-Camp Half-Blood, Earth; Right Where We Left Off-

~Jason's Point of View~

Luke Castellan? I remember hearing the name Luke before. He was a demigod that Thalia and Annabeth had known. There was talk about him dying a hero. Who exactly was Luke Castellan?

"We are getting off topic." Nyke stated in frustration. "Kosmos has known of our identities since the beginning?"

"Nyke?" Several unit leaders asked, wary of the question.

"I don't know the identities of the unit leaders." He  emphasized. "The only one I know is Malantha's and that's because she told us!" Chaos' Head Commander snapped.

"Nyke." More wariness from the unit leaders.

"No!" He snapped back. "I have always questioned the reason why I was given this second chance. Now to find out it was because of Percy Jackson. And to find out that the Percy Jackson I had met was an illusion? Do you realize how disorienting this all is? The last time I was at Camp Half-Blood I-"

"Nyke." Hesper slapped him. "Calm down."

"What the-?!"

"I knew Hesper loved Nyke!"

"Charis!"

"Hitting someone does not equal love!"

"It does when Hesper does it!"

"How does that make sense?!"

"Especially to Nyke!"

"Charis!"

Bianca burst out laughing. "This is why I love you guys so much."

"What?"

"Bianca?"

"Am I wrong?"

"This is worse than the time Charis wanted to have a unit leader sleepover."

"Don't even mention that!"

"I never want to revisit those memories."

"I barely remember anything that happened that night."

"What are you talking about, Malantha?" Nyke's tired voice cut off the unrelated conversation between the other leaders. "We were brought together for no other reason than to fix a broken demigod who we truly never met. We never knew who to trust because we were ordered not to disclose our true identities. Our only option was to trust Chaos. And look at where that got us!" He yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "This is the second time I was given a position of power to be used for someone else's gain..." He spoke softly with a bitter laugh.

"Nyke-" Chaos' warning was cut short by the first unit leader.

"Nyke, I don't care who you were before the army." Hesper glared. "People change. In all of my years, I only met one male who gained my respect right before I died. Then I became a unit leader for Chaos' army. I then met other acceptable males who showed me that I could trust again. I trust you. Not for who you were, but for who you are."

"Hesper..." He trailed off, mouth hung open.

"Wait, that story sounds familiar." Bianca commented.

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked her.

Hesper sighed. "It's nice to see you again, Bianca." She took off her silver trimmed hood. Revealing...someone I haven't met before. Long, dark hair, brown eyes, and copper-colored skin.

Bianca's eyes grew wide. "Zoe?" She wasn't the only one to speak the girl's name in hope. Lady Artemis also stepped forward, looking hopeful at the newly revealed unit leader.

"Hello, My Lady." Zoe bowed. Lady Artemis choked on a cry, throwing her arms around her in a hug. Several of the hunters of Artemis joined in as well. Even Bianca came forward to greet her.

"Aren't you going to say hello, Thals?" Annabeth asked my sister. Thalia frowned, staring at the scene with an odd glint in her eyes.
"What do I have to say to her?" Was the only reply.

Zoe stepped away from the embrace and looked over at Thalia. "I knew you would be a good fit for the hunters." She smiled. "Lieutenant suits you."

"Are you really Zoe Nightshade? This isn't how you talked before." Her blue eyes darkened.

Zoe smiled more. "Once I joined Chaos' Army I had a difficult time adjusting. I learned it was easier to learn and use modern day English." She paused. "Did you ever go to the dam snackbar?"

Something in that strange question made Thalia's composure break. She laughed before tears started to flow. "It's really you..." The two smiled at each other before hugging.

"I'm upset that I died before those dam jokes happened." Bianca's comment caused the two to separate and stare at her. They looked at each other before laughing. Bianca grinned smugly.

"What jokes?" Nico asked, looking lost.

"Oh, Nico. That quest was filled with some questionable things." Bianca's words caused more laughter between Thalia and Zoe. "Although, those two," She gestured to the two previously mentioned. "Tried killing each other several times because they don't get along."

