For Reyna, the Garden of Bacchus was not as peaceful as it use to be. It was mostly because all of the memories associated with the garden caused pain to tear through her heart. At the same time, it felt comforting to be there. Reyna closed her eyes and laid her head back against the chair she was sitting in.

It had taken a full day of talking, but Reyna managed to convince Avaris to let her leave the house that she had been trapped in. It had been a painful and frustrating few days. Reyna hated that she was forced to lay on a couch and contemplate her injuries. There was also the matter of the Council.

With Seva's death, the three false leaders of the Council stepped up to become actual leaders. They sent a message to all of the barbarian clans calling for a truce. Anyone who didn't agree to the truce would be annihilated. The Council then called for everyone to meet in a month's time.

From what Reyna understood, the Council wanted to still be a ruling body of all of the barbarians, but they didn't want to make the decisions. They wanted the clans to have a representative vote on matters, and it would be a situation where the majority ruled. That meant the Sixth Legion needed to find all of the allies they could to strengthen themselves and show the barbarians why it would be a very bad idea to disagree with them or try to attack them.

Reyna spent the last couple days going over a plan with her centurions, and it was exhausting. The only thing she was allowed to do was lay there and plan. She wanted to do anything else, which was why it was so nice to visit the Garden of Bacchus.

Reyna moved her knee by accident and almost cursed in pain. She slowly stood and placed her hand to the fountain of Bacchus, to help her keep standing. Arcadia had practically carried her towards the hill, but Reyna tried her best to walk. Her knee just wouldn't cooperate with her.

Reyna let out a shaky breath and slowly limped forward. It hurt terribly to put any pressure on her injured knee, so after a few moments, she leaned on the fountain once again. Reyna cursed angrily and slowly sat against the fountain. Her gaze focused ahead.

"I thought I would find you here," a voice said. Reyna slowly looked at Annabeth. The daughter of Athena studied her. Reyna looked back at her knee and studied the brace that was on it. "Can I sit?"

"Go ahead," Reyna muttered. Annabeth sat down next to her and remained silent. She focused ahead. Reyna did as well. They were getting ready to leave the camp, after the leaders all had one last meeting. From there, the Sixth Legion would head to their training base and make sure their territory was safe. Reyna would probably go to Olympus in that time.

Reyna didn't want to have a meeting with the leaders. All of those meetings had gone terrible. She was tired of being called names and having different insults thrown her way. Reyna was tired of the threats and arguing, and she was just angry in general. Her anger was mostly focused at herself though.

Reyna laid her head back against the fountain and closed her eyes. Annabeth didn't say a word. It seemed like she was relaxing as well, or she just had a lot on her mind. Reyna allowed herself to relax for a few minutes. She finally sighed and spoke, "I'm sorry. For everything."

"I know I've done a lot of things that were terrible, and I can't hide behind the excuse of Kronos for much longer," Reyna muttered. She picked at the grass. "It doesn't excuse what I did."

"As much as people will tell you different, the things that you did with Kronos in your head are not your fault. His words can wrap around your mind and make you do things that you thought you wouldn't," Annabeth said. Reyna let out a humorless chuckle. "Do you know why it upset me so much that you worked with Kronos?"

"Because he's dangerous and crazy?" Reyna asked. Her eyes closed once again. It was silent for a few moments, and Reyna opened her eyes. Annabeth was looking off in the distance, as if she was reliving a memory. "Why?"

"I lost someone that I loved to Kronos. I watched Kronos take his hatred and change him into someone almost unrecognizable," Annabeth said. She took a shaky breath. "I couldn't lose anyone else to Kronos."

"I didn't have a choice," Reyna said. She looked down at her right hand and tried to make a fist. "I stabbed Ouranos in the chest with Kronos' sword, but he did not die. It didn't even seem like it hurt him. I wasn't strong enough to destroy him."

"You've been more than strong enough throughout all of this," Annabeth stated. Reyna didn't look at Annabeth. "I don't know how you kept going through all of it."

