Chapter Twenty-one: Death

Zoё's POV

"Aion!" She screamed. "Aion!"

Zoë ran toward the sight of her husband, a figure in black accompanied by almost half of Gaea's army that had not fallen prey to a celestial bronze edge.

The ground beneath her started to shake then, slowing Zoë down, as if Gaea was doing everything in her power to keep Zoë away from Aion. The source of the earthquake grew more powerful. Zoë knelt down to keep herself from losing her balance. Maybe she could get his attention.

"Aion!" she yelled his name again. He didn't acknowledge her. Zoë grounded her jaw. Had he not heard her? She tried once more, this time as loud as she could go. "Aion!"

The same result. Zoë was determined to get to her husband. She pressed on, dodging multifarious pitfalls and areas Gaea had obviously set. Aion's form appeared to be caught in the center of the earth-whirlpool. He lunged toward the circle of tightly wound monsters, latching onto a pair of dracaena. They didn't seem too satisfied with that, hissing at him and shaking him off. He kept his hold on them stable and hard, even when he began tumbling toward what could have been his death, soldier of Chaos or not.

Zoë was desperate. She sprinted now, trying to push her way through the monsters. She hoped it wasn't true; with all her heart, it couldn't be.

But clawing hopelessly at the wall of monsters, she knew it. And she was too late. He was gone.

Tears sprouted from her eyes and the monsters suddenly drew back, as if slammed by an invisible brick wall. Zoё took her chance and slipped through. A vortex filled of bright energy appeared- a portal- and out stepped the Creator of All, Lord Chaos.

"Lord Chaos. My husband, he's-"

Similar to Aion, Chaos didn't acknowledge her either; what was probably a first for him. He didn't need to be informed on what happened; he already knew well enough. He knelt at the hole Zoë had last seen her husband, reaching his hand through. Then his elbow. Then his arm. He was on the edge of falling in.

Zoë could only stand and watch as the scene played out in front of her. Lord Chaos then rose to his feet, carrying with him an unconscious Aion, covered with grime.

Zoë surged forward as Chaos placed him on the grass, away from the hole. Chaos turned to the gaping monsters. "Begone," he snapped with a ferocity Zoë had never heard him use before. "The war is over." The monsters scattered.

Zoё sank down next to her husband and pushed away unruly strands of hair from his face. She put an ear to his chest, trying to listen for a heartbeat. Any minuscule little drumming noise...

"No." Tears welled up all over.

She pressed harder. "No, no."

No breaths.

No heartbeat.

No voice.

No life.

Empty.

"No."

Zoë shook his shoulders. "Aion. No. Y-you can't."

Her husband lay unmoving.

Zoë wiped the tears from her eyes. "Me. Your daughter... No."

She looked up at Chaos, who stood watching his soldier with a grim expression. "Can't you...?"

He answered in a shaky voice. "Temporarily." Chaos put a hand on Aion's chest. It glowed bright and his still chest was suddenly moving; up, down, up, down. Breathing.

His breaths were shallow at first, growing deeper and deeper. Slower. He was sleeping.

Then they quickened. Each second they sped up. Zoë thought he was running away from something- someone. Gaea perhaps, or Ouranos. He was scared.

His fists clenched and his eyes snapped open. A sickly green color, one all too similar to when he carried the Sky, when she reached him back at Ouranos's castle.

Her husband- her dead husband- was alive again. "Aion?" she asked cautiously.

His eyes didn't focus to the sound of her voice. They stayed fixed on an invisible point, up at the sky above them. "Zoë," he croaked out.

"I'm here," she whispered.

"I am sorry..."

"No. No, you don't have to be."

He grimaced. "I am. I really am. For what it's worth, I am." He suddenly turned his head, coughing up a feeble, crimson liquid. Zoë recognized it immediately: blood. Aion rested his head back on the grass with a well deserved sigh.

"Artemis," he said. "Our daughter."

Zoë didn't know how to tell him. She had searched for her, asked around... Her daughter couldn't have just disappeared. She opened her mouth to speak but a voice that didn't belong to her sounded.

"Mom, dad."

Artemis wore new assassin's clothes. Her hair was matted and sweaty but Zoë didn't ask why. She knew. Her daughter had helped defend the borders. She had tears in her eyes at the sight of Aion's condition.

"D-dad..." She looked at Zoë for confirmation who raised her head a fraction of a degree. Yes.

"W-who?"

"Gaea," Aion said, his voice raw. He winced at a pain, putting his hand over his chest. A broken rib. "Do one last thing for me, Artemis?"

Artemis's voice was now stronger, not so weak. "Anything, dad."

Aion grimaced again. "Join the Ten. They could-" a cough, "-use you."

The words took a long time to register but eventually she smiled. "Of course," she whispered.

"Luke?" he squinted against the harsh sun. Luke's silhouette nodded. How had Luke the power to rise from his bed at the infirmary when he had donated it to her, so she could find her family? Lord Chaos; it had to be. "There's a possible position I believe is empty," Aion said. "It's yours, that is, if you accept."

"I accept."

"Commander Luke," Aion mused quietly, "nice ring to it."

Zoë refused to tell her husband that now the Ten would be called the Nine, with only nine members present. It would break Lord Chaos's years-long tradition, but she didn't care. Not when her husband was dying and giving Luke the Commander slot.

Luke's voice cracked from emotion. "Look at you," he told his friend. "Making jokes even on your deathbed."

Aion stayed silent. Zoë almost thought he met his demise. He launched himself into a series of coughs, each equally worse than the last. After what seemed like forever, he nodded at the stars, as if telling them it was okay.

"It's fine... I-I was afraid of death. I didn't want to die a nothing. But now... I'm sorry I killed the millions."

Born a nobody long ago he could pass as a primordial now. How much he had changed over the decades.

"And I'm sorry, Annabeth Chase. I loved you, but I ran. I found my own family then.

"Poseidon, dad, I forgive you. I'm sorry I blamed you all these years.

"And my Lord Chaos. Thank... Thank you. For everything."

Aion took a final, steady breath.

He glowed an aura of sea green that matched all oceans. He exhaled the pouch of air. And he didn't breathe again.

Zoё was faintly aware of the audience that had gathered around them. Some demigods were staring with gaping expressions, unable to register that Aion passed into the next life. Others had tears- actual tears- in their eyes. Annabeth, Zoё noticed, was one of those people. Perhaps she had a reason; it was Zoë and Aion that saved her back at Ouranos's palace. Everyone was still, silent. No one knew what to do. Chaos's grim voice rose above even the whispers of Camp Half-Blood:

"Rise to the ancient stars of our infinite universe,

Be their leader; their flame

For you are Chaos's Assassin

Protector of the Innocent

Your essence will live on

Once and for all

Eternity.

Perseus Jackson,

Savior of Olympus

Υἱός to Sally Jackson

And Poseidon, god of the Seas."