Diplomacy
A/N: I've been dying to write a Leo/Reyna story but I usually refrain from writing about future events or things that haven't yet been explained by the books. Personally, I think Leyna (as I call it) has a strong chance of happening due to the similarities between the characters and their own personal situations. I won't say much further as this one-shot is probably going to explain it better. I'll try to make it short and vague so I don't kick myself when Mark of Athena comes out and all the canon hits me on the face. I hope you enjoy it as a study of these two characters and why they could be a nice pairing.
Diplomacy – A Leo and Reyna short story:
Leo Valdez felt weird and he had no idea why.
Well, on a second thought – he reconsidered – he may have had a thousand reasons to feel like that, he just couldn't exactly put a finger on the right one. So, instead of joining dinner that night with campers from both Camp Jupiter and Camp Half Blood, he decided to check the engines of Argo II and polish Festus' head. It always cheered him up, even when he didn't exactly need cheering up.
"Hey, big guy, how are we feeling tonight? Still tired from all that traveling and kicking ass?" He said as he patted the warship gently; he took a cloth from his utility belt and started searching for dark spots on the hull.
Leo sighed, he was closer to his fate now, he had turned the crayon drawing of doom into a real thing and he was playing his part as he was supposed to, yet…He just couldn't feel quite alright.
Well, he thought, that's probably because my part isn't exactly enjoyable. He shrugged even though he was absolutely alone and started humming to himself. It was a nursery rhyme his mother used to sing and this helped him feel more at home. Not that he'd ever feel at home anywhere, he concluded.
He had spent his whole life running away from foster home to foster home and, even at camp, he didn't know what exactly was his function. Even when the gods told him what to do, he still felt out of place. It didn't really help that he hated having to fight for the woman who pretty much ruined his life or defending a father who was never present either. "You're the most important of all", she had said.
"Well, that's probably 'cause I'll be the one messing up the worst." He thought as he rubbed an invisible particle of dust away from Festus' face. "But at least I've brought us here, right, Festus? And we've managed to survive our first reunion with the Romans. That's more than I thought it was possible already."
"Barely." A voice came from the dark woods near the hills, Leo couldn't see its face.
"Festus?" He raised an eyebrow, doubtfully.
"Why would your dragon head talk?" The voice spoke again in contempt, though – he could swear – it sounded a little amused.
"The name is Festus, ok?" Leo said defensively, reaching for his hammer and wondering – for the first time – that, maybe, the name "Festus" did make a dragon sound a lot less magnificent and scary.
"You've named the automaton after your father?" The body finally appeared visible amongst the tall dark trees. Golden battle armor and long purple cloak against the night wind. What was she doing here?
"Well, not exactly."He still couldn't decide whether or not to pull his hammer from his belt. They had been finely received by Jason's friend; Reyna but she had made it clear she wasn't absolutely sure she trusted the Greek campers. And Leo wasn't absolutely sure he trusted her either.
"So the dragon's name is actually "happy"?" Her voice had no undertone, it was just a question, yet, Leo felt slightly offended. Maybe it was just the way she spoke or her posture…Maybe it was the fact that she was wearing full battle armor while he wore jeans and an old stained t-shit with suspenders, he just felt threatened.
"Shouldn't you be with the other campers?" He changed subjects, trying not to sound rude. "I mean, you're the big boss or something like that."
Her eyes bored into him for a couple of seconds and then they dodged their focus to somewhere distant before she said:
"Probably." And then, with her eyes back to Leo, she asked. "Shouldn't you be there too?"
"Hanging out with my friends and having the time of my life before the real war starts?" He said. "Nah! I'd rather be here and be on my own." He had intended that with sarcasm but Reyna didn't seem like the type of person who had a sense of humor. She didn't look much like a person, to be honest. All golden and pale and cold and beautiful, she looked inhuman.
"I know what you mean." She answered politely, her eyes travelling through the ship masts. And then she was quiet for a long time.
A really long time.
By then, Leo already knew that whatever was happening at that moment, it wasn't a regular thing. The praetor wouldn't simply walk out from a diplomatic valid dinner for a little stroll on the woods. He still wasn't sure if she was studying the ship, making a visit to check if they weren't pulling a Trojan Horse move on Camp Jupiter or anything or if she was there to sabotage Argo and he couldn't allow that. His hand still on his belt he tried to get something out from her:
"Cool ship, huh?" He wasn't expecting an answer. Most people wouldn't have opinions on ships at all. He was obviously proud of Argo II – and so was his cabin - but other people would just say "yeah, it's awesome!" and leave it at that.
Reyna turned away from the helm, still distracted and stared at him, not saying anything.
Well, thanks for the intelligent input, Leo thought. The girl made him uncomfortable in so many levels.
"Er… So!" Ok, he had never been very eloquent with girls, he knew that already. And it wasn't like he expected things to be different any time soon. Even as a demigod, it wasn't like Hephaestus' cabin was known for their handsome men and the same applied to the Roman camp. If the look on that girl's face when she first saw him - Hazel, he thought her name was – meant anything, he was still as puke inducing as before. "Cold night, huh?"
