Jeyna: We Could've Had It All // ADVANCEMENT

v.

It was another blissfully awakening for Reyna (fully unaware of any antics going on back in the real CJ and CHB) as she opened her eyes to the morning, she felt fully enlightened to the world as she lay in Jason's arms. She felt that her uneasy feeling had evaporated – she felt that she could never feel unhappy again, if she could stay in Jason's arms, in Jason's bed. She closed her eyes again, smiling to herself when her bed buddy stirred, his musky scent filling her nose and husky voice filling her ears as he breathed, "Good morning, beautiful," She rolled over to face him, returning his goofy smile and they gazed at each other for a few minutes before Reyna forced herself to remember her duties to her Camp. "We should probably get up and get ready for breakfast. People will talk if we're not there," Jason's face took on a coy demeanor and he slipped an arm under Reyna and pulled her closer, "But I don't want to move, just lie here and bask in your beauty," His tone was mocking, but his eyes were serious; Reyna felt a blush rise. "I do, too but it's not-" 

"Not very Roman of us to disregard breakfast," Jason joked, tucking a piece of Reyna's hair behind her ear. She rolled her eyes and smiled, planting a kiss on Jason's cheek before she slipped from between the covers and found her underwear on Jason's clothes ridden floor. "That's not what I was going to say, exactly." She grinned as she felt his gaze on her and consequently allowed herself to take her time getting ready, before leaning down to the still bed ridden Jason, kissing him with the aim to get down to breakfast. He caught her wrist, "Wait for me – we can go down to breakfast together," She gave him a quizzical look before he conferred, "Well, they're going to find out about us soon enough, and you know what the Camp's like – it'll be worse the longer and harder we try to keep us quiet." Us? She couldn't help but beam; "You look radiant when you smile, Rey," She flung his clothes at him before finger-combing her hair and beginning to tie it back in her practical plait.

Walking into the dining pavilion holding hands with her boyfriend, Jason Grace, felt fantastic. Loads of people applauded, or even whispered "Finally!" under their breath as the two walked past, hands entwined; Reyna couldn't help feeling the same. She had harboured feelings for Jason for a while now, and it felt so good for something to go her way for once. A lot of things had been going Reyna's way, even the usual pest that is Octavian seemed to have calmed down. In fact, she didn't even remember the last time that she had seen the Apollo legacy. The fact that so many things were going her way would ordinarily made Reyna feel uneasy. But she was not allowing anything to ruin her mood now – she was probably just overthinking, anyway. All thoughts of uneasiness and otherwise were swept from her mind when Jason gave the morning's announcements. "The month's war games are upon us! As you have all been informed, instead of inter-Cohort, we shall be chariot racing in two teams, then racing to the Camp Jupiter flag," excited chatter broke out but diminished as Jason spoke again, "I shall lead one team – Team Grace, and Reyna, the other – Team Ramírez-Arellano. The team lists have been put up in the Common. I look forward to doing battle with you all!" He grinned and dismissed the campers and chatter broke out forthwith.

Having collected their teams, Reyna and Jason nodded to each other from opposite ends of the Field of Mars. This month's games was to be a chariot relay around the grounds, and Reyna was intent on not breaking her winning streak; she and Jason may now be official, but that didn't mean that she was going to downplay on war games.

With the sound of the starting horn, Reyna mounted her chariot, feeling fully confident in her team – it seemed like her team was leading, but only just. Then Marc, son of Vulcan, released a ball of fire from his javelin and Kia, Reyna's team's driver for this circuit, had barely ducked in time – Reyna could hear the hiss as the fire grazed her clothes and hair. But it didn't matter, they were close to where Reyna and Jason, plus their charioteers, the anchors of the race. Every muscle seemed to be quivering with anticipation and adrenaline as Kia got closer and closer to the change-over point, Reyna screamed "Go!" at her charioteer and began pushing the chariot before leaping into the chariot and urging the thing to move faster. She looked through the stock for her chariot and picked up a trident and net, the weapons of a Retiarius, taking stance as Jason's chariot approached. The son of Zeus was dawning the only weapon of a Velitus, but Reyna knew how good he was with a spear and twirled her trident menacingly. "Don't be shy now, Jason," She said in her most girlish voice. He smirked at her and feigned jabbing her left before bringing the spear down on her less defended left side. A less competent soldier would have been caught out by this tactic, but Reyna knew better and brought her trident up to meet him; the clash of metal was deafening, Reyna's charioteer winced but continued to urge the horses on.

