(Twenty-three chapters already? Well, we're reaching the end of this story, but don't fret, this is just one of the few stories and what if scenarios i have planned. Please enjoy more of angsty angry Alex while it last.)

Sleep was impossible after that, even if i didn't really try. I didn't need any more nightmares like that tonight.

Once the first light of dawn arrived, Luke had gotten his men up and ready, and we left.

Jason and Reyna sent us off with a small bag of denarius and some rations. We had a plan to go to a train station and buy enough tickets for everyone to ride back comfortably, and for the most part it went off without a hitch, sending the groups off in train cars in groups of three, hopefully the scattered scent would make finding us harder, and killing monsters easier.

Unfortunately, there were still a few curious creatures who didn't know when to leave well enough alone and were sent back to Tartarus.

Thalia, Nico, Luke, and I were in the same car on the end, and the four of us were quiet for some time, tired and ready to get home. But I had to tell them what I had seen. The future I was afraid was coming.

"The war is coming still. All we've done is postpone the inevitable. Kronos is still out there, plotting his return." I tell them quietly, moving the hair out of my eyes and feeling guilty. We had done everything but secured the coffin, but at the bottom of the sea, even I didn't know how much pressure I could handle. I should have tested it and checked for it.

"It's okay, that just means more time to prepare for us." Nico told me, and i knew what that meant.

"And for the other side to prepare and gather allies. For all I know, the prophecy has shifted." I tell him, revealing the other secret.

"I don't know what happens now. I've changed time too much, and now the future is different." I admit softly, wondering how many deaths are now my fault. How many friends I would bury.

"Join the club. We're all in the same boat now." Thalia told me, gently pushing my shoulder.

No, we weren't. How could I explain this? That I was responsible for what was to come? But I had an idea, one to give me back my advantage.

"You're right, I can't let that be the thing that trips me up. There's still so much to do, so many half-bloods to recruit. We're going to win." I agreed, putting on a smile and hiding my true feelings.

We moved cars, trying to further the scent instead of clustering four powerful demigods together.

The ride was boring, trying my best to be friendly, but my mind was somewhere else, the skies darkening, a rainstorm following us the three days it took to get back to New York.

As we neared the station, I made a call to Chiron, telling him to send as many vehicles as he could, refusing to say anything else before I cut the message short and waiting for us to pull up, quickly killing the monsters that had followed us, and those that had been waiting, before we got them loaded into the vans and sending them to camp. Thirty-eight rescued, Thalia and Nico going with them. Eight vans of five driving off as I closed the last door and drifted upwards, ignoring my friends as they called to me in confusion, heading towards the empire state, all the way up to the sixth hundredth floor.

As I walked up the golden steps, I could see the eyes of minor gods and nature spirits on me. I was mortal, walking up to the doors of the throneroom like I was a god myself and throwing open the doors.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Zeus roared, his voice echoing in the mostly empty chamber.

"Lord Zeus, we have managed to find and return the traitors and convince them to work alongside Olympus again. They are allies, but I fear it isn't enough. Kronos will rise. He will not rest until he does. I fear that gods and half-bloods alone will not be enough to defeat whatever he has planned. I come with this warning to protect Olympus and what it stands for." I told him, lying. I didn't come here to warn anyone. I wanted to plant seeds of doubt. I almost smiled, having become a master of lying over the last year.

"You have come unannounced to tell me what I already know. I assume you have an idea?" The king of the Gods asked, leaning forward and looking at me.

"None, except the slaying of the Ophiotaurus, but that should only be a last resort. I trust in your wisdom and that of Ares and Athena to guide you in this war. Please forgive my intrusion." I tell him, begging forgiveness I didn't care about.

"Your intentions were noble, a mark of your good soul. I will let you pass, young hero. Return home and prepare for the coming fight. And grandson? Good luck." The Thunderer told me, giving me the smallest amount of familial care, as I nodded, leaving quickly as the door shut behind me, walking back down the steps, like I owned Olympus itself. Given time, maybe I would.

As I fell back from the edge, I let the winds carry me home, back to the buses, watching over my friends until they arrived, coming down.

"There you are! What are you thinking? Are you hurt? You can't just run off like that!" Thalia told me, concerned as she checked me for wounds, and I laughed, gently moving her hands away.

"Mooooom, stop it. You're so embarrassing sometimes." I told her, grinning anyway as she looked at me, giving me a hug.

"Well, that'll be my job one day. Might as well get a head start." She told me, pulling away, Nico looking at the two of us before he put it together.

"Grandson of Poseidon and Zeus? There's only one way..." He mumbled, looking at Thalia and then me.

"Time travel, little dude. Don't think too much about it. It'll make your head hurt." I told him, laughing a little.

"Who do you think you are, waltzing back into camp!" Conner yelled, rushing Luke and pushing his brother against the side of the van, his sword ready to kill. It wouldn't do any good, but it was nice to see a little anger. It meant we could move on to the next step of grief.

"I think he's the guy who helped me kill his army of monsters and rescue every half-blood on the ship. He did some bad stuff, but he did it for all of us to give us the future we deserve." I told him, Travis, and surprisingly, Clarisse pulling Conner back.

"You think you can just come back, and things are okay again! You betrayed us, made the others look at us like we were like you! We spent all this time proving we weren't cowards like you, and all of you just ride into camp?!" Conner yelled, his anger directed at all of those who'd come back.

"Enough! Camp half-blood is home to all, no matter the mistakes they have made." Chiron spoke, cutting through the growing crowd and looking at Luke and I.

"You have both taken the curse of Achilles?" He asked, and my pride couldn't stand it, not saying something.

"Yeah, I knew I'd never beat Clarisse fair and square, so i cheated." I joked, grinning up at him.

"Head councilors, big house meeting now. Luke, you and Alex will be joining us. The rest of you, continue your activities as you were, make our old campers feel at home again." Chiron decided, and I could see Quintus at the big house, unmoved and uncaring about what was going on.

As we all sat, most of the councilors were eyeing Luke suspiciously, and I guess I couldn't blame them.

"Why should we trust him? We could throw him out and let him fend for himself." Conner suggested, still angry with his brother, and already they were getting on my nerves.

"I'm the who saved two people from a death prophesied last winter, and have spent every moment of every day since saving lives and making sure the camp is ready. Why is asking you to put your trust in me suddenly so hard?" I asked, and Malcolm, acting councilor for Athena cabin, cleared his throat.

"That's not exactly fair. You didn't know Luke, grow up with him like most of us did. He was like a brother to all of us, and he betrayed us. Holding what you've done over our head is playing our emotions, reminding us that at the end of every thought you have is how it benefits you."

Of course, I answered calmly, giving him a smirk as I replied.

"That's not true at all. I also like to think about what your sister does to benefit me too." I told him, making an unsavory gesture with my hips before flipping him off. It didn't have to be true. It just had to piss him off.

"This is why I never had children." Chiron mumbled from his magic wheelchair, and I turned to him.

"This? If this is where you draw the line at a camp full of teens, you got your priorities wrong." I snap, and I stand, looking down at them all. My fatal flaws, pride, and loyalty. I would defend them all, but I would do so for my own honor.

"All of us are victims of the Gods in one way or another. Our parents are victims. Luke's anger, while misdirected in the wrong place, is not alone. But no one died, Luke failed at that. But if you don't trust him, you don't trust me, and you do not want me to be an enemy. Poseidon is not called the Earthshaker for fun." I told them, slamming the door behind me as I left, pulling one of the hinges out of the wall by mistake and leaving the door hanging open awkwardly as I left.