All rights belong to Rick Riordan.
Two years later
Reyna stood her ground against the monsters, at least ten dracaenea. All of the wore armour and were armed with tridents. She was hopelessly outnumbered, and her sword had only an inch more reach.
She deflected the first stab from one of the snake women with her, sword. Ducking as she jabbed forward, piercing its chest. The draceanea exploded in a shower of golden dust. Its friends attacked before Reyna could raise her sword again. The first three stabbing at the exact same moment, Reyna jumped to avoid it. Pulling her legs up to her chest to minimise her hitbox, she landed on three interlocked tridents and forced them to the ground. She slice her sword across their throats, easeliy cutting through their necks and turning them to dust as well.
She felt a sharp pain in her right leg, looking down she saw a trident sticking out of it, she cut the trident off close to her leg and winced in pain as she tried to stand on the leg. She felt her anger boil as she jabbed upwards before ducking and cutting through the waist of the dracaena in front of her, it exploded just like al the other did. Five down, five to go.
The last five spread out around her, she knew this was going to be though, but she was a Roman, they did not back down from a fight, and they did not lose. She quickly lunged towards one of them, but it deflected her blow with its trident.
Reyna realised that they would most likely let her bleed out before they attacked, to make sure she was as weak as possible, and that she needed to win fast as she felt her powers tiring. One quick stab evaporated another and after a few minutes of jabbing back and forth she managed to rid the world of four more monsters. It took some for her to collect her breath and remove the last pieces of the trident from her thigh. Once it was out she tore off a part of her shirt and pressed it towards the wound.
She looked towards the hill where she hoped Eric would be standing but he wasn't there, she knew he didn't want her to wait for him so she returned to their camp.
The camp consisted of Eric's expertly set up tent- that looked perfectly like its surroundings so that it was impossible to find if you didn't know where it was, and Reyna's less expertly set up tent that looked like your ordinary scout's tent- a dark green colour that made Reyna want to puke.
Eric was waiting at the campfire, staring at her as she limped into their camp.
"Took some time didn't it? I thought you would be quicker today. They didn't seem like much to me," he said with a disappointed look towards her, "But sometimes you get held up." He threw her a large piece of ambrosia and a flask of nectar. The ambrosia tasted like the pastries she and Hylla used to get when they still lived in Puerto Rico, it made Reyna feel warm and soon the pain faded.
"What are we practicing now?" Reyna asked tiredly, every day for the last two years Eric had forced her to practice weapons, everything from knives to archery- which she knew perfectly.
"Today is the day that your training stops," Eric said. Reyna flinched. How could he stop her training? From his promise to her she would guess that he intended to teach her a lot more. "I will erase your memory of me, you'll keep most of what you learned though, hopefully you will complete the task you were born to do," he said with something that sounded like pain in his deep voice. His eyes locked hers and she realised that his eye-colour wasn't the same as it hed been before, they were not a bright ice-blue but deep ocean-blue, they looked caring and filled with emotion. His entire face seemed to have changed, becoming softer than the warrior he had previously shown.
It took some time for Reyna to realise what he had said, she would be sent away. She opened her mouth to complain but closed it as Eric started to chant in a strange language. As his chanting went on she saw his eyes start to glow- almost pulsating their colour. She felt the power that were in his words even though she didn't understand them. Suddenly he stopped chanting and it felt like a huge pressure was taken off her shoulders and she felt her world being covered by darkness…
Ceremony on Olympus after the second Gigantomachy
Perseus Jackson and the rest of the Seven stood in front of the Olympian council together with Nico and Reyna. They had all just refused immortality. He had done it a second time, refusing godhood for the good of demigods.
"We hold you to your oath, lord Zeus!" he said, "The first part of our wish is that you release all the peaceful titans from their prisons. The second is that you give Hestia and Hades their rightful thrones," Zeus paled visibly. Percy swallowed and looked towards Annabeth, she nodded for him to continue, "The last thing we want you to do is relieve us of our demigod scents."
The bomb was dropped. Hades and Hestia both tackled Percy in a big hug. Artemis thought for some time before she realised that Leto was accounted for in 'peaceful titans', she nudged Apollo, who's smile went from ear to ear.
Two new, majestic thrones shot up from the ground, for the two gods. One was made of bone and was hard to look at, it made everyone feel uneasy. The other one looked like it was literally carved out from a fire, the intricate designs moving around.
