Author's note: I rewrote this because I realized how many errors there were. And how much it sucked. Anyway, this is the new and improved version. Pretend to enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, obviously, or Piper wouldn't even be alive.
When Jason steps off the ship, Reyna loses hope completely.
Partly because the ex-praetor wasn't smiling and looking at her like Percy was looking at a pretty blonde girl a few steps away from him. Rather, his eyes were jumping from face to face, trying to regain bits and pieces of his lost memory.
Partly because he didn't move an inch from where he was standing.
But mostly because he was holding another girl's hand - a pretty girl with uneven hair, who could only be a daughter of Venus herself. How could she, a measly daughter of Bellona, compete with that? It wasn't fair.
Life isn't fair, she tells herself. But she still feels crushed.
The self-doubting part of herself tells her that it was her own fault. She waited for Jason to make the first move. Looking back, she regrets it, thinking that if she took matters into her own hands, then, maybe, they would be running to each other right now, capturing the other in a hug and murmuring how much they miss each other.
Because right now, she misses those hugs. She misses him, even though he's right there.
Still, how could she guarantee that Jason would remember her? And how could she make sure that he wouldn't fall for the Aphrodite girl like all the same? Now, she was starting to understand Percy's dislike - if not hatred, for the queen of heaven, Juno. She took away Jason - Reyna's Jason, and left her broken, though strong enough to act like it doesn't hurt at all.
But it does. So much.
Was it because she was calm and fair for a daughter of a war goddess, that Juno thought she would get over it and move on? Or was it because she looked to unattractive next to the blue-eyed, blonde son of Jupiter, that the goddess thought thery looked horrible together? She almost laughs, then catches herself. She shouldn't laugh at a time like this.
You're giving yourself a brain hemorrhage, she tells herself as tears were starting to form on the corners of her eyes. Stop overthinking.
The girl she heard a curly-haired boy call Piper, smiles at her, and Reyna feels a surge of hatred and guilt course through her veins again, though not knowing who for. She knows it's a warm smile, a welcoming one even though she should be the one welcoming her.
She hated Piper simply because she stole away Jason, the boy she loved. The boy she was in love with.
Her tears still threatened to fall.
She hated herself for not being good enough for Jason to remember her, like Annabeth was good enough to not be forgotten by Percy. But, she also hates herself for hating the daughter of Aphrodite who she knows nothing about; it was unfair for Piper to be judged so harshly by her.
But she reminds herself of the boy her fingers were intertwined with, and she can't stop herself. She hates Piper. And her hair, and her pretty eyes, and-
Am I not enough? She thought.
Finally, the tears that were held back started falling down, not making a noise as it made its route on her cheeks until she started tasting saltwater on her tongue. She rubs them off quickly, but new ones are starting to fall, too.
She wants to run away. To be anywhere but here, in front of hundreds of people who have never seen her crack before. They were starting to stare at her, probably wondering why this wimp is their leader.
She doesn't even notice that the boy she's been thinking about is now standing right in front of her, and she notes how much taller he's been since he left.
He might not even remember her name.
She almost chokes.
Jason's eyes meet hers with a curious, puzzled, yet triumphant expression on his face.
And then he smiles.
"Reyna?" He says in that voice she's been longing for for months.
And it might not even mean anything.
It might not mean he remembers what they were.
But it's a start.
She starts hoping again.
End note: Did it suck?