New one-shot! :D I feel amazing!

I wrote this about an hour ago cuz I was bored. I just came back from a school trip today. ;) It was amazing. I'll tell you guys what happened if you want to know.

Anyway, this is in Reyna's POV. I absolutely adore Reyna. Everyone assumed she was a bitch after TLH came out, but I love her. Her tough attitude is awesome. :)

Of course, I like Piper too. I just think that Reyna is more...independent. Of course, that's only me. If any of you disagree and think that this is offensive, PM me and I'll remove it right away.

Enjoy, my lovely lovely readers!

Nuts

She's grown up hating his name.

"One day," Hylla says with relish, slamming her sword into the burning coals, "I will find Percy Jackson and kill him."

"Kill him," Reyna echoes enthusiastically.

Hylla's eyes soften. "Well," she says, relenting, "maybe not kill him. But we'll definitely wound him. We'll make sure he lives in fear of us for the rest of his life."

"Fear of us," Reyna agrees. "For the rest of his life."

Hylla laughs, swinging her dirty, yet beautiful dark hair over her shoulder. She holds Reyna close. "You're a good little kid. Do you even remember that day?"

"Of course I do!" Reyna says. And she does.

Reyna's in the library, reading up on the latest book on weapons.

Hylla approaches with a blonde girl behind her. "Reyna!"

Reyna turns, smiles at her sister and the girl, who looks about a year older than she is. "Hello!" she says. "Welcome to C.C's Resort and Spa."

The girl smiles. "Hi. I'm Annabeth."

Reyna studies her. She is well-built, not to mention pretty, and has wise grey eyes. She's gazing at the books with a sort of hunger Reyna has never seen before. She's surprised. After all, she's only here to try and figure out who her godly parent is.

Hylla smiles at her. "Well," she says, "I'll leave you here to get acquainted while I set up the room for your makeover."

Annabeth looks nauseous at the very thought, but she shoots Hylla a fake smile as she walks away.

Reyna giggles, twirling a strand of her curled dark hair. "Something tells me you hate makeovers."

Annabeth groans and pulls down her orange T-shirt. "I loathe them," she says. "Back in camp, the Aphrodite kids would try to give me one..."

Reyna stops turning the pages up at her book. Camp?

"...but I would never let them. See, being a daughter of Athena, we don't care much about our looks."

Reyna simply stares at her.

"What?" Annabeth asks, and Reyna realises that her hand is pointing at Annabeth's shirt, with its strange symbols that, frankly, look Greek to Reyna.

"Oh, nothing," she says, willing her hand back to her side. "Just, that's really cool."

Annabeth frowns at her. She traces her finger along a huge book on architecture. "So, what's it like, working here?"

Reyna takes a deep breath. She's rehearsed these lines ever since her arrival. "It's amazing here. So many things to do. And C.C believes that a woman is as great as a man. She teaches us magic, literature, art...whatever you want. And, of course, we tend to customers."

Annabeth glances at her. "That's...impressive. I actually wouldn't mind staying here...what with this library...but then Percy would have to-"

Reyna holds up her hands. "Whoa, wait," she grins. "Rewind. Who's Percy?"

Annabeth blushes. "Are you implying that...no! No way! Me and Percy...no. Just, no. No. No, no."

"That's the seventh time you've said no," Reyna giggles.

"No it wasn't!"

"Eighth."

They both laugh in sync, and Reyna decides that Annabeth'll be a good friend if she decides to stay.

She doesn't.

Instead, she and that boy – Percy Jackson – let Blackbeard and his not-so-little minions loose. They-

"Reyna? Reyna, are you okay?"

Reyna blinks. "Yeah."

Hylla sighs in relief. "Whew. Nothing, sis. You just zoned out for, like, five minutes. You looked possessed or something."

Reyna snorts. Her eyes are already closing.

And then she's asleep.

Hylla's packing when her eyes open again. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead."

Reyna looks upwards at the sun filtering in through the leaves. The coals are still smoking from last night's fire.

She feels oddly disturbed as she gazes at her sister's retreating back. She's heading to Seattle, where she says they can find help, food, and maybe some shelter.

Hylla doesn't come back.

Reyna knows it's time to trust her instincts and Lupa finds her almost immediately. She makes her way to Camp Jupiter, and she finally knows she's home.

Her mother is revealed: Bellona, Goddess of War. She's proud knowing she's right up there with the children of Mars.

Lying on her bunk in the Second Cohort, she remembers. Camp.

Didn't Annabeth say something about a camp?

For the next few days, she becomes accustomed to life at camp. She doesn't find a trace of Annabeth, however, which is unsurprising. For one thing, Annabeth had been wearing an orange shirt, whereas the kids here wear purple ones.

She sighs, smiling briefly at her centurion as she makes her way to the barracks to defend their banner and honour.

