OnexOne with Mystikmage

Aria sighed. She flexed her fingers once, cracking her knuckles quietly. "No, I haven't..." she murmured, chewing her lip gently. "You'll be the first to now when I make a choice." Aria said, glancing back out the window again. The excitement was starting to boil up within her as the traffic thickened and they crossed the bridge into New York. Now, it was just a matter of getting into Manhattan through six-thrity rush hour.

Leo cursed quietly, easing on the brakes as some moron cut him off in the middle lane. He shook his head, slightly annoyed. He glanced at Keith through the rear-view mirror for a moment before glancing at Sara. A smirk came to his face and he nodded to Keith.
"Yea, she does that." Leo said, muttering another curse and steering the truck into the far right lane, still getting no where.

Keith chuckled, "I honestly had no idea someone could sleep in that position" He said, smirking and glancing at Aria.
"I'd appreciate that" He said, staring out the window, wide eyed. He sighed, if Aria left she'd be gone for the majority of the year, and he'd only see her during summer. He shrugged, she really should go back to school though, she should get that experience. He didn't say anymore on the matter however, he was fine with whatever she chose to do. He'd miss her, but he'd manage. Besides, it's not like he hadn't been alone before, and he was sure that Chiron would have him busy and he'd still have Leo and Sara, neither of them were going back to school by the sound of it.

Sara shifted again, curling up on the seat. She still had her seatbelt on, but had managed to get around the uncomfortable belt cutting into her neck. She was exahusted, and sore. She absentmindedly rubbed at her inner thigh, where the worse of the cuts were. Her hand dropped and she sighed, her head smacking against the door as Leo swerved.
"Ow" She grumbled, waking up due to the impact.

Leo smirked at Keith for a moment before hearing Sara in pain. "Shit, sorry love." he murmured, rubbing her shoulder gently. "This New Yorkers are crazy drivers." he said, honking the horn as someone tried to ram into him.

"Hey, hey, I resent that." Aria said. "Pull over and I'll show you how it's done in the city, you're as slow as molassis." Aria said, the typical 'Brooklyn' accent showing in her for a moment. It happened with Aria at times. If she was around people, or in a place with a particular accent, she would talk as they do.

Leo rolled his eyes. "There's no where to go." he protested. The traffic was pretty much at a stand still, simply creeping forward a bit each minute. Aria grinned, rolling down her window.
"There's always somewhere to go." she said, pulling herself up out the window. She sat in the opening, her feet still resting inside, her arms rapped around the roof rack. Aria grinned, seeing the Manhattan bridge hardly a mile away, and the line of traffic leading towards it.
"Damn, accident on the crossway..." Aria said, shaking her head as she pulled herself back in. "We're gonna be here for a while, unless you wanna walk..."

Keith rolled his eyes.
"Walk? Walk where?" He asked, still gaping at the city. He hadn't really let himself look at the cities they had been to for this reason, not to mention, well they're realy was no city like New York. He frowned, "Aria, where are we even going?" He asked, did they intend to go straight to Olympus, or were they going to find a place to stay and try and figure out what to do.
"Do we even know what we're doing?" He asked with a small frown. He hadn't really thought this far ahead in the plan.

Sara sighed, rubbing her head.
"S'fine" She murmured to Leo, rubbing her eyes. "Woah" She said, looking around at the huge traffic jam. She looked from Leo to Aria, "Walk?" She asked, she was a bit nervous. She was still sore, but she figured walking was faster.

Aria chuckled, unable to help herself. "Walk into the city. We haven't even crossed the bridge. They don't call it Long Island for nothing..." Aria explained, smirking lightly. She looked out the window again, looking up at the sky. She firgured it was nearly seven now and shook her head.
"The building will be closed from visitors by the time we get anywhere. I know of a place we can stay for the night. Granted, it's not a five star hotel..." Aria murmured, flexed her fingers gently. She tightened the velcrow on her glove.

