[non timebo mala]

Blood stained Reese's hands as he pulled them away from his victim. A scarlet pool grew from the wound, and Reese staggered to his feet from where he knelt. He could hear screaming like ringing in his ears, a tinny buzz that wouldn't disappear.

Reese gripped the porcelain sink with an iron grip, and with the amount of adrenaline rushing through his veins, he was surprised it didn't shatter. Every muscle in his body was tense was the episode, energy and power and bloodlust sparking at his every thought.

Reese stepped away from the body, watching the face of the nameless victim the General had had him execute. He watched as the face changed into Flynn's, then Imogen's, then Kaden's, then Tessa's, Mark's, Dale's. His friends were his victims, bleeding out at his hand.

Another wave of pain wracked Reese's frame, and he hunched over the sink. He hacked out a breath, and a splatter of red met his eyes. His gaze blurred, and when he looked at the mirror, he saw a bloody-mouthed beast staring back at him, with blue eyes like lightning.

Suddenly, Reese was standing on a dusty battlefield, with plumes of black smoke slinking into the air. Explosions rattled the ground, battle cries echoed in the air, and there, in the distance, Reese saw himself and Imogen standing back to back, firing arrows. Kaden stabbed the enemies that surrounded him. Dale was glowing with power, and Mark had become speed and light incarnate. The screaming in his ears got louder—

And just like that, it was over. Reese staggered, resting his head on his forearms as he crouched down. His lungs felt like he'd gone freediving to the bottom of the ocean without air, and every muscle in his body ached with a newfound pain. He was a wreck from head to toe, but he could tell no one. If he did...Reese forced the thought away. He wasn't sure what he'd do.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but when the pain began to ebb and Reese felt like himself again, he pushed himself to his feet. With a shaky breath, he patted down the disheveled mess that was his hair, blinked away the memories of his glowing eyes. He'd fought the beast seeking to overpower him, whatever beast it was. He splashed some water on his face to clear his head, then emerged from the bathroom, from the hall in the Big House, and didn't stop until he was surrounded by the cool, night air of Camp Half-Blood.

Reese didn't know where he was going, he just went. He wandered through the valley, turning on the trails, winding around camp as he sorted out his thoughts. Every now and then, a monster's low growl would shake him from his reverie, but Reese would only keep walking. No demon would dare cross his path right now, not until he was sane again.

So when he found himself by the canoe lake, Reese was a little startled to find he wasn't alone. A figure sat at the edge of the dock, hunched over and silent in the indigo night. However, he didn't need to look any closer to know who it was.

"I see I'm not the only one with insomnia," Reese spoke, his voice breaking the spell of silence.

Tessa Brennan turned to face him, his eyes shimmering in the moonlight. A wry smile laced her lips. "Restless nights are more common than peaceful ones when you're a half-blood."

"And yet they still surprise us," Reese noted. There was a beat of silence, but he pointed to Tessa's side. "Mind if I join you?"

Tessa shook her head, scooching over from where she sat to leave Reese some space. Reese sat down beside her, looking out over the crystalline lake. It seemed to be made of quicksilver in the light of the moon and stars, and odd glowing plants waved from around the shore and beneath the waves.

"How are you feeling?" Reese asked, tearing his gaze from the lake to look at Tessa. The brunette girl only arched an eyebrow, eyes still locked on the horizon. "Your sword wound."

Tessa inhaled, glancing at Reese. Her fingers grazed her side, where Matthew Baines' sword had cut a crescent-shape scar around Tessa's side. "Compared to being stabbed through the heart, this is nothing."

And it sounded so much like the Tessa that Reese had grown up with in Camp Half-Blood nearly ten years ago that a smile tugged at his lips. Tessa was a sarcastic person, even more so when she was trying to hide what she was really feeling. As one of her best friends, Reese had gotten pretty good at deciphering what kind of mood Tessa was in, just like how one could determine the mood of the sea on a given day. She was as mercurial as the waves, with all the force behind them.

