sky blue ● jason grace

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 Their reunion wasn't all that Daria had hoped for.

It was strange watching Daria's worlds collide. Up until that moment, she had always associated Percy, Hazel, and Frank with a different part of her life, the only link being Reyna. But here Percy and Jason were, sitting on couches across from each other, chattering away with the mixture of Greek and Roman demigods.

Daria took in a deep breath. Not even a year ago, Daria wouldn't have believed that Greek and Roman demigods could look at each other without the sure promise of death. Of course, a year ago she didn't know that there were Greek demigods, but she had her suspicions. After all, Nico Di Angelo had to have come from somewhere.

Jason's leg was pressed close against hers, even though there was more than enough space for him to spread out. He was talking to the two demigods that had come with him: Piper and Leo. Daria didn't dislike the two by any means, but she didn't trust them by any standards either. Maybe it was just the Gaea in her talking, but there was something cold about the look in the Vulcun boy's eyes.

Now Annabeth was a girl Daria could get behind. Leaving out the judo-flip, the blonde handled herself with intelligent grace and leadership. Daria could see Annabeth constantly scanning the forum, as if she would be required to draw it from memory later. She too, was only half-listening to what her boyfriend was saying. Daria smiled wryly to herself, she figured the two had a lot more in common than rambling significant others.

For the last couple minutes, Jason had been introducing his friends to Daria. And she appreciated his efforts, but Daria figured there was a better time for pleasantries than with Octavian marching around like he was planning how best to destroy the Argo II and everyone in the Forum along with it. She watched Jason sip his coffee, good to know some things hadn't changed.

He stopped as Reyna called a toast to friendship. After introductions all around, the Greeks and Daria's crew began exchanging stories. Jason explained how he'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood without his memory, and how he'd gone on a quest with Piper and Leo to rescue the goddess Juno (or Hera, take your pick — she was equally annoying in either form) from imprisonment at the Wolf House in northern California.

No memory huh? Daria would remember to tease him about that later.

"Impossible!" Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the giants had imprisoned a goddess there — "

"They would've destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed it on the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now, be quiet and let Jason finish." Jason shot her an appreciative glance...Daria was allowed to be a little jealous, right?

Octavian opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Charmspeak, Daria recognized..

"So," Jason continued, "that's how we found out about the earth goddess Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the big leader dude we fought at the Wolf House: he said he was retreating to the ancient lands — Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by...what did he call it? Pulling up their roots."

Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Gaea's been busy over here, too. We had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face."

Percy recounted his side of the story. He talked about waking up at the Wolf House with no memories except for one name — Annabeth. Jason glanced at Daria, obviously watching her reaction. She smirked at him, "13 years and you forget that easily."

"I didn't forget," he whispered back, though he sounded unsure. His eyes were trained straight ahead and it reminded her of the way they would pass notes in Latin class. "Pinky promise," he locked them together under the table and Daria had to force herself not to smile as Percy recounted how the Gryphons overturned a train full of civilians.