Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter (prologue)

Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter (prologue).

Warnings: Refer to the first chapter (prologue) for future warnings.

A/N: Special thanks to handadeath who pointed out some things to me that made me slow down and actually help me come up with what to do with this chapter.

A/N 2: Just a heads up to people, this chapter is has not been beta'd, so reviews telling me of any mistakes are welcome. Now enjoy this chapter and sorry for the lateness of it, I was originally planning on having this out by Sunday, but due to some events it's come out now.

Chapter Two

Céleste stumbled into the kitchen and plopped himself down on a chair at the table. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the exhausted and harried ten-year-old.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Céleste looked at him incredulously.

"It could, and it was!"

"I thought they were teaching you about the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus. How painful can that be?"

"The did start me out on that, but halfway through they stopped and told me they were going to work on my flexibility!"

"What for?"

"I have no idea, every time I ask, they just smile at me in that creepy way and then I don't want to know anymore." Gabriel patted his back in sympathy before pulling the kid up and over to the island where an assortment of cooking paraphernalia was spread out.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you to help me bake that batch of cookies Madame Miller ordered today."

"The usual?"

"Actually, no." Céleste looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, I know. I was just as surprised. Apparently her daughter helped change her mind on chocolate and now she wants a batch of chocolate chip cookies with a couple of white chocolates thrown in."

"Hmm, well if it'll help her get rid of that silly notion that chocolate is too sweet... then sure."

"Ooh, look at you, using such big words." Gabriel said with mock pride, though he gave Céleste a bright smile for wanting to help.

"Hey Gabriel, can you go over there and..." Céleste looked up at his adoptive father in shock and a bit of horror.

"Did you just flick flower at me?" He had on a wide grin, his eyes closed and for all that his face looked welcoming, it terrified Céleste. He knew that that expression meant that whatever he said wouldn't matter because he was already in big trouble.

"Maybe I did... and maybe I didn't." He saw the elder male's eyebrow twitch minutely before he grabbed a handful of flour and flicked it back.

"Well maybe I just flicked some back, and maybe I didn't." And with those words, an all out food-war commenced. No ingredient was spared, no surface was left untouched and for the time spent chucking food back and forth, the duo's job was forgotten in favor of bombarding anything and everything at each other.

"It's times like these that you're more of a big brother than a father." Céleste commented as the two sat on the only clean spot on the floor after their food-war.

"Are you trying to say something?" Gabriel asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, who's the adult in our mismatched family?"

"Are you insinuating that I'm immature?"

"Don't use such big words, it'll hurt your head."

"Well... well... you're childish too."

"Are you sure your ok up there?"

"There's nothing wrong with my brain!"

"Uh-huh, you keep telling yourself that." Céleste said patting Gabriel's shoulder.

...

"Ok, now reach. Come on Céleste, you can go farther than that!" Vérite came up behind the ten-year-old and pushed his back so that his fingers touched his toes, and then so that he could grab his feet.

"Tell me again why I am doing this?"

"To get you more flexible!"

"Yeah, I figure that... but, and I feel like I'm going to regret this, why do I need to be more flexible?"

"So that you can perform the fighting sequences better."

"..." Céleste stared at them.

"..." The sisters stared back at him.

"... fighting sequences?" He said weakly.

"Yeah, we usually have the odd immortal come up to us and use violence to get us to help them." Vérite said with a shrug.

"Then when we refuse, they try to kidnap us and well..." Paix trailed off for one of the others to pick up for her.

"From there on out it kind of gets messy." Amour said finishing the sentence for her sister.

"...kidnap?"

"You're not rethinking your decision of accepting the offer are you?"

"... no... w-why would I do that?"

"... you are, aren't you?"

"... yes..."

...

"Thank you for making a purchase at LeNoir bakery, we look forward to seeing you here again!" Céleste said with a smile on his face. The woman left with a faint pink blush on her face.

"Aw, look at that. You're picking up after me!" Gabriel gushed, slinging an arm around the eleven-year-olds shoulder.

"What am I exactly picking up from you?"

"Why my charm of course!" Céleste looking up at him with an expression that just read, 'You're kidding right?'.

