Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝔸ftermath

"I got Chiron to burn your dead for you, Pheonix."

Nicki didn't lift her gaze from the canoe lake. Her hood was pulled over her head to try to avoid people noticing her if they happened upon the dock. "How many?" She forced out.

"Nine."

Nicki let out a choked sob. She stuffed her sleeve into her mouth to avoid crying out. "No!"

Apollo hesitated for a second, before wrapping his arm around the girl's shoulders. He hugged her close. For a while, they said nothing. They stayed content in their pain.

The worst part about grief is what you cannot express. The sick, open feeling in your stomach that always lingers.

Apollo had seen thousands of demigods waste away. He had seen the light fade from hundred of thousands of eyes from beloved mortals. He had grown accustomed to the feeling of loss. He always found himself avoiding connection with mortals, even his own children.

Yet, he sat with his legs dangling over the edge of the dock with his arms around the child he had been forced to watch grow up.

The child whose childhood had been stolen from her at every opportunity from her mother using her home as a "hang out", to being raised for her own death.

The child who was growing just as accustomed to loss as him.

"Lee's in Elysium." Apollo broke the silence. "He's with Bianca and Zoë."

"I'm so sorry," Nicki whispered. Her dull eyes stayed trained on the softly lapping waves beneath her feet. "I just wanted to save everyone."

Apollo nodded his head sadly. "You never will be able to." Nicki shook her head. Tears welled in her eyes and she did nothing to stop them from rolling down her cheeks. "You did so well, my girl."

Nicki rested her head against the god's shoulder. Apollo lay his head atop of Nicki's and let his crystal blue eyes flicker shut.

For a moment, they were nothing more than two grieving souls; forever bonded in their pain.

For a moment, they were nothing more than two heartbroken people; nothing more, nothing less.

The only sounds that lapped over the pair were the lazy crash of waves and the screams of assorted birds, investigating whatever shiny thing caught their beady eyes.

"You probably don't remember me from when you were little, do you?" Apollo nudged Nicki lightly. "I remember you running around, turning everything you could get your chubby hands on into butterflies."

Nicki let out a quiet laugh. "And then one day you got annoyed and tossed me into a pile of butterflies. I'm still afraid of them today because of that."

"My apologies for traumatising you in childhood, Phoenix."

"You should be!" Nicki laughed, shoving the god. "My grandmother wouldn't let you back in the house for months after that."

"Oh, that I remember." Apollo smiled fondly at the memory. "Hecate was not happy because she wasn't allowed to train your magic if I wasn't there so she couldn't do anything for months."

"You shouldn't have thrown me into a pile of butterflies!"

"You were annoying!"

"I was like 4!"

"See! You were more than old enough to not turn everything into butterflies. When I was 4 days old, I was already slaying many dangerous beasts, like Python."

Nicki rolled her eyes. Apollo puffed his chest out proudly. The demigod poked him sharply in the side. "Oi, I hate to rain on your parade, but I'm not a god."