Love was in the air at Camp Jupiter. That was not an expression, it was quite literal. Aphrodite, or Venus depending on her mood, was floating around on her cloud enjoying all the happy looks from demigods who were reunited with their formerly departed loved ones. Cupid, or Eros, would generally be only a few meters behind her. It was extremely distracting, the two of them. Aphrodite seemed to be having a wonderful time 'blessing' people as she called it with love or romantic attraction. Cupid had begun a list of all the demigods whom she had spoken with and word quickly spread through the camp that the two were to be avoided at all costs.

"Well, they are back though." Frank said fairly as the group stood around the War Room. The mood was much lighter than it had been in the previous meeting, like night and day. "So it kind of makes sense that the gods would take an interest in them."

"Oh, shut up." Nico said irritably. "It would be better if those… four? Two? Would just let them have their peace. A lot of them haven't seen each other in years. They should give them a chance to just be happy for a bit."

"I mean, most of the couples have sort of figured out how to avoid them." Leo said fairly, a grin playing at the corner of his lips. "I mean, come on, when was the last time that anyone saw Percy or Annabeth?"

"Actually, that's a good question." Reyna said, frowning slightly.

"I rest my case." Leo waggled his eyebrows and Calypso smacked him playfully. He turned to Nico and spread his arms wide. "Alright death boy, what's the word from your father? What is going to happen with the demigods Ryker brought back?"

"One, don't call me death boy or I will shadow-travel you to the moon." Nico said, examining his fingernails. "Two, I don't think anything will happen to them."

"So Thanatos is just going to let us leave?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"Oh, trust me, he doesn't like it." Nico reassured her. "If he had it his way then he would bring you all back to Elysium right now. But, unfortunately for him and fortunately for us, there is a precursor to our situation. When my father allowed Orpheus the chance to take Eurydice back from the Underworld, even though Orpheus failed, he set a precedent. Since Ryker was successful my father has no choice but to let you stay."

"And Thanatos can't do anything about it?" Hazel asked, smiling. She had the distinct impression that Nico was pleased to pull one over on the god of death.

"Oh, he put an appeal in." Nico assured her, his face lighting up when Will strode into the tent. The son of Apollo kissed his boyfriend on the cheek and put an arm around his waist as Nico said, "But, due to the circumstances, my father won't approve it. The gods are pretty much in agreeance that without them we wouldn't have won."

"I'm still not sure we can call that winning." Piper said softly.

The others fell silent as they considered her words. She was right, of course, that it wasn't a true victory. Even with their ranks bolstered by the dead demigods the two camps had suffered heavy losses. Their resolve had been wavering when the new forces appeared, strengthening them once more. But if Ryker had been even a minute later there was every chance that the two camps would not have gained the strength to keep fighting. They had managed to kill most of the monsters that had been in the enemy forces but only fifteen of the Corrupted demigods had been incapacitated. Their bodies had been taken somewhere by the gods and were being kept somewhere they could not cause any further trouble. But that had not been the biggest issue. Tartarus had taken a little over fifty demigods. But the forces that he had numbered almost three times that. They had quickly discovered why after they had compared notes about the battle. Demigods who had never made it to camp were among the Corrupted, all of whom were Corrupted as well. For some reason their originals were not among the group that Ryker had led back to the surface.

Leo clapped his hands together loudly, startling everyone from their thoughts. "Hey, we are all still alive and there hasn't been any sign of Tartarus or his forces since." He shrugged and grinned. "As long as we are still around to keep fighting I am going to call that a win."

"But it doesn't explain why they left though." Frank muttered, "Even with the additional forces they had us on the ropes. If they pushed a bit harder, especially after killing Cybele, they could probably have wiped us out."

"Maybe killing a goddess was their point?" Will suggested darkly. "Do some damage to us and then prove that they have the ability to kill a god? That is a sure way to send a message."

"That makes sense," Frank agreed, "But still, why stop there?"

"Maybe let morale drop?" Clarisse suggested. "Maybe they thought that seeing a god fall would demoralize us. It would make it easier for them next time if our fighters were so scared that they could barely fight."

"In which case they were wrong." Will said firmly. "Everyone I have seen has, mostly, been really happy. A few are still worried, actually I think everyone is still a little worried, but this is the happiest I have seen the camps in a long time. The Hunters and Amazons too. Actually, I think we need to have a sit down with Hylla."

"Oh no," Reyna said, making a long face. "What has my sister done now?"

"Well, it's not so much what she has done as to what her warriors are doing." Will corrected with a wince. "I don't know if you have noticed but a lot of the male demigods around here have been wearing these metal collars. A few of them woke up with em on, others might have been ambushed. I think the Amazons are making a joke out of it."

"Oh, so that explains it." Leo said. "We had a couple guys come by the shop earlier today and asked us to get them off. I was wondering how they even got on there."

"So you can get them off?" Reyna said with a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness. If you wouldn't mind, could you keep doing so while I speak to my sister?"

"Sure, put the word out." Leo shrugged. "Anyone with an iron collar on them can come to the Vulcan/Hephaestus cabin for some fixing up."

