Chapter 16
Minato hated surprises.
In his experience, if something wasn't planned out, it was almost always a bad thing. That was probably baggage from his childhood, he admitted (though he wasn't about to start analyzing that yet), but the fact remained that Minato despised surprises only slightly less than Akihiko despised rest days.
So when something did catch him off guard, he didn't take it well. At all.
That was why, at the moment, the taller Arisato wore a stony scowl, sitting next to a volleyball rack on the gym's bleachers and terrifying all the girls who came in from the locker room. Thouch, technically, the count was 'all but two', since one girl was snickering uncontrollably while another smirked at the "Asst. Manager" nametag they managed to slap onto him.
Yes, Hamuko and Rio had coerced Minato into "at least a day" of being an "assistant manager" for the volleyball team. They'd chased and caught him after school (despite his skill with crutches, he was still no match for true bipedals), and with Hamuko leading the charge, he'd been pushed, shoved, and at one point bodily lifted to the indoor gym, where he was now forced to help the team out. This meant tossing the girls a ball whenever they sent one flying out of bounds, while another poor sucker skittered about collecting (and dodging) the escapee balls.
The blue-haired boy let himself huff a bit as the two girls continued cackling at the expression of another girl wandering in. Really, Minato had no one to blame for this but himself. He knew they'd get along famously; he just thought it would be another week before they started kidnapping handicapped people.
After a few more girls trickled in, Rio decided it was time to get practice started. She shooed Hamuko back to the other girls and adopted her business face. "Alright, settle down girls, it's warm up time. Let's get going."
Most of the other girls muttered dissent as Rio promptly turned and began jogging around the room. However, Hamuko was right behind the black-haired captain, so the others grudgingly followed suit in half-hearted strides.
From a leader's perspective, Minato was definitely unimpressed by the team's reactions to Rio's commands. But he also had to admit that the volleyball captain really was working them hard: warm ups were a combination of laps, stretching, and pure pain. The girl was nearly worse than Akihiko.
Today, it only took twice the suggested amount of warm up time before slavedriver Rio decided it was time for normal practice to begin. And to no one's surprise, it only took a minute for one of the girls' balls to go flying away. Minato promptly tossed the replacement ball at her, but the girl caught it with a surprised "eep!" before quickly turning away.
What, was he still looking that scary?
Apparently so, as the pattern repeated itself often enough that Hamuko took the time to "tsk" and give him a disapproving look when her ball flew out of bounds one time. Minato could've thrown his hands up in exasperation.
Did you expect sunshine and rainbows after abducting me?!
Needless to say, it didn't help his grumpy mood.
After about half an hour, Rio called for a break, and most of the girls flooded into the halls to swarm the water fountain, leaving behind only their captain and Minato.
"Nice job out there, Assistant Manager-san." The girl hopped over the first step and plopped down next to Minato, smirking as she took a swig of her water bottle.
Sadly, Minato was in no mood to play their now-usual game of sarcasm jousting. "Whatever," he grumped. "You owe me another favor for this."
"Well, you're in a state," she said, raising her eyebrows as Minato sulked even lower in his seat. "Did we ruin your hot date?"
"No."
"Your exciting evening?"
"No."
"Your-"
"If your next words are 'pleasing pow-wow,' I will end you."
Rio couldn't contain herself at that, leaning back and laughing hard for several seconds. Then she took another look at Minato's glare, and more laughter bubbled up.
The taller Arisato just sighed. "Can't you go bother someone else?"
"No… No way," Rio gasped. "You're way too much fun to rile up."
"This isn't even like you," the boy muttered. "What happened to the quiet Rio-chan?"
She waved her hand at him. "Around you? Forget it."
"You know, I'm sure Hamu would love to talk with you…"
"Yeah, but she actually retaliates when you tease her, not just do that blushing thing you do."
Minato whipped his head around, jaw agape in a rare moment of emotion-showing weakness. "I do not blush!"
"Oh, really?" Rio's smile turned sharp. "Then you'd better tell me why you look like a tomato before I toss you into the produce section."
Minato hid behind his collar, sinking down even further. Secretly, he'd admit it: when he blushed, he blushed. Fortunately, it wasn't often: It usually only happened when someone brought up his sex life (Or, in this case, his unfortunate blushing habit). Rio was only privy to this information due to an accidental switch of words during a biology dissection ("Okay, Minato-kun, looks like we'll have to split this orgasm between us- Uh, you okay?").
