Disclaimer: I don't own PJO nor HoO, they are the beautiful children of Rick Riordan.
A/N: I have this little note in the file that reads "KURO (GUEST)", but it's been so long that I can't even remember what it was about… It's probably meant to remind me to thank dear KURO for their review, so here I go: THANK YOU! :)
I can't believe I'm telling you this but I've had a couple of drinks and... oh, my god
(Lady Gaga - Sexxx Dreams)
CHAPTER 5
"So... How exactly did she die?" asked a tall, dark-haired detective, lighting a cigarette. He sighed quietly, taking the first deep inhale and closing his eyes. He looked fairly young but as if he'd faced many matters that nobody should have seen if they didn't want to become tired and lifeless, just like he was. "How old was she even? Twenty? Twenty-two?" he added, looking back down at the curtain of raven black wisps enveloping her bloodless, colorless face. She'd had to be so pretty when she'd been alive...
"She suffocated, but the circumstances are still unclear," his friend, a pathologist at their department, was just finishing washing his hands in the sink nearby the autopsy table. "I'm going to drop by the report by lunch." A silent nod was the only answer he'd managed to receive for his weak smile.
"Alright. I'll see you la-" the policeman never got to finish the sentence as the conversation was interrupted by an miraculous return... "Well, well..." the man smirked, sticking his hands in his trousers' pockets "You were supposed to be dead, weren't ya?"
Reyna's eyes opened to meet the amused gleam in Tristan McLean's charming eyes when he greeted his supermodel ex-girlfriend who had gone missing at the beginning of the movie. Volume turned down and the remote control probably long lost in action, the TV seemed to had been on for quite some time, based on the sudden leap in the film's timeline she was able to note.
Had she fallen asleep..? But she didn't quite feel well-rested, so what was the-? Her eyes widened when she remembered the scenes from what seemed like merely a couple of moments earlier. Had she just..? No. No, that couldn't be-!
To her horror, her wheezy breathing, trembling limbs and irregular heartbeat left not even a shadow of doubt. Swallowing nervously to fool herself that the dryness of her mouth was never there, she slowly reached for her panties and...
Son of a...
She'd had a sex dream with Leo Valdez.
X X X
"Bring it to Jace! Put it over there! Be careful, it was expensive!" Jason laughed, pointing at the demigod in front of the dais, giving out order after order (seemed he hadn't been a praetor for nothing) while Reyna sat at the edge of the dining pavilion, watching him with her hand propping her chin and her mind in deep thought, certainly not considering the color of the draperies that would be most suitable for the occasion. The son of Jupiter was a lot better at that himself, anyway.
She hoped supervising the preparations for Piper's massive birthday party would be a good enough excuse for avoiding just about everybody on that day. Specifically Leo Valdez. She'd even passed on the gruesome punishment she was supposed to come up with for him and Emily! The two still didn't know that, of course, she decided to let at least the fear be their penalty until they finally found out...
She crossed her legs at her ankles and exhaled, long, slow and deep, letting her eyelids droop for a few seconds and struggling to fight off the nagging tenseness of her nape that had been there since she'd woken up. She hated her current state, surrendering to a weakness, withdrawing from answering her responsibilities, but... What was that stupid dream even supposed to mean?! And, more importantly, why did it keep affecting her even when she'd been long awake?!
"Hey there," a friendly, soft tune shook her brutally out of the chaos in her mind and she straightened, instantly regaining her regal posture (though not flawlessly) and hoping the poor state of her composure wasn't too obvious at the first sight. She had no intention of letting anybody have even a slight of idea about the night before, be it Leo himself or...
"Piper," the acknowledgement came out quieter and more confused than she'd have wanted it to be, but it wasn't until she realized the reason for that to had occurred that her mouth parted and she jumped to her feet in one go. "Piper! Are you supposed to be here?!" Reyna exclaimed, outside astonished but calm, inside - cursing her absent-minded mood in probably the most crude language known to the mankind. How could she have neglected her responsibility and accept the Cherokee girl in?!
Her friend only laughed at the stern face she was probably making. She fell onto the bench previously occupied by Reyna and patted the seat next to herself with a wide grin making small wrinkles form in the corners of her eyes and giving out a disturbing resemblance of... No. Reyna wasn't going to think about him again. She sat next to Piper and the two of them watched as Jason hurried from one side to the other, distributing the work, or having the time of his life with every single one of his edgeless hoard of friends. That phrase seemed more valid.
