A/N: Oh believe me, you're gonna wanna read this entire chapter ;)
"I'm not gonna ask you again, Apollo! Get the hell away from me!" Rachel walked faster, dodging cracks in sidewalks, squirrels, and most importantly, Apollo. He had appeared to her when she was looking for Leo.
Percy had decided on a small pit stop on their way to Tioga, New York: not that any of them were particularly tired; for such an unnecessarily short trip, the Argo II was proving a big hassle, and the demigods were growing fidgety.
They'd stopped at Oakland Park, which was already closed for the night. Collectively, the group had agreed on pepperoni pizza; Rachel didn't bother telling them she was a vegetarian, she wasn't that hungry anyway.
Leo was gone, probably tinkering with something explosive at a safe distance from the rest of the demigods, and when Frank and Hazel came back with the pizza, Rachel was the first to volunteer to go retrieve him.
Of course, the others were hesitant at first, after her little... Cupid hysteria fit; gods, she must've looked insane. Nonetheless, they sent her off, and Rachel found herself on the opposite side of the park.
Unfortunately, Apollo seized the opportunity to bug her instantly, not wasting even a second of precious flirting time. Rachel half expected his company, though. It had been a good three days since his last visit, far too long to be normal.
"You didn't even let me ask my question!"
Rachel gave him a pointed look. "Apollo, I am nothing if not reasonable..." His face relaxed, he actually thought she might let him speak. "Now PISS OFF!"
She began to walk in the other direction, Leo presumably found his way back anyhow.
Had Rachel been dealing with any other hopeless flirt, she could've avoided them easily. But a god however-
All of a sudden, divine music blasted through her, she fell to her knees, covering her ears to no avail. The music was coming from within her, inside her very own head.
The ground in front of her dipped, the dirt fell farther into the earth until it was the depth of a trench. She whipped around to find that a perfect circle was carved in the ground by Apollo, he didn't so much as lift a finger.
Music lingered in her ears, vaguely now. Damned patron of music. She felt like titling her head and shaking the notes out, like water muffling her hearing. Rachel chuckled at the thought, D minor chord, drip drip. Octave, drip drip. Rachel heard once that Apollo himself directed the choir of the Muses, which was admittedly impressive. Yet still, the irritating little habits he liked to maintain canceled out any of his more notable achievements.
"Now where will you run to?"
Rachel tried, she tried so hard to simply heave a deep breath, and calmly tell Apollo to take a hike to Tartarus.
But no; she was absolutely fed up with Apollo and his stupid, immature antics. The guy was over three thousand years old, you would think he'd be able to manage himself better.
"Get out." she mumbled under breath.
Apollo took notice. "Sorry," he cupped a hand to his ear, mocking her. "What was that, babe?"
"I SAID GET OUT!" Rachel roared. "Go back to Olympus or to Asphodel for all I really care, just leave me alone! I don't care for your stupid tricks, or your ancient pick up lines, nor do I care to know how highly you think of yourself! I'm the Oracle of Delphi, your Oracle of Delphi, and I am never going to submit myself to such embarrassment, as to be seen with the likes of you. Even I'm not that pathetic. There are plenty of goddesses or gods, nymphs or demigods you could mess with, but you seem to insist it would be ten times more hilarious to mess with the Oracle of Delphi. It is my job to deliver information to those who seek it, and I feel compelled to tell that you have absolutely no chance with me!"
Apollo stared, his face completely unreadable. "Did I just hear you call yourself my Oracle?"
Rachel shouted out of frustration, and rage, and a steaming pile of negative emotions for the sun god.
She decided it was best to try her luck with jumping the trench. She pivoted so her back was facing Apollo.
"Ever heard the story of Hyacinthus?" He called after her. "You should read all about it."
Rachel actually hadn't heard that story, but she doubted she would bother.
She was about to make the nearly-impossible jump when the ground filled itself back up with dirt, Apollo was letting her go. Just when she began to think he had zero rhyme or reason.
Once again, Rachel did not look back.
...
"She's growing fast." Hera commented, staring passively at the new nature goddess.
"Indeed." Zeus watched intently as Vasilia completed her tests with vigor. She stood in front of empty crops of land, nothing but plotted dirt, seeds somewhere beneath.
Vasilia extended her hand as if to try and grab the air, and with that motion, green plants twisted and stretched until they were six foot tall sunflowers.
The garden was remarkable. Flowers bloomed with colors brighter than ever seen in a long time, the grass was short, stout, and smelled lovely. Trees of all types stood firm where they were told to, and the attracted nymphs giggled with delight at Mount Olympus's latest garden. The garden literally radiated life.
