Heaven Burns

Precious Thing

Reyna's POV

Attempting to rest amidst the chaos was difficult. Guards rotated through the tunnels on a regular basis, and Leah had left in a hurry after talking to Jamie. The poor boy broke my heart. He was so frightened by everything that the only way to make sure he didn't have a melt down was keeping him in complete isolation.
Jamie only felt comfortable around a few people. Mainly Thalia, Emily, and myself. It seemed, however, that he was fine with Leah too, but nevertheless Jamie was delicate. A boy his age didn't deserve to have trauma to the extent that he did.
"Go to sleep Rey," Thalia mumbled, curled on her side.
"Sorry."
"I know you're worried about Leah and Jamie, but there's little we can do at this point. We did our rotation. Staying awake is only going to make us vulnerable," Thalia continued, opening one eye to look sleepily at me.
"I know, I know." Sighing, I gave in to her request and settled more comfortably into the thin mattress. Ever since the Civil War I'd gradually stalked the tunnels with provisions-I'd just hoped we'd never have to use them. Unfortunately, the fates had other ideas. "Do you want me to-"
"No, I'd prefer to keep them on considering the recent events," Thalia smiled, knowing what I'd been about to ask.
"I just know you get uncomfortable at times." The muscles that helped work Thalia's prosthetics grew stiff at times from keeping the devices still and in perfect control. I'd discovered quite early on that Thalia's metallic limbs left unfriendly bruises in the event of a nightmare. Because of this, a small part of Thalia's subconscious kept those biological functions at bay. 
"I'll be fine," she insisted.
Nodding, I closed my eyes but sleep was busy elsewhere. Some part of me was vaguely aware that Thalia had nestled into my side and it seemed to do the trick in my consciousness because one moment I was aware and the next I was somewhere else entirely.
— — —
"You're with me today," I grinned, scooping up Thia's small frame. Her tiny hands-still relatively thick with baby fat-clapped excitedly. I wasn't sure what she thought we were going to do but at least one of us had some enthusiasm. "We're gonna go tell people what to do."
"Yay!" Thia squealed, kicking her legs for emphasis.
"Yay is right." Keeping her snugly in my arms we left the house behind and headed for the senate building.
As expected, the place was full of people already. Seats packed, voices loud, and opinions blaring Thia was quick to clap her hands over her ears. She wasn't fond of loud noises or commotion.
"Big noise," she whimpered, hiding her face in my neck.
"I know. It'll settle down in a second okay?" Keeping a comforting hand on her back, I joined Frank at the front of the room who looked like he too was wanting to cover his ears.
After a moment, the demigods finally settled and Thia gradually uncovered her ears. She listened intently, curiously, and remained perfectly calm through the whole meeting until one particular moment. It was the moment a legionnaire decided my opinion was wrong.
Her little form crawled up onto the table and stood wobbly on tiny feet. Holding a hand firmly up in the air her small voice rang out surprisingly well, "Mommy talking! No talk when mommy talking!"
Stifling a laugh, Frank shook his head in disbelief, "She's your child for sure."
When the legionnaire refused to sit down, Thia's foot stomped angrily onto the table and her face scrunched up in adorable rage, "You go time out! You be  bad."
The scene shifted to a six year old Thia instead of a three year old Thia. She was romping around excitedly in the rain with large rubber boots swallowing her legs. The rim of a hat flopped into her face with each impact before it sprang up with the next jump.
Tiny feet sounded on the house steps as she came jumping up them to open the door. "Mommy, come play."
"I don't have any boots." Wincing, I attempted to get out of the predicament with a small excuse. No boots meant no puddle jumping which meant I didn't have to get gross and wet.
Frowning in thought, Thia hurriedly plopped onto her butt and jerked off her boots. "Wear mine mommy! You wear them and I go barefoot!"
Standing up on her thin legs she gazed at me with the grin of a Cheshire Cat. Boots in hand she held them out expectantly and there was no possible way I could refuse. She was precious.
As a result, we spent the next hour getting soaked and splashing about. At one point Thia paused to inspect a frog hopping about in the rain. "That's a frog. They like the rain because they can keep their skin moist."
"He sure has a lot of hopping power. He must be great at jumping in puddles. Think he's the best puddle jumper frog?" Thia looked at me expectantly. She genuinely wanted an answer.
"I bet you he's quite good," I agreed to which she smiled even bigger.
