I'll only write the chapter after this when pigs fly.
I think that's super witty, but I'll see if anyone gets it before they read the chapter or check a reference. ON WITH THE STORY!

I walked out of the elevator, and Thalia immediately pulled Percy away, questioning him about his passing out session. I walked back over to the terrace, where Annabeth lay, a wet flannel on her forehead. Silena was kneeling over her. When she saw me, she seemed to want to start accusing me of earlier, but I spoke first.

"Hey Annabeth. You good?"

Silena looked disgruntled, but walked off. Annabeth grinned at my deliberate bluntness.

"I've been better. I bet I could still beat your ass."

I glared and leaned in.

"Why don't you stand up and say that to my face?!"

A few moments silence…then we both burst out laughing. Annabeth stopped first, coughing and wincing. I stopped and grabbed the flannel that had fallen off her head. Placing it back on, I muttered,

"How are you, really?"

Annabeth's eyes darted around, then back at me.

"It sucks. It hurts a lot. But don't tell Percy."

I nodded. Annabeth looked at my face.

"Fayden? I heard he had visitors. Who? Are you all right?"

I tried to grin. "What? Your still recovering from a stab wound by a poisoned dagger and you're asking me if I'm ok?"

Annabeth didn't smile, and mine dropped. I felt like I could tell Annabeth. Not because she was my best friend or anything, but because I knew she wouldn't freak. Percy wouldn't let me fight, Thalia would flipping tie my to a chair to stop me and the others would definitely have opinions. I breathed out.

"Well. The visitor was Prometheus."

Annabeth's eyes widened and she tried to prop herself on her elbows, but collapsed and yelled,

"Ow!"

I rushed my hands out to adjust her slightly, and then she whisper-yelled,

"Prometheus?!"

I nodded.

"Yeah. It was him, a demigod called Ethan Nakamura, a Hyperborean and an empousa."

Annabeth seemed shocked.

"What did they want?"

"Peace treaty."

She seemed horrified and disgusted.

"So, which one of you told him to send his Titan ass back to Kronos?"

I had smiled and opened my mouth, when she shhed me and continued,

"Let me guess. You?"

I grinned. "Yeah. He was going on about how he wasn't our enemy and how Kronos will be merciful and how he liked heroes and I got sick of it."

She shook her head, then winced.

"Stop moving!"

But she was grinning.

"Typical Fayden. Always trying to find the best way to get yourself killed."

I winced unwillingly, thinking about how I was doing exactly that, with Koios as the murder weapon. Annabeth, curse Athena's attentiveness, noticed.

"Fayden?"

Her tone was accusatory. I swallowed, and stood, saying,

"Well, anyway, I hope you get a good rest."

"Fayden Thatch if you don't sit your ass back down, I'll beat the crap out of you so hard… when I can stand."

I grinned. I could hear the smile in her voice, but as I turned, she saw my face again, and sobered.

"What happened?"

I sighed, then explained my dream, and Prometheus' subtle warnings. Annabeth's face slowly grew more pale, impressive for a stab wound victim.

"So, you obviously won't fight him, right? I mean, if he can only be killed by a god? Fayden?!"

She had slowly grown more worried and I nodded hesitantly.

"I mean, I'm obviously not going to look for him on the battlefield, but Kronos hinted he'd lured me there."

Annabeth looked worried, but as I expected, she didn't launch into a tirade about how I had to stay behind. She swallowed, which looked like it hurt.

"Well…stay alive? Maybe, I don't know. Wait! You're in the good books with Apollo and Artemis! You could ask them for help!"

I nodded, but my face seemed to show that wouldn't work. Annabeth frowned.

"What?"

"I…Well, even if Zeus let one of the twins help, I doubt it would matter. Every time I heard him, he kept repeating the same names. With how many hundreds of gods, do you think it's a coincidence he keeps muttering about Hera, Hestia, Zeus or Poseidon?"

Annabeth nodded sadly.

"It might be only the original gods. Which means he can't die in this fight. Zeus will definitely not leave Typhon, Poseidon is fighting his own war, and Hades is ignoring everyone. The goddesses, well, without wanting to be smited, they probably couldn't stand up to Koios. He was supposedly the greatest Titan swordsman."

I frowned, thinking back to the golden dude I saw beside Koios' armies.

"I thought Hyperion was the greatest fighter?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"Hyperion was the second greatest general and best fighter, general term. Koios was the best swordsman."

I ahhed. That didn't reassure me.

"Well, before that happens, let's get some rest."

I stood and clapped my hands, looking around. Turning back, I said,

"You to. Go to sleep."

