Disclaimer: Not mine, but I do own the general plot-I think.

Prose 9:

Needless to say, Yui was rather shaken when she finally returned to class. And being late to one of Thoth's classes certainly didn't help matters. She entered the class interrupting Thoth, whose blue eyes narrowed in fury, his upper lip quivering in a snarl.

"God…dammit! Kusanagi Yui!" he yelled. "Why are you late?"

"S-sorry," she stammered. "I was caught up with something."

The eye behind his monocle twitched as he caught the pallid look on Yui's face. By now, she was used to his tirades, so obviously it was caused by something else, "You will talk to me after class."

Yui nodded, accepting her fate, knowing full well that she was going to be in trouble from the get-go. At least she could try to explain herself. Maybe.

Thoth finished his class almost a little too abruptly, as if he were eager to get to the bottom of why Yui was so late. Surely he would know better. She was never late up till now. The other classmates left the class giving her sympathetic glances as they left. Thoth didn't say anything at first, his tongue running over the side of his teeth, probably picking at some corn stuck in them. He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against his desk.

"Explain," was all he demanded.

Yui sucked in a breath. By now she had willed herself to just talk to Thoth as if he were just one of the other students. He may have been wise, but his people skills were too horrid to believe he had a deep understanding of humans either.

"I went to find Tsukito's bunny. He got lost and—"

"A rabbit?" Thoth arched a brow. "You decided to risk valuable education in place of rabbit?"

"He's important to Tsukito and Takeru so…"

"That's a horrid excuse."

Yui shook her head, "I would've been on time, if I hadn't been caught up in Crom Cruach's web."

That grabbed Thoth's full attention. This time, he didn't seem annoyed or frustrated, but rather surprised and fearful, "What were you doing with Crom Cruach!?"

"Nothing, he just went around trying to intimidate me."

Thoth pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh that felt like he was relieved to release it, "I told you not to get in his business. Do you not understand the danger?"

"Well I do now!" Yui's voice was just and octave below a screech. "I didn't mean to run into him. I honestly don't care if I ever see him again."

"Good. Let Apollo deal with his signature."

"Why can't we just forego his signature?" Yui asked. Thoth bit his lip, shaking his head.

"It's a permission slip. Those who sign are required to have a booth at the festival or at least partake. Believe it or not, considering your desired theme, the Celtic gods would be most helpful to make the festival come true. As well as the Norse. If it weren't for Balder Hringhorni's rather violent outburst, I'd say we'd be in really good shape."

Yui frowned at the god before her and defended the young god, "He's getting better. Keeping him out of class is just making it worse. Don't you think?"

She hadn't meant to sound patronizing or condescending, but her tone certainly came out that way and it didn't go unnoticed. She could see Thoth's jaw flatten as he grit his teeth. He slammed the desk at the side of his seat.

"Let's get one thing clear," Thoth said, his voice low to a very severe tone. "When I say Crom Cruach's dangerous, make no mistake, ALL gods to a human are dangerous. Apollo, Crom Cruach, and yes, most assuredly that brainless brute Balder are dangerous to you."

It was difficult to say that Yui hadn't realized that, even as she finally left the classroom relatively unscathed. Gods could be dangerous, she knew, if their wrath was incurred, but her friends just didn't seem like the gods who would go out of their way to hurt someone. They weren't like Zeus, whose fickleness, she read, could be deadly. Least of all Balder, who could barely stand on his own two feet. To her, he was like a little boy (in a bigger body) who was just learning the facts of life.

All the other gods seemed to know and acknowledge their role as powerful gods. Balder, however, didn't seem to embrace his powers as much as the others. Perhaps they were a burden to him.

She stepped out into the courtyard, a little dismayed that the cold "winter" weather made way for pleasantly warm. With the Solstice coming up, you'd think Zeus at least stop with the back and forth weather. Apollo was at least making use of the nice weather. He was in the recreational square of the garden with Quetzalcoatl hitting a ball viciously against the wall back and forth. The two seemed to be having fun, or at least establishing a rivalry. If Quetzalcoatl was there, Tezca would not be far. Yui glanced down into the pit of the court, spotting Tezca sitting on a bench, leaning back, his arms draped over the back of the bench.

