Hey, gang! Look at the length of this chapter: almost 5,000 words. I enjoyed writing this one. It runs the emotional gambit, haha.

Something to point out before we dive in—I'm sure most of you know this, but on the off chance anyone doesn't, remember that reina—the Spanish spelling of Reyna's name—means 'queen'. Just keep that in mind.

Thanks to those of you who reviewed last chapter! Love you guys! Enjoy!

XXI
LEO

Reyna moved like lightning. The instant the words 'You're on' left Leo's mouth, she darted forward, aiming her dagger at his left side. He leapt out of the way in alarm, not having expected her to act so quickly and without warning. In retrospect, he really should have seen it coming. This was Reyna, after all; since when did she put up a sign before doing anything?

Unsurprisingly, her recovery time was impressive. She spun sideways seemingly without a thought and aimed a kick at Leo's feet. He jumped to avoid being knocked to the ground and then had to lean back to dodge another swipe of her blade. He caught a glimpse of the look on her face as he did so and noted the angry, resolute hardness in her eyes. Fine. If serious was what she wanted, serious was what she'd get.

Feeling adrenaline start to rush through his veins as he tried to relax and let instinct take over, Leo reached into his tool belt and pulled out a sixteen-inch L-form steel lug wrench in one hand and the two-foot, five-pound sledgehammer he'd used earlier to bang out some of the smaller dents in Festus's metal hide in the other. Reyna's eyes flitted to the tools as he flipped the wrench in his hand but her expression didn't change, and in no time she was on the offensive again. She surged forward and aimed a quick jab of her knife, but this time Leo blocked it, a metallic clang ringing through the air as the blade collided with the steel wrench in his left hand. He used his arm to shove hers aside, creating an opening, and swung the hammer at her legs. She twisted to the side, shifting her dagger in her hand and aiming a backhanded slice that tore Leo's sleeve and barely grazed his left arm just below the shoulder.

The cut was hardly anything, but drawing first blood seemed to empower Reyna. Her eyes gleamed with energy and she spun in a circle, slashing out again with, if possible, even greater speed than before. Leo intercepted her blade with his wrench just in time, not altogether blocking it but causing the knife to glance off sideways, missing him entirely. Unfortunately, this left him open to her next move, which was to swing her left leg out and knock his feet out from under him. He landed on his back on the ground and rolled instinctively out of the way as she threw her dagger at the place in which he'd been lying.

Thinking that that had been a bit on the dangerous side and realizing that both his tools had disappeared from his hands, Leo rolled again to put more distance between himself and Reyna before coming up into a crouch and spinning to face her as she moved to pull her knife from the dirt. A little miffed that she could very well have just stabbed him, he pressed his hand flat against the ground and without a second thought willed it to catch fire. Bright orange flames danced to life on his hand and swept with lightning-speed across the ground in a thin, straight line—directly toward Reyna. She looked over and freed her dagger just in time to leap aside and avoid the fire, eyes widening in alarm.

There was something satisfying about his having surprised her. She'd outright said he could use whatever he wanted, hadn't she? So it wasn't like he was cheating. She'd asked for this. And he was determined not to let her win as easily as she'd been expecting to.

Moreover, something else also struck Leo as odd and strangely satisfying: that little trick with the fire hadn't brought on horrible visions of deadly black flames. He lifted his hand and looked experimentally at his palm. Nothing. He remembered the dream, but now that he knew he could beat it, it didn't have the same debilitating effect. An unconscious grin began to spread across his face at the thought. His father had helped him after all.

The momentary excitement was short-lived, however, because Reyna was back in action in no time. She charged forward and Leo barely had time to scramble to his feet before she'd swung her dagger backhanded again. He reached up and blocked it with his forearm, feeling a strange sort of jolt when his skin touched hers. She seemed to falter at the same time, allowing him to shove her arm aside and twist around, driving his elbow into her stomach. She hunched forward and grabbed his left shoulder with her free hand, pulling him backward and trying to knock him down, but her grip seemed unsecure. He reached up and placed his hand over hers, trying to ignore that same odd swooping sensation in his gut, and summoned just enough heat to hurt but not to burn. She jerked her hand away and took a few unsteady steps backward, and he spun around and chanced a glance at her face to see an unprecedented spark of fear in her eyes. The fingers on her left hand were shaking just barely and her grip on her dagger seemed to be faltering. She was staring at a spot on the ground, eyes a bit unfocused, looking distracted.

