A.N: It's like 4am here; I have no idea who I am anymore. Forgive any mistakes!

Chapter 14: Unlocked

Arizona p.o.v

It's dark, so very dark and I'm scared. Where am I?

"Arizona…"

Hello? Is someone there?

"Arizona…"

That voice! It sounds so familiar; I know it from somewhere, but where? I can't remember.

"Arizona dear, it's time to wake up."

I opened my eyes to see identical blue eyes staring down at me.

"Oh good, you're awake."

My vision cleared and when it finally focused, I saw an older woman with blonde hair and a gentle smile. Do I know her?

"Come on now dear, you're going to be late for school."

School? Where am I?

"Arizona!" she stated firmly, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

What's going on?

"Hard way it is then," she approached me and before I knew it I was convulsing in my bed, peals of laughter escaping my mouth.

"Okay! I give, I give! Stop please, moooooooooom!" I whined breathlessly.

Mom?

She stood up; hands on her waist, stern look on her face and stared at me for a moment before relaxing again.

"Good, now come and get breakfast, your father's hasn't left for work yet."

…Dad?

I made my way to the bathroom and when I looked into the mirror, I was shocked to see my 16-year-old self staring back at me.

What's going on?

I moved to grab the pink toothbrush and my left hand automatically went for the toothpaste on the side of the sink.

How do I know where everything is? Is this … Is this a memory?

After brushing my teeth I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen on pure muscle memory alone. Standing by the kitchen stove was the older blonde … my mother, cracking eggs into a hot pan, and sat at the table was an older man reading the newspaper. When he heard me enter he put down the paper and smiled at me. He was well built, and from what I could see from the military precision buzz cut hair he was sporting, had dirty blonde hair. He had hazel eyes that lit up when he saw me.

"Morning sport!" he said in a deep voice filled with warmth and love.

"Daddy!" I heard myself squeal and run to him, throwing my arms around his neck. "You're still here! I thought you'd have left for work by now." I took a glance at the clock to see that it was seven thirty am.

"Well, I thought I could afford to be late today, it's a certain someone's birthday today isn't it?" he chuckled gruffly.

He smelt like the sea, it was peaceful and calming, and the vibrations from his chuckle warmed me from head to toe.

"Happy birthday butterfly" He called me butterfly because he said that I constantly fluttered around the place energetically like a butterfly. He kissed me on the cheek, and gave me a small box. I opened it to see a pair of keys in the box, looking up at him questioningly, he gestured to the front of the house. I took a look out the window from the kitchen to see a shiny new light blue Thunderbird sitting there.

I know that car; I've seen it before. I've seen it in Seattle at the hospital.

"Oh my god! Is that mine? Thank you daddy, thank you, thank you, thank you!" I giggled with joy.

"Well, since you've got your license now, it's only right that you have a car to go with it."

"Oh my god! Mooooooom! Have you seen this?" I turned around at the light laughter coming from my mother.

"Of course I have dear, I picked it out with your daddy. Happy birthday baby." She placed a plate down on the table and I saw scrambled eggs and pancakes loaded on it.

"Oooh yay, my favourite! I love you guys, you're the best! I can't wait till Calliope sees it, she'll go crazy. She loves Thunderbirds."

Calliope?

"We know dear, you've been telling us since you met her, after hearing it for about 6 months, I'd think we'd get it by now" my mother teased me, and I blushed. "Aw, Daniel, look at her! Our little girl's in love! She's growing up so quickly!" They all laughed at me despite my grumblings.

Mom… Dad… I miss you.

"Now Arizona, be careful okay? Obey the speed limit, stop at every red light, and mind the pedestrians and keep your seatbelt on at all times." My mother was leaning into the car window as I strapped myself in, ready to head into school.

"Yes, yes, I got it the first 3 times you told me" I murmured, "Now goooo, I'm gonna be late!" I jumped around in my seat.

She laughed at me, "Can't wait any longer to see Callie huh?"

I grinned at her, dimples appearing "You know it!"

I manoeuvred through the road and pulled into a parking lot, exiting the car, I walked up to the building and looked up at the sign with 'Cambridge High School' proudly on display. As I went to walk into the building, I heard my name being called.

"Arizona! Hey Arizona!"

