Children of Apollo

A collection of short stories about Apollo, his lovers, and his children

-------------------------------

One Youth

Artemis had had enough. She'd come to the last straw. The moon goddess had forgiven her brother many times of many things and she knew that she would eventually forgive him this since it was impossible for her to stay mad at her twin, but she was determined to punish him first.

Apollo's current lapse in judgment was a mistake he made often enough: he tried to hit on Artemis' huntresses. He had gotten past Artemis' guard (which perplexed her to no end seeing as her brother was really a bit too flamboyant to bother sneaking or be the least bit stealthy) and caught them bathing. Unfortunately Artemis couldn't simply turn her brother into a deer and watch as his own hunting dogs devoured him, especially since Apollo didn't have any hunting dogs, so the goddess had to be a bit more clever.

Artemis summoned Hermes. The tall, suave, and charming, salt & peppered herald of the gods arrived quickly on winged feet in a business suit. "Aw, fair half sister." Hermes smeared the formalities on thick. He bowed and swept his hat so low that it almost touched the ground. "It has been too long since I have been graced with your presence."

Artemis, despite being the colder of the twins, honored Hermes with a small nod and smile. Everyone liked Hermes. "I have a favor to ask."

"Oh, you twisted my arm, but all right. What's the favor?"

Artemis stood up straight in her twelve year old body. "I would like you to win me my brother's lyre."

"Win you, my dear?"

"Yes. I don't want it stolen. I want you to win it for me as fairly as possible."

Hermes did love a challenge and was instantly intrigued, but he was much too clever to simply accept. "Aw, but my dear goddess," he began. "What's in it for me? I leeched your brother of all I desired from him some time ago." Hermes made a quick reference to the fact that he had created the lyre in the first place and had traded it for, not only Apollo's entire heard of sacred cattle, but Apollo's magic wand as well.

"You know perfectly well what I will give and what I will not give, young herald," was Artemis' reply. "Name your price."

Hermes pondered for a moment, then smirked. "I do believe you have trophies of some rather extinct creatures in that tent of yours that would be worth some value. I would like a few."

"A few?" Artemis scowled and laughed at the same time. "And which few, pray tell, would you be requesting?"

Hermes grinned majestically. "How about the birds, for now. I'll save the mammals for the next time you desire a favor."

Artemis scoffed, though it was plain that she was amused. "I'm not entirely sure it's fair to simply give you my trophies when I will be giving my brother an opportunity to win his lyre back."

Hermes bowed again. "Well, then, my lady, I too shall give you an opportunity to win back your trophies. Sound fair?"

"Fair enough," Artemis replied, shaking his hand. She showed him to her tent and Hermes quickly, carefully, and efficiently wrapped up and packaged all the trophies in her tent that were of the avian variety. When he was done, he stood and beamed down at her. "Let me know how it goes."

"Just bring me his lyre." With that- Artemis booted him out of her tent and he vanished with his packages.

Getting Apollo's lyre from him was far too easy. It wasn't that Apollo (or any of the gods, for that matter) are stupid, it's just that they don't expect anyone to dupe them. Who would try to double cross a god, especially one as handsome as Apollo? Hermes had taken the form of a beautiful, young woman (seeing as Apollo seems to be unable to resist them of late) and challenged him to a poker game when he cornered him at a small bar. Hermes, that ragamuffin, apparently could be a very convincing girl because Apollo immediately agreed. A few other guys joined in too, but they lost everything very quickly.

Hermes didn't rob Apollo of everything he had instantly. Hermes let the Sun god win from time to time, dragged the game out, raised the stakes, but was slowly and steadily leeching everything of value off Apollo. Hermes kept calling for drinks and, with a little help from Dionysus who would gladly assist in messing up gods for free, started to rob Apollo of the scraps of his good judgment and inspire a bit of a competitive spirit.

By the end of the night, Hermes had everything Apollo had on him in a pile in front of him: money, condoms, drachmas, scrap pieces of paper with notes and lyrics scribbled on them. "Those are going to be hits, so don't lose 'em," Apollo had told him. Apollo started wagering his clothing and when Hermes won Apollo's pants, he pointed out that they had Apollo's keys in them.

"Aw, shit," was all Apollo could manage to say. "Hey, listen. I need those back."

"Oh no, big boy," Hermes grinned. "You'll have to win 'em back."

