"Wait." She said, placing her hand on his chest as he tried to step forward. He was visibly upset by this, by being separated from the blonde girl that she remembered holding down on Circe's island as a twelve year old. "They came to us. Now they must make the first move."
Jason was the first to step forward. He was a lot taller than he was when he disappeared eight heart skipped a beat when he moved closer to her, and she tried to keep a straight face as their eyes met.
The people who had arrived with him followed him forward, the blonde girl she knew, who Reyna guessed would be Annabeth, a curly-haired boy and a sullen-faced girl who were stood on Jason's left and right.
"Welcome," She said, knowing that she would have to be the one to do the talking, not Percy. "To Camp Jupiter." Annabeth scowled.
"You!" She stepped ahead of Jason, pointing at her. "Hylla! What are you doing here?" She demanded. Jason took her arm and gently pulled her back. Reyna raised her eyebrows.
"You mistake me for my sister. I was doing nothing more than following my orders. Orders which almost got me killed. Now, if you could make your peace with that like I have, then I propose we move into the city and meet properly there."
Aurum and Argentium circled at her feet, studying the new arrivals carefully. She knelt down and scratched them behind their ears before they trotted away.
"Follow the dogs. I need to speak with Jason."
"Alone?" The girl next to Jason piped up.
"Yes, alone." Reyna clarified, glaring dangerously at the girl. "Unless you want to tell me how to run this camp?" The girl looked down. "I thought not. Now leave. I will join you in a few minutes. Percy, please fill them in on the events of your quest and the battle that presented itself because of it."
Percy beamed at Annabeth and the small group behind Jason began to move towards the city, following the two dogs. Reyna saw Percy take Annabeth's hand and walk in step with her. She smiled slightly before turning back to Jason.
"It took you eight months to come home?"
"I got a little side-tracked." Reyna raised her eyebrow again.
"A side track that took eight months?" Jason held up his hands.
"War ships take a long time to build." Reyna looked around to make sure that no body was watching before embracing him, burying her head into his shoulder.
"You have no idea how hard this was without you." She whispered into his shoulder as he held her in his arms, ducking his head into her hair and inhaling her familiar scent. She always smelled of flowers and the outdoors with a slight metallic edge to it, which he guessed came from the time she spent with her dogs.
"I missed you." He said, and her heart swelled as she hid her smile in his shoulder.
"I missed you too." She said, composing herself before slowly pulling away from him. "We have a lot to catch up on."
"Octavian?" She nodded. "Please tell me that you didn't support him." Jason's fingers were interlaced with hers as they took a route into the city that they were sure would be empty.
"Please. Octavion isn't a leader. All he cares about is becoming powerful. You know that he would send us all on suicide missions for his own gain."
"Like you sent Frank and Hazel on a quest with Percy that could have ended in death?" Reyna's face coloured.
"That was different. Mars decided that quest. I had no choice but to bow to his will. He appeared in front of the entire camp." She explained, hoping that her sweaty palms were not giving away anything. Jason squeezed her hand.
"I understand." She looked down.
"The last night before you had to leave..."
"Yes?" He didn't seem to react in the way that she was, and she was beginning to feel very stupid.
"After... Well, what you said..."
"What about it?" She gulped, suddenly very nervous.
"Does it... Still apply?" She noticed his slightly sharper intake of breath and mentally cursed herself in several different languages for even asking him. But he nodded and she smiled.
They walked for a little longer and she released his hand as soon as the city came into view. He grasped after her hand for a moment, seemingly forgetting for a moment that they weren't technically together and looked at her with curiosity when she didn't take hold of his hand again.
"I feel like going for a run." She grinned, gathering up her robes and darting away before Jason even knew what she was up to.
They both burst into the meeting room, Jason grabbing Reyna around the waist and pulling her back, desperately trying to win the unspoken competition between the two of them that she had set.
The others had sat around and had been waiting for them when they burst in, screaming and laughing at each other.
Percy cleared his throat at the two and they stopped, quickly composing themselves and sitting down with the rest of them, occasionally stealing glances at each other across the table.
"Maybe we should start with introductions?" Annabeth suggested, looking with curiosity at Hazel and Frank who had taken places at the table along with Octavian. There was a general murmur of agreement and Annabeth stood up.
"My name is Annabeth Chase, and I am a daughter of Athena." Reyna shook her head.
"Wait, you introduce yourself by announcing your godly parent?" Annabeth looked a little taken-aback.
"Yes. Don't you?" Reyna's brow furrowed.
"No. Not usually. We don't separate by parent."
"Oh. Well, just for convenience, maybe you should tell us your parent?" Reyna glanced over at Hazel and Frank who didn't appear to have a problem with it. So she stood.
