Leto Chapter 1: Fading and Rebirth
Hello everybody, long time no read! College is going great and I am currently on vacation from the troubles of the world on a nice cruise, so I decided to write ya'll a nice little story.
This is a story that I got the idea from a Percy Jackson/Harry Potter fanfiction I read a little while ago about Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis, Fading and becoming reborn as the infamous and beautiful Harriet Potter.
Like that story, the main character is still the Titaness Leto/Female Harry. However, I have written it in a different way, where first, Leto faded in 1764, about a decade before the American Revolution officially began. In this story, Leto is reborn as Jeanne Potter, Girl-Who-Lived, and ironically enough, as the daughter of Apollo.
I'm just aiming for all the awkward feels for Apollo when he finds out that he basically planted the seed for his mother's rebirth.
Now I have no idea if this is going to be a full story, so please don't be too disappointed if I do not continue this.
Anyways that is all for now, please enjoy the story and don't forget to review after you finish.
P.S. That goes for you Emilbootanimefreak!
I Do Not Own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson
31 July, 1764; Delos
Upon the floating island of Delos that soared high in the sky that was ruled by Zeus, a tall woman looked out from the edge of the land, to the sea that rested seven hundred feet below the island, her once beautiful auburn hair that she shared with her daughter now a bright silver.
This was Leto, Titaness of Motherhood, Womanly Demure, Modesty and the Divine Protector of Children. But she was the most well known for being the mother of Apollo and Artemis, the Twin Olympians who watched over the Sun and Moon respectively, whom she bore to Zeus, King of the Gods and Lord of the Sky.
She had seen the world since her birth under the rule of the mad Titan King Kronus, who governed over Time and the Universe itself. Seen the fall of the original Titans at the hands of the children Kronus had tried to murder in order to keep his power, and had even watched as Olympus was built by her uncles the Elder Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires from the first stone into the most magnificent of palaces and temples.
Leto had attended to wedding of Persephone and Hades after the young goddess' kidnapping at the hands of her uncle, witnessed the banishing of the Titans from Olympus due to Zeus' paranoia and aided where she could when the Gigantes that were born from Gaea sought to tear the Olympians from their thrones.
The ravaging of Aethiopia at the hands of the Kraken before it was stopped by the arrogant Perseus who had slain the cursed Medusa. The tortures heaped upon the hero Herakles by Hera and his subsequent transformation into a god that would be forced to guard the entrance to the old lands.
Witnessed the birth of her beloved twins that would take the reins of the Moon and Sun from Selene and Helios when the two Titan-Gods faded and felt anger at being slighted for the first time by Niobe who was arrogant enough to think that taunting a god, a titan, would leave her unscathed. And witnessed when her beloved twins massacred the woman's children in their rage at their loving mother being slighted.
She had witnessed the Spartans defending Greece against the invading Persians, watched the rise of the Roman Empire when they conquered Greece and took the gods as their own, before they fell as Christianity began gaining more and more ground.
Witnessed the rise of the nations of the West, Germany, France, England, Scotland, and had even met a few gods and heroes that had never been part of her Pantheon, even finding a mutual admiration in the hero Siegfried.
Leto had seen the discovery of the land of America and watched her grandson William Shakespeare's plays with her beloved Apollo, plays that would become the things of legend. And saw the first English settlers making peace with the natives of America for the first time.
And now after over six thousand years of life, she was dying.
Fading from the world to become one with the entities that spawned her and every other living creature in existence.
Chaos.
Order.
She had first felt it when she was collecting the necessary ingredients to make a large cake for her beloved children's up and coming birthday that they were so embarrassed about whenever she brought it up.
Seriously, you'd think they'd get over being reminded about their 'old' age by the end of their first millennia. But nooo, Apollo still had to make a fuss about it whenever it was brought up to the God of Youths.
At least Artemis was mature about it…
Though she might be speaking too soon given her daughter's need to almost always assume the form of a prepubescent girl.
It had started as a twinge in her chest, making her feel as if something was trying to rip her heart from her breast and had actually caused her to collapse in the market she had been visiting in France.
Then it came in her auburn hair becoming as silver as the moonlight that her daughter carried across the sky, as her hands and sometimes her entire body becoming like mist without her permission and she found herself becoming even closer to the original Primordials with each breath she took.
'Apollo! Artemis!' She called out to the void, hoping her children would be listening for her prayer. 'Please come to me!'
