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Chapter Text

Reyna was having an admittedly very average day. Right up until Annabeth entered the room she was staying in at the Big House and whispered very seductively in her ear, "Come spar with me." Reyna coughed, nearly falling off her bunk. She could feel her face flushing bright red as she turned to stare at Annabeth with wide eyes. Annabeth's wild grey eyes stared back at her. She felt herself getting lost in them, wondering what it would be like to be able to stare at those eyes for forever. A snap pulled herself from her thoughts and she flushed as she realised she actually had tried to stare into Annabeth's eyes forever.

Annabeth grinned cockily. "Come on. You've done all your praetor business for the day. The camps aren't going to merge in one day. Now, come spar with me."

Reyna was still frozen. She couldn't make herself move. "Uh..." She was fairly sure Annabeth was still dating Percy. She couldn't remember if Annabeth had been this flirty the last time they had met. Reyna was almost certain Annabeth had been composed. She had definitely been much more in control of herself.

"Say yes," Annabeth said as if Reyna had already said no. "Sparring with me can be really fun." She winked, leaning in closer. "If you let it."

Reyna snapped out of her stupor and fought down the blush that was rising. "No, thank you. I have to get through this mountain of paperwork. Maybe some other time." She knew that if she gave in to whatever game Annabeth was playing, she would be the only one getting burnt.

Annabeth scowled and sat down next to Reyna, arm draped over her shoulder. She played with a few loose strands of her hair as she tried to convince Reyna why sparring with her would be such a good idea. Reyna did her very best to ignore her, but ever since Annabeth had kissed her cheek after they'd beaten Gaea, she couldn't get the other girl off her mind. 

"I have paperwork to finish," Reyna repeated before she could make a fool of herself.

There could have actually been a mountain of paperwork. It had been building up on her desk for months and she had thought that while she visited Camp Half-Blood, she could finish some of it. Unfortunately, she had been caught up in meetings with Chiron for the majority of her stay. Now, she was trying to figure out how to arrange transport between the two camps that wouldn't involve boats or trekking across the country. The only option she could really see working was driving, but there wasn't enough space in the cars and they didn't have enough money for the amount of petrol that would take. There were also the letters she had to answer from questioning legionnaires about her decision to merge the two camps, and not destroy the Greeks.

"Reyna," Annabeth said flatly. "Get off your arse and come spar with me."

Reyna ignored the other girl, writing out a response to an ex-legionnaire stiffly. Her shoulders tensed when Annabeth leaned into her. "Annabeth," she warned. "Get off me."

"Only if you spar with me," Annabeth bargained.

"Why don't you go bother Percy," Reyna grumbled, shoving her. "I'm sure he'd love to entertain you."

Annabeth snorted, covering her mouth with a hand. "Reyna!" she exclaimed delightedly. "And here I thought you were some uptight, prudish ass." She sighed. "Anyway, we broke up last month."

Reyna raised her eyebrows. That was news to her.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. I still love him, but not like... He's like a brother to me," Annabeth shrugged. "Also, he's questioning whether or not he's ace. There was a lot of pressure for us to get together. Maybe it wasn't for the best. And to help with that, I'm not sure I'm straight. It's a mess. We're a mess."

"Agreed," Reyna smirked, looking back at the letter in front of her.

"Hey!" Annabeth protested. "Unfair. Now you really have to spar with me."

"If I spar with you," Reyna sighed, "Will you leave me alone for the rest of the day?"

Annabeth nodded. "Absolutely. You can trust me."

"I wouldn't trust you more than I could throw you," Reyna muttered, stacking her papers neatly and setting them to one side. 

"Please, you could probably throw me across Long Island," Annabeth snorted, taking Reyna's hand in hers. 

Reyna stared at the hundred or so demigods that were sitting in the stadium. "You know, when you said we were sparring, I wasn't exactly imagining half of the camp watching on."

"This isn't half the camp, Reyna, don't be ridiculous. The gods aren't that horny. This is almost our whole camp," Annabeth said with a grin.

"This is your whole camp?" Reyna said in disbelief. "I remember there being a lot more than this during the battle."

"That's because we're so fast," Annabeth smirked. "We run like the wind." She winked. "We also die a lot."

Reyna snorted. "That's an awful thing to say."

"But it's true."

Reyna refused to let a smile on her face. Annabeth was not funny. She was not cute and she was definitely not girlfriend material. 

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Reyna's stoicism. "So, Roman, choose your weapon and get out here and fight me." She walked away from Reyna, drawing her dagger from its sheath. 

Reyna smiled. This would be too easy. She launched forward, gripping Annabeth's shoulders and forcing her down to the ground, making sure she didn't land on her dagger. She landed with her knee pressing into Annabeth's back, keeping her pinned. Annabeth laughed as she tried unsuccessfully to escape. The crowd cheered wildly, beating their feet against the stone to voice their approval.

"Disappointing," Reyna mocked, trying to keep her smile out of her voice. "I didn't even need a weapon."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Annabeth grouched good-naturedly. "Let me up and we'll go again."

Reyna stood up and offered Annabeth a hand. "Pull me down and I swear to Pluto, I will make you regret it."

"Oh yeah?" Annabeth's eyes sparkled in challenge. "How?" She grasped Reyna's forearm and pulled hard.

Reyna wasn't stupid enough to think that Annabeth wouldn't try to get back at her after being so easily defeated. She was, however, unprepared for the amount of strength put into the tug. She stumbled forward until she got her feet braced.

"Okay, Chase," she smirked. "Nice try. Get up and we'll do it properly this time."

Reyna's heart pounded in her chest as she ducked under Annabeth's sweeping arc with her dagger. If it had been a monster, Reyna would have had no problem slicing their arm off. Since this was Annabeth, Reyna only hit her arm with the flat of her sword. Annabeth let out a pained hiss as she shook out her arm.

"Giving up so easily?" Reyna taunted, chancing a jab at Annabeth's unprotected side.

Annabeth side-stepped and replied with a kick to Reyna's gut that she wasn't expected. She grunted and went with a feint to her left that she was surprised Annabeth fell for. She smacked the hilt of her sword against Annabeth's wrist and the dagger clattered against the ground. Reyna kicked it away and pressed the tip of her blade to Annabeth's throat.

"This is almost embarrassingly easy," Reyna laughed as she let Annabeth up.

"Oh please, I'm going easy on you," Annabeth smirked, bending down to pick up her dagger.

"I'd love to see you try harder," Reyna said. "Are you ready this time?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get too cocky just yet."

"Give me a reason not to be."

Annabeth was slightly slower than Reyna, but she was able to manoeuvre around Reyna fast with her shorter weapon. This didn't stop Reyna from slicing Annabeth's limbs open a couple of times. Not deep enough to do any damage but enough to cause annoyance. Annabeth limped away from Reyna, who was unsurprisingly unhurt, just sweaty. Reyna followed, pressing in close to give Annabeth no chance to catch her breath. She was about to smack Annabeth's feet out from underneath her with the flat of her blade when Annabeth punched her smack in her nose. She blinked, tears coming to her eyes. She could feel blood dripping down her chin and she was reminded of how Annabeth had told her how Percy had awoken Gaea with his nosebleed.

The campers cheered at the sight of Reyna's blood, feeling a little more confident now that their lead strategist wasn't getting knocked around quite so much. In the next few minutes, Annabeth ducked under Reyna's sword and grabbed her ankle, pulling it up and holding it tight beside her side. 

"This is more like it," Reyna cheered, hopping back to keep her balance.

Annabeth dodged around Reyna's sword and left a rip in Reyna's t-shirt. Blood appeared around the edges of the frayed fabric. She tried to kick Annabeth away with her captured leg, but it was kept trapped tightly.

"Still feeling cocky?" Annabeth snickered. She tried to hold her dagger against Reyna's neck but Reyna batted it away with her sword.

Reyna distracted Annabeth with a poke to the side. Annabeth didn't react and Reyna groaned. 

"Not ticklish, Arellano."

"Ramirez-Arellano," Reyna corrected.

She fell backwards suddenly, bringing her other leg up to land a solid kick to Annabeth's kidneys. Annabeth grimaced but she swiped her dagger wildly and succeeded in nearly blinding Reyna.

"Hey!" Reyna protested. "Too far." She wiped away some blood from the cut about her eye but more replaced it.

"Sorry," Annabeth apologised as she pinned her, straddling her stomach and leaning forward to grip her wrists with both hands. "Guess I win this time. Yield?"

Reyna tested her strength and found, much to her dismay, that Annabeth was quite able to keep her like that unless she yielded. Still, she found herself trying to escape simply by squirming underneath the other girl which was something she rarely did. She bucked her hips up, trying to unbalance Annabeth but Annabeth simply adjusted her weight and waited for Reyna to still.

"You're not going anywhere until you yield," Annabeth grinned, finding Reyna's stubbornness amusing.

"I'm not yielding to you," Reyna said distractedly as she attempted to find another way to escape the girl's hold. Annabeth on top of her was dangerous for many reasons, the main one being she was attractive and Reyna may or may not have been harbouring a secret crush.

Annabeth laughed, the sound delighting Reyna - or it would have if it hadn't been at her expense. "You will."

Reyna brought her knees up to Annabeth's back and tried to roll over again. 

"I'm beginning to think you just enjoy being under me," Annabeth said with a very Percy Jackson-like smirk.

Reyna flushed beet red. "I do not."

Annabeth shrugged. "Then yield."

Reyna couldn't really see any other option. "Fine. I yield," she said reluctantly.

Annabeth beamed. "Excellent. Now I can kiss you."

Reyna's shocked eyes met Annabeth's wild ones. "What?" she managed to get out.

Annabeth slowly bent down and gently touched their lips together, much to the approval of the crowd.

"Go out with me?" she asked, looking unusually shy when she pulled away.

"I, uh... Um, yeah," Reyna stammered. "I'd love to."

"Good," Annabeth said, pulling Reyna in for another kiss.

Reyna grinned against Annabeth's lips as she felt the arena floor vibrate from the noise the Greeks were making.

Annabeth pushed herself up, knees either side of Reyna's stomach. She punched the air and beam in triumph. "Vae victis!" she shouted to the roar of the crowd.

Reyna leant up on her elbows and laughed. "They don't know what that means."

"They know I won," Annabeth beamed. "And that's enough."

Chapter Text

Dropping her head onto her desk with a loud thunk, Reyna cursed the gods tiredly. She made a habit not to, but after all the mess they'd put her through, she felt they deserved it. She stretched, cracking her back. She arranged her paperwork neatly, dropping it on her desk. That made her feel a little better. Or it did until the window blew open and paper went flying. She glared at the window, wishing she'd gotten it fixed earlier. Poking her head out the window, she was almost smacked in the face with a twig. Pulling her head back in, she slammed the window shut, bolting it with hope and a kiss.

"Please stay shut," she whispered.

She sighed, dropping her praetor's cloak on the back of a chair. Picking up a crumpled, purple sweater from the floor, Reyna had it half on when there was a knock on her door. Moving to open it, she pulled her head through and had just enough time to jump back to avoid being hit by the door when whoever had been waiting outside flung it open. She landed awkwardly, her left ankle rolling underneath her. She stumbled, tripping over a box of paperwork. She groaned as she hit the floor, whacking her head against her desk. 

There was brief silence as she wondered if whoever had come storming in had quickly left before she could see them. Then there was a snort. She sighed. Apparently not. Muffled laughter followed. She pushed herself into a sitting position, leaning against the back of her desk when her vision swam. A blurry figure knelt in front of her, reaching a hand out to grasp her shoulder. She blinked, squinting in an attempt to recognise who was there.

"Praetor?" a familiar voice questioned worriedly.

"Thalia?" she asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?" She could feel a faint thrumming in the back of her head that she knew would only get stronger.

"Never mind me, it's not important. Just a visit," Thalia said dismissively. "More importantly, you."

She brushed her fingers over the back of Reyna's head and winced. "Yeah, you already have a bump. Sorry about that."

"It's..." Reyna paused as a wave of nausea hit her. "All good." She swallowed, shutting her eyes to block out the harsh light.

"Obviously not," Thalia said, lips pinched tight in concern. "Where's your infirmary? I'll take you."

"What?" Reyna mumbled. "No, I'm-" She only just managed to avoid throwing up. "I'm fine. Promise."

Thalia barked out a sarcastic laugh. Reyna grimaced at the sound.

Thalia shifted, crouching at her left. "I'm going to help you stand, okay?"

Reyna nodded, resting her head against the desk and relaxing. She was halfway to sleep when Thalia interrupted her resting.

"That means you can't fall asleep on me, Praetor. I don't know where your infirmary is," Thalia said.

"Don't need the infirmary," she muttered.

"Right. Well, I'm going to help you stand anyway, then. Okay?"

Reyna thought about that. "Okay."

Thalia wrapped her arm around her back and slung Reyna's left arm over her shoulders. "All right then, Praetor. Let's do this."

Thalia hadn't realised how hard Reyna had knocked her head. She stood slowly, tugging Reyna up with her, only for Reyna to lurch sideways. Thalia barely caught her in time, resting her against the desk. Reyna groaned, slumping against her desk. 

"Maybe I'll just carry you then," Thalia suggested.

Reyna mumbled a "no" which Thalia took to mean as a "please help me, Thalia, before I face-plant into a bowl of jelly-beans." She scooped Reyna up, grunting as she staggered out the door. Reyna had long limbs, most of which were hit against the doorframe.

"Sorry about that," Thalia apologised, taking care not to hit her head again.

Reyna didn't reply, either asleep or unconscious.

Out of the streets of New Rome, she was swarmed immediately by passersby who, seeing their praetor unconscious and in the arms of a stranger, lept to the conclusion that the stranger had hurt Reyna - which was technically true.

"Hey, hey!" Thalia yelped, backing away when someone reached out to grab Reyna. "I'm just trying to find the infirmary. If you can't help me, back off."

This seemed to appease the crowd, although they still watched her with distrust, a few following her at a distance as she walked off. 

Thalia eventually found the infirmary by following the signs. Of course the Romans would have signposts. Again, she was assaulted by yelling when she walked in. A blond medic rushed over, seeing the injured praetor.

Thalia frowned. "Will?"

"What happened?" he asked, gesturing for Thalia to set her down on an empty cot.

"She hit her head. What are you doing here?" Thalia asked, unable to get past that fact.

"How hard? On what?" Will said, ignoring Thalia's question.

"On her desk but I didn't see. It sounded like a good smack though," Thalia said, trying to recall the memory. "There was a bump almost immediately after."

"Okay, well there's not much I can do for that," Will said, sounding a little disappointed. "I'll tie an ice-pack to her head and then we'll wait for her to wake up."

Thalia mumbled an agreement, still trying to figure out what Will was doing. She watched as Will placed an ice-pack under Reyna's head, keeping it in place by wrapping a bandage around it.

When he was done, he stood up and grinned at Thalia. "I'm just swinging by to visit Nico. Reyna suggested I come here to help out."

Thalia smirked. "Nico, huh?"

Reyna groaned as she blinked, bright light nearly blinding her. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, feeling a little weighed down by her head. Speaking of her head, she couldn't hear anything over the drumbeat that pounded in her ears. She reached behind her and felt the ice-pack. It should have been easy to take off, but her fingers were heavy and clumsy. Eventually, she managed. It made sitting up a little easier, she thought. Her head was slightly less sore and the bump didn't seem too bad. She looked around and blinked in surprise when she saw Thalia sleeping on the chair beside her cot. As she swung her legs over the edge of the cot, her vision swam and she was just barely able to see Thalia waking up groggily at her sound of pain. 

"Hey, what are you doing?" Thalia exclaimed, rushing to push Reyna back down onto her back.

Reyna tried to speak but her mouth was disgustingly dry. She swallowed. "I-"

Thalia cut her off before she could say much more. "-You're lucky you're injured right now." She paced back and forth, restless with an energy Reyna couldn't place.

"You... You flung open the door," Reyna managed with a small grin.

Thalia paused in her pacing to look at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd be..." She ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know, unable to put on a sweater?"

Reyna laughed and then coughed. "Surprise," she croaked.

"Once you're all better, I'm going to tease you relentlessly about this," Thalia promised and Reyna could see the tears Thalia was trying to push down.

"I'm going to puke," she warned, and then lent over the side of the bed and proceeded to vomit into the bin Will had left there just in case.

"Gorgeous," Thalia said, wrinkling her nose.

She helped Reyna back into the bed, wiping her face with a wet flannel, hands lingering a little too long.

Reyna slept for the rest of the day, and half of the next. When she woke up again, Thalia was gone but her jacket was there, thrown over the back of the chair she'd claimed as hers. Reyna attempted sitting up, finding she was feeling much better. Her head hurt half as much as it had the day before. 

She decided she should probably grace her people with her presence. And then finish her paperwork. Unfortunately, the second she stood up, the door to the infirmary opened quietly. Thalia shut it softly, smiling politely at the injured Romans in the beds next to Reyna before locking eyes on the Praetor. Reyna froze, looking guilty as if she'd been about to rip Thalia's jacket to shreds.

