first of all, sorry for the delay I've been pretty busy with school, basketball, and soccer. also tysm for 100 reads! ilysm guyssss

Suddenly, time stopped.

Adrien's voice stopped working, no matter how much he wanted to respond. His eyes widened in shock, not quite taking it in. Percy stood in front of Adrien, waiting for a reaction of some sort, but he was met by a blank, bewildered expression.

I must have heard him wrong, Adrien thought. There's no freaking way he said who I thought he said. I must have just heard something else. Please tell me I heard something else.

Then, Adrien began to laugh. He snickered softly at first. Then, it got to the point where Adrien was cackling, struggling to hide the tears of laughter running down his face.

Percy scrunched his face up. "What's so funny?"

Gabriel Agreste. Yeah, right. And I'm Queen Bee.

Adrien didn't answer. He was physically unable to answer the question. He continued giggling.

Then he was brought to realization. The isolation. The "Adrien I'm busy." The real reason Natalie and the Gorilla were always taking care of him.

Suddenly, Adrien ran up to Percy and buried his face in his chest. He began to sob, sloppy, wet tears rolling down, staining Percy's soft blue tunic.

"It's not fair," he cried. "He's the only father I've ever had."

Adrien wanted to kill his father. He wanted to kill him for all he'd done to him. Did he know that he was sending people to fight his own son every single freaking day? Did he know how many times Adrien had died because of him, needing Ladybug's Miraculous Ladybugs to bring him back? It just wasn't fair.

"He promised me. He promised me that he'd changed." Adrien yelled through muffled tears. His voice was filled with agony.

Percy just held him close, trying to be like the older brother neither of them had, but had always wanted. Percy couldn't imagine losing his mother, and realizing his father was the jerk organizing all of the monsters to kill him. It was rough. Percy knew Adrien needed him right now.

Adrien continued sobbing as Elwin ran in, thinking something was wrong. He looked at Percy in confusion, but Percy just shook his head.

Finally, Adrien fell to the ground, his face full of disbelief and betrayal, and he said weakly, "I thought he loved me. Obviously not."

He kicked his bedframe, showing his anger.

"It should have been him." Adrien's voice was hollow and bitter. "She didn't deserve it. He did."

Percy tried to comfort him, but Adrien shooed him off.

"I just need to be alone," he said, his voice cold and emotionless.

ok, while writing the "it was rough" line i immediately thought of "that's rough buddy" from atla. comment if you relate or is it js me 😭
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percy

When morning came, Adrien didn't come out of his room. Plagg had spent the night with Tikki, but when he heard the news, he rushed to Adrien's side. Adrien refused to answer the door, even for Marinette, so Plagg was their only hope at the moment.

Meanwhile, Percy wasn't really in the mood to eat. At least, not with Annabeth still unconscious. Plus, his past week had been more eventful than any other kid's past year, and he didn't think he could deal with any weird-looking elf food at the moment.

Percy winced as Elwin shined bright yellow light in his face, Elwin's eyes squinting in concentration through his goggles.

"Okay," He said. "I've got to say, your cells look much better now that you aren't depriving yourself of water and sleep."

Elwin stood up, walking toward Annabeth. He switched the color to green and viewed Annabeth's cells. He finally realized how her cells had changed. They looked... darker.

Almost as if someone had stained all of her cells black. Elwin was almost certain that Annabeth's cells had something to do with the darkness from earlier. But Elwin couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong.

"Percy, any ideas?" Elwin asked.

"Huh?" Percy asked. "For what?"

"To help wake Annabeth up."

"I mean..." Percy said. "I might have one idea..."

Percy left and came back with a large orb of water. Percy forced the water upon Annabeth's head. Percy wished he could say that she gasped and magically woke up.

But all the water seemed to do was get her wet. He controlled the water again, this time away from her in disappointment.

"Welp," He said. "I'm out of ideas."

So Elwin left the room and Percy stayed with Annabeth. He tried everything to wake her up, but nothing seemed to work.

So Percy lay sprawled next to her, gripping her hand, praying to the gods that she'd be alright.
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annabeth

Words couldn't describe how Annabeth was feeling, but the closest thing would be... fuzzy. She was conscious, but her body didn't seem to work. It was like Annabeth was in a coma.

Everything was dark and blurry. Annabeth was vaguely aware of a coldness on her face that was as quickly taken away as it came. Then, she heard a faint voice. Percy.

But as she tried to strain her ears to hear him, the darkness overpowered her senses, and she was in pitch-black yet again. Soon, Annabeth's senses detected other things. Memories.

She heard Thalia's laughter. She heard Percy, calling her Wise Girl like he had so many times before. Then, she saw.

Her vision worked, but it wasn't her eyes doing the seeing. She could tell that this was a dream.

She saw her mother, in all of her grey-eyed glory.

"Annabeth," she said. She didn't look very happy, but then again, did she ever look happy? She had the burden of being the wisest god. It's more difficult than you might imagine.

"Mother," Annabeth responded, walking towards Athena. Annabeth tugged on the sleeveless white dress that Annabeth was wearing. It looked familiar.

