Chaos's Hero

Epilogue

For the next few weeks, my time is dedicated to my family. Together Annabeth and I spent the time at my mom and Paul's being a family with my son, Luke. The time before his bedtime quickly became my most favourite time of the day as he would lie against my chest with his pacifier in his mouth and his eyes heavy whilst we sat on the lounge chair in the corner of my room, eventually his sea green eyes would be shut closed and I sit still watching his small sleeping stature unsure how I could love something as much as I love him. Perhaps it's the new dad thing, but everything he does makes me coo with adoration from his little hand picking up a car to his chubby little feet stomping around the room when we playfully chase each other around the room. Often, we would attract the attention of Estelle who would chase the both of us filling the house with giggles and laughter.

It was hard to leave my mom and Paul behind in Manhattan. Together Annabeth and I decided that for Luke's sake it would be better if we lived in New Rome, where he could grow up safe and not have to endure the fears of a looming monster attack like Annabeth and I had to.

Being away had taken away many opportunities to witness a lot of Luke's first steps and word, which was sea by the way. Since we have become a family, I have made a vow to not miss anymore firsts of Luke's. Often Camp Jupiter would request my help with small matters which I would do happily, whether it was helping bring back demigods to camp or issues relating to monsters I was there just as long as I was not gone for longer than three days, which limited a lot of the quests that I was sent on, which is okay as it has given me more time with my family.

The stories of the Great Army of Chaos is every child's favourite tale throughout New Rome and once Annabeth let it slip that I use to be a part of the army their eyes grew ten times bigger as they rushed over, begging for a tale. The stories never run dry through the paved streets of New Rome as the Army of Chaos continues to fight against threats, helping the Gods avoid what would have been detrimental wars and thus have helped to save a lot more demigod lives than we would think. I have not seen or heard from any of my teammates as expected, but every now and then in a crowd I catch a glimpse of a cloaked figure watching us, but within a blink they disappear from sight and I am often left wondering who it was.

Carter still continues to scrub every brick and paver every hour that the sky is up, when it settles, he resides in a small cabin of his own that he was promoted to for five years of good behaviour. Now less bitter about his parents he has matured and is on his own path of making things right.

Whilst looking after Luke until he was old enough to attend school, Annabeth completed her architecture degree at the University of New Rome and is often sent around the country fulfilling crazy architectural requests from the gods and other beings, Olympus is still her biggest pride, design wise of course, every now and then a fight erupts between the gods damaging a building in the process which would excite Annabeth as a desire to make the building better than before would spark.

Despite the passing time, the regret still stays with me. Despite all the reassurance that I have received from many of my friends and family the guilt and regret remain as I imagine what it must have been like for Annabeth as she tried to remain strong for Luke as well as my mom and Paul. The thought of her loneliness that embraced her as they searched for me unsure of why I had disappeared, fearing for the worst they begged Nico to search the underworld for me, when he could not find me it had become a priority, Grover was sent around the world desperate to find clues of my where abouts. The reasons for my disappearance came to light a few months later when Carter began tried to please his sister, Clarisse by proudly telling her that it was he that had chased me away from camp as I had caught him kissing Annabeth, the truth about the empousa had come to light just before we had arrived at camp, hence why Annabeth had immediately taken Luke to my parents as she feared Carter would try to harm her further.

I have spent a lot of hours sitting on the beach, with my toes dug in the sand contemplating the importance of forgiveness. But if I cannot find forgive Carter then how can I move forward with Annabeth if I am still stuck in the past?

Yesterday when I sat with her tiny body in my arms, her big stormy grey eyes look up at me curious as to who this strange smiling man is, her tiny little fingers wrapped around my thumb and her tiny little feet kicking in the air I saw my future, on a beach walking hand-in-hand with Annabeth and Luke running ahead, eager to find shells to add to his growing collection and his little sister, Bianca trying to catch up with him, her little head bobbing as she wearily runs along the sand, avoiding the waves from trying to take away her feet, did I realise that I must forgive the mistakes of the past to move on forward to a happier future.

"So here I am Carter" I sigh, "To tell you that I forgive you for your actions"

Stunned Carter looks at me, gratitude sits in his tired brown eyes as I turn away from him to catch up with Annabeth. Slinging my arm around her shoulder, I kiss the side of her temple. As we walk through New Rome, greeting our neighbours as we pass them. Luke spots us from a distance and leaves his best friend Sammy behind and runs into my arms with a smile as he proudly tells me that he has flooded our bathroom. And honestly, I couldn't be prouder of my boy.

The End

And so this concludes this story. Honestly I think we can all agree that it is a step up from its predecessor. Let me know what you think about this book, and any questions that you may have.