The dark blindfold was roughly ripped off of Piper's eyes, and the single lightbulb hanging from the unreachably high and dark ceiling hung like a single star in the infinite universe.

"So, where's the Mistress?" Piper looked back as not-Annabeth calmly returned her cold gaze. "Please don't tell me that's she's one of those crazy invisible goddesses or something. Or invisible spirit. I've had enough for a lifetime."

"Mistress will be here shortly," was the only reply. The blonde's back was to the door, and Piper spun around to face her. "Why so rude?"

Silence. The door to the hallway was still open, and no matter how dark it seemed, she needed to get out of this room. All she hoped was that there was no herd of monsters right outside, waiting for their dinner. Or breakfast, either way. The ropes around her wrists gave her a huge disadvantage when it came to fighting and balance but, oh, she just hoped to the gods that she could get out of this without dying. She just needed to distract a little.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?"

"Better to have no parents than parents who don't care." Not-Annabeth smirked as she saw that her remark struck a dangerous chord.

"That's not true."

"Is it?"

"I dunno. Maybe. I have been ditched as a kid and left to die with a stupid son of Hephaestus with a fake boyfriend to remember-" While the blonde had anticipated a rant and argument, she did not, however, expect the shorter demigod's shoulder to ram her into the wall, bruising her ribs and expelling all her breath.

The door was open for Mistress, and for the room to avoid getting stuffy, not to be used as an escape route. The spirit-possessing-demigod smoothly tripped the daughter of Aphrodite and pulled her wrists high above her head, as far as they could go without forcing the tendons to rip. Not-Annabeth respected the way the demigod held in her scream and instead tried to dislodge the taller (not to mention heavier) teen, although, in vain.

The room spun in a way that it was not supposed to, and Piper really should've seen the floor coming to her. Her now nonexistent sense of balance didn't help her when she struggled to her knees and hands, hoping to get back up. A kick sent her flying against the wall, and she felt a horrible sense of deja vú as a cold golden eyes stared down at her with a mixed look of superiority and empathy. The brunette swung her foot upwards and non so gently aimed for not-Annabeth's knee, who didn't take it so kindly. As the blonde slipped down onto one knee, and knocked Piper's head in between the stone floor and her elbow. The spinning effect came back, but this time with a sudden urge to throw up. Fortunately, there was nothing in Piper's stomach, but her insides churned and her mind protested like there was no tomorrow. Her vision was blurry and her breaths came in pained pants; a thick liquid slowly dripped down onto her neck, under her collar, from a knot in the back of her head as she was sat down in a hard wooden chair.

"Mistress is coming, and if you don't listen immediately, get ready for, what do you call it? A world of pain." Oh c'mon, Piper wanted to roll her eyes, she's been through war. She wasn't going to comply with a simple nod. Instead, she gave the biggest and bravest smile that she could muster under the dire circumstances.

"Kinky."

She felt something crack as barely stifled a moan after not-Annabeth stomped down - hard- onto her toes. Her vision seemed to go fuzzy, and the grey of her surroundings merged with the golden hue created by the light. A shuffling of cloth indicated anther person and, with her suddenly horrible eyesight, she spotted an elderly woman whose face reminded her of the Fates (not that she had actually, personally encountered them). There were lines of age, yet not enough to state how much she had lived through in her immortality. She didn't know how to respond with the black wings that unfurled from the rags that she wore and the swirling in her inky black eyes.

Maybe she was just hallucinating.

And maybe being a demigod is just a really bad dream and she's going to wake up at her old school, in the Grand Canyon.

Maybe she was dead.

Maybe she wasn't.

This was all so confusing.

The table laid out for her was old and wooden, with twelve normal cards faced down, in rows of four.,for each of the Olympians sitting on their thrones Or was it rows of four and columns of three? She could never get the hang of that entire thing. The old woman smiled at her, gaping holes where teeth should've been. The blonde inclined her head and kept her head bowed and her stature taunt, a posture of reverence and respect. "Mistress."

"Ah, the young spirit. I see you have been have good use of body I had delivered to you?"

Not-Annabeth hissed as if in pain, but answered nevertheless, her head still bowed. The joking and (sorry for Piper to say, but) sexual not-Annabeth seemed nonexistent as this sober spirit took over. Somehow it reminded her of Leo. Laughing was a good way to hide the pain. Woah, where did that come from?

"Who're you? Why'd you kidnap me? Are you a god?"

Mistress laughed. "Young demigod, I am not merely a god. I am Lupe, goddess of misery and painful memories. Just my bidding," suddenly, Piper found herself as a young child again, rebuked by the disapproving stare of her father, "and I will have you at my mercy. And your petty little friends at that, also."

"You'll never get them. They're too good for evil people like you." Not-Annabeth's face was stricken, but her skin was pale and clammy, as if she was battling a tense fever. Her golden eyes were flickering- flashing with specks of grey before turning gold a moment after. It looked beautiful and mesmerizing, like a graceful owl in flight through the soundless night.

Mistress only grinned at her reply. "Choose a card, any card."

"Will I have a shot at winning anything? I usually don't gamble. That's one thing my father taught me when I was younger," Piper grinned. "I thought that was so 'Indian' of him, but-"

"Careful with your words, young demigod. Once fall move, and..." Mistress (Piper preferred to call her an elderly) flipped up a card that had a picture of Hades on it and the word 'Προδομένος*' It burst into a circle of green Greek fire; Lupe didn't need any words to complete her sentence.

