I know this is late. Sorry about that. Anyhow, this is the next letter in the Jayna Alphabet Challenge. Liquid.

Liquid

A wild-eyed Reyna sat on her bed, tears running down her face. She looked up at the portrait of her and Jason on the wall, both smiling awkwardly in their praetor robes.

A fit of anger seized her and she grabbed a dart and threw it at the picture of Jason. It hit Jason's scar. That little scar on his lip that she missed so much. Feeling a little better, she grabbed dart after dart and threw all of them at Jason. When she was done, it looked as if the Apollo kids had just finished target practice on Jason's face.

A knock on the door startled Reyna. She immediately put her hair into a messy braid and wiped the tears off her eyes. She took a deep breath and a stone hard look was in her eyes once more.

"The door is unlocked!" she called, her voice steely.

Octavian opened the door and entered, smirking. "Praetor Reyna," he began. "It has been five months since Jason Grace has died. Surely, you are going to hold re-elections for praetor soon?"

Reyna stood up and said, "He might –"

"Not be dead?" Octavian finished, looking at Reyna with a disapproving expression. "It has been five months, Reyna. Grace is not indestructible. He must be dead by now. Besides, if he were alive, don't you think that he would've returned to Camp Jupiter? He has abandoned us one way or the other, Reyna. You must hold re-elections."

Reyna glared at Octavian and said in a final tone. "We will discuss this later, Octavian. Leave. Now."

Octavian turned around but then noticed the portrait of Jason. He stared at it for a moment and smirked. "What did that portrait ever do to you, Praetor Reyna? Oh yes, that's right, the person whom the portrait is depicting left you and Rome. Abandoned you. Toyed with your affections and disappeared."

Reyna walked up to Octavian and restrained herself from shoving him in a weasel-filled sack and throwing the sack into the Little Tiber.

"Leave, right now," she ordered.

Octavian shrugged and walked out. He looked back and called, "Perhaps we could discuss this over a cup of coffee?"

Reyna growled, remembering how she and Jason had used to have coffee every morning. She resisted the growing urge to strangle him.

"Perhaps not," she said shortly as she slammed the door in his face.

Sighing, she sat down on her bed once more. Her mask came off. She looked back up at the portrait of Jason and an expression of pain crossed her face.

Reyna woke up with a start. She was covered with sweat. She glanced at her alarm clock. It was 5:00.

She was supposed to wake up at five-thirty, but the dream she just had unsettled her. She got up from her bed and walked outside of her praetor house. She looked around the garden absentmindedly then hurried to Jason's door. She pulled out the spare key and slipped it in through the lock. She opened the door and took a quick look around.

Jason was sleeping on his bed, snoring as if he had all the time in the world. His room looked normal – clean, but in a messy way.

Reyna sighed in relief. She didn't know why she had come here in the first place. She was about to leave when Jason drowsily opened his eyes.

He lazily rubbed his eyes and murmured, "Weird dream." And then he caught sight of Reyna. His eyes widened. "What are you doing here, Rey?"

"I was just checking on you," Reyna said, the lie escaping from her lips immediately.

Unfortunately, Jason was a close friend. The abruptness of her reply made him wary.

"This is early, even for you, Rey," Jason insisted. "So what's up?"

"Octavian," Reyna said, using the easiest way to get out of explaining.

"What'd he do this time?" Jason asked, sitting up. He got off from his bed and walked over to where Reyna was standing.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Reyna said shortly. "Anyways, you better get ready, Cinderella."

Jason groaned. "Reyna! It's only five-thirty!"

Reyna smirked. "You shouldn't have gotten up so early then." Noticing the pout on her co-praetor's face, she sighed. "Fine. Ten minutes. That's all you get!" She rolled her eyes when he promptly plopped down onto his bed with a content sigh.

While they were doing their praetor duties at the principia, Bobby came rushing in.

Reyna and Jason immediately looked up from the paperwork, Reyna with alarm and Jason with relief.

"What happened?" Reyna asked immediately, scanning Bobby's face.

"It's Dakota," Bobby said, breathless.

Jason and Reyna glanced at each other before rushing out of the door. They followed Bobby all the way to the fifth cohort's barracks. When they opened, the two praetors were blasted in the face with Kool-Aid. Bobby had managed to duck before the liquid hit him.

Reyna wiped the Kool-Aid from her eyes and saw Dakota lying on the bed with a water gun in his hand. Or, in this case, a Kool-Aid gun.

"Dakota!" Reyna said. Her voice was deadly calm. "What is the meaning of this?"

