So, I'm sorry for this word vomit pile and also the fact that this is really dramatic and cheesy and sad. I can't do happy, it seems.

Quick note about the premise: It's set four months after The Dark Prophecy but there are literally no spoilers for it. The funk with the Roman Camp is all wrapped up and over with, Apollo and Meg (though she doesn't appear sadly) are back in Camp Half Blood, and there's just been a devastating battle there. If this WERE to happen in canon I'd wager it would be in the fourth TOA book but it's not canon, so that's that.

Also, Baby Jackson is nearly four months because I did some maths.

"Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottennest luck."

-Percy Jackson, Lightning Thief.

Being a new mother, Sally Jackson hadn't had the chance to move around much. She'd been all but confined to their New York apartment and evening walks at Central Park, with Paul and Percy answering to every beck and call of hers. Weekends would mean a bit of fun, but all in all caring for her three month old daughter had eaten up most of her time.

That didn't stop her, though, from rushing to Camp Half-Blood when she got the call that there had been a battle there.

It was the weekend. Paul had gone away to Jersey on some teacher's conference, and having no other choice, Sally had to lug her child all the way to Long Island Sound with her. Cars jammed up traffic, eager to get away for the holidays. Vehicles lined up all the way to Long Island Sound. Under any other circumstances, Sally would have zipped recklessly through the traffic clogged roads - but that wasn't really an option with her baby on board.

It wasn't the safest arrangement, but she'd gotten ahold of a satyr who'd been stranded in Manhattan on a rescue mission, along with his demigod (a shy thirteen year old boy), and had reluctantly passed on her daughter for them to hold while she navigated the route to Camp Half-Blood.

Half-Blood Hill was quiet when Sally pulled up, and if she hadn't known Percy was alive and safe and had been the one to call her, she was sure she'd be going to pieces. The satyr Vincent, and the boy Rutherford stumbled out, handing over her daughter.

"Thank you," Vincent said and let her in the magical force field of Camp Half Blood; and after she'd replied that it was no problem and they were welcome, she made a beeline to the Big House.

"Sally!" Chiron exclaimed, drawing away from a conversation with a short, black haired boy she recognised as Nico Di Angelo. "My dear, how are you?"

"Hello, Chiron." Sally cut to the chase. "My son, Percy, where is he?"

Chiron winced. "He's...he's fine. It was an exhausting and devastating fight and he's sweeping the lake right now for debris and..."

"Demigods, frankly," Nico supplied darkly. "There were a lot of casualties, Mrs Blofis, and a lot more missing people. He's helping with the search parties."

Sally swallowed. "But Percy-"

"Is fine," Nico said politely. "Tired but fine." He cringed all of a sudden and there was a "Dammit!" from the infirmary attached to the Big House, and a sound that resembled a pile of bricks hitting the floor. Sally's heart fluttered and she clutched onto her daughter more tightly.

Chiron turned his eyes onto the son of Hades. "Another dead?"

"I fear so."

Chiron sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "Nico, you can go and rest if you requ-"

"I've got to be in the infirmary, Chiron," Nico said, "they're going to need all the help they're going to get especially after Austin-" He broke off and shuddered. "I'm just...going to go." He scampered off into the med bay.

"There were a lot of casualties," Chiron echoed to Sally. "This has been one of the worst battles we've had in Camp - passing even the battle of the Labyrinth we had two years ago. It is fortunate that it is just the beginning of summer and not all the campers had arrived yet." He paused. "Though I expect they will be here as soon as they hear of this tragedy."

Sally sunk down on one of the chairs around the ping pong table, cradling her sleeping daughter to her chest. "Oh dear."

Chiron gave her a grave nod. "It has been a most terrible fight...I heard that you have dropped off another demigod?"

"Rutherford," Sally relied. "Thirteen."

Chiron cursed softly in what she assumed was Ancient Greek. "An extremely unfortunate arrival. Well, I must go and welcome him. Sally, you are free to wait around here for Percy."

