The cool water lapped at her feet, making her feel as if she was soon to drown.

"Feriah, you're not even in yet."

"I'm aware, yet I feel like I am."

That wasn't far from the truth. She really did feel like she was going to drown when she took another step in, didn't help that her past was screaming at her at that moment. The sights and sounds blocked her thoughts as she felt Hercules take her hand, "It's alright, I'm right here."

She watched him, seeing how he moved away from her yet held tightly to her hand, how he tried so hard to coax her into the water. Slowly, she moved her feet, feeling the cool water rise up her legs, sending a harsh shiver up her spine.

"That's it. We made it out here last time, you can do it again." he smiled at her, his thumb brushing over her finger.

Any way of comfort and reassurance, he gave it to her. To calm the past or her racing mind, he did whatever he could to just have her lean on him and relax. Once the water licked at her hips, she froze, feeling the fear well up in her, her grip on him harder as it all came back.

"You're ok." he said, pulling her sight to him, "You are just fine. Focus on me Feriah."

She locked with him, keeping her eyes on his as he pulled her closer to him. She felt the water rise higher, covering her navel as he began to lean in the water.

"Hercules, please." she pulled back, breaking the contact.

"Feriah, you're ok. I promise, I won't let anything bad happen to you." he took her hand once more, "Just let the water cover you. Like a bath."

Feriah just stared at him, those were two totally different things, nowhere near the same. Yet his hand held hers, pulling her closer as he gave her a slight nod. She followed him, trying to silence the fear that screamed in her ears as it rose up past her breasts. She felt herself shiver in the water as he continued to coax her in, finally pausing as it sat just above the cups of her bikini.

"There, look at you now. Even farther than last time." he smiled at her, "Very good. And you are still ok, see."

She looked around, waiting to see something float past her, waiting for- Hercules's arms wrapped around her, pulling her against him.

"What the hell?" she shouted.

"Just relax, I have you." he replied, "Just hang onto me please, and kick your feet lightly. Like you are walking through the ruins, just ever so gently."

Feriah glared at him in puzzlement but did as asked. Her arms found themselves around his neck as she moved her feet like so, feeling the water move around her as he just stood there.

"See, do you see how that feels? That free movement, the water moving around you?" she heard him ask as she nodded, "That's good, that's what it's like to swim. To feel weightless and free. It's heavy yet not, understand?"

"I think I do."

"Good, just keep this up." he said as he held onto her.

Feriah was unsure of what he meant or what he was grasping at but the more she did as he said, the more she could feel it. The strange weightlessness surrounded her as she moved in the water, hanging onto him for all she was worth. But the more she kept it up, the more relaxed she felt. The water just licking her skin lightly as its gentle rolling lulled her, feeling Hercules's arms around her, just tight enough to prove he was still there.

"There you go." she heard him whisper in her ear, "You're doing great, Feriah. More than you could have ever imagined."

It oddly was relaxing, calming really. She lightly let go of his neck, letting her one arm move out along the water as her mind focused on his touch. That in itself was keeping her focused, more than she would have thought. Was this really how people felt when in the waters, so free and relaxed as it gave her a gentle comfort and a lulling lullaby of sounds? It was magical almost.

"Feriah?" she heard him say.

"Yes?"

"Feel good?"

She nodded, noticing her middle was cooler than before yet let her arms move together. She looked up at him, only to notice him farther away than before. The small smile adorning his lips as his own arms moved around him. Then it hit her. She was sitting in the middle of this beach, far away from the land, out of his reach and comfort, swimming. A child's scream of play filled the air. Her mind froze as everything replayed in her head, the icy waters surrounding her as the shocking burn filled her body just to see those lifeless eyes once more. Panic filled Feriah, she thrashed around to find something solid as the water seemed to have swallowed her whole. She tried desperately to grasp onto something yet there was nothing there at all. Until something yanked her up out of the water.

"Feriah!"

She threw herself at the solid piece before her, grasping tightly to it as she shivered and panted in fear. Sputtering coughs left her as she tried to focus on what was around her, just to feel a hand rub her back. Hercules. It was Hercules she was clung to, gripping him so hard that she should've heard bones break or heard him beg for desperate breath, yet he gave none as she heard the light Greek leave his lips. Fuck, she messed up again.

