A/N: Raise Your Weapon (Madeon Remix) by deadmau5. That is all.


ripping my heart was so easy, so easy
launch your assault now, take it easy


Reyna had thought Leo was different.

Of course, she had thought that of Percy Jackson, and of Jason Grace. Look where that had gotten her.

And now, Leo really was different. But not in the way she had hoped he would be.

There was a different aura about him now, that signified he had found something new.

Something like Buford the table, or Festus the dragon head.

Something important to him.

Or maybe - just maybe...

...maybe it was a someone.

Reyna couldn't help but feel rejected. It was bad enough, having two praetors turn her down, but Leo, the repair boy? And now that Frank Zhang, of all people, was appointed emergency praetor, she was 0-3 of all the praetors she had worked with.

Could Venus be any crueler?

The daughter of Bellona was extremely hard-working. Extremely.

So why didn't her relationships work out just as well as the rest of her life?

Granted, she was never the nicest to the son of Haephestus. Outwardly, at least. She had hidden the extremely embarrassing emotions deep down. Deep, deep down. Gods, she couldn't even think about him without getting that fluttery feeling in her stomach.

And that is why Romans believe feeling things made you weak! It did in the ancient days, and it still does!

Why was she feeling things for a boy that she had known of for maybe a month?

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

That damn daughter of Apollo, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was being studied in the local university.

Guess which line was being read out loud as Reyna walked beneath one of the classroom's open windows.

Weak!

Reyna grumbled in annoyance before walking away, faster than before.

Of course, she couldn't know for sure that Leo had moved on. Maybe he hadn't.

But how did she know that he hadn't?

Direct confrontations were definitely her style. Tell her a problem, she would get the demigod responsible to apologize in under twelve hours. Under twelve minutes depending on the situation. Sometimes even under twelve seconds.

But relationships? Like, touchy-feely, lovey-dovey, kissing and holding hands relationships?

That was uncharted territory. That was Reyna's "No Man's Land."

So what was she to do about Leo?

Don't think his name, don't think his name, dontthinkhisname. Don't. Think. His. Name.

First of all, she had to apologize, not to him, but to herself. For being so blind.

It was his cheeky, know-it-all, prankster grin. It was all his fault. She probably would've been better off if she actually was blind.

Breath in. Breath out. Leo does not belong to you.

Reyna looked around at her surroundings, making sure no one had noticed the blood rushing to her cheeks. His smile, his rumpled hair, the hands that never ceased to amaze her with their creations... The result of those things was Reyna feeling tingly. And fluttery in the stomach. And she wasn't sure she wanted to feel those things. Even when she was only thinking of him... her heartbeat got faster, her stomach fluttered, her thoughts got cluttered. Yes, this was very un-Roman of her. It was not right.

And second, she had to figure out a way to stop feeling that way about Le- that boy.

She was probably just taking his feelings for granted. That was all, she just needed to figure out how he really felt. But the question remained; should she ask him...?

Reyna had never felt more confused in her life. And that included the time she got the iris-message while in the baths, and the first time that Nico de Angelo had appeared at Camp Jupiter, and the time that Perc- don't think his name either! -and Annabeth had unleashed Blackbeard and his fellow pirates.

She had taken the second boy's feelings for granted, too. And the first boy's.

She had taken them all for granted.


ripping through like a missile,
ripping through my heart
robbed me of this love