(I don't own Supernatural. And Hectatess, your reviews never fail to make my day. ^_^ I looked up what kablooie meant, and now I'm a little confused... is... is kablooie a good thing? By the way, everybody, if you don't remember Apollo proposing to Gabriel, you probably missed a chapter. This is chapter 37. By the way, I just finished binge watching all of season 12 on Netflix: they're fine. Yep, everybody's fine. Nope, definitely okay. (Cries in denial))

The ring was gold, with an emerald on top and and an inscription on the bottom. I kept reading and rereading the inscription with a grin on my face at the quote, 'I do what I want.'

I waggled my fingers, pleased when the emerald caught the golden glow that always radiated from Apollo, something that wasn't really all that prominent until you were in a dark room with him. I liked that he glowed, since being in the dark makes me remember being tied down as Fenrir.

The guest room in the Bunker that Apollo had teleported us to -being yelled at by a human moose is kind of a mood killer- was sort of bland at the moment, and I wondered what it would look like if it was my room, if I had a room. Maybe Apollo and I would share it. I glanced at the ring again and felt my grin grow.

"Would this be considered a shotgun wedding?"

"Hm?"

"We weren't exactly dating all these months."

"We've had a century or two of dating beforehand," Apollo murmured, burying his face into the crook of my neck. I leaned my chin on his head, running my hand through his hair and marveling at how soft it was.

"Do you think maybe if we try and rush them we could get a double wedding and then Dean and my brother can get married on the same day we do?"

"Mmm."

"Would that be a shotgun wedding?" I asked, "how long do you suppose they've been together-together? They're kind of secret about it, I suppose, but everybody already knows, don't you think?"

Apollo didn't respond and I glanced at him, finding that he'd fallen back to sleep. I would be surprised if he had been fully awake in the first place.

"Right, sun hasn't risen yet, I'm guessing," I said, since I couldn't really tell being underground and all, but getting Apollo awake before the sun was up was literally impossible, even though he didn't even really need sleep. Apollo mumbled something into my neck and pulled me closer to him, his arm wrapped around me still. Apparently I wasn't getting up until the sun was up either.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"We sleep," Apollo grumbled, trying to lay back down since I was sitting up with my back against the headboard.

I laid back down, closing my eyes and pretending that the warmth on my back was from having wings instead of it actually just being Apollo's chest against my bare back. I quickly grew bored of it though, "Apollo."

"Hmm."

"You awake?"

"Mmm."

"Is that a yes?"

No response; my pagan friend- er, pagan fiancé was once more out like a light.

"Do you think anybody is up in the Bunker?"

Apollo didn't respond, though I was pretty sure he was at least half-asleep still.

"I think I'm going to get up."

Apollo sighed and rolled over, the covers pooling around his waist. I took the moment to appreciate the sight before quietly moving out of the bed and heading towards the door.

"Pants," Apollo yawned, half opening his eyes as he watched me go, "mortals. Not...often... nude... least not n'more."

"But nobody's even awake!"

"Mmm."

"Fine."

I bent over to retrieve my pants from the floor, glancing back to see Apollo already falling back to sleep. I rolled my eyes at him and ended up just grabbing my boxers instead and pulling those on before creeping out the door.

I felt a bit cold, having adjusted to Apollo's body heat, but my vessel quickly adjusted and I headed down the hall, my bare feet making a small bit of noise as I walked. My awful last few days seemed to have ended on a happy note and I kept glancing at the ring on my vessel's finger in a bit of disbelief.

The Bunker was silent, at least until I got to the kitchen. Castiel stood at the sink filling up a glass of water wearing boxers and a shirt I'm pretty sure I saw Dean wearing earlier today. His feathers were a bit ruffled, as was his hair, and he merely spared me a small glance as I opened the fridge.

"Where's Apollo?" Cassie reached forward and turned off the sink.

"Asleep," I said, shutting the fridge in disappointment at how empty it was. The Winchesters had yet to go shopping to restock it.

Castiel stood there with his hands wrapped around the glass of water like it was a lifeline, looking a tad bit miserable, "Gabriel... I am sorry. I did not stop to realize that... that you felt that way about yourself. And that you felt that way about Dad."

I sighed and motioned to a stool at the island in the kitchen. My brother sat down and I ran my hands through his feathers, setting to work on preening them for him, "I didn't mean to snap... it's been a hard last few days."

