APOLLO KNEW VERY WELL THAT HE WAS A TRAGIC PERSON TO LOVE. every mortal he'd ever loved had suffered some sort of sad death. he knew his happy ending would probably never come and he'd be waiting until the end of time. tragedy gravitated towards apollo like he was the sun ( which he technically was ). lovers orbited around him and when they got too close, they would die. Time and time again he'd bury the bodies of those who had once meant the world to him.
After a few thousand years, he had grown used to the feeling of emptiness that sat in his chest cavity when a lover turned to a corpse in his arms. and he barely felt the painful snap of his heartstrings when he had to look into their lifeless eyes.
but he could still hope for some sort of happy ending. one day, maybe he'd get one ----- fate foresaw some kind of ending for him relating a lover. though he wasn't sure if the ending foreseen was a good one or a bad one. apollo could only wish it was going to be the former.
After all, he deserved some happiness, didn't he?
he had commited acts of cruelty and monstrosity time and time again throughout his godhood and he had rarely ever recieved consequences for his actions ( well, his lovers succumbing to tragic fates was probably some sort of consequence ). and despite the atrocities he had done to the world ----- despite the fact he let everyone burn time and time again, he still believed he deserved some sort of happiness.
he never expected that hypothetical happiness to come in the form of a child of ares.
apollo watched the world every day as he flew over it in his sun chariot ( it was always daytime somewhere after all ) which meant he saw all. he often watched his children and he sometimes watched other demigods. most of the other gods were too cruel to look over their own children so apollo did the job for them.
he often watched the Ares kids because well. . . he never knew kids could be so much like their parents.
apollo knew all his kids were like him ----- but they mostly just shared looks. obviously they shared some of his powers but they didn't tend to have his personality ( basically they didn't have massive overinflated egos ).
but ares's kids were scarily alike to the war gods. as in, they looked similiar to him with their mean scowls, smiles so sharp they could cut through flesh and their expressions when they were mid bloodshed were practically the exact same. they also always had a weapon on them ----- a sword or their fists, either one worked just as well as the other. they had a knack for fighting everything that mildly bothered them. basically, to put in in the simplest terms, they were war thirsty rabid animals. ( perhaps it was mean to describe them in that way but it wasn't like ares would ever find out ----- apollo doubted ares cared about his kids enough to try and defend them anyway )
but there was another reason apollo watched these bloodlusting war machine children so closely. he knew among them was a future soulmate. which. . . well, it was unexpected, to say the least. apollo knew he was a violent god - he was the god of plagues, after all. but ares was a god of war and his children were like him. what was more violent than war? nothing. it was odd that apollo a ( usually ) peaceful god would be fated with a violent demigod who probably solved every situation they found themselves in with their fists.
( apollo swore those ares kids came out of the womb, teeth bared and knuckles aching from fighting their way out of their mother )
since the fates themselves told him of this, he'd decided to keep a very close eye on any
children of ares to try and figure out which one was his. they had to fight some requirements though.
the fates had mentioned something about nine being a significant age for this particular demigod. so anytime a child of ares hit nine, he watched them very intently. he hoped the fates meant something good would happen to them at this age. . . if not. Well, apollo had lost alot of lovers throughout his godhood. losing another one would be the ugliest sight for anyone ever. his eyes started to glaze over with cruelty at the thoughts of what he'd do to the world if -----
"brother, what are you looking at?" artemis's voice shook him out of the dark train of thoughts his mind was heading in. "You've been staring into nothing for the past ten minutes."
apollo tilted his head to look at his little sister and his lips curved into a grin. "artemis!" he put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, ruffling her hair.
"get off of me, you ----- "
"how's my favourite twin doing?"
"I'm your only twin, apollo." she said as she pushed him away, "and answer my question."
"I'm watching ares." he said simply, "not in a stalker way though."
"thats basically stalking, dear brother." artemis sighed, "why are you watching. . . ah, this is about the fates isnt it." realisation quickly dawned on her. "you're becoming too obessesed with what tthey told you, brother. it's been, what? two hundred years since you were told by them."
"two hundred and four years, seven months and eighteen days." he said, running a hand through his blonde locks. "but ares is with a younger daughter right now, artemis."
