Disclaimer: I don't own PJ

Confusion didn't even begin to describe what I was feeling.

Darkness was quickly closing in around me, suffocating me. So, this was what it was like to die.

Then I thought about Martin. And Percy, and Percy Logan. There was no way I could die. Besides, I couldn't just give up. That'd be the worse hero story ever.

Even if I couldn't manipulate water, this was my turf.

I built up all the speed I could muster, and bulleted out of the shadows. I reached for Kyma, before realizing I had drawn it already. It was sinking. Somewhere.

I frantically searched for a presence, but I was hit in the face by darkness again. I felt like such a noob.

So, since you can't fight, you talk.

"Show yourself, coward!" I yelled, still looking for Kyma.

"A coward, am I?" a smooth voice answered. A man with chocolate skin and black clothes appeared. He was beautiful. There was no other way to describe him.

Now what? I didn't actually expect him to show himself.

"Umm… hi. And you are?"

He raised an eyebrow. "A demigod that doesn't recognize me? Very interesting."

"So, not going to answer? At least tell me what's up with the flame."

Mr. Beautiful smiled. "So, you really don't know what an honor you have."

I rolled my eyes. "Stop skirting around. What place of honor am I in?"

"Forward, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Very well demigod. You tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine."

I rolled my eyes again. "Victoria."

He paused. "Ah, yes. Hades has told me of the daughter of Olympus."

In league with Father Hades? That didn't sound too pleasant.

"I am Thanatos. The Lieutenant of Lord Hades. Though you may know me as Death."

How do you follow that?

"And the flame?" I said, trying to act like I wasn't fazed.

"What? The daughter of Olympus has never heard about the Flame of Western Civilization?"

Of course I had. "Duh. But what does that have to do with-" I stopped as a thought came to me. No way. "That's impossible. The Western Flame doesn't have physical form."

"As you can see, it does. We keep it from others, so that demigods and gods don't come flocking to get a taste of it. Can you imagine? The power of everything within the west in a singular flame?"

No, no I couldn't.

"Not all gods are selfish, you know. What about the ones who'd use the power for good?"

Death shrugged. "Even if there were such pure gods, they would turn to ash from the sheer amount of power. That's why I'm warning you to turn back now. Hades would not be happy to lose another daughter."

I sighed, knowing he successfully made me feel bad. But now I had an idea of what I was supposed to do. I needed that flame.

"Sorry, but I can't do that."

"Then prepare to face Death."

He lunged towards me, and I half expected him to grow vampire fangs.

I rocketed down to Kyma and morphed it into a shield. I'm not ashamed to say that I hid behind it. Hello? What was I supposed to do, knock on Death's door?

No. Ring the bell and run. He hates that. I cursed myself. Now was not the time to remember Father Hades' jokes.

Shield still out, I ran, err swam, forward trying to knock into him.

He sidestepped at the last second, so I changed direction, leaping over him, trying to wham him with my shield.

We danced like that until he got irritated and tried to go offensive. He pulled a black dagger out of nowhere and went for my side.

Mistake!

I rolled backwards, dropping Kyma, kicking the dagger out of Thanatos' hand, and catching it when I was right side up again. I stomped on the edge of the shield and it came spinning into my hand. Hah! Now I had Kyma and some sort of weird shadow dagger. The god of Death obviously didn't stand a chance now!

Thanatos was mad. He came for me, face darkened by shadow, as beautiful as ever.

I had to go defensive. Slowly, I was backing up, towards the inside of the pavilion. Thanatos didn't really notice. He was too busy trying to smash me in.

I went in for a swipe with the dagger, but Thanatos just held out his hand and the dagger burst into shadows. He started going easy on me again, slowing down. We couldn't have that.

"So Thanatos." I said, dodging an attack. "Eris told me you were her substitute. Second best, are you?"

He bared his teeth and went at me a bit quicker. Closer. Closer. Closer. I continued throwing witty comments. Hey, death is easy to draw forward.

It was a good thing, because I was exhausted. I couldn't keep this up forever, even with the water.

Has it gotten hot all of a sudden?

Death landed in front of me. "You cannot defeat Death, demigod."

I looked behind me, and was almost blinded by the sheer blue brightness. I turned back to him, grinning triumphantly.

"I don't have to defeat you."

And before I could change my mind, I lunged, full speed, at the blue flame.

My eyesight went away, even though my eyes were open. The roar of the fire rivaled Lei's. The heat was so intense, it felt like my face was being melted off.

Then the roaring quieted down from deafening to ear-splitting. I blinked and I could see again. It was very blue. Why was the flame blue?

"The flame adapts to the greatest hero of the time. Your Percy Jackson is quite fond of blue." A deep voice came out of nowhere. You could feel the power, and it was like getting hit in the face.

The intelligent person I am, I answered, "Am I dead?"

Smoothly, the voice replied, "No. Not yet."

Great.

"So. Any advice on how to stay- you know- not dead."

"Humor will not get you out of this situation, Victoria Jackson."

"You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"I believe you know my name quite well. I am the Flame of Western Civilization."

Another surprise. Great. Everything was so much easier in training.

At least I'll be killed by Western Civilization itself.

I smiled. "Can I call you Ed? Flame of Western Civilization is a mouthful."