-Addie-

I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried.

Piper had even tried to charmspeak me to sleep, and do you know what happened? I slept for twenty-five minutes, and then I was wide awake again. I came to get Annabeth, and I told her she could have her bed back. If I couldn't sleep, at least I could keep watch. It felt like something was crawling all over me. My heart rate was up, and I was more anxious than I was during the years of the black plague. I didn't have anyone to talk to then besides Apollo and Athena, and Apollo was in the worst mood ever during that time period (hence the plague). I literally spent about a hundred years on pins and needles.

Before I had tried to sleep, Percy wanted to know what happened with my brother. There wasn't much to tell. I explained the conversation, and I briefly mentioned the moment of weakness I saw in my brother. Percy didn't say anything other than we all should be careful. I knew what he was thinking, but he just didn't understand. I knew my brother like the back of my hand. He was starting to regret his decision, and he was stuck. When he got stuck, he lashed out. It was just the way he was.

Threats never sat well with me. It probably had something to do with my curse and age. I was not about to follow someone else's orders after I had already done that for so long. My brother was not one to deliver threats lightly. Something was missing, a piece of the puzzle that I wasn't aware of yet. I was extremely old, and while I did not have the power of foresight or omniscience like the gods, I knew something was wrong. I could feel it in the air. Call it a sixth sense or superstition, but I knew something bad was about to happen.

I went through all the information I could think of in my head over and over again. They would attack Athens, we knew that much. There was no sign of an army anywhere though. I knew it existed. Hell, I had walked through it. I just couldn't figure out why they were waiting. It was three days until the Feast of Spes, and as far as I knew, Gaia did not have any demigods to use as sacrifices.

"Addie, you are going to worry yourself to death."

I looked over at Leo, who was lounging in a chair at the controls. He looked tired, but I knew, just like me, he was having trouble sleeping.

"I haven't died yet," I offered with a small smile. "And you're one to talk." Leo just shrugged his shoulders. I knew he was worried about Calypso, but at the moment there was nothing he could really do about it. I hoped Leo would make it through all of this and find his way back to her. Leo and I had gotten to know each other decently over the quest. He told me of his past, and from what I could tell, he and Calypso both deserved a happy life. All of these demigods did. Would it happen? Probably not. I had seen enough tragedy to make me realistic. Could they all make it out alive? I hoped they would, and I would try my best to help them achieve that.

I walked over to him, trying to understand the controls. I didn't keep up with today's modern technology that much. Urban had let me play his Xbox, but I never had a cell phone. The lights and screens were a little overwhelming to me. Leo's hands flew over the controls expertly. "What are you doing?"

"Sending out a scan of the surrounding area. This baby can detect monsters up to twenty miles out!"

"Like monster radar?" I asked. He nodded his head, a small smile on his face. "Before there were cars and stuff, I could detect armies through the ground."

"Really?" Leo asked, interest in his tone.

"Yeah, that many people marching together at once? I could feel it. Now, there's just too much going on. Cars and machinery going all the time, the ground is always having tremors. Maybe if we were in a smaller city, I could still do it," I surmised with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Well, this baby will find anything if they are marching this way," Leo explained. I nodded my head and noticed him fiddling with something in his lap.

"Still thinking about her?" I asked him. Leo hunched his shoulders, refusing to look at me in the eye. He stuck the crystal back in his pocket, looking at one of the screens. "You know, it helps to talk about it," I reminded him.

"I'll make you a deal. You tell me what's going on with you and the fire and sun lord, and I'll tell you what's going on with my nymph, savvy?"

He wiggled his eyes brows at me, and I started dying laughing.

"Are ye a pirate now, matey?" I teased him.

"That's an awfully good accent you have there."

"I may have pirated once… or a few times." I couldn't help but remember the favor I had done for Phoebe. It was back in the late 1400s, with some vile sons of Ares. Their father could boss me around, but they quickly learned that wasn't the case for them.

A beeping sound emitted from the desk, and Leo sighed in relief. He stood up, stretching his arms up over his head.

"Well, nothing is coming for us in the sky or on foot. You mind watching things while I run downstairs?"

I shook my head, stealing the chair Leo had sat in.

"I'm getting my seat back," he warned as he walked down the stairs.

"I'd love to see you try!" I shook my head laughing to myself as Leo disappeared below decks. I was the only one up here. I walked over to the railing, looking out over the city of Athens. We had moved from the Parthenon, to a field just outside of the city. You could still see it; lights were positioned around it, lighting up the spot in the soft glow of the city lights. I began to think of Rome, the way the braziers threw everything into warm relief at night, when I felt a tremor.

The earth hadn't moved. This was no earthquake. I felt it inside of me. The tremor was in my core. I walked down the gangway, feeling assurance when my feel touched the grass. I leaned down, placing my hands against the earth. It was very rocky, which I liked. I sent out a pulse, but I only felt the vibrations from the city.

Why was I even worried? Leo had said that there was nothing coming for us. I was just getting myself worked up over nothing. It was probably just the mortals doing something.

