{Apollo}

Four years ago.

My brother was undeniably bright.

We both excelled at academics and the martial arts, but where I seemed to pick such things up naturally, my brother threw himself wholeheartedly into every lesson. Eager and passionate, he treated the knowledge I took for granted as a treasure.

He shone with happiness. With his golden curls, sapphire eyes and warm skin, all inherited from father, he radiated light.

Even so, it was hard to hate him for it.

Because, above all else, my brother-

"Apollo, please come down...."

"No."

"Please Apollo...."

"No."

"....Polly..."

An apple flew from my hand, bludgeoning my brother across the forehead and knocking him to the ground.

"Don't call me that."

-Was a complete idiot.

"...Apollo...."Artemis groaned pitifully, laying sprawled on the grass in a mess of long limbs. Not only had the jerk inherited our father's sunny features, but had somehow managed to score his height as well.

Where I took after mother and got to look like a doll, for the rest of my life.

Further enraged by the reminder, I glared dispassionately down at my brother from my seat high up in the Apple tree, already grabbing another apple in preparation for when he tried to get back up.

I wasn't going to forgive him for this.

Not ever.

"Ow ow ow..." Artemis hissed as pushed himself up into a sitting position, adjusting the silver-rimmed glasses he needed, but father hated seeing him wear.

Cause being short-sighted just wasn't good enough for the eldest son of the Mc'Valium family.

"Apollo, you can't keep sulking up there forever...." As I raised my arm holding the apple, Artemis quickly backed off, glancing pleadingly towards Robin, where she sat peacefully sketching against the trunk of the tree.

"It's not that bad...Tell him, Robin...."

The fourteen-year-old girl lifted her gaze from her sketchbook, meeting my brother's eyes seriously.

"Apollo in an Apple Tree...." She murmured, as if deep in philosophical thought.

"...Apple-O"

As Artemis and I stared at her in pained silence, Robin just returned to her drawing with a satisfied nod.

"I appreciate the effort, Robin... But I think it's going to take more than a joke to get Apollo down from there..." Artemis winced, getting up and brushing the grass from the legs...

"What a surprise," I muttered sarcastically. "It's going to take more than some crappy joke to help me deal with the fact that my idiot brother is going to get himself killed because he's so determined to piss off the Underground."

"Apollo..." Artemis began warningly, but I paid no attention to the sudden darkness in my brother's tone.

"Noooo. The damn idiot joins the hill, even though I told him it was stupid, and then decides that he wants to put an end it and get in trouble with the most dangerous organisation in the world! Because he's a stupid, insensitive ass, who doesn't care..."

Artemis threw himself towards the tree in a blur of speed and grace, causing me to yelped in alarm as he scaled it faster than a lizard on steroids. By the time I had raised my arm to bombard him with Apples, my older brother had wrapped his much bigger hand around my wrist, pinning it down from where he sat beside me on the branch.

"Enough, Apollo." He murmured softly. "Really, Mother must be angrily clutching a bar of soap up in heaven right now, hearing that sort of language come out of your mouth."

Irrationally, I felt tears begin to sting my eyes.

"Let me go." I hissed, struggling furiously against the iron grip on my wrist. "I hate you, damn jerk, why do you have to bring mother up every time? Just because you're old enough to remember her."

Artemis' eyes widened in alarm.

"I didn't mean..." He trailed off as the tears finally managed to escape the tight hold I had on them.

"And now you want to run off and do something stupid too, go and get yourself killed just like her because you're an altruistic bastard with no thought for your own life! Damn you...!"

In a total abuse of power, Artemis forced me forward into a tight hug, muffling my tirade against the front of his shirt.

"Hush sweetheart." He murmured softly, rubbing small circles in between my shoulder blades. "No need to stress yourself sick over something that hasn't happened yet."

"Don't use endearments on me, idiot. I know you only use them cute girls and animals." I grumbled furiously.

"Now if that were true, wouldn't I use them on Robin too." He pulled back slightly to raise an eyebrow at me.

"Yea, except that you're afraid that Mr Linquesta will stab you to death if he caught you doing it..."

Artemis actually blushed at this, avoiding my accusing glare by looking at the sunlit leaves above us.

"Yea, well, It's not like I use them intentionally, they just tend to slip out...."

"If you don't have anything intelligent to say, could you please just get the hell off me and go away?" I snarled, starting to shove against his hold on me.

He sighed tiredly at this, but instead of letting me go, he leant forward to rest his forehead against my shoulder.

"I can't promise that it will be okay, Apollo. We're both smart enough to know it won't be." He murmured quietly, and I had to glare furiously over his shoulder to keep my mind off the hesitance of his tone.

"Frankly, I'm terrified. I am so afraid of these people that I can't sleep at night." His curls brushed against my cheek as he squeezed tighter.

"That's why I often ask myself, how did we come to this point? How did these horrible people manage to gain so much power and influence? Why did father join them, why did he stay with them, even after what happened to Mother. I ask myself all this, and I get the same answer every time."

He pulled back enough to look me in the eye. Sapphire blue to pale washed-out green.

"Its because people like me just say yes. Wars have been fought, massacres have been committed, all by people who just found it easier to say yes, to follow the rules of society, culture and religion, rather than look at the situation through the eyes of an individual."

A long-fingered hand ran through my hair.

"I don't know if what I am doing is the right choice. If hurting you and Robin and father so that I can follow my own stubborn path is something I will regret in the end or not. What I do know, is that that I would rather suffer the consequences of saying no to something wrong, than make many more people suffer the consequences of me saying yes."

I glared at him through watery eyes, refusing to give in to his soppy nonsense.

"So you're going to screw everything up because you can't stand being the bad guy? Should have known training with Mr Linquesta would rot your brain out. Robin's dad has turned you into a knight wannabe just like him. Your head's so full of self-righteous bullshit that there's no room left for a brain."

Artemis grinned, blindingly bright.

"You really think so?"

"It wasn't a compliment!"

"You know, You're so cute when your face goes red like that Polly. Makes it hard to have a serious conversation with you." He laughed, hugging so tight I could feel my ribs creak.

Evil asshole, disguising torture as brotherly love.

Suddenly another pair of arms wrapped around the both of us, and Artemis and I stopped our death embrace enough to look at Robin, who had climbed the tree and joined the hug without us noticing.

Feeling Robin's hands wrapped into the material of my shirt, my face grew incredibly hot. Artemis smirked at me knowingly, not at all embarrassed at the fact that his fiancée was clinging to his back like a koala.

I bit my lip angrily, trying to hold back the sudden fit of jealousy. His height, his cheerfulness, the way father loved him, he had all that, yet nothing else made my chest tighten more than the thought that, one day, he and Robin were going to get married.

"I'm going to miss this." I heard her murmur, cheek pressed against my brother back.

Artemis stiffened slightly, only to end up clinging to me tighter than before.

"Don't be like that Robin. What makes you so sure it will end?"

"Nothing lasts forever."

And just like that, the tree branch beneath us gave up the gallant fight of trying to support three people, collapsing under our weight with a final snap.