The drunken boy blinked. "Sor-ry," Dakota slurred. "I thought you were Bobby."

"Bobby's right –" Jason stopped. Bobby had disappeared.

Reyna glanced at where Bobby used to be and looked back to Dakota. "Centurion Dakota. What is happening here?"

"Bobby and I are having a Liquid War," Dakota said with a sloppy smile. "It's a long story. Actually, the Liquid War officially begins tomorrow. And since it's the weekend, we've completed all of our duties, and there are no holidays or special events coming up, you can't object, Reyna!"

The dark-haired girl frowned. "What is a liquid war?"

Dakota grinned. "I'm glad you asked. It's a war, but without weapons, we use different types of liquid to attack others. The last person standing wins! We've reviewed the laws at least four times, and there's nothing that states we can't do this. We're considering including everyone in this."

Reyna's eyes narrowed. She was about to open her mouth to object when she paused.

Dakota and Bobby had planned this well. She could not find any logical reason to prevent this Liquid War.

"You are not permitted to hold an event that may destroy any property without Senate approval," Reyna finally said.

Dakota grinned. "In that case, we can hold a Senate meeting."

Reyna raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "I will not allow a Senate meeting for such a petty reason. The Senate has better things to do."

Dakota frowned and Reyna was about to smile triumphantly when the blonde-haired boy next to her decided to speak up.

"But I will allow a Senate meeting," Jason said, looking at Reyna with a half-determined and half-pleading expression.

Reyna glared at him. "Both of the praetors have to agree," she countered.

Jason gave her Bambi eyes but she remained unmoved. Finally, he said, "Look, Reyna. You're a logical person. You're against this because of your no-fun policy, but I know how much you care about Camp Jupiter. After the Titan War, don't you think the people need a chance to relax and participate in something so stupid, it's fun?"

Reyna considered what her co-praetor had just said. He did make logical points. "I will allow this Senate meeting. But the Senate will never agree."

"I can't believe they agreed," Reyna said as she walked out with Jason.

Jason nodded. "Especially Octavian. He didn't even try to go against this."

"Honestly, Jason. You act as if he is not human. He went through the Titan War just like we did, and just because we may not personally like him does not mean we must view everything he does through a biased lens."

Jason shrugged. "You're probably right."

"What are the rules for the Liquid War again?" Reyna asked.

Jason's face lightened. "Anyone who wants to participate will have to go to the statue of former praetor Tom Riddle with the liquid of their choice. It can't be anything too poisonous or acidic. So, whenever someone gets blasted with liquid, they're out. Trivia's children and legacies will enchant the liquid so that whenever someone gets blasted, their clothes will turn red temporarily. So, the last person standing wins."

Reyna nodded. "It sounds interesting. And are you sure the Assembly is available to take care of everything while we and the Senate are partaking in this?"

The Assembly was composed of representatives elected by people in New Rome. They took charge whenever the Senators and praetors were busy.

"Yup."

They walked in silence for a while.

"So," Jason began. He looked at her and the sparkle in his eyes became brighter. "Are you participating?"

Reyna smiled back and her dark brown eyes became a little softer. "Only if you are, Cinderella."

"I am so going to kick your podex," Jason declared.

Reyna knew that this was where she came in. "You're a son of Jupiter with the nickname Cinderella. I find it laughable that you think you can kick my podex."

Jason grinned and Reyna knew that her mission had been accomplished. Whenever her colleague got too arrogant, she would always be ready to deflate his ego.

Her co-praetor suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "You know, this morning…when you came into my room…did you have a feeling that something was supposed to happen?"

Reyna looked at him and said truthfully, "Yes. I had a dream that you had left us."

Jason's eyebrows came up in an expression of surprise. "Really? I had a dream that I woke up on a bus without a memory. And there was a girl sitting next to me and a boy sitting in front of me."

Reyna frowned. "What happened?"

Jason looked nervous. "Well, the girl claimed that I was her boyfriend and the guy said I was his best friend."

"Oh," Reyna said. She didn't know what to say, especially after what had happened last night between them.

"I'll talk to you later. I have to finish up that stack of paperwork before the Liquid War."

Reyna nodded and watched as Jason made his way towards his villa. She reflected on her dream, but now, she felt apathetic as she thought about it. The dream was not going to happen. That, she was sure of.

The next day, Reyna was surprised at how many people showed up for the Liquid War. Around three hundred people, ranging from ages six to sixty came, all armed with some sort of liquid in different types of blasters.

