[fortis est veritas]

Tessa leant her chin on her hands, staring at the calendar on her desk. It was January 4th, and each time her turquoise eyes scanned the bright red 4 on the page, her stomach flipped.

Three days left. Three days to prepare. Three days to mobilize. Three days to say your prayers and hope for the best. Three days to accept your darkness.

The daughter of Poseidon huffed a sigh as she pushed away from the desk. The General's two-week mourning period was three days from ending, and while Tessa and her forces were preparing, she couldn't help but wonder if it would be enough. Each time Tessa closed her eyes, she saw the horrid images from her nightmares, the recurring bad dreams that had plagued her since their inception nearly two weeks ago.

The sound of a key turning shook Tessa out of her head, and she turned around to see Kaden pushing the door to her dorm room open. The son of Venus smiled at her in greeting, handing her one of the two cups of coffee he'd been carrying.

"I thought you could use a drink," Kaden supplied as he met Tessa halfway across the room.

Tessa plucked the cup of coffee from Kaden's grasp, leaning up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against her. The feeling of her lips on his after such a stressful few days warmed her more than any hot drink could.

"Thank you," Tessa muttered against his lips, pulling away to take a sip of her drink. She shut her eyes and sighed, savoring the taste.

"Don't mention it," Kaden chimed. "I've seen how stressed you've been and I thought I could help."

Tessa set her cup down on her desk, right over the day's date to avoid her wandering eyes from settling on it. She leant back against the desk, and Kaden took the initiative, hurrying over to stand before her, his hands running up her arms as if to soothe her worries.

"You help just by being here," Tessa smiled, snaking her arms around Kaden's neck.

"The feeling's mutual," Kaden's arms slid around Tessa's waist, pulling her closer.

Tessa sighed as she shut her eyes, leaning her head against Kaden's chest. This was safe. She could relax. Nothing could hurt her if she was in Kaden's arms and he was in hers.

"How's the legion?" Tessa asked, her eyes still shut.

She felt Kaden shrug. "Kaya and I are doing our best to mobilize. The older legionnaires are quick to fall into line, but it's the younger ones I'm worried about. I don't want to force them into battle too quickly, especially if they're newer recruits, but then again..." He sighed at a loss for words.

Tessa pulled away, finishing his sentence. "We were just kids when our lives became battlefields."

Kaden exhaled in relief. "Exactly."

Tessa smiled sympathetically, reaching one of her hands up to play with Kaden's hair. Her boyfriend leant into her touch, opening his emerald eyes to gaze into her sea-green ones.

And the moment was so simple, so genuine, Tessa wanted to freeze it and live in it forever. In that moment, she was just a girl and Kaden was just a boy, no godly parents or supernatural powers or battles to fight. Despite the scars lining their hands, their bodies, they were in one another's embrace, and that was a place that not even the most nefarious beings in any universe could invade.

"We were just kids," Tessa continued, her voice feather soft. "We were just kids when we became soldiers."

Kaden smirked. "I remember you could hardly hold a sword the right way before I showed you."

Despite Tessa's sheer will, her cheeks burned. Kaden laughed and kissed the blush away, but Tessa was lost in memory.

Tessa had been at Camp Half-Blood for two weeks and had hated every minute of it. People saw through her constantly, as if she were as ephemeral as the trident that had once blazed above her head. They saw her as a weapon, a canon about to explode, rather than a young girl who'd lost her family, her home, her life with the explanation of her father's absence.

Kaden had been Tessa's first friend all those years ago, after he'd rushed to her aid upon seeing her take a nasty fall. They'd introduced themselves, and Kaden took it upon himself to help Tessa learn how to swordfight. He'd been her first friend, her first mentor, and eventually, became her first love.

"I am more than willing to grab Tempest right now and fight it out to prove that that's changed." Tessa laughed, turning to match Kaden's gaze.

