Yoooo long time no update. Right, before you start-

1) Placed after the battle of Manhattan.
2) Somewhere after the time the Argo II sets sail.

Headcanon: The cabins aren't just wooden boxes, they have small rooms inside. Um, I apologise if the word cabin actually implies a wooden box to live in, but hey, Percy's sword doesn't obey the whole matter cannot be created or destroyed law. I wouldn't obsesses over that one word. eue

Feel free to skip this next part-

I tried really hard to make this sappy and all lovey-dovey with oodles of parent-child stuff, but when all's said and done, the gods don't really care do they? Maybe 'care' is the wrong word there. Sure, they are concerned, but their demigod children are going to die one day, aren't they? Their lifespans are short anyway. So I doubt Apollo (or any of the other Olympians) would be overly worried about one or two of their kids being killed in a war that is to save their butts? From what I understand, the Olympians are a tiny bit selfish.

I think Apollo's the least, because of that love he has for his sister. And it says Apollo's cabin is one of the largest in the books, right? Doesn't that indirectly mean he's claimed most of his kids? Not ignored them? But on the other hand, I bet there's been no...uh, follow-up?

Yeah, mental struggles/ orz

Also, pretend this letter is in Greek if you want to. Because I think a dyslexic Will would find it extremely hard to read out loud spontaneously like this.


"WILL!" Will was jerked awake by a Kayla's shriek.

He tried to bolt upright, but lost his balance and landed with a heavy thump on the wood floor. The jarring movement knocked out his breath. With some effort, he pulled himself up, almost tripping again in the mess of blankets around his feet.

"What? Is something on fire?" His siblings were a little to familiar with the magnifying glass-and-sun trick for him to feel safe.

"J-just hurry!"

Will cursed underneath his breath. Maybe this was why Michael had gotten progressively crankier during his days as head counsellor. Michael. The thought of his deceased half brother made his shoulders sag. And now with this whole Gaea thing. What if it was Austin next? Or little Kayla? He couldn't bear that.

"W-ILL!"

"I'm coming!"


After hastily running his fingers through his blond hair and making it worse, Will stumbled sleepily into the main room of the cabin. He found his siblings crowded around the door, their backs to him. Austin was at the front, poking something with a stick.

Oh gods, had something died?

Will swallowed nervously before clearing his throat. With a sort of scary unison, the whole cabin noticed him and parted like the sea before Moses. A narrow path appeared between Will and...an envelope.

"Uh..." Will blinked. "Is it going to self destruct?"

The whole cabin shook their heads no.

"Is it...poisoned?"

Once again a no. This was getting annoying.

Will tried one last time. "Is it alive or something?"

Apparently not.

"Then WHY are you all staring at the damn thing like it IS?" He snapped.

Kayla stepped forward, her blue eyes holding traces of shock. "It's for you," she whispered, "From...from..."

"From?"

"Dad." Her voice was so small Will almost didn't hear her.

But he did. Will backed up so fast he crashed straight into the statue of Apollo that stood proudly in the middle of the room. The statue's angry face made him leap back once again, fighting the urge to squeal in terror.

"A-are you sure?"

"Positive!"

"Did any of you touch it?"

"No, why?"

"Because it might burn you and I didn't want to be the one to experiment!"

Great. Nonsensical babbling. He was only plucky and sarcastic when he was in his head.

"M-maybe you should open it?" Kayla asked, frowning worriedly.

"I don't want to!"

"But what if he's watching us now?"

Every head swivelled towards the angry statue. Will had a brief image of the possible punishment their dad could dish out. Maybe something to do with that precariously perched toga. Oh gods, no.

It could have been his imagination, but when he looked back, the path between him and the seemingly innocent piece of paper had widened. Will swallowed nervously and weakly crawled towards it. He picked it up gingerly.

At first glance, he would have thought that the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins had come together for an elaborate joke. The envelope was a pastel yellow, bordered with a gentle orange. It was addressed to him, and was signed "Lord of everything worth something". Surely, not even Apollo...? But the letter exuded a warm, refined glow that not even the most skilled Hecate camper would have been able to replicate.

Will hesitated. This could be some cruel joke. Oh gods, what if his dad had actually seen his letter-pad. No no no no. NO. He couldn't have. At the risk of sounding like a teenaged girl, that would be SOO embarrassing.

He took a deep breath, the deepest he'd taken in a long time, and cautiously pulled open the flap. Nothing flew out and/or exploded, so that was a good sign. Inside, he found a sheet of paper of the same yellow as the envelope.

Will momentarily lifted his head and found that the whole cabin was staring intently at him. 'Read it quickly you fool' they seemed to be thinking.

Fine then.

Will allowed his eyes to focus on the first word.

Hey kid!

How reassuring.

Will, right? I think I spelled it right. I remember, one time I got this mortal's name wrong in the haiku I wrote her, and dang, she went CRAZY. Good thing I can erase memories, huh?

Anyway, read out loud to the others from the next bit, okay? Much more efficient to send it to the head counsellor than to send one to each and everyone of you. Yeah, I'll admit it. There ARE a lot of you.

Will looked up again. Several of his siblings were attempting to read over his shoulder.

"He wants me to read out loud." Will declared. "I uh, guess I should."

"This must seem really out of the blue to you guys, huh? I suppose it is. This isn't how I usually roll, but I sort of got into a little fight with Ares. 'Bout who was the better god and all. Well, just because he gets more offerings doesn't mean- off topic. I'm sure he scares his kids into doing that. Bully.

