Hey everyone! Sorry this a little later than normal, I got sick and spent all day lying in bed. Luckily I was feeling better tonight so I was able to get this finished.

Welcome to chapter five! This chapter has a ton of reveals, and we get a lot of stuff from Alex's POV as well as a tiny bit of Leo. Chapter six is my favorite chapter so idk if I'll be able to wait a week to post it, but I have to finish chapter seven first, hehe.

Anyways I shan't keep you any longer, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Percy Jackson universe, sadly. I'm merely borrowing them to play in my sandbox for a bit! Cat is my very special OC, however, as is Quentin, Episis, and any other odd names you don't remember. Alex and Jane are OC's created by some talented friends of mine.

Leo Valdez

Leo stared at Cat for a full minute, waiting for her to elaborate. 'I remember' was not nearly enough to explain whatever in Hades just happened. Leo glanced around the table, seeing his confused expression mirrored on every face- well, almost every face. Nico didn't even look fazed, much less confused or surprised. Did the guy ever stop keeping secrets? Leo didn't have anything against him, but it was annoying to know that at any given moment he could be withholding useful information. Leo might be a fire hazard, but Nico seemed to have a whole vault of interesting and important secrets.

Leo looked back at Cat, but she still didn't say anything, just staring into space with an odd look of wonder in her eyes. He bit his lip, trying to give her time to speak, but he was too curious.

Percy and Leo's patience broke at the same time, both blurting out. "What do you mean?" Leo grinned at Percy, about to shout jinx, but quickly decided this wasn't quite the right time for jokes.

Cat seemed to finally come back to earth, and her eyes met her brother's, shimmering with thousands of indiscernible emotions. Honestly, how did she feel so much at once and not explode?

"Everything." She said, still seeming as though she was lost in another world. Leo nearly exploded, both literally and figuratively, but before he could say anything, Alex huffed.

"Why am I here? Why can't you just be normal humans, and let me continue on with my life? This could be done and over with, if y'all didn't act like this is a book and say random things that make no sense and then wait forever to explain." Making a mental note to himself that he wanted to be friends with Alex (both because he liked her spirit and because he didn't want to be on the wrong side of that temper), Leo turned to Chiron, waiting for his answer.

Chiron sighed. "There is…a lot to explain. For now, Alex, let's just say you and Jane are a necessary part of this quest." Alex crossed her arms, seeming like she was going to protest, but Annabeth cut her off.

"Chiron." She said sharply. "Quest? Me and Percy? On another quest? We're leaving for New Rome soon, Chiron. We're done with quests." Percy glanced at his sister, but nodded in agreement, though somewhat less assuredly than Annabeth.

"In all fairness, it is you two. Don't tell me you actually expected that to work out… I mean it's you guys, come on." Leo joked, trying to lighten the mood, but Annabeth just glared at him and wiped the grin straight off his face. He stuck his hands in the air, shrinking back into the chair. "Joking! It was just a joke…geez, woman, no need to murder me."

"Yes, another quest. It is necessary, my dear." Chiron's tone softened as he faced Annabeth. "I'm sorry, but it must be done. I feared this would come someday, but I had hoped that these myths remained just that. I was a fool, it seems."

He sighed again, and Alex rolled her eyes. "Having breathing problems?" she asked sarcastically. Leo snorted, and turned just in time to see Cat flash him a... something (again, emotions) before she reverted back to the everything-at-once expression.

Chiron gave Alex a long-suffering glance, but ignored her and turned to Cat. "Enlighten us, your companions are curious."

Cat opened her mouth to speak, but Leo cut her off and stood. "Hold your horses, people. I need more of an explanation, here. What do you mean by 'I remember?' And what quest? And how do you know who is coming? And who claimed her? And what is she supposed to 'enlighten us all' of? And why is everyone staring at me like I'm crazy?" Leo paused his stream of questions to take a breath, waiting for answers.

