Decisiveness & Terror// [Percy Jackson OC]//Book 4

{Chapter Twenty-Five}

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"And you say you'll never forget of it's flame/ and you'll hold to it's warmth all our days"
- Lover (Truslow)
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THE KIDS AREN'T MINE

Months passed fast. Summer went back to normal. Arya's feeling was correct, everything stayed calm, not a word from Kronos' or his army, the gods seemed relatively calm. It was almost nice, Arya was almost able to relax.

Almost.

She knew deep down that this was the calm before the storm. That as soon as summer ended, things would pick back up and the war would rage on. So she tried her hardest to enjoy what was in front of her, but as always she struggled knowing what was ahead.

Lee's death made Arya appreciate the small moments with her friends, with her brothers, far more than she ever had. It made her realize that she couldn't control how much longer she had with any of them and wanted to soak in all the good moments.

Arya's cuts on her back had taken some time to fully heal. Will Solace (who was quickly becoming the best healer at camp) had told Arya if she didn't have her healing powers, she would have bled out within a matter of minutes. But now, Arya had another scar to add to her quest collection, as she called it, along with her burns from the Sea of Monsters and her bullet wound from the Hoover Dam. She hated that Kelli was apart of her, but she couldn't change it.

Percy wasn't happy when he heard about what happened, and even more irritated when Charles spilled the beans that she refused to put on armor. He only stopped yelling at her when she fired back that he hadn't put any armor on either. This ended there little tiff and things went back to normal for them.

The end of summer came far too quickly for anyone's liking, and before anyone knew it the school year was starting. Everyone was making their plans to either stay or go. Most of the older campers had talked to their parents (if available) and decided to stay, to help with the war efforts. This school year was going to be the largest one that camp had seen in a long time. Arya wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Percy himself decided to try to go back to his mom for the year, he always did, and as always both he and Sally invited Arya to do the same. She denied, saying that camp was the best place for her, with Chiron out of commission due to his broken back Arya was trying her best to handle his normal camp director responsibilities, and war leader efforts. But she promised like always that she would come visit, the first one being for Percy's birthday in a few days.

He was turning 15, and the years seemed to be moving faster than she knew how to keep up with.

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The day of Percy's birthday came quickly and Arya woke up early for it. She planned to spend the whole day with the Jacksons in celebration, but she had something she needed to take care of first. She made sure to tell Chiron and her friends she was heading out and before long Arya was in a taxi on her way to Manhattan with Tyson to celebrate her little brother's birthday.