A/N: im so sorry for the super late update, but i really want to put my best possible work out there. i hate short changing you guys and myself. not gonna lie i had a lot of trouble getting my abstract thoughts down into concrete words, but i love these characters, i love you guys who continue to read, and i fuckin love this story. so i hope you do too! enjoy!*

PERI'S POV

For a moment, I thought that Clytius might turn tail and run away screaming back to Mommy Gaea. It would've saved us all a lot of trouble.

But alas, my life is never that easy.

Instead, the giant seemed to recover his wits when he saw the goddess's torches blazing. He stomped his foot, shaking the floor and almost stepping on Annabeth's arm, making me cry out in alarm. Dark smoke billowed around his form until Annabeth and Percy were totally hidden. I could see nothing but the giant's gleaming eyes as he looked between the three magical ladies in the room, myself included.

"Bold words." Clytius spoke from Leo's mouth. It was nothing like Leo spoke, none of his playful gestures, none of his lilting tone. It was all wrong. "You forget, goddess. When we last met, you had the help of Hercules and Dionysus— the most powerful heroes in the world, both of them destined to become gods. Now you bring… these?"

Leo's unconscious body contorted in pain, and my stomach plummeted.

"Stop it!" Hazel and I yelled in unison.

The daughter of Pluto and I exchanged worried looks. We had to get our friends (and my love!) away from the giant, but how? I was too far away, and Clytius was an immovable mountain in my path.

He's a monster, I thought with an unnatural chill. A damn near unkillable monster.

I had to end him to get to the rest of my crew.

And he's murdered my father, I thought with shaking bones, clenching the weapon in my hands with renewed purpose. Clytius was already healing, it would be suicidal to attack him now... and yet my whole body was wishing, hoping, itching to leap at him. I could feel it. Every one of my cells just twitching with anticipation. Hints and flecks of gold danced in my vision. I should just eviscerate him—

Then something happened that simply couldn't be explained with logic. Suddenly, I believed what Pasiphaë had said: Hazel really was a powerful sorceress.

Leo dissolved. He reappeared at Hazel's feet, along with Percy and Annabeth. The Mist whirled around her, spilling over the stones and enveloping our friends. Where the white Mist met the dark smoke of Clytius, it steamed and sizzled, like lava rolling into the sea. It was... incredible. I could hardly believe that I had the audacity to think she was boring all those nights ago when she gave me a tour of Camp Jupiter.

Hazel Levesque was anything but boring.

Leo opened his eyes and gasped. "Wh-what…?"

Relief flooded through me like a broken dam when Leo regained consciousness. My fury washed away, as the tides wash away the shore. He'd been my boyfriend for not even twenty four hours, and he was already giving me heart problems. The nerve! I wanted to run over there and kiss him— or maybe throttle him for giving me such a terrible scare. The only problem was the massive shadow covered dirtbag that towered between us.

I had to deal with Clytius first.

"Hazel, use the Mist and get the others out of here," I said firmly, my gaze fixed on the giant.

"Not a chance in Asphodel," she replied.

"Right, I'll take care of— wait, what?" I blinked and shook my head in confusion.

"You heard me! I'm not leaving you, so don't bother wasting your breath asking me again." She smiled at me despite the tremble in her hands. "Homes don't abandon homes."

Leo coughed raggedly into his fist. "I believe the word you're looking for is homies."

"Hazel..." I shook my head and laughed. Considering the situation, I really shouldn't have been laughing that hard, but I just couldn't help it. "You're right. Homies don't abandon homies."

Well isn't that just adorable, Clytius sneered. I hope you enjoy dying together.

Hazel's face turned deadly serious, and I promise that's not an Underworld pun.

"Peri," she said evenly, "get down."

The tone in her voice left no room for argument. I hit the deck just as the walls of the chamber made a crackling sound like ice in warm water. Dozens of gems streaked toward the giant, punching through his armor like buckshot. Clytius staggered backward. His disembodied voice bellowed with pain. His iron breastplate was peppered with holes. Golden ichor trickled from a wound on his right arm. His shroud of darkness thinned.

