The Son Of Hercules

by Echoxenvy

Follow Matt Beckett, the Son of Hercules, as he and his friends wage war on the Primordial God Ouranos and his wide variety of allies. Love, hardship, battle, loss, and glory are just five of the many things he will experience on his epic journey. Current Book: The Rising Sun. OC-Centered.

126. Return Of The Incendiaries

Back again guys. The Incendiary Trio gets some time to shine here in this installment! Long overdue, if you ask me.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, or Trials of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

15. Return Of The Incendiaries

Talon

I don't know why I thought of it, or why this particular moment brought it on...but I fell back into that night. The very same one that caused years of nightmares, years of pain...and fucking years of not being able to let go.

When I looked at Amaterasu before running off with Sera, I saw Mary's face in hers.

The face moments before the basilisk took her from me. That calm before the disaster. When I looked at Amaterasu fighting Tsukuyomi...I wasn't sure if I'd see her again.

If we beat Ouranos and I come back, what if she's dead?

That's another chance, gone.

Another person that got killed because of me.

---

Night had fell a few hours ago, with the near full moon high in the sky. Talon lay asleep in his bed, at the far end of Colter's hut.

It had been a spare for any travelers willing to pay some money for a roof and a hot meal, but that rarely happened. Once the kid came along, he finally found a good use for it.

Talon was on his side in a light sleep, hands and legs sprawled out beside him, facing his wooden dresser. On it, sat only three things. A lamp, his hat, and his sunglasses.

Talon dreamt of nothing he'd remember, but his mind raced with dreams he crafted on his own about her.

Mary was a name as sweet as the owner itself. Talon wasn't sure if there was anything like her in the world. Sure, he hadn't seen the world outside of this little town, but if he had to guess...even it paled in comparison to Mary.

As Talon began to drift back and forth in his own mind, he smiled, counting her qualities like sheep. Let's see, she's pretty, she's smart, she's kind, she's funny, she smells really damn good...

Talon honestly surprised himself at how much he'd turned into a romantic. Just a year ago he thought the idea of even kissing a girl was gross, much less Mary, who he'd been friends with for years. But with time, things change. And so had his feelings.

Mateo teased him about it, much to his annoyance. But he had an idea of where all that really came from. Mateo was jealous of how much time he spent with Mary nowadays. Before that, she was secondary. It was just them, playing cowboys and robbers, messing with Chupacabras, sneaking to places they shouldn't, having the time of their lives.

Not like he meant to turn his back on him or anything. They were still best friends, and Mateo wasn't any less important now, he'd just grown a little.

Talon took in a deep breath and rolled over on his other side. Just as he'd settled, he heard footsteps coming to his door, boots hitting the wood like a hammer.

Then came the knock. "Kid, you awake?"

Talon sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Am now."

His master, Jack Colter opened the door all the way, keeping his hand loose on the knob. Talon raised an eyebrow at him, he was in his full gunslinger getup. Old cowboy hat, leather duster, button up shirt, jeans, and boots, to top it all of, twin revolvers strapped to belts hugging his thighs.

"What are you all dressed up for?" Talon groaned, then his sleepiness shattered. He knew exactly why he'd be dressed up in the middle of the night.

"Wait...there's a monster in town?"

Colter nodded, "Yep. A bad one too. Basilisk."

"Giant snake things? Yeah, don't sound too good." Talon perked up a little, "Need some help?"

"I'd let you, but you ain't ready for this one, kid. Me and the other guys are gonna take care of it."

Talon slumped. "Yeah, whatever."

"Listen, kid. I want you to stay here and go back to sleep. Don't go outside, don't leave the house, and don't get any funny ideas, okay?"

"Why would I leave the house? I ain't stupid."

Colter deadpanned. "Yeah, I ain't either. I know you sneak off a lot with Mateo and Mary, especially during attacks. Don't do that stupid shit, at least not for tonight." He started to turn and go, but poked his head back in for another scolding. "And you really gotta stop dragging that girl into your dumb schemes."

"She's my friend. Can't help it if she wants to hang out."

"Whatever." Talon had his eyes on his blanket, and when he didn't hear Colter's boots make noise, he knew the old bastard was still giving him that look.

"Talon, look at me."

It sure made him do so. Colter rarely used his actual name. It was always 'kid' and sometimes 'boy' but never 'Talon.'

Talon looked at him.

"I'm serious about this. Stay inside tonight."

He swallowed, and nodded at him. "I-I will, Master."

"Alright. I'll be back in a bit."

With that, Colter closed his door and left the house in silence. Talon sat on his bed for several minutes, contemplating.

Usually when a monster comes to town, he sneaks off and grabs Mateo to watch the gunslingers do their thing, or grab Mary to chat for a bit on top of the old house at the backside of town. Been abandoned for years, but it used to be a town hall or something. You could see just about everything from the top.

More recently, it had become the latter. Mary's parents aren't exactly fond of Talon. Something about him being a bad influence on their daughter, or whatever. He couldn't tell you.

He knew the smart thing to do would be to stay inside. If Master was serious about it, then it had to be a pretty dangerous monster.

But on the other hand...that's more time to spend with her.

On impulse, he made his decision. He hopped out of bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed his sunglasses, but left the hat of course (Mary said she liked his hair) and made for the door.

But he skidded to a halt when he thought about that Basilisk. If something happened...he wouldn't get hurt, but she might.

He'd have to protect her if it came down to it.

Nodding to himself, he slid on his belly towards the spot under his bed, hiding the revolver he always summoned. He didn't even have to search for it, his fingers latched on to the handle first try.

He shoved it in the side of his pants and climbed out of his bedroom window, making the easy jump, taking no damage. A little perk of being invincible.

He didn't see any of the gunslingers. No sound of firing weapons, no monsters, just the crickets. Talon shot through the night in a run.

Mary's was just down the road. The Rez was a small town, only half bloods, descendants of half-bloods, and mortals in the know how occupy it. It held about one hundred in population, everybody knew everybody, and lived fairly close together.

It took a little over a minute with a full sprint to reach her home. It was much taller than Master's hut, but then again, most of the houses were. However, with her father being a son of Asclepius, god of medicine, and town healer, they got better treatment. A house pained white, three stories high with the attic, and kept clean day in and day out.

Mary took after her father. Talon wasn't a big fan of his, and vice versa. He could recognize he had a gift for healing, and did a lot of good for the Rez, but he was almost as strict as Master. Either way, Mary looked up to him, and wanted to be a healer too. Her abilities came in when she was about seven, healing this bird that got caught in the fence surrounding town by just touching it. Lately, she's been able to harness the powers better.

Talon looked up at the window to her room, knowing it by heart. The light was off, which meant she was asleep.

He smirked, and held his palm up. In his mind, the picture of a small rock appeared, and that's what came out of his hand. With a flicker of golden light, out it came, perfect size to make enough noise to wake her up, but keep the parents out of it.

He pitched it towards her window, cursing when missed.

"Dammit." He jogged forward and picked the rock back up, throwing it a second time. It hit then, making a small panging noise that he could hear from his position. He knew she heard it.

A few seconds passed. The light didn't come on, but the window was being fumbled with, curtains shaking, strands of hair peeking their way to him in and out. Finally, she managed to get it unlocked and pushed up.

She placed her hands on the ledge first and then showed herself, head and torso visible. Talon smiled at the sight. She looked as pretty as a picture. Blonde hair long and soft, covering her shoulders. All she had on was a blue nightgown, offering little warmth to the chills of the occasional breeze.

As soon as she spotted Talon with sleepy eyes, they widened, not so sleepy anymore. "Talon?!" It came out as a whisper yell. "What are you doing?"

He made a funny face and bowed mockingly. "I just came to take you out for a night on the town, miss."

She shook her head, "It's the middle of the night! And didn't you hear about the monster?"

He dropped the act. "Yeah, I heard about it. Master's out hunting it with the other gunslingers. You know what that means, don't ya?"

"That we should stay inside." She reasoned, "And you should go back to Mr. Colter's house."

Talon groaned, throwing his hand in the air casually. "Mary, Mary, Mary. They'll find and kill that thing in no time. You know that. Come on, it's a nice night, your parents are probably asleep, and we can go to our spot..."

He said the last part with a certain suaveness that really caught her attention. It made her blush, the fact that he called it their spot. The feelings weren't one sided in the slightest. It just took a little convincing to get her to bend the rules.

To add the cherry on top, he shifted so she could see his hip, and the bulge of the gun in his pants. "Besides, if anything happens, I'll protect you. Got my gun and everything. You know how good of a shot I am."

She finally chuckled, "Well, you had a good teacher."

"Yeah, yeah, you wanna come or not?" Talon said it like he didn't care. But inside, he really wanted her to say yes. Like a desperate puppy, but he could never show that. The last thing he wanted to do was get soft.

Mary thought about it, and looked back towards her bedroom door. Talon waited patiently, crossing his fingers behind his back. She looked back at him, and sighed.

"Okay. You win."

He pumped his fist and walked up to her house, just below the window. It was on the second floor, so she'd have to make a bit of a jump. But she and Talon have an established system for that. One he came up with of course.

He held out his arms, "Alright, you know the drill."

She rolled her eyes affectionately, and didn't even hesitate as she jumped out of the window, positioning herself to be caught.

Talon caught her bridal style, and lifted his eyebrows above his sunglasses so she could see them.

"Well, hello." He said, deepening his voice.

She playfully pushed him, and he let her down, but didn't go far, trailing his hand down her arm to grab her hand. Both kids smiled like crazy and felt their hearts pound out of their chest, equally nervous.

"Alright, let's go, girl." Talon said, and they took off.

It took a little longer to get to the old town hall, since it was at the very back of the Rez, in the lineup of buildings in the main square. The rez had been separated a long time ago by the houses, and the main square, where they had shops, entertainment, and all sorts of things.

Talon and Mary ran together, hand in hand, shushing each other's laughs. Mary would never admit it, but she often waited for him to show up at her window, hoping they would get to sneak off again. It was against the rules, yeah, but she had a lot of fun. Besides, nobody had gotten hurt so far.

