Something Good

Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns the rights to the Percy Jackson series.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Trials of Apollo have never happened in the timeline of this story. Apollo isn't stripped of his godhood. Evil roman emperors aren't a thing. Everything is normal (to a certain extent)!

Chapter I

"Percy, please, you'll need to talk to us eventually. You'll have to tell us..."

The son of Poseidon looked at his two friends, took a deep breath, then shook his head. His eyes were empty of emotion, the spark they once held long gone.

Jason and Piper exchanged some brief glances. They were concerned. In fact, everyone was.

"You know we are your friends, right? We can't help you if you won't talk to us," pleaded Piper.

Jason nodded. "We just don't understand, it's been a month. You've got everyone worried over their heads."

"Just think about it, Percy. If you need time for yourself or even if you don't want to talk to us right now for whatever reason, that's okay, we can understand that, but... we need to know. Please, Percy."

"What if she's hurt? I don't understand why you won't tell us..."

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second at the son of Jupiter's insinuation, but he remained silent nonetheless.

Finally, the other two demigods looked defeated. They both sighed and smiled regretfully, turning around and exiting Percy's room. Once they were in the hallway, Sally Jackson appeared in front of them. Her eyes were hopeful, but as soon as she read the others' expressions, any trace of that hopefulness faded away.

She took a shaky breath. "He... He didn't say anything, did he?"

Piper bit her lip guiltily and shook her head. The older woman stared blankly at her and swallowed thickly, then nodded shortly in understanding.

"Don't worry though, Miss Jackson," Jason cut in quickly. "We'll try our best. We'll bring him back to normal."

Sally tried to smile, but found that she couldn't. "It's alright Jason, I know you are doing everything you can."

Her statement sent a wave of guilt through the two demigods. They had tried everything, literally everything they could think of. All of them, the seven, Percy's closest camper friends, Chiron, even his father. Nothing had worked. Percy Jackson hadn't spoken a word in a month. And then there were the other problems as well...

"Um, there is another thing we have to talk to you about..." said the blond, rubbing a hand over his nape.

Sally raised her eyebrows in anticipation.

"There's a... um, there's a problem on Olympus with Athena since— since, you know... Annabeth disappeared."

A hurtful expression flashed on the mortal's face, but she didn't seem surprised. "I... it has already crossed my mind. Tell me, how bad is it?"

"She's angry and upset, she's been arguing with Poseidon a lot. Olympus is kind of on the edge..."

Piper knew it was much worse in reality. The goddess of wisdom had declared war on Poseidon, she had threatened to throw his son back in Tartarus unless he revealed what he knew about the disappearance of her favorite daughter.

The reality was bleak. Everything had happened at once.

It was a few months after the Giant War, around Halloween...

The daughter of Aphrodite was returning to Camp Half Blood for a Halloween mini vacation. She was excited to see her friends again, they hadn't seen each others in what felt like forever. Even though she had been going to school with her boyfriend, something she was more than grateful for, Piper missed her friends a lot.

The two of them had arrived at Camp on a Friday night, during a capture the flag game. Most of the campers were taking part in it and were playing in the forest, thus Camp looked a bit deserted, but calm nevertheless. That was until a bloodcurdling scream of agony pierced through the woods.

"Should we...?" Jason asked concerned.

It didn't sound like it was part of the game. Piper nodded in agreement. "Yeah, lets check."

With that said, they rushed through the trees. Some of the campers were running alongside them, apparently also searching for whoever had produced the outcry. After a minute or two of running, they arrived at a clearance in the woods and came to an abrupt stop.

In front of them knelt the son of Poseidon. Riptide lay beside him. His eyes were locked on the ground in front of him... on some pieces of bronze armor.

"Percy?" asked Jason confused.

The demigods' eyes snapped up to the one talking. It took him a few moments to register that an entire crowd of campers had gathered around him. Everyone was too stunned to say a word.