"What are you doing?" Thalia asked, voice like ice.

The Romans around her looked on in interest. The infirmary was dreadfully dull and this was the most fun they'd seen in days.

"Nothing?" she squeaked, coughing.

"That's what I thought," Thalia nodded. "Why don't you lie down and I'll get Will who can decide if you're ready to leave?"

"Uh..." Reyna said eloquently. She took a cautious step towards Thalia who glared at her harshly. "I should-" A cough cut her off. 

"Get back into that bed right now," Thalia finished.

"I suppose," Reyna acquiesced. "Or, I could go find Will with you," she suggested hopefully.

Thalia laughed drily. "You wish." She walked over to Reyna who unsuccessfully tried to dodge around her. "Reyna, I swear to Hades, if you don't get back in bed right now, I will set Artemis's wolves loose on you."

Reyna clutched Thalia's arms as she tried to get her bearings. She was vaguely aware of being pushed back towards her cot. She sat down with a thump, wincing. Thalia helped her lift her legs back onto the cot and pulled the blanket over her.

"You stay there or I'm gonna get some handcuffs," Thalia threatened.

"I love you too," Reyna grumbled but she did as she was told, sending the snickering Romans a dark look each that had them respectfully averting their eyes.

Thalia laughed with a strange look behind her eyes. "Get some sleep, Praetor."

Reyna woke to the sound of arguing. She blinked blearily, rubbing her eyes. As she sat up, she frowned at the scene in front of her. Will, bless him, was doing his very best to barricade the infirmary door but one demigod was no match for the hordes of Romans that came stumbling in. She stared at them in shock.

"What in Pluto's name are you doing?" she demanded.

Most of them had the decency to look ashamed. 

"They're trying to see you," Will admitted when she turned her glare on him.

"What?" she said in disbelief.

She growled as her Romans filed out quickly.

"Sorry about that," Will said with a small grin. "Thalia was complaining to me about you not staying in bed and I guess a lot of people overheard it."

"Thalia was what?" Thalia asked, walking in unconcerned to the masses of Romans who were still standing outside.

"I want to go outside. Take me out," Reyna said suddenly. At Thalia's scowl she added, "I've slept for four days. I feel fine. Look, I'm sitting up and my head doesn't hurt at all." That was not true, but as her head mostly didn't hurt, Reyna counted it as a truth.

Thalia looked at Will who shrugged. 

"If there's no pain, I don't see why not."

Reyna looked triumphantly up at Thalia. "See? The doctor agrees with me."

Thalia snickered. "Okay then, praetor, let's go outside."

Reyna pushed the blankets aside and got to her feet. Thalia scooped her up with no warning, making Reyna yelp and hold Thalia tight.

"This wasn't part of the deal," she complained as Thalia walked outside with her.

"Shush," Thalia said.

"Make me," Reyna muttered in annoyance.

Thalia smirked and planted a kiss on Reyna's lips.

Reyna smiled as she heard the Romans' surprised gasps.

"Nice, Grace."

Chapter Text

Percy had invited the Seven to come over to his house for his seventeenth birthday. He hadn't gotten his sixteenth and he wanted a peaceful day without any monsters. Annabeth had told him Thalia would actually kill him if she wasn't invited so he extended the invitation to Thalia and then Nico and by default, Reyna. Not that he hadn't wanted them to come. It was just that he and his mom and Paul got a little squished with just the three of them sometimes.

Reyna had tried to say no. Honestly. She had sent three letters, all of which were returned ripped in half. She had even tried to send Iris-messages, which to be honest, she wasn't a big fan of after seeing Percy's naked chest. That was more of her ex-crush than she ever needed to see. Annabeth had been with Percy for every message and she had told Reyna that if she didn't make an appearance, then she would come straight over and beat her ass. Now, Reyna wasn't intimidated by many things, but Annabeth was very nearly scary enough.

"Okay, fine," she had sighed. "What's your theme?"

"Theme?" Percy had asked. 

"For a present," Reyna had said like she was talking to a small child. "Stupid, useful, funny."

"Oh, you don't need to get me a present," Percy had said. "As long as you come." He had winked at her and then swiped his hand through the message.

In the end, she had decided to get him a soft toy from the camp store. Sitting right up the front, she had seen what looked to be a rainbow eel. On closer inspection, she had discovered it was a sea-horse. The girl at the till had given her a strange look, as had the rest of the legion when she'd walked through New Rome carrying it in her hand.

She sighed. Now she was standing outside Percy's mom's apartment, checking the scrap of paper she'd written the address on to make sure she was in the right spot. She knocked once and the door opened almost immediately. She had barely enough time to kick her shoes off and arrange them neatly beside the pile of shoes before she was being dragged inside to sit in a circle around a table laden with blue food. Everyone else was already there.

Annabeth smirked. "I was beginning to think I'd actually have to go to your camp and beat you up."

Reyna's facial expression didn't change but there was a new gleam in her eyes. "Like you could."

"No fighting in my apartment," a new voice said sternly.

Reyna turned around and saw a woman with brown hair that was greying at the roots. The skin around her eyes was crinkled and Reyna could understand why Percy laughed all the time. This woman looked like she did her best to smile every day. 

"Hi?" Reyna said unsurely.

The woman embraced her in a hug so suddenly Reyna had to resist a strong urge to throw her out the nearest window. She tensed, patting the woman's shoulders uncertainly.

"I'm Sally," the woman introduced herself. "You must be Reyna. It's nice to finally meet you."

"You too," Reyna responded, not sure if saying she'd never heard about her would be considered polite.

"Rey!" a voice called out. "What'd you get Percy?"

Reyna held up the soft toy with a small smile. She tossed it to Percy who gave it a loving kiss and sat it down beside him.

"I'll call him Pancakes," he said decisively, much to the amusement of his mother.

Reyna sat down between Thalia and Hazel and watched the group interact. She decided that she should spend an hour to be polite and then she could leave.

Unfortunately, it didn't go to plan. Like usual.

She ended up with Hazel sprawled over her, a half-empty Styrofoam cup of Sprite in her hand, two hours after she had thought she'd leave. Percy was regaling them about the time Annabeth had tickled the answer to a math question out of him. It probably wasn't in his best interest to reveal that particular weakness, Reyna thought, but he was relaxed and around his friends.

She blamed the soda for the words that came out her mouth next. "That's such a cliché, Jackson. The big strong hero, ticklish."

"Hey now, they're clichés for a reason, Reyna," he joked back. "Are you?"

Reyna frowned at him. "Don't be ridiculous, Jackson."

He leaned forward with a gleam in his eyes. "This sounds like the cliché coming to life."

She rolled her eyes. "You just have unrealistic expectations."

"Yeah, well, you're lying," he countered.

"I am not," she said.

"Got anything you want to tell us, Rey?" Thalia asked, narrowing her eyes.

"No," Reyna said, putting careful emphasis on the word. 

While she was busy glaring at Percy, Thalia leapt at her. Reyna flinched and pushed Hazel off her as she tried to escape. She launched her foot at Thalia's face but Annabeth, who came out of nowhere, held her ankle in a vice-like grip. She ran her fingers along the sole of her foot. Reyna glowered, glad she'd kept her socks on as she leant back on her hands and kicked, trying to free her leg.

"Get off-" Reyna cut herself off with a yelp when Thalia's hands pushed up her t-shirt and jabbed her between each rib. Reyna clutched Thalia's hands tightly, keeping them away from her skin. "Let go of my leg, Chase," she growled. "Before you get hurt."

Annabeth snickered. "No thanks."

Reyna let go of Thalia's hands and pushed herself up, shoving Thalia out of the way as she went. Thalia crowed in delight as Annabeth cursed as she disappeared underneath Reyna. Reyna curled around Annabeth, pinning her limbs to her body. Thalia dug her fingers into Reyna's sides hard, and Reyna let out a surprised cry, instantly letting go of Annabeth as she wrapped her arms around herself. 

Sally Jackson came rushing in waving a spatula, thinking someone had been murdered. "Is everything okay?" she asked, scrutinising each demigod to find the problem.

"No!" Reyna burst out. She stood up, stomping on Thalia's fingers discretely. "Thank you for inviting me, Percy, but I have to go now. It was lovely meeting you, Sally." 

"That's quite alright, dear," Sally smiled. 

"Wait, no, she can't go yet," Percy complained. He stood up and slung an arm around Reyna's waist, fingers digging warningly into her side. "We're having so much fun, right Reyna?"

"I'm going to kill you," Reyna hissed through gritted teeth. She gave Sally a forced smile. "So much fun."

Sally patted her shoulder sympathetically, seeing past the smile. "I should hope so."

As soon as she was out of earshot, Reyna spun around and kneed Percy in the groin. He collapsed in a ball groaning. Annabeth retaliated for him by helping Thalia up and backing Reyna into the corner of the lounge beside an old bookshelf and a painting.

"Watch out for the bookshelf," Sally warned from the kitchen.

Reyna shot a hand out and gripped the edge of it in response. "Touch me and I'll knock it down," she threatened.

That plan went down the drain almost immediately as Annabeth steadied the bookshelf while Thalia dragged Reyna away. Somehow between the three of them, they managed to finagle Reyna onto the carpet. Thalia and Percy held Reyna's wrists tight against the floor while Annabeth straddled her waist. 

"Don't you dare, Annabeth," Reyna said lowly. 

Annabeth waggled her fingers teasingly in the air. "Scared?"

"I swear to Pluto, if you toUCH ME!" Reyna yelped, twisting away from those cursed fingers.

Annabeth snickered and faster than Reyna could see, lifted Reyna's t-shirt up over her face to expose her stomach.

Reyna's chest rose as she took in a deep breath and then expelled it all in one muffled shout. "RAPE!"

Annabeth laughed so hard she nearly fell over. Then she shifted backwards and leant down. Annabeth's breath ghosted over Reyna's stomach and she tensed, having a pretty good guess at what was coming.

"Annabeth, don't," Reyna pleaded, trying to persuade Annabeth to leave her alone. Not that she would ever admit she begged. "Stop it."

"I can't understand you," Annabeth said. "Speak clearer."

There was a low growl from under the t-shirt and the demigods winced, knowing they'd all be experiencing Reyna's wrath once she got out.

Then Annabeth blew a raspberry on Reyna's belly-button and their fear went out the window as Reyna shrieked. Like a banshee. Her stomach caved in as she sucked in a breath, trying to get away from the daughter of Athena. She squirmed in a vain attempt to escape but Thalia and Percy weren't letting her go that easily. Thalia winked at Sally, noticing her standing in the corner of the room with her camera.

"Sto-ho-ho-hop," Reyna laughed, twisting away from Annabeth's hands.

"Who would have guessed?" Leo cackled, leaning forward.

Reyna wasn't expecting Percy and Thalia to shift down, only holding onto her wrists with one hand so they could help Annabeth. Four hands with wriggling fingers descended onto Reyna's skin and left her a trembling, giggling mess. Thalia wormed her hand under the neck of Reyna's t-shirt, tickling patterns onto her neck.

"Mu-mutiny!" she cried out, shaking her head in an attempt to uncover her face.

Percy paid her no attention, prodding her sides. She couldn't contain the laugh that spilled from her lips, even as her body jerked subconsciously. Through the thin fabric covering her eyes, she could just make out the shapes of her friends crowding around her. She felt Annabeth get off her, leaving her feeling weirdly light. Between her laughs, she rolled onto her side and brought her legs up to her chest in an attempt to protect herself. Almost immediately, someone pulled her legs back down until she was stretched out again. Another person, Hazel she thought it might have been, untangled her t-shirt from around her face, pushing it down to her wrists. 

Reyna glared at them, eyes narrowed into slits. Her hair was mussed, sticking up oddly. Her face was bright red and no matter how hard she tried to contain, she couldn't stop a faint smile coming out. 

"You are all. So. Dead," she bit out when she could breathe again.

Thalia scoffed. "Yeah, right. We can all see that smile, Rey."

"Because you're tickling me!"

"Oh yeah, that is what we're doing," Thalia said, reaching forward and poking her ribs.

Reyna yelped and covered her stomach with her arms. "Come on, this has gone on long enough."

"We know you're enjoying it," Nico spoke up with a small smirk.

"Nico!" Reyna protested. 

Unfortunately for the Roman demigod, she wasn't strong enough to escape from eight other demigods and they pinned her quickly and effectively. Her writhing was ineffective and she dissolved into giggles.

The next time Reyna visited the Jackson apartment, her eyes burned holes in the back of Percy's head as she glared at a new picture hung up on the wall, of her being straddled by Annabeth with her T-shirt just under her chin and a giant smile on her face.

Chapter Text

Reyna glowered at Annabeth and Piper over her hot chocolate. "No."

Piper pouted. "Please?"

"No."

"Why not?" Annabeth asked, ever the diplomat.

"Because."

"That's not an answer and if you don't give a proper answer we're just gonna make you," Piper said, jutting her chin out stubbornly.

"You're going to lose," Reyna warned.

Piper shrugged. "Maybe."

"Come on, you have to be bored just sitting here all day," Annabeth said. "We're offering you an opportunity. Now you just have to pick one of us."

"I'm not picking either of you," Reyna sighed. "Look, I appreciate you asking me, but I have no interest in fighting you guys."

"Shocker," Piper muttered.

Reyna shot her a dirty look.

"You're just saying that because you think you and Piper will lose," Annabeth goaded.

"Whoever I'm with would smash your asses," Reyna said. 

"So pick someone and fight," Piper said, rolling her eyes.

Reyna put her cup down and looked at them both carefully. "I'll fight," she said slowly, "But."

Annabeth frowned suspiciously.

"But I'm not being on anyone's team," she finished. 

"You have to. We don't have enough numbers for you to be by yourself. Hazel and Frank are together, Leo and Jason are together, and me and Percy and Annabeth need to know who you're going with so we can pair up accordingly," Piper explained.

"Why are you doing this again?" Reyna sighed.

"For fun. We don't see each other as often since the Giant War so we thought we could have a sparring match between us to see which pair is the best but there's seven of us so we need an extra player. Which is you."

"What if you all versed me and you could see which of you are the most sucky?" Reyna suggested.

"Suckiest," Annabeth corrected. "Although that's not an expression I would have thought you'd use."

"Whatever. My offer still stands."

Annabeth and Piper exchanged a look, figuring it would be the most they'd get out of her.

"Deal."

Reyna was waiting in the empty arena for ten minutes before they showed up. She stood, walking over casually, hand resting on the hilt of her sword. She'd forgone her spear, figuring it would end up getting sliced to pieces with all the swords around her.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Reyna?" Frank asked, the sweet idiot that he is. "I mean, I wouldn't want to, uh, I mean, it's... it's seven against one," he finished lamely.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure you want to do this after that."

He gulped and faded to the back of the group.

She smirked. "So. Who's ready to get their podex kicked?"

"The only one getting their ass kicked will be you, darling," Leo butted in, twirling a flaming hammer in his hand. 

"You first then," she decided. 

Annabeth, Percy, and Piper were the first line of attack. Leo and Hazel were ready behind them, and Frank and Jason were last as the backup. Reyna ignored their formation, slipping through them like they were shadows. Leo yelped as her sword took off the tips of his hair. He stumbled backwards as she advanced, shooting short bursts of flames from his hands. Reyna ducked and dodged around the fire, defending herself from the other demigod's swords. Leo was quickly taken out of the fight when Reyna kicked him in the chest and was about to knock him unconscious when he shoved his hands in the air and squeaked, "I surrender!" He trudged off and went to sit in the stands that were slowly filling up with demigods. Reyna emerged with only a singed sleeve.

Reyna spun around, sidestepping around Anaklusmos. She sent Percy stumbling backwards by tripping him up. Hazel steadied him and while she wasn't paying attention, Reyna elbowed her in the back and whacked her over the head with the flat of her blade. Hazel dropped, groaning and clutching her head. 

"Hazel!" Frank cried, mimicking Hazel's previous action. 

He rushed over to her and Reyna stuck her foot between his legs while she fended off Annabeth's dagger. Frank face-planted, collapsing on top of Hazel. Reyna kicked him hard in the side and when he rolled over, in the solar plexus. That took those two out, as Hazel couldn't stand without feeling faint and Frank could barely move. Three medics rushed on and dragged them away from the fight, much to the relief of the crowd who rather liked Frank as praetor.

"Hey, Reyna, maybe you shouldn't try to kill Frank," Jason suggested, flexing his fingers around the hilt of his gladius.

"Maybe you should try harder," she quipped. While they weren't fighting, she took a second to catch her breath and wipe sweat from her face. "It's been, what, ten minutes? And I've taken out three of your players. Granted, one of them was Leo."

"Hey!"

"We can still beat you," Percy said with a lazy smile. "There's still four of us."

Reyna laughed. "Come on, then."

Percy leapt into action, slashing his sword at Reyna's knees. She jumped over his sword and while in the air, kicked out at it with the sole of her shoe. Percy's arm jerked and he dropped his sword. Reyna stood on it and crouched under Jason's gladius, scooping up Anaklusmos. She held both swords out in front of her. 

"That isn't very Roman, Arellano," Percy commented wrily.

