I wanted to give you two chapters to make up for the time off... enjoy.

"Talos!" Zoe gasped and Aaron shuddered, he had red a lot on mystical artifacts. He knew how deadly Talos was, some lesser gods would have been repelled by the powerful Automaton. The being was the peak of Magical Construction, empowered by Hepheastus himself... even a prototype would be a deadly challenge.

"Who—who's Talos?" Percy stuttered.

"One of Hephaestus's creations," Thalia said, her fear tangible through their potent connection. "But that can't be the original. It's too small. A prototype, maybe. A defective model."

The metal giant didn't like the word defective. He moved one hand to his sword belt and drew his weapon. The sound of it coming out of its sheath was horrible, metal screeching against metal. The blade was a hundred feet long, easy. It looked rusty and dull, but I didn't figure that mattered. Getting hit with that thing would be like getting hit with a battleship.

"Someone took something," Zoe said. "Who took something?" She stared accusingly at Percy.

He shook his head. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a thief."

Aaron wanted to scream that Kronos was influecing the machine, but no one there could have heard him even if he was in present time beyond memory. It didn't matter anyway, as the giant defective Talos took one step toward them, closing half the distance and making the ground shake.

"Run!" Meggy screamed.

Great advice, except that it was hopeless. At a leisurely stroll, this thing could outdistance them easily.

They split up, the way they'd done with the Nemean Lion. Thalia drew her shield and held it up as she ran down the highway. The giant swung his sword and took out a row of power lines, which exploded in sparks and scattered across Thalia's path. Zoe's arrows whistled toward the creature's face but shattered harmlessly against the metal. Meggy started chucking random things as the thing, but even with her great strength it barely had any effect on the beast.

Bianca and Percy ended up next to each other, hiding behind a broken chariot.

"You took something," He said. "That bow."

"No!" she said, her eyes sad. "I wanted to, but Aaron's training taught me better then that." Her words brought him immense pride, her sudden shiver brought him concern. "I can sense something, powerful and cold... It's almost like Aaron's magic but... not?"

Before Percy could reply Aaron heard a massive creaking noise, and a shadow blotted out the sky.

"Move!" Percy tore down the hill, Bianca right behind him, as the giant's foot smashed a crater in the ground where they'd been hiding.

"Hey, Talos!" Meggy yelled, but the monster raised his sword, looking down at Bianca and Percy. Meggy charged, sprinting with so much speed she was an utter blur. With skill that any Demigod would be envious of, the Daughter of Aphrodite vaulted up the giant's leg and flew up with enough force that she appeared straight by Talos' half melted face. Yanking her fist back, she slammed it home, screaming as a loud crack filled the area. The Machine stumbled back, a new dent on it's face, but Meggy was no okay. Her hand and wrist were twisted, broken from hitting the powerful thing.

As Meggy fell, the Machine swung a fist at her prone form. Aaron panicked and prayed, no matter that this had already passed and he was nothing more then a spectator.

"No!" Thalia yelled. She pointed her spear, and a blue arc of lightning shot out, hitting the monster in his rusty knee, which buckled. The giant collapsed, but immediately started to rise again. It was hard to tell if it could feel anything. He raised his foot to stomp and Aaron immediately saw that his sole was treaded like the bottom of asneaker. There was a hole in his heel, like a large manhole, and there were red words painted around it. FOR MAINTENANCE ONLY.

"Crazy-idea time," Percy said.

Bianca looked at me nervously. "Anything."

Percy, who had apparently seen the hatch, told her about the maintenance hatch. "There may be a way to control the thing. Switches or something. I'm going to get inside."

Aaron gaped, wanting to scream once more. "Don't, you'll die Percy!" It was pointless though...

"How? You'll have to stand under its foot! You'll be crushed" Bianca wisely said, her voice filled with panic.

"Distract it," Percy said. "I'll just have to time it right."

Bianca's jaw tightened. "No. I'll go."

"You can't. You're new at this! You'll die."

Bianca smiled, her eyes watery. "Your more important then I am, I can feel it... your the Child of Prophecy, not me or Nico or even Thalia... watch over Nico for me. Tell him I'm sorry..."

"Bianca, no!"

But she wasn't waiting for him. She charged at the monster's left foot...

And then everything went wrong, for their plan and so much else...

Thalia had had Talos' attention for a moment, but in an instant the Machine's eyes glowed a gold that spoke of Kronos' power. It turned and swung it's blade, with speed impossible for it's massive body. Speed enchanced by Kronos's power of time. The force of it's blade slammed into Thalia, who went flying back, her body limp and ragged and bleeding as she flew into a distant pile of metal.

Aaron felt, in that instant, Thalia's lifeforce snuff out entirely and the connection allowing him to linger in Limbo shattered entirely... and the world shifted once more, only for Aaron to find himself on the shores of Hades. Tears fell down his face as he looked around, his eyes locking with a stunned Thalia.