Leo sighed, gripping the steering wheel in his aggreviation for a moment. They hadn't moved at all, and Leo had a feeling Aria was right; they'd be here for a while. Leo glanced at Sara for a moment, unsure if she was alright to walk at all. He had healed her a bit last night, but he knew she was still real sore. The Gods knew how long of a walk it would be to whereever Aria's place was.
"We do need to firgure out what to do though...I doubt we can just walk up to Mount Olympus and say 'Hey, we want you guys to stop fighting' and expect them to listen.."

Aria shrugged. "Details." she murmured, looking back out the window with a deep, satisfied sigh.

"I think we sort of need to hammer out the details" Keith said, shaking his head.
"You know Aria, being a Canadian, I don't really know all that much about the USA" He grumbled, damn, if they were in Canada he would be all over this. He glanced at Leo, his friend looked stressed. Checking the sky, he was relieved to see that the sun wouldn't set anytime soon, so Leo wouldn't pass out. Which was reassuring.
"Um, what place?" He arched an eyebrow at Aria, she did live here, but he wasn't sure how he felt about staying with her friends, or family, or at some weird place. He sighed, shrugging and shaking his head, staring out the window, bored.

Sara sighed, looking at Leo curiously, before rolling her eyes at Aria.
"Aria, we do need to figure out the details" She said, crossing her arms and righting herself. She rubbed a hand through her hair, looking up at the sky.
"Besides, they won't take us seriously unless we prove to them that we do know what we're talking about" She reminded them. Wincing a bit, the idea of seeing the gods was a bit stressful. Her mom was still pissed at Zeus, and she definately didn't want to see Hades, not after everything he had tried to do to her.

Aria rolled her eyes. "I don't care where you from, everyone knows something about New York." she said, shaking her head gently. Leo sighed, jamming the truck into park so they didn't waste anymore gas. They were running low as it was. He sat back in his seat, picking a leg up and resting his arm on it, rubbing at his chin.

"Yea, where exactly are we going to go?" Leo asked. Aria chewed her lip gently.
"I know some people. And they hardly stay at their place at night. I used to crash there when I..." Aria trailed off and shook her head dissmively, looking out the window again.
"Anyway, it's not like a run-down ghetto if that's what you're worried about." Aria murmured.

Leo nodded, looking at Aria for a moment before back at Sara. "Yea, but still. Our parents are on our side for this one. At least you're mom, and Keith's dad." Leo murmured.
"Plus they tore up camp. A place that was promised to be a safe place for all demi-gods.." Aria added.

Sara sighed, she was not used to staying with people she didn't know. She chewed her lip, "And your dad and Aria's dad" She reminded them. "Hermes rescued Keith and Aria, and your dad gave us an awesome, safe hotel room. Obviously they care, plus whenever I see them aruging, they're sided with My mom and Keith's dad" She reminded them. She glanced at Leo, staring listlessly out the window.
"I've never been to New York without shopping" She said, smirking a bit. She knew she sounded like a spoiled rich girl, but she had been for most of life, and only today had she turned her back on the spoiled part. She was still rich, trust fund and all that, but she really didn't feel like bringing that up.
"You know, I can get us a hotel room somewhere" She said, "Closer to where we are now? Less traffic jam stuckness" She offered, looking around at her friends.

"Right, all I know about New York is that rich people come here, there's a street, broadway, lots of plays, and that the people are supposedly rude" Keith said, rolling his eyes.
"Aria, I grew up in a town that would fit on this bridge" He said, shaking his head.
"And what if your friends are there?" He asked Aria, he really didn't want to impose. He glanced up at Sara, "How rich is your family?" He said, shaking his head.
"Ummm...rich" Sara said, not wanting to admit how rich her family was.

Aria rolled her eyes again. "They won't be. Trust me, half the time when I stayed with them they weren't around save for maybe once." She said, waving a hand. She stared back out the window as Sara brought up getting a hotel and whatnot.
"Either way we've got to cross the bridge. Only way into the city. We'll have to take a cab up to the East Side to get a hotel." Aria murmured quietly.

