To 8Ball3- She is pretty cool :D I have a lot of fun writing her ^_^

The next few days were manically busy. They cleared rubble and shored up the most precarious damaged buildings. Fires were put out, both literal and figurative. Terminus had made it through the battle weakened and shaken. His new nose was vastly cleaner than the rest of his face, looking like an odd, bad tan line. The statue's first announcement was that he was formally adopting little Julia. Apollo wasn't sure how a statue could adopt a child in Roman law, but no-one argued with it.

Tyson and Ella were safely accounted for. Once Ella learned that Apollo hadn't messed up the summoning after all, she declared that she and Tyson were going back to the bookshop to clean up the mess, finish the Sibylline Books and feed the cat- not necessarily in that order. And the harpy was also grateful Frank was alive, going as far to flutter about him and mumble the lyrics to 'Stayin' Alive'. As for Apollo… he got the feeling she was still making up her mind.

Peaches left as well, to go help the local dryads and fauns, but he promised them 'Peaches.' Apollo translated that into seeing the fruit spirit again soon.

Reyna made an appearance every so often, off her crutches after the third day. With Thalia's help, Reyna managed to find One Eye and Short Ears. She talked to them in soothing tones, promised them healing and convinced them to come back with her to camp. She dressed their wounds, gave them good food and plenty of open air. The pegasi seemed to recognise that Reyna was a friend of their immortal forefather, Pegasus himself, and perhaps her connection to a daughter of Neptune proved useful too. After what the poor creatures had been through, it was doubtful they would have trusted anyone else to care for them.

They lit the funeral pyres on one night, at the base of Jupiter's temple, and shared the traditional feast for the dead to send their fallen comrades off to the Underworld. The Lares turned out in full force until the hillside was a glowing field of purple ghosts, outnumbering the living.

Apollo noticed that Reyna stood back and let Frank officiate. Praetor Zhang had quickly regained his strength. Dressed in full armour and his praetor's cloak, he gave his eulogy while the legionnaires listened with awed reverence, as one does when the speaker recently sacrificed himself in a fiery explosion and then, somehow, made it out alive with his underwear and cape intact.

Hazel helped too, going through the ranks and comforting those who were crying or looking shell-shocked. Reyna stayed at the edge of the crowd, with a blonde woman Apollo hadn't yet met, but knew was Louisa's mother. Reyna watched the remaining legionnaires wistfully, as though they were loved ones she hadn't seen in a decade and now barely recognised. Jessica watched the legionnaires, thinking of all the destruction and the bodies on the pyres, seeing them as the children they were. Apollo had heard she was set on adopting them all- Terminus would have some competition.

As Frank finished his speech, a voice next to Apollo said, "Hey."

Thalia wore her usual black and silver. In the light of the funeral pyres, her electric blue eyes turned a piercing violet. Over the past few days, they had spoken a few times, but it had been surface talk: where to bring supplies, how to help the wounded.

"Hey." Apollo croaked. "How's Jason?"

"Still grounded. He's sleeping mostly, but he's not hurt. I dosed him up on unicorn draught. It's good stuff."

"Yes." Apollo agreed. "I… I'm sorry, about… he was in danger, because of me and… I'm sorry." Thalia glared at him sidelong.

"Don't let it happen again."

"I won't." He promised quickly, getting a prickling, staticky shock from the very air around her. Apollo distracted himself, looking around. "I can't believe we're here." He said quietly. "We made it. But…" He looked at the pyres. "It cost too much." Thalia picked at one of her badges.

"We came as fast as we could." She sighed, blue eyes dancing in the firelight. "I don't know what I would have done if Jason had… I've already lost him once. I got him back and I intended to keep him back, you know? I… could not lose him again." She looked at him sidelong, biting the inside of her cheek. "Diana has missed you. The goddess has been beside herself, sometimes literally. She gets so worried, she splits into two forms, Roman and Greek, right in front of me. She'll probably get mad at me for telling you this, but she loves you more than anyone else in the world." A marble seemed to have lodged in Apollo's throat. He could not form words, simply nodding instead. "Diana didn't want to leave camp so suddenly like that." Thalia shrugged a shoulder. "But you know how it is. Gods can't stick around. Once the danger to New Rome had passed, she couldn't risk overstaying her summons. Jupiter… Dad wouldn't approve."

Apollo shivered. It was easy to forget that this young woman was also his sister. At one time, he would have discounted her and Jason, they're only demigods, they're not real family.

