Artemis
As I followed the smell of pizza down the stairs I continued to ask myself the same question.

What. The. Heckermuffins. Did. I. Just. Do?

I didn't just do that. Why would I do that? Am I stupid??

"Yup!" I heard my wolf Diana exclaimed from our mindscape.

"Omg now is not the time for your rude comments!" I yelled back at her.

"What? You're the one that asked a question I was just answering it ho-" I blocked our link once I made it to the kitchen.

I walked in to see Athena and Ezra sitting on the counter eating pizza.

"You know people eat there," I said pointing to the countertops their butts were currently on.

"Umm yeah, that's why we're eating here...duh," Athena said earning a laugh from Ezra.

Rolling my eyes I made my way to the box of pizza.

Before I could open the top Athena slammed her hand on top of it.

Looking up at her she spoke.

"How are you feeling?"

I smiled.

"Hungry. So if you don't mind." I said tugging the box from underneath her hand.

"Fine, enjoy." She said with a smile.

I opened the box only to find it empty.

I heard Athena laughing from beside me.

"There better be another box," I said still looking down at the empty box.

"Yeah, there was. You're looking at it. That's what you get for hibernating in your room all day! You miss out on things." She said sticking her tongue out at me.

I looked between her and Ezra.

Ezra quickly stuck out his half-eaten piece of pizza, nervously.

"I don't want your pizza, Ezra! I wanted mine! But you two hungry bums ate it all!" I yelled stomping my foot.

"Woah what's with all the yelling?" Aaron asked as he finally made it downstairs with Apollo and Serena behind him.

"These ragamuffins ate all the pizza and didn't save us any!!" I yelled pointing at the two accused.

"Athena, we bought four boxes, I left you down here with two where's the other one?" Apollo asked folding his arms.

"It's in her bottomless pit of a stomach!" I exclaimed.

"Ha see you're wrong! Shaw stopped by looking for some comfort food saying he missed dinner at the Packhouse sooo I so kindly offered him the other box of pizza." Athena said happily.

Unbelievable.

I bet Dawn is enjoying that pizza too right now. Acting like just because the pizza was given away she has the right to just eat and put her grubby Dawn hands all over it.

That pizza was mine.

I stared at Athena as she finished her piece of pizza with a smile.

"I'm gonna walk away before I hurt you. Okay?" I said as I slowly turned around.

Making it out of the kitchen I searched the table near the front door for keys.

"Where are the car keys!?" I yelled.

"Art you don't know how to drive, remember!" Apollo yelled from the kitchen.

"You don't know what I can do!" I shouted back stubbornly.

"I know what you can't do is drive!" He yelled back.

"Ughhh! Dimples come and take me to get some food! Please!" I whined as I dramatically slid down against the door.

Aaron came from out of his office twirling his car keys around his finger and chuckled at the sight of me.

"Yeah, I've got you Snowflake." He said as he pulled me up from the floor.

"Thank you, you're the only one that cares!" I said making sure my mean siblings could hear.

"You don't mean that!" I heard Apollo say.

"You don't know what I mean!" I yelled back.

"Alright love you!" He yelled.

"Love you too!" I yelled as I walked out the door.

Aaron drove us into town and we ended up at the diner Serena's parents owned.

I have to admit their food was good the last time we were here, but I could go without the twenty-one question appetizer we had to endure.

So determined to avoid a conversation with Meredith I told Aaron I would just wait in the car while he went in and ordered.

He gave me his phone to play with while he was inside, seeing as I left mine at the house. So for the next ten minutes, I was wrapped up playing some gingerbread running game. I hadn't noticed when he came back to the car until he tapped on my window.

He gestured for me to follow him so I got out of the car.

He held two brown bags in one hand and a cup holder with two coffee mugs in the other.

"Where are we going?" I asked reaching out to hold the drinks.

He looked down at me and smiled.

"There's a park across the street. There's some benches we can sit on, and we could use some fresh air since we stayed in the house all day."

"Cool." I nodded.

Once we reached the park it was beautifully lit up with Christmas lights all around. There was a big field along with a playground, with a slide and swing-set.

Aaron found a bench for us to sit on and took out the burgers we ordered.

I passed him one of the mugs as he gave me my burger that was carefully wrapped in foil.

"Haha, burgers and hot chocolate! Nice combo!" I laughed after pulling the mug from my lips.

"Ha yup and a new scenery for our nightly chats!" He said gesturing to our surroundings.

I nodded my head as I took a bite from my burger.

"So what questions do you have for me tonight?" He asked.

"Hmm well, I think I have two."

"Alright shoot."

"Okay number one I've been meaning to ask you a while now but why does everyone call you by your last name, Celest?" I asked curiously.

He chuckled.

"Oh that. Well, it's kinda silly but when I was younger I thought my last name was super cool. I thought it connected me with the stars and universe like a Celestial being, so I told everyone to call me Celest. And if anyone called me Aaron I wouldn't answer!" He explained shaking his head.

I laughed.

"That's honestly adorable! How old were you?" I asked covering my mouth.

"Hmm, about six or so that was around the time I got into astronomy!" He said happily.

