YEAR: 1924.

Six years. That's how long it took Roni to gather the strength to return to Greece. During those six years, she wrote. Living on an island all alone, she wrote about her life just to get it out of her system. About Themyscira, Greece, Melaina and everything after that up until she decided to go back.

When she knocked on the door of her old home, Marcos opened. It took him some seconds but he finally recognized her. He didn't even say a word: instead he hugged her and sighed in content.

"Hadronia? I can't believe you're back." He smiled as they pulled away.

"Actually, it's... I just go by Roni now." She pointed out timidly. The smile on his face vanished slowly. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." He stepped aside and closed the door when she had entered. They sat down on the couch and the silence ate her up. Aside from them, the house was quiet. Nothing. Then the feeling crawled up on her. The heavy darkness that lurked in the corners, the smell of tears and poison. The cold breeze that shouldn't even be possible to feel in a closed house with no windows open grazed against her skin.

"What happened?" She asked with thick tears in her eyes. Marcos rubbed his face and then supported himself by having his elbows against his lap and his chin against his intertwined hands. "Marcos, where is she?"

"She's gone." He finally answered with such heaviness on his shoulders. "She got sick a few years back, maybe three years ago. No doctor knew what was wrong with her so no one could cure her. I'm so sorry, Roni. I wanted to send you a letter so many times to tell you but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. You deserved to know but I couldn't. She loved you, so much. She asked me to tell you in case you ever came back."

Roni broke down. Not in the crazy, sitting on the floor and screaming way. The tears simply streamed down and her throat felt like it was going to explode because of all the lumps she choked back. Marcos quickly pulled her close and simply held her while she coped with the news. Guilt crippled into her. Three years ago... had she stayed, she might've been able to save her.

"Oh, honey." A too familiar female voice whispered. Suddenly that cold breeze was still, in front of her and holding her knees. She didn't want to open her eyes — that'd be the ultimate acceptance and proof. "Look at me."

Roni reluctantly opened her sticky eyes and choked back a last sob as she watched Melaina's ghost smile sadly at her. It was like a movie effect. Melaina wasn't ghostly, she glowed. Golden lights shining from her, she sat there, half transparent and thumbs caressing Roni's legs.

"I could've saved you." Roni cried. Marcos frowned at first but then remembered Roni's story and the fact that she was Hades' daughter. "I left Germany six years ago. If I had just returned instantly, I..."

"Maybe." Melaina mused. "Maybe not. You need to stop filling yourself with guilt that you shouldn't be feeling. Even Hades has trouble controlling life and death. Don't overthink the what ifs. Life is just... life. Things happen and there's nothing you can do about it. Not even you."

"You didn't deserve this. To die of sickness." Roni wiped her face even though it didn't make a difference.

"No. But I'm okay with it." Melaina cupped Roni's cheek and caressed it with her thumb. "I've accepted it. I was happy, I had a good life. I had a woman come into it and change it for the better, one who made me feel so many things and taught me so much. I got to marry someone I love. If anything, I've done so much that... it doesn't really matter that I died early."

"I miss you." Roni cried and let her head fall a little as she cuddled into Melaina's embrace. "I've missed you so much, Mel. I really thought I could come back and see you again. You and Marcos. I've missed you both."

"There's something else too, isn't there?" Melaina sighed, reading her like an open book.

"I've lost so much during so little time. This soldier named Keith... he was so nice to me and then he died. And... I lost my closest friend to the war. Steve sacrificed himself and I miss him. And now I get back here and you're gone."

"I'm right here, Roni." Melaina tried to cheer her up. Roni merely shook her head and smiled sadly.

"It's not the same. You're touching me but all I feel is a breeze, like a leaf is stuck on my cheek. It's torture." She sighed and pulled away Melaina's hand gently.

"I'm sorry." Melaina's lip quivered briefly, making Roni feel guilty for sounding so harsh.

"It's not your fault."

"Roni? Are you okay, honey?" Marcos asked as he stroked her back. She tucked her hair behind both ears and nodded. "Is Melaina okay? She's not in pain, is she?"

"I'm not." Melaina quickly answered. "Really, I'm at peace. Tell him that. Could you do me a favor?"

"Anything." Roni nodded.

"Can you send me to the good part of the underworld? I'm sort of stuck in an abyss right now. A very neutral place that's driving me crazy." Melaina laughed and scratched her arm.

Roni seized Melaina's hands in hers and pursed her lips. Closing her eyes, she mentally traveled down to the underworld with her. Once they reached the serene part with blossoms and happy souls, she opened her eyes and took a look around. It felt strange to be in two places at the same time and it creeped on her to be amongst dead people. Some of them passed, some stole a second look but continued on nonetheless.

