Quick FYI: In the second part of this chapter, when it switches to Leo's POV, this is a couple hours after Sholeh goes back to sleep after seeing Damien

"Follow me," Damien said, his voice cold. Sholeh thought for a moment though, before he spun around and ducked into the hidden doorway, that she had glimpsed a tiny smile on his face. Not a smirk; a smile. The demon, bending down to walk through the dark passageway, which only came up to his shoulder, looked back and the smile was gone. He gestured with his arm for Sholeh to walk before him. She uncertainly crossed the room to step into the all-consuming darkness.

Sholeh had to duck her head just a little to avoid hitting the ceiling as she walked down the passage. The light grew dimmer and dimmer as she and Damien moved farther away, and it seemed to the girl that, as the light vanished, her doubts did as well. She felt inexplicably strong and powerful- she could handle anything. Darkness was where she belonged. No one was a match for her; she could cut down any enemy that crossed her path, and they would beg for mercy, but they would get none… Suddenly, Sholeh realized what she was thinking. A wave of sickness came over her, and it was then that the darkness became absolute. Complete darkness: for the first time in her life, Sholeh couldn't see anything at all. She kept walking, panic rising like bile in her throat, with the disgust of what she had believed moments before, and that she was completely unaware of where she was going. Finally, she couldn't take the agonizing hysteria any longer, and sat down on the ground.

Damien walked into her, his leg brushing up against her curled body. "What is it?" he asked, and Sholeh was unable to detect any emotion in his voice.

"I can't see," she replied, unpleasantly surprised at how terrified she sounded. In her mind's eye, Sholeh could just picture Damien's condescending smirk.

"Well, it is dark," the spirit said sarcastically. Sholeh felt an ember of anger flare up inside her, but it was not enough to vanquish her fears.

"No, I have perfect vision in the dark. This isn't normal." She noted with relief that her voice was once again strong.

Damien sighed. "You're right," he replied after a moment. "This isn't normal darkness. But come on," he said exasperatedly, grabbing Sholeh's hand and pulling her up. She hit her head on the ceiling, swore and pushed Damien away from her, hard.

"Don't touch me," she said fiercely. Well and truly angry once more, her panic vanished. Sholeh began to walk down the corridor again, and could hear Damien chuckle behind her.

"There's really no need for violence," the spirit drawled.

"Look," she snarled furiously, "I may not be able to burn you, but I would bet that my knife could pierce your skin like any other person."

There was silence, and Sholeh thought for a moment that he had left her alone in the darkness. Finally, the spirit whispered, "That's what I'm counting on."

"What?" Sholeh asked, but then a light began to appear in the distance. She heaved a sigh of relief and began to run towards the end of the tunnel, forgetting completely Damien's comment. Finally, Sholeh emerged into the blinding light, and blinked groggily several times. When she could see once more, the girl stared at her surroundings. She was in a small room with plain green wallpaper, brown wooden floors, which smelled faintly of tree sap and alcohol. There were no windows, and it was sparsely furnished, with only a cot, heavy oak desk, and chair covered in black velvet. However, every available space on the furniture was taken up, smothered in books, plates, papers, scrolls, strange pieces of metal, test tubes, chemistry equipment, flasks, and lights of any kind. Sholeh glanced around at the mess and could see at least twenty sources of light- desk lamps, floor lamps, candles, flashlights, candelabras, and two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. She was also surprised to see a real stuffed vulture lying on Damien's bed, its glass eyes staring blankly at her and feathers scattered across the blanket. (AN: the vulture thing is actually important. cookies to anyone who can guess why it is!) An Erlenmeyer flask filled with a strange black liquid bubbled softly from the corner, boiling over a Bunsen burner, but otherwise the room was entirely silent as Sholeh gaped in confusion.

"You really like light," she finally said. Damien scoffed in reply. "What did you want to show me?" the girl asked, her voice harsher this time as she remembered whom she was speaking to.

"This," the demon-boy replied as he crossed the room, taking care not to step on the mess that covered the floor. He swept off the table a pile of papers covered in strange writing and spotted with something that looked like blood. Damien picked up a test tube sealed with black wax and filled with a swirling golden-white mixture.