The son of Venus quirked his eyebrow. "Is that an official offer? I'll take you down, Brennan." He leant in close, millimeters of space between their faces, their lips.

Tessa smirked, hardly closing the gap as she mocked going in for a kiss, and just as his lips puckered, she spoke, "I'd like to see you try, Gray." Then, she pulled away, years of combat training helping her slip out of where he'd practically had her pinned against the desk.

However, Kaden was just as fast. His hand latched around hers, twirling her back around to face him. They stared into one another's eyes, but just as Tessa managed to get Tempest out of her pocket and into sword form, Kaden had done the same with his.

A blur of gold and bronze struck Tessa's vision as her sword and Kaden's collided. They parried, and Tessa ducked as Kaden swung his golden blade towards her. She swiped at his feet, but Kaden took it in stride, jumping up. Their swords clanged together once more, with either swordsman trying to force the other down.

Kaden quirked an eyebrow. "This brings back memories."

Tessa smirked, brandishing Tempest's tip just under Kaden's neck.

"So does this," Kaden teased.

Tessa laughed, and in her moment of distraction, Kaden took a step back and swung his golden sword up to strike Tempest down. The daughter of Poseidon recovered quickly, but ever her old mentor, Kaden knew her weaknesses.

"You're leaving your left side open," Her boyfriend noted, swinging his sword at her.

Tessa huffed, brushing the hair out of her face. "Am not!"

"Are too!"

Tessa twirled, swinging Tempest with full force. Kaden's blade met hers, and he swiped down, disarming her. Tempest clattered to the carpet below, and the end of Kaden's sword was pointed at Tessa's heart.

"Believe me now?" Kaden taunted.

Tessa tried to look unamused, as if this was as good a day she was going to have. "I suppose."

Kaden chuckled under his breath, bending down to pick up Tempest. He handed Tessa her sword back, and in flashes of light, their weapons were gone.

"I'd continue this, but I think you like having your furniture intact." Kaden laughed, motioning around the room.

Tessa smiled just as her phone chimed with a text message. Instantly, her smile melted off her face.

"What's wrong?" Kaden asked, concern lacing his voice.

Tessa couldn't speak as the video clip played, her eyes glued to the broadcast of the news that Dale had sent her. Kaden walked to her side, looking over her shoulder.

"Officials report roughly three dozen injuries from the explosion, with approximately half in critical condition. There are no confirmed casualties, but we await updates from SFPD. Stay tuned for more on this breaking story." A reporter announced on Tessa's phone. A heading of 'Disaster in San Francisco' blazed beneath the footage a bystander had captured of a level of an office building erupting into flames.

"This can't be happening," Kaden breathed. He dragged a hand through his chestnut hair in exasperation. "We have three more days until the mourning period is over."

Tessa felt her stomach twist into a knot as she stuffed her phone into her pocket. She started for the door. "Come on."

Kaden didn't need to be told twice. The couple raced out of Tessa's dorm and flew down the stairs. They bounded out of the residence hall and slowed to a stop among the other students who had been dotting the front courtyard.

On the horizon, a black plume of smoke rose from San Francisco in the distance. Even if the city was across the bay, Tessa could hear the sirens, feel the absolute shock and terror of a population on the edge of mass hysteria.

For so long, Tessa could see war on the horizon, as if the Regiment's forces had circled around the valley and were waiting to attack. It was like the walls were caving on her ever so slowly, but now, as Tessa stared at the onyx cloud of smoke rising over the city, she found herself staring down that army into the identical eyes of its leader.

With a bitter taste like blood in Tessa's mouth, she knew in that moment. Their time was up.

War was no longer coming.

It was already here.

~~

The Romans took the situation surprisingly well.

After Kaden and Tessa marched from their campus into Camp Jupiter, Kaden issued a swift command in Latin that had the legionnaires running about. Within minutes, fully armed Roman soldiers were heading off in squadrons to guard the main entrances into the valley.

