Yeah, these next two chapters are literally just me nerding over songs that I like. Just reading the lyrics is never enough if you don't know the songs, so seriously, look them up if you have, like, ten minutes to spare.

First Person: Lucy

"Lu? You and Ve up yet, or do we have to drag you out of bed kicking and screaming?" Someone shouted.

"More like drag them out of bed while they try to remain asleep and end up making us drag dead weight," A second person corrected.

I didn't want to get up, and hoped that maybe if I ignored the voices then they'd go away. I heard the sound of a sigh, a lock clicking, and a door opening. There was a bit of shuffling, and I began to relax thinking the voices were leaving me be.

"Lucy~! Veon~!"

I groaned and reached for my pillow to cover my ears, but quickly realized that I didn't have a pillow. Or a blanket for that matter. I wasn't even in my bed. Maybe that's why I was slightly cold. But the floor was comfy enough. I should go get a blanket at least. But I didn't want to get up either. The struggle was real.

I suddenly felt a shaking, which disturbed my inner argument to go back to sleep. "Lu? Lucy, wake up."

I slapped away the person. "What?" I demanded, but it was too late to fall back asleep.

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?" Audrey sighed.

"I'll have you know the floor is a very comfortable place," I said quickly, forcing myself to sit up.

"Yeah, but you look like someone broke in and attacked you. Then again, I have a feeling that if someone broke in and attacked you, you'd have burnt them to a crisp, but metaphorically speaking. What are you doing there?"

I held up a finger to respond, before I realized that I didn't know. Why was I lying on the floor? I'm sure there was a reason. I looked down and noticed a frame with the picture taken out lying beside me on the floor. Wasn't that the picture I'd taken back at Camp Half-Blood with my family? The one with the godly photobomb? Ithuriel! That was the one. There was something that I was missing though. I think there was something about Ithuriel that I was curious about. But I didn't know anything.

That was it! I didn't know anything! I didn't know who he was! I was in the dream world again! Audrey and Emily were here too. They couldn't be real, just like this entire world. I decided to play it safe until I found out more.

"I'm not sure. Must've passed out. What are you doing here?"

"We came to remind you guys that your gig is in an hour, and I just knew that you - or at least Ve - would be sleeping 'till three and would risk missing it."

"Gig?" I asked.

I don't have gigs. As in, musical gigs. I probably have some gigs on my computer. That would've been a nice joke. I should've said that aloud. Dang it, it was too late. Audrey was already moving on! Missed opportunity, man.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "What? Don't tell me you forgot. You never forget stuff like this. You practically set five alarms, get everything ready ten days in advance, and quattuorvigintuple check everything per day in between."

"First off, I prefer to say I tredecuple check. But I'm…just having an off day. I'll wake Veon."

I went into the bedroom, hoping to find out more from Veon. If he was a part of this world too, then he should be able to fit in with this situation better than I could, trying to play it off.

"Ve," I whispered as I shook him away. "Ve! Get up!"

"Golden rule!" He grumbled. "Talked about this earlier."

I remembered that he was just as stubborn as I was when it came to waking up, and so I resorted to the old-fashioned technique that I used on him constantly. I shoved him off the bed, sheets that he was burrito-ed up in and all. Luckily, he knew not to ever do this to me - not only because I would murder him on the spot, but because modern society has shown that a girl pushing a guy around in a friendly way was okay, but a guy pushing a girl around in a friendly was could easily be mistaken as abuse. I was a girl and even I thought that was sexist. Guys can be victims too, ya know. Except for Veon. He was tough enough to handle a tumble or ten…per week.

"Get up. Audrey and Emily are here," I said from the bed, leaning down to poke where his face was under the blankets.

After much poking, prodding, threatening, pillow whacking, and rambling right in Veon's ear, he finally grumbled and got up. "If I make them go away and leave us alone, will you let me sleep in peace?"

