Author's Note: I know everyone's going to kill me for not making an appearance sooner, and I'm really sorry, but I'll have to take things slow from here. It's going to be getting worse in terms of how busy I am soon, but I will try to update.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The tussling began, and the weapons flew about. Cronus had to admit to himself that the kids were getting better at this, and very soon perhaps they would even rival some of the best mortal fighters in his time, but that was all it could ever come to. They were mortal, after all; they would never win against him. He triumphed over all, and he wouldn't die -

Caught up in his thoughts, a stinging in his right ear grew apparent. He stumbled backwards, confusedly raising a hand and touching the spot where his ear was - or rather, where his ear had been. Snarling in anger, he brought up one blood-riddled hand and slashed violently as his ear automatically healed itself. No matter, they could never mortally wound him! He ducked the whip of the insolent Archie, then grabbed it and swung hard, causing the purple-haired boy to slam into his pathetic leader. Atlanta jumped into the fray, getting a hand-up from Herry, but Cronus was too quick for her - he yanked her foot and sent her sprawling right at Herry.

Metis had been silenced, he thought with utter glee, his foes were reduced to a mess and he was winning. He was honest-to-goodness winning. A cruel grin spread out over his face as he surveyed the damage that he had done. Neil was standing by another mortal, particularly un-special woman and holding her back as if to protect her, Theresa was crumpled in a heap by the wall, Atlanta, Archie, Herry and Jay were all on the floor, in a much worse position than Theresa, and Odie -

Where was the boy? A sudden sense of frustration started to boil within him, bubbling and bubbling till he was fit to explode. He knew what kind of damage that boy was capable before, and he had seen it before. He almost had a feeling that Odie now would help unravel all his carefully set plans, and destroy the foundation he had taken so long to build.

His eyes roved over the cavern hastily, glancing at every little corner. And then he saw the boy, holding up a tiny object and running towards Metis' cage.

"Stop!" he barked, but Odie paid no heed. Of course he didn't listen.

The Aftican American boy halted right in front of the cage. "This, Cronus, is for your long, boring speeches!"

"Why, you-!" Cronus started, but he didn't bother to finish. He was more worried about what the boy was planning to do. Surely he wasn't trying to unlock the cage? Only he had the key, which he had wanted to taunt Metis with when he was done dealing with the seven teenagers and their extra brat. It was impossible to unlock a magical cage otherwise. "You'll never open the cage if that's what you're thinking!"

"Think again," mocked the infernal boy, holding up once again that thing - it was a piece of metal? "Say hello to what we call a bobby pin!"

He shoved the makeshift key into the lock and turned and twisted valiently as Cronus looked on, half torn between bursting out into laughter and the other half thinking whether he ought to worry now.

But then all too suddenly, the lock made a strange creaking noise, and the caged bars fell down. Metis stood up slowly, devoid of tears now, as if she had cried all of them away. There was something in her gait as she rose that suggested cold cruelty and burning rage, clashing together to bring a most terrifying meld of emotions that made Cronus shake. She opened her mouth, mouthing softly words under her breath that he couldn't hear (and that chilled him all the more), finally punctuating it with a shout that could probably make his giants melt into a puddle.

And then the world fell down.

Odie's face broke into a grin as he gave Neil a thumbs-up. "I can't believe it worked!" he yelled over, oblivious to Metis as she rose. "You were right about the bobby pins!"

"Aren't I always," Neil replied rather smugly, and Lyrea nudged him a little as if to say that it was her bobby pin after all, that saved the day. He gave her a mindless shrug, but continued beaming. "Yes, yes, Lyrea, it was your bobby pin, but I thought of it. I'm such a genius!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lyrea grumbled under her breath, though she was loathe to admit that he was right. He was the one who came up with the rather not-too-brilliant plan, and it had worked like a charm. Maybe he was incredibly lucky as he claimed to be. He sure had proven himself to be a most lucky fellow since the time she had met him. "You really have an ego too big for your -"

Whatever she had been meaning to say was utterly shattered by the shout that shocked her to her toes. Metis had gotten up, and she was now striding purposefully towards Cronus, it seemed. She was even more frightful than Cronus himself, she realised as she grabbed Neil's sleeve and yanked him away just as a huge stalgamite fell from the top of the cave. It crashed into the spot where they had been standing a minute ago, and the force knocked the both of them off their feet, with Lyrea landing right on top of Neil.