Almost immediately upon her call, a bright flash of golden light appeared behind her and the masculine voice of her only son called out to her, "Mother?"
A smile formed on her face and Leto turned to see her son Apollo standing by his chariot that was now shaped as sleek golden and white colored carriage, the god himself wearing the garb of a nobleman of the current century with his flowing golden hair bound in a bun on the back of his head.
Opening her arms as she moved towards the God of the Sun, Leto immediately found herself engulfed in a hug by her son. "I'm glad you came Apollo."
"You wanted to see me mother?" He asked as he took note of her now silver hair and growing worried when the divine woman let out a cough that shook her body, something that shouldn't be able to happen to a god, let alone a titan. "Is something wrong mother?!"
"Yes, yes there is my darling little sunshine," Leto said as she looked up at the sky in hope of seeing her daughter's chariot that had inspired the legend of Saint Nick, especially during that decade that she had delivered gifts to the children around the known world that she didn't want people, let alone her fellow gods, to know about. "Is Artemis coming?"
The blonde god sighed, and his smile faded.
"I see."
"Arte… well, she's been busy," Apollo said as he took note of the down tone in his mother's voice, wanting anything to see her happy and full of joy rather than in this sad state. "She's been running ragged, what with Loki and that dick Thor stirring up trouble in the colonies."
"I suppose that it can't be helped," she muttered, holding her son's arm as she basked in the warmth he excluded as the Sun God, remembering her first encounter with the boisterous Thunder God. "Never change Apollo, I want you to always protect Artemis to the best of your ability, even if the two of you don't get along at times."
Apollo looked at his mother in worry, wondering where she was going with this before his blue eyes widened in shock when she fell into a coughing fit and her form flickered in and out of sight for a moment.
"You're fading…"
"Yes," Leto smiled as a tear fell from her eyes as she reached up and lightly ran her hands over his chiseled cheeks, through his golden hair.
He wasn't always a perfect being like many of the Olympians believed themselves to be, and he constantly didn't act in his capacity as the God of Intellect, but she knew he was smart enough to know what was happening even without her telling him.
After all he had been witness to Helios' fading when the original Sun God had given him his beloved 'chick magnet'.
But even with his flaws, Apollo was a good man, a good god.
Her son knew that he could never be faithful to one woman, his father's libido ran too strong in her blood for that to happen, so he had never married to spare any potential wife the pain of betrayal, even if that meant she'd never get a true, immortal grandson that as Hera liked to constantly put, was born properly.
He defended those he loved with a fierceness that was unrivaled, even by Hestia and Poseidon.
"No matter what happens to me," Leto said as her son began shedding panicked tears as his grip tightened on her arms, as if afraid that she'd fade away the moment he let go of her. "I want you to know that I am and always will be proud to be your mother, no matter your bad habits of sleeping with anything with a pair of breasts or playing pranks with that little monkey Hermes. I will love you, I always will."
"Mother…" He sobbed, tears flowing down his face at her words and what was going to happen. "Please don't leave me, don't leave us!"
She pressed a sun-shaped amulet into his smooth hands, an amulet she had been crafting for her son on his coming birthday that she had designed in the artwork of the American natives, "I want you to wear this. So you will always remember me."
"As I fade, I want you to remember this Apollo," Leto said as she pressed a kiss to his brow. "Even we, the Immortals, do not live forever. Even Zeus and Hera will one day fade. But, we will not be completely gone, we will always be with those that we leave behind in spirit."
"You are right mother," Apollo sniffed as he gripped the stone amulet in his hand "As always."
Leto scoffed at his words, "Of course I'm always right. I am your mother after all."
Suddenly she turned her head to face the sky, no, the realm beyond the sky and Leto smiled sadly at the younger god, "I know you and your sister don't always get along, but remember to always take care of Artemis and never let anyone take advantage of her."
"I will mother," the sun god assured her as her form turned into a fine mist, slowly fading away into the air, the last touch he'd have of his mother being her hands that lay within his before they too left the mortal coil behind, leaving not a sign that she had lived except for the crying god that remained where she once stood.
It was in the Forest of Dean, that Apollo found Artemis' beloved Hunters and their camp.
The Hunters were devoted followers of his sister Artemis, who championed all the virgins in the world. Each and every member of the Hunt had sworn to be eternal virgins, swearing off the embrace of a man for all eternity in order to serve the Moon Goddess.
