Guys, guys, guys, this chapter—as the title of it suggests—is INSANE. I'm hoping that as you read it you'll understand why it took me so long. It's the big climax and I wanted it to be as perfect as I could make it. Plus it's, you know, over 10,000 words. Which is a lot.

So I hope you've got a bit of time to spare today. If so, sit down and strap in for a fun time.

Thanks as always to my lovely reviewers! Enjoy!

Singin' oh, love / Get me out of the cold
Pull me right up by your fire / And I'll show you what home means now

When Reyna woke, it was with the same groggy confusion that accompanied a fading morning dream. A nagging panic tugged at the back of her mind, insisting that she was missing something important but having no idea where she was or how to find it.

She opened her eyes slowly, but the bright lights above her caused her vision to swim and blur as though she were lying in a tank of water and she was forced to close them again. Instead she tried to take a deep, calming breath, only to choke on a gasp as a dull pain shot through her torso. Finally she settled for staying still and silent, grinding her teeth in annoyance.

"Reyna?" a voice asked, close by and soft. "Are you awake?"

"Sort of," she replied, taken aback by how dry and weak her own voice sounded. She swallowed and tried again to open her eyes, this time with more success. The ceiling above where she lied on her back was stark white, and as the edges of her vision sharpened she finally reached a solid conclusion on where she was: a hospital room.

That was when it all came flooding back to her. Octavian—that unbelievable, underhanded bastard—had stabbed her with a knife in the heat of an explosive argument. And then, to make matters worse as only he could, he'd gone and framed Leo for the attack. Probably he'd intended her not to survive—that way, he could eliminate both her and Leo in one fell swoop and the Twelfth Legion, just as he'd threatened, really would be his to control. But even though she was now awake and alive, was she too late to do anything to stop him?

"How are you feeling?" that soft voice asked again, and with some difficulty Reyna shifted so that its owner—which turned out to be a very worried-looking Hazel Levesque—came into view.

"Mad," Reyna replied shortly, slowly pulling herself into a sitting position. The ache in her side spiked momentarily, but to her relief and satisfaction it began to recede almost immediately after. "How long have I been here?"

"Two days," Hazel replied bracingly, as though expecting Reyna to start yelling at her. "Gina said you'd be fine but it could be a bit until you woke up… I should probably go tell her, but…" She glanced over her shoulder at the door but then seemed to change her mind. Turning back to Reyna, Hazel scooted forward on her chair and asked in an urgent whisper, "Reyna, what happened? Octavian's saying Leo… But, I didn't want to believe it, I mean, there's no way…"

"Leo didn't do this," Reyna said firmly as Hazel handed her a glass of water. "It was Octavian. He's the one who tried to kill me."

"What?" Hazel breathed in a high-pitched squeak, golden eyes shooting open. "But… why?"

"Long story," Reyna answered. She wasn't sure she had time to get into the entire back-story of what happened that night. "Where's Octavian now?"

"He's…" Hazel's voice broke off as her eyebrows angled in distress. She wrung her hands in her lap, and Reyna felt a twinge of unease. "H-He's probably at the Circus, with everyone else. He didn't waste any time, Reyna, he… he had a trial yesterday and convinced the Senate to give Leo a death sentence."

Reyna opened her mouth to exclaim something in surprise and anger, but no words came out. Something stabbed so sharply at her chest she was afraid her heart had stopped.

"Frank and I tried to stop it," Hazel explained, teary-eyed. "But we… we couldn't convince enough people—not with you in the hospital, the perfect evidence he needed. And the other Greeks weren't allowed a say since they aren't part of the legion. It's supposed to be carried out this afternoon, but I…" She bowed her head, eyes downcast. "I didn't want to be there when it happened. That's why I've been here with you."

Reyna's throat was painfully dry. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Octavian would rush everything so much, what with her still being the unpredictable variable. Still, even hearing Hazel tell it, it didn't seem entirely real. All along, she'd been so worried that Octavian would discover her and Leo's secret and they'd be faced with dire consequences. But now that that was happening, it felt too much like a nightmare to be true.

"Is it…" she finally forced out, "is it done?"

Hazel glanced at the clock on the wall and grimaced. "Not yet, but there's not much time now."

Immediately the pained shock inside Reyna turned wholly into adrenaline, pushing her to pull back the light blanket covering her and swing her legs over the side of her hospital bed. There was still time. She had to do something—and soon.

"What are you doing?" Hazel asked in alarm.

Reyna reached for the stack of clean clothes on the table beside her and didn't answer. She thought it was relatively obvious.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to move yet…" Hazel said timidly.

"I feel fine," Reyna replied tersely, which was actually mostly true. She was still sore and a little weak, but the few days' rest (and undoubtedly a bit of magic healing) had done her good. "Is Frank around? A little more backup wouldn't be unwelcome."

As she pulled her head through the neck of her T-shirt, Reyna caught the pained look on Hazel's face. "Octavian had him locked up until everything was over," she explained, clearly worried. "He almost started a fight yesterday, and… I guess Octavian didn't want him making any more trouble."

Reyna swore under her breath. She'd been out of commission for two days and already Octavian had gone mad with power. "Guess it's just you and me, then," she decided grimly, standing up and wishing she had some sort of weapon. It would have to wait, though. She didn't have time for a pit stop back at the camp. "Let's go."

To her relief, Hazel didn't question her any further. Together the two of them left the hospital—Reyna authoritatively brushing off the few people they passed who tried to stop her—and hurried toward the Circus Maximus across the city, where public executions were typically held (in theory, anyway; during Reyna's time as praetor, they hadn't exactly had any public executions; she should've guessed that would be one of the first things on Octavian's to-do list once she was out of his way).

Reyna's heart was pounding mercilessly in her chest by the time the Circus came into view. Her mind kept showing her soul-wrenching scenarios in which they arrived too late, or the rest of the Legion was somewhere else entirely. She didn't know what she would do were that the case—probably strangle Octavian, for starters. She'd always known he was ruthless and conniving, but this horrible and unfair trick he was pulling on the Senate and the rest of the legion crossed a line she didn't even know could be crossed. Before, she'd assumed that even underneath the power-hungry surface Octavian had to have a human soul. Now, however, she wasn't so sure.

