[David's Pov]

Thank the gods that Percy could call pegasi like Uber drivers. All he needed to do was find a place to get a nice echo on his whistle, and presto—a few minutes later, a flock of pegasi descended from the sky, swooping around the skyscrapers.

None of the flying horses seemed to be happy to be awoken in the earliest of early morning. They whinnied and clopped around the pavement in protest until Percy promised them apples on sticks with honey slathered on top.

"Where do we even get apples?" I asked, "I thought we only grew strawberries."

"We buy them," Annabeth answered as if it was obvious.

I had several questions about who'd go out and buy groceries for the whole camp, as the camp didn't have internet for safety reasons, but everyone else was too tired after the Olympian party.

Percy and Annabeth practically threw themselves onto their pegasus's back and slumped on their necks. Zoë gracefully hoped on hers without too much issue, but I was having trouble.

Not only was I a layman in pegasus riding, but Skaw would screech loudly and flap her wings whenever I tried to get on the majestic horse. The pegasus wasn't keen on carrying the hostile metal dragon on his back. He backed away, crying in panic and rearing on his back legs.

"Ugh…" Percy groaned and belched, "Porkpie, don't make than sound again. I think I'm going to puke after Mr. D's enchiladas."

"Don't remind me…" Annabeth said in a muffled voice, her face buried in the manes of an ocher-colored pegasus.

The pegasus, Porkpie, whinnied in his direction.

Percy grunted and turned to my side, "He says he won't carry something that might tear his neck in the middle of the flight."

"Skaw won't do that!" I tried to reason.

I glanced at Skaw, who chomped a corner out of the metal trash dumpster and chewed on it like a large Nacho chip. Porkpie shuddered and shook his head from side to side.

"I think Skaw is being jealous," Zoë said.

"Jealous?"

"Yes," The huntress gazed at Skaw with a tender light, "Dragons, especially younger ones, tend to be very territorial over what they consider their property. This includes their lands, treasures, and if they ever have one, their friends or master."

Skaw swallowed the piece of dumpster. It made several clanking noises down her throat and into her stomach. Then, her belly grew red hot like a burning furnace until she burped out a small burst of fire.

Did she eat a chunk of metal? Is that what I'm supposed to feed her?

"Why don't you try riding her?" Zoë suggested, "I'm sure Porkpie would be more than glad to fly alone."

Porkpie nodded vigorously, and before I made up my mind, he kicked off from the alleyway and flew into the sky. The rest of the pegasi took that as their cue to fly after him. Zoë held back just enough to say, "Good luck! I'll catch you if you fall!" before soaring away.

Yeah, as if that wasn't ominous.

I carefully approached Skaw as she scraped her teeth against her wings. I'd suppose she was cleaning her wings, but her teeth and wings were made of the same material, so it was the same as metal scraping against metal.

"Hey, Skaw…" I said cautiously.

"Scree?" Skaw tilted her head.

Look, I had nothing against Skaw. She's a dragon made out of metal, so how could I?

The problem was that I didn't know how to steer a flying dragon. Horses, I had at least one experience with the Sun Chariot. The one time I flew on a dragon was when Cadmus gave me a ride to his place, and even then, the flight itself wasn't…comfortable by any means.

But it was either that or walking the entire way back to Camp, which would take me another week or so.

"I'm going to get on your back now, ok?"

I carefully went close to Skaw and climbed on her back.

My foot accidentally caught on to something under her wings, which made her squawk like a chicken and clamber around in circles, nearly throwing me into the overflowing trash dumpster.

"Whoa!" I instinctively wrapped my arms around Skaw's neck, which didn't help to calm her down.

If anything, it only made her thrash even harder. She ran out of the alley and crashed head-first into a mailbox, flinging me over her head.

I managed to land safely thanks to all the times my siblings threw me onto the mat, but Skaw let out a wail.

I quickly got up and found the dragon covering her head with her wings. Thankfully, she wasn't harmed in any way, unlike the mailbox—which looked like a car swerved into it in a middle of a sick drift.

"Hey, girl," I tried to get closer, but Skaw scuttled away as if she was ashamed of throwing me off her back.

"Look, I'm fine. No harm done."

