Disclaimer: SwanDestiny doesn't own the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series.
Reyna bit her lip, lacing her fingers together and clutching her own hands together hard.
She shut tight her eyes. Demigods were giving her weird looks, like they noticed she not only got shorter, but younger. A feeling of clasping her hands really tight starting blocking out every other feeling she felt at the moment, as Reyna tried to erase the thoughts of what happened today. Reyna still remembered Drew sending a look at her before bursting into hysterical giggles, and whispering something to her sister like, "Reyna just isn't pulling off the praetor look anymore." Reyna had to count to ten before bursting out with emotions of either crying or being really, really angry. It was... a strange thing. This never happened to her before. It never did.
The pressure on Reyna's eyes slightly lifted as she calmed down a bit. Maybe Aphrodite's youth potion was really changing her - not on the outside, but on the inside as well. It was bringing back the youth that she lost years ago. What else could it hand to her?
Reyna let go of her hands, letting them fall to the ground and hold on to the soft, dewey grass. Her world was just thrown upside down, in a good and bad way.
The sun was still shining it's usual glow, but Reyna never truly noticed it until now. She never noticed how once the sun would cast a look on the campers, they would light up, even through a tragedy. The sun was like a beacon of light to them, during dark times, because of how it would cast away the shadows, except instead of a literal sun, they saw it as a metaphorical one.
She noticed so many things...
She saw things that she never saw before, like how she never noticed how something could be so soft or how a single word could be so meaningful. Reyna also forgot somethings, as well as remembering shards of her old vision - She forgot about the stress, and the shadows that haunted her mind, if only for a second. Her life was renewed - It was refreshing, and she had to start over.
Like how Reyna never experienced how soft and good the white grains of sand felt under her feet at the lake shore, and how the waves would wash over her toes with that gentle feeling, like the water was washing away her worries for her.
Was this what all people feel sometimes? Was this what she was missing out on?
Because Reyna loved it. The sensation of "the little things" that she was never able to appreciate before, caught up in her own troubles and her veil of darkness. It was as if the potion - and Aphrodite lifted it for her?
Reyna's eyebrows rose as she realized something for the first time. Why was she refering Venus as Aphrodite, in her greek form? Something in her head told her it was because she was in her greek form when she visited her for the second time, but it seemed like something else, another thing that she subconsciously knew about right after she sipped down that potion.
"No matter," Reyna thought. "I could figure it out later. It's not even that important."
What was important, was that Reyna was finally feeling the effects, the wonderful, positive effects that the youth potion was giving her.
But everything came with a price.
Everyone always kept some kind of eye on her, casting her "the look". Like "what happened to you?" in the not-so-nice way. They sent her glances full of confusion, and some people would shake their heads, saying "they never saw that look on her before". Reyna just wanted to shove their flashing eyes away, but she couldn't. What happened to all the friends she made? Why couldn't they understand one little change?
"It's because they don't know you," A voice in Reyna's head darkly commented.
They didn't truly know her. Even if Percy and Annabeth thought that they completely understood Reyna (Reyna knew that they wished they could), everytime she saw them together, laughing, smiling, or even mourning together, it felt like a mental slap to her.
She wished she had someone who could hold her, who could love her, who could understand her. But there was no one.
"The curse may be lifted," A voice reminded her in her head. "But it might be too late. You'll always be alone. Make the best of it."
Yes, make the best of it. What would be the point of it though, if she didn't have anybody to share it with? Someone who knew her, her true intentions, and her true heart?
"Nico understands," A tiny voice rang in her head.
She never told Nico about the curse though. Reyna also didn't tell him about the youth potion.
Maybe when the time was right...
There was an audible sigh, as somebody rose from the grounds and away from the fields, fingers no longer holding on to the earth that was anchoring her to her own place.
And as she walked to the dining pavilon, she never felt so light, yet so alone.
Reyna's mind then drifted back to Nico. Seeing Nico was definitely the highlight of her day, even if he couldn't know the truth... Yet. He was like the only thing keeping her from going insane, with no one being able to see through her cover. He was the one bond that Reyna would choose over the others, as hard as it was to reject them.
"I should be happier." Reyna thought. "A happier praetor."
Was that even possible though? How could she be happy if she knew that she was supposed to do so much work, locked up in her room or office or whatever people wanted to call it, doing paperwork, looking out for New Rome while everyone else outside snuggled up together in pairs, or played board games with each other or something?
"That's it," Reyna thought. "I could be Reyna, and have Nico by my side, but being praetor at the same time..."
It wasn't a possiblity. It was just... impossible.
There was a silence - a terrible silence in her head, like the sound of the earth before a thunderstorm. It was also like listening to the earth, to something, anything, for a heartbeat, but finding nothing. It's the crushing disappointment, and the rush of everything Reyna thought she moved on from crashing back down on her like a tidal wave.
Just... Nothing... Nothing left there for you. Nothing.