Cas nodded, sensing how I felt on the matter. It was nice, just being peaceful. His feathers were soft and dark, but his wings were a bit bare. I ran my Grace along his wings as I preened, hoping to maybe start healing some of the damage, and my brother curled his Grace around mine in gratitude.

"My wings look horrible."

"They're looking better," I told him, "you've regrown some more feathers since I first saw you again."

"Do you think?" a bit of hope chased away the dark shame he felt over the state of his wings and I grinned even though he wasn't facing me.

"Absolutely, Cassie," I said, finishing one wing and moving on to the second. I felt a ping of sorrow at the fact that I finished it quicker than I should have because of how many feathers my brother's wings lacked, "I can see some growing in."

Cas let out a laugh, stretching out the wing I wasn't working on, "I can feel them growing in."

"Ooh," I cringed in empathy, remembering what it had been like after those Hellhounds had torn my wings to shreds, back when I still had my wings, "my sympathies, brother, but I certainly don't envy you that."

It made me happy to notice that his negative emotions seemed to have mostly disappeared by this point.

"They're in much better shape than mine were during my first year being alive again," I told him, "feathers everywhere. My wings looked like I'd been thrown through a tornado."

"Really?"

I let out a short laugh, "if you don't believe me, Sera is always happy to share the videos in her camera. If you ever feel like seeing me make a fool of myself, you should ask her if she could show you the video from my first flight."

Castiel was silent for a moment before speaking, "so... you and Apollo..."

"Yeah. You and Dean?"

I saw his ears go red, "...yeah."

Back into silence we went, simply content with the peace between us.

I finished preening the second wing and took a seat beside my brother, who cast a mournful look at my back, "I'm sorry that I cannot return the favor."

"It's fine," I assured him, glancing at his glass of water, "I didn't take you for the type to get thirsty in the middle of the night."

"Oh," he almost fell over with how quickly he tried to stand up, "I forgot. I got up to get it for Dean. He gets nightmares sometimes, and usually he wakes up and goes to get a drink of water before he goes back to sleep."

"Well, go on, then," I smiled despite myself at my brother's thoughtfulness over his Hunter, "I'm fine by myself."

I could sense his reluctance at leaving, but he stood up, uncurled his Grace from mine and headed towards the door. Cassie glanced back and I cast him a smile that he hesitantly returned. The kitchen delved into silence but for the gradually receding sound of my brother's footsteps.

I waited until I heard the door close down the hall before I stretched and stood up. I was glad to see that Sam had left his laptop in the library; I had to find the charger and plug the laptop in, and then I grabbed my bag from where I had left it forgotten near the wall and pulled out the cd from the bottom of my bag. At least, I went to pull it out of my bag. It was on the other side of the bag from where I had put it, but I quickly found it anyways and put the cd into the laptop.

I was a bit worried that it might not work, but all the segments showed up and I quickly started the second one since I had already seen the first. I curled up in my chair, settling down to watch as my own voice filled the room.

"Okie-dokie, so guess we're starting segment two. Now, you'll want to listen real close with this one."

I managed to watch the second and third segment before it switched off. I had just gotten the disc back in the case and the case back in my bag when Sera walked in. When she noticed me she gave me an irritated look, though I could sense no actual irritation coming from her, "Gabe."

"Sera."

"So... are you and Apollo..."

"Together-together?" I asked, raising my left hand for her to see and waggling my fingers, "I would hope so, or else things have become quite complicated."

Cassandra had walked in just in time to hear my statement, her eyes zeroing in on the ring on my finger. She stared at me, walking towards me, before she stopped next to where I was.

"You okay? You have this weird look on your fa-" I cut off in confusion and terror as some sort of screech left her mouth that I had only ever heard uttered by Becky or teenage girls on the public bus, not at all a sound I had ever thought my dear Cassandra could make. Next thing I knew, I was being crushed -not really, but it sure as hell felt like it- as Cassandra hugged me.

"Hundred bucks!" Cassandra fortunately turned her deranged attention towards Sera (I was very concerned over what could possibly be wrong with Cassandra) and held her hand out, "hundred bucks, pay up!"

"You said the bet was only fifty bucks!" Sera screeched back, and I wondered if perhaps I should try to escape the room.

"I placed fifty on them getting together, you placed fifty on them not getting together! Now my baby's getting hitched! Hundred bucks, pay up!"

"That still doesn't make any sense! They can't get married a day after getting together!"

"Um, officially we had been together and never broke up, so technically we've been together for at least a century," I spoke up, but it seemed they were too busy arguing to notice.

