A/N: Thanks to Venus-Gryffindor (x2), Ryaaaaann (x3), Mystifying Umiko (x2), fan, and Varne Belikov for your reviews,
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Over and Done With
Then a loud "Awwww!" was heard, they turned toward thet back of the cabin with their bows ready. "Woah, nice bows, kids. Easy, its just me." said a blonde haired male.
"Dad?" Will said.
"Yep, thats me! Now will you but down the bows please? I'd hate to explain to Zeus where I had been shot. I'm kind of not supposed to be here." Apollo said. Everyone put their bows down.
"Daddy?" Fiona gasps.
"Hey my little sunshine." he said pulling her into a hug. Everyone is shocked, but Apollo gives them all hugs calling them "Sunray" or "Sunshine" depending. Looking back at that memory each of them laugh at it, even Apollo. "I brought presents." he said quietly.
"Wow, Dad, you are like blonde thin Santa." Ryder said.
Apollo laughed, "I guess you are right, Ryder." Ryder smiled, he remembered my name. "For Fiona." Apollo said giving her the present. An intricate gold hair pin with writing that said 'For my Dedicated Archer' that turned into a bow and quiver full of arrows, "It will grow with you." he said. Fiona held it and Apollo put in her hair for her, and she hugged him as tightly as she could. If Apollo was honest with himself, he would say that this hug was the first real one he has had in a while.
After that he brought a guitar painted red and gold, and on the back it said 'For my Clever Guitarist' in beautiful script. "For Austin." Austin sat down and played a few chords.
"Woah, its wounderful. Thanks so much!" Austin wrapped his arms around Apollo and quickly let go, "Uh, sorry."
"No harm, no foul." he said. "For Kayla." He brought out gold ring with and diamond in the middle, "Its basically the same thing as Fiona but I don't think you need a hair pin." Kayla gasp as she read the ingraving 'For my Beloved Diamond'.
With tears in her eyes she hugged Apollo tightly, "Its beatiful, I love it. Thank you." Apollo hugged her back just as tight.
"You're welcome, Kayla." trying not to cry he let her go and reached back in the bag, "For Ryder, an industructive portable black and gold iPod, no monsters will find you if you play this." It was a black and gold (duh) iPod with and insrciption, 'For my Smart Composer'.
"Sweet! One of the presents ever! Thanks Dad!" Ryder said fistpumping him, and hit play. "I love this song! When I was a young boy..." As the song drew on everyone, even Apollo, joined in.
When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?"
He said "Will you defeat them,
your demons, and all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?"
"Because one day I'll leave you,
A phantom to lead you in the summer,
To join The Black Parade."
When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?"
Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me.
And other times I feel like I should go.
And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets.
And when you're gone we want you all to know.
We'll carry on,
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And in my heart I can't contain it
The anthem won't explain it.
A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Defiant to the end we hear the call
To carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches
On and on we carry through the fears
Ooh oh ohhhh
Disappointed faces of your peers
Ooh oh ohhhh
Take a look at me cause I could not care at all
Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part
I won't explain or say I'm sorry
I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar
Give a cheer for all the broken
Listen here, because it's who we are
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
Just a boy, who had to sing this song
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
I! don't! care!
We'll carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches on
Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)
Do or die, you'll never make me (We'll carry on)
Because the world will never take my heart (We'll carry on)
Go and try, you'll never break me (We'll carry)
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)
(The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance)
"Awesome job guys! Well you are my kids so... Yeah." Apollo praised. "So Nancy, I'm guessing you want your's?"
"Sure Dad, what is it?" Nancy asked polietly. She was always the most quiet. Apollo gestured for her to close her eyes, she did. She felt something cool being clipped around her neck, when she opened her eyes she looked at the necklace of blue velet cord and a golden sun medalion hanging from the cord with the ingraving of 'For my Wise Questionnaire'. "Its goregous Dad."
Apollo gave her a small hug and said, "Its like Fiona's and Kayla's presents, but you press the sun." Nancy hugged her father one more time, then he trurned towards Jack, "And Jack-"
"Yes! I need to know!" Jack said, very excited, jumping up and down.