"We don't really have to talk." Reyna said, still analyzing the helm. "It's ok if you want to be quiet. I know I want to."
Leo swallowed his own saliva. He was getting nowhere with that conversation and, honestly, he felt like he needed at least some information as to why Reyna was there. He wouldn't drop that bone easily – he had a fate to fulfill after all.
"You ever sailed a warship?" He asked more confidently now. She was, after all, on his territory and barging in on his calm, quiet moment of soul searching. He had all the right to disrespect her wishes! To his surprise, she turned around and, for the first time that night gave him a direct answer:
"Not a flying one, no." That part was also a surprise. Leo raised an eyebrow, almost involuntarily:
"You sailed a warship before?" He had heard already that Reyna was a daughter of some war deity with a sandwich sounding name but it was hard to relate her to anything like the Ares children. She wasn't scary in the same way they were – she just looked sober and fair and unreachable. In a way, she reminded him of Khione and that was already terrifying enough if you asked him. Still, he couldn't picture that girl sailing a huge warship. He could hardly imagine her in a battle. Armor and all, she still looked like the type of person you'd see behind a table, coming up with strategies; not swinging swords and yelling battle cries, let alone sailing huge battleships. "When was that?"
"I'm not telling you that." She pointed out matter-of-factly.
Leo felt his ears burn. He couldn't tell whether he felt guilty or angry. He hated how intimidated he was by her. He was reminded of how weird it was to be around Piper when she looked all "extreme makeover" – beauty was intimidating even for him, who had no feelings for her at all and he thought, maybe this girl has some sort of similar power. He felt ashamed just to be standing on the same place as her. He felt like he should be apologizing all the time.
Thinking about Piper, however, made something else come to mind.
"You're not here to study the ship, are you?" He asked trying to sound as nice as possible; he knew it wouldn't take much to upset her. Reyna frowned:
"No, not really. The official examination of the ship will happen later, I told you and your friends earlier, haven't I?"
"Then why are you here?" He let it slip. She looked nervous for a second but then regained her composure.
"I'm not telling you that either."
Leo opened his mouth for the smart comeback he had already planned but a noise coming from the captain cabin alarmed the two of them.
"What was that?" Reyna asked.
"I'm not telling you!" Leo said, with a winning smile as he ran towards the cabin's door. He thought he saw her roll her eyes before she followed him inside.
The captain cabin was a mess, no surprise there: tools lying around, maps scattered all over the table, a bunk bed covered in clothes, sailing books and weapons and loose gadgets everywhere.
"Nice place." Leo couldn't tell whether she was being polite or sarcastic, so he ignored her comment and went straight towards the control panel that was connected to Festus' head.
"What's wrong, bro?" He asked the dragon. Reyna was quiet behind him as he checked all the buttons and lifted a small compartment to analyze the wires.
"What is a crayon drawing doing in the middle of these maps?" He heard her ask. Leo felt the cold sweat dripping on his back.
"Uh, I'm into drawing."
"You're not very good at it, are you?"
"We can be quiet, you know?"
She didn't say anything after that.
Actually, she didn't say anything else for so long, Leo started feeling pretty bad. To be honest, he'd prefer she talked, he didn't like working in silence that much.
"So, hm, Reyna…"
"Yes?" Her voice came from a different spot this time and, when he turned around to look, she was sitting on his bed studying the pieces of clay on the strategy maps.
"Hey!" He ran towards the plans and tried to cover them. "You shouldn't be seeing these."
They exchanged glances for half a second before, to Leo's utter shock, she smiled:
"You are laughing at me!" He pointed out but he was already chuckling; she looked so much less intimidating with a smile on her face! Reyna looked alarmed:
"No,no! I'm not laughing at you, don't worry." She replied, looking coy. Leo raised an eyebrow but kept his expression as friendly as possible. She sighed: "Ok, maybe I am."
"Well, don't worry! People do that all the time! I'm starting to believe I need laughter to live!" Reyna smiled reappeared on her face but it was a much sadder one this time. Leo regretted whatever it was he had said that made her make that expression.
"You shouldn't worry though." She said staring at the board and moving some of the pieces. "Your strategies were pretty good. Though I should probably warn you we have protection here and here and they are heavily armed; you wouldn't get very far with this particular approach."
"We don't intend to attack you!" Reyna glared at him. "Not anymore!"He waved his hand through the board, messing up all the plans. He'd get a lot of crap for that later but, hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do. "Besides, those plans weren't my idea, they were all Annabeth's; she's a freak about strategies."
She was also a freak about buildings. She hadn't seen her boyfriend in months, yet, the second the first meetings were over, she was going hyper (and that's saying something coming from a demigod) about New Rome's buildings and architecture. Percy Jackson might as well have turned invisible as soon as she spotted the university installations.
"Annabeth." The moonlight chose this moment to show through the clouds and hit Reyna's armor through the cabin's windows. She no longer looked harmless. "That's Percy's girlfriend, right?"
"Yup, the pretty blond lady with the crazy eyes." Leo grabbed a chair from the other side of the room and sat across the girl, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. He threw the piece of cloth he was holding over his shoulders. He admitted to himself he'd get no work done with Reyna standing there. "I assume the eyes aren't that crazy anymore – I think – now that we found Percy." He winked but Reyna didn't really get the hint. How shocking, he thought with sarcasm.
