Leo stooped down to pick up his discarded tool belt, sighing. Poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue, Leo studied Fetus's figurehead. Fetus released a low groan and steam spilled from his nostrils; Leo twisted his lips. "I don't see anything wrong Festus."
Calypso chucked a sunflower seed at Leo and Leo swiftly dodged it as he circled the metal dragon — he wanted to find out whatever was wrong and fix it before they left for their raid that afternoon. "Maybe he just wants to spend time with you."
Leo gave Calypso a look of mild annoyance and she harrumphed; "Oh wait," she said, "that's right, that's me."
Leo rounded Fetus once more to arrive in front of Calypso, who was perched on a mock dummy of a monster, picking at her cuticles. She looked down her nose at him and hopped down, frowning. Leo frowned back and flicked her nose lightly. "You know that I've been – "
"Busy," Calyspo said mockingly, "I know. An dim not trying to undermine you, but I would appreciate if you let me know what's going on. For Zeus's sake, I didn't even know you were going on a raid today! Jason told me!"
Leo sighed and pulled Calypso closer to him by the loops of her jeans and she wrinkled her nose at the grease that rubbed onto her wrist. "I know, and I'm sorry. My brain's just been all over the place lately and I've been struggling to keep up with it myself, let alone keep you up to speed."
Calypso bit her lip but smiled too. "I know," she pecked his cheek. "I'll see you at lunch, right?"
Leo sighed again. "Yeah, we're leaving directly afterwards."
Calypso flicked his nose lightly and whispered, "You better come back to me."
Leo grinned as he said, "I swear it on the River Styx."
Calypso said nothing as thunder rumbled in the distance, solidifying the oath. Leo just turned his face to press his lips gently to Calypso's, murmuring, "I love you," against her lips.
"I love you too," she said, "now go get a shower; you stink."
Leo smirked impishly and purposefully wiped one of his grease smudged fingers against her cheek before she could stop him. Calypso grunted in frustration and disgust but let Leo escape to his cabin, still snickering.
As Leo marched to his cabin, he passed the brooding bunch of Chaos and his commanders. Leo dipped his head respectfully but they barely seemed to see him. Leo silently reached down to tie his shoe, listening carefully.
Leo curiously watched the five from the corner of his eye as Chaos ran a distressed hand through his hair. "And what?" He demanded. "You all expect me to sit idly as you go off and risk your lives? I can kill half of that army with one flick of my wrist."
Storm yanked at the hood of his cloak affectionately as Wave splayed his fingers across the sword sheathed at his side. A wave crested on the sword as it glowed by his side. The sword looked almost . . . familiar. Leo dipped his head, pretending to concentrate on adjusting his tool belt and tying his shoe laces. "No," Storm was saying, "you will be controlling the invasion elsewhere. We do not need you putting a larger target than there already is on our backs. You marching in there recklessly or to make a point will help no one. They want Per — "
Storm broke abruptly off as her eyes on Leo, still crouched on the ground, his hair curling around his ears as he gave a winning smile. Storm cursed low and violently under her breath but held Leo's gaze all the same. "We'll speak of this later," she said to Chaos, her eyes still trained on Leo, something about the gaze unnervingly familiar like Wave's sword. Then, she broke the stare and stalked off towards the Poseidon cabin.
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.
The Poseidon cabin loomed in front of them and something gleamed in the sunlight. Chaos instantly squashed the glow of the bracelet, bending the sunlight around it so that it became barely visible, a forgotten and insignificant relic. Thalia slowed her gait and flashed Chaos a wicked smile, saying something that Chaos barely heard as she bent down to tie her shoe. No one seemed to notice, and if they did they stared at her hypnotizing lips pulled into a cruel grin, her sinfully sweet voice—that seemed to be chiding Chaos on something—or the only part of her face that peeked out from her hood, her electrifying blue eyes that sparked with mischief. Thalia snagged her bracelet and slipped it onto her wrist, masking the action with a wide sweep of her other hand that beheld a coin. Thalia flipped it in between her slender fingers, and examined it. "Huh," she said, "did someone drop this?"
Jason reached deep into his pocket and his face whitened with rage. Chaos snorted; he'd admit that even he had missed Thalia slipping the coin from the haughty demigod. Jason broke through the line and snatched the coin from his sister whose cunning smile said enough of her intentions—she wanted to rattle his cage as much as possible.
"Was that necessary?" Chaos murmured as Thalia fell back into formation beside Annabeth.