"I don't either," Reyna admitted. She rubbed her leg, scared to even get near her knee. It felt like it was pulsating in pain, even when she wasn't moving. For once, Reyna regretted not listening to her doctor. It would be nice to lay in a bed and not have this awkward conversation. "I guess I just focused on Hylla. She's the only thing I have left to live for."

"You have a legion now," Annabeth stated. Reyna nodded her agreement. She slowly looked at Annabeth. "I heard about what happened to you. Nico told me that you wanted to give up your position."

"I was in a bad spot. I'm fine now," Reyna muttered, but she knew that lie was easy to see through. Annabeth gave her a look, and Reyna shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you, Annabeth. I'm doing everything I can to keep the darkness at bay."

"I always said that you were a monster, but I was the real monster," Annabeth said. "I thought that I was helping make peace, but I was the one who released the assassins from their sleep. My mother spoke to me yesterday. She said that Eirene originally used blood of one of her peacekeepers to put the others to sleep. She would wake them when she was ready."

"Which was now," Reyna guessed. "So, Eirene used Vasicio's blood? He was a child of Athena. Then, your blood was used to reverse it. You couldn't have known, but I did. I was confronted and told that I would lead them to a half mortal who would free the assassins. I thought it was me, but I ended up leading them to you."

"You don't have to blame yourself for everything, even if we have," Annabeth said. She laid her head back against the fountain. "I should be the one blaming myself. I unleashed these assassins. None of this would have happened without me."

"We just needed to communicate," Reyna muttered. She laid her head back as well and swallowed painfully. Her hand gripped her leg. "We can go back and forth all day about who is to blame, but that isn't healthy. We just need to put this behind us, no matter how hard it is."

Reyna closed her eyes tiredly. She couldn't help but remember how she had attacked Annabeth multiple times. She had almost killed Annabeth, and for some reason, she wanted Annabeth to forgive her. Reyna didn't deserve forgiveness. Not after what she had done.

Reyna took a shaky breath and buried her face in her good hand. She then ran that hand through her hair frustrated. Her thoughts were all over the place, and she couldn't stop blaming herself for everything that happened. Reyna rubbed her forehead and tried to calm down. A gentle hand grabbed her uninjured knee.

"It's okay," Annabeth whispered. "Calm down and breathe. What's on your mind?"

"All of those times that I attacked and threatened you," Reyna whispered. She tried to blink away her tears. Part of Reyna felt horrible about it. The other part didn't. Reyna wiped her eyes and slowly looked at Annabeth.

"It is in the past," Annabeth promised. Reyna looked away. "We both did terrible things to each other, Reyna. I thought we buried the hatchet at Camp Half-Blood. You seemed to trust me more afterwards."

"I did it for the war, just like you lied to Percy for the war," Reyna muttered. She closed her eyes and took another shaky breath. "We had to work together to defeat the assassins. We had to be united. The war is over now, so what happens next? Can we go back to how things were before all of these wars?"

"We can try,"Annabeth said. Reyna opened her eyes and looked Annabeth in the eyes. "I forgive you for everything you did, and I hope that you can forgive me as well. Getting you exiled was one of the worst decisions I have ever made. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Reyna whispered softly. She picked at the grass. It wasn't okay, but she was tired of fighting with Annabeth. Her relationship with Annabeth was probably the most broken, and it would be the hardest to repair. Did Reyna want to repair it?

"You don't mean that," Annabeth stated. Reyna didn't say a word. "I regret working with Eirene. I should have told you what was going on. I can't take those things back though, and you can't take back what you did. All we can do is try and move on, Reyna. It's going to be hard, but I'm willing to try."

"I am too," Reyna whispered. Annabeth stood and offered a hand. Reyna slowly grabbed onto Annabeth's hand, and the daughter of Athena gently helped her stand. Reyna slowly leaned against the fountain. The pulsating pain in her knee was starting to turn into a burning pain.

"Reyna, I am sorry, for everything," Annabeth said. She looked Reyna in the eyes. Reyna studied Annabeth's face and nodded.

