As I landed, I felt a stone cold floor beneath my face while the other two Goddesses landed gracefully on their feet.

"Pandora! What were you thinking?! You know what my sister would do to you if you come back defeated! They'll kill you!" exclaimed Ace, concern wiping through her voice.

"This wasn't me! I can't teleport. They must've spotted us!" Pandora responded fearfully.

I got up and as Dawn helped me to move to the side of the corridor, she turned to Ace and spoke with a look of confusion on her face, the words of Ace and Pandora running through her mind in confusion.

"Sister? What?" Dawn asked.

At her question, Ace's eyes closed, her face scrunching up as she realised what she'd said, mouthing curses.

Eventually, the Goddess spoke slowly as Pandora watched, distracted for a moment,

"Well, it's a complicated family as you'll know, but basically, I have a sister, well technically a half-sister and a brother-in-law and..." Ace turned back to Pandora, who gave her a flicker of a smile that quickly changed to a frown almost out of instinct,

"A niece," Ace finished, letting out an indeterminate sigh as she finished.

Dawn stuttered a little as she spoke, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "B-but that means your siblings are-"

"Hades and Hel, yeah, and that's only two of them." Ace said, cutting across Dawn, with a slight laugh.

For the slightest second, I thought I saw Ace nod at Pandora, but, a second later, an angry outburst from The Goddess of Darkness made me certain I must've been mistaken,

"Y-you may be related to me, Ace, but you're not family!!!"

Then, before anyone could respond, a new voice broke through the eerily lit corridor, a female one this time, pompous and arrogant,

"Pandora, what is taking you so long?! This is ridiculous. Not only do you get yourself beaten by two barely competent fools, but you drag around a piece of Mortal filth and won't even finish her off!"

At Hel's words, Pandora bowed her head a little, many expressions shooting through her eyes, her face contorting with emotion. On the other hand, a feeling of extreme indignance grew in me at what Hel had said, prompting me to speak up angrily,

"Hey! What right do YOU have to call ME filth?" I exclaimed, taking a step forward even as my core shook with the weight of a sudden jolt of anxiety.

As I finished, Ace grimaced and slapped her hand against her face. In conjunction with this, Dawn turned around just in time to see me lifted in the air by dark vines that wrapped around my chest. My breathing constricted, partly from the fear hammering down on my chest and partially from the real trap of the vines around me.

"Hades drop her! She has nothing to do this!" Ace growled through the grimace.

"Oh, I'd be more worried about yourself, sister-in-law!" Hades' dark voice spoke again, the sound still rasping with that ever-present malicious tone.

THUMP!

The sound echoed ominously through the corridor.

THUMP!

And again.

As I saw what had just come round the corridor, a gasp escaped my clasped stomach, fear clouding each one of my senses.

There, at the end of the twisting corridor, stood a great, black dog with 3 menacing heads. Each head equipped with fiery red eyes, razor-sharp teeth and claws, and large spiky collars around their huge necks.

"Oh brilliant, Cerberus, that's just what we need!" Ace exclaimed in a sarcastic tone, taking a tighter grip on the staff in her hand, her hat tipping forward as her eyes widened like saucers.

At the sight of the threat, Pandora's face fell, and she took a step backwards, her fists still clenched.

"Do something! At least TRY and do something useful. You are my aunt after all, surely YOU should protect ME!!"

At Pandora's words, Ace looked around at Pandora and spoke,

"Right, one. You don't have to pretend to hate me now because you never have to go back to Hades and Hel and two, I'm the younger one, shouldn't you be protecting me then?" The Goddess of Chaos finished, smirking slightly despite it all.

Pandora breathed a sigh of relief, even laughing a little, like the weight of the worlds had just been lifted from her shoulder as she dashed to Ace's side, smiling slightly.

"Well, you are still my family!" Pandora exclaimed as they backed slowly away from Cerberus, the grin slipping from her face as quickly as it had arrived there.

"So, all this time you've known Pandora?" Dawn asked Ace, looking baffled and perhaps a little hurt.

"Yes, I- I'll explain later." Ace replied as Cerberus drew ever closer.

"You didn't think to tell me this??" Dawn asked, her brow furrowed again as Ace replied hastily,

"Look, I just wasn't sure when I could tell you- I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but -"

"Are you two quite finished? Because I don't mean to rush your chat at all, but Cerberus does not look happy!!!" Pandora yelled, shooting two jets of fire at the hound of the Underworld and giving them a little more time.

At this, Dawn sent a burst of blinding white light into the middle head, causing Cerberus to yell in pain as his middle head scrunched up. The hound's eyes reddened in pain, his other heads roaring as he sent out a retaliatory paw, batting Dawn aside as lazily as a cat playing with a mouse.

"Dawn!"

