The search for Gaea had so far proven to be uneventful. Which was good in some ways, bad in others. Considering the fact they were traveling on land, it was good that she hadn't shown herself and her army. It was bad because it meant she had a target, most likely somewhere important. Like Rome or Athens. She wouldn't be bothered with a little army like theirs.
Reyna's legs ached like no other, but Scipio was currently giving Annabeth a break from walking. They had been taking turns all day on him, but that didn't make her legs hurt any less. She could only imagine how the other soldiers felt, who weren't as lucky to have a horse to ride. Reyna could occasionally catch an envious soldier glance back and give them a glare.
"You told him, didn't you?" Annabeth asked, pulling Reyna out of her thoughts.
Reyna didn't understand what she meant at first, but then she looked in the direction of Annabeth's eyes and got it. "I didn't exactly tell Leo, he more like found out when my hair fell out. Maybe I should've cut it shorter," Reyna said quietly. Even though they were far back from the nearest soldier, she still wanted to be extra cautious.
"He's not going to reveal you?" Annabeth said questionably in disbelief.
Reyna grabbed Scipio's reins for support. "No, I don't think he minds. Plus he acted a little scared of me."
Annabeth stroked Scipio's neck softly. "He should be. But I would be careful in the ways you interact with each other, okay?"
"What do you mean?" Reyna asked.
"I mean, don't flirt or people will get suspicious," Annabeth said, as if it should be obvious.
Reyna crossed her arms. "I do not flirt with anyone, especially General Leo!"
Annabeth gave her a sympathetic look. "Of course you don't."
Reyna decided that it was a good time to end this conversation, so she walked ahead with Scipio's reins still in her hand. Reyna wasn't a coward, but she didn't want to face the cold reality of her feelings for Leo. She'd felt rejection and loss one too many times, and with her luck, Leo probably didn't even like her. In fact, after this war (assuming they both survived,) Reyna was pretty sure Leo wouldn't even give her a second glance.
She examined the front of the army, which seemed oddly empty without Hazel and her horse, Arion. Leo was whistling and building objects and talking to Piper while Octavian kept throwing annoyed glances and writing things down. The rest of the army was sullenly walking along behind them, not really paying attention to anything in particular.
Suddenly, Reyna saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She snapped her head around, trying to find the source of movement. She scanned the mountains and the trees for any more, but she didn't find anything. Reyna knew it couldn't have been any of their army because she and Annabeth were the last ones in line. Maybe it was an animal or something?
"I saw it also," Annabeth said, leaning forward on Scipio.
Reyna looked back in disbelief. "You did? What do you think it was?"
Annabeth grimaced. "I'm not sure. It's hard to tell monsters from mere animals, assuming Gaea's army has monsters in it. Which I'm sure it does. She couldn't survive only on brainwashed, possessed people."
"I'm going to go report it to Leo, if that's alright with you. Scipio likes you, so I don't think he'll do anything stupid," Reyna said, handing the reins over to Annabeth.
Annabeth replied, but Reyna was already on her way, pushing through the army to get to the front. Soldiers yelled at her to get back to the end of the line, but Reyna ignored them and pushed through. One soldier dared to hit Reyna in the arm and though she was tempted to turn around and punch him, she continued on. Once Reyna was in Leo's earshot, she yelled.
"Leo!"
Leo turned around at the recognition of her voice. Reyna stumbled up closer to him, breathing hard. "We seen…something! Don't…know what…but it was something!" Reyna said between breaths.
"What do you think we should do then?" Leo asked, glancing over to Octavian.
Reyna looked around to the mountains. "You're in charge! But I think we should…stay on guard, just in case it was part of Gaea's army. And we should be quiet, not make any excess noise."
Leo followed her gaze, and began to mess with the belt around his waist. "I don't know why we're traveling over land in the first place. Why didn't I build a flying ship or something cool like that?" he mumbled to himself.
"Because you would've never had the time, that's why," Reyna answered shortly. She stepped back into the first row of soldiers. "I'm going to spread the word to be on guard."
Reyna left before he could answer, she didn't want Octavian to write any more of their conversations down. It got annoying after a while. She walked along the soldiers swiftly, telling them the news. Most had already been intently listening to their conversation, so they had heard and spread on.
She was almost to the end of the line when she arrived at the carriage full of ammunition and weapons. Some younger soldiers were guarding it poorly, too busy messing around and not paying attention to anything that was going on. They kept picking up dirt and throwing it at each other, unaware that a very angry Reyna was about to yell at them.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing, idiots?" Reyna scolded as quietly as possible.