"Üzgünüm."

"For what?"

Feriah leaned her head against his shoulder, "For screwing it up."

She felt him move around as the water seemed to move away from her body. Looking up, she realized he was carrying her out of the water as he made his way to the beach. She tried to protest, to have him put her down but it went on deaf ears until she felt her bottom connect to the soft sand below the towel. Only then did those green eyes meet hers, worry lacing them as he looked at her.

"Why do you think you screwed it up? You are learning to swim, nothing drastic." he asked,"Oris there more you want to tell me?"

Now that was unplanned. She wasn't thinking he'd try and dive into her past, let alone what Father Jabari told him, but those eyes held it all before her. He wanted her to speak to him about it all, but in truth, she wasn't even ready to relive those days either, "There's nothing to speak of."

She could see it, it was written clear as day on his face yet he made no notion of pushing her farther on it. A worried sigh left him as he sat before her, "You do you I am here for anything, yes?"

"I am aware."

"Then please don't hide me from your past. Let me know you." he replied, "I have figured out so much so far by just being with you, not even speaking, yet you won't go any farther than that."

"It's safer."

"How so?" she could see him getting annoyed with her.

How else was she to tell him about the hell she lived? 'Hey Hercules, want to know what the ring was like for me? Guess after you hear it you won't look at me the same.' Yea no, it wasn't happening.

"Feriah." he spoke gently to her, his fingers laying on her knees, "There is no past that will chase me away if that's what you are afraid of."

Ok then, he was reading her more than she thought, "Never said that."

"Don't have to. I can see it. So please, Feriah, let me-"

The chime of his cell phone called his attention. Saved by the chime in this case. She let him answer the device, letting her mind wander on what she should have done or what she should do. Maybe letting him in would be a good thing yet the more it came to her mind, the deeper her thoughts went.

"Skata!" she heard him whisper harshly as he looked over at her, "We have to go."

Well, there went the rest of the swimming lessons and him asking her to talk now.

"How close was it this time?" he asked Gupta.

"Too close. Im Yong is on a fritz now, doesn't help he just gained Lailani. The poor girl is pretty shook up over it and now Raivis had two sets of members in his capital, attempting to trap Ai. The man is ready to let loose if it wasn't for Ivan and Toris."

Hercules looked over at the door, seeing the normally quiet and scared man, holding his capital close to him as Im Yong was setting out a slew of his tongue to Taj and Kiku. Genesis was getting more and more out of hand as the days rolled by.

"Where's your girl?" he heard Dryas asked.

"With ours, I believe." Sadiq answered for him as he came up to them all, "I know mine wanted to speak with her about something."

"That was what I wanted to ask." Gupta stated as he turned to him, "Have you gotten her to open up about her past? I know Neema wants to try and see what she can find yet every time she tries, Feriah seems to shut her out."

Hercules suppressed a laugh, "She's made it as far as I have sad to say. It isn't like I haven't tried."

It was the truth. Feriah barely spoke of her past and any time he did, she just shut him out and asking the old man got him nowhere. Every time he asked him, all Father Jabari would say was 'let her tell you, it's her story, not mine' and that was starting to irk him a little. He wanted to know why she was so afraid, why she hid so much from them all yet he didn't want to drive her away either.

"Seems like the meeting is going to take place with whose all here." Dryas pointed out as laptops and phones were left open.

Now it was serious, an open meeting like this over devices meant it was more serious than thought. Taking his seat, he waited as the German came up to the podium, the look of worry lying in his features.

"Now then, we are beginning and not wasting time on this." Ludwig began, "Since we had found Nora and gained more intel of what lies within Genesis. It has come to the notion that there may be more rats out in our governments than believed."

"I thought you Axis and Allies gathered that information months ago?" he heard Vlad ask.

"We did, yet that official was caught as well by Genesis and silenced before we had the chance to finish what we could find." Ludwig replied, "Does not mean that more won't join them to save their own skins. And that is what we are up against as we speak. At most a total of one hundred government official spreading from Portugal to South Korea have been found, all placed under arrest and waiting for punishment. It is slowly becoming the fear that many of us have."

