When the Sun Goes Down

Chapitre 1

From the top of Olympus, Apollo sighed.

Percy was laughing with Annabeth, under one of the trees in Demeter's garden. He seemed happy, sharing his sandwich with her, his eyes sparkling with a joy that was no longer restrained, hidden.

It looked more like an illusion, a staged scene, than a real picnic. The illusion of the perfect couple.

Apollo turned away and went back to his apartments, his footsteps heavy and his heart broken. His eyes filled with tears, which he refused to let fall as he sank into his bed.

He cursed his ease of falling in love, he cursed the curse of Eros or Aphrodite had to throw him to never be happy in love. He cursed Percy Jackson, with his ocean eyes that could be both tender and violent, like waves rolling and crashing on rocks. He cursed Athena's daughter for getting what he so longed for.

He cursed himself, for his weakness and the fear that made him doubt. Maybe if he had made a gesture, or had been a little more present, insisting, then it would have been him with the Prince of the Ocean, sitting under the tree.

But it was too late.

He didn't hear the door open or close, trying to hold back the tears already wetting his blue eyes.

"Apollo..."

He jumped when he heard his sister's voice. He found himself and saw her hand on the doorknob of her bedroom door, his gaze just as sad, filled with pity for her.

"If you love him so much, why not woo him ?"

The Sun God let out a mirthless laugh, sitting up further on his bed. "He's happy, Artemis. After all the quests, the wars, the trauma he was subjected to, he is finally happy. How can I claim it when I have taken part in his suffering ? How could I look at myself in the mirror when I know half of the things he's been through is my fault, if only part of it ? "

Artemis moved closer to him and sat down on the edge of the bed. Then, like when he was a child and Apollo was having a nightmare at night, she gently stroked his hair, her heart sad for her brother.

"He's finally got his smile back," he whispered. "He laughs, and has fun. He tells jokes, bickers, and has so much zest for life... I can't take that away from him. I still prefer to observe him from afar, to bathe in his happiness, even if I am not the one who brought it to him." He looked up at her. "That's the thing he would do in my place."

Artemis felt her own tears roll down her cheeks, mourning a love that was once again denied to her twin, her little brother.

"He would be so proud of you. I am sure of it. He would be."

Not another word was said as the sister cried the tears her brother refused to let fall. They stayed like that all afternoon, bereaved with one-sided love.