"Soo... What's with you and Leo?" Reyna's eyes widened and she suddenly felt unbelievably grateful for her Puerto Rican heritage that, hopefully, succeeded in covering the outburst of colors she felt creeping its way onto her face. How did she..?! No. She had to think rationally. Piper couldn't possibly know about her dream.
"Me? With Leo?" she asked blandly, focusing rather on Jason's cheerful efforts for a party Camp Jupiter would be talking about for weeks from then onward, rather than the images of the Latino's dirty smirks her own damn imagination insisted on bothering her with at the mentioned topic. She could practically feel Piper stare, searching her eyes for clues, but refused to return the look.
"I saw him this morning, in the dining pavilion," her friend finally gave up, folding her hands in her lap and looking back away to her boyfriend chatting happily to one of the sons of Mars whose strength had been offered to be of help at the preparations, even more of simple pride than their hearts' craving to assist. "He acted weird and when I asked if he'd seen you, he just thought up some lame excuse and run away. Don't you know what's gotten into him?" Reyna heard the puzzlement in Piper's voice, clear as the fact of her denial of the blissful nightmare she'd had about him. But as much as she wanted to assure her friend that Leo was in fact alright (as much as the one fearing her cold wrath could), she had no intentions of revealing having any connection to his state of mind at the time and so she kept her mouth in a thin line and prayed that the racing heartbeat of hers slowed down. She slowly shook her head.
"No, I have no idea what's been… bothering him so much," she answered carefully, returning another one of Piper's burning glance and forcing a weak smile to slightly curve her lips upwards. For a few terrifying seconds, her friend's eyes stared intensely into hers and a part of her mind was beginning to wonder if there hadn't actually existed any power of the children of Venus/Aphrodite that would have resembled reading other people's minds. Fortunately, the crinkle in Piper's forehead smoothed out and the girl returned the kind expression, however seeming to have similar difficulties with smiling to those of Reyna's.
"Oh, good. I was afraid he's started causing trouble again. After the breakup, he made a few crazy mistakes but lately, he seems to be feeling… better… At least that's what I'm hoping for," she sighed and Reyna couldn't help but feel envious of her and Leo's relationship. The way Piper worried for him was more than one could commonly see between friends, it resembled the care Hylla had had for her when they had been kids. The love one only nursed for the members of their true family, which had nothing to do with the ties of blood.
"Mistakes? What do you mean?" Reyna asked curiously. Come to think of that, she'd never gotten to know the full story of Leo and Calypso. She'd only heard that, during the period the camps had neglected keeping up the frequency of reciprocal visits, the son of Hephaestus had succeeded in bringing Festus back to life and had done so also in order to get to the mythical island of Ogygia and free the goddess he'd met as long back as on the way to Rome, during the war. Other than that, she didn't know anything about their relationship, but if he'd risked so much for the girl, it was only natural to assume that feelings deeper than simple sympathy had been involved.
However, witnessing with how much fervor he used every bit of charm he possessed to cast numerous spells of differing strength upon a legion of girls one could call his fangirls, it was another safe assumption to make that the relationship with the daughter of Atlas hadn't lasted, after all. But how had it happened? And what had Leo done to make his friends worry about him so much?
It seemed to had still been a sensitive subject, as Piper only fought away a wince and weakly shook her head.
"Oh, you know... Some were really dangerous, most just terribly stupid... It's not my favorite topic to chat, sorry," she smiled apologetically, but Reyna only nodded to assure her it was, in fact, no big deal. Everybody had past issues they didn't even want to admit having, even more so to think about, and the praetor was the last person to force bringing inner demons to the light.
"It's ok, I get it," their eyes met and Reyna could clearly see the gleam of gratefulness in Piper's multi-color orbs. "That's why you seemed so worried about Leo, isn't it?" the descendant of the Cherokee tribe only sighed and leaned her chin on one hand, boring her eyes in the personage of her boyfriend's.
"Yeah, Jason and I still aren't sure if it's all in the past now… I mean," she explained, the wrinkle of worry occupying her forehead once again, an unstoppable, gloomy reminder of a not-so-past weight in her heart, "Leo keeps saying how much he's over Calypso and how it's finally time for him to have the time of his life yet…" she trailed off and didn't talk again until, out of a sudden, Annabeth came in with the speed and anger of the storm in her eyes and forced the two out, grumbling about the spoilt surprise. However, the words didn't need to be said for Reyna to understand.
