(I don't own Supernatural. At 6,343 words, this is the longest chapter by far. I dedicate this chapter to Jayy. Do you remember Eros being in the last chapter -chapter 35-? If not, you may have missed it. This is chapter 36. -this is also me trying to help people not skip chapters by accident.)

The morning started off with the smell of bacon.

Always a wonderful thing to wake up to.

Dean and Castiel had gotten back at the crack of dawn, so I expected that Dean would still be asleep, but the eldest Winchester was already awake and digging in. The mound of bacon on his plate almost hid him from view.

"Good morning, Lokes!" Apollo practically sang, swooping in and delivering to me a plate heaped with food. The pancakes had been drowned in so much syrup that they were in a bronze bowl; the bowl was on a large bronze plate, surrounded by a moat of sausage and bacon, with ambrosia flavoring having already been sprinkled onto everything, "bam, breakfast in bed!"

"Wha-" I stared at the food in shock, already drooling as I picked up a piece of bacon and shoved it in my mouth, "oh, holy mother of sugar, this is amazing!"

Urged on by the taste, I stuffed several pieces of bacon into my mouth, though I wasn't the only angel to be shoving handfuls of food into my mouth, since Castiel had already mowed down half of his breakfast.

"Apollo made breakfast!" Sera chimed from the table, following my example and shoving a handful of food into her mouth.

"Table manners! You would think you were all raised by wolves!" Cassandra scolded us, glaring first at Dean, then Sera, then me, "is Sam the only one who has any table manners whatsoever?"

We all stared at Sam, who looked up from his laptop when he noticed everybody staring at him, having been chewing on a piece of bacon, "what?"

"Loophole! I'm on the floor!" I told Cassandra from my bed of blankets on the floor, stuffing both a sausage link and several pieces of bacon in my mouth at once. Cassandra gave me The Look and I quickly picked up my plastic fork.

"How uncivilized of you all," I said, scolding Dean, Sera, and Castiel, "savages, the whole lot of you."

Castiel looked ashamed, though with his mouth full of food he looked more like a chipmunk preparing for winter.

Apollo looked around at all the happy beings stuffing their faces and I felt a sense of pride radiate from him as he piled up his own plate and came over to sit next to me, "how'd you sleep?"

"Great," I said, closing my eyes in pure bliss as I tasted the pancakes, "mmmm, this is greater. How'd you sleep?"

"Great as well," Apollo beamed one of his sunshine smiles and I had to look back at my food because it was too bright for my eyes, "did you know that, to propose, people used to throw an apple at the person they wanted to marry and if it was a yes said person would catch the apple?"

"Well, I know now," I said, filing the information away for later. The topic brought up memories of yesterday's conversation with Artemis, and suddenly it wasn't just because of his bright smile that I couldn't seem to bring myself to look the pagan in the eyes, so I masked that fact by continuing to dig into my food.

"I was thinking maybe... maybe we could-" Apollo hesitated when Castiel's gaze instantly snapped onto the pagan, but the pagan flashed me a charming grin anyways, "I was thinking maybe I could get the sun chariot down here and we could take a trip to Virginia Beach. They've got this one shop on the boardwalk that has this machine that makes something called saltwater taffy and it is to die for."

"Taffy?" I glanced up from my breakfast, surprised by the offer, "okay, sounds cool-"

"Doesn't the sun chariot need to be in the sky to be the sun?" Castiel spoke up, glaring at the pagan.

"Naw," Apollo waved his hand dismissively, "I've been on extended vacation for the last century, so if that was true this would have been a problem sooner. The other religions keep it covered."

"And what if they all go on vacation?"

"Science," Apollo responded, "science keeps it going."

"Running off again?" Sam glanced up from his laptop, eyes meeting mine, "what if there's something somebody really needs to tell everybody? Something that they should probably tell everybody before leaving?"

I looked away first, feeling full now as I poked what was still left on my plate around, "um, maybe today isn't the best day for a trip."

I felt bad when I sensed how disappointed Apollo was at this news.

"You could always go," I said quickly, trying to ignore how Sam's gaze felt like it was burning a hole in me.

"It's fine," Apollo said, turning his attention to his food, "probably not the best day to go to the ocean today, anyways. It's spring right now, we could go during the summer."