"Overthrow." Hercules muttered under his breath, hearing Sadiq hum in agreement.

He has seen it before, so many rulers and beliefs over time to where his own mother suffered under those hands. It was a sick and deadly way for things to fall around a nation, for when the people revolted about something and the government fought them, the nation took the brunt of it the most. He could hear the American and Russian give heavy sighs over the phones, knowing the truth behind them.

"With that and the fact that they are becoming brazen enough to come into the capital in broad daylight and attempt to hard the new capitals itself have us up in worry too." he nodded over to the two men.

"It's not the first time that they have come into the lands like so." he heard Im Yong say, "They did it in yours and Canada's if I'm correct and we all know that they hit Norway. The man flipped out over it so bad that no one can cross his borders without being massacred in the storms."

Hercules was lucky to have seen those pictures that day, the huge wall of ice and snow that surrounded the nation was proof that the man meant serious business to even lock his own population within. Yet it seemed that they were blinded to it.

"I am aware it's not the first nor will it probably be the last. As of now, all nations have gone to their highest protection protocol and tightened everything to their strongest limit. That is all we can do until we can pinpoint what is going-"

Ludwig was silenced as the room went dark. Laptops laid blank or frozen with images as the lines gave a dull tone.

"Um, power's out." he heard Dryas say.

"Hercules?" Ludwig asked with worry in his tone.

"It happens at times. Sometimes strays will go where they don't need to." he replied.

"Not what I would have said since you asked me for money a few months back." he heard the man huff.

"I'm not that bad in money issues."

It was true, he was trying to get his nation and people back to a decent time before the crisis and so far some plans had helped out a little but still had some kinks in it. Not that he wasn't trying.

"So now what?" Sadiq said, "Can't have a meeting here in the dark."

"I don't know." he heard Ludwig reply only to have a scream cut through the air.

Hercules's head whipped around, wondering what the hell was causing it until it finally registered in his head, right as the lights all came back on, "Feriah."

He was gone, darting out of the room and flashing down the hallway, hearing the screams get louder as the others followed. He heard her let it out before in the water, yet this one was much different, much darker and fearful than before. Turning the corner, he saw Habibah and Neema trying to open a door, the screams louder from within.

"Feriah, please it's us." Habibah begged, "Let us in."

"Come on woman, get off the door." Neema added as she tried the knob again.

"Girls?" he lightly nudged them aside.

"She's in the room, we left for a moment for drinks when the lights when out, that's when hell broke loose." Neema said as he tried the knob.

"Feriah, it's me, Hercules." he yanked on the door, "Feriah, please, get off the door."

He fought with the piece, hoping that it would budge but she either was holding it or had it jammed. He tried to open it again, shaking the knob as her screams grew louder, fearful for her life. Was someone of Genesis within? Panic started to roll through his head as Sadiq and Dryas tried to help him, leaning against the wooden piece, finally giving it a slight nudged.

"Again you two." he huffed out as they pressed themselves against it, finally having it fly open and she fell out into his arms.

She was a mess. She fought him as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling the fear course through her as she attempted to fight him off of her.

"Feriah, it's me. It's Hercules!" he said over her shrieks and cries.

What the hell was wrong with her, she was so far gone at that moment that nothing was working as he held her there. Dryas tried to grab her arms as he heard Habibah try and reason with her as well, just to hear footfalls echo the halls.

"Let her go! Jetzt!" the familiar sharp German came up to him.

As Dryas and Habibah moved aside, he saw Marie come before her, staying out of reach of her thrashing arms. With effort, he finally grabbed ahold of them, making her scream out more as she continued her flight or fight of him.

"Feriah, listen. It's gone, you aren't there. You are elsewhere. Far away from it." he heard Marie tell her, "You're in Greece, not there. There's no harm coming to you."

It was all null, Feriah still tried to fight as he tried not to hurt her. Her nails dug into his arms as she kicked and swung her head back, only now Marie held her face o her own.

"You're not at war Feriah, you are in Greece. There is no war, no ring, no nothing. There's no death or pain. You are free. The war is gone!" the woman shouted at her.