"Yes," Thalia said simply. "It was a distraction," she grinned wickedly, "and fun."
"Sooner of later," Chaos said pointedly, "he'll have to know who you truly are."
"And why is that?" But it wasn't Thalia that snapped at him with the intensity of a roaring lion. It was Percy, the kind, lighthearted, fiercely loyal commander. Chaos bit his lip. "All that will do is cause division within our already intense relationship with the . . . demigods." He said the word demigods with such fervent sorrow and heartbreak that Chaos paused.
"But," he said softly, "if they were to find out on their own . . . the betrayal would be too great to overcome."
The commanders fell silent as the five demigods fanned out behind them and their troops marched on. The whole camp seemed to watch their every move, pausing in the middle of their day, to see the small but terrifying army crest Half-Blood Hill. Chaos swept his hand across the plane before them and a portal rippled into existence, ripping a hole in the universe as it churned restlessly. If anyone less skilled had attempted to open such a portal, the portal's power could overwhelm them, consume them, feed off their power and devour the universe.
With one last glance at the entirety of the camp, they all stepped into the portal, allowing it to swallow them while and wink out of existence once more.
And they appeared on the front of what would soon become a war zone.
* * *
He had seen it all. He had seen her pick up the bracelet. He had seen it slide onto her thin wrist. He had seen what the bracelet was and what it would become if she willed it. He has seen those bright blue eyes that burned with years of war, and fighting, and passion.
And he had known who she was.
He had known, right then, that she was not just a commander of Chaos, but had known that she was a hero of Olympus—a traitor of Olympus.
He had known that her companions that looked so familiar, that seemed like people he had encountered before, they were also the missing traitors of Olympus. Two of them were the missing couple of the seven that had walked the Earth together, that had waged a war together and that had taken back the world together. And the other two were just as significant, brothers and sisters to the seven.
He had known that Chaos was so overprotective for a reason. He had known why they cloaked themselves. He had known why each one had such powers that countered their own.
He had known everything, in that moment, that Chaos and his commanders wanted so desperately to hide. And he had the opportunity to shatter the Earth with such information, to rattle the stars. He had the chance to turn those commanders in to the gods, to give the gods what they so desperately had seemed for months, what they had traveled to ends of the Earth to find; and came up short.
But he did not divulge such information; he waited, he thought, he plotted, and he decided what he would do.
* * *
Nico stumbled as his knees buckled beneath him—a side effect of portal travel—but steadied himself rather quickly. The others followed, green in the face, weak in the knees and sick to their stomachs. To the demigods' chagrin, none of them fell into the dirt.
Nico surveyed the barren land that led into the mouth of a valley, a valley that Tartarus had razed for his allies, a valley that was packed with slithering snake women, lit with the fire of empousa, that teemed with hellhounds and telkhines and previously felled titans that had a score to settle. The valley spilled into a river that flowed red with human blood. Nico swallowed hard as he glimpsed the bodies of demigods and mortals that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He bit his lip hard to remind himself of the task at hand as he saw the demigods that had survived, and the bound goddess that showered golden blood on the prisoners below her.
The others sucked in a breath at the sight, at the sheer terror that rippled out in waves, that tore apart the land, that silenced any laughter and smothered any hope. The goddess of beauty that was bound to a celestial bronze stake bled freely, her clothes ripped, her face deathly pale. And Nico understood how the enemy had contained her. Nico had wondered why she hadn't simply revealed her true form and incinerated the enemy, why she hadn't broken her chains with her immortal strength. But the celestial bronze that dug into her arms and legs and back prevented such a shift, and weakened her. Such brutality for too long could cause her to fade. A bolt of fear played pinball down his spine and he found himself not reaching for his sword but for his friends' hands. Annabeth and Thalia gripped his hands tightly as the blood drained from their face and Annabeth silently reached for Percy's.
Nico reached deep into himself, grappling to find the strings to the puppet that was his powers, the strings that if he pulled correctly could bring Hell Fire raging across the valley, that could raise an army of undead warriors, that could strike fear of death and misery into the hearts of his enemies.
Around him, their small armanda fell into place. Leo had already slipped away to set off the traps they had set when scouting hours before, Annabeth trailed behind him, guarding his back, but not before kissing Percy on the mouth. Jason and Thalia, the siblings of lightning and storms, slinked away to blast apart the left side of the valley's walls. The rest of the demigods backtracked, taking Thalia and Annabeth's troops with them so they could sweep in from the back side of the valley. Nico, Percy and their troops would be the direct assault, the distraction as everyone else pushed in from all sides, trapping them.