Pandora yelled as The Goddess of Light flew across the corridor. Dawn landed on the stone steps, lying there in the puddles of her attempts to get back up. As she did, Pandora's fury blazed, and the Goddess sent 3 jets of fire spiralling towards Cerberus. Each jet soared right into one of the hound's heads before Pandora, too, was batted aside and, like Dawn, tried and failed to get back up.

Ace stared at her friends, lying sprawled on the cold floor, and her eyes flashed a dangerous shade of yellow, her expression darkening slightly.

"Ace, be careful!" Dawn yelled before she fell back to the floor with a grunt of pain.

"Alright, that's enough!" Ace shouted out, shocking Cerberus into a standstill.

"Listen here! I don't care who you think you are. Let me tell you this. Nobody, NOBODY hurts my friends and gets away with it! Whether you're a hound of the underworld or a chihuahua, I don't care! You either leave my friends alone or you'll have me to deal with!!" As she said this, a swift mask of grim focus replaced Ace's usual cheeky grin.

Suddenly, the corridor was filled with the sound of the chilling voice once more dripping with sarcasm like water from an icicle,

"What a lovely little sentiment. Well, Ace, this is a tricky little situation, isn't it? You know, I'd be delighted to strike a deal with you and the little pacifist. Then you can leave freely." Drawled Hel, her words as bitter as the last drop of hatred left in the world.

"Oh yeah?" Asked Ace disbelievingly, looking down at Pandora, who shook her head slowly as Dawn lent against the wall, watching Ace worriedly.

"Why, of course! You two can go... IF you leave my daughter here, where she belongs."

At Hel's words, Pandora's face fell apart, her white skin crumpling into a look of pained resignation that pierced Ace's conscience dreadfully.

A look that would have looked more in place on the face of an old warrior who has seen enough battles to last them infinite lifetimes.

All it took was a split second, and then Ace turned from Pandora to Dawn, whose face was lined with uncertainty and tainted by the stains of worry.

Ace, however, looked as though this decision was the easiest one she'd ever make,

"Not a chance!" The Goddess of Chaos said confidently, her eyes narrowed, her grip tightening on her staff as she did.

Then, as Dawn struggled to her feet, the voice spoke again, cutting through the rocky corridor like a knife.

"Well... don't say I didn't give you a chance. Cerberus, do what you will with them," Hel said.

At that, the sullen Hound brightened and jumped towards Ace, who held out her hands just in time. The Goddess' split second blockage let the huge Hound smash into a bright yellow force-field, the untangled energy crackling through the air.

Pandora and Dawn ran to Ace's side in the momentary relapse, looking flustered.

"What are we gonna do?!" Pandora asked the others, throwing a ball of fire through Ace's force-field, striking the middle head and sending Cerberus stumbling backwards in shock.

"Stand back." Ace said calmly, taking a second's rest before Cerberus rammed back into her force-field, prompting a groan to emerge from between The Goddess of Chaos' gritted teeth.

"Why?" Dawn asked, as she stunned Cerberus with a bright ray of light across his line of vision.

"Just do it!" Ace yelled, grunting with the effort of keeping the force-field from breaking, her heels set hard into the ground as the hound's heads pushed the force-field back, desperate to penetrate it.

"Oh, this is getting boring!" Hades voice came ripping through the corridor, cold and commanding, the type of voice that sends a chill up your spine.

"Now, let's make this a little more interesting, shall we?" the God asked with a chilling enjoyment prickling in every word.

There was a small pause.

Then, a pile of large rocks fell from the tunnel's ceiling above Pandora, who looked up right in time to pull her hands above her head, barely stopping the rocks. To add to this, as Dawn went to help Pandora, another set of rocks fell above her. This left the two Goddesses struggling between force-fields and strength to keep the rocks at bay.

To top everything off, further rocks fell between the friends as they struggled.

Ace looked back at the two, then back to the force-field in front of her, and sighed, closing her eyes for the faintest second as she spoke,

"Oh, this is going to hurt."

Then, out of nowhere, the rocks smashed into tiny pieces above the Goddesses' heads, broken by blasts of Chaotic Energy from Ace.

In the effort of the blasts, the force-field in front of the Goddess flickered away. So before anyone had a chance to do anything, Cerberus jumped at Ace. The hound pinned The Goddess of Chaos to the floor with a single paw, throwing her staff out of her hand and across the room.

"Well, NOW it's getting interesting!" said Hel, speaking again and chuckling with an awful sense of malice.

"Let her go!!" Pandora demanded, looking around the corridor as though hoping her mother would appear from thin air.

But the next voice did not belong to Hel, it was Hades' voice once again,

"Yes, thank you for input, Hel. Now, I did give your two little friends a chance to leave, so I'm afraid, dear daughter," Hades began, his voice fizzing with sarcasm, "that your precious little aunt isn't getting out of here anytime soon."

