Needless to say, Olympus was unused to holding funerals. Gods are meant to be immortal, and faded beings are simply mourned. But Artemis...
The night sky shined above Olympus as its population slowly moved through it, dressed in black clothes and mourning the fallen goddess. Women wept, and men stayed silent out of respect.
Apollo walked silently next to Hermes, the hood of his black funeral cloak covering his wet eyes. Zeus walked alongside Hera, hoping she would be able to keep him grounded. She stayed by his side, holding onto his arm with an iron grip.
The rest of the Olympians walked behind them in silence, and behind them followed the minor gods and nature spirits of the city. The procession moved throughout the city quietly, as if scared a noise would make the goddess's loss permanent.
Slowly, they funneled into a large field and sat down on the grass, watching the podium in the front of the clearing. Once everyone was settled, the sound of clopping footsteps reverberated through the clearing. The Nature God walked up to the podium and faced the crowd nervously.
"Today, we are here to honor and remember Artemis," Grover said from the podium. "I felt that Apollo would have been a better choice for the announcement, but..."
Grover looked at Apollo, who was staring at the bitterly ground. "But he's not currently in the state to do that, so it falls to me as Pan's successor and the God of Nature."
Grover took a deep breath. "Artemis was someone I didn't often interact with, as I am both a male and slight recluse, much preferring my sections of surviving Wild over interaction with others. However, the meetings I had with her were positive. After my ascension, she came and talked to me. We talked for hours about Humans and their impact on forests. It was... it was nice."
He swallowed. "But... now she's gone. We don't know if she's simply trapped somewhere or actually... dead, but from the sparse information we have, it seems to be the latter."
A small sunflower grew on the back of Grover's head. "She was lost in the fight against Erebus. She sacrificed herself to save her Hunters from a primordial."
The crowd quietly murmured, and Grover nodded. "That is right. Erebus himself recently attacked Camp Half-Blood and was defeated. However, Tartarus is still a final obstacle before we can rest."
The sound of the crowd picked up at his proclamation. Tartarus? The Pit? The Demigods would have to fight him?
"But," Grover said. "Do not worry. I have been reassured by Apollo that the Olympians will be fighting alongside the demigods until Tartarus is defeated."
The crowd collectively sighed in relief. Zeus shot his head up and looked at the Sun God, who had begun to smile at the ground.
"And," Grover said. "I will also be returning. Until Tartarus is defeated, I will stop my exile. Now, I believe it is time for someone else, someone who knew Artemis better than me, to speak."
Hera elbowed Zeus, who stopped glaring at Apollo and stood up, walking to the podium. Once the funeral was over, there would need to be a meeting. But for now...
He looked over the mourning crowd. How was he going to do this? Artemis, his little hunter, the girl who had wrapped him around her finger the moment he met her, his favorite daughter... was gone.
He opened his mouth to speak.
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Far below, Camp Half-Blood held its funeral for the recent fallen as well.
Nico stood at the head, addressing the mourning demigods, Will stood next to him and gripped his hand, and Hazel sat in her seat with a mixture of sadness and new determination on her face.
Annabeth sat next to Piper and Jason, cradling her injured hand. Percy's team members sat together, trying to come up with a plan and frantically racking their heads for possible places Percy could be.
Estelle stood in the opposite corner of Jonathan, staring down at her prosthetic arm in hate, grief, and shock. The Hunters all looked shell-shocked, and all had tears running down their faces.
The Romans, due to their size, were forced to only let those who had connections with the deceased attend the funeral. Of the Romans that were there, they all sat together and cried.
Jonathan stood alone in the opposite corner from Estelle, trying to avoid the looks of hate he was getting. From what Nico and Will had told him, he knew he, or, at least what everyone thought was him, deserved the looks.
Nico took a deep breath and snapped his fingers, ending his speech. Chiron nodded and set the shrouds ablaze, letting tears fall down his face. The embers and symbols floated up into the sky, eventually joining the image of a silver bow that sat over Olympus.
For a few moments, there was a calm, silent peace.
Then booming laughter shot over the camp.
"Hello, little demigods," the voice said.
Luke gripped one of his new swords. "Tartarus."
"Correct," the voice said, causing the assembled crowd to gasp.
"Leave us," Luke commanded. "Or else."
"Or else what?" Tartarus asked. "You'll fight me? Please."
Luke's eye twitched. "You are not welcome here."
"Oh, I know," Tartarus said. "But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that you seem to be missing a leader."
"So what if we are?" Bianca asked. "We can take you, no problem. Do you know what we've fought in our journeys across the universe?"
"The idea that your small band of once-demigods could fight and win against a son of Chaos is laughable," Tartarus said. "You wouldn't last over two minutes."
"Then try us," Achilles said. "We dare you."
The voice stayed silent for a few moments before laughing again.
"You almost had me," Tartarus said. "I almost actually came up there. But... no, I'm not going to. What I have planned is much, much more fun than that."
"And that is?" Zoe asked.
"You don't get to know yet. But, well, I hope you have reinforcements..." Tartarus said before his voice faded.
Nico looked at Luke. "Do we-- what are we going to do now?"
"I... I don't know," Luke said. "Hop-- Percy hasn't ever abandoned us like this before. I'm... I'm not sure what to do."
"It's obvious," Calypso said, wishing Leo were there to hold her hand. "We fight."
