Chapter Eleven of Book Four, things are amping up, and not stopping. I think it's time for a big fight to happen.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

11. Suffer With Me

Matt

My fist wanted to go through Tartarus's head, but unfortunately, it didn't.

It came damn close though.

It sunk into his nose, I felt his neck bend back and his entire body quake at the force of the blow. I wanted to relish it for hours, the feeling of that perfect sweet spot being found.

I pushed forward and followed through with it, Tartarus shot backwards, a line of several circular, sonic shockwaves booming in his wake. Lightning exploded around the atmosphere of the punch, and the entire void seemed to shake. No, I knew for a fact it was shaking, the entire reality, this whole place was…glitching almost, flickering like I'd just gotten bad connection on my phone. Just as quickly as it came, it was done.

Tartarus didn't fall on his back or tip over, but he did skid about fifty feet on his heels, with his chin in the air. The fog that covered the ground parted as he mowed through it.

I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't even knock him down to one knee, but I would take it. I'd caught him off guard, and I saw the secret to escaping this place. I just saw Ouranos do it, so I'm almost positive that I can do it too.

But what about Percy, Annabeth, and Yuri? I need to get them out too. Crap, I didn't think of that. Okay, well I'll figure that out in a minute, at least I found a way period. That's better than nothing.

Tartarus finally stopped zooming away from me and teetered on his balance. It looked like with one little push, he would fall over, or stumble a bit. But he remained upright and lifted his head back up to stare at the endless ceiling.

His clawed hand found it's way to his nose, and he touched it.

"Good. Very good, Matthias."

He tilted his head back down and glared at me with hungry eyes. He lifted his arms and held them out in a gesture, right before splitting into three Tartarus's.

No, it wasn't a trick of my own eyes, but he had somehow created two copies of himself, who immediately thrust their hands out, sending black vines in my direction.

But I was fast enough to react to it now, I dodged them with a long sidestep, and they kept coming. Snaking around and turning abruptly, quickly following my speed. I hopped and weaved around them until one of the Tartarus clones dipped into the fog on the ground and reformed behind me.

He delivered a quick blow to the back of my knee, and I fell on it, the vines slashed at both of my cheeks, sending narrow, shrill doses of pain all over my face. Stinging, burning pain, followed by a wet sensation. Blood.

Tartarus lunged at me and materialized a black battle axe in his right hand, mid swing, aimed for my chest.

It cut right through the armor and sliced my sternum, only a couple of inches deep, so an unfatal wound. But it hurt like hell, all I could feel now were large waves of a horrible stinging. Ten thousand scorpion stings would be nothing compared to this, each wound started to steam, the smell of burning flesh filled my nose.

I screamed, "AGHHH!"

I wanted to get as far away as possible. As he reared back for another strike, I felt another dose of adrenaline enter me, the ultimate instinct of flight. I did everything I could to get out of these vines, and finally, sent all of my aura into my hands and wrists, successfully tearing through them.

I narrowly avoided a cleave to the face, ducking and rolling backwards out of Tartarus's strike zone, or at least…I thought. He was incredibly, and I mean incredibly fast. I never even saw his legs move, just like before, and he didn't teleport either, he just appeared in front of you, dashing in a blur of black night.

I figured he'd do such, and as I rolled back into a ball-like form, still bent at the knee, I stood up quickly and threw an uppercut in the direction I thought he'd be in. I felt my knuckle nick his shoulder; the slightest bit of contact being made. I could've gotten him, if he wasn't so fast.

Even Tartarus recognized it, "Good instinct, but it won't save you."

He brought his head down against mine quicker than I could even see, massively faster than light could ever dream of going. I only felt the pain against my head, and the recoil of my neck, I could just put the dots together that he must've delivered a devastating headbutt. My vision only had one second to go blurry before the next wave of pain came.

In my foggy eyesight, I saw Tartarus swing the axe upward with both hands, and I saw it sink into my underarm before I felt the pain.

"ACKKK!" I shouted; a short gasp of surprise mixed with an exclamation of agony. It was a brunt, penetrating attack that allowed the fine blade of the voided axe to go inches deep into my triceps, nearly halfway through. I was now covered in blood, the cuts on my cheeks, on my chest, and now the deep gash in my arm.

Red immediately trickled out over the axe's sides, falling down in the fog, never to be seen. I cared little about the blood loss; it was causing me to die. I knew it was. Nothing could be this painful and not kill me!

I felt like I was going to throw up, I wanted to fall to my stomach and lay there, maybe try to regain some of my breath in desperate gasps. But I physically couldn't fall. Tartarus was still holding me up with the axe, my arm and it were connected.

I remained suspended, whining like a wounded animal, and weakly reaching for the axe handle to push it away, somehow get it the hell out of my arm. But every time I blindly threw my hand out, I never hit anything.

Finally, Tartarus made a rumble of a laugh, "Hurts?"

"Ughhh…" I made a sound akin to a moaning zombie.

"Do you like the sight of your own blood?"

Tartarus, instead of just pushing through and cutting my arm clean off, decided to pull it back and yank it out, leaving a V-shape at the bottom, like an unfinished chopped tree.

I fell on the ground instantly, my face splatting in my own blood puddle that came from all of my wounds. My entire cheek was soaked in the thick liquid, and I wallowed in it for a second, wincing and cringing at the feeling, at the smell of it. I hated this, I hated being humiliated and played around with like this. I was his personal plaything. If he wanted to nearly chop my arm off, make me lay in my own blood for his amusement, then he could. Even with the bolt's power, I could only barely put up somewhat of a fight. If somewhat consists of one lucky punch and a few dodges.

