Mystery Iris Messenger

One

The campfire roared high and bright, lighting up a large part of the camp. The Apollo cabin led everyone in celebratory songs. Percy knew the celebrations would only last for the night before everyone began grieving for those lost the next morning. He had a bad feeling in his gut, but he forced himself to put the thought to the back of his mind and enjoy the night.

Summer was almost over, so he knew that the grieving would continue on through the next summer as well. Those who only returned for the summer like Percy would be reminded of what happened when they returned.

A lot of people are gone, Percy noticed. Still, many more were here tonight. Some of them were Romans and others were Greek. It was hard to believe that they were enemies before now. Sure you had those few that tried to only stay with those of their respective camps, but for the most part, Romans were getting along with Greeks and Greeks with Romans. It was nice seeing the unity that had become since the start of the war.

It was hard to believe that not even a month ago, Leo was blowing up Camp Jupiter with Festus, and now he was gone. A sacrifice that will probably be held on to through many generations. No one knew why he was willing to give himself up, but now no one would ever know.

Percy tried to stay in the shadows, not talk to anyone. He knew it was his fault so many people died. For being the Saviour of Olympus, or whatever, he sure couldn't lower the amount of people who died. Most nights, he stayed awake, thinking of all the ways he could have kept more people alive when they fought against the Titans. There was no doubt in his mind that thoughts like that would linger about this war too.

To his left, he saw Annabeth talking to a group of Romans, getting their opinion on her ideas on how to redesign Olympus. On his right, Jason was introducing Piper to people who he was friends with from Camp Jupiter. Ahead of him, people were surrounding Frank and Hazel, congratulating Frank on his Praetor position. Percy sat next to a tree, his back up against it, half expecting Rachel to come out here and announce another prophecy that he'd be forced to lead.

Looking back on it now, Percy kind of wished there would be another war. Staying at Camp wouldn't be good for him, and it would have saved him a lot of drama. Not to mention a confusing relationship with a mystery person. At least being on almost useless quests got him away from life and all its problems.

Every once in a while, someone would come up to Percy congratulating him on winning the war. They told him the deaths weren't his fault. But Percy knew better than to believe them. By the next morning, almost all the people who came up to him tonight would be back tomorrow to tell him that he was a disgrace. Similar things like that happened after the Titan war too. That was one of the only reasons Percy was okay with Hera stealing his memories and sending him to Camp Jupiter.

Renya was the only person Percy had confined this information with. She was furious and offered to take him back to Camp Jupiter when they went back. He had declined, but only because he knew how people at Camp Halfblood act when angry. Roman demigods, on the other hand, were intimidating without being angry. What if they were to blame him on the deaths too?

The Dionysus kids started passing around alcohol and Percy took this as his cue to leave. It was still early in the night, but if demigods started getting drunk, they would start taking their anger out much earlier. For now, Percy wanted to enjoy what little peace he had currently.

When he got to his cabin, Percy shut and locked the door. He activated the silencing charm he had a son of Hecate, Joey, put on after the Titan War. The only time it was ever activated was whenever someone died on a quest that could be pointed back to Percy.

The first thing he did was check the cabinet that he had specifically for snacks. Before the final battle, Percy had rushed to Camp and stocked it, knowing that he'd be trapped in his cabin for a few days while people cooled off. There were plenty of snacks that could easily last him a week along with some drinks. If the tormenting from the other campers got to be too much and Percy had to stay in longer than a week, he'd be able to heal himself with water.

There was only about a week left of summer, anyway. Then he'd be able to go home and be with his mom and step-dad, Paul. He knows they're expecting a girl, but he's unsure about whether or not she's born. Percy decided to Iris Message his mom and catch her up on everything that's happened.

"Oh, uh, hey, Percy!" his mom said, turning away from the water to continue doing whatever she was doing previously. "Can you hurry, Estelle should wake up any moment."

"I just wanted to let-" Percy was cut off by the sound of a loud wail. Sally looked at Percy for a second before apologizing and cutting the connection. He stared at the water for a few seconds before the realization hit him hard.

His baby sister was born and she had his mom's full attention. So much that she didn't even care about what happened during the final battle. The one person who's always been there for him is slowly fading out of his life, and he feared that it was too late to get her back.