Chapter Title: Kayla's POV - The Aftermath

Alternative Chapter Title: Kayla's POV - My Boyfriend Calls Out The Queen Of The Gods To Her Face

(A/N: Some things about canon that have changed because of Colton and Michael's defiant stand with the MG42. One, Lee and Castor aren't dead.. so they are still alive. Two, Camp Half Blood suffers fewer casualties than canonically. And three.. we will get to the third part later on down the road. As to why I'm mentioning Porphyrion now, well.. this is mostly canon for a reason.

Also, more Belle in here as well.)

If I had to describe the way camp viewed my boyfriend after the "Battle Of The Labyrinth" as it became known, I would use two words: shock and awe. I don't think any of us, not even me, expected him to quite literally kill Kampê with a headshot while she was in mid air. If anything, I fell in love with Colton even harder. Sure, I was in tears when I found out he had been hit in the back by a club from a giant and then suffered burns from flames set by an enemy demigod, which thankfully, Percy managed to put out with water before they could ignite all the ammo we had there. Michael killed the offender just as Grover caused the army to panic and flee.

Even so, it had been a close call - not just for himself, but for camp multiple times during that fight. Without him and Michael, things could have been a whole lot worse.

Bodies, mostly those of Luke's army, littered the clearing and in the nearby woods. Some had been killed by Percy, some by Clarisse, some by other campers, some by me and Caeli, some by Austin.. but the lion's share of the kills had gone to Michael and Colton. So many bodies lay riddled with bullets. It was a ghastly sight, even for a beauty and fashion queen like me.

I think I puked after a few minutes of being out in that clearing, surrounded by the stench of so much death. It was horrific. We did recover Ariadne's string from Kampê's corpse though.

I don't think many campers could stand to be out there in that valley of death. The only ones that even did so were Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse, who spent a few hours after the battle was over, counting up how many victims Colton and Michael had killed. The grim tally was amazing.. of all the casualties Luke's army had suffered in attacking our home, 63% were attributed to Colton and Michael. They had killed basically the majority of the enemy casualties. It's no wonder then that some of the other campers started calling my boyfriend "The Beast Of Camp Half Blood".

- — - — - — - — -

Lee was the one who told me that Colton was awake. I had been waiting nervously and anxiously outside the infirmary for an hour after helping my siblings gather the dead and patch up the rest of the wounded. He didn't mix words, simply just said, "He's up", and that only had me bounding out of the chair and running to the door, tears of joy in my eyes.

If there were any words that could describe how much I was in love with Colton Reynolds by now, I think the word would be "madly". As soon as I opened the door and saw him, even with bandages on his forehead, parts of his face, his arms, neck, legs, and stomach, my heart skipped a beat. His hair may have been a little bit burnt, but that didn't matter. He was still my hero, always and forever.

I didn't say anything. As soon as he got out of bed, I just ran to him. I felt like I had a dress on - ball gown maybe even though I was only wearing my normal camp clothes - as I ran to him for some reason, but I didn't care at all. I wrapped my arms around him gently behind his back, and even though he hissed a little, it didn't stop him from putting one of his hands gently on the back of my head, and interlacing the fingers of his other hand with mine after I simply felt like hugging him with one arm was enough and took the other arm off of his back.

Then, we kissed. I swear to you, if kissing him the last time had felt like a fairytale, this kiss felt like a dream come true. We kissed for at least ten seconds before Chiron muttered, "Ahem."

The two of us pulled away from each other, a bit embarrassed. "You two are a handful, that much is for sure.." Chiron told us. "Even so.. I think you all deserve some alone time. Both of you are free to do whatever you want for a week, just make sure you follow camp rules. You two deserve it."

Then, he strolled out of the infirmary in his wheelchair. I turned to Colton in disbelief and shock, and he had the same look on his face. There was no way.

There was no way in the world that Chiron had basically given us a free pass for a week, all because Colton had fought - along with Michael - like a madman again to protect me, my siblings, and Clarisse from danger during the battle. I could still kinda hear the screams, noises, and cries from the fight before I got to see him, but around him, they all just melted away from my hearing. He meant the world to me, and he felt the same way.

"Guess I'll have to take it easy for a while then?" he asked, and I nodded. "Well good.. because all I want is you." I beamed brighter than my godly father.

