Closure

Shrouds of varying colors covered the bodies of the deceased. Per Skylar's unusual request those demigods who fought for Kronos were also given the same treatment. Her logic was that no matter if they strayed onto the wrong path they were all once fellow campers. Standing beside his fallen twin, Pollux sputtered out a speech about Castor in memorial. A few other campers who were Castor's friends stepped up to say a few words. Even Mr. D said something somewhat pleasant about his child. Not much was said for the rogue campers being as they were deemed traitors. Then it was down to one last boy. Lee Fletcher.

Michael volunteered to go first being as he was elected as head counselor in an extremely short amount of time. That and none of the other Apollo children were quite up to the task at the moment.

"Lee was a stand up guy. I couldn't tell you how many times he's saved my ass from getting into fights." A cough from Chiron warns him to watch his language. "He was one of the bravest people I knew. Always volunteering for border patrol so the rest of us didn't have to. Even going as far as letting me win at arm wrestling to boost my ego." Michael clears his throat as his voice begins to crack. "Anyway Lee, watch over us until it's our time to join you. I'm sure you made it into Elysium and are having a damn good time." He steps away from the podium to sit beside Kayla, his brown eyes burning with unshed tears. Her hand reaches over to subtly pat his back while he put up a strong front.

Austin Lake steps up next diving right into his speech. "When I couldn't decide what song to use in my music videos Lee always stayed up late and we spitballed ideas until coming up with the perfect one. Anybody who knew him could tell he was a cool dude. Now that he's gone it just...seems so surreal. Lee went down swinging and that's how I'll remember him." Austin retreats back to his seat with Kayla taking his place.

"What is there to say? Lee was always looking out for us but he always pushed us to be the best at our talents. Kids used to ridicule me for who my parent was and that my hair was a little different. I started to believe they were right until one day he pulled me aside and said 'Who cares about your background or the color of your hair? Ignore the haters they'll never be half the archer you are.'" Kayla's lip begins to quiver and she rushes to finish. "We won't forget him." She rubs at her eyes and Will pats her shoulder as she passes him. Skylar grips Nico's hand who currently sat beside her. Sadness was clawing at her insides at the sight of her siblings. She was the only one yet to shed a tear, even Will who almost never cried had small tears pricking the corners of his eyes.

"Lee basically was the glue that held the Apollo cabin together. Like any family we were far from perfect. We'd butt heads, especially Skylar and I, leaving Lee to break it up and force us to compromise. I used to envy him when I first started coming to Camp Half-blood. He was so good at everything and the best singer of us all. We had a singing competition between the two of us. I knew my voice wasn't up to par with his so when I won my view on him changed." Will smiled to himself. "Lee knew how much I envied him so he threw the match to make a point. Trying to outdo each other never made a difference to him. I guess in the end I really looked up to him and he'll forever be in my memory." His blue eyes blur as he makes his way back to sit down.

Finally Skylar walks up to the podium after encouragement from both Nico and Isaac. Her fingers gripped the marble in front of her as she found the words. "I idolized Lee. He was the type of person I aspired to be in life. Selfless, encouraging, kind, strong, and so full of promise. My first day at camp was scary to say the least. I stuck to Will like glue and wouldn't talk to anyone. But Lee was patient. For a week he struggled to coax me out of my shell ultimately introducing me to my now favorite instrument. Everyone put him on this pedestal when in reality he was just like the rest of us. His Haikus were awful too."

This earns a slight chuckle from a few campers. Skylar swallowed the bile rising in her throat. "I watched the giant as he mercilessly crushed my brother's skull into the earth. If I'd done more he would still be here laughing and joking beside us. He...didn't deserve to die." It's as if a dam broke, all of the tears she held flooded out at once. "I-I'm so sorry Lee." Covering her face with her hand she bolts from the area.

