Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my own characters, the rest of the characters are owned by their respective owners and everything else belongs to Rick Riordan.

A/N: Since I'd hate to disappoint all those who seem to be religiously following me (back when I updated regularly), I'm back, yay! So from this point on updates are going to be a lot slower, hopefully not as long as the gap between the last on and this one. I apologize to all of you who have been following this story rather closely but school is taking up a ton of time now that I'm in university so unfortunately it can't be helped, but thank you to all the support, the reviews and for me knowing that you guys are there to read so I'm not simply putting it up to empty air. Thanks everyone and hope you guys keep reading!

Quick note, it has been brought up several times that I describe the clothing of the characters too much. I've noticed it is a bit over the top but my reasoning is that I prefer to be able to visualize exactly what I am reading. For those of you who noticed, it probably won't be happening anymore in this story except for new characters unless I decide to do a full Aphrodite makeover thing or something, which I'm debating on still. I also just realized after reading through the story on my iPod that none of my line breaks actually made it through the word processor, so I'm working to fix that, sorry if it confused anyone with sudden time jumps with no explanation. Anyway, on with the story and thanks for being so patient everyone!

Marcus POV

Despite the introduction over the PA system, Marcus did not realize that most of that introduction wasn't for them. As the group emerged from the tunnel onto the field, they look in a stadium of monsters cheering as more took their seats, probably from the army outside that they had run through. Standing at center field, clad in full black Stygian Iron armour was the Titan himself.

"Koios," Grayson answered the unspoken question for the whole group. Marcus nodded, slowly taking in the 10-foot tall immortal standing half a football field away. The diamond in the center of his black breastplate seemed to glint and his eyes were a bright blue-white, almost glowing behind his bear helmet. The Titan spread his hands, "Welcome demigods. I trust you had few difficulties approaching your doom here in Titan Stadium?"

Behind him, Marcus heard Grayson mutter, "You didn't purchase the rights to naming the stadium from Nissan yet."

Jon snorted in an attempt to cover up his laughter at Grayson's very blunt statements as he tried to think up a response. He hesitated for a moment too long though, and it was Samantha that answered, "I think it'll be renamed to Demigod Field by the time we finish with you and your brethren!"

Koios roared with laughter, which was very deep and chilling sound. "You have spine demigod, I like it. But I see the future! I can predict your fates, what will happen, who will be sacrificed in this war! It will begin with one of you, and fate is something you cannot change. So son of Hermes, would you like to volunteer so one of your friends doesn't take the downfall?"

Marcus froze. There it was again. One of them was fated to die and he was asked to step forward and offer himself for the sake of the team. He glanced sideways towards Samantha, who gave a tight shake of her head and he nodded. He took a step forward towards Koios, causing a gasp from everyone behind him. "We are here to tell you that we are all going to make it through to the end. We are here to put a stop to you and we will succeed in the end, with everyone pulling through. We won't bow to what you prophesize and simply lie down and accept it, we'll fight for it all the way to the end."

Koios smiled thinly. "I have seen your kind in the past, demigod. They thought they could avoid the prophecy. Avoid what has been the Fates decree. But what you must realize is that I recognize the Fates. I see the future, demigod, and maybe you aren't a part of it."

He reached back and unsheathed his enormous surfboard-like sword, which glinted a dark, cold gray in the light of the sun and held it in front of him. "I gave you the opportunity, traveler, now shall we determine what fate has predicted for you?"

Marcus didn't have time to answer as Koios closed the distance with blinding speed, barely able to get his sword up in time to block the blow as the Titan slammed into him, his shoes digging into the turf as he tried to push back. Koios's dark face grinned as he disengaged their blades and kicked Marcus back before turning to block blows from both Grayson and Samantha simultaneously. "You truly believe you can defeat me? I am a TITAN! You puny demigods could never hope to defeat me!"

Samantha, who had both her blades pressed against Koios's massive sword grit her teeth and quickly pulled one blade back and slashed it across the knuckles of Koios under the sword guard. "We can defeat you and will defeat you. We have it in ourselves."

