Ashley & Alexander's Story

Monday
Ten dorm rooms, a huge theater, a courtyard, a pool, a gym, an outdoor battle arena, a café, a dance club, a dance hall, a school store, and several different classrooms were what could be found in the University. Now, in the large theater, all of the students were gathered. They sat in front of a large stage where the twelve Olympians were gathered. Athena, who had the idea for the school and was therefore headmaster, was at the podium and was speaking.

Or trying to speak. The students, though, wouldn’t be quiet. Athena looked quiet timid in front of all of them. She would have hated for her plan to fall through.
“May I have your attention? Your attention, please?” she said, but was not heard over the chatting children.

“Everybody shut up right now!” Ares yelled powerfully. All the students went silent.

Athena took a deep breath and continued. “Thank you. Now, as you all know this is the Demigod Academy. You all have gifts. A gift of us gods. You possess spectacular powers to control a certain element. Obviously, none of you are quite certain how to control it. And that’s why you’re here. Here, we will not only teach you how to use your powers, but also about what it means to be a Demigod. You must use your powers for good. And to do that, you must learn about our history and train each day. I hope you will all enjoy yourselves…” Her speech went on for about ten minutes and most of the students lost interest after a while. Finally, she said, “Have a great year! Please hurry onto your first class which I believe is ancient Greek history. And—“

“Not so fast!” a voice from out of nowhere came. From the deep tone and rage within it, everyone could tell it was Hades. “You think this is a grand idea, Athena? You believe that all these little…rodents have the ability to be gods? And what about my children? Where are they? I’ll tell you now, Athena and the rest of you Olympians, this school will fail. Shut it down now or there will be hell to pay. I guarantee it!”
After a moment, all the students began to talk about what that meant.

“Children! Please! Please! Don’t panic!” Athena tried.

Then Zeus stepped up. “Silence! All students should immediately report to the common room at once! You are to stay there until further notice. Any student caught outside of the common room shall be expelled…dismissed!” And he left. All the students filed out and were escorted by minor gods to the common room. They sat around in silence waiting for what was going to happen next.
----
SAPPHIRA:
Sapphire looked around at everyone. She didn’t know what to do. Her hair a light shade of pink, she was feeling alright, but a little worried. She looked around at the other students, but was still a bit confused as of what to do. It was frightening. Especially for her. She knew Hades and knew that he would make good on his promise to end the school.

But there was nothing she could do, was there?

Doug let out a light yawn as he found his way to a seat in the common room, folding his larger-than-average frame down onto it. He certainly didn't look worried. In fact, he was grinning faintly, if a little sleepily; this was all happening a little early in the day for his tastes. He was used to sleeping most of the sunlight away and partying long into the night, so it would probably be a little while before his sleep patterns adjusted to this new schedule of classes and trainings.

They'd forced him to wear a shirt, very much against his will, for the opening ceremony, but he'd undone every single button to leave it hanging open to expose his chiseled torso. He idly brushed some blond hair from his half-lidded green eyes, letting them wander around to appraise his fellow students. "He's just one guy. Er. God," he drawled, noting the panic in some of his peers' expressions. "Our moms and dads'll kick his ass, then we'll get to dive right into the boring school stuff." He lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug, then folded his arms across his chest, grinning. "Anyone wanna play a game while we wait?"

"A game?" Cali asked, "What do you mean?"

Siren rolled her eyes at her sister. "Depends," she said twisting her crimson hair.

"Pearl, don't be rude!" Cali scolded her sister. They were twins, but Cali always felt like the older sister. She was worried about the situation. Hades was a pretty scary dude. But Siren thought of it as an adventure. It was exciting. And anything to get out of class for a while.

Archer
Good God! Er... Gods, he supposed. Good Gods! How terrifying that had been! Archer laughed and grinned all the way to the common room. He was in a damn good mood, a damn good mood indeed. He wasn’t going to let some hellion fuck that up for him. Not Archer Scott Kennedy. No siree. He wasn’t even sure why he was so happy. Maybe it was the thrill of being near kids like him, demigods. In a way, it was like a whole big adventure. Arch loved a good thrill. Damn, he was in a good mood.

So, when some guy said, "Anyone wanna play a game while we wait?" , Archer casually chucked his hand into the air and replied, grinning, “Sure. I’m up for it. Have anything in mind?” It was one of the rare times his words didn’t contain vile swears. Road to recovery.