Isaac follows swiftly after her, Nico right behind him. Percy, who was hovering by the exit, grabs the back of Nico's jacket. Annabeth does the same to Isaac halting the boys in their tracks. They told them to just give the blonde girl some time alone. She needed to sort out her emotions on her own. At first Percy was going to chase after her but Annabeth held him back with a shake of her head. Even her silver eyes were clouded with emotion.

"Yeah, hanging around a son of Hades wouldn't help her cope." Isaac mutters tugging at his shirt sleeve.

"So you think a son of Aphrodite would be better suited? What are you going to do charm her into believing it never happened? She'd never accept it." Nico retorts.

"Just because you're here for a few days won't change anything you know. You'll leave and she'll be upset so I'll be the one helping her cope with it just like before." The green eye boy hisses, his jealousy getting the best of him. He couldn't stand how buddy buddy Nico and Skylar were when she's the only friend he has at this camp. Turning on his heel, Isaac departs in the direction of his cabin before Nico can reply. Nico scowls at the son of Aphrodite half tempted to send an undead soldier after him. Who did he think he was involving himself in someone else's business.

Each burial shroud was burned to conclude the ceremony. The campers were released to return to their lives mainly to rest after a long tiring day. Others dispersed to the mess hall for some well deserved food. Not knowing where to go Nico chooses to hang around under the shade of a tree overlooking the strawberry fields. Mrs. O'Leary curls up beside him emitting snores almost as soon as her head hits the ground. Isaac returns to his cabin flopping onto his bed and flipping through the pages of his photo album. Just another day at Camp Half-blood.

That night the annual singalong around the campfire is held without Skylar. Nobody has seen a trace of her since the funeral. Ortus was also missing from the stables so Will wasn't too worried. He figured she went out for a flight to clear her head and would return before curfew. Nico on the other hand was beginning to grow impatient. The only reason he stayed at this place was because of Skylar and she left him behind. Sure he understood what it was like to lose a family member but he couldn't help but feel a tad bitter. He gazed up at the stars deep in thought. A bag of fast food and six pack of soda rested in his lap. Nico had a plan, all he had to do now was find Skylar.

Elsewhere Skylar sat staring at the same sky through the trees of the eastern forest. Ortus laid beside her, his muzzle buried in her golden locks. The tears she shed stopped hours ago leaving her eyes red and puffy. "It's all my fault." She groans shoving her face in her knees. High-pitched neighs come from her pegasus as Nico slinks out of the shadows. Skylar rests a hand on his muzzle to calm him down nodding at her friend. "H-hey. What's up with the happy meal?" She asks rubbing at her eyes.

"Well, I have an idea but I want you to trust me." Nico sets down the items onto the ground. The blonde tilts her head at his request. Of course she trusted him. Skylar brings Otrus a few feet away to calm him down. The pegasus nibbles at her hair before trotting away back toward the stables.

Meanwhile Nico set to work on the ritual for summoning the spirits of the dead. He first dug a pit into the earth, dirt caking his fingernails. "We're going to try summoning a ghost. I'm not one hundred percent sure it will work since I've only done it a handful of times." His voice reaches her ears drawing her closer to help only to be stopped by his hand. "Stand back until the ritual is over." Brushing his hands off on his jeans, he empties the food out of the bag along with all six cans of soda into the freshly dug pit.

"Um okay. Just be careful I don't want you to faint or anything." Nico rolls his eyes at her comment.

"Alright mom I promise to be careful when raising the dead. Now be quiet so I can concentrate." Skylar pouts at his sarcasm watching in silence as her friend chants in Ancient Greek. The ground began to shake erratically as the earth accepted Nico's offering. Smokey figures made their way to the food in hopes of having a taste. Some cower back at the sight of the ghost king as his dark eyes search through the growing crowd for a specific person.

"L-Lee Fletcher." He demands. Spine chilling protests come from the wispy shapes but make way for a specific entity. Floating to the pit, the smokey image begins to take shape. Skylar's blue eyes widen in shock at the boy floating before them. She faintly hears Nico dispersing the other ghosts back to the earth from which they came and joining her side.

