"I don't need a partner… at least, not until and unless I'm ready on my own terms. I need time just to be Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, to find out who I am outside the legion. It may take a few years, or decades, or centuries."

-Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano


Although the years and hunts passed in a blur, Reyna never forgot the day she chose to join the Hunters. She remembered reciting the pledge to Diana, her heart hammering in her ears, before a crowd of familiar faces. She remembered the sticky sweetness of birthday cake during the celebrations after, and the smell of grass, wet with dew, on the morning she and Thalia had departed. She definitely remembered her final hug with Lester Papadopoulos — also known as the god Apollo, imprisoned in pimply teenage mortal form. His embrace had felt so warm, so human, and yet she hadn't been able to shake the feeling that Lester's warmth came from a sun trapped deep within, yearning to be freed.

Of course, that had all taken place eons ago. Had it been fifteen years? Fifty? Five hundred? (Probably not the latter — she was pretty sure most of her friends at Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood were still alive, albeit creaking from old war injuries.) So Reyna wasn't sure why she found herself coming back to that memory time and again. She was a daughter of Bellona, for Olympus' sake, not some sentimental spawn of Venus. And, speaking of the goddess of love, Reyna had never quite forgiven her for that "no demigod will heal your heart" nonsense.

"What did that poor tree ever do to you?"

Reyna realised that she'd been scowling hard at the trunk of a giant sequoia, as though searching for a secret message in its well-worn bark. To be fair, this wasn't a huge stretch of the truth — for the last few weeks, the Hunters had been trying to find the culprits behind the latest spate of Californian wildfires. But they'd arrived at the Mariposa Grove too late. The monsters had gone, leaving charred underbrush and blackened stumps in their wake.

"Nothing," she snapped, wheeling around to face her friend and lieutenant, Thalia Grace. Thalia looked supremely unperturbed by her glare. In fact, the corners of her mouth were turned up in what looked suspiciously like a smile.

"You haven't been yourself lately," she noted casually. "There was a time when I'd never have been able to sneak up on you without you judo throwing me."

"I'm fine," grumbled Reyna. "Maybe I got bored of judo throwing you."

Thalia didn't rise to the bait. Instead, she tilted her head, studying her friend with keen blue eyes. "You know, RARA, " she said, after a short pause, "everyone has doubts after they join the Hunters. An eternity of killing enemies and watching your comrades get killed… it's not for everyone. It's tough."

Reyna pursed her lips. "I am tough. And don't call me RARA."

Thalia threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, of that I have no doubt, RARA. But you told me signed on because you wanted time to find yourself, outside of the legion. I guess I'm just wondering what it is you've found." Reyna opened her mouth, but Thalia held up her hand. "No need to tell me now. The sun is setting, and we should get ready to move when the moon comes up. Seeya back at camp."

She melted back into the shadows of the trees, leaving an irate Reyna alone in the gathering dusk.

Alone…

Reyna felt the glow before she saw it, a warmth blooming on the side of her face and neck. She automatically drew her bow as she turned, squinting against the golden light that suddenly blazed across the clearing.

"Whoa! I come in peace. Also, in secret. Please don't tell my sister."

Reyna didn't lower her weapon as the light dimmed, revealing an eighteen year old boy with wavy blond hair and a big (if slightly sheepish) grin. He wore jeans and a white t-shirt, and had a ukulele strapped across his back. He'd raised his hands behind his head in a gesture of peace, which doubled as an effective display of his tanned, muscular arms. (Reyna studiously ignored this.)

"Lord Apollo."

He looked pained. "Apollo will do. Is this how you greet old friends? Do put down that bow!" He paused and frowned, seemingly counting syllables under his breath, then flashed another dazzling smile. "Hey, that wasn't bad for an improv haiku."

Reyna's nostrils flared, but she sheathed her silver arrow. "Why are you here, Apollo?" After all this time, she added silently. She hadn't seen him since they'd bumped into each other at the Waystation, and he'd been in Papadopoulos form then — but of course he had no reason to seek her out, anymore than she had to call upon him.

"Well—" The awkward expression on Apollo's handsome face suddenly reminded her of Lester, after all. "I was passing by on the Sun Chariot when I saw you were down here. So I thought I'd stop by when my shift was over. You know," he waved his hand vaguely, "after sunset and all that."

His story checked out, thought Reyna grudgingly, since California was on the final leg of his daily ride across the sky. Even so…

"You must have spotted the Hunters of Artemis countless times before. Why appear to me now?"

Apollo hesitated. Half of Reyna was glad to see that he wasn't the same brash, boastful sun god he'd been pre-Papadopoulos transformation. The other half of her mirrored the nervousness she sensed in Apollo's demeanour.