As soon as Clytius pitched off balance, I leapt forward and lashed out with BloodFang. The weapon latched firmly around the giant's sword arm, restricting his movement. It took all my strength to keep just one of the giant's limbs restrained. Brilliantly, Hazel took that opportunity to strike.

"His armor," I said through gritted teeth. "His armor is weakened!"

The daughter of Pluto must've understood, because she focused on the spidering cracks along the giant's breast plate with her spatha. Clytius tried to swat at her with his free hand, but Hazel was too quick. Like, much too quick. She moved in a blur, and I realized with a start that Hecate was assisting her— lending her the strength to keep up a defensive shroud and the speed to evade a giant. That didn't mean Hazel wasn't working hard. Even from this distance, I could see the girl was sweating, and her forehead was deeply wrinkled with concentration.

So this was the power of a god and a demigod working together, I thought in awe.

I felt compelled to whistle with admiration, but I had to focus on restraining the giant. Clytius wrenched his arm forward suddenly, and I lurched a few feet along with his movement. However, I wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice. My weapon condensed into sword form at my will, the blade lacerating the giant's forearm as it did so. BloodFang lapped up the ichor greedily, and I felt a burst of strength. Instantly, Hazel was by my side, the Mist rolling off of her also protecting me from the shadow aura around Clytius.

You puny little insignificant... Clytius growled. You think that a couple of schoolgirls have the strength to defeat me? You are no Hercules. You are no Dionysus. You are nothing!

I grit my teeth at his insults, anger flaring up within me before I could catch myself.

BloodFang rumbled to life in my hands. "There's enough demigod blood here to give us the strength to defeat three giants! Just allow me to—"

"NO!" I blurted out in horror.

Hazel glanced at me with a puzzled expression, her golden eyes searching my face. That's when I understood. Only I could hear the weapon's voice. Only I could hear his insatiable thirst for blood echoing in my mind. He wanted more. He always wanted more.

It was maddening.

I shoved these thoughts down and met Hazel's gaze with a look of determination. I put on a brave face, a warrior's mask, the hero's visage— just like I've done my entire life. For a millisecond it looked like Hazel might've seen through my disguise. Then it passed. She nodded at me and held her spatha with purpose. Together, we faced the giant once more.

"You're right, Clytius," Hazel's voice cut like a razor blade. "We're not Hercules or Dionysus. We are something different entirely. Allow us to show you."

And the battle began anew.

LEO'S POV

I felt like I'd just swallowed a lump of charcoal. My throat had been reduced to sandpaper, and darkness clouded the edges of my vision. But at least I was conscious.

That thought made me look to my fallen friends who had just come back from Tartarus. The other side. To my relief, Percy and Annabeth were also awake, but only technically. Percy kept mumbling something that sounded like ob-bob-ob, and Annabeth kept trying and failing to sit up. I put a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder, and convinced her to stay horizontal for the time being. That's probably when I knew for sure we were in a messed up situation.

I mean, me convincing Annabeth to do anything? That's just unheard of.

The screeching of metal against metal brought my attention to the fight going on just a stone's throw away. It was intense, and my bleary eyes had trouble following the trio's rapid movements. Then I caught sight of it, and my stomach dropped the same way that it did when the Mist cleared. When I'd first laid eyes on it.

Living at Camp Half-Blood, I've seen my fair share of unique weaponry and even forged a few myself. But the weapon in Peri's hands was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was some sort of sword-whip hybrid; strange, lethal, and unsettling. I had a bad feeling deep in my bones at the sight of it.

I doubled over suddenly, coughing and spluttering as my lungs burned. Or maybe it was just the after effects of Clytius using my voice as his own. That made sense, too. Still...

"Hazel," Annabeth groaned out with great difficulty. "Peri. The chains... Break the chains."

Peri cursed as Clytius narrowly missed her with the point of his blade, trimming off a couple inches from her ponytail in the process. Hazel grunted from the effort of parrying such a strong opponent, but she seemed to get Annabeth's message. Together, they did their best to maneuver the battle closer to the Doors of Death in order to sever the chains and end this nightmare for good. All this time, Hecate stood with her torches, observing the scene as if it were a child's tennis match. Maybe to the goddess, that's all this was.

Meanwhile, I sat on the sidelines. Doing nothing. Being useless. Feeling weak.

