"Who's there?" Alena called out viciously, her teeth snapping out of her jaw as her talons shot out of her fingertips. "I demand to know who you are and what you want with me."

"How can you not know who I am?" The stranger scoffed darkly, the barrel of their silver pistol glimmering in the torched light as it pressed firmly to the back of Persephone's head. "I could blow a piece of burning metal through this beauty's head and I wonder if you would still not know who I am."

The raw fear that raced across Persephone's angelic face caused Hades to step closer to his wife's throne, holding out his hand threateningly as he faced the mysterious figure.

"Unhand my wife, or you shall face not only consequences from the god of the Underworld, but the deepest and darkest pits of Tartarus itself."

"I already have."

The click of the safety being released on the pistol caused Persephone to flinch, the cool metal of the firearm pushed further into her skull as the figure shoved her out into the open.

Still partially hidden behind the goddess, a wave of long blonde hair could be seen in the shadows next to the thrones.

Narrowing her eyes, Alena moved to the side to try and catch a glimpse of the stranger, but the woman wouldn't budge.

Damari and the others remained silent behind Alena while little Maarika was held tightly in her older brother's arms, not complaining a wink about how suffocating the embrace was.

"Hades," Persephone's weak voice called out, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the concerned face of her husband, "I love you."

"I love you too, darling, but everything is going to be all right."

"Oh stop lying to her just to make her calm down and believe you're going to save her." The haughty voice retorted. "We all know that there is only one way anyone is leaving this hall and that will be when someone dies."

"You're a coward." Alena muttered, glaring at Persephone's captor as she moved closer. "Doing nothing more than hiding behind a mask so that you may go about and do as you please."

"That's funny coming from you. I would think a murderer like yourself would understand where I was coming from, I certainly know that Calanthe and Taryn would."

The blood in Alena's veins froze at the mention of the two sirens. Her head tilted to the side cautiously as she looked up at the terrified face of Persephone.

"How do you know those names?"

"The same way that I know you have never liked the idea of killing but done it anyway, the same way that I know you get rid of anyone who tries to open up to you and the same exact way that I know you spared the life of a sailor while you allowed the rest of his ship to die at the hands of an unforgiving sea!"

Persephone was pushed off the top step and onto the second one, within an arms length of Hades, but still in shooting range of the gun.

Maarika whimpered as she hid her face in Damari's shoulder, her father watching the young woman who had stepped from the shadows with a vengeful smile.

Alena's eyes widened in disbelief as she stumbled away from the steps, staring up at the one person she would have never thought possible to commit such an act.

"Jesenia?"

The woman's deadly grin spread at the mention of her name. "Oh, so you do remember? How pleasant. Now at least we can skip past all these troublesome formalities when it comes to attempted murder and so forth."

"Why are you doing this?" Alena asked, moving so far back that she reached out for Damari's hand to somehow offer her comfort. "You were such a kind and caring woman, you wouldn't hurt a blue crab for the gods sake!"

"And you honestly believed that?" Jesenia's beautiful features contracted in on themselves as her teeth drew back into a snarl. "Answer me this Alena, would you be 'kind and caring' to the woman who single handedly murdered your brother? Right in front of your eyes?"

Damari's hand tightened in Alena's as he felt her stiffen, all her muscles bunching together as she glared at Jesenia maliciously, fighting the instinct to launch herself at them miserable wretch.

"I never did such a thing!" Alena screeched, feeling how Damari braced himself like he would have to keep her from tearing the woman's hair out. "I may have killed men, but I never murdered them in front of the eyes of innocent children."

"Oh, but you did, Alena." Jesenia spat, wrapping her arm around Persephone's neck as she dragged her along. "If you cannot remember my face brimming with happiness, why don't you remember the night so long ago in which you spared the great Leon Callos!"

All eyes flickered to Leon whose complexion had gone paler than a sheet. His hands were fisted at his sides as he took in the murderous Jesenia, gun and all.

Moving around Klari carefully, he placed a gentle kiss on Maarika's forehead as he walked to the left of Alena, coming to a pause when Jesenia raised the pistol menacingly in his direction.

"Leon," Alena asked quietly, "do you know Jesenia?"

He looked her over once more and swallowed heavily, nodding his head. "I know exactly who she is."

"At least someone does," Jesenia sneered, "You'd think I'd be more memorable considering I'm the least likely suspect out of you all." She laughed into Persephone's ear, almost like a good friend would do to another.

"And I can say for a fact that... you did murder her brother, Alena." Leon stated painfully, the grimace on his face impossible to contain.