Jason was there, of course, with ketchup in his blaster. He smiled at her challengingly and she allowed her eyes to soften a bit.

What probably surprised her most was Octavian. He looked genuinely excited and relaxed, so different from the cold, hard determination she usually saw in his eyes.

Reyna had decided to enter. Why not? After all, she never got to join the War Games since she was praetor and didn't spar that often except with Jason, of course. She missed the excitement of war. The rush. The adrenaline. The feeling that she belonged. The feeling that she was unstoppable.

Maybe the Liquid War wasn't exactly an actual war. Maybe it was more childish than she would've liked. But Reyna didn't mind. So, she had filled her blaster with normal water. Nothing fancy but then again, Reyna was known for her battle skills, not how elaborate she was.

"Praetor Reyna!" Derek, legacy of Trivia, said with a smile.

He took the blaster from her and muttered a few words. The blaster glowed for a moment and then returned to normal.

"Good luck!" Derek said as he handed the weapon back to her. "Now, whenever you hit someone with your blaster, their clothes will turn red."

"Thank you," Reyna said with a nod.

"Romans!" a middle-aged woman with light auburn hair and brown eyes called.

Her name was Fiona, and she was one of the most powerful women on the Assembly. She stood at the base of Tom Riddle's statue, her pose relaxed and her eyes twinkling.

Tom Riddle was one of the greatest praetors that Camp Jupiter had ever had. He was known for being handsome, charming, clever, and powerful.

Reyna scanned everyone and noticed that Fiona was having minimal success getting everyone to pay attention to her. Before she could help, Jason said, "Quiet!" He didn't shout, but the people closest to him heard him and shut up immediately. Then the people next to them shut up and it kept on going until everyone was dead silent. The only sound was the exchanging of weapons as the children of Trivia enchanted the blasters.

"Thank you, Praetor Grace," Fiona said, nodding at Jason. She turned to the Romans. "Today is a celebration day for Rome. After the battle with the Titans two months ago, we are certainly in need of one. Now, if you don't know the rules, get out. We don't have time for fools. Remember, Derek and some of the children of Trivia are going around, enchanting your liquid. I could go on but if I'd probably bore myself to death. Anyways, you can play anywhere in New Rome. Ready? No? Too bad. Begin!"

Reyna immediately ducked because liquid was flying all over the place. Immediately, a few people groaned as their clothes turned red.

In a hurry, she rushed away, ever so often blasting water at anyone she happened to glance upon. Finally, she hid behind a wall. When she heard footsteps coming her way, she immediately got ready to shoot. When the person rounded the corner, they got a torrent of water in their face.

Reyna didn't bother taking a good look at the person. She didn't have time. If anyone was near, they would notice that the clothes on whomever she had shot were red and might try to ambush her.

She considered her options. She was probably in one of the most strategic places in New Rome for defending herself and attacking others. She wanted to know how many people were left, but she couldn't risk vulnerability.

Thirty minutes later, Reyna had lost track of how many people she'd taken down.

Glancing around, Reyna noticed that nearly everyone was gone. Which meant she was probably one of the last people left.

All of a sudden, she heard a click and immediately flung herself to the right. Kool-Aid flew past her.

"Dakota," Reyna muttered.

Moving quickly, she hid behind a building. She strained her ears, trying to hear footsteps. She heard nothing. Finally, she decided to try something.

Reyna muttered a Roman curse quietly, but loud enough so that someone close to her could hear. Then, she ran lightly to the other side of the building. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of Kool-Aid hitting the ground. Reyna estimated how long it would take for Dakota to look around the corner to see if he had hit his target, and after three seconds had passed, she aimed her water blaster around the corner of the building and fired. She didn't hear the sound of water hitting the ground, so she assumed it was safe to see if she had hit Dakota.

She looked around the corner, her blaster ready to fire, and found Dakota cursing as he looked down at his red clothing. She smiled lightly, and quickly proceeded to carefully scout her surroundings.

Fiona's voice rang through on speakers. "Currently, there are five people left in this competition. Reyna, Jason, Octavian, Diana, and Fidel."

One from each cohort, Reyna thought with amusement.

Before she could keep on moving, Fiona continued. "Erm, make that three. Fidel and Diana struck each other at the same time."

Reyna stored that piece of information in her mind and ducked underneath an arc, just in case Jason ambushed her from the skies. She heard the sound of a blaster being cocked and immediately fell to the ground to dodge the blast. She sent a blast of water in the direction where the attack had come from, but when she got up, she found her own liquid coming straight back at her. She barely managed to doge this attack and glared at the boy in front of her.