A redhead dropped the dirt he'd had in his hands. "Just having a bit of fun, that's all. Nothing harmful," he said innocently.
Reyna grabbed him by the collar. "Are you aware of the fact that this army may be being watched at the moment by Gaea? You could've given us away! So knock it off and watch the cart like you're supposed to, got it?"
The redhead nodded nervously and Reyna released her hold on him. But one of the other boys had not been listening, and he continued on with his antics. Reyna reached over to smack him upside the head, but it was too late. The boy tripped over a rock, accidentally triggering his gun into the air.
The air was deathly quiet after the gunshot. Reyna looked at the mountain in panic and slapped the boy. "You just gave away our position!"
Leo started to run over to the back of the line by Reyna. "What's going on back here?"
Reyna pointed to the boys by the cart. "These boys were messing around-"
She was cut off as she saw something fly in front of her and hit Leo right in the shoulder. Leo cursed and dropped to the ground. "Leo!" she yelled and fell forward to him.
Leo pushed her away and pointed. "Rey, watch out!"
Reyna turned quickly and seen a horde of arrows come flying straight at the army. Thankfully, Annabeth had it together.
"Take cover!" Annabeth yelled, jumping off Scipio and grabbing a shield.
The army snapped out of shock and into action. Reyna pulled Leo up and jumped onto her horse, running straight for the invisible army. The arrows had stopped flying, leaving their army in disarray. Reyna scanned the mountain for the source, but they had stopped firing for just that reason. Gaea didn't want them to know what direction they were coming from.
Reyna backed up on Scipio and rode towards Leo and Annabeth, who had her dagger out. "What now?" she asked.
"We wait," Annabeth answered. "If we continue on, they'll just follow us and ambush us from behind. We have to wait for them to show themselves and fight them here. This is our stand."
Piper pushed through the crowd and gently grabbed Leo's shoulder. "Leo, let me wrap it, please. I've done everybody's except yours."
Leo turned away from Piper. "No, it's fine. Just make sure the rest of the world is before me. You've got a few bloody spots as well."
Reyna moved Scipio behind Leo, leaned down, and grabbed his torso and neck firmly. "Now do it, Piper."
"Hey! That's not fair!" Leo said, squirming against Reyna's hold.
Piper smiled and started to tend to the wound. "Thanks, Reyna."
"It's no problem, really. And Leo, you know that you couldn't fight a battle with your arm like that. How stupid are you?" Reyna asked. Scipio turned his head and lightly bit Leo's side.
Leo gasped as Piper applied alcohol at the same time. "You're a ray of sunshine today, aren't you? I thought we were on the same side!" he said to Scipio. He paused for a moment, then laughed. "Haha, get it? Ray, Rey?"
Reyna rolled her eyes. At the mention of sunshine, Reyna was reminded of her "guardian", Apollo. She hadn't seen him for a while, in fact, the last mention she'd heard of him was when he "helped" by sending them to General Frank's camp.
"Has anyone else heard anything about the gods lately?" Reyna blurted. Piper stopped working on Leo and shared a look with Annabeth.
Annabeth rubbed the handle on her dagger and looked up at Reyna. "You haven't heard? They've retreated into Olympus. They won't be helping us with this war. At least for a while."
Reyna was astounded by this news. "How to they expect us to-"
"THEY'RE COMING!" Octavian screamed, running towards them and pointing to the mountainside on the north.
Reyna let go of Leo and followed Octavian's finger. Sure enough, a very unfriendly army was running down the mountain, probably screaming and yelling about how they were going to demolish Leo's army. The odd thing was though, that the army was not made up of monsters like Annabeth had guessed. Instead, they were regular men. Maybe brainwashed psycho men, but they were still violent and would kill Reyna without a second thought.
Again, Annabeth had it together first. "Let's go, let's go!" she yelled to the army, snapping them out of the initial shock again.
Reyna went into action, following the running soldiers with Scipio. Reyna watched from behind as the two bloodthirsty armies clashed just below the mountain. She pushed on, though she didn't want to. This was her time to prove herself, so why wasn't she trying hard?
Reyna dove into the fight on Scipio, slashing and stabbing without thinking, trying to ease the pain her mind was going through at the moment. It was easier if she didn't think about what she was doing. The opposing side were just a bunch of training dummies, and she was at home, practicing.