"She must've been really happy." Reyna's voice was hoarse.
"Oh, she was! To be honest with you, I was kinda glad we had all those meetings and complications and tests and stuff – I already have to endure Jason and Piper's drama all year long, I wasn't sure I'd handle a happy couple reencounter." Leo laughed to himself. "I'm bitter like that."
"They're probably being all lovey-dovey now. The six of them, I mean! Because two couples weren't enough, they had to throw that Hazel and Frank on that as well! I keep thinking about this prophecy of seven and, if we happen to be the chosen ones – let me tell you – there's a big chance the giants will win by WO 'cause I'm quitting!"
Leo knew that, though he was joking, he was more than partially sincere on his complaints. It's not that he hated being single or unloved – or despised by women in general – nah, he'd grown used to that. However, it was one thing to have the gods control your fate, throw you in a fireplace and see if you died and then make you build a huge ship to travel to all sorts of certain deaths and it was another one entirely to have them make you seventh wheel in a prophecy slash love cruise.
Beasts? Monsters? Dangerous activities of all kinds? Ok! Three happily in love couples? Not really.
Reyna was back to being quiet, but that didn't really stop him from talking. Leo was more than used to doing all the talking and, to be honest, he sort of liked how she would just listen instead of calling him on being selfish or anything.
"You shouldn't kid about the prophecy." She did interrupt him at some point of his rant about how much everything would suck for him. "We really can't let the enemy win." Her eyes were focused on the empty table where the plans once laid.
"Ugh!" The shame and guilt overtook Leo. He wasn't really sure what exactly made Reyna's tone so harsh and serious but – whatever it was – it worked miracles. "I'm sorry! I wasn't being serious at all – I would never abandon the prophecy, if it really is about me, I mean. I don't think it is."
She stared at his eyes for a long time and, even though he was already as uncomfortable as he could be, he felt even worse with her eyes on him. It had finally come to his attention that Reyna was beautiful. Obviously, he had noticed that before – with her golden armor and purple cape, her beautiful posture and penetrating eyes, she'd be beautiful to anyone with a good set of eyes, but now – for the first time since he had met her – he was seeing her in a different light. It wasn't just that Reyna was attractive, she happened to be just his type.
Leo swallowed his own saliva nervously. He'd better brush that thought away from his mind very quickly. He had learnt a thing or two with his past experiences and, right now, the main focus was saving the world without distractions. Especially distractions of that type.
You know; the beautiful, cold, gorgeous and potentially dangerous type.
"You don't think the prophecy is about you?" She was unaware of everything going on inside his head which, Leo thought, was great. He wouldn't be surprised if she could read minds though, she had the type of eyes that pierced through you like a spear.
"I don't really wanna talk about that." And he really didn't but it was mostly because it felt like the type of talk he shouldn't be having with someone whose alignment he wasn't really sure of just yet.
Reyna shrugged and it was funny because – well, because people wearing armors shouldn't really shrug, it's weird.
"I think you're a part of the prophecy. I think you're actually a pretty important part of it."
Well, that came from nowhere.
"You look like the type of person who doesn't really see things until the last moment." She pointed out matter-of-factly, like that wasn't insulting or anything.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing, really." She grabbed a piece of clay from the floor and started twiddling it. "Just something I picked up."
Her voice was emotionless, her every move was calculated and clean and beautiful. Leo didn't feel quite attracted anymore. Maybe he was just offended, he didn't really know, he just disliked how she spoke so coldly about everything.
"Well, you picked up wrong." He stood up and went back to handling the machinery. He heard Reyna sigh:
"I've offended you, I'm sorry." He glanced at her direction and made a face.
"It's ok. I'm sorry I felt offended. I'm just touchy, I think."
"You're powerful." Reyna went on. "You should know that." She should know when to stop, Leo thought with his blood flowing to his head.
"It's ok, Reyna, I don't really need the pep talk."
He could feel her standing right behind him again, checking him work on Festus' head from the inside.
"It's not pep talk. You are powerful and you should know that because you're dangerous too."
If only she knew, Leo almost chuckled. He already knew a thing or two about how dangerous he was.
"I'm not dangerous, I'm just the mechanic."
Reyna rolled her eyes. She actually rolled her eyes at this sentence. It was the closest thing to a human reaction he had seen her do:
"You needn't lie to me!" Who uses "needn't" nowadays, really? Leo wondered all sorts of things about that girl. Was she a time traveler or was she just stuck in a role playing game where she really believed this was old Rome? "We are on the same side!"
Except they weren't; not for real. After the truce was over, once the big war was won, Greeks and Romans wouldn't really remain friends – nobody knew what was going to happen. Reyna seemed to think the same thing because she corrected herself almost immediately:
"As for now, we are on the same side. You said so yourself; you have no intentions of attacking us anymore." She placed the clay piece she had on her hands on the control panel. "We are peons from the same box."
