Jason felt like his brain was on fire.
It had started at its peak; a white flash of information had blinded his other senses, leaving him vulnerable to the memories that were flickering with every inhale. There was no time to sort and categorize, but there was one feeling that was much more staggering than the others.
He thought he knew what love was. He thought that the warm feeling in his chest, his fluttering heartbeat, his light blush were all synonymous with the feeling. Now, he realized that he'd been a fool, that he had somehow forgotten how destabilizing it was to live in the same space as her.
He used to consider Daria his everything, now, he saw that it was the opposite. That she had constructed his sense of reality, that without her, there was simply nothing. Daria, his Daria, made the entire universe feel like a blade of grass when she, was a forest.
These epiphanies only arrived that night. After Okeanos, he had been cold, unsure. Daria had reached out to touch him and he had flinched away, a product of the overwhelming stories he was downloading.
If he knew her, and finally, he did, she would mistake this for another Jason. That this was how the innocent Jason that had arrived in New Rome a few days ago showed anger. Instead, he had mumbled some excuse about how he needed to get the cut on his neck treated, and that she should stay above deck, where she could be of more help.
There, he had heard the loud voices of Coach Hedge and Hazel. That was another person he had mistreated, and if he was going to start somewhere, sweet, kind Hazel was a safe option.
"You have it covered, right?" Coach Hedge asked in Hazel's direction. "I've got some, erm, stuff to do."
Hazel peered down at him with a raised eyebrow. "Have you actually done anything?"
"Hey!" Coach Hedge barked. "Sports medicine, nature healing. Zhang will be right as rain." He slapped the table as if Frank was supposed to wake from his slumber to prove his point. But alas, nothing happened, and with a disgruntled hmph the Coach sauntered rapidly out the door.
Jason stepped inside before the door closed. Hazel looked up in surprise, if not a little annoyance. "You're going to need stitches," she says, as if he wasn't already aware.
Jason raised an eyebrow, "well, I can't do them myself."
Hazel rolled her eyes. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'll do it. I had to drag you to the medic enough times back at camp anyway."
"You did?" Jason asked with a sudden interest. This was easier than expected, now he just needed to get Hazel to tell him everything.
Hazel crossed her arms, glaring at him. "What do you mean you did? Surely you remember, your head isn't that thick."
"I don't." Jason said unsurely. "I don't know if my memories are taking an extravagantly long time to come back or something. But everything, you, Daria, it's just not there, Hazel."
Hazel stared at him for a moment before she moved to get the medical supplies. "Well," Hazel tried to seem nonchalant about the situation, but he could see the wild hesitance in her movements. She gently pushed the thread through the needle while Jason broke apart some ambrosia to make it hurt less, unfortunately, it couldn't heal the entire wound. Hazel was right about one thing, Jason knew he had received plenty of stitches in his life. "You used to call me 'Haze' Kind of like how Percy calls Daria, 'Dars'."
Jason didn't break eye contact, as much as Hazel probably wanted him to. "So we were close?" He demanded.
She frowned lightly, "you really don't remember?"
Jason hopped onto the table, deferring. Hazel was the one who held the answers so who was he to be bitchy about it? "Start from the beginning," he pleaded. "We have all night, Hazel please." He inhaled, fleeting feelings of a similar vulnerability threatening to make themselves known. "Tell me everything."
She peered at him, and he could see adoration that hadn't been there when he had so stupidly insulted Nico's situation. He knew Nico di Angelo, he would even say that the two sons of the Big Three respected each other. "This is going to hurt," she reminded him.
"Thirteen years in the legion, Hazel," he shot back. This probably wasn't going to do him any favors from his nurse. But then Hazel started talking, and his stitches weren't the most painful thing in the room.
"We first met properly a few days after Nico brought me to camp. Even though both you and Reyna were pretty new at the whole praetor thing, she was much better at it than you were. So when she allowed me to stay, I figured that you barely even knew who I was, letting Reyna pass her judgment and then seeing to it that it was put into place, as you usually did."
"But anyway, it was around midnight. I was in the barn, grooming the horses for some punishment, although it wasn't really a punishment in my case. But you snuck in, with Scipio, who obviously, you weren't supposed to have. But instead of trying to plead with me to not tell Reyna, the first thing that you did was smirk and say 'well, I guess they do say Haze is for horses. Gods," she laughed, "you were so arrogant. And then you put Scipio away, and the next day, I ratted you out to Reyna." She grinned in triumph.
"So yeah, you were an annoying praetor and every time Daria or Reyna were busy you would somehow find me. No matter where I was-that was kind of weird. But then you found out that I was failing arithmetic, and of course, you had already taken all the classes at camp, and you couldn't help yourself, so you offered to tutor me."
"That's when we actually became close. We had tutoring twice a week, but even then you would teach me how to spar better, or you would tell me about you and Daria, that happened a lot. And I guess that's the gist of it really." She knotted the thread, using medicinal scissors to cut off the excess.
