It took them way too long to kill Euryale.
Anya blamed Clarke.
Naturally.
The only reason it took so long was because as soon as Clarke got within two feet of the gorgon, Euryale would flee deeper into the forest - her fear of Stygian Iron greater than her hunger.
Eventually, Anya just had enough. She was done chasing after that Gorgon's ass.
"That's it," Anya growled, abruptly throwing her sword into the air. Clarke almost tripped over an exposed root in the ground trying to follow the movement of metal with surprised eyes. When Anya caught her weapon again, it'd changed into a spear.
Clarke skid to a stop as Anya suddenly dug her heel into the ground and launched the spear into the air with terrifying speed. It was almost like watching the Olympics for javelin throwing. Clarke had no doubt Anya could've won gold with a throw like that.
The spear nailed Euryale in the back, piercing cleanly through her chest. The gorgon exploded immediately upon impact into a shower of gold dust. Euryale didn't even have time to scream before her remains were swept back to Tartarus.
"Nice shot," murmured Clarke, eyes wide as she panted deeply to catch her breath. She stared at the spot where the gorgon used to be. Once again, she learned never to get on Anya's bad side. She'd never seen anyone throw a spear so fast nor so accurately.
Anya grunted at her and trudged over to pick up her spear. Clarke followed her, keeping her eyes on the ground. She'd read about gorgon blood during her studies as a healer in Camp Ark and was excited to finally get ahold of some.
She found the two identical vials lying amongst the grassy ground and picked them up. Bringing them closer to her eyes, Clarke realized that there really was no telling the two apart physically. They looked exactly the same. She'd just finished putting them safely into her pockets when she straightened up and felt the cold blade of a sword pressed under her chin.
Blue eyes shot up and locked onto suspicious brown eyes.
"Anya?" Clarke asked, shock and confusion evident in her voice. Cautiously, she raised her hands into the air to show that she meant no harm.
"What is the meaning of this?" Clarke asked, each word stronger than the last as surprise gave way to anger.
"I don't trust you." Anya glared at Clarke menacingly through narrowed eyes. "What game do you think you're playing at Barbie?"
Clarke's mind whirled for answers. What in Zeus' name was Anya talking about? Why was Anya all of a sudden acting like this?
"What do you mean?" Clarke asked exasperatedly, schooling her expression into one of confusion to mask any fear she felt inside. If Anya wanted to, she had the power to behead Clarke before Clarke could even think to move away and Clarke very much liked her head attached to her body.
Anya pressed closer. Clarke fought back a wince as the point of the sword nicked her throat. Warm liquid ran down her throat and Clarke glanced down to see blood dripping onto her shirt. She brought her gaze back up to meet Anya's defiantly.
"This is ridiculous," Clarke scoffed. The movement of her throat against the blade made every word painful. She tried to move away but Anya's sword chased her neck like a magnet.
"How did you know those gorgons were there?" Anya interrogated forcefully. "No one else did."
Clarke leaned back with her neck, eyeing the Anya's sharp blade apprehensively. Anya was threatening her with a sword just to get some answers? There surely wasn't a need to go that far, was there?
"Everything that dies must first be alive," Clarke answered reluctantly (like she had much of a choice), while keeping an eye on Anya's grip on the sword in case the daughter of Bellona tried something. "As the daughter of Hades, I can sense when living things are dying or when they die. But in order to do that, I must first be able to sense living things," Clarke explained slowly. "Everyone gives off a sort of essence, even monsters. That's how I knew they were there."
Anya narrowed her eyes. It seemed she wasn't quite satisfied yet.
"You know if you just want answers, I'll be happy to answer them," said Clarke dryly, grabbing the blade with her bare hand and forcing it away from her throat, just enough so she could talk without the point grating her skin. She ignored the immediate sting as metal cut into skin. Let it be noted that Anya kept her sword very sharp at all times. "There's no need to be dramatic."
Anya snorted, eyeing Clarke's hold on her blade. "Who's the one being dramatic now?"
Clarke raised her eyebrows coolly. "Don't test me," she warned Anya, letting her eyes darken in a fashion similar to her father's. Her tolerance was running dangerously thin.
Anya tried to force the sword back to Clarke's throat but Clarke tightened her grip, ignoring how metal cut into flesh, and forced the blade to stay firmly in place. Blood dripped greedily to the earth below but Clarke didn't even blink twice at it. Anya raised an eyebrow almost as if impressed by Clarke's resolve.