With one last sad smile, Chiron galloped out of the rec room, shutting the door after himself

Not trusting herself to not burst into tears, Sally just leant back slowly, hands smoothening the blanket around her baby. All of a sudden, she was hyper aware of the fact that the baby in her arms was impossibly small and impossibly mortal - she didn't have any of this burden, any of this fate, and moreover, any of the endurance. She sat in the quiet rec room for a while, just listening to her baby's gentle snores, simply measuring her heartbeat till there was a resounding bang that rang through the room.

Frowning to herself, Sally rose to her feet, her daughter having woken up from her slumber and promptly bursting into tears. She bounced the baby in her arms, cooing softly.

A new sort of wailing joined in with her child's. This however was anguished and desperate, and through the strangled cries she could make out frenzied shouts, denials, names.

At once, Sally understood what had happened. She recognised that gut-wrenching sorrow not, thankfully, from experience, but from a distant memory of hearing it before, another mother, another child, another battle, another death.

Sally made her way to the infirmary, footsteps quiet. Her daughter had fallen silent once again, her wide blue eyes shining peering curiously at her. Sally tried to give her a small smile before peeking her head into the busy med bay.

The infirmary was busy - as anybody with eyes or ears would have concluded. Healers bustled around between beds, fixing up broken bones, bandaging gaping wounds, stitching up long gashes. The less medically inclined volunteers acted as nurses, cutting bandages, procuring emesis basins, offering nectar and ambrosia. The room bore the nauseating stench of blood and vomit, and it took all she had to not throw up right there.

She slipped into one of the back rooms, and the sight that she met caused her stomach churn even more violently than it had in the infirmary.

Shrouded bodies were lined up on long tables. There were nearly twenty in total, and in the middle of it all, a young blonde woman in her late twenties lay collapsed on her knees, weeping into her hands while an uncomfortable looking Nico crouched by her, a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Sally approached them slowly, all the more aware of the fact that her baby lay in the cradle of her arms, unusually quiet. She stood quietly to the side.

She opened her mouth hesitantly, unsure of what she was going to say - I'm sorry for your loss? It will get better? Is there anything I can do for you? They all seemed incredibly empty and useless. Nico looked up at her and gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

"Nico," a hard voice called out, and Sally swivelled around to come face-to-face with a lanky, brown haired boy. Sally recognised who he was with a jolt. "Go. Your help is needed elsewhere. I'll take care of this."

Nico looked uneasy, but he rose, letting his hand drop. "Oh-oh alright-" He swallowed hard, then added in a hurried whisper, "Apollo, is she one of your-"

"No." Apollo said, blue eyes flashing. He didn't look angry, just tired, his eyes red-rimmed, but Nico drew back with a quick nod anyway and made his way to the door.

Sally blocked Nico's path. When Nico looked up at her in something akin to terror, she just handed her his baby as a peace offering. The baby cooed and reached up to Nico.

Nico gaped. "Eh...?"

"Can you take her, please, for just a moment?" The boy looked a bit terrified, but nodded and hurried out the room.

Apollo moved to kneel in front of the young women who was still sobbing into her hands. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly gentle. "Ma'am-" he broke off and tried again. "Ma'am, we are so very sorry-"

"She was supposed to be safe here!" The woman lifted her head and Sally was taken aback to see exactly how young she actually was - she couldn't have been older than twenty-eight. Her heart crawled up to her throat. How old could her child be? Six? Seven? "This was the only place where she could be safe!" The women wailed. "She was so young, so excited to come here-it was her first summer here-she can't have-"

Sally watched horror-stuck as the woman pushed her long blonde hair back and stood up shakily, arms wrapping around herself. "She was so young," she said and it took all Sally had to not say You are too, my dear. Judging from the expression on Apollo's face, he was thinking this too. "She was barely eight years old, why was she even in the fighting-?" she broke off in a sob again. The former god patted her back awkwardly.

