I had never been one to be afraid of the dark. It made sneaking around easier when I was younger, hiding whatever mischief I had been up to or was planning on doing. Now as I crept around a castle under attack, with a psycho possibly waiting for her chance to kill me; if no one else got a chance to do it first, I understood why people didn't like it. My mind played tricks on me as I kept close to the wall. Shadows of furniture and statues constantly making my heart jump as I was positive they moved.

This part of the building was unknown to me, but in one last effort to sort things out with Cain, when I had tried to find him, I had come here. Lightning flashed and I froze, quickly surveying the room as I planned my next move and was assured I was still alone. Closing my eyes I felt near, but he wasn't exactly here. I made it the door and slowly opened it, thankful it made no noise. Light leaked into the room in the form a thin white glow, and looking out, Ares and Hermes were there. They moved, talking and pacing - their words lost as thunder cracked above us. I couldn't see Cain yet I could sense his presence close by, and daring to open the door a little wider, the sitting room was a mess. Chairs had been knocked over, a table sat in two pieces while smashed glass sparkled like crystals on the floor in the candlelight.

Ares stopped, looking right at me and shook his head making me close the door a fraction, but not completely so that I could still peek out.

"It makes no sense." He said a second later.

"Does anything?" Hermes growled back.

"I'll ready the troops. If they want a fight, we'll give it to them." Ares glanced my way before vanishing.

"I tried, I did. If the twins are back, and Hades-"

"Then they will be shown no mercy." Cain snapped at him. "Go. Come back when Ares is ready."

Hermes disappeared and I hesitated, only I didn't have to wait too long.

"Come out. I know you're here." He sighed, so I did. "Just once. Once in your life, will you do as I say?"

"Unlikely, but keep trying. I might surprise you one day."

"Why are you here? To gloat, to see if I am intimidated? I am not going to stop this. Let your people do their worst." Cain shouted. He stopped, glaring at me. "Brave or stupid? I could just end this now."

In his hand, a golden dagger similar to Apollo's appeared and I understood what he was implying. It was an empty threat, we both knew it and I managed not to roll my eyes. Playing the part, I hesitated for a moment, as if I was actually thinking it over. I'd never truly felt the weight of someone's gaze as I did in then and despite the effort to try and scare me away - intimidate, it had the opposite effect.

"But you won't," I closed the door behind me and walked into the room, trying not to look around at the mess, and failing terribly. "I'm not here to fight, Cain. Please just-"

"No? Then explain them. Is that not your army?" He pointed outside and glancing that way a dark shadow hovered over the town, clearly coming this way. "You don't want to fight, yet send-"

"That's not me, I came to offer a truce!"

He hesitated. "I'm expected to believe that? Apollo is probably hiding back there waiting for me to turn my back."

"No one is with me and he never even came back to this world with us. I'm really not here to start another war," I walked past him and out to the balcony, shivering as the wind whipped by or maybe because I should be worried by turning my back to him. "They are not my people. For starters, what even are those horse things and where do you get them from?"

"Apollo isn't here?" That cold edge in his voice eased ever so slightly.

"No. I think he got the banishment message when your soldiers nearly killed him." I glanced over my shoulder, looking back to where he stood. The dagger is gone. "Artemis is though, despite what happened to her. Hades has left the Underworld too. I promise you, they have nothing to do with what's coming either."

Ever so silently he came to stand beside me. Someone was doing something to shield the town, but I was thankful Alfie and that family had gotten out when they had. The silence was worse than fighting, at least then I knew more about where I stood. Anytime I glanced his way, wanting to say something - he was doing the same which kept us both in an awkward wordless loop yet there really was so much to say.

"I believe you." Cain finally said.

"Probably the smartest thing I've heard you say today. Well apart from when you-"

"Elise!" He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as a big sigh left him. "You should still go. I don't need your help, or theirs. I've managed on my own for long enough."

"Have you though?" I turn to face him, leaning on the balcony railing as I fold my arms across my chest. "I really don't get that impression. Like at all."

He stood silently beside me, watching what was happening miles away. Turning around I watched too, unsure of what to say or do. I should have thought this out a bit more, much like my little parade through the towns. The people were expecting miracles I wasn't sure I could deliver, based on a fiction that they had created. I wasn't sure if it had done anything to help them. Now they were under attack, it was even more complicated. I was still determined to do what I could though, and the first step to resolving any of this was to get through to their King.

"Apollo told me what he did," I start, deciding to address the other fictional issues in the room. That also wasn't completely true, but Artemis had filled me in a little more. "I didn't stay away because I hate you. I don't blame you for anything. He spoke from his pain and issues, not mine. You didn't deserve it and I don't think it's fair to blame me for what he did. I'm not going to try and fix whatever has happened between you two, because to a certain extent, that's not my problem. You're both adults capable of making your own decisions and-"

"Don't flatter yourself. To imply that I care about his actions and that you would actually matter so-"

"You attempted to kill me for no fucking reason! Why do you make out like I'm the bad guy, that this is all my fault, if not for whatever crap he came up with?" I shout back.

