Chapter 7
Of course Leo had to be the one to find me. I was sobbing and shaking on the floor in front of the shrine to Apollo in one corner of the room. I had crawled over there out of desperation when I had become fed up with yelling angry words at the paper. I opted to direct them at my dad instead.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I shouted at the cold statue. "I'm your daughter; I thought you were supposed to be here for me, not rip everything away from me!" Somehow I knew it was my dad that had done this. If I had possessed any talent in archery before, I didn't know, but I did know that I could write, and it had been the one thing I was good at. Not to mention he ran out on us. If he hadn't, maybe he could have protected Mom. "What's next? Are you going to take my hearing away so I can't even appreciate music? Do you really hate me that much? I know I'm such an embarrassment of a daughter, right? I'm just an ugly, suicidal bitch." I rested my head on my arms atop the shrine and cried. I kept sending silent prayers, some pleading, some not so nice.
After some time, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw an older boy looking down at me. "W-Who are y-you?" I managed to get out through sobs.
"I would be Apollo," he said, flashing a brilliant smile. "Sorry, I probably don't look too fatherly right now, just let me change."
I watched in amazement as he aged from 18 to a man in his 40's before my eyes.
"Better?" he asked.
I nodded, but I was scared. I had probably upset him with some of the stuff I had said and he came here to vaporize me. "Look, I'm really sorry about some of the stuff I said. I didn't mean to of-"
He cut me off. "No need to apologize, I just came here to offer a little advice. I can't stay long though, or Zeusie's gonna get angry."
Thunder rumbled overhead.
"Yeah, yeah I know. Just give me some privacy with my daughter, why don't ya?" he rolled his eyes like, Can you believe him?
I managed a weak smile.
Apollo cleared his throat. "Anyways, I needed to tell you something. Some of the gods, I can't say which, have, ah, interfered. You're not permitted to use any of the abilities normally granted to a child of Apollo, and I'm supposed to tell you that it'll be for the better in the end, so don't worry. That's all I can tell you for now though. "
"I don't suppose you can explain why."
"Unfortunately, no, but I can give you this." He helped me up and pulled me into a hug. "It'll be okay, sweetie, I promise."
I broke into fresh sobs. "You were never there for us. You never visited."
"I was always there, I'm just that cool of a dad that you could never physically see me, but I was there."
"Then why didn't you save Mom? She's gone now."
"I wish I could have and trust me, I would have, but the gods are forbidden to interfere directly in their children's lives, and I already broke that rule once." My dad was slowly fading away now.
"When?"
"Who do you think healed you when you were so close to a death you had inflicted on yourself?"
And with that, he was gone, and I was left clutching nothing but empty air before I fell to the floor.
Soon after that, Leo opened the door and saw me lying there. "Lucy? Oh gods, Lucy, are you okay?"
I gave a stiff nod in reply.
"No, you're not. Come here." He held me to his chest and rocked me back and forth. I know I should have been embarrassed that he was holding me like a baby, but I enjoyed it. I could hear the beating of his heart and the sound of his breathing and every now and then, my stomach would do little flip-flops, reminding me that I was still very much alive. Eventually, I stopped shaking and a question formed in my head.
"You never did tell me why you were crying out on the log yesterday."
"Oh yeah, I guess you're right." I could feel his chest vibrating when he spoke. "Um, let's go sit on the couch. You can talk about why you're crying first if you want to." I nodded. I actually wanted to talk to somebody about this. He set me on my feet and we walked to a couch. I sat facing him with my legs folded.
"My dad visited me," I said bluntly.
"Really? That's good isn't it?" Leo asked.
"I don't know. Good and bad. I was upset, so I tried writing, but I just couldn't get the words out. Somehow, I knew it was my dad that had taken it and any talent I might have had for archery; I asked him why. Eventually, he showed up and said that the gods had interfered, and that I wasn't allowed to use any abilities normally granted to a child of Apollo but that it would be for the better in the end."
"But he didn't tell you why?"
"No. He said that Zeus forbid him," I said pursing my lips.
"Must be important stuff, then."
"Apparently. That's really it though. Then he just disappeared." I chose to leave out the part where he had saved me from my own suicide; it was yet another story to be told another day.
We sat in silence for a moment. "I killed my mom," he said suddenly.
"What?" I said taken aback.
"You wanted to know why I was crying too. That's why." He went on to say how the dirt lady had appeared to him when he was little and Leo had accidentally set the building on fire with his pyrokinesis with his mom was trapped inside.
"Leo, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay. It's not your fault I haven't gotten over something that happened years ago," he said with a sad smile.
"Leo, it's something that takes time. You may never get over it, just like I may never get over my Mom. It wasn't your fault. You didn't choose to be born this way."
"If you're gonna say that to me, then you better believe it about yourself because you're right: we didn't choose to be demigods and it's not our fault that crazy shit happens to us sometimes. But just so you know, if we hadn't been demigods, I don't think I'd ever be able to find another awesome girl like you." He looked me in the eyes and my heart fluttered. I wrapped him in a big hug.
"And I would have never found a crazy gear head like you," I said into his shoulder.
He kissed the top of my head. "Come on; let's go get your stuff."
Okay, it's another short one, I know :/ I don't have internet again until later this evening, so I'll work on some stuff today and hopefully post it then. Thank you to those who have continued reading this, even though it's starting to get lengthy, but I already know what's gonna happen in the end. :D ok then, bye for now, please tell me what you think!
