Once and for All- Part Three Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Sixteen

Jason's POV:

This one's...different...than all the rest.

I stand on Half-Blood Hill. Below me is Camp Half-Blood, but it's in ruins. All the cabins, the Big House, the strawberry fields and the woods are on fire. The lava-spewing rock-climbing wall is in a pile of rocks on the ground. All the other buildings are scattered and destroyed. Hestia's Fire is gone.

Dead bodies litter the ground. Demigods both Greek and Roman, nymphs, satyrs, even the Lorics. But there's one demigod alive in the midst of it, and it's not Max. It's Octavian. He looms over the four dead bodies of Bryce Lawrence, Curtis, Michael Varus and Remo Helmer. He grips his Imperial gold sword tightly and whips around to face another demigod lying on the ground- Max.

She's bloody and bruised everywhere. Her camp shirt and blue jeans are tattered and torn. I can barely make out her tattoos from all the slashes on her arms. She's not dead, but she's definitely dying. She looks worse than anytime I've ever seen her. She's shaking so badly it hurts and there are more blood, cuts, scars and bruises on her than I've ever seen on anyone. Her breathing is heavy and shaky, and multiple tears of pain roll down her cheeks.

"You did this, Jackson." Octavian taunts Max, stalking up to her slowly. She shakes her head, whimpering in pain. A few tears roll down my cheeks at the sight of her like this.

Octavian scoffs and pulls a small remote out of his black Mogadorian trench coat pocket. The same remote used by Bryce to electrocute Max.

And yep. He presses the red button in the middle and Max screams and writhes in pain. It goes on for minutes. When Octavian finally lets go of the button again, Max is shaking and sobbing on the floor. She's actually sobbing in pain. Not crying, sobbing.

Octavian walks up to her and kneels next to her, running a hand through her curly black hair. She whimpers and shrinks away from him but he just keeps doing it.

"It's okay, Max. I'm not the bad guy here. You are." Octavian growls at her, harshly grabbing a handful of her hair. She cries out and sobs again.

"Please." She begs, her voice shaky and hoarse. Octavian chuckles and lets go of her hair.

"I'm not done with you yet, Jackson. You don't deserve to be able to beg for mercy, you traitorous graceus." Octavian raises his sword and slashes at her again. So many times. She screams and begs, sobs and thrashes. It seems like hours until Octavian finally lifts his sword away from her.

"Why?!" Max sobs, covering her bloody face with her hands. Octavian chuckles again and drops his sword next to her.

"You killed them, Max. You killed all of them." Octavian whispers to her, looking around the camp. Max frantically shakes her head no.

"I didn't kill them!" She cries out. Octavian sighs and places his hands on her waist, lifting her up and sitting her on his lap. She sobs into his chest as he actually comforts her. It's disgusting.

"We're not the bad guys, Max. It's you. It's always been you." Octavian whispers to Max and she's quiet for seconds before slowly nodding her head.

"There we go. Atta girl." Octavian tells her, taking out the remote again. He presses the button and Max screams in pain.

I'm ripped out from my horrible vision.

I'm lying on the floor of the room again, sitting against the wall. I feel worse than I have ever felt before when I woke up from a vision. I'm sobbing and I can barely see or hear what's going on around me.

I can just barely make out Max leaning in front of me, her warm hand on my cheek. She hugs me and whispers comforting things into my ear. She comforts me the same way I did to her when everyone started yelling at her before she left. I know that she can calm me down just as quickly and efficiently as Ivan can, but I can't have that from her right now. I need Ivan.

So I shove her away from me and she looks shocked for a few seconds before standing up and trying to push everyone out of the room. Ivan, though, knows exactly what's happening, and he doesn't hesitate. He leaps towards me and hugs me tightly, comforting me the same way he did before. I hug him back and he comforts me the best he can- running his hand through my hair, softly rubbing my back, whispering comforting things into my ear. I love it. I love every touch, every word. I just want to be with him.

He pulls away from me and places his hands on my cheeks, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. He smiles warmly at me and kisses my forehead. I can almost feel myself immediately calming down.

"It's okay, Jason. You're okay." Ivan tells me. I can't help it. He's amazing. He'd make the best boyfriend. He's perfect in a perfectly imperfect, flawed way.

I think I could love him.

I stare deeply into his eyes and he stares into mine.

"Ivan, stop. He's tricking you." Remo calls to Ivan, wrapping his arms around Ivan's shoulders. Ivan freezes for a moment. I stare deeply into his eyes again.

"Make a choice, Ivan." I tell him and he understands what happened.

"You...You got a vision so I could..." Ivan trails off and I nod my head. His eyes turn warmer and he thinks for a few seconds.

He doesn't have to think for long. He glances behind him at Remo softly smiling down at him, his arms wrapped around Ivan's shoulders.

Ivan takes a deep breath and shoves Remo away from him. He looks shocked and heartbroken.

"Ivan..."

"Get out, Remo." Ivan growls. His eyes are solemn, almost remorseful.

"Ivan-"

"Get out!"

Remo freezes for seconds and turns back to Piper, Max and Finn. Max growls at him and he looks down, bites his lip and simply walks out of the room. He's probably going to be ambushed by Percy and Nine, though.

Ivan looks back at me and smiles warmly. I smile back at him before the vision flashes through my mind again. Max.

I jump to my feet, startling Ivan, and frantically look around for Max. She's standing next to Finn a few feet behind Ivan. She looks worried and concerned, but over all relieved. I'm more of the relived one here, though. That vision- Camp Half-Blood destroyed, Max and Octavian  the only demigods left. Octavian tortured her an twisted her mind just like Remo did. He hurt her so badly I could barely watch.

I leap towards Max and wrap my arms around her protectively. She's stunned for a few moments before hugging me back, a puzzled expression on her face. I almost lift her off the ground again with how tightly I'm hugging her.

"O-Okay." She states simply, patting my back awkwardly. Piper chuckles and rolls her eyes at us.

"You guys are weird." She tells us.

"Oh, we know." Max replies, breaking our hug. I chuckle at them and turn back to Ivan, who glances at Max with a guilty look in his eyes.

"Max, I-I'm sorry. I pushed you away and I should've listened to you..." Ivan trails off and Max smiles warmly at him before hugging him tightly.

"It's okay, Ivan. I know how hard it can be." Max replies and the whole room goes silent. We all know- I mean, it's pretty obvious- that the 'tricking' thing is a very touchy subject with Max. When we first found out that Max was Loric, it was the fact that she was killed by Ivan and came back to life that was the touchiest subject for her, but now that she and Ivan have grown really close and she's forgiven him for it, it's not as hard to talk about as it was before. But the Remo thing- she's really sensitive about that. She hates talking about or even mentioning it, and everyone knows so.

But it's over now. Both she and Ivan are safe from Remo for now, and I'll make sure they're safe from him for good.