Disclaimer: The characters doesn't belong to me :(
This fic has spoilers of MoA. English isn't my first languaje, so I apologize already for any grammatical mistake that you might come across.
Thanks for reading! :)
She almost made it to the place Lupa told her to go when a dracaenae appears. It's huge and deathly and it doesn't help that Reyna is so tired that she can barely walk.
But she holds her breath, makes a silent prayer to her mother, and throws her dagger at the creature's left eye. If she's lucky, that'd give her some time to reach the camp. That, and the fact that both of her dogs are chewing the dracaenae's right arm, trying to make it let go of the sword.
The thing is, it doesn't, it only serves to make the creature wish to kill the girl even more slowly and painfully.
Before the monster is about to reach her, a lance hits the beast in one of its legs, making it hiss in pain.
When Reyna looks at the source of the attack, she sees a boy about her age, wearing a purple T-shirt. Eyes as blue as the sky looking at her like she's some sort of puzzle he can't figure out, lighting surrounding his body, embracing it.
(And her heart almost stops.)
Even without talking, it's pretty clear what they have to do. They attack the beast together. They conquer side by side as they cover each other's back.
After they finish, once the beast turns into ashes and dust, he helps her walk to their destination. The boy takes her hand, holding it with his, guiding her inside the limits of the camp. Keeping her safe.
The boy stops walking and smiles at Reyna, he tells her-Welcome to Camp Jupiter, I'm Jason-
-I'm Reyna- She responds, and Aurum barks while Argentum sniffs Jason's free hand as if he were some kind of dessert.
He nods, solemn and quiet, and says to her- It's a pleasure to meet you-
When they're about to reach one of Terminus's statues, he adds- You're a great fighter-
A gleam showing in his eyes. Like he's kind of proud, or interested, or both.
They train together every day after that.
-0-
He doesn't stop looking at her after leaving Charleston, and the fact that his arms are wrapped around her waist while Scipio takes them home doesn't make it any easier.
It's for the best, she thinks.
Because really, It is.
(Venus's worlds always haunt her after that)
-0-
The night that he was made praetor, Jason almost kissed her under the stars. They were holding hands, breathing the same air, their lips barely touching, his eyes holding her forever.
(And not matter what Venus has told her, Reyna wanted to believe, she needed to think that something could turn out right for her someday. And the way he always smiled at her, right after making excuses to walk her to the café so she could get hot chocolate every morning, made her have faith.
Please, please, just this time)
But he disappeared, his villa and the photographs on her wall being the only things that proved that he'd ever existed.
-0-
Reyna is no fool, she knows what the others whisper behind her back, about how she keeps looking for him, about how naive she is.
But she never loses hope and waits, month after month, for him.
(Venus whispers in her dreams, "Oh, poor thing, don't be like Penelope, I have so much fun waiting for you")
-0-
And now, now that he came back, she doesn't have him anymore. Not really, because he's Jason and, at the same time, he isn't. He doesn't look at them, not really, the son of Jupiter does not recognize them.
This camp isn't his home anymore, as well as Reyna isn't the girl he loves.
She lost him. He let them go. Let her go.
But it doesn't matter, not now. Reyna looks at Jason and Percy, smiles a little ("yes, just like that, darling, you look so gorgeous when you smile" Circe used to say at her), and tells to all the demigods around her that a toast to friendship must be celebrated.
And as she listens to the boys talking about their quests, Reyna can't help but stare at them. The man with sea-green eyes that took her house away but protected her home. And the one with hair like imperial gold, who made her trust on people again, that made her hope one more time.
(She looks at them, takes notice at the way they look at their girlfriends, and realizes that she only has herself, and that's going to be enough for now.)
-0-
There's something about Annabeth that makes Reyna trust in her. Maybe it's the expression in her eyes, the set of her jaw, or the way she holds her dagger; what makes her feel like she's looking at her own reflection.
(They're both little brave soldier girls, putting back together piece after piece of themselves, hoping that they won't fall again)
Duty tells her to take this greek, this girl that's so much like her that she'd ever want to admit, and hold her as a prisoner. A compensation must be made to keep peace between the two. That's the way it's always been. It's what duty calls for.
But duty to who?
She lets her go.
(And makes a silent pray to Bellona, hoping that she's made the right choice)
-0-
The end of the world begins (again) and she falls to the ground, defending an oath to keep with a final breath.
(Home, protect your home, your family, at any cost)
Reyna, he calls her in the distance, far, far away from her, after the last blade fell to the earth. But she can't move. She can't reach him.
He finds her first. (After all, it's always been that way with them)
-Reyna- Jason calls her, almost like a plea, like he's drowning and she's the only one who can save him.
(Only if she weren't already drown)
-Please, please, Reyna, don't, seriously, don't. - He's crying, and his voice sounds shaky and broken. His whole being looks destroyed, now that he's about to lose her.
(The only time he cried in front of her was when Harry Potter ended, and only because "seriously Reyna, give me a rest, I've loved this books for like, like a lifetime, ok?")
She laughs a little, because that's all that is left to do, and tells him.- Elysium.-
(Meet me there someday, I'll be waiting)
He reaches for her hand, holding it as if it were a treasure.
(I will, trust me)
They kiss, and it's almost like finally coming home.
-0-
Jason goes to see her once (Nico di Angelo owed him a favor), she's already gone.
-0-
He's made a God.
She reincarnates into a daughter of Phoebus. Her name is Daphne and her hair is blonde, she has the same obsession with chocolate and jelly beans. It's the same soul, glowing, reaching, breathing and living one more time.
He finds her first.
(After all, it's always been that way with them).