Hey, everyone! Sorry for the wait, but hooray, finally managed to write a new chapter! You can thank that ridiculous book I read yesterday about Cupid for that. *rolls eyes* I couldn't believe how ridiculous that author was overall with his writing, but hey, it inspired me to actually be able to write again, so it seems to have been worth it!

To the mythology buffs among my readers: I'm terribly sorry if I messed up anything. Feel free to tell me if I did, but I tried to remain as accurate as I knew how.

Disclaimer: Still don't own ROTG. Don't own any of the mythology either, but that's all in the public domain by now, so peh. *chuckles*

Considering how rare it was for Jack to actually need sleep, he couldn't stay asleep for long, and his eyes fluttered open while he was still enveloped by darkness. The dawn had not come yet. He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. It meant he wouldn't pester the Bennetts for a few more hours yet, but it also meant the pang of loneliness started to take hold again.

He pushed himself up and stared at the trickle of moonlight shining in through the hole he had escaped into while hiding from the Guardians. While he knew he was starting to develop strong feelings for Mrs. Bennett, he didn't think those feelings could possibly be real. If it took magic to trigger them, then didn't that make the feelings fake?

He sighed and crawled over to the moonlit gap and peered out so he could gaze at the property within view. Part of him, probably the part of his heart that had been infected by Cupid's crazy arrow, wanted to just stay and bask in these new and weird sensations. Despite the pain, there was something strangely pleasurable about it. Especially now that Mrs. Bennett had actually acknowledged that she wanted him around.

But he closed his eyes and shook his head. No, he had to retain control of his mind as much as he possibly could. None of this was real. He had to find a cure or some way of getting out of this situation. And he had to do it soon. That only left him with one option, and he didn't like it.

He had to find Cupid.

Jack rolled his eyes at the thought of confronting the annoying guy who had put him in this situation in the first place, but there was no one else he knew who could get him the answers he needed, so he was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the unpleasant conversation. Jack took a breath for courage, then darted out into the night.

Now, it was one thing to decide to go and talk to Cupid, but it was quite another thing to find him. The guy could be anywhere. Add that to the fact that the guy was responsible for legends that came out of different countries than Jack had ever focused on, and things got really confusing. Jack had legends in Scandinavia, Russia, England, Germany, and a few other countries that had then passed their stories on to people across the sea. Cupid's legends mainly came from Ancient Greek and Roman Mythology. He wasn't even entirely sure how the system with all the deities Cupid associated with worked, but he was going to have to wing it.

After several minutes of searching the local area, all his hopes that he might find Cupid just randomly spying on him were crushed. It wasn't going to be an easy search. Then again, maybe that was a good thing. The thought of being spied on by Cupid was creepy anyway.

So Jack took off at top speed in the first direction he had could think of. Suddenly an idea settled over him. Didn't the winds have legends that spanned both of their terrains?

"Hey, Wind," said Jack, "You wouldn't have happened to see Cupid anywhere recently, would you have?"

I can't say that I have, whispered the wind in its gentle tone. But I'm pretty sure his wife is at home right now.

Jack raised an eyebrow as he regarded this. Cupid's wife? He knew Cupid had one, but he had never met her. He felt shy all of a sudden and hesitated. This was a battle between Jack and Cupid, not between Jack and Cupid's wife.

Still, if he wanted to get this problem resolved, he needed to not throw out an opportunity like this just because he was scared. He finally nodded and squeaked out, "Okay," and the wind cheerfully picked him up and carried him where it wished.

Jack could hardly process where he was going as the wind whisked him away. One thing was for sure, and that was that he had never before gone to where he was now, wherever this was. He could see the earth from this place, like he was looking down from somewhere up high. He was used to being up high and looking down on the people below, but there was something surreal about this place. Something, dare he say... divine?

He shook his head to clear it as best he could as the wind set him down on the ground. He shivered slightly at the unfamiliar soil beneath his feet. "Wind," he said, "what is this place?"