"This isn't Roman any more, Graecus," she laughed. "And it's Ramirez-Arellano." She blew stray hair from her face and grinned wickedly. She hadn't fought like a pirate in years and she couldn't wait.

There was whispering in the stands as the crowd pondered her words, wondering if there was a deeper meaning.

Reyna charged before they could give it much thought, twirling through the four remaining demigods. Annabeth and Piper blocked her attack as best they could while Percy and Jason tried to get her in the middle of their square. Reyna didn't play by the rules though, kneeing Percy in the stomach while he was bent down in the middle of picking up Hazel's spatha. 

"Get your own sword, Jackson," she cackled. 

"Well, I would if you wouldn't stop me," he grumbled, stepping back as Annabeth and Jason jumped in front of him.

They worked seamlessly together, pushing Reyna back towards Piper. Annabeth's dagger flashed through the air and Reyna bent over back. She was too slow, though, and blood pooled out of a shallow cut above her eyebrow, obscuring her vision. She wiped it away with the back of one hand awkwardly while she went on defence. The two demigods made her retreat further until Katropis was poking uncomfortably into her back. She arched her back and spun out of their trap with only a graze and a ripped shirt.

"Nice try," she smirked, seeing Piper's look of annoyance. Then she swerved around Annabeth and kicked Jason in the back of the knees and smacked the hilt of Percy's sword into Piper's chin. 

Piper staggered backwards and landed on her ass. Jason hauled her to her feet, only for them both to be knocked down when Reyna threw herself at them, swords glinting. She landed in a crouch, her swords drawn at their throats.

"Out," she said smugly, rolling away as Annabeth's dagger impaled itself in the dirt where Reyna's foot used to be.

"Yeah, okay," Jason mumbled, helping Piper up as they limped out of the way.

She picked up her sword and Anaklusmos, and turned to face Annabeth and Percy. Both of them had red faces and messy hair, and she could only assume she looked much the same. She wiped her face with her arm and filled her lungs with air. Then she rushed forward wielding two swords. Annabeth and Percy jumped to opposite sides and she spun around, Anaklusmos slicing through the air in a Greek-like sweep. 

"Roman my ass," Percy muttered, eyeing his sword.

Reyna didn't give him time to say anything else. He parried the blow, a sharp screeching sound emitted as the two blades slid together.

"Don't scratch Hazel's sword," she warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he grunted, pushing her blades away. "Can I have my sword back?"

"Stop talking and fight," Annabeth snapped, appearing from behind him, her dagger spinning towards Reyna.

Reyna twisted around Annabeth's dagger, retaliating with an attack of her own. She wasn't expecting for Percy to sneak up behind her and lift her up. She let out a surprised shout, legs kicking out at nothing. He tossed her to the side and she hit the dirt with a thud and a groan. Anaklusmos slipped from her hand and he raced forward and snatched it up. There was a roar of approval from the crowd, followed by a cry of rage as they watched their beloved praetor being thrown like a sack of potatoes.

Reyna breathed in as his sword sliced through the air over her stomach. She hissed in pain as blood seeped through her t-shirt. Annabeth was quick to dart forward and press her dagger against Reyna's neck. Reyna pressed her cheek to the dirt and, in an impressive display of flexibility, became a human doughnut as she brought her legs above her and kicked Annabeth over. Without pausing, she spun on her shoulders in the dirt and swept Percy's legs out from underneath him. She jumped up, escaping mostly unscathed, except for a new graze on her jaw where Annabeth's dagger had scratched her, and a thin cut along her stomach. Reyna pressed her hand to her stomach and wiped it on her shorts when it came away red with blood.

She didn't wait for Percy to get back up, stepping over him to place her heel on his throat and her other foot on his chest. She applied pressure to his throat until he eventually wheezed out, "Okay, I give."

Annabeth was on her feet before Reyna could do the same.

"Ready to go, Chase?" she grinned, shaking her arms.

Annabeth didn't deign to reply, simply attacking fiercely. Reyna was hard-pressed to beat her, but she was so close, her sword a millimetre from Annabeth's chest when the daughter of Athena bent under the blade and shoved Reyna hard.

Reyna skidded across the dirt, more stains adding to the ones she already had. She was on her feet before Annabeth had a chance to blink, with a stronger attack. She forced Annabeth back, and when Annabeth was at the edge of the arena, she punched Annabeth in the nose, ignoring the cut across her elbow she received in return. Annabeth's eyes watered and her spare hand went to her nose unconsciously. Reyna pressed her sword against Annabeth's neck, leaving a small red line.

"I win," she said simply with a satisfied gleam in her eye. 

She stepped back and raised her sword into the air. The crowd voiced their approval loudly, screaming.

"Jesus," Leo said, coming up to Reyna. "Now I'm glad I went out so early."

Reyna smirked. "You guys are supposed to be mighty Seven."

"Yeah, well," Jason said, scratching the back of his neck. 

"You're Reyna," Percy smiled. "Daughter of Bellona."

"Although, I have to ask," Hazel said, "Where did you learn to fight like that? That was the least Roman fighting I've ever seen."

"Swearing wasn't the only thing the pirates taught me," Reyna said with a smirk.

"Pirates!?"

Chapter Text

The smoke rising from the praetor's office drew little concern to the citizens of New Rome. There was always something weird happening in that office. Most likely Praetor Zhang had forgotten to turn his odd little portable cooker off and he was burning something.

Then the hinges of the window snapped when it was flung open, and the window clattered its way down the street. Smoke billowed out like there was a blazing fire. Demigods and legacies alike stared in shock. Faint laughter was carried out on the breeze.

"What the hell is going on?" Reyna demanded, glaring at the rising. She spotted Frank and stormed over. "Did you leave your stupid cooker on again?" she asked, keeping her temper in check. The last thing she needed was to become like her father.

"Um, no, I don't think so," he said nervously, feverishly wracking his memory.

"You don't think so?" Reyna said, raising an eyebrow. 

"No, I didn't. I definitely didn't because I haven't used it for two weeks," Frank retried.

"Well, if it wasn't you, then what in Pluto's name is making all that smoke?" Reyna said, gesturing angrily at the window.

"I don't know?" 

Reyna reigned in her anger, knowing it wasn't Frank's fault as long as he was telling the truth. "I'm going to check it out. You..." She trailed off. "Stay here and keep people out of the way in case it blows up."

She walked off towards the entrance around the side of the building. Before she could get too far, soldiers rushed out, barring the doors. 

"What is the meaning of this?" she snapped, approaching them.

"There's a lady in there with a bomb," one of them said breathlessly. "She said she was going to blow everything up unless... We didn't hear the rest. We need to clear the area."

"Go do that," Reyna said. "But unlock these doors first."

The middle one straightened nervously. "We can't do that, praetor."

Reyna glowered at them. "I am ordering you to unlock the doors."

The three of them bolted, yelling for the legionnaires to clear out.

She let out a growl of frustration. Shrugging off her cloak and armour, she went back to where the smoke was coming from. Sizing up the distance between the ground and the window, she started climbing, fingers scrabbling against the brick walls. Her feet scraped uselessly against the brick so she kicked off her shoes. Her toes gripped the walls much better than her shoes. 

Reyna began to climb, ignoring the shouts of protest from Frank. Her feet slipped up from under her halfway up and she swung, holding on with only one hand. She heard cries from down below as her people watched her hang precariously. She swallowed, forcing herself to look up. Her heart pounded in her ears and her fingers trembled as she felt along the brick with her palm, trying to find a decent handhold. Finding a rare crack in the wall, she scooped out crumbling brick until she could fit two fingers inside. Her fingertips cried out at her, her skin being left behind. 

Reaching the windowsill, she gripped it tight, glad for a good hold. She pulled herself up, taking no notice of the burning in her forearms. She tumbled into the smoky room, out of breath. Her legs trembled as she stood up, squinting at the figure on the other side of the room. Her eyes watered in the haze and she blinked, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. Her fingertips stung, not helping with her effort to keep from crying.

"Well, well," the figure said. "What an entrance. I've got to say, I'm impressed. That wall is not fun."

Reyna froze, gaping. 

"Come on, Reyna, don't look at me like that," the figure said, walking forwards to take Reyna's hands in hers.

"Hylla?" Reyna asked incredulously.

"Finally, she recognises me," Hylla muttered. "What's up, little sister?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes at her older sister. "My soldiers said you had a bomb that you were threatening to use."

Hylla laughed carelessly. "They didn't stick around long enough to hear that I would only use it if I couldn't see you."

"Couldn't see me?" Reyna asked in confusion.

"What, you think because I'm the queen of the Amazons I wouldn't want to see you?" Hylla joked.

Seeing Reyna's vulnerable expression, she frowned.

"You seriously thought I wouldn't visit?" Hylla said. "Even when it's your birthday?"

Reyna shrugged, ducking her head. "You're... busy. It's okay. I'm fine with it."

Hylla wrapped Reyna in a tight embrace. "You're my sister, and I love you. Of course I'm going to make it on your birthday."

Reyna let out a small laugh. "We should probably get out before one of us dies of smoke inhalation."

"Don't worry, it's not actual smoke. One of the daughter's of Hecate in the Amazons gave me a chemical-free smoke bomb," Hylla reassured her.

"We should still get out. I need to let everyone know it's nothing important and they can go back to their duties," Reyna said with a smirk, holding the door open for her sister.

"Nothing important?" Hylla repeated walking past her. "I came all the way from Puerto Rico for you to say I'm nothing important?"

Reyna snickered. "Yup. That's what you get for making me nearly die."

Hylla muttered unflattering comments under her breath. "Whatever. I still told you I love you. Which is more than you've done."

"Because it's my birthday," Reyna retorted, running down the stairs to avoid her sister's punching hands. She reached the doors first, attempting to push them open before remembering they'd been locked from the outside. She spun around as Hylla closed in on her. Shrieking, Reyna pounded on the doors as her sister tickled three words from her lips.

"Come on, Reyna," Hylla teased. "Say it and I'll stop."

"Hylla!" Reyna protested, giggles bubbling forth. "You ca-ha-n't do-hoo this!"

"Why not?" Hylla retorted, hands sliding under Reyna's t-shirt and jabbing her fingers between each rib.

"Beca-ha-use! It's my-y birthday!"

"So?" Hylla forced out another laugh. She cackled as Reyna clamped her arms to her sides, squirming against the door. "Say it and I'll stop." She punctuated each word with sharp pokes to Reyna's sides.

"I lo-ha-ve you-oo! Now stop!" Reyna ordered, trying to be stern.

Hylla was true to her word, straightening Reyna's t-shirt and stepping away. She slammed her fist against the wooden doors which wobbled.

"OI!" she bellowed. "Unlock the doors, morons!"

Hylla slung an arm over Reyna's shoulders as they waited for the bumbling idiots to stop fumbling with the keys and let them out.

"That was the stupidest stunt I've ever seen you pull!" Frank burst out, running up to them. "And I've seen a lot. What were you thinking?"

Reyna blinked. "What?" she asked stupidly. She felt Hylla pull her closer to her side in protection.

"Climbing up a wall with no protection! You nearly fell off the wall and died!" he exclaimed.

"You nearly fell off the wall?" Hylla echoed, pushing away from her sister to stand beside Frank. 

Reyna just stood there, staring at the two of them. "I didn't fall off the wall," she finally said.

"That's not the point!" Frank said. "What you did was reckless and stupid and-"

"Why don't we talk about this somewhere else?" Hylla suggested, latching a hand onto Reyna's wrist.

As they walked out, all Reyna could think to say was, "It's my birthday. I can do what I want."

Then she had to bolt as both Hylla and Frank chased after her.

Chapter Text

Reyna frowned at their badly drawn map under a lamppost, trying to work out names of landmarks. "Lupa said we need to go South to get to the camp, but I think we've gone the wrong way." 

Hylla nodded distractedly. "Did Lupa say anything about being stalked by women?"

"What?" Reyna asked. "Are there monsters nearby?" She got ready to fight, wincing when she jostled her left arm. During their last run-in with monsters, a hellhound had sliced her arm open to the bone. Hylla had done the best she could with the supplies they had - which wasn't much - but it was looking a little infected. Reyna had tried to get Hylla to use some of the bandages for the cut on her forehead that Blackbeard had given her, but she was insistent that Reyna's wound was worse.

"Stay down, Reyna," Hylla instructed, getting to her feet. She raised her sword - one of the few she'd stolen from the pirates - and peered out into the gloom. 

From the shadows emerged a group of women dressed for battle. Reyna's eyes widened and she got to her feet, holding her sword out in front of her determinedly. She retreated until she and Hylla were back to back. 

"Reyna, I told you to stay down," Hylla hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"I'm not letting you die without me," Reyna said stubbornly, jutting her chin out bravely at the women who were circling around them.

"Who are you?" Hylla asked once it became clear the women were waiting for someone.

There was no response. The women gave no indication they had even heard the question. Then, they turned to look at something back the way they'd come. The women bowed their heads respectfully as a woman wearing a golden girdle walked forwards. A few murmured, "My Queen."

"You're a queen?" Reyna asked, unable to stop herself. 

Hylla glared at her but the woman smiled as if Reyna was some small child asking questions they were too young to understand - which, Reyna was.

"I am indeed a queen," the woman said. "And you look like wonderful additions for the Amazons."

"Aren't the Amazons Greek?" Reyna said, again blurting out the first thing on her mind.

Hylla gripped her hand tightly, signally that she needed to shut up right now before she got herself killed.

The women just smiled mysteriously and didn't answer. "My name is Antiope. Come with us and we'll get you back on your feet."

Hylla didn't move, making sure that Reyna didn't budge either. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Antiope sighed. "You don't have much of a choice. Either you come with us willingly, or we knock you unconscious and take you with us as prisoners."

Reyna swallowed. She wondered if being prisoners of the women would be worse than Blackbeard and his crew. At least with the pirates, they'd been able to escape their chains. These women looked like they would have no problems keeping two nine- and fifteen-year-old girls under control.

"Hylla," she whispered when her sister looked like she was about to fight the nearest woman.

Hylla glanced down, taking in Reyna's dirty face and her infected wound. 

"We need their help. Your cut is getting infected too," Reyna said quietly.

Hylla dropped her sword to her side and Antiope smiled.

"Good choice," she said like she had expected them to make that decision all along.

Reyna and Hylla followed the women towards several kilometres towards a large building. Inside the building several workers in orange jumpsuits trudged past, pushing large crates on trolleys. Reyna clutched Hylla's hand. 

"Are they the prisoners?" she mumbled to Hylla.

Hylla looked down at her and then back up without answering. She pulled Reyna closer to her side, looking around nervously.

Antiope stopped outside a pair of brass doors. "Take them to the infirmary, Agapi," she ordered.

A woman with short blonde hair stepped forward. "Yes, my Queen." She looked at the two sisters. "Follow me."

She didn't ask for their names or parentage, so they didn't supply any. Agapi led them to a grey wall with posters of free Amazon shipping on the wall.

"Sit over there," Agapi addressed Reyna, pointing to a cot in the corner of the room. "You can sit over there." The other cot was in the opposite corner.

Reyna and Hylla didn't budge. Agapi raised her eyebrows and rested her hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from her belt. Hylla's expression was deadly as she walked Reyna to the cot Agapi had pointed to. Then, with one last glare to Agapi, she went and sat on her cot. 

As soon as Hylla was seated, two women walked in, each going to one of the Ramirez-Arellano sisters.

Hylla met up with Reyna an hour after they had been released from the infirmary. She now sported a white gauze patch on her forehead. She was talking animatedly with a girl who had fiery ginger hair. Spotting Reyna, she waved her over.

"This is Kinzie. She's about your age," Hylla introduced. 

Reyna stared at Kinzie suspiciously. "Hi."

"Don't be rude, Reyna," Hylla scolded. "You're going to need to make friends at some point."

"When are we leaving?" Reyna asked instead.

Kinzie coughed. "I'll just... leave you to sort everything out." With a nod to Hylla, she left quickly.

"Sort everything out?" Reyna questioned.

"Reyna," Hylla started, gentler than Reyna had heard her speak in a long time. "I think we should stay here for a while. The Amazons can protect us and teach us how to fight. We'll be safe here."

"But then we can go to the camp, right?" Reyna said, hoping Hylla didn't mean what it sounded like she was saying.

"I'm not going to stop you if you want to go to Camp Jupiter, Reyna," Hylla said softly, "But I want to stay here."

Reyna said nothing. Then her chin trembled. "You said we'd stick together."

"I know," Hylla said. "We will. We'll just be together apart."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Reyna protested, trying not to cry. "You can't leave me."

"Not yet. It will when you're older." Hylla took Reyna's hand in hers. "I'm not leaving you. You'll always have me. We just won't see each other as often." She pressed a kiss to her sister's forehead. "You'll be fine by yourself. You're strong. You can do this, mi reina."

Reyna stared at her for a while and then launched herself into Hylla's arms. Hylla wrapped her in a hug tightly. Reyna buried her head in Hylla's shoulder

"I'll miss you, sister," Hylla murmured. "Let me know when you're finally as tall as me."