Ace was struggling to catch a breath under Cerberus' huge paw, but she still managed a cheeky splutter of,

"Oh do shut up, Hades!!"

The sharp words caused the drawling voice to change its tone to a rather harsher one,

"Always the grown-up Ace. But if I were you, I'd be focusing on keeping what little breath you have left, after all-"

"Yeah, yeah, can you get your dog off me now? Otherwise, I might just have to do it myself, and trust me, you don't want that Hades! Jeez, I know you feed him escapees, but really, do you ever brush his teeth! His breath stinks!" Ace said, struggling against the hound's large paw as Cerberus' middle head leaned right in towards Ace's face.

"What?! Can you not take a single thing seriously?!" Hades barked.

Ace paused to consider as Pandora and Dawn looked at the scene in front of them. The pair desperately attempted to work out what to do as Ace pondered her answer further.

"No. No I don't think I can," said Ace grinning cheekily despite the fact that her pale face was turning red as Cerberus' paw weighed down a little harder on her chest, constricting her breathing without even trying.

"Very well then, let's show you how serious this is! Cerberus, feel free to push down properly." Hades said coolly, and just as Pandora lunged forwards, Cerberus' paw forced down even harder on Ace's chest, causing the Goddess to let out a sickening yell of pain as she struggled.

As she moved and twisted, the Goddess's face turned a shade of beetroot red.

"Oh, I wouldn't move any closer, Pandora, or I'll just make the death slower," Hades drawled, leaving Pandora standing stalk still with her fists clenched in sheer rage.

"How many times do I have to tell you Hades, I'm not gonna die, though if it gets me away from you and my sister's monotonous drones, perhaps it would be worth it for even a second of peace," Ace said, quietly now as Cerberus itched to press down fully.

"A second away from you would be more than enough right now," Hades said in a tone that suggested, without needing to see him, that he was rolling his eyes.

"But if you're so desperate to get away from us, I can make the death nice and quick, I'm sure Cerberus would like that, he isn't very patient after all."

Cerberus grunted in agreement pressing down once again on Ace's chest, making her yell with what little breath she had left.

"Alright I submit, I surrender!! Just get him off me please!" Yelled Ace, her voice, even under the breathless desperation still seeming to sound just a tiny bit... amused.

Cerberus was taken aback, and, for a crucial second, his paw lifted... ever so slightly and...

BANG!

The Goddess of Chaos let out such a huge blast of Chaotic Energy that Cerberus went spinning across the floor like it was ice and not stone under his paws as Ace got up, dusting herself down and tentatively rubbing her chest with a small groan.

"Ace!" Pandora and Dawn said together running forwards to Ace and hugging her in relief, forgetting both the confusing revelations of earlier and the looming threats ahead.

But they quickly remembered this as Cerberus ran towards them.

In barely a second, Pandora shoved Ace and Dawn aside before Cerberus threw her hard against the rocky wall, leaving the Goddess barely conscious, slumped against the wall. Ace's face, which had barely returned to its usual pale state, burned a bright red in anger as Dawn looked as though almost everything she thought she'd known about these two Gods was being denied.

Which it undoubtedly was.

Where were the duplicitous thief and the dark warrior that the others warned her about?

At this point, it was hard to believe they'd even existed.

"Oh, you're going to regret that. Stand back Dawn," said Ace, not taking her eyes from the growling Cerberus. Dawn was about to step back, but then she decided she'd had enough of not knowing where she stood.

It was about time she made her decision.

"No," Dawn began, walking forward and standing next to Ace who looked at her, with a dash of fear on her face mixed with happiness and pride as Dawn continued,

"You mess with one of us, then you mess with all of us!"

"You know, I couldn't have put it better myself," said Ace, grinning.

And so, the two moved forward and, as Cerberus lunged a paw out at them Dawn lifted her hands. Suddenly, the paw stopped in mid-air, then, with an immense degree of effort, Dawn flung Cerberus backwards, throwing the hound's balance and leaving him on his side for a split second.

The time of respite, however, was short-lived.

As Ace went to chain the dog, rocks fell from above again, causing the Goddess to jump away just in time. Dawn wasn't as lucky, being swept into the wall by the collateral damage of a river of rocks.

Ace looked utterly furious as she waited for the voice to see which of Hades and Hel had thrown them off, but no voice came.

Growing impatient, The Goddess of Chaos turned back to Cerberus, who was pawing the ground in anger. Then, as Cerberus reached out a clawed paw towards Ace, she closed her eyes and muttered under her breath,

"Well, no one said saving the world was going to be easy."

Then, she opened her eyes, which were now a luminous shade of bright daffodil yellow and the corridor filled with a blinding yellow light. The echoing blaze threw Cerberus backward as the light burst from the figure of Ace throughout the corridor.