Taking the chance, Leo rushed toward Reyna and grabbed her right wrist, twisting her arm and once again building heat in his grip. She cried out in surprise and the dagger fell from her slackened grasp, allowing Leo to kick it out of reach. Looking frustrated but still strangely distracted, Reyna tore her arm savagely from his hand and spun in a circle, aiming a fast and hard kick at his ribs. He flinched as her ankle connected with his right side, but shifted and grabbed her leg in both hands before she could lower it and regain her balance. He could feel a heat rise in his skin that had nothing to do with fire as his fingers slid just above her knee, and she stiffened and stumbled, giving a small gasp. Gaze becoming more fierce and desperate, Reyna tilted forward as she tried not to fall and drove a fist hard into Leo's stomach. He doubled over with a grimace and his hold on her leg loosened, allowing her to free herself.

Her eyes flitted toward her dagger, but he didn't plan on giving her time to retrieve it. Still bent double, he staggered forward and shoved his shoulder against her stomach, forcing her off her feet. Her hands latched instinctively onto his shirt as she fell, pulling him with her, and they both landed in a heap on the ground. Leo had barely pushed himself up on his hands before Reyna had tackled him from the side, knocking him onto his back. He grunted in pain as his shoulder blades slammed against the hard ground and looked up just in time to duck the fist thrown at his face.

Above him, Reyna had a strange sort of look of fierce denial on her face. Time seemed to move in slow-motion as she pulled back her arm for another strike, and Leo summoned fire over his right forearm and slashed it between himself and Reyna like a kind of shield. She shouted in surprise and turned to the side, shutting her eyes and shielding her face from the heat. Extinguishing the fire, Leo grabbed Reyna's outstretched arm and yanked it sideways, causing her to fall down on top of him (which certainly didn't help alleviate that annoying jolted feeling in his chest and stomach). He shoved her to the side and pulled himself up from the ground, rolling to lean over her. He dug his knees into the ground on either side of her waist and used his left hand to pin her right arm to the dirt beside her head, forming a burning glove of fire over his right hand and holding it inches away from her throat.

Neither of them moved. Leo had no reason to, after all—he'd won. He had Reyna pinned and was poised to strike a killing blow, had this been a real fight. But the look of pure and utter surprise on Reyna's face was strange. He would have expected more anger, frustration—anything but that strangely lost, distracted expression. Looking at her eyes, Leo felt that same powerful pull, just like he had in the storage shed at Camp Half-Blood before they'd left the previous day. He realized his breathing was heavy after the exertion, matching that of the girl beneath him. Unexpectedly he thought suddenly of the night he'd first told her about his dream—the night she'd kissed him and then everything had gone to Hades. Now, for some reason, he was struck with the powerful urge to kiss her again. He remembered what it was like—how right it had felt. And he wanted to feel it again. He hadn't thought like that at all since the first time, and it brought on such a sense of shock and a hint of fear that all he could do was stare frozen at her eyes—eyes that continued to stare back at him with the wildest mix of emotions he'd ever seen.

The fire had vanished from Leo's hand without his having realized it. Its disappearance seemed to shake him forcibly back into reality, and with enormous difficulty he tore his gaze from Reyna's and blinked rapidly. He released his hold on her and climbed to his feet, swallowing hard and shaking his head in an effort to return the situation to some form of normalcy. As he did so, the facts started to sink in—he'd won. Reyna had been so sure she could beat him and force him to tell her about his dreams, but she'd lost. Okay, so she'd been a bit flustered and distracted for a while there, and maybe he'd taken advantage of that, but was it his fault if she couldn't handle a little emotional confusion? Of course not. That'd teach her to try and get things out of him by force.

As Reyna stood and brushed off the front of her jeans, still looking vaguely dumbfounded, Leo turned toward her with a grin. "Would you look at that," he said lightly. "La reina isn't quite as all-powerful as she thinks she is."

