So... I realized that even though Reyna is my favorite character, I've never really written a one-shot on her. And somehow I just can't write What Happened in Albania. No clue what the hell is wrong with me.
I'm going along with the headcannon that Aurum is the friskier of the two, while Argentum is more reserved. Other than that, it's canon compliant until ToA (sort of).
Honestly, I felt Reyna's decision to join the Hunters was completely out of character for her. I could have understood if she stepped down from being Praetor and just headed out into the world, or even is she didn't step down from being a Praetor and just realized that she could be happy on her own. Perhaps it is because I have mixed feelings about the Hunters. On the other hand, Reyna is a very careful individual, and for her to decide in the space of half a day to give up everything that she has worked towards for almost five years, seems... very weird. Let's have a rundown: she was forced to leave her home in San Juan, then she had to live at Circe's Island, then a pirate ship, then she lost her sister to the Amazons, finally found peace at Camp Jupiter, lost her best friend/crush to Hera... she is going to do her goddamned best to hold on to whatever is left. She would fight to her last breath to have some sort of stability and permanence in her life (a trait she probably shares with Annabeth), neither of which the Hunters can provide. All they can do is relieve her of responsibility.
I just realized that I have been rambling. Sorry.
"As we journey through life, old friends and new friends are often left behind, never to be met with again. There are times when we are on our own, lonely, in need of a friendly presence. Just someone to be there when we return to that empty, joyless room. And at such times, even a little mouse, can make a big difference." ~Ruskin Bond, A Little Friend
When she first arrived at the camp, she knew no one.
Unlike many of the other legionnaires, who had relatives inside the city, friends at high posts, or letters of recommendation from ex-citizens, the only thing that Reyna had were the clothes on her back, and the sabre she had taken from the pirates.
She was placed in the Fourth Legion- she may not have the necessary letters, but when she killed the monster behind her with one blow, they decided she deserved better than the Fifth.
And she was absolutely miserable.
She had never lived with so many people at once. At San Juan, her family had always been isolated from everyone, even their neighbors. Even at Circe's or with the pirates, it had always been only her and Hylla together. The Fourth Cohort barracks was a noisy place full of people speaking every tongue except Spanish.
She didn't have any friends- she formed a tentative alliance with Leila, the daughter of Ceres, but that was it. She worked with her Cohort, but she spent most of her time alone.
Jason was her first friend.
She didn't like him at first, Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Rome's golden boy, whom everyone favored for no reason other than his father being Jupiter. It takes a change in guard duties, an incident in the sewers (long story) and a huge sack of rats (even longer story) for her to warm up to him slightly. He reminds her of an overexcited puppy, almost dragging her over to his friends' table to meet them because You absolutely have to meet Dakota, Reyna, he's a walking-talking comedian by himself, oh, and you'll love Gwen, and Bobby is one of my best friends, he's been here so long, and, and-
Gwen is older than the rest of them, and much, much more mature and calmer than anyone else. She would make a great Praetor, Reyna notes, but she doesn't seem to be interested in that post. She's been a Centurion for two years now, and she looks perfectly content with that rank. She is a legacy of Venus, but she is surprisingly down to earth despite her blood, and one of the best fighters in the Legion.
Reyna makes a mental note never to judge anyone by their bloodline again.
Dakota is a son of Bacchus, though he is addicted to Kool-Aid instead of wine, drinking it with three times the normal sugar. The more he drinks, the more excited he gets, mixing up his words. Bobby is all right, cheerful and easygoing, learning to be Hannibal the elephant's caretaker. He's a little like Hannibal himself, huge and intimidating, but he is one of the most gentle people in the Camp, just like Hannibal who carries campers injured during war games on his back to the infirmary.
They're probably her best friends.
When she and Jason become Centurions of their Cohorts, they're the first people to congratulate them, going so far as to organize secret party behind the Fifth's barracks. They barely escape from being caught.
After the Titan War, she and Jason are made Praetors. Dakota replaces Jason as Centurion, and Leila takes her old place in the Fourth Cohort.
And that is when everything starts going wrong.
Every time they talk to their old friends, accusing glares and pointed fingers follow them.
Favoritism...
They have it easy...
Who made Dakota a Centurion?
