Here comes the next contestant [Ramsey and Leander, everywhere in the DGA]

The sun peeked over the horizon and began its rise into the sky. It made him wonder about everything in the world. Would there ever be anyone who would help Atlas with his burden? Would there be another day when the sun would not rise because of someones foolishness? The grass seemed golden in places, flowers opened welcoming the new light, the new day, a fresh start. He saw Ramsey poking a wound on her leg and frowned. "What happened there?" He traced the scaring wound on her leg with his his fingers.

She grimaced, "A little argumant I had with Helios's son over my medical expertise while trying to heal a young woman. He didn't believe me when I said just feeding her hot energy would kill her, you need to alternate with ice so the womanwould not overheat. He got mad at me, he challenged me to a fight, and because that jerk didn't believe me I was a little hot headed and agreed. I pulled a sword, he had knives. Apparently he chanells Helios's sun energy into the knives and the wounds seer and burn a little more than usual. I really wanted to rip him a new one but then the young woman, Andromeda came out and we both dropped everything, me because I have a heart, him because I think he was somehow involved with her." she finished her monologue and glanced at the wound, finally healing.

He winced. "Well at least you saved her she's got quite a temper that girl." He shook his head and sighed. "If ever there were a person tougher than I it would be her." he said. "Although it's been a while now since I've last seen her. If that Helios kid ever bothers you again I'll have to kick him for you" He watched the last of the colors leave the sky as it turned to its everyday blue and smiled. He got up and dusted off. "Come, I need a bath and a clean change of clothes." He held out his hand and helped her up leading her to his room.

"Why Lee! I'm not that kind of girl!" she said with a devilish smile as they went into his dormatory room. She smiled as he dissapeared into his room to prepare for a bath. She looked at his living room, there wasn't much around the room, it was sparsely decorated and not very colorful. She grinned to herself and thought that this represented Leander's past fairly well. She looked at her silver bracelet, the patern moving and swirling, as if it were alive. Well it was alive, but to the man with a beating heart not twenty feet away from her. She sat down by the window, after pulling a dining chair towards it and watched day break. It was a beautiful morning and everything seemed to be just fine.

He laughed at her comment and shook his head. "Now now, lets not get ahead of ourselves." He took a clean set of clothes and put it on a counter then slipped into the warn water feeling all his muscles unwind in the warmth of the water. He could hear Ramsey moving around in the living area.

She watched a few courtyard practice fights and just practicing. Morning practice was popular because it was cool, yet light enough outside. She glanced at her leg wound, she really didn't like that man. She smiled, really wanting to take up Lee's offer on beating the guy up. Ramsey took off her shoes and placed them by the door, letting her toes sink into the carpet. She was still tired, she hadn't fallen asleep till one or so and Lee had women her up around five, and she was still tired, she actually felt herself swaying on her feet a little. She went over to Leander's bedroom door and knocked, hearing no answer, sheguessed he was already in the bath and she entered his room. His bathroom door was shut so she went over to the bed and she lie down on the bed while her Greek styled sun dress swirled around her legs, making her truly look like a goddess. She quickly fell asleep before Leander came out.

Leander stepped out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist, running another one through his now damp hair. He noticed Ramsey sleeping on his bed and smiled. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand as he went on his way to get clothes from his closet. He changed quickly then sat on his bed slowly trying not to jostle Ramsey into the world of the living. He pulled out a piece of parchment and a charcoal then began drawing the soft lines of Ramseys face. Art had been just one of the various talents he had perfected through his years of practice. He wasn't much tired anymore and drawing her gave him something productive to do.

Ramsey fell into a deep sleep and was breathing evenly and peacefully. Her dreams were in the forms of delirious hopes and frilly desires that she would never actually admit to anyone aloud, even Leander, her other half, or so the frilly desiring part of her mind said. She was actually smiling in her sleep, something that happened in a long time. Ramsey was just so happy for the first time in a long time. She slept for a tremendously long four hours or so and when her eyes did flutter awake she took a slow, deep breath and smiled for Leander was sitting right next to the bed.

He ran the charcoal on the white sheet a few more times then looked down at Ramsey for reference again. He smiled when he saw that she had woken up. He had been so enthralled in his work that he hadn't even noticed. He put the paper on a nightstand along with the charcoal and turned back to Ramsey. "Good morning sunshine. About time you got up. Have a good sleep?"