Immediately, Leo realized that this was the wrong thing to say. The effect on Reyna was instantaneous—her eyes cleared and widened with intense malice, her lip curling in a furious snarl. Both her hands clenched tightly into fists and her neck snapped toward Leo so fast he was surprised her head didn't fall from her shoulders. His grin slid away as she ran straight for him, looking so much like she'd just been possessed by a demon that he was momentarily frozen in fear. When he could move again, he scrambled backward in an attempt to escape whatever unholy death she was planning to give him, but as luck would have it he only ended up tripping on the uneven ground. He fell and landed flat on his back, and had barely leaned up on his elbows before Reyna pounced on him from above, digging her knee into his stomach. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt and shoved his head and shoulders hard against the dirt, and he momentarily forgot his struggle for freedom as stars exploded across his vision. He blinked hard and achieved enough focus to see Reyna pulling her other hand back above her head while her eyes burned with obvious murderous intent. The strange thing was, though—there were tears in them.

"I'm sorry!" Leo yelped hurriedly, throwing both arms over his face in an effort to protect it from what was sure to be a very painful blow. "It was just a joke!"

Thankfully, the subsequent attack never came. The pressure of Reyna's leg vanished, along with her hold on Leo's shirt, and he slowly lowered his arms to see her already on her feet and walking curtly away with her back to him.

Leo realized his nerves were on overdrive. What just happened? Reyna's expression just now had been very different than it was during the short fight they'd just had—even at the beginning, when she'd been so sure and serious. Was that joke he'd said to try and diffuse the awkward tension really that bad? Did it get to her that much? He barely even remembered what he'd said. Something was definitely going on with her, a lot more than she was letting on. If that was true, though, she might have been even better than he was at hiding it.

"Looks like a draw," Reyna said stiffly, turning rigidly to the side and staring resolutely at the ground. She sheathed her dagger at her hip with much more force than was necessary. "No one wins. We should get back to work."

Apparently, she wasn't as keen on learning his secret anymore and only wanted to get as far away from him as possible. But she'd had her shot, and now it was his turn. She wasn't getting away that easily.

"Reyna," he said firmly as she turned to leave, and she stopped dead-still. He climbed slowly to his feet, straightening the wrinkled collar of his shirt. "Something's bothering you. And don't even try to deny it after that little show." Voice softening just barely, he finished, "Tell me what's up."

She didn't respond, and to be frank he couldn't blame her. After all, he'd refused to answer her questions. What reason did she have to answer his? Maybe he was going about this whole thing the wrong way. If he wanted her to trust him, then didn't he have to show her that she could? Didn't he first have to trust her?

Flashes of the many repetitions of his dream came to mind, ending in the last one—the one that had changed them all. He was still afraid, but it was different now. Was there really any point in keeping it secret anymore?

So taking a deep, steady breath, Leo finally said, "Dark fire."

Reyna turned around slowly, fixing him with serious eyes. "What?"

"My dream." He met her gaze unflinchingly, for once not hiding the anxious uncertainty Nyx had planted in him and letting it show on his face. "Remember the night before the eclipse, when…" She breathed in sharply and he explained quickly, "when I told you about the dream I had? The one with Nyx and that black fire?"

She seemed to relax a bit, looking thoughtful as she recalled the conversation. "You said… it burned. Even though fire never burns you."

Leo's fingers twitched by his sides as he remembered the horrible feeling, but again he didn't bother masking its effect on his mood. He felt his expression flinch in discomfort, and Reyna's eyebrows knitted in mild surprise. "Well," he went on, "I've been having the same dream ever since—more and more often. It's gotten to where every time I close my eyes, I see it. Fire is… one of the few things I thought I understood. But now that I've felt what it can do over and over again, it's… it's different. I'm… It scares me, okay? That's why I didn't want anyone to know." His gaze slid to the ground, but for some reason saying the words was easier than he'd thought it would be. "But the one this morning, it… changed. It went further and I… I heard my dad." He chanced a glance at Reyna to see if she thought this absurd, but her expression was still quietly attentive. "He told me that… his fire would protect me. So I used it against Nyx's fire and it worked, it disappeared. That was when you guys woke me up."

Reyna's frown deepened. "Does that mean… it's over?"

"I hope so," Leo said wryly with a weak chuckle. "This dream is… tearing into me, changing who I am. And I… I've been trying like heck to keep that from happening. It's why I haven't been sleeping, why I've been… I don't know, off, lately. I thought this quest would help me get back to normal, you know? Give me something to work for. And, well… Guess I wasn't that far off."