"So," Tessa cleared her throat. "What's new with you?"

Reese blinked. "I had a really weird dream about some sheep—"

"No," Tessa pressed, but Reese saw the ghost of a smile on her face. "What have I missed while I was away?"

Reese's eyebrows arched slightly in surprise. He wasn't expecting that. "A lot, to say the least."

A soft chuckle escaped Tessa's lips. "That's what I've heard. But aside from the gloom and doom, what's something good that's happened?"

Imogen's smiling face came to the forefront of Reese's memory, so vivid he thought she was right in front of him. But she was back in California, chasing after her law cases the way she'd once chased after enemies.

And so Reese found himself talking, unraveling everything about how he and Imogen were moving in together. He told Tessa about Flynn proposing to Amelie, and about all the small memories from the past three years that he'd wished Tessa had been there for. Tessa listened through it all, smiling as she stared at the horizon.

"I'm glad there's still some light after all that's been happening," Tessa offered when Reese finished. She was silent, and Reese felt something break when he saw Tessa's smile melt from her lips. "It won't stay that way."

"What makes you say that?" Reese countered.

Tessa pressed her lips together. "When I was in the infirmary, and everyone was fussing over me, that's what made me feel like the years hadn't gone by. I could pretend that I'd been hit during Capture the Flag, and you, Dale, Mark, and Kaden were happy to see I was okay while still panicking over the amount of blood I was losing. It's sadistic, but it felt so...normal. And then I realized that it wasn't. I felt like coming back would be easy, but...seeing everyone's faces, seeing the life I used to live, it's making this harder.

"And yesterday, after the war council, I was on a walk through the camp when I noticed people staring at me. And then I heard the whispers. And suddenly, I was thirteen again, with everyone watching me to see what kind of hero I would be. If I'd even be one at all." Tessa hugged her knees to her chest, and underneath the twenty-one-year-old girl he sat beside now, he saw the scared teenager who had forced herself into becoming what everyone already thought of her.

"We needed you back, Tessa," Reese said, his voice soft. "We still need you, and we always will."

Tessa took a small breath. "Even Kaden...I thought it'd be easy to get back together, but I need more time. I'm sure he does too. But after the lives we've lived..."

"Tessa," Reese interrupted, snagging her focus. "I know what you're going through, and I know it'll be hard, but if it's one thing I've learned from you it's that you can't give up hope when you need it most. When the people around you need it most. It's so easy to slip into despair and think that nothing will ever be the way it was. And maybe it won't be, but it'll be better. We'll get through this Masked mess, we'll get through whatever else is waiting for us, because you know why?"

"Why?" Tessa asked.

"Because I've fought at your side for nearly a decade, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Every battle we've fought, we've won because we have what our enemies don't. We have the hopes for a better future for everyone, not just ourselves. We defeated Deimos, we defeated Orion, we defeated the General, and we'll defeat Aether. But not by beating ourselves up." Reese asserted.

Tessa was silent. She stared at him with analytical turquoise irises until she sighed, looking down. "Where would we be without you, Hale?"

"I like to think somewhere in the middle of the desert, with comically confused expressions on your faces." Reese cracked a grin.

Tessa aimed a lazy blow at him, but Reese only ducked out of the way, a laugh on his lips. And just like that, the piece that had been missing clicked into place. No matter what happened, no matter the cost, Reese knew that he, Tessa, Kaden, Dale, and Mark were all bound together by fate. They could leave, but they'd always come back to one another, because that's where they belonged.

~~

What Reese expected to see the morning of the Underworld mission was preparation, with briefings on how to find the Door of Orpheus in Central Park, and what to do in case of being apprehended. What he didn't expect to see was complete and utter tension between the quest group, which frankly made him more nervous to embark into the land of the dead than he had been already.