"I'm so sorry," Apollo repeated. "If there's anything we can do-"

"I want her back," the woman said. "I want to see her again, alive, and not-" she gestured to an incredibly small figure wrapped in a plain dark blue shroud. Sally felt like she'd swallowed a brick of ice. "I want her to play again. I want to hear her laugh, to see her smile, to meet her father, whoever he really is-"

Sally watched as the woman in front of her curled around herself, shaking with the insurmountable grief, wrapping her arms around her daughter's limp body. She tore apart the shroud, and Sally caught a glimpse of a small pale face as the woman brushed her child's dark hair out of it.

"Ares." Apollo said quietly, making Sally jump. "Her father is Ares. I felt it."

"It doesn't matter now," the mother said bitterly, still staring into her child's face. "She's mine. It doesn't matter to me, it mattered to her before, but..." She leant down, eyes closed, and brushed her cheek against her daughter's. "My baby, my Eliza." She tried to stand back up but almost lost her footing.

Sally swooped forward at the same time as Apollo, but the woman waved them off and staggered back to her feet. She was no longer sobbing, but her eyes were puffy and her voice raspy. She shut her eyes and slumped against Sally. "Why do the gods give us such beautiful gifts if we cannot keep them?"

Apollo cringed like she had slapped him and Sally, who had been stunned into silence and incapacity the whole time, finally found her voice. "Let's get you cleaned up, dear," she told the young woman, "and something to eat. What's your name dear?"

"Maryse."

Sally placed an arm around the mother's shoulders and guided her out of the room. The woman did not open her eyes and allowed Sally to lead her silently. Once they were back in Chiron's office Sally seated the woman in one of the many wooden chairs. Nico - who she seemed to be finding everywhere today - looked up from where he was entertaining her daughter.

"Give her something to eat," she told him as she took back her child. "I'm so sorry that I'm asking you to do so-"

"It's no problem Mrs Blofis," Nico said hurriedly. "There are people doing much more than me to help right now." Sally saw his eyes flit to the infirmary. There was a shout from the entrance of the Big House and Sally turned to see a bleeding boy being hefted inside. Maryse looked up and stared at him in vague interest. Was she going into shock?

She pulled the blanket tight around her daughter and stepped outside. She thought of how that woman had ripped part the dark blue shroud, the one reserved for the unclaimed, and had stroked her daughter's face. That little girl, Eliza, hadn't been unclaimed. She had a mother, and she'd been loved fiercely. She hadn't had a god's love but she'd had a love even stronger - a mother's. Eliza, daughter of Maryse.

The thought made something collapse inside of her and all she could do was clutch her daughter closer.

Sally's feet and instincts lead her back to the shroud room. She didn't even realise it till she was there halfway.

"Hello," she said to Apollo, who didn't seem to have moved since she'd left. Over the years, she'd learned to trust her parental instincts - but most of the time those instincts were about the children, about their needs and their pains. Not gods. Not other parents. "Mind if I join you?"

"Huh?" Apollo - who seemed to have been in some sort of reverie - snapped up. He was standing next to a golden shroud and it hit Sally, suddenly, that those bloodshot eyes weren't because of exhaustion but of grief. "Oh, hey, Mrs Blofis."

Sally came to stand next to him. Her baby gave a high pitched squeal and Apollo looked over, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline.

"How many mon-?"

"Three months," she replied promptly. "Four, next week."

"Oh." Apollo rasped, rubbing his forearm with his other hand like he was cold. "If you were here because of Percy, he seemed alright the last time I saw him. He said something about helping the search parties-"

"I know." They fell into silence once again. The baby squealed again. This time she reached up her tiny arms to Apollo, a definite order of Carry me.

She wasn't sure if it was the best idea to offer her baby to a guy who was standing over the dead body of who she assumed was one of his children. It seemed sort of rude and gloating. However Apollo smiled tiredly at the baby. "Hey, little one."

"Her name is Elpis," Sally said automatically. "It's cheesy. Ellie for short. Ellie so she isn't teased on the playground."

