Step by step Jason advances, but never does he look up.

Light drops of rain are beating against his tense shoulders and neck. He keeps his hands clenched in his jean's pockets, while at the same time trying to relax them. But all attempt is futile.

His eyes scan the pavement in front of him, which is shining like silver amidst the rain.

Silver. Argentium.

Jason bits the inside of his cheek in frustration. His heads is beginning to ache and his vision is swimming in front of his eyes, so he sits down on the first bench he finds, regardless of the water.

With his elbows in his knees and his head between his hands, he closes his eyes.

Flashes of memories burst through his concentration, demanding his attention is stabs of bright colors and sharp sounds.

Jason sees the royal-looking, black-haired girl again. Reyna.

And once again he is pulled into seemingly never-ending memories of her.

She was sitting in their office, almost hidden completely from view by the columns and columns of documents. Her fingers rested curled up beside a cup of her usual hot chocolate; the fountain containing her favorite assort of candies laid already empty, reflecting the lamplight's dim glow.

Eventually and almost unconsciously, she reached out for another jellybean. However, when her fingers found nothing, she looked up.

"Jason!" she growled under her breath, loud enough for her fellow praetor to hear her.

He looked up with innocent blue eyes from across the desk. "Hmm?"

"You ate them all. Again." Her tone is accusatory, but the threat was diminished by the half-smile that played on her lips.

Jason just stared at her blankly, forgetting momentarily of his paperwork. "What makes you think so?" he said carefully, trying to fight back the smile that would give him out.

Reyna snorted derisively and reached out across the desk. She ran a finger across Jason's lips, which were rainbow-colored by then, and he could feel his skin tingle at her contact. He gulped nervously.

A small smile formed on Reyna's lips as withdrew and showed him her now candy blue-stained finger. "There's your proof, Sherlock. And, gods, look at your fingers."

Jason turned his palms up, revealing candy stained fingertips. He then burst into laughter when he saw Reyna's incredulous expression.

Jason stood up and offered his hand to her. "Come on, I'm getting tired from reading all of this stuff."

He knew that she will never admit it, but he knows she is, too.

His theory was confirmed when Reyna accepted his hand with only a brief glance towards the paperwork before standing up. Aurum and Argentium trotted to the door, sensing an opportunity to go out.

"Where do you want to go?" Jason asked her.

"How about any sweets-selling store?"

Reyna smiled slightly at Jason's next remark, "Man, is there ever any other option?"

When she didn't answer, he added, much to her amusement: "You've got quite the sweet tooth, don't you?"

Jason gasps for breath, and he feels his brain being racked by retained information that is fighting to burst through. So Jason grits his teeth and prepares for another flashback.

Jason Grace swore to himself that he will never forget the day in which Reyna was introduced to caffeine.

When exiting the Café in New Rome, Reyna had nonchalantly revealed that she had never tasted coffee. As she said that, she kept her fingers curled tightly around her hot chocolate, her gaze firm on Bacchus' garden.

This fact, thrown into conversation so carelessly was enough to pull Jason out of his reverie. "You haven't? Why?"

They were alone in the grapevine-covered garden. Both Aurum and Argentium were curled around the god's statue, their metallic bodies giving off an eerie glow in the dying light of the sun.

Reyna scrunched up her nose. "It's bitter, isn't it?"

"Coffee?"

"No, Octavian," she replied with most subtle sarcasm.

Jason's eyes twinkled with contained laughter as she elbowed him lightly.

"So you have never drank coffee because it's bitter?"

"Yes. I like sweet things, only."

Jason thrust his coffee cup in her direction. "Take a sip. I bet you will like it."

Two hours and three full cups of coffee later, Reyna was practically buzzing with energy. She suggested a sparring match to invert newfound energy in, and Jason agreed.

Unfortunately, she wasn't her usual quiet, measured self.

Reyna accidentally broke both his hand and his spear not even ten minutes after they began, much to her dismay.

"I'm so very sorry, Jason-" she said solemnly, not for the first time and surely not for the last one, either.

Reyna had her first-aid kit open on top of the bench next to her; Jason's broken hand was being tended by Reyna's expert ones. He never got to understand how she was so good at many things, but when he asked her, her expression always darkened and she closed herself to him.

"Yeah, well. It's okay, really," Jason reassured her for the umpteenth time. "I feel this is a sort of payback for breaking your arm two years ago."

Reyna peeked at him through a curtain of ink-black hair, (it had come loose during their practice) and said nothing. She then got what Jason used to call her concentration face: a light frown took place in her face, her lips were slightly pursed and her eyes were intent on their objective.

A silence settled between them, Reyna being busy bandaging and Jason staring intently at her.

"... but I think you should rather stick with hot chocolate," Jason ventured coyly, breaking the silence and earning a wry smile from her.

And there was also that one time when-

"Jason."

Jason presses his eyes tighter still, because he knows that what is about to come is important, and he can almost picture her once again, when she- what had happened that time? He knew, he knows if only-

A hand presses down his shoulder, startling him. He loses whatever conclusion he was about to arrive at the moment.

He looks up in frustration at the person who interrupted him, but his anger immediately diminishes when he sees it's Piper.

She is soaked from head to foot by the rain, her choppy hair sticking to her face and shoulders. A worn military green jacket is the only extra coat she has on, and she's shivering.

Jason gathers her against him in a warm embrace, and he murmurs against her hair: "Why are you here?"

He can feel her shift next to him, but she does not withdraw. "That's what I was going to ask you. You've been out here for an hour, even though it's raining. Why?"

"I needed time to think," he avoids carefully.

"Oh." Piper's voice is small. She looks up at him with eyes too knowing, ever-changing. Brown to blue to green to black, like hers, and-

Jason shakes his head to himself, trying to shake off thoughts. Piper looks at him oddly but says nothing. She takes two steps back.

She opens her mouth and, finding herself at a loss of words, closes it again.

"I'm sorry," Jason is quick to cover. He kisses her hastily on the lips and grabs her hand, anxious to end all conversation, and, mute, they make their way back to the Big House.

Jason's last memories of Reyna are echoing in his confused mind. He has thousands of questions, but no matter how hard he tries, he finds no answers.