"Why was the gorgon so afraid of you?" Anya asked, her suspicion turning into caution.
Clarke rolled her eyes. Her little display of insolence prompted Anya to flick her wrist up and Clarke bit back a hiss as the blade dig deeper into her closed fist. Clarke glared at Anya, using her anger as a distraction from the pain.
"She wasn't afraid of me," said Clarke bit out forcefully, shooting Anya a contempful look. "She was afraid of my sword."
"Explain," Anya growled and Clarke sighed inwardly.
"Stygian Iron is different from other types of metals," Clarke explained, nodding slightly to her bracelets. "Both Celestial bronze and Imperial gold can only harm magical creatures while steel and other normal metals can only harm mortals. Stygian Iron however, doesn't just injure both immortals and mortals alike. It literally drains the life essence out of its target and absorbs it." Clarke's gaze drifted over to the spot where the gorgon was last.
"When you killed Euryale, she exploded into a shower of gold. Her remains are trapped in Tartarus until she reforms. However, if I were to hit her with Stygian Iron, she would disappear into my blade where she'll be trapped and unable to reform in Tartarus unless someone breaks my sword," explained Clarke.
Clarke gave Anya a reproachful look. "Any more questions?" she asked wryly. Clarke had lost quite a bit of blood by this point - it ran down her entire forearm in little streams - but she wasn't going to back down now.
Anya raised her chin so she was looking down at Clarke as she assessed the blonde's character.
"Yes," answered Anya with a small smirk. Clarke clenched her teeth in irritation. It was obvious that the tall brunette enjoyed having Clarke at her mercy.
Anya nodded towards Clarke's pocket. "What did you put in there just now? I saw you pick something up."
Clarke opened her mouth to answer but was stopped as she felt the blade slide forward, slicing through her closed palm until it was pressed against her throat once more. Clarke bit down hard on her tongue just to keep the hiss of pain from escaping her lips as her mind flashed white with pain. She would not allow herself to appear weak in front of Anya. Not now.
"And don't try to lie to me," Anya demanded haughtily.
"I wasn't going to," Clarke grunted. Her eye twitched in annoyance. "It's gorgon's blood."
"Then it should belong to me," stated Anya. "I was the one who killed it after all."
"Do you even know how to use gorgon's blood?" Clarke retorted, tired of Anya's antics. "One is a deadly poison and one is a powerful healing potion. They're identical otherwise. Can you even tell the difference between the two? "
"And you can?" Anya asked condescendingly with a quirked eyebrow.
"I'm a healer," Clarke stated dryly. "I have my ways."
The two demigods coldly regarded each other for a long time, until finally, Anya eased her stance and dropped her sword.
Clarke pushed the blade away and shot Anya a cross look. "You happy now?" she asked scornfully. Her hand was a bloody mess and it stung like a bitch. All because Anya here had severe trust issues. "Was that really necessary?"
"I had to make sure you weren't a threat," Anya shrugged like it was no big deal, but Clarke wasn't having any of it.
She rounded up on Anya. "No, you're the one that's a threat," Clarke declared venomously. She was pissed. She'd left New York with nothing but good intentions to help the Romans despite her reservations, yet in the span of a single day, her loyalty and trustworthiness had been questioned a numerous amount of times by numerous people. She was done letting the Romans just walk all over her.
"If we're going to work together, you can't pull that shit anymore," said Clarke furiously. Blue eyes flashed dangerously at brown ones. "If you have questions you can just ask them like a normal person. You can't just threaten someone every time you get suspicious . "
Anya merely side eyed before taking off, leaving Clarke to glare at her back incredulously.
"Unbelievable," Clarke muttered under her breath. She watched as Anya walked further away from her, not bothering to look back even once. Clarke felt her anger grow warm within her gut, swirling wildly like a brewing storm.
She forced it down. Now was not the time to lose her anger.
Clarke recalled all those times she'd been rebuffed by the goddess of wisdom and war.
'Grudges are dangerous for children of Hades,' Athena said to her once. 'It is the most common fatal flaw for the children of the Underworld, and it might just prove to be your undoing as well.'
