A/N: Hello lovely readers! Welcome to our first story on our collab. page, CelestialTwins! We are SongofRejoice and FrozenSilverHeart. You can read tons more about why we started a page together in our bio, but for now, let's talk about this story. It's an idea that the two of us have been pondering for quite some time so, we thought we should write it down. This was the product! We hope you all enjoy and don't forget to R&R!

Disclaimer: We do not own any of Uncle Rick's ideas or characters, only this plot! :)

Chapter 1

With time comes healing, and the gods knew that better than anyone else. It had been a year since the Battle of New York. The temples and statues were almost completely restored by the demigod, Annabeth Chase. Those in affiliation with Kronos were captured and tried before Zeus and the rest of the council. All of the gods had gone back to their normal lives doing the same monotonous work. However, if someone were to look at Olympus with the knowledge that comes with residing and interacting with such a place; and if that someone was very observant and analytical and compassionate of everything around them, they might notice a slight disturbance. Maybe a mere adjustment in attitude of an individual. Or a secret so deep and dark that not even the wisest and most prophetic gods could see it.

Nevertheless, life continued on, and if you weren't going to keep up with it, you would get left behind. Thus, the Winter Solstice rolled around and with it, came the biannual council of the gods. The pantheon trickled into the throne room with a couple minutes to spare. As more family members arrived, the volume rose quickly from a delicate conversation to an argument involving so many different people, no one really knew who was arguing with who anymore. Apollo strode through the large doors leading into the throne room, whistling a catchy tune. He whipped his sunglasses off, flashing a bright smile and a wink at Hermes, who nodded before continuing a particularly heated phone call.

As the sun god stepped further into the throne room, his cobalt eyes scanned the hall for a certain auburn-haired girl, looking to be around 13. His smile only grew as he spotted her conversing with Athena.

"Sis!" he exclaimed brightly, all but skipping over to where she stood. His tan arm slung across her shoulders as he pulled the girl into a bone-crushing side hug. "How ya doin'? I haven't talked to you in forever. How are the girls? Got any new recruits? Are they pretty?" A mischievous and somewhat disturbing smile graced his lips as his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.

"Apollo!" Artemis shouted in her surprise. She rolled her eyes and looked up at her brother. "I'd tell you if I could breathe." Her muscles clenched trying to prevent Apollo from crushing her rib cage.

Chuckling, he let go of her and watched her expectantly. "Well? Are they?" He smiled up at Athena, who was shaking her head at the twins' antics. Their relationship was a mystery, and no one really tried to figure it out. She smiled back and excused herself to her throne, leaving Artemis alone to deal with Apollo's ridiculous and somewhat offensive questions.

Artemis watched as Athena took her throne and turned back to her brother. "They are out of your league Apollo." She then turned and walked to her own silver throne, taking a seat quietly preparing for the meeting to start.

Apollo blinked, he was not expecting that. "What is that supposed to mean?" he called, his ego more than a little hurt. When he got no response, he huffed and went to sit on his throne directly across from his sister's. All of the other Olympians quieted down as Zeus and Hera took their thrones. A more temporary throne had been brought in for Hades, who sat at the end near Hermes. He didn't look to be too happy sitting next to his solemn uncle either.

"I now call this meeting to order," Zeus exclaimed, pounding his lightning bolt against the ground. A rumble echoed through the hall and everyone looked at their king intently. "Hermes, if you would recap the events of our last meeting," he sighed, already bored.

Hermes cleared his throat and a scroll appeared in his hands. He began reading off the list, "Well, obviously the last time we met was to judge the latest group of captured aids to Kronos during the Battle of New York..."he briefly looked up to see if anyone had a snide remark to make. When nothing happened he looked back down. "Um, of those captured, almost all of them were condemned to some sort of eternal punishment. Blah, blah, blah...nothing new there. The others, the demigods and nature spirits more specifically, were either sentenced to death or asked to do some outrageously impossible task...so basically they were sentenced to death too." Sighing, he looked further down the scroll. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. We argued, we talked about how hot we all are, we argued some more, same as always."

"...Thank you, Hermes," Zeus stated looking at him strangely. "Although I do believe you said you have an update on a particular Titan?"

