Good Enough

Summary: How the story of Percy Jackson would change if he was a girl and the reincarnation of a kunoichi who was killed by her best friend and brother? What if she still had all her memories, abilities and the demon fox stuck in her gut? FemNaru.

Beta: CeresNamikaze (No one is perfect, so maybe you can find a small error here and there)

Just a warning: FemNaru, FemNaru-is-Percy, Reincarnation, Cliché (?), AU

Just so you know: I'm back! Missed me? I hope so XD So… I was thinking of correcting all the mistakes from all the stories I posted, but after I ended losing my pen-drive (I found it later) I was like "Nah…" and gave up doing that, maybe I will correct those mistakes one day. But not now… Sorry. *sigh* I hope you will like this chapter. After I lost my pen-drive I started having a major writer block so I don't know if this chapter is good or not… Anyway… If you need anything or want to know anything, send a PM to me and I will answer.

I don't own Percy Jackson or Naruto, Rick Riordan and Masashi Kishimoto does!

Book 1: Aria Jackson and the Lightning Thief

The Water Park and the Lotus Casino

The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, the train rolled into Denver. They weren't really hungry since Aria finally reminded them that she had money with her. But they all needed a shower, it was making them pretty noticeable to the other passengers and Silena was having panic attacks every time she saw herself in a mirror or something similar. If they didn't find a place to clear themselves, the girl would have a heart attack. Aria, to Silena relief, was already trying to remember seals that could replace showers. They were commonly used by shinobis when they had gone in missions that didn't give the shinobi access to a river or hotel.

"Why we don't call Chiron?" Will asked, breaking the silence around them.

Aria sighed. "Maybe it would be better, I need to give my mission report to him." Will, Clarisse and Silena shook their heads, they were already getting used to her insistence to treat the quest as a mission.

"Actually," Will smiled at her. "I wanted to ask him how things are going in the camp. I miss my siblings." Silena nodded.

"I miss the others too. Though, I could live without Drew being one of my siblings." Aria grimaced. She had meet Drew and true be told, the girl was bitch.

"Wait! How are we going to call anyone? I thought we couldn't use phones!" Leo looked at them confused.

Aria grinned proudly. "Easy! We'll use Granny Iris method."

Leo raised an eyebrow feeling even more confused but he didn't get an answer. Instead, they wandered through downtown for about half an hour. Leo was the only one who didn't know what the four demigods were looking for.

The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis and everywhere they turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at them, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

Finally they came upon an empty do-it-yourself car wash. They veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping their eyes open for patrol cars. What type of cop worth his doughnuts wouldn't get suspicious when five adolescents are hanging out at a car wash without a car? It was just a form to show that they were up to no good.

"Can someone tell what we are doing?" Leo asked feeling impatient as Clarisse took out the spray gun.

"Aria, its seventy-five cents." Aria handed her what she needed after a second. Clarisse grumbled a small 'thank you' and looked at Leo. "We're going to use the I-M'ing."

The boy blinked. "You mean Instant messaging?"

"Nope." Aria grinned, "We're going to use Granny Iris method, this mean that I-M'ing means Iris-messaging."

At Leo expression of concentration, as if he was trying to remember who Iris was, Will decided to help. "The rainbow Goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods." He looked at Aria. " And she's never busy to her children and legacies."

"Legacies?"

"I'm one!" Aria said. "Iris's my great-something-grandmother."

Leo was in awe. "Really? Are you the only one Aria?"

Aria looked at her friends since she didn't know. She had never asked Chiron if there were others Legacies at the Camp.

Silena hummed. "Aria is the only Legacy we have at the camp at the moment... The last ones we had, whose one was a legacy of Apollo and the other a legacy of Dionysus, moved out when they were ready to go to College... They were year-round, if I'm not wrong."

Will opened his mouth in realization. "Ah! You mean Cousin Melody and that punk guy, Rick?"

She nodded. "Them."

Leo nodded before he shook his head. "Wait. You're planning to summon a goddess with a spray gun?" He asked in disbelief.

Clarisse pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow." Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors.

Aria took a drachma out of one of her pockets and raised the coin over her head. "Dear Granny Iris, -"

"Aria, this is not how you do it!" Silena, Will and Clarisse yelled at Aria who only chuckled and continued as if they hadn't said anything.

"- accept our offering." She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer. "Half-Blood Hill, please."

For a moment, nothing happened. And it was easy to see the relief in Clarisse, Will and Silena faces when, suddenly, they saw through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. The image seemed to be set on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to them at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top. He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow.

Aria narrowed her eyes.

"Luke!" Will called.

He turned, eyes wide. "Aria!" The girl had to stop herself from grimacing as she waved. He was too happy for her liking. "Is that Will and Silena, too? And who is this?"

"Leo Valdez. He's a demigod we found in the way." Luke nodded at Silena and grinned.

"I see... Hello Leo!" Leo waved offering a grin of his own. "Anyway, are you guys okay?"

"We're fine." Aria said before anyone could answer. "Where's Chiron?"

"He's down at the cabins." Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Where's Clarisse?"

"I'm here, Pretty boy!" Clarisse called. She held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?" Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.

"Chiron had to - what's that noise?" Luke yelled.

Aria raised a hand. "One moment, please." She created a clone and nodded toward the car. The clone saluted and left.

00

Cloria the clone narrowed her eyes as she saw the owner of the car. It was a rather young man in his early twenties and he looked like those rich guys you saw in TV that would do anything to call for attention. The guy was standing outside of his car with his arms folded and his head moving with the music... If you even could call that music.

This is a insult to Cousin Apollo... She shook her head.

"Excuse me." Cloria said, the guy looked at her. She narrowed her eyes even further at the way he looked at her. He was disgusting. "Could you turn the music down a little?"