Reese had just entered the living room of the Big House when he noticed that Kaden was gone and replaced with Kaya Blackwood, no doubt to swap places at Camp Jupiter. He raised his hand in a wave, but froze when the daughter of Trivia pinned him with a steely look. Tessa, who was standing nearby with her backpack in one hand, rolled her eyes at the praetor.

"Are you going to glare at everyone?" Tessa asked, venom in her voice.

Kaya's mocha eyes flicked over to the daughter of Poseidon. "Would you rather I glare at you? Or are you still too fragile for that?"

Tessa's expression changed as she stiffened, and her hand drifted to her pocket. That's when Reese's eyes widened and he sprang into action.

"Woah, guys, chill. We're supposed to be a team." Reese looked from both girls with an air of disbelief. Tessa and Kaya had been friends for a while; they'd had a rocky beginning, but were mostly allies through and through. What changed?

What hasn't, is a better question, Reese thought to himself. He shook the idea from his head, and when Kaya got up from where she sat and moved across the room, Reese followed.

"Is everything okay?" Reese asked tentatively. "You agreed to helping us into the Underworld."

Kaya raised her head, all the stature of a queen. "I didn't agree to working with her."

Reese blinked. He wasn't expecting that. "You've worked with Tessa before."

"I worked with a different Tessa before, one who didn't run away from a fight." Kaya snapped. "I don't associate with cowards."

A flare of rage welled in Reese's mind. "No, just traitors."

Kaya's eyes widened, and suddenly, both Kaya and Reese were staring one another down, waiting for the other to back down.

"You'll find I'm not the only one with this animosity towards her," Kaya nodded over to where Tessa stood, cleaning Tempest's blade. The bronze sword glinted wickedly, like it was daring Kaya to run straight through it.

Reese set his jaw. "Look, no one's happy with what she did. She needed a break, and she came back. I don't know what it is about you Romans, but us Greeks are team players, and in moments like these? It doesn't matter what you think about your teammates. What matters is keeping each other alive."

Kaya gave him a look. "You're pretty defensive towards a girl who got you and your brother trapped in an alternate dimension."

"And you're pretty antagonistic towards a boy who helped that girl save both of our camps," Reese retorted, venom in his voice.

Kaya took a breath, and walked away. Reese clenched his fists at his side; this was going to be a long trip.

~~

Once upon a time ago, when Reese was seventeen and embarking on a quest to go defeat Deimos, he'd panicked and fled to the Underworld. He headed to the River Styx, bathed in its waters, and came out with the Achilles Curse. It had saved his life a couple of times in the past few years, and he'd almost lost it, but thankfully, he was walking back into the land of the dead with invincibility on his side.

Now, it almost felt like his blessing had left him.

The Underworld was as expansive as the Earth itself, with obsidian mountains and plains of silver, and plumes of crimson smoke dotting the realm. Masses and masses of ghouls and spirits swept past, in lines, in crowds, in absolute chaos. The Fields of Asphodel, where most mortal souls who led ordinary lives ended up, was a sea of darkness. Cast in a crimson glow, the Fields of Punishment echoed with the screams of the wicked as they faced eternal damnation. And nearby the shining palace of Erebus was Elysium, where those few, those heroic few, ended up for eternity. Cutting through it all was the River Styx, and in the distance, the River Lethe trudged past, where mortals lost their memories upon death.

At Reese's side, Tessa sniffed. "Looks different from where I was."

Reese furrowed his brow, turning to look at her. "You've been here?"

Tessa gave Reese a tired look. "Are you forgetting that I was stabbed through the heart?"

"Well, no, but you seemed fine after a while." Reese shrugged.

Tessa took a deep breath, no doubt holding herself back from Reese's eternal curse of oblivion. "I was in limbo for a while. I had a nice chat with my uncle while I died, as well as my dad and Ares."

Kaya walked back from where she was standing, sparks flying from her hands. "If you both are done talking, the Fields of Punishment are that way." She pointed to the haze of red in the distance.