Aw, he was adorable with bed hair, grumbling about getting up. Weird. Had I ever really taken the time to think about that before? It was odd. Veon didn't look any different than he normally did - a teenage boy who didn't try too hard to look good but he still looked better than 80% of all the guys that I'd ever seen because he wasn't trying. Did I ever realize how much I liked his face better than anyone else's? Did I ever realize how giddy and happy I felt inside just talking to him, being in his presence? I pushed emotions down, ignored them, and Zyanya had suppressed them for the years we were together.

I'd never had the time to just admire him without suppressing my feelings. Now that I was here, maybe the happiness of this place was changing me. Maybe it was because I'd lost Order. Maybe it was a combination of the two. I suddenly saw him in a new light, like opening a story to the middle of a relationship and seeing how happy the people were. It was like I had just woken up to realize how lucky I was, how much I wanted to embrace this life, and to never let it go. I think a part of me was more willing to accept this Veon because I knew he wasn't real and that if I messed something up or did something embarrassing, it didn't feel as scary.

I knew it wasn't real, but I liked it. I felt the strong urge to go along with it, play around with this world while I could.

"Sure," I agreed. "Scout's honor. Promise on the River Styx."

He sighed and rose from his makeshift sleeping bag and headed to the door. "What's up?" He asked, rubbing his eye and yawning.

"Uh, very important gig at the coffee shop?" Audrey relayed. "Come on, you two! You two have been all over this thing for ages! What is up with you guys today?"

"Gig?" Veon muttered, before snapping to attention. "Gig! Ah! Give me five minutes!"

He ran back into the bedroom and into the closet to change.

"Gig at the coffee shop?" I muttered worriedly. "What kind of gig?"

"The gig of the music variety?" Audrey suggested. "You know, with instruments and singing? You guys have been doing this for ages. Come on. I'll get the guitar and mics, and Emily can get the keyboard."

Audrey walked over to the kitchen area where the instruments were stored and ready to go, grabbing a guitar case (presumably with a guitar inside) and a box with the microphones inside. Emily went over and picked up the keyboard, and they headed to the door, Audrey setting the mics down for a moment to open it.

"We'll put them in the car," Audrey called. "Be ready by the time we get back, please."

I went to the bedroom and the closet, where Veon was as he struggled to pull on his black shirt at top speed. I instinctively knew that we took turns when getting ready, and since he had made it to the closet first, I had to do my bathroom routine first. I brushed my teeth and hair, washed my face, and…dried it, I guess. I didn't have much to do after that.

When Veon came out, we switched, and I changed into my jeans, T-shirt, and boots. Veon and I both had similar jackets, both army green, but we didn't often hang them up at the front door. We liked having our jackets in our bedroom or closet, but they could end up anywhere in the apartment depending on our days and where we dropped them.

I again found myself liking the system that Veon and I had made, living together. We had an apartment. Sure it was Zyanya that got me the apartment and I was just sharing, but we had decorated, we'd moved in together, we had a routine of silent agreement between us. I liked it. Hell, I loved it.

Veon didn't have much more than I did in the bathroom, but he was looking around frantically for his jacket. "I do not go anywhere without it, you know that!"

I walked out to the main area, heading over to the window that was beside the cabinets of the kitchen. Did we have a musical gig where we had to sing songs we created? I could rhyme when I was loopy from my overuse of power, I could write stories, and a little poetry, but I had tried writing songs, and that seemed to be the one thing that Apollo's blood had denied me. At the very least, I was far too shy and introverted to sing anything I'd composed myself. I could be brave on a battlefield, I could sing songs composed by other people, but my own songs? I could get it over with in a school assignment, but on a stage? If Audrey and Emily were here, they were going to watch! I could perform in front of strangers because I most likely wouldn't see them again and had no personal connection to them, but with people I know?

"Come on," Audrey said, putting a hand on my shoulder, startling me out of my thoughts.

I turned my head and mustered a smile, nodding. "Right."

Veon rushed out of the bedroom, finally having remembered where his jacket was and snatching it as he sprinted for the door. "I'm ready! Let's move it, people!"