"Heeeey! Miss Fairy!" Apollo's voice called excitedly as he waved. The two Aztec gods turned to face her. "Have you come to cheer for me?"

Quetzalcoatl laughed heartily, "You must be mistaken, my friend. She should be here to cheer for me. No doubt Tezcatlipoca is already rooting against me."

"I honestly don't care either way," Tezca mumbled. If he had a choice he would not even been close to the tennis courts.

As for Yui, there was no way she was going to pick sides, "You two just carry on. I'll just observe, not cheer."

The two gods went back to their game, both keen on impressing the girl who was now sitting on the other end of the bench leaving a space between her and Tezca.

"W-what are they playing?" she asked, her voice catching inadvertently. The reminder of Crom Cruach flashed into her head.

Tezca shifted his golden eyes toward her, "Racquetball. Or at least some version of it."

Another question hung in Yui's throat, but she didn't dare say it. Instead she just stared at Tezca, which didn't go unnoticed. He hunched his shoulders nervously, feeling uncomfortable being stared at.

"What?"

Yui shook her head frantically, "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I was just…thinking."

That seemed to be a good enough excuse. Regardless Tezca asked politely, "Is there something wrong?"

Yui shook her head. Except there was something very wrong. She didn't want to go around accusing other gods of doing horrible things to humans. Human sacrifices may be such a touchy subject. It certainly seemed so by the way the other gods responded to it.

Could Tezca and Quetzacoatl get relief from the slaying of lives? Yui grabbed at the end of her skirt, wondering what to say next. If she didn't have the whole "human sacrifice" on her mind she would've been carrying on, oblivious. Tezca's great shoulders slumped as he sighed, dismayed, sensing that she was indeed upset. Normally, he wouldn't care for the sensitivities humans had, but in this case, he gave her space with relaxing silence, rather than exuding tension. The two sat and watched the two gods have their competition.

The next day, as Yui left the library after yet another tense conversation with Thoth about something involving getting Loki to stop doodling unicorns and bras on the quizzes-she really didn't know what he was talking about and didn't really care-she trudged slowly down the hall to an empty classroom to meet with Tsukito and Apollo to discuss some plans about the Solstice Festival. As far as she knew Apollo had yet to get the two Celtic gods' signatures. Two out of four wasn't bad, but as Thoth said, all of them were needed. She didn't doubt that Apollo was working on it, but Cernunnos certainly seemed adamant on not signing and she didn't dare think how Crom Cruach would react.

She opened the door to the empty classroom finding it dark. Squinting into the darkness she could see Tsukito lying on the floor behind the desks. At first she thought he was sleeping, but as she drew closer it seemed that he wasn't conscious, an open expression on his face.

Her heart thumped in her chest as she backed away, thinking of what to do. She tried shaking him, "Tsukito, Tsukito. Come on, please wake up."

She saw movement, next to his hip. Usamaro was chewing on something. Blinking through the dim light she could see that he was chewing on a bundle of corn husks made into a small doll. There were several of those dolls scattered around the place, hanging from the ceiling, and primarily positioned in a circle around Tsukito's body.

Just the sight of them caused her spine to shiver. She tried to shake Tsukito awake and he stirred. He opened his golden eyes, not the least bit concerned that he was in the center of a sacrificial doll circle.

"Yui Kusanagi," he murmured, before rubbing the bump at the back of his head. "What's going on?"

"I thought I'd ask you that," Yui replied, relieved that Tsukito was at least okay and functioning rather normally. "Hang on, I'll go get some help."

She ran to the door, but found it closed and locked tight. Did someone lock them in? She pulled and pulled and started pounding on the door. It was then she could smell a familiar smell. A horrid sweet decay smell.

"Crom Cruach…" she seethed under her breath, angry and aghast. Though she had not been on the best of terms with that god, she didn't think he'd go out of his way to pull something like this. Especially hurting a god.

"What was that?" Tsukito asked, gathering Usamaro in his arms.

Yui shook her head, "Nothing. Do you remember what happened, Tsukito?"