Once they cleared the main path, they came upon the back of the old town hall. She and Talon had done this dozens of times before, and didn't change it up once. They would go to the back, specifically the left side, Talon would create a ladder with his powers, they would climb up, and sit up there for an hour or two, just talking, and sometimes going further.

This time was no different. They went through their routine, ladder and all, and made it to the roof. Talon sat down first, and held Mary's hand to keep her stabilized as she sat next to him.

Together, their feet dangled off the edge of the building, staring off into the distance. They could see the houses to their right, and the main square to their front, beyond that, nothing but sand.

But it was beautiful. It gave Talon an idea of the vastness of the world, that there was so much out there to be explored, so much he keeps missing out on. Stuck here, training for nothing.

"Wow..." Mary said, "It never gets old, huh?"

Talon just stared at it, for the longest time. Without thought, he said, "Sometimes."

She turned to him, "What?"

"Sometimes it gets old. Being stuck here."

Her smile left; happiness replaced with concern. "You've never talked about that before."

"Don't talk about it to anybody, except when I complain to Master." He shrugged, "I've never been outside of this place, Mary. I've never seen the world."

She looked away, "I've seen some of it. It's not as good as you think."

"Still, I'd at least like to see it for myself."

"Why? Why not stay here and be happy?"

"I'm happy. I'm happy with you, and Mateo. And...Master. But..."

He paused. When he took in the current situation, he realized he'd reversed the intention of even bringing her up here in the first place. He wanted to punch himself. He'd brought the mood down by talking about his stupid feelings.

Of course. He always screws this kind of thing up.

"Forget it." He grumbled.

She put an encouraging hand on his arm. "No, no, go ahead. I'm listening."

"I don't wanna bum you out."

"Talon, talk to me. I want to hear what you have to say."

And just like that, the wall that he built to block his emotions was torn down. She seemed to be the only one that could really do it, with just a sentence no less. She just had that effect on him. He felt comfortable with her, in a certain way that he didn't even feel with Colter.

He continued. "I just feel like I don't have any control over my destiny." Right when he said it, he rolled his eyes. "Hell, that sounds so lame, but it's true. I feel like for my whole life, I've been told over and over again what I'm supposed to do with myself. How I'm supposed to act, or fight, or be this person, and do this when I get older...but damn, I wanna figure it out on my own a little."

"I understand."

"Do you?" He cringed, "No, I mean, I know you do. But it's different for you. You like what you do, you like following in your dad's footsteps."

"Not always." She admitted. "Sometimes it gets to be too much. I love healing, yeah, but I just want to be a kid too. I want to have fun and hang out with you guys. Lately it feels like it's just work, work, and more work. Dad has these expectations...I don't think I can meet."

"Hey, don't say that. You're a great healer. Within a few years, you'll probably even surpass your old man."

She smiled, "Thanks."

"And look, maybe I'm being whiney, but that's just how I feel." He looked back towards his house, and thought of Colter. "He wants what's best for me. I get that I need to pay attention to him now, but one day when I get older...things'll be different. I'm gonna try things out for myself."

"Take charge." She added, "I like that."

He gave her a sly side eye. "You think it's cute?"

She giggled, "Totally."

He watched her, and slowly saw the little girl next to him become a teenager, a grown woman even. It came in a flash, but Talon never missed a beat. He wondered if she would still be around then, if he would even know her then.

He wanted to.

Reaching over, he took hold of her hand again, and took off his sunglasses.

Mary gasped, since Talon never does that. Only when he's serious about something.

"Mary...when we're both older, let's see the world together."

"W-What?" She blushed, "Talon, we're not even teenagers yet."

"I don't give a shit. I'm old enough to know that I need you in my life. Period. If I'm gonna see the world, I want you there. Maybe Mateo...maybe. I'll have to think about that one."

It made her laugh, "See the world? The entire world?"

He nodded, "Whole thing."

"You know how big it is, right?"

"I have an idea, and I don't care. We're seeing it all. Even the weird parts." He held up his pinkie. "You in?"

She made a face, "Well, I don't know, I mean, if I'm older...I'll probably be a doctor by then, with lots of patients...so I don't know if I'll have time."

He shook his head, knowing what she was up to. "Mary...quit it."

She laughed and wrapped her pinkie with his. "Promise."

"Promise."

They lowered their hands in between their laps. Talon stared into her eyes for what felt like hours. Eventually, they fell down to her lips.

Mary knew what he was doing, and thinking. She didn't mind. It made her heart run a marathon, but she didn't mind. He had been her first kiss after all. While it was weird at first, she'd gotten used to it, and even waited for him to make the first move whenever they came up here.

Talon's body leaned forward to kiss her, and she waited patiently. It would have only taken seconds to close the distance.

But it never happened.

Talon moved two inches when something below the house snapped, like the entire thing had been hit with a wrecking ball. Just as he heard it, he didn't even have time to move.

When the roof exploded, he felt Mary's pinkie get ripped from his.

Eyes now wide open, he saw Mary being pulled away from him, in the jaws of a monster. It's head poking out of the house, an ugly, terrifying looking creature, standing at least thirty feet high, with gray, scaly skin like leather, slitted yellow eyes, and rows of fangs that could tear men in half with a single scratch.

Mary sat in the center of those fangs. Right in the monster's mouth.

"Talon!" She screamed, thrusting out her hand for him to grab. Talon's eyes widened, as he just realized what was going on. He scrambled to his feet and reached out to her, but by that time, the monster had already drug her further away from the building.

"Mary!"

He tripped over the giant hole in the roof and lost his balance, hitting his side hard on what was left of the wood. With no footing at a slanted angle, he began rolling off of the side, eventually falling towards the ground.

He hit the sand on his back, and felt no pain. It allowed him to get right back up to his feet and reach for his gun.

But just as his fingers grazed the handle, he saw the most horrible thing he'd ever laid eyes upon.

It was Mary's face. Just before death. He'd never seen such a haunting look. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth parted to scream for help, but no sound could come out, due to her chest being crushed. He literally saw the light leave her eyes as the monster bit down on her.

Jaws clenching, it's fangs tore through Mary with ease, cutting her in half. Blood flew everywhere on all sides, coating the sand in red. The only thing keeping her upper half from falling off and joining her blood was the fact that the monster still held her.

Seeing it clearly now, Talon knew what it was. He had only seen the head before, but now, he saw it's long, slimy, cylindrical body that stretched into a long tail. A Basilisk.

The very same one Master warned him about.

"MARY!"

He screamed only once, his hand still on the gun. Once he saw her blood fly, and head go limp...it was over. He couldn't move. Paralyzed.

Shots rang out from his left, the side of the monster now riddled with holes. It hissed and writhed, finally opening it's mouth up enough to let Mary fall. She did, and the sight never left Talon for the rest of his life. Her body hadn't been chomped in half completely, it was still held together by her intestines, but that was all.

Upon seeing that, Talon threw up. Colter came up beside him and continued shooting the monster.

"IT'S HERE!" He shouted, "Come here, dammit! It's here!"

The other gunslingers appeared close behind and all shot a hail of rounds at the beast, each one sounding like thunder. With hundreds of celestial bronze pieces dug into his body, the Basilisk succumbed to it's wounds, and faded into golden dust.

Talon threw up the last bit his stomach could offer, and wiped his mouth. He hadn't even registered that the monster had been killed, or that Colter was there...he could only think about Mary.

He felt a hand on his back, and flinched, shooting up to punch it.

"Talon, it's me!" Colter said, "It's me, kid!"

"Mary!" He cried, tears pouring out like a faucet. "Mary! She's...she's-"

"It's alright, kid." Colter wrapped an arm around him. "It's okay."

Talon shoved him off, "No! No, it's not!" He turned around and saw her lying there. He couldn't help himself, he ran to her and threw himself down at the corpse.

"No, no, no, you gotta get up." He reached out and picked her upper half up, cradling it. Her face was almost perfect, just the way it had been not two minutes ago on that roof. The blood was only splattered a little bit on her cheek, but other than that...she could pass for normal.

Except the eyes. They were lifeless. Dead. Staring at nothing.

And he knew she was gone.

"We promised, dammit." He whimpered. "We just promised! We just fucking promised to see the world together!"

He could hear Colter telling one of the gunslingers to go get her parents and fast, that her father might be able to do something. But Talon knew it was no use.

He let her go, stood up, and stumbled in a straight path. "Oh God...it's all my fault."

"Kid, just-"

"No! I did this!" He sobbed, "I did this to her..."

---

I did.

If only I weren't so dumb. So lovestruck. She might still be here.

Sneaking out that night was the worst decision I ever made. She only went with me because I practically guilted her into it.

I disobeyed what Master said, and paid the price.

Everyone close to me gets hurt somehow. And it always ends up being my fault.

---

"I did this to you."

Talon sat on his knees in front of Mary's grave. Her parents had been furious with him, saying they hated him for what he did, blaming him, asking for justice...he never blamed them once.

Colter managed to talk them out of the extreme, somehow. Talon would've accepted whatever. If he could feel pain, he'd take any punishment. Even death.

It was raining lightly, but Talon didn't care. He wanted to feel close to her, so he got down on his knees. Colter stood behind him, silently.

He held a small piece of paper, on it, a page full of words he'd written. Just for her. He didn't know why he did it, but the night it happened, he just felt compelled to put his thoughts down on something tangible. Something that could look back at him.

Maybe it kept him from going insane.

He let his heart guide the ink. Now here he sat, reading it to her for the first and only time.

He wiped the tear from his eyes, starting over. "I...did this to you. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Colter wanted to say something, or comfort the kid. But he honestly didn't know how. And he didn't want to interrupt him.

"It'll scare me for the rest of my life. And whatever comes my way, I'll accept it. Because I know that I deserve it for what happened. I let the best thing that ever happened to me go. I'll try my best, Mary, because I know you'd want me to be happy, so I'll do it. I'll travel the world, and I'll take you with me. In the end, we'll see it all together, just like we promised."