"Olympus," came the response somewhere to Jack's side, causing Jack to do a double take. The wind had never spoken aloud to him before. "Cupid is a god, after all."

Jack's breath hitched in his throat as his gaze fell on the source of the voice. This land was strange beyond all measure. So much so that it had changed the wind's form from an invisible mass to that of a winged man standing next to him. Jack would have thought the guy could be related to Cupid if he hadn't known better. Or perhaps he was. Wasn't everyone in Olympus married to their brother or something?

A quick check of Jack's own features, and he breathed a sigh of relief that he at least hadn't appeared to change at all. That was one less scary thing to deal with. It must have just been a quirk of the wind to change like that when he came here.

An amused chuckle escaped the wind's lips, and he gestured to a path that he began to walk down and intended for Jack to follow. Jack nodded belatedly and fell into step behind the wind, being careful to stay as close to him as possible so as not to get lost in this strange and unfamiliar place.

"What's the matter, Jack?" said the wind with even more mirth sneaking its way into his voice. "No one's going to bite you here, I promise."

"No, no, I-" Jack shook his head at such a bizarre thought. Why would the wind even suggest such a ridiculous notion? "Bite me?" he repeated, only to earn a laugh from the wind. Jack then cleared his throat and said, "It's just that this place is so strange. I've never been here before."

"It shouldn't seem that strange to you. Your family of legends have a similar place to be," said the wind. "You've been to Asgard before, haven't you?"

"Only a few times," said Jack. "Thor and Loki have kind of been out for my blood after I cheated at that poker game."

This only resulted in an eruption of laughter from the wind, and Jack slowly felt his tension melt away. He may not have been accustomed to the wind appearing in that form or in this place, but he was still the same being Jack had always known and been such close friends with, and if he thought that this place was fine, then perhaps it was.

At last they came to a palace, and Jack's walking once again halted from intimidation, but at the wind's prodding hand on his back, he shakily walked forward again. Did Cupid seriously live here? It would take someone with a lot of power to have a home like this, and somehow that idea didn't sit well with Jack. He'd always just thought of Cupid as being like himself: frivolous and childlike without being able to stay put in any one place for too long. The thought of Cupid being able to have a huge palace like this had never crossed his mind, and he was beginning to regret coming here.

They reached the front doors, and without their having to do anything, the door swung out to meet them. The wind took this as an open invitation and sauntered into the palace, dragging a fussy Jack Frost behind him who insisted that they had to at least try to knock first. Normally, Jack thought that knocking was more a suggestion than a requirement, but when faced with a powerful god, he was willing to obey that suggestion to the letter.

After a brief moment, someone came out to meet them. "Hello," said the woman, "Can I help you?"

"My friend here," said the wind as he shook Jack's arm, "has business with Cupid. But if he's not home, then we would like to speak with the lady of the house."

The woman nodded before starting to walk away. "It'll be just a minute."

Jack didn't own a watch, but it seemed as though it had literally taken exactly a minute for someone to show up for them. Olympus time was weird, and he had no idea how they did that. Even Asgard wasn't this strange, and Asgard was pretty strange.

"Boreas!" cried the new voice as soon as she came into view. "How nice to see you!"

Jack raised an eyebrow and looked at the wind, trying very hard to stifle a chuckle. "You go by Boreas here?"

The wind, who apparently also identified as Boreas rolled his eyes and looked down at Jack with a huff. Jack couldn't deduce whether the huff derived from amusement or disdain. "I go by a few names here, yes. Psyche happens to like my Greek name."

A startled laugh escaped from the woman's lips, and Jack finally turned to get a good look at her. His gut lurched once he saw how amazingly gorgeous she was. If he had been shallow enough to choose beauty over anything else, he would have been very jealous of Cupid for managing to get a girl like this.

"But the Greek is lovely!" she said, only to lose herself to laughter again at seeing Jack's vacant expression. "Oh, my dear, you look so lost. Tell me, what do you normally call Boreas where you're from?"

