Celestial Reign

After having his lover forcefully taken away from him by a truly scary god (even if Apollo thought Percy to be more scary), Apollo was taking to one of his blessed.

Blessed were mortals that had been given a blessing by a Celestial, and were very common now. If Apollo was to compare them to anything from the previous era, he’d compare them to demigods, in terms of power and numbers. Blessed were usually chosen because the mortal followed the Celestial’s path.

Each Celestial usually had a couple blessed, and some even had champions. Those blessed had a certain job: taking care of a specific portion of their patron’s domain. For example, Apollo’s current champion handled young children.

Demigods still existed, but not as much as before. Rarely did any Celestial get with a mortal, and when it did happen, the Celestials were fiercely protective of them, usually bringing the demigod to Celestis or their own home. After being in their situation before, the Celestials didn’t want them to suffer like they had.

In any case, Celestials preferred to have full Celestials as children, usually 2 or 3. Most didn’t have domains and were thus called Astrals.

Clear sighted mortals were less common now, what with the Celestials no longer hiding being the Mist. But if they did appear, Rachel would usually bring them to her temple on Celestis and give them some sort of protection or guidance.

If anyone thought the Celestials were very protective, then they were extremely right. Protectiveness was a common flaw here. It had led to some dissatisfaction in the past, but now everything was mostly fine.

Apollo grinned tiredly as he passed a dryad holding a small Astral. Nature spirits were among the many inhabitants of Celestis, alongside some friendly monsters. They kept the place clean and tidy with the help of naiads and cyclopses.

A figure caught Apollo’s eyes, one that was definitely younger than the last time both of them had seen each other.

Apollo had felt so bad when he had realized that he had seen Hermes before in the Memorial Garden and didn’t recognize him. Especially because he had made his little brother cry.

(Never mind the fact Apollo himself had also cried. He had an ego to uphold.)

Hermes hadn’t seen him yet, so Apollo decided to sneak up on his little brother. He’s had enough stealth lessons with him for the tricks to be ingrained in him.

He approached carefully, slipping into the crowd between them and making sure to look as inconspicuous as possible, until he was right behind him. He was tired, but he pushed through.

This was it. The moment he’d been waiting for millennia to do and had once given up on doing after Hermes’ death.

He scared the sh*t out of him with a loud “Boo!”

Hermes turned around at lightning speed, an expression of fear and surprise on his face. Apollo grinned, waving with his hand that wasn’t holding his drink.

“My Gods, Apollo! You scared me!” Hermes shouted, before erupting into laughter. It infected Apollo and both of them resolved into giggles.

“Man, I don’t even have a heart and I think I might finally learn what it feels like to have a heart attack! How dare you?!” He asked after they both managed to stop giggling like little children.

“I’ve been waiting millennia for this, little bro. It was now or never!” Apollo teased, bumping his fist on Hermes’ arm like they used too.

“Ow! Hey, that hurts! Control your strength, Pollo!” Hermes demanded, shooting Apollo a glare. He rubbed the spot where he was hit with vigor.

“Oh come one, it wasn’t that bad. By the way, why do you look younger? You also don’t feel like a god either.”

Hermes looked around, before sighing in relief and looking back to Apollo again. He looked at his older brother with mischief.

“Zeus and Athena wanted to keep it quiet, but… they’re not here! They think we might have the bodies of demigods. Well, some of us. The older gods feel more godly than us younger gods.”

They were leaning on each other, and Apollo was reminded of when they used to plan pranks on the residents of Olympus back in their days.

They were just missing one other person…

“Hermes! I told you not to leave me!”

Speak of the devil, and Dionysus shall appear.

He wore normal Celestial wear like most gods, with a tinge of green spread across the pure purple of his robes. Fortunately for Apollo’s eyes, his tiger print shirt was nowhere to be seen. It was a similar situation to Poseidon’s Hawaiian shirts: nobody liked them. He, too, looked younger.

“Well, Dio, I think you’re too slow.” Hermes answered, smirking at their little brother.

“Not my fault I spent the past years I was awake in a camp full of difficult children! Plus, you’re the gods of messaging! You’re always fast!” He cried out.

“I dunno, Dio. Sounds like a you problem.” Apollo snickered, leaning further into Hermes’ personal space. Hermes nodded in agreement.

“Ugh! You two are impossible! I need a drink.” The wine god whined, searching around for a glass. Apollo pulled one out for him, handing it over to his little brother.
“Hmph. Maybe you’re not that bad.”

“Good thing Father’s in prison. The Ancient Laws can’t affect us here, without him to enforce them, and technically, Dio’s punishment has long since ended.” Hermes said. Apollo nodded.

“Yep. The Ancient Laws were broken years ago. Us Celestials have such bad memories of them we don’t even have an equivalent.” Apollo stated. He pulled a face when reminded of the pure injustice of not being able to see his children nor interact with them. It had crushed him at first, and had continued to do so throughout the years.

Well, that is until the Sundering. Then, Apollo had seen how much he had missed his family, not just his children. He had felt how utterly alone he actually was now.

He fully believed, that, without Artemis and Hestia, he would have gone insane.

And which deaths were the ones that crushed him most?

Hermes and Dionysus.

And now they were back.

But for how long? Would the Fates take them back? Would they stay? Would their demigod bodies kill them before long?

He didn’t realize he had started crying. Ugly, loud sobbing. Man, he really had something for not composing himself at all during formal events huh? Artemis was so much better at this than him.

“Pollo?!”

Dionysus and Hermes rushed to his side as he sunk to the floor, hugging him tight. He felt as if he was back when he was younger, hugging his brothers as they hid from Zeus’ wrath. He had been the one to comfort them, at that time.

Now it was their turn to comfort him.

The smell of packaging and wine filled is running nose, and he leaned onto Hermes.

Around them, people started to clear. The Feast was almost over. His sister’s chariot was low on the horizon, signaling he would soon need to ride his own chariot up the skies.

He didn’t really feel like it. He didn’t want to do it alone.

He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

The warmth of the hearth seemed to get closer, as he noticed Hestia approaching. She knelt down to his height, yet remained silent. In fact, now that people had left, the temple itself was silent. Some Celestials were left, but Apollo felt too tired to notice their presence or their worried gazes.

Hestia stood up again, and went to talk to Will. Apollo’s son lit up with joy, happily sprinting out. Then, she turned to Connor and Travis, and told them something too. They left with a bit more worry in their expressions.

Apollo felt himself drifting off, as he fought to remain awake. He didn’t want to sleep. The darkness didn’t feel nice like in the Evernight.

It felt cold and suffocating.

Sea salt and water spray entered his nose as he felt Percy appear. Between his fluttering lashes, he saw his beloved sprint towards him, taking him from the warmth of Dionysus and Hermes.

He grumbled a bit at the loss of contact, only to melt into Percy’s touch. A hand passed through his hair, and a strong arm was passed around his body.

“Sleep, Phoebus. Your son will take care of your chariot.” He said, voice softly beckoning him to sleep.

As they melted into sea foam, Apollo slept soundly in the arms of his lover.