I didn't start crying or sobbing, but the burning waves of pain was so intense, I started to shake like I was cold, like I was crying hysterically. My mouth was quivering, and my entire body was reacting to the shock of so many deep wounds, at the hand of whatever Tartarus was made of. Some kind of nuclear, radioactive material.

Tartarus circled me, never even blinking. I knew he would be smiling if I could see that stupid mouth of his.

"They say a cornered rat will become even stronger than the cat chasing it." He put his hands on his thighs and leaned down. "Wonder why it's not working?"

I couldn't even respond. Something had bubbled up in my mouth since the violent shaking started. Was it foam? Or was it just spit? I had no idea, but it felt horrible, and I just wanted to turn over and spit it all out. I was completely stuck in my own head, aware that what was going on was torture, that I was helpless. But I couldn't do a damn thing about it, I was afraid. Too paralyzed by my fear.

Tartarus stood up, "Do you like rats, Matthias?"

He snapped his fingers, and the armor off my chest disappeared. Not even slowly, just pop, and it was gone, along with my shirt underneath, my pants, my boots, everything but my boxers.

I didn't even try to cover myself, because I didn't have time to. Tartarus snapped his fingers again, and I heard a loud, thunderous sound in the distance roaring towards us. It sounded like the charge of an army, or the waking of an Earth-sized giant.

But it drew closer, and I began to hear loud, ear-splitting screeching, like pigs squealing directly into your eardrum. It was one of the worst sounds I'd ever heard.

"AGH-STOP!" I ordered, "S-Stop!"

"Begging now?" Tartarus raised an eye, "What happened to that persistence?"

Before I could beg again, I craned my head just enough to see what was going on, what kind of army was coming at us.

It was unlike anything I could've expected. Instead of it being skeletons or men on horseback, it was an army of rats.

Big, New York Subway rats, the size of cats, all scurrying towards me. Mounds of fur, probably five hundred thousand strong, running as fast as they could, with crazed green eyes and fangs for teeth, slobbering at the prospect of fresh meat.

My eyes widened and I snapped out of my catatonic state, scrambling on my belly to crawl away. But the rats were somehow much quicker than me, closing the distance between us with ease. I felt their tiny claws sink into my back; their fur rub my skin rapidly as they ran over me. They did unspeakable things, crawling on every part of my body, biting it, chewing it, and gnawing at it as if I hid the tastiest food they liked in my internal organs.

This was even more painful than the axe in my arm, it was constant, searing pain that only ascended with each bite. It was a different kind of burn than fire, it was the burn of a slow death. Poison. Venom.

I'd never endured such a horrific feeling, I could only focus on the pain and try to overcome it, trying to power through. I had no escape plan, and I wasn't trying to come up with one. I was just some poor kid being attacked relentlessly by rabies infested rodents.

I screamed again and again, at the top of my lungs, with my eyes shut tight. I didn't even know I could produce such a sound, a sound that I don't even want to describe. No mixture, no recording could really do it justice, unless you paired it up with test subjects in horrible experiments. It kind of reminded me of that.

And Tartarus, the sadistic freak just chuckled and watched on with pleasure. He didn't stop the endless pain for several minutes. I know I squirmed and shook on that floor fifteen minutes straight, at the least, screaming and slapping at the rats. Every time I would knock some away, I would try and crawl or scoot, putting even a little bit of distance between us, a moment's relief from the onslaught was all I wanted, but they always came back.

I went to open my mouth to scream again, and just as I did, a rat crawled in and nested there. Disgusting doesn't even begin to describe the feeing of it's matted, rotten fur on the roof of my mouth, it's little paws on my tongue, or it's teeth searching for my uvula at the back of my throat.

I bit down hard on the rat and crushed it in half, blood flew everywhere and blanketed my chin. I instantly regretted doing it, because the rat's blood seemed to contain some sort of acid. Like ultra-powerful battery acid, it began to burn my skin and even melt it a little, only adding to the pain.

I ripped my arm through the wave of chomping rats and wiped the dead one off furiously, trying desperately to somehow get rid of this acid! Gods, it was…burning my skin off!

I heard another loud snap of Tartarus's fingers, and the rats were gone in a blink. All of them.

I almost involuntarily thanked him for showing mercy, but managed to stop myself thanks to common sense, and the new disintegration of my skin.

I held my chin together tightly while Tartarus just strolled around me, admiring his handiwork. I was an absolute mess, covered in blood, cuts, deep bite marks, gashes, burning flesh wounds…what else could be done to me? Was waterboarding next?

I made a series of grunts and moans, spit and blood tumbled out of my mouth and onto the fog, but I hardly cared. I was still patting at the burns to make it stop somehow, or relieve the pain for even a few milliseconds.

"We're far from done. I'm going until you beg me for death." He shrugged, "Unless you want to take the easy way out and beg now?"

I coughed and spat out a wad of…something. I could hardly form words, my lips were on fire, and quite literally disfigured from the acid. Man, I'm glad I couldn't see myself in a mirror right now, I'd for sure pass out from the horrifying image.

I croaked, "N-No."

He growled and kicked me in the middle of my spine. My head flew backwards, and I fell arm first on the ground, the bad arm. What happened was just another layer on top of the pain cake. When my palm hit, the deep cleave that Tartarus delivered to my arm spread out from the sudden impact, and only widened the cut more.

"AGH!" I shouted, and clutched it, "AGH! FUCK, THAT HURTS!"

I turned around just in time to see the bottom of his foot high in the air, and then crashing down on the back of my knee.

The force in the push was so strong that it crushed my kneecap on the somehow invincible ground beneath the fog. I heard a loud crunching noise and felt my bone shatter into a hundred pieces, all feeling in my lower leg lost.

I screamed again, "AGHHHH!"