"Get lost, little girl," He looked at her and after a moment of silence, muttered under his breath. What she heard made Cloria pale in disgust. She may be a kunoichi, she may kill, but this doesn't mean she likes to hear this type of thing. She was in the body of a child dammit, and the guy said things like that to her?

Kurama growled. Kill him before I do it.

Cloria took a deep breath and punched the car sending it flying; it flipped a few times before crashing upside down. It was like the scene of a movie when the car exploded. The man was shivering; he looked at her and her eyes flashed red before he fell to the ground and run away screaming for his mother.

"Disgusting. Completely disgusting. Was Kurenai-sensei right? Are all man perverts?" She said, shaking her head. She sighed and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

00

When the clone left, everyone turned their attention to Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Aria. Word leaked out about the Zeus, Poseidon and Hades standoff. We're still not sure how, probably the same scumbag -" Aria tilted her head, she already had an idea of who this scumbag was and she doubted she was wrong. "- who summoned the Hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

Aria snickered at this. She could already imagine her Uncle Zeus looking rather alarmed and furious as he pointed to her father and the others and screamed "Treason! This is Treason! You're all traitors!" the moment he found out about what was happening. And frankly, she had no doubt that he would do that.

Everyone jumped when they heard a loud sound and then an explosion and the music suddenly stopped. After a few seconds they could hear a loud scream and then they saw Aria, who have just received her clone's memories, shiver.

"Too bad you're a little young for me? We could have so much fun together?" They could hear Aria muttering to herself. She seemed ready to puck. "But is not like anyone would find out? The hell! Why my clone didn't kill him?!"

I want to know too... Kurama growled in her head. If we see him again, castrate him or we could always send him to Artemis as a gift.

Gift?

Target practice.

Aria chuckled. Of course.

"Ari, are you alright?" Will asked, worried.

Aria shook her head and raised one of her hands, taking a deep breath.

"Continue Luke."

The boy nodded slowly. "There's nothing more to say really... But what's your status?" Luke asked "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

Against Aria's better judgment (Not that she could tell her friends that), they told him pretty much everything and by the expression in his face, Luke was really surprised at the battles they had.

"I wish I could be there," Luke told them. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen... and I am sorry to say this Aria since I heard about your refusal to believe it, but it has to be Hades who took the master bolt." Aria growled. "He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."

He was there? Aria blinked. She thought about everything that happened so far and a smirk formed in her face. You know what this mean Kurama dear?

The fox smirked. We were right? Hell yeah!

Now we just need a way to prove it...

"It wasn't Uncle Hades." Aria said when she noticed everyone was looking at her.

Luke looked troubled. "Aria... Hades has the Helm of Darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invisible." They were silent for a while before he realized what he said and what it could mean. "Oh, hey," He protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

"No, it wasn't Annabeth." Everyone looked at her in disbelief. "I may not like her all that much, but I know it wasn't her."

"But she wanted to come so much." Silena said in a small voice.

Aria shook her head. "She wanted to come so she could see the outside world and prove herself, she must have wanted to be seen as a hero or something. It was another demigod, one who must be a good thief."

By the corner of her eyes, she could see that Luke was sweating. The son of Hermes broke the silence after a while.

"Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

As if I would let anyone use those shoes... They are sealed away.

"Yes." She lied. Her friends looked at her confused but Luke was too focused on her to see it. "I am wearing them. They are pretty handy."

"Really?" Luke grinned. He was too cheerful to her liking. "They fit and everything?" The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate.

"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. He seemed to want to say something else but the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. They were now alone in the empty car stall.

"So... Let's find a place to eat."

Her friends stared but nodded.

00

Silena grumbled as the group was sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome dinner. The girl was looking around her with a frown of disgust as she saw the family eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

"Couldn't we have found a better place to eat?"

"No!" Clarisse grinned beside her. "I won our little game, so it was my choice."

Silena glared at the ceiling, thinking about their little session of Jan-Ken-Pon. She was sure her friend had cheated.

"The only reason you won is because, Aria -" She pointed to the daughter of Poseidon who was talking to Leo and Will about something. "- wasn't in the mood to play."

Clarisse shrugged and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the waitress. The woman raised her eyebrow skeptically when all kids turned their attention to her. "Well?"

"We want to order diner." Clarisse said, looking at her as if she was stupid. Why would they be there if it wasn't for food?

"You kids have money to pay for it?" At this, Aria raised a hand like a little kid, ready to say that she would pay, but before she could utter a word, a rumble shook the entire place, a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb.

Clarisse grinned. Now, that was what she called beautiful!

The others, on other hand, were staring with blank expressions as all conversation in the diner stopped.

The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather... Aria narrowed her eyes. The leather looked like Caucasian human skin.

The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face anyone there had seen. His cheeks were scarred from many, many fights. He made Aria think of Ibiki and his scarred face, the two of them could be brothers.

Aria narrowed her eyes in thought. He looks like... She looked at Clarisse, whose grin widened, and back to the man. Oh...!

As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked the demigods again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

The biker said, "It's on me." He slid into their booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Leo against the window. He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?" He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen. He then turned his attention to Aria who folded her arms.

"D-Dad..." Clarisse said.

Leo paled. "Dad?" Aria nodded to herself.

So he was Clarisse's father.

The man - Ares - frowned a little when he saw Clarisse (as if he hadn't know she would be there) and grinned at his daughter. "Clarisse."

He turned his attention back to Aria. The girl tilted her head when she felt the energy around him.

I didn't know Gods could use killing intent.

I don't think is the same thing. Kurama said.

Ares smirked at her and said while pointing at Aria, "So you must be old Seaweed's kid."

Aria raised an eyebrow, not even a little affected by the God's aura, making Ares raise an eyebrow. "Name calling? How old are you, cousin? Five? Are you trying to challenge Uncle Zeus with childishness?" Thunder boomed and Aria looked up. "Shut it, Uncle."

Ares laughed and took off his shades. Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "Heh, you've an attitude there brat! No wonder my daughter followed you here."

