Thanks for reviewing everyone! Ugh, sorry for not updating earlier, if there was a reward for procrastinating, I'd get Gold. I had this chapter written for a long time but then I got lazy and then my laptop broke down when I was finally going to update, I got it back the day before yesterday. So anyways, back to the chapter.

Jason's POV: (AN: You were expecting Percy or Annabeth, right?)

"I don't know it just seems strange" I told my girlfriend.

Piper raised an eyebrow, "Even stranger than Leo going to Ogygia twice?"

"Even stranger than Percy and Annabeth disappearing off the face of Earth." I responded, looking at my hands. I quoted what Ash said on Olympus, "'You're all going to die if we don't help you in the next war' doesn't that sound a little suspicious?"

Piper shrugged as I continued with my rant, "And isn't Chaos – how did he get a kid? Does that make her a goddess?"

I would've kept going if not for the conch horn that blew three short times signifying a summons to the Amphitheater.

When we got there, I saw Ash standing next to Chiron. She snapped her fingers and all I saw was a flash of black. Next thing I know, I'm standing in the Throne Room of Olympus. At his throne, my dad looked frightened as he looked at Ash. Ash had a black aura of power surrounding her.

Ω

"Jason? Jason, wake up"

I groaned, "Five more minutes"

"Jason, you slept in. Lunch is in, like, two minutes."

My eyes shot open, "What?"

I saw Piper standing next to my bed with her hand on my arm.

"And you didn't wake me?" I asked as my stomach rumbled.

"I tried but you were out cold. What was that about?"

"I saw having a strange dream. What happened yesterday?" I asked cautiously.

"Umm, you sparred with Clarisse. After you lost that, you were ranting about how strange you thought it was that Chaos and Nyx had a child and that she's here talking about a war we were just finding out about and that Apollo knew about it. Also, how she blew up at Zeus and if looks could kill… We went out for a walk on the beach at sunset. And then you went to sleep." she summarized.

I nodded feeling wary about the Chaos armies.

The conch horn blew for lunch so we went to the dining pavilion. We got our food and went to the table for all cabin leaders – we got it a few years after the giant war. Some people still choose to sit with their cabins but Piper and I along with Leo, Calypso (she lives in the big house), Thalia (sometimes, when the hunters visit), and sometimes Nico.

I sacrificed some food to Zeus and went over to the table where Calypso, Leo, Thalia, and Nico were.

"Hey guys, check this" Leo said as he showed his latest invention.

"The only time I'll be impressed is if you can make an invention to track Annabeth and Percy." Thalia snapped, her eyes holding dark bags under.

Leo frowned at her – an expression that looked very misplaced on his face, "I'll try but I can't guarantee anything."

Calypso scowled at Thalia and kissed Leo's cheek, "What is wrong with you?"

"Guys, please. Don't start fighting."

"She started it" Calypso whined.

"You know what else I started –" Thalia began her threat but Piper cut in.

"Aren't any of the soldiers going to eat?" Piper asked changing the subject and looking around.

As if on cue, the soldiers all came into the pavilion in single file with Ash in the lead. They were all wearing the same black jacket and I noticed that some soldiers had a sea green badge with five grey stars making a pentagram if connected. Others had a badge with a dark flame – almost like hellfire – on it, a few skulls, and a black dragon littered with silver stars. I also noticed that Ash had one similar to the badge with the flame but hers had a bunch of symbols– some I recognized as Latin and Greek – but her one was rimmed with a purple-ish silver-ish color which – I assume – was to show that she's the leader. All the soldiers were wearing black leggings, jeans, or shorts and had their hoods up, somewhat masking their faces.

Ash went up to Chiron and told him something.

Chiron nodded at Ash and stomped his hooves in order to get everyone's attention. When that didn't work, Ash took control of the situation and blew a sharp whistle.

The pavilion silenced as Ash spoke, "You guys aren't ready for this. My and I soldiers will train you along with Omega and Alpha who apparently aren't here right now" she muttered the last part loud enough for everyone to hear as she looked at her soldiers.

Ω

After lunch, we all headed to the arena. Ash was in the center explaining things.

