Blue hair ✸ Apollo ²

X. Be the truth and be the myth

Apollo didn't understand how humans could do these things. Go through so much bullshit with the people who shared their flesh and bone. Yet die knowing these things happened between them, and still be okay with being renewed into a new life. Where it could be worse or equally as bad.

Families hated each other, yet they'd kill for each other's happiness. They watched each other go through painful times and do nothing, but still burn cities down for them. None of this made sense to the gods. Even if they did the same things all the time.

Apollo sighed, remembering the night when his own mother was called many horrible names. Leto had finally settled down in a town after giving birth to the twin gods. She stayed in Thebes to spend the rest of her life as happily as she possibly could after having children with Zeus. And poor Leto could've had that future, if the queen of the city hadn't been so arrogant.

She once said that she was superior to Leto, because Niobe had given birth to fourteen children, seven male and seven female, instead of two. Some would've seen this insult as something to ignore. There were far greater things to be upset about, but Apollo and Artemis didn't give two shits.

Apollo and Artemis took revenge, killing all fourteen of Niobe's children. When Niobe discovered what had happened, she burst in great grief. She then asked Zeus to show mercy of her and turn her into a stone, so that she wouldn't hurt. Indeed, Zeus turned her into a pillar of stone but people said that when they were passing by this pillar, they could see it weep tears.

The sun god stopped, finally shutting his golden curtains away from the element hidden within his soul since birth. For once the bright light was something he didn't want to see for a while. It made Apollo think of all his kids who had inherited the more darker side of him. The ones with obsidian hair, pale skin, and the ones who never enjoyed the center of attention.

"Bad news for the pools opening today, brother?"

Apollo looked up to see his twin sister. Yet at the same time, they'd never really looked the same. Or at least Artemis chose to look that way. With her red hair like tongues of flame, green eyes like the scenes of nature she had been so obsessed with, and freckles that shined sliver in the moonlight.

"Well, what's up with everyone thinking they can go swimming as soon as school ends?" Apollo lightly smiled, but his mood was still unsure of itself.

"I suppose." Artemis blinked, crossing her arms. She seemed like she was trying to figure out what was wrong with her brother "Gloomy though."

Apollo suddenly felt strange about talking to Artemis, but he didn't understand how. He had been alive for thousands of years. He'd done tons of things to be more embarrassed about. But why was he so hesitant to talk to Artemis about Lydia Winslow?

Was he starting to feel human?

Feeling human as an immortal was one of those things that was looked down upon. Especially having Zeus himself as your father, and he never let you live it down. Apollo remembered the first two hundred years after Dionysus was first made a full god.

Dionysus didn't really have a purpose yet back then. So he would spend time at random Greek parties, letting the people do whatever they wanted with him. The wine and pleasure was slowly starting to get boring to him. He once told Apollo how agonizing it was, and maybe becoming a mortal wasn't a good thing after all.

So the young god decided to visit the city of Crete. Where he was watching Orpheus perform one last time, singing a song about his love Eurydice. But it turns out that young Eurydice died that night. So after witnessing Orpheus fall apart, Dionysus offered to help him be the first mortal to bring back a soul from the underworld.

Yet during Orpheus's journey to find Eurydice, Dionysus stayed back waiting with Orpheus's pet kitten. And this little cat was how he became attached to his scared leopards. But while handling this cat, Dionysus decided to visit Olympus and tell Zeus he wasn't just a lightweight god.

So Zeus, noting his son's love for that cat, killed the creature right in front of Dionysus.

"Loving a creature like that, is exactly the reason why you are weak like the human you once were."