It didn't take me long to realise that Odin was not like the twins who had come before him. He was not like that mystery woman that I'd clearly pissed off at some point for her to go after me. He wasn't quite like anyone I had to fight so far. There was no, being blinded by rage like Hera, and to a point, Zeus. Even Cronus wanted to brag just that little too much. Odin did little for show, or for his ego. There was no talk, no banter, no goading. He knew his power, and he wielded it with determination and strength. I was slightly in awe and could have appreciated him, the situation, all of it, more if I didn't get a distinct feeling that he was going to destroy me merely because he could.

Alfie and Annipe moved in sync, never backing down despite the way I knew they hurt. The worry and protectiveness that threatened to rise anytime Odin got them was forced down. Just as those who had summoned these creatures used them as weapons, so did I. They responded. I felt their eagerness to obey, their loyalty, their determination. Connected as three, we fought on. I couldn't afford to slip up.

The old Elise would have by now. She would have done more to protect the snakes, those around her. She was have sacrificed it all for them. I was done being that girl. My powers were new, but I knew them. I understood. Hecate had guided me, maybe more than she knew or perhaps that had been her plan all along.

I am a Hunter, that is my gift.

I fight.

I stop the bad guys.

I keep order in this world.

I am good at it; my powers only enhance what was already there. Yet I wasn't a match for Odin. We both knew it, and as Annipe was tossed away and Alfie forced down, so it was just him and me, he smiled as we realised it at the same time.

"You fight well, girl." He leered, not moving from where he stood on the green hillside. His breathing was slightly off, while I struggled as if I had just run a marathon. "Submit to me now, and I may be inclined to offer you small mercy."

"What's your secret? Fountain of youth or my world just get it really wrong again with your legend?" I ask, daring a glance towards the cliff where below I could hear another battle still going.

The light of the portal was still there, Hermes hadn't closed it yet.

"I will teach you how to speak to your King. I will beat respect into you if I must. You will-"

"I really don't think I will. If this is how you make friends, I wonder why there isn't a line to join up!"

His face hardened before he laughed again. "Such a child. Breaking you will be easy, and then we shall see who rules-"

"The world. I know, get a new catchphrase. It's been said before." I cut him off, yet as he has since his arrival, Odin keeps a neutral expression and his calm. "Go back through your little gateway down there, and we can pretend none of this happened. I am inclined to offer you small mercy, should you obey me now."

"How kind of you," He smirks, playing along. "And if I don't?"

"I will summon the goddess Hecate, be her vessel and watch you burn," I promise, unsure why I even said it.

This stopped him. "What has Kara told you?"

Finally a crack in his facade.

"Enough." Or how about nothing. "The witches, fae and their so-called prophet tried to summon her and failed. In the process, I went to the Underworld. I forged an alliance. That is all you need to know. Now go, or I will do what I must."

Lightning struck between us; a sign, a warning, an omen of some kind as now he looked at me differently. Not as the girl, he would break, but as though he'd seen a ghost that would destroy him.

"As will I." He growled, the blast coming reliable and fast.

I moved faster, with an ease that left my body feeling as fluid as the ocean that crashed against the rock. A shudder from the earth with each hit as we fought differently now. Our pattern was familiar, like when Hades and I trained. I learnt to read his signs and he mine, and now, Odin and I danced to the same tune. No more thinking, just survival.

The battle was starting to take its toll. I did as Hades had told me, using the energy all around to keep me going. If it ever ran out, I knew I would be done. Odin had the stamina centuries of using these abilities offered, while I did not. Even now, with this new found ease as everything seemed to click into place, to keep going would be my end.

And then Hades was there. His army was rising as Alfie and Annipe returned. The whizz of Artemis's arrows was soaring a welcoming sound, and then as Odin turned from me to defend against the newest, more deadlier attacks, the warmth and healing power of two familiar hands were on my hips. Aches and injuries I hadn't even registered tingled and burned as Apollo healed. Unable to stop myself, I turned to face him before looking down. It was worse than I had imagined; he had saved me, again.

