[amor vincit omnia]

Reese was normally a very concentrated person—an unlikely trait for a demigod—but as he found himself staring out the window towards camp, watching as decorations were being put up, all praise for being focused disappeared. The son of Apollo frowned at what he saw, wondering why everyone had stopped what they were doing to decorate camp.

"Is there some sort of holiday that I forgot about?" Reese asked, walking back to the others.

Imogen looked up at him as he approached, a curious look in her jade eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"Everyone's decorating camp," Reese nodded towards the window, leaning against a bookshelf. "It's bothering me."

Imogen snorted. "Can't stand a little merriment, Hale?"

Reese grinned. "Nope."

Imogen rolled her eyes, but gave him an amused look. "It's probably just Mr. D getting bored of all the work everyone's been doing. Can't say I blame him."

"Oh, because you Romans are such wild partiers?" Reese teased, folding his arms over his chest.

Imogen winked, and Reese chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. This was good. Banter was good. It kept his mind off of the more stressful things at hand. But apparently, this little reprieve was as much as he was getting that day.

Footsteps filled the air, and not long after that, Kaden and Tessa appeared, looking equal shades of distressed. Kaden made a beeline for the investigation board, grabbing a marker to scribble something down, whereas Tessa looked like she'd just kicked a puppy by mistake.

"How'd it go?" Reese asked, suddenly alert. "Did you guys find the mugger?"

Tessa nodded, tearing herself out of her odd trance. "We found him all right, but I wish we hadn't."

Reese drew his eyebrows together. "What happened?"

Kaden sighed, setting down the marker as he read what he'd written on the board. "He told us that he was being paid to stalk Tessa. Someone threatened him into working tangentially for Aether's forces because he's part storm spirit, and now we have a whole new world of problems."

Imogen got up from where she was sitting. "Do we know who this someone is?"

Tessa shook her head, dragging a hand through her hair. "Not at all. We think it could be that guy from the raid, but everything's up in the air."

Reese averted his attention to the board, seeing that the name Sera Brennan had now joined the list of possible affiliates to the issue. "Why's Tessa's mom on our list?"

Tessa and Kaden locked eyes, and the former began to speak. "We visited Olympus to talk with Artemis. I had another...er, vision, I guess you could call them. I saw my mom fighting some greasy guy covered in blood while Jared Knight was trying to heal a huntress."

Reese widened his eyes. That was a new one. "What?"

"I know," Tessa said flatly. "Sounds crazy. But apparently, Aether wanted me to see it so here we are."

"I'm sorry, I'm going to need a little background here," Imogen held up a hand. "Was this happening, like, now? This vision of yours?"

Tessa shook her head. "My mom was still a Huntress so no. But it only confirms that she knows Jared Knight, and she lied about him being irrelevant."

"Your mom was a huntress?"

"Imogen," Kaden gave the daughter of Cupid a placating look. "We'll explain that all later but as for now, we have more important things to worry about than Tessa's mom's life story."

"Apparently not," Reese muttered, but cleared his throat before anyone could hear him. "Where does this leave us?"

Tessa released a stressed sort of breath. "I gotta go see my mom. Maybe she has answers that will clear up half of our problems."

"Do you think that's a good idea right now? Leaving camp by yourself?" Imogen questioned, sitting on top of her desk.

Tessa's eyes glinted dangerously. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Because there are literally people out there right now trying to bring you to Aether." Imogen countered. "There's a bounty on your head."

Tessa quirked her eyebrow, and she was silent for a moment. For a second, Reese thought that the daughter of Poseidon was about to go off on one of her best friends, but Tessa simply said, "Then I hope I'm worth a lot." And without another word, she left the room.

~~

Demigod dreams were one aspect of Reese's life that he'd never truly felt much wrath for. He hardly ever got one that meant anything prominent, and when he did, they never rattled him too much. However, there was a first time for everything, and Reese learned that the hard way.

In his dream, Reese was standing in the elevator to Olympus just as the golden doors slid open. Normally, the gilded doors would have revealed a glowing palace of light and laughter, magic and wonder, at the end of a floating stone pathway hundreds of feet above New York City. Only now, Olympus was silent. Lights had been extinguished on the mountain, and only the sound of a haunting wind echoed through the villas and open-air amphitheaters.

