Another Trials of Apollo AU
Yes, yes I know I’ve got a myriad of aus floating around on here. But I’ve been thinking about Athena, Apollo and their relationship to Zeus. And that slid into the whole “prophecy of Zeus’s son overthrowing him,” au.
So…mythology (and even pjo canon) shows that gods don’t necessarily need to have an intimate relationship with each other or with mortals to have children. There also are differing myths regarding both Athena and Apollo’s births and if the other had already been born at the time.
With that being said. What if Apollo was secretly the son of Zeus and Metis? If Athena was born before Zeus got involved with Leto. If Metis managed to become pregnant with Zeus’s son while in his head, and when Zeus laid with Leto, Metis slipped her newly born son into Leto’s womb as she became pregnant with Artemis.
The reason why Apollo resembles Koios is due to the fact that a) Zeus and Leto are cousins, and b) all four of their parents are children of Gaia and Ouranous. Apollo knew the truth, but over the eons has buried his memory of his origins deep in the recesses of his mind. He chooses to claim the title of Artemis’s twin, rather than Athena’s younger brother, rightful claimant of Zeus’s kingship. And everything is fine. Until. Until Lester, and the trials.
See, when making a deity mortal, their mortal flesh can be changed drastically. But the things that cannot change between their true forms and their mortal forms are their eye color, and their facial features. And in this au, Lester heavily resembles Athena. His eyes burn blue with just the hints of gray around the pupil.
Athena is the first to realize something is off about Apollo’s mortal form. She manages to assure Zeus when he notices that it was simply the Fates making Apollo’s mortal form innocuous. Artemis is the second to truly realize something is up when she goes to heal Apollo, and feels no maternal bonds to Leto other than those which he had clearly built himself and her mother had eventually reciprocated.
But a goddess’s bonds to her children originate from her, not the child. Diana knows something is very wrong. And then she finds the withered and dead husk of a maternal bond Apollo has to someone else near the sparking paternal bond. But whomever was the one the bond originated with has long since faded.
Diana says nothing to Apollo or anyone else. When she returns to Olympus Athena meets her, and Artemis sees that like Apollo, Athena also has the withered /dead remains of a maternal bond sitting beside the electric living paternal bond all children of Zeus carry (whether they want to or not). Artemis is confused, but she still does not say anything. When Apollo reascends to Olympus, Athena is one of the first to greet him. In her stern and emotionless seeming mask, she gives him a firm nod, holding his gaze in hers. Which for Athena, is the equivalent of a bone-crushing hug.
Eventually, Artemis corners both Apollo and Athena about their dead maternal bonds and the truth comes out. There is drama, yes, anger, feelings of betrayal. But ultimately, the three of them band together along with Zeus’s other children, intent on either forcing Zeus to change or force him off his throne.
They refuse to let the death of Crest, Money Maker, Jason Grace and so many other demigods be in vain.