It echoed across vast distances, and Tartarus matched it with his own whoop of excitement, "YES! I'm inlove with that sound!"

I didn't see it this time, but I felt him smash his foot against the other, and it crushed just the same, snapping audibly. I couldn't scream, my voice wouldn't produce anymore sound, so I just lay there with my mouth open, my eyes wide as saucers, staring off in the distance at nothing while the worst happened to me.

Tartarus walked around me and bent down to my level, chains materialized in his hands, and he attached them to my wrists, locking them tight and throwing the loose ends up in the air. They hit nothing, but they flew high enough to where I couldn't see them anymore.

Somehow, I felt myself being dragged off the ground and lifted in the air by my shackles. It was as slow as a forklift, and as it dragged my legs across the ground, I winced and whimpered in pain. Every touch felt like murder to my broken kneecaps.

The chains lifted me up off the ground, fully suspending me in the air. Everything was limp, my legs, my head, I was nothing more than a lifeless piece of meat, dangling in a butcher's freezer.

Tartarus watched me, "Go on, beg."

I didn't even look at him, I spit out more blood on the ground, "No."

He cocked his head, "No? How about if a familiar face asks you nicely?" His entire face and body changed to that of my father, a perfect mirror to how he looked when I last saw him, without the spear in his chest of course. It struck a chord at first, but then I quickly remembered that it was just Tartarus, his tricks. Nothing more.

"Give in, son." He said kindly, warmly. "You've fought enough. It's time to let go."

I had the audacity to smile at him, or at least, make the motion to. "I'm tired of your stupid tricks, Tartarus. They don't work anymore…that's why you're resorting to violence."

I said this somehow through the burns, and Tartarus heard it. My dad's face twitched with anger, and he punched me in the side, knocking the wind out of me.

"Fine, if that's what it takes," Tartarus growled, and punched me again. "I'll do what's necessary to break you completely."

He started delivering devastating blows to my kidneys, my gut, my ribs, everywhere on my torso. Missiles that were punches hitting back and forth, knocking me to the side like a punching bag, while I could only cough and wince in pain. His body kept shifting back and forth as he swung and swung, and hit me. Blood was bubbling up in my throat by the clump, the taste of iron was heavy and hot, I wanted to let it all flow out, but I refused to let it. I kept my mouth shut.

Tartarus shifted his gaze and smashed his knuckles into my cheek, opening up the cut the vine slashed into me ten fold, no doubt forming a bruise to stand alongside it.

"Say it!" He shouted, and smacked me across the other side.

"Hell no…"

I shouldn't have been able to endure the punishment. It was far, far too much for me. I came close several times to passing out, and probably dying. My own lifeforce was well under the weather, my aura depleted, and my body completely broken and battered. Tartarus had inflicted it all, yet I remained conscious enough to rebel. Why?

Tartarus was seething with anger. His usual calm, excited demeanor had rapidly changed into that of a very frustrated individual. His prey wasn't giving in as easily as he thought it would. He kept hitting it, cutting it, poisoning it, yet it still said no. And he can't really understand why.

He formed a long blade from his wrist, it projected itself out of his very skin and came out to be three feet long. He curled up his fist and glared at me with small dots.

"Say it, boy."

My response was immediate, and probably incoherent. "N-No."

"Then I'll settle for watching the light leave your eyes."

He started forward, the blade inches away from my chest. But just as the tip was about to make contact, something weird happened.

From my right, and Tartarus's left, a bright pink light erupted out of nowhere. Literally out of thin air, this line of energy, no wait, aura. Aura from…something.

It hit Tartarus right in the neck the god's blade dissipated like dust. He grunted in surprise and pressed his hands against the wall of pink to push it away, but the wall wasn't going anywhere. I could only peek at it through the upper part of my eyes, because I couldn't physically move my head to crane it up and see clearly.

But from my gathering, the light got so intense, that Tartarus had to leave completely. He vanished in a plume of black smoke, splitting himself up on the molecular level and letting the pink light go right through him, down into the void of nothingness beside me.

The light left, along with the whirring noise it made. Part of me was confused, but the other part of me didn't care at all. It had ended, at least for a minute.

Just as my head drooped down and my eyes closed from the hurt and fatigue, the shackles on my wrists gave out, and I dropped to the ground, hitting hit hard on my rear and flying back to lay flat.

Weakly, I reached for Viribus. My hand was so bloody and shaky that I could hardly even find the necklace, let alone grab it. When I did, it took a few tries to affirm something of a grip on it, and yank it off. I gave it a feeble squeeze, and it elongated into the familiar club.

A sight for sore eyes, I almost smiled when I saw it.

I couldn't hold it any longer. I was far too weak. I let the club slip out of my hand and fall on my chest, it's effect taking over no matter what.

Energy filled me in a waterfall of pleasure and relief. All of the burning, the throbbing, the stinging, it was chased away into the darkness by the light of Viribus. I gasped and breathed heavily, a huge smile on my face from the shots of adrenaline it gave me.

I clenched my fists and tightened every muscle in my body until it passed, then I went limp, and just laid there. Though my wounds were closing up, I still felt overwhelmed by everything. I knew he would be back soon. Whatever attack that was, it wouldn't do much to keep him at bay.

Wait…who even fired that attack? That couldn't have come out of nowhere. And I don't think I had anything to do with it, or…did I?

No, that was a pink light. Of an aura. Someone saved me.

By sheer coincidence, or the superstition of talking someone up, I noticed something approaching in my peripheral. I turned slightly to see a shadow of what looked like a girl walking through the fog, carrying a large, curvy sword.