Chaos looked wistfully after Annabeth, and then after Thalia. He dragged his eyes back to his second and fourth, his eyes sparkling with something unspoken. Holding true to his promise, he patted Percy and Nico on he back and then fell back—their last line of defense, he would pick off any stray monsters or Titans that escaped the raging war zone.
As the silence rose to its highest peak, and the sorrow and pain from below reached up to them, a flash of searing green fire, Greek Fire, engulfed the right side of the valley. Two figures burst from the rocks, running away, away, away, the mountainous plane exploded in a ball of fire, plunging down to claim the lives of the unlucky monsters that guarded that side.
The signal.
Another explosion, this one from the right, borne not of fire but sizzling and crackling lightning, sent that side of the rocks into the mouth of the valley. Nico quietly counted to five, and with one last glance at Percy, his face gaunt with the looming promise of battle, Nico held up his hand and curled it into a fist.
The river on the far side of the valley erupted, and ice danced in Percy's eyes and on his fingertips. Black Hell Fire cleared a path for them and they plunged down, down, down and –
Into the heart of the battle.
* * *
Annabeth watched with mild interest as Leo set the timer on the bomb for thirty seconds, watched as he reached into his tool belt and fished out a key that he turned into the side of the bomb and watched as he poked his tongue out of his mouth slightly as he strained to twist the key.
Bored and thrumming with the energy of impending battle, she helped the process along by reaching out with phantom hands of steel and fire and twisted the key for him. Leo, to his chagrin, barely flinched, and continued on with the painstaking process.
Once finished, he jumped to his feet, dropping the key back into his tool belt. Annabeth crossed her arms and palmed his dagger of Coyleto Ice into her hand, tipping it up as she examined the shimmering ice; the perfect opposite to her fiery flames. "It's done," Leo said plainly, "once I press this button, we'll have thirty seconds to get the hell out."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Leo nodded to himself and knelt to press the button. Sucking on her teeth, Annabeth crouched low into a position that could rival a professional track star's. Annabeth was not concerned for herself—Greek Fire hardly burned through her fireproof skin, but thirty seconds for Leo could be too little of a slot. He may be fire resistant, but Greek Fire was otherworldly, burning only cooler than Hell Fire that carried the very essence of the pain and suffering of the Fields of Punishment.
Leo sucked in a breath, pressed the button and ran. Annabeth followed on his heels, not daring to pass him in fear of the blast killing him. Annabeth threw up a weak, invisible wall of fire that would shield them from debris and the worst of the heat. Still, Annabeth gritted her teeth as the bomb exploded and fire washed over them, Leo screaming in agony; Annabeth strengthened the shield. Annabeth was invincible when it came to fire, but felt the full effects of the heat that kissed her skin anyways. Caressing her ankles, the green flames urged her to run faster, faster, faster. Annabeth cleared a rock and slammed into Leo's back. "Faster," she breathed into his ear as she hurled him in front of her, seeing rather than feeling him burst into flames before her. Good, good. His flames fueled and strengthened the shield behind them.
A few seconds later, the heat stopped pressing at her heels and she slowed, as did Leo. An answering call from directly across the valley echoed to them as the rock crumbled beneath the force of Thalia and Jason's electrifying lightning. Roars of monsters and Titans alike filled her eardrums, and her heart slammed against her ribcage. Percy and Nico plunged into the valley, catching the army inside unawares as they did so, and the army led by Piper, Hazel and Frank sent the monsters and traitor demigods into a frenzy as they closed ranks around them.
Panting, Annabeth nodded to Leo and began her descent to the battlefield where blood already coated the ground like frost after a cold night. The vicious sounds of battle carried up to Annabeth—the roars of monsters, the howls of fallen demigods, and the clang of metal upon metal. As Annabeth leaned over the rocky cliff face, she swallowed hard around the lump in her throat as she beheld the chaos below her. Ice whipped around them, spearing monsters on its unforgiving icicles that were coated in celestial bronze. Lightning crackled above, striking home as it reached down to the ground at the Grace siblings' command. Undead soldiers went to work in untying the prisoner demigods and awarding them weapons to fight their way out. A tiger prowled along the perimeter, ripping into fleeing monsters that came within its range. All around, enemy demigods were laying down their weapons as Piper walked among them, letting Hazel bind their wrists and ankles in shackles. As Annabeth dropped into the fray of the battle, her own fire joined the battle, twining with the ice that belonged to her Percy, both ripping into monsters as they came near. Annabeth found Percy by way of the ice storm that swirled around him and clasped his hand. "Together," she shouted.
