To readingbooksforlife- I love the Arrow ^_^ And thank you, but I will be honest, that was Rick's line :P

To Imagine Coldplay- he's fiiiiine

To An-Unnamed-Goose- IT WAS TEMPORARY, HONEST

To 8Ball3- Yes, do that XD And it's over? Gosh darn, I wrote seven more chapters on this for nothing then :/

"Oh no you don't." His sister's voice rudely woke him up. He had been so comfortable, so non-existent… and then life surged back into him- cold, sharp and unfairly painful. He saw Diana's face, gaining more clarity as his heartbeat picked up. She looked annoyed. Nothing out of character.

As for Apollo, he felt surprisingly good. The pain in his gut was gone, his muscles didn't burn, he could breathe without difficulty. He felt as though he had slept for decades.

"Ugh," he groaned, "how long was I out?"

"Like three seconds, you drama queen." Diana rolled her eyes. She helped him to his feet. He was a little unsteady but delighted to find that his legs had any strength at all. His skin was no longer grey, the lines of infection were gone. The Arrow of Dodona had gone silent in his hand, perhaps in awe of the goddess's presence, or perhaps- more likely- he was trying to get the taste of 'Sweet Caroline' out of his imaginary mouth.

Meg and Hazel stood nearby, bedraggled but unharmed. Friendly grey wolves milled around them, bumping against their legs and sniffing their shoes. Aristophanes regarded everyone from his perch on the bookshelf, decided he didn't care and resumed grooming himself.

Apollo looked at his sister, unable to stop himself grinning broadly. It was so good to see her disapproving I-can't-believe-you're-my-brother frown again.

"I love you." He said, voice hoarse with emotion. She blinked, clearly unsure what to do with this information.

"You really have changed."

"I missed you!" She studied his face, maybe searching for brain damage. Apollo didn't care. He wanted to hug her, but settled with squeezing her arm. The barest light of a smile flickered in her eyes.

"Yes." She said. "I am glad you're not dead."

"I can't believe you came."

"Even Dad couldn't argue with a Sibylline invocation from Temple Hill." She raised an eyebrow. "You almost messed it up, you dunderhead."

"I was dying, shush." He looked to Meg and Hazel, grinning. "Guys, it worked! My sister came to help!"

"We can see that." Hazel nodded.

"Yeah." Meg said wearily. "Hi, Artemis."

"Diana." The goddess corrected. "But hello, Meg." Diana smiled. "You've done well, young warrior." Meg blushed. She kicked at scattered zombie dust and shrugged.

"Eh."

Apollo checked his stomach, which was easy to do since his shirt was in tatters. The bandages had vanished, along with his festering wound. Only a thin white scar remained.

"I'm healed?" His flabby mortal body told him he had obviously not been restored to his former godly glory, but at least it still looked mortal.

"Well, I'm not the goddess of healing, but I am a goddess. I think I can take care of my little brother's boo-boos."

"Little brother?" He protested. She smirked, then turned to Hazel.

"Centurion. How have you been?" Hazel was no doubt sore and stiff, but she knelt and bowed her head like a good Roman.

"I'm…" She hesitated. Her world had been shattered. She had lost Frank. "I'm heart-broken and exhausted, my lady." She admitted. "But thank you for coming to our aid."

"Yes," Diana's expression softened, "I know. It has been a difficult night." She turned to the door, motioning to them. "Let's go outside. It's rather stuffy in here and it smells like burnt Cyclops."

The survivors were slowly gathering on the streets. Perhaps they had been drawn out to the place of Tarquin's defeat. Or maybe they had come out to simply gawk at the glowing silver chariot with its team of four golden reindeer now parallel-parked in front of the bookshop.

Giant eagles and hunting falcons shared the rooftops. Wolves hob-nobbled with Hannibal and the weaponised unicorns. Legionnaires and citizens of New Rome milled about in shock.

At the end of the street, huddled with a group of survivors, was Thalia Grace, her hand on the shoulder of the legion's new standard-bearer, comforting the young woman as she cried. Thalia was dressed in her usual black denim, various punk band badges gleaming on the lapel of her leather jacket. A silver circlet, the symbol of Artemis's lieutenant, glinted in her spiky dark hair. Every so often, a noise would catch her ear and she would look up. Apollo's memory kick-started- Jason was supposedly here somewhere, Jason and Louisa had done something. Was Thalia looking for her brother?

He scanned the crowd too, searched the people cramming themselves into the carriage of the chariot. He found someone- not Louisa or Jason- but he found a lanky young woman with pink hair.

"Lavinia?" He called. She looked over and grinned.

"This ride is so cool! I never want to get out!" She all but swooned over the chariot. Diana smiled.

"Well, Lavinia Asimov, if you want to stay on board, you'd have to become a Hunter."

"Nope!" Lavinia hopped off, as if the chariot had suddenly ignited. "No offence, my lady," she bowed her head, "but I like girls too much to take that vow. Like… like them. Like-"

"I understand." Diana sighed. "Romantic love. It's a plague."

