Present

Mintha lay next to Nick on his bed and watched him while he slept in the dark. She could see the outline of his body moving as he inhaled and exhaled. His troubled mind was making him toss and turn in his sleep. She touched his cheek and he relaxed. His body was no longer tense. She gave him peace while she viewed his thoughts and memories. She discovered useful information. She removed her hand as an intruder appeared.

"Wake up." she ordered Nick.

Nick could not see Mintha but he could hear her voice, although it sounded to him like white noise. He opened his eyes and turned his head to see a tall dark-haired man standing over him. He recognized him as the Dream-Hunter, Kratos. Satara had promised him that Kratos would take him to the Underworld to see his mother, Cherise, in exchange for giving her Marissa.

Mintha sat up as Nick pushed the blanket off him and attacked Kratos. He overpowered the Dream-Hunter and pinned him to the wall with his arm pressed against the Dream-Hunter's throat.

"What are you doing here?" Nick demanded.

"I saw how troubled you were and came to heal you." Kratos explained.

Dream-Hunters were gods of sleep. They were sent from Olympus to help heal and protect dreamers. Through a pact with Acheron, some of them would aid Dark-Hunters. Nick cocked his head to the side. Before he woke up he was sleeping peacefully unlike usual. In normal nights he could not find sleep at all. He doubted the guy's words. He suspects that it was something else that was helping him sleep.

Nick released him. "Get out and don't come back."

Kratos disappeared.

"Come back to bed. I will take care of him later." Mintha said.

Nick rubbed his face with the back of his hand and returned to bed. He pulled the blanket over himself and lay down. Mintha lay down and continued to watch him. He rolled to his side, his arm fell over her, and his face was resting on her shoulder. He closed his eyes and slept.

In the morning, Mintha went to sit on the couch in the living room while Nick did his morning routine. When he was done he sat on the couch next to her. He turned on the T.V and channel surfed.

"I want to watch Spongebob Squarepants." she said.

Nick stopped on Nickelodeon and put the remote down. They watched the show together and laughed at the talking sponge's antic. Mintha was enjoying her time alone with him until Satara appeared.

"Nick," Satara said his name seductively.

"Tell her to go away." said Mintha.

"Go away." said Nick.

Satara ignored his words.

"I sensed your good mood and was wondering what brought it about."

Since he shared blood with her, it allowed her to feel his emotions, and he hated it.

Nick shrugged. "Nothing. Just relaxing. Go away."

She shamelessly ignored that too and glanced at the T.V, "Cartoons? How juvenile."

Mintha stared at Satara's face. She looked familiar to her but she could not put her finger on it. "Who is she?"

"Satara." Nick answered her question without thinking twice.

Mintha remembered her now. Satara was one of Apollo's children. He gave her to Artemis as a handmaid. She was the one that was always giving Artemis dirty looks.

"Yes?" said Satara.

Nick glanced at her. "What?"

"You said my name." said Satara.

"So?"

Satara forced on a smile and sat next to him, pressing her body against his. Mintha watched her from her place on the other side of Nick.

"Have you made your decision?" Satara asked him.

"Don't rush me."

"Don't you want your mother back, Nick?"

He did but he was not about to give Marissa to Satara in exchange. The last thing he wanted was to get an innocent child involved in this mess.

"I need some time alone." he told her. He stood up and walked away.

Satara's face twisted in rage but she forced it down. She glared at Nick's back before she disappeared. Not before Mintha used her powers to probe Satara's mind. She saw that Satara had no intention of helping Nick. She was going to use him in her quest for revenge and power.

Mintha left Nick's home and flashed to the Underworld. Leuce was waiting for her in their bedroom. As a non-corporeal lifeform, it was best for her to keep a low profile and to remain hidden from others.

"I figured out solutions to our problems. It requires us to temporary return to being Melinoe. When we are done helping Nick, I'm fusing back together with my heart." said Mintha. "And I'm expelling you from me, Leuce. You may have started as an incarnation of me but you've proven yourself worthy of being a separate lifeform."

Leuce was rendered speechless by Mintha's decision. She had surrendered to the inevitable that she was going to fuse back with Mintha again. It was going to be an adjustment since, she there were many things she had to continue doing. She helped Hades manage the Underworld. She created a treatment program to rehabilitate prisoners and some supernatural creatures. She believed Mintha was going to continue their work. It never occurred to her that Mintha would remove her completely.

"But don't we need each other. We are half of the same person. If we don't fuse back we are not whole." said Leuce.

