No Strings Attached (Sequel to Puppets)

Reyna

"That's just my dad's latest personal assistant." Piper interrupted before the couple could continue their playful banter.

"Oh, hello." The woman said, turning around with a smirk. Reyna felt her jaw drop.

"Hylla!?"

Reyna snapped back to reality quickly, leaning against the wall and taking a moment to breathe. That had been incredibly overwhelming.

Less then a minute later, Gwen barged in. "Reyna!" She exclaimed loudly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. Why do you ask?" Reyna questioned, trying to fake it.

"You were screaming, and Jason heard. He wants to see you." Gwen explained.

"Okay." Reyna composed herself, taking a deep breath. "Where is he?"

"Right here." There he was, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, a small, forced, half-smile on his face. He was leaning against the doorway as he spoke. "Oh, that's a cliche movie moment. Sorry, Rey."

Reyna smiled at her old friend. "Sorry, Grace. You're gonna have to get out." She gestured to the door jokingly.

Jason pouted. "But I came all this way! Do I have to?"

Reyna put on her poker face. "Let me think about it. Hm... yeah, no." Jason sighed in relief. "So what brings you to my humble abode?" She noticed Gwen shoot her a thumbs up and mouth 'Get some!' before exiting the room.

"Rey..." Jason shifted uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck. "What's going on with you?" He blurted out, sounding distressed.

"What do you mean?" Reyna said, stalling, dreading what she would have to tell him.

"Rey, I came to see how you were doing, and I ran into Gwen. Right when we were about to go see you, we heard screaming. And I'd recognize your screaming and your voice anywhere, Rey. Gwen- she said it was a regular thing, and to just give you a moment. What happened? Why were you screaming?" Jason twisted his hands uncomfortably.

Reyna took a deep breath. "I... don't exactly remember all of what happened. I subconsciously blocked it out. And then there are triggers- words or phrases that trigger a memory. I was just trying to remember what my sister's name triggered, which was when we got on the plane. No one ever told me that I screamed."

"Rey..." Jason sounded so broken, and she felt so horrible for doing that to him. She stepped forward to hug him, which was their universal symbol of 'it will be okay'. They always hugged when one of them, or both of them, needed comforting. Like when Reyna and Hylla ran away from their father and immediately went to the Graces. When Jason's mother died and he was left with Thalia and his distant father. When Reyna was sent to Miss Circe's orphanage and had to leave Jason. There were so many examples of these times, and after Reyna's explanation, she figured he needed a good old childhood hug too.

But he backed away, tears in his eyes. "Rey, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say to you anymore. You're just... not you."

Reyna stepped towards him, fire in her eyes. "What, you think I'm messed up? You can't deal with me? Better reconsider your relationship with your girlfriend, who has mental breakdowns and flashbacks that she can't ever get away from, who passes out every time someone even so as mentions Percy's name. If you're unable to deal with my issues, if you think I'm not me, but you still accept your girlfriend's mental issues that are worse then mine, then you need to freaking reconsider your life choices, and what this says about you as a person, Jason Grace." She vented, pouring out all her anger.

"Rey, I didn't mean-" Jason tried, but she had no sympathy.

"Get out, Jason. Just leave." She demanded, not wanting to deal with him. He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. As the door shut, she collapsed onto her bed, wondering what exactly she had done.

It's not as though she had meant to hurt him. She never wanted to shove him away, but now she had to. If he really dared to say that to her, to tell her that she, of all people, was not herself, that she was messed up, then he didn't belong anywhere near her. She felt guilty, yeah, but it was like what Thalia always preached, one of her life lessons- get rid of the toxic people in your life.

Reyna grabbed her phone as it hit her. That was it! She recalled making a hashtag for Thalia's little lessons on Instagram- #lifelessonswiththals. She searched it up with a growing grin. This was her way to know about some things that had happened in England.

The first few she scrolled past, as they were all silly selfies with life lesson captions. At about the fifth picture, she paused. It was a video on Piper's account. She played it.

"Hey, guys!" Piper waved to the camera. The view switched to the London Eye. "We're having a fab time in London!"

It switched back to Piper as she said, "So, this is Hazel!" Hazel waved shyly as she was introduced. "Here's Reyna-" Reyna watched herself smile at the camera "and here's Annabeth!" Annabeth waved with a massive grin.

"Here's Thalia, over here." Piper filmed Thalia, who looked extremely worried as she read something in the background. She glanced up, staring at the camera and forcing a smile as she shoved the paper into her bag.

"Bye!" Piper told the camera and the girls repeated after her with little waves. Then, the video stopped.

Reyna watched it over, staring at Thalia and the note she got. But about the third time she watched it, she really focused. At the short clip of the London Eye, she noticed someone familiar in the background, checking her phone worriedly.

Lacy.

Question time again, because I actually got some answers! If possible, please try to answer at least one!!

1. Who do you think the journal writer is?

2. Was Reyna's reaction to Jason appropriate for the situation?

3. Who do you think is on the L Team?

4. Which characters do you want to see more of?

5. Thoughts on why you think Lacy was in England?

6. Which ships do you want to see more of? (And please don't say any Percy ships, he's kind of kidnapped at the moment.)

7. What did you think of Reyna's flashback, and why do you think Hylla was Piper's dad's new assistant?

Love ya bunches :*