Daria wanted to be mad at Nico.
She sat behind Hazel as the girl force fed her brother some ambrosia. Really, she wanted to grab him by the shoulders and demand to know what he was thinking; but then again, she had known exactly what he had been thinking. And she didn't stop him.
Percy seemed to be having similar thoughts; even as he was complimenting Jason, in a fresh t-shirt, who was tying up Piper's sprained shoulder, she could see the Son of Poseidon turn and stare at the young boy with a frustrated curiosity.
Unfortunately for them, Nico still looked like he was on the brink of death. Everytime he raised his head to speak, it was followed by a series of unbridled coughing. The truth was that Nico got on Daria's nerves more than anyone else she knew. He was stubborn and bitter at the best of times, harsh and destructive at the worst.
Their relationship, if you could even call it that, was somewhat paradoxical. Mildly put, she used Nico as a weapon in the Senate, asked him to speak in favor of whatever outlandish proposition she had just put forth. In return, he would make requests- like Hazel Levesque, like Percy Jackson, like her silence about the Doors of Death.
But he was her friend, and she trusted him, which was more than she could say for some of the others.
Daria sighed, stretching. Between the underground cave and the giants' arena, she had exerted more power than she'd tried in one day. Her body ached, and all she wanted to do was curl up, close her eyes, and not see Gaea.
"Will you stop glaring at me?" Nico snapped at her. Ah. There it was. Actually, from Daria's perspective, Nico was the one glaring at her.
Hazel's eyes flickered between the pair-muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "here we go again."
"Nico," Daria laughed. "Are you kidding me? We literally just saved your ass, otherwise you would be dead by now!"
"I didn't ask to be saved," he grumbled. Apparently, that first sentence had taken all his ferocity, because now he sat back and crossed his arms; pouting like a child.
"Oh my bad, you're right. Anyone who goes searching for the Doors of Death must already have a death wi-"
"Hold up," Percy made a time-out sign with his hands. "You knew about this?"
Daria wanted to throw something at the Son of Pluto and maybe give him a hug. "Hazel also knew about this," she glanced at the younger girl as she reprimanded Nico for moving so quickly. "No offense, Haze."
Hazel rolled her eyes.
"Yeah okay, Hazel knew. But he told you before he went, and you didn't stop him? Wait," Percy raised an eyebrow. "How well do you two even know each other?"
"Better than we do." Frank muttered.
"Look," Nico stood, balancing on his sword like it was a cane. "Whatever. You weren't glaring, sorry, Dars. But I need to say something."
"You are," Daria mumbled. Jason made his way to her side, giving her an amused smile as he heard the comment.
"The Doors of Death have two sides," Nico explained. "One in the mortal world, one
in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought me back into the upper world. Then they transported me to Rome."
Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"
Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in...in..."
"Tartarus," Jason finished slowly. "The deepest part of Hell."
Nico nodded. "They pulled me into the pit. The things I saw down there..." His voice broke. Daria felt a pang of heartbreaking sympathy. What had Nico gone through?
Hazel pursed her lips. "No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," she explained. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum-security prison of Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on the earth. It's...well, no one knows exactly what it's like."
Her eyes drifted to her brother. The rest of her thought didn't need to be spoken: No one except Nico.
"Now I understand why Hades hasn't been able to close the doors," he said. "Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."
Leo glanced over from the wheel. "So let me guess. We'll have to go there."
Nico shook his head. "It's impossible. I'm the son of Hades, and even I barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there...no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane."
Daria supposed at some point she needed to tell him that she was Gaea's daughter at some point. She started fidgeting with one of the rings, nervous until Jason covered her hand with his, when she looked up, she realized with a pang that it was a subconscious gesture. One that he hadn't even been aware of; her heart started beating a little faster.
"Then we'll sail for Epirus," Percy said, confused. "We'll just close the gates on this side."
"I wish it were that easy," Nico said. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double seal. Maybe, just maybe, all eight of you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory—"
Daria caught Frank staring at her with a malicious expression. "What if we send Daria in?"
"No," Jason snapped immediately. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Frank cowered behind Hazel who seemed determined to roll her eyes for the duration of their trip to the Emmanuel Building.
"Why would we send Daria in?" Nico asked. Well, there was no time like the present.
"Gaea's my mother," Daria said, like it was a one of those facts you said on your first day of school.
"Christ," Nico blinked. "Well, that makes sense."
"We'll figure out the Tartarus problem later," Percy decided as the shadow of a building came into view. "Is that the Emmanuel building?"
"Yeah," Leo confirmed. "Bacchus said something about a parking lot. This must be it."
Hazel grabbed her spatha. "Next move?"
"We have to get her out of there," Percy said, already moving. They were still in the sky however, so Daria didn't see where he was going to go.
"But..." Leo started, then wisely choosing to backtrack, "There's concrete."
"Coach Hedge's got it covered," Piper suggested.
The faun grinned with a wild readiness. "I knew this day would come." Jason touched his side as if remembering the last time Hedge had tried to use the cannon. Too late. The goat was already on the move, muttering as he stuffed ammunition into the ballistae.
He aimed it without warning, and before anyone said anything, the weapon blew through the parking lot. Most of the crew took a second to get over the aftershock, but Percy had already lept over the railing, a height that was at least 15 feet, if not greater. He stumbled as he hit the floor, and Leo took the opportunity to lower the rope ladder.
Daria was among one of the last people down, shortly followed by Jason. She wanted to tell Nico to stay on the ship, but there was no stopping him. He scrambled down after Jason, stumbling on his every step so that Jason shot her a look like, what, am I supposed to babysit this guy?
