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PS. Sorry for the long wait guys! Here's the second last chapter!

Die Thy Most Essential Part

Hick soared out over the canyon, throwing her body as high into the air as she could get. She could feel warm blood running down her leg. One of the rats had gotten a claw into her just as she was taking off.

But the searing pain was the least of her concerns.

She was falling. Nothing was going to support her from underneath, just the hideous void gaping below her.

Just then, something grabbed her by the shoulder and she screamed in pain and was turned to meet King Gorger face to face, the vicious rat king desperate to rip her apart with his snapping jaws and slashing claws. He took a swipe and Hick felt the air punched out of her. A hot searing pain came from her abdomen and she could feel fresh warm blood oozing out from her newly inflicted wound. With all the strength she could muster, Hick pummelled her fist through King Gorger's right eye, and while the rat howled in pain and pressed his paws to his missing eye, Hick jammed her foot into the beast's face and dislocated his jaw, knocking the rat king unconscious. As she looked over the unconscious rat king's shoulder, the light from her hard hat lit up an astonishing scene. The rats who had been chasing her, and it must have been about all of them, were falling after her in an avalanche of stone. The unstable ground at the edge of the canyon had given way, bringing the whole army down after her.

With shock, Hick saw a human was among the rats. Henry. He had been chasing Hick, too.

Maybe it was all part of a dream and she would finally wake up and find herself in her own room, and she would go and find her mom and tell her all about it. She would run out of the house, up the flight of stairs to Ryan's door and tell him her crazy dream just to watch him laugh in her face. But Hick knew it wasn't a dream at all. She was really falling. And when she hit the bottom, she would not wake up in bed. And so would Henry.

Then there was a flash of wing. Of course. It was Ares, the bat who was bonded to this traitor. Ares would save Henry. But it doesn't matter, so long as Percy, Jason, Hazel, Nico, Dane and Crunch were safe too.

Hick had never seen Ares dive in earnest. The bat was heading for the ground at tremendous speed, dodging the rats that reached for her. Hick began to doubt the bat would be able to pull out of it. He overshot, thought Hick as the bat rocketed past Henry.

She could hear Henry's desperate plea: "Ares!"

At that moment, Hick slammed into something.

Percy felt his heart grow so overwhelmingly heavy, he found he could barely breathe. Tears started to flow and Percy squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to take in the news. Not her. Not Hick.

He strode over to Crunch and grabbed the rat's neck fur. "She isn't dead!" he yelled. "Not until I see it for my own eyes!"

"Quick! We need to get Hick!" yelled Jason, as he gutted down the last rat and stepped over the corpse. "Come on!"
"She ran towards the deep canyon," said Crunch. There was sadness in his words. "She is not coming back."
"What do you mean?" came Hazel's voice. The girl could barely see with her face so swollen and bruised, and she had to hold onto Nico's hand for support. The sight was just too pitiful to watch. Percy looked away.

"What do you mean she's not coming back?" Hazel said again, this time her voice cracking under the sorrow that was taking over.
"I may have lost my keen sense of smell, but I know for sure that since she ran in that direction, she has led King Gorger and all the other Clawers over the ledge to their death. And she has fallen with them," said Crunch. "She cannot survive the fall. I'm sorry, Hazel."

I'm dead, Hick thought, but she didn't feel dead because her nose hurt so badly and her mouth was full of fur. Then she had the sensation of rising and she knew she was on Ares's back. She looked down over the side of the bat's wing and saw the rats beginning to burst apart on the rocks below. Hick had been almost at the bottom when Ares had caught her. The sight of the rats was unbearable, even if they had just been about to kill her. Just before Henry hit, Hick buried her face in Ares's fur and covered her ears.

And then it all occurred to her. The prophecy.

The one doomed to death must decide where one stands.
The destiny of one's race is contained in one's hands.

It was Henry all along. He had to choose who he should stand by, and he chose the rats. He chose to fight with them and hunt her down with them. He chose his demise along with King Gorger, and unintentionally helped the people of Terra earn the upper hand.

So bid you take care, bid you look where you leap,

That referred to when she jumped over the canyon, and Henry had followed suit when he decided to join the rats' raid in killing her.

As life may be death and death life again reap.

Henry chose the rats because they were stronger and he thought he'd ensure his survival. But his choice led him to death. Hick chose to jump to her death. But that choice led to her survival, and everyone else's safety.

The next thing she knew, she felt Ares descend and from her fuzzy vision, saw Percy yelling at her, trying to tell her something. But it was inaudible. What was he saying? She couldn't keep her eyes open. All she could do was press at the massive wound on her stomach - King Gorger's last gift to her - in her futile attempt to stop the bleeding. And then there was Jason… and Nico. And then Hazel, leaning on Crunch. And Dane.

"I'm sorry," was all she could utter, again and again and again, until darkness finally took over.