"he's been with lots of young children before, apollo." artemis stated plainly. she came to stand next to apollo and looked on the screen where ares was taking a child, who couldn't have been that old, from a woman. artemis's brows furrowed, "I recognise that woman. . . I've seen her before."
apollo nodded, "the girl looks so young... she must be about. . ." he trailed off and paled, "nine." he breathed out shakily, "she's nine, artemis."
artemis shook her head, "it could mean nothing."
she had a point but -----
"it could mean everything." he said, his voice borderlining on desperation now. he turned his head back to the screen and now ares was walking with the young girl in his arms. she was crying and ares was. . . comforting her? apollo's face scrunched up ----- the sight was weird.
the girl buried her face against ares's neck and he was rubbing her back and he held her. the whole scene was so strangely domestic. ares seemed less like a god and more like a regular man who was walking down a street with his young daughter.
"Wheres he taking her?" artemis asked.
"probably to camp halfblood."
the goddess shook her head, "you know gods don't do that. they don't personally take their children to camp halfblood ----- satyrs or mortal parents do. . . not gods, apollo. its never gods."
apollo didn't seem to believe her, "I wish these stalking screens had sound, he's speaking to her."
artemis chuckled slightly, "you named it a stalking screen?" she watched as ares pressed three fingers to the forehead of his daughter and there was a very faint and short black glow that surrounded her before it disappeared.
she stumbled back slightly, like she'd been pushed back.
apollo looked at her, "what? what's wrong?"
she pressed her lips together in a thin line, "he blessed her with the power to become a wolf at will, apollo. do you know what this means?"
apollo's usually warm and kind expression went cold ----- the warmth in his eyes vanished and he instead had a dark edge to them. he looked back at the screen and noticed the girl had a scrape on her knee and her palms were skinned. his expression went deadly.
she was too young for his love yet but he still felt the surge of protectiveness spread throughout his body. when apollo cared for something, he cared for it fiercely. a small wound was enough to make him want to let entire civilisations burn.
"brother. she's nine, think rationally. all young children do is injure themselves." artemis had a hint of pleading to her voice ----- pleading her brother not to do anything impulsive and stupid, like he normally would.
apollo nodded, "you're right. but still. . ." he gave the girl on the screen a lasting lingering look before turning off the screen. "I wonder why ares blessed her. she's nine, what can she do with such a powerful blessing?"
"I don't know, apollo. but I do know this. . . by giving her that blessing, ares had made her yours." artemis's expression turned almost sombre, "I hope you treat her with kindness, brother. I think she'll need kindness by the time you meet her in a few years from now."
"I'm always kind, unless I'm given a reason not to be."
( he didn't care much for the girl now, she was nine ----- a mere baby in the eyes of a god like him who'd been alive for a very long time. but he knew the moment he met her in a few years, he would suddenly care for her alot. and she would have the power of a mighty god at her beck and call )
"you don't always need a reason to be cruel, my brother." artemis said in a solemn tone. "you are one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon and cruelty comes natural to a man. . . a god like you." she spoke in a kind tone but her words weren't exactly kind.
apollo's lips curled into a grin, "you're right. I'm a god ----- cruelty is in my blood. it's ingrained into the ichor I bleed and it seeps into my bones." he shook his head, "but cruelty is often deserved."
"you think cassandra deserved what you did to her?" artemis asked bitterly. "did daphne deserve it?"
apollo frowned, "cassandra was a liar ----- she chose to be cursed by lying to me. and daphne. . . that was not my fault ----- eros shot me with an arrow. she should've ran faster to get away from me." he let out a hollow and bitter laugh.
artemis shook her head, "I sometimes forget how. . . callous you are when it comes to your past lovers. cassandra may have lied but she did not deserve what happened to her. and daphne. . . I think she ran fast enough, she just got tired of it too quickly."
apollo's clenched his fists. "leave me, artemis."
artemis pressed her lips into a thin line, "very well, brother. but. . . do think about what I've said. gods are not always innocent in every situation. I fear we are more often guilty than we are innocent." she turned and left apollo.
apollo looked back to the screen and watched as ares placed the girl down on the concrete and apollo noticed she was barefoot. it was too hot for her to stand on the boiling concrete without shoes ----- apollo frowned is disapprovement. he noticed a bracelet around her wrist with a single charm on it, a silver sun.
he turned the screen off, he didn't want to know details upon details about this girl. he didn't need to know yet. the time to meet the girl would come in a few years and he'd wait for that moment patiently.