She nodded absentmindedly and I walked off, trying to find a place to sleep. Before I could, I was confronted by Silena. She was scowling.

"What was all that earlier?!"

I played it smooth, if I do say so myself.

"It was urgent. I had had a dream."

She frowned.

"So had Percy. He was telling me it before you interrupted."

I nodded. "Yeah, he told me what it was. Mine was more important. It was about tomorrows battle."

Silena's demeanour immediately changed. A flash of guilt appeared and disappeared on her face, then she swallowed and asked,

"Yeah? What about?"

I scowled inwardly.

"Look, I'm tired, and I've just been warned about something incredibly dangerous happening to me tomorrow, so if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep."

Nice, Fayden. Tell her nothing and make her the guilty one for keeping me up. Smooth. Silena coughed and looked away, saying,

"Oh, ok. Um, get some rest then?"

I nodded, and walked around her, seeing a rare treasure: An empty chair. I sat down before anyone else could and rested my head back. Almost instantly, I fell asleep.

And fucking started dreaming again! Aaaaaaah! Stupid Titan blood in me making my nights suck!

*Cough*. *Adjusts tie*.

Anyway, it was Koios again. I couldn't see his face, as he was sitting in the dark. In fact, all I saw was what the glowing diamond on his chest plate illuminated, and it looked like that creepy 'torch under the chin' effect. He was back to muttering. This dude is very paranoid for a supposedly indestructible Titan. Then again, if I was told how I would die, I would…wait. No. Been there, done that.

Shut up, Fayden. All that'll happen is you'll be forced to fight a Titan, alone, along with supposedly, a small army, and there's also a tiny prophecy about him only being killable by a god in this particular war against the gods.

Nope, scratch that. I'm dead. I'll be able to see Charon and his sleezy Italian suits again.

Yippee.

Anyway, Koios was muttering. His voice was low, but some words were loud enough for me to catch.

"Poseidon? Hes…ch…f Kron…"

He had shifted his feet, and I didn't catch the last part of that sentence. Then he was back to muttering.

"Hera. Ze…Ha…"

Finally, he stepped out of the darkness, illuminating his scarred face and cold eyes. His usual cocky grin had returned.

"No! It won't happen. The gods are fighting Typhon. I am the stronge…"

He stopped. Then looked around. Finally, he looked up at me, and for a brief second, I thought he sensed me, and then he moved on. After a few seconds, he spoke again.

"I don't know why I can't sense you, but I know someone's here. Show yourself!"

He boomed the last words. He spun, then grinned. His eyes, however, seemed to show nervousness. I don't know why he couldn't sense me.

"Ah. A dream. Right. Begone!"

My vision faded black, and I saw something else.

It was Koios again, and he was holding something. All I saw was black hair, but it was long and silky. It took me a second to recognise Central Park. Koios was struggling with whatever this hidden mass was, dragging it away. I heard a scream and turned. Over on the other side of the lake in which we situated; I saw another black mass being surrounded by about ten spear wielding Dracanae. Again, all I saw was the hair, but this time it kept changing. First, was the ever familiar short and spiky hair of my crush, Thalia.

Next, the hair was long and dirty blonde. Annabeth. Other hairstyles switched place. Some I recognised. Travis or Connor's untidy brown mess. Notitia, my drawing buddy's 'not even coming down the back of her neck' short, bleach blonde hair. Then a bunch of others appeared. I think I understood what it meant. This was my choice. Someone would be taken by Koios and someone would be attacked by monsters. I would want to go to Koios' prisoner. But Thalia's hair flashed again, surrounded by Dracanae spears, and I paled. What if I had to choose Koios? And Thalia was the other choice? No, shut up, Fayden.

Before I got even more depressed, my dream changed again. This time, I knew I was in the future. I don't know why. But I was over the Grand Canyon, and a bus, I guess full of tourists pulled up outside a warehouse looking building, with a glass bridge spanning the canyon. Everyone got off. The first was a coach. I mean come on. Baseball bat, PE shorts, white tank top. A bunch of school kids seemed to come out. I was too high to make out faces or distinguishing features. The last three off the bus were two males, and a female. The male looked tall, well built, with short blonde hair. Although the way he was looking around made him seem lost. The other boy was a lot smaller. He had black hair, and his arms flailed like a Parkinson's patient, constantly fiddling with something. The girl, I had a bird's eye view of, so only saw her choppy brown hair. What was this? Before they had taken more than three steps off the bus, the dream vanished.