Hell, even among friends from his previous life, only Junpei was lewd enough to discover Minato's quirk. The capped boy's attempt at bro-talk had quickly devolved into giving Minato the third degree, but at the end of the day, the baseball player had to accept that despite all evidence to the contrary, Minato just wasn't cut out to live the pimp life.
"This is why I liked the old Rio-chan more," Minato repeated (rather weakly). "Seriously, can't you go bother Hamu?"
Rio gave him a look. "Is that a serious request? You know she's totally swamped by people out there."
"Don't you have to stretch or something?"
"That's before or after practice, not during. C'mon, Minato-kun, you've gotta try harder than that."
The boy just hung his head. "Why me…?" he muttered, mostly to himself.
Rio chuckled, surprising him by slapping him on the back. "You can blame yourself for being so easy to talk to."
Uh, what?
Before he could ask about that last comment, the gym doors opened. A teal-haired girl passed by, not exactly hurrying, but definitely not meandering through the near-empty gym, her stack of books wobbling back and forth in her hands. She glanced behind her as the doors slowly swung shut, exhaling and slowing down as the doors approached closing positions. Yet just before they shut, a hand shot out and hit the door with a slap, holding it open. The poor girl in the gym started and almost tripped as the door reopened and three other girls entered.
The clear ringleader of the trio, a tan girl with light brown hair, led them with a nonchalant pace. And though the others followed at a similar speed, all the new girls' smirks grew wider as their quarry hastened its pace.
Minato's brow creased. It's already happening, huh…? Well, Fuuka did say it happened for a while before she joined up.
His eyes flitted around the mostly empty gym, eventually landing on the girl next to him, who was also eyeing the scene before them with no little consternation.
She feels the same, huh?
Glancing back to the other girls, and seeing their attention off him, the blue-haired boy grabbed his crutch and thrust it forward, aiming at one of the front wheels of the cart holding the balls.
Bonk!
Most of the balls in the gym were on the rack, but the rack itself was top-heavy due to one of its wheels missing a screw. Incidentally, it was that wheel that Minato targeted.
The cart jittered, pivoting in a sharp circle before collapsing under the unexpected pressure and letting all the balls tumble out. The girls in the room all stopped and turned in surprise… except for one teal haired girl near the exit, who kept walking.
Minato let himself inwardly smirk. Perfect!
"Sorry," he called out, restraining a smile when the girls threw ugly looks at him. "Would you mind helping me out and picking up a few of those balls? I'm a bit indisposed at the moment."
"Wasn't that your mistake?" the lead girl (Natsuki, Minato's mind supplied) drawled. "Why should we help?"
"Because you're good people?" Minato shot back, earning him flat glares.
Then he noticed that the teal-haired girl had stopped, wavering between her escape and the gym.
Of all the times for Fuuka's altruism to pop up…!
The taller Arisato stalled for a moment, caught in indecision, but before he could do anything a shrill whistle pierced the air, causing all present to wince.
Well, nearly all.
"Alright girls, break time's over!" Rio yelled to the open door, dropping her whistle to dangle around her neck. "Get back in here and clean up the mess our assistant manager's made!"
Groans resounded from the hallway, quickly turning into laughs when a certain girl's growl of "Miiiinaaaaa!" overrode the other noises.
However, Minato's attention was stuck on the girl near the exit. At the whistle's sound, she'd jumped in surprise, but halfway through turning toward the exit had met the stare of the blue-haired boy. Presumably too mortified to do anything but freeze, she stared right back at him, her wide eyes meeting his lazy ones.
Go.
The meaning was clear enough from the boy's nod in the direction of the gym's exit, but he'd also reflexively made the S.E.E.S. hand signal for flee: one pointer finger jutting towards the exit. The girl didn't move for another second, then shakily nodded and left, short hair fluttering behind her.
At the same time, Natsuki's eyes had narrowed at their interaction. She looked to be taking a step towards Minato, but her companions tugged at her sleeves as they moved past her, following Fuuka's trail. They were only a few steps away from the door before another obstacle appeared.
Hamuko and her congregation had just come back in from the water fountain in the hallway. However, being Hamuko, everyone was trying to talk with her at once, leading to a massive bottleneck. Natsuki's trio was powerless to fight the momentary flood Hamuko had caused.