"Hey," A soft voice sounding like Nico's whispered into her head. "Cheer up. This counts as your vacation. This is your Reyna-time. Are you going to use it pondering about the misery, or are you going to use it for the best? Open up. Tell me. You can tell me anything."
Reyna's eyes crinkled with a more innocent meaning as she reached the pavilon, after hearing Nico's reassuring voice in her head again. Yes, she could make it through this problem. Through the war, she found peace. Through this drama, she'll find an answer.
"I wish I could tell you everything, Nico." Reyna thought, thinking back to the time when Nico and her were alone, and he told her it was better to confess than hold a burden alone. She told him everything, except for the curse. "I swear on the River Styx... Just not right now."
And she will do that.
Nico could tell something was wrong with Reyna, and he intended to find out why.
As Reyna scanned her eyes through the crowd, looking for a place to sit she found his eyes and lit up, yet there was a shadow looming behind the light in her eyes, like how the twilight would come after the day.
It almost looked like Reyna was torn between two sides, Nico thought to himself. One side of a mountain would be the hard climb up, fighting all the troubles and the worries and the other side of the mountain would be like a slide, leading you down to a peaceful life as you looked around and absorbed all the new scenes. No... It wasn't like a mountain, because both sides of the mountains weren't bad. Something else was overtaking Reyna, and Nico had no idea what it was.
"Don't you remember when you were sitting next to Reyna and the Athena Parthenos, when you both spilled out all of your lives?" A small voice asked. "Don't you?"
It felt like a lifetime ago, when it was only a few months or so. He remembered groaning at the thought about how his own advice applied to him as well, watching his hand and skin flickering on and off, like a light switch. Then he told Reyna everything. Every detail of his life, from the death of his mother to moving to Lotus Casino and staying there for over 50 years or so, even when it felt like a few months, with sleeping every few weeks or so, blind to the rapidly moving colors outside of the changing world...
Nico shook his head, clearing the thought in his head. Maybe it was after that, at some point he became so invested in Mythomagic. Mythomagic was basically his life, back then. He was happy, oblivious to the turn his path was about to take and his true past and identity.
Then Percy came.
He recalled seeing Annabeth fall off the cliff, not knowing what was happening as Percy's eyes widened with shock, disbelief, and defeat. He also asked a very red and worried Percy if Annabeth was his girlfriend. All he knows now that she was his love now.
He fell for Percy because he was his idol then. He admired him so much. Nico was flushed when he told Reyna this. Reyna just cracked a small smile, a geuine smile for the first time. Nico felt some part of him lift up at the sight of that smile. He always felt so alone... Now there was somebody to carry the burden with him.
Nico didn't remember telling the rest of the story, but it only felt like a cool silence to him, with misty clouds and the soft padding of their feet, as if the story unraveled the rest of itself on it's own. It didn't, because Nico told her it all, but it felt like it to him.
After that, they became increasingly closer by the second. They became best friends. The only people who knew each other, and find each other hiding in the dark and take the other's hand to light up his or her world again. Their world.
Nico shook his head. So what did Reyna not mention? He cast his eye up to the sky.
"You could tell me anything, you know."
Nico looked around, looking at the food at the dining pavilon. Today for dinner the nymphs made a huge buffet for Camp Half-Blood and Jupiter, and just seeing the food chased his thoughts away temporarily and made him drool. Nico raced over there and grabbed a plate, his eyes scanning the delicious looking combinations (Tacos!).
He could eat for now, and think about it later right?
And now wasn't the time to worry anyways.
Anyways, tomorrow did happen to be the carnivals. And carnivals were supposed to be fun.
SwanDestiny: I'm not a guy, but I like food too! Dinner is ready... Yay. As long as it's good food. Also a yay for ten chapters! And, the plot barely started. This isn't an all happy happy drama story. There's also adventure... How many more chapters until that happens? I don't know.\
SwanDestiny: Back from math camp! YAY! The food was good, the classes were boring but some were okay, and so many friends... There's just one person I'm not going to miss. Camp life would've been so much without this person. Well, I haven't updated in a long time - I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!
SwanDestiny: Usual procedure: Review, review, and review! Follow and Favorite if you haven't already, and a new thing to: Check out all my works as well! I wrote a lot of Percy Jackson/Heroes Of Olympus fanfiction, as well as my newest one-shot: Used To, for all of you Reynico supporters! It's kind of tragic at the beginning, but it's romantic and fluffy - I read it myself, and I'm just like: I'm getting that good? Really? It's not as good as the story that inspired me to write it (Talked about it in the last chapter's ending A/N) but I'm getting better at this writing thing.
SwanDestiny: I think this chapter is a real improvement compared to the other slightly rushed ones! Sorry about those ones... It'll get better, I promise you!
SwanDestiny: One last thing to - I wrote a Reynico song! It's on my profile, so be sure to check that out!
Bye guys!