The Luna's Gift

Mags & Apollo

The next morning, Mags begrudgingly came into the library. Saturday mornings were usually pretty busy, when visitors would come for tours, and always make a stop in the library for little souvenirs and to see the ancient texts. It was already her least favorite day to work, she missed out on city festivals and late Friday night dates, but today was made even worse with her emotional hangover. Her eyes are swollen, and still a little glossy from the night before. Her head aches, her stomach is in knots, and she feels exhausted from a night of little to no sleep. She sits back in her desk chair putting her feet up on the desk, not bothering to take off her sunglasses, a large iced coffee in her hand. She is a sight to behold, in her olive green skinny jeans, black boots, and a dirty band t-shirt she picked up off the floor. She gave herself a sniff and winced once, and then shrugged and sipped her coffee. She let out a huge “UGH!” to no one in particular, just out of frustration over her current situation.

Half way through a sip, the burning returned to her abdomen, slightly stronger than the night before. It was a yearning, something she would describe as a hunger, but not for food...hunger for a person. Apollo approached the nook where Mags and Helena have their desks, with two coffees in his hand, “Good morning, Magnolia. I um, thought I’d bring you coffee...but I see you already have some.” He says a little disappointed. 

“What do you want Apollo?” She stares at him, his tall frame leaning against the wall, wearing a clean unripped grey robe that reaches the ground. He looks ridiculous, Mags decided. He was tall, dark hair, imposing width, and bright blue eyes. “f*****g Alphas,” Mags thought to herself, “they’re always hot. Looks like a goddamn priest by day supermodel by night.” 

Apollo clears his throat, “I am an intern here, remember? I thought I could start...researching?”

Mags’ jaw drops in genuine shock, “You’re still going to be our intern? You can’t be serious?”

“I wasn’t going to, I didn’t want to do that...to you. But when I thought about it, it’s unfair of me to ask you to find the answer by yourself. I also didn’t know what we would tell Jonas, as to why I wasn’t going to work out as an intern. And we can’t tell him, we can never tell him.”

“That’s the part that’s unfair?” Mags asks incredulously, shaking her head, “at this point I am so over this, do whatever you want. Help yourself.” She says gesturing sarcastically at the library.

“Where...should I start?” He asks, apprehensively.

Mags hadn’t thought about where to start either, she was a little busy last night. She thinks for a moment, “I guess we need to start with pre-Peace Treaty books. Fated Mates,” she swallows hard, “um, Fated Mates were really only prevalent before then, and disappeared around the same time, so around a thousand years ago? I think it's safe to assume it was connected to our magic. Our oldest books are in the archives, closed off to the general public, we do have a few pre-Peace Treaty records in the back stacks here...but any of our written pieces or artifacts that are 1500 or more years old are kept in a separate library, locked. Shit.” 

“What?” 

“We need two cards to access the Archives, mine or Helena’s and then Jonas has the other key. How are we going to get his key, we don’t have any restorations scheduled for another month? Shit.” She repeats again.

Apollo thinks for a minute, “can you reschedule one of the restorations for earlier?”

“Maybe. He might deny it though, there isn’t really a need to restore anything. And that would take me off the floor a lot, he might say that you need more time before you run the library by yourself for a while. I could...maybe...maybe if I told him it was for school.” She says mostly to herself, brainstorming through ideas.

“You’re in school?” Apollo asks, trying to make small talk.

“Yeah, PhD program. Almost finished.” She replies, focused on the plan she’s hatching in her mind.

“That’s interesting, what’s your area of study?” 

Mags snaps back to attention and gives him a look, “we’re not doing this. You don’t get to know anything about me. If it’s not work related, as far as I’m concerned, we have nothing to say to each other. I want this over with as quickly as you do.”

Apollo slowly nods, pain crossing his face, “Magnolia, I am so sorry, I am so--”

Mags cuts him off, “I’d start in the back stacks. They’re sorted oldest to newest, and by species.”

Apollo closes his mouth, nods once more, and leaves towards the ancient works section. 