She approached him and took a quick look at the back of his head. Nothing was bleeding, thankfully, but it seemed to bother Tsukito a lot as he kept rubbing it.

"I arrived at the designated meeting spot early. I cannot assume that no one would come early."

Yui rolled her eyes at that, mildly amused.

"I spotted a doll like this on one of the desks," he held up the cornhusk doll. "I noticed some writing carved into the desk and as I was about to read it, something hit me in the back of the head."

His eyes shifted to the desk and Yui drew close to see the writing that so interested him. It was carved crudely into the desk and she could barely make it out as the characters magically shifted from the original alphabet into something she could understand.

She read it aloud, "Though they lied about the Wicker Man, I shall make their dreams come true, and those within his hallowed effigy shall burn."

Yui straightened, her face contorted in bewilderment as she tried to figure out what that meant.

Tsukito made a noise in the back of his throat. He pointed to the circle of dolls. The ends of the dolls were burned in ash, the embers growing stronger and stronger into flames. Yui rushed forward and tried to stamp the flames out, but it only seemed to hinder their spread, not stop them.

No windows and the door closed caused the smoke to accumulate, slowly thickening the air. By now the dolls hanging from the ceiling were on fire as well.

Panic was relieved momentarily when Tsukito and Yui heard and saw the door handle of the door turn and jiggle.

"Help!" Yui strangled out.

"Yui? Tsukito?" They heard Apollo's voice call. "What are you two doing with the door locked?"

"Nothing, we're trapped here and it's on fire!" Yui called. "Open the door!"

"I can't. It's locked. Hold on…"

Apollo turned the handle and shoved the door with his shoulder, hoping that there was a possibility that the door was stuck. It failed. It just bruised his shoulder.

"Owwey!" he whined. "It's no use Miss Fairy. It's shut tight. I can try to find the key!"

Yui ran to the door at the very least thankful that the fire wasn't spreading fast…yet, but the smoke was getting worse, "Please hurry Apollo!"

The sun god didn't need to be told twice, he ran down the hall to the first person he knew he could trust to know what to do. Hades was sitting on a bench, holding his turtle and feeding it a bit of kale, a book of nebulas resting his lap.

"UNCLE HADES!"

The tall King of the Underworld jerked in his seat, hearing his nephew's loud voice penetrate his ears with every sense of urgency. Apollo explained with a rush of words that were too fast to comprehend, but all Hades heard was "Yui" and "locked in". It was enough to follow his nephew. On the way, they caught Takeru thinking to maybe use his strength to open the door.

"What!? Brother's in trouble!?" his eyes widened in abject worry. "Where!? Where!?"

"I'll find Zeus. He should have a key," Hades rushed towards his younger brother's office.

Meanwhile, Apollo took Takeru to the room Tsukito and Yui were shut in.

"Yui, Tsukito, are you two okay?" Apollo asked, relieved he couldn't feel any heat from the door.

"The fire's stagnating," Yui explained, glancing at Tsukito who was holding his hand over Usamaro's mouth and nose so the poor rabbit didn't breath in too much of the smoke. Otherwise, the emotionless god was just that. He wasn't panicking which made Yui feel rather ridiculous. Was she overreacting?

"Hades is going to find a key," Takeru said through the door. "Stand back, I'm going to try to force this thing open."

He tried to bash the door open using the same method Apollo did. He may have had better progress than him, but not enough to grant freedom for the two stuck inside the classroom. Takeru wasn't one to give up. Not a bit, but the bruising in his shoulder forced him to take a break.

"Accursed weak body," he growled rubbing his bruised shoulder.

"Bad news Fairy," Apollo called trying to stay calm, "Takeru isn't able to get it open. We can hope for Hades to return with Zeus' key."

Takeru turned to the sun god, "I'll look for a maintenance worker or closet."

"You do that."

Yui at the very least felt a little relieved. Surely if Hades found Zeus, he would came and help, but she was stuck with Tsukito who just seemed to respond with this emergency with the coolness of just watching cars passing by. He either had no fear or just didn't care.

"Well…I guess now's a good a time as any to get rid of that V-card."