"Getting married is the next step of getting together, which means my spot just doubled from fifty to a hundred!"

"The deal was fifty!"

I carefully extracted myself from the conversation and escaped back down the hall. At least, I tried to.

"Oh my God," I heard Cassandra gasp and then her hand was on my shoulder, "Gabe, what happened to your back?"

It was like the world had ended. I felt the exact moment my heart stopped before starting up again with triple its usual pace. It occurred to me that I probably should have grabbed a shirt on my way out of the room as well; it had completely bypassed my mind that such a wound of my actual form may have scarred my vessel, "what do you mean?"

"You've got... burns... and-"

"Burns? Must have happened a long time ago, I haven't gotten any burns that I can remember," I shrugged, turning around, "I should probably go get dressed."

"Right," Cassandra said, circling around me so close I felt her shirt brush against me. She stopped after only a single circle, eyes scanning my face with a slight frown on her face, "go on, then. We'll have to get you a tux. Unless you want to wear a dress. Do you want to wear a dress?"

I felt so relieved, Castiel probably sensed my relief all the way to where he was in Dean's room, "yeah, uh, I guess we're probably still thinking over all the details. Odin and Poseidon were planning it before we were, so they probably have a certain way they want it to pan out."

"Odin and Poseidon?" Cassandra frowned, "what do they have to do with anything?"

"Well, they kind of arranged the whole-"

"Arranged?" Cassandra's emotions immediately darkened.

"Well, Apollo proposed before they could make us, and I agreed to the proposal, so I guess it's a marriage that Odin and Poseidon think they arranged," I said quickly, not too sure why the idea of an arranged marriage made her so angry.

"How can Odin arrange a marriage for you?"

"Well, it was a long story, but, uh," I said, "you know, it doesn't really matter so... I'm gonna... I'm gonna go."

I quickly walked out of the room, but I picked up Cassandra saying something and paused once I had crossed a corner and was out of sight.

"I think something's wrong with his wings."

Shit.

"What do you mean, Cas?"

"Those marks were exactly where his wings where.. or at least where I think they're supposed to come out of his back."

"He said he's had them."

"Well, he didn't have them before. Something must be wrong with his wings. When I walked behind him, he didn't do that little shiver thing he used to do whenever we accidentally stepped through them."

I quickly resumed walking, hoping not to run into-

Dean's door opened as I passed, nearly ramming me in the nose. I tried to swerve around, but ended up tackling him down instead. He gave me a dirty look and went to yell at me, but I quickly shushed him and scurried off of him.

"Why the hell are you-"

"I said shush!" I hissed, glancing back the way I came.

He was instantly alert, reaching back and pulling a knife out of a holster I hadn't seen on the leg of a table near his door on the inside of the room.

"No, no danger," I said, glancing back, "but if either of the Maples come looking for me asking questions about wings, say nothing to them."

His tension eased somewhat as he relaxed a little, "what, did Sam just tell them about you not having any wings? I figured he had told them first."

My gaze snapped onto him, "what?"

"You know, the whole wing thing," Dean waved his hand dismissively, "I thought he had already told them."

"He fucking what?"

"Sam said- where are you going?" Dean frowned,

The mortal's door was thrown open with such force that it cracked off the wall and left a dent. He jackknifed up in bed, barely rolling out of bed in time to miss my punch. It was probably best that I missed, since I heard the metal bed frame snap just before I watched it crumple under the force. My Grace was dark, almost black, and it swirled around the room in my anger, somehow managing not to tear everything down.

"Holy- What the hell!?" he gasped, staring at the result of my punch and having it occur to him what would have happened to him if he had been too slow to dodge.

"You son of a bitch," I said, turning and storming towards one of my Father's favorite mortals.

"Hey! What-" he cut off, scrambling out the door as I pulled out my sword and swung. It lodged in the metal wall where my Father's mortal had been a moment ago and I had to pause to yank it out after a couple futile tugs.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," I growled, having mostly calmed down by the time I got my sword out of the wall. I wasn't even sure why I had gotten so angry, but it was quickly fading now that there had been a lull in my thought process. My Grace, which had seemed to have gotten dark, was already quickly lightening back up until it was bright again.

"You call that a good mood?" Sam gaped, keeping track of my movements as I put my sword away, "you call trying to kill me as you being in a good mood? And when did you get an Archangel sword!?"

"I'm going back to bed," I said instead, trying to figure out why I had gotten so upset over the whole thing, "next time you figure something out, don't tell everybody."