"Who…" I whispered, utterly confused as to who it could possibly be. Yuri? No, no, not by a long shot. Yuri has a blue aura, and whoever this girl is, she's way shorter than me, let alone Yuri.

I wanted to get up and walk towards the person, but I knew it could be a trick of Tartarus. He could just be showing me something that would give me hope. The minute I walk up to it, it'll just be him or something, and he'll attack me.

So I stayed put, and kept watching as the person got closer. Finally, the sword emerged out of the fog, and so did the person's hand.

It was when the rest of the body came into view that my eyes went wide.

"Harper?"

Harper

I don't know where the hell I am, but I don't like it.

I held my sword tight and spun around, trying to find something in the infinite nothingness Tartarus had pulled me in.

"Talon!" I called, "Malachi?! Sera?!"

No answer came, only my echoes coming back to me, getting softer and softer as time went on.

This was bad. Tartarus separated us, when we were actually starting to do something to him. He wasn't dumb, that's for sure. And although he may not claim to be a fighter, separating your opponents is a very good strategy, especially when their only hopeful strategy was to team up.

"They can't hear you." He whispered, in my ear, though no one stood behind me. "They're lost in the same void you are."

The silence was deafening, the lack of surroundings made me feel completely isolated. This entire place freaked me out. Nothing but fog and the background of red ahead of me, no rocks, no buildings, water, or anything. The only sound was ambience, a ghostly whistle.

"Whatever tricks you plan on using won't work here, asshole." I said, trying to sound tougher than I felt. At least with the sword, I felt a bit more confident, and it also helped that I remembered I had the Heavenly Diamond knife in my sheaths too. That could definitely be useful.

Yet still, I somehow still felt like the prey here.

"Tricks?" Tartarus said, his voice all over the place. "I don't play tricks, I only tell the truth. Absolute truths."

I felt a gust of wind hit the back of my neck, sending chills down my spine. I turned around as quickly as I could and sliced at the head of whoever had walked by me.

But no one was there, at least, not in front of me. As I looked off in the distance, my gaze softened. What was that?

In front of me, stood a small girl. It only took a second or two to recognize that it was actually me. A few years younger, frenzied me. Her hair was a mess, her face was snarling with anger, and she held her knives so tightly I could see that the entirety of her hands had become white.

"What the-" I started, but the girl wasted no time.

"Murderer!" She barked at me, "For what?!"

"What?"

Beside her, a dozen people popped up in smoke, taking form of…people I recognized. I killed them when looking for my brother.

I remembered each of their faces, vividly. I didn't know their names, but they never left, they never stopped haunting me.

My mirror self-laughed maniacally, "All pointless!"

My eyes darted around at them, and I started to back up nervously. But then I remembered I had the sword and the knife; I grew confident again.

"No, it wasn't. If I could change it all I would."

"Say it, then!" She shrieked, "Say you're sorry!"

I took a breath, and poured sincerity into my tone. I truly meant it, even if they were just illusions. I imagined they were real.

"I'm sorry."

They all disappeared in plumes of smoke, and the girl just kept laughing, howling like a hyena. As she did, she became more animal-like, messier and disgusting. She dropped down to all fours and started running at me, hopping around side to side to confuse me.

I clenched the sword just as she leapt in the air, her knives aimed downward at my skull. The look on her face nearly made me stop in my tracks. She wasn't even happy, she had a smile on her face, but it was one of pain. No, she was crying. Her cheeks were stained with tears.

It was enough to allow her knives to get very close to me. Too close to me. I brought the sword up at the last second and blocked her attack. The strength the sword gave me was too much for her to bear and with a simple push, I sent her flying. Like shooting skeets, I immediately slammed the sharp side of the blade into her ribs, killing her.

After that, there was no sound. I looked everywhere for a sign of oncoming danger, but found nothing.

"That all?" I challenged stupidly, "That all you can throw at me?"

I heard a sound behind me, and basically contradicted my challenge with a flinching leap, and turning around quickly with my sword pointed to the air.

Nobody stood there, except a tall mirror showing my reflection.

I stepped closer to it, cautiously. I hardly paid any attention to my actual appearance, or if I'd changed at all since we'd been down here. I kept my sensing focused behind me, in case of a sneak attack.

Tartarus's voice returned, "Such a tough façade. But I know the real you. You're just a scared little girl, looking for someone to protect her."

"I don't need protection from anyone."

He cackled, "Please. Your entire life has been spent in the shadows of weakness, of failure and sorrow. One after the other. You couldn't convince your brother to come back to you, and you couldn't save him either." He was nowhere to be seen, but somehow, I got the sense that he was shrugging his shoulders. "What have you actually accomplished?"

I felt hate building inside of me at the mention of Levi. I wanted to let it all out, all of the energy I was feeling in a cloud of pink, a blast that would go in all directions, and pray that it hit Tartarus.

But I knew that would be stupid. It would be a mistake.

So I bit it down, "I'm over my problems."

"Over it?" He questioned, "Why would you even lie? You know I can see your thoughts, right? You've gained confidence, sure, but you mirror the same pathetic child that tried to put her hair over her eye so no one would make fun of it for not being there."

I almost, involuntarily reached up to cover it just now, but growled and forced my hand down as soon as the thought came. Tartarus noticed, and laughed again.

"Would you like to have it back? Would you like to see the world again through a different lens? One without hatred and vengeance?"

Finally, he appeared, materializing into the same form as before, a shadowed silhouette of a tall, thin man. He reached his hand out to me and made a small gesture towards my eye. Almost instantly, my entire world began to change, in a way I'd never experienced. My left eye began to clear, and for the first time in years, I could actually see out of it.