"What? All the ladies, and some men, think that I'm handsome." Céleste coughed something that sounded suspiciously like narcissist. Gabriel just sniffed, looking hurt, though they both knew it was all for show.

"So, what do you want to do today?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that was the last order of the day and we're closed. The sisters had to go and take care of some things leaving the two of us alone to relax and I thought that we could spend some time bonding or something along those lines."

"Um... I guess."

"You guess! Don't you want to spend some time getting to know your father, the one that cooks, cleans and even helps you hide from the sisters, and we all know that that fact alone should get me your eternal gratitude."

"... you're kidding right?"

"Of course not! Do you know how hard it is to face the three of them, lie to their face and not end up kneeling before them begging to be spared for deceiving them?"

"... when you put it that way, TO THE LIBRARY!" The order was so spontaneously loud that Gabriel was taken aback and he wasn't even given the time to calm his heart beat before being dragged by a child, who's half his height, to the library.

"It's the price you pay for being an awesome father."

...

"DUCK!" Céleste dropped to the ground, the knife soaring over his head and getting stuck to the wall. With a racing heartbeat, the eleven-year-old stood up, his head looking around wildly to see if there were any more dangerous projectile soaring in his general direction.

"Are you three insane?! I could have been stabbed! You could have taken out my eye, or something else essential to my continued existence!"

"We're very sorry. We got a little carried away with your training, and kind of forgot that we hadn't taught you how to properly take care of flying projectile... forgive us?" Amour looked so downtrodden that Céleste couldn't properly stay mad at her.

"Fine." With a squeal, the sister charged with his protection and guidance jumped on top of him, her arms wrapping tightly around his frame and practically squeezing the life out of him.

"So... I think we should start teaching him how to duck and dodge. What do you think?" Vérite looked at their apprentice with a smirk and a glint in her eyes that showed just how much she'll enjoy chucking sharp, pointy objects at him, all in the name of teaching.

...

"So when exactly are they going to take you up to see the gods?" Gabriel asked at dinner.

"If everything goes according to schedule, then a week or so after my majority." The twelve-year-old said, taking a minute to properly enjoy his chocolate mousse cheesecake.

"So seventeen." Gabriel shook his head in amusement as Céleste gave him a minute nod, giving his full attention towards enjoying his dessert.

"I'll look forward to that. They seriously won't know what hit them. Obedient servant? I think not." Gabriel smirked as images of the gods reaction to his son filled his head.

...

"So what's one thing you learned about Zeus?"

"He's a man-whore." The sisters were trying not to laugh and at the same time trying to keep from looking too horrified.

"W-well, that's true."

"I mean seriously, most of that family tree branched out from Zeus. They weren't kidding when they said that he's the most important out of the twelve Olympian gods. But seriously, I didn't think they meant it like that!"

"First of all, you're twelve and because Gabriel will try to kill us if we don't say something about it, we never want to hear that word come out of your mouth again." Vérite scolded him, though Céleste didn't look at all contrite.

"Ok, but I was just saying what you guys were thinking, and besides... it's a scientific fact."

"... is that your defense?" Paix asked with a raised eyebrow, receiving a nod back from their apprentice.

"... we really have to work on that."

"So... does that mean we're gonna take a break from all this boring stuff, skip over the dangerous bit and go straight to the awesome part where you don't even need to fully use your brain?" Céleste had a hopeful look on his face as he looked up at the sisters with his work-in-progress puppy dog eyes.

"... no. We're still going to do all of that, while belittling you so that we can figure out how many comebacks you have exactly while throwing sharp pointy objects at you in the name of teaching." Céleste only had enough time to gaze up at them in fear before being attacked with a whip while having his intelligence insulted. He already knew that it would shape up to be a long day.

...

A/N: So... like it? Hate it? Wish it'd spontaneously combust.

So originally, I was planning on this being a 14 something pg long chapter, but it didn't work out. So I decided that I would split the original chapter up into a couple parts.

So... what did you think? Leave a review so I know if I should do anything different in the next chapter (Part II).

A/N 2: So I just received an e-mail from my beta saying that she'll no longer be able to carry out her beta duties due to her hectic schedule. So this pretty much means that this chapter is UNBETA'D and that I now have an opening for a beta. So... any takers?