Confusion radiated off of Sam for a moment before it was gone in an instant, his face pulling off its famous bitch face, "shit. I told Dean not to tell you that I told him."

"You may as well go ahead and tell the Maples, too," I said, figuring that may as well make up for my brief bout of anger, "save me the trouble. Cassandra's already starting to figure it out. Besides, my much happier news for everybody later should shove all the wing stuff into the background. Hell, why don't you shout it from a fucking megaphone?"

"I told you that if you didn't tell anybody then I would," Sam said, accepting the hand I offered him to help him up.

I nodded in acknowledgement and left without another word. I glanced back, watching him curse over the state of his bed, before I looked away. I closed my eyes and focused best I could before snapping my fingers, hoping that what I had tried worked. I tried to shake the uneasy feeling that had settled over me and I cast a wary glance at my Grace. Nope, no darkness there. I must have imagined it.

I glanced back again, but Sam had disappeared back into his room. I took a deep breath (which doesn't help much when breathing is simply a habit you've picked up to fit in because you don't need to breath) and tried to shake the event from my mind. For a minute, I had seen him only as one of my Father's favorite mortals. Now that I had calmed down, he was back to being Sam.

"Gabe!"

I paused, looking back again.

"If you've fixed the bed, could you at least fix the wall too!?"

So I had accomplished the task of fixing the bed. I focused again, more confidant this time, and snapped.

Sam glanced at my work and gave a nod of acceptance before disappearing back into his room, slamming the door shut with an audible thud.

I glanced at my hand, marveling over the fact that I had managed to fix something, before I allowed myself to push the whole wing thing away and let a grin back onto my face. Castiel was in the kitchen, when I passed it, sitting close to Dean. The two seemed to be whispering to each other, soft smiles on their faces. If that wasn't enough to make me feel a little better, my brother radiated his calmness, not even looking up as his Grace gave mine a brief greeting before retreating back into the kitchen.

By the time I had slipped back into the room I shared with Apollo, all my anger was gone.

"Hey," the golden pagan glanced up at me, balanced on one leg as he was pulling up his jeans, a smile showing on his face, "where'd you go? I figured we could have slept in."

"I told you I was getting up," I grinned, grabbing my own jeans off the floor next to him.

"Did you?" he paused before shaking his head and straightening as he got his pants up, "I must have been asleep."

"I didn't know somebody so insistently against me walking around the Bunker nude could have been asleep."

"Now why would I be against such a thing?" Apollo leaned over and purred in my ear, pressing a kiss to my cheek before moving away to find his shirt.

"Beats me," I said sarcastically, grinning at him before looking away so I could find my own shirt while I started to pull on my pants.

There was a sudden pounding on the door. I squeaked and toppled over (oh, stop laughing at me, I had been balancing on one foot) and stumbled over, landing in a heap of limbs and denim. I let out a short cry of victory when I discovered my shirt after landing next to it.

Apollo looked torn between moving to help me or moving to get the door. I waved him off and he moved to the door and opened it.

"Hey!" Sera said cheerfully, "Apollo! Just the guy I was looking for! Cassandra wants to talk to you!"

"She does?" Apollo leaned on the door, "why?"

"Something about your proposal to Gabe."

He frowned, thinking this over, before glancing back at me, "aw, Lokes! It was supposed to be a surprise!"

"It slipped out!"

"Okay," Apollo shook his head with a small smile on his face, "where is she?"

"I wouldn't be so happy," Sera warned, "I think she's getting a lecture prepared."

Apollo's dread was so strong that I had to pause and make sure it wasn't coming from me.

"She's in the garage working on the Charger," Sera said, "besides, she's in a good mood, so I reckon you'll survive."

"I barely survived the last one," Apollo smirked, glancing back into the room. I made a wild guess at what he was looking for and grabbed the shirt that wasn't mine. He caught it easily when I tossed it to him, winking at me before leaving. I wished him good luck as his footsteps faded down the hall; anybody on the receiving end of one of Cassandra's lectures will need all the luck they can get.

"He's got nice abs," Sera said.

"Yes, he does indeed," I agreed, pulling my shirt on, "Cassandra doesn't have any lectures for me, does she?"

"I think you're safe."

"Thank Dad," I said, somehow managing to get to my feet.

"Wait, on second thought, she might have said something about talking to you about something... something about you and Sam?"

That snitch had gone and tattled on me to Cassandra. I apologized, didn't I? I hadn't meant to get so angry. On second thought, had I apologized?

"What about me and Sam?"

