Summary: Apollo isn't usually the best promise-keeper - if the look of Styx can be a testament of it – but, at a quaint bus stop, Meg makes him promise something, and for the first time, Apollo wants to try and keep his end of the bargain. Apollo+Meg friendshipfic. Spoilers on Dark Prophecy.
Apollo likes to think it's brought by the cold weather and a heated chase from a flock of harpies who'd like to take a Lester Papadolous with a side of Meg McCarthey for breakfast. Children of Demeter doesn't necessarily like winter - it's the gloomy time of slumbering plants and a reminder of the barren wasteland Demeter caused as a result of her daughter's disappearance - and Meg, like any of the others, should be as affected as much.
After the escapade with the harpies, they reach their destination: a bus leading out of Indianapolis. Unfortunately, they'd miss the last bus and have to wait for the next bus to arrive. Apollo isn't comfortable sitting out in the open where the monsters who'd love a decent former-immortal meal, but they have no choice and Meg seems to have tired out from the chase.
They decide to wait.
Meg swings her small feet from the bench, fiddling her rings and looking at anything interesting or dangerous at the horizon. Despite the tired look in her eyes, she looks as calm and ignorant as any normal child waiting for the bus to come. After seeing the horrors - the partiality of it, Apollo knows that's not all of it - of what Nero has done to her, he wonders how she can look so innocent. As he ponders on the different way he can make Nero pay for what he'd done to his demigod companion, Meg speaks.
"Do you think we can live in a place like the Waystation?" she asks, refusing to meet his eyes. The rhinestones in the new cat glasses he bought for her in 711 (he did it only because she wanted to, not because he wanted, in some way, to cheer her up after what happened) shines against the dim glow of the sunlight in a winter morning, and for that he's taken back.
'We', she asks. Not 'I'. She includes him. She thinks he'll be together with her after this.
His heart clenches, but he tries his best to answer. "I'm not particularly sure if there's a place that's, literally, as alive as the Waystation, but there's always Camp Half-Blood. Or Camp Jupiter. But, I think you'll like Camp Half-Blood better since, well, it's primarily for Greek Demigods."
"Camp Jupiter? What's that?" she asks. "Have you been there before?"
Apollo shrugs. "Camp Jupiter is a place for Roman demigods and their legacies. I guess 'Camp' isn't the proper term to describe it since it's almost like a City," he answers. "And I've only been there. Once. Back in the 1970's, I think." His memory is still hazy, unable to process his thousand memories as a god. "It's a nice place."
She nods, satisfied with his answer. She fiddles with her fingernails as she tries to remove the dirt stuck on her nails. After a minute of silence, she speaks again. "Do you like being human?"
Apollo makes a face. "Are you joking? This puny mortal body is just too unbearable! I'd rather be back with my old body - less prone to dying and uncontrollable acne," he says, but when he sees Meg's crestfallen face, he feels guilty of what he said.
"Oh." Meg says. "So, like, after this, you'll go back being a god and stuff?"
"I guess so?"
"You guess so?"
"Well, my Father should lift the punishment some time. I can't stay as a human forever." He thinks of his chariot, his family, his sister, who must be dearly missing him - no sarcasm included. His responsibilities, the prayers directed to him. He can't stay as Lester when he knows his seat on Olympus is waiting for him.
Meg says a dejected 'oh', and slouches. Apollo wants to scold her for that. It's not good for her bones. "So, you'll leave me after this?"
Apollo widens his eyes and in instinct, he grabs the little girl in an embrace. Meg weakly resists, but he knows she needs this. This comfort. This warmth. "No, Meg, no. You know that's not it. That's not how it would go," he says as he lets his mouth speak before his mind; he is not sure how true his words are, but he is speaking what he feels. "I won't leave you like that."