Cassandra frowned, glancing at Castiel and then Sam before turning her gaze in the direction of Apollo and I; she leaned over to Sera and whispered something to her. Sera nodded and they shook hands, and then Cassandra turned her gaze back towards Apollo and I, "we may not be able to go to the beach, but the motel has a swimming pool in the back. We've never actually used a motel pool, but there's a first time for everything right?"

"Wouldn't suggest it," Dean spoke up, already almost done with his bacon mountain, "you never know with motel pools. This one time, when I was seventeen, I saw a naked old guy swimming in the pool at the motel we were at."

"Ew," Sera crinkled her nose before grinning, "Cassandra and I run into creepy guys all the time. This one time, when I was twelve, Cas was coming back from a Hunt, and there was this guy peering through our motel room window trying to catch me in my undies. I didn't even notice him, but when Cas showed up and saw him, she got so angry! She'd only been threatening him for five seconds and he'd peed his pants cause he was so scared."

"Probably didn't help that I was still covered in blood from taking out the vampire coven we had been tracking," Cas (my Cas) smirked, "of course, it was also a complete accident that his nose was broken by the time was able to run off."

"I would have done more than just break his nose," I grumbled under my breath.

"What about you, Gabe?" Sam spoke up, "have any stories you could share?"

I wanted to disappear as everybody looked to me with expectant expressions.

Apollo frowned at the Winchester, glancing from Sam to me before raising his eyebrow and tilting his head slightly to the side towards where my wings should be. I gave a slight nod and looked back at my plate.

"I have one," Apollo said loudly and I shot him a grateful glance as he drew everyone's gaze towards him, "about a boy who stole half my herd of sacred cows. His name was Hermes."

"You know I could just snap my fingers and make these clean themselves. You don't have to try and clean up the mess I made," Apollo teased, walking up behind me while I was trying to clean up from breakfast, having already broken five plastic forks trying to scrape syrup off of one of the plates.

"I figured the Hunters would appreciate the traditional way better," I said, not looking away from my task, "the Maples wouldn't mind but the Winchesters don't seem like the type to appreciate their dishes floating around cleaning themselves."

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Apollo reached around me and tapped the plate, his chest leaning onto my back. The plate floated right out of my hands and took itself to the sink. My pagan friend snapped his fingers and the plate floated around the kitchen in a sort of military-like march, the kitchenware it passed rising up and falling in line.

"Didn't know you were a Disney princess," I responded, this time not looking at him so that he couldn't see how red my face had become. At the same time, the warmth he radiated felt nice on my back and my back didn't feel so bare (my back feels weird without my wings and the feeling has yet to fade) so I didn't move right away.

"Naw, Dean's already got that covered," Apollo said before whispering into my ear, breath warm against my neck, "we all know that Dean Winchester is a disney princess."

Dean, attention caught by the sound of his own name, -and deary me, were my eyes playing tricks or had he just been holding my brother's hand?- looked away from the tv, "what?"

"Nothing!" I answered, dropping the plastic fork in my hand into the garbage. I couldn't help but glance back to see if I could catch the Hunter and angel holding hands again.

Dean frowned, staring at us for a moment before glancing back at the tv, using the remote to turn it up a bit, "whatever. Just make sure you two keep it off the counter."

"What are you-?" when I realized that the Winchester was commenting on the close proximity between Apollo and I, I'm pretty sure my vessel's face got about fifty shades redder. I quickly stepped away from the pagan, pretending to be occupied watching the dishes flying around, "so where did the plates and bowls come from?"

Apollo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before snatching a plate that was trying to dry itself on a dish towel, "well, I had some new arrows from Hephaestus and I figured, why not?"

His hand glowed brightly as he waved his hand over the plate, turning it back into an arrow before holding it out to me. I picked up the arrow, surprised when it was a little warm as if it radiated warmth just like Apollo. The shaft was golden, the bronze arrowhead sharpened to a point, but it was the fletching that impressed me the most. The feathers were not feathers at all, but actually thin bronze made to stimulate the most perfect of fletching.

