Apollo's Hunt

The Olympian Council

It is said that people heal, given enough time. The long years as the god of the Hunt was slowly doing just that for Ariston, he would smile now and even laugh at times. Of course to heal completely, you need to face what had broken you in the first place.

The first time he laughed, Ariston knew the others would be too shocked to function so he ended up flying the chariot. When he came back, he saw Apollo sitting in the living room, waiting for him to get back. Ariston had entered the room silently, making little to no noise, as always. He saw Apollo sitting on the couch, staring into space and sipping at a steaming golden mug.

"That had better not be coffee," Ariston commented lightly. "That will keep you up late so you are late getting up tomorrow."

Apollo jumped about a foot in the air at Ariston's words. "What the Hades, Ariston!" He exclaimed, making some of his drink spill down his shirt. "Don't do that!"

Ariston chuckled and took off the golden cape he wore. It was the same one as when he took Lilian to the Hunters of Artemis. The cape changed color to his needs, for example, when he was in the woods, guiding Lilian, it was black to allow him to blend in with the shadows. He wore gold because that was the only other color it could turn into, much to Ariston's disappointment. He much preferred blue.

Once Apollo calmed down, he simply took another sip of his drink and said, "No, it is not coffee, it is hot chocolate, which is much better than that bitter drink."

Ariston conceded with a nod of his head. "So what are you doing up?" He asked.

Suddenly, Apollo looked nervous. "Waiting for you," he answered shakily, "We need to talk."
Ariston was getting concerned now, not much makes Apollo this nervous. He was playing with the strings on his yellow hoodie he wore and biting his lip. "What is it?" Ariston prompted.

Apollo took a second to answer but when he did, his voice was quiet and Ariston could detect a slight waver. "Tartarus is rising."

There.

Those three words.

Those three words were heavy. They brought a weight that Ariston had not felt since the second Giant war. They nearly undid the progress that he had made as a god of the Hunt. Immediately Ariston stiffened. There would be another war, but this time, things were different. This time Percy Jackson would not be a main component, this time, most of the Olympians and Camp Half-Blood do not know they still have their best hero with them.

"I'm not going to Camp Half-Blood if that is what you are asking," he said firmly. Phoenix and the others would probably have used a different word but Ariston was not that immature anymore.

"No, I know," Apollo sighed, rubbing his face wearily "But since you are the god of the Hunt, you will be doing a lot more hunting. Looking for monster camps along with the Hunters of Artemis- with out their knowledge of course. You will be working together like you always are. Do not come into contact with them, avoid at all costs, no flirting, et cetera."

Ariston relaxed slightly at that. "We will head out tomorrow," he said, taking over in the mode that Leo called 'command mode'. "We'll split the Hunt into four groups. One at each camp and the other two in the middle. My elite group and I will go on our own."

Apollo nodded. "I'll let you take care of that, I've got another meeting on Olympus," he said as he stood up, stretching, "Zeus has us finally taking part in the war planning with the camps."

Ariston perked up with interest. "Has he now? Tell me how it goes," he said, surprised. "Knowing him, he'll try to make every decision. Has Hera tried anything yet?"

"No, but I wouldn't bet against it," Apollo said with a wry smile.

"You're on."

-            -            -            -            -

The next day, Ariston gathered his hunters in the courtyard of Apollo's palace. He had Phoenix separate them into four groups, taking into account who he knew would work better together.

The Hunt was a very informal group. No one stood at attention except for maybe Eric and Max who spent the last half of their lives in the military before they died. Yes, most of the Hunt has already died. Most of the younger boys, the ones around twelve to sixteen joined in the last couple years while Ariston was in charge. Ariston had found them while he was on a solo mission the first year of his godhood.

"Alright guys, listen up!" Ariston called, clapping his hands together. "Alpha and Beta teams are staying in the area of the two demigod camps. Decide between yourselves how you want to do that. Delta and Theta teams are going to split the middle part of the US however they want. Talk with each other and tell me how you decide to split that once you've finished."

Ariston then turned to his elite team who were standing behind him. "Our job is to get anywhere else," he told them, "As much as they like to think so, they can't get everywhere."

There were a few chuckles at that.

Before Ariston could say anything else he heard his name being called. Looking around, he say Apollo on a balcony two floors above. He was beckoning to Ariston, urging him to go up.

Curious, Ariston spread his wings and flew up to meet him. "What's up?" He asked Apollo. In the back of his mind, he noticed that Apollo was nervously wringing his hands. For once he looked serious, like the night before. Ariston ignored that however, as he was busy thinking about their route for the next day. "I thought you were going to be in a meeting?" He asked.

"I was," Apollo assured him, "It is just that the gods are getting anxious, Ariston and I told them of a secret weapon...someone that would help us win this war. They were worried that the demigods in the camps would not have enough training."

"Now they worry about their children's training?" Ariston snorted before the meaning of Apollo's message sunk in. He froze. "What exactly did you tell them?" He asked, his mental voice dangerously low.

Now Ariston understood Apollo's behavior. He was sweating buckets now and refusing to make eye contact with Ariston, looking anywhere but at him. "Um, they wanted to...um..."Apollo took a deep breath, then another. "You need to come back to the meeting with me." he closed his eyes, waiting with bated breath.

There was silence for a while as Ariston closed his own eyes to calm down.

Down in the courtyard, Luke's instincts flared up and he stepped to the side. Not a second later, Apollo landed face first on the ground where he had been standing.

"He took that better than I thought he would," Apollo said as he shakily stood up. A whistling from the sky caught Luke's attention. He looked up and quickly got out of the way. A grand piano crashed directly on top of the sun god. Three seconds later, the area Ariston and Apollo had been talking blew up.

"Or not," Apollo muttered from where he was under the piano.