Chapter 21: The Final Battle

Lily woke up instantly and started screaming, "It's a trap! It's a trap! OI WAKE UP!"

Everyone who was sleeping was now up. Her father turned to her. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Lily's eyes bulged at the lack of urgency. "I HAD A DREAM AND IT SAID THIS WAS A TRAP! GO GO GO! GRAB YOUR WEAPONS NOW!"

Everyone suspiciously started to pick up their weapons, but it was too late, the walls had fallen, revealing the masses and masses of monsters. They didn't move, for some reason, as if waiting for an order. The prisoners shuffled closer together into a jagged circle, outwardly facing the monsters.

Nobody breathed for a very long time. Suddenly there was movement above. A blur of tan and black figure was ascending down from the heavens. It glowed brighter and brighter as it came down. Everyone, demigod, witch, and monster alike were smart enough to look away. When the light faded, a woman wearing a torn up leopard suit, smeared red lipstick, and hunting knives, calmly opened a can of Friskies and started eating it. She also came with a companion. He was a man in his early forties, with platinum blond hair and the palest complexion anyone had ever seen. He former classmates recognized him as Draco Malfoy. But he was secondary and was almost invisible compared to his goddess companion.

Everyone watched her eat, mouthful by mouthful. She seemed to notice this and started to eat more dramatically and even slower than everyone thought possible. The minutes ticked by, everyone still tensed and ready to fight. The cat lady finally finished up after about ten minutes and tossed the can into the crowd of monsters. It seemed to fall in slow motion before it bounced off the head of an unsuspecting ogre.

Bast, the Cat Goddess, wiped her mouth with a delicate handkerchief and called out lazily, "Sorry I'm late for the party, Sadie dear! This is Draco Malfoy by the way, he's on our side!"

With that, it was safe to say it was the most chaotic moments of anyone's life. The battle began.

It was thirty of the most deadly warriors versus hundreds of monsters. The odds weren't fabulous, but it was doable, thought Piper positively, as she slashed five in one blow. She couldn't even be bothered with trying to keep track of it all, like she had in Athens because it was so much, so chaotic. It made sense though, it being chaotic in Chaos. In fact, Hazel and Sadie, the go to magic people, were huddled in a corner by the cliff, muttering magic spells that kept them all encased in protective Mist keeping their molecules together. But, Piper was sure the cliff hadn't seen a second ago. She shrugged it off while yelling in charmspeak to the monsters that it would be really fun to jump off the cliff. Piper was on survival mode now. All she could do was keep as many monsters away from her and her friends as possible. The daughter of Aphrodite didn't know how many monsters she killed that day. It was just feint, talk, roll, talk, slash, and move on. As Piper ran over to Jason to try to help out, she swore she saw McKenna Jackson streak by with Alex Stoll. If Percy and Annabeth found out, they would be furious.

McKenna was trying to stay as far away from her parents as possible. She was on the constant lookout for them. Her distraction gave her a really, really nasty cut on her cheek. She stuffed a square of ambrosia into her mouth as she vaulted over a troll from a rock that hadn't been there a second before and stabbed it square in the back of the neck.

It was going great for the thirty fighters, the monsters were starting to lose their will, their driving force. But so were the thirty fighters. The terrain was constantly shifting and Lily suspected Chaos himself was rising to destroy them. He was toying with them by making pits and hills out of nowhere. She screamed as she saw James perform a neat body bind curse on several nearby monsters. What he didn't realize was that he was being sucked right into the ground. Lily tried to get to him as fast as possible, but there were too many monsters in her way. She continued screaming and became so dangerous, sparks started to fly off of her. She made it to her oldest brother just in time to see him waist deep in the sand. She ran to him. She screamed his name, again and again to make sure he was still there with her. Lily looked around for anything she could save him with. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Di immortals!" she cursed, shaking her fist towards the sky. She extended her arm as far as it would go. James was reaching out as far as his arm could go. His finger tips just grazed hers. It was maddening. James cried out as he sank another sick inches into the quicksand. Lily started to feel panic rising up into her chest. She looked around once more. Nothing. She extended her leg, which was just slightly longer than her arm. She felt a pair of hands wrap around it and she pulled with all her might. She didn't look, she was too scared. But she heard James's voice call out bits of encouragement.

"Come on! Come on! There's not much left to go!"

She took a risk and looked back. He was up to his waist still. Suddenly a rhinoceros rammed into Lily, sending her flying out of James's grip. She couldn't even see him; she didn't even know where she was. Then she heard the faintest cry for help. She raced over to the source of the sound, knocking over anyone friend or foe, in her way. Lily arrived at the quicksand bough just in time to see his head disappear underneath the bubbling earth.