I let out a low whistle as I continued to examine it, unable to find any faults with the work, "Sunchild, you have got to get me this guy's number if this is the kind of work he's churning out. I have to place an order for... anything really! Maybe a dagger, or a cool bracelet or-"

"Or maybe a couple of rings," Apollo added, examining his nails.

"Yeah, or maybe something like..."

Apollo glanced up at me, looking about to say something before changing his mind; after I handed the arrow back to him, Apollo put the arrow into a quiver that disappeared as quickly as it reappeared, "I, uh, actually have several orders he's still working on."

"Oh, cool," I grinned, barely able to contain my interest as his quiver materialized again; one by one, the bowls and plates marched into it, turning back into arrows before retreating into the quiver, "what kind of things is he working on for you?"

"Oh," he leaned on the counter, a small smile appearing on his face, "top secret project. He's been working on it for quite a while for me. I can't accept anything less than perfect."

"What is it?" I picked up the quiver once all the arrows had found their way back into it, "a new bow?"

"More important than a bow." Apollo's smile seemed to become a tad bit sad and he turned towards the counter, walking over to it and making sure all the dishes/arrows were accounted for, "much more important than a bow."

"A new mansion?"

"No," Apollo shook his head, turning back around to face me.

"A palace?"

"Nope."

"How about some sort of temple? Pagans like temples, right?"

Apollo let out a sharp laugh, "I'm not going to tell you what it is, Lokes. That's why it's top secret."

"So it is a temple?"

"It's not a temple."

"Okay," I frowned, still trying to figure out what it may be that was so important to him, "so if one of them is top secret, then what are the other ones?"

"Oh, they're top secret too. They're done already, since they didn't take him as long as the project I've had him working on."

"Are they more important?"

"Not as much, no. They are still pretty important, though."

"Will you ever tell me what they are?"

"Eventually I'll you show you all of them," Apollo promised, and I handed him his quiver, which dematerialized in his hands.

"Is it a new sun chariot?"

"Lokes! Stop guessing!"

"So it is a new chariot!"

"No, it's not a new chariot!" Apollo laughed, "nor a bow, nor a mansion, nor a palace, nor a temple."

"How am I supposed to stop guessing if you won't tell me what it is?"

"You'll be patient," he booped my nose and left the kitchen.

"I can be patient," I argued, turning my attention to the Hunters focused on the tv, "breakfast's been taken care of."

"Finally," Sera stood up and stretched before reaching for her bag on the nightstand, "you two said something about a bunker this morning?"

"Bunker sweet Bunker," Dean grinned in response, hopping off the edge of the bed and reaching for his bag, "I can't wait to get back."

"You're telling me," Sam said, anticipation clear in his emotions, "it's been too long."

"Least we won't have to dust," Dean pulled his jacket off of a kitchen chair, "Sunny can just snap his fingers and clean it for us?"

"Sunny can do," Apollo promised, giving the Winchester a mock salute, "you guys go on ahead, Lokes and I can take the sun chariot. I got two seats and they have our names on them."

"Why would you put your name and Gabriel's name on the seats of your sun chariot?" Castiel frowned, head tilted, while at the same time Sam scolded Dean for shirking his cleaning onto Apollo.

"Not literally, just metaphorically," Apollo explained, "got your name on it as in meant for you."

"Oh," Cassie paused, still frowning, "but if you drive the sun chariot, then what about the sun?"

"Other religions," Apollo said before pausing with a frown of his own on his face, "huh... it's been a while... but, no, I guess it would have to be on the way and that's not exactly the direction that it's traveling in. Well, curse you and your logic; not literally, don't give me that expression, Castiel. But one day soon, Lokes, me and you are going to take a day and I'll show you the view from the sun chariot."

"Maybe we might even run into Crowley on the way to the Bunker," Dean said, "he might have news on God or Lucifer."

Apollo paused, his entire eyes glowing gold for a second, taking over even the whites and pupils of his eyes; as quickly as they had glowed, they faded back to normal and my pagan friend frowned, mumbling under his breath, "I wouldn't count on it."

The bunker was more impressive than I thought it would be. If Sera pulling her camera out had any indication, than I wasn't the only one to think so, but I made sure to escape from the group before she could notice my lack of wings through the camera. I stopped when I came across a huge library but eventually continued on down one of the halls until I finally came across an indoor shooting range.

