I don't own COTT.

Chapter 10

Theresa wished that she knew what Atropos was thinking, since her face wasn't giving anything away, all she was doing was staring straight ahead, at what Theresa couldn't tell, all she could see was water, or whatever the green stuff that they were sailing on was, since it definitely didn't look like water to her…

"I hope you're a fast runner." Atropos muttered to Theresa.

"I'm pretty fast." Theresa said lying, truth was she was pretty fast, but nothing compared to Atlanta.

"Well let's hope that'll be enough to let you go back to your friends." Atropos said smirking at Theresa, before staring straight ahead again, Theresa closed her eyes hoping for a vision, but of course nothing came to her, if she did survive she would have to ask Persephone why her powers didn't work in the Underworld now that she was dead, since when she was alive they had...

"We're here." Atropos said a moment later, Theresa looked around, Charon had stopped a couple of meters away from a sandy beach, which contained a cliff, and in the distance there was a forest.

"Your challenge will be around very shortly, you will have just a half hour to defeat it." Atropos said before grabbing Theresa's wrist pulling her closer to her, "You must stay on the beach if you go into the water, or to the forest the challenge is over… good luck." Atropos said before lifting Theresa by her wrist, and dropping her in the water, Theresa jumped up the second she landed running onto the beach, as soon as her feet touched the sand she heard Charon rowing again, she turned around just in time to watch Charon's boat disappear into the fog, she saw Atropos give her one last smirk before the boat disappeared completely from site.

Theresa looked around, it was eerily quiet, and she felt alone, and scared, what kind of challenge could Atropos possibly put her through? Hopefully it wouldn't be nearly as bad as Cronus' game… no nothing could ever be as bad as that, Theresa thought to herself. Theresa had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the giant come onto the beach, only after it had thrown her halfway across the beach did Theresa come back to reality, she gasped and dug her nails in the sand stopping herself before she went into the water, the giant stared at her before growling and charging at her, Theresa jumped up looking around for anything she could use as a weapon, she saw nothing, "crap!" Theresa said jumping out of the way before the giant could grab her, it ran square into the cliff, not hard enough to knock it out, it turned back around really mad now, Theresa took a few steps back, not wanting to intimidate it, apparently it didn't matter what she did since the giant growled and ran at her again, Theresa turned around to run but didn't run fast enough, as the giant grabbed her by the waist, throwing her at the same cliff he had just ran into, when Theresa hit the cliff she didn't feel any pain, but the feeling wasn't pleasant, and the impact was enough that she had the wind knocked out of her, Theresa fell to her knees, looking up she saw the giant snarling and staring at her, how was she supposed to beat this thing? He was so much faster and stronger than her… and Theresa could only stay on the beach… how could she survive this?

Cronus sighed as he looked at his pool, Theresa would be awake soon, and then she would be able to stop him, if he was going to take over the world he would have to act fast, as in the next twenty four hours, but what could he do? He wanted to do something awesome, and that would scare people, but what could he do? Cronus thought long and hard, the thing that scared him, though he would never admit it to anyone, was being defeated by the heroes, but of course that was only his fear, he doubted the rest of the world would be scared by seven heroes trying to save them, but the rest of the world didn't have to spend the rest of their lives in a prison in the Underworld if they were defeated… that was why his plan to take over the world could not fail. Cronus sighed and looked in his pool, he could always start off with something simple, something that was bound to get the frenzy and fear started, maybe an earth quake? Or a title wave? Maybe he could do both? Why not? After all he was running short on time, he had to act quickly, Cronus smiled as he ran from the room, after all there was no time like the present.

Theresa jumped up just as the giant charged at her again, this time unlucky for her it stopped before it ran into the cliff, turning around it snarled at her, really mad now, the giant charged at her, Theresa jumped up kicking it in the stomach, hard enough that it faltered back slightly, but not hard enough that it stopped, "think Theresa" Theresa thought to herself, "how did you stop Agnon those times when you had to fight him?" As Theresa thought she remembered one time when her and Jay, as she thought of Jay her heart sank, would she ever see him again? Theresa quickly pushed that thought out of her head; she couldn't think that way right now… when they had been fighting Agnon, he had grabbed Jay and Theresa had used her nun chucks to make him let Jay go, however when Theresa had hit Agnon she had hit him in the legs causing him to fall right into the water, where he couldn't swim and he had drowned… (A/N that story was just something I made up) so Agnon couldn't swim, did that mean that all giants couldn't? Theresa was running out of time to win this challenge, from the corner of her eye she could see Charon's boat heading back to the shore, she would only have one shot at trying to get the giant in the water… and hope that it would be deep enough to stop him, that or hope that the giant was like Archie and freak out in less than an inch of water, either way hopefully she would win the challenge.

