Twelve Days of Christmas {A Percy Jackson AU}

Six Christmas Cards

Apollo sat in his room, a pencil in his hand, and a blank piece of paper in front of him. He always loved writing, any kind really. Short stories, fanfictions, novels or poetry.

He didn't really know what to write at the moment though. It was the holidays, and he needed ideas for Christmas cards for his mom's friends. Not that they seemed to like him much though.

Apollo always felt like an outsider. His father was someone everyone hated or was even a little scared of, Octavian. He loved hanging out with his mom's friends' kids, but he knew they were uncomfortable around them.

He banged his head on the table. "Why won't my stupid brain work?" He muttered to himself. He hated it when he ran out of ideas.

"Maybe because you need to take a break." Someone said from the doorway. Apollo looked up to see his mother, Rachel, smiling.

"Writers don't take breaks." Apollo said boldly. "Their time either consists of writing, or thinking about writing."

"But in order to write, you need inspiration." Rachel said walking over to her son. "C'mon, we're going to take a walk around town."

Apollo sighed and stood up. He quickly grabbed his writer's notebook, where he wrote down ideas when he was on the go, and he stuffed it into his pocket, and put a pencil behind his ear.

"Is dad coming?" He questioned as he followed his mother down the stairs.

"No, he has to work today." Rachel said, and Apollo could tell his mother was a little sad. He knew his father worked in an office basically all day, and worked often. Apollo liked Rachel's job better, for she worked at home in an art studio. Every week she would offer lessons for one hour, and Apollo would get to hang out with Theseus, Piper and Jason's son, who loved to do pottery.

Apollo lived in the mortal world, in Manhattan near Camp Half-Blood. His father hated this of course, but didn't mind as long as Rachel and Apollo were happy.

They walked out of their apartment and down the street. Shoppers bustled around, stores were decorated, and cars rushed by, trying to get home or get to a store. Apollo loved the city, even if it was a bit noisy. The city was full of chaos, which also meant creativity.

"Where are we going mom?" Apollo wondered as they walked along.

"To Central Park." She said and they walked in silence till they got there.

The trees and ground were covered in snow, and Apollo was glad he was wearing his snow boots. He ran around, trying to get his cooped up energy out. Rachel laughed and sat on a park bench.

Apollo, who was now tired, started walking around the park. He noticed the horse drawn carriages carrying people, and he spotted the ice rink where so many people were ice skating. He smiled to himself as he walked back over to his mom, while writing down ideas frantically in his notebook. His handwriting wasn't that great, but still readable.

"You got any ideas?" Rachel asked while taking a picture of the snow covered tree she would use for painting inspiration later.

"I got a few ideas, but now I just need to figure out what type of writing style I should use." He scratched his head and sat down by his mother.

"How about you do a poem?" She suggested. "It should be short and simple to fit nicely on the Christmas card."

"What does the card look like anyways?" Apollo wondered and Rachel started looking through her pictures on her phone.

"Like this." She said and showed him the picture on her phone. It was a picture of Rachel, Apollo and Octavian sitting in front of their Christmas tree, and Apollo had a Christmas Present bow on his head. Below the pictures read "Merry Christmas!" And at the very bottom of the card read "From Octavian, Rachel and Apollo." There was enough space for some writing to go.

"What type of poem though?" Apollo wondered, as he racked his brain. A sonnet? No, too long. A couplet perhaps? No, too short. A limerick might work.

Suddenly an idea popped into his head. "I've got it!" He exclaimed.

"So what type of poem are you going to write?" Rachel questioned.

"A haiku!" He said proudly and flipped to a new page in his notebook to start planning.

Rachel chuckled. "Apollo would be proud."

"But I'm Apollo." Apollo said pausing from his writing.

"No, I mean the god Apollo, the guy you were named after."

Apollo nodded. He knew he was named after a god, but his parents never told him why.

Soon enough, Apollo had constructed a haiku after several trial and errors. The thing about haikus is that you have to have the exact amount of syllables for each line.

"Can we go home now, mommy?" Apollo wondered tucking his notebook away. "We can type my poem and print the cards. And mail them!" Apollo said excitedly.

"Okay, then let's go!" Rachel smiled and grabbed her son's hand. Together, they walked back to their apartment.

"Let me see your poem." Rachel said as they sat down at the computer to edit the card. Apollo handed her his notebook.

"That's great!" Rachel exclaimed and Apollo smiled proudly. Rachel began to type.

Horse drawn carriages
Presents, family and fun
Now this is Christmas

"How many cards do we need?" Apollo asked his mother as they were getting ready to print.

"Six." She replied. "One for the Jacksons, then one for the Graces, the Valdez family, the Solaces, the Zhang family and for Reyna and Thalia."

"Reyna and Thalia live together?" Apollo asked.

"Not really, because Thalia's always on the move, but when she takes a mini break from the hunters she stays with Reyna." Rachel replied as the cards were printing. "Now, do you want to put these in the envelops?"

Apollo nodded and helped his mom by putting the cards in the envelopes as she put down the addresses.

Just then the door opened. Octavian came in, holding his brief case and wearing a winter coat.

"Daddy!" Apollo smiled and greeted his dad with a hug. Octavian smiled and set down his brief case.

"So what did you two do while I was gone?" Octavian asked and Apollo let go.

"I wrote a haiku!" Apollo answered and pulled out his notebook. Octavian read it and smiled.

"It's on the Christmas card too!" Rachel said, and Octavian walked over to see. He smiled.

"I got good news for you all!" Octavian said. "I'm taking work off till after Christmas!"

"Yay!" Apollo said as he took his notebook back.

"So you'll be able to hang out with your family more for the holidays." Rachel smirked.

"Yup." He nodded and kissed Rachel's forehead. "I get to spend more time with my lovely wife and son."

"You know, you seem more cheerful lately." Rachel noticed.

"Maybe because exactly twelve years ago from today, I got out of the underworld." Octavian smiled and Rachel remembered.

"Was I supposed to get you a gift or something?" Rachel said, a little embarrassed for not remembering.

"You're a gift already." Octavian smiled and kissed Rachel again. "I love you sweetie."

"I love you too." Rachel smiled.

"I need to write a haiku about this!" Apollo exclaimed and the whole family laughed.