Thia's POV

"It's time." Robin glanced at the sky as dark clouds roiled overhead like angry beasts ready to fall from the sky and swallow us whole. "Warriors grab your bows we must head to the city!"

"What about the others?" Leah asked, noting how dangerously close the darkness was to the camp.

"They will remain here." Robin said solemnly. "If we succeed we will be reunited. They have prepared for this. There is nothing to be done."

The idea of children and young women being frozen in an inky darkness made my stomach coil in repulsion. It didn't seem right but Robin was correct. There was no where they could go except into battle.

"You must arm yourselves, Olivia give them armor." Robin instructed his daughter waving for Leah and I to follow.

"Here, choose what you wish." Olivia gestured to a large supply pile that was being guarded by hunting dogs though they seemed rather peaceful at the moment.

"Leah, this is about your size." Grabbing a leather breastplate I tossed it to her. She caught it with a look of thanks before fastening it with ease. One thing our school back in New Rome taught us was dressing for war quickly and with little notice. Work through the adrenaline and keep a level head.

"Damn it." Leah cursed trying to fastened one of the straps but the clasp had broken. Thinking quickly I scrambled over the pile to where she stood ankle deep in supplies and pulled her closer. The clasp was broken and with a grunt I tore it clean from the leather.

Grabbing a knife that rested in the pile I cut at the leather strap until a hole appeared. Slipping the other side of the strap through the hole I pulled it tight. "Is that good? Can you move?"

"Yeah, yeah it's good," Leah nodded. Putting the knife between my teeth I scrambled around until I spotted a nail. One thing about this place, it was extremely unorganized but in the moment it was beneficial. Piercing the nail through the joined pieces of leather I bent it and twisted it into place. The straps wouldn't be coming undone any time soon.

"There." Brushing my hair from my face I had little time to catch my breath.

"Alright let's go, come on!" Robin yelled as a few stragglers joined his ranks.

"Thai. Armor," Leah reminded, but I shoved her away from the pile.

"I'll be fine. We have to go. We can't waste time." She seemed reluctant but nodded and ran to join the group as I found my shield and spear. We weren't too far from the city and as we drew closer, running like mad men across the terrain, I could hear the chaos.

There was a battle raging. It was one of the biggest the world had ever seen. Robin lead the group into the fray. His red hair acted as a beacon. Making our way through the city wasn't hard. We simply had to follow the commotion until we arrived.

It was a lot to take in. There were hundreds of demigods of all races, genders, and nationalities together in one place fighting beasts only nightmares could conceive.

Dark skinned and fierce warrior women wrestled what looked to be a cross between a lion and a rhinoceros. A Russian and an Amazon lifted a car from on top of a comrade. Arrows arched expertly through the sky and spears slashed through the air.

I spotted Uncle Jason caught in an aerial battle with flying monsters hot on his heels. There was Uncle Percy surrounded by a torrent of water snatching up unfortunate victims like a horrifying kraken. Uncle Nico slipped in and out of shadows with his scary battle smirk.

"For Narnia!" My ears perked up at this and I nearly smiled watching Maria, with Jaxon following closely behind, leap off a car and onto the back of a monster.

"What are we waiting for?" Robin called. "Get in there!"

Robin's Merry Crew gave a horrendous but energetic battle cry before pouring into the battle with eager hands and weapons. Leah with twin blades in hand scanned the fighting that seemed to stretch on like the ocean. "Do you see Chaos?"

"No." Shaking my head I tried to pick through the fight. He should be there.

"There." Leah pointed out of the alley way with her blade. Chaos had materialized on top of a fallen building. "He can sense your presence."

"Then it's time we met, I suppose." My nerves caused my heart to pound angrily in my chest.

"I'll get you there," Leah promised, pulling a helmet on her head. "Follow me."

"Leah-wait." She turned to face me with an expectant look. "Once I'm there fall back. I have to do this on my own. I'm not letting anyone else get hurt."

"Understood Captain!" She smiled before turning on her heel and running off. We skirted on the outside of the violence scrambling through rubble and discarded vehicles.

Leah yelped and skidded to a halt as something crashed into a building next to us causing the wall tic implode. There was a scrambling beneath the rubble and the two of us waited anxiously.

"Aye for the love of God!" Aunt Hylla clambered out of the rubble looking thoroughly pissed off.

"Aunt Hylla!" The Amazon Queen's glare and angry aura instantly changed and her head turned to find me.

"What are you doing here chica?" Hylla asked. "Get going! It's dangerous in here! You've got a mission yeah?"

Nodding, I glanced over to what she was staring down. It was very big with milky white eyes, an armored head, large hands dragging on the ground, teeth razor sharp, and mouth foaming.

