So here is the last chapter. I am so so so so sorry for disappearing for so long and leaving all our readers waiting. In this chapter, the story of Nico di Angelo, June Loras, July Loras and Landyn Green will come to an end. We will miss them tremendously. We will also miss all the time we spent brainstorming plots and writing down our imaginations. As we are applying for colleges now, we haven't had much time since the start of August and this chapter might not be as good as some other ones, but we tried our best.

Please enjoy: the grand ending.

-A&H-

P.S. July's POV was written by Hazel and the other two by me.

Chapter 17

July

"Uh, guys? I can't breathe." June said when I finally stopped sobbing. Landyn and I let go of her quickly. But we continued to stare at her like she was a ghost.

"Miss me much?" My twin wriggled her eyebrows.

"Well, maybe just a little." I shrugged and broke into a smile. "By the way…great hair." I couldn't staring at her. My other half that I have been looking for all this time was actually right in front of me now. She looked so different from what I had remembered, the short hair, tanned skin and more importantly, the look in her eyes. Just by looking at her, I knew she had experienced a lot of things I couldn't imagine, things that might have changed her from the inside. But at the same time, I knew she was exactly the girl that had been by my side my entire life. She was my twin, my favorite person in the universe, and that hadn't changed a bit.

"And nice hat." June smirked.

I was about to reply when Landyn cut in. "Hey, girls. As much as I don't want to spoil this happy, moving reunion atmosphere, I think we should be running now." He said apologetically and jerked his thumb over his shoulders. "Looks like they've found us."

"They?" June frowned. She stretched her neck to see what Landyn was referring to.

"Romans. I'll explain later, now, we run." Landyn said, grinning. He grabbed us by the hand and together, we ran for our lives, smiling like it was the greatest fun in the world.

xxx

So where did we run to? Obviously, the answer was "home". During the trip home, the three of us exchanged stories. While I am sincerely exhilarated that I finally got June back, my throat was tight the whole time she was recounting her experiences at Camp Roman. I couldn't imagine myself in my twin position, a lone Greek among a whole horde of hostile Romans. What I've been through during the past week seemed like nothing compared to her story. But when she talked about her new friends Bobby and Susan, her face would light up and I couldn't help but smile too. Landyn, in fact, seem to be particularly interested in the boy Bobby.

Finally, the three of us crowded at the door of the Loras'. My heart was pounding and somehow, I felt my eyes welling up. June rapped on the door loudly with one hand and took my hand with the other.

Seconds later, the door opened and there she was, still holding multicolored crepe. Mom froze for a moment before furrowing her eyebrows at the sight of us and scolded: "Girls, you should've told me you were coming home earlier! Now the party is not a surprise anymore."

"Oh Mom…" I laughed. Then June and I both tackled her into a hug. Mom smiled and kissed our foreheads.

"Now, that's quite enough." She pushed us away suddenly. "Since you're here, go make some calls and invite your friends at school over. I have to finish up the party decorating. And you, Landyn, right? Don't think I didn't notice you. Come help me with the decorating." She ordered.

Landyn scratched the back of his head and said sheepishly: "Nice to see you too, Mrs. Loras."

"Haven't I told you to just call me Ada last time?" Mom pouted.

"Uh, I don't think so." Landyn shook his head innocently.

"Oh, it must be the other boy then. Well, now you know." Mom smiled. Unexpectedly, I felt a throb in the chest at her words. I took a deep breath and forced myself to ignore it. Mom pushed Landyn into the living room, where colorful paper, strings, scissors, markers and glue sticks were scattered all over the floor, and I went to my room with June to make calls.

We had some sandwiches for lunch, nothing much, since there would be a lot of food and snacks at the party. Around 2 p.m., everything was ready and guests started to arrive. Seeing Joan, Rex and Sinclair was a bigger blow than I thought. They reminded me that I had actually lived as a normal person, not as a demigod, before. I was laughing and joking with them like old times, but deep in the inside, I knew I was never going back to them or my old life. The world that I live in now was not the world they live in.

The afternoon past quickly, and after a dinner of pizza and chocolate birthday cake, my friends (and June's) left one by one. When finally there were only June, Landyn and me left in the living room, I noticed how June and Landyn were standing together at one side of the room while I was standing at the other side. They were still talking and laughing, looking at each other with shining eyes. I hope June never catches me looking like that, or she'll tease me for it for weeks. I thought. Suddenly, I felt really tired, like the lack of sleep last night finally caught up to me. So I headed back to my room quietly. I fell back into my bed and stared at the ceiling. Cars were honking outside and I could hear June and Landyn laughing in the living room. My chest started hurting again and suddenly, I realized it was sadness and guilt. I closed my eyes and the image of a particular demigod rose from the darkness.

"Nico." I murmured.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Like a whisper of a ghost, someone said: "Hey, July."

I sprung up from my bed and looked where the voice had come from. And I saw the son of Hades. Apparently, he was on some kind of ship.