Clarke took a deep breath and tried to focus on the importance of the mission. 'This is for both of our camp's sakes,' Clarke told herself. She finally looked down at her hand and sighed at the sight that welcomed her. She clenched and unclenched her fist, watching almost mesmerized as blood oozed out of the wound and stained the grass.
Clarke didn't bother bandaging the wound or eating any ambrosia.
It would heal soon enough on its own anyway.
"You sure we didn't pass by here already?" Raven sighed, eyeing their surroundings. It was just trees, trees, and more trees as far as the eye could see.
Octavia frowned. They'd been walking for at least ten minutes, however, they still couldn't find Lincoln or Titus and it was getting harder and harder to make out the blood trail. Octavia had no idea what that meant for Lincoln, but she grew increasingly more worried with each passing minute.
"Should we -"
"HELP! GET OFF ME YOU SAVAGE! SOMEONE HELP!"
Octavia and Raven only hesitated for a second as they gave each other knowing looks before sprinting towards the direction of the voice.
They ran into a clearing where they found Titus pinned to the ground by a giant deranged looking man with horns and gross bumps all over the face and body.
"Oh gross," Raven paused at the sight, horrified. Her face twisted in disgust. "What the fuck is that?"
"HELP ME!" Titus yelled having finally spotted them, thrashing about wildly. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! GET HIM OFF OF ME!"
As much as Octavia didn't like the guy, she didn't waste any time in rushing forward. "Hey ugly!" she yelled at the monster. "That's right, I'm talking to you, you mutated overgrown tree root. Take this!" She charged and thrust her sword upwards just as the monster brought its arm down on her. The blade went cleanly through. There was a split second when the monster howled in pain as metal embedded itself into flesh. Octavia didn't even have time to celebrate her small victory when she was suddenly swatted out of the way like a fly.
Pain shot through her side as its arm came swinging down hard against her ribcage. She landed roughly on her right shoulder and tasted blood as she accidentally bit down on her tongue.
"What the fuck," Octavia spat out a mouth full of blood. She took stock of the damage done to her body before staring at the monster in shock. That hurt more than she'd expected. Whatever that monster was, its strength was inhumane.
To her horror, the monster didn't even seem to be hindered at all by the wound in its arm. It ripped the sword out of its arm without any expression of pain and tossed it over his shoulder, his gaze coming to land on the fallen figure of a defenseless Octavia.
Titus scrambled backwards until he was standing safely behind Octavia and Raven as his human shields.
"What kind of monster is that?" Raven asked Titus incredulously. She'd known Octavia since they were nine years old and she knew just how much of a tank the daughter of Aphrodite was despite her appearances. She'd never seen Octavia get knocked down so easily.
"That would be a Reaper," Titus muttered, keeping a close eye on the Reaper just in case he needed to bolt out of there.
" Di immortales, " Octavia cursed, as she pushed herself onto her knees An intense pain shot up her side and she was eighty percent sure she had a fractured rib or two. Damn those fuckers. "Those are the Reapers?" she asked. "You mean they used to be-"
"Roman demigods? Part of the Legion? Yes," Titus finished for her.
"What in Zeus's name did they do to him?" Raven could not stop staring. The Reaper barely resembled the person he must've been before his capture. Its red eyes met hers and Raven wasted no time running out of its way as it charged at her. Its slow clumsy speed was the only thing that saved her from getting mauled.
"Maybe save that conversation for a later date," said Octavia urgently as she scrambled to her feet, ignoring her aching side. "We have to find a way to stop him!"
The Reaper charged at them but both Raven and Octavia leapt out of its way.
"Hey!" Titus complained, scrambling after them helplessly. "Don't just leave me like that!"
"You were the one who ran away by yourself in the first place!" Octavia screamed at him. "Where is Lincoln?"
"Fight first, talk later!" Titus screamed back.
Octavia growled in displeasure at his response but focused her attention on the Reaper all the same.
It ran into a tree and punched a hole halfway into the trunk like it was made of cardboard. Raven paled at the display of power.
"Do they have any weaknesses?" Raven shouted to Titus as she came to a stop to face the Reaper.
"Not really," Titus murmured.
"You've got to be kidding me," Octavia mumbled. "Hundreds of years fighting these things and you have nothing to account for it?"
Titus shot her a glare. "They are sensitive to sound," he supplied unsurely.
Raven perked up. "I can work with that!" She turned to address Octavia. "Can you distract him for me? I just need two minutes and I can come up with something."