"I'm sorry too," Reyna said. She sighed, as it felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. Annabeth gently squeezed Reyna's uninjured shoulder and gave her a nod. Then, Annabeth turned and walked away from the Garden of Bacchus.

Reyna watched Annabeth walk away. She looked at the ground and slowly reached her hand towards the coin that rested in her pocket. Arcadia told her to send her a message when she was done, and Reyna figured she had enough social interaction that day. As she turned to toss the coin into the fountain, she heard soft footsteps.

Reyna slowly turned around and made eye contact with the last person she expected to the see that day. She stared at Thalia and tried to think of what to say. Reyna found herself tensing up. She didn't think Thalia would attack her, but there was also no way for her to defend herself.

"Do you know why I hate you so much?" Thalia asked. Reyna didn't say a word. She just slowly pushed herself off of the fountain and hobbled forward a few feet. Thalia studied her, and her gaze lingered on Reyna's injured leg. "I hate you for killing the two Hunters of Artemis, but I understand that you had Kronos in your head. He was influencing you, and Circe was whispering in your ear as well. You were also right when you said that I would have done the same thing in your position."

"There is one thing that I would never have done though, and it is the reason that I hate you," Thalia continued. Reyna remained silent and watched Thalia for any sudden movements. "No one was in your head or whispering in your ear when you tried to kill Jason. He was your best friend, and you were just going to kill him!"

"If someone tried to kill Hylla, you would never be able to forgive them. I saw what happened when you thoughts you were sister was going to die," Thalia said. She took a deep breath. "Can't you see that it is the same for me? You tried to murder my baby brother!"

Reyna looked down. She had her reasons for why she had done it, but those were just excuses. Thalia wouldn't want to hear any of them. Reyna spoke, "I'm sorry, Thalia. I know nothing is going to make up for what I did. You have every right to be mad at me."

"I'm going to keep an eye on the Sixth Legion," Thalia stated. She stared at the fountain. "Artemis agrees. You can't be trusted with an army of your own. I cannot trust your mental state. Reyna, I want you to look me in the eyes and answer a question. Can you honestly look in the mirror and be happy with your actions?"

"No," Reyna answered, almost immediately. She knew the answer to that. Reyna shook her head. "I'm not happy, but I did what I have to do. I would do it again, but there isn't a day that passes when I don't regret some of the things I did. I just did what I had to do to save the world though."

"What wouldn't you do to save the world?" Thalia asked. Reyna didn't answer, and the question hung over the two of them. "You're not always right, Reyna. You don't have the answer to every problem in the world. You need to realize that."

"I'm sorry, Thalia. There's nothing else I can say," Reyna said. She looked down and shook her head. "I just hope that one day you can forgive me."

Thalia remained silent. Reyna closed her eyes and tensed slightly. She expected Thalia to snap at her and maybe even yell. Instead, Thalia just remained silent. Reyna finally opened her eyes and looked up at Thalia.

"Maybe one day," Thalia stated. She turned and walked away. Reyna let out a deep breath. She hadn't expected Thalia to hear her out, let alone entertain the thought of forgiving her one day. Reyna slowly pushed her off of the fountain and grabbed the coin.

There was a chance that things wouldn't be so bad in the meeting. Reyna would just try to keep her head down and keep from creating any trouble. Besides, it wasn't like she could really anger anyone else more than she already had, so there was one bright side.

Reyna closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. All she needed to do was get through the meeting with the other demigods and then have a meeting with the Olympians. That was the one that scared her. She didn't know what was going to happen, and it made her gut twist in fear. After all that she had done, she couldn't afford to lose what little she had left.

Reyna shook her head and tried to get rid of those thoughts. She gripped the coin even tighter. Reyna wished she was back at the house with the Sixth Legion. There was always someone there to either talk to her or enjoy the silence with her. It made it impossible to focus on her negative thoughts, and that was what she needed right now. Reyna needed to keep her thoughts calm and focused, so she couldn't fall back into the darkness. If she did, she didn't think that she would be able to climb out again.