Tessa shook her head. "Are you both sure we can just waltz into the Fields of Punishment and hold interrogation?"

"If you cared to read the briefing, we have a contact waiting for us over there who did the heavy lifting for us," Kaya shot her a look. "Liam said he'd meet us outside the gates, and tell us what's up."

Reese made a face as they started their trek. "Liam works in the Underworld now?"

"He's the ambassador to Pluto," Kaya said over her shoulder.

"Hades," Tessa corrected. "Liam's godly parent is Despoina, the Greek goddess of mystery."

Kaya threw up her hands, magic still coating them. "What's the difference? We're all demigods, does it matter what camp we're from?"

Reese quirked a brow. "Look who's talking."

Kaya stiffened, but didn't look back. Reese decided it was best to keep his mouth shut form then on.

The trio continued through the masses of shadows and ghouls, blending in with their dark outfits. They passed around the crowds waiting for judgment, and after what felt like an hour of walking on rocks, they approached the barbed wire gates of the Fields of Punishment. A valley of torture stood past those gates, but standing outside was a tall figure with black hair and ice-blue eyes.

"Liam," Kaya called.

The figure, Liam, looked up from where he stood outside the gates. Reese narrowed his eyes at the son of Despoina; he'd been an emissary to the General three years ago, but had fled when she'd ordered him to kill the girl he loved, the daughter of Hyperion: Ariel. The last time Reese had seen Liam had been when he'd barged into Headquarters after the war, and told them everything about the General, and how Vinny had fled.

"Took you three long enough," Liam rolled his eyes, his English accent surprisingly cheery in the gloom and doom of the Underworld. "I thought I'd been stood up."

"What can you tell us?" Kaya asked. "I'm assuming we don't have much time until you have to go back to work."

Liam shrugged. "I've got time." His vision flicked to Tessa, and an odd look cast over Liam's icy eyes. "Hello, Tessa."

Tessa gave the son of Despoina her signature smirk. "Liam. I see you're looking well."

"Funny, I've heard that you haven't been." Liam said casually, then turned back to Kaya and Reese. "But I did my homework, and I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What kind of bad news?" Reese asked.

Liam bit his lip. "When I was asking around the Fields of Punishment, I didn't get much of an answer. Seeing as most of the damned are isolated from others, unless their idea of torture is being surrounded by eithers which I entirely understand—"

"Liam," Tessa interrupted. "Focus."

"Aye, aye, General," Liam winked, and Tessa flinched, but stood her ground. One of the reasons she'd left to begin with was her feeling responsible for the torture of the alternate universe, seeing as the General of the alternate army was Tessa's alter ego.

"Anyways," Liam cleared his throat. "I didn't get much information. Most people had no idea who this Matthew Baines was, and seeing as he was a demigod, I decided to venture over to the part of the Underworld with the most demigods."

"Elysium," Kaya breathed, a hazy look clouding her eyes.

Liam nodded. "And as I was asking around...well, I got information from a surprising source. At first, it had nothing to do with Matthew, but then I realized the two were connected and well...I asked him to meet with us."

Reese knit his eyebrows together. "Ask who?"

"Ask me," A deep voice sounded from behind them, and when Reese turned around, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tessa gasped; Kaya made an incoherent noise.

He was as intimidating as Reese remembered. His curly dark hair was a disheveled mess as always, and his expression was cut from stone. He wasn't donning a billowing violet cloak, although Reese could see its ghostly outline—after all, he'd been wearing it when he died. Alexander Deven was as corporeal as he had been when he'd jumped in front of an arrow meant for Tessa, and that had cost him his life.

A soft smile laced over Alex's lips as his dark eyes flicked to Kaya, whose eyes were watering. "Hey, Kayak."

A sort of hysteric laugh escaped Kaya's lips. "Hey, Asshole."

"Wow," Liam said. "I'm feeling the love already."

"Is it really you?" Reese asked, his voice breathy.