"Scree?"

Skaw peaked between the claws at the edge of her wings. I reached out and put a hand on her forehead.

"Sorry for stepping on…whatever part I stepped on. That's my B," I gently rubbed the cool metal skin. Still, Skaw rubbed her head into my hand affectionately.

"You can fly us back to Camp Half-blood, right?"

Skaw tilted her head in confusion. I soon realized that Skaw had never been to Camp; how was she supposed to know where to go?

But then I remembered when Skaw was a motorcycle. I usually rode in on my terms, but once, I had asked the vehicle to take me somewhere—or someone. I asked it to take me to where my dad, Ares, was, wherever that may be.

Maybe that's how I'm supposed to give directions to her. Instead of telling her where I wanted to go, like a taxi, I had to tell her whom I wanted to follow.

After a brief hesitation, I asked her.

"Can you take me to where Zoë is?"

Skaw tilted her head to the other side. She closed her eyes, bobbed her head as if waiting for a signal, and nodded reassuringly.

I got on her back, careful not to make the same mistake twice. When I was positive that I was secure, I tapped the back of her neck, and Skaw rose on her hind legs.

Her metal wings sent a gust down the streets each time they flapped as Skaw slowly lifted herself into the air, picking up the ascent every second before truly taking flight into the air…

…and she flew around one corner to reveal Zoë standing atop one of the nearby buildings.

"You've been waiting for me up here the whole time?" I exclaimed.

Zoë smirked, "In case you nearly killed yourself during the process," she answered.

"Great to know that I'm trusted," I grumbled.

"Of course I trusted you," Zoë said, putting away her silver bow and hopping onto her pegasus.

I was grumpy for almost the whole flight. Seriously, she didn't have to watch over me like a babysitter.

But when Thalia's tree came into sight from far away, I realized that our last conversation was one of the first jokes Zoë had ever told me.

It wasn't a good one, but I guess I could appreciate the effort.

[Line Break]

Ares cabin was obviously overjoyed to see me back alive and well—and, more importantly, with the quest finished successfully.

It was slightly concerning to hear that Clarisse wasn't back after her quest, even though she left before I did, but none of the other Cabin 5 members were worried. They were more interested in the metal dragon and arm I brought back.

The day was spent with most of the cabin mates knocking on my arm, challenging me to an arm-wrestling, or trying to break my metal arm for the sake of it.

It was good to be back.

Skaw was thankfully welcomed with open arms. The Ares cabin was filled with leftover weapons and armor, and she eagerly gobbled them up.

In no time, Skaw settled in as the Cabin mascot; she even made a nest with the spare weapons and snatched up whatever chunk of metal people threw at her.

That evening, when it was time for the sing-a-long, we had the camp tradition where we'd burn our burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence in case of a likely chance we died.

Annabeth's shroud was so graceful, with the gray silk and owls embroidered on them; it was a shame to see it get torched. Percy muttered something in Annabeth's ears with a grin, which made her punch him in the gut.

Next up was Percy's, which was voluntarily made by Ares cabin, as he didn't have any cabin mates.

They'd taken a busted punching bag from one of our boxing practices, pealed the cover off, painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes, and the word LOSER II painted really big in the middle.

Percy cheered as it burned to a crisp.

"Why didn't you guys make mine?" I asked Sherman.

The vice counselor snorted and answered, "You crazy? Why would we make yours? You're supposed to come back alive, rookie."

A surprisingly warm answer nearly brought me to tears until Chiron spoke up.

"And now, for the last shroud for David: voluntarily made by the Hunters of Artemis."

My shroud was a training dummy wrapped in a red flag with arrows sticking out on every part of the body like a porcupine.

I had almost forgotten, thanks to Zoë, that most of the Hunt must still loathe me from the Capture the Flag, and even if I helped save Artemis in the quest, that wouldn't necessarily open up their minds.

At the very least, I'll enjoy burning it as Percy did.

But when I stepped up with the torch, I realized that the Hunters of Artemis weren't present around the campfire. I looked at Chiron, whose face darkened as he looked down.

"The hunters have a burial in the woods," he said shortly.

I nearly let the torch slip out of my hand as the realization hit me a second later.