He wrapped it up and placed it in the ground, a few inches deep. Colter came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, not saying anything.

Talon, for once, didn't stop him.

---

I can't let history repeat itself. I won't let that happen again.

So once I'm finished with Ouranos. I'm going back and helping Amaterasu take out Tsukuyomi. All this shit ends today.

Somehow, with all those memories flashing through my mind, I still managed to keep up with Sera. She looked over at me with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about me, Princess. We need to find Malachi."

"I don't think that will be very hard!" She pointed ahead, "Look!"

She was right. The forest wasn't far ahead now, and in it, I could see trees being torn apart from a struggle, leaves and branches being thrown in the sky, and lightning shooting everywhere. Malachi and Ouranos were really going at it, and we were close.

I glanced over at Sera, hesitating to say it, since I know it might offend her. But I did anyway, not helping my worries.

"Hey, if we're gonna be fighting him, just be careful. Bastard's gotten a lot stronger."

She returned my gaze, and my mouth parted in shock at what I saw.

The Sera I knew back then was no longer there. This was the Sera I saw back at her old house, fighting her family. Her lips were tight with rage, her eyes like an android's, cold and piercing. It was completely foreign to her.

Well, the old her. I should've expected this would come out again. It almost slips over my head how much she's grown, and how strong she's gotten. Physically and mentally.

When she spoke, she sounded menacing. I could tell that the Absolute Zero form Matt dubbed was coming on, but not quite here yet. Whenever she entered that state, she harnessed this voice that apparently sounded like her mother, Khione. It was pretty freaky if I'm being honest.

"Don't worry about me. I'll give my all to help Kai. I expect you to do the same."

That brokered no argument whatsoever. I take back my worries. She's fine. Completely fine. Hell, I'm the weak link here, thinking about my past and Amaterasu and all that shit. I'm the one to keep the careful eye on.

I smirked at her, and held my fist out for a bump. "Hell yeah I will. Let's kick Ouranos's ass!"

She smirked back at me and hit my fist with hers. Once her hand retracted, she thrust it towards the ground in front of her, creating a long ice carpet that stretched all the way to the forest.

"Jump behind me!"

I didn't even question it, because I knew if we were gonna beat Ouranos as a team, I needed to have full trust in them, like I always did. Go with what they say, even if it sounds crazy.

So I jumped. When I landed, I felt myself going at the speed of sound, travelling along the ice carpet on a little pedestal, with Sera in front of me, arms pushed out behind her.

"You're doing this?"

She nodded, "We need to get there faster! Hold on!"

I grabbed onto her waist, and we sped up, covering miles of distance in a couple of seconds. When we reached the forest, it stopped being a smooth straight shot. Sera had to navigate her way around the trees, the rocks, the branches, everything just to stay on board. I was surprised at how fast she could react. We didn't even graze a single trunk, yet we kept moving a thousand miles per hour it seemed, just zipping around, avoiding everything by a few inches.

Finally, I saw her head perk up, "There he is!"

We whipped towards the diagonal right. Looking over her shoulder, I could see the blue outlines of two figures going at it, struggling against each other without blows, more like a wrestling match.

Sera didn't give a shit about wrestling. She came in hot and slammed into the figure with the darker color of blue, hitting it in the side and sending it hurling into a line of trees.

Ouranos's form tore through the bark, splitting several trees in half like a big bullet. Sera got him damn good, because he flew until we couldn't even see him anymore.

Both her and I jumped off the little ice scooter. She immediately found Malachi on the ground, lying with his front pointed towards us. He looked a little dazed, like he thought he was still being attacked.

She grabbed onto one of his hands, while I grabbed onto the other. Together, we hoisted the big guy up.

"Talon? Sera?" He blinked at both of us. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you." She answered, in the same tone she used on me earlier. Boy, she was really serious right now. Any hint of timidity or bubbliness long gone. She hadn't even entered that form yet, and I'm already scared for Ouranos.

"You should be helping the others."

"No way, man." I said, "We're all a team, but we're a team first and foremost. If you're fighting Ouranos, the two of us are too."

"What about Matt and the others?"

"Matt's fighting that dragon, and I guess the others are fighting Tsukuyomi."

"Amaterasu?"

I averted my gaze, "Yeah...yeah, but she'll be fine. I can't worry about her right now."

Malachi shook his hand to loosen it up, "Both of you should really go back. I can't have you getting-"

Sera groaned and placed herself in front of him, forcing him to look at her. "Kai, I love you, but shut up."

Both of us reared our heads back. Woah. Sera just...told him to shut up. I couldn't help myself, I started snickering like a little kid. I don't think she's ever said that before.

"Sera..." He whispered in disbelief.

"Seriously." She said, "If our time together hasn't proved that we're all a part of each other, then I'm not sure what planet we are even on. We fight together. Always. Ever since we made that promise on the beach, it has always been that way. Right, Talon?"

I got over my shock and giggles to nod. "Damn right."

"We're family." She urged, placing her fist out in between all of us. "Incendiaries, to the very end."

We always put our fists in on the Island, like a little league baseball team. It was our way of getting hyped up. All these years later, it still worked. I felt like I could do just about anything.

Malachi turned to me, his face priceless. "Has she ever initiated this?"

I shrugged, "Don't think so. It was always you or me."

She shook her fist impatiently. "Incendiaries?"

Malachi finally let his own worries go. He knew better than to try and push us away. He'd get more trouble out of that than just having to fight with our annoying asses anyway, might as well let us tag along.

Both of us put our fists in at the same time, lifting them up high once they all touched. "Incendiaries!"

"So it's not a one on one, then?"

We didn't have to look far to find Ouranos, out of the ruined forest. He had his hands on his hips and twisted his body around, like he was about to go set a new track world record. "I thought I made it clear that this is a family matter."

Sera put a hand on Malachi's shoulder. "We are his family more than you'll ever be."

Before she could even finish the sentence, Ouranos busted out in laughter. "Ha! Well, you can have him now. I've completely disowned him." He clicked his tongue, which sent hot chills down my back. I hate when he does shit like this, acting like he actually cares. "I thought we were getting somewhere on Mount Othrys, but alas, if he wants to be a problem child, I'll let him."

Malachi had enough. With a growl, he tore off what remained of his hoodie and shirt, leaving him bare from the waist up. "Disowned me? Well, it's about time you made a good decision as a father. Now I don't have to be your son anymore."

Ouranos smiled mockingly. "So it seems. If we're going to do this, I want to say something first-"

"Not a chance!" Malachi shouted, and dove at him, his feet never touching the ground. Sera and I ran right after him, prepared to side swipe Ouranos while Malachi attacks his front.

But the Primordial thought ahead. Without even moving, he summoned a huge lightning bolt from the gray sky. It came down like a UFO beam and covered him completely, sending out a wall of energy to knock us back.

It hit us in the chest hard. I was on my back in an instant, digging through the dirt like a groundhog. I kicked up my boots and planted my heels down to stop the momentum, not wanting to be sent into next week if I could help it.

The three of us got up. Ouranos now held his Heavenly Diamond spear, the god-killing weapon that we all despised. Once that thing enters the fray, the situation gets ten times more difficult. No, scratch that, a hundred times.

He held it on his shoulder like a lumberjack carrying a log, smirking confidently at us. "No, no, no. You're not interrupting me this time. I have important things to talk about!"

"Bastard's stalling." I muttered, so only they could hear. "Trying to keep us away from the others."

Malachi nor Sera probably even heard me. Next thing I knew, Malachi was taking off again in a flash of blue. He jumped even faster this time, feet inches from the ground. He wasted no time in pulling his fist back to launch it.

Ouranos had his eyes closed, about to say something annoying, or stupid. When he opened them, they got wide. Malachi's fist crashed into his cheek, shattering Ouranos's posture.

It made a thunderous sound, whether that be the actual impact, or the shockwave, I couldn't tell. But Malachi had hit him hard, knuckle on cheekbone. Ouranos's face told the entire story. It was pretty damn awesome to watch his mouth get all smushed together.

I could only see the back of him, but by the way Malachi spoke, I could tell he was mad. "You've talked enough!" He let gravity take over then, landing to the ground and retracting his fist. It wasn't a slow movement at all, in fact, it was like pumping a shotgun. Click, click, Malachi's fist reappeared from Ouranos's cheek to his gut, digging straight up all the way to his sternum.

"AGH!" Ouranos grunted, spit flying out of his mouth. Malachi practically held him on his fist like a flagpole, and didn't stop there. He yanked his fist out and grabbed onto the sides of his father's head, balling his replicated hair in his fists. I wanted to jump for joy at the sight of Ouranos, completely thunderstruck by what was going on, and the pain on his face at the hair-grabbing.

"It's time to settle this, right?!" Malachi boomed, bashing his forehead against Ouranos's, but never letting go of his hair. "I think that's exactly right! It's time to pay it all back!" He kneed him in the gut, "You'll suffer the way I suffered!" Finishing off the combination with his eyes glowing. I'd rarely seen Malachi do this, but it happened every now and then. He opened his eyelids as far as they could go, and shot little sparks of lightning from his eyes.

The twin bolts struck Ouranos in the face and Malachi let go, just in time. He doubled over on the grass and grabbed at his face with his spear-free hand, groaning in pain. I could only imagine the satisfaction Malachi felt, being able to stalk towards his shit father, lying on the ground in front of him.

My friend's voice was practically unrecognizable, like Sera's earlier. "You'll pay for everything you've done. I'll be your judge, Ouranos."

Sera's voice came to me, "Come on, let's help!"

I nodded at her, and started to charge in, hopefully getting a few shots in while he's down. But Ouranos sat up quickly, and pushed his hands out towards the both of us. I felt myself stop dead in my tracks, like I missed a huge pit of quicksand and suddenly fell in it. What the hell?

Looking up, all I saw was a web of lightning. Nah, not even a web, but a cage. It had a square shape, offering maybe a few inches of wiggle room. It glowed blue, thick bars and all, resembling a prisoner's cage, the kind they trap people in jungle movies with.

