Percy Jackson and The Council's Army

25. The One With The Foe's Apparent Ally

(Recap:Grover was still walking away, and I didn't know what to do. Should I stop him? Should I talk? Or should I reveal myself? What if he becomes angry at me for reveling myself so late and running away and abandoning him. Or worse, what if I don't, and he blames the campers for all I went through and attacks them siding with end. Grover's alliance is gonna be the deciding factor, so should I? Or should I not?)

"Alright Grover. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have crossed that boundary. But tell me one thing, is this what he'd want? That you abandon the place he'd once considered his home?"

"I don't know and I don't care. He's not here now."

"Don't be a naive fool Grover. You know all too well that those innocent campers don't deserve this. You know they were misguided, and I know you've been keeping tabs on them through your sources. You know they've paid for what they did, you know they're repentent."

"Will their repentance bring Percy back? No? Then I don't want anything to do with them."

"You're not just Percy's best friend Grover. You're the Lord of the wild. The best friend of Percy Jackson, who accompanied him on multiple quests. Lord Pan himself gave you his blessings. A kind caring loyal person. You're throwing all that into the drain for want of a vengeance that's centuries old. They already feel guilty, and there's nothing more they can do. They're gonna die Grover. We all are. This war is beyond us without your help. So I suggest you rediscover yourself."

"I.. I...I'll think about it." He said hesitatingly. I could see he was seeing sense in my words. It was very important that he started trusting the campers again. I could have simply revealed myself and he'd have followed me anywhere, but now we both had very different roles in our lives then back when I was 12. He needed to get along with them. I'd taken upon myself to make him realize how childish he was behaving. And by his looks, I was just a little push away from success. So I continued.

"Grover. Listen. They may have done wrong, but forgiveness is divine. And from what I've heard about you, I thought you'd have forgiven them a long ago. You didn't. Okay, but right they all need you. They were your family. Fights happen in a family. You don't abandom them because of that. If you do though, then it means you'll leave them to die. And if that's going to be the case, them I'm sorry, but you're no better than end. You might as well join forces with him and attack us."

"I can't do that! I'm angry not some evil being!"

"Well then, you figure out a way because you not helping us and you allying with them is gonna mean the same to us."

He contemplated the meaning of what I'd said for a few moments.

"I'll help them. I'll give them one chance. One last chance. But tell them Commander, if this time they screw up I will literally follow your advice and attack them with all the wild forces myself."
I smiled at that. My G-man was back. Now that he was, it was time I let him know about myself.

"Thank you. Like I said, it's in your nature to forgive. And I'm kind of counting on that, as I'm going to need you to forgive me for something else as well."

"What something?" He asked comfused. I could see curiosity burning in his eyes.

"This." I said, and pulled off my mask.

"Hey G-man. It's me." I smiled a small smile.
He just stared at me dumbstruck for long. Then in what appeared to me like a deja vu, I clarified everything. Deja vu because the same had happened with the campers and Thalia and Annabeth and Juniper. Stuttering, saying my name, poking me to check if I was real, then me explaining my story and then finally them absorbing, understanding everything, sometimes a bit of not-so-painful hitting for my disappearance and keeping them in the dark, then either shaking my hand or hugging me. So right now after almost an hour of the revelation, here we were, with Grover hugging me tightly muttering "I don't believe this, you're back. Juniper was right. I gave up. She didn't. She said you'd be back for me. Thank you." He was in tears, and so was I. Grover was my closest and best friend. What made our friendship most significant though was that when we found each other, we both had found the very first friends of our lives. Before we found each other, we didn't have anybody. And together, we became so much more than what anyone including us could have anticipated.