"Envy Bleeds Red"
Title: Envy Bleeds Red
Author: Sister Grimm Erin (sistergrimmel).
Characters/Pairing(s): Apollo/Artemis, Zoë/Artemis, hints of Apollo/Hermes, Apollo/Zoë and Apollo/Ares, past!Apollo/Thalia.
Summary: Ichor may flow golden, but envy bleeds red.
Author's Notes: If you don't like reading about incest, I have not the faintest idea how you manage to know anything about Greek mythology. That said, consider yourself warned. Part of the Sightless universe.
#01 - Walking
As the god and the nymph converse intently on the beach- he shouts, but she is quiet in her angry lecture- they pay no mind to the storm raging on the sea.
#02 - Waltz
Zoë demands full attention- with her exotic Persian beauty and Cupid's-bow lips and her liquid dark blue eyes, Apollo almost wants her, but once he sees her kiss his sister on the cheek, he can barely stand to be in the same room with Atlas' daughter.
#03 - Wishes
Apollo wishes, just once, to be able to let go of Artemis- but the next time he talks to her, with Zoë on her arm, as always, he punches a wall for his own reluctance to say what he feels.
#04 - Wonder
In one of his more painfully honest moments, Apollo wonders if it is that he loves Artemis or that he envies her happiness- but once Zoë is killed, four thousand years later, he remembers it is the former.
#05 - Worry
Normally Apollo honestly believes Zoë and his twin are nothing more than the best of friends, but one day in a private corner of Olympus, seeing how close they sit, his sister in the nymph's lap, he worries.
#06 - Whimsy
Once Ares teased Apollo that he was such a selfish bitch to be the great romantic, but the younger god only smirked and kissed his tormentor full on the lips.
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
The tears in his sister's eyes as he sees Zeus take the fall for Callisto's deflowering- the harsh, furious betrayal in the planes and angles of her face- fill the angel of the abyss with a furious joy.
#08 - Whiskey and rum
Over a drink Apollo once asks Zoë if they are friends- Zoë replies straight out that they have to be.
#09 - War
Apollo privately battled Zoë all the time, but whenever they met they seemed to be the ultimate of fraternizing with the enemy.
#10 - Weddings
He promised his sister once as very young children that they would get married when they were older, so it is that strange that seeing Zoë wearing a white skirt after they leave Rome fills him with an irrational disgust?
#11 - Birthday
The only thing he and Artemis share that she and Zoë don't is a birthday, so that's always the best day of the year.
#12 - Blessing
Seeing Leto dote on Zoë fills Apollo with more fury than anything, because he and Artemis would never have gotten her blessing.
#13 - Bias
Ares may be the strangest of confidants, but at least he lacks bias.
#14 - Burning
He once contemplates the mortal version of Hell, of an all-powerful God who sits above and judges them one by one, and decides that burning in Hell- for he loves living in sin- would not be worse than the way Zoë smirks at him when Artemis's back is turned.
#15 - Breathing
Zoë and Artemis are always referred to together, it seems, and the wry crack Hermes makes about the itemized version of their names results in Apollo turning away from his lover for a century, because the sun god knows how to nurse a grudge.
#16 - Breaking
Again with Hell- Zoë is the tempter, he is the Jesus complex, and Artemis is the fallen Mary Magdalene that refuses to be saved... but when he contemplates what he did to Callisto, this image rips like a photograph across the middle.
#17 - Belief
Ares remarks immediately upon hearing the news of what in later years is referred to as the incident that he needs to get down from the cross- it doesn't count if no one nailed him.
#18 - Balloon
When all is said and done about Thalia, his balloon deflates when he remembers that Artemis was alone, and now she will never have him because he missed his last, best chance-- and the truth is that he knew it then.
#19 - Balcony
He never swears by the moon or the sun- only by the honor of Artemis or his mother's life, and more often by the first.
#20 - Bane
He once tells Zoë- it was after Orion but before Callisto, he thinks-that she is the bane of his existence if he has one, and she tells him to look in the mirror.
#21 - Quiet
Artemis and Zoë often sit together for hours for the sake of peaceful quiet, a practice the constantly moving Apollo has never quite understood.