He doesn't answer in fact he doesn't even look at me, just stares out into the distance as if I'm not even there. The urge to scream out of pure frustration has my hands curling into fists and the desire to hit something grows with it. Possibly him, repeatedly, until he answers me. If nothing else, it might get a reaction out of him and that would be better than this. Before I get the chance, a loud bang echoed across the distance between us and the town, an explosion of light makes me close my eyes and looking again, the swarm of flying creatures seem to be clearer or maybe they're getting closer.

"Athena's protection isn't going to last much longer." Cain finally says, eerily calm.

"Ares?"

"Hermes isn't back yet. They're not ready."

"Do you know who they could be?" My frustration leaves me as I tune in to the activity below.

At least he isn't still blaming me for them. I'd count that as progress.

"No. They ride on pegasus that has been extinct here for a long time, I wasn't aware any even remained." He frowned, and then as if realising his mistake, the walls shot back up. "That is not your problem. I told you to leave, mercy on my behalf. My patience is wearing thin, if you do not go, then you may as well stand with them."

"I'm not going. I told you, I want to help you, help end this whole thing if we can do that?"

"Because the God Killer says so, this just, ends?" He practically growls. "I do not take orders. I give them and there are consequences to those who don't obey including some, myth, that I created!"

"Yes, you created the God Killer, but I let you do it. She doesn't control you, and you don't control her. I've stood at your side in impossible battles without even being asked. Despite everything, I still defend you, even now. I'm here, not as the God Killer or as your enemy. I'm here as I am, as me, and I'm not leaving because you said so."

Cain's mouth opened then closed in the same instance as his eyes. His hands were white from the pressure of the fists he was making and the air around him disappeared. More explosions echoed up to us, and I had no idea how much time either of us actually had before we'd have to rejoin our people and fight. I just hoped it would be on the same side and wasn't willing to accept anything otherwise.

"I'm sorry. It doesn't mean much, but I am." He kept his eyes closed, yet the guards he had put up faded, and ever so slightly his shoulders slumped in a subtle sign of defeat. "It just became easier to hate you. I became really good at it."

"Yeah I noticed, but I still don't know what I did to deserve it though. Talk to me. We always used to just talk. There were words, and more often than not, tequila and we listened when the other person talked. We're kind of doing it already. Please, Cain. I've missed you. I've missed us. Please don't keep shutting me out like this, at least without telling me why!"

He shakes his head, still refusing to look at me. Instead, he turns the other way, heading back inside. Reaching out, I stop him and I can't miss the way the muscles in his arm tense under my hand before he pulls away. Cain laughs bitterly, goosebumps breaking out over my skin as another blast from below makes the ground tremble. I'm not sure which is starting to unsettle me more, yet we both look that way again, knowing each hit seems to be getting closer and more intense. My timing for a deep and meaningful really sucks, but maybe it was now or never. Everything that was going to happen next depended on it.

"I thought I'd do better. That this was my time only I was a fool. After all, I am the Fallen One. I will never be anything other than that, so I let them fear me. I made them fear me. And I blamed you. I hated you for it, for anything I couldn't do, even what I could and what I did. It was so easy. You weren't here, and I just let myself believe it." Cain's voice was flat, each word felt forced like he didn't want to be saying it.

I wasn't sure how to respond, yet as I took a step closer, he took a step back with a subtle shake of his head. A warning to stay back and my stomach sank. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear more. For every time I hadn't come back, hadn't forced Apollo and Artemis to let me go with them, I felt that twinge of guilt and regret. They were outweighed though by how I felt offended to be used as a villain in all of this, for no actual reason.

"When Apollo came back the first time, then the second, telling me of how good things were, your marriage, everything. I hated him and you, mostly, just for being happy which made me then hate myself too because that's all I wanted for you." Looking at me now, there was an intensity in his gaze that left me speechless; an alarm went off to run, yet I didn't move. "It was easy to let Eris take over, I used her as much as she was using me, yet after I saw you again, I couldn't keep pretending anymore."

My heart started to race of its own accord, new memories surfacing of the exact moment I knew he was talking about. It didn't help that suddenly he was there in front of me and everywhere; Cain's presence, his power, was like a chain tightening around my body. It wasn't anything he was doing, it was just the way my stupid brain decided to start responding to him that had me feeling trapped. For all the time we'd spent together, how, how had I never noticed, never realised...

