HEY THERE FOLKS! I'M BAAAAACK!

Chapter 13

Crap, crap, crap.

And here she thought that the place would might as well be empty. Seeing all the other monsters that had pursued them all the way here plus all the other monsters throughout the entire continent, you'd think that their dwelling place would be empty.

But, it is called a dwelling place, which basically means there were always monsters around the place where they die, reform, and live; the cycle goes continuously. They dwell here. Duh.

And with that session over, back to the problem at hand. Before she could finish her assumption, monsters suddenly appeared behind Clarisse. She'd told them to run, and that's what leads to what they're doing now. Every now and then, she or Leo would shoot an arrow or a fireball when a monster got too close. Clarisse would help occasionally by extending her spear backward, leaving whatever was behind her to reform at the far side from them.

Eventually, they were panting, just as they came upon a dead end. They spun around defensively, ready and quick to counter an attack. Their eyes darted from one creature to another, watchful of any abrupt sign of offense. The said creatures looked over them with strong, salivating jaws, and without a moment's hesitation, they pounced.

Abby can still recall the last time she fought for her life- a time that she wasn't sure whether she was to survive or not. Most missions given to her were often easy as nuts, just doing this and that. She'd done saboteur and assassin work before, and they were nothing compared to this.

Here, she was playing the role of a normal Warrior, where you follow the leader's- or Peacekeeper's- orders blindly. She doesn't know when she was to die. Or if she ever will. This time, fate controlled her. She never knew the outcome, whether they were to win this war or get tortured for all eternity.

The last missions she had handled, it always ended up with her going back to the camp victoriously. She had expected what would happen. It bored her.

But this time, she did not know what to expect. This was a whole new mission given to her; she was one of the chosen ones of the new peacekeeper. She now plays as a lowly warrior, not the wise leader. Their enemies were strong, cunning, and unpredictable. The strongest she was to fight, she reckoned. Perhaps in the whole world of dimensions, even.

Before she knew it, patches of golden dust were around her feet and her companions were looking around for more monsters. She breathed a sigh of relief and kept her bow out of sight. She turned to the two campers. "Come on. We can't stay here for long."

They nodded and they set off together, watching each other's backs. They walked in uneasy silence for a few minutes before Leo spoke up, "What were you saying, Aria, before those monsters chased us?"

Abby looked at him confused before her eyes widened as he spoke, and she replied, "You remember when Nico said something to us, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "Well, I think Nico was aware of what we're going to face. Do you have any idea how he knew that?"

Leo looked thoughtful, and then suddenly his eyebrows shot up and he slapped his forehead just as Clarisse glanced back at them with an expression of reminiscence. Abby stared at them skeptically, unsure whether to push for the answer or just find out for herself. Finally, she asked, "So you know..?"

They nodded slowly, apparently still adapting to the horrifying memory. "N-Nico… We kinda forgot about him..," Leo responded nervously, his eyes glued to the cave floor as he walked. The war god's daughter gained an angry expression, one that seemed to be her scariest. "That death kid was a traitor!"

Abby was taken aback by her outburst. But she does admit that she had noticed something off about the son of Hades as well. His eagerness to let them in Tartarus, the unreadable glint in his eyes, and what he knew and what he wanted to know- all cleared up the confusion of who he was. His evil smirk that was somehow forgotten in the fall, it explained a bad meaning of his words, good luck.

But why did he help them by giving them information, even if it was in the form of a riddle: the one gods used to help heroes? Why was he letting them save his enemies? Why did he let them live?

She shook her head. Hopefully she will know in due time. For now, she wasn't going to torture herself with these unanswerable questions. She thought back to the other quest, where her friend Annabeth was leading the two Romans, one of which was a half-sibling to Nico. Were they fine? Were they near the gods' prisons, A.K.A. the Soldiers' headquarters? Or were they near them?

Leo asked uncertainly, which broke her from her train of thought, "Then why did he help us?"

Clarisse scoffed. "That was probably some trick," she assumed. "I swear I'm going to strangle him the next time I see that puny goth kid."

They didn't speak much more after that. They constantly looked over their shoulders for monsters that might be chasing them, but strangely, none was seen ever since the last attack. They may have not noticed it, but they had walked through the dead end that made them fight for their lives. They were advancing fast. It was pretty good progress.

In those times which seemed like hours or days, Abby had thought about the questions that had recently entered her mind. Every question seemed to bring up another, until it was a whole chain of questions that had wrapped her mind tightly around its cold and hard unknowingness. Breaking one bond would break all the others with it, and when she tries to get that only one back, all the others come with and her frustration starts again.

Tempted to pull her hair out of its roots, she instead busied herself by sorting through her quiver. Her everyday Imperial Gold-tipped arrows always reappeared in her quiver, but the special arrows were limited. She had five arrows coated with Hydra poison, three Greek fire-explosive arrows, about a dozen flash arrows, and one sonic arrow. She sighed; she made a mental note to supply more sonic arrows once they were back on the surface.

Just after she finished that thought, the faint sounds of battle reached her trained ears. They took a few more steps as the noise became louder, and her two quest mates had become aware of it. They drew their weapons as Abby stayed unarmed but alert. They crept silently to the curve leading to the entrance of another tunnel and their eyes widened.