I sat up from my chair. Unlike my other dreams, I wasn't scared. I had sat up slowly, confused. I'd seen Koios' dream before. What was the Canyon visit? Would it eventually happen? I thought back to what Koios was saying. He had said,

'Hes…ch…f Kron…'

What was he saying? Before I could think to hard, Thalia had reached over from the back of the chair and smacked me in the side of the head. I swatted her away, smiling as she laughed and walked around. I noticed she was in her fighting gear. Her bow and quiver over her shoulder. I smiled at her and then saw the rest of the Hunters assembling over her shoulder. I didn't even ask why. I was transfixed on the lead Hunter. Zoe. Her long, silky black hair was casually draped over her shoulder. It was the same hair. Thalia noticed where I was looking, but thought it was just the Hunters.

"Hyperion has supposedly been spotted coming over from…"

"Central Park."

She frowned.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

I just muttered,

"Dream,"

Then stood, and smoothed out my clothes. Thalia seemed to understand, and she headed off into the Hunter's ranks. Percy stood out at the front of everyone, and surprisingly, Annabeth was in armour, standing beside him. I glared at her, wondering why the hell she wasn't resting, but she never noticed, or chose not to. Across from them, Grover stood with an old Satyr, I think I recalled as Leneus. Percy was struggling to keep a straight face at something he'd said, then turned to us as I pushed through the crowd.

"Grover…you, uh, won't be alone. Annabeth and the Athena cabin will make their stand here. And me and…Zoe?"

The daughter of Atlas nodded, patting her bow.

"The Hunters are ready…and,"

She had noticed me as I made my way up to the front.

"…we'd welcome Fayden to join with us again."

I grinned. "Of course. You guys would be toast without me."

Most of the Hunters glowered, some of the younger ones smiled, and Zoe grinned while shaking her head. I turned to Percy, and waited for him to continue. He looked at the other councillors.

"That leaves the rest of you with a job just as important. You have to guard the other entrances to Manhattan. You know how tricky Kronos is. He'll hope to distract us with this big army, then sneak another force in somewhere else. Has every cabin picked a tunnel?"

They all nodded, and I had a cold feeling that the Hunters, Athena cabin, Percy and me, wouldn't be enough, but I stayed quiet. Percy grinned solemnly.

"Then let's do it. Good hunting, everybody!"

The monsters needed lessons in stealth tactics. Then again, there were hundreds of them, so maybe that was unnecessary. An enormous ruckus screamed over the trees of Central Park. We were all camped out by the reservoir.

All of a sudden, over on the north side of the reservoir, the enemy vanguard smashed through the woods. A warrior donned in golden armour leading a battalion of Laistrygonian Giants with huge bronze axes. Hundreds of other monsters poured out behind them. I heard Annabeth scream,

"Positions!"

Her cabin mates all scrambled into position. The idea was to make the army break at the reservoir. To get to us, they'd have to follow the trails, which meant they'd be marching in narrow columns on either side of the water. At first, this plan seemed to work. The enemy divided and streamed towards our shore. When they were halfway across, the jogging trail erupted in Greek fire, incinerating many monsters instantly. Others screamed and wailed, engulfed in green fire. Athena campers threw grappling hooks around the largest Giants, pulling them to the ground.

This was all happening to my right, as I was, yet again, standing among the melee wielders of the Hunters. Above me, in the trees, silver arrows flew out of the leaves. About thirty Dracanae burst into dust. Beside me, Thalia's eyes were crackling, and I noticed her gauntlet resting on her hand. I hadn't seen it in her last fights. Fair enough, it had nearly killed her last time she used it, but I guess she thought it was needed. A massive bolt of lightning smashed into a Laistrygonian, frying him to nothing. The energy flew from Thalia's glove into her eyes, which was good. The other way round was bad. My black and gold armour was glistening in the sun, and my katana was hanging tightly by my side.

Grover raised his pipes and played a quick tune. A roar went up from seemingly nowhere, and every rock, bush and tree suddenly sprouted a spirit, all charging with clubs. The trees wrapping around the monsters, choking them. None of this gave me comfort. There was another Titan out there.

The enemy slowly edged forward. Giants smashed into trees, and Dryads dissolved at the loss of their life force. Hellhounds lunged at the Hunter's Timber wolves who were in the thick of the fight. Enemy archers fired at the trees above us, and a hunter fell from the trees. Turning back, I saw Hyperion. He was running across the surface of the water, straight at us. A Greek fire bomb was lobbed at him. He simply raised his hand absorbed the flames out of thin air. Zoe jumped out her tree, appearing out of nowhere, and staring at me.

"Hyperion is actually here?!"

I nodded.

"I told you."

She looked worried, but nowhere near as much as I felt. I turned back, under the roars of battle and saw Percy running across the water towards Hyperion. Yes. Let's go. The Hunters around me, including Thalia had charged forward. I stayed. I knew where my fight was.

