A/N: I own nothing. Sorry I've been slower updating lately. I'm getting ready to go back to school, but I want to finish the story in the next few weeks. Will there be a sequel ;) who knows? Strap in, ladies and gentlemen, the ride's only gonna get wilder from here. Please R&R! Enjoy!

Out of Time

"Well, it's about time you got here, you overgrown bug zapper!"

Leo wasn't sure that was the best thing to say to a visibly angry god of thunder, but Zeus' lightning bolt took a chunk out of Porphyrion instead of his loudmouth nephew-grandson. If what Leo had heard about the Big Three's ability to hold grudges was true, Dax would get his later.

The concussion wave scattered the remaining giants, and the gods and heroes charged at them. Otis and Ephilates looked terrified, but Pophyrion and Alcyoneus were just angry at their attackers.

If nothing else, Gaea's children were determined. With foot stomps from the elder giants, a hundred more earthborn warriors sprung up between the factions. With renewed courage, the giants waded forward, eager to fight.

The earthborn would not have been a problem with the gods' help, except the surrounding battle collapsed inward. A few nearby demigod warriors attacked the newly summoned earthborn, and before long, the gods and giants were fighting through a sea of bodies.

As Leo flew around the battle, dropping firebombs on Gaea's minions, he realized he was the only one of his friends to see the battle devolve into chaos. Without his vantage point, the other heroes couldn't help but think that the demigod army had been scattered.

Leo flew low over Percy fighting with Annabeth and Piper towards Dax, who was locked in combat with Gaea's mud body. Oh gods, that's not a good sign. Overhead, the sky began to darken and clouds swirled menacingly over the battlefield. Leo gulped. He had a feeling that it wasn't Zeus' doing.

Focus, Repair Boy. Shaking his head, Leo scanned the battle and spotted Hephaestus's warhammer connect with Otus' scythe. Leo retrieved his own hammer from his tool belt and flew at the giant.

In drive-by style, Leo flew past Otus and bashed him on the head with his flaming hammer. Leo completed a few more passes, but the giant's thick skull protected him from any real damage. That didn't mean he didn't think of Leo as a pest.

After mentally thanking Keenan for making the wings fireproof, Leo dove at Otus from above. Just before Leo barreled into his target, Otus parried a strike from Hephaestus, and, without stopping, swung his scythe upward and sheared off Leo's right wing.

Leo spun in midair and landed heavily on his back. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he realized he was sitting in a smoldering crater a few feet deep. Like a meteor crashing into earth, Leo's fiery aura saved him from becoming a burnt pancake.

"Come to avenge your ship, little one?" Otus cackled at him.

"You're pretty cocky considering we've killed half of your brothers already." Otus deflected another blow from Hephaestus. "Come on, ugly! Fight me!"

Otus simply snarled at him. "You are too late to stop the Earth Mother. She will rise, and you will die. But you? You are not worth my time."

"Oh, but am I, Otus old friend?" Three massive golden arrows burrowed into the back of the giant's neck. Apollo stood where a Laistrygonian giant had been a moment before, golden dust swirling around him. The god flashed a blinding smile.

"Apollo! It's been so long." Otus spun around, swinging his scythe at Apollo, who blocked the blow with his golden bow, which must have been a lot stronger than it looked. "I understand you enjoy dancing. Shall we?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Apollo said through gritted teeth.

The sun god spun out from under the scythe and drove the end of his bow into Otus's side. The giant cried out in surprise as ichor flowed down his leg. Otus jumped backward, evading a crushing blow from Hephaestus.

"Sorry Hephaestus, it only takes two to tango. And three's a crowd." Otus said as he swung at the god of forges. Hephaestus had to drop his hammer in order to leap out of the way in time.

Leo had no choice but to watch from the sidelines. Otus was right, he wasn't worth the effort. He was useful when he was the only one who could repair and fly the Argo II and the giant had taken that away. His hammer was laughable compared to Riptide, or even Katoptris. But he had the gift his father had given to him that few children of Hephaestus got to see, let alone wield. That had to count for something, right? Hephaestus saw something in Leo. He couldn't let him down.

Otus brought up his scythe to fend off an attack from Apollo. Hephaestus ran and tackled the giant from behind, toppling Apollo in the process. The three immortals scrambled in a heap, all three having lost their weapons. Otus crawled on his hands and knees towards his scythe.

His body flaming again, Leo took off at Otus. That giant was finally going to pay for destroying Leo's ship.