"When I say go the two of you run, got it? This stupid thing is mine." The monster seemed to understand the insult and snarled angrily. Leah and I waited anxiously. Both of us were poised to run. "What? Did I hurt your feelings big guy? Suck it up."

Eyes narrowed with hate she charged meeting the monster head on. The belt of the Amazon Queen aided in her strength. The clash resulted in the beast tumbling backwards from Hylla's shield bashing in its face. "Go!"

Leah and I needed little more encouragement. We ran like crazy as fighting continued all around us. A tiger like monster leapt from the top of a taxi, mouth open ready to clamp onto Aunt Piper's arm. When the two met she went to the ground using the momentum to throw the monster backwards into the waiting blade of Aunt Annabeth.

It was incredible seeing them in action. They were extremely skilled fighters from years of training. Only I didn't have time to admire any of it. The closer we got to Chaos' location the clearer it became that the monsters had the upper hand. Only a few demigods had managed to plunge this far into their ranks.

I saw it from my peripheral, reaching out I snagged Leah by the back of her breastplate, and jerked her backwards. An awkward representation of a bull pulverized a streetlight.

Eyes flicking about in search of a clear path I found that one was no longer visible. I didn't know where to go. Each way looked even more dangerous than the last. "Where do we go? Leah, what do we do?"

Her brow was furrowed as she observed the scene. I could practically see the gears working in her brain. Then a look of realization passed over her face. "Do you trust me?"

"What?" I asked narrowly avoiding a stray attack from a comrade.

"Do you trust me?" I was suddenly grabbed by the front of the shirt and whipped around to face her.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Good." Leah let go of me and grabbed my spear and shield.

"Leah wait-what are you..." My questions didn't get answered. She charged off into the fray wielding the shield with Medusa's face on it. Every monster within a ten foot radius recoiled from its aura. She was clearing a path. They'd snap out of it eventually. I had to move.

Swallowing hard, I ran hard and fast once again with me eyes locked onto Chaos and his dark cloaked form. Each stride brought me closer until I could see him clearly. Until I was charging up the rubble of the building and he was directly in front of me. We were nose to nose.

My heart hammered in my chest and my pulse raced in my ears. In my peripheral I saw him raise a slow careful hand. Lashing out, I caught his wrist gripping it with white knuckles. A smirk splayed across his lips.

"So, I finally meet the one my wife selected." His voice was deeper than anything humanly possible. "I'm impressed. You're very brave."

"And you're a coward for doing this." I wasn't sure where my confidence came from but it was surging through my veins.

"Perhaps I am." Came the chuckle. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm here. Isn't that what you wanted? A fight." The motion was swift and suddenly my arm was twisted painfully behind my back and a hand forced my head to stare out at the battlefield.

"Don't you see it?" He asked, breath warm on my ear. "The endless struggle. You humans are stubborn, I must admit it's quite impressive."

"There's a reason we fight." I could feel my teeth digging faintly into my cheeks.

"That does not matter. I will bring justice through Chaos. After all, Chaos is the natural order of things." I spotted different fights and clusters of monsters and demigods breaking out. But every fallen monster was quickly replaced by another. Leah. Where was Leah?

My gaze found her pinned to the ground struggling to scramble away from the gathering hordes around her. My stomach twisted in knots at the sight of it.

"This isn't justice. You have no idea the amount of good still left in the people of this world." The pain in my arm began to recede and my heart seemed to slow as did everything else around me.

"You do not see them for who they really are. I do not wish to fight you. You do not deserve this." Chaos shook his head.

"One thing I know, is that I'm tired of people like you dictating who I am, and what I think!" Turning my head, I bit into his hand drawing a pained yell. Twisting, I jerked my arm free and without hesitating punched him hard in the chest.

A look of surprise flashed across his face as he toppled backwards down the rubble hill. Glancing down at my fist I noted that there wasn't a single bruise on my knuckles. Rolling my shoulders I stared down at him.

He grunted clambering to his feet. "So be it then."

A dark blade materialized in his hand and he leapt forward with pure strength in his form. He crashed down next to me. Staggering backwards, I ducked the blade. The ground had cracked and cratered beneath his feet.

"Maybe you need to be convinced little one." He grumbled, slashing with his sword. Stepping to the side I ran into his open hand. His large hand wrapped around my neck lifting me so my feet no longer touched the ground.

Struggling to breath I reacted on instinct. Grunting, I slammed my foot into his chest causing his grip to loosen. Bashing my arm down once and then twice against his elbow I fell free. Sucking in a sharp breath I scrambled backwards as his sword slammed into the fallen building hilt deep.

"How can you believe there is good in those who steal?" He asked marching forward. Rising to my feet I raised my fists. He swung his fist in a violent stroke. Closing my eyes I crossed my arms hoping to block it.