Piper squinted her eyes. The only light came from the moon, but if she looked more closely... There were dry streaks of tears glistening on Percy's cheeks and he was slightly shaking. Her eyes traveled lower to his hands which were hanging by his sides. His hands, they were covered in a black goo. In horror, the daughter of Aphrodite recognized the goo as blood.

"Is that—"

She was interrupted by someone pushing between her and her boyfriend. Chiron now stood tall in his centaur form. The sound of his hooves was dampened by the soft, mushy carpet of fallen leaves that was covering the ground.

"Percy." The centaur's voice was calm and soothing, but those who knew him could recognized the worry it held. "What happened?"

When the hero of Olympus didn't answer, Piper felt the centaur tense next to her. She didn't understand.

"Percy, tell me, where is Annabeth?" Chiron further inquired.

For a moment, the son of the sea god shook more strenuously than before. He didn't say anything though, but he glanced down at the pieces of armor.

Ever since, he hadn't spoken a single word. And even worse and more concerning... no one had seen, nor heard of or from the daughter of Athena. Every single god, demigod and mythical creature had been searching for her. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found. Not on earth, not on any ocean, not in the Underworld. It was like she had disappeared from the face of the Earth.

And Percy... Piper didn't even know what to think. His behavior was a surprise to everybody. His mother said that she had never seen him that way. They were all clueless. It was as if the world had come to a halt and it was waiting for Percy.

§

Olympus was a wreck. Even more so than usual, and that is said considering that the gods had been on a constant war threat for the past decades. This time though... Something was coming. Something more than just a war between Poseidon and Athena, if that wasn't already bad enough on its own. Something that made Apollo shudder to his bones.

The god was strolling through one of Olympus' stunning gardens. A white marble alley stretched far into the distance. Neatly trimmed bushes of golden roses lined its sides. It was Apollo's favorite walk. There were no trees around, therefore no shade. The god could walk along, bathing in sunlight.

Unfortunately, the sky was now heavy with dark clouds. Zeus was angry. A council meeting had just finished. Poseidon and Athena had almost started a fistfight, which was unlike any of them. It had taken six Olympians to stop them. The goddess of wisdom was enraged at the god of the seas and that because of their children. No one knew where Athena's daughter had gone, no one except Poseidon's son, who was apparently keeping his mouth shut.

When the goddess of wisdom had come to ask Apollo if his prophets knew anything, anything at all about her daughter, the god couldn't help but feel guilty. He still hadn't retaken Delphi. It was something on his to do list, but he just kept postponing it... He shook his head. No, fear couldn't be the reason as to why he hadn't faced Python yet. No, he had killed that monster when he was just a newborn god. It couldn't be fear...

"Apollo!"

The voice calling out his name made the god snap out of his thoughts. He turned around and raised an eyebrow at the unexpected presence. The woman who stood before him was of a striking beauty. Her appearance shifted now every second, reminding Apollo of some of his most cherished lovers.

"Aphrodite," he acknowledged. "Do you need anything?"

The goddess of love flashed him a bright smile. She nodded. "I have an idea..."

A frown appeared on the sun god's face. "You do? Regarding what?"

Her smile grew even wider and she shrugged. "How to stop all this."

§

It was still a mystery to him how easily Aphrodite had persuaded him into joining her plan. It sounded fairly simple and as long as no one else knew about it and tried to get involved, it could really work out. Besides, Apollo felt like he needed a break from the destruction looming over Olympus. This... It could actually be something refreshing.

That's how the god found himself going back to the mortal world, disguised as a pretty (awesome) teenager and enrolling into high school. Percy's high school to be exact.

A/N: Hello everyone! I hope this chapter was enjoyable enough and if you did enjoy it, I would warmly invite you to follow/favorite and review (really appreciated!). This is going to be Percy/Apollo. If you don't like the pairing, I would advise you to (not) read this story. But who knows, you could give it a shot and maybe actually enjoy it.

I will try to update regularly, but you know... promises are made to be broken. Or was it rules? Haha, who cares.

Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to please review!