Koios roared and pulled away, golding ichor dripping from the back of his hand as he glared. Grayson using his momentary distraction to roll behind his legs and use her knives to cut as many spots as possible in the exposed back of the legs. Koios gave another roar of rage and turned to bring his sword down on her before she could move out, but Marcus jumped in to catch the sword with his as Grayson rolled out from under the deadly blades again.

Samantha yelled, "Cover me!" to Jon and Alex as she charged Koios from behind.

Marcus could barely see her around the Titan as he strained against the Titan, being pushed back by the enormous immortal. Just as their swords disengaged, Grayson appeared beneath the Titan's guard again, landing a couple slashes to the belly and leg armour, but her appearance caused both Jon and Alejandra to hesitate to shoot as she was in the way between them and Koios.

In that moment of hesitation, Koios shoved Grayson backwards and turned with blinding speed, swinging his sword towards Samantha. He hit her full broadside with the flat of his enormous sword, sending her flying backwards across the field, landing on the turf and bouncing once before she hit the goalpost. She lay there unmoving, her blades lying beside her limp hands as what sounded like a foghorn blasted through the stadium. Glancing up, Marcus saw a couple fireworks shoot off into the sky and the scoreboard now read: Titans: 7, Olympus: 0.

Marcus desperately wished to run over to Samantha's limp form and see if she was ok, but the Titan between him and her made it rather difficult. Monsters in the crowd cheered and jeered as Koios raised his massive sword again and marched towards them. Everyone glanced nervously at each other and their eyes rested on Marcus, who almost panicked in the moment. Luckily, one of Alejandra's arrows found a chink in the armour and Koios roared, pulling the arrow out and golden ichor began dripping from the wound. "Insect! You can't do anything to me! Why don't you all just put your weapons down and give it up instead? I can foresee your failure!"

Everyone glanced at Marcus again, who grit his teeth and clenched his hand as he looked down. Let it go for now, he told himself. Like she would say, anger in battle leads to recklessness and ultimately getting killed. He raised his head slowly and met the eyes of the Titan, thinking about how he had swatted Samantha aside like a fly and let emotions flow through him for a moment. "Foresight isn't everything, you can't expect it all. Things like me are what changes our fate."

Alejandra and Jon both continued to fire arrows from different ranges while Grayson and Marcus closed in to try and keep him distracted. Marcus personally had no idea how to defeat a Titan, not being able to recall if they were invulnerable or had any other special combat ability, but he knew that they were in trouble despite outnumbered the Titan four to one, especially with Samantha being their missing fighter. Odds are nice, he thought, especially in gambling. He realized he had gotten distracted when an arrow whizzed by his face and embedded itself in Koios's armour chink in his arm just as he was about to bring his sword down on Marcus. He instinctively rolled away to the side, bringing his sword up to meet Koios's with a huge clash that shoved Marcus back a few feet but he tried to hold his ground. He could feel his arms shaking from the pressure of the swords as Koios's blue-white eyes bore into his, and then suddenly he wasn't in the battle anymore.

Marcus looked around, seeing nothing but a mountain and the black stone of the ruins of what seemed to be a palace. Koios's voice sounded in his head. "Look around you demigod. This is the past, what once was before we returned. Now as we rise again, Mount Othyrs rises with us."

Marcus's eyes widened as the stone seemed to swirl, slowly building up into a menacing palace of black obsidian. "This is the future demigod. What can you do to stop it?"

Blinking, Marcus exited the vision in time to be thrown backwards by Koios, tumbling down to the ground and rolling a couple feet, losing his sword in the process. He scrambled to his feet and dove for his sword as Koios's huge sword created a massive hole in the turf where he was standing. Rolling, he came up with his sword and met Koios again, this time with Jon firing several arrows into chinks in Koios's armour but they didn't seem to hurt him, just irritate him as he pushed Marcus back and turned towards where the Apollo kids were still launching arrows.

