Apollo plunged the arrow into his chest. He actually did it.
Inside her cage, Meg screamed, tears pouring out of her eyes.
Jason was still, his eyes widened with shock. Even if they were not close, even if he didn't know or care for the sun god that much, that was his brother.
He and Meg were both shaking too hard, and they fell out of the winds and onto the ground as Medea tried to save Apollo. So she could kill him herself, of course.
Piper was in some sort of daze from her wounds; she didn't even have a clue what had just happened.
Medea looked up with a snarl. "He's dead."
Caligula turned beet red. "So? Perform your magic; I need to become the sun god!"
Medea shook her head, glaring down at the former god. "No, it's too late. The idiot's dead."
What happened next was a blur; Jason died, Piper and Meg whisked away on Tempest. Crest, the white-furred pandos, had joined Piper and Meg in mourning over Apollo and Jason.
Piper's dad found them there. He got them to call 911. Piper drove Meg and Crest back to Grover and the others.
"Welcome back, guys," Grover had said, looking at them each. Piper held the shoes in her arms, taken from the dead body of Lester. "Where's... Jason and Apollo?"
Meg opened her mouth, but only sobs came out. Piper shook her head sadly, tears still pouring down her face. Coach Hedge crumpled, as if the weight of their deaths was too much for the satyr. The dryads started shifting uncomfortably.
"What'll we do without a sun god?" they whispered amongst themselves.
No one offered any answers.
Nico woke in the middle of the night to a plummeting feeling. Someone was dead. Someone important.
He searched out. Hazel. Frank. Percy. Leo. Annabeth. Everyone, all at once. It wasn't at camp, or New York, or on the East coast. He felt sick.
Apollo and Jason. Dead.
He didn't care if it was the middle of the night, or that people were sleeping. He raced to the Apollo cabin and pounded on the door, tears in his eyes. It took a few minutes.
Will opened the door to find Nico shaking from his tears. "Let's get Chiron," he says immediately.
Soon, Nico, Will, and Chiron are sitting in the Big House.
"J- Jason and Apollo," Nico said, gulping for air. "They're d- dead."
Chiron seems to age a hundred years. Will is stunned into silence, unable to process what he has been told.
Immediately, campers are awoken. No one knows what is happening; this is something like they've never experienced before.
They're gathered around the campfire, which is burning a queasy, nervous green. As soon as Nico gives his report, still crying, the fire bursts into a devastated black.
Will, Kayla, and Austin cling together. Others are completely stunned, sure that this was all some elaborate prank. But there is no faking the utter grief in Nico, and if this was a joke, why include Jason at all?
Up on Olympus, Zeus hasn't noticed yet. He's lounging about when Hermes approaches.
"A- a message from Hades," he announces. "Apollo is dead. He is awaiting judgement."
The news spreads like wildfire; Artemis refuses the company of anyone but Thalia for weeks. At least, in it all, her lieutenant has also lost a brother.
No one can quite meet Zeus' gaze. No one stays in a room with him alone, or even in general, for too long. Everyone stays away. He doesn't care that Apollo died.
The judges are at a stalemate; Apollo, who has killed countless, and yet saved many with his healing. Apollo, who has destroyed entire cities for fun, and yet spent the last bit of his life trying to help humanity, willing or no.
Apollo stands before them for days, weeks, even, while they ponder where to put him. Finally, Hades took pity, and he goes to Elysium.
"So it's true," many say as he walks by. They mutter and whisper, and Apollo feels so, so alone. No one really cares for him here. Except Jason.
He wants to find Daphne or Hyacinthus. He wants to apologize. He wants to see them one more time. But he doesn't know where to find them. Daphne probably was reincarnated. Hyacinthus has had so much time to be reborn; he could be long gone by now. Besides, would they want to see him? He doubts it.