I don't own PJO or HoO!
Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano stood tall and proud beside the newly elected praetor, Percy Jackson. Of course, Reyna still couldn't believe that she was trusting him to help her lead her soldiers, seeing as he had helped to blow up her last home. Especially since he was claiming that the Greek warship approaching Camp Jupiter was purely friendly in nature.
"I support you, Percy." She said finally as they exited the Senate. "I trust your judgement. But for all our sakes, I hope we can keep the peace between our campers and your Greek friends."
"We will." The son of Poseidon promised "You'll see." For a moment, his words reminded of Jason's promise to her. It had been almost a year ago, but it felt so much longer.
Reyna stared up at the approaching ship in the sky. Jason was aboard, if Percy was correct. Jason… She had missed him. Truly. She missed his flirtatiousness, how annoying he always was, his hard stares, his focus, his power, his talent, and the steadying presence of him standing beside her. "You say Jason is aboard… I hope that's true. I've missed him." She told Percy quietly as they stood in front of the Legion.
Percy watched her carefully. Then, he grinned. "I can see that. I myself have missed someone from home. Hopefully, she's on the ship as well."
"Annabeth, right?" Reyna asked. "I remember her, from the island."
Percy grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I didn't really think about what would happen to everyone else on the island. I was on a quest that had to get accomplished, so…"
Reyna nodded. "I too have destroyed my fair share of islands while on quests." She deadpanned. Percy, however, took a moment to realize that she was joking. Jason would have known you were joking before the words came out of your mouth, she thought.
The ship approached and grew much closer. Even from the far distance, Reyna could hear Terminus shouting at the people on the ship. Finally, the Greek trireme paused in the air. A long rope ladder descended from the ship, and a blonde girl climbed down. She was the first of the Graecī to land on Roman soil. The Romans separated for her, and the blonde approached Reyna and Percy.
But Reyna refused to allow the Graeca girl who had destroyed her home to walk any further into the forum. Instead, she walked forward and approached the blonde girl. The other Greeks followed the blonde –Annabeth Chase –and fanned out behind her.
He was there. He wore jeans, a ghastly orange T-shirt, a white bedsheet as a make-shift toga, and a purple cape. He was obviously trying to dress as a praetor. As it was, the ensemble was a little ridiculous. The orange of the T-shirt clashed horribly with the symbols of a Roman praetor.
"Jason Grace…" Reyna said. Her words echoed throughout the silent forum. "Son of Jupiter and former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, welcome home." She regarded the three others. The blonde girl was staring at Percy Jackson, and the other two seemed hesitant. One girl with braided hair wearing jeans and a strange T-shirt with some kind of cartoon cat design stood far too close to Jason for Reyna's comfort. The other looked around in excitement and seemed very ADHD. "And these, your friends –" Reyna was interrupted by Annabeth Chase's sudden movement.
If she had her dagger with her, Annabeth Chase would have been impaled for moving so suddenly. As it was, Reyna was in New Rome and thus had no weapons. Annabeth sprinted towards Percy and hugged him. The two shared a kiss which was far too passionate for a public meeting before Annabeth threw Percy to the ground.
Reyna saw the people of Rome surge forward to protect their new praetor. "Hold!" She commanded to keep them in place. "Stand down!" They, of course, followed her orders.
Her focus drifted from the couple who seemed to be sharing a moment and back to Jason. His blonde hair was longer than regulation, and there was something else that seemed off about him. But Reyna couldn't quite place what it was.
Jason approached her, and she stepped forward to meet him. "Jason, I've missed you."
"I missed you too," Jason said sincerely. Then, he grinned and leaned closer. "Puella bella mea." (1).
Reyna felt the blood rush to her cheeks at the compliment. "I see you're still the same old lightning bug, then." She replied.
Jason smirked down at her. The two demigods inched closer together. Then, Reyna remembered that everyone was watching them. "Later, regina mea." Jason decided (2).
"Calling me names in Latin does not make up for leaving for eight months, Grace." Reyna declared loudly. There were some snickers from the legionnaires assembled as well as from the citizens of New Rome who knew the two of them.
Reyna hardly cared that the brunette Graeca girl was glaring at her. "How can I make it up to you, Regina Romae?" Jason asked (3). He wagged his eyebrows, and there were some catcalls from the soldiers. Especially from the males in the Fifth Cohort.
"Later, when there aren't so many witnesses." Reyna replied finally.
"Careful, Jason!" Dakota, son of Bacchus, called out. "There are only two things that can mean! And I don't think she's talking about the fun one!"
"This is Reyna we're talking about!" Someone else shouted. "I think that she'd enjoy killing him."
Reyna glared at the two offenders, and the Legion fell silent. "In any case, welcome to New Rome." She looked over the Legion. "Centurions! Senators! We will be concluding our Senate meeting with our new guests. Bobby, alert the spirts to prepare a welcome feast. As for the rest of you legionnaires…" She stared at them with a hard expression on her face. "There will be no more insinuations about Jason Grace and me. Am I understood?" The two offenders gulped and nodded. "Now, return to your regular activities. The last Cohort to return to training will have latrine duty for a week."
The legionnaires all but sprinted back to Camp Jupiter. Latrine duty was nasty, after all. As everyone else dispersed, Octavian approached her. "Reyna, you can't seriously be thinking about letting these Graecī into camp! The security risks –"
"I'm not letting them into Camp Jupiter. We'll dine in the forum tonight, Octavian."