I turned around towards the voice, when I spotted the other girl a smile spread across I face. "Calliope"

She approached me with a bright smile; black backpack slung over one shoulder, holding a small box in her hand. "Hi baby, Happy birthday" she leaned forward and gave me a peck on the cheek. I could feel my cheeks burning from how wide my grin had gotten. "Here I got this for you." She held out the box, and I saw that it was covered with a baby blue wrapping, with a white bow stuck on top, next to the bow there was a little card, flipping it over I recognised her writing on it. 'To Arizona, happy 16th birthday, you are my life and I love you, love Calliope'.

I looked up to see her avoiding my eyes, a faint pink tinge on her cheeks, "Thank you Calliope."

"Don't thank me yet, open it!" she urged.

Opening the box, I found a silver necklace, gently picking it up by the chain; I saw a heart attached to the end in a way so it was slightly lopsided.

I recognise this necklace.

"Its awesome. I love it." I smiled sweetly at her and she beamed at me. I carefully studied her features, looking from her wide brown eyes, to the slope of her nose, down to her full lips.

She looks just like she does now, just a lot younger. She's still magnificent, so stunning.

"What's the matter?" she looked at me curiously.

"Hm?" I replied absentmindedly.

"You're looking at me like we haven't seen each other in years. I saw you just yesterday in class, and last night as well on our date."

I want to kiss her.

I leaned forward, gently cupping her face and kissed her soft lips. "I love you," I whispered as I pulled away.

She flushed bright red, ducking her head shyly, "Ari…" she muttered quietly before looking at me with soft eyes. "I love you too."

She looks the same, but her personality is different…

"I can't believe they got you a Thunderbird for your birthday, I'm so jealous!"

I giggled slightly at Calliope's whining tone from the other side of the phone. I was lying on my bed in my pyjamas, and it was dark outside.

"I know right? At least now you'll have an excuse to want to spend more time with me." I teased.

"Ari, you know that's not why I want to spend time with you."

I smiled at the shy tone of her voice; she was always so shy when it came to talking about her feelings and declarations of love. I recalled the time I'd finally asked her out on a date and she had stuttered and stumbled around her words for about 5 minutes before just nodding. She was getting better at showing her feelings now without getting too shy or embarrassed, it was one of the things I loved the most about her. When we first started dating; she had asked me once, why it was so easy for me to discuss things that were on my mind, to talk about feelings, and to show them so freely. I'd told her that I liked being honest about my thoughts and feelings; if I liked someone, I wanted to be able to proudly show it off to the world. She had said that she felt guilty that she wasn't able to do the same and I remember staring into her eyes and declaring:

"I really like you Calliope, and I'm not afraid of what the world thinks. I know you like me too, you may not say it out loud, but your actions show it. And the fact that you're here with me right now, and holding my hand, telling me about your concerns; that makes me really happy. And it makes me want to fall in love with you all the more."

"I know Calliope, it's obviously because of my insanely great body and amazing sense of humour. And you like to make other people insanely jealous that you managed to bag yourself such a hot girl!"

She giggled and I grinned, fingers slowly tracing the necklace that now adorned my neck.

"I really do love your gift you know? It's awesome."

"You're welcome, I thought it'd really suit you, I saw it and thought of you. It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Not as beautiful as you though." She spluttered slightly and I chuckled.

"A-ri-zo-naaaa!" she whined

"Whaaaaat?"

"You're doing this on purpose aren't you?"

"Doing what on purpose" I played.

"You know what." She accused playfully.

"What? I can't give my girl a compliment she deserves? Because I'm totally not down with that."

"You know that's not what I meant. You're having way too much fun at my expense" I could practically hear the pout in her voice.

"Yeah, you're super cute when you blush."

She still is…

I waited a moment as she gasped at the compliment, before adding quickly, "plus all those little gasps and flushes gives me a pretty good idea of how you'll react when I finally get you in my bed!"

"Arizona!" she squealed and I burst out into laughter. It was just too easy sometimes, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

"Fine, fine. I'm sorry, forgive me?"

"Maybe…"

"Aw come one. Pleeeeeeease? Pretty, pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

She chuckled at my antics, and sighed dramatically, "If I must then …"

"Awesome, you're the best. Hey Calliope?"

"Yeah?"

"Say it."

"Say what?" she asked confused.

"You know, it." I waited until she finally got it and I heard a whisper of 'oh!' as she came to the realisation of what I wanted.

"I love you Arizona." She always spoke those words with the softest and most loving voice, and I would never tire of hearing it; not from her.

"I love you too. Goodnight." We hung up and I went to sleep with dreams of nothing but her.

