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Okay, I've read BoO and long story short, I'm disappointed. For one, the lack of Jeyna. Come on man, they've been friends for so long, RR could have at least made a scene where they would have a mutual understanding among themselves that yes, Jason is no longer the old Jason Reyna knows and yes, things have changed. It's as if all those years of bonding didn't even exist. It's frustrating.
But the others were beautiful, like Nico's character development, his friendship with Reyna and Coach Hedge, Jason's glasses (he's adorable omg), solangelo (Will is so cute) and a few others. To be honest, the book felt a bit rushed to me. So I've got an idea of sorts on what I think would happen during the war (which I also found a bit disappointing) and after on Reyna's POV. I don't know guys, but it's either I'm just a selfish slimeball that what I expected is not there or the book is not as hoo-haa as it would be. Whatever it is, it's making me uncomfortable.
She felt powerful.
Every strike she set upon those beasts left a feeling of satisfaction blooming in her chest she hadn't felt for the longest time. Its burly weapon whistled over her head as she managed to duck the rusted nails that were rammed awkwardly inside the bat, the intense stench of its body odour filled her nose that made her lips pursed together. She jabbed her gladius forward, sinking it inside the ogre's flesh. She didn't need to see it to know that it was dead as she pulled it out again to attack another one of its kin, the remains of the monster she killed swirled to the ground.
Somewhere to her right, Nico was fighting with such ferocity when she managed to get a glimpse of him, his jaw set in determination as his dark eyes were filled with fury, swinging his onyx sword that it cut through the dracaena, who managed to shriek, which sounded like nails being scratched on a blackboard that made Reyna winced slightly, before the reptilian humanoid disintegrated into a puff of dust.
She felt pride filled in her veins when she saw how healthy her friend was, no longer did he looked so ill that it was as if he was truly becoming death itself. He was human, and he was merely a fourteen year old kid who unfortunately had the fate of the world crashed onto his shoulders. Just because Pluto was his father, didn't necessarily mean he should become like him, and she rather not see him in the horrible state he was in ever again.
She was too absorbed in her thoughts that she felt pain colliding her stomach, causing her to bend over as she choked in her breath. Glancing up, her eyes widen when the ogre arched its club again, the sadistic gleam in its eyes made her throat closed up as she barely managed to par the its attack, her knuckles white as sheet as she gripped the handle of her gladius tightly, her foot almost gave out from the force the monster pushed upon her.
Gritting her teeth, her mind raced with possible ways that could not get her pounded into a piece of Reyna pancake, since she knew she couldn't hold onto it forever. Quickly, she jerked to the side that her weapon was untangled from the club, the head of the club hit the ground where she had been. Without a second thought, she buried her gladius into its side.
Despite it being morning, the tedious heat was making her sweat than she should have, to which was why she glanced up when she felt a tickle of small breeze brushed against her skin. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the familiar body structure of the boy she used to work with, with his lover wrapped in his arms as they started to land.
Trying hard not to be bitter about what she saw, she changed her gladius into a spear, impaling her weapon into the leg of a passing Cyclops, leaning onto it that it tear right through the other side of its leg. The Cyclops roared in agony, but she took a stray spear on the ground before flinging it towards the chest of the Cyclops, where it buried itself with a sickening squish before it was killed.
She picked up her spear that it changed back into a gladius, and the couple landed a few feet away from her with their weapons drawn, and cheers were to be heard upon their arrival.
She decided she had enough with this envy nonsense, and called out to Piper.
"About time!" She trotted towards them. "Glad you could join us!"
She saw how surprised they were, and Piper quickly snapped out of it as she plastered a grin towards her way. "We had some giants to kill!"
Reyna could see that he was shocked that she didn't even faced his way, and she only gripped her weapon tighter when she saw the hurt that managed to leak inside those bright blue eyes. She forced herself a smile. "Excellent!" She gestured with the hand she held her gladius with to the hectic clearing of enemies fighting against one another. "Help yourself to some barbarians."
Piper smirked, adjusting the grip of her sword. "Why, thank you."
Together, they charged towards the throng of monsters, swinging their weapons as they each picked a beast to fight with, the sound of clashing of metal against metal joined the others. She pushed the image of his look to the back of her mind, and focused on getting rid of this pests.
The two of them were separated after a while of covering each other's backs, and she found herself some distance away from Jason, who was blocking an attack from a giant.