"It's hard to catch you alone. You know how Artemis hates me, um, hanging around her Hunters. And you were thinking about — about the day you joined them." Had he been going to say "thinking about me"? Reyna wondered.

Apollo grinned again and shrugged, trying to regain some nonchalant confidence. "Anyway, I felt the tug on our shared memory. So I thought to myself, why not stop by for a quick reminisce sesh? I can hardly talk about the good old days of my imprisonment with the other Olympians." He shuddered. "Especially not when I know those scoundrels were placing bets on my demise."

Before she could protest, he'd crossed over to the nearest giant sequoia and plopped down on the dry mulch, patting the ground beside him in cheerful invitation and keeping up a running commentary as he did so.

"Did you know mortals call this tree the Faithful Couple? Two sequoias grew closer and closer to each other until their trunks fused into one. Personally, it reminds me more of Janus on a bad hair day."

Reyna bit back a smile, which only increased her irritation. He was always doing that, getting her to laugh, even when she was in the middle of serious business. Against her better judgment, she strode over and joined him on the forest floor. Apollo's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Fine," she said. "Tell me then. How are the others?"

"Oh, um…" Apollo stuck out his lower lip and let out a puff of air, blowing an errant twirl of golden hair back into place. "Mostly good. Meg turned thirty a few months back. Still eats like she's a growing girl. Growing into what, I daren't say."

This time Reyna couldn't help but chuckle. The last glints of light on the forest floor reminded her of Meg's rhinestone glasses. She could almost smell baked apples on the evening breeze.

Encouraged Reyna's response, Apollo quickly continued, "Annabeth and Percy just had their second kid. She has her mother's eyes, but her father's less-than-intelligent love for blue-coloured food. Leo and Calypso went through a rough patch, but they're doing better these days. I think. Speaking of which, Leo still owes me a Valdezinator version three point two. Where was I? Ah. Frank and Hazel… they stepped down quite awhile ago, settled in New Rome, though they still advise the legion. They — they think of you often." He glanced at her, and she returned his gaze steadily, her expression inscrutable.

"I miss them, too," she admitted quietly. "They were family."

Apollo nodded, and both of them lapsed into a more comfortable silence, recalling the antics of their comrades-in-arms. Minutes passed, marked only by the lengthening of the shadows.

"How's eternal youth treating you, Reyna?" asked Apollo at last. A newfound gentleness in his voice told Reyna they were finally getting close to why he'd really dropped by.

"Why does everyone ask me the same question?" she frowned. "First Thalia, now you…"

Apollo gave a wry, lopsided smile. "I can't believe Grace beat me to the punch. Then again…" he looked around warily, as though expecting Thalia to jump from a bush and attack him, "maybe I can.

"I know, I know, you don't need anyone's help or pity," he went on hurriedly. "It's just… we're allowed to be concerned. You left the Twelfth Legion Fulminata to figure out who you are, and joined another band of warriors instead. You said you needed time. But the thing about being immortal is… it's easy to lose track."

"Lose track?" Reyna's voice was brittle and icy.

"Of time. Of who you are. Of what you want."

"And you know what I want?"

"No! Well—" Apollo was now tracing a glowing treble clef in the soil. "I'm the god of poetry and art and music, Reyna. And one of the loveliest, most unforgettable sounds I've ever heard — it was you laughing, that day at Sutro Tower. It sounded like — like dawn breaking."

Reyna felt her cheeks redden traitorously. "You mean the day I rejected you," she replied, striving for cool.

"The day you rejected Lester," Apollo corrected emphatically, although the surrounding temperature went up by a few degrees. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is — when I was feeling terrible about myself back then, you told me you believed I could change. That I could add to my 'good things' list, even though I'd been a bit of a jerkwad as a god.

"Not that you're a jerkwad," he clarified hastily, "but you're not beholden to anyone either. Not your mother, not the legion, not the Hunters."

Reyna thought about Jo and Emmie and Georgina, whom she'd visited often at the Waystation. Their way of life seemed so peaceful, so content. But she was the daughter of Bellona, the goddess of war. Could she ever choose peace? Even alone, she felt like she was constantly warring with herself.

"You could leave, Reyna." Apollo's murmur brought her back to the present. "Anytime."

"And where would I go?" she challenged.

Apollo looked up, capturing her gaze squarely, bright gold meeting dark obsidian with unexpected intensity. He said nothing, but watched as realisation slowly dawned on Reyna's face.