Sera had been caught too. I looked over and saw her struggling against it, trying to shoot ice at it, but it only burst upon impact with the lightning. It may have been a stupid move, but I couldn't think of anything better to do. I reached out with my finger and poked the blue bar in front of me.

Bad idea. It zapped me with a loud crackle, and while I didn't feel the pain of being shocked, I sure as hell felt the force behind it. It pushed my hand back and made me stumble, all from just a poke.

Malachi's head darted at us, looking back and forth between Sera and I. Ouranos's hair had been disheveled from Malachi's assault, so his eyes were hidden, but I could see his wide smirk.

"You'll be my judge, eh?" His chest heaved with a small giggle. "Okay then. Judge me. Tell me the verdict. Do I deserve death?"

I could see the gears in Malachi's head turning. Like I've said before, he ain't the smartest in common sense, but he's a genius in battle. He took his focus away from us, but I knew he was thinking of a plan to get us out, all the while defending himself from the upcoming barrage Ouranos had to offer.

Electricity started from the back of his neck and coiled all the way down his shoulder and arm, to his fingertips. Slowly, a long, identical spear to Ouranos's materialized in Malachi's palm. Less power than Heavenly Diamond, obviously, but it would have to do.

He spun it around once and lowered his stance, placing the spear by his side in the other hand, opting for a double grip. He glared at Ouranos, not even having to respond.

"I see." Ouranos shifted his right foot back, widening his position. He lifted his own spear higher than Malachi's, opting to hold it beside his head at eye level. I decided to just let all the context go for one second and appreciate the layers of combat going on here. I gotta give credit to Master for teaching me the basics of all weapons, so I could get a general grasp of what to expect from every opponent. Looking at Malachi and Ouranos, even without mind-reading powers, I could tell the initial thoughts of both.

Malachi held his spear low, with both hands. The tip wasn't precisely aimed at Ouranos, which meant he would most likely go for a swiping attack, or something stronger and slower. Meanwhile, Ouranos had his aimed higher, with the same double grip, only his hands were farther apart. This meant he'd probably go for a stab, or a series of stabs. Less powerful attacks, but faster and deadlier if done right.

Alright, sorry about that. I only nerd out for one thing. Fights. Had to for a second there.

Both of them held a hard gaze, the very air bending at the tension. Malachi's mouth was lined with years of frustration and hate, while Ouranos's looked the exact opposite, smirking playfully. Behind that, there was excitement. He wanted to kill Malachi, which I know sounds obvious, but there's more to it than just him being on our side. It's deeming him a failure. Ouranos created this boy meant to be a good little machine, but good little machine wised up to his insanity and broke away.

Ouranos hates not being in control. Especially when it comes to his own flesh and blood. It's hard to tell whose desire to kill the other is stronger.

Finally, Ouranos began the duel. He took a different approach than just marching forward, instead he shuffled around in long, zig zag like strides, trying to confuse Malachi. They were quick, and it only took maybe five hops before he reached his son.

To which he changed spear positions in an instant. Lowering his own to stab upward at Malachi's head. Malachi weaved it out of the way without even having to use his body. At the same time, he hoisted up his lightning spear to knock away Ouranos's, just in case he found an opening for a counterattack.

Ouranos probably could've gone for something else, but he chose to retract and try again, jogging out in a long circle and coming back at Malachi, this time straight forward and personal.

His face broke out into a crazed smile as he launched the Heavenly Diamond spear in the air, putting his entire body into it. It reached Malachi in a millisecond. I was barely able to even see it, if it were me, it would've impaled my ass for sure. Good thing Malachi's got the better eye. He was able to hit it right on the blade and send it flying.

But it became clear that wasn't Ouranos's plan. He only threw it as a distraction. Malachi saw only the spear when he hit it, he wasn't expecting Ouranos to run up behind it as cover for the real attack.

Which turned out to be a front kick. Ouranos slammed his foot at Malachi's chest, barely blocking it with the center of his lightnign spear. But the brunt of the attack was enough to knock him off balance.

Ouranos kept pressing, and summoned the spear back to his hand with telekinesis. He caught it, and began a quick barrage of strikes.

"All these years, and you still fall for such simple tricks!" Ouranos swung and cleaved, with Malachi barely deflecting each blow. It was clear Ouranos had the upper hand skill wise. "Being among these ingrates has dulled your Primordial instincts!"

Sera was freaking out in her cage, creating ice wall after ice wall to push against the lightning, but each attempt failed. She groaned in frustration, "Talon, what are we going to do?!"

"Let me figure something out!" Pretty sure as long as he's got the upper hand, he'll be able to keep these things up. Malachi needs to get another good hit in, or we need to somehow reach him ourselves.

I looked around my cage desperately. There were spaces in the makeshift cell bars, but even if I tried to poke my arm through it, it would throw me back.

"Use Absolute Zero!" I blurted, unable to think of anything. Sera curled her lip for a second, forgetting what we called her form, then she remembered.

"Oh! R-Right!" She closed her eyes and strained herself. A few seconds passed, and nothing happened.

She released her tense posture, looking like she was going to cry in frustration. "Ugh! It's not working! I think it has to be triggered!"

I gestured towards the fight, "Evil psycho about to kill your boyfriend! That's a pretty good trigger if you ask me!"

Ouranos ceased his relentless combo, letting Malachi stumble back for a wide shot. He tucked the spear down low, and used one hand to swing up. The Heavenly Diamond hit Malachi's lightning right in the middle, breaking it in half.

His electric spear, upon being snapped, dispersed completely.

Ouranos smirked smugly. "You forget. I taught you everything you know and have, Malachi. Fighting me is especially useless for you."

His aura shifted to cover his fist, the focus and attention making it lethal. With a lunge, he jabbed at Malachi's heart with his fingers outstretched, aiming to stab right through and rip his organs out.

I got worried for half a second before I remembered the curse. Oh boy, Ouranos is in for a surprise.

Right on impact, Ouranos's fingers bent every sort of way you could imagine. His fingers broke, making a loud rattling noise, like muffled firecrackers.

He howled in pain and yanked his hand back. When he looked at his zig zagged, mangled little piggies, his face was priceless.

"What the hell?"

Now it was Malachi's turn to be smug. "You didn't teach me everything."

Ouranos shook his head and laughed. A thin line of lightning came down from the clouds and covered him, like a dose of water. When it zapped away, his fingers were as good as new.

"Curse of Achilles?" He guessed right on the money. But then again, not much else that can make someone that durable. He didn't exactly have much to guess from. "Very interesting. I got to give it to you, you all keep finding ways to surprise me. What, first Matthias with the Master Bolt, Talon bleeding Ichor, now you with the Curse, whats next? Does your girlfriend possess the Helm of Darkness?"

Malachi ignored that. "I gained it in the Underworld. One of the reasons we were able to defeat your brother."

Ouranos's smile fell at that, turning into a hateful scowl. "I can't blame you for holding that one above me. Sure, go ahead. But I'm not Tartarus. I'm not going to underestimate you the way he did."

"You may have more skill, but I'm stronger." Malachi said. "It's only a matter of time."

"Don't be so cocky. With the Curse, comes a weak spot." Malachi's face twitched, and Ouranos's smile returned. "That's right, I know the story. Every Curse bearer has one, so I'll just have to find yours."

Malachi didn't say anything. None of us knew where his one weak spot was. Since he'd gotten the power, he opted not to tell us, not even Sera. We understood, I mean, you never know what could happen. Someone could read our minds and find it, or torture us, who knows.

Ouranos continued, "Besides, even if I can't find it, I doubt it'll hold up against Heavenly Diamond!"

Malachi barely caught the spear before it's blade hit his face. Since he couldn't grab it at the tip, he had to press his hands together down the shaft, just above Ouranos's hands.

Ouranos, realizing the disadvantage, pushed his foot out and caught Malachi by the knee, tripping him.

Malachi fell on his back, and Ouranos pounced. He placed the tripping foot on Malachi's chest and pushed down with the spear.

"That's it!" Ouranos laughed. "Just a little poke is all it takes!"

It was a horrible position to be in, especially with that kind of grip. Soon Malachi's strength would give out, and the spear would hit him. The only way he'd be able to survive is by outside interference, or using lightning. But then he'd have to take focus off of his already weak grip.

We had to do something.

Malachi's face turned red, his arms shook with effort as the spear moved inch by inch, just millimeters away from nicking his nose. Even that small cut alone would be enough to do it. Once that chaotic energy gets inside, it eats away at your soul.

I pounded my fists against the electric bars, each time not working better than the last. At this point, I was getting desperate, and pissed.

"Come on, think of something, dammit." I racked my brain, which probably shouldn't go to what should I create first, especially these days. But after so many years of the same thing, I can't help it. I went down the list and checked no box. A saw wouldn't work, a bolt cutter, hell, not even a ton of dynamite would do the trick. We entered the realm where that shit becomes useless long ago.

Okay then, I need something that's golden.

The sword.

Got it. Alright, I just need to concentrate. Think of the sword, think of the sword...

I saw it in my head, hovering above the ground in a dark room, like it was ready to be shot in a commercial. Okay, now I had a good mental image, I just needed to make it real.

It was hard to block out the sounds of Sera's desperate cries, and the struggle of the fight, but I managed to get everything down to the way it was before, you know, when I can't hear anything. That's usually when my powers work the fastest.

And it did. Just like that, I felt something warm enter my hand. Opening my eyes, there it was. A three-foot-long sword made from golden light.

"Nice." I muttered. Alright, time to break out of here. I reared my hand back for a swing, but I must've not noticed how much worse the situation had gotten for Malachi. He was a second away from being cut by that spear, I didn't have time to break out of here, much less save him.

I honestly thought that was gonna be it, and I began to pray that the Curse can somehow negate the effects of Heavenly Diamond. But another thing I hadn't been focusing on, was Sera. Apparently, she'd been watching the whole time, freaking out, and this close call sent her over the edge.

"LEAVE HIM ALOOOONEEEEEE!" Her roar deepened mid shout, reverberating across the entire forest area. It wasn't a high-pitched noise, but it was so loud that I had to cover my ears to keep them from bleeding.

