Happy New Year, everyone! To celebrate fresh starts and new beginnings, let's return to this ancient story that I haven't updated in ages. :P

I can't believe it's been over four months since the last update—I am so sorry about that! But school was crazy and I had a lot going on outside of school too and then I did NaNoWriMo and I wanted to finish To Storm or Fire and... well, you don't need more of an explanation, just the next chapter, right? :)

Oh, and I felt the need to say that now that BoO is out, wow this story does not conform to canon at all, heheh... Oh well. It's still fun to write! And anyway, I'm not going to abandon a story just because it's no longer canon. :)

Enjoy the chapter!

Dedication: To the Guest that told me they missed this story because I didn't realize anyone did... This story never had much support to begin with, and I can't imagine that many people still care about it after two mini-hiatuses. But your review convinced me to finish this up, so here you go—the second-to-last chapter! Even if you're the only person who reads this, I hope you're happy with what I came up with!

P.S. You might want to skim through the last few chapters to remind yourself of everything that's happened. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own HoO.

Old Friends, Old Enemies

"You . . . are you serious?"

Reyna couldn't look Hylla in the eye. "Yeah, I'm serious," she muttered. "That's really what happened. I . . . I'm sorry. When I jumped off of Scipio to stop monsters from climbing out of the exit, I only wanted to protect everyone. I didn't think about how it would affect you." She gulped. "You already lost Kinzie, and I almost made you lose me too. That was wrong of me. I'm sorry, Hylla."

After a moment of silence, Hylla sighed, sunk into the chair by Reyna's cot, and pulled her knees up to her chin. The gesture was so . . . so un-Hylla that Reyna's eyebrows creased. "Hylla? Are you all right?"

Hylla laughed softly but didn't change positions. "Oh, I'm fine," she claimed. "I just found out that my little sister almost died two days ago and nobody bothered to tell me about it until now, but I'm fine."

Reyna winced. "Sorry," she said again. "Nobody even thought about telling everyone else what was going on. They were all too focused on . . ." On saving my life. Reyna couldn't bring herself to say it.

Hylla, however, had no such reservations. "Yeah, I know," she muttered. "I'm not angry. I'd much rather they saved your life and left us all in the dark than flew off to get me so I could cry over your dead body."

Reyna could feel her heart crumbling inside her chest. "Gods, Hylla," she said, "I really am sorry. Believe me, you're not the only person to tell me that I was stupid to fight all those monsters alone without accepting anyone else's help—"

"Oh, I never said that," Hylla said sharply.

Reyna blinked. "What?"

"I never said you should have accepted other people's help," Hylla repeated. "You don't have to apologize for doing something good. I know my little sister wouldn't let a dog get hurt if she could prevent it."

"Of course not!" Reyna said, thinking of Aurum and Argentum.

"Even if it cost you your life," Hylla added, raising her eyebrows. "I know you, Reyna. I never would have guessed that you would have a lack of self-worth and a ridiculous saving-people-thing while we lived with Circe—"

"Mostly because I had no reason to feel that way then," Reyna interjected.

"—but I sure as hell knew about it by the time I saw you fight Polybotes's army in June," Hylla finished. "I . . . you saved a lot of people by fighting alone like that. I can't admonish you for being a noble, self-sacrificing idiot."

Reyna wasn't sure whether to laugh or complain. "Um . . . thanks?"

"Besides," Hylla added with a smirk, "I doubt my headstrong, independent, 'I-can-run-a-legion-alone' little sister would appreciate a lecture from her 'only-slightly-older' sister."

"True."

"But don't you dare pull something like that again." With those words, Reyna saw the lightness in Hylla's teasing expression fade away. "Dammit, Reyna, you were right to think that losing a friend like Kinzie is already destroying me. If I had lost you too, you can't even imagine how broken I'd end up."

Reyna imagined losing Jason and then Hylla within the space of a few days and gulped. "Actually, I think I can."

Hylla ignored her. "So if you think I'm going to let you go out into a potentially-suicidal fight without me or Jason or someone at your back ever again, you're not as smart as I thought you were. I understand that you have a saving-people thing and you don't want anyone you're in charge of to get hurt . . . but I have a saving-people thing too, and I refuse to let anyone I'm in charge of to get hurt either, and as long as you're my little sister I'm still in charge of you. So I refuse to let you fight alone ever again. All right? It's not an option."