"Do they know who I am?" Roni asked quietly, more to herself, and watched them relax by a bench or walk aimlessly.

"Yeah." Melaina answered. "It's very evident. I mean, you radiate power, status and darkness. It's very easy to assume you've got power over this place. And you're not shining like the rest of us."

"Cool." Roni chuckled and hugged her own stomach. "It's just... I feel like I'm home and I don't like it. I see all these souls and I feel superior, like I have control over them without even trying. I can even feel the roots of all the trees and flowers... as if I'm physically connected to this place."

"Well, you are. You're the queen of it. Since your dad is supposedly dead, you're above Persephone — if she's real. You're next in line for the throne, so to speak. You have to be connected to the underworld or it'd be strange." Melaina suggested with a sloppy shrug.

"Yeah, you're right. I do want to get back to the surface though, it feels like bugs are crawling all over me. I wish I was here earlier. I could've saved you, cured you from the sickness. Or at least try and fail."

"I love you, Roni, and I never asked for anything. I'm just so glad I even got to meet you. Now go, change the world." Melaina smiled before pulling her closer and giving her one last kiss. It wasn't like a leaf down there. Maybe it was because Roni's physical body wasn't in the underworld, only her soul and mind. Either way, it felt like a real, alive kiss.

"If anything happens, contact me. Okay?" Roni whispered as they pulled back. Melaina nodded and shortly after, Roni gasped and came back from her stoic position.

"I assume you helped her find a good place." Marcos smiled and rubbed his jaw. "You started to scare me."

"Why?" Roni questioned and looked down at her palms, where her marked glowed.

"Because you just stopped moving, started whispering in ancient greek and then your eyes turned black. Fully black, like the day we found you in the bathroom." He frowned and grazed his thumb under her eyes. "Now they're normal again."

"Blue or brown?" She asked and looked at her hair color that had returned to its blackness.

"Brown."

"I'm so sorry about Melaina, Marcos. She asked me to tell you that she's okay. She's found peace and she's not hurting." Roni said with grief in her voice. It was starting to dawn on her that Melaina was really gone.

"Good. I'm glad she's good." Marcos gulped and was now forming tears in his eyes. This time it was Roni who comforted him as he began to silently cry. He had lost his wife after all.

After they spent some time simply being there for each other, Roni sauntered to her old training spot. Everything was just as she had left it, except that the practice doll was more torn up. Smiling, that made her know Melaina continued training even after she left. She gathered her old weapons and supplies in a big bag and looked at Marcos who stood watching with crossed arms.

"I was thinking of returning the things to Mr. Serapis and give you the money if he gives me any. Is that okay? You're not using them, are you?"

"They're yours. You bought them, you can do whatever you wish with them." Marcos reminded her with a smile. "What are you gonna do now?"

"I have no idea." She laughed and strapped the bag over her shoulder. "There's one more friend I want to visit. Then I guess I'll just see where life takes me."

"Sounds like a plan. It was good seeing you again. Don't be a stranger." He pleaded before placing a quick kiss on her forehead.

"I won't, I promise. See you around." She smiled.

Roni gave him a light punch on the arm before she walked to the town. A few locals noticed her return and waved, thankfully not noticing that she hadn't aged at all. Entering her favorite store, Mr. Serapis look up from his paper and grinned.

"Hadronia? Is that really you?" He asked in disbelief.

"How are you?" She laughed and put the bag down against the counter.

"I'm good, what about you? You just disappeared."

"I had to. I told you I was going to make this world better, didn't I?" She mused and rested her arms against the counter. Looking at him more closely, she frowned but shrugged her thoughts away. "Anyway, I, uh... I came to return some things I bought. I know they're out of date by now but I was thinking you could use the material to make newer weapons."

"Are you sure? You loved these." He huffed as he took out the shields and swords.

"I have my favorite sage blades, a gun and a sword. Those'll do just fine." She shrugged and pursed her lips together.

"So are you retiring from heroism for the moment or are you continuing?" He questioned, being the first one to ask with two options instead of just asking with a sea of possible answers.

"While fighting bad guys sounds like the right thing, the sandy beach life is so tempting..." She trailed off and made a face. "To get my own little house by the beach where I can figure out what to do, relax and just be by myself."

"It's okay to take breaks from work, you know." He chuckled and handed her a small bag with money for the weapons. "Especially if you work as a spy and soldier."

"True. Have a nice life." She smiled.

As Roni exited the store, she was struck with a cold slap across her brain. She never told anyone about being a spy, not even Melaina and Marcos knew and only they knew that she was a soldier. Swallowing a burning lump in her throat, she turned around to ask him how he knew but Mr. Serapis wasn't by the counter anymore.

