me. I didn't know how, I didn't know why, but somehow among those who had been awakened to their new reality, I was the one who was the most stable.
Out of all the cabins, I think it was safe to say that the Demeter and Aphrodite Cabins got hit the hardest with the PTSD. Silena and her sibling who Michael and I had saved from the two hellhounds that day back in January had always been a little unstable since then.. after the Battle Of The Labyrinth, they were definitely.. very unstable, to say the least. It wasn't even the middle of the first night after the battle before familiar screams from the Demeter and Aphrodite cabins had Beckendorf, Sherman, Travis, and a couple other campers, including Travis' brother Connor, barreling out the front door of their cabins and over to the two affected ones to calm the others down, harpies be damned.
I will admit, I was surprised that Sherman was even able to move that fucking fast. Then again, he was a member of a very dangerous mafia back in NYC before coming to Camp Half Blood, so I guess given that he had mentioned running from cops and what not, I guess he had built up the ability to do so.
Either way, by this point, roughly 5 days after the battle, it can safely be said that him and Miranda were even closer than before, since by now, she couldn't even sleep without him without having nightmares, much the same as Kayla being unable to sleep without me last summer. So he slept with her.. in his bed.. in the Ares Cabin. Clarisse and I, who slept with Chris and Kayla respectively, didn't even call him out on it at all. Travis and Katie were doing the same by now, with Katie sleeping in Travis' bed. Silena was sleeping in Beckendorf's bed by now, and Jake was sleeping in Michael's bed.
So yeah.. a lot of people, whether they were already in a relationship, were trekking down the same route as that of me and Kayla. Hopefully, a trip to Ogygia was not in their futures. Like seriously, I definitely hoped it wasn't what the Fates had in mind for them.
Percy and I, despite our differences, had established a bit of a friendship after the battle. The rivalry between the two of us, one-sided as it was, remained but in a diminished state to be honest.
After the battle, I think everyone was going through the process of a rude awakening and a final shattering of any hopes that they had of things going back to normal. Thanks to Luke, that would not be the case at all. Thanks to that traitor, war was now a reality. There hadn't been a war that concerned the world of the gods since WWII, and now here in the early 2000s, war had returned to the world of the gods. Only this time, it was a rematch between the Titans and the Gods.
With the knowledge that Kelli had given me, I shuddered at the prospects of the future should we win. Because if we win, given the knowledge that Gaea had monsters loyal to her attempting to raise her, and one of the giants alive and well in Alaska, it was almost certain to me at least that she would try to raise the rest of them soon, thus bringing on a second war between the gods and giants. Still, the rest of them were all down in Tartarus for now, at least that's what I thought. Just the bane of Hades alive in Alaska, there was no way that any of the others could be alive in our world with any other reason for their return other than wanting to avenge the defeat of the Titans should they once again lose to the Olympians, right?
Looking back on it from the future, I think it was safe to say that Typhon deciding to crown me Monster King jinxed me.
- — - — - — - — -
When Chiron did the funeral service for the fallen on the second night, we were joined by an unexpected guest. My father as well as the father of my siblings Ares himself, who sat down with me and my siblings + Kayla as we watched in silence and mostly doom and gloom sadness.
Kayla had tears running down her cheeks, even as she clung to me in a hug, even as I hugged her back and kissed her forehead, a couple of tears in my eyes. The Apollo Cabin had been fortunate to escape with zero losses, thanks to me, but those that had died still left a mark on everyone else. Quintus aka Daedalus, Zac from the Hermes Cabin, Liam from the Demeter Cabin, Shelby also from the Demeter Cabin, Hector from my cabin - his death hurt sure, but not enough to reduce me to tears since I was tougher than that - they all left a mark on everyone. Beckendorf's cabin had lost 4 of their number in the fight, highest of them all, while the Aphrodite Cabin had lost 3.
We had lost about 15-20 fellow campers, siblings, friends, and loved ones in that fight, a painful price to pay for the ignorance and stupidity of the Gods. Luke aka Kronos was the face of what the consequences for that were now.
Annabeth took the loss of Luke to Kronos hardest of all. She had always been convinced that he could be turned back, but now, it seemed like that was no longer an option. Luke / Kronos would have to die in order for Olympus to be saved. Despite their arguments, Percy was the one who helped calmed her down from the nightmares, the pain, and the meltdowns that came from the loss of Luke to the Time Lord.
As for Kayla, she was coping. Despite everything, we stayed together. I would be lying if I said I wasn't feeling like the King of Olympus every time we kissed, every time we slept with each other, every time we held hands. Just like last summer, I was the one who kept her stable and happy. The difference being that I was finally her boyfriend, and believe me, the thought was both terrifying and downright exciting.
Terrifying because you have to remember, she's the child of a celebrity, not to mention also the child of a god that might as well be celebrity-sexual a lot of the time. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if Apollo had a kid with like.. Taylor Swift one day. As soon as we left for NYC at the end of the summer, cameras and paparazzi were probably going to be all over the two of us, wanting to know more about the guy that did what so many before had tried and failed to do up until I came along: winning the heart of hard-to-get Kayla Knowles.