Clarisse shrugged.

"So... What're you doing here dad?"

"I heard the brat was in town." He pointed to Aria. "I got a little proposition for you." Ares offered.

The waitress came back with heaping trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes. Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.

Aria face palmed. He looked like Ibiki, but this was something Anko would do. She would always threaten people with a kunai when she wanted dango. "You shouldn't do it, you know..." Aria said calmly.

As Anko did when she said the same thing to the snake obsessed lady, Ares laughed. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta! Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."

Aria pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. She didn't have a good feeling about this. "What favor?"

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little... date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Leo asked. He flinched when the god turned his attention to him, the fire in his eyes sockets glowed a little hotter. The boy smiled nervous while Will, Clarisse and Silena facepalmed.

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley?" He made a pause. "Because I don't feel like it, kid." Ares turned his attention back to Aria. "A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Aria Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

"Can't, sorry." She wasn't sorry at all and all of them knew it by the tone of her voice and the smile in her face. "We already have a quest to do."

Ares's fiery eyes made her see things she thought she would never see again in this world. Blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield. Aria took a deep breath, trying not to think about Yagura and the others. "I know all about your quest, punk. When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful..." He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry. "Well... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath; of course me being the God of War, I enjoyed seeing the little fight they caused amongst themselves."

"You told him Uncle Hades stole the bolt?" Aria asked, her eyebrow twitching.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."

Aria hit her forehead at the table. "Of course. Rule number 5."

"What?" Everyone, even Ares asked. Aria waved a hand.

"Forget it. Shinobi Rules. You won't understand."

"Anyway, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own, thank you." Aria muttered.

"Yeah, right. No money."

"I have money. Why everyone always forget it?" Aria was ignored.

"No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

"My mom?" Aria narrowed her eyes, raising her head. Was he trying to use her mother so she would accept it?

No way in Tartarus.

He grinned. "That got your attention." No it didn't. "The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

Silena narrowed her. She had heard about this water park before. But where?

"What interrupted your date?" Aria asked with a smirk. "Something scare you off?"

Ares bared his teeth, but even with his threatening look, she could see that he God was nervous about something.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am."

The others stared at him with disbelief. Was Ares kidding? If the others weren't forgiving of rudeness as he supposed was, then how Aria was still alive?

"I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me... Take care and make me proud Clarisse." After he said that, they blinked and he was gone.

"My dad gave you a quest." Clarisse said with a deadpanned expression.

Leo clapped his hands together.

"You know guys, this looks like those side quest you see in videogames. The only difference is that Aria couldn't refuse it." Aria laughed, Will and Silena facepalmed and Clarisse leaned, hitting his arm. "Ouch! What?! It is true!"

Aria shook her head and looked out the window to see that Ares' motorcycle was gone as well. She sighed. "Well, let's go. My cousin seems to be too lazy to get his precious shield back."

Clarisse glared at her while Aria shrugged, not caring if the girl got angry at her for insulting her father.

He was lazy. If not... Why would he ask five demigods to get it back?

"G-Guys?" They looked at Silena. "T-This water park... It is not a good idea. I don't remember why, but it is dangerous..."

Will patted her shoulder.

"Relax, it is just a park. How dangerous can it be?"

Aria groaned.

Will just jinxed us.

00

The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time they found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D. The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry water slides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

"Poor mom..." Silena said with pure horror and disgust in both her voice and face. "He takes her here for a date?"

"The question is..." Will muttered in disbelief. "She lets him?"

Aria created two clones. One who grabbed Will and Silena arms, while the other grabbed Clarisse and Leo arms.

"Hey, Ari. What are you doing."

Aria smirked. "This." They gasped for air and a second later, they were all in the fence. The four demigods placed their hands in their stomach as their coughed, looking sick as they stared at Aria. "Shunshin. The best-friend of all shinobis along the clones and the Holy Log."

Leo stared at her in disbelief, saying what was in the others mind. " The Holy Log?"

Aria grinned.

"Tell you later." She said as her clones helped them to stand up.

She waited for them to calm down before they started to walk through the park, checking out the attractions. They found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of -

"Clothes," Silena said happily, clapping her hands in delight. "Fresh clothes." She made a pause and sighed. "But they are so ugly..."

"Ah!" They looked at Aria. "I almost forgot! I know a seal that when used, your clothes will be washed and repaired from any damage."

She created five clones before biting her hands and opened a large wound in her palm. Each clone took a little of her blood and started to draw in her friends chest. Aria too made the same draws in herself. When Aria and the clones finished, she made a hand sign and the draws flashed. Her friends closed their eyes and when they opened it again, it was like they had just gotten out of a shower and their clothes looked new.

Will sniffed his shirt. "Lavender?"

Silena hugged Aria. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Aria patted her head. "You're welcome."

After Silena calmed down, they continued searching for the Tunnel of Love. Percy got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. Will was twitching. He hated the dark and it was making her sick. "So... Er... Silena? Are you still nervous about this place?"

"Honestly?" She asked, looking at something ahead them with a look of horror. "Yes."

They followed her eyes. In front of them was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from them, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"What's wrong with this Silena?"

"I know where I heard about this place before... One of my sisters told me about it! It is -" Clarisse interrupted her.

"It is too easy, there's not a challenge here." The daughter of Ares deadpanned.

Silena was panicking, trying to make her friends look at her.

"Guys -" Silena growled when she was interrupted again.

"I'll go..."

"Aria -"

"Ari, wait for me!" Leo said, grinning at the thought of going in the 'Thrill Ride of Love' with Aria, but Will beat him by jumping at the boat with the girl. Leo growled and glared while the blonde smirked at him.

"Wait, please! Aria don't touch it!" Aria looked at her, her hand frozen above the shield. "It is a trap!"

Aria turned to look at her with a deadpan look.

