"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
— Winston S. Churchill

Defeat, Eden reflected, tasted like vinegar. The bitter flavor that wouldn't go away, no matter how many times you swallowed or spat. Her tongue curled in on itself, she tried to stop breathing, tried to get away. But she couldn't.

"Nothing we could have done." Greg walked through now of the tunnels. By the light of her flashlight, Eden could see how pale he was. Sweat rolled down his forehead even though they had long since left the hot sun.

Nothing? she thought, stepping over a man in a Titan uniform. A hoard of extra fighters could have been the difference… but no, Mexico had been almost completely overwhelmed. If anything, they were lucky not to—no, don't think that. God, why wouldn't her thoughts line up straight? They were just mashed together in her head like spaghetti, unable to untangle, making her unable to think clearly…

Running through the battlefield, looking desperately for survivors. "Lydia!" Turning, desperately, hoping for some sign. "Lydia! Dawn!" Where were they? Where were they?

"Eden!" And she was running, running, leaving a trail of blood behind her, running towards Dawn's voice… running… and she came around a bend, and there they were. Dawn, propping herself up against a tree, blood curling down her cheek, and Lydia lying next to her, eyes closed, chest still…

"LYDIA!"

"Elysium," Dawn whispered, a touch of desperation in her voice. "Elysium!"

Everyone fell silent, hoping desperately for a response.

"Elysium." Louder, this time, the word bounced off the walls in a panic. Every strained their ears, hoping desperately for some proof that there was still hope, still life here in the dark tunnel.

A pained breath reached Eden, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"B—" The person sounded like they were having trouble breathing, and Eden pointed her light at the ground, trying to find them. She regretted the action instantly when the lone head of a girl, looking no older than seventeen, stared back at her with vacant eyes.

The scream made her blood run cold. She knew that voice. But Rio never screamed. Ever.

And she was running, still running, lost and confused, finding them nearly by chance. Just as she was nearing Rio, she tripped over something and went sprawling.

Phoebe's head smiled back at her.

"Bound." At least, came the word.

"Where are you?" Eden hissed, wanting nothing less than to look closely at the dead bodies. Didn't want to wonder who they were, didn't want to be sent off into another world, another time—No. Stay here. It is now. She could do this. "Where are you? ¿Dondé está?"

"Aquí," came a whisper. Eden could hear the sharp intake of three breaths, and she shone her light around. Dawn gasped as the headless torso came into view. Then, a few feet over—

"Eden." Dawn ran to the girl slumped next to the corpse. "Eden, can you…"

Throwing up would be very un-lieutenant like, and she tried to remember if there was anyone in the present company who cared. Greg, Dawn, Ferd, Jason and Laurel. OK, so puking wouldn't be good. She took a deep breath, then realized what a bad idea that was as the stench of rotting corpses increased.

The dark haired girl next to Dawn twitched slightly as Eden approached. And by the light of her flashlight, she was able to see just how bad the stomach wound was.

"What happened here?" Eden whispered, wondering if there were any more survivors. "What's your name?"

"¿Qué?"

English. Dammit. Eden looked at the people behind her in desperation. One and a half centuries of life and her Spanish was limited to hola, dondé, qué, and the first three numbers.

Greg stepped forward. "¿Cómo te llama?" His Spanish was rough, imperfect, but it worked. Eden sighed in relief, wishing Marisol or Rio was there. But they had led another party…

"Emilia," the girl was muttering, eyes closed. "¿Emilia?"

"¿Tu nombre eres Emilia?" Greg asked haltingly.

The girl shook her head and lifted one shaking finer, pointing towards the head. "¡Emilia!"

Eden closed her eyes tightly for several seconds before she could bear opening them again.

The rest of Phoebe's body was lying a few feet away, blood gushing from the stump that once held up her head—

"Soy… soy Ariana," the girl whispered.

Greg nodded slowly, eyes darting down to the headless corpse of the girl called Emilia. Eden bit her lip. For someone who had killed, been in so many fights, she should be able to bear this a little better. What was wrong with her?

She stood next to the burial shroud, knowing perfectly well who was underneath it but not wanting to see her. Wanted to remember Robin as an eleven year old girl, so full of life, singing and laughing. Wanted to remember her how she lived, not how she looked at the end, eyes rotting, skin cold. But she had to. She had to say goodbye…

Hands trembling, she pushed the silver cloth away.

"Ask her what happened." Ferd said. Greg translated.

No, Eden thought, staring at Ariana's stomach. Let her rest. But it would take a god to heal her—and where was Hermes? Running amok with Peter and Adam, somewhere else in the tunnel…

It took the girl a long time to say anything. And when she did, the words sounded slurred. They traile doff at the ends, and Greg looked like he was having trouble understanding. The only one Eden caught was Kunhyi.

"Lars Kunhyi?" she asked sharply.