She should have been shaken, and she was, but she couldn't resist jibing him. Just a little. "Well, I just saved you," she said teasingly as she got off him. "Any thanks?"

"Many thanks," Neil replied, albeit a bit sarcastically. He looked a tad miffed, and Lyrea for a moment was afraid that she had offended him. But when he cracked what she know grudgingly called a devastatingly handsome smile, she knew that her comments had just bounced right off him like they always did. She was in the midst of contemplating why she would actually call him devastatingly handsome - if only in her head - when suddenly, he grabbed her sleeve and pulled her out of harm's way.

"And I just saved you," he said just as teasingly and cheerfully as he took out his mirror and started to gaze at his reflection. "Any thanks?"

Lyrea was about to come up with a smart-mouthed reply when Herry smashed away one of the falling debris that had threatened to do them in. "Hey! Don't just stand there and talk, there are two crazy gods here!"

Just then, a infuriated roar burst from Cronus. "No! I've worked so hard for this; I am not going to let any of you undo this!"

Neil, Lyrea and Herry watched in horror as Cronus side-stepped the fuming Metis, whose hands were still flaming from substantial power, and marched on to one of the fallen heroes. He grabbed Jay's shirt, hoisting him right off the ground so that they met eye to eye. Atlanta and Archie rushed to stop him, but only got thrown back by one hand on Cronus' part.

"I will do away with you, right now," Cronus spoke in a poisonous whisper as Jay's eyes widened. "And at least I would have accomplished something."

Lyrea bent down and quickly snatched something out of her bag in a hurry. Then she tapped on Herry's shoulder and shoved the heavy thing into his hands immediately. "Quick! Do something with it!" she urged earnestly, as the scythe was coming way too close for comfort to Jay's neck. A trickle of blood had started to flow, and Jay winced. Cronus was clearly enjoying this.

Herry didn't need to be told twice. He swung his hand back in a wide arc, and with all his strength, he threw it. It flew over everyone's heads, and then it descended on Cronus, knocking him smack in the head. It was a completely horrifying sight as the chisel dug into his skull, exposing bits of bone. The blood began to pour out from his forehead. With an enraged cry, he dropped Jay unceremoniously and clutched at his pained head, the scythe also likewise slipping from his hands.

Now, even more rocks were starting to pelt down on top of them, raining down on the stony scenario. "Let's get out of here, Jay!" Archie screeched from not too far away. "This place is going to fall apart!"

The leader scrambled to his feet as quick as lightning, and so did everyone else. Herry ran over and quickly lifted Theresa, who happened to be drifting in and out of consciousness, up into his arms and all of them ran as they had never ran in their entire life. They had missed their chance of killing Cronus, they knew, but it was better than doing it at the expense of their lives. At least not for now; defeating the god could wait for another time.

Cronus clawed around futilely, the pain overwhelming him and leaving a burning trail wherever he touched. The chisel lay on the floor, forgotten; and Cronus started to shout - shout his vows of promise that he would bring the heroes down. The seven mortal teenagers that had constantly beaten him and even caused him such pain.

As he was screaming and the walls were falling down, no one noticed the shadow that stole away outside the cave, running helter-skelter for shelter as well and remaining well-hidden from the heroes. "Until another day, Cronus," it - she - muttered furiously as she slunk away.

"Run!" Atlanta yelled over the ruckus. The rocks were falling all around them, and they had to take great effort to dodge.