"Two minutes," Octavia bit out as the Reaper ran at her. She wouldn't be able to last longer than that. Her eyes flickered to her discarded sword and sprinted towards it. She needed to get to it if she wanted to stand a fighting chance.
"Thanks!" Raven ran to the side, dropped onto her knees and began tinkering inside her tool belt, pulling out all sorts of wires, batteries, and oscillators.
Octavia ducked and scooped up her sword before whirling around to face the Reaper. Her speed advantage was the only thing that saved her head from being punched off. Octavia swerved to the left and with a powerful stroke, cut off the Reaper's left arm.
The disfigured limb landed onto the grass next to Octavia's feet. Octavia fought back a grimace as warm Reaper blood splattered her body.
Still the Reaper stood.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Octavia muttered, watching the Reaper howl in pain. It might've been hurt but it was still very much alive. It turned to glare at Octavia with its beady red eyes.
"Come on ugly," Octavia muttered under her breath, determined to keep its attention on her and not Raven. "It's just you and me."
The Reaper roared at her and charged. Octavia ducked under his arm and swung at his chest, however, the Reaper caught her sword midswing with his other hand and yanked it out of her grip, almost ripping her arm out of its socket in the process.
As she lost her footing, the Reaper punched her so hard in the chest, Octavia blacked out for a few seconds. When her mind cleared, she found herself lying face down on the ground. All of her instincts yelled at her to move and just in time too as the Reaper's foot missed her face by mere centimeters as she rolled to a crouching stance.
"Fucking Hades, this hurts," Octavia muttered to herself, desperately trying to distance herself from the Reaper. Her chest erupted in a sharp pain with every step. She clutched her side as she ran, fighting through the pain with pure will power. "Raven!" she called out desperately. "How much longer?"
"Just…a little...more…" Raven gritted back, the struggle evident in her tone.
"Hurry up!" Octavia urged as she quickly hid behind a tree in order to dodge the Reaper's attacks. The Reaper roared in anger and Octavia continued her escape from its wrath. She noticed Titus out of the corner of her eyes trying to make himself invisible by covering himself with spare leaves and branches and mentally cursed the Roman. What a useless bastard.
"I'm trying!" Raven responded. "I just need - Done!"
'And not a moment too soon,' Octavia thought as her knee suddenly gave away from under her. She toppled to the ground and felt the Reaper loom over her. 'This is it.'
"Cover your ears!" Raven warned. Just as Octavia brought her hands to her ears, a loud, high screeching sound blasted through the air. The Reaper fell to the ground wriggling in pain.
"Kill it now!" Titus ordered from his hiding spot.
Octavia didn't need to be told twice. She ran to grab her sword from the ground before slamming it forcefully through the Reaper's chest. The Reaper roared in pain but Octavia wasn't done yet. She twisted the sword, wrenching it deeper into the wound. The Reaper continued to struggle, but Octavia stayed firm.
After a few seconds, all movement stopped.
Octavia took in a shaky breath, finally able to breathe properly again. She relaxed her muscles and shakily stood up. The pain in her chest and side ever still present.
"Is it dead?" Raven asked, shutting down her temporary sound emitter. She trotted over to stand next to Octavia and looked down at the bloody mess that used to be a Reaper.
"I think so," Octavia answered breathlessly. She scanned the still body of the Reaper. It didn't explode into gold dust like the other monsters they'd ever fought. Its body just laid there. There was no denying that the Reaper was not a monster but a turned Roman legionnaire. The thought brought a heavy feeling to Octavia. Before she could dwell on it too much however, she turned around, her eyes instantly landing on Titus.
"You," she seethed. "Where's Lincoln?"
Titus's eyes widened. He stammered for a response as she inched towards him menacingly.
"Don't make me repeat myself," Octavia growled. The adrenaline from her previous bout with the Reaper only fueled her anger and her pain was once again forgotten. "Where. Is. Lincoln?"
"I don't know," Titus stammered, tripping over his feet in a hasty attempt to distance himself from Octavia's growing wrath.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Octavia challenged.
"He got taken by them!" Titus admitted cowardly as Octavia towered over his figure. He realized too late it was the wrong thing to say as Octavia's eyes darkened with rage. The next thing he knew, he was pushed against a tree with a sword to his throat.
"You let them take Lincoln?" Octavia demanded, furious.
