S'Agapo

I stared at the ceiling. It wasn't the den ceiling. It was my room's ceiling. How had I gotten to my room?

'Did I sleepwalk?'

I turned onto my side and screamed. Apollo was sleeping right next to me. He fell off the bed and sat up. He looked really dazed. I laughed in my head.

'Gods do get bed head!'

He looked at me. "Why did you scream? Humans are so damn loud."

"Well, why the hell are you in my bed? I didn't invite you. And I was sleeping on the couch too."
I really liked that couch.

He stood up and shook his head. 'Ah, there goes the bed head. So that's what he does every morning. Genius, I tell you.'

"Actually, you did invite me. I picked you up last night and brought you to bed, but when I tried to leave, you wouldn't let go of my shirt. So, I had to sleep here."

"Well, you didn't have to pick me up and bring me to my room. I've fallen asleep on the couch plenty of times."

"Well, you looked uncomfortable."

I sat up and scratched my head. I shook my hair, but it only ended up getting messier. Apollo laughed. "What are you doing?"

I sighed and stood up to go to the bathroom. I mumbled, "It worked when you did it."

Apollo stared at me and then started laughing again.

We both sat down to watch TV when the phone rang. I picked it up and heard Uncle Joey's voice singing through the speaker.

"I've got you another job! But your going to need a little help with this one. Perhaps Apollo can help you?"

"How many?"

"Twelve."

I shuddered, in joy and trepidation. "Okay, I'll be right over."

Apollo started flicking the TV on and off.

"So, what was that?"

I sighed. "I have to walk twelve dogs today, and I'm going to need your help."

"Oh? You're asking for help?"

"I've never been against asking for help, I just find it useless sometimes."

---

We started walking through the park and I let my emotions relax. I was too tired to act all cold-hearted at the moment anyways. Besides, it had suddenly been getting harder and harder to pretend I didn't care about anything. It was as if my emotions were sick of this 'phase' and just wanted me to get over myself. Which, quite frankly, they were right about.

One of Apollo's leashes slipped out of his grasp. The dog, a tiny cocker-spaniel started to bound away. Just as Apollo was about to give chase, I stopped him with my arm and shouted, "Fluffums, stop!" The dog froze, "Good girl, return."

Fluffums turned and walked back to me. I bent down and balanced my leashes in one hand. With the other I stroked her on the head and repossessed her leash. "Now, I know you're excited seeing as this will be your first time to the woods, but you have to be nice to Apollo. He's not as learned as you and I, and he needs you to help him along, okay?" Fluffums barked. I grinned. "Thank you. Now then, let's get moving!"

We jogged to the woods, a small area near the end of the park. It was full of extremely tall trees, and I always stayed near the edge, so as to skirt the park area. That way I could get away from danger when I needed to. As Apollo and I leaned against a tree, the dogs started to wander around.

"Um, Laurel, aren't you going to stop them?"

"Why? There are a few wolves here to look out for them."

"Wolves?"

"Mm. The wolves aren't bad or anything. They've actually helped me out quite a few times. Whenever I was really sad or mad I'd come here and they would always come around and protect me and let me cry or do what I needed to until I felt better."

Apollo stared at me. I blinked and asked, "Why are you always staring at me? Every time I say something, you look at me as if I've grown another head." He let out a puff of air and grabbed me. I blushed. "Why are you hugging me again? I told you to quit doing that!" I tried to push him away, but it felt as if he was stronger. I guessed he hadn't been using his full strength on me before. 'Damn.'

Apollo muttered something, but I didn't understand because it sounded garbled. He sighed into my hair, tickling my neck. I couldn't help but laugh a little. I noticed how nice he smelled.

'Wait, what?'

Before I could completely lose my head, he pulled away. I took his hands off my shoulders and felt something rest on my lap. I looked down to see a wolf's head. He looked at me with gold eyes and I smiled and patted his head. "Apollo, meet Bane."

"Bane...So, how are you doing? I was sure Zeus had completely demolished you."

'What?'

Bane sighed and sat back on his hind legs, "You two know each other?"

Apollo nodded. "Yeah. Dad had a thing for his wife, but Bane didn't want him to have her, so they had a duel and Bane lost. Obviously. Zeus had his wife have his child and he became another half-god." Bane growled.

I felt a pang in my heart. I felt so hollow suddenly, and so naive. In a moment my emotions completely took over and I pulled Bane to me. My heart was hurting more than ever because I had been blind to another's pain. Bane licked my face. I pulled him closer. "I am still so stupid that I don't think of others, I only think of myself. I never knew that you had been hurt too. Please forgive me."

Bane licked my cheek again.

Apollo's POV

I watched Laurel. I had never seen anything like it. Laurel was empathetic for someone about something that had happened years ago. Cathy didn't cry for Cindy when her mother got cancer and died last October. She hadn't even looked upset. Laurel had cried so much in her life, not just for herself, but for others as well.

I had checked her record and seen it. It was almost as if she felt that what happened to others was more important than what happened to her.

'Have I made a mistake? Have I chosen the wrong one?'

Laurel's POV

"It's been about two hours. Let's get these dogs home, okay?"

On the way home, Apollo asked me a really random question: "Why don't you believe in love anymore?"

I sighed. "It just didn't work out for me. True love, all that fairy tale crap; it's just bull shit seen in movies and books. You can't actually believe it."

"Well, how can you be sure? I've been in love, I've had True Love thousands of times."

I laughed. "No, Apollo, what you've had was Lust, not love. You see girls as pretty faces and insist that they are obviously beautiful inside as well, even though that may not be the case. True Love is supposed to be when you meet someone who you can talk to for hours, and who makes you smile whenever you're upset, and comforts you when you cry. You simply look for a girl with a good body. Maybe in the old days girls were all sweet and innocent, but in this era, you'd be hard pressed to find someone like that."

"What about you?"

"Me? What do you mean?"

He shifted his hands. "I mean, you're innocent and sweet, even if you bite off people's heads every few minutes."

"Then how is that sweet?"

"Because, when you and I were in the forest, you were acting sweet. I think you were actually being yourself for once, and quite frankly it's no wonder all the guys in school wanted to date you while you were like that, before your little rebellion."

All the dogs were with their owners, all the money in my wallet. I opened the house door and we walked in."Apollo, it's obvious that I'm never going out with anyone ever again."

"What? Why not? You're so pretty and so sweet, if you just acted like yourself, maybe you would really find someone to love!"

"Well, maybe I don't want to find someone to love me!" I snapped. This was getting irritating. "I don't believe in love because it's stabbed me in the back, and I don't need anyone else shoving another knife in there because quite frankly, my wound is still healing and you keep pouring salt in it!" I realized what I was saying and turned away from him. "Crap." I muttered. "I just can't censor myself, can I?"

Kevin's POV

I had to check up on Laurel, I had to talk to her, explain myself. Even though she pretty much knew everything that had happened. But I felt so bad for making her this way! I had to do something!

I was about to knock on her door when I heard her scream, "I don't believe in love because it's stabbed me in the back, and I don't need anyone else shoving another knife in there because quite frankly, my wound is still healing and you keep pouring salt in it!"

I pulled my fist away from the door. Had I really done all that to her? I hung my head, ran my hand over my face. "I've ruined her life. I suppose she's right, I keep returning to her, and I keep reopening the wound. It would be best to leave her, I suppose."

I stared at the door, still undecided. Then, it opened. Laurel looked shocked, tears staining her fragile appearance. "W-what are you doing here?"