"You — you can't be serious," she choked out. A giggle escaped her, then another. Reyna hadn't even known she was capable of producing such a sound. "Apollo, no offence, but… I already said no once."

Apollo shrugged an elegant shoulder, but Reyna noticed he wasn't laughing. "Weren't we just talking about people changing?"

Her smile faded. High above them, partially obscured by the towering trees, the moon was rising. In its silvery light, Reyna studied Apollo, the high cheekbones and sleek jawline, the lashes framing his honey-coloured eyes. Before he'd become Lester, Reyna had detested the god's vanity and conceit. War, after all, had no place for narcissists and egomaniacs. Had his time on earth changed him for good? She wanted to believe it had, even if he still preferred to appear with chiselled features and a flawless physique. (She did not just think that. Nope.)

"I don't need anyone to heal my heart," she warned.

"No," he agreed genially. "I already did that, right?"

Reyna snorted, but her heart wasn't really in it. She didn't need her dogs around to know that Apollo spoke the truth. Like sunbeams finding their way through the smallest chinks in her armour, he'd helped her break free, helped her remember what it felt like to be happy and carefree. Now that she considered it, neither Jason nor Frank — nor Thalia, even — had brought out that side of her.

Apollo's lips were twitching, as though he could read her thoughts. Reyna could have sworn the air heated another few degrees, even though night had well and truly fallen.

"And what about what Venus said, about you sticking your 'godly face' around me?" she asked lightly. Her heart had started hammering against her ribcage, so loud that she wondered if Apollo would pick up the beat and start dancing a jig. "I don't think she would like what you seem to be… suggesting."

Apollo laughed then, and deliberately leaned well into her personal space, the tip of his nose barely an inch from hers. Reyna caught her breath, but no angry love goddess appeared to smite them.

"I'm doing what my demigod friends taught me — forging my own destiny," he answered, the barest hint of a challenge in his voice. "What about you, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano?"

She should have slapped him for multiple reasons. Having the nerve to say her full name, for one. Filling her with a myriad of confusing emotions, for another.

Instead, she decided to kiss him.

Reyna had slain zombies and skewered venti. She was well-versed in facing down resurrected giants and evil Roman emperors, not to mention one Octavian throwing a temper tantrum. But kissing? Not so much.

This was what eternity felt like. The last few decades of her existence had been nothing in comparison. Apollo's lips were soft and hot against hers. His fingertips were warm as they grazed her cheek, tracing their way down to her jaw and neck. Her own fingers were tangled in his wavy hair, pulling him closer. He smelled like coconut-scented suntan lotion, laced with the faintest scent of… Oreos?

Before Reyna had time to feel confused, something rustled in the bush, jolting her back to her senses. She broke away quickly (reluctantly?). Beside her, Apollo was literally glowing — not going supernova, thank goodness, but his form was suffused with rosy light, perhaps the sun god's equivalent of a delicate blush.

"Reyna—"

"Apollo, I — I'll think about what you've said," she interrupted, trying not to think about the fact that she'd just kissed her big boss's twin brother. "But until then, this stays between us. ¿Entiendes?"

Apollo nodded profusely, looking positively delighted. Reyna's eyes narrowed. "I mean it. Don't go telling our friends I'm ready to renounce the Hunters to become their friendly neighbourhood abuela. Leo would show up just to make fun of my wrinkles."

Apollo made a show of rolling his eyes. "Oh, Reyna," he said, "you know you could never be anything but beautiful."

"Shut up, Lester," she retorted, but the corners of her mouth pulled upwards in a smile. "I'm not promising anything, anyway. The whole idea is ridiculous."

"Of course it is," agreed Apollo graciously. "The best ones are."

"You should go now," added Reyna pointedly, glancing around the glade. Nothing stirred in the darkness.

Apollo stood with a neat flourish and offered Reyna his hand, pulling her to her feet. For a moment they stood facing each other as they had all those years ago, the morning that Reyna had chosen the Hunt. The unasked — unanswered — question hung heavy between them: Would she do so again this time?

Apollo relinquished his grip and stepped away, the light and heat around him intensifying to a shimmer.

"I'm going," he said, his figure already dissolving into the brightness. "But I'll see you soon, Reyna. After all, the sun always comes back."

Then he was gone, leaving Reyna alone with the silent, silver moon. The air seemed chillier after his departure. Reyna sighed, hoping she hadn't just brought the wrath of Diana upon herself.

She turned, about to trudge back to camp — and nearly ran headlong into Thalia Grace.

"Reyna…?"


So...? If you liked it, let me know, so that I can add another chapter! (Or cry myself to sleep because I'm the only one in this universe who ships Reyna and Apollo T_T)