"No more fun and games, this is war. We need you all up and ready. All kids will learn archery so they don't have to get all up and close but they shall have a knife on them just in case." Her words were a mixture between old and new English. "If thou fought a war before, sharpen thee's skill but don't focus too much – don't dedicate all your time on it, fix all thee's weaknesses, don't let your emotions bring you down." She spoke in a monotone voice that a leader uses when they take charge, she sounded like she's said this many times before and with a start, I realized that she probably had; who knows when she was actually born.

She suddenly had her malicious grin, "The only emotion you're allowed to fight with is anger but don't let it cloud your judgment – it happens easily, don't let them get to you. Never have sympathy; they'll use it against thee. If you truly believe that one of them are changing sides, knock them out instead of killing them and then bring them to me and I'll see if they were lying or not. If you have any questions, feel free to cut in."

I rose my hand, "Umm, how would you know if they're lying or telling the truth?"

"I have my sources" she said vaguely, leaving me more mystified.

"Jason, you're over thinking it. You've never seen me use my powers to the limit" she said, somehow knowing my name and thoughts, creepy.

"Why are you helping us?" asked Malcolm, as curious as his half-sister used to be.

"Earth is one of my – along with my parents' – favorite planets, I don't wanna see it burn in flames. The only person allowed to do that is me" she added the last part jokingly– I hope.

Josh – one of Ares's nicer son's – said, "You said something about using anger to fuel your power, how?"

Ash answered, "You're a son of Ares, you should know. If you don't… You were there at the Battle of Manhattan, right? Remember when Clarisse got the Blessing of Ares? She slayed the Drakon and she was fighting on pure rage. Sure, her vision was tinted with red, but she succeeded, did she not?

"Never fight with emotions, they're weaknesses. That doesn't mean to become a hollow, emotionless prick. It means to listen to your brain over your heart – but only on the battlefield. Everything I say only applies to the battlefield and training, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life, just how to fight with over a fifty percent chance of winning."

"How are you so sure of this? I was immortal before I got to camp and I've never even heard of you. You're saying to listen to brains over heart, well, my brain is telling me that you're going to turn on us." accused Calypso making all the soldiers sharply turn to her.

Ash shrugged, "I've lived through enough wars to last a lifetime. I'm still here, aren't I? It's your choice whether or not to trust me, I honestly can't care any less. The reason you never heard of me is because I never wanted anyone to hear of me, yet, lo and behold, here I am. I could just wipe your memory of my existence and leave, but I won't. Wanna know why? Its cuz if I do that, it'd mean wiping everything I've ever told you, which means you'll have no strategy in the war.

"Now can I go back to explaining strategies? Anyways…"

Ω

The soldiers were miracle workers; you could just see the improvement the campers made in a day.

After we trained, Thalia asked the question that slipped my mind, "What exactly is the threat?"

Ash's eyes turned into a dark shade of black as she said, "Not is; are. There are multiple threats. You know what they say, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Forewarning: don't trust people that haven't been seen in a – crap!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" asked Nico, looking concerned.

"I just – never mind. Umm, don't trust people you haven't seen in a while that just mysteriously disappeared." She pursed her lips, "Any other questions?"

When nobody spoke up, Ash said, "Dismissed" so everyone went back to their cabins.

Nico's POV:

"Alright, what was that?" I grabbed Ash by the shoulder, stopping her.

Ash looked around as if someone might be stalking us. She grabbed my arm and shadow traveled us to her balcony.

"It's not safe to talk out there, Nico." she reprimanded, "Someone could've been listening."

"Okay, we're here now. What was that 'crap' thing about?"

She pursed her lips and mumbled to herself, "I really shouldn't tell you, I'm not even a hundred percent sure…"

"A hundred percent sure of what?" I asked, getting fed up.

She shook her head, "Nothing important. You're training on sword fighting, right?"

I was becoming more and more suspicious, Ash never said "fifty percent chance of winning"; the least she ever went to was 75 percent. She also never said "dismissed"; she says "now leave". The biggest mistake of all was "I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life"; that's exactly what she does! These things just aren't adding up, is this even Ash?

