A.N: Wooo boy, this is getting intense. Thanking you all for the reviews and support.

To Jessica Torres-Robbins: I'm sorry, but for the greater good, Arizona must die! Mwuahahahahaha, nah I'm kidding, I wouldn't kill off one of my main characters. That's just sad.

To Guest: Yes! Erica is a bitch! There is no stopping the Hahn-inator!

Chapter 13: Betrayal

Callie p.o.v

I hurried back to the hospital, knowing that I was already late. The meeting with Erica had caught me completely off guard. What if she's telling the truth? I shook my head; no it couldn't be, Terri has been working so hard to protect this city.

The parting words of Erica echoed in my head, I remembered hearing her voice just as I was leaving.

"She killed my brother you know?"

"What?" I was in shock, why would Erica's brother be involved?

"Yeah, Athena. She killed him in cold blood; he was 26, still so young and he had a bright future ahead of him. She just appeared one night and killed Trevor, my brother."

"Why are you telling me this?" I could hear the pain in her voice; her brother's death must have hit her hard.

"I just wanted you to know the kind of person she is. She isn't who you think she is; she's calculating, and she knows how to get your trust and affection. Then when you least expect it, she'll turn on you and you won't even see it happening. She knows what'll hurt you the most, and she won't even have to get her own hands dirty."

I admit that Terri is clever and knowledgeable, and she was clearly running the show here, but would she really kill for no reason? She'd gone out of her way to save Lexie and Teddy, and she'd even kept Arizona and Tim safe for all these years, but was it really just a ploy to gain their trust? And what of the strays? They had been attacking innocent humans and Terri had made it her mission to protect them, without their knowledge, so what could she gain from that? I was so conflicted, but I had to hurry back to my mother and sister.

"You bitch!"

As I approached the room, the blade Erica gave me still clutched tightly in my hands, I could hear the sounds of an angry Arizona, rushing to the door; I felt an aura of pure hatred hit me.

"You can't trust them …"

"… She's probably in danger …"

"… Your mother will die at their hands …"

Erica's voice rang through my head, and doubt flooded my mind. Arizona was angry, so very angry.

"You left them to die!"

I tore open the door to see Arizona holding my mother up, eyes blazing, ready to strike, and I panicked. Fear consumed my body and my eyes clouded over, without being consciously aware of it, I had appeared behind my mother, blade in hand, unsheathed.

Driven by the desperate need to protect my mother, I failed to register her frantic cry of "Calliope, no!" nor did I hear the sounds of chairs being pushed back hurriedly. I only had eyes for Arizona, no, Artemis. My hand plunged forward without consent, meeting resistance, but I pushed hard against it with all my strength. Then, my vision cleared.

No…

Arizona's clear blue eyes stared at me wide eyed, in shock; the pain of my betrayal clearly portrayed on her face.

No…

The blood ran freely from the wound on her chest and pooled into a puddle on the ground.

Arizona…

She fell gasping for air, blood trickling from her mouth, and I dropped to my knees next to her, frantically placing both my hands over the wound, careful to avoid the blade still embedded in her, to try and stem the bleeding.

What have I done?

Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to speak, "C-C-Callio-" she managed before choking on her blood.

"Oh god! Arizona, no!"

I was physically torn away from her body, by my arm, by an enraged Alex, face full of thunder, and thrown back towards my mother and sister. There was blood all over my hands. Arizona's blood. There was a faint tingling sensation coming from it, but I had disregarded it over Arizona.

Terri and Lexie had taken over triage, and I could see her hand over Arizona's wound glowing a faint white.

"Call Bailey!" came the frantic command, and Clio disappeared from the room.

Arizona was turning paler by the second; I could feel hot turns burning down my face as I struggled in my sister's hold.

Alex came storming over to me and grabbed me. "What did you do? What the fuck did you do?"

"Stand down Alex" came Tim's voice, firm and face unreadable. Mark pushed at him and he reluctantly released his grip on me.

"Shit! No, no, no!" came Terri's voice and Arizona started to convulse. She removed her white luminous hand from the wound and raised it to her mouth. Biting down firmly on the wrist, blood dripping, she placed it over Arizona's mouth.