"I thought that as well but I realized that I am whole." stated Mintha. "I became whole while we were in the human realm. I used to be a non-corporeal lifeform as you are now but no one could see or hear me. I once thought that it took me three thousand years to accumulate the power to become corporal. But after careful reflection I discovered the true reason why I was able to be corporal. I absorbed the original Melinoe's essence."

Leuce gasped. "You mean to tell me that you have the bits of Melinoe's essence that Hera wasn't able to find before she reincarnated into Hades and Persephone's daughter."

"Yes. This is Melinoe's essence, when she was Zeus and Hera's daughter. It has transformed into pure energy and scattered. Our connection with Melinoe makes her essence drawn to us. I believe there is still enough of it left in the human realm for you. We must search for it to make your form whole too."

Mintha and Leuce discussed their plan of action. Once they were satisfied with the details, they separated. Each had a mission in their mind to accomplish. Mintha entered Melinoe's body to help Nick. No pain could hurt her more than seeing Nick like this. She had watched over Nick since he was born. He and his mother possessed very little. He didn't have privileges like other boys did growing up but he was always a good kid. He loved his mother. He whined and complained a lot but he was a hard worker. He liked helping others. He excelled in school. He was going to be a lawyer. Things were going so well for him. What happened? The moment she turned her back for one minute to manage her personal business, he was offering to sell his soul to narcissistic psychopaths. Was she surprised? Not the very least. He had always made irrational and impulsive decisions, especially when it came to his mothers. His demon side fights to take control and his thought process goes downhill.

Mintha contacted Stryker and invited him to the Underworld. When she made her offered to Stryker asked her for time to contemplate the exchange. She was confident that he would agree. Everyone had a price, including the leader of the damned. She had discovered what it was through Stryker's connections with Nick. Nick belonged to Mintha. She owned his soul. She could take him from Stryker any day and remove his blood but she would rather be courteous. This deal would guarantee that Stryker, at least, would stay away from Nick.

Next, Mintha went to see Cherise as herself. They need to have a discussion about Nick and the truth. Before Nick was Cherise's son, he was Melinoe's son. Nick's old name was Ambrosius. Melinoe had adopted him and loved him as any mother could. She had educated him. It was the reason he excelled in school, had a strong sense of right and wrong.

"He was a lost soul that I found wander in the Underworld. I brought him to Melinoe to look after. She was going to keep him as a servant. As he grew up, she got attached and adopted him as her son. They were much attached. He was devastated when she went missing. He was depressed for a long time. One day, he shared that he wanted to leave me. He wanted to live as a human. Something about you drew him to you. I supposed he picked you because he saw that you possess the capability to love him. I warned him that you were too young but he insisted. He swore he'd obey you. Love you. I'm sorry. I knew life would be tough for you. I loved him too much to say no. I could not deny him this."

Cherise hugged Mintha. "I have no regrets. Now I know who I have to thank for giving me my Nicky."

"He needs you. He needs his mother." Mintha had concluded that Nick's human side craved Cherise's love. With her death the darkness within him was manifesting. When Nick was Ambrosius he had no problems dealing with it. Melinoe had taught him how to fuse his demon and human self together and they lived in harmony inside him. Recently, Mintha tried to return the memories of when he was Ambrosius to him but it did not suspected that he did something to prevent his old memories from resurfacing before he reincarnated. It could be that he wanted to forget his past with her and Melinoe. Maybe the pain of losing Melinoe was too much for him? So much that it caused him to abandon her.

Terribly missing Mintha, Persephone went to the place she knew she would be. With Nick. She found them at a restaurant, sitting in the outside table. Nick was eating a meal. Mintha was sitting across from him, watching him as he ate. Persephone saw that Mintha had changed her clothing. She was wearing black shoes, a blue and gray outfit with a matching hat. Persephone waved to Mintha to get her attention. Mintha removed her gaze from Nick to Persephone. She left Nick and went to her.

"I thought we should hang out today, if you are not busy." Persephone timidly asked Mintha.

"I'm busy." Mintha stated.

Persephone's face dropped in disappointment.

"Maybe later."

Persephone brightened. "I'll ask you again, then."

Mintha got up and returned to sit with Nick without another word to Persephone. Hades and Persephone claim to love her but she did not trust their words. She was nothing to them. They brainwashed her. They were willing to erase her completely to keep the memory of Melinoe alive.

Persephone watched Mintha as she watched Nick. Hades told Persephone that he thought Mintha should limit her contact with Nick. The couple had accepted their faults and crimes against Mintha but they also know that Nick played a key role in her causing her mental breakdown too. Persephone disagreed with Hades. Mintha was unstable and in a vulnerable state. She and Nick need each other to keep them stable.