Her voice seemed to emit frost too. Like literal frost. When the soundwave of her yell reached my lightning cage, it changed from whirring electricity, to frozen ice. As in the lightning stopped moving completely. The cold overpowered the heat.

I took a chance and poked at one of the makeshift cell bars, surprised to see that it shattered on impact. Sera basically turned my cage into an icicle house.

Slamming my boot into the other bars, I hopped out of my cage, home free and ready to kick ass. But hell, with what Sera just did, I'm not sure I'm gonna be delivering the ass kicking this time.

The force of her little outburst pushed Ouranos off of Malachi. He now stood twenty feet away from him, an arm covering his nose and mouth, eyes squinted, as if he was staring in the heart of a blizzard.

Which he might as well be. The forest was slowly turning into just that, a giant blizzard. The green swathe of trees and plant life were slowly being eaten away and overtaken by the creeping snow, coming from Sera. It looked like a painter deciding to change the atmosphere and season mid-project, brushing a bright white over what they'd already done.

It was insane, to be honest. I'd never really seen this sort of display from Sera before, well, except when she...

Oh.

I get it now. Shit's about to get real.

I jogged over to Malachi, still on the ground, and confused about the change of temperature. "Come on, man, we gotta get up."

"Where is this coming from?"

"Where do you think?" I pulled him up.

He and I looked over to the thick cloud of snow creating the change. It reminded me of a god's true form or something, where they appear as whatever animal they're symbol is. This was just a condensed version of a snowstorm, spitting out small specks of frost here and there like arrows, and everywhere they hit, they spread the ice virus. At this point, the entire forest had been transformed into a snowy landscape, and probably miles beyond that.

Malachi couldn't believe it. "Sera's doing that?"

"Well, either her or Frosty the Snowman. For our sake, I'm hoping it's her."

In the heart of the storm, a shadowy figure got closer, walking towards us. Within a few seconds, Sera emerged, and I knew right then, this was Absolute Zero.

She looked the same way she did that night. The night she destroyed her old mansion and beat the shit out of her abusive, psycho family. At the time, I really didn't know what it was, and I'll admit, it shook me a little. I'd known Sera for years, and she had moments where she would get annoyed or angry, but those were few and far between. That was...different. This was different.

On that night, if you would've asked me right after it happened, what I thought it was...I would've told you she summoned a demon inside of her to take over and go to town. The demon that's been building for all those years of abuse, and horrible treatment from her family. The monster they created inside of her had been kept in a dungeon this entire time by her, and it was finally being let out.

Maybe that's what it was. Just a barrage of emotions that Sera managed to keep hidden for her entire life, under some barrier. Or maybe it was just some hidden potential that she'd never tapped into before, triggered by rage. I couldn't tell you for sure.

Malachi had his own thoughts on it. He was all for Sera having an enhanced state of her own, but he was worried what that meant, and where she was getting the power from. I remember one night after we returned from the battle on Mount Othrys against Atlas, he voiced his concerns to me.

Emotions were pretty bittersweet in the aftermath. We managed to take the titan down, but lost Harper's brother, Levi, in the process. Not to mention things were still shaky with Malachi and Sera's relationship. I tried to do my best to console the big guy.

"I'm just glad we made it out of that, man. Didn't think any of us would survive for a second there."

"Yeah..."

"You alright?"

"It's just...Sera."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm sorry about what happened, man. But hey, I wouldn't sulk on it too much, you guys are pretty much meant for each other. What's one argument gonna do to something like that?"

"It wasn't just an argument, Talon. I killed innocent people, just to keep her alive. She feels guilty. I feel guilty."

"I...know, man. Sorry. Wasn't trying to be insensitive, I was just-"

"I understand. You're a good friend for trying to cheer me up. And to be honest, I wasn't initially referring to our parting."

"Then what was it?"

"Her enhanced state. What does Matt call it?"

"Absolute Zero?"

"Yes. That. I worry about it."

"What about it? You think it drains her lifeforce or something?"

"No, no, her lifeforce is fine. I can sense it remaining intact. It's not that, it's just...where she draws that power from."

"What do you mean? Isn't it a good thing?"

"I suppose. But the look on her face, and the way she fights, it reminds me of me when I was possessed by Ouranos."

"You think she's possessed? By her mom or something?"

"No. It comes from an emotion. A trigger of rage."

"Well that's it then. She saw Harper about to get shot, then she saw Atlas about to hurt you, and she transformed. Simple."

"Maybe not. Remember how her family grew up to be killers? All of them trained from a young age to be emotionless and without a heart?"

"Yeah. So?"

"What if Sera is drawing from that side of herself? What if the family instinct was in there all along?"

"Nah, no way, man. You saw her, both of those times. I mean, yeah, she acted different, but she wasn't some mindless monster. She knew who we were, and she still held her own moral code. Just without fear."

"Without fear..."

"That's all it is. Just a culmination of her growth. You know, getting less scared and all."

"Perhaps you're right."

I still didn't know for sure.

But I do know that it's powerful.

When Matt came up with the name Absolute Zero, I thought it was pretty accurate. The temperature that surrounded her was definitely hundreds of degrees below freezing. An impossible level of climate never recorded. I can't feel pain, but I can say that then and now, it gives even me shivers.

And Malachi, who's turning a little pale right next to me, already able to see his breath in the air. "I didn't think I would see this again..."

"Damn glad we are."

Sera walked slowly out of the snow cloud, clad in a blinding white dress from the storm she created, her hair an equal color, an even lighter shade than usual, if that's possible. The ends of both her dress and hair emitted little fragments of ice that fizzled out before ever hitting the ground, making it look like she tucked a little snowflake machine between her legs.

But the part that freaked me out, even still, were her eyes. The dress and hair just brightened up a bit, I could get past that, but those eyes changed completely. Sera's were always a bright blue, but when she entered this state, they turned dark, an almost navy color, and behind that, where the white behind the iris should've been, lie nothing but black.

They were fixated on Ouranos, who stood completely still, his teeth gritted.

"What...are you...doing?!" His voice was strained. Malachi and I didn't have a clue as to what was happening, that is, until we saw the thin layer of ice sneaking up his shins. Sera had trapped him.

She smirked, "How does it feel, Ouranos?" She had her hands out in front of her, moving them slowly every now and then to tighten the trap. "Cold, isn't it? Much like how you trapped me on the Island."

I noted that her voice changed a little from the last time she went Absolute Zero. The first time, it had been deep and loud, completely unrecognizable. It was still similar here, but half of it sounded more like Sera, almost as if she'd gotten used to this.

The ice covered Ouranos's legs now. He writhed and tugged, but he couldn't get them free. When it reached his waist, Sera closed her fists.

Ouranos freaked out. He screamed in agony and shook violently with pain. Though you wouldn't even know what it was from by looking at the straight jacket Sera was putting him in. It didn't cave in or change appearance at all, but apparently Sera was crushing him with it. My only guess.

She kept walking closer, talking over Ouranos's howls. "Kept prisoner for months. Alive and aware. No food nor water, only fear. Scared out of my mind, worried, wondering if I would ever see the light of day again. Is that how you feel now, Ouranos?"

Ouranos couldn't even respond from the torture. I'd never seen someone inflict this much pain on him, at least, based on his reaction. I knew this thing was strong, but I didn't know it was that strong, to keep a powered, aged-up Ouranos under control.

Malachi and I watched on in awe, not budging an inch. We should've been attacking Ouranos and giving him hell, but we were too thunderstruck to think. Besides, I got the feeling Sera wanted this moment, on her own. A little act of revenge.

Once the ice reached his neck, Sera stopped the crushing, and Ouranos breathed out a long sigh of relief. Not for long though, because Sera had closed the distance, and coated her own fist with a layer of ice.

She hit Ouranos square in the jaw, a killer punch that shattered the ice armor she surrounded him with, and sent him flying thirty feet in the snow.

Malachi and I chose that point to break out of our mannequin impersonation act and go to her.

She held her fist by her side triumphantly. "That felt good."

Malachi looked at her nervously, "Sera...how did you get so much stronger?"

She looked at him, a bit shyly, which looked really weird in this form. She's never done that before like that, so it really told me that she's gotten a better handle over it now.

"I've been training in this state." She chuckled, "A lot, actually."

"You could've told us." I said, not mad, just letting her know she didn't have anything to hide. "It's no big deal."

"Oh, I know. I just wanted it to be a surprise. And I know how Kai feels about this...form."

Malachi shook his head, "No! Oh no, Sera, this is incredible! I'm so proud of you!"

She smiled, which again, looked freaky as hell with those demon eyes. "Yeah?"

"Of course!" He reached out to hug her, but the freezing temperature made him dart back. "On second thought...I'll hug you later."

She winced, but still smiled. "Sorry."

Up ahead, I saw Ouranos coming from his little path of snow uprooted by Sera's punch. "Guys, asshole's coming back."

He used his forearm to wipe the fresh ichor off his lip, and then looked at it.

"Well, that happened. Was that the last surprise? Or should I be on the lookout for you, Talon?"

"Just a bullet to the head. Other than that, you should be good."

"Cute. Alright, now that the three of you are free and together, I get to knock a few pieces off the chess board." He smiled, "Come on."

"Been a while since we've done this, huh?" I said, "Just the three of us fighting together."

"Not since Timoros." Malachi remembered.

"Do you guys remember the signals?" Sera asked.

Signals were one-word callouts we'd do to signal the next attack, or a combination that required two or three of us. When we fought that bastard Timoros on the Island, it had never been so in sync. It was perfect.

I rasberried, "Do we remember the signals? Who do you think we are, Sera? Of course we remember! Right, Malachi?"

"Like the back of my hand."

"Then we've got this." Sera said proudly.

Ouranos was getting impatient, "Come on!"

Sera took the lead, and stepped in front of us. "Ice press! Kai, follow up with leapfrog!"

Just like that, we fell right into the groove, like we never stopped fighting together for all those years. Sera used her 'ice press' clapping her hands together and willing two ice pillars to come from both sides of Ouranos and crush him like a chocolate compressor.

