A/N; Longer than normal chapter. I edited this in a hurry, so please forgive if you find any typos. Some very important questions will be answered, and heartstrings will be tugged.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

-Addie-

As Thanatos approached me, it felt like I was dying all over again. Let me tell you, the people who say death can be peaceful? That's a crock of bull. It may not be painful, but the not remembering, the reaching for something that should be there and it's not? That part sucks big time.

Tiberius just looked on, looking from me to Thanatos. He knew better than to argue with me, because no matter what he said, it wouldn't change anything. This was something I had to do, and I loved that he understood that.

Thanatos hesitated for just a moment, his hand hovering over my chest. I met his gaze, trying to steel my resolve.

"You truly do not fear death, do you, child?"

"There are far worse things than death, Lord Thanatos."

He inclined his head and placed his hand against my chest. I expected pain, maybe an icy cold, or to feel like I was burning alive like I had in the Styx.

But nothing happened.

"That's not possible," he breathed. He grabbed my arms, and I could feel the chill in his hands on my care skin, but still nothing happened. "Unless-"

"Unless what?" I interjected.

"No soul has ever jumped into the Styx and survived. Only four have ever gone in and come out intact: Achilles, Luke Castellan, Percy Jackson, and you. It changed them, so it must have changed you as well. It seems fate has other plans for you."

He waved his hands a set of elevator doors appearing out of thin air. I almost wanted to roll my eyes. What in Hades was it with gods and elevators?

"We had a deal, Euadne. It will take you to where you died, but you will not return to your body. That is out of my power. I can tear the soul away, but rebinding it is not something I am capable of. The only advice I can give you is to seek out someone who can."

I nodded my head, but I couldn't get a nagging thought out of my head.

"What about your favor?"

"I'll think on it," he assured me with a smile. "Don't worry, I won't forget. Your friend here can press the button for you. He has to hold it down the entire time. We will meet again, Euadne."

With than Thanatos turned and walked away, vanishing just beyond the columns. I turned to look at Tiberius, and he smiled sadly at me.

I was about to go. We would be separated again. It felt like there was a gap between us that we couldn't cross anymore. Something was separating us, not matter how badly I wished it would change. There was so much I wanted to say to him, so much to thank him for. I threw my arms around him, and his wrapped around me. Everything about him was familiar, from his smell to the way he held me. Tears came to my eyes. What if there was a life, where I could have lived happily ever after with him? Would I have taken it, knowing what I know now? It hurt because part of me wanted that. The girl who grew up in Rome wanted that.

And I was no longer that girl.

"I know you have to go," he said as he pulled back. He took my face in his hands, brushing the fallen tears from my cheeks. I grabbed his hands, holding them to my face.

"Bear, I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. You should have lived, I did this to you-"

"Addie," he interrupted. "Did you love me?"

"Of course I did, I always will," I whispered. It was the truth. He brushed my cheek, pulling my hand to his lips.

"Addie, my fate was what it was meant to be. You are the love of my life, and I cherished every single minute we had together. I fulfilled my purpose, but you never got a chance to fulfill yours. You were always meant for something great, Addie, and you are meant to have more than one great love. I've watched you, and despite their orders you've always managed to find a way to do the right thing. You are the good Olympus needs. You will help them stop Gaia, I just know it."

"But what about you?"

"I got to see you one last time, hold you in my arms. I got to say goodbye. I can try for rebirth, but I may just stay in Elysium. I don't know."

"I want you to be happy," I assured him. "Please promise me you'll be happy."

"Of course. Anything for you."

The words broke something in me, and I realized that I wanted a goodbye just as bad as he did. I hugged him again, and I felt him plant a kiss in my hair. He grabbed my hand, and together, we walked over to the elevator. He pressed the button, and the doors slid open. I stepped inside, but I turned, my hands on the door edge.

"I don't know what to do, I have no idea what I'm going back to," I stammered. "What happens if I'm stuck without a body?" He grabbed my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I have no doubt you'll figure out a way. You always have."

He leaned forward, placing his lips against my cheek.

"Don't be afraid to love him, Addie. He won't leave you," he whispered in my ear. There was sadness in his eyes as he pulled back, but his smile was that same kind one that I had known and loved.

"How do you know that?"

"Because he looks at you the same way I look at you, and I'd never have willingly left you."

I laughed, tears springing to my eyes once again. I took a step back, our fingers finally leaving one another.

"I love you, Euadne Maximus. Good Luck."

The doors shut, and I began my ascent up into the living world.

Part of me wanted to sit down and cry and be miserable, but that was not an option. I had time to think.

I thought of all the words of the prophecies, and I tried to string them together.