Piper and Jason were worried sick about their best friend, that much Reyna could have made out from the first time she'd seen them during their visit, but it only proved itself more with every conversation she'd had with them about him, which was, needless to say, almost every time she'd talked to whichever of the two. However, at the moment she'd come in possession of an important clue to help solve the mystery behind Leo and his almost strangely lively behavior. She could now clearly see a possible pattern. After all, she'd been through the stage herself.
Could it be that he still suffered from a bad case of a broken heart..?
Be it that or anything else, maybe even nothing at all, she wasn't going to betray Jason and Piper's trust. She was going to find out what Leo's problem was and, if possible, help him sort it out. That was what friends did and Reyna wanted to fully deserve being able to use the title.
But as for that evening, she'd have to make sure to do everything in her might not to reveal anything of the nasty secret of hers... Nobody was ever going to find out about her shameful dream, especially Leo Valdez himself!
X X X
He made a quiet hum-like sound that was dangerously close to a whistle. And Nico di Angelo never made noises of approval. Not in a million years.
She groaned. "Tell me how bad it is…" Reyna forcefully kept her eyes off the mirror, in a mixture of awkwardness and embarrassment, yet also a weird sense of pleasure and pride filling her every cell from the tips of painted-black toes to the ridiculously shiny curtain of obsidian hair worn down on one shoulder. Whoever peeked back at her was not the Roman praetor she was used to seeing every day –a braid, because it was practical and she liked it that way best, face with no addition of heavy make up as she valued the well-being of her skin too much. Also, the finest imperial gold armor that kept her comfortably confident at all times.
Whoever's idea it had been to go for an extreme makeover for that one special night had gone completely crazy. Oh right. It had been Reyna herself!
She was wearing crimson red 4 inch high heels she'd only ever worn once or twice in her life, the ones that seemed way more deadly than any monster she'd ever fought. Her legs (since when were they so long, anyway?) were clad in black artificial leather leggings, making it one less animal than herself suffering because of their existence. She'd even put on that black lacy tie back top she'd one day discovered in her wardrobe (gods knew where she'd even got that one from)! Not to mention the fine layer of blood-like color exposing the curves of her lips to the world… The only thing that didn't actually feel like it belonged to somebody else was a thin gold and silver necklace with an eagle glistening gently against the tan of her skin.
Her friend checked the time on the solid, metal watch, the kind they only, literally, made in the world of the dead. His style, quite contrary to the phenomenon of hers, was simple but classy - everything of fine brand, black jeans, jacket and sneakers matching the dark of the distinctive mess of soft, boyish hair and in contrast to the simple white shirt with the first button nonchalantly undone. She found it impressive but funny that he probably just pulled all the clothes randomly out of the suitcase when him and his companion had arrived in Camp Jupiter in the afternoon, merely a couple of hours before.
"You look amazing. But we've gotta go now if you don't want to have to walk straight into the spotlight," Nico smiled, she knew that this slight curve of his mouth was, in fact, a truly kind expression. That was somewhat reassuring, despite the fact that she'd just started wondering if she hadn't lost her mind, suffering from a party animal spirit attack that could have been less inconvenient if it had actually lasted through the whole event. Maybe it wasn't all that bad.
Reyna quickly grabbed her small, black purse and followed her friend outside. Her back turned to him but with her eyes on his reflection in the glass of the front door she was closing, she didn't miss the small bounces Nico made when heading to the green Cadillac with their driver already inside. A smile was an automatic reaction by then, so often she had had no choice but to gush over the cuteness of their relationship. Of course, Nico would have killed her for calling him "adorable" aloud. Fortunately, his boyfriend's reaction would have been much more enjoyable - the two were exact opposites, after all.
Positioning herself on the back couch, she felt his eyes on her and when she glanced in the rear-view mirror, Will was grinning at her. "Looking great, Reyna," he complimented and she had no choice but to return the smile. Child of the god of the Sun, Will Solace lived up to the expectations one usually had about those demigods – he was just like a human torch, a glowing and warm personality, only it felt like he was fueled with sunlight and not flames. Her expression fell some when she suddenly remembered the burning feeling of Leo's skin on hers in the dream, but to her relief, her companions were too occupied with arguing about the quickest road to the party venue to notice.
