Chapter 4: The Last Battle.

When Helios started his usual routine of crossing the sky, everyone in Gaia's Home were started the routine of prepping up for war. The forgers' had been working double time for the past year, making swords, shields, javelins, arrows, … while the children of Hecate and the other magicians charmed them to be stronger, resistant and easily carried as charms, pearls or other small object. Those from the camp were been giving weapons that had been updated during their stay.

The children that were under twelve, the pregnant women and those unable to fight were sent into the safe zones guarded by a handful of volunteers. It would do no good if Kronos wins, but they would not be used as hostages if, by pure chance, the enemy found the orphanage.

The Heads of the cabins, the leaders of the sections, Chiron, Amelia, Arthur and Alexander were reunited in a room to go over the plan once more.

The plan itself was a bit simple. Everyone stood there and the defended as well as they could. Once Kronos had arrived, they would try to capture him in spirit form or kill Luke so that the soul that was imprisoned in him will be killed as well. Many of the campers wanted to be done with it and kill Luke directly. Percy and those from the home were not pleased at all by the way of thinking.

"And you guys wonder why I didn't like Camp." Percy muttered in his breath. He received a slight slap on his thigh by Amelia who had heard him. Her hearing was always really good, better than most. Luckily, Nico wasn't here or he would have received another slap by him. The children of Hades were kind-of scary.

Since they had chosen the location, they can fortify it as they wished. The location was Bunker Hill. The hill was fortified and gave an excellent tactical advantage, as the Americans had shown it before against the British. It was on semi-island surrounded by the Mystic River and the Charles River, two loyal allies to Poseidon, thus to Percy and Alexander. Another thing that was great was that the way to get there was through the Underworld, smack down in the middle of the Labyrinth. Annabeth was quite please that the computer that was given to her by Daedalus helped a lot.

The battle would start at 3 in the afternoon. The sun would be up in the eyes of the enemies. This showed Kronos' cockiness since he gave them a lot of advantages, which is a plus, in their eyes.

Breakfast that morning was somber. Everyone knew that it could be the last meal where they could see their love ones. "Fathers" kissed the "Mothers", children staying next to the Parent that was assigned to them. Half-gods that were married were spending the time next to their families. Only one parent could go, unless both parents held a very important job, so that there wouldn't be more orphans. The mortal parent that stayed kissed their children, wishing they could fight in their place. Brothers and sisters, cousins, aunt, uncle, … it was kind of depressing.

By 11 o'clock, everyone who had to go to the safe houses went. Those who stayed and fight started to eat lunch so that they would have enough energies. The hippogriffs, pegasies, unicorns, hydras, shadow hounds, nymphs, satyrs and other mythical creatures were being saddles or armed or protected or given last minute instructions … in short, they too were ready for battle.

By 2, they were at the fort. The magic-users and children of Hecate were placing as many magical defenses and traps as possible while still having enough energy to fight. The warriors and guards, on the other hand, were creating physical defenses and traps, sometimes double or triple traps so that it was harder for the enemy to gain land. Everyone was high-strung, filled with adreline and fear. But they also had courage and bravery in them.

When the clock struck three, shadows appeared. The army of Kronos had arrived. Kronos, in the body of Luke was in the front.

"Surrender now and I may spare your life." he boomed.

Chiron, since he was the oldest of them all, answered "Never. We will fight and win."

"Suit yourself. It will be your death, fools." The titan laughed. Deep, slimy, evil laugh. It made the defenders shiver in horror.

The campers and orphans readied their weapons. Clarisse and her cabin wore on the front line, next to Peter, his Warriors and the Guards. Amelia was on a tower with Nico and Percy who had Riptide in his right hand, Waivestriker strapped to his back while Tyson's shield was on his left arm. Arthur was on the battlefield with Artemis' Hunters, and Alexander. Thalia was next to him, listening with great concentration on what he had to say. The magic users were spread out everywhere, intertwined with the archers and children of Apollo. Those that were a bit weaker were in the center of the fort. Ready in case of a breach.

"ATTACK" shouted Kronos/Luke. The titan's army started to charge.