- — - — - — - — - Switch to Colton's POV - — - — - — - — -

An emergency meeting of the Council Of Cloven Elders was held the next day at noon. Before then, me and Kayla had taken it easy like she said back in the infirmary. Simply talking, chatting, making out with each other from time to time.. doing normal boyfriend and girlfriend things after fighting for our lives. She did have a nightmare during the night about the fight and felt too scared to come out of her cabin, so I had to go over into her cabin and sleep with her in her own bed, much to the adoration of her siblings. Her teddy bear was still in good condition, and let me just say, I will kill you if you ever talk shit about an archery queen and fashion goddess sleeping with a teddy bear.

Anyways, at noon, Kayla dragged me - not actually dragged, more like convinced me that I had to come even though I had been unconscious and burned a bit at the time of Grover's scream - to the emergency meeting of the Council Of Cloven Elders. I stood with her, Percy, Annabeth, Belle, Katie, Travis, Connor, and Juniper at Grover's side.

The three senior satyrs were there, as were also hundreds of anxious dryads, satyrs, and naiads that wanted to hear what Grover had to say. This one dude, Silenus, wanted to exile Grover on the spot, which pissed me off. I haven't said this about how I came to Camp Half Blood, but Grover was the one who found me after the Lydian Drakon had killed my mother and stepfather and brought me to camp.. saved me from being its next victim.

I owed a lot to him. Being by his side at this meeting was probably the least I could do. Chiron argued that he wanted to hear evidence, so Annabeth, Percy, Grover took turns telling everyone what had happened.

Apparently, my hunch to Clarisse had been correct after all. Pan had been down there in the labyrinth all along, in a crystal cavern apparently. He had faded away, which was sad to say the least, but his power had flowed into everyone who had been there with him, with Grover receiving more of it than others.

Several dryads, naiads, and satyrs - plus Kayla, Juniper, Belle, both of the Stolls, plus Annabeth and Percy - described the weird sound Grover had made which drove Luke's army back into the labyrinth.

"It was panic" Juniper said insistently. "Grover summoned the power of the wild god." I had to admit, even I felt impressed by that, because if there was anyone badass enough to summon that kind of power, I would say it had to be Grover - and sue me for being biased.

"Panic?" Percy asked, confused, which resulted in Chiron giving a brief explanation as to what Grover had done. Silenus, meanwhile, was having none of it, much to my frustration.

"Preposterous!" he called out. "Sacrilege! Perhaps the wild god favored us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover's music was so bad that it scared the enemy away!"

Grover was about to speak, but I had a few choice words. "What have you even done to even deserve Pan's blessing? Nothing!" I shouted. "I may have been unconscious when he screamed, but I swear on the River Styx that Grover has probably done more than most satyrs have ever done to receive Pan's power. He may not be a god, but goddamn it, is this satyr close to one! He brought Percy here, he brought me here, hell.. there's probably at least a few other kids here with similar stories about Grover! So don't talk shit about him, you lazy pathetic excuse of a satyr!"

Kayla simply just hugged my arm, which calmed me down, but everyone was a bit shocked at my outburst.

Grover probably felt inspired, given how he said his next words. "That wasn't it, sir.." he said, sounding awfully calm and in control for someone who had just been insulted to his face. "He let his spirit pass into all of us. We must act. Each of us must act to renew the wild, to protect what's left of it. We must spread the word. Pan is dead. There is no one but us."

"After two thousand years of searching, this is what you would have us believe?" Silenus screamed. "Never! We must continue the search. Exile the traitor."

Stupidity runs deep for this old fool, I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes. Some of the older satyrs muttered in agreement, making me let out a barely audible growl. Kayla simply rubbed my hand gently, which helped keep me calm.

"A vote!" Silenus demanded. "Who would even believe this ridiculous young satyr, anyway?"

"I would.." said a familiar voice before a couple even more familiar voices spoke up too.

"I would also believe him."

"That's right."

"What they said."

"I'd believe Grover any day."

Me, Percy, Kayla, Annabeth, the Stolls, Katie, Grover, and Juniper turned around. Coming up towards the meeting was Mr. D, followed by Clarisse, Chris, Lee, Michael, and the rest of camp.

As Mr. D approached, all of the satyrs stood respectively and bowed. The director waved his hand and a throne made out of grapevines - golden ones at that - grew out of the ground next to Silenus' chair. He sat down on it and crossed his chair.

