-Apollo-

Cassia had been gone for almost six hours now.

Apollo paced the room, worry making him walk in circles around the main living area and kitchen. Over five hours had passed since he dropped her and Orion off in Egypt, both of them on an attempt to steal this damned book. He'd helped in every way he could for the past week, him and Artemis both. They couldn't go with her, unfortunately. In every vision that Cas had, their help on the actual mission led to utter chaos. One possibility even included the end of the world. Apollo wanted to take that chance, but Cas talked him out of it. Orion kept pestering to join her, which was a whole other problem.

It was dangerous. With him doubting everything pertaining to a vision, Apollo was sure that the boy would make a false step and end up dead. Artemis was vehemently opposed to it at first, but Apollo had to admit, it made him feel better if she didn't go alone. It took some bargaining, but finally, the plan was approved for him to join her. There was only one thing Apollo had to do.

Thankfully, he'd made some headway of his own in the quest to relieve Cas of her curse. He took some inspiration from his little diviner and tried a spell on a bracelet. He hoped that it would allow the wearer to remember her sight and the truth of it. All of the Olympians were in support of it, seeing as how annoying it was that Orion couldn't remember a damned thing about it for more than five minutes. The bracelet idea did work, sort of. While it did let Orion remember, it was on a limited time frame. The longest the bracelet lasted was six hours, a deadline that was quickly approaching.

Artemis looked ready to murder. She held a dagger in each hand and gripped them like her immortal existence depended on it. She kept looking at the clock as her grip grew tighter around the handles. Cas was supposed to call Apollo when she was a safe distance away from the pyramid and Egypt. She was going to transport the two of them to Sicily, a distance she felt comfortable with after they retrieved the book or failed trying. Being in the old Greek and Roman stomping grounds would help keep the Egyptians from chasing after them. They never did well in the place of another pantheon's old dominion.

They should have been back by now! Per Cassia's plan, it should have only taken a few hours at most. Apollo counted that as no more than four, and as they clocked ticked on, one agonizing second after another-

Artemis gasped and vanished. Apollo was about to track her down, but she reappeared with Cas and Orion in tow. One of them looked pristinely healthy; the other was covered in blood.

"Shut up, Orion."

"I swear to all the gods, Greek, Egyptian, whatever, that you did the stupidest thing in the world. I could have avoided it, Cas! You should have let me do it, and we wouldn't be in this situation."

"You would have died, asshat." Cas's voice was weak but still full of sarcasm.

"Oh, I highly doubt that."

"What happened!?" Apollo questioned as Orion laid Cas down on the couch. The left side of her was covered in blood. Her face was pale with dark shadows beginning to form under her eyes. Her injury was serious from what Apollo could tell. He lifted up her shirt and gazed upon the rough puncture wound in her abdomen. From what he could guess, it looked like an arrow. He began carefully healing the wound, taking the time to make sure everything would be perfectly restored. "Who took the arrow out?"

"Not an arrow," Cas tiredly replied. "It was a stake type thing. Went straight through."

"You are lucky. This grazed your liver. Just a millimeter over and you would be dead."

"Goodie."

"I told her that she was too tired to vanish across the pit! It was magically triggered," Orion explained. "As soon as she vanished, all these darts start going back and forth. She was short by a foot. I could've easily run through it, but oh no, Cas stated that I would die an- OUCH!"

Artemis slapped him in the back of the head, which Apollo thought he deserved. "She's an oracle, numskull! She saw you die, but you didn't believe her."

"What!?"

"I'm glad she's handling that," Cas breathed as Apollo continued to heal her. "I'm sorry it took so long. The fire enchantment took longer to get through than expected."

"Did the spell we helped you with not take it down?" Apollo almost sighed in relief, but he didn't want to let on how happy he was that Cas was back. Not whole, not yet, but back.

"Yes, it helped, but it kept losing power against it. We had to do it in sections."

"That's why you are so tired. I should have prepared you for that possibility."

"It wasn't your f-fault, Apollo." Cassia grimaced as Apollo put the final touch on the wound. "I didn't think t-to check it. If it's anyone's fault, the blame is on me."

Orion walked over looking stricken. He knelt by the couch and took her hand. "Cas, I'm so, so sorry. I can't believe I said all those things to you."

"It's fine, Orion. You didn't know." Her voice was beyond exhausted. Before he could do it, Artemis snapped her fingers and put her in clean clothes. Already her eyes were beginning to shut, exhaustion overtaking her. While Apollo had magic to heal her, it wasn't without a price. A wound like this would leave her weak for at least a few days.

"Come on, kid. You are going to bed." Apollo took Cassia in his arms.

"Not a kid," she whined, but it was barely audible. She didn't protest like he suspected the unexhausted part of her wanted to. Instead, her head lolled against his shoulder already half asleep. Orion looked like he was about to protest more vocally on her behalf, but Artemis placed her hand on his shoulder and held him back. Some quickly whispered words in his ear relaxed his expression, which Apollo was glad for.

As he walked back to her room, Apollo let the relief wash over him. It had been a long time since he'd been thankful for denying his Uncle another soul in the underworld. While he couldn't deny what fate had in store, Apollo was ecstatic Cassia was still with him. Well, he was more than glad…what he felt…he hadn't felt like this in millennia. The more he was around his diviner, the more he realized that he was falling for her. It was more than basic infatuation, a temporary crush. Something in the universe bound them together, and it was more than his curse or her gift. Part of him had been denying it.

As much as he'd grown to care for her, he knew better. She deserved better than his waring tendencies and mood swings. She deserved someone to grow old with, someone that would know about her gift and believe her, at silly times and when it mattered most. She deserved the world, and with him…while he would try his best, she would end up with disappointment in the end. They always did. Perks of being an immortal.

Cas stirred as he laid her down and pulled the blanket up around her. A sleepy smile graced her features before she sighed deeply. "Thank you."

"Now we are even," he teased her. Apollo brushed her hair away from her face. While he would never be deserving of her, Apollo would make sure she had every comfort. He would make sure that every moment would be filled with happiness. If he was destined to leave Cassia Woodard, he would make sure that when he did, she was loved and cherished, but most importantly, believed. She blinked her eyes a few times, a questioning look taking over her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I…I don't like to see you hurt." His words brought a devastating blush to her cheeks. "Please tell me that this was all worth it. I don't see a book in your hands, Cassia."

"That's because Orion took it from me when I was bleeding all over the place. He should have it in his pocket." Cas rolled to her side and curled up. "I couldn't have done it without you." Her mumbled words were almost too faint to hear.

He hoped that she would never have to find out what being without him meant.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I couldn't get the whole retrieve the book scene right, so I decided to jump ahead. I may post Orion and Cas's adventure in a one-shot.

Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!