Really and Always- Heroes of Olympus Selection (AU)

We Realize That This Is Not a Great Opportunity, It's Sophisticated Prison.

Reyna POV:

I found Thalia sitting by the lake, with her knees pulled up to her chest. She seemed to be deep in thought, letting the wind sweep her bangs into her eyes. 

I thought it was pretty cool she had the guts to go against her father and cut her hair. I was taught to always obey rules, and was a pretty harsh stickler for them myself, but you really don't know how freeing some rebellion can be. 

"Hey," I said, "Wanna go spar with me? They have a pretty cool rink."

After a moment of thought Thalia responded. "Sure thing, are we doing hands or weapons?"

I grinned, leading her back to the castle. "How hard do you want me to go on you?"

Thalia smiled back, with a competitive glint in her eyes. 

We fought for hours, with spears, knives, our fists, and never got bored. Given, we were incredibly sweaty, but Thalia seemed impressed how well I was doing. Vice versa with me, too. 

It was exhilarating fighting with someone that could keep up. When I grew up in the Roman facility camp, I could train and fight for however long I wanted. It also helped my attain my rank at a much earlier age than normal. I was super close to being Praetor when I joined the Hunters. 

Speaking of which, in the Hunt, I learned a bunch of helpful skills. We tracked down fugitives, and caught them quickly. There really wasn't much time to fight for fun, usually the activities after each day were solo. We could talk, practice archery -solo-, sharpen knives, wash up, look intimidating (I was already good at that, but it was pretty easy to perfect the look in the Hunt), look at maps, climb trees (rarely, usually the younger girls did that), or just stare at the sky. So doing this with Thalia brought back a whole bunch of skills I thought I forgot. 

Some guys, like Chris, walked in on us, and immediately walked out. When that happened, both of us stopped and burst out laughing. It was hilarious to see guys that were surprised us girls could fight well. 

Annabeth and Piper came closer to dinner time, and Annabeth was busy teaching Piper how to fight with a knife christened Katropis. 

Annabeth entered, saw us, and said, "You know, us girls aren't supposed to be in here."

Thalia frowned, "Then where is the girl practise thing?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Apparently, it doesn't exist."

It was my turn to frown. "Then why are you in here, in similar fighting gear, talking to us about this?"

"It doesn't matter. I like the rules, but some really should be burned and stomped on and left in the dust to be trodden on by donkeys and wolves."

We stared at her. 

Annabeth spoke slowly. "You guys can keep practising. I, for one, will not tattle because the rule should, in short, go to the wolves. Done?"

Piper shrugged. "You really shouldn't play with us, Annabeth."

The girl apologized, but smiled. 

We all practised together, after Annabeth caught Piper up to the basics. 

At dinner, neither Selena nor Beckendorf showed up. Neither did Thalia, but that was because she left as soon as Luke showed up. She took a pot of cubed chicken in sauce with her. That girl can eat more than a horse, and somehow be really skinny. 

Castor was incredibly sad, for no known reason, and Pollux seemed to be whispering things of comfort or solutions to him. 

Percy and Annabeth sat next to each other, and spent most of the time trying to win at thumb wars.