And it's not even our fight; he felt like completing her words. This bitter thought consumed his guts and, instead of a nice remark, he said:
"Then why are you here?" Both her eyebrows went up. "Why are you checking the ship instead of making friends with your new allies?" He didn't mean to sound angry, he just felt really bothered by all that barging in. She had interrupted his time alone, invaded his ship, his private cabin and even attacked his personality. She had done nothing but cold remarks about him and he just wanted her out from his personal bubble. She bothered him to a point he had forgotten she was his type - a fact until them unheard of in the life of Leo Valdez.
"I told you already, I'm not here to spy on the ship. We will see it later this week, I…"
"Are you sure? 'Cause I could show you the armory!" He went on, interrupting her. "You will never guess how many weapons we could actually fit in this thing. Even Ares cabin was impressed! It's their favorite part of the ship!"
"I would really appreciate seeing the weaponry cabin later – when the proper time comes – right now, I…" It was like she didn't even realize he was upset. She kept her same tone, unaltered, composed. How could anyone be like that?
"Aren't you the least bit curious to know just how much effort we put on destroying you, if it ever came to this? Don't you want some sort of advantage on us? Don't you…"
"Enough!" She cut him mid-sentence with her strong voice and Leo felt like – had he had a tail – it would be between his legs in a second. "I was under the impression that you were light hearted and well humored, Leo Valdez. Whatever happened to the insufferable joke machine we were introduced to earlier?"
Leo wasn't keen on big words but "insufferable" didn't sound really flattering. He sighed:
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just under a lot of stress. I don't know how you manage to keep this calm." And by calm he meant cold-hearted and dead inside.
"You honestly think I'm calm?" Her eyebrows were raised so high she looked cartoon-like. Leo watched her, waiting for more of a reaction. Reyna walked slowly around the room, her eyes staring out the window. She sighed. "I'm a mess."
"You are?"
"Of course I am; everyone is!" She threw herself on his bed. Leo gulped. The person inside the cabin was no longer a robot with shiny golden skin and that was – strangely enough – just as bothersome. He walked back to the chair he was sitting before and took a place again. They were just like patient and therapist.
Except he pitied Reyna if she actually believed he could help her in any way.
"Look at how everything is suddenly upside down, Leo Valdez. The gods are on our side but even they are messing with our lives like we belong to them. Everyone's scared. Are we supposed to count on the same people who go around pushing and pulling us? Stealing memories, manipulating our feelings? We need them to win and they need us but only one side will admit that. Aren't you scared?"
Leo groaned as he felt very cold all of a sudden for now real reason.
"I know I should be terrified." He told her without questioning why he was even saying it. "But I'm not."
Reyna raised her upper body from the bed, putting her weight on her elbows, and snickered:
"You don't have to lie. It's ok to be scared; it doesn't make you less of a male or anything."
Leo glared at her but she didn't seem to be joking at all, maybe he just thought he had seen her snicker:
"I'm not lying. I just really don't have any reasons to be afraid." He gave it some thought. "I know I just sounded like a big jerk for saying that but it's not what I mean." She didn't look like she was judging so he went on. "It's just that I don't have anything to lose, really. I mean, I want to save the world just like everyone else – I recycle and everything." Reyna didn't even chuckle, he didn't like Reyna. "The thing is that, besides saving the world, I don't have anything at risk. All I have to lose is my life and, all in all, I don't like me enough that I'd miss myself."
He stared at Reyna, she stared at him.
"That's really depressing." She finally stated.
"I know." He chortled.
"Like I said," She sat with her feet crossed under her knees on his bed and exhaled. "you truly are a bit on the blind side."
"Thanks again for so politely pointing it out like I had asked you or anything." He scowled.
"You're welcome." Did she never get sarcasm? Like, ever? "You have friends, Leo Valdez, and, even if you didn't, you have a home. Don't you want to save camp?"
"Home?"
"You don't think Camp Half Blood is your home?"
"No, I…I do, I guess. I just, I just never really thought of it this way before, I think."
"Well, and how do you feel about it now that you are thinking about it?"
"I don't know." He raised his eyes as to meet hers. She smiled coldly but gently.
"So maybe now you too have something to lose?"
"Why would I want to have something to lose?" He asked moodily. A couple of minutes ago, she was the one claiming she was a mess, why had things suddenly changed to this scenario? Leo didn't need any counseling. I mean, surely, he needed professional counseling and, technically, the government had forced him to a few therapy sections – but he didn't need her to counsel him. "I'm perfectly fine with fighting to save my friends from total damnation and stopping the world from facing apocalypse – I don't need to be weakened by "things to lose"."
Reyna giggled. By then, he was pretty aware that he hated her twice as much when she acted human.
"You're seeing it all wrong. It's not what you have to lose that makes you weak; having something to lose only gives you motivation. You can't go into battle thinking you're going to die and that that's ok – you can't. Sure, sacrifice sound pretty and we Romans respect that but a soldier without a cause is just…Well, you're just suicidal."
"My other therapist said something like that too." He scoffed but Reyna didn't seem to mind:
"It's ok if you want to joke around, I get that it's your thing. Trying to be funny so you can avoid things." Leo opened his mouth to speak but Reyna went on before anything. "I wish I had this freedom."
