Betrayed, Hurt and Unwanted. (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Inferno

Wave, Order, Fate and Chaos remained. Leo glanced back and forth between them as they seemed to come to a silent agreement. "Were you intentionally spying on us," Chaos drawled, "of was that just one of the benefits of tying slip on boots?"

Leo looked down at his boots, his cheeks flooding with color as he beheld the sight before him: his shoes had no shoe laces. "I thought I had something in one."

"I'm sure," Chaos mused humorlessly. "Well, we must be off. We'll see you on the fields," he said winking.

The four of them swept away in the direction that Storm had done so a minute prior. Leo watched them go, feeling dread's fingers drag down his spine at the thought of fighting on the same field as Chaos's commanders. Leo had seen (and felt) firsthand what the four of them could do in a battle and Leo knew they had been holding back then. Fighting at full strength and full effort with their powers would be devastating to the other side and terrifying to watch. Leo supposed it was better to fight alongside them than against them.

Leo pushed the curls spilling onto his forehead away and sighed through his nose. The raid was fast approaching and Leo's confidence was seeming to tick away like the hours on the clock. Leo knew something was up with the commanders and it would all connect to the reason that they seemed familiar.

Little did Leo know that the answer was right in front of him in the form of Thalia's shield bracelet on the ground, fallen from her wrist, left forgotten on the Camp Half-Blood terrain.

* * *

Chaos stalked towards the Big House, his commanders in tow, their troops following at a safe distance, their hoods shadowing their faces ominously. Chaos paused by the porch where Chiron and his heroes waited. Just the five of them.

"Is this the army that you bring us?" Chaos wondered irritably. "Just five demigods?"

Chiron leveled his gaze on Chaos and blinked slowly. "They are the best we have; I will not sacrifice more than needed when your troops are far more adequate and stronger."

The demigods scoffed but said nothing as they floated down the steps. "Lets get this over with," Chaos said.

Thalia shifted next to him uncomfortably.

"What is it?" Chaos murmured, not taking his eyes from the five demigods trailing them.

Thalia palmed her wrist and then reached into the pockets of her cloak and mission suit as the blood stained from her face. "My shield," she hissed, "they know what it looks like. I must have dropped it – "

Chaos threw out some of his magic, the tendrils reaching for the scent that Thalia put out, the scent that clung to everything she owned. His magic wrapped around the camp in a tight embrace, pressing in like a blanket tucked beneath a child's chin. The blanket of his magic snagged on something small, insufficient, something that he would have passed over if not for the faint pulse of that pureness that Thalia possessed. Chaos yanked his magic back by its leash and narrowed in on the pulsing that could only be Thalia's bracelet that turned into a shield. "It's by the Poseidon cabin," Chaos whispered to Thalia, "it must've fallen earlier."

"How am I supposed to get it before someone sees?" She brushed her lips against his ear as she murmured, what Chaos imagined looked like she was confirming the attack, and a shiver tap danced down his spine.

Trying to concentrate, Chaos blinked long and slow. "When you see it, bend down and tie your shoe. Pick it up and slip on your wrist as you do so." Chaos flicked his eyes purposefully at the group chattering behind him. "They won't notice a thing."

Thalia nodded and Chaos found his eyes fixed on the curve of her mouth, on the sharpness of her cheekbones, on the thin sheen of sweat that coated her face and twined in her braided hair. Chaos dragged his gaze up to her eyes and something deep inside him, something dark and primal and sensual, opened its eye and stirred. Chaos stomped the ancient existence within him beneath his foot and snapped his eyes to the terrain in front of him.