A deep, aching fire built low in Alena's stomach as she felt her breathing accelerate, hysteria taking over as unbidden images played out in front of her, dragging her away from the reality that she knew and into a reality that had laid dormant for a millennium.

The same burning pain seared through her as her back arched off the bed. Her green eyes blood shot as they opened wide, glazed over with pure fear when she grabbed Rhode's wrist blindly.

"They've hurt me." she heard herself whispering, not quite sure why she spoke with such a childlike brokenness. "They've hurt me and I don't know why."

Rhode held Alena's shoulders tightly. "Alena, it's me, Rhode. I need you to lay down for me now, you aren't well and I need to help you."

"They've hurt me." she whispered again, the shaking becoming uncontrollable as Persephone came into her line of sight. "She knows why they hurt me, she tried to help me. Only made me hurt more."

"Alena, you aren't making sense." Rhode argued loudly. "Who hurt you? Who tried to help you?"

Tears pooled in Alena's eyes as grief rushed through her, taking all the memories that had been oppressed with it.

"I couldn't save Klari, I couldn't save her.. her body was.. it was.." she trailed off as her grief turned into an ungovernable rage. "Persephone did it! She lied to me and let her mother torture me after fully knowing they never meant to return my sister. They needed me. And they broke me."

"Alena." Rhode tried to reassure her fiercely as a means to calm her down.