Reyna snorted. "As if you could stop me."

"Reyna—"

"But I won't!" she added hastily. "Don't worry. Jason already chewed me out and told me that I was secretly a good person and deserved to live a long life and didn't have to make sacrifices to make up for what I've done because I've already done that a million times over and all that crap." She fiddled with her bedsheets and tugged at her bandages. "And I know you just told me I don't have to apologize, but I'm sorry anyway. No one should have to lose two sisters in two days."

"You're right," Hylla said, putting her hand over Reyna's. "But I didn't have to, so your apology is accepted." She laughed suddenly. "Thanks to that Jason Grace, of all people. Who knew I'd be grateful to a man?"

"You'd better get used to it," Reyna warned. "He's the third guy to save my life during this battle."

"What—"

"But I've saved his life about sixty times, so it's all right."

Hylla grinned. "Of course you have. I wouldn't expect anything less from a daughter of Bellona. I . . ." In an instant, her expression morphed from amused to relieved. "Gods, I'm so glad you're all right, Reyna-girl." Before Reyna could warn her about the broken ribs, Hylla swooped off her chair and wrapped her arms around Reyna's neck.

Luckily, she avoided the ribs—and the head injury, and the endless scratches covering Reyna's body, and the stab/poison wound in her leg. Or maybe it wasn't luck at all. Maybe Hylla had just scrutinized Reyna's injuries that worriedly.

When it came to her older sister, Reyna never could be sure.

I'm not sure what Hylla wants us to do. She spent all last night pacing back and forth in her room, throwing clothes into a suitcase and then yanking them out again. She even started biting her nails—a nervous habit that she stopped a month after our arrival at Circe's spa. She didn't seem to mind that it ruined her perfect-spa-attendant manicure.

"Lala, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly. "We're not leaving, are we? I thought you said this place was safe."

Hylla turned around then, and as young as I am, I could see the conflict in her eyes. "It . . . it is physically safe here," she admitted. "But I don't know if it's right for us to keep staying here when Circe is teaching you all these bad things about men." Suddenly, her eyes lit on the clock by her bed. "Why am I even telling you this?" she exclaimed. "It's thirty minutes past your bedtime!" She ushers me out of her room. "Go on, kiddo, get ready for bed. And don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"Yes, Lala," I said. But I noticed that her lights stayed on even after I climbed into bed.

Even today, her anxiety hasn't faded. If anything, she looks more worried than ever, fiddling with her toast as we eat breakfast.

"I'm going to play with Penelope today!" I announce. "She said she has some Barbie dolls that we can dress up in spa attendant uniforms and bathing suits that she made. And they're waterproof, so she's going to let me use them at the pool."

"That's great, kiddo." Hylla says the words, but her eyes aren't focused on me. They're fixated on the one thing we've retained from our old house—our old life, really—a picture of a dark-haired man with laughing eyes.

I try again to get her attention. "Lala, do you want to play with us? Penelope said you could come. It's Mallory's day off, but she offered to cover for you so you could spend time with me. Lala, you always played Barbies with me at the Applesteins' house. Lala, can you—?"

"Hylla won't be able to play with you today, I'm afraid. Maybe tomorrow?"

Hylla jerks upright, crushing her toast in her hands. Crumbs tumble onto her plate. She obviously hadn't expected Circe to walk through our door any more than I had. "Lady Circe . . ."

"Hello, Hylla," Circe says with a smile. "I was hoping you could come to my office today, as soon as you and Reyna finish your breakfast." Her tone of voice leaves no room for argument. "I was quite upset after our disagreement yesterday, and I'd like to change that."

Hylla's other arm twitches and knocks her fork off her plate. "Change what?"

"Your opinion on men, dear," Circe says quietly. "It's a bit . . . naïve. I'd like to show you the truth."

Hylla gulps. "Yes, Lady Circe."

I haven't seen her look so nervous since the day we arrived on this island.