The Oracle's, Apollo's, and the book's prophecies all swarmed in my head. Just before I died, I had an eerie feeling, that all of this was tied together somehow. I knew dying was right, but I didn't understand why. I had my encounter with death. I met him. The Styx had changed me, into what, I wasn't quite sure. I placed my hand against my chest. My heart wasn't exactly beating, but it felt like there was a faint echo there.

I was smart, Athena believed in me, so I should be able to figure this out. I focused on the additional words we found in the books, and one line rang out loud and clear in my head.

The sacrifice's life holds the key for defeat.

Blood magic is only as strong as the ties that make it. Hecate taught me that. Gaia wanted our blood so the blood of Olympus ran through her veins. It would have her invincible against the other Olympians. If I came back, then the sacrifice wouldn't be complete. She would have a weakness.

But I had no idea how to do that.

The doors opened, and I stepped out into a war zone. There was ash from dead monsters everywhere. I looked around at the hunters and demigods fighting around me, but there was only one demigod I needed to find, one who knew of death.

I needed a son of Hades.

I ran around looking for Nico. Flashes of light and rumbles from the earth echoed around the Parthenon. I fell a few times from the tremors, but I got up and kept moving. Finally Nico and Percy came into view, and Nico was in trouble. He didn't see the Laistrygoinian behind him. I ran as fast as I could, tackling him to the ground before he could be harmed. We both fell to the ground, and I rolled away from him. Running into Nico felt weird. I could touch him, but it felt like grabbing him through mud. Percy looked right at me, but his expression never changed. It was like he was looking through me. He looked back at Nico, who was shaking his head on the ground.

"Did you knock me down?" Nico asked Percy after he had pulled me up.

"No, I thought you jumped out of the way."

"I knocked you down, corpse breath! Can you two not see me?" I yelled in frustration.

Nico's eyes locked with mine, and I knew that he could see me. Percy was looking around wildly, like another monster was seconds from attacking them.

"Nico, what is it?"

"Holy Hera. It's not possible. It can't be."

"Nico, it's me. I'm back," I cautioned as I took a step closer to him. Nico was in shock. Percy moved in between us, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"Did you hit your head? There's nothing there, Nico," Percy said to him, his voice a tad frightened. I wish I could tell him that Nico was completely sane. He was just seeing the ghost like thing of his dead sacrificed cousin, no big deal.

"What do you mean?" he shouted at me. It was a yell of desperation and surprise.

"I don't think I'm dead anymore. I think I'm somewhere between, I'm not really sure what happened-"

"Nico, let's get you some nectar," Percy worried.

"Percy, I can't talk to both of you at the same time!" Nico ranted.

"Talk to who, Nico? No one is around us!"

If I could touch Nico, maybe I could touch Percy as well. I took a step closer, putting my hand on Percy's shoulder. He froze under my touch, and then flinched away, looking all around me. He looked scared, and I didn't blame him.

"Nico…what's going on? Who do you see?"

Nico took a step closer to me, a smile breaking out on his face. He looked like his dad in that moment, when he was pleasantly surprised.

"You are dead. You're supposed to be dead."

"Well, I did die."

"Nico-" Percy began, but Nico held up his hand.

"Percy, it's Addie. She's here."

"SHE'S WHAT!?" Percy yelped.

"Shh, let me talk to her. Addie, how did you get back?"

"Well, I kind of jumped off the boat into the Styx," I mentioned meekly. Nico's jaw dropped, and his disbelief just grew more evident as I told him my tale. He recapped it to Percy, whose face did the same thing.

"You jumped into the Styx, with no body?" Percy pointed out. He tone made me think that he thought I was stupid, and it really hit a button.

"Yes, I did! What else was I suppose to do? Wait for Hades to get me? Let Gaia come back?" I looked at Percy waiting for him to answer me.

"Remember, he can't hear you, Addie," Nico mused.

"Well, tell him what I said AND that he's getting on my nerves!"

Nico did, and Percy just rolled his eyes. I hit him in the arm, and he looked at where I had.

"Not fair, Addie. I can't fight back," he acknowledged. He turned towards Nico, confusion on his face. "What anchored her? Where's her spot?" He tried to look at me, but Nico just shook her head, pointing to where I really was. He looked at me, but more at my shoulder than my face. "What is your weakness?"

"Weakness?" I muttered.

"The curse of Achilles. You have to pick your Achilles' heel. What did you picture when you jumped in?" Nico suggested. I thought about it for a minute.

"I didn't really. I couldn't remember anything about my life before I jumped in. While I was in the water, I thought of Ap-, I mean, all the gods, of you guys, and how I had to come back. I didn't think of a spot."

I had to remember no one knew about Apollo and me except Percy. Nico explained it to Percy, and then added a thought. "I don't know if it will work the same way, Percy. Addie is…well, you're not a ghost. It's almost like you are on the in-between plane, if I had to guess."

"In-between?" Percy asked.

