Not Your Choice

chapter twelve

Jason swung at the practicing dummy. Yesterday had been a hard day. He was mad at Annabeth for insisting that the three of them could handle all of the people that day. He could tell that she was prideful, but he would never say anything about it to her. That woman was scary. He was also greatfull, seeing as they now had a few weeks off.

He whipped sweat off his brow. He put his hands in his knees. His breath was heavy, and he needed water. Reyna noticed his struggle and ran over and gave him a cup.

He nodded his head and thanks. Before Reyna could walk away, he yelled for her to stop.

"Yes, Your Highness?" The boredom was clear in her speech. Jason could be help but admire Reyna. She was always composed, and when he saw her talk with other slaves, she always knew how to stop the feuds and had an aroma of leadership. Zeus told him that she used to be a respected soldiers daughter before her home was overtaken by Greece. She was the few that made it out alive.

"You want to duel?" He asked nervously. Annabeth wasn't the only woman that scared him. Even though he technically was a higher rank than Reyna, he had no doubt in his mind that she would hurt him if he wronged her.

A smirk was evident on her face. She nodded and grabbed the nearest golden sword. Jason was sure he could beat her easily, seeing as she supposedly had no known experience. But he had to admit he was unnerved by her smile and the way she held her sword.

He maneuvered his sword into making circles in his grasp. He wanted to make Reyna nervous, make her let her guard down. She didn't seem amused. She just frowned and did the same maneuver as him.

That caught his off guard, so he wasn't prepared for when she charged. He got his sword in between his head and her blade just in time.

He pushed her away, giving her a small gash on her cheek. She either didn't notice or decided not to acknowledge it. He took a swipe at her legs, and she barely had enough time to jump. He noticed that due to her long toga, she was unable to jump as quickly. Her face scrubbed up in distaste, so she ripped the fabric off to her knees.

He was once again foolish for letting this surprise him. She took this as an advantage, and knocked his sword out of his hand.

Before he could run and her it, Reyna kicked him in the groin, causing him to groan in pain. She rolled over to fetch the sword, and kicked him in the chest, making him fall hard to the ground.

Her sword was at his neck. His sword was in her hands was hovering above his stomach.

"Yield?" Reyna asked emotionless.

Jason racked his brain for a solution. If he kicked her, both swords would most likely lodge him in his stomach and neck when she fell. They was no way he could distract Reyna.

"Yield," He said, defeated.

A loud whistle could be heard in the distance. Reyna and Jason looked over in the direction of the whistler. There, Percy Jackson stood, clapping with a big smile on his face. The rest of the royals and slaves were also there.

Reyna removed the swords from where they were pointing and tossed Jason back his. He almost dropped it, much to his embarrassment. 

Reyna looked his dead in the eye. "I wouldn't recommend for you to doubt a woman ever again, Your Highness. I can do so much worse."

She have a low curtsy, put up her swords and walked over to Thalia. Thalia and Reyna seemed to be an unlikely friendship, in Jason's opinion. But he barely knew anything about Thalia, so he decided not to question it. Jason could've swore that he saw Annabeth wink at her.

Percy looked like he was barley containing his laughter. Jason have him a look, and Percy burst out in laughter.

"Dude!" Percy gasped. "You got burned by her!"

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth scolded. Although she had a wisp of a smile, too.

Clarisse was laughing just as much as Percy. "Seaweed Brain?" She elbowed Percy in the ribs, causing his to gasp more. Seeing Percy's struggle to breathe, Annabeth gave in and laughed.

Jason didn't know Piper was behind Annabeth until she put her hands on her knees from laughing too hard. That caused his face to go redder, he didn't want Piper to see his fail.

Eventually, everyone else was laughing. They laughed even harder when Percy tripped and feel on his butt. That caused Jason to walk over and laugh with them. Even Nico was laughing while not-so-secretly holding Will's hand. He wasn't going to question that. They were cute together. 

Nobody even knew why they were laughing after that. Jason felt so at home right here, he felt as if he had a family. It made Jason even happier to know that all of the slaves were there, too. Everyone was equal here. He, like Percy, fell on his butt when he saw Reyna laughing too.

Would his embarrassment ever cease? In all honesty, he didn't care that Reyna beat him. He was glad she was finally opening up to him in a way.

"Nice job, little brother." Thalia said.

Jason froze. "Brother?" He gasped. "I'm an only child."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "That's what you were told. I'm a bastard daughter of Zeus. When you were two, Hera found out my mom wasn't her so she sent me to Sparta. She was probably ticked when she found out I was the assistant military commander."

Jason was in shock. He looked at Clarisse and Frank in question, and they both shook their heads.

He looked into her eyes to see if she was lying. The flash of blue Thalia has resembled Jason's. Jason has his father's eyes. Thalia has his father's eyes. Their father's eyes.

Jason got up quicker than he thought he ever could. He crashed into his sister, and they hugged each other so tight that he was sure they both broke some bones along the way.

He had a family now. And he also had a family member by blood.

~~~

Look at me! Posting a whole day early! Aren't you proud? I love the found family trope, so this chapter was so much fun to write!

Who's POV should I do next? I don't know who I want to do.

Don't forget to vote, comment, and share!

Also, 300 hundred reads??? I don't deserve this, y'all xD