Minato let himself quietly grin into his collar as several seconds passed by, and the hunters became increasingly frustrated. Finally, after all the girls had reentered and were picking up the balls and tossing them over to Minato, the trio found their opportunity to leave. They did just that, but not before Natsuki tossed one more look at Minato.
'I know what you did.'
And for once, Minato didn't hold back the predatory smirk that ripped across his face, visibly startling the three girls.
'Good.'
Deciding his terror quota had been sufficiently filled for the day, the blue-haired boy tucked his smile away and focused on catching and replacing the balls onto the rack. After a few more minutes, Rio called for the girls to start their practice games again, but stayed with the taller Arisato when the first sets popped the balls into the air.
"Alright, Minato-kun, that's both of your favors gone."
He quirked an eyebrow at her. "How do you figure that?"
"Well, for starters," she raised one finger, "I pulled the girls back in when they still had a minute of break left. And two," she pulled another finger up and cocked her head, releasing a smirk of her own, "I'm not going to ask why you seem so protective of that Yamagishi girl."
"Why do you think that?"
"You kidding? You've been indirectly fending off those girls for a good week through 'random' messes in the halls. This is just the first time they've noticed it was you."
Rio shrugged when Minato didn't reply. "But I won't ask about it. Just know that I'm onto you."
"…It's not just her."
"Hmm?" Rio took a look at the boy, whose eyes were now narrowed.
"It's not just her. Not really," he half-lied, facing his interrogator. "She's just the only one I've noticed. That's why I'm helping her."
"Oh, really? Sure you don't want to just be someone's special knight-in-shining-armor?"
Okay. Okay. Minato knew she hadn't meant anything by that, but she'd really struck a nerve. He'd heard enough of those jokes for several lifetimes.
Because no one knew how hard it was being the knight.
He wasn't being heroic for fun, goddammit!
"Yes, Rio-chan. Really." He growled. "I'm guessing you've never been chased and cornered like that?"
Rio blinked. "Uh, no?"
"Then don't make a joke about that. Ever. Got it?"
The taller Arisato hadn't realized he'd slipped into his "leader voice" until the volleyball captain abruptly stood and grabbed a ball off the rack, stammering an "Oh, uhm, okay" and evacuating the area, black ponytail swinging jerkily behind her.
Blowing out a breath, the boy remaining on the bleachers sagged, trying to release his (arguably uncalled for) anger. But only a minute or so had passed when footsteps began squeaking towards him on the polished floor.
Oh. Great.
Sure enough, when he glanced up again, his sister was walking towards him, a worried look in her eyes. She plopped down next to him, still sweating from her match, but stayed quiet. Several minutes passed by with them just watching the games. Then, right on the five minute mark:
"Wanna talk about it?"
Minato might have snorted if he hadn't been so steamed. Just like in the old days, huh?
"There's not much to say," he sighed. "I know she didn't mean anything by it."
Hamuko slowly nodded. "Please take it easy on her, Mina. I know you know that, but… I don't want you blowing up every time someone makes light of bullying."
Oh. She thought he was angry because of the bullying thing? …Well, in the original timeline, that probably would have been what set him off.
"Er, sorry, I didn't…!" the shorter Arisato suddenly backpedaled from her previous comment, waving her hands in alarm. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I know it's sorta your trigger, so-?!"
"Shut it." The girl's brother swung an arm around her shoulder and dragged her over, letting her head plop on his shoulder. "It's fine. …And, thanks."
Hamuko chuckled at the soft gratitude, shifting her head on Minato's sharp shoulder. The twins stayed like that for a few seconds, watching the games while the air filled with tough knocks on the hardwood floor and occasional yells from Rio about positioning and strategy. Then-
"Hey, hold on! I'm supposed to be comforting you!" Minato suddenly found his head being yanked onto his sister's lap, where she pinned it down with her arms. "Be comforted!"
Minato just snorted lightly. But he stopped resisting, so Hamuko eased up on the pressure.
"…In other news," Minato said, causing his sister to look down. "I heard something interesting about tonight's operation."
"Hmm? What could that be?"
"I heard that you're gonna be…"
"…operational leader for today. Are there any questions?"
Mitsuru's question hung in the musky air of Tartarus' lobby for a moment, but no one responded (Junpei looked like he wanted to say something, but Yukari kicked his shin before he did). Hearing no complaints, the Kirijo heir turned away from the line up and moved towards her motorcycle. "Excellent. Then Arisato, I would like to give you a briefing. The rest of you, please prepare."