All Hick could see was black. She was starting to hear voices, inaudible but gentle. Did she die? Has she gone to her father's domain? Her eyes fluttered open and she looked down at the hand that grasped hers. It was Nico, who had fallen fast asleep, his head nestled on Hick's left thigh. She looked up and saw rocky concaved ceiling. The inside of a cave.

Where were they?

Hick craned her neck and saw, right beside her, Percy leaning against the cave wall in slumber. She tried to get up, but a sharp pain came from her abdomen and she winced, leaning against her right arm for support.

"You've come to, Warrior," came Crunch's voice. Hick groaned upon hearing the rat speak. "The feeling's mutual. Had the Stingers not arrived upon hearing of King Gorger's death, the Bane being in your possession and the rats all in disarray, and brought us back to Terra, you would've lost light by now."

Now Hick's eyes were wide open. She sat up, despite trembling uncontrollably. From fear, or from excess loss of blood, she didn't know. What she couldn't comprehend was the fact that the Stingers had come to her aid. Even after all she had done to them. She surveyed the wet cave, and her senses started to tingle. She could feel their presence, locate their shadows.

"We are in their territory, aren't we? Why?" she whispered, her voice croaky and throat utterly parched. But there was fear too. Hick realized she felt afraid. Has the time for retribution come?
"They did not explain. But the queens of the Stingers did say they'd like to seek your council once you are well enough," Crunch said. He had been standing at the mouth of the cave, and as he said that, Stingers started to emerge as Hick had anticipated. Something about the way they crept in with their long thin legs was just so disconcerting to Hick.

Hick felt her Rager instincts tingle in response to the panic that was rising was from deep within her gut, and she tried to suppress it, keep it under control until she was absolutely certain the Stingers were a threat to Nico and Percy.

"Please don't hurt them," Hick began. She could feel her throat thicken. "If it's me you want, just take me and leave them alone. Please."

But all the queens did were surround her, staring at her with a gaze Hick could not quite comprehend. In the middle stood the largest of them, whom Hick assumed was some sort of main leader. The hive-queen. Could they talk? Hick watched as the hive-queen made a slow, ungainly amble towards her, with her long thin legs. Something about that walk told Hick the queens weren't planning on attacking her. It was almost as if they were trying to ease the tension Hick was feeling around them.

What happened next, Hick would never have been able to prepare herself for. With its front forelegs, the hive-queen gently took Hick's right hand, and then visions started to play.

She saw the first of all demi-god battles with the Stingers. She had seen a similar battle before when Poseidon and his army had arrived to her aid; now she saw it as the hive-queen saw it, through many different eyes. The Stingers formed their own legion, and merfolk and siren with their sharp jagged teeth came out of the darkness and Poseidon destroyed the Stingers in a blazing light with a point of his trident. And then in Poseidon's place, there was herself, commanding the launch of the deadly torpedo on THRESHER, her expression nonchalant and unfeeling. She felt then what the hive-queen felt, watching through her workers' eyes as death came to them too quickly to avoid, but not too quickly to be anticipated. There was no memory of pain or fear, though. What the hive-queen felt was sadness, a sense of resignation. She had not thought these words as she saw the Greek gods' armies coming to kill, but it was in words that Hick understood her: They did not forgive our intrusion for water, the hive-queen thought. We will surely die.

A quiet sob escaped Hick's lips in a sigh, as the pain she felt in the hive-queen started to bring out the tears. "I wish I could have taken it all back, I wish – " Hick began, but more visions started to come.

The scene of her in Mount Olympus, going against the gods and then silent by the divine beings' commands. The hive-queen knew. And then, instead of memory came new images. The destruction of the Stinger's world, the titanness Phoebe's world. And then… the putting of a cocoon in a cool place, a dark place, but with water, so it wasn't dry; no, not just water, but water mixed with the sap of a certain tree, and kept tepid so that certain reactions could take place in the cocoon. Then time. Days and weeks, for the pupa inside to change. And then, when the cocoon had changed to a dusty brown color, Hick saw herself splitting open the cocoon, and helping the small and fragile queen emerge. She saw herself taking the new queen by the forelimb and helping her walk from her birthwater to a nesting place, soft with dried leaves on sand.

The hive-queen thought if Hick had followed through with the gods' plan and destroyed their world, Hick would at least save the hive-queen's descendant.

"You have faith that I would have followed through with that?" Hick asked the hive-queen. The hive-queen nodded, an awkward motion, an insect trying hard to imitate a human action. And then a voice spoke in Hick's head, foreign and whispered. The lady of the heavens saw it, the possible future, and assured us.

"Phoebe?" said Hick.

The prophet titanness, the voice echoed. You have heart, warrior. We saw you spare the Bane, knew Phoebe was right when she said you'd spare our lineage, and that you were no ordinary warrior.

