[motu proprio]

"What?!" Tessa demanded, her heart panging in fear.

Kaden's face lacked its normal pallor. He ran his fingers through his hair, walking back to the living room with Tessa at his side. "Flynn's entered shock. We need to get back to Camp Jupiter right now."

Instantly, Tessa's mind turned to Amelie or Kaya. One of the girls could summon a portal to whisk them all back to camp...the only problem was that neither of them were here.

Imogen poked her head around the corner, her defined eyebrows drawn taut. "What's wrong?"

Tessa exhaled shakily, meeting the daughter of Cupid's gaze. "Can you call Kaya and ask her to open a portal for us?"

Imogen's jade eyes flickered with concern. "Should I be worried?"

Tessa and Kaden's silence was answer enough. The blonde girl nodded curtly, digging out her cell phone and walking out of sight.

Kaden went to rally the troops, darting from pod to pod of their friends around the first floor of Tessa's house. In the meanwhile, Tessa found herself staring out the foggy windows of her home, at the snow falling in clumps into the night. The whisper flakes no longer looked enchanting and welcoming; instead, they looked like flakes of ash falling to earth, remnants of a world now burnt to pieces.

Your fault, your fault, your fault, the voice in the back of Tessa's head whispered. Images of her life before all this flickered through her mind like flames. Herself and her mother smiling happily and laughing to the TV, burnt to ash; Kaden's warm smile turned into his shuddering sobs after Collin had been killed, surrounded by flames; Flynn's sunny personality, now dark from his endeavors, crumpled into embers.

"Tessa?" Madi's voice shook Tessa out of her reverie. The second daughter of Poseidon took one look in her sister's eyes and knew exactly what was going through her head, it seemed.

"Come on," Madi said softly, nodding towards the rest of their friends. "It'll be okay."

She didn't sound so sure.

~~

Eli, as always, was a one-man welcoming committee of panic. As soon as Tessa set foot through the portal, the son of Ahklys darted over from where he was standing. His white hair was on end, his arctic blue eyes electric with stress.

"Thank the gods!" Eli threw his head back to beseech the ceiling before returning his gaze to the people before him.

"Any updates on Flynn's condition?" Kaden asked, immediately stepping into pace with the jittery son of Ahklys. Tessa jogged to stand at the side of the two boys, their friends following in their wake.

Eli shook his head. "He's still seizing, and when he stops, his heartline goes flat."

They turned a corner, and Eli hurried ahead to the room at the end of the hall. Tessa knew she wasn't prepared to see her friend in such a state, but nothing prepared her for the sight she walked into.

True to Eli's word, Flynn was having what looked to be a shock-induced seizure. He was shaking from head to toe, and Amelie was doing her best to keep the son of Apollo on his side, tears in her eyes. Kaya was standing nearby, a frazzled look on her face as she ransacked the drawers and cabinets, in search of something that could help.

Kaden assumed authority, taking Amelie's position. "How did this start? Tell me everything."

Tessa couldn't focus on the explanation. Her eyes were glued on Flynn, on his spiking heart rate, the cold sweat on his skin.

As soon as Eli finished his elaboration, the seizure seemed to stop. Flynn fell against the sheets and pillows of his cot, his breathing ragged. His heart rate was still erratic, and apparently, Kaden deemed it too high to be natural.

"Kaya, hand me a vial and syringe from the first cabinet on the left!" Kaden commanded, jerking a free finger to the daughter of Trivia on the opposite side of the room. His co-praetor obeyed with trembling fingers, handing Kaden what he needed.

"What is that?" Tessa managed, her voice shaky. "Would medication even help him in his condition?"

"It's extract of the Physician's Cure." Kaden explained. "It'll help keep him stable until we can determine exactly how this happened." He filled a syringe with expertise, and injected Flynn with its contents.

The room held its breath as the medication entered Flynn's system, and when his heart rate went down to a healthy interval, everyone sighed in relief.

"This started around twenty minutes ago?" Tessa asked, her voice regaining its typical confidence. She glanced at Flynn, knocked out but breathing, and felt her heart twist.

Amelie nodded, stepping away from her boyfriend's unconscious side. "He said he was feeling a little funny, so we brought him to the infirmary. As soon as he sat down, he seized up."

Tessa thought back to her meeting with the General and how she had mentioned a mourning period for the death of a friend, the Flynn Hale of her universe. A flare of realization erupted in her heart.

"Kaden," Tessa spoke, snagging her boyfriend's attention. "The Medic."

The son of Venus' emerald eyes widened. "Do you think?"

"It would make sense," Tessa figured.

"One of you explain, please," Amelie beseeched, a flicker of anger in her eyes that Tessa had never seen.

