Written by: Awesomeelsa and Rick Riordan

I led Beckendorf to the bowels of the ship, to a metal latch. I mouthed the words 'engine room'.

It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bold. He was a child of Hephaestus. It shouldn't have amazed me.

Inside, turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. A telkhine was manning a control panel of some sort, but he was so interested in his work that he didn't notice us.

I tossed Beckendorf a jar of Greek fire and we made our way through the engine room. He then proceeded to throw me duct tape.

We ran around strapping the jars on anything and everything, slicing down monsters when we had to.

"We're taking to long." He told me, pointing to his watch which he told me was our remote controlled detonator. "Ten more minutes, at least."

There were footsteps heading in our direction. Forget ten minutes, we had about ten seconds.

"I'll distract them." I said. He wished me good luck. I ran out the door.

~

I cut down a group of telkhines with my blade faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing, passing a stray telkhine. I let him live. My plan was to get the alarm raised so the monsters would follow me rather than get to the engine room.

I kept running as I made it to deck six.

"There!" A voice shouted from a balcony above. "Intruder!"

If I'd wanted to create a distraction, it had worked. But I was in the centre of the ship. I didn't want to fight where they could easily corner me.

Monsters and demigods everywhere pointed their weapons at me and advanced. I didn't care - as long as I got them away from the engine room and gave Beckendorf more time.

I ran up the stairs, and a kid no older than twelve came barrelling down to meet me. He reminded me of Percy, in all aspects except his eyes and his voice. He drew his sword and shouted "Kronos!"

No way was I going to hurt him. I hit my blade against his with so much force it clattered to the ground. I was probably jeopardizing the mission by doing this but I didn't care.

"If you want to live," I told him. "Get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." I pushed him down the stairs and kept climbing up.

The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted. A little farther and I could make it to the helipad. That's where Beckendorf and I said we'd meet.

We'd jump into the sea. My water powers would protect us both and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.

I was half way there when a voice said "You're late, Tera."

Luke stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans and a white shirt, and flip flops like he was a normal kid, but his eyes told the truth. They were gold. He was Kronos.

I was wasting time, now. Standing here. I couldn't see the helipad from here, I couldn't see if Beckendorf was there or not.

"Kronos." I said. "I am here to prove my loyalty to camp half blood, even though I am loyal to you."

"You cut down my army, and tell my demigods to flee."

"Part of the act!" My face felt hot. My argument wasn't holding. He just stared at me.

"How long have you known?" I gave up.

"Since the campers attacked you." His eyes flickered for a moment, back to Luke's eyes. I thought maybe it was him talking now. Maybe it was actually Luke.

I had to remind myself that Luke was gone. This was Kronos.

"Come. Bow before me." His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful - the voice of the Titan lord Kronos.

"Yeah, that'll happen." I muttered.

I saw monsters of all kinds flank in around us, as if they'd been waiting for their cue. A trap. They knew I was coming, they knew what we were doing.

I looked back up at Luke - at Kronos, and anger bubbled inside of me. Had Selina suggested I come here at his request, so that he could kill me?

I decided that this wasn't the battle I wanted to die in. I wanted to die in the war as I fought alongside the demigods at Camp Half Blood.

Maybe, as I'd thought before, I could kill Kronos now. I could end the war before it started.

I'd have to try something before the bombs were detonated, because Selina had told me that he had an escape plan ready. It was stupid coming here at all. I should've told Beckendorf we were doomed.

A smile played on Kronos's lips. A tremor ran through me. He was amused. "Come, then. Fight." Had he been reading my mind?

I clutched the sword tighter in my hand and walked up the steps. The monsters watched intently.

"You're restrained in a human's body," I told him. "Are you sure you can fight in that?"

"We can fight." Kronos agreed. A scythe appeared in his hand. The weapon radiated fear.

The battle started.

I was never a good swordsman. I'd never had the proper training. I simply had a very sharp object in my hand, and I swung it to the best of my ability.

But Luke had been excellent at the craft; Kronos had the upper hand.

He blocked me easily, and would've bashed my head in twice had I not ducked in time. I stabbed, he parried. The sound of metal on metal made me clench my teeth.

He was too good. His powers slowed time down and I felt like I was moving through maple syrup. I tried to get him in the hand so he'd drop his weapon, but he slashed the scythe in an arch so fast that I didn't have time to change my sequence and defend the blow. He caught me in the arm. I fell to my knees.

Time went normal.

"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus."

"The ship won't get to Manhattan." I tried to sound brave. My voice failed me. I felt like I was losing a lot more than just blood from where the scythe had caught me.

"Banking on your friend with the explosives?" Kronos asked. "I already know about that, remember?"

Kronos clapped his hands as dots flew around my vision. I wondered, vaguely, if the scythe had been dipped in poison.

Two eight-foot-tall men came in, hauling an African-American in their large arms.

"Beckendorf!" I cried.

His cloths were torn, he was bruised badly, but he managed to lift his head and look up at me.

"Found him, my lord." A boy reported, standing beside the giants. "He was about to go into the engine room. He still had the bombs on him, nothing has been planted."