He rushed out dramatically, and the three of us laughed. He really was adorable, trying to be purposefully funny.

Suddenly, the scene shifted, I found myself somewhere new, hooking instruments and mics up to speakers. I panicked. I was going to perform soon, wasn't I? What were we even singing?!

I spotted Veon testing out the keyboard, gently tapping the keys with the volume down, but instead of a regular piano, it came out with an electric sound. He began to play the intro of a song, and I tried to remember where it came from. Wow, he was able to mimic an actual song, even quickly pressing a button to change the keyboard to another instrument without breaking stride. Playing a piano itself was pretty hard, but learning to play a myriad of instruments all on an electric keyboard instead of the actual instruments as well as switching to perfectly mimic a song…that was amazing. Especially considering he didn't have any instrumental celestial blood within him.

"Hey, Ve."

The notes he was playing came to a stop, and it was almost disappointing as the song stopped halfway through the chorus. "Hey. All set up?"

"Uh…close. But…I need a recap. What are the order of the songs?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes in an enduring way. Audrey said I had been super prepared for this, and if I was doing this in real life, I knew that was how I would really be. I must've bugged Veon about this a lot.

"Okay, we start with 'Say Something,' AB/DD, you do 'Deep End,' Ruelle, I do 'I'll Follow You Into the Dark,' Death Cab For Cutie, and we both end with 'Nothing Left to Say Now,' Imagine Dragons."

Songs that we didn't write! Yes! The first 'Say Something' that came to mind was that one by A Great Big World, but when he said AB/DD, I knew he meant the one by Anna Blue and Damien Dawn. Other than that, I knew all of the songs he was talking about by heart, but I didn't know how we had decided to break up 'Nothing Left to Say Now.' In rehearsal, all kinds of crazy things could happen depending on the people, and I knew that we would mix it up to make it sound good. I hadn't actually gone through this with Veon! I didn't know who was taking the melody and who was singing backup, and there would most likely be times when we switched those roles to keep things even between us, since it was a duet. What was I supposed to do?

"Hey, it's gonna be fine," He said, misinterpreting my nervousness. "You're gonna do great. If you want, I can do my song before you do yours."

"No, no. I'll do Deep End first."

He chuckled. "Still the 'Get it over with' kinda person. And your family? They love you. If you mess up, it's not like they're gonna think any less of you. This is the first time your parents are actually gonna hear you sing. You're amazing, and if you sharp like there's no tomorrow and sing like a banshee, I'm sure they'd understand."

"Gee, thanks!"

He laughed, and I couldn't prevent the corners of my mouth from rising as well. Then, I processed what he'd said. My parents? My adoptive parents were human, and they wouldn't be brought into the demigod camps without really good reason.

There was a small jingle of the door opening, and though it had been happening for a while now as people went in and out, I was suddenly drawn to it. I saw Kaze walking in, with Tsuchi by his side. Kandai came in after her, and then next came…Ithuriel.

The white-haired man was talking with Kandai, before he looked up and saw me on the stage and froze. He recognized me. He saw me. Did he know that I didn't belong here? Who was he, anyway? I needed to know. I felt familiarity, I felt an overwhelming desire to talk with him, to hug him, maybe even stronger than the urge to do the same to my dad. Tsuchi and Kandai were here. They were here. I considered the possibility if this was a dream world with everything I wanted, but…

Then Ithuriel looked over to Emily. For a moment, his face remained in a similarly shocked state, before Emily popped up to her feet and hurried over to pull the group over to the tables that they'd saved for them. Ithuriel shook off his shock and put on a smile again I hopped off the stage and walked over to greet them, eager to talk to them and get some answers.