Jack's mouth twitched up in an attempt to smile and make himself appear less stupid, but it was clear that it was a lost cause before he even tried, and his shoulders intervened by going into a shrug to save whatever was left of his dignity. "Uh, the wind?"

Another laugh emanated from the beautiful woman's throat. "But, how do you tell Boreas apart from the other winds?"

Jack blinked at this strange question. "Come again?"

Finally, Boreas came to the rescue as he clapped a hand onto Jack's shoulder. "You'll have to forgive my comrade here. He's really young and hasn't yet learned to tell us apart."

Jack jerked his head up to stare at the wind being that accompanied him and regarded him with an almost horrified expression. "Wait," he said, "there are more than one of you?"

Both Psyche and Boreas clapped their hands over their mouths and looked like they were trying as hard as they could to keep themselves from laughing, but Jack wasn't fooled. His eyebrow twitched in poorly concealed frustration. These people were older than him. He could clearly see that. It didn't mean they had to treat him like a child just because he didn't understand everything yet.

Psyche cleared her throat. "Pardon my behavior. Shall we go somewhere more comfortable where we can talk?"

Jack wasn't sure why she had phrased that as a question, because she didn't wait for an answer as she started walking in a random direction and motioned for them to follow. She led them to a spacious room with comfortable chairs and cushions all around. A large, multi-tiered fountain added to the ambiance in one corner. A little baby Cupid statuette stood at the top of the fountain, threatening whoever chose to enter the room with an arrow drawn tight in his bow. Figured.

They sat in comfortable places around the room, Jack choosing to pick a seat that let the little baby Cupid stay at his back so he wouldn't have to look at it. The real Cupid wasn't a baby anyway. He was a full grown man whose idea of extreme modesty was a simple loincloth that he only wore when facing people whose sensibilities were too easily frightened.

Psyche's servants brought in tray after tray of fruits, breads, cheeses, and even wine. She invited Jack and Boreas to help themselves to whatever they liked. Jack was hesitant at first, but after he saw Boreas head straight for the wine without a second thought, he figured that Psyche wasn't going to mind if he took a little fruit and cheese. He really hoped Boreas didn't get himself drunk though. He was literally Jack's ride home.

"Now," said Psyche, finally taking on a more serious air in her tone, "I'm told that you have business with my husband Eros?"

Jack blinked again and repeated, "Eros?" only to remember a moment later that Psyche seemed to prefer the Greek names of things. That was probably Cupid's Greek name. He smacked his forehead, eliciting a chuckle from the other two at seeing him figure it out on his own.

It was Boreas who answered her question first. "I'm only here to help Jack. He has some questions he needs to ask."

This seemed to surprise her a bit, but she then turned to face Jack. "Oh? And how do you know Boreas and Eros?"

Jack sighed and rubbed his forehead. It figured that not everyone had heard of him yet, though it pained him to realize that. He didn't think that Psyche left Olympus too often though, so a detail like that could easily be missed.

"Well, um, B-Boreas..." he said, stumbling over the unfamiliar name, "he carries me wherever I need to go to do my work. As well as the other winds I guess?" He looked up to Boreas at this, who nodded in confirmation. "And, well, Cupid... uh, your husband... he just shot me yesterday." He hung his head abashedly. "I have no idea how to keep doing the work I need to do."

Psyche seemed to be thinking over this for a moment. "Really? I would have taken you for a mortal, though that is an unusual guest to have here in Olympus. But you speak as though you have some sort of divine duties, or else Boreas surely wouldn't have brought you here."

Jack nodded at this. "I'm not sure whether you've heard about me or not, but I am currently one of the spirits of winter as well as the newest member of the Guardians of Childhood."

A worried look crossed Psyche's features, and her hand slowly made its way to cover her mouth. "A Guardian of Childhood?" She closed her eyes and began to shake her head. "No, he wouldn't have done that. Not my Eros. He knows better than to break an agreement of peace between different factions of the spirit world."