Reyna laughed and then let out a sob. She squeezed her eyes shut and dried her eyes on her shirt.

"I'll miss you too," Reyna replied when she thought she could speak without crying. "I love you."

Hylla pulled away and looked at her with a sharp grin. "I love you too. Stay safe. If I have to come rescue your ass I'm going to be cross."

Reyna glared. "You won't. I'll find the camp. If I run, it'll take me half a month."

"Assuming you don't get into any fights with monsters," Hylla rebuked. "I'm going to come with you until that National Forest place you had on our map."

"No, Hylla, you're staying here. I'll be fine," Reyna protested.

"Reyna, you're nine. It's your birthday in a month. I don't want to miss that."

"Luckily for you, I have another option," a new voice said. 

They turned to find Antiope standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Why don't you stay here until your birthday so Hylla doesn't have to miss that milestone, and then I can offer you some protection until you reach Camp Jupiter?" she suggested in a way that sounded like it was more of a decision already made.

"Thank you, my Queen," Hylla said. She tilted her head in a small bow indicating for Reyna to do the same.

A month later, when Reyna was ten, she set out to Camp Jupiter with her sister waving goodbye, safe behind her. She grinned and began running, the squad of Amazons matching pace with her.

Chapter Text

Reyna walked out of the Big House with Chiron, shaking his hand before parting ways to find Nico. She didn't have to go far. She found him sitting next to the strawberry patch with Will, a grin on his lips. She smiled. The son of Hades's smile was becoming less of a rarity thanks to Will.

"What's up, Nico?" she greeted, sitting down next to him with a grimace. "Will," she nodded.

"Hey, Reyna," Nico smiled obliviously, too busy looking at Will to pay much attention to her.

"You okay?" Will asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some old aches and pains," she replied, waving it off.

"I could take a look if you want," he suggested, getting ready to move.

"No, it's fine. It's already healed," she said, a little steel coming into her voice.

Nico frowned. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No, Nico. Go back to sun-gazing at Will," she said, rolling her eyes.

Nico blushed and shoved her, catching her off-guard. She collapsed onto her elbow and laughed through the pain, hoping her expression didn't show it. While she was down, Nico tackled her, making her flop uncomfortably on her side. She let out a small grunt of pain which was quickly silenced.

"Nico," she grumbled. "Get your dead arse off me."

Nico snickered but did as he was told, climbing off Reyna. He put his hand directly on her stomach and put all his weight on it as he pushed himself up, not expecting Reyna to cry out. He brought his hand up quickly, collapsing back on Will, which was Reyna's saving grace as she rose to her feet stiffly, holding her torso with one hand.

"I'll see you around," she said, turning to walk off.

"Reyna, that sounded like it hurt," Will protested. "We have enough ambrosia and nectar to help."

He and Nico followed after her as she stalked off, ever so slower than her usual pace. 

"I'll ban you from sparring," Will tried, doing a short jog to keep up.

Reyna snorted and kept walking. "You can't do that."

"I can. As a medic, I have the ability to stop people that are too injured from sparring."

"No, I mean you literally cannot do that. I'm not one of your Greek campers."

"Actually," Will started and then yelped as Nico elbowed him. "Why are your elbows so pointy?"

"She's right," Nico sighed. "You're a Greek medic and she's a Roman praetor. And even if you were Roman, she could still order you to leave you alone. It's only in severe cases that the medics can overrule."

Will stared at him. "You can't be serious."

"Unfortunately." Nico ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off his face. "I've had this problem before."

Reyna turned around and winked at them before leaving them to figure out how to get her into the infirmary.

Will pursed his lips and then yelled, "I'M TELLING CHIRON!" at her back.

He turned back to Nico who had gone deathly pale. "Are you okay? Do you need to eat? It's almost lunchtime so we could go get some food now if you want."

Nico smiled shakily. "Maybe we should head to the infirmary."

"Why?"

"So when you die, we're closer to healing you," Nico whispered.

Will opened his mouth to ask why he was dying when he felt a presence behind him. He turned around slowly and came face to face with Reyna who looked downright murderous. He swallowed nervously, meeting her stare.

"You'll tell Chiron?" she repeated softly.

"Um..." Will wasn't sure if he should run away and hide or stick to his guns. He was feeling a lot like running at the moment. He took a step back into Nico who held him there, wanting Reyna to get some help.

"Yes?" he said, sounding like he'd just hit puberty. He coughed. "Uh, I mean, yes," he repeated stronger.

"You won't live to see the day. If you mention even one word, I'll-"

"-You'll what?" Will cut in, feeling suddenly confident. "Faint before you can even make one step because you're in too much pain?"

"Will!" Nico squeaked, gripping his arm tight enough to leave red handprints.

To his surprise, Reyna laughed.

"Oh no," she cackled. "You're terrifying."

Will flushed but he stood his ground. "I'm serious. I'll tell Chiron you're injured and he won't let you compete in Capture the Flag tomorrow."

Reyna's eyes narrowed. "Do that and Nico will be mine."

Will gaped. "You can't do that!"

"Watch me," she hissed, grabbing Nico's hand and pulling him towards her.

"Hey!" Nico protested as they walked off, leaving Will standing there in shock. "Did you seriously use me as a bargaining chip?"

Reyna's laughter filled the air. "Yep."

"You know he's definitely going to tell Chiron now?"

"I don't care. I'm leaving tomorrow anyway. What's the worst that can happen? I spend a night in the infirmary? Eh. I've slept in worse places," she shrugged.

The worst, as it turned out, was not spending a night in the infirmary. Reyna entered the pavilion with Nico and glowered at Will who looked away quickly as Chiron stood up to usher her away. Her grip on Nico's shoulder didn't loosen.

"Will tells me you're injured and refusing medical treatment," Chiron said in way of greeting.

"Will has no proof," Reyna replied. 

"Actually, he does," Will said from behind them. "Or, I will in a minute."

Chiron put his arm around Reyna's shoulders to make sure she wouldn't run away as he led the demigods into the infirmary. She stiffened and walked ahead to get out of his hold.

"If you would please sit on the bed," Will said, attempting to be friendly.

Reyna's frigid glare reminded him that she wasn't someone to cross lightly.

"Sit on the damn bed, Ramirez-Arellano," Nico snapped, pulling his hand free from hers. 

Reyna turned her glare on him without moving. Will tried to gently push her towards the bed but she didn't budge an inch.

"Your concern is understood but I assure you, I am fine," she said icily, moving to stride out.

Chiron's arm stopped her. As strong as she was, Chiron was the leader of Camp Half-Blood and she didn't want to ruin the friendship of their camps because of a disagreement in the infirmary. She sat down on the bed angrily, still glaring at them all. 

"Can you take your t-shirt off, please?" Will asked nervously.

"I can."

There was a cold silence until Will realised his grammatical error.

"Take off your shirt, Reyna," he sighed.

"No."

"I need to see your injury. I'm assuming it's on your torso considering when Nico touched you there you screamed."

"I did not."

"And you won't in a week either," Will reassured. "As long as you let me see how bad it is. Otherwise, I'm going to give you bedrest for a month until I can touch your stomach and you won't wince."

Reyna's glare turned frostier if that was even possible, but she did as she was asked, carefully pulling her t-shirt away from her stomach.

"Holy Hades, Reyna!" Will exclaimed, staring at the torn flesh. "What happened?" He rushed away to get some bandages and nectar.

Reyna stared sullenly at the wall behind his head. She resisted slightly when he tapped her shoulder lightly to get her to lie down but at Chiron's raised eyebrow, she acquiesced. Will wet a facecloth and dabbed it around the edges of her wound to clean the blood. She raised herself onto her elbows and looked down at it distastefully.

It hadn't been as bad yesterday, but she supposed that's what you get for leaving an open wound untreated. She had been meaning to get some bandages but Will was always in the infirmary and she really didn't want to have everyone know. Now the wound was raised, the edges slightly crusted over with pus. The wound was a giant slash that ran from just above her right hip to a centimetre below her bra.

"Lie down right now before I get the restraints," Will snapped, switching from a scared demigod to a confident doctor instantly.

Reyna couldn't be bothered fighting so she lied down and closed her eyes, glaring at them from behind her eyelids. A hiss of pain escaped her when Will dribbled nectar over the gash. The infection retreated slightly, fading to a less dangerous-looking yellow. 

"If you could sit up now, that would be great," Will said, unrolling a bandage.

Reyna gave Will an annoyed look but she sat up anyway. 

"Arms up," he said with a small smile that disappeared instantly at Reyna's expression.

He wrapped the bandage around Reyna's stomach tightly, tucking the end in. 

"All done. Now, I'm going to recommend staying here overnight so that if it gets infected again you're close by to medical help," Will said sternly. "Then I want you to have minimal activity so your body has time to rest and heal for the next few days."

"Of course," Reyna said, only a little sarcastically.

"I know you're planning on leaving tomorrow," Chiron said, "But in light of this new injury, you're going to stay at Camp Half-Blood until Will says you're good to leave."

"What?" Reyna protested.

"It's not that we don't trust you," Will started before trailing off.

"It's just we don't trust you," Nico finished with a smirk.

Reyna flopped back on the bed with a growl.

"Sleep tight," Nico called over his shoulder as he walked out with Will.

"I'll kill you, di Angelo!"

Reyna woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly clear-headed. She stretched and then grimaced, remembering why that was a bad idea. Looking around and seeing no sign of Will or any other child of Apollo, Reyna stood up. Someone had washed her shirt, judging by the soapy smell and the absence of blood on the inside. She pulled it on and walked outside, blinking against the harsh glare of the sun.

"Ew," she muttered, turning around as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

She decided the campers were probably eating breakfast as she couldn't see any activities happening. This would be the best time to cross the border and hike back to Camp Jupiter.

She didn't get very far.

She was just passing the Hades cabin when the door burst open and Will dragged Nico out, complaining that it was already ten o'clock. Reyna froze for a second and then bolted behind the back of Nico's cabin. She heard Will go silent, and she cursed silently. She peeked around the corner and spun back around when she saw Will coming around the side. She nearly screamed as she looked beside her and saw Nico smirking.

"Nico!" she hissed as quietly as she could.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, keeping his voice at a normal level.

"Keep your voice down."

"Why? Don't want Will to find you?" 

"Why would I want Will to find me?" Reyna snapped. "I'm leaving."

"No, you aren't," Will said coldly, coming around the corner. "You're going right back to the infirmary."

Reyna opened her mouth to protest but Will beat her to it.

"I swear to gods, Reyna, I will tell Annabeth and Piper and Hazel and Frank and every single person in your stupid Roman camp," Will threatened, hands on his hips.

"My stupid Roman camp?" Reyna echoed incredulously. "I'll show you what this stupid Roman praetor can do, you little punk."

Nico grabbed her fist before it could hit Will, much to her disgust. Will grabbed her other hand and between the two of them, they dragged her back to the infirmary.

The fourth time Reyna tried to escape in two days, Will injected a general anaesthetic into her bloodstream and the injured Roman praetor collapsed onto her cot in the infirmary.

She woke up feeling drowsy. She went to rub her eyes but found that her arms weren't working. Or more accurately, that she couldn't move her arms. She tried to sit up but she could only get her head off the pillow.

Will chose that moment to enter, beaming at her from the doorway. "Have a good sleep?" he asked cheerily.

"You are so dead," Reyna growled as he removed the blanket from onto of her, revealing two brown leather straps across her torso - one along her chest and the other just below the bottom of the bandage. She went to rip the restraints off her but her wrists were tied to the edges of the cot with the same leather straps. 

"Well, at least you aren't dead," Will shrugged, unravelling the bandage across her midsection to check how her wound was healing.

"You'll wish I was," Reyna snapped, struggling against the restraints.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll crap my pants once you're healed, not before. Got it?" Will smiled.

"Get these off me," Reyna grumbled, sinking against the mattress in defeat.

"Not yet. Maybe in a few days when I can trust you," Will said.

Reyna gave him a dirty look before succumbing to sleep.

When she woke up, she found Percy sitting beside her cot.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, throat dry.

"Heard you were injured and running away. Will asked me to watch you. We're taking shifts," Percy explained.

"Excuse me?" Reyna said, not quite believing what she'd just heard.

"Yeah, Will said you kept running away."

Reyna flushed, looking away.

"Secrets always come up, bro. We would've known sooner or later."

Chapter Text

Reyna crept through the forest as silently as possible. Not that there was much need with the raging storm going on, but she was fairly certain she was close to the Hunters of Diana's camp and she didn't really need to be attacked by thirty or so archers. Of course, it was just her luck that Zeus chose the tree in front of her to strike with lightning. The tree burst into flame, lighting up the area for a quick second before the rain put the fire out. 

Reyna froze as she caught a glimpse of a bow sticking out from behind a tree some thirty metres away. She walked a little closer to the lightning tree but then its bottom branch started groaning and creaking. She sighed as she heard the Hunters yelling over the wind. They would be coming this way soon. She made to keep walking but she could feel something behind her. Turning around slowly, she came face to face with a pair of gleaming eyes. 

"Fuck," Reyna cursed. These were the Hunt's wolves. If she killed one, she'd likely be murdered brutally by Lady Diana herself. The wolves looked like they'd have no problem attacking her, though.

It leapt through the air at her and she smacked it across the snout with her bag and ran. It whined loudly and she realised with some satisfaction that she'd hit it with the metal container of food in her bag. 

Branches whipped her in the face as she bolted past and hearing the wolf call to all its mongrel friends, she figured she would need to climb a tree fast. Jumping and catching a branch clumsily, she swung up just as the pack of wolves scampered under her. They stopped surprisingly quickly, one of them clawing at her calf. She let out a yelp that she quickly silenced, not wanting to be heard and brought her knees to her chest.

Reyna hooked her legs over the branch and twisted around until she was sitting on it. She thought she was safe until the biggest wolves started shuffling around at the base of the tree. She frowned, watching. As the wolves started forming a pyramid, she let out a string of curses. Of course these wolves would know gymnastics. She stood up on her branch too quickly and hit her head on the branch above.

She shook her head to clear the dizziness - which didn't help much - and peered down. A sinking feeling in her stomach made her climb up higher. She couldn't see the wolves even with the gleaming eyes. She sighed. She hated travelling at night.

Below her, a low voice spoke. She tried to make out the words but she couldn't hear much over the howling wind.

"You come down now!" the voice called out.

Reyna wondered if it was Lady Diana. It sounded vaguely familiar. No thanks, she thought, and tried to judge the distance between her and the next tree over. She thought she could see a branch but it might just be her eyes playing tricks.

"Come down, or we'll come up," the voice called again, sounding a little colder.

Reyna snorted. Like she was going to risk getting impaled and eaten alive. No fucking way. She backed up against the tree, making sure her clothes weren't snagged on anything that would keep her from jumping. 

As she was flying through the air, she had a realisation that she was trying to run away from the Hunters. Then the branch she was aiming for hit her in the stomach and she stifled a groan as she slid her way down the tree. 

Reyna tried to make her getaway like that, jumping from branch to branch but those damned wolves always seemed to know where she was. Eventually, she just dropped from the trees and sprinted. She heard the wolves following behind her at a slower pace than before. She couldn't hear the Hunters but she assumed they were following her too. 

About fifty metres away, she could see a faint flickering of what looked like fire. She darted through the trees like a nymph, trying to reach it. Whoever could start a fire in the middle of a thunderstorm had to be pretty cool. Then she realised that Diana could probably start a fire in the middle of a thunderstorm. Her eyes widened as she came into view of the Hunters' camp.

"Oh hell no," she said and tried to veer away but there were wolves all around her.

She made a running leap over the fire and tried to keep running but she was surrounded. She turned around, seeing a twelve-year-old girl sitting beside the fire. 

"You attacked my wolves," she said harshly.

"They attacked me first," Reyna countered, looking around for an exit.

The girl smiled. "Good."

Reyna registered with dread that this girl was Lady Diana. No, she remembered. Lady Artemis.

Before she could even begin to act properly, Diana was charging her. She yelped and jumped back, trying to avoid the fire. Artemis's daggers seemed to shine with the rain.

"Come on, man," Reyna protested, blocking the daggers from sticking her between the ribs. "I just want to get through this bloody forest and you guys always take the best route."

"Man?" Artemis growled, pushing Reyna back with even more force. "You certainly act like a man. Arrogant and annoying."

"Hey!" Reyna protested, more to do with the fact of being called annoying. "You wish you were more like me."

She thought that might not have been the best thing to say as Artemis's eyes flashed in anger. Reyna stumbled backwards, just managing to keep up but she knew she would tire faster than Artemis. Artemis let out a growl of frustration when Reyna tripped, saving her from getting impaled in the face.

Reyna groaned as her head connected solidly with the earth. She rolled away quickly as Artemis threw one of her daggers with deadly accuracy.

"Ow!" Reyna complained as the dagger grazed her shoulder and landed in the muddy ground where it trembled. She pulled it free and threw it back at Artemis in irritation. She paled when she heard the hiss of pain. "Oh my gods, I actually hit you?" she asked. Then her mouth was filled with fur as the wolves pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. One of them actually had the audacity to lie down on her body like she was a pillow.