"What is that?" she asked, as the spirit stared adoringly, amazedly at the liquid. It seemed to glow unnaturally, shining more than any of the lamps in the room. He turned it over a few times in his hand before replying.

"Light," he said quietly, his voice melodious and distant. "Liquid light. Not even Athena herself has figured out how to bottle light." His voice was proud, but with a touch of sadness in it as well.

"So? Is that what you brought me here for?" Sholeh asked angrily. I can't believe I agreed to come with him, she thought, what was I thinking? "What the Hades has that got to do with me?"

"Give me your dagger," Damien commanding, and his arm shot out to pry it from her hand. Sholeh stepped lightly to the side and grabbed the spirit's wrist, twisting his arm backward. He gasped in pain and fell to his knees as Sholeh pulled his arm further still.

"I told you," she growled. "Don't touch me." She met Damien's eyes, but saw no fear in his eyes. No pain. No anger or frustration or hatred of her. Only sadness was there in the blackness. Sholeh let him go disgustedly, and handed him the dagger of Prometheus, surprising even herself.

Damien got to his feet and used the knife to open the wax seal of the tube. He then slowly poured the light onto the dagger, taking care to cover the entire blade. Sholeh gaped angrily at the sight.

"What are you doing?" she finally exclaimed furiously. He had probably ruined it, this blade that had got her through so many fights, had belonged to Prometheus and then to her, that she had gotten as a gift from her father but ended up as so much more. A stack of books on the desk suddenly caught on fire. Damien handed the dagger hurriedly back to her, still dripping with light, and fought to put the fire out.

"Do you know how valuable those books are?" he said exasperatedly, cradling one that had its cover reduced to ashes, after he had put out the sudden flames.

"Sorry," Sholeh replied grudgingly. "Didn't mean to. But what in the name of the River Phlegethon was that for?" (AN: Phlegethon is the river of fire supposedly in Tartarus. As you hopefully have figured out by now, Sholeh likes fire, and is a daughter of Hades, so I thought maybe she would swear by this river.) The girl stared down unhappily at the dagger, but was shocked to see that it was now exactly the same as before. Exactly the same, but it now shone from within, and she was mesmerized by its unnatural glow. Every bit of the metal blade seemed to pour out light, pure light, brighter than if it had even come from the sun. The usually brilliant rubies inlaid in its handle seemed dull as sand in comparison.

"Now it is truly the dagger of Prometheus," Damien replied, staring at the metal also, but desperately, hopefully, as if somehow this knife could bring him salvation. "It is now made of light. And worthy of you."

Sholeh glared at him and shook her head. "Don't you dare say that," she ordered furiously. Who was he? Who was this spirit to say that? Somehow, that one phrase seemed more dangerous than any armed adversary. "I'm a daughter of darkness," she continued, backing away from Damien. "Not light."

"You know nothing of darkness," the demon spat, suddenly furious. His hand flew suddenly to his neck, where it grasped the black chain links encircling it there. Sholeh could see him clutching the obsidian links so hard that his knuckles stood out and turned white. "Nothing. Now, go." The boy waved his hand and suddenly the room spun. Sholeh cried out in anger, but all at once she was in her bed, the room dark and exactly how she had left it. There was no hidden door in the wall, no demon. The only light was from the dagger she held, an eerie reminder of her night. Sholeh gasped and lay back in bed, exhausted. Although she couldn't forget the spirit or the questions clouding her mind, she fell asleep immediately.

Leo sighed and drummed his fingers against the wooden desk. The pen held in his hand fell to the ground as he ran his fingers through his hair. The journal of music paper in front of him lay blank. No notes had come to his mind since that day over a year ago, when he had fallen to a son of Ares' arrow. Not a single melody or idea- until today. When he had held Sholeh in his arms, cradled her against him, and heard her laugh, he had felt the beginnings of new music, more epic in scope than anything he had written before. The emotion it inspired within Leo was like dawn breaking; the first beautiful new morning in an eternity. Life was beginning again.

