2 Months Later

Seagulls squawked obnoxiously as the deep blue waves crashed discordantly onto the shore next to the port of Athens, the smell of rankly fish and the same old merchants ran back and forth among the docks as another work day began.

It had been nearly two months since Damari had last seen Alena, having heard no word or message from her or Persephone in weeks. The only assurance he had was when Thanatos had left him in the courtyard of his home with a swift,"Good luck." before disappearing into the starlight sky.

Now, he sat in the living room while Kaiya and Rayen sat next to him on the couch, sifting through old clothing and childhood playthings that had been his once upon a time.

The salt in the air as it blew off the ocean caught itself in Damari's line of smell, making him physically ache and the bond in his hand to twitch as he thought of Alena. Whether she was okay, whether she was safe..

Whether she was alive.

After his short arrival in the courtyard that night, his mother and Rayen had coddled him in the way he would have felt suited better to Maarika then himself.

However, even the thoughts of bold and captivating Maarika were not enough to sway him away from the whisperings of doubt and depression within his mind.

He knew not why such things went on in his head, so he tried to cease such acts, making sure to catch himself whenever he could when Rayen decided to lean forward and swat him on the shoulder playfully with an old book.

"You know," she uttered in conversation, studying Damari from out of the corner of her eye, "you've been awfully quiet ever since you returned home. Is there something you'd like to tell Mother and I, dear brother?"

Damari would have speared the devious little she-devil through with his fishing harpoon if he hadn't seen the glint of not only light hearted banter, but curiosity.

"Yes, Damari." His mother replied, her fragile smile beaming up at him lovingly. "Is there anything that happened while you were gone? You never did tell us why Alena didn't come back to tell us goodbye."

"Yes I did, Mother." Damari interjected, smoothing his hands over the fabric covered section of his upper thighs. "You must not remember what I told you. She had other matters that needed taking care of. She couldn't stand being so indisposed and therefore had to leave."

Rayen raised her eyebrows and quirked her upper lip, a giggle hiding itself as she looked over to Kaiya who was folding one of the children's old blankets.

"I would say someone is being slightly defensive, don't you think?"

"No, I don't." Damari said smartly, his glare giving enough warning to his sister. "And if either of you would have the decency of privacy, you would stop asking me of which I do not wish to utter to you at this particular moment!"

He stood to his feet and stormed out of the room, taking with him his frustrations and anxieties as he wished to cast them into the wind with no doubt in his mind that they would never return.

Walking into the courtyard and past his family's fountain to see out of the archway that overlooked the bustling port, Damari stared out at the large, glittering ocean as the sun smiled down upon it.

He could imagine Alena emerging from the waters as if she were really there on the shores waiting for him; her tail glistening, her hair flowing in long waves and those bright green eyes of hers staring at him with mirth dancing through them in bounds.

Everyday he had descended the stairs from his home to the sea, visiting the secret cove in which he had his first meeting with Alena, holding some type of hope that perhaps one day she would in fact come back to him.

Yet every time he would make the trek to the sandy shore, she was nowhere to be found. Only the sound of the waves crashing against the boulders and the calming breeze that drifted across his face.

Rayen and his mother had tried to cheer him up as best they could, he knew that they could tell something was wrong and that they were worried for him, it was obvious in every way they acted around him.

Making sure he was well taken care of when he woke up, when he decided that he was hungry enough to eat lunch and going so far as to telling him he didn't need to provide as much for them anymore because Rayen had found a job in the port that paid them in the form of rations.

He smoothed his hand over his face in exhaustion and looked back into the house, watching as Rayen and Kaiya followed him until they stood just at the edge of the old fountain.

"Damari, this isn't healthy anymore, you have to know that."

He looked up to Rayen who had her mother holding onto her arm tightly for support.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Ray."

"Yes you do," she criticized, not noticing the gentle ripples that had begun to form in the waters of the fountain, "we understand that you care for her, Damari, but you need to take care of yourself. If not for yourself then for her."

"She's right, honey." Kaiya seconded, removing her arm from Rayen's to steady herself on the base of the fountain. "We hate seeing you like this and you know she wouldn't want you to be doing this to yourself."

Damari moved towards the pair of them with exasperation in his eyes. "I'm not doing anything to myself! I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself and doing what is necessary to stay sane!"

