kaleidoscope gold ● jason grace

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"That," Jason said. "Is a solid plan."

Daria grinned proudly, "are you surprised?"

Percy's attempted contact had woken her up from her nap like a bolt of lightning. Though they hadn't really spoken to each other, Daria got the message: they were on their way. Which meant that she and Jason needed to hurry.

She had a plan from the moment she entered Tarturus – it would be stupid of her not to. But that wasn't an option anymore; Jason had made it very clear. She stayed up the rest of the night thinking of ways for her not to stay behind.

"You ready for this?" He asked, more out of small talk than genuine worry. He was getting prepared, checking and double checking as he always did. And although Daria was usually the worrier out of the two of them, the unpredictability of Tartarus had changed her perspective on a few things.

She concentrated on the stone in her hand, molding it into the shape she wanted. "Dagger," she said, placing it into his hand. "Your aim still good?"

"Better than yours," He tucked it into the waistband of his jeans; thrown at the right angle, it would have no problem jamming a button for 12 minutes. He kissed her, battle-ready smirk already playing on his face as she pulled away. "Let's go, darling."

Trying to make as little noise as possible, she dug deep, creating a tunnel. It didn't take as much out of her as it used to before Tartarus – maybe a gift from Gaea. She didn't think about it too much.

They walked down the tunnel in silence; each of them knew better than to speak, letting Lupa's training take over. Daria heard the monsters' chattering getting louder as they continued, the voice of a Titan causing her to tense.

"Bah! Let us hope that Hyperion and Krios are doing their job well," the Titan's voice boomed. "You know what Earth mother did to them the last time they failed at their mission."

Jason gritted his teeth in silent fury. Daria was all too sure that the last mission Krios had was to kill their friends at Camp Jupiter, and she wouldn't really call it a failure.

She wondered if that meant Gaea had come down here in the last couple of days. The goddess hadn't tried to contact Daria the entire time they'd been in Tartarus and she had taken Nyx's word for it: that her power didn't stretch that far. But weren't these monsters living proof that Gaea could do anything?

Thinking wouldn't help them much now though. "Let's keep moving," she whispered. "We're almost to the doors, I can feel-"

Suddenly, the earth erupted. As if propelled from a geyser, Daria found herself above ground. Surrounded. She cursed herself-the one thing she hadn't accounted for...They were in Tartarus, and Tartarus was alive.

She could see the doors within reach, but it would be no use. Krios laughed at them.

"Jason Grace and Daria Jackson," he sneered. Next to her, Daria could feel Jason's grip tighten on his gladius and knew he wasn't going to be able to control his temper. "You have no idea how much I want to kill you."

"Likewise," Jason grinned back arrogantly. She had hoped that this was one aspect that had gotten left behind in his amnesia; apparently not. "Oh wait, I did that already."

Krios snarled, but the flaming Titan that must be Hyperion laughed at Jason's joke. "That was funny," he rumbled. "He got you, brother!"

The third and final Titan was bigger than the other two. Once he spoke, Daria realized he was the one they had heard in the tunnel. "And you got killed by Percy Jackson, Hyperion. Both of you are on door duty because you both failed."