Possibly the most horrible thing about the revelation was that, Kia could see it. It wasn't even that hard to discern. The touch of regality in their faces was something one couldn't miss; they shared the same hard set of the mouth even when their lips were titled differently, and the same bitingly cold pride shone in their eyes, though Zoë's seem to be more diluted, like it was gene that had been polluted by her mother's heritage. It looked a thousand times more evil on Atlas—the essence of a Titan, mingled with the determination to bring his enemies down. If there were a man made of all of the darkness surrounding Zoë, Kia decided, it'd be Atlas.

"Let Artemis go," Zoë demanded.

Atlas strolled leisurely to the 'goddess in chains.' "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."

Zoë opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis interrupted, "No! Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."

Atlas smirked, a crooked one. He knelt next to Artemis on one knee and tried to brush his index finger against her right cheek, but she bit at him, almost taking off his fingers clean.

"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled annoyingly, withdrawing his hand like they were touching the embers of a flame. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."

Kia glanced at Annabeth that moment, frankly getting tired of Atlas' boring super-villain speech (did he count as a super-villain if he wasn't the ultimate antagonist in this weird ass pseudo-greek story?), and she saw her and Percy having some sort of exchange while motioning her head to Luke.

Kia had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but her pupils caught onto a strand of her matted blonde hair that wasn't blonde—it was grey.

"From holding the sky," Thalia muttered so quietly Kia almost hadn't heard her. "The weight should've killed her."

Wait, then this meant—

"I don't understand," Percy said, his eyebrows furrowing like a confused puppy's. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"

Atlas laughed. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."

A beautiful story ending with tragedy. That's what the Greeks were famous for, right?

He approached the demigods, studying then like an interesting specimen under a microscope. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."

"Is this coming from the dude who was bearing the weight of the sky like a little bitch at Zeus' orders not even a week ago?"

It was quiet for a moment, and everyone was staring at Kia with similarly flabbergasted expressions. Thalia and Percy were staring at her like she'd literally just made a death wish (which wasn't far off the dot), Zoë was looking at her horrifically, Luke's jaw was wide open at the gall this idiot possessed, and Annabeth's eyes widened (Kia thought she would've called her a dumbass if she weren't gagged in that moment). What suicidal moron calls a literal fucking Titan a little bitch?

Most memorably, Atlas' reaction was... not pretty. For a moment, he lost all of the control he'd gathered and his rage became the only thing Kia saw: falling stars decimating all life on planets, hordes of armies marching at his command to smear blood on the chests of the enemies' families. His completely black eyes grew warmth as if they emitted their own heat and Kia was pretty sure she saw a vein bulge near the corner of his forehead. Hey, at least the stupid speech solidified the notion that, Titans did, in fact, have veins. Yippee?

Atlas' teeth bared menacingly at her and Kia thought she'd be trembling in her cowboy boots had she been wearing any. "You—"

"Fight us," Percy cut in hastily, trying to divert the attention from Kia. He hoped his voice was stable enough not to give the intention away. "And let's see."

Well, it worked, kind of. Atlas turned to Percy with a slightly less concentrated look of loathing, but the burning rage still there. "Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."

"So you're another coward," Percy summed up, becoming more and more comfortable with insulting a Titan.

The slight bout of anger that had diminished grew back, this time slightly more intensified. Stiffly, he turned to Thalia. Kia didn't understand why Atlas didn't just attack Percy and her; wasn't it a rule made by the gods, that immortals weren't allowed to directly interfere with demigod affairs? A.K.A. exactly what these Titans were fighting against? Not that Kia wasn't grateful, but it seemed a tad bit counter-intuitive.

"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you."

