Hello again, my laptop's now suddenly broken, so I'm on my dad's because my internet is down, don't know for how long, but updates are going to be few, sorry about that. This is for BlackSCrazy's Once Upon A Time... And They Lived Happily Ever After compatition, thank you to Andie(BlackSCrazy) for giving me a little bit of extra time because of laptop/internet issues. So here you go, a shiny new story I finished. Blame me for all SPaG mistakes, I don't have a beta.
As always, I don't own any of the characters involved, or PJO, I do however, have dinner waiting for me.
Jason's Point of View:
Life was not fair and I'd learnt to accept that. Demigods never got it easy and I knew better than to argue with the life that was given to me, life was not given lightly and should be treasured. Gods were not perfect but they tried to be, keyword being: tried. But at least they tried, they made an effort to change, or at least, that's what Percy told me, I saw the changes for myself at Camp Half Blood, kids were claimed almost daily now, and they were coming almost twice as fast.
"You alright, Jason?" I looked over to where Percy sat, the fire reflecting on his face, I noticed the concerned look in his eyes, though his smile belied it, he knew something was bothering me.
"I'm fine, I just don't feel too good." I answered, it wasn't a lie, I didn't feel good, it just wasn't ill, I was sad.
"Well keep away from me then man." Leo joked, trying to cheer me up, it had become apparent to my friends that I'd been feeling down in the dumps lately, it was more than obvious.
"Are you sure your okay, Jason? You can talk to us." Piper chimed in, I shook my head sadly, it wasn't something they could sort out, not that it would stop them from trying, I missed Camp Jupiter, simple fact, but returning to it wouldn't be as simple. I abandoned my people, people I grew up with, people who took care of me, who accepted me, who put their full support behind me, people who were my family.
"I need some air." I excused myself from my friends, I wasn't really in the mood to enjoy the campfire anyway, and my mood was just bringing everyone down, they didn't say it, but I could tell, even Thalia, who was visiting with the hunters for time looked worried, and Annabeth confided she didn't get worried much.
"Would you like someone to go with you?" Thalia spoke up, the uncertainty in her eyes was clear, but so was the solemn message; if you ever want to talk...
"No - Thanks, but no, I need to clear my head, I won't be long." I promised as I got out of my seat, I tried to give everyone a smile, but it was clear that I failed to reassure them. "Really guys, thanks, but I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind." I chuckled nervously before heading to the mouth of the amphitheatre, I needed to get away from everyone. Just as I was leaving a man jogged in, I would have taken no notice, except his appearance made me stop, sensing he was important, he had salt-and-pepper hair, and wore a joggers outfit, which wasn't really out-of-place on him, except no mortal could pass the barriers of Camp Half Blood, except for that one pizza guy, but I hadn't heard the whole story yet.
"Good evening Chiron, got a letter to deliver for you." The man said, I slunk into the shadows to watch the proceedings.
"Good evening, Lord Hermes." Chiron greeted the man, Lord Mercury, of course. Lord Mercury handed an envelope over to Chiron.
"Sign here please." Lord Mercury asked, Chiron signed and Lord Mercury gave a short nod before he jogged back out.
"Who's the letter from?" Travis called out, we all were silent as Chiron opened the envelope and unfolded the letter.
"It's from Camp Jupiter." Chiron noted surprised, I shouldn't have been surprised though, I knew the protocol better than anyone here.
"It's a letter from the praetor, apologising." I found myself speaking, my eyes never leaving the paper in Chiron's hands. Every eye in the room was now fixed on me, drinking this all in, I could sense the bitterness in many eyes, the hurt, everyone wanted to believe me, but weren't sure about it.
"Well then, Jason, why don't you read it out for us." Chiron asked politely, I looked around at the people watching me, waiting for my reaction to the offer.
"Of course, Lord Chiron." I answered with no fear, show no fear. I made my way over to Chiron, people automatically moving to make way for me to pass easier.
"Here you are." Chiron handed me the paper and I took it carefully, as if it would explode if I held it the wrong way. Of course it was her handwriting I was faced with, she was the only praetor for the time being, before she got another colleague.
"Here? Now?" I asked, Chiron nodded his consent and I took a deep breath.
"This should be interesting." Somebody muttered loudly, I cleared my throat and began reading.
