A/N: I HAVE MICROSOFT! FINALLY! Whooo! Party! It is a nice feeling. Anyways, back to the story. I hope you all enjoy! I absolutely suck at fighting, so uh...it may be kind of...girlie? I hope not. I tried to actually make it sound good...ish...

The song for this one is Fighter by Christina Aguilera, but not in the relationship way. Pretty much, Athena realizes that Hera, who thinks she is ruining her life, is finally giving her a reason to fight. She's finally giving her a reason to stand up for what she wants and not worrying about doing everything wise (as challenging a goddess is never a good idea, it can get you turned into spiders...:D). It also makes her stronger, and gives Athena the strength to give her all. After all Hera's lies and backstabbing, Athena finally stands up. So, yeah. NOT in the relationship.

OH! NOTE!

This has blood and violence and stuff. Not sure if it's good. First time doing something like this. But if blood does gross you out, just be careful, I guess.

I don't own PJO or Christina Aguilera. Or her song.

Chapter Thirteen: Fighter

Athena shook violently as she glared at the goddess. "Feeling a bit tired, are we, little 'Thee 'Thee?" Hera taunted. "You are smarter than this, little girl. You know that mortals cannot beat a goddess, let alone the Queen of the gods."

Athena blew a piece of hair out of her face. "I'm no mortal, Hera. I used to be a goddess. I know the techniques. I know the fighting style. And if you were to surrender your powers for a 'fair' match, I would have won by now, and you know it."

Hera shrugged. "I do not wish to surrender my powers."

And with that, Athena lunged towards Hera.

Zeus grabbed Poseidon's shoulder. "I understand your concern, brother. But if you go out there, it will only anger Hera and cause her to unleash worse wrath upon Athena. It would be unwise to put her in any worse harm!"

Poseidon turned away from Zeus. "I have to help. If I go with you, I'll be a god, and trapped in my quarters until one wins. It would be Hera."

"But of you go, you are possibly putting Athena in worse danger! Or, if she succeeds, you will become one, too."

Poseidon turned back to his brother. "Into what?"

Athena pulled Hera up, spun her, and slammed her into her throne. But Hera fought back, as she grabbed Athena by the arm and twisted it back, far enough to break it, as she was no longer immortal. Athena, however, kicked her right leg up before her arm snapped, and kicked the goddess square in the jaw. Opening and closing her left arm a few times, she watched as the goddess clutched her face. She laughed.

"Foolish girl, you cannot win. Surrender now, or die trying to save your precious daughter. I have let you go on this far in hopes of you surrendering, or possibly getting injured. But I see that you will not give up, will you?"

"Never," Athena growled.

"A mortal. You will be a mortal," Zeus said quietly.

"I am one, now, Zeus. It won't change-"

"No, brother, you will be a mortal until you die. Athena was almost correct with her prediction, she had just gotten one thing wrong. You will eventually die. Whether it be an accident, a crash, disease, or old age, you will die. And only after you are dead will you come back and be a god."

Poseidon nearly pulled his hair out. "I don't care! Come on, Zeus! You really want to let your daughter be fighting out there? You really want her to, perhaps, die? I'm not going to stand for this. You let me go, you let me do what I want to do, or I will see it through that you are never ruler of the gods again, got it? I'll help Hera if you don't."

Zeus sighed. "Go,"

Athena dodged punch after punch, hit after hit. She didn't want to admit it, but she was tired. And weak. And she was about ready to give up. But then, she remembered Aleeka. And she knew she had to do what was right for her daughter; what was best for her.

"Am I fighting for a lost cause?" Athena asked Hera, putting her arms down.

Hera didn't answer. She just nodded and grinned. Then, pulling her hand up and into a fist, slammed it into Athena's already bloody face.

"Fight me, you coward!" Hera screamed. "Is this not what you wanted?"

Athena got up, holding her head. "Oh, I've waited for the day where I can show you who really is the fairest of them all." Athena twisted Hera's arms together behind her back, and kicked her feet so she fell on the floor. Flipping her over so that she was face up, she kicked the goddess in the side.

Hera brought her leg up just in time, and kicked Athena's leg out of the way, causing her to fall. She pushed her into the ground, using the super-human strength a goddess has. The granite crushed. This task would be incredibly hard for a human, especially to break it so much it can dig into one's skin. But Hera did not hold back. Athena screamed and writhed in pain as chunks dug into her, her head hurting more with the amount of pressure building up around her head.