#22 - Quirks
Ares has his quirks, but he told Apollo that he was a "fucking corkscrew"- and that wasn't an invitation, either.
#23 - Question
Apollo is in love with questions, but Zoë adores answers- maybe that's why clear-headed, pure-hearted Artemis fell for her Princess Nightshade.
#24 - Quarrel
Artemis and Zoë have had three quarrels in four thousand years- when Apollo asks in exasperation how they do it, Zoë smiles politely and replies only that three is a sacred number, an answer that is meant to and does only confuse him further.
#25 - Quitting
Ares never quits, Apollo never finishes- but when they tumble over ivory sheets, they both break the rules.
#26 - Jump
Apollo still remembers the way Thalia dances, and has to swallow his jealousy as she and Luke skip across the Brooklyn Bridge, away from everything but each other.
#27 - Jester
Apollo wears the playful mask well, but he doesn't know anything about true mirth.
#28 - Jousting
When Luke twists his shoulder and he bleeds golden on the pavement, Apollo thinks that Ares was right- jousting is the worst mockery of a sport ever to grace this Earth.
#29 - Jewel
When Artemis hands her the Hope Diamond, Zoë replies that it should grace a Queen rather than the Princess she always aspired to be.
#30 - Just
Ares tells Apollo that he's right, no one treats him like he deserves to be or appreciates him properly- he ought to be in jail.
#31 - Smirk
Zoë tries not to gloat over her victory- but Apollo smirks so often it's unfair not to give him a taste of his own medicine.
#32 - Sorrow
Artemis pines after Zoë, and when she sees Thalia's tent empty and feels her twin's lingering presence in the air, she refuses to feel any additional sorrow, and she can hardly claim to be surprised.
#33 - Stupidity
Apollo's unique brand of foolishness ruins everything it touches, and that's why Artemis flinches away from him.
#34 - Serenade
Apollo can sing, but he's very rarely serenaded a girl- and that's because whenever he tries, he hears the laughter of Zoë and Artemis as they braid flowers in each other's hair.
#35 - Sarcasm
Ares ignores Apollo's sarcasm- he's as bad at it as he is at everything else.
#36 - Sordid
He hears an English teacher warn students about the sordid elements of Greek myths, and can't help but think that she doesn't know the half of it.
#37 - Soliloquy
When nobody you know will ever die, a funeral dirge is but a distant buzz.
#38 - Sojourn
She globetrots with Zoë and her band of Hunters, and still all they do is get farther away from growing up.
#39 - Share
Apollo entertains the thought of a threesome while in an inebriated state, then decides he wants to live.
#40 - Solitary
He's always with someone else, but sometimes he's more solitary than Athena.
#41 - Nowhere
Apollo looks at old photographs of himself, and wonders how you spend eternity getting nowhere.
#42 - Neutral
The beige tones of his room reflect his own frustration with being stuck- and so he paints them scarlet, which makes no difference.
#43 - Nuance
The pair are discreet, Zoë is courteous, his sister is perfect conciliation, and still the nuances of their behavior drive him to near madness.
#44 - Near
He tries to tell himself that the day where he'll get her is near- nothing lasts forever, even the nymph would admit that- but even after all this time, Zoë is always near her mind.
#45 - Natural
He looks around at the Utah desert and thinks that so many happy people aren't natural in a place that sucks this much.
#46 - Horizon
Apollo gazes at the horizon and realizes without him, everything would just keep turning, which isn't an epiphany he enjoys.
#47 - Valiant
She saved his sister, a feat he's never once accomplished- valiant Zoë Nightshade who everyone will remember as a hero and useless Apollo who everyone will never get to forget.
#48 - Virtuous
He tries so hard to find a flaw in Zoë, even formulates a half-hearted plan to dishonor her like he did Callisto- but in the end, her loyalty remains intact forever.
#49 - Victory
He doesn't remember exactly when Zoë won, but he still loathes her for it.
#50 - Defeat
It took him three months to realize that when he raped Thalia Grace, he was dealt a perfect defeat.