"Hmm? I don't know whether to yell at you or not. I look horrid when I sleep!" she grinned and sat up. "I had an excelent draw of sleep." she said as she got up and stretched, doing a bridge on the ground, arching until she looked like the entrance to a grand park. She got and stretched her arms and her neck. She looked at Lee and shrugged sheepishly. "It helps me wake up." She said. 'And I can think of a few other things that would wake me up to.' She thought and smiled, thinking of how she felt when he kissed her. Ramsey walked over to him and kissed him quickly on the lips and sat on Lee's lap. "Mind if I take a bath, it's part of my little morning routine." she said and smiled, wrapping her arms around Lee's neck.

He hugged her close to him. It was almost like their bodies were pieces of a puzzle. Meant to fit together. "How would you know what you like when you're sleeping? This knowledge escapes me dear one." She kissed him and pulled away to soon leaving him starving for her. "sure you can use the bath if you want"

"Daughter of knowledge remember?" she smiled and watched Lee as she got up. He almost looked as if he was a dehydrated man in the desert and she was a glass of water. Ramsey leaned down and kissed his lips softly and whispered, "Ill be back soon, dearest, I'm not going anywhere except your bathroom. She smiled as she trotted into the bathroom she undressed and ran a tub of hot water. Realizing the only towel in there was his she poked her head out and asked if it was alright if she used his. He nodded and she sank into the hot water and sighed happily. Ramsey leaned her head back and relaxed. When she had washed up she drained the water and toweled dry. She put her clothes back on and toweled her curling hair. She knew when it dried, her extremely curled hair would come back, the plant extract that relaxed her hair wasn't in his bathroom and she sighed. It was already starting to gather volume.

While Ramsey was bathing Leander tried to catch a nap. He couldn't believe he had to sleep so much now that he was human. It was almost annoying to have to remember to do all these things, remember that he was breakable now. There was a knock on his door and he got up to answer it stopping to tousle his hair the way he usually did. He opened the door and almost took a step back. It was an Erinye her hollow eyes staring back at him, her chains clinking close to the ground and dangerously close to him. "Your father wishes to see you" Her expression was cold, there was no happiness as there had been the last time he had seen her but then again he was a human now, no longer the Shadow Child they had taken part in raising. Leander began to plead with her begging her to understand but she held up a hand to silence him. "My job here is done." the Erinye disappeared leaving him with nothing but a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

As Ramsey hung the towel and stepped out of the bathroom, she immediately had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling. Leander wasn't in his bedroom, rather, he was in his living room, staring at the closed door with his hand on the knob. "Leander!" she cried, running over to him and taking his head in her hands. "No no no no no no NO! What I'm thinking cannot be happening! Not now!" she screamed at the heavens. They would need her mother and probably her grandfather's help. Ramsey was scared, not knowing what to do, she hugged Leander close to her.

Leander stood frozen, unfeeling, mind blank save for one thought. Ramsey held him but he just stood there. "No" he whispered. "You aren't going anywhere Ramsey. If Hades wants to see me then he'll see me. Alone. I can't risk you like that it would be suicide." Even as he said the words it burned his throat. He didn't want to leave her, didn't want to be pried from her arms but if it meant saving her, the life she had and deserved then he would do anything even if it took him out of the picture.

She stared at him for a fraction of a second and started a long stream of angry Spanish, a language she hadn't used in a long time. Sheturned around yelling at the Heavens, at Leander, at everyone and calmed down. "Leander Kiron, don't even think that you are going ANYWHERE without me, ANYWHERE." she said with the steamed anger of a bull in a Spanish Bull Fight. "I love you with my heart and my soul and you need me. Taking yourself out of our equasion wont fix anything, but maybe killing me on the inside!" she exclaimed. She grabbed her coat, her springy hair swishing back and forth while she shook her head. "You. Need. Me." she said.

He shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry Ramsey but I can't risk this. I do need you but if anything happened to you, ANYTHING because of me I swear I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I'll be fine Ramsey. Please let me do this. I'll always be here with you no matter what happens. You have to understand me on this. Please." If everything else failed he would call her mother to hold her back while he made a break for the underworld but there was no way in all the earth that he would risk her life for his own selfish needs.