Right, so I wanted to tell you guys that I love you (really!) and maybe somehow step up the offerings, yeah? Thanks."

There was a signature below the letter but it had been crossed out multiple times, with a different ink. Below that, the letter continued.

"I wanted to keep that short. But Artemis says I need to treat you with more respect. I don't get her. And now she's messed up my paper with that horrendous black ink of hers. Everyone knows blue is the way to go!"

One look at his siblings told Will that they were fast losing any admiration and affection they held for their father.

"I'm the god of poetry, but I find it sort of hard to get sappy. Your moms know that, I think. Great, now Artemis is giving me the look again, like I stole something from them- oh yeah.

She says I should keep this appropriate for all ages.

Continuing, I love you guys, all right? You're like my own little army. I bet you could kill the whole camp for me if I needed it! In the trees like ninjas. You could pick people off before they even got close to you! Not that anybody needs killing. Nope.

People seem to think (yes you, Aphrodite) that I'm sort of sore about the fact that my sister has her awesome and amazingly hot Hunters to do her bidding, but I'm not, because like I said, I have you guys. And we don't have to do any of that metaphorical same blood stuff, because we really do have the same blood!

Not literally, of course, ichor in your veins would burn you up, but you know what I mean. It's kind of cool I think. I really don't get how Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades can get by with just a couple of kids. I mean, you don't know how fun it is to watch you guys run around with your little mortal lives!

I might as well take this opportunity to mention-

Scrawny kid with the glasses (Augustus, or something like that?), that shot you scored in basketball last week? Me.

Layla (I'm sure of this one!), that really good high note you hit in front of that mean choir teacher? Me.

Will, this one's a bit old, but that impossible shot you made in the Battle of Manhattan? Me, of course.

Milly-"

Will was cut off by one of his half sisters clearing her throat loudly.

"I don't think anyone else wants to hear dad getting their name wrong. Maybe we should skip that part. Because there's uh, probably a lot."

A collective nodding of heads. Will conceded.

"That's right. Aaaall of that. Me. Don't you feel thankful? Maybe a double helping of offerings thankful? I hope so! Later."

Everyone waited for Will to continue.

"Uh, that's it." He said. "It's over."

Kayla sniffed. "He called me Layla."

Austin shuddered. "He called me AUGUSTUS. AUGUSTUS, I ask you."

Slowly, the cabin filtered out, all mumbling under their breath. Not too loudly. Because that would possibly annoy Apollo. And that would be bad. Like emotionally scarring and blindingly bad, if the infamous precariously perched toga was involved. Like it was last time.

Will watched them leave, waiting until he was left alone. When he was sure everyone was gone, he lowered his eyes back down to the paper, his hear beat quickening.

You can stop reading out loud now.

Will, dude. I saw your letters. It's sort of the first time one of my kids has said that to me. It's weird. I don't know why, but they're all scared of me. They pray to Artemis as well as me when they need a straight shot, especially the girls. I mean c'mon, you just need to ask! I can handle it.

To answer a couple of your questions-

I do watch. I know it sounded like I'm treating you like some kind of TV show back there, but trust me, I'm not. I know it's hard for you guys. Some people call me irresponsible, and that should be proof I'm not! I help you out sometimes!

And contrary to what you demigods seem to think, we do consider ourselves your parents. It's a strange thing, but it's been in place since the world began. You create something, you get attached to it. No matter how horrible, or weak, or different it is.

That was the whole god-of-poetry thing coming out up there.

What I'm saying is that I do care what happens. I care when you die. It hurts. Not as much as it used to, but it does. I wonder, in a few thousand more years, if demigods are still around, will I feel even a twinge of remorse for death?

Regular mortals don't believe in us any more, it's a fact. And that sort of removes us from human emotions. And it gets harder for us to FEEL. And feeling is what a god should do, right? There's no instruction manual to this job. You go with the flow. And if you're not aerodynamic, well, that's just trouble.

Will, your mother. She was a great woman, ok? Really talented. And I liked her. I won't use the word love, that wouldn't be fair on either of you. But she was far more that a fling. I'm sorry she's ill, but I can't help her. Ancient Laws.

You seem to hold a great deal of scorn for the Ancient Laws, but let me tell you, their pretty much what hold the world together. You've seen how fickle we are with rules. Imagine if we didn't have ANYTHING controlling us. Come to think of it, that would be awesome.

You might find some of the pages on your pad a bit burned. Sorry, I was driving the sun while I was reading and wasn't looking where I was going. What is there to crash into up there, you ask? Trust me, you don't want to know. But hey, I put it back where I found it. Sort of.

Will felt a mounting panic. Apollo kid intuition. This was going to end badly, he just knew it.

Hey, try and talk to your brothers and sisters about that offering thing, huh?

Signing off,
Apollo
(God of everything AWESOME, in case you forgot.)

Will stuffed the paper back into the envelope, resolving to tear off the part meant for him in case anyone asked for it later. He was about to go put on some fresh clothes when he heard Austin from the bathroom.

His voice was muffled by the wooden door. "Can someone please tell me why there is a charred book in the toilet?"

Thank you, dad.


Aaaand it's over! Man, I dragged this out longer than I needed to. It is 1A.M and I finally finished it. Yay!