Chapter Text
Eventually, Apollo has to leave. He doesn’t want to; he’d much prefer to stay with his children. Unfortunately, however, he has things to do. Crime sleeps for no injury, after all.
He flashes into his apartment and grabs a banana on his way to changing. He eases up on the containment on his shoulder and winces. Ow.
He grabs his laptop on his way to the couch; if he can’t go to work, he can at least do some here. And then he opens Twitter instead. And immediately groans.
Someone had tagged him in a fanart of him and Bruce. Okay, sure, let people be creative! He’s absolutely all for that. He’s not all for people shipping him with his dad and shoving it into his face. Even worse—it’s not even him as Nightwing, it’s him from when he was still Robin. The artist had even specifically stated that it was the original Robin!
“Gross,” he mutters, already drafting a response in his mind.
“What is?”
Dick yelps and nearly loses his balance, only barely managing to keep the laptop from falling.
“Jesus, Arty,” he says, laying a hand on his heart. “Don’t do that. Or at least warn me!”
Artemis just smirks. “Now where would be the fun in that?”
Dick groans. “You really suck sometimes,” he grumbles, but when she sinks on the couch next to him, he leans his head on her shoulder.
“What’s gross?” she repeats.
“Oh. People are shipping me and Bruce.”
“Your father?”
“Mhm. Well,” he adds, “adopted.”
She makes a noise of understanding. “Is that any different from mortals pairing us up?”
“ Yes,” Dick says, frustrated. “First off, things were different back then. Second, he’s over twenty years older than me, and I was nine when I first started! Nine! Not to mention the undertones of incest! And technically, we don’t have DNA. It's very different.”
Artemis rubs circles into his back, and he’s reminded yet again of how lucky he is to have a sister like her. He leans into her a bit more, basking in her warmth.
“Sweet home Alabama,” he mutters.
Artemis raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything about his comment. Instead, she asks, “Can I come with you tonight?”
He glances at her. “Why?”
She shrugs. “Because I want to spend time with my brother? Because I want to see what you’ve been up to?”
He blinks. “I—sure, I guess? Just don’t interfere.”
“I wouldn’t anyway,” she says. “It’s against the rules.”
He snorts at the cheekiness dripping from the last word. “Fair enough.”
Dick puts on a movie and sinks into his sister. Gods, he loves her so much. He actually doesn’t know where he’d be without her. It’s possible he wouldn’t be at all—their father had always been sweet on her; Apollo not so much. It had gotten worse after the attempted overthrow, even though he wasn’t even a main instigator in that—mainly backup.
Still, his father had decided to punish the lot of them, and Apollo had accepted that. After that, however, even over a century later, Zeus had still been harsher with Apollo than any of the others, including his uncle. Even when they were minor transgressions, Zeus had always made him an example of what not to do.
It had grated on him. Ares had done much worse, and yet he got a slap on the wrist compared to Apollo.
Now, with the hindsight of studying psychology in college (before he dropped out), he can look back and see: Zeus was jealous.
Apollo was charismatic, handsome, and kinder than Zeus could ever dream of being. That’s not to say he wasn't cruel—oh, he could be very creative when he got mad. But Apollo had a certain aura that frightened Zeus, and he feared being overthrown. So when Apollo had been roped into his uncle’s plans, Zeus had taken that as confirmation.
But the thing is, the thing that Zeus would never be able to understand—Apollo doesn’t want to rule. Uncle Poseidon is content with the ocean, and Uncle Hades has his hands full with the Underworld. None of them want to take on the burden.
Of course, Zeus couldn’t see past his own assumptions, and decided that since Apollo obviously wanted to rule, he’d punish him in advance.
Dick understands that now. He doesn’t like it, and it’s really shitty, but he knows the reasons for some of the things that happened. And he’s not—he’s not happy about it, not really, but what can he do, really?
“Apollo,” Artemis says softly. “It’s getting late.”
Dick hums in agreement and pushes off the couch. “I’m gonna go change. Meet me on the McDonald's roof in ten?”
“Sure,” Artemis says. “Is there something specific I should wear?”
Dick thinks for a minute. “Well . . .”
.
Dick lands on the roof quietly, with naught but a whisper to announce his presence. “Duskwing,” he greets his sister.
Artemis turns around, and Dick grins at her outfit. It’s really just the red version of the Nightwing suit, but with finger stripes to match his current suit. It suits her.
“Nightwing,” Artemis says, inclining her head. “What’s the plan?”
“Just going around the city,” Dick replies, peering over the edge. “There’s nothing really happening tonight.”
“I’ll race you to that building,” she says, pointing a few blocks away. Dick gives her a wolfish grin, and takes off.