IN A WAY, BOWIE ALWAYS KNEW SHE WAS FATED WITH THE SUN. even before apollo himself knew she was supposed to be his.
the sun clinged to her at all times. she found it impossible to burn, even in the hottest of heatwaves when she was wearing no suncream. she always came out of the long summer months with a nice tan which made her freckles stand out.
bowie had first caught a glimpse of the man she was fated with when she was seven years old. Well, she didn't catch a glimpse of him specifically, rather the closest thing she could get ----- a child of his, though she didn't know about the existence of the gods at the time.
( but looking back on it, she supposed her meeting him was an important point of her life. . . it must've happened for a reason, after all )
it was a hot summers day and the cold water had stopped working in the house which wasn't ideal. so, mother had grabbed some money ( from the payments that would mysteriously appear in her bank account every month and she would never say where the money came from ) and told bowie to get dressed.
mother and daughter headed to the local shop to buy some fresh cold water. Bowie was wearing some shorts and a pink t - shirt with some pink glittery words on the front. her cross necklace swung as she happily skipped to the shop. her mother was wearing a white knee length skirt with poofy sleeves. her gold necklace was positioned so the cross was sat directly by her heart.
( Bowie never really paid it much attention but on the back of the cross there were four letters carved in ----- A R E S )
they got to the shop and bowie went off to find some sweets while mother went to buy some water to see them through the heatwave for the next few days.
walking through the sweet aisle, she wasn't exactly watching where she was going and bumped into a boy. she immediately apologised, like mother had always taught her to. the boy didn't seem that bothered by it.
he was about a couple months to a year younger than bowie so he was six years old. he was about 3'9 in height and had messy blonde hair that was sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck from the heat. his eyes were a cornflower blue and his lips were curved up into a smile. he didnt seem to mind the heat very much.
"I'm michael!" he said happily, messing around with his hair.
bowie said the name that would soon not belong to her anymore ----- it belonged to a past version of her.
"thats a cool name." Michael grinned, "I like your hair."
bowie smiled, "Thank you." her hair was red in colour and reached down to her mid back. though today it was done up in a ponytail to try and keep it off her neck so she didn't get a horrendous heat rash like she normally did.
Michael awkwardly chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few moments. "so. . . how old are you?"
"I'm seven." Bowie held up seven fingers, "how old are you?"
"six."
bowie nodded, michael was around her age then. she noticed the chocolate he had in his small hands which were covered in plasters.
"oh, wow. that's my favourite chocolate." she said excitedly.
michael opened the pack and offered a bar to her, "here you go."
she took the bar of chocolate from him and put it in her pocket. "thank you."
michael's mum then came along and smiled. "michael! there you are ----- I've been looking all over this shop for you." she ruffled michael's hair affectionately. "oh, you've made a friend."
bowie told Michael's mum her name.
"thats a very pretty name. it's very fitting for you." Michael's mum smiled.
"have you found any sweets you ----- oh." mother walked into the sweet aisle. "Ah, you've made a friend." she smiled at Michael's mum. "she hasn't been giving you trouble, has she?"
"oh, no. she seems like a very lovely child."
"she is." mother smiled, "I'm vivian."
"I'm mabel." Michael's mum replied, "well, it was very nice meeting you both. come on, Michael. let's get home."
Michael nodded. he followed after his mum but not before reaching for one of the bouquets the shop was selling and picking out a flower. "here you go." he held it out to Bowie.
she took the flower from him, "Thanks. bye bye, Michael."
Michael didn't stop waving at her until he was out of her view.
"he was a sweet boy." mother said, grabbing bowie's hand and taking her to the till so they could pay for the water. "if I see him and his mum again, maybe we can organise something for you two. It'll be good for you to make friends."