"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed, seeming to find the energy to maintain his scumbag—erm, high ranks among the other side, but not the energy to consider how unfathomably stupid this entire thing was. Couldn't he just kick back and drink some kool-aid? They could've done without the whole Titan business. Still, a flare of sympathy bloomed in Kia's stomach. The poor thing was so weak and frail—close to toppling over of the wind blew a little too hard. He spoke every word as if it were piercing nails into his tongue. "Thalia, you still can join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"

Luke started talking about the gods, so passionately and so angrily that it started to make Kia sad. He was a child, no less of a child than Kia, abandoned by omnipotent gods who could've waved a single finger and fixed everything—but they didn't. Maybe it was stupid, but Kia started to feel sympathy, started to understand. How could she not? After all, she was just some lowly daughter of Morpheus. She doubted anyone would even care if she weren't part of some big-shot prophecy. She was just as much of a nobody as Luke.

And then, it struck her.

It could have been her.

She could've been the one leading the rebellion against the tyranny of the gods. What did they do to deserve to live like kings among men when they decided humans weren't worth a speck of their weight in gold?

Kia must've been spacing out in a cloud of her anger, because the next thing she hyper-fixated on was Luke's scorching gaze on hers. They had never met each other before, but the weight in his stare was enough to tell her he'd hated her for much, much longer than she'd even been alive.

"Kia Mitsuho," like a snip of a cord, his voice resounded against the ruins of Mount Othrys. "You, of all people know what it's like to be unseen. You see what the gods have done, I know it. Why are you hesitating? Join us. Don't you believe in a world where everyone is loved?"

The word 'loved' snapped Kia out of it. This wasn't love. Love was the gentle hands of Hua Mitsuho brushing her daughter's pin-straight hair away from her face while she was drawing with crayons. Love was when Apollo looked at her, even from just the corner of her eye, but was able to make her feel as if she were the sun he looked for after a day of weeping skies. Maybe love was Percy wrapping his battered and bruised fingers around her own when tears slipped down the sides of her face on a foam mattress.

This wasn't love. Luke was a fool to believe it.

"What guarantee is there that the Titans will love us?" Kia demanded sharply. Luke faltered. "You think the Titans are going to help your daddy issues?"

His jaw locked and his expression hardened. It seemed even Atlas realised this was something only two demigods would sort out. He watched the two of them carefully, not like he would as if it were amusing, but rather, like this was something that would change the course of the war.

Kia relaxed the hand that had an arrow notched in her bow. She hasn't even realised it was in her hand. Her tone softened. "Please, Luke. You know this won't solve anything. We can fix this."

Her hand wasn't stretched out, and perhaps that was what motivated Luke to look down at her like he wanted nothing more than to come back to camp, but shake his head as if reminding himself he wouldn't—couldn't.

Then, something changed in him—something dark and something that hadn't been touched in years. Perhaps it was alive when the spark of hatred was first ignited within Luke.

"Nice try, really." A dark chuckle emerged from his lips, disbelieving almost. "I almost believed you. But can't forget, can we," he said, grinning at her evilly, as if they were sharing some demented joke, "that manipulation is something that we get from our old men."

Kia took a full step back in shock. She would have stumbled if Thalia didn't steady her before she tripped on a nearby slab of marble. The full weight of what she'd done settled in. She was so close—so fucking close. But in the end, she'd ended up defiling his mind with intentions of conceding, but of course, his Hermes spawn mind picked up on it, leaving herself a product nothing better than the gods. Deceitful, and full of ranks of built of manipulation and false promises. She stared down at her hands. This was her dad's power. This was his fault. Was it? If she's possessed it, did it make her any better?

"One last choice," Luke said, the bite disappearing slightly, replaced with an iota of desperation. It snapped her out of her untimely internal turmoil. His eyes flittered over Kia's before resting on Thalia's. "Join us. Please. Don't make me... Don't make him destroy you."

Her mind completely passed over deciphering any sort of meaning behind what he said. But even in her overwhelmed and overstimulated brain, her consciousness somehow detected the army of monsters coming up towards them, preparing to fight. There wasn't too much time until they had more in their arsenal.

