becoming ● reyna ramirez arellano

nine: the suspicious

tw: mention of abuse

The worst part had to be the fact that it was some stupid mortal disease.

As far as she knew, there was no name for it, no cure. Her body would slowly wither away until she was too weak to move or too damaged. It made her head ache, made her hands shake, and made her bones feel like they were crumbling inside of her, and no one knew she had it.

For years, she scoured books and magazines, thinking maybe it was Lyme disease in 1986, or fibromyalgia in 1987, or hell, maybe she was just prone to hurting all the time because she'd been emotionally abused by an alcoholic for the better part of 13 years.

It wasn't that though; she couldn't put the blame anywhere, on anyone, even though for so many years she'd tried. So she resolved to be kinder, a better person, and she liked to think it was working. But sometimes, she wasn't so sure. After all, she had to have done something to deserve this.

Though, nothing could be as pitiful as the expression Jason Grace was wearing as he slumped over on deck, a baseball sized knot on his forehead.

"What happened?" Reyna demanded, differently than she had of Maia only moments earlier. "What hit him?"

Will arrived on deck with his Med Bag. Leo stood at the helm, preparing them for takeoff, and Nico stood looming over them all, frown on his face. "Mrs. O'Leary," the son of Hades answered.

"Mrs. O'Leary?" Will echoed in disbelief. "Wha-Mrs. O'Leary wouldn't do that."

"Brace yourselves," Leo warned them, giving them absolutely no time to brace themselves before he pulled the steering thing. Maia didn't really know the specifics of technology. She grabbed the nearest steady thing as the ship lurched upwards, which turned out to be Reyna's hand.

She gave Maia a curious glance, but didn't let go. Of course she didn't, because this wasn't weird right? Just two...questmates holding hands, for stability, and stuff. Maia let go as soon as the ship settled. She didn't look to see Reyna's reaction.

Instead, she crouched down next to Jason as Will tended to him. The blond groaned and swatted at the medic, so at least he didn't have brain damage – or if he did, he was just as grouchy as always. "The question still stands," Maia said softly. "What happened?"

Leo walked over to them so that the six of them made a circle near the wall of the deck. "Piper was there," he explained. "Well, after Bacchus, who's even more insane than I am, by the way. Anyway, she did some charmspeaking, tried to get Jason to kill us, good 'ol time, ain't that right, Neeks?"

Nico's voice was dry. "I will kill you where you stand."

"Exactly what happened!" Leo said, snapping his fingers. "Nice Jason impression, dude."

Nico glowered.

"Can everyone just," Jason waved his hand, looking miserable. "Just stop yelling?" He paused. "Please."

The color was slowly coming back to his face with every bite of ambrosia he ate, but the purse of his lips told Maia (and probably everyone else) everything she needed to know.

"Sorry." Reyna muttered, even though she hadn't done anything. Old habits died hard, it seemed. Maia wondered if either of them were ever going to tell the rest of them the nature of their relationship. Something acidic coiled in her stomach. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jason snapped, in a way that made Maia think he was anything but. "I let her get into my head. It's my fault, okay? Is that what you want to hear, Reyna?"

Maia, Will, and Leo all looked at each other, wide-eyed. She honestly thought Nico would've joined in on it too if he wasn't mad at her.

And apparently, it was all too familiar to Reyna. "You're awful," she said in the same tone, marching off below deck, tension flowing through the air.