Today was busy~ getting graph notebooks at Walmart, swimming practice, and loads of other things,(including having a fight with my younger brother using sticks as weapons...I didn't want to...) And so, I finally found time to update...

Thalia's POV.

I was pulled away from the crowd by Clarisse and her half-brother with Death Breath after stepping out of the crowd and opening my mouth...sentenced to be kill by my own father! What type of stupid society do we live in right now? And Nico's (he would be proud at me for saying his actual name) father hadn't even objected! The crowd was oblivious to the fact that we were going to be executed. They just...watched us go! I glanced at Annabeth, whose eyes were filled with understanding...why? How does she know, understand the fact that my own and biological father just gave me a pass to the Underworld? I struggled underneath magical bonds that my fath~ You know what? I'm not going to even call him my father anymore. Zeus had put the bonds on me. I glared venom at him, and he stared right back. I heard a gasp next to me, most likely from Nico, but was to furious and anger-driven to look at him. Nico and I were pushed, and I punched Clarisse in the jaw before remembering she used to be my friend. Well, used to. Used to. She kicked me right back in the shin, and I grit my teeth before striking her with lightning. At least, I tried to. My dumb idiot of a father probably had all the stupid control of the lightning. I was near the front door when I snapped.

"YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS OF HELL!" I yelled furiously at everyone, but was mainly focused on Zeus hearing the message. Clarisse roughly yanked me out of of the throne room, and led me down into a maze. She went left, then sailed right. We came to a padlock, and I watched Clarisse type in...' Ares dungeons', then prodded me to the doorway. I heard Nico stumbling behind me, and I wanted to look back, but she kept my head straight. After directing me to a cell, she shut me in it, the creaking of the door adding to its look of oldness. I had never seen this before, and never heard of it either. I gazed at the blood spattered wall behind me and next to me, and turned my attention to the rusty-looking celestial bronze screen. I dragged myself solemnly to the only furniture in this hole of hell, and plopped myself on it, and heard the old springs in the dirty mattress creak. I finally found time to look at Nico, and found himself curled up in a ball. The 'guard' who brought him here laughed in his face, skipped out merrily, and shut the cell with a loud bang. Clarisse left looking grim, and yonder I heard the heavy iron doors shutting, leaving me and Nico in this prison. Nico had been quiet the entire time, and I found out why. He had a dagger of Stygian iron impaled in his left thigh, and was currently trying to ease the pain and take out the dagger. Separated by a screen of celestial bronze, I could do nothing but watch. I went to the cell's door, only to find handcuffs had somehow managed it's way onto my wrist. I gnashed my teeth and kicked at it with no apparent reason; it just felt good to be able to vent. I sat down on the dusty and rag-covered mattress, and found the handcuffs...gone. I see, the prison was enchanted to put handcuffs on the person inside the cell if they went to the door...no, that can't be right, that won't explain why the son of Ares went through the door unharmed. Maybe...there was a yelp of pure agony from Nico as he managed to get the impaled dagger out of his thigh. He angrily threw the blood-covered dagger at the wall with one hand while the other covered his incision. Blood gushed between his fingers as he desperately tried to stop the blood. The liquid came out with every pulse, leaving him in a pool of blood. There was a sickly iron taste wafting around in the jail, and by the smell I knew it was blood. I tore of strip after strip of my outer shirt, and fed it to Nico between the cracks. He gratefully excepted it with an air of sadness; a sadness I knew well. It was the heart-brokenness of learning that a major part of our life was actually a minor, a miniscule of reality toward us. I watched Nico wrap it around his thigh, and ended it satisfyingly with a tight double-knot. He sighed and flopped onto a filthy bench.

"Thalia..." He stated with a voice of sorrow that no one his age should, although technically, he was older than I was in physical age..."Do you think our fathers care about us anymore? At all?" So he feels the same way. He edged toward me, wincing painfully as he did so. although no light bulbs or anything were in sight, the dungeons were illuminated. I stretched, and tried summoning my bow. Anything to keep my mind off Nico. Unfortunately, that couldn't happen.

"Do you, Thalia?" He softly nagged at me. I sighed and stopped trying to summon my bow, which seemed to be enchanted not to come to me. I sighed and dropped onto the bed. Then I got up, and kicked the wall in pure fury. Deciding that felt good, I continued to punch and kick it, imagining it to be my father. With every punch and kick of mine, I felt the pressure I never knew I had on my shoulders slide off, bit by bit. Nico watched me, as if he wanted to do the same thing. Instead, he sighed and rested his chin on his palm. He fell asleep in a matter of minutes, and a peaceful expression made its way onto his face. Finally, I was done venting for good, dropped onto my knees,and patted my bruised and bloody fists. I panted heavily, and wearily picked myself back up and leaned against the very wall I punched. The coldness form the dungeons finally reached me as I began shivering, my outer layer gone as a bandage. I curled up into a ball, and fell asleep, the soft breathing of Nico lulling me to sleep like a lullaby of the familiar swaying trees in the sweet, breezy forests.

"Psst! Thalia! Thalia!" I groaned and stood up jerkily, my body sore from dozing off against stone-hard walls and floors. I pried open my eyes forcefully and jumped a mile high when I came face-to-face with Death Breath. I immediately burst into a laughter that wasn't forced but didn't have any meaning to it when I found him tapping at the wall with his knuckles. I stopped and stared solemnly at him when I saw the wild determination on his pale face.

