Reyna sat on one of the hills overlooking the water. She liked the way the sunset shimmered on the water, she had a little while before curfew, and she figured she'd get some time alone. Today had been a difficult day, pulling together a team, preparing for a dangerous mission, and struggling to understand a prophecy that made little sense took a lot of energy from her. But it kept her mind off of what today was, the day she had killed her own father.

Nico had told her that she hadn't really killed her father, and that it was just a shade of what he used to be. But it felt like him. It felt like him.

She felt a presence sit down beside her. Reyna glanced to the side to find Messoria sitting there, content, for once not bothering her and she lacked that aggravating smirk. Reyna was suddenly struck with the feeling that perhaps that smirk wasn't the real Messoria. Just like how she was hardly a hardened leader and soldier, Reyna was secretly a scared little girl.

"You look," Messoria searched for the right word. "Sad? No, not sad. You look haunted."

Reyna grunted. "Everyone has their ghosts."

"Some more than others. If there's anything I know well, it's ghosts. Yours look to be pretty grievous."

Reyna made no move to comment. Though with the strange manner Messoria presented herself in, she felt like she could trust her. She reminded her of Nico. The kid had become her little brother of sorts when they hauled the Athena Parthenos halfway across the world, nearly dying multiple times in the process. But Messoria was also different. She had met her three days ago, and for two of those days Messoria had done nothing but bother her. Reyna had no reason to trust her at all. In fact she really shouldn't trust her.

But the way Messoria sat there, as if she had her own demons, as if she were actually another person, the sympathetic side of Reyna got the better of her and she relaxed a bit. She hesitated once more before she exhaled, and told her the story.

Messoria listened carefully, she kept her face void of any true emotion other than acceptance. Once Reyna had finished talking, there was a moment of silence before Messoria spoke. "I agree with di Angelo. That wasn't your father."

Reyna shook her head. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I really killed him or not, it felt like it, and I don't think I'll ever get it out of my head."

Messoria shrugged with one shoulder. "Yeah, I can understand that'll mess with anybody's head. But you're dwelling on it you know. Dwelling on ghosts never does anybody any good."

"You don't think I don't know that?" Reyna sighed.

There was silence for a long time, just as the sky began to darken, and the lands around them fell into shadows, Messoria spoke again. "Do you want to see him?"

The question jarred Reyna. "W-What?"

"I know where he is. I can take you to him. Only for a few minutes, of course. But it's enough time for you to get some closure." Messoria offered.

Reyna sat in silent shock. "I-I don't know."

"You don't have to!" Messoria rushed to explain. "I don't mean to put you on the spot or anything. Just, the Fields of Asphodel are easy to navigate if you're still alive and know where to look."

"A-Asphodel?"

Messoria nodded and stood. "Do you want to go?"

"Won't it tire you out?"

Messoria cracked a smile. "Demigods might get tired shadow traveling. But I function better in the shadows see?"

Reyna nodded. "O-Okay," She was the same insecure girl on Circe's island, on the pirate ship, in San Juan. She took Messoria's hand and soon the rest of her body churned as much as her stomach.

They reappeared in one of the most terrifying places in the world. Reyna had never been to the underworld, and she hadn't wanted to. But now she saw the terrors that struck fear into every mortal's heart. Messoria held her hand and guided her along the stone wall. Reyna looked down into a fiery pit that could only be the Fields of Punishment. Reapers that looked much like Messoria flapped around the mouth of the pit, cracking whips over the poor creatures, keeping the tortured souls tamed and contained. She looked forward, unable to keep watching as Messoria guided her to a more mysterious and confusing field. The field swirled and changed the longer Reyna looked at it. She could see wisps of people milling about, calling for loved ones, walking in circles, occasionally a soul or two would become panicked and run about, screaming for a child, a parent, or a spouse.

"So this is where Hazel Levesque spent sixty years?"

Messoria nodded. "Your father is down there somewhere, hold on."

Reyna flinched, accidentally squeezing Messoria's hand. Messoria looked back at her, checking on her. "It'll be okay. You can talk to him. There'll be closure." She reached back and flicked a tear off of Reyna's cheek. "I'll be right here." She looked back at the Fields of Asphodel. "There," She whispered, pointing to a speck in the grass, he was walking aimlessly, calling out. Reyna couldn't make out what he was saying until Messoria brought her closer.

