Hello! This is my first fanfic- like ever. (gods it's weird to say it when I've read so many fanfics with authors who've said it) anyways, I hope you guys like this- it's the idea that no one really escapes war. The campers aren't gonna have to not deal with seeing their dead friends and family whenever they close their eyes and etc. PLS PLS review (even weirder) it'll make me a better writer (and I bet a lot of people are too scared to post anything because they think their work wouldn't be enough- or at least that's how I feel, but that's not the point), flames (so much weirder) will be accepted but I tend to not pay attention to them if they are mean- and of course you have to tell me if I misspelled something or I got a fact wrong (oh gods that'd be terrifying). I will shut up now. Except that I hope to have a second chapter up within the next month (I know so long right?) but since I am busy and my best friend (and proof-reader) won't help me out I don't know exactly when- the second chapter should be about the relationships between friends- if I manage to write it. I hope you guys like it, and if you don't then I hope you guys tell me why. Enjoy! (omg I'm turning into one of them) (pls ignore my commentary)

I also just wanted to put this out there, this was not intended to be a happy story. It does tend to get a bit dark. It is also just how I see it. Thank you!

None of them respect the gods anymore. They tend to avoid the Empire State Building, even if some of them have never been, they try to stay away from the gods. They don't pray to them anymore either. Everyone flinches at the sight of blood in their eyes. The war never really leaves them. They love their friends, but sometimes, it's too hard to be around each other. Leo still cracks jokes but doesn't even smile. None of them smile for a very, very long time. None of them really eat anymore. They jump at loud noises and sudden movements. And shadows. They have the worst nightmares. They don't sleep for a week after the war until exhaustion forces them to. They only sleep if they know they won't see their friends in pain and dying when they close their eyes. Percy spends hours punching a bag. Sometimes, more often than not, the others join him. Their mortal families are scared to approach them, terrified to accidentally say the wrong thing. Someone suggests they go to school in February, a couple of months after the war, to get used to normal life. They spend a lot of their time fighting or in detention. Sometimes the nurse and the guidance counselor's because they had a flashback or a panic attack. Anything can get them angry. The teachers don't understand. They never will. The group can sometimes spend hours not talking. Especially after a panic attack. Except for Leo. Leo doesn't stop talking. They mindlessly trace their significant other's scars, the ones that brought them too close to death.

The war hit them hard. Too hard. People start to doubt their leadership skills but stopped when Percy helps protect a new camper. They never doubt again. But they still whisper at how his eyes glow a poison green in battle and how he could control the opposing side with their blood. Or at how Annabeth snarled too much like the monsters, too animalistic. Or at how Leo became a human blowtorch, a pillar of fire, reaching for the heavens, defying the heavens. Or at how Hazel grew her impenetrable plate of armor out of gems in seconds. Or at how Frank became bigger and redder and scarier. Or at how Jason became so electrified he could stop your heart if you stood too close. Or at how Piper made half of the monsters fall asleep with just a touch. Or at how Nico became the shadows and it was impossible to see him, even if he was right in front of you.

Percy and Annabeth don't look before crossing the street. They don't take care of themselves. Their parents and friends have to remind them to shower and to eat. They don't taste the food. After the first night, when they fell on the food like wolves, they skip meals. They stand next to each other whenever they are in the same room and they are very rarely in different rooms. They sit outside of the bathroom when one is in there. They sleep with a night light. But it has to be blue. Not red. If they aren't in the same house, same room, they don't sleep. Anything can set them off. The color red. Fire. Blood. Monsters. Owls. Mentions of curses. Mentions of Gaea or Tartarus or Greece or Rome. Mentions of Greek gods can also set them off but it's irregular. Annabeth stopped drawing buildings. And temples. And statues. She just stopped drawing. The one time she did try, all that came out was so terrible it gave her parents terrible nightmares. Percy stopped jumping into the water with the glee of a 5-year-old. He blanches at the idea of deep mud. He jumps and attacks if someone touches the small of his back. Cowers when someone touches his scars. All of their friends learned not to separate them if they weren't ready and to not come up from behind. Percy has anger management issues. Annabeth is the only one who can calm him down, except sometimes Piper or Sally. Annabeth is also known to punch someone for being too close. Both Percy and Annabeth flinch at blue eyes, salt-pepper hair. They cannot go underground for at least a year. Annabeth still has a slight limp on hard or rainy days. She swore to never touch a loom ever again. It takes them a couple of years to even say the cursed word and almost half a lifetime to even talk about what happened without shaking. Dreams of Gabe came back. He always asks Annabeth if she loves him every time after he wakes up. Her heart breaks every time. They develop asthma, their lungs never fully recovering from the acid air, Percy feels like the only moments he can fully breathe is in the water.

Piper dumped her knife overboard somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle when she visited. Threw it as hard as she could is a better description. She stated that she never wants anyone to have such a cursed blade. She flinches when it rains too suddenly. It takes her at months for her to even consider wearing a bit of makeup. She sleeps a lot in Cabin One. She claims the perfume in her own cabin is too much, but everyone knows it's because her boyfriend is there. If you point directly at Jason, he stiffens and it takes a second for him to relax. He'll sometimes touch the side of his head, where the bullet cut his hair and won't speak for a couple of minutes. He sometimes reaches for his pocket when threatened, and then remembers his coin was destroyed. His bones still ache when it rains, remembering when he was old. He panics at the hallucination of white hair on his head. He starts to fear growing old. Piper and Jason still stall on stairs going underground. They break up, claiming they need space. Jason becomes more reckless. It eventually kills him. He waits patiently for a certain kaleidoscope eyed person. Piper never married, her love undying and blinding any other man.

