((Pre-chapter A/N: So sorry if this chapter is terrible lol I forgot to post it))

Darkness. Falling. That was what Adrienna felt as she fell through the dark abyss of... Actually, she had no idea where she was. It was too dark to tell. Everywhere she looked there was nothing but pitch blackness. Up was down, down was up. Right was left, left was right.

Eventually, she stopped falling and hit solid ground. For a moment, there was peace, but that peace was soon interrupted once more by the 'ground' Adrienna had been standing on ripping at the seams and a crackling being heard overhead.

While she was rappelling down through the 'air', Adrienna took a moment to think. What the hell else was she supposed to do when trapped in an endless abyss? Besides, she had to figure out what was going on, where she was, and why she was there.

"C'mon, Adrienna, think..." she said to herself. "Who on Gaia's green earth could be behind this?"

She looked around, hoping to get some semblance of an answer, but had no luck. There was only darkness around her.

"Adrienna," a voice crooned from the shadows, calling to the young goddess, "listen to me, Adrienna."

Adrienna smirked. "What do you want? Where am I? And who are you?" she asked the disembodied voice.

A laugh ricocheted off the nonexistent walls of the unknown world. "Oh, Adrienna... sweet, innocent Adrienna. No, no, no... innocent is far from the correct word, isn't it? An innocent person wouldn't engage their uncle in a literal dance of death over a perceived slight, a mark on their yet-to-be-garnered reputation, now would they?" Another laugh made its way around and to Adrienna's ears.

Adrienna's eyes grew wide. "How do you know about that? You don't sound like anyone I saw at the party. I knew everyone in attendance.."

The owner of the voice cackled. "I wasn't there, but I still know of it. You see, I had eyes there, whether your idiot uncle and king realized it or not."

Adrienna smirked. "Who could have been there that you'd know?"

Suddenly, a giant set of pearlescent daggers that Adrienna assumed to be teeth appeared Cheshire-style in midair. "Oh, you know, this person or that person... everyone. But most importantly, a certain god of death was there, was he not?"

Adrienna nodded. "Y-Yes, he was. Both he and my father showed up about halfway through my dance with my uncle." Her eyes widened. "How did you know?"

The mouth that now accompanied the voice contorted into a sneer. "I told you, I have eyes everywhere. Mostly in your head. And everyone else's heads as well. Let's just say that I mainly appear at night and leave it at that, shall we?"

Adrienna stamped her foot. "No, I want to know more. What is this, and who are you?"

The gargantuan maw split open, letting loose a boisterous chuckle that bounced off the nonexistent walls. "Child goddess, I am the ageless, the inevitable, the inimitable. I am your worst nightmare, in every sense of the word."

With that, Adrienna was plunged back into pure darkness once more, falling once again. Whoever or whatever had been holding her up was now gone.

~

Moments later, she woke up screaming, which alerted her parents to her inner plight. Within what seemed like seconds, they were at her side, dressed in silky pyjamas with her mother wearing an eye mask.

Persephone, who had come to the Underworld that night, guided her daughter to the end of the bed, where Hades was already kneeling.

Once Adrienna was sitting on the edge of the bed, both her parents sat next to her, one of them on either side.

Persephone was the first to break the silence that followed the shriek.

"What happened, darling?" she asked as her brows scrunched together.

Adrienna just sat on the edge of the bed, staring ahead of her. "I... I don't know, really... There was darkness, and... and a voice... I'm so confused and so lost..." Then she curled up into a ball.

Hades thought for a moment. "A voice? What did it say?"

Adrienna thought for a moment. "It- I mean... he, I think - said that he has eyes everywhere, mostly in peoples' heads, and he's... give me a minute." She took a couple of calming breaths and looked at both of her parents in turn. "He said he's, and I quote, 'the ageless, the inevitable, the inimitable'. He said he's my worst nightmare, in every sense of the word."

Persephone thought for a moment, trying to piece together the puzzle that was her daughter's nightmare. "We need to talk to Morpheus, Hades; this is not normal. Whoever is doing this needs to pay."

Hades nodded along with his wife's suggestion. "Morpheus may know who did this. The journey will be long, but it will be worth it in the end if it means we will have solved the mystery presented to us.."

Adrienna looked from her father to her mother and back again. "So that's it; you're just going to leave me defenseless?"

Hades sighed and shook his head. "No, of course not. There are a couple of things we can do to ensure your safety. One option is to see if you would be able to enter Hypnos and Morpheus' realm with us, but even then, that's only about a fifty percent chance."

Adrienna nodded. "What are our other options, if any?"

Persephone stroked her daughter's hair. "We have Hypnos come here to help you sleep, and stay with Morpheus as he monitors your subconscious mind from their realm."

Adrienna smirked. "Do we have any other options?" she asked, hoping there were more options than just the two that she had been given.

Hades sighed as if in defeat. "Well, there is one other thing, but Zeus might not like it." He smirked. "The third and final option is for you to go stay with him until this hopefully blows over."