I love you too, I love too Calliope…

I was woken up by pounding on the door downstairs; blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I glanced towards the clock and saw that it had just passed 2am. The pounding continued and I heard my father climbing down the stairs with exclamations of 'yeah, yeah I heard you the first time'. He was not someone you wanted to wake up in the middle of the night. The sound of the door opening was quickly followed by sounds of arguing. I climbed out of bed and snuck my head out of my door, to see my mother standing at the top of the stairs. She saw me and motioned for me to go back inside as she went downstairs.

It's dark, I remember this … No, no … No!

The sudden sounds of crashing had me running down the stairs to my parents, and when I entered the first thing I saw was darkness. There was a man standing there in the kitchen, he had turned around as I came running in and his eyes were dark, eerily dark. He was tall, brunette, and pale and was wearing a tailored black suit, crisp white shirt, and black tie with shiny black shoes. He looked like he was going to a funeral.

"Ah, you must be Artemis" his voice was low and smoky; it sent shivers down my back.

"Leave her out of this Hades!" came the booming voice of my father.

Hades… No!

"This is Artemis, she's not much is she daddy?" there was giggling from beside the man … Hades. I turned my attention to her and saw a girl roughly 18 years old staring at me with disappointment in her eyes. She was blonde and had ice blue eyes, and she looked just as pale as Hades.

"Now, now Erica, she's 'human' right now, we've just got to get the real her out and then you can play okay?"

What was going on? My father looked so angry and my mother so scared, who was this man? And what the hell was 'Hades'?

"Arizona!" I turned at my father's voice, "run!" His voice left no room for argument; I had never heard him sound like this before, so didn't even think to question him. I had just turned around when the blonde girl suddenly appeared in front of me; her eyes were now bright yellow.

What the hell? I swear her eyes were blue and are they glowing?

"Stop this Hades, it's me you want!" My father's booming voice made me shudder.

"Au contraire, my dear brother. You, I could care less for, but her, she looks just so delicious." There was venom dripping from his voice as he licked his lips.

No, no, no…

"Daniel!" my mother cried out desperately before my father let our a roar that echoed throughout the entire house, the air around the room increased so much it was suffocating. Outside I could hear thunder and lightning striking as rain pelted on the windows. A bright light blinded me, and when my vision cleared and my eyes landed on my parents, I was shocked at what I saw.

My father was standing tall, a deep blue aura surrounding his body, eyes burning a bright thunderous blue; and my mother was there right beside him, a light pink aura surrounded her, eye blazing a fiery red; both with fangs out growling at Hades and Erica. Another bright flash and I saw that Hades and Erica had also 'changed'. She had a bright yellow aura, with golden eyes and he had a similar yellow aura and golden eyes, but both his were tinged with hints of black.

What the hell was going on? I was frozen to the spot as fear flooded my body.

"Run Arizona!" My mother came at Erica beside me, whilst my father charged at Hades.

I know what happens. No! I don't want to be here anymore. Take me home! Anybody! Just let me go!

There was a loud crash as my father and Hades collided, aura exploding causing the pots and pans, the table and the chairs all to be pushed outwards and shatter. I felt a cold breeze and turned to see that a block of ice had consumed Erica, and my mother grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door, which suddenly crashed open as 8 men came tearing through, 4 with eyes yellow, and 4 with eyes dark black; all had fangs bared. Their sudden appearance caught my mother off guard and she was hit by a bolt of yellow lightning that sent her flying backwards. They came at me, but my mother had reappeared almost instantly, aura flaring up and in a flash 4 of the men had turned to dust.

She's so powerful…

A cry of pain caught our attention and I saw my father hit the floor, blood pooling underneath him.

"Daddy!" He growled and stood back up, charging at Hades, who was also bleeding from various wounds.

"Arizona, you need to leave, get out and run. Don't stop running." My mother grabbed onto me and threw me out the door. The last thing I saw before the door closed was Erica coming up behind her with a short blade that had three jewels encrusted on the hilt.

White, black and blue…

I ran, and ran, and ran. My heart pounded heavily in my ears. Run, run, just keep running. It was a mantra I kept repeating in my head. I was scared, so scared, the fear consumed my entire body. It almost threatened to buckle me knees, but I couldn't stop, I had to keep running. I couldn't let it catch me, whatever it was. I took a quick glance around to see where I was. It was the park, I always came to this park to think, and there was never anyone around this late at night. "Dammit!" It lunged, from out of the shadows, and then I was on the ground. I looked up into its eyes, they were completely black, covering even the white part of the eye; it was like looking up into death. There was pain, all consuming pain, I wanted to scream, but it had my throat. Then, silence.