The rest of their friends were centered in New Rome, checking in with Flynn and Reese after a session in Adhara's training program. While Flynn was still under the healers' supervision, Reese had had a run in with a bleacher during training and was now under his brother's medical attention.

"What are we going to tell them?" Tessa looked up at Kaden as they walked.

The praetor's jaw was set in determination, his brow furrowed in thought. He looked like one of the emperors of Ancient Rome, gazing out over his city. Only now, as the words of the Oracle echoed through Tessa's head, she hoped Kaden wouldn't end up like Nero, watching his city burn.

The duo entered New Rome's hospital, and people rushed out of their way as if they'd be trampled or pushed away. Kaden and Tessa hurried up to Flynn and Kiara's floor, to where Reese would be lounging in one of the rooms.

When the elevator doors opened, they didn't need to go any further. Imogen, Reese, Dale, Mark, and Flynn were stationed in the lobby of that floor. They all looked passive, stoic, as they watched the TV hanging above their heads: the news broadcast from San Francisco, chronicling the damage.

"This wasn't a coincidence, was it?" Flynn asked, breaking the spell of silence that had fallen over the room.

It was so strange to hear Flynn speak, given his staggering silence he'd shouldered since returning from the other universe. His outer wounds were healing, if not entirely healed, but Tessa knew that the boy she'd once known at Camp Half-Blood was shattered within.

"The General's moved up her deadline," Tessa agreed. "We're on the verge of world warfare, we have to do something."

"Like what?" Mark asked, turning to face the daughter of Poseidon. "We have no place to attack, no leads that we can follow. Aside from defending the valley, there isn't much else to do."

"There's gotta be something," Reese countered, glancing at Mark from across the room. "We know their weakness, right? We have to accept our dark sides and they're erased from existence."

Imogen pursed her lips, jade eyes still glued to the TV screen. "I doubt there's much we can do when it comes to accepting ourselves if they're already on our universe. Crossing that breach makes them real threats that only weapons can destroy."

"How do we know that Vinny didn't attack San Francisco like he was going to before?" Dale asked. "He might work for the Regiment, but we don't know for sure that there's an entire Regiment on this universe to fight."

"It couldn't be Vinny," Kaden spoke. "Jett gave me a status report of the quest yesterday. He and the others encountered Vinny in Phoenix."

"But Vinny can manipulate the breaches and portals," Reese knit his eyebrows together. "He jumps through them like hoops."

Tessa racked her brain for a plan. They'd had months and months of preparation and planning, all for a defense strategy that could end up failing. They needed to be on the offense, they needed a strike location. If the General really was on this universe, Tessa would feel it, and right now, she didn't feel a thing.

"When I encountered the General, it was a feeling I'd never felt before. It was like staring into a mirror charged with power, and it hummed through my bones." Tessa explained.

"And that helps us how?" Dale asked.

Tessa took a deep breath, shaking her head. "The Regiment hasn't breached our universe yet, at least not entirely. The General's elite, or whatever's left of it, is still in their own universe. They might have sent a small group or even one person to trigger the explosion in San Francisco, but I can guarantee that we'd be able to feel it when they crossed over."

Reese nodded his head. "Tessa's right. Our doppelgangers are abstract when they're in their own universe, but they become real as soon as they're in ours. The General hasn't broken the deadline. We still have three days."

"Three days to deal with the aftermath of an explosion and the antebellum of all this," Mark muttered under his breath.

For a moment, the room was silent. The muffled voices of the news reporters on the TV was the only noise, but it sounded like static to Tessa.

Suddenly, Flynn got to his feet, wincing as the action took its toll. "I think...I think I know someone who can help us."

He locked eyes with Kaden, whose emerald eyes shimmered with realization. "She hasn't said a word though. What makes you think she'll talk now?"

"She was arrested by the Regiment for working with Valiance, the insurgent group on their universe. She might know something about their plans." Flynn was already up and moving down the immaculate halls of the hospital.