"Addie, what are you doing?" Hazel asked.

Leo and Hazel were looking down at me, their eyes slightly confused. I stood up, brushing the dirt off of my knees.

"I just thought I felt something," I muttered. I stood, but right as I stepped on the ramp, another tremor shook me. It came through my foot, and I felt it all the way to my fingertips. "Did you feel that?"

They both shook their heads, worry on their faces. I closed my eyes, and I could feel rumbles in the earth underneath me. They were growing steadily stronger with each passing minute. It felt the same way the army in Tartarus had felt, but that was impossible…unless…

"Hazel? Didn't Pasiphae say she was trying to regenerate the labyrinth when you fought her?"

"Yeah, but it didn't sound like she got very far-"

The rest of her words drowned out by the roar in my head. A cold dread filled me, and I felt my stomach drop. I don't need your help…but your friends will… Orion was warning me. I ran away from the ship, following the tremors to their point of origin. I was probably about fifty or so yards from the ship, and I reached towards the ground. Something was underneath me.

"Go get the others!" I yelled back.

Just then, the ground exploded at my feet. A large crater opened up in front of me, and I fell back against the rocky earth. A figure, dark, menacing and over thirty feet tall, loomed over me. He grabbed me by my legs, and I was in too much shock to do anything about it. A sick feeling came over me. My muscles turned to jelly, and my head swam. I finally registered the name of the giant who had grabbed me.

"Otus," I ground out.

"Maybe my mother will let me keep you as a pet," he chuckled. "You already make a fine slave, and it would anger Apollo."

"Not a chance in Hades!" I screamed. I summoned a large chunk of the earth, sending it into Otus's head. He staggered back, almost dropping me. He growled at me, grabbing me with his other hand so he was holding me upright. He pulled me closer to his face, and his eyes, every bit as large as my head, peered haughtily at me.

"There are far worse things I will do to you if you fight," he said menacingly. I gave him a glare of contempt, struggling in vain to get out of his grasp. I heard my name being called, and then heard the swoosh of something large sailing through the air. A huge spear wedged itself into Otus's leg, and he screamed in pain. He dropped me from twenty feet in the air. I tried to roll out of the fall, but I didn't do a good job. Pain flashed up my right leg, but I had to ignore it. I didn't think I broke it, but something was definitely injured.

Otus was hurt, but we couldn't kill him without a god's help. Monsters of all kinds began to creep out of the hole, flooding the area. Someone was firing the ballista at the oncoming horde, and I scrambled to get back to the ship. I had a terrible limp, but the pain wasn't nearly as terrifying as the sound of the monsters behind me. I felt like I was trapped in Tartarus all over again. I collapsed about twenty feet from the ramp, the other rushing down to meet me.

I was never good at healing magic, but I had to do something. I focused on my leg, realizing the pain was coming from my knee. I had probably torn my ACL or something like that. It was already swelling, and I tried my best to heal it. I put it in a brace I summoned, hoping that it would tide me over until after the fight. Jason helped me up from the ground, and I summoned my daggers from my wrists. Tentatively, I put some weight on my leg. I still felt some pain in my knee, but the adrenaline pumping through my system blocked most of it.

The others had made it out of the ship, and two more craters opened around us. They had caught us by surprise. We needed to get organized, to form a plan of attack. Nico walked forward, a staff in his hands. I recognized it, the Scepter of Diocletian. Roman ghosts sprung up around me, and I swear that I recognized a few of them.

"Form a perimeter, Romans!" Frank yelled.

The ghosts pushed ahead of us, keeping the army back from the ship. Thankfully, they could not fully surround us. A hillside was at our backs, but it left us nowhere to run. The only way was up, and Otus could destroy the ship before we ever made it out. The wound was already healing.

I quickly realized he was not the only giant we had to worry about.

A bronze hand reached out of the ground as a smaller giant pulled itself from the earth. The giant stood almost twenty feet tall. Two more rose from another crater, shorter than the other two. Finally, in the background rose a large giant, almost as tall as Otus. They looked similar in appearance as well. Otus was the absence of light, the anti-Apollo. He looked crippled and diseased, whereas this other Giant looked like he was made of shadows. The bronze giant stood in the middle on the field, bellowing in anger.

"Enceladus," I heard Jason say from behind me. His eyes were boring into the bronze giant, who looked coldly back at him.

"We just fought Clytius, how could he be reformed already?" Hazel sputtered. "Who's the other dark one Nico shot?"

"Otus, Bane of Apollo," I growled. I bent down, rubbing my knee. It was holding weight, but I was not sure for how long. "I'm guessing the other two would be Otis and Ephialtes?"

Jason nodded his head, and we all stood in front of the ship.

"We need a plan," Nico murmured. "We can't beat them without the gods."

"I'll take Enceladus," Annabeth said firmly. "Jason, Piper? You two can handle the twins, you've beat them before. The same goes for you, Hazel. Addie-"

"I'll help hold the army back," I said firmly. "I'll do better floating around. Frank and Leo should take Otus. Percy and Nico can help with the army or whoever needs it."