"Hylla! Reyna! Hijas! ¿Dónde estás?" He shouted into the sky. He sounded desperate rather than angry. "Reyna! Hija!"

Reyna's stomach leaped to her throat. "Papa!"

He whipped around. Messoria brought Reyna closer and released her hand. "Reyna! Is that you?"

"Si, Papa."

Julian Ramirez-Arellano brought her into a hug that Reyna was most definitely not prepared for. "Ah! Where have you been? I told you not to wonder off like that. There are things out there that would delight in killing you!"

Reyna flinched. "Papa…"

"Where's Hylla? Is she off with that boy again?" He grumbled. "I told her to stay away from him…"

"Papa, Hylla is with the Amazons."

"The Amazons! What is she doing there?"

"She's their queen."

"Queen? That's my girl!" He threw back his head and laughed. "What were you doing Reyna? You two just ran off!"

"I'm Praetor of New Rome, Papa."

"¿Es eso cierto?" He demanded. "It's true isn't it?"

"Si, Papa."

"See? See I told you my daughters would be queens! My daughter, Praetor at age seven! It should be impossible!"

"Papa, tengo diecisiete anos."

"No, no, I saw you just two hours ago. You're seven years old. You can't have aged ten years in two hours." He shook his head.

"Papa, I'm seventeen!"

"Reyna," Messoria called to her. "Time is difficult in the Fields of Asphodel. He saw you two hours ago, when you were seven. The last time you saw him, you were seven years old. He's been here for ten years."

"Papa," Reyna choked. "I'm sorry."

"Reyna, we have to go now." Messoria yelped. "The Reapers have seen us. Let's go. Say goodbye."

"Adios," Reyna sobbed. Julian wrapped her in a hug.

"Where are you going, chica?"

Reyna held back another sob. "I'm going to the market. I'll get Hylla while I'm out alright? I'll get some tortillas, how's quesadillas for dinner sound?"

"We usually have those for special occasions Reyna, you know that."

"Today is a special occasion, no? I'll be right back, Papa."

"Alright, be back in twenty minutes."

"Si-"

"We have to go now!" Messoria lunged, grabbing Reyna's hand again and twisting into the shadows.

They landed back on the hill they had left and Reyna fell to her knees. Messoria fell with her to the ground, allowing Reyna to grip at her t-shirt and sob herself into exhaustion. Her bawling wracked her body as her shoulders tensed and shook and her core muscles ached from overuse. Messoria stroked her hair and apologized repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, I thought it would help."

Reyna finally calmed to occasional shivers and hiccups, sitting back she shook her head, pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes. "I-I," She tried to speak, but she couldn't make sense of the last hour or so, nothing made sense anymore.

"I'm sorry, Reyna." Messoria sighed. "I genuinely thought it would help, but I mean, obviously I'm not good at that. I should stop, I just-" Messoria stopped abruptly and took a breath. "I've never been good at making friends, you know? I just, wanted to help."

Reyna didn't move. She couldn't look up. She couldn't face Messoria, not after she had seen such vulnerability, such weakness in Reyna. She shivered again. "No, no." She whispered. "It's okay, I-I just didn't expect him to be so, so fatherly."

Messoria sighed, and moved over to put her arm around Reyna's shoulders. "Look, now you know, he was truly gone when you were seven. He had turned into a mania right about then due to the paranoia. You, you didn't kill your father, and he obviously doesn't blame you for anything. See, he's proud. He's proud of you and your sister."

Reyna allowed some of the tension in her shoulders to relax. "I was living with a ghost for three years. I let him hurt me for three years."

"Hey now, that doesn't reflect badly on you at all."

"I need some rest."

"Alright, we should be quiet sneaking into the cabin, it's past curfew."

"And the harpies haven't seen us yet?"

"They probably have, but I found out that they don't like to come near me. I probably stink of death."

Reyna nodded, allowing Messoria to pull her to her feet and lead her to the cabins. "Th-Thank you, Messoria." She whispered, just before they reached the Roman cabin.

Messoria gave her a half-hearted smile. "No worries, my pleasure."

Reyna had just finished strapping on the last of her armor and tying on her blessed cloak when Clarisse tried to swing at Messoria. The Reaper ducked and sent a cocky smile, as if the previous night hadn't even happened, taunting the angry war child further.

"Hey, come now, Clarisse, no need for violence!"