No… Mother! Father! … Hades, Erica, I'm going to kill them; I'll kill them all!

Callie p.o.v

When I woke up, my head was pounding, and everything hurt. What happened? … Arizona! I sat up quickly and found myself sitting in a bed with my mother and sister sitting by my bedside.

"You're awake Calliope."

"What happened? Arizona! Where's Arizona?"

"Calm down, everything is okay." My mother's voice was soft and soothing, but I was too agitated to calm down.

"Where's Arizona?"

"She's … stable." She hesitated.

"Stable? What do you mean stable? What happ.." My voice trailed off as the memory of what I'd did hit me. "Oh my god! What have I done?" I sobbed into my hands and felt my mother's arms come around me, pulling me tightly into her.

"Calliope, you had no choice. It was all part of the prophecy."

"Prophecy? What?" I asked in confusion, I looked towards Aria to see her looking at me sadly. Does she know what's happening?

"Let me explain it all, just calm down my dear." As I listened to my mother explain everything that had happened before I had entered the room, I felt my eyes widen in horror. She's Mnemosyne? The one responsible for Arizona's amnesia. Why?

She slowly finished the story of the prophecy and watched me sadly as I stared at her mouth agape.

"I-I'm Arizona's soul mate?" she shook her head gently.

"No, you're Artemis' soul mate." I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"But Arizona is Artemis." Isn't she? Or did I miss something…

"I'm afraid that's not how it works. Not anymore. If … When she wakes up, the Arizona you knew before will no longer exist."

"No longer exist? Is she going to die I thought she was just getting her memories back?"

"Not exactly, but she will finally stop supressing Artemis' natural instincts, the guilt and devastation she felt as Arizona held her back; she needs to be stronger and more ruthless if she is to survive this war. And that's where you come in. You have to make sure Arizona never comes back."

"What do you mean 'make sure Arizona never comes back? Mama you're confusing me." I screamed out in frustration.

"Let's put it this way; Arizona is her humane side, the side with all the guilt, the misery and the pain, whereas Artemis is her animalistic side, the side with no remorse, no mercy, and no regrets. You need to make sure that 'Arizona' never comes back out."

My heart was breaking; I was about to get Arizona back only to lose her all over again immediately. "I can't do that mama, I love Arizona! If Artemis is needed to survive this war, then I'll make sure that she comes out during war, but I need Arizona, I won't survive without Arizona. I'll protect them both; I'll save them both." My mother and Aria stared at me in astonishment, then she let out a chuckle whilst Aria still looked bewildered.

"You are so much like Athena. Your stubbornness, your determination and your need to protect Art… Arizona. What is so special about that woman?"

"She's the love of my life. She's so innocent, so light and happy, I don't want to lose that side of her and I'd do anything to protect her."

"Light to a dark world, joy to suffering…" I heard my mother mutter absentmindedly

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just something Athena said about her."

"T-Terri? She said that about Arizona?"

"Yes. Are you feeling better now?" I took a moment to consider before nodding, "very good, now come, let's go, you need to apologise." My mother had pulled Aria and I out the door before I could get another word in.

I stood there awkwardly as they all stared at me. There were mixed emotions flying around; indifference, anger, pity, and sorrow, it was intimidating.

"What is she doing here?" snarled a grumpy Alex.

I looked to the head of the table where Terri and Tim were sat, and met their eyes; they were staring at me unmoving, faces unreadable. Terri had her elbows on the table, fingers linked, and chin resting on top, whereas Tim was leaning against the back of his chair, arms crossed. Did I mention it was intimidating?

"Okay, hold up, can someone please just explain what's so special about that blade Erica gave Callie? It looks just like the one that injured Teddy." Addie cut in.

"The Blade of Cronus" came a deep, booming voice from the doorway. A tall, greying African man had just entered the room, he had a white lab coat on over his clothes, blood covering areas of it.

"Richard, it's been a while. It's good to see you." My mother greeted the man.

"Likewise Mnemosyne." He replied.

"How is she?" Terri asked.

