VI: Cowards Fear

-Oasis-

"I'll flash you back to the dorms so you can get everyone," Chaos told me. I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing the snap of Chaos's fingers. When I opened my eyes I was in a bright colorful hallway. Each room had colors around it reflecting the people inside the rooms. Ok, time to round my whole team up. That would be Hannah, Luke, Zoe, Bianca, Selina, Bekondorf, Olivia, and Itchiama. A heavyweight begun building in my chest. I bit my lip and set my eyes on the first room. One of the only people in the entire army who are actually married, Selina and Bekondorf.

I knocked on their door very audibly. "Can I come in? Actually, I can just tell you through here." I questioned through the microphone. A buzzing sound ran through the speaker until someone finally picked up.

"Yeah, what's up Percy, and you can come in at any time." I exhaled at the use of my old name, feeling the heaviness in my chest rising. I don't mind being called Percy, but right now was a different situation.

"Well I can't come in at any~ time, after all, you're the reason we got soundproofing. Anyway, we're having a meeting in a sec, I gotta go grab the others." I switched off the intercom and sighed, before stalking up to the next room and repeating the same process. "Itchiama we got a meeting," I called in.

"Mmk. Also, you're nervous, sad, and scared. Can't wait to see why," he informed sarcastically. The 'reader of emotion' is finally wrong huh? I'm not sad or scared, or even nervous am I? "Also some of our team members are in the arena training." I nodded even though he couldn't see me, and proceeded to walk down the marble corridor towards the arena.

I seemed fixated on my breathing and felt like I was spiraling down into a pit of darkness. My breathing grew heavier. That was a terrible analogy considering what happened back on that planet. I felt like I was choking on air. Suddenly a loud crash rocket through the air. I had already arrived at the arena and I didn't even realize it.

I slid the door open noticing the two figures in the arena below. Luke and Zoe were fighting sending lightning and fire in every direction. I slid down the banister next to Hannah and Bianca who were watching the fight closely. Luke's sword burst into flames as he lept back avoiding an arrow. Zoe seemed to be playing the fight safe and not approaching Luke much. It wasn't a cowardly move, but a lot of her powerful lightning attacks were unusable indoors. In fact, I don't think she can use any powers inside.

Luke swung his sword, sending a flame chasing after Zoe, before charging behind the fire he'd created. I blinked. Zoe was already out of the way of the flame and had begun firing arrows at Luke. I inspected Zoe closely. Hannah, Bianca, and Luke all weren't surprised by her split-second dodge. What even happened? It's not like she can teleport or anything. "Lightning speed," Hannah's voice said from beside me.

"She's collecting lightning all over her body in order to move at incredible speeds. Sending lightning currents through things is hard though, especially living things. Not to mention she just learned how to do it like a day ago. She'll meet her limit soon enough. She might have a better chance, just not using powers, or asking to fight outside. I guess she knows that enemies won't always approach her outside so she needs to be prepared."

I didn't say anything, just looked at the battle unfolding before me. Luke burnt another volley of arrows with a flame combustion. Zoe did a flip back launching another arrow or two. Luke appeared to have had enough of the 'defensive tactic.' He put his hands together and created a small flame. "Oh boy," Hannah muttered. CRACK! The flame burst creating a massive smokescreen throughout the whole room. I could hear a light cough come from the cloud of smoke.

As the smoke faded both Luke and Zoe were climbing out of the arena. Guess Luke won, I assumed standing up. "We have a meeting in the throne room. I'd ask yall to clean up but this is kinda important. Preferably keep your smell to yourself," I announced. I turned to walk away, remembering just how important of a mission it was. Earth. It might be a weaker planet, but that won't be the main problem.

I wonder what happened after I left, besides what Chaos showed me in the vision. Am I still being hunted for execution? I would prefer to not somehow end up getting my head chopped off. I think I like it where it is now. We all walked in a somewhat orderly fashion towards the throne room.

The throne room here is like an improved version of the Olympus throne room. Why can't I stop making Earth references? Anyway, it was mostly made out of a grayish whitish marble. In it, there were engravings and sketches of images, each is made in separate colorful marble. Everything told a story. Some depicted Chaos's creation of the universe, others of when he ruled with his brother, End. There was only one undepicted event though. The part where End went against Chaos and was cast into the Void after a long war, and the breakage of a treaty. Everyone knows it happened, but we're all pretty sure Chaos just has a hard time thinking about that time.

A cough echoed throughout the throne room. I looked up to see Chaos on her beautiful throne, made of the best gems from each big world. She had a conflicted look on her face, one of those faces you make when choosing between the greatest drink of all time or a drink that's blue. The choices we have to make on a day to day bases.

"So I've called you here today to announce your next big mission as an entire team." I looked down with a frown. The term 'big mission' doesn't seem too fitting considering the power level of most people on Earth. They aren't weak, but we've dealt with much worse and will not die to some dude who has some powers over time but only time on Earth because of Earth logic yay!

"You will all be venturing to Earth to stop the rising mad titan, Kronos." I could hear the wind blow as people shot their heads in my direction, back at Chaos, and repeating. Once it really sunk in people begun to semi-shout things at the nervous goddess. I didn't pay attention to what they were saying, nothing seemed to sink in. I already knew we were going there, but now it feels more like earlier.