"Does he have a family? Is he lost?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure he's on his way home. He's probably had a long hard day at work eating flies for the bug control business he runs," I replied, earning a nod of approval from Thia.
Taking her hand I lead her back up the steps of the house. She wiped her feet on the door mat before letting me carry her to the bathroom.
"Arms up!" I instructed. She cheered happily as I tugged her soaked shirt up and over her head. With a little wiggle of the rear she clambered out of her underwear and pants as I warmed the water. "Here Mommy."
"Thank you." Collecting her clothes I hurriedly hung them outside just as the  rain began to die down. Thalia could help dry them later, but for now they simply needed to air dry without dripping onto the floor.
Slipping off the rain boots I set them beside the door and tromped back up stairs to find her happily playing in a bath full of bubbles.
That night, exhausted, well fed, and warm in bed Thia curled into my side just as Thalia always did. She was nearly asleep when a mumbled remark came, "Thanks for playing in the rain with me mommy. Can we do it again sometime?"
"Of course, baby."
Fate had a way of cosmic irony. Thia's funeral was nothing but a down pour of rain. It was cold and wet and there were no puddles to jump in or frogs to look at. There weren't even any rain boots.
— — —
I woke with lungs that felt like they were stuffed with cotton. Eyes burning, stomach in knots, throat tight, and chest aching it was impossible to hold back the tears.
These dreams were a gift and a curse. They came on occasion and when they did it hurt beautifully.  She'd been such a precious little light in the world for as long as she'd been alive. Not a bad bone existed in her body and the wonder in her little heart was astounding. So few would even consider a frog with such gentleness and curiosity. So few would offer rain boots and so few would willingly face an entire senate to aid their mother at three years old.
"Rey," Thalia having woken up propped herself onto one elbow, "come here."
She didn't wait for any response of mine and simply pulled me close. "I miss her so much."
"I know, I do too."
"I hate-I hate this." It was getting harder to breath let alone speak but I continued lest I implode, "everything I love always goes away. Always. My mom, my dad, my sister, Jason, Thia...I'm only sane because I still have you and now with everything-"
"Hey, don't think about that," Thalia spoke firmly, but there was fear in her expression though it was well hidden.
"If I lose you Thals...I can't stay here." There was no need for elaboration. Thalia understood in an instant what I really meant. "There's suffering and then there's torment. I've had enough torment for all of the people in the fields of punishment."
"I'm not going anywhere," Thalia promised as her hold on me tightened, "and neither are you okay? I've spent so long trying to build my own life and I failed to protect part of it once. It's not happening again, understand?"
"Yeah." Nodding, I let her wipe gently at the tears trailing across my cheeks.
"I miss her too, but she wouldn't want you to hurt like this." Thalia was right, but it didn't make things any easier. Just the other night it'd  been me comforting her like this. "If you get too worked up your heart-"
"I know, I know." Taking her hand from my cheek I kissed lightly at her damp fingertips. "It's just hard. There's days when it doesn't hurt and days where it feels like I'm dying because she's not here."
"She's here, just not with us," Thalia promised. "If anything, my uncle's taking good care of her down in the underworld. He has a soft spot for us Graces."
"I don't know how," I sighed. The small quip drew a tiny laugh from her and in turn from me.
"You're beautiful when you laugh." Thalia seemed to momentarily forget the discussion at hand and it wasn't until I understood why that I felt a small pang of guilt. It'd been ages since I'd laughed freely.
"I'm sorry I don't do it so much anymore."
"Don't apologize. It makes things like this even sweeter," Thalia insisted, leaning in to give a comforting and light kiss. "But we should try and rest again. Even if it's hard."
"You're right." Nodding, I settled into the thin mattress once more but this time I latched onto her. Thalia was the one thing that kept me grounded.  Her metallic hand fit snugly in my own though it was surprisingly warm unlike usual. That's when I realized it was because she'd insisted on holding my other hand as I'd cried.
Though she wouldn't feel it, I gave a small thankful squeeze of the hand before closing my eyes. Nestling my face into the back of her neck I let the familiar smell of pine trees, fresh air, rich soil, and crisp grass ease my nerves. Sleep came much quicker this time.