The Fifth Cohort are surpassing all expectations.

They've entered the halls, and if it wasn't for Reyna, they'd have gotten the banners already.

Air currents and sudden gusts of wind are threatening to blow her away, but Reyna stands firm and slashes madly at what appears to be the source of the winds.

He has blonde hair and a pair of gorgeous blue eyes.

He seems angry that Reyna's winning and the fact that she calls him 'Pretty boy' doesn't improve his temper one bit.

It's an even match, and in the end, both are struggling to stand as two giant eagles soar down and carry them off into the night.

Reyna's so exhausted she can't even glare at the guy.

"Wh-what's your name?" he asks her, panting. Reyna notices his nose is bleeding.

"Reyna," she says, feeling dizzy. "And you are-?"

"Jason," the guys says. "Jason Grace."

Reyna musters up all her energy and manages to grin at him before she passes out cold.

Knock. Knock.

Reyna opens the door.

"Hey," Jason says, stepping inside her new praetor's room without permission. "Congrats."

Reyna smiles at him. "Thanks."

Jason looks around, eyes passing over her new toga and purple cape.

He looks disturbed, but their eyes meet and he smiles. "I'm glad you won the election. For a weird second there, I thought Octavian might win."

"Me too," Reyna agrees. "But I hope I manage with my partner."

"You will."

"You never know," Reyna says. "I may not get along with him at all. It'd be better to work with a friend. Like you."

Jason laughs, blue eyes crinkling. Reyna finds herself smiling too.

"I'd be a terrible praetor," he says. "There's no way the Romans will elect me."

"Praetor! Praetor! Praetor!"

She watches as her comrades lift a bemused Jason on a gold shield.

"Praetor! Praetor! Praetor!" they scream as, right before their eyes, Mount Othrys crumbles to dust.

Reyna lands Scipio. Her hounds Aurum and Argentum circle her feet.

She approaches the throng, smiling fondly as she watches Jason scratch his head, looking around in confusion.

He looks straight at her. He tilts his head a little to the right, as if asking her permission to celebrate.

Reyna nods. She reaches up and shakes his hand. Jason grins.

She can't help but join in the screams of joy of the Romans. She smiles; nothing can go wrong now.

"Jason," Reyna giggles. "Jason."

She knocks on his room door, right next to hers. "Jason."

No answer.

"Someone's a heavy sleeper," Reyna smirks as she pushes the door open.

The first thing she notices is that the bed is made, which immediately puts her on her guard. Jason never makes his bed.

Never.

She looks around cautiously: once in a while swinging her dagger. She looks everywhere, even the bathroom. He's not there.

She checks the baths. The principia. The mess hall. All the temples: even Neptune's.

He's not there.

She calls an emergency meeting with the senate. "Jason is missing," she says. "He is nowhere to be found."

The senate murmurs. Reyna catches a glimpse of Octavian grinning evilly.

Never before has she been so scared of him.

"But," he says, "If our dear, dear praetor is gone, what will we do? I have seen the omens!" He swings a teddy bear around like a lasso. "We must elect another praetor before it is too late!"

Reyna's voice is failing her. "No. Not yet. It is possible that...that Lupa has sent Jason on a mission of some sort. We shall wait."

And wait she does.

She's still waiting when Hazel, daughter of Pluto, joins the legion.

She's still waiting when Frank Zhang approaches her and tells her that his ancestor had once destroyed the camp.

She's still waiting when gorgons enter the camp, chasing a boy carrying a hippie.

He has black hair and a pair of gorgeous green eyes.

The hippie reveals herself to be Juno – Juno Moneta herself – and introduces the guy to be Percy.

Percy Jackson, son of Neptune.

Reyna can't help but start in surprise when she learns his name. She knows her duty; she knows what Hylla would want her to do.

But she can't help wondering whether the boy has really done her a favour. She wouldn't have reached Camp Jupiter if it wasn't for him.

So she lies, says that she doesn't know him. She orders him to be brought for questioning and tries to keep the hope out of her voice when she ponders about killing him.

She watches incredulously as he storms into the field and whacks away at nothing, or rather, everything in sight.

She has to smile when she hears Octavian's shrill scream, and she actually laughs when Percy whacks him on the head with his bronze sword.

Maybe he's not so bad after all.

She bristles when she sees him sitting in his chair – Jason's chair – but she as to admit it suits him. What with his good looks and that air of power about him, he looks built for that position.

They talk about the upcoming quest, and for a minute, just a mere moment, it's like she's talking to Jason again.

She gives him her ring, tells him to go find her sister.

Percy looks nervous, but his eyes tell her a story of another quest. She nows that quests are not at all new to him.

She makes up her mind: she needs a partner. She can't survive alone. And Percy is perfect for the job. Her heart still aches for Jason, but Percy could patch up her wounds.

In time.