"It's funny," she said. "The last thing you said to me was so...nonchalant. We had no idea. We were at dinner, and you were sitting at the praetor table, but during dessert, you came up to me and told me-"
"-that your hair was unmanageable," Jason said softly. "And it was getting in your food."
Hazel offered him a wistful smile. "And that if I swallowed one, I would probably die."
"I was annoying," Jason remembered. "And I am so, so, sorry, Haze."
"Not for being annoying, I'm sure." She touched his hand in a sisterly way. "And it's okay, Jason. Just don't leave again."
He let out a short laugh, "I'll do my best."
Hazel sat on the bed that Frank was lying in, staring at him with an unreadable expression. "Now, she said, "what's been going on with you and Daria?"
***
Daria made her way above deck the next morning. Her shift had ended around 3, so she figured no one would blame her if she took the extra hour to sleep in. It was probably just a delusion, but she swore she could still smell the Diet Coke Percy had used as a tribute. She figured Dionysus would like it, whether the fish would, she didn't know.
"How far till Rome?" Daria asked. Leo and Annabeth were standing at the helm; they didn't speak aloud, but Daria could see them communicating through the hundreds of buttons on the dashboard. Piper was farther down the line, swinging her legs over the side of the ship. They were airborne now, and Daria couldn't help but wonder if Piper was insane.
"About three hours," Annabeth rested her elbows on the railing as she turned to face her. Evidently their micromanaging wasn't all that important.
Piper joined the conversation as well. "Have you seen Jason or Frank yet?"
"Coach Hedge did some 'nature healing' on Frank," Daria made air quotes around the term, she was still convinced that the faun was no smarter than the ones they had at Camp Jupiter. "So we'll see if he wakes up as a daisy or something. And Jason's fine," she added when she saw Piper open her mouth to bicker.
"Do you think he's going to get another scar?" Leo groaned. "He's already too rugged looking, like, let the rest of us be the effortlessly cool kid for once." Maybe jokes were Leo's way of apologizing, Daria was unsure.
Annabeth snorted, "since when is Jason cool?"
"Literally," Daria shook her head. "At least he has a cohesive story to go with this one. At Camp Jupiter, he would change it up every time someone asked him about his lip."
"He tried to eat a stapler," Piper pointed out. "At least that's what Thalia said."
Daria frowned. "Who?"
"Jason's sister," Piper said. She looked hesitant as she said it, as if it was just another day in the Piper/Daria soap opera, but Daria hadn't forgotten yesterday. No matter how much she had tried.
"Doesn't really matter," Annabeth interjected, probably fed up with the drama. "We need to discuss Rome."
Percy made his entrance then, coming around with his sarcastic smile and his infatuation with Annabeth worn on his sleeve. He put an arm around the blonde and Daria wondered if Annabeth knew she was subconsciously leaning into his touch, even with battle fire still raging in her eyes.
Daria still hadn't talked to him about her dream two nights ago. Obviously, they had been a bit preoccupied but she had hoped to confirm what her father said before they landed in Rome. Now it was looking like it had to wait until later.
"Oars are looking good again," Percy said to Leo. He sounded tired and an indecipherable accent slurred his words together, only reinforcing the idea that Daria should wait to approach him. "Now what?"
Daria looked around at their ragtag army. Piper still wore her power ranger PJs, the Cornucopia in one hand and her dagger in the other. Leo looked like he was shifting into overdrive, a rare moment when he was thinking about something bigger than himself. Percy was trying to play his emotions off, but everytime he glanced at Annabeth, Daria could see the worry flare up again.
They were all distracted and tired and anxious, but they were demigods; despite whatever they may have felt, in three hours they would be in Rome and they would have a job to do.
"Let's meet in the mess hall in fifteen," Annabeth suggested. "Take some time to...some free time." Jason, Hazel, and Frank walked in to catch the tail end of her sentence.
Despite the grim atmosphere, the certainty that whatever happened in Rome wasn't going to be fun, Leo perked up when he saw Jason. "Nice stitches, bro," he had his trademark wild grin on his face. "Really Frankenstein-esque."
Jason scowled as Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "Mess hall," she said as Percy patted her placatingly on the back. "Fifteen minutes."
Daria caught Percy staring at her as everyone started to leave. Without preamble, she found herself speaking to him. "Are you going to hate me forever?"
Percy flipped his gaze on her. "The last time I trusted someone consorting with the enemy," he said sharply. "A bunch of my closest friends died. So I guess we'll see, won't we?"
"Percy," Daria could see Annabeth approach them out of her peripheral vision. "I'm sorry."
Percy's eyes softened and he swallowed hard, as if fighting against his better conscience. But in the end, he just shoved his hands in his pockets and left without replying.
The blonde caught Daria's arm somewhere along the path from the ship's railing to Jason. "Wait," Annabeth's gray eyes were as serious as she'd ever seen them. "I need to talk to you. Do you have anywhere else to be?"