Apollo laughed, highly amused by this fiery vixen he had stumbled upon. "But I've got nothing left to wager."

The silver slut of a woman that Hermes had disguised himself as smiled cunningly. "What about that fancy guitar of yours?"

Apollo sobered for an instant. He looked down at his guitar that he had leaning delicately against his chair, picked it up and held it like a child. "But, I- I don't wanna give you my guitar."

"Fine then," Hermes stood, spinning the keys on his finger. "Show me which one your car is."

"Okay, okay!" Apollo jumped. He loved his guitar more than anything, but he knew that he'd be in a mega colossal heap of trouble if he lost the Sun to a bar girl in a poker game.

Apollo lost his guitar to a full house. He was devastated. Hermes swept his winnings into his bag and slung the guitar on his back. He turned back into Hermes and handed the crying Apollo his keys back. "Don't feel bad, chum." Hermes grinned and patted Apollo on the cheek. "I've never lost a game in me life." Everyone else at the bar was shocked and confused that the slutty girl had turned into a tall, middle-aged guy. Hermes whistled as he strolled out of the bar. "This'll teach ya not to gamble." Hermes stopped in the doorway. "Oh, and Apollo-"

The sobering god looked up, clutching his car keys in his hands.

Hermes gave him a very serious, thoughtful look. "Perhaps you should find someone else to drive you home."

-

The first day, Apollo didn't tell anyone. He sobered up, drove the Sun across the sky and was done with it. But when night came around again and he didn't have his loyal instrument with him, the withdrawal kicked in. Apollo went straight to his sister.

"It's gone, Artemis! I lost it!" Apollo wailed. He just wasn't the same without his music. "This chick at a bar took it, except it wasn't a chick it was a-"

"What did you lose?" Artemis interrupted, looking down at her miserable brother from her chair in her tent. She felt no pity.

"My guitar. My lyre." Apollo sobbed. "Hermes took it from me. Damn it, the man could've just made his own if he wanted it so bad."

"You mean this lyre?" Artemis pulled out Apollo's lyre that had shrunk into a small, golden hand harp that was just the right size for the goddess.

"Yes!" Apollo sprung up in excitement. "Where'd you find it?"

"I traded Hermes for it." Artemis replied, matter-of-factly.

Apollo froze, his excitement shattered and fallen to pieces at his feet. "You're not going to give it back to me, are you?"

Artemis smiled a small, wistful smile. "I thought we'd make some sort of bargain."

Apollo sighed, plopped down on the floor, flopped down his legs and leaned back on his hands. "Sis, if you want me to never hit on your huntresses again, that's never going to happen."

"I know that," Artemis scowled. "Holding your lyre hostage once isn't going to fix that depraved hole in your personality, but I thought it was worth a shot."

"Besides, they're all a bit young for me anyway. Twelve year old bodies aren't my kind of attractive."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, sis. Look at you. Your women body is way more sexy than that tiny, flat, shapeless form."

Artemis' face twisted with disgust. "All the more reason I stay in this form."

Apollo flopped fully onto the floor, completely spread eagle. "If you had let them grow up, they all would've wanted me, anyway."

Artemis' grip on the lyre tightened. "Are you questioning my hunter's integrity?"

"Get off yourself, Sis. You're the only girl who's grown up and hasn't wanted sex from me and that's only because you're my sister."

Artemis thought she was disgusted before, but now she thought she was going to have to go out behind her tent and throw up, possibly in her brother's car. "I know you're feeling off not having your lyre with you, but you're a couple millennia ahead of yourself if you think that every women would want you."

"I can make any women want me," Apollo repeated from his spot on the floor, "because every women is a sucker for a serenade and a sappy poem."

"Maybe the women you're pursuing," Artemis mumbled under her breath.

"Find me one," Apollo challenged as he sat up. "Find me one that isn't and I'll give you my hat."

"You don't have a hat."

"I'll go get one and I'll give it to you. Find me a woman I can't seduce and I'll leave you alone… for a year."

"A year?" Artemis raised her eyebrow.

"A decade."

Artemis sat back. "I'm not offering you a young lady of purity."

Apollo put his hands up in defense. "Then find a deflowered one. I don't care. But if I win, I get my lyre back."

Artemis sat in thought for a moment, her hands running along the edges of the lyre. She sat up. "Alright. I'll find you one youth and before the year is out, you must show me the child of your seduction. If you can, I'll return your lyre to you. If you can't, you must leave myself and my huntresses alone for at least the next decade."