"H-Hi…"

Kandai, my dad, was the first to smile and respond. He was speaking in English, based on his accent. When I was given to my dad, he had a falling out with his grandmother about how he'd fallen for a god just like his mother and was left alone to raise a child. He'd told me that he'd always wanted to take my mom to Britain, but she left before he could. That's why I was raised in Britain for the first part of my life, learning English and Japanese at the same time. Not that it was a glorious process. My dad spoke to me with…well, if Spanglish (Spanish + English) was a thing, then I guess this was Japanglish? Englanese? Either way, even my own English had a hint of an accent, not that I realized it was an accent before.

"Hey, Flower," Dad said.

"Hi, Papa."

My accent naturally slipped in on 'Papa.' I hadn't called him that in a long time. I missed it.

"I want nachos," Tsuchi declared. "Kaze, let's go get some food."

"No stealing," My dad said firmly.

Both mother and son stuck their tongues out at him, but walked off to their table and waved over a waiter. It was amusing to see Tsuchi and Kaze. Kaze seemed…different. In a good way. I hadn't heard much about Tsuchi, but it seemed she only spoke Japanese. She was described as more of a rebel, of course, but she also seemed like someone who didn't listen to anyone. Like mother like son? Then again, it also seemed like my dad was babysitting both of them like I had once done with Kaze. Like father like daughter too.

"Sorry we're late," Dad said. I internally giggled at referring to him as 'Dad.' Man, I was going crazy. "Glad to know we didn't miss the show."

"Lu!" Veon called, trying to wave me over.

"You should get going."

"We can talk after the show," Ithuriel promised.

I looked forward to it, but it seemed that Ithuriel was eager to talk as well. For better or worse, I would have the chance at getting my answers. After the show. Great, the show.

"Break a leg," Papa said.

"That'd be a terrible show!" Ithuriel exclaimed.

Dad laughed. "It's reverse psychology. Like, if you say 'Good luck,' that usually jinxes someone, and so people say 'Break a leg' instead so that it hopefully inspires the opposite effect."

"What's the opposite of breaking a leg? Growing another one?"

He laughed. "Don't know. But hey, it's traditional to say when someone's performing."

"Oh. Well, I hope you break your leg too. Did I do it right?"

Kan patted him on the shoulder. "Good enough, Urie."

I couldn't help but chuckle. I guess there were a lot of things that we didn't really think about. I took a deep breath and headed over to the stage again. It'd be over before I knew it. Songs always went quickly. Four whole songs. That's like the equivalent of what we had during a choir concert. And they were songs I was fond of. I just needed to sing like I always did and I'd be good.

Veon handed me my mic, tapping it and confirming that it was hooked up to the speaker. It wasn't a very fancy setup, but it was enough. We had a keyboard and a guitar, the mics as well as stands for them, adjustable for when we were standing or playing an instrument.

"Let's kill it," He said.

I nodded. "Yeah."

He walked up and put his mic in the stand before picking up the guitar. I wondered if we were supposed to make some kind of announcement, but that would be awkward. I'm pretty sure that everyone would be able to figure it out. Besides, when people performed in places like this, it was optional to listen or not, and people were free to talk among themselves even while we performed. It wasn't something formal like a concert.

I walked over to the keyboard, which was at the height that I could play it while standing, and put my mic in the stand already set up for me. Veon looked to me, and I remembered the beginning of 'Say Something' had an electric keyboard kind of sound at the beginning. I had to start. And I was the first one to sing, as well, in both verses, of course. I wasn't even sure if I could do the whole instrument switching technique. I didn't know this keyboard!

Well, nowhere to go but forward. I pressed my fingers to the keys and began to play, hoping that my fingers would take over for me. Luckily, I was able to play with an instinct and practiced skill that I didn't know that I had, and at the very least, my hands knew what they were doing, even if the rest of me was still nervous as hell.

Key:
Lucy
Veon
Both
Friends

"Baby I'm so tired,
"O-Oh,
"Of you keepin' quiet,
"O-O-Oh.

"I feel the anger cutting slowly through my heart,
"And it burns like fire,
"O-O-Oh.

"I can sense the violence,
"Deep within your silence,
"Couldn't we just go back to before?

"You put this love in danger,
"Treat me like a stranger,
"Nothing like the one I used to know.

