Disclaimer: you already know this i hope!


Chapter 8: The Last Stand

The war went on and on for months, to Marie it was amazing that their small group, which had been getting smaller and smaller all the time, had held out this long, but the fight had come with a heavy price, not long after Nicos' death, Luke himself was killed, by Alexander.

Rose, heartbroken, had ridden into the battle against her sisters pleading, and she too lost her life at Alexander's hands.

Marie was sure that if Alex got into the Palace, he would personally kill both herself and Sarah.

Marie was no fool, they could no longer hold Alex back, their numbers were down to twelve, not including herself and Sarah,

Eight of the survivors were Amazons, three were children under the age of 6 two girls and one boy, the last was a young huntress who looked 12 years old. It hurt more than Marie would ever admit to look at them and realize none of the Palace fighters were alive anymore, and of the twenty children who had been in the palace before this war, only three were left.

Marie looked at the remaining survivors and swallowed, they had done the best they could, but the fight was over, and it was her job to make sure they got out of this alive.

She took a deep breath and said "This war will end tonight, by that time, it is my hope that you all will be far away from here." She looked at the Amazon who was in charge "Please, take the children, take them too Camp Half-blood. Chiron will take care of them." The Amazon, Gwenn, nodded with tears in her eyes, she had been one of Marie's charges. That Marie was sending them away at this moment, could only mean that Marie didn't plan to survive the night.

The huntress stepped forward "I will not leave! I will stand beside both of you and die."

Marie opened her mouth to protest and then closed it again, this girl had been devoted to Sarah when she was under Sarah's charge, and had been the first to come when the palace had called for allies, the girl would not leave Sarah now.

Marie sighed "Very well then Isolde you may remain."

She walked to a bare wall and held her hand out to the little boy, who came forward slowly, she had him touch the wall in a specific spot and on the wall glowed a bright blue Delta symbol, before a opening appeared. She looked at the Amazons "Hurry, and be careful the Labyrinth is full of traps, leave at the first exit you find no matter where it is."

The Amazons nodded and left carrying the children in their arms.

Marie looked at the Huntress who remained "my sister is in the next room, before we go in there, there is something you MUST understand huntress."

Isolde nodded slowly. She didn't like the emotion in Marie's voice.

Marie swallowed and then went on "if we all die by our enemies hands, all six of the guardians, then the balance itself is over, we will not get a chance to come back and save this world from its destruction… do you understand Isolde?"

Isoldes' eyes widened, Marie couldn't possibly be saying that either Sarah or Marie herself, would have to die before the enemy came to finish them off, and yet, she could see that it was true in Marie's eyes.

Marie swallowed and then walked into the room that held Sarah, the throne room, Sarah was sitting on the floor looking at the wall but not really seeing it.

Ignoring Isoldes' presence, Marie walked over to Sarah. When Sarah focused on Marie, Marie knew that this couldn't be put off, no matter how much she wanted it too, she wished she was braver, if she was she wouldn't do what she was about to do, what she was about to ask her sister to do.

Marie pulled out a dagger and handed it to Sarah "Sarah, I wish I knew of a better way to say this but, there is none, Sarah, you need to kill me."

Sarah looked into Marie's eyes and saw no emotion, none at all, Sarah had lost so much, how could she ask Sarah to do this? But she had too, Marie couldn't kill herself, the children of Ares didn't commit suicide. so one sister would have to kill the other, and Marie couldn't kill Sarah, she couldn't… because she was a coward, she acknowledged it she didn't want her father's eternal anger at her for killing herself, and she didn't want Sarah to kill herself or for her to kill Sarah because that would mean that Marie was alone when she faced Alexander, and Marie was too much of a coward to do that, so instead, she asked her younger sister to kill her.

Marie would rather Sarah face Alexander alone, face gods only knew what kind of death at Alexander's hands, than Marie face him instead.

"It has to be done Sarah" she heard her own voice say to her younger sister.

Sarah took the dagger and held it in her hand for a moment doing nothing but looking at it, then she looked at the doorway where Isolde was still standing shocked by what she had just heard.

"Isolde I have a task for you."

Sarah beckoned Isolde forward and reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a silver key with three Greek letters on it.

Isolde took the key and looked at it then at her former mistress confused. Sarah smiled "Take this key to the Oracle of Delphi. She will make sure it is safe until the time comes for it to be used again."

Isolde felt cold, Sarah smiled at her "I know you would wish to stay Isolde, but this is more important, okay? Go now, you yourself are a half blood, go and leave through the Labyrinth. What must happen next, is not what I want you to have in your mind when you look back at your time here."

Isolde nodded feeling tears prick her eyes, she turned and left to do the task she had been assigned.

Marie watched her leave and looked at Sarah who swallowed as she gripped the dagger firmly. Sarah looked into Marie's eyes tears trailing down her own.

Sarah swallowed and after making sure the dagger was aimed at just the right place, stabbed Marie and pulled it out, with luck Marie would be dead within seconds.

Sarah held Marie as she bled out, Marie swallowed and whispered "I'm sorry, that I'm leaving you alone in the end."

Sarah sobbed at that and then she felt the life leave Marie.

Sarah swallowed, realizing that she was alone now, facing death quite possibly a horrible death at Alexander's hands, he would be sure to make her suffer for killing Marie.

Sarah looked at the dagger in her hand and swallowed she heard a loud bang and footsteps approaching, Alexander had broken in, and now Sarah had to be quick.

She took a deep breath and stabbed herself, and then twisted the dagger. It hurt, by all the gods it hurt to do it, but it meant she would lose blood more quickly.

The last thing she saw before darkness enveloped her was Alexander entering the room, a look of anger and shock on his face, and then she was gone, drifting towards Charon and his ferry.


A.N. wow... well i knew that this story would have a very dark ending, no way around that, my apologies please review and let me know what you think. i don't know when i will have the last installment of this series up, hopefully soon, but i don't know for sure! i will at the very least be waiting until the House of Hades, because i need to know if a theory i have is correct. if it is i need to tweak some details to the last story.

And oh my god! would you look at that! as of this moment all of my stories are complete! its a miracle! and... it won't last long, i have stories i plan on writing very soon! hehehehe!