"Think of it like a transition plane. It's where souls go before they are taken to the underworld. The living can't see them, but they can touch and move things. Some ghosts stay there because they aren't ready to move on, but Addie is more than a ghost. I've never felt something like it," he finished, wonder in his voice.

A shudder ran through the ground, and a blast echoed from around the Parthenon. I felt something twist in my stomach. The earth felt sick to me. Something was altering it without its permission, and it was rebelling. It was stronger than anything I had ever felt.

"She's back," I whispered, horrified. "The gods won't be able to defeat her. The blood magic, it will stop them. It will make her invulnerable against them. She's tarnished their foundation."

Nico nodded his head and repeated my words to him. "Percy, take Jason, Thalia, and Leo. See what's going on up there. I'll get the others." Percy took off, heading towards the others. There wasn't many monsters left. It seemed they had disappeared with my arrival.

"Addie?"

I held up my hand to Nico, and I ran after Percy. He looked extremely worried as he ran, and I grabbed his arm. He stopped, but this time he didn't flinch. He looked at me, and I put my hand on his face. His eyes widened in surprise. His face broke out into a relieved expression, and he rested his own on top of mine.

"I can feel you," he whispered in wonder. "Addie, we can do this. We'll hold her off. We need you back. We need all the storm and fire we can get, and you've got plenty of both."

"I'll help in any way I can. Be safe, Percy."

I knew he couldn't hear me, but I wrapped my arms around him, hoping that would be answer enough. I ran back to Nico, knowing that if I looked back, I wouldn't be able to focus on the task at hand. Nico waved me over. He had Hazel and Annabeth with him, and he was walking towards Frank and Piper, who were with some hunters. Hazel's eyes widened at the sight of me. Annabeth was looking around, and I swear I could see tears in her eyes. The Hunters left, picking off the army and creating a perimeter.

"Okay, I've filled them in. Addie, any ideas on how we can defeat her?"

"I have one, but it's a long shot. I can't ask that of you."

"What is it, Addie?" Hazel asked. It was nice having more than once person able to hear me.

I hesitated. It was one thing to say I want to come back from the dead, another to actually do it. One, I had no idea how it was to be done. Nico might not even know how to do it. Bringing things back from death wasn't exactly something the gods approved off. Asclepius was the only one to do it, and he was killed for it. Hades said that was his domain, and that no one besides him had any business bringing back the dead. I couldn't ask them to get in trouble for me. It wasn't worth it.

Two, it made me seem selfish. I didn't know if it was the right thing to do. I had a long life. Did I really need to be brought back from the dead?

"We have to bring her back," Annabeth said firmly.

Every stopped, and Nico and Hazel looked at her. Annabeth had her fists curled, and I wanted to go and comfort her. I grabbed her hand, and she looked down in wonder.

"It makes perfect sense. Addie had to meet death for us to succeed. Nico said you weren't a ghost. What if she was never meant to die? What if everything that's happened to her is tied with this? With us? We've been thinking that the earth queen is Gaia, but what if it's her?"

Frank and Piper had made their way to us. Hazel met them, explaining the situation. Frank looked better, and I was glad for it. Nico began walking, and we all fell in behind him. I tried to let go of Annabeth's hand, but she gripped mine tighter.

"Don't," she warned. I could feel her shaking, and I realized in that moment what a brave person Annabeth Chase was. She always acted in control, but she got overwhelmed like a normal person. She just never let anyone see it. I realized she wanted to help, but she wasn't aware of what could go wrong.

"Nico, tell her, tell her the consequences. I won't do this if someone gets hurt."

"Annabeth, you can't just bring back the dead. There has to be a trade, a soul for a soul, a life for a life," Nico explained.

"But you said Addie isn't dead. All these prophecies have run through my head for days! Addie you had orders to come back, didn't you?" I squeezed her hand, and she nodded her head. She looked totally determined, and her eyes were dancing with thoughts. Annabeth looked so much like her mother in that moment that it kind of freaked me out. "An oath to keep with a final breath. What if it's her? What if you're trying to keep the oath? The sacrifice's life holds the key for defeat, it's in the prophecy, for Zeus's sake! Maybe we don't have to give a life, because she's not really dead. Can't we at least try? What other hope do we have?"

"Would it affect the blood magic?" Nico asked, looking back at me.

"There's a chance, yes. Blood magic is very finicky. It could give us the advantage we need," I responded.

"We have to try," Piper said firmly.

Nico stopped, and I saw why.

There was my body, lying limply beside an olive tree. I walked forward, looking at myself.

You know that feeling you sometimes get when you are dreaming, that you are watching it from above, but at the same time you see it from your point of view? That's how it felt when I looked at my body. I felt like I was lying there, just as I was looking down. Apollo had healed the cuts on my arms, and I looked almost like I could have been asleep. Nico walked up to it, and placed his hand on my chest. The funny thing was, I felt it, five feet away. He flinched away, looking the palest I have ever seen him.

