Betrayed To Frosting Point

Chapter Nine - Names

The camp had survived, but not without any cost. During the battle, they had lost fifteen campers, one hunter, and a multitude of nature spirits. Much to Percy and Pipers enjoyment, the first one to fall in battle was none other than Nicolas Dalla, the person who had originally ruined their lives. It had seemed that right after Percy and Piper left the camp, the campers had figured out that he was not what he had said, meaning that he was basically a fake, yet most of the camp still believed the story about Percy being a traitor.

To the campers surprise, the ones who helped the most with the wounded and fallen campers were Polaris and Ivory, the two people who hadn't known anyone much at camp over the time that they had been there. At one point, they both disappeared, before reappearing a few minutes later, both seeming to be in a good mood.

Piper knew that this was hard for Percy. He had always blamed himself for the deaths of his friends, even if it wasn't his fault, and Piper could tell that he was not enjoying helping out the campers. After about an hour, Piper could tell that Percy was about to break, given that he had been helping with the bodies of the fallen. Piper walked over to where Percy was and put a hand on his shoulder, before flashing them out the dock. Instead of defending himself, Percy just stared out over the ocean, a blank look on his face.

"Percy, don't do this again, it wasn't your fault." Percy didn't respond, instead he just continued to stare out over the ocean. After a few moments of silence, Piper looked back up at his face, and saw a tear falling down his check. Piper reached up with her thumb and wiped the tear away, before speaking again.

"I know what you are thinking, Percy, but it doesn't matter what happened in the past, just because they believed that at one point, doesn't mean that they believe the same thing anymore, you saw Zeus, he seemed happy that we were back."

"I know, but what if we didn't run away, we could have avoided all of this, we would have just died, and then we wouldn't have to worry about another war."

"Percy, just because we had to run, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't have happened anyway."

"I know, but still. What about Zoë, Bianca, Beckendorf. All those people who died because I couldn't save them, what about them?" Percy asked a hint of annoyance in his voice. They had had this conversation before, and it always ended up with them being mad at each other, but this time, it was different, this time, Piper wanted to make sure that it didn't end that way. She was determined to break through to Percy.

"What about them," Piper started, "They died with honor, fighting for something that they believed for. Yes they were your friends, but that doesn't mean that they died because of you. They died so that we could live on. Have you ever thought about what would have happened if you didn't accept the great prophecy; millions of people would have died. Not just demigods or gods, but mortals too. Think about the people that you saved, and not the few that died so that you could do that. From what I've heard about Zoë, you would have an arrow in your butt for thinking like that." When Piper had finished, Percy nodded slowly.

"I know. It's just hard to see more people die, even if I didn't know them."

"I know Percy, but no matter what, we will have each other and we will make it through this. No matter what." Percy looked at Piper and gratitude shown in his eyes.

"Thank you Piper. For everything." Percy said. Piper could see it in his multicolored eyes that he really meant it. "Now, shall we go help the campers again?" Percy asked, seeming to be more confident. Piper nodded.

<-><-><->

Weeks had passed since the first battle against the army of Nyx. There had been a few more skirmishes around the boarder of camp, but nothing major had happened. The camper had noticed a change in Polaris and Ivory. They seemed to be a lot closer that they had been before. The campers just assumed that it was the stress getting to them. The only one who seemed to know anything was Thalia, who was still at camp with the rest of the hunters. Much to the displeasure of both the hunters and the campers, Artemis had decided that the hunters would stay at camp for a while. She gave no explanation for wanting the campers to stay at camp, but the hunters just followed her orders.