I stared at him, simply flabbergasted. "You!" I managed to utter.

"Yeah, me, sending an Iris Message to you." Nico di Angelo said. "And you can't have forgotten my name so fast. You just said it a second ago."

I felt my face heating up and Nico grinned, which didn't make things better.

"No I didn't. You heard wrong." I insisted. Before he could argue, I got out of bed and stepped closer to the image. "How…you've disappeared for long enough." I muttered. "How did you get out of that jar?" was what I really wanted to say. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I had dreamed of seeing him again all this time but could do absolutely nothing to find him. And now, he was right in front of me. He looked so thin, so tired. But I was really looking at the boy I thought about and dreamed about all the time. I was looking at Nico, the boy I liked. All I wanted to do now was to touch his face, and feel his cool skin on my finger tips.

"I'm sorry, July. I was in trouble until a little while ago. Did you worry?" He said softly.

I realized that he wouldn't have known that Gaia had showed him to me. "Oh please. We were all in trouble. I knew you would be fine." I rolled my eyes. Annoying Mode on. I slapped myself in my head. That's what your crush does to you.

Nico chuckled. "Really?" he narrowed his eyes and said, "You know, I really want to visit you in person, but… I can't shadow travel now. I just want to wish you Happy Birthday." He smiled apologetically.

Then I made the mistake again. I looked up into his dark eyes and was instantly held captive. I had missed those beautiful midnight dark eyes so much. Those eyes that made the world around us dissolve.

I blinked and the spell broke at last. "How…how did you know? That deal, I didn't even do my part." I asked, trying to regain composure.

"I guessed. June and July, you must be born at midnight on the last day of June, right?" Nico replied.

"You got that right, smarty pants." I grinned. "I'll be expecting a late birthday present when we meet, you know that right?"

"Do you know how many drachmas I'm spending on this super long IM?" He complained.

I shrugged and a short period of silence followed.

"Thanks, Death Boy." I said finally. "But I'll be seeing you soon, right?"

Nico nodded. "I promise." He said.

I smiled. "Maybe I should call the two lovebirds in the living room, they'll want to see you. And, I missed you."

Nico grinned. "I know you did."

xxx

Landyn

The sight of June was more overwhelming than I'd ever imagined. Yes, she wasn't in the best outfit, her hair wasn't exactly beauty-queen-style and she didn't fling herself into the arms of her Mr. Right (a.k.a. me) as I would've liked. But my heart still raced out of control.

As I pulled the twins into a group hug, I couldn't help noticing how thin and somehow rough June felt against my skin. Subconsciously, I tightened my grip…why couldn't I be there for her when she was going through all that? Anger at the Romans for doing this to June and at myself for my uselessness boiled the surface—but I couldn't show them. I can't trouble June and July even more.

"Uh, guys? I can't breathe." June's voice sounded so familiar but also alien. The three of us broke apart and studied each other. While the twins joked on each other, I still didn't manage to say a word. I was afraid what I would say if I did.

When I finally unlocked my mouth, all I did was telling them to get going. Though my mind was in a mess, I still had the sense to be on caution for the Romans. Leave all the moving scenarios until we get somewhere safe. We decided to go to the Loras' home, since their mom was expecting them anyway, though not for some time later.

I led the twins on the subway as a punishment for laughing very impolitely when I heard June took four wrong trains trying to get Central Park. While waiting for a train, June caught my eye. She finally turned her attention to me: "Hey, Green. You seem quiet today. Miss me too much?"

I ran a hand through my hair without knowing it and grinned at last: "I just didn't want to interrupt your warm and fuzzy reunion with your sister."

June's eyes lingered on me for a while but the train came in and we broke eye contact. The rest of trip was uneventful. When we finally got to the Loras' house, we were welcomed warmly by Mrs. Loras. I felt uncomfortable for not remembering it was June and July's birthday until I saw Mrs. Loras preparing for their "surprise party". I had figured out their birthday almost as soon as I heard their names, but I still didn't prepare anything. I tried to tell myself it's totally understandable as I was too busy trying to find June. Thankfully, the twins didn't notice my mistake and it was soon forgotten when their friends from school came and the party began.

Getting to know June's mortal friends were interesting. They told me all kinds of things about the birthday girls—the side of them that I'd never known before. I tried to imagine them at school, with their guitars and laughing with their friends. Suddenly I felt very jealous of Sinclair, Joan and Rex for being able to spend time with the twins as normal teenagers, instead of demigods training for survival. I did my best to banish my childish thoughts and concentrated on making the birthday party as fun as possible.

After dinner, the twins' friends left, but I stayed behind as their mom allowed me to stay overnight until we could go back to Camp the next day. After clearing up the mess, I stood around doing nothing in particular except for talking to June. When we weren't talking about anything interesting or important, but I wished it could last forever. Sometime between our conversations on the songs she liked to play on her guitar, we noticed July was gone. Actually, no one was around—Mrs. Loras had gone downstairs to the basement.