"At least we know not all the unit leaders are demigods." Apollo said.

Hermes stepped forward towards the unit leaders and Chaos. "Is my son - Luke - a part of the army?" He looked so hopeful with tears gathering in his eyes.

Chaos smiled sadly. "I can't confirm nor deny that. If he was in the army, it would be his choice to reveal himself."

"Like you tried for my son?" Poseidon questioned, causing Chaos to flinch at the mention of the argument that ended with Percy disappearing.

The creator opened his mouth to reply, only for a bright light that blinded everyone to interrupt him.

"Xander!" A voice yelled. From the sound of it, I could almost picture a-

"Titan!" Someone shouted. Weapons were quickly drawn to fight the new enemy.

Another flash of light. "Wait!" Another voice panted out in frustration. "Bob!"

"Bob?" I heard Annabeth speak.

"Giant!" More panic as the two looming figures approached us.

"Damasen!" Annabeth suddenly ran forward. "Bob!"

"Child of Athena?" The giant asked.

"Annabeth!" The titan grinned.

"Annabeth?" Athena questioned, looking uncertain.

Damasen and Bob? My eyes widened as I realized where I heard those names. After the war against Gaea, Annabeth and Percy slowly opened up about some of the things that happened in Tartarus. Bob and meeting Damasen were stories that were told.

Annabeth smiled. "Damasen, I thought-"

"Don't worry, child." The giant, Damasen, spoke up. He looked to Chaos. "Chaos here saved us before anything could happen."

"Because of Percy." Both titan and giant were taken back by her statement.

"You know about Xander?" Bob the titan, who was actually Iapetus, asked as he glanced at Chaos.

There was a sigh. "I may have gotten into an argument with Kosmos and I called him by his birth name."

Damasen scoffed out a laugh. "You messed up. Again. Why didn't you leave him alone after your failed attempt at making him the head commander?"

"You know my son?" The sea god spoke up again.

"Yes." Bob replied. "He saved us from Tartarus' rage."

"Per-Xander was in Tartarus while I was with his illusion self?" Annabeth asked.

Damasen sighed. "Yes. I knew of his...situation and I explained it to Bob. Xander was there the whole time you were in Tartarus. He wasn't going to let you die."

"If Xander was there, then why did Annabeth fall in the first place?" Athena questioned, glaring at the giant. "Couldn't he have prevented it?"

"No." Bob snapped back. "Xander wanted to help her before she fell into the pit, but he was stopped."

"Stopped? By what?" Nyke asked.

"By the one who tortured him." A solemn voice came from behind the giant and titan.

"Father." Damasen greeted the newcomer in slight surprise. Wait, the father of the giants is-

The Olympians and campers drew their weapons, getting ready to fight the primordial of the pit.

"Tartarus..." Annabeth and Nico looked haunted at the sight of the...seemingly normal middle aged man.

"That's Tartarus?" Leo blurted out. Piper hit him for his words.

Tartarus laughed slightly. "I apologize if my presence troubles you. I wouldn't be here if I could help it."

"What happened?" Chaos frowned.

Tartarus hesitated. "He's taken over the pit. He wants to end this war today. And he sent a challenge to Xander."

Chaos' eyes widened. "Xander isn't-"

"I'm afraid Xander is currently in the pit meeting with him and we can't interfere. All we can do is wait for the victor." 

"What?!" Noise broke out over the news. Everyone was talking at once. The one thing that we know for sure is that the final battle is happening and Xander is fighting alone.

I am crying. I just finished writing chapter twenty five and it hurt.

This chapter might not have been the best, but I hope it was still enjoyable. I am about to start the epilogue (or it might be chapter twenty six, I haven't decided yet. I was going to write and go from there). I can't believe we are almost to the end of the end.

Chapter twenty five holds the final battle which isn't much as I'm not good with fight scenes. So I wrote it in a different way.

Thank you so much for reading. I apologize for the wait, I couldn't get chapter twenty five where I wanted it at first but I got it.

Until the next chapter.

~MsPenguingirl1234.

Published: June 17, 2023.