I really have nothing to say beyond: Try to enjoy.

Why was this bed so hard? Hermes thought groggily. He attempted to push himself into a sitting position, but something restricted his arms. His eyes blinked open to find himself on a slab of rock, chained down by shimmering gold shackles.

Everything rushed back in an instant and he remembered what had led to this. His head twisted on the rock, searching for Lucy frantically. When he turned his head to the right, he saw her. Her face was still bruised, but now fresh tear tracks stained her cheeks. She was watching him anxiously and when their eyes connected, hers widened as if trying to tell him something. Her gag, though, muffled her words and she fell silent again.

"Lucy!" he whispered desperately. She looked at him helplessly. "Lucy," he said softly.

Her eyes flickered up to stare at something behind him. Fear flashed across her face and she cringed. He turned his head angrily and saw a shadowy figure emerging from someplace beyond the cave. His eyes widened.

"Morpheus? Morpheus, quickly, get me out of here. I don't know how this happened but you have to help me! ...Morpheus?" He trailed off as the god came into view, smiling wickedly and not seeming at all shocked by Hermes' predicament.

"Why hello, Lord Hermes." He emphasized the title, spitting it out venomously. "What a pickle you seem to have gotten yourself into."

"Morpheus, what are you talking about?"

"Surely you can figure that out, oh god of cleverness."

Hermes' eyes narrowed in irritation. "Come on, Morpheus, stop messing around and get me out of here."

The god leaned against the wall nonchalantly. "Mm," he seemed to think, then shrugged. "No thanks. I don't really feel like taking your orders anymore."

Hermes frowned. "What? What are you playing at?"

Morpheus, whose eyes had been wandering, snapped his focus back to Hermes. He fixed him with a steady gaze. "Oh, trust me, Hermes, I'm not playing at anything." His cool words chilled Hermes and he fell silent for a long moment. Morpheus, sensing the god's trepidation, smirked. "Not so cocky now, hm?"

"Why am I here?"

"Well, I would think you best know the answer to that question, but if I had to guess, I'd say because of her." He gestured with a nod toward Lucy. Hermes followed his glance, looking at the girl. Her eyes were fixed on Morpheus in a fearful expression, her face drained of all color except the red and purple marks. Her battered state boiled his anger and he turned back to Morpheus.

"What the hell is she doing here, and why the hell does she look like that?"

Morpheus tutted. "Now Hermes, that's not a very nice thing to say. You know how women get. All sensitive."

"You know what I meant," Hermes growled.

The other god's smirk returned. "Of course. It's just so much fun to finally mess with you. I've been waiting quite a long time for that, you know. I'm just trying to relish the moment."

"Is that what this is about?" Hermes burst out angrily. "All this was to mess with me? Get me back for my pranks? That's ridiculous!"

Morpheus snorted, pushing himself off the wall to stalk around the rock Hermes was chained to. "That is ridiculous. Why on earth would I go to all this effort just to mess with you for a couple hours? I mean, come on, the lengths I went to in order to pull off this plan are pretty impressive."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I monitored your mortal for months." He ticked off one finger. "Trapped her within her own mind while she was sleeping." He ticked another finger. "Took control of her body to tell the newspapers about the gods." A third finger. "Masked her to keep any of you from finding her." A fourth finger. "Took control of her body again to talk to you—that was incredibly entertaining, by the way." Another finger. "Blocked her mind from you until you brought her to Olympus." A sixth finger. "And then, trapped you." He beamed, wiggling the fingers at Hermes. "Impressive, no?"

Hermes, who had been growing angrier at every sentence, growled. "That was you. All you."

"Well, not all him," a new voice said smoothly. "He merely carried out my plan."

Morpheus turned to the new god, bowing with pride. "Hello, father."

"Hypnos?" Hermes asked incredulously. "You? But why?"

The god sauntered out of the dark, walking up to Hermes with a neutral expression. "Quite trapped, aren't you, Hermes?"

"Yes, we've established this," he forced through gritted teeth. "You missed it with your dramatic entrance."

The god shrugged, unperturbed. "It didn't lose its novelty or satisfaction level, so I have no regrets."

"Well that's fantastic for you, then. I'm glad you're fulfilled," Hermes said scathingly. "Now will you please enlighten me as to why I'm chained to a rock?"

"All in good time," Hypnos replied airily, walking around Hermes. "You ought to have some patience. After all, it's not as if you're going anywhere."

Morpheus snorted. "Definitely won't be. Those chains are meteoric gold. Same stuff Hephaestus trapped his wife and Ares with. Unbreakable."

