We've won.
The words resonate through your head, clear and sweet. It seems that it's happening to everyone. Some of it seems surreal, and it's hard not to wonder: is this reality? For it's unbelievable; when you fell into Tartarus, hope lost in many.
But you are here, standing on the famous hill. You are here, smiling, hand raised in victory, even though all you want to do is rest, because gods know you've earned it. Especially when one of your own was lost, one of the special heroes. (He comes back later, but there's no way you know this, especially with children of Pluto and Hades around.)
The camps are united. You've conquered the army. You've quenched the anger. Winning, or losing. Victory, or death. Living, or dying. The choice would seem easy. It is easy for many, many new and inexperienced campers. The gods trump all. They are your parents, after all, and what are you more than a child?
But you, a seasoned veteran, know better. Your parents are not so great, not as great as they say themselves to be, piling lie after lie, deception after deception, until you get lost and it's all you know. What you don't learn is about the cursed Arachne's real curse, or the treatment forever alone Calypso received. (The gods have won, but they haven't won your loyalty. No, they have. But they're slowly but surely losing it.) Family, some say, is everything.
It really is true.
But in the end, you are heroes. This is the real reason you stand up there, smiling through your pain. (It is so hard to smile now. When did this happen? you wonder. Maybe it was when you were abducted by Hera, or when your beloved went on the quest alone. The most obvious answer is when you fell into that dark pit, but maybe it was a combination of it all, and the gods' constant pestering for you to fight for them and you getting nothing in return, nothing but one singular promise that will soon be forgotten. You know that in a few generations, the gods will forget about their children again—your solution was only temporary, and you resent that.) You are heroes, and it is your duty to protect the others and your home. It would hurt you beyond belief for you to fail. (Part of you wants to. To just give up. But you couldn't let the others down.)
Some of you were forced into this life; others of you wanted it. But now all of you just want to lay your heads to rest and for once be a side character in the story. Of course, you know it will never happen. People will always count on you to save the day. And you will feel like a failure if you don't. (There is a reason you are a hero, after all, and not any other. You have a good heart, but slowly, slowly, slowly, it is being taken over by the darkness.)
Your side won the battle, won the war. After feeling days' worth of lost hope, winning was a surprise, even to those who had placed their faith in you.
(But really, it wasn't. Nothing less was expected of you. Because you are a hero, and in the end, you had to win anyways.)