Three Days Before Lester Turns Back Into Apollo
Lester was sitting in a room in the Apollo cabin, listening to music on an old Ipod he had gotten from Will. 'And she's buying a stairway to heaven...' he mused. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a moment, life was peaceful.
The peace was disturbed when he heard loud knocking on the door. He already knew who it was. 'Yes, come in, Meg,' he muttered, while Meg was already in the room and walking up to the bunk bed he was sitting on.
'Why are you wasting time in here?'
Lester stared at her. 'What do you mean? People do this all the time!' he answered.
'Yes, but you won't be a mortal for very long. Zeus will talk to you this thursday, right? And it is basically one-hundred percent sure that you are going to be the...' - she sighed deeply and waved with her hands before she said the next sentence - 'The great and magnificent Apollo.' Lester could hear the sarcasm dripping off of her voice.
He got the headphones of his head. 'That only means I am going to get enough time to do everything I ever wanted again!' He exclaimed. 'So what!? I fought angry emperors! Let me listen to music! I do what I want! I...' he stopped rambling when he saw Meg's' face. She looked equal parts sad and angry.
'I... Sorry, Meg,' he muttered. Meg walked towards the door.
'It's... alright...' she muttered. Lester could hear that she had a lump in her throat. He pushed his headphones away and caught up to her. 'Meg! Is there... are you sick?!'
Meg turned back to him. 'Do you think so?' She asked, which shut Lester up. She stood in front of Lester and stared at him for a few seconds, before she threw her arm around him. Lester blinked.
'Promise to at least visit once or twice?' Meg asked, with her face awkwardly squashed against Lesters' torso.
'... Of course! Why wouldn't I?' Meg didn't answer. She turned around and ran out of the cabin, loudly slamming the door behind her.
Lester looked around his cabin. Of course he wouldn't forget Meg, she basically became one of his little sisters! Why did she think he would forget her and the others he had met just because he became a god again?
His eyes fell onto a nightstand. The one of his daughter Kayla. There was a picture of her and her father (Lester felt the blood rush to his cheeks a little when he saw it) and an Arrow. Lester recognised that Arrow. It was a special Arrow he had send her as Apollo. It Always hit it's target, no matter how far away a target was.
Lester raised his eyebrows. He had send her that Arrow years ago, when she was about seven and he had noticed she had some potential for archery. He gave it to her so that she was guaranteed to get into a selection. Why was she still hold on to it? He gave her things more recently, right?' He closed his eyes. He was sure he send some more stuff. A magical pair of ballet shoes? No, he never had those in the first place. A cd with all hits from the coming sixteen years? No, he only had CD's with all songs from eighteen years from now. A ever-expanding band-aid! That was... Oh, no, that was Will, wasn't it? Lester put a finger on his lip. Wait, why hadn't she used it? Was it because... it was all he ever gave her?
Lester sunk onto the floor. Oh man, he really did forget about important people, did he not? He looked through the cabin. He heard Jason's' last words in his ears: 'Please don't forget!' He looked at the floor. Then shook his head. No, no, he didn't want to forget. He wouldn't forget if he didn't want to! That was physically impossible! He wouldn't...
He heard a knock on the door. 'Yeah?' he weakly answered. Dionysus peeped his head around the corner. 'Oh, you're here.' Lester looked at him and tried to smile.
'Dio! Perfect! Say, you really love your kids right!? And you never forget them!?' he didn't even care that he sounded panicked. His smile melted of his face. Dionysus gave him a look that was both concerned and annoyed.
'... We are god's, Apollo. It is difficult for us to keep track of everything. I try, I really do...'
Apollo looked at him. '... You remember every single birthday of your kids, though.' Dionysus blinked. '...Yes. Except... in 1705... Amelia...'
Lester felt a lump rise in his throat. Within seconds, he thought all of the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind for months: What does it mean to be a god? How could he be better? What if all of his progress was lost as soon as he stepped foot into the throne room?
What if he did not want to be a god?
Dionysus took a small step back when he saw that a few silent tears rolled down Lesters' cheeks. He stood still for a few seconds, before slowly walking towards him. Dionysus took Lester's hand. 'Hey... Apollo... what...' Dionysus shifted his hand from Lester's wrist to his shoulder. Lester responded by throwing his arm around his waist and burying his head into his shoulder, pulling them both down to the ground. He begun sobbing louder and louder, until he was nothing more than a crying ball of sadness. Dionysus held him close, feeling sixteen types of confusion.
'...Apollo... Please, just... what is the issue? The Triumvirate is down, the Mccarphy girl is still alive and well, and you'll be an immortal again in no time...'
'...th-th-that one!' Lester sobbed.
'You mean you do not want immortality?' Lester didn't answer. Dionysus slowly pulled his arms back.
'Oh, now, that was to be expected...' Lester stopped crying uncontrollably. He backed away a little to look at Dionysus' face.
'What do you mean, to be expected?'
'Oh, everyone who gets immortal after a while as a mortal gets really down after like two weeks when they realise what it is like, before they accept it and... get a little too big of a head. You didn't get that from me.' Dionysus straightened his shoulders. 'Give it a few weeks, things will be like this mortal form never happened.'