Artemis clamped a hand over her shoulder and glared at the sky. The thunderstorm cleared and the moon shone through the trees. 

Reyna found herself looking up at a familiar pair of blue eyes. "What's up, Grace?" she greeted.

Thalia glowered at her. "Who are you?" she demanded.

Reyna blinked in surprise. Then she figured that with all the mud and scratches covering her body, she was probably pretty unrecognisable.

Artemis whistled and the wolves got off her, though they sure took their sweet time about it. She grimaced when one of them stepped on every one of her organs. "He is a good fighter and he is honest, if arrogant."

"I'm not a man!" Reyna protested. "I'm like, sixteen! And a girl."

The Hunters considered her with a new interest. Thalia held out a hand to help her up.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked, only a little suspicious.

"Because you told me, fuckwad," she grumbled. She wiped the mud from her face and smeared it on her already filthy pants.

Before she could say much more, water poured down on her unexpectedly. She gasped, flinching. Thalia handed her a towel when the water stopped and she took it gratefully, drying her face.

"Reyna?" Thalia asked unbelievingly. "What in Hades?"

Reyna glared at Thalia. "I've been trying to get through this forest for days but it's full of monsters and I'm not in the mood to die and then I saw you guys so I thought I'd follow you but you took the longest possible route and then I realised you were camping here so."

"Why are you even here anyway? Your camp is in California," Thalia said.

"Yeah. I know. Which is where I'm trying to get to." She sighed. "Nico shadow-travelled me to the middle-of-fucking-nowhere and then left me there so next time you see him, send him to the Underworld permanently, will you?"

Thalia cackled. "Come on, I have some dry clothes you can borrow." 

Artemis snapped her fingers and suddenly her and the Hunters' clothes were dry again.

"Or you could do that," Thalia smirked. 

"Not to butt in or anything, but it looks like one of the wolves tried to eat her leg," one of the Hunters said, pointing at the growing dark patch on Reyna's calf.

Reyna looked down at her leg and took a testing step. It supported her weight, if barely. "No, it's fine. I can look after it when I get back to camp," she said.

"Which will be when?" Artemis questioned.

Reyna frowned, thinking. "A week or so," she finally said.

"Well then, you're going to let Diana check you over. Otherwise, you might just collapse from your injuries," Artemis decided.

"Oh, that's kind and all, but I need to get going and now that's it's dry, I may as well head off now," Reyna said, trying to get them to leave her alone.

"No," Thalia said. "You're going to sit your Roman ass in that tent and let Diana help you."

"I'm fine," Reyna protested. "And Artemis got hit in the shoulder with a dagger too!"

Artemis sent her a dirty look as the Hunters crowded around her. "It's fine, girls. I heal fast. Unlike a certain daughter of Bellona."

Thalia attempted to shove Reyna towards the medical tent but she accidentally grabbed Reyna's shoulder. Reyna yelped, batting away Thalia's hands and clutched her shoulder in pain.

"Ow," she muttered.

Thalia gave her a look that said, well, that settles it, and wrapped an arm around her waist, pushing her towards the tent.

"I'm fine, honestly," Reyna grumbled, cursing at her limp.

"You're limping," Diana stated.

"Because your stupid mutts tried to eat me."

"Okay, that's it," Artemis said. She slung the injured demigod over her shoulder and walked into the tent, ignoring Reyna's protests.

Reyna ended up sitting on the cot with her arms crossed, glaring at the floor as Diana cut the bottom of her jeans off and wrapped a bandage around her calf.

"Either you take your t-shirt off, or I cut the sleeve off," Diana said once she was finished with Reyna's leg.

Reyna considered that and then decided she would rather not return to Camp Jupiter looking like she'd been assaulted.

"Oh, shit Reyna," Thalia winced. "What did you do to your stomach?"

Reyna looked down and saw dark bruises blooming. "Um... I think I fell into a branch."

Thalia snorted.

When Reyna was finally let out of the medical tent, the Hunters absolutely refused to let her travel through the monster-infested forest alone, much less at night. Somehow, she ended up in Thalia's tent, curled up beside the daughter of Zeus. The last thing she remembered before she drifted off to sleep is Thalia had decided she got to be the big spoon, and for once, Reyna was more than okay being the little spoon.

Reyna woke up in the morning before Thalia, who was still snoring softly into her shoulder.

"Hey," Reyna murmured, voice thick with sleep. "I'm going to go now. It was nice seeing you."

Thalia muttered something incomprehensible and tugged Reyna back down. Reyna couldn't stop the smile appearing as she let herself be pulled into Thalia's warm embrace.

Chapter Text

One of Thalia's favourite pastimes was making Reyna blush. Just by saying something even remotely dirty she could get Reyna's cheeks flaming red. Once she had winked suggestively at Reyna and she'd had to control her snickering as Reyna had looked away quickly, becoming suddenly very interested in Leo's forge.

Thalia had made it her goal to see just how flustered she could get her girlfriend. Of course, Reyna had picked up on Thalia's plan early on, earning her a night in her own bed for once.

Now she was leaning against the Senate building, waiting for Reyna to finish her meeting. She smirked, seeing the first of the Senators getting up to leave. Reyna was last, as usual. This time she was talking to Frank who seemed to be doing his best to keep up.

"Hey, Thalia," Frank greeted upon seeing her. Recognising her expectant look, he blushed and stammered out an excuse to leave the two of them alone.

"Thalia, I did need to talk to him," Reyna sighed, falling into step with Thalia as they neared her villa.

"Hello to you too," Thalia said sarcastically, holding the door open for her. 

Reyna gave her a small smile. "It's good to see you. Where've you been this time?"

"Artemis had us track a tribe of dracaena through North Africa so I had plenty of time to get sunburnt," Thalia laughed.

Reyna looked closer and grinned at Thalia's still peeling nose. "I can see."

"Care to kiss it better?"

Reyna's ears flushed. "Thalia," she said sternly as she changed out of her toga and cloak, replacing it with a purple hoodie and a pair of shorts.

Thalia leaned in close, daring Reyna to back out. When Reyna simply glared down at her with red cheeks, Thalia cackled.

"You have three seconds to run before I kiss you in front of Frank."

Thalia wouldn't make Reyna flustered she knew it really made her uncomfortable. Luckily, they'd had a long talk and Reyna had muttered out a sentence full of pauses that Thalia had somehow managed to understand. Long story short, Reyna kind of maybe enjoyed it - maybe - but she was never saying it again and it definitely wasn't true and if anyone else heard it she would deny it.

Reyna's face exploded bright red, looking at Thalia with wide eyes.

"You wouldn't."

"You know very well I would. Everyone knows we're dating, anyway."

"Thalia..."

"It's been three seconds."

Reyna took the hint and bolted, making sure to trip Thalia up and slamming the door shut behind her.

"Hey!"

Camp Jupiter was rarely frequented by monster attacks. Most of the older demigods living in the city had become accustomed to the peace. So when their dear praetor came barrelling through the quiet streets, barefoot and bright red, they immediately assumed they were under attack. By what, they didn't know. When the lieutenant of Artemis went racing by, right on Reyna's heels, they laughed and walked after the two. After all, it wasn't often they got to see Praetor Ramirez-Arellano smile.

Reyna leaped over a cart full of fruit, apologising to the owner without stopping. She could hear Thalia's boots thudding on the stone behind her. She chanced a glance behind her and saw Thalia's beaming face and, in the distance, a crowd walking towards them at a leisurely pace. She swore under her breath and looked in front of her just in time to avoid colliding with a family of four. One of the children pointed at her and yelled, "Praetor has no shoes!"

Reyna chose that moment to stand on a loose stone, the sharp edge digging into the ball of her foot. She stumbled with a cry of pain, hopping to avoid using her foot.

"Ow!"

The mother of the family reached forward to steady her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Reyna winced, rubbing her foot.

"What'd you do?" Thalia asked, trying to keep a straight face. "Want me to kiss it better?"

Reyna shoved Thalia, accidentally pushing her into the family. "Sorry!" she yelled, tripping over her feet and nearly falling over in her haste to get away from Thalia.

"That's not very nice!" Thalia shouted after her.

"Pot kettle black!" Reyna retorted, dodging around more citizens of Rome.

She was so busy trying to avoid people, she didn't notice Thalia had nearly caught up to her. She let out a string of curses she normally wouldn't say but Thalia tackling her to the ground had shocked her. Her palms stung as they smacked against the concrete.

"I think I've broken my knee," Reyna groaned, sinking against the ground.

"Don't be such a drama queen." Thalia rolled her eyes, helping Reyna to her feet. She dipped her suddenly, making Reyna clutch Thalia's jacket before she could fall. "I wouldn't let you fall, bro."

"Don't call me that-"

Thalia cut her off with a kiss.

Reyna flushed, knowing that they were in the middle of a crowd but not caring enough to do much about it. She shut her eyes and blocked them out, focusing only on Thalia.

"So, how broken are your knees?" Thalia snickered when they parted. "Because I could always kiss them too."

Reyna smacked her with a smirk. 

"Don't you dare."

Chapter Text

Frank didn't think he'd ever seen Reyna look scared. Worried, maybe, but definitely not scared. It was just something she either didn't feel or didn't show. He wasn't brave enough to ask if she was ever scared. The look she had on her face when she slammed open the door to his room was close enough though. He thought she might even be crying. Sitting up, he shared a concerned look with Hazel who had pulled the duvet up to her nose at the sound.

"Reyna?" he asked tiredly, climbing out of his bed. "Are you okay?"

Reyna let out a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. She crossed her arms around herself, hunching her shoulders. "I'm-" Her voice was hoarse as if she'd been screaming. 

Frank wondered if she had.

"Sorry," Reyna mumbled. "I just- I'll go." She backed out of his room, shutting the door gently with a final apology.

"Should we do something?" Frank questioned, looking unsurely between Hazel and the door.

Hazel yawned, crawling out of bed. "Yeah. Reyna doesn't show fear easily so this must be important."

Standing nervously outside Reyna's room, they tried to reassure themselves that they were doing the right thing and Reyna wouldn't throw them out immediately. Hazel knocked cautiously on the door and Frank could have sworn the already quiet night went silent. Reyna didn't answer so they pushed open the door slowly, waiting for something to be thrown at them.

"Reyna?" Frank whispered. "We're coming in, okay?"

Again, no answer.

They found her curled up in the middle of her bed underneath a purple blanket.

"Reyna?" Hazel began soothingly. "Is it alright if we get into bed with you?"

There was a shudder beneath the blanket.

"I just- needed to know you were both alive."

Hazel shot Frank a look of confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she slowly kneeled on the bed in front of Reyna. She put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her but Reyna jerked so violently Hazel nearly fell back off the bed in shock.

"I'm sorry," Reyna rushed out quietly, looking at Hazel with shiny eyes. 

They heard her take a deep breath before she sat up. The dipped underneath Frank's weight as he sat next to Reyna.

"It's okay," Hazel said. "Can we give you a hug?"

Reyna nodded hesitantly. Frank's arm over her shoulders was heavy like a Roman pillar. The pressure of their bodies against her sides reminded her of the closest she used to hide in when her father was angry. She tried to control her shaking but it was too much. Everything was too much.

She stood up quickly, gasping like she'd been drowning. She could feel Hazel and Frank worried eyes on her, watching like hawks. She clenched and unclenched her fists as she paced the length of the room, wishing she had her ring on her. 

"Was it a nightmare?" she heard Hazel ask in the distance. "Did we die in your nightmare?"

Reyna stopped pacing suddenly, trembling as she sagged against the wall. She clamped her hands over her ears to block out the silence, listening to the sound of her blood rushing. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her knees.

Something touched her shoulder and she flinched, collapsing sideways. Her hand shot out to protect her against the enemy. It collided with something soft and she vaguely identified it as a hand. The hand gripped her wrist and pulled her to her feet. 

Someone was calling her name. She let out a soft whimper.

"Reyna!"

The shout jolted her back to reality. She looked around with wide eyes, taking in her surroundings. Frank and Hazel were standing on either side of her, looking ready to catch her if she fell.

"Hazel?" she asked. "Frank, what-"

"What's wrong?" Frank asked.

Something in his tone released the barriers she'd put around herself and she broke down. He was quick to engulf her in a hug as she shook. She was dimly aware of Hazel joining them until she was in the middle. They lead her towards her bed, which she fell on in relief, pulling her blanket around her. Frank and Hazel climbed onto her bed, keeping her in the middle of them as they wrapped themselves around her.

She sighed. This was better. This was nice.

Hazel stroked her hair while Frank - who had a surprisingly soft voice - murmured a song she didn't know the words to.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep, this time without the nightmares.

Chapter Text

Reyna jogged down the stairs in her villa, on her way to meet Frank and Hazel at the cafe with the best hot chocolate in New Rome. After a few close calls where she wished she'd down up her shoelaces, she made it out onto the streets, looking slightly more presentable like a good praetor of Rome should. 

She was halfway to the cafe when a young girl tugged on her shirt, stopping her. Reyna crouched down so she was at eye-level.

"Are you okay? Are you lost?" she asked, trying to work through the number of reasons why this kid might be approaching her.

The girl grabbed her hand and dumped several mortal dollars, a faded unicorn toy, and a headband in her palm. Reyna frowned as the girl folded her fingers over it to make sure she wouldn't drop anything.

"What's this for?"

"Please, can you pretty please beat up my abusive relative," the girl stated, sounding like she'd rehearsed it.

Reyna's eyes darkened. She'd had her fair share of abusive relatives and she wasn't about to let this little girl suffer as she had. "What's your name, kid?"

"Natalie," she replied, seeming a little shy considering her request.

"Alright, Nat. How about we go talk to this relative of yours and see what the story is?" Reyna suggested.

Natalie's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. "No! Can't you just kill him? Look, he gave me bruises." She pushed up her sleeve and showed Reyna a large purple mark that looked suspiciously like fingers.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable killing him if I don't know all sides of the story," Reyna said cautiously. "You stay behind me while we talk. That way he won't be able to get to you. How about that?"

Reyna watched as Natalie thought it over carefully, sticking her tongue out in concentration.

"Okay," Natalie agreed, giving Reyna a bright smile. She took Reyna's hand that wasn't filled with toys and tugged her forwards, running fast enough that Reyna had to do an awkward skip-walk to keep up.

Natalie stopped at the edge of the park and pointed at a group of boys playing tag. "There! The one with orange hair."

Reyna opened her mouth to ask if she was sure that was the abusive relative but then thought better of it. The girl could be telling the truth. 

"Shall we go say hello?"

Natalie took a small step forward, waiting until Reyna was in front before moving.

The boy saw them before Reyna could call out to him and paused himself from the game. He jogged over, greeting Reyna respectfully as praetor. Natalie shrieked and hid behind Reyna's legs.

Reyna smiled stiffly at the boy, trying not to glare. "Name, please."

"James Miller, praetor," he answered. "This is my sister, Natalie."

"I figured. You look much the same," Reyna said drily.

"Where did you find her?" James asked. "She ran off in the morning."

"She found me. Can I ask why she ran away?"

"I ate all the cereal and there wasn't another packet," James explained. "Mum and Dad have been looking for her everywhere. She's only seven so they get worried easily."

Reyna snorted. "She asked me to kill you."

James gaped at her. "What?"

Reyna held up her hand with the mortal money, unicorn, and headband. 

"Hey!" Natalie protested. "You're not meant to tell him that!"

"Eating the last of the cereal isn't a crime punishable by death, kid," Reyna smiled. "I admire your spirit, but your brother is free to go."

"Thanks," James muttered, giving Natalie the stink eye.

"But it was the last! He knows Froot Loops are my favourite!"

Reyna met Hazel and Frank half an hour later, having conducted enough negotiations it would have but her sister to shame.

"Hey," she said breathlessly, sliding into the chair across from the two of them. "Sorry I'm late."

"All good. We saw you getting dragged off by Natalie," Frank grinned. "Who was she trying to kill this time?"

"She does this a lot?" Reyna asked in amusement.

"Oh yeah. Nearly everyone in the legion has tried to help her before realising she thinks stealing her hairbrush deserves to get her brother beaten up," Hazel smirked.

Reyna laughed. "Her brother ate the last of the fruit loops this time. Poor kid should stick a warning sign to her."

"No way, Reyna. That would get him electrocuted. She'd probably call Jason in," Frank snickered.

Chapter Text

Reyna hadn't had her dogs for a long time. Only a couple of years or so - which in demigods years was technically a long time, but still. Two years out of sixteen was only about 12 percent. However, in all the time she'd known Aurum and Argentum, they had never turned on her. Not once. So she was a little bit surprised and a lot offended when she made to leave her room and they growled at her. Not a friendly growl either. It was a downright make-one-more-step-and-we'll-eat-you type growl. The growl they made to let her know if someone was lying. She froze with one foot hovering above the floor.

Reyna raised an eyebrow and touched the floor with her toes to see what their reaction would be. Aurum gave her such a strong glare out of its ruby eyes she almost reconsidered. Argentum stood up and a low rumble reached her ears. 