"Okay, OKAY," Chaos shouted. "I know none of you want to go there. Some of you know why personally, others have been merely told horror stories from colleagues and teammates. Here's the bottom line. Oasis agreed to go, so I think you all should at least hear the mission out before immediately crushing it into the dirt." Everyone seemed content with at least hearing it, but looking around was confusing. Some wore faces of confusion, others anger, sadness, and even a hint of happiness. I can understand that a little. Not everyone has as bad a track record there like me.

"So Kronos is rising again and this time the people of Earth can't defeat him for good. Some of you have been to Earth, and Camp Demigod at that."

"Camp Demigod?" Luke mumbled from beside me. "Half-Blood?"

"Camp Half-Blood is gone, as is the magic barrier surrounding it. Now there is Camp Demigod, which is just Camp Half-Blood featuring Romans. There's also a wall surrounding the forest. It's not a tall wall, nor an incredibly secure one, just a stone gift from Olympus. Certain Demigods who value themselves as skilled warriors go there and make sure any monster attacks are warded off, protecting everyone at Camp Demigod. They are the reason that demigods in Camp Demigod are allowed to live somewhat normal lives. No deaths happen inside the wall, but twice the amount happen outside of it. For mortals, the wall is just an iron bar with barbed wire protecting the forest from drunk idiots in the city."

I let out a breath and looked at the ground. I didn't want to see anything but the cold marble floor. How do I know it's cold? I have clothes and shoes on so it's not like I would feel much from the ground. Wait who cares? Brain stop going haywire!

"So when a primordial Earth goddess named Gaea was put to sleep the titan of time Kronos rose again due to some Earth logic I'm not entirely sure of it all. I thought Earth was behind us so I stopped checking up on it and attempted to completely detach its fate from the outside universe."

"You said you thought it was behind us and stopped checking up on the place. How did you find out about this guy rising then? Did someone ask for your assistance." Hannah always was the most attentive out of our lot.

"Yes," Chaos continued. "I was asked by the lead god Zeus to send the best warriors to Camp Demigod so we could hurry up and finish this war." I scoffed and could hear Luke giggling near me. Zeus must be really scared if he asked an outside party for help. I wonder how he knew to contact Chaos? That's not too important as of now, and seeing as Hannah hasn't pointed it out I probably shouldn't mention it.

"You will all be wearing your masks and cloaks, as well as taking all your choice weapons on the ship. Since some of you used to live on Earth, your identities should stay secret for the sake of the mission." That made me look up, just to see the faces of my comrades. Luke looked relieved, Zoe was staring at me, weird, Bianca looked somewhat disappointed, and everyone else had a neutral face. Everyone knew my history on Earth, even teammates who aren't even from Earth. A lot of them protected me and helped me when I joined the army. They wanted me to go from the dark, basically suicidal state I was in back into the funny, happy, loyal friend they once knew, or had been told of. I'd say it worked pretty well. I will admit no one helped me more than my sister, and Zoe who was surprisingly helpful in the matter.

"Any other details," Hannah spoke up. "Are we taking our makeshift spaceship, because if it gets blown up I'm blaming Luke because it's fun."

"He-"

"Okay," Chaos said standing up. "I'm used to your joke bickering, but today I think we should all get through this and rest up. Ill tell the gods you're coming to stay in tents at Camp Demigod. You can leave tomorrow night and be there in three days. Remember the ship can't be seen by mortals. The biggest issue is that we don't know where Kronos is hiding out, so it will kind of be a waiting game. Understood?"

Everyone was feeling different emotions at the moment. Angry, sad, worried, disappointed, exedra. One thing was certain though. All of us were still warriors of Chaos. All of us spent our lives living out missions and fighting side by side. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth. "UNDERSTOOD!" We all practically shouted. Chaos had that face she put on whenever we would speak in unison. She'd gotten used to it by now. We were all really awkward weirdos, that was one thing we had in common. We were a family though, some by blood others by… Something. "Hey, what's a good analogy for a family?" I questioned Chaos.

She sat back down with a smile on her face. If she thinks my nerves are gone then she's wrong. I still can't stand the fact that we have to go back there. I am lucky in one way though. I have a family now that won't betray me. It's also not like everyone at camp betrayed me. Chaos explained the people that sided with me and that didn't, as well as the truth of what happened that day. We can just hope all the ones who betrayed me went to the wall as 'proud strong demigods,' and died in combat. I sneered at the ground.

"So," Hannah said walking to the front of the group. I looked around, and as I thought everyone was there. Luke, the fireball. Zoe, the archer. Bianca, the destructor. Itchiama the reader of emotion. Beckendorf, the smith. Selina the manipulator. Feels great know a good friend has that title. Finally Olivia, the architect. Well, of course, Hannah, the shadow, and myself Percy, the slayer. The codenames are so much cooler than the titles. Bianca's name is Sunset that's so freaking cool.

"We have this new mission so here's our plan." Hannah is also kind of a strategist. Way better than that daughter of Athena. Really wish all of this wasn't coming back to me, I was fine forgetting. "We leave tomorrow at dusk. Be sure to have everything packed. We will sleep in tents while we're at the camp, and I guess just wait for Kronos to attack and die. Earth wars have a terrible tendency of ending in one battle, so let's win it!"