His time on Earth had taught him a new meaning to family. And he did not feel worthy of that family, with the danger he brought them, but he was grateful for their acceptance.

Gradually, the funeral picnic began to break up. Romans drifted off in twos and threes, heading for New Rome where a special night-time meeting was being held at the Senate House. The valley's population was so reduced, that the entire legion and the citizenry of New Rome could not fit inside that one building.

Reyna made her way over to them, Jessica in tow. "How's Lou?" Thalia asked.

"She's going to be out of it for a while." Reyna replied.

"We left her in the bath." Jessica added. "Until we can find a big enough fish tank, at least." She grinned. Apollo smiled politely and she looked him up and down. "Lester." She said, wagging a finger at him.

"Yes." Apollo sighed. "I'm Lester."

"She's complaining about you."

"I'm sorry."

"She complains about everything, don't take it to heart." Jessica shrugged a shoulder. "Just don't do anything to piss her off for the next, I dunno, ten years, and you'll be OK." Apollo pressed his lips together, not sure how to respond to that. Jessica patted his head. "Don't worry too much, I can keep her in line."

"How?"

"I'm magic." Jessica stuck her tongue out. "And I can out-tantrum anybody."

"And you have a bat." Reyna chipped in.

"And I have a bat." Jessica confirmed, smiling wickedly and rubbing her hands together, like an evil mastermind. She glanced at her watch. "Best go check on the butthead. Shout if you need me and send Jason my best." She waved and took off. Reyna turned to Thalia.

"Mind if I borrow Lester for a bit?"

"I'm Apollo!"

"Nah. Lester's a much better name." Reyna smiled lopsidedly.

"Take him." Thalia laughed. "Did you think any more on what we talked about?"

"Mm. Maybe." Reyna made a face. Thalia just nodded, as if expecting as much. "Come on, Lester. Walk with me."

"Uh, no! Sit back down!" Jessica scolded, rushing forward to shove her daughter back underwater. Angry bubbles spewed and Louisa fought her way above the surface, frowning. "You can't drown. Believe me, I would have done it a thousand times if you could."

"Rude."

"Migraine." Jessica stressed, tapping her fingers on her temple. Louisa pouted, slouching in the water until it covered her mouth. She blew bubbles like a petulant child. Jessica pulled up the stool Reyna had provided, sitting next to the tub. "This reminds me of that Ninja Turtle film." Louisa's eyes flicked to her, bubbling a 'shut up'. Jessica tapped her on the head.

Upon reaching the praetorium, after finding her in Neptune's shed, Jessica had drawn the bath. Reyna was sat on the floor with Louisa, Storm lying down and being used as a backrest. The praetor was tipping drops of unicorn draught in Louisa's mouth. Every so often, Louisa would squint at her, moan about 'cannibalism' and then pass out again. Jessica sprinkled sand dollar crumbs into the water, a trick she had come to rely on over the years. The sand dollar released just a bit of salt water, a bit of sea magic.

Jessica was used to cleaning and patching Louisa up, although this was a new extreme. She ordered Reyna to rest, utilising another Mom Look and forcing the praetor to sit and sip on unicorn draught. Then she part-dragged, part-carried her daughter to the large, claw-footed bathtub, all but throwing her in it.

There was so much dirt, grime, rubble and blood on Louisa, that Jessica was forced to empty and refill the bath four times. She worked quickly, muttering obscenities at her daughter's idiocy as she did so. She scrubbed the mess from her skin, changed her into pyjamas she stole from Reyna's room and seeing more scars than she knew about, washed her hair thoroughly, lathering in the shampoo and conditioner, washing it out and then repeating the process.

It was always less worrying once Louisa had been cleaned up. It didn't look as horrific. Jessica sat at the head of the bath, brushing out Louisa's dark, wet curls and glaring at her daughter the entire time. She did not pretend to fully understand what had happened- undead kings and evil emperors and people fated to die but they didn't because she defied the Fates (well, that last one she had experienced before)- but she was going to strangle Louisa for pulling yet another toeing-the-line-death-stunt. She didn't get paid enough for this.

Louisa remained asleep while she was being cleaned up, drooling and mumbling to herself in Latin. It wasn't until the following morning, the second day after the battle, did she wake up, groggy and complaining and flooding the floor in her panic at not recognising where she was. She nearly face-planted in her bid to resume the fight. Jessica caught her in the nick of time, getting soaked for her effort, and then having Louisa throw up, narrowly missing her feet. There were definitely threats of the bat.

