no matter how many times a snake shed its skin, it would always be a snake. no matter how hard kit dempsey tried to prove he was no longer a traitor, camp half-blood would always view him as the boy who betrayed them for kronos. but not leo valdez...
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CHAPTER NINETEEN: HILL TO DIE ON
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KIT HAD NO IDEA what to think when he opened his eyes and found Father Dearest glaring back at him. Physically, Ares didn't look much older than Kit, give or take a few years. With a head of thick, dark hair and onyx eyes to match, it came as no surprise to his son that this was the God of war. With just one devilish grin, Ares had the power to slaughter thousands, bury cities in violence and bloodshed.
Kit's first instinct was to scowl and turn his back on him, like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Come now," Ares' sneer burned into his shoulder blades. If looks could kill. "Is that any way to treat your father?"
"If his name is Ares?" Kit retorted as he stared stubbornly at the wall. "Yes."
Sparing a glance back at him, he smirked at the beet-red shade of his father's burning expression. Ares inhaled like he was debating whether to strike Kit where he stood, fists balled at his sides. Through clenched teeth, he spat, "I'm here to give you a warning, Kit Dempsey. Take it or leave it, I really don't care, but at least I can finally wipe my hands clean of you."
Kit faced him then, his quirked brow the only sign of his interest.
"What warning?" he asked.
Ares sneered at him. "This quest you're on? To save Hera? It's far more dangerous than you think." Kit let out a dismissive snort. Ares' face darkened, every sharp angle shadowed by anger. "Just how idiotic are you, boy? Have you given no thought to your prophecy at all?"
"Honestly, not really."
In part, it was the truth, but Kit was nothing if not spiteful. If it meant pushing his father closer and closer to breaking point, he would have disagreed with him on anything.
"You're going to die," Ares stated. He sounded so confident — joyful, almost. The smirk slowly faltered from Kit's face, leaving nothing behind but cool understanding. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"
Before he could answer, he heard Piper's voice.
"Kit?" The sensation of a hand squeezing his shoulder slowly woke him. To both his dismay and relief, Ares' face flickered and disappeared. Kit blinked his eyes open, momentarily blinded by the sun. Piper squeezed his shoulder again. "Kit, wake up."
For a moment, Kit wondered if he was already dead. Aeolus' fortress was long gone. Somehow, the group had found themselves sitting beneath the shade of an umbrella, the scent of coffee and warm cakes seeping through the open door to Kit's right. They were at a café of some sort, surrounded by normal people going about their day — people in suits buying their coffees before work, college students crammed before computer screens and textbooks drinking their third, fourth, fifth coffee of the day already. Children on their way to school, a couple out on their morning walk. And in the middle of it all, four teens and a goat-man magically who'd been teleported into the hustle and bustle.