The world before me opened up, both sides of my face functioned, and I let out a gasp at the sensation. I couldn't help it, I was so shocked to see the huge difference. I could actually make out the moving particles on Tartarus's body, what looked like tiny stars in a galaxy. The tiniest traces of dust on the wooden outline of the mirror. I lifted my free hand to admire it, and sighed when I saw that I could look at it with detail. The lines on my palm, the crevices in my fingers, the colors of my fingernails, even, were so clear.

It was like an eternal veil had been lifted. I couldn't believe I'd been missing out on so much.

But the most striking thing was the image in the mirror. As I glanced at it, I became glued, and found myself stepping closer to it, never looking away from the new color in my once empty eye.

Inches away from the glass, I drank in the sight that I had longed to see, for so, so many years now. It matched my good eye perfectly, a black dot in the middle, surrounded by an icy blue color. It was odd, I'd seen it before so many times, but next to each other…it was like magic.

I had only a minute to savor it, I even started to feel my eyes burn at the sight, then it went away.

Like the snap of a finger, literally. Everything went black in my left eye and I saw the beautiful blue color disappear from my eye, returning back to its usual milky color, same as before.

I reached up to cup it, as if rubbing it would bring it back, but nothing worked.

Tartarus walked around me, getting in my ear. "You'll never get it back. You already made your choice, remember? You wanted to find your brother, so you made an impulsive deal."

I couldn't believe that just happened. I gained something I'd dreamt about for a few seconds, and then boom, it was gone. It actually happened, I was able to see, if only for a moment. I just…I couldn't even think, or process it. I was speechless.

"You're a fun one, alright." Tartarus said, "You've made so many mistakes, you have so many regrets. Heh, you're just like a human, only your tragedies seem to never end. Tell me, did your mother ever offer you your eyesight back?"

"She can't." I retorted, immediately going on the defensive. "I'll live with it for the rest of my life...maybe even in the Underworld too." I quickly hardened my gaze, "I don't care, it was my choice. I'm used to it."

"Used to being thought of as a freak? An outcast?"

"That's not me anymore. I'm different now."

"Oh yes, very different. So much softer, tenderer."

"Softer?" I growled, "I'll show you soft, come here!"

I lunged forward and swiped at him, but I might as well have been attacking air, because he disappeared with a poof of black powder.

He reappeared behind me, "Anyone who's able to forgive their mother, a wretched goddess no less, the way you did has certainly lost their edge."

I smirked, "Sleep better at night now."

"Certainly. The old you would keep one eye open, in case of an attack. Now tell me, which is safer?"

"I'm stronger now. I have people I can rely on."

He was quick to counter. "Ah, but your enemies have gotten stronger too. Look at me, do I remind you of a blustering strength titan?"

At my silence, he found the opportunity to rush at me and push me to the foggy floor, like a dumb punching bag, I fell on my rear and nearly dropped the Eros blade.

He never faltered, he just kept walking towards me, his hands animated as he spoke.

"Where's your mother now? You think she's changed, but she's doing the same thing to you now that she did all those years ago. Abandoning you."

I wanted to scream. I shot up and grabbed the hilt of the sword with my other hand to give this attack more power. The long shaft of the blade swung across my vision and passed through Tartarus like he was made of nothing. "She was there when it mattered!"

"Ah, but she failed to save him, as did you. Big..." His voided skin morphed into that of a pale complexion, and his body was altering completely into that all too familiar face. "...brother Levi."

I stopped coming at him altogether. He'd mimicked Levi's look to a tee. He wore the same clothes as when I last saw him, but unlike that husk of my brother, he was in perfect health here, much like when I fought against him. A larger frame, with dark hair covering his forehead in lazy strands, his face harsh, a constant scowl plastered to it. Here though, he didn't sport the x shaped scar that he usually did. It was quite shocking how different he looked without it, especially at this age.

"Kiddo." He mocked, this time choosing to use Levi's voice instead of keeping his own. "Why'd you let me die?"

I just stood there, trembling with rage. What was he trying to get out of me? Sadness? That was the furthest thing from what I really felt right now.

"Just when I was starting to change, you had to go and let the titan run his hand through my heart. I thought we were going to go back to Camp together."

How dare he use him as a mask to trick me. To manipulate me!

My voice was hardly audible, I was so pissed off. "You can use whoever the hell you want as your little puppet to trick me with." As my fists got tighter against my palm, I felt a sudden change in the atmosphere, but it wasn't because of Tartarus.

A pink spark went off at my chest, the air became unbearably hot, a bright light erupted around me until all I could see was the inside of a pink sun. The power radiated in massive surges. The face of "Levi" had changed completely, he was no longer grinning in victory, he was wide eyed, and shocked that I wasn't bending to his will.

"But don't ever..." I growled, "ever..." I tilted my head up to give the scariest face I could muster. I probably looked something like a demon in that moment, or a crazed, rabid animal, filled with unreasonable, ungodly fury. "...USE LEVI!"

I reappeared in front of Tartarus's form of Levi in an instant, no time wasted at all. I punched him square in the nose and he went flying away, straight in the air with the soles of his shoes facing out, his hands spread out limply beside him.

I jumped up to follow him, closing the gap in again, an instant. No time passed at all; I was too fast for him to even react in that frame. I roared and brought down the entire length of the blade on his chest. This time, it slammed against it hard and solidly, there was a massive impact. Several outlines of circles boomed around us and let off trumpets of hypersonic thunder. Mock Levi gawked at the sensation, red blood flying out of his mouth.

I pressed him down and together, we free fell all the way into the fog, falling clear through a transparent floor. It only led into another area, just like the one we were previously in, only this time, I guess you could say we broke through the "ceiling."