The air in Alena's lungs felt like it was being crushed from her very being. Every word acting like a knife plunging into her heart.

Letting out a slow breath, she looked up at Jesenia then back to Leon, her teeth grinding as she asked. "Is her real name Jesenia?"

Leon nodded and stared at the young woman like an apparition. "She was known as Jesenia Eliades then, a young child at the age of eleven who had escaped her aunt's watchful eye to stow aboard the ship."

"Why would she do that?"

"So that I could be with my brother," Jesenia growled, the barrel of the gun now pressing into the delicate skin of Persephone's temple, "Cedric Eliades. Or, for better lack of knowledge, known as Captain Eliades of The Surilian."

Screams broke through to Alena's fuzzy consciousness. Flashes of blood, men calling for help and the indescribable crunch of their bones being broken in half by man eating sharks.

Her hand went slack in Damari's grasp as she stared into a void, not blind, but not seeing either as her memories overcame her in one swift wave.

"Don't you remember that, Alena?" Jesenia jeered. "All those innocent men that you let die, all because you failed to save the Goddess of Spring."

Her barbed words met their mark, issuing a pain that Alena hadn't felt in a long time.

"If you had just stayed with Persephone, been a little quicker than she, then none of this would have happened! None of those men would have died, none of your other kills would have died, and I would still have my brother by my side!"

"I didn't know he was your brother!" Alena barked, jerking her hand from Damari's warm one and running her fingers through her hair anxiously. "If I had I would have--"

"If you had known, Alena, you would have murdered him anyway. It's your nature and even if you had known that, I saw you sink your claws into his skin as you pulled him over the side of his ship, watched as his blood tainted the water that I used to love. You would have done it regardless."

"No I wouldn't have!" she screamed, falling to her knees as her body shook, faintly acknowledging the feel of Damari's arms as set Maarika in Klari's arms and wrapped her in his embrace.

Persephone's sobs could be heard as Jesenia pressed the gun harder into her. "Yes, you would have, and you know why? Because you are a monster, and you always have been."

Alena's shoulders shook as she held tightly to Damari, thinking of any plausible way that she could convince Jesenia to lower her weapon.

She shuddered quickly before slowly raising her green, tear-stained eyes, studying the woman she had once called her friend.

"You don't have to do this. You have absolutely nothing at all to gain by this. Just senseless murder. Do you desire to be like me?"

"I will never be like you, Alena." Jesenia said, cursing quietly as she realized her hand had begun to shake. "I don't kill to simply kill, I kill with a purpose. Murdering the Goddess will no doubt give you the pain and suffering that I have dealt with all these years, and in doing so you  will especially know that you were the one that caused it."

Persephone grabbed ahold of Jesenia's quaking hand and held it for dear life as her pathetic gasps came out. "Please.. please don't kill me. Y-you wouldn't harm.. a w-woman who was.. with child."

Not breaking her hold for one moment, Jesenia pulled her wrist in for a taut grasp, gauging Hades' expression as he held himself rooted to the floor in fiery vexation.

"You don't want to be like me." Alena whispered.

Jesenia looked to her form in disgust. "And why would I not want that? As far as I'm concerned, I already am. Thanks to a certain siren who gladly changed me into one of your kind so that I would have the blood of Persephone upon my hands, as well as the misery of yours."

"You don't want to be like me." Alena repeated in a harsher tone, steeling her spine as she stood to her feet. "To hear their countless screams. The echoes of their voices silenced centuries ago yet forever branded in your mind. You don't know whose life will be shattered, whose heart will be broken. You won't know who wants you dead until they have their bullet smoldering in between your shoulder blades."

The smirk that had been plastered on Jesenia's face gradually began to fade as Alena continued, her gun slipping ever so slightly to the side of Persephone's head.

"I implore you, Jesenia. No matter how much you hate me, no matter how much you wish me dead... don't do this to another family; or someday you might find that you'll be the one facing the burning barrel of a gun. So please, don't do this."

The gun slid further down Persephone's face in a startling caress, making her shiver and look longingly at her husband until she shut her fearful eyes.

However, as Jesenia had listened to Alena as she spoke, Rhadamanthus had called to his brother's, Minos and Thanatos, through a telepathic bond given to them by Hades himself in case anything were to ever go wrong.

His first winged brother appeared behind Jesenia in a cloak of darkness, the deep, vivid brown of his irises shining through the shadows as he withdrew the sword that had been sheathed at his side.

Shortly following after him, there stood a far more taller and elongated man wearing a crisp, white shirt with a sharp pointed beard that gave him the appearance of an older man.