I turned from the sight to Clarisse, who simply just nodded for seemingly no reason. "Like I'd said, I'd believe Grover any day.." she said. "After all he's done for the camp alongside Prissy and Annabeth, he's earned the trust of all of us."

I turned back to Mr.D, who looked around at the crowd. "Miss me?"

The satyrs bowed and nodded. "Oh yes, very much, sire!"

"Well, I do not miss this place!" Mr.D bellowed. "I bring bad news, my friends. Evil news. The minor gods are changing sides. Morpheus has gone over to the enemy. Hecate, Janus, and Nemesis, as well. Zeus knows how many more."

Gasps and cries of shock were prevalent behind me, and I felt pissed off. But in a sense, given that there had been kids that had been claimed by Hecate and Nemesis that had disappeared prior to now, it did give me some relief. Seems like at least the minor gods care for their kids, I thought to myself.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, signaling that Zeus was definitely not happy.

"Strike that. Even Zeus doesn't know. Now, I want to hear Grover's story. Again, from the top" Mr.D said, much to Silenus' consternation.

"But, my lord.." he said. "..it's just nonsense!"

Mr.D's eyes lit up with purple fire, and I swear to you, I had no idea he could do that until now. So I was in amazement. "My two sons were in the fight yesterday, Silenus. Either one of them or both could have dead if not for the brave man in bandages.." he said, pointing to me, before he then pointed to Michael a few seconds later. "..and the son of Apollo fighting like dogs to keep the attackers at bay. I am not in a good mood because of how close I was to losing a child of mine. You would do well to humor me."

I felt honored. I had been recognized, alongside Michael, by a god for our valor. It definitely made everyone behind us excited too.

Silenus gulped. He waved at Grover to start again, and Grover obliged, recounting the entire thing once more.

Mr.D nodded once Grover had finished. "Truth be told, it sounds just the sort of thing Pan would do. Grover is right. The search is tiresome. You must start thinking for yourselves."

"We must exile the traitor!" Silenus argued.

"I say no.." countered Mr.D. "That is my vote."

"I vote no as well.." Chiron said, indicating that he agreed as well.

"All in favor of the exile?" Silenus asked, and he and the other two old satyrs raised their hands. All the campers, besides me, were worried now, as were Juniper and Grover, and I was about ready to launch into another outburst.

"Three to two.." Silenus said, smugly. Oh how I hated him.

"Ah yes.." Mr.D replied, rather calmly. "But unfortunately for you, a god's vote counts twice. And as I voted against, we are tied."

I breathed a sigh of relief as the other campers cheered. Good old Mr.D.

Silenus stood up angrily. "This is an outrage! The council cannot stand at an impasse."

Before Mr.D could speak again, I snapped once more.

"Take your outrage and stick it up your ass.." I said angrily. "Two thousand years have passed. Times have changed. Adapt, idiot."

Silenus wanted to scold me - the anger in his eyes told me as much - but Mr.D stopped him. "The boy has a point.." he said calmly. "Times have indeed changed. We must adapt and change our thinking. If this council is at an impasse, then let it be dissolved. I don't care."

Silenus and the two old satyrs bowed stiffly and left the grove with twenty other satyrs, snarling in disgust as they did. I glared at them until they were out of sight.

Grover looked on in optimism. "Don't worry.." he assured the rest of the worried satyrs. "We don't need a council to tell us what to do. We can figure it out ourselves."

What followed - that being Grover dividing up the remaining satyrs into groups as part of the plan he explained about how to defend the wild - definitely justified Annabeth's later words about the fact that Grover seemed to be growing up.

- — - — - — - — - Switch Back To Kayla's POV - — - — - — - — -

Colton and I met up with Belle, Percy and Annabeth the next day on Half Blood Hill. Annabeth was apparently going to be going back to San Francisco, where her father lived, once Chiron's leg had fully healed. Percy would be heading back to NYC at the end of the summer camp season to school, as would I.. though by this time, I had gotten my dad to accept my demand that I would come back if Colton was allowed to be by my side.

"There's a private school out there that'll be going to. I'll probably hate it, but..." Annabeth said, trailing off. She seemed to be sad over something.

"Yeah, well.. call me, okay?" Percy asked.

"Sure. I'll keep my eyes open for.." Annabeth trailed off again. I could sense that she was hiding something, thanks to me having part of my dad's powers for truth. I didn't know who it was, but judging from the expressions of Percy, Colton, and Belle.. who all looked like they knew, I could definitely tell that they knew full well exactly who it was she couldn't bring herself to say the name of.