"I told myself you were happy, that despite what I heard, and how tough things may be over here, that you were okay. You were where you belonged, and so was I. That didn't mean that I didn't try and get what information I could about you from everyone. I didn't help ease Apollos jealousy either, the times he left, I hated I couldn't go to. I was always told no, no one wanted me to get involved. When I found out you had met someone, I was happy for you, because that's all I ever wanted for you too and I didn't want to do anything that would mess things up. I wanted to believe you had managed to tick all those boxes."

And just like that, we were back having one of the last conversations we'd have for a long time; warm and with a happy haze from the amount we had drunk, two lonely souls that had always had each other, discussing life and questioning whether we were the unlucky ones that would forever have something missing, not realising that perhaps that something was actually the other person - or at least for one of them. His eyes widened slightly, and I knew he was back there too. This time I put my hand over his, our fingers entwining as the contact sent a shiver up my spine. Cain didn't stop me as I slipped between him and the railing, our bodies flush against each other.

"Why? Why did you never even-" I start, an anger reigniting within. It was dark, and instant; familiar yet new.

It had been over a year since I'd felt this side of my powers seeking control, wanting to be felt and heard. But it wasn't just my powers, it was Cain's too as if they were calling out to mine. I saw it all with a vision as clear as any Seer. We'd been wrong, and closing my eyes I didn't need a painting to show me the future anymore because it was happening now. It hadn't been Eris, at his side. Apollo's suspicion had just been confirmed; it had been me.

"You need to leave, Elise." Cain interrupted, reluctantly turning away as he began to fade and the dark shell he seemed to disappear into returned yet he didn't quite let go of my hand. "Nothing good will come from you being here. For either of us."

"Cain-"

"Don't. I will destroy you like I do everything, and in the end, you will either let me or-" He holds my wrist quicker than I can process it, the dagger back only this time it's in my hand as he presses the tip against his own chest. "End up doing what I couldn't."

"You don't know that," I whisper, dropping the blade and pulling my hand free.

"Your Seer apparently does. Portia always has." He clicks his fingers, my clothes changed to the black gown Matt had painted, and forcing me to turn around we look back over the world beneath us. "You see it, don't you. The darkness in these lands, I did that."

"It isn't set in stone, Cain! Since when have you ever been so concerned over anything they see? "

"When it involves you, I am!" He screamed, the sudden outburst timed to the new waves of lightning that lit up the sky, breaking the darkness that seemed to extend from this section of the castle.

Hesitantly I reached up and my fingertips brushed his cheek, ran along the curve of his jaw before I snapped my hand back against my chest. Cain froze, his body expanding and staying that way as he held his breath and he no longer looked like the feared King. He looked like the sad, lost boy I had glimpsed the first time we came here, as we watched his childhood home burn to ashes. There was a new war starting, one between my heart and my mind as I wanted to do so much more than a whisper of a touch. He was right to be worried; I wanted to be consumed with whatever this could be. Every fibre of my being burned with a need for more in a way I'd never known I could want something since we'd been reunited. I wasn't going to keep fighting it.

"It's probably a good thing Portia has always struggled with her visions of me, because I don't know how'd she feel about this." I decided, seeing the confusion cross his face in the second it takes for my hand to be on the back of his neck, fingers in his hair as I pull him towards me.

This kiss is as intense as the first.

Years of missed opportunities, an unspoken need, a desire that had been caged for so long finally set free. For a moment, time froze. Neither of us reacted, except for the soft pressure of our lips meeting which slowly gave way to something else. Wrong or right, I had no idea but I was powerless to stop now. His hand mimicked mine as his fingers brushed against my throat, a hand placed at the base of my neck to keep me where I was as if he could sense the urge I had to run. It sent a new rush of goosebumps across my shoulders, the shiver bringing us closer together despite how my body was wired and tense, ready for the command to go. All the while I thought my heart might explode only it wasn't me I had to worry about as from below something else did, sending a new tremble to us that caused more destruction behind us with a loud crack and shattering of glass. 

We kept hold of one another, struggling to breathe as we stood there forehead to forehead in a way that was more intimate than the kiss itself. It was as if we were looking completely inside each other. There were no more secrets, no lies, nothing to hide. I wondered if he felt what I did, that in the chaos of life and more recently, this very moment that we existed in, here was where that missing balance had been hiding.  

"I thought I had imagined last time. I never thought I'd get another chance." Cain whispers, the gentle curve of a lazy, half-smile threatening to appear on his face. "Tell me, tell me this is real."

"Sir, it's-" Hermes interrupted, taking my chance to answer; not that I think I could have in that second anyway. "Oh no. No. No!"

He's standing between us in seconds, the distance something I am both thankful and disappointed in. Focusing on the two men in front of me now, Cain's face is of pure murder and Hermes either doesn't know or care enough right now that it's all pointed his way.