Seth
Oh. How lovely. A threat?

Seth was rather bored. Bored and infuriated. Too many people. They were all so... happy. Well, compared to him, anyway. A lot of people were happy when compared to Seth. Too many. He trudged after the other kids to the common room, where he promptly took a seat in the corner, cross-legged on the chair. He never liked having his feet touch the floor while he was sitting in a chair. Pet peeve of his. Seth wasn’t sure why. It was just uncomfortable.

Not as uncomfortable as being in a room full of people.

Roy was terrified, at first it was uncomfortable with the whispers, but the cry of God of War which ended the whisper almost makes him stop the heart and to complete the lord of the underworld in person comes causing an uproar, luckily before passed out they were sent to a common room which, although not was satisfactory, was better than being in the presence of the Gods, he breathed a few times to calm down and looked around, for some reason a blond giant decided that was appropriate to take off his shirt and propose a game and what is more, there were people willing to do it, insane undoubtedly, a God threaten them and they want to play ..."I don't want share my room with any of them" he mumbled.

As Hades threatened the well-being of the academy, and insulted the quality of its new students, the children of Artemis and Apollo remained calm, yet uneasy. While Zeus and Poseidon alike were able to match anything Hades threw at them, what could the students do? It's hardly like they're able to really do anything right now. Then the King of the Gods himself ordered everyone to the commons; everyone shuffled out alongside a few gods that were escorting them.

Many of the students started to talk amongst themselves, and Ashe and Alex were no exception.

"What do you think'll happen?" the former asked, finding a seat with her cousin just outside everyone else's borders. She wasn't the outgoing type really -- which actually seemed pretty strange, given that Apollo's her father -- and while she started to recognize that she may need to get over it before she ends up dead here by the God of the Underworld, that wasn't going to happen so quickly.

"Don't know; but whatever happens, I'll make sure I'm able to kick it in the mouth without losing a foot in the process." Trying to lighten Ashley's mood, and feeling a little happier himself after soliciting a chuckle, Artemis' son /did/ mean it for the most part. He felt excited, anxious to meet the new challenge to overcome.

"Anyone wanna play a game while we wait?" a young man asked. While neither of the pair answered, one of them wondered what kind of game could be played in their current state of affairs.

Sator’s Perspective

Watching the other “kids” sit down and settle in, talking and speaking of a game, Sator was bit irritated. One was off in what seemed to be a little fit of anger, a small one at that. Another seemed to shyly watch everyone else with utter apprehension and anxiety.

Sator thought nothing of all of this. Truly so. Perhaps he was even skeptical it was happening before his eyes, especially the whole gods-thing. Hermes came to him one night, just as he was laying in a particularly comfortable patch of corn, to tell him that Demeter, Lady of Agriculture, was his mother. Of course, Sator shrugged off this raving, naked lunatic with, “Hmm… that’s nice. Would you like to have sex?” Hermes was probably most obliged, though out of fear of Demeter he rightly rejected.

So was Sator the child of Demeter? Eh, maybe. Sator was a Christian, however. He didn’t believe in gods, let alone Greek ones, and he wasn’t sure what to think of all this. He wasn’t sure if a farmer finally hit him on the head with a rock and he got knocked out what. But it would make sense, all of this, Sator supposed. It would explain why Sator suffered and enjoyed such a dichromatic life, and would put to rest the question of who exactly his mother was. But he didn’t need a mother, and he didn’t need a father. He was an independent man. A virginal man, yes, but a man just the same. “A manly man, indeed,” he thought to himself. His only mother in life was the Virgin Mary, and he no pagan usurper could ever convince him otherwise.

He eyed a most becoming young woman sitting at the foot of a column in the commons. She was a bit near the large group of the kids. “Mmm… she is most delicious,” Sator thought. The others were not ugly, and some were certainly gorgeous, but had yet to capture his attention. What better way to catch their attention and prove his manliness than to catch her eye.

She seemed to be a rancher girl of some sort, a lil’ pistol packin’ mama it seemed, dressed in a cute little blue dress and a leather vest. Her hair was pulled pack in a pony-tail, and her eyes seemed generally enthusiastic. Sator strode gently towards her, his boots clacking against the marble floor, each calculated step purposed toward gathering attention.