"Camera shy?"

My vessel's heart rate shot up for a second from being startled but I managed not to jump, "did you dust everything like you said you would?"

Apollo stepped up beside me and ran his hand along one of the guns on the weapons display against the back wall, "with a simple snap of my fingers, I have made this place shinier than it has ever been. Not a spec of dust in here."

"Dean will be happy that you took care of the cleaning for him," I grinned, picking up a rifle and looking down the scope in the direction of the target at the far end of the room.

"Not sure if I quite like being underground," Apollo glanced at the ceiling as I put the gun back; I could sense the slight amount of claustrophobia that he felt and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze with my hand as I passed him.

"Tell me about it," I said, making sure I had put the gun back right before I turned around, "it's nice, but I don't know if I could cope with living underground."

"Yeah," Apollo nodded, glancing at the shooting targets, "it's been a while since I've been able to use my bow, but I wouldn't want to use arrows on paper targets."

"You any good with guns, Legolas?"

We both glanced towards the doorway at the sound of the eldest Winchester's voice. Dean walked into the range, duffel bag on his shoulder, and moved towards the guns.

"Give me a bow any day," Apollo said, shaking his head as we watched the Winchester move some of the guns in the bag onto the stand, "go- lord of archery, not lord of guns. I can still use them pretty well, but I'd rather have a bow."

Dean shrugged, zipping the duffel back up once he had moved the guns that he wanted to move, "quieter too, I bet."

"Did Castiel send you down here to make sure we weren't doing anything he would disapprove of?" Apollo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Nope," Dean said, but my Archangel hearing picked up the small rise in his heartbeat that indicated lying, "I just came down to put some guns away."

"Uh-huh," Apollo's smirk grew, "just so happened to be the very range we were in."

"Yep."

"Unless, of course, he came to ask for my dear brother's hand," I felt a smirk grow on my own face, "in which case, I give you my absolute permission to sweep my brother right off his feet. Can't wait for little nephews or nieces."

The mortal's face flushed deep red and he spluttered indignantly, "I'm not- we're not- I don't know where the hell you would get that idea!"

And with that said, he grabbed up his bag and stormed from the room.

"Poor guy's in denial," I said with mock sadness, grinning when Apollo laughed, "we should probably join up with the group before my dear little brother sends Sam next."

"I guess," Apollo said, a tinge of disappointment crossing his emotions.

"Speaking of Sam," I said before Apollo could walk out the door; the pagan paused and looked back for me to go on, "I almost forgot to say thank you... you know, for getting everybody's attention off of me. I... I'm not too sure I want them to ever know about my wings."

Apollo's expression grew serious, "they wouldn't think any less of you, Lokes."

"Pretty sure Sam does."

"I don't think so," Apollo told me after a moment of pause, "I think he's just concerned about you. You have a way of growing on people, Lokes, no matter how you meet them."

"Maybe," I shrugged.

Apollo hesitated in the doorway, "um, Lokes.. this is going to sound a little weird, but I have a... a question to ask you."

"Okay."

Another second of hesitation before he worked up the courage to speak, though he still looked unsure of himself, "Loki, will you-"

"Hey, Cas is looking for you two," Sam poked his head in, "uh, our Cas, I mean, not Cassandra. What are you guys doing in the shooting range?"

Apollo seemed to deflate a little.

"Told you he would be sending Sam next," I cast Apollo a grin, but he didn't seem able to return it for some reason, "what was it you wanted to ask me?"

"Um, I forgot," Apollo said, and I watched him leave, confused at why he had lied about forgetting the question.

"Does he know?" Sam asked after a moment, once Apollo was gone.

"Yes," I said honestly, "yeah, he knows."

"Why did you tell him but not the Maples?"

I found myself able to hold the youngest Winchesters gaze long enough to find the strength to answer. The words 'because I did it for him' died on my tongue and I said something completely different instead, "Poseidon made him watch while my wings were chopped off. I didn't have to tell him anything."

Whoa, little self, didn't mean to give away that much.

Sam, fortunately, didn't comment on the dose of TMI I had just given him, changing the topic instead, "are you coming?"