"Yes, it's about Atlas. As we all know there was little...mishap a couple years back with him trying to escape his imprisonment," he glanced nervously at Artemis. No immortal liked to be reminded of times they were defeated. "His daughter, Maia, has been keeping a close eye on him and has said that he has absolutely no desire to escape anytime soon. He, as well as Prometheus and a few other Titans have been put back in their prisons and those prisons have all been re-enforced."

"His daughter? Didn't she die trying to save Artemis?" Apollo interrupted, thoroughly confused.

"N-no, that was Zoë Nightshade, his other daughter. Maia is my mother, she is also a Titan," Hermes informed, clearly uncomfortable with bringing up such a touchy subject.

Artemis sucked in a breath and her gaze fell to the floor. She could see the grand ceiling reflected off the surface. One constellation in particular was very conveniently right in front of her. Her former lieutenant shining among her beloved stars. The words of Hermes had faded in her ears. She sat entirely still except for her chest rising and falling in irregular and raspy breaths, barely audible to anyone. But there are some things that blood will always be thicker than.

"Ah, I see," Apollo said as his gaze followed Hermes's. A wave of guilt suddenly washed over him as he saw his sister's reaction. He should have kept silent instead of opening his big mouth. Shifting uncomfortably in his throne, Apollo bit the inside of his cheek. Then, he gave Zeus a look, silently begging him to continue the council.

"Since that is settled, we may now discuss our current topics. Who would like to start?" Zeus boomed, hoping to avert from the original topic. As Aphrodite raised her hand to speak, Apollo glanced over at Artemis. He could only hope she knew he was sorry.

Artemis took a deep breath and swallowed before bringing her attention back up to the meeting. She could tell Apollo was looking at her, but kept her gaze on Aphrodite as she began ranting about fashion and love and other boring subjects Artemis rarely paid attention to. She remained quiet and reserved, almost as if she had retracted into the shell of her skin.

The rest of the meeting seemed to pass quickly, as both the twins were too lost in thought to really pay attention to Hera's complaints and Poseidon and Athena's arguments. When Zeus called the meeting to an end, the council dispersed in record time, leaving Apollo and Artemis the last to leave.

He saw her move swiftly towards the doors, apparently in a hurry as well. Realizing this might be his only chance for a while to talk to her, he seized the moment.

"Sis! Hey, can I talk to you?" he called after her, jogging to match her pace as she kept walking.

Artemis looked over her shoulder as her brother caught up. She glanced around nervously before dropping her gaze and replying "Make it quick Apollo, I must return to my hunters."

Apollo came to a halt, taken aback by his sister's curtness with him. Sighing, he decided to ignore it. "Look about what happened earlier, I didn't mean to- I mean, well I had forgotten...I'm sorry. I know she meant a lot to you." Apollo spoke, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

She shook her head and threw her hand up in a dismissing sign. "It is fine, Apollo. I've had plenty of time to get over that." She picked up her pace as her chariot came in to view. She kept her eyes on it, clearly avoiding meeting her brother's eyes.

"Well obviously you aren't, due to your reaction at her name during the meeting." he pressed, continuing to follow her. He couldn't understand why she was ignoring him. As she approached her chariot, he rounded about in front of her and grabbed her arms.

"Artemis, could you stop and talk to me for a minute? What is wrong with you?! You've been acting really strange today. Not to mention you're being more stuck up towards me than I've seen in a long time. I don't understand why you're being such a snob!" Apollo shouted, clearly frustrated with the lack of attention his twin was giving him. He breathed heavily, staring at her intently, his blue eyes piercing hers.

Artemis stood frozen in shock with her mouth open, a look on her face as if there was something dire waiting to be said. She then squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the side. "There is nothing, Apollo!" She smacked away his hands and turned her furious eyes on him, an almost indistinguishable hint of sad terror in them. "I've told you I'm fine! There is nothing more to be said!" She turned her gaze away. "Not tonight anyway." Artemis then pushed past her brother and mounted her chariot.

Apollo watched her leave, snapping the reins of her chariot in an urgency he barely saw from her. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to scream in anger or sob at the notion that his twin was hiding something from him.

He settled for a distressed groan, squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. Apollo didn't know what was wrong with his sister. That thought bothered him more than anything and in that moment he vowed to find out. His sister couldn't hide it from him forever, because if being the god of prophecy wasn't enough; being her twin would be.

With one final glance at the place Artemis's chariot had been moments before, he turned on his heel- heading towards the one place he knew he could focus on helping Artemis.