Both looked nothing alike with the other, however, they both made their way painstakingly closer to Jesenia who was now staring at Alena with growing malice.

"You see, Alena," She whispered, drawing the pistol back up to its previous position, "That is the difference between you and I. You kill with remorse. While I do it with complete satisfaction."

Pressing the gun into Persephone, she moved her finger to the trigger.

"No!" Alena screamed, not noticing the two men behind Jesenia as she rushed forward to grab at the gun.

Before Jesenia could fire, Thanatos put her in a head lock from behind, cutting off her air supply while Minos reached for the gun.

The instant the men put their hands on her, Jesenia screamed, kicking and flailing until she realized Minos was reaching for her firearm.

Persephone squirmed out of Jesenia's arm and ran for Hades who caught her up in his arms, running his hands through her hair as he buried his face in her neck and whispered calm and loving words into her ear.

Still screeching in defiance, Jesenia grappled with Minos for the weapon, managing to kick him firmly in his nether regions before doing the same with her elbow to Thanatos.

Minos crumpled to the ground with a groan while Thanatos' hold loosened ever so slightly, giving Jesenia the opportunity to slide from beneath his arm and raise her gun.

Pointing it wildly, her eyes landed on Alena and she aimed quickly at the siren's shocked form before firing with a mad cackle on the tip of her tongue.

The sound of the weapon firing caused Maarika to scream as Klari ducked to the ground, clutching the small child to her chest as Damari shouted and Leon ran to aid the two men in restraining Jesenia.

When the smoke started to clear, Damari could still barely see anything in the room, the only thing clearly recognizable was Minos, Thanatos and Leon holding Jesenia tightly, her ragged shrieks of resistance turning into louder chortles of glee.

"If I couldn't kill the Goddess," She screamed, "At least I could kill the siren!"

A chill seeped into Damari's bones at her words as he swung his hand deliriously through the smoke, not stopping until he found Alena curled on the floor in a heap, clutching her side as short gasps spouted from her mouth.

"No!" Damari roared, blind rage overtaking him as he strode toward Jesenia and instead of helping the men, seized her by the neck and raised her off the ground.

"Damari!" Leon called, holding his son's arm firmly only to have himself thrown to the side forcefully as Damari increased the pressure he held on the woman's throat.

"If I wanted, I could bleed the very life from your veins." He muttered, his teeth grinding together with satisfaction as Jesenia's hands clutched at his to somehow release his life threatening hold.

"Wouldn't you like that? To be freed from this mortal life and to be rejoined with your brother in death?" Her choking sounds blended with his laughter which was unrecognizable. "I think I could be just the man to do it."

"Damari."

The frail and weakened voice called out to him as if through an all but untraversable fog; however, regardless of this fact, it reached him and gave him pause.

Veering slightly to his left, Damari peered over his shoulder and felt all the uncontrollable fury ebbing steadily from, as if Alena were draining all of his anxiety and fear and placing it in her broken body.

"Damari." Alena called out again, lifting her head gently from where she lay with it cradled in her sister's lap, Klari's tears running abidingly down her smooth face as she stroked strands of hair away from Alena's weary face.

Releasing Jesenia, he watched her fall to the floor with a garbled gasp as she coughed and wretched at Thanatos and Minos' feet.

Damari hurried to Alena's side and held tightly onto her hand, infusing all strength that he could into their bond.

A delicate smile formed on her face as his fingers lightly brushed across the top of her knuckles. "I.. I don't think your strength is going to help me now Damari... I suggest.. keeping it f-for a better t-time."

"Don't you dare speak like that." He criticized, placing a whisper of a kiss against her forehead. "You are worth it. I'm not letting you die."

Her soft chuckle reached his ears as she lifted a weakened hand to run it through his blonde curls. "Well, I wouldn't go very far now would I?"

"You aren't funny you know." Damari murmured, placing a kiss on each of her eyelids. "But I am going to save you, and I promise you that."

Moving her blood stained hand to the side, she examined the blood as it flowed consistently from her body, spreading across the tiled floor as they spoke.

"And how exactly are you planning to do that, Sailor?"

Damari looked up to his father who then looked to Hades who was standing to the side with his beloved Persephone while she had turned in his arms to take in the sight of her dying friend in horror.

Thinking quickly, a small twinge of hope filtered into his mind as he squeezed Alena's hand once more and gave her a final, fleeting kiss on the lips before moving only inches away from her face.

"I'm calling on a special friend of mine."

~*~*~*~*~