Eventually, they have to stop talking to them for too long. Build up a professional distance. They understand, of course, but it just feels so wrong to hear Gwen and Dakota say yes Praetor, no, Praetor after years of hearing Get here, Spark! or Dammit Pirate Captain, not again...
But they still have each other.
In a world where they grow distant from everyone else day be day, where Octavian is watching their every move, waiting for a mistake, where they have to wear the masks of professionalism in front of everyone, they grow closer, relying on each other to be their support. Reyna cares for all her legionnaires, but she cares slightly more for Jason.
Slightly.
She first sees the dog in Charleston. Or rather, Jason sees it.
She's still a little unnerved by her meeting with Venus, and isn't really paying attention when Jason says, "Hey, what do you think that is?"
She looks up at the direction he's pointing, seeing a flash of gold in the sunlight. "Do you want to check it out?"
"We better." Jason says. "Could be Imperial Gold. Race you there?"
She's on her feet faster than he can blink. "Way ahead of you, Grace."
"Hey!" He complains, getting to his feet as she takes off. "That's not fair!"
It is Imperial Gold.
A golden dog.
It's larger than most, almost royal to look at, with beautiful golden skin and ruby red eyes. It's paw is stuck in a bear trap, and it whines at them. "Reyna, wait!" Jason lands next to her, slightly out of breath from flying. "Are we sure this isn't a trap?"
"Only one way to find out, huh?" She crouches near the trapped leg, trying to open the jaws of the trap. She jolts the trap accidentally, making the dog whimper. It puts its other paw on her knee, not in aggression, but as if to say, Have a care, mate. "Sorry." She mutters. "Help me, Jason."
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." He bends down and helps her pull the trap apart, freeing the dog's leg. "All right, let's get a look at you, old boy-". The dog snatches its paw away, limping as fast as it can downtown without turning back, running too fast for them to follow. "You're welcome, I guess."
Reyna snorted. "Start moving, golden boy. We need to get back to camp as soon as possible."
"Happy birthday to me, I guess." Reyna muttered. She'd never told her friends her birthdate, not even Jason. Jason didn't even know his own birthdate, having come to camp as a toddler. The only person who knew her birthdate was Hylla, and things between them were still... difficult.
Reyna cursed as she almost walked into a lamppost and dropped her hot dog. Get over yourself. She told herself sternly. No one wants to listen to your pity party. You have nothing to be upset about.
She sighed as she knelt down to pick up the hot dog to toss it into the trash. The residents of New Rome generally kept their streets free of wet waste in order to stop Hannibal from spreading like pizza cheese throughout the city. There was a small 'woof' as the dog from earlier that week darted into view and snatched the food from between her fingers.
"Whom do you belong to?" She wondered, reaching out to gently stroke it. The dog tensed initially, but let her pet it. It dropped the food and tentatively licked her hand.
"Doesn't matter, I suppose." She murmured. "I like you. A dog for company is better than no company at all."
After that, they seemed to have formed a mutual agreement. Reyna left food for the dog outside her villa every evening, and in the morning it would be gone. Sometimes, if she was awake, she could hear its footsteps outside the door.
A couple of weeks later, a resident sent an anonymous letter: 'Please do not scatter food outside the villa, it attracts mice and cockroaches.'
They were right, of course. Her new friend deserved more than some leftovers scattered outside the door. The nest evening, she kept a pink tiffin box she had been given by Gwen a couple of years ago, with some fried chicken in it. To her surprise, the container was still full the next day.
She sat down that evening, waiting for him to come. For some reason, she felt the dog was a him. She had named him Aurum, not exactly the most creative name, but it suited him, and he seemed to like it.
It was nearly midnight before he came to her door, feet almost soundless in the darkness. He licked her hand, sniffing her tentatively as if to see whether she had changed. Then he ambled over to the container, stared at it and then looked up at her in distaste, as if to say, Really?
She fed it by hand that day. The next day, she went to one of the pet shops in New Rome and bought a blue-grey dog bowl.
That night, the bowl was licked so clean, she wondered whether she'd forgotten to fill it in the first place. She wondered whether he just didn't like pink. Technically, dogs were supposed to be color blind, and could only see shades of blue and yellow. He shouldn't have seen the tiffin as pink at all. On the other hand, she wasn't sure the rule applied to automaton dogs.