There was a loud bang and a grunt of surprise. Opening my eyes I was surprised to see white and silver wrist guards adorning my arms. His punch had been stopped in its tracks.

"Some people steal because they need to." Before he'd recovered from his shock I picked up a block of concrete and smashed it into his side. Staggering backwards his eyes narrowed.

"And those who don't?" He yelled, fists glowing with a dark aura.

"Will be punished by the Justice of the law and the will of the universe." Straightening my shoulders I jutted out my chin.

"You are foolish," he laughed. He moved quickly, like a viper striking when a jet of darkness ripped from his palms and slammed into my chest. The world spun angrily and I felt my back crack painfully against something before I was rolling down the rubble. "Someone must bare the consequences. There is no going back."

I could feel a rush of blood running down the side of my face and a pain in my leg that hadn't been there before. Glancing down, I saw rebar embedded in my leg. Gripping it tightly I yanked it free.

"If you do this, you won't restore your wife's essence. You will kill her!" His dark robes billowed in the breezes. The sky was now bathed in a bright red like the world was bleeding.

"You know nothing!" He insisted. The rubble beneath my feet began to shift. Panicking, I stumbled away but in my urgency I became unaware. Stone slammed into my side and was followed by others.

Gripping the metal pole in my hand I studied the projectiles. They seemed to be going slower than they should have. I could see their paths before they were completed. Gritting my teeth, I stepped forward stabbing the end of my weapon into one. The concrete slab shattered on impact.

Spinning, I slammed one to the ground and pierced through another until only dust was left. Reality snapped back at normal speed. There was a bright shining light and when I glanced at the make shift weapon I was surprised to see a mighty sword.

"If I know nothing why would Order demand a host? A person to link her essence to? Why would she challenge you?" Chaos stepped slowly down from his high ground. His thick armored boots landed heavily with each step.

"She will be reborn. She will be stronger and better all thanks to me." Something clamped around my ankles and suddenly I was dangling upside down in the air. The shadows. They moved and coiled like an angry ocean beneath me ready to rise and swallow me whole. "You can still survive this. Join me."

"You have no idea who I am and what I stand for do you?" Flailing, I tried to pry myself free from the darkness' grip.

"I have watched you for years just as my wife has. I was the crow, I was the beast you met and spared in my dark woods, and I was the girl you showed kindness to when no one else would." Everything seemed to go still in that moment. He was lying, he had to be.

"No." A look of both pity and amusement flashed on his face. "You're lying."

"I had to be certain you were the one. I had to test you in a way you did not know. She had given up long before I took her form. She let me into her body," Chaos insisted. My vision tunneled for a moment and all I could picture was the note Marianna had written and the blood in the bathtub.

"You made her do it?" There was no control in my voice or my emotions anymore. "You took her away from me?"

"It was for your own good," he promised.

"She was my only friend!" White hot rage set my skin on fire. "She was hurting and I could have helped! I could have saved her!"

"You would have failed as you are failing now." I can't explain what came over me in that moment. All of the noise in the world vanished. It was silent, empty. Bright white light clouded my vision and when it cleared the shadows had been burned away but I had not fallen.

Instead I hung upright in the air and armor that hadn't been there before rested on my form. In my peripheral I saw wings of light. Order had said when the time came she would guide me. It seemed that for once she had done something good for me.

Dropping from the air my feet slammed into the ground making a large crater spiderweb outwards. Chaos stood his ground as I stepped forward, one foot in front of the other. He didn't expect me to catch him by the throat and hold him aloft.

"You must pay for your sins too." Slamming him into the ground rubble scattered and sprayed into the air. His hands clamped down around my arm trying to pull himself free but it was no use. "You are lucky I'm merciful."

"Perhaps you are...but I'm not." His hands clapped together in an earsplitting sound. Everything went dark for a moment and when my eyes opened the world was still and he was not to be seen.

The sky was red and still. Clouds were stuck in place, motionless. The shadows did no longer crawled and warriors no longer fought. The universe was still.

The end of the world seemed like it would be a living hell. A time when people were struggling to survive. A place where people screamed, fires raged, and car accidents happened on every street. Maybe there would even be zombies but that wasn't the case at all. In fact,,there was something peaceful about it all.

"Where are you?" I called, spinning around. There was no response. No indication he was there at all until his voice seemed to catch on the wind.

"You believe there is good in this world." It was more of question than a statement. "Look at them, all of them."

The dark monsters shimmered and evaporated into nothing. All that remained were frozen demigods stuck in time and an invisible war.

"Let me tell you what I see." There was a pause. "Killers, thieves, manipulators, selfish children of selfish gods, bullies, betrayers, heartbreakers, liars..."