****

“Call me tonight? Need to talk to you.” Read the text from Artemis, Apollo was taking a break from reading a thrilling book on laws from Roman occupied Britain. 

“Yes. I’m off at 7. 1 your time.” He replies. He sighs and sets his phone to the side, rubbing his hands over his face. He felt both exhausted from a sleepless night and jittery from having drunk both coffees. He’s been at the Daae for less than a week, and he feels like he was destroying everything. Everyone is mad at him--his pack, his friends, family, the Tribunal, Magnolia...Magnolia. Thinking her name stirs all the emotions he’s been trying to push down. His remorse, his regret, his anger, and even his lust. There’s an inexplicable connection between the two, he feels pulled towards her, and he’s acutely aware of where she is and how she’s feeling. She is in pain, pain he caused. He can’t let her go on suffering, he must sever the tether and let her move on with her life, and him towards his final vows for the Tribunal. 

The sound of boots on the floor snaps Apollo to attention, he looks up to see a guard walking across the library floor towards the offices. He recognizes the guard from one who picked him up at the airport, although he can’t remember his name. As he moves out of Apollo’s line of vision, he feels Magnolia’s heart increase rapidly and he feels her anger, “something is wrong!”

He quickly and quietly makes his way towards her desk, easily overhearing them with his heightened senses, “you haven’t returned any of my texts. I thought you’d want to grab lunch?”

“No, Duke, not right now. I’m just, not feeling great.”

“Yeah you look like hell, babe. You go out last night?” Duke asks, poking fun at her appearance. “Duke, that’s his name. Babe?” Apollo thinks to himself.

“No, I didn’t go out, who would I even go out with? Helena is in f*****g America,” she takes a deep sigh, “I just...had trouble sleeping last night. I have a migraine.” 

“Aw babe, you were probably up late reading again. You really should take better care of yourself.” Even from here Apollo could feel Mags roll her eyes.

“You’re not my father.” She snaps backs.

“No, but I am your daddy.” Duke says flirtatiously back. This was really becoming too much for Apollo to listen to, he balled his fists in restraint, his nails digging into his palm. 

Mags lets out a huge laugh, “Oh you most certainly are not. Look Duke, I got work to do. Can I talk to you later?”

“Um yeah, sure...want to get dinner tonight?”

“No, I’m busy tonight.”

“Ok, what about sexy time later? I could spend the night? Take you to breakfast in the morning?”

Mags sighs, exasperated “I’m on my period.”

Duke made a “ugh” sound and physically took a step back from Mags desk, as if she was contagious. Apollo has the feeling Mags is lying, and is also embarrassed on behalf of Duke for his immaturity. 

“Ok well, we can still get breakfast in the morning! I just want to spend some time with you.”

Mags is getting frustrated, and Duke is oblivious to all her attempts to dissuade him, “I’m not sure I’ll feel up to it. Can I call you later? I really have to get back to this.”

Duke finally gives up and says his goodbyes and leaves the library, Mags following him out and stopping at the office entrance. She turns her head to Apollo, knowingly, towards where he's standing back against the bookcase eavesdropping. 

“Enjoying the show?” She asks, one eyebrow raised.

“No, no, I thought, maybe, you needed help.” Apollo offers apologetically.

“I don’t need your help.”

“You felt...I could feel, that you were angry. I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

Mags takes a deep breath and releases it and says, “You know, I really don’t think you’re a bad guy. And under different circumstances, we could have been friends, or maybe more, who knows. This would be a lot easier for me if you weren’t so damn nice.”

“I’m so sorry, Magnolia. I truly am.”

“The worst part is that I know you are. I can feel it. I’m sorry too. I’m sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry that I happened to you.” Her eyes are getting glossy again, and she looks away to compose herself, “how’s the research going? Find anything?”

Apollo takes her hint to change the subject, “No, nothing. I’m only on my second book. Roman law ordinances. Very interesting stuff.”

“We have thousands and thousands of books, you better read faster.” Mags says jokingly with a sincere smile, turns and goes back to sit behind her desk.