becoming ● reyna ramirez arellano

five: the wary

They made it on the boat okay, but Will would've almost preferred it if something went wrong. At least, if the monsters had gotten to them, they could make the 'mistake' of leaving Reyna behind.

    Will wasn't the type to get intimidated by rank, not like Jason was, even if he would never show it.  He thought of Reyna as a wild cat, a cheetah perhaps, eager on picking out the weakest prey – which, in the nicest way possible, was very obviously Will's best friend.

    They were currently sitting around the dining table, with everyone sitting in various positions except Jason and Reyna who were standing at the head, two untouched glasses of lemonade in front of them and grim looks on their faces.

    "I've devised a plan," Jason announced. "We've got to cover this many miles a day, travelling by sky. If we must stop, we can't spend any more than 2 hours there, or we'll never make it on time."

    "We don't know what will be in Rome," Reyna continued, as if Jason had never not been praetor. "But perhaps we can take turns teaching each other our skills. I'm skilled with a dagger-"

    "And I've got my gladius, of course." Jason puffed out his chest. "Did you know that in Rome, like Ancient Rome, they would actually use a gladius in a formation. So it was never meant to be used without a shield in the other hand. Now, I can teach you that or..." he drifted off, the interest in his eyes turning into a scowl. "Maia, wake up!"

    The blonde jerked up, causing Leo, who was drawing a mustache on Maia's face, to poke her in the eye with his pen. "Ow!" She clutched her face like that would help. Will winced in sympathy.

             "We're doomed,"  Jason muttered, sliding down on the wooden chair. "Absolutely fucked."

"Come on, Superman," Leo groaned. "No one cares. Gladius, spear, dagger. They're all pointy."

"He's got a point," Nico said solemnly. "You can kill someone with anything."

Leo made a face and scooted closer to Will.

Will never knew what to think of the son of Hades. He didn't feel sad, Nico was a stranger because he made himself one; rather, there was a curiosity that rumbled in his stomach whenever they met.

He was Will's age, so they couldn't be that different, even if they looked sort of like night and day. He was clearly muscular underneath the aviator jacket he constantly wore, but the emo-esque fashion made him look beanpole skinny. His black eyes were hollow, and terrifying if you caught them right, but like Will said, he wasn't the type to get intimidated.

"At least someone's paying attention," Jason announced. "Thank you, Will."

Will creased his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?"

He hated to burst his friend's bubble, but Leo was right. Jason's face fell. "E tu, Brute?"

A comfortable (in Will's opinion) quiet fell over the table. He watched the pictures of Camp Half-Blood drift across the wall, making him think of his mother back home in Texas, something he had in common with Leo.

Then he saw Reyna and Nico roll their eyes at each other, glancing at Maia in the process. Maybe unintentionally, maybe not. Either way, Will tensed.

"Shouldn't you be more worried about Annabeth?" Nico asked her bitterly. "Do you even care?"

The silence was no longer comfortable. Maia's mouth opened and closed like a fish as she tried to think of a response. Jason frowned; Leo winced. Reyna raised her eyebrows as if waiting for an answer.

    But Will wouldn't let her get one. "We're supposed to be working together," Will snapped. "And all you two have done is judge my friends for nothing!"

    "Will," Maia murmured quietly. "Leave it." But Maia wasn't one to back away from a challenge either, even if Nico looked less than apologetic. "If Nico and Reyna have a problem with me then I fail to see why they feel the need to drag everyone into it. I'm no candy-ass. I'm not going to run away crying."

Her voice rose shakily as she spoke, almost but not yet crossing the line to hysterical. Will knew that Maia hated it when people didn't like her. And as far as he could see, neither Reyna nor Nico had any reason to.

If Reyna looked surprised at Maia's tone, she didn't show it. Instead, there was almost something wolfish in her brown eyes. Her lip quirked up slightly.

"Anyway," Maia continued thinly, which was about as angry as she ever got. Though, the entire thing was less scary with the pen mustache. "I say we head for Rome, hope we don't run into any monsters on the way, and do our best to stay alive. How's that for a plan?"

Reyna sniffed. "Awful."

"Good enough for me," Leo shrugged, like the entire exchange hadn't happened. "I'll have Festus set course."

Maia and Jason had one of their silent staring contests before she spoke again. Will sometimes wondered if there was more going on between those two than met the eye, maybe Reyna was jealous. "Need a hand on deck?" She asked, and knowing her it was a genuine offer.

Will's was more like, please get me the hell out of here! "I'll come with," Will said hurriedly.

"Well, we should probably set up watch times," Nico suggested as the group rose. "I can take the night watch."

"You sure man? You barely look like you can stand up," Leo snarked. Okay, obviously not as cool-headed as Will thought.

"Cool it," Maia told him softly, poking his side. Then reminded, she licked her finger and scrubbed off the pen. "And sure. You and Reyna take night watch. Will and I can take the morning."

Will nodded. "We wake up early. Don't worry about it."

Reyna grimaced, like she knew she'd protested enough already but couldn't help it. "I wake up when the sun rises. Why put me on night watch?"

Jason, who'd mostly been groaning and muttering to himself from where he sat, eyes closed and prayer on his lips finally got fed up. "Maia doesn't like you," he said simply, actually working up the courage to tell Reyna she was being mean to her face. "She's just too nice to say it. Now, those three are going to go on deck. And we're all going to stop arguing." He nodded as if everything was solved. "Good talk."

"Gaea sucks on three?" Leo suggested. No one made any move to put their hands in. "Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Lady Hera, Will thought. If your plan was to bring us all together, could you make sure we don't kill each other before we even step off the ship?

Ahh Reyna honey, also I can never write Maia's slang with a straight face LOL.

Happy update on Percys bday! Hope you enjoyed! Drop any questions!

-M