It had occurred to Kia that they very well might die here, fighting a stupid battle with dragons and evil blonds and vampires, but she looked around the room, finding a few familiar eyes and once she found the sea-green ones she was looking for, she decided, maybe it wouldn't suck, dying with a bunch of friends beside her.

After sending her one more lopsided smile, Percy's eyes sharpened and he declared in a strong voice, "Now."

Kia thought they had the best chance of not dying with the smartest girl at camp on their side so she immediately made a bee-line for Annabeth. On her path, she saw Luke push Annabeth away while he fought Thalia. Kia briefly thought about helping but the angry tears that started to cloud in Thalia's eyes were enough to tell her this was a personal battle.

Kia crouched down and pulled out an arrow from her quiver and stabbed it into the ropes and started sawing back and forth. The ropes eventually tore and Annabeth's hands were free. She pulled down the gag in her mouth and panted like she could finally breathe. It probably wasn't easy with Luke and other purple people breathing down her neck.

Up close, Kia was stricken by the stormy grey her eyes were. For a second all she could think of was the swirling sterling silver-like colour of her eyes. They reminded Kia of fresh crystals, unpolished and jagged-edged—the same kind of raw quality. Annabeth was actually very beautiful.

"Help Percy," Annabeth got out.

Kia wasn't sure if she was telling it to herself or to Kia, but either way, it was enough to make her glance towards Percy and wince.

He was currently flying at the impact of a javelin and sat like a lifeless doll at the feet of Artemis. By the best state he could be in.

A few seconds passed with weaving between two fighting demigods and a volley of silver arrows and Kia saw Percy slash at the bronze chains and brace himself under the weight of the sky.

"That fucking psychopath," Kia swore under her breath.

Of all the dumb things he could have chosen to do, this is what he does.

Annabeth, who was beside Kia, skid to a stop, looking at him. She was looking on in terror at Percy's face turning a queasy shade of red. He was letting out short breathes trying to compose himself but it just wasn't working.

Kia had to think quick. Annabeth probably didn't have a weapon and if she did, there was a likely chance it was confiscated on the Luke's ship or wherever they kept her. Judging by the grey streak in her hair and Thalia's obvious input, Annabeth has already carried the weight of the sky once. Kia didn't want to make her carry it again, but she knew that Annabeth would insist on somehow helping in the battle.

Kia gritted her teeth and pushed Annabeth toward Percy. She looked back at her like she was insane. "You're weaponless and you're too stubborn to not do anything. So help that idiot hold up the sky so he doesn't die."

Annabeth seemed hesitant for a moment, but she hardened her expression and nodded to her. She kneeled down and bent next to Percy, and they both bore the weight of the sky together.

Touching moment, but Kia didn't have time for this. Quick as a cheetah, she drew an arrow from her quiver and started shooting arrows at Atlas. Arrow after arrow, the combined efforts of her and Zoë seemed to be completely useless—all it did was make him angrier. But, if there was one thing she learnt in her American middle school experience, it was that anger is never good for fighting.

She thought about all the anger she had: her dad not even stopping to say hi to her, Luke trying to poison her thoughts, the gods being assholes about their children—all of it. With that, she felt like fluids were being released from her head, slowly clearing her mind, and instead entering Atlas'. He was going to mess up. She knew it. Zoë knew it. Artemis knew it.

Zoë caught her eye and nodded.

Atlas pursed his lips, finding it harder and harder to contain the trembling heat of rage from pouring over the brimming edges of his person. He came dangerously close to getting an advantage and Kia impulsively stood in his path, swiping with one measly now golden arrow. Atlas seemed to get officially tired of her and swung his arm back for a blow that would get rid of her altogether.

"No!" Zoë screamed.

She stepped into the path before Atlas could strike Kia and consequently, she was the one who received the entirety of the impact. For a moment, she was stunned and unmoving. Atlas, seeing this, tried to take advantage of the moment of vulnerability. She didn't even register Artemis pushing her aside and going back to fighting the Titan.