Leo rubbed his chin thoughfully, glancing at Sara before looking back at Aria and Keith. He was more for the hotel part rather than anything. Keith didn't seem to know about anything other than the good life of New York, which was all that was talked about anyway. Leo knew that every great city had its bad sides, and from the sounds of Aria 'friends' they didn't live the good life. Those places weren't safe for anyone, including Demi-gods.
"Aria's right. We still need to get into the city..."

Sara shrugged, "I have nothing against cabs" She muttered, but leaned against the window, staring out listlessly. Her phone was viberating again and she sighed, glancing down.
"Leave me alone" She muttered, though she saw the list of voice mails and frowned. Finally she lifted the phone to her ear, listening to the voice mails. Her facial expression became sour and she flicked the off button for the voice mail.
"I hate him, them" She grumbled, staring at her phone rather sadly. She couldn't believe the ploys her parents were using, just to get her to try and model. She rubbed her eyes, letting her phone fall in her lap, basically ignoring everyone at this point.

Keith sighed, shrugging his shoulders.
"I don't care either way. We can always split up, Sara and Leo at a hotel if they want, and I can stay with you" He had a feeling Leo and Sara were not the staying with weird, never met before people type. He shrugged, splitting up had it's ups and downs. Less demi-gods ment less monster attraction, but it also ment that they had a harder time comunicating with one another.
"We could plan to meet at the empire state building tomorrow morning" He suggested.

Aria shook her head. "It was just a suggestion." She murmured. "Didn't know Sara came from money." She shrugged indifferently. Leo had managed to get the truck an extra half a foot, but the traffic didn't seem to be moving at all. Aria smirked, sitting with her head half out the window, breathing in the smog of air that made up New York city.
"So are we gonna wait for traffic to clear up?" She asked, trying to sound curious more than anything else.


Leo turned his attention to Sara for a moment. He took her hand, squeezing it reassuringly before leaning over to kiss the side of her head.
"Maybe if you tell your dad what's really going on, he might ease up." Leo suggested softly. The guy had to know about the Gods and their issuses since he had been with the goddess of love. "Tell them this is something you have to do, or else kind of thing."

"You didn't realize that she was loaded when you swiped her black american express card?" Keith teased, shaking his head and sighing. He stretched out, "Can Sara even walk?" He asked, looking at Leo via the rearview mirror. He sighed, stretching out, he shrugged, he couldn't really answer any of Aria's questions, not without knowing if Sara could even walk. He sighed, shaking his head and looking out the window, sighing and wondering what to do.

"Leo it doesn't work that way in my family. My dad knew exactly what he was getting into with Aphrodite" She said, rubbing her face and smiling as he took her hand.
"My dad had this scheme from the begining. He knew what would happen if my mom got pregnant, he'd get the kid, and he knew how her kids looked. He knew what he was doing" She said frowning. She looked back, "You took my credit card?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at Keith then darting her eyes to Aria. She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to Leo.
"They don't care what I have to do Leo" She said, rubbing her eyes and sighing. "My family only sees things in the terms of dollars. Child of a goddess equals money" She said with a small sigh.

"Actually no, it didn't occur to me.." Aria murmured. "Remember you gave me your card to buy hotel rooms?" She explained when Sara turned and looked at her and Keith, as if they'd done something wrong.
"Good point.." she muttered, sighing and letting her arm hang out over the truck. At this rate, it felt like they wouldn't get anywhere until midnight. Nothing like meeting with the gods after little to no sleep.

Leo frowned. He was starting to like Sara's father less and less, espically knowing this. He shook his head, edging the truck forward as a small gap appeared in the queue of cars. "Damn." Leo said, shaking his head. He wasn't sure what to say to this, or if there was anything he could say.
"Turn your phone off then?" Leo murmured, giving a shrugg and a small smile.