Apollo thought on the proposition. "But that only gives me a few months to get this girl pregnant if I have to show you the child before the year's out."

"Don't you usually do it in one night?" Artemis scowled again. When did her brother turn into such a pimp? "And you can't asked Aphrodite to help you."

Apollo snapped his fingers now that his back up plan was destroyed. "Fine. Fine. I can do it. Just show me the girl and I'll show you the baby."

And Artemis just smiled.

Artemis kicked her brother out of her tent and told him to come back tomorrow. She went back out into the brisk night air where her mind was the clearest and thought long and hard about what sort of girl she should pick for her brother. She could find one that was hideously ugly, or perhaps one that hated men (she knew where to find those). Perhaps she'd find one that was tone-deaf, or maybe just deaf; deaf and mute; Apollo wouldn't know what to do with himself. In the end, Artemis was quite fond of her choice.

-

The next evening Apollo returned, bright-eyed and bushy tailed with his second best guitar strapped to his back. "Where to, sis? Where's this feisty female?"

Artemis rolled her eyes and told him to get in the damn chariot. Although Artemis preferred her traditional chariot and hinds, as she approached the city she was forced to change it into a car: a sleek, silver 2010 Honda Civic. It wasn't the flashiest of cars, but it did the job. Artemis also had to change into an adult form so that she could see over the wheel. The siblings had their windows down and people stopped and gazed at them as they passed. They were probably the two most beautiful people in the city. Artemis maneuvered expertly through city traffic until she finally reached the none too friendly looking street. She stopped on a shady street corner by a pub, outside of which stood three ladies of the night, all in fishnets, leather, and flimsy, dirty shawls.

A rather gangly one approached Apollo's window as he looked her up and down. "Looking for a ride, hun?" The woman asked.

Artemis shook her head and leaned over her brother, night black hair spilling down over her shoulders and framing her pale face. "He's looking for Shannon."

The gangly woman backed off, spoke to the others, and called for a lady inside the pub. Out walked a rather tall and sturdy woman with a sleek face and fierce eyes.

"Oh good," Apollo mumbled. "I get the clean one. Sis, you're so considerate." Apollo slipped on his shades (despite the fact that it was very much night time) and slid out of the car with his guitar.

"Don't screw this up." His sister smiled at him before she slid the car into gear and hummed off down the street. Apollo watched his sister drive away and vanish around the corner before turning and looking the potential prostitute up and down. "Uh…" When did he become such a pimp?

The sturdy potential prostitute examined him back. Apollo fixed his shades and decided to go about this as direct as possible, since he really wasn't very good at being subtle (most gods weren't). "So you're Sharron?"

"It's Shannon, thank you." Her voice contained the remnants of a southern accent.

"All right, Shannon." Apollo grinned as he slid his guitar off his back and started tuning it. "I've been sent to seduce you."

The woman gave him a skeptical look. "By who?"

Apollo strummed and a clear cord rang down off the broken walls of the sketchy street. "The moon," he replied with a smirk.

The woman gave a look that translated into: 'you must be the stupidest person I've ever seen' and said, "I'm sorry, bub, but I'm busy tonight. You'll have to come back tomorrow." And with that, she walked back into the pub. Apollo was left a little shocked. Usually women didn't turn him down so casually. When he tried to follow, the other women on the street blocked him. "I'm not busy tonight. You can seduce me."

Apollo retreated and walked off down the street mumbling under his breath. "I can seduce woman that give me a moment to actually seduce them." Apollo was wondering if all this humiliation was going to be worth it as he returned to Olympus for the evening.

-

The next few nights and the little while after that ended up being remarkably similar: Apollo showed up - the dashing young white boy - and had the door slammed on him.

"By the mother of the muses, is there a waiting list or something to see her?" Apollo complained after being turned down every day that week. Apollo could not remember a time in his history when he had been denied so consistently.

The prostitutes looked a little sorry for him and they shook their heads as they passed a cigarette between them. "She ain't in the mood for menfolk right now, kiddo."

"Well, I'm not either, ya know?" It was a terrible joke, but Apollo wasn't in the most creative of moods. "Can't I just talk to her? That's a reasonable request, right? I've been trying to see her all week."