"I am Reyna, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, daughter of Bellona." She looked over at the other side of the table where the Greeks were sat. "Your turn." She said, sitting back down. The girl who had spoken to her before stood up, trying not to glare at Reyna.
"Piper Mclean, Daughter of Aphrodite." Reyna nodded and gestured for Hazel to stand.
"Hazel Lequkfjbv , Daughter of Pluto." Annabeth's brow furrowed.
"Pluto? But Hades didn't break the pact... He only has Nico left." Hazel took a sharp intake of breath.
"Nico Di Angelo is a very cunning little boy who withheld information from you for reasons which may have saved us all." Reyna simply replied. "Let us not linger on Hazel's past, and just focus on the future." She could see Jason rolling his eyes at her from the corner of her eye and she glared at him, mouthing Try being the praetor alone for eight months, then we'll see who is the one laughing then.
The curly haired boy stood up and offered Reyna his hand. "Leo Valdez, Son of Hephaestus, and let me tell you, you are looking fine." She felt Hazel tensing up, like she knew who this boy was, and made a mental note to question her about it later.
"Sit down, graesus." She said, refusing to even glance at his hand. He sat down, looking slightly confused. Frank was the next to stand, scuffing his feet on the floor as he did.
"Frank Zhang, son of Mars." He said quickly. Obviously, Reyna thought, he was still a little embarrassed about who his godly parent was. Not such a ridiculous thing to feel, she reckoned, as Bellona was obviously the more superior war goddess in her opinion. But she would never voice this thought, for fear of all out war from the Mars children, who never took things well.
Jason stood, and she tried to keep her expression the same, collected, like a Roman statue. She looked down as he announced that he was the son of Jupiter, but had to look back up when he asked-
"What is going to happen about the praetor thing?"
"Oh. Well, maybe we should discuss this later?"
Jason nodded and sat back down. Percy stood up.
"Do I have to say the full title?" He asked, and the group collectively nodded.
"Percy Jackson, Son of Neptu- I mean, Poseidon, Hero of Olympus, possible praetor of the Twelfth Legion." He quickly sat down, trying to ignore Jason's glare. Reyna frowned at Jason who immediately looked away.
"Now, to business."
Jason was gathering his things from his room when she found him.
"You don't have to do that, you know." She leaned against the door frame.
"You made it pretty clear who you wanted to be praetor with you. And he's not me." He spat, bitterly, throwing his clothes into a bag.
"You know that I want you, Jason. It's just... Eight months is a very long time." He sighed, and she relaxed a little. "I had to do something."
"You must've known..." He started, and she shushed him.
"I knew you weren't dead. I knew you were coming back, but everybody else..." She walked up to him and hugged him from behind, resting her head on his back. "They needed another leader. Me on my own, it just didn't cut it. It was so hard."
He stopped packing, and rubbed her arms. "I don't know what to do." He whispered.
"What do you mean?" She asked, revelling in his touch, trying not to shiver as little electric shocks made their way up her arms.
"That girl. Piper. She's in love with me." She tensed slightly, praying that he wouldn't notice.
"Oh. And do you love her?" She asked quietly, hoping that the tears threatening to well up in her eyes would not betray her perfect poker-face.
"I don't know, Reyna. I just don't know." He turned so he was facing her and her arms were wrapped around his waist. "I just know that I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even when I didn't know who you were." He brushed a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, and she turned her head away from him.
"I just wish that I knew what to say, Jason." She hugged him tighter.
"You don't have to say anything." He gently tipped her head up and kissed her, trying to bring her even closer to him.
Dinner was a strange affair that night.
Jason and Reyna hadn't shown up, which Piper thought to be quite strange, but she had shrugged it off, thinking that it was probably some kind of important business to do with the camp. Their absence had not gone unnoticed by some of the campers, who were speculating and placing bets on where they might be.
Dakota was stood on the table belonging to the fifth legion, with some of the legion begging him to come down. Apparently he had cracked and finally been able to sneak into camp a bottle of wine, and was now spilling out secrets from all around the camp. People had begun shouting names at him, and he would just shout out something about them. Piper focused back on what he was saying.
"Octavian!" Someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
"Had angry sex with Reyna on his altar!" He slurred back, almost slipping off the table. Piper shook her head. Why would anyone want to know about that? She asked herself.
"Jason!" Someone shouted, maybe Leo or Percy.
"Jason. Now where to even begin with that boy?" Dakota mused, swaying on the spot. Some of the campers were stood below him, following him with every sway to make sure that he didn't fall off the table and cause himself, or another camper, an accident.
"What about the times we've caught him sneaking out and back in at night?" One of the fifth legion members shouted.
"Oh yes, now that is always entertaining. They think they're so sneaky, but in fact, they're really not, and right now, I bet they're up in one of their rooms having crazy 'I'm-really-glad-you're-still-alive-cause-it's-been-eight-months-since-we-last-did-this' sex." He swayed a little more and took a swig from the empty bottle, sighing in disappointment when he found that there was nothing in it.