Unfortunately, the monsters wouldn't respect this. A Dracanae charged at me. I calmy walked over to it. Almost in a trance, I knocked the spear away in a single move and stabbed the monster. It dissolved. Three Hellhounds bounded forward. My sword glowed gold, and I saw all three leaping at the same time, into the same place. They did, and I leaped forward, spinning. All the hounds had lined up. I stabbed one through the head, and impaled the second in the ribs. The third managed to leap away, growling. I looked over, distracted, and saw Percy in a miniature hurricane, buffeting into Hyperion. Since when could he do that? A bark brought me back as I just ducked a jump from the Hellhound. While it was still in the air, my hand shot out, and it slowed to the point of staying suspended in the air. I raked my sword across its belly.

Suddenly, a loud shuddering sounded out, directly in front of me. A second figure burst through the trees, and I could almost feel every demigod's hope shatter. Koios, the other Titan, with a smaller force of possibly hundred monsters. Hyperion bellowed in happiness,

"IT'S OVER, LITTLE GODLINGS! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT THE FORCE OF HYPERION IN THE EAST AND KOIOS IN TH…AGH!"

He was cut off by a fresh dose of high-powered water. But still, Koios was here. From across the battlefield, I met Annabeth's eye. I tilted my head slightly, and she nodded. Then I charged straight at the army.

The first to meet me were Dracanae. Four of them. I swirled around their co-ordinated attacks and stabbed the first in the ribs, getting showered in monster dust. The other three, all stabbed at me at once. These guys. When will they learn? I jumped, kicking down. Just clearing the spear tips, my kick knocked the spears to the ground, and landing back on them both snapped all three, but made the Dracanae stumble forward. Right into a sideways swipe that went through all three.

I saw Koios head for the Hunters fighting on the ground, and my blood ran cold. Zoe! Instantly changing direction, I ran into a Laistrygonian. He swung his axe at me, and I ducked and rolled. But this Giant had obviously heard tales of my fighting tactics, for he snapped his legs shut, almost crushing me. I dived again, ending up behind him. Before he could lumber around, I pulled my Butterfly Knife from my pocket, and flipped it about. The Giant had just turned as I threw the elongating weapon. A golden Siccae slammed into the Giants head, going through to the hilt. The blade fell through the air and I caught it, immediately spinning to continue charging towards Koios. He had waded into the Hunters, and already three were on the floor. One was definitely dead. The others, I didn't know. The Hunters in the trees were only aiming at Koios, but he seemed to deflect them and attack with his sword at the same time. A Hellhound lunged at me. I rolled aside, running on.

Unfortunately, two Cyclopes ran in front of me. It was like they knew to stop me. They loomed over my head, but I wasn't having any of it. My eyes blazed quickly, and the Cyclopes aged to old monsters. They bent over, backs crooked, and dropped their clubs, the weight to much. Their stringy, bloody hair turned grey. I was panting, but still functional. Running, it was easy to stab both of them. They moved like, well…old people.

I looked over at the Titan, and my blood froze. He had a Hunter by the hair, and was yelling gleefully, staring right at me. His voice boomed across at me,

"HELLO, FAYDEN THATCH! YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! NOW…CHOOSE!"

My eyes seemed to be drawn to another location. I just stared. Notitia Trahenta was backing away, surrounded by many, many steel tipped spears, all held by reptilian Dracanae. She was unarmed, and her armour was broken. A scream echoed inside my head, as I dragged my eye's back to Zoe, who was being slowly dragged away towards the woods by Koios. I took a deep breath, tears in my eyes. The noises of battle seemed to fade. I just stared at the two girls, stunned. Then, openly crying, I ran after Koios, leaving Noti to the hand of the Fates, who, as you know, hate my guts.

Koios laughed his cold laugh as he saw me coming. He threw Zoe like a ragdoll, and she lay unconscious. Skidding to a halt ten metres from the Titan, I yelled back at him over the shouts of battle,

"I'll kill you for this!"

His laugh easily boomed out.

"HA! I'm sorry, little demigod, but my fate is written. Usually, I get straight to the killing, but I think you need to know, how doomed you are."

He swung his sword in front him, grinning like mad.

"I am invincible! Only a god can kill me in this war! And they are all away! So, prepare to die!"

I desperately tried to play for time. Swinging my sword in an arc in front of me, I called back,

"Only a god, you say?!"

Koios frowned.

"Well, no. The true words were, 'Only a child of Kronos shall be able to destroy you in the second Titanomachy! And how many children of Kronos are there! Only six, and they are all doomed."