Adrienna copied her father's smirk and chuckled. "In that case, I'll gladly take that final option."

Hades smiled, kissing the top of her head. "I thought you might say that. We'll contact Morpheus anyway, just so we have as many options covered as possible."

Adrienna nodded. "Sounds good. I just hope there's room on good ol' Mount Olympus for me."

I'm sure there is, or at least there will be after I talk to Zeus," he reassured her.

~

It didn't take long for the trio to get to the top of the mountain, even living in the very bowels of the Underworld. Hades stepped forth, looking around as if to be searching for his brother. He knew where the King of the gods was, as he knew his brother quite well. All he had to do, in reality, was walk into the lavish throne room where there were eleven thrones sitting in a row. There had been twelve, but Hades' had been moved to better suit his role as king of the Underworld.

Persephone smiled and took her husband's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Well, that didn't take very long, did it, darling?" she asked her husband, who smirked.

"Nope," Hades replied, chuckling a bit as Zeus looked over at them with a shocked look. He had one of the nymphs that worked as attendants to the gods on his lap - still clothed, thankfully - and shooed them away as he saw his brother and his family.

"H-Hades, Persephone! What are you doing here?" he asked as he stood up and wiped saliva from the corner of his mouth.

Hades maintained his smirk. "You really can't keep it in your pants, can you? I'll take this as confirmation that I'm the only one with any damn morals in this family besides ."

Zeus stood his ground and swiped his hand, generating a bolt of lightning from thin air. "How dare you insult your king," he said as his eyes glowed. "I ought to send you back down to the Underworld for that, Hades."

Hades maintained his smirk and readied a pair of inky tendrils of pure darkness as his eyes took on the same dark look. "If you didn't cheat on our sister - who is coincidentally also your wife, in case you have forgotten - every time you got the chance, I'd appreciate it, as I am sure she would."

Zeus threw a couple of bolts at Hades, his eyes radiating a brightness only seen in the very bolts of lightning that he wielded. "You would dare say such slanderous nonsense!? I am aware that Hera is my wife; I am aware that I might have a slight problem. But did it ever occur to you that I don't give enough of a shit to fix it!?"

Hades nodded, smirking as Persephone ushered Adrienna towards the furthest two thrones. "Oh, trust me, I am plenty aware of that, Zeus! Ever since you defeated Father and us three brothers drew lots, you've become this... this... Damn it, I don't even know how to describe you anymore!" As the fight ensued, Hades caught the bolts with his tendrils and threw them back at Zeus, who jumped out of the way for some reason. "I wouldn't say you have a slight problem, Zeus; you have something much more than that."

Zeus readied another bolt of lightning as he stared his brother down. "What are you saying, Hades? That I'm no good?"

Hades shook his head and grabbed onto the bolt as well. "I'm saying that, next to you, Eros looks like a saint."

Persephone cleared her throat, and both men turned to look at her, though their eyes remained the shocking white and inky black of their respective weapons. "Are you two done yet!? We didn't come here for you two to go at each other's throats, we came to ask a favor of Zeus and Hera."

After a moment of silence, both brothers stopped their bickering and dissipated their weapons. Hades looked at his brother in disgust before sighing.

"Persephone is right. As much as I hate your constant womanizing, I didn't come here to pick a fight with you." He looked back at Persephone and Adrienna before returning his gaze to his younger brother. "I came to ask that you provide her with a place to stay for a little while. Persephone and I have to pay Morpheus and Hypnos a visit to see what this nightmare she had is all about."

Zeus smirked. "So let me get this straight; you want me to provide accommodations for your daughter - who I'm pretty sure tried to kill me, by the way - just so she can get over a bad dream she had one time?" He scowled. "Hell no. I will be doing no such thing."

A voice came from the doorway, a meek one that radiated shyness. "P-Pardon me Your Highness, but... do you still need me?"

Everyone looked at the doorway, but Zeus was the one who answered. "No, it's fine; you are dismissed to continue the rest of your duties. I have some family business to attend to," he said before the nymph scurried away. Zeus looked at his brother, sister-in-law, and niece. "Back to the matter at hand. You said you wanted Adrienna to stay here because she had a nightmare. That all depends on a few factors."

Hades simply looked at his brother with a straight face, holding his family close. "Name your terms," he replied.

Zeus crossed his arms. "There is to be no antagonizing aside from the occasional friendly jab; no challenges like the other night, and she is to apologize for that stunt."

Hades chuckled a bit, eliciting a glare from Zeus as the god of the dead indulged in a fit of full-blown hysterics, clutching his stomach as he bent over from laughter.

"Why the hell are you laughing?" the king of the gods demanded of his eldest brother, to which Hades giggled and pointed at his brother.

"You really had me there for a moment, Zeus. For a second I thought that you wanted my daughter, whom you offended, to apologize to you." He stood up and wiped the tears brought on from laughing so hard, from his eyes.

Zeus nodded. "I do; why's that so hard to understand? She made me look like an idiot in front of the entire pantheon."

