The chilling cold of the blackness that surrounded her made Sunset grab her shoulders with her arms, shivering as she gazed around into the void of darkness. No matter where she looked, all she could see was the darkness, a darkness that soaked into her very soul.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" she called into the blackness, gripping her jacket more tightly as she started to walk forward into the unknown. Upon feeling like something was watching her, she spun her head around only to find the darkness staring back. With nervous eyes she took step after step, her body chilling under the blackness.

Just when she was beginning to believe that she was trapped in eternal darkness, six pillars of light burst forth from the shadows before her. Her eyes reflected the brilliance of the light that shone in the darkness while she gazed upon the images within, images of friends that she knew all too well.

"My friends." Within each of the lights was stained glass that held one of her six friends within them. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Twilight all appeared in majestic fashion within the glass, giving off a warm and powerful light that seemed to fight back against the darkness. "But what do these images mean? Why am I seeing the six of them?"

"Because they are the six you shall fail."

Sunset snapped around as she gazed into the darkness, squinting her eyes as she tried to find who had spoken.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" The owner of the voice did not reveal themselves, but instead cackled in a manner that chilled Sunset far more than the shadows ever had. Sunset blurted out, "I'm warning you, I have magic with me!"

"Magic? Your magic is nothing to me. And it is nothing to them either," the voice spoke once more, followed by a cracking sound that made Sunset turn back around to face the stained images. All of them had small cracks growing within them, which slowly spread throughout the pictures. "For I have seen what this world will become. It is doomed. And you will be the one to doom it."

"No! That is not who I am anymore!" Sunset yelled back into the darkness, yet the moment she spoke the cracks in the stained glass grew wider. She felt the eyes' presence upon her once more and shivered under their stare, almost certain that whatever was watching her was right beside her.

"No, you are not. Yet you misinterpret my words. You will doom this world because you are weak. Pathetic. Worthless," the voice spoke to her, chilling her very soul. "And just as you failed your teacher in the past, so now you shall fail your friends who are foolish enough to put their trust in a failure. It is the same story no matter where I go."

"I am not a failure," Sunset spoke with bitter resentment in her voice, yet all her words did was draw forth another cackle from the ancient voice.

"Celestia. Twilight. All of this world. You have failed so many times. Honestly, this world would be far better off without you."

"Shut up," she whispered as she clamped her hands over her ears.

"Better off gone."

"Shut up..."

"Better off dead."

"SHUT UP!"

Sunset then fell to her knees, her whole body shaking as the cold seeped into her very soul. She gazed up at her friends' images for strength and comfort, but to her horror the images were cracked beyond repair. She lifted out a hand to them, yet the moment she did so the images shattered into thousands of pieces that rained down upon her. Sunset shielded herself with her arms, yet the glass did not cut. She glanced down at her arms to see that she was fine, before slowly standing up...feeling alone once more.

"Yes...I am curious to see what that would be like." Sickening horror clung to Sunset's soul as she finally knew where the voice was speaking from. It was coming from right behind her. "Curious to see how this world would progress...without you in it."

A hand then wrapped itself around Sunset's throat from behind, preventing her from crying out as she was slowly lifted into the air. She clawed at the cold, metallic fingers with all of her might, but they didn't seem to even register her blows. She flailed as best she could, kicking behind her with all her might only to strike at empty air. As the grip of the fingers tightened around her throat, everything around Sunset began to go black while she felt herself slipping away...

"GAH!" Sunset screamed as she shot straight up, staring straight ahead to the other side of the room with eyes wider than dinner plates. Her heart was beating with such speed and force that it seemed like it was trying to punch itself through her chest. When the realization that she was awake slowly dawned on the girl, she lifted her hands that trembled like leaves in the wind to her throat.

'Was that...a dream?' she wondered. But when she placed her hands near her throat, she could still feel the metal fingers that had grabbed her; still hear the words that had dug into her very soul...bringing her fears back to life. Sunset then glanced around her room as she shivered once more, drawing the covers on her bed up to her. She wrapped them around herself while she remained sitting on her bed, her terrified eyes glancing at every shadow as she waited in a cold sweat...afraid to return to sleep.