Lester didn't know what to say for a few seconds. He stared at his brother, not knowing how to interpert his seemingly neutral expression. But... that's just what I am afraid of, that things will be like that. And that I will go back to forgetting my own children... he thought. He felt a single last tear run down his cheek. He swallowed and took a deep, deep breath. 'If... if, you say so...' He turned away from Dionysus, who said nothing. He had to deal with some demons of his own, for a minute. 'Thanks, Dionysus.'
'...No thanks due, Lester.'
That thursday, Lester was standing outside the throne room of Olympus. He was holding his special ukelele. He had no idea why he brought it, but it gave a sense of comfort, so he was happy that he did. He was confused. Confused by the two emotions he was feeling: He felt powerful and happy on one hand - he was going to be a God again! Yet, on the other hand, he felt terrified. He needed to be a God again, and better this time.
The huge doors to the throne room opened up. Lester felt a stint of panic and excitement. 'Lester Papadopoulos, you may enter!' He heard his father say. He took a deep breath, held on starkly to his ukelele and strided into the throne room.
He never expected to feel so small. When he was still Apollo, he was always the belle of the throne room - the great, golden, radiant Apollo, whom everybody loved. Right now, he was a puny mortal, not sure of his life. He looked around the room. He caught his sisters' eyes - she gave him a rare, small smile, trying to signal him it was okay. He tried to give a small smile back, but it didn't go very well - he felt the adrenaline rush through his veines.
'Lester Papadopoulos!' Zeus's voice boomed through the throne room again, scaring Lester and annoying the other gods. 'You have defeated the emperors of Rome. You have served a mortal, as I commanded. You have proven yourself worthy of being a God again! I shall...'
Lester didn't hear the rest. His mind crashed at the words 'Worthy of being a God again.' He turned his head a little, so that he could look at Dionysus without fully looking away from Zeus. The wine god was studying his hands like they were the most interesting thing he had ever seen, but for a moment his eyes jerked towards Lester - and that was enough for Lester to realise Dionysus was thinking about Zeus's statement, too, and, more importantly, what that meant to Lester.
Lester felt the doubt rise up in his chest. He had defeated the triumvirate, yes, but not without all the other demigods. Not without Jason, and Frank, and Reyna, and everyone else. And was that what made him worthy of being a god? Doing something that demigods did on a daily basis?
It was too much. While Zeus was still holding his speech, Lester turned around and slipped out of the throne room. He heard the other gods gasp behind him.
He held on to a garden fence close to the throne room. He felt strange. For months, he had wanted nothing more than this moment - the return of his divinity. Now that he was here, he felt like he was about to make the worst decision of his life.
'Apollo?' Lester felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Dionysus standing behind him. '... I... I cannot... Oh, Dio...'
'Apollo, come back inside.'
'...I can't. I physically can't.'
He felt Dionysus lay an arm around his waist. 'I know.' Lester stared at his hands.
'Yet, I can only advise you to get in there. Otherwise you might never know if you could be better.' Dionysus nudged his hand, before walking back into the throne room.
Lester let go of the fence. A sharp part of it had cut into his hands, so it was bleeding a little. He thought of Dionysus words. He shuffeled a few steps further, so that he could see the main square. It was like the life rushed back into him. The lights numbed down his senses. He swallowed and turned around, so he was facing the throne room again. His legs were going somewhere, but it felt like he himself was somewhere completely different, he didn't know where, but he could smell a sweet, sweet scent.
Meg was sitting in the strawberry fields. It was past curfew, but the harpees left her alone - maybe Chiron told them to let her think. Meg didn't care. She let a vine twirl around her fingers, but it didn't make her smile.
She noticed a shadow falling over her. She turned around and got onto her feet. 'I liked the brown hair better,' She muttered, while looking at Apollo's golden locks.
'Well, it isn't brown anymore,' he answered. They both looked at each other with neutral expression. 'You turned into a god,' she stated, before she shrugged and looked down.
Apollo nodded. 'Yes.' He knew there was nothing more to say. He opened his arms. Meg stepped closer to him and let Apollo put his arms around her, but she didn't hug him back. 'I want to be better. I need to be better,' Apollo told Meg.
'If you say so,' She muttered. Apollo noticed that she didn't sound very trusting. He let go of her. 'Meg...' He fell silent. Meg looked up at him.
'Yeah, yeah, what?'
'...I... I mean it.'
Meg looked at the ground. 'What do you mean with it?'
Apollo opened his mouth, but immediately closed it. 'I... I...' Meg took a deep breath. She grabbed his hand. 'You should start with making your mind up about that.' Apollo felt that a little smile grew on his face. 'Well, that sounds like it is not too difficult.'
'Isn't that the main trap with art?'
Apollo nodded slowly. 'Yes.' Meg gave him a nod. She still looked just as sceptical about the plan as Apollo felt, but suddenly she gave him a short hug, before walking towards the cabins. Apollo decided it was time to vanish. He did not have anything planned tomorrow - he might visit Meg again.