This was a fussy canine. No pink plastic container for him. He had to have a blue stainless steel five-dollar dog bowl from Samson's Pet Shop.
After a while, she noticed Aurum taking some food back with him, instead of eating it then and there. It always puzzled her- didn't he get enough to eat from his owners? Where did he keep going to?
The question was answered one day when she was woken up one day by frantic scratching at her door. She blinked the sleepiness away, going out to investigate the source of the noise.
No sooner did she open the door than Aurum grabbed leg between his teeth and nudged her outside.
"What?" She asked him, annoyed. She hated it when anything got in the way of her sleep. Aurum whimpered, still nudging her forward.
"You do realize that I'm in my pajamas, right?" She asked.
Aurum growled in anger. She stared in surprise- in the four months she had known him, he had never shown any aggressive tendencies. "All right, but if someone sees me in my pajamas, you're getting only biscuits for a week."
It's another dog.
She instantly thinks of the name Argentum. Because it suits him (yes, why not, she used to make up life stories for cats with Hylla, she is sure as hell allowed to assume genders for automaton dogs), with his silver skin. He looks just like Aurum, but silver instead of gold, with rubies for eyes.
His leg is bent at a strange angle, as if he has been in a fight, and is breathing heavily. Aurum rushes to his side, and looks up at her.
Reyna bends down and tries to be extremely gentle as she gathers the dog in her arms. He whimpers when she lifts him, and Aurum licks his head. The workshop used by most of the children of Vulcan was open at all hours of the day, and that is where she is headed. Aurum trots at her side, occasionally craning his neck to see his brother. Argentum is extremely tense in her arms, as if he is preparing to bolt from there. If his leg wasn't broken, he probably would. He seems shyer than his golden brother, but he's just like him in every other way.
She raps at the workshop door with her knee- she's still carrying the dog in her arms. The door is opened a minute later by a young boy of about thirteen. He blinks in surprise at her. "Praetor... ah um.. what..." Clearly, he had no idea what to say. She didn't blame him. Dealing with Praetors in pajamas carrying a silver automaton dog in their hands while a golden one trotted at their heels isn't something legionnaires are trained for.
"Can I come in?" she asks pleasantly.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, Praetor, come right in...uh," he winces when he sees the scraps of metal lying everywhere. "And maybe ignore the mess?" He says timidly.
Reyna groans as she sets Argentum down onto a worktable. She may have been training for years, but the dog was probably made of pure silver. He was heavy. "Can you fix him? I'll pay the charges."
The boy scrambles over. "Yeah, sure, no problem... Where did you get him, anyways? Is he yours?"
"No." Reyna confesses. "I just found him. His twin seems to have adopted me, though." She glances down where Aurum has made himself comfortable at her feet.
"That's cool. That's... very cool. I'm Stan, by the way. Short for Stanley. But no one calls me Stanley. My name is Stanley Hopkins, you see, and you can guess the kind of jokes that leads to." He notices her blank face. "Um... Stanley Hopkins? The Scotland Yard detective? You know what, never mind, I'm just rambling. I'll... uh, I'll stop talking and get to work." He's definitely got ADHD, she notes from the way his hands and mind seem unable to stay still.
"I'll return him in the morning." He says. "He's a real beauty, isn't it? You're lucky, Praetor. It looks like my father's creation."
"Vulcan's?" Reyna asks in surprise. "Then what are they doing here?"
"He probably let them go." Stan shrugs. "Sometimes, when there is no use for his creations anymore but he doesn't want to destroy them, he just leaves them like that. They're probably strays."
Reyna can't imagine letting go of these dogs just because they aren't needed anymore. She wants to ask more questions, but she just nods and leaves. "Thank you, Stan. I'll get them in the morning."
"No worries."
"You have officially been adopted by dogs." Jason points out. "It's supposed to be the other way. You adopt a dog. I think they're secretly cats. Cats adopt people."
"Relax, Jason." She strokes Aurum's head as lies on the couch next to her. "They're friendly."
"To you, maybe." He looks warily at Argentum who is curled up on a nearby chair. "They're looking at me like I'm dinner."
"I don't think you'd be to their taste." She grins. "They prefer fried meat."
"So if I die in a fire..."
"Interesting hypothesis." She says. "Care to test it?"