Reyna was resigned to staying in bed and waiting out the remainder of the war. Really, she was. She wasn't one of the seven, so she knew she didn't have a crucial role to play in defeating Gaea. Her fighting prowess certainly would have helped minimize casualties, but it wouldn't decide the war—and Reyna wasn't sure how much she could do in her current condition anyway. After a day and a half of unconsciousness, her injuries were definitely healing, but she wasn't anywhere near peak shape. No, Reyna would stay in the infirmary like an obedient praetor—

And then a centurion from the Third Cohort rushed into the tent, and Reyna forgot about doing nothing.

She tried to sit up, but Hylla held her down with a glared warning. Reyna had to settle for propping herself up halfway on her pillows. "Bea?" she said worriedly. "Why are you here?"

"It's Frank," Bea said breathlessly. "He's finally back, and he says he has a way that we can defeat Gaea. Only nobody's worrying about that right now because . . ." She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing. "Praetor Reyna, why are you wrapped in so many bandages? What happened to you?"

"It's nothing," she claimed.

At the same time, Hylla said, "She nearly died."

Bea gasped. "What? Praetor Reyna, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Continue with your report."

"Reyna . . ."

"It can't hurt to hear what she has to say!" Reyna protested. "Aren't you curious too?"

Hylla bit her lip. "Well . . ."

Reyna took that as a yes. "Please, Bea, keep going. I don't understand. Frank has a trick to defeat Gaea, and nobody cares? What could possibly be consuming their attention more than that?"

Bea winced, and Reyna thought she saw her shoot an apologetic glance at Hylla. "It's . . . well, we're constantly worried about Gaea's rising, of course, since that's supposed to happen tomorrow."

Reyna sucked in a breath that hurt her broken ribs. "Tomorrow?" Between the blur of fighting and getting injured and fighting some more and being unconscious, she had lost track of the days.

"Yes, it's July 31st," Hylla confirmed. "Now shut up and stop moving before you hurt yourself more." She turned to Bea with a frown. "But Reyna has a point. Gaea's rising tomorrow. What could be a more immediate threat than that?"

Bea looked between the two daughters of Bellona and sighed. "A extremely powerful sorceress appearing on the battlefield and turning male demigods and legacies into guinea pigs—or worse."

Reyna felt a sharp pain stab her heart—one that had nothing to do with her countless injuries. "You don't mean—"

"Circe's joined the war," Bea confirmed. "And she's asking for you, Reyna."

When six p.m. comes and goes and Hylla still hasn't returned, I start to get anxious. She never returns to our rooms later than five-thirty, even if the spa is extremely busy that day. She's always started making dinner before now. What could be taking her so long? Unless . . . is she still meeting with Circe?

Just after I make the decision to rush to Lady Circe's office and bang on the walls until she lets Hylla out, my sister slips through our door. Her eyes look darker and heavier than I've ever seen them—even darker than when we were in foster care—but she musters up a smile when she sees me. "Lala!" I shout, jumping up and running to her. "You're back!"

Her arms clamp around me, hugging me close enough that I can see the moisture on her cheeks. "Hey, kiddo," she says, her breath rattling through her laugh. "Yeah, I'm back."

I eye her carefully. "But are you back for good? I mean . . . are we staying?"

Hylla swallows hard. "Yes, we're staying. I know now that . . ." She shakes her head. "Never mind." Finally, she releases me, but she doesn't let go of my hands. "Reyna, I have something to tell you—"

"Yes, Reyna, you and your sister have much to discuss," Circe calls, sweeping through the doorway. I hadn't realized she was here as well. My back stiffens, my hands clench, I glance nervously at my sister—she looked furious with Circe, the last time we were together—but she faces Circe with . . . is that gratitude? "But I would like to talk to you first, if it is all right with your sister."

Hylla nods, the smallest of smiles wrinkling her face as she steps (reluctantly) away from me. "Of course, Lady Circe." She touches my shoulder. "I'll start making dinner, all right, kiddo? I'm sure you're hungry."

Before I can respond, she's vanished into the kitchen.