"So, you two," she raised her voice to interrupt their childish quarrel – however cute it was, she didn't want anybody to be sulking throughout the night because of a conflict so trivial, "Have you been having fun traveling round the country?" she asked, curious about the places they had seen, the things then had done, maybe even about the monsters they had probably fought. She loved Camp Jupiter and would have given her life away to protect it, New Rome was also a dream-like place to settle, but there were times she wondered if she wasn't missing something in her life, like the spark of adventure she'd last felt when having had to travel to Europe and back, minus the unpleasant situations that had come with the journey. During those times, she felt envious of the vagabond life Nico and Will lead…
Will stopped the car on a read light and leant back to send her another one of his distinctive expressions of happiness. "Oh yeah, it's been great!" he claimed, nodding his head to a smiling older woman passing the street, "And the best fun so far was Utah, where…" He didn't get to finish because of Nico's loud snort.
"Please, Utah? Of all the places we've seen, you like Utah most?" he had his arms crossed on his chest and his lips formed a gloomy smirk that still wasn't enough to cool Will's enthusiasm down. The blond bit his lower lip and, almost out of habit and not the care for his looks, run a hand through his hair, slicked down at the top of his scalp. Judging from the azure shirt and black leather suspenders, it had been him to had chosen the clothing for Nico to dress up in to look so fashionable, as she still couldn't quite believe it had actually been the son of Hades' idea. It just wasn't like him and she knew it well enough to be sure.
"What was wrong about that place?!" Will pressed and, after a short exchange of knowing glances of stygian-iron and sky-blue eyes, huffed in amusement and shook his head. "You can't still be talking about when you…" for the second time, Nico made him unable to say the whole sentence, this time with a rough nudge into the side.
"Don't!" Nico hissed through clenched teeth, taking a quick glance at Reyna, and she could swear his cheeks looked a lot more lively than the moment earlier, "It's not like the whole world needs to know about it!"
She could see Will roll his eyes, yet he didn't fail to keep smiling. "Oh c'mon, it's Reyna! She's like a sister to you, remember?" the rear-view mirror revealed him winking at her, the typical playfulness of his, but it only took a few seconds of quick judging to make the decision not to go along with the teasing anymore. Nico just didn't look like he was ready to laugh at the Utah incident yet. As his almost-sibling, how Will had called it, Reyna possessed the doubtless power to estimate when it was the time to give it up not to cross the tight line.
"It's fine, you'll tell me some other time," she assured the blond and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nico's posture relax. "We're here, anyway," she pointed to the entrance to the dining pavilion, decorated with iridescent serpentines, balloons of all colors and other decorations that easily made up half of the stock of every shop that offered those in the town. Huge, shiny letters read "PIPER" and there were two human-size numbers made from metal at the each side of the passage, reminding every guest just what important occasion it was – it wasn't everyday that one's friend turned 21!
"Hey, are you going or not?" Will's voice was what brought Reyna's attention back to her surroundings and not the metallic gleam of the numbers, weirdly alluring in the way they reflected vivid lights of the party that was just about to start inside. Her lips in a tight line, she straightened and took in a slow breath to force her heart to slow down it's rhythm of anxiety that came from that morning's embarrassment.
"Yeah, I'm coming," she assured him, forcing a weak smile when she got out of the car and he closed the door behind her.
It wasn't difficult to guess who made that particular element of the scene. And it helped nothing of the struggle within herself to finally fully realize Leo was going to be at the party, too. No more running away, no more hiding. It shouldn't have been a problem to a child of Rome. There was but one but about that.
When it came to feelings and what came as results of those, like the dream, and especially when it was about the ones she didn't understand and wanted to get rid of, Reyna was facing her own giant counterpart.
She swallowed and lifted her chin high, somewhat relieved to sense the familiar despiteful pride fill her mind and give her strength to face the challenge. "Let's do this, guys."
ZJeM, 15.12.14-07.06.15
From author:
I know. No Leo in the chapter, I'm such a tease, aren't I? Let's just hope I'll get my shit together and finish the next chapter quicker than this one… Though I can't promise anything. It's not me coming up with the plot, it's the story itself. Anybody who's ever tried writing knows what I mean. ;)
THANKS FOR READING!
