Percy Jackson, the Son of Olympus: The Lightning Thief

| Chapter XX || Messages |

*April 24 XXXX*

*Apollo's Point of View*

***

I looked down at my twin sis, seeing that she'd fallen asleep in my arms. 'Wow, I haven't seen her this relaxed since...ever,' I thought. It almost seemed like it had been several millennia since we'd last had a sibling bonding moment. 'I guess this will have to do.' Ever since we left Delos, she became closed off—never leaving her hunters. I tried to get her to open up to me, but she began to despise males, even more, so I kept my distance.

Even though she didn't want me around, I tried to protect her from harm, usually in subtle ways. I got rid of Orion and all of the other males that hung around near her. I tried to make sure that she wasn't hurt, but she didn't want me. She thought I was just like all of the other males out there, so that's what I became. I tried to hide my sorrow that my own twin despised me by becoming what she hated the most. That was the only way I could get her to pay attention to me when she's insulting me.

I snapped out of my thoughts as Artemis shifted in my arms. Looking down at her sleeping form, ever so peaceful, I smiled. 'I should put her to bed and let her sleep. She probably hasn't had a good night sleep in weeks, judging by the bags under her eyes,' I thought. Sliding one of my arms under her legs, I picked her up and brought her over to her bed. Once she was in bed and tucked in, I was about to leave, but a thought struck me. I stared down at her, frozen for a second as I thought back to what caused everything to go wrong.

Ever since she had met Percy all those years ago, I could tell that she was going to fall for him. There was no denying it, he was cute back then, and he never lost though qualities' he only grew to be more mature and caring. 'He's loyal and self-sacrificing, the complete opposite of the males that she hates.'

She spent almost every minute with him. The only time that she wasn't with him was when she was with her hunters. Sometimes, he'd even visit her camp and hung out there, since her hunters accepted him as well.

'He is the perfect male and the perfect hero. He's everything that I wish I could be, but it was too late for me. I can't change now. I have become what I pretended to be for so long.'

I left her room, closing the door silently. The walk back to my own temple was a normal one. The minor goddesses sent me longing glances and secret looks as I walked past. I sent them all bright smiles, my perfectly white teeth gleaming.

As I reached my own palace, I immediately went to the living room, passing the walls, which were covered in pictures of me, and all of my lovers and demigod and godly children alike. I saw pictures of my current children, who were all at Camp Half-Blood, I saw my other children, who had died, both in ancient times and in the past few years. I had dates, times, and names on every picture, and I ran my fingers along the frames as I walked passed them.

At the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of the largest picture. It nearly covered the whole wall, and was in a silver and gold frame. It was a picture of Artemis and me when we were young. We were on Delos with our mother, Leto. We were playing in a field of daisies, happy together. A man had been there, watching us. He had been the one who painted the picture of us.

My eyes strayed to Artemis. She was in her six-year-old form, a bright smile on her face. Tears gathered in my eyes as I stared at it longingly. I hadn't seen that smile in a long time. She never graced me with it after that day.

I tore my eyes away from the photo and went into the living room.

Sitting on the couch, I picked up 'OLYMPUS DAILY'. Flipping through the pages, I looked at the different ads: "HEPHAESTUS TV－NEW SHOWS－NEWER SETTINGS!" "ATHENA'S KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE－ONE PIECE OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ANOTHER!" "BEAUTY CLASSES WITH APPHRODITE－BECOME THE NEXT BEAUTY OF OLYMPUS!"