Annabeth nodded her head, and Percy clicked Riptide, bringing the bronze sword to life. The ghost line began to falter, their numbers becoming less and less.

"Can't you call them, ask them to come on and help," Percy whispered beside me.

"It's not the way it works, Percy. If we want their help, we have to prove ourselves," I muttered back to him. We all looked at each other, and we ran to meet the horde.

I had been use to fighting for such a long time, my body acted instinctually at this point. I went into a daze, if that makes sense. I remembered certain things. I remembered an empousa leaping to tackle Annabeth, and I threw my dagger, hitting it in the back. A sword cut into the calf below my injured knee, soliciting a scream of fury from me. I quickly dispatched the man who had done it. I couldn't remember who he was. Hazel fell back, and I used my magic to supplement hers. Together, we took out Clytius temporarily, so I could keep Percy from getting a sword to the back. Percy, Nico, and I worked as a perfect team, watching the other's backs as they fought the giants. Percy would kick a monster straight into my dagger, or Nico would catch one with his sword before I got overwhelmed. I was starting to grow tired. I was no god, and we could only hold off this horde for so long.

Where were the gods? I had left Athena just hours ago, and the fight was not going very well for us. The giants just kept healing from our blows, and more monster steadily made their way from the holes. What were they waiting on?

I heard a wail, and I turned to see Annabeth on the ground. Percy rushed to her aid, slicing at Enceladus until Annabeth lifted herself up. She clutched her chest, and I worried she had broken a rib. A sharp pain flashed through my head, almost causing me to be sick to my stomach.

I felt desperate, and then, something clicked in my head. Athena had ordered me to protect Annabeth and Percy. That order did not end once I got them out of Tartarus. Protect them at all costs, until Gaia is defeated or we all perish. I had to keep them safe.

I wanted to show the gods what I was capable of. I wanted to see that same look of fear I had seen on Ares's face on the giants. I wanted to protect my friends, and if they felt the need to not show up, well then I was going to have to do my best. It was the same surge that I felt when I was at the Parthenon, when I had stopped Ares from killing us all. The sky began to darken, and I dodged the stinger of a manticore. All I could think of was how tired I was, and how badly I wanted it gone. I wanted them all gone.

"Still placing hope in those who shouldn't have it?" it sneered at me.

"Enough!" I screamed. A wave left me, sending a web of cracks through the earth. I felt the landscape give way. Sections of the ground fell in, sending parts of the army into a black abyss. I felt a surge of power, and the manticore's stinger froze inches from my fingertips. It looked at me with a shocked expression, like it couldn't believe that I had finally stopped it. It began to disintegrate into a fine, ashy power. I was literally pulling its life force from it, making it vanish from in front of me.

It was gone, and I was gasping for breath. I felt energized, overly so, and my skin felt heated. I had never done anything like that before. I didn't know I could do something like that. I looked around me, and the earth looked liked a bomb went off underneath it. There was not a single monster within forty feet of me. All I could see was the dismantled earth, covered in spots by grey ash.

"Nice timing, sweetheart."

I looked to my left, and Dionysus stood beside me.

"Sweetheart!?" I stuttered back disbelievingly. Dionysus gave no sign that he had heard me other than a raise of his eyebrows. The twin giants were the closest ones to us. We watched as Otis attempted to pull his brother out of the hole. Jason was trying to hold off Otis, and Piper was trying to get Ephialtes to let go of the side of the hole.

"At least I remember your name," he admonished me. I snorted and dusted off some of the monster ashy from my clothes.

"Are you here to offer your assistance or to call me names?"

"Both," he replied off-handedly. I rolled my eyes, and then dispatched an empousa that had tried to sneak up behind me.

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" Dionysus screeched angrily. I wiped the grey ash off of my face with my arm, meeting his gaze.

"Did you just call me sweetheart?" I questioned dubiously. We both looked at each other for a minute. Dionysus was probably the only god I could backtalk that would let me get away with it.

"Touché," he said with grudging admiration. "I knew I liked you."

A/N: Another example of a chapter that got way to long. I may update again tomorrow. Its been a few days, but in my defense, I've been sick. :(

I hope ya'll enjoyed the last chapter. I didn't get a lot of feedback, which makes me worry I've done something wrong. I hope that's not the case, and if you have any constructive criticism, I'd be happy to hear it. Or if I'm doing it right, I like to hear that! For those who review, you guys have no idea how much you inspire me.

I am sorry I haven't posted the Nico oneshot yet (please don't hate me!) I just can't get the wording right, and every time I sit to write it, I just get disappointed in myself. It will come, it's just taking longer than expected. On that note, there is so much floating around in my head for these characters: if you have any headcanons/ one-shot idea/requests, I'd love to hear them and *MAYBE* make those happen!

Please leave a review! I love hearing from you guys! You all rock! :D