[1] 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ― p.jackson ✓

017.

zoë's face relaxed. "rest. at last."

"i can try to heal the poison, my brave one."

but in that moment, somehow cadie realised it wasn't just the poison that was killing her. it was something else... atlas, she realised. the prophecy had spoken about it. zoë had known all along that the oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. and yet she'd taken the quest anyway. she had chosen to save them, and atlas's fury had broken her inside.

she saw thalia, and took her hand. "i am sorry we argued," zoë said. "we could have been sisters."

"it's my fault," thalia said, blinking hard. "you were right about luke, about heroes, men —everything."

"perhaps not all men," zoë murmured. she smiled weakly at me. "do you still have the sword, percy?" percy passed her riptide in it's pen form, "you spoke the truth, percy jackson. you are nothing like...like hercules. i am honored that you carry this sword."

"oh zoë..." muttered lilly, "i'm sorry i wasn't fast enough."

"you are plenty fast, child of hermes." zoë said quietly, her voice faint. "you have a strong heart. and i...i'm sorry for how i treated you. i was so jealous..." she laughed, but it sounded like it hurt her, "it seems so silly now."

"people make mistakes," lilly whispered, "it's okay, zoë."

"people will always make mistakes," cadie added, "but it's what you do afterwards that decides if you're a good person or not." tears slipped down her face, her hand shaky. breathe in, breathe out. she tried to say to herself, you've got this. "hey, zoë."

there was silence.

cadie almost thought she'd died without a proper goodbye.

"is that you?" zoë quietly spoke, "... delphina?"

cadie took in a deep breath. it would hurt zoë more if she said no. she remembered the conversation zoë and her had once had. she'd wanted to apologize to delphina, wanted to be at peace with the dead daughter of euterpe who'd found herself still in a cycle. she had wanted to apologize. as zoë died, cadie thought that she should at least do something for the dying huntress. if she couldn't stop her from dying, then she'd at least make her last moments something she was happy with.

"yes, zoë." she whispered, "it's me. delphina."

"at last," zoë said, a pained smile on her face. so bright and big that it made tears well up in her eyes again. zoë frowned like a child, "why are you crying? are you upset?"

"i am... happy to see you again," cadie responded, "it has been too long."

"indeed," nodded zoë. she smiled, "you look so much like her, you know? cadie." she let out a huff of air, perhaps it was meant to be a laugh as well, "she told me to call her that, you know? her real name is cadencia... she is the spitting image of you."

"i suppose she's like me too?"

"certainly." laughed zoë painfully, "stubborn, brave... reckless... i wonder if she is okay. she fell to the ground... people said she was dying."

"she's doing fine now, zoë." cadie promised her, "she'll be okay." she kept saying those words, but honestly cadie had no idea if she was okay or doing fine. "she's safe, zoë. you can... you can rest easy."

"wait," zoë said, reaching to grab cadie's hand. "delphina... i must-"

"save your strength and rest easy, zoë." she tried to say.

"i must apologize," zoë continued. "for the way you died." all around her, her friends were silent. as if giving their respects to the two of them. "that boy you loved... i should not have done what i did. i hurt you, i drove us apart. it was my doing..." a few tears slipped down the dying girls eyes, "i was the one to do that. and i could've gotten there sooner. i could have saved... i could have saved all of us. that boy-" she scrunched her face up, as if trying to remember a distant moment, "he did not find anyone else after you. you know? he waited, insistent he'd join you when he died."

she shook her head, more tears flowing, "he was so sure you would be down there. my heart feels sorrow for him... you've been born. again and again." she looked into cadie's eyes, "are you not tired of it?"

"i am," whispered cadie, "but... it's our fate."

"i am sorry this happened." zoë said finally to her, "i am sorry i was not strong enough for you. and... and i'm sorry i was selfish. tell cadie... tell her i'm proud of her." she gripped cadie's arm weakly, still under the illusion it was delphina, "tell her, will you?"

"i will," nodded cadie, more tears slipping down her face, "i will."

a shudder ran through her body. "stars," she whispered. "i can see the stars again, my lady."

a tear trickled down artemis's cheek. "yes, my brave one. they are beautiful tonight."

"stars," zoë repeated. her eyes fixed on the night sky. and she did not move again.

thalia lowered her head. annabeth gulped down a sob, and her father put his hands on her shoulders cadie let herself stare at the motionless body of zoë as lilly's eyes were wide, crying as well. percy was beside her, a comforting hand around her shoulder as the two watched artemis cup her hand above zoë's mouth and speak a few words in ancient greek.

a silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from zoë's lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. zoë's body shimmered and disappeared. artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. it flew up, sparkling, and vanished. for a moment cadie didn't see anything different.

then annabeth gasped. looking up in the sky, cadie saw that the stars were brighter now. they made a pattern she had never noticed before—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl's figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"let the world honor you, my huntress," artemis said. "live forever in the stars."

rosie speaks!

hello. so. wow. this is a short chapter
but it felt right to leave it there. and
this was extremely sad :(( lol tho.
swag bitches cry all the time <3

thoughts ??

word count: 2,329 words