"I wanna break the ice-"

I was surprised when our friends filled in as they shouted "Hey!" between our lines, providing backup that I found comforting.

"But you keep acting cold-
"Oh, oh,
"You gotta say something, say something,
"Say something.

"Can we make this right?
"Hey!
"There's a million things untold,
"Oh, oh,
"You gotta say something, say something,
"Say something,
"Say something now."

I was surprised how easy it became once we got going. As we continued, I almost seemed to zone out through the verse. It was when we reached the end of the next chorus that I realized that the world was blurring. The moment I focused on it, it returned to normal, and I quickly hid my surprise and smiled again as we continued, but it was odd. The song was almost seeming to vibrate through the world. It must be the key to figuring out this fake world, I realized.

"Tick tock, tick tock,
"Soon it's gonna be too late,
"Tick tock, tick tock,
"So baby, don't you let me wait.

"Tick tock, tick tock,
"Everything could be alright,
"Tick tock, tick tock,
"But you're just letting time go by."

"I wanna break the ice-
"Hey!
"But you keep acting cold-
"Oh, oh,
"You gotta say something, say something,
"Say something.

"Can we make this right?
"Hey!
"There's a million things untold,
"Oh, oh,
"You gotta say something, say something,
"Say something,
"Say something now.

"O-o-oh,
"O-o-oh,
"O-o-oh,

"Say something now~!

"Say something now."

I pushed through the final chorus and tried to test my theory, and as long as I kept my concentration on the words of the song and didn't focus on anything in particular that changed, the world did indeed seem to fade, change, but I couldn't pinpoint how without breaking the change. I had to let myself get completely immersed in the song.

But this song came to an end, and we got a pretty strong applause from our crew and an impressed applause from everyone else. I had the next song all to myself, I remembered. I'd test my theory on my own. Perfect time, since no way was I going to think too hard while singing a solo. Falling into the music was the only way to survive. Fitting, considering I was singing 'Deep End.'

I played the keys and sang my beginning notes that weren't actual lyrics before moving to the first verse.

"Where can I go,
"When the shadows are callin',
"Shadows are callin' me?

"What can I do,
"When it's pullin' me under,
"Pullin' me underneath?

"It's getting close,
"I lose control,
"It's taking over.

"I'm slippin',
"Into the deep end.
"I'm in over my head,
"I can't catch my breath.

"I'm slippin',
"Into the deep end.
"Feel the current within,
"I can't help but give in."

Sure enough, as I got into the second verse, I zoned out, and before the second verse was even over, I found myself standing in the coffee shop, though not on stage. I looked around for what was going on, but it took me a moment to realize that the only change in the shop was a woman in all black sitting at the table in front of me, right of the table Tsuchi and Kaze were at. It took me another moment to realize that it was me.

I…she, was looking at a menu in her hands impassively. "I hear this place has a nice special on Fridays. What do you think?"

She looked up at me, her face no different than when I looked in a mirror, but her gaze enough to freeze me in place, worse than when I was on stage.

"Oh, but you've never really been here before, have you?"

She leaned back in her chair, setting the menu on the table and picking up a glass with what I assumed was liquor within it. She took a sip, and I could almost imagine the alcohol going down her throat. Maybe it was because she looked like me and I was getting some kind of phantom feeling, or maybe it was because I felt scared to get the next words out of my mouth.

"You're Chaos, aren't you?"

She waved her glass impassively, as though shooing me away. "You call us Zyanya, don't you?"

"Us?"

"Order and I? People think we're two different entities, and they're not far off the mark. But we, in the end, came from the same source. What that source is? Just…nothingness. But we've limited time here, don't we? Let's skip the stupid questions, if we can. You humans love stupid questions. Especially you. Always digressing, you. Not that it's not understandable. You've got a lot of thoughts swirling around in that pea-brain of yours."

"P-Pea bra-?!"

She put her finger up as though scolding me. "Shhh, shhh, what did I just say about stupid questions? You see you up there on stage?"