"Did you say "trying"? Like I don't succeed or something?"
"I keep losing things, you know? I lost my home so many times and I've lost friends and I…"
Did she really think he wasn't funny?
"I really shouldn't be talking about this with you." She stopped midsentence and that brought Leo back from his digression.
"Oh, get over it, Reyna! This ship has sailed! We are already talking in here for over an hour; give up this whole "I shouldn't talk about that, I don't want to talk about that" deal – just get it out of your chest at once. We can pretend nothing happened later, if you're so worried about your praetor image."
Her eyes bored into him for so long this time, he started to feel a little afraid he had gone too far but instead of attacking him or walking away in a rage, she relaxed her shoulder and sighed:
"Ok."
"Ok? Really?" He never expected it to work.
And it didn't because she was quiet for a whole ten minutes after that last statement. She just sat there without a peep, while Leo tried to keep busy staring at the dirty corners of the cabin and making self notes about what he'd add to the fuel to make it work better…
"I never really had a home."
"Oh." Leo got caught off guard and jumped a little on his chair. "We're talking now, good. Go on."
"I thought I had – for a while but then that was gone and I was devastated." She was staring at the ceiling rather than at him. "And I had to run away and toughen up and I lost everything at once." Her eyes looked darker than usual. Leo knew he shouldn't ask anything. "But then, after everything, I found Lupa and she offered me this place. I can't be thankful enough."
Leo could relate to that, he realized. He had done nothing but run away from place to place since his mom had died and he was assigned foster homes. He hated every single one of them and he never felt like he had belonged anywhere. He didn't really have a home 'till camp. He was starting to understand Reyna's point.
"And I'm willing to take whatever is thrown at me if that means saving this place because it's not only my future that depends on it. It's my home, it's the home of all these people and creatures…" She was making Leo feel really bad right now.
"And you're very good at it." He said. "You're doing a great job, people really trust you and they have reasons to! You say you're a mess, but you're strong, you have all this will power, you…" He stopped talking and took a good look at Reyna, she didn't act like she believed a word he said.
"They shouldn't. They shouldn't trust me, I'm not stronger than anyone else."
"But you just said…"
"I said I'd be willing to do anything it takes to save this place, I never said it was easy."
"No one expects it to be easy."
"Except they do, right? They want to trust everything into one leader, one escape goat."
"So you're scared?"
"Absolutely."
"And why don't you just tell people this? Why don't you just…?" He knew the answer before he finished his question. "You can't really let them see you hesitate, can you?" She nodded in agreement. "Sucks to be you, huh?"
"It sucks to be you too." She replied with a smirk. "I was just thinking that. We are similar in opposite ways."
Leo wasn't sure he understood that sentence. His face must've been funny because she smiled again:
"I have to put this act so I don't disappoint anyone. Be tough, be strong, be unbeatable, be fair, be just, be neutral…Never disappoint anyone." She stared at Leo. "And you do the same thing, except you do it…differently."
"I don't think anyone expects anything from me, your highness." It felt wrong addressing her by her first name - that's how scary she was.
"Exactly. You are funny, you are clumsy, you never show any worry because you want people to look right through you. You want them to have no expectations; you want people to never get disappointed on you by giving them nothing to hope for."
It was Leo's turn to be quiet.
"It's ok." Reyna said. "I said before: I wish I had this freedom."
Well, weren't they having the world's lamest pity party? Leo chuckled and she probably thought the same thing because she smiled.
"We sound like whiny teenagers, don't we?" She asked.
"Well, we probably have more reasons than most of the others. I mean, a war of epic proportions is kinda bigger than, you know, your high school sweetheart not texting you back."
To Leo's surprise, Reyna didn't look like she agreed with him. She moved uncomfortably on his bed, looking stiff and tense all over again.
"It's not that different actually." She played with the tip of her side braid, looking guilty. "I have some immature problems as well."
Leo laughed.
"You are talking to the king of immature problems!" He opened his arms. "Haven't I told you already that I'd rather spend the night alone in this ship than come out and have dinner with my friends just because I'd hate to be the seventh wheel?"
She raised her eyes and stared at him.
"No, you hadn't." Leo blushed.
"Oh, I guess the cat is out of the bag then." He shrugged and Reyna chuckled a little. He liked that he had made her laugh, it felt like a victory of sorts.
"At least, it's not like they expect you to stay there and coordinate everything, right? It's not like you have diplomatic duties to fulfill there." Leo raised an eyebrow as she spoke, Reyna chuckled again.
"Oh gods, you're here for the same reason." What Reyna did next was more shocking than any sort of sign of agreement. She blushed. "Holy pickle! You really avoided a diplomatic dinner that could change the course of war because you didn't want to be around a bunch of couples!"
Reyna bit her lower lip and her face was completely red right now. Leo felt like laughing out loud but he tried to remain calm – it didn't really work.
"Not just a bunch of couples, ok?" She defended herself, looking as guilty as possible. "I just didn't want to be around…"
"Jason." Leo completed.
"What?" All the blood disappeared from Reyna's face.