Afraid that the voice would be waiting for her in her dreams.

< W>
< \/\/>

Hades knew that if one were to ask a mortal which of the gods was the least fearful, a majority of them would say him. That as the ruler of the underworld, he must have little to no fear of death or the prospect of actually dying. Yet even as he sat upon his throne of skulls and bones with his fingers interlocked, gazing across the fields of the damned that were always within his vision, he could not but feel the thinnest hint of fear at the sounds of two fists slamming into the door to his throne room with all of their might.

He listened carefully to each impact, able to hear the metal bend with each blow, but then he heard the roaring of a dog followed by silence. He turned in his throne towards the door, wondering if Cerberus had indeed been enough to drive off the intruder...before the doors were torn off their hinges as his guard dog was hurled through them. Cerberus sailed over the head of the black armored god and landed with enough force to shake all of the underworld in one of the fields behind the god.

"Well, I see that you still know how to make an entrance," Hades said with as little surprise as he could when he turned to face the intruder. Standing in the frame of what had until a moment ago been the entrance to his throne room was a woman, a woman that glared at him with eyes that blazed with a wrath that he had only seen in his eldest brother. "I am glad to see you once again...Diana."

Diana then slowly began to march towards the god of the dead, reaching behind her black hair to draw forth a blade that crackled as if it had been forged in lightning itself. Her red and blue outfit was covered in the saliva of Hades the guard dog, and her knuckles were blooded by those that had stood in her way. Yet despite the fury in her face and the sheen of her sword, Hades could not help but be drawn to the lasso that shone like gold upon her side. Yet, reason took him once again and he lifted his eyes to her blazing face, which was now only feet away from him.

"Can I help you, my niece? It is not often that you-" Hades moved his head to the side as her blade imbedded itself into the back of his throne, where his head had been just a moment before. "Diana, mind your manners. You are in my land now and-" Once more Hades was cut off as Diana's fist drove itself into his face, striking the god with enough force to hurl him through his own throne and across the white floor of his throne room.

"Do not bother trying to sooth my wrath, Hades. You know all too well why I'm down here," Diana spat with venom as she removed her sword from what remained of Hades' throne and lunged towards the god, driving one of her boots that was as crimson as the blood on her hands onto his chest. Despite being a god, even Hades was pushed back down under the force of the Amazon that glared down at him with sword at his throat. "Now answer my question Hades, and perhaps you can get out of this without too many new holes in your body? Why did you kill Steve Trevor?"

Hades' answer was the chuckle before vanishing in a swirl of smoke and fire, appearing beside Diana a moment later. She spun around and slashed with her sword, only for it to be intercepted by a blade comprised of bone and death itself. Undeterred by the weapon, Diana swung at Hades once more only to have her weapon deflected. He slashed down at Diana, yet with one of the bracelets upon her wrist she deflected his blade that could cleave souls with ease.

"Diana, you know it is pointless to fight me, especially in my do-" Another right hook by the Amazonian Princess knocked Hades' words right out of his mouth, while also causing him to stagger backwards. A snarl escaped the god's lips while he ran his finger along his mouth to find traces of blood, but when the Amazon lunged at him again he vanished in another vortex of smoke.

"Steve Trevor?" Hades asked with a smile when he appeared across the room from Diana, who rotated towards the god with arm brought back to throw her sword. Yet before she could let the blade fly, Hades snapped his fingers and caused a blue orb of light to descend from above, which he plucked out of the air and rested in the palm of his hand. "Ah yes, the soldier that you have befriended. Here he is Diana...his soul at least. So I say this. Put that sword of yours away or I will make him suffer torment that a mortal can only dream of."

Hades could still see the fury blazing in the depths of her soul, but slowly the Amazon lifted her blade and sheathed it behind her once more. Hades then dropped his bone blade into the darkness below him, before gently throwing Trevor's soul back into the sea of souls that swam far above them.