"An explanation will be slow in coming, as there is much to tell. And as I have stated many times, I don't know much. I have offered to tell what little I know, and so has Mr. Di Angelo. However, Miss Jackson will be able to explain the most. I would assume she means she has recovered her missing memories. Now," Chiron paused, eyeing Leo sternly. "If you are quite finished, Mr. Valdez, then we can carry on with the discussion." Leo sat back down, and mimed zipping his lips closed. Chiron fixed him with a look telling Leo he would be held to the silent promise he had just made. Leo sighed inwardly, but he was curious enough to keep his mouth shut.

"As I was saying, Catalia," Chiron began.

"Cat." She interrupted, sliding into a chair.

Chiron barely contained a sigh and continued. "As I was saying, Cat, please enlighten us."

Alex

Alex eyed Cat as she met Chiron's eyes, hesitating. Honestly, the girl was such a drama queen. There had been absolutely no need for all of the waiting and dancing around the question. At last, Cat started talking, breaking Alex out of her thoughts. Alex noticed with interest the new lilting accent in her voice, and she narrowed her eyes, wondering where it had come from.

"I don't think it's something I can explain too easily, Chiron. But perhaps I could show you... but I must start at the beginning. Well, the beginning you all know." Alex blinked and shook her head. Her brain hurt already, and Cat had barely started.

The centaur simply nodded, waiting for her to continue.

Cat thought for a moment, then began to speak, her accent growing stronger as she did. Alex still couldn't place just what accent it was, it wasn't similar to any she'd heard before.

"For the sake of those who know nothing of my beginnings in this age, I shall begin there."

Alex raised her eyebrow at Cat's use of old timey language, but didn't bother to question her.

"My adopted mother found me in the streets when I was eight years old. I had been living homeless in Manhattan for three weeks, but other than that, I had no memory of anything, not even my name. The first thing I remember was waking up in a dumpster, and feeling awkward and smaller than I should be. I was adopted and lived with my new family for years, eventually finding out I was a demigod the same time Perseus did." Alex, assuming that was Percy's full name, glanced at him and saw confusion flash across his face. Cat didn't appear to notice, or even realize she hadn't used his nickname, and continued.

"So I began going to camp, and nothing interesting happened to me. Everyone else went off on quests and defeated monsters, but I was never a key player. My life was normal, well, as normal as a demigod's could be. But I was never claimed, and I had no memories before the age of eight, when I woke in the streets." She paused for a breath, and Alex noticed that besides her, only Jane seemed startled by the amnesia revelation. Apparently everyone else knew this part already. Alex mused over Cat's story, wondering what it would be like to have no memories. She thought she might actually prefer that to being haunted by her own memories.

"But tonight," Cat started again. "I finally received my memories back."

Percy inhaled sharply, drawing Alex's attention. His sea-green eyes filled with excitement and joy, but also fear. Alex wondered if he was nervous that his adopted sister would have another family to return to, or some other horrible revelation.

Chiron nodded thoughtfully. "Is there anything valuable in those eight years of memories? Or is it simply that you finally remember your past life and have been claimed?"

She looked up then, meeting the centaur's eyes with a serious look. "Not eight years, Chiron. Eight millennia."

Almost every single person at the table froze, staring at her in complete silence.

Alex recovered first, and smirked at Cat as she looked around the frozen table. "I think you broke them."

Cat snorted slightly but didn't meet her eyes. Percy finally unfroze, staring at his sister.

"Millennia?" He choked.

Slowly, all the others blinked and stopped looking like statues, but Percy's expression was mirrored on all their faces. Nico, however, did not look fazed at all, nor had he frozen in shock like the others. Not for the first time, Alex wondered why none of this seemed to be phasing her half-brother.

Cat hesitated, then looked away from her brother's gaze, not managing to fully mask the sadness filling her eyes. "This is the part better shown, not told."

She stood up, her hair falling in her face as she did so. Still avoiding meeting her brother's eyes, she slowly extended her arm over the table. Alex raised her eyebrows a little scornfully, unsure what Cat was trying to do. Then crystals shining with as many colors as her eyes appeared out of thin air and swirled gently around her arm. Alex jerked back in her chair in shock, and she wasn't the only one. Leo pulled back so quickly he tipped his chair over, crashing to the floor with a grunt. Jane and Annabeth, however, leaned closer in fascination, and Chiron's face furrowed as he eyed the crystals. Alex recovered quickly, smirking as Leo's curly head popped back up and he scrambled back into his seat. Alex looked back at Cat, watching a slow smile spread across her face, as if she was greeting an old friend.

