Hi! This is another story writen for the PERCY JACKSON SHIP WEEK!
august 6 august 13: Grover and Juniper. (Check)
august 13 august 20: Clarisse and Chris. (Check)
august 20 august 27: Silena and Charles. (Check)
september 3 september 10: Thalia and Luke. (Check)
september 10 september 17: Hazel and Frank. (Check, Check)
september 17 september 24: Piper and Jason / Reyna and Jason (Still loving how Jason can be with whoever)
september 24 october 1: Percy and Annabeth.
Don't know where this idea came from. I think I was watching Doctor Who on Saturday, but I'm not really sure. The third scene was inspired by the most brilliant story I read today; Flamepaw's 'Love is Not a Spectator Sport' which you should read after/before this.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Me no own.
Dedication: To Leo because he doesn't get a ship week, being the eternal bachelor of awesome and all.
Percy Jackson Ship Weeks #6 Jason and Reyna
Kevin and Killer
Reyna was sitting in her bed, studying a map of Ancient Macedonia with Kevin on her knees. The silver automaton was the affectionate one who needed (and requested) his cuddling time after working hours. His golden partner Killer on the other hand, paced and paced all the time. When Reyna sat down he looked at her like 'whoa, whoa, whoa- what are you doing?' and took over the guard. Right now he was pacing in front of her open bedroom door.
Killer froze, growled, and ran towards the front door and started barking. Kevin sprung up from Reyna's knees and went to go shoulder his friend and bark like mad.
They didn't even bark that loudly when Octavian was mentioned after working hours. That must mean Jason was at the door.
She swung her legs out of bed and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders- a quilt Gwen had found the time to make for her… Reyna wasn't sure when.
"Down, boys," she said. They didn't stop and she ignored them, just opening the door.
Jason had stopped just walking into her house and calling her name when the dogs had started freaking out every time they saw him without the legionnaires around. He looked cold, and his hoody sleeves were drawn over his hands, his shoulders hunched together.
"Hi Reyna," he said. "Two reasons I love coming here. A) You're here; b) I don't have to knock."
"Mmm-hmmm," Reyna said holding the door open, a sign he should walk in. He did.
"Yeah, glad to see you too Goldy," he said when he saw Killer. Killer growled.
"Gold is not his name," Reyna said.
He smiled at her in that 'but I'm teasing you and you can't stop me way'. Curse the unknown, underappreciated and underrated sense of humour of Jason Grace.
"I'm guessing your villa just dropped twenty degrees in room temperature again?" Reyna said.
"Yes," Jason said. "It's been doing that for the last two weeks. If there's a cold goddess out there, she's mad at me."
Kevin barked at him.
"I think Silver's mad that I didn't say hello to him. Hello Silver."
"Grace, for the last time that's Kevin, and he's Killer. Those are their names." She said. "It's not like I go around calling you something that isn't- well, okay, I do. But leave my dogs alone."
"They started it," Jason said.
Reyna shot him a look. "Do you want to sleep on my couch or not?"
"Yes please," he said quickly.
Reyna picked up one of the pillows and threw it at him. "There. Guys, silenti."
Kevin growled and Reyna said 'Ah'. He stopped, respecting her order. They were always more restless at night.
Killer just starred at Jason, his eyes brighter than usual. She'd learned to read the body language of her hounds, and that meant aggression.
"Seriously, what did you do to them?" Reyna said. "They're not unfriendly dogs, but they despise you."
"I don't know," Jason said. "Maybe it's the pure fact that I exist. Similar reasons to Octavian's feelings for me, you know?"
"Please don't call them feelings," Reyna said shaking her head and opening a wooden wardrobe and taking out the blanket Jason always borrowed when he was around. It smelled like him too; like the outdoors and ozone. "Just… no, please, no."
"Why?"
"Because you're sleeping on my couch," she said. She tossed him the blanket and he caught it, plopping on the couch. They ended up talking until midnight before they finally did accomplish Jason's reason for coming: sleep.
"Reyna, make him stop," Jason whined.
She put down her pen, looked up at Jason thinking this better be good.
"What is wrong?" She asked. Paperwork was not her thing, but when she got on the perfect roll of skipping the perfect amount of text in what she was reading and the perfect amount of highlighting and the perfect signature, she did not like being interrupted.
"He's, like, chewing on my foot," Jason said. "And while I don't mind, this is not healthy for Silver."
"I don't have a dog called Silver, so I guess there's nothing I can do." Reyna said turning back to the building permit she was officialising.
"No- Rey- I mean- Killer- no Kevin- no…"
Killer barked, as if laughing at Jason.
Jason shot the dog a look and stuck his head under the table.
"You win this round, Silver."
They were sitting on the couch. Well okay they were sort-of lying down. Jason was kissing her, and she'd just untied her hair for him. He loved it so much, it was ridiculous. She was kissing his jawline when a sharp bark completely ruined the moment. At first they ignored it. Then Kevin barked again, and Killer joined Killer's teeth started whizzing around and Kevin shouldered him, starring at them.
