[de victoria]

The roar of the portals spiraling into existence was enough to send a shudder of panic through Tessa's body as she and Kaden ran towards them. However, Tessa forced herself to fight it off; she needed to focus and stop Vinny before he did more harm than good.

Kaden and Tessa staggered up the hillside, towards Vinny who stood atop another small temple. Tessa risked a glance behind her, and saw that their other friends were still engaged in battle against Vinny's dark forces, and more would keep appearing if they didn't sever the bond between the portals.

"The relics sustain the portals," Tessa recited as she and Kaden wove around a tree. "If we can sever the bond between them, we should be able to stop the portals from being sustained."

"Yeah, but the only question is how?" Kaden managed. The son of Venus had a tight grip on the swords possessed, with one hand wielding his golden gladius and the other tightening around the pommel of Crocea Mars.

Tessa shook her head, brushing away the stray strands of hair falling from her intricate hairdo. After stumbling a few more times over her draping chiton, she cursed under her breath, stopping in her tracks.

"Tess, what is it?" Kaden breathed, watching her in confusion.

The daughter of Poseidon didn't respond. Instead, she brandished Tempest and slashed the ends of her billowing chiton off, until it rested comfortably above her knees. Seriously, how was she expected to fight in clothing like that?

"Come on," Tessa groused, trudging forward.

The duo continued on up the mountain side, the sounds of battle echoing through the air. The glow of the portal was like a second sun, rising above the mountain like a new dawn. However, Tessa knew just how deadly its confines could be. An army of universes could be prepared to enter their own, and that was one circumstance that Tessa couldn't allow, prophecy or otherwise.

Up on the temple, Vinny waved his hands like he was casting a spell, words of a Latin incantation reverberating over the resonation of the portal. He didn't seem to notice Kaden and Tessa, which was to their advantage, but the longer they went without attacking, the more they risked a larger one.

"I'll take care of Vinny," Tessa decided, turning to Kaden. "You handle the portals."

Kaden nodded, but naturally, worry flashed in his emerald eyes. Instead of voicing his concerns, he leant forward and pressed a fleeting kiss to Tessa's lips before shuffling through the bushes, towards the portal.

Tessa took a deep breath, tearing her gaze from her boyfriend's retreating figure. She waved Tempest around in practice as she honed her focus on the traitor surrounded by light in the center of the temple. This was a battle that had waged for months, and Vinny had stretched it across decades and centuries. However, it all would end tonight.

Tessa stalked forward, grateful that Vinny's back was to her, and felt her heartbeat pound with each step. That sleeping monster she'd long since locked away began to purr within her, sharpening her gaze, pumping a chill through her blood. She needed to be cold, vicious, venomous, anything to make sure that this traitor wouldn't hurt anyone anymore.

She was almost a yard away from him, when Vinny suddenly stopped. His hands dropped to his side, and in an instant, he turned around and slashed at Tessa with his sword.

Tessa wasn't fast enough; he was able to draw a thin swipe of blood on her forearm from his attack. However, she recovered. Tessa swung Tempest in a wide arc of bronze, making Vinny leap back.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" Vinny taunted, stalking forward.

"I've done it before," Tessa retorted. "And I'll sure as hell do it again."

Vinny smirked, and dodged another one of Tessa's advances. "That was before," He countered.

"Before what?"

"Before I became the leader of an army."

Tessa knit her eyebrows together, but ducked as Vinny swung his sword towards her head. She dropped to the ground, swinging her leg out around her and hooking Vinny's ankle with her foot. She knocked him off of his feet and quickly got to her own.

Vinny slashed at her feet, but Tessa jumped before bringing her sword back down to him. The son of Victoria rolled out of the way and stood, swinging his blade at her again.

The two continued to fight, and Tessa entered a drill that she'd done a million times over: slash, duck, stab, dodge, repeat. Fighting was clockwork to her now, and gave her enough of a rush that her overactive senses were put to ease.

Tessa kicked Vinny away, risking a glance at the portals. She was surprised to see Eli, Imogen, and Reese aiding Kaden in his endeavor; Eli was attempting to help sever the bond between the magic and the relics, while Imogen and Reese stood as sentries with their bows drawn. Their arrows fired towards the monsters now flanking the portal on either side as it grew, its light shining with the force of a thousand suns.

Tessa whirled back around and swung Tempest, and when Vinny dodged her blade, she raised her fist and joined it with his face. The traitor staggered backwards, blood gushing from his nose.