Alex huffed and crossed her arms, still attempting to regain her dignity. "That's cool and all, but can you hurry up, princess? I ain't got all day." Percy shot her a glare, and Nico tried, and failed, to contain a snicker. Alex glared right back at Percy, smirking as he looked away.

Cat sighed and started talking again, the strange accent even stronger. Alex, who was still watching Percy, saw the flicker of confusion, and decided she wasn't the only one intrigued by the new accent.

"You all know the story of the Greek gods," Cat glanced at Jane and Alex, amending her statement. "Well, at least the basics. But what you know isn't the full story." Annabeth leaned forward, her stormy eyes serious and focused.

"Before the Titans and Giants, before Gaea and Ouranos even, there was another Primordial."

This time it was Annabeth who jerked in shock, but Percy steadied her before she could follow Leo's example. Chiron's eyes widened slightly, and nearly everyone sucked in a breath. Alex was surprised, but not as much as everyone else, as this whole mythology world was new to her.

"What do you mean, another one?" Annabeth asked, her hand gripping her chair arm tightly. "I thought before Gaea it was only Chaos."

Cat shook her head. "That's what everyone thinks, and in a way, it's true. But before Chaos formed Gaea, there was a whole world, more advanced and peaceful than our own."

The crystals, which had been swirling idly as she spoke, formed into a three dimensional picture behind Cat with a flick of her hand. This time, Alex gasped too, astounded by what she saw. A city made entirely of glass and jewels filled the air behind and around Cat, so vivid and detailed it almost looked like a window into another world. Cat smiled wistfully, and a little sadly at the image, then tore herself away at Jane's voice.

Jane, who was sitting next to Alex, leaned closer to the picture, eyes wide. "Are those… flying cars?" She whispered, her voice filled with awe. Cat nodded, and Jane leaned even closer to the picture shimmering in the air, examining it.

"Cat… what…how…" Percy whispered, finally having found his voice. Annabeth, seated next to him, seemed to have been struck mute by the image of the city.

Cat didn't answer, but waved her hand through the image and it shimmered and shattered back into crystals. Jane sat back, looking disappointed, and Annabeth blinked several times, then turned her attention to Cat. Alex squinted at the crystals, trying to figure out what they were and how she was controlling them.

"Before you start asking questions, let me explain. Chaos was all alone in an empty world filled with darkness. He grew lonely, so he formed a companion, someone to fill the hole in the universe. Chaos is a dark being, composed entirely of darkness and destruction, with no emotions or personality. What he created was the exact opposite of him. A being bursting with light and color, a vibrant personality, and the power to create anything she wished. A prism of light and color in a world of dark and shadow."

Annabeth's lips parted, telling Alex she wasn't the only one who made the connection with the claiming symbol earlier and the crystals now swirling around Cat.

"Not long after, Episis, for that was her name, created a whole world, based on light and love. It was a purely perfect world… but nothing perfect lasts. Episis made one mistake that cost her everything- she fell in love." Alex didn't even try to contain her groan. She absolutely hated romance or love stories of any kind, ever since-

Alex cut off the train of thought furiously. Stop it, Alex. Not the time, not the time at all, she scolded herself, then turned her attention back to Cat.

"She had restrained herself for thousands of years, but finally, she gave in to her feelings and married a human man." Cat was saying, fiddling with one of the crystals swirling around her hands. Alex squinted again, wondering how touching the crystals would feel, and if they were solid or liquid.

Annabeth's entire body stiffened, her mouth forming a perfect O of shock. "Hold on...you're saying a Primordial… married a mortal?" she gasped, incredulous.

Judging from her reaction, and the complete shock (how many times had everyone frozen in shock at this point?) of all the others, Alex concluded that the marriage just mentioned was not a normal occurrence.

