LUMINESCENCE [Reynico]

track 12: all too well

[ Continuation of Track 11: act like you love me ]

Nico shook his head in silent joviality.
It's been a month since he last saw her,
Thirty days missing his sparring partner, thirty days missing his other half.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I already miss Leo." Annabeth mumbled, her arms crossed. She looked at Nico who came after a few minutes. "Do you ever feel like you miss someone but you can never get near them?"

"Yeah," Nico said, looking at his phone. "I do."

He kept staring at his phone, and so he dialed the only number listed in his contact.

Waited -
And waited ...

"You have reached Reyna's voicemail, leave a message."

"Hey, Reyna." He said. "It's me." There was a brief pause because of hesitation. "A lot of things happened here at Camp. And ... you were right about love. It's weakness. But over the course of the weeks you have gone, I realized that maybe we outgrew scars that bounded us from our past, and we think of ourselves as a broken glass that can't be fixed." He glared at his friends who were all smiling.

"I could fetch you there, make a run for it. You can always come back home, Reyna."

Reyna listened to every word, smiling.

After
5 months she hadn't spoken of Camp Jupiter, 5 months she hasn't heard from her home.

Laconic by nature, Reyna stared uptightly in the mirror as Piper stood in front of her.

"He's hoping it to become a boy, I said I want a girl." Piper said, sliding her hands on her belly.

"Jason?"

She avoided her gaze, but she nodded. "I don't know if I'm still keeping the baby."

"Piper, you have to. That's your meant for."

Piper frowned. "When I was younger, I promised myself that when I get pregnant I would be the happiest woman in the entire universe. I'm not ready to be a mom. Now, I can't think of anything much more miserable." She turned to Reyna as if all that crippled anger she'd earned had been bulldozed to her face. "Where have you been Reyna?"

"I was ..."

Piper cut her off with a glare. "You could've stayed, Reyna. You could've chosen to live with us and defend your family, but then again you'd rather choose to desert us all. All for a badge of honor ... Now look where your destiny brought you. You're all alone."

Reyna shook her head repeatedly. "No, no, no you're wrong - I still have Frank, Nico, Hazel, Da-"

"You don't get it do you?" They've already stood meters apart. "They're ALL gone! They don't care! It's not the same anymore! Everything changed when you left ..."

Piper blinked an eye, dropping a tear. Reyna just wished she could rewind to the part where they were still having a noncholant conversation because things would be a lot more better than watching intelligent, brave, young girls cry.

She buried her face into her hands. Reyna gave her a soft hug and rested her chin against her head. She cried, just as Reyna thought of what would every mother think when they're in the salvage on choosing between what's right and wrong.

"Shh, let it go Pipes ... Us girls have to stick together."

〰〰

Hazel had her hair tied up in a bun, she looked stressed out. The first thing she did when she saw Reyna was offer her a cup of tea. Not to mention how she was merely surprised.

"Have you heard from Dakota and Gwen?"

Hazel frowned and shook her head. "Reyna ..." She said slowly as if she was afraid to hit a nerve. "They're dead."

But Reyna was no longer herself anymore, her heart thumping, she felt like it could fall out of her lungs. "They went to look after you, but they never came back. Rumors say they were attacked by monsters, and they didn't survive. But no one found their bodies again."

How?

Why?

Of all people, why them?

They died and she wasn't even there.
Percy and Annabeth got married but never got an invitation. "Why didn't anyone tell me this?"

"We thought you've already moved on, why else would you abandon us?" Hazel blinked sadly.

Her eyes darted to the left, and saw him. "I gotta go." She left abruptly and ran.

She opened the door to Nico's cabin.
And then she saw her, without another girl.  Who is she? She didn't know.  She didn't care. She didn't dare make a noise.

He hugged her like all his exhaustion have all been wiped away.
She watched in mild sadness and half gratification for her own bestfriend.
You deserve this Nico, you deserve everything that makes you happy.

Reyna was already out the door when Nico saw her. "Reyna."

"W-why?"

"You never came back."

Reyna woke up, panting, her heart throbbing. She stared back at her hands, then to the place where she could last recall. This was the place she made camp. She didn't know what time is it already but as the sun peered through her she was reminded that she was supposed to be asleep.

And that the train should be leaving any moment now. Crap. She slapped her forehead, packed her belongings and ran.

"I'm sorry, the train left an hour ago and as of now, nothing have returned yet."

"How would it take to go back?"

The woman in her thirties gave her a conciliatory frown.  "About two to three hours."

"I-I see ..."  She muttered downwardly.
"Thank you."

She couldn't help but wrap her arms around her due to the cold season. She wondered if this had anything to do with her nightmare last night -- Her chance to choose, but whenever she looked back she was reminded that she already made a choice and there's no turning back.

And she was exceedingly tired. Her vision started to blur, her feet unable to being her elsewhere. She faints, expecting her head to hit the ground with a thud. But instead, landed on something soft.

"I got you angel," Nico said, carrying her into his arms. "I got you."

Subconsciously, she smiled.
I'm home.