I pulled the sword out of his chest, a long string of blood connected from the tip of the blade and his arteries flew out, causing him to howl in pain. I didn't even care if it was fake, a ploy to get me to feel sympathy. I hoped it was real pain, I wanted it to be real pain.

I slammed my fist against his cheek, when I did, the skin on Levi's face flashed back to Tartarus's, a circle of black right where I hit him.

I grinned, and hit him again, even harder this time. "You think you can do something like that in front of me?!" I beat my fists against him so fast that I had to toss the blade around to give one hand a rest. "You don't think that's gonna piss me off?!"

His face was pretty much unrecognizable. We hadn't even hit the ground yet and he was already covered in dozens of bruises, blood flying out of anywhere it could. I'd hit him thousands of times probably, it was hard to keep track. The speed this sword allowed me to move at was incredible.

We finally crash landed into the ground, now a solid floor of unbreakable invisible stone. On the other side, I could see my reflection, like glass, like water. My face was indeed crazed, a wolfishly frenzied facial expression along with my blown back hair made me look primal.

But I didn't care, I still had Tartarus under me, and I was pissed. This might be my only chance to really give it to him.

So I broke past the little defense he had put up with his forearms and clocked him in the face again.

"I'm not that little girl anymore!" I delivered a strong, straight jab that connected to the crook between his nose and lips, opening up a red gash.

"Digging up the past doesn't mean a damn thing!"

I went to hit him again, this time with the brunt of the blade. I imagined it going right through his skull, revealing brain mush and the soups of his insides.

But Tartarus decided to change it up again on me. The Levi thing had no effect, so he had to go with another figure.

His skin healed in a flash, like I hadn't done a thing to him, which I expected. His pale complexion darkened into something tanner and rougher, blue eyes changed to a beautiful, warm brown, and his hair got a bit shorter. Chocolate brown.

Matt lay under me, and he looked betrayed, heartbroken, even.

"You wouldn't hurt me, right Harper?" He asked, sultry and soft.

I found that I only got angrier, and actually started laughing at his pathetic attempt. His face completely changed when the cackles came out of my mouth. Tartarus was looking at me like I'm the crazy one now.

"You actually thought that would work?" I shook my head a single time and smirked down at the illusion of Matt. "Not on your life."

I swung the blade down towards his head again, harder and faster than last time. I meant to cut his head off, and Tartarus knew it. With this thing, it wouldn't just kill the illusion, it would cause some damage to the illusionist as well. He knew better than to stay put.

So he dematerialized into several particles of black sand and regrouped behind me, taking form again. He gripped my shoulder tight and spun me around.

"That's right. Show me who you really are." He chuckled with satisfaction, "Dig out that beast of hatred inside of you. No care for anyone around her, only for the kill."

I surprised him by grabbing his shoulders with equal intensity, narrowing my eyes at him.

"On the contrary, it's precisely those around me that let me act this way. I won't let anything happen to them."

"You won't, eh? You think you can save them?" He laughed, "You can't even save yourself!"

"Oh, I can. You know why? Cause it's not hatred anymore. It's something far more powerful."

Tartarus didn't even laugh, his eyes narrowed down to the tiniest of black dots. "And what is that? Love? Ha! Don't tell me, the daughter of revenge has adopted a new emotion! And a cliche one at that!"

"Don't give a shit," I said, not feeling afraid anymore in the slightest, "As long as I can beat you with it, I'll gladly wear that emotion on my sleeve."

Swiftly, I tucked my foot behind his heel and pushed him forward, hard. Tartarus stumbled back, but didn't fall down, his hands beside him flailing to keep his balance. I had him.

Every time I used the Blade, I felt more and more comfortable with it. This swing was the best yet. I started it with one hand, slow, just to get the alignment and aim right. Then when it came over my head, I gripped it tight with the other hand for power, and sliced down gracefully.

The pink line came out and collided with Tartarus's chest. The reaction and consequences were immediate. The blast was so powerful that I saw an actual glitch in the void. Tartarus's special place, or whatever he called it, cracked in several places and actually shook from the might. It was odd, the image flickered, and it showed the exact same area, only to my left, there was another figure there, on the ground. I couldn't make it out, because like I said, it was just a flicker.

But then I started to think. It could be Talon, Malachi, or even Sera! I could actually find them!

So I ran through the fog, swinging at it with my sword like cutting down trees in the jungle. It had gotten so much thicker all of a sudden, for seemingly no reason. Could it be Tartarus trying to hide himself? That actually might work, considering he can suppress his aura to nothing if he wants.

I did a slow three sixty, fog surrounding me on all sides. I was on edge, alert, ready for anything to jump out and grab at me. As soon as I saw even a finger come through, I would chop it off and move on to the head.

But as I backed up, I came out of the fog storm completely, and stumbled into yet another wide-open area of absolutely nothing. I wanted to groan.

"Harper?"

I stiffened, immediately recognizing the voice that called out to me. No…it couldn't be.

I didn't turn around for several seconds, maybe even a full minute. I just stood in shock, my eyes wide. That sounded…real, too real.

So I turned around, cautiously, and found Matt sitting on the ground, in nothing but his underwear.

Normally, the sight would've probably made me do one of two things. One, blush and turn away from the sight. I'd never seen Matt like that before, contrary to what I'm sure is popular belief around Camp, we haven't done anything like…that, quite yet. So get your mind out of the gutter.

Didn't mean that I didn't think about it though, and now seeing it…I'm sure I turned a few shades redder than is probably healthy. How could someone get even more muscular and hot in two months? Like how is it physically possible? What level does it max out at, because I'm really confused, and if it keeps up, I'll just get too overwhelmed.

Now, the second thing would be to snicker and laugh. In a joking way of course, the embarrassment would probably be pretty funny, and I couldn't help it, seeing his cute face as he tried to hide and turn his face away from me. Basically, the roles would be reversed.