Finally, Feriah calmed down ever so slightly as Marie repeated her words. His gripped eased on her as worry overcame him. What the hell happened to his Feriah?

"Neema?" he heard Marie say, "Hercules. I think we will need a room. Just the four of us."

He gave a nod to them both, knowing what was to come and knowing that his heart wasn't fully prepared either.

"Alright Feriah." he watched as Marie and Neema readied themselves in front of her. They had him away from her, demanding him to not make a sound as they spoke with her.

He knew it was for her own good, he knew she hated showing weakness and her speaking about it all and in front of him was nothing but that in her mind. It had taken twenty minutes of just Marie coaxing the woman down and that wasn't even anything else, and knowing Marie's specialty of PTSD, he knew it was bad.

"Now I want you to start from the beginning, right where it all began. Why do you work for the rings? Why do you feel connected to them? Why do you want to hide away from others and not speak to them? Is it all linked as well for why you can't swim? Or why the room scared you so?"

Geez, the woman was short and to the point, that he knew well of the German. He saw Neema give him a stern look before her eyes went back to Feriah. He knew they would get her better than most, especially Marie. Hell, she even got Ludwig to break down, got Eliza and Gil to confess, even had Tim and Jett to even look at themselves a little more.

"Isn't it obvious?" he heard Feriah say.

"It can be but we want to hear it from you." Neema said.

A sigh left her, "I work the ring for I lived in one."

That shocked him a little, she lived in one. So did that mean she also understood Habibah on a personal level that many couldn't see? He waited as she continued to speak.

"I was born into it. Both my parents were escaped slave children, finding peace within a village in Van Turkey. They knew what it was like and prayed that no others would suffer under it but they knew it wasn't so. So they gathered a group of people up to stop it. They did it for a while, working different nations and gaining people like them, including Father Jabari. Time went and then I came along. I remember growing up and seeing all these kids around me. I always viewed them as siblings that needed a hug or just someone to play with. I never really understood their lives until I saw it first hand. To say I was scared was a lie, mortified really. It was a ring that was small, they killed the ones running it, but they were still late for most of the children within. So many bodies and the smell. You'd think that after all these yearsI'd forget such a smell. Nah, it just haunts me."

Hercules wasn't sure what to think as he listened to her, his own heart ached and it wasn't even fully started as she sighed, "One day, I remember my mother flying into my room. Worry and panic written on her face as shouts filled the house. She threw me under the bed, demanding me to be quiet and not to move. The moment she stood up to get out of the room, they came in. They beat her down to the floor as she tried to fight them. But all it did was spur them on. Of course, they had their way with her, she fought them but all it did was make them happy with what they were doing as they slit her throat. Yet there I was, a child no more than ten years old, watching my mother be raped and killed before me. I somehow stayed quiet, barely moving as her blood came over to me in my hiding spot."

He watched as her hand reached out as if she was seeing the hell before her eyes once more, "Yet of course, there was no real saving me either. They knew I was there, and it wasn't long until they found me. Carried me downstairs as I tried to fight them, hearing my father call out for me as they forced him to see his dead wife and them...them take me as well. Once all was said and done, the pain controlling my body as I heard my father beg me forgiveness for his weakness, they shot him before me. It was then my real hell began."

He wanted her to stop, to end her suffering and yet his own heartache as he envisioned the hell she lived with, but she pressed on, I couldn't tell you how long I was in that place, or how many faces I saw. But god I wanted death. I wanted to get away so bad that I could have tasted it. Day after day, night after night, I did what they wanted. To any person that came in, man or woman, rich or poor, whatever they wanted I was demanded to give or be severely punished. There were times they whipped my feet, left me in a dark room for days on end only coming in to satisfy needs, had my fingers broken and reset with a few other bones, fed rotten food and if I got sick I was forced to eat it again. I just wanted it to leave me alone. A doctor came in once, asking for young boys and girls, to see what we had. Of course, I was picked for I was pretty. I think it was the time I prayed that I'd be ugly so they'd leave me alone. His favorite thing was dropping us all in this giant pool that seemed to go on forever. So deep and dark yet even looking around, it seemed to have no end. He would leave us in it, see how long we would last, even for the ones that couldn't swim. I grew to hate that room. I knew where a point was to hand onto and seem like I was swimming, just to shut him up and leave me alone.