"Clarisse and I were right.." Colton muttered, causing all of us to look at him. "You were hiding something. What was the last line in the prophecy, Annabeth?"

Annabeth took a while, then in tears and with Percy at her side, she spoke. "And.. lose a.. love.. to.. worse.. than death.." she sobbed, and Colton's eyes went wide in shock and horror.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, knowing that I probably would not like the answer. When Colton spoke again, I was right. I didn't like it at all. "Kronos and Luke are now one and the same, right? The time lord is back and having Luke as a host, correct?" he asked and Annabeth tearfully nodded as Percy hugged her.

I felt a mixture of emotions. But seriously, poor Annabeth.. to lose the guy that was there for you when her father wasn't - I had heard what of her tale Percy had told her from Percy himself - I couldn't imagine what that was like. I hugged Colton, trying not to cry, and he hugged me back.

"So Luke.." Percy started, but Annabeth interrupted him.

"Percy, I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I - I didn't know if.." Annabeth faltered there for a moment. "Luke and I.. for years, he was the only one who really cared about me. I thought. . ."

She wanted to say more, but then someone else spoke after a sparkle of light appeared next to the five of us. "You have nothing to apologize for, dear."

Colton knew exactly who it was before I even turned, and before Annabeth could even speak, Colton said the name himself. "Hera."

We all turned, and sure enough, there a couple of yards away from us, stood the Queen of the Gods herself.

"Nice to see you again too, Colton Reynolds.." Hera said, acknowledging his existence. "Congratulations on winning the heart of Kayla Knowles."

I wanted to feel happy that the Queen of the Gods was congratulating me on my relationship upgrade with Colton, but I couldn't.

Hera turned to Annabeth. "You found the answers.." Hera said. "..as I knew you would. Your quest was a success."

I was stunned, trying and failing to piece together how in any logical sense this whole thing was a success for Annabeth. I just couldn't see how.

"A success?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "Luke is gone. Daedalus is dead. Pan is dead. How could-?"

"Our family is safe.." Hera insisted. "Those others are better gone, my dear. I am proud of you."

I will admit, she only partially made sense. Thanks to Pan's sad death, which shouldn't have happened at all in the first place, Grover had manned up and become a leader. With Daedalus gone, camp was now much safer now that the labyrinth had been destroyed.

But with Luke, that was where it stopped making sense. At least for me to be honest. Colton looked the same way.

Belle blinked in shock. She felt the same way too.

Percy clenched his fists. "You're the one who paid Geryon to let us through the ranch, didn't you?" he asked.

Hera shrugged, her dress shimmering in rainbow colors. "I wanted to speed you on your way."

"But you didn't care about Nico.." Percy continued. "You were happy to see him turned over to the Titans."

Colton clenched his fists in anger.

"Oh, please.." Hera said, waving her hand dismissively, which pissed me off now. How dare she. "The son of Hades said it himself. No one wants him around. He does not belong."

Belle was about to speak, but Colton spoke first. "Are you insane?!" he called out. "A child of the big three on the side of the Titans would be absolutely devastating to us in the long term.. especially since Nico has the power to raise the dead. Percy on their side would bad enough, but Nico would most likely be far worse. Plus, for how little I've known him, I kinda like the guy. So saying that is just wrong, Hera. It is downright stupid and wrong. You're the Queen Of The Gods, act like it."

Everyone was shocked. There was no way that Colton Reynolds had just called out the Queen Of The Gods to her face. But to be fair, it made me love him even more.

Belle spoke up next. "Are you serious..?" she asked. "I want him around, Queen Hera. It doesn't matter that I'm a daughter of Demeter and he's the son of Hades. It doesn't matter that Colton is the son of Ares and Kayla is the daughter of Apollo. If they want him here, I want him here too. Children of the gods can form friendships and even fall in love with each other, regardless of whether or not there are rivalries between our godly parents. Percy and Annabeth, as well as Colton and Kayla, are living proof of that. And I don't know if you noticed, but the Olympians aren't perfect like you think they are."

Colton and I blushed at the mention of us, but I knew that Belle spoke the truth. Hera glared at Belle. "You're one to talk, Belle Adair.." she said as she glowered down at the daughter of Demeter.

