Heroes of Olympus: Endgame

Chapter 2

The Argo III began to rise from Camp Half-Blood. At the helm, Leo used the controls from an Xbox One he had hooked up, and held the right trigger button down. Percy stood at the front of the ship, his eyes closed, holding the railing so hard his knuckles were white. The winds rose them higher into the sky. As they came up above the clouds, and Percy's hands loosened from the railing.
"How long until we get there?" Annabeth asked Leo. Leo input a few button commands, waited for the calculations to run their course, and said,
"A couple hours."
Percy closed his eyes again, and felt the powers of Zeus stir inside him. A large gust of wind hit the sails, propelling them farther.
"Never mind," Leo said as they came to a stop, "half-an-hour."
Annabeth sighed,
"Percy, you really shouldn't just be doing that."
Percy shrugged,
"I like doing it. It's nice having more powers."
Sadie smiled,
"You two are adorable together, you know that right."
Annabeth had gone back to making sure everything was in working order. Percy nodded,
"So I've been told."
Alex, who was sitting on the figurehead of Festus, spoke up,
"I have to admit, when I first met you guys, I was wondering how you could possibly work together. You guys just seemed so different, but here you guys are, engaged, happy, thinking about kids, and on one last quest."
Percy chuckled,
"I really do love her."
He glanced to Annabeth, and smiled. She looked up at him, and smiled in return. Percy glanced towards the ground racing below them, then back at Sadie and Alex. Sadie has recently put orange highlights into her hair, and Alex refreshed his green highlights.
"You know, I didn't want to say it yet."
Percy glanced towards Annabeth, where he noticed that her hand had unconsciously strayed to her stomach.
"She's pregnant," Percy said. Sadie's eyes lit up. She looked back and forth between Percy and Annabeth.
"Really?"
Percy smiled and nodded. She had taken the test a couple days after Chaos. Sadie stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug.
"That's amazing! I'm so happy for you guys!"
Percy hugged her back, as Alex said,
"Great job!"
Sadie pulled away,
"Why didn't you tell us?"
Percy shrugged,
"Considering that half of all life in the world was wiped off the face of the planet, we figured it wasn't the most important thing."
Sadie scoffed,
"Please, that's great news! I'm so happy for you guys!"
Percy summoned Destroyer and lifted off the ground. He looked down at Ogygia and said,
"Be right back."
He flew off, and Annabeth turned to Sadie.
"You know I told Percy not to tell you right?"
Sadie shrugged,
"I don't see why not, it's huge news."
Annabeth sighed,
"It's just, we didn't want to talk about it in the middle of everything."
Leo poked his head out from the helm,
"What're you guys talking about?"
"Nothing Leo!" the two of them echoed in unison. Percy came back to the deck at that moment,
"No armies, no monsters, no defenses, just him. All alone."
Everyone gathered on the deck, and Annabeth looked at everyone.
"Let's bring our friends back."

Chaos walked through the fields of different fruits. He stopped next to an apple tree, his charred and burnt left hand, and grabbed one. He dropped it into the basket. He limped back to the small cottage, and over to the pot. As he began prepping his stew, he sliced the apple up, and sat down. Chaos waited for the stew to brew. Chaos hummed a little tune as he waited, letting the time tick by. As he went to pour the food into a bowl, he stopped. Glancing around, he felt a disturbance. He looked up just as he saw an arrow zooming towards him. It exploded in front of him, temporarily blinding the Creator. Tina Adams dropped in front of him, shooting another arrow that exploded again. From the floor, a giant gorilla exploded through it, tearing through Chaos' makeshift fire pit. From the roof, Perseus tore through it, Destroyer arcing through the air, slicing clean through his hand. Chaos' hand clattered to the ground, and he let out a pained roar. The bustle quieted as Annabeth strolled into the house, ready to bring back her friends.
Annabeth leaned down and pushed over the hand. Gaea had told them that when the hand was separated from Chaos, the stones would solidify. Allowing them to take his power. However, when she looked at the hand, all she saw was the black starlit body of Chaos. Annabeth looked at Chaos. His left arm was charred and burned to hell, the stump was half the size of the other one.
"Where are they?" she asked. Chaos just sat there, Alex in her gorilla form holding down one arm. Tina pushed her arrow into Chaos' neck,
"Answer the question," she demanded.
"The universe required correction," he said, "after that, my power served no other purpose beyond temptation."
Percy growled,
"You murdered billions!" he roared. He slammed the butt of Destroyer into Chaos' head, and the ground quaked slightly. Chaos stumbled to the ground. This wasn't the calm and composed primordial being that had steamrolled through them. He was clumsier, he didn't even try to fight back.
"You should be grateful!"
Percy slammed Destroyer into Chaos' head again. Everyone was silent for a moment, before Piper said,
"Where are they?"
A feeling of dread was growing in all of them.
"Gone," Chaos said, and collectively, everyone's stomach dropped, "reduced to atoms!"
"You used them two days ago!" Leo declared, referring to the remnants of the secondary power wave he had detected when flying over here.
"I used the stones, to destroy the stones," Chaos growled, "it nearly killed me, but the work is done, it always will be."
He propped himself up on one hand, and locked eyes with Percy. Percy's hands were quivering, and Annabeth took his hand. Percy let Destroyer fall to the ground.
"I am, inevitable!" Chaos declared. It wasn't smug, it wasn't cocky, or bragging. It was simply true. They had Chaos down on the ground, an arm cut off, weak, and helpless. Yet he was getting the last laugh.
"We... we have to tear this place apart," Nico said weakly, "he... he has to be lying."
"My father is many things," Gaea murmured, and everyone looked to her, "a liar is not one of them."
Percy felt his breath catch in his throat. Chaos was right, they had lost. He barely heard the Creator say,
"Thank you daughter," Percy gripped his fists, and Destroyer quivered in it's place on the floor, "perhaps I treated you too harsh-"
Percy had enough. He held out his hand, and summoned Destroyer to it. Percy took it in both hands, and with a roar, sliced clean through Chaos' neck. The only sound was Chaos' head falling to the ground, as the implication of what Percy just did collapsed on them. Percy slowly straightened himself, as a very confused Sadie asked,
"W... What?"
Another infinite moment of silence, before Nico asked the inevitable question.
"What did you do?"
Chaos had mocked Percy. Chaos had mocked Percy in his dreams by promising the death of Annabeth and his daughter. Chaos had mocked Percy for not being powerful enough. However, the worst, by far, was when Chaos had mocked Percy for almost winning. When the Creator had looked Percy in the eyes, and saw that the son of Poseidon had wanted to make him suffer. When he had saw that Perseus wanted to kill him slowly, and proceeded to mock him for not aiming a little higher. The words echoed in Percy's head for the last week. Percy wanted to mock Chaos for once. He wanted to get the last laugh. He wanted to be the one to make the joke, so Percy said,
"I went for the head."
Percy then turned, and walked towards Ogygia. The place he had stayed at with Calypso what seemed like so long ago. The place he had considered staying at. But it wasn't welcoming or friendly anymore. It was the place of ghosts and demons. Percy walked past his friends, towards the opening of the house, the Argo III in the distance, and down the stairs. He barely took notice of what anyone was doing as he passed by. Chaos was dead, it was what they had come here to do. Yet, everyone was still dead, and the world was in shambles. Chaos was dead, but the heroes had lost.