They did get there in time, but only barely. When Reyna and Hazel made it through the entrance archway, the first thing they heard was Octavian's voice. He was addressing a crowd of people gathered before him from a raised platform in the center of the Circus, a longsword gripped steadily in his hand. Its tip was pointed meaningfully at Leo, who was on his knees in the middle of the platform with his hands bound and a guard of First and Second Cohort legionnaires flanking him.

"…attack—with intent to kill—on not one, but both of the praetors of the Twelfth Legion," Octavian was saying in a strong, booming voice. There were still noticeable bruises on his face, which probably only helped to convince everyone of his cause. "For a crime such as this there can be no forgiveness." He took a slow, deliberate step toward Leo and shifted his sword, resting the edge of the blade against the back of his prisoner's neck. "May the gods judge you with justice," he said coldly.

As he lifted his sword arm, Reyna yelled with all her strength, "STOP!"

Every person in the Circus turned to her with evident surprise. A glare on her face and a painful stitch in her side, she started quickly down the stone steps, Hazel on her heels.

"Reyna," Octavian was the first to speak. His voice incited a chorus of hushed whispers from the onlookers. "What are you doing out of bed? You're injured, you shouldn't be moving around."

Reyna didn't reply. She didn't even spare her so-called 'boyfriend' a glance. Her eyes were locked onto Leo's as she pushed through the crowd—he'd lifted his head in sharp alarm at her voice and was looking at her as though she were some sort of ghost. Albeit a ghost he was happy to see.

She marched up the steps onto the wooden platform. "Move," she barked at the legionnaires scattered about, and they quickly scrambled out of her way. She heard Octavian's voice again, but it went in one ear and out the other as she dropped to her knees beside Leo and grabbed the sides of his face in her hands, studying him critically to ensure that he was alright.

"He told me you were dead…" Leo said in a brittle voice, intense eyes scanning her in a similar manner.

She felt a small, unbidden smile turn up the corner of her lips. "I'm fine," she assured him. She slid a hand under his jaw, gently touching the thin, mechanical collar around his neck that she hadn't noticed from a distance. The metal was ice-cold, and so, she now realized, was his usually-warm skin. "What is this?" she asked with a frown.

"Extra s-security," he stuttered with a rueful smirk, and she realized he was shaking. Whatever the contraption was, its purpose was obvious—to lower his body temperature enough to snuff out his fire.

Feeling a wave of boiling fury wash through her veins, Reyna leapt to her feet, finally registering Octavian's voice as he told her in a would-be gentle tone, "Let's have someone escort you back to the hospital so you can rest—"

"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" she snapped at him with a harsh glare.

Octavian scoffed, looking mildly offended. "I'd love for you not to hurt yourself, yes—"

"Trust me, Octavian," Reyna interrupted. "The only one about to get hurt is you."

For a second he glanced down and shook his head, mouth shifting in a tiny smirk as though he found that idea amusing. Then he glanced back up at Reyna, concern taking over his features. "It must be the blood loss," he said to someone over her head. "Oxygen deficiency—it's making her delirious and belligerent. James, Kim—if you could take her back to the hospital…"

"I'm not going anywhere," Reyna insisted—though, admittedly, she was feeling a little light-headed. Not that she was about to mention that little tidbit of information. Instead, she shoved Kim away from her as hands rested on her shoulder and said in a level voice, "Don't touch me. None of you."

Octavian sighed shortly, exasperated. He stepped forward and took Reyna by the arm, guiding her toward him and deliberately putting distance between her and Leo. "Reyna, think about this. He tried to kill you! And you aren't even afraid of him! Clearly your judgment is lacking at the moment and I really think it best—"

"Shut up!" Reyna screamed. She wrenched herself free and shoved Octavian's shoulders with an alarming amount of force, causing him to stumble backward with wide eyes and almost topple over the side of the four-foot-high platform. "Every word out of your mouth is a lie! And I'm sick and tired of pretending it's not! Why can't you tell the truth for once in your life?" She turned and pointed to Leo, noticing that Hazel had pushed her way onto the platform and was busy untying his arms. "He didn't try to kill me, Octavian," Reyna said icily. "You did."

Octavian frowned at her. "What?" he said, sounding genuinely alarmed. He lifted his arms toward her in a placating gesture. "Why would I do that? You and I are—"

"Nothing!" Reyna cut him off again, frustration increasing by the second. "We're nothing! There's nothing between us and there never has been!"

Octavian looked at the crowd before them and shrugged helplessly. Reyna chanced a glance to her right to see hands covering mouths as whispers were shot back and forth, brows creased as onlookers frowned in concerned confusion. It hit her now how this must have looked—she and Octavian had been a seemingly happy couple for almost a year, and here she comes in an injury-induced rage claiming that he'd attempted to murder her. She probably did seem delirious, especially compared to his calm demeanor. What reason did anyone have to believe her?

As this sank in, Reyna's confidence began to waver. She took an unsteady step backward, suddenly very aware of the weakness and fatigue in her body. What was she doing, confronting Octavian when she wasn't at her full mental or physical capacity? How could she possibly win?

"Reyna, it's okay," Octavian said soothingly—though when Reyna looked up she noticed a distinctly satisfied light in his eyes. "You shouldn't have to be here for this. Just let them take you back to the hospital so you can get healed up." Now close enough to touch her, he pushed her loose hair behind her ears and smiled at her, before nodding over her head and telling his subordinates, "Be careful with her. Oh, and take Hazel to see Frank."

"What?" Hazel said in a high voice as a flurry of movement sounded. Reyna whirled around to see Leo jump clumsily to his feet and make a grab for the guy who'd just snatched Hazel by the arm, pushing him off of her. Someone else quickly snagged one of Leo's wrists and twisted his arm behind his back, which prompted Hazel to shout "Let him go!" and leap toward them, trying to wrench them apart.

Octavian made a jerky movement beside Reyna, but before he could intervene she yelled, "Wait, stop!" halting everyone in their tracks. She met Hazel's questioning glance and said, "Hazel, it's… it's okay. He's right, I'm… This isn't how this is supposed to go."