“Excuse me, mi’lady,” Sator spoke, his accent leaking out a bit, attempting to catch her attention. Her smiling eyes caught up to his and he glared deeply into them. He grabbed her hand, catching her unawares. “Ah, you are indeed very beautiful,” he began to inch her hand closer to his mouth, “I am Sator Cereris Terensis, but you may call me Saturday.” He kissed her hand and looked back up to her eyes.
 

Victoria’s Perspective

“Get up off me, or I’ll be fixin’ to open a can’a whop ass!” she roared at Sator. “Ain’t no man touches this lil’ girl!” Sator jumped back up, surprised and embarrassed. His lips were sputtering for some type of salvation.

“Listen up men!” Victoria called out attention to the whole group, specifically those with the dreaded snake-organ, “Ain’t none of ya’ll ever touching this! Neve’ eve’, and ya’ll can just keep your hands down each others’ pants, ‘cause I like ladies and ladies alone.”

Bowing her head in a last grace of Southern ladylike behavior, “Thank ya’ll.”

Ain’t no man ever touchin’ without her consent. It made certain sense that Ares was her father, she was as tough or tougher than him, and she was prepared to get into the nitty gritty of things. But Victoria knew that at the heart of things, women were stronger than men, and her mortal mother was a helluva lot tougher than any man, God of War or not.

Watching everyone, Alex and Ashe got a good look at what the students were all like; though, to put everything simply, about half of them apparently thought they could try hooking up with anyone and get lucky. Feels like regular school now, aside from Greek gods and goddesses being the staff and all of the students having what should be godly superpowers.

"So who are our roommates again?" Alex wondered between the pair. They only knew the names, not having had a chance to meet them face-to-face yet.

"Douglas and Sator are mine, but I hope we can request a change." Both were going to be boys; she wasn't comfortable amongst them unless Alex was there, living a semi-sheltered early life with her mother. Though, when they'd introduced themselves, Ashley was able to put two and two together, and now she /really/ hoped they could request roommate changes without incurring their parents' wrath. She was happy for the moment, however, since neither approached her yet. For now, she was content, but knew the ruckus she'd have to face once it was time to rest.

Meanwhile, Alex was a bit more worried. His roommates, Rosalind and Nova, haven't yet introduced themselves, leaving the few who also hadn't done so as a possibility.

As for the dance, most everyone else seemed to be jumping straight into getting a date when the topic was brought up, but neither of them really cared. If they didn't have a partner, that wasn't a problem between the cousins; if they could fire arrows into trees and targets together, they had no issue sharing a dance, too. Anything to keep each other out of trouble, even if they didn't say it.

"Do you wanna hear her sing?" Pearl tried to show off her sister's special talents, even though Calliope's mouth fell wide open when that happened. While Ashe and Alex did feel like hearing something good to drown out the noise, the latter still knew that few humans were able to compete with Ashe's god-blessed talent and training, not to mention her uncanny ability to play her violin and still sing at the same time. Ashe's mother would probably agree, too, trying to get her daughter to show off more had the woman been here, but nothing was said. Instead, the two watched as Sapphira tried to turn a coffee table into a pedestal for the girl with the voice of a muse.

TIME LAPSE

After the strange ordeal with the school, the teachers decided that it was safe to allow the students out of the common room. They all went to their classes and the next night, they prepared for the dance. The gods were allowed to visit their children before the dance as a sort of welcoming. Many presented their daughters with gifts of dresses and helped their sons into suits. The dance was a formal.

As every student was required to go to it, several sat around and sulked. Those who wanted to dance enjoyed performances by the muses that attended as well as a single song sung by Calliope.

The dance, now in progress, seems to be going well.

___

Sapphira should have been down with everyone else. All the other students were there. But her mother was still locked away in the underworld and she had no friends yet to lend her a dress. For that reason, she was tearing her bag apart for any dress that seemed to be fomal. Any long dress would be good for her.

She sighed and continue looking through her bag. Nothing seemed to be there.

Her roommates weren't the nicest. She actually really hated them. She would do anything to switch. One didn't talk to her and the other already let her know what he thought of her.

Almost immediately after returning to her room between classes and the dance, Apollo in debatably semi-formal modern clothing came to his daughter's rescue. "We have some work to do," he said, taking Ashley to another room to get changed out of her mixed-genre clothing and into a formal outfit. About the same time, Artemis in similar modern wear to her brother took her son from his roommates' company, giving him the same treatment. The meeting was as casual as the clothing they wore, even if it /was/ the first time Ashe and Alex actually met their real father and mother, respectively. It wasn't worth getting them all worked up when the dance was that night.

