Quest=Occupational Hazard {Q} (Aria, Avery)

To be quite truthful, it had been ages since Avery'd had a dream. Most of time she collapsed into bed, fell asleep, and woke up again the next morning. She knew she wasn't exactly an important demi-god, so Avery didn't really mind... to an extent. She'd never seen her father, and had long given up any hope that she ever would. She wasn't some kind of chosen one, and this was the very first quest that she'd ever been on. She was hardly important enough to send a prophetic dream to, something else that Avery didn't really mind. She'd heard those were a pain in the ass - all foreboding and a real damper on a daughter of Hermes' spirits.

But that didn't mean sleeping on a boat was easy. She'd given the steering wheel to Fireball, a decision even as she fell away into an uneasy slumber sort of haunted her. But when it came right down to it, Avery was cool with accepting her little buddy's judgement. If Aria was worthy of his trust, she was worthy of Avery's. For her, the gentle rocking of the boat on the waves was actually a good lullaby, but just her general enthusiasm for being on this quest, the general adrenaline, and the fact that Aria was driving the boat, kept her from falling into any deep sleep. She was awoken by every little thing - whether it was the sound of an especially ferocious wave slapping against the side of the boat or an interruption in the general rocking of the boat. Not to mention the aches she felt in muscles she didn't even know she had every time she stayed in one position in that beach chair on the deck for more than five minutes. And she was cold - and she hadn't brought a jacket.

So when she wasn't sleeping, Avery thought about home. She wasn't really homesick, but the thought of home did make her a little wistful. Not to mention Luke was back. They had so much to catch up on, but it was very well possible that she'd die on this quest and she'd never get to hear his story. The thought was sort of depressing, but hey, what could you do? Then there was Az. She'd only met him once before, but jeez did he make an impression. She figured he was an ass, but he was a hot ass - and she meant that in all possible ways it could be meant for a soon-to-be legal teen like her. There was another depressing thought. If she died on this quest, she'd never live to see her eighteenth birthday. She wouldn't ever be able to legally gamble or buy firearms.

Avery tried to push these thoughts of her head, trying to get some sleep. But just as she was beginning to succeed, and she felt sleep beginning to wrap around her like a blanket, she heard a rumbling in the distance. Like thunder. It was more like a crack, but nevertheless the sound made her shoot up in her seat. The sky was dark - so trying to see any stormclouds was pretty much pointless. But if her ears weren't mistaken, they were in for some serious trouble.

That was when Ryan decided to spew whatever he'd eaten earlier over the side of the boat. Avery wrinkled her nose. Even though she was a daughter of Hermes didn't mean she didn't think that anything was gross. Vomit was gross. She never did any pranks involving it. "I'm sure the fish will enjoy the present you gave them, little buddy," she said with a yawn, rubbing what little sleep she'd gotten from her eyes. Avery scanned the horizon again. She sincerely hoped that she'd been mistaken in hearing thunder. But after seeing maybe another brief flash of light in the distance and a much fainted rumbling sound, there was no mistaking. There was a storm out there, and Avery couldn't tell if they were sailing right towards it or not.

Aria did not see why Avery so enjoyed this vista. It just gave a better view of the water and a greater sense that they were adrift on an endless sea of doom. Oh, and it also offered a nice view of the clouds. One hundred percent overcast, and dark at that, though that part was a bit harder to tell as it was the night and there weren’t exactly convenient streetlights or camp torches here. Even the stars and moon were blocked out for the most part. She could see enough to see the others, but it wasn’t Detroit lighting. She couldn’t, say, read a book, not that she’d want to. That was another thing she hated already about this trip. She was born and raised to the city and this was about as far from a city landscape as one could get.

Well, dark except for a brief flash in the distance. Her eyes grew wide instantly in fear as though it was a sign of her imminent demise. She wasn’t afraid of storms in the slightest; they were kind of cool, actually, what with all the lightning and thunder and torrential rain and high winds. But she knew full well the bit about don’t let electricity near water. And well, storms were a ton of electricity, and they were sitting on a ton of water. Bad news. If she hadn’t wanted to be anywhere but here before, she certainly did now. “Was that just li-“ she started to ask in general to whomever was actually listening, for one of those rare instances not hating the fact that there was a little bit of fear leaking into her voice.

She was cut off by Ryan snapping at her, though and she realized she had just asked him a question. When she opened her mouth to speak, though, there came a soft rumble in the distance and she could almost feel some of the sparse remaining color leave her face. Not good. Not good at all. Then Ryan snapped at Avery and the growing chaos in Aria’s head just grew some more. “Ryan, will you freaking chill!? We were trying to help, or at least I was. Gods, do you always have to be such a pain?” She shut up abruptly when another flash of lighting lit of a portion of the horizon.

