-ANASTASYA'S POV-

Dirt had been smudged over her face, a mat of a substance appearing to be grass having lain over her back. Both had been the work of the Demeter kids, helping her to stay concealed. Both had also worked quite well, if Anastasya didn't say so herself.

At least… Up until the tides had turned. Everything still felt foggy as she thought back to the memory of what exactly had happened…

Flat on her belly, as she had been for the last few hours, she held almost painfully still between small movements, taking her sweet time as she shifted to peer down the scope. The device was perfectly adjusted as she honed in on her next target: one of the Demi-Titans. Her gloved finger slipped over the M trigger. Inhaling one deep breath, and then exhaling, the girl fired a single round right into it's head, straight through its head armor. The result was a perfect kill, as the thing dropped.

However… Then she remembered a distinct flurry of attacks that had stolen her attention from staying concealed, as well as finding another target… She distinctly recalled peering down her scope, only to see a massive flash… And she'd been momentarily blinded. Or rather, blinding for a few minutes at least. It had been a pain to not rub her eyes, but the Daughter of Hades had refrained. Despite the lack of sight in those few minutes, she could hear the battle raging hundreds of yards below. But the loud weapon which had created that sound still had wrung in her ears.

By the time Anastasya had regained her sight, the sounds of battle had dulled. She'd squinted, shifting as she released that her friendlies were retreating… Back across the field, toward some massive… ship, was it? A knot formed, heavy in her throat. Well fuck… That didn't look good, the retreat, nor the ship. Especially now that a surge of the enemy were closing in on the people along the fringes… On instinct she began to move to stand, breaking her code of stillness. Immediately a rival sniper sent a barrage of bullets skittering up the ground toward her. Snarling, her face contorted in rage, before she sank into the earth, into one of her 'tunnels' that lead her through the shadows. Shadow traveling was immensely convenient. However, whatever the hell was going on, she needed to find Damon.

Meanwhile, outside of the silence of her tunnel, people continued to board, or be drug aboard in some cases. She was still running down the tunnel, peering through her 'exits' in the forms of other shadows, when the ship's massive door started to seal. A twist of panic hit her like ice, when she sensed Damon's shadow nearby, and yet, moving away. The daughter of Hades forced her power, straining down. Her vision filled with white dots. Her head began to feel distinctly empty… And yet, she just made the leap when the ship had moved perhaps a thousand feet up into the air.

Abruptly she tumbled out of a shadow in a darkened corner, groaning at the splitting headache that materialized out of the emptiness. Anastasya then lay still, exhaustion drowning her down into the muddled cocoon of sleep.

A hand was jostling her shoulder. At once her body was tensed, ready to dispatch the threat, but wisely the son of Hephaestus had also clamped a hand down on her wrist to prevent her from putting a weapon on him. Smart guy.

One who was also a friend to her, she realized, when her eyelids opened.

Blue eyes met her grey ones, a mixture of uncertain humor and concern glowing in the man's gaze. Perhaps a little uncertainty too. Easily, Adrian Cromwell, son of Hephaestus, released her hand, sitting back on his heels awkwardly, though his braced leg made it the slightest bit awkward. "How long have you been down here?"

Ah, so direct he was. That was one of the things Ana had in common with him, one of the things which made their friendship. Of course there would be no 'Are you okay?'s when it was clear that she wasn't. The girl rolled her tongue within her dry for a mouth, having to force herself to speak past the ache there, and the stiffness in the rest of her body. "I… don't know." Bringing her hands down to either side of her body, she shifted herself slowly, the pain flaring.

"Not good enough."

"Yes good enough." She responded crankily. "How long have you been here then?"

"That's irrelevant, Ana…" The retort was cool, level.

And yet she opened her mouth to bite another response, though her words failed her. Coughing, her dry mouth refused to allow her anymore speech, while her stomach gave an audible growl.

Adrian's mouth shifted subtly, not quite a smile, and yet not quite a frown, more of a line really as he seemed to regard her. Drawing his own conclusions, and hearing her stomach growl, he exhaled sigh through his nose. His broad shoulders swayed as he moved to stand, having to lean down some to offer a hand in order to help her to her feet. "Up. Let's go find Uriel and Damon… and something for you to eat."

Easily the girl took it, swaying ever so slightly, and just managing to disguise it. This would just… have to be a good enough compromise for now. "Sounds like a plan." She offered a slight smile, one which he returned with a nod and the same neutral expression as he ushered her out of her corner and up, away from the bowels of the ship, and up into what was essentially their new home. For the first time since landing herself here, Ana realized that this was in fact not the secluded Hephaestus shop she'd thought she'd ended up in, right in that final moment before she'd passed out, but rather, the polar opposite. Demigods bustled around, tossing her looks, some with recognition, others with simple curiosity.

The entire thing was incredible, she noted, as she peered around, not noticing the gazes, but rather, the wonders around. She was still admiring them when Adrian's hand touched her shoulder. "Looks like I don't need to watch you anymore." He was inclining his head toward her right. Turning, she immediately spotted what he'd been pointing out.

Damon.

That single face, the sight of it, immediately ignited a silent, ticking-time bomb within her. Hunger and tiredness forgotten, her attention honed in on the son of Hercules before she ducked out from under Adrian's hand to make her way, weaving between the other godly children, toward him. Her face was still dark with her camouflage, and her body still covered in the armor from the battle, but it made no difference to her when she finally stumbled (both from haste, and exhaustion) into the haven that his arms and chest provided, unspeaking because of the cursed dryness in her mouth.