Three months had passed since Lena had said goodbye to Arion. She focused on work as much as possible. Saw her friends sometimes, but nothing ever replaced him. She felt hollow without him. "Lonely" could never cover it. The only thing that kept her from the depths of depression was knowing that, wherever Arion was, he would be guaranteed a happy life, whether that bitch of a goddess liked it or not.

"Lena?"

She looked up from her computer screen, looking toward the door of her office. Her coworker Tara was there, inviting Lena to go out with her that weekend to the local strip mall. Do some window shopping, maybe find a cute new outfit, whatever the day presented. Lena hesitated; she had not necessarily been avoiding social outings, but she certainly hadn't been seeking them out. Tara looked so sincere, she couldn't bare to rebuff her simple request, so Lena reluctantly agreed to the outing.

As it turned out, getting out of the house that Saturday did Lena quite a lot of good. She found herself smiling again, laughing with Tara as they strolled through the shops, perusing the merchandise and chatting amicably. Eventually, they wandered into a pawn shop after one of the curios caught Tara's eye in the window.

While she haggled with the shopkeeper about the price of her newfound bauble, Lena poked around the rest of the store, pausing here and there to examine some second-hand relic or other. Stumbling across the designated section of the shop for music, she felt a rush of excitement as she flipped through old records, spotting some of her favorite bands on vinyl.

"Ooh, I haven't heard this song in ages!"

Lena smiled to herself, perusing old Pearl Jam records and reminiscing on her grunge days. As she continued her stroll down memory lane, she noticed something brightly colored in her peripheral vision. In the corner of the music section stood a handful of jukeboxes. There it was again; that ache in her chest. The longing to be back with her beloved Arion. Just when the tears started to fill her eyes, her breath caught. There was one she hadn't noticed at first. Smaller than the others, sitting on a box in-between its larger companions.

It looked just like... but no, that was impossible. But still, she stared, unblinking, at the small, antique music player. Her lip trembled and her hands shook. With sweaty palms, she reached toward it slowly, her heartbeat thundering in her ears.

It can't be... she thought. Even her thoughts were frozen. But her hands found the jukebox and lifted it carefully from its perch. Slowly, timidly, she turned it over in her hands. Imprinted on the side was a single blue tiger lily, glistening as if it were alive. Lena couldn't move; she could barely breathe. It was impossible. There was no way that he could be there. Could he actually be back in her hands.

She moved slowly, her mind in a fog of disbelief as she paid for the jukebox without saying a word, then walked back to her car. Tara walked beside her, calling her name repeatedly. Lena murmured something about needing to go home, and Tara allowed her to drive off.

Somehow, Lena managed to reach the house without crashing her car. Walking inside, she carefully placed the jukebox down on the old coffee table and sat down slowly onto the couch. Her fingers trembled as she slowly reached out and pressed the button for track thirteen.

The sound of "Paradise City" filled the room, but there was no smoke. No light. Nothing changed at all besides the music playing.

It was at that moment that Lena's strength finally left her. Sobs wracked her body as her world imploded. She knew it was too unbelievable to be true. It had to have been Hecate. The goddess of witchcraft had done this to her; to punish Lena for daring to try freeing Arion from the goddess' control.

When the song finally ended, Lena lay on her couch, tears dried on her face, hollow and alone. She woke the next morning, having cried herself to sleep. She looked at the jukebox and felt the tears coming back when she noticed something was off about the machine. Previously, it had only had fifteen songs playable on its buttons. But now, there was a sixteenth button she had failed to notice.

Maybe it isn't the jukebox after all? She thought to herself. Wiping her face with her sleeve, she sat up and examined the box again. The final button was clearly built into the jukebox, but it seemed so out of place, not lining up with the others. There was no song title printed next to it, either.

Lena was curious, but apprehensive. It could have been yet another trick from Hecate; a ruse planted to fool Lena once more. Finally, her curiosity won out and she pressed the button. Instead of music, however, she was greeted by a burning pain in her left wrist, as though someone was branding her with hot iron. Gasping, she clutched at her arm when suddenly, a plume of green smoke billowed out of the jukebox, sparking with electricity.

With a thump, a figure formed from the smoke and crashed to the floor before Lena. At the sight of him, Lena forgot all about her wrist, staring with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Mother fucker!" He shouted, rolling on the floor and clutching at his arms. "Son of a bleeding gorgon, what devilry is this?" When the smoke finally cleared, Arion sat on the floor rubbing his wrists angrily. "What in Zeus' name is going on here? I am summoned again and now with burning pain? Is this how you plan to punish me? Your cold heart truly knows no--"

He fell silent when he looked up and saw Lena staring at him. He was so stunned, he could not move an inch. "If this is a dream," he whispered hoarsely, "let me never wake."

Lena was afraid to move. Afraid she was still asleep and was dreaming, too. They sat perfectly still, unblinking, barely breathing.