I followed him back in the direction of the library, keeping pace with him despite his longer strides (I had enough stamina to speed walk for as long as I wanted to), "do you know what it feels like to have something so important taken from you?"

"I lost my soul once."

"Hmm," I tried to think what it would be like to have a soul and then lose it, "I wouldn't know what that's like to lose a soul; archangels don't have souls, just Grace."

"I wouldn't know what it would be like to lose wings," Sam responded.

"Guess not," I shrugged.

"I'm sorry, for, you know," Sam said, "yelling at you. And getting mad."

I glanced at the Winchester, stopping in the doorway to the library. The youngest Winchester often had a small bit of anger in him at all times, and I didn't blame him for getting angry at me over the whole wing thing, "you don't need to apologize. Really. Hell, there's a lot of things I've done that you have every right to be angry at me about. Now I don't know about you, but it has been several hours since I had something sugary and I could eat a whole cotton candy monster. You know, like the one from that one live action scooby doo movie? I love scooby doo; scooby and shaggy are mortals after my own heart."

A smile appeared on Sam's face, "you practically overdosed on sugar this morning."

"I'm a Trickster, Big Bird, we have a fast metabolism."

"I thought you could go days without sugar."

"Call it a craving."

We had been about to go our separate ways into the library when Apollo pulled Sam aside, asking to use the Hunter's laptop. I left the two and went to find Cas(my brother, Cas), who was none too discreetly watching the Hunter he had a fancy for who was currently bent over to grab a book off the bottom shelf to show to Cassandra.

"I see you have learned the fine art of butt appreciation for the mortal you have chosen," I grinned, leaning against the table my brother was sitting on.

"I have no concerns over Dean's butt," Castiel responded in his usual gruff/serious voice.

"Does he have the booty?"

"I see no pirate treasure-"

"The correct answer was supposed to be 'he dooooooooooo.' And of course you have no concerns over his butt, it's a wonderful butt, that's why you're staring at it. I bet that's the result of all the running around they do."

"I am not looking at Dean's butt."

"Of course not, you're appreciating it," I said, putting on a pouty face as Dean found the book he was looking for and straightened up to show it to Cassandra, "aw, he stood up. Well, you can still see it, brother, so don't get too sad. Who is Samuel Colt and why is his journal in the library?"

"He was a Hunter," Castiel responded, eyes shifting onto the book cover that our angelic eyes could read from here, "he created a gun that could kill anything."

"Anything?"

"Almost anything."

"So, what was so important that you sent both Winchesters down to check on Apollo and I?" I asked my brother, hoping my annoyance didn't show in my voice, "surely it wasn't just so I could come down here and assist you in staring at your boyfriend's butt."

"Dean is not my boyfriend and I was not staring at his butt."

"So you didn't sleep with him last night?"

Castiel's face immediately went beet red. His wings flapped nervously, "of course not."

I didn't call him out on it, merely giving him a shit eating grin, "well, I guess you did just call me down here to help you stare at your boyfriend's butt."

"Don't stare at Dean's butt."

"I'm sorry, is that an 'Only Castiel' zone?"

His wings puffed up a little in irritation.

"Okay, okay," I laughed.

"Besides, shouldn't you be staring at your little pagan pet's butt instead of Dean's?" Cas huffed.

My grin was gone in an instant, "and we're back to this again. He's my friend, Cassie, so learn to deal with it."

"They insult our Father's name with their claims that they are gods! I've given you time and time again, because you don't have your memories, but you can't seem to get it through your head! Pagans are worse than demons, Gabriel, and I'm not going to just watch you throw your existence away just because you think one of them is hot!" he gave me an exasperated look, and I felt myself snap at his wording, "so yes! This again! Because you don't seem to understand-"

"No, you don't understand!" I snapped at him, sick and tired at his behavior towards the subject. My heart pounded and I let my trickster power flood my Grace, purposely coiling my Grace around my brother's, ignoring the pang of hurt when his Grace recoiled from the mix of Trickster and Grace that was my own Grace. I wasn't even sure where the words came from but they flooded from my mouth all the same, and I didn't even notice that I was speaking in Enochian, "in case you've forgotten, your dear brother Gabriel is a pagan too! And I'm worse than the whole damn lot of them, Castiel!"