"Oh well, that explains the telescope in your room. I thought you were just a perv looking for a peek." I teased.

He gasped dramatically.

"Wow, you think so low of me Snow! It hurts." He said rubbing his chest.

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay what's your second question?" he asked taking another bite of his burger.

"Your tattoos. How many do you have?" I asked poking his shoulder with my cup.

"Ah! I have one for every year of my life so currently, I have twenty-four. I've been getting them done since I was fifteen so it's become a tradition for me to get a new one on my birthday every year!" he said happily.

"Each tattoo means something to me, whether good or bad it reminds me of my journey to get to where I am today."

"That's actually pretty cool like a body of diary entries," I said looking up at him.

"Yeah, maybe I'll take you through all of them one day."

"I would like that," I said smiling at him.

"Alright now it's my turn. Since you asked about names, you and your siblings are all named after Greek Gods, why?" He asked curiously.

I smiled at the reasoning.

"My father. He loved Greek mythology. So when we were still in the womb he said he matched our personalities with the Gods. It just so happened that Apollo and I were twins. In the ultrasounds, we would always be touching each other whether it was holding hands or hugging. He said that in the first ultrasound they thought it was just me because I was covering Apollo behind me and our heartbeats were in sync, but I guess at some point I moved or Apollo was tired of me always shielding him." I said with a chuckle.

"So dad said we reminded him of the twins Artemis and Apollo. Brave siblings that would do anything to protect the ones they loved especially their mother." I explained looking down at my cup.

"Sounds like you were protective even at a young age" Aaron laughed.

I chuckled.

"Yeah and Athena she was always a fierce one even in the womb. My dad said she put our mother through hell, kicked nonstop for hours, and would cause the worst morning sickness. She was born almost a month and a half early, always so impatient. This reminded him of the Goddess Athena who Zeus ate, only for her to come out of his head fully grown with a body of armor and a sword." I laughed.

"She was born to give headaches!" I said.

Aaron laughed beside me.

"Your dad sounds like a smart man."

My smile faded slowly as I nodded my head.

"Yeah, he was," I said looking up at Aaron.

"I'm s-" he began but I quickly stood up before he had the chance to apologize or ask questions.

"So what's your second question for me?" I asked as I began to walk to the swings with my cup.

I could tell Aaron was now following me, quickly discarding our trash in a nearby trash can.

I sat on one of the swings and with my feet, I moved back and forth slowly.

Aaron sat down on the swing beside me with a sigh.

"Tattoos. Do you have any?" he asked looking amused.

I laughed.

"You're basically stealing the questions I asked you! Am I that boring that you have no questions to ask about me?" I whined.

"Trust me I have a ton of questions to ask you, but some I would like you to tell me on your own. Other things I'm just curious about knowing, like this one," He said flashing me a smile.  

I sighed.

"Fine. Yes, I have three. One was a dare. Another is one that my siblings and I got together. And the last one is for me."

"A dare? Oh come on now you have to show me! " he said excitedly.

I laughed.

"No! It was so stupid!" I said laughing at the memory.

Truth is that for him to see it he would have to see more of me than I'm comfortable with.

"Ugh fine. Would you like to get another tattoo? You could come with me on my birthday." He said looking at me with hopeful eyes.

I thought it over before shrugging.

"Yeah, why not, do you know what you're getting this time?" I asked curiously.

"Hmm, I have a few ideas." He said as he stood up from the swing.

"Come on it's getting late. We have to get back to work tomorrow since we took the day off today." He said offering me his hand.

I took it and hopped off the swing. I went over and threw away our mugs and looked over at the slides.

"Wait there's just one more thing I want to do before we go!" I said pulling his hand to the steps of the slide.

Climbing up the steps I turned around and reached out my hand to Aaron.

"Come slide down with me!"

He rolled his eyes but took my hand.

I sat down at the top of the slide and made sure there was enough space for Aaron's legs.

He sat down so I was now in between his legs and my back against his chest.

I heard his voice near my ear making them heat up.

"You know if we get stuck going down, I'll never live down the embarrassment of having to call Franco to come and help us out."

I laughed at the thought.

"Oh please we won't get stuck, now give me your phone," I said reaching my hand behind me.

"For what?" He asked as he gave me his phone.

"Oh, I just wanna capture the moment! You know scrapbooking is important. Now come on and get us to slide down." I said as I held the camera out in front of us.

I felt him shake his head before moving us forward and down we went.

"Here we gooo!" I yelled out excitedly.

It was a straight shot down with a hump in the middle.

I laughed all the way down, making sure to keep snapping pictures. Once we reached the hump our bodies jump up a little making Aaron wrap his arms around my waist. I could see the surprise on his face when he felt the bump and I was so glad I got a picture of it!

Once we reached the bottom I couldn't stop laughing. My feet now dangled off the slide and I could hear Aarons laughter behind me as he laid his back on the slide making me lean back with him.

"That was so childish!" He said through his laughs.

"I think we both deserved a moment to be a kid again," I said finally catching my breath.

We laid there for a while just looking up at the night sky.

