flamingmonkey0: hey look its me again! / Special credit for reviewing twice in one day! Merry Christmas flamingmonkey :)

Ryaaaaann: This story is so good but I'm so confused. Who's side of he on? / Both. :p and merry Christmas ryaaaaann.

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO


Chapter 29 - Escape

Theron and Iapetus reappeared in the living room of Sally's house. Iapetus stumbled and slid down the wall as Theron tried to stop the ichor flowing from the gash in his own chest. The four occupants in the room jumped up in surprise and Percy and Annabeth immediately tried to help the two Titans.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked worriedly. "Why are you hurt?"

Theron knew that Kronos and the Titans would know where they were, he figured they had less than two hours before they were surrounded, so summoning some ambrosia wouldn't do any harm now. In no time at all there were twenty squares of ambrosia in his hand. He gave ten to Iapetus who gratefully ate them and had the rest himself. Ichor stopped falling onto the floor as his wound sealed, but a scar remained and Theron traced it with his finger. He wasn't surprised there was a scar, his father's scythe always left marks – Kronos himself was evidence enough of that.

"Your friends are safe," Theron said, "and Kronos is out of Tartarus."

"The Titan King did that to you?" Paul asked.

"Yes," Iapetus said as he climbed to his feet. "Perseus, Annabeth, we have to leave. They will be here soon. Pack anything that you will need."

Annabeth nodded and dragged Percy out of the room to find some ambrosia that Percy kept in the house. Theron was nervously glancing out of the window and scanning the streets outside for any golden Titans. He knew that if they took too long to leave then someone would have to stay behind to give the demigods time to escape, and Iapetus and Oceanus were two of the Titans he trusted the most to get Percy and Annabeth to Thessaly.

"I apologise for the panic, Sally and Paul," Theron said genuinely.

"Thank you for getting Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus," Sally replied.

Theron shrugged, "It was worth it. Othrys needs to help Olympus. It is the only option if we do not want Gaea to win this war. 'Divided we fall, united we stand' is an old saying that we started long ago. Kronos does not realise that the united part applies to Othrys and Olympus in this war."

Paul looked at Theron curiously, "You seem to have put a lot of thought into this."

"I have been trying to persuade my father that we have to help for several weeks now. I have had time to think," Theron paused slightly, and then visibly paled.

The smell of sea water filled the room and Oceanus was there, "Where did you go?" He hissed as he grabbed the front of Theron's armour.

"We had to save the six demigods at the Doors of Death," Theron said quickly.

"You fool!" Oceanus growled, "You could have doomed all seven of us!" He saw Theron's expression and released his nephew, "Where are Perseus and Annabeth now?"

"Getting their things… why?" Iapetus asked warily.

"Because there are currently seven Titans outside," Oceanus scowled.

Theron cursed and looked out the window, paling when he saw Kronos leaning against a fence and the mortals giving him a wide berth. "Get the demigods to Thessaly."

"What of you?" Iapetus asked in concern for his nephew.

"I will hold them off," Theron said determinedly as he summoned his bow to him and fire travelled onto the roof.

"Perseus, Annabeth," Oceanus yelled, "get down here, now! We have to leave!" Immediately Percy sprinted down the stairs with Annabeth in tow. Each of them was carrying a backpack and Annabeth had a new dagger strapped to her waist alongside her drakon-bone sword.

"We're ready," Annabeth said.

"Good." Oceanus said and turned to Sally, "Is there a back way out? If we vapour-travel now my brothers will know."

"Yes," Sally said as she leapt to her feet, "the fire escape. Through the kitchen, Percy knows where it is." She swept Percy and Annabeth into a hug, "Please, be safe – I would like to see both of you after the war."

"We will, mom," Percy promised.

"Thank you, Sally," Annabeth said.

Paul gave Percy a man hug once Sally had released them and then nodded to Annabeth, "Percy, you are behind in school work. When you get back I expect an essay."

Percy looked pleadingly at Paul, "I can't do English. I'm dyslexic, remember?"

A chorus of cries sounded outside and all of their head's turned to see a hail of arrows descending onto the Titans. "We should really go," Iapetus muttered to Oceanus, "Theron will not be able to keep them occupied for long."

Oceanus nodded slightly and turned to Percy, "Perseus, we have to go - now."

"Okay," Percy muttered and shouldered his backpack. "Bye, mom, Paul."

He then jogged into the kitchen and made his way to the fire escape door. Annabeth was right behind him and the titans behind her as Percy opened the door and slipped outside.

Oceanus looked back at Iapetus and saw that he looked conflicted and kept glancing at the roof where Theron was. "Do not worry, brother. Our nephew will be fine." His words were hollow and Iapetus knew it. Kronos would not let Theron get off lightly and both of the Titans knew it.