As Otus got to his feet, he was bombarded by rockets of flame fired off in quick succession from Leo's fingertips. One flame connected with Otus' eye. He howled in pain and swiped at his attacker. Leo rolled out of the way, but Otus was totally focused on him now.

The giant didn't notice that Apollo had recovered his bow and was taking aim at him. Apollo let loose a torrent of arrows that connected with every joint and weak spot Otus had. Otus roared and slashed behind him, but only cut through empty air. Apollo smiled smugly and buried another storm of arrows in the giant's chest.

Hephaestus had recovered his hammer and took that moment to leap over Leo. The hammer's head was on fire, and it came down heavily on Otus' shoulder. Otus crumpled to the ground writhing in pain.

Apollo stood over the fallen giant and notched a single golden arrow. "On your mark, Leo."

Leo totally forgot that they needed him to finish off the giant. "Oh, right." He walked next to Otus' head and summoned a fireball the size of his own body. "This is for the Argo II, and for being uglier than a gorgon, but mostly for the Argo II!"

Apollo huffed in agreement and launched his arrow at the same time Leo dropped his fireball. Otus disintegrated with a poof.

A heavy hand clapped Leo on the back, sending him stumbling forward. "Well done, boy."

Leo beamed at his father. The ground started to shake, stopping him from responding. The rumble didn't die out. "Well, doesn't that sound wonderful?" Apollo mused.

The rumble grew in intensity, and Leo struggled to stay on his feet. The disturbance was clearly coming from the center of the battlefield, where the closest combatants had stopped fighting to watch something.

"Let's go!" Leo yelled.

"Aren't you supposed to run away from earthquakes, explosions, and other things that generally kill people?" Apollo asked.

"Nope, it usually means you're going the right way." Leo ran towards the heart of the battle, followed by Hephaestus. Apollo sighed and charged after them, launching arrows at monsters as he ran.

An earthborn disintegrated as Jason plunged his sword into its chest. He ducked as Ryder's whip lashed over his head to slice through another half dozen enemies.

"Where are you going?" Ryder called as Jason took off running again, slashing at anything in his way.

Jason was too frantic to respond. He and Ryder had lost all of their friends when the giants summoned the earthborn. Piper was with Percy and Annabeth. Jason was doing his best to fight towards where he had last seen them, but he was quickly becoming disoriented in the sea of enemies. Together, they could come up with a plan, but he had to find them first. He had no idea how much of the demigod army was still intact. They didn't have much time.

"Piper! Percy!" Jason screamed at the top of his lungs. No one answered. Jason could barely hear his own voice over the noise of the battle.

Practically dizzy with panic, Jason didn't see the giant until he had run into its leg. Jason fell onto his butt, and Otis tripped over him. Ephialtes was right behind him. The twins were dressed in the same horrifying leotards as when Percy and Jason had fought them in the Coliseum, except now they were scorched and full of holes.

"Well, son of Jupiter, how nice to see you again!" Ephialtes said, his eyes narrowing in disgust. "I'm sorry our last performance was sub-par. I'm glad we have the chance to make it up to you."

Jason rolled to his feet as the Big F drove his spear into the ground where he was just lying. Otis got back to his feet and the twins circled around Ryder and Jason.

"Old friends of yours?" Ryder asked.

"Oh, we go way back." Jason hissed at Otis, who was practically frothing at the mouth.

"Brother! This new one's armor is quite stylish." Otis cried.

"You can keep it, once we kill them. Heroes, we apologize for not having our usually extravagance. This show was last minute, but our audience calls for a classic. So your deaths will be old-fashioned. A shame, really."

Ryder's whip shot out and slashed Ephilates across the chest. The giant growled and lunged. Ryder met the spear with his sword, while he wrapped his whip around Ephialtes leg. The flames burned the giant's bare skin. Seeing him off-balance, Ryder kicked his opponent in the chest, sending him flying.

"You're right. Old-fashioned is so boring." Ryder taunted.

Otis was momentarily distracted by his brother's fall, and Jason blasted him in the chest with lightning. Jason leapt forward and thrust his sword at Otis' gut, but the giant recovered quickly and deflected the blow.

Grinning, Otis turned on the offense. He swung his spear like a club. Jason blocked the strike with his sword, but the force pushed him backwards almost two yards. Even though the spear's shaft wasn't sharp, Jason had no doubt it would've sawed him in half. Summoning the winds, Jason was able to relieve some of the pressure from Otis' spear. With a thrust of his own sword, Jason threw the spear into the air and rolled forward. He banged the hilt of his sword on Otis' nose and then cut a deep gash across the giant's midsection. Otis stumbled backward. His hands flew to his gut and came back covered in ichor. Otis laughed madly.

