Marlene awoke with Sirius' arms wrapped tightly around her, and a soft smile crossed her face as she sighed contentedly. She hadn't been this happy since…

Marlene felt her heart rate increase and the familiar closing of her throat that came with her feelings of panic. She hadn't felt like this since she was last in love. Finally, everything fell into place. She was more comfortable around him not simply because he didn't fear her, but because she was falling for him. She took comfort in his presence because of how she felt about him, not simply because he was not repulsed by her. Interestingly enough, her powers had never flowed as easily when she loved Kyril as they did currently with Sirius, though she couldn't bring herself to consider this might be love.

She was supposed to marry Giannis. She was supposed to finish this task, choose to be human, and then marry a mortal and fix all her problems. She wasn't supposed to fall in love with an equal. In the mortal world, she was already betrothed by her father's word. In the world of the gods, well, Hades and Persephone were the best examples of commitment they had, Zeus was their polar opposite, and everyone else fell somewhere in between. So if she wanted to choose her mother's world she could pull just about any example she wanted to justify her actions. But did she want to?

Marlene's father was so certain that she would be happier without the added pressure of being a demi-fate. He was positive that she would have a good life with Giannis. But Marlene couldn't deny that she had felt uneasy about the prospect of becoming human since her father had brought it up. And now that she knew she could feel at ease in the arms of an equal, well, now she was even more torn about becoming human. Her father had already promised her though. Was she willing to let him down?

She realized that those questions really didn't matter because he probably didn't reciprocate her feelings. The children of Dionysus were just as physical as their father, throwing their arms around everyone and anyone, kissing whatever cheek presented itself in the moment, the fact that Sirius had willingly laid with her as they slept was scant indication of any sort of more-than-friendly feelings. He was fated to kill the Minotaur with her, not to love her.

Sirius stirred and for a moment he pulled her closer and all her concerns seemed to briefly float away. He ran a hand over her spirals of black curls and trailed it down her arm. He kissed her head again, and Marlene almost turned her face up, just to see what it would feel like to kiss him, just to see if he would kiss her back, but she prudently decided against that level of embarrassment. They had a task to complete, and if she made it awkward now, she might also create a situation where not only she and Sirius died, but all those poor tributes as well. It was best to keep things professional, to remain in their good-natured realm of teasing and making fun of the gods. Within that realm they could both keep a clear head, they could probably make it out of this alive in that realm. So Marlene pretended to stir and turned to smile up at Sirius.

"Good morning," she chuckled as he yawned through his response.

"Good morning," he stretched and pushed the two of them up to sitting.

Marlene, now keenly aware of her feelings, was also suddenly aware of the way Sirius's muscles pulled under his skin. The fringe of his hair fell into his face making his eyes seem darker somehow. His smile acted as a balancing counterweight by bringing a glimmer of light to his eyes that drew her in towards him with a powerful force. She had to focus very hard on not succumbing to the tug of his eyes.

"We'll make port in Crete within the hour," she forced herself to start talking about their task. She needed to think of almost anything other than how attractive the demi-god before her really was when she allowed herself to notice.

"Destiny calls," he teased her and Marlene couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Let's hope our fates are happy ones," she laid her head on his shoulder and chose to just enjoy that for the moment there was no beast to kill, there was no destiny waiting for them, there was only them.

Their cell lock rattled and Sirius jumped back from her and Marlene sighed as she stood, it was time to take the next step in their task.

The port at Crete was filled with people, eager to see the tributes for the Minotaur. People made Marlene's stomach turn some days. She spotted King Minos and suddenly her foresight kicked in. She turned sharply to Sirius, who stood by her side.

"King Minos is there and he is going to do everything in his power to keep us from joining the other tributes, whatever you do, do not yield."

Sirius looked down at the King critically as the sailors secured the ship. "Has Minos ever met my father?"

Marlene shook her head, "Not that I'm aware of, why?"

Sirius smirked, "Watch and learn Miss Fate, Minos is about to find out the wine tastes as good as the grapes."

Marlene wanted to say more, but just then the sailors were shoving the tributes towards the gangplank to be presented to King Minos.