Rayen shook her head. "Damari, please, just listen to us--"

"I don't want to listen! Don't you understand that, Ray? I'm fine, utterly and completely fine so if you both could just go inside and--"

"Damari." Someone called out to him as he started to move past Kaiya and towards the steps that would lead him back to the beach.

Looking over his shoulder, Damari didn't see anyone or anywhere that the voice could have originated from.

He shook his head as if to shake the voice from his head before starting his pace back up again only to be reprimanded by the same voice again.

This time it made him stop in his tracks, turning to see where on earth the sound had come from, scanning the courtyard quickly before he realized Kaiya had leaned forward into the fountain with her mouth open in disbelief.

"Damari, come look at this." she uttered in befuddlement, pointing her finger at the surface where her reflection should have been.

In its place was what appeared to be the reflection of a tall, threatening looking man, his figure hidden in the shadows as his blackened wings spread out behind him.

"Thanatos," Damari said mildly, keeping a close eye on his mother and sister, "what are you doing here."

The man's expression didn't change as he stated. "I have business of Hades' that needs to be complete before you are to be left alone once and for all Damari Callos. I simply need your permission and the task shall be fulfilled."

"What's the task?"

Thanatos remained silent. "I need your permission."

"Are you going to tell me what the task is first?"

"Your permission."

Damari sighed and tilted his head back before moving forward to stare into the man's eyes. "I give my permission."

A smirk ghosted across his face before retreating beneath his resigned manner. He looked behind himself in the water before he disappeared, the black swirls of magic dissolving as the reflection returned to that of his mother's.

"Who was that, Damari?" Kaiya asked, leaning over the edge of the fountain, nearly missing the pointed heel of the statue of Aphrodite on top of it. "He looked a bit odd if you ask me."

"Mother." Rayen said, tugging on Kaiya's arm urgently as she stared over Damari's shoulder, but was ignored by both as they continued on.

"He's a.. friend of mine, Mother. I'm not quite sure what he wanted or what he meant by asking my permission because I never remember Hades telling me I had anything more to complete in the Underworld."

"Mother." Rayen insisted, poking her mother on the shoulder fervently now.

Kaiya brushed Rayen's hand off like it were a pesky fly. "Not now, dear, I'm busy."

"But Mother!"

"What, Rayen?!" Kaiya finally asked, staring at her with a tinge of annoyance at being interrupted.

Rayen grabbed ahold of her and pulled her to the side of Damari so that he wasn't blocking the people that had stood quietly behind him as Rayen had stared in bewilderment for the past few minutes.

Two figures stood holding hands while looking out over the mountainside; as if they were studying something they had only ever seen in a dream.

Kaiya's hand flew to her chest as Damari's jaw dropped, surprise flashing in his eyes before he shook his head and muttered. "Figures."

Stepping towards the two, Damari took Kaiya and Rayen's stunned hands and led them closer to the pair, watching when they turned around to see those cheeky blue and brown eyes staring back at them.

Holding tightly onto Damari's arm for support, Kaiya's quaking hand reached out to touch the apparition in front of her. She couldn't restrain her tears as she cupped the man's cheek and rubbed it affectionately.

"Leon," she whispered, having only eyes for him as the girl who stood to her waist giggled, "is that really you?"

The large sparkling grin that covered Leon's face became one of undeniable joy as Kaiya cried out and threw her arms around him, sobbing into his neck as he held her close and scattered kisses over her face in wild abandon.

Maarika held her doll in one hand as she watched Leon with a puzzled look on her face. She leaned past the two to see Rayen staring at her with wide blue eyes.

Walking confidently over to her, she took Rayen's limp hand in hers and shook it firmly before nodding her head in confirmation.

"I'm Maarika, I like sunflowers." she stated until she looked back at Leon and Kaiya and pointed with her finger. "Is that my Momma?"

Rayen never gave Maarika the chance to answer as she squealed loudly and drew the small child into her arms, cuddling her close and stroking her soft hair.

Damari laughed quietly as he saw Maarika make a face at being squeezed and then gradually melt into her sister's arms, snuggling deep into her arms while Leon and Kaiya spoke in hushed tones.

"You need to tell him." Kaiya whispered, smacking Leon on the shoulder as he chuckled kissed her again to shut her up.

"I will, I think he'll be more than pleased. Believe me, Rhode was."

Kaiya smirked and smacked him again jokingly before sliding closer in his arms, her fingers running through his hair diligently as she stared into his deep blue eyes.