In exchange for their oath and loyalty to her, Artemis gifted her followers, who she saw as her own children in a way, with a limited form of Immortality and resistance against the influence of her natural enemy Aphrodite. The Hunters could and would only die if killed by external forces, like in battle or by accident on a Hunt.
Most were currently asleep, except for those that stood watch for any invaders during this tense time between the colonies and England.
When he appear inside the camp in a burst of sunlight, turning the entire clearing as bright as day for a short moment, the Olympian was immediately confronted by Zoë Nightshade, his sister's oldest and most trusted Hunter as well as the Lieutenant of the Hunt, who had stood by Artemis' side since the time that the oaf Herakles had been a demigod.
"Lord Apollo," was her curt, yet mistrustful greeting to the twin of her mistress, Apollo knowing that the only reason they treated him with any kind of respect was because of his status as the twin brother of their goddess.
Even if they disliked Apollo, due to the deity being a man and his constant flirting with anything that bore a pair of breasts and walked on two legs, the Hunters would respect their patron's twin.
"Where is my sister?" Apollo asked in a solemn tone, causing Nightshade to look at the god's face in shock at the lack of flirting that usually accompanied him on his visits to this particular camp, seeing barely hidden tracks of tears on his handsome face. "I have urgent news that she needs to hear."
Bowing her head to the sun god, Zoë Nightshade motioned towards the tent in the middle of the clearing that looked to be made from the light of the moon, "Milady Artemis is resting inside her tent."
Nodding in quiet thanks, the god began walking towards the large tent, leaving behind a stunned Lieutenant staring at his back with wonder about what could get the usually happy-go-lucky and flirtatious god to be in such a dour mood.
Pushing open the flap, the Olympian walked into the large tent while ignoring the décor of the beasts his sister had hunted over the many eons, looking to the fur covered cot that lay in the middle of the tent were Artemis slept with only her auburn covered head sticking out from beneath the large fur of the now extinct Sabertooth tiger.
He wished he could fall asleep like is his sister was now, if only to wake up to prove that today had been a horrible, horrible dream and that he would find his beloved mother on her island, trying her hand at making a delicious cake for the next time he and Artemis visited Delos.
Deciding not to wake his sister so that she could be fully rested for what he was about to spring upon her, the sun god quietly searched her tent until he found the stash of Olympian-grade wine that he knew she only drank on special occasions or on the rare times that a hunt went wrong and she had to mourn one of her hunters, and sat down on one of the pillows she used for her meetings with her top hunters to plan out her hunts.
Conjuring a golden goblet that would normally give off rays of sunlight that reflected his domain and his joyous mood, it now simply sat as dulled Imperial Gold that reflected his mood at the loss of one of the most important people in the world. Apollo poured himself a drink, and began to sip the Dionysus-approved alcohol as he waited for his sister to awaken. For what he was about to tell her, he felt she deserved the refreshing effect sleep would have on her.
Five hours later, his sister stirred, before virtually jumping out of her bed like an offended cat as she realized that, no, she wasn't alone anymore. "What in Tartarus are you doing here?"
He didn't immediately answer her question.
Despite knowing what he had to say, he still wasn't sure how to tell his beloved sister.
"Damn it Apollo, answer me!" His sister snapped, her anger clear on her youthful face as her silvery eyes glared into his sunny blues. When he still didn't answer, she finally took a good look at her brother and it dawned on the goddess of the Hunt that he was not acting as his normal happy-go-lucky self, the warm sunlight that always seemed to waft off of his body was missing, replaced by an aura of cold depression that seemed to suck the joy out of the air around her, "Apollo?"
"Why didn't you go to mother when she called for us?"
"I've been busy," Artemis said as she found herself taken aback with the hard tone the sun god spoke in. "Father has had me hunting one of the Asgardian's monsters that moved to the colonies and I only just returned to England, he didn't want it to come into contact with either of the camps…"
She found herself trailing off as she noticed the tears that were barely being restrained in her twin's eyes, "What is it, Apollo? What has happened?"
Instead of answering her question, the god poured himself another glass of the Dionysus-approved, Olympian-class wine, having finished his thirtieth glass shortly before she awoke, he lifted the goblet up with the intent of only taking a sip, but found himself gulping it all down.
"Apollo…" Artemis warned, her patience for her brother's silence reaching its limits.
"Mother faded."