"Dear Mr. Chiron." I began, the writing was swift, in black ink.
"Mr Chiron?" Connor mocked teasingly, I tried not to glare at him, he didn't know about the formalities used, Rome was a little old-fashioned.
"I'm writing this letter with hope that you will hear me out before throwing this letter away." I paused, giving time for Chiron to voice any objections.
"We shall hear them out, it is the right thing to do." Chiron decided, I breathed a sigh of relief for Reyna, it was a chance, I could only hope she found a voice, she was terrible with words.
"I can offer no excuse for our shameful actions, it was wrong of us to call war on you during a time of dire need, nor was it acceptable to call war on our needed allies." I read aloud, I noted the use of our, Reyna was probably blaming herself for this and I knew that she wouldn't share that little tidbit with anyone, so no one could tell her she wasn't to blame.
"Is she blaming herself?" Piper questioned, I wasn't the only one who picked up on it.
"It appears so." I replied evenly.
"Who's job is it to tell her not to!?" Annabeth protested, I smiled sheepishly and shifted my weight.
"Please continue, Jason." Chiron instructed, sensing my unease.
"I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us, but I can understand if you never will." I continued reading the letter, pausing to see what Chiron thought.
"I can make my decisions, the rest of you make your own." Chiron said wisely, I smiled a little, everything wasn't hopeless, I continued reading.
"If you're still reading this letter, I thank you for listening," I paused in my reading, confused, Reyna always baffled me.
"You're welcome!" Chris called out, making a few people laugh, I chuckled and moved on.
"I cannot excuse our actions, I deeply regret letting it go so far, but I promise that everyone involved got punished for our actions," I paused reading to roll my eyes.
"Is she always this pessimistic?" Piper called out jokingly, I shrugged my shoulders.
"She delayed them, she did something!" Percy protested, I shrugged again, the praetors were responsible for everyone in the legion, they had to take the responsibility.
"There was no need for additional bloodshed with what was already going on, one was enough." I found myself smiling a little, I could almost hear Reyna in my head saying those words, testing them out, seeing if they were good enough.
"Truer words have never been spoken." Annabeth said, I nodded.
"Just read Sparky boy!" Clarisse called out, I pulled a face in distaste, Clarisse had taken to calling Thalia and I "the Sparky twins" I was just thankful she hadn't decided to call me "Sparky girl".
"I would like to thank your camp and yourself for not retaliating by attacking our camp and city," I paused, letting that sink in.
"Why didn't we think of that!" Mark and Sherman, Clarisse's siblings yelled angrily, I sighed.
"You're welcome, Jason! But we didn't have the time." Leo joked, I shook my head, it shouldn't have surprised me.
"And again, I can never apologise enough, because it's never going to be enough," I nearly groaned, Reyna was taking the world on her shoulders, it was bad enough she had done that for eight months, but did she really have to do that all the time?
"The weight of the sky is a heavy burden." Thalia remarked casually, behind her, Percy and Annabeth shivered in unison. Weird, but I ignored it, choosing to continue reading.
"Because it can't take away the pain, the hurt, the scars, physical, mental, or emotional, and I can understand if you never forgave us for that," I read out, then I looked around at everyone, they were mulling their choices over.
"Okay, we can be friends now!" Harley called out, making a few of us laugh, Harley, for an eight year old, was very understanding, and quick to forgive, he reminded me of Julia.
"That's my man Harley!" Leo said, fist-bumping his brother, I chuckled and continued reading.
"Speaking from experience here; I will never forgive the person who taught me what pain was." I looked up from the letter to see every eye in the room on me, boring into me, I felt uncomfortable under their looks, it was clear they assumed it was me.
"Whoops." Percy muttered, I looked over at him, then I remembered the story of the pirates and I tried to smile weakly at Percy, he and Annabeth knew the real story, and that was good enough for me.
"Carry on, Jason." Chiron encouraged me, I nodded and continued reading.
"Over the years, I've learned many things, how to make friends, how to fight, why things change and that sorry doesn't fix everything," I remembered Reyna telling me that when I first tried to apologise to her, the next day I sent her jellybeans as an apology.
"Sorry doesn't fix everything?" Six year old Melody, from the Apollo cabin asked, her blue eyes were wide with surprise.