Hick stared at the hive-queen. It was Phoebe, she realized. The Stingers found her thoughts through Phoebe, followed it and dwelt in her mind. In the agony of her tortured dreams they came to know her, even as she spent her days on THRESHER destroying them; they found her fear of them, and found also that she had no knowledge why she was killing them. She was the only one the Stingers knew on their enemy's side, and so they could only talk to her, and through her.

We are like you; the thought pressed into Hick's mind. We did not mean to murder when your world attacked, and when we understood, we never came again. We thought we were the only thinking beings in the universe, until we met you, but never did we dream that thought could arise from the lonely animals who cannot dream each other's dreams. How were we to know? We could live with you in peace. Believe us, believe us, believe us. "I believe," said Hick, and the visions withdrew as the hive-queen feel the warrior's trust. "I believe."

Four days had passed. The wound on Hick's front had not fully healed, but she knew she had to leave.

"I really don't think it's a good idea. Believe me you, Viktus and his army can handle the battle at the Clawers' dam," Dane said. "The Clawers have no leader, Viktus can destroy them just as easily."
"Exactly. I think we've got enough bloodshed as it is," Hick replied, as she mounted Ares the bat.

She watched in Dane's arms, the baby Bane snug and asleep in a bundle of silky cocoon the Stingers had weaved. She had made him promise to keep the Bane safe, use it as medium for peace between rat and human.

She and Ares stood near the edge of a cliff, at the boundary between the Stinger's land and the rest of the world. Percy, Jason, Hazel and Nico had stubbornly insisted on coming along as well, despite all their injuries still in need of more time to heal. Either way, each of them had clambered onto the back of a Stinger.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Crunch asked, folding his paws.
"We have our ways," Jason replied, smiling at Hick. "About time we try using our powers, no matter how weak they've become."

Silently, from their perch high above, all five demi-gods watched in horror at the sight that greeted them near the towering dam. The battle had long lost any sense of organization, deteriorating into a killing frenzy. Everywhere, every second, creatures were dying. Human, rat, bat, mouse and roach bodies accumulated on the ground, until those who still survived were fighting on a carpet of corpses. Stations behind cannons on the human side had been abandoned as soldiers went on to join the bloodbath instead of taking down the dam.

Panic and confusion reigned. Fighters had to be wary even of their allies. A human ran a sword through a pawer, a rat blinded a rat on the same side, a bat with a torch in its clutches set a roach on fire. The clear purpose that had taken the soldiers into the battle was becoming muddied in the turmoil.

Remote and safe for the moment, Hick had a hard time making sense of the picture. It seemed unreal, as if she were watching a movie on television and she could make it stop by clicking to the next channel. This couldn't really be happening, this carnage, this waste of precious life. Who would do something like this? Why would they do it? What could they possibly accomplish? They were killing, killing, killing one another and then at the end they would have diminished one another's ranks but... what would have changed? The whole thing suddenly seemed like a ridiculous game that could easily have been replaced by another game, a hand of cards, a chess match, a roll of the dice. A game from which everyone could have gone home alive.

"Are we too late? How do we salvage this?" Hazel asked, looking to Hick. The warrior's face had paled to an ashen grey.
"I don't know. But it has to stop. Now, " Hick replied as calmly as she could. But the horror in her eyes gave her façade away, and she knew it. "Let's go."

The Stinger Percy rode zoomed straight towards the water-filled side of the dam with the same speed Hick had observed in the fruit flies that buzzed around the kitchen fruit bowl. Nico and Hazel, on their Stingers, each headed straight for the opposite corner walls of the dam. Jason had followed Nico as a guard, and Hick in turn for Hazel.

Within seconds, Hick and Ares dove in and threw themselves into the battle. The adrenaline rush had obliterated Hick's awareness of her actions. Every stroke of her blade was a death stroke, every movement designed to kill. She hacked and sliced and plunged her blade into rat after rat that tried to leap at Hazel.

Ares had to arch back and crack Hick in the face with his head to get her attention. "Hick!" "What?" Hick snarled back. "Ares, we need to keep up with Hazel!" But the bat was drawing her away. "Ares! Stick to the plan!" "Look! That is why there's so many death!" Ares said. The bat swung around and there was King Gorger, right in Hick's face. How? She saw him fall with her with her own eyes at the Labyrinth.

"How?" Hick yelled, amidst the screams of terror and rage.
"We need to take him down for the battle to fall apart!" Ares yelled. Before Hick could say anything, the bat veered sharply to the side just as one of King Gorger's powerful clawed paws whistled by Hick's ear and then scraped down the side of the dam's wall, unleashing a magnified sound like nails on a chalkboard.
"Surprised, warrior?" King Gorger snarled and let out an inhuman sound that stroked fear in Hick's heart. "You thought every Stinger would be on your side?"