I couldn't help but feel my face burn with shame. Hazel had instructed me to sit back, watch over Percy and Annabeth, stay out of the way. But I also felt like I should be doing something. It didn't feel right to sit back in this Misty safety net while the girls put their lives at risk.

Distantly, my ears registered the sounds of battle. Clytius's grunts of pain. Peri's shouts for Hecate to intervene. Hazel's warrior cry as she launched her spatha at the chains. The shattering of metal as one side of the chains was destroyed. The giant's howl of frustration. Her desperate attempt paid off, but now the daughter of Pluto was disarmed.

I should do something. I should stand up.

But then I noticed my hands trembling helplessly at my sides. I was scared of Clytius, scared of what he could do to me, scared of dying. It's not like I'm very much help in a fight to begin with, but especially not against an enemy of this magnitude. The shaking in my hands traveled up my spine. I was conflicted. I wanted to do something, anything, but I was utterly paralyzed by fear.

That's when I heard Hazel's bloodcurdling scream.

My eyes snapped up to the scene, and my first thought was that my eyes were deceiving me. Peri's weapon, in its extended bladed whip-like form, was lodged deep in Hazel's shoulder, pulsing with furious energy. At this angle, it looked like the whip was aiming for the chains on the other side, but arched around at the last moment to strike Hazel. But that couldn't be—

"No! Hazel!" Peri's eyes flickered from brown to gold just like before when the Mist cleared. What's going on with the Omega-Blood? Her shocked expression quickly transformed into snarling anger. "You bastard."

Was she talking to Hazel? Or herself? Or...?

Clytius took advantage of her moment of hesitation. I tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. Everything happened so fast.

The giant swung his Stygian Iron blade at Peri with enough force to level a skyscraper. It took only seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Peri held her head up high, staring him down the entire time, but she didn't move an inch to defend herself. With unnatural speed and no effort on its wielder's part, Peri's weapon retracted from Hazel's shoulder (earning a pained grunt from the daughter of Pluto as she collapsed) and recoiled. Clytius's weapon made contact with a sickening crunch that echoed in my ears long after the collision. The impact sent Peri's limp form soaring backwards right through the stone wall, and a half dozen stelae fell from the ceiling and shattered.

And then she was gone.

My whole world was gone.

Something within me snapped like a rubber band, so loud in my synapse that I'd be shocked if everyone else hadn't heard it as well. I don't even remember getting to my feet.

Suddenly I was just walking forward, with clenched fists, and a burning, aching heart.

Hazel was on one knee, clutching her bleeding shoulder with one hand, but when she saw me approaching she tried to dissuade me. I didn't even hear her. All I could hear was the booming laughter of Clytius as he looked down at me.

The boy with the little flame wants to play? He jeered. Then let's play!

I stared into his shadow covered, soulless eyes. This monster just ripped away the last shred of happiness I had in this world. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't still scared. But fear was the last emotion on the long list of things that I was feeling right now.

Usually, I was focusing on repressing my flames, keeping them under control. Ever since that day so many years ago... I've always did my best to ensure that the fiery demon inside stayed locked away in its cage. I couldn't risk hurting someone that I cared about. Not again.

All that went out the window now that Peri was gone.

It was so much simpler to let go of that hold that I've always kept on myself. I embraced the chaos of the flames within me, letting them grow and swell to a fever pitch. All around my body, like a fiery aura, were hungry, bright blue flames— a color I've never reached before.

My tía had always called me Díablo. If only she could see me now.

I could be walking to my death, but that didn't matter now. Nothing mattered now. If this would be my last moment, then I wanted to die fighting for what I believed in. I wanted to die fighting for the love that made life worth living. The love that I had just lost, fighting a stupid war for ungrateful gods against ruthless creatures.

Do you think your blue sparks frighten me, Leo Valdez? Clytius grinned.

I looked up at the giant towering above me and mustered the strength that Peri showed in her last moments. The image of her in my mind was enough to bring tears to my eyes, but the flames surrounding me burned them to steam before they could even fall. That was my girl. Tough as nails till the very end.

Tell me, what will your last words be, little one?

"You know you just fucked up right?"