Heroes of Olympus: Infinity War

Chapter 7

      Gaea stared at the cell wall in front of her. Glaring at it as hard as she possibly could, even though she knew it was no use. Her powers were useless here. Her head snapped to attention as the cell door opened. In front of her was a hulking figure. Large muscled legs led to a wide chest with huge arms. His skin pitch black, with little specks of light throughout it. The eyes of Chaos, eyes that seemed to be exploding stars, stared at Gaea, Primordial of Earth.
"Cheer up daughter," Chaos' deep booming voice said. Gaea glared at him,
"You manipulate me for millennia, making me talk my own son into killing his father, instigating a war with the gods and giants, then you make me do the same thing again millennia later! All just so you can collect your power. Power that we took from you for a reason."
A small smile crossed Chaos' face,
"I did nothing, I just talked to you. You did everything."
Gaea growled and slammed her fist against the ground. And even with her suppressed power, the ground rumbled a little. Chaos frowned, but didn't let anything else on his face show.
"Bull!" Gaea yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she thought of the atrocious things she had done, "I'm Mother Earth! I'm supposed to be kind and gentle! I'm supposed to care about life! But you've whispered to me, manipulated me, turned my husband against me, forced my son to eat his children, all in a selfish quest for power!"
Chaos sighed and crouched in front of her.
"You cannot comprehend my plans. I have-"
"Yes, yes, you've planned for millennia, I've heard it all before, dad," she said, spitting the last word venomously. 
"The Primordials, Titans, and now the gods have all abused their power. Look at the world before I gave birth to Ouranos. Look at what life was like. It was gentle, kind, caring. You remember."
"I remember a world devoid of happiness or emotion. Eros brought that. I remember a world devoid of beaches and oceans. Pontus brought that. I remember a world devoid of a night sky of stars. Nyx brought that. You have done nothing but foster war, violence, and destruction."
"Gaea, I want to end that. If I collect my full power, then I can end it, with a snap of my fingers," and he snapped his fingers to prove his point. On his left hand, Gaea saw a flash of purple, blue, and red, leftovers from the containers holding Chaos' power that had vanished after he reclaimed it.
"They'll be gone, like dust in the wind. I call that, mercy."
"Then you must have a pretty messed up view of mercy. Because that's not mercy, that's genocide."
Gaea wasn't going to be convinced of Chaos' "mercy" and her father knew it. Despite what he said, she was right. Chaos had fostered the paranoia in Ouranus that caused him to throw his own children into Tartarus. He had fostered the hate Gaea felt for Ouranus, and that's what led her to give the scythe to Kronos. He had fostered paranoia in Kronos to eat his children. Chaos just wouldn't let himself believe it. He had come too far to believe it.
"I've told you!" Gaea yelled, "I don't know where it is!"
Chaos growled at her as he tried uncover the information of his soul power.
"Don't expect me to believe that," her father growled, "you ripped it from me. I know you have it."
Gaea shook her head,
"That was eons ago! Do you think I really still have it? I lost it during the Second Giant War!"
"Where is it then?"
"I don't know!"
Chaos stood up at full height, towering over his daughter. He held up a hand of darkness, clenching his fist. A red and blue glow appeared around his fish, as he exerted control over his power. A small window appeared next to them,
"You know he's returning right?" the gravely voice of Tartarus said. The Primordial of the Pit stared at Gaea. Her consciousness was still wide awake, despite her physical body being scattered.
"I know," Gaea said, "and I've taken the precautionary measures. Father thinks that he was in complete control during the war. But I've made sure that he can't reclaim his power. We both know what that would mean."
Both of the Primordials went somber as they remembered the rampage Chaos went on eons ago, and lamented the loss of several Primordials they had lost before they managed to quell him.
"But I don't have his power anymore. I hid it, and wiped my memory of it."
"You know as well as I do how powerful he can be," Tartarus whispered. The God of the Pit had lost his late wife during the Creator's rampage, and he still refused to be with anyone.
"Maybe, but let's hope that Perseus and his friends can pull through."
The image disappeared, and Gaea closed her eyes. Of course he would find that. Chaos stooped in front of her,
"Now, let's see if we can't jog your memory."

      Nico and Annabeth tore through the compound in a hurried attempt. They pushed open doors looking for the Earth Goddess. They came across a large reinforced door.
"This has to be it," Nico said. Annabeth gripped her sword, and grimaced. Neither of them were happy about seeing Gaea again, but they had to or else something much worse would happen. Nico held out his hand, and shadows hardened around the door. Crushing the hinges, and Nico rammed into it. The door collapsed and briefly Nico wondered,
Maybe we should've checked to see if Chaos is in there first.
But it was too late, and Nico stumbled into the cell. Thankfully the Creator wasn't in there. Gaea, however, was. She was curled up in a corner, her skin pale, and golden ichor covering her.
"Hey, Earthy!" Nico yelled. Gaea didn't respond to his calls. Annabeth stood outside, standing guard as Nico cautiously stepped over to the Earth Goddess.
"Hey," he said, "we're here to rescue you."
Gaea looked up at Nico, and he looked down at her. Her ivy green eyes were shattered, giving hints to what she had been through. Nico didn't care for the Primordial of Earth. She had caused far too much suffering for him to care. But as he looked at her, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy. This wasn't the cold, heartless, evil creature from the Giant War. This was a Goddess broken after being out through so much pain.
"It's too late," she whispered, "he already has it. I broke and I spilled everything."
Nico sighed, he was afraid of this. They had tried to get to her quickly, but journeying through the Pit, even with both of them significantly more powerful than before, wasn't easy. And both of them had to stop every now and then to comfort the other as they had a panic attack. Nico leaned down and picked up Gaea bridal style.
"Alright," Nico said to Annabeth, "let's go."
Annabeth furrowed her brow,
"Why didn't we just shadow travel here?"
"Because I didn't know exactly where this place was. I can't shadow travel to places I don't know. I didn't want to accidentally throw us into the Styx."
Annabeth grabbed ahold of Nico and they disappeared into the shadows.

      Jason sat on a rock as he awaited Chaos. The Creator appearing from a portal a dozen feet away. Jason rapped his leg impatiently.
"Yeah," he said simply, "you're much more of a 'Chaos'."
The man that had appeared in front of the camp was nothing compared to this one. This man was absolutely massive, buff, and radiated immense power.
"I take it Kronos is dead," Chaos said. Jason nodded, he hadn't been there for Percy's execution of the Titan, but it had quickly traveled.
"Disappointing, but expected. Perseus has grown more powerful with the acquisition of his new weapon."
Jason nodded,
"Yeah, a weapon he has because of you."
Chaos looked at him, and Jason continued,
"You planted that seed of paranoia into Zeus' brain. You fostered it, and you grew it. You manipulated me, and made me kill my best friend's mom."
Chaos grinned,
"All for the greater good."
Jason stood up, drawing his sword, and said,
"If that's for the 'greater good' then I'd rather steer clear of it."
Jason summoned his power, and lightning appeared around his sword.
"You think you can beat me? I'm more powerful than ever before."
Chaos held up his left fist, and a purple, blue, red, and orange glow appeared from it. Jason raised his sword,
"I think you'll found our will to be much greater than you'd imagine."
Chaos looked at him strangely,
"Our?"
He groaned as a wave of flames from Leo hit him in the back. Piper rushed out with a sword, and hit Chaos. Jason gripped his sword, and prepared for the fight of his life.