King Minos looked at the Athenian tributes with a satisfaction that made Marlene want to smack him across the face, but she was pleased to see the fear that crossed his face as his eyes beheld her.

"What is the meaning of this!" he demanded of the captain. "I will not be sending Moira down to the beast! What idiots are you to have brought Fate from Athens as tribute!"

The captain began to stammer, and as Marlene was just about to respond, Sirius threw a friendly arm around Minos.

"Minos! My dear dear King Minos. You really need to make it up to your father's place more often. Didn't you know that sweet old Fate went and found herself a luscious mortal? This pretty thing..." he reached out and pulled at one of Marlene's spiral curls, then released it so it would spring back for effect. He was playing his father to the tee. "is her daughter Marlene." Sirius made grapes grow on his necklace in a matter of seconds and pulled a bunch from it, handing it to Minos. "I'm Sirius, one of the many sons of Dionysus, by the way."

Minos looked like he had just been smacked across the face. "I don't understand, why are you here?"

Marlene gave Minos a stare that was as close to her mother's penetrating glare as she could muster. "Your games are finished. Fate has spoken, it is time to end this ridiculous sacrifice."

Minos sputtered, "My father supports this justice for my dead son!"

Marlene gave him a cold laugh, "Your father bows to my mother as we all do. The conflict between your two kingdoms is finished."

Minos was as crafty as Zeus, "Fine, give me these twelve and you and the son of Dionysus can return to Mt. Olympus assured that they will be the last."

"Do not lie to me," Marlene said in a deadly quiet voice. "If you will attempt to undermine Fate, then you will lose more than just this ridiculous display of cruelty."

Sirius sighed, "Now why did you have to go and do that?" He gave Minos's shoulder a shove, then popped a grape in his mouth. "She's a right ray of sunshine little Fate is, until you make her angry - then she's as scary as her mother." Then he leered at Minos, "Me on the other hand, I'm ever so forgiving. Unless you'd prefer to be put in your place? I wouldn't mind telling you how very naughty you've been, King Minos." He kissed Minos on the cheek and Marlene had to use every divine level of self-control she had to not start laughing right there.

"The Book of Fate declares it, and it is the task of Sirius, son of Dionysus, and myself, the daughter of Moira, to end your pettiness, in whatever way may prove necessary." She left the threat hanging in the air as she stared Minos down and Sirius popped another grape in his mouth before discarding another bunch on Minos' shoulder.

"Well," Sirius yawned before speaking almost as fast as his father. "I don't know about the rest of them, but the floor of that ship was so uncomfortable, and I certainly hope your accommodations will be better. Maybe I should have tried to sleep in the form of a dog, have you noticed that dogs seem perfectly comfortable to sleep on the floor? Do you have dogs, Minos? They've always seemed like nice creatures to me, though father always favors the Bull. I suppose that's why Fate sent me, don't you think? Do you have any wine by chance? That seems to be the only thing I can't do, I can't manage to pull wine out of thin air, but I'm sure you can't throw lightning bolts, we all lose a bit to our mortal nature, don't we? Take little Miss Fate, she's got a temper." Sirius took an enormous breath and paused. King Minos looked completely flabbergasted.

"We'll talk of this more," he looked directly at Marlene. Then he spun on his heels and stalked away.

Sirius fell into step next to Marlene as Minos' soldiers marched them to the dungeons to await their fate.

"You were amazing!" She reached out and took his hand. "I could kiss you!"

"Don't do that! I just put in way too much effort to paint you as your mother with a temper! You kiss me in front of all these people and all that effort will be wasted!" Sirius laughed but didn't release her hand. Marlene rather liked holding his hand.

"I'll play my part if you keep playing yours." She reached up to his neck and plucked a few grapes. "Because he's not going to let this go so easily."

Sirius gave her hand a half-hearted smack away from the grapes hanging from his neck. "Hey, those are part of my aesthetic!"

Marlene chuckled, "Careful, Fate's daughter has a temper."

Sirius winked down at her, "That's ok, she got me a goblet of wine the other night, I think I'm on her good side."

Marlene laughed, he definitely was on her good side.