Apollo didn't reply to that. He just stared first at her, then the baby. He opened his mouth, then shut it just as quick. "Greek?" He said uselessly. The both of them knew how and why and what it meant. "Cool choice."

"We figured we needed a bit of hope in life after the war and all..." Sally trailed off. "Names are important."

"Hm."

"That's why I named my son Perseus."

"Foresight? You knew what he'd grow up to become?" Apollo cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, you wanted him to destroy things? Monsters? Rules?"

"No!" Sally sighed. "It's because Perseus had a happy ending to his story..." she let a wry smile grace her lips. "Though, well, that too."

"Hey, I'm not judging," Apollo said, raising his hands in surrender. "I shouldn't at least, since my name means basically the same too."

Sally, who hadn't known this, widened her eyes. Apollo let out a small laugh at her expression before lapsing into a hurried, guilty silence like he'd defiled a shrine - which, well. He reached out and placed a hand on the head of the golden shroud.

In a flash, Sally felt like she was witnessing something deeply personal. She thought maybe this had been a bad idea from the onset. How disrespectful was she, really, to intrude on the grief of not one but two people in a single day?

She was just about to leave when Apollo's hoarse voice cut through the room, "You must hate the gods so much."

Sally didn't speak. She just turned quietly and stared at the former god.

"After all we've put you and your son through," Apollo continued, "you must really fucking hate the gods."

"I did," Sally agreed softly. "Once."

Apollo didn't reply. Sally didn't push it, not for a long time. Then she sighed deeply and leant against the wall. "I have been so lucky."

Apollo frowned, curiosity bleeding in despite everything. "What?"

"I've been so lucky," Sally repeated, and closed her eyes. "I used to hate the gods, you know. I've never said it out loud before - not once- but I hated the gods with every fibre of my being. I hatedthe gods. The kind of hate that burns and corrodes and destroy you inside out - and I felt guilty about it. Not because I felt bad for the gods but because I thought my hate was a factor in why my Percy got stuck with such a horrible, unforgiving lot. I tried to curb that hate - for his sake-" Sally laughed at that, surprisingly bitter, and she saw Apollo cast her a slightly alarmed glance. "I married an abusive asshole for the sake of his safety. I worked odd jobs at odd hours for his safety. I did things neither Percy nor me wanted to do, because I wanted to keep him safe. I'd do it again for him, all of it, without a moment's hesitation.

"He deserved it. He deserved better than an absentee god for a father, better than a foolish, reckless daydreamer for a mother and he didn't get it. He deserved better than the lot assigned to him and I would do anything to compensate for that, over and over again, without any hesitation because he deserves it. Anything. But I tried and tried and I couldn't curb my anger at the gods, nor my hate-"

Sally brought her daughter's forehead to her lips. Her daughter didn't cry; she just touched her face with her tiny, tubby hands. She continued, voice harder. "I hated myself for it. A hero's life at age twelve, the Great Prophecy on his shoulders, Gaia, Kronos, monsters, two back-to-back wars, Tartarus. The list kept growing and I still couldn't sacrifice the hate - just the hate!- I possessed for the gods-"

She broke off. Apollo was still staring at her, eyes wide and regretful, obviously stunned at her outburst, fingers still on that golden shroud. Was she really doing this? Was she really rubbing in the fact of her son's continued survival in the face of a bereaved parent? Was that what she'd come to?

"Sally," Apollo interrupted, voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

"After the Giant War," Sally said, not knowing why she couldn't just shut up, "when everything was so broken and raw and new, I visited Camp. Much like now actually. But at that time, I hadn't seen my son for nearly ten months, I couldn't wait. The whole Camp was in confusion and panic and there were too many wounded, and too many dead and no one could tell me where my son was - I wandered around Camp looking for him."

