Epsilon and his Army of Chaos (Watty's 2013) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 29: The Despair Maker

'We have to kill it!' Thalia declared.

'And fast,' I agreed. 'Which direction did it come from?'

'Oh no,' Annabeth tugged on my arm. 'Look, over there!'

I glanced in the direction she was pointing and did a double take. Azelle, Bianca and Leo were running straight towards something that must've been the Despair Maker.

We ran after them as fast as we could towards them, and the closer we got, the less I was liking this beast.

The Apelpisía Káno̱n had the body of an old lady. I mean, really old lady. Her clawed hands were withered and dry, and her face was covered in wrinkles. Her mouth was filled with sharp, yellow fangs. Leathery bat wings sprouted from between her shoulder blades, and a sharp barbed tail whipped through the air behind her.

She wore a dark grey dress that was burnt and ripped, and seemed to fade into nothingness at the hem. It was almost as if she was half ghost.

Azelle, Bianca and Leo were still running. I watched in horror as Bianca grabbed Leo's arm, forcing him to stop. I could see them talking, possibly arguing, before Leo wrenched his arm from her grip and kept going.

He headed straight for the monster. We tried to reach them, but I knew we'd be too late.

'Flames!' Bianca called, just as we reached her and Azelle. 'Please, stop!'

Leo stopped and stiffened. He turned to face us and met each of our eyes; Azelle, Bianca, Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, Poseidon, Zeus, Hades and myself. He shook his head stubbornly.

'No!' he shouted. 'I have to do this! I can't let anyone else die!'

He took off running again, and we took off after him. He was twenty feet away from the beast when he suddenly spun around and shot a line of fire in front of us.

The nine of us were forced to skid to a halt. I looked up at Leo and saw his eyes glow like hot coals.

'I'm sorry, commander,' he choked. 'I'm not letting anyone else risk their lives against this beast. I can do this. You're needed to fight Destruction. You're too important.'

He turned and ran.

'NO!' I yelled. 'You can't go up against that thing! You'll be killed!'

Leo ignored me. He drew his sword, Ignis, and charged the monster.

'Epsilon!' Annabeth shouted. 'The fire, can't you extinguish it?'

I stared at her blankly until she rolled her eyes and said, 'Water!'

'Oh, yeah. Of course.'

I called up part of the lake and poured it over the fire barrier Leo had put up, separating him and the Despair Maker from us. But as soon as the water got close, it turned to mist and drifted away.

'The water,' I muttered. 'Lord Poseidon, Azelle; help me.'

Together, the three of us summoned at least half the lake and dumped it on the open flames. Still, the same result.

Tentatively, I reached my hand out towards the fre. Still half a meter out, I felt the scalding heat of the flames. I yelped and drew my hand back like a bullet out of gun.

'The fire,' I breathed. 'It's to hot to put out.'

'What are you saying?' Thalia said shakily.

'I'm saying that the fire Flames has conjured is so hot that it's evaporating the water,' I explained. 'We can't get to him!'

'But we have to,' Bianca whispered. 'Or he'll die.'

I glanced past the wall of fire to the stupidly brave fire user. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop this feeling from overwhelming me.

The feeling that he wasn't going to make it out alive.

Leo's POV

I could shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong.

I tried not to glance over my shoulder at the others, but it was hard not to.

I could see Percy, Poseidon and Azelle trying to put out the fire. But at the moment, my anger was running so high that the flames burned bright like my fury.

I was mad. Mad at my death, mad at this stupid old hag, mad at Destruction. Everything I'd ever achieved in my old life was taken from me, and now the same was about to happen in my new life.

I would rather die, then see Destruction win. And the only person who could beat him was Percy.

I couldn't risk Percy losing his life against some old bat lady when he needed to be alive to defeat Destruction. He was important, and I was just a soldier; meant to be sent into battle; replaceable.

As I ran forward, the monster bore down on me. I tried to raise Ignis without my arms shaking too much.

'Ahh, who have we here?' the creature's voice sound half snake hiss and half wolf growl. 'Leo Valdez?'

'I am Flames, of the army of Chaos!' I yelled, hoping I sounded scary. Sadly, I doubted it. 'One of the fourteen choosen for the Gennaios Squad!'

'And yet, all fail to recognize you.'

Her words froze me. All fail to recognize you. That wasn't true! Was it ...

'Think about it, Leo,' she taunted. 'Who have you got on your side? Who honestly cares about you? All those others, watching and waiting on the side lines, they all wanted me to themselves, to steal the glory. When you stopped them, they stayed to watch you die!'

'No,' I muttered. 'That's not true!'

'Isn't it?' she cackled. 'No one ever cared about you, Leo. No one tried to stop you closing the Doors of Death, no one mourned you once you were gone, and no one tries to stop you now.'

'No!'

I dropped Ignis and pressed my hands to my head, trying to stop the echoing voices swirling around my mind. No one ever cared about you; they stay to watch you die; no one mourned you.

'Stop it! Stop it!' I screamed, shutting my eyes tight.

'Give in, Leo Valdez,' she hissed. 'No one ever cared, and no one will ever care. You are just an extra screw, a flawed tool, a seventh wheel.'

I opened my eyes and stopped trying to fight the creatures taunts. Because everything she said was true; no one cared about me. I was just the extra; the sidekick, flaming Valdez. No one loved me, I wasn't needed.

'No!' I heard someone scream. I couldn't be sure who it was. 'Don't listen to her.'

No one cares, I thought numbly. No one will ever look back on the life of Leo Valdez.

'That's right,' the monster purred. 'That's it. No one ever cared. You are unwanted, a spare part, a seventh wheel.'

I let a tear slip down my cheek. No one would miss me.

'Give in, give in!' she crooned.

I was better off dead.

And that's why, when she whipped her piercing tail around, I just stood there and did nothing as it tore straight through my armour, straight through my skin, and out the other side.

. . .

Thank you for reading. I now have to go hide in a cupboard, away from all the Leo fangirls I've just made very angry. If anyone wants to plan my funeral, I'd like white, blue and purple flowers on my grave. Thank you. Please vote, comment and follow. See you . . . or, maybe not . . .