"Oh, for my sake!" Snapped a sharp voice from the jukebox.

They both flinched and stared at the offending sound. "Look at your wrists, you idiotic mortals."

Lena was puzzled and looked at her left wrist, which had been in so much pain moments before. On the tender flesh of the inside of her wrist was what appeared to be a tattoo. An ornate key had been emblazoned upon her skin, for what purpose she did not know. Glancing up at her hallucination, she saw him doing the same.

Arion's wrists, however, were both marked. The tattoos around his wrists looked like heavy iron shackles, each with a lock on the inside of his wrists. He looked up at her in confusion.

"Oh, for... how dense are you ridiculous creatures?" The voice in the jukebox was hauntingly familiar and with a start, Lena realized whom it belonged to. "Lock. Key. Figure it out!" the voice of Hecate snapped.

Slowly, the two looked at each other. After a moment's hesitation, Arion spoke first. "L... Lena? Is it... are you...?"

Lena's lip trembled as tears started to form in her eyes again. But not tears of sadness; not this time. With a shriek of his name, Lena flung herself onto the floor and into Arion's arms. They clutched at each other desperately, afraid that if they let go now, it would all be just a dream.

"Arion!" Lena wept, her arms flung around his torso. "I missed you so much, Arion! I love you so much!" Arion shook with emotion as he held her, his limbs trembling in a way he had not felt in millennia.

"Lena... my love, I... I thought I would never see you again." He gazed into her eyes, thirsty to look at her forever. Then the jynn's gaze fell upon her lips...

"Kiss her already, Spartan!" Hecate snapped. "Let's get this show on the road. I haven't got all day!"

He needed no further prompting as he finally pressed his lips to Lena's once more. The world around them fell away as they melted into each others kiss. At last, they were home; complete again in each others arms. What felt like an eternity later, Arion gasped and pulled back.

"Arion? What's wrong?" Lena asked frantically. "What's happening?" He was clutching his chest, eyes wide and gasping for air. "Oh my God, what's happening to him?" She shrieked at the jukebox.

"I..." he gasped. "My heart. It... it beats. But... that... that cannot be. I am..." his voice caught in his throat as the realization hit him.

"Took you long enough to catch on, Spartan," the jukebox crooned. "Have you even noticed your shackles?"

With a start, Arion lifted his hands and stared at the markings on his wrists. The tattoos had changed somehow. The shackles were gone; in their place was a single, broken lock emblazoned on his right wrist. His arms felt lighter than they had since that day in Thermopylae. And in his chest, his heart raced. He felt his lungs fill with air when he breathed. The world seemed somehow clearer; more solid.

"You are free, Arion. This woman's love for you freed you from even my power. The rotten bitch! I wondered if you would be the one, Lena. For thousands of years, my servants have granted the wishes of mortals. And for thousands of years, they have had one opportunity at the end of their various services. But in ten-thousand years, I have never seen anyone do what you did." The voice sounded less cold now; almost bemused. "Do you remember what you wished for, Lena?"

"I... I wished for Arion to have a happy life after he left. I don't understand..." Lena stared at the jukebox, her arms still around Arion's torso.

The goddess chuckled. "Exactly. Never have I seen such a selfless wish made for a genie. How shocked I was when I realized that by my contract forcing Arion to grant your wish, I allowed you to free him. Sort of a 'loophole,' if you will. The only kind of happy life he could grant himself was one with you. And now, through your love and by my own magic, he is free and mortal."

Lena looked into Arion's face in wonder and he stared right back. "You mean..." she spoke barely above a whisper. "You mean you're..."

"Lena... I am free." Arion's voice was so quiet, he barely heard himself. "I am free... I am free!" He was shouting now, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. "I am a man again! A free man at last!"

"Arion. Lena," Hecate spoke again, commanding their attention. "Never have I seen such love in anyone. Not even the gods of love could imagine what you two have. Do whatever you will in your mortal world, but in the eyes of the gods - in the eyes of your former Mistress - you are forever joined. Married, if you will, in the eyes of the immortal. You can keep the jukebox. If you will excuse me, I have other matters to attend to."

There was a click and the jukebox fell silent.

"Arion," Lena began, "you're really free. And you're here... you're here with me."

"And I will never leave you again, my love." They kissed again, their passion completely drowning out the world around them.

They say that in legends, there have been only so many lovers who shared a kiss so pure, so full of love. This one surpassed them all by far. The lovers' clothes fell away as they made love there on the living room floor, the world was finally as it should be. Arion was free, reunited with the woman he loved; Lena was finally with her soulmate, bodies entwined and hearts beating as one. She had never felt a climax so pure, nor had she ever slept so soundly, wrapped in the arms of her one and only. The Spartan jynn had removed his shackles at last; after two-thousand years, Arion was finally home.

The End