"What?" Hazel said again. "But Reyna, we—"

"If I want anyone to believe me," she went on, "then… I have to explain everything." Her gaze shifted and she caught Leo's eye. He was back on his knees, worn down from the absence of body heat, but he still managed to give her an encouraging nod and a weak smile—and it was enough to provide her with the last boost of strength she needed. She could beat Octavian. She just had to do it with as much confidence as he had himself.

"You can lie all you want," she told her fellow praetor, turning to face him with a look of calm resolution. "But I'm done with it. It's time everybody knew the truth—the whole truth."

"Reyna…" Octavian started.

But it was her turn to speak. To the congregation of legionnaires and Senate members (for the first time, she took note of the fact that not one member of the Greek building team was present) before them, she said, "Octavian and I've been dating for the last year—or… so we wanted you to think. It was just business, just a way to keep an eye on each other. Neither of us really cared about the other—not in that way. And… it worked fine, for a while. …Until I realized I was in love with someone else."

She shot another glance at Leo and the collective gasp that followed was almost comical. Uriah, one of the Vulcan builders, stepped through the front row of people and yelled, "I KNEW it!" When a bunch of others—Reyna included—turned to him in surprise he backtracked, "I mean… There were signs, right? I couldn't have been the only one thinking… Well you were gone a lot, and… And you paid us way more visits than necessary, and… I'll shut up now." He backed up quietly with a sheepish grin and Reyna couldn't help a small smile. Hey, she'd take any corroboration to her story that she could get.

"Yes, I was cheating on Octavian," she said resolutely, earning quite a few disapproving stares in addition to the blank looks of astonishment. "For… a long time. Then the other night, he… he found out." She turned and gave Octavian a hard look, noticing the carefully expressionless look on his own face. "He and Leo fought. I got between them. And Octavian drove a knife into me and blamed it on him."

She'd thought her first confession had garnered a pretty big response, but it was nothing compared to this one. No one was bothering to whisper anymore. Reyna only caught snippets of speech with everyone talking at once, and it seemed like a mess of mixed reactions.

"Outrageous! Octavian would never—!"

"That scumbag! I knew I never liked him!"

"This never would've happened if Frank had become praetor last year!"

"How can we believe her? You saw her—she's crazy!"

"But it's Reyna. Why would she lie?"

"I know it sounds unlikely," Reyna shouted over everyone. "It's a big accusation, I realize that. But if you've ever trusted me—ever believed in me, then do it now. You know this isn't something I would make up."

Octavian gave her a sympathetic smile. "Just because you believe it to be true doesn't necessarily make it so. You almost died, Reyna. Isn't it possible that all of this is nothing but a dream you invented to cover up what really happened—how the man you thought you loved had been playing you all along?"

Reyna stared at him stonily. She was through letting him rile her. "So that's what you're going with?" she challenged him. "Not your best. If you knew Leo at all, you'd realize just how ridiculous this whole thing sounds. He isn't the type to plot against someone. Not like you do."

She glanced back at the congregation and felt a swell of hope when she saw the skepticism with which they'd begun to regard Octavian. The Vulcan builders, specifically—who'd gotten to know Leo's personality over the past year—were nodding to each other and glaring openly at Octavian.

"Reyna, please," Octavian went on. But there was a tiny yet distinct spark of nervousness in his eyes as he looked sideways at the legionnaires and Senate members he'd just recently had firmly under his thumb. "I'm not the one who sounds ridiculous, here, you're… you're…"

Reyna folded her arms, trying very hard not to smirk in triumph. "I'm what, Octavian? I'm right?"

His gaze shifted restlessly between her and the crowd, but it only took one look to see that they no longer trusted his story. Still, being the type of person he was, he didn't give up so easily. He rolled his eyes and huffed, waving his arms in an admissive gesture. "I can see nothing I say is going to get through to you. Why can't you see I'm only concerned for you? You need rest. James, please. Take her back. Now, if you would."

Reyna turned around, ready to fend off another attempt to guide her away, but James hadn't moved.

Octavian frowned. "Are you listening?" he asked irritably. "You and Kim will take Reyna to the hospital. Immediately."

Despite the commanding tone of his voice, both First Cohort centurions hesitated. They exchanged glances with one another, looking doubtful. Kim met Reyna's eyes and the praetor shook her head slowly, prompting Kim to nod and take a resolute step backward. James followed suit, as did the third centurion, Vince, who'd been maintaining a loose hold on Hazel. He released her, but she didn't so much as budge. She was too busy staring at Reyna in shock.

"What are you doing?" Octavian demanded. Reyna sensed the unease in his voice, though she was unsure if anyone else could. "I gave you an order. Are you disobeying a direct order? You do realize this is insubordination, don't you?"

"It isn't insubordination," Reyna pointed out, rounding on him, "because they no longer recognize your authority. That's what happens when you commit a serious crime and lie about it to their faces. They don't trust you anymore, Octavian."

He took a step backward as the crowd of legionnaires began to glare at him and shake their heads in disapproval. "I…" he muttered uncertainly. "You… But… But I'm praetor!"

Reyna shook her head. "Not anymore." It may have been a bit morbid and sadistic of her to be so pleased that for once Octavian was the one feeling trapped—that finally she could do to him what he'd been doing to her for so long. But at the moment, she didn't entirely care. "I'm sorry," she told him, only in part with sincerity. "But it's over."

For a second everything was dead silent. Octavian stared at her, not bothering to mask the fury in his eyes or the resentment in his expression. His hands balled into fists, one still clutching the longsword with which he'd wanted so badly to take off Leo's head.

"No," he growled in a low, threatening voice. "Not yet."

With surprising speed, he leapt down from the raised platform and rushed the crowd, driving the point of his sword into the gut of the first person he came across, which happened to be one of the Third Cohort centurions. People around them screamed and scrambled backward in alarm, allowing Octavian to withdraw his sword and shove by them. Hands attempted to grab him, but as they were weaponless he had an advantage, slashing his sword and forcing assailants backward. As he broke through the throng and sprinted for the archway, a handful of people followed him—his precious last few loyal followers.