Reese took a step from the elevator, feeling like he was moving through molasses. He stepped onto the pathway, and he watched as, like ice sprawling across a lake, the stones began to disintegrate.

He had enough time to look below, at New York City beneath him. Similar to Olympus, the city should have been luminous and vibrant in the darkness. But instead, plumes of fire plagued the skyscrapers. Smoke filled the sky, and as screams filled the air, Reese saw armies marching down the streets, donning dark armor and blood-red cloaks.

Reese turned, and felt a pang of alarm as he noticed he wasn't alone on the crumbling pathway. A woman donning a Greek chiton of white and violet, fluttering in the ghost wind like the fabric had a mind of its own. Her dark hair was pinned up, but her eyes glowed a sickly green.

"The sun erupts, in pillars of fire. The earth destroyed, in moments dire.

The seas claim the innocent, dragged to the deep. With love left behind, hell to reap.

But as heroes divided, no peace shall remain. Accept thy darkness, accept thy name."

And before Reese could make much of what she'd said, the stones he'd been standing on turned to rubble, and he fell to the city below.

~~

Reese shot awake, truly feeling like he'd been falling through the sky. His chest heaved as he tried to calm down, relying on his combat training to help get his nerves into check. It was just a nightmare. He needed to relax.

But as he pushed his covers off him, Reese couldn't help but feel shaken. That woman had given him some sort of prophecy, about some sort of apocalypse that would leave Olympus in shambles and the world in danger. And that last line was a part of the Great Prophecy, the one that Tessa had received and had troubled herself with trying to decode.

Reese inhaled, sweeping strands of his blond hair away from his face, where they'd clung to his skin. As he stared into the shadows of his room, Reese wondered if this nightmare was just one step on the path to the madness that Flynn had warned him about. Because that, he could handle. He and Imogen were looking for a cure, so there wasn't much left to worry about.

But if the nightmare wasn't a side effect of his oncoming madness. If it was truly a prophecy, a warning of what was to come...

Reese rested his arms on his knees, watching as moonlight faded to sunlight. His eyes were heavy, but he wouldn't trust himself to go back to sleep. Not with so many shadows filling his room, watching and waiting to claim his mind once more.

~~

"Reese?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"That's your third cup of coffee."

Reese gazed at the bagel he was prepping, then averted his attention to the refilled cup of coffee by his plate. He shrugged, setting down his butter knife and reaching for the coffee. "And your point is?"

Tessa held his gaze incredulously, as if wondering how a person so calm could manage three cups of coffee, then dropped it with a sigh. "Never mind."

Reese set his cup down like he was proving a point. "I rest my case."

Tessa shook her head at him, but reached for her own glass of water. "So, turns out I can't go see my mom until after today's celebration."

Reese furrowed his eyebrows, munching on his bagel. "What's that even about, anyway?"

Tessa shrugged. "Probably to commemorate some victory of some crusty ancient Greek dude from two thousand years ago."

"My dad or yours?"

Tessa snorted in laughter. "Hopefully not mine since I just called him crusty."

Reese smiled from behind his cup of coffee, taking a sip. The caffeine was already kicking into gear, thrumming through his veins like a drummer finding a rapid beat. Hopefully, Tessa wouldn't think much of it but before he could gauge the daughter of Poseidon's reaction, Reese spotted Mark walking by.

"Mark!" Tessa called out, and Reese felt his stomach lurch.

"Tessa, what are you doing?" Reese hissed.

Tessa shot him a look. "Ending this petty fight of yours."

When Tessa turned away to flag Mark down, Reese gestured like he was trying to strangle Tessa. But when she turned back around, he fumbled for his coffee.

"What were you doing?" Tessa arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Reese murmured.

Tessa sighed, folding her arms on the table. "Mark's still upset, huh?"

"Since he tried to punch my face in, I'd say so," Reese quipped.

Tessa gave him her signature unamused look, and Reese shrugged. "It's true."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't. We won't get anywhere being divided like this." Tessa stared in the direction Mark had gone, flanked by some of his younger siblings.

A chill ran down Reese's spine. But as heroes divided, no peace shall remain.

"Reese?" Tessa asked. "You good?"

Reese shook the chill from his bones, forcing himself to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Tessa eyed his cup of coffee warily. "Maybe I should cut you off." She leaned forward to try and grab his cup, but Reese swatted her hand away.

