Another of my weird… drabble-thingies. Heh.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. Too bad for me… :P

Mirror, Mirror

Reyna stared at the boy before her—blonde hair, blue eyes like a bright sky, crescent scar on his upper lip. His face was exactly the same, as she'd last saw him. But he wasn't the same person as before.

"Great," she said. "So while I was crying my heart out, you were hooking up with some Venus girl? Aren't you just the sweetest."

"Rey," he pleaded.

"My friends call me Rey. I don't know you," Reyna spat. "My Jason wouldn't fall for some pretty air head."

"Piper isn't an air head!" Jason shouted indignantly.

"So you say," she responded curtly. "She ruins the good name of Dakota. She shames children of Venus everywhere."

"Why are you so… so…" he spat. "I was trying to be nice to you!"

She curled her lip in disgust. "You make me sick. Get out of here before I decide to kill you myself and be done with it." She fingered her sword hilt.

"Reyna," he said. "I like you. But…"

"But what? I'm not pretty enough for you? Is that it? Heck, I thought you were different from the rest. You should've just given up on me a long time ago, if all you wanted was a pleasant face."

"Reyna…"

"Look at me!" She thrust her chin out defiantly. "I want you to look at me, all my scars, all my flaws. And then I want you to tell me I'm beautiful, like you used to."

He sighed, exasperated. "I'm not going to—"

"LOOK AT ME!"

He did, eyes dancing over every flaw. The scar under her left eye. The zits across her forehead. The bruise on her right cheek. The cut on her lip.

He opened his mouth and closed it, reminding Reyna of a fish out of water.

"See," she snapped, "you can't. Why? Because I'm not beautiful. I'm ugly. And every one in this camp knows it, but won't say it to my face." She growled in disgust. "Get out of my sight."

"I'm not going to say you're beautiful," Jason said softly, "because you aren't."

"Get your sorry hide out of here," Reyna hissed, clenching her fists.

"You're not beautiful," he repeated. "You're perfect. You don't glow, or dazzle—you shine. And don't you ever think different. Heck, if I had to spend years building enough guts to suck it up and tell you I love you, then there's good reason. Otherwise I would've given up."

"Stop lying," Reyna managed, trying to force down the stinging pinpricks that sprang to her eyes. "I'm sick of your pathetic games. So much indecision. 'Hmm, how can I torture Reyna today?'"

"Look at me," he commanded.

Startled, she did as he asked.

"I want you to look at my face. Do I look like I'm lying?"

Reyna's voice caught in her throat. "Stop playing games with me," she choked. She hated looking like a fool. She hated seeming weak. Seeming like she wore her heart on her sleeve.

"You're not weak for caring about someone," he said. "You're weak when you bury your heart under chains and locks."

"Just like I've done all these years," she spat. "Does that make me weak?"

"No, that makes me feel sad for you." He smiled, bemused.

"I don't need your sympathy!" Reyna snarled.

"Reyna, I feel sad for you because you can't ever look at yourself the way I look at you. You can't see yourself the way everyone else sees you." His tone became firm. "If I think of you like this, then why can't you think of yourself like this?"

Reyna hated looking in mirrors, because she would always see the scared little girl who locked her heart away. The scared little girl who had watched her mother die and done nothing more than scream and cower. The ugly little witch who carried herself with a pretense of dignity that she didn't deserve. The girl who played dress-up as a warrior. The selfish, snide idiot who tried to keep Jason from slipping through her fingers, like everything else good in her life.

"Look me in the eye. Stop watching your boots."
She looked into his gaze, and with a start realized she could see her distorted reflection in his eyes.

"Reyna… I love you."

He kissed her with warmth that Reyna did not share. She felt cold, icy like a statue.

She didn't kiss him back. She wasn't ready to let herself rip him apart again. She wasn't ready to forgive herself for anything she'd ever done.

But she was ready to forgive him.

She buried her face in his warm chest, salt water staining his purple shirt. Purple, like it used to be. Not orange, thank the gods.

"I'm sorry," she managed. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"Look in a mirror, Reyna. And then I want you to apologize to yourself." His voice was soft, but firm.

Reyna took a deep breath before she let herself open her eyes. She kneeled before what the campers called Looking Glass Pond, because of its reflective surface. Oftentimes, campers sat before the Looking Glass Pond for guidance when their path became murky and tangled.

Her eyelids flickered open, and she stared at the girl in the water.

It wasn't her usual reflection. Something was missing.

No, not missing. There was something added.

For as she scrutinized her reflection, she could see a little bit extra—the hint of confidence that Jason had given her.

Yet another thing she had to thank him for, but couldn't find the words.

She didn't deserve him.

There was one thing left to do, to set things right...

"Wait… you're giving him up? Just like that?" Piper eyed the daughter of Mars suspiciously.

Reyna nodded earnestly. "I want you to be good to him. I want you to make sure that no one else ever hurts him, got that?"

"You're weird," Piper commented.

"So I'm told."

The two shared a grudging smile, a reluctant one from two rivals.

There was silence for a while.

"So that's it?" Piper asked.

"Yeah. The end. Happily ever after."

"For me and Jason, yes. But what about you?"

Reyna shrugged, feeling a hole in her chest. "I'll manage. I always do."

"Truce?"

"Truce." The two shook hands, and Reyna felt that she had mended a little part of herself—the guilt-ridden part buried beneath layers of flaming anger and chilling sadness.

"Friends?" Piper offered.

"Mm… don't push your luck." Reyna winked, letting Piper know she was kidding.

Piper giggled before running off happily.

"So, are you proud of what you're doing?"

Reyna whirled around. "Annabeth! Oh… hi."

The gray-eyed daughter of Athena smiled. "What you did takes guts, Rey. Gotta hand it to you, you know when to do the right thing."

"You stand by Piper after all, huh?"

"I guess." The blonde shifted uncomfortably. "You know, you should really give Frank a chance."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Reyna said.

"No, really. I mean it. Haven't you seen the looks he throws your way?"

"No… but I'm not really in tune with that kind of thing." Reyna considered. Frank, son of Apollo? Gwen's brother. Huh. That was going to be awkward.

"Or Malcolm," Annabeth added. "My brother never shuts up about you."

"Guess I'd be doing you and your cabin a favor if I did give him a shot," Reyna laughed.

"You're not half bad, Vulture Girl."

"Back at ya, Owl Head."

So… maybe life wasn't going to be that bad…

She still owed him everything, though. She still owed the boy who she'd just given up. She still owed him her life, several times over. Maybe more than that.

"Jason… I never stopped loving you. Never. And I never will."

R&R? Please? :D

-Raven