She offers him the job, saying that she could be a good 'friend', like what she and Jason could've been, but Percy immediately declines.

It surprises Reyna no end, and, when he apologises for burning down her previous home – her previous life – she smiles softly before turning to him.

"An apology?" she says. "Not very Roman at all, Percy Jackson. You'd make an interesting praetor."

She hesitates.

"I hope you'll think about my offer."

While Percy's gone, Reyna tries to increase their defences. The attack and the army are coming, and, according to Hazel, it's huge.

One night, she wanders into the goddess Bellona's temple.

"Mom," she says, "are you listening?"

She continues anyway.

"Look, I don't really know what's going on here, but I'm pretty sure you do. It's tough here. I'm not sure we're all going to make it. Just...make sure Hylla's okay, and Jason, and Hazel and Frank, and..."

A single tear drops from her eyes as she clasps her hands in prayer.

"and Percy."

She rides Scipio towards the giant.

"Hello, little girl!" he booms. He's hideous. "Ready to die?"

"Not yet." Reyna thrusts her javelin just as the giant yells to his troops, "Attack!"

Reyna repeats the order and the battle begins.

Before long, they're losing.

Reyna is thankful for Scipio's speed and she slashes with her weapon whenever she can. Her heart is steadily sinking. They need help. And fast.

She hears renewed shouts and a gleam of gold from the ground, and she looks over out of sheers curiosity.

Percy.

The entire Fifth Cohort marches down, Percy, Frank and Hazel leading the way.

How did outcasts become leaders?

Scipio dodges the giant's next strike and Reyna comes to her senses.

She looks into Percy's green eyes, so full of confidence, and yells, "Romans! Rally to the eagle!"

She watches with pride as Percy activates the power of the eagle and defeats the giant. She wants to hug him for bringing her sister back to her, but everyone is in awe of him at the moment, as they watch the giant, Polybotes, disappear into the ground and listen to Terminus yell in triumph.

A moment of silence. She smiles. She knows what's coming next.

"Percy! Percy! Percy! Percy!"

Reyna bites her tongue and holds on to Scipio's mane.

"Praetor! Praetor! Praetor!"

She watches in elation as her comrades lift Percy up on a golden shield. He looks surprised and confused, and he scratches his head the same way Jason once did.

She can't help herself, and rushes forward to congratulate him.

For the first time since Jason's disappearance, she's happy, truly happy.

She almost regrets Percy being praetor when he says that he's a Greek. A dirty, slimy, sneaky graecus.

Sure, she knew it all along, but having him say it out loud is a different matter. She smiles at her sister in the crowd, and then looks at Percy out of the corner of her eye.

He looks uncomfortable in his toga, but he looks steadily at Octavian as he rants on and on about plots and traps and other things.

Percy jumps in, and Reyna's thankful. She's not much of a speaker, and Octavian sometimes worries her.

Reyna almost chokes when Percy tells her of the Titan War, and how he fought Kronos. She scarcely believes it, but, looking into Percy's eyes, she knows he's telling the truth.

He tells her about how Jason is coming back on a Greek ship to sail to Rome, and Reyna wants to laugh. She wants to believe it, she really does. But she knows Jason's gone. Long gone.

But Percy swears on his life, no doubt pleasing Octavian, just as a huge ship comes into view, just as Percy had said.

She can't help it. She runs towards it.

Reyna and Percy stand side by side as the ship lands with a loud THUMP.

A door opens, and a blonde girl stumbles out, looking here and there frantically. She has wise grey eyes and a healthy tan.

Annabeth.

She lets out a shriek of joy as she spots Percy and he wastes no time in running forward and allowing her to throw herself into his arms.

Reyna smiles and crosses her arms in a mixture of amusement and exasperation as the happy couple laugh and cry at the same time, not letting go of each other.

She watches him thoughtfully. The very soul who had once destroyed her home and threatened her life. But she has to admit that Percy Jackson has exceeded all expectations. He's loyal, brave, skilful, powerful, friendly, good-looking (not that she's going to tell him), smart, humorous, comforting, and he's...

Nuts, she decides.

Absolutely nuts.

Yes, yes, Percy IS nuts. But that's why we all love him, right? ;)And, as I said before, this was written less than an hour ago. So it's probably got tons and tons of mistakes that I'm too lazy to spot. Tell me all my errors and how I can improve. Give me constructive criticism. Those who do get hugs and virtual cookies!uys

Thank you guys for all the reviews on all my other stories. Sword Practice is sitting on 61, and I'm ecstatic. Thank you soooo much! :D :D :D :D

I'll really try to write another one-shot (Sneak peek: It's called For You And Me) before my exams start on January 6. Wish me luck, guys!

Hope you liked reading this. If you did, leave me a review. I'll give you a...another hug! :D

Thanks so much for reading!

meeeethegr8