Of course. Some of the Stingers wouldn't have forgiven her, no matter what the hive-queen said to her. Hick gritted her teeth. No, don't participate in his psychological warfare. She took a few moments to assess her opponent. Boy, King Gorger was a royal mess! He was scarred and hurting from their last encounter. The stump of his tail was capped with a huge ball of bloody spider silk. Losing the tail seemed to have done something to King Gorger's sense of balance, because he moved unsteadily, almost as if he were intoxicated. But the real change was the look in the white rat's eyes. One glance told Hick the rat had crossed over the line from damaged to demented.

King Gorger came crashing across the plain toward them as the other creatures desperately fled to escape him. Bodies on the ground burst open under his feet. Anyone in reach of his claws was shredded. But he wasn't heading for her. No… there was Hazel, summoning underworld flames and burning the lower bricks of the dam to dust to let the water come in. Beasts of all sorts in battle started to realise even more water coming in form the damaged dam, and many were retreating, fleeing as a flood started to become more apparent and dead bodies started to tumble with water percolating the gaps.

"Get out!" Hick cried. "Get out, Hazel!" She had a terrible sense of dread. Something was wrong about their position, Hazel's proximity to King Gorger. Hick knew there was no way Hazel could clear the claws. Ares had realized what was going to happen and soared straight toward King Gorger, as Hick threw frenzied shots of underworld flames in King Gorger's direction but it was too late. "Hazel!" Hick cried. "No!"

If only she knew how Percy was faring on the other side of the wall. It was all up to the son of Poseidon now. How long could they keep this up?

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as King Gorger ensnared Hazel with his claws, pulled her in so they were face-to-face. Hick kept the flames going, lighting the rat on fire. As King Gorger sank his teeth into Hazel's neck, Hick dug her arm through the chest to the rat's heart and Ares had ensnared the King Gorger's head with his jaws. For a moment, they hung there, interconnected, supported by fangs, claws and arm. Then King Gorger made an unearthly sound and dislodged his fangs out of Hazel's neck, and swung his claws into Ares face and Hick's chest. Hick felt her arm de-penetrate the rat's body as she flew back into the air and slammed onto the stone floor. She felt Ares fall, no longer supporting her in mid-air. As they both landed on the ground, Hick felt her blood-soaked hand instinctively go to her breastbone. King Gorger's claw had torn aside her armor and opened a hot wet hole in her chest. Her fingers pulsed with the rapid beating of her heart.

Before her, Hazel dangled from King Gorger's claws. The rat opened its mouth as it gave way to death and Hazel fell, lifeless, to the ground.

Hick knew they were dead. Both Hazel and King Gorger. Because while chaos ensued beyond the corner of the dam, only two creatures were breathing. And it was Hick and Ares. Despite this knowledge, despite the pain, Hick dragged herself away from Ares, across the floor to Hazel. Hazel lay on her back, her lower abdomen torn apart beyond repair. The entire front of her neck had been torn off. Hick pressed her face into her sister's blood-soaked chest, hoping in vain for a heartbeat, a chance to revive her. "Hazel? Hazel? Don't go, Hazel, okay? Don't." But she had gone. No one could survive a wound like that. "Hazel?" Hick's right hand reached out and found Hazel's fingers and latched on to it.

Hick squeezed her eyes shut, and the memory of her first encounter with Hazel surfaced. During her first Capture the Flag game. Who the hell are you? she had asked the girl she soon learnt was her sister.

And then when they were in THRESHER, Hazel always laughing and smiling and consoling, always the first to worry when Hick showed even a small sign of distress. Something is up. Hick, tell me what happened to you back there, Hazel had asked her, to which Hick had angrily dismissed. She couldn't do that anymore, could she? Not with Hazel gone. Not with Hazel gone.

Hazel Levesque, I'll fight for you.

The words went through her mind but she couldn't speak them.

An inexplicable anger had taken over Hick, and the ground started to crack, to give way. Oceans of corpses started to tumble out of sight into the deep dark chasm, and as the gap widened, a magnificent crack formed at the wall of the dam. A great shadow fell over, and Hick looked up and saw stormy clouds and flashes of cackling lightning emerge. An almighty electric bolt struck the dam with such rage, and Hick realised there and then that Jason knew too the lost they have suffered.

Still clutching Hazel's hand, Hick rolled over onto her back. She strained to summon the undead from the wide fissures she had cracked into the earth despite her exhaustion. And she felt the blood leaving her body fast. Seeping out of her chest and mingling with Hazel's blood, then running onto the ground to join King Gorger's.

Is this how it ends? In her last moments, Hick watched as Ares picked her and Hazel up by his claws and soared above, as the sound of millions of bricks crashing and great water roaring finally filled her ears. And that's when Hick knew. Percy did it. They did it. They finally did it.

To be continued.