"Not so blind now, huh?" Leo pulled his suspenders proudly and smirked. "I've been friends with him for almost a year now, boss, I know the effect the boy has on girls by now."
Reyna looked cross:
"It's not like that!"
Leo sighed:
"I know. I heard a conversation about being Praetor and how it often drew people closer. I heard it from Percy and Jason and I also heard you tell me you'd do anything to save this place. That includes finding a good male praetor, right? Someone to be with you?"
Reyna looked like a corpse made of white, black and gold covered with a purple cloak.
"Can't you just find someone else? Can't you just…?"
She was shooting him with her eyes, he could tell. And then it hit him.
"You really like Jason." He pointed out at last and Reyna's eyes dodged his and she looked small and frail all of a sudden.
"I did. Past tense."
"So you like Percy now?"
"Ew, no! Percy is a great fighter but if he's with Annabeth, then he's with Annabeth and I…" She stopped midsentence. "Percy's with Annabeth and Jason's with Piper. I can't barge in and demand them to join me. I can't."
"But you're allowed to keep your feelings."
"What?"
"You like Jason, you can't just give up on him because Piper exists."
"I thought Piper was your friend."
"And she is and so is Jason! And even though I sincerely cheer for them to work things out, this doesn't exactly make everything you feel right now disappear. You have a story with him, why would you erase it all just because someone new appeared?"
They were both quiet for a long time and it wasn't uncomfortable. They were really just thinking about what to say next.
"You know why." She replied after a while. "Because I look at the bigger picture. The one thing I do need is for this place to survive, everything else is pointless. I don't care if I'm not the Senator as long as this place is safe and…"
"Ugh!" Leo groaned. "Forget Senator duty and forget the war and forget that you're a robot for just a second, ok? What do you feel? How does Reyna feel about all of this? Aren't you angry? Don't you want to fight back? Get him for you?" When had he turned into someone's sassy gay friend, he wondered. "You can't just ignore everything you feel for the sake of everyone else, that's madness!"
"You talk to a ship." She replied. "And you draw with crayons on your free time."
"I never claimed to be sane myself. I'm trying to help here, will you bear with me for a second?" He scowled. "Besides, I'm a son of Hephaestus, I can talk to as much machines as I want, I'm still cool." He added for no specific reason he could think of.
"What I feel doesn't really matter." Leo opened his mouth to speak but she raised a hand, asking him to stop. "I'm being honest here. As for right now, it doesn't really matter. We have a bigger goal at hand. If you want my opinion, I'm…I'm unhappy he's with someone else. I waited for him, I…"
And then, the weirdest thing happened. Reyna stopped looking like the praetor completely. Before, she was still intimidating or powerful looking; now – even with her armor or the moonlight – she didn't look like an automaton or a robot. She had already smiled a few times and she had opened up about things that mattered to her but, slowly, as she talked about Jason, instead of a soldier with a cause, she started changing into something else. He had seen flashes of that person before during their conversation but now it was like she had just opened a door. Reyna was just a 16 year old wearing a golden armor and the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Well, not literally, of course – since Annabeth had told him and the other two about how Percy and she had actually held the weight of the world on their shoulders once and that sounded nasty.
"I'm pissed off." Reyna finally concluded as if the realization had just hit her as well. "I'm jealous, I'm angry and I'm really pissed off."
"This is what my therapists would call a breakthrough! Congrats, Reyna!" Leo clapped.
Reyna was suddenly full of a whole new energy. She stood up and started pacing from side to side of the cabin, talking non-stop. Mostly rambling to herself but also loud enough for Leo to listen.
"I told everyone I was going to rest earlier 'cause I had an unhealed injury from the battle – I told them I was going to my mother's temple to pray and you know why? 'Cause I just couldn't tell them I was going to my room or my office because…Because Jason would follow me and he'd want to talk to me. I could've looked for my sister and talked to her but I couldn't because she'd try to convince me to join the Amazons and I can't because, well, because this is my home, right?"
Leo couldn't do much more than nod his head.
"I thought maybe I could just go for a ride on Skippy but no, because people would see me and they'd think I was analyzing different ways to attack the Greek campers…" She punched the inside of her own hand. Her eyes looked a little crazy. Crazier than Annabeth's and, Leo could swear, crazier than the Ares' cabin leader eyes when she saw the weaponry cabin – that was hard to beat. "I couldn't even walk around with Aurum and Argentium because that'd look suspicious too so I had to wander alone and…"
"Wait! Aurum and Argentium, your dogs right? Those sweet things that tried to eat us earlier?"
"You drive an ancient dragon head around and you're calling my automatons dangerous?"
"Woah, calm down! Just asking, ma'am!" He raised his hands, surrending before a fight. Human Reyna was feisty! "Just asking!" He finished under his breath.
"And then I came here and I ended up talking to you who's clearly messed up and hardly any help at all! And you're friends with them and I shouldn't be here and this is all so wrong and I hate myself so much for this!"
"You're welcome." He added with a smile. She glared at him. "Sorry, ma'am, I'll shut up now."
