Everyone was frowning. Not a single laugh was to be heard. No shining smiles could be spotted around Camp Half-Blood. This wasn't like before. This wasn't training; it wasn't play. This was real. It was wartime now. War preparation, war strategies, missions, etc. It was all so much different. A few of them had seen friends die. Plenty had seen someone close to them get disturbingly injured. No matter how many jokes they told, Connor and Travis couldn't erase those memories. No matter how many bad (or good) jokes they told, no matter how funny they were, the war still clung to the camper's minds.

They pulled a really good prank off. Seriously good, they thought. It was well thought out and clever. Before, it would have made everyone laugh, or at least crack a smile. Now, they just smiled sadly, as if this were a pleasant memory, or told the Stolls to get back to their sword fighting class. ("This is serious, boys." or "Grow up already! We don't need to deal with your stupid pranks!") It didn't make sense. They should be enjoying life while they still had lives, right? Tomorrow they could be dead. Tomorrow everyone the ever knew could be dead. And they wouldn't have done anything to make their last days memorable.

"Dude," Travis said to his brother, "why can't we prank anyone? I mean, they were already strict enough—"

"Especially the Demeter cabin. Gods, they are so annoying. They nag. They yell. And, most terrible of all, they plant flowers."

"Tell me about it. Honestly, where's the sense in stopping us from having a bit of fun. We might as well get some laughs before…" Travis's voice trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished. Connor understood perfectly. The unfinished sentence seemed complete. Before we die, he was saying, before everyone we've ever known leaves us. It was obvious. They didn't need to be said, and it was better that they were left unsaid and unheard. Connor didn't need or want to hear his brother say that; it would be the end. It would be the end of everything. It would be hitting rock bottom. Nothing could get worse than hearing cheerful Travis say that there was no hope.

Now nothing was right. Seeing everyone walking sadly around Camp made everything feel so different. Not a single person had a smile on their face. Usually, it was harder to spot a sad, angry or serious face (unless you looked in the Ares cabin) than a smiling one. Why was now so different? They needed good times more than anything now. What else would keep them going? The hard work couldn't do it; if anything, it would make the campers less motivated. It was "Okay you're doing a great job! Now, I'll annoy you even further by having you do more work! Yay!" Obviously, this was not the type of attitude the Stolls enjoyed. That was not the attitude they enjoyed at all.

"…And that, my friends, is why we are no longer welcome in any Wal-Mart in the world," Travis concluded dramatically. He and his brother held their arms up theatrically, waiting for the campers to burst into applause mixed with laughter.

The campfire shone bright purple, casting light on the faces of laughing friends that circled it. Their eyes glittered with happiness. Not a single frown, no matter how hard you looked into the crowd, could be seen in the sea of people.

"Any other stories for us, Stoll?" a fellow Hermes camper shouted unnecessarily; the boys were sitting beside him.

The boys looked at each other mischievously. The looks on the brothers' faces mirrored one another. "Oh," they said in unison, "we have plenty."

All of the campers cheered for the boys as they began retelling the story of the time they discovered that their childhood pet, a lizard, turned out to be a monster. It was easily one of the scariest and most amusing moments in the Stolls' lives. Who would have suspected itty-bitty Fluffy IV (They had terrible luck with their oddly named pets, but none this bad. Therefore, this was the last Fluffy to be owned by either of the Stoll brothers) to be a Hydra?

Sitting around the campfire that night was one of the best moments of Travis and Connor's lives.

It was before the prophecy trouble. It was before everything was so serious. Things were easier then. Much easier.

They had finished singing now, and everyone was in that in between state where everyone stares awkwardly at each other, silently debating who's going to leave first.

"Hey," Connor said, surprising himself. "Anyone want to hear some jokes?"

"No, Travis," an Aphrodite girl said tiredly, "we don't actually care for your lame jokes.'

"I'm not Travis!" Connor said angrily. "I'm, like, ten times better looking!"

A couple people grinned.

"Ten times better looking? Oh, I'm so sure."

"Now that we've got you're attention," a brother said, as if they had planned the whole thing out.

The rest of his sentence was left unheard due to the many whispers of the half-bloods.

"I'll take that as a yes."

The night was filled with pathetic jokes, exaggerated, but hilarious stories, laughter, and grins.

A/N: So... The Stolls. I considered adding some Tratie toward the end, but I felt like I would be making Connor hate me. Y'know? No. That was just strange. Plus, it wouldn't really go with the story, now would it? I don't really like the shortness of it. Especailly the end. Am I the only one who thinks things look a little bit better on word than they do here? Maybe it's just me. But I do prefer the white on black screen. That's what I have it set to when I read. Helps me stay focused for whatever reason. Well, that was random. Anyway. That would be it for today. Thanks for reading!
-Lexi