Finally, she summoned the strength to push the goddess off of her. Flat on her back, Hera punched upwards to Athena, who grabbed her wrist and shoved it down over her head. Hera soon retaliated, and before either of them knew it, Athena was slammed into the ground again, her head banging on it repeatedly. She grew tired and couldn't fight it. The back of her head was tarnished, that she could tell. Her face was bloodied and bruised, as with only one hand Hera could slam her into the granite, and with the other, punch her in the nose yet again.

Poseidon ran through the halls of Olympus. He banged on every door, freeing the gods and goddesses in it. Finally, when he had gathered the other eight Olympians, he told them what they had to do. How they would have to go and fight Hera to save Athena. When they all knew what to do, he asked if they were sure they wanted to fight.

Apparently, everyone hated Hera as much as he did.

Athena was hurt. She was weak. She was exhausted. Her arms were flimsy, her attacks feeble. Her head was spinning. She could taste the blood. The outline of her hair was matted to her face with it. She was stained red. She blinked, staring up at the goddess above her. "What did you do to her? At least tell me that." She cried, chocking on her own blood, pooling in her mouth. "You owe me that,"

Hera snickered. "Don't worry. I ordered Persephone to take very good care of our precious little baby down there,"

"You killed her," Athena sputtered. "You killed her, you wench." She started to cry, the tears burning hot in her eyes. "You're an awful person,"

"Might as well finish you off, too, darling. I'll bet you can't wait to see that little daughter of yours,"

"But…But I had it figured out," Athena said. "You would torture me, only to make me live as a mortal. And when I die as one…I…you bring me back. Only because Zeus needs my power to bal…balance the world." Athena said. Her head was thumping, her thoughts cluttered. It took all she had not to close her eyes and give in. She'd already lost enough blood for her to die. It was evident, the way the walls and floor were smeared. The way she looked…

"That, darling, was if you won. I'm afraid you did not, now did you?"

"So I die," Athena said.

"So, you die."

Athena stared blankly at her. She couldn't cry, it hurt too much with the scrapes along her cheeks. She could hardly move. All the tackling and slamming and punches and kicks. The glass from the walls and floors and thrones were all stuck in her skin; her arms, her legs, her head. All just enough to cause severe pain, but none deep enough to kill yet. If she did make it, she would be in misery for Zeus knows how long. She could feel at least three broken ribs. The attention her face got showed her nose was broken, her eyes bruised and black. Her left arm hurt, she knew it was at least sprained. Not to even start on the head… "Go ahead, then. No one will mind."

Hera laughed bitterly. "Of course they will. You may be wise, but you are naïve, Athena. Poseidon, that boy is in love with you. Why do you think I made him engaged to you? Or be the father of your child? So he would hurt more when you were gone."

"You're sick." Athena whispered. "Is this really what you dream about, hurting other people?"

"I was hurt!" Hera shrieked. "Your father! He pretended to be there for me! And then he raped me! I was a mockery! I was just another woman in his games. So I married him out of shame. And then, along came another affair child!" Hera screamed. "YOU! And you grew into a lovely young lady, all I could've been! How do you think that made ME feel? Like an even BIGGER mockery! That he would cheat on me! That he would make something that I could've been so like…

"So I made him think about sending you all away to high school. Yes! That was me! I encouraged it! And I made him bring you home just as you started having fun, just so you could be tortured some more! And it was my brilliant idea to tell him that you should get jobs. Teachers! Again with the school. The engagement was for Poseidon, so he would miss you when I crushed you. The pregnancy was for both of you, so you would feel tremendous loss when I killed your darling daughter before she could even mutter 'mama.' And him…oh, Poseidon. I cannot wait to see his reaction. And then to kill you! Ah, perfect. It would also kill your little boyfriend."

Athena smiled. "Thank you, Hera."

Hera was taken aback. "What?"

"Thank you. You made me fight for something. Something I wanted. You made me fight for my daughter, even though it was unwise, for I was sure to die, myself. But you made me realize that I don't need to do what everyone tells me to. I need to…stand up for myself. Thank you, Hera."

Hera's glare softened. She looked at the ground. "You are the perfect daughter, yet you are not mine. And I am not like you, even though I could have been. I could've been perfectly happy where I was. But your father ruined it. And I cannot kill him, so let me kill you!"