"NO!" she cried in anguish. "Accio James!" there was a sucking sound and James popped out of the sand into her arms. Lily fought off a vampire or two as she sat him down on the mist covered ground. Lily checked for any signs of life, eyes blurred with tears, none came. James's eyes stared without seeing; the protective older brother she knew was gone. Lily's mind was cased in Chaos. She felt herself slipping off of an imaginary edge. The world was coming to an end. It was impossible for James Potter to be dead. He was too full of life. It defied everything Lily thought was right. She cried over his body as if her tears could wake him again. Why hadn't the battle stopped? Why are they still here? The world would perish in flames if James Potter was dead. She continued to cry over her lifeless brother's cadaver. Lily was aware of someone shaking her, calling her name. She made a weak attempt to fight them off.

They lifted her up with apparent ease. With tear-stain cheeks, she turned to look into Harry Potter's eyes.

"He's dead" she croaked.

Harry nodded mournfully, "But we have to stay alive. We can't let James to have died in vain! Come on"

Lily personally liked the illusion of safety cast on her in her father's arms. She was really too big for it, but at this time and place, she didn't care. She hopped down to the ground and looked at the quicksand bough. Unlike the other shifting landmarks this one stayed put. She looked at the other land marks searching for ones that remained stable. She counted the River they arrived in, the quicksand bough, the cliff, and the metal prison. A plan was forming in her brain. But then, she lost all track of things when she looked upon a group of six that made her mind split into a million pieces. A cheer went up among the monsters and they fought with a renewed vigor, for the Calvary had arrived.

Echo's six Horcruxes had arrived in all their glory. Every single member of the thirty fighters that remained trembled in fear. It was their worst nightmare. It was their former enemy. But they all had one common thought. If we did it once, we can do it again.

A battle cry went up amongst the warriors as they worked as a team to take down the cavalry.

As Lily and Harry sprinted toward the center of the fight, Lily told her dad about how they were Horcruxes. Her father only grimaced and started to place a barrage of spells on Porphyrion, the King of the Giants.

She saw McKenna, Kingsley, and Reyna dueling Tom Riddle, but they were no match for him. Kingsley was blasted away and Reyna was dragged into another fight. A killing curse shot half an inch from McKenna's head and Lily leapt in facing him. "NOT MY BFF YOU SON OF A BLAST-ENDED UNICORN TURD!"

Voldemort narrowed his eyes at the sight of his new challenger. "You again? Have at it!" cried he.

All the monsters around stood there watching as they dangerously danced, exchanging thrusts and blows while walking in a perfect circle, just as Harry did those many years ago.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort roared. It was deflected to a nearby monster.

"Sectumsempra!" It was easily absorbed by a quick "Protego"

Lily tried to move closer but Voldemort continued to gain the upper hand. "You think you can face me? You look just like your grandmother did before I killed her!" with that, he landed a spell on her, removing all the bones in her legs. She crumpled, but felt no pain. She looked around. Everyone was involved in their own battles. She cried inwardly when she saw a dementor, larger and colder and scarier than she had ever heard of. In fact, all the other Dementors seemed to lean slightly towards it. Lily realized this must be the Master of all Dementors. She recognized it in her dream. But there was no way she, or anyone could defeat it. No one around it seemed to be able to cast a patronus large enough to kill it. Voldemort advanced onto her, slowly, reveling in the pleasure to kill.

Even if she couldn't save herself, she would save her family and her friends "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" she screamed. A huge dragon soared out of the end of her wand and drove away every last dementor. Even though she didn't see it, for she had more immediate matters to deal with, the other witches and wizards around the battle field seemed to take up the challenge and suddenly the plan was clear. They all cast patronuses, one after another, until they all circled around the foul creature that called itself the Master. The bluish white lights of the guardians wrapped around the dementor so securely, the dementor inside seemed to expand and glow electric blue before it imploded into nothingness with a big bang that seemed to shake the entire world. It was awe inspiring. Once the Master dementor was gone, hope seemed to fill the cavern and the remaining warriors attacked with a renewed vigor.

Voldemort was now leaning over Lily wand poised. Lily had one, last desperate trick up her sleeve. She palmed her sword in one hand and a fallen warrior's knife in another.

Voldemort bellowed, "AVADA-!"

Lily threw the dagger straight at Voldemort. He instinctively jumped out of the way and laughed, right into the path of her spiraling sword thrown from her other hand. Tom Riddle still had his last laugh etched upon his face when he fell down on the ground with a mundane finality, just as he did twenty years ago.

The battle is to be continued in the next chapter! Review if you like, review if you don't like.