kaleidoscope gold ● jason grace

horrid

 Before they leapt, Jason tried to think of every monster they had ever killed. He had gotten to about 16 before he was paralyzed.

One of the arai sprung directly at him, which shouldn't have been surprising since there were a dozen of them, and regardless, they would have had to kill them anyway, but without a second thought, he swung. The arai disintegrated, and Jason was losing the feeling in his legs.

He had to warn Daria, tell her to run. These curses weren't going to be fun ones, these curses would kill her.

"Daria!" Jason shouted, hating Lityerses with everything he had. "Get out of here! Go!"

She glanced back, and Jason noted with a shock that panic clouded her features. She was terrified, and Jason had left her all alone. His heart sunk with guilt, some boyfriend he was. He knew it was futile, that she would never leave him. The arai, now seeing that Jason was knocked out, he could only move his hands and his head, circled her, all waiting to attack.

"Your sword," she demanded with that embedded determination. Hands trembling with the effort, he dropped his weapon on the floor, his limbs finally turning to gold. After that, all he could do was watch with a lump in his throat and a heart that was threatening to stop beating.

Keeping one arm out, she picked up Jason's gladius which by description was short, not a good combination with the longer sword she held in her right hand. She muttered something, Jason had to strain his immobilized ears to hear a quick prayer, and with a grim look on her face, she charged.

For a few minutes, it looked like she was winning. If you'd never seen Daria in battle, it was overwhelming to look at. She was a storm of sharp metal and complicated footwork; there was no hesitation in the way she deflected and slashed.

He noticed the blood only after she had killed five, when she stopped to study her terrain, to heave in a couple of breaths as the other half closed in. There was a gaping wound in the middle of her back, as if she'd been shot with an arrow, a slice clean across her stomach that was so gruesome, Jason wanted to vomit.

He'd been by her side for 15 years. Though he couldn't pinpoint where the wound on her back was from, he knew that she'd be preoccupied with the curse that had caused the cut on her abdomen. It couldn't be...

Jason noticed that the whole time she hadn't moved from his side, willing to die protecting him. He couldn't let that happen again; desperate, he fought his paralysis, fought through the painful shocks that coursed through him, they couldn't be anything compared to what his Daria was going through.

She slowly touched the wound, pulling it away to see it stained a crimson red. The arai cackled in front of them.

Oh, how good it is when a friend turns foe, they chirped gleefully. What's next, Daria Jackson?

When she turned to him, her green eyes were shiny, there was a dry smile on her face-like she had accepted her fate and thought it needed more pizazz. More hysterical than he had ever been in his life, Jason wondered what she knew that he was missing.

"At least we haven't gotten to Portland yet," Daria mused.

Jason wracked his brain. Portland? As far as he knew, they had never been there. Which meant it was one of the two quests they had been apart. He kept struggling but it was no use, he didn't even think he could close his eyes, not that he would have. At least, he thought with a sad realization of finality, if Daria died in front of him, chances were, he wouldn't be far behind.

Daria gave a shout of anger and the ground erupted. That was good, she had a better chance if the arai were blinded. But he could see her sword arm grow tired. Her body was probably aching.