"Against Tartarus? Without Percy?" Will asked. "Wouldn't that be suicide?"
Calypso opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a massive flash of bright light. When everyone was able to see again, their jaws dropped.
The entire Olympian council stood behind Nico, fully kitted in armor and weapons.
"We will fight," Zeus said somewhat begrudgingly. "For Artemis."
Everyone stared at the gods in complete shock.
"You're going to help?" Jason asked.
Zeus nodded. "Of course. We will help fight and train you all for the upcoming battle. It will be fierce, we're sure of it."
Jonathan gulped at the sight of his father and quietly slipped out of the clearing, deciding to let the Chaos team speak with the gods. He slowly made his way back to his cabin, sneaking his way through the dark night. Then he bumped into someone.
He fell to the ground and looked up at the face of a familiar Satyr, who glared down at him with incredible rage and crossed arms.
"Let's have a talk, you and I," Grover said to Jonathan.
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Octavian watched as his Commander fought against the Automatons with all of his might. Knives, arrows, and swords all whirled in and out of his vision, as his commander had to constantly switch weapons.
The room was about the size of a gym, but the walls were gold and white. Octavian leaned back up against the wall, smiling as his commander chopped down the robots. Finally, the last Automaton fell to the ground, chest slashed.
"Order's Jenga set, I wish I could use my powers," Octavian's commander said, panting from exhaustion.
Octavian snickered. "The entire point of this training is to get you to use your weapons without need for magic."
"Yeah, but... it's still really boring," the commander said.
Octavian shrugged and pulled an apple out of his cloak before walking up and handing it to his commander.
"Here. I've been taking classes with Order on enchanting stuff, so this should refill your energy reserves."
"And if it doesn't?" The commander asked.
Octavian shrugged. "I dunno. I didn't see any terrible fate befall you last time I checked my ball, so I assume you'll be fine."
The commander shrugged and took a bite out of the apple as Order walked into the room.
"I have good news and bad news," he said. "Which first?"
"Good news," Octavian said.
"Ok. The Olympians will be fighting alongside the Demigods until Tartarus is defeated," Order said.
"And the bad news?" Octavian's commander asked.
"Percy has disappeared."
"WHAT?" Octavian cried. "What do you mean?"
"He left camp," Order said, his tall white body seeming nervous. "And now not even Chaos can track him down."
The Commander looked at Octavian. "Crystal ball. Now."
Octavian nodded and reached into his cloak. "I can't guarantee results, cause I'm still learning, but I'll try."
The Commander looked at Order as Octavian stared into his ball.
"You should let me down there."
Order shook his head. "You're not ready yet. Neither of you are."
"Percy is gone!" The Commander retorted.
"You still need more training," Order said. "Trust me. Please."
The Commander opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Octavian's shout.
"I see him!"
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Gaea stared down at the chessboard in her lap. Nyx had gone to fix up her mansion now that Erebus was dead and Hemera was enjoying her time with her newly revived husband. And Percy... he was gone.
Which meant she was alone.
She slowly moved up and set the chessboard aside softly. She raised a hand, and in front of her, a red and brown portal appeared.
She walked through and entered a place she had swore never to return. She slowly walked through the halls of the palace, following the sounds of terrified screams and crunches. The skulls of various monsters seemed to follow her as she walked through the red hallway.
She pushed open a door and walked into the throne room. The assembled monsters instantly scattered in fear, quickly leaving her alone with HIM.
"Hello," Tartarus said, sitting on his throne leisurely.
"Where is he?" Gaea asked.
"Where is who?" Tartarus asked.
"Ouranus."
"Why do you think I would have him?"
"Aether was never dead, he was just trapped. Right?"
Tartarus nodded slowly. "Correct."
"So Ouranus isn't dead either."
"Erebus is dead. How was Ouranus different?"
"Ouranus wasn't cut off from his domain."
Tartarus chuckled. "Fair. Alright..."
He raised a fist and unfurled it, revealing a small black spike.
"He's in there?" Gaea asked.
Tartarus nodded. "Erebus gave him to me before going off to die. But I couldn't care less."
"And why's that?" Gaea asked.
"I can't do anything with him," Tartarus said, tossing the spike. It bounced across the ground a couple of times before rolling to a stop at Gaea's feet.
"He offered me no possible way to be stronger," Tartarus said. "And I couldn't care less about Percy's connection with him."
Gaea picked up the spike and then stared at Tartarus in mild confusion. "Why are you even fighting?"
"To be the strongest," Tartarus said. "As the prophecy stated, I wish to once again be father's favorite."
"Father doesn't care about strength," Gaea said. "He hasn't cared about that since Kronos castrated Ouranus."
"He does."
"He doesn't."
"No. No, he does," Tartarus said, as if trying to convince himself. "I will obliterate my enemies, I will destroy those pathetic gods, and I will kill Percy. Then Chaos will--"
"He won't," Gaea said.
"Then I'll make him," Tartarus snarled. "After that stupid camp, I'll go after you and our other siblings as well. And once I wipe you out, I'll be the only one left for Father to love."
Gaea shook her head. "Goodbye, Tartarus."
Her body turned to dirt and crumbled away, leaving Tartarus to glare at the spot she had been, lost in thought.
(Yoooo, I'm back. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I have so much planned for the final part of this story, just you guys wait.)