"Too late..." She muttered as the ride came to life and the boat drifted down the set stream.

"Guys!" Aria heard Clarisse yelling.

Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Aria cursed when they shot even if it wasn't at them but at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

"Golden nest..." Will muttered while Aria nodded.

"That's what I was trying to warn you! This place was made by Hephaestus to catch my mom and Ares!" They heard Silena yell.

The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding the two friends for a second with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight..."

"Not catch them, but humiliate them in front of all Olympus." Will muttered.

"Catch them." Aria snorted. Will looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "It is so Pokemon." She started humming. "A heart so true ~ Our courage will pull us through ~ You teach me and I'll teach you ~ Pokemon ~!" The blonde snickered. Aria would get along with his father just fine if this was any indication.

They almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic... Aria narrowed her eyes. It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward them in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.

"Spiders?"

The spiders were coming out from all around the rim, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding the two demigods.

Aria growled. She started hitting and kicking the spiders away, while Will was using his silver pyramid bow. Aria was relieved when she noticed that one arrow of light could part in more than twenty arrows. Will had a satisfied smirk in his face since most of the spiders were being destroyed, after all, a single arrow could destroy more than ten spiders.

"Will; The exterminator of Spiders." Aria said, dramatically.

He grinned. "We should make a movie about it."

"Definitely." Aria laughed, kicking a spider away from her.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.

"So... Do you have a better idea? Because this is just not working." Will said as the spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie them down. It didn't matter how many spiders the Son of Apollo destroyed, they just kept coming.

Aria hummed in thought before narrowing her eyes.

"Will? How does your arrows work?"

He destroyed another five spiders and looked at her by the corner of his eyes. "I use the sun light." More six spiders were destroyed. "But by the letter Dad left to me, the arrows too use my inner power or something."

Spiritual energy. Kurama said with wonder.

What?

I felt it in some of those demigods at the Camp, but I never thought they could use it...

Kurama. English or Japanese choose a language that I understand, please.

He took a deep breath. Brat, your friend's 'Inner Power' as he calls it, is Spiritual Energy. You know, one of the components of chakra? Aura?

Aria blinked her eyes in realization. Ah! Wait, if he can use it to create his arrows them... She grinned.

"I have a plan, Will." She created a clone that positioned itself behind Will and placed its hands against his back. "Shoot first, ask question later."

Her clone hands gained an white glow around it as Will started shooting and to his surprise, more than twenty arrows started hitting the spiders.

"Aria, I don't know what you're doing, but it is awesome!"

"Thanks!"

Now... To get out of here... Aria narrowed her eyes. Looking around, she found what she wanted. Huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station.

"Clarisse!" The girl looked at her. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"Right!"

Aria turned her attention back to Will who was once again shooting his arrow at the spiders, trying to give them time.

Clarisse was in the controller's booth, slamming away at the buttons. Even destroying some of them at the process.

"Five, four-"

The daughter of Ares cursed and looked up, raising her hands showing to Aria that she had pushed every button she found.

Nothing was happening.

Shaking her head, Aria closed her eyes. It seemed that she would have to go with plan B.

Since when you have a plan B? She ignored Kurama.

True be told she had created this plan B on the spot. But it would work. It had to. She would have to bring the water to the pipes. She didn't know if it was going to work since it was different from creating water from pure air or controlling the water from a river or the ocean.

"Two, one, zero!"

She sighed in relief when water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Her clone dispersed and Will stopped shooting, his bow disappearing as he pulled her into the seat next to him and fastened Aria seat belt just as the tidal wave slammed into their boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing them completely, but not capsizing the two. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.

The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst. Spotlights glared down at the two. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.

The two friends shared a look and flashed winks, smiles, waves and peace signs at the cams. While they did it, Aria controlled the boat with a twitch of her fingers, willing it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall.

They kept making faces to the cams as they spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred them against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and they rocketed through into the darkness.

When all they could see was darkness, Will hugged Aria and screamed ("Dammit! I hate the dark!") while the girl laughed out loud, hugging him back.

Then they were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through their hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit. If the ride had been in working order, they would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before them were now piled against the barricade one submerged, the other cracked in half.

Aria took a look at it and turned to Will.

"Do you trust me?" He took a deep breath.

"I'm sure you're going to say something crazy. But yeah, I trust you."

She grinned. "Good. Unfasten your seat belt,"

Will cursed. "I knew it." He strapped Ares' shield to his arm. "Should have known you would want us to jump."

He did as Aria said and the boat struck and they used its force like a springboard to jump the gate. As they were thrown into the air, the two demigods flew straight over the gates, over the pool and down toward solid asphalt.

Will closed his eyes, ready to the impact. But something grabbed him.

"Are you ok, Will?" He turned his head to see Aria holding him with a smile.

Will sighed and thanked her. Looking back at the Thrill Ride of Love, The water was subsiding, their boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates.

"You could have left him fall, Ari." Will glared at Leo who grinned.

Aria shook her head and turned around. A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on them, the spotlight in their faces.

"Show's over! Tune in next time to watch the next episode of our show!" Leo laughed while the others facepalmed.

The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool.

Aria looked at Clarisse. "If I punch your dad, don't blame me." Clarisse laughed.

"Oh, I won't!"

00

Ares was waiting for them in the diner parking lot, leaning on his motorcycle. "Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

"You could have gotten me killed." Clarisse growled.

He looked at her for a second. Aria doubted anyone else could see it, but she saw the glint of regret and guilt in his eyes before he shook his head and turned his attention to Aria.

Aria folded her arms. "You knew it was a trap,"

It wasn't a question.

Ares cracked a wicked smirk. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids."

Aria rubbed her temple as Will shoved the shield in Ares' hands. Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas." The group took one look at the truck and was able to read it because of the fact that it was in big black and white letters that were reversed. It said: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

They stared at the truck with deadpanned expressions.