"Huh..? Skylar?" Hearing Lee's voice again brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.

"I can't keep him here for long but you need closure." The dark haired boy speaks quietly stuffing his hands into his pocket.

"Lee, I'm so sorry, It's all my fault that giant got to you. If I just moved sooner you wou-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this. I was a casualty of war and you need to accept that. If you want to blame someone then blame Kronos and help take him out for good." Lee speaks sternly moving to rest his transparent hand on her head. "You're tougher than this Skylar, keep your chin up."

"I-I will. Thank you for everything." Sniffling, she forces back the tears.

"See you Skylar, try not to get into too much trouble. Oh and there's something for Will in my desk. Give it to him for me." Lee's eyes fall onto Nico. "Don't hurt her or I'll haunt you to the ends of Tartarus." He warns, his body flickering.

"Lee be nice." Skylar scolds but smiles at Nico.

"I won't, she's my...best friend." The Ghost King promises hiding his face in his jacket. With a chuckle Lee vanishes into the cool air leaving them alone. Chocolate brown eyes drift over to the quiet female only to be grabbed in a one-armed hug. Muffled words of appreciation spout from her lips as she buries her face into his aviator jacket. Careful not to hurt her arm, Nico wraps Skylar in a loose and somewhat awkward hug.

"Curfew is soon, if we're not back the harpies will have our heads." He mumbles into her hair. Normally he'd just shadow travel back to camp but his body was basically running on fumes at this point.

Taking his hand in her own Skylar lights the way back to the cabins. A soft tune he can't quite place filling the quiet walk. Nico's mind was too focused on the fact that she willingly held his hand. Him. A son of Hades. The Ghost King. An outcast. Noticing his silence Skylar squeezes his hand in reassurance.

"If you want you can crash on the cot we have set up in the Apollo cabin."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Your siblings might not be as accepting of a child of Hades as you are. Besides, Chiron set a bed up for me in The Big House." Denying her invitation he gestures over his shoulder to the blue house in the distance.

"M'kay, no biggie. Goodnight Nico, and thank you for everything." A soft pair of lips brush against his pale cheeks briefly. Skylar gives him one last smile retreating into her cabin.

Nico's obsidian eyes widen in surprise. The tips of his ears becoming red in embarassment to match his equally flushed cheeks. Barely registering the sound of a door opening and closing, he stumbles down the steps of cabin seven. Stray campers turning in for the night stopped to whisper as a certain ravenette fought the smile gracing his lips. For the first time in a while Nico would get a good night's sleep.

Camp Half-blood slowly went back to normal. At first glance you never would've noticed there was a battle. In just a few weeks time campers will pack up and go home if they choose. However it seemed more and more were beginning to stay at camp year round die to increased monster activity in larger cities. Isaac was now one of those campers, since his house was attacked by a Chimera and his dad sent him away. He would of loved it more if he didn't go through around three life or death situations within the span of four days. Also, this new rite of passage his fellow siblings were explaining to him seemed pretty crummy.

"So basically what you're saying is I need to get someone to fall in love with me and break their heart or I'll never be a full fledged child of Aphrodite? That's nuts." Isaac tells Mitchell running a had through his wavy brown hair.

"Hey it's not like I came up with it. It's just been tradition since before I even started coming here. I sucks but the sooner you do it the less you have to worry about it." Mitchell shrugs flipping the page of his magazine.

"Easy for you to say, you've done it before." His green eyes narrow slightly at his half-brother.

"Yeah but for me it was a total accident. I didn't even know I was a child of Aphrodite at the time."

"Dude have you seen me? I'm the kind of guy girls only have as their best friends. I get nervous around crowds of people and I'm painfully awkward at social events. My ideal date is staying home alone eating pizza and watching Netflix." Isaac rants pacing around the cabin. Lacy who had been doing her nails on her bed chimes in.