"Of course I didn't let them!" Titus protested. "I hate the Reapers and the Mountain Men. Why would I ever-"
Octavia was in no mood to listen to his pathetic excuses.
"But you didn't do anything, did you?" she asked, pressing forward, her voice low and threatening. There was a dangerous glint to her eyes and Titus had a feeling that she might actually hurt him. His eyes flew over Octavia's shoulder to meet Raven's eyes in a beg for help but the Latina girl was unsympathetic to his plight.
"What was I supposed to do?" Titus complained with a scowl. "I can't fight."
"You should've never come on this quest, that's what you should've done," Octavia stated resentfully. She was beyond infuriated by Titus at this point. "You should consider yourself lucky I don't just do what you did to Lincoln and leave you alone to fend for yourself."
In an act of immense self control, Octavia retracted her sword. Instead, she shoved the Roman boy into the ground, ignoring his grunt of pain. He deserved more and worse for abandoning his friend. It was his fault that the group got split in the first place. And look at where that landed them.
"Now what?" Raven spoke up. "We don't know where Clarke or Anya is, you're terribly hurt, and Lincoln is missing." She paused and Octavia could tell from the awkward expression on her face that Raven didn't know how to phrase her next question. "Do you think there's still hope for him?"
"There's no way. No one escapes the Mountain," Titus piped up from the ground, wincing at the bruises Octavia had inflicted on him.
"Shut up, nobody asked you," Octavia spat at the boy disdainfully.
"Well you might want to listen to me if you want to live," Titus sneered back, eyeing Octavia's beaten state. "Our best bet is to go back to Camp Polis."
"And abandon Anya and Clarke?" Raven asked bewildered, eyes narrowing at the Roman.
Octavia whirled around at Titus once more, sword at the ready. "You really haven't learned your lesson, have you?" she threatened.
"We need backup," Titus spat back. "You saw how we were barely a match for one Reaper. There are hundreds and the closer we get to the Mountain, the more we'll run into. It doesn't matter if we have your little whistle or not. They're going to overpower us eventually. Those things don't feel. Not to mention the Mountain Men themselves. You have no idea what they're capable of yet. And we don't have a single clue where your friend is. We'll be dead if we don't go back!"
"Listen here you kommáti skatá, " Octavia pressed forward, ready to teach Titus another lesson when Raven cut in.
"You know, I hate to say it," said Raven sounding resigned. "But he's right."
Octavia suddenly directed her anger towards her. " What?! What's wrong with you? Why in Hades name are you agreeing with him?"
"Look at you!" Raven pointed out, unwavering under Octavia's anger. "That Reaper almost killed you! He might be a terrible prick for abandoning his friend but he isn't wrong! You need medical help right now!"
"Hey," Titus protested. "I am right here, you know."
Both girls promptly ignored him.
"We still have some ambrosia and nectar left. I'll be fine. We have your sound transmitter. That'll take care of the Reapers. We can't just leave Clarke," Octavia insisted. She hated to even think how the blonde was right now, if she was even still alive.
"Nectar and ambrosia can only do so much when your ribs are broken," Raven argued logically.
"All the more reason we need to find Clarke," stated Octavia stubbornly. "She can heal me."
"How are we going to find her? Look at you! You can barely stand!" Raven fought back, desperately urging the girl to listen to reason. "We're not abandoning Clarke. We're coming back with backup, which we desperately need. Besides, you and I know Clarke. She can handle herself. Right now, we need to get you back and get your ribs checked out. We can't help Clarke in our state."
Octavia frowned at Raven. Her displeasure at the idea of leaving Clarke alone with the Reapers, Mountain Men and a Roman showed clearly on her face.
"Please," Raven begged. "Clarke is smart, and she can shadow travel. If she's ever in danger, she can just take Anya and go back to Camp Polis, which is the smart thing to do considering we were supposed to be back hours ago."
Octavia sighed heavily. Raven was right. Now that she'd calmed down, it was much harder to ignore the incessant pain in her body. To be honest she wasn't even sure she would be able to ride her own pegasus back to camp in this state. And Clarke was smart and capable. She could take care of herself, right? Heavens knew just how relentless Clarke is when it came to surviving deathly ordeals.
"Fine," Octavia relented. "But if Clarke is not back at Polis, we come back immediately."
"With backup," Raven agreed with a solemn nod.