The redhead arrived at her computer before she had finished talking, and was flipping open her pannier when the shorter Arisato twin arrived.
"Briefing, ma'am?"
A slight smile crept onto Mitsuru's face at the half sarcastic, half respectful title. It was good that the girl had, this time, retained a bit more of her personality when she switched into "soldier mode," as Akihiko dubbed it. Hopefully it was a sign of less stress.
(It didn't even occur to the redhead that she would have been quite angry if anyone else had said such a semi-sarcastic line.)
"Indeed." She turned to look the girl in the eye. "I am giving you authorization to explore Tartarus only up to the first floor for now. I understand that this may be… aggravating to some of your team, given that you have already made it to floor two, but I feel it is safest for your first mission."
"No worries, Senpai. I'll handle 'em." Hamuko shot Mitsuru a grin, but unlike Akihiko's cocky smirk, this one actually did reassure the redhead. "I'm more worried about how you'll be down here with dead-weight-san."
Following Hamuko's extended finger, the Kirijo heir found herself looking at the form of their operational leader's brother, leaned against the wall with his crutches at his feet. They hadn't planned on bringing him along… and technically, they hadn't. But when S.E.E.S. arrived at Gekkoukan just a few minutes before the Dark Hour struck, Minato was already there, sitting against the entrance gate, leaving the team no choice but to drag him inside.
"We will be fine. He is not quite... mobile enough to cause trouble."
Hamuko huffed a laugh. "True. But thanks anyways for looking after him, Senpai. I'll talk with him later about staying at the dorm." Then, with a wave, she returned to her current command.
Mitsuru absorbed the scene for a few more moments before turning back to her computer and booting it up. After logging in, she glanced up and gave Hamuko the go-ahead.
"Alright, you guys," the auburn-haired girl started, walking a few paces up Tartarus' front steps before facing her command. "Obviously, since I'm in charge today, things are gonna be a lot more fun! Er, sorry, Senpai." Hamuko grinned as chuckles briefly filled the room and Akihiko rolled his eyes. "But before we go, I'm gonna try something new. I'd like to introduce a few commands to make things easier."
"Easier, Hamu-tan?" Junpei interrupted, scratching his head. "Won't that do the opposite?"
Hamuko shook her head. "I don't mean easier like simpler, I mean easier to survive. I want to take advantage of every… well, advantage we have over the shadows, and that means communicating with each other."
Mitsuru stayed quiet in the back, entering preliminary database information, as Hamuko continued. "I'm thinking, for now, we should keep the limit on four directives: 'Act freely', a.k.a. do whatever, 'Support', heal and help the others, 'Conserve,' do nothing, and 'Target', go after the enemy I specify."
The girl's naginata swung up and on her shoulder as she sunk onto one hip. "Obviously, I'll be giving orders, but don't do what I say just 'cuz I'm leader. If I'm being a moron, tell me, alright?"
The other operational members of S.E.E.S. all nodded enthusiastically at that, but Mitsuru frowned. It's true that leaders shouldn't get too headstrong, but there were reasons, many reasons, why Hamuko was chosen above the other members, perhaps most of all being her situational awareness. For her to so blatantly encourage disobedience to people who were not nearly as aware as her, and before they had even entered the dungeon…
Mitsuru resisted the urge to sigh. At least it spoke well of her desire to keep team synergy high.
"Alright. Now we're really ready, Senpai." Mitsuru glanced up to see the four members of her operational team looking at her expectantly. "Mind hooking us up to the network?"
Junpei's snort echoed around the room until the sound of shattering glass covered it, and Penthesilea rose above Mitsuru. The redhead closed her eyes when she felt the connections form between her and her Kohai (she included Akihiko in that count). Then she nodded to Hamuko.
However: "Eh, actually, Senpai…" Hamuko pointed to a spot behind the Kirijo heir. "Would you mind connecting Mina, too?"
Mitsuru blinked, and turned around. The taller Arisato was still sitting on the ground, valiantly attempting to maintain his neutral expression while a small smile wavered just out of sight.
The redhead barely contained a chuckle. Honestly.
However, she dutifully connected the last member of their merry band, and within a few moments, the Operations team disappeared into the maw of the large clock at the top of the steps.