Eventually, the horn blared through the dining pavilion, and the demigods of Camp Half-Blood got up and filed out into the valley. Tessa bid Reese goodbye, seeing as she had to finagle with Calum and Nova, and bounded down the hill. Reese, taking his coffee to go, headed towards the Big House but stopped in his tracks as the image of the woman from his dreams appeared to him like a flash of lightning.

But then just as swiftly as she was there, she was gone.

Reese shook his head, walking a little faster after that. He dropped his cup in a trashcan as he entered the Big House, padding down the hallways. He reached Imogen's guest room, but when he poked his head inside, his girlfriend was nowhere in sight. He headed to the Library of Athena and raced up to the top floor, but after checking on Amelie—she looked like she still hadn't moved from her studying—Imogen was still nowhere in sight.

And so Reese spent most of that day wandering around, looking for Imogen. The daughter of Cupid hadn't been seen by anyone—not Kaden, who was helping Flynn out in the infirmary; not Chase, who was busy concocting new ways to annoy everyone; not Bianca or Sitara or Parker or anyone that Reese knew. He was beginning to get worried as night began to fall and campers swapped out of their training outfits for party clothes, but it seemed that he'd have to worry no longer.

"Reese! What are you doing in those clothes still?" Imogen screeched, snapping Reese's attention up from where he'd been lying on a bench.

"Gen!" Reese exclaimed, then looked down at himself, baffled. "My clothes are fine."

Imogen inhaled, sauntering towards him as fast as her heels would allow in the grass. Bags upon bags hung on her arms, and she was wearing a sequin-covered copper dress that did wonders on her in Reese's opinion.

"I had a feeling this would happen so here," Imogen shoved a bag at his chest. "Go get changed."

Reese blinked, clutching the bag to his chest so it wouldn't fall. "Where have you been?"

Imogen motioned at the various bags surrounding her. "Where do you think?"

Reese sighed, using his free hand to drag a hand through his hair in exasperation and relief. "I was worried. I couldn't find you anywhere."

"And you didn't think to text me?" Imogen quipped, walking up to him. She pecked his lips, set in a baffled frown. "Go get changed. I'll wait for you right here."

Reese sighed and shuffled off into the Big House. A few minutes later, donning the dress shirt and skinny jeans that Imogen had selected for him, he emerged to find camp transformed. The decorations didn't look like much in the daylight, when there were weapons and lava walls to worry about, but now...

Strands of glowing lights floated down the trails and around the trees, which probably annoyed the dryads but Reese didn't care. Music floated through camp, whisked away on the flowery air, and Reese could see nymphs and satyrs dancing along the trails as they joined campers into the arena, where most camp festivities were centered. Fireworks filled the sky like shooting stars, making up pictures and scenes from mythology.

"I have such a good eye for fashion," Imogen said proudly, eyeing Reese up and down as he emerged.

Reese chuckled lightly. "Indeed you do." He pressed a kiss to her temple, swinging an arm around her shoulders.

Imogen smiled up at him as they walked towards the arena. She didn't say anything, she just looked up at him with love in her jade eyes, and in the magical lights of the fireworks and lanterns, Reese figured that she looked as beautiful as he'd ever seen her.

Reese and Imogen entered the arena, scouring the sea of dancing demigods, nymphs, and satyrs for their friends. They spotted Tessa, Kaden, Amelie, Flynn, chatting in the distance with Madi and Ben. They hurried over and joined the conversation.

"Imogen, Reese thought you were dead," Kaden said by way of greeting. Reese's best friend was dressed sharp as always, and Reese wondered if Imogen had somehow styled everyone in their friend group.

"He mentioned that," Imogen teased, shooting a funny look at Reese. "How's the party going?"

"Just started," Madi answered over the pulsing music, fiddling with the ends of her scarlet chiffon skirt. "And we still don't know what it's for."

"My money's on an unknowing victory over the Masks," Ben quipped, readjusting his bow tie. "Which would explain why it's so hush hush."

Tessa shook her head, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her navy dress. "If only. But I think it's someone's birthday or something."

"What happened to the crusty old dude from two thousand years ago?" Reese countered.

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's his birthday."

"You're both right, actually," A voice chimed from behind them, and Reese whirled around to see Mark standing there, dressed in black pants and a white shirt. His black eye was fading, which Reese felt guilty about, but he didn't seem to harbor as much animosity anymore.