Hermes pushed against the chains in frustration, only succeeding in rattling the links noisily and making Morpheus laugh. Hypnos watched Hermes closely, tapping a finger against his lips absently.

"I must say, I'm rather surprised you've only been concerned about your entrapment. I did think that your mortal's would be of higher priority to you. You were so enamored with her previously that it was absurdly easy for my plan to be carried out. But I suppose that little trick my son pulled moved your interests elsewhere?" At this, Lucy whimpered softly and Hypnos turned his attention to her. "Ah, little Lucy. Weak, soft, small mortal. It was so easy to trap you." He took a step toward her and she cringed, her shackles clinking against the wall as she tried in vain to protect herself. He smirked, the first real emotion he'd shown yet. "You know, if your master had actually found the courage to claim you, you would have been far more protected than you were with that flimsy bracelet." She winced and Hermes' fists clenched. "But he was a coward, afraid of hurting you." Hypnos sneered. "And that just made it so much more convenient for me to use you to hurt him." He ran a hand along her cheek and she shuddered, closing her eyes. Hermes struggled against the chains and they clanged together angrily.

"Don't touch her, you bastard!"

Hypnos, not moving away from the girl, looked over his shoulder at the trapped god. "Mm, so you do still care for her. Although, I could have guessed that from the fact that you tried so hard to delve into her mind. He returned his smirking gaze to the girl. "Besides, we've been ever so close recently, haven't we?"

Lucy trembled, squeezing her eyes shut in terror.

"What have you done to her?" Hermes ground out through gritted teeth.

Hypnos smiled salaciously. "Oh, nothing she hasn't done before."

"I swear, if you've touched her, I'll—"

"You'll what?" Hypnos interrupted, spinning around. "You'll jump up and attack me? You can't do anything right now, oh great Lord Hermes." He spit out the title malevolently. "You're powerless right now. At my mercy. How does that feel?" He stalked around the chained god. "For millennia, you and the rest of the Olympian gods have been the most powerful beings in the Universe. You controlled everything, were loved and adored and prayed to, and the rest of us were cast aside like garbage. We meant nothing to anyone. We were far more important to those mortals than you, but you got all the glory. You got the temples and festivals and cities. We got a couple worshippers here and there and a small roadside shrine or two. And you take it all for granted. You don't care about us. We are nothing to you but assistants and servants. You ignore us as much as the mortals do."

Hermes stopped struggling to stare at Hypnos incredulously. "That's what all this is about? That we used to get more offerings than you? Where've you been the past few centuries? No one believes in us anymore. Any of us."

"They may not believe in you, per say, but they still know you. You're on buildings, in novels, fodder for history classes. The Olympians still exist. The rest of us were tossed to the wind a long time ago. If you ask any mortal, they'll know who Zeus is, or Aphrodite, or Hermes, or any of the rest of you egotistical gods, but do they know who Hypnos is? Who Aeolus is? No."

"So what? You're going to tell them all about us so you can come back and claim your small piece of fame?"

Hypnos smiled derisively. "Oh, no, I have much greater plans in mind."

"Like what?"

"Well, I must confess, I did recycle the 'plan' that Hades was supposed to have orchestrated," Hypnos feigned embarrassment.

"That's your plan? You're going to turn the mortals against us?"

"Mm, basically, yes. Well, and every other 'minor' god that I can. There were quite a few that harbor the same resentment against you that we do." He smirked. "You'll have quite a fight on your hands when the time comes. And then we'll take command. And I believe 'Lucy' told you what would happen next?" He tossed a glance to the girl, who was watching them in confused fear, then back to Hermes, who glowered at him silently. "No? Forgot already? Well, just so we're all clear on what's about to happen, we will force you into Tartarus, just as you did to the Titans, and we will reign. The gods will once again take control of the world, and the mortals will worship us. But we will be smarter than you. We will not be like Zeus, so paranoid he banished the spirits, but didn't think to suspect his own brethren." He laughed, an evil, terrible sound. "We've learned quite well from your mistakes."

"So you think it's going to be that easy, hm? You're so sure you'll win?"

Hypnos shrugged, unruffled at Hermes' attempt to aggravate him. "I've planned this for a long time. I've planned for many possible outcomes." He glanced down at his watch. "But I must be going. I'm sure I'll see you all quite soon." He grinned ominously at the trapped pair and disappeared down the dark tunnel.

Hermes lay silently, thinking. His gaze wandered to Lucy, whose eyes hadn't left him. He looked at her a long moment, an unfathomable emotion in his eyes. Suddenly, Hermes' stare turned to Morpheus, who was still lounging against the wall. "Why are you still here? Daddy didn't trust you to do anything?"