Keith smirked, "I was kidding about the stealing part Sara" He stuck his tounge out at the girl, stretching out.
"I vote we leave the stupid truck here and walk. There's a river underneath us, I can get us to wherever we're going in a matter of seconds, if you guys are alright with jumping off a bridge" He said, smiling brightly. To him it seemed like a good idea, water always seemed like a good idea to Keith.

"Oh, right, sorry" Sara said, nodding her head as she remembered. She sighed, looking at Leo.
"I promised my little brother I'd never turn off my phone" She said, shaking her head stubbornly. "Well, he's my step brother, but we get along really well" She sighed, pulling up a picture of a dark haired boy with sparkling blue eyes.
"This is him" She said, the picture was on her phone. "He doesn't really get along with our parents either, my dad really pressures him when it comes to sports. He's fourteen and my dad's already talking about sports scholarships"

Aria frowned at Keith for a moment, her eyes went wide at the thought of swimming in the Hudson and shook her head. "Trust me on this one, that is not a bridge you'll ever want to jump over." she murmured, shaking her head again and shuddering lightly. She firgured that ment Sara was still too sore to walk the few miles into the city and hail a cab. Which mean that they would be waiting for the accident to clear up and the roads to reopen.


"You talk to your brother that often?" Leo asked quietly, smiling lightly. Must be nice to have sibilings. Leo didn't know, he was an only child, not that it bothered him really. Leo took Sara's hand, turning it to see the picture on her phone and nodded with the same smile.
"Aww, you're such a nice sister." Leo said, chuckling to himself. He sighed, leaning back against his seat, easing the car forward. He frowned for a moment as the two far right lanes started movie forward.
"Finally." Leo breathed, turning the truck as soon as he could into a lane with moving traffic.

"I really don't care, I wouldn't mind swimming right now" Keith said, sighing and watching as traffic finally began to move.
"Did we figure out where we're going?" He asked, were they all going to Aria's friend's house, or splitting up. He figured Sara and Leo wouldn't want to stay at this place, and Keith was used to staying in sketchy places. He waited for everyone to answer.

"Yea, he texts me a lot, and sometimes he calls" She murmured, "He knows about all the gods stuff too, my dad told him" She shrugged, "I wish I could see him again" She sighed, "I'm gonna try to go to his big sports tournament thing. My dad won't go, not unless he's a scouts coming, which none are since this is a highschool tournament" She murmured, sighing and shaking her head.
"He really wants me to come, and since no one in my family is going, I said I'd try" She said, shrugging.
"Which means I'm gonna stay in New York for an extra week" She looked at Leo, "His tournament is right here in New York" She sighed, "Fancy Prep school" She looked at Leo again, "Wanna stay with me?" She asked curiously. "It's his last tournament, as his school lets out for the summer right afterwards"

"You wouldn't be swimming in water, that's for sure." Aria murmured, glancing out the window as Leo drove onto the bridge. She grinned. From here, on either side was the dark green water of the hudge river, that would meet out into the Altantic miles away. In front of them was the city, and Aria felt a surge of homecoming as the sight of the sky scrappers and building so close to sunset.
"We can go to the hotel." Aria said, shrugging as an addition to her answer.

Leo smiled and nodded. "Yea sure." he said, nodding. He was listening, though half of him was focusing on driving. As they passed the sceen of the accident, Leo winced. Two SUV's seemed to have crashed into one another, one had rolled a good amount of times. Glass and gas was everywhere, and darker spot of blood stained certain parts around the cars.
"He plays baseball?" Leo asked, drawing his attention away from the horrific crash and looking back at Sara. He firgured that was the spot, since that was all New York was really based on.

"What about baseball?" Aria asked, her head snapping up like a dog who's sensed food. She smirked as the truck rolled into New York City offically. "Let me know when you pass 122nd street, cause that next light you're gonna make a left to go up Main street. Should take us all the way to East Side for a decent hotel..." Aria murmured.