Blowing out a breath, the redhead closed her eyes. Penthesilea's fingers brushed against her temple, and Mitsuru's mind was filled with the dim, black-and-white outline of five people and their surroundings. Disregarding the figure sitting in the lobby, she followed the silhouettes of the active team as they ran around the floor.
"Oh! Guys, I found the stairs!" Yukari's voice rang out for the first time that night, and her monochrome form pointed a finger, sure enough, at the nearby stairs curling upwards, just a few steps beyond where the group had entered.
"Heeey, sick! What's the command, leader-tan?"
"We're not gonna go up 'em today," Hamuko replied. "We're just hanging around this floor. Come on, let's keep moving. There's a bunch of rooms we haven't visited yet, so-"
Mitsuru's attention was torn away from the conversation when a familiar black spot materialized on the floor behind the group, and angry red eyes focused on the girl at the center.
"Arisato!" Mitsuru cut in. "Shadow directly behind you, look out!"
Hamuko's form whirled around, and Minato's stiffened, but another figure was already moving after the first word. A well-placed boot caught the shadow square between its eyes, and Akihiko smirked as his kick sent it flying and splattering on the wall opposite to the team.
As the shadow and S.E.E.S. split off into their positions, Mitsuru opened one eye and raised her hands to the computer. Her fingers flew across the keys as she entered the shadow's attributes into the database, brow furrowing down as the murky outline provided by her still closed right eye grew even less clear.
"There are three enemies – Cowardly Mayas!" The Kirijo heir's voice rang out. "From what we have gathered last time, they appear to be weak to fire, but they might have more weaknesses!"
"Okay! Yukari, 'target' that one on the left, Akihiko, 'target' the middle one, and Junpei-"
"Last one, right?!"
"Yeah! Go!"
Mitsuru's frantic typing sped up as the trio charged and Hamuko jumped back a step, her naginata held at the ready as she watched her subordinates.
Despite all the tension, the shadows were uneventfully dispatched within a few minutes. The redhead quietly sighed in relief as she dropped her hands to the side, and quickly double-checked the new information discovered about the shadows.
"Hey, Mitsuru, need a break?"
Akihiko, of course, was the only one bold (dumb?) enough to say something like that to the Kirijo heir. But he was also the only one who understood that Mitsuru couldn't keep her persona manifested forever: She needed occasional breaks to keep the connection strong, and the problem only got worse as the floor levels increased.
Having said that, what did he think-
"Well, I dunno about Senpai," Hamuko's voice chirped out, "But I know I could use a break. This mind stuff takes some getting used to!"
Leave it to the shorter Arisato to break the tension. "Very well. I'll disconnect us for one minute. Stay where you are now, understood?"
"Got it, Senpai."
Not waiting to hear the other confirmations, Mitsuru dispelled Penthesliea, who evaporated into the air before settling back into the redhead's chest. Slumping, the Kirijo heir let out a slight groan, massaging her temple and relaxing for a moment.
Until a slight cough came from behind her.
Ah, yes. She wasn't alone, was she?
Whipping her head around, Mitsuru immediately found the other Arisato sibling, whose eyes were determinedly shut in his usual, neutral expression.
"Arisato…" Mitsuru began, voice cool. "Is there anything on your mind?"
The boy opened his eyes, meeting hers with the same level of detached regard. "No, Senpai. Just glad you're not too stressed."
They maintained eye contact for several seconds, before the redhead broke it with a light hmph.
Quiet settled over the room after that, and Mitsuru allowed herself to relax again (though not quite as much, this time). She had expected for Minato to remain quiet, too.
Sadly, things couldn't be that simple with an Arisato.
"That looks like tough work."
The Kirijo heir didn't turn when the boy spoke. "…It's something I've trained for."
"Wouldn't it be easier if you had help?"
Mitsuru's eyes shuttered down. "I would like to believe that I have reached a level where I do not need a tutor, Arisato."
"…I was suggesting that I could help, Senpai."
Stiffening, the girl turned with a look close to incredulous, because who offers help to Kirijo Mitsuru?
"That is… No, I am quite alright, quite fine," she replied, stuck somewhere between anger and confusion.
But Minato was already frowning before she finished. "Senpai," he began, pausing when Mitsuru actually made eye contact, "…I just want to make sure everyone's safe. If I can help you do that, than I'd like to."
The redhead stared at him. Every part of her was screaming no: No, of course she did not need assistance, she was Kirijo Mitsuru, for God's sake! But she'd also heard the unsaid question in the boy's words, whether he meant to ask it or not.