"Come on Ari, come on …"

The blood entered her mouth and a purple aura started to surround her body, glowing vibrantly, pulsing. Red lines started spreading, starting from her throat, trailing down her arms and branching out like veins. The pressure in the room increased tenfold and silence folded over.

Bailey flew into the room, followed by a frantic Owen Hunt and a breathless Cristina Yang, and within seconds, Arizona had been lifted and moved into a patient room, taking all but a few people with them. I was left in the restraining hold of my mother and sister, with Mark and Addie standing by protectively, facing an enraged Tim and an unreadable Terri.

"Where did you get that blade?" Terri's low voice cut through the strained silence.

"I-I-uh-Erica. Erica gave it to me." I stumbled out.

Terri tensed, "Erica, as in Erica Hahn?" she practically growled out the name and I looked up in shock.

"Yeah," I could hear Tim's whispered "Fuck" and found myself getting more and more confused.

"Why?'

"I-I don't know. She said it was for protection."

"Why"

"She said I couldn't trust you, and that you weren't who you said you were."

"And you believed her? Over Arizona?" Tim cut in incredulously. My silence gave away my answer.

"Get out." The command was calm, and cool, betrayed only by her red eyes shimmering with anger. Her voice left no room for argument.

What? No! I couldn't leave, not when Arizona's hurt.

"You killed Trevor!" I blurted out. There were gasps from Aria, Mark and Addie at my sudden outburst.

"What?"

"She said, Erica-uh, she said you killed her brother, Trevor."

She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "I killed Pallas because, whilst under Hades' order, Styx, or should I say, 'Erica', killed mine. It was retribution." She spat out.

Pallas? Styx?

"Calliope," came my mother's soft voice, I turned to look at her distraught face; "Pallas and Styx are the children of Hades." I paled immediately.

No… No! It couldn't be. She tricked me. She tricked me.

"Get out." My sister, Mark and Addie, forced me out of the room, only to encounter a murderous looking Alex in the hallway.

"Are you happy now?"

"Alex, I-I didn't know. E-Erica said-"

"Arizona told you to stay away from that woman. She's a part of Hades' clan and that means she's never up to any good, and you still decided to listen to that bitch over your girlfriend?"

"Back off Alex," came Mark's warning voice.

"If anything, and I mean anything happens to her, I won't let you go. This is your fault." He grabbed my hands, "Her blood is on your hands. You better pray nothing happens to her!"

Mark pushed at Alex, only to be shrugged off. I looked down my blood soaked hands, feeling the tingling sensation increase, and they started to shimmer …

What the?

… and the next I saw was darkness.

Terri p.o.v

I was furious, absolutely enraged, and I could feel the anguish and devastation radiating from Tim, but there were still unanswered questions.

"Why did you wipe her memory?" I asked an unsuspecting Lucia, who jumped at the unexpected noise.

"She had witnessed the attack that night and I had to protect her. I couldn't let her remember the face of Hades and Styx, she would have asked too many questions, made the wrong choices. She needed to be ready and to be trained. It just wasn't time, and as her godmother, I made sure she got that time." She explained calmly.

"Hades and Styx? They were both there that night?" Tim asked, and she nodded, "That why not just erase that night? Why erase 16 years worth of memories?"

"Because she couldn't have any reminders. If I had just erased that night, then she would still remember and return to the house that was covered in Hades' scent; she would remember Calliope and I and she would ask too many questions. She needed a new start and a different goal. So I made the choice, to the dismay of my daughter, to give that to her. Don't think that I made that choice easily; she was the daughter of Aphrodite and Poseidon, my best friends, and the love of my daughter's life, and I was destroying my daughter in the process. But I would rather her aim be for the truth than revenge. She was such a sweet and innocent girl and I didn't want to subject her to that life."

"Why now then? Why would you agree to meet us now?" I asked. Tim had gone silent at the mention of revenge.

"Because it's time. I'd sent my daughters here in order to help you, to help Artemis remember."

My face darkened, "Keep your daughter away from Artemis, she's done more harm than good."

She sighed sadly, "I can't."

"I'm ordering you to keep Callie away from Artemis!" I rebuked, daring her to disobey me.

"Fate has already laid out its cards, and we can only follow." Tim looked up in surprise at her cryptic message.