Sara laughed, "He plays lots of sports, this particular tournament is baseball" She said, pulling her knees to her chest. She frowned as her phone rang again, but glancing down at the number, she brightened.
"Hey" She said, smiling lightly.
"Sara, is that you?" A cracking voice asked, the voice of a boy who had just hit puberty.
"Yea Matt it's me" She said, smiling lightly.
"Sara! Dad's going nuts, are you really not coming home?"
"No, I don't think so, but don't worry, I'll be at your baseball thing next week" She said, smiling lightly.
"Oh, okay, I guess that's fair. So, what are you doing?" The boyish voice asked.
"Just driving into New York with my boyfriend and some friends" She said, not willing to fill her baby brother in on everything that had happened.
"Oh, boyfriend?" He sounded suprised. "Yea Matt, I have a boyfriend" She said with a small smile. "You can meet him next week, where are you guys staying?" She asked, "I mean, next week when you get here"
"Oh, the four seasons or something. Dad's footing the bill, but neither him or mom are coming"
"Alright, I'll meet you there"

Keith sighed, stretching out, listening to Sara talk to her brother. "You know, just realized that basically we know nothing about one another, I mean outside of the demi-god stuff" He frowned, he was sure Leo and Sara had talked, but he didn't know anything about them.

Aria glanced at Keith and frowned. "Do we need to know anything else?" she murmured, not exactly wanting to deviludge into her personal life before she had gone to camp. She went back to leaning out the window, almost like a dog, letting her hair blow out behind her. Leo had to stop almost constantly for street lights. The road he was one didn't go one way, and one could never time the lights on these streets to hit green all the way through. Aria inhaled deeply and smiled. "I missed this place.." she breathed, folding her arms over the doorframe.


Leo sighed, stopping yet again and waiting for a green light, somewhat impatiently. He was constantly glancing around to check the street signs. He'd been here only once, on a feild trip to Broadway, but that had been about it. The city was...well..greek to him, for a lack of better words. Leo frowned at that thought and shook his head. Greek he could understand, maybe this was more like English.
His attention was caught by Sara as she actually answered her phone. He raised an eyebrow in silent question before driving took him back. He listened though, relaxing a bit as he heard it was her brother, not her father or step-mom calling. Once she was finsihed, Leo looked back at her, stuck at another red light.
"Four seasons?" he murmured quietly.

Keith bit his tounge for a moment.
"No, I suppose I don't need to know anything about the girl I'm dating. However, she seems to know more about my unpleasent past then I care to admit" He said, fighting his annoyance as he turned and stared out the window, a bored expression on his face. He was annoyed with Aria all over again, she really did know a lot more about him then he knew about her. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked as he heard Leo and Sara talking, again.

"Oh, where my brother's team is staying next week" Sara said, smiling lightly. "My dad's footing the bill for his team, that's how he shows us affection" She said, smirking. "But by the sound of it none of my family's gonna be there. So I sort of have to go" She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Do you mind? I can rig it so we're staying at the same hotel as him and everything" She murmured, "It'll be fun, you like baseball, right?" Sara really knew nothing about sports, she had played soccer in school, a bit, but nothing serious. Matt was definately on his way to being a pro in whatever sport he chose, if that's what he wanted.

Aria sighed. She really didn't want to get into this right now. Once they got to the hotel, she'd talk to him. But not now, with Leo and Sara here. She sighed, looking out the window, grinning as she saw places that looked all so familiar. The bakery..the flower shop..the gas station...the drug store...Starbucks.
Aria grinned and sat back in her seat.

Leo nodded, showing that he was listening to Sara as she talked. He winced, hearing that Sara's dad was one of those people who tried to buy their childrens love. Things just didn't work that way.
"I've been to a few games here and there." Leo addmited, shrugging gently. It was a die-hard fan, but it sounded like fun. Leo nodded.
"Yea, sure, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Leo said. "Hey Aria?" Leo glanced at her from over his shoulder.