This is the best thing a God could get? He had got to be kidding.

Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job." He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to her, but Aria moved out of the way and Clarisse ended getting the backpack.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos. Aria stared at it before turning around and looking at the dinner when she felt eyes on her back. She blinked her eyes when she saw the waitress from before. She was nervously looking at Ares, like he was going to hurt them or something.

She even dragged out the fry cook to look and then said something. Aria tried to read her lips, but she was talk too fast for her to understand. The fry cook took out a camera and snapped a photo of the group. Aria sighed, not waiting to think about it and looked at Ares.

"What about my mother?"

She doubted he had any interesting information to share, but she still was curious to know.

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

Aria raised an eyebrow.

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

I already knew that.

Kit... Doesn't this mean that your Uncle is expecting you all?

Aria blinked and groaned. Please, don't tell me his helm was stolen and he thinks I'm the thief!

Ok... I won't tell you. He made a pause. But I'm sure this is exactly what he's thinking.

She groaned again.

Why me? What did I do in my last life for this to keep happening? There was a moment of silence. Forget I asked anything, I don't want to know.

"Well, see you around kid."

Aria couldn't help herself and said; "You're pretty smug, Cousin, for a guy who runs from little and cuties Cupid statues."

Her friends gasped. Behind Ares' sunglasses, fire glowed. "We'll meet again, Aria Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

Ares looked one last time at Clarisse before he revved his Harley, and then roared off down Delancy Street.

Will sighed said, "I really have to stop being surprised when you talk to the Gods like that, Aria."

"You're not the only one." Silena muttered.

"Hey guys, look" Leo pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck. "If we're taking the zoo express," Leo said, "we need to hurry."

Theyran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind them. The first thing that hit Aria was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter. She grimaced, her face getting more green as the time passed.

Is time like this that I hate my enchanted senses...

"W-What's this smell?!" Silena asked, holding her nose, an action Aria copied.

"I think that it is them." Leo said. There was a ball of fire in his hands, illuminating the trailer as he pointed to the source of the smell.

Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals the group had ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and a type of antelope... Aria didn't know the name of the animal.

Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!

Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.

Will cursed. "They call this kindness?" He took a deep breath. "They are rare animals or something aren't they? Is this..." He stopped not wanting to finish. "Is this a black market transport?" Silena gasped and Clarisse looked ready to turn around and beat those guys, but the truck's engine roared to life and they began move.

"There's nothing we can do?" Leo asked.

They looked at each other. Clarisse was all in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but Silena shook her head at this saying that wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving, that and she was sure that the Lion was hungry and instead of the turnips, they were on the menu. In the end, Aria refilled their bowls with clear water and then used her clones to care the mismatched food out of their cages. She gave the meat to the lion, and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope. Silena used one of her knifes to cut the balloon off the antelope down as Leo was holding him and Will was tending any animal who was hurt. After that, Aria used her clones to clean the animals and use her seals to help them with broken bones or anything that Will couldn't cure without help and clean the trailer.

When they finished, the group took a seat next to the albino lion with Aria hugging him as if the lion was a plushy. Leo was near the bag and was nibbling halfheartedly on some Oreos from said bag.

"Do you think they will be fine?" Asked Silena as she looked at the animals.

"You can't save everyone..." Aria hummed, making her friends look at her. "But I think that they will be fine..." She smiled. "We will make sure of it."

00

Aria was dreaming. No, She thought. Her dreams were being controlled and invaded again. She looked around, her mouth open in shook as she saw where she was. It was her classroom at the Academy. Iruka was there, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, everyone! She turned her head slowly, almost afraid of what she would see beside her.

Aria paled as coal eyes narrowed in her direction.

It had been a long time since she saw those eyes or thought about the owner of those dark orbs.

Sasuke...

Aria shook her head when she felt someone touching her shoulder and turned around. She turned around to see a girl next to her who didn't belong in that classroom. She was wearing a strait jacket and didn't look to be older than Aria. She had unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes and freckles across her nose.

Aria didn't know how, but she was sure this was Thalia. The daughter of Zeus who was turned into a pine tree.

Thalia glared at her in frustration, and snapped, "Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here."

Aria blinked her eyes confused until everything zoned away and the cave from before was back and a voice echoed off the walls.

Aria Jackson it said. To Aria, this voice was familiar.

She frowned in thought before her eyes widened in realization. It was the same one that has been invading her dreams!

Yes, the exchange went well, I see.This voice sounded like it was talking to someone else, but she couldn't see anyone. And she suspects nothing? it asked.

That is when a familiar voice piped up. Aria narrowed her eyes at it. Nothing, my lord. She is as ignorant as the rest.

Aria snorted. Of course she didn't suspect anything. She already knew about almost everything that was happening. Ari's eyes darted all around but she couldn't see anyone there.

Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.

Truly, my lord, said the other voice, you are well-named the Crooked One. Aria raised an eyebrow at this.

Your family is so messed up Kit. Kurama commented with a deadpan tone. She blushed, but didn't say anything. Your Grandfather is the reason for all this quest.

Mission. She could feel him rolling his eyes at her. Aria then blinked her eyes. Where have you been? He didn't answer.

But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly -

You?the monster - who now she was sure was her Grandfather - said in scorn. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.

But, my lord -

Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands...

Both items? Aria narrowed her eyes.

So your Uncle is really expecting you. He does think you stole his Helm. Aria nodded.

...but wait. She is here.

What? The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. You summoned her, my lord?

No. The voice said, bringing its attention to Aria, like a weight pounding down on her. Blast her father's blood - she is too changeable, too unpredictable. The girl brought herself hither.

Impossible!the servant cried.

For a weakling such as you, perhaps,the voice snarled. Then its cold power turned back on Aria. So... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige.

The scene shifted all around her again.

She was now standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The empty, horrid throne was made from human bones fused together.

Now this is a throne I would want. Kurama smirked while Aria snickered.

