Percy Jackson and The Council's Army

31. The Last One

PERCY'S POV:

There were celebrations all over the place, Zeus had suddenly showed up after the war and had as usual attempted to gloat about how his children and how the campers under his authority had won the war blah blah blah. You get the picture. But this time I wasn't having any of it.

"Zeus, with all due respect, all you did was desert us when we needed you. You set the worst example a king could ever set. You set the worst example a father could ever set. You failed the campers. End laughed at us and mocked us that you weren't going to be any help. And he was correct. So stop gloating before I end this war with the sad note of your demise." I threatened seriously.

"You can't talk to me that way Jackson! Who do you think you are!"

The words had barely left his mouth when my whole army stood in a guard in front of me taking offensive positions against Zeus. Elmont and Gregory were at the forefront, their arms raised against the king of Olympus in a 'Dare you' manner. Zeus suddenly realized that I wasn't the old Percy Jackson, that I withheld powers far beyond him and authority that rivaled Chaos'. He nervously gulped.

"That's who I am Zeus. My third in command has power enough to destroy you forever, my second in command can knock the big three out of the park singlehandedly with the authority to strip you of your kingship with merely a few words. The real question here is, who are you? A king? A ruler? Ever since the end of the second giant war, you've become more of a tyrannical ruler. I have the authority to order your death Zeus, the only reason I'm not doing it is it'd disturb the balance of nature. So watch yourself, the balance isn't a reason good enough to hold me back for much longer." I warned in a cold tone. Zeus just nodded.

"Zeus. This is your last chance. Be a king while also being there for your family. Don't misuse your authority. Otherwise as the incharge of this planet, I'll not only make Poseidon king instead of you, I'll have you removed from the Olympain Council with a non reversible verdict and you'll be out once and for all." Elmont threatened.

"I.. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful!" Zeus squealed in fear, cowering.

"Good. Now leave. Let us celebrate this win the Chaos way. We'll show the campers how fun it actually is when you don't have to watch that you don't insult a God by mistake." I said and dismissed him. He nodded once and teleported out.

The campers were all looking at me like they'd seen a ghost, not used to seeing one of their own rattle the egoistic king of the Gods so badly. But it was necessary. I don't have the power to order his death, I lied. Only Chaos can decide to end a high ruler's life forever. I can just kill him so that he is reborn again. But he didn't know that, so that got the job done. He'll be more careful now.

"What? Stop staring at him and let's celebrate." Elmont said to the campers.

They nodded enthusiastically, wondering how good a job we'd do of throwing a party.
But I interrupted.

"Wait. We party later. First, bury the dead with honor. We'll use a way that no one has ever used. We will party over the funerals."

"What! That's absurd! You wanna insult the dead by partying over their funerals!" One of the campers screamed.

"That's outrageous! You can't undermine their sacrfice like that!" Another said.

"Enough. First listen. I'm not saying you should party because they're dead. I'm saying you should party because you're alive while they're dead, which is what they probably wanted. All of you safe. Just think. The ones that died, they're your brothers, your sisters, your loved ones. They're family. And family doesn't mourn in victory. They celebrate together and cry together. Today we don't celebrate the victory. We honour the sacrifice of the dead. After a proper funeral, instead of cremeting them, we'll party with them present. We'll party together. We'll show them that their sacrifice has been invaluable to us and that we respect them so much that we can't ever party without them. Because if not for them, there wouldn't have been a party. There wouldn't have been us. A war is won with determination, and they didn't lack that. So not only today, but in every party, you should remember their names." I ended, taking a deep breath. It was a new idea, but I wanted to do something different to honor the dead this time, with so many wars, so many deaths and each sacrifice forgotten just with a proper burial.