'What's more important: Your pride? Or your kohai?'
Mitsuru could barely accept that she might be more effective with a support on her side. However, she could never accept losing a kohai. And there had been far too many times in the past month where that had almost happened.
"…How would you suggest you help, Arisato?"
"I could type your entries into the database."
Mitsuru blinked. "Pardon my bluntness, but how would that help? It would take more time for me to recite the details and then have you type them."
"True. But then you wouldn't need to split your focus." The blue-haired boy cocked his head, and Mitsuru could almost imagine a wry grin splitting his lips. "Isn't communication our biggest advantage over the shadows?"
The Kirijo heir faltered for a moment, attempting to come up with a valid counterargument. Once again, Minato didn't let her finish.
"Hasn't it been a minute?"
Mentally cursing, Mitsuru summoned Penthesliea, connecting the rest of the team (and doing her best to now glower at the taller Arisato for bluntly pointing out her mistake). "Is everyone alright?"
"Yup, and we're rarin' to go! Thanks again for the break, Senpai!"
Hearing the shorter Arisato's spunk, Mitsuru's façade slipped just enough for a small smile to sneak through. "Excellent." She unholstered her evoker with one hand and unclipped the laptop from its pannier with the other, while a shuffling noise alerted her to Minato's movements as he scooted over to the floor next to the motorcycle, his slender hands reaching up to take the laptop into his lap.
"In that case," Mitsuru started, glancing down at the boy before he gave her a nod. "Let's continue."
The redhead turned away from the blue-haired boy as she fired her evoker, sending glass shards soaring into the air and letting a slight smirk curve her lips.
Well, this will be interesting.
AN: Hey, an update! How about that!
Shout outs to: zier1, Triplesquidge, Story Reader 97, Diamond-Crest, Conjurer of Sabers, terisu-seifa, XrosaryX, Syndranar, Labrys115, Uchiha Rai, The Ruisu, Chief of the Storm, Echoing Hunter, Kimiraya, Xigtus, Addie Card, fiction-rulz, dopplerdee, kayre459, SnakeyShirogane, Memento Mori – The Truth, Szulu, and sandymaxy for following;
zier1, MysteryOfOrigin, Justinkct, XrosaryX, Labrys115, The Ruisu, remixofdestiny, Kimiraya, Addie Card, and Snakey Shirogane for faving;
and Yoshikunitsu, Guest, crymblade, Gu3st, Doom Marine 54, MagatsuIza, Hawkeye Raider, and terisu-seifa for reviewing!
In response to:
[Guest: Haha man, an AU with a dark Hamu would be freakin' awesome! But no, that's not who she is here. She can definitely be seen as manipulative here, but it's just because she's trying to bring her team closer together. Thanks for reviewing!]
[Doom Marine 54: Well, I already answered your questions and stuff… But thanks again for reviewing!]
[Gu3st: Thanks man, me too! Yup, Tartarus is a pretty weird concept, especially given how the beliefs of Ancient Greeks could change (well, did change, sometimes) over time. Thanks for reviewing!]
Y' know, it occurred to me after rereading this that I probably could've made this chapter a little less boring… but, everything here needed to be shown, and I think you guys have waited long enough for this chapter without me rewriting it, yeah?
In less boring news… including this chapter, we've got T-minus 2 chapters left until the Priestess battle!
And now, as usual:
MYTH CORNER!
This week's topic: Apollo! (Thanks again to MagatsuIza for the idea!)
DISCLAIMER: Greek myth, M-rated, blah blah blah.
Who was he?: Apollo was the twin brother of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and the son of Leto and Zeus. Leto was the daughter of Titans Coeus and Phoebe, and somehow caught the eye of Zeus. Surprise surprise, he rapes her, Hera gets pissed (going so far as to curse her to never give birth upon "real" land), and Leto has to flee.
Eventually, she finds the Island of Delos. The island was not connected to the seafloor (I'm pretty sure this is impossible in reality, for those wondering), and thus was an acceptable place for her to give birth. She gave birth to Artemis first, who, in one of my favorite Greek Myth side stories, immediately helps her Mother give birth to her twin,using her lesser-known powers as the goddess of childbirth.