"She's stable now; your blood is helping a lot, Princess. Bailey and Hunt are looking after her, and I've made special instructions to Dr Yang regarding her chest wound; she's being taken care of, don't worry." I studied Terri carefully and had only just realised that she look a lot paler and tireder than usual. "I've also taken a look at Theodora, and she's recovering well, I've given them both something to help speed things up. By my calculations, Theodora should wake up soon."

Addison let out a sigh of relief at the news; I saw tears filling her eyes and knew that she was struggling with not running straight to her bedside.

"And Artemis?" Terri's voice sounded exhausted and I briefly wondered how much time had actually passed; I hadn't the mind to ask my mother beforehand.

"Ah, she'll take a little bit longer."

"How much longer?"

"As long as it take to complete the uh," he glanced at me briefly, "revival." I looked away guiltily.

"Calliope, Ariadne, let me introduce you to Richard Webber, the right hand man of my father, Zeus, and the greatest Healer known to our clan." Terri calmly spoke, and we nodded to each other in greeting.

Richard Webber, as in ex-Chief of SGMW, critically acclaimed and highly accomplished General Surgeon Doctor Richard Webber? Holy crap!

"So, Blade of Cronus?" asked Mark

"Yes, the Blades of Cronus are a set of three blades created by Cronus for his three sons." Richard held up the blade Erica had given me, "each blade has 3 jewels encrusted on the hilt, white for Zeus, black for Hades and blue for Poseidon. Cronus was a very powerful vampire and had created these blades for his sons as a symbol of royalty. They were created by his own hands and infused with his blood, which is toxic to other vampires." A look of confusion crossed our faces. "It's part of a ritual you partake in when you are crowned, the ritual enhances their blood, making them unique to the other Royals; a sign of supremacy if you may. It gives them the authority to kill or save vampires; I'm sure that you all noticed that the Princess offered her blood in order to sustain both Artemis and Theodora?" There were nods all around. "Yes, well that part is important, only blood offered willingly can be used to save another. It's like a failsafe system; taking their blood by force will only poison your own body, the system allows the direct heirs to be protected, otherwise everyone would be after the heirs after birth. But it is also detrimental to the health of the heirs as well, as it drains the blood and power from their own life force, weakening them in the process. That's because it's a unique ability, so it takes time to 'recharge'.

Now as mentioned before, the Blades of Cronus were originally created as a symbol of authority, those wielding the blades represented that they were acting on behalf of the Royal family, and so only the members closest to the Royals were trusted with the blade. But during the war, when the 3 brothers overthrew their father, these blades were used in combat and so were stained with Cronus' blood; and because of that, these blades became toxic to other vampires."

"So if each son possesses a blade, then how comes Hades has 2?" asked Addison, she had come in contact with 2 strays each possessing a blade each.

"Because Hades has possession of my father's blade." Tim's steely voice cut in.

"Does that mean that you're immune to the blade Terri?" Addison continued, completely disregarding the atmosphere in the room.

"Ah, not exactly. The effects are less obvious and it'd take a lot more to completely disable her, but it is still harmful to her. The blood belonged to the strongest vampire we'd ever had and that power is retained in the blood, the only reason he was defeated was because he was haunted by his own insanity and hallucinations. It had taken the combined powers of the 3 heirs, whom had all inherited some of the enhanced blood, and the Queen, with whom he had mated with to defeat him. The mating ritual shares power and life between the couple, so the Queen sacrificed her own life and blood to save her sons and the clan. An reputable and honourable Queen that we could never replace."

"Never? What about Terri's mom?" I really envied Addie's selective senses, she had completely ignored the tension earlier on and was now ignoring Terri's darkening aura.

"The-uh-the Queen-uh-she-um" He kept glancing at Terri and stuttering; it was strange to see the man so jittery, and oddly amusing. He seemed to be in great fear of Terri, though I'm not surprised, she is pretty scary when she wants to be.

"My mother is dead. And she was not the Queen. That woman did not deserve the title, not after having Rhea as the Queen before her. She was nothing like her predecessor." Her rigid voice explained.

"P-Princess, please the Queen was just-"

"Do you dare refute me Richard? The cheating, frivolous harlot managed to find her way into Hades' bed!" she spat out as gasps penetrated the air, "I'm glad Tobias killed her before she could infect me anymore."

"Hades' bed? Wait, Tobias as in your brother Tobias?" Oh god, Addie seriously has no filter, I shot her a pleading look.

Come on Addie, this isn't SGMW Gossip Mill; this isn't a juicy story told for your entertainment, please stop!

