Joya lightly touched Pythagoras' arm. "Are you alright? You've not eaten."

"It's just tomorrow."

"We have to." Minos told him, gently. "You know if I didn't have to, I wouldn't."

"There's a new man here. I met him today. He's just arrived in Atlantis. Does he have to draw a stone?"

"You know he does." Minos answered, though he didn't like admitting it.

Joya sighed. "Nobody likes this. But we have to. For the kingdom."

Jason felt his heart swoop as he waited in the crowd in front of the royal family. Soon they, Ariadne had told him, would have to go into a special building to select a stone. White meant they would live. Black meant...
He swallowed nervously, his legs turning rubbery as the King's speech ended. The crowd surged forward. He was in line for hours, his skin turning wet as the sun's merciless heat attacked him. Ariadne, behind him, passed him her water-skin.

"It'll be alright. The chances of you picking a black stone are low."

"Look, there's someone with a black one now." Hercules muttered as a woman trudged past, hand tightly clenched. A shiny, smooth dark object gleamed in the sunlight.

Before he knew it, he was in the building, the royal family seated before him. But where was the Prince? Looking to his left, he saw him. He was looking scared, but gave Jason an encouraging smile. Jason stepped forward, looking for where he'd have to pick out a rock.

"Over there." Ariadne whispered behind him.

A grey, stone staue of what appeared to be a bull stood by where Pythagoras was. Jason placed his hand inside the bull's open mouth, feeling lightheaded. His hands closed around a stone and he pulled it out, shaking.

White. Thank God. He walked to the left side of the wall to wait for Ariadne and Hercules and caught a glimpse of the blonde smiling. He was relieved, Jason supposed, that someone had gotten a white.

Sighing, Hercules walked over to it, Ariadne pushing him in front. He closed his eyes and felt around, and Jason could see his mouth uttering a prayer. He took out his hand and relaxed upon seeing it was the same as Jason's. Now, Ariadne stepped forward and dug her hand in, almost seeming like she didn't care, though Jason caught the look of uncertainty in her brown eyes. She looked at her hand and her expression went from neutral to horrified. A gleam of black told Jason the worst. She turned to him and Hercules, fear flooding her eyes.

The prince had stopped smiling.

Ariadne stared at the rock. She hadn't said anything since they'd come back home. She was numbed, Jason could see and despite their best efforts, nothing was helping her. A flurry of urgent knocks came at the door. Ariadne, almost motionlessly, got up and answered it.

"Hello, Pythagoras."

"Oh, gods, Ariadne!" the prince threw his arms around her and held tightly on. "I'm sorry, gods, I'm sorry."

She leant into his embrace and lay her hands on his back. She was quiet, and when she next spoke, her voice was strained. "Don't..You shouldn't be apologising."

"Is there anything I can do, anything?"

"You couldn't go and face it for me, could you?" Ariadne was joking, even though there was nothing funny about the situation. She just didn't know what else to do.

The prince had his head on one side. "Hmm..."

"I wasn't serious." Ariadne told him. She ran her hands through her hair and sighed loudly. "What am I going to do?"

"Could you take a sword with you?"

Ariadne pointed up and down herself, drawing attention to the sunset orange dress that came to her knees. "Where would I hide it?"

"You could take a dagger?"

"Where would I hide it?"

Pythagoras was getting desperate. "I'll find weapons and I'll leave them for you!"

Ariadne gave a bitter smile. "You tried that before, didn't you? Your father was not pleased."

"I don't care." Pythagoras declared. "You are my friend and I'm keeping you safe whatever the cost of that may be!"

With that, he turned back to the door. "I'll leave them at the entrance. Good luck, Ariadne."

Ariadne sat down at the table and closed her eyes. Jason was surprised to see a smile grace her lips. "What is it?"

"Him. He's so quiet and then he gets all protective."

Hercules poured her some wine. "Here. This'll help."

She didn't take her mouth away until every last drop had been drained. "Thank you."

"Why is it the royals don't pick stones?" Jason wondered.

"We need them to rule us. Hercules, will you pass me the wine?"

He obliged and stared in wonder as she started drinking it from the bottle. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to be dead tomorrow, so I might as well get drunk."

"Oh, for.." Hercules prised the bottle out of her hands. "You will not be dead. We won't let that happen."

Ariadne twisted her lips into a false smile and got up. "Hmm. I...I'm tired. Goodnight."

Jason watched as she walked away, her head slightly bowed. He sighed as her door clicked shut and turned to the older man next to him. "What can we do?"

Hercules was quiet and Jason thought he'd not heard him. Then he spoke. "For now, we will have to hope our prince can do what he said he would."

"If not?"

"Then we'll have to do something."

He'd failed. He'd failed spectacularly too. Tomorrow, Ariadne would be taken to the minotaur and there was nothing he could do about it. Why had Minos decided to lock up all the swords? He would've asked, but then his father would want to know why he'd been trying to get them. He thought about what in Hades he could do, when suddenly an idea came to him. Dangerous, yes. Low chance of succes, definitely. But what else could he do?

He would have to save her himself.

I know I've left what happened to Pyth and Medusa completely out, but there's a good reason and all will become clear soon! It's not like I decided I had to get Jason in and completely *FORGOT* Pyth and Medusa! (OK, it kinda was, I'm sorry)

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