Disclaimer:
SwanDestiny: After careful consideration, I brought Katie here to do the disclaimer. You are such a kind girl to do this, Katie, and I want to let you know, even if you're considerded a side character, that I love you. Along with Travis.
Katie: Aww, thanks! (Please don't mention Travis). SwanDestiny doesn't own-
Travis: So do you forgive me for the chocolate bunnies?
Katie -fumes-: NO! OUT! -coughs- Anyways, SwanDestiny doesn't own the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series.
SwanDestiny: I guess I'll ask Travis next time. That'll be an extra 5 minutes of freedom for you, Katie.
Katie: Don't invite me over whenever Travis around. Never.
Nico watched as the ghostly, pale blue wisp of mist that resembles Bicana drank up the McDonald french fries and soda. He watched as the spirit took the form of Bicana's body, and he watched as she sadly smiled at him.
"You know this was my last day before I get reborn, didn't you?" Bicana's soft voice asked.
Nico could only nod. Bicana wanted to spend a year and a half in Elysium before being reborn, and he did know that this was her last day in Elysium, the last day he could call on her, and his last day before Camp Jupiter arrives.
"I'm sorry Bicana." Nico found himself saying.
He shouldn't have relied on Percy to protect Bicana, because he should've done that. He blamed Bicana's death on himself, and blamed himself for not being there for her. She tried getting something for his Mythomagic collection, and in return, she died. Nico felt tears threatening to escape his eyes as he blinked them away, knowing if they falled they wouldn't stop, and Bicana would see him as a vulnerable, broken boy.
But he had to be strong, for himself, Bicana, and possibly Reyna. He couldn't be seen as weak. Gods, he was a son of Hades, and children of the Big Three were supposed to be seen as heroes, not weaklings.
"But you are a hero." A tiny voice said in his head, and Nico found it was a mixture of Bicana's and Reyna's. "You brought the Athena Parthenos to Camp Jupiter with Reyna and Coach Hedge. You prevented a war happening between Greeks and Romans, when a greater war and a greater risk was at stake. Be proud of yourself, Nico."
"Nico... It isn't your fault. Fate planned that day. Don't worry." Bicana's soothing voice rippled through Nico's fears, shattering them for a single moment.
Nico shook his head. "I'm still sorry..." Nico let out a soft smile. "Have a good life reborn, Bicana."
A smile spread through Bicana's ghostly features.
"Goodbye, Nico. I'll always love you. Remember that..." Bicana paused, hesitating for a moment.
"Find something for you, someone who knows you. Live a happy life, Nico. I don't want you to always be in the shadows. I want you to be happy."
Then, Bicana vanished, as well as her grave.
Nico watched as Bicana's grave slowly faded away, and the ghost just collapsed into regular mist again, falling to the ground.
"I want you to be happy." Bicana's words echoed in Nico's head.
I want you to be happy...
Reyna woke up, feeling excitement she usually didn't show or feel as praetor of New Rome. She threw off her sheets, feeling the refreshing cold hit her, but she didn't care, feeling to giddy to shiver. She got dressed in her usual praetor uniform, brushed her slightly messed up hair, brushed her teeth, washed her face, and did her usual morning routine, except this time it felt long and lagging, and Reyna couldn't wait to get to Camp Half-Blood.
Reyna's gaze met the mirror's. She was three inches shorter, her eyes looked younger, yet she was still the same. A surge of discouragement ran through her. What if it didn't work? What if this was a trick? A nasty, nasty trick?
"Nonsense." Reyna thought to herself. "Just get to Camp Half-Blood, say hello to Nico, have a good time, and wait on it."
Reyna sighed. She was so excited to see a new sign of hope or life, a new kind of light in her dull, cold life, but she'll have to wait. Her reward wouldn't come that quickly, right?
So, of course Reyna couldn't help but feel disappointed. But it still pointless, after all, what did she expect? Yet, she still couldn't feel slightly discouraged, even when she knew good things couldn't come so quickly. She couldn't get a reward that could possibly change her life yet.
"Stop thinking about it as a reward." Reyna thought. "You don't deserve such things."
"But you do..." A voice in her head spoke. "You were a great ally in the Giant War, and put your trust in the Greek even when Camp Jupiter didn't trust you, even when you were the praetor. You still believed in Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Jason, Hazel, and Frank."