Nico rolled his eyes. "So, Messoria, you said you know where Pandora's Box is?"

"Well, yes," She gave a lopsided smile. "But we need to get a few things first. Like, um, approval from a god, and um, some invisibility capes. My sibling's invisibility capes, to be more specific."

"Approval from a god?" Clarisse snapped. "That must be so easy huh?" She snarled, glaring at Messoria.

"Give it a rest." Reyna ordered, standing to her full height and looking straight at Messoria. The Reaper looked as if she had had no sleep at all the last night, and she knew for a fact that she hadn't slept the previous day or the night before. "You don't look to be in any shape for shadow travel."

"Not this large a group, no." Messoria yawned involuntarily. "But, I do think I can get us approval from a god. The trick is finding him. My father, he's difficult to catch. We may have to spend a few nights searching for him. The other trick to catching him… someone has to die."

All six of the demigods paled. "How should we do that then?" Solace had the gall to ask.

"Usually we can find some dying people in a hospital. I happen to know he has three or four favorites that he visits often. So we can visit them, see about finding my father, since he's visible it takes a load off our shoulders, and then talk to him. The problem is getting to them. They're scattered across the country and I'm not going to be able to do any shadow traveling."

"I can get us to the first one at least, but I'll be almost incapacitated as soon as we get there." Nico volunteered.

"You are not over extending yourself you hear me di Angelo? Last time you volunteered to shadow travel a group of people long distances you nearly became a puddle of darkness." Solace lectured.

"Ah, well, it'll be one hospital, we can spend the night there waiting for him and then move on, if I could rest up a little, and maybe wait until nightfall for our next jump, then I can get us the rest of the way. Shadow travel doesn't exhaust me as much as it does Nico." Messoria assured.

"Okay, where's the first hospital?"

"New York City."

They arrived just outside of the main lobby of the Langone Medical Center. Nico swayed, caught by Solace, and Reyna told him to sit on a bench and stay there while the other five went into the hospital to visit the most terminal patients. Reyna followed as Messoria wandered the halls confidently, as if she knew exactly where she was going.

"Where are we going?" Clarisse grumbled.

"Towards that death smell." Messoria mumbled, turning a hall sharply. "Here we are. My father doesn't particularly deal with violent deaths, so the emergency ward wouldn't be his number one destination. But here, the cancer ward, that's where his fun is at."

She smiled back at the group. Len shook her head. "You're sick." There was an emotion behind her words that Reyna had never heard before. Clarisse rolled her eyes and Grayson pressed his lips together in anger. Only Messoria could be cheerful surrounded by such tragedy.

Messoria chose to ignore the others and continued forth, listening at the doors. Nurses hardly paid them mind, Reyna silently thanked the Mist. Messoria hesitated at the door of one specific room. "Uh, you guys, you should stay outside in the halls. I'll go in."

"Why should we trust you?" Clarisse snarled.

"Leave it." Reyna ordered. She nodded at Messoria, allowing her to take a step inside.

"Hi there-" Messoria's cooing voice was cut off by the door closing.

Reyna's stomach churned as she took a step forward and glanced through the small window in the door. Inside, she saw a painfully thin little boy curled up, hooked to beeping machines and a dozen cables and wires linked to him in various places. He looked to be in immense pain. Messoria kneeled by his bed, smiling a bright smile that the boy returned. He had his two front teeth missing and she motioned to them with a smile. Her blue eyes dancing in the fluorescent lighting. He giggled and nodded.

She said a few things that made the little boy laugh. With a halfhearted, weak gesture, he pointed to her wings. Messoria laughed again and began to talk to him, making wide gestures and funny faces. The little boy laughed and smiled, suddenly very engaged in what Messoria had to say. Slowly, his paper thin eyelids began to droop and his movements became smaller and weaker until finally he just laid there, listening to Messoria, giggling at certain moments. Finally, in the middle of her story, he closed his eyes and fell gently into sleep.

Reyna gripped at her throat, knowing what came next. She watched as the beeping of the monitors flat lined and alarms went off in the corridors. The four of them pushed themselves against the walls to get out of the way of the nurses rushing to his aid. There was chaos in the ward and Reyna could hardly make sense of it all. Nurses rushed back and forth, ordering back and forth, snapping equipment and weaving between each other. His room filled with people working their monitors and machines with such precision and control that Reyna could imagine herself using that kind of skill with weapons.