"Tell me, what?" Damari called from where he was standing, clearly hearing the two. "You know, Father, when you and Mother speak like that it's almost as if you are wanting to be heard by the person in question."

"And who says that's not what we're doing, Son?" Leon said with a wink, tugging Kaiya against his hip.

Pretending to gag, he pushed past the two and set his back against the fountain. "Tell me what it is already so that I may go around in pity when Rayen breaks it."

"That's not true!" she shrieked, still holding a content looking Maarika in her arms. "It's not my fault you don't know how to hide your things properly, now is it?"

"It is when that thing is my fishing line of three years and I needed it to keep you from starvation!"

Rayen shrugged and set Maarika down before running towards her father. "Just ask them to tell you already so you can wallow away from the rest of us."

She hugged her father from one side as Kaiya hugged him on the other, giving the perfect picture of what a loving family looked like.

Damari snatched Maarika as she rushed past him to try and tackle her father at the ankles, but he wouldn't allow it an instead held her in his arms while she kicked and twisted in attempts to get away.

"What did I tell you about squeezing me?!" she yelped, turning around to hit Damari on the top of his head and to give him her signature frown. "Only Daddy and Ray-Ray can do that. Not you!"

She swiveled back around before dropping back down onto her brother's lap, not paying attention to Damari as he raised his eyebrow with a laugh.

"Ray-Ray?"

"She's a little kid, give her a break." Rayen complained before narrowing her eyes. "But if you ever call me Ray-Ray again, you'll be asking to wake up with your sorry fishing cap in that one grumpy merchant's boat."

He held his hands up in mock terror. "Oh woe is me! Someone call the angel of death."

Leon smiled at the pair of them as he pulled Rayen in for a closer hug. "If you may have figured it out already, Damari, Hades has been courteous enough to allow us a night with you all, a means of assuring you that we are okay and will see you all again when it is your time."

"I wouldn't be the one to call Hades courteous if I were you, Father, he might decide to cut your visit short." Damari replied shortly.

"He allowed the visit all the same, and now I ask of you to go into the kitchen and bring us some chairs so that we can talk with one another until we have to go. I'd hate to leave you all in a bickering mess and I'm rather interested to hear about how you all have been fairing."

It took Damari a moment before he rose to his feet and made his way through the courtyard, passing the living room as he walked into the kitchen.

"Can somebody else help me with the chairs?" Damari yelled, knowing they could all hear him from where he stood.

"You're quite all right! The sooner you move, the sooner the job will be done!"

Hoisting one of the wicker chairs over and onto his back, Damari grumbled under his voice as he moved to grab one of the others to hold with his left hand.

"You'd think my family would be more lenient in the way they helped around the house."

"But then where would that leave all the fun? I would say you are a much better kitchen maid then provider, isn't that right, Sailor?"

Damari jumped and cursed under his breath, turning around to scold Rayen for sneaking up on him, but when his eyes rose to the person standing in front of him, the words lodged in his throat.

Her eyes were the same green that he could remember and, if it were possible, she appeared to have became even more radiant.

A thin, golden peplos was wrapped comfortably around her shoulders and covered her all the way down to her ankles, fitting itself to her decadent curves while the length of her hair remained half draped over her shoulder and the rest in a bun that was held together with black curls on the top of her head.

He stepped closer to her and couldn't help but ogle, completely flabbergasted by the perfect image standing in front of him.

Her laughter is what jogged him out of his state of shock as she moved to pick up one of the other chairs for him and carry it out into the courtyard.

Instead, he dropped the chair that had been balanced on his back and ran to her, clutching her by the shoulders and pulling her into his arms as fast as he could, remembering how he had done the same those few months ago deep in the bottom of the sea.

Alena's form stiffened and then shifted deeper into his embrace, tears of joy spilling down her face, similar to the ones Kaiya had shed over her husband not a few minutes before.

"I thought you were dead." Damari growled in her ear, his hands roaming her back and coming up to hold her chin in his hands. "Please tell me this isn't a dream."

Pulling him closer, Alena kissed him teasingly on the cheek, darting away before he could turn his head to capture her lips.

"If it were, I would suggest hunting down the gods Hypnos and Morpheus, because this would be a cruel dream indeed."

Tracing his index finger from her delicate eyelashes down to the corner of her luscious lips, Damari leaned forward again and inhaled her sweet scent before nudging his head into her neck.

"I was a fool." he muttered as Alena felt the dampness of his hidden tears falling on her shoulder. "I allowed my grief and selfishness to blind me from what was really standing in front of me the entire time."