"No one asked me anyways," Ashe complained. "Why do I have to go?"

"It's easier to keep track of things with it being mandatory for the students," Artemis answered Alex, who asked the same question with the reasoning of not wanting to bother with something that sounded both loud and embarrassing. "One or two chaperones like Dionysus and everyone else can worry about preparations for the days to come. We all know Dionysus would rather be at the dance, too, we just need someone else to make sure /he/ doesn't do something stupid like get you all drunk." Artemis was both giggly and serious. "He may be a god, but he's still not exactly the best with minors given that he always has wine and that pine-cone stick of his on hand."

"Now," Apollo continued with his daughter, "let's get you properly dressed. I think you'll like what's available. C'mon." As the parents led their kids to different closets in their respective rooms, they were equipped from end to end with nearly every kind of tuxedo and dress design, as well as accessories for the latter. "Now let's see what we can make of these." In the meantime, they simply chatted. Artemis and Apollo reminisced on their years to help their kids get through the ordeal of getting dressed.

As Apollo had Ashe try on darker colors that showed off her light skin and eyes, Alex was given brighter styles to choose from. After what loosely felt like a short montage at the mall, the family in their separate rooms had gone through a small collection and hit a bull's eye. Before they got their mark, the family had even gone through goofy outfits to lighten the mood.

Alex finished off the montage with a purposefully wrinkled, button-up black shirt that looked more like a blouse, accompanied by an eggshell white tuxedo jacket with sleeves that fit just a little past his wrists and loose-fitting matching slacks. His hair was combed out so it had a bit more of its golden sparkle, and even though he wouldn't admit to it his mother put a little make up on him to cover for dim circles under his eyes. (Since he'd arrived at Mt. Olympus he hadn't had the best sleep; that much he'll admit to.)

Ashley arguably had more fun than her cousin, and probably more fun than being at the dance itself, ending her and Apollo's escapade in an ensemble that the latter complimented her for, calling her "so dazzling as to eclipse even the sunrise and sunset." Quite a notion coming from Apollo, a god of the sun and poetry alike. Taking off her glasses first, Ashley replaced them with her contact lenses. The slight tint to them caused her irises to appear a lovely orchid-blue color, and darkened her sight just enough to compensate for her photosensitive eyes. Her snow-white hair was left straight down, the bangs moved in place by her father to frame her face with the right only an inch longer than the left while the forelock hung to the side, slightly overshadowing her left eye. The bangs were held only by well-hidden barrettes, the right having a small lavender flower protruding from under the strands.

The dress itself was as neatly cared about, a flower-like multicolored chiffon design that matched not only for Ashe's preferences in comfort but Apollo's in beauty. The straps were actually long and fringed batwing-style sleeves that were very thinly attached to an otherwise strapless outfit that framed Ashe's upper body in a cross-over bust style, the left side laying over the right like a fold. Stopping half an inch or so short of exposing cleavage, it flared out more and more from the waist to the ankles until it was seemingly able to open like flower petals. Perpetuating the sense of a flower even further, the higher part of the dress was as white as her hair, and once it reached the knees it quickly gave way to a darkening baby blue that was totally black an inch from the ends, finishing in formal white heels.

"And to top it off," Apollo started, "I requested Hephaestus craft you this...." Revealing a necklace, he showed it to his daughter and placed it around her collar. A thin silver chain was only the support for the real jewel of the accessory, a violet sapphire cut to shape out a small bow at the top of her dress; it was almost an exact scale replica to the one she received from Alexander just a few years ago, one he'd gotten as a prize in his first competition; the first time she held and used a bow, and now it was a physical memory that she could keep with more personal security than the carved Hokkaido cherry wood the real bow was made of.

At the dance, Alex was slightly entranced by what the gods had done with the place. "By the gods," he wanted to say jokingly, but he refrained. He didn't have a partner to dance or talk with, so he started to take in the sight of the ballroom as he searched for Ashe. Moonlight poured in from full-sized windows, ultimately lighting a low stage at the other end of the marble room that hosted the Muses. The nine entertained, with a featuring from Calliope who'd sang a song of her own. Lightly entangled in the flow of the Muses' voices as many others were, he wasn't paying attention when he bumped into one of the boys who hadn't introduced themselves in the commons the day before.

