Lies within us
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." – Unknown
When I saw the quote above I thought it was perfect for describing Jason and Reyna's relationship, since Rick didn't explore their relationship in The Son of Neptune or The Lost Hero. I don't know whether I support Jason/Reyna or Jason/Piper; I guess I'm quite content with whatever Rick decides.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Heroes of Olympus unless Rick Riordan is secretly an English teenage girl…
After a tiresome day of Travis and Connor Stoll trying to make him into a human chicken, Jason collapsed against his bedroll; he had to admit the Stolls had determination, not everybody had the will to start chasing him since 9 o'clock in the morning. Trying to catch his breath, his mind drifted back to the same subject it always did; Reyna…
He still didn't know what his relationship was with Reyna. Were they best friends? Were they a couple? Was she just this random girl he had a crush on? The options were endless. In exasperation Jason slammed his fist down at the bedroll causing it to vibrate viciously. Jason Grace, child of Rome, son of Jupiter, consul to demigods, praetor of the Twelfth Legion, slayer of the Trojan sea monster, destructor of the Titan Krios, was terrified. If he mentioned one thing about Reyna, the precious memories would fade away, so he continued to suffer about the possibilities of who she was in silence.
The image of Reyna sauntered into Jason's mind. Her dark fierce eyes challenging anyone to a fight, her midnight black hair which she permanently wore in a braid, her olive skin tone, she wasn't the most attractive girl in camp, but her smile… rare but perhaps the most breath-taking thing to Jason. The way she would always keep her dagger to her right side in fear of being attacked, the way her eye browns furrowed when she was furious - leading into a crease on her forehead, and the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed, these were special things to Jason. Closing his eyes, the battle between him and Titan Krios replayed in his memories.
A battle is always difficult. But when marching into unknown enemy's quarters, it is mission impossible. It's even worse when one of your praetors, a leader of the Twelfth Legion, got savagely killed by a herd of hellhounds, which bounded into Camp Jupiter less than a week ago. Jason was the replacement, not a permanent one, but one to assist the other praetor in the upcoming battle of Mount Tam. Jason still didn't know why he was chosen. Sure, he had experience, but when you're in a fight with a monster, any past experience flies out of your head, your instincts being your guide to survival. Jason wasn't the best speaker either; he didn't have the charisma which the children or legacies of Venus, Mercury or Juventa, Roman goddess of youth, possessed. Nevertheless Jason was chosen to be the co-leader of the battle; he must have done something right.
A blanket of death surrounded Mount Tam, monsters and demigods lying lifeless on the ground, whilst the remainders were fighting for their lives. Jason Grace was still fighting a herd of strixes; a strix was a foul flesh-eating owl, gloomy as midnight, with eyes the colour of blood. Beads of sweat trickled down Jason's head, his ADHD in full battle mode, but he was outnumbered, whenever he slayed one, two more would emerge. If Jason had ever thought about his death, he would have expected something a little more heroic than being eaten by evil owls.
Before Jason was overwhelmed by the number of evil owls, a familiar face launched into battle beside him. Her face was fearless, and there was something in her eyes which made monsters run to their mummy. Her hair was messy unlike her usual organized, sleek, braid, she didn't look flawless in armour, but Jason preferred her as she was. Jason was glad Reyna, daughter of Bellona, praetor of the twelfth legion was fighting beside him.
At first, when Jason met Reyna at the age of twelve, they detested each other; Reyna was highly unsociable with boys, acted incredibly stubborn with a hint of arrogance. Camp Jupiter was lucky if there wasn't a fight between Reyna and Jason every day. After a while they managed to tolerate each other; mainly because attempted murder was frowned upon in Camp Jupiter. By some strange miracle when they were fourteen, they managed to become friends. The strange miracle being a near death experience which involved the Trojan Monster. A few months later Jason and Reyna became inseparable, whenever there was free time they would go into New Rome, get a coffee, and mock Octavian's latest attempts to persuade everyone that the world was ending. Jason thought Octavian only believed the world was near as he was running dangerously low on cuddly toys. The horror. They learnt each other's secrets, neither of them being the sharing type, Reyna wasn't exactly thrilled she had been in a spa for years, didn't exactly match her tough daughter of Bellona image. Jason was more of the sharing type, Gwen, Dakota and Bobby knew him, like any other loyal friends would, yet he never shared the blurry image of a girl with electric blue eyes and raven black hair to anyone, he was anxious they wouldn't believe him, convince him that she was a dream, but he knew Reyna wouldn't do that, he knew his secret was safe.
Gradually, the number of strixes decreased, until there was only one left. To demolish it Reyna used out her Pugio, an imperial gold dagger which the Roman Legion used, and stabbed the owl right between its eyes. Jason had to admit, he was a little impressed by the way she was able to control her dagger. But he guessed being the daughter of a war goddess guaranteed you would be pretty darn good with any weapon.