Athena put her head down on the broken granite, even though they were shoving into her like glass. "Go ahead. I've lost too much blood already. I'll bleed out. Then you won't get your satisfaction of finishing me off yourself."

Hera looked at the girl, confused. How could she be so calm? She was angry, though. And this made her angrier! She was asking to die! She wanted to hear screams of begging and torture! She grabbed a chunk of broken glass. She didn't know from where it came, as glass was everywhere, but she held on it tight. She clutched it in her hand, standing over Athena, ready to attack.

"Hera," Athena said, barely audible.

"What?" She snarled.

Athena weakly smiled. "Tell Poseidon…that maybe I actually do love him, okay? He deserves to know that."

Hera snickered. "Say goodbye, little lamb."

Athena shut her eyes tight. She knew what would happen next, and she didn't want to see it.

When the pain came, she let out the most bloodcurdling scream Olympus had ever heard. And Hera stood up, laughing, letting the bloody glass fall to the broken floor.

Poseidon stopped dead in his tracks. "Did you gods hear that?"

Aphrodite bit her now once-again perfect, long, pink fingernails. "It sounded like Athena…"

Artemis started sprinting. "ATHENA! ATHENA!"

All the gods ran into the throne room. They immediately rushed to Athena's side. Apollo placed himself beside her. "Athena? Are you alright?"

There was no answer. Her face was pale. Even though she had shut her eyes tight, they opened in pain, and now were frozen like that, watery tears ready to fall out of them.

"Is she…" Hermes began.

"Shh!" Apollo said. He pressed two fingers to her wrist. He looked at the ground, where she was surrounded by blood. "None."

Aphrodite began sobbing. Artemis, for once, held the girl and sank to the ground with her. Demeter looked sadly at Athena. "Apollo, is there nothing you can do?"

"She's bled out. There's a huge hole in her chest. Granite and glass is all in her head…" he said, sadly. "Her nose is broken."

"Well? She'll be in pain, but you have to bring her back, Apollo!" Poseidon yelled.

"I can't, alright? There are way too many things that went wrong that even I can't fix! Sure, she was stabbed in the heart! But she'd have horrible internal bleeding! And brain trauma! The glass is too far in there, and there's too much granite pressed in it! Not only did she die because of the stabbing, but she bled out! There's almost no blood left in her, Poseidon! Any that was, if she moved she'd have chocked on it! It looks like she did, the way her chin's much brighter than the red of her face! I can't do anything, alright? If I brought her back, I'd be bringing a zombie to life." He quieted. "I'm sorry."

Aphrodite ran out of Artemis' hands and knelt beside Athena. "No! You're not gone! You can't be!"

Poseidon knelt across from Aphrodite, taking Athena's cold hand in his. Hera snickered from the corner of the room. "By the way, she told me to tell you that she did love you." She grinned, and crossed her arms. She walked out of the room, turning her head back to see an angry Poseidon. "Oh, look. You're going to be staying a mortal. Good for you! All alone by yourself…until the day you die. And then, you'll see her, your precious Athena. But you won't be able to stay. I'll bring you right back up here." She smiled. "I just love a tragic ending."

"Well? Are you not going after her?" Dionysus asked.

Poseidon shook his head. "She won."

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

Alright. About the whole "I could've been like you" thing. I believe that this is a reason why Hera does hate Athena, in the myths, the PJO books, and when talking about Annabeth. I think that she believes that if Zeus hadn't taken advantage of her, she could be who she wanted to be. And Athena just reminds her of that, as Zeus treats her as a favorite and always gives her the best. She thinks she should have the best.

It's just your average Disney Step-Mother story, except with a LOT more blood.

Well. This turned out OK. I think anyway. Let me know! I thought it was good, considering it was my first full-out battle-to-the-death type.

SUZIE'S QUESTION CORNER!

-What will happen next?

-Will anyone try to save Athena? If so, who?

-Has Hera gotten any sympathy from you because of her story?

-Is this just like a Disney movie on Crack?...honestly, the whole "Evil Step-Mother" thing and the forced marriages that lead to "true love" and the whole Prince Charming in the end? And the thinking the bad guy's won?

-And…HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN TEEN TITANS? I love that show :D

~Suzie