They run and swing and fly together, and it’s the most fun Dick’s had in ages. Dick gets there first, of course, because a goddess his sister may be, he is the only one in the universe who could ever be considered her equal, and he knows this city like he knows her and like she knows him, which more than they could ever know themselves.
There's barely a second between Artemis touching down and a shriek coming from the ally below them, and Dick glances at Artemis before throwing himself down.
Three large and obviously drunk men are closing in on two girls, one blond, one brunette and both very obviously minors. They’re fifteen at most, the brunette looks even younger, and a flash of fury slashes through Dick.
“Hi!” Dick says brightly, landing between the groups. The blond is in front of the brunette, who’s shaking. The blonde's chin is up, like she’s trying to be brave, but Dick can see the fear in her eyes. “What’s going on here?”
“Nightwing,” one of the men whispers fearfully. He seems to be the most sober, and turns on his heel to try and run—but Artemis is there, blocking his way.
“Were you going somewhere?” she asks, tilting her head. “Because I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
“We weren’t doing anything,” one says, quite clearly the leader of the little posse. Dick recognizes him—Billy. He was almost arrested once on the charges of sexual assault on one of his employees, but someone paid his bail before he ever saw a cell.
“I wasn’t asking you,” Dick says anyway, and turns to the girls. “Hi, I’m Nightwing. That’s Duskwing. What’s your names?”
Behind him, the third idiot runs at him and the brunette stifles a scream. Artemis knocks him away before he gets within three feet of him, however, and Dick keeps his attention on the girls. Artemis has his back.
“Kyra,” the blond says. “This is Talia.”
The brunette clutches onto Kyra tighter. “Hi,” she whispers.
Dick crouches so he’s the one looking up at them. “Hi,” he says back. “Were those men scaring you?”
She nods fearfully, and Dick smiles gently, holding out a hand. “It’s okay,” he tells her. “My partner will call the police, and you’ll never have to see them again.”
“They were going to r-rape us,” Kyra says, stumbling over the word. “That’s more than just scaring us.”
“We were just going to have some fun,” Billy mutters. Dick spins around and knocks him out with his escrima, turning back to the girls in one fluid motion.
“What?” he asks when Artemis looks at him. “He was getting on my nerves.”
“Hello, Kyra, Talia,” Artemis says softly. “I am Duskwing.”
“You’re new,” Kyra says, narrowing her eyes. “I’ve never seen you before.”
Artemis looks amused. “Yes, I am. Nightwing and I are old friends.”
“Were you a Titan?”
Dick coughs to hide his laugh. “Uh—no. No, she’s a newbie. This is her first night out.”
“Cool,” Talia breathes, looking at Artemis with awe. Dick grins with pride. Hell yeah, Artemis is cool.
“Can we walk you home?” Dick asks.
Kyra frowns, looking between Talia and them. “I . . .”
“Please,” Talia blurts. Kyra looks at her, wide-eyed. “I don’t—what if there are more?”
Kyra hugs her, and whispers something that Dick can’t quite catch, but it works to soothe Talia.
“Okay,” Kyra says, “you can walk us home.”
.
“You’re very strong,” Artemis says later. It’s been a few hours, and they’ve intercepted two muggings and a hostage situation at a twenty-four hour bakery. Dick’s tired, but not nearly as tired as he could have been.
“What do you mean?” He swings his legs in the air, watching the traffic below.
Artemis looks at him, leaning forward to meet his eyes. “I would have killed those men,” she says. “It takes great strength to deliver them to justice, and not just take matters into your own hands.”
“Bats don’t kill,” Dick quotes with a wry smirk.
“You are a god, not a ‘bat’,” Artemis replies. “You have more power than any of the so-called ‘Justice League’ could ever dream of. Except perhaps Diana.”
Dick laughs as Artemis smirks. She’s right—sometimes it takes every ounce of his self-control not to go ballistic and just get rid of all the assholes he comes across. There’s a part of him, though, that still believes in some kind of fairness.
He can beat up criminals, deliver them to the police, and that’s where his power ends. Compared to his vast life, his time spent as a mortal is barely even a blink of an eye, but he’s learned so much more in twenty measly years than he has in a millennia. He likes to think it makes him a (somewhat) better person.
His head lands on her shoulder with a soft ‘thud’, and he revels in the peace of the moment. It’s so rare that he gets to do this—just spend time with his sister. They each have their duties, and he knows that, but he treasures every second he can get.
“Artemis?”
“Mm?”
“Thanks,” he says, looking down at the bright lights of his city. “I’m really lucky that you’re my sister.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scolds gently. “Luck had nothing to do with it.”