"So was there anything else?" Frank asked, glancing around the room. "Any other pressing issues that have come up?"

"Well, Ryker is proving as difficult as ever," Will shrugged. "But that is more of a medical personnel problem."

"Is it true that he got punched by a Hunter-." Hazel began to ask.

Will raised a hand, forestalling her words. "Don't ask." He advised her pointedly. "Trust me. Just. Don't."

"Bit of a sore subject?" Leo was clearly working hard to stifle his laughing, his shoulders shaking with the effort. The tale had spread around the camp and was quickly becoming the stuff of campfire legends. It was actually a far more requested tale than Ryker leading an army of demigods back from death.

"So how is our boy doing?" Leo asked finally, having gotten over his laughing fit.

"Well as can be expected." Will said fairly.

Jason listened for a little while before jerking his head out of the tent, glancing pointedly at Piper. The two discreetly exited the tent and were quickly followed by several of the others. "So, what now?" Jason asked her, taking her hand in his. "We could try to find Percy and Annabeth. Make sure that they aren't getting into too much trouble."

"They are at the bottom of the lake." Piper admitted. "I doubt we could actually get to them, and even if we did I really don't want to bother them. Seems like it would be a bit rude."

"Fair point." Jason laughed. He watched the tent as Will and Nico exited with Calypso and Leo following behind them a few minutes later. "You know, it's strange. This isn't over, not by a long shot, but I can't help but feel like… Like…"

"Like things are settled?" Piper nodded in understanding. "I get the feeling. No one is usually this happy until a quest is finished or we complete some prophecy. But we haven't and everyone is still so… relaxed. It makes me a little worried."

"We have scouts out." Jason reminded both Piper and himself. "They haven't reported anything at all."

"I know… but still." Piper shrugged and smiled at him, pulling him down so that she could kiss him. "I just can't help but worry."

"Why don't we go check on Ryker?" Jason suggested. He then reconsidered this and shivered. "Actually, you can go visit him. I feel like I would get turned into a pincushion if I tried to go into the Hunters' tent."

"Or punched." Piper giggled deviously and Jason laughed. "You know we can't ever let him forget that, right?"

"Never." Jason agreed immediately.

They fell quiet again, a thought coming into their minds at the same moment. "What do you think the gods are going to do?" He asked finally.

It was a very important question. The day after the battle the demigods of the camps had awoken to find that most of the gods were nowhere to be found. Some remained, perhaps a quarter of them, but their numbers had been drastically reduced nonetheless. The demigods had attempted to question those that remained but none of them would speak on the matter. One particularly forceful demigod had found himself turned into a potted plant after refusing to leave Ceres alone. He had yet to be turned, no matter how much the Demeter children watered him or put him in sunlight and Ceres refused to turn him back until he apologized. Which, as a plant, presented its own difficulties for the demigod. Some had returned but many were still gone. This loss of power had been noted by the demigods en masse but many of them had simply attributed it to the gods' habit of coming and going at their own leisure. Thus far no one had yet to worry about the issue or, if they had, their friends had reassured them and silenced the issue. The issue, as Jason and Piper saw it, was that many of the demigods were still basking in their survival and the return of their friends. They only saw what they wanted to, which was the hope that had been brought to them.

"I think seeing one of their own get killed scared them." Piper told him quietly as they walked around the border of the camp. "I think that it sort of put their own immortality into question. I was standing next to Hercules when it happened and even he went all pale and he looked actually… afraid."

"So you think that they might not be willing to fight with us next time, because of that?" Jason asked heavily. "That we might be pretty much on our own."

"It's not like we aren't used to doing these things on our own anyways." Piper reminded him. "The gods have been leaving problems like this to demigods for… well, for pretty much all time."

"And the one time we actually need them they bail on us." Jason sighed despondently. "Figures. At least we still have a few on our side."

"And Tartarus can't make any more Corrupted out of our friends." Piper said optimistically. "So we at least have that going for us."

"We'll need to start sending out more search parties for wayward demigods." Jason observed. "Just so that Tartarus can't Corrupt them and turn them against us. Besides, that will be a few more fighters for us."

"A lot of them won't have ever even held a sword before." She reminded him. "It's a bit much to hope that they will fight for us."

"Hey, as long as they aren't on Tartarus's side I am going to consider that they are fighting for us." Jason shrugged. "You know, I've been wondering something. I thought that Orion was on Tartarus's side. If that's true, why did he save Ryker when the other Ryker was about to kill him?"

"Maybe because Ryker once fought with him?" Piper suggested uncertainly. "I don't know. It would have definitely made Tartarus angry, and since Artemis is against him…. It just doesn't make any sense."

The two continued to speak on the issue as they returned to camp, but their words were heard by more than the one they intended them for. Orion stood on the border of the camp, hidden by the trees, listening to them. He smirked and shook his head as they questioned his motives. "They have no idea." He muttered to himself, readjusting his grip on his bow. He looked over the camp to where the Hunters' tents were, and to where Ryker was being kept. "I think that I am long overdue for a reunion, old friend." It was unclear, even to Orion, to whom he was speaking to.