"We'll go with Flynn," Kaden grabbed Tessa's hand and motioned for Reese to follow. "The rest of you, go check our plans in the Principia. We need a strategy and we need one now."

The group broke, with Dale, Mark, and Imogen heading to the elevator and Kaden, Reese, and Tessa darting after Flynn. They entered a reserved wing of the hospital, one that was closed off from visitors so the patients could have privacy and silence, but with a flash of Kaden's medical ID, they were allowed through.

Flynn skidded to a stop outside one of the rooms—Kiara's. However, he frowned at seeing the door opened. Then, his blue eyes caught on something inside the room and he froze.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was low, almost dangerous.

"Flynn?" Tessa called, hurrying her pace until she stood at his side. She looked into Kiara's hospital room, and tensed herself.

There, standing at Kiara's bedside, was Ariel.

"Hey, Tessa," Ariel waved sheepishly. "I swear I can explain."

Ariel was an anomaly on multiple standards, but seeing her at the bedside of a girl from another universe topped the cake for mysteries revolving around her.

"This is a restricted room," Kaden asserted. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Ariel shook her head, her eyes taking on a hard look that Tessa had only seen once before. "I can't do that."

Tessa was lost in confusion, trying to grasp for some sort of answer. She met Kiara's eyes, bright arctic irises tiredly looking into sea-green, and found that the former prisoner was watching the scene play out before her like she was forced to watch a tennis match.

At Tessa's side, Kaden stood up straighter. "If you're in this valley, you are a citizen of New Rome and therefore under my authority. Either leave this room on your own accord or face consequences under the law of Rome."

Ariel took a stance that Tessa recognized, like she was getting ready to fight. "Kiara is my friend. I came to see her."

"How could she be your friend? She's been—she's been a prisoner for months." Tessa rebuffed, her hand on Tempest.

Ariel's gaze flicked nervously from the four faces looking at her to the girl at her side. On her finger was that coiling ring, the one shaped in the odd symbol Tessa had researched months ago.

"Flynn?" Tessa asked, staring the tall girl down all the while. "Why do you recognize Ariel?"

"I saw her back there," Flynn spoke, his voice clear as day. "She's one of them."

"I am not!" Ariel's caramel eyes blazed like fire, and Tessa took a step back.

"Oh, for the love of all that is sane and holy, would you all just shut up?"

Tessa's eyes widened as she followed the source of the voice to Kiara, rolling her arctic eyes from her bed. She pushed the covers back, getting to her feet.

"If you princesses are done throwing half-assed accusations around, I could tell you what you want to know." Kiara deadpanned, as if she hadn't spent the past few months in silence.

Ariel gave her supposed "friend" a warning glance, hardly even fazed to the fact that Kiara had spoken. The dark-haired girl only held up a hand to stop her.

"It's true, Ariel isn't from this universe. She breached the portal around the start of September, escaping our universe's Regiment." Kiara explained, folding her arms. "We were a part of the insurgent group, Valiance, working to take down the Regiment."

"Then how did you both...I don't know, end up here?" Reese jerked a finger at the two girls.

Ariel and Kiara locked eyes before Ariel turned to the group. "We had no choice. There were bounties on our heads. Kiara was kidnapped after her parentage was revealed, and I was one wrong move away from being executed."

Tessa knit her eyebrows together. "Why would you be executed?"

Ariel sighed. "I was a spy for Valiance pretending to be a part of the Regiment. I worked...I worked underneath my father, one of the General's lieutenants. He suspected my betrayal, though. So I ran."

"Who's your father?" Kaden asked, an edge in his voice.

Ariel shut her eyes like she was wishing she'd never spoken at all. She wiggled the ring off her finger and tossed it into the air. In a flash of light, Tessa watched as the symbol unfolded, morphing into a brighter and larger version of it, made with flames.