"Speak quickly Hades, before I decide to tear your tongue from your skull," Diana said with a snarl at the god while she kept herself ready for any surprise attack.

"I killed him, Diana, because I knew that that would get you down here; get you to see me," Hades said as he began to explain himself. "Because I need your help, yet the only way you would ever help me, despite us being family, is if I had something that you wanted. So I claimed the soul of one of your friends."

"And you wonder why I don't trust or like you. I should end you here and-"

"Patience, Diana. At least let me finish. See, I have discovered recently that there are...items in a far-off world that posses incredible power, a power that I want. Yet I would not be able to claim them, as I am not...a being that they would choose to hold them. However, the world that originally held the items lost them, because their wielders sacrificed them to save their world. But by good fortune, I have recently discovered another world, one not unlike ours, that houses that same power. That is where I want you to go. Go and find me those items."

"My answer is no. I know you well enough to know that any item of power that you want can only be disastrous for both myself and the world."

"Listen, Diana. I know that you have no reason to trust me and you are completely right not to do so. But I swear that the only reason I want these items is to increase the underworld. With so many souls entering into it daily, not helped by those your Justice League fails to save, it has grown overcrowded. Souls wail lost in the chasms of the underworld, with no place to take comfort. But with these items, I will be able to expand my empire to fit the new souls. All I seek is to help those who have lost their lives find rest down here. Surely you would not deny them that, would you?"

"My answer is still no," Diana said before drawing her blade once more and advancing upon the god. "You are a liar and your words are empty. Now prepare yourself."

"Ah, but is there not a way you can tell if I am lying or not?" Diana stopped in her tracks, eyes narrowing at the god before she sheathed her blade once more and drew forth her lasso, twirling it once before letting it fly. The lasso wrapped around Hades' neck, causing a light that shone with the light of truth to bathe the god of the dead.

"What do you seek these items for?" she asked him.

"I seek them to expand my underworld, so that I can host the new souls that are coming in," Hades replied. Diana narrowed her eyes before she backed away from the god. "See Diana, I am telling the truth. And since the lasso is still upon me, you know I speak the truth when I say that if you get these six items for me, I will return the soul of Steve Trevor to you, with no tricks or backstabbing."

Diana's eyes narrowed while she pondered over the god's offer, knowing that he was not one that should be trusted. But she also knew that under the lasso's power he, despite being a god, had no choice but to answer her truthfully. She then gazed off into the fields of souls, seeing all the unfortunate souls that were trapped in suffering because they had no place to go. And in the face of such pain, even the wrath of Diana was soothed slightly.

"Is there anything else I should know about these items?" Diana eventually asked with a cold stare, causing Hades to smile as he snapped his fingers and caused a file to appear out of the darkness. Diana raised a confused eyebrow at the mortal tool before Hades handed it to her, his smile growing as she took it.

"All you need to know will be in there," he said truthfully as Diana kept the file in one hand while the other was tight upon the lasso. Hades then snapped his fingers again and created a vortex of a multitude of colors behind him. "Upon reaching where this portal takes you, you can read it. Once there, you will need to find the items or where they have taken refuge. Once you have them, simply pray for me and I will appear. Also, I have set some things up ahead of time in the other world, so do not be surprised if there are others...expecting you when you get there."

"So you knew that I would agree to aid you all this time? Very well Hades, I will play your game for now." Diana then tightened the lasso around the god's throat and with a yank, dragged him over to her where she could glare into his dead eyes with the fury of the gods flashing in hers. "But know that if you betray me, you will wish that Zeus had never freed you from your father's stomach."

Diana then freed Hades from the lasso and walked past him, leaving the god to rub his throat with a snarl while Diana placed her lasso upon her side once more. She approached the portal with both curiosity and caution within her, before turning back to Hades with one last glare. Then she took a step forward and vanished into the portal, leaving Hades alone in his domain once more.

"Thank you, Diana," he said with a small chuckle as he snapped his fingers and the portal closed behind her. "I can always count on family when I need help."