Grayson took Koios's momentary distraction from the arrows to get inside his guard and lay a couple slashes across his back armour, cutting a gash on the second cut before rolling out from beneath his sword and scrambling away. Koios roared and turned towards her, with Marcus dashing forward to take advantage of the window of opportunity. Unfortunately for him, Koios seemed to hear him and turned towards him at the last moment as he took his swing in full stride. Instead of his blade cutting through the gap that Grayson had caused previously, Marcus's sword glanced off the large diamond in the center of Koios's breastplate with a loud clang and he staggered backwards as Koios seemed to breathe deeply for a moment in the middle of the fight.

The first hint that he had made a mistake was a ping sound that seemed to originate from the diamond. Then it sparkled like the North Star and let loose a shock wave of force that Marcus briefly recalled was an ability of the titans before it hit him. The force of the blast threw Marcus back 30 yards, rolling across the turf as it scraped and burned his skin until he slid to a stop near the benches along one side of the field. The rest of the demigods weren't looking much better, everyone rolling over and slowly getting to their feet. The worst seemed to be Alejandra, who was currently the closest to Koios as he approached her dazed form. Shot rolled onto her back as reached her, placing an armoured boot down on her hair to pin her down to the turf. "The first blood of our new war." He gloated as he raised his sword above his head.

Marcus wasn't sure who screamed first, whether it be him, Jon and Grayson all screaming, "Alex!" or Alejandra herself screaming as the sword seemed to approach her in slow motion, but it was drowned out by an explosion of light that caused him to throw his hands up as a shock wave blew him backwards again. This time he was thrown backwards over the benches he had just been standing up in front of and rolled to a stop against the wall beneath the stands of the stadium, but kept his eyes squeezed tight as the light burned through his eyelids, groaning as he turned his head away.

As the light slowly faded away, Marcus pushed off from the wall, took a look around and gasped. Where Koios had stood was simply a charred, black silhouette that simply dissolved into the wind over a shocked Alejandra. The silence was overwhelming, causing Marcus to turn and realize there wasn't a monster left in the stadium. Just dust that blew all around the entire team. Soon, all eyes turned to Jon, who was standing at the center of a charred circle on the ground with a glowing white light surrounding him. He glanced nervously at each one of the demigods around the field, never meeting their eyes before he ran towards Alejandra's dazed form. Marcus shook his head to clear it before he sprinted towards Samantha, dropping to his knees beside her and cradling her head as he checked her body for wounds. "Sam, wake up, come on, we gotta move out of here."

Her brown eyes opened slowly, unfocused and blinking as she tried to look at Marcus's concerned face over her body. It took a lot of willpower not to melt in her gaze, as cute as it was when she got that confused look, but he stood up and held out his hand to pull her up as the rest of the team began to gather around them. Marcus's eyes met Samantha's as she stood up and she nodded, indicating she was mostly ok as Alejandra started checking her for injuries. Turning towards Jon, he opened his mouth but was almost immediately cut off. "Marcus please not now, I don't know what it was or how I did it, but it's a lot of power and I don't want to make the stress level worse right now."

One of Marcus's eyebrows went up. This was very far from the Jon that he knew so well, who thrived on taking what he got and running from it. He seemed almost crushed inside, confused and conflicted as to what he would do but Marcus respected his wish and dropped the subject. Grayson seemed to not have any injuries besides a few rips in her clothes, Alejandra looked shaken up but she still checked on all the others with her same veteran level experience of a medic and Samantha was as steely as always. Glancing around, Marcus nodded. "Good job here guys, pretty unexpected and hard, but we have to keep moving forward. Let's see what we can get from this place and get out of here. Long road ahead."

Meanwhile the scoreboard behind them read: Titans: 7, Olympus: Too Much.

A/N: Again guys I'm really sorry about how slowly I'm sending out chapters now. I don't have a ton of free time with the amount of work and extra-curriculars I'm doing and I don't get a ton of time to focus on the story like I used to. I'll do my best, not sure when the next update will be, before Christmas for sure but the next 2 weeks are a no because of mid-terms. But an exciting thing is the next POV will be Jon's, so the first one from someone else's OC . I'm pretty excited to write it so see you all next time!