Reyna pushed Len back as she and Clarisse watched them struggle to reanimate the little boy. Messoria had disappeared, but the God of Death remained unseen as well. The nurses struggled, shocking his heart, trying to force it into activity but to no avail, the boy was gone. Reyna gulped down any pity she felt and sighed.

"No Thanatos, tsk." Clarisse rolled her eyes. "That mess is gone too. Thank the gods."

Reyna shook her head. "He was too young to die."

"There's no such thing as too young." Messoria mumbled, reappearing beside Reyna, watching the organized chaos before them with sad eyes. Two panicked mortals rushed by them, into the room. They were held back by a larger nurse as what Reyna assumed to be the mother fell to her knees in agony, wailing and clawing towards her son. The father stood in shock, his anguish enveloping his facial expressions, his hands limp at his sides. Silent tears streaked down his face and he didn't wipe them away. He had long since forsaken his son, and now that nightmare, that inevitable pain, had become a reality.

Messoria put a hand on Reyna's shoulder. "He's gone already. Whoever took his soul had an invisibility cape, it wasn't Thanatos himself. A sibling of mine guided him. He'll go to Elysium though." She smiled. "He was a good kid."

Clarisse was somber as she turned her back away. "Yeah well, he won't be the only good kid to die if we don't get a move on."

Messoria shook her head. "I'm too tired to get us out of here, and Skelekid really shouldn't push himself too much either. There's an old man down the hall who should be dying later tonight, we'll wait there."

Clarisse sighed. "This is a lot of death to take all at once."

A shadow fell over Messoria's face that seemed to go unnoticed by everyone else. Reyna could tell that this nagged at Messoria. "Yes, well. Death happens every day. Everyone must die." She whispered. "We must go. That boy is gone. There will be no returning for him."

Len was unnaturally pale as she followed the other three, though Grayson wasn't looking too happy either. "I don't suppose this next person is a child?" Grayson whined.

"No, this man is much older. I'd say eighties."

Reyna took a deep breath and followed. She hadn't expected to feel so depressed while searching for Death. Messoria seemed to have a spring in her step, though Reyna saw the shadow in her expression. An uncomfortable silence fell over the group after the alarms stopped in the hallways.

Clarisse stood across the hall, her arms crossed and eyebrows pulled down. "What do we do if he doesn't show up tonight?"

"Then we go to the next hospital." Messoria shrugged, yawning. "Here, I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up in three hours. I want to be up before the sunset."

Reyna nodded. "We'll wake you. Get some rest." Reyna turned to Grayson. "You, go message Praetor Zhang, inform him of the information we have on the prophecy and come back. Check on Nico while you're out."

Clarisse looked up to fix a harsh gaze on Reyna. "I don't trust her."

Len shrugged with one shoulder. "I second,"

Reyna shook her head. "We don't have much of a choice, she knows where Pandora's Box is, and she knows how to get it. We can't just leave her."

Clarisse groaned. "She's messed up."

Len began to gain a greenish tinge to her skin tone and Reyna began to worry. "Len, are you okay?" Len tried to nod, but Reyna saw right through her lie. "Go get some air. You're not looking too good."

Len did not have to be told twice and she nearly ran from the corridor.

This left Clarisse and Reyna standing across the hall from a sleeping Messoria. "Roman, do you know what else we need after approval of a god? Why do we have to talk to a god anyway?"

Reyna shook her head. "My best guess is that the Gods might be able to tell us how to get the box, or give us something to help in our quest."

Reyna shook Messoria's shoulder lightly. Her blue eyes opened immediately and Reyna nearly stumbled backwards. "The sun's due to set in about half an hour."

Messoria cracked a smile. "You really do keep your word don't you, Praetor?"

Reyna glared at her stonily. "Yes, I do. Perhaps you should remember that when you're investigating that theft."

Messoria laughed and jumped to her feet, fixing her hair and entering the room. Reyna decided, this time, to follow her. Messoria didn't shoo her away so she took that as further encouragement to enter.

An old man sat in the stiff hospital bed, every now and then he'd cough or clear his throat. When his door opened, he looked up. "Well, who are these two lovely visitors?" He rasped.

Reyna stepped forward, but Messoria beat her to answering. "We're here to assist you, Mr. Hans."

"You know me, but I don't believe I have the pleasure of knowing you."