"I'm very sorry," the young man repeated a small number of times to Alexander, who apologized in return.

"I wasn't watching where I was going; it was my bad." Alex passed him by, finding a place to stay relatively still as he scanned the area for his cousin. When she finally walked in the door, though, he almost didn't recognize her. Seemingly gliding over to him in her dress, Ashley left his mouth figuratively (and almost literally) gaping as she spotted him without an issue.

"What do you think?" she asked. "It feels a little weird, even for me." She was the kind of person who had to bring an umbrella everywhere she went unless she was wearing her sunhat, especially on sunny days, so "weird" should've been a word at least somewhat foreign to her.

It took him a moment to recompose himself; he mentally compared it to gazing at a goddess, but he simply replied with a smile, "You're beautiful."

"You're pretty handsome yourself," she lightheartedly answered, trying not to sound too endearing. With a little more idle chatter about getting to know their parents, the two contentedly relaxed between a pair of windows and let the moonlight pass around them as they watched the Muses dance and sing.

Zero walked into the school with his mother. Nyx, goddess of the night, had finally gotten hin enrolled.

"Mom...um...you can probably go now..." he said, a little embarrasses to be seen entering the building with his mother, goddess or not.

"okay, sweetpea. Just be good, alright? And don't get in trouble. Okay? Just have fun. Oh! And Persephone is worried about your sister. Well, Sapphira. She's technically not you sister, but--"

"I know mom! Just stop worrying! I'll be nice to her, I promise. When was I ever not?"

"alright. Just as long as you have fun. I love you!" she kissed him and left. Zero sighed. He then walked into the school. Out in a secluded hall, he saw Sapphira dancing with some invisible person. That was pathetic. He snuck up behind her and twirled her around.

"What is this? A wedding gown?" he asked.

Sapphira screamed. "Zero! What are you doing here?"

"Ma wanted me to be enrolled in the school. I thought I'd keep you company. Hey know of any good girls for your old pal?"

Sapphira smiled. And led him to the dance hall. She looked around at all the girls. "Well, Calliope there is a sweet girl, but she's a pretty outgoing performer sometimes and her sister I know you'd be afraid of. The there's Aphrodite's daughter. She's stunning and glamorous like her mother. You'd be adorable together, but you know what? I think you'd really like Apollo's girl. She right over there with her cousin," she pointed them out, "She seems like a bright girl and I've heard she lovely little singer. And, obviously, she looks beautiful tonight."

Zero looked between the two. "Do you think she'd reject me?" he asked looking at Ashe. She was lovely. Stunning, in fact.

"I donno. Maybe, maybe not. You'll never know unless you try. Go on now! I'll be in this little side hallway of you need me,"

Zero nodded and slowly made his way over to Ashe and her cousin.

"Hello," he said, "I'm Zero, son of Nyx. I'm new here."

Having moved just over to the window next to them, Ashe and Alex were looking out and about as the moonlight poured in over them. Turning around so they could see the ballroom again, Alex wondered, "How far do you think an arrow would fly from here?"

"If you fire it straight ahead, it'd probably be airborne for a while before hitting the ground... or a person."

"Maybe we'd pop a cloud first," he sarcastically continued, implying the sky could fall. Sharing a quiet laugh, the two had a nice moment before a blond-haired boy approached them from Sapphira's side.

"Hello," he said. "I'm Zero, son of Nyx. I'm new here."

Aren't we all, Ashe thought. They've only been at the school for two days; no one here ISN'T new.

"I'm Alex," one responded.

"Ashe." She was already a little nervous. She was enjoying the short moment with her cousin, it was her kind of fun. The only thing that could've made it better was if she had her violin so she could play with the Muses, or maybe her father could join the performance with his kithara. Then this random guy comes in likely to ask her to dance, unless he was as gay as the other guys in this school. In that case, she'd have to resist laughing at her poor cousin. Regardless, it made her disconcerted; she'd have preferred a girl ask her if anyone approached her at all. She was better around them, even if her time around Alex made it seem otherwise.

"Do you want something?" she asked a little more shyly than when she said her name. She could practically already tell what was going to be asked of her.