Adrienna stood next to her father and spoke up. "No, you made you look like an idiot, Uncle. The voice in my dream even agreed that you were an idiot."

Zeus scowled. "Now I definitely need to know who this voice belongs to. I'll do whatever it takes to find out who did this to my dear niece."

Adrienna sighed. "We do have one lead. I should have said something earlier, but I didn't want to implicate anyone."

Hades just looked at his daughter and nodded. "Go ahead and tell us, Adrienna."

Adrienna nodded. "The owner of the voice mentioned Thanatos specifically. Well, they said 'a certain god of death' so I logically assumed they were talking about him."

Hades nodded as if in thought, Zeus following suit a moment later. "Well, he is the god of death, after all, so I can't imagine how you'd be wrong."

Adrienna nodded. "I thought so, but I'd like to talk to Thanatos myself before I make a judgment," she replied.

Zeus nodded along with his niece. "That makes perfect sense. Thanatos has many connections, especially being the kind of god that he is." He then looked directly at Adrienna. "Did the owner of the voice give you any other information? Anything else we can use to find out who it is? Being the king of the gods, I should really know these things, but I find myself confused as to who could be doing this."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind them, and Thanatos himself walked forward.

"Was she asleep?" he asked as he stepped towards the quartet.

Adrienna smirked and scratched her head. "Yeah, but... wait, what are you implying?"

Thanatos smirked and looked Adrienna dead in the eyes. "I believe I'll be needing to arrange a family reunion, then. Though it won't be a pleasant one."

Hades cocked a brow. "Thanatos, I may be the king of the underworld, but even I haven't met the majority of your family. Heard of them, maybe, but never met them."

Thanatos sighed. "I have many siblings, Your Highness, including the Oneiroi, the Keres, Hypnos, and..." He trailed off before sighing. "And Epiales." He looked at Hades. "There's a reason I have never brought him up, and I am willing to say anything and everything that must be said in order to help out. But let me warn you, Epiales is not one to be trifled with."

Hades looked at Thanatos, smirking a little. "Who exactly is he?"

Thanatos stood up straight. "The god of nightmares. Why the mortals even have a god for that, I will never know, but they need a god for everything, it seems." He scowled a bit. "He's a nasty one, so should you ever go toe-to-toe with him, just know that you would be doing so at your peril, my lady," he addressed Adrienna.

Adrienna just looked at Thanatos with a determined expression. "You forget where we live, Thanatos. Peril is kind of my forte at this point, I think."

Thanatos chuckled a bit. "Oh, don't I know it, dearie," he replied.

Persephone spoke next. "What would we need to do, then? From the sounds of it, a god-like Epiales is malicious, not to mention very unlikely to put himself in the spotlight unless he is causing pain."

Thanatos nodded. "We all have our place; his place in this life just tends to be a little more subtle." He then acknowledged Adrienna again. "I hope this information helps you greatly, my lady."

Hades looked at his old friend. "Be straight with us, Thanatos. What would we need to do to catch the bastard and stop him from causing any further destruction?"

Thanatos looked Hades in the eye and simply replied "Get some rest, Your Majesty."

Hades' facial expression changed from a calm one to one of confusion. "And you're absolutely sure that this will work?"

Thanatos shook his head. "No; I truly am not. I doubt that my dear nephew Morpheus would be happy with me if I dared encroach on his domain, and the same with his father."

Hades nodded. "I have to agree. As unfortunate as it is, we're gonna need to piss some of the other gods off. I'll handle Zeus and Apollo if you try to deal with your brothers."

Thanatos nodded. "Take Lady Adrienna to see Morpheus and Hypnos; maybe they can teach her how to dreamwalk, though, from the sounds of it, she has a pretty good grasp of it already."

Persephone nodded. "That she does. She's always been a quick learner.

Thanatos smiled at his queen with pride. "Of course she has; she's got you two as parents."

Hades chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Zeus cleared his throat, smirking. "Guys, I'm still here. I've been here the whole damn time."

A tangible silence fell over the room and Hades smirked. "Well, you were being uncharacteristically quiet, so pardon me from assuming you had left."

"This sort of insubordination is exactly why I had your throne moved to the Underworld, Hades."

Hades went over to his brother and smirked. "No, if I remember correctly, it was because we drew lots, and I was given jurisdiction over the Underworld."

Zeus glared at his brother and sighed. "Why must you be so difficult?"

Hades shook his head. "Why must you be so stupid?"

Persephone put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Hades, my love, please do calm down," she said as she wrapped her arms around him.

Adrienna looked at her uncle after looking at her parents and Thanatos. "I'm gonna get straight to the point and ask; are we okay to execute this plan or not?"

Zeus shrugged. "I don't care. Just clear it with anyone you need to so I don't have a mob stampeding towards me in rage for allowing it and we're golden. Don't worry about Hera; I'll talk to her about it."

Adrienna smiled and spontaneously hugged her uncle. "Thank you, Uncle," she said as she smiled.