But I thought neither of these things. Sure, I noticed that the dude was almost naked, but was he real? Was he another trick of Tartarus? To be honest, it's his best attempt yet, actually. Placing my boyfriend in very revealing clothing is a decent distraction.

So…why isn't he attacking me?

The more we stared at each other, the more real it felt. Matt was gawking, his mouth open nearly all the way, his limbs completely slack. He was struck to the core.

I gave the sword a tiny squeeze, and reached out with my new aura sense. Feeling Matt's aura, even though I had never done it before today…I knew it was him. It was warm, so, so warm, and familiar. It felt like nuzzling up to a fireplace in the middle of a blizzard, that safe feeling that I'd came to love enveloped me right away.

I softened my grip on the sword and smiled a bright, huge smile at him. I almost lost my balance due to the sheer shock of the situation. It felt like it had been years since I last saw him, and here he was, before me. Alive and okay. In his underwear, but alive and okay.

"Matt…" I whispered happily.

I expected him to burst out in laughter and run towards me, maybe scoop me up in a hug or something. But…he didn't do that. His face changed gradually from pure shock to severe guilt, and a lace of relief mixed in there.

My smile fell instantly. Something was wrong. He was not okay.

"Matt, what's-"

That's when he shot up and ran towards me with regular human speed, likely forgetting that he even had powers in that moment. Before he wrapped his arms around me, I saw his face scrunched up in sadness, his eyes were boiling with tears. He was on the verge of sobbing.

When he pulled me into the tight hug, we both fell on our knees to the ground, embraced as close as two people could ever get. Chest to chest, the sides of our faces mingling together in harmony. It should've been the best moment ever, the best reunion I could've asked for. But I didn't feel any fuzziness. In fact, my heart quite literally fell out of its place and out of my body. I panicked. Why did he look like that?!

"I…" Matt sobbed, "I thought I killed you…"

My eyes went wide, but I only continued hugging him and swaying side to side softly, like rocking a sleeping baby.

"What are you talking about? Matt, what happened?"

His body writhed with another sob, nearly pulling him away from my chest. "I…oh gods, I thought I killed you, Harper!"

His crying hurt me. In all of my life, I'd never been affected by someone's tears as much as this moment. With every whimper, every sob, it chipped away at a small piece of my heart. I felt like crying myself. I wanted to scream at him to tell me what was going on, that it would all be okay, that I was here now, and I wouldn't let go of him.

But I knew I needed to be calm. Something obviously happened, and rushing it wouldn't solve a damn thing.

"Matt, it's okay." I began to rub circles on his back with my fingers, "Shh, it's okay."

"No!" He sniffed, "No, it's not! I thought I killed you!"

I wanted to know what he meant by that so badly, but I only continued to shush him gently.

If possible, he pulled me even tighter to him, and placed his head even deeper in my shoulder, his voice was now a desperate whisper. "Please tell me you're real…oh gods, Harper, please tell that you're real."

I felt tears building in my own eyes, I could hardly take the noises of his sadness anymore. "I-I'm real, Matt. I promise that I am. Whatever that psycho's shown you had nothing to do with me, it was all an illusion."

He seemed to not hear a word; he was in such shock. He started breathing harder, almost on hyperventilation level. I didn't know what to do.

"You're here." He said, "You're actually here with me…"

I couldn't take it any longer, I had to do something. I pulled him off of me, but kept a firm hold on his bare shoulders, inches away from my face. His own had been streaked with newly formed tears, soaking wet from it. Puffy eyes, and a sad expression.

It cleaved my heart in half. I couldn't stand it. In that moment, I wanted to take away all of his pain, whatever it was. I didn't care if it would kill me, send me to eternal punishment, whatever. I wanted to put all of his suffering inside of me, so he wouldn't have to bear it. I wanted to see him happy, not like this.

My voice became shaky, "I'm here with you, Shark Boy, and I'm not leaving you again. I love you." I leaned forward and quickly pecked his lips with my own, he gave no reaction. "You hear me? I love you, Matt." I did it again, this time peppering his lips with light kisses, bringing my hands from his shoulders to his chin, cupping it lightly.

He seemed to calm down a bit at that, and we leaned our foreheads together. "I love you so much."

"He…he made me…"

"Made you do what, exactly?"

The voice next to us broke us apart, and we stood up slowly to meet the Primordial, standing with his hands behind his back.

"Oh, did my little cat get out of the bag?" he asked innocently. "Didn't think you'd be stupid enough to believe you actually killed her, but you were. So I just went along with it."

"What's he talking about?"

I looked over at Matt and found his tears long gone, he was now enraged.

"You tricked me." He stated, "Of course you did. I should've known."

"Yes, you should've. Granted, I could've actually killed her then, but I wanted to play with her mind a bit more, so it would've been premature."

Tartarus snapped his fingers and a little image played beside me, almost like an iris message, only this showed the past. Something that actually happened.

It showed Matt wrapped up in black vines, Tartarus standing in front of him, and what looked like me on the ground, looking up at him.

Of course, it wasn't me. I probably wasn't even down here when it happened, but now I started to understand. Matt thought it was me.

A few seconds passed, and Tartarus forced Matt to thrust his hand out, through my clone's chest, and out of its back. Blood flew everywhere, and Matt looked horrified.

Another scene came quickly afterward, of Matt, and some tall woman standing behind him. He buried my clone's body in the ground and said that he loved it.

I hadn't even noticed that my mouth was open, and Matt was facing the ground next to me, almost ashamed.