"Bitch," Vinny spat out blood, a malicious look in his sapphire eyes.

"Man, what is it with people I hate calling me that?" Tessa asked sarcastically, before kicking the son of Victoria away.

Vinny dodged again, but Tessa still had one weapon left in her arsenal. She stabbed her sword into the stone at her feet, channeling her newfound power. The earth trembled at her feet, and with a blazing fire in her eyes, Tessa stalked forward. She knocked away Vinny's weapon, grabbed the straps of his armor, and shoved him backwards against a nearby pillar.

"Destroy the portal," Tessa snarled.

Despite the blood dripping down his face, Vinny grinned wickedly. "I can't," He said. "You're too late."

Tessa felt her grip tighten on him. "What are you gaining from this, huh, Vinny? What do you need the portals and the prophecy for?"

"You'll find out," Vinny chuckled under his breath. "You'll all see."

The dam of frustration within Tessa broke, and she brought her knee up between Vinny's legs in one kick move. When he crouched down in pain, she jabbed her elbow at his head, watching as he fell to the ground and didn't move.

Tessa turned on her heel, pacing back to where Tempest sat in the rock of the temple. She yanked it out, and walked towards her friends. The monsters they had been fighting dissipated, but the portal seemed to be nearing completion.

"We can't get close enough to the relics!" Eli reported, taking a deep breath as he jogged towards Tessa. "The thing's about to blow!"

Tessa cursed under her breath, squinting to face the portal. It seemed to be three separate entities, sending beams of light and magic up towards one large mass of power and energy a few yards above them. Upon a closer look, Tessa saw that the three beams of energy radiated from each of the relics.

"That's it," Tessa mumbled, turning to her friends. "We need to destroy the relics."

"But if we do that, then we risk another World War in either era," Reese countered. The son of Apollo was already running low on arrows, but hopefully, if Tessa's plan succeeded, he'd only need one more.

Kaden shook his head. "It was all a rouse," He explained. "Vinny made it seem like these relics had been stolen from Olympus themselves, but we found them in random places that had to have been there for years. The only way to stop another war is to destroy the relics right now. That'll stop the portals."

"But how?" Imogen called over the roar of the portals.

"We need to shoot them at the same time," Tessa reasoned. "That way the portal will disappear in of its own energy all at once."

"But we only have two bows," Reese knit his eyebrows together.

Tessa's hand flew up to the arm-band that Artemis had given to her, the one that could turn into a bow at any moment. She tapped the silver band, grateful that it had remained in its dormant form through time, and within seconds she was holding a silver bow.

"Three," She smirked. "Now let's get moving."

The three archers took their stances, arrows drawn and ready. Tessa preferred fighting with a sword, but she wasn't too bad of a shot when it came to archery. She only hoped that she still had the skills needed. If this plan failed...well, there were better ways to die.

Tessa took a deep breath, and on Kaden's count, she, Reese, and Imogen fired their arrows. Their shots rang true, and hit each of the relics emanating the cosmic energy to the portals. The beams disappeared, and the portal above them slowly began to unravel.

Tessa lowered her bow, her eyes widening in disbelief. The plan had worked.

"Now what?" Eli asked, his voice now the loudest thing along the mountainside of Delphi.

"I don't know; I didn't think we'd get this far." Tessa revealed, her eyes still locked where the portal had once been.

"Tess? What's wrong?" Kaden asked.

Tessa shook her head, tearing her gaze from the night sky to her friends. "I just...I don't know, something feels off."

Imogen nodded, glancing around. "I agree," She chimed. "We should get going before we're ambushed or something."

As if on cue, another smaller portal rippled into existence a few feet away—Amelie's portal, the one that would bring them home. However, as Tessa and her friends made their way towards it, the daughter of Poseidon couldn't shake the feeling that like this entire mission, their destruction of the portal had only played right into their enemy's hands.

And maybe it was Tessa's imagination, but as she stepped through the portal, casting a single survey around the area, she thought she could see Vinny's unconscious figure move ever so slightly in the distance.

~~

Tessa really had enough of seeing portals for a lifetime. However, there was one left that she had to face when she and her friends returned from their mission through time. As Chiron had promised, they had come back on the same day, just later on in the evening. Night fell around Camp Half-Blood, and as the crickets chirped through the darkness, Tessa wondered how she'd been to where it all began, on a night much like this, only thousands of years ago.

