Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Things got hectic with the holidays and then I got bronchitis. Now that I'm better I'm hoping that I can get back to updating much more frequently than I have been.

An Almost Escape

Blair watched as Chuck walked back past the room and down the hall to the left. He hadn't left the doors open last time, and in fact they were also locked. She wondered what was different about this time as opposed to before. She knew that when he had left the room he had gone to eat, she had been able to smell the delicious bread from where she had still been standing. Even though she knew that she wouldn't die without eating she still did want to eat, and that smell almost tempted her into leaving the room.

Almost.

But she had stayed strong.

Then he finished breakfast and left. But where too?

He had wanted her out of the bedroom, though that was probably because he wanted to make her eat. Blair knew exactly what eating the food of the Underworld meant. Her Mother had told her that if anyone ate any food or drunk anything from the Underworld that they would never be allowed to leave. He was just trying to force her to stay. Although he had already used force to get her down here, however he seemed to want to ensure that she ate the food. Did he really think he could trick her into eating the food? If so he had another thing coming because he was never going to win that one. Besides she wasn't going to be here much longer; her Mother would get her before long.

Noticing that he hadn't come back for a while she carefully moved to the door and peaked out. The walls in this large area were black like the bedroom was. It somehow wasn't a depressing black, it was more…elegant. Nothing like the elegance of what her Mother created, but still elegant. Not that she would let anyone hear that, however it didn't mean she couldn't inwardly admire it. There were also a few benches in the room, but mostly it was empty.

She took another backward glance at the room she had been kept in. Upon seeing the bed she shuddered on knowing what almost happened. What could still happen. Blair then exited the room, nothing was going to happen, and she would make sure of it. She looked around the large room and realized that there were other doors around. One door was opened and she could see a large table in there with chairs, it was across from the room she had just been in so she guessed that was where he had been eating at.

Shaking herself out of looking and guessing what was where behind all those doors she turned her attention to the way he had walked down. Clearly that was the only path she could see to take, the only way out perhaps. But also the way to get to him which is definitely not what she wanted. She didn't really have any other option though. Perhaps she could find a way out, though a part of her brain was replaying all the stories she had heard from her Mother, Serena and the nymphs about the Underworld and she knew that unless it was through Charles himself she wouldn't be able to leave. That thought wouldn't stop her from trying to leave on her own.

As she slowly began her way down the hall she wondered why he thought she would just jump right to him and tell him to undress her and do with her as he pleased. She wasn't an object. He seemed to be acting like just because he wanted her that meant she needed to comply, that was utterly ridiculous and she wasn't going to stay and let him have full access to her. Once she escaped she would then be able to get to her Mother and she and her Mother would then leave and hide in another part of the world, one where he could never find her.

The hall way was rather long but she soon got to the end of it. There had been a few doors on either side of the hallway but she didn't look in them and nothing had come out. She let out her breathe that she hadn't realized she had been holding when she saw the staircase. Quickly she made her way down and into a much larger open room. It was even larger then the one the festival had been in. It too had dark walls, but there were carvings in them. She wondered what the carvings were of.

Before she allowed herself to get more curious and start examining the walls she pulled her gaze away from them and scanned the rest of the room. She saw an ornately decorated throne…wait…there were two thrones. She thought back to their conversation, something he had said; "Besides I have decided that you are to be my Queen." That was for her? He already had it. So he really did just assume that he could kidnap her and she would become his queen over night.

The idea that he would assume so much made her even more upset. She remembered about his reputation through Serena and the nymphs. Shaking her head she remembered when she found out it was Charles, God of the Underworld. She couldn't believe she had mistaken him for Aaron. That must have been why Serena had been so concerned.

Serena.

A brief smile flickered on her face, her friend could tell her Mother about her speaking with Chuck. The smile was brief because she realized that once her Mother discovered that she was missing she would take it on herself and the other nymphs that lived near them to find Blair. She was still going to have to try and continue to find a way out of the horrible wretched place she was in.

Blair brought her focus back on the…throne room. There was only one double door that she could see and that must be the one he brought her in on. She didn't see anyone in the room so she quickly made her way to the door. Once there she looked around again, she was feeling uneasy that escape had so far been so easy. From her conversations with Chuck she had figured out that he was very arrogant and smart. She was sure that he would have thought it possible that she would try to escape. If that was true then perhaps he had planned on her coming this way.