BOWIE WANTED MAMA, NOT THIS STRANGE MAN WHO WAS HOLDING HER RIGHT NOW. she had turned nine back in november, and it was now july, so she'd be turning ten in just four months.
it was a hot summer, so she was dressed in just a tanktop and some shorts. mama was preparing lunch, chopping up vegetables while the smell of some sort of meat wafted into the living room where bowie could smell it very well.
she was sat on the comfy, fluffy dark green rug in the living room, playing with her barbies, as usual. a few feet away from her, becca the bunny rabbit hops around in her cage, gnawing with her teeth at a tiny pear slice. bowie scribbles at paper with brightly coloured highlighters, eyes flicking up every so often to watch becca.
she'd begged mama to buy her becca, she had spotted the white bunny rabbit one day while they walked past a pet store and the way becca looked at her, it was a begging to be adopted.
bowie couldn't stop thinking about the fluffy white bunny rabbit with droopy ears and a twitching nose, the bunny rabbit that sat patiently in a cage by the window, waiting and waiting.
bowie had asked mama if she'd ever be allowed a pet: a dog, a cat, a hamster, a rabbit, anything would do really ----- bowie had always wanted a pet.
she was jealous about the other kids at school, the ones who she saw walking to school with a dog, or the ones that spoke about funny things their cat did, or the ones that talked about how fluffy and soft their rabbit was.
( any pet would do, but bowie badly wanted a rabbit )
mama hesitated, thinking about it. but she always found it difficult to deny bowie of things. so, she kissed her second child on the head, put a plaster on the papercut bowie had, and told her they could go back the next day to look for the bunny rabbit.
becca had still been there. mama had paid the money for her and since then, becca had taken up a permanent place in bowie's little child heart ----- and in the living room, where she hopped around in her cage.
"becca, do you want more food?" bowie asked, tilting her head. she finished drawing the bird on the piece of plain paper, it was a funny looking bird and a bit ugly ----- she thinks it's called a vulture, bowie is pretty sure she saw something about it on the TV once, on a channel about birds of prey.
she got up and waddled over to becca, grabbing a small apple slice from the fruit bowl on her way over and pushing it through the gaps in the cage. becca started eating it. Bowie reached a small finger through the cage to run along becca's fluffy white fur.
"sweetie, you better not be feeding becca too much fruit! she'll get sick if she has too much." mama's voice called out from the kitchen, in her soft voice.
"only a little slice, mama!" bowie responded, pouting a bit. "sorry, becca," she said quieter, "no more fruit for now. maybe later." she sat back down, and decided to start another drawing.
just as she was about to start her scribbling again, the timer in the kitchen went off, loud and ringing, like always. mama turned it off and bowie listened to her shuffle around in the kitchen, undo the lid of the ketchup to squirt some on plates and then put the ketchup away. bowie left her bright highlighters and paper and got up, going to the bathroom to wash her hands.
she dried them quickly on the white hand towel ----- the one with the pretty pastel pink and pastel green swirls at the bottom. she headed into the small dining room and sat down as mama brought two plates of food in.
"have you washed your hands, sweetie?" mama asked, looking at bowie softly, "with soap." she added.
"with soap." bowie nodded, "can I eat?"
mama laughed, "not yet. we've got to say grace first, it's the right way to do things. . . it'll make the Lord happy."
"but I'm hungry." bowie whined.
"so am I," mama said, fingers twitching towards her cutlery, "okay, just this once, we'll skip out on saying grace. but never again, okay?" she said sternly, picking up her cutlery.
"okay, mama!"
the doorbell rang. mama cursed and stood up, smoothing out her dress as she went to the front door. bowie, being curious, got up and trailed behind, wanting to see who was at the door.
she frowned.
she didn't recognise this man. he was tall, with red hair similiar to her own. his eyes were covered by sunglasses and he didn't have a smile or pleasant expression on his face, eyebrows pinched downwards. he was wearing one of those suits that the people on the motorbikes usually wore, bowie noted.
mama went pale, "oh." she mumbled, "I wasn't. . . I didn't. . ." she trailed off, cheeks turning red, "ares." she said simply, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"
the ares man didn't reply for a few seconds. bowie felt like his eyes were on her. "this is her then?" he asked, "sorry I didn't visit sooner, I was. . . busy."
mama nodded, "of course. I often am so busy with things I'm unavailable for almost ten years ----- happens all the time." she reached for a white tissue and coughed into it. when she pulled away, she grimaced and bowie swore she saw red staining mama's lips. mama quickly wiped her mouth and threw the tissue away.