Reese gasped behind Tessa, a hand on her shoulder. He recognized the full symbol.

"Hyperion," Ariel confessed, looking at the symbol in the air like it was a warrant for her death. "Titan of Light."

~~
After that, the situation was pretty much downhill from there.

Kiara and Ariel shared an interesting tale, and despite initial threats, came clean about their whereabouts and past.

Both girls had been in the other universe, serving as members of Valiance. They were both half-blood children of Titans—Kiara as the daughter of Asteria, and Ariel as the daughter of Hyperion—and therefore, possessed great bounties on their heads. True to their word, Kiara had been kidnapped upon her parentage being revealed due to her mother rejecting a place in the Regiment, and Ariel had slipped into the Regiment's ranks for information.

Ariel was a tactical spy, and retrieved plenty of intel for Valiance, but her actions weren't so discreet. Her father was on the verge of finding out the truth, so with the help of a boy named Liam, Ariel had escaped into this universe.

Kiara, however, was originally from this universe. She'd been raised in Las Vegas, and claimed to have ties to Eli Allistairs, the son of Ahklys, but once he was taken into the Regiment, Orion had shipped her across space and time to the General. Kiara had fled her captors, and stumbled upon Valiance.

"Flynn recognized me from my visits to Kiara. I was given certain honors for being the daughter of one of the General's lieutenants, so no one really cared much if I went to visit a prisoner." Ariel explained, fiddling with her ring.

"That's where you passed on the intel." Kaden realized. "With Kiara's powers, you could send whatever you found to Valiance."

Ariel nodded, running a hand through her wavy caramel hair. "I'm sorry that I barged in here. When I heard that Kiara was on this universe, I needed to see her. She's one of my closest friends."

Kiara snorted. "What would Liam think of that?"

Ariel's cheeks pinked, and with a twist of girlish intuition, Tessa realized that whoever this Liam boy must have had quite the impact on the daughter of Hyperion.

"I didn't even know the Titans had children," Reese knit his eyebrows together. "They don't on this universe."

"They probably do," Kiara countered. "With their parents condemned to Tartarus, they've probably joined the Regiment on this universe."

"The Regiment on this universe doesn't exist anymore." Kaden shook his head.

The look that Ariel and Kiara exchanged was enough to confirm Tessa's fears.

"Unless it does," Tessa breathed. "And like the General warned, it'll just come back striking with full force."

Ariel pressed her lips into a thin line. "From my knowledge, it's still pretty weak but there nonetheless."

Kiara nodded to Flynn, who was seated across the room next to his brother. "After the Medic died, the General wouldn't break her mourning period. But once that's up, she's going to breach this universe and I kid you not, all hell will break loose."

"How do we stop it? You both were in its inner workings." Tessa asked, eyes blazing with determination.

Ariel shrugged. "There isn't much of a way to tell. The Regiment never uses the same strategy, except when it comes to seizing cities."

"What's their strategy there?" Reese asked.

"You all already know part of it," Kiara nodded to the muted TV in the corner, where the news coverage of the attack continued to play. "But they'll strike the camps in order to take over. Then, Olympus."

"The General wants to denounce the gods on all universes," Kaden nodded. "She won't rest until the only thing defending Olympus is destroyed."

Tessa leant forward, resting her elbows on her knees. They had roughly 500 soldiers to place throughout the country, but aside from seizing the city, there was no way to tell how to stop them.

"We need to rally our forces at both camps, as well as Olympus." Tessa spoke. "If the General's endgame is to destroy the camps and then the gods, she'll use most of her fighting force on the camps."

"The Regiment was based in New Orleans on our universe," Flynn figured, "Maybe we can have some forces stationed around there to keep an eye on things?"

"Unless they're using the Labyrinth again," Reese frowned.