She paused with that thought in her mind and almost turned to go back but then decided that it wouldn't be worth it just to head back up into the dark room. Even if he was on the other side of this door, or even if it was something else it was better to take a chance then to not know at all and definitely remain his prisoner. Taking a deep breath she opened the door slowly.

She took a step outside onto one of the steps that led downward to the…ground. There was no light, not that the place was pitch black, but there wasn't any light at all. It was the oddest thing, being able to see without the sun. Mist lay on the ground moving slowly about as if to capture those foolish enough to enter it.

She finally made it down the steps and very carefully took a step into the mist. It wasn't as horrible as she had imagined it would be. The mist felt cool around her ankle. Looking back up she realized that she needed a more definite plan now that she was outside of the horrible place. The river first flew into her mind but she quickly dismissed that. She needed something in order to get Charon to ferry her across and she didn't have anything. She realized that there was another mode of transportation, the chariot.

When he had brought her down they got out of his chariot right in front of the steps, she hadn't paid attention to where anything was or even where the chariot might have gone to. She couldn't see the chariot anywhere. The young Goddess knew that if she could find that she surely would be able to get back to her home.

Before she could even decide which way to move her back straightened and she realized that he was behind her. She wasn't going to acknowledge him; she could pretend that he hadn't even come up behind her. Since she was only able to go one way since he was behind her and going to either side meant she would have to acknowledge him, she took a step forward only to be stopped by his low voice reaching out to her, "I must say, I thought it might be a little quicker for you to get to this point."

A small gasp escaped Blair's lips and she felt herself turning around, "What are you talking about?"

"It's quite obvious you wished to see more of your home."

"This is not my home. Nor will it ever be. Now abandon this ridiculous notion you have and take me back to my Mother."

"Your home is here. This is where you will be."

She folder her arms, "I'm not moving from here unless it's to go home."

Chuck moved forward and grabbed her arm, "Let's go. Exploring outside is for another day. Though I'd be happy to discuss exploring other options." He looked over at her and slowly scanned down causing Blair to feel as though she had no clothes on.

"Stop it."

"What?"

"What you're doing. It's very impolite."

He raised his eyebrow, "So is leaving without saying good bye."

"Not when it's to ones' kidnapper. Now leave me alone."

He shrugged but didn't release her arm instead he let his hand slide down her arm until he got to her wrist at which point he tightened his hold again, "We're going back inside."

"Why? So you could do whatever you please to me?"

He stepped closer to her, "I could do it right here, right now if I wanted to."

She could feel the heat from his body seeping into her own body, something she didn't want to feel. Even though she was feeling his body heat she was angry and terrified. Terrified because he just threatened to violate her, and angry because he was being rude and horrible; he needed to let her go and he was not allowing her to leave.

"Just tell me how to leave and I will depart and neither of us have to speak of this again. In fact I won't even tell my Mother where I've been."

He seemed to think about it for a minute and then turned around and started back up the steps pulling herself along with him. He made it through the throne room and then back up to the hallway. Even though she put up all the fight that she could he was stronger than she was and soon enough she found herself back in the same bedroom. "Now we'll make a deal; you don't leave again and we can do more than just speak to each other."

Chuck let go of her wrist and she stepped back and rubbed it lightly, "I'm not making a ridiculous deal such as that."

"And that deal of you leaving and keeping your mouth shut? It's ridiculous. You will be Queen soon, mark my words. No more of that ludicrous nonsense of you leaving."

"So what you're going to force me to be your Queen?"

He stepped closer to her, "I think you and I both know that force is not an issue with me." She gulped remembering all too well his arms closing around her and dragging her away to hell. "However I know that you will be Queen, my Queen, so force is not necessary."

She blinked in surprise, "You know?"

"I do."

"Really? Well last time I checked I was attempting to leave this pathetic place."

Shrugging Chuck stepped even closer, "That does not matter."

"I think it does. It shows that I am not interested. From the very first moment I met you I was not interested, so why would that change over night?"

He lightly ran his finger across her cheek causing the area to burn, "Your reactions say otherwise."

