And you know heroes aren't meant to survive

Chapter 16

My sincerest apologies for the late chapter, life's been rough and I've just had a general lack of inspiration. I think I may just kill someone off to keep things interesting. I'm not entirely sure I want to though because those I kill off generally die gruesome, painful deaths. So yeah. Hope this chapter kinda makes up for my absence. Also I'm probably gonna finish this off soon within another few chapters if possible. So yeah. Read and review!

Clarisse was not in the best of moods. She may have been a daughter of Ares and have 'battle driven' as a default setting, but in no way was she remotely accepting of the pointless deaths that were an unfortunate byproduct of wars that meant nothing. The only kind of war that she could respect and understand was one that had some sort of a purpose. What she was seeing here was little more than pointless carnage.
At this stage she was sure that not even Jackson coming back could cheer her up.
Ok. She was wrong. Having Jackson back changed everything. Yeah, he wasn't the only one who had survived two wars, but he was the best demigod she had ever known. He was pretty much the embodiment of hope to demigods. She would, however, deny admitting that till her last breath. Or so she thought.
~line break~
Once they got through this latest mess, Nico was going to kill his Seaweed Brained cousin and he was sure that Thalia would help him. He left Camp and joined a superhero boyband! Like, Percy, its called Iris Messaging. Maybe you've heard of it?
And yes, maybe it was slightly hypocritical of him considering his own disappearing acts, but still! Percy did not get to disappear on them like that. Nico hadn't forgotten what had happened in the immediate aftermath of the second Giant War. Especially not the reward ceremony. And if Percy had thought they would be fine with him striking out on his own after that, he had another thing coming.
**flashback begins**
The gods were arguing over whether the greeks and romans should be allowed to coexist after everything. Octavian had, after all, left huge problems in his wake. Problems that most unfortunately did not end with his sudden suicide.
Zeus, unsurprisingly, was the most against it. He was also the most against returning Hades and Hestia their thrones, refusing to listen to reason.
"Why can the boy not just be a normal hero and accept immortality?" He had grumbled. "The Council is set and shall remain. I refuse to change it."
It had reached the point where even Ares was insisting upon the return of their thrones and saying at this point, merging the two camps would result in less conflict which they had all had enough of for the next two centuries at the least.
Zeus, like the other gods, was surprised but had still refused. Till Percy got up from a chair on the side. Nico figured he probably had wanted to wait out Zeus' temper tantrum but at the rate it was going, they would probably be there for the next year.
Percy had created a mini earthquake, right there in the throne room, capturing everyone's attention. He had spoken in a quiet, but firm voice, loud enough to be heard by all those present. "It has been a year of fighting and you want more? How in Hades' name - sorry Uncle - are you not tired of it? People died today, good people. They have been dying for a long damn time, and I am talking about your children! So you will do us all a favour and let me combine the camps and return Hades' and Hestia's thrones to them. I, We, lost a lot of friends over the past year and you will damn well honour their sacrifice or so help me, I will bring this place down around you and still bring about the changes that I need to." The scariest thing that day had been Percy's dead eyes, only firing up with something akin to emotion when talking about those who had died. His voice was soft, promising great violence, something dark underneath his softly spoken words. He raised his voice only when speaking of the dead, yet his tone still held a note of respect for his fallen friends. Something had been broken in his cousin and he wasn't entirely sure it could be fixed.
**flashback ends**
Coming face to face with his cousin after so long, Percy figured his first action would have been to hug him or something along those lines. Instead, he punched him in the face.
Percy had turned to face him when he entered the room, interupting his conversation with Chiron, when Nico punched him. And ow that hurt. Winter, jerk that he was, simply stood back and watched, amused.
Nico then hugged him as fiercely as he had punched him. And Percy should know, he's the one who taught Nico how to punch like that. He raised his hands to hug him back equally as hard, he'd forgotten how the sixteen year old in front of him hated those he cared about disappearing on him. He never truly had gotten over being left behind by Bianca and had slightly over protective tendencies which only intensified after the wars.
"Yeah I missed you too Death Breath and I probably should have called. Please don't kill me just yet."
"I may not but I make no promises about Thalia." Nico's grin only widened as Percy paled. That would not be a fun conversation, he was sure.
~line break~
"So who's Tall Dark and Brooding next to Chiron?" Nico asked once he let go of Percy and noticed there was someone else in the room.
Bucky chuckled as he stepped forward to introduce himself to Nico again. The first time being about 75 years ago when he helped save him and Bianca from Zeus.
"Call me Winter. I'm the brother of this Kelp-brained punk here." He ignored Percy's indignant protests in favor of shaking Nico's outstretched hand. "I was born before WW2 and was... out of commission for a while. It's a long story."
"It generally is. So obviously Percy trusts you. How do I know I can?"
"Probably because I helped Hades protect you back when Zeus wanted your head on a silver platter along with your sister's. I asked Hades never to tell anyone the whole story so that Zeus couldn't take his anger out on my father or my mortal family. He's petty that way."
Percy and Nico both started at him, agape. Hades, despite being a world class douche most of the time, still cared for his family. It was no wonder this son of Poseidon was in his good books. Winter, on the other hand, just shrugged. He liked helping people, not simply fighting in wars, that was the job of Ares' kids. He may have been a soldier but it wasn't out of choice, but necessity.
Chiron gave a small cough as if to remind the others of his presence and return them to the conversation prior to Nico's abrupt entrance. Soon they were lost in a whirlwind of battle strategies and random intel on what had been happening in the mythological world after Percy left.
~line break~
News of the attack on Camp Jupiter hit them hard. Most of the camp had been destroyed and dozens injured or dead. Reyna, however, had managed to rally support from her sister and they barely managed to keep the camp from being overrun. With the addition of missiles being fired at the White House helping prompt the X-men into battle as well, it was official. The war had begun and the darkness beginning to descend. The only question was, after the storm passed, who would still be standing?