There's no love without pain // Jeyna

21. The End -Part II

CHRISTMAS

Reyna's POV

Reyna collapsed on the ground beside Jason. She didn't hit her head too hard but she had to focus so as to not black out. Blood was leaking from the wound in her back and she felt herself losing consciousness. She looked into Jason's sky blue eyes, the light from which seemed to be ebbing away. But when he caught her gaze, it seemed to keep them both grounded.

Their breaths were shallow, they only had a little time left. He needed to know the truth before they could move on.

She stretched a trembling hand and caught hold of his. His brows were furrowed as he looked at her with confusion written on in his face.

With a start, she felt the ground dissappear from beneath her. She held on to Jason's hand tightly, since there wasn't much else she could do.

***

They landed in the Principia.

But they weren't really there. There was another her, and Jason, sitting in the Preator's chairs. The young Reyna was staring into the young Jason's eyes, still not willing to lose the silly, terrible game that led to their current predicament.

The memory caused her too much pain. She had thought, at the time, that she wouldn't have to suffer at all after that but, little did she know, the real suffering was yet come.

He couldn't have known about this memory, she decided. If he had, then he wouldn't have been half as okay as he was. He would've been broken on the inside, just like she had been during those dreaded 8 months.

They watched as their younger selves continued to be unaware of the increasingly painful events awaiting them in the future.

And then she saw 'the slip'.

Jason's POV

Jason wasn't sure, at first, about what was going on. Then he felt the familiar sensation of his heart clenching with regret and guilt.

In the memory (which for some reason he didn't remember), he watched the younger him and Reyna staring into each others eyes. He could basically hear his old thoughts in his head as he saw Reyna make the grave mistake of letting it slip,

Hold on a second! Did she just glance at my lips? Gods of Olympus, she did. Look at that, she's blushing!

If it had been a normal game that they were playing, you could probably find some way to gain the upper hand again. But it wasn't like a normal game and, in this game, a slip like that would definitely cost you victory.

Reyna, still blushing, got up from her seat and tried to leave the room as fast as possible. Jason also rose from his seat and caught hold of her wrist.

She slowly turned to look at him. "What?" She asked timidly.

Jason didn't say a word. Instead, he leaned closer to her. He was looming over her and she seemed frightened, though of what, he still didn't understand.

His face was mere inches away from hers. She didn't pull back and he took that as her assent. He pressed his lips against hers and her eyes widened before fluttering shut. After a moment of hesitance and getting used to the feel of each other's lips, Reyna's hands entangled themselves in Jason's cropped blonde hair. He pushed her back against the nearest wall and closed the little gap between them. His hands came to rest on her waist and hers around his neck as he moved his lips against hers. She was responding just as feverishly as he was. A few seconds later, she came to her senses.

She pulled away, her cheeks flushed and lips swollen. 

"Jason. . . What are we- why are you doing this?" Asked Reyna in a pained voice, breathing heavily and avoiding his eyes. She tried to move away from him but he wouldn't let her. He grabbed her chin and made her look into his eyes. She tried to avert her gaze but it proved impossible.

"What do you mean, Rey?" Said Jason, his voice constricted with overwhelming emotion.

Reyna's POV

For the first time ever, his sky blue eyes had unnerved her.

His deep voice was trembling with emotion, much like her body was in his arms. She had always wanted exactly what was happening right then. But she had a terrible feeling that if they got together, something bad would happen, something that would break, not him, but her. 

"I. . . We shouldn't do this" She said faintly.

"But why? We've both been wanting this since forever!" He said, exasperated, still not moving from their intimate position. "Reyna, you don't have to be scared. We have each other, right?"

Reyna could have sworn she heard her younger self's heart beating in her ears. She had wanted believe him so bad.

"I love you, Reyna." He whispered and she could hear the sincerity in his voice.

There was a moment of silence.

"I love you too." She said in a quieter voice, if that was even possible. She believed him with her whole heart because he was telling the truth. 

Reyna wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he placed his on her back. She stayed in his arms wishing that nothing would ever change that peaceful moment.