"Addie…you're alive," he said in wonder.

"What?"

"Her heart's beating. She's breathing."

We all crowded around my body, and I could see that he was right. My chest was slowly rising and falling. I realized the echo I felt in my chest wasn't imagined. My heart was really beating.

"He didn't say I was dead. His touch couldn't kill me, the Styx did this," I realized.

Nico looked up at me, hope in his eyes.

"I've never done anything like this. I've raised souls, but I've never bound them. But it's not that much different. We'd need somebody's energy to pull from, their life force-"

"I'll do it," Frank mumbled.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Nico tell him no."

Nico opened his mouth, but Frank waved him off.

"I know she's arguing with you. Addie, you almost died trying to save me. After what my father did to you, I didn't think you'd be able to stand the sight of me. You risked your life for mine, and I can't die," he pulled out a sack from inside his pocket, and Hazel let out a gasp. "My life is tied to this piece of wood. Just like the legend. You risked yourself for me, so I will risk myself for you. Take it. It's the least I can do after what you did for me."

"I won't let him die for me. It's not worth it," I said firmly. "Hazel, talk some sense into him."

Hazel walked over to Frank, who towered over her. She reached up, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you sure?"

"I have every faith that you all won't kill me," he said with a small smile.

"No, no, no, it's too big of a risk, you guys can't!" I begged.

"Piper," Annabeth sighed.

"Addie, you come stand in front of me right now!"

I walked over, despite a part of me wanting to protest.

"Is she?" Piper fumed. Out of the corner of my head, I saw Nico bow his head. Piper took a deep breath, and although she couldn't see me, she looked right into my eyes.

"Addie, you are one of us. You are our friend, and we all want to save you. We need you. My boyfriend, your brother, Leo, and Thalia are fighting with the gods right now, and we have no idea how to stop Gaia. We have to save the world, and that means we have to save you. You are not selfish. You are a wonderful person who deserves some good in her life, and like the prophecy says, we are going to set things right. We can all do this, if we work together. So get your butt down beside your body right now, because we have a soul to bind. Do I make myself clear?"

Piper's voice was so sure and certain; I couldn't find it in me to recant her logic.

"Okay."

We moved my body so it was lying flat on the ground, and I laid down beside it. Nico was beside me, and Hazel was across from him. Piper and Annabeth were at my feet, and Frank was at my head.

"Okay, this is different from bringing someone back from the dead. I've only read about it, so we are just going to have to try. Piper, your charmspeak will help. Frank, move over beside Hazel. Take Addie's hand in your own, holding the wood. It will probably catch fire on its own, so don't be afraid. Annabeth, cover us."

Nico took Hazel's hands in his, holding them over me and my body.

"Don't you let Frank die, Nico. Promise me," I ordered him.

"I promise, Addie. No one else is dying today. You were enough," he teased.

He began to speak in Greek. He spoke of life and death, and how it was a cycle. How death was only the beginning, and the soul was eternal. I felt the mist swirl around us. Hazel was manipulating it, willing the magic in the world to help her brother. I saw the wood catch fire, but Frank remained calm. I was worried for him.

"Please work, please work. Addie has to come back. Addie will come back. Her soul will go back into her body. This will work," Piper chanted. Her words filled me with strength, and I began to feel funny. Every inch of me was falling apart, cell by cell, but I was starting to feel solid at the same time, like I was evaporating. The heat from Frank's wood in my hands was becoming uncomfortable. The echo in my chest was getting louder and louder, my heart beginning to race dangerously. Dirt and rocks began to swirl around us, cocooning us in a vortex of earth.

"It's working!" Annabeth yelled in triumph.

I was drowning. I felt everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was so hard to breath, and the harder I tried, the more desperate I felt. Everything in me felt off. This was unnatural. The world felt unnatural. I had to open my eyes. I had to open my mouth, but nothing would respond. I was locked in a prison, and I was fighting, fighting so hard. How could I let them down?

"BREATHE ADDIE!" Piper commanded. "Breathe now!"

My eyes flew open, a blast leaving me as I gasped for air. I sat up, clutching at my chest. I looked around, and I saw the others about fifteen feet away around me, getting up from the ground. They were covered in dirt, but they all looked okay.

I put my palm against my chest, and I could feel my heart beating. I ran my head through my hair. I looked up, to find Annabeth laughing weakly in front of me, looking right at me.

I was back.

Addie's back. See, I told you to have faith! Brownie points for whoever guessed that.

Please leave a review. I know I ask that a lot, but it helps motivate me to write faster. I've got other stories too, so I write what people are anxious to read. I hope I give you all something you enjoy!

Big fight coming up. You excited?

Until next time! :)