"It's a crusty old guy's birthday?" Flynn echoed, his hand in Amelie's. "Whose?"

"Mr. D's," Mark said simply, to which everyone said a variety of 'that makes sense'.

"Where've you been, Marky-Mark?" Tessa called, and Mark cringed at the nickname.

"Saying hi to Alexia and Sophia," Mark jerked his thumb behind him. "They were telling me about their wedding and—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Imogen, Tessa, Amelie, and Madi ran past Mark, leaving him dazed. "—How it went." He finished flatly.

"Girls and weddings," Ben shook his head. "I don't understand."

Flynn only grinned, a knowing glint in his eyes. "For once, I'm the more experienced in this group."

Everyone laughed, including Mark. As Kaden and Ben started talking about something Reese didn't catch, and Flynn disappeared into the crowd for punch, Reese cleared his throat and glanced at Mark.

"Hey," Reese said gruffly.

"'Sup," Mark nodded.

There was silence between them for a moment.

"So, uh, I don't know how these whole sentimental apologies are supposed to work but..." Reese trailed off, looking everywhere else. "Hug it out?"

Mark coughed, trying to look manly in a similar fashion to Reese. "Sure, man." He coughed.

The boys looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then quickly embraced, pulling apart.

"Nice," They said in unison, but as Reese tried to look tough, he couldn't help the feeling of relief swelling in his heart. Mark got on his nerves a lot, being the exact opposite of Reese's oblivious seriousness, but he was one of his best friends. And with this new unity, some of Reese's nightmarish worries began to dissolve.

The night continued on after that, as the girls came rushing back excitedly. They all headed to the dancefloor and began to dance, doing their traditional circle of dance moves. When Reese was shoved into the center, he did a sad rendition of the wave which made everyone laugh, and he was replaced with Amelie, who attempted the robot.

And just like that, the years faded between them all. Sophia and Alexia joined the circle, expanding it, but the group felt united again, like this was just another camp dance. Reese found himself smiling nostalgically, wishing that Dale were there to join, but trusted that she was alright with Adhara on her side. Besides, Dale probably would have thumped him upside the head if she knew he was bemoaning her absence at a party.

Eventually, the group dissolved to go about their separate ways in the party. Alexia and Sophia went to talk with Chiron, Amelie and Flynn went for a walk, Ben and Madi headed to the punch bowl, and Kaden and Tessa flanked Mark as a way to not feel so awkward. But as Imogen laced her hand through his, something took over Reese as he laid eyes on Amelie and Flynn, walking from the arena and laughing. He watched as Alexia and Sophia shared a kiss, their wedding rings glinting in the light.

And Reese realized that being who they were, what they were, peace and safety was never a given. Families were often scattered, but it was the family that you made for yourself that mattered most, whether it was the blood of the covenant or the water of the womb. And his friends were now each other's families.

Reese was lucky enough to have found Imogen in the chaos that was their lives, his eye in the storm. She grounded him, illuminated him, made him feel...light. And while everything else in their life was up in the air, able to be taken away and destroyed, what he and Imogen had would be as eternal as Olympus.

"Imogen," Reese tugged on her hand as she tried to drag him away.

"Yeah?" Imogen asked, coming back to him.

Reese smiled. "Marry me."

Imogen's jade eyes widened, and for someone so sure of herself, she had never looked more baffled. "What?"

"Marry me," Reese wrapped his arm around her waist. "Become Imogen Valentine Hale. I love you more than I could ever explain, and I know that our lives are so crazy right now, but I need to know that something will always be a given. And if you marry me, then that's what it'll be. Become my wife, and the future will be ours for creating."

Imogen's eyes began to water, and as she smiled, she said, "Did you have something to drink, Hale?"

Reese grinned and pulled Imogen in for a kiss. And when she melted into it, he wasn't sure if the fireworks going off were in his heart or in the sky.

Imogen suddenly pulled away. "There's so much to plan. I need a dress. What flowers will we have?"

Reese roared in laughter. "So is that a yes?"

Imogen looked up at him impishly and then sprang into his arms for another kiss. "Yes, Reese Hale. Yes, it is."

Reese grinned as Imogen pecked him one more time, and then dragged him into the crowd. They found their friends, spreading the word, and eventually, everyone was congratulating them, wishing them well, and Reese looked up at the star-lit sky, losing track of time, wishing to remain in this moment of bliss forever.