"Your life hasn't been the easiest, has it," Athena said vaguely.

"You could say that," Annabeth replied. She looked at the dress again. Now Annabeth remembered. It was the dress she had worn at Circe's island when she had gotten a makeover.

And when Percy had been turned into a guinea pig, Annabeth thought. It was horrifying at the moment, but now it gave the couple something to laugh about.

"But I have been fair. Maybe not kind, but fair." Athena said. "I let you keep that boyfriend of yours. Even if he is a son of Poseidon."

Annabeth smiled. The keep your boyfriend part seemed a little extreme. But that's what gods are like. Extreme.

Her mother was fair. For a god.

"Very true, Mother."

"Here, sit."

Athena gestured to two woven chairs beside them. Annabeth waited for Athena to sit and then did. A barn owl flew above them, letting out a call.

"You know that owls are my symbol." Athena said.

"Yes, mother."

"Do you know why?"

"Because they were found commonly in Athens?"

"Not just because of that, but also because they are a symbol of wisdom and foresight, just like me. And just like my children. You are intelligent, Annabeth."

Annabeth's heart grew. She hated giving her mother so much power over her, but she couldn't help it. When the goddess of wisdom, who's also your mother, compliments you, it feels good. But of course, Annabeth knew there had to be a reason for Athena's visit.

"I mean no disrespect, but why are you here?" Annabeth asked.

Athena's eyes darkened to the color of storm clouds.

"Only to warn you that peace is not far, but there will be many obstacles in the way. Don't assume that your enemies have given up. They are coming."

With that, Athena transformed into her true self and light shined in Annabeth's eyes.  If it hadn't been a dream, Annabeth would have been incinerated.

Instead, Annabeth woke up.
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percy

Percy was lying next to Annabeth when he felt something. Annabeth was moving. Her eyes opened and she gasped, out of breath.

"So," she panted, dragging out the o, "What'd I miss?"

Percy didn't answer her. He just leaped into her arms and kissed her. He had been so worried.

"A lot," Percy said. He explained everything that had happened, from Percy's dream to Elwin's assumptions, to Adrien.

"Poor kid," was the first thing Annabeth said. "I can't imagine finding out I was fighting my own father."

Annabeth then explained her dream to Percy and his mood changed.

"Let's go down," Percy's voice was grim. "Everyone's eating breakfast."
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annabeth

Annabeth walked with Percy hand-in-hand down the stairs toward the dinner table. She sat down and her chair accidentally hit Keefe's toe. Keefe cursed.

"Sorry," Annabeth smiled sheepishly.

Everyone looked at Annabeth with baffled expressions. Maybe sorry was improper etiquette for elves.

"Umm... since when can you speak Ogrish, Annabeth?" Sophie said.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked her.

"Uh, Annabeth?" Percy said in English. "What was what about?"

Annabeth still didn't seem to understand what had happened.

"You know, the new language? How do you know how to speak... "

"Ogrish." Keefe finished for him.

"I... don't. At least... I don't think I do."

Suddenly Sophie said, "I am speaking a different language. Annabeth, can you understand me?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied.

"Wow," Sophie said in English. "It looks like you're a Polyglot, too. Like me and Keefe."

"Awesome!"

Annabeth was excited. Now she could go anywhere and not struggle with the language barrier. Although, she'd probably have to make Percy do at least an entire year of Duolingo to master the language.

But one question still remained. Something that Percy and Elwin seemed to be avoiding.

"But... if I'm already a Flasher and a Polygot," Annabeth said, "What about the weird shadow thing? Is that an ability?"

"What... weird shadow thing?" Sophie asked, suddenly tense.

"Well..." Percy said. "Annabeth... sort-of-kind-of had shadows come out of her hands."

"WHAT?" Sophie exclaimed. "And you didn't think to tell me this?"

"Umm..." Percy said, putting his hands up. "Don't blame me. Elwin was there, too."

Now it was Elwin's turn to look uncomfortable.

"And you, of all people, didn't think to tell me? I'm your number one customer!" She looked offended.

"I was going to bring it up," he retorted. "Eventually," he muttered.

"Is that why Annabeth was asleep for that much time?" Sophie asked him.

"I don't exactly know why, but paired with severe dehydration and having just gotten the treatment, probably."

"Ugh. You've got to tell me these things sooner! That's always been my problem with the Black Swan. They never get to the point and give actual information. They always hide it from me." Sophie told Elwin.

"You know what, I'll call Tam. Maybe he can figure something out."

She picked up her slim silver imparter. "Show me Tam Song." Sophie said.

Suddenly, Tam's face was growling back at her through the screen. "What?" He asked.

"Ummm... it's kinda an emergency... Annabeth might be a Shade. We need your help."

Tam's usually masked expression turned to surprise for a split second, before he rolled his eyes. "Sure. I'll be at Everglen in a few."

sorry not much happened in this chapter but ill try my best to update more bc im on spring break now!! also, help me with something. dexiana or tamiana? I can't seem to decide for this ff.