"Get off," Reyna said after a second. Jason didn't, so she kicked him in the knee.
"Sorry," he said backing up.
Reyna grabbed each dog by their collars and dragged them over to her room where they had bowls of food and water and their beds.
"Sorry guys," she said not very sorry at all, locking the door.
Jason was smiling smugly when she turned around.
"Wipe that grin off your face Grace," she said sitting down on the couch again. "Or I'm not kissing you anymore."
His face was dead serious.
Jason had wild trails of paw prints on his toga.
"Jason?" Reyna said.
"I know, I know," he said. "I have dog prints on my back and I don't own a dog. Guess how it happened, you get three shots."
"I don't know. Killer and Kevin are about the same size." Reyna said.
"Whoever it was I am so sure it did it on purpose." Jason said. "Now I get to go to the senate looking like I got stampeded on by your beasts."
"That or that you think you're too good for normal animal print," Reyna said. "You can wash your cape tonight, Superman; we've got to get to senate early."
They spent the whole walk dreaming up things Octavian might say upon noticing the paw prints. Jason decided to put in extra efforts not to show his back to the senate that day.
"Do you have any food?" Reyna asked Jason. Octavian was doing his best to overload them with paper work and reports to read and sign, so for a change of scenery they'd left the senate and were settled in Jason's villa.
"Funny you bring that up," Jason said. "Go look at my fridge."
"No, you go do it."
"You're coming with me then because you've got to see what the beasts did to it," he said getting up. Reyna followed him to the dining room, which was never used except for a routine walk to the mini-fridge. The chairs were stacked on the dining table.
The mini-fridge was upturned and the door was shut. Jason opened it and Reyna peered inside. Usually the nymphs did a good job of keeping their fridges stocked considering Jason and Reyna had done some work to make their lives at camp better; but right now the fridge was empty except for half an avocado wrapped in saran wrap.
"What in the world?"
"I swear," Jason said. "They stole all my food, and ate it. Probably ate the packaging and fruit stickers and whatnot while they were at it."
"They get fed every day, Grace. I'd suggest you blame Bobby and Dakota. Why would Kevin and Killer do that?" Reyna said.
"Because they hate me and their hatred makes them evil." Jason said matter-of-factly.
"I think you're exaggerating. They don't hate you, there's no reason to."
"Apparently there is in their delinquent automaton eyes."
"Jason, they're incapable of feeling emotion." Reyna said. "They're automatons. Robots."
"Who hate me," Jason said.
Reyna picked up the half avocado, kicked the door shut, and walked away from this discussion.
It was always stupid stuff. One of the dogs would pee on Jason's bed, or chew on his clothes, dig a huge hole in the middle of the roman garden attached to his villa, steal a shoe, ripping up newspapers from San Francisco that Jason read, dragging stuff lying on the ground around the villa- heck, Jason didn't even know how they got into the villa.
The thing was he couldn't do anything about it because a) the dogs were badass and b) he couldn't personally put their food bowls on the roof or anything because he didn't want to get Reyna mad because when Reyna was mad his whole life started to kind of suck and he trusted their relationship but she was a big fan of those beasts. His only revenge was the stupid nicknames and calling the beasts 'cute'. It was truly lame. Jason hadn't been that lame since he had turned six.
He was the ultimate loser in this war against automatons.
Someone knocked on the door of the Principia and Jason called out 'It's open'.
Hazel peaked in and then came in. "Jason? Reyna? Octavian's cohort is hogging the coliseum and Gwen told me that you two should handle-"
Kevin and Killer barked and ran up to Hazel, putting their paws on her knees. Hazel looked up at Reyna who nodded and scratched them behind the ears. They loved her and licked her nose.
Possibly because they were mechanical and had no lives or deaths, they loved the daughter of Pluto. Or possibly because she was not Jason, who was the only person besides Reyna they'd seen for about four hours, and that made anyone acceptable to the hounds.
Jason put down his pen, leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, admitting defeat.
She swung the door open wide enough for Kevin and Killer to rush into the villa before it slammed shut, rummaged through her closet and found her jacket. She pulled off most of her armour, and it felt like she could breathe again after being cocooned up. She pulled her hoody sleeves up to her elbows and walked out of the villa, the dogs at her heels.
"Whoa guys," Reyna said pushing them away from the door with her feet. "You guys are staying behind tonight."
Their heads tilted to the sides.
"Look, you guys don't like Jason, fine. You guys can stay there. I like Jason, I'll go. Wait, no, that's not what it was supposed to mean…" She said. Well, okay, it was… "Just stay."
Kevin sat down and whimpered.
"I've got a knife, I'll be fine." She said.
Killer growled, not liking this plan. Her dogs were getting moodier and moodier. Since she had released them from one of Blackbeard's treasure chests, they had always been very close to Reyna, and they'd always been as protective as a set of bodyguards. Their instinct had saved her on Blackbeard's ship and on her journey to Lupa and Camp Jupiter.