Ramsey yelled at him in Spanish again. "Im not staying here and acting like I don't know that you won't come back alive!!!!" she screamed and opened the door heading out into the hall. "I love you Leander and there is no way I'm going to sit here and do nothing while you stalk off to your doom!" she furiously whispered. "Im too stubborn a woman to succumb to your wishes of me staying back. If I die it shall be of my own fault, not of yours, my wishing to go has only to do with my love for you." she then turned back around and kissed him with all the rough passion she had within her, weaving her fingers through his hair and becoming someone she usually wasnt.

Here was a power he hadn't felt before. He couldn't hold back any longer and let go of what was telling him to stop. He pushed her against the wall an responded to her kiss in the same fashion. It was clouding his judgment but before he could be pulled down further by her he prayed that the goddess would show herself soon and keep her safe for him. He'd wait until she slept if it was needed.

Ramsey couldn't controll herself as she hadn't ever been this way before. Fire courses through her veins as she erupted in a good way, breaking away to breath her shattered breaths. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she dove in again making sure to cloud her judgement, his, and to make this a time worth remembering, at least if this could be the last time they were together. If he did make her stay, if she finally did do what he asked. She knew Lee could be amazingly cunning.

Through his hazy passion blinded eyes he felt a tap on his shoulder he made every effort to pull away from her and look back. There was no one there but Athenas voice echoed in his head. "I'll be back for her in the morning. I'm sorry I doubted you.

[the next morning]

Ramsey awoke with a start and felt for Lee on the other side of the bed. All she found was a cool bedspread but she heard the sound of subtle whistling coming from the living room. Slipping on her dress she walked into the room to see her mother sitting in the couch but no Leander in sight. She started cussing in Spanish at him and decided that this was a sneaky trick that only could have been thought up by him. "Usong my own mother against me while you go off to your death?" she yelled at him and ten her mother spoke softly. "He loves you so much that he's willing to use me to keep you from going. Don't forget that." her mother said quietly. Ramsey held her silver band to her heart and let a tear roll down her cheek.

Ramsey had retired to the bedroom and had layed where he had layed the night before. She inhaled the scent upon the pillows and cried all day. Yet, she felt as if he was not gone, merely away for a while. About four hours after he left, she felt a part of her die, the bracelet's designs stopped moving, clouds rolled in on the sky, and a fresh set of tears fell. She knew he had died, she knew he was beaten before he died, literally beaten to death, he was. She knew because she had deep throbing pains all over her body, and she could barely move her right arm. Ramsey couldn't stop the rivers pouring down her face. Only a while later though, a few hours most likely, the pains were gone. The sun came out, her bracelet was all but shining with a bright livelihood, and all of herself was alive and strong. It was one puzzle she didn't know what to make of. She still didn't dare think that Lee was alive, that couldn't possibly be true. He died, she felt it. Ramsey sat on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest, and waited for something to happen.

Leander sighed taking in the breath he knew he didn't need. Ait was no longer a necessity for him but he liked breathing anyway the air carried scents on it and as he got closer to the academy he felt a better sense of Ramsey's presence in the air. Not being able to help himself he ran to the dorms as soon as the academy was in sight. He was filled with so much happiness he thought he would die from it if that were possible. Not yet knowing his own strengths he arrived at his door in less than a second. Quietly he opened his door and as soon as he stepped into the living room Athena smiled and disappeared. Slowly, letting his hand trail on the wall he stepped into the doorway of his room and found her. The most beautiful sight he had ever seen, sitting on his bed with teary eyes. "I've missed you love." he whispered.

Ramsey stared at the aparition before her. "But..it's not possible." her eyes trailed to his torso, his shirt was trailing open and saw the silver linings laced within the black. She looked back to his face, wondering if he had gotten better looking while he was gone. "I don't under..." her voice trailed off as she looked at him. Slowly, as if making sure it wasn't a dream she approached him and ran her hand over his strong chest and abdominals. "Lee, I....I can't..." but as she locked on to his eyes again, her body responded with what she couldn't say. She locked onto his body and tangled her fingers in his hair. She kissed him as if he was her life, her salvation. She kissed him with passion and love and when she broke away for just a moment, she whispered, "Lee, I thought you were gone forever," and she stared into his eyes and kissed him again.