"No, Leo, no, I'm sorry." She relaxed for a second. "No offense, ok? I just shouldn't be here talking to you and, honestly, neither should you. We shouldn't be talking at all, this is all going wrong and you can hardly handle your own situation, let alone mine! No offense, but you're not very good with handling your emotions."
"Coming from you, I will be offended." Reyna looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, I said that! Look at you! You are way worse with handling your emotions than I am!" She looked confused. "Seriously? You can't see it?"
At some point he had stood up and now had his hands on his hips like an angry nanny. He had had some weird conversations in his life – and that included talking to gods and ghosts - but that one was being a roller-coaster even for him.
"Let's agree on a tie." Reyna answered finally. Leo didn't agree on a tie at all but he dropped the ball anyway. Anything to stop things from going on for much longer.
Her braid was almost undone, her cheeks looked flushed and – Leo thought that was particularly funny – her armor was a little lopsided. She looked nothing like the automaton slash statue that had walked into the ship earlier that night. She leaned against the control panels and, after staring at it for a while, grabbed the clay figure that was still there.
"You know the one thing I hate the most?"It was tough for Leo not to answer that with at least one of hundreds possible replies that came to his mind but he remained quiet. "We have to fight for the same guys that are stealing everything I own."
"It's always like that." He lets the air leave his lungs slowly. "You learn that quickly enough." Reyna didn't take the eyes away from the figure on her hands.
"Juno threw Jason at your life – she needed you and she needed Piper too so she just didn't place Jason at camp – he had to meet you two first." Leo couldn't really tell what she was thinking. "She made up memories for you two, didn't she? She didn't do this to Percy Jackson, you know that? He came here and then he made friends with Frank and Hazel."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that Percy Jackson wouldn't need a reason to defend anyone, it's his natural instinct but Jason and Piper…"
"Oh, you're talking about…"
"I'm talking about how well she knows our weaknesses." She said seriously. "You would need a reason to defend and not run away so she made you friends with him, Piper would need love to be involved because that's what Aphrodite children need as motivation."
"What about Jason? You don't think he'd defend us without all this? I mean, he had absolutely no memory of us."
Reyna chuckled bitterly, clutching her fist around the clay figurine.
"Jason's a son of Jupiter." She shrugged. "All he needed was to get a little angry and he'd fight anyway, the motivation though…" She rolled her eyes and dropped the figurine. "But he'd need a reason to stay after the fight and the motivation...Well, that would be a daughter of Aphrodite."
"Wow, Reyna, you don't sound bitter at all." Leo added with a wrinkle of his nose and Reyna walked right pass him and threw herself on the chair he was sitting before.
"I know I'm not being mature about this, I'm just angry, ok?" And Leo decided that it was ok for her to be angry so he didn't say anything else. "I mean, let's face it, it's one thing to take a girl's crush and throw it all the way across the country with no memory of her or of their life together but to place him right next to an Aphrodite's daughter?" Her eyes looked desperate, like a guinea pig being squished. "I mean, have you seen her? How am I going to compete with that?"
"Reyna, I…"
"He's a son of Jupiter, Leo, that alone means he will be attracted to anything with a beating heart and she throws him right next a girl with kaleidoscope eyes who has feelings for him? Really?"
Leo could hear some thunder outside, Reyna heard them too - he assumed - because she was quiet before she whispered.
"I'm just saying; kaleidoscope eyes? Where do you even see these things nowadays? What is she? A Disney princess?"
Leo would've been surprised by the fact that Reyna even knew Disney princesses but something else got his attention this time.
"Was that a joke? Did you just crack jokes?"
Reyna seemed just as surprised as he was:
"I don't know. Did I?" She was quiet for a second. "It sounded like that, didn't it?"
Leo laughed.
"It had been so long." She giggled. "I don't know if I ever joked before."
Leo laughed louder and, this time, she followed. Reyna's laughter made her look young, her worry marks disappearing and her white teeth showing – the sound was loud, sweet and girly. Leo didn't really imagine it to be like that but it was and that made him laugh even more.
There were tears in the corner of their eyes when they finally stopped. They had had a weird day – maybe a weird year – but it all felt distant at that moment. Leo took a sit on another chair close to hers and put a hand on her shoulder. It was covered in armor like everything else and it felt cold but it didn't bother him this time:
"It's ok to be angry and jealous, you know? They really messed us all up. Jason must be just as confused and it's not like Piper is enjoying it either."
Reyna sighed, regaining her composure and her expression looked a little sad:
"I know, but it doesn't make me like them any better right now, you know that, right?"
"Yeah."
"Tomorrow morning though, I'll have regained my posture." She told him soberly. "We agreed this wouldn't leave this place, right? Tomorrow will be like today never happened."
Leo stared at her, he wasn't sure he wanted that anymore but he had promised.
"Ok." He said at last. "But you really should…"
"Let my emotions out? I shouldn't." She shrugged. "People really need someone to trust and it's not only that." She looked rather serious again. "I have to keep this up or people will see me as weak and a weak Senator can generate all sorts of chaos on the parliament."
"You are talking betrayal?" He asked just as serious this time.
"Maybe – but I don't expect it from you guys, I swear. I just fear it, it's natural. It's the safe thing to do; to be at least a little bit in doubt."