She waved her glass towards the stage behind me, and I turned to see that I was still up there, starting the second chorus right now.

"You've got about, oh, give or take a minute or two, two and a half at most, before you finish that song and our time here is up. After that, your little boy-toy over there gets to sing, but he's not the real thing, so it'll just be wasting our time."

"Don't call him my 'Boy-toy.'"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. The real him is quite cute. Like the haircut, like the outfit, easy on the eyes, could work on the nose a bit."

"What?"

"Nevermind. You truly are impressive." She looked to the watch on her wrist. "Barely an hour here and you've already found a way to talk to me. Most don't even get the chance to communicate, let alone so quickly. I'll applaud you, for now. It is quite…interesting. You are not my original host, you are not meant to be here, yet you are. Using…different methods than anyone else. You found a way to speak with me. Although, I can't promise it'll be pretty for you if you make direct contact with me like this, without being my proper host. Best we make this encounter short and sweet. Wish to play 20 questions with me?"

I scrambled to come up with what to say.

"How about I start? What is it like, in my dear Order's trials, without me around?"

"Uh…we were in…an apocalyptic world. She…made me kill everyone around me, everyone I loved. She made me afraid, tried to drive me insane, I suppose. But I made it. Even as she hosted me, there was always this feeling in my chest. This unease, as though I was still fighting my inner demons for the duration of the possession."

Chaos sighed and sipped her drink like that wasn't impressive. "Well, I assume, that even without me, Order's trials will remain the same, just as mine have. The difference being, we act differently. You see, me and Order are balanced. Completely balanced. If we aren't balanced, I can't imagine it'll be pretty. It'll be quite entertaining to see you struggle along with everyone else who's ever got trapped in here, trying to beat my trials."

"Everyone who's ever taken on your trials is trapped in here?"

"More or less. Depending on when they die, how strong their will is. At this point, since I haven't had need for a new host in a very long time, there's only one other contender stuck here. Everyone else I've left somewhere else, in limbo, so to speak. She's the only other person on the playing field. And the only reason she's stuck here is because, well, I like seeing her in here. Not to mention she is very strong, I'll admit, but it's more for the entertainment value."

"Who?"

She clicked her tongue. "Figure it out."

I sighed. We were wasting time. I didn't know how long it had been, but I could still hear myself singing in the background. I worried that we were almost out of time and I hadn't gotten anything close to the answers that I wanted, but I didn't focus on it. Just like getting into this…place - I don't know, a veil hidden beneath the surface of this reality where I could speak with Chaos? - I had to assume that if I thought too hard, I'd be forced out sooner than I intended.

"Fine."

"So, back to that apocalyptic world of Order's. What did she do? Or what did he do, now, I suppose?"

"Um…back when I was taking the trials, it was a 'she.' She…followed me around saying cryptic stuff, but she was pretty quiet most of the time. Didn't answer questions, didn't answer at all sometimes."

Chaos glared at her glass like it had insulted her and she was ready to crush it. "See, that's not my Order. My Order, oh, he'd be shouting in your ear 24/7, he'd say cryptic things till your mind exploded, would never shut up. But…I suppose things have changed. Without me…" She ran her finger along the rim of her glass as she stared into space sadly. "My Order must be so afraid. But, he did what he always did in his trials, even if he was a little distorted. He made you kill all you love, made you turn against all of your morals - punch them all right in the face. Drove you to the brink of insanity. And after that?"

"Torture, being under her control. Hard to keep concentrated with all of the…nightmares that keep coming back to me."

"But my husband didn't give you those nightmares, did he? You've already had them yourself. He just dug them up from whatever grave you tried to bury them down in. You see, that's the thing. You've been through Order's trials, you're that rare person who's succeeded in Order's trials and then come here. The last person who did that, well…actually, it's not really a surprise that you're the next person to have done so. In any case, if you've seen Order's trials, you've seen that world she puts you in, what do you think that you have to do in my trials? You were put in an apocalyptic world for Order's trials, and for me, you've been put in a paradise, of your own making. So what, do you say, do you think, is the key to getting out of here?"