"Well you need to turn around for your's." Apollo said. As he did he saw a green and gold drum set along drum sticks with the writing 'For my Brave Drummer' on the biggest drum, he squealed and ran up to it and started drumming. "Okay, the drum set is really light and can be taken apart fairly easy."
"Best present ever! Thank you so much!" Jack said running to Apollo and hugging him, nearly knocking him over. Apollo just laughed it off and hugged him back.
"Okay now its Brooke's turn." Apollo said letting go, grabbing his bag and pulled out a microphone, "Well its a bluetooth mic, and if you needed a background singer you just press this button and, bam, you got a quartet sing along."
"Oh my gods! That is the best thing ever! I love it! Thank you!" Brooke grabbed the mic and hugged her father, he did hug back tightly. The microphone was gold and purple with the inscription, 'For my Lovely Singer'.
"Well?" Apollo looked at her, "Can you sing something for me, please?"
"O-okay." Brooke said,
"She lives in the shadow of a lonely girl
Voice so quiet you don't hear a word,
Always talking but she can't be heard,
You can see there if you catch her eye,
I know she's brave but it's trapped inside,
Scared to talk but she don't know why,
Wish I knew back then
What I know now.
Wish I could somehow
Go back in time and maybe listen to my own advice.
I'd tell her to speak up, tell her to shout out,
Talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder,
Tell her she's beautiful, wonderful,
Everything she doesn't see,
You gotta speak up, you gotta shout out,
And know that right here, right now,
You can be beautiful, wonderful,
Anything you wanna be,
Little me
Yeah, you got a lot of time to act your age,
You can't write a book from a single page,
Hands on the clock only turn one way,
(Yeah)
Run too fast and you'll risk it all,
Can't be afraid to take a fall,
Felt so big but she looks so small,
Wish I knew back then
What I know now.
Wish I could somehow
Go back in time and maybe listen to my own advice.
I'd tell her to speak up, tell her to shout out,
Talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder,
Tell her she's beautiful, wonderful,
Everything she doesn't see.
(Know that right here, right now)
You gotta speak up, you gotta shout out,
And know that right here, right now,
You can be beautiful, wonderful,
Anything you wanna be, oh,
Little me
Little me, yeah
Tell you one thing I would say to her
I'd tell her to speak up, tell her to shout out,
Talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder,
Tell her she's beautiful, wonderful,
Everything she doesn't see.
(You got to) you gotta speak up, (You got to) you gotta shout out,
And know that right here, right now,
You can be beautiful, wonderful,
Anything you wanna be,
Little me
I'd tell her to speak up, tell her to shout out,
Talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder,
Tell her she's beautiful, wonderful,
Everything she doesn't see.
You gotta speak up, you gotta shout out,
And know that right here, right now,
You can be beautiful, wonderful,
Anything you wanna be,
I'd tell her to speak up, tell her to shout out,
Talk a bit louder, be a bit prouder,
Tell her she's beautiful, wonderful,
Everything she doesn't see.
You gotta speak up, you gotta shout out,
And know that right here, right now,
You can be beautiful, wonderful,
Anything you wanna be,
Little me
(Little Me by Little Mix)
She sang through the mic and everyone clapped when she finished, she blushed and hugged Apollo one more time before he moved on to Will.
"And last but certainly not least, Will." Apollo said reaching in his bag for the last time. "Well I got you this." Apollo handed Will a medical kit. "I know you wanted to become a doctor, these will never infected with any diease." Will looked at the golden instruments the container was colored gold too, ingraved with 'For my Virtuoso Doctor'.
Will felt his eyes water, so many emotions, and the amount of each one. It overwhelmed him, so he tightly hugged Apollo and just whispered, "Thank you so much, this means more than you know."
Apollo hugged him back and said, "Trust me, I know. I'm trying." Will nodded and backed up. Thunder was heard and lighting flashed. "Crap. My time is up. I hope you enjoy these. Oh wait, they are also indestructible and if you lose them, they will show up again. Bye, I love each and every one of you guys." Apollo hugged everyone again and flashed back to Olympus, when everyone wasn't looking.
"Well this was the best free day ever!" Nancy said looking at her necklace. Everyone inspected their gift out of fasination.
