The Sky's Revenge

Chapter 6

After we got back Chaos left, that left me and amber in our living room. I glanced over at Amber and it looked like she was thinking about something, and I thought I could see the sadness in her expression as well.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked already suspecting the answer I would receive.

"My mother." She replied in a slightly sad tone.

That was the answer I had expected to hear.

I said,"You should go see her again before it's too late."

Amber replied, "I know, it's just..."

Even though she hadn't finished her sentence I knew what she would have said, I replied, "I know that she wasn't the mother you wanted her to be after your father died, but you should visit her again, and forgive her."

"Forgive her?" Amber repeated sounding slightly incredulous.

I replied, "Yes, I know that despite the fact that you aren't happy with her, you should let what she has done in the past go, and forgive her. I've lost people before, I know that if you don't and she dies you will regret not forgiving her. I'll go with you, and if you want we can tell her the truth, that way she might understand everything we did and why we did it."

"But what if she can't handle it?" Amber asked me.

"She can handle it,"I replied

"How do you know?" she asked me.

I replied, "it seems you've forgotten one of my powers as king of the gods."

She blushed as she remembered what power I was referring to. I thought about teasing her about her moment of forgetfulness but I decided against it. As king of the gods, I could tell what mortals would be able to handle the knowledge of our existence.

When I had learned of that new ability It just made me hate Zeus more since it became quite clear to me that he must have had that ability, and that he had told some of the mortals he had been with who he was whether they could handle it or not. One good example of that was Thalia and Jason's mother when she learned who he really was it had gone to her head, and when he had left she had fallen to drinking, that habit combined with her leaving Jason with Hera had lead toThalia running away and her eventual death.

Forgetting the idiot sky god for a moment I said, "I know she can handle it, think about what I said, and if you decide to go let me know and I will come with you."

After I finished that statement I wandered off leaving her to her thoughts.

I knew that if Amber didn't forgive her mother she would regret it later, but the choice is hers not mine no matter what she chose I would be there for her. part of me wanted to protect her too and keep her out of this war, but I knew that I couldn't.

As much as I wanted to protect her I knew that she had been trained, and there would be no point in arguing with her, she can be quite stubborn, beside the point that we need everyone we can get. I was flipping through the channels on Hephaestus TV when Amber walked into the room. I looked at her wondering if she had made a decision and if so what it was. She walked over to me and sat down beside me, she said, "Let's go, I've made up my mind."

I nodded and stood, we teleported to our destination. When we arrived we stood outside a mortal Hospital in Georgia. Amber had grown up in Georgia but moved to New York to attend college. After that, you already know what happened.

We went into the building, and eventually found the room where Amber's mother was. I'm not Apollo or Hades, but as soon as I saw her I knew that she didn't have much time left. At that moment she was sleeping, but she still looked quite frail, and I suspected that it wouldn't be long until Thanatos took her.

I knew that we couldn't stay very long, but I got the feeling we wouldn't have to. You might wonder how we were even able to be there in the first place since there were ancient laws that restricted our ability to interfere with mortals. Well, we were able to come partially because I had modified some of those laws, and partially because we weren't really interfering, we were just allowing Amber to see her mother one last time before she enters Hades' realm.

In order to avoid confusion we'd aged ourselves forward to the ages we would be now if we weren't immortal. It was at that moment when Amber's mother, Carol, woke up. Her hair was completely white, and it was obvious where Amber had gotten her blue eyes.

Technically Apollo or Aschelupius could probably heal her, but even if one of them did, she would just die another time some other way. she would die when the fates wanted her to, and we couldn't go against them, besides the only real way we could prevent her from dying would be if we gave her immortality,and we can't immortalize everyone.

When her mother woke up, I asked Amber if she wanted me to leave so she could talk to her mother alone. Amber told me that she wanted me to stay before saying to her mother,"Mom I'm sorry about how things have been between us ever since Dad died. I should have said this sooner, but his death was hard on both of us.

I could tell how hard it was for you and that you let yourself sink into your grief, because of that you stopped being the mother that I needed. You did what you had to, nothing more, I wasn't comfortable in that atmosphere, and I left as soon as I could. I just want you to know that I forgive you, and while things could have been better, I understand how difficult it has been for you."

As Amber spoke I did what I could to comfort her since she was having trouble maintaining her usual calm demeanor. A smile formed on Carol's face after what Amber said, but Carol hadn't yet spoken. After that, Amber contacted me mentally and asked, "Should I tell her the truth about us?"

I replied, "It's up to you if you want to tell her, do it, I know that she will be able to handle it."

After a moment's thought, Amber began telling her mother the truth about us. While she was doing that, she contacted me mentally and suggested that I go to Luke and ask him if he wanted to see his grandmother before it was too late. That would probably be a good idea since Amber had taken him to see her several times before Luke had arrived at camp.

After I returned with Luke Amber had finished her explanation. Ater that, I stayed there with my wife and son and did what I could to comfort them when eventually Carol took her last breath. I know that no matter what happens I will be there for Amber and my children, I may not have been able to be there for most of Luke's childhood, but now I'm trying to make up for it.