2043 words

Raiden  P.O.V.

"Hi..." Aidan stepped forward in my and Orion's direction. "Hi, Dad."

"Take another step closer," I growled, "and I will rip your spleen out."

Aidan gulped. "Raiden, I just wanna talk to my dad. I don't wanna fight. Relax."

"I'll relax when you're in Tartarus where you belong."

Aidan flinched at my words, and I turned my head to watch Orion. He was studying his son, jaw clenching and unclenching. Gears seemed to be spinning furiously behind his eyes. His eyebrows knit together, and he frowned.

"I missed you, Dad." Aidan outstretched a shaking hand.

Orion's gaze locked onto Aidan's. He stepped forward, gesturing for me to remain where I was, and extended a hand to his son. A hopeful smile crept across Aidan's face. Their fingertips brushed against each other, and Orion jerked his hand back.

"What am I doing?" he muttered, expression hardening. "What am I doing? What am I doing?"

Aidan's grin faded. "Dad, I-I don't understand."

"Save your breath," Orion spat. He retreated to stand beside me.

"I don't understand," Aidan repeated. "Why are you-"

"Because you broke our family, that's why!" Orion glared at his son.

"I didn't do-"

"Yes, you did," I snarled.

Aidan scowled at me. "Who are you to talk to, Raiden? You're not-"

"Not a part of this family?" I smirked. "Actually, I am. Orion, do you wanna explain to your 'son' what happened?"

"He's not my son," Orion growled. Then to Aidan, "You're not my son."

Aidan's jaw dropped. "What do you mean I'm not your son? Ainsley and I are your only children."

"Not anymore." Orion placed the arm not gripping his sword around my shoulders.

Aidan stared between my father and I. When he spoke, his voice was choked and small. "You mean...you-you replaced me?"

I arched an eyebrow. "You said it, traitor, not us."

Tears welled in the corners of Aidan's eyes, and his mouth opened slightly. He gazed at us another second before his expression hardened, and he retreated to stand beside Luke.

"As soon as we're done here," Aidan ordered the dracanae, pointing at us, "kill the two of them."

"Wait a minute, Aidan," Luke said, and I was satisfied to hear the pain in every word. "We don't need to resort to violence just yet."

"Yes, we do," Aidan muttered.

Luke ignored him, and his eyes fell on Thalia. "Hello, Thalia. I missed you."

"Luke," she said, "why are you doing this?"

"The gods abandoned us, Thalia; our parents never helped us. Summon the Ophiotaurus, and you can have your revenge."

He snapped his fingers, and a black marble pool materialized beside us, filled with water. My churned. If the Ophiotaurus appeared in that pool, we'd be in deep trouble. I looked at Thalia, my tattoo reigniting with pain.

She shook her head. "Luke, this isn't you."

"Yes, it is," he insisted, voice strained. "And it can be you, too. Summon the Ophiotaurus, join me, and we can be family again. Just you, me, and Annabeth. No gods or anyone else. Just the three of us: a family."

"You forgot to mention one little thing, Luke," I added coldly. "There will be someone else: K-Kronos." My tattoo was seared, and I gritted my teeth. "Thalia, you know what he did to me. Do you really think he'll be any better to you than he was to me? Don't do this. Stay with us; we're your friends."

"Stay out of this, Raiden," Luke snapped. "It's Thalia's decision. And besides, Annabeth and I were her family first."

Thalia shook her head again. "Luke, I don't wanna do this."

"Please, Thalia," he begged, his voice full of real panic. "Sacrifice the Ophiotaurus, or he'll...he'll make me do the other way."

"We have to fight, Thalia." I cracked my knuckles. "And we will. Together."

"Absolutely," Orion agreed with a glance in Ainsley's direction.

I'll bite all of our enemies' faces off! Snow growled at Luke. Starting with yours!

"Thalia, you won't be able to fight for long." Luke pointed down at the ocean, and my heart skipped a beat. "We're almost ready to attack Camp Half-Blood and then, Olympus."

Hordes of monsters and armored demigods were striding up the mountain from the moored Princess Andromeda. Apparently, Luke had been busy the last six months if he'd managed to obtain an army of monsters and even more half-bloods. My stomach churned as I surveyed the enemies. I wasn't worried about me; I could fight dozens of foes at once and still defeat them all thanks to my Titan heritage. But my friends...

"You see?" Luke said. "Camp Half-Blood with be destroyed, but you don't have to be there when it happens Thalia. Join us."

Thalia wavered and stared at her former friend. I recognized the expression she wore. It was the same one Ainsley had had when she'd told me that her twin had betrayed her. But, like my best friend, Thalia knew which side to choose. She pointed her spear at the son of Hermes. "You aren't the Luke I once knew."

"No..." Luke looked terrified now. "Don't do this, Thalia. Please."

She looked at me. I nodded and raised my axe. Percy lifted his sword and cast a worried glance in Annabeth's direction. The way he looked at her with such warmth in his eyes...

"Let's kick some Titan butt," Orion snarled.

"I'll come back to you, Ainsley," I promised. "Right after I impale your brother to a column."

And together, we surged forward.

Thalia charged straight for Luke. Her shield caused the six dracanae to flee in terror and drop the golden sarcophagus. Luke snarled and retaliated with his sword despite being extremely weak.

