Sorry for the wait. I am trying to space the updates out a little.

This is Part three - obviously. There is a little Sky/Jack in the beginning. It's kind of a bridge between the past parts with the part in Paris. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Mission Impossible (Part 3)

Ch.: A Hit Home

Jack POV

Recap:

I held up the charm.

"They were after this." And that was all that needed to be said.

He nodded.

"But how did they know to use that?" He asked.

"The book." I said motioning to the altar.

But the Book of the Dead had disappeared.

We headed back to our hotel. I was tired, confused and extremely irritated.

"Now where do we go? We have no lead and nothing to work with!" I groaned.

"They are finding information on the Gates." Charles said, as if that explained everything.

"And?" I said, impatient.

He turned and smirked at me. "We're going to Greece."

Realization dawned on me. "Delphi?"

He nodded.

Charles was on the phone immediately as we got to the room. I patched up my wound and tried to clear my head of what happened in the temple.

That book has the incantations in it to open the Gates. If they open the Gate they open the Paths of the Dead.

Then Lucifer will be freed.

I sighed and flopped back on my bed. My head was spinning with the overload of the recent events.

I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to take me.

The crimson eyes were coming closer.

The beast took out a blade and snarled. I braced myself for an attack.

But the beast wasn't looking at me.

No, he was looking behind me.

I turned to see a broken Schuyler Van Alen leaning against the stone wall for support. But she didn't cower. I stood up with defiance in her eyes. My heart swelled to see her so brave in the face of danger.

The beast howled and lunged for her. She took out a sword, but it was too late.

She let out a cry as the Abomination connected with its target.

I woke with a gasp. My sheets were twisted around my legs and I was drenched in sweat.

It was only a dream. I told myself. Just a dream.

I can't remember how many times she has haunted my dreams. But this was different. It wasn't the pain of letting her go. It was the need to protect her and the terror that something may happen to her.

I never stopped loving her. Sad isn't it? That even though I should hate her, I don't and would do anything for her. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

Dawn was just starting to break and I would be getting up soon anyway. We had an early flight to Greece.

Delphi had been the site of the Oracle of Apollo. Now it is a city of ruins.

We drove to Delphi from Athens. The car ride was incredibly long.

Have you ever been in a small car making very awkward conversation with your father? And you don't want to talk but he doesn't see that?

That's what this was.

Maybe he was making up for years of not talking.

He pulled the car to a stop. I jumped out of the car and walked over to the ruins before he could say anything.

"We were right." Charles said from the car. His smirk was gone and in its place was a business like expression. He was on a mission.

"They were here." He continued.

"So Delphi was – is a Gate?" I asked.

Charles nodded. "The oracle or the Pythia, was the gatekeeper. It was passed down from cycle to cycle." He explained.

I nodded. This mission is bringing back so many memories. Not to mention all the information we were finding.

We walked through the rubble making our way to the center.

"Do you remember it?" Charles asked looking at the ruins.

I nodded. "It is all coming back so fast. It's strange."

I looked at the circus under us.

(Flashback)

I was suddenly sitting at the theatre, watching the chariots race around the track.

One chariot had lost its wheel and was starting to wobble. The racer's competitor had rammed into it hard enough for it to come loose.

A huge cry when up from the crowd as the chariot veered off the track and into the crowd.

I sat with a friend of mine, who in the excitement stood up to see the spectacle.

The other racers continued around the track.

The one who had hit the other chariot was the favorite to win.

We cheered as another overlapped his run.

But the charioteer who had been knocked off his cart had gotten back in the race. The underdog getting back in the game.

It was close.

And I stood up and cheered as the underdog crossed the finish line first.

I snapped back to the present.

Charles looked at me knowingly.

"What gate is this?" I asked.

"The Gate of Despair, one of the seven deadly sins." He said.

I nodded. This trip has had a weird effect over Charles and I. The more time I spend with him the more we seem equals. But also I see more of his true self, Michael, Pure of Heart. I guess because I never really spent time with him before this mission.

I forced my mind back to the situation at hand.

"Why did they not open the gate? They had the book." I asked.

The question had been gnawing at my mind since we got here.

"I'm not sure." Charles admitted.

I sighed.

We walked up to the Temple of Apollo.

The columns were crumbling, the statues were broken, but it had a haunting beauty about it.

A beautiful ruin

Charles stood outside studying the structure while I went ahead.

I inspected the room, searching for any lead of what happened here or where they went.

I could see the ashes of the tried attempt of the incantation. They were cold now.

The altar was broken, crumbled on the ground.

Charles walked in the temple.

"It wasn't like that before." He stated, looking at the altar.

"What?"

"I've seen pictures of this place that were taken recently. I did a bit of research before we came in travel guides, online sites, brochures at the hotel to see what this place looked like. And the altar wasn't broken before." He explained.

I took that information in, running through a hundred difference scenarios in my head.

"Maybe something went wrong in the incantation? Or there was a fight?"

He nodded. "There could have been an explosion if something had been left out of the spell."

At that moment I saw something flutter in the wind. I walked over and picked it up.

It was a scrap of paper.

Charles came to look it.

"It's a piece of the book." He said. "It must have been ripped in the explosion."

"Can you tell what it says?" I asked, excited now.

"Only a few words and parts of sentences."

"insons insontis cruor" Innocent blood

"lumen?" Light

His voice faltered slightly. "Gabrielle"

"They needed the blood of an innocent to break the gate." I said, trying to connect the dots.

He nodded, pocketing the paper.

The silver bloods were after someone. An innocent soul.

My heart had started to quicken.

But Gabrielle was mentioned. A daughter of the light?

No. It couldn't be.

How was it? Review please!

Ya know I never got why authors would want review so badly, but since I started writing I get it. Hmm.

So spare me and press the button.

Windy