There they were, unmoving and unable to stand as a titan towered over them. The quest from Camp Half-Blood glanced at each other, and unspoken agreement went between them as they knew the titan had yet to notice them.

Abby plucked the sonic arrow out of her quiver while Leo took out his hammer, a smaller one this time, the same thought running in their heads. The daughter of the war god silently drew her spear, a little bolt of electricity slithering around the blade before it disappeared in space. And together, they attacked.

The archer fired her arrow just as the fire-user enforced a fireball into it with his hammer, making a mini-comet with increased speed and power. It whistled through the air and exploded with a BOOM inside the titan's brain (if ever it had one). The heroine finished him off by impaling her electric spear through his chest, where his heart was supposed to be.

The titan crumbled into tiny igneous rocks before dissolving into dust, probably to reform at the far side of the pit, or worse, in the headquarters. They decided to leave the subject untouched as they turned their heads to the sound of a gasp.

Why?

No.. Don't leave me..

My best friend betrayed me..

You chose him... what about me?

I'm not entirely evi... but I still am.

I should have listened to Luke..

How does it feel?

Have fun dying.

Annabeth opened her eyes to see a loose stalactite about to give in to gravity. She rolled to the right just in time as the rock impaled itself to where her head had been resting on. She rubbed her head and grunted as she sat up on the rough ground. She looked around, confused to find five quest mates instead of two.

"What- what happened? How are you here?" she inquired Abby, who smiled at her once she saw her awake.

"Oh, hi sleeping beauty number two. Number one is still sleeping," she greeted sarcastically and gestured over to a blond-haired demigod sleeping on a safe spot luckily without a stalactite loosely hanging over his head.

Abby gave her a small smile. "As for how we're here, well.."

She explained what their quest had been doing before they spotted theirs, and defeated the titan with the element of surprise. Her two companions also quipped in something they thought was important, and about what Nico had said and the prophecy.

"A group bringing hope and grief... You shall lose a leader..," she mumbled to herself and looked up at Abby with a dreadful expression. She tried to smile reassuringly but it came out as a grimace.

"Don't worry about it." Her face looked more worried than anything. "For now, let's focus on doing our quest. A group bringing hope you shall cross; that's gotta be you right?"*

She didn't mention the grief part of the line.

-*Camp Half-Blood*-

"You see, Lord Hades, every hero who is worthy or worth taking that had died or has chosen to die was brought to a more advanced training camp. It is in another dimension so you don't know about it."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "The dead heroes..?"

"Remain dead, sir. In this dimension, at least."

The lord of the dead nodded. "So you mean to say that your whole being was somehow duplicated from this world just before your soul left your body to be destroyed, to travel to the Underworld, is that it?"

Theseus nodded politely. "To elaborate it."

Hades scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Are there also reinforcements at Camp Jupiter?"

Jason confirmed, grinning, "Of course, Lord Hades! I even sent another Argo there- Argo IV, I believe, since I'm aware that a clever son of Hephaestus had done a great prototype of my original."

Lee nudged the Argonaut with his shoulder. "Stop it with the Argo/s, dammit."

The temporary king of the gods breathed a sigh. He looked around at his fellow gods. All of them were looking to him for his decision. So this is how it feels like to be a king, he thought wistfully. And how it feels to be noticed and looked up to.

He never wanted kingship, all he wanted was acceptance from his family. They still didn't, even when that Jackson boy had given him a throne on Olympus. His family was forced to go along with it, but it did nothing to make him feel accepted.

What if this decision will be rejected by the other gods? Will their respect for him waver? Would they like the outcome? Jackson had taken away his brothers and sister/stepmother. Since then, his life with his son and wife had been perfect. He had grudgingly allowed the half-bloods to Tartarus to save his so-called family on his son's request.

Sure, he knows that his son was a traitor of some sort, what with siding with the dark deities and whatnot, but he only offered to avenge his cousin for all the wrongs that his family had done to him. His name was neither in his nephew's or his son's- of course- hit list, so he had nothing to worry about, as long as he stays out of their war.

He knows some of his nephew's plans, and that becomes his son's plans as well. Nico had not made him swear on the Styx because he knew that the outcome would be much worse if he divulged any of it. Besides, he had no intention to. If only he could outright decline these Warriors' offer for help, he'd do it right now.

He wasn't called a traitor for nothing.

Hades can feel a headache coming. He sighed and looked over the sea of warriors once again, all looking up at him expectantly. "Very well; do what you must to protect this camp. I trust you to train these campers to increase their skill and chance of victory in this war."

Achilles' mouth stretched into a wide grin. "You can count on us, Lord Hades!"

The lord of the dead nodded as Lee turned back to talk to them. He shouted, "Move out, Warriors!"

"Aye!" was their thunderous reply. In less than a minute, the amphitheater was cleared out of gleaming gold and silver warriors.

The clinking of metal against cobble sounded in the courtyard. The silver studded combat boots glittered dangerously in the soft, silver moonlight. Creatures bowed as he passed, to which he only nodded as a sign of acknowledgement, before treading urgently through the palace yard leading up to the steps of the Darkness throne room.