She stared at him, an uncharacteristic lack of hardness in her expression. It was like she could see all the pain the dreams had caused him and felt genuinely sorry for it. It was a bit odd, and made Leo slightly uncomfortable, but to be honest it was kind of nice to have everything off his chest—to have someone else who finally knew what he'd been going through.

"So you haven't… told anyone?" Reyna asked carefully, and Leo shook his head. She breathed out unsteadily. "I don't know… what to say to you."

"You don't have to say anything," Leo insisted. He hadn't been fishing for a pity-party, after all. "I'm not—"

But Reyna interrupted, "Yes, I do. You're not the kind of person who deserves to be in so much pain." Leo's eyebrows shot up—that was almost nice. She seemed to realize that she'd said something strange, because she sighed shortly and elaborated, "I just mean that… You've got friends, I know you do. People who care about you, could help you. People who deserve to know the truth—who deserve to be close to you. People you care about."

"Why do you think I'm talking to you?" he responded without thinking. She sucked in her breath and a tiny flush colored her neck, and Leo shook his head quickly and backtracked, "I'm sorry—forget it. The bet, it was the bet. I didn't win. I'm just… following through."

He turned to the side, avoiding her eyes. That brief sparring match had brought back memories of the night at the Cloud Nine Hotel and proven to Leo one important fact—he had feelings for Reyna. It didn't make much sense, really. She was tough, serious—Roman to the core. She very rarely showed any sense of humor. The two of them looked at and handled things completely differently. But regardless, there was something that drew them together. He couldn't deny it now and was no longer annoyingly uncertain. Still, he wasn't entirely sure of Reyna's take on the situation, and no matter what she was feeling she seemed unwilling to acknowledge it. And he wasn't entirely convinced that now would be the right time to challenge that.

"I didn't win, either," Reyna said suddenly after a particularly long silence, and Leo had to quickly think back to what they'd been talking about.

He gave a half-shrug and admitted, "I guess, technically—"

"You were right."

With a frown, Leo turned to face Reyna. "About what?"

"Me." She took a slow breath, eyes dropping to the dirt. Her expression hardened, but Leo was comforted to know that this time her frustration didn't seem to be directed toward him. "I'm not all-powerful. I used to think I was strong, but… I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm weak, and confused, and none of this was ever supposed to happen to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"My focus." Her voice seemed to deepen with every word. "For years, everything I've done has been to protect the Legion. To keep them safe." Somehow, she sounded unsure—like she was trying to convince herself rather than stating a fact. "I trained myself to always place the camp first—before me, before everything. But then one distraction comes along and all that work goes up in smoke."

"Distraction?" Leo repeated, confused. He'd been hoping his confession would prompt her to offer her own, but he wasn't really sure this answered his questions. "Look, if this is supposed to tell me why you volunteered for the quest—"

"I volunteered because one way or another, Nyx is going to pay for what she did. I'm going to see to that myself. It's the only way I can make up for what I did to New Rome."

"What you did… You're kidding, right? I know you're not thinking—"

"I failed them!" she shouted, gaze snapping onto Leo's and making him flinch in alarm. "I let them die—I couldn't save them because I was distracted thinking about you!"

"What? Me?"

She spun to the side, crossing her arms. "Forget it."

"No!" Leo argued, walking around in front of her so she was forced to face him. "That's what this is about? Reyna, what Nyx did to your camp was not your fault. Are you seriously that high-and-mighty? You think you could have single-handedly taken down the Queen of Night and saved everybody? Sorry to break it to you, Your Highness, but you're not that good. I don't care how many 'years of service' you put in to turn yourself into this almighty warrior. What happened to New Rome happened because Nyx was too much for all of us. And pushing people away so you can take her on without any 'distractions' is only gonna get you killed, too. So here's an idea—let's try working together so maybe we can keep any more people from getting hurt."

Reyna looked dumbstruck. She stared at Leo with her mouth slightly open, a blank look on her face as though her brain had stopped working altogether.

When she didn't immediately respond, he frowned and said, "What? Am I on fire again?" He glanced down for effect, but she still didn't speak—or even blink. It was starting to get creepy. Disconcerted, he waved a hand in front of her face and said, "Hello? Engineering to Queen Reyna? Any of this getting through?"

