The Battle of Olympus | III

5. *Cue Ukulele Music and Elvis Presley's Singing*

So this is more a filler-chapter than anything and I honestly wrote it because I wanted some Eden-Apollo fluff. It's just relationship building so to everybody who likes the relationship and is okay with a chapter not really forwarding the plot, here you go. If you like plot-intense stuff... well, sorry to disappoint. Oops.

Also if you know which song is referenced in the title it's a good song to listen to while reading this chapter. Btw it's can't help falling in love with you. If you couldn't guess.

:)

"Eden."

I looked up as Apollo slid into the seat across from me. At the sight of him, though, I just sighed and looked back down at the watered-down latte I had gotten, having just stared at it so long the ice cubes melted.

"Sorry," I muttered. "I didn't have any cash so I put it on your tab. I'll pay you back."

"I don't care about that." He reached over and placed a hand over mine. Usually, I would've recoiled at the touch, but this was Apollo. I had been through hell and back with him... literally. "Eden, you can't seriously mean what you said. You can't take on Claudius by yourself."

"You call him Claudius," I murmured, half to myself, a little too lost to listen to him clearly, "even though he's not of the gens Claudii." I laughed a little, though it was hollow. "I called him that because it separated me from him. It made it feel like he was some stranger that I had justification to hate. But maybe I should stop running away. Maybe I should call him by the actual family he came from—Galerius. He was my blood, and even pretending he's a Claudii isn't going to change anything."

"Blood doesn't mean anything. Look at my family. My father fought in a war against my grandfather. The Giants were my relatives too. Family isn't determined by blood, but by choice. Claudius was never your family."

"Gaius Galerius Claudius Magnus. Can you imagine that? My grandparents had been rich and powerful enough to name their child that, without the Claudii being brave enough to challenge them, and Claudius had been arrogant enough to rename himself Magnus after he had defeated Spartacus." Without thinking, my hand curled around his. "I don't want to face him. I can't. He killed... he killed my mother and my sister and my brother and I hate him."

My voice broke.

Apollo frowned. "I know. And I'm sorry I can't... the primordials are shielding him from my sight. But I won't let you face him alone. I promise."

"Apollo." My voice was small, tired, defeated. "For the first time in my life, I don't want to... I don't want to deal with war. But we're going to have to, aren't we?"

He didn't answer, but he didn't need to.

"What did the council decide?"

"Father doesn't think we should focus on Paris and instead figure out where Claudius is. Hera was right—I know he's stressed, and I shouldn't have lost my temper, but he..." His grip tightened on my hand. "He made a mistake in changing history. I don't blame him for it. Everybody makes mistakes, especially us—when you've lived millennia, you make a lot of them. But his panic blinds him from reason, and I hate how he's abandoned even Athena and I's council when he's always relied on it before."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he admitted quietly. "I hate rebelling against him. I usually listen to what he says because I hate arguing with someone as stubborn and prideful as me, but sometimes I just lose my temper and... well, you saw what happened. It's just..." he hesitated. "My emotions are heightened compared to other gods. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I'm the god of the arts. But I feel everything more intensely, and I just... snap sometimes." Then he smiled half-heartedly. "I've never told anyone that except for Artemis."