He tapped his knuckles lightly two times on the massive ancient doors. The designs were intricate swirls and curves delicately carved into the dark wood, outlined by shaped strips of a harder, gold-ish element. It was flanked by two Soldier guards who saluted when he came into their view, to which he saluted back.

"Come in."

He dramatically barged in, walking in wide, confident strides.

The throne room has a dark, royal theme, either gold or silver outlining the walls. It was about the size of the Olympus throne room. Marble columns stood with braziers of the brightest and hottest Greek fire bored into them, the light reaching to the walls and reflecting an ethereal glow. In the center of the throne room was a big silver clock, and directly above it, the ceiling was cut in an octagon opening up to a beautiful view of the night sky with the moon shining down its comforting silvery rays.

He walked up to the center and knelt with his head bowed low. Before long, slender arms wrapped itself around him. One snaked to his chin, gripping it tenderly, and willed it up. His eyes met a blood red pair. He felt the corners of his mouth quirk upward.

She pulled him into a hug which he graciously returned, before she stood up and led him by the hand to the thrones. She snapped her fingers and a new throne appeared on her right side- a midnight blue throne decorated in swirls with blurry colors, as though it was a snowy breeze. Sapphires and silvers littered the backrest, and his seat was a comfy black cushion.

He sat in the throne after she took hers. He marveled the designs and the throne itself modestly before clearing his throat and turned to the woman next to him.

"What have you sent me for, Lady Nyx?"

The goddess of night was in a smooth, black silk dress. The sides were cut from the thighs giving it a more elegant look. It was a simple choice of clothing; she had round silver earrings dangling, and her black hair flowed to her lower back neatly. She adorned a gentle yet devilish smile.

"What have I told you what to call me when we are alone, Omega?"

The commander sighed, wearing a ghost of a smile. "Aunt Nyx."

She nodded, pleased with his answer. "How have you been doing? I haven't exactly checked on you personally for decades."

"I've been good, thank you," he answered politely. "Just a few mountains, here and there, but I'm still good."

She smiled. "Khione? The Soldiers?"

"They have been enjoying the past few weeks. As for Khione, all is well between us. She had given me a beautiful snowflake amulet, and that just made me all the happier."

He showed her the accessory, in which she smiled at as she admired it. Then she remembered something, "Oh, that reminds me," she conjured up a velvet black box. It was thin and lengthy, as though only a piece of stick could fit in it. "This is for a late happy birthday."

Omega gave her a handsome grin in thanks. He took the box from her and untied the fancy gold ribbon which was acting as a seal. Inside was a classy bronze pen, and he got the feeling that this had a partner.

True enough, when he uncapped it, it elongated into a same shade of midnight blue identical to his throne. Black and red swirls run along the blade, and the sword itself had an evil feeling to it, sucking light all around it. He grinned excitedly as he took out his original pen in one fluid motion, uncapping it as he did so. He now had identical chaotic twin blades.

He gave his Aunt another grin. "Thank you, Aunt Nyx. This is... awesome."

Nyx suppressed a frown. Why did he go back into using that immature word? Could it be..? She blinked and mentally shook her head. Perhaps he just slipped. Better not mention it more to make it worse. "This sword has a special property; it is very powerful."

Omega looked at her confused. "What special property?"

She sighed. "You do know my son's peacekeepers, right?" When he nodded, she continued, "They cannot die unless they so chose to be, or unless it was fated. It was not fated for the new to die in this war, I fear it was someone else.." She shook her head and finished, "But with this sword, you can."

The commander's eyes widened. "So you're saying that even though not destined, the peacekeeper can die by this?" He raised the sword as gesture. She nodded, and then he remembered something. "Who was destined to die instead?"

Nyx frowned and shook her head, her expression almost fearful. "No one important."

He analyzed her expression before nodding acceptably. "So... what have you sent me for, really?" Before she could open her mouth, he added quickly, "Other than giving me my late birthday gift, I mean."

She rolled her eyes. "I was getting to that," she retorted as Omega shrunk down to his seat embarrassed. "I want you to kill the new Peacekeeper."

He shot up. "What? Who is it?"

"I'm sorry, it will be too easy then," she apologized sincerely, and he nodded in understanding before standing up, his throne disappearing into nothingness after he did so.

He sheathed his swords and did a majestic bow, shadows creeping up behind him, ready to grab him at a moment's notice. "At your service, Lady Nyx."

Yay, so I updated earlier than expected. Hooray for you!

Well school hasn't been an ass this week (hooray for me!) so yay! I'd written majority during weekdays. I'm also excited to post this out so I could start the next chapter of the other (have you read it yet?) but yea, not much action but..

Annabeth found out about the prophecy! The camps have reinforcements! Omega needs to kill Annabeth! Oh gee, that made it complicated. Now I'm not sure which one to kill..

Anyway, thanks for Epithet2's inspiring review! Here is your next chapter, and just to make you feel better: Song I'm listening to right now: Both Sides of the Story by WATIC :))

Well see you soon! Next two weeks, probably. REVIEW ~Smartzyfan