I knew full well that as soon as I stepped into that world, I was going to have to defend my girlfriend's heart from guys who probably wished that I was out of the way so they could take her for themselves. I mean, she did that she did have a bodyguard who was a servant of her godly father, but honestly I was not going to take any chances. I had spent a goddamned year clawing my way into her heart through nothing but being there for her when she needed someone to save her, for crying out loud. I hadn't duked it out with a flock of Stymphalian Birds that one time to save her only to let some rich, entitled asshole rip the girl of my dreams away from me. Fuck no.
She was mine, all mine.
I will admit, the battle had turned me to be a good bit more possessive of her than before it. Not that it was a bad thing to be honest.
But I will admit, the thought of defying the odds one more time - the final part of my prophecy - for her, I had become all the more willing to do. If it meant saving her and the others, then god damn it to Hades on a stick, I'll do it.
Even if it meant that in the event of us winning this war against Luke / Kronos, we had to then fight another war against Gaea and the Giants, I didn't care. I was addicted to Kayla, with my heart beating and burning like a massive inferno for her, my girl. If anything, she would be the reason that I would kill all that stood between me, and both victory for the Gods and being with her if that's what I had to do to secure our future with each other.
I had a feeling that whatever Typhon had granted me with the whole "Monster King" title (if it came with any powers to speak of) would probably help out in this mission of mine, but the problem I faced was simply.. how the hell do I even tap into them, if they're even there at all? I would find the answer during next summer, but for now, I was stumped.
But back to the whole Kayla thing. The thought of being with her, as her boyfriend now, was also exciting because gods.. her beauty.. every time I look at her, I feel like I'm looking at Aphrodite's heiress. And yeah, I still hadn't gotten over her being as blessed in looks as the daughter of Aphrodite. Hey, maybe Aphrodite somehow put her blessing into Apollo's daughter before she was born. That would explain it, I don't know what else would.
I really don't know for a fact what else would.
I would like to call her more beautiful than Aphrodite herself out loud, but I'm certain if I even did that, I would get cursed by the goddess and I don't want that honestly. So I'll just keep that to myself.
My life felt like a song when I was with her, if I had to be totally and perfectly honest.
The two of us.. we were made for love.
But back to the funerals. Pretty sure I have gone on too long with this whole monologue of mine, okay?
Anyways.. it was generally doom and gloom throughout the whole funeral service. The moment Chiron mentioned that he was also going to burn shrouds for the enemy fallen, some people had outrage.
Michael had stood up. "Oh hell no.." he said, and then proceeded to storm out of the amphitheater angrily, with Jake hot on his heels out of shock mostly. Most of the rest of the crowd left in a similar fashion, including many of the younger siblings of me, Clarisse, and Sherman. I didn't blame them, I felt similarly. Staying for the burning of their shrouds was the proper thing to do to show respect for the fallen though. I knew that full well.
Kayla stayed because I stayed.
I looked around. Aside from Ares, me, Kayla, Clarisse, and Sherman, a few others had stayed. Most of Kayla's siblings minus Michael and a few others, Silena, Beckendorf, Belle, Katie and Miranda, the Stolls, Chris, as well as Percy and Annabeth remained behind. Some of Beckendorf's siblings remained too.
Chris and Miranda moved over and sat down with us, Chris with Clarisse and Miranda with Sherman respectively.
"See How many more of us are going to have suffer from this?" Miranda hissed.
"I wish I could answer, but I don't know at all the answer Mira.." Sherman replied. "I just don't know at all."
It was a solemn silence that hung over those that remained, punctuated by the crackling of the flames are the shrouds were burned. Kayla nuzzled into me, and I just kept hugging her because I felt bad. I had killed most of those bodies from the enemy side having their shrouds being burnt to honor them - me and Michael had, I'll correct myself here.
Even so, they were kids and teens who had joined the Titan Army - Luke / Kronos' cause - in the misguided belief that the Titans would give them something better for them. But war is a tragedy all of its very own.
Ares left when it was over after hugging all of us still there with him and then telling me how proud he was for upholding my end of the deal we had made, albeit he said that quietly so no one would hear us and then I would subsequently have to reveal the new secret I was keeping hidden from the others.
And with that, we all trotted back to our cabins that night.
- — - — - — - — -
Lee decided to step down as head counselor of the Apollo Cabin on the third day after the battle, handing the position over to Michael. Needless to say, Kayla and I - as well as the rest of my girlfriend's siblings - were all shocked by the rather unexpected move. Lee felt that since he would eventually be gone to university by the fall of next year, it was time to turn the reins over to someone else. Aurora and Aruna both would be in a similar situation by next fall as well, so they had passed on the idea, as had Victoria. So much to Michael's chagrin, he was made the new head counselor.
The change of leadership in the Apollo Cabin, was to put it bluntly, the capstone of just how much our reality had changed because of Luke / Kronos. From now on until the very end, camp was now no more a summer camp. It was a place where warriors prepared for battle, a place that had firmly been robbed of its innocence if there was even a shred of innocence left in this place at all.
(A/N: Aside from -JASONSGRACE and Imaginebooks being mentioned here, the two AO3 fanfics referenced in this part are "hold on to the memories (they will hold on to you)" by grumpylia and "Keep Your Face Always Towards The Sun" by TheTimeTraveler24. Even though Lee doesn't die in the battle, the part about him stepping down as head counselor of the Apollo Cabin was added so that this remains mostly canon. In effect, the more things change, the more they stay together. Lee Fletcher may have survived the Battle Of The Labyrinth, but Michael Yew still becomes the new head counselor of the Apollo Cabin regardless of that.)