“What are we doing here, Diana?”

The twins stood in the slowly crumbling Underworld beside the River Lethe. Its waters were almost milky in appearance and almost silent. A nice change from the other rivers that usually had some kind of lost soul calling out from it.

“Because the mortals are at war and we're not going to survive it.”

Apollo froze staring wide eyed at his sister, “You can't be serious. We're immortal if you hadn't noticed; of course we're going to survive some spat the mortals are having.”

“Stop parroting what Jupiter and Mars are saying, you're too smart for that,” she snapped back at him, a furious expression on her face. She was terrifying and Apollo could not comprehend a force strong enough to get rid of her so how could they possibly be in danger.  “We haven't survived, Apollo, we've adapted. There's no adapting to this.”

“Diana, I have no idea what you're even talking about.”

“Because you can't remember, you stupid boy! My name was Artemis do you remember that?”

Apollo shook his head slowly. He had… hazy memories of calling Diana by other names. Quinn. He used to call her Quinn but that was only when they were avoiding Jupiter. They hadn't had time for such things recently because… because…

“You adjusted too well,” Diana continued. “You didn't even change your name and you've forgotten where we came from.”

“But we've… we've always been this.”

“We were Greek,” his sister insisted. “I was Artemis, you were best friends with Poseidon, you snuck down here to harass Hades, and you hid from Zeus because you were in love with a mortal he forbid you from talking to. Do you remember?”

His head was beginning to pound, fractured images rushing through his mind that he couldn't make sense of. Memories that weren't his. At least… not anymore? If Diana wanted him to remember things, why was he standing by the River of Forgetfulness?

“We were invaded. They took us away, but they liked us. They wanted to keep us, so they changed us for their purposes.”

“We need them to believe in us,” Apollo said absently. They'd always known that.

“And they did, but not enough. So we had to change. I need you to focus on that, brother mine.”

“I can't—”

“These new mortals? They don't want us. They have their own gods and they don't need us. Rome is going to fall, they're going to destroy our temples, and the mortals that are left won't believe in us anymore. We don't have the option of changing, we're just going to die. Blink out of existence.”

“Then why are we here?” Apollo asked angrily. “We should be out there fighting!”

“It's too late, Blaine.”Apollo blinked in confusion several times. She hadn't called him that in… in years. Not since… he'd stopped answering to it because… “Do you remember yet?”

“Kurt. I was… I wasn't me I was… I was different. And he called me… He was my soulmate, but he called me Blaine because…” his head felt like it was fracturing. Memories that contradicted what he knew forcing themselves to be known again. “Zeus. Zeus told me no. And then… he killed him. Sent him to—I have to find him. He's being Punished and I forgot, I need to save him—”

“He's fine, Apollo. Hades kept him safe,” Diana corrected. No. Artemis. She was Artemis and how had he forgotten all of this?

“Hades kept him safe, and then Pluto got him out.”

Apollo shook his head rapidly. He remembered now, sitting in a room waiting for Hades to show up while Kurt panicked. Hades had walked in and he'd seen it. Kurt was as connected to Sebastian as he was to Blaine, but because Blaine was his soulmate that meant Sebastian was an enemy. They would be rivals for lifetimes. Hades was smart, he'd figured it out. Why would he help?

“Did you ever wonder why you and Hades were the only gods who had a mortal match?”

He didn't. Even with his newoldforgotten memories coming in, he hadn't ever wondered why he'd had a soulmate when no one else did. They didn't think the gods could have them because they didn't have multiple lives… “Artemis, why are we standing next to Lethe?”

She smiled sadly at him and for the first time in either of his memories, hugged him tightly. “Remember when you were hiding from me and Aphrodite found you?”

Apollo nodded into her shoulder, not liking where this was going. “I was half asleep and didn't tamp down on my powers, so she found me.”

“No, brother dear, she sensed sunrise and love and found you. Do you remember what you were doing?”

“I was… I was watching Kurt. He woke up and was… I can't remember.”

She gripped him tighter, “Focus. What was he doing?”

“Singing. To… a little black bird.”

His sister let go of him, took a step back and looked at his face intently, searching for something that he couldn't even guess at. “I need you to focus on that memory as hard as you can, okay? Close your eyes and try to picture it.”