"Cas didn't say, but she didn't seem too happy about that part. She'll probably be back in a good mood after talking to Apollo; she's really excited about the wedding. Cas says she can't wait to be a mother-in-law."

"I don't know what I would do if she wasn't," I said, personally surprised that I cared what she thought about the whole thing, but it was true; if Cassandra hadn't been happy about the idea, then I'm not sure if I would be able to go through with it, "oh, jeez. I'm getting married."

"From our little box angel to a soon to be married man," Sera sighed in agreement, "they grow up so fast!"

"Box angel?"

"Don't even try denying it."

"I'm not. To be honest, I kind of miss my box," I smirked, following Sera out into the hallway; not that I would give up any of what I have now to go back to that time. It was hard to believe that it had only been a year or two ago that I had been homeless, alone, and confused, with nothing but fake memories to get by on. Now I had... well, I guess I had a family again, "I'm surprised my brother hasn't put up a fight over the whole thing. He seemed pretty chill about it this morning."

"He was pretty torn up after your guys' argument yesterday," Sera said, leading the way towards the library, "but he seems to be in a good mood today. You didn't hear it from me, but his good mood probably stems from spending the night with Dean in Dean's room. Those two are still pretending nothing's going on, but we're all waiting for them to announce it."

"Knowing those two, they'll probably never get to it," I rolled my eyes.

"You never know," Sera shrugged, "I mean, you haven't really been around all that often anymore to know them-" -she trailed off- "-Um, so, are you going to wear a tux or a dress? You'd probably look alright in a dress, whether you're in dude form or chick form."

"Like this? It would have to be custom made so that it doesn't fall down all the time. Besides, I don't really like dresses other than that one Merlin gave me that I was wearing as Crow."

"You could turn into Crow. That one dress you were wearing as Crow might look alright."

"Merlin gave me that one, so I don't think Apollo would really appreciate it."

"You've got a point," Sera frowned, and I almost ran into her when she stopped walking without warning, "do you have a tux?"

"I have..." I trailed off, realizing that the dress I was thinking about was stained with blood from when my wings were chopped off. At least, I figure that it's probably ruined, since I wasn't wearing it by the time I regained consciousness, "well, no, I don't think so. This is all kind of weird."

"What is?"

"Talking about tuxedos and dresses. The idea that I'm going to get married."

"Yeah, kind of is," Sera turned around and entered the library and I followed her.

"If it makes you feel any better, Cassandra and I made a bet over when Dean and Castiel will make their relationship public. Sam joined in the bet, and he's winning so far."

"And none of you invited me into the bet?"

"What bet?"

"Oh, Cassandra placed a bet on me and Apollo getting together," I waved my hand dismissively and Dean turned his attention back to Cas.

"Oh, Gabriel!" Cassie's Grace curled around mine in greeting and I returned the greeting in turn, "can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure thing, kiddo," I said, following him to a part of the library a bit always from where Dean and Sera were (and Sam, seeing as he had just walked in and sat down at the table with his laptop). There was no curiosity from Dean, so I figured whatever Cas had to say had already been said to Dean.

"Have you been listening?" Cas asked me, his excitement almost enough to have me bouncing up and down despite the fact that the only sign of his delight was the small smile on his face.

"Listening?"

"Oh," a short pause in his excitement though it didn't last long, "Dean calls it angel radio."

"Angel radio?" that hadn't been covered in the first three segments of the disc I had been watching.

"Here," Cas began to reach his hands towards my head but paused, "may I?.. you seem to have it blocked."

"Have at it."

He pressed his fingers to my temples, excitement replaced momentarily by focus and concentration. It was like a switch had gone off in my head (probably was, he said I had something blocked) and suddenly my head didn't seem quite so empty. A flurry of voices bombarded me, and I sorted them to the side almost as if by instinct. Angel radio? This was no radio, this was more like I had just tuned into a hive mind somehow made up of individuals. It was unnatural yet familiar at the same time, a feeling I've grown used to over the past year or so.

"Wow," I said outloud, blinking as Castiel moved his hands away but the voices were still there. Being tuned in (ha, get it? Tuned in? Because it's Angel Radio? No? Oh, shush, I'm the most hilarious Archangel you'll ever meet) held the same sort of comfort I got just having my Grace near Cassie's Grace.

Much like Castiel, the angels were in a flurry of excitement. Something big was going on.

"Do you hear what they're saying?" Castiel asked, eyes bright, Grace swirling around as if his excitement couldn't possibly be kept to only his vessel.