"But Reyna…"
"That's Praetor Reyna to you, Augur." She reminded him harshly. Octavian glared. "Now, shouldn't you send an offering up to the gods for returning our saving grace to us?" Reyna suggested to the pale blonde harshly.
"Lupa called me that one time, Reyna!" Jason protested behind her. "Let it go, already."
But Reyna ignored him. "It is your duty to do so, Octavian."
The augur scowled. "Yeah, Octavian. Go burn your bears." Percy put it in with an arrogant smirk. Reyna quickly bit back her laugh and smile.
Octavian stormed off. Jason, who had not been there to see Octavian's fall from a trusted official to a corrupt lunatic, frowned at the insult. "I have much to catch you up on regarding the inner politics of New Rome, Jason." She told the frowning blonde. "Some of which includes your old friend. He is no longer the same boy you grew up with, Jason. Octavian has changed into something almost unrecognizable from what he once was."
"Reyna…" Jason murmured.
"We can sort it out later, Jason. We have a duty to do."
When it was dinnertime, the entire Roman Legion dined in the forum alongside the three Greeks. Reyna sat at a table with the ten Centurions, Jason, Percy, and the three Greeks. They traded stories, but Reyna focused on studying the Greeks. The daughter of Venus, Piper, kept looking at Jason in a way which Reyna didn't like. The boy, Leo, fiddled with various machine parts throughout the whole meal. Percy and Annabeth held hands and kept glancing at each other. All the while Jason Grace stared at Reyna with an almost unreadable expression in his eyes.
When the meal was over, Percy gave Annabeth a tour of New Rome. Leo Valdez gave Octavian a tour of their warship, and the rest of the Roman campers returned to Camp Jupiter. This left Reyna alone in the forum with Jason and Piper.
"Daughter of Venus, would you like to return to your warship? Jason and I can walk you back. but then we have many things to discuss."
The girl's expression hardened. She looked to Jason, who did not meet her gaze. "Yeah, okay." She said finally.
Jason was stoic and silent as they walked the Greek girl back to her Greek ship. Once she ascended the ladder and was safely on the ship's deck, Jason and Reyna walked back to the forum. The two sat on one of the couches and faced each other. "So, there aren't any witnesses now…" Jason said slowly with a faint smirk.
Reyna smiled slightly. "There aren't. But alas, I left my dagger with Terminus." Jason raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, if I can't kill you, I'll just have to go with the other option…"
Jason leaned in and kissed her. Reyna kissed him back, and then pulled away from him. Jason's usually clear blue eyes burned, and Reyna found herself leaning back into him. They shifted around until she was straddling him, and then she kissed him again. Reyna wrapped one hand in his hair and clutched onto his forearm in the other hand. She could almost feel the heat of his SPQR tattoo warming the skin of her hand.
They pulled away from each other again. "Reyna." Jason breathed out. "Gods, Reyna. I missed you so much that it hurt." Jason moved his hands away from her hips. He brought one of his hands up to the glinting praetorian medal on her toga. Reyna herself got off of him and began to tug off his makeshift cape and toga. "Rey, what are you doing?"
"Don't call me Rey, Grace." Reyna replied as she had so many months before. "And the purple totally clashes with your orange shirt."
"I do agree that Reyna Grace sounds better than Rey Grace. But haven't we had that conversation before?" Jason asked. "Now, how do you recommend we fix the clashing of my shirt and cape?"
Reyna smiled at him. Jason stood up and set the toga and cape on the couch behind him. He pulled Reyna into a hug and rested his chin on her shoulder. The feeling of Jason's nose on her neck caused Reyna to shiver. "We'll have to take it off, I'm afraid." Reyna replied with a smile.
She slipped her hands beneath Jason's shirt and deftly pulled the orange cloth over his head. "I feel like you should take something off as well, Reyna." Jason said with a grin.
Reyna snorted. "I'm not the one wearing an orange shirt with a purple cape. And we're not taking turns stripping each other in a public place."
Jason grinned. "So we can do that in private, then?"
"If you play your cards right." Reyna replied. She leaned in to kiss him again, but they were interrupted.
"Jason! It's Leo! There's something wrong with him!" The daughter of Venus shouted as she sprinted towards the pair. She froze when her kaleidoscope eyes landed on the shirtless Jason with his hair all messed up. Her eyes traveled to Reyna, who met the accusatory gaze with her infamous wolf stare. Piper quickly looked away.
"What do you mean?"
"His eyes turned gold and he started to talk all creepy. He started to load the ballista, but I charmspoke him and knocked him out before he could do anything. I tied him up and left him in his cabin to find you."
"Where's my camper?" Reyna asked harshly. "Octavian. Valdez was supposed to be giving him a tour of your warship."
I left him on the ship. I charmspoke him into staying put, but I don't know how long it will last. Jason, you have to help me get a hold of Leo."
Jason nodded. "Right. Yeah." He pulled his ghastly orange T-shirt back on over his head. He didn't bother with the toga, but Reyna smiled proudly when he took the time to don purple cape.
"I'll come as well." Reyna said. Piper looked at her mistrustfully, but didn't object. The three ran to the Argo II and climbed the ladder.
"Ready?" Jason asked her.
"Always." Reyna replied.
Hey guys! So, I know that this chapter divulged greatly from canon. And I would apologize, but I'm not sorry. So… yeah. But in any case, I really disliked the lack of Jason even talking to Reyna (wtf Rick Riordan?), so I put in a Jeyna reunion. Because I ship Jeyna. Well, in any case, please review and tell me your thoughts!
~Nerd
1. "My beautiful girl" in Latin
2. "My queen" in Latin
3. Queen of Rome" in Latin