Yui blinked, hearing Apollo's halting voice. What…did he just say?

"Excuse me?"

"Your V-card," Apollo clarified. "If you two are stuck there, you both might was work to get rid of it, just in case we can't get you out."

Yui glanced over at Tsukito. Again, he didn't seem to have much of a care about Apollo's rather blasphemous suggestion. Yui on the other hand was torn between a thousand and one exasperated responses.

"Apollo….no…"

"Your virginity. At least for Tsuki-tsuki's sake."

"No! Nobody's losing their…V-card. Apollo, what is wrong with you?" Yui yelled louder than when she was panicking about the fire.

"I read that humor and calm suggestion helps in times of crisis."

"No." Yui shut the idea down.

By then Hades returned with Loki, "No luck, Zeus wasn't in his office."

"I tried to unlock his office, but he has that thing shut tight, " Loki said, putting a bobby pin back in his hair. "What happened?"

Apollo shrugged, "I just arrived here and it seems Miss Fairy and Tsuki-Tsuki are locked in with some sort of fire they say."

"Fires of love?" Loki asked waggling his eyebrows.

Yui heard that outside the door, "Good Lord of Heaven, NO! A real fire! The smoke is getting thicker and the fire's spreading."

"We'll get you out!" Loki called back, pulling the bobby pin back out and using it to pick the lock like he did with Zeus' door. He thought he was getting progress, hearing the tumblers click and then…

*Snap*

The bobby pin broke and Loki's cursing followed. "How the hell am I going to keep my bangs out of my eyes now?"

"Big picture, Loki!" Yui cried out, desperate for someone to take this situation seriously. How was it that they were taking this so casually? She coughed against the smoke and Tsukito's eyes narrowed.

"Yui Kusanagi, are you alright?" he asked, trying to portray as much worry as he could.

She shook her head, "No, I just want to get out of here."

Apollo sensed her worry and tried to keep her calm, "It'll be alright, Miss Fairy. We'll get help." He turned to his uncle and said, "I'm going to find Thoth. He'll know what to do."

Hades nodded, "Right, we'll stay here and try to find another to bust this thing open."

Loki tugged on Apollo's jacket, "Thoth'll be in the library."

"Let's hurry!"

Loki and Apollo ran directly to the library, expecting to find Thoth sitting at his usual table, reading. But he wasn't. Apollo took a quick glance around, finding Thoth nowhere.

"The one time he's not here!" Apollo cried, throwing his hands in the air.

Loki stopped when he heard a crash over by the Self-Help section. A figure crawled out of the legs of a toppled over chair, seemingly desperate to escape being caught. Loki quickly ran up and grabbed the tan god by the ankles, instantly recognizing him as the elusive god that was only seen around Thoth. As he tried to drag him away from hiding under another table the god growled and whimpered. The black-haired, dog-like god was strong and wrestled himself away from Loki.

"C'mon, whomever you are. Look! We need your help!" Loki said through grit teeth. "Someone's in trouble, we need Thoth. Do you know where he is?"

Anubis stared at him as if he had two heads. All he wanted to do was get away from Loki.

Loki cursed, "We'll have to go out and find him ourselves."

Apollo looked deathly afraid, "Is there another way to free Miss Fairy and Tsuki-Tsuki?"

Both of them didn't waste anymore time and ran out of the library to find Thoth, checking in their classroom first. Nothing. They both didn't know if he had an office, they just assumed Thoth did most of his grading and reading in the library.

Anubis was flustered and took a moment to recover from his scuffled with the red-headed one. They were looking for Thoth, he understood, but even if Anubis wanted to tell them where he was he couldn't.

Was someone really in trouble? They mentioned freeing someone. Were they trapped?

Anubis shifted in his seat on the floor, rocking, trying wrestle with his own curiosity. For all that he was, he could have several moments of cleverness and intuition, but mostly in regards to eluding others.

He pouted crossing his arms, shaking his head as if refusing to move for his conscious. He dealt with dead things, not living things. It wasn't up to him to decide if they died or not. Mortals seemed to be doing the dying thing very well.