Alex's gaze returned to Reese, and he got the feeling he'd once had of being faced with a military officer, like any minute now Reese would have to drop and give him twenty. "Yes, Reese, it's really me. I had to pull some strings to leave Elysium for a while, so I'm afraid I can't stay long."

"Why aren't you a ghost?" Reese knit his eyebrows together. But when Alex moved to run his hand through his hair, he blurred for a moment.

"I am," Alex said flatly. "This is as close to corporeality as I could get. It won't last forever, so we need to get this over with."

Reese looked over at Tessa, and she looked just as she had when she'd watched Alex bleed out before her. He caught the small wiping motion of her hands against her jeans; a habit she couldn't break, still feeling like his blood was on her hands. Tessa met Reese's gaze, and she immediately looked away.

"So, Alexander," Liam clapped his hands together. "Tell the lovely people what you know."

Alex shot Liam a glare. "Don't tell me what to do, Caspar." He sighed. "But I do know about Matthew Baines."

"What can you tell us?" Kaya asked, sniffing away her tears.

Alex made a face. "Time passes differently down here, so I can't tell you who long ago or not it was. But what I do know is that as a ghost, and one that remembers my life, it's easy to feel a certain...connection to aspects that are familiar to me. Anytime something happens in Camp Jupiter, I feel a connection. But I also felt a connection to a demigod, and then I realized it was Matthew Baines."

"Right," Tessa realized. "He's your half-brother."

Alex nodded. "And then a different bond occurred to me. I couldn't check with Lucillia, the one other demigod who'd achieved Elysium that I knew, since she chose rebirth. But...I knew."

Reese's eyes widened. "Matthew escaped the Underworld with the help of someone connected to us all." He muttered. "It can't be."

"We're connected to those who kill us," Alex said, his voice fading a bit. "That's why ghosts stuck on Earth are always connected to the places they die, or haunt the people who wronged them."

"It can't be true," Kaya asserted. "He's gone."

"He's been gone for three years," Tessa realized. "He might be gone now but he might not have been three years ago."

"Will someone tell me who you lot are on about?" Liam groaned.

"Vinny Maxwell," Alex's voice boomed, and suddenly, the Underworld's clamor had faded to a dull roar in Reese's ears. "Vinny Maxwell, traitor to New Rome, helped Matthew Baines escape."

Reese turned to Tessa, who, ironically, looked like she'd seen a ghost. They locked eyes and as soon as they did, Reese heard the words in his head like the Oracle of Delphi was whispering in his ears.

Defeat the traitors of bronze and gold...

"The prophecy," Tessa breathed.

Reese nodded. "It's referring to them. Matthew and Vinny."

"How do you know?" Kaya asked, severity lacing her voice.

"Traitors of bronze and gold," Tessa gesticulated around, running a hand through her hair. "Greeks use Celestial Bronze, Romans use Imperial Gold. Matthew's a Greek, and Vinny's a Roman. They're in collusion."

Reese turned back to Alex, who was watching them sadly. "Are you sure you have no idea how long ago this was?"

Alex blinked. "Let me go check my non-existent calendar. Yes, I'm sure. It could have been yesterday for all I know."

"Did Matthew say anything about how long ago this was?" Kaya turned to Tessa, who shook her head.

"Nothing," Tessa said. "But now we know Vinny's alive. That's who he wanted to bring me to."

"We might not know that for sure," Reese said, suddenly feeling like Atlas underneath the weight of the world. Their past was crumbling down around them, like the cavern that they had once fled from all those years ago.

Tessa shut her eyes. "We need to get back to the camps. We need to prepare. Vinny is most likely colluding with Aether and the Masks, and Matthew is their emissary."

"Prepare for what?" Liam asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

And Reese knew. He found himself back in Delphi, fighting off monsters that Vinny had summoned to dispel their group once and for all. He met Tessa's gaze, and the words escaped his lips like an omen of warning: "The prophecy...it's coming to pass again."