"Hey look! It's a shooting star! Make a wish Snow!" Aaron said pointing up at the sky.

It wasn't a shooting star.

I was sure it was a plane and he probably knew that too, but at that moment I think we both wanted to make a wish.

So I closed my eyes and silently wished...

For this to last forever.

"What did you wish for?" I asked when I opened my eyes.

Aaron hummed.

"How about I tell you when it comes true?" He asked.

I chuckled.

That was new and it sounded fair so I simply nodded my head.

"I hope to be there when it happens then," I say mostly to myself.

"Trust me you will." He whispered.

It began to snow a while ago, we looked at the lavender clouds that took over the sky and admired the snow that fell on our cheeks.

"Will you ever tell me what your snow really means?" I heard Aaron asks softly.

I smiled. So he did hear Apollo or maybe he figured it out on his own.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out myself."

"Fair enough." he said quietly.

We sat in silence for a while longer before we decided to go.

"Crap," I mumbled to myself as I tried to get up from in between Aaron's legs.

"Crap? What do you mean crap?" He asked.

"Hehe, I can't get up," I said sheepishly.

"You're kidding!" He said as he tried to pull himself up using the sides of the slide only to let out a sigh when we didn't move a budge.

I turned my head so I could see him, he was pouting.

"This cannot be happening," he said laying back down.

"You're right it's not!" I said as I jumped up.

I quickly snapped a pic of his annoyed face.

"Oh don't be like that, it was funny!" I said as he walked to the car.

We made it back to the house to find everyone had retired for the night. I didn't waste any time heading to bed either. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much, today was a good day.

Aaron and I said our goodnights and went to our separate rooms for the night. Before I could turn around to my room he quickly kissed me on the cheek. I stood there frozen but felt warm from head to toe. He simply smiled at me then walked into his room. 

****

The morning quickly came and I woke up just as surprised as I was when I went to bed.

There was no one knocking on my door, no annoying brother blowing in my ear to wake up, and no screaming downstairs.

It was quiet. Too quiet.

In a hurry, I threw on some clothes and made my way downstairs.

I was greeted to a well-set table of breakfast where Shaw, Dawn, and Aaron sat.

Turning my head to the kitchen I saw Apollo and Athena by the fridge arguing. Quietly?

Since when do that care how loud they are?

I could see Serena cooking the rest of the waffle batter and eggs on the stove, trying to ignore their conversation.

"Good morning!" I said to everyone.

Earning nods from those at the table and a smile from Aaron.

"Good morning Snow." He said before resuming his conversation with Shaw.

Looking back over at the three in the kitchen, I could see that Apollo looked nervous while Athena looked annoyed.

"Hey what's up guys? This is new, I wasn't woken up by you two bickering today." I asked as I grabbed a plate.

Apollo chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, we figured we'd let you sleep in peace today." He said as he rocked on the heels of his feet.

I smiled.

"You've never been good at lying Apollo. Especially to me. Now which one of you is gonna tell me what you did so I can fix it?" I asked eying them both.

Athena turned her head away and nudged Apollo's arm.

"Oh seems like Athena's picked you, Apollo. Chop chop." I said taking a bite out of the waffle I had placed on my plate.

Apollo laughed again.

"Don't worry there's nothing for you to fix this time." He said as he grabbed Serena's hand bring her to his side.

I looked between the two of them watching as Serena played with the hem of her shirt and gripped onto Apollo's hand tighter.

That's when it hit me.

Serena smelled different.

He did it.

Apollo marked her.

"I marked Serena," Apollo said with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face. I could see his eyes shimmer as if he was tearing up at the memory.

"And I told her... about us." He said slowly.

Athena let out a scoff of disapproval.

By now my waffle had hit the ground along with my plate.

The shatter must have alerted Aaron because before I knew it he was by my side.

"Snow, hey what's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked putting his hand on my shoulder.

Crying?

I hadn't noticed.

"Art say something. Please." Apollo pleaded.

Clearing my throat.

I spoke.

"C-can I see it?" I asked shakily.

Serena smiled tearing up herself.

Nodding she moved her hair to the side allowing me to see her freshly marked neck.

It's said that everyone's mark is different and unique to the couple. I just wanted to see what an actual mark looked like in real life. Not just in one of dad's old books.

I took a step closer so I could look at it a bit clearer.

It was beautiful and I could definitely see both Apollo and her characteristics in it. It was the head of a wolf howling to the moon with the bottom of the wolf turning into little music notes.

I let out a chuckle putting my hand over my mouth.

I was so happy.

Stepping over the broken pieces of my plate I pulled Serena in for a hug.

"Welcome to the family Serena," I whispered into her ear.

"...Thank you, Artemis." She mumbled into my shoulder.

Authors note
Hey Loves! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that all is well!
Let me know in the comments:

Anyone notice the new cover? Any thoughts on it?

Where do you think Artemis's dare tattoo is?

What was Aaron's wish?

And why was Apollo so nervous about telling Artemis about Serena's mark? Why did Athena disapprove? 

Thoughts on Artemis's reaction...

Lol have a great day! I'll see you'll in the next chapter!

-Niya