"Striga," Reyna ordered sharply. "That's enough, both of you. Behave."
The two dogs' ears flopped down and they backed away, tails between their legs.
"Thank you." Reyna said as sharply before heading out.
"We've checked the fields of Mars," Dakota said.
"He's not in the Fort," Genevieve, Centurion of the Fourth cohort, said.
"He isn't in Temple Hill," Marcus of the Third said.
Reyna leaned back in her chair at the Principia's table. The tip of a pen was tapping the corners of her lips. Octavian and Dominick with cohorts one and two were still checking New Rome, and that would take a while.
"Marcus I'll show you the plan of how Octavian and Dominick are searching New Rome and you can go help them out. Dakota, I want you and Gwen to look around the Caldecott tunnel. It's the way out of camp with the weakest magical boundaries and obstacles and it's far from Terminus' eyes; that's by where I'd drag a man out."
"You think Jason was abducted?" Marcus said.
Reyna shot him a look. "Are you inciting any other option, Smith?"
He didn't say anything.
"Are you?" Reyna demanded. "Because I can easily send the fourth cohort to New Rome."
Genevieve's eyes lit up, probably thinking score as far as the honour of her cohort went.
"No Ma'am." Marcus answered. She only got 'Ma'am' from him when he was terrified.
"Genevieve, I want your cohort up in the guard towers and patrolling with the Giant Eagles," Reyna said turning away from Smith. The third cohort had incredible flyers. "You can take Scipio yourself."
When everything was sorted out, Reyna walked over to his villa. She'd searched it; she knew that nothing was missing (except for Jason Grace) and that he wasn't there. The dogs followed her.
Reyna found his laundry hamper and picked a purple shirt out of it. She knelt.
"You two are on tracking duty," she said. She handed the shirt out.
And when Reyna needed it most her dogs put aside their feelings for Jason and took a whiff.
Many of the senators were agreeing whole heartedly with Octavian. Too whole heartedly, actually, considering whom they were talking about and what that person had done for all of them, and how well-liked, social and respected he was…
"I have trouble believing so many of you have given up," Reyna said. "I will respect the decision of the senate either way, but this fort has always functioned under the maxim of 'no heart left behind' and I am not sure I want to be the praetor under who's rein that changes."
"We are surely not leaving him behind," Octavian said. "The legion has invested itself in the search for Jason Grace long enough, but it is clearly a fruitless waste of resources and manpower. We must move on."
"To what, exactly?" Reyna said.
She admitted to basically walking into it, and ended up listening to twenty minutes worth of bull about the sibylline books served to her on a polish silver dish.
"I veto the project immediately," Reyna said. "I do not see a pressing need for a devotion of our resources to the quest."
"You rather wait until there is a pressing need?"
The answer would've been faster if Jason were next to her, and the words would have been better and firmer.
"I don't think we'll ever desperately need the sibylline books," Reyna said. "That is final. I will not hear more of this today or..." Or any other day. She could nearly hear Jason in her head, telling her to take it slowly with Octavian, and she dropped it. She was better at addressing the senate now, but she really missed Jason's flawless and easy diplomatic skills.
"Regardless, the soldiers need to stop looking for him." Octavian said.
A girl from the third legion, one that Reyna had once upon a time gotten along with very well, spoke up and said quite honestly: "They're looking for something they won't find, and it hurts for them to worry."
It hurt. Of course it hurt.
"Very well," Reyna said. She felt as if she were giving out a death sentence. "We may abandon the search for Jason Grace."
Gwen and Dakota's eyes were wide and popping from their skulls. Kevin and Killer snuggled up to her legs.
"Shall we give him the status of missing in action or presumed dead?" Reyna asked the senate.
She dreaded the answers. They were mixed, but people were reluctant to give a funeral to Jason. Some insisted that it was proper, and it'd be an insult to let his soul wander the Underworld without being firmed.
"Until we find a body he isn't dead," Reyna said using a basic rule she'd learned about heroes. "I'll announce it officially at muster."
Reyna had to try very hard to keep her face cool and to keep the twist of her throat from incapacitating her breathing and her posture and her unwavering glare for the rest of the senate meeting. But now she knew why her hounds hated Jason. They were trained to protect her, and right now she was hurt.
The senate's energy and spirit was dead after that, and even Octavian stopped trying to spark a debate or conversation. Reyna dismissed the meeting earlier than usual, and everyone was at the doors before much, save for Gwen and Dakota who were waiting for her. Gwen's red framed face was soft and nearly apologetic with Reyna. She got up and stretched her fingers and arms, waiting for the crowd to leave nearly completely. Her dogs looked at her, obviously concerned, lying at her feet.
"Gold, Silver." She said. "Let's go."
And they followed her to Gwen and Dakota, even if she'd gotten their names wrong.