I don't own PJO or HoO!

Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano and Jason Grace followed Piper McLean to the Greek trireme in the sky. They hastily ascended the rope ladder, and the daughter of Venus led two Praetors of Rome to the room in which she had left Leo Valdez. As Jason kicked the door open, they saw Leo Valdez using flames to burn the robes binding him away. Reyna almost wanted to make a snide comment about Piper's choice of binding materials, but forced herself not to. She was currently a representative of the might of Rome, after all.

"Leo, stop!" Piper commanded. Reyna involuntarily shivered at the honeyed sound of Piper's voice. It reminded her of the sickeningly sweet voice of Circe, who had owned the spa on the island so many years before. For a moment, she was brought back to the torturous days of living on the island and being forced to do whatever the witch wanted. Never again.

Regardless of Reyna's internal struggle, Piper's words worked. Leo Valdez stopped burning the ropes immediately and let the flames on his hands sputter out. For a moment, his oddly gold eyes returned to the brown color which Reyna had initially noticed that he had. "Piper? Jason? Scary Roman girl?" He asked in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Jason, stay with the Graecī and keep them from doing anything to harm New Rome. I'll find Octavian and get him down to the forum."

Jason looked at her sharply. "I don't want to separate, Rey. Not after eight months of being gone."

Reyna shook her head at the annoying blond. "You can't stay with me all the time, Grace. Now do your duty and protect Rome. Or else you'll have me to deal with."

Jason nodded slowly. "Vale, puella bella mea." (1)

Reyna laughed. "Puella tua non sum." She replied before sprinting out of the room to find the gangly augur (2).

After she left, Piper noted the disappointed expression on Jason's face. "Are you not unwilling?" He called after her (3). But Reyna was gone and did not hear Jason's question.

"Were you two close?" Piper asked.

Jason considered the question for a while before nodding. "I guess that we are close. We weren't all that close until the Titan War. But then I was tasked with protecting her, we fought Krios together, and then I was elected Praetor. After that, we were always together. We were together at breakfast, at training, while working in the principia for about ten hours a day, and in the baths after work. It wasn't until the month before Juno took me that we began to be close in ways besides friendship."

Piper stared at him. "So you remember everything, then."

Jason nodded. "I didn't, but as soon as we crossed the Pomerian Line, it all came back to me. Just in time, too. Who knows what Reyna would have done to me if I hadn't remembered everything by the time I got back home? Probably would have beaten my podex into a bloody pulp and then put it back together in the most painful way possible." Jason grinned as he thought. "Yeah, that sounds about right, knowing Reyna."

"That sounds painful." Leo commented.

Jason's grin widened. "Yeah, it does." He let out a rough bark of laughter, but the joke was lost on Piper and Leo. "Leo, do you know what happened?"

"I couldn't control myself or my actions. I almost blew up New Rome. I'm afraid that the same thing might happen again."

Piper thought for a moment. "Spirit which inhabited Leo Valdez!" She called out. "In the name of the gods, I command you never to possess him or any member of the Argo II again!"

There was a hissing sound which the three took –hopefully –as a good sign. That is, until Reyna came sprinting towards them with a look of intense fury in her eyes. In moments she knocked Piper to the ground so hard that the daughter of Aphrodite lost consciousness. Then, she attacked Leo Valdez. Finally, she turned to Jason. "Jason Grace." She said, but her voice was not Reyna's. It belonged to someone older, more experienced, and more sexual than his queen of Rome. "You would not hurt me while in this body, would you?"

Jason swallowed hard and didn't reply.

Reyna smirked. "I didn't think so, golden boy of Rome." She approached him and cupped his cheek in her hand. "You want this badly, don't you?" she asked. She stepped closer until her body was flush with his. "You want something like what could have happened between us back in the baths."

"Um…" Jason replied uncharacteristically at a loss for words. "I…"

Reyna smirked and pressed her lips to his. "Jason, I want that too." For a moment, Reyna's voice sounded like her own. Her breathy –and Jupiter, dare he say it? –needy tone pulled out an urge in him almost like nothing he had felt before. She bit her lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "I want you."

Jason, lost to reality for a moment, nodded and leaned down to kiss her again. Reyna easily reciprocated and let him walk her back to a wall until she was pressed against it. "Gods, I want you, Reyna."

"I want you too, son of Jupiter." The voice sounded ancient and bitter. It certainly did not belong coming out of a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl. It immediately snapped Jason out of, well, whatever that was and he finally focused.

"You're not Reyna." He said.

"And the little hero finally figures it out." Reyna replied. "Do you want a prize? Because we could easily go back to what we were just doing. I'm sure that that would be such a lovely way to go, Jason Grace. To die in the embrace of the girl you love while she stabs you in the heart." Reyna paused and then smirked. "What a beautiful story that would make, if only I cared for the arts of the humans."

"Terra?" Jason asked in fear. Was this the ancient goddess of the Earth?

Reyna let out a laugh. "No, only one of her messengers." She replied. "Now that my fun is over, I do have a message for you, Jason Grace."

"What is it?"

"If Terra is defeated, Rome will be destroyed. The very essence of Roman life and culture will be annihilated from the earth. Rome will cease to exist."

"What?" Jason asked. "Why?"

"Because," Reyna replied, "the Greeks and their deities are full of vengeance for the Romans who changed their identities."

"But, that's not our fault!" Jason shouted. "We didn't choose to change the Greek gods! That happened centuries ago!"

"But now the son will atone for the father's sins." Reyna replied. "How, un-Roman of them." Reyna smiled at him. "Remember, Jason Grace, the gods of Rome will not align themselves with their destroyers. They will fight beside the patron primordial who promised not to destroy them and their life if she returns."

"Who are you?" Reyna laughed again.

"I'll see you soon, son of Jupiter. And next time, it won't be in the body of someone else." Reyna promised. "Although, it's a pity that Lady Venus has her own plans for you. I always did enjoy my many playthings." She did that horrible and un-Reyna giggle again before disappearing.

A few moments later, Reyna burst through the doorway with Octavian just behind her. "Jason Grace, what happened here? And why are the two Graecī passed out on the floor?"

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "This is going to be so awkward to explain…" He said.

Reyna frowned. "Try me, Grace."

Hello! Thank you for reading this newest chapter, please review and tell me your thoughts.

~Nerd

P.S. bonus points to whoever can guess which Roman deity impersonated Reyna (hint: he/she is kind of obscure). You'll have my respect if you can guess correctly!

1. "Goodbye, my beautiful girl" in Latin

2. "I am not your girl" in Latin

3. This is a reference to one of Catullus' Carmine about Lesbia. Check it out if you are interested