Resistance

Chapter 22

Diana POV

I stared at the multitude of monsters and humans who were gathered in the fields, but Luke was gone.

Luke...

I stopped myself before I could further continue on that train of thought.

Too painful, but I wonder how he overcame an oath on the River Styx.

I snapped myself out of my thoughts, focusing on the speech which Tartarus was making.

"We will tear them down, brick by brick, piece by piece, step by step. Divide and Conquer, as the Romans used to say." Tartarus grinned as all of the listeners growled, snarled, shouted or showed their support in their own ways.

"We shall fight." I smiled, despite the pang it brought to my heart, "And we shall win."

I closed my eyes and relished in the attention given.

"Perseus Jackson" I hissed quietly, "You shall fall, and I wonder how much of a crash it would make, from so high up."

"And how the Mighty Falls." Tartarus smirked from next to me, "Exactly, my Queen."

I nodded at him, despite the obvious disdain of the title, "Where are the four questors, Tartarus?"

"They are outside of the fortress, but they aren't coming in, Castellan apparently has been in contact with them and our spy revealed some interesting information. Luke has been released on his oath by Ouranos, the Primordial of the Sky."

"What?" I hissed, this does not bode well, "How does Ouranos recover enough for him to be able to gain a consciousness to speak again?"

"I do not know." Tartarus stared up at the sky, he was still unused to seeing a blue dome above instead of eternal darkness of the pit. But if he wanted to gain control, he needed to be here, on Earth, with the army we had.

"Is it possible he wants revenge?" I asked, remembering the ancient history of Gaia tricking Ouranos with Kronos.

"There is possibly another reason, since Ouranos is not a person to mistake personal factors while making decisions, he must think that the Gods are better."

"Despite the fact they are arrogant, stupid, stuck-up, bickering children who have no idea of the power they have? Allows wars to happen, permits crime and other things which harms the society? Never gets anything done since they are too busy fighting? I believe that bunch of children deserves to rule no longer." I snarled and stalked away, escaping the uncomfortable gaze of Tartarus.

"Luke." I whispered when I was back in my room, "Why did you betray me?"

Luke POV

I stared at the screen with tears in my eyes.

I hated this mission, despite my fatal flaw which made it hard for me to forgive my father, I was blinded by this urge to overthrow them that I forgot about my friends.

I forgot about her.

And now I have to deal with her on the opposite side. Again.

My tears where flowing now, I heard a slight creak as the door opened, "Luke?"

"Yes?" I tried to keep my voice from wavering, I failed.

"It's okay, Luke, she'll be fine at the end when we remove my wife's hold on her."

I stiffened at the mention of Gaia.

"Why do you still call her your wife?" I asked, turning to face Ouranos, who was dressed quite normally for a person of immense power.

"Because I will never stop loving her, despite what she has done, it is hard on me too, fighting against my own love for years, Luke, a word of advice." He grimaced, "I talk from personal experience, always trust your heart, remember the people you love and never, ever betray them. Because it hurts like Tartarus when you do, it changes a person."

"I..."

"What's done is already done, Luke, but you can do your best to make sure it never happens again, be there for her, she's been through a lot."

Clarisse POV

I stood where I was, digesting the fact that Diana is actually Gaia.

Wait.

Her personal flaw is wanting glory? Wanting attention?

She followed the Seven to the Ancient Lands?

"Did I hear correctly? Diana followed you guys to the Ancient Lands?" I nearly screamed, it was hard bearing that when I thought she was safe with her father while we were having another war, happy that she didn't have to attend yet another one, she was following the Seven?

"So that was the black dot which was always behind us, and the voice which seemed to be at the edge of my mind, Diana's Pegasus." Percy seemed to realize, I resisted the urge to kill him there and then.

But someone seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Are you telling me, Perseus Achilles Jackson, that you saw and identified a possible threat, didn't tell the rest of us and had a voice in our mind the whole time?" Annabeth asked incredulously, glaring at Percy. Hmm, never knew he had a middle name though.

"Um... Yes?" Percy's eyes darted around.

"You are so dead." Annabeth's stormy grey eyes became stormier by the second, "What if it wasn't Diana, what if it was a monster, have you ever considered it? What if the faint voice suddenly started talking when you were fighting the ghouls? What were you going to do?" She screamed, punching Percy, who retreated, staring at her fearfully.

"What if." She stopped, suddenly becoming deadly calm, her attention focused on Percy, "You Died. I would have fallen into Tartarus, Gaia would have risen and you. You would be dead. Dead Percy, dead."

I stared at Annabeth but Chris nudged me and I quickly put a hand on Percy and Annabeth.

"Guys, you were too loud." I whispered, but it didn't prevent the monsters to surround us.

"Understatement, Clarisse, understatement of the century." Chris replied, his sword already out and ready, looking at the multitude of monsters before them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little rag-tag group of demigods." A voice came from behind the lines, but slowly advancing, the monsters parting before him.

"Tartarus." Percy and Annabeth growled, glaring at the man in front of us.

A single thought crossed my mind.

We were so doomed.