“Must be Fate, then,” he says, tilting his head up. He can see faint impressions of the stars through the smog obscuring them, and while it’s always nicer to see them clearly, he takes comfort in the fact that they’re there at all. He spots Zoë’s constellation and dips his chin down slightly in a nod.
“Whatever it was, you won’t get rid of me that easy,” Artemis says.
It’s said teasingly, but Dick just beams at her.
(he has issues, okay, not in the least abandonment. Which is another reason why he’s striving to be a better father—he knows what it’s like to be thrown away without a second thought, and he doesn’t want any of his children to die without them at least knowing that he loves them. He can’t do that again. Lee, and Michael, and Jason, who he blamed for so long. He can’t let it happen. He won’t let it happen. Not again.)
And the thing is, he knows she won’t leave him. Not after they'd been separated. There’s a small part of him that’s always afraid of people leaving him (which is utterly illogical, especially after Bruce had reassured him, but then again, fear isn’t logical), but he and Artemis are connected through something that no mortal is able to comprehend. It blows his mind, too, just how intrinsically intertwined they are.
In a good way, of course. With Artemis, it’s always in a good way.
“Right, well,” Dick says, standing, “I need a shower. Coming?”
Artemis shakes her head apologetically. “I need to return to my hunters,” she says.
Dick pulls her into a hug. “I’ll see you soon?”
“Of course.”
She smiles at him and disperses into a cloud of silver light, leaving him alone on the rooftop.
.
Mount Olympus, Greece, 413 B.C.
“Apollo,” Zeus rumbled.
Apollo bowed his head to hide his scowl. His legs were sore from kneeling, but he didn't dare try to shift his position. It wasn’t fair. He wasn’t doing anything wrong! His father was just blowing things out of proportion, again.
“Yes, father?” he said, doing his best to appear meek and malleable. It wouldn’t do for Zeus to think he was trying to present as a threat. No, that would just make whatever punishment he’d dole out worse.
“You were specifically told to stay away from my daughter,” Zeus said, glowering. “And yet Ares caught you on top of her.”
Apollo doesn’t look up, but he can almost feel Ares laughing at him. Ass. He wasn’t even doing anything of the sort. He had been strolling through a meadow, basking in the sun, and he had stumbled across a beautiful maiden picking flowers.
He had asked if she would be opposed to some company in her task, and she had smiled at him and invited him to join her. Together, they had gone through the field, plucking pretty flowers and making small talk. A few hours in, she had fallen, and Apollo had extended his hand to help her up.
She had grasped his hand, and instead of rising, had tugged him down with her. He collapsed on top of her, and they had both laughed, and that was when Ares had appeared, with a leering smirk.
“I was assisting her,” Apollo said. “She was picking flowers, and she fell. I was just helping her up.”
“And that ‘help’ included being on top of her?” Zeus pressed. “You will only make this worse for yourself if you keep up this false pretense.”
“It’s not a pretense! I was helping her up and she pulled me down!” Apollo burst out, straightening up. “Ares is lying, Father—”
“How dare you?” Zeus said, slamming a hand on his armrest. Apollo flinched. “How dare you accuse my children.”
Am I not your child as well? Apollo thinks bitterly. “I’m not accusing—”
“And how am I to know that you are not lying to make things easier on yourself, hmm?”
“I am the god of truth, lying isn’t exactly something I’m fond of—”
“ENOUGH,” Zeus thundered. Apollo drew back, eyes wide. “I will not stand for this anymore. You are not to leave Olympus for the next fifty years, at least.”
“Father, please,” Artemis cut in. “How would he drive the sun chariot?”
“Hn. You may drive the sun chariot with whatever amount of your being is needed, and that is all.”
“Yes, Father,” Apollo said through gritted teeth. He wants nothing more than to argue, but he knows that doing so would only hinder him further.
“Dismissed,” Zeus said shortly.
Apollo threw a glare at Ares, who was smirking, before gathering himself and teleporting to his temple. Ares had done so much worse in even the past week, but did he get grounded? Noooo, because it was only him that fucked up. It was only him that did something so heinous as to deserve a punishment from his father.
And he knows that he would have had it so much worse if not for Artemis. There’s a part of him that wants to be mad at her, that wants to yell at her, ask her what she had that he didn’t that made their father love her so much more than him.
He wasn’t, though. It wasn’t her fault, and it would be useless to blame her anyway, because what could she do except try to lessen the punishments?
(it’s bullshit, and everyone knows it. He wasn’t the only one who participated in the ‘revolt,’ but he was the one who got the worst of it. It’s total bullshit, but there’s nothing he can do except suck it up.)