Reyna shook her head before heading out the door, ready to leave for Camp Half Blood.
She walked outside, only to meet Frank outside in the Praetor's room outside.
"Hello Frank." Reyna greeted somewhat coldly, still disappointed at the fact the only thing that happened to her was that she became shorter and looked younger.
Frank examined her for a moment, and Reyna wondered somewhat self-consciously if he noticed she became younger. "Did he notice?" Reyna thought, uncomfortably shifting where she was standing.
Then, Frank finally realized he was staring and opened his mouth to apologize, saying, "Sorry... It's just that you look a bit... different."
No kidding.
Reyna sighed for the second time that hour. She really was expecting more, wasn't she?
"Don't forget that we're going to Camp Half-Blood today." Reyna thought to herself. "I have one thing to look forward to."
And now, Camp Jupiter would finally leave.
Considering Reyna was praetor, she woke up 1 hour earlier than everyone else along with Frank, and with Hazel as well, who decided to wake up early due to her being seen as a camp leader and Hazel wanting to see her boyfriend. Jason also woke up, more than excited to see Piper.
Reyna watched a few feet away as Hazel gave Frank what she presumed was a heart warming hug, looking at the love so visible in the pair's eyes. In the background, she felt so cold and distant. Reyna stared down at her feet, shuffling out of her front steps.
There was Jason as well. The boy she thought she once loved was so piped to see his girlfriend, Piper, the one he considerded the most important person in the world, and the one he loved and held on to so dearly, and the one he would do anything for.
Reyna couldn't help but feel a feeling nagging at her, and a tinge of hurt start aching at her heart, seemingly eating up all of her emotions to leave her in the dark of sorrow and envy.
"What is you truly want?" A tiny voice asked in her mind, echoing off and repeating itself over and over again. "What is it you want?" Reyna shuffled away, walking away from Jason and Frank and Hazel, who all harvested a deep love for somebody who loved and cared for them back just as much. What did she want? Maybe, maybe she just wanted someone to care for her.
"That's ridiculous." Reyna thought. "I have friends. I have a lot of people who care for me."
"But do they truly know who you are?" A voice retorted, as Reyna hesitated.
"Nico knows what I've gone through." Reyna admitted to herself. "He sees beyond the cold Praetor of New Rome."
Reyna almost thought about the voice "nodding with satisfaction", but then pinched herself.
Who was she to care about this? She was the praetor, and it was in her, as the praetor of New Rome, to care for the campers and make wise desicions for New Rome, and the last thing to have on her own mind was her own feelings. "But you'll always be left out, won't you?" The voice questioned again. "Where will you find yourself, where would Reyna, not praetor, feel belonged?"
That caught Reyna off guard, and soon enough, everyone awakened and gathered by the stand.
The thoughts will just have to wait. It was time for Reyna to make her speech.
She was observed by some campers, shot looks of confusion as she walked past them and to the wooden stand that was covered with frost. No doubt they noticed something strange, but they probably could not figure it out... Not yet. So, Reyna walked past them cooly, knowing that they'll let it slide.
Reyna didn't know if she wanted to keep it a secret or not. It was, after all, a gift, a rare gift, from Lady Aphrodite. Reyna could've sworn it was Aphrodite, and not Venus, yet she didn't know why.
Maybe, just maybe, this was changing her perspective again.
Reyna placed a bare hand on the frost covering the smooth wood that spread across the stand, ready to make her announcement.
So she's done this plenty of times. She was the praetor, of New Rome.
But has she looked more deeply inside.
What about Reyna?
Ignoring her thoughts, Reyna delivered her speech clearly and loudly.
"I, Reyna, daughter of Bellona, and the proud praetor of New Rome am thrilled to announce that we'll be visiting Camp Half-Blood and staying there for a month." Reyna then moved aside so Frank could say his part of the speech.
"We're here to visit and unite with our allies once more, but most importantly, to see our friends again. We'll be leaving in approximately 20 minutes, so prepare your bags and suitcases, because we're leaving for Camp Half-Blood!"
And 20 minutes later, Reyna found herself well on her way to Camp Half-Blood with a question on her lips.
Was she really Reyna, or simply the praetor of New Rome, nothing more? Which one was she?