She barely had time to take another step forward before she was knocked flat on her back. Reyna let out a groan and lifted her head to see Argentum standing with all four paws on her stomach. She wasn't even sure how he was managing it, considering he wasn't a small dog. Aurum was standing beside him, one paw resting on her shoulder. It pained her to do it, but she didn't really see another option out of this situation that would end well for her. 

She punched Aurum in the eye.

"Shit!" she swore as her knuckles collided with ruby. 

Aurum didn't even move which was rude. If anything, he seemed to be glaring harder, if that was possible.

"Sorry, Aurum," she sighed, rubbing her knuckles. "That was uncalled for."

The dog licked her face in acceptance and she scrunched up her nose. She still wasn't sure how metal dogs managed to make so much slobber.

"Ew, Aurum, come on," she complained, shoving him gently. "Let me up now, hey?"

Argentum just flopped, settling down on her torso and shifting until he was comfortable.

"What the hell, Argentum?"

The two of them kept up a steady stream of growling until she gave in and tried to shove Argentum off of her. The dog was was heavy, considering he was made of metal, and Reyna couldn't move him. She lifted up his front paws which turned out to be a mistake when he stood on her hands and suddenly she was pinned. As if she hadn't already been, she thought wrily.

"This isn't funny anymore, guys. Get off me," she snapped.

Aurum nuzzled against her cheek but she turned away from him. He wasn't getting any jelly beans for a week.

"FRANK!" she shouted, over their growling.

Frank appeared in her doorway several seconds later, looking every bit the respectable praetor she was supposed to be. She couldn't see his face over Argentum but she assumed he was trying not to laugh.

"Ruff housing are we?" Frank smirked, crouching down beside her head.

She glared up at him. "Not funny. Get him off, will you?"

Frank went to heave Argentum away but the dog snapped at him so fiercely he nearly turned into a dog himself. 

"Uh, no thanks. Why don't you just spend the day with them and I'll make up excuses," Frank suggested. "Maybe they miss you?"

"I've spent nearly every available spare minute I have with them for the past two weeks!" Reyna protested.

In fairness, that amounted to about an hour, which for her dogs, wouldn't be enough. She groaned.

"Fine. We'll go for a walk but if you mess anything up, I will not be blamed for letting them attack you," Reyna warned.

Frank snickered at the way Aurum and Argentum went from terrifying guard dogs to playful puppies at the mention of a walk. He figured he'd done enough and left the three to prepare excuses for Reyna's absence.

Maybe he could say she was feeling sick? No, he dismissed the idea, Reyna hadn't had one sick day since he'd met her. He didn't want to mess up her streak.

Maybe Hylla had suddenly dropped dead. That would be better.

Frank was in the midst of explaining to several annoyed Senators why Praetor Ramirez-Arellano would not be joining them today when he heard a rather loud commotion outside.

"Perhaps we should check that out," he suggested, rising to his feet without waiting to see if they would follow. 

He was just in time to see Reyna fly past him, silver and gold blurs at her heels. He watched open-mouthed as Reyna disappeared around a corner, laughing loudly.

Someone came to stand by his side.

"Praetor Ramirez-Arellano won't be joining us today because she's being chased by her dogs?" she said in amusement.

Frank could only nod in shock. "I was going to tell you her sister was suddenly dead."

"It's good to see she's taking care of herself. Last time I visited, she was holed up under a pile of paperwork," the person continued.

Frank turned to look at her. He did a double-take when the person wasn't a Senator, but Jason's sister. "Thalia?"

She smirked at him. "Who did you think I was?"

He didn't get a chance to answer because Reyna came barrelling towards them at that point. She grabbed Thalia's shoulder, putting them both off balance.

"Whoa there, Speedy Gonzales," Thalia laughed. "Who are you running from?"

Reyna couldn't answer for a few minutes, taking gasping breaths. Her face was flushed but her eyes were bright.

Aurum and Argentum came loping up slowly, looking just as tired as Reyna.

"I beat them," Reyna grinned tiredly, leaning on Thalia. "You thought you were so fast, didn't you?" she teased the dogs. "But I beat them. And now, I'm going to kick your ass in this meeting, Zhang."

Frank rolled his eyes. "If I remember correctly, you needed my help to get those dogs off you."

Reyna's face was red and Frank suspected it wasn't just because she'd run a marathon in half an hour. 

Thalia cackled. "Seriously?"

"You didn't do much. Argentum tried to bite you and you nearly wet yourself," Reyna retorted.

"Oh, this just gets better and better," Thalia said, laughing at their red faces. "C'mon praetors. Let's go kick ass at this meeting."

"You aren't coming, Thalia," Reyna said.

"Course I am. Someone has to make sure you pay attention," Thalia quipped.

"Hey!"

Chapter Text

Reyna loved a lot of things about Thalia. Her battle instincts, her fighting, her stubbornness (occasionally), her wit, her hair (when it wasn't left all over her clothes). Reyna did not, however, love Thalia's ability to reduce her to a blushing mess with just a curve of her lip. 

"You're so cute," Thalia smirked, pecking Reyna on the nose.

Reyna's cheeks flamed and she buried her face in the blanket. "Shut up and watch the movie," she mumbled.

Thalia laughed, pulling Reyna further into her. Reyna let out an undignified squeak, accidentally dropping her blanket.

"Thalia," she complained when she nearly fell off the couch trying to pick it up.

"Don't worry, Rey," Thalia snickered, "I'll catch you." 

She did as she said, wrapping hands around Reyna's waist and pulling her up, blanket in tow. Reyna shuffled beside Thalia until she was suitably bundled up. She pressed herself back against Thalia and hummed contentedly.

"What, I don't get any blanket?" Thalia asked in mock offence.

"Not after I nearly died trying to get it," Reyna said smiling, pulling it closer. 

"Rude," Thalia muttered, but she hugged Reyna anyway.

Reyna got about a minute of silence before Thalia ruined her peace.

"Adorable," Thalia murmured, kissing the back of Reyna's head.

"Thalia!" Reyna complained as her face flushed.

"What? I'm serious," Thalia smirked. "I have the cutest girlfriend in the world. No competition."

"The movie's still playing," Reyna reminded her, doing her best to ignore both the heat in her face and her annoying girlfriend. "We have rules." Good rules that were in place to protect her. One such rule said that if a movie if playing any person in the room has to be quiet so others can watch.

Thalia reached forward and grabbed the remote to pause the movie, only Reyna guessed her intentions and grabbed it, tucking it into her cocoon of blankets.

"Hey!" Thalia protested, attempting to unravel the blankets but Reyna had wrapped herself very tightly.

Reyna giggled as Thalia rolled over her to get up. When she realised where Thalia was headed, she made an effort to get up, but the blankets that had protected her so well not even a minute ago now betrayed her. Thalia turned off the TV and spun around to face Reyna with a shit-eating grin.

"Come on, that's not fair," Reyna grumbled.

She grunted when Thalia flopped down on top of her. She gave Thalia a dirty look and pulled the corners of the blanket tighter to her body. Thalia leant up on her elbows, hands cradling Reyna's jaw as she dropped kisses everywhere.

"I." Kiss. "Think." Kiss. "You're." Kiss. "Perfect," Thalia finished, grinning at Reyna's bright red face. 

"I think you're full of shit," Reyna retorted, disregarding her burning face.

Thalia frowned and Reyna realised her error.

"Not that I'm not perfect," she rushed to correct, "But you're still full of shit."

"Too late, Rey. You're the most perfect person I've ever met. And the cutest. And funniest. And badass... est?" Thalia made a face.

"Badass-est isn't even a word, idiot," Reyna said with a soft smile.

Thalia kissed her. "It so is, my badass-est Rey."

Reyna glared but the effect was lost underneath the layers of blanket. "Don't call me that."

Thalia shrugged. "Fair enough." She seemed content enough to stay staring at Reyna forever until a thought crossed her mind. She jumped up saying, "Wait here."

"Where else would I go?" Reyna mumbled under her breath but she did as she was told.

Thalia bounded off to the next room and Reyna heard her opening drawers and cursing, searching for something. When she came back, Reyna barely had time to recognise what was in her hands before her picture was being taken.

"Thalia!"

"What? I want to be able to see this moment forever. Even when you're old and grey," Thalia winked.

"Like I'll get past thirty," Reyna joked, hoping against hope that the tingling sensation in her ears was not a blush.

"Pfft, you're Reyna Ramirez-Arellano," Thalia scoffed. "You'd be the ass that makes it to eighty and is still praetor. People will be trying to kill you as well as monsters." She winked. "Also, I think your blush is pretty cute."

As if on cue, Reyna blushed harder. "I'm not blushing," she denied. Ramirez-Arellano's don't blush. Praetors of Rome don't blush. 

Thalia raised her eyebrows. "And I'm not a Hunter."

"I'm not," Reyna said stubbornly.

Thalia snapped a picture of Reyna's blush on the camera. "I'm gonna blow this up and stick it to the streets of Rome."

"If it's blown up you won't be able to," Reyna said with an eye roll. "But by all means, go ahead."

"No, idiot. Blow up the size of it. Did no one teach you anything at school?"

Reyna scowled at her. "Whatever. And that's harassment and I can get you thrown into the Tiber in a sack."

"I'd like to see you try," Thalia cackled, grabbing Reyna in her arms and spinning her around. She turned the camera around and gave her best smile, taking a picture.

"Thalia," Reyna complained, turning around to face her. "You are so annoying."

"But you love me anyway," Thalia grinned.

"Maybe."

Thalia printed out the picture of them, her with a cheesy smirk and Reyna looking sulkily at the camera, her face red all over. She gave it to Reyna on her birthday in a silver frame, the words "You so blushed" engraved on the back. Reyna tried really hard not to throw it at her.

Later on, it became her favourite picture. Not that she would ever tell Thalia that.

Chapter Text

Frank flung the door open to his and Reyna's office, the door bouncing against the wall loudly. He walked in proudly without bothering to check if Reyna was actually inside. Of course she was. Where else would she be? His smile faltered when he saw her rubbing her eyes, trying to look like she hadn't just been sleeping. Then again, it was barely six in the morning.

"What the hell, Frank?" she asked in annoyance.

"Please don't kill me," he said, "But we're going on vacation for a week. Guess where to."

Reyna made a noise in the back of her throat that had him reconsidering.

"Both of us," she said flatly.

"Well, yes, that's what I said," he said, slightly confused.

"Away from the legion."

"Yeah?"

"For a week."

"Great, well it sounds like you've heard it so could you please stop repeating it back to me like that?" Frank asked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Have you organised anyone to fill in for us? And did you perhaps think to run it by me first?" Reyna sighed, brushing her hair out of her face.

"It's only a week, they'll be fine. But yeah, I've got Michael Kahale and Dakota to take charge," Frank reassured her.

"Dakota?"

Frank winced. "I couldn't find anyone else and he's pretty sensible when he's not drunk."

"When he's not drunk. I can't remember the last time I saw him without kool-aid," Reyna growled.

She stood, coming over to Frank. Frank swallowed, trying to hide his fear. Reyna was a little too close for comfort. Maybe he should have talked to her first.

"It's too late now, anyway. I already said yes."

Reyna glared at him. "If anything goes wrong..."

He nodded hurriedly. "I'll take the blame."

"Where are we going?" Reyna said, resigning herself to the fact that she was abandoning her legion.

"Camp Half-Blood. Piper Iris-Messaged me a few days ago and told us we needed to come because we're celebrating something," Frank replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"So you've had a few days to tell me and you've only just mentioned it now?" Reyna said, turning away from Frank and sitting back down at her desk with a thud.

"And we're leaving in half an hour," Frank mumbled.

Reyna's eye twitched. "You're doing all the paperwork for the next eight years."

"Does that mean you'll come?" Frank asked hopefully.

"Do I have much choice?" Reyna muttered, resting her head in her hands as she tried to get comfortable with leaving the legion with Dakota, of all people, and Michael.

"Not really."

Frank and Reyna arrived at Camp Half-Blood at 2 a.m. the next day, having driven since seven in the morning the previous morning. Reyna drove for the first twelve hours before deciding she needed a break. Frank had done his best but he'd never learnt to drive, what with the rise of Gaia and all his troubles at camp. After he nearly crashed for the fifth time, Reyna had forced herself to stay awake while she taught him. He hadn't been a bad driver but she hadn't trusted him enough to let herself fall asleep. The whole trip took about forty-five hours and it reminded Reyna exactly why she hated going to Camp Half-Blood, not least because she'd just been awake for two days.

Frank parked the car at the bottom of the hill and shook Reyna's shoulder gently. She'd finally drifted off despite her attempts to stay awake half an hour ago.

"We better not be broken down," she grumbled without opening her eyes, "Because I am not hiking the rest of the way just to see Piper."

"We're here," Frank laughed. 

"Thank the gods," Reyna mumbled, climbing out of the car and beginning to trudge slowly up the hill. 

Frank yawned as they neared the crest of the hill. He wasn't as tired Reyna but driving for twelve hours and being hyper-focused on the road had taken its toll on him too.

"I hope Piper... told Chiron we're coming," Reyna said in between the yawn she caught from Frank.

As they plodded towards the Big House, they heard a faint noise coming from the Poseidon cabin. Reyna and Frank glanced at each other, figuring Percy must be having a nightmare. Then they heard a very quiet "FRANK" which made them turn towards the cabin.

"Maybe... maybe they have a charm around it so everyone else can sleep?" Reyna suggested.

Before they could move, a flock of harpies came bustling towards them, shrieking. The Poseidon cabin went silent as if they thought they were the ones in trouble.

Reyna groaned and drew her sword, the weight of it dragging her arm down. "Are you kidding?"

"I think Piper mentioned something about harpies?" Frank said, squeaking when the harpies circled them, claws out. "Something about demon harpies that keep demigods in their bunks at night?"

"And you only just mention this now?!" Reyna swung her sword at the first harpy she saw, missing by a mile.

She was vaguely aware of the door to the Poseidon cabin opening. The next thing she knew the harpies were on the ground, held down by a box of water. She looked over, seeing the outline of Percy.

"Hurry up and get in," he hissed.

Reyna and Frank stumbled over, sheathing their weapons.

"What took you two so long?" Hazel asked. 

Reyna didn't even bother replying; she walked through the circle of teenagers to the nearest bed she saw and flopped down face-first.

"Hey, that's my bed!" Percy protested.

"Not anymore," she said, voice muffled by the pillow. She shut her eyes and blocked her friends out, falling asleep almost instantly. The last thing she heard was Frank saying, "She's been awake for two days, give her a break."

Reyna heard several hushed voices talking. They sounded like they were standing above her. She let out a groan when she realised she was waking up. Being asleep was so peaceful. She rolled onto her back, groaning again when her t-shirt didn't move with her and half of it got stuck underneath her. She opened her eyes, blinking to get rid of the sleep. She glared at the demigods standing around the bunk she had been sleeping in. 

"Why are you watching me?" she asked tiredly.

"It's lunchtime," Annabeth explained. "We were wondering if you'd ever wake up again or if you'd be Sleeping Beauty for life."

"I slept for ten hours?" Reyna asked in surprise.

"No. You slept the whole of yesterday and half of today," Annabeth smirked. "You must have been tired."

Reyna ran a hand through her hair, sitting up. She leant forward in a stretch, touching her toes. "I'm never visiting again," she muttered as she stood up and pulled her t-shirt down. 

"What? Why not?" Piper complained.

"One: we got pulled over by three police cars, two of which didn't think I had a real drivers licence and two: Frank can't drive," Reyna said drily.

"Seriously?" Piper laughed in disbelief. "What'd you do all your life?"

Frank shrugged. "I went to camp when I was fifteen so I just didn't really get around to it. I didn't see why I'd need to drive down the streets of New Rome."

"Would've helped you drive down the streets of America," Reyna muttered under her breath.

"Whatever. You nearly hit a preschool class," Frank retorted.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "I was at least - at least - a metre away from the closest kid."

"A metre? You probably scarred them for life!"

Chapter Text

Leo skipped up to Reyna outside the training area, holding two hot chocolates. Reyna narrowed her eyes as she took the offered cup, wondering what exactly he wanted. Leo grinned at her and took her arm, leading her down the street. She waited for him to start speaking but he seemed content to just walk in silence.

"What do you want?" she asked when they reached the end of the street and Leo made to walk back the way they'd just come. She thought he looked uncharacteristically shy as he bit his lip and looked at the ground. "Come on, Valdez, don't make me throw hot chocolate on you," she encouraged.

"I need you to pretend to date me for Valentine's Day," he blurted.

Reyna blinked. That was not what she'd been expecting. "Why?" she asked curiously. "Is this a dare?"

"No!" Leo said quickly. "Well... kind of," he amended. "It's more like Nyssa thinks I'm too irresponsible and she won't let me back into the forge until I settle down and she thinks a girlfriend would be good for me so like... please?"

Reyna thought it over. "It would be for one day, correct?"

"Yes."

"And we'd need to go to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Yeah, but I can get Festus to fly us there. It'll take half the time," Leo reassured her.