"Everyone, quiet!" Reyna shouted, trying to calm the rancorous congregation even though she herself could feel her heart pounding in shock and tingling adrenaline rushing in her veins. If there was ever a time for her to hold onto her confidence as a leader, it was now.

"Georgia, Vince," she addressed two centurions in the most authoritative voice she could muster through her general soreness and exhaustion. "Mobilize the Second and go after Octavian. Be careful. Dakota, Hazel. Get Frank out of confinement and take the Fifth to help them out. Oliver, grab a team and tend to anyone injured and Uriah, come get this collar off of Leo. The rest of you, fan out. Be sure to cover the bridge and as much of the border as you can. We aren't letting him get away now."

It was gratifying to see everyone follow her orders so swiftly and readily, considering how Octavian's earlier requests had been ignored. She felt that, as praetor, she should be among those hunting down the one threatening her friends. And admittedly, there was nothing she wanted more. But to her slight frustration, she knew that, in her current state, she would be unable to provide a justifiable amount of assistance. So instead of going after Vince and the others, she took a step back from the edge of the platform and brought her hands to her head, closing her eyes and trying to massage away the insistent headache that had taken root inside her skull.

Soon a pair of chilly, long-fingered hands rested on Reyna's shoulders and her heart leapt into her throat as Octavian's face swam before her eyes. She pulled jerkily away, but when she spun around the former augur was nowhere to be seen.

"Sorry," Leo said, retracting his hands and holding them up in a gesture of surrender.

"No, don't," Reyna replied with a sigh, relaxing at once and feeling an immediate stab of guilt at her overreaction. She stepped up and slipped her arms around his waist, leaning into him and pressing her face to his shoulder as his arms encircled her back. She took a deep, slow breath, painfully aware of how uncharacteristically cold Leo's body felt. As if she needed another glaring reminder of how badly she'd failed the ones she loved.

"I'm sorry," she repeated his apology, voice muffled against the fabric of his shirt.

She felt his grip on her tighten and resisted a shiver, willing her own body heat to help rekindle his as he said, "You don't have to be. You aren't responsible for everything that jackass does. Honestly, I'm just glad to see you. And, you know… Also kind of glad you made it here when you did."

With a smile, she pulled back enough to meet his eyes. "So am I." She noticed he was no longer shaking, though his skin was noticeably pale and there was a wash of blurry exhaustion in his eyes. "Let's get out of here," she suggested. "Maybe head back to the principia for a bit… I could use a little rest after all this. And you look like you could, too."

He gave her a weak grin. "Can't argue with that."

It was a long trek back to the west side of the camp, and while the extra exercise wasn't quite beneficial to Reyna, it ended up being exactly what Leo needed. She leaned on him as they walked, aware of the void of strength in her muscles as the adrenaline from her confrontation with Octavian faded, and with every step she could sense and feel the heat returning to his body.

"Leo… I'm sorry," she said again, voice level. The second he opened his mouth she interrupted, "Shut it, let me apologize. I'm the one who started this whole thing. I knew it was dangerous from the start, but… I wasn't as careful as I should've been. I underestimated Octavian, just like I always do." She sighed, feeling a painful pang of regret—though it could also have been the stab wound. "I wish things could've happened differently. But… I just didn't realize exactly how dangerous he was."

Leo squeezed Reyna's shoulder as his eyes stared dimly ahead. "None of us did," he replied quietly. "I almost can't believe it. I mean, what kind of sick, twisted—" Suddenly he froze in his tracks, almost causing Reyna to lose what little balance she had. "No way…" he muttered.

Looking up, Reyna frowned at the blank look on his face. She followed his gaze to the northwestern sky, where a few thin, barely-visible puffs of smoke were slowly drifting upward.

"He couldn't…" Leo said absently, taking a few steps off the path.

Noticing his hands clench into fists, Reyna followed him and asked, "What?" But she'd barely gotten the word out when he suddenly surged into motion, running at full speed in the direction of the smoke. "Leo!" she yelled in alarm, stumbling after him. After a few long, slightly painful seconds, she realized where they were headed—the western border of the Field of Mars, where they'd built the docking for the aerial fleet. And her heart subsequently dropped into her stomach.

Her fear proved true when the fleet came into view—the light brush of smoke was floating up from the exhaust tower of the nearest ship, which could only logically mean one thing: Someone was inside.

Reyna rushed up the steps of the docks and caught up with Leo at the base of the smoking bireme's port bow. "Wait a minute," she said firmly, looking around to see if anyone else was nearby. "We don't know how many people he has in there. It might be smart to wait until another group notices the smoke and comes to—"

"Reyna these things are fast," Leo pointed out urgently. "With the head start they already got, they could be taking off any minute now. I don't know what he's planning, but it's a safe bet that if a warship's involved it won't be good. We can't let him get this thing in the air. If he does, we'll never catch him."

Reyna glanced up at the bow of the bireme with an agitated frown. "Maybe he doesn't know how to operate the ship," she suggested.

"Oh, I'm positive he doesn't know how to operate the ship," Leo agreed wryly. "But I also doubt he's dumb enough to board without somebody who does."

Reyna gave a short, ragged sigh in convicted defeat. Leo was right, and there wasn't anything else for it. "Let's just hope that for once his judgment was lax," she said, before striding up to the ship's hull, snatching up the rope ladder that hung over the port bow, and climbing onto the bottom rung.

Unfortunately—and expectedly—Octavian's judgment hadn't been lax at all, and the second Reyna climbed onto the deck she felt the entire ship shudder into motion. She stumbled against the rail as Leo vaulted over it and landed beside her, muttering a string of curse words under his breath.

"It's Reyna!" a voice called, prompting Reyna to spin toward the stern and see a couple legionnaires descending the stairs from the quarterdeck.

"What do we do?" she heard someone else ask.

"She's an enemy now," a rough, cold voice replied as Octavian appeared among them. Even from the opposite end of the deck, Reyna could see the hateful expression on his face. "You know what to do."

No one seemed to question his unspoken order. Each of his five followers quickly drew weapons and rushed forward across the deck toward where Reyna stood wishing, for the second time that day, that she had a sword of her own. Words wouldn't help her here, not with these people.