"Who do you mean?" Piper asked, blushing as soon as she said it. Dakota jumped down off of the table and walked up to her.
"Ah." He said. Piper tried not to gag at the smell of red wine on him. "He's probably up there with Reyna, but really, who hasn't been with him? He's not a son of Jupiter for nothing you know." He winked at her, and proceeded to climb back up on the table.
Percy didn't know that they would end up in this situation. Dammit, he didn't even know this Jason boy. But there he was, in the bed he had slept in the night before, desperately trying to cover up Reyna. Not that he hadn't seen her naked before, and both times were by accident. Annabeth had turned away completely, blushing the brightest shade of red he had ever seen.
"So..." He started.
"Not a word about this, Jackson." Reyna said, warningly. From the corner of his eye, he could see that she had abandoned trying to pull her toga back on, instead she had grabbed Jason's shirt, and put that on instead. It was strange seeing her like this, when every other time he had seen her, she was completely composed and not at all flustered, like she was now. Jason on the other hand, seemed to be acting like this was a perfectly normal occurrence for him, and had casually put his pants back on.
"You know, I kind of slept there last night." He said, trying to sound as casual as Jason looked.
"You really don't want to know how many other people have slept in that bed too..." Jason started, smirking slightly. Annabeth looked like she wanted to block her ears and avoid this conversation altogether, and Reyna hit Jason on the shoulder, telling him to shut up in Latin, in a very crude way.
"I was just trying to give Annabeth the tour." Percy said, awkwardly looking everywhere but at the couple they had just caught red-handed.
"Yeah, you keep touring and I'll just... Get dressed." Reyna said, trying to keep a straight face. Percy could see that Jason was trying to keep a straight face too, but that was hard to do when he was in the situation that he was in, so he just slowly sat down. Percy rocked on the balls of his feet.
"I think we'll go now." He muttered, grabbing Annabeth's hand and turning to leave.
Meanwhile, Dakota was having the time of his life. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this drunk, and he was enjoying every moment of it. What had really made his night, was when that girl, what was her name? Pilar? Pippa? Oh, no. Piper! Piper's face when he had told the entire camp that Reyna and Jason were off "reacquainting" themselves. Priceless.
The crowd began to quieten and quickly disperse, leaving Dakota alone on the table.
"Hey, come back everybody!" He shouted, not seeing who was approaching him from behind. Hazel and Frank motioned for him to turn around before quickly slipping away into the crowd.
Dakota turned, to be face-to-face with a very angry looking Reyna.
"How many times have I told you, Dakota?" She said in a dangerously calm voice. He sat down hard on the table.
"Um. None?" He asked, trying to figure out what she was talking about.
"Toothbrush." She said plainly. His face dropped.
"Please, Reyna, not that again, I can't-" She cut him off, her voice echoing though the silent crowd.
"TOOTHBRUSH." She screamed.
"No, no, please Reyna, this is the second time this month..." He trailed off when he saw that she wasn't going to show any sympathy.
"Go. Now." He slid off the table and stumbled away, trying to ignore the stares.
But he noticed that her hair wasn't tied back as carefully as it usually was, and that her toga was in disarray with some of her medals missing. So he grinned to himself, knowing that he was right.
Piper needed to see him. She had barely even spoken to him since they had arrived at Camp Jupiter. It was like she didn't even exist. So when the sun had set, and everybody had begun making their way to their cabins, she walked in the opposite direction, back towards where she knew the praetor's rooms were.
"Alone at last." She heard a voice say, and she froze in her tracks.
It was him.
A female voice laughed, and she could just imagine the smile that would come onto his face.
"Oh shut up, and kiss me already." The sound of skin-on-skin as the girl must've playfully punched him on the shoulder.
"What if I don't want to?" She was sure that he would be grinning cockily like he does when he knows he's winning.
"That's too bad, isn't it?" It was like a tennis game between them.
"And what are you going to do about it, hmm?" She wanted to leave, she wanted to run out of this terrible place, but she was rooted to the spot, her heart breaking with every passing second.
A gasp, and there was no noise for a few moments.
She couldn't take it anymore. She had to leave. She hated herself for staying so long, and she hated herself for forcing herself to believe that he could love her.
In the back of her mind, she guessed that she always knew that it would end like this.
Breakfast the next day was where it all came out.
Eight months of stress finally caused Piper to crack under the pressure. Everybody was happy apart from her. (Well, Dakota had a pounding headache and hadn't been able to brush his teeth since Reyna had enforced his punishment, but other than that, everyone was happy.)
Leo mused as Piper screamed at Jason across the breakfast hall.
Something that Leo would never understand is how Jason got all the bitches. I mean, He thought to himself Have you looked at me?