It was like someone had spiked me with twelve adrenaline syringes. Energy and hope coursed through me. It all made sense. Why Kronos was so anxious to know what Koios was hiding. He hadn't told Koios who my dad was. And Koios thought that the original six gods are the only children of Kronos.

Koios noticed my maniac grin.

"What are you doing? I've just told you you're about to die, and your smiling?!"

I gripped my sword. My eye's felt hot, and the energy flowed down my arms, my legs, my back. Everywhere. Soon, my body was wreathed in gold. Koios had panic evident in his eyes. I raised my head, and grinned.

"I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Fayden. The Half-Blood son…of Kronos!"

The golden light exploded. Everyone on the battlefield stopped. They had temporarily stopped, staring at the duel. The cold Titan of Far-sight, Intelligence and the axis of the constellations, cold ice covering his sword, blue diamond in his stygian iron chest plate glowing, versus the demi-titan son of Kronos, dressed in golden and black armour, surrounded by a golden aura that glittered like a forcefield. I grinned, and this seemed to set off Koios, who roared, easily heard over the silence.

"I AM STILL TITAN!"

A massive invisible force blasted toward me, but the golden energy around me slowed it down to a stop the moment it touched it. I was pushed back a step. Then I charged; sword raised. Koios swung down at me, and I clanged the blade away, blue and gold sparks flying on impact. Koios swung up again and swung down. I didn't block in time, but the moment the sword touched the golden energy around me, it slowed to a stop. I rolled away, and the sword resumed its path. The noise of the battle smashed around me, but everyone looking like they wanted to help were waylaid by monsters.

Koios growled in anger.

"Alright then. Let's play like that!"

A blue and black aura burst around him, and I was reminded that one of his daughters was the Titaness of Necromancy. The colours folded in on each other like clawing hands. Koios yelled and charged. I met the strike, each of our weapons crossing into the others powers. Koios' sword slowed to a stop, while mine was stuck fast, held by the energy, which then tried to drag my sword from me, and I saw maybe the energy were clawing hands, working for Koios. Koios slammed into me, slowing down, but still hitting hard enough for me to fly away, sword not in hand. I didn't waste a breath. Flipping up, I thrust out a hand. The swords tracking magic was obviously more powerful than Koios' necromancy, as it flew into my hands.

My forcefield suddenly shrunk, as did his. It now only covered just our bodies. Silver arrows sprouted out of his helm, and he roared in anger. I finally saw Thalia run over. But she was met by a Laistrygonian Giant.

I decided to fade my shield altogether. Koios raised an eyebrow, and did the same. Now it was just a Titan versus half a Titan. We advanced slowly this time. I saw Koios swinging up in a fake, then using a super-fast burst of speed to attack my side. I gripped my sword, and my eye's glowed. Koios smacked down on my head, and I fake-fell for it. In a burst of speed, he dropped and swung for my waist. However, my sword sped up to match it, and deflected the strike away. A strong ozone smell, with more coloured sparks echoed. I finally noticed a strange, invisible energy between us. It was as if every attack was charging up for an ultimate attack. Every time our swords clashed, something built up in power.

This time, we stayed in close, and Koios poured on the speed of a Titan Master Swordsman. My sword let me see the moves, like with Atlas, but even then, his strikes were very fast. I had trouble blocking one, and stumbled backwards. Instantly, the tipoff his sword raked across my chest plate. You made one mistake, and Koios would punish you for it. I pushed myself up. The only thing I could say was, Koios was tiring as well. Just twice as slowly.

He lumbered forward, swinging wildly. I rolled out of the way. Our swords came up, sparking. Again, that unseen force seemed to build. My feet glowed gold as I jumped above a swipe at my legs. Using my super speed, I ran up the flat of the blade and kicked Koios straight in the face, before jumping off him as he stumbled backwards, yelling and clutching his nose. Before he could recover, I plunged Astyfilaka into the back of his knee, and he sank to the floor. I swung at his neck, but at the last second, he ducked aside and sprang up, limping slightly. Spinning at superspeed, I barely had time to slow his move before he swung. A very fast (I had slowed it down) attack swung down again. I swung up, and met the strike. The direct block made my feet sink about a centimetre into the dirt. A massive wave of blue and golden sparks flew off.

A voice cried out behind me. A crumbling Giant slowly tumbled forward, and Thalia came running forward. I had to focus and attacked Koios. He went into retreat, backing away against my lightning-fast attacks. The head, waist, neck, legs, head again, thrust to the stomach. My mind went into autopilot as Koios swung his sword around. Suddenly, a crackling noise rang out, but I didn't look round. A second later, however, a massive lightning bolt smashed into Koios, sending flying into the woods. I spun and saw Thalia running up. We had maybe a minute before Koios rose again.