"I don't suppose you have an extra weapon hiding somewhere?" she said aside to Leo.

"Negative," he answered predictably. "But I can get you one. Please hold."

He thrust both arms forward and Reyna felt a wash of heat as geysers of flame shot from his hands, scorching the deck a few feet in front of the charging legionnaires and forcing them all to a grinding halt. The boy on the farthest right sidestepped the resulting three-foot-high wall of fire, but the second he was visible Leo shot a much thinner jet of flame that slammed him in the hand, causing him to yell and drop the gladius he'd been brandishing, staggering backward. Leo rushed after him through the fire and shouldered him aside, snatching up his fallen sword and retreating again.

"Here you go," he said with a grin as he handed the gladius to Reyna, who smirked in return and said wryly, "Thanks."

The second she gripped the sword and turned, she was forced to leap suddenly sideways as a flaming arrow sped toward her and nearly skewered her left arm. By that time a few other attackers had ducked around the dying fire and were bounding forward, weapons ready. Reyna met one with her sword, the metallic clang of the collision feeding her adrenaline and temporarily driving away her fatigue. The girl—a First Cohort legionnaire named Lynn—drove all her weight forward, but Reyna pivoted sideways and broke free of the grapple, turning to smack the flat of her blade against the back of Lynn's legs as the younger girl staggered. Lynn dropped to one knee and started to swing her sword in a sideways arc until Reyna rammed her elbow into Lynn's head and she fell face-first to the deck.

Reyna stood up straight and watched for a split second as Leo disarmed another legionnaire before she was intercepted once again. She used the guard of her sword to knock her attacker's blade aside and shouldered him roughly to the ground, wrenching the gladius from his grip and hurling it over the side of the ship. She leapt over him and shoved someone else sideways, and when she glanced toward the helm she caught a brief glimpse of Octavian's cloak as he hurriedly retreated down the stairs underneath the quarterdeck, disappearing belowdecks of the ship.

"Go after him," Leo told her as he appeared at her side. Reyna looked over her shoulder to see that three of their attackers seemed to be unconscious and the other two were stumbling dazedly across the deck. Glancing back at Leo, the hard, serious look on his face only fueled her own determination even more. "I'll get us back on the ground."

Without another word he ran off toward the quarterdeck and Reyna realized with some alarm that the ship had in fact risen quite a few yards into the air. She could still see the ground not too far off, but the tops of the neighboring biremes were no longer visible around them.

Shaking herself off, Reyna squeezed the hilt of her sword for the tiny sense of security it gave her and surged into motion, rushing down the cabin stairs two at a time. The indoor hallway belowdeck was long and low, dimly lit by small electric lamps that lined the walls. There were doors on either side of her, at least half a dozen of them. Octavian could be behind any one, poised and waiting to ambush her. So as Reyna moved, she stepped lightly, her feet barely creating a sound on the wooden floor and her ears strained for signs of movement from any direction.

Part of her was convinced that her rapidly-beating heart would give her away, it was pounding so vehemently against her ribcage. Before, she never would've anticipated that her conflict with Octavian would have culminated in an actual fight, especially one that pit her against legionnaires she'd known for years. She'd allowed reflex and instinct to take over when defending herself from some of them up on deck, refusing to spend much focus on whom it was she was fighting, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to do the same where it came to her fellow praetor. With him, it was much more personal—a fact which the dull ache in her side wouldn't let her forget. It was anyone's guess whether or not she'd be able to keep a level head.

Reyna was halfway down the hall when she heard a series of thumping noises from somewhere below her. She picked up her pace and sped the rest of the way to the corner, around which she found a set of metal stairs leading down. She'd only descended a few of them before another, louder bang shook the entire ship and she lost her balance, sitting down hard on the fifth step down and banging the blade of her sword against the railing. She gripped the step beside her tightly to avoid sliding down the rest of the way as alarm bells triggered in her mind. What was going on?

As she stood up and made her way carefully down the stairs to the lower level, she realized that the alarm wasn't actually in her mind at all—a rhythmic, mechanical beeping sound was emanating from somewhere to her left, and the lights on the ceiling above her had changed from white to red. This level of the ship had an entirely different feel than the living quarters above her, and not only because of the sudden warning signals. The walls and ceiling looked to be made of industrial drywall and she could see mechanical equipment humming gently behind wire fencing to her left and right. At the end of the long room, a large, metal door stood open.

"Reyna!" a voice called before she'd made the decision to investigate, and she glanced to the top of the metal stairs to see Leo quickly descending them.

"What's going on?" she asked him. "Were you able to land the ship?" As he approached her she saw what looked like blood on his left shoulder, though under the dim, crimson light she couldn't tell where it came from. She grabbed his arm and noticed him grimace. "What is this? Are you okay?"

"Major problems, not exactly, arrow wound, and yes I'm fine," he answered her questions in order. "I cancelled the navigation and locked the controls, but somebody just overloaded the engine output. The ship can't land until the engine cools. Must've been trying to increase power for a speed boost or something but the internal combustion chamber can only contain so much heat before a meltdown—hence the alarm." He pointed upward in the general direction of the red lights and mechanical beeping, then rolled his eyes. "Must've been a Class-A idiot. I mean, that's like Rocket Science 101: 'Don't overheat a pressure-oxidizing system.' Duh."

"Right," Reyna replied uncertainly. 'Duh' wasn't exactly the word she would've used. "I bet I know who our idiot was. He certainly seemed to be in a hurry earlier."

Leo clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Come on," he said, setting off for the open metal door. Reyna followed close behind him.

Even before they reached it she could feel the heat coming from the room beyond and see the flickering orange light. The air was thick with lack of oxygen and each breath seemed to add weight to Reyna's limbs, making her sword arm uncomfortably heavy. Still, she did her best to ignore it and pushed her way through the doorway ahead of Leo, unsurprised by what she saw inside.

The entire back wall of the boiler room was covered by a huge furnace. Cackling flames were leaping out from its grates and its charred top, biting at the ceiling and lighting the room with a flashing, amber glow. Sure enough, Octavian was there, furiously pulling toggle levers and grinding an iron wheel against the leftmost wall in an effort to reverse his dire mistake.