"I am the son of Iris," he said with a slight bow and a smile. "You seem to be quite alone over here. Would you like to dance avec moi?" Erik asked offering her his arm.
Was it possible the daughter of Aphrodite was all alone?
___
Sitting alone, Cali looked around the dance floor. Happy people everywhere, but she didn't really have any friends to make her happy with them. She had finally persuaded her sister to have fun with her date. She gazed around, but she kept staring at Alex. She should go talk to him. It would be what her sister would do, but she wasn't quiet sure that she would. She eventually stood up, but immediately froze. Why couldn't she be like her sister?

"I...Ummm...I..." Zero sighed. No way was Ashe going to want to dance, but Sapphira might kill him (quite literally sometimes) if he didn't ask. "Yeah, yeah. You probably know what I'm going to ask and i probably know what you're going to say, but I still need to ask for the slight glimmer of hope that I might do something right for once. Do you want to dance? If you say no, I'll leave right now and never look at you funny again. I promise."
He prepared himself for complete rejection.
___
Sapphira thoght she saw a boy looking at her, but after the boy who was like a brother to her greeted her warmly and she looked back, he was gone. She sighed, but continued to dance by herself.
She knew that people were probably watching her and that it was likely a very bad time to be dancing alone. For that reason, she decided to slip out of the room. No one would see her and she would be fine. She walked out of the grand hall and into a corridor where no one could see her. She began to dance more, being herself and really dancing, then she was smiling. It felt good to smile.
___
The gods looked out over the dance, but, being the Olympians, had better places to be. They had important things to do on earth and needed to be elsewhere.
"Hestia," Zeus said to the young goddess, "Would you mind--"
"Watching the kids? Of course. Besides, what could possibly happen? I'll see you all tomorrow, then," she replied.
The major gods now disappeared in a godlike way, knowing that many of them would be back in the morning to teach classes.
Hestia and a few of the spirt and nymph teachers were left to watch the students.
___
Suddenly, a low growl caused Sapphira to come to a complete stop. She wondered if she heard it wrong. She looked down into the darkness of the hall. What was that?
She shrugged it off and continued to dance. Then she heard it again. None of the others would have heard it, she barely did, but now she knew.
And she froze.

The dance went on. Everyone seemed to actually be having a good time. But suddenly, a bloodcurtling cry ripped through and school, echoing off the walls, and filling every room. The music immediately stopped. Everyone froze where they were and looked around. A second cry, a little louder than the last one, came and everyone now knew where it came from.
Those who got to the hallway first saw the huge hellhound on top of Sapphira. The girl, staring up at it, was unresponsive. A part of her white dress was stained red with blood. She was pinned to the ground and the hellhound droolled over the bank face that stared up. She was obviously in shock.
But the hellhound that was prepared to devour the girl was the least of the other students' worries. Nine more hounds were now growling, their red eyes glowing as the stalked the students. They moved in closer on them, one slashing at a girl who quickly jumped back.
Hestia knew she couldn't protect all of them.

"Sorry," she answered, "I'm not a dancer--" and then there was an ear-splitting scream, like a banshee. Stepping up to his cousin, Alex already went into proposing a plan.

"You check the east hall, I'll check the west?"

"That'll work," she answered, taking off her shoes. Before they ran off, though, they were interrupted by another scream, even louder and more defined.

"Okay, let's both check the east hall."

"I'm good with that." As the two chased the scream's source, Ashe called for Nyx's son to come along, too. Finding Sapphira in the hallway, she was surrounded by giant demonic dogs.

"I don't think they're here to play fetch," Alex retorted. "You know, having our bows on hand would've been useful about now. A good arrow to the nose would get 'em." Alex could almost feel himself holding his bow. He raised his hand like he really was, holding his other at what he imagined to be the bowstring.

Then, somehow, strains of moonlight reached out from around his hand and shaped the very bow he was feeling. Long and silver, a silky matching quiver formed strapped across the back of his tuxedo while one last string of light became the arrow on his string.

"Oh ho, this is sweet."

A little bit jealous now, Ashe figured she could do the same, but to no avail at the time. It was odd.

"You won't be able to run around in your dress," Alex noted, "or at least not too well. Here." Releasing the bowstring, the arrow of light and quiver alike disappeared as he handed the bow to Ashe. When she took hold of it, it flooded golden from her hand out, a similar quiver strapping itself to her back as it did Alex's. Once she moved it to aim at the hound on top of Sapphira and pulled back the string, an arrow from the light of sunrise took its place between her fingers, ready to fire.