His sister's head snapped right to him like a flash of his father's lightning bolts, shock clear on her beautiful features. "What?"
The need for this to be a lie was very real in the Moon goddess' face as her silver eyes searched her brother's face.
"Mother faded," Apollo repeated, forcing himself to take a calming breath to keep from letting lose all the tears that wished to flood from his all-seeing eyes. "She's gone."
"No. No. It can't be… You're lying!" Artemis snarled in denial, forgetting that her brother wasn't capable of lying due to his status as the God of Truth as she found her legs betraying her and the moon goddess fell back down on the furs that covered her cot. "Mother wouldn't fade without saying goodbye!"
"WHY DO YOU THINK MOTHER WANTED TO SEE US!?" Apollo roared, his eyes becoming miniature suns in their sockets and his skin becoming like light as his sorrow and rage became one, making Artemis flinch back at the very rarely seen wrath on her twin's face. "She was scared! She wanted the both of us there! And you didn't come!"
He witnessed the tears that fell down Artemis' face and the goddess collapsed to her knees, her hands covering her mouth, "N-no… I… I… M-mother can't be-!"
Apollo climbed out of his chair, he knelt down beside his sister, hugging her fluxing form that was alternating from between her child form and her godly form to his body as the twin deities let out their misery as they remembered their beloved mother.
For the first time in four thousand years, Apollo and Artemis were not the god and goddess of the Sun and Moon, the twin archers or even Olympians.
They were simply a brother and sister, grieving for their lost mother.
31 July, 1990; Godric's Hollow, England
In the cottage owned by Albus Dumbledore in the small town of Godric's Hollow, a beautiful red haired woman that appeared in her late teens was breathing heavily from the exertion she faced of giving birth. She was an extremely beautiful woman that had a buxom figure with lightly tanned skin and emerald colored eyes. Her crimson colored hair fell down to her back, with bangs that were currently framing her face as the sweat from her exertion caked her in the soothing, cool bodily fluid.
This woman is Lily Potter nee Evans, the newly wed wife of James Potter, the young lord of the House Potter; and the woman was currently in a white bed gown with her beautiful legs spread wide open while giving birth to her first child, who would become the newest member of the Old and Noble House of Potter.
"One more push Lily, just one more," Andromeda Tonks said as she acted as the only wet-nurse for her cousin's wife just as the crown of the Potter's newest child peeked out from the woman's swollen vagina.
The response from her Potter cousin's wife was an evil glare and the extended crushing of James' hand in her grip becoming much worse than it was already, making Andromeda wonder if she had been this bad when she gave birth to her beloved Nymphadora.
"It's a girl!" The disgraced member of House Black declared as with a final push from the overtaxed mother, the newborn baby popped out of the muggleborn's abused womanhood, getting a groan of relief from Lily… and a happy whimper from James as she finally released his shattered hand that had been in her titanic grip for the past seven hours.
After Andromeda finished cleaning the newborn and her umbilical cord was snipped, the child was carried over to the newest Matriarch of House Potter with the newborn baby girl swaddled up inside a pink blanket.
"A girl, Lily," Andromeda said with a smile as she handed the bundle to her mother, getting a smile of happiness that only a mother could pull off from the tired and strained Irish witch.
The girl was already blessed with a tuft of the usual infantile blond hair, with the newborn having the same olive skin as her father.
"So what should we name her?" James asked as he returned to her side after Andromeda cast a healing spell on the crushed and powdered bones of his hand, the black haired wizard taking in the appearance of his newborn daughter with an excited, happy smile on his face.
"Hmm," Lily hummed as she stroked the now sleeping child on her chubby cheeks in thought, secretly marveling at the softness of the baby's cheeks. "How about we name her Jeanne? After the Holy Maiden of Orleans. We could give her a name like say, Leto, in order to keep with the Black family tradition."
James smiled at the name of his baby girl and kissed his wife on the forehead before leaning over and placing his still functioning hand on the top of the girl's head. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Welcome to the family, Jeanne Leto Potter."
And thus a Titaness once thought lost was reborn a mortal…
Hello everyone, I hoped you enjoyed this story. Since I'm sort of on vacation, I'll be trying to put up more stories and maybe finally finish chapter four of Icarus so that I can post it as a real story.
This was a just spur of the moment story, and I don't know whether or not I will be continuing it past the first chapter. We'll just have to wait and see.
Till next time, Iskander Mandoraekon signing off, Ja Ne.