"We are running!" Neil shouted in return as one of his shoes scuffed a rock. "I'm damaging all my clothes as it is!" If anyone had looked closely, they would have noticed that he was, all things considered, holding Lyrea's hand in a painfully tight grasp as he manuevered clumsily back and forth from the pelting rocks.

"Neil, which is more important - your life, or your clothes?" Lyrea couldn't afford to roll her eyes; just looking away for one second could mean death. But somehow, with Neil tugging insistently at her hand and her in the most dangerous point of her life, she couldn't bring herself to feel totally scared. The exhilaration and the thrill was intensely throbbing from within her, filling her with a warm excitement that she hadn't felt in years.

Neil paused awhile to think about Lyrea's question, then answered hesitantly, "My life."

"You had to think about it?!" Lyrea screeched right back, not knowing whether she should resort to horror. Neil had just hesitated over whether his clothes or his life was more important. And she actually... liked this guy? The horror of it all.

Oh wait, had she just admitted loud and clear to herself that she liked him? Was that true? How could she actually like a narcisstic, egoistical, cowardly, strange, unorthodox...

...Loyal, cute, like-minded, deep-down-caring weirdo?

Oh, she was in, hook, line and sinker. And that was scary enough as it was.

As Lyrea shuddered visibly had anyone happened to see her, Neil was running through some other thoughts in his head, and most of them pertained to the person whose hand he was holding. Over the few hours, a warm emotion had permeated him, and it was so foreign and unidentifiable that he was almost afraid to put a name to it. He had never felt this way before, after all, and it both unsettled him and made him uncomfortable - but strangely enough, in what he could term a good way.

They were fast approaching the entrance of the cave when they witnessed its collapse. If they had listened carefully enough, they would have heard the cry of pure anger emnating from the very core of the cavern, down its narrow paths and tricky ways. But they did not, because they were mostly trying to find a way to escape and survive. They had barely stumbled out into the fresh, glorious daylight when the cave really did a full crumble. The earth shook in a most frightening fashion, and Theresa, now awake, clung on to Jay for all what's worth in the feeling of weakness that she couldn't shake off. But they managed, and none of them fell. They were so incredibly lucky - they had actually made it out alive.

"We won," Jay breathed, a geniunely wide smile breaking out on his face. He turned to his teammates, and then they all could see now, in proper light, what the worry had done to him. It had taken a toll on his features, and his eyes wore a haggard, weary look that seemed to carry ten times as many burdens than a person should actually carry. It almost made Theresa's heart break.

Archie pursued his lips in thought for a moment, then spoke up. "Who knows what Cronus has in store for us next?" he asked wryly, dusting the fresh snow of his parka.

Atlanta slipped her hand into his comfortably and smiled at him. "At least we made it through this round."

"We made it back in one piece, so we should be glad for now," Theresa agreed, a new sparkle in her eyes despite her inability to even maintain a straight posture. She then turned to Lyrea, and a rather naughty grin framed her face. "And thank you too, Lyrea, for helping us, and most importantly, helping Neil." The way she said Neil's name was so coated in sugary sweetness that Lyrea couldn't detect the slight teasing quality behind it.

"Uh, well..." she said, suddenly nervous and fidgeting. Now what could she tell a bunch of strangers? Thank them for the adventure? She snorted in her head. Yeah, a likely solution.

"Let's get back to the hotel," Odie suggested, unable to hold back a yawn. "I've had enough for two days and I need a break. A good, long nap for starters. Chains aren't a great way to get some sleep."

And so they returned to the hotel. As they disappeared into the forest, a dark blur of a shadow likewise slipped into the foliage, and meanwhile, from the rubble emerged another furious figure, who promptly vanished on the spot as well.

Author's Note: Well, one or two more chapters to go to wrap things up and tie up the loose ends. I'm sure you would like to see the Neil/Lyrea issue resolved, won't you? And also, two different people have escaped, and this is about to set off a whole new line of trouble in itself. Please do review and let me know what you think; your feedback is precious to me as my reader (: