Damn it, I was doing so well for like a week or two. Expect me to be posting less often from now on, but I will finish the story this time.
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"Have you met your dad?" Agafya asked Cecil.
Cecil nodded. "Twice in person. One time I was on a field trip to the Olympian meeting on the winter solstice and I met him from afar then, the other time was in the second Titan War against Kronos, also from afar. I've seen him in my dreams, though."
"Wait, war? What war?"
"It was back in America. Sure our camps were more protected, but that didn't make us any more safe. We were known, and our parents waged wars that we were forced to fight in. Those they've wronged in the past tried to get revenge against them, but they made us fight."
"You've fought in a war?"
"Two. One against the Titans, the other against Mother Gaea herself."
Agafya laid down on her stomach and propped her head up with their hands, "Tell me more."
Cecil smiled. "The first war I was in was the second Titan War. It all started when a boy named Percy Jackson came to camp. This newbie was already getting picked on by the gods."
"Why? What's so important about him?"
Cecil found this oddly refreshing—someone who didn't know the heroic son of Poseidon.
"He's the Son of Poseidon, super powerful. He's matched only by Jason and Thalia Grace, children of Zeus, and Nico and Hazel, children of Hades."
"Nico's a child of Hades?" Agafya asked.
"Yeah, but he's not that bad. He can give off pretty creepy vibes, and is kinda creepy himself, but he's not gonna kill you or anything. He's not bad."
Agafya nodded and gestured for him to keep going.
"Zeus accused him of stealing his master weapon, and Hades thought so as well. His dad thought it was a dishonor and insult and threatened to wage war on Zeus. Basically it turned out it was actually stolen by this kid named Luke who stole it for Kronos."
"Who is Luke?"
Cecil looked down at his little brother who looked up at him expectantly. "He's...he was... our brother."
"I'm sorry."
Hermes was never around and his mother had been gone since he was seven. He was moved to a boarding school where he met Lou, who became the sister he never had. Then, they went to camp and he had his cabin full of siblings, and that includes those who were unclaimed and weren't related to him by immortal blood. He learned that family didn't mean blood, but bond. He knew it sounded cheesy, but it was true. Luke was his big brother by blood and bond. He taught him how to fight and defended him against his victims every time he pulled a prank. He refused to believe that Luke was evil, not until he saw it with his own eyes. His death would've been slightly more bearable if he had died evil too, but no. He died a hero. He killed himself to help save the world. Not one day passed when Cecil didn't think about him, how scared he must've felt, now Cecil could've helped him.
"Anyways," Cecil continued with his story, not wanting to let himself drown in his emotions. "We thought that everything was fine until Percy Jackson was kidnapped by Hera and replaced with a Roman by the name of Jason Grace. That's when we learned that there was a camp of Roman demigods. We almost went to war, but Nico and the Roman praetor Reyna were able to stop it. While we were preparing for war, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace left with five other demigods and a satyr named Hedge to try and fulfill a prophecy and stop Gaea, Mother Earth, from taking over the world or something with her giants. These other five were Piper McClean, daughter of Aphrodite, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, Frank Zhang, son of Mars and legacy, meaning descendant, of Neptune, and... Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. I don't know much about what happened there, but apparently they met Nico and Reyna along the way. Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge brought this statue called the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood, the Greek camp, bringing peace between the two camps. Then there was this huge war against Gaea's forces and we won, but we lost a lot of the people along the way. A few of my siblings and friends, and Leo Valdez. He sacrificed himself to defeat Gaea. They all did. Zeus blamed Apollo for the whole thing and decided to punish him and Apollo went missing. And here we are."
Agafya was looking at him in awe, and even Dimitris was silently staring at him.
Agafya said, "No way! You're saving a god?! You're a hero! Like Heracles and Jason!"
Cecil laughed. Never before had he been considered the hero. That word seemed to be more appropriately associated with the seven, Reyna, Nico, and the fallen. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"That sounds so awesome, but I'm sorry about everyone who died."
Cecil smiled sadly, "It's not so awesome when you're living it. As much as I love talking about myself, what about you? What's it like here?"
"Pretty boring compared to you," Agafya sighed. "We just try our best to survive everyday. The forest keeps out most monsters, but this is technically their home too, so some always get in. Everyday we eat, sleep, pray, work, train, and on most, we either die or mourn. So tell me about your quest!"
Cecil was taken aback by how nonchalant she sounded. How much death has this little seven year old seen? At camp, most deaths were the result of wars and quests, and so they were at least prepared. Here, death could strike at any moment. They constantly had to be on guard and ready to say goodbye at any given moment.
Cecil put his arm around the small girl and held his little brother closer as he began launching into his epic tale of how he was leading his friends on a quest to save a god. Although he was joking around, he really was part of this quest. He had a right to be telling it. For once, he was one of the heroes in the stories—at least in the eyes of this little girl.
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Yeah, sorry I made you guys wait a week and not even give you any real plot. Thank you so much for being patient!