"Lavinia." Apollo marvelled. "H-how did you-? Where did you-?"

"This young woman," Diana said, "was responsible for the destruction of the rest of the Triumvirate's fleet."

"Well, I had a lot of help." Lavinia corrected.

"PEACHES!" A muffled voice called from somewhere in the chariot. He was so short, Apollo hadn't noticed him, hidden behind the carriage's sideboard and the crowd of big folk. But now, Peaches squirmed and climbed his way to the top of the railing. He grinned his wicked grin. His diaper sagged. His leafy wings rustled. He beat his chest with tiny fists and looked very pleased with himself.

"Peaches!" Meg cried.

"PEACHES!" Peaches agreed and launched himself into Meg's arms, knocking her down. There were tears and laughter, hugs and scratches and cries of 'Peaches' in every tone from scolding to apologetic to defiant.

"I don't understand." Apollo regarded Lavinia again. "You made all those mortars malfunction?" Lavinia looked offended.

"Well, yeah. Somebody had to stop the fleet. I did pay attention during siege-weapons class and ship-boarding class. It wasn't that hard, even easier 'cos Lou wasn't throwing us overboard and had taken out the right wing. The rest… it just took some fancy footwork." Hazel finally picked her jaw off the pavement.

"Wasn't that hard?" She demanded.

"We were motivated! The fauns and dryads did great." Lavinia paused, her expression momentarily clouding remembering something unpleasant. "Um… besides, the Nereids helped a lot. There was only a skeleton crew aboard each yacht. Not, like, actual skeletons, but- nevermind! Look!" She pointed proudly at her feet, which was now adorned with the shoes of Terpsichore from Caligula's private collection.

"You mounted an amphibious assault on an enemy fleet," Apollo frowned, "for a pair of shoes?"

"Not just for the shoes, obviously." Lavinia huffed. She tap-danced a little routine, grinning. "Also to save the camp and the nature spirits and Mike Kahale's commandos." Hazel held her hands up to stop the overflow of information.

"Wait, wait, wait. Not to be a killjoy- I mean, you did an amazing thing! – but you still deserted your post, Lavinia. I certainly didn't give you permission-"

"I was acting on praetor's orders." Lavinia said haughtily. "In fact, Reyna helped. She was knocked out for a while, healing, but she woke up in time to instil in us the power of Bellona, right before we boarded those ships. Made us all strong and stealthy and stuff." She beamed, tap-dancing again, victory dance well deserved.

"Reyna?" Apollo echoed. "Where is she?"

"Right here." The praetor had been hiding in plain sight amongst the group of survivors with Thalia. Reyna limped over on crutches, her broken leg now in a full cast covered with signatures like Felipe, Lotoya and Sneezewart. Considering all she had been through, she still looked great, though she still had a chunk of hair missing and her maroon cardigan was going to need some serious deep-cleaning.

Thalia smiled, watching her friend hobble towards them. Then she met Apollo's eyes, a question forming on her brow. Apollo shrugged and she wrinkled her nose at him. They would have to find Jason and Louisa later.

"Thank the gods." Hazel breathed, hugging Reyna carefully. "Is it true about Lavinia acting on your orders?"

"Yes." Reyna managed stiffly. "Plan L was my idea. Lavinia and her friends acted on my orders. They performed heroically."

"See?" Lavinia beamed. "Told you!"

"There were many heroes today." Diana agreed. "And many losses. I'm only sorry Thalia and I couldn't get here sooner. We were only able to rendezvous with Lavinia and Reyna's forces after their raid, then destroy the second wave of undead, who were waiting in the sewers." She waved dismissively, as if annihilating Tarquin's main force had been an afterthought.

"You also saved me." Apollo smiled. "You're here. You're actually here." She took his hand and squeezed, warm and human. He could not remember the last time his sister had shown him such open affection.

"Let's not celebrate quite yet." She advised. "You have many wounded to attend to. The camp's medics have set up tents outside the city. They will need every healer, including you, brother."

"Is Lou there?" Reyna asked. "She's good at healing, is she there?" A fragile silence fell over them. Reyna looked around the group, expression fading from anger to disbelief to pain and then blankness. "Who saw her last?" Her voice shook with a multitude of emotion.

They were saved from answering by Hazel shrieking. She had spotted Arion trotting up the hill, a hulking human form draped over his back.

"Oh no." Apollos heart wilted. He could not watch. But he could not look away.

The body on Arion's back was unmoving and steaming. Arion stopped and the form slipped off one side, but did not fall.

Frank Zhang landed on his feet. His hair was singed to a fine black stubble, his eyebrows were gone. His clothes had completely burned away, except his briefs and praetor's cloak.

"Captain Underpants." Apollo mumbled.

"Hey, everybody." Frank croaked, giving a feeble wave. Then he fell on his face.