Orion and Snow rushed at the pair of demigods caging Artemis. The wolf plowed straight into the legs of the half-blood on the left, making them stumble. Percy and Zoë dashed at Atlas, sword slicing and arrows flying.

That left just Aidan and I.

I sneered.

This was going to be fun.

I charged at Aidan. I slashed downward, and he whipped his sword, barely parrying my strike. I pushed down hard, tattoo searing, and he stumbled backward. I smirked at him. Aidan's widened in fear, but he still snarled and rushed at me.

I deflected his next attack with a cut and then feinted right. To my surprise, Aidan managed to deflect the blow with a chop. My axe clanged off his sword, and Aidan laughed, a sound as cold as the winter air.

"You really thought that move would work on me?" he jeered. "I'm so much better than-"

I slammed the knot of my axe into his chest. An amplified SNAP! exploded into the night air as Aidan's breastplate shattered, and he was catapulted off his feet. Aidan hurled twenty feet before he slammed into a broken column.

I marched over to him and seized a fistful of his shirt, now drenched in sweat and blood. I lifted Aidan into the air so he was at eye level with me and studied his face. His face was pale, like curdled milk, and soaked in sweat. He stared at me with petrified eyes.

"Drop your sword," I ordered.

The weapon clanged to the ground, and I kicked it away. "Now, you're going to tell me-"

Agony erupted all over my body. I yelled and dropped Aidan. He scampered away. My legs buckled underneath me, and I fell to one knee. I gritted my teeth and blinked several times to clear my vision. I stared at my skin and realized with a jolt that it was bubbling like hot wax.

"You should've stayed away, Raiden," Aidan said from a long distance away, maybe from just above me. "Then maybe you would've survived."

Underneath the agony, loathing exploded inside me. Aidan sounded callous, almost nonchalant that I was suffering. He sounded just like my father.

Just like my father.

Just. Like. My. Father.

My rage exploded.

Ainsley P.O.V.

My entire body was seared with agony. Every muscle and fiber in my body was being incinerated by a scalding flame. The worst pain was in my shoulders and face, which felt as though the heat from an atomic bomb was scorching through them.

My body was drenched in sweat, and my skin was numb from the exposure to the frigid air. I shivered and convulsed as waves of agony occupied my attention again. The sky lowered again, and I bit down my sore tongue as I lifted again.

The taste of blood filled my mouth. My vision was blurred and limited. My unscarred eye was swollen shut, but I could still discern the battle in front of me.

Dad combated with an armored demigod, whose companion was already encased in a thick layer of ice. At his side, Snow was struggling to unchain Artemis. Thalia, surrounded by lightning, fought with Luke, spear to the sword. Raiden had Aidan in a chokehold as she snarled in his ear. Percy and Zoë clashed with Atlas, shooting him in the chinks of his armor with arrows and slicing at him with a sword.

No one could help me.

Hang on, Chief! Agro barked, tugging desperately at my chains with her mouth.

"No use..." I groaned, my voice barely audible. "Run..."

I'm not leaving you! I-

She was interrupted as Percy sailed toward us. He careened over the ground, rolling over and over until he stopped in front of me.

"Run..." I murmured.

Percy staggered to his feet and turned to me. His mouth opened in horror when he registered my weak condition. He glanced at Atlas, who was advancing upon him, then to Dad, who almost had Artemis free, and then back at me.

"Hand me the sky," he said.

I wanted to scream: Absolutely! Take this thing from me, please! It feels like I'm taking a bath in fire! But I didn't. As much as I despised boys, I couldn't allow Percy to die.

"No..." I mumbled. "Will kill you..."

I hoped he understood that I meant that taking the weight of the sky would kill him, not that I would kill him.

"It won't matter either way," Percy insisted, removing his pen from his pocket. "Besides, you'll kill yourself if I don't."

He raised his sword and sliced through the chains binding me to the ground. He kneeled beside me and lifted his hands above his head. Percy grunted as the weight of the sky hit him and nodded at me. My body went limp, and I collapsed.

Hang on, Chief! Agro seized the hood of my tattered silver parka and dragged me toward the black rocks. My body bumped lightly against broken black marble, and I groaned. She finally stopped and began licking my face. It'll be okay, Chief! It'll be okay.

I moaned as my muscles cramped, and my mouth filled with more blood. I focused on the stars winking in and out of focus. My vision was darkening at the edges. I was exhausted.

Surrendering to the darkness sounded very nice.

I just wanted the suffering to stop.

I just wanted to close my eyes.

A yell jolted me. Despite the agony coursing through me, I forced myself to raise my head. Atlas was advancing upon Artemis who lay on the ground, unmoving.

No, I thought desperately. Get up; get up. Mother, please, get up!

The goddess didn't move. Atlas raised his spear for the kill, but Zoë jumped in front of Artemis. "You will not touch her!" She released an arrow, and the projectile lodged itself into Atlas's forehead. He roared in fury and stabbed downward.

"NO!" I was suddenly on my feet. Autopilot seized control of my brain, and I forgot my agony. My legs churned, so swift they were blurred, while one thought pounded in my brain: Protect Zoë.

As the spear tip was mere inches away from striking her, I arrived. I flung myself in front of her, and my screams shattered the night air as the weapon impaled through my stomach. Blood gushed from the wound, and bellows of rage echoed around me.

My body thudded against the ground.

My vision went black.

And I died.