"Some girls like that though! I tried to find you a new wardrobe but you turned me down." She pouts applying more fuchsia to her nails.

"Hey what about Apollo girl, Skylar? She's around your age. You guys are pretty chummy already just take it a step further and when the time comes crush her chances. Better act soon though or death breath will steal her first. Might wanna wait until that face of yours heals too. Don't want to scare the ladies away." Dustin, another son of Aphrodite, tells Isaac from across the room as he styles his bleach blond hair.

He was one sibling Isaac didn't particularly care for. Sure he had the body of an underwear model and the brightest baby blue eyes you'll ever see but his personality was horrid. Dustin was also one to take full advantage of his gifts trying to score with every girl at camp. Just the thought alone made Isaac want to barf.

"I don't know...she's my friend if I did that she'd probably never speak to me again." He frowns tugging at his sweater sleeves not liking the idea.

"Who cares? You're the newbie, you can make friends with whoever you want. One Apollo kid that hangs out with death itself sure isn't worth it to me. Just seduce the girl, break her heart and move on. You heard her yesterday, she killed her own bro-" Dustin's words are cut off as a fist connects with the side of his face sending him to the floor.

Isaac pounces on the the fake blond his green eye, not covered by a bandage, burning with anger. His fist collides with the boy's nose before being thrown off and punched repeatedly in the face. Lacy squeaks in alarm accidentally spilling her nail polish. Mitchell jumps at the sudden outburst trying to pull the two apart.

"How dare you talk about her that way!" Isaac growls aiming more punches at his half-sibling's face.

"You're going to pay for messing with me bastard!" Dustin shouts lifting Isaac off the floor by his sweater and shoving him against the wall. The brunet struggles to shove him off resorting to kicking his leg out from under them. Resulting in the two ending up back on the floor.

"Guys cut it out! Lacy go find help!" Mitchell demands falling back to clutch his cheek after Dustin landed a stray hit on him.

"O-okay!" She squeals fleeing out the door and screaming for help. Isaac yelps in pain as he's nailed in his injured eye. The two roll around on the floor knocking over a vanity and all its contents. Glass bottles shattered, its pieces littering the floor. Isaac's hand grabs ahold of Dustin's dyed hair slamming his face into the floor.

"You're such an asshole!" Isaac seethes jamming his knee into Dustin's stomach only to earn a kick to his side in return.

"Shove off you damn freak!" Dustin grunts pressing his shoe deeper into Isaac's injury. Footsteps thunder onto the scene bursting through the cabin door. The boys are ripped apart struggling against the campers holding them back. Beckendorf locks Dustin's arms behind his back so he can't move.

"Let me go! Someone needs to teach him a lesson." Isaac grumbles fighting against Percy and Clarisse. He was surprisingly strong for someone with such a lean build.

"Someone tell me what in Hades is going on!" Silena demands looking between the two boys. Dustin spits out some blood from his split lip claiming he did nothing wrong and was defending himself. To which Isaac called him lying manwhore earning a stern glare from Silena. Mitchell who stood holding his cheek explained the situation leading up to the fight.

"Dustin you should've known he'd react badly but that still doesn't give you the excuse to go around punching your siblings Isaac." Sighing to herself Silena asks for the two to be escorted separately to the infirmary. Blood was streaming from Dustin's nose and lip while Isaac's old wounds reopened and housed a very prominent bruise on his jaw. Clarisse leaves the escorting of Isaac up to Percy stating she had better things to do. Beckendorf releases Dustin's arms dragging him by his shirt in the direction of the big house.

It was sort of a known rule that if you had a problem with someone you would solve it in a civilized one on one match in the arena. This way random fights like the one that just occurred rarely happened. On the off chance that they did it was always out of sight and kept on the down low. But this fight half the camp heard so trying to keep it a secret would end up pointless. Once Chiron and Mr. D hear about this the two boys will have weeks filled with chores. What a joyous day in Camp Half-blood.