"Jason," she muttered. "Using your wind powers? Unfair."

Jason shrugged. "This is battle, Reyna." Right when he said that, he fired a blast of ketchup.

Reyna ducked and immediately pulled the trigger on her water gun. Jason dodged. They kept on going like this for a while. Finally, they both sent a blast of liquid towards each other at the same time. They simultaneously ducked.

Two blasts of liquid came towards and her, and she rolled out of the way to dodge it. She glanced up and noticed Octavian smirking. He was holding two blasters, one blaster pointed towards Jason, and another towards her. Reyna quickly got up and aimed a blaster at Octavian. Jason followed her lead.

Octavian narrowed his eyes. "It seems that we're stuck. One sudden move, and all of these blasters will go off at once."

"Hmm," Reyna said in response. Then she threw her blaster at Octavian's chest and ducked.

Octavian, surprised, fired at both Reyna and Jason, right before Reyna's blaster hit Octavian squarely in his chest. At the same time, Jason blasted ketchup at Octavian, which hit him in his face, but right at the same time, Octavian's blast got his elbow. Reyna had successfully managed to avoid Octavian's blast and was left watching as both Octavian and Jason's clothes turned red.

Seconds later, a voice sounded over the speakers. Fiona.

"Demigods, we have a winner. Praetor Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano is the winner of the Liquid War. Please gather around Tom Riddle's statue for the award ceremony."

Reyna raised her eyebrows. An award ceremony? The Assembly had really put forth a lot of effort into this Liquid War.

She glanced over at Octavian and Jason. Octavian was casually wiping off the dirt from his clothes, but Reyna could tell from the tenseness of his posture that he was angry. Jason was smiling easily at Reyna. He came up to her.

"Good job," he murmured, looking into her eyes earnestly.

Reyna felt herself start to blush, but stopped herself. "Thank you. You did well," she said tightly, trying to stop the butterflies in her stomach.

Jason looked disappointed as he gazed into her piercing eyes, but then the light smile came back onto his face, although it didn't reach his eyes.

They walked back to Tom Riddle's statue together, silence between them.

A crowd was gathered at the statue, with Fiona at the head. When Jason and Reyna came to the front of the crows, with Octavian following them at a distance, cheers came from everywhere.

Fiona was holding six medals in her hand. When the crowd quieted down, she began to speak. "I must admit, this is probably the most fun we've had in a while. The idea of this is ridiculous and stupid in many ways, but it is enjoyable."

There was clapping and cheering. When it had died down, Fiona raised the golden medals in her hand and said, "In addition, we had many brilliant fighters and strategists out there. When I call your name, please come up: Dakota Reynolds, Bobby Singer, Octavian Sinclair, Priya Boppana, Jason Grace, and Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano."

Reyna winced when her full name was called out. She didn't like thinking about her past, and her full name just brought up painful memories. She took a breath and stood next to Fiona. Jason, Octavian, Bobby, Priya, and Dakota came up a few seconds later.

Fiona handed one medal to Dakota and one to Bobby. "For coming up with this idea."

She gave one to Octavian. "For brilliant strategy."

She placed one in Priya's hand. "For best fighting technique."

She handed one to Jason and said, "For taking down the most people. 42, to be exact."

She came to Reyna and paused. "And finally, for winning the Liquid War." She gave the medal to Reyna.

There was applause from the crowd. When it died away, Fiona spoke.

"And this concludes the Liquid War!" Fiona said. "But of course, we have the cleaning up to do."

Murmurs and groans came from everyone.

This made Reyna curious. Who exactly was going to clean up the mess? They hadn't really discussed that at the Senate Meeting. She pitied the poor souls that had to wipe every single drop of liquid off the entire city.

"Luckily," the old woman said with a wide grin. "We have some volunteers for the job."

Reyna frowned. Who in their right mind would volunteer to clean up the mess that the Liquid War had caused? They were insane, Reyna decided.

"Our very own praetors!" Fiona continued.

Reyna's curious expression turned into one of shock. "What?" she asked disbelievingly. "But we never volunteered!"

Fiona frowned and pulled out a document from her jacket pocket. She held it up. "This states that the praetors will volunteer to clean up any mess that the Liquid War has made."

"But I never signed anything like that," Reyna insisted. She took a closer look at the document and suddenly, she realized what had happened.

There, at the bottom, in a messy scrawl, was the name "Jason Grace."

Reyna turned to Jason. Her eyes narrowed. "Why did you sign that?" she demanded, her dark eyes turning ten shades darker.