Wow. Was he that cold? He sounded like Thoth. Although he admired and respected Thoth for being his friend and companion, he was always told that he was different than him. He was more personal. He saw human death up close, and he sure as heck was not going to deal with it again. Without a second thought, Anubis scampered out of the library to search for someone, anyone, who may be able to free trapped students. His first instinct was the tall green-haired Norse god. He liked that god. He was quiet and played with him a few times when they ran into each other in the forest. He was big and strong enough to do anything.

Anubis raced to the uncomfortable cool mountains where the green-haired god lived. Unfortunately he didn't run into the green-haired god. He didn't seem to be home either. He could've been out in the woods, where they last played. As Anubis shifted to the back of the dorm house, he spotted a large impressive ship and for a moment, all thoughts on his task were gone.

He hadn't seen a ship like this before. It was bigger than the oarboats that Sobek travelled along the Nile with. Why was it sitting in ice? Surely it couldn't be functioning. He stopped as soon as he saw the blond Norse god step around the ship, a giant ice pick and a hammer in hand. He bent down to chisel away at the ice that surrounded his ship.

Thankfully, the light one didn't notice Anubis, but rather than leaving he remained, staring at the blond god. Something in the back of Anubis' head told him that this one was ill. Not in the human sense, no. The illness was intangible, probably not known to him or his friends. Still, the light and warmth remained, whistling an odd tune.

Anubis didn't dislike this one. Anyone would be good except for the uncontrollable red-headed one, who always made Anubis nervous. Taking a deep breath, Anubis stumbled down the slope to the lake and got the god's attention.

Balder found comfort in breaking ice from his ship. It was a sturdy enough craft to withstand a continent of ice, but there was no sense in pushing her too hard. He probably wasn't going to be able to get another like it. As he wiped the pick off with his shirt he heard a sharp, distinct voice.

"KA! BARA!"

He whipped around seeing where that voice came from. Immediately he spotted a tan god with black body-paint stumble and fumble towards him, obviously not used to the rough, cold terrain. Balder never recalled seeing this one before. He looked concerned.

"Kaaaa!" the figure panted, hands on his knees. He pointed off in the distance towards the school and shouted words he didn't understand.

Balder frowned and apologized also worried, "I'm sorry, I don't understand…"

The black-haired god ran up to him and grabbed his sleeve, giving it a tug, "Ka bara!"

Balder thought that was an indication to follow him, and he ran after the good as he speed towards the school, half running on two feet, and half on all fours, like a dog. Balder wanted to ask for more information or tell him he couldn't go to the school as they passed the gardens, but it was clear that he wouldn't be able to understand this god very well. Oddly enough, the Egyptian god seemed to understand him.

He hesitated only a little as the god showed him to a side entrance into the school, but whatever this god wanted seemed urgent. He trotted through the familiar corridors and stopped at a corner where the god he was following crouched low. He pointed down the corridor, refusing to go further. Balder peered around and saw all his friends in one place, staring helplessly and talking to the door.

The strange god ignored for the moment, Balder went to greet his friends, before realizing something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

"Bal-Bal, you're here?!" Apollo said caught between excitement and confusion.

Takeru didn't bother to ask the question of if he should be back and said simply, "Brother and Kusanagi are trapped inside. They don't sound good."

Balder's heart thudded in his chest and immediately he pressed himself against the door, "Yui, Totsuka, are you two alive?"

"Balder?!" Yui's gasp was one of relief and surprise. She didn't think Balder would have any more of a chance to help them than the others, but at the very least every one was there on the other side of that door. "We've been fine, but I don't think we can last."

She followed with a cough.

Loki told his friend in a husky grim voice, "We've been trying to get a hold of Zeus, but the pretentious fart disappeared. They've been locked inside."

Balder grabbed the doorknob and jiggled it with a good amount of force, but no luck. Loki sighed, "I would've been so pissed if you just popped that door open right then."

"Yui, Totsuka, if you're near the doorway back away as much as you can, hide underneath some desks," Balder called through the door. He nudged the door with his shoulder once, then twice, before opening the classroom door across from the one Yui and Tsukito were in. The others stared on, half assuming Balder had some ingenious plan to get the free. He certainly seemed to know every step he was taking.