"My reaction? Me leaving was my reaction to the horrible idea of spending forever with you locked away in a prison. Do the math. That means I don't want to be here." Blair was becoming more frustrated the more they spoke. How could he be so blind?

"I can wait."

"I'm sure you can't."

He looked at her, "Meaning?"

"Meaning I'm sure you'll find another Queen very soon. From all I've heard and seen you're not patient, I just don't see how this is any different."

He grinned, "And that right there is another reason." He leaned closer to her, "Normally you're right, but I can wait. Now if you'll excuse me."

This time he left shutting the door behind him. When Blair went to check she discovered that once more the door was locked. Now she would have to wait to be able to leave the room again, she only hoped it wasn't that long.

Looking around she saw nothing new since the last time she had looked. There just wasn't anything special about this room. There was the bed in the center which did look very comfortable, however she still refused to go near it. Looking back towards the sofa she reluctantly made her way there and sat down. Surely her Mother was already looking for her. For once she was quite grateful that her Mother was so over protective. Her Mother was very smart and should be able to piece together the information and realize that Chuck had taken her. Once there her Mother would even demand Nathaniel to let her go. There was no way that she would have to worry about being here much longer.


Two days later

Eleanor still hadn't found Blair. They had searched everywhere and no where had her daughter been. She was just going to have to look closer. First thing was first, she was going to have to go and look in her daughters' room. Once she reached the door she paused, perhaps Blair was back in her bed resting. Maybe she had made it home and was tired. Hopeful Eleanor quickly entered her daughter's room only to be brutally disappointed. She walked over to the bed and sat on it and in that moment she let grief overtake her. The tears came from the core of her being.

They had looked everyone. There was no trace, no sight, no nothing of her daughter.

How could she have lost her only child?

She knew that she and Blair had gotten into a fight but surely that wouldn't have been cause for Blair to run off?

Standing up she absently began walking through her daughter's room touching things here and there. She almost didn't make it to the closet afraid of opening and finding it empty. Once in front of it she found it nearly impossible to open it, but she did. Seeing her daughter's clothes still there was reassuring and yet at the same time caused another panic in her.

The dark haired Goddess pulled herself together, she had to think. If she was crying it made things a little bit harder to focus on the bigger picture. Her daughter hadn't run away, if she had then she surely would have taken her clothes with her. If she hadn't run away then why had she disappeared?

A memory came into Eleanor's head one she wished she had thought of before, one from the morning after the festival.

Eleanor looked outside at the sun, her daughter was usually already out there. She figured that she was still tired from the previous activities but that didn't mean she should slack. She stood up from the table and knocked on her daughter's bedroom door.

Blair answered right away confirming that she was indeed up, 'Come in."

She opened the door and looked around. Upon finding her daughter by the closet holding something she moved over next to her and looked at the material that her daughter was currently letting her fingers run through the material, "What is that?"

Blair let the material slip through her fingers as she looked at her, "Did you not give it to me?"

How her daughter could suggest that she would give her something like that was beyond her, "I most certainly did not."

"It is beautiful, wouldn't you say? Perhaps one of the nymphs…"

Of course it wasn't one of the nymphs, they ran things by her, "I find that highly unlikely."

Her daughter frowned, "I don't understand Mother, no one else comes here."

This was a cause of alarm, surely there had to be a reason why, could her daughter have given something away? "Did you speak of meeting with another one? One of those gods you conversed with?"

"I do not think it was one of them, they were merely speaking with me."

And that was when it hit her, her daughter had brought up Aaron the previous night. He had spoken to Blair a few times that previous evening. When her daughter had told her about it she hadn't put another thought to it, but now she wondered if there was something more that she wasn't looking at. If Aaron had indeed sent that dress to Blair than perhaps he lured her away? It didn't quite seem like something that Aaron would do, and yet, what other clues did she have?

Yes, it had to be him. There was no other explanation. Her sadness and desperation then turned to anger and desperation. How dare he take her baby? He who spent all his time playing around and causing others to forgot what they should be doing. He who 'frolicked' with many nymphs and maidens, sometimes many at a time. He brought her sweet innocent daughter into that horrible depraved life?

Eleanor left the room; it was time to pay Aaron a little visit.