OF POWER AND OF PAIN | 𝐀𝐩𝗼𝐥𝐥𝗼

VII

POV:

Delia

Goddess of the stars

Delia walked alongside the sun god as he babbled about his greatness and how awesome and cool the sun is, blah blah blah, Delia just smiled and walked through the sunny forest.

    "Oh, my gosh, Delia! And then Athena told me my haikus where bad? MY HAIKUS? absolutely not." Apollo ranted as Delia gasped for dramatic affect.

Apollo noticed a small paper in Delia's hand and tapped the note gently. "What's that?"

Suddenly Delia looked down at the paper and opened it "A letter, from my sons. They send me a letter each week on Fridays"

Apollo raised his eyebrows "That's quite often, I haven't heard from my children in ages"

    "You should write them a letter, if they send a letter back its a new beginning to a better relationship with them." Said Delia as she handed Apollo a pen "There's nothing that can go wrong."

    "Yeah, but, I have a lot of kids. And they don't exactly love me." Apollo avoided Delia's eyes and starred at the grass.

    "I'm sure they would love to hear you've been thinking of them" Delia reassured

    "Well, what do I say if I do decide to send a letter?"

    "Just, say what you would say if they were here now."

    "Easy for you to say you see your kids often" Apollo argued

    "Apollo, I used to be in the same boat as you. My kids hated me, despised me." Delia admitted

    "Really?" Apollo cut in.

    "Mhm," Delia hummed "I never spoke to them and I left their mother alone in the dead of winter three years ago. But I sent letters to them, and after my 10th letter I got a response! Not a very happy one, but progress is progress."

   "Ten Letters?" Apollo gasped in disbelief "Delia, it would take me thousands of pointless letters to get one response. And as a god, I don't have that much time."

    "As a god, yes. But as a father, you have all the time you need." Delia raised her eyebrow and put the pen back in her bag. "Your too scared of getting rejected, so you just don't try. If you ever want to change your mind, come find me."

And with that, Delia got up and walked away as she left the sun god alone.

POV:

Apollo

God of Sun

The star goddess's words played in his head like a movie

"You're too scared of getting rejected, so you just don't try."

He hung his head low in his hands as question rolled through his never quiet head.

He had tried to imagine how his kids could ever forgive him for being a terrible father but that made his head get more and more busy. The questions played in his head like a messed up orchestra that couldn't decide on a rhythm. A familiar face appeared in his mind, Delia's. Suddenly the orchestra went quiet and it decided on its rhythm. He took deep breaths and kept his eyes closed.

"You're too scared of getting rejected, so you just don't try."

Apollo slowly opened his eyes and blinked as he readjusted to the light. It felt like that moment when you step out of a dark theater and into a bright day. He walked to Delia's house with a smile on his face and his ego only slightly bruised.

he knocked on a brown door and exactly three seconds after the door was opened to his dear friend Delia.

    "Apollo?" The goddess asked, a confused look plastered upon her face.

    "Delia, I want to write a letter." Apollo said and after no answer he added on "..to my kids."

Delia smiled and grabbed Apollo's hand, in which his stomach did cartwheels. He smiled while Delia sat on her chair and quickly pulled out a paper and pen.

    "Here, what are you gonna write?" Delia asked, handing him a pen and paper.

Apollo simply smiled and scribbled words onto the paper.

    "Hey, what are you writing?" Delia giggled and tried to see over Apollos shoulder, as his back was turned to her, hiding the paper.

POV:

Delia

Goddess of the Stars.

Delia attempted to look at the paper and eventually gave up and leaned back in her chair and laughed at Apollo's excitement, Soon, Apollo folded up the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket.

     "What? I don't get too see it" Delia giggled and Apollo shook his head.

    "Between me and my totally rad kids only" Apollo joked and walked to the door with his letter.

Delia laughed and smiled as Apollo skipped his feet in excitement like a little kid. She hung her head on her shoulder before standing up and making food.

As she made dinner for herself, a familiar friend walked in.

    "Hello, Delia," Dionysus smiled "Ah, sorry, the door was open so I just thought.."

Delia quickly interrupted him with a hug and a kiss to the cheek. "I was making food, did you want some?"

Dio looked over to the pot with the spaghetti in it. "Not a big fan of spaghetti"

he sat at the table and started to talk again "any reason why Apollo was practically jumping out of your door? He looked happy but I mean, his moods tend to switch a lot... and fast."

Delia smiled, poured some spaghetti onto her plate and called for Clover. "I helped him out."

"Okay, but how? Like...help him out?" Dio paused and a short silence followed after

"Oh gods no! Apollo? No, ew. But, I was helping him write a letter to his kids. Like... the sunny blonde folk at Camp Half-Blood." Delia explained, though she was blushing.

"Mhm, yeah, and I'm George Washington." Dio rolled his eyes and Delia laughed.

"I'm serious!"

They talked for the next couple hours and then Dionysus left, leaving Delia alone with her thoughts.

POV:

Third Person

A young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes held a note that read 'From, Apollo. To, My totally rad kids.'

"Will, what do you got there?" An older boy said, though they looked insanely similar.

The kids jaw dropped and he reread the note one more time.

"Read it" He said.

Will carefully opened the note and read it out loud.

"Hello! This is Apollo, y'know your totally cool dad." Will laughed as he read that bit "I wanted to write to you, I thought you all deserved to know what's going on in Olympus. Okay, so I met a really pretty goddess, Delia. You guys would like her. The sun is extra bright today too!! Anyways, off topic. How are you all? I would love to hear about your guys' days if you could write back? Oh, also, tell me some about Camp while your at it! Delia is always saying how much her sons love it there but I've just never understood why...is that mean? Anyways, Apollo signing off. Great to talk to you guys, but I've got like god stuff to do or something. All my coolness, Apollo"

The older kid nearly cried at the letter and hugged his younger brother, Will. "He has never done that..."
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