"That's enough, Octavian!" Reyna called over the sound of machinery and snapping fire. Octavian spun around wildly, his face instantaneously contorting in a hostile glower. He'd shed his cloak in the heat and his damp shirt clung to his lanky frame, sweat beading on his face and arms and giving his light skin an angry shimmer.

"Reyna!" he yelled back. "'Enough'? You shouldn't even be here! This is my ship!"

"Yeah, for about ten more minutes if you don't back off and let me fix this," Leo added, stepping forward with his eyes on the furnace.

Octavian loosed a short, hysterical bark of laughter. "You? Fix it? This is all your fault!"

"What?" Leo shot back. "I'm not the one who—"

"Everything was going great! I had it all—her, them, everything—it was all under my control! And then you had to go and screw it up!"

Reyna took an unconscious step backward, the insane look in Octavian's eyes making her nervous. If he was dangerous when he had power, how much worse would it be now that he had nothing to lose?

"Hey, don't blame me for your personal problems, dude," Leo responded.

"I only have one problem," Octavian growled. "You!" He whipped out the dagger sheathed at his waist and lunged at Leo, surprising both of the other two. Reyna snatched Leo by the arm and dragged him out of the way just in time. Octavian spun toward them and made a wild jab with his knife that Reyna deflected with her gladius, knocking his arm sideways and forcing him backward where he stumbled against a metal shelving unit piled with tools, a few of which tipped to the floor with a clang.

"Octavian, stop!" she told him firmly. "Don't you get it? Somebody has to fix this or we're all done for. Just let him do it!"

"You know," Octavian went on with an ironic chuckle, "it was actually fortunate that I failed to get rid of your Greek boy-toy last summer—how foolish would it have been not to make use of him while I could?" His eyes turned misty as he glanced upward, a wistful grin on his face. "It was the perfect plan. All I had to do was let him finish the fleet. When it was done—when it was perfect, I'd only need to arrange one accident—kill off one measly Roman builder and have the blame placed on him. 'He's been planning it all along!' I'd tell them. 'A graecus scheme! They wanted to use the air fleet against us! Well I say we turn the tables—declare war on Camp Half-Blood!'"

"War?" Reyna repeated incredulously.

"Yes!" Octavian spread his hands and stared wide-eyed at Reyna. "We're better than they are! Our military might far outstrips theirs—and it's time we proved it! Us, friends with them… Can you imagine what our ancestors would think? The shame with which they'd look at us? It's disgraceful!"

"Disgraceful?" Reyna shot back. "Octavian, look at yourself! You've lost! And now what, you're throwing a tantrum? You want to talk shame, how about refusing to accept the fact that it's over? If you just let it go, we can all walk away from this! Save some dignity at least!"

Octavian stood glaring at Reyna, gripping the hilt of his dagger so tightly his knuckles appeared whiter than usual. When he didn't immediately respond or attack, Leo took the chance to shove past him and say, "Well, get out of the way at least so I can do something about the engine you fried."

Octavian turned to sneer after him as he rushed up to the switchboard the praetor had been fiddling with moments ago. "I'm not the one in the way," he said in a low voice, before grabbing the shelving unit beside him in both hands and tearing it away from the wall. He shoved it hard and the entire structure creaked and groaned as it fell sideways toward Leo, who spun around and looked up as tools and equipment of all sorts cascaded to the floor. The top of the unit collided with the furnace and Reyna heard Leo yell as he disappeared in a cloud of fire and cracked metal sheeting.

"Leo!" Reyna shouted as the resulting blast of hot air nearly swept the breath from her lungs. With an angry and incoherent yell she turned and swung her blade at Octavian, who yelped and ducked clumsily in evasion. He dove forward and made a grab for her legs, dragging her unceremoniously to the ground. She rolled to dodge the jab of his blade, which instead glanced off the floor, and kicked him hard in the side before climbing to her knees and tackling him with all her body weight, sending his knife flying from his grip. She pinned his legs with her own, but already his hands were locked on her shoulder, shoving her sideways. He yanked himself free and scrambled to his feet, but Reyna regained her own bearings and delivered a swift and strong uppercut to his jaw as she stood, forcing him back to the ground.

"Guys!" Leo called from behind her, and she whirled around to see him shaking embers from his hair and trying to reach the control switchboard through the piled wreckage of the shelving unit. "Big problem! Our window of 'walking away from this' just got a hell of a lot smaller!"

"You can't fix it?" Reyna yelled to him across the room.

"Not anymore!" He ducked under an arm as a blast of hot flames blew from the furnace and washed harmlessly over him. "This thing's gonna blow! We gotta get out of here!"

Pulse accelerating, Reyna picked up her sword and glanced at Octavian, who was staggering to his feet and leaning against the wall. Her vengeful side strongly wanted to leave him there to burn, but she hadn't become the leader she was by giving into spiteful desires. She would deal with his crimes after they were all safely on the ground.

Which raised an important question: How exactly were they going to get to the ground?

Reyna shook that aside for now. Priority One was getting out of that boiler room. "Come on!" she yelled to Octavian before nodding to Leo, who'd approached behind her, and leading the way back into the hall.

The ship was rumbling dangerously now, the low sound nearly drowning out the engine alarm still sounding from somewhere on the ceiling. Reyna sprinted toward the metal staircase that led to the living quarters and bounded up it, but when she'd gone about two-thirds of the way the ship gave a great heave and she stumbled to one knee, feeling the staircase shake and creak beneath her. She looked over her shoulder to see Leo and Octavian behind her, both steadying themselves on the steps and looking around anxiously.

"Go, go, go!" Leo bellowed, waving an arm above his head and spurring Reyna into motion. She stumbled up the remainder of the stairs, but as she reached the top another tremor shook loose the fasteners binding the top step to the wood floor of the hallway above. Reyna felt a weightless, swooping sensation as the step below her fell away and in a reflexive spurt of motion she lunged forward, diving through the doorway and landing safely in middle level hall, feeling as though the jolt had triggered a heart attack inside her heaving chest.