"Not with Reyna, you can only say sorry if you mean it." I tried to explain.
"There are people who don't mean it?" Harley questioned, all the kids under ten looked at me with wide eyes.
"Ohh..." They chorused, I felt like I was being examined by a microscope.
"It's not always like that, sometimes... sometimes people say things they don't always mean-" I cut myself off as I realised I was teaching under tens what a lie was and they were all staring at me with huge eyes.
"What Jason is trying to say is... there are two kinds of people in this world, good people, and children of Hermes." Thalia cut in, I smiled at my sister as the children of Mercury grinned for being recognised.
"Continue reading, Jason." Annabeth instructed firmly, avoiding me putting my foot in my mouth and digging myself a deeper grave. I nodded and continued, making a mental note to never talk to children about lying, leave that to the children of Hermes.
"It might help but it doesn't fix anything, but at least it's a start," I paused to glare at the offending paper in my hand. "Really, couldn't have told me that sooner!" I exclaimed, someone laughed.
"So, saying sorry doesn't fix things, but it helps. Okay." Harley mused, I nodded and returned to reading.
"So, with that in mind, I'm sorry." I looked up to gauge everyone's reactions, most were passive, their expressions controlled, but a few people were unsure. I wasn't sure what to do, so I continued to read the letter, it wouldn't be long until it was finished. "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to stop them, I'm sorry we called war on you, I'm sorry we used the word "Greek" as an insult, because now it means a friend." I blushed under people's heavy gazes again.
"It's okay, it's not like you came up with it." Katie Gardner said reassuringly, and I relaxed slightly.
"Carry on Jason." Chiron ordered lightly, I nodded and continued, hoping to get this over soon so I could try to contact Reyna.
"I'm sorry we were anything less than polite." I frowned at the page, Reyna was such a perfectionist.
"Someone go and tell this girl to build a bridge!" Sherman shouted out.
"Build a bridge?" Leo asked confused.
"So she can get over it!" Mark answered, I snickered a little, telling Reyna to get over something was like signing a death warrant, I had done it before.
"Just read, Jason." Percy told me, I nodded and continued, painfully aware how much paper I had left until I reached the ending of her letter.
"I know I should be saying this in person, because a letter is just another piece of paper," I felt rather awkward reading this now, it was coming to an end and it was clear Reyna was burdened.
"It's also what was once a tree!" Grover added, I smiled at him, and the other Fauns near by.
"Recycled paper." I said passively, it calmed them.
"So, I don't get to club anyone?" Coach Hedge asked, I shook my head and he sulked.
"But I guess you could call me a coward, I'm afraid to see the hatred, anger and glares that are sure to be directed at me." I looked around the amphitheatre, several people looked amused at her worries.
"We would never glare at you." Percy said reassuringly.
"Unless you came over holding hands with Octavian." Leo chimed in, I pulled a face at that.
"Don't give me mental images!" Percy whined.
"She's not even here!" Piper reminded them both, causing them to smile sheepishly at me. "Carry on." Piper ordered me, keeping the charmspeak out of her voice.
"Well, I must let you get back to whatever you were doing before this letter arrived. I know this can never make up for what we have done, but I hope this helps towards the recovery." I read out, the letter was drawing to a close and I was afraid to think that this might be the last piece of her I have, and even then, it wasn't even for me, it was for Chiron. "Sincerely, Reyna, daughter of Bellona, praetor of Camp Jupiter." I finished shortly, I had finished the letter.
"Well, is that all?" Chiron asked politely, I nodded and folded up the letter, folding it exactly as it had been unfolded. "I see no sense in letting Reyna worry all night, I suppose someone should send her an Iris-message." Chiron suggested, I smiled nervously at Percy.
"We can do it from my cabin, but I am not calling her by myself, wise girl, please." Percy said pleadingly, Annabeth rolled her eyes but nodded.
"I wanna come too!" Thalia piped in.
"I haven't talked to her in a while, me too!" Piper chimed in.
"I can show her my new invention!" Leo yelled as he held up the bronze ball in his hand.
"Don't spend too long." Chiron chided, they all nodded and headed towards the exit.
"Come on, Jason, I don't have all the drachmas in the world, so if you wanna talk to her, you better hurry!" Percy called to me, I stood there shocked for a few moments before following after them, I wasn't going to miss this chance.
