Maci never saw her again. He was dating another girl by the next year, [[Hesychia]], “Hess,” the mute Goddess of Silence, and soon took residence with her in one of the cave constructed homes of [[Tartarus]]. Maci resumed anguishing jealously in the background, made all the harder by the fact that she was spending nearly every waking moment with Thanatos and Hypnos (and now Hess, always silent, looking more haunted by the day). Maci, now age 14, could not stand to be in the same room as Hades. The palace shared by just the two of them sat with uncomfortably tense silence, only ever broken by screaming arguments that usually ended in Hades throwing her out of the palace, or Maci storming out of her own accord, either way ending up with the twins in Nyx's house or at [[Thanatos’ cave]].[[File:Hessthanmaci.png||thumb|link=https://64.media.tumblr.com/675d1dfba5e50d7bedaf42041cdc1e13/bd2beba9260775ea-86/s1280x1920/fb63723d25c7a1302a8b88053e816ea12bba5dfd.png|Hess & Thanatos, both age 19, and Maci, age 14.]] She would slink back days later and repeat, even moodier from Thanatos’ continued relationship with Hess. The following year, with Maci now 15, Seph came home and for the first time, the simmering tension between her husband and daughter was too great to hide. Though she felt Maci’s outrageous attitude was blatant even to her (and in Seph’s eyes, Hades could do no wrong, despite clearly being in the wrong), she was overall disturbed and stunned by this shattered relationship coming out of nowhere. Trying to mediate between both sides without picking a side, Seph orchestrated an offering of peace on hers and Hades’ behalf, authorizing construction on a palace of Maci’s own in the subsection of the Underworld that belonged to Maci herself, the Elysian Fields, land of the blessed dead. It had been long proven that giving Maci presents usually kept her satisfied.

Something inside Maci was cracking, or it already had. She was 16 years old and living in active hostility with a father who despised her openly when he wasn't pretending she didn't exist, a mother who was somehow choosing to stay neutral between them – this life now was an echo of the turmoil her grandmother had put her through when she was a young child. Part of her yearned to viciously lean into the perception of her created by her own family, and she did this when she traipsed the kingdom of the Underworld clutching her title of Princess like an obnoxious shield. But there was a part of her inside that was beginning to claw in desperation with a frantic, anxious need to be loved, ''really'' loved, and actually ''seen'' by someone, anyone. This feeling continued to simmer under her skin. She could not bring herself to enter the Elysium palace even once the dust settled from hers and Hades’ fight, as the thought of its halls suddenly felt too utterly empty for her to bear being alone inside it. Maci began to fear that Hypnos and Thanatos, particularly Thanatos, who she adored more than anyone, would only ever see her as a child tagging after them. When Thanatos and Hess broke up (a relationship longer than his normally were, though she too disappeared after their split) and Maci’s friendship with him only continued the same as ever, her anxieties increased.