Finally she unfroze, eyebrows drawing together as she breathed out slowly. "Sorry," she said, "it's just… People don't usually…"

Leo laughed airily in disbelief. "Yell at you?" he guessed. "Yeah, well, maybe they should. You're human, Reyna. Just like me, just like everybody else. If you could see that, then… maybe you wouldn't put so much responsibility on yourself." He shook his head. What was it with the Roman praetors and trying to shoulder all the blame for a terrible accident that had been no one's fault but Nyx's? It was more than a little frustrating, to tell the truth. At least Reyna was handling it a little better than Jason was. She wasn't quite so obvious.

"I guess… you're right," Reyna admitted, causing Leo to raise his eyebrows at her in mock surprise. She shot him a pointed look and went on, "I just… hate that I was so off my usual game that day. I didn't like the idea that something could have shaken me that much. Maybe if I'd fought at my best and still lost, the defeat would have been easier to accept. But just… knowing that I could have done better… made me feel that if I had, things would have been different."

"I'm not sure they would," Leo pointed out, stepping backward to lean against the still-unmoving form of Festus the dragon. "I was there that night, I saw what happened. I really don't think one person would have made a difference. Besides, from where I stood, you seemed just as tough and determined as ever, for what it's worth." The corner of her mouth twitched upward and he grinned, glad to see that some of the worried tension had seemed to leave her. Her words started to replay in his head and he said aloud, "And don't think I missed that slip about me being what distracted you during the eclipse. I think that warrants a bit of explanation, don't you?"

Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch in an expression of discomfort. She opened her mouth and was quiet for a few seconds, then breathed out resolutely and began, "I—"

"It can wait," Leo decided, realizing that now that things were relatively normal between them they really shouldn't risk messing it up again until the quest was over. If it worked, and they were able to wake the gods and get their help in winning the war, there would be plenty of time for talk at a later date. "Like you said yesterday, we've got more important things to worry about."

Reyna's eyes searched Leo's until her expression relaxed with guarded relief, lips stretching into a small smile that told him he'd said the right thing. She didn't say it, but he could tell that when the time came she would be willing to talk to him. Now just wasn't that time.

"I should get back to work," Leo said, tapping his knuckles against the bronze metal behind him. "You can stay if you want, but it's not that exciting. Time might be better spent checking to make sure Nico hasn't fallen down a well or something. I bet Lassie's off-duty during wartime."

She chuckled in response to the joke and he couldn't help a grin. "Alright," she agreed, moving to pick up the sword she'd challenged him with and replacing it among their piles of supplies. He'd barely turned around to get back to work when she called out, "Leo." When he straightened, she went on, "Thank you. For telling me about your dream."

"Thanks for listening," he responded lightly. "You were right. It… helps to tell a friend the truth."

After a beat, she replied, "Yeah, it does."

Leo turned away again, feeling particularly good about himself, and dropped to a crouch in front of Festus's cargo chamber. But he was once again interrupted before he could so much as pick up the tools he'd left behind earlier—this time by a loud, feral growl that broke through the dark silence. It didn't sound too close—a hundred yards or so away, at least—but still it caused the ground to rumble just noticeably and the leaves above his head to rustle as though brushed by wind. Alarmed, he sprang to his feet and whirled around. Reyna had yet to leave the crash site and was staring into the trees with an intense expression he could just make out from where he stood.

"Did you hear that?" he asked unnecessarily—it was obvious by her rigid stance that she had. She didn't answer, only stepped slowly back toward the dragon as her eyes scanned the forest around them.

"Of course they couldn't have just let us leave," she said bitterly, voice low.

Leo opened his mouth to respond, but froze when he heard a nearing series of rustling leaves and snapping branches. He spun toward the sound and almost had a heart attack when what burst through the trees a second later was none other than…

Nico.

But something was wrong. Nico looked anxious and out of breath, and had a hand latched tightly over his left shoulder. Beneath it, his black leather jacket looked dark and damp. Was that blood?

"Hey, guys," he greeted them with a sarcastic smile that immediately hardened to a glare. "We've got a problem."

What's life without a few good cliffhangers? Heh heh.

I've been writing a lot of fight scenes lately for this story. This is a pretty good stretch we're in right here. I love fight scenes, as any of you who've read my story Fire at Will can guess. Some good times comin' up soon.

Reviews? Pretty please? They make my day, honestly! Update should be early next week. Later days, gang!

-oMM