[3] 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 ― p.jackson, l.valdez

026.

「026. bob says hello [i found my fire]」

BARBIE FELT all mushy inside. standing next to percy... on land that was actually land, not some guy's flesh... staring at a gorgeous orange and pink painted sky, not some hellish landscape, having her friends with her- it made her smile. the kind that warmed your body, like you'd drank the best hot coco and it had warmed its way to the tips of you toes and the top of your head.  breathing in the fresh air, having her boyfriend and friends beside her, barbie decided this was how she wanted her life to go. she didn't care if she was remembered as the worst demigod, she wanted her friends surrounding her. she wanted her loved ones close, she wanted it to be like this forever.

"that's a big lady," mumbled percy, sarong at the athena parthenos, as he was waiting for it to strike him down. "goddess, i mean."

leo's new mechanical hoist system had lowered the statue onto the hillside with surprising ease. now the forty-foot-tall goddess gazed serenely over the river acheron, her gold dress like molten metal in the sun.

"incredible," reyna admitted, looking up with them. she was still red-eyed from crying. soon after she'd landed on the argo ii, her pegasus scipio had collapsed, overwhelmed by poisoned claw marks from a gryphon attack the night before. reyna had put the horse out of his misery with her golden knife, turning the pegasus into dust that scattered in the sweet-smelling greek air. maybe not a bad end for a flying horse, but reyna had lost a loyal friend.

the praetor circled the athena parthenos warily. "it looks newly made."

"yeah," leo nodded, "we brushed off the cobwebs, used a little windex. it wasn't hard."

"if i recall, i remember you cleaning that thing for hours," teased cherry.

"same thing."

the argo ii hovered just overhead. with festus keeping watch for threats on the radar, the entire crew had decided to eat lunch on the hillside while they discussed what to do. after the last few weeks, barbie figured they'd earned a good meal together – really anything that wasn't fire water or drakon meat soup.

"hey, reyna," annabeth called from beside val, "have some food. join us!"

the praetor glanced over, her dark eyebrows furrowed as if join us didn't quite compute. after only meeting the girl for a brief moment, barbie didn't really have much to say about her. she looked serious, brave, and strong. but barbie had never really seen the girl without her armour. mainly because the only time she saw her, she was in her armour. but since it was onboard  the ship, being repaired by buford the wonder table, she almost looked like a normal teenager.

with a stylized version of the purple camp jupiter t-shirt that had been cropped along with a pretty set of high waist jeans... yeah, she looked normal. well, except the knife at her belt and the guarded expression.

but hey, if reyna ever needed knew clothes barbie could definitely find shit that vibed hard.

"all right," she said finally.

they scooted over to make room for her in the circle. she sat cross-legged next to annabeth, picked up a cheese sandwich and nibbled at the edge. "so," reyna said. "frank zhang ... praetor."

frank shifted, wiping crumbs from his chin. "well, yeah. field promotion."

"to lead a different legion," reyna noted. "a legion of ghosts."

hazel put her arm protectively through frank's. after an hour in sick bay, they both looked a lot better, but barbie could tell they weren't sure what to think about their old boss from camp jupiter dropping in for lunch.