"She.. she.. hurt me." Alena stuttered, the edges of her vision sharpening before fading into the blackness, colors of all kinds throwing themselves together until all that remained of Rhode and the room surrounding her was a row of melting paints against the canvas of Alena's eyelids.

~~~~~~~~~

"Breathe in.."

"Breathe out.."

"Move, compatriot, move!"

A bright light shone down on Alena as she became hyper aware of her surroundings, her hands pushing into sharp pointed gravel while she lay crouched on the ground with a commanding voice screaming orders.

"You must know when the right moment to strike is! If you are too careful, the moment will pass and if you are too aggressive, you will be killed in combat, is that understood?"

"Yes, Legionnaire Livas, understood."

The stiff, glacier exposed voice responded without a moments thought, leaving Alena to watch in horror as she realized the sound had come from her own body.

"I didn't hear you, Compatriot!" The woman screamed, bending down further into Alena's face, the spit flying from her lip causing Alena to flinch as she watched helplessly from the inside, unable to control how she could respond to this treatment.

"I understand, Legionnaire Livas!"

"Better! Now, move!"

Her rigid muscles tightened further as the cold set in on her. The cool air rushing through her lungs sharply with every inhale she took.

Moving to her feet, she stood for a moment before breaking into a sprint, now noticing that she wasn't the only person in the crude looking arena that was sprinting.

A few paces in front of her, a woman with long blonde hair strung back into a ponytail was running as if her life depended on it. Her face was familiar, but she looked directly in front of herself and barely gave anyone else a second glance.

Alena noticed that the stinging light that cast itself down into the training fields was actually the rays of the sun shining high in the sky, not a cloud in sight.

Her breathing was labored which stunned her. She couldn't exactly place why her breathing was difficult or why she was here, but as soon as she caught sight of another maiden next to the blonde, she nearly felt like throwing her fist into the woman's face.

"Taryn." she muttered maliciously, running harder around the track if only to reach the pair sooner so that she could give Taryn what was long overdue.

Memories began to hit her, each after another.

One showed her in the field of eternal spring as Taryn ripped her claws across her face. Another of when she killed her first man, the blood that had dripped, warm and slick, down her horrified face.

When she raced through the kelp fields off the coast of Athens with Jesenia, her as a child playing throughout her childhood home with Klari on her heels, her mother yelling at them to be careful as they had rounded the corner and tripped over a bucket of milk.

All of it came rushing back until two names stood at the front of her mind, begging to be noticed as she felt her body subconsciously come to a halt next to Taryn and the blonde that she now understood to be Calanthe.

"Damari..."

"What did you mutter, Compatriot!" The tall legionnaire screamed, a short knife secured at her belt as her rancid breath spurred itself forward.

Alena looked up slowly, her limbs feeling like they were caught in thick sludge as her eyelids barely opened in response to the woman.

"I said Demeter." she spat loosely, droplets of sweat sliding down her cheek to follow the silky curve of her neck.

"Oh, I'm sure you did." The woman replied tersely, turning away to walk to the front of the group of women that had assembled. "Front of the line, Compatriot."

Alena felt herself frown, her arms crossing against her chest. "No."

The entire line of women stiffened, more than they had in the presence of the legionnaire.

Their quick movements were caught in the corner of Alena's eye as she watched the woman place her hand leisurely on the wooden handle of the knife.

She turned around quickly before grabbing ahold of Alena's hair, dragging her into the front of the line of women who watched her with pity and fear in their eyes, each one silent as they looked on.

"We do not speak our patroness' name. Not now, not ever, and certainly not from a measly peasant like you. Now, stand in front of your sisters."

Alena jerked to her feet and watched the women in front of her, their eyes widened as the legionnaire moved behind Alena.

"They aren't my sisters." Alena screeched, tugging on her hand as the woman from behind her restrained her further, a name resurfacing again along with a cold, dead body in its midst.

She felt her breathing spike and her heartbeat racing as her memories mixed together as one; the body of her sister laying prostrate in front of her as the light from her clear blue eyes faded into death's cruel grip.

Everything faded into the background and all Alena saw was her sister.

Her knees buckled from underneath her as she grasped Klari's hand and shook her feverishly, her mind still holding some hope that her sister was merely asleep.

"Klari!" she screamed, shaking her sister even harder as the insufferable tears flooded her eyes, spilling down her cheeks fervently. "You aren't dead! You just can't be! We promised each other that we would go to the beach every Tuesday after doing the chores with Father and that even though Mother couldn't remember us we would bake her favorite dessert whether it was rain or shine, just so she knew that we loved her!

We promised to grow up together, even if meant being far away from each other because of suitors or other unbearable nonsense or families that needed us more that day then we needed ourselves. But you just can't leave me, Klari! You promised!"

"Alena," a voice called out to her, the same voice that had been there all those years ago, "none of this is real. You're all right. Klari is here, she's not in pain anymore."

But all Alena could see was the blood of her sister, staining her hands and the clothes that she had treasured since the day her mother had stitched them together for her. Persephone stepped into frame, she looked exactly the same, except her eyes were so much younger.

"Alena," she shouted this time, holding her back as two men stepped from the shadows to take Klari's body away, "there's nothing more you can do.... she's gone."

"No!" Alena wailed, slapping Persephone across the face before rushing back to her sister's broken body, attempting to rip her free from the men's barbaric hands. "She's not dead! Leave her be!"

Persephone's hand skirted across the mark on her face, the stinging burn of skin on skin making her hand shake as she watched her friend tearing away at her mother's guards.

"Please!" she resorted to begging. "We've done nothing wrong, please just leave us be!"

"You're crazy." One of the hulk's replied, slinging Klari over his shoulder as the other one looked at her  in speculation.

Heat poured over Alena again, bringing with it an unmanageable fire that made her wish she could somehow douse it, whether with water or more fire, she wasn't sure. All she wished was for the pain to stop.

She felt something in her wrist contort itself, twisting and turning and causing blood to come to the surface.

Her scream of pain couldn't be restrained as she stared in horror at her wrist, the silver marking in her hand shriveling in agony until she couldn't stand it anymore.

Gripping her wrist, she dug her nails deeply into her skin, doing anything she could to try and remove the vile object from her skin.

"Alena, no!"

Hands held her down as she felt her arms being pulled roughly to her sides, the same lumpy mattress beneath her spine while her hands were bound to its frame.

"Alena, you're hurting yourself.' Klari cried, watching her sister's horror stricken eyes as she tried to tug herself free from the bed. "Please stop!"