"Don't fuck with me Mnemosyne. Fate has no part in this, only your daughter's stupidity." I spat; I refused to believe that it was Arizona's fate to die at the hands of a mortal.

"I'm sure you noticed Calliope's powers earlier on?"

Tim and I nodded as we thought back and remembered the look on her face when she came in. Her eyes had clouded over and emitted a light gleam of blue and she had flashed behind Lucia in a move that was so unexpected, that we hadn't had time to react.

"Calliope and Ariadne are half-breeds, but they had never shown any signs or symptoms of the bloodline."

"But we never sensed them." Tim reminded; it was impossible for them to be vampires without our knowledge.

"I had their aura sealed away like Poseidon. They may have never displayed any powers, but their aura would have given them away.

"What does that have to do with Artemis?"

"They're soul mates." I scoffed at the idea.

"Calliope had unlocked some of Artemis' memories, and in return she awakened Calliope's inherent abilities. It was meant to be; they were destined to be together."

"It's not possible, there has been no prophecies telling of Artemis and Calliope's fates together, and even if there was, it would be the 'Calliope' of 500 years ago, one of your muses and not your daughter."

"There may not be one of Calliope, but … When Calliope was born, Theia came to me in a vision and blessed her with the name 'Iphigenia'."

I froze and Tim inhaled sharply. No, it couldn't be possible. There was a prophecy; said to have been foretold by Theia herself, of Artemis and Iphigenia. In the prophecy they were lovers, soul mates, but in the time of war, there was a sacrifice made in exchange for freedom. The translations were unclear, but it was always said to be of Iphigenia's sacrifice to Artemis.

"I don't believe you! Callie has given Arizona nothing. We may be at war now, but there is no 'freedom' to be gained, only death, Arizona's death. You of all people should know of the prophecy Mnemosyne."

She smiled gently at me, at my misunderstanding. "Princess, you must have noticed Artemis' hesitation. Her unwillingness to act and kill in the same manner as yourself and Apollo; her confusion towards going after Hades, having no personal vendetta against him; and her personal conflict with the strays?"

I contemplated this for a while. Arizona always had problems killing; the first ever mission we took together; she was almost injured because of her soft heart and unwillingness to destroy a stray. She was always unable to detach herself from the reality that the strays had no redemption, once they were turned, there was no cure. She had tried, begged and pleaded for us to find another way to deal with them, but there was nothing we could do; we didn't have the choice. Reluctantly, she had started to accept the idea that destroying them was for their own good, they would no longer have to suffer from madness and hunger; we had to free them from their imprisonment, but there were always times when we had missions that hit her harder than any other ones; the ones with kids, teenagers and pregnant women. As a doctor, a paediatric doctor no less, she learned not to get attached to her patients, that she couldn't save them all, but she would always give her everything into finding a solution; but as a vampire, not only was there no solution, she had to be the one to end their pain. She had to physically kill them, feel their blood on her hands, and hear their screams as they faded into dust. She'd always put up a mask of indifference, but we could always tell that it had really affected her, and whilst she couldn't cry; inside, she was dying. She constantly asked me questions about Hades, she didn't understand our battle with him, she wanted to know why Hades was so against us, and actually suggested reuniting with him. She didn't understand the cruelty and horror that Hades brought with him, nor did she understand the devastation he would create. She was still so innocent, and a part of me never wanted her to understand what Hades really stood for. I glanced towards Tim and could see he had the same thoughts.

"And Iphigenia?" I was getting tired, the last few days with Teddy's injuring and now Arizona's was catching up to me, and the meeting Mnemosyne was causing me more grief than I could have ever imagined. I didn't want Artemis to lose herself, but I wanted to free her from her remorse.

"Calliope, after having her restraints freed, would be able to access her powers as a Healer. It is no coincidence that Calliope chose to go into medicine when she had the world at her feet, it was her destiny to become a Healer, and as Artemis' soul mate, she would be able to heal her body and soul from misery and isolation. She would give Artemis a home, serenity, joy and hope. She would stop her from falling into a pit of despair." She levelled her eyes at me, speaking with utmost clarity, "when you rule as Queen, you will need 2 strong willed, ruthless, hard hearted, elders to stand by you in order to maintain order. You can be merciful, but you need to be able to show sovereignty, the ability to deal with situations as they are presented to you, the will to deliver punishment and exact retribution, and Artemis as she is now cannot be that elder. She will bring the downfall of both you and our clan." Tim had straightened up at the thought of becoming an elder during my reign.