"Together," he replied, and they let their fire and ice merge into one beast, one element, one weapon that charred monsters and ripped them into pieces so golden dust littered the field. Nico fought his way to them, wielding Hell Fire in one hand and his Stygian Iron sword in the other. Thalia followed close behind, backing into them, her pupils swallowed by the blue of them and the purple that mirrored the lightning that erupted from her. Their troops ripped the monsters apart before they could form proper lines again, battering them further.
The five demigods in their wake held their own, standing back to back to back as Chaos's commanders were. Soon, all that remained of the hundreds of monsters that packed the valley were three hellhounds, ten snake women, two titans and the bound demigods.
Annabeth reached once again for Percy's hand, and then for Nico's who stood on her other side, who reached for Thalia's, who reached for Percy's outstretched hand, until they formed unbreakable line. Their troops backed down, seeing the death and determination in their eyes, tending to the wounded.
"Take the monsters," Annabeth grumbled to the heroes of Olympus, "but leave the Titans to us."
The demigods obviously saw no reason to fight as they unleashed their prowess upon the remaining monsters and fell back. Annabeth smirked wickedly.
"Prepare to meet your fate," Nico murmured as he faced them. The Titans had the good sense to look unnerved but held their ground.
Nico nudged Annabeth and Thalia and Annabeth understood what he wanted to do. For some reason, somehow, she seemed able to read his thoughts. "How – ?"
"Leave it to me," he muttered, "I need – "
He gasped as Annabeth's strength bled into him, followed by Thalia's and Percy's. Nico glowed like a dark god as his strength climbed, as his power rose on its haunches. Annabeth sagged into him, but watched in horror and awe as a hole opened up before them, as it opened its mouth wide, preparing to swallow the Titans whole.
"Send us to Tartarus," the one Titan said, "and we will come back, faster than ever."
"This does not lead to Tartarus," Annabeth murmured.
"It doesn't even lead to the Underworld," Nico stated. "This is a realm of our own making, forged through fighting, suffering, sheer power, and friendship. This realm will ensure that you will not wake until the Earth burns, you will not claw your way up from its depths unless we allow it. This is your Hell, and you will suffer until the world ceases to exist or until our soul fades from the Underworld."
"Welcome to Inferno," the commanders said as one, their voices amplified.
Nico grinned evilly and Annabeth felt a chill slither down her spine. "You get the honor of becoming its first inhabitants."
The Titans did abandon ship then, sprinting for the river. But the commanders reached out as one, and a whip of power—of darkness, of electricity, of ice, of fire—leashes the Titans and dragged them back.
"Surrender now," Percy said calmly, "and you walk home free."
The Titans had the nerve to smile, to lash out with their power, to pledge allegiance to Tartarus. And so Annabeth let her power leak into her friends', and let that churning power drag the Titans into the depths of Inferno.
She let them burn and burn and burn.
And she would let any enemy that posed a threat to peace, to friendship, to hope of a better future, burn in Inferno too. In the mean time, she would try her best to be a symbol of that peace, that friendship, that hope for others.
Sagging from exhaustion, Annabeth watched through blurry vision as Chaos blinked into existence before them. Chaos rushed to his trodden and beat commanders, but Thalia waved him away. "Aphrodite," she rasped through dry lips. Annabeth ran her tongue along her lips to find them dry too.
Chaos obeyed. Aphrodite's sob of gratitude from in front of them was reward enough, along with the thanks from the prisoner demigods. Aphrodite clung to Chaos, sobbing, trying to compose herself. Chaos stood her up and healed her wounds easily. She turned to Annabeth and her friends, and appreciation shone there, not a hint of the usual haughtiness of the gods. She embraced them all.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she breathed. "I will not forget this anytime soon."
And then she turned to her daughter and the other demigods.
Annabeth couldn't help but feel that she probably would forget, but said nothing. She fell into her friends as they fell into her. They all tumbled to the ground in a laughing heel of limbs and silky cloak. Chaos sat next to them, grabbing Thalia's hands.
"Well done," he murmured, pride coating his features. And Annabeth thought that his approval was the only one her and her friends seeked—not their previous friends, nor the gods.
Annabeth kissed Percy, and laughed and smiled and rejoiced though her energy was sapped. Their first raid was a success and their invulnerability from the River Styx seemed to have worked.
All was well for the moment, thoughwar was on the horizon and calm never lasted in war.