I thought about it, but besides the obvious answers, I couldn't really think of anything else. "Accepting this world? Going against my morals?"

She rolled her eyes in a disappointed way. "Oh…very sad. It's quite complex, you see. Very few have been able to succeed in my trials. Anyone good can't succeed in Order's trials and anyone bad can't succeed in mine. And you, honey, you're the worst of them all. Why you're perfect for Order. But it's not just the killing, it's not just the going against your morals, it's so much more. And until you figure out what that is, you're stuck here. Oh, but don't feel bad about it. Since you, like my other resident, are a former host of Order, you are not compatible with me. You'll have much less time than any other contender would. But unlike my other contender, still stuck here, you…I have no problem killing you. See, that's the thing. My other contender, she's special. Under normal circumstances she'd already be a goner, but she's stuck here for eternity until she gives up or succeeds. You, you are just a demigod, nothing. You aren't compatible with me, meaning every second you spend here is ripping you apart, sucking the life out of you until all that remains is…nothing."

"So you're saying your other contender is a god?"

"Maybe."

"It is."

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem interested in continuing the argument. "Hm…so you do have some skill in that little bone-head of yours. Well, I guess I did give that one away, didn't I?" She sighed. "Perhaps I'd like to see what happens when you find this person. I want to see how you react, how they react to you. I want to have some fun while you're here. Oh, but watch out. You feel that cold, that ice? It is claiming you. It is turning you, freezing you from the inside out. You remember what's it's like to burn under Order's power, when it was out of control. My power…guess what it is!"

"Ice. You're freezing me, like she burnt me."

She clicked her tongue as though I'd just realized my own mistakes. "Time, darling. Look at you. Burning, but freezing. I've always loved seeing my…failures…loose. See, Order, he burns you so hot you feel cold, like his little river of fire. But me? No, no, no, no, no. I freeze you until you burn! It's so much more fun than fire, don't you agree?"

She stood and began circling around me like she was examining a statue. She seemed unable to keep her mood. She went from sarcastic to sadistic to sympathetic and back again, mixing it up sometimes, but even she didn't seem to be able to keep everything in control. Despite her calm demeanor, she had little control over her mood swings right now.

"Though, I will admit. I like you, honey. You are interesting. You got here, you got into such a focused state that you've managed to talk to me, manipulate this world to your own extent. Sure, you had to sing a little song, but considering the lengths that others have gone to get to me, that's not a very high price to pay. Your mind can concentrate very well, especially for a demigod born with ADHD - it doesn't even seem to affect you much, or, you're using it very well to your advantage. You can block out what you need to and focus on even just the energy in the air around you. You can tap into reality itself with that brain of yours. But only desperation drives a person to such heights, and you seem very calm, very…average, on the outside. Yet in that head of yours, oh, I just love it in there. Tell me, dear, tell me what you are inside. That little monster of insanity that you keep trying to pretend doesn't exist."

"I've just had a lot of time to practice my meditating," I hissed.

"Meditating?" She sighed, as though disappointed in my statement. "Oh, no, no, it's much more than that, my darling. You've been broken so many times, haven't you? The only thing that kept you going…oh, what was it? When all hope has been ripped away from you, what kept you going? That is the question, isn't it? Something even you can't explain."

She walked over and plopped down into her seat again, picking up her glass.

"So, let me ask you this. When you're given a life like this, a perfect life where you could live forever in your own paradise, what makes you resist? What makes you keep going, that, that is the conundrum I'm facing right now. Don't get your hopes up, but that is the key to winning these trials."

She drank from her glass, and she turned from cryptic to more serious.

"It's mere curiosity, but maybe the key to figuring out how you - you of all people, in the big wide world of coincidences - the key to figuring out how you are so special, is for you to succeed. I don't like you here. You're like a gnat, flying around inside my head trying to play god - an incompatible contestant who snuck in against my will - but perhaps you really are more than that. It won't be easy, you'll probably die a few times, but at the very least, I want to figure you out before you fade."

