Warmth.

That was what Alena first registered as she rolled onto a far more comfortable position on her side, the blankets rustling against her scales as she adjusted herself.

The next thing she realized was that she had absolutely no clue as to what had happened the night before. After the memory reboot, it was as if her memory had been wiped to a blank slate.

She knew she should have been concerned, but at the moment all she could think about was how she finally felt peaceful.

Hm..strange thing..peaceful..

It was completely foreign to her, but she basked in the relaxation as she snuggled herself closer to the body pillow that lay at her side.

Burying her face deep in the pillow she took a deep breath, inhaling the earthy and male scent that clung to it, which confused her considering she didn't connect that kind of smell to a pillow.

Pausing in thought, she decided to move away from the pillow, only to be stopped by a masculine groan and the tightening of steel around her waist.

Her eyes flew open at the sound and she froze where she lay, staring at the relaxed face of Damari as he slept, finding that his leg was thrown over her tail as his arm became a death grip around her.

How did I even get here?!

She tried to move again, out from under his arm and towards the edge of the bed, but her attempt proved pointless as her movements caused him to grumble and roll on top of her.

His weight wasn't unpleasant and in fact she had been attacked by far heavier creatures in her time, but the way her heart beat quickened and her breathing became ragged assured her she had to stay as far away from him as possible.

Her arms lay trapped at her sides beneath him as she struggled, but during her struggle she saw just how serene and blissful Damari looked in sleep.

His face was relaxed and all signs of stress or anger that she more commonly observed from him were gone, leaving a childlike expression in its wake.

Had he always looked so rugged when he slept? She didn't fail to notice the whiskers that were barely visible against the surface of his skin, drawing her attention towards his other softened features such as his lips.

Alena couldn't remember ever being transfixed on something as common and ordinary as lips, but for some reason she couldn't keep from staring at his.

She shook her head and tried to get the thought out of her mind, boggled by how stupid she was to let ideas like that get caught in her mind, like a fly in a spider's web.

Thoughts like that could her killed if she wasn't careful enough.

Now, she thought, to try and get this giant, and semi attractive, oaf off of me before I pass out from lack of blood flow to my brain.

"Damari," she whispered, poking him in the side with one finger from her hand that she managed to wiggle out from underneath his bulky form, "get up!"

He mumbled incoherently under his breath before resettling himself, his weight pushing her farther into the mattress.

How am I going to get out! Alena thought to herself, squirming back and forth before sighing again, deciding to think of something more rational instead of moving again and being crushed.

As ideas collided inside her head at high speed, Alena could feel her body relax and a strange throbbing coming from the inside of her wrist.

Turning her head to the side she caught a flash of silver, and upon further inspection she saw that what looked like a long streak of the metal was wrapped around her wrist.

It didn't seem like metal, but it wasn't liquid either, it intrigued her unbelievably so and the way in which its pattern decorated itself across her skin was most curious.

She had become so enthralled with the markings that she didn't notice Damari had awoken until his hoarse shout rang in her ears and he struggled to pull away from her.

"What are you doing here!" he shouted, scrambling away from Alena and tangling his legs in the silky soft blankets that were wrapped around them.

He moved so quickly that he toppled from the bed and landed on the floor with a muffled groan, rolling over to see Alena staring at him.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me?! Excuse me, but whose the idiot who decided to fall off the bed?" Alena pointed out. "Not me."

Damari groaned and threw an arm over his eyes, grumbling again before letting out a low hiss as his wrist came into contact with the floor.

Alena's wrist twinged and she cried out, holding her arm in a death grip as she watched the silver symbol glow, appearing almost as if it were tightening its hold on her skin.

"What are you doing?!" she shrieked, scratching at her wrist in attempts to stop the pain. "Can you not control your clumsiness?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was my duty to make sure your perfect skin didn't get a scratch." he retorted smartly, untangling his legs in a mad dash before throwing the blanket back on the bed. "Also, I think it'd be best if you got a less...revealing top," he muttered, "there are kids out there you know, probably scarred them for the rest of their lives. Way to go role model of the year."

Alena quirked an eyebrow at his bluntness, about to scream back at him with something that would far out mark him and make him look foolish when a rush of heat overtook her, it was foreign and held masculinity to it when an image of her in far more revealing clothes entered her mind, there for a split second before more heat took over, what felt like embarrassment.

Her jaw dropped when she realized what she had just witnessed, her hand reaching out to point an accusing finger at Damari.

"You..y-you just...you.." She couldn't seem to form a single word at her astonishment.

"What did I do?"

Her eyes looked like they were bulging out of her head. "You disgust me! You revolt me! How could you...gah! I'm never going to get that disturbing image out of my head!" she moaned, pressing her palms against her eyes wishing she could erase the sight she had seen.

Damari's face drained of all color until he looked as pale as the white caps Alena would commonly find Jesenia riding on in waves, her pulse accelerating as she tried to quell the un identified emotions racing through her.

"You were thinking about me!"

Damari stared at her for a second, completely silent, before he grabbed a hold of one of the bowls on the side of the bed and dashed for the door.

"Hey!" Alena shouted, swimming after the lunatic. "You can't deny you were thinking about me!"

"Yes I can!" he replied, running down the hall and out into the main corridor. "I believe I just did!"

Alena wished she could slap him, or at the very least smash the bowl he was carrying on top of his miserable head, but as soon as the thought flashed through her head, Damari gasped and threw the bowl at her, barely missing her head before rushing down another corridor.