But then they had parted, and the melody faded from his mind, crumbling away, and he was left in the dark without her. Leo sighed again. The music had seemed so clear, so illuminated. There had been a bassoon, and then the cellos… or was it double bass? No, then the violins came in with melody, but what exactly had the melody been? Leo tried to remember, his patience wearing thin. Finally he slammed his fist down on the table in frustration. He hadn't slept all night, trying in vain to remember, and now it was almost day.

Suddenly there came a noise through the wall. A wrenching sob, a scream that rent his heart to shreds. "Sholeh!" Leo yelled in panic. Please, gods, please. Father Apollo, don't let anything have happened—

And then there she was in his doorway. Her black hair was tangled around her face, obscuring it from his sight, and her entire body was taut with fear. "Sholeh, what's wrong, please," he begged, standing. Suddenly Leo saw with a jolt that she was crying. There was something so profoundly wrong, so disturbing about the girl's tears- Leo had never, ever seen her cry before, and would have given anything to never see it again. Sholeh's mouth opened a little, and she drew in breath, a harsh intake, and her body swayed. The daughter of Hades and Hestia ran to Leo, crashing against him. And then she began to sob, her tears cold and wet on Leo's plain white shirt, seeping through to his skin.

"Sssh, firegirl," the boy hushed, stroking her hair. He yelped when it suddenly radiated heat, becoming white with fire. And then she whimpered once more, and the fire in her raven hair was extinguished. Leo hugged Sholeh closer to his body, trying in vain to comfort her.

Finally she spoke, a watery gulping noise, "The dream again, I had the dream again."

"What dream, Sholeh?" Leo asked anxiously. She took a shuddering breath and continued.

"It was Kronos again, same as when I killed him. I see it every night, every single night. That Titan's death," she spat, her voice becoming angry. "I've killed monsters, I've killed humans, for Phlegethon's sake, but I see it every night. Kronos."

"Sholeh, its alright now, its alright. He's gone. He can't hurt you."

Sholeh spoke again, her voice stronger, though her body quaked in Leo's strong hold. "But this time…. This time." She sobbed once more, her mind racked with pain from the tormenting memory. "I saw it. His death. Before, I just blacked out. Even when I killed him… I had no idea what I was doing. I just did it. But now," Sholeh paused, and grasped Leo's shirt for support. Her mind was spinning. "I saw. His body, his flesh, the blood…. The blood. It was black," she continued, her voice becoming shrill with terror. "And my hair… Oh gods. Oh gods. The blood, it was everywhere, it was spurting, and it was black. It was on me, on my face, on my head." Leo felt a chill run up his spine. Suddenly Sholeh pulled back, her eyes rolling in fear. Seeing a pair of scissor lying on the desk, which Leo had tried to use to break the lock of a trunk in his room, she grabbed them in mania.

"Stop, no, Sholeh, don't!" Leo yelled, too panic stricken to move. The girl tugged on a thick lock of her hair, brought the scissors up and cut it, right at the level of her eyes. She grabbed another bunch to cut off at the roots, but Leo ran and grabbed her arm, taking the scissors and throwing them away. Sholeh screamed in anger, but the boy pulled her to the ground with him, and cradled her in his arms.

She began to cry again, saying over and over, "Its his blood, Leo, his blood." He wiped the tears from her face and held her small, callused hands in his. Finally, she hiccupped and abruptly stopped weeping.

"Please, please, Sholeh, it's going to be alright, I promise." Leo stared into her sad dark eyes, red around the edges from the tears.

"No, Leo, its not. I'm not human," she protested, her voice quiet and resigned.

"You're more than human, you're greater than any human," Leo replied, softer still.

"I'm less than human. I made Kronos suffer, he begged for mercy. Him, and so many others. I gave them none," she spat, disgusted with herself. "I'm becoming something different, Leo. Something you and I don't know, but so much less than a soul," she whispered, closing her eyes. Leo kissed her, salty tears clinging to his lips when he pulled away.

"I'll love whatever you become."

Aw. Chapter title comes from Mozart's Requiem: Lacrimosa, which I listened to while writing this. That, and the last line of the chapter. Thanks bunches for reading, you guys!