Daria let Nico wrap an arm around her shoulders for support. She never understood why Nico let her touch him, but he had always appreciated her like she was his sister. Though, she didn't really understand that either. It didn't really matter, because as soon as they reached Annabeth, he quickly let go. If Daria didn't know better, she would think he had a crush on the girl.
Annabeth was sitting on the rocky floor holding her ankle, next to a gaping hole where a Fiat 500 had plowed through the stone. Daria and the others caught up to them as Percy embraced her, covered in dust and cobwebs, and assuring her it was okay.
Daria let them have their moment. "We need to secure the statue," she said to the others. "Leo, what do you need from us?"
Leo held up his fingers like he was deciding what frame size to buy at his local craft store, and maybe he had decided this was important enough to listen to Daria. "She may fit in the stable, if we can fit her through the bay doors. Her feet might stick out at the end though."
Annabeth squinted at him as Piper fretted over her broken ankle and simultaneously explained what had happened while she was underground. Daria supposed Annabeth was busy picturing the Athena Parthenos as a WIDE LOAD package from Leo's description. "What about you guys?"
Percy explained as Leo began to tie up the statue. Daria could feel the power emanating from it, an almost tangible sheen of knowledge. Daria couldn't help but stare at it in a sort of awe.
Annabeth hobbled up to her. "I know." She stated.
"This was all you," Daria reminded her. "Annabeth...this could stop a war. Gods of Olympus," she looked at the daughter of Athena, wondering yet again whether they could be friends.
Leo was joyfully yelling as Frank (in eagle form) carried him and Hazel back to the helm. The ropes he had attached stretched at the 500 pound weight, but the Athena Parthenos started to move, slowly, towards the ship. She helped Annabeth take a step back, and when she glanced down, saw the shiny gleam of a spider-web.
Daria must have looked spooked because Annabeth questioned her. "What is it?"
"Annabeth," she said slowly. "Stay very still."
Daria caught Percy's eye and motioned for him to come over; she didn't know how dangerous the thread was exactly, but she didn't want to take any chances. Jason, Piper, and Nico were close by as well, gathering to see what the commotion was about.
"The web," Jason noticed softly.
On Annabeth's right ankle was a string of web no thicker than a strand of Daria's hair. However, the issue was, the string led straight into the depths of Tarturus.
Percy stared at her, wondering if she or Annabeth had an answer about the best course of action. Daria didn't know about best, but she knew that Annabeth's fate could change in a matter of seconds.
Annabeth knew this too. "Well?" She demanded. "Cut it."
Everyone hesitated, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Daria tapped her rings together and grabbed her swords.
"Not you," Percy jostled her shoulder, maybe harder than he meant to. The move was so unexpected that Daria dropped one of her swords. She sighed, not wanting to give him the pleasure of watching her pick it up and dust it off; it would come back to her eventually anyway.
That's when the rumbling started.
Percy, after cutting off the spider web with a grim satisfaction, took a glance at Nico and understood-the younger boy was in no position to make it back to the ship by himself. Piper wrapped an arm around Annabeth and moved just before the ground behind them crumbled. Seeing as most of their crew was injured, Jason and Daria brought up the rear, making sure no one tripped or seriously maimed themselves.
They were making good pace, even the few on board the ship didn't feel it urgent enough to come down and help, though they were keeping a watchful eye. Daria smiled in spite of herself, they had done it.
"What is it?" Jason asked as they paced rapidly behind their hobbling friends.
"Annabeth did it," she answered. "We've got the statue and everyone's alive. Now we just need to get through Greece."
Jason grinned back, "a good birthday then."
She took his hand; in a few months they'd be back home, and they'd get to watch rom-coms and go on stupid dates and annoy Reyna and-
Daria saw the fear on Jason's face before he fell. By all means, they should've been fine, the nearest crack in the ground was several feet from where Jason was walking. But she found herself weightless, one hand gripping Jason's arm beneath her, one hand gripping stone, a small cliff too far below the mouth of the pit.
Piper was the only thing she could see, but her arms weren't long enough to reach, and besides the left was in a sling anyway. From above she could hear Annabeth yelling for help, but it was no use, she risked a glance down at Jason.
"Daria," he said knowingly. "I can't escape it. There's something pulling me in that's too powerful for even you."
Daria dearest, Gaea spoke in her mind, and Daria really wanted to tell her that this wasn't the best time. Let go.
They both knew it was her trick. They both knew that she only wanted Jason, and that if Daria should so choose, Frank would be able to climb in and reach her.
Like that was ever an option.
"Piper!" Daria looked up at her. "We'll meet you on the other side! Understand? Jason will be there!"
Piper's eyes widened. "But-"
"Listen, keep the ship together. Tell," Daria swallowed. "Tell Reyna I'm sorry, and help her stop the war between our camps. Only you can, Piper. Promise me."
"I-I promise.
"Let me go," she heard Jason say. "Please."
She looked down at Jason, who was starting to realize what her words meant; his face was covered in dust and grime so that his blond hair looked an ashy gray, he had blood streaked on several parts of his body, but his eyes sparkled calmly. A lovely sky blue. Daria had never seen someone more beautiful. "Never."
She heard Annabeth and Percy screaming for help, and glanced at the sun, maybe for the last time. Then, with trembling fingers, she let go of the ledge as she and Jason fell into the eternal darkness.
...Sorry, kinda. Not really.