Theresa turned around to face the giant it was snarling at her again, this giant was really mad, "perfect" Theresa thought as she began running down the beach, she could hear the giant following her, "maybe his anger would impair his judgement and he'll do something stupid, like fall for a trick?" Theresa was running out of time and fast, Charon's boat was just minutes away, she could see Atropos smirking, clearly she thought she had won, too bad Theresa wasn't ready to give up, sliding to a halt Theresa slid through the giant's legs, and before the giant even knew what had happened Theresa had thrown both her shoes into the water, causing the giant to stop running, and turn his head to look at the water, Theresa held her breath, and didn't move a muscle, she must have just been outside the giant's peripheral vision, since it clearly didn't see her. Theresa moved slowly and carefully as she walked behind the giant kicking him in the back of the leg scaring it, the giant jumped in the air but didn't go into the water, Theresa silently cursed as the giant picked her up throwing her into the water, just as Charon's boat pulled up to the shore.

"And you failed." Atropos said smirking at Theresa, Theresa looked up at her and scowled.

"Only because you made the challenge as hard as possible!" She hissed at her, "If you had given me an easier challenge I would have won!"

"Now Theresa, if I had have chosen an easier challenge than that would mean that I would lose, and I never lose." Atropos said through clenched teeth, "now come along, Theseus can't wait to see you." Atropos said picking Theresa up by her shirt, like she weighed nothing at all, Atropos dropped Theresa on the bottom of the boat, but she didn't care, she had lost she would never see her friends again, or her Dad, she would be dead and stay dead as soon as she passed through the gates of Elysian Fields… "Jay, I'm sorry, I love you" Theresa thought to herself, wishing that her powers were working so that he could actually hear her.

As Charon's boat made it closer to Elysian Fields, Theresa found it more and more difficult to fight her tears she wasn't ready to die, there was still so much that she wanted to do, she wanted to get married, see the world, have a family, grow old and then die, she never dreamed that she would die because of a mad god…

"We're here." Atropos said grabbing Theresa by the wrist pulling her up, "oh and don't try anything funny," Atropos said as she dragged Theresa off the boat, Theresa didn't bother trying to resist, though every nerve in her body told her to fight back, to live, but what would the use be? Even if she could get away where would she go? Her body was dead, at least by going to Elysian Fields she would see her friends again, someday, but if she just roamed the Underworld for the rest of eternity than she would never see her friends again… she didn't want go through the gates but right now that was her only option.

"Well go on through." Atropos said stopping outside the gates, Theresa looked at the gates and fought back her tears; she would not give Atropos the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Theresa took a deep breath as she took a step, but as soon as she did everything changed, Theresa saw a white light flying at her she tried to get out of the way of it but it swallowed her up, and then the gates that she had just been standing in front of disappeared, Theresa heard Atropos scream, but only for a second, after the screaming disappeared Theresa heard nothing, she felt nothing, what had happened to her? Just as she began to freak out she gasped as she felt unbearable pain, the pain was even worse than when she had burned her heel in Cronus' game, even worse than the poison going through her body, where had this pain come from? Theresa opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out, this scared her even more, had she not been deemed a true hero? Was she in hell? Whatever this was Theresa hoped that it would end soon.

Hera sighed as she walked down the hallway, Theresa was dead, and she had been there when it had actually happened, that made it even worse since Hera had been beating herself up, wondering if there was anything she could do to help her, to save her from dying, even though Chiron had tried to convince her that she couldn't have done anything, the poison would have killed Theresa whether Hera had been in the room or not, but it didn't matter what Chiron had said Hera felt like a Mother to all of the heroes, and she would hold herself responsible for the death of Theresa forever. Hera sighed as she walked into Chiron's room, she hated going in there since Theresa had died, and her funeral would be tomorrow, and after that Hera wondered how the others would manage to defeat Cronus, without getting themselves killed since everyone would want revenge, and wanting revenge never ended well… not that Hera could blame them if she could she would kill Cronus herself, "stupid rules" she muttered to herself as she looked at Theresa, she looked so peaceful, as most people did in death, after all she would probably be in the Elysian Fields by now. Hera sighed walking closer to Theresa, that's when she noticed that something was different, hadn't Theresa had a bruise on her cheek? And why did she all of a sudden look well-nourished again? Hera kneeled down beside her lifting up her shirt exposing her stomach, gasping when she saw that the hole the minotaur had left was gone, "what the heck?" Hera asked herself, finally getting a good look at Theresa's face, it was flawless, her figure was even more of an hour glass shape than it had been before Cronus' game, and her hair was shiny and healthy looking, again even more so than before Cronus' game… what was going on? She was supposed to be dead and dead people don't change! That was the whole point of being dead! Hera stood up running from Chiron's room into the hallway where the heroes were still sitting, Herry, Neil, and Odie had fallen asleep from exhaustion, and Archie was still comforting Atlanta, Jay was staring at the wall, he was the first person to turn his head when Hera came running in.