"Where are we going to do this?" I asked as I walked alongside Percy, who was holding Annabeth's hand.
"I have a fountain in my cabin, present from my dad a while ago, we'll get no bother in there." Percy promised, I nodded my head and listened to the sounds of Annabeth, Percy and Thalia chatting about quests while Leo entertained Piper with his constant stream of jokes as we walked back to the cabins.
"So, what's going to happen with Jason and Thalia in your cabin?" Leo asked suddenly, stopping his stream of jokes as he asked Percy.
"I dunno, it's never been tried before." Percy admitted.
"Well if Percy can be in the Athena cabin without being blasted by my mother, I don't think that Jason and Thalia would be blasted for going into the Poseidon cabin." annabeth deducted.
"And what was Percy doing in the Athena cabin?" Piper asked curiously, Annabeth and Percy blushed as Leo began laughing.
"It wasn't like that you idiots, we were hugging." Annabeth snapped, her face a light shade of red, standing out in the dimness.
"Here we are, lets just go in." Percy said hurriedly as we approached cabin three, we entered almost immediately, Percy had to fight with the door for a moment before it opened, then he turned the lights on. Inside the cabin it was slightly messy, a few things littered the floor, mostly clothes, the bedsheets of one of the bunks was untidy and crumpled, as if the occupant hadn't bothered making his bed, when we all looked at Percy he smiled sheepishly.
"That deserves a point taken off for sloppy work, Mr. Jackson, I believe you ranked a one out of five." Thalia mocked, acting like she was doing inspection.
"Ahh, yes, and the state of your cabin, Miss Grace?" Percy mocked, imitating a fairly good posh accent, Thalia immediately scowled, disliking our surname.
"Cleaner than this, I'll tell you that." I muttered as I finished my look around, there was a crooked Minotaur's horn hanging on the wall and the mobile with half-fish, half horse figurines hung needed a good polish.
"Well, enough of that, we came here for an iris-message and we need to get on with that!" Percy reminded us swiftly, I looked at the small fountain in the corner, the bottom glittered with gold coins.
"Lets do this." I agreed, Percy fished down into the bottom of the fountain and pulled out a fistful of gold coins then he faced the wall of mist in front of us.
"Oh, fleecy, do me a solid, show me Reyna at Camp Jupiter." Percy called out before throwing a gold coin into the mist, it shimmered and disappeared. Instantly a window appeared, growing bigger before a scene appeared in the window. Reyna was sat at the desk in the Principia, a black pen in hand as she read through something in front of her, probably a report, there was a huge pile beside her and a smaller pile next to it, I guessed the bigger pile was the stuff she had to get through.
"Hey Reyna!" Piper called, alerting her to our presence, a few seconds passed before Reyna looked up, jumping as she saw us in front of her.
"Not one of these again." Reyna mumbled, more to herself than anyone.
"Sorry Reyna." Percy apologised, Reyna didn't look too pleased with his apology, but nodded.
"I should hope you are." Reyna replied in a clipped tone, she looked at each and every one of us, settling on me last. "I see you got my letter." Reyna noted, her tone no different, I looked down at the letter in my hand and realised I was supposed to give it to Chiron.
"We got it." Percy agreed cheerfully.
"She can see, Seaweed brain." Annabeth reminded him teasingly, it was clear the air was thick with tension, and I noticed Thalia, Piper and Leo looking between me and the Iris-message warily.
"Maybe we should go outside..." Piper suggested carefully, without warning she grabbed Leo by his arm and dragged him to the door. "Talk to you soon, Reyna." Piper called back as she dragged a protesting Leo outside.
"Ack! get off me woman - Bye Reyna!" Leo yelled over his shoulder before the two of them were gone.
"Percy, will you walk me back to my cabin?" Annabeth asked suddenly, breaking the silence, Percy eagerly nodded, pouring the golden coins into my hands without warning, causing several to fall onto the floor in his haste.
"Well, see ya." Percy said quickly as he grabbed Annabeth's hand and left the cabin with her.
"Bye Reyna!" Annabeth added as she hurried away with Percy, I waited for the explosion that would probably come from Thalia and I being the only two in the Poseidon cabin, but none came.
"Bye!" Thalia chirped with a small wave before she tore out of the cabin as if she had seen Medusa, the door slamming behind her.