Leo understood though he still felt bad for Reyna. He had his share of broken hearts – even if his relationships were just usually in his head – but he at least always had the freedom to bitch about them when necessary. Reyna had to keep everything in and, deep down, he already missed this proximity a little. He liked not being intimidated by her and he just knew that, by this time tomorrow, she would've forgotten they even talked at all. He knew just by looking at her that she could take the "yesterday never happened" thing to a whole new level of cold.
Reyna stood up and he followed her with his eyes, expecting her to simply walk away but she looked down at him and asked:
"Say, Leo, where you say is that weaponry room?"
"Ok, I know I said I wanted you to vent but Piper and Jason really are my friends and I don't know just how ok I am with letting you kill them."
She laughed and flipped her hair as she did so. So girly, so weird.
"Don't be silly, I can't kill them now! They have a prophecy to fulfill."
Forget girly. She was just weird. Leo laughed anyway.
"Why the sudden need to see the weapons?"
"Well," she bit her lower lip and stared at her shoes. "You know how you said it's ok for you to talk to machines because you're a son of Hephaestus?" Leo nodded. "It's one of those things, I guess, I'm a daughter of Bellona, we…We are into weapons."
"You want to…shoot something?" Leo looked sideways quickly, tempted to look for hidden cameras.
"Not exactly, I just want to smack some stuff. Any weapon will do as long as I can, you know, maim and destroy."
Leo wasn't that sure he'd miss the access to Reyna's brain anymore.
"Uh, sure. " He stood up "Why not?"
Her smile was so big, he could tell he could just hug him right now. He kinda wished she would.
"Hm, you know what? We don't need to go to the weaponry. I have some scraps on the lowest cabin of the ship and I was going to melt them anyway so why don't we destroy that?"
"But won't we need weapons?" She asked though she couldn't get rid of the smile on her face. Leo thought she looked like a 5 year old about to get a puppy for Christmas.
"No need, ma'am!" He gave her a winning smile as he moved the chairs to the side and revealed a trapdoor. "I'm a son of Hephaestus, I have everything we need right here." He pointed to his belt and then yanked the trapdoor open, gesturing for Reyna to go in. "Ladies first."
So, still looking a little puzzled, Reyna entered the compartment that most resembled a basement in the ship. A huge mountain of scraps laid in front of them.
"So, what now?" She asked Leo.
"Pick your weapon."
She looked around, searching, but didn't find anything 'till she finally understood.
"Your belt? You can take whatever weapon out of it?"
"Whatever I need, yeah." He chuckled. "Jealous much?"
"Yes, actually." She said and she sounded absolutely honest. "Give me your best, Valdez."
So, Leo reached for his belt and pulled what he expected to be a hammer.
"You expect me to beat this mountain of scraps with breath mints?" She asked, giggling. Leo blushed. Now was definitely not the time for that, he remembered.
"Sorry," he said. "This happens sometimes." And it won't happen again, he told himself soberly. He had set his mind and he refused to see Reyna that way. She deserved better than him messing up her life even more. "Here!" he pulled out a huge hammer from the belt's pockets. "And this one is mine! Mind if I join in?"
"Not at all! The more the merrier!" She smiled as she moved the hammer back and forth like a golf club. Reyna was definitely not very sane and it was a good thing she kept the cold act, really good.
And so, they smashed and crushed and punched metal for hours and – if you were to ask Leo – it was, more than once, a little frightening to watch Reyna go berserk on a mountain of scraps but he was more surprised with how much fun he was having. Not much because of the smashing and crashing but because, all of a sudden, he didn't feel as alone as he felt earlier that night.
The next day, like he imagined, it was like nothing had ever happened and they were back to being strangers. Reyna acted emotionless but she was fighting for a cause and that, he understood at last, made her so hard to ignore, to disobey. That's what made her so frightening and fascinating. He had compared her to an automaton before but he could clearly see now that the one thing moving her forward and keeping her alive was her passion. What she tried to say, on her own terms, was that Leo needed to open his eyes and find his own passion as soon as possible – that would make him just as powerful. At least it was what he hoped.
Leo took a glance at the skies and saw Skippy flying around Camp Jupiter, keeping a close watch on everything. He knew Reyna was probably up there trying to keep sane and ignoring everything else going on in her head. The girl deserved a break, he thought; some time to just relax and, he didn't know, maybe beat something up again? So, with one last look at the flying horse and one more look at the huge pile of melting scrap in front of him, he decided that, even though he still couldn't find his own reasons to fight this war, he'd be fine fighting for Reyna's causes on the mean time.
A/N: If you're reading this after the release of Mark of Athena or The Demigod Diaries, please remember that this was written previously to their arrival! I'm not sure how I feel about the characterization or this story in general, I think I just needed to list the many things that make the two of them "shipping material". By the end of this story, they had no feelings for each other but they did get to understand where the other came from and learnt a thing or two about themselves. I don't know what will happen to this after the canon hits me iin the head, maybe I'll edit it, maybe I'll rewrite, maybe I'll delete it…I don't know. In the mean time, please review!