It was dirt compared to Pan's handiwork, but regardless, no living god could
compare to Vasilia's talents.
...
Rachel hated evil invisible water-filled mazes above all else in the world. And to throw salt in the wound, she could tell the demigods were still hesitant to have her around, being mortal and all.
She was unaware that the quest to find Dale and Jennifer Lockett was in addition to the group needing to find a list of magical, possibly nonexistent objects that Camp Half-Blood wanted, not needed. World's most dangerous errands.
They were an hour into their expedition now, first item on the list: Amphrite's pearl necklace. She was a nereid, a nymph of the sea, daughter of Nereus. Her necklace was believed to have purifying agents. Nothing ambrosia couldn't do, the necklace was only quicker and more effective.
The necklace was wrapped around Percy's hand, the item hadn't been too difficult to retrieve. The nereids weren't hard to persuade, just mischievous.
Hence why Leo's clothes were gone, leaving only the wet boxers that stuck to his skin. He had made a wisecrack about paying ten sand dollars for the necklace. No one disagreed that he should've saw that coming.
...
Three days later:
Percy and Annabeth were off on a date, as were Hazel and Frank. Piper, Jason, and Leo were hanging out by some local amusement park. They'd asked Nico and Rachel to come along but naturally, both refused. The last thing she wanted was to intrude more than she already was. There was such a thing as wearing out your welcome.
Nico had been fast asleep for hours now, and Rachel felt it'd be best to have him eat something sufficient if he chose to sleep all day; as much as she hated to bother him, it was probably for the best.
She walked into his bedroom to find a horrific sight. Nico was lying sideways on his bed, his ghostly complexion had a greenish tint to it, sweat plastered his dark hair to his forehead, and his shirt was torn, as if he tried to rip it off.
Rachel ran over to him, placing a hand on his forehead first (burning hot), then trying awkwardly to finish ripping off his t-shirt. "What on earth- Nico, what happened to you?!"
His eyes met hers, and he opened his mouth, trying fruitlessly to speak to her. Dear gods, did he even have the energy to speak?
"It was the thorns." Nico said competently, as if realizing it himself for the first time.
Rachel recalled it vividly; they were trudging through the water maze, only to find out the shrubs (halfway submerged in water) were lined with thorns, apparently poisonous.
Nico walked straight into them, tearing through the shirt he was wearing with three short stripes. It bled for a little, and he was sure to wrap it in bandages, he insisted he was okay...
Rachel clenched her first, and opened it again, trying her best not to shamefully panic. She remembered the Greek reference book Annabeth kept in her bedside drawer. Rachel tried to explain to Nico where she was going while she hurried out.
It sounded something like, "Be back. Book, soon."
She sprinted down the hallway to the room Annabeth and Percy shared. She yanked open the drawer so hard it fell out. Rachel shuffled through the contents: a deck of cards, a half-eaten ham sandwich, a condom (Rachel inwardly shuddered), and at the very back of the drawer, a thick book the size of an encyclopedia.
Rachel hurriedly brought it with her to Nico's room. She clutched it in her hands so tightly her knuckles turned white.
In the time she was gone Nico had thrown up on himself, and he was violently shaking in intervals.
"Okay, uh, don't worry, Nico." Rachel flipped open the book, W for water, P for plagues. "You're gonna be totally fine." She kissed his forehead.
The pictures on the left page were equally disturbing, but the last water plague was the least disturbing of all, luckily it also matched Nico's condition. A desert blessing, an ocean curse. AquƦ maledictionis.
Water curse.
Rachel scanned through the passage. Blah, blah, blah, "derived from water Titans", blah, blah, blah, "unimaginable nausea", blah, blah, blah... Rachel feared it from the moment she saw Nico, "incurable by mortal standards."
She almost threw up herself, the water curse was incurable. Suddenly, Nico lurched forward. "AH!" Spasms racked threw his body, and he flipped himself off the bed. "Help, please." He whispered feebly. He threw up, his vomit laden with blood this time.
According to the book, the thorns held a poison that coursed through the circulatory system over and over again, slowly deteriorating it's victim from the inside, out.
Of all the water plagues to have! And then it hit her, what she'd have to ask for.
As embarrassing as it was going to be to get over her pride, Rachel cared too much about Nico to let him die, especially this way.
And so, she'd have to call on the god of plagues himself, Apollo: twin of Artemis, ultimate douche bag.