The creatures started the first wave of attack. They clashed between each other. Blood, feathers, flesh, hair, … flew everywhere. The hydras had their heads re-grow in double numbers. The shadow hounds latched on their preys, not ready to let them go unless they were dead. The three-headed dogs, that were only with the defendants, snatched, ripped, teared the enemies with their heads. The nymphs and satyrs worked side-by-side to use nature and fear against the enemies. Pegasies were used to fly chariots that held rocks to bombard the enemies. The birds, gryphons and hippogriffs helped carry other rocks to the chariots. The phoenixes flew around to light the boulders that were highly flammable, making dangerous flaming objects devastate and decimate the army of the titan,.

After a while, Chiron signaled for the horn to be sounded. Once the deep, grave sound was heard, all the creatures retreated. The last to go were the creatures of the Underworld who stayed behind to cover their allies backs. They disappeared in artificial-shadows, courtesy of the children of Apollo, Helios and the forgers.

They didn't have great loss yet. Only injured not dead yet. Those that worked as medics were now fighting there own battles to save the lives.

Mia nodded to Nico. "You'll do great. I am right behind you but I'll doubt that you'll need me at all."

Said boy looked scared. It would be the first time he would use his powers without being in a classroom and with so much at stake. "Stay calm" his elder sister said gently. "I know you can do it. I wouldn't trust anybody else with this job. This is what we can do as children of Hades. So believe in yourself, let yourself go and concentrate on maintaining focus.

The thirteen-year-old took a deep breath. He raised his hands towards the level of chest, facing each other but without closing the gap between them. He started to chant in a mixture of greek and ancient greek. Percy, who knew what the spell was for, could somewhat translate a bit. He had helped Nico look up the words.

Spirits in my father's realm, listen to my words.

Rise up warriors of this place, leave the dark lands.

Come back as shadows into your bodies.

Come back to fight in my father's and mine names.

For I am your lord's son. Here my words, heed my orders.

Come fight our rest, never return,

Unless I order it or the land has drank every drop of the enemies.

Spirits in my father's realm, listen to my words.

Rise up warriors of this place, leave the dark lands.

Come back as shadows ….

He continued to chant this three times. While he was doing this, the ground trembled and bodies were coming out of it. There was a reason for this location. Not only was it an excellent tactical advantage, it was once a battlefield. On June 17 1975, 1 500 british troops fought 500 americans and lost, making about, in total, 1 500 soldiers ready to fight and not in a to bad condition. Nico was raising a level 1 army where he would bring back from the dead foot soldiers. Once he finished his chant, he put his arms outwards as if he was going to repel something. In the same language as before he chanted.

Spirits in my father's realm, listen to my words.

Rise up warriors of this place, leave the dark lands.

Come back as shadows into your bodies,

May they be lost or not, somewhere else or near.

Ancient warriors hear my plea, come help your brethren fight.

Come help them against the enemy of heroes and of the gods.

Come back to fight in my father's and mine name.

Hear my plea and of my cousins, come help us from the plane of the Heroes.

He said it twice. Suddenly, between the zombies of Bunker Hill, other bodies started to appear. They appeared to be younger but there clothes were old. There specialty also varied. You had archers, shooters, cannons, swordsmans, chariots, horseman and other different positions of the army through History. Nico had changed his level 1 army into a level 3. This was the hardest level to maintain since he was using his powers to open a portal between the land of the dead and the land of the living, creating temporary bodies and enable them to think for themselves. It was harder since there were several conditions foot this army to stand and be useful. The first and most important condition was that the summoner had to be a child of Hades. The second one was that he had to concentrate to maintain the control over the undead. The last condition was that he had to have a lot of energy to maintain the army. If the spell wasn't done properly, the undead could roam around in the land of the living doing whatever they want. This would not be a good thing.