I pointed at Apollo, who looked up from Sam's laptop with a small spike of fear at being dragged into an argument between two angels (well, an Archangel and an angel, but I'm not sure I care at this point what we are), but I wasn't planning on dragging him into another one of my messes, "I may not have all my pages in order in my brain book, but I sure as hell know that my so called family weren't the ones who have been here for me in the past few millennia or hell-if-care-whatever time span it's been since Dad ditched everybody! You know who was? Pagans! You know who didn't ditch everybody who cares about them? Pagans! You know who didn't watch their own son stab their other son to death and sit there and write a fucking book about it!? Pagans! So, Chuck can take- t-the insults to his name and shove it up his ass!"

"Pagans, you kill one of their kids and nine times out of ten they'll come storming down raining vengeance on your ass, but the great and wonderful Dad that is Chuck just sits there and writes it down! Bet he probably has a twitter profile or something somewhere! Laughing his ass off! Just watched one of my kids stab the other one, lol, hashtag kids will be kids!"

It occurred to me that Castiel wasn't the one I was actually mad at by this point, but I was on a roll, "hell, I bet Dad even recorded it! Whenever he feels down I bet he just pops it in his tv and has a good, old laugh!"

...

"A mistletoe dart?" Hephaestus gave me an odd look as he looked up from the mistletoe I had given him to work with, "what the Tartarus would you want with a dart made of mistletoe? Look, Loki, I have a lot of things that would work a lot better as a weapon than a bit of mistletoe."

I laughed, imagining what Baldur's face will look like. Apollo and I had both foreseen him having things thrown at him as he tests his limits, and I knew it would be the perfect time for me to strike. I would give the dart to Hodr. Baldur will want us to try? Oh, I'll try.

"Yes, Hephaestus. I want it made of mistletoe."

...

I could feel all the fight go out of me. All my anger went up in smoke.

"Dad... Chuck... Cassie, maybe you're right. Pagans are all bad, according to you, right? Lucifer hinted at something similar, last time I saw him-" -okay, so maybe I read a little bit of the book where I died, so sue me- "-but you know, it's me. I'm the worst one of all of them. Zeus may not have given a shit when Baldur died, but at least he wasn't the one that killed him. I could have spent the last century happy, but instead I went and killed Baldur because I wanted to get back at the rest of the Norse pantheon for locking me up because they didn't know I was Fenrir, that I wasn't going to end up eating anybody," I pulled my Grace back to myself, "pagans say the angels and archangels are horrible, archangels and angels say pagans are horrible. And here I am. Not only am I both Archangel and pagan, but I'm the worst one out of both groups."

Castiel's lip wobbled, his wings shook. He seemed confused, his Grace moving towards me before retreating, remembering the foreign feeling of my 'tainted' Grace, wondering if it should seek comfort or give comfort but not wanting to get anywhere near me, "Gabriel..."

I shoved past him, pausing at the door to the first room I came across. I looked back to give Castiel a withering glare, "I'm glad Poseidon chopped my wings off, Castiel! Because now I'm even more of a pagan than before! Having second thoughts about wanting me back in the family now that you know I'm more pagan than Archangel?"

I slammed the door so hard the walls shook then I turned around and locked the door, trickster power retreating from my Grace.

After a second I moved my Grace outside the room, coming across feelings of shock from my brother and confusion from the mortals (not surprising, my whole rant had been in enochian). The only other pagan in the Bunker, meanwhile, merely had an overwhelming amount of frustration and I could a hear a thud from outside the door that sounded suspiciously similar to somebody dropping their head onto their desk in the universal sign of giving up on everything.

It occurred to me, then, that I had just poured my heart and soul out to my brother in a way and with the sort of personal thoughts and information that should have never seen the light of day.

I plopped down into a corner, knees pulled up to my chest with my arms wrapped around my knees. It wasn't like I ever needed to leave this room and face him again, right? And good lord, everybody else had just seen me snap. Just had to rebuild all the masks back up that had been torn down in the past day or two or maybe it's been going on for a couple of weeks or maybe it all started when I picked up that damn book at Becky's. Yeah, that's it. I can just stay here, right here, forever.