"Around twenty minutes ago, Kaden and I met the General. She told us that she was observing a mourning period for the death of the Medic on her universe, who's really Flynn." Tessa explained, her words ramming into one another.

Imogen leant away from her place on the wall, jade eyes wide. "It all makes sense."

"What does?" Eli asked.

Imogen dragged a hand through her short blonde hair. "Before we knew how to defeat the alternate universe, Matthew explained to Tessa and I that the only weakness they had over there was a sickness that was picking off members of the Regiment's elite. Now, we know that that sickness has to be our overcoming the darkness within ourselves. That's the only way to defeat them, which inherently kills them off?"

"Erases them from existence is more like it," Madi muttered. "But it goes along with what happened to me."

"So, what? That doesn't explain why Flynn went into shock." Amelie countered. "If the Medic died, why is Flynn on the brink of death too?"

"It could be some sort of side effect," Ben theorized from the doorway.

"I didn't have any side effects, though," Madi glanced over at her boyfriend. "Unless you count mental distress."

"I would," Eli affirmed. "Anything that makes you feel different than how you normally do counts as a side effect, I'm assuming."

"Who so far has encountered their doppelganger?" Sophia asked.

"I have, Tessa has, Madi, Mark, Flynn," Kaden listed.

"Do we know who on the other universe is...er, no longer a threat?" Sophia continued, biting her lip.

"Madi, Flynn, and Mark," Imogen answered.

"So we can conclude that when we control our dark sides, they disappear, but we have some sort of aftereffect to deal with?" Kaya asked, her dark eyes filled with shadows as she surveyed the group.

"It's as good a theory as we're going to get right now," Kaden sighed. He put his hands behind his neck, looking down at Flynn with a look Tessa recognized. "I'll stay here with Flynn. The rest of you, get some rest. Someone find Adhara and ask how the training program is coming along. The Gods know we need it."

One by one, their friends filed out of Flynn's hospital room, footsteps echoing down the hall. Amelie was resolute in her decision to stay by Flynn's side, that much was clear, but as Tessa intercepted Kaden on his way out to get something, the daughter of Hecate could have dissolved into silent magic for as much noise as she created.

Tessa stepped out into the hall, trailing in Kaden's wake as he went to grab his medical supplies. They looked so out of place in their dressy clothing, in the mess that had become their lives, but Tessa didn't care. She reached out and grabbed Kaden's hand, tugging gently on it to make him turn around.

Kaden's emerald eyes had taken on a shattered look midst the stress and panic. "I know," He said, his voice low.

Tessa nodded, releasing her grip on Kaden's hand to reach up and cup his face. He leant into her touch like he always did, warmth incarnate. "We'll figure it out."

Empty promises, the voice taunted.

Tessa forced it into silence.

Kaden's eyes fixated on a point Tessa couldn't determine. He opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut, shaking his head. "Nothing I can say right now can take away the severity of the situation."

Tessa pursed her lips, but pressed a gentle kiss to Kaden's. "We'll figure it out," She promised. "You'll help take care of Flynn, I'll help Adhara with training, and we'll mobilize both camps."

Kaden met Tessa's gaze with concern. "I have faith in our united forces but...do you really think that'll be enough to take down the Regiment? Again?"

Tessa's lips twisted up into a faint smile. "It was the first time. Fool me once, right?"

Kaden chuckled lightly, but the darkness didn't leave his eyes. "We've just lost so much to our enemies, Tess. I won't allow them to take anymore."

"Then we won't," Tessa affirmed. "We'll take them down, side by side. Romans and Greeks alike."

Kaden smiled ever so slightly, and even a glimpse of that charming grin was enough to reassure Tessa and quell the voice in the back of her head. It was true, their enemies had taken and taken from them. But light always beat through the darkness, and the blaze of two empires would be enough to bring about a new dawn of peace.

Right?

~~

[Mark Akagi's Perspective]

In theory, Christmas Day was supposed to be celebrated with friends and family around a decorated tree, with food and gifts galore. Mark's only worry should have been how to break it to someone that he wanted the gift receipt to what they'd gotten him, or how much eggnog was too much eggnog.

But no.

Mark swiped his sword at the figures of light that blitzed him, spinning around to stab a few more. He darted atop the obstacles set up around the gymnasium, catching his breath.

"Do you feel it yet?" Adhara called from the bleachers.

"If by 'it', you mean an intense cramp in my side, then yes, I do!" Mark called back, swerving around another figure of light and flipping off the mat. He landed with poise, taking a moment to recuperate before heading back into the pulpit.

"Don't make me use these figures to stab you," Adhara retorted.

Mark grinned—and then was swept to his feet by the glowing staff of one of his opponents. Instantly, they dissolved into light, and from across the gym, Mark could hear Adhara's sigh.