She swallowed. "I saw so many dead bodies, bodies of impossibly tiny kids, kids as tiny as Eliza. Eight year olds. And it hit me, in just one swoop, how incredibly lucky I was. That I'd never had to see my child's eight year old body lying dead like that, or his nine year old one, or his ten or eleven or twelve or thirteen or fourteen or fifteen or sixteen or, if I stay lucky for another month, hisseventeen year old body.

"That despite the wars and the monsters and the prophecies and disappearances - despite all the times that I had thought I lost him - and believe me there have been a lot - I have not yet been forced to live a life without him. I have grieved and then rejoiced over and over and over again; mourned my son a thousand times. But despite insurmountable odds I have not had to do more than that. I have not had to go past that, I haven't had to work through that grief and live my life again. Not like Maryse will have to, not like you've had to, not like the gods have had to."

Sally opened her eyes then. Apollo was staring hard at the ground, biting his lip. She walked quickly to him placed a hand on his shoulder. "I couldn't hate the gods after that. Not when I had been so lucky, Apollo. Not when they themselves had not been."

Apollo swallowed hard as he looked up. "Sally..."

Sally drew him into a hug, something she wouldn't have done for even a price of a million dollars a year ago. She felt a few hot tears drip down her neck. Good going, Sally, she thought, you really outdid yourself. Making someone cry was just the thing you needed to tie up a spectacular day in the Sensitivity and Tact Office.

"Thank you," he mumbled against her shoulder. Apollo drew away quickly enough, looking almost embarrassed, swiping at his eyes. He smiled sadly. It looked a bit strained but she didn't comment on it. She'd had enough of making people cry today. "Thank you Sally...I didn't know I needed that. The hug."

Sally laughed, despite the cold feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach. "Honey, everyoneneeds a hug once in a while."

Even the gods,Sally thought.Even the parents.

Sally pushed away the thoughts from her mind - she'd experienced her fill of morbidity and morose thoughts today. If she dwelt on them too long, she was afraid she'd never make it out of the cyclonic pit of despair that shrouded Camp Half-Blood right now.

She felt guilty for the thought as soon as it passed. There would not be any getting out of the pit of despair for the others here, not for a long while - not for Nico, who had been through so much in such a short and cruel life and not had anyone to go to at the end of the war except a group of damaged friends. Not for Apollo, for whom this would be a practiced tragedy, an unfair penance for an immortal life. Not for Chiron, who watched child after child slaughtered, children who he'd loved and raised. Not for Maryse, who'd have to drive back to a home that would always seem incomplete, who'd have to put back a heart that would always be missing a piece.

Oh gods. She had been so lucky. She'd absolutely lucked out. She hadn't been able to help anybody today - she hadn't known how to.

"Mom?" A surprised voice asked. "Mom, what are you even doing here-?"

Sally did not even hesitate to fling the arm not holding Elpis around her son's neck. Percy seemed a bit overwhelmed by the reaction, but he sunk gratefully into her embrace like he'd done all his life. Ellie shrieked happily at the sight of her brother. Apollo seemed to realise that this was a private moment and slipped away after placing a last kiss on the forehead of the shroud covered body and muttering a quick, quiet prayer.

"Mom," Percy said finally, pulling himself away from the hug, "Mom what are you doing here, what about Ellie-?"

"I had to come as soon as I heard." She slumped against her son ( her baby boy, when had he grown up so much?) all the grief she'd been a witness to today finally making their way to her heart. "Percy, I was so scared - I was so worried-"

"I meant here as in the Shroud Room," Percy said. "Isn't it - I don't now, morbid? Especially for a three month old to be in here?"

Ellie just smiled knowingly up at her brother, blue eyes twinkling. Sally looked down at her daughter tiredly. "She's going to grow up with a very strong stomach, this one."

Percy laughed bitterly. "Let's hope she'll not have to."

"Bad day," Sally said. She reached up to clasp Percy's cheek. When Percy smiled it was sad and distant. His green eyes swept around the room, over the rows upon rows of bodies.

"The worst," he agreed, and closed his hand around her own. He let his eyes snap shut, sighing deeply.