"You've seen how your father rules with his elders and you need to be just like him. You remember how he used to be don't you? When Dionysus was still alive, he was kind hearted and loving towards you, but after his death, his treatment towards you became cold and ruthless. Do you not remember the punishment delivered to you 18 years ago, when you took responsibility for Apollo's mistake?" she glanced briefly at him in apology for bringing up the memory, "The elders tortured you and locked you away without sustenance for 7 days, and not once did Zeus come to your aid, he did not utter a single word as they humiliated you in front of your clan. An example needed to be given to the clan, that every sin would be punished, regardless of your gender, age or rank, even if you were the Crown Princess, you received no mercy. He did not want to be that man, but experience dictates that one cannot be too merciful, less they be taken advantage of. "

I recalled the event she was talking about; Tim had gotten into a petty argument with an advisor's son, he'd used the powers from his bloodline to triumph over his opponent, critically injuring him in the process. The advisor had brought up disarray over the situation, claiming that he was abusing his powers as a Royalty and deserved punishment. His son was in a coma for 6 months before he managed to recover, and the advisor demanded retribution. I couldn't let Tim take the blame, I knew he was acting out because of the way my father and I were treating him, seeming to favour Arizona over him. He was jealous; he wanted freedom and recognition for his ability, none of which my father and I had presented him with. I couldn't blame him though, I felt exactly the same, but I constantly had the elders' eyes on me and did not have the chance to portray such 'uncouth behavior'. In my peripheral vision I could see Tim swimming with guilt; I really didn't blame him though.

Lucia must've seen the conflict playing in my head and tried to one last move to get me to revoke my order. "Artemis would become free from her conflict and Calliope would be free from her restraints, it's for the best, Princess."

Artemis… Arizona… I didn't want her to suffer anymore, but to lose herself in the process… Was it worth it? I looked to Tim for answers, but he was looking straight back at me, giving me the power over Arizona's fate.

"I refuse."

Taken aback by my adamance, Tim and Lucia gasped,

"P-Princess!"

"Athena!"

"No! I refuse! I refuse to lose Arizona. She's happy, perky, and optimistic, she's innocent! She brings light to our dark world, brings joy to our suffering, she gives us hope! Hope that there will be a better future, hope that Hades will not succeed. I would rather have the innocent, kind-hearted and merciful Arizona than a cold and ruthless killer Artemis! I refuse to lose my sister, and I sure as hell refuse to let the prophecies run our lives! I'll forge my own future, with what I already have; I'll create a better ideology, one that Arizona can survive in. To hell with the rules, my father was weak for creating a system that operates on fear; he's just as bad as his father. He may not be a tyrant, but his system has no democracy. I would rather my clan follow me out of respect and love than fear and terror." I looked at Tim to show him my determination, and saw him grinning proudly, eyes shimmering with respect and love. I'd wanted his support over my decision, and he had granted it.

Lucia's shoulders slumped and she dropped her head in defeat. "It's too late."

"What did you say?"

"I admire your tenacity, and I wished that we could have the world you envisioned, but things have already been set in motion, there's no way to change it now."

She raised her head and smiled wistfully at me.

"The sacrifice has already been made."

No…

"What?" I stared at her in disbelief

"B-but, Callie hasn't…" Tim stuttered out.

"Part of Theia's vision had been mistranslated, the prophecy spoke of war, freedom and sacrifice. As you know, the war refers to Hades' usurping, the freedom is Artemis' conflict and Calliope's power, but the sacrifice? Everyone believed that it was Iphigenia who was to make the sacrifice, but that's not true. The sacrifice refers to the sacrifice of body, mind and soul, and the one moment they separate is the moment freedom will be achieved…"

Body, mind and soul … the one moment they separate… the moment they sep-!? It can't be!

"…The sacrifice means Artemis' blood; it means- "

"Arizona's death"

A.N: Arizona's dying! Nooooo!

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Teddy, she'll come back soon... Hopefully