"Uh...good morning?" Always a good start, even if it is half past twelve. I consider it morning whenever I wake up. He ignored my dumb comment or question~ I think it sounded more like a question~ and continued tapping. How did he even get here in the first place? I thought we were separated? I looked around the cell. everything was perfect. Nothing was out of order. "Nico, I have a question." He hummed in response, and annoyingly continued tapping the wall. I rolled my eyes, and crossed my arms. He continued to tap, and I found myself narrowing my eyes at him.

"Go ahead," He told me shortly, talking for the first time since our...nap. I blinked at his dryness, but quickly dismissed it. He ceased his tapping and faced me. Dropping down to the floor, his legs habitually crossed. I also slid to the floor, and sat in a pose like the leg-crossing, but different. It was a way I learned to do when I joined Lady Artemis.

"First of all, how did you get to my room? Or cell? Oh whatever, anyways, I didn't see a way to get into my...hole of hell," I said, muttering the last few words. Nico sat there very still and silent, as if he knew I still had more questions, despite me saying that 'I have a question' earlier. I scanned the room a few more times, and made sure I hadn't missed any blind spots. "Next, why are you tapping the wall? You look like a total fool there," I continued with ease. I know that you can tap a wall to make sure it's not hollow or whatnot, but here we are leaning against a stone-hard celestial bronze wall. There's no way you can even tell if it's even hollow.

"Also, um...are you scared of dying?" As soon as the words left my mouth involuntarily, I flinched and mentally kicked myself in the shin. Of course he wouldn't be scared, he's been down to the Underworld a thousand, if not millions of times. Plus, his bloody father's the bloody ruler of the Underworld! No way would he be scared to go down there! Still, I kept my head high just like a Hunter should, and awaited the answer. As if somehow sensing that I was done, his corners of his mouth twitched shyly and wearily.

"I got to your room in a very easy way. The dungeons play mind games," He laughed bitterly. Mind games? "Because of all this high security, you think you can never pass to someone's room. The designer took this to his or her's advantage, and designed it so that you can actually pass the walls, but don't think of it. See what I mean?" Oh, I see. A very harsh mind game indeed. When the prisoner finally sees the guard passing straight through, the would probably driven insane at the thought that they were able to go out of their miserable holes when they hadn't even thought of it. Wonder how Death Breath figured it out anyway.

"Then how did you find out if it was supposed to play a trick onto your mind?" I curiously asked. Don't tell me he has some crazy power that can avoid charmspeak or something. Although, the offspring of Hades do have their odd quirks here and there. They get 'free passes to the Underworld without dying'. And I think once I met a daughter of Pluto...she summons cursed gems...though I never figured out why.

"Oh...about that...that was why I woke you up. You know those dreams where a primordial or some other person comes to visit you in your dreams?" I nodded in understanding; I had a titan or two visit me before. "Well, Order visited me. He explained that he was the real creator, but forget about that for now. He told me the truth behind this, and so I did it. The reason I was tapping the wall was because he said there was a way to get out."

"And the way is~?" I tilted my head. Normally you wouldn't tap the wall to get out, it would've made more sense if you tapped the door and said,

'Please, guard, free me!' Well, that would've basically be begging and weakness, but it made more sense. Although I wouldn't think that a high and almighty Order would tell him to beg...

"He said there was a knock you could do on the wall, but he didn't know the combination. If the knock is correct, a panel will open to~" The cell door slammed open, and two bulky guards dressed in a suit of iron stiffly walked in, and gruffly bellowed as if they were deaf,

"It's your turn to die!" The execution. I almost forgot. We were gonna be beheaded. Already? They walked forward toward us, towering at least five feet above us even when we stood up. I can't see a single patch of their skin; both of them were covered in blindingly shiny iron. They roughly shoved us out and threatened us with the tip of an extremely sharp double-sided blade. Nico followed suit, and we were escorted down a staircase made out of cobblestone that looked hundreds of thousands year old. The staircase wrapped around a pole; thus making us sail down in dizzy circles. As we went down the also horrifyingly dark stairs, my thoughts went back to Zeus. How does he push his feelings aside? Isn't the quote supposed to go, 'family always comes first'? He literally threw me away just because I spoke~ no, I hadn't even spoken yet! Same goes to Artemis. She hadn't made a peep!

'No, you can't wallow in self-pity!' I reprimanded myself. I forced myself to look at Nico, whose thoughts looked like it had departed on an arduous journey some million miles away. Sighing, I concentrated on making sure I didn't slip and crack my head on the stairs. The texture of the cobblestone grew familiar to me, although I was in the dark, until suddenly the texture gave away to...marble? I looked up, and found the old-fashioned beheading machines. The up by torches room was lit Nico and I were lined up horizontally at the wooden structure, and forced to take off our...socks...

"Now, who shall go first?" One of the mocked us, grinning maniacally. The other one snickered, and went to draw up the chains holding up the blade. "Oh, I know, how about you die together?" I wrinkled my nose at him, and growled. Nonetheless, he swung us onto the platform, and I felt myself landing on it with a big smack. I stared at the blade, watching it glint evilly against the bright green flames of Greek fire. In a matter of seconds, the blade was coming down. Right before it hit us, we were taken away by something or someone, and I shared my surprised look with Nico. After spiralling a few times, we were tucked into blankets of darkness.