I understood what Beckendorf had done. He'd heard people coming and quickly made it look like he'd never actually been in the engine room; he must've had extra jars of Greek fire in his backpack. Kronos nodded. I wondered if we'd actually fooled him.

"Did you send someone to check the engine room?" Kronos questioned.

The boy - Nakamura - shuffled uncomfortably. "All the charges are with him, lord. He could not have placed any."

My eyes locked with Beckendorf again. He pointed to his watch, as shallowly as he could.

They hadn't taken it.

We could still blow up the ship, yet.

Buy the story! I pleaded.

"Bring forth his bag." Kronos ordered.

Nakamura ran to oblige. Kronos opened the bag, turned it upside-down and shook it.

Monsters screamed. If there had actually been jars of Greek fire in there, like I had previously hoped, we would all have blown up. Instead, jars of peaches fell out of the bag.

Nakamura turned pale. I could see Kronos was trying to hold in his anger.

"GO CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM!" He screamed. Nakamura fled.

Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long?

He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle.

Zero.

There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.

"Apologies for my incompetent help, Otrera Hanji. But no matter. We have you now. We should have never let you go."

The wound in my arm was making it hard to think.

"Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."

I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.

Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go.

I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him here.

The second giant holding him was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly - toward the watch on his right wrist.

I wanted to scream at him, NO!

A monster said, "What is he doing? What is he doing?"

Beckendorf closed his eyes and brought his hand to his wrist.

I had no choice. I threw my sword at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it had stunned him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship-toward the water a hundred feet below.

I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away -a hundred yards, two hundred yards.

Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.

Beckendorf, I thought. Then I blacked out.

~

I was on the wrap-around porch of the Big House. Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse, Chiron, and Grover all sat around me.

My arm and leg wounds had healed - just being in the ocean can do that for me, given enough time- but I still felt like I'd been trampled by a giant soccer team in cleats.

"We found you last night," Annabeth said, "floating through the water."

"The Princess Andromeda?"

"Went Ka-Boom." Percy confirmed.

"Beckendorf was still on the ship. Did you find...?"

Percy's face darkened. "No sign of him. I'm sorry, Tera."

He had a girlfriend, lots of friends, his whole life ahead of him.

He couldn't be gone.

I almost hoped he had somehow made it off the ship, too. Maybe first reality me could've believed it. Now? I knew he couldn't survive the fall into the water. Even if he did, he'd sink and drown. He couldn't have distanced himself far enough from the blast.

Beckendorf was dead. He'd given his life to attempt to end this war before it happened. I hoped we had caught Kronos off guard. I hoped he didn't have time to use that escape plan. I hope he had died, too.

Because I'd just abandoned Beckendorf.

Chiron stroked his beard. "Tera, Beckendorf chose a heroic death. You bear no blame for that. Kronos's army will be in disarray. Many were destroyed."

"But we didn't kill him, did we?"

As I said it out loud, I knew it was a naive hope. We might blow up his ship and disintegrate his monsters, but a Titan lord wouldn't be so easy to kill.

"No," Chiron agreed. "But you've bought our side some time."

"There were demigods on that ship," I said, thinking of the kid I'd seen in the stairwell.

Chiron put his hand on my shoulder. "Tera, there were only a few demigod warriors aboard that ship, and they all chose to battle for Kronos. They chose their path."

"They were brainwashed!" I shouted. "Now Kronos is still alive, and that's suppose to make me feel better?"

My anger crumpled when I thought of how hard it must've hit Selina. I closed my eyes, and pushed myself back against the chair.

~

That afternoon we had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say our good-byes.

Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail.

I didn't see how it could possibly melt, but the Fates must've been helping out. The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke, which rose into the sky.

I hoped Beckendorf's spirit would end up in Elysium.

Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in three different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest, which was like the Underworld's ultimate party headquarters.

If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did.

Most people left, then. Returning to sword practice an archery; getting ready for the looming battle, now happening in two days.

I stayed behind and stared at the dying fire.

Silena sat nearby crying, while Clarisse and her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, tried to comfort her.

I got up my courage, and walked over to her.

"I'm really sorry." I said. Clarisse glared at me. Her boyfriend wouldn't even look in my direction.

"Silena, you know Beckendorf carried your picture. He looked at it right before we went into battle. You meant a lot to him. You made his last year the best of his life."

Silena sobbed.

Clarisse seemed annoyed. "Good work," she muttered.

"No," Selina insisted. "It's okay. I'm going to go."

"Want company?" Clarisse asked. Selina shook her head and ran away.

"She's tougher than she looks." Clarisse promised me. "She'll be okay."

I knew it was true. She was stronger than the whole Aphrodite cabin combined. But I still felt guilty.

Clarisse trudged off with Chris on her heels. I sat and watched as the last bit of smoke from Beckendorf's fire curled into the sky.

And so, my readers, it begins.

This chapter is dedicated to @Kuro_Cat_1110 for being one of my most supporting readers. Thank you, it means a lot.

-Awesomeelsa