"Yes, the undignified woman starting sleeping with Hades and anyone associated with him, why my father chose her to mother Dionysus and I, I will never know. Apparently, she used to love my father and he her, and she bore him 2 children, but sometime after I was born she started her whoreish ways. Some say she was influenced by madness, some say she was seduced by Hades, and others just say that she was a promiscuous woman who deserved no redemption. Either way, when she started trying to sway me into Hades' army, she stopped being my mother. Dionysus killed her when I was 6 when she tried to kidnap me away to Hades. I dread to think of what the world would be like if she had succeeded." I was glad to see that Addie had finally clued in to the tension and stopped questioning Terri, I really didn't want to see her get slaughtered in Terri's anger.

"Regardless, we are drifting off topic. The circumstances regarding Calliope and Artemis has already been explained and we will accept Calliope into our family providing she bears our mark and follows as directed." Terri's authority rang out and I sighed in relief at her acceptance, taking a quick look around I could see that Alex seemed to be the only protesting, albeit rather silently. "However, I would like to add that we will not aid her in her pursuit of Artemis' affections. Should she choose to accept you; it will be of her own accord, and not from any influence from us. We will neither encourage nor dissuade her." She looked directly at Alex, daring him to protest. "When Artemis awakens, Calliope will be responsible for her aftercare, assuming that your powers are truly activated."

"Oh I can reassure you that that is true." My mother assured, "Artemis' blood has unsealed the latent abilities that lay dormant within her, and it will not take her long to learn how to use them correctly. If I may be so daring?" Terri nodded, "I believe that just by being in Artemis' presence will help Calliope, her powers are triggered by Artemis, and so it would only makes sense for her to be near the source, no?" Oh my mother was good, she knew that I wanted to see Arizona and would probably not be able to do that; at least not if Alex had anything to do with it. So this way, I get to learn whilst still being near Arizona. Oh, you sneaky, sneaky woman.

She closed her eyes as she digested the information for a little while; rocking on her chair, head rolling back. She opened her eyes, staring straight at my mother, before stating with utmost seriousness.

"I'll agree on the condition that you give me Ariadne." My sister gasped in bewilderment. What the hell could she want with Aria? My mother opened her mouth to protest, but was cut off straight away, "Or I could declare my right to the bride. Your choice, she follows me willingly, or I take her by force."

"Right to the bride? What the hell is that?" exclaimed my sister.

"You were predetermined to be the bride of the Crown, and seeing as Dionysus is dead, you are automatically passed onto the next Crown, which would be me."

"That's bullshit! I am not some chattel that you can just pass to whoever you want. I refuse!" Aria was furious.

"It's how fate has laid out it's cards, and you have no choice but to follow, am I right Mnemosyne?" She smirked at her checkmate on my mother. My mother looked horrified at the idea, she had never thought her words would be used against her.

"Ariadne…" she chanced a look at Aria.

"No, no mama! It's not fair on me!"

"We don't have a choice." She replied sadly.

"There's no rush, take as much time as you want. I can wait, but can Artemis?" Terri stated smugly, amused at my mother's conflict. I glared at her; I had never expected her to be so cruel, especially not in a situation like this. I'd thought that Arizona's involvement would sway her decision, but instead, she was using Arizona as her trump card. It was despicable.

Aria looked desperately between my mother and I, hoping that one of us would say something, but I couldn't meet her eyes; it was my fault she was in this position, and my mother had been stunned into silence by Terri's actions.

Terri stood to leave as I finally looked at Aria, and I could see the fire in her eyes as she came to a decision.

"Wait!" she looked at Terri with utmost conviction and declared in her firmest voice, "I'll do it."

"Aria, you don't have to-"

"Don't Cal, just don't. She's your soul mate; your one and only. Terri may not care about Arizona's happiness, but I care about yours okay? So just, just let me okay?" I could feel tears gathering in my eyes; I couldn't believe Aria was sacrificing herself for me. My mother looked on in dismay at having unintentionally offered her own child up for auction.

"Wonderful, shall we get started then?" Terri clapped her hands and dismissed us all. "Oh, Addison?" the redhead turned to attention, "I can sense that Teddy will be awake soon, you may want to head in there now, I'm sure you'll be the first person she wants to see." She nodded and headed out the room beaming.

I was the last to leave the room, wanting to stay with Aria as long as possible, but eventually I had to leave, and when I closed the door, I could see Aria standing there proudly, determination never once leaving her face.