"Why does Nyssa think you're irresponsible? Who is Nyssa?" Reyna asked, tapping a finger against the cup.

"Nyssa's my half-sister. She's another kid of Hephaestus. I kinda accidentally blew up our whole cabin when I was experimenting with some Greek fire and the re-construction took longer than expected so they were pissed with me and then I... made the same mistake again so they're extra pissed," Leo explained, the tips of his ears going red.

Reyna snorted. "What do I get out of it?"

Leo brightened. "I thought you'd ask that so I brought some prototypes." He pulled a dagger out of his toolbelt and showed it to her. "It's pretty and doesn't scratch? I also have a couple of swords and a spear that shouldn't snap."

"I already have weapons, Leo. I'm talking about a favour here." Reyna rolled her eyes.

"Oh. Um, well, I guess I could try and get Thalia to be at camp the next time you visit?" he suggested, shifting his feet nervously when she glared at him.

Reyna's face burned. "I don't know what you're talking about. How would you even do that anyway?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"We Iris-Message each other occasionally just for fun. I usually get a lot of threats and she gets blackmail about Jason so it's a win-win," he shrugged with a smirk. "I could mention something about you coming to camp and she'll likely say something completely coincidental about the Hunters having been planning a trip as well." He stuck his hand out. "So, do we have a deal?"

Reyna scowled but she couldn't deny, seeing Thalia would be nice. "Deal," she agreed, shaking his hand. 

"I'll meet you at that cafe place tomorrow and then we can go?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Reyna said, finishing her hot chocolate and putting the cup in the bin.

Reyna walked up to the cafe with a half-empty backpack slung over one shoulder. Leo was already there, a bronze suit-case sitting beside his feet.

"This is Festus?" Reyna asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I made him travel-size," Leo said, pulling the handle out and walking towards the exit of Camp Jupiter with Reyna.

On top of the hill outside the tunnel, Leo unpacked Festus and turned around with a grin. 

"Ready to ride, m'lady?"

Reyna rolled her eyes and climbed up the side of the dragon. "Hurry up, Valdez."

"Yes, ma'am." He saluted.

"What's our story? We've been dating for a couple of months and kept it secret because...?" Reyna said as they were flying over Colorado.

"You didn't want to go public yet because you're the praetor and we both agreed to keep it secret for the start until we got comfortable with the idea of people knowing about us," Leo yelled over his shoulder. "We became friends watching Toy Story and singing reggaeton and then after a while, you asked me out in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean and ta-da! Here we are."

"Wow, Leo," Reyna laughed, "You've really thought about this a lot, huh?"

"Ra-Ra, when we land, we're gonna be questioned like nobodies business so you better memorise that to heart and get ready to be vocally abused," Leo warned.

"Call me that one more time and I'll let Nyssa exact her revenge on you."

Leo gulped. "Of course."

Leo landed Festus in a clearing in the forest beside a large stone wall covered in ivy. "There's a door in the wall that leads to my precious forge. Nyssa's set up a camera somewhere so I can't go in," he said sadly.

"Tragic. Which way to camp?" Reyna asked, getting them back on track.

Leo turned to the right and started walking. 

"We're almost there," he said after a couple of minutes. 

Reyna took Leo's hand and pulled him closer to her. He squeaked, jumping about a foot in the air.

"If we aren't comfortable around each other, no one is going to believe us," she explained.

Leo smirked. "True that, darling."

Reyna glared at him. "No pet names."

"But we're dating. All couples have pet names," Leo whined. "Please, honey?"

"No."

"Fine," he muttered. There was a pause. "Sweetheart."

Then he fell on his face when Reyna hooked her foot between his legs and tripped him up. 

"Hey!" he protested, getting to his feet and running after her.

Reyna turned around too late. Leo had already grabbed her shoulders and wrapped his legs around his waist. 

"Forwards, my faithful steed!" he shouted.

Reyna sighed but she was smiling as she walked into Camp Half-Blood. 

"That's the Hephaestus cabin," Leo said, pointing to a step leading up to what would have been the door before it was burnt down to ash.

"Shit, Leo, what were you making?" Reyna asked in surprise.

"A bomb," he admitted.

"Well, it certainly worked."

"Yeah," he sighed. "Hey, there's Nyssa! Oi! Nyssa, c'mere!"

Reyna watched as a girl that looked like a bigger version of Leo with longer, darker hair jogged over.

"What do you want Leo?" she growled. "And why are you on the praetor of Rome's back?"

"I want you to meet my amazing, McShizzling hot girlfriend, Reyna!" Leo announced loudly.

Nyssa froze, gaping at Reyna.

Reyna waved. "Hi."

Around them, a crowd was forming. Leo had shouted and, after all, he wasn't the quietest person.

"And you just conveniently decided to mention this after I told you you needed to settle down?" Nyssa said drily.

Leo gave her a lopsided grin. "We've been dating a couple months and now seemed like a good time as any to go public. Considering, you know, Valentine's Day."

"Are you serious?" someone from the crowd asked.

Reyna turned to the voice and gave Piper a small smile. "Dead serious."

"Why? And how?" Piper asked in disbelief. "Like, no offence Leo, but seriously?"

"I just love her so much!" Leo exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Reyna's neck in a hug.

Reyna resisted the urge to throw him to the ground and forced a believable smile.

"She makes everything better. I mean, I was fine before I met Rey, but now, everything's brighter," Leo grinned, sounding suspiciously sincere. Reyna wondered if he was talking about someone else he couldn't have.

There were aws from the crowd and Reyna blushed as Leo snickered. 

"I'm proud of you, Leo," Nyssa smiled. She winked at Reyna. "Don't beat him up too much, alright?"

Reyna managed to get out a reply, a figure standing at the back of the crowd drawing her attention away. She tried not to let her expression change from sickeningly in love with Leo, but looking at Thalia, she knew she'd failed. Thalia was staring right back at her with wide eyes. Reyna thought she might be about to cry. Her grip on Leo's legs tightened when Thalia walked away. 

"Leo," she muttered. 

Leo got the hint, eyes flittering from Piper and Nyssa's proud smiles to Thalia's retreating back.

"We're just gonna go and uh, do... stuff," Leo said with a slight blush.

Piper gave him a knowing look as they followed after Thalia.

"So," Leo began once they were out of earshot, "You do like Thalia, then."

Reyna dropped him in response. He let out a squawk of protest and grabbed her hand, pulling her off-balance. Before Reyna could even fall over, she was being steadied by a strong pair of hands. She looked over and saw Thalia standing beside her, an unreadable expression on her face.

"I suppose I should say congratulations, then," Thalia said expressionlessly.

"Oh gods, please don't," Reyna said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, Thals, no thanks," Leo snickered.

Reyna thought she could see the slightest bit of confusion creep into Thalia's eyes.

"We aren't actually dating. Leo just wants Nyssa to see he's being responsible and calming down by getting a girlfriend so he can go back into the forge," Reyna explained.

Thalia stared at them. "You're kidding, right?"

"Sadly, no," Leo sighed. "Nyssa is a bully who is cruel to me."

"You realise there are other ways to show you're being responsible and growing up, right?"

Leo shrugged. "Yeah, but this helps two people out. Win-win."

"What?"

"Leo!"

Leo cackled. "Me and Reyna made a deal."

"What was the deal?" Thalia asked curiously, smirking at Reyna's bright red face. "I assume you're going to do something for Reyna."

"I was going to IM you so you'd have an ex-"

Reyna clamped a hand over Leo's mouth. "He was going to Iris Message you and hopefully get his face shot through with arrows."

Thalia quirked an eyebrow. "You can't shoot arrows through Iris Messages. Or anything, for that matter."

Reyna shrugged. "Wishful thinking, then."

Thalia nodded slowly. "Right then. Leo and I will just go have an Iris Message face to face, then."

Leo winked at Reyna. 

"No way," Reyna said quickly, pulling Leo to her. "We're dating remember. Where he goes, I go."

"You're fake dating," Thalia corrected, "And sure, whatever."

Leo wrenched Reyna's hand away from his mouth while she was scowling at Thalia and blurted, "So you'd be at camp when Reyna was and then you two could do your dancing around each other where you pretend not to like each other while flirting really badly."

Reyna's eyes widened as she realised her mistake, reaching out a hand to cover his traitorous mouth. "Leo!" She protested, feeling her face burn like it was on fire.

It was some comfort to see that Thalia had a slight blush on her face too. 

"My flirting isn't bad. It would just be awesome if Reyna wasn't oblivious to it," she said.

Reyna blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I've been flirting with you for like, a solid year now. I even went so far as to ask you on a date," Thalia smirked, "And you're telling me you've had no idea this whole time?"

Reyna scanned her memories, trying to remember Thalia mentioning anything about going out. "I don't think you asked me out."

"I tried but you didn't get it."

Reyna flushed, going a darker shade of red. "Oh."

She was vaguely away of Leo cackling beside her and she made a mental note to kick him.

"So?" Thalia asked expectantly, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh?" she replied eloquently.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "I just asked you on a date. Do you even understand like, anything I say?"

"Sorry," Reyna mumbled. "I was just... thinking about kicking Leo."

Thalia grinned widely. "That's excusable, I guess. How about 5 p.m. tomorrow? I'll meet you at my tree."

Reyna tried to stop herself from smiling like an idiot. "Sounds good."

"You're so welcome, Ra-Ra."

Chapter Text

Thalia doesn't know what she'd been expecting. Maybe Hylla's younger sister had seemed taller when she'd been pressing a knife against Thalia's throat. That would give anyone reason to be distracted. However, now as they walk through the underground halls of the Amazons base, she can't help but notice how tiny she is. She squints at the other girl, trying to wonder how Hylla is so tall when her sister barely reaches four foot tall. Okay, that's a lie. But still. Basically four foot.

"Would you stop staring at me, please?"

The sound of the question jolted Thalia out of her thoughts. Her gaze snapped down to see Reyna scowling up at her, arms crossed.

"I'm not staring at you," Thalia denies quickly. Before Reyna can retort that she actually was staring, she adds with a grin, "I'm wondering how Hylla's so tall and you're so short."

Reyna's annoyed expression is quickly replaced with shock. "What?"

Thalia goes to repeat herself, figuring maybe it hadn't registered in Reyna's brain yet, but Reyna cuts in.

"I heard you the first time."

"Are you sure? You're kinda down low, you know," Thalia teases, slinging an arm around Reyna's shoulders. 

Reyna hits her, pulling away so that Thalia's arm drops awkwardly to her side. "I can hear your stupidity perfectly fine, unfortunately," she says.

Thalia snickers. "Do you wear any expression other than annoyed?"

"Not when I'm constantly being annoyed," Reyna retorts, shoving Thalia's arm off. 

"Ouch. You wound me, praetor," Thalia jokes as she holds the door to the throne room open. "I don't think I'm going to heal."

The next thing she knows, she's on the floor and her Hunters are staring down at her with barely concealed smiles. She frowns, trying to work out what had happened. In the background, she can hear Hylla greeting her sister with what sounds like a laugh. She narrows her eyes. She doesn't think she's ever heard Hylla laugh.

"What?" she finally asks, taking Phoebe's offered hand.

"She tripped you up," Phoebe smirks, pulling her up.

Thalia scrunches up her nose. "Really?"

Phoebe slaps her on the back. "You deserved it."

Thalia sticks her tongue out. "Whatever."

"Will you lot hurry up and get out of the doorway?" Hylla calls out, standing beside her sister with her hands on her hips.

"Let's go, Lieutenant," Phoebe says, clasping Thalia's shoulder and leading her over to where Hylla is waiting.

"'Sup, Hylla," Thalia greets. "Miss me yet?"

Hylla shares a tired look with Reyna. "Honestly, I'm surprised you only tripped her."

"Yeah, about that!" Thalia butts in. "One, rude. And two, um, excuse you? I was dying of a broken heart and you tripped me? I could have died."

"Tragic," Reyna says flatly, looking back to Hylla. "You were talking about a real problem?"

"My death is a real problem!"

Reyna turns her back to Thalia. "Not if I can't see it."

"You only can't see it because you're too short to see over your sister's shoulder," Thalia snarks, only a little bit offended at how little Reyna cares about her pain.

Hylla's lips twitch. "Are you disrespecting my sister in front of me, Lieutenant Grace?" she asks.

"Course not," Thalia says. "Reyna is far too important to me to insult."

"You've only just met her," Hylla laughs.

Thalia shrugs, reaching a hand out to grasp Reyna's hand. "Love at first sight."

Reyna snatches her hand free. "That's not real."

Thalia snorts. "Of course you wouldn't believe it. You gotta be old enough to get in - like an amusement park. They probably think you're like eight."

Reyna's glare can cut ice. Hylla's laughter only fuels her anger.

"Do you want to be the bait? Because that can be arranged," Reyna snaps.

Thalia pretends to think for a minute. "You know, that might actually be a better idea. I mean... We want a target he can see, right?"

Reyna shoves her and Thalia stumbles away, laughing hysterically.

"I hope he shoots you," Reyna grumbles, sending her sister a dark look for laughing too.

Then the door bursts open and the Hunter are shot. Reyna, pulled away in all the hurry, doesn't find Thalia again.

The next time they meet, Gaia's defeated and the celebrations are over, and they're standing on the jetty over the lake, side by side.

Reyna watches the water swirling lazily through the gaps between the wooden planks awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Sure, she hadn't meant for Thalia to actually get shot, but the bandages covering most of her limbs makes her feel guilty enough. Even though it might not have been Orion. Even though it's fairly reasonable that other monsters may have been the cause.

Eventually, she decides that the least she can do is apologise.

"Sorry," she mumbles.

"Like it was your fault. Orion only grazed my shoulder," Thalia scoffs, staring out into the forest. Reyna wonders what she's looking for. "Anyway, I was being a dick and what you said was fair enough. If our roles were reversed, I probably would have said a lot worse. " She shrugs carelessly and glances down at Reyna, a hint of a smirk revealing her next words. "Then again, there's a lot more short jokes than tall jokes."

"If you start that again..." Reyna lets her words hang in the air, the warning perfectly clear.

"Yeah, okay," Thalia agrees. "But you're still short."

The glare Reyna gives Thalia is strong enough to make Thalia reconsider her life choices. After a light reconsideration, Thalia meets Reyna's glare with a cocky smile and leans her elbow on Reyna's head. It's a bad move on her part as it leaves her whole left side open for attack.

Reyna shoves Thalia and sticks her foot out, making Thalia fall headfirst into the lake. Thalia surfaces spluttering.

"Jokes on you, I can actually touch the ground," Thalia calls out, but she continues treading water anyway. "Good practice," she says at Reyna's raised eyebrow.

Reyna snorts and turns around, ready to leave her there. She hears a grunt and water dripping and turns around just in time to see Thalia barreling towards her, arms spread wide. Reyna backs away, foot catching on a plank sticking up. Thalia grabs her just before she hits the jetty and tosses her into the lake in what seems like one effortless move.

The water stings Reyna's back and she lets out a gasp, bubbles flying up to the surface above her. She glares at Thalia who looks half-drunk, cackling where she stand safe on the jetty. Reyna pushed her hair from her face and swims over. She goes to push herself up but Thalia lays down and taps the top of her head with just enough force to stop her getting the momentum she needs.

"Thalia," she snaps.

"What? Can't touch the ground?" Thalia teases.

Reyna goes to stick her feet down just to prove a point and sinks suddenly. She kicks out in surprise and her foot finally collides with the bottom of the lake. She realises her head's gone underwater and when she's able to see Thalia again, wearing the goddamn smirk, she nearly pulls her in. Only her self-control stops her.

"Seriously, Rey, you went like a foot under," Thalia laughs.

Reyna scowls, pushing away from the jetty. "Do you make short jokes with everyone?"

Thalia frowns. "What?"

"In case you haven't noticed, you're really tall." She makes her way to the side of the lake.

Thalia snickers. "You're the only one that blushes. Everyone else hits me."

Reyna, halfway up the muddy bank, falters and has to clamber quickly to safety so she doesn't fall back into the river. She glowers as Thalia walks over to her, standing far too close. She takes a step back so she doesn't have to tilt her head up quite so far and nearly falls back into the river. Thalia reaches out a hand to steady her but Reyna mistakes it as a shove so, acting like one should when you're about to be attacked, she ducks underneath Thalia's arm and bowls her over.

"Wha- Gah!" Thalia yelps as she tumbles onto the grass. "What the hell?"

Reyna flushes. "Sorry."

Thalia continues to stare at her.

"Thought you were going to push me into the water again," Reyna confesses, looking away.

Thalia smirks. "Maybe I should, since you so rudely knocked me over."

Reyna's eyes widen and she attempts to scramble backwards but Thalia's already got a hold of her arm. Thalia, who is surprisingly strong, hefts Reyna up into her arm and tosses her a good metre out.

Reyna spits out water and wipes her eyes, glaring at Thalia. She paddles over to the other side of the river and sits on the river bank sullenly, dripping wet. 

Thalia laughs and jumps in, making a splash. She stands before Reyna, still in the river, with the water up to her waist.

