Uniting As The Ten- Part Two Of The Conclusion To The United Series

Chapter Eighteen

Max's POV:

"If you leave earth alone...I'll come with you."

Setràkus Ra freezes in place, his hand still on my shoulder. "What?"

I turn around to face him. "If you leave earth alone, I'll come with you." I repeat. "I'll live on the Mariot with you. And I'll..." I trail off, examining my next words carefully.

"I'll become your daughter."

Jason's POV:

Nico arrived awhile ago. He said that Setràkus Ra, confirmed to be alive again, let him go. We were all shocked at that. Setràkus Ra just let him go? Unscratched? It's unheard of until now.

I lie down on a random bed in the penthouse. It's dark outside and I can't seem to fall asleep. Until dreams decide to plague my life again.

I'm outside in Chicago. The John Hancock looms over me, and in front of me is Max. But...okay.

Her curly red hair is loosely braided down one shoulder, which is odd because Max never bothers to style her hair. She either keeps it down or in a ponytail. Apparently, she went back to wearing all black. She wears a black tank top with thick sleeves- even odder that she's even wearing a tank top at all- black jeans, and black leather combat boots. But what really shocks me is her arms.

From her shoulders down to her wrists, the outer part of both her arms are tattooed with circular symbols I don't recognize- definitely not the Garde's symbol- and one smaller tattoo of her symbol- the second Garde's symbol-  on the right side of her upper chest. Max? With tattoos? This is actually one of the weirdest things I've seen since the Mog war started, and I've seen a lot of weird things.

Max looks towards Lake Michigan, her right hand on the hilt of her Voron sword in a dark brown leather sheath around her waist. Her hair looks like fire in the sunlight and the freckles on her face seem to be lighter. Her bright green eyes sparkle and shine like emeralds, though they have a determined and a pretty scary look in them. I won't lie, I can see what Leo sees in her; she's absolutely beautiful. She looks like a million golden drachmas, and she has a pretty dam good figure.

Which I should not be focusing on right now.

The dream shifts. Now, Max and I are in what looks like a Mogadorian skimmer. The walls and ceiling, though, aren't white anymore. They're a soft caramel color and the floor is a light wood. I also notice drawings all over the walls- the symbols tattooed on Max's arms. And we're in a bedroom. In the top left corner there's a huge black bed and next to that a small nightstand with a big, leather-bound book on it. Near the top right corner, a black wood drawer stands empty except for a few pencils on it with a mirror. Max paces around the room, biting her nail nervously. I didn't even know she did that.

She has a concentrated look on her face. She's still wearing the loose braid and black outfit from before with the tattoos, and I notice that there are pencil markings on her hands and fingers. She's the one who drew all over the walls. I hope she doesn't do that at the penthouse in Chicago, or Nine will be peeved.

The door to the bedroom is opened and the one and only Octavian steps inside the room, holding a gray tray with bread, cheese and a water bottle on it. He steps towards Max and holds the tray out to her.

"Thought you'd be hungry." He tells her and his voice isn't nearly as cold or cocky as it usually is towards her.

Max glares up at him and with surprising speed, grabs the tray and throws it across the room. It smashes onto the wall and the contents scatter across the ground.

Octavian sighs in annoyance and looks back down at Max, whose jaw is clenched tightly.

"If we want this to work, you know we have to get used to each other whether we like it or not." Octavian tells her. Max shakes her head and glares at him again.

"Get used to each other, not like each other." She replies bitterly.

Octavian opens his mouth to speak again when another figure enters the room. I nearly flip when Setràkus Ra walks in. I look back to Max, expecting to see her expression colder and her glare sharper, but it's the exact opposite. Most of the coldness on her face has faded and she looks almost solemn. Why isn't she attacking them? Or trying to escape? What did Octavian mean by 'if we want this to work'? What exactly does he want to work?

"Max." Setràkus Ra calls to her, then steps aside for Max to exit the bedroom. She hesitates, but she walks out, Setràkus Ra and Octavian following closely behind.

The dream shifts once again to Max and Setràkus Ra in a small white room around a white table. Max is sitting down in one of the metal chairs and Setràkus Ra is leaning over the table, a pen and a small stack of papers in his hand. He's writing in a few places on the paper, leaving other spaces open. When he's done, he hands the papers and pen to Max. She has an anxious, slightly scared look on her face. She takes the pen from Setràkus Ra and hesitantly starts signing in the blank spaces on the papers. Once she's done, she hands Setràkus Ra the papers and pen back with shaky hands.

"Good job. I'm proud of you." Setràkus Ra tells her, softly petting her curls. Max slightly shrinks away from him, biting her lip. I so badly want to slap him away from her. "Daughter."

I'm sorry, what the Pluto did he just call her?

"It's what'll happen if he agrees." A soft, female voice says from next to me. I nearly jump up and turn around and Max is standing next to me. The real Max. But oh my gods.

Her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and blue jeans are tattered and torn and blood is in every single place. She's covered in scars everywhere I can see and her hair is back down. She glances up at me and back to her future self and Setràkus Ra. The dream is now frozen in Setràkus Ra staring proudly down at Max as she stares anxiously at the stack of papers she signed.

"Agree with what? What's going on?" I ask her. She bites her lip and fiddles with the hem of her tattered t-shirt.

"Setràkus Ra and thousands of other Mogs- whether they win or lose the war- are going to live on this ship- the 'Mariot'. He wants me to-" She trails off, staring down at the frozen her and Setràkus Ra. I look at her and place my hand on her shoulder and my hand doesn't go right through her. She glances at my hand and back up to me.

"What is it?" I ask her. She hesitates, looking back at the frozen dream. She glances down at the papers and inhales sharply.

"He wants me to live with them." She continues, looking at me with a slightly scared expression. She looks worried. "He wants me to become his daughter."

-INSIGHT-

A lot of people seem to be hating the idea that Max is labeled as beautiful, but I only made her that way because of her origins. The Greek gods and goddesses are all labeled as beautiful for handsome, and Lorics are probably canonly naturally the same as shown by the Loric Garde; One, Six, and Marina are all labeled as beautiful and Ella as adorable, and Three/Hannu, John, Eight, and Nine are all labeled as cute or even hot in some cases, so I guess I kind of just thought that Max would be naturally beautiful with both Greek and Loric origins. Sorry to anyone who disagrees with this, you can scream at me in the comments.