I'm so sorry Aria.

Aria p.o.v

I can't believe what just happened, did she really just use me as auction material? Does she not care that Arizona's happiness depends on Callie? What is wrong with her?

"So how do you want to do this?" I stated harshly. There was no need to be polite and friendly to a monster.

She sat down heavily in her chair and slumped down, energy wavering dangerously with exhaustion. "You can leave you know?"

"What?" Seriously? She caused all this commotion only to tell me to leave? There's something seriously wrong with her, I can't believe I actually used to look up to her as a talented genius.

"I didn't really mean any of it; I was just pissed at Mnemosyne. I mean, she'd spent so long hiding from us, even though she knew exactly where we were and then turned up and played the fate card. Then Arizona almost died, I mean I watched her heart stop 5 times you know? I just kept feeding her blood to try and keep her stable enough for us to fix her wounds so she could start healing, but she just kept crashing. And now I'm probably going to lose her anyway, and the only one who can potentially fix her is the one who put her there in the first place. And the reason she's even here is because of Mnemosyne; which leads me back to being pissed again. So yeah, I wasn't serious, not really anyway. But I do think you should be marked, for protection though, not ownership, because Hades obviously knows that Mnemosyne is here, and if he sent Erica to Callie, then he obviously knows that you're her daughter too, and you'll probably be in danger. So, yeah." She dropped her head into her arms on top of the table.

Wow, she can ramble. Okay so it was just a ploy to piss off my mom? Fair enough, but she does have a point, maybe she isn't so bad after all.

"Are you okay?" I cautiously approached her. She turned to look at me; keeping her head in her arms.

"What? Yeah I'm just tired"

"Clearly" she had exhaustion written all over her face, and I wondered if she had actually had any rest since this all started 6 days ago, when Teddy got injured.

"When's the last time you slept? You look drained, and really pale." I was genuinely concerned, times were serious and we couldn't afford to have our leader incapacitated.

"I don't know. I've been running around since Teddy got injured, I mean I had to feed her to save her; and then we had to prepare for your mother's arrival in between shifts looking after Teddy and emergency surgeries we had 'upstairs' in the hospital; then there was the planning to prevent the world from blowing up or something; and then Arizona. She took a lot of blood because it was a wound directly to the heart. I mean we're not like the vampires that you see on TV, where we'll die if you stab us through the heart with a stake or anything; but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell. Just think of all the times in the E.R when a patient comes in with a chest wound, it's always touch and go with them. But yeah, I think I'm a little malnourished?" she chuckled a bit at her own humour, "can vampires even get malnourished? … Actually yeah we can, ignore that, I think I just need to feed or something." I stared at her wide eyed, completely not expecting such a talkative and somewhat goofy person; she'd pretty much done a complete 180 from the person she was with my mother earlier on. It was all kinds of adorable.

Wait… Adorable? Shit…

"You seriously need some sleep."

"Mmm, yeah I know, that's what I'm doing now." She mumbled into her arms. I watched her figure slumped over the table and felt my heart ache.

She's just like a child.

"Hey, if you wanted to piss off my mom, why did you bring Arizona and Callie into it? You really did sound like a heartless bitch, it was like you didn't care about Arizona at all." I was really trying to understand her; there were times where she was just like a child, times where she was a complete badass and hardcore, and then there were the times where she just irritated you. She was so complex.

She straightened up in her seat, "It's my job to be hated; it's the only way it works." I arched an eyebrow at her. "I treated Tim like he was nothing and ordered him around like I would any other vampire, with no regard to his royalty status in order to make him into a better warrior; a suitable heir; a perfect replacement for me. I need to make sure that if I die, I'm not leaving the clan leaderless.

I pissed off Callie in order to make her more determined to work for the success of Arizona's revival, to work harder to Arizona's affections, to treasure her relationship, and to prove that I was wrong about them. I love Arizona and I don't want to see her hurt, so if Callie was unwilling to take this seriously, I'd rather subject her to a lifetime without her mate than have her mate break her later on. She'd be devastated and I wouldn't be able to save her.

And with your mother, I purposely provoked her for 2 reasons. 1, yeah she really pissed me off. But more importantly, I wasn't kidding about the 'right to the bride', you really are destined to become the bride of the Crown, whoever that may be, and I didn't want her to distraught herself trying to find a way out for you if Hades happened to kill us all and Erica became the Crown. There's no doubt that she loves you, and would never give away a child like that, I mean she actually liked Toby, so when she found out that you were destined to marry him, she was relieved because she knew he would treat you right. Imagine her devastation when she found out Hades had succeeded in killing him. She's been trying to protect you, so I forced her hand; or rather I forced yours, Aria."