"Heh." Jack hung his head uncomfortably and twiddled his fingers. How was he going to keep telling this story to people over and over again without going insane? It was terribly embarrassing. "It was kind of my fault," he said. "I jumped in front of his arrow."

Psyche gasped. "But whatever for?"

Jack slowly raised his head, daring himself to look her in the eye and admit to his own stupidity, but without compromising what he believed in. He'd had a reason to get himself messed up in all of this in the first place. It was important that he not cower away from it now.

"Cupid was pointing his arrow at someone who would have become smitten with the mother in a family I hold very dear to my heart, but I didn't trust the guy he was about to shoot. So... I intervened. Impulsively."

"Very," said Boreas, downing his goblet of wine. Jack wasn't sure whether that was his first goblet or not. "Stupidest thing I've ever seen him do, and I've seen a lot of stupid things while parading him around."

Jack shot a glare at the offending spirit of the wind. "No one asked you."

Boreas just laughed and continued drinking, and Jack just sighed and shook his head. He had no idea how long he was going to be stranded in Olympus at this rate if his designated flier was out for the count.

"So then," said Psyche after recovering from the brief distraction of Boreas and trying to graciously ignore it, "what exactly have you come all this way to ask?"

Jack gulped. So it was finally to this point, but now he was afraid to move his lips. Psyche seemed nice enough, but what if he offended her and she ratted on him to her husband? Or worse, what if he fumbled over his words so much that he never even got the answers he had come all this way for? He couldn't allow that. This was too important.

He took a deep breath and licked his lips. Here we go. He looked up at her and said, "Is there a cure?"

A long and awkward silence passed between the two of them as they just stared at each other. Jack shivered under her penetrating gaze and started wondering if she might make a better winter spirit than he did if she could make him shiver like that. But that was silly, wasn't it? She didn't have such powers as far as he knew.

Finally, Psyche ended the silence with a barely audible phrase of, "Eros has never spoken of one."

Jack cried out in frustration and threw his head in his hands. His head shook violently from side to side as he began to sob, all false cheer suddenly gone from his appearance. "But I can't work. I can't do my job of protecting children because I just can't stop thinking about her, and I know it's only going to get worse. He has no idea how this feels! He has no clue of the pain this causes when he does this to someone!"

Psyche then cleared her throat. "He does."

That stopped Jack cold as he tried to process what she had meant by that. "He does?"

She nodded and reaffirmed what she'd said before. "He does."

Jack slowly lifted his head out of his hands and looked up at the woman before him, trying to read the inner meaning of her words off her face, but he failed. Finally, he just gave in and voiced the question on his mind. "But how could he possibly know what this feels like?"

"Because," she said, "he accidentally shot himself once. He told me so."

Jack's eyebrows shot up at the mention of this, though when he thought about it, it started to make a bit of sense. He'd known that Cupid wasn't immune to his own arrows somehow, but he hadn't been sure how anyone knew that. Apparently it was because Cupid had actually gotten careless enough to find that out by accident one day. A hidden smile twitched on the edge of Jack's mouth, threatening to come out and gloat over Cupid having had to suffer through what Jack was going through now. That didn't seem the right reaction to have at the moment though, so he shoved it under and instead asked a new question.

"So who did he see first?"

Psyche smirked like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Me."

Jack's mouth slowly formed a letter "O" shape as the full situation slowly dawned on him. If Cupid had actually been shot himself and had to suffer this way, then surely if there had been any sort of cure available, Cupid would have used it by now. Jack gripped the arm of his chair tightly and leaned forward. "Wait, are you telling me that after all this time, Cupid has still not been cured?"

She nodded solemnly. Jack slumped back into his chair and slapped his palm over his face. He had no idea when all this had gone down with Cupid and Psyche, but he suspected that the two of them had probably been married for longer than he'd even been alive, which didn't spell out anything good for Jack if even Cupid himself couldn't find a cure.

Dainty footsteps approached him, then a gentle hand pried his hand away from his face. He turned and looked up into the face of a concerned Psyche, who offered him a sad smile and said, "It's really not as bad as you think. It can work out. Eros and I are happy. I'm sure you can be happy too."