Rachel took a breath. "HELP!" she shouted, never feeling more useless in her life. "Oh gods, Apollo please, I'm begging, help me! I'll give you what you want, but right now I need you!" No response, silence except for the sputtering of Nico coughing. "THIS IS IMPORTANT, APOLLO! I'm sorry for the yelling, and the insults, but you can't sit back and watch this happen! This is a prayer, damn it! Forget your feelings for just a miserable second and help me!"
"What're you doing?" Nico asked, barely audible. The realization then occurred to her. There was no way any god or goddess could hear her voice muffled by the magic barriers of the Argo II, too much sound resistance.
Rachel lifted Nico with all her strength, which wasn't much, putting his arm around her shoulder. She dragged him out into the hallway. "Help me!" She shouted, pulling him through. "Apollo, god of plagues, I need you to heal my best friend." Rachel didn't even care about what she'd just blurted. She tripped, but got right back up, trudging through to the stairs.
"Apollo, please! Cure Nico, I'll do whatever you want. I want- I need him to survive, he doesn't deserve this. Cure him!"
Rachel was pulling Nico up the stairs now, halfway through, she knew she wasn't strong enough to get him an inch further. She climbed the remainder of the stairs by herself, leaving Nico lying on the staircase.
She swung open the wooden door, letting in a cool Summer breeze. Even now, it felt lovely. Rachel ran out onto the deck.
"Are you hearing me, Apollo?! I need you, you can't let this boy die! I know you know how to cure all plagues, you can heal him. Please! I'm so sorry for yelling at you, saying such demeaning things. I'll repay you somehow, but for now, I need your undivided help!" Most of what she said was true. Truth be told, all of this was only spilling out because of desperation.
Rachel fell to her knees, sobs racking her body. "Nico, I'm so sorry. I'm trying here." Her breathing was impaired due to her crying. "Apollo." she weeped, quietly this time, finally giving up-
"At your service." He spoke calmly.
She looked up with bloodshot eyes. Apollo didn't wait for her to give any directions, he just sauntered to the staircase.
One small part of Rachel felt like yelling at him to hurry up. But she was mostly grateful he came.
Rachel followed him to the staircase.
Apollo was kneeling by Nico, who had given up his coughing and vomiting fits, and was lying so scarily still Rachel was nearly convinced he was dead.
Both hands of his were placed on Nico's midsection, where the thorns' severs were. Apollo was growing golden, lighting up the entirety of the dark staircase.
The glow of Apollo seemed to physically leak out of him into Nico's ill body. Every second that passed, the ghost king seemed to physically grow healthier. Rachel knew, it was the remarkable blessing of Apollo.
A blinding white light flashed, and Rachel squinted. When her eyes refocused, Apollo was gripping the staircase railing, which seemed to be the only thing supporting him. Nico was gone.
"I transported him to a bedroom, the closest to the staircase. Doubt it's his own, though. He wouldn't happen to have pink wallpaper, would he?"
Rachel stared in awe, even in the midst of chaos, Apollo still maintained his humor. She pulled herself out of her daydream.
"Can you stand?"
Apollo shook his head yes. Slowly, he released the railing. "Nngh." He muttered.
His knees wobbled, and he fell to the ground. Rachel was at his side in an instant.
"Morale." She heard him mutter. "I tend to lose a lot doing that, performing such rigorous healing ceremonious."
"Does it work like that every time?"
Apollo shrugged, clearly it took his last ounces of energy to speak. "Can't save them all."
Rachel cautiously walked over to him as if he were a mile and a half from spontaneously exploding into dust from exhaustion.
"Why Nico, then? Why save him?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?" Apollo seemed slightly annoyed now, he was shaking his head. "It seemed urgent to you, so I went ahead and did it."
That was all the confirmation she needed. Apollo needed morale, she'd give him morale. And on that note, Rachel kneeled down beside him.
Apollo looked up, his darkish golden eyes meeting her green ones.
Rachel leaned over and kissed him. Thankfully, Apollo had enough energy to kiss back.
A/N:
Sound off in the reviews, I know you have something to comment about today's chapter. I'm aware the dialogue is a little off today, I apologize. I usually like to take my time on things like this, but I'm already a day late. Thank you guys so much for all the reviews: you guys are hilarious and cheeky and it's the best thing to see. So I need your opinion, do you want Rachel and Apollo to be together? Or are you a Nico fan? Octavian maybe? Anyway, I appreciate you reading through and through, thanks for stopping by xx