"Gee, thanks."

"You've talked to me, you've talked to Order. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll have the power to host us both. Or you'll die trying. Next time we meet, you'd better have a proper answer for me. If you're so good, you should already know what you must do. Find that part of you that keeps fighting, figure out what to do with it once you've found it. I don't often do this, but I'll make you a deal. If you can find my other contestant, she'll be allowed to give you information on what she knows. Maybe both of you idiots working together can come out with a victory."

"Why be so…cryptic?" I demanded. "I'm trying to return you to Order, trying to save you from Tartarus. Everything is on the line here, and you can't just tell me what I need to do and see if I can do it?"

She rolled her eyes. "I've helped you more than anyone else. I've given you hints, darling. Isn't that enough? It doesn't mean a thing if you can't figure it out on your own. I'm fighting against my son - who was once my loving little Tar-tar who is now been manipulated into turning against me by that wretched daughter-in-law of mine - to keep control over your soul so that you can at least have a chance here, and I'm trying to speed up the process so that you might put the pieces together. Do you know what it's like? To have your children turn against you, to have all your creations fighting and even fully willing to kill you? You may not be able to imagine this, but once upon a time, things were good. We had a family, I had a son who loved me, and then the sky and the earth of the Olympians changed, started an era of hatred and destruction. And it wasn't just them. Gods and beings of all kind began to abuse the gifts that I gave them to try and destroy the things that Order and I made together. Now, because I am who I am and others took advantage of that, my name is now known as a symbol of loathing. I hated the fighting, and so the fighting hated me.

"Order? He loved it. He wanted to go wild and have fun, but I warned him of the consequences that might occur should we walk that path. Even we wouldn't be able to take back that step. But because he authorized it, encouraged the progression, the name 'Order' has become a symbol of creation and change, and 'Chaos' has become destruction and decadence. I hate this world of fighting, laziness, opposition, and useless wants and needs; I want nothing more than to just burn it all to the ground and end it, return it to the peaceful and quite nothingness of old, but you all have convinced me that it is worth fighting for, for just a little longer.

"I helped you fight the empousai, summoned the Titan to assist you when I cannot. If it wasn't for Order's Phlegethon, I would've been able to help you sooner when you were farther from the deepest depths of Tartarus, but we've moved past the point of my Deus ex Machina now. I can't come out when this close to my son or he will know that I've regained enough power to fight back properly, and when he realizes this, he will crush me while I'm weak. And Tartarus will be challenging your will himself, and I tell you that his 'Trials' are much easier to 'complete' than mine. He's going to break you, and it will not be pretty if you submit to him before you realize what you must do for me. I want to help, but for now, this is all that I can do when put in this position. There is no other way that I can take refuge within you, and so either you figure my trials out, or we're all doomed."

And the world flashed. I got whiplash as I found myself on stage again, Veon playing the chords at the middle of the song. Chaos had said that I'd have until I finished the song, but barely any time had passed, and we'd talked for well over 15 minutes. I didn't have time to think about it, as I needed to focus on where we were in the song and when my cue was. I just needed to finish the song. Luckily, I was nearing the final chorus and my favorite part of the song, where I got to sing the loudest.

"It's getting close,
"I lose control,
"It's taking over.

"It's getting close,
"I lose control,
"It's taking over~!

"I'm slipping!
"Into the deep end!
"I'm in over my head!
"And I can't catch my breath!

"I'm slipping!
"Into the deep end~!
"I feel the current within!
"I can't help but give in~!

"I am lost in the deep end,
"Oh-o-o-o-o-oh,
"I am lost in the deep end,
"Oh-o-o-o-o-oh.

"I am lost in the deep end,
"Oh-o-o-o-o-oh,
"I am lost in the deep end,
"Oh-o-o-o-o-oh."