[Before we continue, I want to talk about Delos - the real Island. Even before the Ancient Greek civilization was established, Delos was a holy sanctuary… but for earlier gods. This is important because the fact that the Ancient Greeks established this Island as the birthplace for Apollo and Artemis was possibly a form of cultural warfare. Whether or not it was done on purpose, making this old holy sanctuary the birthplace of two main Olympian deities stressed the importance of the Island to the spreading Greek culture (which would hopefully make their expansion less intimidating), while also quietly sweeping the past deities out of sight and out of mind.
This is not the first time that this type of occurrence has been seen, either. It happened with the Sky Guy himself: Zeus was said to be born in Crete to help ingratiate the Minoan Civilization (a powerful pre-Greek civ based in Crete) into the Greek "Empire".]
Back to Apollo. Being a major deity, he is an incredibly varied individual: his powers include healing, prophecy, music and poetry, light/sun, and knowledge. In fact, so many of his traits are directly tied to common interpretations of the Ancient Greek culture that he has been called the "most Greek" of the gods. Many people also know him as the patron deity (sorta like the godly overseer) of the Island of Delphi, home to the famous Oracle of Delphi, and the charioteer of the sun after the Sun God Helios disappeared from Greek culture.
Okay, I've gotta cut myself off sometime. There's obviously loads to say about Apollo, and I've barely scratched the surface, so if you're interested, go look him up!
Why does he matter?: [MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOTH PERSONA 2 GAMES! NOT 3! TWO!]
(Before I start, I'd like to say that I know much less about Persona 2 than I do about 3 and 4, so lemme know if I messed something up.)
Apollo is the ultimate persona for Tatsuya, the protagonist of P2 Innocent Sin and a major character in P2 Eternal Punishment. At the end of Innocent Sin, persona user Amano Maya is killed, and the only way to save her is for everyone to destroy the timeline they currently are in and live in another one, where none of the characters met, so they'll have no memories of each other. Tatsuya refuses to give up the memories of his friends, and thus is sorta banished to the other side, the broken timeline where his friends didn't meet. "Sorta" banished because he escapes, setting up the events for P2 Eternal Punishment.
Where does Apollo fit in with all this? Well, there's potential to fit him in a bunch of places. For example, Apollo was the god of prophecy/knowledge, so you could draw parallels between that and how Tatsuya was the only one left with his memories at the end of P2: IS.
However, I think the best parallel is that Tatsuya is the "sun" of the group, both metaphorically (He's the leader) and literally (He's the "sun" arcana). We can even see his progression: his initial persona is Vulcanus (a different spelling of "Vulcan", the roman name for the God of the hearth, Hephaestos), showing his beginning power to "forge" bonds. But it isn't until he gains his ultimate persona Apollo that he finally gains his true power as a "sun" that draws everyone to him.
(Okay, I admit, that connection isn't my strongest work, and I'm sure there are tons of things I'm missing. But maybe you guys who are familiar with the P2 games can see some connections! If you see any, feel free to let me know!)
[EDIT 11/24/14] We've got some new info regarding Apollo (and a whole bunch of other P2 chars and personas)! Everyone say thank you to G.A.S.A. for taking the time to write this out!
"Apollo is also the brother of the moon goddess Artemis. Maya Amano has Artemis as her Ultimate Persona, which represents their bond as surrogate siblings when children. Maya's Initial Persona, Maia, is Hermes' (Jun's Initial Persona) mother. This represents Maya's role as Jun's surrogate mother when they were children. Apollo is also the leader of the Muses, goddesses of arts. Lisa (who has a crush on Tatsuya) is member of a idol group names MUSES.
Apollo is also the sun god, and the Sun rules over the sign of Leo, Tatsuya's sign. Likewise, the Moon (Artemis) rules over Cancer (Maya), Venus rules over Taurus (Lisa), Saturn (Chronos) rules over Aquarius (Jun) and Pluto (Hades) rules over Scorpio (Eikichi).
Leo (Tatsuya) is aligned with Fire, Taurus (Lisa) is aligned with Earth (which also explains why Venus' element isn't Water even though she was born from seafoam), Scorpio (Eikichi) is aligned with Water, Aquarius (Jun) is associated with Wind and the Moon (Maya) is associated with Water (but since Eikichi is already Water, she gets Ice)."
Dear god, this whole chapter took a hell of a long time. It's also the longest to date: 15 pages! How did I spend so much time on a chapter with almost zero important plot development?!
Oh well.
I'll see you in the next update, but until then, thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for reading!