Standing at the foot of the dais was Aria's mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms outstretched. Although, she was not alone. Aria tried, but she couldn't move. Looking at her arms and legs, Aria gasped when she saw that there was grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around her, draping her with silk robes, wreathing her head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into her scalp.

Kurama... Kurama...! Aria yelled in her mind. She couldn't move or use her chakra. She just couldn't make it stop, she needed the fox help. Where the hell was Kurama?

There was roar and Aria jumped awake. She was in cold sweat staring at her hands as she tried to calm down. She was starting to get really annoyed with this thing that was invading her dreams.

Sorry for making you wait, Kit.

She took a deep breath. Just don't do it again. She made a pause. What happened? One moment I can hear and feel you, but the next moment you are gone?

It wasn't my fault. I don't know what happened, but it wasn't my fault.

Aria nodded, accepting his answer.

"The truck's stopped..." She heard Leo say.

"No, shit Sherlock!" Clarisse rolled her eyes receiving a glare from the boy.

"Guys... Don't start." Will said as he touched Silena shoulder, waking the girl who grumped unhappily. "Come on, Silena. Up!"

The daughter of Aphrodite growled. "Shut up, William, before I make you!"

Aria chuckled. "You seem angry, Lena."

Silena turned to her and narrowed her eyes. "Angry? Angry? Oh no! I'm smelly, I just couldn't sleep well and I really want to hit something. No, Aria! I'm not angry! I'm furious!"

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Leo muttered.

Silena snarled in his direction. "What did you say brat?!"

"Nothing!" He yelled, taking various steps away from her. "Absolute nothing!"

Silena opened her mouth to speak, but Aria blinked and hissed.

"Hide, hide. Now!" Her friends looked at her and jumped behind the feed sacks while she used Henge and transformed into a feed sack.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" One of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" He asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.

The lion roared in indignation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," The man said. At this, Aria heard Kurama cursing in her mind and couldn't help but agree at the words that came from the nine-tailed fox mouth.

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the Zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

The Zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at Aria. Then she heard: Free me, my lady. Please.

Hadn't the girl known that she could talk to any type of aquatic animal, she would have been a little freaked out about this, but knowing that Horses were part of her father creations, she closed her eyes in thought, thinking of an away to help the Zebra. There was no way she was going to let anything happen to it. Not when she can hear it pleading over and over again.

Before she could do anything or dispel her Henge, there was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.

The trucker that was inside with them yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"

A voice outside shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

"What are you banging for?"

Knock, knock, knock.

Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"

Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside while cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.

A few seconds passed before Silena, Will, Clarisse and Leo walked from their hiding spots, they didn't blink when there was a poof and Aria appeared with her arms crossed and looking at the trailer doors with a serious expression.

"So Will was right... Black Market."

That's right, the zebra said, making the green-eyed girl look at him. And it was male.

"We've to free them!" Leo said, patting the Lion who didn't look like he cared for anything anymore.

The zebra looked at Aria. Open my cage, my lady. Please. I'll be fine after that.

Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other and Aria knew that it won't take long for them to come back inside. She sighed and grabbed Riptide from her pockets and uncapped the pen-sword. She twisted the sword and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra burst out. It turned to her and bowed. Aria smiled and bowed back.

Thank you, my lady...

"You're welcome."

Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. The group rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs.

Aria laughed at the scene that looked something from a movie. She had released a zebra in Las Vegas of all places!

Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"

Aria chuckled and turned to the others animals, placing Riptide back to her pocket and grabbing a few kunais and throwing them at the locks, freeing all the others animals.

"Have fun everyone."

The animals burst out of their cage and ran into the streets. Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.

"Will the animals be okay?" Leo muttered, looking rather sad that the lion left.

Silena gasped and clapped her hands together, making her friends look at her.

"What are you doing, Lena?" Will asked, confused.

"Praying to Lady Artemis." Silena said. "She will make sure the animals will reach the wild without a problem."

Her friends nodded in acceptance and they started walking. They passed by the Monte Carlo, the MGM, pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a smaller version of the original. Aria hummed and looked around in interest. She had never been in Las Vegas, so she was acting like a little kid in Christmas.

Aria grinned and started to turn away so she could talk to her friends when she bumped into someone.

"Sorry sir, I -" Aria blinked, and stared at the man in front of her.

Tall, skinny, Paper white skin, long black hair, a strong jaw, narrowed eyes, a love for snakes - if the necklace he was wearing was any indication -, a sick smile in his face... This man... The Gods had to be kidding! This couldn't be happening!

She paled when a young boy which hair reached his shoulders and wearing glasses touched the man arm.

"Professor are you alright?" He asked, looking like a puppy wanting his master attention as he did so.

Those two couldn't be who she thought it was.

Not Orochimaru and Kabuto, please... Anything but Orochimaru and Kabuto!

The man smiled and Aria almost started crying in fear. The similarity was uncanny.

"I'm fine, it was nothing." He turned his attention to Aria who could only look from the boy to the man and in question of seconds, Aria paled even more. Tears formed in her eyes and her body started trembling as she took a few steps back, trying to distance herself from those two.

RUN KIT RUN! Kurama yelled, but she couldn't move a muscle.

"Dear?" The man asked, trying to reach a hand to touch her. "Are you -"

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Everyone at the street stopped what they were doing to look at her. Far from them, her friends jumped and stared at Aria with confusion and surprise. She turned around and started running as she cried and screamed about snakes and pedophiles.

"Aria, come back here!" She heard Clarisse yelling, but she didn't stop. Aria placed her hands over her neck and shook her head.

"NO! KEEP THAT SON OF MEDUSA AND HIS TOY BOY FAR AWAY FROM ME! I DON'T WANT A HICKEY!"

00

Aria wasn't sure when they had taken a wrong turn, but she was sure it had been her fault. Not that they could blame her. They would have run away screaming too if they had meet Orochimaru and Kabuto before. She frowned, staring at the building in front of her.