The list carried on and with each word a beam of red light ignited those who were guilty of such accusations; until every demigod was bathed in light like blood had coated their skin.

"This does not depict mortals or centuries of sins by the gods of every religion." Anger echoed in Chaos' detached voice. "This is a small percentage of a whole that has tortured the earth and the people around them until no man can trust his neighbor or family!"

My confidence and belief flickered. How could there not be a single person in all of them that wasn't charged with dozens of crimes on one another? How could I defend my stance when such evidence was blatantly against me?

"You understand why I must do this. Why I must destroy my beloved for her to live once again. Why I must condemn the world you live in." A calmness seemed to settle in his voice. "It is a necessity. A cleansing that has been long overdue and it must be done."

"What about me?" His voice fell silent at my question.

"You will be there for the beginning of a new world. You will be alone only temporarily until others like yourself will be granted life." A restart. He was going to destroy everyone and everything so that others could have a better life. There was beauty in the idea of creating a utopia from chaos. Only it would never work.

"Do you know what I see?" I asked.

"What?" Came the reply. Discarding my sword I made my way across the battlefield until I paused in front of a very familiar face.

"A daughter trying to live up to the legends of her parents." Maria always had such a burden on her shoulders. Turning away from my cousin I found Leah. "A child who feels forgotten by her family, unwanted, and useless."

I turned on my heel moving on to another person I knew like the back of my hand. "A little boy who was taken from his family and thrown away to be a pawn in a game he didn't know anything about."

Uncle Jason. And I continued on and on and on until I stopped in front of Mom. Tucked behind her shield, weapon in hand, eyes not looking at the invisible monster in front of her but with concern at Grey who was being pinned down by his own invisible beasts. Selfless as always.

"This is my Mom. Sure, she's probably done some bad things but that's not who she is. She's strong and brave and loving. If you knew her like I do you wouldn't be so quick to judge. She had a rotten hand at life. Like everyone here! Like me." My gaze settled back on Grey. "And I can tell you right now she'd die for anyone on this battlefield."

"Child you-"

"I'm not finished." I was surprised that Chaos didn't continue. Instead, I moved on and found Mama mid stride, blue lightning frozen in time around her, blades in hand, determination on her face. "This is also my Mom. She's brave too, independent, and funny. You think it's fair that she grew up without the love of her parents and raised her little brother? You don't think she messed up a time or two? Well she did, and maybe she has blood on her hands but she never lied to me. Not once. I know that she killed her friend Gwen and I know that it haunts her."

I knew that everyone in my family was haunted by something or someone. It was what made us all so close. We had a support system. A family most of them didn't have. "But the point is, my parents raised me to be who I am today whether someone tampered with my genetics or not. One thing they taught me was that you stand up for what you believe in no matter what, and I am not letting you destroy the earth."

"You do not have a choice in the matter little girl." There was a swirling of darkness before Chaos stepped through. "There must be payment."

"Another thing my parents taught me was that sacrifice is the rawest form of love," I sighed. Confusion flashed across his face but a stillness settled over me. From the beginning of this I wasn't meant to win the fight. I wasn't meant to be faster, smarter, or stronger than the entity before me.

"Child-"

"I understand my fate. It's been predicted and I haven't seen it until now." The words of the prophecy echoed in my head. Lose another for freedom gain. "Someone must pay."

"It is not you who must pay." Chaos' eyes softened for the first time.

"Nor is it anyone else's ." Shaking my head I let my sword clatter to the ground. Carefully I removed the pieces of armor that covered my clothes and knelt in front of him.

"You would do this? Accept the pain of every victim who has had wrong done to them? Absolve their sins?" He was struggling to understand. "Every person who has been beaten, killed, raped, heartbroken, cheated on, riddled by disease, started wars, destroyed lives, and destroyed families? Why?"

"Because I'm in love." I was in love and I never even knew it. As much as I thought I'd hated this imperfect world I realized I couldn't. I could hate the bad things that happened but every bad person was good at some point, and someone had carved them into who they were today. As much as it sucked, it was my home. It was the place I belonged, a place where people laughed, where people loved, where people cried and it was gorgeous. "I'm in love with the world I get to live in even if it isn't perfect. I'm in love with the idea of having friends and growing up. I'm in love with the idea of the future. Maybe I won't get to have the things I love, but if others can then so be it. They deserve it."

"What of your family?" Chaos asked.

"They'll understand so long as the sun rises tomorrow," I insisted. It would be hard on them but they would come to terms with it in time. I was giving the others a tomorrow they deserved. Chaos shifted his gaze and in the red light I saw tears trickling down his cheeks as a blade formed in his hand.

"May you forgive me child." His tear stained face turned to me and the blade in his hand glinted in the light.

It was fast, and it was peaceful.