"Don't miss," he teased; the two had one of those twin-like moments, where Ashe knew what her cousin was thinking of doing. She didn't fully approve of it, but he would've stayed somewhat safe in that position. As she steadied herself from the excitement, the hulkingly-tall Sator Terensis leaped and lashed at a hound that dived in for a bite, only to make it fall back to recover and find more viable prey. Other students joined the party soon enough, taking on their own.

As Sator and the hound atop Sapphira had their stare-down, Ashe took the chance to fire her arrow right by Sator, nailing the hellhound in the chest before releasing a flash of light that brought it to its hind legs. That was still just a distraction, because Alex ran right at the blinded beast and got on its back. Once it got back down on all fours, he was riding it like it was a bull at the rodeo. In hindsight, Alex realized that he didn't have enough strength to fell the damned thing, but hey! They got it off Sapphira!

In the meantime, while the other students were taking out the rest of the hellhounds, Ashe ran over to Sapphira's side to help her up.

"Are you alright?"

Sapphira lay motionless. Her eyes staring out at nothing. The five gashes created by the hound ran from her left hip to her right shoulder and were bleeding more than should have been safe. The front of her white gown was both torn open and stained a dark red. The girl was completely useless.

"Ashe!" Hestia yelled and quickly knelt by the girl's side, "She's in shock. I need you and your brother, though. Wait here!" she ran and was back in three seconds with two quivers of pale white arrows. "These things are hard to kill. Take these. Once a student immobilizes one," she looked to the one Seth had injured and shot an arrow through it's eye with her own bow. It helped and then disappeared into a cloud of black mist that settled and was gone. "These will send them back once they are injured. They can't die. They're already dead. You all need to work together. Distract, attack,and then shoot at them. Understand? You're a team here!"

Zero sighed at the rejection, but quickly forgot about it when he heard the scream. He knew who it was. "Sapphira." he breathed. He was out in the hall before most of the students. He looked about and saw the hounds. "SAPPHIRA!" he screamed. Luckily, someone saved her. He looked around at the others, but didn't know what to do. He summoned his sword and quickly ran it through the head of a hound who was about to attack Seth now that the boy was bleeding. Unfortunately, it didn't seen to do much but piss the thing off.
The large black dog glared at him. His muzzle wet with drool.
"I could use a little help here!" he said to no one specific. He looked around at the other dogs. This wasn't going to be easy. Watching Hestia shoot a snow white arrow at tehe hound Seth had weakened, he understood. "Injure the dogs. We need them to be weaker!" he said loudly to anyone who cared to listen.

In no time flat, Hestia arrived, disappeared and came back with a pair of quivers, demonstrating how they worked on the beast Seth nearly incapacitated. Strapping one to her back alongside her original and thanking Hestia for the arrows, Ashley tossed the other to Alex, who surprisingly wasn't too busy hanging onto the demon dog like a bullrider, and caught it in one hand before sliding it over his back. Almost immediately, he ripped an arrow out of the sack and started stabbing into the horrendous hellhound's spine.

After a few seconds of jabbing the beast, which was responded to with howls and even stronger bucks, it exploded in a cloud of smoke before dissipating completely. Alex, left floating in mid-air for just a moment, hit the ground on all fours.

"Awesome." Getting back to Ashe's side, another bow materialized into his grasp. "You ready?" The pair readied their arrows; one swift and fluid movement from the quiver to the bow as they took their aim at the hound Archer skirmished with.

"As I'll ever be." And they released, Hades' little minion getting back up from the beating Archer delivered. Alex's hit first, nailing the leg the monster was primarily supporting itself with. Ashe's went higher and landed almost instantly afterwards, clean in the neck. Breaking the beast in pieces, it fell apart yelping and disappeared in the same black mist as the other two.

"Nice shot," he added. "I'm gonna go behind 'em." Rushing through the cloud they caused, Alex stopped at the first corner he hit, turning around and getting another arrow ready for the first one he saw knocked about. Ashe prepped herself as well, looking around to find Cali occupied with a dog of her own. Sadly, it was still too strong at the moment. Siren and Victoria were on a two-on-one with another remaining beast, just a staredown. For now, the archer pair had to wait.