chapter six

The commanders were in a state of shock at Void's words. Earth? They were finally able to go back to their home planet? It all seemed like too much to handle.

"Earth? We haven't been there in over two thousand years, who knows how it is now," Annabeth spoke, a nervous excitement in her voice. If they had the chance to go to Earth, they could at least prove to their parents that they were alive.

"Time is much different here on Veilara than on Earth," Void began to explain. "One thousand years on Veilara is equivalent to only one year on Earth. To your friends and family, you have only been gone for two years." The demigods' jaws dropped at the information.

"So what you're saying is that our friends are alive?" Percy breathed out, and Void nodded in confirmation. His mom, his stepdad, his friends are all alive.

"Yes Percy, as far as we know, all of your friends are alive." Void smiled. "But your mission is not to reunite with your friends, it is to save them. Earth is in grave danger, being posed with a threat far more dangerous than anything they have faced before. It seems as if there is an incredibly powerful, unknown deity that is set on turning Earth into dust. And it it your job to stop whoever is truing to destroy your home from doing so." The commanders drank in the information, becoming more and more disheartened by the second.

"So this isn't a vacation I guess," Leo muttered, staring at his beat up, soot stained shoes. The demigods sighed, their spirits lowering by the minute.

"Precisely." Void waved his hand, seven necklaces appearing in front of him. "These amulets contain full body armor that will completely cover your body and face. While on Earth, you are forbidden to reveal your true identities to both the gods and demigods, no matter how tempted you may be. Revealing yourselves can ruin the integrity of the mission, and also be a distraction to both you and your friends on Earth." The demigods spirits lowered with each word that left Void's mouth. "You may only reveal yourself if someone is able to figure out your true identity. I know that you guys wish to reunite with your friends, but right now your priority is to save their lives. Once the mission is over and won, I give you full permission to reveal yourselves. But until then, the only people who will know your identities is yourselves. Am I clear?" The commanders straightened themselves out and nodded, knowing that first and foremost, they could not let their emotions get in the way of their mission.

"You will go first and survey their state of disaster, then you may make the call for backup for when the real fighting will begin. Percy, I take it that you will have your housing under control?" Void directed his attention to the Supreme Commander, who nodded. When he was made the Supreme Commander, he was also blessed with some of Void's powers, one of them being the power of creation.

"Good. Your craft is waiting for you in the hanger, grab your go bags and then leave Veilara immediately. If you are in dire need of help, press your amulet seven times and I will do my best to assist you. Good luck demigods, now go and save your friends." Void finished, before waving his hand in a flourish and disappearing from the room. The amulets were now on the demigods' necks, each flashing a color that best represented them.

"Well you heard the big man, let's get going. Meet in the hangar in ten, make sure you grab everything you may need." Percy said, the rest of the group nodding and then running off to their seperate rooms to grab their things.

True to their word, the group met up in the hangar, and boarded Argo 3.0, a spacecraft that Leo created and lovingly named after the ship that the Seven had loved so dearly during the Giant War.

Leo sat himself down at the control center, looking back to make sure everyone was boarded before pressing a sequence of buttons and pulling a lever, the craft beginning to hum as they began to move.

"What do you guys think it'll be like? It's been so long since we've seen everyone," Hazel asked, eliciting a thoughtful silence from the room.

"I for one hope not much has changed. I miss our friends, I miss the camp, and I miss my metal dragon." Leo answered, pressing a sequence of buttons that allowed for them to leave Veilara's atmosphere and begin their trip to Earth.

"I just hope that whatever is waiting for us isn't as bad as Void made it seem, we already fought two wars when we were still alive down there, they don't deserve another one." Annabeth said, playing with the silver amulet that was hanging around her neck.

"What kind of armor do these amulets give us anyways? Maybe we'll get some cool uniforms like the Avengers or something," Percy said, his fingers wrapped around his own sea-green colored necklace.

He pressed down onto the charm, a glow emitting from the necklace for a moment before exploding into a burst of golden light.

Once the glow subsided, Percy emerged in a full body suit of some sort of black material. His entire head was covered with an intricate mask, the only color being a shining golden wave on the back of his left shoulder. Besides the symbol, the only indicator that Percy was in fact Percy, was his height. Even his eyes were covered by the material, masking the sea-green color that the demigod was known for.

"Okay, that was pretty freaking cool," Leo said, gawking at Percy's now dark form.

Percy inspected his new uniform, impressed by whatever Void had managed to design.

"I feel like Batman," He mumbled, admiring the black material that now covered his whole body. "Y'know, for this thing covering my whole body, it's surprisingly lightweight." He commented, taking his gloved hand and waving it in front of his eyes. "I can see too, it's like there's nothing on me but there is,"

"Wait a second I wanna try," Leo said, putting the craft into autopilot before jumping up from the pilot's seat. He pushed on his bright orange amulet, the same glow emitting and encasing the Latino before subsiding and revealing a black uniform practically identical to Percy's, the only difference being a golden flame on the shoulder instead of a wave.

The rest of the team followed suit after Leo, each pressing their amulets and after emerging from the golden light, dressed in identical black suits.

