It had been dark out for quite a while. Sirius thought everyone had fallen asleep. It was fairly pitiful to sleep on the floor of a ship, but it wasn't as bad as being eaten by a Minotaur which was also part of the usual routine with these things. So no one really took issue with the floor.

He'd been trying and failing to sleep when he heard his cellmate gasping, afraid. He opened his eyes and got his bearings on his surroundings while his eyes adjusted to the near total darkness. Marlene slept near the wall and she looked like she was still asleep but restless and in pain. He hoped that whatever horrible dream she was having was not prophetic.

He couldn't bring himself to let her continue suffering. He cringed at himself and his horrible growing attachment. He didn't want to care so damned much about how she felt or what she thought, but he was powerless to stop.

He approached her very quietly and knelt down by her side.

"Marlene," he whispered. She didn't wake. He cursed his stupid heart as he reached out and touched her shoulder to get her attention. "Marlene wake up. You're having a nightmare," he raised the volume of his voice just a fraction.

She gasped sharply one last time as she opened her eyes. Those blue eyes that had turned him into a bumbling idiot who sometimes walks into poles looked right at him in shock.

"Oh. Sirius. Did I… did I wake you or...?" She pushed up to sitting pulling her cloak tightly around her. "I'm sorry. You can go back to sleep now."

"You didn't wake me. I woke you." He huffed as he ignored his better judgement and sat next to her. "I was awake, and I was not keen on letting you suffer in your sleep."

"Oh," her voice was soft, but he could hear her confusion. "Well, I, thank you. I'll be alright, now."

"You don't seem alright, Marlene." Sirius cursed himself. He was powerless to stop his downward spiral with this woman now that he'd let himself start caring. "Do you want to talk about it? I am… capable of listening… I'll have you know." He added the last part with a forced laugh, trying to remove any of the tension that he could.

"You," she chuckled and pushed her head back into the wall behind her, "Really?"

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear the shock in your voice." Sirius couldn't help but smile. Everything about her endeared her all the more to him, even her poor judgments of his character. "Really. Is it the impending doom or something else?" Sirius tried to get more comfortable on the floor, but only managed to scoot closer to Marlene.

"It's," she closed her eyes a moment. "Maybe it would be easier if I am doomed." She shook her head and gave a hollow sounding laugh. "I don't want to die, and you can rest assured that I'll do everything I can to avoid it. It's just," she pressed a palm to her forehead. "I have no idea how I'm going to proceed with my life if I am indeed alive at the end of this."

"Oh?" Sirius tried to sound casual, "I thought you had some sort of destiny in store?"

"Destiny," Marlene spat. "Lately the word makes my stomach turn. My mother only tells me how important it is that I find my destiny and is seldom any help to me in clarifying what exactly that is. My father thinks the answer is to leave it all behind, but it's hard to know if becoming mortal will really solve my problems or make them worse. I don't want to be reviled by everyone around me and also bitter about losing a large part of who I am."

"Why would you be reviled? I don't understand." Sirius stared at her with a furrowed brow. How could anyone not find this woman captivating?

"You don't understand." She said it slowly, holding out each word, before she laughed bitterly. "Of course. Because you're one of only a handful of people who don't fear me because of the who I am. Dreadful Daughter of Fate, as the captain addresses me, is an identity I've carried my whole life. Even as a small child I was feared. Being the daughter of Moira comes with all the tales of the terrified. You're also one of the most oblivious people I've ever had instance to meet. So you didn't notice, you don't notice, you don't allow my mother or my powers to frighten or intimidate you." She turned to look at him. "That has actually been a welcome change from the norm, so thank you."

"For being oblivious?" Sirius chuckled nervously. "Sure… uh… anytime."

"My father and mother both mean well," Marlene continued after a quiet moment. "But neither of them really understand what it's like to have a foot in both worlds and be looked upon with suspicions on both sides."

"I'm sorry… suspicion? That's bizarre. Do any of these people bother to pay attention at all?" Sirius felt blindsided by all this. She'd called him oblivious, but he was fairly certain it was everyone else who was oblivious in this instance. "You're actually pretty astoundingly un-dreadful … or is it dreadless? Can something be dreadless? Sorry… uh… whatever... you lack the qualities which inspire dread." Sirius was glad that it was dark because he could feel his face burning. But he couldn't help but feel grateful for his own idiocy, because Marlene's soft laughter was like music to his ears.

"Sirius, what changed?" She looked up at him. "You've been horribly annoying and childish, going so far on occasion to be spiteful against me. Yet here you sit, listening to my problems as though you are my friend?"

"Perhaps you've grown on me." He whispered quietly before mentally smacking himself. But the damage was done so he plowed on. "Or perhaps I'm just not as terrible a person as you thought. I know there are similarities but I'm not my father. I'm fun at parties and I'm terrible at making plans, but I'm not entirely callous and hedonistic."

"I'm sorry." She looked distraught as she said it. "You're right. I've assumed too much about you just based on your father. I've done to you exactly what everyone has done to me and I have no excuse. You aren't him. I should have approached you that way from the outset." Then she chuckled. "For one thing, you can only turn into a dog."

"Rude!" Sirius couldn't stop the laugh that escaped him. "I thought you were of the opinion that I'm a charming dog?"

"I am." She rested her head on his shoulder and Sirius' stomach did a flip. "I was teasing. You're a very adorable dog and I will not even pretend otherwise."

Sirius attempted to keep the tremor from his voice as he tried to work his way out of this with humor. "That implies that I'm less adorable when I'm a person, therefore I am horribly wounded."

"Only very slightly less adorable," He could practically hear the soft smile in her voice.

He had expected that she would continue joking at his expense. Her actual response had pushed him to the very peak of embarrassment. If she hadn't been promised to another man he'd have jumped on board with flirting and innuendo. He was the son of bloody Dionysus. He could have been exceedingly charming, if he had been in a position to try. But it was probably also a disadvantage that she wasn't just anyone he'd met in passing at some party. He was, despite every attempt to deny it, falling fast in love with this woman. So it may well have been that he'd be rendered a blundering mess with words even if she'd been unattached.

After what was probably way too long a pause, he opened his mouth and mumbled "I um… better go get some sleep…big day tomorrow."

He started to make a move to get up, but she stopped him by grabbing his hand. He felt his heart drop to his stomach. The whole thing felt like a very strange sort of torture.

"Please stay." Her voice was small and there was an edge of panic in it that pulled at his heart. "I don't want to be alone. I'm really glad I'm not doing any of this alone."

He sighed and accepted that he was probably going to die from the horrible aching in his chest before the Minotaur got to him, but he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, me too."

Without any further words he pushed the two of them out from against the wall, and lay back on the floor, with Marlene's head on his chest.

He wanted to kiss her with every fiber of his being. It was near torturous to restrain himself. Ultimately he decided that since she'd kissed the top of his head (though he'd been a dog at the time) it wouldn't be too horrible to offer her the same affection. It could be written off as a comforting gesture… surely?

He'd been certain that he wouldn't sleep at all with the woman who was stressing his heart lying against him, but somehow he found himself drifting off as he listened to Marlene's breaths becoming slow and even.