Cat turned to Annabeth, smiling a little, as if she was amused by everyone's shock.

"It was a very different world then, but yes. However, he was not mortal. None of the humans were. Well, they weren't exactly humans, but for lack of a better word, I'll call them such for now." Alex blinked, trying to translate the confusing sentence to normal English, but was met with little success.

"They were all immortal, to some extent, in the way that the Hunters are. But as it was a perfect world, no death had happened yet." Alex gasped when she realized what Cat had said. No death. No family members dying in a fire. No boyfriends- Alex slammed all of her willpower down, forcing herself not to finish the thought and bring the memory to the forefront of her mind. To distract herself, she looked around the table, noting Jane's intrigue, how Leo was on the edge of his seat, bursting with questions, Annabeth's shocked fascination, and Chiron's calm surprise. All of those were easy for Alex to see, after years sitting alone and analyzing others. But she found herself lost when she looked at Percy.

Earlier it had simply been shock and fear, but it had grown into something she wasn't sure could be put into words. He looked as though he was about to faint, break down into despair, and shut down all at once. Alex almost sneered at his weakness and overreaction, but she paused, considering it. For some unfathomable reason, she felt bad for him, something that hadn't happened in years. But she pitied this boy, who had to sit in silence as his sister revealed unimaginable things about herself and her life, until she seemed less sister than an acquaintance.

No, not pity, she realized. She admired his strength, and felt compassionate towards him and his situation. Alex frowned, not liking this unnecessary burst of emotions, and pushed aside the dramatic thoughts to be dealt with later. She seemed to be compiling a whole mountain of thoughts and memories to deal with later, whenever later was. Preferably never.

Cat's voice was, for once, a welcome intrusion into Alex's unwanted thoughts as she continued her story. "After a few years, she birthed a child. A daughter, that she named Elena, which loosely means shining light in Greek."

Alex was starting to have suspicions about the ending of the story, and she looked around the table again, wondering if anyone else shared her thoughts, or in Nico's case, already knew the answer. As she studied Leo, she noticed wisps of smoke rising into his face. Startled, she found the source of the smoke and screamed, jumping to her feet. His hands...were on fire. Immediately the memories she had just shoved away flooded her mind in full force, stealing her breath and making it nearly impossible to speak.

Cat broke off abruptly, and several of the others jumped to their feet.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Nico asked, concerned.

Alex sucked in several deep breaths, forcing herself to ignore the memory of flames surrounding her and screams filling her ears.

"Fire!" She managed, eyes wide, pointing at Leo with a trembling finger. Jane jumped to her feet at her words, and suddenly Leo was doused in a stream of water. Alex followed her not-friends gaze to the now empty pitcher of water perched on a side table. Leo spluttered indignantly, but Alex ignored him, searching for further smoke or fire.

Nico caught her gaze as she looked at him, and to her surprise, he didn't seem worried in the slightest.

"Geez, Alex, you scared me." He met her incredulous stare, and quickly elaborated. "Leo is a son of Hephaestus, who, besides being god of forging and blacksmiths, is god of fire. Some of his kids, like Leo, can summon fire at will, or in this case, when they are overly emotional. And they're immune to fire, so it can't hurt him."

Leo held up his soaking, unburnt hands for Alex and Jane to see, sighing a little. "I really need to remember to warn people about that." He muttered.

Next to Alex, Jane relaxed and sat back down, looking apologetically at Leo. "Um...sorry about that."

Percy answered for Leo, smiling a little. "Don't apologize, that was funny. And it wasn't your fault anyways, you were just responding to a threat." Leo sighed again, but didn't complain about being wet, other than a longing glance towards the door.

Alex returned to her seat, trying to compose herself. She was grateful Nico hadn't pointed out how excessive her reaction had been, but judging from the look he was giving her, they would be having a long talk later that day.

Chiron cleared his throat, startling Alex a little. He had been so quiet she'd almost forgotten he was there.

"You may continue, Catalia." For once, Cat didn't protest at the use of her full name.

