Miss Dare was not Alone
...
"Y'know, if you died by drowning, that'd be both tragic and poetic."
"Well if you died by natural causes, that'd be both lucky and demeaning."
Rachel smiled. "Spoken like a true poet."
She placed her palms on the grass, getting up to stretch and grab food. Rachel brushed the clinging dirt off of her capris, and extended a hand to Nico, who sat still on the ground.
As usual, he refused and stood on his own. Rachel's cheeks flushed red in self consciousness but she brushed it off as just another "sulky ghost king habit." She'd spent enough time with the fourteen year old to know that there was too much occupying Nico's mind to intervene just yet.
She couldn't even be sure why the kid trusted her the way he did. Most campers saw her as the girl who served one purpose, and one purpose alone; spouting out prophecies and hints to a variety of quests, never much help beyond that.
And Nico, always so distant... but Rachel supposed even people who reveled in solitude grew lonely, albeit rarely.
"Nice to talk again, Nico." she offered.
It didn't always appear so, but Rachel believed Nico was finally warming up to, maybe even enjoying, her company.
He nodded, grinning just enough to show his shallow dimples. "Yep."
The sun was setting now, painting the sky a lovely array of purples, pinks, and blues. The sun itself was reduced to a dim, glowing ball: Rachel stared affectionately, mainly because it was only in moments like this that she wouldn't go blind from doing so. She'd look all day if she could, though. Eventually, Rachel wished to paint the sun in all it's glory, a shine so powerful it could strip eyesight from both humans and demigods alike. She deemed it such a strange infatuation, though. No one seemed to sympathize with her love for the star. For now, she felt she couldn't paint it justice.
"An artist's eye." Chiron said, when she explained her will to him. Although Rachel saw that he, too, did not understand, his efforts did serve as a small condolence to her.
Some days, the centaur was Rachel's only form of conversation worth holding on to.
"It's getting late," she breathed, turning to Nico. "I should-" Alas, the boy was nowhere in sight, already melded into the shadows, or perhaps genuinely gone.
"I should head back." She said to the vacancy. Rachel started towards Camp Half-Blood, the houses and Mess Hall growing bigger the farther she sauntered down the hill. A stray strand of impeccably red hair fell in her face and she tucked it gently behind her ear, a consecutive occurrence given her curly locks.
"Going so soon?" A voice from behind her rang out, evidently a male's. This surprised Rachel. Typically guys at Camp-Half Blood had plans this time of day; people to spar, races to win, girls to flirt with.
Rachel, however, had swore off dating with her oath to Apollo.
And, she admitted bitterly, the occasional green mist proved a pretty big turn off.
Rachel liked to console herself by saying, out loud sometimes, that it wasn't really her fault; when the Oracle arrived, Rachel Elizabeth Dare was switched off.
She did miss men in general, though. In her ordinary life, she only ever had one boyfriend, Zach. He was sweet, and he'd always show up to protest with her if she asked. He moved from New York eight months after they began dating.
Not long after, Percy Jackson showed up and... Rachel shut the recollection down. That period of her life was long over.
Gaea was sound asleep, the chain reaction of evil was cut off at the source, and the topic remained nothing more than a conversation piece.
For her Percy remained nothing more than a friend, not even an old flame.
She debated shutting down the man immediately, it was getting late, and Rachel had promised to avoid guys in general... all of them, including-
"It's me! Apollo!"
She closed her eyes to summon the rest of her energy and patience for the day.
Apollo flirted endlessly with her, ever since she became Oracle, and Rachel hated every second of it.
It was his stupid oath, his stupid rules, his stupid idea, and all he did was resist it with his every being, AND TO PROVE WHAT?
So, she tried her best to be as hurtful and uninteresting as possible but every damned attempt came off provocative and intriguing.
It was as if Apollo was a hairsbreadth from whipping off his shirt and kissing her right then.
"So, my sweet, your place or mine?" He batted his shining blue eyes, and smiled.
Rachel bitterly acknowledged that Apollo always remained good looking and charming. But that didn't make up for how much of an insufferable dick he was.
"Both." She grinned sweetly. "I'll go to mine, you'll go to yours."
The sun patron smiled, seeping in her venomous words like every other quick fire insult she shot at him.
"Like you don't want to see Mount Olympus."
Rachel's eyes deepened like they always do when she was frustrated. Could he not get it into his thick head how much Rachel rejected him?
"I'll be doing no such thing with you." She straightened her posture and clenched her fists as if that would magically make her seem more intimidating to someone so- immortal.
"No?" He chuckled, advancing a few steps. "Babe, I know you're dying to see Olympus's murals, and the decor, and the music, oh, it's heavenly." Rachel shook her head, shaking off the offer; it was, after all, merely one of many past attempts.
Apollo was a few feet from her now, his eyes crinkling with amusement.
"I bet you're just squirming to see all the glittering gold, the shimmering gowns, it's all so artistic. You must be especially anxious to enter my favorite bedroom, have a rest there, and to finally scream my name during-"
"I HAVE NO REASON T-TO SCREAM YOUR NAME!" Rachel was furious now but her expression begged to differ, her cheeks were pigmented a deep red, and her lower lip trembled with embarrassment.
"Ohh baby," he took hold of her wrist and pulled her body to his, so close that not even a paper could slip between the two.
"I'll give you a reason."
Rachel clenched her eyes shut, something was bound to go horribly wrong for her, she felt that right down to her blood cells.
Suddenly- thankfully, Apollo was hit upside the head, causing him to release Rachel from his embrace.
She seized the opportunity to bolt down the hill, not daring to look back even once.
...
Artemis glared at Apollo, and he shrugged unapologetically.
"When will you finally let your beloved Oracle live in peace?"
Apollo left the question to his twin's imagination, unanswered. He stalked off towards the woods, opposite Camp Half-Blood.
"You never know," Artemis called after him. "The girl might even find you... unattractive."
Apollo froze in his tracks, his eyes widening like two full moons, except everlastingly more anxious.
...
Rachel only broke to catch her breath from sprinting when she was at the door of her bedroom. She found her emotions in a heap: angry, frustrated, intrigued, attracted.
But above all, Rachel couldn't help but notice that Apollo smelled of ambrosia, and the sweetest of all oils.
...
A/N
Funny thing, I actually have a specific scent in mind for Apollo, hehe. I have great and intense intentions for this story, I promise. If you'll stick around, I'll put in my every effort, and nothing less. REVIEW IF YOU ENJOYED; from author to author, I think you know how welcomed and appreciated support is. Thank you so much for reading.
P.S. The lovely sketch that is (or will be) the profile pic for this story is by no means mine. I have no doubt it is some talented tumblr user's. Obvious Rachel isn't mine, she's Rick's.
Apollo and Artemis belong to... er, the scholars and lyrical poets of Ancient Greece. Z
*high five for research!*