Commander Alpha

Chapter 31

This chapter is dedicated to DragonFighting2149 for their support. Thank you!

Zoë's POV

Emma's funeral took place a week after the end of the fight. It was the first time I'd seen all of the Chaos Warriors in the same place in as much time.

Luke spent all of his time with Percy, who was constantly being attended to by the best healers in the universe. His swelling and bruising had went away after a couple days, along with any other minor injuries he had from the fight, but beyond that his condition hadn't improved. The doctors told us that there was around fifty percent chance that he'd wake up. Annabeth was in the same comatose state.

Beckendorf, Castor, Silena, and I had been splitting our time between being with Percy and helping out at camp. Bianca was a wreck. After crying for the entirety of the first day after Emma died, she had seemingly went numb. She only left her room to go to the bathroom or eat occasionally, but she hadn't been eating or drinking nearly enough. She rarely talked and when she did, it was in one word fragments.

The funerals for all seven who died were being held in the amphitheater. The six campers would be done first, then after that was done, there'd be a smaller ceremony for Emma. The entire camp, along with the Chaos Warriors, some nymphs and satyrs, Chaos himself (which the campers were surprised about), and surprisingly the gods (minus Poseidon, he hadn't been heard from since the Percy incident.), were there, everyone clad in back. Even Percy and Annabeth were lying in hospital beds in the back.

Each of the six campers, Thomas, Jordan, Dan, Joey, Paige, and Eliece, were given four obituaries before their shrouds were burnt. One from Chiron, one from their godly parent, one from their head of cabin, and one from their closest friend. All of the speeches were moving, and by the end, there was not a dry eye in the amphitheater (aside from Percy and Annabeth of course.).

After the camper portion of the ceremony was over, Luke, Chiron, and I all prepared for Emma's party. Her shroud was beautiful.. It was silver with an owl on it, intertwined with two special kinds of thread. The first kind was from Chaos. It was especially rare, and the same kind he used for his fancy cloak, and it gave the shroud an almost otherworldly appearance as the light swirled around it. He had saved some for each of us Warriors to use for our shrouds (morbid, I know.) The second kind of thread was concentrated at the bottom edge of the shroud. It was from Hestia, and made the shroud look like it was already on fire.

When we were done with the preparations, the entire audience from the first ceremony was still there.

"You do realize that you do not have to stay for this funeral, correct? While you are welcomed to, it is for one of the Chaos warriors." Chiron announced.

"Yeah, we know." A voice shouted.

"She died for us, we're staying." Another joined in. A chorus of these types of things filled the amphitheater. Chiron quieted all of them by raising his hand.

"Alright, so apparently we're all staying." He said. "Let's begin." Emma had four obituaries planned: one from Chiron, Chaos, Athena, and Bianca. 

 Chiron began. "Now, you may be wondering why I'm doing an obituary for a Chaos soldier. This is because she went to this camp. Her name was Emma, and she was a daughter of Athena." He paused for a minute to let the whispering that followed this revelation pass. "She was only a camper here for six months before she sacrificed her life, saving Annabeth Chase in the process. However, in those sixth months, she made a difference. On her first day here, Emma befriended the goddess of the hearth, Hestia, and soon gained her blessing. She was a truly inspirational camper, and will be dearly missed." In front of the shroud, there was a small podium used to hold the items that were special to the person who's shroud was being burned, and the items would be burned along with it. On the podium, Chiron left a leather camp necklace, which I presumed to be Emma's, empty of beads. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how short of a time Emma had a normal(ish) life. That bought did nothing to help my sadness.