"You did good, Bunny." He whispered, the healing stopped, but he didn't let me go.

Looking over my shoulder, Hades, the snakes, and Artemis now took on Odin. They were each a force to be reckoned with, and Odin didn't have an Apollo to give him some health points back.

"The others?" I ask, unable to stop watching the sight before us.

"Kara has it under control. Most retreated, some seek her permission to stay." Apollo tells me.

"Okay, well, let's go finish this then?" Instead, I'm now standing by the portal with Hermes and Apollo. "What-"

"I can't shut it. I don't know what they did or why, but everything I've tried isn't working." Hermes mumbles, frantically doing something in the bowl the witches had used to open it.

"Have you tried chanting, everyone had been chanting?" I ask, looking up at the fight still going.

Hermes glared at me, before mimicking my question. "Have you tried chanting? This isn't normal. What they did, wasn't your average or common gateway. I've been on both sides and tracked the break between worlds, I can't do it."

"What?" My mouth went dry and looking into the flickering light, I saw a flicker of myself staring back.

Hesitantly I reached out to touch it, only to have Hermes slap my hand away.

"Don't do that. It won't help anything." He sighed. "Especially if you end up on the other side."

"No one over there knows what to do, the Valkyrie? It was their dirt and talisman thingo that got it there."

Hermes shook his head. "I tried reversing it. No one knows."

"Well, it can't stay here!" I scream at him.

I look at Apollo who only shrugs, just as something, no someone, lands on the beach near us.

"Artemis!" He calls out, running to his twin and just as quickly Hermes does too.

Looking up, it's only Hades up there now with Odin. Around me the injured are being seen to, a few more of my kind are now among the Kasha. I can't see Ailin or Kara and Apollo is busy helping his sister. I look again into the light, at the stones. If Ailin had destroyed them when-

This time I touch the rocks, feeling the spark of their energy in my fingertips as I run them along the warm surface. If the sacred stones were destroyed, they'd be no portal. We can't close it, so, we must destroy it. This time when I look into the light my eyes water, it's too bright, I'm too close, but then it's not there at all.

Hands grip my upper arm as Reece talks with Zane. V watches too, amused, sad, regretful? I'm not sure, and then the pair of them come over, the portal burning behind them so for a second all I can see is their shadows as they approach.

Reece bares his fangs, and I understand, but I don't like. I don't accept it.

"No. No Reece! Please, no!"

"It has to be this way Elise, don't you understand?" His eyes changed back to his usual blue; the struggle is evident as he fights the demon taking over one last time to say goodbye.

Zane stands like a statue beside me as V disappears.

"No, I don't. Reece!" I begged.

"Elise, you don't have to worry about me anymore," He looks over his shoulder as I do, more shadows appearing as they all come into focus. My ghosts. My demons. I killed them before, again. Dracula bares his fangs as I make eye contact. "It's for the best; you know it is. It will be ok."

Reece stops talking, the words come out of me of their accord.

"You promised me it was going to be ok! You lied! Why did you have to do that? I scream at him between sobs.

"It will be ok. I didn't lie about that." He pauses, giving our audience a once over. "Don't forget me, promise me that."

"I promise."

He doesn't kiss me how I know he did. It's quick, polite and the faintest of a whisper against my forehead. We weren't what I, we had thought we were, whatever blood bond the vampire had cursed us with didn't exist now. We made peace. Things were different. I pull free of Zane's hold, and follow Reece to the portal he would step into and close; step into and die.

So I could live.

He stands there facing me through the thin wall, the light easing as his figure hasn't yet been entirely swallowed by it.

"Can you do what you couldn't do then and destroy it yourself?" He taunts, baring his fangs right before he takes that final step to his doom.

"No!" I scream, reaching for him as I'm suddenly being held back yet again, and then he's gone. It's all gone.

I suck in the salty air and hear Hermes screaming at Artemis. I didn't imagine being held though, and right before I blast whoever was there away, I see Zane.