The metallic crash that followed was deafening, but not so much so that Reyna couldn't hear Octavian and Leo's voices as they both shouted in alarm. She quickly climbed to her hands and knees and jumped toward the stairs—or, where the stairs had been seconds before. Her hands latched onto the doorframe to keep her from tumbling through the opening to the ground some twenty-five feet below, where Octavian and Leo had fallen amid the broken metal staircase.

"You guys okay?" she called down to them. It sounded stupid to ask, but somehow the rushing adrenaline in Reyna's body was stopping some of the oxygen flow to her brain, and her train of thought was a little on the slow side.

She heard a few senseless groans in response as they both struggled free of the wreckage. Neither of them appeared to be hurt too badly; Octavian stood and stumbled dazedly against the wire fencing behind him, a hand latched over his right bicep. Leo dropped back to one knee after a failed attempt to stand straight and proceeded to lean all his weight on his right leg.

"Is there another way up?" Reyna asked loudly, looking down the hall to her right.

"One," Leo yelled up to her, sounding breathless. "All the way at the other end of the ship. No way we make it before the engine blows."

"Then… Hang on a sec, I'll find something you can climb up." Maybe if she checked the nearby cabin rooms…

"Just go, Reyna," Leo argued. "There're emergency parachutes under the dresser in the first cabin below the stairs. Grab one and get off this ship!"

"What?" Reyna exclaimed. "I'm not leaving without you!"

"Hey!" Octavian barked at Leo, stepping away from the wall of fencing. "What, you want us to stay here and die?"

Leo rounded on him and said angrily, "She doesn't have time to find help and come back! If somebody has to make it out of this—"

"Unbelievable!" Octavian sputtered. "You think you're some big hero, don't you? A good guy, loved by everyone! Well, I'll tell you what you really are, Valdez—you're nothing but a dirty, lying, lowlife, worthless graecus waif!"

Leo's hands tightened into fists. "You did not just—!"

"And if I have to die on this gods-forsaken ship," Octavian ranted, "then the last thing I'm gonna do is kill you myself!"

Reyna wanted to tear her hair out in frustration as Octavian grabbed a broken sliver of the metal railing and swung it at Leo, who dodged unsteadily. She tried calling for them to stop, but to no avail. With an anxious huff, she stood up and turned away from the drop-off, setting off at a jog around the corner and to the nearest cabin door.

I just have to find some rope or something, she told herself firmly, though inside her nerves were on haywire. They'll calm down if I can get them off this deathtrap.

But Reyna knew she was running out of time, and she found nothing useful in the cabins. The beds weren't even furnished, so fashioning a rope out of sheets was out of the question, even if she could do it fast enough. When she reached the first cabin and pulled the parachutes Leo had told her about from under the dresser, she paused and chewed on her tongue in consternation. She didn't want to leave Leo and Octavian behind—well, admittedly, she was caring less and less about Octavian's well-being by the minute, but that didn't change the fact that even now she wanted to stick to her belief in fairness. Him aside, though, part of her seemed to have already realized that she would rather die than lose Leo for good.

I won't leave without him, she decided, grabbing three parachutes and carrying them out into the hall. I just need a little more time. There's got to be a rope or a ladder around here some—

And then it hit her—the rope ladder fastened to the deck outside, the one which they'd climbed earlier to board the ship. It was easily long enough, and no one would need it for anything else before long. Quickly Reyna dropped the parachutes and made a mad dash for the stairs, bursting onto the deck and dashing across to the break in the railing. She could feel the ship's movement even more from outside and see that they were still in the air, just above where the other ships lay still below. The legionnaires who'd attacked her earlier were nowhere to be seen; Reyna hoped they'd escaped by now and were safe on the ground.

She knelt beside the top of the rope ladder and grabbed the first rung, heaving it upward toward her. She continued to pull, straining her muscles until the entire length was spread about her on the wooden deck, then picked up her sword and sliced it free of its fasteners before doing her best to gather the heavy collection of rope and wood in her arms and drag it back to where the others waited—assuming they hadn't killed each other yet.

Back in the lower hall, Reyna attached one end of the rope ladder to the queen-size bed in the cabin across from the doorway leading down to the engineering level before pushing the rest of it through the opening. It piled on the floor far below with a loud thud, bringing a resounding halt to the activity nearby. Octavian lowered the metal bar in his arms and the tufts of flame around Leo's hands vanished as they both turned to regard this new development.

"Come on!" Reyna yelled to them, waving her hands impatiently.

Leo grinned up at her. "You're the best."

"I know. Now let's go!"

Another insistent tremor got them moving. Octavian sprinted for the ladder first, leaping onto the bottom rung and beginning a rather ungraceful climb. Leo waited a minute or so before following after him, shooting a nervous glance in the direction of the boiler room. Reyna waited in tense silence, fingers tapping a pattern against the doorframe as the danger senses of her brain kept screaming in her eardrums. She didn't know how much time they had left, but she was sure it wasn't a lot.

The next tremor came barely a few seconds later, causing the rope ladder to swing dangerously side to side. Octavian froze and tightened his grip on it, and from below him Leo called up, "No time for cold feet, buddy! Move it!"

Reyna could practically see smoke blowing from Octavian's ears, he looked so angry. "Cold feet," he grumbled through gritted teeth, before leaning back and shooting Leo a sneer and a snide, "Why don't you move it?" Then he lifted one of his legs from the ladder and delivered a savage kick to Leo's injured shoulder.

"No!" Reyna yelled, dropping to her knees as Leo cried out and lost his grip on the ladder. He slid down three rungs before he managed to snatch a wooden step with his right hand and wrap one leg around the back of the ladder, his expression tightened in a pained grimace.

Reyna felt an overwhelming mix of fury and fear. She wanted to kick Octavian in the face and knock him from the ladder, but this wasn't the time for that. The important thing was getting all of them to safety. With a frustrated growl, she said, "Octavian, just—Come on! Let's go already!"