"You did?"

"Oh yeah, totally. Rather than make her feel like she was giving away her child like, what was the word you used, 'chattel', I made you choose instead. There was no way she was going to choose between either of her child's happiness. If she'd chosen you, then Callie wouldn't be able to see Arizona, but if she'd chosen Callie, then you would belong to me. She was torn, and after seeing that, you made the decision of your own free will."

Holy crap, she's a genius.

"But in the end, it was just a scare tactic. I don't mean it, so whatever." She shrugged nonchalantly, brushing it off as if it was nothing. Then she slumped back over the table again and began to drift off.

As I studied her sleeping figure, I couldn't help but be amazed by her.

She's been trying so hard to help everyone, taking away the conflict from the situation to make it easier for them, but at what cost? How many people resented her for what she'd done to them without knowing the truth behind it all? I can see that Tim follows her with complete trust, respect and love, but what of everyone else? Mom and Callie will forever believe that she's a cold and heartless monster, Mark and Addie will stand by Callie in the end, Arizona by Callie, Alex and Teddy by Arizona, so who does she have left? If it came down to it, would Tim choose his sister or his leader? And Lexie, love or loyalty?

I stroked a hand through her hair gently, her head rolling to the side, face portraying a childish innocence never seen on a regular basis.

She's really lonely isn't she? She's already lost her brother and her mother, how much more does she stand to lose? Has she ever shared any of her pain and burden with anyone?

"Seriously, you can leave. Before everyone thinks I've eaten you or something." The low voice laced heavily with sleep broke me out of my musings.

"You're really kind of adorable you know?" I stated absentmindedly.

"Um…What?" Shit! I didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Uh, I said no. Nope, you're going to mark me. You said it was for my protection right? And besides I'd rather you mark me than anyone else." She looked up at me disorientated. I don't blame her really; I had completely changed my opinion of her within the last 10 minutes.

"You wouldn't rather Tim? I mean, he's a pretty nice looking guy, I'm sure you'd be happy with him." She meekly offered

Was she embarrassed?

"Nope, I choose you. Besides, you said it had to be with the Crown right?"

"Yeah, but what if I like, die? You know you'll end up with Tim anyway right? And it's bad form for the Queen to be marked by someone else."

"Then you better work hard at staying alive then." She opened her mouth to protest and I was getting frustrated. "Look, I trust you." She froze, eyes softening and smiling at me gently. It made me feel warm inside. "Come on get it over with. Mark me!"

"Wow, I've never met anyone so desperate to be marked," she chuckled at my antics. Slowly, she raised her hand to my chest placing her index finger over my heart, her eyes grew red and I felt a burning sensation flooding my body, it was gone as quickly as it appeared. She handed me a hand held mirror that had seemingly materialised out of nowhere and I saw that my eyes were now shining red, with sparks of white appearing, and on my chest was a black owl.

"So, that's the mark of Athena. Welcome to the family Ariadne Torres. Now, your eyes are slightly different to Lexie and Teddy's because of your dormant bloodline you inherited from Mnemosyne and your destiny to become Queen, so have fun with that." She stated tiredly, before a yawn practically consumed her face.

"Come here, you need to feed." I gestured to my neck.

"Uh, aren't we moving a bit quickly here? I've just marked you and you wanna be sired?" Terri's 'deer in the headlights' look was hilarious.

"You don't have to sire me, you can just feed right?" I forced out between giggles.

"Usually yes, but not with you, no. You have a great destiny and blah blah blah, and besides you're a half-breed anyway, your vampire will fully awaken if I bite you. Not even Callie's vampire is awake yet; she needs Arizona to feed from her before that happens. You guys just have access to your power for now."

I deliberated for a while before nodding. "Like I said, I trust you." We maintained eye contact for what seemed like hours, as she studied my face, until she finally moved to push my hair away from my neck. She stroked gently along my jugular and I felt her breath on my throat as she leaned closed, I shivered at the contact.

"Last chance to back out." She whispered against my throat and I swallowed loudly at the feelings they provoked. I closed my eyes and tilted my head to give her more space and the next thing I felt was pain as I heard her words echo in my head.

I'm sorry…

A.N: Well that was long!