“Artemis—”

“Please. Just do it.”

So he did. Closed his eyes and recreated the image as much as he could. The sight of Kurt, still horribly sleep rumpled, grinning at a very noisy little bird and singing back to it. He remembered the look of delight on his soulmate's face when the bird responded to him, going through scales. The sun was rising in the background, casting everything in a pink and golden color, making Kurt look like he was the one glowing for once.

He'd chuckled quietly to himself, realizing that his soulmate was singing in the sunlight and he couldn't actually picture something more brilliant.

The emotion must have shown on his face, because Artemis asked quietly, “Do you see it?”

He nodded, trying to focus on the smaller details. The trees in the background, the tune Kurt had sang, how much he'd actually loved him at that moment.

“I love you, Apollo. And I'm sorry I didn't always show it properly,” Artemis whispered. He opened his eyes to question what she meant, but before he could even draw a breath she shoved him, hard, right into the water. “Focus!” she yelled, but he was already forgetting everything. His name, why he was in the river, who that girl was, why she was in tears as she watched him try to remember to swim.

Focus, she'd said. There was a boy. Kurt. He was… he was singing and there was sunlight and a bird and he'd loved him so much.

Focus. Focus on Kurt. Singing to a bird because… because?

Kurt. Blackbird. Focus.

Kurt… bird…

Kurt.

~

Blaine only volunteers at the nursing home part time. Extra credit for a class, and old people love him. It's the perfect combination. Sometimes they even put on plays and shows up for everyone one and claps and cheers loudly even though half the cues were forgotten and occasionally a cast member falls asleep halfway through the performance.

Not Kurt though. He's Blaine's favorite resident, full of amazing stories of protests he'd been part of and rallies he'd organized. His best friend, he told Blaine earnestly, still sends him post cards from California. She made it as a huge blues singer. Mercedes Jones, look her up.

He also tells stories about his dad. How he'd shake his head at every cause Kurt got himself involved in, but showed up to support him anyway. He was in congress for awhile, and used to complain that he didn't do enough of what he actually wanted. Kurt will actually talk about his dad for hours, and Blaine always enjoys every minute of it. Sometimes he brings a pen and paper with him and takes notes because the stories Kurt tells should be preserved.

It's just after winter break when he shows up to find an empty room where Kurt used to be. One of the nurses pats him on the shoulder as she explains what happened. Blaine feels devastated, and must look it too because they send him home early for the day.

He lies on his bed at home, and can't figure out why it hurts so much. He knew how old Kurt was, and he knew that this would happen eventually. The two of them were friends, of course, but… when his grandpa died a few years back he didn't feel this… empty. Like he just missed out on something he had no idea he wanted.

He falls asleep and dreams of black birds, but doesn't understand why.

~

Kurt burst into the practice room, and before he looked at him Blaine had a moment to admire the dramatic entrance.  He almost smiled at him before he actually saw Kurt. Dressed in… well, not his uniform. He was going to get detention if he kept that up, but… why so much black? Was that a skull?

He noticed the tear tracks and felt his heart drop.

“I suspect a stroke,” Kurt was saying. And then teasing Blaine because he never missed an opportunity, and from anyone else he might have been insulted, but this was Kurt. The rest of the Warblers looked appropriately sad and shocked and agreed immediately to let Kurt sing about the loss of his friend.

Sometimes it amazed Blaine how they could go from shouting to offering sincere apologies for the loss of a bird. He really did have awesome friends.

The thought was wiped from his mind, however, when Kurt started to sing. His voice was beautiful, of course, his range was fantastic and there was so much emotion in the song. He just looked so sad, and Blaine couldn't stand it. He opened his mouth to provide back up, because there didn't seem a better way to show support without actually interrupting the song. The other Warblers seemed to agree, as they all joined in.

But… Kurt moved. And something changed. A block in his mind lifted. Staring at Kurt from an angle he got a brief flash of… standing outside? Kurt was… recently awake? While outside? That didn't make sense. The image was gone before he had a chance to really think about it. But… the emotion didn't go away.

Why was he thinking these things? What… he blinked in confusion, shifting to get a better look at Kurt and…

I've been looking for you forever.