"No, thanks." He snorts. "But Octavian is in the Apollo temple, in case you really do want to test."
She shifts slightly as Aurum puts his head in her lap. "I will not torture these fine creatures that way."
"Uh- huh. They're creatures, all right. Fine, though, I don't know..."
She throws a pencil at his head.
It's difficult.
The job of Praetor was never meant to be handled alone.
Every night, she goes to sleep feeling like a hundred sledgehammers are working away at her head. Every day, she feels her heart sink at the thought of getting up in the mornings.
She insists Jason is alive, and that they wait for the Feast of Fortuna, because she knows who will take Jason's place- Octavian.
She wouldn't mind if he were just a power-hungry warmonger. She minds that he is a fast-talking power-hungry warmonger. She knows what will happen- Octavian will push for going back to the older ways, which she will not agree to, but Octavian will sway the Senate to his side, and before she knows it, he will have isolated her from the people. She will just be a puppet Praetor for him to use her vote for his cause or her opposition to prove his point.
Jason just disappeared one day, without telling anyone. It's not like him to do so, he was overenthusiastic about some things, but he wasn't careless. Which means that there has either been treachery somewhere and he's dead, or this is the result of divine intervention.
Aurum and Argentum curl up around her every night- she used to stop them from doing that earlier, their muddy paws tend to dirty the sheets, but now she doesn't care- their familiar presence her only source of comfort.
"I can't do this anymore." She whispers quietly one day, sitting at her desk, where no one can hear her. "It's too much. I'm done. I'm leaving. I can't do this alone again tomorrow."
"Woof." She feels something nudge her knee. Argentum is sitting at her feet, looking up at her with his ruby eyes. Aurum is like an adorable golden retriever, happy and playful, who just wants to be loved, but Argentum is more closed off despite caring just as much. He reminds her of Buck from Call of the Wild. "Woof."
"You're right, I'm not alone." She murmurs as she reaches down to scratch his ears. "We'll worry about tomorrow when we get there."
The war is over.
The first month was hectic- getting everything back to normal, trying to get numbers on casualties, dealing with irate citizens who don't want an alliance with the Greeks, restoring the legion back to its full capacity- the list is endless.
And she doesn't want to hurt Frank's feelings, but she wishes Jason had stayed as Praetor.
Hell, she would even have Percy.
It's not anything she has against Frank, but Frank has no experience with leading a legion. He continuously stumbles and looks towards her for direction, something he really shouldn't do. They can't have the Senate thinking there is a power imbalance and she's the dictator with Frank as a dummy Praetor, especially now that Octavian isn't there to act as a check to her orders.
It's not his fault. He didn't get the training he should have, what with going from probatio to Centurion to Praetor in the space of less than a year. In any other scenario, she would have helped him and trained him herself, but right now she doesn't have time to tie her shoelaces.
They all leave, eventually. Back to their own worlds. Coach Hedge has a kid (Hylla takes special pleasure in reminding her that it's not an easy job while reminding her of several, uh... embarrassing incidents), Nico is busy awkwardly flirting with Will (she finds it hilarious, to be honest, but Nico threatened to come to New Rome and make skeletons do the macarena in the middle of the city, so she doesn't tease him much), Jason is Camp Half-Blood, Hazel is busy leading the Fifth, and Frank is doing... whatever he is doing.
She doesn't mind during the day, when there is enough work to keep her busy for life. But there are times, when she is alone in her villa at night, that she misses the company she had during the quest. Hell, she would even have another Albania and San Juan if it meant she could roam around with Nico and Coach Hedge again. All right, maybe not another Albania.
She's too proud to admit it to anyone, and she would rather cut her tongue out and chop off her head before she tells this to a single living soul, but as she leans back on the couch in her living room, she admits to herself- she's lonely.
She's surrounded by hundreds of people everyday- legionnaires, officers, retired veterans, normal citizens, Lares, and one irritating marble bust of a god, but she's still lonely.
She doesn't really have an outlet for her frustration. She isn't an artistic person (heavens forbid that should ever come to pass) and she isn't like Percy or Nico who can escape to their parent's domain for a few hours at a time and come back feeling refreshed. She isn't good at talking to people, unless it's about New Rome.
She talks to her dogs instead.
She doesn't know what to think of this bombshell.