"Wonder why they haven't already sent backup," Octavia commented with a frown.
"Scouting missions usually aren't that dangerous. My guess is that they probably think we're just taking our time," Titus answered.
Octavia shot him a grim look. "You're lucky we need you to find our way back to Polis, because I have no qualms about leaving you as a Reaper snack just like what you did to Lincoln."
"That goes double to you," Titus scowled back.
"Goodness," Raven muttered under her breath. It would be a miracle if they all got out of this mess without killing each other. "Come on. Let's retrace our steps. Hopefully, our pegasi are still there. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get someone to look at that-" she gestured at Octavia's entire body - "and find Clarke."
Octavia grumbled incoherently but agreed with the plan. She gestured from Titus to walk in front of her so she could keep an eye on him at all times and kept a hand on her sword the entire time.
As they walked back to where they landed, Raven threw a quick prayer to the gods.
'Please, let Clarke be safe.'
Lexa paced back and forth inside her office. Her eyes worriedly flitted to the clock on her desk.
5:29 pm.
It'd been nearly five and a half hours. The scouting mission was supposed to take one hour, two at most. Yet here she was, five and a half hours later and still no sign of return from Anya, Lincoln, Titus or the Greeks. Lexa bit her lip. If anything happened to Anya...
Unable to deal with the waiting anymore, Lexa decided she needed to something, anything. She would never forgive herself if something happened to Anya and all she did in the meantime was wear down the floor of her office with her pacing. However, as she stepped out of her office, she wasn't standing in the familiar hallway of the legislative building.
Instantly, Lexa knew she was dreaming. Day-dreaming.
She'd experienced enough of these hyper realistic visions to know it was no ordinary dream. Someone had summoned her here.
Lexa surveyed her surroundings. She was standing in a garden full of roses and shrubs decorated with white little flowers. A pleasant perfume scented the air, not completely overwhelming yet engulfing at the same time. It smelled vaguely like a mix of vanilla and rose. She heard the faint sounds of water trickling in the distance and spotted a marble statue of Cupid mid flight and bow notched, ready to fire his love arrows.
Lexa's blood grew cold. She knew then, who'd summoned her here and instantly felt her walls come up.
This particular goddess had been the bane of her past - one she hoped she'd never have to see again.
Lexa should've known better. She was never the lucky type.
"Welcome to my garden, Lexa Woods. I hope you find it to your liking," a smooth velvety voice captured Lexa's attention and she turned until she was faced the speaker.
Lexa forced herself to breathe and calm the beating of her heart at the sight of her visitor.
"Venus."
The goddess of love stood before her looking as impeccable as ever. Long blonde curly hair fell past her shoulders, reflecting the sunlight and giving the goddess a halo effect. The goddess's athletic figure - perfect in every curve and angle - white milky skin, and very well endowed features were barely hidden by the thin Roman dress she was wearing. The most striking part of her beauty were her eyes of course.
As much as Lexa hated the goddess she couldn't help but stare. Crystal blue eyes, eyes so very blue, that held both power and seduction gazed upon Lexa's figure, making her feel bare and vulnerable. Just having those eyes look upon her made Lexa heat up and she hated it and loved it at the same time.
No other god or goddess had quite an effect on Lexa as the goddess of love, not even Lexa's father, the king of the gods himself.
"Why have you brought me here?" Lexa gritted out, barely holding in her anger, her pain. Venus was one of many, permanent, reminders of her failed love life, her rash younger self, and the pain she'd experienced before learning to hide her heart with her mind.
So no, Lexa was not glad to see the goddess of love again.
"Do not let the past drag you down, dear Child of Jupiter," Venus smiled, her pearly whites blinding and perfect. "Love is complicated. It is always evolving, changing. It dies, and it begins. I did promise you an epic love story, did I not?"
"I don't want your stupid epic love story," Lexa growled, furious that the goddess was so blase about the pain she'd caused her. The " I want Costia," went unsaid. And suddenly, Lexa found herself unsure. Did she still want Costia? Of course she did. Not a day went by without the regret of what she did to Costia, of what happened to Costia, weighing her down. Yet now, standing before Venus, Lexa couldn't say she was sure.
"Stop it!" Lexa growled at the goddess. "Is this your doing?" she demanded, outraged that Venus would dare try to manipulate her feelings again, that Venus would make her question her feelings for Costia. Lexa knew she loved Costia. Loves.