Meg sniffs and sobs, and rubs her forearm on her tears. Apollo chastises her for doing that, so instead, he rubs her tears away with his sleeve. Apollo thinks he's never held this human as tender and platonic as Meg. Maybe it's because of his mortal heart or she is his demigod master, but now it is not important. He feels empathy for Meg. He doesn't want to leave her alone.
"Really?" she asks. "Promise?"
"Promise. Besides, I still have to give you your piano lessons, yeah?" Apollo chides. "I still have to teach you some culture."
Meg gives one last sniff before she gives a smile. "Pinky promise?"
Apollo furrows. "Pink promise?"
Meg rolls her eyes. "Stick your pinky out." With that command, Apollo automatically follows, and she entwines her pinky with his. "A pinky promise is swearing a promise with your pinky. It's the most powerful promise in the world."
"How can such a ridiculous form of oath become more powerful than the oath of Styx? That's just absurd."
"Oh don't be a sour puss!"
"Don't call me that."
She gives him a raspberry and all seems to be okay. Apollo lets Meg leave the embrace first, but she doesn't let go of his sleeve when they part. And Apollo is fine with that. Soon, Meg falls asleep and she leans on Apollo's shoulder as she snores.
Apollo knows that it isn't a good idea to let their guard down in the open, but Apollo prays to his father that the world lets them have their quiet moment. Their peace.
The bus soon arrives with no ambush from any monster or gladiator or crazed demigod, and Apollo is very much thankful as he carries Meg inside the bus. It's toasty and warm inside, but most of all, there's no sign of any living creature trying to kill them. He sets Meg near the window as the bus gear in motion to leave the stop.
Apollo knows that he can't make such promises - to stay, to live alongside Meg in Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood or the Waystation. They aren't like Calypso or Valdez, who can so easily live there and thrive there and adapt there. Meg can stay here; she can have a new life and have a safety net that she can fall into when times get tough. But, Apollo, he can't. He can't have such a life where he goes to high school or find a single partner or have kids and a quaint house and get old. He is a first and foremost a god, he has a family, he has a sister waiting for him at Olympus. His throne waits for him and he has to uphold the peace and order that the Olympians maintain (or wreck). He can't stay. The 'we' is impossible.
But the pinky he used for a pinky promise is still warm, still fresh. He can remember how Meg wraps her pinky around his so tightly, how Meg's eyes shone with such faith. Apollo doesn't remember anyone who held so much faith for him, who went all through so much pain and agony and still kept believing in him.
As Meg sleeps, he remembers his hallucinations in the cave. How his mother pleaded for his return and how Styx stared at him with so much anger for breaking the oath he swore to her. He wonders if ever Styx has hated him for breaking the oath of using his powers only until he becomes a god, or because he has broken several promises before. He remembers Commodus and his broken promise to him, and the look of betrayal on his face as his face turn blue and purple and pale.
"You. Blessed. Me."
Apollo wonders if that will happen again. If it will all be a repeat of Commodus and the story ends with him leaving and forgetting Meg. He wonders if Meg will make the same betrayed face as she cries in the heavens: "You promised me!"
Apollo shakes the thought away and sighs. He said he'd try. He told Meg that he'll try to protect her from Nero and anything that tries to hurt her during their bittersweet reunion. He earnestly wants to protect her, and as Lester Papadolous - despite this puny weak mortal body - maybe he can. Unlike his god self, he can no longer be obliged to watch on his throne and hope that she'll survive in the mortal realm. His mortal heart, full of human blood and spirit, beats in determination of fulfilling his promises. He can make her survive, it beats. He can stay here.
Meg shifts her position so that she is leaning on Apollo, resting her head on where his mortal heart lies. It beats: 'I'll try, I'll try, I'll try.'
'I promise, for you, I'll try.'
Author's notes: I guess you can describe this as a reaction fic to the Dark Prophecy because yes finally Meg is with us and to the fandom for not making enough Apollo + Meg fics. I mean, Meg's name isn't even in the character list!
So anyway yeah, I hope you like this.