Ariana nodded, resting her head back against the wall, eyes still shut. "Emilia…" she said again.

Eden reached for her sword, half expecting Lars to jump out of nowhere. But the Titans were gone. They had only seen one guard roaming the tunnels. After all, no one was alive down here…

Thalia didn't get a shroud. There were too many pieces of her, scattered about, and no one had the heart to collect them. They just burned a few fragments of her silver jacket. And Eden held her lieutenant band in one hand, wondering if she should throw that in too. She never wanted to see it again, much less wear it.

"It's fine," Jason said sharply. "We're alone."

The girl—Ariana—said something else, and Greg's eyebrows lifted. "¿Dondé?"

The finger twitched again, pointing to a wall, then dropped quickly.

"Ssh." Eden admired Dawn for being able to sit next to her, to hold her hand. To look without fear at the blood around them. The blood that was all over Eden's clothes, her hands, her feet. And the smell…

"Hermes." Jason said. "We have to get her to Hermes."

"Ferd, go." Eden said sharply, the command coming too naturally. "You have the best nose."

"Right." The clomping of hooves was the only signal of his departure in the dark.

"Tell her a god is coming," Eden said to Greg, who translated again. Ariana whispered something. All Eden could think about was how far away Hermes was and how they needed radios, but the radios would broadcast their location to anyone who cared. Unfortunately, a lot of people cared.

"Come on," Dawn muttered. "Come on, Ferd."

They had the rest of the tunnel to go through, yet Ariana was the first sign of life they had seen. They couldn't just leave her. Eden wondered if they should split up, but it was far too dangerous. Anything could be in here. Any Titan minion or hellhound, and they were already spread thin enough looking for survivors.

Minutes passed, stretched out longer in the silence. With each pained breath Ariana took, Eden wondered if it would be her last. Ferd Ferd come back…

The flicker of blue light was a deux ex machina, and Eden sighed in relief. "Lord Hermes." She refused to bow.

"Does she know what happened?" He asked, looking put out.

She turned away from him to roll her eyes. "Yes."

He knelt next to her, putting a hand over the stomach wound, and her gasp turned into a sign of relief. Eden watched in amazement as the skin slowly pulled itself back together. The large, angry red scar lingered.

"Clearly," Hermes noted, "The string is not yet cut."

Clearly, for Ariana was sitting up. She said something else to Greg, who turned to Eden and Dawn.

"Check the walls, she says." He looked perplexed, and had begun to question her further when she saw the head.

Dawn's hand caught her scream, trying to muffle it, and Hermes rolled his eyes.

"Mortals," he muttered.

The last time she saw Artemis, she was being dragged away. Atlas held one arm, Kronos the other. She was kicking, swearing up a blue streak, but he held on. And Eden crouched in the bushes, desperate to help, yet too scared to move. There was no way she could take on two Titans at once.

As Artemis rounded a corner, Eden was sure that she saw her. For one moment, their eyes met. And her goddess shook her head, just a tiny bit. A signal. No. Do not move.

Still, the only thing Eden could think was that she had let her down.

Ariana slowly started to calm, her scream breaking off into sobs. Eden shook her head. She had to get out of here…

"The walls?" Eden stood. "Let's go look… Dawn. Greg." It was an order. Hermes was there, he could interpret. The three left.

No more survivors lurked in the halls. No more breaths reached Olympian ears. Still, Eden clung to hope that there were survivors, somewhere…

The walls…

They tapped on them, whispered the code word into the cracks. Rubbed their hands all over the smooth cement, but couldn't figure out how someone would hide in there. Maybe, Eden though, Ariana was just in shock… didn't know what she was talking about…

The sewer system ended, and they ended up in what was clearly more roughly made tunnels. The boards and stone that held them up was much less sturdy, and yet somehow it had lasted a couple years without falling on anyone. Supplies were tossed every which way, and in some areas, they hadn't been disturbed at all.

No sounds lingered in this place. It was eerie, and she couldn't help but think that it was only a matter of time before something happened. Her heart thudded, and she wondered if they could hear it out there. Quiet. Too quiet.

They entered a storage room, full of weapons and, strangely, apples. This was as good a place to hide as any, and Eden again made for the walls. Maybe here…

That was when they heard the thuds.

The Hunter spun around, loading an arrow without thudding.

"Drums, drums in the deep." Greg muttered, and Dawn cracked a smile.

"We cannot get out."

Eden stared at them both, pretty sure they had both just lost their last few marbles. "Where do you hear drums?"

Dawn shook her head, still laughing a little. "Nothing." Darting to the door, she peeked around. Her muffled oath made Eden start, and they let the door fall closed.

"They have a cave troll." Greg said in a slightly shocked tone as someone flung themselves against the door.

"Well." Dawn grabbed an extra shield from the wall. "Good thing there is one dwarf left in Moria who still draws breath."

