Because Nothing Lasts Forever

IV

Percy hit the ball. It went over the net but came back as Alice ran to it and hit it back over the net.

Lizzy hit the volleyball, and Rose hit it back. The ball went back and forth for some time before Alice hit the ball one time.

Lizzy and Percy dove for the ball. Percy managed to hit it with his fingers and catch Lizzy the same time. They both looked to see the ball hit the net and fall to the ground.

"Oh come on!" Lizzy shouted, but she was smiling as Rose and Alice laughed.

"Good game!" Percy shouted. "It's a tie. Anyway, we should probably go train the campers now."

"Okay, Percy," the girls chorused.

They put away the ball. They went to go train the campers.

Artemis supervised the huntresses' training and Chiron trained any campers with healing. Alice, Rose, and Lizzy helped the campers who used bows.

Then the horn blew three times.

(A/N I was going to stop it here, but I decided to continue. You're welcome.)

~°~

Percy quickly shouted the plans to the campers and huntresses, who all launched into battle.

It obviously wasn't the main battle; Tartarus wasn't with the army. It was just the first battle in a war.

~°~

The demigods had improved more than the enemy had thought. They had underestimated them, and they paid the price.

Demigods that had joined the opposing team were shocked. When they had left the demigod camp, the camp was struggling. But now they were slashing through the monsters in groups or on their own with determination.

Though the campers and huntresses had improved, no one defeated the enemy like Percy, Lizzy, Rose, and Alice. The three huntresses shot arrows at monsters and evil demigods like Rangers— quickly and with more accuracy than any other archer. Percy held a sword in each hand and had two knives ready for him to take them out whenever he wanted as he cut and slashed through the army of monsters.

Percy could feel monsters and demigods (from both sides) dying all around him. He knew that Thanatos had to make sure that the dead stayed dead, but he sometimes wished that Thanatos could let them stay alive. They're fighting a war with him. But Percy knew that when someone dies, it is best that they stay dead. He knew that even if someone that died was important to him, he couldn't let them stay in the world. He knew that he couldn't keep them in the mortal world.

He remembered the pain he felt when someone who meant a lot to him died. He remembered all those souls he had helped out Thanatos with, how many people felt that pain when their families or friends died and their souls had been taken away from them by Percy himself.

Percy had broken so many hearts. So he thought, what's the point in saving my own? The people who die will die. They will move on, and who am I to stop them? If it breaks my heart when someone dies in this war, then maybe it can make up for all the hearts I've broken by taking away their loved ones' souls.

Percy kept fighting. The enemy kept fighting. Percy's friends kept fighting. The campers kept fighting. The huntresses fighting. And everyone was going to have to keep fighting for a long, long time.

*Edited*