She lifted his head with her hand to look into his sharp blue eyes. "And what was that, Sailor?"

"You." He replied gruffly.

With no warning or resistance from Alena, Damari lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her lightly, weaving his fingers into her hair as he tilted her head back for better access.

Reassurance raced through Alena in that moment, and she knew, even if he didn't know how to tell her, that he loved her.

The same fluttering sensations picked themselves up in her belly as she tasted the masculinity that she knew to be Damari, his lips soft and sweet against hers as she moved closer to bite his bottom lip and then pull away quickly with a teasing laugh.

He groaned loudly when she pulled away, but she felt deep in herself that she had to tell him because no one was guaranteed a tomorrow and she had nearly lost her chance the first time.

Looking back into Damari's eyes, Alena gave him a genuine smile and kissed him on the nose before whispering. "I love you, Damari Callos."

When the silence greeted her statement, she wasn't sure whether he had heard her or not. However, when his grip tightened and his breathing grew shallow, she began to fear that he was having an attack of sorts.

She leaned closer to his face and snapped her fingers. "Damari?"

Instead of responding like she believed he would, perhaps in a kiss or a comforting hug, he laughed.

Long, loud and hard as if it were the most hilarious thing in all of Olympus.

Her smile turned into a glare as he tried to control himself, but couldn't, making her glare become even more fierce until she yanked herself from his arms in fury.

"Fine. If my statement is so amusing to you then I shall simply go find another sailor to whom I can marry and have a family with, growing old together and bothering the daylights out of each other until the sun sets in Helios' kingdom."

Damari went quiet instantly and tugged her back to him, nudging her ear with his nose.

"Where exactly do you think you're going, my beautiful siren?"

"To find someone more deserving of my love, of course." she spat, struggling to hide the hurt from Damari that was growing more prominently in her heart. "And I'm not yours, nor am I a siren anymore so I suggest you leave me be so that I may enjoy the rest of my days in peace and silence."

Another round of silence greeted her words. Well at least he understood the last part then, she thought with contempt.

He looked her up and down again before whispering. "What do you mean you aren't a siren anymore?"

"Well how do you think I'm still here?!" Alena guffawed. "For the gods sake, it was Rhode's potion! You daft sailor, you. Somehow she managed to save me, but at the expense of my immortality and powers, which I must say I'm happy to be rid of. I also managed to escape Demeter's impending wrath thanks to Persephone, but if you are simply here to play with a 'beautiful siren' I believe that you should--"

"Do you ever shut up, woman?" Damari laughed, kissing her so powerfully that by the time he pulled away, Alena was certain she couldn't have remembered her own name even if someone had asked.

"I love you too, Alena Cali." He whispered in her ear with a light chuckle, making her shiver at the way his breath brushed her skin. "Do you really think I would let you get away that easily? Siren or no siren?"

Her blush was too heated to miss and Damari couldn't help but kiss her again, until a loud shriek came from the kitchen doorway followed by an even louder scream.

"Daddy! Damari and Lena are eating each other! Doesn't that hurt?!"

Alena pulled away from Damari quicker than she could count as little Maarika dashed away as fast as she could, Damari laughing all the while.

"What is so funny?" she chuckled along with him.

"I just thought," he told her earnestly, "that if I were to think of any better time for me to settle down and raise my own family, it would be now. I just have to find a woman brave enough to stand by me no matter what."

Alena's brow wrinkled and she placed a finger to her chin in concentration. "That woman would have to be stubborn no doubt. Willing to knock some sense into that thick head of yours every now and then. The gods know you need it.

"I agree," he laughed, "although she has to be able to clean and cook among other things, I find that one thing could be most difficult of all for her though."

"Oh and what might that one be?"

Damari wrapped his arm around her waist and placed the other on her hip to keep her in place, a taunting yet serious look in his eye.

"She would have to love me, wholeheartedly, until the day I died."

Adjusting herself accommodatingly, Alena looked Damari directly in the eye before the largest smile he had ever seen danced across her face.

"Then I think I'm just the woman for you, Mr. Callos. What do you say to that?"

Damari looked out into the courtyard where his father held his mother as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear and Rayen hopping around the courtyard with little Maarika and Miss Marzipan right on her heels; he couldn't help but smile as he looked into the eyes of the woman he loved and replied.

"I'd say that I would have it no other way, Mrs. Callos."

~*~*~*~*~