"It's okay to blush, you know," she says, cocking her head to the side.

"I don't blush."

Thalia snorts. "You're blushing right now."

Reyna can feel her cheeks warming. "No I'm not," she says anyway.

"You are," Thalia says like she's finished discussing it.

Reyna taps Thalia's shoulder and she overbalances, splashing into the water.

"C'mon, Rey, that was just unfair," Thalia complains once she's regained her balance, latching onto Reyna's wrist. 

She pulls Reyna into the river and she crashes into Thalia with a grunt. Reyna wraps her legs around Thalia's waist as they stand in the middle of the river, water swirling over Thalia's shoulders.

"Get's real deep deal quick," Thalia grins. "Most of the campers here can touch the ground, though."

"Oh, whatever," Reyna grumbles good-naturedly because Thalia's the tallest out of all the Greeks and she knows that this lake can get to two metres at some points.

"It's true!" Thalia protests with a grin.

Reyna kisses her to shut her up and suddenly she feels like any other teenager without a care in the world.

She hears hoots and doesn't even bother breaking apart to look. She holds Thalia's face like it's the only thing in the world that matters and smiles into the kiss as Thalia pulls the finger at them.

Chapter Text

The attack bells ring out, followed by a camper shouting wildly. The whole of Camp Half-Blood freezes for a second before there’s a sudden rush of action, drowning out the tolling bells. Campers dash to their cabins, pulling on crooked armour and fumbling weapons. Cabin 5 goes into full lockdown mode, spikes jutting up from the roof and barbed wire shooting out from the walls. Reyna squints, unsure if she can see a missile launcher or not.

She follows the more organised campers who have their armour on properly and weapons drawn, sprinting to the top of Half-Blood Hill. Her mouth goes dry as she looks down at the horde of monsters approaching. She thinks there might be possibly be hundreds. She sees Will on the other side of Thalia’s tree, commanding his cabin. He yells out, voice carrying over the racket, and dozens of flaming arrows go flying into the monsters. Reyna locks eyes with a dracaena who crumbles into dust from an arrow to the heart. She readjusts her grip on her sword and turns her gaze to Annabeth and Percy who are standing at the front of the campers. They both give her a grim nod. She returns it, wishing them luck too.

The first wave of monsters reach the crest of the hill, beating fists and weapons against the barrier. Reyna flinches despite herself when a huge fifteen-foot cyclops swings a club at her head. The protective barrier around the camp shimmers, letting off blue sparks with each hit it takes. Reyna’s not sure how long it can last, but she hopes a while because there’s an awful lot of monsters coming.

She smiles, listening to Percy give a fragmented victory speech. It’s very un-Roman, but it’s almost nice how no one expects him to speak as gracefully as he fights. It’s very familial. He raises his sword in the air, and the Greeks let out a battle cry, charging out to fight.

“Don’t go to far!” Percy yells as he cuts the head clean off a hellhound. “They can’t get past here!”

Reyna charges out with the rest of the campers, heading for a group of harpies. They screech at her, swooping down. One of them claws at her hair, ripping a scratch into her scalp. Another scrapes its claws over her arms. Two go for her back, claws tearing through her armour. She curses. It’s barely been a minute and already she’s injured. They rip gashes into her shoulders and back through her armour. One gets her claw stuck in the metal. Reyna swipes her sword behind her head, smirking when she hears a cry. She hisses and pain when they flock her again and stabs through them, turning each one of them into dust. Her t-shirt is ripped across the shoulders and back, blood spilling out and staining. The waistband of her jeans gets sticky with blood dripping down. Her arms aren’t faring much batter, blood from the claw marks making the dust stick to her.

The battle rages on, and the pile of monster dust around Reyna gets thicker. There’s a wide berth around her, a lot of the monsters staring clear. The Greeks are also leaving her alone, unwilling to get cut into pieces.

An overly confident cyclops drops his axe above her head. She rolls, ducks around his legs, and stabs him in the back, slicing up. He cries out and his axe falls out of his hand towards a young Greek boy. He hasn’t seen it, too busy staying out of the way of a hellhound’s claws. She leaps towards him, throwing him out of the way and away from the hellhound just as the axe lands millimetres from her face. Her hands shake as she stares at it in shock, taking a second to breathe before springing to her feet. The boy has gone when she looks back for him, but the hellhound is still there, getting ready to pounce. She throws her sword into its mouth and grips the axe handle. It’s solid, but not so bad that she won’t be able to life it. Still, it takes a lot of effort, her forearms burning with the strain. Turning quickly, she heaves it over her shoulder into the forehead of another cyclops with a grunt. The cyclops totters over, falling onto a group of dracaenas who get crushed under his weight.

She finds Percy in the fray, fighting back to back with Annabeth. Neither of them look great, both with several gashes and ripped clothing.

“We can’t hold them off forever!” Percy shouts, leaning back against Annabeth to kick a centaur in the face. Annabeth takes his weight and crouches forward, sending Percy flipping over her head onto a drakon’s neck. “We need a plan!”

Reyna grunts as she shoves a harpy off her into an angry centaur. They both go tumbling to the ground, the centaur struggling to get his hooves under him. She cuts them both in half and then yells, “How long will the barrier hold?”

“No one knows! The last time it was–” Annabeth cuts herself off to stab the drakon in the eye before continuing, “–only five minutes.”

Reyna swears. There are children huddled in the Big House, waiting out the fight. They can’t let the monsters get through or it will be a slaughter. She hears a shout of pain from Percy and turns to see him holding the hilt of a dagger. She stares at him in shock, realising it’s embedded in his stomach. Blood spills out between his fingers.

“I have an idea,” she says quickly as the three of them back into each other, surrounded by a never-ending wave of monsters. “But you need to get everyone inside the barrier.”

“We can help you,” Percy protests, struggling to stay standing as a werewolf bites into his shoulder.

Reyna and Annabeth slice its legs and it topples over, nearly crushing Percy.

“No, you can’t. You’re injured,” Reyna argues, ducking under a spear. She spins around and slices the head off an empousai. “You’ve got a dagger in your stomach. Trust me, Percy. I can do it.”

Annabeth grabs Percy, and they head towards the barrier together, fighting off monsters from both sides.

“Get back!” Annabeth yells. “Retreat!”

The demigods run for the border, some falling under the monsters’ attacks.

Reyna waits for them all to get back, the least wounded helping keep their friends alive for the last few metres before safety.

She stands out in the open and prays. The monsters form a circle around her, blocking her from the demigods view. This sounded a lot easier in theory, Reyna decides as they grunt and drool, eyeing her. She shuts her eyes against her mind’s protests and blocks out the noise of the battlefield. Weapons bounce off her faintly glowing body. Her mind goes blank for several seconds, and then she sees a fiery glow around the edges of her vision.

She steps forward.

She hears someone screaming her name but she ignores it, weaving between the monsters. Her sword is a blur of silver and red as she cuts down the monsters around her. Her lips pulled back in a feral snarl, the monsters cower. She doesn’t let them run.

The seemingly endless supply of monsters thins out a little. The Greeks cheer when they see her, a purple clad figure killing monster after monster.

A Hyperborean-giant steps forward, the only one of its kind. It’s nearly five times as tall as her. It raises its sword over its head and brings it down. Reyna throws up her sword in a panic. The sound of metal grates in her ears. She hears an intake of breath from both sides and she opens her eyes to see the giant looking down at her in confusion. Her sword has cut its sword in two. She blinks. Thank you, mother, she thinks silently.

The giant roars and she jumps to the side to avoid being frozen. She shakes off the cold and lures it towards a group of dracaenas and empousa who are holding flaming torches. She gets too close and one of them throws a torch at her arm.

“Shit,” Reyna curses, patting her arm against her jeans, which may as well be ribbons. She hadn’t had time to put more practical fighting pants on, and now her favourite pair of jeans are shredded and singed.

The giant thuds towards her as she fights with the dracaenas. Finally, she thinks as she ducks behind the empousa. The giant stands on them, the torches burning his foot and fire catching onto his pants. He wails in pain, falling to his knees. Reyna jumps onto his back, being careful to stay out of way of the flames, and stabs him in the back of the neck, just underneath his helmet.

She lets out a battle cry and jumps off the burning giant into the fray. The monsters are now rightfully wary of her, keeping a safer distance, so she seeks them out. Werewolves, flesh-eating horses, centaurs, cyclops, a drakon, empousa, dracaenas. They all fall under her.

She starts to tire right after a centaur fires an arrow into her thigh. She stumbles, snapping the shaft off, and an empousai flings a dagger into the same thigh just below the arrow. She yells out, her leg giving out from under her. She just manages to stop herself from falling, using her sword as a crutch, but it leaves her unprotected. A cyclops stabs her in the side with its spear, pulls it out, and goes for another shot.

Her skin radiates a bronze aura as she feels a new surge of energy. She kills the cyclops easily, and sneers at the monsters. She hurls insult after insult at them while she kills them, destroying them so thoroughly she can sense their rage without even looking at them. Their anger makes their hits harder but sloppier. Reyna dodges a fist and jumps right into another one. She goes flying into a tree. She slumps against the base of the tree and groans, falling to the side as arrows pierce the trunk.

She gets back on her feet, stands up, sword in hand, and glowers. Reyna charges into them, weaving and slicing and stabbing and kicking and rolling until there’s a new layer of dust coating her arms. She doesn’t stop then, chasing after a retreating hellhound, and spinning around a drakon, stabbing first in one eye and then the other before cutting its head off. The monsters stop attacking, taking small steps backwards until one foolish Laistrygonian giant yells at them to stop being such cowardly weaklings. With a roar, they rush forward into Reyna’s waiting sword.

Reyna grabs a handful of fur and swings herself onto a hellhound’s back. She leaps off as a swarm of dracaena throw lit torches at her, sending the hellhound up in flames. She catches hold of the straps holding a breastplate together, knocking against another Laistrygonian giant’s back. She hisses, the wounds on her back stinging.

She would like to know where all these monsters are coming from. She really would, because she’s getting really sick of this. Her whole body aches. Her armour keeps moving around, digging into her stomach and probably giving her bruises. Her legs are tired and cut up, her back looks like someone went nuts with red paint, and her arms are starting to ache. She’s not sure how much more blood she has left to lose, as her jeans have gone a darker shade of black, and her t-shirt looks more like a tie-dye than a plain-coloured shirt.

She tries to kick a different hellhound in the mouth, which is an exceptionally stupid idea, especially considering her torso is now almost completely unprotected, and she doesn’t need any more spears to the side. The hellhound catches her foot in its mouth and tugs. Her grip slips and she falls, hanging upside down from its mouth. Then, because she’s suddenly become so talented in this embarrassing ten seconds, she drops her sword.

There’s a painful silence from the uninjured Greeks, who, just seconds ago, were cheering her on.

Reyna folds herself in two, ignores the agony that comes from the spear wound, dodges most of the claws of the harpies, grabs the hair covering the hellhound’s snout, and pulls herself up. She gives its nose a solid kick in retaliation and clambers onto its head. Percy gives her a hesitant cheer, looking as if he’s about to run in to help even though his chest is wrapped in bloodied bandages. Reyna turns away, crouching down and pressing her hands into its fur.

Spears and clubs and swords bounce off her as she prays. Her body trembles from the weight of calling upon the power of her mother. Her skin glows with fire, light shining through her eyes as the hellhound explodes into dust beneath her. Reyna smirks as she rolls onto her feet, picking up her sword on her way. The monsters let out a cry and descend on her. She lets out her own battle cry, ducking and jumping over that seem like they’re in slow-motion. The crowd of monsters thins out, dracaena stumbling and hissing, hellhounds yip, whining as they die, cyclops’ bellowing in rage, trying to get one last hit, drakons writhing in pain, werewolves clutching burning flesh from her silver pocketknife. She sneers, daring them to come closer.

The monsters shuffle nervously. Reyna makes a move towards the nearest dracaena and they all turn tail and flee. Reyna watches them go until the hill is empty from their presence. She turns around to the watch demigods and raises her sword in the air. Her mother’s strength rushes out of her while the demigods cheer, yelling loudly and wildly, rushing towards her.

Her sword slips from her hand, falling point first into the dirt. Her knees buckle and she collapses onto the ground. She catches herself, landing on her hands and knees. The cheering dies down slowly in confusion, the sea of demigods parting for Will and Kayla who come running up the hill with a stretcher. Reyna’s shoulders shake as she coughs up blood. Nausea washes over her as Will helps her lie back on the stretcher. They carry her towards the infirmary, trying to be as fast as possible while also keeping the journey as smooth as possible. The bumps and jolts makes Reyna’s eyes roll back in her head and she passes out.

The demigods follow them unsurely, still ready to celebrate even if their friends are in the infirmary. It’s been a long day and they need something good to happen.

Percy wrinkles his nose as the smell of blood hits him when he enters the infirmary. It’s been a week since they won the battle and Reyna still hasn’t woken up. Even the most severely injured patients have shown signs of movement. Reyna, though… Reyna looks like a corpse. Only Nico saying she’s still alive brings them any comfort.

He sits down beside her bed and watches her lie there. It doesn’t even look like she’s breathing, her chest barely rising and falling. Her entire body is covered in bandages. Her head wound had healed easily thanks to the nectar, so Will hadn’t needed to shave her head. A laugh escapes Percy as he remembers the moment.

A choked sound from the bed draws his attention. He leans forward hopefully, watching as Reyna’s face scrunch up.

“Reyna, come on, wake up, please,” he begs.

Reyna groans, eyes flickering open. She winces and closes her eyes again. “Wh–” Her throat closes up and she coughs.

“How are you feeling?” Percy asks, brushing hair out of her face. “Wait, hang on. I’m going to get Will.”

When he returns, Reyna’s looking around the room, grimacing. Will hands her a glass of water with a straw and helps her sip it slowly.

“What’s your pain level?” he asks, unwrapping the bandages on her stomach.

Reyna lets out a choked sound in response, muscles twitching as Will pours nectar over her wounds.

“Do you think you can eat?” Will asks, holding a small chunk of ambrosia out.

Reyna chews slowly, trying not to throw up. “F… Frank,” she rasps, watching Will dab away the blood that had leaked out of wounds while she’d been unconscious. “How…?”

“He’s fine. Camp Jupiter knows you won’t be returning for a while,” Percy says. “Annabeth Iris-messaged him a couple days ago. He says he hopes you get better soon.”

“When… will I be allowed… to leave?” Reyna asks.

“Not for a while, I’d say,” Will smiles. “However, if you want us to arrange transport to Camp Jupiter so you can heal over there, I’d recommend waiting at least a week.”

“No, it’s fine… here,” Reyna says. She blinks several times, trying to keep her eyes open.

“I’m finished now, so we’ll leave you to it,” Will says gently, seeing Reyna trying to hold back a yawn.

She nods, waits until they close the door, and then promptly falls asleep.

“We’ve got a surprise for you,” Annabeth grins.

Reyna frowns and winces as Will pulls the bandage around her stomach tightly. They’re all looking at her with excitement, practically bouncing on their feet. She brushes Will’s supportive hands away as she stands up. “Where’s my shirt?” she asks, looking around.

They exchange guilty glances. Reyna glares at them until Jason speaks up.

“We threw it away,” he says quickly. “It was covered in blood. It stunk. And it was ripped.”

Reyna’s glare darkens and he looks down at his feet.

“But we got you a new t-shirt!” Leo beams, holding up a bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

“I would actually rather die,” Reyna says drily.

“Well, unless you want to go outside half-naked,” Annabeth snarks.

Reyna rolls her eyes as she takes the shirt. “Tough call,” she says, but it’s been a month since the battle and she hasn’t been allowed out once. She wrinkles her nose as she looks down at herself. “I feel awful.”

“You look great,” Piper winks as she slings her arm around Reyna’s waist and steers her towards the exit.

The sunlight blinds Reyna; she has to take a minute to adjust her eyes. They lead her towards Half-Blood Hill and her stomach rolls, remembering how sticky her skin had felt, covered in monster dust. She squints up at the top of the hill, seeing something glint in the light.

At the top, her jaw drops.

“You didn’t throw out my shirt,” is all she can say.

They try to hold back laughter, but the sight of Reyna staring at them in such shock makes them lose it. Leo falls over, rolling on the ground with laughter.

“I can smell it from here. That’s actually rank,” Reyna says, beginning to laugh.

“It was Percy’s idea,” Leo cackles.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Percy protests. “Besides, we washed it, like, five times!”

“Well, it definitely completes it,” she snickers, staring at the metal statue of herself wearing her bloody t-shirt. The statue must have been completed in less than a day, since it was kind of unrealistic and didn’t really look like her. “This is very… kind of you,” she says, choosing her words carefully, “But I think you should burn it. The whole thing. Honestly.”

That makes them laugh harder.

“But– But Reyna,” Piper cries, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, “It looks just like you!”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t hold my sword by the point,” Reyna says, raising her eyebrow. The statue had some questioning features, like the fact that she apparently didn't have ears, but this topped them all. Holding a sword by the point and trying to stab monsters with the hilt would be extremely difficult.

“Also, I’m not bald?”