"Splendid! Tell me, demigod, what kind of show would it be if you just rolled over? A poor one, and I should know, we've had a few of those."

For the first time all day, Jason felt fear chill every bone in his body. Otis' wound would have slain any monster or demigod, but the giant just stood there, laughing in Jason's face. Before his eyes, the flow of ichor slowed and the gash began to heal.

Otis smiled wickedly. Lightning fast, the giant lashed out with his spear. Jason dodged right. Otis followed with another powerful blow. Jason ducked and rolled forward, but Otis saw the move coming. His snake foot caught Jason in the chest and sent him flying into the air. Jason was able to slow his fall using the wind, but he couldn't heal himself. It felt like a plate of hot lava held was being held on his chest.

Otis was taking his time advancing on the fallen demigod, but Jason still needed to buy himself more time. The giant twirled his spear lazily, calling out pointers on fighting style to his brother. Wincing from the effort, Jason concentrated on the wind. A gust caught Otis' spear mid-twirl and launched it ten feet behind him.

A startled look crossed Otis face, but the crazed smile quickly returned. "Wonderful idea, demigod! Your death will be that much more entertaining by hand."

The giant advanced faster, a greedy look in his eyes.

"I don't know about that, giant." A voice called from above. Hermes glided in between Otis and Jason on his winged boots, his golden sword pointed at the giant's throat.

"Yes, I'm afraid that much gore would detract from the quality of the show. You should know at least that much, Otis."

The giant spun around to see Dionysus's pinecone staff connect violently with his side. Otis stumbled. His confidence had quickly evaporated with the gods' appearance. His eyes flitted between them, unsure which god to fear more. "Brother!"

Ryder's two weapon fighting style had allowed him to fair better than Jason, but he was visibly tiring. He was breathing heavily and his sword shook ever so slightly in his hand. Ephialtes fell in line with his brother, giving Ryder a much needed rest.

Jason painfully got to his feet. Hermes flicked his wrist and Jason's sword flew back to his hand. The demigod nodded in thanks. The four warriors closed in on the two giants, who were shaking in fear.

Otis turned and ran, trying to escape into the chaos of the battle.

"I don't think so."

Dionysus snapped his fingers. A giant tentacle of a grape vine erupted from the earth and wrapped around the fleeing giant like a boa constrictor while lifting him into the air. Otis cried out in surprise, his voice gone shrill. The tentacle squeezed. The giant's eyes bulged in their sockets. His cry died to a faint whimper.

"Jerry, if you will." Dionysus made a shoo-ing motion with his hand. Hermes snickered quietly.

Suppressing the pain, Jason leapt into the air and willed the winds to carry him upward towards the captured giant. He flew around Otis a few times, toying with him, before stopping only a few inches from the giant's face.

"If it makes you feel any better, it was a great show."

Otis seemed momentarily pleased by the thought. Jason didn't give him time to retort. With a thrust of his sword, Otis disintegrated and the tentacle retreated into the ground.

Below him, Ryder's whip wrapped around Ephialtes' neck, bringing him to his knees. Hermes plunged his sword into the giant's chest. Ephialtes exploded into dust.

Jason heard the ground start to rumble. Dionysus and Hermes exchanged a worried glance.

"Jason, what's happening?" Ryder called.

Just then he noticed that the center of the battlefield was quiet and still. All of the combatants turned to look at some spectacle.

"This way!" Jason called.

He flew low and slow enough for Ryder and the two gods to follow. They were able to keep up easily as monsters and demigods alike parted for them. Luckily, it wasn't far.

Jason set down in clearing. Before he could absorb his surroundings, Piper tackled him in a hug so violent he almost fell over. Ryder, Dionysus, and Hermes broke into the clearing right behind him. Percy and Annabeth stood to their right, looking absolutely horrified. Dax lay at their feet in a heap, as though he had just fallen. Past them, Leom Hephaestus, and Apollo burst into the clearing.

Fifty feet in front of their little group, Gaea's mud body stood with outstretched arms. Jason was close enough to make out her features easily. She was glowing brightly. The rumble was clearly coming directly from her.

"What's happening?" Jason asked quietly.

Percy shook his head, his jaw slack. Dax snarled as he stood and dusted himself off. Annabeth didn't even register his question. Piper only gripped him tighter. He could tell she was on the verge of tears.

As if answering his question, Gaea's voice echoed around him, as if the ground was speaking.

I wake!

Gaea's eyelids shot open, but there were no eyes. Only blood-red orbs glowing brilliantly with loathing.