Malachi followed up with 'leapfrog' jumping over Sera and creating a lightning spear. On the downfall of his jump, he slammed it down on Ouranos, who just barely brought up his own spear to block.

The two struggled for a moment, spear on spear. Malachi called back to me, "Sera, trapdoor Talon! Follow up with a smoke strike!"

I knew all of these by heart. Every word instantly triggered a memory for me, and I knew what to do. As silly as some of them sound, that's the way we communicate during fights, and we developed it so well on the island, it became like second nature to us.

Trapdoor was Sera controlling the snow below me, creating a tunnel over to Ouranos's behind, so I could pop up and come at him. It was like teleporting, to be honest, just through tunnels and Sera's control.

I came up and out on the other end, fifteen feet behind Ouranos. Malachi said to follow up with a smoke strike, so that's exactly what I'll do.

Malachi saw me, and pushed against Ouranos, darting away from the crossfire. Ouranos himself sensed my aura, but just as he turned around, I was already creating a smoke bomb in my hand.

I pulled the pin and threw it right at his face. Upon impact, smoke erupted everywhere and covered Ouranos. When I heard him start coughing, I smirked. This had gotten so much easier. We were confusing him.

Thinking of the golden sword again, I summoned it in my right hand. Smoke strike means attack once the smoke appears, right as the opponent gets disoriented. It's not for stealth, it's for distraction.

And distract it did. I struck Ouranos on the chest with the sword, creating a long, shallow cut from his shoulder down to his hip.

He grunted in pain and backed out of the smoke wall, into the clearing.

"Lightning rod!"

Malachi's call came just before he pitched a bolt towards Ouranos's back, now facing him. Ouranos was quick to move out of the way and avoid, but that wasn't even the goal. Lightning rod meant something else.

I pointed my sword towards the direction of blue light, and caught it, honing it to outline the sword, acting as a conduit. Ouranos's eyes widened just before I thrust it at him.

The lightning hit him, and he fell back, flipping in midair and catching himself on his feet.

The three of us were far from done. We ran after him side by side like we were going to war. This was Ouranos we were fighting, the guy we all wanted to defeat and end this war. It should've been more serious than ever, but to us right now, we were having fun. It had been so long since we'd done this, and for it to actually work after all these years.

"If we want to beat him for good, we're going to have to play keep away!" Malachi said.

"Keep away? The spear?" Sera asked.

"Yes!"

I stifled a laugh, unable to help it with all this excitement. "Got it! Hot potato, guys! What's first?!"

"Ice Arena!" Sera shouted, "You two go in!"

Ouranos heard every word, and looked enraged at his own confusion. "Hot potato?! Ice arena?! What the hell is this nonsense?!"

Sera slid to a stop, putting her hands up. We only had a second to get in Ouranos's bubble before she puts up that little dome.

I looked to Malachi, running right beside me. "We got the bastard on the ropes! You take the back, and I'll take the front?!"

"Sounds good to me!"

We rushed in together and took our positions. Malachi flew up behind Ouranos, while I stood in front of him. On cue, Sera activated the Ice arena, which is basically just an igloo big enough for us to move around in. But it's several feet thick, and with her strength right now, it's probably much stronger than normal.

The point is, we had Ouranos isolated. Now it was time to remove the spear from the equation.

I attempted a jab to the face, but Ouranos caught it, then the other fist. For a moment, he held me like that, and even started pushing me down on my knees.

But he'd forgotten about Malachi. He slipped his arms under Ouranos's and yanked back, tightening him in a full nelson hold.

"Slice his hand off, now!"

I summoned my golden sword back faster than light and made to strike his wrist, but Ouranos started freaking out, making a snarling noise that reminded me of a cornered cat.

"I won't fall for these petty tricks!" He managed to overpower Malachi's hold and slam the back of his head into my friend's nose, disorienting him. Once that was done, he jumped up and planted both feet in my midsection, knocking me into Sera's ice wall.

With a strong tug, Ouranos's arms were free. He sliced open the dome from the top, and it split instantly, offering enough space for all of us to get out.

Ouranos tried flying, but luckily Malachi hadn't felt any pain from the headbutt, so he was able to recover quickly. He grabbed Ouranos by the ankles and pulled him back down, slamming him to the snow face first.

And then following up by leaping onto his back, pinning him down. Ouranos couldn't do anything, his arms were flailed out straight, spear in both hands.

"Cut them!" Malachi barked, "Now!"

I didn't hesitate. I swung as hard as I could and sliced Ouranos right on his wrists, both of them.

They came off clean and easy, like a cut-up watermelon. Ichor spewed and gushed from his stumps, he howled in pain, but all of that meant nothing. The spear was separated from him.

I reached down, careful to avoid his ichor-soaked hands, and grabbed the spear. "Got it!"

With a hard throw, it flew out of the dome and into the sky for Sera to grab.

"My spear!" Ouranos yelled, "NO!"

He arched his back and shot up, emitting a burst of lightning all around his body. The force sent both Malachi and I flying backward, destroying the igloo in the process.

We slid right over to where Sera was. She had already frozen Ouranos's hands into pure ice and shattered them, freeing the spear completely.

She waved her hand over it, creating a block of ice that resembled a gift box to conceal and guard the spear from Ouranos's retrieval.

"Good job." She said, "What's next?"

"We kill him." I smirked, "Don't let him heal."

Ouranos's chest heaved up and down, not breathing from exhaustion, but from anger. "Okay, this shit is getting old! I'm killing each of you slow! I don't need the spear to do it!"

"Save the tantrum." I taunted, "You just ain't as strong as you thought. Didn't plan on having to fight three of us with all your goons around, huh?"

He didn't say anything, he just summoned more lightning down to heal himself. Once again, it washed over him and his hands were back in a flash, good as new.

The lightning didn't completely go away like I thought it would. A single coil remained in his hand. With full speed, he managed to pull it back and throw it in a single frame that I hardly noticed.

It flew towards Sera, faster than Malachi or I could speak to warn her. It hit her square in the chest, and for a millisecond, I got worried. But when her entire body exploded in ice, I knew everything was fine.

Her ice clone fell to the ground in shambles, while the real Sera popped up behind him from the snow.

Beside her, dozens of Seras began rising in the same fashion, only they didn't quite look like her, they all had transparent skin, and the engravings of her features. But either way, she summoned a whole army of them, and sent them all at Ouranos in one go.

The clones hounded him in a circle. Ouranos used a lightning burst to take out a few of them, then some well-timed kicks and punches to take out a few more. I already knew what was happening from experience. These clones weren't meant to do any damage, they were distractions.

For what, I was still trying to figure out. I looked at Ouranos up and down, then did a double take as I noticed his ankles starting to gain the color of frost. She was trapping him again.

Ouranos destroyed the last clone, and noticed what was going on himself. "What?!" He looked down, and tried to tug his foot from the ice trap, but couldn't, just like before.

"Got you again." Sera said, smugly.

Malachi and I smiled at her, thinking she'd done it for good this time. We were ready to go at him for the killing strike, but Ouranos had other ideas. This time he was angrier, long tired of our little schemes and ass kicking's.

"No! I won't fall to a weak rabbit like you!" He roared, and released all of his aura in one burst, it was strong enough to break through the building ice jacket Sera began to form. In probably his smartest move of the fight so far, Ouranos decided to start flying, avoiding the ground so Sera couldn't trap him.

But we had contingencies for that too.

"Kai, Talon!" She immediately gained our attention. "Catapult! Stick the landing!"

Stick the landing...I got it. That was for me. Catapult was for Malachi. Another signal.

"Got it!"

Malachi darted to get behind Sera, while she used her hands to manipulate the snow into jagged ice spikes, trying to stab Ouranos. He swiftly dodged and flew higher with each attempt, exactly where we wanted him to go.

Using every last drop of the adrenaline I still had, I ran over ten thousand mounds of snow, about three hundred feet in front of Sera and Malachi, preparing for my part. I knew what to do. I pointed the golden sword out towards the sky, looking like an idiot, but I knew it would work.

Focused. Ready. Firm. Like a steel trap, ready to be triggered. But then, all of that got ruined by this loud voice in my head.

Talon!

It rang out like an intercom. Vibrating my freaking skull and throwing my posture off completely.

What the hell?

It's me, your father. You need to listen to me, right now!

What? No! We're about to kill this son of a bitch!

No, you're not! You need to get out of here and regroup with the others!

Why?!

There was a pause, but I heard a noise of hesitation. I can't interfere...not this way. Just trust me, and listen! This is not where Ouranos falls! But the three of you will if you don't regroup!

Trust?! Hold up, trust?! Me trust you?!

This isn't the time!

No actually I think this is exactly the time! Hell, I think this is the longest conversation we've had, pops!

At my back talk, he didn't even get angrier. No, that wasn't the tone, it honestly just got more urgent. Which kind of took me back a little, and made me start to believe what he was saying.

This isn't a game, boy! Kagutsuchi is still alive!

That made me flinch. What? Matt not kill him yet?

He only wounded him! Kagutsuchi has taken his true form, and he's coming for you!

I didn't even have time to think, because in front of me, our plan was coming to fruition.

Sera created a giant ice pillar to launch Malachi in the air, and he did. He flew up straight towards Ouranos, fist pulled back, and punched him in the face. The shockwave came before the reaction, with snow blowing in every direction around them. Ouranos's body came straight towards me, right on target. I shook my head, forcing myself to push away what Nikandreos said. Kagutsuchi or not, we had a chance to take Ouranos out, right here.

That was the point of all of this. That's the reason we're here. Not for that dragon.

Ouranos flew so fast, and the punch did enough damage to keep him from even thinking about teleporting. He hit my sword perfectly. It stabbed through with no trouble, right in the gut. I managed to hold him there for a few seconds, as he lay stiff, not making a noise.

"Got you, you son of a bitch."

I set him to the ground and slowly pulled the sword out of him. Ichor followed immediately, coming out of the wound, and his mouth while he sat on his knees and hands.