At first it was more like a buzz, all the voices combining to the point where I barely knew whether I was thinking or I had just latched onto something somebody's said. After a couple moments, probably thanks to some sort of subconscious memory, I was able to block myself off, like an outside looking in, and after a minute I was able to differentiate all the voices to individuals whose names I did not know (well, didn't exactly remember. Definitely the fault of amnesia, not just from having so many siblings) and was able to notice that the excitement of a couple had grown when they'd sensed me. Whatever they had been in a buzz about was replaced by a new one as the news spread almost instantly. I felt almost dizzy at all the attention as minds brushed against my own as if by doing so was the only confirmation possible.

Gabriel!

Gabriel?

Gabriel's alive?

He's alive!

Thought Lucifer killed him?

No, he joined Lucifer when Lucifer left!

No, he didn't!

An angry buzz around those last two that spread to a few others. I turned away from their argument.

Is he coming home?

Gabriel?

He was here a second ago!

Hello?

Hello?

My response only served to send them into more of an excitement.

Are you coming home?

Everything's going to be okay again!

Why did you leave?

Where were you?

Gabriel's alive!

You're coming home, right?

Of course he's coming home! Everyone's coming home!

Everyone?

Dad's back!

He brought Amara!

Michael's okay!

Lucifer is back! Dad brought him back to Heaven!

I don't trust Lucifer or Amara...

If Dad says that the Darkness is good now, then I believe him.

It's probably just a trick.

Dad brought the archangels back!

Dad's back?

Didn't you know? That's why you're coming home, right?

...Gabriel? I recognized the voice that was hesitantly brushing up against me immediately. How could I not, when it was in one of the first memories returned to me? I retreated from the conversation immediately. A sense of alarm flared from the other Archangel as I immediately tried to attempt tuning out, Gabriel, wait! Please!

I opened my eyes, only realizing after blocking angel radio back out that I had shut them. Cassie was holding to my vessel's shoulders, concern in his eyes.

"You... you blocked it back out?"

"Dad's back in Heaven," I said, not able to tell him why I blocked it. My Grace seemed a bit darker, again, and I must not be imagining it because Castiel glanced at my Grace with confusion, "Castiel. Dad's back in Heaven?"

Castiel turned his eyes away from my darkened Grace, his delight at the news a sharp contrast for the dark emotions making me want to reach for my Archangel sword, "yes, Gabriel! Dad, Lucifer, Michael, Raphael, even Amara."

My brother beamed at me, the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face.

"We're going to all be a family again, Gabriel."

Fortunately, I managed to get out of the lecture, mostly because as soon as he was free from his own lecture, Apollo practically dragged me out of the Bunker in a rush of excitement. Next thing I knew, I was several thousand feet up in the air in a gleaming golden sleigh pulled by horses brighter than Apollo's brightest smile. It didn't help that I was still a little dizzy from angel radio.

And let me tell you, heights are a lot scarier when you can't fly.

"Lokes, calm down," Apollo beamed down at me, a smile that somehow wasn't as bright as this damn sleigh, "you love heights!"

"Back when I had wings!" I screeched, clinging to him, "you don't even have seat belts in this thing! And it isn't a chariot or a car! It's a fucking sleigh! I married freaking Santa Claus!"

"Horses, not reindeer," Apollo pointed out, "my sister has deer. Besides, the whole Santa Claus thing is your jig."

"What!?" I decided not to dwell on this information, "what's so important that you had to drag me a thousand feet up into the sky for!? Jeez, somebody's going to zap us out of the air like Zeus did to that Helios kid!"

"Nobody's going to zap us out of the sky," Apollo's grin grew, that bastard, "we're going to see Hephaestus. He completed that project he was working on for me."

"Uh-huh," I closed my eyes, "yeah, okay, great. When do we get back on the ground?"

"Trust me, Lokes, after we pick it up, you won't be able to wait until we're back in the air again."

"I highly doubt it."

Hephaestus, of course, had his workshop inside of a volcano. Kind of super villainy if you ask me.

Was it cool to have only a (what looked like) glass ceiling and glass walls as a barrier between us and the lava? Yes, yes it was. Also terrifying. 10/10 wouldn't want to spend my free time here. Would the lava kill me if it got in? No, probably not. It didn't help that the last time I was in a mountain, the damn thing fell on me.

No, the only thing that made this whole trip worthwhile was the contraption that Hephaestus greeted us with.

Or, to be more exact...

The six, golden, metal wings.