"Choose a card? What will you do to me?"

"This is only, simply, the Fate of, what do mortals call it, your loved ones?" She grinned evilly, as all villains do. "So, choose any card, do what you must, young demigod."

"B-but what if I don't? I'm not the prophesy-er. I'm not the prophet, or the Delphi of the Oracle. I can't predict anything." A dagger found its way towards her neck, still ringing from being sheathed. "A-as I said before, huh, kinky." A thick liquid trailed down her neck into her collar, running over already clotted blood. The blood loss was creating dizzying side effects- quite literally.

"Choose. One." The paradoxical whisper in her ear almost showed a compassion. A warmth that ancient Greek deities seemed to always lack. "For your own sake."

"Yes, honey, and for the sake of those in my control."

Piper was silent in return. Then: "They are not under your control."

"What little you do know, demigod-"

"My name's Piper, not 'demigod', you stupid little hag," the daughter of Aphrodite spat out, "and you just feel like you need to control something, you need to be above something because your father or some shit decided not to look after you, let me guess, Hades? Where could've all this misery come from, anywhere else but the Underworld? Not enough daddy-time?"

"Young demigod, you are only reflecting upon yourself. A childhood devoid of attention, you poor child." A whithered hand, dead as the Underworld itself, reached out to stroke her cheek, and she lashed out with a growl. She didn't care if her throat was split. She would die trying to keep her friends from- "You friends, their cries for help, what they need to do to survive, their silent tears. All in a suffering room, deep under the earth. Where he shall never rise again."

"They're... Underground? We're underground? They're underground, like under the wor-" a gasp. "They're in the Underworld. You don't have them, you lying bitch, they're with Hades. And he's currently...not rising again."

"My," Lupe smiled. "For a daughter of Aphrodite, you seem to be a very good liability. How would you like to explore some more of your potential?"

"Umm, is this the part where you try to recruit me? Like, seriously? So mainstream." Her headache wasn't getting better, but at least the blood flowed had ceased quite a bit. Still, there was a steady stream of blood exiting her body as she spoke, not to mention the hallucinations. Or at least she thought the were hallucinations. Visions and memories flew past her mind; the most prominent, the night when she was out at the shore, sitting and cooling down from a fight with another demigod, with Annabeth. The moonlit beach was hues of blue and grey, cerulean and silver. "I miss the old Annabeth," Piper tried to look sideways towards her girlfriend. "She would know what to do, and would know how to get out of here. Together, safely." A tear slipped past her dirtied and bloodied cheek, leaving a fresh trail. "She would know how to save her loved ones."

"So, join your comrade in battle together, join against the wretched gods. You yourself know how much this can produce, how much light can come out of darkness. Just swear on the river Styx. No matter what you do, I can ensure that you can stay with your loyal and loving significant other. Just say the words."

'It's just like charmspeak,' Piper thought to herself. 'If only my powers were that efficient, or my plans enough to save everyone. Then Annabeth and I would both be safe at Camp Half-Blood, helping Nico regain his memories and stay with Percy, together, so that they can...'

"...love one another..." Permanent grey specks were slowly appearing in the blonde's irises, still as beautiful as before, yet now lost. It was as if something was revealed to her, and due to that, Annabeth doesn't know what to do. There was an inner, self- conflict that none were aware of. Hot tears followed the first, burning their way down and spilling onto the clotted blood on her collarbone. "Annabeth."

With a frustrated cry, Annabeth drove her dagger into the wooden table, a mere inch away from the 'goddess's' hand. She struck blindingly fast, grabbing nothing but black dust when her hand apparently grasped Lupe's rags. The single light in the room created an enchanting effect on the currently action, making Annabeth's golden locks a halo around her. Being a Greek demigod and all that, Piper surely wasn't religious but Annabeth surely was an angel in this moment. Her stormy and intelligent grey eyes told her to run, but the brunette can't leave her girlfriend here, even if she was going to be a burden, like every other time. She was just a daughter of Aphrodite.

She needed to prove that she could do this. That she wasn't just dead weight to her friends. She needed to get, she needed contact. Iris messaging. Oh, how could she have been so stupid! But she needed a drachma... "Annabeth," her voice came out in pained gasps; the dizzyness struck full-on as she stood up to face the challenges. "Drachma. Need to contact others. Now."

Annabeth stood with her back to the door, facing her bleeding and possibly dying girlfriend. Tear-stained cheeks and crusted blood and fading light from her eyes. Her vision flickered, and so stood the tall blonde with a cheeky grin and a carefree look, short blonde hair undoing over his long scar.

Luke. But he was dead, and she was now staring at her current lover, who needed her help. Piper smiled at her, nodding once encouragingly for her to go on.

With a determined nod, the daughter of Athena pulled out the golden coin from her back pocket, something that all three of them (including Lupe) had passed over in the chaos of all this. They managed to walk back to the room- well, Piper limped- where she was held captive and it was glad to say that the mist was still heavy and the rainbow still there, but fading fast. Annabeth flipped the coin through, her voice steel:

"Percy Jackson, Underworld."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

*"Betrayed" in Greek

Sorry, not sorry for this totally... almost pointless chap really. I don't believe I can upload sooner, although I do also believe that the ending is nearing... *tears*... see u soon, hopefully