Jason donned a lightning bolt on his shoulder, Hazel sported what looked like some sort of gemstone icon, Annabeth's icon was that of an owl, Piper had two golden angel wings on her shoulder, and Frank had what seemed to be a lion on his uniform.

"This sick," Jason mumbled, the rest of the team nodding in agreement.

Percy pressed on his amulet again, a golden light shining before dimming, revealing Percy back in the clothes he was wearing beforehand. The rest of the team followed suit, returning to their plainclothes that they were wearing before pressing on the amulet.

"Okay, so five minutes before we land we're gonna press the amulets again, just in case." Percy said, the team nodding in agreement. "Leo, how much time until we get to Long Island?" Leo returned to his pilot's seat, tapping a few buttons before turning his seat back to the rest of the team.

"About three hours," He replied, receiving nods from the other demigods. Percy sighed, running a hand through his hair before taking a deep breath.

"Sweet. Now everyone should go and get some rest, I have a good feeling we're gonna have a long day ahead of us."

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"Get up Seaweed Brain, we're almost there." Annabeth lightly shook her sleeping boyfriend, who groaned and rubbed at his eyes for a moment before sitting up.

"Thanks Annabeth, is everyone else up?" He asked, receiving a nod from his blonde-haired girlfriend.

"Yeah, they're all in the cockpit with Leo. You ready for this Supreme Commander?" Annabeth called Percy by his formal title, which Percy hated with a passion.

"Shut it Wise Girl," He responded, a faint smile on his face nonetheless. "C'mon, let's go." He stood up, taking Annabeth's hand in his as they exited the bedroom that Leo has designated for the couple, leaving the living area of the spacecraft and entering the cockpit.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," Jason teased once Percy and Annabeth entered the control room, being met with a shove from Percy in return for the comment.

"Leo, what's our ETA?" The green-eyed boy inquired, turning towards his Latino friend.

"About ten minutes. We're just about to enter Earth's atmosphere, so I'm gonna turn on the cloaking now," Leo explained, pressing a series of buttons to make the plane invisible to mortal tracking, and also mortal eyes.

The group sat in silence for a minute or so, the only audible sound being the air whirring outside of the Argo 3.0.

"Is it weird that I'm kinda scared? It's been so long, what if everything is different?" Piper asked, Jason wrapping an arm around his girlfriend in response.

"Our number one priority right now is to complete our mission, we can worry about our personal things once we save everyone." Percy said, two thousand years of being in command coming into play. While he was still the loveable, goofy person he had always been, being in command of all of Void's armies forced him to also adopt a stone-cold, hardened, leader-like persona.

"Five minutes until we land in Camp-Half Blood," Leo reported.

"Okay everyone, suit up." Percy said, pressing down on his amulet. The rest of the team followed suit, emerging from the golden light in their black suits.

"I kinda feel like we're the Avengers now," Frank mumbled, making the rest of the team laugh.

"Nah, we're cooler than the Avengers. We're the Commanders of the Void." Leo's smirk was evident through his words, even though his entire face was covered by his mask.

"Guys, we're home." Jason said, his sky-blue eyes locked on the the glass that covered the front of the craft. The rest of the team followed suit, lining up by the window to drink in the view that was their former home.

It was nearly noon, and Manhattan was a bustle of activity as always. Tall, grey buildings covered the area, being a stark contrast to the soft, white marble buildings of Veilara. In the distance the Empire State Building was visible, a cloud covering the tip of the spire, masking where Olympus resided.

"I never thought I would've missed this place as much as I did," Percy commented, the rest of the team sighing in response.

"30 seconds until landing, decloaking the craft as we speak." Leo called out, everyone beginning to ready themselves to see the place that was their home until they "died".

"Okay guys, let's do this." Percy said, feeling the spacecraft hit the ground of the strawberry fields. He took a glance outside, seeing that campers were already starting to huddle around the suspicious spaceship that had just landed inside of the camp. "Open the doors Leo," Leo pressed a button, the loading dock of the Argo 3.0 opening up with a hiss.

The Commanders of the Void lined up in front of the door, watching as the front door hit the ground with a loud boom.

Percy stepped out onto the field, feeling the soil beneath his boots. The rest of the team followed suit, wordlessly stepping out of the aircraft and falling into line. He surveyed the camp, drinking in the place that he called home for so long.

A crowd of demigods had formed around the craft, all of the with a hand on their weapons and whispering to each other as they tried to get an idea of the mysterious, black-clad figures that stood in front of them with an ominous aura.

The crowd began to part, and Percy could heard the sound of hooves coming in their direction. His throat tightened as he could see Chiron coming through the crowd, being tailed by Nico and Thalia.

"Who are you?" Chiron's smooth voice cut through the whispers. Percy swallowed down his nerves, putting on his Supreme Commander persona.

"We are the Commanders of the Void, sent by the Father of the Universe, Void himself. And we are here to save your planet."

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here's another chapter! i have a lot of prewritten chapters for this book, so hopefully i'll keep this book consistently updated for a while!

this book is wayy easier to write for me right now so i'll be posting wayyy more in here! 

hope you guys enjoyed this :)

all love, 

xmaiax