"Messoria, sir." She smiled a bright smile Reyna swore lit up the room. "Would you like to see the sunset?"

Reyna was caught off guard. Sunset? Shouldn't this man be dying? "M-"

"I would love to." He chuckled, his laughter turning into a harsh cough that wracked his frail body.

Messoria walked over to his bedside. "Reyna, could you help me?" Reyna remained speechless and rushed to her side to help move the bed to the window behind the man. Messoria moved the blinds so that Mr. Hans could see the sunset.

Reyna wasn't positive that she had ever seen a more beautiful sunset. Messoria sat at his side, pointing to the sunset.

"It's beautiful." He choked. "I haven't seen the sunset in several months, it feels like an eternity." Messoria smiled at him sadly.

"Don't focus on what you miss." She spoke softly, as if she were soothing the man into sleep. "Look at the hues of orange, that purple sky closer to the horizon. Look at the blood red, that indigo just beyond that building. Gods, isn't it beautiful? If there's one thing I love here, it's the sunsets."

Mr. Hans sighed. "Yes, it's quite wonderful. Though I've seen real beauty."

"As have I."

"My wife, back before the both of us got old and moldy at the joints," He cracked an ironic smile. "She was something to behold. The men around the block called her Aphrodite. But I knew her as Helena. We grew up together. I'd seen her in every phase of life, from adorable little girl to buck-toothed, lanky, awkward child, to a blossoming, young woman. I loved her." His voice cracked. "Messoria, this is my last sunset is it not?"

Messoria smiled sadly. "It is."

"You said you loved the sunsets here. Where are you from?"

Messoria took a deep breath. "I'm a Reaper, I've come to guide your soul to the Underworld. But I thought I'd give you the ability to see your final sunset. I live in the Underworld you see, in the places that don't have sunsets. Where you're going though, that place has sunsets and it's the kind of place we all dream of achieving the honor to be in."

Reyna was rooted to the spot, watching Messoria talk so candidly about such philosophical revelations with this dying man, as if she knew him, as if she cared for him, it warmed Reyna's heart. Messoria paid Reyna no mind and gazed out the window.

"Mr. Hans, tonight, just after sunset, you will die. I've done more than I'm technically supposed to do. People like me don't have the luxury of making the world a better place. But you, Mr. Hans, have changed the world for the better and people like you deserve a bit better."

"Is death a prison?" He asked.

"For me, yes. But you, you have happiness ahead of you, for eternity."

"I don't want happiness for eternity. Happiness is not worth feeling unless you can also feel the sadness that makes happiness so sweet."

"And that, Mr. Hans, is the great tragedy of death." Messoria said wistfully. "The Fields of Punishment, for the truly evil must suffer eternal pain and sorrow, with no hope of happiness to endure such terror and destruction, Elysium, eternal happiness, with no sadness or tragedy to make such happiness truly enjoyable and finally, there is the Fields of Asphodel, where souls are stuck in eternal apathy and confusion, terror filling their hearts as they can't make since of their fates, nothing to make them hope, nothing to make them dread, and nothing to make them feel. Death, death is no prison for those lucky enough to be you. For you, when you die, may have the luxury of forgetting this conversation, however, my fate is tied to the agonizing knowledge of the truth. Mr. Hans, please, savor the sunset, savor the ups and downs of your life, Mr. Hans, grip your humanity tight, and enjoy its texture, because when you reach the end, you will only live in your memories."

Mr. Hans coughed once. "Well, Messoria, if that is the case, then I died long ago."

Mr. Hans turned to the sunset once more in silence. As the yellow disk turned red and dipped below the sunset, he took Messoria's hand. Slowly, he drifted to sleep and Messoria stroked the back of his hand with her thumb, letting him drift. Before he slipped into oblivion he whispered something to Messoria, Reyna didn't realize what he had said until after the monitors had flat lined.

"Messoria, take what you care about and cling to it, because your life will never mean anything unless you have something to love. Don't let death hang over you the way it does, it clouds your eyes and dampens your voice, give yourself a chance to hope for happiness, otherwise Elysium will seem like your own personal Hell, rather than heaven."

A/N Okay, pretty emotionally loaded chapter eh? Well, sorry about the long(ish) wait, I've been busy (as always). However! Christmas Break no? I now have time and shall be using this as an excuse to hide from mi familia. Hope you enjoyed, please review!

~Mickey