"Hermes said don't go in!" He scolds, pulling me further away.

"Thank you," I tell him. Zane frowns, opens his mouth and I shake my head. "Get everyone as far back as you can."

"Why?" He goes to move after me as I find my place in front of the rocks. "Elise what are you doing?"

"I'm going to destroy this fucking thing."

I touch the bottom step, and it burns in a way it didn't before. It's like it knows what I'm planning and without really thinking about it, I push everything I have into the rock. The current flows through me and up, and around. As connected as I felt to Alfie and Annipe, I think that now with the structure pulsing before me.

It has to die, like all the others.

The dead appears, swiping deadly claws and swords, wielding magic and force. They taunt and threaten me, cut me down and try and try again. I hear the first crack. The ground shudders, the ocean draws away, the clouds rise. They keep fighting, but their attacks go through me. I stare into Dracula's eyes, I feel his fangs bite into my skin. Selene's claws dig in and the Warlocks cut goes deep. The Lord Alpha howls while Ivy stands in Dracula's place, the dagger at my throat. Hera pulls at my hair and Zeus charges me with his lightning bolts. Cronus tries again and again, but this time, his spikes don't stick, they don't dig in, they don't stop me.

Blow after blow, and yet I am still standing.

I will rise like the Phoenix and Hecate nods her approval as the flames erupt. A volcano on the brink of explosion. I stand in them, and they dare not burn me. Dust fills the air, the opening wavers. Someone is screaming, I hear the cracks of the rock and Reece steps out of the light.

Only it isn't Reece at all.

Relief at seeing Cain floods every inch of me, I think I even start to cry. He looks around at the structure he just came from, the cove, all of it.

"Not putting too much pressure on yourself, Elise?" He asks casually like this is all nothing. Maybe to him, it isn't.

"Diamonds are made under pressure," I remind him of what he once said to me.

"Sparkle, sparkle." He smiles in a way I've missed, only before I can say anything else, he's gone, not there at all except for a faint silhouette on the other side.

Was it even him?

"Elise!" Apollo is calling my name, right as I see Cain again, only this time he has Odin by the throat.

Cain isn't quite as tall as Odin, but it doesn't matter as the other power struggles against him. The light seems to flicker again, making them harder to see.

"Hades, get away! Now!" Apollo shouts right before a loud bang.

I'm flying, I can feel the nothingness of air around me, but I can't think fast enough to try and get myself away from whatever this was. My ears are ringing, I can't work out where actually hurts and the sensation that every part of me was being ripped apart limb by limb leaves me feeling boneless.

I stop.

I don't move.

I can't move.

I'm not sure if I'm even breathing until I taste the sand and dirt in my mouth. It's damp, earthy and cold. Maybe dark, I can't tell if my eyes are open or closed or if I even have eyes. So I wait. For the light, a light, some light.

"You're alright love," Mum soothes.

"We found her!" Dad calls.

They can't be here, where ever here is.

"Apollo is coming," Jordan says quickly.

My eyes open and sand fills them. Mum gently wipes at them with something wet, humming softly as I realise she's cradling me against her. Everything hurts so much that it suddenly doesn't, the earthy smell going - replaced by fresh, salty air. Then there's that familiar tingle, a warmth from those hands of his as I feel my body putting itself back together until I can finally sit up on my own and feel, human again.

"You alright?" Apollo asks, kneeling in front of me with Dad and Jordan hovering above him.

"Did I do it, is it closed?" I cough, happily taking the water Mum passes over.

"It's completely destroyed." Jordan answers. "Hades got Odin through it just in time, so he's gone too."

"Is Hades okay?" I look around, confused for a second until I realise I'm on top the cliff now, rather than in the cove.

Standing, Dad helps me and I move to the edge to find the ocean filling the area, hiding all that happened moments before.

"Fine, I've been hit with worse." He says, standing near Mum.

"So, it's over?" I turn to face everyone and my parents' nod.

"For now, I guess?" Jordan adds helpfully.

