Chapter Text
Nico snuck a glance at Apollo, his gloomy attitude a little more worrying than Nico would admit. The former god had come close to crying by him in the woods, but that was about an hour ago. Nico wasn't entirely sure he was in the clear, though.
"Move." A hunter brushes past him, carrying some equipment from the camp they had set up. Looking around, he saw that the other Hunters were also moving around quickly, packing up the tents quite speedily.
"My brother will arrive soon." Artemis spoke up, coming in from seemingly nowhere. Nico jumped, spinning around to find the goddess looking at them judgingly.
"Thanks for the heads up," Nico said, when it became abundantly clear that both of them were still tense from the little talk they had earlier. "I'll— we'll go wait with the others." He grabbed Apollo's hand and pulled him away.
"What the heck, dude?" He hissed at him. "I thought we had established it wasn't your fault."
"It might not be, but that doesn't mean I can't be upset about it." Apollo huffed back at him.
"Whatever, man. It's your emotions, but you can't keep thinking about it. You've gotta move on. We have bigger problems to solve."
"You're one to talk about 'moving on'."
“Shut up. You can sulk about it all you want, but we have bigger problems to solve.”
“I will sulk about it, thank you.”
Nico rolled his eyes and waved to the past demigods, who had gathered off to the side in order to avoid the mess of Hunters cleaning up. He could still see Bianca eye him warily, obviously still not trusting the fact that he might be her younger brother's future counterpart.
"Artemis just told us that Apollo will be here soon." He spoke up, cutting the tension between Bianca and Apollo.
"That's great!" Grover bleated nervously, visibly uncomfortable with the situation. His eyes kept flickering between the two.
"Where did Percy go?" Apollo asked, avoiding everyone's eyes. He stuck his hands in his pockets.
"He went to talk to Artemis. She requested his presence before they needed to pack up. I think he should be finished by n– there he is." Annabeth pointed out Percy's quickly approaching figure.
"Hey, guys. Bianca, congrats on becoming a hunter." Percy held out a hand for her shake.
"Thanks. That was a better reception than I've gotten from some people here." She glared at Apollo, who bristled. Nico laid a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head at him.
"Didn't you think that Nico—?"
"Don't." Bianca growled. "I've heard enough from the idiot who thinks he's the god Apollo over there."
"Idiot?" Apollo intrudes, indignant. "Idiot? I'm not an idiot. You don't know anything! You didn't even know the gods existed less than a day ago!"
"Yeah? At least I'm not delusional."
"Enough!" Thalia stepped in between them, a hand on both of their shoulders. "Apollo, you should leave Bianca alone. I don't like Hunters, but I will respect her decision. Bianca, we don't know whether or no he's lying about being the actual Apollo. That's why we're going to ask the god himself. He can tell whether or not people are being truthful."
Internally, Nico was grateful that Thalia stepped in to stop the fight. He wasn't sure whether or not Bianca would have listened to him had he tried. He looked for the other Nico, seeing him somewhat-hiding behind Grover, a big frown on his face seeing his sister pick a fight with someone.
"Anyways." Percy cut in, his confusion palpable. "Artemis summoned me to tell her what the Manticore said. Before, y'know, this guy"—He pointed to Apollo—"blasted him with a light beam. The whole thing about the Great Stirring, the monster that will end Olympus, whatever. She told me to make sure that the Hunters were escorted to camp safely while she tries to hunt the monster. I'm not s—"
Suddenly, a blaze of light appeared over the horizon. Nico squinted at the bright intrusion.
"Look away until I park." Apollo instructed. "Unless you want to go blind."
Nico looked to his younger self instead, trying to ignore the melting heat emerging from the sun chariot. He could see the kid's face smiling even as he faced the completely unfamiliar world of Greek mythology. He faintly remembered the crush he used to have on Percy at this age.
"Hey." He whispered. "It's going to be okay. I promise."
Nico turned to look at him with a skeptical expression on his face. "What–?"
The light died down and the pair could finally turn their faces back to the new arrival. The car the god had arrived in was glowing red hot from the pure power it contained. The snow was melted around it in a perfect circle.
When Apollo made his first appearance, both Nico and Percy tensed a little bit. He seemed a little too similar to Luke (as well as he could remember him, at least), preferring to appear around 17/18 with blonde hair. Fortunately, he was way more . . . smiley? Than Luke had been when Nico had seen him.
"Wow." Thalia said. "Apollo is hot."
Half the group glanced toward his future counterpart, who rolled his eyes (but had a slight blush on his face).
"He's the sun god." Percy informed her.
"That's not what I meant."
"Little sister!" Apollo greeted Artemis, his gaze not yet drawn to the group standing less than 10 feet away from him. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"
Artemis sighed. "I'm fine Apollo. And I am not your little sister."
"Hey, I was born first."
"We're twins! How many millenia do we have to argue—"
"So what's up?" He interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You need tips on archery?"
"No. Look." She gestures to the crew of past and future demigods watching from the sidelines. "I need to know they are telling the truth."
Apollo turns to examine the teenagers. "Well, there's Percy, Thalia, Grover, and Annabeth." He raises an eyebrow and his wide smile seems to grow wider. "Two new kids! Hmm. Demigods, I assume? And then . . . The kid, but older? And a random mortal man. Artemis, you are aware that this is a mortal man, right? Why haven't you turned him into a jackalope yet?"
"The two demigods are Nico and Bianca. The other two claim to be from the future. The pale one is Nico from the future and the mortal man says he is you from the future." As she explains, she points to each person.
The past Apollo frowns. "He's who?"
The Apollo standing near Nico huffs. "I'm you. But you can also just call me Lester."