This ingenious plan involved him backing into the opposite classroom, running full throttle straight at the locked door.

Loki always assumed that at least once in his lifetime he would witness Balder smash through a solid barrier at some point. Given his friends' clumsiness, invincibility, and all around not being the smartest person in the universe, Loki thought he would see the enjoyment of Balder running straight through a wall.

A door was good enough.

Balder ran and leaped forward with his whole body into the door and broke it off its' hinges, managing to remain on his feet. Flames burst up as more oxygen hit them, but remained manageable and the smoke rushed out of the only exit. Coughing, Yui ran out of the classroom, pulling Tsukito along by the hand. She gave a sigh of relief as clean air hit her lungs. Balder stepped out with them, brushing soot and debris off of his clothes as if nothing happened.

The others looked on in mild exasperation. Of course the only thing Balder would think to do was barrel through the problem. Loki's eyes were rolled in annoyance, head bobbing in acceptance. A few, like Takeru and Apollo were scolding themselves for not thinking to put their entire bodies one the line like Balder just did.

Balder helped Yui up, "Are you okay, Yui?"

She nodded, taking a quick glance at Tsukito, making sure he was okay. He seemed unfazed, stroking Usamaro, who was shaking his head to get the soot off of his ears. "Thankfully we both seem okay. It was mostly me panicking, is all."

"What caused the fire?" Loki asked. He figured that the combination of the locked door and the fire meant sabotage. Someone was out to get them.

"There were these straw dolls inside and I found Tsukito unconscious in a circle of them. Before I knew it, they were on fire."

Balder's jaw quivered as he stared at Loki. They both had an idea of what caused this incident and the more Balder paused, he could smell the faint scent of sweet rot underneath the smoky smell.

"Crom Cruach," Loki murmured in a deathly tone. Yui had to agree but she had no proof.

"I didn't see him anywhere near the place. All that was there was the dolls and some etching that mentioned some Wicker man."

Loki just shook his head, "The Wicker Man was long believed to be a part of a Celtic ceremony. Except it was made up when the Romans travelled north. The druids would put sacrifices, mostly criminals, though if there weren't enough, they'd resort to slaves and servants, in this effigy shaped like a man and burn it."

Yui thought about what the writing had said. It didn't settle well with her to think she was some ritualistic sacrifice. Her grimace must've shown because immediately Loki added, "But, again, it was just made up stories. Crom Cruach no doubt thought it would be a bit of fun to get his sacrifices in a different way."

"That was hardly fun," she said, before thinking to thank Balder again for saving them. She looked around for him, but he wasn't anywhere. "Where'd Balder go?"

Loki's eyes widened and he started forward, "Oh, no!"

Loki rushed after Balder who was clearly fuming. The others followed, ice in their guts afraid of their beloved friend's temper and what trouble it would cause. Balder purposefully turned the corner to the empty section of the school on a mission.

"Balder, wait!" Yui yelled, desperately trying to calm his temper.

"I just want to clear something up," he replied trying to remain calm. Inside, his teeth clenched horribly. His purpose was set in his mind and he could sniff out Crom Cruach clearly. His horrid smell was hard to miss. He abruptly charged at a fairly inconspicuous door and—like he did when releasing Yui and Tsukito—kicked the door wide open.

Crom Cruach was at the very least stunned and he turned from his rather detailed drawing of the anatomy of the human torso on the chalkboard, to see a raging bull of a Balder point a deathly finger at him.

"You!"

"What a surprise—"

Before Crom Cruach could finish his snide comment, Balder rushed forward and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pinned him to the wall.

"Balder, stop!" Loki scrambled into the room, his forehead beading with sweat.

"You have some nerve endangering the lives of others," Balder's blue eyes set dangerously into Crom Cruach's hollowed black ones.

Crom Cruach wasn't afraid. In fact, he seemed to enjoy seeing the Norse God of Light lose control. He laughed in between his panic breaths, "What are you going to do, son of Odin? What can you do?"

He realized now he could do a lot of things, but the question was did he want to do it? Crom Cruach was dangerous and deserved no mercy. The Celtic god…he hurt Yui. Just the thought made Balder unconciously bring his fist back, poised to strike Crom Cruach.