"Bye?" Reyna questioned when we were alone, I smiled sheepishly.
"She's not normally like that, sorry, I don't understand why they suddenly had to leave, they were kind of excited to talk to you." I told Reyna softly, she just brushed it off.
"It's fine, it's not as if they have to talk to me, and I'm sure curfew will be soon." Reyna said quietly, I was suddenly more aware that it was the two of us, despite being on opposite sides of America.
"So, how you holding down the fort, getting a new colleague aren't you soon?" I asked, trying to smile and failing, I wasn't sure I wanted Reyna to have a new colleague, but I didn't want her working alone again, but I knew most of the guys in the legion were jerks, idiots and disrespectful.
"I'm doing just fine." Reyna shrugged, I smiled properly and nodded to the piles beside her.
"I can see that." I teased, making Reyna raise an eyebrow.
"Well someone has to do it, and it's less than you might think." Reyna replied lightly, I snorted.
"Well my eyes must be deceiving me, because I'm sure the piles weren't that big when I was praetor." I mused.
"No, you used to think they were even bigger." Reyna joked easily, I found it easier to smile for her. "As for my future colleague, I don't think I'll be getting one for a while, Bobby and Dakota brought up good points in the Senate meeting about that today." Reyna murmured thoughtfully.
"They did?" I prompted, trying to pry more out of her.
"The next elections will be at the next Feast of Fortuna, meaning, I get to work alone for the next eleven months." Reyna remarked casually, I nodded.
"How do you feel about that?" I asked, then I hit myself for sounding stupid, I sounded like one of those doctors you poured your feelings out to.
"It's fine with me, it's nothing I can't handle. I'll be fine. I'm more worried about when they do choose another praetor, I want them to have the legion's best interests at heart from the moment they begin, and there aren't many people who do, for many of them it's a sign of power or perks, or gods forbid, both." Reyna admitted, I nodded, I had those doubts myself. "What's even worse is Octavian has been 'making' more 'friends' lately, he's already preparing for the elections, he was the main person pushing for an election today, if Dakota and Bobby hadn't stepped in when they had, I fear we'd be swearing-in praetor Octavian tomorrow. I don't know how much longer I can last Jason." Reyna admitted, I sighed, I knew exactly what she meant, it would take a miracle to get a new praetor elected, preferably one Reyna could trust, but miracles were hard to come by and how could we be sure they were someone Reyna wouldn't mind working with, as she'd told me countless times before, she preferred working with warriors, not schemers.
"Don't worry Reyna, we'll get through this. I promise you." I told her, trying to smile, the situation seemed impossible, but maybe we were due for a miracle.
"We? Jason, you're at Camp Half Blood." Reyna reminded me sharply, I nodded in response.
"But my home is in Camp Jupiter, let me work out a plan." I said, Reyna looked skeptical "I'll go over it with Annabeth, just, trust me, I'll make sure things go okay." I said desperately, Reyna didn't look sure, but she nodded.
"You've got one chance. Are you sure you can pull whatever you want to plan off?" Reyna asked nervously.
"You forget, I'm Jason Grace. Miracle is my middle name." I teased, making a small smile appear on Reyna's face for a fleeting second.
"Actually, your middle name is Alexander." Thalia said, I jumped, I hadn't heard her open the door. "Sorry, going now." Thalia said awkwardly, she ducked her head out of the door and closed it again.
"Jason Alexander Grace." Reyna said an amused smirk playing on her lips, I groaned. "It suits you." Reyna teased, I face palmed.
"Sure thing, Reyna Ella-Marie Arvon." I smirked, Reyna scowled.
"You tell anyone about that name..." Reyna warned, leaving the threat hanging.
"Sure thing, princess." I winked at her and put the letter in my pocket.
Sorry if any of this sucked, except the first and last line, Andie gave me those and I rather like them! I might even get to continue this, I don't have any ideas yet, but I'm sure I will soon. Thank you to everyone who is so patient with me, I suck at updating, and for that I'm sorry, but I'll work on it. Also, to my fellow Brits and anyone I've told this to, HAPPY BONFIRE NIGHT! I CAN SEE THE FIREWORKS THROUGH THE CURTAIN!
Peace, Love, FIREWORKS!
Love always, Jeyna. X