"But she's mortal!" shouted Jack.

Psyche responded to this with a smirk. "So was I."

That had stolen all the words right out of Jack's mouth. He tried to come up with something to say and only managed to salvage a, "W-What?"

Psyche chuckled. "I could tell you about it, but the tale has been told many times and in many ways, and I struggle to remember how it really happened by now. But our story has made its way into the written lore of mortals. I am sure you can find it and read it there."

Jack didn't know how to respond, so he just nodded. "Uh, thank you. Yeah, I will."

She then glanced over to where Jack's designated flier was currently passed out on a cushion, his empty goblet forgotten on the floor as he snored up a storm. Perhaps literally, somewhere in the world.

Psyche and Jack shared a grimace at this, and then she said, "I'll get someone else to take you home. Boreas has always been difficult like that anyway. I'm surprised you get along with him so well. I've never seen him so amiable with anyone before."

Jack shrugged and allowed himself to chuckle as he released the tension that had been building up from fear of not being able to get back home. Now that that was resolved, he didn't have to be afraid of it. "What can I say? I'm just one of those sorts who tends to be able to loosen everyone up I guess."

At this, Psyche smiled, then said. "Then I believe you have nothing to fear with your lady friend. Things will work out for you in time. Just be patient and your natural charm will grow on her."

Jack sighed. "But she can't even see me."

Psyche leaned forward and reiterated her main point. "Just be patient, I said. Everything will work out in time, you'll see."

Jack raised his eyebrows at this, honestly surprised that he was even entertaining the notion now, or that he was being encouraged to. Him? With Mrs. Bennett? Was that okay? Was that even possible? Not to mention, were his feelings for her even real?

Before he had the chance to voice this latest question, she had taken advantage of the silence to go off and consult with one of her servants. A moment later, she was back and beaming with pride.

"Hermes has agreed to take you back to your home, but he's leaving right now, so you'll have to go now if you want to leave with him."

Jack looked up at her, then down at his still sitting form, then up and down a couple other times as his mind raced to catch up with her words. "Oh, um, right! Yeah, okay. I can... yeah, I can do that. Yeah." He forced himself to stand up. Leaving now would mean he couldn't ask every question on his mind, but he didn't want to risk not being able to get home. And besides, he had gotten the answer to the big question he had come for. It seemed there really was no cure. But it also seemed that it was possible to be happy despite it if one worked really hard at it. This was going to require a lot of thought.

Psyche escorted Jack out of the palace to where a man was sitting on the front step, seemingly waiting for them. That must have been Hermes. Great. Another god to deal with. Hopefully he wouldn't be as bad to deal with as Cupid was. Though Psyche had seemed nice enough, and wasn't she a goddess or something? He didn't know how these things worked, especially with her having previously been mortal and all that.

"Thank you for dropping by today," she said to Jack. "And don't hesitate to drop by again if you have another question. I'll always be more than happy to help in any way I can, and I am sure Eros will too if he's here."

"Uh, right," said Jack, not really liking the idea of dropping by and talking to Cupid in his own home, but he didn't want to be rude to this sweet lady. "I'll keep that in mind," he said. "Thanks for your hospitality."

The man on the step then stood up and slipped his arm around Jack's waist. "Well, let's get going," he said. "I've got a lot of messages to deliver and not a lot of time to do it in."

Jack nodded, not feeling in the mood to argue with the god about anything at the moment, as he just wanted to get back to his familiar territory and just relax. He'd dealt with enough gods for one day.

Yep, I seriously went there. I wasn't going to drag in the Greek and Roman myths simply because of Cupid's presence in the story, but I guess my muses had other ideas. Darn muses and their ideas, haha. Means this story's probably only gonna get weirder.

Anyway, thoughts on the chapter or on what you'd like to see? I absolutely would love to hear from you guys. Helps me out a lot. :)

Thanks again for reading, and I hope to see you all back here next time!