Chapter One

Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered

And there's nowhere to turn

You wonder how you keep going

Think of all the things that really mattered

And the chances you've earned

The fire in your heart is growing

You can fly, if you try leaving the past behind

Heaven only knows what you might find

Dare - dare to believe you can survive

You hold the future in your hand

Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive

It's time to take a stand

And you can win, if you dare

Alana Lyndsey Meade-Cassadine moves down the long halls of the maze toward Helena's control room, where she knows that her cousin Luke Spencer and his son Lucky are, as well as her mother-in-law Helena and her husband Stavros. Her four children, Dimitria Melisande Stavrolavna Cassadine, Mathias Nathaniel Stavrosovich Cassadine, Alexander Lawrence Stavrosovich Cassadine, and Natalia Eleni Stavrolavna Cassadine, were a bare step behind her. One of the children, her eldest son Mathias, was the Cassadine now. He had just turned 25 a week ago. Now, it was time to let Helena know it.

They stepped up to the closed door. Alana keyed in the code on the keypad and the door slid open to reveal her cousin Luke tied to a chair, his son Lucky standing in front of him with a syringe of biotoxin in his hand. She can see that he is resisting as much as he can from plunging it into his father.

Alana quietly steps into the room with her children behind her. She can see that no one is paying attention to the doorway, since Helena is goading Lucky on and so is Stavros, her beloved husband. She moves directly behind Lucky and slowly removes the syringe from his hand and places it on the counter. Only then does she speak, "No more revenge, Helena. You don't deserve it!"

Everybody's trying to break your spirit

Keeping you down

Seems like it's been forever

But there's another voice if you'll just hear it

Saying it's the last round

Looks like it's now or never

Out of the darkness you stumble into the light

Fighting for the things you know are right

Dare - dare to believe you can survive

The power is there at your command

Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive

It's time to take a stand

And you can win, if you dare

Helena turns and gasps at the sight of her daughter-in-law. She thought she had eliminated her over twenty years ago.

Stavros also turns and gasps at the sight of his beloved wife. The wife he thought he had lost over twenty years ago.

"The only thing you deserve is my vengeance! My vengeance for what you tried to do to me and your grandchildren 22 years ago! My vengeance for what you have done to my cousin and his family! You broke your promise, Helena! You broke it and now you must pay!" Alana exclaimed, raising her gun.

"You kill me and Lucky will kill one of his family members. What will your stepson Nikolas think of you..."

Helena does not even get to finish her thought before Alana breaks in. "Nikolas is not my stepson, Helena! Nikolas is a Spencer! Luke is his father!"

Lucky drops to his knees, holding his head in his hands, as if he's having a migraine headache. Helena gasps in shock at Alana's revelation about Nikolas. Stavros also continues to stare at his wife in shock, but then his face changes to a look of understanding. "Lani, you changed the tests to protect him from mother's wrath, didn't you?"

"I did, my dear. I changed the paternity tests," Alana says to her husband, reveling in the sound of his beloved voice after so long. She turned back to Helena after giving her husband a smile. "You thought that Dr. Lastiris was loyal to you, didn't you, Helena! Well, there was only one Cassadine bride he was loyal to, and it wasn't you! It was me! He was loyal to me alone! He was never loyal to you! Never!"

By this point, Lucky has risen from the floor, the pain in his head gone and his mind is now clear. He has untied his father and both are staring at Alana in shock. For Lucky, the revelation has destroyed the programming in his head and has proven to him that he and Nikolas are brothers in every way, shape, and form. They were full brothers! And for Luke, the shock was profound. Nikolas was his son! His and Laura's!

Alana wasn't done with the revelations however. "Well, Helena, I think that knocked out your programming on my cousin's son. I can shoot you right now if I wanted to, but I am not done with you yet!

Helena stared at Alana, a scared look in her eyes. Alana knew so many of Helena's secrets for her years hiding and Helena knew she would reveal them all before Alana would finish her off. "Alana, please! Please don't do this!" Helena begged.

"Helena, I am going to tell every single one of your dirty secrets whether you like it or not. Then when I am done, you are going back to Greece and facing a death in front of a firing squad, as the family board has commanded. They already know everything."

Helena's eyes widened before she turned to her son, who was looking at his wife in shock. "Alana, you don't mean that! After all that my mother did for you when you lived on the island, you can't really want that!" Stavros exclaimed.

"She did a lot more horrible things for me and the children than she did good things, darlin'. If it hadn't been for her, we would have been together all these years. For heaven's sake, she is the one who set up the explosion that separated us for over 20 years!" Alana exclaimed emphatically.

Stavros was shocked again, but then turned cold eyes to his mother. "How could you do that to me! Alana is my love, my world, my sanity! Alana is right! You are dead!"

"Stavros, my son, please!" Helena begs.

"Shut up, mother. You lied to me for so long! You tried to kill my wife and you told me her cousin was responsible when it was all you! You destroyed my happiness and now, hopefully, I can get it back!" Stavros exclaimed coldly to his mother. He then turns to Luke and Lucky. "I am so sorry for everything I did to you and your family. If I had known then what I know now, things would have been different."

Luke and Lucky both stare at Stavros, hardly believing he was apologizing to them for the way he had treated their family. Though, it made Luke understand why he had wanted to hurt them so badly in the first place. Luke understood how powerful true love was. And it seemed, so did Stavros.

"Well, apology accepted. I can see how your devastation over losing my cousin and your children would have caused you to want to pay back the ones that took her away from you, but next time, I'd get all the facts first, especially when mommy deadliest tells you something, because most of the time, she lies," Luke said.

"Next time, I will do that, Luke, don't worry. I will never believe my mother again. Now, how about getting out of here so we can tell Nikolas, Laura, and anyone else who needs to know the revelations that my dear wife knows," Stavros suggests.

"I agree. First, we need to get our dear grandmother to stay put somewhere so that she can't get away from us," Dimitria finally says from behind her parents.

Stavros turns and smiles at his oldest daughter. "Good idea, Dimi!" he praises her. She smiles back at him. He then turns to Luke and Lucky. "Why don't you take that rope and tie up my mother? I know you two are good at that."

Lucky nodded while Luke grabbed Helena and pulled her hands behind her back. Lucky grabbed the rope and started to tie Helena's wrists. Luke assisted and quickly both men had her wrists tightly bound behind her and there was no way for her to get away. They picked up another rope and coiled it together.

"Let's get going. We can tie her to a chair once we get to Laura's," Luke said with a smirk on his face.

Alana, Stavros, and their children nodded and they all turned and headed out of the room and began to make their way through the maze.

Dare - dare to believe you can survive

You hold the future in your hand

Dare - dare to keep all of your dreams alive

The power is there at your command

Dare - dare to keep all your love alive

Dare to be all you can be

Dare - 'cause there is a place where dreams survive

And it's calling you on to victory