Nico had trained hard to arrive to his level, but it was still difficult for him to maintain concentration. He knew the consequences and did not want the army they had to become their enemy. His hands started to tremble. His concentration was slipping. "No" he said fearfully. But when he thought that all was lost, two small warm hands covered his. "I'm here little brother, relax and concentrate once more." was whispered in his ears. Seeing that he was having troubles maintaining the army, Amelia was sending her own energy to help Nico control it. Kronos was still to far for her to do the spell. It was the least she could do while waiting.

Percy, meanwhile, was trying his best to contact the rivers around them. He had slipped away during the fight of the creatures to go into the Mystic River. Once he had arrived, he submerged inside, swimming away from the land but not to far in case he had to escape.

"Mystic. Mystic. Can you hear me? We need your help with your brother Charles. The army of Kronos is here. Please use your powers to decimate some of the army?" He felt a whirlpool surround him. It was gentle and warm. It brought him up to the shores where he saw giant waves from sides of the semi-island getting ready to bear down on Kronos' army. The whirlpool brought him next to Arthur and Alexander.

"I gather that negotiations went well little brother." Xander asked.

"I think so, I just asked for there help. I didn't really negotiate. Although, judging by the giant waves, I would think they are willing to help us." Percy replied. The waves then crashed down at the end of the sentence, killing at least half of Kronos' army and a bit of the zombie army. Said Titan was furious.

"PERCY JACKSON!" roared Kronos/Luke, as he started to March towards the front lines.. He started to get closer to the gates of the fort.

"NOW!" shouted Arthur.

At that cry, Amelia started to chant to fast to be comprehensible. Her arms were stretched out, as if she wanted to grab something while the other was mimicking holding something. Out of the shadow, a giant hand rose out of the ground to Kronos/Luke in place. The titan started to thrash and move, trying to escape. Another hand, smaller this time, was approaching the chest of Luke where a bright black hole in the place of his heart was. The smaller hand went in and started to extract something non-recognizable and black. It was making pitiful wails and screams.

Once the whole thing was out of Luke's body, Mia started to move her hands as if she wanted to compact something into a ball. The spirit started to be crumbled into a ball by the two shadow hands. The one holding Luke brought it near Percy who had his swords out, ready to defend the body from some overzealous campers.

Seeing that the spirit was into a ball, Alexander put his hands in the same position as his sister and started to chant in the same fast pace as her. Water, that was covering the grounds, started to rise and surround the shadow hands, creating an even bigger prison to contain the soul.

Arthur soon joined into the fray. He and Thalia started to chant, albeit a bit slower, in Ancient Greece. They were facing the ball-like-prison, hands linked. The air around ball started to take form to freeze the water into a giant ball of ice.

"Percy, Nico, come give us a hand." The eldest of the dream-sibling shouted once more. Percy immediately started to chant, the two sword crossed to pointing towards the prison. Peter and Aurelius were next to Luke's body. Meanwhile, Nico started to chant to transfer the control of his army to the magic section. They would only sustain the army and make sure it does not go wild. They would not be able to add, take away or send away any soldiers. After he sensed that the zombie-army was no longer in his control, Nico stretched his hands towards the prison and chanted the same spell as his siblings/cousins. The ball-prison was becoming more solid, more compact and the screams of the prisoner could be heard.

Meanwhile, the battle had sort-of stop. Kronos' army were paralyzed, unable to do anything since their commander was being captured by some sort of spell. The defenders had no remorse taking down as many monsters as they could. They knew that they would reform themselves later on but for now, they were cutting down the numbers of monsters while they had the opportunity.

The prison started to become smaller and smaller until it was the size of a soccer ball. It glowed a bright white light and then suddenly, it became a solid black soccer-size prison ball. The screams of the titan stopped after pitching a very high note.

The battlefield was silent. The assailants were paralyzed in shock. Their Lord and Master, Kronos, had been, once again imprisoned and beaten.

The monsters fled while the demi-gods were stopped by the magicians' magic. Meanwhile, the Guards and Warriors were surrounding Arthur, Alexander, Amelia, Percy and Nico since they had used to much magic and had fallen into a coma to regain the energy that they had used. Thalia was being protected by the Huntresses for the same reason. Luke was still protected.