I set the shroud in flames, and the campers cheered and sang along as the Apollo cabin kick-started their sing-a-long session, but I took the chance to slip away from the celebration and head to the woods.

The sound of the campers singing became smaller and smaller until I reached the edge of the woods, where everything was quiet.

Walking into the woods alone at night wasn't the smartest thing to do, as a handful of monsters inhabited the woods, but I doubted any of them would sulk around when the entire hunt was present.

And it wasn't hard to find them either. The moonlight shone more brightly on them than in any other area as they carried out their funeral.

There wasn't a coffin lowered into the ground or a priest uttering solemn prayers to the gods.

Instead, a set of hunter's gear draped with flowers woven into circles was propped up into a humanoid shape, lying peacefully on the grass as if someone was asleep.

Zoë sang in Ancient Greek. It was about a fisherman who went to sea and met an untimely death.

The melody was riddled with loss and sorrow that most of the hunters were weeping; even Zoë silently cried as she sang, tears trickling down her cheeks. I had to rub my eyes a few times as well.

As the song flowed like the current on the ocean, the flowers and plants around the hunter's clothing grew rapidly and wrapped themselves around the hunting gear.

When the singing ended, the mannequin of the young huntress was gone. Between the tightened-up vines, a tiny whisp of silver light seemed to slip out and fly into the night sky.

"…We'll be leaving tomorrow," Zoë said in a hoarse voice, "Get ready."

I hurriedly hid behind a boulder as the hunters left in two and three. It wasn't the best hiding spot; they would've found me easily if they weren't in such a depressed state.

Erytheia stayed a bit, putting a comforting Zoë's shoulder and murmuring what I could only guess as words of comfort.

Zoë nodded and wiped her eyes but shrugged off her sister's hand.

"You should help the others get ready to leave," She said, "Don't miss out on a chance to get closer to our sisters."

Erytheia nodded and left, leaving Zoë alone in the woods. She sat down next to the small mound she had grown, and after a few moments of silence, the tiara-wearing huntress looked up.

"You can come out now, David."

I should've been surprised that she knew my presence all along, but I was more glad that Zoë knew she wasn't completely alone.

Zoë tapped the patch of grass right next to where she sat, inviting me to join her. When I did, she eased her shoulders and rested her head on my shoulder.

"That was a very touching song," I said.

"Thanks," Zoë said, murmuring in a whisper. She tapped the back of my metal hand, making small pinging noises.

I glanced at her to try and guess what she was thinking about, but her hair braid acted as a curtain to her expression.

"It's a song Eola used to sing, you know," Zoë said.

I reflected on the group of...lone hunters we'd run into back at the Junkyard.

Would they still be there when I inevitably return? Or would their employer have sent them somewhere else?

"She fell in love with a sailor and ran away from the hunt...but he once sailed too far out in the sea and never returned."

Zoë trailed her finger up my meta arm. I had fazed over it before, but the lacking sense of touch was more noticeable now.

It was jarring, watching Zoë's finger move up my arm yet feeling none of it, apart from the softest clankings.

"Men don't live long," Zoë muttered, more to herself than me, "And demigods live less than men."

"I'll try to elongate the time," I said.

Zoë looked up a smiled, but she seemed to doubt my words all the same.

"I have a present for you. A parting gift."

"What is it?"

The huntress rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a silver leaf.

The shimmering glimmer made me believe it was made of metal; when Zoë handed it to me, I was surprised that its texture was not too different from an actual plant.

"Listen carefully."

Zoë took a leaf from a nearby plant and blew a short two-line song as a grass flute.

"It's a song about farewell and reunion," She explained, "One would sing only half, and when the other returns, they'll sing the other half."

"Touching story."

I tried to recreate the melody on the silver leaf, but it was more difficult than I thought.

Zoë giggled and stood up, brushing her legs.

"It is truly a farewell now, David."

I held out my hand. "Temporary farewell."

The huntress blinked for a few seconds, then gracefully took my hand.

"Yes. Temporary."

I didn't want to be negative, but some of me noted that Zoë didn't sound so sure.

Zoë helped me up and let my hand go. I expected her to go back to the camp, but after a split hesitation, she

"We'll see each other again," I reassured her.