"Hera, what's wrong?" Jay asked alarmed.

"It's Theresa." Hera said equally as alarmed.

"What about her?" Atlanta asked, her voice hoarse.

"Something's happened to her." Hera said urgently.

"Of course something's happened to her." Neil said sarcastically, apparently all the commotion had caused him to wake up, "she died playing a stupid game." That comment got the death glare from everyone, except Jay, who looked at Hera confused.

"What's going on?"

"Come on." Hera said running back down the hallway, Jay wasted no time in following her; the others hesitated for a split second before following Hera and Jay.

When Jay entered the room, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, Theresa was still clearly dead, and so if that was the case why had Hera dragged them all in here? Apparently Jay wasn't the only one wondering this since a glance at the others told him that Herry was fighting back tears, Neil looked sad, Odie looked like he could burst into tears at any moment, Atlanta had already began crying into Archie's shoulder, and Jay felt like he could collapse from everything that had happened in the past few days, but he had to stay strong for the team, that was the main reason as to why he wasn't hunting Cronus down

at this very moment.

"Hera, why'd you bring us in here?" Jay asked fighting the urge to run out of the room, he didn't want to remember Theresa like this, he wanted to remember what she had been like when she was alive, and if he didn't stop looking at her dead body than that would be all he would think about whenever he remembered her and he didn't want that.

"Come here and have a look." Hera said stepping away from Theresa so the others could gather around her, when Jay saw her he gasped, her shirt had been moved out of the way, probably by Hera, and her stomach had no hole from the Minotaur, or even a bruise, it had nothing except a little bit of blood, she didn't look nearly as pale, and she looked even more beautiful than before she played Cronus' game… if that was even possible…

"I didn't know dead people could heal." Herry said confused.

"They can't, Herry." Odie said sounding equally as confused.

"Hera, what is going on?" Jay asked his eyes never leaving Theresa.

"I don't know." Hera admitted.

"Maybe Persephone could shine some light?" Archie suggested.

"Persephone locked herself in her Solarium, and she won't come out." Hera said, walking beside Jay.

Jay sighed looking at Hera, "her funeral was supposed to be tomorrow, what do we do now?" Jay whispered, Hera looked at him before looking at Theresa, "I don't know… Odie can you go and find Chiron for me? Maybe he can tell us what's going on."

Odie nodded before walking out of the room, Jay never took his eyes off Theresa's face.

"I'm not trying to be a jerk…" Neil said a few moments later, causing Jay to turn to face him.

"Neil, what are you talking about?" Atlanta asked her voice hoarse from crying.

"OK don't call me crazy, but she's breathing." Neil said whispering, causing Jay to immediately look at her chest, was it moving? Or were his eyes playing tricks on him? Jay stared at it for a few moments, waiting.

"Neil she's dead, and dead people don't breathe!" Archie said squeezing Atlanta tighter.

"Well it sure looked like it to me." Neil said crossing his arms; Jay continued staring at Theresa's chest, when he swore he saw her chest go up and down.

"Hang on, I think Neil's right." Jay said kneeling down beside her, "Neil hand me your mirror." Jay commanded, Neil didn't hesitate, taking his mirror out of his pocket, handing it to Jay, who put it under Theresa's nose, waiting for anything to happen. After what seemed like an eternity fog appeared on the mirror everyone gasped.

"She's…" Atlanta trailed off unable to believe what she had just witnessed.

"Theresa?" Jay asked touching her face, "Theresa if you can hear me please open your eyes." Jay was begging but he didn't care if she was somehow alive than he wanted to make sure that she could hear him, and that would be enough to bring her back.

Theresa wanted the pain to go away, she had never been in so much pain, she was actually wishing for death, and somehow the fact that she couldn't scream was making it that much worse, she had no way to even distract herself.

"Theresa?" Jay's voice broke through the darkness that surrounded her, Theresa tried to open her eyes but nothing happened, "Jay" she thought to herself "please help me, make the pain go away!" Theresa knew that it was stupid to beg to someone who couldn't hear her, but in some way it made her feel a lot better, and made the pain go away a little bit.

"Theresa please wake up." Jay was begging, just like he had before, but why would he be begging? She was dead… wasn't she?

"Theresa?" Atlanta's voice came next, "I'm not sure if you can hear me, but you have to wake up for all of our sakes, we need you, please wake up." Atlanta's voice broke at the end. Theresa wanted to know what was going on, she was dead, or at least she was supposed to be dead… Theresa realized a minute later that the pain was leaving, it had really died down, and she could see a bright light through her closed eyes, the pain was gone, and she could feel herself breathing, maybe she wasn't dead after all… Theresa hoped that this was the case as she forced her eyes to open revealing her friends gathered around her looking down at her shocked.

End Chapter 10, Please review, I only had 1 reviewer for my last chapter and I would really appreciate it if more people would review this chapter. Thanks guys