"I am so sorry." he said, unable to express anything more to her.

She gasped, stepping back. "You too?"

"No... I... I am still alive, but you... your not, Thalia." He reached for her, pulling her in for a warm, sorrowful embrace. "How are you feeling, dumb question I know but..."

She just sighed, melting into his arms. "Better then you'd think, I mean this isn't the first time I've died. So... this is the end for me... I never found Jason after all..." She whispered, her pain clear. He looked at her confused and concerned. "Aaron... can you do me a favor? When you are saved, can you find some named Jason Grace? He's my brother, my Mother abandoned him when he was two at this Place, the Wolf House. He's a child of Zeus too... I never belived he was alive, not after so long... but... I guess I cannot help but hope."

"I'll find him, Thalia... We are bound by magic, you and I, I can tap into your essence to find him anywhere... and I will..."

She smiled and held out her hand. "Walk with me? I hate to admit it, but I'm scared."

He grabbed her hand. "Of course..." And together they walked past the River and towards the endless expanse of the Dead. Aaron, to his own shock, saw his garden almost immediately. It's radiant power filled him, it's connection to Life and the Camp and Dionysius and the Earth was so potent that it made him feel more alive despite being shrouded in purple, a ghost for all intents and purposes. "Thalia, remember when I told you how I gained my own magic, and the Garden of Dionysius?"

She nodded and turned towards the expanse of the Dead, her eyes catching the Garden immediately. "That's it? It's so... alive and beautiful, especially among the sour dour dead." She sounded pained, whistful and amazed all at once. "It's incredible how death changes things, isn't it?"

"It can be..."

They continued to walk until they made it to Cerebus, who merely sniffed at them for a moment, and the various gates. Oddly there was no massive line nor any gaurds, as per usual, allowing Thalia that ability to walk past the various gates and make her way to the pavillion where the Judges were sitting. Three black-robed figures in golden masks stared down at them both. They radiated power, the power of Hades himself though it was specific and warped, allowing them access to something necromatic though he wasn't sure what.

Aaron knew little of the way the Dead were judged, and so to his shock the judges asked Thalia no questions. However he felt their power reach out to Thalia, and her memories flowed from her mind in a steady stream, a near literal stream of energy that flowed around her. Memories flitted in and out of the stream, and with each one the judges made odd sounds from their throats.

"Died saving her friends from an Automaton awakened by Kronos' power.,'the first judge said.

"But she also was friends with the traitor, Luke Castellen." The second judge argued. 'Guilty of greed, power hungry thoughts, weakness.'

"She is young,' said the third judge. "Her life has not been easy, she even sacrificed herself to save Camp Halfblood from Lord Hades' forces."

'My friends. " Thalia asked, her voice almost broken, '

The judges regarded her, their golden masks frozen in creepy smiles. 'Your friends …" The image of their friends shimmered above the judges. They were weeping over Thalia's broken, twisted body, even Zoe.

"They are alive, but wounded by your loss..."

She sobbed in relief, gripping Aaron's hand tight. "Thank you... my death was worth it, it seems.:;

The judges tilted their heads in unison. "You were destined for great things. Your death diverted your path. See what you might have been …' Another image appeared above the judges.

Thalia as a little girl, reading to a little boy with blonde hair and a scar on his lip... Jason, Aaron realized. The image aged and he saw her running with Luke, her eyes sad and loving all at once, into an ally where they were attacked by a scared, dirty Annabeth. Her dying on Halfblood Hill, her bleeding body turning into a Pinetree, her spirit rippling with a loving sacrifice. An ageless Thalia, glowing silver, with a Liutenant's circlet on her head, radiating the power of Artemis.

"To call you anything other then a hero would be a disgrace..,. Elysium for you." Thalia's aura rippled as the magic of the Dead washed over her, her colors sharpening.

She turned to him and pulled him into a warm hug. "Thank you for walking with me...I think I can do it from here... please, remember your promise."

He returned her embrace. "Of course." And he swore it, at least personally, to fulfill her last request... and then he watched as she walked away, away from him and the Judges, onwards the Elysium... where hopefully she would find the happiness she never really seemed to have in life. Sighing, he turned to the Judges. " Any idea what I do from here?"

They sighed as one. "You cannot stay here, you are not dead... you must return to your body or Limbo..."

And like that, his world shattered once more, flying back through to the emptiness of Limbo. He lingered, waiting for salvation,... knowing he had no choice but to wait until he was saved...

Which could be days at the least...

" Can I even hold out that long? Will my body hold out... sigh... this sucks." Having nothing better to do, he floated in the emptiness, waiting to be saved, praying that he wasn't crushed by the weight of the Sky.

Wondering just when he would be saved... and how they would fight of Atlas without divine aide when he was saved. How this would be anything other then a disaster was beyond him. All he could was hope, and even that was slim.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was fun, I wanted to give you two chapters to make up for the time off...

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.