Does the sun shine in Tartarus?

3 - A Talk With The Sun God

Needless to say, Apollo didn't want to go to Tartarus. But when the other option was mortality, and being sent down to the mortal word to be some random person's slave until Zeus deemed him worthy of his divine godhood again. Besides, Percy Jackson was the most powerful demigod he had met or seen in almost a millennia. If he was to go defeat his grandfather, he'd want to go with Percy. But at the meeting, he'd seemed so tired. Like he didn't have enough energy to care anymore. That worried Apollo, a lot more than it should have. Percy was just a mortal, since when did he care about mortals?

Apollo thought back to when the elevator had opened, showing Percy on the floor shaking and crying. Something had triggered his PTSD, and Apollo intended to find out exactly what it was. He felt this strange desire to shield Percy from anything that hurted him, which made Apollo frown. He then watched Percy's emotions carefully during the meeting, gasping slightly when the son of Poseidon seemingly gave up. Next thing he knew, Percy was walking out.

"Percy, wait!" Apollo called out, and wasn't surprised when he was ignored. He watched Percy leave Olympus before heading back to his palace. Apollo hoped he would remember coming up to Apollo's palace for a talk, but the Sun god doubted it. He settled down on the couch of his office, and opened his mortal phone he had smuggled last time he went down to meet hot peop- visit the camp. The Wattpad logo flickered onto the screen, and Apollo looked for some new Apollo x Reader fics. "Apollo looked deeply into Apollo's eyes..." he read aloud. But, unlike most other times, he did not uwu.

Apollo thought for a bit. If reading about his awesome self flirting with himself wasn't what he wanted to read about, then what did he want to read about? His son and that Hades spawn, Nico? No. Percabeth? Why not, he thought, and opened the fic that was ranked number one. As he read through the first chapter in Percy's POV, Apollo felt a pang of jealousy of Annabeth. Particularly the way Percy thought of her. Why, he wondered? Percabeth were the ultimate demigod power couple. No doubt she was with Percy right now- oh.

It felt like a rock had flown right at his stomach and winded him, bruising his perfectly toned eight-pack. In reality, it would be impossible for that to happen. But that was how it felt.

Annabeth Chase was dead. And Percy Jackson was alone.

So that was why he looked so broken. He'd lost his best friend, his partner. And Apollo didn't notice. So many demigods had been lost that day, the faces and names had all blended together. His heart had nearly shattered when he watched all of his children except Will burn to death in the same fire that had killed Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque. And then Will's cries... no. Apollo shook himself out of the dark mood threatening to overcome him. His sole purpose set as distraction, Apollo found himself typing Percy x Reader into Wattpad's search bar and clicking on the top ranked story.

"What the hell are you reading?" A voice called from behind the god, and Apollo almost jumped out of his skin.

"Nothing. Thanks for coming in, Percy."

"Sure. Can I go now?" Percy's sea-green eyes pierced the air, and Apollo found it hard to look away from them. They held so much pain, and there were dark circles under them. It was as if the boy hadn't slept in weeks. Apollo quickly did the maths... Percy looked like he hadn't slept right since the last battle. Probably longer, he doubted Percy got any good sleep on the Argo II.

"Not so fast. Wanna take a seat?" He smiled at the son Poseidon, who was already shaking his head.

"No, I actually just want to go home." Percy responded, irritation colouring his tone. Apollo flinched. Was his company really that bad? "Sorry... I'm just tired." His voice was softer, more gentle now.

"It's ok. Have you been sleeping?" Apollo feigned ignorance. He vaguely remembered watching Will and Percy have an argument over Percy's sleeping medication. In that moment, Apollo had been proud of his son for standing his ground when dealing with a tough patient. Now, he could see just how much Percy had relied on the drugs, and his concern for the boy's mental health grew more.

"Mhm. Sure." was Percy's next response. It had felt as if Apollo was interrogating the son of Poseidon. Which, since it wasn't exactly a conversation, was basically happening. Conversations are a two way street, Apollo thought. Give me something to work with.

Apollo sighed. "Listen, Percy, I don't want to go down there any more than you do. But if Kronos rises again, I doubt the world is in a strong enough state to defend itself if all of literal Hell is released. We barely could last time-"

"We?" Percy asked, his voice icy. "WE? There was no WE. It was the demigods. You and your Olympians did next to NOTHING the first time we fought Kronos, with the exception of Hades. Don't lecture me about the Titan War, you didn't fight in it. You think I'm frightened of Kronos? My friend managed to fend him off with just a blue hairbrush. It's not Kronos I'm worried about. If anything, I'd go down and set him free myself. I don't care for this world anymore. Except I do. And I'd do anything for it, even die." Percy slumped fowards and sat down across from Apollo, putting his head in his hands.

Ok. They were getting somewhere now. "Alright. You and the demigods were barely strong enough to defend yourselves against Kronos and his army the first time, and even though you won the losses were great..."

Percy flinched at the mention of the losses. "I know."

"They weren't your fault, Percy." He said, in a gentler tone. "They died defending the world. If it weren't for them, we'd all be dead. They're in Elysium, for certain."

"I know that!" Percy snapped. "But they didn't deserve to die. It should have been... it should have been me. And the war with Gaea... Apollo, almost the whole camp was wiped out. Elysium can't fit that many dead heroes. Some would have to go to Asphodel. And I don't doubt that the rest of the seven would have been the first to step down so others could have a spot there." The pain in Percy's eyes was unmissable as he spoke the last sentence. Percy Jackso would likely never see his friends again.

"You can't know that for sure, Percy. Since your friends were so heroic in their deaths, I'd assume they'd be the first to have a secured spot in Elysium. And I doubt that Hazel Levesque-" Percy flinched once again, hearing his friends name "-would be very keen to go back to Asphodel, anyway. Perhaps, when we are in the underworld trying to find Tartarus, we could see if we could ask Hades about your friends. He may not answer, but it's worth a shot."

Percy didn't respond, he just got up from Apollo's couch and walked out of the room. Apollo didn't go after him. He wouldn't. Not yet.

(1234 words)

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