"Then he changed it, he threw us in again yet this one was different and I couldn't find something to hang onto. I was just lucky that the one boy could swim and he hung onto me. I couldn't tell you how long we were in there, but it felt like an eternity. I remember a light dropping in suddenly, shocking me as it seemed to have waked me. I remember him chuckling as I tried to gather myself, only to see lifeless eyes around me. The other children drowned in the pool, their bodies floating as the smell of death finally caught me. I shook the boy that helped me, yet noticed his eyes as well, lifeless and dull. I was the only one that survived. The sick bastard plucked me out as he threw me into another dark room, this one just full of the sickening smell of death. I reached out to see what was there as my hands fell into something sticky and thick, of all smells, that metallic one sticks with you the most. I knew what I was in yet tried not to think of it until he came back in and flipped the lights on. Bodies laid on the table as they too stared at me. I couldn't do it anymore. I ran. I ran as fast as I could, escaping his grasp and more. I just was determined to get away. I found a door, the sun shining through it. I didn't even think to check it as I ran full force into it, thankful that it opened. I was never more thankful for the sun or the sandy rock below my feet as I continued running. It was then I saw others running into the building, guns drawn and shouts filling the air. I was scared that I entered an even scarier hell, just for a set of arms to come around me. I looked up to see a sweet face, one of scared of past yet understanding of the present. Father Jabari." Feriah let out a shaky breath as she moved lightly in her chair, "And there you have it. Why I'm such a fucked up mess."

"Holy shit." was all he heard Neema let out.

Holy shit was right, there was so much more to her than he thought and yet there was no way he was going to see all of that, not without her at least.

"Seems like I have a few sessions with you in the future." Marie stated.

"That you do." Neema said.

"So you all say." Feriah noted, "Doesn't mean I'll get it."

"No that's true, yet you spoke to us. Which in this case does prove a point of you wanting some sort of help." Marie pointed out.

"Fine." was all he heard of her, "So if this is done, could you two leave us alone for a little?"

Us two, did she know? "There is only one man that smells of the Mediterranean. So, please?"

Well shit, she did know he was in here the whole time. Marie and Neema agreed as they gave light words to her before leaving them both alone. Now it was all on him and he was clueless about what to do this time.

"I know you're there Hercules, no need to hide from me." she said, "Rather you not anyways."

He got up to sit in front of her, what more could he say, he was still shellshocked of what he just learned of her as well. He could feel her eyes upon him as he tried to gather the words he really wanted to use, yet he couldn't. In fact, all he really wanted to do was just-

"Well, now you know what a fucked up mess I am. And worthless to you as well."

Oh, she didn't. Hercules didn't even think as he stood up and gathered her in his arms, moving to the large chair within the room, nestling her against him as he tried to comfort her.

"I best not hear the word worthless, or any of that sort leave your lips ever again."

"And if they do?"

"I'll prove you wrong."

She scoffed at him, "How so, great Greece?"

He looked into those green orbs, lost in the knowing and truth that was before him yet his gaze traveled to her plump lips, how he longed for them for so long and here he was proving a point. Before she could protest, he cupped her chin and placed his lips on hers, feeling the sweet warmth that they were. A small gasp escaped her as he kissed her, he felt her move slightly, yet she began to curl into him. Her arm draping lazily over his shoulder as the other rested above his heart, relaxing into his touch as he continued to kiss her. Dear gods was she wonderful against him, he could've just sat there all day like so, taking her in as he felt her become more with on with him. He felt her pull away, breaking the kiss as he gave a small humph of protest.

He heard her giggle at him, "So if I call myself worthless or anything of it, you will punish me like so?"

He felt a smile cross his face, "I may, why do you like that punishment?"

"No, absolutely hate it, can't imagine it happening again it was that bad."

That sarcasm was either going to drive him mad or get him in a world of trouble, well, good trouble he hoped, "Well then, I better not hear too much of it unless you want more."