He turned to face her and his smirk turned to a glare, but to her relief he didn't argue. He shifted his weight and began climbing again, but he'd barely gained a single rung before a deafening roar of wind sounded from below and the hall was lit as bright as day by a torrential wave of fire that whooshed from the boiler room and filled the lower hall, making all three of them scream and hide their faces from the heat. The flames incinerated the lower half of the rope ladder and reached upward, almost completely engulfing Leo—Reyna's heart stopped for a second until she saw him struggle farther up the ladder as the rung he'd been holding was turned to ash and she remembered with a sigh that fire, of course, wasn't able kill him. But that didn't mean the debris from a collapsing bireme couldn't.

"Come on!" she shouted again over the rumble of the roaring fire below. In seconds Octavian reached the top and Reyna moved aside to let him crawl past her, but without full use of his left arm Leo had a bit more trouble, and the fire below was still eating farther and farther up the ladder. Once Octavian was out of the way, Reyna knelt in the doorway and leaned over the drop-off, coughing as smoke and dry air pushed their way into her lungs. "Take my hand!" she called to Leo. She stretched an arm toward him as far as she could reach, hands shaking from exertion and anxiety.

Leo looked up at her and started to lift his good arm, still holding tight to the ladder with the other. But as his gaze slid over her shoulder, his eyes widened sharply and he yelled, "Look out!"

Reyna spun around to see that Octavian hadn't quite given up on his mad revenge scheme. He'd retrieved Reyna's forgotten sword and lifted it over his head with both hands, poised to strike Reyna in the back.

With a triumphant sneer and an insane laugh, Octavian lunged, bringing the gladius down in a deadly arc that blindingly reflected the flickering firelight below. Reyna gasped breathlessly and threw herself sideways against the doorframe with no time to spare, letting her battle reflexes push her tired body to its limits. The blade sped harmlessly past her and she readied herself for another attack, but the force of that first strike seemed too great for Octavian to rapidly recover from. The momentum of the swing carried him forward and the delight on his face turned to terror as he stumbled over the threshold into empty air. The sword fell from his grip as his arms flailed, reaching for a handhold that didn't exist, and a horrific scream escaped his throat he plunged from the drop-off and was swallowed by the raging inferno below.

Leo, who'd ducked his head through the ladder to avoid Octavian's thrashing limbs, shot a glance down toward the ground before looking up at Reyna with an expression of blank disbelief—an expression she was sure her own face mirrored as she stared into the glowing flames. It didn't seem real, what she'd just witnessed. She'd tried to save Octavian—wanted to save him, to give him another chance to be a part of the legion he'd devoted his entire life to. But in the end, he couldn't let her. His own jealous rage had ended up costing him everything—including his life.

Cold numbness spreading through her body, Reyna swallowed her shock and again reached toward Leo, shouting, "Come on! We've got to go!" This time he grabbed her wrist with his right hand and with what strength she had left she helped him up and over the threshold, into the second level hallway. They didn't stick around to see how long the rest of the ladder had until the fire chewed through it; together they rounded the corner and ran for the stairs (with no small amount of difficulty; Reyna's side ached, drawing the energy from her body, and Leo had hurt his leg when the stairs had collapsed), grabbing two parachutes on the way and slipping them quickly over their shoulders. They raced across the deck and ground to a halt at the railing.

"Go on," Leo told her as he checked both their parachutes to ensure that neither had been damaged. "Pull this chord when you're halfway to the ground. I'll be right behind you."

Reyna frowned, an inexplicable streak of panic welling up inside her—a rather inopportune time for her to lose her head, she couldn't help but think. "Behind me?"

"It's safer if we're not too close to each other," he explained. "Trust me, okay? Everything's gonna be fine."

His voice was level but Reyna could see the nervousness in his eyes. He needed that reassurance just as much as she did.

With a nod, she met his eyes and steeled her expression, taking a deep breath. "See you on the ground," she said, giving his uninjured arm a gentle squeeze before climbing over the railing and leaping into the open sky.

Reyna stole a brief glimpse of her surroundings before she was forced to shut her eyes against the rushing wind that tore at her hair and clothes as she freefell through the air, chilling her sweat-covered skin. They weren't too far above the ground comparatively, meaning Reyna had mere seconds before she reached what she assumed was the rough halfway mark and the time came to pull her chute. She yanked the cord Leo had handed her and felt a tight jolt as the chute sprang free of its pack, jerking her body to a slow glide and tugging painfully on her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see the ground fast approaching, but she hadn't reached it before an ear-splitting explosion split the air above her and she felt a downward rush of hot wind signaling that the ship she'd barely escaped from had just gone up in flames. She suddenly started to fall faster and she looked up to see that the blast had managed to singe the fabric of her parachute, charring the edges and reducing its efficacy. Luckily she was very close to the ground and there wasn't time for her to gather much momentum before she crashed into it feet-first, landing in a heap and rolling head over heels across the grass. Somehow what remained of her chute got tangled around her, obscuring her vision, and when she skidded to a halt all she could see was a blank, white sheet.

Chest heaving, Reyna reached up and tried to free herself, but it was no use. She managed to push the chute away from her face, but by then what little energy remained in her body seemed to have drained completely. Her arms and legs were limp, muscles too tired to respond anymore, and the stab wound in her side was shooting rolling waves of pain through her torso. She must have hit her head against the ground during her ungraceful landing, because there was a sharp ache coming from somewhere near her right ear. Her sight was blurred and slightly gray, but through the haze she looked up into the sky and saw a thick cloud of black smoke hovering in the distance, bits and pieces of debris falling to the ground beneath it.

With her last bit of consciousness Reyna thought of Leo, hoping that he'd made it to safety and that she'd get a chance to see him again.

Then gray turned to black and the burning world around her disappeared.

"Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here."
—Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Not a lot of editing went into this since it was so daunting to re-read, so hopefully it's relatively low on errors. That aside, whew! It was ROUGH getting this done, let me tell you. I know it's been like a month since I updated but I swear I worked on this some almost every day. It just took me that long to get it right. But man am I glad I took my time. I don't think it would've been as fun if I'd rushed it.

So the next chapter will be the last! It's sad to see this drawing to a close after so long. I've basically been planning it for two years now, after all. *Tear*. The last chapter will be short, though, so I should be able to get it up in the next week. Keep your eyes open :D

Thanks bunches, guys! Leave me a review to let me know what you thought of the big finale! See you in a few days!

-oMM