She only settled, somewhat, when Reyna hobbled in.

"Rey-Rey." She smiled feebly. "Ah." She looked down, tipping her head on her mother's shoulder. "Leg."

"Don't." Reyna warned. Louisa smirked at her. With a wave of her hand, water encased Reyna's cast, breaking through it and healing the bone underneath. It only took a few seconds, but the exertion knocked her out.

"Fantastic." Jessica grumbled, laying Louisa back in the water. Reyna tested her leg gingerly, not a hint of pain. "Well, I'm glad you're OK, Rey-Rey-"

"Oh, not you too." Reyna huffed.

"-so could you very kindly clean up the vomit?"

"Why?"

"I don't want to."

"I don't want to." Reyna protested. She knew what Look was coming before she had even finished her sentence. Jessica stared at her. Reyna sighed. "I'll clean up the vomit." She confirmed.

Jessica ran a new bath, crumbling another sand dollar into it. Colour started returning to Louisa's face, she slept more soundly. Her minor injuries healed without a single trace, some of the deeper and more serious wounds fading into old scars.

By day three, Louisa was awake more than she wasn't, and had enough energy to try and escape. She did not, however, have enough energy to get more than a foot from the water without falling on her face. This did not deter her.

When Jessica had left to attend the funerals in her daughter's place, Louisa had been asleep. It was a good job she came back when she did- Louisa was bound to do something else stupid.

"Wanna help." Louisa whined, her mother's hand restrictive on the top of her head.

"No." Jessica scolded. "Your help requires a lot of rebuilding and cleaning." Louisa winced.

"My bad."

"Yeah. Your bad." Jessica pushed on Louisa's head, shoving her underwater. "Why is it so hard for you to do as you're told?"

"Ditto."

"Uh, excuse me?"

"Love you."

"Mmph. Love you too." Jessica huffed. Louisa dutifully stayed quiet. Jessica narrowed her eyes at her. "Oh, you are beyond grounded, you have no idea what trouble you're in."

"Sorry."

"But…" Jessica took a breath, trying to soften her tone. "I heard you saved many lives. Including Jason's." Louisa's gaze darted away, expression brittle. "Do you want to talk about it?" There was a minute, trembling shake of her head. "You've angered the Fates again, Lou. You know that?"

"Yeah…"

"You also caused that king zombie thing a fair bit of trouble, from what I've heard." Another nod, sheepish. Jessica sighed again. "Oh, Lou. What are you like?"

"Migraine."

"Yes. Yes, you're the human embodiment of a migraine. And you are grounded until you're eighty. Or until I die. Whichever comes first. And you're doing triple chores for a year, no powers. I'm cutting your allowance." Jessica racked her brains. It was not as easy punishing a demigod.

Then an idea hit her. "No Mikey."

"What?"

"Yes! No Mikey! For a month!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"But Mikey's my favourite!"

"I'll tell Dylan and Connor you said that."

"Oh, they know that already. Don't take Mikey away!" Louisa whined. "I need Mikey!"

"You need to behave. You want Mikey back, you Ninja Turtle in this tub until I say otherwise!"

"You monster."

They made their way down the road from Temple Hill towards New Rome. Other legionnaires gave them a wide berth, apparently seeing they had private business to discuss.

Reyna kept him in suspense until they reached the bridge spanning the Little Tiber.

"I wanted to thank you." She said, watching the currents swirl and rumble for a moment before looking at him. Her smile was a ghost of the one she had had on the hillside of Sutro Tower, when he had dim-wittingly offered to be her boyfriend. He had no doubt what her thank you meant- not thank you for helping to save the camp but thank you for giving me a good laugh.

"No problem." Apollo grumbled. "Um… you haven't told Lou, have you?" Reyna gave a crooked smile.

"I'm going to see her in a bit. I'll see what comes up in conversation." She smirked.

"She'll kill me."

"She can't do much more than bubbles at the moment. You're safe for a while." Apollo sighed with relief. Reyna snorted, amused.

"How is she?"

"Lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Yes. Lucky. I haven't killed her. And neither has her mother." Reyna shook her head. "That's not why I wanted to talk to you." She patted her cheeks as if that would get her brain in gear. Apollo tried not to dwell on how adorable it was. "I don't… I said thank you and I don't mean it in a negative way." At his dubious look, she sighed and stared out at the dark river. Its currents curled silver in the moonlight. "I don't know if I can explain this. My whole life, I've been living with other people's expectations of what I'm supposed to be. Be this, be that. You know?"

"You're talking to a former god. Dealing with people's expectations is our job description." Reyna nodded, picking at her lip.

"For years, I was supposed to be a good little sister to Hylla in a tough family situation. Then, on Circe's island, I was supposed to be an obedient servant. Then I was a pirate for a while. Then a legionnaire. Then a praetor."

"You do have an impressive resumé." Apollo agreed.

"My whole time as a leader here, I… I didn't meet all expectations. Bad Reyna, I know. For a while, I was looking for a partner. Praetors often partner up, in power, but also romantically. I thought Jason… then Percy for a hot minute. Ugh, gods, I even considered Octavian." She shuddered. Apollo started at her, watching her eyes darken with a sad longing.

"You didn't want them. Other people wanted you to have them."

"I guess." She rubbed at her neck. "I feel like… what was expected of me, I feel like it played with my feelings. I was confused." She sighed. "Everybody was always trying to ship me with somebody. Thalia. Jason. Gwen. Even Frank, but you do not get in the way of Frazel. I'd get told, Oh, you'd be perfect together! That's who you need!"

"But that's not who you wanted."

"No."

"Why Lou? I know I asked before, but why-?"

"I like a challenge. And she is definitely the biggest challenge I've ever faced." Reyna's expression softened, something fond, content. "You know, she didn't have a good reputation here, but it's better now. Sort of. People are still… wary of her. She's unpredictable. And slightly homicidal."

"Something you two have in common." Apollo muttered. Reyna smiled weakly.

"When she first came to camp, I… I will admit, I was reluctant for her to stick around. But Jason… oh, he saw something in her, something worth adding to the legion. I'm not sure if I've fully figured out what it was, but I think I understand his decision now." She nodded, drumming her fingers on the bridge railing. "She's so annoying. So bloody-minded and argumentative; I've seen her yelling at gods, even to their faces, and… honestly, how is she still alive?" Apollo shrugged- there was never an answer to that question.

Reyna crossed her arms on the railing, breathing in the night air. "People didn't like me being friends with her. I'm not even sure when we became friends. I just realised it one day. I guess people didn't like it because she's… well, she's not the most mature person. She used to think it was funny, everyone trying to set me up with someone. She joined in, but it was always like… like Terminus, or a butterfly going past, maybe an octopus or a giant squid. A hotdog once, which she then ate. Broke my heart, that did. Then there was the espresso machine. Then a picture of Jupiter she had, um… defaced." Reyna smiled at the memory. "She held it in front of her face, pretended to be him. I'm not repeating what she said- I don't think he appreciated it the first time."

"I can imagine."

"And then I had that meeting with Venus. That really messed me up. No demigod will heal your heart. What was that supposed to mean? I know I hadn't met anyone's dating expectations, but seriously? Ouch." She looked over at him, suppressing a smile. "Then you came along."

"Do we have to review that part again?" He complained. "I am quite embarrassed enough, thank you."

"But you showed me. It was the final piece of the puzzle. When you proposed dating…" She took a deep breath, body shaking with giggles. "Oh gods, I saw how ridiculous I had been, how ridiculous the whole situation was. My heart didn't need healing, but you taught me to laugh at myself again, at my stupid ideas about destiny. That allowed me to break free, like Frank from his firewood. I don't need another person to 'heal my heart'," she air-quoted, "but I want Lou because she makes me happy. I'm tired of being force-shipped with anyone, everyone, everything- gods, she's a nightmare…" She shook her head, laughing softly. "I don't want to wear anyone else's label. I have my own now." She smiled at him. "For the first time in a long time, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. So, thank you."

"You're welcome?"

"Don't you see?" She laughed. "Venus put you up to the job. She tricked you into it, because she knew you were the only one in the cosmos with an ego big enough to handle the rejection. I could laugh in your face, and you would heal."

"Hmph." Apollo said, though he suspected she was right about Venus manipulating him. He wasn't so sure the goddess cared whether or not he would heal, however. "So, what does this mean for you exactly? What's next for Praetor Reyna?"

"Come along to the Senate House. We've got a few surprises in store."

Updating both today 'cos I missed yesterday :P