AN: This is a giftfic for my best friend Dark-huntress Phoenix, Happy Birthday!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Dark-Hunters, I do own Atlantia.

blah, blah, blah- Dream or different language

The Alaskan winds whipped my small cabin, diving snow into the cracks. Inside I was shivering under three bearskin blankets. -40 is cold, even for an immortal Dark-Hunter, like me. Of course I could've gone into the tunnels to get more of the blankets; I have close to a hundred. I moved the stove, which wasn't lit, because I ran out of wood, & descended to the tunnels under my cabin. It was noticeably warmer. I curled up in a blanket & sat on the pile of them. I listened to the blizzard wage war with my cabin, testing it, to see which would fall first, the wind or the cabin. I heard the distinct sound of a god materializing in the cabin above me.

"Z? Zarek? Are you here?" It was Atlantia Parthenopaeus, a Greek goddess, one I personally liked, she shielded me from the stones that killed me as long as she could they had hurt her, blinded her, and nearly killed her. But she stayed, & that one act of kindness had won my trust.

"Down here Atlantia." I knew my trust in her would get me killed one day, but until that day came, I'd trust her. She descended the trapdoor. She was wearing a long silver robe that she called a foremasta.

"Hey Z."

"What do you want?" She knew I hated when she popped in unannounced.

"Just checking in. Fierce storm huh?"

I nodded, & moved to make room under the blanket for her. Her foremasta didn't look like the warmest thing in the world. She sat down next to me, careful not to touch me, since she knew how much I hated being touched, even the simplest hand on the shoulder I hated. Together we sat in the dark, & listened to the blizzard. I fell asleep, leaning on the wall of the tunnel.

I was back in Rome, back in my father's house, tied to the post again. This time it was Marcus who had led to this whipping. I was already blind in my left eye, which wouldn't have opened, even if I could see out of it. No one wanted to set eyes on me, the overgrown, hideous, mistreated Magnus whipping boy. The son of a senator & a slave. I was in the market, Valerius came looking for me. Why couldn't he leave well enough alone? I knew he had the best intentions, but sometimes the best intentions are the worst things imaginable, let my blindness be proof of that. Valerius was trying to be kind, but in the process had blinded me, & now he was trying to spare me Father's wrath. Father approached on horse back, I stared at the ground. He dragged me over to the slaver, Valerius in tow. In the end he had to pay the slaver to take me. After that I was bought by a lady, to warn her & her current boyfriend of her husband's return. She claimed I raped her. I met Atlantia then, when they stoned me to death for something I didn't do. She tried to protect me & failed.

I woke up with Atlantia's arms around me. She was asleep now, probably lost in a nightmare of her own. She had used her powers to dispel the nightmare. The one person I knew I could trust was the one person I would allow to touch me, because she helped me when no one else would. She stood beside me in the darkest time of my life.

'So this is what a friend is…' I'd never had a friend, before & if Acheron is any example a goddess may not be the best of friends, but at least she's still here. I held Atlantia as she held me, protecting her from her nightmares. Like a friend.

R&R! BTW, Zarek doesn't know Atlantia is an Atlantean goddess.