Reyna thought it was rather odd to see him wear glasses, for he didn't need them when he was in Camp Jupiter. She had always thought that his eyesight was perfection, but things had changed. Even his fighting style was a bit different, they weren't as calculated as it used too. They was brash, he swung when he got the chance. A fighting technique that he had no doubt adopted from the graecus.
He was suddenly hit with a club from another giant, and he was thrown off a few metres away. Anger filled inside her and she ran towards his aid, at the same time running her gladius against the calf of Giant One. It roared in response before bringing down its giant bat onto her, but she rolled away to only sink her gladius into Giant Two.
Jason had got up and advanced Giant One, his back facing hers as they stared down their enemies.
"Just like old times," She muttered. "You okay there?"
It took him a moment to reply. "Just a bruise, no biggie," He croaked out, his other hand hovered on his chest. "I've had worst."
She hummed, eyeing Giant Two as it lumbered towards her, its face twisted into an angry snarl. Based on her calculations, it'll only take thirty seconds tops for her head to get bashed with. She had to do this quickly, one last time between the two of them, or regrets would be felt.
She glanced towards his way, stomping all the doubt and hesitance in her heart. "With me, Jason."
She could hear the quiet sharp intake of breath he took, and she knew he remembered those words. It was an inside joke between them at first, where she would usually say it when they would spar with each other, until the Battle of Mount Othrys. She remembered the memory all too well, where she was mounted on her pegasus while he stood beside her. Just when they were about to charge, she had said those words with much more meaning, not the playful tone she had usually been using. They had never utter the words among the others, one of the secrets they had kept between themselves. She waited in anticipation as the giant came nearer every second, aiming its weapon towards her way.
"Always."
She could feel the tug on her lips, and they charged towards the monsters with battle cries tore out of their throats as adrenaline ran in their veins. And to her, it was as if she was home again.
She was at the infirmary getting patched up -she finally relented into the persistence of Will Solace as he insisted to check up on her- when Jason walked in, the scars and dried blood had yet to be treated with.
He didn't break eye contact with her until he came nearer, and that was when Will finally noticed him from where he was cleaning up the wound on her forehead. The son of Apollo glanced up to the other blond, letting out a grunt of greeting. "About time you got here, Jason, I was starting to think you fainted in some desolated place and we had to scout out for you," He spread some gel on her forehead, before straightening himself up and faced Jason. "Where does it hurt?"
Jason glanced down at himself, before he shrugged. "There's nothing you could do actually, I'm fine."
Liar, she thought quietly when she saw how he was trying to hide his wince, no doubt feeling the pain where the monster had struck earlier. Will was sceptical as he raised an eyebrow, and being the good little Roman she was, she pointed it out.
"He got hit with one of the monsters earlier in the chest," She voiced out monotonously, getting up from where she sat on the cot. "Might have a fractured bone or two."
She ignored the look he gave her as she picked up her breastplate and cape that was placed at the foot of the cot, noting how weird she felt when she didn't wear them. She felt, for the lack of better word, lighter.
"Really? Well then, sit down so that I can give you some nectar and clean those wounds, probably bandage your torso too. There isn't any left of nectar with me now, so I'm going to get some. Don't you dare leave." Will gave a look of warning towards Jason as he left, squeezing his way through other healers and patients. She was about to leave when Jason stopped her.
"Don't go yet, please," He said as he settled down on the cot, pressing a hand to his chest. "There's some things I need to talk to you about."
She pursed her lips, wanting to leave as she dreaded to hear to what he was going to say. In the end, she put on the breastplate, not even looking up as she replied. "Fine, what is it?"
He took a deep breath, and from the corner of her eye she could see him ruffling his hair, a tick she knew how frustrated he felt. "I don't even know where to start this,"
"The beginning is always good," She quipped as she strapped the thin leather buckle at her side, strands of hair falling to her cheek. "It won't get the both of us confused."
There was a pause. "The snark never changed I see," He chuckled, before stopping himself as he rubbed the sore spot gently.
She looked up, her skin prickling in annoyance as she zeroed him with her dark eyes, tempting to say that she wasn't the one who changed. "What do you want, Jason?" She questioned coldly, clutching the folded cape in her hands. "I have things to settle with my legionnaires and the Greeks, if there's something you need to tell me, you have to make it quick."
His electric blue eyes merely stared at her, before he looked away, closing them as weariness finally started to weigh him down. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry," He replied quietly, blinking his eyes open to instead let his stare linger on the small table beside the cot, where the blood covered gauzes and cottons were left scattered there in a rush. "For what I've done."