"I'm more than you probably think that I am. I'm more of a warrior than you realize. Kayla's more of a warrior than you think she is. Colton's made sure of that.." Belle snapped back.

"Belle, Colton, Hephaestus, Annabeth.. they were all right.. you don't care. You only care about your perfect family, not real people.." Percy added in.

Hera's eyes brightened in a dangerous fashion. "Watch yourselves, son of Ares, daughter of Demeter, and son of Poseidon.." she spoke, referring to Colton, Belle, and Percy each in turn. "I guided Percy more than the other three know in the maze." She referred to Annabeth as the third person. "I was at your side when you faced Geryon. I let your arrow fly straight. I sent both you and Colton to Calypso's island. I opened the way to the Titans' mountain. Annabeth, my dear, surely you see how I've helped. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts."

Annabeth stood still as a statue for a while, but before she could speak, someone else spoke for her, a very familiar voice. "Yeah right.. you only helped to turn the girl that led my cabin into a sobbing wreck, Hera."

I turned and I was shocked to see Malcolm, Lee, Clarisse, all of camp standing about 20 yards away from us. Katie, Travis, Connor, Michael, Sherman, Aruna, Aurora, Victoria, Tyson, Miranda, Charles, Silena.. they were all there. Lee stepped forward. "You turned her into a nervous wreck by leading her to see Luke, Hera. You turned my sister and Annabeth into a nervous, sobbing wreck a few days ago by not letting us know that Percy and Colton survived.." he said angrily. "You helped, sure.. but you've also hurt people too. For you to talk about sacrifices for your efforts, that is rich.. considering that Colton nearly died saving all of us. Some of us wouldn't be here after the battle we all went through.. while you sat at Olympus.. if it hadn't been for him and Michael."

The other campers nodded in agreement with my elder brother, sharing the same sentiment. I turned back to Annabeth. She had clenched her jaw stubbornly, and was very mad. She turned her back on the goddess. "Colton, Percy, Belle, and Lee are right.." she said at last. "..you're the one that doesn't belong, Queen Hera. So thanks, but no thanks."

Hera's sneer at this was nasty, beyond all description. Her form began to glow. "You will regret that insult, Annabeth. You will regret that very much."

We all averted our eyes as Hera transformed into her true divine form and disappeared in a blaze of light, meaning that Half Blood Hill was peaceful once more.

There was a long silence that followed, before Colton decided to break it. "That woman can rot for all I care.." he said audibly, causing everyone to look at him in shock. "What? I said it. Deal with it."

"That's my brother.." Clarisse said happily, and everyone was cheering and smiling at the two of us, me and Colton, as we all walked back down the hill into camp.

Despite everything that my boyfriend had gone through in the battle, it didn't stop him from beating Sherman's ass in a sword fight literally an hour after he had called out Hera.

And that was after he found out from Michael that Sherman was talking about that time he found me and Colton cuddling in the tub last summer to a couple other people about 50 minutes after he called out Hera.

- — - — - — - — - ?'s POV - — - — - — - — -

A pair of figures had watched the entire conversation unfold, while hidden in the tree line. There were both humans, but if you knew Greek Mythology (or Percy Jackson lore for that matter), you could say that these two looked familiar.

The taller man had green hair the same color as summer leaves, braided in long locks and decorated with minsters versions of weapons. His eyes were blue, but the whiteness of the parts of his eyes outside of that blue looked more like polished marble. The slightly shorter woman meanwhile had blue-green eyes, but had long brown braided hair as well.

"Surprised you didn't reveal yourself to them, father.." the female spoke. "You're getting better at controlling yourself."

"I still feel the urges Cupid's arrow gave me all those millennia ago.." the man said. "..so I put the advice those people gave us to good use. Even so, the one who holds the title that should be mine is a very interesting one, to say the least."

"Indeed.." said the woman. "..a very interesting one indeed. Mother is still a fool though for not preventing Typhon from crowning the boy the Monster King. Revenge against her, against the Olympians, and against the one that stole your title.. will be sweet when it comes."

"Indeed, Periboia.." the man said. "It will be interesting indeed. Soon, the world will come to tremble at the feet of Porphyrion, King Of The Giants and eventually the Monster King as well."

Then, the two figures disappeared into thin air, not realizing that they had been overheard by a very familiar empousai, who felt more conflicted than ever about where her loyalties truly lay.

(A/N: Guess you didn't see that coming, did you?)