Lotus Hotel and Casino... The entrance was huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. There was no one going in or out, but the glittering chrome door was open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers.

Aria frown deepened.

There is something wrong about this place.

Kit, we need to go. Now. She nodded, not wanting to stay and find out what was wrong. Aria turned around and was ready to tell her friends that they should continue when the doorman appeared and smiled at them.

"Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

Aria opened her mouth to decline when Leo interrupted her. "Sure!" She facepalmed.

She stared at him and the others, who didn't lose time to run inside the building and quickly followed before something happened to them.

"Whoa..." Leo muttered.

"Whoa, indeed..." Will nodded.

The whole lobby was giant game room. There was an indoor waterside snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of the building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a videoscreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snacks bars all around, serving every kind of food someone could imagine.

"Hey!" a bellhop wearing a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino! Here's your room key!" He grinned to Aria who raised an eyebrow.

"But -"

"No, no!" He said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go to the top floor, loom 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash card. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed each of them a green plastic credit card and then walked away.

With a sigh, Aria gave the card one last look before following her friends to the elevator so they could check their room. It was a suite - a very big suite - with five separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun.

"I can't believe it..." Silena muttered in awe while Clarisse looked like she had stars in her eyes.

"This is freaking awesome!" Aria heard Leo say as she walked to the closet and opened it.

Kit...

I know... We need to get out of here... There is no way this is a coincidence. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the clothes inside the closet that were the perfect size and would fit her without a problem.

"I will look around for a while. See you guys later..."

"I think I will go too..." Silena said, looking at her card. "Maybe they have a shop here; I could buy a few clothes..."

Clarisse shrugged. "I want to try a few games, so I will go too..."

"Wait for me Ari!" Leo said, waving to Aria that was almost walking out of the room. "We can make this a date!" From his spot at the window, Will head snapped in her direction when he heard Leo say this. He blinked his eyes and grinned.

In a flash of light, the son of Apollo pushed the fire-user demigod away and grabbed Aria's arm and ran out of the room before anyone could react. Leo shook his head and narrowed his eyes as he growled.

"Hey!" He yelled, running after the two. "Come back here you bastard! This is my date not yours!"

Silena and Clarisse looked at each other.

"Do you think Ari even knows what a date is?" Clarisse asked.

Silena sweatdropped. "Do you think she even knows those two are developing a crush on her and are fighting for her?"

There was a moment of silence before the two girls facepalmed.

"No..."

00

Aria didn't know if she should be exasperated or frustrated when she noticed Will and Leo were having some type of competition. When they bungee-jumped the lobby, the two wanted to know who jumped higher. When they did the water slide, the question was who was faster and at the virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter they would try to kill each other. They continued like this, almost ignoring her (Though they did ask her who had more victory between the two) so while she followed them around, she too kept an eye out to Silena and Clarisse.

Clarisse, for example, had entered a tournament of an arm wrestling and making a bunch of grown man cry like little kids and Silena was at the shop, looking at a few games, dresses and make up (From what Aria understood, the girl was buying a few presents for her siblings).

Kit, I found one of your cousins. Aria blinked her eyes and took her attention off Will and Leo that were now playing a racing game.

Really?

Turn around. There is a boy sitting next that sharpshooters game, he is looking at a few cards. I'm sure he is your cousin. He reeks death.

Aria turned around, she started walking in the direction of the VR sharpshooters and sniffed before approaching the boy. She gave a small smile. Kurama was right; the boy reeked death and could only be her cousin... And if he wasn't her Uncle Hades' son, he could only be Persephone or Thanatos' child. Frankly, whoever child he was, the boy was still her cousin.

"Hello." The boy, who was only a little younger than her, blinked and raised his head.

He had olive colored skin, shaggy and messy black hair and intense black eyes that had a gleam of genius or of pure madness (Which was the same thing in Aria's eyes, especially since all the genius she had meet back home had a little of mad on them. Take Orochimaru and Kakashi as example). He was wearing all black and an aviator's jacket.

"What are you doing?"

He grinned, and Aria couldn't help but smile back. "Is Mythomagic." He showed her the cards and Aria's smile widened when she saw the Poseidon' card.

"Can I see this one?" She asked, pointing to the card.

He blinked and looked at the card before giving it to her. "Sure. Do you like Poseidon?"

She smirked. "He is one of my favorites, yes."

The boy shook his head with a grin and showed a card to her. "My favorite is Hades."

Gotcha! She thought, stopping herself from squealing or something similar. He is Uncle Hades' son!

"Well I -" She was interrupted.

"Nico!" They looked around to see a girl running in their direction. "I told you to stay with me and you ran off!"

The girl, who must have been the boy - Nico - older sister, had black eyes - which had that gleam of genius or madness - and dark brown hair. She was lean and was only a little taller than Aria. Like her brother, she had olive skin and had a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. She wearing a floppy green hat that hid most of her face, as if she wanted to hide something.

Nico looked a little guilt. "I was tired of waiting for you, so I decided to look around."

She took a deep breath before she noticed the card in Aria hand. "I'm sorry... Is my brother bothering you?"

Aria grinned and shook her head as she waved a hand. "Nah, he was showing me his cards. Is cool."

Nico rolled his eyes rather dramatically as he grinned. "Finally! Someone who understand!"

Aria chuckled as his sister - who she learn was called Bianca - started to scold him.

So... Are you taking them with you?

Aria crossed her arms and hummed. Definitely. There is no way in Tartarus that I will leave my family behind.

Kurama huffed and muttered something like "You and your obsession with your damned family", she was ready to ask what he meant and why he sounded so tired when she noticed two boys playing the VR sharpshooters game.

One the boys was rather normal, he had black hair and gray eyes and was wearing a hoodie and jeans, but the other boy... He must be Elvis reincarnation or even a long lost relative, he was wearing a bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night.