"Don't fight it, young one," Venus smiled a knowingly. Lexa wanted so badly to wipe it off her face. "Love will prevail eventually. It always does."
"No it doesn't," Lexa muttered bitterly. She knew firsthand that love didn't always prevail. Her life was proof of that. She also knew of how even the greatest of heroes were driven to their dreadful fates, all because they were blinded by love.
Love was more harm than good. It was one of the few things Titus had hammered into her head, saying how love was not meant for Lexa, how it was the gods' will.
Mind over heart. Duty over love.
Lexa didn't always believe Titus - he was a fool at the best of times. But then the gods showed her truth and she learned.
Venus sighed. "You will learn," she stated with a weight that carried the inevitable. "One day, you will learn what a truly terrifying force love is and by then it will be too late." Her blue eyes pierced into Lexa's, stunning the demigod. "There is no fighting love, darling. It is as inevitable as death."
The word death snapped something within Lexa.
Lexa had fought Titans, toppled Kronos' throne, defeated a gorgon at the age of nine, outsmarted a Sphinx at eleven, engaged in a one on one fight against the Queen of the Amazons, and yet, nothing terrified her more than the goddess of love.
"Why did you bring me here?" Lexa stressed once more, growing impatient. She hoped Venus had more reason to appear before her than to discuss her doomed love life. Otherwise, she didn't want to stay another second. She had other things to worry about, namely making sure Anya, Lincoln, Titus, and her new allies made it back safely.
Venus's face turned serious. The sky seemed to darken with her expression. "The animosity between the Greeks and Romans run deep. The blood spilled from both sides cannot be so easily paid and forgiven. The Fates however have deemed the fates of your two camps intertwined. Your meeting with the Greek demigod, the cursed daughter of Hades, has set things in motion in the world that the gods do not understand and as you know, we fear what we cannot control."
Lexa frowned at the goddess. "Clarke? Do you mean Clarke? You're saying that the universe is about to be thrown into chaos because Clarke and I met?" Well, that was quite dramatic of the universe, wasn't it?
Venus's blue eyes swirled with thoughts unreadable to Lexa. "You two meeting was as inevitable as is the chaos that will follow. It was bound to happen. I've told you Lexa Woods, since our very first meeting, that some things cannot be stopped."
Lexa gritted her teeth. "Yes, I've come to learn as such." Not willingly, and never painlessly. "So what?" asked Lexa defiantly. "You came here just to tell me that Clarke and I are the Fate's newest playthings? Tell me something I don't know."
Her entire life, Lexa had felt like a puppet to the gods and their Fates. Yet, she'd always played the role willingly, fulfilling it to the best of her abilities and always unquestioningly. Lexa knew the role she was given to play and she played it flawlessly.
Blue eyes hardened and flashed with warning. Lexa retreated, if only slightly, in her aggression.
"You know what you must do next," Venus stated simply.
Lexa stared at the goddess of love. Why were all of the Olympians so vague all the time? You'd think after thousands of years of being alive, they would have better communication skills but no, they were worse at talking than Anya with a grudge.
"The Mountain," she concluded after a few seconds.
Venus nodded.
"It will fall?" Lexa asked, cursing herself as she let slip the slightest hint of hope and uncertainty in her voice.
"Perhaps," came Venus's frustrating answer. Before Lexa could voice as such however, the goddess suddenly seemed to grow until she was taller, stronger, and brighter. Lexa looked away, knowing that the goddess was reverting to her true self.
Suddenly, Venus's voice filled her head.
"Children of old foes, blood and soul reap,
Blessed Apollo holds the cure to cursed sleep.
Against allied forces, one side must fall.
A single choice made between one and all.
A love betrayed and a love saved,
Rise, Commander of Death from endless grave."
There was a flash of bright light and Lexa clenched her eyes closed.
'Remember,' Venus's voice played in Lexa's head. It sounded distant as if the goddess was growing further and further away. 'Do not fight love.'
When she opened them again, she was standing in the hallway just outside of her office.
A thousand thoughts ran through her head. She just received an official prophecy.
The Mountain will fall.
Her and Clarke's fates are intertwined.
The Mountain will fall.
The prophecy spoke of love.
The Mountain will fall.
The prophecy also spoke of death.
And Clarke was still missing, along with Anya, Lincoln, Titus, Octavia, and Raven.