Then it hits me. "Where's Alfie, and Annipe?"

"We don't know love, we can't find them." Mum frowns.

My heart stops.

"Odin, he, they fought well, Hunter." Hades looks away. "I don't know where they ended up. Artemis got thrown over the edge, and I was trying to defend myself."

"You're lucky the blast didn't do more damage, that was extremely dangerous!" Apollo looks me over, and before I can tell him what I think about that, he sighs. "But it was the only way to shut it down. We found you over there in that forest, who knows where those two could have gone. If I know them, they're probably hiding out in the water letting their wounds heal. Alfie will not go down that easily."

"You're right." I nod, clinging to that bit of hope. I would know if something happened to them, wouldn't I? "Where are the others?"

"Zane was urging them to get back. Once I got Art up, Hermes opened a gateway, and they all got through to the Academy before," Apollo made an explosion noise. "We had to find you."

I sit down, noticing the first glow of dawn on the horizon. The storm had passed. The ocean was calm, a soft ripple of the tide breaking at specific points before rocking against the rocks below. I felt their eyes on me, watching, their words silent but waiting. Then they were gone, and Apollo sat beside me.

Neither of us spoke, we just sat there and stared. I was waiting for some sign of my snakes, and I don't know what he was waiting for. Then again, maybe I did.

"I'm still not going with you." I finally say.

"I know." He said after a few minutes. "Did you want to talk about, this?"

Turning to him, I wondered if I should. "You saved me, twice."

"I always will. Just because you said no, doesn't mean I just, stop loving you. Things are, just, different now."

"They are, aren't they." As the sun began to rise, I smiled and lay down on the cold, grass he did too. "I saw Cain. I may have imagined it. I saw, things, last night."

"I thought I saw him too, right before the portal came down. I wouldn't want to be Odin right now." Apollo sighed. 

"Will he kill him?"

"Probably. He can't be seen as weak. Odin came to this world, without permission, with some bad intentions," he shrugged. "He would have known that coming over."

I thought of Cain, of how things are for him over there. He wanted a new start, and yet it didn't sound that way at all. "I think our friendly neighborhood Prophet may have had a lot to do with that."

"When I go back, I will find her. If she still lives." Apollo seemed to think about that for a moment. "What else did you see?"

"It doesn't matter, not really. I feel, better, now." I hesitated, taking his hand in mine as the sun found Apollo, making him glow in the light of dawn. "I thought it was over before and it wasn't. I'm okay with that though, but it would nice if this could last."

I didn't just mean, this moment of him and me, but with the world, the way things were - all of it. It was a new day, and I had a new outlook. Of course, I'd have to face my friends and family, but that was okay too. I had no idea what path I'd taken, the right or wrong one the Fates seemed so focused on, but again, that was okay too.

He rolls onto his side, looking down at me. "I'm sorry, for everything, Elise."

I kiss his knuckles and slide closer, enjoying the light while I still could. Once I let go, this, us would be truly over and I didn't know what the future held to know if it would be for the last time or there was more in store for, us.

"Don't be. And we're still friends, right?"

"I hope so, though that part may take a while to get used to," He kisses me and my heart ached for what could have been, as we part, forehead to forehead as our eyes stayed closed to avoid seeing what was next. "I'm leaving with Artemis and Hermes, they're waiting for me to say when."

"You should go, it's been a big night," I say, stray tears falling as I cling to his hand that little bit longer. He doesn't. "Apollo, I-"

"Yes?"

Our eyes meet. "Stay safe okay? I can't always be saving your ass."

"Back at you, Bunny."

And then he's gone, and it's all over.

Everything is finally, over.

_______________________

Did those flashbacks make sense? Kind of wanted her to face her past, not have a meltdown and kick its butt ready for a new and improved Elise who had faced those demons and came out stronger........ ?? Eh, well, lets move onto her latest diary entry.

I know there are a few things that have been left unanswered.

Let's see if I can answer them all or if I've forgotten some haha!!