Tessa dragged a hand through her hair in exasperation. She looked at Ariel, mulling her over in her head. Somehow, it all made sense. The girl that Tessa had perceived as anxious, skittish, and shy was somehow the daughter of a primordial Titan, a successful spy and soldier on her home universe. She'd kept her secret exactly that, and when Tessa got too close to finding out the truth, risked exposure.

"Ariel, I'll need you to provide a full list of the Regiment's inner circles. I need names of lieutenants, how many strike forces they control, everything." Kaden asked the daughter of Hyperion.

Ariel nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Kiara stood from where she sat. "I'm assuming you'll want my intel on my roles within Valiance and such."

"That would be very helpful," Tessa conceded. "Thank you."

Kiara shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do." Her eyes glazed over Kaden and she smirked. "Although he would be better."

Tessa's eyes widened with rage, and she reached for Tempest. As soon as she did, Kiara burst out into laughter.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Kiara said in between breaths. "You're just as territorial over him as she is."

With a chill, Tessa realized that 'she' was the General.

"And just as deadly," Kaden drawled, draping an arm around Tessa's shoulders. "So I'd be careful if I were you. She bites."

Tessa quirked a brow at that, turning to Kaden with an amused look on her face, but Kaden only grinned. They knew each other's every thought in that moment, and with a dark glint in their eyes, smirked at one another. To Kiara and Ariel, it must have seemed like the General and her Second were back to torment them once more.

And that's when it hit Tessa.

"I know how to defeat the Regiment," She breathed, eyes wide.

Her thoughts were running into one another in that moment, she couldn't even begin to explain but she knew. The General was her from another universe, they had the same looks, thoughts. And where there were thoughts, there were strategies.

They didn't need to create a new strategy from scratch. They didn't need to play defense and hope for the best.

No, all that they needed to do was counter an attack made by Tessa Brennan, despite which universe she came from.

~~

[Alternate Universe]

Footsteps echoed in the distance of the palace to the beat of the General's heart, slow and reverent, as she sat atop her throne. Her sea-green eyes were puffy from days of crying, her voice scratchy from the screams.

Kaden had succumbed to the sickness claiming each and every one of her Elite, until it was only her, Dale, and Imogen left. Mark had died months ago, Reese about a week ago, and now Kaden. Kaden, the General's other half, her second, her love. Now gone.

And all the while, he lived on in the alternate universe, content with his Tessa.

The General clenched her fist in fury. She'd kill them all.

"General," Deimos' voice sounded, and the leader of the Regiment glared at the god of panic as he entered.

"What do you want?" The General demanded.

Deimos thrust a figure before him, his head covered in a black bag. The figure staggered to its knees as Deimos ripped the cover off his head, and deep blue eyes looked back at the General underneath a mop of midnight hair.

The General's lips twisted up into a sly smile. "Liam Caspar, so we meet again."

"Can't say I was looking forward to this," The English boy's voice was laced with venom, which only made Tessa's smile stretch.

"What's he here for?" The General glanced up at Deimos.

"Suspected of supplying an escape to Ariel Rathaway, daughter of Hyperion." Deimos sneered at Liam, shoving him even more.

"Easy with the hands," Liam snapped, and didn't even flinch as Deimos raised his hand for a strike.

"Deimos," The General spoke. "Enough."

The god of panic lowered his hand begrudgingly, stalking away from his prisoner and his commander.

The General straightened herself on her throne. "You're the son of Despoina, correct? Goddess of...?"

"Mystery," Liam huffed.

The General smiled. "Fitting."

Liam mocked a smile before following into his signature scowl.

"I have a proposal for you, child of mystery." The General mused. "I'll let you live if you complete a task for me."

"And that is?" Liam glared at the General, his cerulean eyes staring into her sea-green ones.

The General snatched the dagger out of its sheath on her thigh. The Celestial bronze blade glinted wickedly in the light as she twirled it between her fingers, eyeing the tip.

"Go to the other universe," She continued. "And kill Ariel Rathaway."