She searched his hunched figure, the glasses he wore almost sat at the tip of his nose. It was truly different seeing him the way he was. She almost didn't recognise him, inside and out. It frightened her that he was indeed not the same boy she had been close with during the time when everything had been easier, much easier than before. "If it makes you any better," She began as softly. "None of this is our fault. Fate took its course, and we just have to suck it up and move on," She let out breath, shaking her head as she leaned on the wooden pillar, her own shoulders drooping. "You can't apologize for something you have no control over."
"Yeah well, I was being rude to not even talk to you before this, so I think I should really apologize for what I did," He looked at her then, a small smile on his lips. "You're still my friend, Reyna, I couldn't just throw it all away," Then it disappeared, shame flooded in his eyes as he looked away again. "I'm just sorry that we're not what I used to think we would be, and for letting you feel miserable about it."
She froze at his words. "You always knew, didn't you?" She asked softly, avoiding his eyes as she watched Will a dozen beds away as he looked for more supplies in the cabinets, a throng of healers circled around him as they asked more for their patients.
He squirmed in his seat, wincing now and then. "I did, and I could say I felt the same way."
She looked at him sharply, her eyes narrowing at his remark. "I remembered your name when I first woke up," He continued. "But I didn't know how you looked like, or how you sound like at first, just someone called Reyna, and some sort of connection," He trailed off, before steeling himself again. "All I know that we were close, but I was too late to realised when I saw how much it hurt you in the end, now-"
"You want to apologise because you think you hurt me," She cut him off in a low tone, sitting beside him so that they could talk in hush tones. "To which you did, but I accept your apology," She could feel him looking at her as she stared at her wringed fingers. "There's nothing we could have done, so I suggest we put this behind us," She met his gaze, and she reminded herself to keep calm. "And I'm sorry for what I did as well, for being so childish towards everything. I was just so worried about you when you vanished, I almost agreed with the others that you might actually have died. And suddenly you landed on Camp Jupiter with the Greeks," She ended her words in a whisper.
She was surprised when he hugged her, perching his chin on her head. "I'm sorry," He said quietly, and she hesitantly wrapped her arms around his middle, careful not to be so hard. "I'm so sorry."
When they withdrew, he gave a very Jason grin. "Hey, I could still win when I spar with you, I remember the prize being a bag of jellybeans."
She chuckled. "Oh please, I won most of them, they're probably stale by now."
He made a face. "They're hard as rocks when they're off date, it's disgusting."
This time, she really did laugh, pushing his glasses back to its place. "You need to wear them properly, it ticks me off when they looked like they're going to fall of your nose soon."
He snorted. "OCD much?" Then, his look soften. "You'll be fine?"
She took a breath. "I will be," She gave a weary smile. "Just don't do anything stupid that might chase Piper off, or Annabeth and I will kick your ass."
He was about to reply when finally Will came back, looking out of breath as he dump some supplies on the small table. "Right," He faced towards them, raising an eyebrow when he saw her. "Not to be rude or anything, but you're still here, Reyna?"
She stood up, plastering a look of boredom. "Just wanted to discuss some things with him, Nurse Solace," She replied. "Nothing more."
Jason snickered when Will rolled his eyes at her. "Hah, that's hilarious, never knew you had it in you," He started to take out some cotton out of its box. "Whatever, just come back if anything needs stitching up."
She raised an eyebrow at Jason, to which he replied with a smirk of his own. "I heard you're going to make an announcement later, I'll see you later then?"
She nodded. "Yes," She gave a tiny smile. "Thank you."
He shook his head. "I should be the one thanking you."
She responded with a twitch of a smile, making her way out of the place as she left Will to tend to Jason's injury, chuckling under her breath when she heard the curly haired boy's words. "What is it with you and Percy always getting a broken bone? Is it against a bro code if you don't?"
For once, she felt the weight lifted up entirely off her shoulders. No longer did she felt anything that might bring her down, and now that she and Jason were on good terms, things were better than before. There was another person she wanted to settle problems with.
She saw the girl at the dock after a few minutes of looking for her and took a deep breath, her footsteps thumped on the floor as the daughter of Venus stared down at the water in deep thought. The words of the girl's mother swirled in her mind.
You will not find love where you wish or where you hope. No demigod shall heal your heart.