The women discussed amongst themselves and told Apollo where to find her. It was a shady little apartment on an even shadier street. It must've been her apartment because she started cursing profusely when Apollo rapped cheerfully upon her door. Not being allowed to enter, Apollo quickly left the building, climbed the fire escape and perched outside her barred window. He peered inside.

The inside of the apartment matched the outside. Shannon was inside at a broken mirror, taking her hair down and dabbing a cut on her lip.

"I'm back!" Apollo grinned through the bars and Shannon started cursing again. If one removed the cursing, she basically said: "Go away. I'm tired." She pulled down the shade on him.

"Perfect," was Apollo's response, pulling his guitar up into his lap. "You're going to bed? Please allow me to sing you to sleep."

More cursing. "If I say yes, will you go away?"

"Absolutely." And before Shannon had another chance to curse him out, Apollo started playing. His voice and his guitar were as gentle and soothing and beautiful as music could be. He whispered her a lullaby; the kind that makes one feel vulnerable, but safe and warm at the same time. There was no more cursing. Apollo heard the squeak of bedsprings when Shannon laid down, then nothing. He continued to sing quietly long into the night and serenaded the whole block to sleep. Apollo was happy as long as he was surrounded with music.

Apollo returned to the pub the next night, and when they said Shannon wasn't there, he returned to her tiny apartment window. "Hello again," he chimed.

More cursing.

"I hope you don't mind if I sing to you, again."

Less cursing.

This continued many nights, Apollo's music distracting him from his lack of progress, until one evening when Shannon didn't drop the shade and Apollo heard her unlock her door. Shannon was there to open it for him when Apollo came to it and the woman sighed in defeat. "Tell the moon: you seduced me."

-

The next morning, Apollo sought out his sister.

"She's a hermaphrodite," was the first thing he said to her.

"Yes?" was Artemis' reply as she examined her arrows.

"She can't have kids."

"Hermaphrodites can have kids."

"Yeah, but this one can't."

"What a pity," the goddess sighed as she finished preparing her bows in her quiver.

Apollo watched his twin as she worked, both amused and peeved at the same time. "You tricked me."

"I did not trick you."

"You said you'd find me a girl and I'd show you a baby, not a girl/guy who's too much guy to have a baby."

"First off, I said I'd find you 'one youth'. It's your fault for not paying attention. Secondly, it's not my fault the woman's infertile. Usually gods get around that, don't they?"

Apollo moaned a bit longer while he thought about what to do. Shannon being infertile or not, he was running out of time. He did not even have a full nine months (since he started with less than a year to work in the first place). It was a good thing he was on good terms with the goddess of childbirth. Apollo ruffled up his sister's hair before darting off for his car. Artemis growled and did not watch him leave.

Apollo's father was Zeus, which meant that whoever his mother had been, Hera had been jealous of her. When Leto, daughter of the titan Coeus, was pregnant with the twins, Hera forbade the land from offering Leto shelter. Leto fled from place to place until she ended up on Delos, a miserable spit of an island that didn't even count as land. However, Leto could not give birth to her twins because Hera had forbade Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, from going to her. The other goddesses felt bad for Leto and offered Hera a huge and beautiful necklace for her assistance. Hera accepted, Leto had her twins and Zeus made Delos into a real island and it became one of the richest of all the Greek islands. Long story short, Apollo and the goddess of childbirth had a special relationship.

Since the ancient Greek gods didn't exactly have a goddess of fertility (they had fertile goddesses and goddesses of love and things concerning fertility, families, and babies), Apollo asked whomever he could think of for the ability to make Shannon fertile. It was a bit of an overkill, but it was Apollo.

Shannon was overjoyed to be pregnant. She had always, desperately wanted to have kids and now she was able to. Apollo told her she had to shape up if she was going to have his kid, and she did. She worked hard, went back to school, didn't take anyone's crap. Apollo normally wouldn't have said anything, but he had to stick around long enough to actually show Artemis the kids, so he made sure Shannon was treating them right.

Sharron gave birth to a beautiful set of twins, a boy and a girl. Apollo showed them, oh so triumphantly, to Artemis who, begrudgingly, returned Apollo's lyre to him. Hermes returned Artemis' trophies with a friendly chuckle and, much to Artemis' chagrin, once Apollo got use to having his lyre back, he returned to popping up and harassing Artemis in his loving, brotherly way.

And they were all back to where they started.