The Horsemen

The Horsemen One-Shot: Death

"Have I served thee well?" Zoe asked her patron and closest friend.

"Yes Zoe," Artemis replied, her voice shaky.

"Percy," said Zoe. "Thee holds my sword. Thee are the only one who I'll allow to keep it. Thee is a true hero."

"B-But, I don't want to have it," young Percy said. "I-I'm not Hercules."

"No you are not."

Artemis turned around and saw a tall, bone thin man wearing a tattered robe and a scythe in hand with a ring on one of his fingers that has a black stone with a triangle, a circle and a single line running through it standing beside a pillar.

"Who-Who are you?" Artemis asked her breath shaky.

"Hello Zoe."

Seeing the man's familiar sea green eyes, without the usual mirth, and replaced with extreme sadness underneath the hood, the dying girl said, "P-Percy?"

The man then changed his appearance to that of a healthy 18 year old with untameable hair and sea green eyes, but wearing a black suit and the ring still on his finger.

"Close, Zoe, but no. I am the debt that all men pay."

"Death."

The man turned to Annabeth and said, "That is right Ms. Chase. But I am not Thanatos. Instead I am Death. The Horseman that Rides with his siblings War, Famine, and Pestilence when the end of all worlds is here."

Death turned his attention back to Zoe and said, "I am sorry Zoe, for not being able to save you."

"I-It i-is my fate," Zoe said as she coughed up blood. "Thy is the only male I will ever respect."

"You have a choice, Zoe," Death said. "Either you go to the stars, Elysium, or you can go to the true God. You can go to Heaven, but only if you forgive those who have harmed you, only if you accept that there is only one true king."

"A-Are m-my s-sisters t-there t-to?" Zoe asked.

"Some are in Elysium," Death replied. "But the ones who believe are there."

"Stop," three voices said.

"Leave," Death commanded. "You cannot stop me from doing my job, Fates, no one but the Lord can."

"She must not go to..."

"You have no right to dictate where one goes for their afterlife," interrupted Death calmly. "What is your choice child?"

"I-I choose..."

Death stopped her though and said, "I understand, Zoe, but if you ever want to go the true afterlife, just speak my name and I shall appear."

Zoe nodded as she took her last breath and Death sighed as he sat down on a rock and said to Artemis, "You take Thalia to Olympus. I want to talk to these two alone."

He pointed to young Percy and Annabeth.

"You will do no such thing," Thalia growled at Death who smirked and said, "If it were my world, you'd be calling me 'Lord' and hanging around your mate: Nico di Angelo the Son of Hades."

"W-What?" Thalia asked, her eyes wide. "What are you talking about?"

"I cannot say," Death replied. "For my father would not want me to. Now then, please, Lady Artemis, go and inform your father of what has happened here. Meanwhile, I'll be speaking with Percy and Annabeth."

"Very well," Artemis replied. "But I swear that if you harm her, you won't escape my wrath. Understood?"

Death, seemingly amused, said, "I would never hurt my younger self, Arte, but if Annabeth was alone, I'd probably send her soul straight to the fiery pits of hell. But alas, I cannot, for it is not her time to die."