"Let's sit down, shall we?" Circe ushers me onto the couch, so I couldn't refuse even if I wanted to—which I don't. Although I'm still uneasy at the sudden friendliness between Hylla and Lady Circe, I would never dare refuse the sorceress.

That sorceress starts off with small talk—"So, Reyna, what did you do today?"—but even at only five years and eleven months, I get straight to the point.

"I played Barbies with Penelope," I say matter-of-factly. "What were you doing with Hylla all day? Yesterday she was kind of unhappy with you, but today—"

"Hylla finally understands my . . . position on men," Circe explains with a smooth smile. "She realizes why I turn them into guinea pigs and leave them in a cage." She looks at me, considering, and then her smile softens a tad. "Hylla will explain more to you later, but for now, just know that I have . . . I have shown her the truth about men."

"The truth about men?" I frown.

"Yes. Someday, I will show you the truth about men too." She ruffles my hair in a way that makes me cringe. "That's a promise."

And with that, she stands up, whirls around, and glides out the door in a swirl of billowing black clothing and gold jewelry.

Reyna felt her chest clenching, memories of her time at Circe's spa rocketing around her skull. "Circe?" she heard Hylla choke out. "How is she alive?"

Bea shrugged, eyeing both of them worriedly. "Lots of sorceresses came back to life after the war. Members of the Seven have mentioned Medea, Pasiphae . . . after that, Circe isn't much of a stretch."

"But then . . . why is she asking for Reyna? Why not me?"

Bea's hands flailed helplessly. "I don't know. Annabeth just grabbed the closest legionnaire—me—and told me to get the message to you. Then she jumped in and got Circe's attention and she started laughing and said something like, 'My, my, Miss Chase, it's been a while. Have you changed your mind about learning sorcery?' And Annabeth got really mad and started attacking and Circe just laughed harder and . . ." She sighed. "And I just ran through the crowd until I found a pegasus and then I flew here as fast as I could."

Almost without realizing it, Reyna dropped one hand to her ribs and leaned forward. "Annabeth is fighting Circe? Right now? Does she have any help?"

Bea shook her head. "I don't know, but I mean, she's taken down giants, I'm sure she's okay—"

But Reyna was already sitting up. She had strapped on half of her armor by the time Hylla exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping Annabeth," she said bluntly. "She won't be able to take Circe down on her own."

"And you can?" Hylla shot back. "Reyna, look at yourself! Can you even stand up?"

Reyna launched herself out of bed—and almost toppled over. Her ribs felt like they would crack out of her chest, but she managed to stay on her feet. "Yes, I can stand," she retorted childishly. "Besides, Circe asked for me, Hylla."

"Which is exactly why you shouldn't go!" Hylla yelled. "Since when have you decided that doing what Circe wants is a good thing? You're even more against her than I am, Reyna!"

"Which is why I refuse to let Annabeth get hurt over this," Reyna answered, reaching for the other half of her armor before Hylla snatched it away. "Come on, Hylla. I've got to go! I've got to face her!"

"Let me face her," Hylla insisted, and Reyna realized suddenly that there were tears in her eyes. "Circe hasn't seen us in four years, Reyna. I . . . everybody always says that we look alike. Let me go in your place. I'll pretend to be you. Circe won't know the difference—"

"Don't be ridiculous; of course she will," she snapped. "She knew us for over six years, Hylla. Besides, don't you think that she'll notice that you're three years older than me—"

"Don't do this," Hylla pleaded, "you've barely started healing and you're swaying, Reyna, are you okay?"

Reyna stumbled and caught herself on the edge of her cot, holding back a cry of pain as her injured calf burned. "I'm . . . I'm fine. I can face Circe—"

"Like hell you can! I thought you agreed to stop trying to play hero and do everything on your own!"

Reyna tensed. "I know that," she frowned. "I never said you couldn't come with me."

"No, Reyna, I'm not going to let you—wait, what?"

"Of course I'm not going to go back to that battle by myself," Reyna answered, rolling her eyes. "I'm not stupid. I'm going to carry my knife and I'm going to ride Scipio, but it's not like I can watch my own back when I can't even twist around with these damn ribs."

Hylla was gaping at her. "So then . . . ?"