"You deserved that," was all the daughter of Nemesis said as she walked onto the gymnasium floor.

Mark leapt to his feet, catching a breath. "Probably, but what matters is that I managed to annoy you."

Adhara met his gaze tiredly, turning on her heel and walking away. "Somehow, I feel as if that's not a difficult task to accomplish."

Mark fell into step beside the violet-eyed girl, glancing down at her. She seemed tense—then again, they all did nowadays—but when Adhara was tense or distracted...the world seemed to tilt off its axis. Mark figured it had something to do with her mother being the goddess of balance, but Adhara's sphere of power was only growing.

The daughter of Nemesis snatched up her clipboard, scribbling away on it while muttering in Nepali. Mark was in mid-thought of whether he could coerce Kaya or Amelie to provide some subtitles for him whenever Adhara slipped into her native language when his phone vibrated in his pocket, cutting him off. A text from Tessa, asking—more like commanding—the son of Iris to stop by HQ whenever he could.

Mark glanced at Adhara, but as always, seemed as detached from him as always. Part of him deflated, and he wanted to try and apologize for leaving her in the dark these past two months, but decided against it. He'd tried, and failed multiple times.

"I've gotta go," Mark mumbled, shouldering his gym bag. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his heart. "See you later."

No word from Adhara as he emerged from the gym, and Mark found himself thinking back to the time when Tessa had been stabbed through the heart all those months ago. He wondered if it hurt as much as his own heart did now.

~~

"You haven't apologized to her yet?" Kaden asked incredulously as he walked across the room.

"I have!" Mark exclaimed, sinking into a swivel chair. "She just won't hear you out."

"If I left Tessa in the dark for two months, she might murder me," Kaden laughed.

Mark gave the son of Venus a look. "You'd never do that, you love her too much."

"And don't you love Adhara?" Kaden countered swift as lightning, essentially smacking Mark in the face for all it was worth.

The son of Iris opened and shut his mouth like a fish, unsure of what to say. It was true, he cared for Adhara fiercely. If something were to happen to her...he was unsure of what he'd do. But love? That was a strong word.

"Oh, yeah," Kaden nodded. "You love her alright."

"Do not." Mark rebuffed.

"Do too," Kaden taunted. "I'm the son of Venus, I can sense these things."

Mark huffed a breath. "Regardless, I still don't know what to do."

Tessa stepped onto the platform, Dale in her wake. Both girls held to-go cups of coffee and files, as if they'd been at a breakfast meeting with scones and battle strategies.

"Mark Akagi, if you don't tell that girl you love her, I swear to all the gods," Dale shook her head, setting down her cup and whacking the son of Iris.

"Can we stop focusing on me?" Mark whined, recoiling away from Dale as she swooped away with her coffee.

"Gladly," Tessa smiled sarcastically, leaning against a table. "We need to talk about mobilizing our forces. Dale and I did some number crunching earlier today, didn't we Daley Dear?"

"We did, Tessa Darling," Dale called as she shut a filing cabinet with her hip. "Camp Half-Blood as roughly 150 campers, Camp Jupiter about 300. Assuming we have aid from the Hunters and Amazons, that's about 500 soldiers spread evenly throughout the country."

"We aren't sure where the Regiment will choose to strike, but given their M.O., they'll probably do a few strikes in the nation's major cities. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco are most likely givens. As for the others, we'll send a squadron of Hunters to each to make sure we can hold down any major Labyrinth entrance points, et cetera." Tessa explained.

Kaden knit his eyebrows together. "Do we know anything of the Regiment on this universe? The General said it would surface."

"She could have been trying to psych us out." Tessa theorized.

"But what if she wasn't?" Kaden asked.

"Well," Dale chimed. "We've got some hidden weapons."

With a withering feeling, Mark knew that Dale meant him, Aspen, Eli, and Lukas. However, Lukas and Aspen were off on a recon mission with Sierra and Jett, and Eli was too occupied with helping Kiara and Flynn recover to be of much use. Which just left Mark.

"You guys know that that isn't a part of my life I'm particularly fond of," Mark hedged.

"We aren't going to force you to do anything," Dale shook her head. "But if you remember anything about the Regiment, you've gotta tell us."

Mark took a breath to speak, but was cut off by the sound of a portal erupting into existence atop the platform. A cosmic wind swept through the room, knocking papers off desks and sweeping Mark's chair around the central platform.

Weapons were drawn as a figure stumbled through the portal, collapsing to the ground. His dark clothing was tattered, as if he'd just lost a fight. His hair was disheveled and dusty, but Mark could make out hints of blonde. A golden quiver was strapped across his back.

Reese Hale got to his feet, coughing as the portal closed behind him. He panted, taking in his surroundings until his sapphire gaze fell on his friends. "What, no 'Welcome Home' Party?"