Oh gods. I am so sorry I didn't update this thing earlier. I've been so engrossed in my other story, and my new one shot series, Shatter, that I'd almost forgotten about this. Again, sorry!
Jason wouldn't admit it, but he was ashamed.
He was ashamed of taking his guilt out on Percy, of doing this to Piper, of not being strong enough to glue the two camps together. And most of all, he was ashamed of abandoning Reyna. When she needed him. The guilt was giving him sleepless nights, and sitting in the café in New Rome, wallowing in self-pity, that the dark-haired praetor wasn't there to have the coffee with him didn't make it better.
No.
The guilt was crushing him, making him hesitant when he found Reyna in the mess hall, her jaw clenched as she stared down, hard, at the cheeseburger on the table in front of her. Making him insignificant when he confronted the son of Poseidon, as he lost control and sent a punch his way; a punch that drew a satisfying crack as it connected with Percy's jaw. A punch that drew blood from his mouth; the dark red liquid flowing out in a line from one end of his mouth.
Jason was sick with the satisfaction he felt as Percy sucked in his breath, obviously in pain.
Reyna swore and ran to her current co-praetor's help, quickly wiping away her tears with the back of her wrist, like she did when she was upset, and using her scarred knuckles to wipe away the blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Piper whimpered as she looked at the son of Jupiter, her eyes in fragments like broken glass, pieces of red shimmering in her irises, as if resembling the blood seeping from her own 'broken-glass' heart.
It took all of his willpower to not wither away under her gaze.
Reyna was looking at him in indignation-what?-and hatred, which was quite different from the earlier hopeful look she associated with Jason.
Because of Percy.
Jason turned away from her gaze as his heart twisted painfully inside his chest, but the only other place to look was at the daughter of Aphrodite, whose look wasn't exactly gratifying. His shoulders slumped as he registered her look of utter, utter betrayal and pain.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Really early, aren't you?" From her tone, it seemed like Piper was trying to keep her tone teasing, but failed as her voice broke at you.
He looked at Percy, refusing Piper's advance. "I was talking to him, not you."
Piper visibly swallowed and her breathing hitched. "I was talking to him, too. Not you."
Jason blinked turned to Percy, blinking back his tears of shame and rage. The son of Poseidon was still seemingly reeling from the blow, but he shook his head and looked up at Reyna, his gaze seeming to speak a million words.
Reyna nodded.
As Jason watched, Reyna, his best friend of four years, and his one true love, slid her arm around Percy's waist and pressed her lips to his jaw, where Jason had punched him. Idly, through a haze of pain and despair, the blond demigod wondered if this was the way the daughter of Bellona had felt when he had come back with Piper.
It must have hurt, then.
Percy looked at the Cherokee beauty and gave a curt nod. "I guess I was early."
And then he turned back, Reyna still next to him.
This time, Jason wasn't sure he'd be able to stop his tears from spilling over.
"And Jason," Percy turned his head back to look at him, and Jason looked up at him. His face was as hard as stone. "I'm not the one to apologize to."
He turned his head back, facing the view of the city of New Rome as he and the Roman praetor walked towards it. "It's Reyna."
And then Jason's tears spilled onto his face.
Line Break
Jason sat in the Fields of Mars, alone, thinking about their first kiss.
Of course, he wasn't sure who they were. Maybe it was him and Reyna. Maybe it was Piper.
But he was in the Fields of Mars. It must be Reyna. For places of happenings drew mourners, did they not?
He remembered when they'd returned from the war with Krios. Victorious. How they'd sat in content silence here, just the two of them, with her head on his shoulder and his arm around hers. How they'd laughed and talked in hushed tones, hoping to evade the attention of partying legionnaires. How she'd smiled at him, a true smile, as he'd attempted to get the words out. How they'd both kissed, literally floating off the ground. How they'd been happy.
And now everything was going to crumble.
He couldn't blame Percy, though. He knew that he couldn't hate him for taking his Reyna. After these eight months, she wasn't exactly his anymore.
He sighed, and his fingers slid over the sand of the earth, probing the ground next to him where Reyna should've been, as if yearning for her. He was yearning for her.
Jason remembered her face as he'd asked her what was wrong, at breakfast that day. She'd looked up at him, and her eyes had grown bright with unshed tears. Like looking at him in the condition she was in, she couldn't hold it all in anymore. Life had not been fair to Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano.
It had not been fair to Reyna, either.
Because the aforementioned girl was a different person with her full name. The names were different. The full name was of a little girl back in San Juan, a little girl haunted by ghosts of the dead.
This name, the one without her surname, was of a warrior in San Francisco, a leader haunted by ghosts of past relationships. Of dead love.
Jason felt the hot tears threatening to spill again as his pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them close to his body, as if they were the body of the aforementioned girl.
Of the aforementioned warrior.
So this was basically a filler chapter, but it provides insight that Jason is not the villain here. It's the conditions.
