Title: turquoise shoes
Fandom: Percy Jackson & the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus
Rating: T
Words: 618 words
Characters/Pairings: Percy/Reyna, Percy/Annabeth, Jason/Reyna.
Prompt: [i am healing by mistake.] / rome is also built on ruins. au where reyna or percy are supposed to be dead, but aren't? necromancy, demi-god zombie apocalypse
Notes: Originally posted for the Ouija Dream Ficathon.

Words are no longer weapons when their oracles go silent, when the gods are unable to send missives for quests to protect themselves against the impending threat, however futile. The earth starts to swallow them whole, to spit them back out murderous and twisted. It's worse than Tartarus, this dying and not-dying, when they learn that the only way to save their friends is to strike them down, no guarantee of being reborn.

She runs with Nico for as long as she can, pushing him forward as she fights off the approaching hordes, but he makes her promise to never look back as he hands her his sword of Stygian iron. The words are barely out of her mouth when Nico darts away from her, power radiating from within him, taking the army in the opposite direction of the rumored safehouse.

Her throat is hoarse from screaming, from crying, and she doesn't remember what happens after, of how long she roams, tired and alone. She stays hidden - you can't trust other demigods, not after the rumors that driving a blade through a living one's heart granted you protection - thinks it a hazy dream when she hears a familiar voice yelling her name.

He senses her before he sees her, hair cut raggedly short, dirt-stained cheeks and glare full of suspicion. He's not the girl he thinks he remembers, but something in him knows she won't run him through, not when her eyes widen with recognition. She cuts through the vines that have trapped him, helps him bandage his cut and set his ankle.

They sit in silence for several minutes, and when he finally hands her the pouch with the leftover rations, he is grateful when she notices – but doesn't comment – on the fact that there was - is - enough for two.

She helps him to his feet, and it's only on their third day traveling that they speak of their loss.

It starts off small, little touches and friendly smiles. The truth lingers between them, a whisper of a thing: it shouldn't be them left here, not with their fatal flaws, and they know it, even when she reaches for his hand and he takes it.

They don't deny the guilt that weighs down upon them, the ghosts they will always love and the secrets they were never meant to reveal.

They curl up beside one another in the dark, a silent acknowledgement of what has changed between them the first time she turns to face him and he moves to trace her cheek. She isn't sure of herself, not until he finally says her name, soft and sweet and without regret that the person in his arms is not someone else.

He's the last person Percy expects to see, but when Carter Kane yells at him to run towards their stronghold in Brooklyn, he urges Reyna to move ahead.

He's not sure if it's the adrenaline rush or the fact that he can't remember the last time she looked relieved – that's a lie; it was when she first rescued him – but when the doors shut behind them and Carter tells them that they're safe, he takes the chance to give her a kiss.

It's clichéd, of course. He thinks there's a moment of silence because the others are giving them space, a moment to feel alive, but it's something else entirely. Jason is standing before them, and when Reyna turns to meet the former praetor's eyes, Percy can't help but think he's lost her too.