Zoë nodded into my shoulder. She stepped back and, with a final smile, sprinted back into the woods.


This epilogue may feel unnecessary, to which I say...

...Yeah, that's fair.

I kinda sort of forgot to tie up some loose ends and set up some other stuff.

Also it's short as hell, which may be a downer for some of the readers. I considered writing the short story arcs I promised, but I had trouble figuring what kind of stories will be going in, and filing them up in chronological order...etc.

Instead, I'm here with the promised QA, and what's to come:

1. Are there going to be more love interests?

A: To be frank, I'm doubtful. Currently, I'm thinking more like Percy in the OG series(He is devoted to Annabeth, but others take somewhat of an interest in him, like Calypso or Reyna.)

Artemis is still something I need to ponder over. She has been switching from "2nd pairing" and "Secondary love interest", because I can reason with either side.

For the sake of answering though, I'd say Zoë would be the top love interest.

2. What's the inspiration for David's Character?

A: This question took me by surprise. Throughout the entire story, I was worried that David might feel bland compared to the rest of the cast.

I guess he is most influenced by Kinnikuman. It's a 40 year old Japanese manga(Yes, I'm a focking weeb) about Pro Wrestling except the gimmicks are out of this world, literally and figuratively.

The main hero there isn't the typical hero type; He is whimsical, clumsy, idiotic, and regarded as a useless hero. But above all else, he has a caring heart and values friendship, and he turns many villains in the series into good.

So yeah, I took out the more ridiculous part and based his character on the "Caring heart" and "Turning villans to the other side"—like Dr. Thorn or the Calydonian Boar and even Zoë, in the sense that David influenced her stance against men...or at least, heroes.

3. Is Orion's story going to be different from the OG?

A: Yes. Very much.

It was a hard decision, especially because Reyna's story against Orion was one of the best ones in the Blood of Olympus storylines.

For the longest time, I considered merging the two arcs together. My original one would be an early introduction, and he'll carry out a similar role afterward.

But eventually, things got too apart from the Canon that Orion's OG role couldn't fit into the storyline.

So I thought if he isn't going to show up as he did in the original series, why not go the other way and put him in an entirely different story?

BTW, I think my version of Orion is very...creepy(in a disgusting sort of way). People mostly remember him as "Artemis's lover", but the dude has some messy history.

Anyway, I look forward to that when it comes up.

4. Is Athena going to be a problem moving forward?

A: I don't think she will actively try to sabotage David's actions if it means for the greater good.

Athena leans in more to the negative side because of the apparent rivalry between her and Ares, which is much deeper than with Poseidon's.

Personally, I don't like Athena too much in the original mythology because she has nothing going against her.

She isn't overly cruel(compared to other gods), has no noticeable flaws, and everyone likes her—apart from Ares.

Still, I agree that she is one of the most logical gods, and aiming for petty revenge doesn't feel like her thing.

But who knows, maybe things might turn around in the future.

As a side note, I think Zeus's characteristic would have the most significant change, mainly because Zeus is mostly regarded as an "A-hole Rapest" throughout the internet when it is much, much deeper than that. I'm sick and tired of people depicting him as the root of all evil and such.

Thanks for everyone who left questions in the reviews! They give me strength to keep writing.

There was also some worry I had with the timeline, so I decided to explain that here as well

Year 1

Summer, The Lightning Thief happened.

Year 2.

Summer, The Sea of Monsters happened.

Winter is the current time point.

Year 3.

Summer, The Battle of Laybrinth storyline will take place.

Year 4

Summer, The Last Olympian storyline will take place.

So basically, we're at the end of Year 2 and moving into the beginning of Year 3.

Makes sense, right?

Good.

Now, for the tinniest reveals for what to come.

Namely, place holder titles for the upcomming storylines!

1. Thief in the Junkyard

2. Love is in the air?

3. Family Charriot ride

4. Thalia sets the pegasi free

5. Cutting our loses

6. Rescue mission Rose

I am still welcome to any speculations or questions!

I'll try my best to come back with the first story before the week ends, but you know me; I'm far from a consistent writer.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fun time reading, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!