"Do it," Crom Cruach dared. "I want to see what power you truly have."

Balder's knuckles tightened and the others waited with bated breaths. It just wasn't a good idea to get between an angry Balder and a scathing, testing Crom Cruach, who was, to all in the room, asking for whatever punishment Balder wanted to give.

"Stop," Yui berated like a scolding teacher. "It's not worth it."

A tense pause filled the room as Balder didn't seem to back down. He seethed at the crooked god and abruptly pointed behind him, his face still staring daggers at Crom Cruach, "Agana Balea!"

Apollo jumped at hearing his name called so forcefully, "Y-yes?"

"Do you still have that sign up sheet?"

"Er…" Apollo rummaged through his pockets trying to find the Solstice festival sign up sheet that he sworn he put in his jacket. He found it in his breast pocket, "Yeah."

"Give me that and a pen."

Apollo took out the parchment and a pen from his pocket and placed it in Balder's outstretched hand before hopping back like he just lit a firework. Balder violently shoved the paper and pen in Crom Cruach's chest.

"Sign."

Crom Cruach laughed, "Surely, you must be kidding—"

"If you don't, I'll make sure you'll be eating your sacrifices through a straw," Balder's voice turned deadly. And that threat wasn't to be taken lightly. Who knew someone like Balder, provider of light, could be so…defensive. "Now sign!"

The corner of Crom Cruach's lips turned upward slightly, as if he found some sort of satisfaction in getting Balder to make malicious threats. He pulled the pen and paper from his chest and turned around to the wall, pressing the paper to the hard surface and scribbling his name.

Balder didn't wait one second after he was done, and tore the parchment from the wall with Crom Cruach's signature, holding it out to Apollo.

"Now I want to hear you apologize," Balder growled and Loki finally stepped forward pulling his best friend away from a rather violent altercation.

"Come on, come on," he grunted as Balder was still focused on sending as much fear into Crom Cruach's heart as possible. Finally, Loki gripped Balder's chin and pulled his head to face him.

"You need to cool it," he scolded, before pointing to the door, "And get me a Little Debbie."

The muscle in Balder's jaw twitched in agitation, but he backed down with a snort, leaving the room silently. After Balder left, Takeru asked, "Why the Little Debbie?"

Loki shrugged, "I just love Little Debbies."

Crom Cruach meanwhile straightened, tugging at his jacket and seethed, "You'd better keep a leash on that boy of yours Loki, lest he does something truly destructive."

At the end of his sentence, he eyed Loki intently, black eyes glinting as if he knew a deep dark secret. Loki swallowed for a moment, caught between striking the dark haired god and thinking up of something to say back.

Loki instead cocked a smile. An evil smile. His voice had patronizing tone as he spoke to the dark haired god, "You see Crom Cruach, Balder is a Taurus, and like the Taurus Bull there are times he just runs around and just causes havoc. But put him in the right direction he can do a lot of good."

Loki's voice suddenly grew deadly, deadlier than Balder's, as he drew closer to Crom Cruach, "Like ridding the world of devious harvest gods."

He patted Crom Cruach's shoulder, giving it one vicious squeeze, "But you don't have to worry about him now. I can always pretend to throw a steak out the window and we won't see him for a while. But you do have to deal with us."

Almost on cue, all the males straightened ready to pound on Crom Cruach for what he did to Tsukito and Yui.

"Back off!" a dark commanding voice issued from the doorway and the impressive figure of Cernunnos stood, glaring at all of the gods, ready to strike the first one who moved towards Crom Cruach.

Loki bit the inside of his cheek, cursing himself for being caught by Cernunnos. He respected the wild god in many ways, so he was not one to want to test his patience. He backed down and Cernunnos rushed forward, putting himself in between his fellow Celtic god and the others.

"Good Cern-Cern, I was about to go looking for you," Apollo said with a little more glee than what the other gods were putting off. He held out the now very crumpled sign-up sheet with Crom Cruach's name newly signed on it.

"You can sign this now."