Now, she stood atop Half-Blood Hill, where their task-force and Chiron stood. Kaden and Imogen had to return to Camp Jupiter, now that the mission was completed, but after such an escapade through time, Tessa couldn't believe that they'd run out of it.

Kaden walked away from his conversation with Chiron as the centaur turned to Imogen, a soft smile on his face as he met up with Tessa. His hands snaked around her waist, holding her to him.

"It was good to see you, Tessa," He whispered.

Tessa bit her lip; she'd been through too much in the past day—years? Ugh this was giving her a headache—to burst into tears. And yet she felt like she wanted to. She wouldn't be able to see Kaden again until that fall.

"I'll miss you," Tessa replied, searching his gemlike eyes.

Kaden smiled, running his hands through the ends of Tessa's long dark hair. "I'll miss you too." He leant down and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, and Tessa kissed back slowly, wishing that he wouldn't have to pull away so soon.

"Oy, Gray, let's get this show on the road," Imogen clapped her hands, standing outside the portal.

Kaden pulled away, groaning under his breath. Tessa fought a smile, but failed when Kaden flashed her his signature impish one. "Coming!" He called over his shoulder.

"See you this fall," Tessa said wistfully.

Kaden brushed his lips fleetingly across her forehead, and Tessa felt her heart twist. "I love you."

"I love you too," Tessa murmured.

Kaden gave her one last longing smile before turning on his heel, and alongside Imogen, he disappeared into the portal. Amelie waved her hand after a few moments, and the magic dissolved altogether. Without another word, she headed down the hill with Sophia and Chiron until Reese and Tessa were the only ones to remain on the hillside.

"I felt it too," Reese broke the silence.

Tessa glanced at the son of Apollo. "You did?"

Reese nodded. "We might have peace for now but...whatever this was all about, we'll find out soon enough. I'm just worried if we'll come out on top next time."

Tessa eyed her friend intricately, taking in his aura. Like Tessa, he'd been through a lot of traumatic experiences over the past few months, and she knew how difficult it could be to believe that they'd make it out alive next time when so many they cared for hadn't. The battles of New Rome and New Orleans had cost both sides—Greek and Roman—lots of lives, but what about a full blown war? That's what Vinny was planning, that's what the prophecy was for: a war on the horizon.

And yet Tessa rested a hand on the son of Apollo's shoulder, smiling at him reassuringly. "When the time comes, our enemies will be running like hell."

Reese cracked a weak smile at that. "They will be if you're leading the charge."

Tessa grinned, and alongside one of her best friends, headed back into camp underneath a sky full of stars.

~~

"What do you mean they got away?" A feminine voice drawled, reverberating across the cavern.

A man in shining armor fidgeted nervously, and despite his immortal glow, he seemed to tremble at the dais of the throne he stood before. "We were almost prepared to join Vindex on the other side in Delphi, but the girl and her companions got away."

Silence shook the room as forcefully as the earthquakes the general could inflict. However, she only sighed and stood from her throne. Donning her black armored jumpsuit, and the golden labyrinthine belt around her waist, the general could have resembled the Amazons that she'd so easily come to control. However, she was now the queen of something much larger, much more powerful, than a group of female warriors.

"Then let's keep an eye on our little friends," The general decided, amusement lacing her voice. She ran a hand through her hair, the dark waves bouncing with each step she took from her dais.

"M'lady, there's one more thing," The man in shimmering armor said.

"What is it?" The general snapped.

The man took a shaky breath. "It's just...well, you see—"

"Krios, you know how I hate it when you stutter and mumble," The general interjected, crossing the throne room.

Krios bit his lip. "She saw you. In the party during the Twenties."

The general poured herself a drink, raising the glass to her lips as she turned on her heel slowly. "You think I don't know this?"

"Well, she could have interrogated you."

"But she didn't."

"M'lady, I'm only concerned for you wellbeing—"

The general slammed her glass down on the platter, destroying it with her force. "I can take care of my own matters, thank you." She said, her voice deathly calm. When Krios didn't speak again, she sauntered over to the mirror alongside the wall, gazing at her reflection: dark chocolate hair, sea-green eyes, and the stature of a queen.

"Besides," The general spoke, her lips curling into a serpentine smirk. "How will little Thalassa Brennan react when she realizes that the version of herself from another universe is the leader of the army she'll have to defeat?"