I grabbed both of her shoulders and firmly asked, "A hundred percent sure of what?"

She sighed, "Can't you just leave it alone? Why do you care, anyways?" she shoved my hands off her shoulder as if it were some disease, "You're probably just like everyone else I've trusted outside the army, trying to use me to get information."

"What are you talking about?" I asked shaking my head, "I'd never do that!"

She laughed humorously, "That's what they all said, Nic, that's what they all said before they did exactly that." she sighed and then said in a hollow voice, "Lucky me; I never fully trusted them. Been taught that since I was made – born? I don't even know anymore."

I blinked at her, is she drunk or something? I noticed her jacket tied around her waist and remembered something she told me a long time ago, "The jackets have this cool feature that can never be duplicated by any being besides dad, mom, and me; if you put it up to the light, the back shines and my dragon appears to prove if the jacket is an original or a replica."

I quickly snatched her jacket from her waist and put it up to the light even though she tried grabbing it back. She was shorter than me by about an inch – or a little less, but it was an ego booster so… – so I used that to my advantage as I held the jacket out of her reach. The back lit up with a dragon. My mouth gapped, it really is her… I slowly went back to her and put her jacket awkwardly over shoulders.

All of a sudden, Ash's eyes started flashing all different colors from black to silver to red to white and she collapsed. She would've fallen on the floor if I hadn't had my fast reflexes.

"Ash!" I exclaimed, trying to wake her. I felt for a pulse and found a light one.

After several failed attempts in trying to wake her, I decided to carry her bridal style into her room and onto her bed.

I couldn't think of what to do as I held onto her hand; should I take her to the infirmary? I should just stay here and wait for her to wake up. Should I leave and wait for one of her soldiers to come and find her? Should I –

My thoughts were cut short when I felt Ash stir. I tightened my grip on her hand as her eyes opened and quickly turned into a glare at the brightness of the room since she was used to her curtains being closed making her room dark.

She squinted at me, "Were you watching me sleep?" and then she glanced at her hand which I haven't bothered letting go of, "Umm… What?"

"What do you remember?" I asked her as she rubbed her forehead with the hand I wasn't holding.

"Nothing, yet everything" she answered, rubbing her forehead more roughly as if a genie would magically appear and give her answers.

"What's that mean?"

"I was there physically and I remember saying a bunch of things about training… After that, I felt like someone just took over my mind and started controlling my mouth." she said as she rubbed her arm. "I was suddenly saying things that I never admitted out loud. Things I buried in the deepest parts of my mind, the deepest part of the Tartarus I have in my mind." She whispered in horror.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Ash, did you swear off boys?"

"Not exactly, and not for that reason either. Sorry about blowing up at you though."

"What does 'not exactly' mean?" I said, ignoring her apology.

"I didn't 'swear off boys', I swore to maidenhood" she said as if it explained everything.

"I'm not following…"

"It means that as long as I keep my virginity intact, I'm good. I could date and stuff but I choose not to most times."

"But why?" I asked, unable to stop myself.

"Why do you care?" she asked, but unlike before, her voice wasn't filled with hollow hatred. Her voice was filled with bemusement.

"Just curious" I said, raising my hand in surrender.

She contemplated on whether or not she should tell me and said one word, "Power."

"What about it?" I asked.

"If I were to have a child, the child would be very powerful. I don't want anyone to go through the same things as me." She bit her lip, "My name represents my first kill at about… A few months after I was born? Ish. A monster crept into my room so I set it on fire and watched it burn to ashes, hence my name; Ash, and my army; Blaze."

"And you don't want to bring a child into the world with the same fate." I finished for her.

She nodded, looking down at our tangled hands.

I blushed but didn't let go as I asked, "What made you do that? You know, spill your darkest secrets?"

"I don't know but it hacked my brain" she said while rubbing her forehead again.

"How-?"

"There's a spy"

Looks like Ash's got some trust issues. This was supposed to be a short filler chapter just cuz I like making ya'll suffer, but I guess not…

Annabeth still won't say yes…

Review, spread the word, do whatever, flames will be laughed at.

Ω Yours in demigodishness and all that, peace out Ω

-Mal