Jason laughed nervously. "Um, well, you see, funny story. Well, um, you know yesterday morning? When we were doing paperwork? Yeah, um well, you see, I was in a hurry to play Mythomagic with Bobby, so I think I kind of signed it without reading it."

Reyna's hand was on her dagger. She was considering how good Jason would look without a head. Finally, she reminded herself that she could not hurt him. Not now, at least. Octavian would hold it against her.

She forced a smile and turned to Fiona. "We will clean up the city," she announced, trying to ignore the smirk on Octavian's face.

Thirty minutes later, Reyna had a sponge in her hand as she tried to get the stains off of the weapons shop. Jason was beside her, trying to mop up some random liquid.

"You're an idiot," she muttered, glad that her hands were occupied so she couldn't kill him.

"Sorry," Jason said apologetically. And then, in a more playful tone, he said, "So, I took down the most people. More than you."

"Without your wind powers, you wouldn't have been able to take anyone down," Reyna retorted.

"But didn't Tom Riddle always say to use whatever you had to your advantage?"

Reyna scowled. "He also said to never argue with an idiot. They'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."

"You trying to tell me something?"

"This just proves my point."

They went back and forth with the bantering while cleaning. Finally, Jason stopped arguing and was quiet for a moment. Finally, he said, "Reyna?"

Reyna paused. "Yeah?"

"Remember what happened two days ago?"

Reyna's pose tightened. "Yes. I mean, yeah." She sometimes became formal whenever she was uncomfortable.

"Look, I know that you told me that you didn't want to…," Jason said, looking down at the ground. Finally, he got enough courage to look straight into her eyes.

The sincerity and fire that she saw in his usual calm electric blue eyes startled Reyna.

"You told me that you didn't want for us to be the typical praetor couple," Jason continued, this time with more confidence. "Just friends. And I told you that I agreed. But really…I didn't. I pretended that I was just asking out of curiosity. I wasn't. The hypothetical statement wasn't hypothetical. It was real. Yesterday, when I had that dream, it made me realize that I can't just pretend anymore."

Jason took a deep breath and looked at Reyna with a determination that she hadn't seen since the storming of Mt. Othrys.

"Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, will you be my girlfriend?"

There was a pause. Finally, Reyna sighed. She looked into Jason's blue eyes. "The reason I said no yesterday was because I didn't want to get together with you just because it was expected. I wanted a better reason. And you just gave me one. So yes, I will."

And before she lost her courage, she leaned over and kissed him. It was quick, but it left Reyna with an indescribable feeling. Jason's face was red and he awkwardly tried to say something.

"But don't ever call me by my full name ever again," Reyna added, but she was smiling.

"And you know," she added suddenly, looking at him. "We can't tell anyone about this. Octavian would use it against us."

Jason finally seemed to have regained his ability to talk. "If Octavian tries, I'll zap him and his beanie babies."

Reyna rolled her eyes and continued scrubbing. "You know that I wouldn't want to show affection in public anyway."

Jason reluctantly nodded. "That's true."

Reyna smiled and she said, "Besides, I wouldn't want the world to know that I'm dating Cinderella."

Jason pouted. "And I wouldn't want the world to know I'm dating a stuck up, strict, humorless robot."

The arguing made the cleaning bearable.

DOTE's word is Murder. What? I'm in a sad and sadistic mood.

Anyways, here are the rules!: (from PNF's POV)

-We'll go through the alphabet choosing each other's words as we go. I just did 'A', so the first person to PM me or review saying they'd like to compete will get their 'B' word from me. Then when they post their story, they will give the 'C' word to the next person on the list.
-There will be a limited number of people to compete. I want to ensure that every author get to post at least three stories, so maybe 8? If you and another author want to work together in the contest, that's perfectly fine. Just make sure to let me know!
-All of the one-shots entered must be Jeyna. Jasper or Leyna may be included, but only as a drama-angst starter. None of the stories can end with Jason picking Piper over Reyna, or Reyna (for whatever deluded reason, they've never met!) dating Leo.
-To join the contest, you must PM me before the next person posts 'B'. After that, the contest is no longer open.
-You must review every story in the contest if you are part of the contest. It's common courtesy, people.
-Stories must be one-shots over 500 words.
-You have 5 days from the day you get your word to post your story.
-Stories can be future, past, present, or AU as long as all characters used as kept in character.
-After we get to Z, I'll post a poll on my profile with all 26 stories on it. Everyone can vote for their favorite, and the author who wrote that story wins!