At first it went well for Theron, the Titans were surprised by the sudden hail of arrows and quickly scattered once the first few had been fired. Theron kept only his head where the Titans could see it so he would be unseen for longer. None of the Titans fell though; arrows wouldn't be able to take them down.

The Titans took cover behind various objects, the main one being the cars passing by. Whenever any Titan made a move towards the front door of Sally's house they found arrows fired at them until they retreated. It was Lelantos that saw Theron first and the two cousins started firing arrows at each other.

All of the Titans had at least three arrows sticking out of various body parts, including one dangerously close to Hyperion's manhood (Theron was feeling pleased with that one). Lelantos' arrows were getting closer and closer to Theron as the Prince continued firing at the seven Titans below him. Hyperion disappeared in a column of flames and Theron paused slightly as he tried to find his uncle.

There was movement behind him and Theron turned, only to see a punch going straight towards his chest. Theron cried out in pain as a loud crack echoed off the buildings around and he was punched off the roof. He immediately knew Hyperion had broken a rib with his punch. Theron landed in the road with a thud and the tarmac cracked beneath him. He groaned as he rolled onto his feet, his bow lay somewhere, but he didn't have any time to retrieve it as immediately Kronos charged him.

Theron summoned StormWraith and blocked the scythe. Kronos growled and easily forced him back, without anything to do with monsters in the area he was far weaker than his father. Add his broken rib to that and Kronos just had to flick his wrist to disarm Theron and send StormWraith clattering across the street.

"Think you can collapse a cavern onto me?" Kronos scowled and stepped forward to punch Theron in the chest, likely breaking another rib, "That you can betray us again with no consequence?" He slammed his knee into Theron's face as the Prince doubled over and clutched his chest.

Theron's head snapped back and he stumbled, trying to regain his balance. Kronos darted forward and swung his scythe, Theron flung his right arm up to block the attack and the cold metal slid into his arm, straight to the bone. Pain exploded along Theron's entire right side, but Kronos didn't give him time to recover and hacked at Theron's right leg. Theron cried out as once again, the scythe cut to the bone.

The other Titans were watching with amusement, though Koios and Atlas were shifting nervously and looking as if they wanted to help Theron. Kronos stepped forward and punched Theron in the face, making golden ichor splatter onto him. The Titan King then grabbed the front of Theron's armour and threw him into a wall which broke and crumbled on top of him.

Theron struggled to rise as Kronos stalked towards him, but collapsed back onto the ground as his two broken ribs screamed in protest. Despite the pain, he managed to eventually pull himself into a sitting position. Ichor was running down his face and making his armour even more golden. A drop rolled down his forehead and Theron had to blink when it entered his eye and obscured his vision.

"Father, stop," Theron pleaded, "no more, please. I am sorry, please, just stop."

Kronos didn't react to Theron's plea as he stood above his son with his scythe raised. The Titans watched nervously, but none of them were daring to stop their King. "Perhaps you need some time reforming to think over your decisions, Theron," Kronos scowled. "I will happily help you."

Every miniscule movement sent pain shooting through Theron, he felt as if Hyperion had used him as firewood and he was slowly burning up. But Theron managed to shift his position slightly and stared at the ground, avoiding Kronos' piercing gaze.

"Speak, son," Kronos growled.

"What more is there to say?" Theron asked quietly. Out of the corner of his eye, Theron saw Koios start to move towards them, then broke into a full-on sprint when Kronos raised his scythe to bring it down across Theron's neck. Theron shut his eyes and readied himself for the incredibly weird feeling of his head being chopped off.

Instead, there was a clash of metal above him and Theron looked to see Kronos' scythe was blocked by a surfboard-sized sword wielded by bluish-white eyed, twelve foot tall Titan. "Stop, brother," Koios ordered, "you have done enough. Look at him. The Prince is on the brink of death and we need him as of now."

The anger in Kronos' eyes gradually cleared as he looked at his son. For a few seconds there was complete silence. Kronos dropped his scythe and it clattered as it hit the floor. The moment was broken as Koios stabbed his sword into the ground where it effortlessly sunk in nearly to the hilt. Kronos rushed towards Theron as the other Titans ran over. Theron's vision started to fade as Kronos kneeled beside him and hurriedly tried to stop the bleeding, pressing his hands to Theron's arm to apply pressure.

"Now we are even, Father." Theron muttered, "I kill you, and you kill me."

"You are not dying, son," Kronos growled and carefully picked Theron up, supporting his legs and back. Kronos' voice started to fade in and out of focus as he spoke, "Take him… Othrys…recover…meeting."

There was a bright golden flash that signified Kronos flashing away and likely spontaneously combusting all of the mortals in the area, and Theron felt the familiar comfort of Tartarus as his vision completely faded to black.


Merry Christmas everyone!

Next chapter - Tsunami