"Okay, calm down everyone!" Zeus bellowed, "Hermes, get Hecate so we can get their scent of them." Hermes flashed away and after a couple of minutes he returned with Hecate who looked like she already had attended the party that was set to take place after the council hearing. Her face was flushed, her hair looked ruffled and she walked clumsily like she had been drinking.
She started chanting in ancient greek, and after a couple of minutes she stopped and stared at Reyna. Reyna felt extremely awkward as she asked the goddess what was wrong with her.
"You have a strange spell cast over you, praetor. We might want to crack that later, but as for now I'm far too intoxicated." she said as she made an attempt to walk away, Zeus stopped her.
"What do you mean she has a strange spell on her? Is it dangerous? When can we break it?"
Drama queen everyone else in the room instantly thought, but only Hera said something:
"Husband please, can't you see the festivities has already started? Let's party tonight and start working tomorrow, shall we? For now we can just call Bellona and ask if she knows anything about her daughter's mysterious curse." Zeus looked like he thought about this long and hard but in reality everyone knew he was planning how he could celebrate the best without angering his wife.
"Very well, Hermes go get Bellona." he commanded. Hermes once again flashed away, leaving the room in an uncomfortable silence. Only Athena seemed to have something to say, but when the flashes appeared she instead of staying in the room just flashed out, extremely angry-looking.
"Lady Bellona, you have been summoned here to explain if you know anything about the spell placed on your daughter." Bellona looked shocked,
"Has anything happened to Hylla?" she asked, with a scared voice. Everyone was shocked, didn't she know Reyna was the most important of her daughters right now? The one who looked the most confused was Reyna, her confusion soon turned to anger and she said loudly:
"What is wrong with you mother? What do I have to do for you to recognise me?!" Bellona located where the sound came from and stared surprised at Reyna.
"Who are you?" she asked with a confused tone, "I am not your mother child." Reyna stared in awe, how could someone forget one of her daughters but remember the other one. Reyna wasn't the only one who looked surprised. Everyone else was dead silent staring at Bellona.
"Isn't she your child?" Zeus asked. Bellona answered with a "No".
"Then who is she?" To everyone's surprise Hecate spoke up, "That answer may lay in the spell!" Zeus took some time to think about this, long and hard before he finally said:
"What if she is an enemy, if we can't verify her identity we can't be sure who she is siding with."
"Husband, not now!" Hera commanded, "She has brought peace to the children of the gods. She is not to be held guilty for a crime no one has committed. Now, like the youthful say, let's party!" she said as the doors opened for the biggest feast in history.
Percy didn't like the party, far too noisy and cheerful. He was haunted by memories of the friends he had lost in the two wars he fought for the gods. Silena, Beckendorf and many more floated just outside his vision, their deaths always playing on repeat in his mind. So as soon as Annabeth let him leave, he left the party to be alone in his grief. He walked around in the now empty part of Olympus, where no people were because everyone attended the party.
He walked around and studied the designs on the buildings, maybe Annabeth had been rubbing off on him as he had no memory of him ever doing that before. He heard someone clear their throat behind him and turned rapidly, Riptide extended in his hand and ended up with the point against the throat of a man.
Percy couldn't really make out his features because he wore a long sleeved hoodie and the hood covered his face, The only thing he could make out was the eyes of the person, ice-blue and glowing through the shadow that covered his face. The man spoke:
"So you are the mighty Percy Jackson? Slayer of Kronos and giants, son of the sea and hero of Olympus?" he paused for a second, "Why are you not attending the party to your honour?" Percy got a weird feeling that he could trust this man, he seemed eerily calm.
"I, eh, I wante-" he started, but the man interrupted him.
"You wanted some fresh air huh? To get rid of the memories?" It was more of a statement than a question, "I know that feeling, their faces always following you, always asking why you did it. Always blaming you, you feel terrible don't you?" he said as he handed over something that looked like a horn. "Here, drink this. It'll help," he said with a voice filled with pity.