And she knew, even later, that he hadn't wanted to leave. But the immemse pain he had caused her the morning after this incident was what led to her not wanting him back.

The next morning found her heart broken, not knowing what to do. Her facade didn't crumble during the day by some miracle but she secretly wept at night when she was away from everyone else.

They just weren't right for each other, that was why the Gods kept taking him away right after they made some sort of progress...

***

They came back to their own bodies in the Underworld. There was still some fighting going on around them but she drowned the noises out, it wasn't too hard because of the immense pain coming from the lower part of her back.

A few tears slipped from Jason's eyes. "Don't exert yourself too much." She said, her voice croaky.

"It's fine. We don't have much time, anyways." His voice similar to hers.

"Don't talk like that."

"It's true, Rey. There's no denying it. . . I never wanted to leave you. I wouldn't have gone out with Piper if I'd known about us."

"It's okay, Jason, I know."

"I wish we didn't have to go through all this pain to realize that we love each other."

"There's no love without pain." She stated simply. The world started spinning around her and her vision started to black out. She felt Jason squeeze her hand and it pulled her back to life.

"You're not leaving me that easily." Said Jason, the light in his own eyes fading. She squeezed his hand as well, and said, "Neither are you."

They shared a small yet genuine smile and said at the same time,

"I love you" The whisper carried across the now empty room.

They didn't get to watch as Nico and Piper fell on their knees beside them. Yet, the latter could do nothing but watch as the light in their eyes were lost once and for all.

Nico's POV

Tears were falling from his eyes before he could stop them. One by one, they dripped off his nose in a continuous stream that wouldn't seem to stop. His face was bent downward in shame and contorted with anger at himself. It was all his fault that they were. . . he wouldn't say it. He knew it but maybe all his senses, that had never lied before, were betraying him now. Maybe they were still breathing.

"Nico. . ." Piper seemed to be on the verge of tears. Nico couldn't look her in the eye.

"I'll shadow travel us out of here." He said quickly.

Immediately, he took Reyna's limp hand into his and Piper took Jason's. The whole place was just a shadow of the mortal world above so Nico just had concentrate.

He thought about the pale, lifeless forms of his friends right beside him. He channeled all of his anger towards his father and the wretched goddess of love and, before he knew it, they were at Camp Jupiter.

If they hadn't been sitting, Nico probably would have fallen. But it settled at the familiar tug of gut and a momentary black out.

They were in front of the Via Preatoria.

Nico looked at his friends once more. He shut his eyes tight as more tears spilled from the corners. Piper was more in her senses. Maybe she still had hope that they were alive, unfortunately, he knew better (- or worse, in this case).

She started screaming and shouting for help. Her voice was desperate and pleading. 

Nico wished that no one would come. Nobody else needed to know the horrible truth.

But they came and it all became so much worse. Frank was the first one to come out. He ran towards them, his eyes alight with hope. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the two lying on the ground, not moving a muscle. He shook his head slowly, maybe he didn't comprehend what was going on. His mouth was trying to form words but none came out.

By that time, everyone else had also taken notice of Piper's plea for help and rushed outside. All the campers stared with wide eyes at their two former Preators. Hazel, Piper, Percy and Annabeth pushed their way to the front.

Piper hugged Annabeth, sobbing into her shoulder speaking words that couldn't be made out. Annabeth was looking at the scene, analysing it. Her eyes slowly turned red and she clung on to Piper. 

Hazel fell on her knees beside Nico, silent tears falling from her eyes as she gripped Nico's arm trying to take a steady breath.

Percy was merely standing there with his brows furrowed. "What's going on here?

"This is just some kind of elaborate joke, right?" His voice started to break. "You- you think I'll fall for your stupid tricks? Well, guess what, I won't. This... this isn't-" 

Frank put a hand on his shoulder. That was enough to break him. Tears started falling from his eyes as he started sobbing into his hands and Nico didn't remember anything else.

 The last thing he knew was that Jason and Reyna were dead, everyone was in tears and the gods had won.

Again.