Chapter 27:

Cronus laughs as he takes control of Hades' body, feeling rejuvenated by his son's strength and power.

He reaches out, flexing Hades' arms and sending a spiral of green flames from his palms. He grins. Perfect, he thinks.

In Hades' throne room, he summons a council of all the Underworld deities.

"My friends," he says, smiling at them with his arms outstretched.

"Lord Hades," Morpheus says, "what is the matter?"

Cronus smiles cruelly. "Why, Morpheus, the matter is war, of course – I'm going to destroy Olympus. And you all," he points to them, "are going to help me do it."

The gods gasp and turn to look at each other, uncertainty and fear in their eyes. After some struggling, Hecate manages to push past Morpheus and his brother Hypnos.

Her eyes are wide, but she manages to stay calm. "What has Queen Persephone said about this, my lord?"

"The queen is no longer here," Cronus growls at her, looking directly into her eyes, and she see herself reflected in gold.

She steps back, startled. "You are not my king," she whispers, pointing at him. "Look at him," she yells, "Look into his eyes! He is not your king!"

Cronus snarls and snaps his fingers, sending Hecate crashing back into the hard stone wall of the throne room. Her skull makes a sickening crack as she hits the wall, knocking her unconscious and leaving a trail of gold ichor as her body slides to the floor. Several gods try to run to her, but Cronus snaps his fingers again and they are frozen in place.

"Who are you?!" Morpheus screams, trying to desperately move his legs towards Hecate's unconscious body.

Cronus smiles again, flashing Hades' teeth. "Why, shouldn't it be obvious?" his smile grows wider, "I am Cronus."

"No! Th-that's impossible! Hades would never have-" Morpheus is brought down with a sharp kick to his groin, followed by a heavy elbow to his neck. He groans as he crumples to the floor, hands clutching his lower abdomen and groin. "Apparently," he hears Cronus whisper in his ear, "you did not know my son very well."

"Now," Cronus says, taking Hades' staff from a whimpering shade, forming it into his old scythe, "does anyone else want to challenge me?"

Grabbing the still-frozen gods by their jaws and turning their heads, he forces them to shake their heads no as he walks around the room.

"Good," he says, laughing. "It's time for war."

The attack on Poseidon's palace comes swiftly, and the King of the Sea races outside to defend his home. The sea is in chaos as his warriors try to fight the incoming invaders; and he feels himself begin to despair as palace walls begin to crumble and are obliterated before his eyes.

When he spies Hades covered in black armor and a blood-red cape, he feels his stomach drop.

"Hades!" he yells, readying his trident, "Just what in the name of Tartarus do you think you're doing?!"

He sends a blast of energy from his trident directly towards Hades' face; he yells out in shock when Hades simply knocks the blast out of his way with a flick of his wrist, blowing his trident out of his hands. He's knocked down when Hades swings a large scythe towards him and his dropped trident is seized from him.

"I'll destroy you, you bastard!" Poseidon yells, trying to summon his warriors for support. "You'll wish you'd never been born-"

Hades grabs Poseidon by his neck and crushes his throat. "Now, now, Poseidon – is that any way to speak to me?"

Poseidon looks into Hades' eyes. Gold, like Zeus's – like -

"…Father?!" he shouts.

He starts to squirm and trash. This isn't how it was supposed to be! he thinks wildly to himself. This isn't what was supposed to happen!

The last thing he hears before he slips into unconsciousness is Cronus's dark laughter and a final scream directed towards the heavens – "Zeus, I'm coming for you!"

In the end, Poseidon isn't sure who yells it – his brother or his father.

She knows she's dreaming again.

She know what she's seeing isn't real.

But-

She can feel that there is truth to it.

She sees the wolf, wounded and snarling at her; sees into his eyes and knows it's him. When she tries to reach out to him, he snaps at her and growls, and she doesn't move any closer.

"Hades," she says, "I'm sorry."

When she looks into his eyes, all she sees is pain and anger. She tries to reach out again.

"Don't give up, my lord-"

He snarls and attacks her, pushing her onto her back and snapping at her face. Pain shoots through her arms as she tries to protect herself from him.

"Hades, you're hurting me!" she cries. I am not Hades, she hears the wolf say. You have failed in your mission, girl. His voice makes her tremble. Now, watch me destroy Olympus!

She wakes with a start, heart racing against her chest and she looks at her arms. She feels immense relief when she sees that her arms have no cuts. Looking outside of her bedroom window – she's back at home now – she sees open fields of green grasses and colorful flowers and trees, nymphs and birds and occasional satyrs – life.

This is bigger than me, she thinks. "I can't let my mother destroy the world with famine," she says aloud. But I also can't let Cronus destroy Olympus.

She makes her decision.

She doesn't notice that outside, a storm is raging on Olympus.

"You did what?!" Demeter screams, slapping her daughter in her fit of rage. "How could you do this to me, Kore? I, the one who gave birth to you – how could you choose your kidnapper over your own mother?! How?!" She falls back into a chair and begins to cry. "How could you do this to me?"

When the doors of the palace are blasted down, Zeus feels real fear – a feeling which he hasn't felt in centuries.

He sees Poseidon, with his hands tied behind his back, pushed forward past the doors and onto the floor, bleeding ichor from the various cuts on his body. He hears his mother gasp, "My son!" before she falls to the floor, fainting.

"Poseidon!" Hera shouts from her throne next to Zeus, "Who has done this to you?!" Other gods rush into the throne room, ready to fight, and Ares feels a slight tingle of giddiness on the back of his neck. He hears Dionysus desperately trying to keep himself from laughing wildly, but when he looks around for Aphrodite, he doesn't see her. Where is she? he wonders.

Poseidon looks up, his body shaking. "Cronus," he gasps before closing his eyes.

Ares sees Hades step out from the doorway, kicking Poseidon to the side. He smiles, contorting his face into an evil expression.

"Hello, Zeus. I've come to take my throne." When Hades talks, Ares thinks he can hear two voices.

Finally, Ares thinks, smirking. The war I've been waiting for.

A/N: DUN DUN DUN! THE END IS NIGH, FOLKS. Please leave your glorious comments and reviews, my lovelies. ;D

-Inkspot