Coming Back [A ReyNico FanFic]

Songs and Shadows

Reyna
Reyna had heard a lot weird music. But a song about a grandma putting on her armor? That pretty much deserved a whole category of weirdness.

Carved into the side of the hill were the amphitheater steps, facing a stone-lined fire pit. Both Greek and Roman campers (still smothered with desserts) filled the rows. Six Apollo kids, including Reyna's recruit Will Desjardins, were leading the songs. They were playing lyres, guitars and ukuleles, standing in front of the fire which changed color as the energy heightened.

They didn't have a sing-along back at Camp Jupiter, but the Romans joined in like they'd been doing it since forever. They were doing a demonstration with their cream-covered armor as the parts get mentioned in the song.

"Welcome to our new campers and our friends!" Chiron the centaur loomed over them as he toasted marshmallows in a spear. He had a pie wedge dangling on his beard, but he didn't seem to mind. "I hope you'd all have a happy stay."

"Oh yeah!" Megan yelled, jumping. An Hermes camper produced a mini-electric fan and made his chiton billow. "Hey! Don't play with my skirt!"

Several campers snickered. Even Reyna had to crack a smile.

She was sitting in the front, alone. Calypso and Leo, Annabeth and Percy, Jason and Piper, Frank and Hazel were all sitting in different places. The couples seemed to want to spend some alone time.

Reyna couldn't help feeling that certain melancholy again, seeing her friends. They looked so happy in love. She felt like she was missing on something.

The corny (but surprisingly fun) song about the grandma ended. Will Solace strummed his lyre and started to belt out a song that sounded suspiciously like a ballad, but Will Desjardins nudged him and played his ukulele. Soon, the two Wills were arguing.

"And that," Leo said, "Is what you'd call a battle of Wills. Get it?"

Will Solace stomped impatiently while Will Desjardins tried to reason with him, looking miffed.

The campers didn't seem to care. They just continued their own wackier version of the Grandma-Armor song, their out-of-tune voices breaking into the night. They all seemed pretty occupied, but not Reyna. She was looking at two figures in the distance shouldering each other off.

The first figure was a little shorter than the other, with some sort of a skirt fanning behind him as he struggled to hold his ground. She recognized it easily as Megan. Nobody else was wearing a Greek man-dress, so it was pretty much a giveaway. Even in the dark, Reyna could see that he kept on turning his head towards her. He seemed to be heading in her direction, but the other figure was fighting him off. She couldn't make out the features of the other guy, and she had no idea who he could be.

Oh well, it might be one of Megan's stunts to get noticed. The guy did a lot of those.

The battle of the two Wills seemed to have been settled. Solace (it's better to call them by their last names, so as to avoid repetition and migraine) was shooting Desjardins a nasty look, but Desjardins just played his ukulele, looking absolutely pleased to have won the argument.

"I'll hold the door, please come in and just sit here for a while
This is my way of telling you I need you in my life. . ."

Reyna didn't know the song, but she found it pretty catchy. She started swaying to it, but then, she heard the second line of the lyrics. She stopped swaying immediately.

Great. A love song. Nothing could emphasize being forever alone better than swaying to a good old love song all by yourself.

"It's so cold without your touch
I've been dreaming way too much. . ."