She isn't sure which bombshell to start with, either.
This is Apollo? This guy? What the Hades happened to him?
Jason is dead?
Valdez is alive?
There's going to be another attack on the camp?
Apollo is turning into a zombie?
They've already lost too many warriors. Too many people dead. She just wants it all to stop. Catch a breath.
She can totally imagine the Fates cackling, LOL, NOOB!
She spends the afternoon alone in her villa, trying to sort through the whirlwind of thoughts running through her head, to focus on one thing at a time.
Finally, it's the thought that her best friend (or was he?) being dead.
So many had already died. How many people that she grew up with were still alive?
Despite what many people think, she isn't a cold and unemotional statue. She cares for each of her legionnaires. And there's nothing worse than visiting some middle-aged man or woman's home to tell them that their kid who wasn't old enough to drive didn't make it. Or finding a child less than ten years old (recruitment starts at age eleven) and taking them to an unknown person's home because their parents are gone forever. It's when she remembers why little Julia wasn't at her usual spot with Terminus that she finally breaks down. Why wouldn't she?
Tenth of the Legion? Dead.
Jason, dead.
Bobby, a zombie.
Some hysterical part of her that's still thinking, (or maybe finally snapped) thinks that the last thought rhymed, and she can't help but laugh and cry at the same time, because goddammit, her world is collapsing, and all that she can think is that the last line rhymed.
She sinks down to the floor, arms wrapped around her sides, sobbing like she hadn't done in years, finally letting go of all the grief and pain. She hears a tentative whine somewhere to her right, and she loosens her arms enough for Aurum to place his head in her lap. She hugs his head and sobs, unable to do anything but let the grief rack her body as she cries. She feels a tongue licking her hair- Argentum was probably right behind her- but everything is going wrong, and all she is doing is crying.
Who knew a god could make her feel better?
After she has calmed down (which is really hard to do, she can't figure out for the life of her how to stop giggling like a loony schoolgirl), she feels like someone had flipped a switch inside her, and all of a sudden she was alive again.
It was like one of those jigsaw puzzles- the pieces were in place, all they needed was to be shaken a bit to fit; and now suddenly everything can be seen from a better perspective.
She doesn't need to work that hard. She can step back. Let go. Let someone else take charge for once. She doesn't have to be responsible.
She takes her first day off in years, for no other reason than to sit on a bench and have a cup of hot chocolate and relax. She feels better than she has in years, now that the burden of Praetorship is no longer on her shoulders.
She's still seventeen, she has time, one whole year, to herself before she has to think of college. She'll probably go to the New Rome University. After all, this city, this camp, is her home.
She doesn't need anyone else. She's going to love herself. She's going to wake up at four in the morning, brew black coffee, and listen to birds in the darkness of the dawn. She's going to go wherever she wants, whenever she wants, and then come back and burn her skin from hot showers. She's going to stop taking everything so goddamn personally. She's going to visit random art fairs and get wet in the rain in July. She's going to stop thinking about things that won't matter in two years' time. She's going to stop thinking about everyone's opinions about her decisions. She's going to sleep in on weekends.
She's going to live.
She smiles as she walks out of the tunnel, nodding a greeting to the guards on duty. She'll be back, of course, but for now, she's going to roam about, get a feel of the world, see everything she has missed.
But she will be back. She can't stay away for too long, and as she hears the barking of her greyhounds from the back of her pickup and sees the sunrise, she feels happy. Nothing else, just pure happiness and contentment.
Life doesn't have to be perfect. It should just be worth fighting for.
Since we don't know about any legionnaires other than those from the Fifth Cohort, I have a headcannon that most of Reyna's friends were from that Cohort, because let's face it, introverts only make friends when an extrovert comes along and adopts them *cough* Jason *cough*.
There is absolutely nothing anywhere about Khryseos and Argyreos, the original gold and silver automaton dogs, other than the fact that they were watchdogs made by Hephaestus for Alkinous, the King of the Phaiakians. I'm not going to dwell too deeply on that.
Also, I have no idea what Charleston is like, so let's assume it has bears, and ergo, bear traps.
Adios,
TheStarkster.
PS: If you novelstar guys leave one more review on my fics, I'm going to flip my shit. How many users do I have to PM and say no and then block for y'all to get the message?