Tartarus snapped his fingers again and it disappeared. I processed everything that I saw and could only imagine the pain he felt. Judging by his reaction when he saw me, he really thought I was dead, and he killed me, no less. That must've been...so hard for him. I can't even fathom the pain he felt, and knowing him, guilt too.

But in that moment, I only felt hatred towards Tartarus for making him go through something like that. Now I didn't just want to beat him, I wanted to stab him in the face with the Heavenly Diamond knife ten thousand times over until there was nothing left. I don't care if the entirety of Tartarus goes with him, I just want him to pay.

"You sick bastard," I spat, "I'm definitely killing you now."

Tartarus shrugged, "It's not my fault that your little friend isn't smart enough to tell the difference." He put his hands up, like a salesman trying to give you a pitch on a product. "I'll tell you what, Matthias, I'll make up for it! You can kill her now, for real! How does that sound?"

Black vines crept from the ground and made their way towards Matt in a hurry. I was ready to slice them up and get rid of them, but Matt himself beat me to the punch.

A bright, blue and red light erupted in my peripheral, and I felt his aura skyrocket to untold levels, laced with anger and hate. Matt had ignited the power of not only the Master Bolt, but his Red Aura too. He was using his full power, and then some.

The black vines that aimed to wrap around Matt's hands were burned away at the temperature. Tartarus raised what would've been an eyebrow in surprise. Matt wasn't on the ground anymore; he wasn't at his mercy this time. The tables had turned on our tormentor.

The aura whirred and throbbed with every heartbeat, Matt's face was harsh, his body itching for battle. I could tell he was mere seconds away from charging Tartarus.

"Screw just trying to escape." He said, "I'm not leaving here until you're the one that suffers, Tartarus."

"Until I suffer?" He laughed, placing a hand on his chest, "I'm confused, how shall you go about it? I have no fear, no regrets, and no anguish, so surely you cannot get a rise out of me. I suppose that leaves you with one option. A battle?"

"Yeah, no mind tricks. No illusions. Show us what Ouranos's little brother can do."

It was an attempt to get a rise out of Tartarus, which the Primordial literally just said wouldn't work. But in fact, he was kind of lying. I saw a slight twitch in his eye that proved to me he didn't really like being referred to as a little brother to anyone.

"First of all, we were born at the same time. Neither of us are bigger nor smaller. Second of all, I have to decline your kind offer to not use 'mind tricks' as you call them. All is fair in battle, and my wrath knows no boundaries, no petty rules. It is quite frankly, kill or be killed."

Matt and I only glared at him. He put a finger in front of his face, like he'd forgotten something. "Oh right, the others. I forgot about them." Tartarus nodded and clapped his hands once, clasping them after. "I think I can pull them out of their little worlds for a minute to play a fun game. Would you both like to play a fun game?"

We exchanged a glance, knowing immediately what he meant by the others. Our friends. But what the hell does he mean by game? That's pretty broad when it comes to this nutjob.

At our silence, he sighed. "What, demigods don't like games? Or fun? Well whatever, we'll play it anyway."

Tartarus closed his eyes, turning his body entirely midnight black, and snapped his fingers once again. Behind him, six separate balls of smoke began to materialize in a horizontal, neat line. They took shape of ovals, and then gained a form.

We watched slowly, as they six orbs turned into literal eggs. I mean, that's the closest thing that I can use to describe them. They looked more like the literal eggs that you'd find inside of a woman in a fertility stage, because they were disgusting. Yellow colored, covered in vines of red fleshy material, and a no doubt slimy, squishy exterior. They were just transparent enough to see what was inside.

Matt and I had to squint to see, and when we did, we both gasped simultaneously. In each egg, stood one of our friends.

My good eye landed first on Sera, at the far right, very end. It went as followed, from right to left. Sera, Malachi, Talon, Annabeth, Percy (Which surprised the hell out of me, what were those two doing here?) and some woman that I didn't recognize. Wait a minute, actually no, I just saw her in Tartarus's little screen, showing Matt killing my clone. That's the tall woman. Who the hell is she?

I wanted to hit myself. Not the point, Harper. The point is that our friends are in danger, trapped inside who the hell knows what, at Tartarus's will.

"That's-"

"I know." Matt interrupted, his tone brokering no room for argument, or even discussion. It was like he had forgotten completely about the fact that we were together again, he was only focused on Tartarus, on the anger he felt in that moment. I knew, because I felt the same way. It only kept building higher with every word out of Tartarus's mouth, every irritating action he took. Releasing the pent-up anger was the only thing he worried about right now.

And could I blame him? Not at all. I'd be lying if I said that I cared about it either. There'd be time for all of that later, time for talk, time for laughs and hugs and comforting words, but not now. No, not even close to now.

Matt continued, "We'll get them out, but first..." He trailed off, both of us realizing at the same time that Tartarus was probably listening. He made a gesture with his head, almost pointing to himself with it, then one to me, and one to Tartarus. I understood immediately. We'd practiced this in Camp. He wanted both of us to attack Tartarus, contend with him for a bit, then at the right moment, one of us splits off to get them out of those freaky egg things.

Tartarus hadn't even noticed; he was looking over his shoulder at his little creations. "Now, I like to call this game...Hostage. Let's go with that, seems fitting enough. The object of the game is simple, you try to free your friends before I kill you, or all of you die!"

Matt and I were ready. If we had any shot at this, now would be our time. We could free everyone, and all of us could fight him at once. Realistically, it was the only chance we had.

Tartarus bowed his head, "Now...let the games begin."

(000)

Let the games begin.

Sooner than you thought? Heh, well the final battle is upon us! Tartarus is ready to fight, but he's got everyone captured. I can tell the next chapter is going to be a fun one, stick around to find out what happens!

Until Next Time.