"She probably went back to our room." June said, shrugging after looking into the kitchen. "I wonder why though."

"What, can't bear to loose sight of your precious sister?" I joked.

June rolled her eyes: "Trust me, I'm not that weak."

"Of course. You survived a week totally alone in a Roman camp." I chuckled. "How did you do that anyway?"

"With a lot of lying." June answered.

Surprised, I turned to look at her. The smile was gone. Her face was no longer radiating happiness, but full of pain and sadness. My chest felt tight. I stepped closer to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Look at me, June." I said. June looked up reluctantly, her blue eyes, so cold and sad.

I held her gaze and said: "You did what you had to. There was no way out. To survive, you had to lie. Nobody can blame you for that, you know? After this stupid war is over, you can always go to Camp Jupiter and tell them everything. They will understand."

June dropped her gaze, silent.

On a sudden impulse, I pulled June close and wrapped my arms around her. I soothed: "It's OK, June. You did a good job. You came back, didn't you? And all by yourself too. Well, that's something I probably would never be able to pull off."

"Yeah, considering who I am and who you are." June mumbled. Suddenly, she stepped back, looking away. "Thanks. I really needed to hear that."

"No problem. I'm always yours if you need comfort." I said casually, but to say the truth, I was trying very hard not to turn red.

June glared at me. "Thanks, but I won't need it."

"Come on" I whined, "Don't be so mean!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm always mean."

I couldn't help smiling: "And I missed you too."

June looked startled. But a second later, her features softened—just slightly. "Me too, Landyn." She replied.

Just then, July called out: "June? Landyn? Come here! There's someone you'd like to see!"

"Nico!" June cried out immediately. "He must be Iris-messaging us!"

Somehow, I felt a little upset at her quick response, but I followed her up the stairs to their bedroom enthusiastically anyway. I had missed that dark, serious kid.

As I watched June's choppy hair swinging in front of me as we rushed to see our old quest leader, I remembered the time I ran after her too, only her hair was still long and perfect then. I would have never guessed what I had gotten myself into when I followed that peculiar girl. But now I would never regret my choice.

Thanks, all the gods and goddesses, for bringing me to them.

xxx

June

First, my twin sister was obviously possessed by some evil minions of Aphrodite. Why else would she be seeing love signs everywhere?

Seriously, there's nothing going on between me and Landyn. We probably talked too much at the party and July felt left out or something. I'm not blind; I know Landyn pays me more attention than just as a friend, but really, I'm not ready for anything of that sort yet. I have a lot to deal with between Camp Half-blood and Camp Jupiter, and…I have to clear my mind, which is messed up ever since the party.

All right, let's forget the pink topics. It's been days after I finally got to Camp Half-blood and life has gradually become as routine as it could be for a demigod. The Greeks and Romans are still in hostile terms and Octavian personally sent me a letter via "eagle express" to berate me on my betrayal. My wounds healed and my scars faded, but my time alone in Roman camp left a lasting imprint. I keep waking up in the middle of the night, dreaming that I was still with Cohort Five, but Octavian, Reyna, Howard, Rick, Susan and even Bobby were brandishing their weapons and calling me a traitor. They have healed me and even accepted me, to some extent, but how did I repay them? By abandoning them in battle and disappearing. Whenever I look at July, I feel a stab in the heart—while she's getting on great with her new friends at Camp Half-blood, my Roman friends probably have decided to hate me.

But still, as I enjoy the ease and comfort of staying with my twin and Landyn, I knew I couldn't have done otherwise.

Though I try my best to engage myself in camp activities and become a part of Camp Half-blood, I didn't quite fit in. The Greek camp seemed just a little too disorganized. I guess some of the Roman discipline rubbed off me. I still think frequently of Nico, Bobby, Susan, Percy and all those demigods out there fighting in their own way for our world. Gaia is still out there and no doubt, the world of demigods will always be full of danger, risks and excitement even after she is defeated. But I could get used to it. Especially now that I had my sister, a bunch of good friends, a place to really be me and a godly father—even though he isn't exactly helpful.

The world might fall to Gaia's schemes, but life is good, for now.

THE END.

This fanfiction, part 1 and part 2 together, accompanied us for about one year and four months, beginning from zero to one hundred and thirty thousand and nine hundred and sixty-seven (Ok, whatever, 130,967) words. Looking back on our journey with our beloved characters, I know I will cherish this experience forever. This was the first novel we had ever completed.

The story of those four have ended, but I trust they will always be fighting monsters, dealing with relationships, complaining about their godly parents and living their lives in the world of Percy Jackson.

Our journey of writing does not end here. At least, I don't plan to abandon my HP one-shot collection, though I haven't updated it for a really long time. As soon as our college application tension relieves, we will return to fandom. Please wait for us.

-A&H-