A loud bang of a cannon going off near her broke her from her thoughts. Reyna looked around the battle ground. They were greatly outnumbered, five to one at least. There was no way they could win this battle. Reyna would normally solve this problem by fighting her hardest, and if she died, she died with honor. If they lost and the whole army died, that's just what happened.
But Leo's lesson with the candle and pole had changed her way of thinking. She hated to admit it, but she would have to solve this problem "Leo-Style", as he would've put it.
Reyna backed out of the battle and searched the mountain. She needed a weak spot, one she could hit with a cannon and make it collapse. Her eyes found one almost immediately, and it was perfect. One dilemma, though: the best spot to shoot from was currently occupied by a swirling mass of dirt that Reyna was sure would form into Gaea if she didn't get there fast enough.
"Scipio, go!" Reyna yelled to her horse over the noise of battle. They galloped over to their headquarters, where Piper was handing out weapons and cannons nonstop.
As they approached, Piper wiped a hand across her forehead. "Cannon?" she asked, reaching into the cart.
Reyna nodded. "Yes, quickly now!" she said impatiently.
Piper handed her a small cannon. "It's small, but it's the last one. Make it count!" she yelled as Reyna kicked Scipio and galloped away.
She rushed through her side of the army and tried to go around the other side to avoid any more bloodshed from her. A few opposing soldiers tried to bring her down by attacking Scipio, but he was smart and armored.
"What are you doing?"
Reyna turned at the sound of Leo's voice coming from the fight. "I'm fixing the problem! Focus on staying alive!"
She didn't stay for his response, she had a job to do. It was very likely that the majority of both armies would not survive, but Reyna had to risk it. If she could defeat Gaea, or at least stop her rising, the rest of her armies would fall. And if that meant sacrificing her life and everyone else's, it would be worth it.
Reyna bounded off of Scipio as they got closer to the swirling dirt. The ground felt like quicksand beneath her feet, but she knew Gaea was just messing with her. Reyna positioned the cannon the best she could without getting any closer to the mass of earth.
"You will fail," a sickening, lulling voice said from the mass as she found her aim. "It will all be for nothing. I should like to take your life here, Reyna, dear."
Reyna hesitated. "How do you know my name?"
"I am the earth. I know and hear everything. You know this is dangerous, a very big risk, so why do it at all? Your precious Leo could die. Give up, and let my army win. The world will be better," Gaea's voice taunted.
Reyna struck a match. "No. I want you to watch me as your army dies and Leo doesn't. I know this is a big risk, but I am Reyna, daughter of Bellona, and I am not a coward!"
She lit the cannon on fire and closed her eyes, hoping desperately that she had aimed correctly. A loud rumble ensued, whether it was from the mountain or Gaea's anger, she didn't know. Curiosity got the best of Reyna, and she looked around at the mountain. The collapsing mountain.
Reyna whooped in victory. She'd done it! "Take that, Gaea!" she yelled at the receding mass.
"Goodbye, brave Reyna," Gaea said pleasantly. Then the earth shifted below Reyna's knees and she began to sink alongside Gaea. She felt a rock or something sharp hit her chest violently, and Reyna gasped in pain.
Reyna panicked. "Scipio!" she yelled.
Scipio bounded over, letting Reyna grab his reins as he pulled her out. Reyna swung onto him and they galloped, racing the crumbling mountain slide of rocks.
She caught Leo's eye, and he voiced what had passed between the both of their minds. "RETREAT! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly what Reyna hadn't been thinking, maybe a little less dramatic, but it worked. Reyna began to yell it alongside him, passing it to the remaining soldiers that weren't already killed in battle or by the rockslide.
Suddenly, a rock came out of no where and smacked into Leo's side. "Leo!" Reyna yelled, kicking Scipio over to where Leo lay on the ground.
They somehow maneuvered over to him without getting hit by any major rocks, and Reyna held out her hand to Leo, eyeing the flow of rocks coming towards them. "Give me your hand!"
Leo groggily lifted his hand before falling unconscious. Reyna caught it just in time and quickly pulled him up onto Scipio with a little difficulty. Scipio neighed nervously, and Reyna looked up to see a giant piece of rock coming straight towards them.
"Go!" she screamed, and they sprinted towards the closest boulder.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for absolutely everything!
And if anybody needs an idea for something to write, I have something that would be amazing to do with Leo, if you could figure out how to do it and make it awesome! If you want it, pm me and I'll tell you!