Cat cleared her throat and nodded. "Anyways, Episis was blissfully happy, until Chaos discovered the child. He was angry and jealous, as he had created Episis to be his companion. But now she ignored him, shoving him into the farthest reaches of the world, happy with her mortal family and the life she'd created. So he stole her daughter and took her into his realm with him. He changed her, giving her dark power of his own, equal to the power she had from her mother."

Alex interrupted, frowning in confusion. "So you're saying this girl is a demigod, but with two Primordial's powers? So what, she basically has three parents?" she scoffed, crossing her arms.

To her surprise, Cat nodded grimly. "Exactly. She was more powerful than the gods today are, except that she was still part mortal, her main weakness. I know it's weird, but isn't all mythology?"

Alex nearly laughed at Leo's expression, so confused and disgusted, but she was sure her face looked the same.

""So… what happened?" Jane asked, enthralled in the story.

Cat sighed, as if this part of the story was painful. "She developed a split personality, since the two sides of her were so different. It was almost like the gods now, when they struggle between their Greek and Roman personalities. The only thing holding her together was her ties to the mortal world. She lived in between her mother and father, like Persephone does now with Demeter and Hades. So life was good again, until she abandoned Chaos and only lived with her mother. In his anger, Chaos created a child of pure darkness. He was more powerful than Elena, with no mortal blood in his veins, only darkness and anger. Elena bonded with her new half-brother, so she spent more time with her father. So Chaos was pleased, and the world went on."

"First of all, he sounds super creepy. Secondly, if everything is all good now, why don't we get this super perfect world now?" Leo interrupted, but Alex wasn't paying attention to him. She was watching Percy's face slowly crumble into a sadness that no words could describe. Evidently he too had guessed the end of the story, and knowing what that meant for him, Alex found that she couldn't blame him for his emotions.

Cat's voice cut through Alex's thoughts, surprisingly harsh. "Shush. Save questions till I'm finished." she snapped, and Leo shrunk back, looking surprised. Cat sighed, and her expression neutralized, but she didn't apologize.

"Naturally, things went wrong again, as they tend to do. Chaos could not contain his jealousy, as he and his son were always shunned from society due to their dark nature. The last straw was when he fought with Episis. She confronted him over trying to steal her daughter again, but she pushed too far. His jealousy and anger consumed the whole world… destroying everything."

She flicked her hand, and the crystals around her formed the beautiful picture of the shining city. Alex watched, a little breathless, as dark tendrils appeared and began smashing and consuming the glittering buildings. She was grateful there was no sound, as it was clear there would have been screams and sobbing. It didn't take long for the city to be completely consumed by darkness, and Cat waved her hand through the crystals again, dispersing them silently.

"Did-did they all die?" Jane whispered, the pain in her voice echoed on Annabeth's face. So much for no death, Alex observed morbidly.

Cat nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. "No one survived… except Elena. Her mother, unable to stop Chaos, spent the last of her power creating a safe haven for her daughter, the only place that didn't get consumed by Chaos. Before she could save any of the humans, Chaos killed her, and she dissolved into the nothingness from whence she came. Elena was the only survivor, and it was thousands of years before Chaos calmed and created Gaea. But you know the story from there."

Chiron nodded slowly, leaning forward and perching his hands on the table, his intense gaze focused on Cat.

Before he could speak, however, Leo's patience seemed to run out. Alex had noticed he was the one struggling the most to contain his questions, and so she wasn't surprised in the slightest when he was the first to talk.

"But what does all this have to do with you? And how do you know all of this?" Leo burst out, his wide eyes staring at Cat.

Alex rolled her eyes, and dropped her head into her hands. Could it be anymore obvious?

Cat froze for the first time, dropping her gaze to the table and biting her lip. Finally she looked up and met Chiron's gaze, then murmured the words Alex had been expecting the entire time.

"Because… I am Elena."

Credit: A massive thank you to my wonderful beta, StarOfOlympus for the help and encouragement on this entire story. I couldn't have done this without you!

Alrighty, that was a ton of reveals, so let know what you thought of it! Reviews, as I always say, mean the world to me and encourage me to keep writing. Thanks to everyone who has already left a review!

See you next Wednesday, and have a wonderful day!