Avery gritted her teeth, keeping a firm grip on the boat's steering. Gods blast everything to the Underworld. She'd driven this boat through a storm before, but not one as bad as this one was beginning to turn into. The waves were getting rockier, wilder... the boat was swaying and rocking with a force that could easily tip this boat over if she wasn't careful. Had this been any other situation, Avery would have been perfectly fine of it. But right now she had two kids' lives on her hands, other than her own. Her own death would have been of no consequence - just some crazy Hermes girl doing something stupid. But this was a quest - and Avery had two other people to take care of. Granted, this wasn't her quest, but she knew very well that she was the oldest demi-god on this trip.

She heard Ryan shout out to her if she had a life jacket. Avery rolled her eyes. "Of course I don't have one!" she screamed right back, trying to keep her voice over the sound of the wind and rain. "You and Aria need them more than I do." Avery grunted as a particularly forceful wave hit the side of the boat, and she struggled to maintain control of the steering wheel. She wasn't entirely sure how well she would be able to hold up with this kind of force. She was the stronger type of girl, but even she had her limits.

But then her eyes went wide in fear. A wave swept across the deck, and Aria was still on it. The young girl slipped fell, her lifejacket not even on yet, and she disappeared over the side of the ship into the water. "ARIA!" she shrieked, and completely forgot about trying to control the boat. Without even thinking about what she was doing, Avery burst out from the captain's cabin and slid onto the rainsoaked deck. She spotted Ryan. "Ryan, get that damn life jacket on before you get blown off this boat. Hang on to something, but if you fall into the water, scream for me, got it? Kick your legs, move your hands, do whatever you have to do to stay above the water."

And with that, without a life jacket on, Avery leaped over the railing and jumped into the raging waters of the ocean.

It was cold - that much she could register. But the swirling waters around her made it hard to sense which way was up and which way was down. Even though it stung, Avery tried to keep her eyes open to see if she could catch any glimpse of the little Fireball. But there wasn't any sign of her. The daughter of Hermes kicked and struggled, and somehow, her head broke the surface of the water. Avery sucked in a gigantic breath and screamed, "ARIA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" There was no reply. Cursing, Avery turned herself in the water to see that the boat was about twenty yards away. But what made her panic was the sight of a gigantic wave beginning to swell from behind it. It looked like it was about to engulf the entire boat.

"Ryan, JUMP!" she screamed, struggling to keep her head above the water.

Avery was a mixture between panicked and ticked off. First of all, all of her stuff that she'd brought with her was on that boat. Her dagger, a supply of explosives, and a fresh pair of clothes. Now all she had were the the clothes she had on and the throwing knife hairpins that were tucked safely into her hair. They were the one set of things she never knew that she would lose, mainly because she always knows where to find them. She just prayed to the gods that they weren't pulled from her hair in this water. But she was also panicked. Aria had disappeared - and Avery couldn't find her anywhere. Ryan also looked like he was getting ready to jump, so just before he did that, she ducked underwater to try and find the little Fireball.

She couldn't see her, or hear her... it was like she'd completely disappeared. But the daughter of Hermes didn't give up until she absolutely needed to breathe again. Avery struck against the water, but began to panic when she realized she had once again lost her sense of what was up or down. All she knew was that she had to breath. Avery kicked and struggled, and eventually felt the tugs of the waves that meant the surface was above her. Finally her head broke the surface of the water, and she coughed and sputtered, taking in huge gulps of air before a wave pushed her underwater again. What the hell, Poseidon? she demanded silently, wondering if the god could even hear her. He probably couldn't - he probably didn't even care.

Avery took a deep breath when she came up above the waves again, and she struggled to stay afloat. Aria was nowhere to be found, but somewhere in the distance she heard Ryan scream for her. She was about to answer back when another wave sent her hurtling underwater again. She hadn't been prepared for that, so a mouthful of saltwater went down her throat and entered her lungs, which burnt. Avery popped back on the surface again, coughing harder than before and hardly able to breathe. "Ryan! I'm coming to you!" she managed to shout, and began to swim towards where his voice had come from. Ryan was officially out of sight, but he wasn't for long. Just as Avery managed to swim over what was developing to be another wave, she saw him bobbing in the water like a buoy, and she thanked the gods for whoever had invented life jackets. She just wished that Aria had been able to put on hers.