"Hm?" Aria picked her head up and turned from looking out the window.
"Do you know where the Four Seaons is?"
Aria thought for a moment, her eyes going distant before she nodded. "Yea, turn on this street here. Can't miss it, it'll be on the left." she murmured, and Leo nodded, following Aria's instructions.

Keith sighed, glancing up as they began talking about the Four Seasons, that was supposed to be a really exclusive hotel. He smiled, it was nice having Sara as a friend.
"Oh cool" He said, smiling as he saw the hotel in the distance, it was massive. "There's a rooftop pool Keith" Sara said, her own eyes lighting up. It was sad, but some of her best memories were at hotels, her and her younger brother.

Sara sighed, shaking her head and smiling lightly.
"Awesome" Keith said, his blue eyes widening. Sara looked at Leo, "Thanks" She said with a small grin. "I didn't want to have to stay alone" She murmured, she would have, but she really didn't want to. She simled lightly, seeing the hotel.
"It's sad, but some of my best memories are at places like this" She murmured, grinning at him and stretching out.

Leo smirked, looking from Keith to Sara. He raised an eyebrow, pulling into the front of the hotel. "You think I'd let you go alone?" Leo murmured.
Aria was out of the car the minute the truck stopped, going to the back to get her bag. She took a deep breath, smiling to herself before looking at the automatic glass doors of the hotel.
"Hey Leo, they got valet parking. Might be a good idea.." Aria called, pulling her bag higher up on her shoulder.

Leo nodded, stepping out of the truck as well, tossing the keys to the parking boy before grabbing his and Sara's bag from the back. He walked around to her door, opening it for her and helping Sara out.
"Is you're brother already here?" Leo asked, lacing his fingers with Sara's gently.

Sara smiled lightly at Leo, chuckling as he helped her out.
"Thanks" She said, slipping her card and ID from her pocket, her family had a suite here, but her brother wouldn't be using it, he'd be with the team.
"I think so, they might be out sightseeing. They have two weeks here, for the tournament and stuff, and the school he goes to is all about museums and stuff" She said, smiling lightly at Leo.

"We're staying here?" Keith said, staring up at the five star hotel.
"Yea" Sara said, smiling lightly and shrugging. This was normal for her, but she figured they didn't stay at hotels like this.
"Woah" Keith said, following Aria inside. Sara smiled at Leo letting her fingers lace with his. She walked up to the front desk, handing the girl her suite card, her credit card and her ID.
"Here's your key" The woman said, smiling brightly. "Thank you" Sara said, nodding towards the elevator for her friends.

"Sara?" A voice called out, Sara spun, "Matt?" She called, smiling and laughing as her younger brother ran straight into her. Matt was taller then her by a good foot and when he hugged her he lifted her off the ground.
"Hey, sheesh" Sara was laughing still. Matt was hugging her tightly, not that she cared, she hadn't seem him in awhile.
"Wow, you grew" She said, staggering as he set her down. "Guys, this is my little, er, big, well, younger brother Matt. Matt this is my boyfriend Leo, my friend Aria and her boyfriend, and my friend Keith" She said, smiling and wrapping an arm around her little brother, leaning against him as she introduced him.
"Hey" He said, shaking Keith's hand and looking at Leo, obviously appraising him.

Aria smirked as Sara's brother barreled right into her. "So much for sightseeing." she murmured, flexing her fingers gently. She glanced around once, pulling her bag tighter up on her shoulder. She nodded and smiled as Sara introduced her, laughing quietly as Sara said Leo was her boyfriend.
"This should be intersting." Aria murmured, looking around curiously. She flexed her fingers again, cracking her knuckles gently as her eyes wandered around the people hanging about the lobby.
"Big money here...." she muttered to herself, eyes dancing with the sly look on her face.

Leo laughed as Matt came over. He nodded as Sara introduced him, smirking at the look on the younger boys face. "Hey, Sara's been telling us all about you." Leo said, glancing at Sara for a moment before looking back at Matt. "Heard you've got a big game coming up, we were hoping to catch you in action."