"I have to agree, Nancy." Will said. "Okay, before it gets even more suspisous, lets get some rest. With the last few weeks. I know we all need it." Everyone nodded and went to their bunks, and prombly passed out. But it wasn't a nightmare, or even a dream. They slept with a smile on each of their faces, all because they didn't need to, their life, at least for a few weeks, would be peaceful.
Apollo flashed to Olympus only to be met by Zeus and Artemis, both arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Here we go... he thought "Apollo you can't just-" Artemis began.
Apollo's temper instantly rose, "No Artemis! You can't tell me what to do, you may be my older sister, but you are not a mother, you do have handmaidens, but that's not the same! I lost my own flesh a blood a few days ago. I'm going to be there for my children! You are always around your 'sisters' you can't just tell me what and what not to do! I never see them, and thats wrong, why was that a law? I have no idea. I'm going to see my children. You go back to your sisters. Don't try and tell me what I'm doing is wrong or irresponcible. If anything, it is responcible. I can't just not help them through a sibling's death. They lost more than half their siblings! It would be like if we were triplets and two of us fated. At. The. Same. Time. So don't tell me I'm doing wrong, when you have no idea of what I am or my children are feeling!" he screamed at her. Artemis was instantly ready for him to mess up somewhere in his speech, but she knew that he was right. She had lost so many Hunters but that couldn't compare to the hurt to lose child, cause she never had one of her own.
"And, Father, you have lost no children these past years, you may have lost for a time, but I can't turn their last dying into something or I would get called out for it, but you can since you are the King of gods, and of men, and of sky. You may have forgotten what the lost of a child feels like. And, for the public record, Asclepius, he didn't bring the dead back to life, he healed them before they died, and for you to kill him because he was acting selflessly-"
Zues cut him off, "He was upsetting balance of the world!" he screamed.
Apollo spoke hottly, holding back his anger, "He saved people from heartache! From saddness! Which was upsetting the balance of peace and war! But all you seem to do is worry is personal matters, or your brother's intention's. Not caring for a fact what your actions cause to the mortals, or your family for the matter. I don't know why you chose the Goddess of Marriage and Family to be your wife when all you do is go against everything she believes in. Hurting her and your family in your haste to cover up what you have wrongly done."
Zeus looked at Apollo with rage in his eyes, "Don't talk-"
"No! I have had enough of rules and punishments! I have had enough of you doing whatever you want, while we have to follow the laws! You are the god of Justice, tell me where is the justice of one god doing whatever they please, while others had to keep in mind of the laws?! Tell me!" By now Apollo had grabbed Zeus by the collar of his silk business shirt and held him against a pilar. Zeus was shell shocked at the rage and mailice in his son's eyes, everything about the once happy-go-lucky person everyone had in their mind, left his head instantly and was replaced with a man- no a father, a father who was denied to see his children while they were in pain, denied so many times, and bottled the pain, resentment, and helplessness into one little vial and now it was a jar full of Greek fire, forever-going, painful, and scorching.
Artemis was nearly cross-eyed at how fast he was, she may have been the Goddess of the Hunt, but he was faster and quieter than she ever was. Thats why he could always sneak up behind her and scare her, but he would always protect her like she was the younger sibling. She maybe the oldest, but in reality, he had matured with every loss he had and he had so more expirence than she did. That is why she hated the nickname of 'Little Sis' or anything similar.
And no one would notice the pain that he kept behind his mask of a bubbly, out-going, and out-spoken man.
No-one, except his children.
Runs in the family. Apollo thought. Apollo let Zeus go and continued, "So if this is what I have done wrong, tell me Father, tell me Sister, why is it wrong of me to help my children?" Apollo asked. He knew he was going to win this one or he would quit. No more Apollo the God, it would be just Apollo, but he couldn't care about titles, when his children were involved.
"Apollo you know-" Zeus started, but he couldn't finish, he didn't have an arguement against this.
Artemis tried to form a sentence, but she was too shocked to speak, she probably looked like a fish.
Apollo smirked, "Well, I have duties to tend to, so if that is all. Goodbye." With that he left, and closed the doors, loudly, behind him.
-RaySimp1999