"What are you doing?"

Thalia frowned, panicked and agitated by the battle.

"What do you mean, what am I doing?"

"Go get Zoe and get her to safety!"

Thalia scowled, fear covering her face. She shook her head.

"No! I won't leave you! You can't fight him alone!"

"Yes, I can! Get! Zoe!"

My voice cracked, and I felt my eyes glow hot. Thalia immediately backed down. She still looked angry, and terrified, but determined as well.

"Ok."

I nodded, and turned as I heard a lumbering noise behind me, but Thalia grabbed my arm, turning me back around. Before I could even tell her 'what?', she had pressed her lips against mine. For three short seconds, my mind went completely blank. I could hear nothing. I could smell nothing. The only thing I could feel was Thalia's lips, Thalia's, lips, against mine. She pressed firmly against me, then pulled away. I stared, and barely registered the blistering hot face of Thalia as she muttered,

"Stay alive, Fay."

Then ran off over to Zoe. I barely had enough function to turn. I saw Koios barrel towards me, but didn't see it. Thalia, had kissed me.

Koios was about twenty metres away.

THALIA. HAD KISSED ME!

Koios was ten metres away, raising his sword, icicles forming on the edges.

Oh. My. God. My crush. For years. A Hunter. Had just kissed me.

Koios was five metres away, and swung his icy, black sword.

My mind kickstarted, and I felt like a short-circuited machine that had just bee fixed, good as new, even better, by a child of Hephaestus. My sword swung up, the adrenaline coursing into my arms. I met the blow and blocked the strike fully, not even jarring my arms. Koios actually bounced back slightly. Instantly, I was surging forward. Only one thought was in my brain: Stay alive, Fay. Stay alive. I slashed like a maniac, and Koios stumbled back, wildly blocking. Each time our swords met, the force unknown increased, except now, it seemed friendly. Like it was helping.

I ran at the rapidly retreating Koios. I decided to play with his brain.

"Hey Koios. Looks like your time is up. The child of Kronos is here."

Koios was panicking. He was messing up. He growled and tried to raise his sword in an attack, but my eyes glowed, without even using energy, and his sword froze. I kicked his hand, and then is sword unfroze, but fell back down. Koios swung it again to block an attack to his waist, but, unlike me, he didn't see the fake. I sped up massively and slammed down on his head. The force smashed the bear-shaped help into two pieces, falling either side of his body and onto the floor.

Stay alive, Fay. Stay alive, Fay.

No one was coming anywhere near our fight. A wide circle surrounded us, where no one fought or stood, and the battle raged on outside it. Occasionally, a silver arrow would fly out of nowhere, either hitting Koios, or having been deflected away over here. I caught sight of Thalia pulling Zoe away from the fight, and two hunters appeared at her side, helping her lift the Huntress. She glanced back and blushed red, and I turned back to fight Koios, my mind still in overdrive.

Ichor oozed from the top of Koios' head and various other cuts. He stumbled backwards, terror etched across every scar on his face, and every new one I gave him. I raised my sword again, and it was deflected. Koios couldn't even block the attack. The magical force that had been building suddenly grew tense, like a balloon when you suddenly blow an extra big load of air into it. Koios looked around, obviously feeling it to. Then he turned back to me. I grinned.

Stay alive, Fay.

My feet glowed. Nothing seemed to tire me. Every time I grew tired, the feeling of Thalia's lips on mine would return, her words echo in my head, and I'd suddenly be bursting with energy. I pelted at Koios like the Flash, but cooler, and more golden. I slammed into his side, and as he spun, I slammed into his other side. He was sent spinning, and collapsed to his knees. I skidded to a halt before him, before raising one final strike.

However, with the last bit of his strength, Koios brought his sword up to slam into mine.

And the balloon popped.

A roaring sound echoed from nowhere, and suddenly a massive blast of colourless energy slammed into us with the force of a locomotor train. The energy of each attack had built up into the nature around us. It had dissipated and been picked up by the earth. Then thrown back.

Although, Koios did more of the 'being smashed by a locomotor train'. The energy completely ignored me, but he was blown off his feet, and brought through the air. The Titan crash-landed through a tree, completely splitting the trunk and lay still. My feet glowed again and I sped the distance of a hundred metres in about…who am I kidding? Exactly 1 second and 45 milliseconds. Koios was lying on his back, a small pile of Ichor building under him. He had a new scar across his face. Twice the width of his largest one, at least a centimetre, starting at the right corner of his forehead, by his hairline, and stretching right across his face, obliterating his eye, which was just a bloody socket, and crossing a mauled nose, before finishing on his chin. It was so big it technically called be called a cut or wound, for it was slowly oozing golden blood.