Cernunnos glared at the blond god and snorted his distaste.

"You agreed Cernunnos," Hades said darkly, his red eye practically glinting through his mess of bangs. "Crom Cruach has signed it and now it's your turn."

The tallest god turned back to his fellow Celtic god with a look that said, "Is this true?"

Crom Cruach's expression, however, was unreadable. He was thinking something, but what no one was sure. With hesitation, Cernunnos took the paper and pen with an aggravated sigh.

Outside, Balder was trying to control his breathing. He leaned against a nearby pillar, listening to the muffled voices of his friends harassing that bastard of a god. Just the thought of what Crom Cruach did made his blood boil and white-hot pain spread from the center of his chest. He blinked, trying to keep conscious. Why did he struggle to remain awake when he was angry?

Exhale. Inhale. Count to ten.

This time, it worked, thankfully.

He glanced over finding a figure peering curiously around the corner. That Egyptian god was looking at him intently. Balder didn't speak and neither did he. Balder just nodded his gratitude to the god and his mouth flattened to the barest of smiles before scuttling away.

Not a moment later, the big tall Cernunnos barged out of the classroom door with Crom Cruach at his side. He gave Balder a very pointed glare before the two Celtic gods ran down the hall in the opposite direction before Thoth or Zeus came running after them.

The others filed out of the classroom relieved and Apollo looked particularly gratified that he finally completed his task of getting ALL the gods to sign the sheet for the Solstice Festival. Loki however went straight to Balder, "Are you alright Balder?"

"Yeah," he breathed out, pressing the palm of his hand against his chest. "But I probably shouldn't stay here, or else I'll get in trouble again-"

"Balder Hringhorni!"

A booming voice erupted down the hall that seemed to make their very nerves quake.

"Dammit," Apollo muttered, showing a good amount of annoyance hearing his father's voice.

Zeus himself appeared right before them in a crack of light. His face was unreadable, but that didn't much matter. They knew Balder would be in trouble. They were caught between standing up for their friend or not getting in the way of Zeus' impending wrath.

"I told you that you could not come back on school grounds. What is all this?"

Balder's tongue was heavy, not keen on explaining his actions. He instead apologized, "I'm sorry, I'll go back to my dorm."

"That's fine and good, but that doesn't explain why you were here in the first place."

Yui was the one who stepped forward, as she always did with her friends, "Zeus, Balder saved Tsukito and I from a room on fire. He didn't mean to break the rules, but it was an emergency."

Zeus arched an eyebrow, "An emergency the unsuspended students couldn't handle?"

"Come on, Zeus," Hades tiredly uttered. "We tried to find you, but you weren't anywhere."

"My mistake to think the lot of you had an ounce of intelligence to figure out how to open a door," Zeus scoffed, his lips curling in amusement.

"Actually, it took someone who didn't care about intelligence to free them," Loki said, carefully not mentioning how he truly weighed his best friend's intellect.

Zeus scratched his chin, golden eyes narrowing in on Balder.

"Do you think you could return to classes?" Zeus asked him.

Balder paused, a little surprised that Zeus asked him that question. He answered, though with some hesitation, "I would like to. I must learn about humans and I can't do that locked up in my dorm."

"I don't like that answer. Try again."

Balder blinked, his jaw muscle jerking once again as he clenched his teeth tight. He glanced back at Yui, who was giving him an expectant stare.

"I can return and function normally," Balder answered with a rather determined voice, not heard very often.

Zeus nodded, "Well, then. If you are certain, I will lift your suspension. You can return to class tomorrow morning."

Everyone gave gasps of relief and joy, all the while Balder's face softened to his rather oblivious expression. Loki shook Balder laughing with glee, "Hear that? You can come back now."

The corner of Balder's mouth quirked up, not quite believing that all that time spending alone with his rather bothersome thoughts were over. Like a switch, his thoughts turned to one thing as he looked at his red-haired friend with bright eyes.

"Then…we can celebrate with sausage and steak?"

A/N: *whew* I know it was forever since an update, but curse my writer's block and killer work schedule. Even now I still think this chapter is clunky. If I work up the work ethic I may go back and redo this chapter.