The finishing line was in sight now, but Jason and Reyna were still locked in one-on-one battle. It seemed a vicious fight, but the two were almost smiling – they were perfect opponents, unmatched by any other in Camp Jupiter. Unleashing her net on Jason's chariot, she just missed Jason. Wielding her trident more fiercely, Reyna's weapon was caught in the net Jason threw back at her. The chariots were now wheel to wheel and with fifty metres from the finish line, Reyna took a risk and put her trident against Jason's chest and pushed off from him, adding a little extra momentum meant that her chariot crossed the line a fraction of a second before Jason's. This gave her a little advantage, as she sprinted for what felt like her life through the battling teams (Jason's had taken the defense as Reyna sprinted up the hill), Jason on her heels. With a push that felt as if her legs were on fire, Reyna surged for the Camp flag just as Jason dived for her. The flag clutched in her hands, Reyna raised it above her head from the grass where Reyna and Jason were laying, breathing deeply. There was a whoop from Reyna's team as Terminus screeched, "TEAM PRAETOR RAMÍEREZ-ALLERANO WINS!" She didn't even care when Dakota, son of Bacchus, yanked the flag of victory from his Praetor and yelled "Party in the Common!" leading the rest of the Camp to the Common.
Lying on the grass, Reyna rolled over to face Jason on the grass, grinning back at him. He managed to draw her closer, the legs instantly intertwining as he whispered "Congratulations," She felt herself blushing slightly as she kissed him. They broke away after a few moments, as Leila appeared above them, blushing and blustering, "So sorry, I-I didn't mean to- I just," she went almost scarlet and finally blurted out "We're doing the victory offering now, before things get too wild," Jason smiled as Reyna felt herself blush deeper. "We better get going then," He got up and pulled Reyna up with him.
Reyna performed the victory offerings to Victoria and Mars and they all went back to the Common so that Dakota could have his party. A few others joined him, despite Reyna's Praeortal warnings of "You better clean this up after! I mean it!" Jason offered his hand to her as Dakota whipped out Kool Aid from seemingly nowhere. She took his hand and felt herself relax instantly. They settled themselves in at the edge of the Common and talked over the day's games – how they could have been more efficient, dream teams, weapon tactics and how the next war games could be better. So felt so at ease talking with Jason, and she could tell he felt the same; his electric blue eyes twinkled whenever she touched his arm, his laugh was uglier with her, but loved it just the same. It was as they were finishing off from where they left off on the field of Mars that Reyna felt they were being watched from someone who wasn't meant to be there. She broke apart from him and glanced around, scanning the partiers. It was just when she was starting to feel she was mistaken when she caught a flickering image to her left: it seemed to be a familiar blonde boy, with startling blue eyes... but it couldn't be. She tried to narrow her eyes but just as the boy had flickered into view, the boy flickered back out of her vision.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked, but she just stared at him, utterly confused. Shaking her head slightly, "I think I'm just tired," she kissed his cheek and got up, "I'll see you tomorrow," Making her way through the energetic campers, Reyna made her way back to her villa, hand pressed to her forehead.
It was as stood just before the door to her villa, still trying to shake the image of the flickering blond boy from her head that the flickering caught her eye again. She could be sure of it this time – Jason. But he was wearing an orange t-shirt that tugged at something in the depths of her mind. She made to go towards him, questions in her eyes – she was sure that Jason was still in the Common and he was definitely not wearing an orange t-shirt. A literal chill came over her as he hissed her name before dispersing into thin air.
Thoroughly confused, and a little freaked out, Reyna composed her exterior and darted back into her villa.