She glanced back at her friends, but Hazel and Jason were engrossed in conversation, meaning that Daria would be left alone with Frank. "No," she decided finally. "What did you need to talk about?"
Annabeth watched Percy approach that same group, she was becoming harder to read by the second. "Let's go to the kitchen," she said the words almost defeatedly, and immediately Daria was worried. If you knew anything about Annabeth-exhaustion was cause to worry. "I need coffee."
As they walked, conversation arose effortlessly. It started innocently enough, and then made its way to Jason. Daria knew that they could have discussed anything else, they were both intelligent and determined enough to keep up with a variety of topics, but she liked talking about Jason, and she sensed (if the light smile on her Annabeth was anything to go by) that Annabeth liked talking about Percy just as much.
"I feel like you and Jason are just so much more cohesive than Percy and I," Annabeth admitted, but it was said lightly, as an observation rather than an annoyance. "I suppose that's partly my fault, dating a daughter of Athena can't be the most entertaining."
Daria laughed, feeling relaxed for the first time in a while. Though, there was always that suspecting feeling that her false calm wouldn't last long. And anyway, for the entire conversation alarm bells were going off in her head; she still didn't know if Annabeth was bringing her to the kitchen to kill her. She figured it was unlikely, but she would still rather be anywhere else.
"Are you kidding? You're the only person who can get Percy to listen. For him, that's pretty cohesive." Though she wanted to say, you call this cohesive? You should've seen us before he went to your camp!
Annabeth snorted. "So I assume the quest had absolutely no structure to it?"
Daria shrugged, "two Jacksons on one quest, what do you think?"
She pushed open the kitchen door and leaned against the counter as Annabeth meandered around. The kitchen itself wasn't very big, most of the time they could just summon food from Leo's magical plates, and there were barstools on the other side of the granite, right next to the dining table.
"Coffee?" Annabeth offered, already brewing enough for the both of them, but Daria shook her head.
"I don't drink coffee," she said.
Annabeth frowned, glancing up at Daria, who hadn't moved from her spot. "Why not? You know, it helps with ADHD."
Daria didn't reply, but she couldn't help but wonder if Annabeth was simply baiting her, if she already knew about the medicine hidden away in the cabinet and was just waiting for Daria to tell her. Instead, Daria stepped around the half-wall to grab a glass of water, which she figured seemed normal enough. It was excruciatingly hot outside.
"You didn't bring me here to talk about our relationships," she said as a way of answering. "So what's up?"
Annabeth didn't make eye-contact with her when she spoke. "The Mark of Athena," she started twisting a piece of her hair nervously. "Rome. All of it, no one's come back alive, no one's come back at all."
"But you will," Daria promised fiercely, and truly, she couldn't imagine the Argo II without Annabeth.
Annabeth shook her head. "Maybe, but whatever happens," she said it with an expectant tone, and there was that sinking feeling in Daria's stomach again. A warning. "You cannot let our camps go to war. If something happens to me, you're the leader."
Daria was confused. "Of course I'll protect our camps, but Annabeth..." She felt small when she spoke, as if she was standing in a forest of Californian redwoods. "I can't lead if no one on this ship trusts me."
Annabeth took a step closer and Daria took an involuntary step back, making Annabeth pause and remain where she was. "You're right," the blonde declared. "I don't trust you." The intensity in her gray eyes was frightening, like she might take a stab at Daria if she did start a war. "But I've seen the way you care for Reyna, you may be selfish enough to spare both our camps." Ouch.
"You will do this, you have to," and now her tone was pleading. She has so much to lose, Daria realized. Another reminder that Daria only had Jason and Reyna, that she had pushed away so many people to only be left with Jason and Reyna. "Promise me, on the Styx."
By now the smooth stone of the countertop was digging into Daria's back. She didn't know when or why she had backed up that far, but to the average onlooker, the scene would definitely look suspicious. Before she could respond incoherently, both Jason and Percy walked in the door, laughing until they looked at the two girls.
"Heyyy," Percy said slowly. "What's going on?"
Daria straightened up, slinking away from the kitchen towards Jason who was closer to the barstools. He wrapped a steadying arm around her waist in comfort, most likely a subconscious act, but she appreciated it nonetheless. "Nothing," Daria said lightly. "Just getting some coffee."
Jason made a small noise of protest, but whatever tension was in the room couldn't have been that overbearing because he pulled her closer so that her left shoulder was touching his right. "Coffee sounds good, actually."
"I'll pour you a cup," Annabeth said. Daria could see her reassure Percy in the same way that Daria wasn't a threat to her. "Cream? Sugar?"
"Just cream," Jason said, taking the cup from her gratefully. As he did so, the other demigods began to stream in, and Annabeth's demand was lost in the chaos.
"Well," Hazel said, sitting in between Piper and Frank. "We're an hour from Rome, what's the plan?"
Y'all really love Percy, huh? Here's some background into why he's being an asshole.
Also..Thoughts on 'new' Jason? I'm literally in love with him, lol anyway.
-M