I stood above him; sword raised.

"Any last words?"

"Uuuuuuugh…"

I brought the sword down through his neck, and a large cough of Ichor spluttered out of his mouth, before he slowly faded into golden energy. He had descended back to Tartarus.

I spun around like a mad man, looking for my next target, not even registering that I just killed, a Titan. Every monster anywhere near me seemed to edge away, still fighting with demigods. There were far too many monsters compared to demigods. I saw eight Athena campers; 12 Hunters with bows out and a final 14 or so Hunters wielding swords. Only seven Timber Wolves remained, and I noticed a lot more arrows on the ground, the last falcons struggling to keep up. On the other side, at least two hundred monsters remained.

I dove into the nearest pack of Dracanae, my mind on autopilot: Kill the monsters; protect my fellow campers. The three snake women didn't even last four seconds. I swiped their weapons away while they were still trying to raise them, then three explosions of dust snapped around me. Before I could run onto the next ones, I stopped, staring at the ground in horror. The Dracanae were wiping blood off their spear tips. And I knew why.

A few metres from my feet, Noti lay, unmoving. Dry blood covered her face, a stab wound through her neck. It had clotted over, the colour dark, but the blood still looked wet. Her face was bruised. Her eyes were wide open in shock, the grey colour empty looking and unseeing. I looked down, and saw that her unarmoured body had been stabbed at least nine times. Four wounds dripping on her chest, one in her shoulder, two on her left thigh, another on her opposite arm's forearm, and a final one oozing blood out of her calf. She lay sprawled, as if she'd been held upright by the simultaneous spear strikes, then fell as all of them retreated at once. She would have been dead while still standing, having gone limp with ten spears stuck in her.

I felt bile in my mouth, and spat it out, eyes red from sadness and the burning feeling from throwing up. I didn't want to look any longer, so kneeled down, placing my hands over her eyelids. Gently pulling down, I closed her eyes, and stood. I could barely help myself, and immediately spoke words I regretted,

"I swear on the River Styx that I'll kill Kronos for this."

Thunder boomed, and my eyes widened. What the hell had I just done! Koios was one thing, but Kronos! What happens when you break an oath on the Styx?! Suddenly, my eyes rolled and I stared forward, but I didn't see the battlefield. I could dimly hear it, and could feel ground under me, even though I was standing in wherever the hell I was.

A woman stood before me. She seemed to be standing in something, like a lake or river, but for some reason my eyes wouldn't go far enough down to see what. I instead focused on the woman, and really wished I could have something else to look at. She was terrifying. Pitch black hair, draped over her shoulders, but it looked like it was underwater. It held itself and waved about strangely like long hair does when underwater. She had very dark blue skin, which made the heavy mascara effect around her eyes hard to spot (I assumed, as she seemed like someone who didn't where makeup, that it just looked like mascara around the eyes). Even so, around her eyes was a ring of black, and directly on top and under her eyes, the black spiked down, disappearing into her hair and touching her cheek.

Her lips were black, and twisted into an odd shape, as if she wasn't used to making that expression: pity. Her face seemed delicate, like it was made of porcelain, but at the same time, she seemed to be ridiculously strong, giving that expression just by the way she held herself in total confidence. It was the way I stood. I was drawn to her eyes, which, like her mouth, showed pity, but it was strange, as if, like her smile, she wasn't used to feeling that. Her iris was the colour of her skin, dark blue, but her pupil wasn't circular. It was irregular, sitting in the middle of her eye and seemingly leaking into her iris. Small lines of black spread away from the original circle.

She wore a black and purple dress, well, it was closer to a negligee than a dress, but I barely focused on that. She had purple bands on her arms and black patterns dressing her chest. For what seemed like forever, we just stared at each other. Then, finally, she spoke.

"Fayden Thatch."

Her voice was ragged, but elegant, like a princess that hadn't drunk water for three days. I stayed silent.

"Do you know who I am?"

It seemed she wanted me to answer correctly, because the moment she asked, the answer came to me.

"Lady Styx."

She didn't move or give acknowledgement.

"I don't know what you did, as I do not pay attention to the matters of demigods, but the Fates hate you, Atropos, in particular. Before I say anything else, I wish to know why."

I swallowed, before asking,

"Why?"

Styx smiled in that strange eerie smile.

"Because I am not sure whether to let Atropos and the others fill your life with torment. Usually, I do not care, being the Goddess of Hate, but you have now made two oaths to the Styx. This caught my attention."