"And you think I'm disgusting!"

"Excuse me!" she shouted, darting around a confused looking maid while pushing her tail harder until she was only a few lengths behind him. "I was just merely thinking about pushing your arrogant, thick headed rear end down into the castle's courtyards."

"You're an awful liar you know that?" he called to her over his shoulder. "I know what you were thinking, Alena, don't think you can lie to me."

"Who says I haven't already?" she argued back. "Besides, who is the one that decided to think about me in nothing but a sheer cloth?!"

Damari immediately shut his mouth, his thoughts running rampant not only through his mind, but Alena's as well, causing him to sprint down the hall and into an open doorway.

"Who is disgusting now?!" Alena screamed angrily, frustration echoing from her throat in a grumble as she ran through the door, only to run into the tough muscle of Damari's back.

"What are you doing you--Wmph!"

Damari cupped his hand securely around her mouth to silence her as a group of rather angry looking men slowly advanced towards them, most of their hands resting on the hilts of their swords that were strapped to their waists.

They all had the crest of Poseidon burned across the front of their armor in bright blue emblems, the silver secured tightly to their bodies as they swam closer to Alena and Damari.

Dropping his hand, Damari cleared his throat, prepared to speak to the guards while Alena could feel the terror rushing through him, the same feeling running through her but in a distant manner.

"We..Well we.. Um.. We were looking for her.. Her Majesty! Yes, Queen Amphitrite, isn't that right, Alena?"

Damari narrowed his eyes on her, silently screaming at her to answer as the guards moved closer and closer still, prepared to do whatever it took to stop the two from escaping.

"Oh yes! She seems to have left the room though, Damari, perhaps she went out into the courtyards? We should check there."

"Yes, what a marvelous idea, Alena." Damari complimented, pushing her behind his back and towards the open door. "Now if you gentlemen would kindly excuse us--"

"Wait!" One guard shouted, reaching for Alena's hand that hung limply at her side, the flash of silver on her wrist grabbing the guards attention.

Damari wrapped his arm around Alena's waist and yanked her into the doorway, bowing low with a flourish to the stunned guards. "We'd really like to stay and chat, gentlemen, but as it were, we need to be going and haha my goodness look at the time, we're already late, darling." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, releasing a shocked squeak from her throat before he pushed her out behind him.

He lifted his hand to his brow in salute, the blonde curls tangling themselves lightly on his callused fingers. "Men, as you were."

A quick smile flashed across his face as he slammed the door and put one of the skinny vases that sat next to the doorway between the door knobs, preventing the men from escaping.

He puffed his chest out with pride at his smart thinking, pointing at the door when Alena stared at him in confusion. "I locked them in." he exclaimed arrogantly, tapping his foot against the door in reassurance. "There isn't anything that could get past this door now."

A thundering crash against the "sturdy" door from the other side startled Damari, causing him to move back a few feet and watch the dust that fell from the sides of the creaking metal bolts.

"Okay maybe it isn't as fool proof as I thought," he mended quickly, stepping farther back and forcing Alena to swim down the hallway they had come from. "We should hurry in case they come back for us."

Alena scoffed and instead grabbed a hold of Damari's arm and swam at full speed, the halls turning into sea blue and green blurs as they swam by.

"Sometimes I wonder how you humans haven't gone extinct yet." Alena shouted, smiling with satisfaction when Damari's hand tightened forcefully around her arm.

"This may be surprising to you, but we've learned to adapt to our environments, and to particularly stay away from anything seen as a threat to us."

Alena raised an eyebrow as she darted out into the main hallway, ignoring the gaping mouths of servants as they watched the two fly by at top speed.

"Humans are inconsequentially stupid. It surprises me very much that you haven't died from your impending stupidity yet."

Damari yanked his arm from her grasp and ended up stopping halfway down the front steps of the castle, his expression stoic and solemn. "If it weren't for our 'stupidity' you wouldn't be alive. So next time you decide to insult a species, take a good long look in the mirror." he muttered vehemently. "Because there are far worse things to deal with than humans."

Alena watched Damari closely as he descended the last few stairs, holding the railing carefully and keeping at a safe distance from her.

The space between them could have been a few feet or a thousand miles away, the pair only staring, no words spoken, only thoughts firing at each other with the accuracy of a skilled archer.

Damari broke the tension and walked past Alena with little more than a glance. "Sometimes I wonder if the woman who saved my father is still there," His whisper disturbed her hair as he murmured into her ear, "locked away for all eternity and wishing only for one last glimpse of the sun."

Alena flinched, the sharp rasp of his voice striking her like a fist as she turned away to swim towards the front gates, but as soon as she was about to pass through the gates a hoarse shout echoed across the open waters.

A tall, strong looking man at the top of the steps sat atop a hippocampus that snorted with rage at his master's control over the reigns.

The stranger's caramel colored curls rested on the tips of his ears, bright blue streaks weaving themselves through the mass as his emerald green eyes bore down onto the landscape.

He withdrew a gleaming sword that reflected the brilliance of the sea in its metal, having been forged by Hephaestus himself, the blade was indestructible and the rarest blade of its kind.

The deadly weapon positioned itself towards Alena and Damari and before either could utter a word, a battle cry tore from the man's mouth as he charged down the royal palace's stairs.

Alena's eyes widened and through the chaos of her mind and Damari's rampaging thoughts all she could scream was one word.

"Run!"

~*~*~*~*~