"Ares is ready. Athena seems to be getting outside help and her defences are holding over the town. Are you completely insane?" He snaps making me wonder if perhaps he's the one who has lost his mind.

"It's been suggested," Cain growls. "Get them to the fields, keep the battle focused where it belongs. Athena is to continue her protection of the Others until we are certain they're safe. Now, get the fuck out!"

Hermes looks at me, shocked and if I didn't know better, fearfully. I can feel my cheeks heating, even after he vanishes. Neither of us says anything right away.

"Was that meant as a distraction?" The accusation was heavy in his voice. "An attempt to bring me under your control?"

"Was it that obvious?" I snap back, already feeling the I told you so coming from that logical part of my brain I decided I'd attempt to kill off with a few more sessions of drinking mead with the Valkyrie once this was over. "Why does this keep happening to me? Every time, something feels right, it instead turns into yet another bad life choice made by yours truly. You know what, just forget it."

"How?"

"Close your eyes, click your heels together three times and-"

"You really are the most frustrating creature I have ever come across." Cain groans yet removes the distance created by Hermes's interruption.

"Are you just tuning in or do you not remember the last fifteen minutes? I'm frustrating?" I really am an idiot.

"Oh, I don't think I'll ever forget them." He admits, reaching out to push back a single braid that had fallen loose over my ear. "I can't be what you need, Elise. You asked me why I'd never made it clear until recently and I don't have an answer. It just never seemed like the right time. I don't think there will ever be a right time because- "

Another interruption only this one has us both ducking for cover as a wave of fireballs is created and thrown our way. Cain reacts a second faster than I do, a shield blocking us from attack appearing just as quickly and the fires sizzle out.

"You okay?" He calls, arms up as another round comes.

"Fine." I stand behind him, keenly watching for the smoke to clear to see what's on the other side. It came from above, and the shape of the pegasus and their riders are undeniable. "Four riders."

Cain nods, one hand taking a hold of the air and pulling down. The smoke acts like a tunnel, the energy and fire above us being drawn into it and down into his grip. And then the sky is burning, the weapons they'd used against us being redirected. The animals scream, two vanish instantly, while the survivors urge their mounts away, up higher and higher, only Cain doesn't give them a chance.

He lowers the shield, and we look into a clear sky with no signs of any others there or even more attacks coming. At least until a flicker of movement is caught in the corner of my eye as I sense the presence of other Powers. Spinning around, Eris is now standing there, surveying the mess with obvious disapproval. That isn't what surprises me though, and clearly I'm not the only one having those issues as Odin stands beside her. An image of Cain with a hand around his throat comes to me, one of the last things I remember before I destroyed that portal. It was said, Cain had killed Odin. I'd never questioned it. Kara believed in it too. And yet, here he was.

"You're supposed to be dead." Cain talks in that flat, menacing tone he has perfected.

"So was she." Odin sends a subtle nod in my direction.

"Don't sound so disappointed," I smirk, my powers tingling in my hands as I'm so ready for round two.

"Of course you two are together," Eris rolls her eyes. "I told you they would be. At least we can get this over with quickly."

"You saved him, didn't you?" Cain fails at hiding his disbelief, that is if he had even tried to. "I'll admit it. I underestimated what you're capable of."

"Everyone always does." Eris glowed, clearly taking it as a compliment. "Where chaos rules, so do I and you made it oh so easy. Enough talk, I'm here to take what's mine."

Holding out her hand, the simple, golden crown Cain had been wearing appeared, and with the smug look of pure satisfaction taking over, Eris put it on.

"Long live the Queen." Odin laughed.

In seconds the gold started to glow, suddenly bursting into flames that had Odin jumping away, and Eris screaming as the headpiece was tossed to the ground.

"That didn't last long, what a shame." I glanced at Cain, his aura dark as that shell I'd seen earlier emerged. "Here's your final warning. This is not a fight you want to start."

"Oh but it is!" Eris glared at Cain, yet her focus was on completely on me as Odin drew his weapon and so did Cain.

This would be it, what I wanted - what we had all wanted and came here to try and do.

End the war.

"Elise," Cain spoke softly, I wasn't even sure I heard him yet leaning slightly closer to him so our arms touched, he carried on. "I'm glad you didn't leave."

"Just like old times, right?" He caught my eye, right as Odin charged and whatever regrets I thought I might have had, vanished.

And so the final battle began.

_________________________

Sooo.....

I have literally been doing this chapter since the last update and didn't want you to have to wait much longer so here we are.

 Am I happy with it? I don't know. 

No matter how many versions I've done, two things kept happening; 1. Elise and Cain kiss again  2. Odin and Eris turn up. Whether this does change will depend on what happens next but for now I'm going to leave it because I don't think I'll ever get it posted otherwise. 

What do you think?