Percy took the mug, and held it up to his mouth, tasting it. It tasted sweet, yet bitter with a strange aftertaste, like a lower quality of nectar, without the happiness. The hooded man held up another mug of the drink, "Cheers. Bottoms up!" he said and emptied it in one long sweep. Percy tried to copy but had to stop to breathe, he felt his head grow warm and the world seemed fuzzier, the ghosts disappeared and the voices stopped. He took a few steps, testing this strange new place but found it hard to walk, his balance was of. He took another long sweep of his drink and managed to empty the chalice. He looked towards the hooded man who just stared back at him, his blue eyes burrowing into Percy's.
"That is some strong stuff you drank there," he said. "Not everyone can take it."
The man walked off and left Percy staring happily into the night sky, before Percy left, stumbling towards the party.
Olympian throne room-
A couple of days after the feast
The gods were chanting in ancient greek, powerful words trying to lift the spell placed on Reyna. Everyone was still a little groggy after the party, the amounts of alcohol had been huge and restrictions had been loose. Even some of the heroes present looked like they had big hangovers, especially the greek demigods. The legionnaires were more strict in their alcohol consumption but even they had taken a few glasses.
Annabeth's and Percy's faces were flushed red, like the colour of the wine they had been consuming. They had only started when Percy came back from his little walk completely drunk, then Mr D had come around with drinks claiming that if Peter Johnson could have a fun trip into his domains then everyone could. He didn't mention the fact that Percy almost had a trip into his other domain, madness.
The Olympians chanted, their seats glowing with power. Two of them looked extremely happy to be there, the two were Hestia and Hades, the oldest child and the oldest son of Kronos and Rhea. Hestia radiated a warm and calming aura that must have lessened the spell and Hades' aura was the exact opposite, attacking the curse with fear and terror. Even though they were some of the most powerful beings in existence it took an hour for them to get a breakthrough, one hour of steady chanting. After the hour passed Hecate had joined them, now obviously sobered up and ready to use her magic. When she started chanting it was like the power of the others were amplified, and the air around Reyna began smoking.
Reyna's skin glowed ocean blue, the glow pulsating with every word the Olympians muttered. Strange symbols were forming on her skin, like tattoos but made of pure white light, they seemed to speak of power. It took another thirty minutes for the letters to start to fade, but at the same time the strength of the gods was running out. It seemed to be a battle of whoever lasted the longest as the symbols seemed infinitely powerful. The Olympians were also far too prideful to call for more gods to help them crack the curse.
Crack. A loud sound was heard that managed to snap all of the demigods who lay bored out of their minds on the floor, they had been playing games and paying no attention to the council for the last two hours. With the snap the gods looked towards Reyna and saw that the symbols had started to get large cracks all over them, like paint drying. Then the symbols disappeared one after another until only one was left, on Reyna's neck, it didn't seem to want to disappear. Hecate held up her hand to stop the chanting, the tired gods stared at the result as the glow died down. Reyna's features had completely changed, her eyes were no longer black, but blue, like ice and her hair was caramel brown. Her facial features had also changed as she now looked more regal and, according to many of the male gods, like an absolute knockout.
Hera glanced at her husband who was staring at Reyna, drooling. Apollo and Hermes both looked at her seductively and Aphrodite seemed a little put off, like if someone had stolen all of her makeup.
Reyna looked at her reflection in the conjured up mirror and felt somewhat angry, all her life she had felt mediocre or ugly while it turned out she was beautiful, she was going to smack up whoever placed the spell on her big time.
While everyone was surprised two goddesses felt a slight tinge of recognition, she looked exactly like. 'No it couldn't be-' they both thought. But it looked too similar for it to be a coincidence.
Hera looked at Zeus until he muttered: "Council dismissed." All the gods flashed out, leaving the demigods there.
Reyna looked to her friend who all stared in shock. After all her features were almost completely changed, only the flexibility of her body seemed to be left and even that seemed to have increased. She took one step, testing to see how it felt and was surprised when she felt how light it felt, like she didn't have to move a muscle. She punched a few times in the air and the speed of which her arm moved amazed her. She once again looked towards her friends: Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel and Nico. Leo wasn't there as he had disappeared after the battle, probably from death caused by the giant explosion that incinerated Gaea.
"Let's just go back to CHB," Percy said, "Then we can figure out who your real parents are."
A/N: I've been having a case of writers-block for this story. I've been working on another story and the first chapter will hopefully be coming out in a few days. I promise that the Norse gods will appear soon. Please review if you have any tips or ideas that you think I should imploment. It will take some time for the next chapter to come out.
/m0sbricka