"Uh…I…saved the life of someone who the Fates wanted dead."

Immediately, Styx's smile vanished. What appeared to be her normal facial expression appeared: True, untold hatred. I wanted to cower away, but could not move. It seemed, however, that she wasn't angry, merely know longer pitiful.

"That's not possible."

Her voice was now sharp and swift. I shook my head.

"A…friend of mine died, and I completely turned back time to save her. I shouldn't have been able to do that. My friend should be dead."

Styx suddenly looked thoughtful, which was even more terrifying, because instead of looking contemplative, she looked like she was planning the most painful way to kill someone. I don't know how long it was before she spoke, which worried me, but she finally said,

"I believe you."

Frowning, I replied,

"Wait, that easily?"

Styx's pained smile returned.

"I have found people do not often have the courage to lie to me, and anyway, I remember that incident. Down here…"

She waved around,

"…The effect was slightly limited, but I still felt something."

I nodded cautiously. Styx nodded, to herself, I guessed, then said,

"I will help you."

"Why?"

My response was instant and interrogative. Styx merely laughed. It was high, cold, and equally as terrifying as the rest of her.

"My, my. So untrustful."

"I've found that an immortal never just decides to help a Half-Blood, especially the Goddess of Hate."

Styx raised an eyebrow.

"I see how you've survived this long."

I shifted slightly, and she continued.

"Atropos, the cutter of the thread, convinced her sister Lachesis to force you to swear on my river. That is why you promised to kill Kronos."

I looked hopeful.

"So…you're going to revoke it?"

Styx shook her head. Suddenly annoyed, which looked like she was about to gut me.

"No! No one, not even me can destroy an oath on the Styx. I merely enforce them. I…will give you a comfort…and a warning."

"Uh…could you just skip the warning?"

But she seemed to have reverted to what she was usually like. Her face didn't even flicker from the look of hatred she cast onto me.

"No. The comfort…you will break your most recent oath."

I felt shocked.

"How is that a comfort!"

I felt scared, and not because of the glaring goddess. Styx shook her head.

"Because, while you break the oath, you will…how does the upper world put it? You will technically keep it. I despise technicalities, which is why this is a helping hand from me. I will allow this one technicality."

I felt relieved, and confused at the same time. I had no idea what she meant.

"And now for the warning."

I felt my skin get clammy. Styx's voice had turned as icy as her body looked.

"You will break your first oath."

It was like a hammer smacked me in the chest.

"What?!"

"Do not raise your voice at me! You are lucky I don't destroy your soul on the failure to complete the second oath!"

I stayed silent. Styx's black eyes had flared. They didn't calm down as she repeated her warning.

"You will break your first oath. You will leave Thalia again. And you cannot help it. It will happen. After the incident that caused such hate between you and the Moirai, they have made sure of it. And you will suffer great loss."

I swallowed, before looking at the goddess. She seemed to know that I wanted to speak. I swallowed again, then whispered,

"Um. So…I'll go to Tartarus?"

Styx smiled, as if she already knew my future.

"Why do you heroes think that is what happens when you break my oath?"

But her eyes seemed to say 'Yes, that is exactly what will happen, just not in the way you expect'.

"You do not go Tartarus for breaking my oath."

'Oh, you poor boy. You're done'.

Shut up Styx's eyes.

"When my oath is broken, you will be put under such a great punishment of grief, or hatred. But it happens up on Gaia's body. You will wish you could travel back to Tartarus…"

The pause made me think she wanted to say something, like 'but…', or 'again'.

Suddenly, she looked up.

"Your time here is done. You will find a…warm welcome when you wake."

Her smile, for the first time, was entirely mischievous.

Just fucking kidding. The raging sociopath was looking like she had put a bear trap under my waking up spot. Her body faded away into nothing, and the vision/dream faded.

Well. That was cool. I didn't really like the fight with Fayden and Koios. I feel like I could make it cooler. And Styx! I was feeling a bit 'meh' with that. I wanted her to help Fayden, but at the same time, she's the embodiment of hate…she doesn't help anyone. So, I comprised. . I bet a lot of people, or at least some are finally getting some of the things I've been hinting tiny parts of.

I can just picture the Faylia fans screaming at my calmness. 'THALIA AND FAYDEN KISSED! STFU ABOUT STYX! AAAAAH! FAYLIA!'

Ok, that's happening in my head. I've waited so long (as Fayden would put it, exactly 40 days) to right the chapter when they first kissed. I was going to have it before thy got together because the manner of which they get together requires them both to know they like each other beforehand…you'll see, and I'll stop blabbing. I sound like Tom Holland or Mark Ruffalo.

P.S. If you get that, I like you.