Morpheus glared at him. "No. I'm guarding you, for your information."

Hermes snorted. "Oh yes, what a difficult job he's entrusted you with, guarding two people who can't even move. Bravo."

Morpheus' face was turning an odd shade of purply-red. "Actually, it's a very important job. You just don't know it."

"Then please," he said, his words dripping with sarcasm, "please enlighten me."

The other god looked reluctant. "I'm not exactly supposed to tell you."

"Perhaps you should go run to Daddy and ask his permission. Would that make you feel better?" Hermes' voice was mocking, his expression of pretend concern, which only made Morpheus fume all the more.

"I don't need to ask him for everything! He's not like Zeus."

"Mm, doesn't really seem like it to me."

"My job is important!" Morpheus' voice rose to a high, infuriated pitch, his hands clenched into fists.

"Prove it!"

"Fine! You want to know why my father went so far out of his way to trap you? Because you were his biggest threat! You were the one person he was worried about; the one person he thought might unravel his plans! So yeah, he went to measures to make sure you'd be incapacitated when this was all going on. That's why my job is important. And that's why you're chained to a rock." He smiled smugly. "See now?"

"Mm." Hermes mulled it over. "That is interesting. I was wrong. Your job is quite important. I must apologize."

Morpheus smirked at him. "Damn straight."

"So I'm your biggest concern, is that what I'm to get from this? That's why we're all here?"

He nodded.

"So Lucy being here really isn't the point."

Both Lucy and Morpheus watched him in confusion. "I guess not…why?"

"Well, isn't one person, especially a god, hard enough to mask? Two must be very difficult."

"I suppose." He thought. "Yeah, it is."

"Then why don't you let her go?" Hermes suggested casually. Lucy's confused expression turned to horror, but her gag muffled her protests. Both gods ignored her—Hermes with some degree of difficulty. Morpheus chewed his lip, thinking.

"Well, my father didn't really say I sho—" Remembering Hermes' scorn the last time he'd deferred to his father, he stopped short.

"It would probably make watching me a lot easier."

"Yeah…"

"And come on, she's a mortal. What is she going to be able to do? You really think she'd be able to stop this war all by herself?"

Both of them laughed, though Hermes' held a forced edge. Lucy was struggling against her chains now, stifled cries leaking from behind her gag. Hermes' eyes darted toward her before looking away just as quickly.

"You're probably right," Morpheus agreed, still chuckling. "She won't be able to do a thing."

"So you'll let her go?"

"I guess…" Morpheus' abruptly unwilling tone caused panic to flare in Hermes' mind, but he pushed it down and pulled on a casual manner like only the god of cleverness could.

"I suppose if you absolutely need confirmation," he sighed heavily, "I'm not going to try anything if you set her free. I won't try anything. I don't have any tricks up my sleeve."

Morpheus was suddenly interested, and Lucy was equally as horrified.

"Well, if you're going to promise that…I guess it wouldn't hurt at all to let her go." He nodded decisively. "Yeah, I'll let her go."

When Morpheus finally agreed, Hermes' gaze turned to Lucy. He stared at her intensely, drinking all of her in. He was telling the truth when he said he didn't have any tricks planned. Perhaps if he'd had a clear head, he could have thought of something, but his mind was clouded with fear for her. He didn't need to drag her down with him. If only she were released, she could be safe. So he'd focused all his efforts toward that. Hypnos hadn't suspected, Morpheus didn't realize, but that had been his single goal since Hypnos revealed his plan. And now she was going to be safe, and it was the only thing he could do was to look at her, memorize her, the last he would ever see of her. He didn't know if he'd make it out and right now, he didn't care. But Lucy was getting out, Lucy would be safe, and that was all that mattered.

She looked back at him, eyes frantic, trying to persuade him to take it back. He smiled softly and shook his head and she stilled. Nothing she could do would convince him. He was going to put her before him. Even though he was right, she could do nothing and he could do everything. He could stop this war, he could fix this. All she could do was…well, whatever she would be able to do. She would do it. Her eyes filled with tears, watching Hermes lying on the rock, not resisting the chains at all. He'd given up. She couldn't give up. She had to save him. He wasn't going to save himself.

She had to save him.

Morpheus closed his eyes and concentrated. Lucy and Hermes shared one last longing gaze.

And Lucy disappeared, her chains going slack against the wall.

Hermes leaned back and closed his eyes, relief and grief warring in his head.

So now the plan is revealed, our hero has sacrificed for his true love, and she's free. It's almost the end. Right?