Apart from Thalia, they were all brought back to GH's infirmary where they were guarded and healed away from those from the camp. Gaia and Ouranos had taken over until their chosen awoke and could take over their jobs once more. They had forbidden the gods to punish any of the half-gods that had partaken the war on Kronos' side stating that it was the Gods on fault that they had to do what they do.

Two weeks had passed. Two long week filled with a great shouting match between the gods and their grandparents. A lot of the gods wanted Luke to be killed for "his" actions.

"Do you want to know the reason Kronos took over his body?" Ouranos hissed at them. "Kronos took advantage of his anger and sorrow to the gods and amplified those emotions. Added to the fact that someone manipulated his soulmate's love on to someone else and he had no choice but obey Kronos."

"What do you mean that he had no choice once his soulmate's love was transferred to someone else?" Ask a very clueless Aphrodite. The goddess of Love and Beauty was the one who oversaw who loved who, but Soul-mates were the Fates' department so if she stepped on their zone, she was cooked.

"Exactly what my husband said. You purposely twisted the love of Luke's soulmate and broke off the fragile link that made him fight Kronos. Otherwise, the titan would not have taken over the boy's body and the war wouldn't had happen. Not that you don't deserve it. You needed a wake-up call for your actions. This has gone to far for to long. What were you thinking not accepting minor gods into the camp? Not allowing them cabins for their children? Did you know that they had there own temples in the households? That they did not need big temples like you but just a small shrine of recognition? No? And you dare call yourselves all mighty! I want you to rectify your mistakes right away." Gaia turned to Aphrodite. "As for you missy! We will be having words with you. It's time for you to know your limits in your role. This isn't the first time that you have stepped in between soul-mates. When we are finished, the Sisters will be talking with you. I do hope that in the future, you will be listening more to your son Eros since he had always known who was a soulmate or not"

Needless to say that the gods were sulking as they were treated as unruly children. The meddling goddess was the most afraid of the all. You didn't come out unscathed after being talked to by the Original Gods and the Fates.

Since the camp was no longer in danger, most of the campers went back. A lot of the children wanted to stay at the Home since they preferred it to the camp. They felt more useful since they learned more, had a job and a family that wanted them. Much to the chagrin of their immortal parent.

At the beginning of the third week, the dream-siblings woke up in great shape. They immediately went back to work. Alexander started to co-ordinate the remodeling of the camp. Amelia took charge of her infirmary while Arthur was going through the mountain of parperwork that had stacked up high during his absence. Everyone could still remember the scream of horror and the sobbing that happened when he opened the door. Paperwork was the n°1 enemy, worst than any monsters. Arthur, on the other hand, personally thought that it was a type of monster. Two weeks later, Percy and Nico woke up.

Nico's first thought was if the army of zombies had been taken of. He was suppose to bring the spirits back to his father's kingdom at the end of the battle and had not thought of putting a timer on the army. luckily for him, Hades had taken care of everything once Kronos had been imprisoned.

Percy, on the other hand, had not left Luke's side. He should have been angry that his first friend had tried to kill him, but he could not. On top of that, starting from this year, he had puberty and his wet dreams always starred the blonde-haired man in front of him. Which was weird since a) he wasn't gay and b) he loved Annabeth, didn't he?

He and Annabeth had a big tantrum when they found out that they had been played by Aphrodite. Annabeth more-so since her logic was telling that she didn't love Percy and it had caused havoc to her conscience. The Goddess of Love had to evade Poseidon, Hermes and Athena for the next couple of years.

— this is a non-profit line. Don't sue please. —

Another month passed. Every day, from 8 am to 10 pm, Percy sat near Luke's bedside. He now understood why he had wet dreams of his first friend. He had spent those hours watching his face, memorizing each and every inch of it right up to the scar. He talked about the rumors and whatnots that happened in the Home, how the gods were behaving under there punishment, etc.

One day, while he was reading to Luke, Percy saw Hermes' son's eyes move. He quickly pressed a button for Amelia to come. Her office was right nex to where Luke was so she arrived fast. She did all sorts of tests, both mortal and "immortal" way (using hes shadows to find out if he was to belong to her father's realm or not.)