There was a knock on the door, light and familiar,"Gabe? Can I come in?"

"No."

"Gabe."

"Bite me."

"Gabe, you're in Sam's room."

"Tell him he's going to have to get a new one, because I'm not coming out."

"...What brought this all on?"

"It added up," I admitted, "go away, Cassandra."

"Are you okay?"

"Peachy."

There was hushed whispering outside the door before there came a different knock at the door, "Lokes? Sam's saying he doesn't want another Archangel throwing a fit in his room."

I let out a half-hearted 'go away' and remained where I was.

"...Can I come in?"

"I locked it."

"I can phase through, if you want me to come in."

"Okay."

Apollo stepped through the door and looked around the room. As soon as he had seen me he walked over and sat down beside me, "you okay? I didn't understand the language you were speaking, but you were pretty upset."

"I'm sorry."

He frowned, "sorry? For what?"

"I..." last chance to change your mind, little self. No? Okay, here goes, "...I ran into Artemis. S-she told me how you really died. And why."

He stiffened, "Artemis? What did she tell you?"

"A lot," I admitted, "she told me a lot. She told me you were lying to me, and then she gave me the truth to the lie."

Apollo forced himself to relax, but even so his tension only eased a little bit.

"Why didn't you tell me about the truce? About the.."

"Whole marriage thing?" Apollo asked, shifting and leaning his back against the wall, "it didn't seem like the sort of greeting you would have appreciated. Hey, amnesiac who doesn't know who I am, I'm actually supposed to be married to you right now."

I let out a dry laugh.

"Well," Apollo let out a defeated sigh as he pulled something out of the pocket of his pants, "I was planning something dramatic, you like dramatic things, maybe take you to a candy store and do it there, but I guess Artemis pretty much ruined the surprise of the whole thing."

I stared at him in confusion as he stood up just to get down on one knee, still holding the odd little box. It seemed a little weird to stand up only to get down near the ground again.

"Loki, Gabriel, Trickster, Lokes," Apollo said, opening the box, "will you marry me?"

Everything seemed to stop. My brain stopped working, my Trickster heart skipped a beat, and I'm pretty sure my Grace all dropped to the ground.

"What?"

"I... I did it right? I mean, I googled Norse first, but I don't think even Dionysus has something that could keep us drunk for a month, so then I googled Christian tradition-"

"Yes."

"What?"

"I said yes."

"Really?" I sensed his own heart skip a beat, "I mean, really? It's really a yes?"

I nearly made him fall over with how hard I tackled him, wrapping my arms tightly around him. I was nearly flooded with relief, realizing he really wasn't angry at me or blaming me for his death, "yes, Sunchild! I said yes!"

"You didn't even look at the ring!"

"Still a yes!"

Apollo's happiness became so large that it was impossible for me to distinguish my own, booming happiness from his own. The ring dematerialized to be brought back later and I was happy to discover that Apollo's lips were as warm as the rest of him.

Problem was, when the kisses moved from mouth to neck, we weren't exactly quiet.

The sudden pounding on the door made us both startle. Sam's voice sounded a bit angry as he voiced his complaint, "hey! Come on, guys! Not in my room! Take it somewhere else!"

"Oh, no you don't!" I heard Cassandra telling him off, "I have fifty bucks riding on those two getting together and you are not costing me my bet!"

"No! Don't listen to her! Break it up, Sammy! Break them up!" I heard Sera yell, "if her fifty bucks isn't the only thing riding then I have to pay up!"

"Surprised your brother doesn't have anything to add in," Apollo smiled against my neck, "what exactly did you yell at him earlier?"

"Well, you heard her," I smirked, moving back a bit and pulling my shirt up and off, "if Cassandra's fifty dollars isn't the only thing riding, then she'll lose her bet."

Apollo laughed as the pounding increased when my shirt hit the door, "sometimes I swear you act as if you never lost your memories at all."

"NOT IN MY ROOM!"

"Sorry, Sammy, we're a little busy at the moment!"

"Stop calling me Sammy!"

(There, Jayy, your ship is made canon and I had to write romance. I had to write romance, Jayy. But no, Jayy didn't want subtle hints, Jayy wanted romance scenes. What the hell, Jayy?)