I wanted so badly to just finish him off by beating him to death with my own hands, and really take my time with this. But as much as I didn't believe that bullshit Nikandreos said...part of me still worries. He sounded pretty urgent. You only sound like that when you're telling the truth, or you really believe in something.

So this would have to be quick.

"Malachi, get the spear and kill him! Now!"

He had landed fifty feet from me, a confused, almost hurt look on his face at my order. "We're not taking our time with this?"

"No! We can't give him one inch!" I decided to just come out with it, "Kagutsuchi is still alive too! He's coming this way!"

Malachi shook his head, "No, no, that's impossible. I don't feel his energy."

At me shouting, and Malachi shaking his head, Sera came running over to see what the fuss was about. "What's going on?"

"Give me the damn spear, now!" I shouted.

Sera flinched at my volume, and didn't hesitate then. She summoned the ice box that held the weapon to her hand and broke it, freeing the spear.

"Catch it carefully!" She tossed it.

Just as she did, I saw blue light in my peripheral, meaning Ouranos was about to heal.

I wanted to shout, but Malachi saved it just in time, firing his own lightning bolt in Ouranos's path to deflect his, negating the healing effect.

"Nice!" I said, just as I caught the spear.

Ready to swing, I hefted it up and held it with both hands, but then...something threw me off balance.

I felt this intense heat. Not painful, burning heat, but just a crazy force of warmth that hit me like a dump truck, making me stumble.

Then came a roar. What sounded like an ancient, giant warrior screaming for blood. It echoed from a long distance, beyond the ruined forest, and travelled even further than our position. Probably across the entire country.

I knew what that was. It had to be the dragon.

Ouranos started laughing, "I suppose luck is still on my side after all."

Kagutsuchi came from the forest pile, no longer in dragon form, but taking the shape of a bear-looking man thing, bounding on all fours towards us, his face concealed with fire, constantly shooting out of his mouth. It just kept going and going, like he had no control over stopping it.

Sera shot a continuous blast of ice at the oncoming god, trying to slow him down. But even with her new strength, it barely even made him notice. The ice just met his fire halfway, and the fire melted it instantly.

I felt a tug on the spear in my hands. It was soft at first, then I felt a hard pull, and it left my grip.

Ouranos caught it, and winked at me. "See you on Olympus soon, kids."

Olympus?

"Hey!" I shouted, and reached after him, but he'd already summoned a lightning bolt to carry him away.

"No!" Malachi shouted, "He can't escape!" With his own lightning bolt coming down, he disappeared and chased after Ouranos, both energies rumbling in the sky like thunder, the sound getting quieter with the increasing distance.

Sera looked worried over her shoulder, still launching ice at Kagutsuchi. "Kai, wait!" But he was already long gone. He couldn't hear any of us now.

Things were happening way too fast. The tables were turning rapidly, but how? How and the hell could this happen? We had the upper hand not two minutes ago, and now...things are starting to go to shit.

I saw the silhouette of Kagutsuchi coming at Sera like a raging bull, and I knew she wouldn't survive an attack from him. That fire was way too hot, and he was way too strong.

"Sera!" I ran over, grabbed her arm, and pulled her with me to the ground. We both slid to a stop and looked up to see Kagutsuchi barely missing her position, his hands criss crossed, meaning he wanted to grab her, and probably crush her under his grip.

Fire still erupted from his mouth. He began to turn his gaze to us, and I grabbed Sera again.

"Come on! That fire's uncontrollable!"

Together, we scrambled to our feet and ran from Kagutsuchi's oncoming wave of flames.

"Talon, Kai's gone!"

"I know! We can't do anything about that! We need to meet back up with the others!"

She looked behind us to see Kagutsuchi's flames gaining. "I don't think he's going to let us!"

"Break off!" I shouted, "Break off!"

We both dove apart from each other and rolled on the ground, narrowly avoiding the worst of the intense heat. Immediately, I stuck my hand out, ready to summon the golden sword again.

But when I thought of it, nothing came out. In fact, something that I've never experienced before happened.

I felt a jolt go through my body at the summoning attempt, forced to one knee. Glancing over at the hand I planned to hold it with, my eyes widened. What the hell was that?

My hand was...glitching. Like back and forth between a golden transparency of my skin and bones, then back to actual flesh. It flickered in and out like a light bulb, each time sending another jolt across my body.

"What the fuck?" I whispered, horrified. What was going on? What the hell is this?!

Talon.

It was Nikandreos again. This time, his voice sounded faint. Farther, almost.

Pops, what the hell is this? I've never had this happen before!

I didn't hear the initial response, if Nikandreos even gave one, because Kagutsuchi had found me. I had no energy to get up and even dodge, or try to block hsi fire. I figured I might be done for, my invincibility had given out, or something as the result of this weird glitching thing.

Luckily, Sera jumped in between us, putting up an ice wall to hold him off. She felt the force of his blast instantly, getting pushed back on her heels.

"What's wrong?!" She asked, "Talon, are you okay?!"

Her ice wall shattered from Kagutsuchi's fist. He swung it the opposite way to hit her in the side, knocking her out of view and opening up a clear shot to hit me with.

And it did. His fire enveloped me in uncomfortable warmth. I hadn't died on impact, so I figured some of the invincibility remained, but my hand kept glitching, slowly building up to my arm now. It was taking over my entire body...

I panicked. What the hell is this?! Tell me!

It's the energy I gave you when you were a baby. It's run out.

Run out? What? I had a limit?

Talon, listen carefully, because we don't have much time. You need to come and see me right now. It's the only way to save you.

Save me? Am I gonna die from this or something?!

Find me as fast as you can. It's time that we met. If you don't, you won't get another chance.

What about Kagutsuchi? Tsukuyomi? What are we supposed to do?

He didn't answer. His voice faded away into nothing.

Hey? Hey! You gotta tell me, man, what are we supposed to do?! How am I supposed to talk to you when we're still in danger?!

Still no answer.

I smashed my fist against the snow, promptly causing another glitch. This time, over my entire body. It writhed and shook violently for a couple of seconds, turning into a golden outline of myself, revealing the bones underneath. All around me, I could only see Kagutsuchi's fire blowing past, incinerating everything but me.

Slowly, I managed to push myself up. I glitched a few more times, but somehow, through sheer grit, I made it to him, ducking out of the fire and appearing right next to it, just below his chest.

He was a man, alright. But I wasn't too far off from calling him a bear either. He was huge. Standing as tall as Atlas, and about as bulky too, with arms three times my size, and hands bigger than my torso. It looked like he didn't have a shirt on, just burlap pants, but I couldn't really tell. The fire blocked most of the details.

Either way, I brought up my fist to deck him in the ribs, but he caught it, let go quickly, and repositioned his grip on my throat.

I don't know if it was the lack of energy, or what, but he actually managed to start choking me. Squeezing my windpipe to the size of a pencil tip as I beat uselessly against his arm, all the while, his mouth still breathing out fire in the air.

I might've passed out, or freaking died for all I know if Sera hadn't came to the rescue. She jumped on Kagutsuchi's back and placed her hands over his mouth, shooting all the ice she could muster to clamp it up, then a pair of sharp icicles in his eyes.

She stabbed them down and hit him right on the vulnerable spot, causing him to make a groaning noise under all the fire, and grab onto his eyes. It had stopped, for now, her little ice mask managed to keep the uncontrollable fire breath at bay for a few seconds, but it was turning orange, and getting closer to melting by the moment.

I knew we were in big trouble. If this glitching shit keeps up, I might die. I may not trust Nikandreos, or even like him, but I knew this had never happened to me before, and I didn't like the risk of dying here, when everyone's still in danger.

So I knew I had to follow his orders. I needed to go see him.

"Sera!"

She jumped off of Kagutsuchi's back, "What?"

"We're not gonna do anything here! We need to go regroup with the others back at the gate!"

She ran up to stand just a foot away from me so we could hear each other. "But what about Kai? A-And you're body! What's going on with that?"

"I don't know! And Malachi...I hate to say it, but he'll just have to take care of himself. We can't afford to go after him." I sighed, "Sera, Nikandreos said it's time. Time that we meet."

Her eyes widened, "Seriously? But Kagutsuchi-"

"I know. But we ain't got another choice."

She contemplated it for a second, which is time we really didn't have. Poking Kagutsuchi in the eyes was a good move, but it would only do so much to the big freak. And that ice mask was just a breath away from melting off. We needed to move.

"Sera!"

"Okay!" She screamed, "Okay, fine! Jump behind me!"

I didn't hesitate. I jumped behind her right as she said it, and we took off along the snow, using that same ice scooter technique she used earlier.

While she drove, I looked behind me to see Kagutsuchi tearing off his ice mask, unleashing the fire again. He made a roar underneath all the noise, louder and deeper than before. He was pissed off.

"Shit, we just made him angrier!" I clenched Sera's arm, "Hurry!"

"I'm trying!"

I hoped Matt and the others were still in reach. I didn't even know what they'd gotten up to in the time we've been gone. I didn't hear much noise coming from that direction, but we were sort of in the middle of something, so that could've just been blocked off by our fighting. Still though...maybe they went in the gate. Into Yomi.

But that would mean Tsukuyomi got in.

Either way, I hoped like hell they were up there. Matt's the only one that really has a chance of stopping this fire breathing weirdo, and Amaterasu...well, I just hoped she was in one piece.

Kagutsuchi bounded behind us on all fours, gaining drastically with each stride, his flamethrower breath getting closer too. When I swiveled my head around, I could see the end of the ruined forest ahead. Beyond that, was the gate.

"Pray to God that they're still over here, Sera!" I shouted over the wind, "Or else we're in big fucking trouble!"

"We're already in trouble!" She countered, and yeah, she was right.

Sera ducked her head down, her arms strained, showing every inch of muscle and vein they could. I knew she was giving it her all and then some just to reach the others, because we sped up instantly, about twice as fast. The entire stretch of forest went by in an unrecognizable blur, and we appeared on the other side, which also meant the end of her snowscape.