"I know," Sally said softly. "It's been absolutely horrible."

"Mom," Percy swallowed. He opened his eyes. "I want to stay here, just for a few days. There'll be the funerals, and I have to pay my last respects...I have to stay and help pick up the pieces..."

Sally didn't say anything to that.

"Mom...?" Percy asked.

"Okay," Sally said quietly. "Just a few days, alright?"

Percy nodded and ducked down, pressing a kiss to Ellie's cheek. She giggled and touched her brother's face. Sally watched as Percy's face broke out in a true smile for the first time today, watched as her kids - her kids - interacted, love lacing each action.

"Thanks, Mom," Percy said finally, straightening up. "I'll be safe, I promise. I'll be back for my birthday and the blue cake."

Sally sighed. "I lucked out," she mumbled.

"Huh?"

Sally just smiled in response. "Keep me lucky, Percy."

Maryse was still in the office when Sally went back. The blonde woman hadn't seemed to have moved since she'd left her, and didn't seem likely to do so anytime soon, just staring straight ahead at something in the distance. There was an untouched glass of orange juice and a cookie beside her.

Sally sat down next to her. "Maryse, you've got to eat-"

Maryse shook her head. She wasn't going to get through her, Sally realised. The poor woman seemed to still be in shock.

Sally pulled Maryse to her feet and the woman complied uncomplainingly.

"Where do you live?" Sally asked her.

It took a good minute for Maryse to answer. "Connecticut."

Sally nodded. "That's near enough, Maryse. Let's go get you cleaned up and we'll come back here okay?"

"But my Eliza..."

"Will be waiting for you." Sally reached out to tuck of strand of blonde hair behind Maryse's ear with her free hand. Ellie had fallen asleep in the midst of it all. "We'll wash up and get some food into you, then we can come back for the ceremony, quick as you please, sweetheart."

"I don't want to leave her."

"It will take no time at all," Sally said. "You'll be back here in no time, and then no one will take you away from Eliza. Does she have belongings she'd want to take with her to the underworld? Anything she would want? Anything she'd prefer to a shroud."

Maryse swallowed. "There was a teddy bear, a Mr Biscuits...her favourite bracelet, pink and sparkly. She had a red frock which she absolutely loved...she wore it every chance she got..."

"Let's go get them dear," Sally said. "Do you have a ride home?"

Maryse shook her head. "I-I hitched a ride with a friend..."

"And you'll do so again," Sally told her. "I'll drive you, my dear."

Maryse just nodded, still shaking like a leaf. Her green eyes surveyed the room, sweeping across the photographs of past campers and plaques that bore musty names before finally stopping on Ellie. Her mouth made a small o, and her eyes widened just a fraction. Oh no, Sally thought. Was this a bad idea?

"Is she yours?" Maryse asked softly, eyes latched on to Elpis. "She's beautiful."

Sally felt a smile begin to bloom across her face. "Thank you."

"My Eliza was that small once," Maryse said, almost dreamlike. She shook herself. "Can I-can I hold her...?"

"Of course dear." Sally deposited her sleeping child in the younger woman's arms. Maryse's eyes brimmed with tears, but her grip was gentle and firm on Ellie. It seemed practiced.

"Let's go?" Sally asked gently, swinging open the door.

Maryse nodded her assent and Sally lead her to Thalia's pine tree where she'd parked the Prius. She cast a final look at Camp Half-Blood, the wreckage and the haven, then seated herself in the car. Maryse followed, Elpis clutched tight in her arms, as she clambered in behind her, driving into a new, crueler life.

I'd say I'm sorry I made your eyes bleed, but honestly, it was your choice to read it so I'll ask instead : WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU READING MY SHIT STACK OF A STORY?

Okay, but honestly though, if you did read this, thank you SO much and I hope this wasn't TOO bad; I tried. I really did.

Tell me what you liked, what you hated, what confused you, what I should improve on int the reviews. :)

Thanks for reading!