There's no love without pain // Jeyna

15. How Does She Do It?

5 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Jason's POV

Jason felt like he'd been slapped. He knew that what she was saying was true but hearing it straight from her, and like that, made it a million times worse. He really didn't know why he thought he deserved her. Of course he didn't, everyone must have figured that out by now.

As he comforted her, he tried to apologize but he knew she wasn't listening. He knew that this was her breaking point, this was the moment that she finally let everything go after keeping it in for so long. She had held it in for too long, Jason wasn't sure how she managed to, without breaking down once in a while. Jason knew that interrupting her would be rude or, at least, not the right thing to do at that moment. She needed to let everything go and then she would feel better. She would be okay and that was all Jason needed.

She cried for a long time and, even after she stopped, she stayed in his arms until the skyline was tinged a deep red and the sun was about to set. Jason was aware that there wasn't much time till evening muster and that Frank would be back from. . . wherever he went, soon. He carefully cupped his hand around her face and said, in a timid and quiet voice, "Rey?"

The change was immediate. Her head snapped up to meet his. Jason wasn't sure what to do when she suddenly pushed him away, her eyes still red and puffy, and sat as far away from him as possible.

"Go away, Jason." She said in a firm tone, quite different from the way it had been before. Though, Jason noticed that her eyes were still shut tight.

"Reyna, I'm... I'm sorry." He began in a desperate, pleading voice. "I didn't mean to-"

His words were cut short as she stood up, her face showing no emotions, whatsoever. "Out", said Reyna as she grabbed him by the forearm, pushed him out and shut the door in his face.

Reyna's POV

Reyna sunk down to the floor and placed her hands on her forehead. She had quite a headache after crying so much or maybe it was from the realization that she had let Jason, of all people, hold her and, that too, for much longer than strictly necessary.

She was quite aware that it was Jason holding her, after she had stopped sobbing. But she didn't push him away, instead she stayed in his arms because. . . she didn't want to admit it, even in her head, but it was because she still loved him.

Even after all this time (A/N : ALWAYS), she couldn't push down those feelings, no matter how hard she tried.

She hadn't been sitting there for very long when she heard a knock on the door. She was immediately on her guard but then she heard the voice.

"Reyna?"

It was Frank. She heaved a sigh of relief, rebuilt her shields automatically and opened the door.

Frank's POV

Frank was glad when Jason came. It gave him an excuse to finally go hang out with Hazel. He loved spending time with Hazel and, in case you're wondering, he had a great day. He barely had any time to spare for Hazel after the war because of his duties as preator. It was a hard job even for two people, he wondered how Reyna handled it on her own for a whole eight months.

Now, as Reyna opened the door, Frank noticed that her eyes were quite red. It seemed as though she'd been crying but he wasn't going to ask. Even if he was one of the seven, could turn into dragons and elephants and was a fellow preator, he was still quite afraid of Reyna.

Before he could say anything, horns blew in the distance, indicating that it was time for the legionnaires to gather for evening muster.

Frank and Reyna walked outside and stood before the gathered people. He still found the sight quite intimidating, even though he'd been Preator for months, now. He didn't usually do the speaking and if he did he was sure he would mess up the one thing he thought he was okay at : talking.

"Romans, as you all know, our Greek brothers and sisters have joined us here today. They shall be staying the week and returning to Long Island after Christmas. But their arrival shall not interfere with our usual plans. We will be holding war games tomorrow evening after muster. We are giving our guests the chance to participate alongside their assigned cohorts. That is, if they want to." Said Reyna. Her last statement seemed to be unintentionally directed at Percy.

"You think we'd back down from a challenge, Reyna?" Called Percy, from where he was standing in line with the rest of the fifth cohort. "And what about you? Too chicken to play against us or...?"

He must have said in a surge of recklessness because the smirk playing at his lips fell, as soon as he saw the look Reyna gave him. It was enough to make Frank's knees tremble. But what she said next, after a moment's silence, most definitely frightened him more,

"Fine." She directed towards Percy and then she announced to the rest of the camp, "In tomorrow's war games I shall be participating along with my former cohort, the second. The first and second cohorts will be attacking and the third, fourth and fifth shall be defending. You are dispersed for muster."

And a deafening cry of 'Senatus Populusque Romanus' echoed through the hills as Percy stood with his eyes wide and mouth agape, cursing himself and his big mouth.

A/N : Did I just die of laughter? Yes I did. I love Reyna being all badass and Percy along with everyone else being honestly just scared of her. Also I've realised that I made a mistake. I used to say Via Principalis, but it's actually Via Pretoria. I used to say Preatoria but it's actually Principia. Please ignore that and I probably won't make that mistake again. I just want everybody to get their facts straight. I would hate to mess up your facts completely

Yours truly 

ReynaLovegood2 :)