Looking observantly at his surroundings, Jason spotted the fifth cohort being led by Dakota, son of Bacchus who was taking over Jason's duty of centurion for the attack. He took a swig of Kool-Aid out of his flask, the crimson liquid running down the corner of his lopsided grin. He spotted the optimistic Gwen, daughter of Spes – the Roman goddess for hope, shouting encouraging words to boost up the low self-esteem the fifth cohort had adopted since the 1980s. On the other hand Bobby, legacy of Mercury, was throwing what Jason believed to be stink bombs; but with Bobby he was never sure, and yelling offensive insults at the monsters. The rest of the fifth cohort was fighting valiantly, denying that they ever had a bad reputation. Jason felt overwhelmed with pride, as his cohort, his family, were fighting just as noble as any other cohort.
Meanwhile Jason noticed the first cohort marching towards the black throne, where Krios would be. Octavian, legacy of Apollo, was screaming orders at the cohort, his voice in ear-piercing soprano shriek. Jason should really recommend Octavian not to go on Pop Idol.
Suddenly, a huge number of hellhounds erupted from the darkness of the shadows, dashing towards the first cohort. Despite Octavian being a power-hungry snake, he still managed to lead the first cohort quite well. However the attack would delay the first cohort from reaching the throne, a task needed desperately done, no one could afford to waste time.
Jason took one glance at Reyna and knew what the battle plan was. They were only a few moments sprint away from the black throne, away from Krios. Without even speaking, both soldiers sprinted towards the black throne, demolishing any monster in their path.
Before diving into battle, Reyna grabbed Jason's right shoulder, not aware her hold was as tough as vice grip and pushed him against a rock. Jason thought she was going to give him a quick pep talk, or remind him not to be an idiot. He definitely wasn't expecting Reyna to press her lips against his. Jason suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy inside, if Lupa was here she'd probably feed him to her wolves for feeling fuzzy in the middle of a battle field. Good thing she wasn't here.
Jason was vaguely aware of Reyna beside him when she whispered "I take Trivia, Krios is all yours." Jason liked that idea.
At arrival Jason saw not only Krios, but the muscular Titan Atlas, holding up the sky and screaming bloody murder at his fellow titan. Krios was of a large build, his skin having slight silver glow as night was approaching, and his eyes were filled with joy as it seemed the monsters easily outnumbered the twelfth legion, making Jason feel slightly intimated, his golden ram horns curled to show two very deadly points. Although Jason's ADHD only registered that Krios' ram horns made him look like Lord of the Sheep. Also his starry armour didn't add up to the terrifying Titan image Jason had nightmares of.
To the left Jason spotted Trivia, goddess of magic. Her ebony hair cascaded down her shoulders, her vibrant emerald eyes assessing some kind of mystical ball she was holding. She was incredibly good-looking, however the fighting-with-the-Titans-and-betraying-demigods wasn't really Jason's type. Her descendants were receiving a lot of Styx for their mother turning to the Titans side in the war, and Jason tried to be pleasant to them, but seeing Trivia now left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Without further ado, Jason and Reyna leapt into battle, yelling battle cries, trying to intimidate the enemy. Jason took at Ilvis and yelled the lines which had been well practiced on monsters before "I am, son of Jupiter, leader of the attack to Mount Tam, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and I will destroy you!"
"JASON! SUPERMAN! WAKE UP!" Jason felt his body being vigorously shaken by a pair of strong calloused hands, and by referring to him as 'superman', Jason could obviously tell it was Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. Letting out a groan, obviously irritated he had been woken up and getting interrupted by his captivating dream, Jason rolled over onto his stomach.
"Fine, don't listen to me, no one does when the packaging is this pretty!" exclaimed Leo, using several hand gestures to emphasize the 'prettiness' of his face.
"Sorry, I wasn't listening. What did you say?" asked Jason, rolling over to face the hyper Latino.
"Dude, the Argo is ready to go, and you gotta hurry because this guy has to get some hot California girls."
Abruptly, Jason leapt out of bed, his mind racing with thoughts about Reyna. Finally, Jason Grace would be able to find out what the relationship was between him and the girl who has kept on entering into his thoughts over the past months. The girl who makes him feel uneasy when he's with Piper. He knew he kissed with Reyna in the past, last night's dream confirmed that. But sometimes what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Jason really wanted to find out what lied with him in Reyna.
Dashing out of the Zeus Cabin, Jason strode over towards the Argo. Thankfully he didn't walk that far out of his cabin when he heard Leo yell "DUDE! YOU'RE STILL IN YOUR PYJAMAS!"
All monsters, gods and weapons are all real; I did a little bit of Roman mythology research, being the nerd I am.
Feel free to review and if you like the Hunger Games check my other story out!