Kia wanted to scream out and run to her, but it was like some other force kept her rooted to her spot. She had killed Zoë. If she hadn't hadn't been so careless with her movements, Zoë wouldn't have tried to save her.

Keep going, a voice whispered in her head. Kia didn't hear it, but the repeated murmurs started to intoxicate her head, make her lose her mind. Her mind slipped away from Zoë and giving her a blank slate; she started releasing the stream of poisonous thoughts again.

One more surge of the poison, and Atlas bellowed while stabbing down at Artemis. Kia, with a sudden dose of indifference, did nothing more than calmly notch an arrow, the expression of complete serenity on her features. Artemis grabbed the javelin shaft, and it hit the earth next to her. This was the moment: Kia released the arrow and it shot point blank into his left heel and he stumbled back, breaking the shaft of the arrow. As soon as it happened, Artemis pulled backwards on the javelin, using it as a lever to propel herself up and kicking the Titan so that he flew right over Artemis, right to Percy and Annabeth.

Annabeth visibly loosened her grip on the sky, and when Atlas was shoved into them, Percy and her rolled for all they were worth and slid out from beneath the weight. Atlas was almost smooshed completely underneath the weight of the sky while he struggled to get to his knees. He wriggled in place, trying to get out of carrying the weight, but it was too late.

"Noooo! Not again!"

Here he was, Atlas trapped once again under his old burden.

Percy and Annabeth were lying in a little lump a little ways away. Kia bounded over, the scene jarring her out of whatever weird haze she'd been in. She'd have time to think about it later: some weird outward force controlling her actions. She fell to her knees beside the two demigods.

Kia patted (read: slapped) Percy on the cheek, "Get up."

He stirred a little but the only 'getting up' he did was groan.

She looked to Annabeth who was slightly less exhausted. Must've been from practice. Annabeth shrugged.

This time she poked his cheek. "Get up."

Nothing.

She pinched the bridge of his nose, and he jolted up, swatting her hand away, a weird garbled noise coming out of his mouth. He glared at her. "What was that for?"

"Welcome back to the real world, Barnacle Face."

She looked around, ignoring his glare, watching Annabeth scamper to where Thalia and Luke were standing, albeit shakily. Annabeth shouted in a hoarse voice, "Don't kill him!"

"He's a traitor," Thalia said, voice trembling with fury. Maybe even betrayal. "A traitor!"

Artemis had gone off to where Zoë was. Kia decided if everyone was getting a chaperone, she'd be Percy's.

She looked to Percy much more gently than earlier. "You okay to stand?"

"Yep," he said, nodding like a soldier. But trying to get up was a whole other story.

He wavered immediately and Kia had to catch him before he became one with the marble. "Nope. Nope. Not okay to stand."

Kia snickered lightly, adjusting his weight on her shoulder. "You stand corrected?"

Percy batted her arm. "You aren't punny."

They lost their smiles when their eyes drew back to the scene in front of them.

"We'll bring Luke back," Annabeth was pleading to Thalia. "To Olympus. He... he'll be useful."

"Is that what you want, Thalia?" Luke sneered, not the way you would to a friend. "To go back to Olympus in triumph? To please your dad?"

Thalia hesitated, and Luke made a desperate grab for her spear.

"No!" Annabeth shouted helplessly. But it was too late. Without thinking, Thalia kicked Luke away, and with a sheer look of terror on his face, he lost his balance and fell over.

"Luke!" Annabeth screamed, rushing to cliff's edge.

All of them rushed to where he'd fallen. The horde of monsters from the ship were staring at Luke's unmoving form against the jagged rocks in amazement, maybe wonder. Kia didn't know this guy for long, but she was sure he didn't want him dead. It seemed wrong to wish that on someone who she was so similar to. Had she known him a little longer, she might've cried. The fall was around fifty feet, and it didn't look like he was breathing.

One of the giants in the army looked up and growled, "Kill them!"