She gave the money to Marcos since he'd most likely have more need for it. Lastly, she relucantly walked to the graveyard and registered in Melaina's grave in her memory. Some there looked at her with sad eyes considering most of the town knew how close they were.

Then she left Greece to visit a friend. Not to her surprise, she found him sitting at a bar with a beer in his hand, exaggarating stories about himself. Her favorite one was the one about him being a prince. Transforming her body suit into a more modern, black dress, she sat down beside Sameer, wrapped her arm around his shoulders and took his beer so she could drink from it.

"I'm back, babe." She winked and held back a laugh when he widened his eyes in shock.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it!" Sameer grinned as he wrapped his arms around her. She quickly put his beer on the table and hugged him back. "It's been so long!"

"Six years." She nodded and licked her lips. "How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good. How about you?" He asked and looked into her eyes. Even though she was smiling, her blinking eyes told him otherwise. "Oh, no."

"What?" She asked.

"What happened when you went back?" He questioned softly and seized her hand.

"She's gone." She answered with a heavy sigh and drank from his beverage. "Died of disease a few years ago. The doctors didn't even know what was wrong with her."

"I'm so sorry."

"I'll get over it. Life's about loss, right? I'll move past it. I have to." She shrugged and tucked some hair behind her ear. He looked down as she quoted him and nodded a little to himself.

"It's okay to grieve. Doesn't make you weak."

"I know. But I'm afraid that if I start grieving, I might never stop. She's gone, I just have to accept that. I've cried it out, I'm not in denial and I literally said goodbye to her in the underworld. I just want to get over it. By Dionysus, I wish I could get drunk."

"You can't get drunk?" He frowned. "How sad."

"I know!" She exclaimed and crossed one leg over the other one. "I've tried but my body heals too fast. Anyway, have you talked to Charlie? Or Chief?"

"Yes but it's not the same after..." He trailed off and gulped.

"I miss him too." She said quietly and supported her elbows against the table so she could bury her face against her palms and then intertwine her hands and hold them against her chin. "I miss all of you."

"Have you talked to Diana?" He asked.

"No, and I wouldn't even know where to look for her. She's not exactly making any headlines for now." She muttered and looked at Sameer. He took a sip from his beer and shook his head.

"How did it go so wrong? Steve and his stupid stubborness."

"I understand him." She admitted and crossed her arms together against the table. "Trust me, I wanted to throw him out of that plane and do it myself but... he was right. She needed to see him sacrifice himself. After everything she saw those days, she needed to see that people could still do the right thing. If it were me in that plane, she wouldn't have gotten that strength. I hate Trevor for doing it but I understand him."

"Why are you sitting in a bar with me when you should be out there, helping the world?" He asked with genuine confusion in his voice. She laughed quietly before looking at him with a soft smile.

"Because you're my friend and I'd rather spend my time with you for now. You make me smile. Why wouldn't I want to be with you?" She answered and looked around in the bar. "Plus, this is more my scene. I like this. The people, the constant chattering, the cosy space, the music–"

"Ah, music!" He suddenly cut her off and stood up from his seat. Then he offered her his hand and bowed a little as a joke. "For old time's sake?"

"You're unbelievable." She giggled before accepting the offer.

Sameer pulled her close and rested his hand against her lower back. Roni put hers on his shoulder and started swaying to the quiet music in the background. Some glanced their way but no one judged. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes in content.

"I am so glad Steve's agency kidnapped you that day." Sameer whispered, making her snort. "Yeah, he told us. It was entertaining to say the least."

"It was humiliating." She retorted and lifted her head to look at him. "I'm not supposed to be so easily captivated."

"To be fair, you weren't in the most stable... state of mind." He tried to help. She only shook her head with a smile. "So what have you been doing for six years?"

"Not much, really. I've been living on this island, writing about my life so far just to get it written somewhere. Trying to figure out what to do. I do like to write, I've discovered."

"That's good." He nodded and spun her around once. "How about the island? Is that where you want to live?"

"No." She answered surely with a sigh. "It reminds me too much of home. I feel trapped, even though I have an entire sea in front of me and a wonderland behind me. But whenever my feet hit the sand... it feels wrong. I keep thinking back to Themyscira and I think... a kid of Hades probably doesn't belong on a sunny beach. That's more Poseidon's style." She explained and bit on her lip. Every time she uttered the words of another god or anyone did so in her presence, her cerberus mark would light up. Sometimes it stung, sometimes it didn't.

"How about somewhere crowded, in the middle of a city? Maybe New York? No sand, no beaches." He suggested.

Roni thought about it and smiled widely. He spun her once again, happy to hear her giggle. The two danced for a long time until they had to part their ways again. She promised to visit regularly though, as often as she could just as she did Marcos.