Hazel never eats pomegranates ever again. She never goes to Alaska again either. She tries not to go too north in general. She doesn't eat cereal. If she had a really bad day or was really tired, anything that reminds her of Sammy will make her stop was she was doing for a moment and squeeze her heart. She did go to her old house again. She spent an hour looking at all the old pictures and drawings. Then she lit the house on fire. She watched until it was gone. She didn't speak for a week after. She sometimes can't tell the difference between the real world and a fake one and will panic. She leaves a room if someone starts to talk about spirits and witches. She's too uncomfortable. She still holds some old traditions from when she was younger. She blushes at too much nudity. She curtsies. She says "ma'am" and "sir" to her elders. She blanches when she sees women in the streets jingling their bracelets and charms, claiming they are good luck. She tries to avoid them. When she hugs her brother, she grips him tightly, like she doesn't want to let go. She knows she eventually has to. She just doesn't want to do it at that moment. When Nico eventually leaves, she clutches a bulldog. She spends a lot of time with that bulldog. Or a cat that looks strangely similar. Frank spends a lot of time as an animal. He flinched at cows. He decides to never become one. And green smoke. He always looks back, as if expecting someone to be there, ready to scold him as his Grandmother once was. He always wonders if it is her when he sees a crow. He sleeps at the foot of Hazel's bed as a bulldog. He doesn't really ever go to aquariums anymore. Or at all really. He doesn't allow his kids to get any koi fish. He still gets migraines if there are too many noises. He prefers silence. He stares too long into a fire to be normal but at a safe distance. He doesn't get too close. He starts to panic. He glances a lot at Hazel, needing confirmation at what he said. He rarely gets mad or raises his voice but when he does, he starts to glow red around the edges. Percy and Annabeth have a hard time looking at him when he's like that. Hazel once asked her dad if she could see her mom in the fields of punishment. After careful deliberation, he decides to let her. She stares at her for a full minute, hugs her once, then turns around and never looked back.

Leo doesn't really like snowstorms anymore. His entire closet consists of fireproof clothing. He still gets too excited. But those moments are rare. It takes Calypso to draw him out of his workplace. He can go days and nights without sleep or food or water. He doesn't realize how much time passed until he collapses or someone reminds him. He never stops moving. Ever. Always tapping his foot or fingers or tinkering. Never stops. Always had to have sound as well. If it's too silent, he'll start to panic a bit and have to move around even more or leave. Calypso needs Leo to tell her where he's going and when he'll be back. She panics a bit when he or anyone else is late. She regrets the curse. Even if she forgave the girl for it, it still takes Annabeth years to stop dreaming about it.

Nico becomes claustrophobic. It takes him a year to be able to even enter a walk-in closet. Whenever he has a panic attack or a nightmare or a flashback, the only thing that can calm him down are pomegranates but he always eats them with a sour face. He's always cold to touch. Like dead body cold. He likes to touch Will as much as possible. He fades in and out as if succumbing to the shadows. The only people able to bring him back are Hazel or Will. He "eats" with the Apollo cabin. He doesn't really eat anymore either. He sometimes dreams of corn. It confuses Will when he mutters "corn" over and over in his sleep until he explains it. It takes him a very long time to fully open up to Will. For a long while, he was afraid to come out, his past still with him. At first, he was too scared to even hold Will's hand outside of camp.

Grover doesn't try to recreate the broken empathy link for a couple of years, fearing to see too many horrible things. He thinks himself a coward. Tyson visits his brother more often and is heartbroken when he isn't really there anymore. Thalia and her hunters go for their bows faster than ever. Some sleep with them still on their backs. The fingers of Will and the healers of the Apollo cabin move when they sleep, fixing and mending fake injuries. Reyna pushes her officers more than necessary, determined to make sure no one makes any mistake. She demands nothing less than perfection. Hedge stopped watching so many karate movies, having seen enough in real life. Sally Jackson-Blofis very occasionally gets panic attacks when Percy disappears for more than a day. All of Paul's colleagues wonder what happened to make him look so haggard and make his hair prematurely grey. Frederick Chase stops playing with his toy soldiers when he learned of what happened, feeling like it isn't an accurate description of war. Tristan Mclean dreams of big purple giants eating him. He refused any acting job relating to Greek or Roman mythology.

The others went through something terrible too, screams were common at night, malnourishment and dehydration was a common illness at the Apollo cabin, but they also knew that the Seven and Nico gave up part of their own humanity to save the collective humanity of the world. And if they were pushed too hard, they will snap and become a monster too terrible to defeat.

oh gosh (damn it me) I hope this was interesting/fun/thought-provoking to read and pls pls tell me what I am doing wrong (or right). Till next time (damn I've become stereotypical. oh well- too much fun).