"You aren't here." Alena sobbed out instead, ignoring Klari's request and instead seeing herself fully in the past. "You're gone and it's all my fault. If we had just stayed away from the beach that day none of this would have happened and we'd both have lived happy lives."

Her head lolled back onto the pillow, her red, delirious eyes looking past Klari to where Persephone stood, leaning heavily against the wall as if she had been physically struck.

"Why did you let them hurt us, Persephone?" she whispered lowly, her voice barely above a croak as Klari slowly leaned back to look at Persephone, Alena's words carrying strongly across the room. "What did you have to gain from our pain?"

Persephone didn't respond, she only stared at Alena with indescribable grief in her eyes, their depths swimming as she lifted a hand to her mouth to hold back her cry.

Alena hissed in torment through her teeth, the flames spreading from her side licked away at her heart, leaving behind a throbbing ache that couldn't be eased.

"Alena, please don't hurt yourself." Klari whispered, the apparition of her sister moving to her side as she pushed a strand of hair off her clammy skin. "I'm all right, and my life was well lived. I was meant to go when I did, and although you have suffered so much my dear sister, I want you to know that you are forgiven, for it was not your fault to begin with."

"But if I had--"

"But nothing." Klari insisted, taking a washcloth that lay in the basin next to her bed and smoothing the cool remedy across her forehead. "You need to get better, Alena, and I refuse to have you come down here with me sooner than you are suppose to. Rhode is doing all she can, so just, hold on... think of Damari. He needs you."

Rhode moved at the edge of Alena's vision, mixing something in another bowl as Klari stared Alena down.

Laughing for no reason, Alena shook her head morosely. "Damari... where is he?"

Klari froze where she sat and looked up at Rhode whose hands slowed down but never stopped stirring.

"He... had to leave."

"Why?"

Klari stood and wrung out her hands. "You're getting worse, Alena. Your system it's.." she caught her breath before exhaling slowly. "Your system is failing.. and Rhode is trying everything she can t-to stop the process from taking over, but with your fever taking you into these lucid dreams and the way you keep hurting yourself along with the gunshot wound.. it's all becoming too much for you."

"I want to see Damari, Klari." Alena said, yanking on the rope that tethered her arms to the side. "I need to see him, now."

"Alena, you can't." Rhode muttered, removing a strip of cloth from the bowl before smoothing it over the other's that had molded themselves to Alena's side. "You're weak and he will only make things worse. I can't have distractions and you need to get better."

Glaring at Rhode, Alena bunched up her muscles only to realize that she had her tail again instead of her feet, giving her ten times the strength that she would normally have.

Straining against the rope, she could feel the weak points in the knots as they pressed against her skin, knowing exactly where she needed to snap them.

She looked up at Rhode once more. "I'm going to see Damari, Rhode, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

She arched her back once more and was able to bring up her talons to slice the rope in half.

"Alena, stop it." Rhode said threateningly as Alena tried to throw her body over the side of the bed. "You're only hurting yourself more. The more you tear open that wound the less likely you are to live."

"You're lying."

"Alena, she's not!" Klari cried out desperately. "Please, just sit back down on the bed and we'll work this all out! You could die. Do you not realize that?! You are being incredibly selfish if you think going after Damari now will help either of you."

A frown carved itself deep into Alena's face. "I'm not being selfish."

"Yes, you most certainly are!" Klari retorted, her face flushing bright with anger. "If you do this, you die. Do you think dying will in any way help Damari? He loves you! He said so himself and if you die, it will lead him on a path of darkness, one much worse than the one he walks now that you and I both know he will take. You saved him. Do you just want to throw all of that to waste?"

"No!" Alena screamed urgently, the same loathsome tears streaking down her face. "No I.. I don't want that for Damari."

Klari grabbed ahold of Alena's shoulders and shook her lightly as if to put the sense back in her. "Then live!"

Alena let Klari settle her back against the pillows that, instead of suffocating her, sculpted themselves perfectly to her spine.

She could feel the warm, sticky feeling of her blood sliding down her side, the sharp discomfort causing her to look down at her blistered and festering skin.

"I'm going to try and help you, Alena." Rhode responded calmly this time, gesturing to a small glass flask that held a dark blue liquid that swirled methodically as she moved to pick it up. "I've been working on this to heal you, but it won't work unless you cooperate with me, okay?"

Alena nodded her head gently, so as to stop the gnawing pang that had been storing itself at the base of her neck. "Does everything that involves saving me mean drinking some type of mysterious liquid that you make every time I come into contact with you."

Rhode's chuckle surprised Alena. "I'm afraid so. But you must admit, they do help."

"I suppose so."

"Then what I need you to do now is simply drink this, all of it, until there is not a single drop left; otherwise the effects could mean the difference between life or death."

Alena rolled her eyes as the bottle was placed below her lips. "You know, I feel like that is a line you use with all your patients."

"Who says I have other patients?"

Alena's brows rose as she looked at the liquid quizzically while Rhode laughed again and wiped a fake tear from her eye.

"Trust me, I'm a professional. Just drink it already, or else we really will be facing some situations that won't be pleasant for anyone in cohorts with it."

Klari's pleading gaze made Alena stare at the drink unpleasantly before lifting it to her lips to swallow quickly, leaving behind a strangely sweet taste as Rhode smiled serenely.

"You're going to fall asleep soon as the potion needs to set in, but I promise that when you wake next.. nothing with be the same."

"Isn't that the truth." Alena grumbled, burrowing beneath the blankets and avoiding all contact with her side.

She stared up at Klari who had began to move towards the door, understanding that she would soon need to return to her home.

"Klari, I.. I know that I.. might not see you for awhile, but I just want to let you know that I love you, and that no matter what, we will see each other again."

Klari's smile was both euphoric and inconsolable, her light blue eyes never leaving Alena's as she stepped out into the hallway with strength in her steps.

"I love you too, big sister." she laughed heartily. "But don't forget, I was always the better cook, and you need to name your future daughter after me."

Her wink was impossible to miss as she smiled and, with a benevolent wave, disappeared around the corner, thinking about how long it would be until she saw her dear sister again.

Alena looked to Rhode as she felt her eyes beginning to droop, coughing hoarsely as it felt like it was becoming harder to breathe; her scales were drying out, her talons were shrinking back into her hands and her animalistic teeth were starting to lose their edge.

"I always wondered what it'd be like to die." she whispered, watching Rhode as she muttered under her breath to Persephone who had yet to move from her previous position on the wall. "I have to admit, I don't like it."

Another round of coughs plagued her body as the familiar company of darkness closed in, causing her to mutter before allowing its disregarding nature to overcome her, welcoming it as a friend.

"If I were ever to see Damari again," she slurred softly into her sleep. "I suppose I should tell that sad excuse of a sailor that I love him."

~*~*~*~*~