"I want you to be with me when I—when we see Circe again," Reyna muttered, crossing her arms. "Annabeth won't be able to defeat Circe on her own, but . . . but neither will I."

Hylla dropped Reyna's armor with a clang. "You weren't kidding," she said in awe. "You really did listen to what that Grace kid told you."

Reyna made a face, no matter how un-praetorly it was of her. "Yeah, maybe," she admitted. "Every once in a while something sensible comes out of his mouth. Will you give me the rest of my armor now?"

She snorted. "Fine." She pointed Reyna's own dagger at her threateningly. "But if you try to dismount Scipio and stand on that busted-up leg of yours, or if you start fighting harder than you should be—"

"You'll gut me with my own knife before Circe has a chance," Reyna finished, rolling her eyes. "I get it. Now hand it over."

Hylla made sure to sigh loudly before giving Reyna's knife back, but she couldn't hold back a smile. "We never did get to fight together, the other day—we got split up by those flesh-eating horses."

"Well, here's to second chances," Reyna grinned wolfishly, strapping on her gold chest plate and sliding her knife into its sheath. "Bea, do you think you can lead us to Circ—"

"Hey, Reyna, why is there another pegasus outside the infirmary ten—WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP?!"

Reyna whirled around—and found herself staring at a blond demigod with wide blue eyes. For a second, she was speechless, and then she offered up, "You told me not to do anything stupid after you left. But you haven't left yet, so I figured I could be as stupid as I wanted."

"Reyna!"

"Circe's back," she said bluntly, "and she asked for me, so I'm going. With Hylla," she added before he could completely freak out. "Hylla's going to help me."

"But Reyna—"

"Annabeth's fighting with Circe right now and I don't want her to do that alone," she interrupted. "Hylla and I are going to be reinforcements—and I have to go because Circe asked for me and so maybe I'll be able to distract her during the fight. So then Hylla could get close enough to—" Her face twisted. "To kill her." She stepped forward, palms up, appealing to him. "I'll be on Scipio the whole time. I probably won't get directly involved in the fight."

"Probably?"

"Almost definitely," Reyna amended. "What do you want me to do?"

He threw up his arms in exasperation. "Heal! Recover! Have you forgotten that you have four broken ribs?"

"Had," Reyna corrected. "And you're crazy if you think you can keep me out of this."

"You've done enough!"

"Funny, that's what you said during the Battle of Mount Orthrys after I saved the Fourth Cohort," Reyna retorted. "And I kept fighting then, and you 'never would have gotten close enough to Krios to kill him' without me, remember?"

Jason cursed. "I knew I shouldn't have brought that up."

"But you did," Reyna said firmly. "And I'm going to keep fighting this time too. If Circe's back, then so am I."

Jason sighed. "Fine. But I'm coming with you."

She rolled her eyes. "Like I could stop you."

Jason stuck his tongue out (truly Roman behavior, Reyna thought with a smirk). "First smart thing you've said all day."

"So can we get going?" Hylla broke in, putting a hand to her own dagger. "Annabeth's fighting Circe as we speak, you know."

"Right," Reyna said, shooting Jason a look. "Bea?"

"I can take you to Circe," Bea nodded, speaking for the first time in a while. She was looking between the three of them with a mixture of wariness and amusement. "We should get going."

"We should," Reyna agreed, rebraiding her hair as she stalked by Jason (and pretended that she wasn't wincing every time she put weight on her injured calf). Bea and Hylla stayed right behind her, Hylla's hand outstretched nervously in case Reyna stumbled.

Jason followed her out, still complaining. "If you're going to be stubborn and jump into battle less than two days after almost dying, can you at least try not to get yourself killed this time?"

Reyna tied off the end of her braid. "I make no promises, Grace," she said crisply. "But I will do my best not to get bitten by an incredibly poisonous snake this time."

"Well, great. I have nothing to worry about now."

"Oh, please. You'd go crazy if you weren't allowed to worry about people. You're a bit of a mother bear yourself, Jason Grace."

Hope you liked the chapter, and I apologize again about my embarrassingly long hiatus! Feedback is appreciated! (No, really, I'd love to hear from you. It'd be nice to know that people actually read this story. ^-^)