Hey, two updates in one month. I must be getting better.
The story behind this was that I wanted to make a tribute of sorts to all our favourite demigods. At first, I didn't know how I was going to do it, but then I had this idea to give Chiron a little one-shot of his own. This is what turned out of a days work (literally). Hope you enjoy.
Flowers on the Graves
With a sigh, he stared up at the wall before him. All of the great heroes of the past had found a way into his heart and those images that smiled back at him now were the only thing that reminded him of those times of old. Each image was carefully framed in a bronze frame specifically made in the arts and craft centre in the camp.
The first one he allowed his gaze to travel across was the image of two young men in business suits in the top left hand corner of the wall. The boy to the right of the black and white photo, Alabaster Greenway, was one of the top metal workers of his time. His partner, Jonathan McHynes, had been good with money. To this day, he was amazed at how a son of Hephaestus and a son of Hermes managed to bring the 1900's into a new era.
Still scanning the wall, his eyes fell on a daughter of Poseidon. Mariah Stern had been one of the first women to enter the Olympic Games back in 1920 and she had won a gold medal. The unfortunate thing about Miss Stern was that not long after receiving her first and only medal, she disappeared. All that remained was the gold medal which Poseidon himself had presented to him.
In the photo next to Mariah Stern's stood a small demigod child of Demeter. The young girl had been riding a magnificent pegasus from the stables at the time of the photograph. Annie would always have a place in his heart. And he would never forget the sweet things that she would do for him like grow him one of his old flowers from Ancient Greece that he was so fond of. If only he and the other campers had been fast enough to save her from that sea monster. She was only nine.
The glint of bronze in the light caught his attention and he turned to see the 'Dynamic Duo' Tina Martin and Harriet Stone dancing to the music of one of the sons of Apollo at that time. Both girls were daughters of Aphrodite and both had a passion for dancing. Unlike Mariah and Annie, these two girls blossomed in the outside world. He remembered receiving a letter one day in 1970 from Miss Martin stating that both she and Harriet had lived full lives, married and had children and that only the year before, Harriet had passed on at the ripe old age of 69 and that she felt she was soon to follow. Those two had had a happier life.
A smile dawned across his wizened face as he remembered each and every demigod who had found a place on his wall. He remembered the stories well. It was like each one of those images was just a single page in an ever growing book that he was reading. Then, another sigh escaped him when he noticed an image of two almost identical boys being dragged by the ear by a very angry daughter of Demeter.
Travis and Connor Stoll, the other Dynamic Duo. No one had been able to prank as much as those two boys had. Not even their sibling predecessors would have been able to match their pranking abilities. He was almost certain that those two boys were able to rival their father. In all honesty, if they were given the quest to steal Apollo's cows, then they probably would have done it… maybe even better than Hermes himself. Thank the gods for Katie Gardner or else those two brothers and sons of Hermes would have gotten into a lot more mischief than what they were able to handle.
Right next to them were Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson, daughter of Athena and son of Poseidon. Those two powerful demigods had somehow been able to forget the grudge that their godly parents had waged for millennia and found love together, ending the second Olympian war and braving the depths of Tartarus together.
But it was the next two images that found a place on his wall, not only because of the demigods within them, but also because of the rarity of the images themselves. The first was of three demigods. One was Percy Jackson. The other two, however, were a struggle to get an image of: Nico di Angelo and Thalia Grace. Neither of the two older demigods (as Percy had been born last out of the three) looked pleased either, and it was Percy who was keeping the both of them in the photo. It was the only photograph of its kind – all three children of the Big Three.
The other wasn't a photograph at all, but rather a brilliantly drawn sketch of seven demigods done by Will Solace himself. Percy and Annabeth were clearly visible in the drawing with Percy smack bang in the middle. To Percy's left were Jason Grace, Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque; all Roman demigods. And to Percy's right were Annabeth Chase, Piper Mclean and Leo Valdez; all Greek demigods.
As with the three children of the Big Three, this was the only one of its kind. Those seven demigods were the very demigods fated to complete the second great prophecy. And complete it they did. The Roman demigods, fleeing from a life which would not take them back, had found a new home in Camp Half-Blood for the remainder of their training.
But all that happened long ago. There was no more Percy Jackson. No more Annabeth Chase. No more Travis or Connor Stoll or Katie Gardner. There was no more Tina Martin or Harriet Stone or Mariah Stern or little Annie. No more Will Solace or Frank Zhang. No more Hazel Levesque or Nico di Angelo. There was no more Jason or Thalia Grace, Piper Mclean or Leo Valdez. There was no more Jonathan McHynes or Alabaster Greenway. No. Almost none of the great heroes that were now on his wall and forever in his heart were alive anymore, save for the more recent additions.
His memories were interrupted by a knock at his door.
" Come in." He called morosely.
" Chiron. Is everything okay?" The daughter of Demeter asked, concern deep in her voice.
" Yes, child."
" I have the photo you wanted, the one of Luke and Daniel. I've even framed it for you with little carvings of music notes in the celestial bronze."
" Thank you. Thank you very much."
" It's the least I could do. You took me in, gave me a home. I don't think I'll be able to pay you enough for everything you have done for me and the other demigods."
Chiron thought for a minute, letting the daughter of Demeter's words sink into his mind, as his eyes returned once more to the photo of little Annie. " There is one thing you can do for me, Tracy. Could you please grow me an amarantos flower or everlasting flower?"
With a small nod of her head, the girl complied with her request and, right in her hand, she grew from a small pouch of dirt she carried with her the flower that Chiron had ordered. Slightly confused, she handed both the framed photo and the small, yellow flower to the camp activities director.
" Thank you, Tracy. You may go now."
A small smile crossed Tracy's face as she left the Big House. But she was not to know that shortly after her leave, Chiron wheeled himself out to the veranda and returned to his natural centaur self, the everlasting flower in his hand. Nor was she to know that just beyond the strawberry fields of Camp Half-Blood was a small mound of flowers, identical to the one that she had just been asked to grow. As gently as he could, Chiron planted the new addition alongside its brethren.
" Another amarantos for another year. And they keep growing. I hope that someday soon we will get to meet again, my young friends. You were my best students… and my not-so best students. You were loved and forever shall be loved. And you are missed. But you have lived well and learned well." He sighed as the sun began to set on another day in Camp Half-Blood in the year 2193.
All I can say is thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and hope you will stay to read the next chapter. Next up is another WillxNyssa one-shot.