She slowed down before jumping off. Both of us came flying out hard, and hit the ground, tumbling and rolling like barrels. I didn't feel any of it, luckily, but Sera let out a pained grunt, and lay still in front of me.

"Sera..." I croaked, crawling over to her. "Sera, can ya get up?"

I turned her on her back. Eyes blinking slower with each turn, but they were still dark blue and black, which meant she hadn't been knocked out of Absolute Zero yet. Good.

"Hey, you alright? Can you get up?"

She moaned, "I...think so..."

I grabbed her hand and pulled her up, "Good job on that, Princess. But we gotta keep moving, ain't over yet."

She stumbled and held onto me for balance. When we both heard another roar, we looked to the forest, and saw a bright orange light coming our way. Kagutsuchi.

"This freak doesn't give up!"

Sera looked exhausted, but managed to turn around against my shoulder, "The others. Talon...the others...look."

I darted around, and there they were. Some distance between us, but I could make out the figures of everyone. Matt, Harper, Annabeth, Percy, and...

Amaterasu.

I felt a good wave of relief at the sight of her. Okay, not dead. I don't have to freak out or overthink now. Well, I still have to overthink, but at least I won't grow a few extra gray hairs.

But then the sinking feeling came, when I saw Tsukuyomi locked in combat with Matt, the others engaging against...not someone else, but what looked like an army of dark samurai.

When I say dark, I mean coated in almost smoky black, with the outline of samurai armor. There were a hundred of them, if I had to guess, all moving as quick as any of us, katanas moving around trying to find an opening against Harper, Amaterasu, Annabeth, and Percy.

What were those things Goro talked about? The Oni?

I put the pieces together right then. They went into Yomi after Tsukuyomi...he found Izanami, fused with her, and that's why he's still alive, and able to fight Matt.

He also must've summoned those demons. Amaterasu said that's where they came from after all.

This shit just got so much worse.

I didn't even tell Sera the others were still here, "We gotta go...we gotta go now!"

I pulled her with me and we broke out into a run. Poor Sera was so out of it she probably didn't know what was going on, but she still ran anyways. We made it maybe twenty steps when Kagutsuchi broke through the trees.

Glancing behind me, I saw that fire coming straight towards us.

"Sera, coat you skin in ice, now!"

I didn't wait for her to respond, I just wrapped myself around her for good measure, using my back as a shield to protect most of her, in case the fire penetrated whatever little ice shield she made. It hit me, and I felt that intense warmth again, the force sending both of us forward in the air, hundreds of feet without touching the ground.

Finally, we cleared the area of fire, and we could see properly again. Only I didn't really like what I saw. We were still high up in the air, and the ground was coming fast.

I wanted to yell for her to brace herself, but Sera was way ahead of me.

She put her hands out and shot snow from them, creating a little mountain of it for us to land in.

I let go of her and we split apart just before plopping face first into the soft, wet snow. I landed body deep, and had to claw my way out to see daylight again.

"Talon? Sera?"

Percy's voice came from beside me. He, Annabeth, Harper, and Amaterasu stood in a square, fending off the Oni, who were oddly enough, all looking at me, as if I interrupted their dinner.

"Hey guys, how's it hanging?"

Amaterasu locked eyes with me, "Did you defeat Ouranos?"

"Sort of...and sort of not."

"Where's Malachi?" Harper asked, hitting an Oni on the head with the Eros sword.

"Look, it's too much to explain right now, I-"

"Talon needs to see his father!" Sera popped out of the snow like a jack in the box, covered in white.

"Nikandreos?" Annabeth shouted, swinging at an oncoming Oni with...what looked like Harper's Heavenly Diamond knife. "Right now?"

"Yeah, it's important!" I hopped out of the snow and tried to run to them, but when I reached the outer ring of Oni, they noticed, and two of them planted their boots in my stomach, knocking me to the ground.

They looked just like Goro's samurai, same get up and all, only in all black, and they had no eyes or face behind the mask. Just that, the mask.

The Oni lifted up their katanas to strike me, but before they could flinch, two clumps of ice hit them on the chest, knocking them into other, surrounding Oni like bowling pins.

It was Sera's turn to help me up now, pushing me forward and making a way for me so I could reach them. I ran straight up to Amaterasu, "Look, I know it's sudden, but I need you to teleport me to Fuji, or wherever it was."

"To see your father? Why now?"

"No time! I just need to go, right now! He said it would be my only chance!"

Up ahead, past Amaterasu's shoulder, I saw Matt trading blows with Tsukuyomi, who looked...different than before. I couldn't make out any details, but one big striking change...was his skin. It had changed from ashy white, to leathery black, with his moon tattoos almost glowing white, making him look like the embodiment of Yin and Yang.

He and Matt didn't seem to be fighting too seriously. The Son of Hercules finally noticed Sera and I, and did a double take.

"Woah, wait a second...Talon? Sera? Where's Malachi? And where's Ouranos?"

I groaned, really getting tired of saying we really didn't have time for this right now.

So I didn't. I just pointed him the direction he needed to be in. "Matt, Kagutsuchi's still alive! You didn't kill him! He's a man now, and he's coming this way!"

That got his attention. He perked up, feeling the dragon man's energy rapidly approaching. He turned around and saw him coming in the distance, like a walking volcano.

"Oh shit!" He said, hesitantly looking back and forth between us and Tsukuyomi, who just smirked. Not even making a move or saying anything.

I was about to tell the kid to just go before I made him, when Harper beat me to the punch. "It's okay, Matt! Just go! We'll be fine!"

That was probably better than any of us telling him we'd be fine. Since she gets top priority. His mouth tightened with determination, and he nodded at her. The next second, he wasn't there, instead taking off towards Kagutsuchi in a blast of red light.

I looked back at Amaterasu, "We doing this thing or what? Me seeing Nikandreos might help us beat these guys."

"Wherever you go, Amaterasu-" Tsukuyomi announced, "-I will follow. This isn't over until you die."

She didn't move her head to listen, but I saw her eyes flicker in her peripheral, then back to me, set ablaze. "Let's go."

Hearing her say that, Percy, Annabeth, Harper, and Sera all ran over to us, huddling up in a little circle.

As soon as she grabbed onto me, we were surrounded by the light of her energy. Again, like before, we didn't enter that weird place we usually do when teleporting with anyone else, we just drifted distance, with Amaterasu's fire acting as a shield.

We appeared on solid ground. Amaterasu dispersed the flame dome before we even touched down completely, all of us jumping out of it.

We stood on top of a giant mountain, taller than the others surrounding it. Mount Fuji, near the top, by my guess, on a ledge leading into a cave, ironically like the gate to Yomi, and the cave to Atlas's burden.

From here, looking down and across the horizon, I could actually see the open field we stood in on that first day, when we arrived here. Crazy how so much has happened since then.

Amaterasu pointed towards the cave, "Go in there. It's where your father is."

I started in a run, but not a single step in, I darted around and looked at all of them. "You guys gonna be okay? He's gonna come up here, you know."

As if on some sick cue, boom, here they came. We'd travelled hundreds of miles, probably, but they'd caught up with us already. A giant shadow followed Tsukuyomi down below in the stretch of forest at the base of the mountain. Flying like a jet, with little black dots peppered in the waking shadow. I knew what they were. He was bringing the Oni with him, all of them.

The others noticed, craning their heads over the mountain edge.

"That's him..." Annabeth whispered, "Talon, go!"

I glanced back and forth nervously between the cave and them, not wanting to just leave them out here while I got to have a chat inside, safe and sound. I know Nikandreos said it was important, but this shit just didn't feel right.

My head kept going like a sprinkler, mind racing faster and faster. "Damn it!"

"Go, Talon!" Harper shouted. "What's the matter? It's right there!"

"I can't leave you all out here! What if-"

Hands gripped my biceps, and blocking my view of Harper came Amaterasu, leaning up to look right into my sunglasses. "We'll be fine, Talon. Okay? Just go."

"But-"

"No." She said, shaking her head, black locks loosening from behind her ear and dangling in front of her face. "None of that. This is the only chance you'll get. You need to speak with him. We'll be okay."

I wanted to say it wasn't just that. I didn't think I was ready to face him. I thought about this moment for so long, what I might say, what he might look like, and a million more things. But now...I'm frozen. Nervous, even.

But you know, Amaterasu wasn't as oblivious to my struggle as I might've thought. Her eyes, full of fire dimmed as she read my thoughts, down to the color of caramel. It distracted me for a perfect moment, just one second, everything was calm, and all of my nerves faded. I'd never seen anything so comforting.

She didn't smile, but she did gently shove me. "Go."

Steps back from her, I saw the shadow of Tsukuyomi reach the mountain. He flew behind everybody, appearing in the air, with dozens of Oni behind him.

I knew what was gonna happen, and it still worried me. But...I have faith in these guys, they can fight, they will fight, and they'll survive this.

That's what pushed me to turn my back and run, without looking at them again. I ran straight towards the cave, the distance stretching with each stride, longer and longer in my mind, a path that never seemed to stop growing farther out of reach.

Closer than ever before, yet it still feels so far away.

I'm here. Fucking here. Finally.

I blinked a single time, and the distance shortened back to reality. In the middle of my last step, I pushed my hand out. It was the first thing to reach the darkness.

Then it encompassed my entire body. Everything went quiet, short of the ambient water dripping and echo of the rock walls. It was weird, that entrance was wide open, no mysterious door or gate from what I could see. So why couldn't I hear the fighting?

I skidded to a stop and looked back. Surprised, when I saw pitch black over what should've been daylight, and the figures of friends and enemies.

Everything had been shut out.

And now it's just two of us.

No friends. No Amaterasu eyes to make everything okay.

I took in a deep breath, and let it out. Drawn out, long breath that took everything from my lungs. "Alright...here we go."

With my next step, I inched closer to the truth.

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(000)

Next Talon chapter is going to be a big one. Probably the most important of the fic, so be ready! Nikandreos finally shows his face!

Hope this wasn't too messy, heh, I got a little busy with work so I had to put this off for a couple of days. If it seems a bit clunky, that's why. Hope it's enjoyable regardless!

Until Next Time.