Avery swam over to Ryan, kicking and moving her arms to keep her head above the water. She was beginning to get tired, but adrenaline was pumping through her veins. "I can't find her anywhere, Ryan," she said, feeling tears start to come to her eyes. Thank goodness it was dark and her face was already wet, because she didn't want her litle buddy to see her crying. She wished it had been her that had vanished beneath the waves instead of Aria - she could swim. The little Fireball couldn't, and now she was... Avery hated to think she was gone, but she didn't have much hope. Not with these kind of waters. "We... we've got to start looking for land. I can't swim forever like this." Her voice choked like a person's usually did when they were crying. But she had a responsibility to her little buddy now. She had to help him get to land. "Hold on to me, alright? Kick against the water and just keep your head above the water."

She turned around in the water, searching for some kind of land they could swim to. The boat had completely disappeared - whether it had been submerged or it was just out of sight, she had no idea. But she'd never see that boat again. Neither would its owners. Avery would probably care if she were that kind of person, but she wasn't.

There. There were dark forms looming in the distance - rocks. Of an island of some kind. Avery's spirits shot up, even though they were still pretty low considering as she was convinced they'd lost Aria forever. "Come on, there's rocks over there. That means there's land. Come on, little buddy, we can make it." Avery grabbed the front of his life jacket, just like she'd seen someone do once to save a drowning camper in the lake. She started to kick for the rocks, knowing all too well that if a wave caught them at the wrong time, they could be smashed against the rocks and then they'd definitely die. She knew Ryan couldn't swim, so she did her best to pull him along with her as she struggled through the water.

Avery had absolutely no idea how she had the strength to continue. Her muscles were burning, and no matter how hard she fought the waves, it felt like it was getting harder and harder to get towards those rocks. Granted, she was only swimming with one arm because she was semi-dragging Ryan with her by the front of his life jacket. She couldn't afford the two of them getting separated, because Avery refused to let him become Aria. The fact of the matter was, she could swim. He couldn't. If they got separated in these waters, she'd never see him again. Like Aria.

I'm so sorry, Little Fireball, Avery thought, hoping Aria could hear her wherever she was right now. She bit her lip as tears continued to cascade down her face and trickle into the raging ocean beneath her. Please forgive me. It had been all her fault, and she knew it. If she hadn't sent that little daughter of Apollo out onto the deck, she never would have gone overboard. She was the one who should have gone to grab the lifejackets for them. She would have been the one to go overboard, and she would have probably survived. And now, instead of searching the ocean for her, Avery was going further and further away from any chances of finding her. She hated giving up like this, but Avery knew very well that if she didn't get Ryan into shore soon, he'd drown just like Aria, even with the life jacket. The seas were too rough.

"Come on, little buddy, keep kicking. We'll make it." She was saying that mainly to keep herself going. Avery was getting more and more exhausted down by the second, and the sloshing waves around them didn't help either. They were being tossed around like ragdolls, even though they were approaching land. Avery continued tugging on the front of Ryan's life jacket, feeling like a little tugboat that had gotten hit by a semi before being thrown into the water. Her head hurt horrible, her lungs burnt from the saltwater, and her muscles protested the strenuous work of getting not only herself but someone else onto shore.

As soon as they were within yards distance from the rocks, a wave slammed into Avery and Ryan, and she lost her grip on his life jacket and the wave propelled her right into the rocks. The back of her head hit what felt like a jagged rock, and a burning pain filled the back of her skull. "Shit!" she cursed. In desparation, Avery turned and clung to that rock. Another wave slammed into her, one that submerged her. But Avery held her breath and continued holding onto that rock until the water pulled back and allowed her to breath once more. "RYAN!" she shouted, struggling to keep her grasp on the slippery black rock as the back of her head stung like a million bees had attacked her. Avery looked up.

The rock looked like it was a good degree above the water, and so she clambered up to the top of it and almost fell off when a wave came in unexpectedly and almost submerged her again. Avery pulled herself onto the surface and searched the surrounding waters for Ryan. She spotted him floating about thirty yards away, and Avery looked around. There were no rocks to her left, which was the direction Ryan was in, so without hesitation, Avery dove into the waters and swam towards him. Her head was stinging crazily from all the saltwater getting into the wound, and she ached all over. The goodnews was, though, the shore was only a few yards away. Avery could feel the sand of the bottom with her soaked shoes, so despite everything she managed to smile.

"We made it, little buddy. We made it." She chanted that like a prayer as she towed the pair of them to the beach, where Avery let go of Ryan the instant it was pure sand she was crawling on as opposed to water. But if only Aria had made it with them. At that thought, the tears returned and despite how sore she was and how much her head burned, Avery started to sob.