"it's getting worse." ares said, his voice growing a bit quieter, "I can tell." he bit down on the inside of his cheek in frustration, "do you want me to take her. . . there?"
mama looked away, "you can't. I won't abandon her, I'm her mother ----- my job is to stay and look after her, no matter how hard it gets for me."
the man shook his head, "let me take her. you'll recover better ----- "
"if I recover at all." mama said, voice starting to raise.
bowie hated shouting, and arguing. she clutched onto mama's dress, burying her face against the nice material. mama patted her head, "it's okay, sweetie. me and the man are just talking about grown up things. how about you go and eat lunch?"
bowie shook her head, she wouldn't eat ----- not without mama.
"vivian." ares said, "let me take her, so you can recover without fussing over her all the time." he spoke firmly to mama, "you can still see her, at christmas."
"either I see her all the time, or not at all." mama said, her voice growing tense and hostile, "I will not lose my daughter ----- not again."
ares sighed, "vivian."
mama hesitated, looking down at bowie. she picked bowie up, holding her daughter close to her, "sweetie. . . I. . . listen, mama isn't feeling very well a - and she needs some time to recover. so you're going to go to a place where. . . where you'll be safe, and have lots of. . . people like you to be friends with." mama brushed some hair out of bowie's eyes, "I'll see you soon, I promise." she pressed her lips to bowie's forehead in a long and lingering kiss, not wanting to leave bowie.
"mama? I don't wanna go!" bowie cried out as the ares man gently took hold of her, "what about my stuff? what a - about becca?"
mama bite down on her bottom lip hard, "I'll see you soon, my baby." she touched her hand to bowie's face and began to sob, "I promise. I'll take care of becca for you, I'll feed her and keep her alive for you, sweetie."
"mama!" bowie cried out, reaching out her small hands for mama as the door closed. she squirmed and wiggled in the man's grip but he didn't seem to be letting go.
"calm down." he said, adjusting her slightly, "you'll see your mama soon again ----- I won't hear the end of it from her if I don't let her see you again." he muttered under his breath and began to walk.
bowie let out silent sobs into the man's shoulder, small fingers curling against his leather jacket. she felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest a thousand times over and over, and she'd been awake and not on any sedatives or anasthesia at all. she was only briefly aware of ares rubbing at her back.
he re adjusted her head so she was looking at him and gently pressed three fingers to her forehead. her eyes fluttered shut and there was a small glow around her for a few brief seconds before it extinguished. she opened her eyes.
"I give you the gift of the she - wolf, one worthy for only my greatest of children." he spoke, "and with this gift. . . comes responsibility. and now, now you will be seeked out by a god." he looked at her, like he was thinking what flowers would look best at her funeral, "but don't fear, I have a feeling this god may be kind to you ----- or he will face my wrath." he paused, "I suppose i should explain to you your. . . origins. but first. . . well, I think you want a new identity ----- a new name?"
bowie nodded, "a new name." she repeated, "I don't like my current one."
the man nodded, "what do you wish to be called then?"
she thought about it, she'd heard alot of pretty names before in her life. she thought about famous people ----- singers and actors and whatnot. one of her favourites was david bowie, he was, as mama called him, a lyrical genius. but a girl couldn't be called david, that would probably be stupid.
ares stopped walking and gently placed her down, she winced at the hot concrete underneath her bare feet but didn't say anything. "well? what do you want your name to be?"
"bowie."
AUTHOR NOTE . . .
-----originally bowie's mum was gonna like die but I then changed my mind bc I've got a role for her later on in the storyline
-----and yes I know Michael Yew has black hair but like for the purpose of the plot, it's blonde now. maybe he'll have an emo phase later on and dye it black
-----becca the bunny rabbit does actually have some importance to the story I just haven't decided what yet but there's a reason she was mentioned so much
-----ares winning the worst father reward for giving his daughter the she - wolf gift and making sure she's fated with apollo