"He'll be alright. He's waking up normally." She told her cousin. His smile rewarded her statement.

"He won't have any complications?"

"None that I can sense physically. Mentally, however, … He will feel extremely guilty, especially for hurting you, but if you stand by his side then all will be alright. Don't abandon him, ok?"

Percy just nodded. "I won't. Not after all the hardships we went through and the seperation."

His sister/cousin smiled at that. "You have grown up to fast. It's seemed that it was only just yesterday that you were that scrawny little brat who had was paired up to Xander. You were so cute to with your big puffy eyes and small face."

She ruffled the black hair while the demi-god whined. "Ameeeeeeeeeeeeelia!"

Her bell-like laugh floated as she left him and his soul-mate alone. She was happy that her pseudo-little brother got his smile back. Once she was alone in her office, her face became more serious. It had been to long since she had seen such a bright-true smile. Amelia knew that it wasn't completely their fault but that wouldn't exclude the gods from her personal punishment. Hell hath no fury than a women's scorn and they - those that tormented Percy with their unjust accusations - would pay dearly. In the name of Gaia and Ouranos, justice will be served on a golden platter.

Her chilling laughter, if heard, would have reminded everyone that she was truly the dream of Hades.

— this is a non-profit line. Don't sue please. —

A couple of days passed where Luke drifted between the realm of Morpheus and the land of the living. Percy stood by him every minute, his older sister didn't had the heart to kick him out of the infirmary.

Finally, Luke's brilliant blue-sky eyes opened for good. The first image he saw was the sleeping head of Percy on his bedside.

Herme's son smiled. The boy was so beatiful, so full of innocence, and still loved him after all he did to him. Granted he was under Kronos' control, but still, he shoudl have tried harder to protect this shining soul. He put a hand on the black hair, wanting to feel the silky brands.

Percy stirred. Turning, his sea-green eyes met sky-blue ones. "Luke?" he asked, head still muddled by the sleep.

The older boy just smiled at that. Fully awake, Percy launched himself on Luke, hips straddling the other and began to kiss him.

The other one deepened the kiss, wanting more of this delicious nectar that was Percy. They contined to kiss, hands running along the others body to make sure that the other was solid, intermingling with each other's name.

Soon, the touches became more sensual, and before Percy could lose his shirt, a "Hem, Hem" could be heard.

Sheepeshly, both boys turned, with beet red faces, towards the audience that was composed of Amelia, Nico, Arthur, Alexander and — to the boy's even deeper mortification — Annabeth. Said girl just gave them a small smile, her eyes bright and shiny.

"It's alright. Aphrodite explained everything to me as well as gave me an apology. Just be happy together." She fled the hospital before anyone could move.

Amelia approached the duo. "Percy, would you please get down from the bed. I want to make sure that Luke is 100% healed." Percy complied, but the audience noticed that he kept a hand in his soul mate's.

The check-up was done quickly. Amelia was merely doing some formalities before letting Luke go. Just before he left, she whispered in his ear. "Hurt him and not even the after-life will be pleasant for you." She then smiled at him, a dangerous, I'm-going-to-kill-you-very-painfully-if-you-don't-comply smile. Percy wondered why Luke went pale of a sudden.

Arthur sat on the chair next to the bed while Amelia was doing her job. He then explained that even if a lot of people knew why he served Kronos, many of those living in the camp wanted him dead. He proposed that Luke come live in the Home, since nobody blamed him for anything and he would be safe. "Besides, you'll get to be near Percy." he teased, making the boys even redder than before.

The day passed with Percy showing Luke the Home. Once the day was done, they went to Percy's living area. Luke was still a bit tired, so they only un-dressed themselves, went together in bed and held each other tightly.

They had the rest of their lives to rectify the mistake the Goddess of Love made. That was all they needed to be together and become happy.

THE END

— this is a non-profit line. Don't sue please. —

An: Well, I'm finshed with this fic. Hope you guys liked it. (Even if it isn't the best of my works.)

Reviews will make me happy.