The Elvis-boy turned to the normal one. "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."

Aria blinked one time. And another and another.

Her mouth dropped. Groovy? There were people out there that still used 'Groovy'?

The other boy turned to him and started talking. Aria noticed that a few time, the Elvis-boy would look at the boy as if he was crazy and never heard the words he was using before. As if they had come from different times. They didn't talk much, but Aria did heard that the Elvis-boy' name was Darrin and, while he was focused on his game - as if the world didn't matter -, he would mutter a few things to himself. And she couldn't help but gasp and stare when Darrin said something about it being 1977.

"1977? What does he mean with it is 1977?" Aria asked out loud, not paying attention to Bianca that was standing next to her and looking rather confused.

"It is not. It is 1943." Aria blinked and turned to her cousin.

"What...?"

Kuso... Kurama cursed in her mind.

Aria blinked. What?

Kit, get the hell out of here. If what the Death Girl is saying is right then everyone in this place comes from a different time. He made a small pause, as if thinking about what to say next. And no one knows about how long they have been here, nor do they age.

"Kuso!" Aria cursed out loud, making her cousins jump and stare at her confused. "I knew there was something wrong with this place!"

If what Kurama was saying was true than time passed in a different way inside the Hotel and Cassino... So how long had she and the others been here? Hours? Days? Months?

Grabbing her cousins wrist, she started running.

"W-Wait!" Bianca asked, trying to free herself without success. "Where are you taking us?"

"Away from here! I will explain later!" She stopped running. Aria looked around and let go of Nico when she saw Leo and Will fighting about something. She rolled her eyes and created two Clones, one to go after the two boys and other to get Clarisse and Silena.

She turned to Nico who was staring at her.

"Do we?" She raised an eyebrow. "Do we need to get out of here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"In a few words? We have to prevent World War III."

Bianca narrowed her eyes. "The Second War is still happening! Are you crazy?!"

Nico stared at her. "Really?" He whispered.

Aria had to stop herself from snapping at her cousin, she was really impressed with how he was acting, but they couldn't lose more time. "Yes."

He frowned, as if listening to someone.

Aria narrowed her eyes as she watched him.

Someone is talking to him...

Aria hummed. Are you sure?

Kurama snorted. Absolutely. I know this face, kit. Is the same you do sometimes when I am talking to you.

She nodded accepting the answer and turned her attention to Nico who muttered something under his breath in what she thought to be Italian and looked at her eyes. His eyes seemed to be looking for any lie in her face and eyes, but seeing none, the boy nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

"Nico!" His sister yelled, but he ignored her and followed Aria who started running again.

When they were near the exit, Aria had to stop herself from facepalming when she saw her clones carrying the unconscious form of Leo, Will, Silena and Clarisse. And although she was curious to know what happened, she decided to find it out later.

As they were almost reaching the entrance of the Lotus Hotel and Casino, the bellhop hurried up to them. He blinked his eyes a little confused when he saw her clones but shook his head and turned to her. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"No, Thank you. We're leaving," Aria started walking away.

"Such a shame..." He said, and for some reason, she had the feeling that he really meant it, as if they leaving was something really sad and heartbroken to see. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out the cards, and Aria growled when she felt some sort of compulsion wash over her, as if telling her to grab the cards and visit this new floor. The compulsion was a lot like a genjutsu and Aria was sure that if it wasn't for Kurama, she would have taken the card the moment he showed it to her.

She shook her head. Now it wasn't the time, she had to focus.

Bianca moved her free hand in his direction but Nico yanked back his sister arm, hugging it and shaking his head when she looked at him with irritation. "No. You don't want that." She opened her mouth to argue, but Aria didn't let her. She pushed her cousin and started walking toward the door.

As they approached it, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. Aria took a deep breath and focused her thoughts on her clones who had already burst through the doors. She ignored the suddenly need to just go back to their room upstairs and took a deep breath.

She almost cursed when she hesitated, only one feet of distance of the door. Kurama could help her with compulsions and illusions, but she had never seen or experienced something so strong before!

Aria closed her eyes.

She could kiss her small cousin when he grabbed her free hand, making her look at him, and pushed her out of the Lotus Casino and they ran after her clones.

It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day they had gone into the Casino, but the difference was that the weather was completely wrong. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.

"What happened?" Clarisse asked when Aria reached the clones, rubbing her neck as she glared at the clone that had got her and Silena out of the Casino. She was the only one awake while the other three were laying on the ground, next to her clones.

"Have you been awake for long?" Clarisse turned her glare to Aria who let Bianca go and folded her arms.

"Not much. I woke up with your clones throwing me in the ground."

Aria's clone grinned and gave her thump ups making the daughter of Ares growl. Aria chuckled and looked at her, blinking her eyes. "Hey, Clarisse, did you leave this backpack in that room at the Hotel?" Aria asked, pointing to the backpack over Clarisse's shoulder.

Aria was sure she saw her friend throwing the backpack in a corner in the room.

"I don't know, when I wake up, it was with me." Aria narrowed her eyes, finding the backpack rather suspicious especially because a) it appeared out of nowhere and b) it had a strange aura around it.

Shaking her head, and deciding to think about it later, Aria looked around and walked to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. The good news was that it was still the same year it had been when they went into the Casino, whatever... The bad news was that it was June twentieth.

"Five days..." She muttered to herself. "We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days." Frowning, she made the count. This meant that they had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete their mission.

"Excuse me!" Aria blinked and turned her attention to Bianca, who was glaring at her, and Nico, who was looking around with an expression of awe.

She had forgotten about them.

"Why did you brought us here?! Where are we?! Who are you?!" Bianca yelled.

Aria sighed and rubbed her temple, feeling a head ache coming..

This explanation will take a while...

The Water Park and the Lotus Casino

Hope you liked it!

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- Cissnei