-Camp Half-Blood, Earth; After Kosmos and Kasey disappeared into the woods-

~Nyke's Point of View~

Why is it that when the unit leaders are together, no matter how many of us are together, things go wrong?

Seriously, I don't know why I was chosen to be the head commander. I'm not qualified to lead. Especially, where Kosmos is concerned. I could never figure the assassin out. He's more of Chaos' right hand than I ever have been. They always seem to share this secret connection where they know each other so well that they can communicate without talking.

Even though I have grown stronger in the past millennium with Chaos, deep down I'm still the same person I was before Chaos found me. I'm not that hero I was anymore. I tried to use my power to save people, but in the end, this happens.

"What happened?" I asked again, sighing in resignation.

Charis flinched a little. "I'm sorry, Nyke. I got angry at what Drew was saying and-"

I held up my hand. "No, I heard you the first time. I meant," I sighed tiredly, rubbing my face under my hood. "Kosmos walked into the woods with a new camper?"

After all this time I had been with Chaos, hearing that Kosmos is alone with a new camper doesn't seem right to me. I had heard stories about all the times Kosmos had accidentally made new recruits cry. To hear something like this makes me want to hunt down the assassin before more campers get threatened. And wasn't Kosmos supposed to be gone until dinner?

"It looked like she followed after him." Charis' soft smile was visible to the gathered unit leaders. "She seemed almost concerned about him. Kasey, I believe her name was, a daughter of Demeter. She's new and-" She paused to think over what she would say next. "I think she's getting through to Kosmos. He wasn't his usual self when answering her questions."

"Are you sure?" Vernandos asked, sounding worried.

Malantha hummed in thought. "Charis is usually right about these things. She has a way with human emotions." She shrugged with a smile towards the unit 4 leader.

Milos spoke up from his leaning position against a tree. "If Malantha and Charis believe that Kosmos isn't being his usual self then that's true. Whether it's a good or bad thing, is still unclear."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes underneath my hood. I wasn't too concerned about my hood as it was enchanted for no one to see the magical shadow that appears over the wearer's face aside from the mouth and jaw. Still, if any of the other leaders see my face, it could mess up all of my hard work on staying hidden. I didn't need anyone knowing who I was.

"Alright. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. We don't know what Kosmos is doing exactly. Make sure at least one of you is patrolling the woods and the barrier. Figure out the schedule amongst yourself, I have to go talk to Chiron."

The gathered leaders nodded. "Yes, Commander."

Then the five turned towards each other to discuss the patrol schedule.

I walked away, sighing tiredly. I knew this was going to be a headache coming back here, but I didn't think that Kosmos would do something out of character by talking to a camper. He usually stays in the shadows during missions, so why is this one different? Is it because he's on Earth? No, he's been here before.

"Head Commander?" I yelped, jumping away from Hesper who suddenly appeared in front of me. How did she get past me? When did she have time to pass me?

She didn't seem impressed with my reaction. "Yes, Hesper?" I asked, trying to sound composed.

The Unit 1 Leader sighed and crossed her arms. "We need to talk."

-

I cleared my throat nervously. "Don't you think this is far enough away?" Realistically, I know that Hesper wouldn't have brought me further into the woods to do something like kill me, but my skin started to crawl when I came to a familiar spot by the creek.

I haven't been here in about four-thousand years...

Hesper stopped and turned around to face me. "What do you know about Kosmos?"

"What?" I blinked. For a moment, it felt as if I was back in the past. Seeing someone from long ago, being reminded of how my life used to be, and remembering who I used to be.

She huffed impatiently. "I know that I was brought into the army before you." The 4th unit leader made the statement, but waited for me to nod before continuing. "However, I had never interacted with the assassin as you have. He was with Chaos before me." She paused. "Do you trust him?"

My mind blanked. "What?"

Hesper smacked her hand to her face in an exasperated facepalm. "Do you trust the assassin?" Her repeated question made me stop to think more about my answer.

There was always something familiar about the assassin to me. I thought if I could talk to him, I might figure it out. At first, I thought it was because he had a past like mine. Maybe not the same as mine, but a similar experience to mine that caused him to work as an assassin, killing for Chaos.

As more one-sided conversations went on, I realized talking gets me nowhere. Then I had the idea to try to get a reaction out of him. Nothing I did made his detached exterior change. Even when I joked about what he did as a profession changed anything.

It wasn't until he spoke a little more that made me think I had heard his voice before. It was an itch in the back of my mind. One I still haven't been able to figure out.

And then something happened. He came into a meeting acting different. He seemed almost scared.

Since then I've been learning more about him in subtle ways and finding out things about the Army of Chaos that I hadn't known before. Which makes me think that it has something to do with Kosmos' past.

"Well?" Hesper was getting impatient. An impatient Hesper was not a nice Hesper.

"Do I trust Kosmos?" I repeated thoughtfully. Even though I don't know him very well, or at all, I know that as an assassin and colleague he gets his job done and helps others. Maybe not in a traditional way. As he kills, he saves people. That's his job. And sometimes I do see something in him when he comes back. Kosmos looks as if he was holding up the weight of the world on his shoulders. He's detached because he has to be. So do I trust him?

"Yes, I do." I firmly believe those words.

I trust him because there is something so familiar to me. Especially when he looks like he has the world resting on his shoulders. When he looked almost scared, but trying not to show it. Kosmos reminds me of someone that I had known before I came to Chaos.

The question is...who is the Assassin of Chaos, Kosmos?

Hello. It has been over a year since I last published a chapter for this book. I'm sorry. I have been going through a lot over the last year and every time I tried writing it didn't work. 

I wrote the beginning of the chapter shortly after I published chapter six. I only got to a few hundred words before giving up. I have revisited the chapter a few times since then, however, I lost motivation. And then I was struggling so hard to write. It took me over an hour to write 600 words. That's not including this bolded author's note. 

I struggled with several elements in this chapter and I don't know how good it is. Everything I write has been bland to me. One of the reasons why I haven't been writing or publishing since last year. 

The clearing scene with Nyke and Hesper was supposed to be different, but Hesper didn't want to be more forthcoming with her concerns. It happens. 

I plan on rereading this book and then writing this next chapter as I'm not sure what my next step will be in this story. I really want to finish it because this storyline is a favorite of mine. The problem is I moved on from the Percy Jackson fandom last year or so and I've been feeling lukewarm about the last few chapters. 

I don't know. Please let me know what you think. 

I've been trying so hard to finish this chapter and it's funny to me that it took listening to Theme of King JJ from Yuri on Ice on repeat to finish it. 

I was rewatching Yuri on Ice while writing until I hit technical difficulties with the audio and my headphones. Then Theme of King JJ was stuck in my head. 

So, anyway, that's how I am right now. 

I plan on rereading all of the pervious chapters, figuring out what should happen in the next chapter, and then I'm going to start writing it tonight. 

However, I have dinner to make before I can do all of that. 

Thanks for reading! 

Please comment with your thoughts and give me your feedback! I want to make sure this story is the best it can be. Well, until I can go back and edit it once I finish it. 

Until next time,

Later! 

~MsPenguingirl1234. 

Published: October 13, 2021. 

P.S. This chapter hit 1203 words which is an accomplishment for me since I've struggled to write more than 500 words in the last year!