Oh. Eden rolled her eyes, wondering how they could make endless references at this time. At least they could just let it off…"We're possibly about to be fighting for our lives," she pointed out. "This really isn't the time—"

"Of course it's the time if we're about to die." And with that, the pounding increased.

Peter. Rio. The others. What have—

"Elysium!" An accented voice was yelling. "Elysium!"

"Oh," Eden sighed. "Bound!"

But they couldn't see them. What if….

"Dawn," Eden ordered. "Open the door. Stay armed. If they attack, we'll shoot…"

Dawn did as she was ordered, but there wasn't much to worry about. Six exhausted looking men in armor stumbled in.

"We heard you," he said. "When you came by. But we weren't sure… we weren't going to give up our hiding spots when you were there…"

One of them was holding a torch, which he pointed at Dawn's face. She jumped back, fingers tightening around her arrow. But they didn't seem to notice.

"Cazadoras." One of them whispered, pointing from Dawn to Eden. The later frowned a little, stepping forward.

"What?"

"You are not enemies," the leader one said. "You're Hunters."

She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. The relief was shooting through her system, making her a little giddy. "I'm perfectly aware of that, Mr…?"

"Bidal," he said. Then shook his head. "You are safe… they sent us to check. Come."

O-o

Of the hundreds that had been here, there were about thirty survivors. And so, so many dead bodies. It was too dangerous to stay in the tunnels, and yet she didn't have the heart to drag them away from the search for lost friends and family. She had done it herself too many times. What was the harm in staying a little longer?

By the time they got out, the sun had set. As they slipped out single file through the sewer opening, it was as if a curl of stink was leaking out. In a movie, Eden knew it would be the putrid green color that alerted people of their presence. She kept her bow half drawn as did everyone around them.

"Come on." The door was shut.

At one point she thought she saw a person come to a window, but there was nothing they could do about it but hope they wouldn't alert anyone.

"Where should we go?" Rio whispered, catching up to her. Eden shook her head slowly.

"Arizona?"

"Are you kidding me? That's like…"

"The closest we can get." Eden snapped. "Or do you know of another base nearby?"

"And you think we can just smuggle sixty people over the boarder when they know perfectly well that we're here and are probably expecting us?" Rio demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

If I were Zoë or Thalia she wouldn't be arguing with me. Then again, Zoë and Thalia would have had a better plan in this scenario.

"We're not selling ourselves out to any cartels or being held for ransom." Eden hissed. "We're armed and dangerous and could kick their pathetic asses. We're not those pictures you see in the paper of people having to give relatives phone numbers or—"

"Yes, if we meet any shifty people we could take them. That's not my point." Rio snapped. She stopped when she realized how loud her voice had become. "What about police? What about Titan soldiers? Even you alone probably couldn't go through undetected—"

No. This had gone too far. The lieutenant stopped, hands on hips, and tried to look as tall as she possibly could. The gaggle of people behind them also stopped looking wary. And a small part of her felt guilty for pulling her I'm the lieutenant Hunter, daughter of Zeus and most wanted person in the country card, but the sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Rio," she hissed, and the other Hunter had the decency to look down. "If you have a better plan or a safer spot, I'd like to hear about it now. If you don't then we're going to get sixty people onto a train and across into the US." Afraid she had pushed it a little too far, Eden squeezed her sister's hand. "C'mon."

They started moving again, making their way towards the train station. And again, Eden reached for the mist.

O-o

No violence, blood or gore, but necessary nonetheless.

D23 articles are due in a week. If you're planning on writing them…

Also, I finished JulNoWriMo at 60k.

Cfaithsweetie: I did. =) Thanks!

Draco—Yes, you are. And I don't get in the head of that many dying people 'cause I hate POV jumps.

LunaPadma—thanks XD

Peter—woah. Thanks. : ) haven't seen anyone go that high in awhile. I'm honored.

Moonrise—Yay! : ) and yes, his ego is rougly the size of China. And yes, you are. Maybe. I haven't decided his fate as of yet.

Wisegirlindisguise—home made chocolate chip cookies. Though brownies are nice. And chocolate cake. And M&Ms.

Shrrgnien—nah that's fine. And thanks : )

Lovetoread—yeah… I considered changing the book ending but decided against it.

Morganic—first review? *throws confetti and holds a party to celebrate the occasion*

Juliet—well, sort of. I mean… I just got a new story idea but I'll still keep doing this in my spare time. Honests.

Dreamcatcher—welcome

You Know Who—you should get an account so you can help us…

Fishpony—maybe both. He's rather screwed up.

Hp—thanks!

Lexaa—an excellent time if I do say so myself. And thanks! He's… Lars just wants his dad's attention though he won't admit it, and he's convinced himself he's entitled to everything.

Critic—True. But gory can depress you.